joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the Name of the Lord to be his servants every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold of my Covenant namely that I alone shall be his God even them will I bring to my holy Mountain and make them joyfull in my House of Prayer their burnt offerings and sacrifices accepted upon mine Altar Then follow the words of Text For my House shall be called shall be it is an Hebraism a House of Prayer for all People What is this but a Description of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gentile worshippers And this place alone makes good all that I have said before That this vindication was of the Gentiles Court Otherwise the allegation of this Scripture had been impertinent for the Gentiles of whom the Prophet speaks worshipped in no place but this Hence also appears to what purpose our Euangelist expressed the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely as that which shewed wherein the force of the accommodation to this occasion lay which the rest of the Euangelists omitted as referring to the place of the Prophet whence it was taken those who heard it being not ignorant of whom the Prophet spake Thirdly the circumstance of time argues the same thing if we consider that this was done but a few dayes before our Saviour suffered to wit when he came to his last Passeover How unseasonable had it been to vindicate the violation of legall and typicall sanctity which within so few dayes after he was utterly to abolish by his Crosse unlesse he had meant thereby to leave his Church a lasting lesson what reverence and respect he would have accounted due to such places as this was which he vindicated JOHN 4. 23. But the hour commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth For the Father seeketh such to worship him THey are the words of our Blessed Saviour to the woman of Samaria who perceiving him by his discourse to be a Prophet desired to be resolved by him of the great controverted point between the Jews and Samaritans whether Mount Garizim by Sichem where the Samaritans sacrificed or Ierusalem were the true place of worship Our Saviour tels her that this question was not now of much moment For that the houre or time was near at hand when they should neither worship the Father in Mount Garizim nor at Ierusalem But that there was a greater difference between the Jews and them then this of place namely even about that which was worshipped For ye saith he worship that ye know not But we Jews worship that we know Then follow the words premised But the houre commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth It is an abused Text being commonly alledged to prove that God now in the Gospel either requires not or regards not externall worship but that of the Spirit onely And this to be a characteristicall difference between the worship of the Old Testament and the New If at any time we talk of externall decency in rites and bodily expressions as fit to be used in the service of God this is the usuall Buckler to repell whatsoever may be said in that kinde It is true indeed that the worship of the Gospel is much more spirituall then that of the Law But that the worship of the Gospel should be onely spirituall and no externall worship required therein as the Text according to some mens sense and allegation thereof would imply is repugnant not onely to the practice and experience of the Christian Religion in all ages but also to the expresse Ordinances of the Gospel it self For what are the Sacraments of the New Testament are they not rites wherein and wherewith God is served and worshipped The consideration of the holy Eucharist alone will confute this Glosse For is not the commemoration of the sacrifice of Christs death upon the Crosse unto his Father in the Symbols of Bread and Wine an externall worship And yet with this rite hath the Church in all ages used to make her solemne addresse of Prayer and Supplication unto the Divine Majesty as the Jews in the Old Testament did by Sacrifice when I say in all Ages I include that of the Apostles For so much Saint Luke testifieth of that first Christian society Acts 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They continued in breaking of Bread and in Prayers As for bodily expressions by gestures and postures as standing kneeling bowing and the like our blessed Saviour himself lift up his sacred eyes to heaven when he prayed for Lazarus fell on his face when he prayed in his agony Saint Paul as himself saith bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ He and Saint Peter and the rest of the beleevers do the like more then once in the Acts of the Apostles What was imposition of hands but an externall gesture in an act of invocation for conferring a blessing and that perhaps sometimes without any vocall expression joyned therewith Besides I cannot conceive any reason why in this point of Euangelicall worship Gesture should be more scrupled at then Voyce Is not confessing praising praying and glorifying God by voyce an externall and bodily worship as well as that of Gesture why should then the one derogate from the worship of the Father in Spirit and Truth and not the other To conclude there was never any society of men in the world that worshipped the Father in such a manner as this interpretation would imply And therefore cannot this be our Saviours meaning but some other Let us see if we can finde out what it is There may be two senses given of these words both of them agreeable to reason and the analogy of Scripture let us take our choice The one is That to worship God in Spirit and Truth is to worship him not with types and shadows of things to come as in the Old Testament but according to the verity of the things exhibited in Christ according to that The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Iesus Christ. Whence the mystery of the Gospel is elsewhere by our Saviour in this Euangelist termed Truth as Cap. 17. ver 17. and the Doctrine thereof by Saint Paul The word of truth See Ephes. Cap. 1. ver 13. Rom. 15. ver 8. The time therefore is now at hand said our Saviour when the true worshippers shall worship the Father no longer with bloody sacrifices and the Rites and Ordinances depending thereon but in and according to the verity of that which these Ordinances figured For all these were types of Christ in whom being now exhibited the true worshippers shall henceforth worship the Father This sense hath good warrant from the state of the Question between the Jews and Samaritans to which our Saviour here makes answer which was not about worship in generall but about the kinde
obedient unto their Masters and to please them well in all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not purloining but shewing all good fidelity The Vulgar in both places useth Fraudare defrauding In a word the true signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is surripere suffurari aut clam subducta in commodum nostrum convertere whence Beza turns it by Intervertere Intervertit ex pretio and in Titus Intervertentes In the same sense it is used by the Septuagint in two severall places both pointing at the sin of Sacriledge One is in Achans story Iosh. 7. 1. where what we reade Achan took of the accursed thing the Septuagint renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he purloined the accursed thing that is the thing that was consecrated to God as all the silver and gold was ch 6. ver 19. for which cause when God relates to Ioshua Israels sin as the reason of their flying before their enemies he makes a distinction between Achans Sacriledge and his theft and dissembling ver 11. of the 7. Chap. saying For they have even taken of the accursed thing and have also stollen and dissembled also and they have put it even among their own stuffe The other is in 2 Mac. 4. 32. Menelaus his Sacriledge who stole the sacred Vessels is expressed by it Menelaus saith the Author supposing he had got a convenient time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stole certain vessels of gold out of the Temple and gave some to Andronicus and some he sold into Tyrus and the Cities round about The second expression of Ananias his Sacriledge is by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deceiving or lying to the Holy Ghost or as it is repeated immediately after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lying unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is fallo frustro mentior To deceive cozen lie as also the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which peculiarly signifies Sacrilegious transgression as Lev. 5. 15. and in the story of Achan is in all those places as elsewhere rendred in Targum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to lie and the substantive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lie and in Oaths and promises Non servo frango not to keep or to break them So Ananias his sin was a lying unto or breaking of promise with God for having vowed or promised unto him in his heart the whole price of the field he brought him but part thereof Both expressions point out the same fact which in regard of the matter was stealing or purloining in regard of the Vow and Consecration a breach of promise or lying unto God So that when Peter says in the third verse Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost and to purloin of the price of the land The latter is the explication of the former and is as if it had been said Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost in purloining the price of the land But what will some man say means this speciall expression of the Deity in the Person of the Holy Ghost why is Ananias said to have lied to the Holy Ghost rather then to have lied unto God only For lying unto God would bear the sense I speak of should not then lying unto the Holy Ghost seem to have something else or something more in it I answer Ananias his lie or breach of promise is applied thus in speciall to the Holy Ghost in respect of the prerogative of that Person as to stir and sanctifie so to take notice of the motions of the heart forasmuch therefore as Ananias his Vow and Promise which he broke was not such as men could witnesse or take notice of but such as his own heart or conscience only was privy to hence it is said to have been done under the privity of the Holy Ghost and he in the breach thereof to have lied unto him because that which none but the inward man knoweth of and is yet but in the purpose of the heart is under his privity There is a plain place Rom. 9. to this purpose I say the truth in Christ saith the Apostle I lie not my conscience also bearing me witnesse in the Holy Ghost that is the Holy Ghost who is privy to my conscience bearing me witnesse or my conscience which the Holy Ghost is privy to Some other places of Scripture I could name which may receive light from this notion but I am loth to meddle with them But for their interpretation who expound this lying unto the Holy Ghost of Ananias his hypocrisie I cannot well see how it can stand For Ananias dissembled not with the Holy Ghost but with men the Holy Ghost knew his heart well enough And the hypocrite properly lies unto men who guesse only by the outside and not unto God who knows the heart Others expound lying unto the Holy Ghost as if it were lying to try whether the Holy Ghost in the Apostles could discover him or not But this is an harsh and forc'd sense As for that in the 9. verse whereon it is grounded viz. How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord The word Tempt or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is mistaken the notion thereof in Scripture being otherwhile to provoke God by some presumptuous fact to anger as it were to try whether he will punish or not to dare God There is an evident place for this sense Numb 14. 22. Those men saith the Lord which have seen my glory and my miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wildernesse and have tempted mee now these ten times and have not hearkened to my voice 23. Surely they shall not see the land which I sware to their Fathers neither shall any of them that provoked me see it And thus much of the bare description of Ananias his sin Come we now to the aggravation thereof While it remained was it not thine and after it was sold was it not in thy power That is before it was sold was it not thine and being sold was not the money paid thee was not the price in thine hand Thou hast therefore no excuse for what thou hast done For there were two cases which might have excused Ananias for bringing but part of the price If either he had not been Dominus in solidum the full Proprietary of what was sold or had not received the whole price it was sold for For as for the first it is a rule in Law Quoties Dominium transfertur ad aâ—ium tale transfertur quale apud eum fuit qui tradit A man can sell no more then is his So that if Ananias had been owner but in part he had power to dispose but in part Secondly though he were Dominus in solidum the full Proprietary of the field and so had right enough to sell it yet had not the whole price been received and in his power and possession he might still have been excused for bringing but part thereof But Ananias could
DIATRIBAE DISCOVRSES ON DIVERS TEXTS OF SCRIPTVRE Delivered upon severall occasions BY JOSEPH MEDE B. D. late Fellow of Christs Colledge in CAMBRIDGE Printed by the Authors own Copy The Contents you shall finde in the next leafe LONDON Printed by M. F. for JOHN CLARK and are to be sold at his Shop under S. Peters Church in Cornhill M DC XLII The Contents of the severall Texts of Scripture delivered in this Treatise S. MATTH 6. 9. Thus therefore pray ye Our Father c. pag. 1. MATTH 6. 9. LUKE 11. 2. Sanctified or hallowed be thy Name p. 17. ACTS 17. 4. There associated themselves to Paul and Silas of the worshipping Greeks a great multitude p. 82. 2 PETER 2. 4. For if God spared not the Angels which sinned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darknesse to be reserved unto Iudgement c. so we translate it To which of S. Peter answers that of S. Iude as almost that whole Epistle doth to this verse 6. And the Angels which kept not their first estate or principality but left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darknesse unto the Iudgement of the great Day p. 99. 1 COR. 4. 1. Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God p. 108. S. IOHN 10. 20. He hath a Devill and is mad p 120. PROVERBS 21. 16. The Man that wandreth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the Congregation of the Dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in coetu Gigantum p. 132. GEN. 49. 10. The Scepter shall not depart from Iudah nor a Law-giver from between his feet untill SHILOH come and unto him shall the gathering of the People be p. 144. PSALME 8. 2. Out of the Mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest quell the Enemy and the Avenger p. 155. ZACH. 4. 10. These seven are the Eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth p. 172. S. MARK 11. 17. Is it not written My House shall be called a House of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all the Nations p. 187. S. JOHN 4. 23. But the hour commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth For the Father seeketh such to worship him pag. 197. S. LUKE 24. 45. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures 46. And said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day p. 210. EXOD. 4. 25. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the fore-skin of her son and cast it at his feet and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sponsus sanguinum tu mihi es pag. 222. EZEKIEL 20. 20. Hallow my Sabbath and they shall be a sign between me and you to acknowledge that I Iehovah am your God pag. 234. 1 COR 11. 5. Every woman praying or prophecying with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head p. 246. TITUS 3. 5. By the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost p. 262. IOSH. 24. 26. And Ioshâ—…ah took a great stone and set it up there viz. in Sichem under the Oak which was in the Sanctuary of the Lord Alii by the Sanctuary Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 274 1 TIM 5. 17. Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour especially they that labour in the Word and Doctrine p. 296. ACTS 2. 5. And there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sojourning at Ierusalem Iows devout men out of every Nation under heaven p. 311. 1 COR. 9. 14. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 324. Three other Treatises by the same Author formerly Printed which may be added viz. 1. The Name ALTAR or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. CHURCHES that is Appropriate Places for Christian Worship 1 COR. 11. 22. Have ye not houses to eat and drink in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or despise ye the CHVRCH of God 3. The Reverence of GODS HOVSE ECCLESIASTES 5. 1. Look to thy foot or feet when thou commest to the House of God and be more ready to obey then to offer the sacrifice of fools for they know not that they doe evill Errata FOlio 9. line 10. testimonies in r. testimonies In. fol. 24. l. 16 28. the Hebrew words are false printed and misplaced fol. 87. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the words inverted fol 88. line 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fo 125. line 19. the Hebrew words are inverted line 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 130. line 14. siqui r. siquis fol. 150. line 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 162. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 184. in the margin the Hebrew is amisse fol. 229. the Hebrew is transposed and mis-printed fo 273. line 14. imitation r. initiation so 284 line 3. Actâ— 21. r Acts 16. fol. 334. line 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DISCOVRSES ON DIVERS TEXTS of SCRIPTURE S. MATTHEW 6. 9. Thus therefore pray ye Our Father c. IT was well hoped after the question about the lawfulness and fitness of a set forme of Prayer had been so long debated in our Church that the sect of those who opposed it had been ere this well-nigh extinguished but experience tels us the contrary that this fancy is not onely still living but begins as it were to recover and get strength afresh In which regard my discourse at this time will not be unseasonable if taking my rise from these words of our Saviour I acquaint you upon what grounds and example this practise of the Christian Church hath been established and how frivolous and weak the reasons are which some of late doe bring against it To begin therefore You see by the Text I have now read that our blessed Saviour delivered a set form of prayer unto his Disciples and in so doing hath commended the use of a set form of prayer unto his Church Thus therefore saith he pray ye Our Father which art in heaven c. Is not this a set form of prayer and did not our Saviour deliver it to be used by his Disciples They tell us No. For Thus say they in this place is not thus to be understood but for in this manner to this effect or sense or after this pattern not in these words and syllables To this I answer It is true that this form of prayer is a pattern for us to make other prayers by but that this only should be the meaning of our Saviours Thus and not the rehearsall of the words themselves I utterly deny and I prove it out of the eleventh Chapter of S. Luke where the
what shew of reasoÌ„ can be given why the spirit of a particular Minister in the publick worship of the Church may not yea ought not to be limited and regulated by the spirit of the Church representative as well as the spirit of a whole Congregation by the spirit of a particular Minister For every particular Minister is as much subordinate to the spirit of the Church representative as the spirit of the Congregation is to his So much for this objection There remaineth yet a third which may be answered in two or three words No set forme of prayer say they can serve for all occasions What then Yet why may it not be used for all such occasions as it serves for if any sudden and unexpected occasion happen for which the Church cannot provide the spirit of her Ministers is free Who will forbid them to supply in such a case that by a voluntary and arbitrary forme which the Church could not provide for in a set forme And this is what I intended to say of this argument THE SANCTIFICATION OF GODS NAME MATTH 6. 9. LUKE 11. 2. Sanctificetur nomen tuum Sanctified or hallowed be thy Name ALthough I make no question but that which we so often repeat unto Almighty God in our daily prayers is for the generall meaning thereof by the most of us in some competent measure understood Yet because by a more full and distinct explication the knowledge of some may be improved and the meditations of others occasioned to a further search I hope I shall not doe amisse nor be thought to have chosen a theame either needlesse or not so fit for this Auditory if I shall inquire what that is we pray for in this first Petition of the prayer our Lord hath taught us when we desire That Gods Name may be sanctified For perhaps we shall find more contained therein then is commonly taken notice of The words are few and therefore shall need no other Analyse then what their very number presents unto us viz. Gods Name and the sanctifying thereof Sanctificetur Nomen tuum I will begin first with the last in order but first in nature Nomen tuum Gods Name By which according to the style of holy Scripture we are to understand in this place first of all God himself or his sacred Deity to wit abstractly expressed according to the style of eminency and dignity 〈◊〉 Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Divine Majesty as we are wont for the King to say His Majesty or the Kings Majesty and of other persons of honour and eminency Their Highnesse Their Honour His Excellency and the like So of God His Name and sometimes with the self-same meaning His Glory as Ier. 2. 11. Hath any Nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods but my people have changed their Glory i. their God for that which is good for nought So Psalme 106. 20. of the Calf made in the Wildernesse They changed their Glorie into the similitude of an Oxe that eateth grasse And S. Paul Rom. 1. 23. They changed the Glory i. the Majesty of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man c. Such is the notion but much more frequent of Gods Name In a word Nomen Del in this kinde of use is nothing else but Divinum Numen Whence it is that in Scripture To call upon the Name of God To blaspheme the Name of God To love his Name To sweare by his Name To build a Temple to his Name for his Name to dwell there And in the New Testament To beleeve in the Name of the Lord Iesus To call upon the Name of the Lord Iesus these I say and the like expressions have no other meaning then to doe these things to the Divine Majesty to the Lord Jesus whose is that Name above every Name where at every knee must bow Accordingly here Sanctificetur Nomen tuum Hallowed be thy Name is as much as to say Sanctificetur Numen tuum Sanctified be thy Divine Majesty Secondly under the Name of God here to be sanctified or hallowed understand besides the Majesty of his Godhead that also super quod invocatum est Nomen ejus whereupon his Name is called or that which is called by his Name as we in our Bibles commonly expresse this phrase of Scripture that is all whatsoever is Gods or God is the Lord and owner of by a peculiar right such as are things sacred whether they be persons or whether things by distinction so called or Times or Places which have upon them a relation of peculiarnesse towards God For such as these are said in Scripture To have the Name of God called upon them or To be called by his Name that is To be His. Thus we read in Scripture of an House which had the Name of God upon it or which was called by his Name that is of Gods House 1 Kings 8. 43. Ier. 7. 10. c. Of a City upon which the Name of God was called or named to wit the Holy City Jerusalem the City of the great King the Lord of hosts Ier. 25. 29. Dan. 9. 18. Of an Ark upon which the Name of God the Lord was called 1 Chro. 13. 6. 2 Sam. 6. 2. that is the Lords Ark or the Ark of his Covenant as it is elsewhere named Of a people upon which the Name of the Lord was called or which were called by his Name Deut. 28. 10. Dan. 9. 19. and elsewhere that is were his peculiar and holy people as is said in like manner and with like meaning of the Church of the New Testament Iames 2. 7. Acts 15 17. I represent not these places of Scripture at large because I know that every eare that is acquainted with Scripture can beare witness unto them And for the meaning of this expression of Gods Name to be called upon a thing or a thing to be called by his Name that it is all one as to say it to be His besides the evidence of the matter wherabout it is used appeares by the same phrase used in two other places of the like relation of men to that which is theirs as Gen. 48 16. Where Iacob blessing Iosephs sons saith The Angell which redeemed me from all evil blesse the lads and let my name be called upon them That is let them be mine namely as Reuben and Simeon are mine as he saith a little before for they are words of adoption Again in the fourth of Esay where it is said That seven women should take hold of one man and say We will eat our own bread and weare our own apparel onely let thy Name be called upon us to take away our reproach That is Doe thou own us or let us be thine that it may not be a reproach unto us that we have no husband The Ancients were wont to set the Names of the Owners upon their houses and other possessions whâ—ch they called Tituli Titles Chrysologus Serm. 145.
of the Saints and so translated accordingly This tradition is farther testified by Ionathan ben Vziel the Chaldee Paraphrast Gen. 11. 7. where the Lords words spoken in the plurall number Venite descendamus confundamus linguam eorum are paraphrased in this manner Dixit Dominus septem Angelis qui stant coram eo Venite nunc c. Whether rightly or fitly in this place it matters not The testimony is sufficient for the Jewish tradition of seven Arch-angels that stand before the Throne of God This tradition Iunius saith is magicall and not a little triumphs therein as an undoubted Argument to evince the Book of Tobit not to be Canonicall But whatsoever the Book of Tobit be I hope to shew this tradition to have firm ground and footing in Scripture and not so rashly to be rejected The chief and most clear place is that I have now read which gives us to understand that these seven Angels were represented by that Candlestick of Seven Lamps which continually burned in the Temple before the vail over against the Mercy seat which was the Throne of God For in the beginning of the Chapter the Prophet being shewed this Seven-lamped Candlestick in a Vision and two Olive-branches on each side ministring oyle to the Lamps thereof The Angel asketh him if he knew what these meant The Prophet answers No my Lord Then the Angel discoursing a little by way of Preface tels him what they were These seven saith he that is the seven Lamps are the seven eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth that is those Seven Vigiles or prime Ministers of his Providence the seven Arch-angels As for the two Olive-trees on each side These are saith he two anointed ones which stand before the Lord of the whole earth that is Zorobabel and Iesua the Prince and Priest at that time which should be Gods two instruments on earth whereby his Church signified by the Candlestick should be re-established and his Temple builded and that not by force or strength as he saith in his Preface but by the Spirit of God working with them as the olive trees here conveyed oyle to the Candlestick not after a naturall and usuall but a supernaturall and secret manner This interpretation of the latter hath the suffrage of the best Expositors both Jews and Christians and so I shall need say no more of it but betake my self to make good the first concerning the words I chose for my Text That those seven eyes of God signified by the seven Lamps are seven Angels That this is so I prove out of two places in the Apocalypse derived from hence where as well the Seven Lamps before the Throne as the Lambs Seven eyes are said to be the Seven Spirits of God I saw saith Saint Iohn cap. 4. 5. Seven Lamps before the Throne which are the Seven Spirits of God And again cap. 5. 6. I saw in the midst of the Throne and of the four Beasts as we translate it and of the four and twenty Elders a Lamb as if he had been slain having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth Here first we have Zacharies very words Seven eyes sent forth into all the earth Secondly That these seven eyes are the seven Spirits of God Thirdly that these seven Spirits were represented by the seven Lamps burning before the Throne If this be not sufficient to make my interpretation of Zacharie good I know not what can be For who can now but think that the Jews derived their tradition of these seven Angels from this place of Zachary and the Apocalypse from them both And that indeed the Jews supposed some such thing meant by the seven Lamps in the Temple appears by the report of Iosephus though depraved and fashioned unto the capacity of the Gentiles For he tels us both in his Antiquities Lib. 3. cap. 7. and in his De Bello Iudaico Lib. 6. cap. 14. that the seven Lamps signified the seven Planets and the most holy place within the vail ibid. cap. 5. the heaven of God or heaven of Glory and that therefore the Lamps stood slopewise as it were to expresse the obliquity of the Zodiack Now it is true that the Jewish Astrologians savouring of Gentilism make these seven Angels the prefects of the seven Planets which they seem to have learned in part from the Greek Philosophy which conceit howsoever it be vain and groundlesse yet may be as a key to understand the meaning of this of Iosephus And one thing more If the visible things of God may be learned as Saint Paul sayes from the Creation of the world why may not the invisible and intelligible world be learned from the Fabrick of the visible the one it may be being the pattern of the other But to let this passe and return again to the Apocalypse Where concerning the places alledged there may be two things objected First That the seven spirits there mentioned are and may be expounded of the Holy Ghost thus represented in respect of those seven-fold that is manifold Graces he communicates unto the Church I answer that many indeed have so taken it but besides the uncouthnesse of expressing one spirit by seven there is a reason in the Text why they cannot be so taken namely because not onely the seven Lamps are said to be those seven Spirits of God but the seven Eyes and seven Horns of the Lamb also to be the same Now it will be very hard and harsh to make the Holy Ghost the Horns and Eyes of Christ as he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world that is as he is a Man Above Angels indeed the Man Iesus is exalted and that too for the suffering of death that is as the Lamb but not above the Holy Ghost This made not onely Drusius but even Beza himself in his Notes upon this place to affirm it could not be meant of the Holy Ghost but of seven created Spirits A second scruple is how if they be created spirits Iohn could pray for Grace and Peace from them Grace be unto you saith he and peace from him which is which was and is to come and from the seven spirits which are before his Throne and from Iesus Christ the faithful witnesse c. would he pray for Grace and peace from Angels I answer Why not For first he prayes not to them but unto God unto whom such votes are tendered Secondly he prayes for Grace and Peace from them not as Authors but as the Instruments of God in the dispensation thereof Are they not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sent forth to minister for them who are heirs of salvation And if it be no Idolatry to pray unto God to give Grace and Peace from the outward Ministery of his word no more is it to pray unto him for it from the invisible Ministery For certainly it is lawfull to
of worship in speciall which was confessed by both sides to be tied to one certain place onely that is of worship by Sacrifice and the appendages In a word of the typicall worship proper to the first Covenant of which see a description Heb. 9. This Iosephus expresly testifies Lib. 12. Antiq. cap. 1. speaking of the Jews and Samaritans which dwelt together at Alexandria They lived saith he in perpetuall discord one with the other whilest each laboured to maintain their Country customes those of Ierusalem affirming their Temple to be the sacred place whither sacrifices were to be sent the Samaritans on the other side contending they ought to be sent to Mount Garizim For otherwise who knows not that both Jews and Samaritans had other places of worship besides either of these namely their Proseucha's and Synagogues wherein they worshipped God not with internall onely but externall worship though not with sacrifice which might be offered but in one place onely And this also may seem to have been a type of Christ as well as the rest namely that he was to be that one and onely Mediator of the Church in the Temple of whose sacred body we have accesse unto the Father and in whom he accepts our devotions and services according to that Destroy this Temple and I will rear it up again in three daies He spake saith the Text of the Temple of his Body This sense divers of the Ancients hit upon Eusebius Demon. Euang. Lib. 1. Cap. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not by Symbols and Types but as our Saviour saith in Spirit and Truth Not that in the New Testament men should worship God without all externall services for the New Testament was to have externall and visible services as well as the Old But with such as should imply the verity of the promises already exhibited not by types and shadows of them yet to come we know the Holy Ghost is wont to call the figured Face of the Law the Letter and the Verity thereby signified the Spirit As for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both together they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but once found in holy Writ to wit onely in this place And so no light can be borrowed by comparing of the like expression any where else to expound them Besides nothing hinders but they may be taken one for the exposition of the other that to worship the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with to worship him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But howsoever this Exposition be fair and plausible yet me thinks the reason which our Saviour gives in the words following should argue another meaning God saith he is a Spirit therefore they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth But God was a Spirit from the beginning If therefore for this reason he must be worshipped in Spirit and Truth he was so to be worshipped in the Old Testament as well as in the New Let us therefore seek another meaning For the finding whereof let us take notice that the Samaritans at whom our Saviour here aimeth were the off-spring of those Nations which the King of Assyria placed in the Cities of Samaria when he had carried away the ten Tribes captive These as we may reade in the second Book of the Kings at their first comming thither worshipped not the God of Israel but the gods of the Nations from whence they came Wherefore he sent Lyons amongst them which slew them which they apprehending either from the information of some Israelite or otherwise to be because they knew not the worship of the God of the Countrey they informed the King of Assyria thereof desiring that some of the captiv'd Priests might be sent unto them to teach them the manner and rites of his worship which being accordingly done they thenceforth as the Text tels us worshipped the Lord yet feared their own gods too and so did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Chrysostome speaks mingle things not to be mingled In this medly they continued about two hundred years till toward the end of the Persian Monarchy At what time it chanced that Manasse brother to Iaddo the High Priest of the returned Jews married the daughter of Sanballat then Governour of Samaria For which being expelled from Jerusalem by Nehemiah he fled to Sanballat his Father in Law and after his example many other of the Jews of the best rank having married strange wives likewise and loth to forgo them betook themselves thither also Sanballat willingly entertains them and makes his son in Law Manasse their Priest For whose greater reputation and state when Alexander the Great subdued the Persian Monarchy he obtained leave of him to build a Temple upon Mount Garizim where his son in Law exercised the office of High Priest This was exceedingly prejudicious to the Jews and the occasion of a continuall Schism whilst those that were discontented or excommunicated at Ierusalem were wont to betake themselves thither Yet by this means the Samaritans having now one of the sons of Aaron to be their Chief Priest and so many other of the Jews both Priests and others mingled amongst them were brought at length to cast off all their false gods and to worship the Lord the God of Israel onely Yet so that howsoever they seemed to themselves to be true worshippers and altogether free from Idolatry neverthelesse they retained a smack thereof in as much as they worshipped the true God under a visible representation to wit of a Dove and circumcised their Children in the name thereof as the Jewish Tradition tels us who therefore always branded their worship with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or spirituall Fornication Just as their predecessors the ten Tribes worshipped the same God of Israel under the similitude of a Calf This was the condition of the Samaritan Religion in our Saviours time and if we weigh the matter well we shall finde his words here to the woman very pliable to be construed with reference thereunto You ask saith he of the true place of worship whether Mount Garizim or Ierusalem which is not so greatly materiall for as much as the time is at hand when men shall worship the Father at neither But there is a greater difference between you and us then of place though you take no notice of it namely about the object of worship it self For ye worship what ye know not but we Jews worship what we know How is that Thus Ye worship indeed the Father the God of Israel as we doe but you worship him under a corporeall representation wherein you shew you know him not but the houre commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth In spirit that is conceiving of him no otherwise then in spirit And in truth that is not under any corporeall or visible shape For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
for whom even themselves being Judges it would be an uncomely thing to wear a vail that is a womans habit so by the like reason was it as uncomely for a woman to be without a vail that is in the guise and dresse of a man And howsoever the Devils of the Gentiles sometimes took pleasure in uncomelinesse and absurd garbs and gestures yet the God whom they worshipped with his holy Angels who were present at their devotions loved a comely accommodation agreeable to Nature and Custome in such as worshipped him For this cause therefore saith he ought a woman to have a covering on her head because of the Angels Lastly he concludes it from the example and custome both of the Iewish and Christian Churches neither of which had any such use for their women to be unvailed in their sacred assemblies If any man saith he be contentious that is will not be satisfied with these reasons let him know that we that is we of the Circumcision have no such custome nor the Church of God For so with S. Ambrose Anselme and some of the ancients I take the meaning of the Apostle to be in those words Thus you have heard briefly what was the fault of these Corinthian Dames which the Apostle here taxeth From which we our selves may learn thus much That God requires a decent and comely accommodation in his House in the act of his worship and service For if in their habit and dresse surely much more in their gestures and deportment he loves nothing that is unseemly in the one or in the other TITUS 3. 5. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost THese words as it is easie to conceive upon the first hearing are spoken of Baptisme of which I intend not by this choyce to make any full or accurate tractation but onely to acquaint you as I am wont with my thoughts concerning two particulars therein One from what propriety analogy or use of water the washing therewith was instituted for a sign of new birth according as it is here called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the washing of regeneration The other what is the counter-type or thing which the water figureth in this Sacrament I will begin with the last first because the knowledge thereof must be supposed for the explication and more distinct understanding of the other In every Sacrament as ye well know there is the outward Symbole or sign res terrena and the signatum figured and represented thereby res coelestis In this of Baptism the sign or res terrena is washing with water The question is what is the Signatum the invisible and celestiall thing which answers thereunto In our Catecheticall explications of this mystery it is wont to be affirmed to be the blood of Christ That as Water washeth away the filth of the body so the blood of Christ cleanseth us from the guilt and pollution of sin And there is no question but the blood of Christ is the fountain of all the grace and good communicated unto us either in this or any other Sacrament or mystery of the Gospel But that this should be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the counterpart or thing figured by the water in Baptism I beleeve not because the Scripture which must be our guide and direction in this case makes it another thing to wit the Spirit or Holy Ghost this to be that whereby the soul is cleansed and renewed within as the body with water is without so saith our Saviour to Nicodemus Ioh. 3. Except a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God And the Apostle in the words I have read parallels the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost as type and countertype God saith he hath saved us that is brought us into the state of salvation by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost where none I trow will deny that he speaks of Baptism The same was represented by that vision at our Saviours Baptism of the holy Ghosts descending upon him as he came out of the water in the similitude of a Dove For I suppose that in that Baptism of his the mystery of all our Baptisms was visibly acted and that God sayes to every one truly baptized as he said to him in a proportionable sense Thou art my Son in whom I am well pleased And how pliable the analogy of water is to typifie the Spirit well appears by the figuring of the Spirit thereby in other places of Scripture As in that of Isay I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and slouds upon the dry ground I will pour my Spirit upon by seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring where the latter expounds the former Also by the discourse of our Saviour with the Samaritan woman Iohn 4. 14. Whosoever saith he drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life By that also Ioh. 7. 37. where on the last day of the great feast Iesus stood and said If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink He that beleeveth on me as the Scripture saith that is as the Scripture is wont to expresse it for otherwise there is no such place of Scripture to be found in all the Bible out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water But this saith the Euangelist he spake of the Spirit which they that beleeve on him should receive Nor did the Fathers or ancient Church as far as I can finde suppose any other correlative to the element in Baptism but this of this they speak often of the blood of Christ they are altogether silent in their explicatioÌ„s of this mystery many are the allusioÌ„s they seek out for the illustration thereof and some perhaps forced but this of the water signifying or having any relation to the blood of Christ never comes amongst them which were impossible if they â—ad not supposed some other thing figured by the water then it which barred them from falling on that conceit The like silence is to be observed in our Liturgy where the Holy Ghost is more then once paralled with the water in Baptism washing and regeneration attributed thereunto but no such notion of the blood of Christ. And that the opinion thereof is novell may be gathered because some Lutheran Divines make it peculiar and proper to the followers of Calvin Whatsoever it be it hath no foundation in Scripture and we must not of our own heads assigne significations to Sacramentall types without some warrant thence For whereas some conceive those two expressions of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or sprinkling of the blood of Christ and of our being washed from our sins in or by his blood do intimate some such matter they are surely mistaken for those expressions have reference not to the
would eat no meat as long as the world lasteth rather then make his brother to offend Would they would consider this who are not content alone to sin themselves but play the Devil in corrupting others It seems they long to be double damn'd I would also they would think of this who make no conscience at all by extremities and vexations and other grievances to drive a man to perjury and other grievous sins and yet think themselves free when they should know that he that is the author of anothers sin makes anothers guilt his own and shall share in the punishment every whit as deep as he But this shall suffice to have observed in the first part the reason of the Serpents doom Now I come to the second the doom it self wherein the words as you see have all relation to the Serpent for the Lord said unto the Serpent Thou are cursed c. Thou shalt go upon thy brest c. But because this Serpent was more then a brute Serpent the Devil himself being the chief agent in this his instrument it is a thing much controverted upon which of these this curse is here pronounced Some would have it spoken only of the brute Serpent because here is a comparison made with cattell and beasts of the field thereby accounting the Serpent one of that number Besides Satan they say was accursed before this time and some of the words in this curse cannot well be applied to any but the brute Serpent as that he should eat the dust of the earth c. Others would have this curse pronounced only upon the spirituall Serpent the Devil because the brute Serpent was only an instrument abused by the Devil and neither knew what was done nor could do withall and why should it therefore be punished Others would divide the controversie applying the first part of the curse in the 14. verse to the brute Serpent the latter in the 15. verse to the Devil or spirituall Serpent because as the latter of the promised seed of the woman which should destroy the Serpent and his seed must needs be meant of Christ and Satan so the former words are most fitly appliable to the brute Serpent only But against this may be said that the same Thou and Thee spoken of in the first part of the curse is all one with the Thou and Thee in the latter and therefore of whatsoever the first is meant of the same is also meant the latter There is therefore a fourth opinion that this curse is throughout pronounced upon both both upon the Serpent and the Devil In which though there be some difference about the manner how yet I imbrace it as the truest as not only conceiving it may be so by the fitnesse of all the parts so applied to both but think moreover that this only ought to be the meaning and no other if it be conceived as I am now to shew For in the first place the Devil when he beguiled man came not as a naked spirit but in the shape and figure of a Serpent as I have shew'd heretofore and therefore that his punishment in the manner might be sutable and answerable to his offence he was to receive his doom likewise under the figure of a Serpent and the style thereof framed unto a Serpents condition for it is the constant method of the all-wise God to brand the punishment with the stamp of the sin that the offender thereby might not only know what he felt but also read why he suffered Why was Adonibezeks thumbs and great toes cut off but that he might read therein as he did his former cruelty Threescore and ten Kings having their thumbs and toes cut off gathered meat under my Table As I have done so God hath requited me Why was Pharaoh with his Host rather drowned in the Sea then slain in the field but that all the world might read it was for his cruell Edict to drown all the male children of the Hebrews Why did Absalom lie with Davids Concubines but to put David in minde that he had lien with Vriahs wife And why was the curse of the Devil shaped here in and unto the condition of the Serpent but because he had beguiled man in a Serpents shape Secondly for the Serpent The fashion excellency and subtilty of the Serpent above all the beasts which God had made the Devil had abused to gain credit with the woman that he was an excellent and a most sagacious spirit and therefore might be able to pry farther into Gods meaning then she could which was the cause of her attention and so of her ruine For I have shewed heretofore that the woman in the state of integrity knew well enough that as it was the law of spirits in their commerce with men to present themselves under the shape of some visible thing so it must be likewise under the shape of some such thing as may more or lesse resemble their condition And that as the glorious spirits might take no other shape but of man the glory of visible creatures so the fallen spirits could not then afore mans fall take any other shape but of a beast thereby to bewray his abasement yet because the Devil here took upon him the shape of the most wise and most excellent of beasts he so bleared the womans eyes with an opinion of his excellency and sagacity that in a manner she forgot or regarded not that he was one of the evil and abased spirits which was the ground of her miserable ruine and overthrow Now because the excellency and sagacity of the Serpent had thus been the occasion of mans confusion by being made the lying counterfeit of the Devils excellency and wisdome and the mask whereby he so covered his vilenesse that the woman took him not to be as he was indeed Therefore God in his wisdome thought good to change the copy and henceforth to blurre and deface that unhappy physiognomicall letter and by abasing the Serpent for the time to come to make him an everlasting embleme and monument wherein man might hieroglyphically read the malice vilenesse and execrable basenesse of that wicked spirit which had beguiled him to hate him as now we do the Serpent with mortall hatred and by his unlucky and brained fortune to expect the Devils destiny In a word that which was once used for a mask to cover the Devils knavery should for the future be a glasse wherein to behold his villany These being the reasons which have led me to understand this curse in an equall sense both of the brute Serpent and the Devil and in the literall applied unto the Serpent yet therein shaping out the malediction of the Devil as truly as the Devil had taken upon him the Serpents shape Let us now come to the particular handling of the words and first consider them as they are the curse of the unreasonable Serpent Secondly as they include the Devils malediction But for the better understanding
food of Angels whereby this their intellectuall life and vegetation is strengthned and continued is that unspeakable joy and delight which accompanies this contemplation of God and which they finde in the beholding of whatsoever else hath any conformity or sutableness with him his power his wisdome his glory his goodnesse According to that in the Gospel There is joy in heaven and in the presence of the Angels of God for one sinner that repenteth This is that Manna which feeds the blessed Angels and which makes them unweariable and unsatiable in their contemplation and imitation of God as corporall food enableth the body for the continuance of corporall works And such as this had been the Devils fare had he not fallen from his first estate by sin whereas now in stead of that Manna he is fain with the Serpent to feed of a food as course and as base as the dust of the earth for as of a glorious Angel he is fallen to be a damned spirit so is his diet answerable to continue him in that damnable estate namely a food clean contrary to that of the blessed Angels and a very earth to their heaven A most execrable joy and a malicious delight in whatsoever is opposite to the power the wisdome the goodnesse the glory of God his Creator this is that he hungreth and hunteth after and nothing but this If there were no sin no confusion no misery of creatures in the world the Devil would be soon starved for this is that he preys after this is that carrion he seeks for when he goeth about as S. Peter saith like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour I have read of a people of America that will eat no flesh before it be stinking rotten and then it seems to them most tender and delicate These are of a diet like unto the Devil for nothing but garbage and carrion are his dainties the more rotten with sin the more pleasing to his palate that which stinks most in Gods nostrils that smels the sweetest in his The last part of this curse remains I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed c. In which we will first consider the parties who are to be at this deadly feud Secondly the event and successe they have one against the other For the first the parties are on one side said to be the Serpent and his seed on the other side The woman and her seed By the Serpent we are to understand Satan the Prince of darknesse and Father of Devils This Serpents seed in the first place are the whole crue of Devils and damned spirits who are fallen from their first estate and condition These are the Serpents first-born begotten by him not by corporall generation nor as they are spirits but by spirituall deformation as they are Devils For it is the opinion of Divines that Satan fell first himself and afterward propagated his Apostasie by drawing others after him over whom therefore he worthily deserveth to have the principality and chiefdome in which respect also were there no other yet he might be called their Father and they his sons or seed as we know the use of the Scripture is to call Princes Fathers and Subjects sons The latter off-spring of the Devil being a second brood are the whole company of wicked and reprobate worldlings for that such as these are the spawn of that foul fiend it appears clearly by the words of our Saviour to the Pharisees Ioh. 8. 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye will do And again 1 Ioh. 3. 10. The children of God are opposed to the children of the Devil Therefore Christ cals Iudas a Devil Ioh. 6. And Paul Act. 13. 10. cals Elymas the Sorcerer A child of the Devil The case is plain And as the Vanguard consisted of the first crue so these latter are the Rere of Satans Army Now on the other side against this Army of Hell-hounds stand the Woman and the Womans seed The woman though only named excludes not the man who was to be at enmity with the Devil as well as the woman But the reason of this unusuall Trope which cals the kind by the name of the weaker and inferiour sex is because of the words following of â—he seed wherein is contained the great mystery of Christs Incarnation under whose colours and in whose power alone this Army is both to march and overcome for this great Captain was to be as you know the seed of the woman only and not of the man A Virgin should conceive a Son whose name is called Emmanuel Whence it comes to passe that some by seed will have no other seed to be understood but the person of Christ only both because he is alone that seed of the woman which is not the seed of man and because S. Paul Gal. 3. 16. in those words In thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed expoundeth seed singularly and individually of Christ himself alone But if it be well observed the case here is not the like for the seed of the woman is opposed to the seed of the Serpent which seed cannot chuse but be taken collectively for Satan and all his regiments of Devils and hell-hounds And why should not also the seed of the woman be understood of Christ mysticall that is of Christ the Head with all his members who are incorporate into him by faith into one mysticall body For although they are naturally the seed of man as well as of the woman yet spiritually by this incorporation they are the feed of the woman only as is their Head with whom they are one And this it is which makes them of the party against the Serpent for till they once became the seed of the woman only there was no enmity betwixt them The seed therefore of the woman I expound to be Christ and his Members He 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the seed of the woman by nature they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by their spirituall engraâ—ment into him Hence appears the difference of these two Armies First in Satans Army all march under their Father who begot them but Christs Army sighteth under the Colours of their elder brother the first begotten seed of the woman Secondly in their ranging Christ and his Army are as one body informed by one Spirit the Devil is far more disunited Thirdly in their fighting for in Satans Army every Souldier useth his own strength and fights with his own weapons but in Christs Army the whole strength lies in Christ their Generall All our Armour is on his back and our weapons guided by the power of his hand So we may learn out of S. Paul Ephes. 6. 11 12. Put on saith he the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the