reade it sayd of Samuel He shall abide in the presence of the Lord legnolam for euer Vpō which place the Commentarie sayth It is an age of the Leuites or a Leuiticall age that is to say the continuance of fiftie yeres Likewise of the Seruant whose eare his maister boared through it is sayd He shal be thy Seruant legnolam for euer in which place the Commentarie sayth Vntill the yeere of Iubil And therfore their great Grammarian Rabbi Kimhi sayth that legnolam signifieth a long tyme according to this saying in the Prouerbes The olde bound or buttel that hath continued of long tyme where he vseth the word legnolam The words whereby the Hebrewes vse commonly to betoken a tyme without end are these gnad netsach and selah and legnolam vagned But that God ment by the sending of his sonne Christ to make a new Couenant with his people as farre differing from the first Couenanat as the thing figured differeth from the figure let vs here Ieremy in his one and thirtith Chapter Behold the day shal come sayeth the Lord that I will make a new Couenant with the House of Israel and the House of Dauid not according to the Couenant that I made with their fathers when I tooke them by the hand led them out of the land of Egipt which Couenant they haue disanulled though I was married vnto them but the Couenant that I wil make with them after those dayes sayth the Lord is this I will plant my Lawe within them and wryte it in their harts and I wil be their GOD and they shal be my people Euery man shalnot teache his neybour any more nor euery man his brother saying Knowe the Lord for they shall knowe me from the greatest to the least And I will forgiue their vnryghtuousenes and their Sinne will I remember no more And that this was ment of the comming of the Messias it appeareth playne For he had sayd afore The Lord wil create a new thing vppon the Earth a woman shall compasse a man about Also that by the House of Israel he ment all such as should bee graffed into that house by the comming of Christ it appeareth in this that hauing spoken of the peopling of Israel he said afore I will sowe the house of Israel and the house of Iuda with the seede of Man and after that maner do the Rabbines themselues alledge it And therefore doth Ionathan say vppon Esay Ye shall drawe waters of gladnesse out of the welsprings of Saluation that is to say you shall receyue new doctrine of gladnesse by the chosen ones of the Rightuouse that is to wit of Christ of whom the Prophet had sayd in the Chapter going last afore God is my safety I wil be bold and not be afrayd And the Comentarie vppon the booke of the Preacher sayeth The lawe that men learne in this age is nothing in respect of the lawe of the Messias nor the miracles that are past in comparison of his miracles And in the booke of Blessings it is sayd the things that were done in Egipt are but tappilath that is to say an Accident or Bywoorke but the things that shal be done in the tyme of the Messias shal be gnikkar that is to say the substance thereof Yea and Rabbi Iohanan in the Talmud sayeth Wherein soeuer a Prophet biddeth thee transgresse the Lawe obey him sauing in Idolatry For al the rest are things that may be chaunged by a Prophet according to occasion and tyme. Yet they reply and say is God then chaungeable to giue a lawe that shal be chaunged after that fasshion No say we For what chaungeablenesse is it to promise and performe to say and to do to represent and to bring to passe to begin and to finish Nay contrarywise what greater constancie can there be than to bring to passe in their tymes and according to their circumstances the things which he had promised to his people He had said Circumcyse me all your male Children This was a signe And he sayd also He shall Circumcyse your harts and the harts of your posteritie and that is the verie true signification of the signe Now Iesus himself was circumcysed and that was bycause he was borne vnder the Lawe But yet hath he circumcysed our harts by regenerating vs which is as much to say as he performed the Lawe And why should it bee thought straunge that Circumcision is not reteyned now that the Gentyles are called Verely bycause there is not now any peculiar people nor consequently any peculiar marke to bee coueted of any one People or Linage as a seuerall marke of couenant betwéene God and them Also God hath sayd Take a Cowe for a Sinne offering And ageine Take euery of you a Lambe But he hath sayd lykewise The sacrifice that I require is a broken and sorowfull hart The sacrifice that I prepare for you is my Christ who shal be led as a Lambe to be slayne for you and vpon him shall your sinnes be layd Therefore the Moother of Iesus caried her Sacrifice to the Temple for her purification but she caried her Sonne with her also according to this scripture Euery manchild that first openeth the womb shal be holy vnto the Lord because he was borne vnder the Lawe But he was crucified for our sinnes wherein he accomplished the onely Sacrifice that had bene betokened by so many Sacrifices in the Lawe and therefore he made an ende of all sacryficing and offering of oblations as one that came to fulfill the Ceremonies of the Lawe and to set vs free and discharge vs of them On the contrarie part how delt he with the Lawes which were no signes but matters of substance in deede It is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God And Iesus hath sayd Thou shalt loue God with all thy hart and he hath giuen vs an example thereof in himself Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen Image sayth the Lawe and Christ hath ouerthrowen all the Idols of the Heathen The Lawe sayth Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vaine yea saith Iesus and thou shalt not sweare by any maner of thing no not euen by thine owne head The Lawe sayes Thou shalt keepe holy the Sabboth day Howbeit not to restreine thee from going aboue two myles that day as the Pharisies taught but to apply thy selfe all that day throughout to the mynding of the Lawe of thy God and to the seruing of thy Neighbour in his neede And to the Commaundements of the second table he saith Thou shalt honour thy Father and thy Moother howbeit from thy heart and not for fashions sake and thou shalt doo the lyke to all thy Superiours Thou shalt uot kill yea and if thou hate not thy neighbour onely but also euen thyne enemy thou art a manslear already Thou shalt not steale and if a man will haue thy Cote from thee thou shalt let him haue thy
will whereby he disposeth all things wherevppon in the last Chapter I coucluded a second and a third persone Insomuch that in a certayne place he sayeth playnly that God is to be honored according to the nomber of thrée and that the same is after a sort the Lawe of Nature Now for asmuch as this doctrine is not bred of mans brayne if it bee demaunded whence all the Philosophers tooke it wee shall finde that the Greekes had it from out of AEgipt Orpheus witnesseth in his Argonawts that to seeke the Misteries that is to say the Religion of the AEgiptians he went as farre as Memphis visiting all the Cities vpon the Riuer Nyle Through out the land of AEgipt I haue gone To Memphis and the Cities euerychone That worship Apis or be seated by The Riuer Nyle whose streame doth swell so hy Also Pythagoras visited the AEgiptians Arabians and Chaldeans yea and went into Iewry also and dwelt a long tyme at Mount Carmel as Strabo sayth insomuch that the Priestes of that Countrey shewed Strabo still the iourneyes and walkes of him there Now in AEgipt he was the Disciple of one Sonchedie the chiefe Prophet of the AEgiptians and of one Nazarie an Assyrian as Alexander reporteth in his booke of Pythagorasis discourses whom some miscounting the tyme thought to bee Ezechiel And Hermippus a Pythagorist writeth that Pythagoras learned many things out of the lawe of Moyses Also the sayd AEgiptian Priest vpbrayded Solon that the Greekes were Babes and knewe nothing of Antiquitie And Solon as sayth Proclus was Disciple in Says a Citie of AEgipt to one Patanit or as Plutarke sayth to one Sonchis in Heliople to one Oeclapie and in Sebenitie to one Etimon Plato was the Disciple of one Sechnuphis of Heliople in AEgipt and Eudoxus the Guidian was the Disciple of one Conuphis all which Maysterteachers issewed out of the Schoole of the great Trismegistus aforenamed To be short Plato confesseth in many places that knowledge came to the Greekes by those whom they commonly called the barbarus people As touching Zoroastres and Trismegistus the one was an Hebrewe and the other an AEgiptian And at the same tyme the Hebrewes were conuersant with the AEgiptians as is to be séene euen in the Heathen Authors Whereby it appeareth that the originall fountayne of this doctrine was to bee found among them which is the thing that wee haue to proue as now I meane not to gather hether a great sort of Texts of the Byble wherein mention is made as well of the second person as of the third of which sort are these Thou art my Sonne this day haue I begotten thee The Lord sayth Wisedome possessed me in the beginning of his wayes afore the depths was I conceyued c. Also concerning the holy Ghost The Spirit of the Lord walked vpon the waters The Spirit of Wisedome is gentle And it is an ordinary spéech among the Prophetes to say The Spirit of the Lord was vpon me And in this next saying are two of them together or rather all three The Heauens were spred out by the word of the Lord and all the power of them by the Spirit of his mouth For they be so alledged and expounded in infinite bookes howbeit that the Iewes at this day do labour as much as they can to turne them to another sence But let vs sée what their owne Doctors haue left vs in expresse words for the most part culled by themselues out of writtē bookes afore that the cōming of our Lord Iesus Christ had made that docttrine suspected In their Zohar which is one of their Bookes of greatest authoritie Rabbi Simeon the sonne of Iohai citeth Rabbi Ibba expoūding this text of Deuteronomie Hearken ô Israel The Euerlasting our God is one God The Hebrewe standeth thus Iehouah Echad Iehouah Eloh enu By the first Iehouah which is the peculiar name of God not to bée communicated to any other Rabbi Ibba saith he meaneth the Father the Prince of al. By Eloh enu that is to say our God he meaneth the Sonne the Fountaine of all knowledge And by the second Iehouah he meaneth the holy Ghost proceeding from them both who is the measurer of the voyce And he calleth him One because he is vndiuidable and this Secret saith he shall not be reuealed afore the comming of the Messias The same Rabbi Simeon expoūding these words of Esay Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hostes sayth Holy is the Father Holy is the Sonne Holy also is the holy Ghost In so much that this Author who is so misticall among them doth in other places call them the Three Mirrours Lights and Souerein fathers which haue neither beginning nor end and are the name and substaunce to the Roote of all Rootes And Rabbi Ionathas in many Copies of his Chaldey Paraphrase sayth the same And therefore no maruell though the Thalmudists of olde tyme commaunded men to say that Uerse twise a day and that some obserue it still at this day Upon these words of the 50. Psalme El elohim Iehouah dibber that is to say The Lord of Lords the Euerlasting hath spoken The ordinary Commentarie sayth also that by the sayd repetition the Prophet meaneth the thrée Middoth Properties wherby God created the world According whereunto Rabbi Moyses Hadarsan sayeth that hee created by his word And Rabbi Simeon sayeth he created by the breath of his mouth And this saying of the Preacher That a thréefold Corde is not so soone broken is expounded by the same glose I examine not whether filthy or no that the inisterie of the Trinitie in the one God is not easie to bee expressed Nowe these thrée Properties which the Hebrewes call Panim the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we the Latins call Persons are betokened by diuers names among the men of old tyme but yet they iumpe all in one according as they vnderstoode them some more clearely than other some Some name them the Beginning the Wisdome the Feare of Loue of God and they say that this Wisedome is Meensoph as the Cabalists tearme it that is to saye of the infinite and most inward vnderstanding of God who beholdeth hymselfe in himself for so doe they expound it Which is the selfesame thing that I spake of in the former Chapter namely that God begetteth his Sonne or Wisdome by his mynding of himselfe Othersome call him Spirit Word and Voyce as Rabbi Azariell doth in these words following The Spirit bringeth foorth the Word and the Voyce but not by opening the Lippes or by speeche of the tongue or by breathing after the maner of man And these three be one Spirit to wit one God as we reade sayeth he in the booke of the creating of man in these termes One Spirit rightly liuing blessed bee hee and his name who liueth for euer and euer Spirit Word and Voyce
continuance that afore the tyme of Pythagoras the very name thereof was not knowen The Romanes counted it for folly long tyme after that And Lucrece the Epicure singeth in his tyme that the nature of things was found out but late afore Also Seneca who came long after him sayth that from the first comming vp of Philosophie to his tyme there were not full a thousand yéeres Socrates is sayd to haue bin the first that brought it from studie to practise drawing it as they sayd from Heauen to Earth and from Cities to houses and persons that is to say by teaching men to knowe themselues and to gouerne both themselues and others And that is not aboue two thousand yéeres agoe at the most For he was since the tyme of Esdras who is that last Historiographer of the Byble And whatsoeuer knowledge they had thereof they had it as I sayd afore from the AEgiptians the AEgiptians had it from the Hebrewes and Chaldeans For Pythagoras learned his skill of Sonchedie and of the Iewes Plato of Sechnuphis Eudoxus of Conuphis and all they of the Disciples of Trismegistus and Trismegistus as appeareth by his books learned of Moyses To bee short Clearchus the Peripatetick sayth he sawe the Iew of whom Aristotle himselfe learned his Philosophie Also Iamblichus maketh mention of Mercuries Pillars wherein Pythagoras and Plato had read his Doctrine And Porphyrius witnesseth that all the Philosophie of the Greekes which they boast of with so many woords came vp at the least a thousand yeres after Moyses Now if the studie of Wisdome be so late in the world how late is Wisdome it self And if Greece were so lateward therein where shal the antiquitie thereof be found among the Gentiles Some man will say that in asmuch as Socrates drewe men frō Heauen to Earth Astrologie ought to be of more antiquitie and I willingly agree thereto for when a man looketh vp to Heauen he setteth his first thoughts vpon that place But how many yeres shall we gaine by that If Thales were the first that taught it to the Greekes as they themselues say we know both by the very Greeke authors by Thales himself that he had it of the AEgiptians the AEgiptians of the Chaldeans who are in very deede the Authors thereof insomuch that the word Chaldean is ordinarily put for an Astrologer And if we say with Plinie that Iupiter Belus was the Author thereof if the same Belus was the first of that name then was it about the time of Abraham And if the Phenicians were the founders thereof as it is sayd in another place what were they els but the Hebrewes Againe I pray you what was the Astrologie of those folke By the report of Plinie Thales was the first among the Greekes and Sulpitius Gallus among the Romanes that obserued the Eclipses of the Sunne and Moone Insomuch that their Armyes as Plutarche and Quintilian report were dismayed at the sight of them so as the one of them did let passe the next three daies the other did let passe all the rest of that Moone ere they durst enterprise or go in hād with any thing Nay it was counted high Treason towards God to alledge any naturall cause thereof Anaxagoras was put in Prison for it and Pericles had much adoe to get him released Protagoras was banished Athens for it and the Mathematicals were vtterly condemned for it And what more doe the sauagest people of the world our poore Americans It was attributed vnto Thales that hee was the first that obserued the North Starre and to Pythagoras that the morning starre and the euening starre be both one and that the Zodiacke goes a Skiew and girdeth the World about like a Girdle and vnto Solon as sayth Proclus that the Moone finisheth her course in thirtie dayes Afterward came Archimedes who gathered the obseruations of many things and thereof made the Sphere Yet notwithstanding all these are but litle entraunces for the greate Speculation of the Planets came long time after What shall we say to this that the very account of the yeere was vncerteine and confuzed in the countrie of Europe vntill the time of Iulius Caesar and so remaineth still vnto this day in the greater halfe of the world Insomuch that vntill a three hundred yeres afore the birth of our Lord Iesus Christ the Greekes and Romanes had not yet any Quadrant nor any Clocke Dyall or distinction of howres As touching Arithmetike and Geometrie which were taught so precysely vnto children in Platoes tyme it is well knowen that the authors of the notablest grounds of those artes are Pythagoras Eudoxus and Euclides who gathered them out of the writers of olde tyme and certeyne others And they which father the finding of them vpon Trismegistus could not haue led vs more directly vnto Moyses But forasmuch as man is naturally more carefull of his health and commoditie than curious of the Starres it may bee that his Trades Craftes and Artes are of more antiquitie than his Sciences Surely as touching handicrafts Varro a greate searcher of antiquities witnesseth that all the Handicraftes were inuented within the space of a thousand yeres reckened backe frō his tyme. And let not the Gréekes brag any more For euen in their Histories we find the first inuention or finding out of Fyre which is the ground and beginning if I may so terme it of the most part of Handicrafts And forasmuch as there are which haue written particularly of the fynding out of euery of them I send the Reader vnto them But let vs speake of Leachecraft which conteineth Phisik and Surgerie the Arte which is so necessarie for all mankinde Doe wee not sée how it bréedeth and from day to day groweth and increaseth of sicknesses and Wounds yea and euen of the death of men Diodorus attributeth it too the AEgyptians and Moyses in Genesis maketh some mention of Pharaos Phisitions Others doe father it vppon Esculapius and some vpon Arabus the sonne of Apollo but what maner of Phisicke was that If wee followe the woords of Moyses they were rather Imbalmers of Dead bodyes than Phisitions of sicke person And Esculapius as sayth Cicero was estéemed as a God for teaching to pull out Téeth and to loozen the Belly Also Podalirius and Machaon his successors medled not but with outward Cures To be short Herodotus saith that one was a Leache for the Eye another for the Head and a third for the Féete and that when they were at their wits end they layd the diseased person in a place of resorte to trye there vpon him the receyt of whosoeuer came first and that was a kind of Lechecraft which as yet had neither Head nor Tayle Also the brute beasts taught men diuers Herbes and remedies by little and litle and some men did put them in proofe vpon others vnto the which Herbes they left their names insomuch that in the end
things should haue disswaded him from woorshipping of the God of that people had not the most manifest trueth driuen him to the contrarie As touching the Romaines what tyme they extended their warres into Iewrie we reade that they reuerenced the Temple of Ierusalem insomuch that Augustus ordeined certeyne Sacrifizes to be offered there both yéerely and dayly and that diuers Heathen princes being prouoked by his sending of offerings thither so carefully followed his example in doing the like But seeing the Romaines brought all the Gods of all the Nations whom they had conquered into Rome how happeneth it that only this God could finde no place there Cicero answereth that it beseemed not the Maiestie of the Empire But if I should appose him vpon his conscience did Bacchus Anubis Pryapus and their shamefull night-wakes and misteries celebrated in the darke yéeld renowme to the state of the Empyre Nay if he will say the trueth they knew that the God of Israell and none other was the true God and that for the harbouring of him it behoued them to driue away all the rest but they had so long tyme foaded folke with Idolatrie that they were afrayd as many Princes are at this day least they might be deposed by their Subiects in receyuing their rightfull Lord. Yet notwithstanding will some saye this sillie people of the Iewes were caryed away from their own Countrey into the fower quarters of the world scattered among other people and parted amōg all Nations of the earth at the pleasure of their enemies that had gotten the vpper hand of them Surely Gods wonderful prouidence is to be noted in this case farre more without comparison than if that people had conquered the whole world by force of armes For by the things which the Poets haue written of them wee see in what contempt they were had of all men But yet let vs heare the wonderment that was made thereat not by a common person but by the great Philosopher Seneca Yet notwithstanding saith he the custome of that Nation hath so preuailed that it is the rather receyued of the whole world and they beeing vanquished haue I wote not by what meanes giuen lawes to their Conquerours Who seeth not here a great motion of mynd in this Philosopher And what man hauing common reason is not rauished thereat as well as he Is it possible for Kings to haue subdewed a people whom they could neuer inforce to chaunge their owne lawes The example thereof is Iewrie which hath bin trodden vnder foote by the Assyrians Persians Greekes Romaines and yet for all their chaunging of their Maysters they could neuer bee brought to alter their lawe There may perchaunce some like constancie bee found among other Nations as in respect of their lawes but that a people being conquered caryed away brought into bondage vnaccounted of led in triumph by diuers Empyres as the Iewes were should not only subdue the harts of their Conquerours to their GOD so as the Conquerours could not fasten their lawes vppon the vanquished sort but contrarywise the vanquished sort haue fastened their lawes vpon their vanquishers the Subiects vppon their Prince the Captiues vpon their Mayster and the condemned vpon their Iudge who I pray you would beléeue it vnlesse he sawe it And if a man see it how can he say that any other can possibly doe it but God But if Seneca will voutsafe to heare Seneca quietly it may be that he himselfe shall finde a resolution to his owne wonderment Namely that the Gods as he sayth which were called inuiolable immortall whom the Iewes left to other Nations were dumbe and sencelesse Images disguysed in the shapes of Men Beastes and Fishes and some in vgly and ilfauoured monsters and that the Feends which possessed those Images required woorse things of men for their seruice thā the horriblest Tyrants that euer were as that men should gash themselues mayme and lame themselues geld themselues and offer men women and children in Sacrifize to them But when folke heard speaking of the true God the maker of Heauen and Earth and that he wil be serued with the hearts and mynds of men that word issewing out of the mouth of a poore prisoner caught men prisoners and ouercame their Gods And in very déede as wee shall see hereafter if we reade the good authors of that tyme eyther they speak but of the one God or if they speak of mo Gods it is but for customes sake and in way of condemning them What els then were the manifold fléetings of the Iewes but as many conueyings abroad of companies of Preachers to shewe forth the true God and as many Armies to destroy the Idols and to roote them out Wee reade that the Coniurers which were in old tyme amōg the Gentiles did vse the name of the God of Israell the God of the Hebrewes and the God that drowned the AEgiptians in coniuring such as were possessed of Deuilles and that the Deuilles trembled at that name This serueth not to proue that they worshipped not other Gods but that they knewe those Gods to be of no force Iulian the Apostata did vnderset his shoulder to shore vp the seruice of the false Gods as much as he could But yet durst he not deny but that the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob is a great and mightie God and he sware by all his Gods that he was one of them that were conuerted to his seruice and that hee knewe him to be very gracious to such as serue him as Abraham had done Who now could euer make an Israelite confesse that any other God was good than the same whom he worshipped And if he be the very God how can it be euen by Iulians owne saying that all the residue should not bee euill seeing that this good God condemneth them and declareth them to bee all wicked Spirites and enemies of mankynde But if Iulian himselfe would tell vs what befell him at Antioche when he asked counsell of his Deuilles who made all his Philosophers to quake and all his great Sorcerers to runne away for feare wee should see well enough what stuffe they be insomuch that euen his owne Historiographer Zosimus is ashamed to make report of it Now I would fayne that the Heathen or their Aduocats should but shewe me one of these two things eyther where any Author of the Iewes yéeldeth record to any God of the Heathen or where any graue Heathen author hath condemned the God that is worshipped by the Iewes Forasmuch then as in a Chapter appropried to the same purpose I haue alreadie proued by all the auncient Authors and by consent of all people that there is but only one God and by Varro euen now that the Iewes do worship the same God what followeth therof but that al of them be Iewes in that poynt and that as many as are not so are al ydolaters and deceiued And for that cause when Orpheus
haue an eye vnto him are by and by healed of the Serpents deadly sting And whereas some thinke it straunge that so great a thing should bee figured by so vyle and base things the figure is the more profitable and the lesse dauÌ„gerous in that it is so For had so high things bene figured 〈◊〉 foretokened by things approching to their highnesse men might haue bene deceyued by theÌ„ and haue taken the figures for the things themselues and so haue rested vpon the gaynesse of the sheath without looking into it As for example if in stead of the Goate they should haue Sacrificed the man of greatest reputation in the Congregation Men béeing giuen to yéeld too much vnto man would haue mistaken him for the very Mediatour himselfe But when the figure of our reconcilement vnto God and of the forgiuenesse of our sinnes is taken at a brute beast which hath nothing sutable thereto sauing that he is giltlesse and capable of death wee bee taught that it is but a figure and that it behoueth vs to â—ade into the thing it selfe that so much the more because those Sacrifices are so solemnely and so expressely commaunded to posteritie as things which for the welfare of mankynd ought to be alwaies in remembrance or rather present before mens eyes But yet the Hebrewes held opinion that Asar Elcana and Abiasaph the three sonnes of Chore mentioned in the sixt Chapter of Exodus were authors of diuers of the Psalmes that are gathered into the second booke of Dauids Psalter and so is Moyses also of some one or two in the third booke whereby they comforted the Fathers in the wildernesse assuring them of the coÌ„ming of Christ. Unto Dauid who was of the Trybe of Iuda God himselfe constâ—â—ieth the sayd promise telling him that the blessed séed should come of him I will rayse vp saith he thy seede after thee which 〈◊〉 come one of thy loynes his kingdome will I stablish for euer I will be to him for a Father and he shall be to mee for a sonne And although this may séeme to be ment of Salomon Dauids sonne who was in déede but a figure of Christ yet notwithstanding the often repeating of these words eternally euerlastingly and for euer giueth vs to vnderstand that it cannot bee 〈◊〉 but of the thing figured that is to wit of the eternall or euerlasting King And in very deede Dauid sheweth well in his Psalmes that hee hath looked further with the eyes of his mynde than to his sonne Salomon For in the second Psalme Thou art my sonne saith the Euerlasting this day haue I begotteÌ„ thee I will giue thee the Gentyles for thyne inheritance and the vtmost coastes of the earth for thy possession And in the fiue and fortieth Psalme speaking of the mariage of this Sonne with an extraordinary preface Thy Throne ô God sayth he is from euerlasting and the Scepter of thy kingdome is a Scepter of righteousnes And in the seauen and fortith The princes of the Nations are assembled togither sayth he to be the people of the God of Abraham And in the thréescore and seauenth Thou shalt iudge folk righteously Thy sauing health shal be knowen to al Nations and thou shaâ—t direct the Nations of the earth And this later clause is shet vp with this worde Selah which the Hebrewes are not wont to vse but in some profound misterie To be short in the thréescore and twelfth Psalme after he hath sayde All Kings shall worship him and all Nations shall serue him Hée addeth for he shall deliuer the poore that cry vnto hym and the distressed that hath no helpe Yea and which more is All Nations shall report themselues to be blessed in him and they shall also blesse him Dauid is full of such sentences which shewe that he speaketh of a King howbeit of another than Salomon his owne sonne For Salomons kingdom extended not much further than his fathers neither did the Nations méete togither vnder him and as for his kingdome it ended wich his beath and within day or twayne after was rent in peeces And therefore the auncient Synagog did alwayes vnderstand those texts to be ment of Christ who was to be borne of the séede of Dauid as we may perceyue by the Chaldee translation which interpreteth them to be spoken concerning the same partie Howbeit sith it is not said in any of the Psalmes Reioyce thou Israel for thou shalt reigne ouer the Gentiles but Reioyceye Gentyles be glad ye Nations and Kings for I will giue you a King surely it is euident that the ioy which he reporteth to be so greate is not for that they should haue a Iewe to be their king for euery Nation had leuer to haue one of their owne countrie or for that this King should haue a souereine Monarke aboue them all to controll them for euery of them had leuer to reigne by himselfe alone but rather because this King should bee of a farre other nature and qualitie than all other Kings namely a King of soules a deliuerer of men from the bondage of sinne and a spirituall Monarke Also the Song of Songs is an expresse poetrie coÌ„ceruing the vnion of Christ his Church and hath bene so vnderstoode of the Iewes as it appeereth by the Chaldee Paraphrase therof which we haue As for the Prophets we find nothing els in them almost line by lyne but foretellings of Christ to come of the Nature of his Kingdome of the calling of the Gentiles of the stablithing agein of godlynes and such other matters as wel to put the people then present in remembrance of them as to prepare the aftercommers to receiue them Insomuch that if the Prophets speake of the returne from Babylon of the stablishing ageine of the kingdome of the building ageine of the Temple and such other things by and by within two or thrée verses yee shal see them caried away to the spirituall kingdome of Christ and to the true Temple which is the Church as though they had ment to say vnto vs that we must not rest vpon these temporall things which are but shadowes but remember that we be men that is to say Soules and that our welfare coÌ„sisteth not in liuing in gouerning and in reigning heere but in seruing God that we may be vnited vnto him ruled by him howbeit not so as we should reigne in the world but that God should reigne in vs by the Scepter of his word and by the power of his spirit and be obeyed of vs. It shall come to passe sayth Esay that in the latter dayes the hill of the Lords house shal be set vp vpon the toppe of the mountaynes and that all Nations shal come flocking to it and many folke shall say Come let vs goe vp to the Lords hill and to the GOD of Iacobs house This text is spoken manifestly of Christ and of his reigne and of the blessing that was to be shed out vpon all
Nations by him But let vs reade further He will teach vs his wayes sayth he and we shall walke in his pathes The Lawe shall come from out of Sion and the world of the Lorde from Hierusalem He shall iudge among the Heathen and reproue the Nations They shall turne their Swordes into Culters their Speares into Sythes Here is no speaking of wars of fighting or of force but the Lawe of Gods worde and of teaching And in the fourth Chapter At that day sayth he shall the Lords braunch be mâ—ch made of and glorious and whosoeuer abydeth in Hierusalem shall be called holy If this glorie were not expounded some would thereby behight here a triumph But at the same time saith he the Lord will wash away the filthynes of the daughters of Syon and clense away the blud of Hierusalem from the middes thereof by the spirit of iudgement and the spirit of burning It is then a glory yea and a true glorie but yet a farre other glorie then the flesh vnderstandeth Now the Iewes vnderstand this text of the Messias for whereas the Hebrewe hath Braunch the Chaldee Interpreter hath translated it the Lords Anoynted or Christ. In his nineth Chapter he sayth that he shal be called the Prince of peace and the Chaldee Paraphrast hath translated it the Christ or Anoynted of peace and that his kingdome shal be increased and that there shall bee no end of his reigne and that he shall execute Iustice vpon the throne of Dauid for euer If he shal be a Prince of peace where shal warre become And if there bee no warre what shall this increase of his kingdome bee That doth he shewe vs apparantly in his eleuenth Chapter A blossome shall spring sayth he out of the stocke of Isay and a braunch shall growe out of his roote The spirite of the Lord shall rest vpon him the spirite of wisedome and vnderstanding the spirite of counsell and strength the spirite of knowledge of the feare of the Lord. He shal smite the earth with the rod of his mouth kill the wicked with the breath of his lippes The Goate and the Lambe shall dwell together and the Leopard with the Kid. The Earth shall bee full of the knowledge of the Lord as with an ouerflowing of the Sea and the Gentiles shall inquire after the roote of Isay which shal be set vp as a Standard for people to resort vnto The Conquests then of this Emperour shal be of mens Soules his tributes their worshippings his armour and weapons the spirit of the Lord his peace the vniting of all folke together into one Church in the fauour of their Maker Also in the fiue and twentie he 〈…〉 shall destroy death for euer and take away the 〈◊〉 at hydeth the face of all people And in the fiue and thirtie The eyes of the blynd shall bee opened and the eares of the deaffe shall be vnstopped And in the two and fortie and the nine and fortie He shal be no outcryer nor loude of speech his voyce shall not be heard in the streates He shall set iudgement on 〈…〉 and the Iles shall wayt for him He shal be a maker of leagues among people and a light vnto the Gentiles Some shall come from the North and some from the South so as the land shall be to narrowe for them The Kings themselues shal be fosterâ— fathers to my people and Queenes shall bee their Nurces Which of all these things can bee vnderstood otherwise than of a spirituall kingdome On the contrary part let vs see how the same Prophet speaketh of Cyrus the great Emperour which was to deliuer Israell by the force of armes out of the hands of the Chaldees I haue taken thee by the right hand sayth the Lord to make Nations subiect vnto thee and to weaken the reynes of Kings to set open the doores vnto thee and to vnlocke the gates against thee I will breake open the gates of brasse and burst asunder the barres of yron I will giue thee the hoorded treasures and the things that lye hid in secret places What likenesse is there betweene this maner of speaking and the other and consequently betwéene the deliuerances or the deliuerers them selues But in the two and fiftie and three and fiftie he taketh away all doubt Behold saith he my seruant shall behaue himself happely and be exalted and aduanced very high As how He shall bee despised of men sayth the Prophet and thrust out of their companie A man full of sorowe and heauinesse shall he bee and euery bodie shall hide his face from him He shall bee wounded for our misdeedes and smitten for our sinnes The chastisement of our peace shal lye vpon him and by his stripes shall wee bee healed And he sayth afterward Although there was not any vnrightuosnesse in him yet was it the Lords will to breake him with sorowe And because he shall giue his life for sinne the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand and he shall see the labour of his Soule and inioy it For by his knowledge he shall make many rightuous and he shall take their iniquities vpon him Now this text is interpreted expresly of the Messias by the Chaldee Paraphrast And in the Talmud Rabbi Iacob being asked the name of the Messias sayth he shal be called Leaprous and there he bringeth in this text to proue it By which reckoning his life should be but languishing and paine sauing that he tryumphed ouer the Deuill and Death and that we vnderstand it spiritually To be short in the fiue and fiftie he is called the Law giuer of the Gentiles and in the nine and fiftie The Redeemer And in the thréescore and one The Phisition of the helplesse and the Proclaymer of the acceptable yere of the Lord And in the thréescore and two The Sauiour the League or Attonement which he bringeth to the people not that he Lordeth it but that he is holy nor that he giueth lawes to other Nations of the earth but that he hath the word of GOD in his owne mouth and in the mouthes of his seede sauing that in the kingdome of his Christ God will giue a better place to straungers then to them As for al the other Prophets like as they shoote not at any other marke so haue they not any other voyce Neuerthelesse we will content ourselues with a feawe of their sayings which shall giue credit to all the rest and so much the more bycause their wryting was comonly both at sundry times and in sundry places We haue seene how the Messias was promised to the issew of Dauid and to Dauid himself Thus therefore doth Ieremy speake thereof conformably to that which we haue sayd heretofore I will rayse vp a braunch vnto Dauid sayeth the Lord and hee shall reigne as King and prosper and execute Iustice and Iudgment vppon Earth And if ye aske the Prophet what maner of
prosperitie this shal be It is sayeth he that in his dayes Iuda shal be safe and Israel shal dwell without feare and the name whereby he shal be called shal be the Euerlasting our Ryghtuousenes that is to say the Iustifier of vs. For sayeth he the Lord hath sayd it Dauid shall neuer want a Successor sitting vppon his Throne neither shall there euer want a Priest of the Priests the Leuites to offer sacrifice before me Neither is it any more possible for you to breake this couenant than to breake the couenant that I haue made with day and nyght Now the Iewes cannot denie but that euen by the record of their owne Paraphrast this text is ment of Christ and yet notwithstanding that there hath not wanted a Successor both to Dauid and to Leuie and that both the Kingdome and the Preesthod are come to an end and therefore that he speaketh here of another Kingdome and of another Preesthod Likewyse sayeth Ezechiell I will set a shepherd ouer my flocke which shall feede them namely my Seruant Dauid I will bee their God and he shal be their Prince among them I wil enter into a Couenant of peace with them and make noysom beasts to ceasse from the earth I will rayse them shortly a plant of Renowne and they shall no more bee the iestingstock of the Gentyles And if we aske how They shall nomore be defiled sayeth he with their Idolles nor with their abhominations nor with their misdeedes but I will saue them from all their sinnes and make them cleane and they shal be my people and I wil be their God And that this text also is ment of the Messias the Iewes cannot deny For in their very Talmud they say that the Messias is called Dauid bycause he was too be borne of Dauids race and they alledge this present text and others for the same purpose Daniel in his second and seuenth Chapters expounding Nabugodonozors Dreame treateth of the fower greate Monarchies which should rise vp in the world euery one in his tyme the which are betokened there vnder these fower Metalls Golde Siluer Brasse and yron But when the Dreame representeth vs the stone heawen without hand which stryketh the Images yron feete and breaketh them apeeces it is as much as if it had told vs that the Kingdom of the Messias shall seeme to be of small stuffe without stay and without force of man and yet that it shall indure for euer bycause it is set vp by God And therefore whereas he addeth in another place That all People Nations and Toongs shal serue that Kingdome it is to be vnderstoode of another kynd of seruice than the ordinarie But in his fifth Chapter he sheweth wherein the same peculiarly consisteth It is sayeth he in bringing disobedience to an end and in sealing vp sinne to clense away iniquitie and to bring ryghtuousnes into the world to close vp prophesying and visions and to anoynt the holy of Holyes Yea and it is so little ment that Hierusalem should be the seate of that kingdome that it was to be destroyed anon after by the Romanes The nomber of the Children of Israel sayeth Ose shal be as the sand And where it hath bin sayd you be not my People there it shal be sayd ye be the people of the liuing God which is as much to say as that many people should become Israelytes And this shal be done sayth the Lord not by bowe nor by swoord nor by battel but bycause I will shewe mercy and saue them by their Lord God and marry them to me of my compassion Iewry sayth Ioel shal be inhabited euerlastingly and Hierusalem from generation to generation Yet had they greate ouerthrowes afterward yea euen in the Prophets owne tyme. But yet he addeth I will wype away the blud from those whom I haue not yet cleansed that is to wit the Gentiles and the Lord shall dwell in Syon Then speaketh he of another Iewrie and of another Syon that is to wit of the spirituall one which is the Church To the same end tendeth Amos when he sayth I will set vp the Tabernacle of Dauid againe and stop vp the breakes thereof and amend the decayes that he may possesse the remnant of Edom and of all other nations And Micheas sayth that many Nations shall come to the Lords Hill and talke there one with another saying as followeth namely that the name of the Lord shall bee called vpon ouer them and that the Law shall come out of Syon and the word of the Lord out of Hierusalem which shall teach them his waies And to the intent wee should not thinke that whereas Micheas sayth that the name of the Messias shall shortly bee magnified to the vttermost parts of the earth Israell shall tryumph after the maner of the world The Assyrians sayth he shall not ceasse to come into our Land and to walke vp and downe in our Palaces That is to say the good and vertuous folke shall not ceasse to be persecuted for all that but yet howsoeuer they fare Idolatrie shal be ouerthrowen as he saith afterward and the Anoynted shall reigne through the power of the Lord and he shall be our peace And Sophonie foretelleth to the same effect That God will starue all the Gods of the earth so as euery man shall worship in his owne place throughout all the Iles of the Gentiles that is to say That Hierusalem shall not bee the only place to worship in but rather that God wil haue euery place to bee a Hierusalem In Zacharie the Lorde hauing sayd I will make my seruant Braunch to come addeth immediatly and I will wipe away the wickednes of this land in one day And hauing sayd He shall reigne vpon his seate He addeth foorthwith that the Highpriest also shal sit there with him That is to say that Christ shal be both King and Priest He sayth in deede Bee glad thou daughter Sion and triumph For thy King commeth But see here with what furniture A righteous Sauiour a lowly sitting vpon an Asse euen vppon an Asses colt which is the Chariot of Ephraim and the Horse of Hierusalem the bowe of warre He shal speake myldly to all Nations and yet shal he be obeyed from the oneside of the earth to the other If there be no greater triumphe than this what néedeth so great ioy But he expoundeth himselfe in these words following Thou shalt bee saued by the blud of thy couenant and I haue let out thy prisoners from the waterlesse pit Now that this text is ment of Christ it appeareth by Rabby Samuel and Rabby Ioseph in the Talmud And Rabby Selmoh ben Iarchi as great an enemy as he is to vs expoundeth it not otherwise Agein In that day saith he a Welspring shal be opened to the house of Dauid and to the Inhabiters of Hierusalem to wash away their sinne and their filth I will roote out the names
the Scripture intending to succour our infirmitie the elder the world waxeth speaketh euer the more manifestly thereof vnto vs and surely after such a sort that the skilfullest among the Iewes of late tyme become most vnskilfull when they goe about to darken it First of all at the making of the promise in Genesis it is sayd that this seede that is to say this Christ shall crush the Serpents head and this Serpent as I haue said afore is the Deuill and his venome is sinne and by meanes of sinne we be all become thralles to the Deuill against whose power we know that no force of man can doe any thing It followeth then that this Christ must haue another nature than mans yea or than Angels For the Angels and the Deuils differ not in power that is to wit diuine Afterward where the promise is repeated to Abraham of what man can it be verifyed In thy seede shall all Nations be blessed Or who can blesse so effectually but only God who commaundeth his blessing sayth he diuers tymes and then doth it shead it selfe out vpon vs and our workes But as the Prophetes doe preach the Messias vnto vs so also doe they describe vs his natures and qualities so as we neede not any other Commentarie vpon that promise than the Prophets themselues Unto Dauid therfore it was renewed and in his issew was it to be accomplished See here how he speaketh of it in the 45. Psalme My heart sayth he intendeth to vtter good matter and my worke shal be to speake of the King that is to wit of the Messias and so doth the Chaldee Paraphrast himselfe interpret it Thou art more perfect than the Children of men This might be ment of a man but let vs reade further O God sayth he thy Throne is from euerlasting to euerlasting the Scepter of thy Kingdome is the Scepter of Rightuousnesse Thou louest rightuousnesse and hatest wickednesse And therefore God thy God hath annoynted thee with the oyle of gladnesse aboue thy fellowes These so expresse words cannot bee spoken specially among the Hebrewes who were not so lauish of Gods name as other people are but of one that is very God and very man both together In the hundred and tenth Psalme The Lord sayd vnto my Lord sayth Dauid sit thou at my right hand vntill I haue made thyne enemies thy footstoole And a little after Thou art a Priest for euer after the order of Melchisedeck To sit at Gods right hand and to be a Priest for euer cannot be attributed to a man Nay which more is Dauid who knewe well that there is but one Lord calleth him his Lord. And wee reade that with this selfesame text Christ stopped the mouthes of the Pharisies Now that the fathers of olde tyme vnderstood these things to be spoken of the Messias it appeareth by the translation of Ionathas cited in the booke of Collections for he translateth it The Lord sayd vnto his word and it is alledged to proue that the Messias should sit on the right hand of God Insomuch that the Iewes Commentarie vpon the second Psalm sayth expressely that the Misteries of the Messias are rehearsed in the hundred and tenth Psalme And Esay in his nineth Chapter sayth thus A Babe is borne vnto vs and a Sonne is giuen vnto vs and his kingdome shal be vpon his shoulder Ye see here the birth of a man But he sayth further His name shal be called the wonderfull the Counseller the mightie God the euerlasting Father the Prince of Peace Néedes then must this selfsame man be also God And whereas he is sayd to bee the Prince of Peace Ionathas trāslateth it the Christ or the anoynted of Peace And Rabbi Ioses the Galilaean sayth vpon the Lamentations that the Messias shal be called the father of euerlastingnesse the Prince of peace and so forth and for confirmation thereof he alledgeth this text and so doth also the Commentarie vppon Genesis And the holy Rabbi as they terme him sayth expressely that the Messias in that he should bee both God and Man should bee called Emanuell In that he was God the wonderfull and the Counseller In that he was mightie Gheuer that is to say Strong In that he was Euerlasting the Father of euerlastingnesse In respect that peace should be increased vnder him The Prince of peace In that he should deliuer mens Soules from Hell The deliuerer out of bondage and in that he should saue men Iesus that is to say The Sauiour For whereas Rabbi Selomon to conueye these titles to Ezechias interpreteth them after this maner And God the wonderfull the Counseller the euerlasting father hath called Ezechias the Prince of peace c. Besides that the Hebrewe Grammer and the phrase of that tongue are repugnant to that Construction it is well enough seene that such things cannot be verified of King Ezechias and that it is but a deuice of this late borne Iew against the opinion of al antiquitie to escape from this text which is so expresse Esay in his seuenth Chapter sayth thus Behold a Virgin shall bee with child and bring forth a Sonne Here ye see that Christ shall bee a man And thou shalt call his name Emanuell that is to say God with vs. Then shall he bee both God and Man that is to wit God dwelling among men as a man But vnto this and such like texts they answer vs that the El that is to say GOD is imparted to Princes and Iudges And therefore let vs heare further In that day sayth Esay the Lord of Hostes Iehouah tsebhoath shal be in sted of a crowne of glory and of a Diademe of honor to the residue of his people The Chaldee Paraphrast interpreteth this concerning the Messias And againe In that day shall the people that were harryed away and rent a peeces be brought for a present to the Lord of Hosts The Commentarie vpon Genesis vnderstandeth this also to be spoken of the same person This is another I will wayt for the Lord who hath hidden his face from the house of Iacob and I will attend vpon him The Disciples of Rabbi Hija applye this in the Talmud to the Messias And yet in all these places wheresoeuer is the word Lord the Hebrewe hath the word Iehouah that is to say the Bëeer or he that is which is the vnspeakable or vnutterable name of the Creator and in opinion of the Hebrewes is not to be imparted to any Creature Wherevpon it enseweth that the Messias to whom it is imparted should be the very euerlasting God and that the auncient writers who attributed those sayings to him looked that he should bee such a one In the thrée and twentie and in the thrée and thirtie of Ieremie wee reade thus Behold the daies shall come that vnto Dauid I will raise vp a rightuous braunch and he shall reigne as King These words belong to
Holy Ghoste and reported to them the woords of the Angell Moreouer she told them the names of the women that came to hir labour vnlooked for vppon dew inquisition whereof when all things were found to fall out true they registred his name in the Register of the Priestes in these words IESVS THE SONNE OF THE LIVING GOD AND OF THE VIRGIN MARIE And this Register ê™ Theodosius was saued at the sacking of Hierusalem and afterward kept in the Citie Tiberias where it is preserued in secret and I haue seene it as one of the cheefe among the Iewes and as one from whom in respect of my degree nothing was restreyned And I beleeue therby that it is not ignorance that holdeth me in the Iewish Religion but the honor which I haue among my Countrymen the lyke whereof I could not haue elswhere Now there is greate lykelyhod that this should be true considering that Iesus as we see did preache in the Temple and went sometymes vp into the Pulpit which thing the pryde of the Pharisies would hardly els haue indured And the holy Rabbine also sayeth expresly that the moother of the Messias should be a virgin and that hir name should be Marie and he gathereth it after the arte of the Cabalists out of these wordes in the nineth of Esay Lemarbeh hammisrah And Rabbi Hacanas the Sonne of Nehumia sayeth that this Marie was of Bethleem the Daughter of Iehoiakin Eli of the lyne of Zorobabel of the trybe of Iuda which was the trybe whereof the Messias should come And of a trueth we reade not in the Gospell that Iesus was vpbrayded by his comming of the trybe of Iuda or of the house of Dauid but rather that he was the sonne of a Carpenter for the long continued aduersities of that house of Dauid had brought some of his posteritie to lowe degree And Rabbi Vla sayth that Iesus of Nazareth by name being of the blud royall that is to say the sonne of Dauid was crucified the day afore the Passouer And seeing the Messias was so precisely promised to be of that race let vs not doubt but that the Scribes would willingly haue verified the contrarie if they had could for then had the Goale bene wonne on their side To be short to come backe againe to the virginitie of Mary she was not a woman of such kindred alyance and wealth as might be bold to hope that her single word would bee beléeued without tryall neither were the people to whom she spake besotted with the opinion of the Heathen who forged tales of their Gods to make themselues to be the easelyer beléeued but the thing was so true that the very trueth thereof imboldened her And in very déede that is the very cause why Simon Magus to the intent he might not seeme any whit inferiour to Iesus denyed not the same poynt but rather graunting it to be true was desirous to make his Disciples beleeue that he himself also was the sonne of a Uirgin The Prophet Micheas sayeth And thou Bethleem Ephrata which art but little to bee counted among the families of Iuda out of thee shall come to me the partie that shall reigne ouer Israell and his foorthcommings are from the beginning and from the daies of eternitie Here againe we haue two births of Christ the one in tyme the other euerlastingly afore all tyme. And therevppon rise these farre differing speeches of the people in the Gospell saying one while When Christ commeth wee shall not knowe whence hee commeth and another while Is it not written that Christ shall come of the seede of Dauid and of the towne of Beâ—hleem where he dwelt Now that it was so vnderstoode by the Fathers of old tyme the Chaldee Paraphrase giueth credit where it is translated thus Out of thee shall Christ come which shall hold the souereintie ouer Israell And Ionathas the author of the sayd Paraphrase a principall Disciple of Hillels was yet aliue at the same tyme that Iesus was borne and the holy Rabbine and Rabbi Selomoh consent therevnto And that Iesus was borne in Bethleem euen after such a fashion as was not looked for I see not that any of them denyeth it Moreouer there was to bee seene the Stable wherein Christ was borne heawen out of a Rocke which place Origen reporteth to haue bin singularly reuerenced of the Infidels in his tyme. The Gospell telleth vs that Iesus certeine daies after his birth was caryed to Hierusalem to bee offered to the Lord according to the Lawe and that there a man named Simoen a man that was rightuous and feared God being certified by the holy Ghost that he should not dye vntil he had first seene Christ the Lords Anoynted tooke him in his armes praysed God saying This day haue I seene thy saluation c. Here I charge the Iewes before God to bethinke themselues well of the things which they both write and reade of this Simeon namely how that the Disciples of Hillel should neuer fayle til Christ were come That this Simeon surnamed the Rightuous and Ionathan the sonne of Vziel were two of the chiefe of those Disciples That in this Simeon the spirit of the great Synagog did vtterly fayle and ceasse That God himself did then shewe by all signes that he abhorred that Synagog and the Sanctuarie and that all should goe awry and that all things were full of darknesse there Whereof comes this chaunge which they themselues doe marke so aduisedly but of their contempt of Christ And whereas they say further that the Temple opened of it selfe and that Rabbi Ionathan Ben Zaccai fellow disciple with Simeon being astonished thereat bethought him of this saying of the Prophet Zacharie Open thy doores thou Libanus and let the fire coÌ„sume thy Cedars what is it but the same that Simeon foretold vnto Mary saying Behold this child is sent to bee the ouerthrow and the raising vp of many and to be a signe that shal be spoken against This Child is named Iesus that is to say Sauiour and the Gospell adding the cause thereof sayth For he shall saue his people from their sinnes Who ruled and directed his birth to bee of a Uirgin in Bethleem and vnthought of to make it méete iust with the Prophesies going afore and to make his name now to agree both with the Circumstances going afore and with all the whole course of his life For of so many men that had borne the name of Iesus afore as well in the tyme of the first Temple as of the second in which of them shall wee finde all these things to concurre as they do here Neither is this naming of him so in vayne For like as neither Abraham nor Moyses did bring the Israelites into the land of Canaan but Iesus the sonne of Nun so neither the lawe of Nature nor the lawe of Moyses could bring vs into our true Canaan that is to wit our
caÌ„not be ment of Dauid for he is dead and rotten in his graue yea and he shal be raysed againe within the third day for it is written He will quicken vs after two dayes and in the third day will he rayse vs vp ageine Also he shall go vp into Heauen to sit at the right hand of God for it is written The Lord hath sayd to my Lord sit thou on my right hand And all these Texts are so expounded by Rabbi Moyses Hadarsan by R. Hacadoseh by R. Ionathan the Sonne of Vziell and others and they be all accomplished in Iesus For their owne writer Iosephus sayth In the tyme of Tyberius there was one Iesus a wise man at leastwise if he was to be called a man who was a worker of great miracles and a teacher of such as loue the trueth and had a greate trayne as well of Iewes as of Gentyles Neuerthelesse being accused vnto Pilate by the cheefe of the Iewes he was crucified But yet for all that those which had loued him from the beginning ceassed not to continue still For he shewed himself alyue vnto theÌ„ a three dayes after his death as the Prophetes had foretold of him both this and diuers other things And euen vnto this day doe those continue still which after his name are called Christians Certesse then let vs conclude as this Iewe doth in the selfesame place and in his owne words This Iesus was in very deede the Christ. For as for the goodly tale That Christes Disciples stole him out of his Graue and that for feare they did cast hym downe in a Gardyne where he was found afterward the fondnesse and fabulousenesse thereof appéereth in this that whereas because hee had sayd in his lyfetyme Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will rayse it vp ageine And also There shall none other signe be giuen vnto you but the signe of the Prophet Ionas and so foorth therevpon the Iewes caused Pylate to set a sure gard about the Sepulchre Yet notwithstanding Pylate writing afterward to the Emperour Claudius aduertised him of the resurrection of Iesus so as the greater and surer the gard was that Pylate did set the mo and the stronger were the witnesses to proue the Iewes lyars in that behalf Also the high Priestes béeing so inraged against Iesus as they were would not haue sticked to haue hanged vp the sayd found Carkesse openly in the Marketplace whereby they might haue abolished all the reputation of Iesus out of hand Ageine on the other side the Apostles were men so afrayd of death so weakeharted so féeble in faith and so vtterly without credit that there is not any lykelihod that they durst take the matter in hand Nay which more is what benefite could they haue had by his dead Carkesse what should it haue booted them to haue forgone their Children their Wyues yea and themselues too for such a one Should they not rather haue had cause to haue bene offended at his cowsmage and therevpon bene the readier to haue condemned the remembraunce of him them selues and to haue turned all men away from him Contrariwise they preach nothing but his resurrection for that are they contented to dye for that doe they teache other men to dye alonly by that doe they hope too liue and dye most blessedly and of all the whole noÌ„ber of them there was not so much as one that could be brought to say otherwise nay rather which could bee made to conceale it and not to speake of it though they were let alone yea or for any promise or threatning that the greatest personages in the worlde could make vnto them Surely therefore if euer any deede were true we must needes say that this is it Finally Daniell sayth After that the Anoynted is slaine The Prince of a people to come that is to say the Emperour of Rome shall destroye the Citie and the Sanctuarie and his end shal be in destruction and vnto the end of the warre be desolations ordeyned But he shall stablish his couenant with many in one weeke and in halfe a weeke shall he cause the Sacrificing and Offering to ceasse And to the same effect Iesus himselfe sayth Weepe for your selues and for your Children and let them which are in Iewrie flee into the Mountaines Abhomination shall abide in the holy place and of the Temple one stone shall not be left vpon another And yet neuerthelesse this Gospell sayth he shall be preached ouer all the world for a witnesse to al Nations Who can say that this was not accomplished within a while after the death of Iesus And who seeth not yet still the remnants of this desolation vpon Hierusalem and vppon all that people Yea and moreouer that this their vtter ruine and ouerthrowe is not to bee fathered vpon any other thing than vpon their putting of Iesus to death Iesus was apprehended in Mount Oliuet and from Mount Oliuet was Hierusalem beseeged He was crucified on the day of the Passouer and on that day was the Citie entered into Hee was whipped in the Romaine Emperours Pauilion by Pylat and in the Emperours Pauilion were the Iewes whipped by the Romaines for their pleasure He was deliuered by them into the hands of the Gentyles and they themselues were scattered abroade into the whole world to bée a skorning stocke to all Nations Of these things and many other like doe the Rabbines complaine in their Histories and the more they speake of them the more doe they confesse Gods Iudgement vpon themselues For what els are all these things but the execution of this their owne sentence giuen vpon themselues his blud be vpon vs vpon our Children Insomuch that as Iosephus reporteth when Tytus sawe the sayd extremities he lifted vp his eyes to heauen and sayd Lord thou knowest that my hands are cleere from all this blud that is shed And afterward when vpon the taking of the Citie he had considered the force and strength of the place and the people he sayd In very deede God hath fought on our side in the taking of this Citie for otherwise what power could euer haue woÌ„ne it Also the TeÌ„ple was burnt doune though he did what he could to haue saued it because sayth Iosephus the vneschewable day of the destruction thereof was come Likewise the Citie was rased cast vp vppon heapes and made leuell with the ground as if neuer man had dwelt there and ten hundred thousand men were put to the sword within it which thing wee reade not to haue bene done to any otâ—er Citie taken by the Romaines To bee short the signes that went afore and the voyce that gaue warning from heauen the opening of the Temple of it own accord seemed to be forefeelings of Gods wrath that was to light vpon them Again the Fountayne of Silo which was dryed vp afore swelled vp to giue water to the Romaine Hoste
expounded it and fulfilled it Nay say they Circumcision was expressely commaunded by God vnto Abraham and afterward to Moyses and why thâ—â— hath Iesus abolished it In déede that is the thing which doth alwaies deceiue them namely that they take the signe for the thing signified and the shadowe for the substance and trueth of the promises But wée say that Circumcision was a signe or seale of the Couenant and not the Couenant it selfe and the best of the Iewes denye it not themselues And yet Moyses sayth When the Lord shall haue cast thee out to the vttermost partes of the earth yet will he bring thee home againe into the land which thy fathers possessed and hee will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy Children that thou mayst loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy Soule and that thou mayst liue And in another place he sayth Circumcise the foreskin of your hearts and harden not your neckes any more And wheÌ„ the Prophets rebuke vs they call vs not simply vncircumcised but vncircumcised of heart or of lippes The which ought to aduertise you that the signe is fleshly but the thing signified that is to wit the Couenant is spirituall and that it would behoue you to enter into the Marée of the Lawe and not to byte about the barke of it To bee short the Cabale it selfe giueth vs to vnderstand that Christ shall cure the venome of the Serpent make a new Couenant and take away the necessitie of Circumcision As touching Sacrifices I haue declared alreadie heretofore that they were signes It is sayd that they shall cleanse away the sinnes of the Congregation How may that be if we go no further than to the blud of a Lamb or to the sprinckling of the ashes of a Cowe And therefore Dauid sayth Thou desirest not Sacrifice for sinne and therefore will I not giue thee any And God himself sayth I blame thee not for that thou hast giuen me no burntofferings Also in Esay Who required these things of you As for these Sacrifices these new Moones these Sabbats and these solemne Feastes they lothe me they burden me and I cannot wel away with them Moreouer Micheas sayth If thou gauest thousands of thy Sheepe and Riuers of Oyle yea thyne eldest sonne euen the sonne of thyne own bodie begotten for thy sinne all this is nothing before the Lord. Nay sayth Esay the offering of an Oxe is as the murthering of a man and the offering vp of a Sheepe is as the snetching of a Dog and the burning of Incense is as the blessing of an Idoll All which sayings doe vs to vnderstand that the Sacrifices were not the very things themselues but onely signes of things that is to wit partly of the lustes and affections which wee feele in our hearts and partly of the Saluation which wee looke for by the Messias and that if wee passe no further than the bare Sacrifices thei be vtterly vnprofitable But Dauid saith The Sacrifice of the Lord is a broken and lowly heart And Esay sayth Wash your selues scoure away the naughtinesse of your hearts doe right to the fatherlesse and the widowe Also Micheas sayth Deale vprightly shewe mercie These bée the Sacrifices which God requireth at euery of our hands and which were betokened in the particuler Sacrifices by the Bowels Kidneyes Liuer and such other parts which were wont to be burned vpon the Altar And as touching the generall Sacrifices and such as were more solemne they betokened that vniuersall Sacrifice for the sinne of Mankynd which God had ordeyned euerlastingly that is to wit the death of the Messias For that those Sacrifices should haue an end namely the signe by the presence of the thing signified the figure by the presence of the substance and the shadowe by the presence of the bodie wee perceiue by these wordes of Daniell From the tyme that the continuall Sacrifice is taken away there shall bee a thousand two hundred fowerscore and ten daies And that it should be done by the death of Christ it appeareth by this which he had sayd afore After threescore two weekes Christ shal be killed and in halfe a weeke he shall cause the Sacrifice and Offering to ceasse and for the outreaching of abhominations there shal be desolation vnto the end And whereas Malachie hauing reproued Sacrifices very sharply saith From the Sunnerysing to the Sunnegoingdowne my name shal be great among the Gentyles and Incense and pure Oblations shall be offered euerywhere in my name it cannot bee vnderstood of the Sacrifices ordeyned by the Iewish Law but rather of the abolishing of them and of all other signes by the Messias For if the Gentyles must Sacrifice vnto him according to the law then must they come to Hierusalem to the Temple there And if it be so what Court will bee large enough to hold the Sacrifices What shall al Hierusalem be but a very Slaughterhouse and Butcherie Nay moreouer the Prophet sayth that they shall offer euerywhere which thing bewrayeth an euident chaunge and a pure or cleane Oblation which putteth a difference betwéene their Offerings and the bloodie Sacrifices of the Lawe And after that the Prophet hath sayd My name shall bee great among the Gentyles Hee addeth immediatly But yee haue vnhalowed it Which is as much to say as that the Gentyles shal be these Priests euery man in his owne place and they shall not neede to coâ—â—â— to you Iewes for the matter To bee short as touching the Sacrifices some of the Rabbines say They shall all ceasse sauing the Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiuing And as touching the Sabbath He that bringeth the Commaundement from God say they may also breake it wherevnto our Lord Iesus agréeing sayth The Sonne of Man is Lord of the Sabboth And as touching the difference betwéene Beastes cleane and vncleane All Beastes say they which are counted vncleane in this age shall bee counted cleane by the vertue of God in the age to come that is to wit vnder the Messias as they were to the Children of Noe. And thereof they ad this reason That Gods inioyning thereof for a tyme was but to trye who they were that would obey his word The same doth Rabbi Hadarsan affirme saying There is not a more expresse Lawe than that which concerneth the monethly disease of women and yet shall that ceasse in the reigne of him that is to say of the Messias And it is not for them to alledge here that concerning the Circumcision the Sabboth the feast of Easter and such others it is sayd that thy shal be legnolam that is to say by their interpretation for euer For wee haue learned of them that the word legnolam signifieth not for euer but a long tyme and a tyme of long continuance without intermission or breaking of rather than a continuance of tyme without end And in that sence doe we
of the remembrance of ydols from the earth sayth the Lord of Hostes. All this is nothing els but the clearing of men from their sinnes and the abolishing of Sathans reigne To bee short Malachie telleth vs of Christ That he shall bring vs an Attonement betwéene GOD and vs. And of the Ambassadour whom GOD ment to send afore him to prepare his wayes He sayth that hee shall turne the heartes of the Children to their Fathers and the heartes of the Fathers to their children By the preparation of the Ambassadour we iudge of the Office of his Maister namely that his comming is properly to reigne in our Soules seeing his Ambassadour prepareth them for him exhorting vs to turne away from our sinnes Now of this long but yet néedefull discourse wee gather two things The one against the Gentyles which is that the meane of cleansing mankind hath bin promised and preached euen from the fall of Adam and that the same promise is from time to time brought to our remembrance by our scriptures to wit that it is doone by Christ who was to bée borne of the womans séede by Abraham Iuda Dauid and others The other is against the Iewes of our tyme who looke still for a Christ to come which is that the deliuerāce promised by him is not ment of the tyranny of some earthly Prince ouer vs but of the Tyranny which the diuell exerciseth in our Soules by the vnrighteousnes of sinne the rewarde whereof is euerlasting death The Gentiles of old tyme yéelded vnto these texts when they had once imbraced the spirituall kingdome of Christ and it may be that if we had to doo with the Iewes of elder tyme the matter should soone bee dispatched For all the forealledged Texts haue bene vnderstood of the Messias and of his reigne both by the auncient Rabbines and by the Chaldee Paraphrasts Moreouer it is very manifest that the Cabalists who wrate long tyme afore the Talmudistes and who as they say doo pearce into the very Marowe of the Scriptures wheras the Talmudists doe but grate vppon the barke of them haue vnderstoode that the cleansing away of sinne and the heating of the contagious venome which the Serpent did shed into Adam and by him into the whole ofspring of man was to bee wrought by the Messias Yet for all this notwithstāding al the forecasts of mans wit we want not some euen of the newer sort of Writers which haue vnderstoode it after the maner aforesaid The exposition of Salomons Balett vpon these words A Grape of Copher makes this allusion Eschcol Haccopher That vnto the Church Christ is a man of full attonement who shall be borne of the Children of Abraham and shall make satisfaction for sinnes in such sort as he may say to the measure of Iudgement It is enough that is to say he may stay Gods wrath and punishment and God sayth he will lay him to gage and deliuer him for those that are his And vpon the fourth Chapter where it is written thus A thousand sheelds hang there that is to say in the Tower of Dauid the sayde exposition hath these words Often haue I saith the Lord taken my people in in protection for the dezert of one that was to come after a thousand generatiōs And I haue made them to succeede one after another to bring the Sheeld at the last vnto him which is the onely desyre of my Children and shal defend them better then a thousand Sheelds Also the Rabbines say That the Creatures which are growen out of king by Adams fall shall be set in their perfect state againe by the Sonne of Perets and according to their accustomed fondnesse for proofe thereof they bring in a Text of Ruth and another of Genesis where this worde Toledoth is written very plainly that is to wit with two Vaus And as thouching the sayd Sonne of Perets euery man knowes among them that it is the Messias whom they looked for to come of Iuda by his sonne Perets Concerning the calling of the Gentiles the Talmud maketh this comparison That the Horse shal be set in the stall of the halting Oxe Which wordes Rabbi Iacob and Rabbi Selomoh expound thus namely that forasmuch as the Iewes shall haue forsaken the Lawe God will put the Gentyles in their place and yet not driue them away afterward though the Iewes turne again vnto him which is a thing very farre of from the Monarchie which they imagin as oft as there is any speaking of the calling of the Gentiles To bee short the notablest of their Rabbines are ashamed of the feastings extraordinarie pastimes which the Iewes behight themselues at the comming of the Messias and conclude with Rabbi Moyses ben Maimon of whom they report that since Moyses hymselfe vntill this Moyses there was none so like vnto Moyses that the felicities and pleasures of that tyme ought to bee vnderstood according to this saying of Esayes That the earth shal be as it were ouerflowed with the knowledge of the Lord and that euery man shal be occupyed in seeking and in knowing GOD. But Rabbi Hechadoseh sayth yet more plainly That the Messias shall by his death saue Adams race and deliuer mens Soules from Hell and therefore shall bee called Sauiour Let vs yet further by reason ouercome the wilfull sort if it bée possible They hold it for an Article of their faith both by Scripture and by tradition that there shal be a Messias He that denyes that say they denyes the Lawe the Prophetes and is condemned to Helfyre And therefore say they he that denyeth the comming of the Messias cannot be saued If he which is to reigne in Israell and to giue them prosperitie bee a temporall King what skilles it me greatly whether I knowe him and beleeue in him or no or what ioy can it bee to me sith I cannot see him Nay rather what a griefe is it to mee that I shal not see him and what a peine is it to pyne away in wayting for him Ageine what goodnesse is it in GOD to haue foretold vs it if by beléeuing it we fare neuer the better yet must dye euerlastingly for not beléeuing it In the Articles of their faith they beléeue in the only one God There is greate reward in beléeuing well They beleeue a blessed lyfe As it is the Soule that beleeueth so doth the reward redound vnto her And euen so is it with all other things which are no Articles of fayth furtherfoorth than a man hath benefite by beleeuing them But as for this Article of the Messias what booted it Abraham Moyses so many Kings so many Prophetes such a nomber of people if there were no further secret in it Why was it foretold so carefully by the Prophetes Why was it so oft repeated no lesse in the prosperitie than in the aduersitie of that people and no lesse vnder the good Kings than vnder the Tyrants Nay which