after me commeth a man that is preferred before me for he was before me and I knew him not but because he should be declared to Israel therefore am I come baptizing with water So John bare record saying I saw the spirit come down from Heaven like a Dove and abiding upon him And I knew him not but he that sent me to baptize with water he said unto me upon whom thou shalt see the spirit come down and stay stil upon him that is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God According as it is in the other three Evangelists more at large expressed how that Jesus when he was baptized came strait out of the water and lo the Heavens were opened unto him And John saw the spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him And loe a voice came from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am wel pleased The next day John stood again and two of his Disciples and he beheld Jesus walking by and said Behold the Lamb of God and the two Disciples heard him speak and followed Jesus All this was done at Bethabara beyond Jordan in the sight and hearing of a number of people there present as three of our Evangelists do report which they would never have presumed to have done had not the matter been most evident and without all compass of denial or contradiction And truely no one thing in all this story of Jesus life doth more establish certainty of his being the true Messiah then that John the Baptist whose wisdom learning vertue and rare sanctity is confessed and recorded by the writings of all our adversaries should refuse the honour of the Messiah offered unto himself and lay it upon Jesus and also should direct those Disciples that depended upon him to the onely following and imbracing of Jesus doctrine which is most evidently proved that he did for that so many followers and Disciples as himself had not one appeared ever after that was not a Christian These circumstances I say of the birth and comming of the Messiah into this world so long before foretold by the Prophets and fulfilled so exactly in the person of our blessed Lord and Saviour wel considered I may at length conclude Heaven and Earth concurring Men and Angels with all other Creatures applauding thereunto yea and God himself from Heaven pronouncing it This is my beloved Son in whom I am wel pleased That therefore as sure as God is God and cannot lye nor give Testimony to any untruth so sure is Jesus Christ the Son of God the true Messiah and Saviour of the world no other to be expected His preaching or doctrine THus having evicted by the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ together with the circumstances both before and after that he was by birthright the only legitimate as I may say and true born Messiah all others that were before him or since have sprung up or shal do hereafter to the worlds end but bastards and usurpers yea theeves and robbers and that in the highest degree of thee very that may be even robbing God of his honour which he wil not impart to any other it remaineth yet further to demonstrate the same by his life death resurrection and ascension with all other accidents and circumstances accordingly to be observed which may make this mystery more and more manifest or rather palpable as the Apostle witnesseth saying that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with these our eyes which we have looked upon and these hands of ours have handled c. that I say which we have seen and heard declare we unto you what can be more palpable After his baptisme he began to preach having before gotten his living as most conjecture with his own hands and eaten his bread with the sweat of his brows to shew himself true man and that he was made a curse for us as it is written In the sweat of thy brows shalt thou eat thy bread and what was his doctrine of this world or worldly delights of pleasure or profit no no quite contrary to the humors of this wicked world and to the corruptions of flesh and blood which procured him the more hatred as in all the four Evangelists Matthew Mark Luke and John who recorded both his sayings and doings may appear wholly tending to the sincere service of God in spirit and truth to the exaltation of Gods glory the beating down of mans pride by discovering his misery to the contempt of this wicked world and vain pomp thereof to the mortification of all sins in us patience peace of conscience c. in a word all directed to the manifestation of his Fathers will and amendment of mans life tending wholly to this one ground or principle Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul which is the first and great commandment and thy Neighbour as thy self on which two hangeth the whole Law and the Prophets The manner of his Doctrine was simple plain and easie altogether according to the evidence of the Spirit not in the enticing words of mans wisdom like the Heathen Orators and Phylosophers nor like the Scribes and Pharisees but with power and authority without either fear or flattery of any mans person rebuking all mens sins even to their faces which I say procured him such a general hatred It took away no one spiritual point of Moses Law but the Ceremonial only and Provincial which by the coming of the Messiah was to be taken away yea rather revived interpreted and made perfect the same corrupted much by the Jews false interpretations and glosses That as they taught commanding external observance only this adding internal obedience also For whereas that enjoyned according to the letter and as they interpreted to love our neighbours and friends and no further this adjoyneth love also your enemies bless them that curse you Matth. 5.43 Where that prohibited actually to commit Adultry and no more as they imagined this forbiddeth the adultry of the eye and of the very heart And so of all the rest of the decalogue our Saviours doctrine is nothing else but a most exact and sincere exposition according to the true intent of the Law-giver God the Father Therefore I conclude this doctrine so quite contrary to the gross humors of this wicked world and so repugnant to flesh and blood so wholly devoted to Gods glory and the sincere observation of his Law is the doctrine proper to the Messiah which the Prophets of God foretold should be delivered by him at his coming into the world His life and conversation FOr his life and conversation the express Image of his Doctrine it was stainless and without reproof even by the testimony of his very enemies acknowledged also by the Divels themselves A man of such gravity as never in his life he was noted to
knew no surer way of publishing their Laws and procuring authority to the same then to write them with their own hands and in their life time to establish their promulgation So Lycurgus Solon and others among the Grecians Numa to the Romans Mahomet to the Sarasins But Jesus to shew his Divine power in directing the Pen and Stile of the Evangelists would not leave any thing written by himself but passed from this world in simplicity and silence without any other shew or ostenâ—ation of his own doings Meaning notwithstanding afterwards to his glory and the edification of his Church here on earth by four irrefragable witnesses or remembrancers the four Evangelists every word should be established and recorded as may appear by that place where he saith These things have I spoken unto you being present with you but the Comforter which is the holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall bring all things to your remembrance which I have told you Whereupon I infer that the Evangelists and Apostolical writers were all of them guided and directed by one and the same spirit even the spirit of God for the registring of all things either said or done by our Saviour so far forth as seemed best to his Divine will and pleasure to be registred and recorded for the benefit and edification of his Church For there were many other things which Jesus did as John the Evangelist testifieth which are not written that is to say which the holy Spirit of God thought needless to faith and salvation but saith he These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that in believing ye might have life through his name Now for these Evangelists four in number which some have resembled to the four Beasts in Ezekiel the first and last are Apostles that wrote as they had seen the two middle are Disciples who registred things as they had understood by conference with the Apostles The first Gospel was written by an Apostle to give light to the rest and the last also by an Apostle to give authority and confirmation to the former The first was written in the Hebrew Tongue for that all those miracles which Jesus wrought were done in that Country He was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to the end that either the whole Nation might believe them or the obstinate impugne them which yet never any of their Rabbins took in hand to do The other three were written in the most famous and populous language of all Nations at that time to wit the Greek Tongue They wrote their stories in divers Countries far distant one from another and yet agreed they all most exactly in one and the same narration as is to be seen though diversly related yet in truth and substance all one one sometimes supplying what another hath not according to the discretion of one and the same spirit wherewith they were all guided and directed like those four Beasts in Ezek. 1.12 Every one went streight forward whither their spirit led them they returned not They wrote in divers times one after another and yet the latter did neither correct nor reprehend any thing in the former as Heathen writers use to do They published their writings when infinite were alive that knew the facts and of them no small number who desired by all means to impugne them They set down in most of their narrations the time the day the hour the place the village the house the persons with all other circumstances which the mo they are in number the more easie to be refuted if they were not true Neither did they write of things done in far Countries or places remote but in the same Country where they were born in Towns and Cities that were publikely known in Jerusalem it self in Bethania and Bethsaida Vilages hard by Jerusalem in the Suburbs and Hills about the City in such a street at such a gate at such a porch of the Temple at such a Fish-pool publike places familiarly known to every one for these things were not done in a corner as saith the Apostle All which circumstances duly considered never yet impugned methinks should perswade any man of reason to become a Christian as Agrippa in that very place acknowledgeth to Paul saying almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian They published their writings in their life time They altered not their writings afterwards as other Authors are wont in their latter editions nor ever corrected they one jot of that which they had first set down And that which never hapned in any other writings in the world besides nor ever Monarch was able to bring to pass for credit of his Edicts they gave their lives for defence and justifying of that which they had written Their manner of writing is sincere and simple as becommeth so divine a History without all art or Rethorical amplifications as Historians use They flatter none no not Jesus himself whom they most adore nor in confessing him to be their God do they conceal his infirmities of flesh in that he was man as his hunger and thirst his being weary how he wept his passions of fear and the like Nay these Evangelists were so sincere and religious in their narrations as they noted especially the imperfections of themselves and of such others as they principally respected Matthew nameth himself Matthew the Publican Mark Peters Disciple recordeth how S. Peter thrise denyed his Lord and Master and so of the rest These mens writings were published for canonical and received for undoubted truth by all that lived in the very same age and were privie to every particular circumstance therein contained They were copied abroad into infinite mens hands and so conserved with all care and reverence as holy and divine Scripture They were read in Churches throughout all Countries and Nations expounded preached and taught by all Pastors and Commentaries made upon them by holy Fathers from time to time So that no doubt can be made at all either of the authority of them as originally and immediately proceeding from the holy Ghost or of the certainty but that we have the very same incorrupt as the Authors left them for that it was impossible for any enemy to corrupt so many Copies over the world without discovery and resistance And thus much for the credit and authority of our Evangelists The confession of Martyrs NOw for the Martyrs or witnesses appointed by God for the sealing and delivery of this Doctrine of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to all the world they were first and principally his own Apostles and Disciples Now ye are witnesses of these things who both heard his Doctrine and saw his Miracles as S. John testifieth That which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes c. That I say which we have seen and
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
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
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