them but they rose early and corrupted all their doings Zephaniah 3.6 7. That this Prophecy unto what other times soever it be concludently appliable doth in speciall referre unto the calamities brought upon the Nations by Alexander the great is apparent from Zephan 2.4 5. But to returne to the literall meaning of the Prophecie now in handling that as I take it is as if the Prophet had spoken in more words to Jerusalem thus Thine eyes in the generations following shall behold the flourishing pride of sundry Nations each endeavouring to overtop others in height of glory and temporall state each driving to keepe others under by humane policie and strength of warre And whilst the sight of their mutuall Conquests shall possesse thy thoughts thou wilt bee ready in the pride of thy heart to say Jerusalem and Judah one day shall have their turne and in that day shall the sonnes of Iacob the seed of Abraham and David bee like the Monarchs of Greece or Persia farre exalted above the Kings of other Nations every one able to beare Armes glistring with his golden shield and leading the Princes of the Heathen as prisoners bound in chaines and their Nobles in fetters of iron The beauty and riches of their costly Temples shall deck the Chariots of my children which their captives shall draw in triumph But thou shouldest remember that the promised Prince of peace of benignity and Justice should not bee sought amongst the tumultuous hosts of warre Or canst thou hope that the desire of all Nations should bee thy Leader or Generall to destroy themselves It is glory and honour enough for thee glory and honour greater than the greatest Conquerer on earth could ever compasse that the King of kings and Lord of lords shall be anointed and proclaimed King upon the hill of Sion that the inviolable decrees of everlasting peace shall bee given to all the Nations under heaven from thy Courts And therefore whilst horses and Chariots or other glorious preparations of warre shall present themselves to thy view suffer them to passe as they come and rest assured that thy King of whose comming thou hast often beene admonished by the Prophets is not amongst them The maner of his comming unto thee so thou wilt mark it bodes farre better tidings to thee and all the Nations besides than can accompany the prosperous successe of warres or any victory which is stained with blood What King of Judah or Israel did ever levy an Army though in just defence of their Countrey and people on so faire termes that no poore amongst them were pinched with taxes for the supply What victory did they ever obtaine so good cheape that many of their children were not inforced to sit downe with losse many wounded others maymed and some alwayes slaine But loe now I bring thee unusuall matter of exultation and uncouth joy For behold thy King commeth unto thee whensoever he commeth attended with justice for his guide and salvation for his traine Hee shall execute judgement without oppression hee shall save thee so thou wilt be saved without destroying any able and ready to make thy lame to goe to give life to the dead without hazard either of life or limb to any who rests within thy territories Such shall bee the maner of his comming and such his presence that the silliest wretch amongst thy children may think himselfe more happy than any King of Judah or Israel which was before him so hee will conforme himselfe to his garb or demeanor For hee commeth unto thee poore and lowly riding upon an Asse and a Colt the foole of an Asse to weane thee from the vaine hopes of the Heathen from which the Prophets have so often dehorted thy forefathers Some put their trust in horses some in chariots but thy confidence must bee in the Lord thy God who will alwayes bee thy King to defend thee to protect thee and strengthen thee through his weaknesse For by the weaknesse of his appearance he will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Ierusalem and the battell bow shall bee cut off and hee shall speake peace unto the heathen His Dominion shall bee from Sea to Sea and from the River to the ends of the Earth Zach. 9.10 The mark whereat the Prophet Zachariah in this place aimes is the very same with that which the Prophet Haggai his coaevall had set up a little before him Neither of them as I take it conscious of the others predictions Yet now bee strong O Zerubbabel saith the Lord and be strong O Ieshua sonne of Iosedech the high Priest and bee strong all the people of the Land saith the Lord and work for I am with you saith the Lord of Hosts according to the word that I covenanted with you when yee came out of Egypt so my spirit remaineth among you feare yee not For thus saith the Lord of Hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land And I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of Hosts The silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of Hosts The glory of this later house shall bee greater than the former saith the Lord of Hosts And in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of Hosts Haggai 2.4 5 c. And the Prophet Zachariah had touched before on the same string Chap 2. ver 10. Sing and rejoyce O daughter of Sion for loe I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee saith the Lord. And many Nations shall bee joyned to the Lord in that day and shall be my people and I will dwell in the midst of thee and thou shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent mee unto thee c. Every branch of these forecited Prophecies were exactly fulfilled according to their plaine literall sense in our Saviours triumphant ingresse into Jerusalem and visitation of the second Temple which by the bounty of Herod the great and of many other Nations was made even to secular eyes more beautifull and glorious than the Temple of Solomon was The extraordinary contributions of severall Nations and Princes of the Roman Empire for the beautifying of this second Temple and Herods speciall care in the right imployment of his owne and others expences upon this glorious worke might have taught the Jews had they not been blinde to expect that the desire of all Nation their promised King was speedily to come unto it yet not to come in such pomp specially of warre as they expected but in such humility and meeknesse of spirit as the Prophet Zachariah in the ninth Chapter and tenth verse hath expressed And so it had been foretold in the building of Zerubbabels Temple Not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord of Hosts Who art thou O great mountaine before
them and mystically of Lucifer But they sinne no lesse for the act which say in their hearts or presuppose in their implicit thoughts altissimus est similimus mihi the most high God hath determined nothing concerning men or Angel otherwise than wee would have done if we had been in his place They preposterously usurpe the same power which God in his first Creation did justly exercise who though not expresly yet by inevitable consequence and by implicit thoughts make a God after their own image and similitude A God not according to the relikes of that image wherein hee made our first Parents but after the corruptions or defacements of it through partiality envy pride and hatred towards their fellow creatures But of the originall of transforming the Divine nature into the similitude of mans corrupted nature I have elswhere long agoe delivered my minde at large And I would to God some as I conjecture offended with what I there observed without any reference or respect either to their persons or their studies had not verified the truth of my observations in a larger measure than I then did conceived they could have been really ratified or exemplified by the meditation or practice of any rationall man This transformation of the Divine nature which is in some sort or degree common to most men is in the least degree of it one of those works of the Devill which the Sonne of God came into the world to dissolve by doctrine by example and exercise of his power But what bee the rest of those works besides this All I take it may be reduced to these generall heads First the actuall sinnes of our first Parents Secondly the remainder or effects of this sinne whether in our first Parents or in their posteritie to wit that more than habituall or hereditary corruption which we call sinne originall Thirdly sins adventitious or acquired that is such vitious acts or habits as doe not necessarily issue from that sinne which descends unto us from our first Parents but are voluntarily produced in particular men by their abuse of that portion of freewill which was left in our first Parents and in their posterity and that was a true freedome of will though not to doe well or ill yet at lest inter mala to doe lesse or greater evill or to doe this or that particular ill or worse Originall sinne is rather in us ad modum habitus than an habit properly so called All other habituall sinnes or vices are not acquired but by many unnecessitated vicious acts But to distinguish betweene vice and sinne or betweene vicious habits and sinfull habits is to my capacity a work or attempt rather of the same nature as if one should goe about to divide a point into two portions or a mathematicall line into two parallels 6. Nor are these sinnes enumerated nor sinne it self formally taken the onely works of the Devill which the Sonne of God came to destroy but these sinnes with their symptomes and resultances For the Devill sinneth from the beginning in continuall tempting men to sinne although his temptations doe not alwayes take effect He sinneth likewise in accusing men before their Creator or solliciting greater vengeance than their sinnes in favourable construction deserve Now that neither his temptations nor accusations do alwayes finde that successe which hee intends this is meerely from the mercy and loving kindnesse of our Creator in sending his Sonne to dissolve the works of Satan The generall symptome or resultance of all sinne originall or actuall is servitude or slavery unto Satan and the wages of this servitude is death not this hereditary servitude onely but death which is the wages of it is the work of Satan Yet a work which the Sonne of God doth not utterly destroy untill the generall resurrection of the dead Nor shall it then bee destroyed in any in whom the bonds of the servitude and slavery unto sinne have not been by the same Sonne of God dissolved whilest they lived on earth Hee was first manifested in the flesh and forme of a servant to pay the ransome of our sinnes and to untie the bonds and fetters of sinne in generall Hee was manifested in his resurrection to dissolve or breake the raigne of sinne within every one of us For as the Apostle speaks He died for our sinnes and rose againe for our justification And he shall lastly bee manifested or appeare in glory utterly to destroy sinne and death CHRIST saith the Apostle was once offered to beare the sinnes of many and unto them that look for him shall he appeare the second time without sin unto salvation Heb. 9.28 SECTION 2. Of the more speciall qualifications and undertakings of the Sonne of God for dissolving the works which the Devill had wrought in our first Parents and in our nature and for cancelling the bond of mankindes servitude unto Satan CHAP. VI. Of the peculiar qualifications of the Sonne of God for dissolving the first actuall sinne of our first Parents and the reliques of it whether in them or in us their sinfull posterity 1. THe qualifications or undertakings of the Sonne of God for dissolving or remitting such actuall sinnes as doe not necessarily issue from our first Parents and for bringing them and us unto greater glory than they affected doe challenge their place or proper seat in the Treatise designed to his exaltation after death and his consecration to his everlasting Priesthood Wee are now to prosecute the points proposed in the title of this Section and in the first place such points as were proposed in the title of this Chapter 2. The rule is universally true in works naturall civill and supernaturall but true with some speciall allowances Vnum quodque eodem modo dissolvitur quo constituitur Though the constitution and dissolution of the same work include two contrary motions yet the manner or method by which both are wrought is usually the same onely the order is inverted And wee should the better know how man 's first transgression was dissolved by Sonne of God if wee first knew how it was wrought by Satan or wherein the sinne it selfe did properly consist Infidelity or disobedience it could not bee for these are symptomes of sinnes already hatched Whatsoever else it was the first transgression was pride or ambitious desire of independent immortality Now the Sonne of God begun his work where Satan ended his dissoluing this sinne of pride by his unspeakable humility And to take away the guilt of mans disobedience or infidelity which were the symptomes or resultances of his intemperate desires the Sonne of God did humble himselfe to death even to the death of the Crosse reposing himselfe in all his sufferings upon God The first man was the onely Favourite which the King of kings had here on earth the onely creature whom hee had placed as a Prince in Paradise a seat more than royall or monarchicall with hopes of advancement unto heaven it selfe It was a
plot as malicious as cunning in Satan to dispossesse man of his present dignity and to throw him downe from this height of hope to hellish slavery to make him a creature more miserable than the earth water or other inferiour element harboured any Yet was his misery if wee found the very depth of it not commensurable to the excessive measure of his pride The ground or bottome of his pride was lower than the lowest part of the earth as low as nothing the height of it reached above the highest heavens Man who as St. Augustine saith was but terrae filius nihili nepos the sonne of the earth and nephew of nothing Man who if he had looked back to his late beginning might have said to the silly earth-worme Thou art my sister and to every creeping thing Thou art my brother became so forgetfull of his originall that hee sought by the suggestion of Satan to become like his Almighty Creator who out of the same earth had made him so much more excellent than all earthly or sublunary creatures as they were than nothing But let the first mans pride or Satans malice in hatching it and the rest of that sinfull brood receive all the degrees of aggravation which the invention of man can put upon them yet the medicine prepared by the Sonne of God will appeare more ample than the wound is wide and more soveraigne than it is dangerous Satans cunning in working mans fall doth no way equalize the wisdome of the Sonne of God in dissolving this work It is not probable as was observed before that Satan could so farre infatuate the first man as to make him affect to bee every way equall with his God but onely to be like or equall unto him in some prerogative as in the knowledge of good and evill and probable it is hee did desire that his immortality and soveraignty over other creatures might be the one independent and the other supreme Now these and all other branches of pride whereof wee can imagine the humane nature by the Serpents suggestion to be capable are more than countervailed every way over-reached by the first degree of the humiliation of the Sonne of God Hee was not onely like but equall to the Father not in some one or few but in all the prerogatives of the Divine nature Hee was saith the Apostle in the forme of God and therefore thought it no robbery to be equall with God Yet hee vouchsafed to become not like to man onely but truely man more then equall to other men in sorrows and sufferings 3. Whatsoever equality or similitude with God it was at which the first mans pride through incogitancy did aime it was not effected but affected onely by way of triall He could not out of a deliberate choise or setled resolution assure himselfe that hee should become such as hee desired to be But the Sonne of God who was truely God out of unerrable unchangeable infinite wisdome determined with himselfe to become truely man How man whilest man should become more than man truely God neither the wit of man nor the subtilty of the Serpent could have devised although by divine permission or grant they had been enabled to accomplish whatsoever to this purpose they could devise or imagine But the Wisdome and Sonne of God found out a way by which hee might still continue God and yet become as truely man as he was God a way by which the diversity of these two natures might still remaine unconfused without diversity of persons or parties Though mans ambition had reached so high as to aspire from that condition of being wherein God had estated him to bee absolutely equall with God yet his ambition had not been equall to that humiliation which the Son of God did not onely affect but attaine unto For although he became a man of the same nature that Adam was of or any man since hath been yet was he a man of a lower condition of as low condition as any earthly creature could be for as the Psalmist in his person complaines Psal 22.6 Hee became a worme and no man the reproach of men one whom the very abjects amongst men did think they might safely tread upon with scorne 4. For the Sonne of God to bee made man to be made a man of this low estate or condition whencesoever hee had taken his humane substance was a satisfaction all-sufficient to the justice of God for mans pride a dissolution most compleat of the first work that our first Parents suffered the Devill to work in our nature if we respect onely the substance of it But that no part of Satans work no bond or tie of circumstance wherewith hee had intangled our nature might remaine undissolved the Sonne of God was made of a woman and this was to secure the woman or weaker sex that hee came to dissolve the works which Satan had wrought in them For as the Apostle saith The first woman was in the transgression not the man the man at lest not so deepe in the same transgression as the woman Shee alone for ought we reade committed the robbery in taking the forbidden fruit from off the tree her husband was the receipter onely And by swallowing it by the Serpents suggestions shee first conceived and brought forth death without her husbands consent or knowledge Her transgression was twofold Trust or confidence in the Serpents promise want of credence through pride to Gods threatnings To dissolve this work of the Devill so farre as it was peculiar to the woman the Sonne of God was conceived of a woman without the knowledge or consent of man Satan used the Serpent for his proxie to betroth himselfe unto our nature the holy Ghost by the ministery of an Angel winnes the blessed Virgins assent or accord to become the mother of the Sonne of God Seeing the first woman became the mother of sinne whilest shee remained a virgin though then a wife the Sonne of God would have a virgin for his mother yet a virgin wife a virgin affianced to a man And thus as the first woman being not begotten but made of man did accomplish Satans plot in working his fall and corrupting our nature so the Sonne of God being made man of a woman doth dissolve this work by purifying what she had corrupted and by repayring what the first man and woman had undone 5. There is a tradition concerning the Messias conception and his mothers father'd upon an ancient Jewish Rabbin by Petrus Galatinus but as I conjecture rather a Commentary upon his owne fancie or some Monkish Legendary whom hee was pleased to grace The abstract of this Legend with his Cōment upon it is thus There was one special part of Adams bodily substance priviledged from the contagion of the first sin and this propagated by one speciall line unto posterity untill it came to the mother of the Messias who from the vertue of this preserved portion of Adams nature was conceived
triumph 2. Some goe a great way further and would perswade us that the people or multitude being sory that they had so sleighted our Saviours presence or invitations in the last feast of Tabernacles Iohn 7. to which this solemnity of carying branches was at the least originally proper did seeke to redeeme their former neglect and regaine the opportunity of tendring their allegiance unto him not as hee was the Sonne of David onely but as the God of their Fathers who had brought them out of Aegypt into the land of Canaan and redeemed them from Babilonish captivity to honour him with solemne feasts and other services in Jerusalem But that the multitude either all or most or any should have a more distinct explicite apprehension of his Deity or of the great mystery of salvation which hee was now to accomplish then his Disciples and Followers had is very improbable That his very Disciples though Actors in this businesse had no such distinct apprehension of the great mystery imported by this solemnity is unquestionable For S. Iohn upon a distinct review of all the circumstances of this Solemnitie whether congratulatory or precatory or both tells us These things understood not his Disciples at the first but when Iesus was glorified then remembred they that these things were written of him and that they had done these things unto him Chap. 12.16 3. Amongst the things which are written of him this was one that he should be acknowledged and publickely proclaimed for the Sonne of David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the often promised and long expected Messias and Redeemer of the whole world And all this was acknowledged and proclaimed by the multitude as well by the forme of prayer which they used as by their reall congratulations First that the word Hosanna was uttered by way of prayer by the multitude is cleare from that passage in the Psalmist whereunto the word Hosanna with the matters of fact which did accompany it doe referre For so it is agreed upon by all sides that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psalme 118.25 is a solemne and formall prayer Save now I beseech thee O Lord O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperitie to wit unto the Sonne of David and unto his people by him And thus farre at least the apprehension or intention of the people when they cried Hosanna to the Son of David did reach For they thought this was the day which the Lord had made and did therefore rejoyce and were glad in it as in the day of their long expected redemption from the hands of all their enemies As they heard these things he added and spake a parable because he was nigh to Jerusalem and because they thought that the kingdome of God should immediately appeare Luke 19.11 This prenotion that the kingdome of God was now to be manifested did facilitate the assent or obedience as well of the owner of the Asse and the Colt whereon hee rode to Jerusalem as of the Master of the family wherein he did eate his Passeover unto the intimation or direction of our great Lord and Master The one story concerning their present obedience we have Matt. 21.5 The other more at large Luke 22.7 to the 14. Nor did they erre in taking this to be the day of their Redemption but in the confused notion of the enemies from which they were to bee redeemed They expected onely a deliverance from the tyranny of the Romans and other hostile Nations over whom they hoped the Sonne of David should exercise royall and temporall Jurisdiction And it is no wonder if the multitude whether of inhabitants of Jerusalem or strangers which went out to meet him and congratulate his approach did apprehend no more then thus seeing the two Disciples which accompanied him toward Emaus upon the day of his resurrection had no better a notion of the redemption promised then this though even this notion did fleet or vanish after they had seene him put to death Wee trusted that it had been hee which should have redeemed Israel Luke 24.21 This argues that their former trust was for the present extinguished till he by opening the Scriptures unto them did revive and kindle it 4. Againe when they cry Hosanna to the Son of David in the Highest not from heaven this no way argues that their salutation should not be formally precatory especially if Maldonats observation be without exception that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be equivalent according to the Hebrew dialect unto ab excelsis from the highest Heavens However taking the word Hosanna as in its primary signification forasmuch as the Lord send help or grant salvation and the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the native Greek in the highest the naturall meaning or literall expression of the congratulation will amount to this that God would bee pleased to ratifie their petitions for prosperity of the Sonne of David in heaven not doubting but that God so doing his blessings upon him and them might bee established here on earth For so they further expresse themselves in the Psalmists words Blessed bee the King that commeth in the Name of the Lord Peace in heaven and glory in the highest Luk. 19.38 But though Maldonat with other judicious Commentators doe clearely evince this forme of congratulation Hosanna to be precatory yet was Maldonat more to blame then such as thinke it onely to have been congratulatory when hee avoucheth that this solemnity of carying branches of Palms and Olives had no speciall reference to the feast of Tabernacles and more to blame when hee thinketh that the feast of Tabernacles had nihil commune cum Christo no type or figure of this solemnity or that this solemnity did include no Emblematicall acknowledgement or testification that CHRIST JESUS was as truely the Sonne of God as of David as well Davids 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord as his Sonne CHAP. XX. At what time and upon what occasions the 118. Psalme was composed And at what solemne Feast especially used 1 FOr giving such as it may concerne more full satisfaction in the points late handled and for setting forth the sweet harmony betwixt the Propheticall song and the peoples acclamations and cry at this great and last solemne Festivity the best method I can conjecture would bee to make diligent enquiry at what time and upon what occasions the 118. Psalme was first written and at what solemne Feast it was principally used Mollerus a man of commendable paines in this particular search and one who had read very many telleth us that the major part of learned Interpreters whom hee had perused are of opinion that this Psalme was composed by David himselfe upon occasions of his victory over his enemies and freedome from disturbance or danger from the house of Saul upon the death of Ishbosheth And for strengthening this conjecture hee referreth us to the 2. of Sam. 6. And Coppen a most Ingenuous and exact Examiner of such Commentators as he had read seemeth rather
of his purpose that Sathan himself had he beene present could not have reply'd unto it 4 For that 8. Psalme as the Jews cannot deny was composed in honour of the God of Israel that it was also propheticall and to be fulfilled in time is to all Christians apparent from our Apostles allegation of another place to the like purpose Hebrews 2.6 7. of whose fulfilling hereafter The first part of the prophecie that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God their Lord which as hath beene before observed was the peculiar title of God the Sonne or of God to be manifested in the flesh was never punctually fulfilled untill the children cryed Hosanna to the Sonne of David in the Temple In these congratulations they did by divine instinct or disposition of the All-seeing providence proclaim the expected Son of David to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that very God their Lord in whose praise this Psalme was conceived The Babes then did spel the Prophets meaning not amisse But our Saviour and the present circumstances of the time did put their lisping syllables together more rightly and fully answerable to the meaning of the Propheticall vision For so it followeth in the same Psalme that this God their Lord did therefore ordain his praise out of the mouths of babes and sucklings because of his enemies that he might still the Enemie and Avenger Psalme 8.2 And so the malicious Priests and Scribes were put to a Non plus upon our Saviours allegation of this prophecie in justification of himself and of these Infants whose testimonies they sought to elevate and to impute the acceptance of it to his folly Now albeit our Saviour left them at this Non plus for the present yet within a day or two after he putteth the very Pharisees the most learned of them to a greater non plus by another testimony parallel to this of the 8. Psalme While the Pharisees saith S. Matthew were gathered together Iesus asked them saying What think ye of Christ Whose Sonne is he They say unto him The Sonne of David He saith unto them How then doth David in spirit call him Lord saying The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstoole If David then call him Lord how is he his Sonne And no man was able to answer him a word neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions Matth. 22.41 42 c. All this argues a full conviction of their consciences and that unlesse they had suffered their splenatick passions to conquer their consciences for the present or had not hoodwinked their intellectuals with malicious habits of their hearts they must of necessity have confessed as much as the little children in this expression before had done to wit that he was not onely the promised Sonne of David but that the promised Sonne of David was to be Davids Lord this whole peoples God and Lord. For it is observable that David in the beginning of the 110. Psalme saith not Iehova said unto Iehova but Iehova said unto Adonai Sit thou on my right hand not thereby denying that this Adonai was to be Iehova but that he was to be as the Author of the 8. Psalme saith both his God and his Lord It is againe to my present apprehension observable that after Nehemiah had revived the solemnity of the feast of Tabernacles and moved the people to renew the Covenant which their forefathers had made for faithfull observance of Gods Laws given by Moses they nuncupate this their solemn vow unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Lord our God And the rest of the people to wit all besides those who had sealed to the Covenant before with Nehemiah the Priests the Levites the Porters the Singers the Nethinims and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the Lands unto the Law of God their Wives their Sonnes and their Daughters every one having knowledge and understanding They clave to their Brethren their Nobles and entred into a curse and into an oath to walk in Gods Laws which were given by Moses the servant of God and to observe and doe all the Commandements of the Lord our Lord and his judgements and his statutes Nehem. 10.28 29 c. But this solemne vow and Covenant confirmed by oath of keeping Gods Laws was more shamefully broken by this perverse and gainsaying generation then those Laws themselves had been by Antiochus or other Heathen which had never sworne vnto them For the chiefe Priests the Scribes the Elders notwithstanding the former convictions of their consciences hold on to persecute this God their Lord unto whose honour their forefathers had dedicated this vow with greater cruelties and more malicious indignities then Antiochus had used towards the meanest of his people and so at length to bring that curse annexed to the former vow upon themselves and upon their children unto this day 5. Thus much of the Prophecies or foresignifications of his triumphant ingresse into Jerusalem and of his entertainment there untill the Feast of the legall Passeover whose mystery he did accomplish by his death Points not handled either so fully or so punctually as was requisite by any Commentators Postillers or others whom I have read And this hath emboldned me to enlarge my meditations upon this small part of my Comments on the Creed As for the Prophecies types or other foresignifications of what he did or suffered from the time of his sacred Supper untill his resurrection from the dead these have been so plentifully and so punctually handled by many especially by the learned Gerard that much cannot be added without a great deale of superfluous paines And yet I know it will be expected that I say somewhat of this argument SECTION 4. The Evangelicall relations of the indignities done unto our Saviour by sinfull men and of his patience in suffering them respectively prefigured and foretold by the Prophets and other sacred Writers Or a Comment upon the Evangelicall History from the institution of his Supper unto his death and buriall CHAP. XXIII Of the betraying of our Saviour of his apprehension and dismission of his Disciples And how they were foretold or prefigured in the old Testament 1 OF the sweet Harmony betweene the institution occasion and celebration of the legall Passeover and the continuation of the Lords Supper or Sacrament of his body and blood instituted in lieu or rather in remembrance of the accomplishing of it I have in other meditations delivered my minde at large And if if it shall please the Lord God to grant mee life and health what I have either uttered in Sermons or otherwayes conceived concerning this Argument shall be communicated to this Church wherein I live if not to others in the Article of the Catholique Church which did beginne to bee on earth from our Saviours resurrection or from his ascension into heaven and descending of the Holy Ghost At the accomplishment of
surprisall of David and his traine about the same place or not farre beyond it 2. Sam. 17. 4. When I behold my Saviour in that heavie plight and dejected posture described by the Evangelist prostrating himselfe on his knees and face to the earth yet sending out these ejaculations unto heaven Father if it bee possible let this Cup passe from mee Me thinks I see the exquisite accomplishment of the Psalmists complaint charactering his owne wofull case for the present yet by way of prophecie or prefiguration of more just cause which the promised Messias should have of uttering the like complaint who was as hee saw to partake more deeply of his grievances and afflictions though not of his passion or impatience in them For this Sonne of Righteousnesse was willing to suffer with all submission to his heavenly Fathers will whatsoever any of his forerunning shadows had suffered either immediatly from the hand of God or by the violence of men and to suffer them without any token of grudging or impatience The complaint of the Psalmist who did foreshadow the dejected estate of the Sonne of God in that houre of temptation wee have set downe Psalme 38.14 My sinnes are gone over my head and they are like a sore burden too heavy for mee to beare But the heavy burden not of the Psalmists sinnes alone but of the sinnes of the world were now laid upon the Sonne of man in the garden and did deject him to the ground But how patiently soever he did beare or fall downe under this burden yet he stood in need of comfort from heaven as his forerunners in farre lesse anguish had done And if wee would take St. Lukes relation of the Angels comming to support and comfort him in this his weaknesse into serious consideration we may have a briefe yet a most true and punctuall Commentary upon that Prophecie Psalme 8. Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the Angels to wit as he was the Sonne of man though never ceasing to be the Sonne of God For the most valiant Generall that is which stands in need of Support or helpe from his meanest Souldier is for the time being lower then hee is which lends him his hand or helps him up being throwen downe or prostrate Now this our chiefe Leaders Agony and the time betweene his apprehension and his death was the onely time that little while whereof the Psalmist speakes wherein CHRIST JESUS as man was made lower then the Angels lower then the ordinary sonnes of men For hee was as another Psalmist in his Person complaines a worme and no man But immediately after this bitter Agony the strength and vigour of the Sonne of righteousnesse which for a time was eclipsed or overcast with a bloody sweat did breake forth afresh and though in the night time did no lesse dazell and astonish the armed band which came with Iudas to apprehend him then the light which shone at mid-day did S. Paul when he was armed with authority to attach his Followers For immediatly after that Cup which he prayed against was passed from him Hee knowing all things saith St. Iohn that should come upon him went forth and said unto them that came to apprehend him Whom seeke yee They answered him Iesus of Nazareth Iesus saith unto them I am hee And Iudas also which betrayed him stood with them Assoone then as hee had said unto them I am hee they went backward and fell to the ground Then asked hee them againe Whom seeke yee And they said Iesus of Nazareth Iesus answered I have told you that I am hee If therefore yee seek me let these goe their way That the saying might be fulfilled which hee spake Of them which thou gavest mee I have lost none Joh. 18 4 5 6 c. Here was a true document both of his royall and spirituall power of his royall power in that hee could command them to forbeare any violence towards his Disciples yea not to oppose violence offered unto one of their company For Simon Peter as St. Iohn saith having a sword drew it and cut off one of the servants of the high Priests right eare the servants name was Malchus 10 11. verses c. St. Luke recordeth that hee touched his eare and healed him so farre was he from all desire of revenge upon his enemies This was an act of his power spirituall so was that likewise in protecting his Disciples from danger as well of soule as of body For as S. Iohn to my apprehension intimates if they had been put unto the same fiery triall unto which hee himselfe was exposed they had denied him and their former faith Therefore hee commanded his Apprehenders to let them goe their way that the saying might be fulfilled which he spake some few houres before Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none John 18.10 So he had said Iohn 17.11 And now I am no more in the world but these are in the world and I come to thee Holy Father keepe through thine owne Name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are While I was with them in the world I kept them in thy Name those that thou gavest mee I kept and none of them is lost but the sonne of perdition Either Iudas was never one of them whom his Father had given him or at least at this time had given himselfe to his Father the Devill 5 But as one and the same prophecy may be often filled by events much distant in time so may divers prophecies much distant for time be accomplisht in one and the same event in the same point of time as in this dismission of JESUS his Disciples both his owne praediction as Saint Iohn tells us was fulfilled and another prophecy likewise as we may gather from S. Mark or rather from our Saviours exposition recorded by the Evangelist Mark 14. Iesus saith unto them All yee shall be offended because of me this night For it is written I will smite the Shepheard and the sheepe shall be scattered This smiting of the Shepheard was amongst other prophecies both foretold and prefigured as is probable by the death of Iosiah unto which most referr that of Ieremiah Lamen 4.20 The breath of our nose-thrills the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits of whom we said under his shadow we shall live among the heathen Some there are which referr this complaint unto the Captivity of Zedekiah but not so pertinently or considerately as most other of their meditations or observations would occasion the Reader to expect For the Prophet Ieremiah did never conceive such hope of Zedekiah or Iehoiakim as the deepe straine of this particular threne or throb doth import No sonne of good Iosiah was either in life or death such a type of the Lords promised Annointed as himself had beene From the houre of his death untill the return of his people from Babylonish Captivity Jerusalem and Judah did not
any man to death Iohn 18.31 How true or pertinent this answer was I will not here dispute But thus they answered as the same Evangelist there tells us that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled signifying what death he should die and by whom This saying or prophecy of our Saviour to which St. Iohn refers is punctually set downe by S. Matthew 20.17 18 Iesus going up to Ierusalem took the twelve Disciples apart in the way and said unto them Behold we goe up to Ierusalem and the Sonne of man shall be betrayed unto the chief Priests and unto the Scribes and they shall condemne him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucifie him Unto this death of the crosse they brought him by their importunate and subtill sollicitations of Pilat to proceed against him upon another capital crime then they by their pretended law had condemned him for For they pronounc'd him as worthy and guilty of death by their law for blasphemy whereas now before Pilat they frame a new accusation against him for rebellion against Caesar because he profest himself to be King of the Jews as in truth he was for royall pitty and compassion towards them but without any purpose to move the people to take armes or to exercise any royall authority over them or any others upon earth because his kingdome was not of this world 2 Whilest the high Priest and Elders sate as Judges in their owne Councell-house they suborn'd false witnesses against him but whilest they accuse him before Pilat they themselves become the most malicious and falsest witnesses that ever were produced or offered themselves voluntarily to testifie in open Court against any living man in a cause criminall or capitall All these malicious practices against him were clearly foretold by the Psalmist his forerunner in the like sufferings and in particular I take it by David himselfe Psalme 35. False witnesses did arise they laid to my charge things that I knew not They rewarded me evill for good to the spoyling of my soule But as for mee when they were sick my cloathing was sackcloth I humbled my soule with fasting and my prayer returned into mine owne bosome I behaved my selfe as though he had beene my friend or brother I bowed downe heavily as one that mourneth for his mother But in mine adversity they rejoyced c. ver 11 12 13. c. Thus did the Composers of this Psalme and of some others to the like effect complaine every man respectively in their owne persons and upon just occasions And however they did not in their murmuring complaints yet in the causes or occasions of the sufferings they did really prefigure juster occasions more grievous matter of complaint on the behalf of their expected Redeemer And he must have uttered the like complaints in a farre higher straine if he had beene but a meere man not armed with patience or long suffering truly divine The indignities done unto him by Pilat and the Roman Souldiers by Herod and his men of warre were perspicuously foretold by David Psal 2. Why do the Heathens rage and the people imagina vaine thing This parallel between the prophecy of David and the historicall events answering to it not the Apostles onely but other inferiour Disciples did unanimously acknowledge upon the deliverance of Peter and Iohn and the rest of the Apostles from such violence intended against them by the Rulers and Elders of the Jews as had been practised by them upon our Saviour for working of a miracle in his name When they had further threatned them they let them goe finding nothing how they might punish them because of the people for all men glorified God for that which was done For the man was above forty yeares old on whom this miracle of healing was shewne And being let goe they went to their owne company and reported all that the chief Priests and Elders had said unto them And when they heard that they lift up their voice to God with one accord and said Lord thou art God which hast made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is who by the mouth of thy Servant David hast said Why do the heathens rage and the people imagin vaine things The Kings of the Earth stood up and the Rulers were gathered together against the Lord and his Christ For of a truth against thy holy childe JESUS whom thou hast annointed both Herod and Pontius Pilat with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to doe whatsoever thy hand and thy Counsaile determined before to be done Acts 4.21 22. c. 3. All of our Saviours Persecutors whether Jews or Gentiles per dicta facta malè ominata did reade their own doome and the doome of all such unto the worlds end as shall continue the course that they begun The Roman Souldiers clothing him in a purple robe by putting a crown of thornes upon his head and by crying All haile unto the King of the Jews did act that part in jest or comicall merriment which they must one day act in earnest and more then tragicall sorrow For he had sworne it long before That all knees should bow unto him and in that day they which crowned him with thornes shall see him crowned with Majesty and glory Herod in sending him back to Pilat in a white or candid robe did beare witnesse of his innocency and integrity and withall of Herod his fathers scarlet sinnes in putting so many poore Innocents to a bloudy death upon the notice of his Nativitie And as for Pilat and the Roman state by whose authority he was scourged with rods here on earth hee whose seat is in the heavens did even then laugh them to scorne and since hath broken the whole race of Roman Caesars with a rod of iron and dasht them and their Monarchie to pieces like a Potters vessell What more shall be done against these cruell Actors or Abetters of their cruell practices against this King of Kings I leave it wholly with all submission to his sole determination But that the Indignities done unto him by the Jews by the Roman or other heathen Governors and the visible revenge which hath since befalne them were punctually foretold by David Psalme 2. the testimony before cited Acts 4. is a proofe most authentick and most concludent 4. Yet of all the sufferings which he suffered under Pontius Pilat besides the indignities done unto him in the extremities of his paines upon the Crosse at which Pilat was not present the rejection of him by the Jews when this heathen Governor out of a good nature or well meaning policy had proposed him with an infamous theef or murderer was far the worst and doth deserve the indignation of all that loved him And this circumstance is prest home to them by S. Peter Acts 3.13 14. The God of Abraham and of Isack and of Jaacob the God of our Fathers
reverentia nulla opinionum consensio sed quasi in perturbatissimo choro unusquisque diversum canit In coelestibus planetis nulla est dissensio elementa suas sedes tenent unumquodque constitutum sibi officium facit sponsam suam cujus causa omnia facta sunt continua sic dissensione perire labefactari permittis Malósne spiritus seditionis authores atque administros in ditione tua sine ulla reprehensione ita regnare permittes potentemnè illum iniquitatis ducem quem semel dejeceras castra invadere milites tuos spoliare sines Cum hic in hominibus versabaris vocem tuam fugiebant daemones Emitte quaesumus Domine Spiritum tuum qui è pectoribus omnium nomen tuum profitentium malos spiritus magistros intemperantiae avaritiae vanae gloriae libidinum scelerum discordiae abigat Crea in nobis Rex Deus noster cor mundum Spiritum sanctum tuum in pectoribus nostris renova nec Spiritum sanctum tuum auferas à nobis Restitue nobis fructum salutaris sanitatis tuae Spiritu principali corrobora Sponsam Pastoresque ejus Hoc Spiritu reconciliasti coelestia terrestribus hoc formasti ac reduxisti tot linguas tot nationes tam diversa hominum genera in unum corpus Ecclesiae quod corpus eodem Spiritu copulatur capiti Hunc Spiritum si in omnium hominum cordibus renovare digneris tum externae hae quoque miseriae cessabunt aut si non cessaverint ad fructum saltem utilitatemque diligentium te traducentur Siste hanc Domine Iesu confusionem hoc horribile Chaos in ordinem adducito expande Spiritum tuum super aquas malè fluctuantium opinionū Et quia Spiritus tuus qui juxta Prophetae sententiam continet omnia scientiam etiam habet vocis effice ut quemadmodum omnibus qui in domo tua sunt unum lumen unus Baptismus unus Deus una spes unus Spiritus sic unā quoque habeant vocē unam cantilenā unū sonū unā catholicam veritatē profitentes Cum in coelum gloriosè ascendisti demisisti de caelo res preciosissimas dedisti dona hominibus varia munera spiritus divisisti renova Domine de Coelo veterem bonitatem da nunc Ecclesiae labefactatae inclinatae quod illi emergenti exorienti initio dederas Da Principibus Magistratibusque gratiam timoris tui ut ita Rempublicam suam gubernent quasi statim tibi Regi Regum rationem reddituri Da sapientiam semper assistricem illis ut quodcunque optimum factu fuerit animo provideant factis persequantur Da Episcopis tuis donum prophetiae ut sanctas Scripturas non ex suis ingeniis sed tua inspiratione declarent interpretentur Da triplicem illis charitatem quam à Petro requirebas quando illius curae oves tuas commisisti Da Sacerdotibus tuis temperantiae castitatisque amorem Da populo tuo studium sequendi mandata tua promptitudinem obediendi iis quos tu super illos constituisti Ita fiet ut si largitate tua principes ea imperent quae tu praecipis pastores eadem doceant populus utrisque pareat veteris Ecclesiae dignitas tranquillitasque cum ordinis conservatione ad gloriam Nominis tui restorescat Ninivitis pepercisti morti addictis statim ut ad poenitentiam conversi fuerant domum tuam inclinantem jam corruentem despicies quae vice sacci gemitus vice cinerum lachrymas profundit promisisti remissionem conversis ad te at hoc donum tuum est ut quis cum toto corde suo ad te convertatur ut omnis bonitas nostra ad gloriam tuam redundet Tu factor es refice opus tuum quod formasti Tu Redemptor es serva quod emisti Tu Servator es ne sinas perire qui tibi innituntur Tu Dominus es possessor vendica possessionem tuam Tu caput es opem fer membris Tu Rex es da nobis legum tuarum reverentiam Tu princeps pacis es aspira nobis fraternam charitatem Tu Deus miserere supplicum tuorum sis ut beatus Paulus loquitur omnia in omnibus ut universus Ecclesiae tuae chorus consentientibus animis vocibus consonantibus gratias de misericordia inventa agant Patri Filio Spiritui sancto qui pro perfectissimo concordiae exemplo personarum proprietate distinguuntur conjunctione naturae adunantur quibus laus gloria ad omnem aeternitatē Amen LOrd JESUS CHRIST which of thine Almightinesse madest all Creatures both visible and invisible which of thy godly wisdome governest and settest all things in most goodly order which of thine unspeakable goodnes keepest defendest furtherest all things which of thy deep mercy restorest the decaied renewest the fallen raisest the dead vouchsafe we pray thee at last to cast downe thy countenance upon thy welbeloved Spouse the Church but let it be that amiable and mercifull Countenance wherewith thou pacifiest all things in heaven in earth and whatsoever is above heaven and under the earth vouchsafe to cast upon us those tender and pitifull eyes with which thou diddest once behold Peter that great Shepherd of thy Church and forthwith he remembred himself and repented with which eyes thou once diddest view the scattered multitude and wert moved with compassion that for lack of a good Shepherd they wandred as sheep dispersed straied asunder Thou seest O good Shepheard what sundry sorts of Wolves have broken into thy sheep-cotes of whom every one crieth Here is Christ here is Christ so that if it were possible the very perfect persons should be brought into error Thou seest with what winds with what waves with what stormes thy silly ship is tossed thy ship wherein thy little flock is in perill to be drowned And what is now left but that it utterly sink and wee all perish Of this tempest and storme we may thank our own wickednesse and sinfull living we espie it well and confesse it we espy thy righteousnesse and wee bewaile our unrighteousnesse but wee appeale to thy mercy which according to the Psalme of thy Prophet surmounteth all thy works wee have now suffred much punishment being soussed with so many warres consumed with such losses of goods scourged with so many sorts of diseases and pestilences shaken with so many flouds feared with so many strange sights from heaven and yet appeare there no where any haven or Port unto us being thus tired and forlorne among so strange evills but still every day more grievous punishmēts and more seeme to hang over our heads We complaine not of thy sharpnesse most tender Saviour but we espy here also thy mercy forasmuch as much grieuouser plagues we have deserved But O most mercifull Jesu we beseech thee that thou wilt not consider ne weigh what is due for our deservings but rather what becommeth thy mercy without which neither the Angels in heaven can