Philippi Mercy unto you and Peace from God Almighty and from the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour be multiplied I congratulate you highly in our Lord Jesus Christ in that ye have embraced those Patterns of true love and accompanied as became you those who were involved in holy Bands which are the Diadems of those who are truly the elected of God and of our Lord and because the root of your faith which was preached to you continues firm even from the beginning until now and brings forth fruit unto our Lord Jesus Christ who suffred for our sins even to the death whom God raised up having loosed the bands of death in whom having not seen him ye believe and believing rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Into which joy many desire to enter knowing that through grace ye are saved not by works but by the will of God through Jesus Christ Wherefore having your Loyns girt about serve God with fear and truth forsaking empty vain babble and the errour of many believing in him who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead and hath given to him glory and a throne at his right hand To whom all earthly and heavenly things are subject and every thing that hath breath pays service who shall come to judge the quick and dead and whose bloud God will strictly require at the hands of those who do not believe in him But he who raised him from the dead will raise up us also if we do his will and walk in his Commandements and love the things which he loved Abstaining from all unrighteousness incontinence covetousness detraction fals-witness-bearing not rendering evil for evil reproach for reproach railing for railing cursing for cursing but remembring what the Lord said teaching in this wise Judge not that ye be not judged forgive and it shall be forgiven you be merciful that ye may obtain mercy in what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again it is also said Blessed are the poor in spirit and they who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of God These things Brethren I write unto you concerning Righteousness not imposing any commands upon you as from my self but because ye have moved me so to do For neither I nor any other like unto me can attain to the wisdom of blessed and glorious PAUL who being amongst you and conversing face to face with men then living taught you exactly and firmly the word of Truth who also being absent wrote Epistles unto you by which if ye give heed unto them ye may be built up in the faith which was delivered unto you which Faith is the mother of you all being followed by Hope and led on by Love which directs you to God and Christ and our Neighbour For if any man is possessed of these he hath fulfilled the command of Righteousness He who is possessed of Love is free from all sin but Covetousness is the root of all evil Knowing therefore that we brought nothing into the world and that we shall carry nothing out Let us arm our selves with the armour of Righteousness and teach our selves in the first place to walk in the Commandements of the Lord. And let us in the next place teach the Women that they walk according to that rule of faith which was delivered unto them and in love and holiness and that they love entirely their own husbands with all sincerity and all others equally with all continency and that they instruct their children in the discipline and fear of God And let us teach the Widows to be sober and wise according to the faith of the Lord and to make intercession for all without intermission keeping themselves from all detraction accusation fals-witness-bearing covetousness and all evil knowing that they are as the Altars of God who observes the faults of every one of us for nothing is hid from him neither of our reasonings understandings nor secrets of our hearts and because we know that God cannot be mocked we ought to walk worthy of his command and of glory Likewise let the Deacons be unblameable in the presence of his righteousness for they are the ministers of God in Christ and not of men Let them not be accusers nor double-tongued nor covetous but continent in all things compassionate careful walking according to the truth of the Lord who was made the minister of all from whom if we please him in this world we shall receive a future reward for he hath ingaged for us to raise us from the dead and if we have our conversation worthy of him we shall also reign with him as we believe In like manner let the Young men be unblameable in all things chiefly let them study chastity and restrain themselves as with a bridle from all that is evil For it is a good thing to be elevated in our desires above all the desireable things of this world because all concupiscence of the world warreth against the Spirit and neither fornicators nor effeminate persons nor abusers of themselves with mankind shall inherit the Kingdom of God nor they who do absurd things Therefore it is necessary that ye abstain from all such things being subject to the Presbyters and Deacons as to God and Christ And let the Virgins walk with a blameless and chaste Conscience Let the Presbyters be of tender bowels compassionate towards all converters of those who are in errour visiters of all that are sick careful of the Widow the Orphans and the indigent always providing that which is good in the sight of God and men not given to wrath no respecters of persons not unjust in judgement keeping themselves far from all covetousness not hastily believing any thing against any man not rash in passing judgement against any knowing that all of us are the debters of sin and as we pray the Lord would forgive us we ought also to forgive for we are continually in the sight of the Lord God and must all stand before the Tribunal of Christ and every one of us give an account for himself Therefore let us serve him with fear and all reverence as he hath given in Commandement and as the Apostles have evangelized to us and the Prophets who preached before-hand the coming of our Lord. Be zealous of that which is good and keep your selves from scandals avoiding the company of false brethren who carry the Name of the Lord in hypocrisie onely to seduce vain men into errour For every one who doth not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is Antichrist and he who doth not confess the Martyrdom of the Cross is of the devil and he who shall pervert the Oracles of the Lord to serve his own private lusts and shall say that there is no Resurrection nor judgement is the first-born of Satan Therefore let us decline the folly of many and their false doctrines and give heed to that word which was delivered to us from the
beginning Let us attend unto Prayers with all sobrierie and unto Fastings with all perseverance and in our supplications let us pray unto the Al-seeing God that he would not lead us into temptation as the Lord hath taught for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak Let us endure without fainting resting our selves upon our hope and pledge of righteousness which is Jesus Christ who did bear our sins in his own body upon the tree who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth but he patiently endured all things for us that we might live through him Therefore let us be the followers of his patience and if we suffer for his Name we glorifie him for he set us such an Example in himself as we believe Therefore I exhort you all to obey the word of Righteousness and to exercise all Patience as ye have seen it exemplified before your eyes not onely in the blessed Ignatius Zosimus and Rufus but in others among you in Paul himself and the rest of the Apostles For ye may be confident that all these have not run in vain but in Faith and Righteousness and having obtained the place due unto them are now with the Lord with whom also they suffered for they loved not this present world but him who died for us and was for us by God raised again from death to life Stand fast therefore in these things and follow the Pattern of the Lord Be stedfast in the Faith immutable Lovers of the brotherhood kind one to another united in Truth performing all meekness each to other and despising none When ye can do good do not deferre it for Alms delivereth from death Be subject one to another having your conversation unblameable among the Gentiles that your selves may receive praise from your good works and the Lord be not blasphemed by your means But wo to that man by whom the Name of the Lord is blasphemed Therefore teach all men sobriety and be your selves conversant in it I am very much troubled for Valens who was made a Presbyter among you because he is unmindful of his place which was committed unto him I therefore admonish you that ye abstain from Covetousness and that ye be chaste and true Keep your selves from all evil But how can he preach this to another who cannot govern himself in these matters If a man keep not himself from Covetousness he will be defiled with Idolatry and accounted an heathen But who knows not the judgement of the Lord Do we not know that the Saints shall judge the world as Paul teacheth But I have neither perceived nor heard of any such thing among you amongst whom blessed Paul laboured who are also in the beginning of his Epistle For he glories of you in all those Churches which onely knew God at that time for as yet we had not known him Therefore my Brethren I am grieved for him and for his wife to whom the Lord give true Repentance And be ye sober as to this very thing esteem not such as as enemies but restore them as frail and erring members that the whole body of you may be saved for in so doing ye build up your selves I trust that ye are well exercised in the holy Scriptures and that nothing is hid from you which thing is not yet granted unto me As it is written Be angry and sin not let not the sun go down upon your wrath Blessed is he who shall believe which thing I believe to be in you Now the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ the eternal High-priest and Son of God build you up in faith and truth and in all meekness that ye may be without anger and in all patience longanimity long-sufferance and chastity and give you a lot and part amongst his Saints and to us together with you and to all who are under heaven that shall believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and in his Father who raised him from the dead Pray for all Saints Pray also for Kings and Potentates and Princes for those who persecute you and hate you and for the enemies of the Cross that your fruit may be manifested in all and ye may be perfect in him Ye and also Ignatius have written unto me that if any man go into Syria he may carry also your Letters which I will either do my self if I have a fit opportunity or he whom I shall send upon your message also According to your request we have sent unto you those Epistles of Ignatius which he wrote unto us and so many others of his as we had by us which are subjoyned to this Epistle and by which ye may be very much profited for they contain in them faith and patience and all that is necessary for the building of you up in our Lord. Signifie unto us what ye shall certainly know concerning Ignatius himself and those who are with him I have written unto you these things by Crescens whom I formerly commended to you and do now commend for he was conversant amongst us unblameably and I believe he was the same amongst you Ye shall also have his sister commended when she shall come unto you Be safe in the Lord Jesus Christ in grace with all yours Amen The Life and Death of Holy IGNATIUS Bishop of the Church of Antioch in Syria Holy Martyr and Disciple of Saint John the Evangelist Together with a true account of these following Epistles of his 1. To the Smyrneans 2. To Polycarp 3. To the Ephesians 4. To the Magnesians 5. To the Philadelphians 6. To the Trallians 7. To the Romans All faithfully translated out of the Original Greek into English according to the most genuine Copy found in the Library of Lawrence De Medicis by the Learned Isaac Vossius and by him published at Amsterdam in the year of our Lord. 1646. THis holy man Ignatius was a man of an extraordinary Zeal vast Charity most clear Apprehensions as to Divine things devout and religious even to a Miracle He was styled Theopherus as he calls himself in all his Epistles either as is supposed by some because he was that Little Child mentioned in the Gospel which Christ took up in his arms when he would teach his Disciples Humility by the low Character of Childhood or because he did constantly bear God about with him in his holy and pure heart My purpose is in brief to shew you what he was of what esteem in the Church and how he ended his life by a glorious Martyrdom which I shall do out of those Writers of Antiquity who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persons worthy of credit and of very venerable esteem in the Church of Christ Origen reports him Episcopum Antiochiae post Petrum secundum The second Bishop of Antioch after Peter Athanasius said he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Made Bishop of Antioch after the Apostles and a Martyr of Christ Irenaeus hath written of him thus that
to God will perfect me that I may obtain that Lot to which I was chosen flying to the Gospel as to the flesh of Jesus and to the Apostles as to the Presbyterie of the Church We love also the Prophets because they preached the Gospel and did hope in him and expect him in whom also believing they were saved in the Unitie of Jesus Christ being holy men worthy to be beloved and most worthy of admiration born witness of by Jesus Christ being his Martyrs and numbred up together in the Gospel of the common hope But if any man preach Judaism to you hear him not For it is better to hear Christianism from one circumcised than Judaism from one uncircumcised But if both of them speak not of Jesus Christ they are to me as Pillars and Monuments of dead men whereon the names of men onely are written Flie therefore evil arts and the frauds of the prince of this world lest being troubled with his opinion ye be weakned in charitie Be all of you made up into one with an undivided heart I thank my God that I have a good Conscience as concerning you and that no man hath wherof to glory either privately or publikely that I have been burdensom to any either in little or much And I beseech all to whom I have spoken that they possess not this as a Testimonie And although some would seduce me according to the flesh yet my spirit which is from God is not seduced He knows whence it comes and whither it goes and is a reproover of secrets I have cried in the midst of you I have spoken it with a loftie voice Attend unto the Bishop and the Presbyterie and the Deacons And though some have suspected me to have spoken these things as foreknowing the Division of some yet he is my witness for whom I am a Prisoner that I have not been taught it by man but the Spirit preached it saying these things Do nothing without the Bishop Keep your flesh as the Temple of God Love Vnitie Flie divisions Be ye followers of Jesus Christ as he himself is of the Father Therefore I did what was proper for me as a man perfected unto Unitie But where there is division and wrath God dwelleth not Therefore the Lord pardons all Penitents if they shall return by Repentance to the Vnitie of God and the Council of the Bishop I believe the Grace of Jesus Christ who will loose every bond from you And I exhort you to do nothing with contention but according to the Discipline of Christ For I have heard some speaking in this wise That if I find it not amongst the Antients I do not believe the Gospel And when I replied to them That it is written They answered me It lies before us But Jesus Christ is to me Antiquitie and the Records not to be touched are his Cross and his Death and his Resurrection and the Faith which is by him in which things I would be justified through your Prayers Honourable are the Priests but more honourable the High-priest to whom are committed the Holies of Holies and with whom alone are deposited the hidden things of God He is the Door of the Father by whom Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the Prophets and Apostles and Church of God have entered All these things are for the Unitie of God But the Gospel hath something in it chiefly valueable and that is The Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ his Passion and Resurrection For the beloved Prophets preached of him but the Gospel is the Perfection of incorruption All things together are excellent if ye believe in Love But seeing that through your Prayers according to the bowels which ye have in Christ Jesus the Church which is at Antioch of Syria as is told to me is at peace it becomes you as the Church of God to ordain a Minister to go thither as an Embassadour upon the Embasie of God to joy together with them that they are made one and to glorifie his Name Blessed in Jesus Christ shall that man be who shall be accounted worthy of such a Ministery and ye your selves shall be glorified This is not impossible for the Name of God if ye have but a will to it as some neighbour Churches also have sent Bishops others Presbyters and Deacons As for Philo the Deacon of Cilicia he is a man that hath given a good Testimonie and now ministers to me in the Word of God together with Rheus Agathopus a choyce man who accompanies me from Syria having renounced this life these also bear testimonie to you and I give thanks to God for you because ye have received them as the Lord you But they who have dishonoured them may obtain Redemption by the Grace of Jesus Christ The Love of the Brethren who are at Troas saluteth you whence also I write unto you by Burrus who was sent along with me from the Ephesians and the Smyrneans for the Word of honour The Lord Jesus Christ will honour them in whom they hope in flesh soul faith love and unanimitie Farewel in Christ Jesus our common Hope Ignatius to the Philadelphians To the Trallians Ignatius who is also Theophorus to the holy Church beloved of God the Father of Jesus Christ which is in Trallis of Asia elect and divine having obtained peace in the flesh and bloud by the Passion of Jesus Christ our hope and the Resurrection grounded upon him which I salute in fulness in an Apostolical Style wishing much joy I Have known you to have a blameless understanding not to be severed in Patience and that not by use but by nature as Polybius your Bishop hath manifested to me who by the will of God and of Jesus Christ was at Smyrna and did so congratulate me a Prisoner for Jesus Christ that I did view over your whole multitude in him Therefore receiving from him that good disposition of mind which is according to God I gloried finding you as I had known you the followers of God For in regard ye are subject to the Bishop as to Jesus Christ ye appear to me not to live as men but to live according to Jesus Christ who died for us that believing in his death ye may escape death Therefore it is necessary as ye do to do nothing without the Bishop but that ye be subject to the Presbyterie as to the Apostles of Jesus Christ our Hope in whom we should be found having our conversation It behooves the Deacons also being the Mysterie of Jesus Christ to please all men every manner of way For they are not the Ministers of meats and drinks but Ministers of the Church of God Therefore it is necessary for them to avoid accusations as fire Let all in like manner reverence the Deacons as Jesus Christ and the Bishop being the Son of the Father and the Presbyters as the Council of God and companie of the Apostles Without these a Church is not called Of whom I am perswaded
Therefore in this brethren God is provident and merciful in regard the people whom he hath acquired to his beloved should believe in simplicity and he hath shewn to all us that we should not run as Proselytes over to their Law And it concerns us to write much of the things in hand which cannot heal Let us flie every work of iniquitie and hate the errour of this time and love things future Let us not give libertie to our soul nor suffer it to wander with most lewd men and sinners For the trail is consummate as it is written as Daniel saith it is at hand For this cause doth the Lord divide times and days that his beloved may hasten to his inheritance So saith the Prophet Ten kingdoms shall reign upon the earth and a little king shall arise who shall depose three into one Concerning the kingdoms and this very thing Daniel saith again I saw a fourth beast dreadful and terrible and exceeding strong having ten horns and another little horn grew up in the midst of them before whom there were three of the first horns plucks up by the roots Therefore we ought to understand and I intreat you again as one of you loving you above mine own life that ye would take heed unto your selves and that ye would not be like unto those who heap up their sins and say That their Testament is also ours But ours it is for they have for ever destroyed that which Moses received For the Scripture saith And Moses was in the mount fasting fourty days and fourty nights and he received the testament from the Lord the tables of stone written with the hand of God But they being turned unto idols destroyed that for the Lord saith to Moses Go down quickly for thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt hath transgressed And Moses cast the tables of stone out of his hands and their Testament was broken that the love of Jesus might be signed upon your hearts unto the hope of the faith of him Therefore let us give heed unto the last days for all the time of our life and faith shall profit us nothing if we do not endure unjust things and future temptations as the Son of God saith Let us resist all iniquitie and hate it Consider therefore the works of an evil life Ye ought not to separate your selves as being justified but meeting together in one to enquire what may be in common profitable and convenient for the beloved For the Scripture saith Wo to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight Let us being spiritual be made a perfect Temple to God as much as in us lies Let us meditate upon the fear of God and endeavour to keep his Commandements that we may rejoyce in his judgements The Lord accepting no mans person judgeth the world every man shall receive according to his deeds If he be good his goodness goes before him if wicked the ways of his wickedness follows after him Take heed lest at any time being called and at ease we do not fall asleep in our sins and the wicked one getting power over us do not awake us out of our sleep and exclude us from the Kingdom of the Lord. Understand a little more Having seen the great signs and wonders among the people of the Jews and that the Lord doth so leave them therefore let us take heed lest happily we be found as it is written Many called few chosen For this cause the Lord endured to deliver up his body to death that we might be sanctified by remission of sins that is through the sprinkling of his bloud For it is written of him to the Jews and to us in this manner He was wounded for our transgressions bruised for our iniquities by his stripes we were healed He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before the shearer dumb so opened he not his mouth Therefore we ought exceedingly to rejoyce in the Lord because he hath shown unto us things past and hath made us wise neither are we without understanding of things to come But he saith The net surely is spread in vain in the sight of any bird This he saith in regard that that man shall justly perish who hath knowledge of the way of truth and yet will not refrain himself from the dark way Moreover the Lord endured to suffer for us and yet he is the Lord of the world to whom he said upon the day before the world was consummate Let us make man according to our image and similitude Learn therefore how much he endured who would suffer this from men The Prophets having the gift from him prophesied of him and he that he might abolish death and make manifest the Resurrection from the dead endured because it was necessary for him to appear in the flesh that he might make good the Promise to the Parents And preparing a new people by his being upon the earth he declared by making a Resurrection the judgement and in the end by teaching and doing great signs and wonders he preached to Israel and dearly loved him Then he chose proper Apostles who should preach his Gospel who were sinners above all sin that he might shew that he came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance Then he manifested himself to be the Son of God For had he not come in the flesh how could men looking on him have been saved For the Sun which is the work of his hands men cannot look directly upon with their eyes intent upon the beams of it Therefore the Son of God came in the flesh that he might consummate the sins of those who persecuted his Prophets unto death And for this he endured For God saith By the stripe of his flesh all are healed And again When I shall smite the shepherd then shall the sheep of the flock be scattered He would thus suffer and it was necessarie that he should suffer upon the tree For he saith who prophesied of him Thou shalt deliver my soul from the sword And Fasten my flesh with nails for the congregations of wicked men are risen up against me And again he saith Behold I have given my back to scourges and my cheeks to strokes and set my face as a firm rock But when he had done the Command what saith he Who shall condemn me let him be set against me or who shall judge me let him come neer to the servant of the Lord Wo unto you for ye shall all wax old as a garment and the moth shall devour you Again the Prophet saith He was set a stone for contusion Behold I will lay in Sion for foundations a pretious stone elect a chief corner-stone honourable What saith he after And he who hopeth in it shall live for ever Is our faith therefore placed in a stone Far be it But because the Lord hath given strength unto his
flesh For he saith And he bath set me as a strong rock Again the Prophet saith The stone which the builders refused is made the head of the corner And again he saith This is the great and wonderful day which the Lond hath made I write the more simply to you that ye may understand I am the off-scouring of your love What saith the Prophet again The congregation of wicked men came about me they enclosed me as bees do the wax And They cast a lot upon my vesture Seeing he should be manifest in the flesh and should suffer his Passion was manifested long before For the Prophet saith to Israel Wo to the soul of profane men for they take evil counsel against themselves saying Let us seize upon the righteous for he is unpleasing to us Moses also saith unto them Behold these things saith the Lord God Enter into the good land which the Lord hath sworn to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and inherit the land flowing with milk and honey Learn what knowledge saith Hope in Jesus who will come in the flesh to be manifested unto you Man is a suffering land For from the face of the earth was the figment of Adam driven Why therefore saith he A good land flowing with milk and honey Blessed be our Lord who hath put wisdom and understanding in us of his secrets For the Prophet saith Who shall understand the parable of the Lord but onely the wise and the intelligent and he who is a lover of the Lord. Seeing therefore he renewing us by remission of sins hath made us to be another figure he hath made us to have souls like children and hath formed us anew For what he saith to the Son the Scripture saith concerning us We will make man according to our image and likeness and let them rule over the beasts of the earth and the fowls of heaven and the fishes of the sea And the Lord seeing man an excellent figure he said Increase and multiply and replenish the earth These things to the Son Again I will shew you how in the last days he made a second figure as concerning us The Lord saith Behold I will make the last things as the former and therefore did the Prophet preach thus saying Enter into the land flowing with milk and honey and have dominion over it Behold therefore we are formed anew as he also saith in another Prophet Behold saith the Lord I will take from them that is from those whom the spirit of the Lord hath foreseen their hearts of stone and will give them hearts of flesh For he was to be manifested in the flesh and to dwell in us For my brethren the inhabitation of our hearts is an holy temple to the Lord. Again the Lord saith How shall I appear before the Lord my God and how shall I glorifie him He saith I will confess unto thee in the Church in the midst of my brethren and will praise thee in the midst of the Church of Saints Therefore we are they whom he hath brought into the good land But why milk and honey because a little child is first quickned with milk and honey and nourished So we also being nourished and enlivened by the faith of the Promise and the Word shall live and have dominion over the earth For he said before Let them increase and rule over the fishes What can this be now that a man should have power to rule the beasts or fishes or fowls of the heaven For we ought to be sensible To govern is of power and authoritie and he shall bear rule who is thereto appointed And if this be not now he hath said that it shall be when when we our selves may be perfected to be made heirs of the Covenant of the Lord. Vnderstand therefore sons of joy that the good Lord hath before hand manifested all things to us that we might know whom we ought to praise with thanks-giving according to all Therefore if the Son of God being Lord who also shall judge the quick and dead hath suffered that his stripes may enliven us we ought to believe that his Son of God could not suffer unless it was for us And when he was crucified he had Vineger and gall given him to drink Hear how the priests of the people have manifested this there being a command written concerning it The Lord commanded that if a man would not fast the fast he should be destroyed Because he would offer up in sacrifice for our sins the vessel of the spirit that the type also which was made in Isaac offered upon the Altar might be completed What saith he further by the Prophet And let them eat of the goat offered on the fast for the sins of all Mark diligently and let all the Priests alone eat the entrails unwashed with vineger Why this because ye shall give me gall and vineger to drink when I shall offer up my flesh for the sins of the New people Eat ye alone the people fasting and bewailing in sackcloth and ashes that he might demonstrate that it behooved him to suffer by them Therefore what hath he given in command observe Take two goats fair and alike and offer them and let the Priest take one for an Holocaust but what shall he do with the other He saith Let one he made an execration Mark how the figure of Jesus is manifested And ye shall all spit upon it and pierce it and put crimson wooll about the head of it and so let it be sent into the wilderness and when this is done he who bears the goat into the wilderness shall take of the wooll and put it upon a dry brushie thorn called Rubus the berries of which we usually eat if finding them in the field For the fruits of this thorn onely are pleasant But what is the meaning of this Observe One goat was for the Altar the other for an execration and the goat for execration was crowned Why because they shall see him in that day having his flesh cloathed in scarlet and they shall say Is not this he whom we have crucified setting him at nought piercing and mocking him Truly this was he who then said That he was the Son of God and he was used in like manner as those fair goats which were alike So that when they saw him they mourned over him who was to come under the figure of a goat See therefore the Type of Jesus who was to suffer But why did they put the wooll into the midst of thorns This is a Type of Jesus appointed to the Church He who would take away the scarlet wooll must needs suffer many things for the thorn is terrible and he who would rule over it must endure affliction so saith he they who would see me and approach my king-dom ought to receive me through tribulations and sufferings But see what figure this was when it was given in command to Israel That man in whom sins were completed should offer
book in thine hands and write what the Lord saith Because the Son of God in the last days will cut up all the house of Amalek by the roots Behold again Jesus not the son of man but the Son of God but manifested by a type in the flesh And because they would say that Christ is the son of David he fearing and understanding the errour of sinners saith The Lord said to my Lord Sit on my right hand until I make thy enemies thy footstool And again Esaias saith in this manner The Lord said to Christ my Lord I have holden his right hand that the nations may hear him and I will break in pieces the power of kings See how David calls him Lord and the Son of God But let us see whether this people be the heir or first people and whether the Testament be ours or theirs Hear now what the Scripture saith concerning this people Isaac prayed for Rebekah his wife because she was barren and she conceived afterwards Rebekah came to enquire of the Lord and the Lord said unto her Two nations are in thy womb and two people in thy bowels and one people shall prevail over the other people and the Elder shall serve the Younger Ye ought to be sensible who is Isaac and who is Rebekah and which of the two he hath demonstrated to be the Elder people this people or that And in another Prophesy he saith Jacob spake more plainly to Joseph his son saying Behold the Lord hath not deprived me of thy presence bring thy sons unto me that I may bless them And he brought forth Ephraim and Manasses desiring that the blessing might be given to Manasses because he was the elder and he set him on the right hand of his father Jacob. But Jacob saw in the spirit a type of that people which should be And what follows And Jacob changed his hands and put his right hand upon the head of Ephraim the second and the younger and blessed him And Joseph said to Jacob Put thy right hand upon the head of Manasses because he is my first-born son And Jacob said to Joseph I know it my son I know it but the Elder shall serve the younger yet he also shall be blessed See which of these he hath appointed to be this first people and heir of the Covenant Yet further let it be remembred that through Abraham we have a greater perfection of our knowledge Therefore what saith he to Abraham That because he believed it was counted to him for righteousness Behold I have made thee a father of nations which should believe in the Lord through uncircumcisions But let us now enquire whether he hath performed the Covenant which he sware to the fathers to this people He gave it but they were not worthy to receive it by reason of their sins For the Prophet saith And Moses was fasting in the mount Sinai fourty days and fourty nights that he might receive the Covenant from the Lord for the people and he received of the Lord the two tables written with the finger of the Lord's hand through the spirit and when Moses had received them he brought them down to deliver them to the people And the Lord said to Moses Moses Moses go down quickly for thy people have transgressed which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt And Moses understood that they had made them molten idols and he cast the tables out of his hands and the tables of the Covenant of the Lord were broken Moses indeed received them but they were not worthy Learn now how we received them Moses received them as a servant but the Lord himself gave them to us who suffering patiently for us was made manifest that they might be consummate in their sins and we might be the people of the inheritance and receive the Covenant by the heir Jesus Christ The Prophet saith again Behold I have set thee for a light of the Gentiles that thou maist be for salvation to the ends of the earth saith the Lord God who redeemed thee who was prepared for this very thing that he making discoverie of our evils destructive to death and how wholly we were given up to the transgression of errour might deliver us from darkness and put his Covenant in us by the Word For it is written how that the Father commanded him to redeem us from darkness and to prepare for himself an holy people Therefore the Prophet saith I the Lord thy God have called thee in righteousness and I will hold thy hand and will strengthen thee and I have given thee for a Covenant to the nations and for a light to the Gentiles to open the eyes of the blind and to deliver those that are in bonds those that sit in darkness from the prison-house Know therefore how we were delivered and redeemed Again the Prophet saith The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me and sent me to preach the glad tidings of grace to the humble to heal the broken-hearted to preach liberty to the captives to open the eyes of the blind and to call an acceptable year of the Lord and a day of retribution and to comfort all that mourn It is also written concerning the Sabbath in the Ten words wherein he spake in the Mount Sinai face to face to Moses And ye shall sanctifie the Sabbath of the Lord with pure hands and with a pure heart And in another place he saith If their sons shall keep my Sabbaths then will I put my mercy upon them He calleth it a Sabbath in the beginning of the Creation And God made in six days the works of his hands and finished upon the seventh day and rested on it and sanctified it Sons observe what he saith when he saith He finished in six days This he saith That God the Lord will finish all things in six thousand years for a day with him is a thousand years He himself witnesseth it saying Behold this day A day shall be as a thousand years Therefore Children in six days in six thousand years all things shall be finished And he rested on the seventh day This he saith When his Son coming shall finish the works of his time and shall judge the ungodly and shall change the Sun and the Moon and the Stars then he shall rest honourably upon the seventh day In fine this he saith Thou shalt sanctifie it with pure hands and a pure heart Therefore how can any one now sanctifie the day which God hath sanctified unless he be of a pure heart in all things Let us not be deceived For if he resting gloriously doth sanctifie it we being just and doing just things shall be able to sanctifie it when we have received the Promise of iniquitie ceasing all things being made new by the Lord. Then we shall be able to sanctifie it when we our selves are first sanctified Afterwards he saith to them Your new Moons and your Sabbaths I cannot away
Love failing in no good gift most becoming God and fruitful in holiness which is at Smyrna in Asia be very much joy in the immaculate Spirit by the Word of God I Glorifie the God Jesus Christ who hath filled you with Wisdom For I understand that ye are perfected in an immoveable faith and are as persons fastened with nails to the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ both in flesh and in spirit and well-grounded in love by the bloud of Christ having a full assurance in our Lord who was truly of the stock of David according to the flesh the Son of God according to the will and power of God truly born of a Virgin baptized by John that he might fulfil all righteousness and who truly suffered for us in the flesh under Pontius Pilate and Herod the Tetrarch From the fruit of whom we are even from his divinely blessed Passion that he might by his Resurrection lift up an ensign to all ages to the Saints and to all who do believe in him whether they be Jews or Gentiles in one body of his Church For he suffered all these things for us that we might be saved And he truly suffered as also he truly raised up himself neither did he suffer onely in appearance as some infidels affirm who themselves are onely in appearance and according to their wisdom shall it happen unto them being incorporeal and daemoniacks For I my self saw him in the flesh after his Resurrection and do believe that he is risen And when he came to those who were with Peter he said unto them Take hold of me handle me and see me for I am not an incorporeal spirit And straightway they touched him and believed in him being convinced by his flesh and by his spirit And hereupon they contemned death for they found themselves to be above it And after his Resurrection he eat and drank with them as one in the flesh though he was in spirit united to the Father Touching these things Beloved I admonish you however I know ye are already of this perswasion I do it to preserve you from beasts in the shape of men whom it is necessarie for you not to entertain but to avoid as much as possible Onely pray for them if happily they may repent which is a thing very difficult But Jesus Christ who is our true life hath the power of this But if these things were done by our Lord onely seemingly then am I also seemingly in bonds And why have I yielded up my self to be put to death why to the fire to the sword to the beasts but because to be nigh to the sword is to be nigh to God and to be inclosed with beasts is to be compassed about with God Only in the Name of Jesus Christ do I endure all things that I may suffer with him who is himself made a perfect man and now strengtheneth me Whom some ignorant men denie but they are rather denied by him being more the Preachers of death than of truth whom neither the Prophets have perswaded nor the Law of Moses nor yet the Gospel hitherto nor those suffrings of ours which are according to man For they are of the same mind concerning us But what would it advantage me should any man speak in my praise and yet blaspheme my Lord denying him to have taken flesh upon him For he who confesseth not this hath perfectly denied him and puts him to death But I am unwilling to write down their infidel names neither may I make any particular remembrance of them until they shall happily repent into a belief of the Passion which is our Resurrection Let no man be deceived For if things in heaven and the glory of Angels and Rulers visible and invisible believe not in the bloud of Christ it will be even unto them condemnation He who receiveth it may receive it Let place puff up no man for Faith and Charity is All and nothing is to be preferred before them But observe those who are otherwise opinioned of the grace of Jesus Christ which came unto us how contrary they are to the judgement of God They have no regard at all of Charity they neither care for the Widow nor Orphan nor any afflicted person be he bond or free hungry or thirstie They absent themselves from the Eucharist and Prayer because they will not confess the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ which suffered for our sins and which the Father by his goodness raised from death to life Therefore contradicting this gift of God and disputing about it they die but it would be better for them to Love it that they may rise again It is very convenient that ye abstain from such persons and that ye have no converse with them neither privately nor publikely But that ye give heed unto the Prophets and chiefly to the Gospel wherein the Passion is made manifest unto us and the Resurrection is completed But avoid Divisions as the beginning of evils And be all of you observant of the Bishop as Jesus Christ was observant of the Father and observe the Presbyterie as the Apostles and Reverence the Deacons as the command of God Let no man presume to do any thing belonging to the Church without the Bishop And let that Eucharist onely be accounted firm which is either performed by the Bishop himself or by his Licence Where the Bishop shall appear there let the multitude be for where Jesus Christ is there is the Catholique Church It is neither lawful to baptize nor to keep the Love-feast without the Bishop but whatever he shall approve of that is well-pleasing to God that so every thing which is done may be firm and established Furthermore it is a blessed thing to grow sober and whilst we have opportunity to return to God by repentance It is a becoming thing to know God and the Bishop He who honoureth the Bishop is honoured of God but he who doth any thing without the Bishops approbation performs a service to the Devil Therefore let all things abound among you in grace for ye are worthy Ye have every way refreshed me and Jesus Christ will refresh you Ye have loved me both when I was absent and present God will requite you and if ye patiently endure all things for his sake ye shall enjoy him Ye did well in that ye gave an honourable reception to Philon Rheus and Agathopus as the Ministers of God-Christ who have accompanied me for the Word of God They also give thanks unto the Lord for you because ye have every way refreshed them Nothing which ye have done to them shall be lost as to you I could offer up this my spirit upon the service of your Souls and upon the same account carry about these my bonds which ye have neither despised nor been ashamed of neither will Jesus Christ the perfect faith be ashamed of you Your Prayer reached as far as to the Church which is in Antioch
of Syria from whence being carried a prisoner for God in most venerable bonds I salute you all And however I am not worthy of such an honour being the last that came thence yet by the will of God I was accounted worthy not from any thing which I know worthy in my self but through his grace which I pray may be perfectly bestowed upon me that through your Prayers I may obtain God And that your work may be perfected as well on earth as in heaven it would be an honourable Service very much becoming your Church which is worthy of God to appoint some fit person for the honour of God and to dispatch him into Syria to congratulate them for their restored peace that they have again received their proper splendour and that their little body is re-established in such a way as is fit for them Indeed it seems unto me a worthy work for you to send some person from amongst you with an Epistle to joyn in glory with them for that tranquilitie which is amongst them according to God and that they are now come to the quiet haven through your Prayers Being perfect your selves mind the things which are perfect For if ye have but a will to do good God is ready to assist you The Love of the Brethren who are at Troas saluteth you whence also I write unto you by Burrus whom ye sent along with me together with your Ephesian brethren who hath refreshed me in all things I wish all would become imitatours of him who is the Exemplar of the Ministerie of God Grace shall remunerate to him according to all that he hath done to me I salute the Divine Bishop and most venerable Presbytery and the Deacons my fellow servants and all in the name of Jesus Christ man by man and together both in his flesh and bloud passion and resurrection carnally and spiritually in the name and unity of God and of you Grace be unto you and Mercy and Peace and Patience always I salute the houses of my brethren together with the women children virgins and select widows Be strong to me-ward in the power of the spirit Philon who is with me saluteth you I salute the house of Tavia whom I pray that she may be established in Faith and Love both carnally and spiritually I salute Alke a name to me very desireable Farewel in the grace of God To the Smyrneans from Troas To POLYCARP Ignatius who is also Theophorus to Polycarp Bishop of the Church of the Smyrneans who hath rather God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ for his Bishop be very much joy HAving embraced thy judgement which is according to God founded as upon a rock and immoveable I glory exceedingly that I was accounted worthy of thy unblameable presence which I would enjoy in God I exhort thee by that grace wherewith thou art endued that thou wouldest add unto thy race in admonishing all men that they may be saved Justifie thy place by using all diligence both in a carnal and spiritual way Be careful to preserve Unity than which nothing is better Support all as the Lord supporteth thee Bear with all men in charitie as also thou dost Find leisure to be constant in Prayers Desire a larger understanding than yet thou hast Be watchful keeping in thy possession a vigilant spirit Converse with all man by man as God shall inable thee Like a complete Champion bear the infirmities of all the more the labour is the more is the gain It is not so much for thy commendation to love eminent Disciples as by thy Meekness to bring into subjection those who are more pernicious Every wound is not healed with the same Plaister Mitigate their Paroxysms by Embrocations Be in all things wise as the Serpent and harmless as the Dove For this cause art thou carnal and spiritual that thou mayest use a gentle hand in the managerie of those things which are manifest to thee praying that those things also which are concealed may in time be made manifest that so thou maist be defective in nothing but abounding in every grace This very season calls upon thee to desire the fruition of God as Governours of ships wait for the winds and he who is tossed with the waves covets after the haven Be watchful as a Champion of God that which is deposited for thee is incorruption and life eternal of which also thou art persuaded I would in all things freely offer up my self for thee and these my bonds which thou hast loved Let not those persons at all astonish thee who seem to be persons worthy of Credit and yet are teachers of strange doctrines Stand thou firm as an Anvil which is beaten upon It is the part of a gallant Champion to be stripped of his skin and yet to overcome And in this respect it is necessary for us patiently to endure all things for God that he may patiently bear with us Be more diligent than yet thou hast been Consider the seasons and wait for him who is above season not limited to time invisible yet for our sakes made visible not capable of touch or suffering yet suffering for us and enduring every manner of way for our sakes Let not the widows be neglected under God do thou take care of them Let nothing be done without thy sentence and do thou nothing without the sentence of God that whatsoever thou dost may be established Let Congregations be gathered more frequently and take the names of all persons Let neither men nor maid-servants be despised by thee neither suffer them to become proud but let them be more and more servants to the glory of God that so they may obtain a better freedom from God Let them not love the common freedom that they may not be found the servants of Concupiscence Flee evil arts but especially have no conferences about them Bespeak my sisters that they love the Lord Christ and that they furnish their husbands with all necessaries both for their fleshly and spiritual estate And in like manner admonish my brethren in the name of Jesus Christ to love their wives as the Lord loveth the Church If a man can continue chast to the honour of the flesh of our Lord let him remain so but let him not glory For if he glory in it he will be destroy'd and if he would be more taken notice of than the Bishop he is corrupted It is meet that they who marry and are given in marriage should be joyned together by the sentence of the Bishop that so the marriage may be according to God and not according to concupiscence Let all things be done to the honour of God Be mindful of the Bishop that God may be mindful of you I could give my life for those persons who are subject to the Bishops Presbyters and Deacons and wish that I may receive my part in God together with them Labour together one for another strive together run together suffer together sleep
together awake together as the Stewards Assessors and Ministers of God Do things pleasing to him whom ye fight for and whose souldiers ye are from whom ye expect your salarie Let none among you be found a desertor of his Colours Let your Baptism arm you Faith be your helmet Love your spear Patience your whole armour and your Works your gage that ye may receive a reward worthy of you Therefore bear patiently in meekness one with another as God bears with you Let me enjoy you always But in that the Church which is in Antioch of Syria is at peace through your Prayers as it is manifested to me I was therefore the more cheerful and intent upon the things of God without distraction that by any means I may through sufferings enjoy God and be found your Disciple at the Resurrection O Polycarp most blessed of God it becomes thee to gather together a Council most becoming God and to appoint some worthy person whom ye esteem highly in love whom ye look upon as a diligent man fit to be called a Messenger of God and that this honour be bestowed upon him To go into Syria there to spread abroad your forward Charitie to the glory of Christ A Christian hath no power over himself but is to attend the things of God When ye shall have dispatched this business tho work shall be ascribed to God and to you For I believe that through Grace ye are prepared for so good a work pleasing to God and knowing how compendiously ye are capable of truth I have exhorted you in few Letters But because I cannot write unto all the Churches in regard I am suddenly to sail from Troas to Neapolis as I am commanded thou shalt write to those other Churches who art possessed with the mind of God that they do the same thing That they who are able may send footposts others Epistles by thy Messengers that ye may all be glorified by an eternal work as thou art worthy I salute all by name and the wife of Epitropus with her whole house and her childrens I salute my beloved Attalus I salute him who shall be accounted worthy to go into Syria I pray that the grace which is in our God Jesus Christ may be always with him In whom do ye continue permanent in the Unitie and Visitation of God I salute Alke a name desireable to me Farewel in the Lord. To Polycarp To the Ephesians Ignatius who is also Theophorus to the Church blessed in the greatness of God the Father with all fulness praedetermined before ages to be ever permanent unto glory immutable united elect by real sufferings through the will of the Father and Jesus Christ our God To the Church worthy of all blessedness which is in Ephesus of Asia be very much joy in Jesus Christ and in immaculate grace APproving of thy name in God highly beloved which ye have possessed by a just title according to the faith and love which is in Christ Jesus our Saviour I exhort you to continue followers of God and that being re-inlivened by the bloud of God ye perfect that work which is so suitable to you For ye heard that I was a prisoner from Syria for the common Name and Hope and that I hoped through your Prayers that I should be inabled to fight with beasts at Rome that so I might become through Martyrdom a Disciple of him Who offered up himself to God for us an oblation and sacrifice I have compendiously apprehended your very numerous multitude in the name of God by Onesimus your Bishop in the flesh whose charitie is beyond expression whom I beseech you to love according to Jesus Christ and all of you to be like unto him Blessed be he who hath bestowed so worthy a Bishop upon you so worthy of him And I pray that my fellow servant Burrus who is your Deacon every way blessed according to God may continue to the honour of you and the Bishop Crocus also who is worthy of God and of you whom I have received as the Exemplar of your Charity hath refreshed me in all things as the Father of Jesus Christ will also give refreshing unto him and to Onesimus and Burrus and Euplus and Fronton in whom I have viewed you all in love I would enjoy you always if I might be worthy of it Therefore it becomes you every way to glorifie Jesus Christ who glorifies you that being perfected and knit up in one and the same subjection and being of one mind and one judgement ye may all speak the same thing and being subject to the Bishop and the Presbytery may be sanctified in all things I do not give commands to you as if I my self was a person considerable for though I am a Prisoner for his Name yet am I not perfected in Christ Jesus For now I begin to be a Disciple and speak to you as my fellow teachers For it is meet that I should be admonished by you in faith instruction patience and long sufferance But in regard my charity towards you would not suffer me to be silent I have therefore taken the first hold of this opportunity to exhort you to concur in the judgement of God As Jesus Christ himself who is our incomparable life did follow the judgement of his Father and the Bishops designed to the ends of the earth follow the judgement of Jesus Christ Therefore it is a comely thing for you to concur in the judgement of the Bishop as also ye do for your Presbytery most worthy of praise and of God is so adapted to the Bishop as strings are fitted to the harp in so much that Jesus Christ is celebrated through your Unanimity and Agreement in love Ye are all made up man by man into one Chorus and keeping the Melodie of God which is Vnitie ye shall with one voyce glorifie the Father by Jesus Christ that he may also hear you and acknowledge you by what you do to be the members of his Son So that it is profitable for you to continue in immaculate Unitie that ye may always be partakers of God If I in so short a time have gained so great a conformableness in manners with your Bishop which is spiritual and not after the manner of men how can I estimate of your happiness who are continually united to him as the Church to Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ to the Father that all things may be consonant in unity Let no man be deceived If any man is not within the Altar he is deprived of the bread of God For if the Prayer of one or two is so effectual how much more effectual is the Prayer of the Bishop and all the Church He therefore that will not come into one place or joyn with the Congregation is a proud man and hath separated himself and it is written That God resisteth the proud Therefore let us endeavour to be in subjection to the Bishop that so we may be God's Subjects And
if any man take notice that the Bishop holds his peace let him fear and reverence him so much the more for we ought to receive him whom the Master of the Family hath sent to govern his House as we should receive the Master himself who sent him Therefore it is evident that we ought to respect the Bishop as the Lord himself But Onesimus doth himself very much commend your good Order which is according to God for ye all live according to truth and there is no heresie amongst you neither do ye hear any but Jesus Christ speaking according to truth Some indeed by an evil deceit have accustomed themselves to carry about his Name but they do things unworthy of God and these ye ought to shun as beasts For they are like mad dogs biting unawares whom ye ought to avoid and have a special eye upon being persons very hard to be cured There is one Physitian fleshly and spiritual begotten and unbegotten God made in the flesh and the true life in death both of Mary and of God first passible and then impassible Let no man seduce you as ye are not yet seduced being wholly of God For so long as there is no contention amongst you which may be hurtful to you ye live according to God I am made as an Off-scouring for you and as a Purgatorie expiation for you Ephesians famous to ages Carnal men cannot do spiritual things nor spiritual men do the things which are carnal neither can Faith do the things of Infidelitie nor Infidelitie the things of Faith But those very things which ye do as carnal men are spiritual so long as ye do all things according to Jesus Christ I have known some passing from those parts who held an evil doctrine but ye would not suffer them to sow their seeds amongst you but stopped your ears against them that ye might receive none of the doctrine sowed by them For ye are Stones of the Father's Temple prepared for the building of God the Father carried up on high by the Engine of Jesus Christ which is his Cross by the Cord of the holy Spirit But Faith is your Guide and Charity your Way which leads unto God Ye are all therefore Fellow-travellers carrying about with you God and the Temple Christ and Sanctitie being in all things beautified according to the commands of Jesus Christ in whom I am exceedingly rejoyced being vouchsafed so great a dignitie as to converse with you in writing and to joy together with you who live according to the other life and love nothing but onely God Pray also without ceasing for other men for there is hope of their repentance that they also may attain God Admonish them and let them be wrought upon by your works to become your Disciples Oppose your meekness to their anger and whilst they boast of great things do ye mind the things of humility Pray for them who speak evil of you keeping your selves firm in the faith against their errour Be mild how morose soever they are neither be hasty to requite them according to their own examples Let us be found their Brethren by our mild carriage towards them and endeavour to be the followers of the Lord. Though some among you may be injured defrauded despised yet let no one amongst you be found an Herb of the devil Keep your selves in all Puritie and Temperance both in flesh and spirit through Jesus Christ The last times are come Therefore let us reverence and fear the long-sufferance of God that it be not our condemnation For either let us fear the wrath to come or love the present grace One of the two is onely to be found in Jesus Christ that we may live indeed Nothing can become us without this for this I bear about my bonds which are as spiritual Pearls through which by your Prayers I may rise again And let me always be partaker of your Prayers that I may be found in the lot of those Ephesian Christians who were ever of the same mind with the Apostles through the power of Jesus Christ I know who I am and to whom I write I am a condemned person but ye have obtained mercy I am under danger but ye are established Ye are the Passover of those who are killed for God being the Fellow-ministers of sanctified Paul who was martyred worthily blessed under whose feet I would be found that I may enjoy God who in a whole Epistle makes mention of you in Jesus Christ. Make hast therefore to meet together more frequently to the Eucharist of God and to glorie For when ye often come together into one place the powers of Satan are rendred frustrate and his enmitie is destroyed through your Unity of Faith Nothing is better than peace by which all hostilitie of heavenly and earthly powers is made void None of these things are conceal'd from you if ye hold perfectly that Faith and Love in Jesus Christ which are the beginning and end of life For Faith is the beginning Love is the end these two united are of God and all other things tending to Honestie do wait upon these No man who hath covenanted into the faith committeth sin nor doth he hate another who is possess'd of Charitie The tree is known by its fruit and they who have solemnly engaged to be Christians shall be seen by the works they do For it is not now the work of an Engagement but it is through the power of Faith if a man be found to the end It is better to be silent and to be than to speak and not to be It is a good thing to teach if a man do as well as teach There is therefore one teacher who spake and it was done and the things also which he did in silence are worthy of the Father He who is truly possess'd of the word of Jesus can hear also his silence that he may be perfect that he may do according to what he speaks and be known according to those things wherein he is silent Nothing is hid from the Lord but our very secrets are nigh unto him Therefore let us do all things as having him dwelling in us that we may be his Temples and he may be our God in us for whatever is shall be made manifest to us and therefore do we justly love him Erre not my brethren They who are destroyers of houses shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Therefore if they are dead who act such things according to the flesh how much more is it death for any man by an evil doctrine to corrupt the faith of God for which Jesus Christ was crucified Such a one being defiled shall go into the unquenchable fire and so shall he who hears him For this cause the Lord received the unction upon his head that he might breathe into his Church incorruption Be not annoynted with the doctrine of the prince of this world which hath an ill odour neither let him lead you captive from the
life which is set before you Why are we not all wise having received the knowledge of God that is Jesus Christ Why are we foolishly destroyed being ignorant of that Grace which the Lord hath truly sent amongst us My spirit is the Off-scouring of the Cross which is a scandal to unbelievers but to us Salvation and Life eternal Where is the wise where is the disputer where is the boasting of wise men so called For our God Jesus Christ was conceived by Mary according to the Oeconomie of God of the seed of David by the holy Ghost who was born and baptized that he might through sufferings cleanse the water And the Virginity of Mary the Child born of her and the Death of the Lord were hid from the prince of this world being three crying Mysteries yet wrought up by God in silence How came he then to be manifested to ages A Star in Heaven appeared which out-shined all the other stars and the light of it was ineffable and the Noveltie of it did contain a strangeness in it All the other stars together with the Sun and Moon were a Chorus to this Star which did carry in it a brightness and splendour above them all The world was troubled about it to find out how this New-Star should appear amongst the other stars so unlike unto them hereupon all Magick was dissolved and every bond of wickedness dis-appeared ignorance was taken away the old kingdom was destroyed when God appeared as man for the renewing of Life eternal But that which was perfect with God took a beginning and thereupon all things worked together to bring about the destruction of death If Jesus Christ through your Prayers shall make me worthy and it be his will in a second little Book which I am about to write unto you I will lay open unto you how I began my Oeconomie in the New man Jesus Christ both in his Faith Love Passion and Resurrection and I shall the rather do this if the Lord shall reveal it unto me Because all of you man by man through the grace of his Name concur together in Jesus Christ of the stock of David according to the flesh the son of man and the Son of God and ye are all obedient to the Bishop and to the Presbyterie with an undivided mind breaking one bread which is the Medicine of Immortalitie an Antidote against death preserving to Life eternal in Jesus Christ I could give my life for you and for him whom ye have sent to Smyrna for the honour of God whence also I write unto you giving thanks unto the Lord loving both Polycarp and you Remember me as Jesus Christ also remembers you Pray for the Church which is in Syria whence I am led away a Prisoner unto Rome being the last of the faithful there if I may be accounted worthy to be found to the honour of God Farewel in God the Father and in Jesus Christ our common hope To the Ephesians To the Magnesians Ignatius who is also Theophorus to the Church blessed in the Grace of God the Father through Jesus Christ our Saviour which is at Magnesia neer to Maeander which I salute in him and wish it very much joy in God the Father and in Jesus Christ. KNowing your most excellent Order of Love which is according to God I joyfully made it my choice to speak unto you in the faith of Jesus Christ For being accounted worthly of the Name most becoming God in these bonds wherein I carry it about I celebrate the Churches praying that they may be united in the flesh and spirit of Jesus Christ who is our endless life by Faith and Love before which nothing is preferred but chiefly of Jesus and the Father through whom having patiently endured every injury from the prince of this world and escaping them we shall enjoy God For I was accounted worthy to see you by Damas your Divine Bishop and the worthy Presbyters Bassus and Apollonius and Sotion the Deacon my Fellow-servant whom I would enjoy because he is subject to the Bishop as to the Grace of God and to the Presbyterie as to the Law of Jesus Christ And it becomes you not to make any use to your selves of the age of the Bishop but to give him all Reverence according to the power of God the Father as I have known holy Presbyters not presuming upon that juvenile order which appears but as wise men in God concurring with him yet not with him but with the Father of Jesus Christ the Bishop of all Therefore for his honour who wills it it is meet we perform obedience without hypocrisie For a man doth not deceive this Bishop whom we see but puts a fallacie upon him who is invisible This is not spoken in reference to the flesh but to God who knoweth secrets Therefore it is meet not onely to be called Christians but to be so For some indeed there are who own the Bishop in name but do all things without him Such men appear to me to be men of no good Conscience because they hold meetings not established by commandment All works have some end two are propounded Death and Life and every man shall go to his proper place As there are two sorts of Coyn one of God another of the world and each Coyn hath its proper stamp set upon it Infidels have the stamp of this world Believers in love have the stamp of God the Father by Jesus Christ whose life cannot be in us unless we can through him voluntarily die into his Passion But seeing I have in the persons prescribed taken a view of your whole multitude in Faith and Love I admonish you to do all things in the unanimity of God your Bishop being President over you in the place of God and the Presbyters in place of the Council of the Apostles and the Deacons most pleasant to me having the Diaconie of Jesus Christ committed to them who was with the Father before ages and in the end appeared Having therefore all received manners like unto God reverence one another and let no man defraud his neighbour according to the flesh but love one another always in Jesus Christ Let nothing be amongst you which may possibly divide you but be united to the Bishop and to those who are Presidents over you according to the Type and Doctrine of incorruption Therefore as the Lord being united to him did nothing without the Father neither by himself nor by the Apostles so neither do ye act any thing without the Bishop and the Presbyters Neither attempt any thing upon your own account however reasonable it may appear unto you When ye come together into one place let there be One Prayer One Supplication one mind one hope in Love and in immaculate joy There is one Jesus Christ than whom nothing is better Therefore all concur together as into the Temple of God as to one Altar to one Jesus Christ who came from one Father and being
one is returned to him Be not deceived by strange opinions nor old fables which are unprofitable For if we still live according to the Law and Judaism we confess that Grace is not received For the most divine Prophets lived according to Jesus Christ and therefore they were persecuted being inspired by his Grace that they might work a perswasion in those who were not perswaded that there is one God who manifested himself by Jesus Christ his Son who is his eternal Word not coming forth from Silence who in all things pleased him that sent him Therefore if they who were conversant in the works of old time came to the Newness of Hope not Sabbatizing any longer but living according to the Dominical life of that day whereon our life did rise again through him and through his death whom some deny through which mysterie we have received both to Believe and also to endure with Patience that we may be found the Disciples of Jesus Christ our onely Master how shall we be able to live without him whom the Prophets being his Disciples looked for in Spirit as their Master and because they justly expected him he when he was come raised them from the dead Therefore let not us be insensible of his Goodness for if he should retribute to us according to what we do we should cease to be Therefore being made his Disciples let us learn to live like Christians For he who is called by any other name than this is not of God Therefore put away from you the evil leaven which is old and corrupt and be ye changed into the New Leaven which is Jesus Christ Be ye seasoned in him that none of you be corrupted for ye shall be disproved by your savour It is an absurd thing to profess Jesus Christ and yet to Judaize for Christianism hath not believed into Judaism but Judaism into Christianism that every tongue believing might be gathered unto God But these things my Beloved not because I have known any of you to be such but because though I am lesser then you I would have you to be preserved that ye may not fall into the snares of a vain opinion but may have a full assurance in the Nativity Passion and Resurrection effected in that season when Pontius Pilate was governour all truly and firmly accomplished by Jesus Christ our hope from which hope may none of you be perverted I would every way enjoy you if I may be worthy for though I am in bonds yet am I not to be compared to one of you who are at libertie I know ye are not puffed up for ye have Jesus Christ among you And I know the more I praise you it doth but shame you so much the more as it is written The just man is an accuser of himself Make it your endeavour to be confirmed in the determinations of the Lord and the Apostles that whatever ye do may be prosperous both in flesh and spirit Faith and Love in the Son and in the Father and in the Spirit in the beginning and the end together with your most venerable Bishop and your Presbyterie which is as a spiritual Crown decently platted and the Deacons who are according to God Be subject to the Bishop and one to another as Jesus Christ to the Father according to the flesh and the Apostles to Christ and to the Father and the Spirit that there may be unitie both carnal and spiritual Knowing that ye are full of God I have exhorted you but in few words Remember me in your Prayers that I may obtain God and that Church which is in Syria from whence I am not worthy to be called For I very much want your Prayer united in God and your Love that the Church which is in Syria may be accounted worthy to be watered by your Church The Ephesians from Smyrna salute you whence also I write unto you being present to the glorie of God as also ye are who have refreshed me in all things together with Polycarp the Bishop of the Smyrneans The other Churches also salute you in the honour of Jesus Christ Be strong in the concord of God being possessed with a discerning Spirit which is Jesus Christ To the Magnesians To the Philadelphians Ignatius who is also Theophorus to the Church of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ which is in Philadelphia of Asia which hath obtained mercy is settled in the concord of God rejoycing in the Passion of our Lord indiscernably and fully assured of his Resurrection in all mercy which I salute in the bloud of Jesus Christ for she is my eternal and permanent joy chiefly if they continue united with the Bishop and the Presbyters with him and the Deacons manifested to be according to the Sentence of Jesus Christ whom he hath firmly established according to his own will by his holy Spirit WHich Bishop I have known to have obtained the Ministerie for the common good not by himself nor by men nor out of vain-glorie but by the love of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ whose mild temper I have been amazed at for by his silence he can do more than they who speak vain things For ye are as harmoniously agreeing in commands as the harp and the strings Therefore my Soul blesseth that sentence of his which is according to God knowing that it is vertuous and perfect and that he cannot be moved nor provoked to anger being in all the meekness of the Living God Being therefore the children of light and truth flie division evil doctrines Where the Pastour is do ye as sheep follow him for many wolves who seem worthy of credit do by an evil delectation lead captive persons running to God but through your unitie they shall have no place Depart from evil herbs which Jesus Christ doth not cultivate for they are not the Plantation of the Father Not that I have found any Division amongst you but a Resining us from the Dreggs So many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are with the Bishop and so many Penitents as come over into the Unitie of the Church shall be of God that they may live according to Jesus Christ My brethren be not deceived If any man follows him who is the maker of Schism he is no inheritour of the Kingdom of God If any man walks about in a strange opinion he is not conformable to the Passion Let it be your endeavour therefore to use one Eucharist for there is One flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ and one Cup for the Unitie of his bloud One Altar as One Bishop with the Presbyterie and Deacons my fellow servants that whatever ye do ye may do according to God My brethren I am very much poured out in Love towards you and exceedingly rejoycing strengthen you yet not I but Jesus Christ for whom I am in bonds and therefore am the more affraid because I am not yet taken out of the world But your Prayer
that ye are so informed For I have received the Exemplar of your love and have it by me in your Bishop whose behaviour is a great Disciplination and his meekness power whom I think that very Atheists do reverence being satisfied that I spare not my self Formerly though I might have matter to write I thought not fit for this cause lest being a condemned person I might seem to command you as an Apostle I am wise in God as to many things yet do I measure my self that I may not be destroyed by boasting For now it behooves me to be very much affraid and not to give heed to those who would puff me up For when such speak unto me they scourge me Truly I love to suffer but know not whether I am worthy For my zeal appears not to many but I have the greater war within I have need therefore of meekness that by it the prince of this world may be defeated Cannot I write unto you of things celestial but I am affraid lest I should give you some offence being yet but babes Therefore pardon me for I would not perplexe you with those things which ye are not able to bear For it is not for a slightie matter that I am a Prisoner being acquainted with things celestial and the Angelical Orders and their governing Constitutions things visible and invisible and besides this I am now a Disciple For many things are wanting to you that we may not fall short of God Therefore I exhort you not I but the love of Jesus Christ to use only the Christian nutriment and to abstain from that strange herb which is heresie For the times are such that persons worthy of credit seemingly do fold in heresie with Jesus Christ like those who administer deadly poison and temper it with a drink made of honey and sowre wine which the ignorant receives with pleasure and so dies by an evil delectation Therefore preserve your selves from such and so it shall be if ye are not puffed up being inseparable from God Jesus Christ and the Bishop and the Orders of the Apostles He who is within the Altar is pure that is he who does any thing without the Bishop Presbyterie and Deacons is of an impure Conscience Not that I have known any such thing among you but foreseeing the subtilties of the devil I take care of you before hand being my beloved Do ye therefore re-assuming your mild disposition build up your selves anew in the faith which is the flesh of the Lord in love which is the bloud of Jesus Christ Let none among you have any quarrel against his Neighbour Give no offences to the Gentiles that the Multitude which is in God be not blasphemed by a few foolish men For Wo to him through whose foolishness my Name is blasphemed amongst some Therefore be deaf to him who speaks to you without Jesus Christ who was of the stock of David and of Mary who was truly born eat and drank was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate was truly crucified dead things in heaven on earth and under the earth beholding him And was truly raised again from the dead his Father raising him up according to his likeness as his Father will raise up us also if we believe in him through Jesus Christ without whom we have no true life But if as some Atheists that is Infidels sâ—y He suffered only in appearance as they themselves are only in appearance why am I in bonds and why do I pray that I may fight with beasts therefore do I not die without reward and am I not a lyar against the Lord Fly therefore evil plants which bring forth deadly fruit which if a man taste of he dies presently For these are not the Plantation of the Father if they were they would appear branches of the Cross and their fruit would be incorruptible Through which Cross by his Passion he Advocates for you being his Members The Head therefore cannot be born without the Members God having promised the Vnion of them who is himself I salute you from Smyrna together with the Churches of God which are present with me who have every way refreshed me both in flesh and spirit My bonds which I carry about for Jesus Christ do admonish you that I desire to enjoy God Continue in your Vnanimitie and in Prayer one for another For it becomes you all one by one exceedingly and the Presbyters to comfort up the Bishop for the honour of the Father of Jesus Christ and of the Apostles I beseech you in love to hear me that writing unto you I may not be a witness within you Pray also for me out of that Charitie which is in you for I need the mercy of God that I may be accounted worthy of the Lot which I labour to enjoy and may not be found Reprobate The love of the Smyrneans and Ephesians saluteth you Remember in your prayers the Church which is in Syria whence I am not worthy to be called being the last of them Farewel in Jesus Christ being subject to the Bishop as to the Commandement and likewise to the Presbyterie And love one another man by man with an undivided heart My Spirit shall be an expiation for you not onely now but when I shall enjoy God For as yet I am in danger but the Father who is faithful will fulfil my Petition and yours in Jesus Christ in whom may ye be found unblameable To the Trallians To the Romans Ignatius who is also Theophorus to the Church which hath obtained Mercy through the Magnificence of the most high Father and Jesus Christ his onely begotten Son sanctified and enlightned by him who willeth all things which are according to the love of Jesus Christ our God which is President over the Churches about in the Region of the Romans as over a Quire being divine comely most blessed worthy of praise in a becoming order eminently chaste and set up for a President of Charitie having the Law of Christ and bearing the Name of the Father which I also salute in the Name of Jesus Christ the Son of the Father according to the flesh and spirit united in every command of his filled with all the Grace of God without any difference and purged from every strange tincture wishing very much joy in our Lord Jesus Christ our God immaculately HAving beseeched God I happened to see your divine faces as I much desired to receive you And being in bonds for Jesus Christ I hope to salute you if it be his will that I may be accounted worthy to continue to the end For the beginning is well ordered if thereby I may obtain Grace so as to obtain my Lot unto the end without impediment For I fear your charitie lest it prove injurious to me For to you it is easie to do what ye will but to me it is a difficult thing to enjoy God unless ye are the more sparing to me I would not have you to please men
excellent and divine Qualifications beautified and adorned with singular gifts and graces for the propagating of Christianitie and promoting the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus being one of the secundary Apostles which were in that age made choice of in imitation of the twelve and chosen together with Paul to this honourable imployment by God himself Act. 13. 2. All were not Apostles 1 Cor. 12. 29. Hoc magnum erat per paucorum privilegium This was a great Privilege and onely of some few Christ was the Apostle of God Heb. 3. 1. the Twelve the Apostles of Christ Joh. 20. 21. and they as the Spirit gave direction did constitute others in like manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There being many Apostles besides the Twelve after their similitude Of this number was Barnabas who needs not any humane Character in regard he abounded with so much of Divine Approbation for honourable mention is frequently made of him in the Acts of the Apostles written by Saint Luke He and Paul were tanquam jugati boves as Gods chief yoke of Oxen ploughing over much ground and manuring the field of Christianitie He was a person of very great Eminencie and Integritie in his Place and Office often imployed upon honourable Services for the Church sometimes alone and sometimes in conjunction with holy and blessed Paul and when he had done the Church all honest and faithful Service he possibly could and had improved his talents to his Masters glorie the Churches benefit and his own he finished the course of his natural life by a glorious Martyrdom and under the power of Nero the first of Persecutors and worst of men was burnt at the stake for his Religion upon the eleventh of June which day is Annually observed by our Church to perpetuate his memory and to advance Gods glorie This briefly concerning the Author his following Epistle indeed may not prove so very acceptable to some in regard of his strange Explications of Scripture which are not after the modern and more refined mode But it is to be noted that when he wrote Christianity was but in the Cradle and scarce advanced into her morning Dress then God made choice of the weak things of the world to confound the mighty and of rude and illiterate men to confound the learned Since that time Christianity hath made a conquest over the world heathen learning is become subservient to divine Truths the rudeness and first Draught of Christianity hath been polished over and adorned by the most able and learned Pens The following Translation of this Epistle is according to the Original Greek Copy set forth by Mr Isaac Vossius and printed at Amsterdam Anno Dom. 1646. who himself gives this following account of it in his Annotations upon it Some years have passed over since it was my resolution to publish this Epistle of Barnabas which I received from the incomparable Salmasius but being prevented by a journey I could not then perfect what I intended When I went for England to make my self acquainted with that Nation another opportunity offered it self unto me whereby I was encouraged speedily to make publike the Epistle before mentioned which had merited long before to be sent forth to the publike view For the Right Reverend Dr Vsher Bishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland was then preparing to publish a new Edition of Ignatius and when he made it both his request and offer that this Epistle of Barnabas might be printed with his Ignatian Epistles I not onely freely consented to it but was very glad that so very Antient a Monument should fall into those hands from which I was assured it would borrow not a little splendour And had not a great fire consumed a great part of the Citie of Oxford and destroyed all Exemplars we had had long since a very fair Edition of this Author However there were not wanting in France some learned men who thought it a very unworthy thing that such a writing as this should be so long concealed Thereupon Claudius Menardus of the Order of Saint Maurus lately fitted out for us a new Edition and that he hath very well deserved of the publike for this act of his no man can deny Yet he had merited more had it been his good fortune to see more Copies For seeing that Edition of his was wholly taken out of one only book it could not possibly come forth any other then very faulty Though fortune hath not so much favoured me as to minister occasion to any mans envie yet this happiness hath been afforded me to have the use of three Manuscripts whereby to correct that Edition The Medicaean Librarie of Florence supplyed me with the first and that of Theatins at Rome furnished me with the other two and Lucas Hostenius an eminent man who cannot be praised according to his deserts is the person to whom I am indebted for the use of them What help these three Manuscripts have afforded me he will be best able to judge who can think it worth his while to compare this with the other Edition before mentioned But I cannot imagine upon what grounds some men should think that this is not the Epistle of Barnabas whereas Clement Origen and others ascribe it to him Learned men I believe may take offence at some unusual Expositions of his made upon some places of Scripture but they can have nothing whereon to ground a perswasion that those places should be misinterpreted by a man of so great authority whom the holy Scriptures make so frequent mention of and who was always an inseparable Companion of the Apostle Paul and himself one of the Minor Apostles But who could expect all kind of Science and Learning from those first Christians and think that they might not as well be mistaken as their Relatives especially in things not appertaining to Faith Do we not meet with many things as strange in the Epistle of Clement which Epistle was published by Patricius Junius the Kings Library Keeper and an eminent man to whom I am so much a debtor that he cannot possibly oblige me more For who can well digest that fable of Clement about the Phoenix and his many worlds beyond the Ocean neither do I believe that some will easily admit of that Exposition about the Scarlet thred of the Harlot Rahab that it should be a Type of the bloud of Christ and other things of this nature which I could reckon up but they are not so proper for this place yet was this Clement called an Apostle by as good right as Barnabas was Therefore no persons ought to find fault with that in the one which they excuse in the other It is known to every one how very mystically superstitiously and almost impertinently those first Christians did interpret the Scriptures Therefore if some things should be met with in this Author which may displease the Learned let them rather impute it to the manner of expression used by those ancient Christians
than entertain the least thoughts that this writing is supposititious Nor let any persons therefore like the worse of this Epistle of Barnabas because Eusebius and other Greek Writers of a later date have placed it amongst the Apocryphal writings For they did not question the Author only they approved not of those mystical Interpretations of his made upon many places of Scripture And for the same reason many works of Clement of Alexandria and of Origen were accounted Apocryphal whereas it was never yet doubted of whether those very works so accounted of were their genuine works And certainly if we should reject all Writings which have at any time been accounted Apocryphal we should reject the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews and the Epistle of Jude the Apostle and that of Clement to the Corinthians which thing should we do how absurd would it seem to any man Others have given out that they have discerned this Epistle to be spurious both from the Style and manner of Writing and they have affirmed the very same things of the Epistles of Ignatius but they who boast of such things would seem more accute than becomes them For it is not so easie to distinguish spurious writings from genuine as it is to know true Pearls from counterfeit When true Stones are compared with counterfeit the fucus of the counterfeit soon appears as a true people will discover a false one which is a thing ordinary in other traffiqueable commodities But from what is it possible for these men to take the ground of their conjecture who deny these to be the very Epistles of Ignatius and Barnabas Have they seen other Writings of theirs Certainly not Therefore how come they to know what Style Barnabas and Ignatius used Yet they go on and say that what they think to be true they know to be true and if it be so with them I will not adde one word more about them The Catholique Epistle OF Saint BARNABAS the Apostle MY sons and daughters in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ who loved us I wish you much joy and peace Knowing that there is in you an abundance of the great and comely Graces of God I am rejoyced above measure by your blessed and excellent spirits for by this means ye have received a natural grace So that I am hereby very much comforted hoping to be set at liberty because I verily perceive that the spirit is infused into you from the honourable Fountain of God And seeing I am of this perswasion and know it the more fully so to be in regard that whilst I am conversing with you many things have succeeded well with me according to the equal way of the Lord therefore is it happily Brethren in my thoughts to love you more than my own soul because the greatness of faith and love dwelleth therein and the hope of that other life Thinking of this and because it was my care to impart something unto you of what I have received that it would be a sufficient reward to do service to persons of such a spirit I made it my proper business as allotted to me speedily to send unto you some few things that together with your faith ye may have also perfect knowledge There are also three Constitutions of the Lord The hope of life the beginning and the consummation For God hath made before-hand things plain to us by his Prophets who are passed and hath given unto us the beginnings of future things But as he hath said It is a more honourable and high thing to approach to his Altar Yet I shall not as a Teacher or Doctor but as one of you shew you a few things by which ye may be the more joyful in many Seeing therefore that the days are most wicked and that the adversary hath the power of this world we ought diligently to make enquiry into the equal ways of the Lord. Fear and Patience are the Coadjutors of your faith and the things which fight for us are Longanimitie and Continence Where these remain pure according to the Lord wisdom understanding science knowledge rejoyce together with them For he hath laid it open to us by all the Prophets that he will not use our sacrifices victims nor oblations saying in this wise To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams and the fat of lambs I delight not in the bloud of goats and bulls Neither do I regard you when ye come to appear before me For who hath required these things at your hands neither shall ye tread my courts When ye bring your course bread it is vain your incense is an abomination to me Your new moons and sabbaths and great day I cannot endure Your fast idle time new moons and feasts my soul hateth God hath therefore made these void as the new Law of our Lord Jesus Christ which is without the yoke of necessity hath made void the humane oblation The Lord saith again unto them Have I commanded your fathers when they went out of the land of Egypt that they should offer unto me sacrifices and victims but this I commanded them saying Let every one among you bear no malice towards his neighbour and let no man swear falsly Seeing therefore that we are not without understanding we ought to understand the counsel of the goodness of our Father For he being willing to seek us also going astray hath told us how we should come unto him saying The sacrifice of God is a contrite heart and one that is humbled God doth not despise Therefore Brethren we ought to enquire more certainly concerning our Salvation that nothing may have entrance into us which may turn us away from our life God speaks again unto them as concerning these things saying Wherefore do ye fast to me that your voice may be heard on high as this day I have not chosen such a fast nor a day for a man to afflict his soul neither shalt thou bow down thy neck like a bulrush nor spread sackcloth and ashes under thee nor shall ye call this an acceptable fast But to us he saith thus When ye shall fast Loose every bond of iniquitie dissolve the obligations of violent contracts set the oppressed at libertie make void every injurious obligation break thy bread to the hungry bring the poor that are without shelter into thine house when thou seest the naked clothe him and hide not thy self from thine own flesh then thy light shall break forth as the Morning and thine health shall spring forth speedily and thy righteousness shall go before thee the glorie of the Lord shall be thy rereward Then shall thou call and the Lord shall answer thou shall cry and he shall say Here I am if thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke the putting forth of the finger and speaking Vanity and shall give thy bread to the hungry with all thy soul
an Heifer and killing it should burn it and then servants should take up the ashes and put them into earthen vessels and then the servants should take scarlet wooll and hyssop and so sprinkle the people one by one that they might be purged from their sins Understand in what simplicity it speaks unto us This Heifer is Jesus Christ the men offering it are those sinners who brought him to the slaughter for they seemed partly men and partly sinners But the servants sprinkling were they who preached unto us remission of sins and puritie of heart To whom he gave the power of the Gospel they were Twelve in testimonie of the Tribes for they were the Twelve Tribes of Israel which they were to preach it to But why were there three servants sprinkling These were in testimonie of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob who were honourable with God But why was the wooll put upon wood Because the kingdom of Jesus was from the wood and they therefore who hope in him shall live for ever But why was there wooll and hyssop together Because in his kingdom shall be evil and gloomie days wherein we shall be saved For he who is wounded in the flesh is healed by hyssop cleansing away the filth And for this cause are these things which are made thus manifest to us obscure to them because they hearkned not unto the voyce of the Lord. Again the Lord saith by the Prophet something of the ears teaching us thereby how we should circumcise our heart saying By the hearing of the ear hath he heard me And again he saith They who are afar off shall hear with the hearing what I have done and shall know me And ye shall circumcise your hearts saith the Lord. And again he saith Hear O Israel for the Lord thy God speaketh these things unto thee And again the Spirit of the Lord prophesieth Who is he that would live for ever let him hear with the ear the voice of my servant And again he saith Hear O heaven and give ear O earth for the Lord hath spoken these things for a Testimony And again he saith Hear the word of the Lord ye rulers of this people And again he saith Hear O children the voice of one crying in the wilderness Therefore he circumcised our ears that hearing we may believe the word For the Circumcision of which they were perswaded is abolished For he said There should be a circumcision not made upon the flesh But they have transgressed because a wicked Angel hath taught them He saith again unto them These things saith the Lord your God Here I find a commandment Sow not among thorns but be circumcised to your Lord. And what saith he further And circumcise your hard heart and do not harden your neck And again Behold the Lord saith All nations are uncircumcised having on the foreskin but this people is uncircumcised in heart But thou wilt say The people hath received circumcision as a seal But so every Syrian and Arabs and all the idolatrous priests and the Egyptians have received circumcision therefore are they also within the Covenants Learn therefore Children abundantly concerning all nations That Abraham who first gave circumcision in the spirit did see so far as to the Son for receiving the definitions of three letters he gave circumcision For he saith That Abraham circumcised the males of his house which were ten and eight and three hundred Therefore what knowledge was given to him Learn there were first ten and eight then three hundred the Ten note 1. the Eight note n there ye have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Cross which should have the grace was noted in the three hundred for the numeral of that is T. Therefore it is manifest that Jesus was figured in two letters and the Cross in one Abraham knew the implanted gift of his doctrine and gave it for a sign to us No one hath learned a more genuine word from me onely I know that ye are worthy But whereâ—s Moses hath said Ye shall not eat swines flesh nor the eagle nor the hawk nor the crow nor any fish which hath not scales upon it undoubtedly he received in his understanding three Constitutions Afterwards he saith to them in Deuteronomie I will give to this people my judgements Undoubtedly therefore the command of God was not that they should not eat but Moses spake in the spirit When he spake of not eating swines flesh he spake it to this effect Thou shalt not saith he be joyned to such men who are like unto swine who when they are fed and wanton forget their Lord but when they are in wants acknowledge him For the swine when he hath eaten knows not his Lord but when he is hungry he cryes when he is filled again is still and holds his peace Neither shalt thou eat saith he the eagle nor the hawk nor the kite nor the crow In this he saith Thou shalt not associate thy self with such men who do not make provisions for themselves by labour and sweat but live by rapine and injurious taking from others and however they appear to walk in simplicity yet they observe what things may be offered to them without any labour these they diligently prie out and being idle themselves and very pernicious creatures by reason of their wickedness they devour and feed upon the flesh of others He saith Thou shalt not eat the Lampry nor the Polypus nor the Cuttle-fish That is he saith Thou shalt not be joyned to nor like unto those men who are ungodly to the end and condemned to death for these fishes alone being accursed swim onely in the deep not diving as other fishes but inhabiting in the mud of the deep He hath said again Thou shalt not eat the Conie Why said he it only to shew that thou shouldest not be alascivious lecherous person nor like unto such for the Hare or Conie doth every year breed abundantly and as many years as she liveth maketh her so many burrows Neither shalt thou eat the Hyaena This he saith Thou shalt not be an adulterer nor defiler of men or women nor like unto such Why so for this kind of animal every year changeth its nature and is one while a male and another while a female Again he well said Thou shalt hate the weasil this he saith Thou shalt not be like unto those of whom we hear by reason of their impurity that they do unlawful things at the mouth neither shalt thou associate thy self with impure persons who commit iniquitie with the mouth for this animal conceiveth at the mouth Therefore Moses by the spirit delivered three constitutions touching meats but they understood them to be meant of meats in a fleshly sense But David took the true knowledge of these three Constitutions and spake in this wise Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the Council of the ungodly as those fishes which walk in the dark down into the deep And
hath not stood in the way of sinners as persons seemingly reverencing their lord and yet transgressing like swine And hath not sat in the seat of pestilent men Like unto birds which sit watching for prey Thus have you a perfect knowledge of Moses his Constitutions about meats But Moses saith Thou maist eat of whatever hath a cloven hoof and cheweth the cud Wherefore saith he it because every such creature having received food doth seem to acknowledge his feeder and being refreshed to rejoyce in him He spake it well seeing the Commandment therefore what said he He gave in Commandment that they should be joyned to those who fear the Lord and who meditate in the heart upon the Command of the Word which they have received and to associate with those who speak the judgements of the Lord and keep them and to those who knowing that Meditation is a work of joy do ruminate upon the word of the Lord. But what means the beast with a cloven foot This shews that a just man though he walks in this world yet he expects and lays hold upon another Observe how excellently Moses gave his laws But they could not know or understand these things Yet we rightly understanding the Commands do speak as the Lord would therefore hath God circumcised our ears and our hearts that we might understand these things We shall now enquire whether it was the Lord's care to manifest any thing before hand touching the Water and the Cross As concerning the Water it is written to Israel how they should not receive Baptism which should bring remission of sins but should build up to themselves Therefore the Prophet saith Be astonished O heaven and let the earth very much tremble at it for this people hath committed two great evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed out to themselves broken cisterns Is my holy mount Sion a desert rock Ye shall be as the young ones of a bird fluttering about the forsaken nest And again the Prophet saith I will go before thee and will level the mountains and will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut in sunder the bars of iron and I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places that they may know that I am the Lord God And he shall dwell in the deep cave of the strong rock afterwards what saith he His water shall be sure through the Son Ye shall see the king with glory and your soul shall meditate on the fear of the Lord. And again he saith in another Prophet He who doth these things shall be as a tree planted by the water-courses which shall give its fruit in its season and his leaf shall not wither and whatsoever he doth it shall prosper not so the ungodly not so but they shall be as the dust which the wind scattereth before the face of the earth Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgement nor sinners in the counsel of the just For the Lord knoweth the way of the rightcous and the way of the ungodly shall perish Be ye sensible how he hath appointed Water and the Cross for the same thing For this he saith Blessed are they who hoping in the Cross have descended into the Water And whereas he saith he will give a reward in its season This he saith I will retribute to them The leaves shall not wither This he saith That every word which shall proceed out of your mouth in faith and love shall be for the conversion and hope of many Again another Prophet saith And the land of Jacob was praised above all lands This he speaks of the Vessel of his spirit which he will glorifie Afterwards what saith he And there was a river drawing from the right hand and trees in their season grew up out of it and whosoever shall eat of them shall live for ever This he saith Because we descend into the water full of sin and filth and we ascend out of it bearing fruit in the heart having fear and hope in the Son Jesus through the spirit And whereas he saith Whosoever shall eat of these shall live for ever This he saith Whosoever saith he shall hear the things that are spoken and shall believe he shall live for ever He determines in like manner concerning the Cross by another Prophet speaking thus And when these things shall be consummate and when the wood shall be bowed saith the Lord and shall rise again and when blond shall distit from the wood Thou hast something again touching the Cross and him who should be crucified For he saith again in Moses When Israel was warred against by strangers and that they were to be put in remembrance that they were warred against that they might be delivered up to death for their sins the spirit spake to the heart of Moses That he should make a type of the Cross and of him who should suffer to shew that unless they hoped in him they should be warred against for ever Therefore Moses laid the armour one piece upon another in the middle of a fountain and standing higher than all stretched out his hands and so Israel prevailed and when he drew in his hands again they were put to death Why was this That they may know that they cannot be saved unless they hope in him And in another Prophet he saith All the day long have I stretched forth my hands to a people that will not be perswaded contradicting my just way Moses again makes a type of Jesus because it was necessary that he should suffer and give life when they supposed to have destroyed him in the sepulchre For when Israel fell he made every serpent to bite them and they died because the transgression in Eve was by the serpent that he might reprove them and convince them that for their transgression they were delivered up to the anguish of death In the end though Moses had commanded that there should be no molten nor graven image amongst them for a God he made one to shew the type of Jesus For Moses made a serpent of brass and placed it gloriously and by Proclamation called the people They coming together intreated Moses that he would pray and make an offering for them that they might be healed Then Moses said unto them When any of you shall be bitten let him come to this serpent set upon a pole and let him hope believing that though it is dead it is able to give life and he shall be immediately healed and they did so In this thou hast the glorie of Jesus for all things are in him and to him What saith Moses again to Jesus the Son of Naue giving him being a Prophet this Name That all the people should hear him only because the Father would reveal all things touching his Son Jesus to the Son of Naue And when he gave him this Name and sent him to search the Land He said Take a little