blow Trumpets But for what cause this feast was instituted whether in memory of that Trumpet which sounded upon mount Sinai when the Law was given or of the deliverance of Isaac when Abraham would have offered him up upon the mount Moriah and he was exchanged for a Ram caught by his hornes in a thicket the memory whereof was renewed by blowing up those Trumpets of Rams horns or rather in memory of those great and memorable Victories which the people of Israel valiantly atchieved before they were setled peaceably in the land of promise it is more then we can now determine It was a solemn feast and honorable mention is made of it in the book of Psalms Blow up the Trumpet in the new moon in the time appointed Psal 81.3 on our solemne feast day The day of attonement The day of Attonement was upon the tenth day of the same moneth so called because by such solemn ceremonies and sacrifices as are set forth Levit. cap. 16. 23 the Priest did make an attonement for the people did expiate their sins and reconcile them to God It was kept in memory of that reconciliation which was made betwixt God and the people after they had sinned against him in the matter of the golden Calfe Jer. 36.6 It was dies jejunii the fasting day For upon that day they were commanded to fast and to afflict their soules And Josephus saith that all the people did fast upon that day and that whosoever did not upon that day fast and afflict his soul he was to be put to death And that if any man should work upon that day he was to be put to death Such and so severe was the Law on that behalf For whatsoever soul it be said the Law that shall not be afflicted in that same day Levit. 23 29 30. he shall be cut off from among his people And whatsoever soule it be that doth any work in that same day the same soul will I destroy from among his people Upon the fifteenth day of the same moneth also began the feast of Tabernacles The feast of Tabernacles which was to put them in remembrance that they dwelt in Tents and Tabernacles in the wilderness by the space of forty years At which Feast all the tribes were to go up to that place where he should fix his worship and upon the first day of this feast they did rest from labour and did take the boughes of goodly trees the branches of Palm trees and the boughes of thick trees and Willows of the brook and they did go forth and dwell in Tabernacles seaven dayes with great joy and rejoycing They say that at this feast they did sing the eighty fourth Psalme How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of hosts c. Concerning which feast they that will know more let them read Levit. cap. 23. Num. cap. 29. Nehem. cap. 8. and likewise Josephus in the third book of his Antiquities cap. 10. On the day following which was the eighth day and the two and twentieth day of the moneth there was another feast or solemn assembly an holy convocation on which they might do no work and then the tribes being at Jerusalem they brought in the revenue for repair of the Temple to defrey the charge of the sacrifices and for the maintenance of the Priests and Levites The Sabbatary seventh year The sabbath of the seventh year or sabbath of the seventh year was a Sabbath for the whole year And that year they dismissed all their bondmen and bondwomen which were Hebrews and the earth it selfe had rest for that year For they might neither ear nor sow nor reap nor mow nor carry any thing into their barns for that whole year And the fruits which the earth it self brought of its own accord Exod. 23. Levit. 25. Deut. 15. were common to all those that would make use thereof as well to those of the country as to strangers without forbidding or reservation The Jubile of the fiftieth year The Jubile of the fiftieth year was proclaimed by blowing up of Trumpets of Rams hornes and then the earth must rest for the space of a whole year even from the tenth day of September upon which day the Trumpet was to proclaim the Jubilee till the tenth day of September in the next year During all which time they might neither ear nor sow nor reap nor mow nor gather that which grew of it self It was a year of liberty for in that year all servants went forth perpetually free and every one that had sold his possession did in that year return unto it again Levit. 25. It was called Jubile from the Trumpets of Rams hornes wherewith it was proclaimed which the Hebrews call Jobelins But of all these things the Mysterie The Mysterie was most excellent for the quotidian profeast and daily sacrifice did as is said before in the Mysterie set forth S. Joh. 1.29 Christ that lambe of God which taketh away the sin of the world For he is the perpetuall sacrifice he was the sacrifice before the Law offered up in the mysterie by Abel Seth Noah Sem Abraham Isaac Jacob and by all the Fathers who by their sacrifices testified that they expected no other sacrifice but that promised seed who should be sacrificed for the sinnes of the whole world He was the sacrifice under the Law he is an eternall sacrifice Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 The new moons or monthly Sabbaths did set forth Christ the light of the World who being sent into the World hath enlightned it by his preaching by his miracles and by his most holy and most blessed spirit I am saith he the light of the world he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life Before he came in the flesh the faithfull S. Joh. 8.12 by the spirituall eyes of faith did look on him as on the light to come for so the Prophet Isaiah did look upon him and did fore-know and fore-tell of him by the spirit of prophesie The people said he that walked in darkness have seen a great light they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined Jsai 9.2 Luc. 2.29.30 31 32. And when he was come then did they welcome that light Lord said old Simeon in his song now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word For mine eyes have seene thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel The sabbath of the seaventh day did signifie Jesus Christ who is the true rest in whom and upon whom all the faithfull do rest for he is that true sabbath who giveth true spirituall rest unto the world and without whom there is no true rest to be had Therefore when Christ the sabbath signified
That Christ therefore should have his name imposed in his circumcision it did not pertain to his legall obedience properly but because it became him to fulfill all righteousness therefore it became him in his own person to give approbation to such an ancient just and laudable custome His name was sent from heaven to the blessed Virgin his mother to Joseph his supposed father both of them commanded so to name him neither of them must fear to impose that name for in imposing of it they did both of them do the will of God Feare not Mary for thou hast found favour with God S Luc. 1.30 And behold thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a sonne and shalt call his name Jesus saith the Angell to her 31. Joseph thou sonne of David feare not to take unto thee Mary thy wife for that which is conceived in her is of the holy Ghost And she shall bring forth a sonne S. Mat. 1.20.21 and thou shalt call his name Jesus saith the Angel to him It was Joseph and Mary who according to the good pleasure of the will of God Concerning the blessed name of Jesus signified unto them by his Angell imposed upon him the blessed name of Jesus in his circumcision A new name and that new name foretold by the Prophet Isaiah saying The Gentiles shall see thy righteousness and all kings thy glory and thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name Isai 62.2 For although the name of Jesus be the same with Jehosuah and signifieth a Saviour for so the Angell himself expoundeth it S. Mat. 1.21 Thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sinnes And although it cannot be denyed but that divers persons in the old Testament had that name also imposed on them in circumcision Hag. 2.2 or otherwise as Joshuah or Jesus the son of Josedec the high Priest And Joshuah or Jesus the son of Nun Moses's minister and successor yet was the name a new name Jos 1.1 1. In respect of him that was so named for never such a person was named by that name before they were men he was God and man the word made flesh novum in terris a new â—hing in the earth Emmanuel God with us by assuming the whole human nature into the unity of his own most sacred person 2ly A new name a name newly and most highly honoured the name of him whom God hath highly exalted a name above every name That at the name of Iesus every knee should bow Phil. 2.10 of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth thereby worshipping and acknowledging him that was named by that name not only to be called but to be indeed the sonne of God None of all those that were named with that name had it in that new manner and to that new end not Jesus the son of Josedec or Jesus the son of Nun howbeit most excellent persons and types of Christ 3ly A new name wherein is newly shewed to the believers that which never was shewed before even the great mysterie of godliness in him that is named with that name God manifested in the flesh justified by the spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into glory 1 Tim. 3.16 And when the eight dayes were accomplished for the circumcising of the childe his name was called Jesus which was so named of the Angell S. Luc. 1.21 before he was conceived in the wombe Our blessed Lord being named in his circumcision and circumcised as hath been said the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the taxing description or inrolement being not then ended was himself taxed Christ taxed or inrolled described or enrolled had his name recorded in the censuall Tables For although there be no mention made of it in the Evangelicall History yet because it is sufficiently testified by the ancient Fathers and Ecclesiasticall Writers it must not be denyed Wherein the providence of God ought highly to be admired who by this means brought to pass that they who little regarded the authority of the Scriptures might receive satisfaction from the publique records of the Empire while they should find in records safely deposited into the Capitol that Sentius Saturninus being then Governour of Syria ordinarily sent for the government of that Province and for the administration of justice there Publius Sulpitius Quirinius called by the Evangelist Cyrenius was extraordinarily sent and by speciall commission to describe and inrolle the same Province whereunto Judea pertained as a part or member At that time were described at Bethlehem Joseph the son of Iacob Carpenter and Mary his wife the daughter of Eliachim and Hanna of Nazareth both of them of the house and family of David with Jesus their son born at Bethlehem upon the five and twentieth day of the month of December in the two and fortieth year of the raign of the Emperour Augustus And how apposite such a record was to stop the mouthes of those impious Heretiques who denyed the verity and truth of his Incarnation Tertullian who had to do with Marcion the Heretique and the Marcionites who denyed it very well knew lib. 4. cont Marcion cap. 9. But when the daies of her purification according to the law of Moses who ordained Christ presented in the Temple that the woman who had conceived seed and born a man childe should be unclean seven daies according to the daies of the separation for her infirmity her menstruous infirmity Levit. 15.19 And that she should continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty daies more during all which time she should touch no hallowed thing nor come into the Sanctuary were accomplished Levit. 12.2 4 the blessed Virgin whom this law nothing at all concerned as neither having conceived human seed nor violenced her virginity by such a birth yet to the end that all righteousnesse might be fulfilled and that she might give example unto others of obedience and humility she with Joseph her husband brought the child Jesus to Hierusalem to present him to the Lord to whom the first-born did belong by speciall reservation Exod. 13.2 Levit. 12.6 to offer that sacrifice which was appointed by the law to be offered by women after child-birth This presentation of his in the temple did belong specially to that obedience whereby he became obedient to the law actively to fulfill all the righteousnesse of the same At what time old Simeon to whom it was revealed by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ came by divine instinct into the temple took him up in his armes blessed God and then desired to be dissolved because his â—yes according to the divine revelation which he had received of the Holy Ghost had seen Christ the salvation of God a light to lighten the
nec antiquum fuisse nec multum temporis perdurâsse not to have been of antiquity nor to have lasted long Episcop Norwic. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 1. par post f. 112. The miracle vvas ceased before Tertullians time and as it should seem so soon as they had filled up the measure of their iniquities in the death of the just one adver Iud. cap. 13. It vvas not only a miracle but a great mystery and so do the learned fathers understand it though they diversly apply it Most of them to the sacrament of Baptisme vvherein a man is made vvhole of all spirituall diseases by the holy Ghost Among that multitude of impotent folk lay a certain man vvhich had an infirmity conjectured to be the palsie a disease vvherein either all the body The impotent man cured who had been diseased 38 years or some one or more of the members be mortified and deprived of feeling and moving as the hands the eyes c. thirty and eight years His disease had made him impotent his poverty had made him unable to hire any one to attend upon him and to put him into the water when it should be moved and the long continuance of his impotency had made him miserable A fit object was he for Christ his mercy Therefore said he unto him Wilt thou be made whole not beâ—â—use he did doubt of it for what impotent man vvould not be made vvhole But he vvould have him to behold the true physician whose comming was to cure those that are willing The man telleth him the cause why he had not been cured He was poor and had no man when the water was troubled to put him into the pool he was also more impotent then others so that alwaies while he was comming who could make no haste by reason of his impotency some one or other stepped down before him Christ therefore cureth him by his word commandeth him to arise to take up his bed and walk which he did immediately For so is the history delivered by Saint John S. Joh. 5.1 And there was a feast of the Iewes 2 and Iesus went up to Hierusalem Now there is at Hierusalem by the sheep market a pool which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda 3 having five porches In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk of blinde halt withered waiting for the moving of the water 4 For an angell went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in 5 was made whole of whatsoever disease he had And a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight years When Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that case he saith unto him wilt thou be made whole 6 The impotent man answered him Sir I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the poole but while I am comming 7 8 9. another steppeth down before me Jesus saith unto him Rise take up thy bed and walke And immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked and the same day was the sabbath By occasion of the Sabbath day and it seems that it was that Sabbath which St. Iohn calleth an high day S. Joh. 19.31 namely the first or great day of the feast in which they did eat the passeover and had eaten it the evening before the Iewes take upon them to quarrell the poor man that was made whole objecting to him the breach of the law It is the sabbath day The poorman quaâ—elled by the Jewes v. 10. it is not lawfull for thee to carrie thy bed It was indeed unto the Jewes a breach of the law and a great offence to bear any burthen upon the sabbath day for thus saith the Prophet Jeremiah Thus saith the Lord take heed to your selves and bear no burden on the sabbath day nor bring it in by the gates of Hierusalem Jer. 17.21 Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day neither do ye any worke but hallow ye the sabbath day as I commanded your fathers 22 The charge therefore against him was great that he violated the sabbath nay the greatest of all the sabbaths the great day of the feast the high day Neither doth he deny the violation of the sabbath to be a great offence nor doth he seek to extenuate his fault but justifieth the bearing of that burden by the authority of him that had commanded him so to do and that was he by whom he was made whole He that made me whole the same said unto me Take up thy bed and walke Hereat the Jewes enraged 11. demand not the cure nor who it vvas that had healed him nor hovv or in what manner he had done it but vvho it vvas that had given him commission to carry a burthen upon the sabbath day What man is that which said unto thee Take up thy bed and walke 12 They enquire vvhat man it vvas to the end that they might persequute him But he that vvas healed could give no satisfactory ansvver for he knevv not vvho it vvas And Jesus had conveyed himselfe away a multitude being in that place 13 Then having first disposed his burthen he comes to the Temple to vvorship and to praise God Iesus findeth him there putteth him in mind of the benefit vvhich he had received to the end that he should be thankfull acknovvledge him the author and look more carefully to his vvaies hereafter Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee The man departed at that saying 14 vvent boldly to the Jewes and to the end that he might give God the glory and testifie of Christ told them that it vvas Jesus vvhich had made him vvhole And therefore did the Iewes persecute Jesus and sought to slay him 15. because he had done these things on the sabbath day Because he had healed the man and had also commanded him to carry his bed Christ avoucheth his authority But vvhen he told them by vvhat authority namely that God vvas his Father and that he vvas equall vvith him then vvere they the more enrag'd and sought the more to kill him Yet he maintains his vvord affirming the Fathers operation his to be all one in every thing and that he vvould do greater things then those miraculous cures for he would quicken the dead in soule by sin as being appointed judge of all and quicken the dead in body also judging all with righteous judgement And to the end that they might perceive that he is God and the son of God he produceth the testimony of St. Iohn the Baptist his own miraculous works the witness of his Father from heaven at his Baptisme and the scriptures themselves which testifie of him And these are the things which we read to have
sign of distinction as being that outward character or marke whereby the Church of God was visibly to be knowne and distinguished upon which the Jewes were so elated that the uncircumcised they utterly disdained reputing them as Dogs Swine or other uncleane beasts Thy servant slew both the Lyon and the Bear 1 Sam. 17.36 and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them And in this manner the Covenant went forth and was administred from the ninety ninth year of Abrahams age untill Moses time and to the departure of the people of Israel out of Egypt for the space of about four hundred and two years more till the people were departed and the Law was given And here the peruser of this our sacred History hath to observe that there was a time when circumcision was not Periods of times to be observed and therefore could not be used so was it from Adam to Abraham and to the ninety ninth yeare of Abrahams age There was a time when circumcision was and therefore must be used So was it from the ninety ninth yeare of Abraham till the Resurrection of Christ during all which time it was sub praecepto under the law and commandment of God it was a necessary Sacrament or seale of Gods Covenant and was therefore necessaria utilis necessary and profitable Necessarie to be done for the Law sake whereby it was ordained and profitable by divine Institution to them that were circumcised There was a time when it might indifferently be used or not used which was from the Resurrection of Christ to the destruction of the Temple which was the Ward-robe of Ceremonies In which period it was lawfull but it was not profitable and was permitted as Luther saith not as a necessary Sacrament or seal of the Covenant Luther com in Galat. cap. 2. v. 3. but for reverence of the Fathers and for charitie sake lest the weak should take offence untill they should be confirmed in the faith There was a time and now is wherein circumcision is altogether unlawfull and this time is from the destruction of the Temple by Titus and the Romans unto the end of the world So then there are foure periods The first from Adam to Abraham wherein circumcision was not borne The second from the ninety ninth year of Abraham till the Resurrection of Christ wherein it lived but yet had its infancy its manly age and its old age It s infancy from Abraham till the departure of the people out of Egypt and till the Law given It s manly age from the Law given to the birth of Christ It s old age from Christ his birth to his Resurrection during which time it is not improper to say that it lay sick upon its death bed and when Christ rose from the dead then circumcision expired The third Period from the Resurrection of Christ till the destruction of the Temple during all which time though it were dead yet it was not buried but lay as it were upon its Herse in expectation of an honourable buriall The fourth and last Period from the destruction of the Temple which was the funerall burning of circumcision to the end of the world wherein it is not onely dead but buried too and if any man shall now rake it out of its grave Christ shall profit him nothing Behold I Paul say unto you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Gal. 5.2 In or about the yeare of the world two thousand four hundred forty and seaven Concerning the paschall Lambe Gen. 15.13 14. when the time came that God would bring forth the people of Israel out of Egypt according to his word and promise made to Abraham Gen. 15. He setteth another seal to his Covenant by instituting another Sacrament the Sacrament of the passover or paschall Lamb it was the Sacrament of their continuation in the covenant which he commanded to be observed It was a sacred action of divine Institution in the killing and eating of a Lambe to perpetuate the memoriall of Israels deliverance out of the land of Egypt and from the servitude and bondage of the Egyptians to testifie unto them the grace and favour of God to be a type of Christ to conserve them in the unity of the Church and to teach them true gratitude in the thankfull acknowledgement of so great a benefit To him that made the world it belongeth to make the Sacrament therefore this Sacrament was of divine institution for Moses delivered to the people that which he received from God The Time 1. He changeth the beginning of the year For whereas the Jewes ever before began the year at the aequinoctiall in the moneth of September God commanded Moses that it should begin from that moneth wherein the people departed out of Egypt that was the moneth Nisan which correspondeth with the moneth of March wherein is the Vernall aequinoctiall At this aequinoctiall this great Sacrament was to be celebrated for upon the tenth day of that moneth they made choice of the Lambe upon the fourteenth day at evening that is to say before the Sun went downe they killed it and in the evening following which was the evening of the fifteenth day for the Jewes began their day at evening when the Sunne went downe they did eat it according to the Law Where I would request the Reader of this our History to take notice that it came to pass in process of time that the Jewes by the tradition or law of their Sanhedrin Carol. Sigon de Rep. Heb. lib. 3. cap. 9. did forbeare to eat the Passover upon the second the fourth or sixth dayes of the weeke that is upon our Monday Wednesday and Friday so that if the fifteenth day of the moneth fell upon either of those dayes the Passover was deferred to the next day It is said to fall out so the yeare that Christ suffered and this was the reason why the Passover was killed for him upon the Thursday and eaten at even that is to say upon the Friday which began at Sunset which day to the Jewes following their tradition was the parasceue or day of preparation on which they killed the Passover to eat it after Sun-set which was the evening of the Saturday or Iewish Sabbath But our Lord who was made under the Law would not eat it but according to the Law 2ly The place The place of the Passover was certaine and appointed for although at first they did eat it in the land of Egypt according to their families in severall houses Yet when they arrived in the land of promise it was utterly forbidden to be celebrated in any other place but onely in that which the Lord should choose to put his name there Deut 16.6 that was first in Shilo afterwards at Ierusalem whither the tribes went up at that solemne feast and being dispersed all the City over did by severall companies in severall houses eat the Passover
up there the pot of Manna with Aaron's rod What else meant those two Cherubims which were placed face to face and did face one another yet so as both of them did look down upon the propitiatory or mercy seat But the old Testament and the new having mutuall respect to Christ answering to and interpreting one another It was an Emblem of Regality for there might you see the crowne of gold and the flourishing rod or scepter ensignes of regality Without the Vail which was betwixt the Holy place and the Holiest of all in the holy place stood the golden table The golden table an ample description whereof is made Exod. 25. To this table belonged dishes and spoons and covers and bowles to cover or powre out withall And upon this table were set forth the cakes of shew-bread in number twelve made of fine flower and set in two rowes having franckincense put upon each row This was the bread of memoriall and must be renewed every Sabbath day that it might be before the Lord continually See Levit. 24. The table was Christ in a mystery there might they see his divinity his humanity the hypostaticall union by the gold the wood and the crowne environing From him as from a table do all his people receive the spirituall nutriment His Ministers supply the office of dishes spoones covers and bowles to cover and poure out withall for by them and by their ministry is the heaven y nutriment given and dispensed unto men These must be all of pure gold sacred by their functions and holy in their lives and conversations The twelve cakes did signifie the Church the two rowes the Church of the nevv Testament consisting both of Jewes and Gentiles The name or title of shew-bread did intimate the visibility of his Church the franckincense that was upon those rowes of the shew-bread the prayers supplications and praises of his Church And as that bread was renewed and was continually before the Lord for a memoriall Even so that he will for ever accept the prayers supplications and praises that are made unto him in his Church have it alwaies in remembrance and preserve it unto the worlds end And what is this but that which Christ saith unto his Apostle Saint Peter S. Mat. 16.18 Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it Upon this table have I placed my shew-bread my Church I have placed it in two rowes of Jewes and Gentiles I have placed it for a memoriall and to be continually before me that I may have it alwaies in despight of all opposition even unto the end of the world The golden candlestick The golden Candlestick S. Joh. 1 9. S. Joh. 8.12 hath likewise its description Exod. 25. It had his shaft his branches his bowles his knops and his flowers all of pure beaten gold It was Christ that true light which lighteth every man that commeth into the world I am saith he the light of the world he that followeth me shall not walk in darknesse but shall have the light of life His branches his bowles and his knops are his Apostles his Bishops and Priests and his flowers are all good christians that believe in him The candlestick is made for the light of the house Christ came into the world for the light of his Church The branches the bowles the flowers belong unto the candlestick The Apostles the Bishops the Priests and all good christians belong unto Christ The light which is held forth by the branches is the light of the candlestick the doctrine of the Gospell by which the world is enlightned is the word of Christ All the branches bowles knops and flowers must be of pure gold All his Apostles Bishops Priests and all good christians must be of like holinesse with him Because it is written 1 Pet. 1.16 Be ye holy for I am holy The lamps snuffers and snuffe-dishes must be of pure gold and all they who have any place or degree in his Church must be of like purity The Altar of incense The Altar of incense was made of Shittim-wood foure square a cubit long and a cubit broad two cubits high it had foure hornes it was covered over with gold and had a crowne of gold round about It was placed in the Holy place before the vail which divided the Holy place from the Holy of Holies Once every year upon the day of Expiation according to our accompt count the tenth day of September the high Priest entred into the Sanctum Sanctorum and then he made an attonement upon the horns of the Altar with the blood of the sinne offering of attonements that is he put the blood of the Goat and of the Calfe offered for the sins of the people upon the hornes of that Altar by which religious Ceremony the attonement was made and a reconciliation of God with the people Upon this Altar was offered the sacred incense The sacred incense which was a most sweet perfume composed and confected of four most sweet and odoriferous simples Stacte Myrh dryed and beaten to ashes Onycha the shell of a little fish wonderfully sweet much like the nail of a mans hand whence it is so called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a nail if not rather as Papias thinketh a kind of spice bearing that name Galbanum it was the juyce or gum of a certain sweet smelling herb white as milk whence it hath the name for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth milk And pure Frankincense that is to say franckincense not mixed with rosen A like quantity of all these Simples were confected into a sweet perfume for the service of God and this was called incense pure and holy Now the Altar was Christ Exod. 30.35 for it figured and set forth Christ to come the Incense were the prayers of the Church The Mysterie and of all her members And the Priest who offered incense did in the type bear the person of Christ untill his coming in the flesh The gold as was said before concerning the Ark and the golden Table did signifie the Divinity the Wood the Humanity and the Crownen vironing the Hypostatical union that the wood of Shittim not corruptible as other wood was covered with gold it did signifie Christ his body which God would not to see corruption clothed upon with eternall glory Like as the sacred incense composed of four most sweet and odoriferous simples was offered by the Priest both morning and evening upon that golden Altar so that the prayers and supplications of the faithful composed and confected of faith hope charity and the sweet ejaculations of Gods most holy and most blessed Spirit are by Christ the true and eternall Priest offered unto God upon the golden Altar which is himself as a sweet perfume with the good savour whereof he is well pleased at morning and at evening à principio ad finem from the beginning of the world
Time that it belongs to God Their feasts or holy daies major holy daies they called Sabbaths that is to say daies of rest and every sabbath they kept by the space of a whole day to wit from sun-set to sun-set again the full space of twenty foure houres for so measured they their day and that is Gods measure of a day Gen. 1.5 Of these sabbaths some were of divine institution and some by positive human law those of divine institution were 1. the Sabbath of the seventh day 2. the feast of Easter 3. the feast of Penticost 4. the feast of Trumpets 5. the day of Attonement 6. the feast of Tabernacles 7. the sabbatary seventh year 8. the Jubile of the fiftieth year Observation Concerning all which sabbaths our Sacred History must observe that although the observation of them were morall yet the daies themselves were not morall by nature for had they so been the observation of them could never have ceased in the Church no more then of those spirituall and evangelicall duties which were prefigured in them and commended and commanded by them but they were made morall by divine positive law Those that were by positive human law were 1st The sabbaths of dedication for there were foure dedications which were kept at foure severall times of the year The first was the dedication of Solomon's temple in the month of September The second was the dedication of the temple of Zorobabel in the month of February The third was the dedication of the Altar by Judas Machabaeus in the month of November The fourth was the dedication of the temple re-edified by King Herod not without great solemnity as Josephus saith 2ly They had the feast of the lamentation of the daughter of Jeptha mentioned Judg. cap. 11. 3ly They had the feast called Naphthar or cleansing Josephus calleth it the feast of lights instituted by Nehemiah in memoriall of the holy fire found in the pit with which he purified the sacrifices and was celebrated upon the twentieth day of November 2 Mac. 1. 4ly They had the feast purim or lots instituted by Mordochaeus in memory of their deliverance from the bloody intentions of Haman which was kept yearly with great solemnity upon the fourteenth and fifteenth daies of the month of February Hest cap. 9. which fourteenth day of February is remembred to have been a double holy-day for then also they did commemorate a great victory obtained against Nicanor one of the Captains of Demetrius King of Syria But our sacred history must supersede all these festivalls as being of human institution Yet from the history it selfe Observation the reader hath to observe that the clause of the commandment Six daies shalt thou labour c. was no warrant to the Jewes to rest from labour onely upon the Sabbath of the seventh day for besides that day our history hath observed how many sabbaths God himselfe ordained and how many were ordained by their governours upon many of which they were not onely commanded to rest from labour but if any man had presumed to work it was ordained that he should be put to death How then shall that clause now warrant the observation of the Sunday or Lords day onely if other daies and times be set apart by lawfull authority Truly it will be somewhat too peremptory to tie up the Almighty God to the bare allowance of a seventh day for his publick external worship seeing that the morall equity of the commandement is that not a seventh day onely but that a sufficient quantity of time should be set apart and dedicated to his service The Sabbath of the seventh day The sabbath of the seventh day was commanded to the people and nation of the Jews to be kept holy in memory of the creation that day did forbid all manner of labour so that it was not lawfull so much as to kindle a fire upon that day Notwithstanding as was said before it had not its morality by nature Gen. 2.3 Exod. 35.3 for then it had been for ever indispensable but it was made morall by a divine positive law and was temporary and was commended only to the circumcision the Jewes and Proselytes untill the time of reformation And therefore upon urgent necessity might be omitted and the Jewes themselves might labour and war and fight in battle and carry burthens and perform laborious works upon the sabbath day Josh 6. Joshua besieged Hiericho and compassed it seven times upon the sabbath day They took the city on that day and slew all that were therein man woman young old oxe sheep and asse with the edge of the sword and burnt the city with fire on the sabbath day The Israelites fought with the Syrians on that day 1 King 20. and slew of them an hundred thousand footmen S. Joh. 5.10 And Christ himselfe commanded a certain man whom he had cured to carry his bed on the sabbath day which else by the law ought not to be don neither might he have commanded him so to do if the Sabbath had been morall by nature and indispensable The feast of Easter The feast of Easter called also the feast of unleavened bread was kept every year from the fourteenth day of the month of March at even till the one and twentieth day of the same moneth at even During all which time they were to eat no leavened bread neither were they to have any leaven found in their houses and if any man were found to eat leaven within that space he was to be put to death This feast was kept in memory of the deliverance of the people of Israel out of Egypt And at this feast Exod. 12.15 all the tribes were to appear in the place which the Lord should choose to put his name there that was first in Shiloh where the Tabernacle of Moses was afterwards in Jerusalem where Solomon built his most sumptuous and most magnificent Temple The feast of Pentecost The feast of Pentecost otherwise called the feast of Weeks or of the first fruits was celebrated on the sixth day of May in memory of the law given upon mount Sinai Upon the second day after the eating of the passeover which was the second day of sweet bread which was before harvest began and upon the sixteenth day of March the Law commanded that they should offer a Sheaf of new corne before the Lord Levit. 23.10 it was to crave his blessing upon their harvest But fifty dayes after which was seaven whole weeks and upon the fiftieth day at what time they had gathered in their harvest they were all to appear before the Lord againe and to offer new bread before him in thankfull acknowledgement of the harvest which they had received by his gift The feast of Trumpets The feast of Trumpets was solemnized upon the first day of the seaventh moneth that is to say upon the first day of September upon which day they were to
Machabeus having received the City cleansed and dedicated the Temple a nevv vvhich the Gentiles had prophaned taking avvay the abomination and reducing every thing to its former state as is to be seen at large 1 Mac. 4. In vvhich state it continued till king Herod most sumptuously repaired and enlarged it to the admiration of all men vvithin the space of one year and six months Joseph lib. 15. cap. 14. And so it stood in its glory to the passion of Christ S. Mat. 27.51 at what time the vaile of the Temple rent in twain from the top to the bottom Afterwards Caligula the Emperour affecting Deity reduced the Synagogue of the Jews to his own worship adorning them with his own statues and the Temple it self which to that day had been kept inviolate he dedicated to his own name Whereby it appeared saith mine Author that the speech which the Jews unadvisedly had spoken before Pilate when they said they would have no other king but Caesar to have deservedly fallen upon their own heads After this the Iews rebelling against Caesar their King Titus Caesar in the raign of Vespasian took the City and whether willingly or unwillingly that is not here to be disputed burnt the Temple upon the same day that it had been burnt by the Babylonians before And that which made the judgement the more remarkable was that after the Souldiers had kindled the fire no humane industry was able to extinguish it Even so doth God by man bring things to pass which no human power can prevent But it was Adrian the Emperour who caused the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet Dan. 9.27 to stand in the holy place For he set up his own Statue and an image of Iupiter in the place of the Temple and when the Iewes rebelled he subdued them laid the City levell to the ground burnt that which remained of the Temple and because he would utterly take away the Iewes Religion he overwhelmed it with earth and dedicated a Temple to Venus in place of it Like as the Temple had the same utensils which the Tabernacle had so had it also the same mysterie The Mysterie Foras much as the Tabernacle was no other but a portable Temple neither was the Temple any other thing but a fixed and immoveable Tabernacle Yet because the Temple did in many things excell the Tabernacle therefore the mysterie must not go unobserved The Temple did succeed the Tabernacle which was to give them to understand that the Evangelical Church figured by the Temple should succeed the legall Tabernacle or Iewish Synagogue The Tabernacle was built by Moses and was so made that it might be dis-joynted and taken down but the Temple was built by Solomon and was made to stand and remain signifying that the Iewish Synagogue and legall worship given by Moses should be dissolved but the Christian Church and Evangelicall worship founded and built by Christ should stand and remain unto the end of the world The Tabernacle had no foundation but the Temple was surely founded upon a strong Rock signifying the weakness of the legall if compared with the Evangelicall worship founded upon Christ the Rock The Temple was more great and glorious then the Tabernacle and all the utensils that Solomon made did excell those that Moses made for the use of the Tabernacle teaching them to know that the Evangelicall Church should be more great and that farre more glorious things should be spoken of it in the time of the new Testament then could be spoken of the Iewish Synagogue or legall worship in the time of the old Testament That it should be both of Iewes and Gentiles That it should be extended all the world over that it should be adorned with gifts more rare and admirable in the persons of the Apostles and Prophets and Evangelists and Teachers that it should be enlightned with a more plentifull measure of Gods most holy and most blessed spirit That it should be directed by the Evangelicall word That it should be confirmed by miracles greater and more abundant That it should have Sacraments more venerable a worship more plain and easie a more glorious and victorious army of Martyrs and Confessors That Kings and Princes and Magistrates and all worldly Rulers should cast down their Crowns and Scepters and all engines of honour and greatness descend from their Thrones do homage unto Christ bend and bow their knees at or in the blessed name of Jesus weare the venerable sign of his Cross in their foreheads fight under his Banner and account it their chiefest happiness to be Christs his servants And therefore it was not without mystery that when Solomon dedicated the Temple he also the same day hallowed the midle Court that was before the house of the Lord and there he offered burnt-offerings and meat-offerings and the fat of the peace-offerings two and twenty thousand Oxen and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep because the brazen Altar that vvas before the Lord 1 Kin. 8.63.64 2 Chro. 7.7 vvas too little to receive the burnt-offerings and meat-offerings and the fat of the peace-offerings The Holy Ghost thereby signifying the fulness of the Gentiles to be brought unto the father by Christ his son who should present their bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God For which cause when Christ suffered his passion and dyed the vaile of the Temple rent in twain from the top to the bottom shewing unto all those that looked upon these things with spirituall eyes that then the midle wall of partition was by him broken down that so the fulness of the Gentiles might come in Concerning those who are to administer in or attend upâ—n holy things as St. Paul sheweth Eph. 2. Lastly to the Evangelicall part of the Testament belonged all those who by their place and office were to administer in or give their attendance upon holy things These were first the Priests who were of the sons of Aaron whom God who is the God of order distributed into two orders The first was the Pontificall order of which order there was alwaies one and but one who had it or ought to have had it from Aaron by succession and birth-right if he were in capability of it that is to say if he had no blemish if he were not blind nor lame nor had a flat nose nor had any thing superfluous nor were broken footed or broken handed or crook-backt or a dwarfe or had a blemish in his eye or scurvie or scabbed or had his stones broken c. For every blemish made him uncapable of the pontificall function Then again he must not uncover his head nor rend his clothes nor go into any dead body nor defile himselfe for his father or for his mother nor go out of the sanctuary nor prophane it and might onely take a virgin to wife of his own people and might not prophane his seed among his people for these are
the conditions required Levit. cap. 21. His office was to order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord continually To offer upon the Altar to burn incense Levit. 24.4 1 Sam. 2.28 Levit. 24.8 Levit. cap. 16 to weare the Ephod To make and set forth in order the shew-bread before the Lord every Sabbath To go within the vaile and to make the solemn attonement once a year in such manner and form as is prescribed Levit. cap. 16. Under these conditions Aaron first had it then Eleazer his son then Phinees the sonne of Eleazar c. The Priests of the second order The priests of the second order Levit. 21.21 were all the sons of Aaron successively in their generations who were capable of the Priest-hood that is to say if they had no blemish nor were blinde or lame c. for the Law was No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the Priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire he hath a blemish he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God These were consecrated as the High Priests were and with the same oyl though not to the same measure as hath been said before They might not defile themselves for the dead yet for their near kindred their Mothers their Fathers their Sons their Daughters their Brethren and their Sisters which were Virgins and had not been married they might defile themselves by going in unto them when they were dead They might uncover their head but they might not make baldness upon it by shaving the hair quite off neither might they shave all the corners of their beards nor make any cuttings in their flesh It was not forbidden unto them to marry with widows though they might not take to wife a Whore a prophane woman or her that had been divorced Num. 4.16 S. Luc. 1.9 Levit. 17.6 2 Chron. 29.21 22 23 24. v. 34. for these conditions are required Levit. 21. Their office was to conserve the oyl to oversee all the sacred Vessels to offer incense every day to offer ordinary and extraordinary sacrifices to flay or take off the skin of the burnt-offerings They were in order degree and dignity inferiour to the high priest and therefore though they had vessels befitting their order and degree which the high priest also had in common together with them as the feminalls or linnen breeches the strait linnen coat the girdle of needle work the cap or mitre of fine linnen the linnen Ephod as hath been said before yet the peculiar robes and ornaments of the high priest as the robe of the Ephod the Ephod or superhumerall the breast-plate of judgement the Urim and Thummim and the plate of gold upon the Mitre or Cap it was not lawfull for them to weare Aaron had four sons Nadab and Abihu Eleazar and Ithamar and these four were first consecrated Priests first consecrated being apparrelled with the sacerdotall garments But Nadab and Abihu did rashly presume to offer incense with common and ordinary fire and not with that sacred fire which God commanded therefore there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them and they dyed before the Lord Levit. 10.1 2 1 Chro. 24.2 and left none to succeed them in the priesthood Wherefore the priesthood was continued by Eleazar and Ithamar and in their stock and progeny unto the dayes of David But David in his time finding that there were sixteen families which descended from Eleazar and eight from Ithamar distributed them into four and twenty rancks or orders according to the heads of the severall families by lot that so they might orderly and in their course and not altogether give attendance upon the Temple And these were called the first second third and fourth lots c. as is to be seen 1 Chron. cap. 24. This being done by David Solomon having builded and consecrated the Temple appointed according to the order of David his Father 2 Chr. 8.14 the courses of the Priests to their service The severall Orders served their several weekes and then others succeeded in their places For Zacharias the priest the Father of St John the Baptist executed the Priests office before God S. Luc. 1.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the order of his course saith the Translation But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 courses as Theophilact saith and after him Scuttetus and Beza were Hebdomadae weeks It seemeth also that when they were met together they cast lots what every man should do and what service he should perform for it is said of the same Zacharias that according to the custom of the Priests office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his lot was or he obtained by lot to burn incense v. 9. And by this the Reader may take notice who those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those high priests or chief priests were S. Mat. 2.4 with whom Herod consulted and who they were who so often in the new Testament have obtained to be styled high Priests or chiefe Priests There was but one high priest who was the high or chief Priest of all as was Jehoiada the chief But there were high priests or chief Priests 2 Chr. 24.6 four and twenty in number who were the highest or chiefest of the severall courses orders or lots the heads of the severall families These upon all occasions assisted the high priest and were of his counsell as is to be seen Acts 4.6 Act. 4.6 And because they were the heads of the severall families of the priests and the chiefest of the severall courses orders or lots therefore called the high priests or chiefe priests The Levites under which name and notion I comprehend the whole tribe of Levi Concerning the Levites the stock and progeny of Eleazer and Ithamar from whom the high priest and all the priests of the second order did descend only excepted were by divine institution first set apart to the service of the Tabernacle Their office was to take care of the Tabernacle and of all the vessells thereof Num. 1.50 cap. 3.6 7 8.9 1 Chron. 23.28 and of all things that did belong to it to bear it and all the vessells of it to minister unto it and to encamp about it and to minister to the priests All which things they performed during the peregrination of the Tabernacle and to the daies of David But David reduced them into another forme for the care of the Tabernacle being ceased and the Temple to succeed Levites properly or specially Ezr. 8.16 1 Chron. 23.27 28 29 30 31 32. he appointed some of them to attend the temple and to minister to the priests these were twenty and foure thousand divided into foure and twenty orders courses or lots according as their lot fell who had also their chiefe Levites as the priests had and did give their attendance in their turnes and were called the Levites Concerning whose office and
the wife of Lapidoth who judged Israel Num. 11.25 Judg. 4.4 Judg. 6.8 And one more of whom mention is made Judg. 6. In the daies of Eli the high priest the word of the Lord was pretious there was no open vision and then the Lord spake unto Samuel and appeared again in Shiloh where the Tabernacle and the Ark at that time were and revealed himselfe unto him And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew 1 Sam. 3.20 21. that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. But Samuel taught the art of prophesying by the appointment of God for which cause many had recourse unto him and by him were taught to prophesie 1 Sam. 19.20 2 King 2.3 5. so that from that time forth there were not only prophets in Israel but houses and Seminaries of the Prophets at Naioh at Bethel at Jericho and so wonderfully were the sons of the prophets multiplyed that their Seminaries or Colledges became in time too strait and little for them 2 King 6.1 Among whom were most famous the Prophets Gad Nathan Asaph Iduthum Ahias Samaias Jad Azarias Hanani Jehu Jaziel Eliezer Zecharias in the raign of Uzziah whose prophesies and predictions were not written and if written not extant But above all 1 King 17.14 1 King 18.38 2 King 1.10.12 1 King 17.1 2 King 2.11 2 King 4.34 2 King 13.21 2 King 6.17 the prophet Elijah who continued the oyl from wasting in the cruse brought down fire three times from heaven carried the rain in his tongue raised the dead and was carried up into heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a whirle-wind of fire saith S Epiphanius And Elisha upon whom rested a double portion of the spirit of Elijah who raised two from the dead one while he lived and another by his dead bones multiplyed the widows oyl to fill up all the vessels to the brim and brought horses and horsemen and Chariots of fire from heaven for the defence of Israel saith Justine Martyr or whosoever else is the Author of those questions and answers ad Orthodox 85. Prophets whose writings are extant and received in the Church as authenticall are the Prophets Isaiah Jeremiah Ezechiel and Daniel who are called the greater Prophets because they wrote the greater volume Also the Prophets Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micha Nahum Habbakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah the son of Barachiah and Malachi who are called the lesser Prophets because they wrote the lesser books All these testified of Christ and preached the redemption of mankind by him as the Apostle St. Peter sheweth in the Acts of the Apostles Act 3 18 21 22 24. Mal. 3.1 S. Mar. 1.2 S. Joh. 1.29 cap. 3. Now Malachi was the last of all the Prophets and by the spirit of prophesie he foretold the coming of St. John the Baptist a messenger sent immediately before Christ to prepare his way by his preaching and by his baptism and to point him out saying Behold the lambe of God which taketh away the sin of the world So that from Malachi to St John the Baptist St. John the Baptist they had no Prophet But St. John the Baptist was a Prophet â—uc 1.17 and more then a Prophet he was a Prophet for the spirit and power of Elias was upon him He was more then a Prophet for he was an Apostle too extraordinarly called and sent forth by Christ to preach and to baptize to prepare his way and to point him out He was of greater holiness then any that were before him for though the Prophet Jeremiah were sanctified in his mothers wombe Jer. 1.5 S. Luk. 1.15 yet St. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mothers wombe He received greater grace then any that were before him for the mysterie of the blessed Trinity was never so plainly revealed unto any as unto him in that he baptized Christ saw the Holy Ghost descend upon him in a bodily shape like a Dove and heard the sweet voice of the Father from heaven saying S. Mat. 3.17 This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased Here the Reader may please to take notice that God in time past was pleased to be consulted with How God was consulted with and to give answers to his people the Jewes in four divers manners First by Oracle for so long as the Tabernacle and the first Temple were standing they came unto the Oracle that is to say to the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was and the propitiatory or mercy seat thereupon covered aloft with the wings of Cherubims and although they might not enter in yet they stood before it without the vaile and enquired and God answered by voyce for they heard the voyce of one speaking unto them from off the mercy-seat that was upon the Ark of the testimony from between the two Cherubims Exo. 25.22 Num. 7.89 But the second Temple had not the Ark and Oracle as the Talmudists do say but only that stone and censer of which mention hath been made before notwithstanding they talk of answers by Bath-kol which was that sometimes there came a small still voyce from heaven such a voyce as St. John the Baptist did hear after that Christ was baptized S. Mat. 3.17 such as the Disciples heard at the transfiguration of Christ Which voyce came unto him as the Apostle St. Peter saith from the excellent glory S. Mat. 17.5 2 Pet. 1.17 And which Bath-kol or small still voyce the people once heard but knew not what it was 2ly By his Prophets before time in Israel S. Joh. 12.28 29. when a man went to enquire of God thus he spake Come and let us go to the seer for he that is now called a Prophet was before time called a seer Neither did they diffide the answers which the Prophets of the Lord should give For when king Ahab consulted with his false Prophets 1 Sam. 9.9 about the expedition that he intended to make unto Ramoth Gilead and was counselled by them as from God to undertake it king Jehosaphat not satisfied with their answer required to know what God would have to be done by the mouth of one of his own Prophets Is there not here a Prophet of the Lord besides that we might enquire of him saith he But these Prophets ceased after the return of the people from Babylon and were not under the second Temple the Prophet Malachi being the last as was intimated before 3ly By the Priest that is to say by the high Priest who when he asked counsell of God had on his Ephod or superhumerall and the Rationall or breast-plate of judgement wherein was the Urim and Thummim a mute Oracle placed within the duplicate over against his heart whereby when he enquired he understood the will of God But how that is not known because it is not revealed in the Scriptures what the Urim and Thummim were But
before the Commissioner himself or such as were appointed by him their names surnames parentage alliances estate and condition of life or what else should be demanded of them that so they might be taxed or inrolled accordingly And being come thither they find themselves prevented of lodging and entertainment in the Inne wherefore they turn into a certain Cave as all antiquity affirmeth where was a Stable and a Manger cut out of a Rock and in that Cave they made their present abode which Cave as Beda in the description of Beth-lehem lib. de locis sanct cap. 8. saith was at the East end of the Town seeming to be naturall and in the form of a Semi-center which of all likelyhood was without the city walls the providence of God so disposing it to the end that the shepheards to whom the glad tydings should first be made known might easily have access thither by night though the city gates were shut and see the truth of all that which the Angel had told them And it was so that while they were there S. Luc. 2.6 the dayes were accomplished that she should be delivered 7. And she brought forth her first born sonne and wrapped him in swadling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the Inne It was upon the five and twentieth day of the moneth of December according to the account which the Church maketh Christ his nativity which also celebrateth the blessed nativity yearly upon that day that the blessed virgin St. Mary the daughter of Eliachim and Hanna espoused to Joseph did in the night bring forth that holy thing which vvas called and vvas indeed the sonne of God The time appointed and praedetermined of God for that vvonderful birth being in or about the year of the vvorld three thousand nine hundred threescore and ten and in the tvvo and fortieth year of the raign of the Emperour Augustus at vvhat time the Scepter vvas departed from Judah according to the prophecie of Jacob Gen 49.10 and Herod in the three and thirtieth year of his raign The place also preordained for that purpose being no other but the city of Beth-lehem and there also that Cave and Stable vvhere such a Manger vvas provided for his Cradle Nihilominus fulget etiam novus ille conceptionis modus ut non in iniquitate quemadmodum caeterae omnes sed superveniente Spiritu Sancto sola de solâ sanctificatione Maria conciperet Yet notwithstanding that nevv manner of conception shineth that Mary alone concâ—ived not in iniquity as all other vvomen but by the Holy Ghost vvho came upon her and by sole sanctification saith St. Bernard ser de beata Maria. For the scripture affirmeth and the Church believeth and confesseth that blessed conception to be not of human seed and geniture but by the power and vertue of the Holy Ghost who sanctified the Virgins wombe for such a birth A Childe is borne unto us saith St. Gregory Nyssen by the Holy Ghost and by the power of the highest neither hath the Virgin suffered any thing at all neither hath the spirit been diminished nor hath the power of the highest been dissected into parts For the spirit is whole and the power of the highest remained entire without any manner of immutation And a whole sonne is born unto us neither hath he impaired the integrity of his mother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 moreover flesh was procreated of flesh but yet without perpession Cont. Eunom Orat. 2. The Gospell is the glad tydings of the word made flesh for the redemption of man-kind The Gospell first preached by Angeâ—s upon Christmas day Christ therefore being born God would that the Gospell should be immediately preached I say immediately the same night which was the night of the day following for the Jews did reckon their day to begin when the sun went down and was the first part of that day which we commonly call Christmas day Opus diet in die suo The work of the day upon its own proper day No day more proper to preach and publish the glad tydings then that day The fittest Ministers for the work of the day were the blessed Angells For like as Christ was sent out of the Father's bosome to be incarnate in the Virgin 's wombe and by divine dispensation to be born upon that day Even so were the blessed Angells sent forth from the Fathers glorious presence by divine dispensation to preach and publish the glad tidings of his birth upon that day I should think that great and glorious Angell who by way of excellency is styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the angell of the Lord to be no other then the Angell Gabriel himselfe who first brought the glad tidings of so great a mystery and grace of God to the blessed Virgin But because neither the Angell nor the place nor the shepheards are either numbred nor named it will be sufficient to deliver the story thus Not far from Beth-lehem about a mile as is said there were fair and fruitfull pastures convenient for the feeding depasturing and folding of sheep where David also fed the sheep of Jesse his father It was on the east of Beth-lehem 1 Sam. 12.15 where was that tower which of antient times was called the tower of Edar that is to say the tower of the flock where Jacob sometimes dwelt and not far from which place he buried Rachel his wife and retained the name still Gen. 35.20 21. for that many flocks of sheep resorted thither At that time there were certain shepheards three shepheards saith the tradition whether the owners of the sheep or their servants or hirelings that makes no question who abode in the field keeping watch over their flock by night in that very place Where they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keeping their watches whether under the shelter of the tower in the sheep-coats or in the open aire that differs not Peradventure because that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being a word which may not unaptly be compounded of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy Ghost thereby also intimating what they were doing at that time while they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sing and pipe with flutes and pipes in the field an usuall recreation of shepheards in the night to keep themselves awake and to beguile the time the Angel Gabriel or some other great and glorious Angell came upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stood over them and nigh unto them in glory and great brightness At which great glorious and unusuall apparition and for that the Jewes also retained an opinion that if at any time they should see those divine and heavenly spirits they should die the shepheards being in a great fear Jud. 6.22.23 13 22. the Angel first dehorteth them from fear and then telleth them what his message was and what God had given him commission to do it was to preach unto
them the Gospell by bringing unto them good tidings of great joy which should be to all people for that which they had long expected was that day brought to passe Unto you said he speaking with a lively and audible voyce is born this day in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord And this shall be a signe unto you ye shall finde the babe wrapped in swadling clothes lying in a manger Then immediately appear in the like glory and brightnesse and with the divine glory of him that was born shining round about them a multude of other Angels not seen to the shepheards at the first by the like lively and audible voice pronouncing the doxologie and declaring the fruits of the Gospell That God would by this wonderfull incarnation procure his owne glory and give peace to the earth making by that Saviour so born peace between heaven and earth peace betwixt God and man peace betwixt men and angells peace betwixt man and man peace betwixt men and the creatures and peace of men with themselves And finally that from hence is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that good pleasure of the will of God that good will towards men whereby the Father is well pleased with them in Christ his son For so saith the Evangelist Saint Luke S. Luc. 2.8 9 And there were in the same country shepheards abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night And lo the Angell of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them 10 and they were sore afraid And the Angel said unto them Fear not for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people 11 12 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a signe unto you ye shall finde the babe wrapped in swadling clothes lying in a manger And suddenly there was with the Angell a multitude of the heavenly hoste 13 14. praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good-will towards men He that was born was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a shepheard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good shepheard Why the Gospel first preached to the shepheards 1 Pet. 5.4 St Joh. 10.14 he was the great shepheard of the sheep Heb. 13.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chiefe shepheard it was he who had honoured the shepheards life in the persons of the righteous Abel of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and especially of David himself the head of his family who had fed kept the sheep of Jesse his father in the same place The pastoritial life was simple innocent and harmlesse such were the shepheards usually therefore the shepheards according to the divine wisdome which reacheth from one end to another mightily and doth order all things sweetly were the fittest persons to be brought first of all to the chiefe shepheard Wisd 8.1 by the preaching of the Gospell But this is not all for he had promised to his Church pastours according to his own heart which should feed them with knowledge and understanding Now he shewes what he will do with those pastours or shepheards and what the shepheards themselves must do Jer. 3.15 For it was not without great mystery The mystery that the shepheards were Evangelized by an angell from heaven to teach us to know that the divine revelations are first made manifest to the shepheards of the Church It was not without great mystery that the shepheards so soon as the Angells were gone up into heaven consulted what was best to be done and then went unanimously to Bethlehem to teach us to know that the affairs of the Church and of religion must be managed by the shepheards of the Church who being led by one and the same spirit must go hand in hand for the preservation of truth peace and unity It was not without great mystery that they went thither with haste for this was to teach the shepheards of the Church to use no delay when there shall be cause to enquire about matters of religion It was not without great mystery that the shepheards made known abroad every where the things wherewith they were Evangelized for this was to teach the shepheards of the Church to hide nothing from the people which shall be necessary for them to know that they may be saved and to teach the people also in matters of religion to hearken to the shepheards of the Church Therefore the blessed Virgin who had read the Scriptures diligently and was not ignorant of what was figured in the law and foretold by the prophets concerning Christ conferred and compared the things which she had seen and heard to be done and said concerning that blessed Babe with those things which she had learned out of the law and the prophets and pondered them in her heart for the confirmation of her faith upon every respect S. Luc. 2.15 And it came to passe as the Angells were gone away from them into heaven the shepheards said one to another Let us now go even unto Beth-lehem and see this thing which is come to passe which the Lord hath made known unto us And they came with haste and found Mary 16.17 and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger And when they had seen it they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this childe And all they that heard it 18 19. wondered at those things which were told them by the shepheards But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart as the text saith Christ was factus sub lege made under the law as Saint Paul saith therefore was it necessary for him to receive the signe or mark of Circumcision in the flesh of his fore-skin Gal. 4.4 Christ circumcised and why S. Joh. 7.22 For although that circumcision according to the primary institution of it was not of Moses but of the Fathers as Christ saith in the Gospell yet the law required circumcision that so the circumcised party might become a debtor to do the whole law Levit. 12.3 Gal. 5.3 What hath been already declared in the former book of this our Sacred History concerning circumcision the mystery and the use of it may suffice for that matter the question now is concerning Christ his obedience to the law whereunto he was obliged by his circumcision wherein I suppose the reader will desire to be satisfied in two things viz. 1st Why he was made under the law subject or obedient to the law and therefore a debtor to it by his circumcision 2ly In what manner he became obedient to it and was therefore circumcised Great and weighty are the reasons of Christ his subjection and obedience to the Law Why Christ was made subject or obedient to the Law For first He was obedient to the Law that so he might give approbation thereunto For
Gentiles and the glory of Israel his people Finally having blessed them if not as a priest according to the set form of the sacerdotall benediction prescribed in the law Num. 6.24 25 26. for it is not said whether he were a priest or no and as well they who affirm it as they who deny it have no ground at all either for the affirmation or negation of it yet with a christian benediction he did pray to God to bless them by multiplying his blessings upon them in body in soul in goods and fortune blessings temporall eternall blessings Prophesying of Christ and foretelling to the Virgin her selfe that which Saint Bernard calleth her martyrdome a martyrdome by the sword that sword which should pierce through her soul a sword of bitter griefe and anguish when she should see him hanging upon the cross and hear him calling unto her and saying Woman behold thy son S. Joh. 19.26 Ser. de beaâ—a virg Maria. At the same time also Anna a prophetesse a woman of great piety and devotion who had lived a long and a vertuous life came into the temple into that place where it was permitted the women to be and she also gave thanks to God and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Hierusalem For so saith the history observing every circumstance according to the effect and substance of that which hath been related S Luc. 2.22 thus And when the daies of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished they brought him to Hierusalem to present him to the Lord As it is written in the law of the Lord Every male that openeth the wombe shall be called holy to the Lord. And to offer a sacrifice 23 according to that which is said in the law of the Lord a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons And behold there was a man in Hierusalem 24 whose name was Simeon and the same man was just and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel and the holy Ghost was upon him 25 And it was revealed unto him by the holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ And he came by the spirit into the temple 26 and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custome of the law Then took he him up in his armes 27 and blessed God and said Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace 28 29 30 31 32 33 according to thy word For mine eyes have seen thy salvation Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel And Joseph and his Mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his mother Behold this childe is set for â—he fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a signe which shall be spoken against 34 yea a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed 35 And there was one Anna a Prophetesse the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asser she was of a great age and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity 36 37 And she was a widow of about fourescore and foure years which deparâ—â—d not from the Temple but served God with fasting and prayer night and day And she comming in at that instant 38. gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all that looked for redemption in Hierusalem Such was the wonderfull birth of Christ his circumcision and presentation in the temple and so was the first year of his age transacted Whether his parents returned back immediately from Hierusalem to Bethlehem and there abode either in the Inne Hâ—story concerning the comming of the wise men where they had lodgings after the taxing ended and the great concourse of those of their tribe and family who came up to be inrolled was dissolved Or else in some house which they hired or otherwise obtained where they continued till the comming of the wise men Or whether they did not go presently so soon as they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord from Hierusalem into Galilee and to their own city Nazareth returning from thence to Hierusalem at the feast of the Passeover and then went when that feast was ended to Bethlehem again and there abode either in the Inne or in some other house where they made their habitation till the wisemen came our sacred history will not determine Certain it is that when they dwelt in Nazareth they went up yearly to Hierusalem as Saint Luke saith at the feast of the passeover S. Luc. 2.41 And certain it is that when the wise men came they went not to Nazareth but to Bethlehem came unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not into the cave where the stable and manger was but into the house where they saw the young childe with Mary his mother and fell down and worshipped him S. Mat. 2.11 as Saint Matthew saith Most likely it is that they dwelt not in Nazareth till after their return out of Egypt although Saint Luke who was a gentile by birth a proselyte of Antioch thought himselfe more specially concerned to make narration of those things which pertained to the law and to the Jewes omitteth the story wholly of the wise men and of his slight into Egypt and respecting only the time that they dwelt in Nazareth which was after their return out of Egypt saith not saying what passed in the mean time that when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord S. Luc. 2.39 they returned into Galilee to their own City Nazareth Yet Saint Matthew who was a Jew born thought himselfe more properly engaged to narrate those things which set forth in a more peculiar manner Gods great grace and mercy to the Gentiles and therefore declareth both the history of the wise men and Christ his flight into Egypt Much adoe there is concerning the time of the arrivall The time of their arrival of these wise men at Bethlehem Also concerning their persons what they were from whence they came how they came thither upon whose motion and finally as touching the star it self what it was It will be sufficient to our History omitting all disputes to set down the truth of our opinion as plainly and briefly as we can First therefore we cannot assent unto those who think the accesse of those wise men to be the twelfth day after the blessed nativity within six daies after the circumcision and therefore antecedaneus to his presentation in the temple this had been too great a festination they had need of wings to have fled especially if they came from the extreamest parts of the East as some have lightly believed and fabulously reported We cannot assent unto them
in Act for he was stoned Some are Martyrs in Will but not in Act so was the blessed Apostle and Evangelist St. John a Martyr in Will for being eighty and six years old he was cast into a vessell of boyling oyl and was willing to have laid down his life Deu. 3.27 but by the providence of God was preserved as the three children in the midst of the fiery fornace and came forth without hurt Some are Martyrs in Act but not in Will and such were these Innocents who dyed for Christ and his cause though they had not the will to do it because by reason of their tender age they knew not what they did Iesus Christ was the great Martyâ— 1 Tim. 6.13 the Lord and Prince of the Martyrs who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession The martyr St. Stephen was the first Martyr of the new Testament who after Christ was a Martyr both in Will and Act. St. Iohn the first Martyr likewise of the new Testament who was a martyr in Will but not in Act. These Innocents the first Martyrs of the new Testament who were Martyrs in act but not in will Upon which considerations it is probable that the Church thereby approving this distinction would that the festivall dayes for the commemoration of their severall martyrdoms should in order next follow the blessed day of Christs nativity for whom they were martyred So by the death and martyrdom of these Innocents was fulfilled the prophecie of Ieremiah Jer. 31.15 Then Herod when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men was exceeding wroth and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof from two years old and under according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men S. Mat. 2.16 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Ieremy the Prophet saying In Rama was there a voice heard lamentation 17 and weeping and great mourning Rachel weeping for her children 18. and would not be comforted because they are not Thus was the Covenant administred by him in the two first years of his age The Recapitulation for the abolishing of the old Testament By being born of a pure Virgin by being born at Bethlehem Ephrata By taking in the first fruits of the Iewes the shepheards the same day By being circumcised upon the eighth day By being presented in the temple upon the fortieth day By receiving in the first fruits of the Gentiles the magi upon the twelfth day of the second yeare of his age By his flight into Egypt for the preservation of the humane nature and to fulfill the scriptures By taking in the first fruits of his martyrs in the persons of the Innocents It became him in his infancy not to abhor the virgins wombe to accept the manger the doxology of Angels the visitation of the shepheards the seal of the Covenant the presentation of the law the testimony of Simeon the gratulation of Anna the presents of the Magi the providence of his Father the premonition of his Angell the security of his flight and the blood of his Martyrs And thus our sacred History doth put an end to the second year of his age How long it was that Herod lived after that Christ was gone into Egypt Christ his return out of Egypt and the young children most inhumanely slaughtered forasmuch as there is nothing noted in the Scripture by the Evangelist and other Authors whereof some will have it to be four years some two years some but three months some less cannot be accorded it is hard to determine Venerable Bede with others who â—t iâ— likely either follow therein the old tradition of the Church or perchance had read it in some of the writings of the ancient Fathers now lost refer his return out of Egypt to the seventh day of the month of January which is also generally assented to wâ—â—ch generall opinion seeing it ought not to be denyed unless any one were able to bring good reason or authority to the contrary makes me to think that our blessed Lord made his abode in Egypt by the space of two whole years till he was fully four years old and made his return from thence in the beginning of the fifth year of his age And this I think to be most consentaneous to truth For Herod dyed somewhat before Easter but the slaughter of the Infants was divulged far and neer and was come to Rome and to the ears of Augustus as was said before therefore not before Easter next and immediately following Probably before the second Easter when his funeralls being first most sumptuously solemnized Archelaus went to Rome for confirmation of his Kingdom as is observed by Josephus was there at the feast of Pentecost and was not suddenly dispatched for there he found his brother Antipas a competitor for the Kingdom and had there also to answer to the accusation of Antipater the son of Salome who was Herods sister Which when he had cleared before the councill yet Caesar himself took time to deliberate as touching the affairs and how to settle Herods kingdome Mean while came fifty ambassadors out of Judea sent by the Iewes to make complaint unto Caesar against Archelaus and his brother and humbly to petition that they might no more be governed by Kings but by his Presidents in Syria To which Ambassadours comming from the whole nation adjoyned themselves eight thousand Iewes which dwelt at Rome and these obtained audience of Caesar in the Temple of Apollo who that day determined nothing Not long after he made Archelaus Archelaus made king or Ethnarch of Judea and Samaria not King of his Fathers whole kingdom but Ethnarch or king of Judea and Samaria and Herod Antipas he made Tetrarch of Galilee and his brother Philip Tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of Trachonitis so dividing Herods Kingdom into four parts for a tetrarchie is the fourth part of a Kingdom and he that obtaineth the fourth part of a Kingdom is called a Tetrarch The fourth Tetrarchie was that of Abilene whereof Lysanias another brother as some say but not truly the son of Herod others but with as little truth his nephew the son of Ptolomaeus and Alexandra the said Herods sister was we know not whether by Augustus or Tiberius made Tetrarch neither have we to say whose son he was These things being thus ordered at Rome Archelaus betaketh himself to his journey towards the beginning of winter and arriveth in Iudea Now after that Herod was dead and before that Ioseph had otherwise heard of it the Angell of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream told him of the death of Herod commanded him to return into his country which Joseph readily performed and upon the seventh day of Ianuary returned But when he heard what was done at Rome and that Archelaus had obtained the Ethnarchie of Iudea he went not to Bethlehem for fear least
it abode upon him And I knew him not 32 but he that sent me to baptize with water the same said unto me upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the holy Ghost And having such infallible assurance 33 he gave testimony to his divinity teaching them to know Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and man for saith he I saw and bear record 34. that this is the son of God Thus began he to be manifested to the people by the ministery of St. John the Baptist St. John testifieth Christ to two of his Disciples and the next day after Jesus walking that way to the end that he might receive another testimony from him St. John stood and two of his Disciples with him to whom he said Behold the lambe of God Whereupon the two disciples went after him Which when Jesus perceived he turned towards them and demanded of them what it was that they sought They intimate unto him that their desire was to be his Schollars and to hear his divine Doctrine Wherefore they call him Master and desire to know the place of his present abode Iesus inviteth them home with him and they went and abode with him that day for it was too late for them to return back it being then about two hours before night One of these two Disciples who followed Iesus but not with intent to desert their master the Baptist as indeed they did not at that time neither did Christ then call them to be his Disciples was Andrew the brother of Simon Peter the other not improbably conjectured to be St. John himself who wrote the story They departing from him after they had for that day been entertained by him Andrew carefully seeks his brother Simon finds him tells him where and with whom he had been assuring him by the testimony of St. Iohn and by the gracious words which they had heard that he whom they had found was indeed the Messiah Upon his invitation Simon goes with him whom when Jesus saw he entertained him with the promise of a future benefit told him that he was Simon the son of Iona but that he should hereafter have another name and should be called Peter Which promise in time convenient he performed And so we return again to our Evangelist Again the next day after Iohn stood S. Joh. 1.35 and two of his Disciples and looking upon Jesus as he walked he saith Behold the lambe of God And the two Disciples heard him speake 36 and they followed Jesus Then Jesus turned and saw them following and saith unto them What seek ye they said unto him 37 Rabbi which is to say being interpreted Master where dwellest thou He saith unto them Come and see they came and saw where he dwelt 38 and abode with him that day for it was about the tenth hour One of the two which heard Iohn speake and followed him 39 40 was Andrew Simon Peters brother He first findeth his own brother Simon and saith unto him We have found the Messias which is being interpreted the Christ 41 And he brought him to Iesus And when Jesus beheld him he said Thou art Simon the son of Iona thou shalt be called Cephas which is by interpretation a stone 42. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The day following that is to say the day next following after that St. Peter had been so brought unto Christ by St. Andrew his brother and been entertained with such a promise which was on the fourth day after that he came to his servant St. Iohn and had been first proclaimed by him to be the lambe of God which taketh away the sin of the world Christ goeth into Galilee Jesus purposed to go forth into Galilee and whether there or upon the way whether casually or because he sought him that is not determined he found Philip a Citizen of Bethsaida whom he called to be his disciple Saint Phi ip first called to be Christs disciple Bethsaida saying Follow me Bethsaida was a town scituated upon the west-side of the Galilean sea in the tribe of Issachar fiftie six miles from Hierusalem towards the north which was at that time built into a fair city by Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis of which city were also Saint Andrew and Saint Peter who had been with Christ but were not yet called by him to be his disciples Saint Andrew was the disciple of Saint John so was Saint Peter too in all probability whom Saint Andrew found so readily in or nigh unto Bethabara and brought him unto Christ neither of whom he then commanded to follow him as disciples although he entertained them at the place of his abode where they heard such gracious words as it ravished Saint Augustine to think what it was that they might hear What a blessed day did they passe what a blessed night said he who is able to tell us what things they were which they heard of the Lord In Iohan. Tract 8. Saint Philip therefore had the honour and prerogative to be first called by Christs own mouth immediately to be his disciple The history of Nathaniel he diligently sought and found Nathaniel whose name by interpretation is donum Dei the gift of God And because there is no further mention made of him under that name in the new Testament but only here and in St. Ioh. 21.2 where it is said that he was of Cana in Galilee it is diversly conjectured who he might be whether Simon called also the Cananite Act. 7.56 or Saint Stephen the protomartyr because that Christ promised that he should see heaven open which Saint Stephen did in the act of his Martyrdome or some master in Israel such a one as Nichodemus was learned in the law and in the prophets who being a Rabbi was not chosen an Apostle although he alwaies continued a disciple because that he would not make choice of the learned but of the unlearned to convert the world as Aquinus saith S. Mat. 10.3 S. Mar. 3.18 S. Luc. 6.14 or not rather Saint Bartholomew because that Saint Philip and Saint Bartholomew are coupled together so often as the Apostles are recited by name Whatsoever he was it seemes he was not altogether ignorant of the Scriptures as neither was Saint Philip himselfe And therefore he told him that they had found him the Messiah of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write and that the same was Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph No doubt but they were both of them in expectation of the Messiah and had often reasoned together concerning him consulting the law and the prophets Nathaniel denies not that the Messiah was then to be found and might then also be found according to Moses and the prophets but he diffideth the person of him whom they had found Not in respect of his condition whom it is likely that he knew but
your faith be it unto you And their eyes were opened And Jesus straitly charged them saying 30 See that no man know it Observation It was because he would decline the envy of the Pharisees whom he knew that they would slander him and deprave his miracles They could not endure to hear with patience the report of his lesser miracles much lesse would they have the patience to hear that he had raised the dead and given sight unto the blinde For concerning these two sorts of miracles he interdicted the reporting of them But these two blinde men notwithstanding the interdiction when they were departed 31 A dumbe man dispossessed of a devill 32 33 34. spread abroad his fame in all that country Now as they went out of that house where he had wrought the former miracle Behold they brought to him a dumbe man possessed with a devill And when the devill was cast out by the power of his word the dumbe spake and the multitude marvelled saying It was never so seen in Israel But the Pharisees said he casteth out the devills through the prince of the devills Of which miracle because there is no more set down I have no more to say That which we have next to take notice of is how the covenant was administred by him the year past for the breaking of the serpents head and for the abolishing of the old testament The Recapitulation By the record of Saint John at Bethabara to the priests and levites that were sent By comming to Jordan himselfe the second time to receive the testimonies of Saint John before all the people and to his two disciples By calling Saint Philip first to be his disciple By being present at the marriage in Cana and by his first miracle there By doing all his miracles for the glory of God and for the utility and profit of men By calling disciples to be his disciples by adhaesion By going up with them to Hierusalem at the second passeover after his baptisme By visiting the temple By promising to raise the temple of his body By baptizing his disciples and by dispensing his baptisme by their ministery By converting the Samaritans By healing the rulers son by his word By being known of the devills to be the Messiah By casting them out by his word By healing Saint Peters wives mother By rebuking and by stilling the winds and the sea By casting out a legion of devills at once By remitting his sins to the paralytick man and by curing his disease By calling Saint Matthew from the receipt of custome By healing the haemorrhous woman By raising up Jairus daughter By restoring sight to two blinde men By dispossessing a dumb man It became him who humbled himselfe and was made man for the redemption of all mankinde to be recorded by Saint John to receive his testimonies to call Saint Philip first to be present at the mariage in Cana and to do his first miracle there to do all his miracles for the glory of God and for the utility and profit of men to call disciples to be his disciples by adhaesion to go to Hierusalem to visit the temple to promise the resurrection of his bodily temple to baptize his disciples and to dispense his baptisme by their ministery to convert the Samaritans to heal the rulers son by his word to be known of the devills to be the Messiah to cast them out by his word to heal Saint Peters wives mother to rebuke and still the winds and the sea to cast out a legion of devills at once to remit the sins and to cure the disease of the paralytick man to call Saint Matthew from the receipt of custome to heal the haemorrhous woman to raise up Jairus daughter to restore to sight two blinde men to dispossess a dumb man And thus our sacred history doth put an end to the second year after his Baptisme which was the one and thirtieth year of his age In the month of November in that one and thirtieth year of his age the year preceding this which we now begin which was four months before harvest S. Joh. 4.35 as is expresly observed by Saint John Jesus to decline the malice of the Pharisees who maligned his baptisme and the number of his disciples departed out of Judea to go into Galilee And Saint John makes relation of his going through Samaria and giveth us the history of the Samaritan woman which none other of the Evangelists doth but saith almost nothing of his acts for those foure months neither was it needfull for he writing his gospell last of all regarded not to make repetition of those things which had been sufficiently commemorated by the other seeing that his drift was chiefly to observe those things which had been pretermitted by them The four months therefore being expired Christ goeth up to the passeover at Hierusalem Levit. 23.10 there was a feast of the Jewes It was the feast of the passeover for then came harvest and upon the second day after the eating of the passeover which was the second day of sweet-bread the law commanded that they should offer a sheaf of new corn before the Lord to crave his blessing upon their harvest This was the third passeover after his baptisme and to this passeover went Jesus as well to fulfill the righteousnesse of the law as also to do the work for the which he was sent Now there was at Hierusalem Neh. 3.1 32. The pool of Bethesda nigh to the sheep-gate or market 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pond or poole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sheep pond or pool a pond or pool where sheep and other cattle were watered or washed and wherein specially the carcasses of sheep and other beasts to be sacrificed were washed That pool was called Bethesda which signifieth the house of passage effluxion or effusion of water which pool had five porches In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk of blinde halt S. Joh. 5.1 withered waiting for the moving of the water 2 For an Angell went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in 3. was made whole of whatsoever disease he had This was miraculous but what angel it was that troubled the water hovv long that water had been so troubled at hovv many times of the year vvhether at all the solemne feasts vvhether only at the feast of pentecost or at the passeover whether once only or at more times in the year whether at times certain or uncertain it is not mentioned It is also marvellous that none of the other Evangelists nor any other Scripture-writers either canonicall or apocryphall vvhich vvere before Saint Iohn no nor Philo nor Iosephus vvho vvere after Saint Iohn ever made mention of such a miracle there It makes me to conclude vvith my most learned author and late reverend Diocesan that therefore it may seem
the vote of the Scribes and said even as they did This fellow doth not cast out Devils but by Beelzebub the prince of Devils Hereupon others of their consorts S. Mat. 12.24 seeing that the Scribes and Pharisees had condemned this signe to be from hell tempted him and sought of him a signe from heaven They would have had him peradventure as St. Hierome also saith to have brought fire from heaven as Elijah did 2 King 1.10 1 Sam. 12.18 or to have caused it suddainly to thunder and rain as the prophet Samuel did But he apologizeth and recriminateth By the apologie he maintaineth his divine power whereby that and all other his divine miracles were effected By the recrimination he convicteth them of that irremissible sin which is against the holy Ghost The Scribes and Pharisees convinced of the irremissible sin in that they saw and knew his divine power in the works which he did and yet blasphemed The apologie is grounded upon two arguments whereof the first is taken from the absurdity of the consequence as if he should say how irrationall is this How doth Sathan cast out Sathan is his kingdom divided or doth he himself seek the ruine of his own kingdom or must it not needs be so if he will cast himself out where he hath once gotten quiet possession This is true of every kingdom S. Mat. 12.25 26 27 28. S. Mar. 3.23 24 25 26. S. Luc. 11.17 18 19 20. and of every house therefore of Sathans kingdom and of Sathans house how then do I by Sathan cast out Devills or by whom doe your children cast them out The second is taken from the manner of ejection which is the necessity of the consequence How can I cast out Sathan against his will were I not stronger then he can any man enter into a strong mans house and spoil his goods if he be not stronger then that strong man first to bind him and then to spoil his goods If I therefore have entred into Sathans house If I have bound him S Mat. 12.29 30. S Mar. 3.27 S Luc. 11.21 22 23. S Mat. 12.31 32. S Mar. 3.28 29 30. The irremissible sin against the holy Ghost if I have cast him quite out of his house and despoyled him of his goods as you may see in this demoniak am I not then stronger then Sathan And if stronger then Sathan who else but God and the son of God The recrimination followeth and is this therefore you Scribes and Pharisees because you have said that I have an unclean spirit and do cast out Devils by the Prince of Devils have sinned against the Holy Ghost to your own damnation The irremissible sin therefore is not blasphemy against the nature or person of the holy Ghost if a man shall deny that there is an holy Ghost or third person as did the Photinians or if he shall deny him to be God or more then a creature as did the Macedonians Quid ergo fiet de his quos lucrari cupit ecclesia saith St. Augustine What shall then become of those whom the Church desireth to acquire De verb. Dom. Ser. 11. cap. 4. The Church desireth to gaine and hath gained such But that irremissible sin is blasphemy against the works of the holy Ghost and is when he that is illuminated shall against his own knowledge and conscience slander and blaspheme the holy Ghost in his works by a malicious obtrectation by a wilfull repudiation and by an envious persecution of those that work them So the Scribes and Pharisees blasphemed the holy Ghost by affirming those works to be done by Beelzebub which they saw and knew to be done by the finger of God and by persecuting Christ for his works sake Saint Matthew and St. Luke proceed in the recrimination and both of them do say S Mat. 12.39 40. S Luc. 11.29 30. The signe of the Prophet Ionah that he denyed them a signe from heaven that is to say such a signe and in such a manner as they desired But yet promised the signe of the Prophet Ionas by the resurrection of his body upon the third day Indeed Jonah was an excellent type of the resurrection of Christ and of his resurrection upon the third day For like as Jonah for three dayes was in the Whales belly and during that time no better then dead but then the fish could hold him no longer for then the Lord spake unto the fish Jon. 2.10 and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land And Jonah is sent a Prophet to preach to Nineveh that they should repent Piscis qui Ionam devoravit in pelago significat mortem quam Christus passus est in mundo saith one of the Fathers The fish which devoured Jonah in the sea signifieth the death which Christ suffered in the world For even so was Christ in the grave as Jonah in the Whales belly till the third day but then the earth could hold him no longer God speaks unto the grave and the grave must surrender his blessed body and he ariseth and preacheth to the Ninevites for he sendeth his Apostles with ample commission Rom. 10.18 And their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world In amplifying of which recrimination while he insisteth more sharply he telleth them that the Queene of the south and the Ninevites shall rise up in judgement against them for their unbelief and hardness of heart to their condemnation S Mat. 12.43 44 45. S. Luc. 11.24 25 26. which he affirmeth to be just for as much as the Devill whom he would cast out of the world by the power of his Gospell should in a worse manner than ever enter again into their nation And as he insisted upon these things a certain woman that heard him and was in the company be it Marcella or whosoever it were Blessedness of Christs mother cryed out as in a divine rapture Blessed is the wombe that bare thee and the paps which thou hast sucked Indeed the wombe was blessed the paps were blessed the body was blessed the soul was blessed S. Luc. 1.48 yea and all generations shall call her blessed but that blessedness came not to her by bearing of Christ but by believing in Christ S. Luc. 11.28 and therefore he replyeth saying yea rather blessed are they that heare the word of God and keep it So having pronounced his mother blessed blessed in bearing more blessed in believing she together with his brethren arriveth there S. Luc. 8.19 desiring to speak with him and because they could not come at him for the preass they sent unto him calling him as Saint Mark saith The cause of her comming to Christ as he was preaching No doubt but the cause of their comming was good and as they thought at that time necessary peradventure to perswade him to take some pitty upon himselfe considering his long fasting and continuall pains which also
Salome maried to Alexas and two wives Malthace a Samaritan and Mariamne who was niece to Hercanus by Alexandra his daughter and of the Assamonaean family By Malthace he had three sons Archelaus who raigned after him in Judea of whom St. Mat. 2.22 and Herod Antipas Tetrarch of Galilee and Philip Tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of Trachonitis of whom St. Luc. 3.1 By Mariamne the Assamonaean he had two sons Aristobulus and Alexander Aristobulus had to wife Bernice the daughter of Salome his fathers sister and of her he had a daughter whose name was Herodias But these were not all the wives that Herod had for he had also to wife another Mariamne the daughter of Simon Boethus the high priest born in Alexandria by whom he had also a son whose name was Herod this Herod married Herodias and had by her a daughter whose name was Salome and then he dyed After whose death Herodias married Philip Tetrarch of Iturea a second husband the brother of Herod Antipas by father and mother and both of them brethren to Herod deceased by the fathers side Herod Antipas falls in love with Herodias his brother Philips wife and she consenteth to forsake Philip her husband and did so Herod Antipas for so it was agreed betwixt them repuding his lawfull wife who was the daughter of Aretas king of Arabia took unto him this Herodias who was the wife of Philip his owne brother both by father and mother as is said before and had her home to his house together with Salome her daughter but Philip whom she had forsaken lived still and died not till in the twentieth year of Tiberius the Emperour after that he had governed his Province thirty and seven years as Josephus saith a good and quiet man ready to do justice to all men at all times he obtained a sumptuous funerall and was laid into a monument which himselfe had builded Antiq. lib. 18. cap. 6. Such were the incestuous marriages of the Herodian family But hinc illae lachrymae For Saint John the Baptist comming out of Judea into Galilee as before is said and having accesse unto Herods court was had in esteem by Herod himselfe S. Mar. 6.20 who observed him and when he heard him he did many things and heard him gladly But Saint Iohn knew not how to daube with untempered morter he could not dissemble the sins and vices of the court nor would he permit a sin so hainous to be unreproved but told Herod plainly It is not lawfull for thee to have her S. Mat. 14.4 Levit. 18.16 Levit. 20.21 Saint Iohn spake law for the law of God saith Thou shalt not uncover the nakednesse of thy brothers wife it is thy brothers nakednesse And if a man shall take his brothers wife it is an unclean thing he hath uncovered his brothers nakednesse they shall be childlesse Herodias the cause of her hatred against Saint John Hence sprung the hatred of Herodias against Saint John who for that cause had a quarrell against him and would have killed him if she could She was impudent and was not ashamed of her uncleannesse she was proud and obstinate so that she would not endure reproof Besides it is well observed by venerable Bede she did fear lest that Herod should at length repent or be reconciled to his brother whereby it would come to passe that this her incestuous mariage should be dissolved Therefore watched she all opportunities to destroy him and no doubt had counselled her daughter to do the like having by her importunity so far prevailed with Herod that he had laid hold on him and laid him a prisoner in bonds in the castle of Machaerun which was a frontire town betwixt his and Aretas king of Arabia Petraeaes country Herod also himselfe I suppose was not difficultly induced to imprison him whom he knew to be a just man and an holy justum quoad homines sanctum quoad Deum S. Mar. 6 20. just to men-ward holy to God-ward as the Glosse saith such is the rage of unlawfull lust He was vvilling but durst not put him to death and when he would have done it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he feared the multitude lest they should make insurrection and revolt from his government because they counted him as a prophet S. Mat. 14.5 But Herodias did neither fear nor care what would come after so that she might have her will to wash away her present fear in the innocent blood of the Baptist Therefore attending all seasons at length there came a convenient day It was the birth-day of this Herod Antipas which of custome he did solemnize anniversarily an old custome in the courts of princes especially pagan for the solemnity whereof he made a supper to his Lords high captains and chiefe estates of Galilee and then the foresaid Salome the daughter of Herodias by her first husband Herod came into the presence and danced before Herod Antipas and before all his guests Wherewith he was so much taken that he bad her to ask whatsoever she would swearing that whatsoever she should ask he would give it her to the halfe of his kingdom She who had been pre-instructed by her mother Herodias S. Mat 14.8 upon all occasions to work the destruction of St. John the Baptist went in presently and acquainted her mother how matters had passed betwixt the king and her demanding her advice what she should ask She counselleth that setting all other demands aside she should ask the head of the Baptist as being of more consequence to them both then any thing else which the Tetrarch could give And so it followeth in the Evangelist that she came in straight way with haste unto the King and asked saying I will that thou give me by and by in a charger S. Mar. 6.25 the head of John the Baptist And the King was exceeding sorry yet for his oath's sake and for their sakes which sate with him he would not reject her 26 And immediately the King sent not to the castle of Maehaerun which was in the confines of his countrey remote but to some neerer place whither he had removed him to another prison 27 and from whence he might presently send for his head an executioner and he went and beheaded him in prison 28. S. Mat. 14.9 10 11. And brought his head in a Charger and gave it to the damosell and the damosell gave it to her mother Thus was the blood of that righteous man most unjustly spilt but his body whether at Samaria then called Sebast The body buried by his Disciples in honour of Augustus Caesar or in what other place it is not mentioned was buried by his Disciples who so soon as they heard of it took it up and buried it and went and told Jesus But his head remained in the power of wicked Herodias S. Mat. 14.12 S. Mar. 6.29 by whom they say it was secretly buried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
God the things that are Gods He confuteth the Sadduces The Pharisees being departed from him the Sadduces another sect among the Iewes who denyed the resurrection to overthrow the doctrine of it as they thought propose an absurd question concerning a woman married unto seven brethren S. Mat. 22.32 S. Mar. 12.26 27. S. Luc. 20.37 38. and which of them should have her to wife at the resurrection He confuteth the errour stateth the question and proveth the resurrection by such a necessary consequence of Scripture as was undeniable And when the multitude heard this they were astonished at his doctrine And certain of the scribes answering said Master S. Mat. 22.33 S. Luc. 22.39 thou hast well said But the Pharisees would not so be satisfied and one of them to tempt him demanded to know of him the first or great commandement of the law To which question when he had made a short analysis of the first and second tables of the morall law that same pharisee who was a scribe and a lawyer He analyseth the law S. Mat. 22.36 37 38 39 40. S. Mar. 12. v. 8. to 34. S. Luc. 20.40 approved his answer and Christ also told him that he was not far from the kingdome of God And no man after that durst aske him any question This gave him opportunity to question them wherefore while the pharisees were gathered together he putteth forth a question concerning Christ whose son he must be whereunto when they had readily answered The son of David He questioneth them concerning Christ he objecteth out of the hundred and tenth psalme David called him Lord how is he then his son Unto which objection being not able to reply S. Mat. 22.46 S. Mar. 12.37 S. Luc. 20.44 S. Mar. 12.38 39 40. S. Luc. 20.46 47. he taketh occasion of that bitter invective against the scribes and pharisees which being but a little touched by the other Evangelists Saint Mark and Saint Luke is set down at large by Saint Matthew cap. 23. representing to the multitude and to his disciples that the scribes and pharisees after all that he had said and done continuing still incorrigible although he will have the doctrine of their chair eatenus quatenus sitting in the chair of Moses they taught Moses doctrine to be obeyed yet against their works and namely their ambition he openly inveigheth crying to them eight woes for their eightfold hypocrisie and blindenesse and so concluding with the most worthy reprobation of that persecuting generation and their mother city Hierusalem he prophesieth the destruction of it At that time he sate over against the treasury teaching in the temple where he saw how the people cast in their mony they that were rich cast in much to pious uses and for the reparation of the temple and a poor widow cast in two mites which gift of hers S. Mar. 12.41 42 43 44. S. Luc. 21.3 4 in that it was all that she had he preferrs before the great gifts of all those who cast in of their abundance largely So departed he out of the temple And as he went out some of his disciples among themselves He foretelleth the destruction of the Temple S. Mat. 24.1 2. S. Mar. 13.1 2. S. Luc. 2.5 6. and to him spake of the temple the stones the buildings and gifts vvherevvith it was adorned But he replyed that the dayes vvould come that there should not be one stone left upon another that should not be throwne downe So they vvent forvvards speaking it should seem of these things till he ascended the mount of Olives vvhere in a convenient place over against the Temple and having the vvhole sight and prospect of it he sat dovvn There his Apostles Saint Peter Saint James Saint Iohn and Saint Andrew came unto him privately desiring him to tell them vvhen that desolation of the temple should be and by vvhat signe it should be knovvne and vvhat should be the signe of his second comming and of the end of the world He foretelleth persecutions to the Gospell calamities to the Jewes and sheweth the signes of his second comming In all which he satisfied their desires as well for their instruction as also for the information of all the rest of his Apostles bidding them to beware of deceivers to come also to expect persecutions and that great calamities the forerunners of that desolation should be to the people and nation of the Jewes sheweth them the signes of his comming to judgment and the manner of it And because that day and houre is unknown that therefore they must watch like good servants expecting every moment the comming of their Lord. So continuing his sermon he enforceth that duty of watching by two parables of the Virgins and of the Talents thereby to shew how it shall be at the day of judgment with the faithfull who shall be found prepared and with the unfaithfull who shall not be fitted for his comming Also that then he will call all men to account and reward or punish according to divine justice Finally without a parable he describeth the last judgment shewing that such faithfull as do the works of mercy shall have life everlasting but the unfaithfull who do them not shall be sent away into everlasting fire All which things Saint Matthew sets down largely and plainly Cap. 25. That night therefore he abode in the mount of Olives as Saint Luke saith S. Luc. 21.37 38. and went not to Bethany but returned early in the morning into the temple whither the people resorted to hear him and this was the third day before the passeover Concerning the transactions of which day we finde that as they passed by S. Mar. 11.20 they saw the fig tree which he had cursed to be dried up from the roots And Saint Peter shewing it unto him he exhorted them to stedfastnesse of faith shewing the power of it and to forgive one another and their enemies when they pray That day also it seemes as he returned from the Temple to Bethany he foretold unto his disciples that after two daies at the passeover he should be betrayed and crucified S. Mat. 26.2 of which his death he had often times premonished them And so he came to Bethany where he was invited to supper in the house of Simon the leper the chiefe priests the scribes and the elders of the people in the mean time consulting his death in the house of Caiphas the high priest yet not to put him to death for that was agreed upon before S. Mat. 26.4 S. Mar. 14.1 S. Luc. 22.2 He suppeth in the house of Simon the leper and is annointed the second time to his buriall but how to single him out from the people and by some stratagem or subtle device to get him into their power that they might kill him Now as he sate at meat in the house of that Simon who formerly had been a leper and had received cure from
down into the place of the damned really and by locall motion so that he descended not onely by effect and virtue but by actuall descent the divinity being also present therewith by the hypostaticall union Which thing is no less no otherwise nor by any other faith to be believed but in the same measure in the same manner and by the same faith by which we believe his death and buriall For saith the Church of England As Christ dyed for us and was buried so also is it to be believed that he went down into hell Art 3. It is to be believ'd because it was predicted and foretold by the spirit of prophecie in the old Testament Thou wilt not leave my soule in hell It is to be believed because it was typed by Sampson and by Jonah the prophet It is to be believed because it pertained to his triumph over principalities and powers Psal 16.10 Jud. 16.3 Jon. 1.17 to spoile them utterly of all that they had and to enter as a conqueror into their strong city there to triumph over them and to spoile them of that dominion which they had there seeing that he was made not in his divinity for that he was before but in his humanity wherein he was crucified and wherein he conquered Lord of hell and of all infernall things It is to be believed because Saint Peter saith expresly That he went and preached unto the spirits in prison which sometimes were disobedient 1 Pet. 3.19 when once the long sufferings of God waited in the dayes of Noah while the Ark was a preparing wherein few that is eight soules were saved by water 20. He sealed up their just condemnation for their incredulity by exhibiting himself there who would not believe in him the seed of the woman who should break the Serpents head whom Noah had preached unto them that they might be saved Finally it is to be believed because this Creed and all other creeds are to be understood onely in the literall sense and without tautalogies which while some have not observed they have been put to miserable shifts and have thereby fallen into divers errours while some by hell understand the grave others those sufferings wherewith his soul was afflicted upon the cross others his captivity in the grave whereby his body lay in bondage under death till the third day some have flatly denyed the article it self and have not spared to style it a fiction some think the Creed to be corrupted and that the words in time got in by negligence Some have translated hell to the garden of Gethsemane and to mount Calvary and said that there he descended into hell both in soule and body by his sufferings in both and that he suffered there the torments of hell rejection desperation the second death Some also do describe as perfectly as if they had been there and do say that in hell there be four receptacles the one where the souls of the righteous Fathers who departed this life before the comming of Christ in the flesh and before his death were kept and thither went the soul of Christ say they by actual reality and brought them out from thence and this they call limbus patrum Another receptacle they say there is where the soules of penitent Christians are kept which have not been perfectly cleansed from the blemish of sinne in this life and this they call Purgatory A third wherein are kept the soules of children departing this life before baptisme which they call limbus puerorum or infantium And the fourth into which the damned are sent to suffer eternally by a double penalty of the loss and of the sense And this they call the hell of the damned into which if we will believe them Christ descended not by actuall reality as neither did he into purgatory and the limbus puerorum but only by a virtuall and operative descent But the Creed having told us what became of his body after death and that he was buried doth likewise tell us what his soul did after it was departed from his body and that he descended into hell so that his descending into hell did not pertain to his humiliation but to his glorification inchoated and begun which was manifested by his glorious resurrection whereby he was declared to be the Son of God with power Rom. 1.4 as Saint Paul saith but was fully consummated by his ascension into heaven When the third day was come after that his soul had done all those things in the heavenly paradise The history of Christ his blessed resurrection and in hell which he in his soul by divine dispensation was first to do and after that his blessed body had rested in the grave about the space of thirty six or thirty eight hours from the friday at what time he was laid into his sepulchre by Joseph of Arimathea and Nichodemus before the sun went down to the morning of the first day of the week to the end that he might fulfill the types and prophecies of the scripture Gen. 22. Gen. 41. Jon. 2. 3. S. Mat. 16.21 and also his Evangelicall word whereby he had promised his resurrection upon that day And that his Church in all her members might know and believe that he had fully conquered and subdued death And that he might fully manifest himselfe to be the Son of God S. Joh. 10.17 18. and Lord of life and that he dyed not by compulsion but of his own free will And to the end that he might make a gracious and effectuall application of his obedience and of his sufferings and of his death to all true believers by ascending into heaven Heb. 9.24 Rom. 8.34 S. Joh. 2.1 2. to appear in the presence of God and to make intercession for them and to be their advocate with the Father Upon all these respects and for all these great waighty causes he delayed no time but early in the morning somewhat before day and to that end that he might with all speed comfort his sorrowfull Disciples who as yet believed not that he would rise againe by his own power and virtue S. Joh. 20.9 he arose from the dead and went out of the sepulchre leaving behind him the linnen clothes and the napkin wrapped together in a place by it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the stone which was rolled S. Jo. 20.6 7. yet remaining upon the door of the sepulchre Theoph. in Mat. 28. Then was there a great earthquake S. Mat. 28.2 for the Angell of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sate upon it His countenance was like lightning 3 and his raiment white as snow And for feare of him the keepers did shake and became as dead men Such was the cause of the earthquake 4. and of the comming of the Angell It was not to role back the stone to the end that his body might come forth
His sixth apparition therefore was after eight daies that is to say His sixth apparition to St. Thomas with the other Apostles upon the eighth day the sunday or Lords day which was the first day of the week at what time the disciples were within and Saint Thomas also with them For then came he in the doors being shut and stood in the midst giving them his peace as before Peace be unto you This seemeth to be that apparition of which Saint Paul speaketh 1 Cor. 15.5 He was seen of Cephas then of the twelve And he saith of the twelve because they were twelve at first by election they were twelve before Judas fell away and that number was made up again by Saint Matthias chosen in his place Therefore Saint Thomas is said before v. 24. to be one of the twelve In his dealing with Saint Thomas for whose sake principally he appeared at that time we have to observe 1st that which Saint Chrysostome also observeth That he did not expect that Saint Thomas should ask him any thing but to shew that he knew what it was that he had spoken he answereth him according to the tenour of his owne words It was to convince him and to give him to understand that although he were absent by his humanity yet he was present by his Divinity to hear what it was that he said Then with a gentle increpation he condescendeth to his infirmity Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithlesse but believing Finally he awakens his faith which did as it were lie asleep in him for when he had done so then makes he a good confession acknowledging that he believed both natures in the unity of one and the same person S. Joh. 20.26 27 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Lord and my God All the Apostles no doubt had felt him and did see in his hands and feet the print of the nails to the end that they might not think themselves fascinated or deluded in the verity of his appearance whom they did believe to be risen from the dead But Saint Thomas his infidelity will not be cured neither by seeing nor by feeling unlesse he put his finger into the print of the nails and thrust his hand into his side Posset autem si vellet de corpore suscitato clarificato omnem maculam cujuslibet cicatricis abstergere sed sciebat quare cicatrices in suo corpore reservaret Sicut enim demonstravit Thomae non credenti nisi tangeret videret ita etiam inimicis suis vulnera demonstraturus est sua non quod eis dicat sicut Thomae Quod vidisti credidisti sed ut convincens eos veritas dicat Ecce hominem quem crucifixistis videtis vulnera quae inflixistis agnoscitis latus quod pupugistis quoniam per vos propter vos apertum est nec tamen intrare voluistis Aug. de Symb. Christ could if he would wipe away every spot of whatsoever scarre from that his body which was raised up clarified but he knew why he would reserve those scars in his body For like as he shewed them to St. Thomas who would not believe unlesse he should touch and see them Even so also will he shew unto his enemies his wounds not them as to Saint Thomas That which thou hast seen thou hast believed but to the end that the truth convincing them may say Behold the man whom ye crucified ye see the wounds which ye inflicted ye know the side which ye pierced which by you and for you was opened neither yet would ye enter in After which six apparitions which were in or nigh unto Hierusalem and the feast of the passeover being ended S. Mat. 26.32 S. Mar. 16.7 he went before them into Galilee according to his promise both before and after his resurrection There he appeared unto them the seventh time at the sea of Tiberias His seventh apparition at the sea of Tiberias and it is noted before out of venerable Bede that according to the custome of the Hebrew tongue every gathering together of waters is called a sea be they sweet or salt This sea of Tiberias was the sea of Galilee called the sea of Galilee because it bordereth upon Galilee And the sea of Tiberias from the city of Tiberias which stood upon the shore of it The vvaters of this sea are said to be very sweet and pleasant abounding with great variety of fishes for which cause it was much frequented by fishers who did fish there and caught great store of fishes The disciples being come into Galilee there were together saith the text Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathaniel Saint Bartholomew I suppose of Cana in Galilee and the sons of Zebedee Saint James and Saint Iohn and two other of his disciples Those two disciples are not named I conjecture they might be those that went to Emaus The number seven Saint Peter who had not left off but intermitted his old profession told them that he would go a fishing they all concluded to go with him So they went forth and entered into a ship immediately and laboured all night but caught nothing In the morning Iesus stood on the shore but they did not know that it was he for as Saint Chrysostome saith he could not be knowne after his resurrection but by his owne condescention because his body was incorruptible He demanded of them if they had any meat if they had caught any fishes to be eaten and when they told him that they had not he directed them to cast the net on the right side of the ship and that there they should finde a draught A ship hath neither right side nor left side but according to the posture of those that are in it their right side is the right side of the ship For dextrum sinistrum aliae differentiae situs sunt in inanimatis quoad nos tantum sed in animatis secundum se Aquin. part 1. Q. 13. art 7. con The right side and the left side and other differences of scituation are in things without life only in respect of us but in things animate with respect to themselves The disciples understood his meaning S. Joh. 21.1 2 3 4 5 6. and did according to his direction and obtained a great draught so that they were not able to pull it up into the ship for the multitude of fishes By this miracle Saint Iohn knew him and told Saint Peter that it was the Lord. Which when he heard he girt his fishers coat unto him for he was naked and swam to land But the other disciples who were not far off came in the ship dragging the net with fishes because they were not able to take it in As soon as they came to land they see the provision which the Lord had made for their entertainment a fire of coles and fish laid upon