his soule Againe if one man giue another poyson the other may be said to haue poyson giuen him or to be Grāmatically passiue But it is one thing to haue poyson giuen him another to be poysoned This latter includes a real passion or bodily mutation though from better to worse from life to death He that hath a medicine giuen him is in common speech termed a Patient and is Grammatically passiue But euery one that is thus farre passiue as to haue a medicine giuen him is not instantly medicined cured or healed for this includes a reall operation or amendment of that which was amisse in the body In like manner in as much as our Sauiour preached the Gospell equally and indifferently to all all that heard him might bee alike truely and literally said to haue had the Gospell preached vnto them if wee respect onely the Grammatical sense and signification of the word But it is one thing to say that all had the Gospell preached vnto them and another thing to say all were Euangelizati For this latter was peculiar only to the poore in spirit They only tooke this stampe or impression of the Gospell which was preached to all Briefely the originall phrase doth literally and naturally import as true or reall an alteration or transmutation in the soules of such as were poore in spirit as the former miracles heere mentioned did in the bodies of the blinde the lame the deafe the Leprous or dead Now it is not said that the blind had their sight proffered or promised vnto them or that the lame were onely made to walke or the Leapers cleansed onely in hope or by way of promise But all of them were truely and actually cured of their infirmities of body and so no question were the poore in spirit as truely cured as truely healed of their infirmities of their soules They had beene as truely dead vnto the life of the spirit as those whom Christ is heere said to haue raised vp were vnto the life of the body But now they are raised vp to newnesse of life enlightened to see the truth and enabled to walke not after the flesh but after the spirit And whereas before they had beene the bond slaues of sinne wherewith their soules were more foulely stained or tainted than these Leapers bodies were with leprosie they are now freed and cleansed from the guilt and raigne of sinne and made the seruants of righteousnes Thus much is included in these last words Pauperes euangelizantur and this transmutation of their soules was or might haue bin as conspicuous or obseruable to Iohns Disciples as the changing of Sauls mind or spirit was vnto the Israelites after Samuel had anoynted him King 1. Sam. cap. 10. ver 9. This Interpretation of this place is made vnto our hands by our Sauiour himselfe the best Interpreter of his owne words for so hee saith Luke 6. ver 20. Blessed be yee poore setting his eyes on his Disciples for yours is the Kingdome of God This blessing of Interest in the Kingdom of God here bequeathed by our Sauiour vnto the poore is in effect the same with these words in my Text Pauperes euangelizantur of which their Interest in the Kingdome of God is the true reall and formall effect For the Gospell is called the Kingdome of God because it instateth such as receiue the impression of it that is the Euangelizati in the Kingdome of God or of heauen The Kingdome of God in Scriptures is twofold and hath two importances Sometimes it importeth the Kingdome of Grace which the poore in spirit attaine vnto it in this world Somtimes it importeth the Kingdome of Glory which no man shall attaine vnto but in the world to come The Kingdome of Grace there bequeathed had two parts the one ordinary to continue throughout all ages which did consist in the raigne or soueraignty of the spirit ouer the flesh the other extraordinary yet vsuall in that time and did consist in the raigne or soueraignty of such poore men as Christs Disciples were ouer Satan and his angels And this part of the Kingdome of grace or this effect of it was more conspicuous and visible vnto others and was one of those workes or miracles which Iohns Disciples might heare and see and make faith or true relation vnto their Master Now the blessednes heere promised by our Sauiour or so much of it as men are capable of in this life consisteth in the former part of the Kingdome of Grace that is in the soueraignty of the spirit ouer the flesh Both parts of this obseruation are set forth vnto vs by our Sauiour Luk. 10. vers 17 18 19. The Seuentie returned againe with ioy saying Lord euen the Diuels are subiect vnto vs through thy name And hee said vnto them I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heauen Behold I giue vnto you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions and ouer all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any meanes hurt you Notwithstanding in this reioyce not that the Spirits are subiect vnto you but rather reioyce because your names are written in heauen All the poore which are heere said to be Euangelizati were thereby instated in the Kingdome of Grace and made the sonnes of God as it is written Ioh. 1. ver 12. As many as receiued him to them gaue hee power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a priuiledge or faculty to be the sonnes of God and heyres apparent vnto the Kingdome of Glory This is all one as to haue their names written in the Booke of life 21. But heere the Iesuite at least the Moncke or begging Fryer who takes the pouerty which he voweth to be an Euangelicall perfection containing in it a title of merit to the blessednesse heere mentioned would reply that by the poore mentioned Lu. 6. v. 20. the poore in spirit only are to be vnderstood though not expressed because the poore in spirit are expressed by Saint Matthew who relates the selfe-same story Chap. 5. which Saint Luke doth in that 6. Chap but in as much as the story or relation heere in my Text is not the same with either of the former two it will not so cleerely follow that the poore in spirit are here onely to be vnderstod Yet it is a rule in Logicke and it is a rule of reason Quaecunque conueniunt in al◠quo tertio conueniunt etiam inter se. From which rule it will cleerely follow that if as well these words of my Text as those of Saint Luke chap. 6. vers 20. be but Euangelicall expressions of one and the same Propheticall prediction in which the poore in spirit are to be vnderstood this my Text must be meant of the poore in spirit as well as those other words of Saint Luke or Saint Matthew But of the consonancy of the Euangelist and the Prophet by Gods assistance hereafter 22. You haue heard and I make no question but you doe beleeue That whatsoeuer your
to true and perfect happinesse can be perfected and accomplished vntill this corruptible haue put on incorruption and these our mortall bodies become impassible and immortall As for those externall comforts or supplyes which are necessary to that small portion of happinesse which we haue in this life as meate drinke apparell and the like wee shall haue no need nor vse of them in the life to come In that life wee shall bee so fully happy within our selues and in the fruition of God as wee shall neede nothing without vs nothing besides Gods presence and the fruition of our selues The want or penurie of any thing vsefull in this life is a degree or part of misery but not to neede them not to want them is a portion of true felicity And for this reason happely it is that amongst all the good workes and miracles which our Sauiour did wee neuer reade that he made any needy beggers exceeding rich in worldly riches because riches are neither vsefull nor necessary to that happinesse wherevnto all his miracles doe leade and draw vs but as he did neither make nor promise to make his followers rich so hee would not suffer any of them whilest hee liued heere on earth to continue in want or penurie These euils or degrees of misery in this life he often preuented by miracles when they were ready to befall them 18. Here we are by the way to consider that whilst our Sauiour was bodily present with his Disciples and followers none of them were in want or need but he instantly relieued them If any fell sicke he presently cured them if they were in danger by Sea they could no sooner cry out Master wee perish but he as soone checked the winde with the breath of his mouth and turned the storme into a calme he did not suffer them so much as to weepe or mourne but rather ministred continual matter of ioy and comfort vnto them Nay as wee reade Mark. 2. vers 18. It was a solaecisme for them to fast whilest he was with them When Iohns Disciples or the Pharises came vnto him and demanded of him Why doe the Disciples of Iohn and of the Pharises fast but thy Disciples fast not Iesus said vnto them Can the Children of the Bridegroome fast whilest the Bridegroome is with them As long as they haue the Bridegroome with them they cannot fast but the dayes will come when the Bridegroome shall be taken away from them and then shall they fast in those dayes Thus you see a great difference betwixt the estate of his Disciples whilest he was with them and whilest hee was taken from them the one was an estate of ioy and contentment without bodily grieuance or molestation the other had his ioy and internall comfort mixt with sorrow of bodily discontentments What was then the reason of this difference Surely it was our Sauiours will and pleasure in affording these contentments which did accompany his bodily presence here on earth to exhibit a perfit Map or Modell of that fulnesse of all ioy and contentment which wee shall be made partakers of by his bodily presence with vs in heauen So then for conclusion of the first poynt and for more commodious passage vnto the second our Sauiour by the miracles here mentioned and the like did openly and euidently declare himselfe to be the Author Lord and free doner of all these three rankes or sorts of good things which the Heathen by light of nature saw to be requisite or necessary for the attainement of true felicity or in the fruition whereof in full and perfit measure true and perfit happinesse did consist 19. First for these externals which the Heathens call Bona fortunae as meat drinke apparell or means necessary for maintenance of life without which wee can rather receiue no contentment than be throughly contented with them albeit our Sauiour gaue them in lesse measure than worldly mindes desire them yet his bounty in bestowing of them did herein farre exceed the magnificence of greatest Princes in that hee herewith pleasured his Disciples without any grieuance vnto others This was a foundation of publike happines which no Monarch or State-founder could euer lay in that no man did euer fare a whit the worse because his followers or fauourers how many soeuer they were did fare the better For thus our Sauiour plentifully fedde multitudes of people in the Wildernesse without occasioning any dearth or scarcity of bread or victuals vnto such as remained in the townes or villages The reliques or offalls of the Feasts that hee made were alwayes greater than the prouision it selfe Once wee reade of his feeding fiue thousand men with seuen Barly-loaues and two Fishes and the fragments or broken meate was seuen Baskets full Marke 8. vers 20. Another time of his feeding fiue thousand men with fiue loaues when there remained twelue baskets full of fragments Nor did this his bounty extend onely in cases of necessity or for preuenting want or penury but vnto matter of delight or decency For as hee fed thousands of people in the Wildernesse where no food was to be had for them without miracle so to grace the marriage feast at Cana in Galilie hee turned water into wine not of the worst sort but of the pleasantest and cheerefullest taste Thus when tribute or pole-money was vniustly exacted of him hee did not demand a beneuolence from those men on whom hee had wrought those mighty cures or whom hee had otherwise benefited extraordinarily Hee supplyeth himselfe and Peter with this necessary from a Fish which had no more vse or need of money whereof the Romane Caesar had want than the poore Indian had of the Spaniards gold So that albeit he sent his pole-money to Rome with others yet was there not one penny lesse in Iury than there was before 20. But to come to the second sort or ranke of good things which the Heathens by light of nature saw necessary vnto felicity as bona corporis what greater bodily happinesse could befall the blinde or lame than for the one to be restored vnto his perfit fight the other to the right vse of limbes What could the deafe more desire than to be able to heare or the Lepers than to be cleansed from their leprosie What so great a bodily blessing if any at all besides could be bestowed vpon the dead as to be restored to life againe Yet those and many like blessings our Sauiour bestowed vpon all that were not offended in him by his meere word thereby shewing himselfe to be the Lord and disposer of all the blessings or parts of happinesse which concerne the body And Iohns Disciples might heare and see the parties here mentioned made thus farre truely happy by him Happy they were in respect of all other men happier by much than those men which still continued blinde or lame or leprous or deafe or in that estate of death from which our Sauiour raysed these dead here
hearts can desire euen the fulnes of that true happines which is all that you or any man can desire is only to be sought in Christ in whom it may be found by all For confirming your particular Interest in him and in the blessednes which heere he promiseth the right receiuing of this blessed Sacrament is of all other meanes most effectuall For your better preparation to the due receiuing of it it will bee auaileable to consider the doctrine which my Text affoords that although Christ be a fountaine of happines infinite and inexhaustible although his death whose memory we celebrate whose vertue in this Sacrament we seeke be as it were the opening of this fountaine yet are the streames of blisse and happines which issue from him by his death deriuable onely vnto such as are not offended in him Though the Gospell as our Apostle speaketh Rom. 1. ver 16. be the power of God vnto saluation yet as my Text saith the poore in spirit only take the impression of it Euen power it selfe and goodnesse infinite sufficient in it selfe to saue all though in number infinite is effectuall only in such as are of an humble and contrite heart Of their humiliation or contrition or their poorenes in spirit which is heere mentioned in my Text that might be truely said which our Sauiour doth of Thomas the Apostle his faith Thomas thou beleeuest because thou hast seene happy are they which haue not seene and yet beleeue The most of these men were therefore poore and humble in spirit because the Lord had humbled broken or chastised them some with bodily blindnes others with lamenes some with deafenes others with leprosie or like grieuous sicknes some with death Howeuer becōming once truely humble and poore in spirit though by these and like meanes all of them were truely happy in Christ but much happier and more blessed shall they be whom the Lord hauing not so grieuously chastised in body yet doe become as humble and poore in spirit as they were The best consideration I can commend vnto you for working this humiliation and contrition of spirit is this that as the Ceremonies of the Law were but shaddowes of these things which are now fulfilled in Christ so all the bodily calamities which Christ heere cured in so many seuerall bodies were but as so many sensible types or shaddowes of more grieuous maladies in euery mans soule although by nature wee doe not feele them Some of them were dead in body and all of vs as our Apostle saith are by nature dead in trespasses Now if we doe as truely and heartily bewayle this deadnes of our soules as the poore Widdow of Naim did the bodily death of her onely sonne then as our Apostle saith in the same place Wee are quickned in Christ and he will deliuer our soules vnto vs safe and sound as he did him vnto his mother Some of those were blind in body all of vs were darke in mind euen from the wombe and if we supplicate vnto him with like earnestnes to enlighten our minds as these poore men did to receiue their bodily sight wee shall bee as happy in this cure as they were in the other Some of them were halt and lame and not able to go and we after we haue seene and knowne the wayes of God are more vnable to walke in them than they were to runne a race Some of them were Leapers in body so are we all by nature Leapers in soules But whatsoeuer lamenes infirmitie or disease hath befalne our soules by Adams transgression or by our owne corruption he is both able and willing to worke more miraculous cures vpon our soules than hee did vpon these pooremens bodies so we intreat him as earnestly and heartily as they did 23. None of you I hope conceiueth Christs bodily presence to be either necessary or expedient for curing or healing your soules No mans faith in Scripture is more commended than the Centurions which did not desire our Sauiours bodily presence when he offered it for the healing of his seruant His answere was Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst come vnder my roofe but speake the word onely and my seruant shall be healed Matth. 8. 8. If this acknowledgement were a document of liuely faith and Christian modesty in this Centurion what can it be but arrogancy and vnbeliefe in the Romanist to thinke himselfe worthy not only of Christs bodily presence vnder the roofe of his house but vnder the roofe of his mouth yea in his stomach But farre bee all such vncleane and carnall thoughts from any heere present Let vs stedfastly belieue that Christs Word is now as powerfull in heauen as it was on earth yet haue wee not onely his Word but the visible pledges of his body and blood for the healing of our soules Whateuer other defect there may be in our preparation for receiuing these pledges of his passion let vs be sure that our intention to humble our selues and amend our liues be sincere and without hypocrisie The second Member of the generall diuision proposed in the former Discourse Parag. 8. What satisfaction this Answere of our Sauiour did giue to Iohn § 24. VErbum sapienti sat est A man of vnderstanding and experience in part acquainted with any businesse on foot perceiueth more by a word or Hint than another of lesse vnderstanding or experience altogether vnacquainted with the same busines would doe by instructions giuen in Folio Now Iohn we know was a man of extraordinary vnderstanding and experience in matters spirituall specially such as concerned Christ to whom hee was the immediate fore-runner vnto which office he was qualified or set apart from the wombe yea sanctified vnto it euen in the wombe as you may reade Luke 1. verse 41. As this qualification made him more docile or capable of good instructions than other children were so his father Zacharias was better able to instruct him in the knowledge of Christ of whose Kingdome and Office he had prophesied than any other Priest or sonne of Aaron could For Zacharias was for ought that wee can gather the onely Prophet then in Israel at least the spirit of Prophesie which for a long time had bin as a fountaine dryed vp did first breake forth in him After that Iohn himselfe came to maturitie of age and vnderstanding he was directed by speciall commission from his God to vsher Christ into the world to induct him into his Propheticall function to declare him to be the Redeemer of Israel to proclaime him to be the high Priest of our soules that was to make the full atonement for the sinnes of the whole world Now vnto Iohn thus well qualified and instructed in matters concerning Christ and in particular acquainted with the carriage of all businesses concerning Christs baptisme or other actions vntill his imprisonment this Answere of our Sauiour Christ especially being framed out of that Prophets words which had penned Iohns Cōmission for being
the sonne of Nun was to be finally accomplished The opening of the heauens and the emission of that voice from Gods presence This is my beloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased was a full and satisfactory answere vnto all the prayers which the high-Prists did annually make when they went into the most holy place But in what sort Iesus the sonne of Nun or that other Iesus the sonne of Iosedech did fore-shaddow the Son of God will come into more particular consideration in a fitter place Thus far of the Prophesies on which Iohn Baptists beliefe or warrant for baptizing was grounded and of the signes of the time expounding the meaning of these Prophesies vnto him or his attentiue Auditors before his imprisonment The third Branch of the second Member The consonancy betweene those Scriptures whereunto our Sauiour in this answer referreth Iohn and the former Prophesies on which Iohns faith was grounded with the congruity of time and other circumstances or occurrences which vnfold their meaning IIsdem alimur ex quibus constituimur As euery thing 's first breeding or beginning hath beene such commonly is the manner of its nourishment or feeding Bodies or creatures meerely vegetable as Trees Plants Herbes Corne Grasse and the like seeke after no other nutriment than the iuyce or moysture of the fatned earth with which kinde of nutriment Creatures indued with sense cannot thriue or prosper The meanest food that can giue satisfaction to the meanest of them is vegetable as Grasse Corne Herbes or other fruits of the Fields or Trees Some kinde of creatures indued with sense there be which must bee nourished with others of the same but of inferiour kinde As the Lyon will not feed on straw with the Oxe or Asse but feedeth on these and other like Creatures consisting of flesh and bloud as these doe on vegetables So that there bee almost as many seuerall sorts of nutriment or feeding as there bee seuerall or distinct kindes of creatures nourished and fed And not so onely but euen creatures of the same kinde haue their variety of nutriment Though all receiue their nutriment from the fatnesse of the earth yet is not euery vegetable alike content with euery soyle Hîc segetes illic veniunt foelicius vuae Some soyles yeeld plentifull nutriment to Vines or Plants but are not so kinde Nurses vnto Corne or Herbes Some kinde of mould is good for Corne not altogether so good for Grasse And in the same mould wherein Rie or Oates grow vp and prosper Wheate or Barly thriue not so well Now albeit God allowed greater variety of food or nourishment to mankinde than to all other kindes of Creatures besides for most creatures vegetable or such as feed on vegetables are giuen by expresse Charter vnto man for food yet wee see by experience that some men either by peculiar constitution of body or by long accustoming themselues vnto some special kind of food are more delighted like better with that than with any other And albeit a man by ill dyet whereunto hee hath beene long accustomed shall contract any disease or distemperature yet a skilfull Physician will be as careful to giue some contentment vnto custome as to correct the present distemper The vse or end of all nutriment in what body soeuer is to continue life and health and to augment strength And our seuerall refections should bee as so many seuerall inuitations or entertainements of the soule or spirit of life that it would be pleased to reside where now it doth vntill God prouide it of a better residence Now as euery vegetable or sensitiue body liueth by its soule so the reasonable soule of man liueth by faith The first originall or seed of faith is the Word of God The onely nutriment of faith or of the soule which seekes to liue by faith is experiment or obseruation of euents whether in our selues or without vs answerable to the Word of God from which faith had its first seeds or beginning Againe as euery man is most bound to obserue those rules of Scripture which most concerne himselfe or his profession so those experiences or tastes of Gods blessings which sute best with his peculiar kinde of life yeeld best nutriment vnto faith once begotten Euery mans growth in faith is then most firme and solid when it proceedeth from a perfect growth in those Scriptures from which it took first roote and from whose experienced truth it was formerly nourished and increased 67. Seeing then Iohns faith in Iesus of Nazareth as in the Messias then reuealed did spring from Gods Word vttered by Isaias the Prophet as from its first root and had been nourished by sensible experiments and manifest signes of the time answerable to the Prophet Isaias predictions concerning Iohns office for this reason it is that our Sauiour who best knew what answere would be most fitting and most satisfactory to Iohns demand returneth him no other answere than you often haue heard read vnto you The blinde receiue their sight the halt goe c. The summe of the answer is a brief rehearsall of the various miracles which our Sauiour had lately wrought and continued to worke when Iohns Disciples came vnto him Now all the miracles here recited are but so many sensible experiments of those predictions wherin Iohns faith concerning the discharge of his office was first grounded experiments of the very selfe-same kinde by which his former faith had been nourished and confirmed Such experiments they are as could not but strengthen his faith although it had beene weakned by doubt or distrust experiments in themselues able to reuiue his faith although it had bin more than halfe stifeled by despaire 68. The speciall places of the Prophet Isay by which Iohn was directed in the execution of his office of preaching Repentance or baptizing and whereon his faith or beliefe of the Messias which was to come was grounded haue beene alledged and expounded to you before They were for the most part such as did fore-tell strange wonders to bee wrought in the desart as the bursting out of waters in dry places turning of Valleyes into Mountaines planting of the Wildernesse with pleasant Trees All which predictions were onely or especially to be fulfilled in their allegoricall or parabolicall sense that is in the strange alterations of mens affections and dispositions which did follow vpon Iohns Baptisme yet not wrought by Iohn but by him that came after him which was to baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire Iohn before his imprisonment had seene good fruits of his Baptisme and preaching of Repentance hee had seene the holy Ghost likewise descend in miraculous manner vpon our Sauiour whereby he knew him to be the Anoynted of the Lord and that righteous Branch of Dauid which was to accomplish whatsoeuer the Prophet Isay or Iohn out of him had foretold But as for miracles Iohn himselfe wrought none before his imprisonment nor had he seen or heard our Sauiour
that I will powre out my Spirit vpon all flesh and your Sonnes and your Daughters shall prophesie your old men shall dreame dreames your young men shall see visions And also vpon your seruants and vpon the hand-maides in those dayes will I powre out my Spirit And it shall come to passe that whosoeuer shall call on the name of the Lord shall bee deliuered for in Mount Zion and in Ierusalem shall bee deliuerance as the Lord hath said and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call And againe Isaias 44. vers 3 4. I will powre water vpon him that is thirsty and Flouds vpon the dry ground I will powre my Spirit vpon thy Seed and my blessing vpon thine off-spring And they shall spring vp as among the grasse as Willowes by the Water-courses The first words of this later Prophesie were literally and historically fulfilled in the baptisme of Iohn the later part of it is as it were an Euangelicall explication of the mysticall sense of the former words And Iohn Baptist might from this place alone easily collect that although hee might powre water vpon mens bodies though hee did plunge or wash such as are compared to dry Land in the waters and by this externall Sacrament ingraft them in the stocke of Abraham yet he could not powre out the Spirit of God or bestow the blessing of increase vpon them This hee knew must be the worke of him that sent him who had bestowed some portion or measure of the Spirit or blessing here mentioned vpon him as a sure pledge or experiment of the like blessing to bee bestowed on others specially on such as had beene partakers of his Baptisme From the same place likewise Iohn might easily gather that the baptisme of water wherewith hee himselfe baptized was in order of time to goe before the baptisme of the Spirit which was mystically prefigured by it and fore-told by our Sauiour in the fore-cited place Iohn 7. vers 38. though as we said before in a figuratiue or allegoricall sense which Saint Iohn in the next words after vers 39. hath expounded vnto vs This spake hee of the Spirit which they that beleeue on him should receiue For the Holy Ghost was not yet giuen because that Iesus was not yet glorified Iohns meaning is the Spirit was not powred out in such plentifull measure as this place of Isay and that other of the Prophet Ioel did import For after our Sauiours glorification all such as were baptized with water were likewise baptized with the Holy Ghost most of them filled with the Spirit of Prophesie or gift of tongues enabled to conuey the words and waters of life vnto the soules of others All this was fore-signified by the holy Ghosts descending vpon our Sauiour at his comming out of the water For his baptisme was a prefiguration of his death and resurrection and by his resurrection he was really declared to be the Sonne of God and fulfilled the Psalmists prediction Thou art my Sonne this day haue I begotten thee Psal. 2. Which prediction was further ratified and the meaning of it determined by the voyce from heauen This is my beloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased The same truth thus often declared aswell by predictions as by matters of fact or reall euent was finally testified by the descending of the holy Ghost vpon his Apostles and Disciples So that another Branch of Saint Iohns meaning or if you will another shoote of the former branch is That the holy Ghost at the time when our Sauiour vttered those words Hee that beleeueth in me c. did not appeare as an authentique witnesse to ratifie his Doctrine His testimony concerning our Sauiour was reserued till our Sauiours glorification after which it was publique frequent and visible Iesus saith Saint Peter whom ye slew and hanged on a tree Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Sauiour for to giue repentance to Israel and forgiuenes of sins Act. 5. v. 30 31 32. And we are his witnesses of these things and so is also the holy Ghost whom God hath giuen to them that obey him This giuing of the holy Ghost in visible maner was that baptisme of Christ which was opposed to the baptisme of Iohn and that the world might know and beleeue it came immediately from Christ and not from Iohn nor from the Apostles or from the Sacrament which they administred it was giuen to some and these by condition Gentiles before they had beene partakers of Iohns baptisme or any Mosaicall rite or Sacrament Act. 10. 44 47. While Peter yet spake these words the holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word Whence he concludeth Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized which haue receiued the holy Ghost aswell as we Saint Peter tooke more special notice of our Sauiours words from this experiment in Cornelius and his family than hee did from the holy Ghost descending in clouē tongues vpon himselfe and his fellow Apostles which had beene baptized And as I began to speake the holy Ghost fell on them as on vs at the beginning Then remembred 1 the Word of the Lord how that hee said Iohn deed baptized with water but yee shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost Acts 11. 15 16. Saint Peters beliefe in this point was grounded vpon our Sauiours words and confirmed by this experiment Iohn Baptists beliefe of the same conclusion was grounded vpon the Prophet Isaias predictions Iohn did foretell the same truth which our Sauiour did before he was acquainted with him or knew him by face and yet Iohns knowledge or beliefe of this mysterie was confirmed by a visible signe by the descending of the holy Ghost Concerning which and the maner how Iohn came to know our Sauiour before he baptized him with the signes of the time that did accompany or ensue vpon his baptisme we are in the next place to make enquirie 48. From the former Dialogue betweene the Priests and Leuites and Iohn Baptist concerning his office and ministery of Baptisme you may obserue that Iohn was carefull to preuent two inconueniences First the false opinion which the people had conceiued of him as if he had bin the Messias himselfe and secondly to preuent all suspition of compact or collusion betweene Iesus of Nazareth whom he afterward proclaimes to be the Messias and himselfe And vnto this suspition both parties had beene more lyable if they had beene aswell acquainted before our Sauiours baptisme as afterward they were Not to speake of our Sauiours knowledge who knew all things for Iohn the Baptist hee had a true prenotion or distinct beliefe of these generals or indefinites 1. That the time wherein the Messias was to bee manifested vnto Israel was now approaching 2. That the Messias was to repaire vnto the place where hee baptized there to bee declared or manifested vnto Israel 3. That the Messias after his manifestation was to