continuall faithfulnesse in that seruice whereunto they knew him appointed Albeit after all the mighty workes before-mentioned wrought in their presence they had beene bound thereunto the meanest handmaid in that multitude had infallible pledges plenty of his extraordinary calling lockt vp in her own vnerring senses But from the strange yet frequent manifestation of Moses power and fauour with God so great as none besides the great Prophet whom hee prefigured might challenge the like the Lord in his all â—acing wisdome tooke fiâ—te occasion to allure his people unto strict obseruance of what he afterwards solemnly enacted as also in theâ— to forwarne all future generations without expresse warrant of his word not absolutely to belieue any gouernour whomsoeuer in all though of â—ried skill and fidelity in many principal points of his seruice That passage of Scripture wherin the manner of this peoples stipulation is registred well deserues an exact 〈◊〉 of all especially of these circumstances How the Lord by rehearsall of his mighty workes forepassed extorts their promise to doe whatsoeuer should by Moses be commanded them yet will not accept it offered vntill hee haue made them eare-witnesses of his familiarity and communication with him First out of the Mount he called Moses vnto him to deliuer this solemn message vnto the house of Iacob Yee haue seene what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you vpon Eagles wings and haue brought you vnto mee Now therefore if you will heare my voice indeed and keepe my couenant then yee shall bee my chiefe â—easure aboue all people though all the earth be mine After Moses had reported vnto God this answere freely vttered with ioint consent of all the people solemnly assembled before their Elders All that the Lord commanded we will doe was the whole businesse betwixt God and them fully transacted by this Agent in their absence No hee is sent backe to sanctifie the people that they might expect Gods glorious appearance in Mount Sinai to ratifie what he had said vpon the returne of their answere Loâ— I come vnto thee in a thicke cloud that the people may heare whilst I talke with thee and that they may also belieue thee for euer They did not belieue that God had reuealed his word to Moses for the wonders hee had wrought but rather that his wonders were from God because they heard God speake to him yea to themselues For their principall and fundamentall lawes were vttered by God himselfe in their hearing as Moses expresseth These words to wit the Decalogue the Lord spake vnto all your multitude in the mount out of the midst of the fire the cloud and the darkenesse with a great voice and added no more And lest the words which they had heard might soone bee smoothered in fleshly hearts or quickly slide out of their brittle memories the Lord wrote them in two Tables of stone and at their â—ranscription not Moses onely but Aaron Nadab and Abihu with the seuenty Elders of Israel are made spectators of the diuine glory rauished with the sweetnesse of his presence They saw saieth the Text the God of Israel and vnder his feet as it were a worke of a Saphire stone and as the very heauen when it is cleare And vpon the Nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand also they saw God and did eate and drinke After these Tables through Moses anger at the peoples folly and impiety were broken God writes the same words againe and renewes his Couenant before all the people promising vndoubted experience of his diuine assistance 8 Doth Moses after all this call fire from heauen vpon all such as distrust his words Aaron and Miriam openly derogate from his authority which the Lord confirmes againe viua voce descending in the pillar of the cloud conuenting these detractors in the dore of the Tabernacle Wherefore were you not afraid to speake against my seruant euen against Moses Thus the Lord was very angry and departed leauing his marke vpon Miriam cured of her leprosie by Moses instant prayers No maruell if Korah Dathan and Abirams iudgements were so grieuous when their sinne against Moses after so many documents of his high calling could not but bee wilfull as their perseuerance in it after so many admonitions to desist most malitious and obstinate Yet was Moses further countenanced by the appearance of Gods glory vnto all the congregation and his authority further ratified by the strange and fearefull end of these chief malefactors foretold by him and by fire issuing from the Lord to consume their confederates in offering incense vngratefull to their God Tantae molis erat Iudaeam condere gentem So long and great a worke it was to edifie Israel in true faith but without any like miracle or prediction such as neuer saw him neuer heard good of him must belieue the Pope as well as Israel did their Law-giuer that could make the sea to grant him passage the cloudes send bread the windes bring flesh and the hard rocke yeeld drink sufficient for him and all his mighty hoast that could thus call the heauens as witnesses to condemne appoint the earth as executioner of his iudgements vpon the obstinate and rebellious yet after all this hee inflicts no such punishments vpon the doubtfull in faith as the Romish Church doth but rather as is euident out of the places before alleadged confirmes them by commemoration of these late cited and like experiments making Gods fauours past the surest pledges of his assistance in greatest difficulties that could beset them To conclude this people belieued Moses for Gods testimony of him wee may not belieue Gods word without the Popes testimony of it Hee must bee to God as Aaron was to Moses his mouth whereby hee onely speakes distinctly or intelligibly to his people CHAP. VII That the Churches authority was no part of the rule of faith vnto the people after Moses death That by experiments answerable to his precepts and predictions the faithfull without relying vpon the Priests infallible proposals were as certaine both of the diuine truth and true meaning of the law as their forefathers had beene that liued with Moses and saw his miracles 1 TO proceed vnto the ages following Moses How did they know Moses law either indeed to bee Gods word or the true sence and meaning of it being indefinitely knowne for such By tradition Yes By tradition onely No But how at all by tradition As by a ioint part of that rule on which they were finally to relie Rather it was a meane to bring them vnto the due consideration or right application of the written rule which Moses had left them So hard were their hearts with whom this great Law-giuer had first to deale that faith could not take roote in them vnlesse first wrought and subacted by extraordinary signes and wonders but once thus created in them
had that Lycurgus lawes were from Apollo Yet is it here further to be considered that the Israelites might with farre lesse danger haue admitted Moses lawes then wee may the Popes without any examination for diuine seeing there was no written law of God extant before his time whereby his writings were to bee tryed No such charge had been giuen this people as he giues most expresly to this purpose Now therefore hearken O Israel vnto the ordinances and to the Lawes which I teach you to doe that yee may liue and goe in and possesse the land which the Lord God of your fathers giueth you Yee shall put nothing vnto the word which I command you neither shall yee take ought there from that yee may keepe the commandements of the Lord your God which I command you But was the motiue or argument by which hee sought to establish their beliefe or assent vnto these commandements his owne infallible authoritie no but their owne experience of their truth as it followeth Your eyes haue seene what the Lord did because of Baal-Peor For all the men that followed Baal Peor the Lord thy God hath destroyed euerie one from among you but yee that did cleaue vnto the Lord your God are aliue euery one of you this day so gracious and mercifull is our God vnto mankind and so farre from exacting this blind obedience which the Pope doth chalenge that hee would haue his written word established in the fresh memory of his mighty wonders wrought vpon Pharaoh and all his host The experiment of their deliuerance by Moses had beene a strong motiue to haue perswaded them to admit of his doctrine for infallible or at the least to haue beleeued him in his particular promises When the snares of death had compassed them about on euery side they see no way but one or rather two ineuitable wayes to present death and destruction the red sea before them and a mighty host of bloud behind them the one seruing as a glasse to represent the cruelty of the other they as who in their case would not cry out for feare He that could haue foretold their strange deliuerance from this eminent danger might haue gotten the opinion of a God amongst the Heathen yet Moses confidently promiseth them euen in the middest of this perplexity the vtter destruction of the destroyer whom they feared Feare yee not stand still and behold the saluation of the Lord which he will shew to you this day for the Egyptians whom you haue seene this day you shall neuer see againe The Lord shall fight for you therefore hold you your peace Notwithstanding all this Moses neuer enacts this absolute obedience to be belieued in all that euer he shall say or speake vnto them without farther examination or euident experiment of his doctrine For God requires not this of any man no not of those to whome hee spake face to face alwayes ready to feed such as call vpon him with infallible signes and pledges of the truth of his promises For this reason the waters of Marah are sweetned at Moses prayer And God vpon this new experiment of his power and goodnes takes occasion to reestablish his former couenant vsing this semblable euent as a further earnest of his sweet promises to them If thou wilt diligently hearken O Israel vnto the voice of the Lord thy God and wilt doe that which is right in his sight and wilt giue eare vnto his commandements and keepe all his ordinances then will I put none of these diseases vpon thee which I brought vpon the Egyptians for I am the Lord that healeth thee As if hee had said This healing of the bitter waters shall bee a token to thee of my power in healing thee Yet for all this they distrust Gods promises for their foode as it followeth cap 16. Nor doth Moses seeke to force their assent by fearefull anathemaes or sudden destruction but of some principall offenders herein For God will not haue true faith thunderblasted in the tender blade but rather nourished by continuance of such sweet experiments for this reason he shewers down Manna from heauen I haue heard the murmuring of the children of Israel tell them therefore and say At euening ye shall eat flesh and in the morning you shall be filled with bread and yee shall know that I am the Lord your God For besides the miraculous manner of prouiding both Quailes and Manna for them the manner of nourishment by Manna did witnesse the truth of Gods word vnto them They had been vsed to grosse and solid meates such as did fil their stomackes and distend their bellies whereas Manna was in substance slender but gaue strength and vigour to their bodies and serued as an embleme of their spirituall food which being inuisible yet gaue life more excellently then these grosse and solid matters did So saith Moses Therefore hee humbled thee and made thee hungry and fed thee with Manna which thou knewest not neither did thy Fathers know it that he might teach thee that man liueth not by bread onely but by euery word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord. 6 Yet in their distresse so fraile is our faith vntill it be strengthned by continuall experiments they doubt and tempt the Lord saying Is the Lord amongst vs or no Nor doth Moses interpose his infallible authority or charge them to belieue him against their experience of their present thirst vnder pain of eternall damnation or sufferance of greater thirst in hell such threates without better instruction in Gods word and the comfort of his spirit may bring distrusts or doubts to vtter despaire and cause faith to wither where it was wel nigh ripe they neuer ripen strengthē any true and liuely faith Moses himselfe is faine to crie vnto the Lord saying What shall I doe vnto this people for thy be almost readie to stone me As the Papists would doe to the Pope were hee to conduct them through the wildernesse in such extremity of thirst able to giue them no better assurance of his fauor with God then his Anathemaes or feed them onely with his Court-holy-water or blessings of mind But euen here againe God feedes Israels faith with waters issuing out of the rocke making themselues eye-witnesses of all his wonders that so they might belieue his wordes and promises nay himselfe from their owne sense and feeling of his goodnesse and truth of his word 7 Though no Law-giuer or Gouernour whether temporal or spirituall especially whose calling was but ordinary could possibly before or since so well deserue of the people committed to his guidance as this great General already had done of al the host of Israel were they vpon this consideration forthwith to belieue whatsoeuer hee should auouch without further examination signe or token of his fauour with God without assured experience or at the least more then probable presumptions of his
mans mind is sometimes more accustomed to shew more then seauen Watchmen that sit aboue in an high Tower And aboue all this pray to the most High that he will direct thy way in truth Had they thus done without partiality to their corrupt affections or without all respect of persons in which Christian faith cannot bee had Moses law had beene a lanterne vnto their feet for the discerning of true Prophets and those discerned had beene a light vnto latter ages for discerning the true Messias 6 The euidence of this truth not without cause so often inculcated will better appeare if wee consider â—ow most propheticall predictions of particular alterations were but determinations of Mosaicall generalities out of which they grow as branches out of the stocke As for example The Lord told Moses before his death and he gaue it to Israel for a song to be copied out by all That when they went a whoring after the Gods of a strange land forsaking him he would forsake them and hide his face from them After Ieâ—oiadahs death Zechariah his sonne seeing the Princes of Iudah leauing the house of the Lord to serue Groues and Idols albeit hee were moued as the Text saith by the spirit of God yet onely applies Moses generall prediction to the present times Thus saith God Why transgresse yee the commandement of the Lord Surely yee shall not prosper because yee haue forsakeu the Lord he also will forsake you Saint Paul himselfe vseth his own aduise not the Lords authority in such points as were not euidently contained in Moses law Vnto the married command not I but the Lord Let not the wife depart from her husband for so Moses had expresly commanded But to the Remnant I speake not the Lord If any brother haue a wife that belieueth not if shee be content to dwell with him let him not forsake her And againe concerning Virgins I haue no commandement of the Lord but I giue mine aduise as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithfull This was his iudgement and as he thought warranted by the spirit of God yet hee prescribes it not as a generall rule of faith to all but rather leaues euery man to bee ruled by his conscience and the analogie of Moses law So likewise though God vse an extraordinary reuelation to instruct Saint Peter in the free vse of meates forbidden by Moses yet hee perswades him it by manifesting the true meaning of another clause of the same law for what hee vttered vpon this instruction and the experiment answerable thereto was but a further specification of what Moses had said I perceiue of a truth saith S. Peter that God is no accepter of persons Moses had said The Lord your God is God of Gods and Lord of Lords a great God mighty and terrible which accepteth no persons nor taketh reward who doth right vnto the fatherlesse and widdow and loueth the stranger giuing him sood and rayment 7 These passages sufficiently enforme vs that the extraordinary spirit wherewith the Apostles themselues were aboue the measure of Gods former messengers inspired oftimes onely made the stems whether of the tree of life or of knowledge planted by Moses to blow and flourish in them by little and little after the manner of naturall growth it did not alwayes bring forth new ones in an instant as the earth did at the first creation Much more vsually did prophesies during the standing of the first temple spring out of Mosaicall predictions If wee compare his writings with latter prophesies not long before the Babylonish captiuity though hee had departed this life before their fathers entred into the land of promise yet hee speakes vnto this last generation as an intelligencer from a farre Country that great preparation was made against them but who should bee the executioners or managers of mischiefe intended hee leaues that to such Prophets as the Lord should raise them vp for the present Ieremy and Ezechiel vpon his admonition following his direction are sent by God as it were to scowre the coast to discrie when the Nauy comes for what Coast it is bound and how neare at hand Here had the people faithfully examined their hearts by Moses law whether not guilty of such sinnes as deserued the plagues threatned by him they had quickly assented vnto Moses writings and the Prophets words For as consciousnesse of their sinnes in generall might cause them feare some plague or other indefinitely threatned by their Lawgiuer whose writings they best belieued so might the diligent obseruation of their particular transgressions and their progresse in them haue taught them to presage the determinate manner of their plagues and punishments foretold by the present Prophet For God in his vsuall course of iustice so suites his punishments to the most accustomary habits or predominant sinnes as vnto men religiously obseruant of times and seasons the growth and processe of the one will giue a certaine crisis of the other Besides euery age hath peculiar signes subordinate to the generall predictions of good or euill foretold by Gods messengers whereby the faithfull learne to know the day of their visitation and as Salomon saith to hide themselues in latibulo altissimi from the plague if not by their hearty repentance godly prayers and religious endeauors to preuent it And because wee in this age are not so well acquainted with the particular signes of former times wherein true Prophets liued it is hard for any liuing now though easie to all the faithfull then to giue any certaine or particular rule how the truth of their prophesies might haue beene at least probably knowne before the euent did finally and absolutely approue them Would to God wee could discerne the signes of times present and the Lord of his infinit mercy giue vs grace to know the day of our visitation But of this argument elsewhere by Gods assistance It shall suffice in the next place to shew that our Sauiours doctrine was by the same meanes to be discerued CHAP. X. That the Soueraignety giuen by Iesuites to the Pope is greater then our Sauiours was 1 IT is a Rule in Diuinity whatsoeuer can rightly be conceiued as an absolute perfection hath reall existence in the Almighty From this notion of the Deity swimming in the braines of such as in heart deed make the Pope their Lord God doe the parties thus affected vsually take whatsoeuer power might possibly be deligated by God to any as actually granted vnto his holinesse And thus I imagine some Iesuite or other when hee shall bethinke himselfe will except against our disputes in this present cause Deny you cannot that God can and what if hee should expresly grant such authority as the Pope now challengeth would your arguments conclude him to bee Antichrist or the doctrine we teach to be blasphemous On the contrary seeing our Sauiour Christ did neuer either practise or challenge seeing neither Moses
to erect the euerlasting kingdome foretolde by Daniel vnto whose and other prophesies he referres his enemies in that speech But if I by the spirit or as Saint Luke reades by the singer of God cast out Diuels then is the Kingdome of God come vnto you Yet were not all his miracles of this kind thus considered so effectuall to confirme the faithfull or so pregnant to condemne all vnbelieuers as the former rule of Moses For this cause after the former dispute ended he gaue his aduersaries such a signe as if it did follow would infallibly proue him to bee that great Prophet Moses there speakes of and consequently leaue them lyable to Gods heauy iudgement without excuse for not hearkning vnto him Of which hereafter 6 Here I may once for all conclude that the power of doing miracles was as effectuall to assure such as did them of saluation as sight of them done was to establish spectators in sauing faith But the power of casting Diuels out or doing greatest miracles was no infallible pledge of saluation to such as did them much lesse could the acknowledgement of this diuine power in them breede full assurance of true faith in others but onely serue as a meanes to cause them relie vpon the Law and Prophets as their onely rule and to taste and proue the bread of life proffered to them by our Sauiour which alone could ascertaine them by their names were written in the booke of life But to proceede by the former rule 7 If others by experiments answerable to it were knowne to bee true Prophets Christ likewise by his knowne supereminency in that which approued them was to be acknowledged for the Prince of Prophets Now if wee reuise the historie of the olde Testament how few Prophets shall wee finde endowed with the gift of miracles such as were did exercise their power rather among Idolaters then true professors So when Gods messengers were brought to as open competition with Baals Priests in the King of Israels as Moses had beene with the Enchanters in Pharaohs Court Elias makes his calling as cleare as the light by calling downe fire from heauen which Baals Priests attempting in most furious manner could not effect but Elias professed thus much before as Baals Priests no question had done so as the euent answering to his prediction not to the others did by Moses rule demonstrate him to be them not to be Prophets of the liuing God But when the like controuersie was to be tried betweene Zidkiah and his foure hundred complices on the one part and Michaiah on the other before king Ahab in whom Elias late miracles and later threates had wrought such a distast of Baal and such a liking of the truth in generall as hee would not consult either any professed seruant of the one or open oppugner of the other for his future successe Michaiah as was obserued before appeales to this law of Moses as most competent Iudge betweene such as iointly did embrace it If thou returne in peace the Lord hath not spoken by me as if he had said what Moses there doth hee hath not put his word in my mouth And hauing brought his controuersie to this triall he desires the people to contestate the issue thus ioyned and hee said hearken all yee people From this and many like cases ruled by the former expresse and pregnant law of Moses Ieremy pleades his warrant being born downe by the contradictions of Hananiah a professed Prophet of the Lord as hee was but of greater fauour in the Court because hee prophesied peace vnto the present state and good successe to the Proiects then on foot Euen the Propeth Ieremiah said So be it the Lord so doe the Lord confirme thy words which thou hast prophesied to restore the vessels of the Lords house and all that is carried Captiue from Babel into this place But heare thou now this word that I will speake in thine eares and in the eares of all the people The Prophets that haue beene before mee and before thee in times past prophesied against many Countries and against great kingdomes of warre and of plagues and of pestilence And the Prophet which prophesieth of peace when the word of the Prophet shall come to passe then shall the Prophet bee knowne that the Lord hath truly sent him Ezechiel likewise referres himselfe to the same triall amongst such as were professed hearers of the word in generall which they would not obey in particular And loe thou art vnto them as a iesting song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can sing well for they heare thy words and doe them not And when this commeth to passe for loe it will come then shall they know that a Prophet hath beene among them 8 From these debatements we may gather in what cases the former rule held for certaine First negatiuely it was vniuersally true for hee that prophesied any thing which came not to passe did sufficiently proue himselfe to bee no true Prophet but a counterfeit So did not euery prediction of what afterwardes came to passe necessarily argue it to haue beene from God Yet as the force and vertue of many things not such of themselues became euident from vicinity or irriation of their contraries so though God permitted some to foretell strange euents for triall of his peoples faith yet this power hee restrained when the controuersie came to a former triall then hee caused the true Prophets words to stand whiles the predictions of the false and the Princes bloud which relied vpon them fell to the ground like Dagon before the Arke So as the fulfilling of what the one and frustrating of what the other had said did sufficiently manifest the one had spoken of himselfe presumptuously the other what the Lord had put into his mouth Hence is the determination easie what meanes this people had to discern amongst true Prophets which was that Great one in all things like to Moses First if euents foretold did sufficiently testifie of his diuine spirit his owne witnesse of himselfe would bee authentike because a true Prophet could hardly lie or make himselfe greater then he was This is an argument which directly confutes such as acknowledge Christ to haue been a Prophet sincere in doctrine mighty in deedes and yet denie him to be the Prince of that profession the great mediator of the new Couenant both which hee often auouched Besides the quantity of that spirit whose sincere quality manifested him to bee a Prophet would notifie his excessiue Greatnesse in that ranke and order or more directly to the question 9 The great Prophet there spoken of was to be knowne by his similitude with Moses who was as the symbole or proportional meane betweene him and lesser Prophets Others in these few gifts wherein they resembled their father came farre short of him Christ in all farre exceeded him Others were all of Iacobs line raised vp by
Gods appointment so to instruct their brethren in doubtfull cases as they should not need to consult sorcerers or entertaine familiarity with wicked spirits Christ to omit the eminency of his Propheticall function till hereafter besides this common fraternity with his people was in more especiall manner Abrahams seed and in particular sort raised vp by Iehouah his God by intrinsique assumption into the vnitie of his person not by externall assistance or impulsion of his spirit Raised likewise hee was in a strict and proper sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from amid this people being as it were extracted out of the pure virgin as the first woman was out of the man by Iehouahs owne immediate hand from his craddle to his crosse most exactly answering to that delineation of the Great Prophet and Mediatour to bee reuealed which was exhibited first in Moses when hee stood before the Lord in Horeb his strange deliuerance from Herodian butcherie whiles al the Infant males besides did perish was fully parallel to the others exemption from Pharaohs cruelty like to Moses hee was in the number of his Disciples in communication of his spirit vnto them in admitting them to more speciall participation of his secrets in the peculiar testifications of his familiarity with God in his fasting in his transfiguration in multitude of miracles But these and the like I leaue to the Readers obseruation 10 The peculiar and proper vndoubted notes of the great Prophet there spoken of will bee most conspicuous in our Sauiour if we compare him first with Moses then with ordinary Prophets according to that difference the Lord himself made between these and Moses If there be a Prophet of the Lord among you I will bee knowne to him by a vision and will speake vnto him by dreame My seruant Moses is not so who is faithfull in all mine house Vnto him will I speake mouth to month and by vision not in darke words but he shall see the similitude of the Lord. Wherefore then were yee not afraide to speake against my seruant euen against Moses It is said signanter he should see the similitude of God not God for as the Euangelist saith No man hath seene God at any time so was it told Moses from the Lords owne mouth that hee could not see his face and liue Yet saw this great Prophet more of God then all the Prophets beside Herein then was Christ like vnto him but farre aboue him that hee was in the bosome of his father not admitted to see his backe parts onely and hath declared him to the world Moses from the abundance of his Propheticall spirit so perfectly foretold the perpetuall estate of his people from the Law giuen to the time of their Messias as the best Prophets may seeme to be but his schollers From participation of that fulnes which was in Christ hath that Disciple whom hee loued farre exceeded Moses as well in the extent waight and variety of matters foretold as in the determinate manner of foretelling them And I know not whether if it were possible to call both Christ and Moses from heauen their presence though more glorious then it was vpon Mount Tabor would be more forcible to illuminate the Iew or Atheist then serious reading the bookes of Deutoronomy and the Reuelation comparing the one with the Iewes known misery the other with Ecclesiasticall Stories the late abominations of the Papacy and Romanists more then Iewish blindnesse The one shewes Moses to haue been the father of Prophets the other Christ from whose immensurable fulnesse Iohn had that extraordinary measur of the spirit to bee the fountaine of Prophesies whose supereminencies and inexhaustible fulnesse may yet bee made more apparent by comparing him not with Moses the symbole or meane but with the other extreame to witte the ranke of lesser Prophets 11 It is rightly obserued by the Schoolemen Lumen Propheticum erat aliqualiter aenigmaticum these ordinary Prophets illuminations were not so euident or distinct as certaine they discerned rather the proportion then featur of truth which they saw but as it were through the couer or in the case not in it self And albeit the euent did alwayes proue their answeres true oftimes in an vnexpected sence yet could they not alwayes giue such answeres when they pleased Nor did the light of Gods countenance perpetually reside vpon them as the Sunnes brightnesse doth by reflexion vpon the starres they had their vicissitude of day and night dayly Eclipses ouercastings many their chiefe illuminations came but as it were by flashes Thus Ieremy in the late cited controuersie dares not aduenture to giue the people a sign for confirmation of his doctrine or other more distinct or determinate prediction besides that of the generall euent about which the contention was That hee knew because the Lord had put it into his mouth would in the end condemne his aduersarie of presumption But after Hananiah had outfaced him with a sensible signe of his owne making breaking the yoake which he had taken from Ieremiahs necke on which the Lord had put it and boldly auouched in the presence of all the people Thus saith the Lord euen so will I breake the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babel from the necke of all nations within the space of two yeeres the word of the Lord came vnto Ieremiah again and sends him backe with this message to his aduersarie Heare now Hananiah the Lord hath not sent thee but thou makest this people to trust in a lie Therefore thus saieth the Lord Behold I will cast thee from off the earth this yeere thou shalt die because thou hast spoken rebelliously against the Lord. So Hananiah the Prophet died the same yeere in the seuenth moneth Not long after this euent were both Prince and people of Iudah rooted out of the land the Lord had giuen them because contrary to Moses admonition they reuerenced the Prophet that spake presumptuously and would not hearken vnto the words which the Lord had put in Ieremiahs mouth Elisha likewise to whom Elias had giuen a double portion of his spirit in respect of his fellowes of all the Prophets vnlesse Elias might be excepted most famous for the gift of miracles a liuely type of the Messias in raysing from death and giuing life had his spirit of Diuination but by fittes and needed Musicke to tune his spirites vnto it He gaue the barren Shunamite a sonne of whose death notwithstanding hee knew not as the Lord of life did of Lazarus in his absence nor ruled hee by her vnusuall gesture or strange signes of sorrow distinctly diuine the true cause of her comming onely when Gehezi went to thrust her away he said as much as hee knew Let her alone for her soule is vexed within her and the Lord hath hid it frō me and hath not told it me 12 But from the perpetuall and internall irradiation of the Deitie bodily or personally
Christ * Numb 11. 16. vid. 8 Luk. 10. v. 1. c. * So Exoduâ— 24. God commands Moses to come vp to the Lord in the Mount with Aaron Nadab and Abihu and 70. of the Elders of Israel which were to worship a farre off while Moses himselfe alone went neer vnto the Lord so saith S. Peter God caused Christ to bee shewed openly not to all the people but to the witnesses chosen before of God to such as did eat and drinke with him after he arose from the dead His Disciples aloâ— were present when God called Christ into heauenly places v. Exod. 24. v. 10. 11. b The excellency of the great Prophet in respect of Moses gathered from the difference betwixt Moses and the lesser Prophets * Numb 12. v. 6. 7. 8. * Iohn 1. ver 18. The gift of prophesie not habituall to ordinary Prophets * Ier. 28. Ier. 28. v. 10. 12. * Ver. 12. 15. 16 * 2. King 4. v. 2â— Iohn Baptist more then a Prophet from the vicinity of the great Prophet a Ioh. 11. v. 29. * Iohn 1. 33. See the stimulator chap. 10. Parog 5. * Iohn 10. v. 40. 41. 42. * Isai 40. v. 3. The matter of our Sauiours predictions compared with the precedent prophesies of him declare his Godhead * Isaiah 42. v. 8. 9. * Iohn 3. v. 5. Our Sauiours arbitrary discouery of secrets and predictions of futures contingent fully consonant to the receiued notions of the Messias * Iohn 1. v. 49. * Ver. 50. 51. * Gen 28. v. 12. 13. 19. * Ioh. 4. v. 25. * Ver. 29. * Ver. 42. b Iohn 16. v. 30. Our Sauiours Disciples and Apostles did according to his instructions more rely vpon his predictions then his miracles * Ioh. 2. v. 22. * Iohn 14. 29. * Iohn 16. ver 4 Foretelling the fulfilling of that Scripture He that eateth bread with me hath lift vp his heele against mee in Iudas hee gaue this generall rule from henceforth tell I you before it come that when it is come to passe yee might belieue that I am He Iohn 13. v. 19. * Iohn 12. v 28 * Marc. 9. v. 1. Math. 16. v. 28. Luk. 9. 27. 2. Pet. 1. 17. * Mark 9. v. 7 Luk. 9. v. 35 Math. 17. v. 5. * Iohn 12. v. 30. Our Sauiour in his last conâ—erence with the Iewes proclaimes himselfe to bee the great Prophet foretolde by Moses * Iohn 12. v. 44. * Iohn 12. ver 48 * Deut. 18. v. 19 * Iohn 12. v. 49. 50. a Deut. 18. v. 18. Our Sauiours propheticall spirit gaue life to his miracles though his miracles were good preparatiues to beleefe a Iohn 12. v. 37. a Iohn 14. v. 10 * Iohn 12. ver 32. The peculiar similitude between Christ Moses in the office of mediation * Deut. 18. v. 15 16. * Deut. 5. v. 28. 29. a Vide lib. 1. part 2. Sect. 3. cap. 11. Parag. 8. 9. 10. Heb 3 v. 3. * Deut. 18. v. 18. * Deut. 18. v. 18. d Heb. 10 ver 28 20. * Deut. 24. v. 10. The chiefe grounds of Moses disswading Israel for soâ—ceâ—y was their expectation of the great Prophet * Deut. 18. v. 14. * cap. 1. * Num. 23. v. 22. * God brought him out of Egypt his streÌ„gth shall be as an Vnicorne He shall eate the Nations his enemies and bruise their bones shoot them thorow with his arrows He coucheth lieth downe as a young Lion as a Lion who shall stirre him vp Blessed is he that blesseth thee and cursed is he that curseth thee I shall see him but not now I shall behold him but not neere There shall come a starre of Iacob and a scepter shall rise of Israell and shall smite the coasts of Moah and destroy all the sonnes of Sheth And Edom shall be possessed and Seir shall be a possession to their enemies but Israell shall do valiantly He also that shall haue dominion shall be of Iacob and shall destroy the remnant of the Citie Num. 24. v. 8. 9. 17. 18. 19. * That our Sauiours authoritie might haue been and was more manifestly proued out of Moses and the Prophets to the ancient then it can be to the moderne Iewes altogether vnacquainted with the right manner of interpreting prophecies or such common notions or traditions as the Scribes and Pharises had in our Sauiours time a Exod. 4. v. 13 b Iohn 1. v. 20. 21. * Some interpreters obserue that S. Iohn doth purposely insert these words Now they which were sent were of the Pharisees Ioh. 1. ver 24. though other Euangelists call them onlie Leuites to notifie vnto vs that this was a traditioÌ„ known vnto that sect c Ioh. 1. ver 25. d ver 31. e Mat. 3. ve 11. f Ioel 2. 28. g Ex. 13. 21. 22. h 1. Cor. 10. 1. 2. Our Sauiours prediction of his death and resurrection was that which according to Moses prophesie did most condemne the Iewes a Mat. 27. v. 63. b Mat 12. v. 39. Math. 16. v. 14 a Act. 13. v. 27. b Luk. 16. v. 31. c Act. 13. 33. Psal 2. v. 7 d Act. 3. 26. e Ve 3. â—r 2â— * Deut. 18. 15. a Act. 26. 26. c Math. 27. 64. d Isaiah 51. v. 1. e Isai 53. v. 8. 9. f Heb. 11. 12. a Act 3. ver 23. For it shal be that euery person which shall not neare that Prophet shal be destroyed out of the people a Luk. 24. 25. b Luk. 24. 27. c v. 32. a Ioh. 5. 34. 32. b A briefe suruey of the mouth of blasphemies spokeÌ„ of by S. Iohn The chiefe arguments brought by Romish Writers to proue the excellency of their church directly contrarie to the principles of Sense Nature c Isa â— â—â—er 13. * Reuel 13. v. 4. 6. 7. * Pet. 2. c. 1. v. 14. a 2. Pet. 1. 14. * 2. Pet. 1. 16. * 2. Pet. 1. 17. * 2. Pet. 1. v. 16. * Vide lib. 2â— Sect 2. cap 5. Parag. 6. a 2. Pet. 1. v. 19. b Propheticall predictions of Christ surer grounds of faith then the liue testimonies of the Apostles that had seene Christ and conuersed with him Amplectendus est Commentarius qui interpretatur in hunc modum habemus sirmiorem id est certiorem compertioreÌ„ rationem Id enim temporis sermo Propheticorum spectatior erat latius receptus quaÌ„ sermo Apostolorum EuangelistariuÌ„ Sasbout in hunc locum 2. Pet. 1. v. 19. * Cum tam serio ac grauiter admonuit beatus Petrius vt hoc inprimis intelligeremus quod omnis inquit Prophetia scripturae propria interpretatione non fit 2. Pet. 1. ali quid è tribus significare voluit nempe 1. aut non posse vllo modo scilicet certo vel prohabili exponi scripturaÌ„ propria industia ingenio Aut. 2. non posse certo quideÌ„ exponi vnum aut alterum scripturae locum ex ingenio proprio sine collatione alioruÌ„ scripturae
most part make profession of Yet such is the brittlenesse of the matter they are to worke vpon in this controuersie that were all the Priests and Iesuites harboured within the confines of great Brittaine at this present day but enioyned to write all they could to any purpose in defence of their Mother some few Artists of those Vniuersities which out of their pride they seeme to vilifie amongst the ignorant would I dare not say make them blush for sooner might they make a black-moores face of the same colour with his teeth but as many of their fauourers of this Kingdome as haue not sworne allegeance to the Church of Rome and are able to examine an argument to bee ashamed on their behalfe euen to acknowledge that for ought these Mounte-bankes could say or write in their defence the Positions maintayned by their Masters forraine Iesuites were indeed idolatrous and blasphemous howbeit the Church it selfe wee must beleeue could neuer bee vanquished because no man can tell where or in what shape to finde it Nor neede yong Artists feare the countenance of antiquitie in this point from which their enemies supplies are so slender that would they come to open triall and bring only such of the Fathers for their seconds as liued within fiue hundred yeares of Christ or before the mixture of Romish Religion with Heathenisme not fully effected till a little after that time the paucitie of those whose aide they durst solicit in respect of that great armie which is as resolute as wee against them would make them instantly either yeeld themselues or forsake the field Nor haue they beene hitherto able to addresse any answere but to their shame to the Worthies of the English Church whose labours haue made the conquest in this quarrell easie to any of their successors that will aduenture to follow their steps Nothing remaines but what best becomes the exercise of yong wits to exceede the sophisticall disputes of Iesuites against the truth in copiousnesse of irrefragable demonstrations that the allegeance they seeke to establish vnto the Romish Church is solemne apostasie from Christ that the beliefe of it is the very abstract of sorcerie the vtmost degree of Antichristianisme that can bee expected These and like points being fortified by strength of argument in the time of your Regencie or fare-well to the studie of Artes might bee polished at your better leisure afterwards to be reuised and published at the appointment of authoritie Or if the zeale of Gods glorie thus mightily eclipsed by this foule Idoll of the Romish Church doe not as yet so fully moue you yet that indignation which first wrought a desire in mee of giuing this onset should worke me thinks in euery heart that beares any sparkle of loue vnto his natiue Countrie For what indignitie is it to thinke that whilst our gracious Soueraigne is a most zealous Professor and Defendor of the truth we teach so many of his naturall subiects our Countrimen and Brethren should bee wonne vnto the Romish faction especially by importunate inculcating two heresies of all maintayned by that Church in themselues most sottishly improbable and yet apparently most damnable Idolaters in their consequences if erroneous I meane this concerning their Churches absolute priuiledge from all errour and that other of Christs reall presence in the Sacrament by transubstantiation It cannot againe but adde much to our griefe and indignation if we call to minde how when the chiefe Gouernour and publique authoritie of this Land were for them subscription was not vrged vpon such violent and bloudie termes vnto any articles of their Religion as vnto that of reall presence The mysterie of which iniquitie cannot better bee resolued then into the powerfull and deceitfull working of Satan thus delighting to despite our Lord and Sauiour by seducing his professed subiects vnto the highest and most desperate kinde of rebellion he could imagine vpon the least occasions and shallowest reasons For such is their madnesse in that other point as hath beene shewed in this Not one inconuenience they can obiect to our opinion but may be demonstrated against theirs not any fruits of godlinesse they can pretend but our doctrine more directly brings forth then theirs could though we did admit it for true For to what other purpose such a presence as they imagine should serue them saue only to countenance those desperate Idolatrous practices and litourges of Satan touched by the way in some parts of these discourses is inexplicable as shall be shewed more at large without depriuing that heauenly mysterie of any solemnitie of deuotion due vnto it in the vnfolding of that controuersie Yours in Christ Iesus THOMAS IACKSON A Table of Scriptures expounded or illustrated by obseruations in this third Booke of COMMENTARIES Out of the old Testament Exodus 4 13 SEnd I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou shouldest send Sect. 3. Chap. 11. Paragraph 20. 14 13 Feare ye not stand still and behold the saluation of the Lord. sec 3. c. 6. par 5. 15 26 If thou wilt diligently hearken O Israel vnto the voice of the Lord thy God c. ibid. 17 7 Is the Lord among vs or no ibid. p. 7. 16 12 I haue heard the murmurings of the children of Israel ibid. 19 4 Yee haue seene what I did vnto the Aegyptians c. ibid. p. 7. 20 10 In it thou shalt doe no maÌ„ner of worke c. sec 3. c. 1. p. 8 24 10 They said the God of Israel sect 3. c. 6. par 5. p. 7 24 9 Then went vp Moses and Aaron sect 3. c. 11. par 10 28 30 Also thou shalt put in the breast-plate of iudgment the Vrim and the Thummim c. sect 3. c. 1. p. 2. 3. Leviticus 10 9 THou shalt not drinke wine nor stroÌ„g drinke c. sect 3. c. 1. p. 5. Numbers 11 16 GAther vnto mee seuentie men of the Elders of Israel sect 3. c. 11. p. 9. 12 6 If there be a Prophet of the Lord among you c. ibid. par 10. 23 22 God brought them out of Aegypt their strength is an an Vnicorne c. ibid. par 20. 27 21 And he shal stand before Eleazar the Priest c. sect 3. c. 1. p. 3. Deuteronomie 11 29 WHen the LORD thy GOD therefore hath brought thee into the Land whither c. sect 3 c. 7 p. 4 4 1 2 Now therefore hearken O Israel vnto the ordinaÌ„ces c. sect 3 c. 6 p 5 4 â—9 Take heede to thy selfe keep thy soule diligently that thou forget not c. sec 3 c. 7 p. 6 5 22 These words the Lord spake vnto all your multitude in the Mount c. sect c. 6 p. 7. 5. 28 29 I haue heard the voice of the words of this people sect 3 c. 11 p. 18 10 17 The Lord your God is God of Gods and Lord of Lords c. sec 3 c. 9 p. 6 11 2 Consider this day for I speake not vnto your children
c. sect 3 c. 7 p. 2 11 13 If yee shall hearken therefore to my cōmandements c. ibid. p. 4. 11 18 Therefore shal you lay vp these my words in your harts and in your soules c. ibid. p. 2. 11 19 And yee shall teach them your children c. ibid. 11 22 For if you keepe diligently all these cōmandements c. ibid. 11 26 Behold I set before you this day a blessing a curse c. ibid. p. 4. 18 15 The Lord thy GOD will raise vp thee a Prophet like vnto me c. sect 3 c. 11 p. 1 18 15 19 Vnto him shall yee hearken according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord c. sec 3. c. 11 p. 21 18 18 I wil raise them vp a Prophet from among their brethren c. sect 3. c. 11. p. 10 18 18 Whosoeuer will not hearken vnto my wordes which he shall speak c. sec 3 c. 11 p. 18 18 19 Whosoeuer will not hearken c. sect c. 11 p. 16 18 14 The Nations which thou shalt possesse hearken vnto those that regard the times ibid. p. 19. 18 20 But the Prophet that shall presume to speake a word in my name ibid. p. 1. 17 8 If there arise a matter to hard for thee in iudgement c. sect c. 2 p. 1 17 19 And it shall bee with him and he shall reade therin all the dayes of his life c. ibid. p. 4 24 10 There arose not a Prophet since in Israel like vnto Moses c. sect 3 c. 11 p. 18 27 11 12 13 14 These shall stand vpon Mount Gerizim to blesse the people c. s 3 c. 7 p. 4 30 1 Nowe when all these things shall come vpon thee c. ibid. p. 11 31 16 That when they went a whooring after the Gods of a strange Land c. sect 3 c. 9 p. 6 31 10 11 12 13 Euery seuēth yeare when the yeare of freedome shall bee c. sect 3 c. 7 p. 4 Ioshua 8 33 34 35 ANd all Israel and their Elders and their Officers stood on this side the Arke c. sect 3 c. 7 p. 4 Iudges 2 7 8 THe people had serued the Lord all the dayes of Ioshua c. sect 3 c. 7 p. 6 6 13 The Lord is with thou valiant man c. ibid. 6 14 And the Lord looked vpon him and said goe in this thy might ibid. p. 7 17 15 When Gideon heard the dreame told c. ibid. p. 8 6 15 Ah my Lord whereby shall I saue Israel c. ibid. 8 33 But when Gideon was dead c. ibid. par 9 Samuel 1 23 9 ANd Dauid hauing knowledge that Saul imagined mischiefe against him said to Abiathar the Priest c. sect 3 c. 1 p. 3 1 30 7 8 And Dauid said to Abiathar the Priest Ahimelechs Son I pray thee bring me the Ephod c. ibid. 1 28 6 Therefore Saul asked counsell of the Lord and the Lord answered him not ibid. p. 4 Kings 1 13 18 ANd hee said vnto him I am a Prophet also as thou art and an Angell spake vnto me c. s 3 c. 8 p. 6 1 22 24 When went the spirit of the Lord from me c. sect 3 c. 9 p. 2 1 18 36 And when they should offer the euening sacrifice Elijah the Prophet came and said c. sect 3 c. 11 p. 7 1 22 28 If thou returne in peace the Lord hath not spoken by me ibid. 2 4 27 Let her alone for her soule is vexed within her c. sec 3 c. 11 p. 11. Chronicles 2 21 20 THus saith GOD why transgresse yee the commandement of the Lord Surely yee shall not prosper c. sect 3 c. 9 p. 6. Nehemiah 1 7 WE haue grieuously sinned against thee c. sect 3 c. 7 p. 11. Psalmes 2 7 THou art my Son this c. sect 3 c. 11 p. 22 50 16 What hast thou to do to declare mine ordinances c. sect 2 c. 7. p. 12 50 25 To him that disposeth his way aright will I shew the saluation of God c. ibid. 78 33 34 When he slue them they sought him c. s 3 c. 7 p. 3. Isaiah 6 1 2 3 I Saw also the Lord sitting vppon an high Throne c. sect 3 c. 10 p. 5 6 9 Goe and say vnto this people yee shal heare indeed but yee shall not vnderstand c. sect 3. c. 5. p. 3. 11 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest vpon him c. sect 3. c. 10. p. 5. 28 16 Behold I lay in Sion a chiefe corner stone c. sect 2. c. 7 p. 7. 35 5 Then shall the eyes of blind be lightned sect 3. c. 10. p. 5. 40 3 A voice cryeth in the wildernesse prepare yee c. sect 3. c. 11. p. 12. 42 1 Beholde my seruant I will stay vpon him c. sect 3. c. 30. p. 5. 61 1 The Spirit of the Lord is vpon mee therefore the Lord hath anointed me sect 3. c. 10. p. 5 53 8 9 But his generation who shall declare c. sect 3. c. 11. p. 22. 42 8 9 I am the Lord this is my name and my glory I wil not giue vnto another sect 3. c. 11 p. 13. Ieremiah 18 18 COme and let vs imagine some deuise against Ieremiah c. sect 3. c 9. p. 3. 28 6. 7. 8. 9 Euen the Prophet Ieremiah said so be it the Lord so doe c. sect 3. c. 11. p. 7. 26 8. 9. Now when Ieremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commaunded him to speake c. sect 3. c. 9. p. 3. 28. 10. 12. This saith the Lord euen so will I breake the yoke of Nebuchadnezzars sect 3. c. 11. p. 1◠29 26 The Lord hath made thee Priest for Iehoiada the Priest c. sect 3. c. 9. p. 3. 30 13 14 Their is none to judge thy cause or to lay a plaister c. sect 3. c. 7. p. 11. 32 24 Behold the Mounts they are come into the Citie to take it c. ibid. 32 42 43 c. Thus saith the Lord like as I haue brought all this great plague vpon this people so will I bring vpon them al the good I haue promised them c. ibid. Ezekiel 33. 32. 33 ANd loe thou art vnto him as a jesting song of on that hath a pleasant voyce sect 3. c. 11. p. 7. Daniel 2. 44. THis Kingdome shal neuer be destroyed or giuen to another people c. sect 2. c. 7. p. 20. Malachi 2. 12. ANd now O yee Priests this commaundement is for you c. sect 3. c. p. p. 6. Ecclesiasticus 23. 45. 24. 25 BEcause Phineas the sonne of Eleazar had zeale in the feare of the Lord c. sect 3. c. 2. p. 8. Maccabees 1. 2. 36. 37. 38. But the other answered them nothing neither cast any one stone at them c. se 3. c. 1. p. 9.
elsewhere vpon carelesnesse rather then any intention of harme as I am perswaded by the Latine sacramentum Whether vpon set purpose of some more learned in that Councell presuming to gull the simple and illitterate by their cunning as Chemnitius probably thinkes or whether the mysterie of iniquitie as is more probable wrought vnawares in the braines of the ignorant which were the maior part and as some haue related did ouersway the learned vncapable of such impudency as should giue countenance to this ignominious decree partly from the equiuocation of the Latine dispensatores partly from the synominall signification which the vulgar hath made of mysterium and sacramentum the beetle-heads haue hammered out an interpretation of Saint Pauls words before cited so scurrilously contrarie to his meaning that the blacke Dogge which is said to haue appeared vnto Cardinall Crescentius might hee haue spoken in the Councell could scarce haue vttered it without blushing For the Apostle meant such dispensatores or Stewards as our Sauiour speakes of in the foure and twentieth of Saint Matthew such as should giue their fellow seruants their inst portions without purloyning such as daily expected their Masters returne to cal them vnto a strict account of their stewardship For so it is expressely added Moreouer or as much as belongs vnto our office it is required of Stewards that they be all sound faithfull Not to dispute of the Churches authoritie in disposing of Sacraments nor to exagitate the impietie of this decree be the one for the present supposed as great the other as little as they list to make it onely this I would demaund of any that is so himselfe whether he can imagine any men sober or in their right mindes would not assoone haue vrged that text The foole hath said in his heart there is no God for establishing Atheisme or Saint Peters checke vnto Simon Magus to prooue Simonie lawfull as deriue the Churches authoritie for detayning the least part of the word of life much lesse the cup of saluation from these wordes Let a man so thinke of vs as of the Ministers of Christ and disposers of the secrets of God What secrets of the Gospell before hid but now to be published to all the World of which the same Apostle elsewhere had said Anccessitie is laid vpon me and wee vnto mee if I preach it not Of the vse or necessitie of the Lords cup not a word in this place not a syllable for the Lord had sent him not to administer this Sacrament but to preach the Gospell of which the Doctrine of the Lords Supper was a part indeed but where expressely and directly he deliuers that doth hee intimate by any circumstance that either it had beene was or might bee otherwise administred then according to the patterne prescribed by our Sauiour at the first institution Rather his often repetition of these coniunctiues This bread and this cuppe eating and drinking the bodie and bloud c. Argue he neuer thought the one should be receiued without the other that this prohibition of the cup was a particular branch of the Mysterie of iniquitie not to breake out till latter ages hid from his eyes that had seene the Mysterie it selfe begin to worke As often as yee shall eat this bread saith the Apostle and drinke this cup yee shew the Lords death till hee come Wherefore whosoeuer shall eate this bread and drinke the cuppe of the Lord vnworthily shall bee guiltie of the bodie and bloud of the Lord. Let a man therefore examine himselfe and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this cup. For he that eateth and drinketh vnworthily eateth and drinketh his owne damnation because hee discerneth not the Lords bodie Yet vnto the Trent Councell Saint Paul in the former place where hee had no such occasion as not speaking one word either of the Doctrine necessitie or vse of the Sacraments seemes to intimate and that not obscurely the Churches authoritie in dispensing them as the Trent Fathers haue done What then might euery Minister of Christ euerie distributer of Gods secrets haue vsed the like authoritie before the Church representatiue did at least by tacite consent approue the practise This place doubtlesse proues either altogether nothing or thus much for the Apostles wordes are indefinite for their litterall sence equally appliable to euerie faithfull Minister or priuate dispenser of such secrets not appropriate to the intire publique bodie Ecclesiastique or the capitall or Cardinall partes thereof Of the Corinthians to whom he wrote one said I am Pauls another I am Apollos the third I am of Cephas all boasting in the personal excellencies of their first Parents in Christ as the Papists now doe in Saint Peters and his successours Catholique Primacie To asswage these carnall humours in his children their Father that great Doctour of the Gentiles seekes more in this then in any other place of all his Epistles to debase himselfe and diminish others high esteeme either of his owne worth or of his calling Who is Paul then and who is Apollos but the Ministers by whom ye beleeued and as the Lord gaue to euerie man I haue planted Apollos watered but God gaue the increase So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither hee that watereth but God that giueth the encrease And he that planteth and hee that watereth are one and euery man shall receiue his wages according to his labour For wee together are Gods labourers ye are Gods husbandrie and Gods building And after a serious incitement of master builders to fidelitie with the like admonition to Gods husbandrie or building not to reioyce in men he concludes as he had begun Let euery man esteeme vs such as I haue said Ministers of Christ and disposers of the mysteries of God Of whom were they so to esteeme Of Saint Paul himselfe and euery faithfull Minister Doth he then intimate here any such prerogatiue aboue the meanest of his brethren as the Romish Cleargie vsurpes ouer the whole Christian World any authoritie to prohibit either the dispensors of Gods mysteries from administring or men so carnally minded as were these to whom he wrote from communicating Christs bloud aswell as his bodie So the Trent Fathers thinke and as if for their wilfull deniall of the Lords cup vnto the people the Lord had giuen them the cup of giddinesse to cast them into a Babilonish slumber whilest they consulted about this decree and their Scribes through retchlessenesse had written what their rauing Masters in their sickly or drunken dreames had vttered wee finde in the same Decree another place of Saint Paul immediately annexed though as disproportionable to the former as it is placed in their discourse as a mans head to an horses necke both as vnsutable to their intended conclusion as a super addition of finnes or feathers would be to such a monstrous Hippocentaurique combination The place is Saint Pauls conclusion of that discourse
these tearmes Feede my sheepe not thine intimating he should approue himselfe a faithfull Shepheard one that was to giue strict account vnto the owner of whatsoeuer befell the flocke these men by commission pretended from Saint Peter would make themselues great sheep-masters to kill and eate at their pleasures That to feede is all one as to rule and gouerne as they would haue it is a conceipt of men onely minding their bellies or seeking to be fed by others spoiles That feeding or pastorship is alwayes accompanied with rule and authoritie none that euer tasted any Spirituall food will denie That Peter was a Pastor and a Feeder an extraordarie Pastor a principall Feeder and therefore of preheminent rule and authoritie ouer his flocke wee acknowledge but no preheminence in him aboue his fellowes which was not grounded vpon his eminent care and more then ordinarie fidelitie in feeding it not with Lordly iniunctions sealed with Anathemaes but with sinceritie of life and soundnesse of Doctrine There was no difference betwixt the tenure of his and others estates as if he had beene Lord by inheritance not obnoxious to any forfeiture by misdemeanour and others but lease holders during terme of good life and manners of the priuiledges they inioyed to returne by excheate or for want of succession vnto Peters successors That penitentiall exercise of feeding Christs sheep in such strict tearmes so often inioyned rather argues that should haue beene interpreted vnfaithfulnesse or disloyaltie in him which would haue beene accounted onely neglect or want of diligence in others And the ingenuous Reader may if it please him easily obserue that of all Apostolicall writings now extant none haue either lesse intimation of any preheminencie or supremacie or more liuely characters of their authors vnfained humilitie and lowly submission of himselfe vnto the meanest of his fellow Ministers then Saint Peters as if by them he would haue testified his perpetuall mindfulnesse of that former offence and strict charge of fidelitie in feeding Christs flocke thereupon inioyned The Elders saith hee which are among you I beseech which am what the chiefe Apostle an Ecclesiastique Monarch Christs Vicar generall an Elder of Elders no but also an Elder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—nd a witnesse of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glorie that shall be reuealed Feed the flocke of God which dependeth vpon you caring for it not by constraint but willingly not for filthie lucre but of a readie minde not as though yee were Lords ouer Gods heritage but that yee may bee examples to the flocke Yet for any to arrogate such infallibilitie or challenge such authoritie as hee had without perseuerance in the like fidelitie and sinceritie as Peter requested vpon the strictest termes of loue vnto his Lord and Master in all likelihood would and did vse in feeding his flocke is such a mocke of Christ and this his blessed Saint as none but the brood of Antichrist could euer haue hatched yet inferiour to that which accompanies the third pretended ground of Romish faith Tu es Petrus super hanc Petram Thou art Peter and vpon this Peter as they would haue it will I build my Church CHAP. VII That Christ not Saint Peter is the rocke spoken of Mathew 16. verse 18. that the Iesuits exposition of that place demonstrateth the Pope to be the great Antichrist 1 WHy the Latine interpreter following the Greeke should varie the Gender reading Tu es Petrus super hanc Petram not Tu es Petra or super hanc Petram although the tongue wherein they suppose Saint Mathew wrote had but one and the same word Cepha Bellarmine and Maldonate giue these two reasons First seeing Saint Peter was a man his name was to bee expressed in the Greeke and Latine by a word of the Masculine gender Secondly albeit the Greeke Masculine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bee sometimes vsed for a rocke yet very seldome or in the Atticke Dialect onely if at all when it is taken for a fundamental rocke fit to erect edifices vpon Thus professed Commentators oftimes finde out many wittie reasons of like alterations in words which the Authours neuer dreamed of But granting what these two learned Romanists onely suppose none can prooue S. Mathew had written in the Syriake tongue neither of the two reasons alleaged for the Greeke or Latine interpreters variation of the Gender can haue any place in Saint Iohn who wrote in Greeke but not in the Atticke Dialect and yet purposely instructing vs what the Syriake word Cepha which our Sauior gaue as a Surname to S. Peter at his first calling meant saith it is by interpretation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Petrus not Petra though this feminine might haue beene vsed without offence in the interpretation of his name so hee had not beene vsually called thereby or being so vsually called it might haue growne into a masculine for why should Petra seeme a more effeminate name in Saint Peter then Zabarella or Carafa in their Cardinals or Aquauiua in the Generall of the Iesuits If Iesus himselfe had giuen the gouernour of the societie enstiled by his owne name this surname in the abstract Aquauiua what would men thinke it did portend that he should be that well of water which springeth into euerlasting life or rather that hee had beene so denominate from some relation to such water that Claudius Aquiuiua was as much as Claudius de Aquauiua It is most likely then that as well Saint Iohn when he interpretes Cepha 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeke Translator of Saint Mathew in saying Tu es Petrus not Petra did seeke to preuent that sinister sense which posteritie might câ—ll out of the ambiguous Syriake Cepha sometimes signifying the rocke it selfe otherwhiles implying no more then a denomination from it Nor was it Saint Austines ignorance of the Hebrew and Syriacke as Bellarmine obiects but rather his perfect knowledge of Christ as the onely rocke of saluation which made him thinke that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke should imply no more then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one belonging to that sure foundation wheron the Church is built Would God Bellarmine could plead ignorance in these tongues for his excuse euen hee that hath no acquaintance with the Syriacke but by the affinity of it with the Hebrew or with neither but from the common analogy betwixt them and moderne tongues destitute of such variety of formations or cases as are facile and plentiful in the Greeke and Latine cannot be ignorant that abstracts or substantiues whilest giuen as names to men are vsually equiualent to the concrete or adiectiue whereby they are oftimes expressed in Latine as in our English we attribute the substantiue or abstract name of Countries vnto Earles or of Townes vnto Barons whom our soueraigne Lord when he speakes in Latine would call Essexius in English lie cals Essex so Roger Mortimer with vs is Rogerus de mari
mortuo with latine Writers Euen in the latine it selfe wherein in the distinction betweene abstracts and concretes or substantiues and adiectiues is obuious and apparant the fundamentall abstract or substantiue is giuen oftimes by way of cognomination to expresse some relation betweene it and the partie denominated from it in value no more then the adiectiue or denomination in the oblique case so Scipio taken properly or in it direct and primary signification is a walking staffe baculum but attributed to Cornelius the first of that honourable family called Scipiones implies no more then one that had beene instar Baculi or Scipionis instead of a rod or walking staffe to his blind decrepite father so Scropha thereto attributed in the abstract vnto another family in Rome imports not their ancestors had beene swine or their mother a sow but onely some particular relation to that creature The like wee may say of Asina and Bestia names of other Romane families And if I mistake not that famous professor which hight Victoria in the abstract was but Franciscus ◠victoria de victoria or victorius In like sort although it were true that Cepha in the Syriacke did onely signifie a rocke or fundamentall stone yet seeing all grant that Christ was truly and principally such the same name giuen vnto Simon the sonne of Iona must imply no more then a denominatiue reference vnto the rocke so as if hee had beene called in latine Simon Petra or in English Simon Rocke this could imply no more then Simon de Petra or Petreus Simon a rocke or of the rocke 2 But whatsoeuer the Syriacke Cephas or the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the place cited doe import it will be demanded why our Sauiour bestowed this name on Simon the sonne of Ione at his first comming to him The particular references betwixt him and the rocke it selfe or chiefe stone might be so many as might conuince him of curiosity perhaps of folly that would peremptorily or precisely determine what one should giue occasion to this denomination Most probable it is that he who knew what was in man did at the first sight of Simon see in him or meane to bestow vpon him some extraordinary aptnesse to apprehend the words of eternall life or to discry the gate of the Lord whereby the righteous were to enter or which is equiualent Christ to bee the chiefe corner stone spoken of by the Psalmist Herein I willingly assent to Bellarmine that Saint Peter was the first that distinctly did apprehend or at least by confession open the great mystery of Christianity and foundation of true religion God incarnate in our flesh Thus much the circumstances of that place seeme to inferre For Iesus when he came vnto the coasts of Caesarea he asked his Disciples whom doe men say that I commonly knowne by the name of the sonne of man am and they said some say Iohn Baptist some Elias and others Ieremiah all to this effect that hee was some one of the Prophets or as Nathanael in his confession meant such a son of God as they had beene These were in the way but came not neere the maine foundation which Peter first vncouers for when our Sauious demands But whom say yee whom I must appoint as chiefe builders and principall parts of that spirituall temple which is toward that I am Then Simon Peter answered and said Thou art the Christ the sonne of the liuing God And from his first discouery of this rocke or chiefe corner stone he might well be denominated a rocke or stone as Maximus was named Messala from a towne in Sicily so called which hee had taken or as wee might denominate some famous mariner from some notable place which bee should first discouer To this effect doth our Sauiour reply vnto Saint Peter Blessed art thou Simon the sonne of Iona for not flesh and bloud not the chiefe builders amongst the people but hee that laid this pretious stone in Sion hath vncouered the same to thee And seeing thou hast said what should be said and thought of me I onely say of thee thou hadst not thy name for nought rightly wast thou called a Rocke or stone that hast so plainely opened the way vnto that very rocke whereon I meane to build my Church Had our Sauiour meant Peter had been that Rocke or were his words to be interpreted as in effect the Papists doe Hee had said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tu es Petra illa super quam c. But seeing hee addes no Emphasis to Peters name but vnto petra these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are but an actuall expression or more definite specification of what had beene potentially included in the indeterminate transitiue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reuelabit for where our English reades flesh and bloud hath not reuealed it vnto thee the originall is verbatim hath not reuealed to thee to wit that rocke whereupon I will build my Church the direct current then of our Sauiours speech is thus Blessed art thou Simon the sonne of Ionah for not flesh bloud but my father which is in heauē hath reuealed that Rocke to thee whereupon I will build my Church against which the gates of hell shall neuer preuaile whereof thou according to the omen of thy name long since giuen by me shall be the first liuing stone by whom all others shall be squared ere admitted into this spirituall aedifice 3 That our Sauiour did not expresly mention any other rocke or stone before hee said to Simon Thou art Peter doth nothing preiudice this exposition It sufficed that God and the Rocke of saluation Messiah the chiefe corner stone the Christ were then knowne and yet are held as aequiualent euen amongst the learned Papists that the Disciples to whom hee then spake did no lesse perfectly know more ready to acknowledge as much as our aduersaries yet doe that not Peter but his and their master onely was to bee the chiefe corner stone in that Temple they had often heard hee should and now hee tels them hee was to build The present Dialogue would abundantly instruct them that not the sonne of man himselfe howsoeuer considered but in such sort as his heauenly father had reuealed him to Saint Peter truely apprehended as God and Man was a foundation competent for so incomparable a structure such as before this time had gone the farthest such as thought hee had beene Moses who had no peere among the Prophets greater then whom it was scarce expected any sonne of mortall man should be had not come vnto ground firme enough to build their owne and all mens faith vpon To them the gate of the Lord by which the righteous were to enter was not fully opened they came not to a distinct direct perfect view of this chief corner stone for this reason they could not be accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stones actually wrought and so well sitting this precious foundation
Christ and them For it only stands by faith and confidence immediatly fastened vpon the foundation or supporters If then we may not so fasten our faith either vpon Peter or his successors we can receiue no other strength from them then wee doe from Christs other Apostles and that is only from their Ministeriall function in squaring and fastening vs vnto this liuing stone To this purpose sayth Saint Paul Other foundation can no man lay then that which is laid which is Iesus Christ. Whosoeuer was himselfe builded on him albeit he neuer heard of Saint Peter albeit the doctrines hee heaped vpon this foundation were but hay and stubble or matter alike apt to take fire yet the flame wherein these idle speculations of his braine were to perish should but singe his cloathes not deuoure his substance because by faith vnited vnto that liuing stone which without any other intermediate sconce or fence doth quench the flames of hell and keepe them from scorching any euen the last and vppermost that shall bee built vpon him vnto the worlds end For the same Apostles rule is vniuersall both in respect of time and persons If thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and shalt belieue in thine heart that God raised him vp from the dead thou shalt be saued 8. But did Saint Paul by speciall reuelation vtter this as a mystery altogether vnknowne before vnto the faithfull Rather by participation of the same spirit which spake in the Prophet he onely vnfolds the Oracle late expounded I must confesse without distinct apprehension of so good warrant them as is now suggested For the Apostle to proue his former assertion vrgeth that place of the Prophet Whosoeuer belieues in him shall not bee ashamed So then with Saint Paul it is all one to belieue in Christ raised from the dead or in the corner stone reiected of men allowed of God And it seemes the declaration made vnto Saint Peter that Christ whom he confessed howsoeuer a Rocke to fall vpon to both the houses of Israel was the sure foundation of the fathfull which the Prophet foretold should bee laid in Sion made his ignorance to say no worse in disswading his master from suffering such disgrace and ignominy of the Elders high Priests and Scribes more inexcusable because it had beene so plainely foretold that the corner stone was to bee basely esteemed of them ere aduanced of God Hence our Sauiour reproues him so sharpely Then hee turned backe and said vnto Peter Get thee behind me Sathan thou art an offence vnto me because thou vnderstandest not the things that are of God but the things that are of men As if hee had said shall this Rocke become a stumbling stone vnto thee also vnto whom it was first reuealed What I now tolde thee the Prophet long since foretold It was the Lords doing and should haue beene maruellous not offensiue in thy sight Hast thou neuer read how the builders must first refuse that stone which the Lord will afterwards appoint chiefe in the corners From remembrance of this checke Saint Peter it may be whiles hee paraphrased vpon this place vsed not the Psalmists but our Sauiours wordes Yee come saith he as vnto a liuing stone disallowed not by the builders but of men chosen not of the Lord but of God howsoeuer elsewhere hee more fully paralels these two as Saint Paul had done Christ crucified and raised againe the stone cast aside and constituted as hâ—ad of the corner Be it knowne vnto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Iesus Christ of Nazaret whom yee haue crucified whom God raised againe from the dead euen by him doth this man stand here before you whole This is the stone cast aside of you builders which is become the head of the corner neither is there saluation in any other for among men there is giuen none other name vnder heauen whereby wee must be saued Then is there no other whose name imported as much as a Rocke or stone to support men against all commotions the powers of hell could raise against them 9 So our Sauiour takes the husbandmen killing of the Lord of the Vineyeards sonne and the builders reiecting the head stone of the corner as equiualent First hee demaunds When therefore the Lord of the Vineyeard shall come what will hee doe to those husbandmen that had slaine his sonne they reply hee will cruelly destroy those wicked men and will let out his Vineyeard vnto other husbandmen which shall deliuer him the fruits in their seasons And this iudgement they had giuen against themselues hee ratifies by the like expresse sentence which the Lord already had past vpon them Read yee neuer in the Scriptures the stone which the builders refused the same is made the head of the corner This was the Lords doing and it is maruellous in our eyes Therefore say I vnto you the Kingdome of God shall be taken from you and shall bee giuen to a nation which shall bring forth the fruits thereof and whosoeuer shall fall on this stone shall be broken but on whomsoener it shall fall it wil grinde him to powder 10 This may suffice for proofe that Saint Peters confessing the sonne of man to be the Christ the sonne of the liuing God was all one with our Sauiours declaration Vpon this Rocke will I builde my Church c. because Christ and the liuing stone which God had promised to found in Sion are vnto sacred Writers and all participants of that spirit by which they wrote the selfe same Nor is there any thing more vsuall with the holy Ghost then to referre like speeches of our Sauiour vnto places of Scripture more different in words then the two former alleadged albeit there bee no such identity of persons time and place or continuation of diâ—course to manifest their mutuall coherence but onely equiualency of their inward meaning This Method the holy Spirit vseth the rather I thinke because hee would accustome vs â—o investigate his sense and meaning not so much by the like forme or character of words as by the analogy of faith For as the Apostle saith the letter killeth because it vsually leadeth such as rely vpon it to strange and vnholesome senses as the identity of our Sauiours and Saint Peters name in the Syriacke or their vicinity in the Greeke and Latine made the Rocke of saluation become a Rocke of fence vnto the Romanist who by his stumbling at the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 falles vpon the stone laid in Sion and shall bee broken yea for this disobedience to this eternall word and seeking to lay another foundation then what was laid already that stone shall fall vpon him and grind him at least his doctrine to powder as will more fully appeare if wee compare their exposition of that donatiue they suppose he did bestow vpon Saint Peter with that Disciples doctrine whom
the man Christ Iesus not excepted This conclusion followeth immediately out of three positions generally held and stifly maintained by that Church The first that the Pope liue hee as hee list cannot erre in matters of faith and manners when hee speaketh ex Cathedra that we are bound infallibly to belieue whatsoeuer he so speakes without examination of his doctrine by Gods word or euident externall signe or internall experiment of Gods spirit speaking in him The second that wee cannot assure our selues the Scriptures are the Oracles of God but by the infallible testimony of the Visible Church The third that the true sense and meaning of Scriptures in cases doubtfull or controuersed cannot be vndoubtedly known without the infallible declaration of the same Church CHAP. I. What restraint precepts for obedience vnto the Priests of the Law though seeming most vniuersall for their forme did necessarily admit And how vniuersall Propositions of Scriptures are to be limited 1 SEing wee vndertake to proue that no such authority as the Romish Church doth challenge was euer established on earth The answering of those arguments drawne from the authority of the Priestes in the olde Testament may to the iudicious seeme at the first sight needlesse yet because such as they set the fairest glosses vpon if wee looke into the inside or substance are fullest fraught with their owne disgrace and ignominy It will not be superfluous to acquaint the Reader with some particulars prefixing some generall admonitions to the yonger sort for more commodious answering of all that can be brought of like kind 2 Their common places of consening the world especially smatterers of Logicke or schoole learning with counterfeit proofes of Scripture is either from some vniuersall precept of obedience to the people or generall promises of infallibility made to the Priests in the old Testament Such as come vnto the Scriptures hauing their mind dazled with notions of vniuersale primum or other Logicke rules true in some cases thinke the formerprecepts being for their forme vniuersall may admit no exception limitation or restraint otherwise the holy Ghost might breake the rule of Logicke when as they admit many restraints nor alwayes from one but ofttimes from diuerse reasons from these following especially God sometimes inioynes obedience as wee say in the abstract to set vs a patterne of such true accurate obedience as men should performe vnto authority it selfe or vnto such gouernours as neither in their liues nor in the seat of iudgement would decline either to the right hand or to the left but square all their proceedings to the exact rule of Gods word Vnto such gouernours continuall and compleat obedience was to bee performed because the parties gouerned vpon examination should alwayes finde them iumpe with the law of God vnto which absolute obedience as hath beene shewed is due Nor doth the word of God in setting out such exact obedience lie open to that exception which Polititians take against Philosophers as if it as Philosophers doe did giue instructions onely for happy men of Aristotles making or for the Stoickes wise men who can no where bee found but in Platoes common-wealth whose Metropolis is the Region of Eutopia For the ancient Israel of God had this prerogatiue aboue al the nations of the earth that their Priests lips whilest they themselues were clothed with righteousnesse and bare holinesse vnto the Lord in their breasts should still preserue knowledge and bee able to manifest the will of God vnto the people not onely by interpreting the generall written law but by reuelations concerning particular facts of principall moment as may bee gathered from that law Also thou shalt put in the breast plate of iudgement the Vrim and the Thummim which shall be vpon Aarons heart when hee goeth in before the Lord And Aaron shall beare the iudgement of the children of Israel vpon his heart before the Lord continually 3 To omit the various interpretations and diuers opinions of this brest-plates vse why it was called the breast plate of iudgement Iosephus and Suidas in my mind come neerest the truth That the Reuelation by it was extraordinary that Gods presence or iuridicall approbation of doubts proposed was represented vpon the pretious stones that were set therein is probable partly from the aptnesse of it to allure the Israelites vnto Idolatry partly from that formality which the Egyptians in imitation of the Ephods ancient vse amongst the Iewes retained long after in declaration of the truth in Iudgement For Diodorus tels vs that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or chiefe Iudge in that famous and venerable Egyptian high Court or Parliament did weare about his necke in a golden chaine Insigne a tablet of pretious stone or if the Reader bee disposed to correct the translator 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they called as the Septuagint did Aarons breast-plate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on which hee stedfastly looked while matters were debating as Suidas saith the High Priest did on his breast plate whilest they asked counsell of God and whilest hee gaue sentence turned it vnto the beter cause exhibited as the fashion was in that Court in writing in signe the truth it selfe did speake for it that the Vrim or Thummim were more then an Embleme yea an Oracle of iustice and right iudgement is apparant out of Scripture When Ioshua was consecrated to bee Israels chiefe gouernour in Moses stead he was to stand before Eleazar the Priest ordained to aske counsell for him by the iudgement of Vrim before the Lord So did Abiathar certifie Dauid of Sauls malitious resolution against him and the Lords of Keylahs treachery if hee should trust vnto them So againe Dauid is assured of victory by the iudgement of Vrim and I Thummim if he would follow the Amalakites that had burnt Ziglag 4 Such Priestes as these were to bee absolutely obeyed in answeres thus giuen from the mouth of God And it is most probable that the parties whom these answeres did concern had perfect notice of the Reuelation made to the Priests howsoeuer the truths of such answeres being confirmed by experiment in those dayes they were to vndertake what the Priests appointed and to obey his aduice at least by cautelous obedience vntill the euent did proue the truth But neither was this certaine manifestation of Gods will so absolutely promised vnto the Priests but not liuing according vnto the direction of Gods law hee might faile in his Oracles Nor was this peoples prerogatiue aboue others without all limit that if they liued no better then others did they should as often as they asked counsell of God infallibly know whether the answere were from him or no albeit there were no defect in the Priest For this reason the Lord answered not Saul when hee asked counsell of him neither by dreames nor by visions nor by Vrim nor by the Prophets for Saul was now cast off by God not willing to vouchsafe
an answere vnto his demaunds which argues that the reuelation made to the Priestes was also manifested to the party solemnely and in sincerity of heart proposing the questions whereof hee desired to be resolued 5 That the Priest had no such priuiledge or absolute promise of Gods infallible presence as the Pope challengeth is apparant from the law of temperance prescribed And the Lord spake vnto Aaron saying thou shalt not drinke wine nor strong drinke thou nor thy sonnes with thee when yee come into the Tabernacle of the congregation lest yee die This is an ordinance for euer throughout your generations that yee may put difference betweene the holy and vnholy and betweene the cleane and vncleane and that yee may teach the children of Israel all the statutes the Lord hath commanded thee by the hand of Moses If these Priests themselues were vnholy and vncleane they could not infallibly discerne betweene the holy and vnholy betweene the cleane and vncleane if they liued not according to this they could not teach the children of Israel the rest of Gods expresse lawes much lesse could they infallibly manifest vnto them his will in all doubts and controuersies But the Pope so absolute is his prerogatiue which the Iesuites attribute vnto him must bee thought to bee infalliby assisted by the holy spirit albeit hee lead a most vnhallowed vnclean polluted life 6 But for the promise made vnto Leui and his seede God himselfe by his Prophet Malachy most expresly interpretes the meaning of it And now O yee Priests this commandement is for you if yee will not heare it nor consider it in your heart to giue glory vnto my name saith the Lord of hostes I will euen send a curse vpon you and will curse your blessings yea and I haue cursed them already because ye do not consider it in your heart behold I will corrupt your seed and cast dung vpon your faces euen the dung of your solemne feastes and you shall bee like vnto it and yee shall know that I haue sent this commandement vnto you that my couenant which I made vnto Leui might stand saith the Lord of hosts My couenant was with him of life and peace and I gaue him feare and hee feared me and was afraide before my name the law of truth was in his mouth and there was no iniquity found in his lippes hee walked with mee in peace and equity and did turne many from iniquity for the Priests lips shall preserue knowledge and they shall seeke the law at his mouth As if hee had saide Such Priests I haue had in former times and such might your prayses from my mouth and your estimation with men haue beene had you framed your liues according to the rules which my seruant Moses had set you But were these Priestes against whom hee here speakes infallible in their doctrine still because Gods promise was so ample vnto Leui If they were not why doth Bellarmine bring this place to proue the Popes infallible authority in teaching diuine vntruthes If they were why doth the Lord complain in the words immediately following But ye are gone out of the way ye haue caused many to fall by the law yee haue broken the couenant of Leui saith the Lord of hastes Therefore haue I made you also to bee despised and vile before all the people because you keepe not my wayes but haue beene partiall in the law 7 This place alone though many others might be brought clearely euinceth Gods promise vnto Leui and his posterity during the time of their priesthood to haue been condititionall not absolute And as Gods promise of infallibility was vnto him his seed such was the obedience due to thē their authority not absolute but conditional where the precepts may seem vniuersal yet are they to be limited oftimes by the conditiō of the priests life 8 But sundry propositions there bee in Scriptures for their forme vniversall which are also absolutely true in their proper subiect whose full extant or limits notwithstanding are not alwayes euident Whence many mistake in stretching them too farre others seeing them faileS in some particulars which seem comprehended vnder the vniuersality of their forme suspect the absolutenesse of their truth and account them rather morally probable or conditionally true then necessary and certaine yet are they most absolutely necessary and certaine onely their vniuersality is to bee limitted by their proper subiects This is a common difficulty in all arts though lesse apparent in the Mathematickes or Metaphysickes or other like abstract contemplatiue sciences But in Philosophie as well naturall as morall many generall rules there bee most true and euident to such as know the nature or quality either of the subiect or matter whereunto they are applied or of these particulars whence the induction was gathered and yet are obscure and doubtfull vnto others who marke the vniuersality of their form not so well acquainted with the nature of those subiects in which their tru his principally and most euidently seene nor so able to discerne the identity or diuersity the proportion or disproportion which other subiects may haue with the former but of the triall of rules in arts if God permit elsewhere I will now instance in Scripture onely what proposition could bee for the forme more vniuersall what precept conceiued in words more generall then that of sanctifying the Sabaoth In it thou shalt do no wanner of workees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non facies vllum opus The Scribes and Pharisies putting a Religion in the letter of the Law as the Iesuites now doe when it may make for their aduantage did conclude from the generality of this precept that our Sauiour brake the Sabaoth when hee healed the sicke vpon it Their pretences if we respect the vniuersality of the proposition onely were farre more probable then the Papists can picke any for their purpose Yet Iewish skill in that they consider not the end of the Sabaoth which might haue limited the vniuersall forme of the precept and restrained it vnto some kind of workes onely for not all but onely all those workes which were repugnant to the end of this precept were forbidden The end of the Sabaoth was to sanctifie themselues vnto the Lord to set forth his praise both in words and workes Such workes then onely are here onely forbidden as did distract the mind or make men vnapt to heare read or meditate on heauenly matters all workes of secular vocation or priuate consequence which might hinder mens endeauours for procuring the health or wel-fare of others not works of charity or present necessity not works tending to greater publike good or to the auoidance of greater harmes which could not be preuented but by present working for men are to read heare and meditate vpon Gods word that by it they may bee fruitfull in good deeds by which Gods name is more immediately glorified then onely by speaking well and
one of the aptest instances to illustrate the third kind as he makes it of fulfilling prophesies to wit when that which is truely and literally meant of one is fitly applyed vnto another matter or sort of people for the similitude of their nature or disposition Although to speake the truth hee might haue referred it more iustly at least more artificially to the fourth kind there mentioned by him For as shall appeare hereafter this prophesie was alike literally properly and directly meant of both but verified of the former times more immediatly as first in order because that part of it obiect had precedency in actuall existence of the latter more completly as principally intended by the holy Ghost 4 The blindenesse there spoken of was euen then begunne but did encrease from that age vntill the captiuity and continued vntill Christs comming in whose dayes it was augmented and the prophesie fully accomplished as the desolation which followed their blindnesse in putting him to death was greater then that which Nebuchadnezer brought vpon the City and land for the prouocations wherwith Manassâ—th Iehoiachim and other wicked Rulers as well Priests as Laicks had prouoked he Lord by cruell persecution of his messengers sent vnto them This was a disease in their Prelates and Elders lineally descending to the Scribes Pharises who tooke themselues for infallible teachers and free from oppugning such doctrine as their forefathers had persecuted vnto the death The sinne of these later in crucifying Christ was in degree more grieuous because his personall worth was much greater then the Prophets but the ignorance was of the same kind in both for as our Sauiour saith the latter did but fulfill the measure of their fathers iniquity in murthering Gods messengers And as afterwardes shall bee declared such as the Romanists account the Church representatiue most infallible did continually cause or countenance these persecutions The originall likewise of this cruelty continued from former to later generations was the very same in both the one distasted Gods word whilest the Prophet spake them the other vnderstood them not whilst they were read euery sabboth day vnto theÌ„ both fulfilled them in condeÌ„ning Gods messengers shedding innocent blood vpon such grosse palpable blindnes as Isaiah describes 5 It will recreate the attentiue Reader to obserue how the Lord hath confounded the languague of these cunning builders whiles they seeke to raise vp new Babylon from the foundation of the old Synagogue Bellarmine would seeme to make a conscience of blaspheming and therefore hath rather aduentured to be reputed ridiculous in auouching as you heard before without all ground or shew of reason that the infallible authority formerly established in the Synagogue did expire vpon our Sauiours entrance into his Ministeriall function Many of his fellowes knowing how necessary it is for them to defend the publike spirit of the Synagogues and conscious withall how friuolous it would be to say it should vanish by our Sauiours presence who came rather by doctrine and practise to establish then ouerthrow any ordinance of the law resolue though by open blasphemy to maintaine the Scribes and Pharises infallibility vntill the abolishing of Aarons Priesthood That they condemned our Sauiour was in these mens iudgements an error onely in matter of fact not of faith or doctrine and in such case the Pope himselfe may erre whiles he speakes ex Cathedra That the High Priest did not erre in faith they take it as proued because the Euangelist sayth he prophesied It were good one should die for the people 6 Such infallibility as this I neuer shall enuy the Pope and I desire no more then that hee would confirme this last cited doctrine ex Cathedra For no question but all such throughout the Christian world as beare any loue to Christ at all any besides the Iesuites who make no conscience of vilifying their Redeemer for aduancing the Popes dignity by defending his infallibility would renounce his decrees and take him for Antichrist euer after For this was no error de facto vpon false information or priuy suggestion Euen the High-Priests themselues for the inueterate hate which they had borne vnto our Sauiours person and doctrine such as the Romish Church did vnto Hus and Ierome of Prage hold a Councell how they might put him to death and so farre were they from being misled with false information that they suborne false witnesses against him and failing in this seeke to insnare him in his owne confession finally condemne him with ioint consent for auouching one of the maine points of Christian beliefe the article of his comming to iudgement I thinke might Sathan himselfe speake his mind in this case hee would condemne Gretzer and his fellowes if not for their villany yet for their intollerable folly in questioning whether it were an error in faith or no to pronounce the sentence of death with such solemnity against the Iudge of quicke and dead for professing and teaching the maine points and grounds of saith This villanie is too open and euident to maintaine the pollicie of the Prince of darkenesse And if neither feare of God nor shame of the world could bridle the Iesuiâ—es mouthes or stoppe the pens from venting such doctrine yet certainely this Prince of darkenesse their Lord and Master for feare of some greater reuolt will lay his command vpon them and make them in this discoursing age speake more warily though they meane still no lesse wickedly 7 Because this is a point worth the pressing let vs ouerthrow not only their answeres already giuen or arguments hence drawn for their Churches authority but in briefe preuent all possible euasions If any Papist shall here reply that these High Priests and their assistants did not speake ex Cathedra when they so farre missed the cushion this answere as it might perhaps drop from some ignorant Iesuites mouth or pen who is bound by oath to say something and therfore must oftentimes say he knows not what sot the defence of the Church so wee may well assure our selues that the Pope himselfe dare not for his triple Crowne deliuer it ex Cathedra nor will the learned Papists hold this point if it bee well vrged For as these High-Priests error was most grosse and grieuous so was it receiued vpon long and mature deliberation their manner of proceeding was publike and solemne They tooke Iesus saieth the Euangelist and led him to Caiaphas the High priest where the Scribes and Elders were gathered together And lest a Iesuite should haue picked a quarrell at the time of their assembly as if they had met at some vnlawfull howre Saint Luke saith as soonâ—â— as it was day the Elders of the people and the High-Priests and the Scribes came together and led him into their Councell and examined him vpon the very fundamentall point of saith Saying 〈◊〉 thou the Christ tell vs For affirming this which is open infidelity to
ones dealing was I confesse most vnusual so was the others death yet a liuely document to cause all that should heare of it vntill the worlds end take heede of dispensing with the word of the Lord once made known vnto themselues vpon beliefe of more manifest reuelations or instructions by what meanes soeuer giuen to others either for recalling or restraining it Hence may the Reader discry aswell the height of our aduersaries folly as the depth of their impietie making their Churches authority which by their own acknowledgement cannot adde moe bookes to the number of the Canon already finished but onely iudge which are Canonicall which not farre greater then theirs was that did preach and write these very bookes which both wee and they acknowledge for Canonicall For the Prophets words were no rule of faith vntill examined and tried by the written word precedent or approued by the euent the Popes must be without triall examination or further approbation then his owne bare assertion CHAP. IX That the Church representatiue amongst the Iewes was for the most part the most corrupt Iudge of matters belonging to God and the reasons why it was so 1 BVt was the neglect of Moses law or this peoples inward corruption abounding for want of restraint by it the sole cause of their dulnesse in perceiuing or of their error in peruerting the things of Gods spirite This ouerflow of wickednesse serued as a tide to carry them but the continuall blasts of such vaine doctrine Templum Domini Templum Domini the Church the Church was like a boisterous wind to driue them headlong into those sands wherein they alwayes made shipwracke of faith and conscience The true Prophets neuer had greater opposites then the Priests and such as the Papists would haue to be the onely pillars yea the onely materiall parts of the Church representatiue Notwithstanding whom the Fathers had traduced for impostors or Sectaries and oftimes murdered as blasphemers of the Deity or turbulent members of the state the Children reuerenced as men of God and messengers of peace vnto the Church and common weale What was the reason of this diuersity in their iudgement or doth it argue more stedfast beliefe in posterity No but more experience of the euents foretolde oftimes not fulfilled vntill the Priests and other opposites either coaeuals or ancients to the Prophets were couered with confusion The childrens motiues to belieue particulars oppugned by their parents were greater and the impediments to withdraw their assent from them lesse That the children should thus brooke what their fathers most disliked in the Prophets is no more then wee may obserue in other Writers Few much reuerenecd in any faculty by posterity but had eager detractors in their flourishing dayes vicinity alwayes breeding enuy And euen of such as did not aemulate them for their skill nor would haue beene moued with enuy at their fame or glory they were not esteemed as they deserued being defrauded of due praise by such of the same profession as better pleased the predominant humor alwayes next in election to the lauish Magnificates of present times but vsually reiected by posterity when that particular humour euermore shorter liuth than the humorous beganne to change Thus in euery faculty haue those authors which most applied themselues to solidity of truth neglecting new-fangle trickes or flashes of extemporary wit endured in greatest request and best credit throughout all ages as meates strongest and most nourishing not most delicate are fittest for continuall diet What the Latine Poet said of his Poems euery Prophet might haue more truely applyed vnto his writinges Mox tibi si quis adhuc pretendat nubila liuor Occidet meriti post me referentur honores Though cloudes of enuy now may seeme thy splendent rayes to choake These with my ashes shall dissolue and vanish as their smoake VVhat whilest I breath sharpe censures blast when my leafe fals shall spring Thy fame must flourish as I fade graue honour forth shall bring It was a Methode most compendious for attaining such eternity of fame as the continuall succession of mortality can affoorde vs which is giuen by another Poet but in prose Dum viuas virtutem colas inuenias famam in Sepulchro Hee that hunts after vertue in his whole course of life shall bee sure to meete with fame after death but hardly sooner least of all could these Prophets bee much honoured in their owne Country whilest men of their owne profession carnally minded possessed the chiefe seates of dignity sometimes the best stay and pillars of faith in Gods Church most capable of that infallibility which their proud successors did more boast of Yet were euen these seducers alwayes willing to celebrate the memory of ancient prophets because the authority giuen to their sayings or reuerence shewed vnto their memory by the present people ouer whome they ruled did no way preiudice their owne dignity or estimation which rather increased by thus consorting with the multitude in their laudatoes of holy men deceased Thus from one and the same inordinate desire of honour and praise from men did contrary effects vsually spring in these masters of Israel The dead they reuerenced because they saw that acceptable vnto most likely to make way for their owne prayse amongst the people but feare lest the liuing Prophets should bee their coriuals in suites of glory whereunto their soules were wholly espoused did still exasperate and wher the malice of impatient mindes conscious of their own infirmities against their doctrine which could not be embraced but their estimation must be impaired their affections crossed their politique proiects dashed The higher in dignity the Priests and Rulers were the more it vexed them such poore men as the true Prophets for the most part were should take vpon them to direct the people Their obiections against those men of God their scurrilous taunts and bitter scoffes their odious 〈◊〉 forged to make way for bloudy persecutions are most liuely represented by the like practizes of the Romish Clergy continued almost as many yeares against the Albigeans Huâ—sites and generally against al whom they suspect to haue any familiarity with the spirit whose testimony against them is as authentique as euident onely ouerborne through Gods permission in the worlds sight by preiudice of priuatenesse Thus when poore Michatah would not say as the King would haue him the politique State-Prophet Zidkiah sonne of Chenaanah gaue him a blow on the cheeke to beate an answere out to this demand When went the Spirit of the Lord from mee to thee As many proud Prelates would in like case reply vpon his poore brother that should crosse his opinion specially in a matter belonging though but a farre off vnto the State Sirrha I am your better know your place before whom and in what matter you speake Nor did Zidkiah onely but 400. more no otherwise discernable for false Prophets then by such triall as wee contend for as
if they would haue bound the Almighty to haue followed most voices in bestowing victory perswade the King to goe vp against Ramath Gilead But my former assertion is fully ratified by Michaiahs reply to the others demand When went the c. Thou shalt see saith hee in that day when thou shalt goe from chamber to chamber to hide thee No question but such as were neuters before after they see his prophesie fulfilled in Ahabs ouerthrow did take Michaiah for a Prophet as true as Zedkiah was false 3 In like manner when Ieremy a poore Prophet and Priest of Anathoth had come vnto Ierusalem among the Prelates and prophesied the truth but truth offensiue to the State That all the euils which God had pronounced should be brought vpon that City and her townes Pashuâ— the sonne of Immer the Priest which was appointed gouernour in the house of the Lord intreats him worse then Zidkiah had done Michaiah Hee could haue flouted him with as good applause of his complices as the Inquisitors can a Protestant now You that can read State fortunes a farre off can you tell where you shall lodge your selfe this next night if you cannot take him for a better Prophet that can And by Pashurs Prophesie hee was to take vp his lodging in his way home in the Stockes that were in the high gate of Benâ—amin neare vnto the house of the Lord. whose desolation hee had threatned The like entertainement hee found againe at the whole multitudes hands but by the Priests and Prophets instigation Now when Ieremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speake vnto all the people then the Priests and the Prophets and all the people tooke him and said Thou shalt die the death Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord saying This house shall bee like Shiloh and this City shall bee desolate without an inhabitant As if the Church of God could possibly erre or the gates of hell preuaile against the splendor of it would the Romish Clergie adde should the Lord send a Prophet with such tidings vnto Rome And did they not learne this interpretation of Christs promise vnto his Church from the hypocriticall Iewes their predecessors which made the like comment in Ieremiahs time vpon Gods wordes as pregnant for the high-Priests succession as Saint Peters Come aud let vs imagine some deuise against Ieremiah for the Law shall not perish from the Priest nor counsell from the wise nor the word from the Prophet come and let vs smite him with the tongue and let vs not giue heed to any of his words Away with the heretique The manifestation of like affection in the Prelates towards Gods Prophets did embolden Shemaiah the Nehelemite to write from Babylon vnto Zephaniah the high Priest and his associates to this effect The Lord hath mad thee Priest for Iehoiada the Priest that yee should bee officers in the house of the Lord for euery man that raueth and maketh himself a Prophet to put him in prison and in the stocks Now therfore why hast not thou reproued Ieremiah of Anathoth which prophesied vnto you This captiuity is long built houses to dwell in and plant gardens and eate the fruites of them 4 But when Pashur found the Omen of that name which Ieremiah gaue him when hee and his mates proued indeed Magors Missabibs a terror to themselues and all about them when they saw with their eyes all the miseries there expressed then was Ieremiah held for a true Prophet especially by such as outliued the captiuity to see the truth of his prophesie for thier good as exactly fulfilled as this had heen for their harme whilest according to his prediction Shemaiah and his seed were rooted out from amongst Gods people happily replanted in their natiue soile For from the reasons set downe before posterity did alwayes better iudge of prophesies then the age wherein their Authors liued at the least the younger and meaner sort of that age which out-liued the euent vsually better digested their doctrine then the ancient or men of dignity that enuied them credite amongst the people yet were not such as lesse maligned them greater belieuers vniuersally as was said before but onely of some few particulars For if a new Prophet should haue risen amongst theÌ„ hee was almost as euill entreated by the present Clergy or others whose humors he contradicted This is euident by the Scribes and Pharises and the chiefe Rulers of the Iewish Church in our Sauiours time They builded the tombs of the Prophets garnished the sepulchres of the righteous and said as they verily thought If wee had been in the dayes of our fathers we would not haue beene partakers with them in the bloud of the Prophets yet made they the people of their owne time so mad as to be partakers with theÌ„ in the bloud of that great Prophet their long desired Messiah the onely Sauiour of the world Throughout the whole Story almost of the old Testament the truth proposed may appeare that the visible Church if it be taken in such a sence as the Romanists take it was the most corrupt Iudge either of the truth or true meaning of Gods word that the people seduced by their goodly shewes and glorious titles of Moses successors were still brought into the combination of bloud vntill they brought vpon themselues their posterity and the holy City All the righteous bloud that was shed vpon the earth from the bloud of Abel the righteous vntil the bloud of their Messiah 5 But though their cruelty and hypocrisie be so notoriously knowne as it euen seemes to point out the like in the moderne Romanist yet some honestly minded will perhaps demand how the people of those ages wherein the Prophets liued could possibly know the truth of their Prophesies seeing for the most part they saw a maior part of men in Ecclesiastique authority bent against them This happily may tempt vnseÌ„tled minds to thinke the Lord had determined his Prophets should haue Cassandraes fates neuer to bee belieued till remedy were past The peoples mistâ—king of their predictions was in a sort fatall yet not necessary but vpon supposition of former neglect God sent them Prophets for their good but their wickednesse turned his blessings into cursings their hypocrisie and folly made them so blind that they could not discerne the signes of the times vntill wofull experience the fooles onely Schoolemaster began to teach it them when their time for lore was ended A prudent man saith the wise-man seeth the plague and hideth himselfe but the foolish go on still and are punished But wherein doth that prudence consist which might haue preuented this plague surely in reading Gods law and continuall meditation thereon for this giues wisdom to the simple Men in this case should haue asked counsell of their own heart for there is no man more faithfull vnto thee then it for a
heauenly doctrine For the experiments that giue vs the seale and assurance of liuely faith must of necessity bee within vs euen in our hearts and in our soules and these are they Had this people without miracles beene dicto audiens as they were enioyned by Moses in that they tooke him for a Prophet they might in short time haue knowne what Peter confessed Verba vitae aeternae habes Thou hast the words of eternall life whose sweetnesse once inwardly tasted was much more then all the miracles that could bee wrought without his hearers or vpon them But of such workes these proud Iewes neuer dreamed as not knowing the Scriptures nor the vertue of their Messias who as the Prophets had foretold was to preach the Gospell vnto the poore to comfort such as mourned in Sion to whom no miracles could be more welcome then such as hee did for what could be more acceptable to the blind then restitution of sight to the lame then right vse of his limmes what more gratefull message could bee vttered to the deafe then ephata to haue his eares opened what to the dumbe then vntying of the tongue what to the possessed then to be freede from the tyranny of Sathan or his Ministers Finally as the Euangelist notes hee did all things well and vnto the best contentment possible of euery afflicted soule farre aboue the exigence or significations of their peculiar necessities but further beyond their expectation In euery worke he shewed his willingnesse in all his power to ease refresh all that were wearie and heauy laden but vnto such as thought themselues so whole and sound as no way to neede his Physicke rather desirous to feed their curious fancies with superfluous or vnnecessary wonders hee was not willing to giue satisfaction by turning Gods graces into wantonnesse or vaine ostentation of his power or skill Another especiall occasion of this peoples stumbling at this stone elect and pretious was their not considering that many of Moses greatest wonders were types partly of those glorious miracles which Messiah was to worke secretly by his spirit manifested onely to their hearts and consciences in whom they were wrought partly of that his glory and power which was outwardly reuealed to his Disciples and might so haue beene to more had they not stumbled as the Prouerbe is in the very entrie and so departed from him in despaire bred from a foolish preiudice that no great good could be expected from a Nazarite of parentage birth and education so meane CHAP. XI Confirming the truth deliuered in the former Chapter from the very law giuen by Moses for discerning the great Prophet further exemplifying the vse and â—orce of miracles for begetting faith The manner of trying prophesies Of the similitude betwixt Christ and Moses 1 ASwell for farther discouerie of Romish blasphemie as ratification of our formar assertion let vs view with diligence that place of Moses wherein such strict obedience and attention to the Messias doctrine is enioyned as no where else such as no other may exact without incurring the curse there threatned to the disobedient The Lord thy God will raise vp thee a Prophet like vnto me from among you euen of thy brethren vnto him yee shall hearken According to all that thou desiredst the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly when thou saidest Let me heare the voyce of my Lord God no more nor see this great fire any more that I die not And the Lord said vnto me they haue well spoken I wil raise them vp a Prophet from among their Brethren like vnto thee and will put my words in his mouth and hee shall speake vnto them all that I shall command him And whosoeuer will not hearken vnto my words which he shall speake in my Name I will require it of him This prophesie by ioint consent of best interpreters as well moderne as ancient Pontificians as Protestants may bee truely and literally applyed to other Prophets whether of the old or new Testament according to that measure of the spirit they had from him of whose fulnesse all as well such as in time went before him as those that came after him had receiued grace for grace True it is if wee rightly value the strict propriety of euery word or clause in the whole context what all historicall circumstauces put together import or the full extent of S. Peters paraphrase on the last sentence it cannot bee exactly fitted vnto any but Christ vnto whom onely the whole discourse is as fully commensurable as a well made garment to the body that weares it yet is this no impediment why the same rule taken according to some literall circumstances might not vsually serue for certaine discretion of true Prophets from false as wee vse to notifie lesser but indefinite quanties of things by the known parts of some greater measure commensurable if wee take the whole to substances of a larger size 2 Euident it is out of the literall meaning of this law acknowledged by all that Israel was strictly bound to hearken vnto such Prophets as God at any time should raise them vp though with most attention and greatest reuerence to heare the Prince of Prophets But the question is vpon what tearmes or how farre they were bound to heare all Absolutely and at first proposall of their doctrines without examination of them by the written law So might hee that could haue set the best legge foremost and stept vp soonest into Moses chaire haue kept the rest of his profession in awe by thundering out Anathemaes thence as the Pope doth from Saint Peters to all gaine-sayers priest or people By what rule then were true Prophets to be distinguished from false By miracles These were meanes oftimes effectuall but as was intimated more vsuall for enforcing men to an acknowledgement of the truth in generall then for trying particular controuersies by amongst true professors in respect of whom they were subordinate to that rule giuen by Moses in the words immediately following But the Prophet that shall presume to speake a word in my Name which I haue not commanded him to speake or that speaketh in the name of other Gods euen the same Prophet shal die And if thou think in thine heart How shall wee know the word which the Lord hath not spoken When a Prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord if the thing follow not nor come to passe that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously thou shalt not therefore be afraid of him 3 Before this or any other part of the law was written somewhat in proportion answerable to it did alwayes necesssarily concurre with miracles for distinguishing true professors from seducers When the controuersie was betwixt Moses and Pharaohs Enchanters the Lord confutes his aduersaries by an ocular demonstration of his power yet further ratified by their confession whose words were
of the Messias did a many of that City conceiue faith from the womans report but moe because of his own words And they said vnto the woman Now we belieue not because of thy saying for wee haue heard him our selues and know that this is indeed the Christ the Sauiour of the world From the like but more liuely experience of his discouering secrets did his Disciples make that confession Now know wee that thou knowest all things and needest not that any man should aske thee By this we belieue that thou art come out from God 16 The manifestation of this Propheticall spirit did giue life vnto his greatest miracles in working faith for his Disciples belieued in him after his resurrection because he had foretolde his reedefying the temple in three dayes space Which speech of his the foolish Iewes not knowing his body to bee the true temple wherein their God did dwell after a more excellent manner then betweene the Cherubins take as meant of the materiall Temple which had beene 46. yeeres in building But saith Saint Iohn Assoone as he was risen from the dead his Disciples remembred that he thus said vnto them and they belieued the Scripture and the word which Iesus had said Nor did they compare these two together by chance for our Sauiour often inculcated this Methode as of purpose to imprint the former oracle of Isaiah in their hearts To assure them of his going to his father he expresly tels them Now I haue spoken vnto you before it come that whē it is come to passe yee might belieue Foretelling the persecution of his Disciples he addes These things haue I told you that when the howre shall come ye might remember that I told you them That glory likewise which God had professed hee would not giue to any other he foretels should bee giuen him and so demands it as if He that did glorifie and He that was glorified were both one Father Glorifie thy Name Then came there a voice from heauen saying I haue both glorified it and will glorifie it againe How had hee glorified it before By glorifying this great Prophet who did fully expresse but farre exceede Moses in all thinges wherein former Prophets did resemble him but came farre short of him When was hee so glorified At his transfiguration vpon Mount Tabor which none without sacrilegious impiety could haue foretolde as likely to befall himselfe saue hee alone that had not as Moses onely seene the similitude of the Lord but being in the forme of God thought it no robbery to bee equall with him Yet this Prophet of whom we speake though like to his Brethren in shape and substance to assure them hee should come in the glory of his father foretelles his Disciples that some of them should not die vntill they had seene the Kingdome of God come with power which was accomplished in that transfiguration where as Saint Peter witnesseth He receiued of God the father honour and glory when there came such a voyce vnto him from the excellent glory This is my beloued sonne in whom I am well pleased Yea so wel pleased as for his sake the world might henceforth know how ready he was to heare all that through faith in his name should call vpon him euen such as had displeased him most For this cause the Codicill annexed to the diuine will and Testament here signified immediately after to be sealed with the blood of this best beloued soune was that reciprocall duety before intimated in the Law Heare him as is specified by three Euangelists For more publike manifestation of his Maiesty as then reuealed but to a few was that glorious commemoration of it lately mentioned celebrated againe in the audience of the multitude This voice saith our Sauiour came not because of me but for your sakes And in that place againe after his wonted predictions of things should after come to passe as of his victory ouer death he testifies aloud to all the people that he was the great Prophet foretold by Moses sweetly paraphrasing vpon his words And Iesus cried and said He that belieueth in me belieueth not in mee but in him that sent me And if any man heare my words and belieue not I iudge him not for I came not to iudge the world but to saue the world Hee did not accurse such as would not acknowledge his authority or derogated from his person or miracles nor needed he so to do for he that refuseth him and receiueth not his words hath one that iudgeth him the word which he had spoken it shall iudge him in the last day This was that which Moses had said And whosoeuer will not hearken vnto my words which he the great Prophet shall speake in my Name I will require it of him to wit in the last day of accompts For I haue not spoken of my selfe but the Father which sent me hee gaue me a commandement what I should do and what I should speake And I know that his commandement is life euerlasting the things therefore that I speake I speake them so as the Father said vnto me VVhat is this but that speech of Moses improued to it ful value according to the circumstances and signes of those times and as it concerned the Lord and Prince of Prophets I will raise them vp a Prophet frō among their brethren like vnto thee and will put my wordes in his mouth and hee shall speake vnto them all that I shall commaund him 17 This being the last conference our Sauiour was willing to entertaine with the Iewes this his last farewell giuen in Moses words warrants mee to construe that speech of S. Iohns though hee had done so many miracles before them yet belieued they not on him as I haue done the like before to wit that not his miracles considered alone but with Mosaicall and Propheticall writings or common notions of the Messias thence conceiued or especially as they concurred with his owne predictions did immediatly condemne the Iewes Vnder the name of workes his words are comprehended such at the least as foretell his admirable works or in generall all those solemne inuocations of his Fathers name in such predictions as had hee not beene the sonne of God would rather haue brought speedy vengeance from heauen vpō his head then such glorious testimonies of his Diuinity And to me our Sauiour seemes to call his very words works in that speech to Philip Beleeuest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me the words that I speake vnto you I speake not of my self but the father that dwelleth in mee hee doth the workes Howsoeuer as all the workes of God were created by this eternall word so did his words giue life vnto his greatest workes his Diuinations were to his miracles as his humane soule was to his body And no question but the conception of their faith
that heard him preach was as immediately from those words of eternall life which issued from his mouth as ours is from the Word preached by his messengers To what other vse then could miracles serue saue onely to breed a praeuiall admiration and make entrance for them into his hearers hearts though his bodily presence at all times was not yet were his vsuall workes in themselues truely glorious more then apt to dispell that veile of preiudice commonly taken against the meannesse of his person birth or parentage had it been meerely naturall not occasioned through willfull neglect of extraordinary meanes precedent and stubborne opposition to present grace most plentifully offered His raising others from death to life was more then sufficient to remoue that offence the people tooke at that speech If I were lift vp from the earth I should draw all men vnto me To which they answered Wee haue heard out of the Law that the Christ bideth for euer and how sayest thou that the sonne of man must be lift vp Who is that sonne of man 18 To conclude then his distinct and arbitrary foretelling euents of euery sort any Prophet had mentioned many of them not producible but by extraordinary miracles withall including diuine testifications of farre greater glory ascribed to him then Moses or any Prophet euer challenged was the demonstratiue rule according to Moses prediction whereunto all visible signs and sensible miracles should haue beene resolued by their spectators as knowne effects lead contemplators vnto the first and immediate causes on which their truth and being depends That Encomium This is my beloued sonne in whom I am well pleased Heare him with the like giuen by Iohn Baptist Behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world vnto all such as tooke him for a true Prophet did more distinctly point out the similitude peculiar to him with Moses expressed in the forecited place of Deuteronomy literally though not so plainly as most Readers would without direction obserue it seeing euen interpreters most followed either neglect the words themselues in which it is directly contained or wâ—est their meaning Vnto him shall yee hearken according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly Their request then was Talke thou with vs and we will heart but let not God talke with vs lest we die Here the whole multitude bound themselues to hear the word of the Lord not immediately from his mouth but by Moses For whiles the people stood a farre off he onely drew neere to the darkenesse where God was This their request and resolution elsewhere more fully expressed the Lord highly commended I haue heard the voice of the wordes of this people which they haue spoken vnto thee they haue well saide all that they haue spoken Oh that there were such an heart in them to feare me and to keepe all my commandements alway that it might goe wel with them and with their children for euer If we obserue that increment the literall sense of the same words may receiue by succession of time or as they respect the body not the type both which they iointly signifie the best reason can be giuen of Gods approuing the former petition and Israels peculiar disposition at that time aboue others will bee this That as posterity in reiecting Samuel reiected Christ or God the second person in Trinity so here the Fathers in requesting Moses might bee their spokesman vnto God requested that Great Prophet ordained to bee the author of a better couenant euen that promised womans seed their brother according to the flesh to be Mediator betwixt God and them to secure them from such dreadfull flames as they had seene so they would hearken as then they promised vnto his words as vnto the words of God himselfe esteeming him as the Apostle saith so farre aboue Moses as he that builds the house is aboue the house And in the Emphasis of that speech Whosoeuer will not hearken vnto my words which he shall speake in my name I will require it of him purposely resumed by Moses with these threates annexed as if hee had not sufficiently expressed his mind in the like precedent Vnto him yee shall hearken the same difference betweene Moses and the Great Prophet then meant is included which the Apostle in another place expresseth He that despiseth Moses Law dieth without mercy vnder two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye he shall be worthy which treadeth vnder foot the son of God and counteth the blood of the Testament as an vnholy thing Vntill the soueraignety of the Law and Prophets did determine that EncomiuÌ„ of Moses did beare date There arose not a Prophet since in Israel like vnto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face but vanished vpon the Criers voice when the kingdom of heauen beganne to appeare The Israelites to whom both promises were made did farre exceed all other nations in that they had a law most absolute giuen by Moses yet to bee bettered by an euerlasting Couenant the former being as an earnest penny giuen in hand to assure them of the latter In respect of both the name of a Soothsayer or Sorcerer was not to bee heard in Israel as in the nations which knew not God much lesse expected a Mediator in whom the spirit of life should dwell as plentifully as splendor doth in the body of the Sunne from whose fulnesse ere hee visibly came into the world other Prophets were illuminated as those lights which rule the night are by that great light which God hath appointed to rule the day at whose approch the Prince of darkenesse with his followers were to auoide the Hemisphere wherein they had raigned In the meane time the testimonies of the Law and Prophesies serued as a light or candle to minish the terrors of the night Euen Moses himself and al that followed him were but as messengers sent from God to sollicite his people to reserue their alleageance free from all commerce or compact with familiar spirits vntill the Prince of glory came in person 19 Thus without censure of their opinion that otherwise thinke or teach albeit the continuance of Prophets amongst this people were a meane to preuent all occasions of consulting forcerers or witches yet the chiefe ground of Moses disswasion from such practises acording to the literall connexion of these words The nations which thou shall possesse hearken vnto those that regarde the times and vnto sorcerers as for thee the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so with those following hitherto expounded The Lord thy God will raise vp vnto thee a Prophet was the consideration of their late mighty deliuerance by Moses the excellency of their present law and their expectation of a greater law-giuer when the first couenant should waxe old and Prophesies for a long time faile vnto strict obseruance
such as the Apostle speakes dwelling in Christ and incorporate in his substance this spirite of prophesie if without preiudice so wee may call it did neuer waine was neuer eclipsed alwayes most splendent in him as light in the Moone at the full As hee neuer foretold any thing which came not to passe so could hee at all times when he pleased foretell whatsoeuer at any time should befall his friends or foes with all the circumstances and signes consequent or precedent From this brightnesse of his glory did Iohn Baptist who was sent from God as the morning starre to vsher this Sunne of righteousnesse into his Kingdome become more then a Prophet for distinct illuminations concerning matters to come A Prophet hee was in the wombe and bare witnesse of that light which enlightneth euery man that commeth into the world before hee came into it himselfe or saw this bodily Sunne when he could not speake he daunced for ioy at his presence and at his first approach after Baptisme hee thus salutes him Behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world What Prophet did euer so distinctly prophesie of his passion and so fully instruct the people what was foresignified by the sacrifice of the Paschall Lambe yet was Iohn himselfe secured by the former rule that he spake this by the spirit of the Lord not out of fancy not presumptuously For til this Baptisme he knew him not but he that sent him to baptize with water he said vnto him Vpon whom thou shalt see the spirit come down and tarrie still vpon him that is hee which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost And he saw it so come to passe and bare record that this was the sonne of God From this more then Propheticall spirit of Iohn manifested by this and the like testifications of Christ all afterwards approued by the euent did the people gather Christ not Iohn to be that great Prophet mighty in wordes and deed For after hee had escaped the violence offered him at Ierusalem and went againe beyond Iordan into the place where Iohn first baptized Many saith the Euangelist resorted vnto him and said Iohn did no miracle but all things which Iohn spake of this man were true And many belieued in him there For his workes sake not doubt but for these as accompanied with the former circumstances of place and Iohns predictions Iohn had witnessed hee was the sonne of God mighty in deed and word and reason they had to think his works were the works of his father that his priuiledges were the priuiledges of the onely begotten sonne and heire of all things When Iohn though a Prophet and more then a Prophet for his portion of the diuine spirit was yet restrained by reason of his approach that was before him from doing such wonders as meaner Prophets had done To such as rightly obserued this opposition betweene Iohns power in words and his defect in deedes or Christs superabundant power in both the case was plaine Iohn was but the Cryer the other in whose presence his authority decreased the Lord whose wayes hee was sent to prepare 13 If vnto the variety of Christs miracles compared with Iohns predictions and other prophesies wee ioine his arbitrarie vsuall manner either of foretelling future or knowing present matters of euery kind many such as no Prophet durst euer haue professed to belong vnto himselfe our faith may clearely behold the sure foundation whereon it is built That hee euen hee himselfe who had said by the Prophet I am the Lord this is my Name and my glory will I not giue vnto another neither my praise to grauen Images Behold the former things are come to passe and new things do I declare before they come forth I tell you of them did at the fulnesse of time manifest his Glory in our flesh by the practise there mentioned of fortelling things strange and vnheard of to the world Prophesies of former times were fulfilled in his personall appearance and made their period at the beginning of his preaching Whatsoeuer concernes the state of the world chiefly the Gentiles since came from him either as altogether new or was refined and renewed by him For what man among the Nations yea what Master in Israel did from the Law or prophets conceiue aright of the new birth by water and the spirit or of that euerlasting Kingdom whereunto onely men so borne are heires predestinate These were the new things which he only could distinctly declare before they came forth 14 That their Messias was to bee this God here spoken of by Isaiah dwelling and conuersing with them in their nature substance might haue beene manifested to the Iewes had they not beene hood-winked with pride and malice from that common notion euen the most vulgar amongst them had of his diuine spirit in declaring secrets and foretelling things to come What one miracle done by Christ did euer take so good effect with so great speed in best prepared spectators as his discouery of Nathaniels heart in presence and outward cariage in so great distance Rabbi saith Nathaniel thou art the sonne of God thou art the king of Israel Though faith be the true gift of God onely wrought by his spirit yet no question but Nathaniel was more inclined to this confession from the generall notion of the Messias diuine spirit euen by it hee was capable of that promise habenti dabitur And our Sauiour highly approues and so rewards this his docility Because I said vnto thee I saw thee vnder the figge tree belieuest thou thou shalt see greater things then these What were they Miracles Yes for so hee saith to him and the rest of his hearers Verely verely I say vnto you hereafter shall you see heauen open and the Angels of God ascending and descending vpon the sonne of man Then miracles it seems were more effectuall to confirme faith then this experience of his Propheticall spirit not of themselues but ioyned with it or as thus foretold by him and foresignified by Iacobs vision which compared with the euent whether that were at his ascension or no I now dispute not did plainely declare him to be the way and the doore by which all enter into the house of God 15 Vpon the first apprehension of like discouerie made by him did the poore Samaritane woman acknowledge hee was a Prophet and vpon his auouching himselfe to be more then so she takes him indeed for the expected Messtas of whom shee had this conceit before That when hee came he should tell them all things From this preconceiued notion working with her present experience of his diuine spirit able to descrie all the secrets of her hart shee makes this proclamation to her neighbours Come and see a man that hath told mee all things that euer I did is not he the Christ Vpon their like experience fully consonant to the same common notion or conceit