right hand of God David saith Thou art gone up on high thou hast led captivity captive and received gifts for men c. And in another place The Lord said to my Lord Sit thou at my right hand c. which is the place alledged by our Saviour wherewith he put the Jews to silence both as touching the Deity and the Humanity of the Messiah for saith he If David call him Lord how is he then his Son Where we may see David acknowledgeth him his Lord and consequently his God even the Son of God sitting at the right hand of God for the present as touching his Divinity afterwards to be accomplished also in his Humanity which David believed as verily should come to pass and foresaw by the eye of Faith as did Thomas when it was come to pass putting his hand into his side and crying My Lord and my God so saith David here my Lord The Lord said unto my Lord c. I say this article of our Faith as touching his Ascension it followeth necessarily to be concluded upon his Resurrection it needeth no other proof For that whosoever seeth and acknowledgeth that Jesus being dead could raise himself to life again will easily believe also that he was able to ascend up to heaven at his pleasure And hereof we have also all his Apostles and Disciples for witnesses eye witnesses in whose presence and sight he ascended as it is in that place They looked stedfastly towards heaven as he went and in witness thereof gave up their lives and sealed the same with their blood Therefore I conclude upon all these premisses so necessarily following and depending one upon another to wit his birth life doctrine actions death resurrection ascension seeing nothing hath hapned in the same which was not foretold by the Prophets of God nor any thing foretold by the same Prophets concerning the Messiah which was not fulfilled most exactly in the person of our Saviour We may most certainly assure our selves that as God is truth and therefore can neither foretel an untruth nor yeild testimony to the same so it cannot be but that these things which have been shewed to be so manifestly fore prophesied and so evidently accomplished in the person of this our blessed Lord and Saviour must needs I say assure us Christians that he was indeed the true Messiah and quite confound the Jews in their vain imagination and expectation of another The sending of the holy Ghost with the first Plantation and wonderful increase of the Church NOw for those things that followed after his Ascension as arguments and effects of his Divine power they were also foretold by the Prophets to wit the sending of the holy Ghost that Comforter from on high with the sudden strange and miraculous increase of his Church throughout the world even against all worldly power and policy by the only power and ministry of his word confirmed with signs and wonders that followed wrought by his Apostles Disciples and other his faithful servants and witnesses in the Primitive Church then the which there can be no greater argument in the world of the truth of Christian Religion if we consider how all other Religions in the world have grown and been maintained by force of Arms Fire and Sword this only by the preaching of Christ crucified in all Nations hath encreased and multiplyed and shal do more and more to the end of the world this must increase all others decrease howsoever the Turks have possessed the greatest part of the world at this day yet our Saviours prophesie in the end shall be found true this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached throughout the whole world for a witness unto all Nations Now for the first increase of it How small a number were there gathered together after the ascension at Jerusalem from whence they were to march even the twelve Apostles no great army God wot to conquer the world as it is in that place The Law shall go forth from Zion and the Word of God from Jerusalem There was the Rendevous there they stayed there they rested there they continued in prayer and fasting till such time as Christ after his ascension according to his promise sent them the Comforter even the holy Ghost enduing them with power from on high and arming them at all points for so great a work When and where being gathered together all with one accord in one place suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty wind and filled all the house where they sate And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like fire and it sate upon each of them and they were all filled with the holy Ghost and began to speak with other Tongues as there is mentioned And with these fiery cloven tongues these twelve silly souls without any means men money or munition in a very short time conquered a great part of the world insomuch that at one Sermon of S. Peter at the same time there were added to the Church three thousand souls and so multiplyed successively from time to time and from place to place spreading it self from one Country to another and from one Nation to another and so at length into all Nations There is neither Speech nor Language where their voice is not heard Their line is gone forth through all the earth and their words into the ends of the world as we see it is come to pass this day Of which coming of the holy Ghost in the time of the Messiah Joel prophesied saying And it shall be in the last days that I will pour out my spirit c. and on my servants and on my handmaids I will pour out my spirit c. It filled all the house where they sate and it sate upon each of them and they were all filled with the holy Ghost Here is a deluge of Gods grace poured upon the world immediately upon the ascension of our Lord and Saviour First upon his Apostles and Disciples of those times in greater measure as the first fruits of his spirit by the which they wrought miracles spake all manner of languages healed all manner of diseases cast out Divels raised the dead and lastly sealed the same with their blood Poor Fishermen and such like of no reputation in the world without learning without credit without means as before yet by this means conquered the world to the subjection of their master Christ that stone cast aside of the Builders but now become the head-stone of the corner this the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes The sincerity of the Evangelists NOw for the Evangelists or writers of the Gospel that is to say the registers of his Birth Life Doctrine and Death It is to be noted that our Saviour being God took a different way from the custome of man in delivering unto us his Laws and Precepts For that men who have been law-makers unto the world
Life and Conversation 75 Of his Miracles 77 Of the Calling of his Apostles 80 Of his Death and Passion 86 Of his Resurrection 92 Of his Ascention 95 Of the sending of the holy Ghost with the first plantation and wonderful Increase of the Church 98 Of the sincerity of the Evangelists 102 Of the Confession of Martyrs 109 Of the subjection of Spirits 111 Of the Punishment of Enemies 118 Of the fulfilling of Prophesies 128 A Collection Demonstrative or the sum of former Proofs 142 Accounting from their first entrance to the day of their departure thence Exo. 12.40 Psal. 34.8 Rom. 11.11 Luk. 13.35 Acts 7.51 Luk. 21.24 Rom. 10.1 Rom. 9.4 Psal. 24.6 Luk. 21.28 Mat. 24.32 Acts 20.32 Psal. 51.18 Psal. 53.6 Psal. 126.1 Psa. 106.47 Psal. 90.15 Psa. 102.13 Psal. 69.35 Psal. 105.8 Psal. 94.24 Psal. 74.2 107.6 106.44 Prov. 21 1 Ezra 1.1 chap. 6.1 chap. 6.22 chap. 7.28 Psa. 105.14 Exod. 7.16 8.1.20 9.1.13 10.3 Exo. 12.31 11.3 7.1 Psa. 136.11 Accounting the time as before Exo. 12.41 13.21 Psa. 236.13 Judg. 2.16 Judg. 3.7 chap. 3 12. Judg. 3.30 4.1 4.4 5.31 6.1 6.6 Judg. 6.12 7.5 7.20 8.28 8.33 10.6 Judg. 10.10 11.1 11.29 12.7 13.1 25.15 vâ—i 20. 1 Sam. 8.5 Gen. 3.15 Rom. 3.2 Rom. 9.4 Luk. 19.42 Dut. 18.13 Ver. 18. Deut. 34.30 Deut. 18.14 Deu. 18.16 Isa. 53.8 Psal. 89.3 2 Sam. 7.13 1 King 12 Psal. 2.7 Psal. 72.5 Vers 7. Isa. 6.5 Luk. 19.27 Isa. 4.2 Isa. 9.6 Isa. 4.2 Isa. 7.14 Michah 5.2 Isa. 9.6 Isa. 4.2 Psal. 2.7 Hos. 1.7 Psal. 110.1 Psal. 107.20 Iob 19.16 Deut. 6.4 Ier. 13.6 Acts. 15.10 Deu. 18.15 Isa. 2.3 Isa. 29.28 Isa. 42.4 Mal. 1.10 Ezek. 20.25 Ier. 31.31 Gen. 49.10 Ezr. 3.12 Psal. 24.7 Mal. 3.1 Luk. 23.14.22 Mat. 27. Isa. 53.5 Ioh. 8.56 Act. 3.21 Chap. 8.44 Gen. 2.17 Gen. 3.4 Mat. 3.7 Luk. 19.27 Eph. 5.14 Psal. 71.4 Rom. 3.4 Isa. 66.7 Psal. 147.2 Hag. 2.10 Isa. 11.6 Judg. 12.6 Mat. 8.11 Ioh. 19. Lu 7.3.15 Mat. 11.3 Ioh. 10.24 Mat. 22.16 Joh. 10.8 Dan. 2.44 Isa. 11.1 Luk. 2.4 Isa. 7.14 Mat. 1.18 Mich. 5.2 Mat. 2.5 Psal. 132.3 Mat. 2.1 Psa. 72.10 〈◊〉 12. Numb. 24.17 Luk. 1.28 Chap. 2.21 2 Esd. 7.26 Luk. 2. Mat. 3.16 Jer. 31.15 Gen. 35.19 Mat. 2.13 Hos. 11.1 Isa. 19. â— Euseb. lib. Mal. 3.1 Chap. 4.5 Luk. 1.13 Ioh. 1.19 Mat. 3.16 Mar. â— 10 Luk. 3.21 Joh. 1.31 Deut. 6.5 Mat. 22.37 Isa. 42.1 Zach. 9.9 Porph lib. De laud Philo. Isa. 35.5 Ioh. 11.17 Mark 5.22 Luke 7.11 Deu. 19.15 Mat. 9.33 Ioh. 10.25.37 Luk. 7.20 Luk. 7.20 Mat. 16.24 Cha. 16.23 Joh. 6.60 Ch. 7.48 Mat. 8.20 Plut. Apo. Prisc. regum Mark 1.15 Mat. 16.24 Eccl. 107. Mat. 10.9 Ioh. 16.33 Mark 13.9 Ch. 13.13 Luk. 21.16 Mat. 36.25 Luk. 14.26 Mat. 10.34 Luk. 18.31 Mat. 21.2 Zach. 9.9 Mat. 21.8 Psal. 55.13 109.4 Mat. 26. â—â— Mat. 26.67 Isa. 50.6 Luk. 23.33 Psal. 22.16 Zach. 12.10 Psal. 69.21 Luk. 23.32 Isa. 53.12 Luk. 23.18 Isa. 53.12 Ioh. 19.36 Exo. 12.46 Gen. 22.1 Num. 21.8 Dau. 9.26 Ioh. 11.49 Isa. 53. Mat. 27. Luk. 23. Acts 2.37 Zach. 12.10 Psal. 16. â— Hos. 6.2 Jonah 1.17 Luk. 18.31 John 2.18 Mat. 12.38 Ch. 27.62 Mat. 28.2 Act. 1.3 Rom. 4.4 Rom. 1.2 Psa. 68.18 Psal. 110.1 Acts 1.10 Mat. 24.14 Luk. 24.47 Isa. 2.3 Ioh. 14.26 ch. 15.26 and 16.7 Acts 2.4 Joel 2.28 Psal. 118 22 Act. 4 11. John 14.25 Joh. 20.30.21.25 Ezek. 1. Luk. 1.2 Mat. 15.24 Acts 26.26 Mat. 21.18 Luk. 19.41 Mat. 14.33 Mat. 10.3 Mar. 14.67 Luk. 24.48 1 Joh. 1.2 2 Pet. 1.16 Luke 1.2 Acts 23.12 Ch. 27.24 Mat. 10.16 Rev. 6.9 Zeph. 2.11 Juv. Sat. 6. Plut. de defectu Oraculor 1 Iohn 3.8 Luke 9.7 Luk. 10.17 Lact. l. 2. Div. Inst. c. 16. Porph l. 7. cont. Christ apud Euseb. l. 5. c. 1. de prep. Evan. Joh. 12.31 2 Cor. 4.4 Eph. 2.2 1 Sam. 5.2 Gen. 3.15 Acts 19.15 Jos. Ant. l. 17. c. 10. Luk. 23.12 lib. 18. c. 9. Niceph. l. 1. cap. 10. Acts 12.1 Jos. Ant. l. 19. c. 7. Eutr Hist lib. 7. Evag. Schol. l. 3. hist. c. 41 Joh. 19.15 Lib. 5. c. 28 Jos. de Bell. l. 7. c. 20 21. Aelius Adrianus Mat. 27.24 Mat. 23.35 Luk. 19.41 Luk. 21.6 Luk. 21.20 Joh. 19.15 vers. 12. Luk. 23.28 Rev. 17.6 Rev. 18.2 chap. 18.8 Rev. 18 1â— Rev. 9.11 Rev. 22.20 Luk. 14.44 Gen. 3.15
the Egyptians Also Moses was very great in the land of Egypt in the sight of Pharaohs servants and in the sight of the people Behold I have made thee Pharaohs God saith the Lord so he brought out Israel from among them for his mercy endureth for ever with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm c. after four hundred and thirty yeers captivity in Aegypt And when the four hundred and thirty yeers were expired even the self same day departed all the hosts of the Lord out of the land of Egypt And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light He divided the Sea in two parts and made Israel to pass through the midst of it and overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the red Sea for his mercy endureth for ever So leading them through the wilderness and feeding them forty yeers with Manna from heaven till at length he brought them safe and sound as it were upon Eagles wings maugre all difficulties and oppositions of enemies whatsoever even to the promised Land of Canaan the lot of their Inheritance Where thy continued in peace and prosperity so long as they served him and kept his Commandments but when once they sinned against him or rather as often as they sinned for it was not once but often and forgate the Lord their God which brought them out of the land of Egypt out of the house of Bondage then he suffered their enemies to prevail against them and tyrannize over them somtimes one and somtimes another till at length they were carried captives to Babylon Yet ever as the Burden of that Psalm is when they cryed to the Lord in their trouble he delivered them out of their distress raising up from time to time Judges as he did Moses and Joshua at the first which delivered them out of the hands of their Oppressors Othoniel who delivered them out of the hands of the King of Aram as it is in that place where it is said That the children of Israel did wickedly in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lord their God and served Baalim therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim King of Aram whom they served eight yeers But when they cryed unto the Lord the Lord stirred them up a Saviour even Othoniel c. So the land had rest forty yeers Ehud who delivered them out of the hand of Eglon King of Moab Then the children of Israel again committed wickedness in the sight of the Lord and the Lord strengthned Eglon King of Moab c. So they served Eglon King of Moab eighteen yeers But when they cryed unto the Lord the Lord stirred them up a Saviour Ehud the son of Gera c. So the land had rest eighty yeers And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath which slew of the Philistims six hundred men with an Ox-goad and he also delivered Israel Deborah and Barack who delivered them out of the hand of Jabin King of Canaan And the children of Israel began again to do wickedly in the sight of the Lord and the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan whose chief Captain was Sisera Then the children of Israel cryed to the Lord c. And at that time Deborah a Prophetess judged Israel Then she sent and called Barack c. And the Lord destroyed Sisera and all his Chariots c. And the Land had rest forty yeers Gedeon who delivered them out of the hands of the Midianites Afterward the children of Israel committed wickedness in the sight of the Lord and the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian seven yeers c. So was Israel exceedingly impoverished by the Midianites therefore the children of Israel cryed unto the Lord c. and he raised them another Saviour even Gedeon that valiant man who with three hundred men and no more such as lapped water with their tongues the rest sent away by the Lords command overthrew the whole host of Midian with this cry The sword of the Lord and of Gedeon Thus was Midian brought low before the children of Israel so that they lift up their heads no more And the Country was in quietness forty yeers in the days of Gideon But when Gideon was dead the children of Israel turned away c. and remembred not the Lord their God which had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side c. After him succeeded Abimelech his son after Abimelech Tola after Tola Jair the Gileadite After these arose Jepthe who delivered them out of the hand of the Ammonites And the children of Israel wrought wickedness again in the sight of the Lord and served Baalim c. and forsook the Lord and served not him Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel and the Lord sold them into the hands of the Philistims and into the hands of the children of Ammon c. Then the children of Israel cryed unto the Lord c. So the Lord raised them up another valiant man even Jepthe Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jepthe c. So Jepthe went unto the children oâ— Ammon to fight against them and the Lord delivered them into his hands Thus the children of Ammon were humbled before the children oâ— Israel And Jepthe judged Israel six yeers After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel After him Elon After Elon Abdon But the children of Israel continued to commit wickedness in the sight of the Lord and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistims forty yeers Then God raised up Sampson who with the Jaw bone of an Ass slew a thousand of the Philistims at once And be judged Israel in the days of the Philistims twenty yeers Thus may we see by at these examples and make use thereof if we be wise what the state and condition of Gods people hath been ever of â—old the effect in brief or burden of the Song nothing else but this When they sinned against the Lord he delivered them into the hands of their enemies but when they cryed to the Lord in their trouble that is to say repented he straightway delivered them out of their distress raising up from time to time one Saviour or Deliverer after another and so immediately governing them by Judges till the day of Samuel When this people growing worse and worse and not contented with this sacred kind of Government immediately from God himself but desiring a King like all other Nations Make us a King to judge us like all other Nations He gave them a King in his anger saying to Samuel Hear the voice of the people in all that they shall say unto thee for they have
over Jerusalem the second he denounceth as an angry Judge provoked at length to execute his fierce wrath upon them without any compassion at all His words are these Moreover those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me Which words of our Saviour although they will in no wise believe no more then they did the former yet shal they find his words one day as truly fulfilled to them in the one as they have done already in the other And howsoever hitherto they have esteemed of him as a false Prophet a Deceiver yet hath he been to them but too true a Prophet in all their calamities both first and last And so after this long digression I come to the next The Prophesie of Jeremy THe sixt which confirmeth the former is that of Jer. 23.5 Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will raise up unto David a righteous branch and a King shall reign c. And this is the name whereby they shall call him The Lord our righteousness This was spoken of Davids seed about 400. years after David was dead and buried which proveth manifest that the former promises were not made unto him for Solomon his Son or any other temporal King of his line but only for the Messiah who was called so peculiarly the Son and Seed of David The Prophesie of Ezekiel THe seventh which also confirmeth the other is that of Ezek. 34.23 I will set up a Shepherd over them he shall feed them even my servant David c. In which words the Jews themselves do confesse in their Talmud that their Messiah is called by the name of David for that he shall descend of the seed of David and so it must needs be for that King David being dead so long before could not now come again in his own person to feed them himselfe The Prophesie of Isaiah THe eighth is the Prophesie of Isaiah 2.2 It shall be in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all Nations shall flow unto it c. For the Law shall go forth of Sion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem He shall judge among the Nations Which very words Michah repeateth Chap. 4.1 and are applied there as also here unto the Messiah they can have no other meaning by the judgment of the Jews themselves In that day shall the Bud of the Lord be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent Unto us a Child is born and unto us a Son is given and the Government is upon his shoulders he shall call his name Wonderful Councellour the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace the increase of his Government shall have none end And in the 11. Chapter There shall come a rod forth of the stock of Ishai and a graff shall grow out of his root and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him Behold your God commeth c. Then shall the eyes of the blind be lightened and the ears of the deaf shall be opened then shall the same man leap like a Hart and the dumb mans tongue shall sing c. Chap. 35.4 ' And he said It is a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the Tribes of Jacob and to restore the desolations of Israel I will also give thee for a light of the Gentiles that thou maist be my salvation unto the ends of the earth Chap. 49.6 Out of all which places before aledged I conclude first the comming of a Messiah which the Jews will not deny secondly that he must be King as well of the Gentiles as of the Jews which they cannot deny thirdly that he must be a spiritual a temporal King as they imagin It followeth next to be proved that he must be both God and man even the Son of God the second person in Trinity to be blessed for evermore which also they shall not deny That the Messiah must be both God and Man THe Jews at the first agreed with us in all or most points as touching the Messiah for to come denying only the fulfilling or application thereof in our Saviour but since the latter Jews finding themselves not able to stand in that issue against us they have devised a new plea saying that we attribute many things unto Jesus that were not foretold of the Messiah to come namely that he should be God and the Son of God the second person in Trinity which we will prove both by Scriptures as also by the writings of their own forefathers For Scriptures it is evident by all or the most alledged before that the Messiah must be God even the Son of God indued with mans nature that is both God and man Genesis where he is called the seed of the woman it is apparent he must be man and in the same place where it is said he shall break the Serpents head who can do this but only God So in Isaiah where he is called the bud of the Lord his Godhead is signified and when he is called the fruit of the earth his Manhood And so in another place Behold a Virgin shal conceive and bare a Son and thou shalt call his name Immanuel that is to say God with us which name can agree to none but to him that is both God and man And who can interpret these speeches That his Kingdom shall be everlasting Isa. 9. That his name shall be for ever it shall endure as long as the Sun and the Moon That all Kings shall worship him all Nations serve him Psa. 72 worship him all ye Gods Ps. 97. That no man can tell his age Isa. 53 That he must sit at the right hand of God Ps. 110. Who I say can understand or interpret them but of God seeing in man they cannot be verified with which place of Scripture the Evangelists do report that Jesus did put to silence divers of the learned Pharisees for saith he If the Messiah be Davids Son how did David call him Lord signifying thereby that albeit he was to be Davids Son as he was man yet was he to be Davids Lord as he was God and so do both Rab. Jonathan and their own publick Commentaries interpret this place Michah is plain His going forth is from the beginning and from everlasting And Isaiah is bold to proclaim him by his own name even God and to give him his right stile with all additions as Herolds to great Kings and Princes use to do He shall call his name Wonderful Councellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of peace c. In vaine therefore is that objection of the Jewes that El or Elohim signifying God is sometimes a plyed to a creature here it cannot be so nor in the next place following Ps.
45.6 Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever c. Wherefore God even thy God hath annoynted thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows Which cannot be applyed to Solomon but as a type of the Messiah Howsoever the name JEHOVAH which is of such reverence among the Jewes that they dare not pronounce it but in place thereof read Adonai that I am sure they will never grant to belong to any creature Then what say they to that of Jer. 23.6 where the Messiah is called in plain terms Jehovah And this is the name whereby they shal cal him Jehovah our righteousnesse So likewise Chap. 33.16 over again is he called by the same name Jehovah our rightousness And so do the ancient Jews themselves expound this place namely Rabbi Abba who asketh the question what the Messiah shal be called and answereth out of this place he shall be called the Eternal Jehovah The like doth Misdrasch upon the first verse of the 20. Psalm And Rabbi Moyses Hadersan upon Gen. 41 expounding that of Zephany 3 9. concludeth thus In this place Jehovah signifieth nothing else but the Messiah And so did one of the Jews at unawares acknowledge to me alledging that place out of the Psalmes The Lord doth build up Jerusalem c. that their Messiah at his comming should build a new City and Sanctuary much more glorious then the former So did he also interpret that place of Hag. 2.10 of a third Temple Whereupon I inferred seeing in those words he alledged The Lord doth build up Jerusalem the Hebrew word is Jehovah therefore by his own intepretation the Messiah must be Jehovah which he could not well shift off but said that Adonai for Jehovah they dare not name must there be understood which point of the Godhead of the Messiah the most ancient Jews did ever acknowledge proving by sundry places of Scripture not onely that he should be the Son of God but also the word of God incarnate First that he should be the Son of God they prove out of Gen. 49.10 The Scepter shal not depart c. til Shiloh come Which Rabbi Kimhi proveth to signifie his Son that is the Son of God Oat of Isaiah where he is called ' The bud of the Lord Out of the Psalms where it is said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And a little after ' Kiss the Son least he be angry and ye perish blessed are all they that trust in him Which last words cannot be understood of the Son of any man for it is written Cursed be the man that trusteth in man Jer. 17.5 Secondly that he shall be the Word of God they prove out of Isaiah as also out of Hosea where it is said I will save them by the Lord their God Ionathan translateth it thus I will save them by the Word of their God So where it is sayd The Lord sayd to my Lord sit at my right hand c. The Lord said to his Word sit at my right hand Also where it is sayd He sent his Word and healed them Rabbi Isaack Arama upon Gen. 47. expoundeth it to be meant of the Messiah that shall be Gods Word So likewise that of Iob I shall see God in my flesh c. Rabbi Simeon upon Gen. 10. gathereth thereupon that the Word of God shall take flesh womans womb Another out of these words Jehovah our God is one Jehovah proveth the blessed Trinity saying by the first Iehovah is signified God the Father by the next which is Elohim God the Son and by the other Johovah God the Holy Ghost proceeeding of them both to all which is added the word one to signifie that these three are indivisible but this secret saith he shall not be revealed until the coming of the Messiah These are the words of Rabbi Ibda reported by Rabbi Simeon in a Treatise called Zoar of great authority among the Jews where also they said Rabbi Simeon interpreteth those words of Isaiah Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts in this manner Isaiah by repeating three times Holy saith he doth signifie as much as if he had said Holy Father Holy Son and Holy Spirit which three Holies do make but one Lord God of Hosts which mystery of the blessed Trinity Rabbi Hacadosch gathereth out of the very letters of JEHOVAH upon those words of Jeremy before recited the two natures of the Messiah both Divine and Humane his two filiations the one whereby he must be the Son of God the other whereby he must be the Son of Man concluding thereupon that in him there shall be two Distinct Natures and yet shall they make but one Christ which is the same that we Christians hold Philo that learned Jew shall end this first consideration touching the Nature and Person of the Messiah as himself writeth in his Book De Exulibus By tradition we have it saith he that we must expect the death of an high Priest which Priest shall be the very Word of God void of all sin whose Father shall be God and this Word shal be the Fathers wisdom by which all things in this world were created c. Therefore the Messiah must be both God and Man both by the Scriptures as also by their own Writers they cannot deny it That the Messiah must change the Law of Moses AS the Messiah must be both God and Man even the natural and onely begotten Son of God and the very Word of God incarnate void of all sin able to satisfie the wrath of his Father and to fulfil the Law of Moses for us which Moses himself could not do nor any other after him It was a burthensome law to the Children of Israel A yoak which neither they nor their forefathers were able to bear so having once in his own person most exactly accomplished the same here on earth together with all Rites Ceremonies Prophesies Types Figures and Circumstances of his comming clearly fulfilled in him and by him It was necessary I say the substance being once come those shadows and ceremonies should cease and be abolished I mean the ceremonial Law totally for as touching the moral Law or the Commendments he saith I came not to destroy the Law or the Prophets but to fulfil them only thus far hath he abolished that too he hath taken away the curse of it hanging it on his Crosse even the hand writing that was against us together with himselfe crucified This ceremonial Law of Moses I say consisting of such a multitude of Ceremonies Figures Types Sacrifices c. all of them for the most part pointing at the Messiah to come for by those outward signs and services appointed by God to his people they were still put in mind of his Covenant and assured of his promise that the Messiah should come Moreover it being proper and peculiar to one only Nation in all the world namely Jury the exercise thereof permitted but in
saying Behold the time shall come that these tokens which I have told thee shal come to pass c. for my son Jesus shal appear c. and after these same years shal my son Christ dye Here is both his birth and passion both his names Jesus Christ plainly expressed Which book though it be not canonical yet was it extant in the world before ever Christ was born Also Rabbi Haccadosch proveth by art Cabalist out of many places of Scripture that the name of the Messiah at his comming shall be Jesus and among other he addeth this reason that as the name of him who first brought the Jews out of bondage into the Land of promise was Jesus or Josua which is all one so must his name be Jesus that shal the second time deliver them Secondly the Angels appearing to the Shepherds in the night of the Nativity with this joyful message from Heaven Behold I bring you tidings of great joy that shal be to all people that unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord And this is shall be a sign unto you ye shal find the child swad'led and laid in a cratch Thirdly the star that appeared notifying his comming into the world whereof not onely the wise men before mentioned but also generally all the Astronomers and Soothsayers of that age took special notice adjudging it to portend universal good to the earth some gathering thereupon that some God descended from heaven to the benefit of mankind and for that cause had that star an image erected to it in Rome and as Plinies words are Is Cometa unus toto orbe colitur That onely Comet in all the world is adored Fourthly his presentation in the Temple according to the Law of Moses where openly came old Simeon by the motion of the spirit for he had a revelation from God that he should not see death till he had seen the Lords Christ took the child in his arms acknowledged him for the Messiah prophesied that he should be a light to be revealed unto the Gentiles appointed for the fall and rising again o many in Israel with other events which afterwards came to pass So did likewise Anne the Prophetess as it is in the same Chapter Fiftly that most pitiful murder of all the Infants in and about Bethlehem upon this occasion as was prophesied by Jeremy saying A voice was heard on high mourning and bitter weeping Rachel weeping for her children and refused to be comforted because they were not Rachel was buried in the way to Ephrath which is Bethlehem and for that cause those infants were called her children albeit she were dead above two thousand years before they were slain and above one thousand and five hundred before Jeremy wrote this prophecy Among which Infants Herod also for more assurance slew an infant of his own for that he was descended by the Mothers side of the line of Judah Which cruelty comming to Augustus his ears he said he had rather be Herods swine then his son for that he being a Jew was prohibited by his religion to kill his swine though not ashamed to kill his Son Sixtly his flying into Egypt hereupon as also to fulfil that prophesie ' out of Egypt have I called my Son which Isaiah enlargeth further saying Behold the Lord rideth upon a light cloud which is his flesh or humanity and shal come into Egypt and all the Idols of Egypt shal tremble at his presence Which latter point Eusebius sheweth was fulfilled most evidently in the sight of all the world for that no nation came to Christian Religion with so great celerity and fervour as did the Egyptians who threw down their Idols before any other Nation And as they had been the first in Idolatry to other countries so were they the first by Christ his comming unto them that afterwards gave example of true return unto their Creator It followeth in Isaiah I wil deliver the Egyptians into the hands of cruel Lords these were the Roman Lords and Princes Pompey Caesar Antony c. ' And a migh-King shal reign over them c. this must needs be Augustus the Emperor who after the death of Cleopatra the last of the blood of the Ptolomies took possession of all Egypt and subjected it as a Province to the Roman Empire But after these temporal afflictions threatned against Egypt behold a most Evangelical promise of deliverance In that day shal five Cities of the Land of Egypt speak the Language of Canaan c. In that day shal the Altar of the Lord be in the midst of the Land of Egypt c. They shal cry unto the Lord because of their oppressors and he shall send them a Saviour and a great man and shal deliver them c. The Lord of Hosts shall bless them saying Blessed be my people of Egypt c. This blessing I say the Egyptians obtained by our Saviours being in Egypt whom here the Prophet calleth by his own name Jesus a Saviour a great man Finally the comming of John Baptist his forerunner or Messenger as was prophesied Behold I will send my Messenger and he shal prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shal speedily come to his Temple And again I will send you Eliah the Prophet that is to say John the Baptist in the spirit and power of Eliah as an Angel from Heaven expoundeth it appearing to Zacharias his Father in the Temple sent to foretel him both of his birth as also by what name he should call him even John saying Thou shalt call his name John he shal be great in the sight of the Lord he shall go before him in the power and spirit of Eliah And therefore out Saviour in plain terms he calleth him Eliah Mat. 11.14 And if you will receive it this is that Eliah which was to come he that hath ears to hear let him hear And as our Saviour gave him his due before a multitude then assembled calling him Eliah So did this Eliah also give our Saviour his due in acknowledging him for the Messiah not assuming unto himself that honour offered unto him by the Jews but refusing it absolutely and laying it upon Jesus our Saviour the true owner Then this is the record of John when the Jews sent Priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him who art thou and he confessed and denyed not and said plainly I am not the Christ I am not the Messiah I Baptize you with water but there is one among you whom you know not he it is that cometh after me which is preferred before me whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to unloose These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan where John did Baptize The next day John seeth Jesus comming to him and saith behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world This is he whom I said
heard declare we unto you And S. Peter For we followed no deceivable Fables when we opened unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but with our eyes we saw his Majesty This Doctrine I say of the glorious Gospel of our Lord and Saviour whereof they were so fully perswaded they did not only profess it with their mouths yea even before Kings and were not ashamed as God saith to Paul as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem so must thou bear witness also at Rome thou must be brought before Caesar but in witness thereof they gave up their lives and by their deaths sealed and delivered to the world the truth of that which in their lives they professed they have sealed that God is true These are witnesses worthy to be believed these are Martyrs Next to these are all those holy Disciples of theirs all those holy Confessors of the Primitive Church put to death with most exquisite torments under those cruel Roman Tyrants during those ten famous persecutions upon record called the ten persecutions Catexochen in respect of the rage fury and cruelty thereof and all against poor harmless and innocent Christians daylie torn in pieces and butchered by those Wolves as Sheep appointed for the slaughter whereof our Saviour long before had forewarned his Disciples Behold I send you as Lambs among Wolves c. persecuted even to the death for the Word of God and for the testimony which they maintained In which extream and most incredible sufferings of Christians three points are worthy of great consideration The first what infinite multitudes of all estates conditions sexes qualities and age did suffer daylie for testimony of this truth The second what intolerable and unaccustomed torments not heard of in the world before were devised by Tyrants for afflicting this kind of people Thirdly and lastly What invincible courage and unspeakable alacrity these Christians shewed in bearing out these afflictions and torments which the enemies themselves could not attribute but to some Divine power and supernatural assistance The subjection of Spirits ANother consideration followeth of his Divine power and omnipotency declared and exercised upon the spirits infernal which in those days spake in the Oracles and till that time had possessed and deluded all Nations Hear the complaint of one of them Hei mihi cogemiscite hei mihi hei mihi Oraculorum defecit me clariâ—as Wo unto mes lament ye with me wo wo to me for that the honour of Oracles hath now forsaken me Which woful complaint is nothing else but a plain confession that Jesus was he of whom a Prophet said divers ages before He shall consume all the Gods of the earth and every man shall worship him from his place even all the Isles of the Heathen This confessed also the wicked spirits themselves when at Christs appearing in Jewry they came and did their homage to him and besought him not to afflict or torment them before the time nor command them presently to return to hell but rather to permit them some little time of entertainment in the Sea or Mountains or among herds of Swine or the like which confession they made openly before all men and declared the same afterwards by their deeds For presently upon Christ his death and upon the preaching of his Name and Gospel throughout the World the Oracles in all places ceased whereof the Poets themselves bear witness Cessant Oracula Dâ—lphis Whereupon Plutarch that lived within an hundred yeers after Christ made a special Treatise to sift out the causes why the Oracles of the Gods as they deemed them were ceased in his time And after much turning and winding many ways at length resolved upon two principal points or causes thereof The first for that in his time there was more store of wise men then before whose answers might stand insteed of Oracles and the other for that perhaps the Spirits accustomed to yeild Oracles were by length of time grown old and dead Both which reasons in the common sense of all men must needs be false and by Plutarch himself cannot stand with probability For first in his Books which he wrote of the Lives of Famous Men he confesseth that in such kind of wisdom as he most esteemed they had not their equals among their posterity Secondly in his Treatise of Phylosophy he passeth it for a ground that Spirits cannot die or wax old And therefore of necessity there must be some other cause yeilded of the ceasing of these Oracles which cannot be but the presence and commandment of some higher Power according to that saying of S. John for to this end and purpose appeared the Son of God to wit that he might destroy the works of the Divel Neither did Jesus this alone in his own person but gave also power and authority to his Disciples and Followers to do the like according to that their Commission in the Gospel Then called he the twelve Disciples together and gave them power over all Divels c. And not only to these twelve did he give this absolute power and authority over unclean Spirits but to the rest likewise as may appear in the next chapter following upon the return of their Commission And the seventy returned with joy saying Lord even the Divels are subdued to us through thy Name And he said unto them I saw Sathan like lightning fall down from heaven and so reneweth their Commission saying Behold I give you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions and over all the power of the enemy that is to say the Divel Nevertheless saith he in this rejoyce not that the Spirits are subdued unto you but rather rejoyce because your Names are written in Heaven And this authority over the Spirits Infernal given by Jesus to his Disciples in the primitive Church extended it self so far that not only their words and commandments but even their very presence did shut the mouths and drive into fear the miserable Spirits as both Lactantius and others do witness whence it proceeded that in all Sacrifices Conjurations and other Mysteries of the Gentiles there was brought in that phrase recorded by scoffing Lucian exeant Christiani Let Christians depart for that while they were present nothing could be well accomplished And that professed enemy of Christianity Porphyry who of all other most earnestly endeavoured to impugne us Christians and to hold up the honour of his enfeebled Idols yet discoursing of the great plague that reigned most furiously in the City of Messiâ—a in Sicily where he dwelt yeildeth this reason why Aesculapius the god of Physick much adored in that place was not able to help them in that extremity It is no marvel saith he if this City so many yeers be vexed with the plague seeing that both Aesculapius and all other gods be now departed from it by the coming of Christians for since that men have begun to worship
this Jesus we could never obtain any profit by our gods Thus much confessed this Patron of Paganism concerning the maim that his gods had received by the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ which albeit he spake with a malicious mind to bring Christians in hatred yet is the confession notable and confirmeth that story which Plutarch in his forenamed Book doth report That in the latter yeers of the reigne of the Emperour Tiberius a strange voice and exceeding horrible clamour with hideous cries screetches and howlings were heard by many in the Grecian Sea complaining That the great God Pan was now departed And this affirmeth Plutarch that was a Gentile to have been alledged and approved before the Emperour Tiberius who marvelled greatly thereat and could not by all his Diviners and Soothsayers whom he called to that consultation gather out any reasonable meaning of this wonderful accident But we Christians comparing the time wherein it hapned unto the time of Christ his death and passion and finding the same fully to agree we may more then probably perswade our selves that by the death of their great god Pan which signifieth all was imported the utter overthrow of all wicked Spirits and Idols upon earth according to that Vision of our Lord and Saviour before mentioned I saw Sathan like lightning fall down from heaven c. and again in another place Now is the judgement of this world now shall the Prince of this world be cast out even this great god Pan who in another place is called the god of this world the Prince that ruleth in the Ayr and therefore may well be said by our Saviour to fall down from heaven being before time worshipped in those Idols Oracles and heathenish Prophanations as a God in all the world and exalted as it were into the highest heavens But behold as Dagon that Idol of the Philistims fell flat on his face and that twice his head and hands dismembred before the Ark of God in Ashdod so did Sathan this great god Pan the god of this world the Prince of the Ayr c. let me give the Divel his due yea rather more then his due as doth the holy Scripture so did Sathan I say immediately upon the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ into this world and preaching of his Gospel the Ark of his everlasting Covenant fall flat on his face to the ground his head and hands dismembred according to that first promise and covenant to our first parents which was this that he to wit the Messiah should break the Serpents head c. which he had done not only in his own person by subduing Sathan with all his whole legions of Divels and Powers infernal trampling them under his feet but also in his members to whom he gave like authority as before he gave them power and authority over all Divels yea over all the power of the enemy which argueth again the power and omnipotency of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who not only in his own person here on earth but also in his servants disciples and followers was able to conquer and subdue even the Divels themselves as they themselves acknowledge Jesus I acknowledge and Paul I know c. And thus much of the subjection of Spirits The punishment of Enemies NOw resteth this his Divine Power and Omnipotency yet further to be manifested by another consideration of his Justice and severity shewed from heaven upon divers his greatest enemies here on earth after his departure out of this world as we may read in Josephus of Herod the first who persecuted Christ even in his cradle and slew all those Infants in and about Bethlehem and that other Herod Tetrarch of Galilee who put John Baptist to death and scorned Jesus before his passion himself scorned afterwards by the Emperour and disgracefully sent into exile first to Lions in France and after that to the most desert and inhabitable places in Spain where he with Heredias wandred up and down in extream calamity all their life time and finally ended their days as forlorn and abandoned of all men In which misery also it is recorded that the dancing daughter of Herodias who demanded John Baptists head being on a time to pass over a frozen River suddenly the Ice brake and she in her fall had her head cut off by the same Ice without hurting the rest of her body So likewise it is recorded in the Acts of Herod Agrippa Who stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the Church killed James the brother of John with the sword and imprisoned Peter how immediately thereupon as it is in that chapter going down to Cesarea he was there in a solemn assembly striken from heaven with a most horrible disease whereby his body putrified and was eaten of worms as also Josephus maketh mention Pilate that gave sentence of death against our Lord and Saviour we read that after great disgrace received in Jurie he was sent home into Italy and there slew himself with his own hands And of the very Emperors themselves who lived from Tiberius under whom Jesus suffered unto Constantine the great under whom Christian Religion took Dominion over the world which contained the space of some three hundred years or thereabouts very few or none escaped the manifest scourges of Gods dreadful justice shewed upon them at the knitting up of their days Whereas since the time of Constantine whiles Emperors have been Christians as one hath observed few or no such examples can be shewed except upon Julian the Apostata Valens the Arrian heretick or some other of like detestable and notorious wickedness And thus much of particular men chastised by Jesus But if we desire to have a full example of his justice upon a whole Nation together let us consider what befel Jerusalem and the people of that place for their barbarous cruelty practised upon him in his death and Passion And if we believe Josephus and Phylo the Jewish Historiograpers who lived in those times it can hardly be expressed by the tongue or pen of man what insufferable calamities and miseries were inflicted upon that people presently after his ascension first of all by Pilate their Governour under Tibarius and then again by Petronius under Caligula after that by Cumanus under Claudius and lastly by Festus and Albious under Nero through whose cruelties that Nation was enforced at last to rebel and take arms against the Roman Empire which was the cause of their utter ruine and extirpation by Titus and Vespasian At what time besides the overthrow of their City burning of their Temple and other infinite distresses which Josephus an eye witness protesteth that no speech or discourse humane can declare the same Author likewise recordeth eleven hundred thousand persons to have been slain and fourscore and seventeen thousand taken alive who were either put to death afterward in publike Tryumphs or sold
it is fallen already and what hindreth but that daylie and hourly we may expect the final desolation thereof Daylie and hourly I say for with such celerity and violence when it shall please God to put in their hearts whom it may concern to fulfil his Will Rev. 17.17 shall this sentence be executed In one day shal her plagues come upon her death and sorrow and famine and she shall be burnt with fire c. In one hour she shall be made desolate Rejoyce over her thou heaven and ye holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath given your judgement on her And a mighty Angel took up a stone like a great Milstone and cast it into the Sea saying with such violence shall that great City Babylon be thrown down And here I might cast up together in like manner making but one total sum of all the Prophesies of all those holy Apostles and Disciples of our Lord and Saviour both as touching divers particulars whereof they prophesied in those times fulfilled most exactly as also touching the general state of the Church successively in all ages even to the end of the world and of the end of the world it self First for the particulars I will but point at them as before One of those holy Prophets prophesied of a general dearth to fall out in those times which hapned accordingly under Claudius Caesar Act. 11.27 Also of Pauls Imprisonment Acts 21.10 Paul in his sayling towards Rome foretelleth the Centurion and the rest of the tempestuous weather to ensue Acts 27.10 Of their shipwrack but yet with safety of their lives vers. 22. and precisely the place where they should be cast ashore to wit upon a certain Island vers. 26. In one of his Epistles he prophesieth of his own death 2 Tim. 4.6 So doth also Peter 2 Pet. 1.14 Secondly for the future state of the Church in these last days with the coming of Antichrist into the world and all his damned crew those hellish Furies See how precisely these holy Apostles and Prophets foretel of these times these perillous times and how lively they set him out in his colours with all his additions as well becometh such an infernal King the Angel of the bottomless pit whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon in Greek Apollyon That Antichrist that man of sin the son perdition that wicked one c. with all other adjuncts and circumstances so lively described as if he had been then already come for even in these days as the Apostle speaketh did this mysterie of iniquity begin to work See then I say 2 Thes. 2. 1 Tim. 3. 2 Tim. 4. 2 Pet. 2. 1 Joh. 2.18 chap. 4.1 2 Joh. v. 7. yea the whole Revelation is nothing else but a continued prophesie of all such things as should happen to the Church militant even from the Apostles times to the end of the world All which prophesies we see accomplished except before excepted the final destruction of Babylon and the calling of the Jews whereof both our Saviour himself as also Paul hath prophesied Rom. 11. both which we daylie expect and then as it is in the Revelation Come Lord Jesus Of which second coming or general doom with the manner of it and all other circumstances we have also sundry prophesies both of Christ and his Apostles which here I will joyn in one as proceeding all from one and the same Spirit for here all prophesies must come to a full period nil ultra I will only quote them as formerly Matth. 16.27 chap. 19.28 chap. 20.1 chap. 24. chap. 25. chap. 26.64 John 5.25 c. 1 Cor. 85. 1 Thes. 4.14 chap. 5.1 Jam. 5.8 1 Pet. 4.7 2 Pet. 3. Jude v. 6. 14 Rev. 21. where you shall see a new heaven and a new earth c. New Jerusalem descending from God out of heaven prepared as a Bride trimmed for her Husband Thus have I brought you at length as after a long and tedious passage by Sea to see land and as it were the Sea-mark whereunto after so many variable winds and so often tacking to and again we have directed our course even from the first Prophesie made to Adam in Paradise Gen. 3.15 to the very last period of all Prophesies in the Revelation shut up in the second Adam Jesus Christ who is the first and the last Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending in whom all Prophesies kiss each other and have their consummation These are the words saith he which I spake unto you while I was yet with you That all must be fulfilled which are written of me in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms c. Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem I say from this Jerusalem which now lyeth desolate I have brought you to the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven as a Bride adorned for her Husband from an earthly to a heavenly Paradise and there I leave you A Collection DEMONSTRATIVE OR Sum of the former Proofs THe Messiah must be a spiritual King to conquer the Divel â—eath and Sin bâ—th by Scripture as also by the Interpretation of the ancient Jews themselves upon that place of Genesis He shall break thine head Therefore not a Temporal King as the latter Jews imagine The Messiah must be King over the Gentiles as well as the Jews both by Scripture as also by their own Writers Therefore not a Temporal King to reign â—ver theâ— only much less to subdue the Gentiles to the servitude of Jewry as some of them imagine The Messiah must be both God and Man the Son of God the Word of God incarnate The second person in Trinâ—ty both by the Scriptures as also by their own Writers Therefore no such earthly Monarch as they expect The Messiah at his coming being to be both King of Jew and Gentile must change the Law of Moses to wit the Ceremonial and Provincial proper to the Jews only and instead thereof give a general Law to both absolute and pâ—rfect to serve for all persons times and places to endure even to the end of the world thâ—refore no such Temporal Monarchâ— to be expeâ—â—ed as they look after For one and the same conclusion followeth upon all the premises beating upon â—heir main groâ—nd to wit a temporal or Earthly Kingdom which beiâ—g once shaken the rest falleth to the ground All Prophesies whatsoever with every particular circumstance foretold by the Prophets of the Messiah were both substantially and circumstantially fulfilled in the person of our blessed Saviour both as touching his Birth Life Doctrine Miracles Death Resurrection Ascension and other effects afterwards of his Divine Power in sending of the holy Ghost and the miraculous encrease of his Church c. Therefore was he indeed the Messiah no other