for the plaine literall sense accords with the Prophet Isaias words He turneth the wildernesse into a standing water and dry ground into water springs And there hee maketh the hungry to dwell that he may prepare a City for habitation Psalm 107. vers 35 36. Yet because this is but probable or coniecturall wee will make it no ground of our intended inference Supposing then that these predictions were as meerely figuratiue or metaphoricall as the former they might not withstanding truely and prophetically prefigure or by way of Embleme fore-shaddow aswell the internall comfort of the Spirit wherewith Christ baptizeth vs as the externall baptisme of water which Iohn administred The water you know hath two naturall properties from which many metaphors vsuall in sacred Writers are borrowed by which the true intent and meaning of the Prophet Isaias figuratiue or emblematicall expressions of the waters in the wildernesse is to be valued The first naturall property of water specially in hotter countries where thirst is more vehement and waters more pleasant is to refresh or comfort the wearie soule The second to bee the Nurse or Mother of fruitfulnesse aswell in the trees or grasse of the Field as in plants hearbes or flowres of the garden According to this latter property the Prophets prediction of springs bursting out in the wildernesse was a true Poeticall Embleme or shaddow of Iohns baptizing with water who was to be by his office as the Gardiner to water and cherish those fruitfull trees and plants of righteousnesse with which God had promised to adorne the wildernesse For euen the Publicans and sinners Aliens by nature from the Common-wealth of Israel beeing made partakers of the baptisme of Iohn were ingrafted into Abrahams stocke made fruitfull branches of that Vine which GOD had planted in Iewrie and heyres of that heauenly Kingdome which Iohn did preach whilest Abrahams seede according to the flesh were dis-inherited All the people that heard him and the Publicans iustified God being baptized with the baptisme of Iohn But the Pharises and Lawyers reiected the counsell of God against themselues beeing not baptized of him Luk. 7. ver 29 30. vide Matth. 8. ver 11 12. According to the first naturall property of water which is to refresh the weary or such as are ready to faint for thirst the same predictions of springs or waters bursting forth in the wildernesse did prefigure the internall comfort of the spirit wherewith Christ alone baptizeth vs. For though Iohn did plant and water those plants of righteousnesse yet was it Christ alone that gaue the increase And this internall baptisme was really fore-shaddowed not onely by figuratiue or Propheticall manner of speech but by historicall and reall matter of fact And so likewise was the externall baptisme by water literally foretold by the Prophet Isaias that it should be a type or signe of Christs baptisme with the Spirit This internal baptisme to omit other instances was really fore-shaddowed by the waters which issued out of the rocke in the Wildernesse when the people murmured against Moses Aaron as if they had brought thē forth out of Aegypt to haue killed them with thirst in the desart Now this wee take as granted that euery miracle which God wrought in the Old Testament was a true shaddow or picture of some great mystery to bee fulfilled in the New Testament or after the manifestation of Christ. In this the Iewes agree with vs onely they expect that the miracles which their Messias should worke should be more glorious to the eye of sense than those which Moses wrought But wee say they are not onely greater but of another kinde otherwise they shold not be true miraculous mysteries but meer miracles Now that the waters issuing out of the rock were a type or shaddow of this mystical baptisme of the Spirit wee haue the testimonies of the Prophet Esay Chap. 48. verse 28. before cited and of the Apostle 1. Cor. 10. vers 1 2 3 4. Brethren I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our Fathers were vnder the cloud and all passed thorow the Sea and were all baptized vnto Moses in the cloud and in the Sea and did all eate the same spirituall meate and did all drinke the same spirituall drinke For they dranke of that spirituall rocke that followed them and that Rocke was Christ. How was it Christ not literally not identically Christ according to the God-head was not so present in or so vnited to the rocke as he is now to our flesh yet was it Christ the second person in Trinity the Sonne of God which made the water wherewith the Israelites his people were comforted and refreshed in the extremity of their bodily thirst to issue out of the rocke when Moses smote it The mystery portended or fore-shaddowed by this miracle herein consists That the same Sonne of God who was truely God which gaue them plenty of water out of the rock should afterwards become the Rocke of our saluation the Fountaine of life vnto the thirsty and weary soule This internall baptisme which was thus really fore-shaddowed by the waters in the rocke was literally fore-told Psalm 36. vers 8 9. They shall bee abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of thy house and thou shalt make them drinke of the Riuers of thy pleasures For with thee is the Fountaine of life in thy light shall wee see light 46. Amongst other senses in which the Scriptures of the Old Testament are said to bee fulfilled in the New one and that an especiall one as is elsewhere obserued is when such speeches as are by the Prophets most of all by the Psalmist indefinitely vttered of God but cannot be attributed to the Diuine nature otherwise then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is by manner of speech borrowed from the customes or fashions of men doe imprint their strict and proper character vpon God made man and fit his actions as the Seale doth the print in Waxe The Diuine nature is life it selfe an Ocean of liuing waters which we cannot approch but the Diuine nature in Christ is as a Fountaine or Well of life from which euery thirstie soule may draw the water of life without stint without any danger of drowning himselfe or drawing it dry For it is more calme and placid than any Fountaine or Spring though more inexhaustible than the Sea According to this sense is that other place of the Psalmist fulfilled in Christ that is in God made man The Lord shall reigne for euer euen thy God O Sion vnto all Generations Psal. 146. v. 10. That the God of Sion as God should reigne for euer was no new thing no matter of wonder or worth notice-taking to any Inhabitant of Ierusalem or man of Iudah All of them from the least vnto the greatest knew well that Hee which had made the World had no beginning no end of dayes or soueraignety But that this God of Sion who was Lord likewise of
hearts can desire euen the fulnes of that true happines which is all that you or any man can desire is only to be sought in Christ in whom it may be found by all For confirming your particular Interest in him and in the blessednes which heere he promiseth the right receiuing of this blessed Sacrament is of all other meanes most effectuall For your better preparation to the due receiuing of it it will bee auaileable to consider the doctrine which my Text affoords that although Christ be a fountaine of happines infinite and inexhaustible although his death whose memory we celebrate whose vertue in this Sacrament we seeke be as it were the opening of this fountaine yet are the streames of blisse and happines which issue from him by his death deriuable onely vnto such as are not offended in him Though the Gospell as our Apostle speaketh Rom. 1. ver 16. be the power of God vnto saluation yet as my Text saith the poore in spirit only take the impression of it Euen power it selfe and goodnesse infinite sufficient in it selfe to saue all though in number infinite is effectuall only in such as are of an humble and contrite heart Of their humiliation or contrition or their poorenes in spirit which is heere mentioned in my Text that might be truely said which our Sauiour doth of Thomas the Apostle his faith Thomas thou beleeuest because thou hast seene happy are they which haue not seene and yet beleeue The most of these men were therefore poore and humble in spirit because the Lord had humbled broken or chastised them some with bodily blindnes others with lamenes some with deafenes others with leprosie or like grieuous sicknes some with death Howeuer becōming once truely humble and poore in spirit though by these and like meanes all of them were truely happy in Christ but much happier and more blessed shall they be whom the Lord hauing not so grieuously chastised in body yet doe become as humble and poore in spirit as they were The best consideration I can commend vnto you for working this humiliation and contrition of spirit is this that as the Ceremonies of the Law were but shaddowes of these things which are now fulfilled in Christ so all the bodily calamities which Christ heere cured in so many seuerall bodies were but as so many sensible types or shaddowes of more grieuous maladies in euery mans soule although by nature wee doe not feele them Some of them were dead in body and all of vs as our Apostle saith are by nature dead in trespasses Now if we doe as truely and heartily bewayle this deadnes of our soules as the poore Widdow of Naim did the bodily death of her onely sonne then as our Apostle saith in the same place Wee are quickned in Christ and he will deliuer our soules vnto vs safe and sound as he did him vnto his mother Some of those were blind in body all of vs were darke in mind euen from the wombe and if we supplicate vnto him with like earnestnes to enlighten our minds as these poore men did to receiue their bodily sight wee shall bee as happy in this cure as they were in the other Some of them were halt and lame and not able to go and we after we haue seene and knowne the wayes of God are more vnable to walke in them than they were to runne a race Some of them were Leapers in body so are we all by nature Leapers in soules But whatsoeuer lamenes infirmitie or disease hath befalne our soules by Adams transgression or by our owne corruption he is both able and willing to worke more miraculous cures vpon our soules than hee did vpon these pooremens bodies so we intreat him as earnestly and heartily as they did 23. None of you I hope conceiueth Christs bodily presence to be either necessary or expedient for curing or healing your soules No mans faith in Scripture is more commended than the Centurions which did not desire our Sauiours bodily presence when he offered it for the healing of his seruant His answere was Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst come vnder my roofe but speake the word onely and my seruant shall be healed Matth. 8. 8. If this acknowledgement were a document of liuely faith and Christian modesty in this Centurion what can it be but arrogancy and vnbeliefe in the Romanist to thinke himselfe worthy not only of Christs bodily presence vnder the roofe of his house but vnder the roofe of his mouth yea in his stomach But farre bee all such vncleane and carnall thoughts from any heere present Let vs stedfastly belieue that Christs Word is now as powerfull in heauen as it was on earth yet haue wee not onely his Word but the visible pledges of his body and blood for the healing of our soules Whateuer other defect there may be in our preparation for receiuing these pledges of his passion let vs be sure that our intention to humble our selues and amend our liues be sincere and without hypocrisie The second Member of the generall diuision proposed in the former Discourse Parag. 8. What satisfaction this Answere of our Sauiour did giue to Iohn § 24. VErbum sapienti sat est A man of vnderstanding and experience in part acquainted with any businesse on foot perceiueth more by a word or Hint than another of lesse vnderstanding or experience altogether vnacquainted with the same busines would doe by instructions giuen in Folio Now Iohn we know was a man of extraordinary vnderstanding and experience in matters spirituall specially such as concerned Christ to whom hee was the immediate fore-runner vnto which office he was qualified or set apart from the wombe yea sanctified vnto it euen in the wombe as you may reade Luke 1. verse 41. As this qualification made him more docile or capable of good instructions than other children were so his father Zacharias was better able to instruct him in the knowledge of Christ of whose Kingdome and Office he had prophesied than any other Priest or sonne of Aaron could For Zacharias was for ought that wee can gather the onely Prophet then in Israel at least the spirit of Prophesie which for a long time had bin as a fountaine dryed vp did first breake forth in him After that Iohn himselfe came to maturitie of age and vnderstanding he was directed by speciall commission from his God to vsher Christ into the world to induct him into his Propheticall function to declare him to be the Redeemer of Israel to proclaime him to be the high Priest of our soules that was to make the full atonement for the sinnes of the whole world Now vnto Iohn thus well qualified and instructed in matters concerning Christ and in particular acquainted with the carriage of all businesses concerning Christs baptisme or other actions vntill his imprisonment this Answere of our Sauiour Christ especially being framed out of that Prophets words which had penned Iohns Cōmission for being
stood and cryed saying If any man thirst let him come vnto me and drinke Our blessed Sauiour in this Proclamation acteth but that very part which he had penned for himselfe Hee had dictated it to the Prophet Isaiah as hee was the Wisedome and Sonne of GOD by whose spirit the whole body of Scriptures was written to whom all the Prophets and Euangelists were but Scribes or Amanuenses He now vttereth and acteth it with the voice and gesture of man But what date doth the penning and writing of it beare God himselfe had thus inuited them Isay 55. vers 1 2. Ho euery one that thirsteth come yee to the waters and hee that hath no money come ye buy and eate yea come buy wine and milke without money and without price Wherefore doe yee spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not hearken diligently vâ—to me and eate yee that which is good and let your soule delight it selfe in fatnesse Incline your eare and come vnto mee heare and your soule shall liue and I will make an euerlasting Couenant with you euen the sure mercies of Dauid But this Proclamation of our Sauiour fell out after Iohns death and was the last solemne inuitation which he made vnto the Iewes at Ierusalem of which by Gods assistance hereafter Another speciall signe of the time by which Iohns faith was confirmed is from the Circumstance of the time and place wherein our Sauiour was baptized by him 62. I am not ignorant that there hath beene an ancient tradition especially in the Westerne Church that our Sauiour was baptized vpon the sixth of Ianuary which wee call the Epiphany or the twelfth day And the Church of England not willing to dissent from the Romish Church saue onely in matters of great consequence or in points wherein that Church hath no shew of antiquity retaineth in part the Liturgy or Seruice which that Church had appointed for that day So you may find the second Lesson vsually read in our Churches vpon that day to bee the third Chapter of Saint Lukes Gospell wherein the History of our Sauiours baptisme is most expresly meÌ„tioned and at the end of the History concerning our Sauiours baptisme the second Lesson appointed by our Church for that day doth end But in a part of the Liturgie to this day vsed in the Romish Church to wit in the Antheme appointed for that very day it is in expresse termes auouched Hodie à Ioanne in Iordane Christus baptizari voluit This day our Sauiour pleased to be baptized of Iohn in Iordane Notwithstanding all this Iansenius that reuerend Bishop of Gant a most learned and ingenuous Interpreter of the soure Euangelists albeit hee dyed a member of the then visible Romish Church wherein hee liued did not thinke himselfe bound to beleeue either the practice or tradition of that Church because in his iudgement it was not warantable by Scripture specially if they tooke the words before cited in the strict and literall sense For beeing so taken it contradicts the words of Saint Luke chap. 3. ver 23. And Iesus himselfe when he was baptized of Iohn began to be about thirty yeeres of age Or as he reades was almost thirtie yeeres of age when he began to enter vpon his function which beares date from the day of his baptisme Now if he had bin baptized vpon the sixt of Ianuary or the Epiphany he must needs haue beene either 13. dayes aboue 30. yeeres old or but 13. dayes aboue 29. Some Romanists acknowledging our Sauiour to haue bin baptized before hee was 30. yeeres of age compleat account his age from his conception in respect whereof hee was almost thirty when hee was but some few dayes aboue 29. yeeres old if wee account his age from his Natiuity Others would haue him baptized in the 31. yeere of his age accounting his age from his Natiuity For suppose hee had beene baptized vpon the sixth of Ianuary after thirty yeers compleat he might as truely be said to haue been then about thirtie yeeres as if he had beene baptized some few dayes or weekes before he was thirtie But the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when it signifies about this or that time doth vsually signifie rather short then ouer And for this reason Iansenius although he poynt the Originall as the followers of this last opinion doe yet liketh much better of Epiphanius his opinion who was an ancient Writer and a professed Collector of ancient traditions or opinions and hee referreth the day of our Sauiours baptisme vnto the seuenth of Nouember So doth learned Chemnitius refer it to the feast of the Encenia or purification of the Temple But some other Chronologers of reformed Churches with more probability referre the day of his baptisme vnto the tenth of September which was the feast of the Atonement Vpon this day the Angell appeared vnto Zacharias whilest hee was burning Incense in the holy place and foretold the birth and conception of Iohn Baptist. 63. The consonancy of many types and signes of the time with this opinion is very great and very pleasant But if I should relate them all you would happely say they are but coniecturall because not grounded vpon testimony of Scripture Many of them I must confesse are neither expressely foretold by any Prophet nor really fore-shaddowed or prefigured for ought I knowe by any reall euent or matter of fact or by any solemnity commanded by the Law of Moses Yet one euent there is which followed immediately vpon our Sauiours baptisme so expressely related by three Euangelists that it doth necessarily argue some prefiguration or fore-shadowing in the Law or bookes of Moses for so euery remarkeable euent or action which concernes our Sauiour Christ was fore-shaddowed The euent wherof now I speake was his leading into the Wildernes by the Spirit to be tempted by the Diuell So saith Saint Marke expressely what the others intimate And immediately the Spirit driueth him into the Wildernesse Marke 1. 12. Now the end of his going or being led thither though few Interpreters haue obserued it was to fulfill the mystery fore-signified by the Scape-goate which vpon the day of Atonement as we reade Leuit. 16. 21. was to be led by the hand of a fit man into the Wildernesse after Aaron or his Successour the high-Priest had layde his hands vpon his head and confessed ouer him all the Iniquities of Israel and all the transgressions and all their sinnes putting them as the Text saith vpon the head of the Goate Now as it is euident out of Scripture that our Sauiour Christ was crucified at the time that the Paschall Lambe was killed to the end the World might take notice that hee was the Lambe of GOD whose sacrifice the Paschall Lambe did prefigure so by a certaine Analogie of faith wee may rightly gather that our Sauiour was led into the Wildernesse by the Spirit vpon the same day that the
scape-Goat was by the prescript of Moses Law to be led thither to the end that Iohn and such as were present might beleeue and acknowledge that the mystery fore-shaddowed by the legall ceremony of the scape-Goate was fulfilled in this Iesus of Nazareth whom they had seene and known baptized of Iohn Wherefore in as much as it is euident out of Scripture that the scape Goate was to bee led into the Wildernesse vpon the Feast-day of the Atonement and inasmuch as our Sauiour was led into the Wildernesse immediately after he was baptized the conclusion will directly follow that our Sauiour was baptized vpon the Feast of the Atonement which was the tenth of September So that Iohn by this account was a quarter of a yeere aboue thirty and declining towards the wane and our Sauiour growing vp into his full age beeing a quarter vnder thirty when hee was baptized of Iohn The end of our Sauiours going into the Wildernesse was as you heard before to bee tempted of the Diuell and amongst other meanes to be tempted especially by fasting This temptation doubtlesse did not befall him for his owne sake but that hee might fully expiate the sinnes commited by the Israelites in the Wildernesse from whose curse their posterity was not acquitted vntill hee which was prefigured by the Scape-Goate had really and bodily vndergone the burthen of it as the Scape-Goate in shaddow or ceremony onely had done One speciall end of his going vpon this day into the Wildernesse was to carry thither the sinnes of all that came vnto Iohns baptisme For as many as were baptized by Iohn confessed their sinnes And if Iohn did not no question but He who was to accomplish as well that which was fore-shaddowed by Aaron as by the Scape-Goate did put all the sinnes which had beene confessed to Iohn or to God in Iohns presence vpon himselfe as Aaron did put all the iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their transgressions beeing first confessed vpon the head of the Goate before hee sent him into the Wildernesse Leuit. 16. vers 21. Where wee are by the way to note that this people did alwayes with their owne sinnes solemnely confesse the sinnes of their fore-fathers The especiall sinnes which the Israelites had committed in the Wildernesse were their tempting of God saying Is the Lord amongst vs or no and their rebellious murmuring against God and his seruant Moses in their grieuance of hunger and thirst or in their intemperate longings after their Aegyptian dyet For this sinne they were stung with fiery Serpents the reliques or Off-springs of their first Parents curse whom the old Serpent had feduced and made subiect to annoyance by the venemous Creatures And this sinne was remarkably and fully expiated by our Sauiours fasting forty dayes and forty nights in the Wildernesse and by his vanquishing the Tempter himselfe the olde Serpent in this temptation as we say at his owne weapon For at this time hee escaped the malice of the Deuill the powers of darknesse had no power ouer him And this was prefigured by the Scape-Goate which beeing led into the Wildernesse was to be let goe by the man that led him 64. Probable it is that Iohn Baptist from his obseruance how exactly our Sauiour had fulfilled the type of the Scape-Goate did vpon his returne from the Wildernesse pre-collect or prognosticate that hee should as exactly fulfill the type or mystery of the Paschall Lambe and hence proclaimes him to be that Lambe of God which was to take away the sinnes of the World more than three yeeres before our Sauiours Apostles or Disciples did know the meaning of this mystery or the congruitie betweene the shaddow and the body It is remarkeably said by our Apostle That our Sauiour is the body whereof legall ceremonies were the shaddowes But you must vnderstand a body so heterogeneall and compleat that no one or few legall ceremonies could perfectly fore-shaddow it But as the Ceremonies were many and almost infinite so euery one did fore-shaddow some part or piece of this compleat body no remarkeable part of it that is no speciall euent or action which concerned our Sauiour Christ but was fore-shaddowed by some or other legall ceremony As his leading into the Wildernesse vpon the day of the Atonement was fore-shaddowed by the Ceremony of the Scape-Goate so his Baptisme vpon the same day was as expresly fore-shaddowed or prefigured as any euent concerning him eyther was or could be by the Legall Ceremony which Aaron or his Successour the High-Priest were to obserue vpon the same day to wit vpon the Feast of the Atonement And Aaron shall come into the Tabernacle of the Congregation and shall put off the Linnen garments which hee put on when hee went into the holy place and shall leaue them there And hee shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place and put on his garments and come forth and offer his burnt Offring and the burnt Offring of the people and make an Atonement for himselfe and for the people Leuit. 16. ver 23 24. Aaron was to wash his body in the holy place as standing in neede of Legall sanctification from it So vnable was hee to sanctifie himselfe or it Our Sauiours body was washed in Iordan and by his bodily presence sanctified both the water and the place yea Heauen it selfe or that heauenly Mansion whereof the Aaronical holy place was but a shaddow was now purified by our Sauiours Baptisme as it was afterwards to be cleansed and sanctified by his bloud Betweene the circumstance of the time when and the circumstance of the place wherein our Sauiour was baptized the confort is sweet 65. Our Sauiour was baptized by Iohn at Bethabera beyond Iordane as is euident from Saint Iohn the Euangelist Chap. 1. vers 28. This was the place as the name imports where the Israelites vnder the conduct of Ioshua or Iesus the sonne of Nun first entred into the Land of Canaan the Land of their promised rest And in token that this was the Land which God had promised vnto Abraham and that this was the time and place wherein God did tender performance of his promise vnto Abraham and his seede so farre as it concerned the blessing or Inheritance temporall the Riuer of Iordane in that very season wherin it was accustomed to ouer-flow his bancks did diuide it selfe and retract the streame to giue the seede of Abraham as safe and dry a passage into the Land of Canaan as the Red sea had giuen them ouâ— of Aegypt The reason why Iesus the Sonne of God would bee baptized at this place rather then at any other and the reason why the heauens did open ouer him being in this place baptized was to shew that Hee was the Iesus which was to conduct them into their rest indeed into that Land wherof the Land of Canaan was but the Mappe that he was the man in whom Gods promise vnto Abraham performed in part by Iesus