came into the world non vt iudex sed vt medicus not as a iudge but as a Phisitian non vt nostra fugeret opprobria sed extingueret potius that hee might not shunne our reproches but rather that hee might blot them out and heale them If it had pleased him hee might haue created mans nature anew such as had neuer sinned as was Adams nature before the fall such a one I say might hee haue created and ioyned it in a personall vnion with his diuine but if so hee had done where then should haue bene the comfort of sinners wee had still remained vnder desperation without any hope that this nature of ours should euer haue beene deliuered from the corruption thereof but that now hee assumed our nature which once was sinfull and hath fully seperated it from all sinne it giues vnto vs liuely hope that hee will also sunder vs from our sinnes so that they shall not be able to hinder our spirituall fellowship and communion with him The third reason is to manifest Christ his greater glory by declaring to the world that hee tooke no holinesse of his fathers If all his parents mentioned in this Genealogie had bene famous for godlinesse onely it might haue beene thought a small matter for Christ to be holy that was come of so holy progenitors but in that he descended of sinnefull parents and yet was borne a holy one and without sinne it declared him to be that great high Preist holy harmeles vndefiled separate from sinners who giueth holinesse to all that are in communion with him but takes not holinesse from any This is his peculiar glory belonging to himselfe alonely and to none other And therefore the Papists while as they goe about to honour Christ by affirming that his mother the blessed Virgin was conceiued and borne without sinne doe in very deede rather dishonour him as if from her he had taken the holinesse of his nature or that hee could not haue beene conceiued and borne without sinne vnlesse his mother had beene conceiued and borne without sinne before him They might consider that the holy Ghost by whom our Lord was conceiued could very well discerne the seede of Dauid in the Virgins wombe from the sinnefull corruption thereof he tooke that seede hee sanctined it and separated it from sinne and of it framed the humane body of our Lord and this is the true doctrine reseruing to Iesus Christ his proper glory and to poore sinners their necessary comfort But the contrary doctrine of the Aduersaries long before vs was condemned by Bernard as a presumptuous noueltie the mother of Temeritie the sister of of Superstition the daughter of Leuitie so hee termed that vnaduised attempt of the Channons of Lyons who first did institute a feast of the conception of Mary to be obserued in the Church in the honourable remembrance of her conception without sinne for it is saith he the onely prerogatiue of Christ who was to sanctifie all hee came without sinne to take away the sinnes of others quo excepto de caetero vniuersos respicit ex Adamo natos quod vnus humiliter de seipso veraciter consitetur In iniquitatibus conceptus sum et in peccato fouit me mater mea What then wil be the reason of this festiuall conception how shall that conception be esteemed holy which is not of the holy Ghost but of sinne or how shall it be honoured with a feast which is not holy Lubenter gloriosa virgo tali honore carebit quo vel peccatum honorari vel falsa induci videtur sanctitas willingly saies hee will the glorious Virgin want such honour by which either sinne seemes to be honoured or a false holinesse brought into the Church In the rest of this section no other particular is to be touched but that Salomon begets Booz of Rahab who was a Cananitish woman and Booz begets Obed of Ruth a Moabitish woman both of them Gentiles yet reckoned in by name among Christs mothers according to the flesh and that for the comfort of the Gentiles also to let vs see that God is no accepter of persons but that whosoeuer calles vpon the name of the Lord shal be saued for in Christ Iesus neither Circumcision auailes any thing nor vncircumcision but saith which workes by loue Both Iew and Grecian bond and free male and female are now all one in Christ Iesus And if we be Christs then are wee Abrahams seede and heires by promise The fourth section containes the roll of Fathers from Dauid vnto Zorobabel where againe Saint Mathew and Saint Luke takes diuerse courses for where Saint Mathew diduces the line from Dauid by Salomon Saint Luke brings it downe from Dauid by Nathan not Nathan the Prophet but another of that name Dauids sonne by Bethshabe and so Salomons brother germaine Where if the doubt be moued how our Sauiour could discend of them both they being two brethren it is answered that by the Law established among the Iewes it was prouided that if a man had died without issue his brother or neerest kinsman was bound to marrie his wife and raise vp seede vnto him now Salomons race we may see ended in Ieconiah the eighteenth man after him according to that word of the Lord by Ieremie O Earth Earth Earth heare the word of the Lord thus saith the Lord write this man childelesse for there shal be no man of his seede that shall prosper and sit vpon the throne of Dauid or beare rule any more in Iuda It is true that to this same Ieconiah children are ascribed 1 Chro. 3. but these are children by succession not by generation And therefore Ieconiah as I haue said dying without issue Salathiel the sonne of Neri in the line of the other brother Nathan comes in as neerest Heyre and is reckoned by Saint Mathew the sonne of Ieconiah to wit Legall For wee must vnderstand that there was a double discent vsually reckoned among the Iewes the one Legall the other Naturall the Naturall discent was when as one by Naturall generation discended of another the Legall when one not naturally discended of another yet succeded as neerest of kinne to the inheritance now to let vs see the agreement of the Euangelists Saint Luke diduces the Naturall line of Christ from Dauid making it knowne how Christ by Nathan is the Naturall sonne of Dauid according to the flesh but Saint Mathew diduces the Legall line of Christ from Dauid making it knowne how Christ as Salomons heire and lawfull King of the Iewes succeeded as neerest of kinne to sit vpon the throne of Dauid his father For the which also Saint Mathew calles him borne King of the Iewes and the Iewes themselues could not name any of there nation neerer then he and therefore hauing no lawfull exception against him cryed out in their wilfulness Wee will haue no King
defection yea in most dangerous places euen there where Sathan hath his throne for this is no small argument of true religion deepely rooted in your heart that hauing trauelled through Italy Rome and other parts of the Popes Dominions heard and seene all those allurements which carrieth away instable minded men not rooted nor grounded in Christ after the loue of that richly busked Babilonish Whoore your Lordship hath returned home vnspotted neither burnt with their fire nor blacked with their smoake not vnlike those three children who came forth out of Nabuchadnezzars fire and had not so much as a smell thereof on their garments This Pietie euen in the iudgement of them who had no more but Natures light was esteemed the highest matter of a mans praise maiorem virtutem religione pietate in Deum nullam in humano genere inueniri quisque sibi persuadeat The reason hereof is giuen by Diuines illuminate with the light of the word to be this that by Pietie and holinesse of life we ascend ad primarium illud bonum vnde originem traximus and therefore the same father speaking in the praise of Cyprian affirmes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And indeede since we are the generation of God made to his image what greater glory can man haue then to conserue that image and be like vnto him to whose similitude hee was made Vna itaque nobilitas imitatio dei Goe on therfore right Noble Lord follow the course which yee haue happily begunne shew your selfe the kindely sonne of so worthy Fathers aboue all the Sonne of God by the new generation his worke-manship created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes Keepe in minde that warning of our Lord Much will be required of him to whom much is giuen as the double portion obliged the first borne to the greater seruice otherwaies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In all your waies looke vp to the Lord hee it is that exalts them of lowe degree and puts downe the mighty from their seates turning their glory into shame who vse not their glory to honour him Pittifull proofes whereof wee haue in this fearefull earthquake as I may call it going through this countrey by which many Castles Houses and Lands spewes out their inhabitants shaking off the yoke of their ancient Lords and rendring themselues to be possessed of their seruants because they haue also cast off the yoke of the Lord their God or at least not welcommed his grace offred in the Gospell as it became them The consideration whereof I doubt not doth affect your Lordship as it doth others who are become wise through the feare of God and learnes by the losse of others to gather their thoughts and make peace with him whose praise it is that he buildes houses to men and vpholds them for by him enterprises are established And herewithall remember Right Noble Lord that as trees on tops of hils are subiect to the blast of euery winde so men in the height of honour to great temptations against which they haue neede to be armed But least I seeme Monere memorem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more laborious then neede requires I end Humbly praying your Lordship to accept these small and scarse-ripe fruit of my labours as a testimony of my affection to your Honour till it may please God some better token come into my hand whereby to declare it Your Lordships to command M. WILLIAM COVVPER Minister of Perth The Preface IT may iustly be spoken of many in this age which the Apostle Saint Paul spake of the Hebrewes When as concerning the time yee ought to be teachers of others yee haue neede againe that wee teach you the first principles of the word of God and are become such as haue neede of Milke and not of strong meate they professe faith in Christ but in truth doe not beleeue in him neither yet can they because they know him not they are baptised in his name but are not bureid with him through Baptisme neither raised vp together through the faith of the operation of God that raised him from the dead they carrie his cognisance and badge but are not militant vnder him in his warrefare As the Athenians sacrificed Ignoto Deo to a strange God and the Samaritans worshipped that which they knew not so our Atheists profitentur ignotum Christum professe a strange Christ they know not what he is in himselfe nor how hee is become ours nor what hee hath done for vs and therefore neither in life nor death doe they expresse his vertue They liue licentiously reprobate vnto euery good worke dishonouring Christ as if hee were a Sauiour who had no power to sanctifie those which are in him and they dye without comfort as if Christ by death had not obtained life and by death did not transport to life all that are in him thus while they professe fellowship with him they declare themselues to be strangers from him It is witnessed by the Lord in Ezechiel the same soule that sinneth shall die the sonne shall not beare the inquitie of the father neither shall the father beare the iniquitie of the sonne but the righteousnesse of the righteous shal be vpon him and the wickednesse of the wicked shal be vpon himselfe If according to this testimonie of the word it be demanded of them seeing Christ is holy and righteous and wee are the sinners how is it that hee is punished and wee are spared This is but one of the least of Sathans assaults by which he impugnes the faith of men and yet if they be required to answere it they shall soone bewray themselues to be voide of knowledge and solide faith confident onely in a naked profession which will not faile in the end to beguile them For as an house faultie in the foundation cannot abide the stormy windes and raine no more can a Christian not informed with knowledge not rooted grounded and builded in Christ Iesus by faith endure in the houre of tentation That therefore the doctrine of Christianitie may be learned by such as knowes it not from the very foundation we haue here proposed three most necessary points to be entreated The first is Christs Genealogie the second his Baptisme the third his Tentation In the first wee are taught what manner of man our Lord is in himselfe In the second what manner of way he is become ours In the third what manner of way he did begin to worke the worke of our Redemption all most necessary to be knowne for the right grounding of our Faith on him In his Genealogie wee see how Iesus the sonne of Mary is that same blessed seede of the woman whom the Lord promised in Paradise to whom the Prophets of all times pointed and for whom the godly fathers of all ages waited and expected lineally desended from Adam by seauentie and foure fathers In his Baptisme wee see how he was consecrated
neuer to be forgotten TAke heede to thy selfe This is a precept most necessary to be practised The Lord is said to number our steps to ponder our pathes to weigh our selues and Sathan is said to winnow vs and to consider vs what great neede haue wee then to consider our selues The fruitlesse care of worldlings VVOrldlings take paines in their life to prouide for others who will not so much as remember them when they are gone for his place shall know him no more Where is the fruit of thy labours O wretched worldling in the heauen Thou hast laide vp no store for thy selfe there for thou neuer had a care to make thy selfe friends there of the riches of iniquitie what hope then canst thou haue to be receiued into those euerlasting mansions for comfort of the earth where is it all the fruit of thy labors thou must leaue to another who will be blythe to burie thee in the earth Oh that men could remember this Or it belong the earth will refuse to beare thee thy body will refuse to lodge thee thy friends will no longer retaine thee and who then shall receiue thee If the Lord also refuse thee and bid thee depart from him where away wilt thou goe for comfort O man make peace with thy God in time Couerings of sinne AS Adam after his transgression couered his nakednes with figge-tree leaues so is it Naturall to his sonnes to seeke couerings to their sinnes but of all it offends the Lord most when men seeke to couer their sinnes vnder the garment of God this was obiected to the Iewes Mal. 2. 16. who couered their adulteries with a shadow of diuorcements allowed as they thought by Moses and is yet practised by the Atheists of our time who bring defences for their sinne out of the word of God for such mockers heauy iudgements are prepared Knowledge and Deuotion AS a Bird that hath but one wing cannot flye the right way so a Christian wanting any one of these two cannot serue God in a right manner yet seldome goe these two together for some haue Knowledge without Deuotion and others haue Deuotion but without Knowledge None of these are good but the first is the worst of the two for the seruant that knowes his Maisters will and doth it not is worthy of double stripes A discouerie of the vanity of worldly honour MAn in his best estate is altogether vanitie his highest honour is like the vanishing shadow on the tops of mountaines when the sunne goes downe Put him in his chariot of triumph let it be drawne with horses of price yea if hee can with stately Lyons let him be decked in most gorgeous manner as Herode was on his birth-day these two interrogators shall soone discouer his vanity First what hath he vpon him or about him which is his owne hath he not borrowed from euery creature to make vp himselfe a begged glory garments from beasts of the earth feathers from foules of the ayre pearles from fishes of the sea silkes from creeping wormes and beasts and wormes and fishes at length shall deuoure his flesh in a recompence of that which they haue lent him And Secondly that which hee hath how long shall hee haue it the Samaritane Prince who this day leaned on the kings shoulder and the next day was trampled vnder the peoples feete stands vp among innumerable examples to witnesse how mutable and vaine the glory is of flesh Surely as Nabuchadnezzars image had a head of Gold but feete of Clay so is it with all worldly honour glorious in the beginning but it ends in dust and ashes Euery day should shadow our death THe end of euery day is a shadow of the end of our life our lying downe in the bed vnder couerings of clothes to rest vs till the morning should remember vs of our lying downe in the graue vnder the couering of moulds The sting of sinfull pleasure not perceiued in the day doth sting more liuely the conscience of men in the night when they examine themselues on their beds and all are at quiet no sight presented to the eye nor sound to the eare to distract the minde then conscience speakes the more loudly to warne a man of his sinnes and this may forewarne vs that if we doe not vnfainedly repent vs in time our sinnes will much more trouble vs in the end of our life let vs not keepe such a serpent in our bosome Contentment to dye I Desire not to out-liue the time whether it be long or short appointed to mee of the Lord. I know hee is permanent Iehoua death cannot take me from him but restore me to him Prophets dye and people to whom they speake die also but the word of the Lord endureth for euer and no word spoken in his name shall fall to the ground I know it shall not be well with the wicked though I see not their end and thy Saints shall haue cause to praise thee and say there is fruit for the righteous Glory be to God Si quid feceris honestum cum labore labor cito abit si quid turpe cum voluptate turpitudo manet voluptas abit Aul Gel. FINIS THE BAPTISME OF CHRIST VVherein the typicall Goel is compared with the true and is shewed how CHRIST our kinsman is made our right REDEEMER MARKE 1. 9. And it came to passe in those dayes that Iesus came from Nazaret a citie of Galile and was baptised of of Iohn in Iordan LONDON Printed for Iohn Budge 1612. A TABLE OF THE PRINCIpall points contained in this Booke A A Ccusations of Sathan and the Christian mans answere to them pag. 306 Adam the first son of God among men and the first father of Christ according to the flesh pag. 8 The euill that Adam brought on himselfe and his posteritie 59 How the second Adam hath the same similitude of generation with the first 13 What course the second Adam takes in our Redemption 58. the effect and comfort thereof 59 Our spiritual Adoption how confirmed 14 Our Election and Adoption impugned by Sathan 170 How wee should confirme our selues in the assurance of our Election and Adoption 175 Atheists conuinced 182 Professors of Atheisme 170 B BAptisme of Christ among sinners shewes his loue and humilitie 57 Christ baptizing with the spirit seeks the Baptisme of water from his owne seruant 60. to what end hee did so 61. the reasons thereof 62 Christ baptized to sanctifie Baptisme 66. and to seale vp his fellowship with vs. 68. he receiued it with prayer 64 The seale of Baptisme with the promises thereof 65 Why Constantine deferred his baptisme 67 The order of Sathans threefold Battell 162 How a Christian should order the Battell against him 163 Desperation fights in the left wing of Sathans battell 167. and Presumption in the right wing 192 A warning to Battell 277 Glory of Brittaines Ile 265 A warning to Brittaines Ile 267 C THe fatherly care and prouidence of God to his