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	word_n	zion_n	48	3	9.0044	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75620	Theanthrōpos; or, God-man: being an exposition upon the first eighteen verses of the first chapter of the Gospel according to St John. Wherein, is most accurately and divinely handled, the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ; proving him to be God and man, coequall and coeternall with the Father: to the confutation of severall heresies both ancient and modern. By that eminently learned and reverend divine, John Arrowsmith, D.D. late Master of Trinity-Colledge in Cambridge, and Professor of Divinity there.	Arrowsmith, John, 1602-1659.	1660 (1660)	Wing A3778; Thomason E1014_1; ESTC R10473	267,525	319

John knew neither Jewes nor Gentiles would indure the tearm of the Son of God They could not indure to hear of a sonship in the Deity and Godhead but with this tearm Word applied to the Godhead they were well acquainted both Jewes and Gentiles But John had often met with it in the Old Testament in this sense for the second person in the Trinity I shall shew you a place or two Psal 33. 6. By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the hosts of them by the breath of his Mouth Here is JEHOVAH the Lord and the Word of the Lord for the Second Person and the Spirit of his Mouth for the Third The Creation is ascribed to the whole Trinity So here is Word In the same sense ye shall find Jesus Christ is called the Word 2 Sam. 7. 21. in that speech of David For thy VVord's sake and according to thine own Heart hast thou done all these great things What is that For thy VVord's sake 1 Chron. 17. 19. Compare these two places O Lord for thy Servant's sake and according to thine own Heart hast Thou done all these things Thou hast done them for thy VVord's sake saith Samuel Thou hast done them for thy Servants sake in the Chronicles And who is that Servant but Christ My servant whom I have Chosen and in whom I delight c. There is a place in Haggai that calleth Christ the VVord Haggai 2. 4 5. Yea now be strong Oh Zerobbabel saith the Lord and be strong Oh Joshua son of Josedeck the High Priest and be strong all ye people of the Land-saith the Lord and work for I am with you saith the Lord of Hosts according to the VVord that I Covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt so my Spirit remaineth amongst you fear ye not Here is JEHOVAH and VVord and Spirit according to ye may see by the Character is not in the Originall it is in another Letter in our Translation of it Therefore thus according to the Originall or more neerly I am with you saith the Lord of Hosts with that VVord in whom I covenanted with you In quo vobiscum pepegi I am with you together with that VVord in whom I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt So that God promiseth the Church deliverance in the Name of God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Well then the Jewes you see were well acquainted with this tearm of VVord applied to the second Person in the Trinity They had it in the beginning and in the Chaldee Paraphrase which is applied to JEHOVAH it is rendred the VVord of God What JEHOVAH is said to do they translate it The Word of God did it applying the Word of God to Christ Yea the very Heathens whom John would likewise take and therefore baiteth his hook accordingly the Heathens had a strong notion of the Word They said There was an eternall Mind from which proceeded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Word which was the Creator of all things Ye have it in Plato Trismegistus and divers of the Philosophers yea the very Oracle Pheuros the King of Egypt sendeth to the Oracle to know Who should be the greatest in the World hoping the Oracle would have named him But he received this answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expressing the whole Trinity clearly and expresly First God saith the Oracle then the Word and together with them the Spirit So then this tearm Word being known and applied to God both by Jewes and Heathens and St. John knowing that Ebion and Cerinthus were better versed in this Philosophy than in the Scriptures of God he to win them baits his hook with this expression of the Word whereas the expression of the Son of God would have angred them In this sense John practiseth what St. Paul confesseth to become all things to all men He setteth forth Christ under the term of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word which they would better receive Whence the third Quaerie doth arise which is the main How doth it appear that Christ is fitly called by this Quaerie 3 term The Word We must distinguish There is a two-fold Word There Respons is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A word conceived in the mind I pray you set you selves to understand it As when ye read The fool hath said in his heart There is no God Here is what the fool thought He said that is within himself When the mind speaketh to a man's self that is a word conceived Secondly there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word delivered that is two-fold either verbum quod or verbum quo The word delivered is either that word which is one's mind expressed that is the thing which he hath spoken Then it is said he keepeth his word when he hath done the thing uttered And then there is the verbum quo that is that thing by which a man's mind is expressed Yet more plainly take it thus There is a three-fold word Verbum mentale A word conceived Verbum reale A word uttered Verbum orale A word uttering The word conceived verbum mentale is the Apprehension that a man hath in himself which we call a Notion or a Conception The word uttered verbum reale is the thing that is spoken In the Originall see Luk. 1. 37. With God nothing can be impossible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with God no word shall be impossible So in the Originall There is nothing that God hath spoken but it shall come to passe Ye have a very clear place for that Matth. 4. 4. Man doth not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God As I take it the most proper meaning of that place is By every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God we understand every creature which God hath ordained for food And ye will be of that mind too if you see Deuter. 8. 3. He humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with Manna which thou knewest not nor thy fathers before thee that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Whatsoever the word of God maketh food whatsoever God appointeth to be instrumentall as he did Manna here There is verbum reale Then verbum orale the word uttering is the expression by which that thing is delivered That is the end why God hath given us speech If we were to deal onely with God we should need no tongue or speech because God knoweth the thoughts of our hearts If we were to deal onely with our selves we should need no speech for every man knoweth Why the use of Speech is given to man what himself thinketh But because we are to deal one with another therefore God giveth us the use of speech that there might be a word uttering and declaring to one another what one another thinks Psal 139. 4. There

the Father because there is distinction of Persons and yet a personall Co-existency The word was with God So ye have the meaning of that Proposition Let us now make Use of it First Take notice here of the distinction of Persons in Vse 1 the Godhead a distinction without their Divinity Here is the Son the word with God and the Son with the Father not divided from him And yet one Person with another and so distinct one from another With him not without distinction and in him without division As in the night-time if a man set up three Candles in a room all these concurr to the lightning of the room yet there is but one light So but one Essence in the Divinity Yet here are three Candles that give that Light but no man can say that this light is peculiar to the First Candle and this to the Second for all shine together and yet the light of the second Candle is with the first but the light is all one But O the depth It is no wading here farther than a man hath footing out of Scripture for fear of being past our standing and be drowned The Word of God is with God and one Person with another but the manner How as Basil said when he met with some knots of difficulty in this Mystery I believe saith he I do not busie my self in searching over far what we cannot make out in plain reason we must make out in believing where we have the Scripture for our bottom onely take notice of such a thing Certainly there is a distinction of Persons in the Trinity Here is One with Another The word was with God Secondly Learn from hence to worship God according Vse 2 to a distinction of Persons Learn we to worship and look at Christ as a Person distinct from the Father and the holy Ghost or else we worship not Christ but our own fancies If we conceive him not as he is as he is distinct This is the great difference between the Christian and the Turkish Religion I might say the Jewish too for the Turks and Jews agree in that they hold one God but deny a distinction of Persons in the Godhead We Christians according to Scripture acknowledge that too There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are one And some kind of necessity appeareth in a way of reason which we may take notice of for the strengthning of our faith in this great Mystery that there should be a distinction of Persons God The benefit of the distinction of Persons the Father was the Person offended Reconciliation was to be made None but God hath enough in him to satisfie God Therefore it was requisite there should be a Person to satisfie the Person offended That the second Person the Lord Jesus undertakes and goeth through with it But how shall this be made known Poor man is as far off as ever he was if he be left here he hath no power in his own nature to reach this Therefore there is a Third Person the holy Ghost who discovereth this and applieth it So that the Salvation of Man is by the concurrence of the whole Trinity But I must here again take off my self with O the depth as Bernard did Hoc magnum est Mysterium This is a great Mystery a Mystery rather to be adored than searched into Well saith he Quomodo esset Pluralitas in Unitate unitas in Pluralitate How there should be a Plurality in Unity and how a Unity in Plurality three Persons and yet but one Essence Scrutari temeritas est It is rashnesse to search too far into it Credere pietas it is piety to believe it Cognos●ere vita aeterna It is life eternall to know it We can never have a full comprehension of it till we come to enjoy it Thirdly This may serve to Answer that Question which some make What was God a doing before he made the Vse 3 world Object It might suffice to Answer them as Augustine did in Answ the same case with a short Answer He was a making Hell for such as put these Questions But there is a fairer Answer in the Text which telleth you That the Word that was in the beginning before the Creatures were made that Word was with God God was delighting himself in his Word God and his Word were a contriving the Redemption of Mankind and had thoughts of peace towards the Elect from all Eternity That place Prov. 8. speaketh something to it When he appointed the foundations of the world vers 30 31. then I was by him as one brought up with him or as a Nourisher in Intention or decreeing of the Creatures that were to be made or out of the Church that was to be gathered out of the world I was daily his delight rejoycing God delighting in his Son before the world was alwaies before him This God was a doing before the world was made he was delighting in his Son this Text saith so clearly So saith Peter 1 Pet. 2. 19 20. The pretious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times for you Before the foundations of the world what was God a doing Plotting as I may speak with reverence the work of mans Redemption projecting my Redemption and thine Before we were he had thoughts of peace and mercy towards us Therefore we may trust him as long as we live When we think little of him he thinks much of us The fourth Use we may make of this is this It should Vse 4 teach us and I pray God we may all learn infinitely to prize the love of Christ I say to prize and adore the love of Christ Who though he were from all Eternity the Word with God yet was pleased in the fulnesse of time to become Emmanuel God with us What an act of respect and love was it in Moses to his Country-men the Jews Moses his exceeding love to his Country-men the Jewes poor Hebrews in sore bondage and he in Pharaoh's Court brought up in all the learning of the Egyptians adopted by the King's daughter full of honour some say Lord Treasurer of Egypt and they build their conjecture upon that because it is said He forsook the treasures of Egypt It was a great thing for him to leave the Court and sort himself with poor Labourers at Brick-kilns yet that he did Here is an act of great condescention in Moses of much respect to his Country and love to the poor Hebrews But what is this of Moses to that of Christ who was with God in the Court of Heaven taken up with the mutuall delights which the blessed Trinity had in each other To leave this all this for a time and to come to be Man with us To leave his Mansion which was Heaven and to pitch his

said to purchase the Church with his blood because that Person which was God had blood to shed according to his human Nature though it was sanguis humanus yet it was sanguis Dei It was human blood yet the blood of that Person which was God as well as Man Now the ground of all this is that personall union The Word being made flesh Divines have laboured much to make this clear therefore have invented divers Comparisons I shall tell you of one or two of them They suppose a flaming fiery Sword here is a union of the metal and of the fire that are met together in this sword and therefore there may be a communication of the properties This fiery thing may be said to cut and this sharp thing may be said to burn because they are so united in one sword Or thus They suppose a man under two capacities one and the same man that hath skill in two Sciences suppose he is both a good Physitian and a good Lawyer Now one may in propriety of speech say This Physitian is a Lawyer and this Lawyer is a Physitian because both meet in one man A man may say This Physitian is a diligent follower of his Clyent 's businesse and this Lawyer is very good at curing his Patients Or thus A branch of a Vine is graffed into the stock of an Olive-tree and that so as it takes of each tree both the Vine-branch and the Olive bear according to their severall natures yet are in the union both of one tree but both Grapes and Olives grow upon it One may say This Vine beareth good Olives and this Olive-tree beareth good Grapes because united in one tree So it is in respect of the Manhood united to the Godhead This Son of Mary made the world and this Son of God shed his blood upon the Crosse But no more of this The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the onely begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth I now go on to what remaineth And dwelt amongst us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word signifieth properly Dwelling as in a Tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a Tent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth to dwell in a Tent or Tabernacle Then this Clause Dwelt amongst us is capable of a three-fold sense though as I suppose but one is here intended There is a Mysticall sense of these words a Spirituall sense a Civill sense First A Mysticall sense and according to that this 1. The Divinity of Christ dwelt in the human Nature phrase Dwelt amongst us is an amplification of the former The Word was made flesh and implyeth this That the Divinity of Christ dwelleth in the human Nature as in a Tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in us the plurall number noteth the human Nature and implieth as diverse go this way especially the Greek Fathers and the Arabick and Syriack all give this sense of this place to intimate That the habitation or dwelling that Christ assumed to himself was not the Person of man but the Nature of man and therefore dwelt in us There is a place of Scripture that seemeth to favour this sense Col. 2. 9. where ye find it thus said In him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily As if so be he should have said The Godhead dwelt in the body of Christ as in a tabernacle or tent which it had erected for its own habitation Dwelt and dwelt bodily Secondly There is a Spirituall sense of this Clause and 2. Christ dwelleth in us by his Spirit according to that the meaning is this Dwelt in us namely by his Spirit by influence from heaven and this way Cajetan goeth Lest men should suspect saith he because of what was said before The Word was made flesh that now we are to have none but fleshly communion with the Son of God Though It was made flesh yet he dwelt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in us by his Spirit and conversed with us in that respect and this is implyed in the Praeposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We say not inter nos but in nobis If he had meant it of Christ's dwelling in the world he would have said Inter nos but he saith In nobis that implyeth a communication of himself to our inward man according to that sense which other Scriptures hold forth That Christ-Man dwelleth in our hearts by faith Ephes 3. 17. 2 Cor. 6. 16. God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people Thirdly There is a third sense of these words that is a 3. By his conversing amongst us Civill sense Dwelt amongst us that is Conversed amongst us as one man converseth with another He took upon him the form of a servant and was in the likenesse of man and carried himself for about 33 years upon earth as a man This is his dwelling amongst us and that is the most proper sense in this place though there be a truth in all the former yet neither of them is here intended not the First which I call the Mysticall sense because the human Nature of Christ was not assumed like as a Tabernacle or Tent which is pitched for a while and then removed but as a Mansion The Divinity took up his habitation forever in the human Nature Christ now continueth and shall for ever as true Man as he was when he was born of the Virgin Mary In that place Col. 2. 9. the Apostle useth another word where he saith that all the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily the word is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in a Tabernacle but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in a Mansion and abiding place He so took the human Nature as never to lay it down again Therefore not as in a Tabernacle As for the Spirituall sense that cannot well be the meaning here Though it be true that Christ dwelleth in the hearts of his Saints and converseth with their spirits yet the Evangelist speaketh of some kind of habitation amongst men but this kind of habitation dwelling in our hearts was that which was usually in the Word from the beginning of the world so he dwelt amongst the Jewes for they were his beloved people long before he was Incarnate Besides this was ceased when the Evangelist wrote The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habitavit in the Praeterperfect Tense If ye take it of Christ's conversing amongst men upon the face of the earth he did dwell amongst them so but he did not dwell amongst them at this time that was past but his dwelling in his Spirit amongst us that is not past Joh. 6. 56. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him It remaineth therefore that the sense of this place is plainly thus not to seek into abstruse senses The

to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hears that we should give the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ Therefore in your attendance upon the Ministry of the Gospell let it be your aim still to see something of Christ's glory in it And do as the Disciples did We beheld his glory as in a Theater Let it be our care to view Christ and the things of Christ as they are represented to us in a Theater Ye know how greedy men are of such objects they cannot satisfie their eyes with seeing Pageants and such kind of showes besides things upon a Stage are seen with a great deal of delight Insomuch as Augustine when he would exphesse the joyes of Christians in the midst of their greatest sorrow hath this excellent expression of it Orantium d●lciores sunt lachrimae quàm omnium gaudia Theatrorum saith he The tears of praying Christians have morè sweetnesse in them than all the joyes of the Theaters or of the Stages Certainly there never came such a spectacle never such a thing to be viewed as the glory of Christ is never any thing so well worth the viewing Let it therefore be our care to do as the Apostle exhorts us to be looking up to Jesus That is very emphaticall Heb. 12. 2. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the crosse and despised the shame and is set down at the right hand of God The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hath a double force in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 looking off first and then looking upon We must look off from the world which our hearts are too much glued to and then look up to Jesus otherwise if we busie our minds too much with carnall things our hearts will be so full of the relish of them as we cannot savour of the things of God Certainly brethren we have presidents for this take Paul a man that busied himself in this great work of beholding the glory of Christ throughout his whole course after his conversion therefore he desired no other learnlng but Christ crucified 1 Cor. 2. 2. I determined not to know any thing amongst you save Jesus Christ and him crucified He valued no other wealth The knowledge of Christ to be preferred before all things but the knowledge of Christ Phil. 3. 8. I count all things but losse and drosse for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ Where was his learning and wealth and joy and great delight It was in the beholding of Christ he gloried in nothing else Gal. 6. 14. God forbid that I should glory save in the crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ Beloved the Crosse of Christ shall be our Crown if we love to make the glory of Christ our study Thirdly take this third use into your meditations of 3. Meditation on Christ's excellency raiseth our apprehensions above all created glories the excellency of Christ raising your apprehensions above all created glories for his glory is the glory as of the onely begotten of the Father Ye wrong Christ if your apprehensions of him be not higher than those you have of any creature His hath a glory far above theirs above the glory of the Celestiall bodies and the glory of Men above the Angels and Cherubims Therefore the Apostle taketh a great deal of pains to prefer Christ above the Angels that our thoughts may go beyond in the excellency of Christ above any other creatures Whence it is that Joh. 5. 23. all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him So I have done with that Clause 4. The fourth thing in my Text remaineth that is The singular Qualifications of Christ's Person Full of Grace and Truth Christ was full of grace and truth That is our Observation All sorts of grace in Christ It pleased the Father saith the Apostle Col. 1. 19. that in him should all fulnesse dwell all fulnesse of all sorts of grace whether ye look to the kinds or degrees of grace the fulnesse of both sorts There were all kinds of grace in Christ Those graces which were scattered amongst the Saints one excelling in this grace another in that Moses in meeknesse Job in patience David in thankfulnesse and Joseph in chastity and so in the rest they are all united in Christ So for the measure and degrees of grace as he hath of all kinds so the utmost degree of every kind To Ministers graces are given in a scant proportion and measured out according as God hath allotted to every one his proportion as the Apostle speaks Ephes 4. 7. Unto every one of us is grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ But to Christ himself it is above measure Joh. 3. 34. God gave not the Spirit by measure to him he doth not stand meting it out but poureth it out upon him So that look whatsoever grace a human nature void of sin is capable of that was all poured out upon Christ Full of grace It pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it should be the mansion-house of all fulnesse so as there shall be no defect Adam was full of grace in his condition but fell from it and the Angels full but many of them turned Apostates but Christ hath no defect in his Nature it is a fulnesse and a dwelling fulnesse But this is too generall Full Of what Full of grace and full of truth First Of grace Grace is a word of various acceptation 1. Christ is ful of grace and admitteth of many distinctions I shall onely meddle with such as are applicable to this place Grace is twofold it is taken either Active or Passive There is Active-grace Gratia gratis dans Givinggrace Passive-grace Gratia gratis data Grace given Active grace is that good-will out of which God bestoweth his benefits upon the gratious Passive grace grace given is that which is bestowed either upon the body or upon the soul or upon the whole person First A grace bestowed upon the bodies of men and r. Grace bestowed upon the bodies of men that is Beauty which properly cometh under the notion of grace in that sense Favour is deceitfull and beauty is vain Prov. 31. 30. Gratia fallax est saith the Latine translation grace is deceitfull taking grace for beauty So the Heathens they called those goddesses of theirs Charites the Graces That is grace upon the body but that is the lowest Secondly There is grace bestowed upon the Soul and 2. Upon rhe Soul those are rather Gifts tending to Edification as gifts of Prophecy and the like or to Salvation as

and getteth not the fruit Would ye have Christ ye must go to God for him the reality of all is founded in him What are the things men doat upon but either honours or riches or pleasures the worlds Trinity as some call those three We shall find them all in Christ Prov. 3. 16 17. where Wisdom speaks thus that Wisdom is Christ In her right hand are riches and honour Her waies are waies of pleasantnesse Here is all three riches honour and pleasure and all found in Wisdom which is the Lord Jesus Christ Vers 15. John bare witness of him He cryed saying This was he of whom I spake He that cometh after me is preferred before me for he was before me 16. And of his fulness have all we received and grace for grace For this fifteenth verse which I am now to close with there are in it these particulars First The Witnesse-bearer that is John the Baptist John bare witnesse of him Secondly The manner of his Witnessing He cryed saying Thirdly The time when he witnessed which lyeth couched in these words This was he of whom I spake I shall open that by and by Fourthly The matter of his testimony here He that commeth after me is preferred before me for he was before me I shall begin with the first The Witnesse-bearer was John the Baptist of whom we read vers 7. that he came The office of John the Baptist for a witnesse to bear witnesse of the Light and here we find him doing what he came for He came for a witnesse and here he bears witnesse This is the Observation That a good man will not be wanting to the duty of his Observ place This was his Office and ye find him taken up in the discharge of it and so should every one be For we must walk Circumspectly not as fools but as wise not to forget the errand we are sent about Every blessed man is like that Tree Psal 1. that bringeth forth his fruit in his season which is proper to his Calling and in such a time as is most proper for that fruit Rom. 12. 7 8. Ye have an Apostolicall Injunction Let him that hath a Ministry wait upon his ministry or he that exhorts upon his exhortation He that giveth let him do it with simplicity he that ruleth with diligence he that sheweth mercy with Cheerfulnesse Men lose nothing by being imployed in that service that Nothing lost by diligence in God's service God cals them to and men get nothing by being busie in other men's matters One may be over-busie and yet in God's account but an idle person if he doth not his proper work 1 Tim. 5. 13. And withall they learn to be Idle wandring about from house to house and not onely idle but Tatlers also and busie-bodies speaking things which they ought not Busie bodies and yet idle Why why because busie in matters that concern them not The next is the manner of John's witnesse bearing He 2. The manner of his witnesse-bearing bare witnesse and cried The Baptist cried in his witnessing of Christ There is something remarkable in that whereas the Scripture contents it selfe in other Cases to say He opened his mouth and spake here John Crieth What is the mystery of this He is said to cry for some one or all perhaps of these three Reasons First In reference to a fore-going Prophecy Isaiah 1. In reference to fore-going prophecies had fore-told as much which is applied in Matth. 3. 3. speaking of John the Baptist This is he that was spoken of by the Prophet Isaiah Behold the voice of one crying in the wildernesse Prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths straight He fore-told he should have the voice of a Crier therefore this voice is applied to him Or Secondly In reference to the time when he first began 2. To the time of his witnessing to witnesse of Christ and that was as Philogus telleth us in the year of Jubilee under the Law every fiftieth year the Jewes were to keep a Jubilee wherein they were to ordain liberty to their servants and restore men to their possessions that had been mortgaged Levit. 25. 9 10. Then shalt thou cause the Trumpet of the Jubilee to sound in the tenth day of the seventh month in the day of attonement shall ye make the Trumpet sound through all your Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof It shall be a Jubilee unto you and ye shall return every man to his possession and ye shall return every man unto his family John that came to be the Minister of the Gospell he began in a year of Jubilee because he was to proclaime a liberty that came by Christ who was now to be exhibited and to shew himselfe because he came by the Ministry of the Gospell to restore men to those possessions they had lost in Adam even to an Eternall Inheritance reserved in Heaven for them The year of Jubilee was to be proclaimed by a Trumpet Therefore John comes crying The Interpretation receiveth a strong confirmation of that Isaiah 58. 1. Cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a Trumpet and shew my people their transgressions and the house of Israel their sins Here John's voice cometh as a Jubilee-Trumpet to proclaim liberty to them that were Captive therefore he is said to Cry Thirdly Crying may referre to the temper of his spirit 3. To the fervency and alacrity in his witnesse-bearing Exod. 14. 15. in his witnesse-bearing to Christ you may note his fervency or alacrity or both Crying noteth fervency Why Criest thou to me saith God to Moses at the Red Sea when Moses was most fervent in spirit yet we read of nothing he said saith Augustine The people cried and God heard them not Moses held his peace and yet was heard because there was a louder cry within Of Christ himselfe it is said In the daies of his flesh He offered up Prayers with strong cries and tears The spirit crieth Abba Father It is a term of earnestnesse and so of alacrity too Hos 12. ult Cry out and shout thou inhabitant of Sion for great is the Holy one of Israel in the midst of thee John went about this work with a great deal of earnestnesse and delight He that leapt in his Mother's Womb when the newes came Luk. 1. 41. of the Conception of Christ now he leapeth with much more joy when he himselfe came to be the proclaimer of Christ He himselfe hath the honour to be the Day-Star that shall usher-in the Sun of Righteousnesse to be more then a Prophet He pointed at him with the finger and said This is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World Let us all learn from hence to cry up Christ in our severall places and according to our severall capacities John did so when he witnessed of him to cry up Christ with all the alacrity and fervency that may be You know how