Concerning the proposition or prophecie of Esay c. 35. v. 5 6. it must need be true in both parts because it came from God himself as may euidently appeare by the distance of time betweene him and Christ No man could tell afore by any possible art of men what should come to passe 800. yeares after vnles he had withall bene supernaturally and incomprehensibly inflamed and informed by the diuine influence and breath of Gods holy spirit As prognostical sciences may foresee and stand vpon probable grounds necessary too sometimes so God can by his omnipoteÌ„cy turne the adiuuant mediat causes as he turneth the waters in the south hath the hartes and thoughts of kings and gouernaunce of all things in his hand to throw them at his pleasure on euery side yea and ouerthrow them when he thinketh best euer still holding his woord vpright making it infallible as himselfe So that not all the impudent lies of Mecha Mahomets countrey or of Medina Talnabi the place of his Sepulchre not all the magicall feates of other men reckoned in Picus Mirandula in Cardane and other such can once preuaile against this argument seeing that as some men in phisicke haue wrought some like cures yet neuer any one performed them with a word of his mouth only as our Messias did in most wonderfull maner incomparablie whereupon that old prouerbiall verse was rightly made Christus vim verbis vim gemmis vim dedit herbis Verbis maiorem gemmis herbÃsque minorem Christ gaue a power to the stone and the flower in works of physicke but his almightie word is more powerable then all herbes and stones And this is one of the three corner stones of our building and faith for that antichristian fabulous report of Vespasians miraculous cure is but a dreaming deuise in honor of the idol Serapis it is answered in it self and euen iudged by the Autors Suetonius owne words a very toy vix fides ne auderet tentauit by the words of Tacitus irrideri aspernari metuere or a delusion of Satan the fire of deceites like that in Pharaos Magicians Exod. c. 7. v. 11. and that in the counterfette cranke at Saint Albons in Hartfordshire deluding many with fayned woonderments til Humfrey the good Duke of Glocester descryed him neither doubt I but that Cythraeus Mone-alethia of Suetonius is most false herein and the rather because Tacitus in his 20. lib. Annal. as forward and more hote in Antichristianisme then Suetonius telleth the strange healing of one man blinde and another withered of one hand by Vespasian but Suetonius of a blinde bodie and a lame of one legge neither doeth his manu aeger and this debili crure agree better or preuaile more with an aduised Reader for trusting their report which besides disagreeth with it selfe in the agent not onely in the patients while Suetonius saith nicely how hee healed the legge with an only touch of his heele calce contingere but Tacitus grosly with stepping and treading vpon it pede vestigio calcaretur then the witnesse of the two false Elders against Susanna preuayled with Daniel the Israëlites when one Elder accused her of whordome committed in her garden vnder a Lentiske tree the other telling the same tale answered that shee lay with the young man vnder a Mirtle tree and by dissenting from themselues were iudged to die the death which was appoynted for her and were iustly stoned To leaue this common place of comparisons the second proofe and groundworke may be squared and fastned in this sort That the Prophetes word foretelleth which is Gods owne word when it proueth true must be reuerenced as the trueth for God is only true and in him is no maner or shadow of falshode But the Prophets word foretelleth which is Gods owne word that the Messias shall come within a time appointed this proueth true for Daniel c. 9. v. 25 26. writeth thus After 69. weekes that is 483. yeares the Messias shal be cut off reckoning a week not of seuen daies but of seuen yeares as it is vsed in Genesis c. 19. v. 27. and in Leuiticus more plainly c. 25. v. 8. in which time thus definitelie appointed shortly after Christ came in the flesh and liued died in the flesh as is easily proued in this or the like computation from the second yeare of Darius Longimanus when the kings commandemeÌ„t went forth to bring againe the people and to buylde Ierusalem Esdras c. 4. v. 24. Agge c. 1. v. 1. to the beginning of Alexanders Monarchie were 144. yeares according to the account of Metasthenes the Persian from the beginning of Alexanders raigne to the incarnation of Christ were 309. yeares by the iudgement of Iosephus and from Christs incarnation to his baptisme were about 30. yeares c. 2. v. 23. of S. Luke so in all from the prophecie of Daniel to Christs baptisme are 483. yeres after which time for by the text it must bee after not then as some great Clarkes haue iudged amisse Christ was cut off from his people and suffered death vpoÌ„ the crosse Therefore Christs comming in a time appointed must be reuerenced for a trueth and vnlesse the Iewes will obstinately and peruersly both against their owne knowledge and conscience resist the authority of trueth in this agreement of Daniels weekes Christs yeares which is inuincible they must by force of al reason be constrained euen against their selfe-willes with shame and confusion to confesse acknowledge that their and our and the worlds Messias is come in the flesh For who cannot see that this prophecie of Daniel is most infallibly true in the effect seeing Christ liued and died among men in the compasse of the yeares of this diuine prophesie in some sort prefigured by Ieremias 70. yeares c. 29. v. 10. After which time God promised deliuerie to his people and not vnfitly resembled by our sunday called septuagesima which is about 70. dayes before the passion of Christ the true Easter Lambe after which passion we were deliuered from bondage Besides these two apparant proofes there is a third which for trueth may goe with the first and is grounded vpon the foundation of Gods owne word Genes c. 49. v. 10. and spoken by Iacob to his sonnes vpon his death-bed where wonderfull wordes are heard otherwhile When the Scepter shall be taken from Iuda then the Shiloh commeth and bringeth all felicitie in his name and acts But at Christes comming the Scepter was taken from Iuda and geuen by the Lords Romans to Herod a Proselite who vexed them and slue them most greeuously 30. yeares before his comming abrogated their lawes made them woful and miserable captiues so that a man could not say the Scepter of Iuda or the lawgeuer of Iudaea therefore Christ is that Shiloh because the effects of the Iewish thraldome and the effectes of Christ comming are so ioynty mette together according to Iacobs prophesie But this argument is
imagined his body to be aiery and ethereal Haeresi 66. l. 2. tomo 2. But because his body was visible flesh and he did eate visibly and hunger and thirst and suffer on the crosse sensibly it is senseles madnes and mad imagination to account it cogitatiue or aëry neither of which two can be seene with eyes of flesh Thus much of the first person Iohn-baptist who seeth Iesus and beholdeth him ioyfully and is no lesse glad to seē his bodily presence now then he was to heare the voice of Mary Christs mother when he lept for ioy extraordinarily moued strangely in Elisabeths womb long before Luke c. 1. v. 41. a wonderfull and most rare worke of almighty God that an embryon of six moneths old should expresse the affection and passion of ioy and leape for ioy in his mothers wombe not al the wisemen betweene Indus and Nilus could then match this example with the like But as he then reioyced like an infant in leaping so he now sheweth his gladnesse like a man in speaking as before mutus etiam Christum loquebatur saith Brentius so now ignotus ignotum de facie monstrat digito saith another vpon that text two most notable and excellent miracles in Iohn-baptist which neuer before nor since that day were knowne by any other we cannot iudge of him whom we neuer saw as he did wee must hope the best in Christ Iesus wee must beleeue and vnfainedly beleeue in him looke for the chiefest sight of sights by his and in his and through his meanes the sight of his wonderful diuinity the sight of his glorious maiesty the sight of his euerlasting and most soueraigne throne the sight of his high court in heauen and the light of the highest heauen a sight that maketh vs contemne and refuse all other sights a sight in comparison whereof all sights besides are but vanities and follies yea triumphs amphitheaters and coronations and all the pictures and dies of May and Iune are but very gaies and gugawes but very dust and mist in our eyes See to this sight beloued brethren haue an eye haue a daily eye to this sight let other vaine and momentanie sights passe by as fast as they come by looke into heauen with S. Steuen and looke vpon Christ Iesus sitting on his Fathers right hand with S. Steuen Acts c. 7. v. 55 56. and because his bodily presence cannot be had we must see him behold him with our spirituall eyes most intētiuely speculatiuely exceeding that Platonical Phrōtistes without comparison by looking on him with the eyes of true loue true faith and true zeale both now euer lifting vp our harts aboue all visibles in the earth and in the skies being carried vpon the wings of praier of angels of christian persuasion and then see how our God almighty sitteth most gloriously in vnspeakable maiesty aboue the starrie heauens and worship him accordingly see how our Sauiour almerciful in his most effectuall diuine eloquence pleadeth for vs before the tribunall seat of God worship him accordingly see how innumerable and infinite millions of Angels in all humilitie and reuerence awaite and attend vpon him and worship him accordingly euen with reuerend feare of so holy a temple and iudgement place see how on euery side seates are built vp from the beginning for the blessed children of God the father and labour to enioy one of those happy seats in Gods kingdome see how all things beneath here tremble prostrate themselues before this throne of heauen and desire day and night houres and minuts of houres desire with feruent praier and faithfull works of the spirit pray in season and out of season at all times no time amisse that we may see continually see the sanctification of Christs name in heauen see his kingdome come in heauen see his will done in heauen as we haue seene these three in earth and enioy that kingdome of kingdomes that power of powers that glory of glories for euer and euer The second person named here is Iesus who cōmeth from Galily the lower Math. c. 3. v. 13. from the citie Nazareth Mark c. 1. v. 9. his owne citie Luke c. 2. v. 39. where he dwelt Math. c. 2. v. 23. whereby he was called a Nazarite of his friends in his life of his foes vpon the crosse In which respect without king Hyrams leaue and Nathanaels too we may rightly call it Galily by a fairer name then Cabul is and say boldly that all our good without any question commeth from Nazareth and that all tongues of the Phaenicians cannot make Galily sound displeasantly in christian eares 3. Kings c. 9. v. 13. Then whither is thy best prophet gone ô Nazareth whither is thy best beloued sauiour gone ô region of Galily whither is thy mightiest prince gone ô Zabulon which canst handle the pen of a writer are not these things noted and registred in thy booke He is gone by mount Tabor hee is gone ouer the riuer Chison it is like he is passed by Salē into the tribe of Ruben beyond Iordan to go to the meek to the poore in spirit to the peacemaker in the valley of Bethabara between Iordan and the riuer Arnen the meeke Iohn-baptist euen the greatest least among womens children Arise Zabulon and waite vpon him and thou Isachar prepare thy selfe and folow him ye Samaritans Rubenites giue your attendance and all ye states of all cities reioyce in the strength of your saluation but specially let Beniamin and Iuda go forth and welcome him that is the perfection of your rulers and kings make hast ye citizens of Ierusalem and strow oliue branches in the way for all vertues all wisedome and happinesse accōpanieth him let litle Zachee clime vp into the trees and see him a farre of and let all christian soules reioice at his comming as it were the cheerefull rising of the warme bright sunne after a long stormy and darke winter night The Atheists see him come bid him stand backe the Papists see him come and turne their backes all men see him and they looke aside vnles they be the litle flocke for he commeth for he commeth to iudge the world and his people with the truth What but cōmeth Iesus and saith not one word to his people in so great a company Yea verily he openeth his mouth to speake all the way his lips drop like hony combs milke and hony are vnder his tongue his talke is comely his pace stayed and soft his hands are spred abroad like the curtaines of Salomon and to the weldisposed mind he saith comfortably I come to thee and blesse thee Exod. c. 20. v. 24. to the faithfull hart he speaketh mildly Come and see the workes of the Lord Psal 46. v. 8. to the elect people he crieth out strongly Behold your redeemer cōmeth Esai c. 62. v. 11. to the poore Publicane and wretched sinner he calleth aloude Come to me all that be weary and laden
within vs and coole faith by continuance maketh vs stiffe and halfe dead with sinne and altogither vnfit to be our owne martirs in affection or other mens in example let vs beloued stirre and raise vp our fainting soules to a liuely zealous faith let vs good Countrymen quicken our senseles senses with good woords and good workes as effects of good faith that we be not starke dead in sin and rather seeke the saluation both of our soules senses that lasteth for euer then the delight pleasure of either that vanisheth away like a smoke that wasteth like a snaile that withereth like grasse and neuer continueth in one stay Then where shall we seeke this saluation but in the booke of life and in which part of that booke is it sooner found then in the gospel the law of grace what guide or teacher in the gospell can shewe vs a better pathway then Iohn-baptist who was sent frō God as the forerunner of the Christ saith S. Marke in his gospell c. 1. v. 2.3 to tell vs the way the truth and life the eternall word Iesus Christ For Iesus is the way because his doctrine and precept telleth vs the right and ready way to euerlasting life Iesus is the truth because without error he may alwaies and in truth must alwaies be followed in all our iudgements and consultations that we may walke in the light not in darknes Iesus is the life of our liues because without him we are as dust in the winde and straw in the fire and by him we passe through the greatest difficulties and euen the very seas of all deadly dangers and temptations which S. Iohn speaketh by a metaphore metonimy of the effect for the efficient c. 14. v. 6 in him we passe safely from the first day in the beginning of all yea before all measure of times euen vnto this day as S. Augustine writeth largely to Deogratias against Porphyrius in his 49. Epistle Wherefore in these and other respects heare and read I beseech you beloued Christians what the blessed and right honourable Prophet that most noble preacher Iohn-baptist hath taught vs of Iesus Christ in the gospell according to S. Iohn c. 1. v. 29. The next day Iohn seeth Iesus comming to him and saith Behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinne of the world This text is short but sweete and weighty as the sunne in heauen seemeth little but is great and mighty in operation all bodies die without the sunne and all soules and bodies perish without the effect of this Scripture Philosophers thinke that the sunne and a man maketh a man but diuine philosophy wil thinke speake and conclude that this sonne of God the sunne and light of mankind maketh and saueth and crowneth man with glory in that he wipeth out and washeth away the sinne of the world the sunne is the hart of heauen the captaine of the stars the eye of the world this worde is the hart of the Bible the cheefe of al words to which our eares must giue eare and on which our eyes must alwaies looke For in this verse are cōtained the lawes of Moses and Israël with the prophecies of all prophets both great and small in that Iohn calleth Iesus the lambe of God and the fruit of the new Testament both in the Euangelists Apostles springeth and groweth from this ground in that he is said to take away the sinne of the world Then was Simplicius but a hellish iudge to count the tales of Aegypt and the tables of Moses alike and Galen was but a prophane humorist and Lacuna his shadow little better to mislike the creation of man and misreport the wonders of the red sea ignorantly then are the Pelagians peruerse and miserable disputers which denie and euacuate the baptisme of infants because Christ alone washeth and purgeth thē like them which would hinder the beginning of a thing because it shall at last be made perfect or say you must not vse an instrumēt because there is a principall or warme your self at a fire because the sun is the chiefest workemaster of heate warmnes But to let passe all dilating cōparatiue amplifications of words sentēces togither with other necessary occasiōs of discourse Marke beloued what is here written with the finger of God pen of the holy ghost the next day Iohn seeth Iesus cōming to him and saith and tell me if euer you heard a more louing a more gratious and cōfortable saying behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinne of the world O bountifull Iesu ô sweete Sauiour ô mercifull annointed of God the Father what is man that thou art so mindfull of him or the sonne of mā that thou so regardest him our bodies are brim full of sinne wickednes as the stables of oxen asses ouerladen and ouercharged with dunge and filthinesse the goodnesse of our soules is like a mēstruous rag as Esay witnesseth c. 64. v. 6. whose word is as an inuiolable seale a sure bond What is then within vs worthy of thy loue ô Christ or what is without vs worthy of thy liking ô son of Dauid ô son of God ô sunne and light of heauē earth we looke vpon thee with Iohn-baptist ô that we could alwaies looke vpō thee we see thee come to vs as did Iohn-baptist ô neuer turne thy backe vpon vs but euer come to vs stay with vs euer we reioyce in thy name that thou art a lambe to vs and a lion of Iuda to the enimies that thou dischargest the debts of the righteous and leauest the wicked in the debtbooke to be arrested and imprisoned till they haue paide the vttermost farthing we looke on thee with ioyfulnesse ô Iesu as infants looke vpon a light the wicked see thee with dazeled eyes as the Sodomites groped in the darke Genesis c. 19. v. 11 we walke in thy sun-light and are comforted we are blacke and sunburnt with walking we are black ô Iesu but louely before thee the wicked are parched with thy beames thy heat maketh their heads to ake their harts to pant their spirits to faile them that they may as it were call for butter out of a lordly dish milke out of a bottle with Sisara or some other delight which their sensuall soules long for and afterward be nayled to the earth with the hammer of one deceitfull Iahel or other close enimie in their sleepe and securitie or come to such like sudden and vile death And this in effect is the generall summe and chiefe purpose of this text Of the ioyfull estate of the godly by seing Christ and The wofull fall of the wicked by turning frō him Now to proceede in the playner exposition of euery portiō and particularity of this verse we see in it both a briefe History and a blessed Doctrine The History is that when Iohn saw Iesus comming to him he gaue out among the people his iudgement of
right rightly from me the octonarium of Ramus and the sesquiamus of Freigius and the methode of Thessalus may well incourage and helpe forward but they cannot furnish a man thoroughly in so much as themselues come short of their promisses Lia had one maide to attend vpon hir but Philosophy must haue Grammar Rhetoricke Logicke these three generall instruments of al learning at the least Rachel had but one wayting maide whereas diuinitie must haue al arts and maides to serue hir in hir haruest and vintage as Hyperius and all doctors haue decreed Iacob despised Lia in comparison of Rachel but no wise diuine can or will contemne the helpes furtheraunces of philosophy that deserue to be loued and regarded for there Ladies and seruice sake God made Lia fruitefull and Rachel barren but he neuer loued philosophy or blessed it more then diuinity and of the two in his vaine Rachel seemeth to be philosophy rather then Lia and when the impostures of the world and the flesh which Hyperius calleth Laban shall at their pleasure haue the bestowing of philosophy and diuinity then will Haruey beleeue his worde that this History hath litle or no vse in it without an allegory Therefore let those suttle tropological commentators and such conceited scrupulous interpreters say and essay what they will let them please themselues in there glozing and dreaming we are to make neither more nor lesse of a true narration then it is in truth As for the vncertainty of time here is a certaine time appointed and the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latine word Postero die and our English worde are all one signification vnlesse perhaps some Syriack tounge can do more for them then Tremellius could who translateth it The next day neither can the Carthusianisme of Dyonisius Rikel amend him a writer most learned as learning was then accounted saith Pantaleon For if we remember that the Euangelists are historians and that the historian ought alwaies definitely to set downe the certaine times if he speaketh of times the certaine daies where he speaketh of daies the certaine yeares when he speaketh of yeares to keepe iust reckonings in times and seasons auoide confusion in Annales in Diaries in Chronologies they cannot or dare not say that this holy history hath straied aside which hath in it the warrant of Gods spirit or deliuered that after the fashion and phrase of our vulgar fables On a time there was once there was such rude stuffe which is most artificially regularly enrolled by the wisest artificer doctor in the whole world for where is a better and more infallible register then the booke of God the booke of bookes and therfore by a Synecdoche Generis pro specie named the Bible more full of precepts thē the turks Alcoran more certain for doctrine thē the Iewes Thalmud more religious euery way then Abetilis of the Aethiopians or Preto-Ioanans more diuine then al libraries besides Therefore as the forme of an historie confuteth this deformed interpretation so the matter substance of a history ouerthroweth their typicall exposition for one and the same history is not two histories as there is one truth not two truthes of one and the same thing in this word of their making the gratious and penitent seeth at last with the eies of his minde his sauiour comming to him is a generall doctrine and note of all mankinde and in this worde of Gods writing the next day Iohn seeth Iesus comming to him is a speciall history and sight of Iohn alone so that vnlesse al mens sight and one mans sight be al one and but one this exposition cannot hold as may otherwise appeare by this instance and like comparison If the text saith Christ rideth on the foale of an asse Math. c. 21. v. 5. And these profound clarkes say the godly Christian rideth on humility If the text saith Paule shaketh the viper frō his hand Act. c. 28. v. 5. they say Gods children cast the vice of murder out of their hāds cā both these be probable without a simile or a mitigatiō of the metaphore parable seing that against al logical consequēce either of diuine or humane reason they set downe that for text which is not in the text ad to Gods word a dānable presumptuous sin out of a particular report they gather an vniuersal against nature out of a certaine and necessary propositiō a contingent and vnnecessary which is sometimes false against art as the murdering of the Aegyptian by Moses can shew for the one Acts c. 7. v. 24. and Dauids vaunting himself in numbering his souldiers for the other 2. Kings c. 24. v. 2.10 Then let vs leaue our owne deuices as S. Ierome did his allegorized Abdias in his ripe age to bring other by his example from their fabulosities and fooleries in waighty and sincere matters of religion and content our selues with the holy writ of God neither mending nor patching that which is sound and perfit lesse our mending be marring and we proue our selues more witty then wise nor pull or detract one title from it as clippers and counterfaiters of that inestimable coyne which in Gods church and among Gods people ought onely to be currant If the Euangelist writeth the next day we must read the next day if he saith Iohn seeth Iesus wee must say after him Iohn seeth Iesus and neither make a day the yeares of all ages from the creatiō to the latter day nor change Iohn and Iesus which are personall and sensible men into accidentall and intelligible qualities of penitence and comfort as it pleaseth those glozing allegorizers and quod-libetaries to descant for the example not the thought of Iohn can do vs good and God send grace that his example here may bee sincerely delyuered attentiuely read diligently practysed and constantly maintained both of all hearers and speakers in conuenient time Is it not told vs that Iohn-baptist notwithstanding the iudiciall apprehension and straight examination of the Iewes going and running immediatly the day before vttereth boldly his demonstratiue profession of Christ but why doth he hazard himselfe so confidently and couragiously among such as went about so suttelly and dangerously to intrap him because he loued Gods message more then he feared mans a blessed and godly zeale But the Iewes will hate him and bring him before their rulers yet the loue of God is aboue their hatred he is the rule and ruler of all rulers a heauenly and vndoubted wisedom But the Pharisees are learned mē wil suspect him of vanity in affecting singularity and accuse him of secrete sedition in peruerting the discipline of the state and condemne him for an erroneous and counterfait messenger of the Messias who shal not they say come these many yeares Yea verily they say no more then they thinke and Iohn will say vnto them he is already come and this is the promised Messias which I commend vnto you
Math. c. 11. v. 28. and to all mankind he saith generally All that haue any zeale come after me 1. Macha c. 2. v. 27. Then let vs all for we are all sinners let vs answere him with one hart voice thy kingdome come euen so Lord Iesus come quickly come vpon the wings of the winde betimes that we may the longer behold thee come into thy garden and gather myrrhe with spice and looke to thy vine euen so my God make no long tarrying euen so Lord Iesus come speedily and tarry not Behold he is comming saith Iohn I see him and now he is euen come see you to it and behold seing I haue preached him many a time and haue now almost made an end of baptisme then why was this time chiefly appointed for his comming that Iohns iudgement of him whom he had not seene before that day the one dwelling with carpenters as the pure sunshine is otherwhile in a corner the other in the wild desert might not seeme to proceede of kinred or acquaintance saith Musculus but from the integritie of a sincere minde But to what end and purpose should Christ come to Iohn whose worke was the baptisme of repentance and remission sins shall he come to be baptized whose purenes exceeded the purity of all Sacraments though by doctrine he should not come and be taught as it were his owne booke yet by discipline he vouchsafed to come to baptisme in his manhood as he allowed circumcision in his childhood Luke c. 2. v. 21. and vpon this consideration the Baptist saith vnto him I had need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to mee but Iesus answered by the reason of permission not of dutie suffer me now for thus it becommeth vs to fulfill all righteousnes though it be not necessary yet is it requisite for me to be baptized seing this is one rule of diuine iustice and I must not breake mine owne rule besides it is my fathers will that in this time of my humiliation with men I should be wholy like one of my brethren and because the Father and I are both one his will and mine are both one For if Iohn which came from God alloweth baptisme how can I the Sonne of God disallow it if I cannot mislike it then is it verily a good and godly institution if it be good what should hinder me from receiuing it and therefore maruell not if I come for baptisme else what might the people say Can he bid vs doe any thing that himselfe can not do shall we take that which our teacher refuseth thus the people is slender and tender in faith it is moueable and remoueable it maketh euery strawe a blocke it is offended with smallest things and that they may not conceyue any thing amisse I am come to this baptisme thus it is fit for me to fulfill this righteousnes Math. c. 3. v. 14.15 How can we heare these wordes of our Sauiour and not marke them diligently for their truth how can we marke them not examine them fully for our instruction how can wee examine them and not learne these lessons duly for our actions euen lessons taken from Christs owne example the surest precept of all precepts the true prince and prelate and president euer of all examples For if Iesus who was Iohns good Lord and maister and Iohn by his owne cōfession not worthy to vnlatch his shoe disdained not the order of his seruaunt Iohn as afterward he humbled himselfe vnto his Apostles c. 13. v. 13. Where neuerthelesse he pronounceth himselfe to be their Lord not with desire of glory and insolencie but of edifying and instructing them saith Musculus for the authoritie and reuerence of Lordship is one furtherance to persuasion what a worthy Caueat is this for all christians if they will deserue the name of Christians not to thinke scorne of taking good by any Christians their inferiours are inferiours not so wise as they neither was Iohn so wise as Iesus very wisedome it selfe are inferiors poorer then they euen so was Iohn poorer then Iesus are inferiors lesse gracious then they this preeminence of fauour all other had Christ of Iohn and yet is he content and willing to submit himselfe to the participation of Iohns baptisme as princes receiue the ministery of their ecclesiasticall subiects because it is the appointment of God wherevnto they likewise are subiect with their ministers If Christ equall with God humbled himselfe thus vnto his seruant Iohn what exceeding great humilitie must we vse toward God almighty the great Lord of all when as both our duties bind vs to his Statutes and the least neglect of them is a grieuous hinderance and stumbling blocke to the weake ones to breede a misliking in vs or a suspition in themselues Thus it seemeth good to our gratious merciful Messias to teach vs the waies wherin we must walke to set a lanterne by our paths and to guide our feet into the way of peace and meekenes God grant this prouerbe may be heard in our dwellings such a sauiour such saued such a prince such people as the Lord Christ is so are the seruants of his family that we may be like him in charitie in faith humilitie charity with truth not with falshood faith with the godly not the wicked humility with Gods chozen and annointed people not with the reprobate scorners and Mammonistes of the world Seeth no stones wash no nigroes cast not pearle to beasts So not onely the prophets foresight shall be verified in his comming not onely the Euangelists history will proue him to be come but the very expressed image and resemblance of his vertues graces in his schollers and professors will conclude That he is come to keepe with vs and keepe vs to feed among vs and feede vs neuer to forsake vs in this life or in the life to come Where then may the Iewes sentence appeare but in the court of vntruth where ought it to abide but in the synagog of all abominatiō which of their faces can freely shew it selfe without shame what Rabbin of their schooles dare once put forth his head and say that Christ is not come or if the stifnecked Iewe or other Iewish proselite wil once say thus much to trie vs let vs passe by the reasons of Athanasius in his booke of the Incarnation such other treatises of like end and effect and looke into the gospell of S. Mathew the gospell of God and from the 11. c. v. 5. bring this infallible reason and proofe against him By whose power the blinde see the lame go the deafe heare and other diseases are healed and the gospell it preached to the poore he is the true Messias But by the powerfull wordes of Iesus the blind see the lame go the deafe heare and other diseases are healed and the gospell is preached to the poore Ergo Iesus is the true Messias neither can we iustly looke for any other
a rhetoricall rule were more precious then a morall neyther Irenaeus nor Epiphanius nor other old or yoong schollers are blasphemous for repeating the blasphemies of written heresies he that knew Alipius well did not once thinke him guilty of theft because he studied in the place and by chaunce handled the hammer and other tooles that a robber left there S. Augustine would not accuse him more in his confessions to God then those hasty fellowes which tooke them out of his hands and handled those instruments more then he had done he is strangely wise that feareth shadowes and yet taketh his enemy by the hand that strayneth at a gnat and swalloweth a camell that condemneth an heresie in one schoole and yet commendeth it in another that thinketh no mans gowne whole cloth but only his owne as Aristotle iudged all writers erroneous beside himselfe He was without doubt in some points an excellent philosopher but sometimes euen his naturall reason faileth and our common sense confuteth his common sense but the particulars of his questions and disputations wherein he transcendently exceedeth other men are not very fit for this place Come to supernaturall and diuine matters and alas what are his Metaphisicks where he maketh any mention of god or gods but either absurd Paganisme or intollerable Atheisme If we doubt hereof let vs search better l. 12. metap c. 7 6 8 9 10. and not fondly goe about to excuse or salue the matter by distinction of a Philosophicall truth and a Theologicall truth or by any like fruitlesse suttilty and quiddity of the schooles there is but one perfection truth of one the same matter that truth must be fet out of the diuinitie and highest schooles euen into the philosophy and lower schooles wheresoeuer heathenish philosophy is cōtrary or contradictory to Christs diuinity as Viues speaketh more instantly l. 5. cor art Beware lesse any man spoile you through philosophy and vaine deceipt after the traditions of men and after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ saith S. Paul Colos c. 2. v. 8. We must not be miscarried with the plausible name of Aristotle or Philosophy no more then of Therapontigonus of Pyrgopolynices or such but must christianly consider what becommeth Christians to beleeue most christianly defend that which may be warranted by good christianity whereby in our infancy we were incorporated into the church and in our last end hereafter shal be receiued into the triūph of heauen Aristotle no doubt had a notable high reach in many controuersies of common reason notwithstanding his errors of the number of spheres the order of planets the saltnes of the sea the cause of fountains the time of the rainebow the Salamanders quality the proportion of mans body and other particulars noted by Viues Greuinus Albertus Bessarion Bodinus the rest but Christ knoweth how far he was frō the true knowledge of a regenerate minde a more perfit reason directed and reformed according to Gods owne philosophy in the only fountain of all truth cōcerning matters of beleefe the very perfit truth it selfe for they which knew not God nor his word that is the bread of life vnderstanding and the water of wisdome without which none can liue saith Iesus c. 15. v. 3. nor glorified him as God became vaine in their imaginations and their foolish heart was full of darkenes filling their hungrie schollers with swines meate in steade of the childrens bread Luke c. 15. v. 16. as Gabriel Biel applyeth that text in his initial oration against philosophical curiositie and ignorance and for christian profession to his prelections de canone missae when they professed thē selues wise they became fooles saith S. Paul that great Doctor Rom. c. 1. v. 21 28. But no maruell though before Christes comming the heathenish Philosophers hauing no conference with the people of God preferring Athens before Ierusalem and the kingdome of Macedonia or Persia before the kingdome of Israël no maruell though such Philosophers before Christ had no sense or but very little feeling of God and Christ considering how many great Scholers and famous writers euen since the incarnation of our Sauiour Christ according to his humanitie euen since this Christian Philosopher S. Iohn cried out Behold the lamb of God haue either blindly of ignorance or spitefully of malice or diuelishly of impiety and wickednes not only not acknowledged this lambe of God or any such saluation or redemption of the world by this lambe of God but also denied and defaced blasphemed this most innocent and most righteous lambe of God I let passe the rabble of Scribes and Pharisees and Iewish Rabbines and other hypocrites that not regarding Christs vnmatchable starre or Gods irrefragable voice from heauen either with hand or with heart did conspire the bitter most intollerable passion of this most innocent lambe of God and so vniustly and vnmercifully crucified the most mercifull Sauiour of the worlde We are taught by S. Paul not to take heede of any Iewish fables or commandementes of men turning from the truth Tit. c. 1. v. 14. He that readeth of their Thalmud or doctrine may soone see their blasphemies against God in fayning him euery day to weepe once to be angry once then the creste of the cock is white and pale in accusing him of sinne when hee made the Moone lesse then the Sunne of a lie when he calleth the Sunne a greater light and the Moon a lesse against Christ in supposing that the temple of Ierusalem was not so rased and destroyed but that three or foure cubites were vntouched and those stones left one vpon another where a Rabbine might sitte and studie the Thalmud against heauen by deuising a hole in the North-parts which is vnfinished to trie by way of chalenge if any can match Gods worke and make it vp Whereupon certaine new Buylders with new wittes haue set a Chappel with the high end to the North that their faces being turned that way in prayers time God at their humble suit may himselfe make vp that hole after so many yeares triall of other defectiue efficients Nowe they saide all euill comes from the North because that part is open which being stopped the euill may perhaps be stopped and thus they builded If our Emanuel like well of this dedication who may or dare call it mis-went or mis-set and what new founder wil not follow this patterne by the counsell of that Quidam in Munster he that seeketh riches goeth and looketh toward the North perhappes hereby to obtaine an increase of yerely reuenues by praying that way for dayly bread or to be contrarie vnto Mahomet whose face is toward the South as other Christians are contrarie to the Iewes in looking towards the East O happie times and happie men that reuiue Homer and Auerroes and other renowmed Pagans to make them builders and Architects in Christes Church wee are too common and vulgar now but they are so
of the deuill then a prophet of God as themselues confesse vnawares in their vaine Alcoran and doltish bible His more then triple Dodecamechany to the finall ruine of that tyrannicall kingdome and satanicall iurisdiction in Turky and to the building vp of Gods house in new Sion to the benefit of his housholders his children and seruaunts if they could once be so christianly wise to forgiue their owne quarrels and forget that is past and euer hereafter serue God please him by fighting his battels with a perfit loue and vnanimity among themselues with a perpetuall hatred and magnanimity against such enemies the souldiers of the flesh the sonnes of transgression now more then halfe wearied with their religion and euer remayning in suspition and ielousie one of another Now God for his owne sake make them euer like Oreb and Zeb and like to the princes of Zeba and Salmana the God of our fathers confound their huge armies and militar powers that they may fall vpon their owne swordes that their armes of flesh may be broken that all their beastly cruelties practised against good christians from Mahound to this present day may returne vpon themselues that they goe hence and be no more seene that their name may perish from among the children of men that we and all our posteritie may sing with the seuenth Angel mentioned in the Reuelation and with those great voices in heauen the kingdomes of this world are our Lords and his Christes and he shal reigne for euermore c. 11. v. 15. but the Saracens shall not ouerrule him the Paganisme of Sergius shal not deuour the Christianisme of the Apostles seeing the gospell is dispensed in all parts of the earth as much more then the Alcoran howsoeuer Luter in a furious imitation of Micheas hath rapt out the contrarie as if hee desired rather the name of a Prophet among the infidels then of a frend to Christians Then I meane the blasphemous high-minded swelling Greekes both Iulianists and Lucianists both Emperors and Schollers both mighty and learned men whose naughty ende hath prooued their beginning naught whos 's owne words of euident treason against God haue iudged and condemned them who are in account among godly wise men as the poysonous flyes or as dead dogs who haue vanished like a vapor and beene consumed like a smoke to nothing euen as it pleased the Lord so are these thinges infallibly come to passe by whom is reserued for their last sentence for their vngracious schollers for their frendes and fauourites a lake of brimstone a gnawing worme a consuming fire mingled with percing cold for euermore for thus were the Iewes cursed for their malicious blasphemie against Christ in the time of his earthly and corporall humiliation neither can these and other like them be in better estate which crie out and rayle against him in these dayes of his eternall heauenly exaltation as S. Augustine reasoneth truely vpon a text of S. Matthew And what is become of those wicked Romans which I thē named but shame and discredit reproach and confusion among all vertuous well disposed christians they might for their stile and phrase haue purchased our lyking for their graue and politike gnomes haue beene in good account among good men whereas now their malcontentship against Christianitie and their hauty and scornfull attemptes against Gods annoynted together with their disdainfull termes against our Christian profession and professors haue cast their works into great contempt that might els haue been in greatest price because no honest man will in confcience approue false famous libels or any graue man can scarcely euen in reason beleeue a lyer when he speaketh trueth much lesse when he telles his owne tales or any man shall not measure but like for like and vpon compulsion compare themselues with their enemies these sodaine slidinges with the others wilfull fallinges these suborned reproches with the others iudiciall penalties true conuictions vnchangeable executions If they had beene of so vpright a nature or of so ciuill nurture to report all well of them which did nothing ill or hurtfull to any but were innocent lambs of God they might haue otherwise then now they are beene reckened with the best sort of best writers and gotten our subscriptions as well as their owne friends commendations but seeing their venim was so great and aboundant to thrust out their stinges and spyt out their ranknes at godly and heauenly minded Christians they bewray the stocke and broode they came frō euen the spawne of that old serpent and seede of Satan and make vs al in good consciences freely to denounce and proclayme them enuyers deceyuers falsifiers to brand them with the marke of strong theeues for robbing Gods church to set them in the blacke booke of damned soules for defying and diffaming Gods owne militant teachers and messengers which preach the trueth which spend their liues in defence of the word which offer themselues a dayly sacrifice vnto him that gaue himselfe once a pure and perfect oblation for thē and all which honour both spirituall and temporall fathers without any grudging because of Gods ordinance and for conscience sake which studie and pray continually for the perpetuall glory honour of Gods Church Gods house Gods visible throne which perswade some and exhort all men to vertue to deuotion to loue of God and loue of man which drie vp their harts and braines day and night euen to the decay of their owne health and strength to heale the wounded and afflicted conscience to confirme and stablishe the faith of their countrey to abandon vncharitable disobedient opinions to bid men take heede of furious tedious self-will to remember they are as Gods small sheepefold in the midst of a Wolues forrest to bee as doues among themselues without harme and subtile serpents when the aduersarie commeth to magnifie God for his manifold benefites and to holde out the hand when he geueth his blessings and euer to behold and worship the blessed lamb of God that washeth away the sinnes of the earth But alas there are many strange errors abroad in the earth and there are too many headstrong mainteyners of old paradoxes and newfangled nouelties which either renew those antiquated trifles or giue them a colour a deuise and glosse of the makers which are their craftes maisters and bondslaues such men are girded and wrapped in with splene and brought vp cheefly in the chapters De contradicentibus and so wedded and giuen to alter all statutes and turkisse all states that they are become plaine turkish and rebellious vnnaturall countrimen and vnkind neighbours they doe not behold and follow the harmeles lambe of God that euer most gratiously helpeth offenders and bringeth them from deadly traines I haue hitherto tolde of open knowne and professed enemies I haue already confuted those notorious and famous antichristians such as with a wild and wide throate or infamous tongue and pen haue without al manner of colourable or
say let it alone it is mine not your seeing he speaketh truly and may not an other man or lord say let it stand it is mine not your it is Gods not your giuen as truly lawfully to his house and housholders as euer any right and title was giuen in the world by Gods word or mans by Gods written promise and couenant or by mans or by any other meanes Learne of Comes Purliliarum in his first booke of the art of war to abstaine from sacred things not to touch them your selfe being captaine and to punish them grieuously that touch them lesse you come to naught by making God and godly men your enemies which being a rule of warre with the best Admirals of the field toward the enemie must for horror of shame not once be broken in peace toward the neighbour Learne of Onosander Platonicus first to haue a cheefe eye to holy matters that by this skill of the generall other matters may prosper in his booke De optimo Imperatore Learne of Dions first precept De regno not to dally with God as if he were Prauus or Stultus but principally to adore him in his visible ministers the only way in this life to approue our faith Learne of Xenophon in his Hipparchicus to pray to the God of the world aboue all things for helth and glory and not to esteeme him vnder all learne of Pythagoras God immortall must be first honored of Phocylides worship God first of all teachers to excell pagans in that Eusebeia which hath the first place in Isocrates and al other gnomographers increasing daily in piety and vertue there is Meum in the clergie not only in the laity and if either of them plead lawfull inheritance and possession they say well and speake no lesse then truth and yet the clergie should in equity truth be first and more forward then the other by how much Gods plea interest must haue greater audience then the plea of men Yea reason and truth crie out vpon these Mosemastiges and Theomastiges too who when they heare Moses say in Gods law all the fat is the Lords Leuit. c. 3. v. 16. that is the best is the Lords offring as may appeare Num. c. 18. v. 12. Ps 81. v. 16. they answer him in their lawlesse mouths and malcontented harts let all the leane be his he hath no need the lambe is fat enough already his pasture is good enough neither needeth he either of them the fat or the leane or any thing els because he hath all things at commaundement without your leaue and is the Lord of Lords both ghostly bodily yet thus by your incōsiderate wits and spritish mockeries and new-founded minds which you beare you incur the danger of his heauy wrath ô ye sonnes of Belial with your incredible vanities and credulous followers that in S. Pauls eye c. 16. v. 17. Rom. fight all for the belly maintenance and bring al their zeale to the merchants shops their learning to mony matters their pure meditations to set vp shifters their discipline to bannish or imprison roialties now stablished their christianisme to open Iulianisme their wits to Lucianisme beware in time of Gods displeasure which being once kindled yea but a little blessed are al they that trust in him and cursed are they that make such a turkissing and furbushing of his omnipotent and irreprehensible word which hath bin euer hetherto the word of ioy and comfort and wil be hereafter the word of Iubilee it selfe of victorie herselfe which Iubilee is neither against the institutions grounds of our or of other soundest lawes or any way against the analogie of christian religion or regiment but a true restoratiue for decayed families and a good preseruatiue against the proud pouertie and is therfore so highly extolled and magnified by Moses Leuit cap. 25. v. 10. as these are professed of vs with heart and voyce and yet are dayly defaced and weakened among vs so farre as trueth may be enfeebled which is inuincible by priuie and open treacheries falsly called reformations O mercifull God seeing it is thy soueraigne maiesties most gratious and apparant worde not to touch thine annoynted or doe thy Prophets any harme Psal 105. v. 15. either execute thy will and poure out thy vengeance vpon such wicked ones as seeke both to touch thine annoynted and hurt thy Prophets or els shorten the day of thy second comming and quicklie sound the last thundering trumpet of thy greatest glorie that all these impostors and intruders may knowe that thou ô Lord art God aboue all men and emperor of all the world but specially of thy little flock to geue it a kingdome according to thy word which thy sonne and our Sauiour purchased with the inestimable and vnspeakeable price of his most precious life bloud which to vs is so heartie and full of life and in which lieth the life of our soules as the life of our bodies is in our owne bloud They went out from vs ô God of heauen earth they went out from among vs and why are they suffered to liue by vs that would betray vs and thy sheepeheards vpon no iust causes but by vaine vile meanes out they went from vs and were not of vs but they were of that malicious arch-rebel Caine and that pecuniarie Ringleader Iudas they were of themselues and their owne selfewil that haue rebelled against our reuerend spirituall fathers and our honourable spirituall Lords and but for feare of losing their heads woulde holde vp their pennes and Printes that come from Ouids Europa a metamorphosed defloured beast or rather from Aristotles Euripus a desperate probleme and throwe their bookes their libels their lies at temporal fathers and secular Lords for both these tenures holde alike by thy seruice in ruling the soules and bodies of thy people O Lord they haue opened a gappe to all obstinacie outrage and miserie their malicious proceedings haue put shamefull and peruerse paradoxes into Subiectes mindes how much better were it to hold them down and as it were to the grinstone as Moses and Lycurgus did by iust executions then thus to let go the reynes and to let them loose till they looze themselues and al as the Athenians and Rhodians which therfore at this day are of no account but slauish and vnknowen did play the part of childrē in breaking their lawes so soon as they made them or the part of spiders in catching small flies and letting goe great hurtfull hornettes and dors by the discipline of their reformatiōs many haue reached beyond the compasse of thy worde in these common places of accepting no persons of vnequall comparisons in striuing against externall decent ceremonies and customes as though they were principals of our saluation cases of life and death matters of hell and heauen they haue been disobedient to the Magistrates of thy Sanctuarie and congregation they would ouerrule thy rulers in indifferent things rather then be ruled by them as