taken from it Now did God make a Testament or bequest with Abraham and promised him therein that he would give him a seed in whom he and his children should be saved And the same salvation did he expresly appoint in one and not in many Wherefore wee must adde nothing unto Gods bequest seeing he hath promised vs salvation in Christ only and not in many that is to say in no creature not in our owne power and workes of the Law neither must wee thinke that the Law was afterward added to the intent as though Christ were not able to save us or as though we might obtaine salvation by our owne workes out of the Law For thus followeth it in Paul word to word This Testament I say which afore was confirmed to Christward is not disanulled or made of none effect by the Law which was given beyond foure hundred yeeres thereafter For if the inheritance begotten by the Law then is it not given by the promise But God gave it freely unto Abraham by promise These are Pauls words out of the which every man may understand that to the generation of man salvation is given only of the grace of God through the promise and through no deserving at all and that the law of the promise that is to say the bequest and Testament of God is nothing minished but that the summe remaineth without blemish namely that salvation is given us freely But here might one aske Seeing that the salvation is clearely enough expressed afore the Law and is ascribed only unto the grace of God why would God then adde the Law why was he not content with the Testament alone Therefore followeth it now in Paul Why then serveth the Law It was added because of transgressions till the seed came that was promised These are Pauls words which are thus to be understood The Law was not given because of the promise to make it of none effect and to teach that men are saved by workes and not through the grace and free liberty of God but it was given because of transgression that is to say because that the people of God in Aegypt had transgressed the way and truth of their Fathers and knew no more what was sinne right or unright wherein stood salvation or damnation for they were corrupt through the long dwelling among the Idolaters of Aegypt Therefore did God ordaine them the Law out of the which they might learne the will of God what sinne right or unright is and to know themselves to goe into themselves and to consider how that the holy workes which God requireth are not in their owne power for the which cause all the world have great need of a Mediator And thus the Law was given to further the promise namely that wee through the Law might be led only unto Christ For thus followeth it in Pauls words And it was given of Angels by the hand of a Mediator A Mediatour is not a Mediatour of one only but God is one Is the Law then against the promises of God God forbid Howbeit if there had beene given a law which could have given life then no doubt righteousnesse should come of the Law But the Scripture hath shut up all under sinne that the promise should come by the faith on Iesus Christ given unto them that beleeve Before faith came that is to say Iesus Christ in whom we beleeve we were kept and shut up under the Law unto the faith which should afterward be declared Thus was the Law our Schoole-master unto Christ that we might be made righteous by faith c. By these words of Paul may every man understand now for what cause the Law was given and how it is not contrary to the promise of the foresaid seed but rather bringeth us from our selves and from all creatures only unto Iesus Christ The Law therefore confirmeth the first promise concerning the blessed seed and teacheth that wee obtaine all salvation in him only Howbeit it is also a rule of our life informing us what wee ought to doe and what we ought to leave undone Yet on our side is all unfruitfull where faith is not But where faith is it ceaseth not through love to worke good according to the Law all honour and praise being referred unto God to men nothing but unperfectnesse God also among his people wrought many things whereby hee set the cause of Iesus Christ clearely afore the eies of the people as it is expressed afore by the Lambe of the Passeover Likewise is it where as Moses hanged up a Serpent in the wildernesse that all they which were stung and poisoned of serpents should behold the brasen serpent hanging and not die but be saved alive Wheras doubtlesse the outward beholding of the brasen serpent saved not them that were poisoned but it was God which would so declare that his Sonne should be hanged upon a crosse to the intent that every one which were poisoned and defiled by the old serpent and sinne should beleeve in the Sonne of God and live in him For so is it written Sap. 16. They had a token of health according to the commandement For who so converted was not made whole by the outward thing which he saw but by thee which art the restorer of health and Saviour of all And yet saith Christ more clearely Ioh. 3. And like as Moses set up the serpent in the wildernesse even so must the Sonne of man be lift up that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have eternall life And as touching this the holy Apostle Paul bringeth in another sentence 1 Cor. 10. and saith Brethren I would not haue you ignorant of this that our Fathers were all under the cloud and all passed thorow the sea and were all baptised under Moses in the cloud and in the sea and did all eat one spirituall meat and drinke of one spirituall drinke But they dranke all of the spirituall rocke that followed them which rocke was Christ Besides this if we consider the declaration of the lawes of the first Table which teacheth how we shall behave our selves right toward God to love worship and honour him to serve him and to cleave only unto him we shall finde in the same first Table the whole cause of Christ For all that afterward was ordained and appointed concerning the Tabernacle the Priesthood and the Oblations pertaineth to the summe of the first Table for as much as the Scripture and the mouth of God calleth it his law precept commandement use and statute ordinance and service And if thou aske How can God which is a spirit be served with outward visible and fleshly things as the foresaid ceremonies of the Iewes are I answer Such outward rites of the people of God were sacraments and tokens of heavenly invisible good things and were not the heavenly riches themselves Wherefore they neither served nor pleased God
Prophets prophesied of him before thus to become the salvation of all faithfull beleevers even the Lambe of God which hath beene sacrificed since the beginning of the world that is this is he whose power and deliverance hath cleansed all them that ever put their trust in God through the blessed seed Herein now is the right true salvation this is the summe of the right and perfect religion Who so perverteth this from him shall God turne himselfe who so addeth ought unto this to him shall God adde his wrathfull hand who so taketh therefroÌ„ his life shall God minish But blessed are they which walk in this simplicitie cleannesse and continue so unto the end even they that heare Gods word and doe thereafter whose onely hope is Iesus Christ This only true and ever during salvation would hee to bee shewed and declared to all nations which came to save all nations but he would it should be declared by the preaching of the holy Gospell and through the ministration of the holy Sacraments And therefore by his life time hee did chuse Apostles whom he received to bee witnesses of all his doctrine and miracles informing them diligently and held nothing backe from them For hee saith unto them Yee are my friends if yee doe all that I command you I will henceforth call you no more servants for a servant woteth not what his Lord doth But I have called you my friends for all that I have heard of my Father have I opened unto you Ioh. 15. But for as much as they yet lacked understanding and were forgetfull and had ever strange imaginations of the kingdome of Christ therefore when hee now ascended unto heaven hee charged them not to depart from Hierusalem but to wait for the Holy Ghost whom he also gave unto them upon the fiftieth day after his resurrection that is upon the tenth day after his ascension even the fifteenth day of May by the which Holy Ghost they being illuminate spake with all manner of languages and were mindfull of all that the Lord had commanded them afore For the Holy Ghost did not endue them with a new doctrine but it that the Lord had taught them out of the Law and the Prophets the same did hee bring to their remembrance and illucidate all things and printed them more clearly in their hearts For so saith the Lord in the Gospell The Comforter even the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance that I have said unto you Therefore so long as the Lord was with them and told them all the matter of his passion they were sorrie and could not beare away all that he said unto them But after that he was taken up from the earth into heaven he sent the Holy Ghost even him whom the Prophets also had before and that led them into all Christian veritie So when they were endued with the Holy Ghost they began according to the Lords commandement to preach in all the world the foresaid matter of salvation purchased and obtained onely by Christ and gotten by true faith For hee had said Goe your way into all the world and preach the Gospell unto all creatures Whoso beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved c. And therewith comprehendeth he both the points which the Apostles used and practised even the preaching of the faith in Iesus Christ and of the ministration of the Sacraments And how the Apostles doctrine was it is manifest out of the Acts of the Apostles But shortly and in a summe they preached amendment of life and remission of sinnes through Iesus Christ That is to say how that the whole generation of man lay in the dominion of the Devill and in the bonds of sinne cursed and damned but God had mercie on us all and sent his Sonne into this world to die and with his death to restore us unto life and to wash us with his bloud that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have eternall life All this declared they out of the Law and the Prophets and proved that Iesus Christ whom they preached is the blessed seed promised unto the fathers Whoso is desirous to have a perfect example of this declaration he findeth two Sermons of the famous Apostles Peter and Paul the one in the Acts of the Apostles the second chapter vers 14. the other in the 13. chapter vers 16. There doth the holy Apostle open the mysterie of our holy faith verie excellently declaring it from the time of Abraham unto David and from him unto Iohn the Baptist Thereupon sheweth he how Christ suffered died was buried and rose againe from death All this confirmeth hee with the Scriptures of the Prophets At the last he concludeth the Sermon after this manner Be it knowne unto you therefore ye men and brethren that through Iesus is preached unto to you forgivenesse of sinnes and that by him all they that beleeve are justified from all things from the which yee could not bee justified by the Law of Moses To this agreeth now also the sermon of Peter Yea all the Scriptures of the Apostles doe finally accord to the same effect Hereout also bring they the doctrine of repentance and amendment of life the rebuking of sinne consolations exhortations and drawing to all manner of good works that follow out of faith The speciall Sacraments which the Lord did chiefly institute and command the Apostles to practise in the Church are holy Baptisme and the blessed Supper of our Lord Iesus Christ Concerning the first hee saith thus To mee is given all power in heaven and in earth therefore goe your way and teach all people and baptize them in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost and teach them to keepe all that I have commanded you The other did hee institute at the last Supper For thus is it written in the holy Gospell When they were eating hee tooke bread and when hee had given thanks he brake it and gave them saying Take eat this is my bodie which shall be given for you this doe in the remembrâ—nce of mee So tooke hee also the cup when â—hey had supt and said Drinke yee all out of this this is my bloud of the new Testament which shall be shed for the remission of sinnes With such Sacraments through outward visible formes for our infirmities sake pleased it the Lord to shew and set before our eyes his heavenly and invisible grace not that we should continue still hanging in the visible thing but that wee should lift up our mindes and with a true beleefe to hold fast to print sure in our mindes to worship and to enjoy the things that faith sheweth us by the outward Sacraments With these outward Sacraments also hath it pleased him to open declare and shew unto us his grace and loving kindnesse Namely how
him onely calling upon him and honouring him according to his word casting away strange worshipping of God service of Idols that shamefull blasphemous and ungodly living Then sent he them his helpe and delivered them in his power by the ministration of his appointed Captaines And such warring delivering and punishing was no fleshly unfaithfull worke whom no man ought to follow as some being wrapped with the unstedfast spirit of the Maniches and Anabaptists doe meane For Paul expresseth cleerely And what shall I say of Gedeon Barach Sampson and Iephtha David and Samuel and the Prophets which through faith subdued Kingdomes wrought righteousnesse obtained the promises stopped the mouths of Lions quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the sword of weake were made strong became valiant in battell turned to flight the armies of the Aliants Heb. 11. All which works the holy Apostle praiseth and commendeth as excellent works of faith Therefore are they no works of the flesh neither is it now contrarie to the holy faith if Christian rulers deliver their innocent people whom God hath subdued unto them from wrongfull violence and defend their libertie righteousnesse house and land or punish the shamefull blasphemers Idolaters and persecuters of the holy faith and not suffer them to have all their malicious will Neverthelesse this must be done by them to whom God hath committed the sword For thus saith the Lord Who so taketh away the sword shall perish through the sword Matth. 26. But specially in the battels of Gods people and of the unfaithfull it commeth to passe and is expressely set before our eyes that God said to the serpent at the beginning Gen. 3. I will put enmitie betweene thy seed and the womans seed For the righteous are the seed of Christ the unrighteous and unfaithfull are the seed of the Devill Betweene these now see we great discord but specially this that the faithfull doe alway tread the serpent on the head though they themselves also be bitten in the heele For the right faithfull beleevers afore the birth of Christ in the time of the promise had no lesse trouble and persecution not onely because of sinne but also for righteousnesse and faiths sake than the faithfull after Christs birth in the time of grace and perfectnesse Therefore have they small knowledge of the doings of the faithfull which say that the people of old were a victorious people and governed corporally but that the people after Christs comming are borne to suffer and to no victorie or governance Neverthelesse in these wonderfull times in the which Gods people had no victorie and anon were subdued and oppressed the true faith continued upright and unblemished from Iosue forth throughout all the Iudges untill the time and reigne of David David also was a man that suffred much through divers and long trouble through miserable distresse and vexation and through sore persecution without ceasing being proved tried and provoked afore he was King Whereof the bookes of Samuel and the more part of the Psalmes beareth record But after that he was promoted unto the kingdom by God which said I have found a man after mine own heart he advanced set forth and magnified the true faith right diligently Here also to the honour of our Lord Iesus Christ will I shortly and by the way declare what knowledge and faith this noble King and Prophet had of our Lord Iesus This will I doe with the declaration of the 110. Psalme whose words are these The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy foot-stoole In the first verse David knowledgeth the persons in the holy Trinitie the God-head also and the eternall kingdome of Christ Thus likewise did our Lord Jesus Christ understand and alleage this verse in the Gospell Matth. 22. knowledging two of the Persons in the one only Godhead for he saith The Lord said unto my Lord. Now is it certaine and undeniable that hee which speaketh and he to whom ought is spoken are not one but two Persons Yet is there but one Lord and God and they both the Father that speaketh and the Sonne to whom is spoken are the Lord therefore are they one of one substance and being the very true God Neither is the Sonne lesse than the Father There can also none be a father except he have a sonne or a childe Now is the everlasting Father God therefore is the Sonne also everlasting There is also but one only everlasting without beginning Both the Father and the Sonne are eternall without beginning therefore are they one only true God with the holy Ghost Like as Iohn also saith In the beginning that is to say from everlasting was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God And immediatly thereafter saith he that the Word is Jesus Christ our Lord. For it followeth The Word became flesh Therefore doth David also call the Son of God specially his Lord saying The Lord said unto my Lord. And therefore calleth he Christ his Lord because hee confesseth and beleeveth that he is his very naturall Lord and God as Thomas also did knowledge My Lord and my God Ioh. 20. Afterward calleth he him his Lord because that after the nature of man he should be borne out of his loynes For thorowout all the Scripture is our Lord Iesus called the Sonne of David And thus doth David knowledge two natures in Christ the nature of God and the nature of man That the kingdome of Christ shall last for ever and that the kinde and nature of man shall be exalted aboue all heavens as Paul saith Hebr. 2. David testifieth with these words Sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy foot-stoole For Marke saith in the sixteenth chapter The Lord was taken up into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God Of this also finde we 1 Cor. 15.15 Now must he needs be very God indeed which reigneth for ever and to whom all enemies must be subdued yea cast utterly unto his feet Now followeth the second verse The Lord shall send thy mightie staffe out of Sion thou shalt be Lord even in the middest among thine enemies Here speaketh he of the preaching of the holy Gospell and how the world should be converted unto Christ and Christ to reigne in the middest of the world In the first verse is spoken of the eternall kingdome that he is very God living and reigning for ever not only in this time but also after this time eternally But here speaketh hee specially of the kingdome whereas hee reigneth here beneath through the Gospell For the Staffe the Scepter the Rod of Christ is the holy Gospell even the power of God which saveth all that beleeve Rom. 1.16 Which maketh Christs enemies friends and smiteth them downe that will not convert so that Christ hath dominion and
victorie even in the middest among his enemies It is he that with the spirit of his mouth slayeth the Antichrists This his word also and preachings of the Gospell came forth first from Sion or Hierusalem as Esay Micheas and Luke doe testifie Now followeth the third verse In the day of thy battell or armie shall thy people be well willing the dew of thy birth is unto thee in an holy maiestie out of the wombe of the cleare morning Herewith doth David describe the glorious and victorious faith of the Christian For when the Gospell is preached there ariseth a conflict betweene faith and infidelitie betweene the seed of Christ and the Serpent between idolatrie and true godlinesse And the unbeleevers persecute the Lord Christ in his members that is to say the faithfull but they are well content utterly to give over bodie honour and goods their bloud and life for Gods truths sake For the martyrs and they in the Primitive Church being gathered together of the Apostles and after the Apostles time have thus kept truth and faith toward the Lord Christ and were willing to die for knowledging him Afterward describeth he also in the foresaid verse the pure and holy conception and birth of our Lord Iesus Christ And this doth he with a goodly similitude and saith Thy birth shall be holy and very excellent not uncleane as the birth of other men For like as the dew out of the cleare heaven and out of the faire morning is borne as it were out of a mothers wombe even so also shalt thou be borne holy and cleane of an undefiled virgin Whereof thou findest more instruction Luk 1.31 The Lord hath sworne and it shall not repent him thou-art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech In this fourth verse describeth he the office of Iesus Christ how that he is ordained of God to be one only Priest for ever which should offer up himselfe for the sinne of the world and alway appeare in the sight of God the Father and to pray for us All this doth holy Paul declare at large to the Hebrewes in the 5 7.8·9 and 10. chapters And specially in this verse is grounded all that is read thorowout the Scripture of the merits of Christ of the forgiving of sinnes of righteous making of being Mediatour and that he alone is the only Salvation Advocate Satisfaction and Righteousnesse of the faithfull The Lord is at thy right hand he in the time of his wrath shall wound even Kings This fifth verse teacheth how God will ever more and more stand on his Sonnes side further his cause and bring downe and destroy those Kings Princes and Lords that will not amend and beleeve in Christ but will rather provoke his wrath than desire his grace Which thing Herod Nero Domician Maximine and Iulian have proved Yet followeth the sixt verse declaring the fifth He shal iudge among the Heathen and fill all full of dead bodies and smite the head on the wide ground Christ is also preached unto the Heathen and reigneth among them but many withstand Christ and them doth he judge And like as a King overcommeth his enemies with a battell and covereth the whole plaine with dead bodies visiteth also and smiteth the head of the warre and the head citie of the enemies Even so doth Christ to his enemies and destroyeth their power and kingdome All which things wee have seene in the old unchristian Empire of Rome and in many other potentates and powers But specially he breaketh the head of the old Serpent according to the promise Gen. 3.15 And at the last shall he come to judge the quicke and dead and destroy his enemies for ever Out of the brooke in the way shall he drinke therefore shall hee also lift up the head Finally and in the seventh verse he describeth the passion of Christ and his glorie In the way saith he that is in his life while he is in this misery He shall drinke out of the brooke that is he shall suffer and be overcome For to drinke out of the cup is as much as to suffer But to drinke out of the brooke is to be altogether full of trouble to be vexed and tormented without victorie and utterly to be overwhelmed with a brooke and strong streame of troubles Thus was it his minde to declare the Passion of Christ After the Passion followeth the glory with the Resurrection and Ascension Paul Philip. 2. speaketh of both and saith Christ humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Wherefore God hath exalted him and given him a name which is aboue all names c. Thus much be spoken of this Psalme and of Davids understanding which hee had of Christ Iesus and of the Christian faith Upon this I marvell if after so evident testimonies there be yet any man which perceiveth not that Davids faith and understanding of Christ was even one faith and understanding with the faith that we knowledge and say I beleeve in one God Father almightie c. as it is in the twelve Articles of the Christian faith For the holy Trinitie in one God-head doth he knowledge not only here but also in the 33. Psalme saying Through the word of God were the heavens made and all their power through the spirit of his mouth For certaine it is that there is but one only God maker of heaven and of earth but here is the Trinitie called Lord or God Word and Spirit Neither is there any thing in the Articles of the Beleefe concerning the God-head and Man-hood of Christ of his conception birth passion crosse and death of the resurrection ascension and judgement but it is cleerely comprehended here in this Psalme The articles of the holy Church of forgiving of sinnes resurrection of the flesh and an everlasting life are contained in this Psalme and are treated upon yet more clearely and with many mo words very substantially in other Psalmes of David Therefore had he our holy faith and knowledged the same was saved therein and of all holy men was called the Father of Christ with high commendation because of the promise that was made unto him Moreover all the holy Prophets following had respect unto David as to another Moses and tooke many things out of his writings For there is scarce any other that so clearely wrote of the cause of Christ as this Prophet David and therefore hath he honour and praise aboue other in Israel Of whom thou readest also Eccles 47.2 Such faith and confidence in God through Iesus Christ had David out of the holy Ghost and out of the doctrine of his Prophets Samuel Nathan and Gad and of other his Priests which also had the same of God and of the holy Fathers specially of Moses And no doubt hee desired the honour of God and of his Sonne not to keepe it only himselfe but also much
rather to require it of all his people Wherefore no doubt he set up and furthered this his faith and religion among all his men of warre kinsfolke in all his court dominion before the whole congregation and all his kingdome so diligently earnestly and fervently that afterward certaine hundred yeeres they which beleeved right and lived well were praised for walking in the waies of David their Father They also that did evill set not forth the true faith of them is it written they walked not in the waies of David their Father Of this hast thou many examples in the bookes of the Kings and in the Chronicles Many things also were forgiven the Kings and all the people of Iuda for Davids sake that is for the promise sake made unto David even for Iesus Christs sake whom Ezechiel calleth David In the first booke of the Kings the fifteenth chapter it is written thus The heart of Abia was not right toward his Lord God as was the heart of David his father And for Davids sake did the Lord give him a light at Hierusalem so that at Hierusalem he set up his sonne and preserved him For David did that that was right in the fight of the Lord and all the daies of his life did not he shrinke from any thing that he commanded him except in the matter of Vrias the Hethite Thus readest thou also of Ezechias 2 Reg. 18. Afore Iosias was there no King that was like him which turned himselfe so unto the Lord with all his heart with all his soule and with all his power according to all the law of Moses And afterward came there none like him But in the second booke of the Chronicles the 34. chapter standeth the declaration of the foresaid place after this manner Iosias reigned at Hierusalem one and thirtie yeeres and did that which pleased the Lord and walked in the waies of his Father David and declined neither to the right hand nor to the left For in the eighth yeere of his reigne while he was yet but young even sixteene yeeres old hee began to seeke the God of his Father David Thus much be spoken concerning this that Israel and all the vertuous Kings of Iuda trusted unto Christ and not to the Law of Moses Who so desireth the number of the yeeres he findeth 1 Reg. 6. even 480. yeeres from the departing out of Aegypt untill the fourth yeere of the reigne of Salomon And from that time untill the captivitie of Babylon are reckoned 419. yeeres or thereabouts All together make 899. yeeres CHAP. IX All holy Prophets doe point unto Christ and preach salvation only in him SOmewhat yet will we now declare further concerning the times of the Kings of Iuda and Israel which in a manner were even as the times of the Iudges of Israel For like as in the first yeeres of Iosue God gave great victorie and honour and afterward rest and peace Even so were the Israelites very victorious and triumphant under David and had great rest and peace under Salomon But like as after the death of Iosue the honour of Israel decreased and the departing away from God followed with one persecution upon another though in the meane time they had peace and deliverers as Othoniel Ehud Barack Gedeon Iephtha Sampson c. Even so did the worship of Israel decrease after Salomons time For the ten Tribes of Israel fell away from the house of David only Iuda and Bejamin held Salomons sonne Roboam for their King the other made Hieroboam King And so of one kingdome were made two the kingdome of Israel and the kingdome of Iuda The kingdome of Israel through the perswasion of Hieroboam chose them another manner of serving God Not that they utterly denied and refused the God of their Fathers but they served him after a strange heathenish manner of their owne imagining But afterward they fell the longer the more and further into grosse idolatrie so long till the Lord suffered them to be rooted out and carried away by the King of the Assyrians and scattered abroad among all the Heathen The kingdome and the Kings of Iuda were somewhat better howbeit they had some also which excelled the Kings of Israel and of the Heathen in ungodlinesse For they likewise went forth so long in unrighteousnesse till Nabuchodonosor the King rooted them out and caried them away unto Babylon But afore we see that there was a wonderfull combrance in the civill policie and in the religion Sometime was all righteousnesse and true religion opprest and violence and idolatrie used Sometime gat righteousnesse up againe and the right true faith had the victorie all unright and idolatrie being put downe This came to passe also in Israel under Helias and King Iehu Yet was the idolatrie and wrong rather punished than any amendment following Like as it came also to passe after the birth of Christ that there were vertuous Kings and Emperours which according to the prophecie of Esay in the 49. chapter verse 23. did all righteousnesse set up the faith of Christ and put downe all idolatrie Againe there came other that set up all unrighteousnesse and idolatry persecuted the truth and at the last receiued their reward convenient So weightie a matter is it to have good or evill Rulers But in these wonderfull alterations and thorowout all the time of these governances of both the kingdomes God alway sent his servants the holy Prophets to rebuke wrong and idolatry and to teach all righteousnesse and true serving of God And first after the time of David and Salomon under whom there was a great multitude of learned and holy Prophets for David also and Salomon were excellently endued with the spirit of wisdome and prophecie above other men these were the chiefe most famous and oldest Prophets of whom the Bible maketh mention with worship Semeias which lived under Roboam King of Iuda Ahias the Silonite under Hieroboam Azarias the sonne of Obed which lived under Asa King of Iuda and Iehu the sonne of Anani whom Baasa the King of Israel slew Helias the great Prophet and Micheas the sonne of Iema lived under Achab and Iosaphat Now like as in the time of David there was a great number of learned men even so testifieth the second booke of the Chronicles in the 17. chapter that in the time of Iosaphat there were many learned Levites and Prophets Heliseus was in the time of King Iehu and Zacharias the sonne of Ioiada was under Ioas under whom also he was stoned Neverthelesse we have no bookes written and set forth by these only we have the prophecie of Abdias which wrote his prophecie under Achab. Afterward under Vzzia Iothan Achas and Ezechias Kings of Iuda lived the most part of them whose bookes are abroad For under these preached and wrote Ionas Oseas Isaias Ioel Nahum Amos and Micheas Afterward under King Manasses wrote Abacuck Vnder the holy King Iosias wrote Sophonias
forth children Subjection also and service with feare and obedience which she oweth to the man To man hee enjoyneth labour for the Lord cursed the earth and said With sorrow shalt thou get thy living all the dayes of thy life Yea in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread Moreover he layeth temporall death upon them both and saith Earth thou art and to earth shalt thou returne Of the first doth Paul speake also 1 Tim. 2. The woman shall be saved by bearing of children if she continue in faith and in love and in holinesse or cleannesse and nurture Of the second speaketh the same Paul likewise to the Ephesians and Thessalonians Let no man undermine or deceive his brother in occupying and who so hath used falshood and deceit let him doe it no more but let him rather labour with his hands some honest thing that he may have to distribute unto such as have need And as touching death Paul also saith to the Hebrewes in the ninth Chapter How that it is appointed unto men once to die and that even so Christ Iesus was offered up and died once for all CHAP. IIII. Of the first faithfull Christians ADAM and EVE ANd hitherto I trust we have had in the first promise of God the foundation and the whole summe of our holy Christian faith namely that the whole generation of man was but lost through his owne fault and wickednesse and fallen into death and damnation so that there remaineth nothing in man but it is displeasant to God Hereof commeth it that there is nothing to be ascribed unto the power and deserving of man save sinne and malediction But God of his abundant mercy had compassion on us and of very grace promised he life unto us againe in his Sonne our Lord Iesus whom he would to become man and to suffer death in his flesh that thereby hee might tread downe the devill death sinne and hell Item he would put enmitie betweene the womans seed and the serpent that is he would endue us which are the seed that is to say the children of Adam if wee beleeve with another heart and power that we might become enemies unto the devils workes resist his suggestion and hold our selves fast by the blessed seed labouring and suffering whatsoever God enjoyneth us to worke and suffer Who is it now which seeth not herein all that is written in the whole Scripture of beleefe of love and innocencie that is to say of a Christian life and faith Who so is disposed let him looke upon the 2.3 and 4. chapters of Paul to the Romanes the first and second to the Ephesians let him compare those chapters toward this summe and he shall finde it none otherwise For as much then as Adam and Eve had faith in God and stood so toward God that they knowledged themselves to be sinners and trusted to be saved only through the blessed seed giving themselves over willingly into the discipline and nurture travell and trouble of this time No man can say contrary but it followeth that our first elders were Christians Neverthelesse we will declare the same yet more clearely by Moyses words following And Adam called his wife Heva because shee should be the mother of all living For as soone as he was now strengthned through the promise of God and beleeved that hee and his posteritie which else were children of wrath of the devill and of death should live through the blessed seed he turned his wives name and called her Heva for the remembrance of the matter and practising of his faith for he beleeved that shee now living in the power of the blessed seed should bring forth not only quicke men temporally as pertaining to this naturall life like as we call other creatures living but living that is to say children of salvation For Adam had lost eternall life from himselfe and from us his posteritie but the same is given unto us againe through Iesus Christ our Lord. Adam for as much as he beleeved changed his wives name like as we finde that for great weighty causes the names of certaine places cities and men were changed Thus was Iacob called Israel Simon Peter Luthz Bethel Eve had now a name of life for Haiah in Hebrew is as much to say as Life Afore was shee called Ischa that is to say Woman because shee was taken from out of the man which in the Hebrew is called Isch Gen. 2. And thus it is manifest what faith Adam had whereby we may well suppose that Eve had none other faith But God used his mercy and loving kindnesse yet furthermore even in the mids of all correction for when he would now expell man out of paradise into miserie he doth unto him in every condition even as a faithfull father which for some misdeed putteth his sonne away from him notwithstanding leaveth him not utterly comfortlesse but provideth him a garment and comforteth him with friendly words and then first sendeth him away from him Even thus doth God the father of heaven also For first he cloatheth Adam and Eve against the frost and tempest of weather in as much as by the meanes of sinne the weather the earth the aire and all creatures were no more so subject tame and obedient unto man as they were afore the fall Therefore even now at this present time whatsoever inconvenience and harme is in the good creatures of God it commeth by the meanes of our sinnes Afterward doth the Lord comfort the miserable wretched man with very loving words after this manner Behold Adam is become like one of us or Loe Adam shall be as one of us and it shall happen unto him as to one of us and he shall know good and evill This doth God speake which is one in substance and three in persons he prophesieth here unto Adam that he shall know or have experience of good and evill that is to say that upon earth he must feele prosperitie and adversitie miserie and trouble sowre and sweet and must suffer necessitie paine and affliction Yet in all this must he be constant and patient forasmuch as nothing shall happen unto him save even the same that shall happen to one of them And he meaneth the Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ the second person in the holy Trinitie With this his passion and through the same doth he comfort Adam As though he would say let the paine sorrow and trouble which thou must suffer upon earth not vex thee and consider that one of us also shall take upon him the kinde and nature of man and that the serpent as it is said afore shall tread him on the heele that is to say he shall die he shall be opprest and have much affliction and trouble all the daies of his life In the same meaning also did the holy Apostle Peter say Christ suffered for our sakes and gave us an example that we should follow
whom they have taken their name The Law also was given 430. yeeres after the promise as Paul made the reckoning Gal. 3. It followeth therefore that our Christian faith is 2048. yeeres elder than the Circumcision and 2449. yeeres elder than the Law the Priesthood and ceremonies of the Iewes For from Adam unto the Floud were 1656. yeeres And from the Floud untill the departing of Abraham out of Caldea 363. yeeres From that time are reckoned 430. yeeres untill the departing of Israel out of Aegypt And on the 50. day after the departing was the Law given unto Israel upon Mount Sinâ— Exod. 19.20 And after certaine daies was the Priesthood and ceremonies appointed them Whereas God then made a covenant with Abraham when he ordained the Circumcision it serveth more to the confirmation of our holy Christian faith than to the maintenance of the Iewish ceremonies Isaac and Iacob were Abrahams children not only after the flesh but also after the spirit For they had the saith of their father and grandfather Abraham put their trust only in God through Iesus Christ and lived a sober and vertuous life Of this doth the Scripture beare them record thorowout Yea Iacob whom the Lord also called otherwise Israel of whom afterward all the people of God received the name Israel had many visions of the Lord Christ as with the ladder that stood upon the earth the top reaching to heaven on the which the Angels of God went up and downe For herewith was represented unto him the Lord Iesus which is the way unto heaven the truth and life without whom no man commeth unto the Father Upon the vision of Iacob saith he also himselfe Iohn 1. Verily I say unto you henceforth shall yee see the heaven open and the Angels of God going up and downe upon the sonne of man And so constant was Iacob in remembring the same that afterward at the commandement of the Lord he set up in the same place an Altar no doubt as it is said before for a figure of the crosse and sacrifice of Christ and there honoured he and worshipped the Lord he commanded all his people also that they should forsake strange gods and give him the Idols that they had brought with them out of Mesopotamia and he buried them under an Oke that stood beside Sichem Gen. 35. And when he would now die he prophesied very clearely of the Lord Christ how he should be borne out of the kinred of Iuda and that hee should be borne the same time that the kingdome should be taken from Iuda Which thing also came to passe in Herods time For in the 32. yeere of the reigne of Herod was CHRIST borne at Bethleem in Iewry Whereof the words of Iacob are these The scepter shall not be taken away from Iuda nor a Ruler from his feâ—t till Schilo come that is to say the Saviour and he in whom all nations shall be blessed and the people shall fall unto him This stedfast faith of Iacob did Ioseph follow also which mortified his owne flesh declared patience in adversitie and prison and exercised great justice and equitie in his governance He was a figure of our Lord Iesus Christ who also being sold of his owne unto the Heathen preserved his brethren alive So that from the beginning of the world untill the death of Ioseph the right Christian faith endured 2300. yeeres And thus all holy Patriarks before the Law were sawed not through the Law nor by their owne strength and deserving but through the blessed seed our Lord Iesus Christ CHAP. VI. The law of God given by Moses leadeth unto Christ and maketh mention of all his doings THe Israelites after the death of Ioseph untill their departing and deliverance out of Aegypt were in the land 140. yeeres And like as before in the time of Noe the dwelling among the wicked became occasion of falling unto the righteous Even so now did the Israelites learne idolatry and all unhappinesse of the Aegyptians For the which cause also they were sore oppressed a long season howbeit there remained yet many excellent men which kept still the old faith and hated the abhominations of the Aegyptians For of Moses which was borne 60. yeeres after the death of Ioseph saith Paul Moses through faith when he grew up and was great refused to bee called the sonne of Pharaos daughter and chose rather to suffer adversity with the people of God than to enioy the pleasures of sinne for a season and esteemed the rebuke of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt for he had respect to the reward Heb. 11. Now can no man desire to suffer with Christ except hee have knowledge of Christs suffering Therefore Moses in the midds of all persecution had knowledge of Christ and the faith in Christ So is there no doubt but more vertuous people had this true faith which were all oppressed and vexed in Aegypt like as afterward the right faithfull beleevers were somewhat more persecuted as among the heathen in the time of the Iudges and Kings of Iuda and Israel under king Antiochus under the Emperors Nero Traâ—â—nâ—s Domitianus Maximianus Iulianus and other As for the unbeleevers they in such miserable times received the reward of their unthankfulnesse disobedience idolatry and blasphemie But when the appointed time came which God had foreseene opened unto Abraham Gen. 15. he brought the people of Israel by Moses out of Aegypt with and through great wonders and tokens By the which he first declared his power then his loving kindnesse and mercy toward his owne and his terrible justice and vengeance against his enemies whereby all the world might know that there was none other just and true God save the God of Israel in whose hand only consisteth all things which also of his meere mercie preserveth his owne and with right judgement rewardeth his enemies Specially this is most wonderfull that in this great businesse and worke hee hath so mightily set forth the redemption performed by our Lord Iesus Christ yea and expressed it to be a very mighty redemption For the same night when they should depart away and be dispatched in the morning the Lord commanded them to kill a lambe and with the bloud thereof to sprinkle the doores and posts of the house So when the Angell that in the same night slew the first borne of the Aegyptians saw the bloud hee should doe no harme and slay no man therein Exod. 12.3 Now testifieth Paul 1 Cor. 5.7 that Christ Iesus is our Easter Lambe and Passeover So saith Saint Iohn Behold the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world Therefore were not the Israelites spared because of the bloud of beasts but for the blouds sake of the blessed seed that was promised for to come And thus the whole deliverance out of Aegypt was a figure of the true redemption by the which we