which we have not done but the good works we have done and wholly relie upon the mercies of God in Christ who once for all suffered for our sinnes and daily absolves us from them so oft as in sincerity of heart wee confesse our sinnes and implore his propititation for them Unlesse we knew the fulfilling of the Law whether by habituall or actuall righteousnesse or by doing those things which wee ought to doe or leaving those things undone which we ought not to doe to be impossible for us in this life our reliance on God in Christ could not be so firme or so perpetually constant as the doctrine of our Church so it be rightly imbraced will make it 3. The Socinians wandâ—r in the like but much grosser â—â—st of errours wounding one another whilest they shoot at us who are sufficiently armed against their poysoned arrowes by the armour of God on the right hand on the left to wit the distinction of persons in the blessed Trinity Indeed were there but one party or capacity in the divine nature which were the only party or person offended their arguments for remission of sinnes after their way would conclude against us who presse a necessity or convenience of satisfaction unto God But their strongest Arguments fall either wide or short of all such as maintaine this distinction of parties or persons in the divine nature For if the sonne of God or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were truely God from eternity and remained God after man did make himselfe the servant of Satan he might without wrong to any man to any party without wrong to himselfe for volenti non sit injuria voluntarily take the forme of a servant upon him and in that forme or low condition of man make perfect satisfaction per translationem paenae for all our debts for all our sinnes and our debts being fully paid restore us to the liberty and priviledge of the sonnes of God He both might and did truly purchase that peculiar dominion over us which he hath over all men an absolute dominion of punishing all Gods ungracious and of crowning all his thankfull and faithfull servants This dominion as it is peculiar to Christ was purchased by true and reall satisfaction made unto God 4. But what it was for Christ the sonne of God to take upon him the forme of a servant or wherin this condition or forme of a servant did properly consist are points which neither the Arian nor the Socinian did ever take into serious consideration If the Socinian would yet doe so he might clearely see that his former objections could not reach us but must rebound upon himselfe For the man Christ Jesus being so just a man as we beleeve and he grants he was unlesse he had been more then man truly God and truly a servant withall it could not have stood with the goodnesse of God nor with any rule of justice divine or humane either to have punished him for our sakes as we say God did or to have suffered him to undergoe such hard and cruell usage at the hands of wicked and sinfull men as the Socinians confesse he did undergo without murmuring or complaint But this is a point which cannot be orderly handled untill we come to the death and passion of our Lord and Saviour which was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or period rather of his servitude or of being in the forme of a servant which was the Basis of his humiliation And albeit I purpose not in that place to dispute whether God could possibly have freely remitted our sinnes without any satisfaction a question to which no wise men will take upon them to give a peremptory answer whether negative or affirmative yet I shall by Gods assistance there make it cleare that no other meanes of manner of remitting out sinnes of absolving or justifying us or of bringing us to glory which either the Socinian or the wit of man can imagine could have been so admirable to sober capacities as that way and manner which the Scripture plainly teacheth and that in briefe is this 5. The divine nature in the person of the Father requires satisfaction for the transgressions of man against the eternall Law and unchangeable rule of goodnesse or those positive Lawes which he had given in speciall to man The same divine nature in the person of the sonne undertooke to make satisfaction for us in taking our nature upon him and Hee having by right of consanguinity the authority and power of redeeming us the same divine nature in the person of the holy Ghost doth approve and seale this happy and ever blessed compromise This ineffable accord betweene the divine persons in the unity of the Godhead concerning the great worke of mans redemption is most exactly parallel to that accord which some of the Ancient have excellently observed betwixt them in that work of creation as hath beene before expressed in that article Not to repeat nor to adde to that which was there delivered but to continue these present discussions concerning the eternity and person of the sonne of God 6. Some there have beene and are who granting all that wee have said or can desire to bee granted concerning the incarnation of God or Trinity of persons in the unity of the Godhead further demand why God rather in the person of the sonne then in the person of the father or of the holy Ghost should bee incarnate or made flesh But might not these men some perhaps will say as well have demanded why God the Father did make the world rather by the sonne then by himselfe or by the holy Ghost Or why this title of Him by whom all thing were made should be peculiar to God the sonne And to this question it would be a satisfactory answer to say that we must believe that the world was so made because the Scripture which is the only rule and guide of faith doth so instruct us or because the persons of the blessed Trinity for reasons best knowne unto themselves alone would have it to be so and so to be written But many arguments there be well observed by the ancient and better explicated by moderne Divines some of whose works are extant in print others worthy of the presse unto which I shall be as farre from adding as from detracting These reasons alone abundantly satisfie all the desires which I ever had to be informed in this point First seeing the blessed Trinity was pleased to have satisfaction made for the sinnes of mankinde and by this satisfaction to exhibit an exquisite paterne of justice and equitie Secondly seeing mans sinne did especially consist in rebellion the satisfaction was according to the rule or paterne of equitie and justice to be made by most exquisite obedience Now the most exquisite obedience that can bee performed is from a sonne unto his father or from a servant unto his Lord. Hence it pleased the eternall wisedome and sonne of God to take not the
head stone of the Corner doth allude or referre unto some historicall event then fresh in memory They containe no prophecy in respect of the event whatsoever that were yet are they a most true concludent Prophecie of Christs exaltation by his father after his rejection by the Priests and Elders So our Saviour interprets it Matth. 21. 42. All these three testimonies mentioned consisting both of word and matter of fact are first typicall then propheticall But oftentimes the same words though not alwayes according to the same sense are propheticall as well in respect of the type as of the antitype and then the proofe or testimony is prophetically typicall or meerely typicall from their first date and afterwards in processe of time both typicall and propheticall Of this ranke is that prediction made to David 2 Sam. 7. 12 13. c. And when thy dayes be fulfilled and thou shalt sleepe with thy fathers I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowells and I will establish his Kingdome He shall build an house for my name and I will establish the throne of his Kingdome for ever I will be his Father and he shall be my son if he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men but my mercy shall not depart away from him as I tooke it from Saul whom I put away before thee And thy house thy Kingdom shal be established for ever before thee thy throne shall be established for ever Of the same rank and order is that repetition of this promise Psal 89. from ver 20. to the 37. Both places conteine an expresse prophecie of Gods favour unto David and to his posterity and both include the prerogative of Salomon above all Kings that had gone before him And yet in as much as Salomon in the height of his glory was but a shadow or picture though a faire one of the sonne of God who was to be made the sonne of David likewise the same words which were undoubtedly verifyed of Salomon in his time were afterwards exactly fulfilled in Christ who was the living person or substance whom Salomon did forepicture No Christian can no Jew will deny these words of the Prophet Isaiah cap. 22. 20 21 22. c. to be propheticall in the first place of Eliakims advancement to be chiefe master or high Steward over the house of David in Shebna's steed And it shall come to passe in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the sonne of Hilkiah And I will cloth him with thy robe and strengthen him with thy girdle and I will commit thy government into his hand and he shall be a Father to the Inhabitants of Ierusalem to the house of Iudah And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulders so he shall open and none shall shut and hee shall shut and none shall open And I will fasten him as a naile in a sure place and he shall be for a glorious throne to his Fathers house And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his fathers house c. But in as much as Eliakim both by name and office did but prefigure or delineate Christ in his acts and office the same words which were literally meant of Eliakim are in a more exquisite sense fulfilled in Christ But of the severall senses of Scriptures and how the Scriptures are said according to these severall senses to be fulfilled somewhat in the two next chapters following These proofes or testimonies whereof we now treat whether typically propheticall or prophetically typicall are in number many and of all the rest most concludent to Readers but ordinarily observant For they containe the intire force and strength of the two former proofes or testimonies meerely typicall or meerely propheticall by way of union and it is universally true Vis unita semper fortier 3. Imagine a man of ordinarie insight in Architecture should come into some large and curious palace or City newly built and after a diligent survey of the form and fashion of every particular roome house or street should finde a model of elder date then the worke it selfe which did beare the just proportion and inscription of every roome or building this would resolve him that such exact correspondency could not fall out by chance but that the Citie or Palace had beene built by his directions which made the model or by some others which made use of his skill albeit no handy-workman imployed in the building albeit none but the Architect or generall director did perceive as much Thus all historicall events related in the new testament concerning Christ his birth his death and passion c. have their exact Maps or Models drawne in the history of the old testament besides the expresse propheticall inscriptions which instruct us how to referre or compare every part of the legall or historicall model unto the Evangelicall aedifice answering to it This to every observant Reader is a concludent proofe that one and the same spirit did both forecast the models and in the fulnesse of time accomplish the worke it selfe to wit the building up of Sion and Jerusalem though this he effected as master builders in like cases doe by the hands of inferiour workmen not acquainted nor comprehensive of his project or contrivances 4. Every house saith the Apostle Heb. 3. 4. is builded by some man but he that built all things is God This power of God by which he made all things even the materialls of all things whereon men doe work doth not farther exceed the power of other builders then the wisedome of the same God which is manifested in the aedifice of the heavenly temple doth surpasse all skill or contrivance of the most skilfull Architects or Projectors For whatsoever is by them forecast or projected doth never prosper never come to any perfection unlesse the workemen imployed by them follow their rules or directions But this greatest worke of God the erection or edification of his Church did then goe best forward when the workmen or builders imployed about it did forsake his counsell and followed the directions of his malitious adversary who sought the confusion both of it and them He built up the Kingdome of Sion and Jerusalem in peace without let or interruption even whilest the master builders designed by him did lay the foundation or chiefe corner stone of it in blood And after it was so laid did accomplish whatsoever he would have done in this great worke by the hands of such workemen as did nothing lesse then what he would have had them to do Though Judas one of the twelve by Satans suggestion did betray his Lord though the high Priest and Elders became the Devills agents to condemne him and though Pilate lastly turned Satans deputie to sentence him to death yet all these did that which the most wise most righteous and most mercifull God
or finisher that they could have desired This saith he was even then acknowledged not to fall out by meer chance or without some further portending meaning or signification The exceptions taken against this tradition avouched by this Author Petrus Comestor are to men acquainted with the manner of sacred expressions of things to come so weake that they adde strength unto it But whatsoever the historicall event were at which these words in the literall sense immediately point wee Christians know that in the Symbolicall or spirituall sense they referre to Christ His exaltation unto Majestie and glory after the chiefe Rulers of the Temple had cast him aside and rejected him as not fit to be entertained amongst Gods people was mystically foreshadowed by that matter of fact or historicall event whereof the Psalmist speakes whatsoever that were yet not expresly foretold according to the direct literall sense of his words but onely signified according to the Symbolicall importance After the same manner the forecited words of the Prophet Isa 22. 23. The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder so he shall open and none shall shut and hee shall shut and none shall open doe in their literall and native sense immediately point at Eliakim of whose office in the house of David a materiall and visible key was the ensigne or pledge as the like is of some great offices in moderne Princes Courts But according to the emblematicall or symbolicall importance both key and office both inscription and matter of fact referre unto the spirituall invisible power of the sonne of David Who hath the keyes of Hell and of death Rev. 1. The keyes likewise of the Kingdome of Heaven and where he openeth no power in heaven or earth can shut nor open where he is pleased to shut That which some call the morall sense of scriptures is alwayes reducible to this generall branch last mentioned to wit to the emblematicall or symbolicall importance of the words expressed as they concurre with matter of fact or reall representation Only there may be a morall sense where there is no prophecy no representation truly mysticall As when it is written Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Oxe which treadeth out the Corne this law was to be observed according to the plaine literall sense And yet both the law it selfe and its observance from the first date of the letter had that morall which the Apostle makes That such as serve at the Altar should live by the Altar 5. To this branch likewise belong all the significations of legall ceremonies which doe not immediately point at Christ in whom they were exactly fulfilled but at morall duties to bee performed as well by us Christians as by the ancient Jews Christ our Passeover saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 5. 7 8. it sacrificed for us Therefore let us keepe the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and wickednesse but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth This was the true morall of that legall observance of the feast of unleavened bread which was to be kept according to the strict letter of the law whilest the law of ceremonies was in force Concerning this symbolicall or morall sense especially when it is not propheticall Maldonats advise is very good He that will search after such senses must hold close to the letter Propiùs mihi Rupertus videtur in quaerendo morali sensu ad literalem accessisse quod semper faciendum esse ei qui ridiculus esse nolit saepe monumus And of allegoricall mysticall or symbolicall senses which are propheticall or prefigurative none are current or concludent but such as hold exact proportion with the sense historicall 6. Some good Divines there be which would have an anagogicall sense distinct from all these mentioned The Allegoricall Spirituall or Mysticall sense is by them limited to matters already accomplished in the Gospell whereas the Anagogicall reacheth to matters of the world to come But this difference in the subject or time unto which whether words or matters sacred referre makes no formall difference in the sense or manner of the prediction or prefiguration Whatsoever is in Scripture foresignified or intimated concerning the state and condition of the life to come is either literally foretold by expresse words or mystically foreshadowed by matter of fact or notified by some concurrence of prediction and representation and so may be reduced to one or other of the senses mentioned either to the meere literall or to the meerely mysticall or to the literally or symbolically mysticall or spirituall sense CHAP. 13. Of the literall sense of Scripture not assertive but meerely charactericall BUt divine mysteries as was intimated before are sometimes neither notified by expresse prediction or words assertive nor by matter of fact historicall event or type nor by the persons actions or offices of men but represented onely by words or names by notes or letters or other secret characters of speech Now this manner of representing mysteries divine produceth a sense of Scripture distinct from all the former which can hardly be comprehended under one certaine denomination unlesse it be under this negative the literall sense not assertive Or if the Reader desire a positive expression of it he may terme it the charactericall sense To beginne with the first words of Scripture In the beginning saith Moses Bara Elohim The Lord created c. Although these words be assertive yet the mystery of the Trinity is not avouched in Logicall assertion or proposition but only represented or insinuated in the peculiar forme or character of the grammaticall construction if happily it be here either represented or intimated at all For some both judicious Divines and great Hebricians there be as well in the Romish as in the reformed Churches who will acknowledge no intimation of any mystery in this conjunction of a noune plurall with a verbe singular but tell us this forme of speech is usuall in the Hebrew dialect as the like is in some cases in the Greeke For the Graecians as every grammar Scholar knowes joyne nounes of the neuter gender plurall with verbes of the singular number as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These mens authority would sway much with me if I did not finde it counterpoised by observation of Wolphgangus Capito an exquisite Hebrician and discreet searcher of the mysticall sense of Scriptures Now if his observation doe not faile him the construction of verbes singular with nounes plurall is never used amongst Hebrew writers unlesse the noune doe want the singular number In this case alone they doe not extend the signification of the verb into such plurality as is in the noune Contrary to the use of the Latines who to make the adjective and substantive agree in number stretch Vnum one or unity it selfe into a plurall forme as unae literae una maenia which would be a harsh kind of speech in our English or other modern tongues But
to him a Father and he shall be to me a sonne was fulfilled in Salomon in the literall sense but in Christ both according to the literall and mysticall sense So was that forecited passage Isay 22. fulfilled in Eliakim according to the literall sense but afterwards fulfilled in Christ both according to the literally symbolicall and the mysticall sense And thus the names given to Iohn Baptist himselfe and to his Parents had their accomplishment when Christ was exhibited in our flesh and yet these and many other of the same rank were more exactly fulfilled after his resurrection Maldonat his fourth rule as was before intimated will hold in all these severall wayes according to which the Scripture is said to be fulfilled whether according to the meere literall and assertive sense or according to the meere mysticall sense or according to both with their severall branches or according to the charactericall sense or literall representative only not assertive According to every one of these senses may one and the same Scripture be oftner fulfilled than once or twice and in a manner more remarkable at one time than at another though alwayes truly fulfilled and according to the intention of the holy Ghost 5. To beginne with the literall assertive No man I thinke will question whether that of the Prophet Isaiah with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked were literally meant of any besides our Saviour Christ And there is no question but these words were fulfilled within the compasse of that age which brought him forth and so then fulfilled in sundry wicked ones yet doe not these words referre to them or those times alone but are to be fulfilled in a more remarkable manner at the day of Judgement or perhaps before it For from this place of the Prophet Isaiah our Apostle had that revelation 2 Thess 2. 8. Then shall that Wicked he revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightnesse of his comming Many like prophecies there be concerning the glory of Christs Church and the happy estate of his elect which are even in this life literally fulfilled or verified by way of pledge or earnest but shall not be exactly fulfilled save only in the life to come Ignorance of this rule or non-observance of it hath been the nurse of dangerous and superstitious error as well in the Romane Church as in her extreme opposites in such I meane as beginne their faith and anchor their hopes at the absolute infallibility of their personall election with no lesse zeale or passion then the Romanist relyes upon the absolute infallibility of the visible Church 6. That very instance which Maldonat alleageth for the confirmation of his third rule This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips c. Matth. 15. 8. was literally meant of the Jewes which lived in Isaiahs time yet not properly fulfilled in them or of them for in respect of them it was not a Prophecy but a sharpe reproofe or taxe yet this reproofe or taxe was a most exact prophecy in respect of the Jewes which conversed with our Saviour of whom it was literally meant in a more exquisite sense than of their Ancestors and in this sense often fulfilled The ancient Jewes did not honour God being personally and visibly present with their lips as these later did nor were their hearts so malitiously set at least their malice not so diametrally bent against God at any time as the hearts and malice of these later Jews were against Christ who was the God of their Fathers As these later Jewes did fill up the measure of their Fathers sinnes so whatsoever God did threaten to this stiffenecked people for their rebellion against him was more exactly fulfilled in this last generation then it had beene in any former The severall generations or successions created no difference in the true object of the literall sense that may and did as equally respect many generations as one man infinite transgressions as truly as some few This Scripture may be as truly fulfilled in all as in one though noâ— in all according to the same measure So S. Stephen tells the Jewes Acts 7. 5. 52. Yee stiffenecked and uncircumcised in heart and eares yee doe alwayes resist the holy Ghost at your Fathers did so doe yee Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers persecuted And they have slaine them which shewed before of the comming of the just one of whom yee have beene now the betrayers and murderers And our Saviour himselfe chargeth the present generation of the Jews with the blood of Zacharias forme of Barachias whom their forefathers had slaine many hundreds of yeares before Matt. 23. 35. adding withall that his blood should be required of that generation present Which is a proofe sufficient that this Zacharias was not the Father as some have supposed of Iohn the Baptist For if he had beene slaine betweene the Temple and the Altar hee must have beene slaine by that present generation to whom our Saviour directs this speech and so there had beene no matter of observation capable of that Emphaticall Epiphonema Luke 11. 51. Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this generation Now his blood was to bee required of this last generation because they had fulfilled the measure of their forefathers sinnes who had prodigiously slaine their high Priest Zacharias But how the Prophecy of this their high Priest or rather his dying curse was fulfilled more exactly of this last generation than of that generation which put him to death would require a particular treatise not in this place to be inserted His dying speech though uttered by way of imprecation was propheticall And the event of his imprecation though exhibited shortly after his death was typically propheticall of that which happened to this last generation within forty yeares after the death of our Saviour whom Zacharias did in his death though not in his dying speeches exactly foreshadow 7. As one and the same Scripture may be oftner then once fulfilled or exactly verified in different measure only by way of growth or increment of the same literall sense so likewise may it be of one and the same man in respect of severall times For out of question it is that the Scripture Gen. 15. 6. Abraham beleeved God and it was imputed unto him for righteousnesse was literally verified of Abraham at that very point of time when God first called him from his owne kindred and his Fathers house into the promised Land And yet S. Iames saith cap. 2. 23. that this very Scripture was fulfilled when Abraham offered up Isaac his sonne upon the Altar and from this last performance of Abraham he had if not the first yet the truest title to bee called the friend of God Not altogether after the same manner but after a manner not much different was that Scripture Isaiah 53. 4. twice fulfilled of
amongst the best Divines of this age Theodoret amongst the Ancients Melancthen and Moller amongst moderne writers have better attempted this profitable worke than they have beene seconded The historicall occasions and other circumstances of the times wherein these Psalmes were written were they knowne according to the literall sense would lead us by a faire and safe way as it were by the rule of three unto the just product or capacitie of the true allegoricall and mysticall sense in which they were fulfilled But as our case now stands the luxuriant and perplexed branches of such forced Allegories as men fancie to themselves or frame by guesse without any perfect scale or proportion from the true historicall sense have occasioned many judicious Divines to doubt or question whether those things which by the Evangelists are said to bee done that the Scriptures might bee fulfilled doe alwayes imply some concludent proofe or demonstration of the Spirit Calvin for being sometimes too bold sometimes too sparing in the exposition of such places as the Evangelists say are fulfilled in Christ is deeply taxed by the Lutherans generally and by many of the Romish Church But Christian charity will perswade men of sober passions that it was rather feare lest he should give offence unto the Jewes then any desire or inclination to comply with them which made him sometimes give the same interpretations of Scriptures which they doe without expression of or search after farther mysteries than the letter it selfe doth minister How ever it be if Calvin be lyable to a judgement Iansenius Sasbout and Maldonat three of the most judicious Commentators of the Romish Church for these many yeares are lyable to a Councell for their unadvised presumption in this kinde One of them denyeth that often forecited place I will be to him a Father and be shall be to me a sonne to bee literally meant of Salomon wherein he gives just offence unto the Jewes and by superstitious feare of committing that errour whereof Calvin is often accused doth fall into the contrary The two others question whether that of the Prophet Hosea Out of Egypt have I called my sonne were properly fulfilled in our Saviour or only said to be fulfilled per accommodationem by way of allusion that is in such a manner as we might say that of the Poet Omnis in Ascanio chari stat cura Parentis were fulfilled in any father or mother whom we saw to dote upon or much to deligt in their lovely sonne And this was the explicite meaning of Maldonats third rule before cited in what sense the Scripture is said to be fulfilled 2. That this was his meaning in that place may be gathered from his comment on that other saying of S. Matthew Chap. 13. ver 34 35. All these things spake Iesus unto the multitude in parables and without a parable spake he not unto them that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet saying I will open my mouth in parables I will utter things which have beene kept secret since the foundation of the world His observations upon this place are in his owne words englished thus The particle That doth not denote the cause why our Saviour spake in parables for he did not thus speake to the end that Davids sayings might bee fulfilled but because his Auditors were unworthy of such perspicuous declarations as he used to his Disciples in private This he takes as granted from our Saviours speech ver 13 14. Therefore spake I to them in parables because they seeing see not and hearing they heare not neither doe they understand And in them is fulfilled the Prophecy of Isaiah which saith By hearing c. The abstract of his observations upon ver 34 35. is this that it was no part of our Evangelists meaning to teach us that Davids prophecy was properly fulfilled by our Saviours parables seeing Davids discourse as he conceives was indeed no prophecy but an historicall narration of matters past besides that the word which the Psalmist there useth doth not signifie such parables as our Saviour in this 13. chapter meant but rather such pithy sentences as the Greekes call Apophthegmes Maldonats conclusion therefore is that the Evangelist according to his usuall manner did only accommodate that which David had spoken to our Saviours speeches in this place to which they have some affinity or similitude though no concludent congruity and for our better satisfaction hee referres us to his Comments upon Matth. 2. 15. that is indeed to his third rule in what sense the Scriptures are said to be fulfilled But in this and other like passages to the same purpose this Author onely gives us to understand how easie a matter it is for good Divines sometimes to spend a great deale of learning and wit to no good purpose especially when they strive to be hypercriticall or to be censorious of others pious endeavours though perhaps not so accurate 3. To revise these his animadversions ordine retrogrado that is beginning with the last and ending with the first No man did say that the narrations in that Psalme were propheticall in respect of the matters literally and immediately signified by the words themselves Yet in as much as these matters though past as Gods wonders in Egypt and in the wildernesse the conducting of his people to the land of Canaan and their rebellious behaviour in it were true types or shadowes of the like events in future times there is not any thing in that Psalme related which in the mysticall sense doth not fore-represent some parallel event when the God of their Fathers should come in person to expostulate with his people in such a manner as David did with the people of his time which he did not in his owne name or authority but in the name and authority of his Lord and God For so he beginnes that Psalme Give eare O my people to my Law incline your eares to the words of my mouth I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter darke sayings of old This preamble cannot literally bee applyed to David or any Prophet save only as he was a type or shadow of him that was to come The Psalmists words immediately following though Apophthegmaticall and pithy were plaine in respect of the literall sense if you consider them only as matters of fact forepast were knowne and had been taught at the least by some of their Fathers though perhaps forgotten by posterity However in respect of their mysticall importāce or as they containe a proportionable parallel of the Kingdome of Heaven with the Kingdome of Israel according to the flesh they are sentences both hard and darke and such as did require a better paraphrast upon David or the Author of this Psalme then he was of Moses or of the sacred Historians before his time For by the parables meant in ver 2. of this Psalme if we may beleeve S. Matthewes paraphrase upon these words were meant things which had beene
only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as wee would do of great men For even those speeches which seem most homely or least observant of DecoruÌ„ do fit God incarnate or God made man more exactly then the choysest titles that a Secretary of Estate could use unto a King more accurately then a well made garment doth the party for whom it was made then the bark doth the tree or the skin the body which not art but nature hath provided for their covering All those speeches of God which some would have to be spoken only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will come within this latitude They are either spoken of God made man or from the time of his birth unto his baptisme or whilest he was in execution of his propheticall function or whilest he wea in the forme of a servant or during the time of his consecration to his everlasting Priesthood or after he was made both Lord and Christ that is after his resurrection and ascention As for those passages which concerne the incarnation of God his circumcision or other things concerning him betweene his birth and his baptisme these I shall refer to these particular Articles The first instance in this kind after he was annointed to preach the Gospell shall be that of the Psalmist Psalm 89. 8 9. O Lord God of hosts who is a stroÌ„g Lord like unto thee or to thy faithfulnesse round about thee Thou rulest the raging of the sea when the waves therof arise thou stillest theÌ„ And againe Psal 107. 23. c. They that go downe to the Sea in ships that do businesse in great waters these see the workes of the Lord and his wonders in the deep For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy winde which lifteth up the waves thereof they mount up to the heaven they go downe againe to the depth their soule is melted because of trouble they reele to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end Then they crye unto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distresse He maketh the storme a Calme so that the waves thereof are still then are they glad because they be quiet so he bringeth them to their desired haven For Majesty or beauty of speech an heathen perhaps would be ready to compare some descriptions of Virgil or other Poet with either or both of these passages But this is not all nor the principall point to be considered in the Psalmists displayes of the Divine Majesty either in these or most other Psalmes For they were not only divine Poets or vates praeteritâ—rum but true Prophets of things to come and did at least aenigmatically foretell wonders to be visibly unfolded and openly revealed in later ages Masters and teachers they were not onely of Orthodoxall doctrines and their morall uses but of sacred mysteries such as none but true Prophets could foretell It was a point of vulgar Catechisme amongst the Jews that unlesse the Lord did guide the ship the Pilot labor was but lost except the Lord did rule the Sea the Mariners paines were to no purpose Every son of Iacob according to the flesh did know and many of theÌ„ upoÌ„ experieÌ„ce of his speciall providence over the Sea and Seafaring men would heartily acknowledge that it was the Lord not their skill and paines that brought them to the haven where they would be But whatsoever the Psalmists occasion was to pen this Psalme the holy Ghost by whose inspiration he tooke occasion to pen it by whose direction it was inserted into this sacred Canon of Scripture did intend that this acknowledgement of Gods experienced favours in times past or present should be a prophecie for the direction of times to come And however the Nation of the Jews were for the most part affected the understanding of the better and more religious amongst this people was enlightned by the Spirit to foresee all of them were bound to exact the fulfilling of this prophecie in a more distinct remarkable and exquisite manner then the Psalmist or his forefathers had any experience of If any man desire to know the time when with the manner how it was thus remarkably fulfilled let him peruse that Evangelicall story Mat. 23. c. And when he was entred into a ship his Disciples followed him And behold there arose a great Tempest in the Sea insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves but he was asleepe And his Disciples came to him and awoke him saying Lord save us wee perish And he saith unto them why are yee fearefull O yee of little faith then he arose and rebuked the windes and the Sea and there was a great Calme Or as it is Mark 4. 39. And he arose and rebuked the winde and said unto the Sea peace be still and the winde ceased and there was a great Calme He used no ceremony no instrument such as Moses Elias or other Prophets used in the miracles wrought by their ministery but layes his command upon them in token and testimony that he was absolute Lord of both that very Lord of whom the Psalmist had said Thou rulest the raging of the Sea when the waves arise thou stillest them that very Lord unto whom Seafaring men did use to cry in their distresse There were more passengers at this time with him spectators of the miracle and earewitnesses of his words for as S. Marke tels us there were also with him other little ships ver 36. And these other Passengers not his Disciples perhaps were those whom the same Evangelist ver 41. saith did feare exceedingly and said one to another What manner of man is this that even the windes and the sea obey him His Disciples sure at that time did apprehend him to be more then man and though they do not expresse so much in words yet by an implicite or secret instinct they acknowledge him to be that very God whom the Psalmist had described otherwise they had not presented their prayers immediately unto him in that forme which S. Mathew relates Lord save us we perish but rather thus Master pray unto thy God or unto thy Father that we perish not But he being with them though they are not aware of his peculiar and immediate presence So that we may conclude that all this was done and said that the former Scripture might be fulfilled and the reason perhaps why he taxeth them so sharply for want of saith was not so much for that they feared to perish in such a terrible storme but that they did not appreheÌ„d that there was for this time no such occasion to feare because the forecited prophecies were to be punctually fulfilled by their prayers unto him being visibly present And for the same reason it may be he reprooveth Peter for want of faith when he walked towards him upon the Sea for Peter might and ought to have conceived that his Master was that very Lord and God which stilleth the raging of the Sea and that
the Scripture as S. Iames tells us was fulfilled when Abraham offred up his sonne Isaac why was not this testimony of God concerning Abraham reserved to that fact or at least to Abrahams obedience in circumcising himselfe and his sonne Isaac Both these facts include a greater measure of beleife in Gods promises than Abraham gave proofe of in the forecited place and was therefore more capable of that praise or approbation But if that approbation of Abrahams faith had beene deferred untill the Covenant of circumcision had beene subscribed unto by Abraham the Jews might with more probabilitie have conceived that this righteousnesse which God imputes to Abraham had come by the deeds of the Lawes that none but such as are circumcised could be partakers of it Whereas on the contrary this testimony being given unto Abraham before hee was circūcised cuts off the Jews title of boasting in circumcision This is the ground of the Apostles reason Rom 4. 9 10. For wee say that faith was reckoned unto Abraham for righteousnesse How was it then reckoned When he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision Not in circumcision but in uncircumcision And he received the signe of circumcision a seale of the righteousnesse of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised that hee might be the Father of all them that beleeve though they be not circumcised that righteousnesse might be imputed unto them also And againe Gal. 3. 8. And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithfull Abraham 4 Againe God in so disposing of times and seasons that his onely sonne should be circumcised upon the first of January did signifie that interest which the Gentiles or Heathens were to have in this Covenant For this was the day wherein the Romanes in whose dominions and under whose government he was borne did consecrate to Ianus to them a God of peace and prosperitie the day wherein they did mutually present their solemne salutations or good wishes for a happy yeare and for good luck sake as wee say did send gifts one to another as honey and other like sweet meats and coyne ut dulces dies anni à dulcibus rebus auspicarentur as Emblemes of their good wishes for many pleasant and happy dayes And whilest they were thus imployed in preventing each other with gifts and mutuall precations of peace and many happy dayes God gives his only Sonne unto them and to them all who was the Prince of that peace the common fountaine of all that happinesse which they could wish one to another Albeit the Sonne of God were borne eight dayes before yet he was given unto us upon the day of his circumcision His circumcision was the designement or dedication of him for the salvation of mankinde Behold saith the Angel Luke 2. 10 I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people The Prophet Isay foretold this joy not only with reference to the birth but to the circumcision also of the true Emmanuel They joy before thee according to the joy in Harvest and as men rejoyce when they divide the spoile Isa 9. 3. For unto us a Childe is borne unto us a Sonne is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder c ver 6. But some there be who will either denie or not beleeve that our Saviour was circumcised upon the first of January because we have no better warrant for this opinion than the tradition of the church But some of the ancient learned Fathers did think they had the testimony of Scripture besides the tradition of their Ancients For so they interpret those words of S. Iohn Baptist Iohn 3. 30. He must encrease but I must decrease as if they did containe a secret character of the time wherein Iohn Baptist and our Saviour were borne the one upon the longest the other upon the shortest day in the yeare And by this account our Saviour was circumcised upon the eighth day of January For my part I dare not contradict this kinde of interpretation of the Fathers being fully perswaded that the holy Ghost doth oft-times fore-signifie greatest mysteries as well by meere character of words as by words assertive or matter of fact CHAP. 36. Of the name JESVS and the title LORD THE meaning of the name Iesus is expounded by the Angel Math. 1. 11. Shee shall bring forth a sonne and thou shalt call his name Iesus for hee shall save his people from their sinnes But this title of Saviour may admit many degrees partly in respect of the name it selfe in the originall tongue whence it descends unto the Greeke and Latine but more principally in respect of the matter that is the distresse or danger whence men are saved In respect of this later at least Iesus the sonne of Mary far exceeds all others that have beene or hereafter may be termed Saviours But of the danger or misery from which he saved his people there will be better opportunity to speake at large in the Article of his Crosse The explication of the name it selfe is the worke of this time and place Some there be which think this name Iesus must necessarily be derived from the essentiall and proper name of God a name never rightly pronounced by the Jews or by any other as some learned Hebricians think before our Saviours birth but then made effable or utterable as the Authors of this opinion would perswade us who derive this word Iesus from Iehovah by intersertion of one Hebrew letter to wit Shin which is as much as Sh. According to this derivation they would make the compound name to be an Emblem or type of the two natures in Christ Iehovah bearing the type of the divine nature and the letter Shin interserted into this name to be an Emblem of the incarnation or humane nature assumed into the unity of the person of the sonne of God This Etymologie or derivation as the Authors of it imagin best agrees with the Angels interpretation of the name Iesus before cited because Iehovah himselfe saith Isay 45. 21. There is no Saviour besides me If this be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 currant Cabbalisme wee are in speciall beholding to Osiander for it If by sager judgements it happen to be censured for a fancie Iacobus Naclantus a Romish Bishop must share with Osiander in the censure Whatsoever the opinion be in it selfe the allegation for confirmation of it is not concludent For that rightly examined only inferres that Iehovah himselfe hee that was essentially God and none besides him was to be our Saviour or the Saviour of the world This is a truth unquestionable yet a truth which will not conclude that whilest he became the Saviour of the world he was to take no other name or title upon him besides the proper and essentiall name of God only