Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	according_a	daughter_n	zion_n	21	3	8.5069	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63067	A commentary or exposition upon the four Evangelists, and the Acts of the Apostles: wherein the text is explained, some controversies are discussed, divers common places are handled, and many remarkable matters hinted, that had by former interpreters been pretermitted. Besides, divers other texts of Scripture which occasionally occur are fully opened, and the whole so intermixed with pertinent histories, as will yeeld both pleasure and profit to the judicious reader. / By John Trapp M. A. Pastour of Weston upon Avon in Gloucestershire.	Trapp, John, 1601-1669.; Trapp, Joseph, 1601-1669. Brief commentary or exposition upon the Gospel according to St John.	1647 (1647)	Wing T2042; ESTC R201354	792,361	772

thy light and that from the heart this is indeed to be able to do more then others this is to excell others in any excellency whatsoever if this be wanting Whose shoes I am not 〈◊〉 to bear Christ thought 〈◊〉 worthy to lay his hand on his holy head in baptisme who thinks not himself worthy to lay his hand under Christs feet The more fit any man is for whatsoever vocation the 〈◊〉 he thinks himself Who am I said Moses when he was to be sent to Egypt whereas none in all the world was comparably fit for that embassage Not only in innumerable other things am I utterly unskilfull faith S. Augustine but even in the holy Scriptures themselves my proper profession the greatest part of my knowledge is the least part of mine ignorance I in my little cell saith Hierom with the rest of the Monks my fellow-sinners dare not determine of great matters This is all I know that I know nothing said Socrates and Anaxarchus went further and said that he knew not that neither that it was nothing that he knew This is the utmost of my wisdom said David Chytraeus that I see my self to be without all wisdome And if I would at any time delight my self in a fool saith Seneca I need not seek farre I have my self to turn to Thus the heaviest ears of corn stoop most toward the ground Boughes the more laden they 〈◊〉 the more low they hang and the more direct the Sunne is over us the less is our shadow So the more true worth is in any man the lesse self conceitednesse and the lower a man is in his own eyes the higher he is in Gods Surely 〈◊〉 Baptist lost nothing by his humility and modesty here for our Saviour extols him to the multitude Math. 11. and there are that doubt not to affirm where they have it I know not that for his 〈◊〉 on earth he is dignified with that place in heaven from whence Lucifer fell Sure it is That he that humbleth himself shall be exalted If men 〈◊〉 us as we set selves God values us according to our abasements The Church was black in her own eyes fair in 〈◊〉 Cant. 1. 5 15. With the holy Ghost and with fire That is with that fiery holy Ghost that spirit of judgement and of burning wherewith the filth of the daughters of Zion 〈◊〉 washed away Isa. 4. 4. that they may escape that 〈◊〉 fire mentioned in the verse next following This fire of the spirit must be 〈◊〉 from heaven Lumen de lumine from the father of lights who giveth his spirit to them that ask it It must be a coal from his altar which when you have once gotten your heart must be the hearth to uphold it your hands the tongs to build it Gods ordinances the fuell to 〈◊〉 it the Priests lips the bellows to blow it up into a flame So shall we finde it according to the nature of fire 1. To illighten us as the least sparkes of fire lightens it selfe at least and may be seen in the greatest darknesse 2. To enliven and revive us for whatsoever is of the spirit is spirit that is nimble and active full of life and motion A bladder is a dull lumpish thing so is a bullet but put winde into the one and fire to the other in a Gun and they will flee farre Fire is the most active of all other elements as having much form little matter and therefore the Latines call a dull dronish man a firelesse man which God cannot away with What thou doest doe quickly said our Saviour to 〈◊〉 So odious to him is dulnesse in any businesse Baruch full of the spirit repaired the wall of Ierusalem earnestly Nehem 3. 20. Se accendit he burst out into heat and so finish'd his part in shorter time I presse toward the mark saith Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I persecute it Phil. 3. 14. Never was he so mad in persecuting the Saints Act. 26. 11. as after his conversion he was judg'd to be the other way 2 Cor. 5. 13. Paulus in omnia 〈◊〉 Nilactum credens cum quid superesset agendum 3. To assimulate As fire turns fuell into the same property with 〈◊〉 so doth the spirit inform the minde conform the will reform the life transform the whole man more and more into the likenesse of the heavenly patern it spiritualizeth and 〈◊〉 us as it were into the same image from glory to glory as the Sunne that fire of the world by often beating with its beams upon the pearl makes it radiant and orient bright and beautifull like it self 4. To elevate and carry the heart heaven-ward as fire naturally aspireth and the spark fleeth upwards to kindle our Sacrifices and make us heavenly-minded to break out at length though for a while it lie under the weight of sin that doth so easily beset us as fire may lie puffing and blowing under green wood as almost smoothered 5. To purifie us as fire doth metals from our drosse and to take away all our sinne 〈◊〉 1. 25. 1 Cor. 9. 11. For he is like a refiners fire and like fullers sope Mal. 3. 2. whereby we are purified by obeying the truth unto unfeigned love of the 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 1. 22. 6 And that 's the least property of the holy Ghost and of fire that I now insist upon Congregat 〈◊〉 segregat heterogenea it unites them to 〈◊〉 and separates them from sinners for what communion hath light with darknesse It maketh division from those of a mans house if not of his heart and yet causeth union with Gentile Barbarian Scythian if truly Christian Coloss. 3. 11. Oh'get this fire from heaven So shall you glorifie God Matth. 5. 16. and be able to dwell with devouring fire which hypocrites cannot doe Isa. 33. 14. get warmth of life and comfort to your selves give light and heat to others walk surely as Israel did by the conduct of the pillar of fire and safely as walled with a defence of fire And if any man shall hurt such fire shall proceed out of their 〈◊〉 to devour them So that a man were better anger all the witches in the world then one of those that are baptized with the holy Ghost and with fire c. especially if they be much mortified Christians such as in whom this fiery spirit hath done with the body of sin as the King of Moab did with the King of Edom Am. 2. 1. burnt its bones into lime Verse 12. Whose fanne is in his hand Though the devil and wicked men mightily strive to wring it out of his hand for what say they need this shedding and this 〈◊〉 This distinguishing and differencing of men into Saints and sinners Are not all the Lords people holy Is there any man lives and sinneth not but yet there is as wide a difference between sinner and sinner as is betwixt the bosome of

ears of his impious Countreymen as a notorious publike judgement on a Nation so incorrigibly flagitious so unthankfull for mercies so impatient of remedies so uncapable of repentance so obliged so warned so shamelesly so lawlesly wicked quorum maxima beneficia 〈◊〉 supplicia as the Centurists 〈◊〉 it forth Abused mercy 〈◊〉 into fury Iechonias begat Salathiel Neri begat him naturally Iechonias legally adopting him for his childe that was his nephew 1 Chro. 3. 17. And Salathiel begat Zorobabel Who brought forth the head stone of the second Temple with shoutings crying Grace Grace unto it He was a Chieftain in the first year of Cyrus Ezra 2. 2. and he lived to see the building of the Temple about the sixth year of Darius Nothus which is a 〈◊〉 of a hundred years between So he had a longer life then ordinary which God granteth to some because he hath something to be done by them A short life in some cases is a blessing 1 King 13 14. as grapes gathered afore they be ripe are freed from the violence of the wine-presse as lambs slain before they be grown escape many storms and sharp showres that others live to taste of Some wicked live long that they may aggravate their judgement others die sooner that they may hasten it But they are blessed that whether they live they live unto the Lord or whether they die they die unto the Lord and in the Lord their works following them Verse 13. And Zorobabel begat Abind S. Luke saith 〈◊〉 Hence the diversity of number and names Matthew descends by the posterity of Abiud Luke of Rhesa down to Ioseph And Abiud begat Eliakim and Eliakim begat Azor c. These lived in 〈◊〉 calamitous times of the people of God after the captivity and were not Kings and Captains as being held under by other Nations but Law-givers they were as Iacob prophesied and principall men among that people till Shiloh came Gen. 49. 10. 〈◊〉 14. And Azor begat Sadoc and Sadoc begat Achim Of these and the rest as the Scripture sets down nothing more then their bare names so neither is there any Jewish record at this day extant of their acts So many 〈◊〉 they had one in the neck of another that little liberty was left them to write though I doubt not but the posterity of David were then carefully observed by as many as lookt for the consolation of Israel But among the 〈◊〉 since our Saviours time after the sealing up of the Babylonish Talmud that is after the year of Christ 500. to the year 1000. there was 〈◊〉 or nothing written by reason of the grievous calamities that seized upon them Verse 15. And Eliud begat Eleazar c. These might be private 〈◊〉 some of them as Ioseph and Mary were it being the care and endeavour of 〈◊〉 Herods and those afore that 〈◊〉 the Iews in subjection to suppresse as much as might be the posterity of David at least to keep them in a low condition for as much as it was a certain and received truth among that people that 〈◊〉 the Prince Dan. 9. 26. should shortly come of that family And this was that that held up the fainting hearts of the good people of those sad times when prophecie failed them and prosperity too they looked for the Desire of all Nations for the Consolation of Israel having little else to releive them for the externall means Unlesse it were that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that eccho heard in the Temple they tell us of which served them for an oracle And the miracle of the pool of Bethesda granted by God to strengthen them in the true worship of God under the persecution of Antiochus and other tyrants till the daies of John Baptist and the Lord Christ. Verse 16. And Iacob begat Ioseph Whose genealogie is here recorded and not Maries it being not the custom of that people 〈◊〉 to set forth the genealogies of women As at this day the Jews have an over-base conceit of that sex saying that they have not so divine a soul as men but are of a lower creation c. and therefore they suffer them not to enter the Synagogue but appoint them a gallery without The husband of Mary of whom was born Iesus This is the summe of all the good news in the world such as surpasseth the joy of conquest or of harvest Isa. 9 3 5 6. and should therefore swallow up all discontents whatsoever Who is called Christ The name of Jesus is mel in ore melos in aure jubilum in cord as it was to St Paul who therefore names it nine severall times in the ten first verses of his first Epistle to the Corinthians as loth to come off it Yet is not the name Jesus alone half so sweet as when Christ is added to it as here For Iesus Christ betokeneth such a Saviour as is anointed and appointed thereunto by God consecrated to the office according to his Godhead and 〈◊〉 for it according to his manhood In both 〈◊〉 a Saviour and that ex professo as you would say and by 〈◊〉 of all three persons The Son being anointed by the Father 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost And as Sampson when clothed with the spirit saved the people so Christ much more Verse 17. So all the generations c. are fourteen generations For memory sake Matthew summeth up the genealogy of our Saviour into three fourteens like as some of the 〈◊〉 are 〈◊〉 the same reason set down in order of the Alphabet Discere voluit Socrates 〈◊〉 aliud esse quàm 〈◊〉 saith Tully Magis autem Christi meminisse debemus quam respirare The soul should be as the Ark of God the memory like the pot of Manna preserving holy truths touching him that is the Way the Truth and the life Verse 18. Now the birth of Iesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transit And being to relate a strange thing and till then never heard of he elegantly stirs up the hearers minde with this preface Whenas his mother Mary was espoused An ancient and commendable custom Adam took his wife the first day of their creation she was espoused to him but knew her not till after the fall Lots daughters were espoused yet had not known man Gen. 19 8 14. See Deut. 22. 22. Yea the very Heathens had their 〈◊〉 Iudg. 14. 1 c. Placuit despondi 〈◊〉 hic dictus est dies saith 〈◊〉 in Terence We agreed were contracted and the wedding-day appointed To Ioseph before they came together Espoused they were by a speciall providence 1. That Mary might not be held an harlot 2. That being big and needing 〈◊〉 help she might be provided for 3. That the mystery of Christ might be made known by degrees She was found with childe of the holy Ghost This wonderfull conception of our Saviour is a mystery not much to be pryed into and is therefore

thorow the woof when a double-minded man that hath not cleansed his heart nor washt his hands of worldly lusts is unstable and 〈◊〉 in all his waies Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy minde Luk. 10. 27. And with my minde I serve the Law of God saith Paul which he acknowledged to be spirituall though he were carnall in part sold under sin The old man is still corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts which sometimes so 〈◊〉 and beguile the judgement that a man shall think there is some sense in sinning and that he hath reason to be mad but be ye renewed in the spirit of your mindes in the bosom and bottom of the soul in the most inward and subtile parts of the soul and as it were the 〈◊〉 of it Reserve these upper rooms for Christ and be not ye conformed to the world who minde earthly things and have damnation for their end but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mindes that ye may see and prove by good experience not by a Nationall knowledge only what that good and holy and acceptable will of God is Concerning the East-gate of that Temple in Ezekiel Thus saith the Lord This gate shall be shut and shall not be opened and no man shall enter by it because the Lord God of Israel hath 〈◊〉 by it Here through signifying saith a Divine that although the heart of a Christian which is the temple of the holy Ghost may let many things enter into it at other gates yet must it keep the East-gate the most illuminate and highest power and part of it continually shut against all men yea against all the world and opened only to one thing I mean to God who hath already entered into it and 〈◊〉 it with his Spirit That as at the windows of 〈◊〉 Ark there entred in no mist nor water nothing else but one thing only which is light so at this East-gate no mist of humane errours no water of worldly cares may enter in but only the light of heaven and a sanctified desire to be fast knit and perfectly united by faith and love to God Verse 23. But if thine eye be evil c. If the light that is in thee be darknesse c. An evil eye is here opposed to a single eye that looks on God singly abstracted from all other things and affects the heart with pure love to him for himself more then for his love-tokens These we may lawfully have but they may not have us If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in 〈◊〉 For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life that is pleasure profit and preferment these three like those three troops of the Caldeans Job 1. 17. fall upon the faculties of the soul and carry them away from 〈◊〉 the right owner The minde is filled with greater darknesse then can be expressed How great is that darknesse The Prince that 〈◊〉 understanding is a great oppressour but he that hateth covetousnesse that hath not his eyes bleared and blinded with the dust of earthly-mindednesse shall prolong his daies Prov. 28. 16. So Isa 56. 10 11. His watchmen are blinde And why They are greedy dogs which can never have enough and they are shepherds which cannot understand they all look to their own way every one for his gain from his quarter Isa. 56. 10 11. Of this sort were those covetous Pharisees that devoúred widows houses therefore blinde because covetous Luke 16. 14. the property of which sin is to besot and infatuate as it did Judas who though he wanted for nothing in our Saviours 〈◊〉 but was sufficiently provided for yet for filthy lucre basely sold his Master and 〈◊〉 for thirty silverlings the known and pitcht price of the 〈◊〉 slave and had the face after all to ask Master is it I when he knew Christ to be the true God and to know all things 〈◊〉 Comets though but Comets as long as they keep 〈◊〉 shine bright but when they decline from their pitch they fall to the earth So when men forsake the Lord and minde earthly things they lose that light they had and are dissipated destroy'd and come to nothing Good therefore is the counsel of 〈◊〉 Labour not to be rich Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not Or as Mercerus otherwise reads that text Wilt thou darken 〈◊〉 eyes upon them As those that walk long in the snow or that 〈◊〉 in a smoaky corner can see little at length Whoredome and 〈◊〉 take away the heart saith Hosea cap. 4. 11. as they did 〈◊〉 they drew out his spirits and dissolved his reason so doth covetousnesse It makes a man that he cannot see the net that is 〈◊〉 before him which every bird can do Prov. 1. 17. but whiles 〈◊〉 coveteth the bait loseth his life as Shimei did by looking his servants as Lot who had like to have run the same hazard by 〈◊〉 the plain of Jordan as Jonas that suffered himself to be cast into the sea that the ship with her lading might come safe to shore How many carnall mindes like 〈◊〉 raven fly out of the Ark of Gods Church and imbrace this present world and like the Mariners when they found out Jonas yet fain they would have saved him So many will rather venture their own casting away then cast their worldly lusts over-board How much better Joseph who let go his garment to save himself as Elias did his mantle to go to heaven and Bartimeus his cloak to come to Christ How much better Moses who by faith seeing him that is invisible and having an eye to the reward when he was come to years as the text noteth and therefore well knew what he did for he was no baby refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter and the worlds darling and chusing rather the afflictions of Gods poor people then the pleasures of sin for a season he esteemed the reproach of Christ the worst part of him greater riches then the treasures of Egypt And why all this For 〈◊〉 had respect to the recompence of reward He set his foot as it were upon the battlements of heaven and there-hence looked upon these earthly happinesses as base and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and slender waterish and worthlesse The great Cities of Campania seem but small cottages to them that stand on the top of the Alps the Moon covereth her self with a pale vail and shines not at all in the presence of the Sun No more doth the beauty and bravery of the world wherewith carnall mindes are so bedazelled and 〈◊〉 to a man that hath been in paradise with Paul that hath already laid hold on eternall life The moles of the earth that are blinde and cannot see farre off that have animam triticiam a wheaten soul with that fool in

man at any time hide his eyes from his own flesh that is from his neighbour of the same stock with himself For this is the law and the Prophets i. e. This is as much as either of them have said touching love to our neighbour Yea this is the summe of all that Christ and the Apostles have spoken of it For love that seeketh not her own things is both the complement of the Law and the supplement of the Gospel Rom. 13. 8 10. Gal. 5. 14. Ioh. 15. 12. v. 14. Christ maketh love to our brethren the same with keeping the Commandments So Acts 15. 20. St 〈◊〉 in that sacred Synod gives this suffrage to lay upon the 〈◊〉 Gentiles no greater burden then these necessary things that they abstain from pollutions of Idols and from fornication from things strangled and from bloud And in certain ancient 〈◊〉 as also by Irenaeus and Cyprian it is added and what thing soever ye would not that others should doe to you that ye doe not the same to them Timothy naturally cared for the Philippians which was rare Phillip 2. 20. 22. So should all Christians 〈◊〉 for another Gal. 5. 13. 1 Cor. 10. 24. Rom. 15. 1 2. Self-lovers begin the black bed-role 2 Tim. 3 2. Verse 13. Enter ye in at the straight gate Our Saviour having hitherto pointed out the right way of well-doing and shew'd how to steere a straight course to the haven of happinesse now gives warning of certain dangerous rocks against the which divers have dashed to their utter destruction and are therefore carefully to be declined Of these the first he nameth is the following of a multitude to do evil the joyning hand in hand with the rude rable that are running apace toward the pit of perdition which is but a little before them the doing as most men do which is to be 〈◊〉 undone for ever The wicked though never so many of 〈◊〉 goe 〈◊〉 to hell and whole nations that forget God Hence the gate thereto is grown so wide and the way so well-beaten But none that goe that way returne again neither take they hold of the paths of life Enter therefore in at the streight gate saith our Saviour Vive ut pauci c. Live as those few live that enter into life eternall saith Cassianus for if you will needs imitate the multitude saith Austin ye shall not be numbred among the living in Jerusalem Isa. 4 3 4. Save your selves from this untoward generation saith St Peter shine amidst them as lamps saith St Paul as Abrahams lamp that shone out in the smoaky furnace as the wise-mens star that shewed it self in the midst of darknesse like the moon that holds on her course though the dogs bark at her never so long never so loud like the Sun that rejoyceth as a bride-groom to run his race though the Alantes a certain people curse him at his rising because scorched with his heat Or rather like God himself who then doth his best works when men are at worst overcoming our evill with his good and not suffering mens perversnes to interrupt the course of his 〈◊〉 Swim not down the stream of the times as dead fishes doe neither be carried along by the swinge and sway of the place you dwell in Let not your lips be polluted by living among a people of polluted lips with Esay swear not with Ioseph curse not with Peter comply not with the common sort learn not the manners of the mad multitude The worse they are the better be you the more outragious they the more couragious you violent for heaven and valiant for the truth therefore walking exactly and therefore 〈◊〉 the time because the daies are evil and most men walk at all adventures To walk with God saith Bishop Babington is a pretious praise though none do it but my selfe and to walk with man with the world with a town or parish in wicked wayes is a deadly sin though millions do it besides And it matters not said Nicolas Bishop of Rome how small the number be if godly nor how great if ungodly Noah condemned a world of wicked people by his contrary courses and became heir of the 〈◊〉 which is by faith Heb. 1 1 7. whilest he continued righteous even in his generation and kept himself unspotted in so foul a season The Apostle telleth us that to live according to the common course of the world is no better then to be acted and agitated by the devill But God hath promised to take this unclean spirit out of the land Zech. 13. 2. Fiat Fiat And when Christ bids us Enter in at the straight gate we must know that his words are operative to cause us to enter as when he said Lazarus come forth and in the creation Let there be 〈◊〉 His word and Spirit go together He works all our works for us Isaiah 26. Verse 14. Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way c. In Lollards tower passing through six or seven doors I came to my lodging saith Philpot Martyr through many straits where I called to remembrance that strait is the way to heaven The old copies read Oh how strait is the gate by way of admiration q. d. It is wondrous strait Not of it selfe for Christs yoke is easy and his burden light but we make it so hard and heavy to our selves by our singular peevishnesse and perversnesse Besides the Prince of darknesse and his black guard favour this way that is called holy as little as the Philistim-Princes did David yea they persecute it to the death as Saul did Act 9. Hence the way to heaven is an afflicted way a perplexed persecuted way crusht close together with crosses as the word importeth as was the Israelites way in the wildernesse or that of Ionathan and his armour-bearer that had a sharp rock on the one side and a sharp rock on the other And whilst they crept upon all four flinty stones were under them briers and thornes on either hand of them mountaines crags and promontories over them sic petitur caelum so heaven is caught by pains by patience by violence affliction being our unseparable companion The crosse-way is the high 〈◊〉 to heaven said that Martyr And another If there be any way to heaven on horse-back it is by the crosse Q. Elizabeth is said to have swum to the crown through a sea of sorrows They that will to heaven must sail by hell gates They that will have Knight-hood must kneel for it and they that will get in at the strait gate must croud for it Strive to enter in at the streight gate saith our Saviour Strive and strain even to an agony as the word signifieth Heaven is compared to a hill Hell to a hole To hell a man may go without a staff as we say the way thereto is

This 〈◊〉 lambe was stirred with a holy indignation at so absurd an interruption and sharpes him up that delivers the message Great is the honour that is due to a mother Solomon set Bathsheba at his right hand and promised her any thing with reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unicam matris 〈◊〉 omnes istius 〈◊〉 posse delere Knows not Antipater that one tear of my mothers can 〈◊〉 blot out all his accusations against her said Alexander the Great Brethren also or neer-allyes as these were to our Saviour are dearly to be respected and greatly gratified as were Josephs brethren by him in his greatnesse But when these relations or their requests come in competition with Gods work or glory they must be neglected nay rejected and abominated For is there any friend to God or any foe like him Men be they pleased or displeased he must be obeyed and his businesse dispatched be the 〈◊〉 occasions never so urgent in shew the pretences 〈◊〉 so specious and plausible Verse 49. Behold my mother and my brethren Sanctior est 〈◊〉 cordis quam corporis Spirituall kindred is better then eternall There is a friend that sticketh closer then a brother Prov. 18. 24. Christ is endeared to his in all manner of nearest relations and engagements Oh then the dignity and safety of a Saint And oh the danger and disaster of such as either by hand or tongue maligne or molest them What will they wrong Christs mother to his face Will they force the Queen also in the house c. If Iacobs sons were so avenged for the indignity done to their sister Dinah 〈◊〉 Absolom for Tamar what will Christ doe or rather what will 〈◊〉 not doe 〈◊〉 his dearest relations How will this greater then Solomon arise off his throne at the last day to meet his mother half-way and to doe her all the honour that may be in that great Amphitheatre How sweetly will he accost his brethren that have been long absent from him in the flesh though present ever in spirit with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Come ye blessed c. q. d. where have you been all this while They also shall be bold to say to him as Ruth die to Boaz Spread thy skirt over us for thou art our near kinsman or one that hath good right to redeem Verse 50. For whosoever shall doe the will Loe here 's the right way of becoming akin to Christ and can we better prefer our selves It was an honour to Mark that he was 〈◊〉 his sisters son David durst not in modesty think of being son in law to a King Elymas the 〈◊〉 affected to be held allyed to Christ and therefore stiled himself Barjesus as Darius in his proud 〈◊〉 to Alexander called himself King of Kings and 〈◊〉 of the Gods But the right way to be ennobled indeed and inrighted to Christ and his Kingdom is to beleeve in his Name and 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 This this is to become Christs brother and sister and mother Sister is named to shew that no sex is excluded And mother last mentioned that the prerogative of the flesh may be set aside and disacknowledged CHAP. XIII Verse 1. The same day WHerein Christ had had a sharp bout and bickering with the Scribes and Pharisees in the forenoon he sat and taught the people as it may seem in the afternoon A 〈◊〉 of preaching twice a day Chrysostoms practise was to Preach in the afternoon and by candle-light as appears by his Note on 1 Thes. 5. 17. where he fetcheth a similitude from the lamp he was preaching by Luther likewise preached twice 〈◊〉 day which because one Nicolas White commended in him he was accused of heresie in the raigne of Hen. 8. And this commendable course began to be disgraced and cryed down in our daies as Puritanicall and superfluous A learned Bishop was highly extolled in print for saying that when he was a Lecturer in London he preached in the morning but prated only in the after-noon A fair commendation for him He sat by the sea-side As waiting an oppertunity of doing good to mens souls which was no sooner offered but he readily laid hold on So St Paul took a text of one of the Altars in Athens and discourseth on it to the superstitious people A minister must stand ever upon his watch-tower prompt and present ready and speedy to every good work as the bee so soon as ever the sun breaks forth flyes abroad to gather hony and wax accounting employment a preferment as 〈◊〉 Saviour did Iohn 17. 4. Verse 2. He went into a ship and sat Thinking perhaps there to repose himself after his hard conflict with the 〈◊〉 But the sight of a new audience incites him to a new pains of preaching to them And as he held no time unseasonable so no place unfit for such a purpose We finde him 〈◊〉 teaching not in the Temple only and synagogues on the Sabbath day as he did constantly but in the mountains in cities in private houses by the sea-side by the way side by the wells side any where every where no place came 〈◊〉 to him no pulpet displeased him Verse 3. And he spake many things to them in parables A parable saith Suidas is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a setting forth of the matter by way of similitude from something else that differs in kinde and yet in some sort resembleth and illustrateth it Christ the Prince of preachers varieth his kinde of teaching according to the nature and necessity of his audience speaking as they could hear as they could bear saith St Mark Ministers in like sort must turne themselves as it were into all shapes and fashions both of spirit and speech to win people to God Behold a sower went forth Our Saviour stirrs them up to 〈◊〉 by a Behold Which though it might seem not so needfull to be said to such as came far and now looked throw him as it were for a Sermon yet he well knowing how dull men are to conceave heavenly mysteries how weak to remember hard to believe and slow to practise calls for their utmost attention to his divine doctrine and gives them a just reason thereof in his ensuing discourse It fares with the best whiles they hear as with little ones when they are saying their lesson if but a bird flie by they must needs look after it besides the devils malice striving to distract stupifie or steal away the good seed that it may come to nothing Verse 4. And when he sowed some seed c. The word is a seed of immortallity For 1. As seeds are small things yet produce great substances as an acorn an oak c. so by the foolishnes of preaching souls are saved like as by the blowing of rams-horns the wals of Iericho were subverted 2. As the seed must be harrowed into the earth so must the word be hid in the heart ere it 〈◊〉 3. As the seedsman cannot make an harvest without the influence

till the people had read them And then they were taken down by the Preists and laid up for the use of posterity Verse 16 17 18 19 20. See the Notes on Matth. 4. 18. c. Verse 21. He entred into the Synagogue and taught This is noted as remarkable in Saint Mark that he often inculcateth that our Saviour taught Verse 22. And they were astonished If it could be said of Dr. Whitaker that no man ever saw him without reverence or heard him without wonder How much more of Christ sith grace was poured into his lips Psal. 45. 2. As one that had authority Seest thou a Preacher deliver the Word with singular authority as Paul we beleeve therefore we speak esteem him very highly for the works sake The Corinthians are checkt for that they were unruly and would raign without Paul 1 Cor. 4. And not as the Scribes Frigidly and jejunly Didst thou beleeve thy self thou wouldst never plead thy clients cause so coldly and carelesly said Cicero to his adversary Verse 23. With an unclean spirit Gr. In an unclean spirit An unregenerate man is in maligno positus as St. John saith of the world He is inversus decalogus whole evill is in man and whole man in evill till at last without grace he be satanized and transformed into a breathing Devill By reason of the inhabitation of unclean spirits our spirits have in them Trenches Cages Forts and strong-holds of Satan 2 Cor. 10. 4. Verse 24. What have we to do with thee Not to do with Christ and yet vex a servant of Christ Could the Devill so mistake him whom he confessed It is an idle misprision to sever the sense of an injury done to any of the members from the head Thou Jesus of Nazareth Though the Devils confessed Christ to be the Holy one of God yet they call him Jesus of Nazareth to nourish the errour of the multitude that thought he was born there and so not the Messias Neither did the Devils cunnning fail him herein as appears John 7. 44. Art thou come to destroy us Before the time such is the infinite goodnesse of God that he respits even wicked men and spirits the utmost of their torments I know thee who thou art This he spake not to honour Christ but to deingrate him as commended by so lying a spirit Laudari ab illaudato non est laus saith Seneca The holy one of God Some rest in praysing the Sermon and speaking fair to the Preacher The Devill here did as much to Christ to be rid of him So did Herod Mark 6. 20. Verse 25. Hold thy peace Capistrator be thou haltered up or muzzled Christ would not hear good words from an evill mouth High words become not a fool saith Salomon The Lepers lips should be covered according to the Law Verse 26. And when the unclean spirit had torn him So he will serve all that he is now at inne with as Braford hath it You are the Devils birds saith he to all wicked ones whom when he hath well fed he will broach you and eat you chaw you and champ you world without end in eternall woe and misery And cried with a loud voyce But said nothing according to verse 25. He came out of him With as ill a will goes the worldlings soul out of his body God tears it out as Job somewhere hath it death makes forcible entry Verse 27. For with authority As he taught so he wrought with authority The same word is used verse 22. Verse 30. Sick of a fever Which the Greeks denominate of the heat that is in it the Germans of the cold See the Note on Matth. 8. 14. Verse 32. When the Sun did set And the Sabbath was ended for till then many held it not lawfull Verse 34. Suffered not the Devils to speak For what calling had they to preach the Gospel Verse 35. And in the morning c. The fittest time for prayer or any ferious businesse Therefore not only David Psalme 5. verse 3. and other Saints but also heathens chose the morning cheifely for Sacrifice as Nestor in Homer the Argonauts in Apollonius The Persian Magi sang Hymnes to their gods at break of day and worshipped the rising Sunne The Pinarii and Politii sacrificed every morning and evening to Hercules upon the great Altar at Rome c. Verse 38. Let us go into the next Townes The neighbouring Burroughs such as were between a City and a town Though secret prayer were sweet to our Saviour yet he left it to preach and profit many Verse 40. Beseeching him c. Morbi 〈◊〉 officina saith Ambrose We are best when we are worst saith another Therefore King Aluored prayed God to send him alwayes some 〈◊〉 Verse 41. Touched him Impensae gratiae bonitat is signum 〈◊〉 saith Calvin And so it is of his infinite goodnesse that he will touch our menstruous 〈◊〉 take at our hands our polluted performances Verse 45. Could no more openly enter For presse of people 〈◊〉 was so frequented that he was forced to withdraw CHAP. II. Verse 1. And it was noysed THe Sun of rightcousnesse could as little lie hid as the Sun in Heaven Verse 2. Many were gathered together Erasmus observeth that Origen in his Sermons to the people chideth them for nothing more then for their thin assemblies to hear the Word and for their carelesse hearing of that which they ought to attend to with utmost diligence recte judicans saith he hinc osse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 profectum aut defectum Verse 3. Which was borne of foure apprehensis quatuor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vivo cadaveri 〈◊〉 Wicked men are living ghosts walking Sepulchers of themselves Bring them to Christ that they may be cured Verse 5. When he saw their faith By their works as the goodnesse of the promised Land was known by the grapes and fruits brought back by the Spyes In all our good works Christs eye is upon our faith without which it 's impossible to please God Verse 6. But there were certain of the Scribes Little do 〈◊〉 know when they preach what hearers sit before them 〈◊〉 fel est quod 〈◊〉 Some of our hearers carry fel in aure as it s said of some creatures they carry their gall in their ears Verse 7. Who 〈◊〉 forgive sinnes c Man may remit the 〈◊〉 God only the transgression Verse 8. Perceived in his spirit That is by his Deity as 1 Tim. 3. 16. Heb. 9. 14. Or by his own spirit as 1 Pet. 3. 8. not by inspiration as 2 Pet 1. 21. Verse 10. Hath power on earth Christus 〈◊〉 divino omnia 〈◊〉 non injustâ aliqua virtute ac tyrannicâ Christ did 〈◊〉 in his Fathers right and not perforce Verse 11. I say unto thee arise See here our Saviours letters testimoniall whereby he approves his authority and power to be authentick Ye are our Epistle saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 2. Verse 13.