darknesse in this world against spirituall wickednesse in high places Thus then having seen the marshalling of these two Armies which are at so deadly an enmity let us at last see the successe of their skirmishes and of the stratagems which they practise one against the other these are described on the Devils part very terrible that his head should be mauled But on Christs side the losse should be very small the Devil prevailing but to the wounding or bruising of his heel But what is this Head of the Serpent and what the Heel of the womans seed Those who understand the seed of the woman singularly of the person of Christ only make his head to be the Godhead against which the Serpent could prevail nothing but his heel to be the manhood which the Serpent so bruised at his Passion that the grave became his bed for three days together This indeed is true and no marvell for the head is as it were the whole bodies epitome But we who have expounded the seed of the woman collectively of Christ and his Members must also in this mysticall body find a mysticall head and a mysticall heel and so in like manner for the Serpent and his seed The Head therefore or if you had rather Headship is nothing else but Soveraignty The Serpents head is the Devils Soveraignty which is called â—rincipatus mortis the Soveraignty of death namely both objectivè and effectivè that is such a Soveraignty as under which are only such as are liable to death both temporall and eternall and such a Soveraignty whose power consists not in saving and giving of life but in destroying and bringeth unto death both of body and soul. Under the name also of death understand as the Scripture doth all other miseries of mankind which are the companions of this double death I speak of This is that damnable head of the Serpent the Devillish Soveraignty of Satan Now the Sword whereby this Soveraignty was obtained the Scepter whereby it is maintained or as S. Paul speaks the sting of this Serpents head is Sin This is that which got him this Kingdome at the first and this is still the right whereby he holds the greatest part thereof Imporium iisdem artibus conservatur quibus acquiritur This Soveraignty of the Devil which once overwhelmed nigh all the world the womans seed should break in pieces and destroy which according to this Prophecy we see already performed in a great measure and the grounds laid long ago for the destruction of all that remaineth As saith S. Iohn Ep. 1. c. 3. v. 8. The Son of God is revealed for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the Devil And Christ himself said that the time was come that the Prince of this world should be cast out and bade his Disciples be of good chear for he had overcome the world If you would see what a wonderfull victory he hath long ago gotten of the Serpent when after a terrible battell he overcame and destroid the Soveraignty of the Serpent in the Romane Empire see it described in the 12. of the Revelation where a Michael that is Christ and his Angels fought against the great Dragon and his Angels till the Dragon with all his Army was discomfited and their place found no more in heaven that is he utterly lost his Soveraignty in that state whence there was a voice in heaven Now is come salvation strength and the Kingdome of our God and the power of his Christ. And what he will at the length do with the remainder yet of the Devils Soveraignty you may finde in the 19. and 20 of the Revelation For he must reign as S. Paul saith untill he hath put all his enemies under his feet untill he hath destroyed all power rule and authority adverse unto him And then last of all destroying death by giving immortality to our raised bodies shall surrender up his Kingdome unto his Father as it is 1 Cor. 15. But Satan saith my Text shall prevail something against him for the Serpent shall bruise his heel What is this heel Those who understood the seed of the woman singularly as I told you made it Christs Manhood But how we expound the seed Christs mysticall body what shall we make the heel thereof I could say that by it were only meant a light wound or the Devils assaulting the Body of Christ ex insidiis at unawares for that is his fashion since the great overthrow which our Michael gave him to work his feats underhand and to undermine our Lord in his members But this though true is not full enough It may seem therefore the fittest to make hypocriticall Christians who professe Christ outwardly but inwardly are not his to make those the heel of his mysticall body for against such the Devil we know prevaileth somewhat and by them annoyeth the rest of the Body with his venome though he be far enough yet from impeaching our Lords Headship and Soveraignty But will you give me leave to utter another conceit If the blessed souls in heaven be the upper part of Christs mysticall Body the Saints on earth the lower part of the same may not the bodies of the Saints deceased which lye in the earth be accounted for the heel for I cannot beleeve but they have relation to this mysticall Body though their souls be severed from them and yet must that relation be as of the lowest and most postick members of all If you will admit this then it will appear presently what was this hurt upon the heel when Christ had once mauled the Devils head for the Text seems to intimate that the Devil should give this wound after his head was broken I will hold you in suspence no longer read the 13. of the Revelation and see what follows upon Michaels Victory over the Dragon what the Devil did when he was down He forms a new instrument of the wounded Roman Empire by whose means under a pretence of the honour given to the precious reliques of the Saints and Martyrs he conveyed the poison of Saint-worship and Saint-invocation into the Kingdome of Christ with which wound of the heel the Devil comming on the blinde side the true Church had been long annoyed and limpeth still THE Christian Sacrifice OR The Solemne VVorship in the EVCHARIST Foretold by the Prophet Malachi Taught by our blessed SAVIOUR AND Practised by the Primitive CHVRCH BY JOSEPH MEDE B. D. and late Fellow of Christs Colledge in CAMBRIDGE LONDON Printed by M. F. for JOHN CLARK and are to be sold at his Shop under S. Peters Church in Cornhill MDC XLVIII THE Christian Sacrifice MALACHI 1. 11. Abortu solis usque ad occasum magnum erit nomen meum in Gentibus in omni loco offeretur Incensum Nomini meo Munus purum quia magnum erit nomen meum in gentibus dicit Dominus exercituum THIS place of Scripture howsoever now in a manner silenced and forgotten was once and
excellent creatures when an inferiour nature the nature of man was now to be advanced into a Throne of Divine Majesty and to become Head and King not only of men but of the heavenly Host it self O ye blessed Angels what did these tidings concern you that ruined mankinde should be restored again and taken into favour whereas those of your own Host which fell likewise remained still in that gulf of perdition whereinto their sin had plunged them without hope of mercy or like promise of Deliverance what did it adde to your eminent Dignity the most excellent of the creatures of God that the Nature of man should be advanced above yours that at the Name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth The Observation therefore which this Act of the Angels first presents unto us is the ingenuous goodnesse and sweet disposition of those immaculate and blessed spirits in whose bosomes Envy the Image of the Devil and deadly poison of charity hath no place at all For if any inclination to this cankered passion had been in these heavenly creatures never such an occasion offered nor greater could be to stir it up to envy But heaven admits of no such passion nor could such a torment consist with the blissefull condition of those who dwell therein It is the smoke of that bottomlesse pit a native of hell the character and cognisance of those Apostate Angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation and are reserved for chains of everlasting darknesse These indeed grieve no lesse at the happinesse of men then the Angels joy witnesse the name of their Prince Satan which signifies the Fiend or malicious one who out of envy overthrew mankinde in the beginning out of envy he and all his fellow-fiends are so restlesse and indefatigable to seduce him still The Use of this Observation will not be far to seek if we remember the admonition our Saviour hath given us in the prayer left unto his Church which is To make the Angels the pattern of our imitation in doing the will of our heavenly Father for so he teacheth us to pray Let thy will be done in earth as it is done in heaven that is Grant us ô Lord to do thy will here as thy holy Angels do it there And as we should imitate them in all things else so in this affection towards the happinesse and prosperity of others And good reason I think if we mean at all to approve our selves unto God our Father why we should endeavour rather to be like unto them then unto Devils But in nothing can we be more like them then in this to rejoyce at the good and not repine at the happinesse of our brethren Hoc enim Angelicum est This is the Character of the Angelicall nature and consequently of those who one day shall have fellowship with them To be contrarily affected Diabolicum est the badge and brand of Devils and Fiends and those who wear their Livery reason good they should keep them company Let every one therefore examine his own heart concerning this point that he may learn upon what terms he stands with God and what he may promise himself of the blessednesse to come Do the gifts of God Doth his favour or blessing vouchsafed to thy brother when thou seest or hearest of them torment and crucifie thy soul Dost thou make their happinesse thy misery Is thine eye evill to thy Brother because Gods is good If this be so without doubt thy heart is not right before God nor doth his Spirit but the spirit of Devils or Fiends reign therein But if the contrary appear in any reasonable measure with a desire to increase it for we must not look to attain the perfection of Angels in this life but in some measure and degree only if thou canst rejoyce at anothers good though it concerns not thy self the Spirit of God rests upon thee For emulations and envyings saith the Apostle Gal. 5. are the fruits of the flesh but the fruits of the Spirit are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kindnesse and goodnesse So he cals the opposite vertues to those former vices But as any good that betides our brother ought to affect us with some degree of joy and not with grief and envy so chiefly and most of all his spirituall good and that which concerns his salvation ought so to do This was that the holy Angels praised God for in my Text on the behalf of men that unto them a Saviour was born who should save them from their sins and reconcile them unto God Which sweet disposition of those good and blessed spirits our Saviour himself further witnesseth when he saith Luk. 15. 17. There is joy in heaven namely among the holy Angels for one sinner that repenteth But is there any man will you say such a son of Beliall as will not do this will not imitate the holy Angels in this Judge ye There is an evil disease which commonly attends upon Sects and Differences in opinion that as men are curious and inquisitive into the lives and actions of the adverse party so are they willing to finde them faulty and rejoyce at their fals and slips hear and relate them with delight namely because they suppose it makes much for their own side that the contrary should by such means be scandalized and the Patrons and followers thereof disreputed But should that be the matter of our grief whereat the Angels joy or that the matter of our joy whereat the Angels grieve How is this to do our Fathers will on earth as the Angels do in heaven Nay if this be not to put on the robes of darknesse and to shake hands with hellish fiends I know not what is O my soul come not thou into their secret unto their assembly mine honour be not thou united There is another Lesson yet more to be learned from this act of the Angels namely that if they glorifie God for our happinesse and the favour of God towards us in Christ much more should we glorifie and magnifie his goodnesse our selves to whom solely this Birth and the benefit of this Birth redounds If they sing Glory be to God on high for his favour toward men we to whom such favour is shown must not hold our peace for shall they for us and not we for our selves No the Quire of heaven did but set us in we are to bear a part and it should be a chief part since the best part is ours As therefore the Church in her publick Service hath ever since kept it up so must every one of us in particular never let it goe down or dye on our hands Thus much of the Quaere Now come we to the Antheme or Song it self whose contents are two First the Doxology or Praise Glory be to God on high Secondly a gratulation rendring the reason thereof Because of
and expresse testimonies In the 1 Chron. 25. it is expresly said of Ieduthuâ— and his soâ—â—es that their office was to prophesie with a Harpe to give thanks and to praise the Lord. In the second of Chron. 30. 21. wee read that the Levites and Priests praised the Lord day by day singing with loud Instruments unto the Lord. And as ye heard even now out of 1 Chron. 16. that David at the time when he brought up the Ark unto Jerusalem then first delivered the 105. and 95 Psalms into the hands of Aâ—… and his sonnes to confesse or give thanks unto the Lord. And lastly to leave no place for farther doubt wee read Ezra 3. 11. That the Levites the sonnes of Asaph were set with Cymbals to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David King of Israel And that they sung together by course in praising giving thanks unto the Lord because he is good for his mercy endureth for ever For this reason the foure and twenty Courses or Quires into which the singers of the Temple were divided by King David to serve in their turnes consisted each of them of twelve according to the number of the tribes of Israel that so every Tribe might have a mouth and voyce to praise and to give thanks unto God for him in the Temple Thus we have seene what warrant to pray and call upon God in a set forme hath from the practice of the Church of God in the old Testament And if reason may have place in the publike service of God where one is the mouth of many there is none so proper and convenient For how can the Minister be said properly to be the mouth of the Congregation in prayer unto God when the Congregation is not first made acquainted and privy to what he is to render unto God in their names which in a voluntary and extemporary Prayer they are not nor well can be I am sure neither so properly nor conveniently as in a set forme which both they and the whole Church have agreed upon and offer unto God at the same time though in severall places in the self-same forme and words And this may be a second reason I meane from Vniformity For how can the Church being a mysticall Body better testifie her unity before God then in her uniformity in calling upon him especially our Saviour telling us that if but two or three shall agree together on earth as touching anything that they shall ask it shall be done unto them of his Father which is in heaven So prevailable with Allmighty God is the power of consent in prayer Let us now in the last place see what reasons they bring who contend altogether for voluntary prayer and would have no set formes used First they say it is the ordinance of God that the Church should be edified by the gifts of her Ministers as well in praying as preaching Ergo their prayers should be extemporary or voluntary because in reading a set forme this gift cannot be shewn To this I answer First that there is not in this point the same reason for Prayer and for Preaching for in prayer I meane Publique the Minister is the mouth of the Church unto God and therefore it were convenient they should know what he puts up to God in their names but in preaching he is not so Secondly Why should not the Pastours and Ministers of the Church edify the Church by their gift of prayer as well in composing a set forme of prayer for her use by generall agreement as in uttering a voluntary or extemporary prayer in a particular Congregation Thirdly Are not the members of the Church to be edified as well by the Spirit of the Church as the Church or some part thereof by the Spirit of a member But how can the Church edifie her members by her gift of prayer otherwise then by a set form agreed upon by her consent Fourthly Ostentation of gifts is one thing but edification by them another Ostentation of the gift of prayer is indeed best shewn in a voluntary or extemporary prayer but the Church may be edified as well by a set forme Yea such a forme in the publique service of God is more edificative then a voluntary And that both because the Congregation is first made acquainted therewith and secondly because they are better secured from being ingaged in ought that might be unfit to speak unto God either for matter or manner or such as they would not have given their consent to if they had been aware of it For now that extraordinary assistance of the Holy Ghost which was in the Primitive and Apostolicall times is long since ceased And all men to whom that office belongeth to speake to God for others are not at all times discreet and well advised when they speake to him at will and extempore but subject to miscariage Lastly I answer That the Church is to be edified by the gift of her Ministers in voluntary prayer loco tempore in fit place and upon fit occasions not in all places and upon all occasions And thus much to this objection But they object secondly that the Spirit ought to be free and unlimited and that therefore a Book or set forme of prayer which limits the spirit in praying is not to be tolerated or used To this I answer it is false that the acting of the Spirit in one Christan may not be limited or regulated by the Spirit of another especially the spirit of a particular man in the publike worship by the spirit of the Church whereof he is a member For doth not the Apostle tell us 1 Cor. 14. that even that extraordinary spirit of Prophecy usuall in his time might be limited by the spirit of another Prophet Let the Prophets saith he speak two or three and let the other judg If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his peace Is not this a limiting He gives a reason For the spirits of the Prophets saith he are subject to the Prophets Besides are not the spirits of the people as well limited and determined by a voluntary prayer when they joyne therein with their Minister as they are by a set forme True the spirit of the Minister is then free but theirs is not so but tied and led by the spirit of the Minister as much as if he used a set forme But to elude this they tell us that the Question is not of limiting the spirit of the people but of the Minister onely For as for the people no more is required of them but to join with their Minister and to testifie it by saying Amen but the spirit of the Minister ought to be left free and not to be limited But where is this written that the one may not be limited as well as the other We heard the Apostle say even now The spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets If in prophecying why not in praying And
he can If he should they might truly say indeed Lord we have done no such matter nor did we think our selves bound unto it we relied wholly upon our faith in thy merits and thought we had been freed from such services What doe they think Christ will change the form of his sentence at that great day No certainly If the sentence for Blisse will not fit them and be truly said of them the other will and must for there is no more Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For when I was hungry ye gave me no meat c. This must be their doome unlesse they suppose the righteous Judge will lie for them And it is here further to be observed that the works named in the sentence of Judgement are works of the second Table works of mercy and charity Feeding the hungry clothing the naked visiting the sick all Almesdeeds which men are now a-days so much afraid of as if they looked toward Popery and had a tang of meriting For now a-days these costly works of all others are most suspicious but will it be so at the day of Judgement True it is they merit not the reward which shall be given them but what then Are we so proud we will doe no works unlesse we may merit Is it not sufficient that God will reward them for Christs sake though they have no worth in themselves The third and last motive to works of righteousnesse is because they are the only sign and note whereby we know our faith is true and saving and not counterfeit For 1 Iohn 1. 8. If we say we have fellowship with Christ and walk in darknesse we lie and doe not the truth Chap. 2. ver 3. Hereby we know that we know him viz. to be our Advocate with his Father and the propitiation for our sins if we keep his Commandements And Chap. 3. 7. Little children let no man deceive you He that doeth righteousnesse is righteous even as Christ is righteous The same almost you may finde again Chap. 2. 29. For if every one that beleeveth in Christ truly and savingly beleeves that salvation is to be attained by obedience to God in him and not otherwise and therefore embraceth and layeth hold upon him for that end How can such an ones faith be fruitlesse how can he be without works who therefore lays hold on Christ that his works and obedience may be accepted as righteous before God for his sake and so rewardable It is as possible for the Sun to be without his light or the fire to want heat as such a faith to be without works Our Saviour therefore himself makes this a most sure and never failing note to build our assurance of salvation upon Luke 6. 46. where the mention of the words of my Text gives the occasion Why call ye me Lord saith he and doe not the things which I say 47. Whosoever commeth to me and heareth my sayings and doth them I will shew you to whom he is like 48. He is like a man which built an house and digged deep and laid the foundation on a rock And when the floud arose the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it for it was founded upon arock 49. But he that heareth and doth not is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruine of that house was great Whom these three motives or reasons will not perswade to good works let not my soul ô Lord be joyned with theirs nor my doome be as theirs must be A second observation out of these words and near a-kin to the former is That it is not enough for a Christian to live harmlesly and abstain from ill but he must do that which is good For our Saviour excludes not here those onely who do against the will of his Father but those who do not his Fathers will It is doing good which he requireth and the not doing evill only This is an error which taketh hold of a great part of men even of those who would seem to be religious He is a reformed man and acquits himself well who abstains from fornication adultery who is no theef no couzener or defrauder of other men who will not lie or swear or such like But as for doing any works of piety or charity they think they are not required of them But they are much deceived For God requires some duties at our hands which he may reward not out of any merit but out of his mercifull promise in Christ. But not doing ill is no service rewardable A servant who expects wages must not onely do his Master no harm but some work that is good and profitable otherwise the best Christian would be he that should live altogether idlely For none doth lesse harm then he that doth nothing at all But Mat. 25. 30. He that encreased not his Masters Talent though he had not mis-spent it is adjudged an unprofitable servant and cast into utter darknesse where is weeping and gnashing of treth So also Mat. 3. The tree that beareth no good fruit is hewn down though it bore none that was evill The axe is laid to the root of the tree every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire Mat. 21. 19. The sig-tree is cursed for having no fruit not for having evill fruit And the sentence of condemnation as you heard before is to passe at that great day for not having done good works not for doing ill ones Goe ye cursed for when I was hungry ye fed me not c. Thus having let you see how necessary it is for a Christian to joyn good works with his faith in Christ I will now come to shew you how you must do them hoping I have already perswaded you that they must needs be done First therefore we must doe them out of faith in Christ that is relying upon him onely for the acceptance and rewarding of them for in him alone God is well pleased with us and with what wee doe and therefore without faith and reliance upon him it is impossible to please God We must not think there is any worth in our works for which any such reward as God hath promised is due For alas our best works are full of imperfections and far short of what the Law requires Our reward therefore is not of merit but of the mercifull promise of God in Christ which the Apostle means when he says We are saved by grace and not by works That is it is the grace and favour of God in Christ which makes our selves acceptable and our works rewardable and not any desert in them or us Having laid this foundation the next thing required is sincerity of heart in doing them we must doe them out of the fear of God and conscience of his Commandements
nothing else but an all-fruition of good or to have a sufficient provision and furniture of good both for being and well-being So therefore that creature is happy and blessed which hath a sufficiency of all good for the being and preservation of it self which wants neither endowments inward nor means outward for the attaining of that end whereof it is by nature capable To be accursed is to have the contrary of this to be despoiled either of indowments internall or inherent without which it hath no dignity among the creatures or externall without which it cannot live or preserve it self but with much penury difficulty toil and danger Whatsoever therefore among the beasts of the field for with such only is the comparison made is for inherent perfections of all the most unworthy and base or for the outward furniture of means for the preservation of that ignoble being by unprovision of all others the most wretched and miserable this is that which is accursed above all cattell and above every beast of the field And such was the Serpents condition to be for the generall And now for the particulars Let us go on and see how they are expressed and that is in three things First To go upon the brest or to have the posture of the body groveling on the earth whereby as I shall shew presently is implied the abasement of the creature Secondly to have for meat the dust of the earth wherein is shewn its unprovision of food for the maintenance of its life being of all beasts of the field to have the basest and coursest fare Thirdly to be in continuall mortall and irreconcilable enmity with man both his Lord and the Lord of the rest of the creatures from whom it should be in continuall danger and fear of its life and once espied be sure to have its brains dash'd out by him And which makes the misery so much the greater to be no way able to be revenged of his enemy other then to come unawares behind him and then neither not able to reach above his heel as being most unequally matched he walking aloft with his head and whole body advanced while the miserable Serpent shall lie groveling on the ground ready to be trodden apieces under his feet Of these three particulars let us speak severally and first of the first Vpon thy brest shalt thou go In the Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some turn upon thy belly which interpretation hath been one great cause of the difficulty to understand the meaning of this malediction For if the shape of the Serpent were after the fashion it is now it is not possible to imagine how it could ever have gone otherwise then upon the belly for to think that ever it went an end were a conceit more worthy to be derided then to be beleeved By which means there appeared no other way of evasion out of this difficulty but to affirm that the Serpent indeed went upon his belly from the beginning but either it was not so toilsome to him or not for a curse unto him till now which for my part it being so far from the letter of the Text I could never yet beleeve I had much rather in this follow the Vulgar or Ieromes Translation which reads super pectus tuum gradiêris for upon the belly I beleeve the Serpent went from the first Creation but not upon the brest untill this present malediction The brest of the Serpent I call the upper part of the Serpents body from the navell to the head the other part of the other half downward with which though at the first he walked prone to and upon the earth yet was the other part his brest and head reared up and advanced untill for having been abused to the ruine of mankind he was now with his whole body to creep groveling upon the earth And perhaps thus much the Septuagint meant to insinuate by their Translation which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon thy brest and thy belly where it may seem that they rendred two words for one in the Text for illustration and for intimation of this that whereas the Serpent before went only upon his belly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now he should from henceforth walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon his brest and belly too As for the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used there is no necessity at all to translate it the belly but rather some probability of the contrary in the etymology of the word for though in the Hebrew the theme be not used yet in the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies incurvatus fuit to bow downward and seems to mean the inclination of the head and brest or upper part of the body to the earth as may be gathered from that of Eliah 1 King 18 42. where it is said that Eliah went up to the top of â—armel pronum se abjecit inâ—terram and put his face between his knees for here the Targum useth this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the radix of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Again Mark 1. 7. in those words of Iohn Baptist There is one commeth after me the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose here for the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stoop down the Syriack hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of as near a kin to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is the Syriack to the Chaldee The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it self is of rare use in the Bible besides in this place and therefore we can receive no great help from the comparing of places It is read again Levit. 11. 42. and that with a singular mark as the Masorites have observed for the Vau cholem in the last syllable is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great Vau and exactly the middlemost letter of all the Law of Moses if their Arithmetick failed them not But no particularity of signification can from that place be gathered the speech being of creeping things which go as well upon the brest as the belly and the belly as the brest Since therefore the word here used neither hindreth our opinion nor much furthereth it we will come to such other grounds as may prove our assertion for the Serpents going with brest advanced afore the fall of man and not groveling till his malediction And first let it be considered there is no impossibility of it in regard of the frame of the Serpent which appears both by their advancing themselves when they assault a man which the Painters expresse in their Pictures and also when they swim through the water which is with their head and some part of their brest raised above water even as a Swan holdeth up her neck as I have heard affirmed by such as have been eye-witnesses and lastly Plinie and Solinus report of the Basilisk that the Basilisk walks so still as I shewed a little before And it may be as when the Giant-like
stature of mankind was diminished after the stood in a manner throughout the world and for many ages yet was there by Gods disposition still a race of Giants left even till the time of David for a monument and witnesse of the truth of a far bigger stature in former times which else could not so easily have been beleeved or imagined Such were the Zanzummims in Abrahams time the sons of Anak in Moses and Goliah in the time of David and it may be there are yet some in some part of the world to be found So I say as these seem to have been preserved by God as a memoriall unto men that they were not now as at the first so it may be it was the will of God and is amongst so many kinds of Serpents to preserve this one that it should not as the rest go groveling upon the earth but might be as a monument of the truth of the malediction of the rest to all posterity Thus much of the possibility which would be far greater if we should with S. Basil Ephrem Bar Cephas and many others affirm that the Serpent had feet namely some short ones beneath the navell for feet are not essentiall to the nature of a thing as appears by the lame who can live without them and by others sometimes by the defect of nature born without them And those who can beleeve the wonderfull change of man by his fall of an immortall creature to become mortall of one to have been born with all glorious endowments both of body and soul now to be brought into the world the most unfurnished of the creatures Those who beleeve the great alteration of the earth it self when it was accursed for mans sin the diminution of the time of mans life and of his stature even since the flood Can any who believe these things think it so incredible for the Serpent once to have had some small feet and afterward to have had none being a creature wherein God intended to leave a monument for ever But of this I will determine nothing neither doth my assertion simply depend upon it but may well enough consist without it But because possibility is not sufficient of it self alone to infer a probability I have therefore one thing to adde more thereto namely the reason and cause even in nature supposing still Gods abasing of the Serpents first creation of this alteration of the posture of the Serpents gate from that it was at the beginning First we know the more excellent and sublime the nature of a creature is the more it raiseth it self upward the more ignoble and baser the more it fals downward This we see in the elements themselves the fire the most excellent and operative of the four raiseth it self above the rest The earth the basest and most unactive of all is also of all the most dejected Secondly as there is this difference in the elements so there is in the mixed bodies some consisting of a more sublime and excellent temper others of a more base and ignoble mixture and that as in other so amongst such creatures as live and move upon the earth Thirdly this their noblenesse within discovereth it self in the body without by advancing them naturally in their gate and gesture whence man being of all creatures living upon the earth of the most excellent temper and sublimed condition of nature is therefore of all other the most advanced in body Pronáque cum spectant animalia caetera terram Os homini sublime dedit c. Yea experience will tell us that even amongst men themselves those who are of a more exalted nature either by heroick temper or predominancy of heat are also more advanced in the posture of their bodies Among beasts themselves the basest is the most creeping the noble Lion advanceth his head and brest so far as the frame of his body is thereof capable and so the rest and of all creatures we may observe besides that such creatures have the most sagacity who come most near to walk upright as a man doth If therefore the Serpent were of so sublime a nature at the first as thereby it was more subtle then any beast of the field which God had made how could so excellent a temper the ground of so much sagacity but advance the body thereof as far as the frame and shape thereof could admit On the contrary if afterward the Serpent became the most abased and accursed of all the beasts of the field how should not this alteration of his former temper and disposition of nature make the gesture of his body also sutable by stooping and groveling upon the earth Who knows not that the naturall position of man is erected agreeable to his excellency above other creatures having life and motion and yet notwithstanding so much hath the dejection of his primitive nature for sin weakned in him this propension that were it not for education it is supposed yea and by experience confirmed that he would walk upon all four like a beast And shall we wonder that the malediction of the Serpent exceeding that of mans should produce as much as this So then to conclude this first particular of the Serpents curse I understand it from the ground aforesaid as insinuating the cause by the outward and sensible effect according to the manner of the Scripture namely the abasement and fall of the Serpents whole nature from his primitive perfection discovered by the fall of his once advanced body thenceforth to go groveling upon the earth Even as the despoiling of the nature of man of the inward indowments of perfection is by the same sacred trope insinuated by his outward nakednesse that is the obsruration of that glorious and celestiall beauty which he had before his sin The difference whereof was so great that he could not endure afterward to behold himself any more but sought for a covering even to hide himself from himself And now I come to the second particular Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life The coursest diet that any living creature hath allowed him None of the beasts of the field with whom he is compared are thus poorly provided for nay not any other unlesse the base earthworm not worthy to be named among the creatures Even with this vilest of creatures is now ranked that once so noble a creature the Serpent Which yet is not so to be understood as though the Serpent did not sometime eat something else for they sometime devour birds frogs and such like but that this is the ordinary fare which God hath provided him and if at any time he getteth any other he goeth beyond his limits Whence Esay 65. among the blessings of the new Jerusalem this is reckoned for one That the Serpent should eat dust that is be made contented with the diet God had appointed him and not to encroach upon the food appointed for others But why did God appoint him this food I answer
even to continue him in that accursed and vile condition to which he had dejected him For food is for the repairing and preservation of nature and the goodnesse and badnesse thereof doth make the temper of the body better or worse Hence according to the degrees of excellency in the creatures their food is finer or courser Plants suck the moisture of the earth beasts live most upon plants but man of the flesh of cattell fowl and fishes Since therefore the Serpent was to have no better fare then the dust of the earth as it argues the basenesse of his nature which can with such food be nourished so doth it necessarily imply his continuance in that his dejection and vilenesse whereas otherwise it were not impossible because his nature for the essence is still the same it was if his diet were as it had been for him to improve himself more near to his primitive temper then now he is But God who had decreed he should ever remain under this malediction appointed also the means to retain him therein VERSE 15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman c. THE third and last particular remains to be treated of I will put enmity between thee and the woman c. This no doubt intendeth in some things more directly the spirituall Serpent then the brute yet for the generall it may and ought as well as the rest to be expounded of the brute Serpent as a glasse wherein to behold the malice and destiny of the other the Devil It containeth two parts The Enmity and the Event and managing thereof For the enmity how it is verified concerning the brute Serpent experience telleth It is some part of the happinesse of the creature to be the favourite of man who is the Lord thereof what honour could betide it greater then this But between the Serpent and Man is the most deadly enmity and the strongest antipathy that is amongst the beasts of the field Such an one as discovereth it self both in the naturall and sensitive faculties of them both For the first their humours are poison each to other the gall of a Serpent is mans deadly poison and so is the spittle of man affirmed to poison the Serpent For the sensitive antipathy it appears in that the one doth so much abhorre the sight and presence of the other mans nature is at nothing so much astonished as at the sight of a Serpent and like enough the Serpent is in like manner affected at the sight of man And that more especially as the Naturalists affirm of a naked man then otherwise As though his instinct even remembred the time of his malediction when he and naked man stood before God to receive this sentence of everlasting enmity And whereas the words of the Text do in speciall point out the woman in this sentence of enmity the Naturalists do observe that is greater and more vehement with that sex then with the male of mankinde Insomuch that Rupertus affirmeth that if but the naked foot of a woman doth never so little presse the head of a Serpent before he can sting her both the head and body presently dieth which no cudgell or other weapon will do but that some life and motion will still remain behinde Hoc saith he ita est ipsorum qui per industriam exploraverunt fide relatione comperimus Lib. 3. de Trin. c. 20. You know my Author The remaining words of my Text do expresse the managing and event of this enmity which is far more dangerous and unlikely on the Serpents part then on Mans for man is able to reach the Serpents head where his life chiefly resideth and where a blow is deadly but as for the Serpent he shall not be able to prevail against man otherwise then privily and unawares and that but in his lowest part namely when he shall passe him unseen to sting him by the heel And that this is the nature of a Serpent it appeareth in the words of Dans blessing Gen. 49. Dan shall be a Serpent by the way an Adder in the path that biteth the horse heels so that his rider shall fall backward And to make an end of this discourse also it is a thing to be observed in the nature of a Serpent that assoon as he perceiveth man ready to throw or strike at him he will presently roul his body for a buckler to save his head even as though he had some impression of that doctrine which God here read him in my Text Ipse conteret tibi caput Beware thy head And thus hitherto I have considered these words as they are the curse of the brute Serpent now I am to go over with them again to shew how they are propounded unto us by God as a glasse wherein to behold the Devils malediction the Serpent being made now the discovery of his vilenesse which once he abused for a mask to hide it from the woman As therefore the Serpent is the most accursed of all the cattell and beasts of the field so is the Devil the most accursed spirit amongst all orders and degrees of spirits namely of the highest of Angels become the abjectest of spirits more base accursed then the most cursed damned soul having little or nothing left him of that good which was sutable to a spirituall condition and this is the state of the Devil for the generall answerable to that of the Serpent Now for the particulars The first is Vpon thy brest shalt thou go How doth this befit the Devil The Devil hath no bodily brest to go upon But as I shewed in the Serpent that this groveling signified the abasement of his whole nature from his primitive excellency so in the Devil it signifies his stooping down and falling from his most sublime and glorious condition A wonderfull stoop this was when that which had been advanced as high as heaven was made to fall down as low yea lower then the earth it self This is the Devils going upon his brest this the groveling of that once so highly reared posture according to that description of Iude ver 6. who cals them the Angels that kept not their first estate but left their own habitation agreeable to that of S. Peter 2 Ep. c. 2. v. 4. God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to hell The second particular is The dust of the earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life The food wherewith spirits are fed is analogicall spirituall and not corporall we must therefore here seek out that which in them hath the fittest resemblance with corporall food The life of Angels consists in the continuall contemplation of the excellent greatnesse wonderfull goodnesse and glorious beauty of the essence of God both as it is in it self and as it is communicated unto his creatures This is that which our Saviour intimates Mat. 18. 10. Their Angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven The
saith the Lord of Hosts Ibid. Oportet nos oblationem Deo facere omnibus gratos inveniri Fabricatori Deo Primitias earum quae sunt ejus Creaturarum offerentes hanc oblationem Ecclesia sola puram offert Fabricatori offerens ei cum gratiarum Actione ex Creatura ejus In the same place Offerimus autem ei non quasi indigenti sed gratias agentes Dominationi ejus sanctificantes creaturam He alludes again to that in this Chapter of Malachi Si Dominus sum ubi est timor meus O sacerdotes qui offertis super Altare meum panem pollutum My next witnesse shall be Iustin Martyr in time elder then Irenaeus He in his Dialogue with Tryphon the place defore alledged telling the Jew that the Sacrifices of Christians are Supplications and giving of Thanks Has vero solas saith he facere Christiani traditione acceperunt in commemoratione Alimoniae suae aridae juxta liquidae in that thankfull remembrance of their food both dry and liquid in qua passionis quam pertulit per se ipsum Dei filius memoria celebratur Here is a twofold commemoration witnessed to be made in the Eucharist The first as he speaks of our food dry and liquid that is of our meat and drink by agnizing God and recording him the Creator and giver thereof The second of the passion of Christ the Son of God in one and the same food And again in the same Dialogue Panem Eucharistiae in commemorationem passionis suae Christus fieri tradidit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. ut simùl gratias ageremus Deo cum ob id quod mundum cum omnibus in eo Creaturis hominis gratia condiderit tum etiam quod ab omni in qua fuimus miseria nos liberarit Principatusque ac potestates perfectâ dissolutione dissolverit per eum qui de consilio voluntate ejus factus est patibilis To which he immediately subjoins the Text and applies it to the Eucharist Thus Iustin Martyr My third witnesse is Origen in his VIII Book Contra Cels. Celsus saith he thinks it seemly we should be thankfull to Daemons and to offer them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but we think him to live most comely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that remembers who is the Creator unto whom we Christians are carefull not to be unthankfull with whose benefits we are filled and whose Creatures we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is And we have also a Symbol of our thanksgiving unto God the Bread which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where note that the Eucharisticall Bread is said to be a Symbol not onely of the Body and Blood of Christ but a Symbol of that Thanksgiving which we render to the Creator through him Again in the same Book where Celsus likewise would have mankinde thankfull unto Daemons as those to whom the charge of things here upon earth is committed and to offer unto them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Primitias supplicationes Origen thus takes him up Celsus Deum nesciens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persolvat Daemonibus nos mundi Creatori placere studentes or gratum facientes Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Panes cum gratiarum actione precibus pro datis oblatos comedimus Corpus sanctum quoddam per precationem factos Mark here Bread offered unto God with Prayer and Thanksgiving pro datis for that he hath given us and then by prayer made a holy Body and so eaten Thus much out of Fathers all of them within lesse then two hundred and fifty years after Christ and lesse then one hundred and fifty after the death of Saint Iohn The same appears in the forms of the ancient Liturgie as in that of Clemens where the Priest in the name of the whole Church assembled speaks thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Offerimus tibi Regi Deo secundum ejus id est Christi ordinationem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hunc panem hoc poculum gratias tibi agentes eo quòd nos he speaks of the whole Church dignos fecisti astistere in conspectu tuo fungi sacerdotio tibi Rogamusque te ut benignè aspicere digneris super haec dona proposita in conspectu tuo Tu qui nullo indiges Deus complaceas tibi in ipsis in honorem Christi tui c. Again Pro dono oblato Domino Deo oremus ut bonus Deus suscipiat illud per intercessionem Christi sui in coeleste Altare suum in odorem suavitatis Yea in the Canon of the Roman Church though the Rite be not used yet the words remain still as when the Priest long before the Consecration of the Body and Blood of Christ prays Te clementissime Pater per Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum supplices rogamus ut accepta habeas benedicas haec dona haecmunera and other like passages which now they wrest to a new found oblation of the Body and Blood of Christ which the ancient Church knew not of But of all others this Rite is most strongly confirmed by that wont of the Ancient Fathers to confute the Hereticks of those first times who held the Creator of the world to be some inferiour deity and not the Father of Christ out of the Eucharist For say they unlesse the Father of Christ be the Creator of the world why is the Creature offered unto him in the Eucharist as if he were would he be agnized the Author and Lord of that he is not Here Ireneus Adversus Haeres lib. 4. cap. 34. Haereticorum Synagogae saith he non offerunt Eucharisticam oblationem quà m Dominus offerri docuit Alterum enim praeter fabricatorem dicentes Patrem ideo quae secundum nos Creaturae sunt offerentes ei cupidum alieni ostendunt eum aliena concupiscentem and a little after Quomodo autem constabit eis eum panem in quo gratiae actae sunt Corpus esse Domini sui Calicem sanguinis ejus si non ipsum Fabricatoris mundi filium dicant id est verbum ejus per quod lignum fructificat defluunt fontes terra dat primum quidem gramen post deinde spicam deinde plenum triticum in spica From the same ground Tertullian argues against Marcion contra Marc. lib. 1. cap. 24. Non putem saith he impudentiorem quam qui in aliena aqua alii Deo tinguitur ad alienum Coelum alii Deo expanditur in aliena terra alii Deo sternitur super alienum panem alii Deo gratiarum actionibus fungitur de alienis bonis ab alium Deum nomine eleâ—mosynae dilectionis operatur Origen against the same Heretick useth the same Argument Dialog Advers Marc. 3. paulo ante finem Dominus aspiciens in coelum gratias agit Ecquid non agit conditori gratias cum panem accepisset poculum benedixisset quid alterine pro Creaturis conditoris benedicit an potius