Holy Ghost whereby the believer giveth his assent or credence unto Gods holy word and doth apprehend and apply to himselfe in particular as well the Originall promise as also all other promises of the saving good will and grace of God in Christ the promised seed to his glory and to the salvation of his own soul The efficient cause of which justifying faith primarily is God himself The efficient of justifying faith who is one divine essence distinguished into three persons the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost for faith is the gift of God as St. Paul saith Unto you it is given in the behalfe of Christ not onely to believe on him Phil. 1.29 but also to suffer for his sake Yet so as that instrumentally it is either internall or externall The internall is the Holy Ghost by his speciall working the shining of God in our hearts whereby faith is begotten in us 2 Cor. 4.6 while that he doth dispose our understanding to the saving knowledge of Christ and moveth our will to give assent and adhere thereunto The externall is the administration of the Gospell in the dispensation of the Word and Sacraments whereby the Holy Ghost doth ordinarily forme and confirm the work of faith in us although it must not be denyed that for the liberty of the power of his will God without the use of this ordinary meanes when and where he shall so please doth beget and work faith in the hearts of men Rom. 1.16 I am not ashamed of the Gospell of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greeke 17. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written The just shall live by faith The matter of faith The matter of Faith if considered subjectively the proper subject thereof is the understanding and will of man so farre forth as each faculty is regenerate by the supernaturall grace and power of the Holy Ghost whereby the understanding discerneth those supernaturall benefits of faith offered in Christ to be true and the will applyeth them assuredly as good and saving O fooles and slow of heart of understanding and of will to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Luc. 24.25 But the matter of faith considered objectively in respect of the understanding is divine verity and in respect of the Will the sole singular grace of God promised in Jesus Christ both which are contained and circumscribed in the written word of God all which and onely which faith respecteth and embraceth as its adequate object and therein Christ crucified as its principall first and proper object Let us draw neare with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evill conscience Heb. 10.22 23. and our bodies washed with pure water Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithfull that promised The matter of faith in respect of the parts of it The matter of faith in respect of the parts thereof are diversly considered as well in regard of the subject as of the object For in respect of the understanding and divine will it is knowledge and assent knowledge whereby a man understandeth the whole word of God according to the principall heads thereof for the measure of grace revealed Assent whereby a man taketh it for granted and is firmly perswaded in his heart that all those things which he knoweth out of the Law and the Gospell are so certainly true that in them as in divine truths is setled rest to be found Rom. 7.16 I consent saith the Apostle unto the Law that it is good In respect of the will of man the principall and primary part of faith is confidence which is a most firm perswasion of the heart whereby all the faithfull doe appropriate the generall promise of Grace to themselves in particular Which confidence produceth a two-fold effect whereof the first is a sure ground or foundation upon which a mans faith standeth in opposition of all dangers internall and externall The second is a full trust in God S. Mat. 7.25 whereby a man doth depend on him that he may be saved It is the testimony of the Spirit which as St. Paul saith beareth witnesse with our spirit that we are the children of God Rom. 8.16 The forme of faith The form of faith consisteth in Relation whereby the believer doth apply unto himselfe the word of truth and the divine promises of the grace of God in particular So that look what the Scripture promiseth and propoundeth generally the believer appropriateth to himselfe by a firme perswasion As for example God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son S. Joh. 3.16 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And this is it which the Scripture speaketh in generall termes and was first spoken to Adam after his fall and is further spoken in all the old and new Testament which yet the believer appropriateth to himselfe God so loved me that he hath given his onely begotten Sonne that I believing in him should not perish but have everlasting life The finall cause of faith for the first and principall end of it The finall cause of faith is the glory of God the Author of our faith and the Redeemer of our Souls But the next or secundary end is out owne salvation which the scripture therefore calleth the end of our faith and the reward of it as the Apostle St. Peter sayeth 1 Pet. 1.9 Receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your soules Here note by the way Observation that faith towards God is one and yet divers One in the species for though there are many sorts of Christians yet there is but one Catholique faith for faith is species specialissima One in regard of the object for the thing believed is one and the same upon which ground St. Athanasius in his Creed doth conclude peremptorily This is the Catholique faith which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved And the scripture accordingly One Lord one Faith one Baptism Divers both in number and in degree Eph. 4.5 In number Every believer hath his own faith proper and peculiar to himself which is his own faith and is not the faith of any other In degree for faith is in some more in others lesse according to the measure of the divine grace of God There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If God so cloth the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more cloth you O ye of little faith But the woman of Canaan had a great faith S. Mat. 15.28 O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt Now this
be it the words signifie splendors and perfections vvhich thing hath given occasion to some to think that by the urim and thummim nothing else was meant but the forementioned rowes of pretious stones in the breast of the High priest they being the most splendent bright and perfect of all other But I rather think the Urim and Thummim vvhatsoever they were to be inserted within the pectorall which therefore and not to keep it from rending was duplicate and that they were placed in the pectorall over against the heart of the high priest for hitherto make the words of the text Exod. 28.30 Thou shalt put in the breast-plate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim and they shall be upon Aarons heart when he goeth in before the Lord. 4ly The plate of gold The plate of gold vvhereupon was engraven Holinesse to the Lord Saint Hierom thinks that nomen tetragrammaton which was ineffable to the Jewes to be graven upon that plate Epist 128. this was put upon a blew lace whereby it vvas made fast unto the mitre or cap upon the fore-front of the same So that although the mitre or cap were common to all the Priests yet was it the peculiar ornament of the High priest to be mitred with that mitre upon whose front was fastned by the blevv lace the golden plate with that mysterious inscription All the sacerdotall garments vvere made for glory and for beauty Exod. 28.2 namely to adorn and beautifie his priests in glorious splendent and beautious habit that so the people might have a more reverent regard of their persons whom God had honoured with so many peculiar vestes so rich so precious and think with themselves in vvhat Veneration they ought to have those holy things about vvhich their ministry vvas conversant But the mysterie was Christ The Mysterie of the garments of the high Priest there might they see him habited as his brethren in the same feminalls linnen coat girdle and cap and girded about with the same linnen Ephod All vvhich things did foretell him to be a proper or particular man and a perfect or very man They did preach Christ and that he should not take unto him the generall form or Idea of mans nature conceived in the minde nor the common nature of man as it is existing in every man but that he should assume the whole nature of man viz. a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting in one particular subject that he should be a true and perfect man in every thing that concerneth mans nature like unto his brethren that he should have the substance of a true body and of a reasonable soule that he should have all the proprieties of body and soul In body length breadth thickness circumscription dimensions in soul the understanding the will the affections also the faculties of seeing hearing smelling tasting feeling likewise of moving growing eating digesting sleeping all which was meant and intended by the parability of those garments whereby the Priest was nothing at all hindred from doing the duties of his function That such a Priest should come who should offer up the eternall sacrifice a full perfect and sufficient sacrifice oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world That like as the Priests were girded about with the white linnen Ephod even so tâ—at such a priest should be girded about with the generall infirmities of mans nature yet without the least spot of sinne And this with much more Mysterie was preached by those garments which the High priest had in common with the other priests But his peculiar Ornaments did set forth Christ in a more peculiar manner The rich and glorious robe of the Ephod did set forth Christ enrobed in the riches of all graces and of all vertues pomegranates and the bels the sweet sound of his Gospell and the precious fruit thereof The Ephod or superhumerall girt about him with the curious girdle and the two onyx stones upon his shoulders that it is he who is girt about with power that the government is upon his shoulder that he is able to save his people to the uttermost who are elect and precious as the precious onyxstones that he would bear them upon his shoulders and present them to his Father by making an eternall a gracious and efficacious intercession for them The rationall or breast-plate of judgement that it is he to whom it belongeth to give the righteous judgement the twelve precious pearls set in four distinct rows that he should be the God of order who would bear all his people in his breast and have the names of them there to remember every one of them to love and to cherish them as his own heart and to judge and avenge them in righteousnesse that like as the Urim and Thummim was put into the duplicate and thereby hidden so that it could not be seen Even so that the brightness and perfection of his Deitie should not be discerned by human eye being over-shadowed and obscured by his humanity And because inquisition was made at God by the Urim and Thummim thereby was most excellently set forth his propheticall office Finally the plate of gold whereupon was graven holinesse to the Lord did set forth his Kingly office and that such a one should be made of God both Lord and Christ that in his person the kingly and the priestly offices should be so consistent as to be bound together with such a bond of mediatorship betwixt God and Man as might never be dissolved 3ly Therefore to the Evangelical part of the Testament belonged all the Leviticall consecrations especially that of the High Priest Consecration of the high Priest who was annointed and consecrated with the holy annointing oyl and thereby set apart to his office and function The oyl was a most sweet confection of divers principall spices pure Myrrhe sweet Cinamon sweet Calamus Cassia and oyl Olive all pure and sweet it was reserved onely for Consecrations it was not lavvfull for any man to poure it out after the manner of other oyl upon his ovvn flesh in his frequent unctions neither might any one make or compound the like With this holy annointing oyl were the Tabernacle of the Congregation and the Arke of the Testimony and the Table and all his Vessels and the Candlestick and his Vessels and the Altar of incense and the Altar of burnt-offerings vvith all his Vessels and the Laver and his foot annointed and thereby consecrated to the end that after such an annointing they might be vvholly set apart to Gods worship and never return any more to common or ordinary use With the same oyl were Aarons Sons the Priests and Aaron himself the high priest annointed and consecrated as is fusely set down Exod. 29. 30. Levit. cap. 8. But Aarons consecration and therefore the consecrations of all the high priests in their several successions was in a more excellent manner for having on all the forementioned
divine mission that according to the prophecies of Isaias and Malachias by the preaching of repentance Concerning Saint Iohn's Preaching and Baptism and by the baptism of water he might prepare the waies of the Lord by disposing the hearts of men to receive Christ who was presently to be manifested to the world Such a preparation was to be made two manner of waies by preaching repentance for the remission of sins and by baptizing with water for the seal and confirmation of his doctrine Such as his preaching was such was his baptisme but his preaching was but a preparation to receive and entertain Christ therefore his baptisme was no other It was not a seal of the covenant therefore it was not a sacrament properly and for that cause it could not confer the grace of regeneration Yet was it preached for the remission of sins and was the Baptism of repentance because whom he baptized he taught to repent disposed and prepared them to receive Christ and his baptisme that so their sins might be remitted Saint John's baptisme was from heaven and therefore had its perfection for Saint John came not of himselfe but was sent of God to baptize S. Joh. 1.33 But Saint John was the institutor of his own Baptisme therefore his Baptisme was no Sacrament properly neither was grace conferred thereby for sacraments were not instituted by servants but by the Lord himselfe to him that made the world to him it belongeth to make the sacraments Saint John's Baptisme did not oblige to the participation but only from contempt all men were not necessarily to receive it though no man might contemn it quia contemnens consilium contemnit consiliantem he that contemneth the counsell contemneth him that giveth it therefore it was not a sacrament with promise of grace for such sacraments are generally necessary to salvation Finally it had not the form of words for Saint John did not baptise those whom he baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost forasmuch as some of them who were baptised by him had not so much as heard whether there be any holy Ghost It was personall to Saint John only while he lived neither had he any successour to baptize in that manner after he was dead Therefore it was not the Baptisme of Christ begun in his person howsoever necessary for the present time and that the waies of the Lord might be prepared by him And this which hath been laid down thus plainly and briefly concerning the Baptisme of Saint John Act. 19.2 is consonant to the doctrine of the learned fathers and school Divines S. Luc. 3.4 5 As Saint John was seriously employed crying out unto the people and saying in his doctrine Prepare the way of the Lord make his paths straight Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be brought low and the crooked shall be made straight 6. and the rough waies shall be made smooth And all flesh shall see the salvation of God And therefore exhorting and perswading them to fill up the lovv vallies and concavities of their hearts with all vertues to pull down the high mountains and hills of pride by humility to make straight the crooked waies of injustice by righteousness and to make smooth the rough waies of unjust and immoderate anger by meeknesse For that now said he Christ who is the salvation of God and bringeth salvation unto all the world is presently to shew himselfe that therefore they would hearken unto his doctrine and come unto his Baptisme that so they might be worthy to receive and entertain him I say as Saint Iohn was thus busied Saint John seeth the Pharisees and Sadduces at his baptisme and preaching and baptising he espied among the promiscuous multitude certain Sectaries called Pharisees and Sadduces the reader peradventure would know what they vvere The Pharisees professed themselves to be very skilfull of the law whereof they were great professours they had their name from the word Phares which signifieth Division for they had separated themselves from others The Pharisees for certain voluntary superfluities in religion which they had undertaken to hold The master of that sect is said to be one Aciba or Bar-Aciba They did not believe a Trinity of persons in the Unity of one Godhead They acknovvledged but one nature in the person of the Messiah They supposed the kingdome of the Messiah to be an earthly or worldly kingdome and of this world They knew nothing of internall obedience They held justification by legall works only And besides the vvritten lavv they had many unvvritten traditions of their ovvn vvhich they obtruded to the people for true godliness The Sadduces The Sadduces named themselves Sadduces à justitia from their justice for Sadoc signifieth a just man They held the same opinion vvith the Samaritans touching the resurrection and denyed it They did not believe that there be any Angells or Spirits They knevv nothing of the holy Ghost and being Iewes they complied vvith the Samaritans When therefore he savv these and knevv them to be such proud fastuous hypocrites vvho came thither out of pride and curiosity to deride his doctrine to despise his ministry and to question his authority S. Luc. 7.30 having no intention to be baptized by him as indeed they vvere not baptized he breakes out into this bitter commination S. Mat. 3.7 8 9 O generation of vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repâ—ntance And think not to say within your selves we have Abraham to our father for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham 10 And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewen down and cast into the fire 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance but he that commeth after me is mightier then I whose shoes I am not worthy to bear he shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire Whose fan is in his hand and he will thorowly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner but will burn up the chaffe with unquenchable fire Which commination taking a deep impression in the hearts of the people but not of the Pharisees and Sadduces they that is to say all the people crying out with one voyce asking him saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What shall we do then He answereth S. Luc. 3.10 and saith unto them He that hath two coats let him impart to him that hath none and he that hath meat let him do likewise 11 The Publicans The Publicans or customers who farmed and exacted the Roman imposts or customes who came not subtilly and in hypocrisie as the Pharisees and Sadduces did but to be baptized indeed thought themselves more particularly concerned and therefore
purge his temple and he manifested that his commission by the miracle which he did For what greater miracle then that one man with a little whip should drive out so great a multitude with the sheep and the oxen poure out the changers money and overthrow the Tables A greater miracle it was saith Origen then that whereby the water was turned into wine for so much as the matter of that miracle was inanimate Christ promiseth a sign but here the wits of many thousands are subdued by miracle But seeing they would not see that which was done before their eyes he tells them that he would shew them the greatest signe namely that when they should dissolve that Temple in three days he would raise it up Which when the Jewes heard and thinking that he had spoken of the inanimate temple they derided him as Theophylact observes telling him that the Temple having respect unto that very Temple in which they then were yet not as it was lately raised into that magnificent structure by Herod but as builded and in building by Zorobabel was forty and six years in building Herod indeed finished his wotk almost in three years nay in a year and six months saith Josephus having provided the materialls in six years and an half before But the Temple of Zorobabel was forty and six years in building 2 Chr. 36.22 Ezr. 1.1 or thereabouts if you compute from the first year of Cyrus when he began first to raign over the Persians although he could then decree nothing concerning the Jewes but not if you compute from the one twentieth year which was the first year of his raign over the whole kingdome he having then taken in Babylon and added it to his own kingdom when he made the proclamation for so you shall find but twenty four years from the going forth of the decree in that one and twentieth year and the Jewes licensed to return who presently in the seventh moneth set the Altar upon his bases and offered thereon the daily sacrifices to the sixth year of the raign of Darius in which year notwithstanding the seventeen years interruption by Cambyses it was fully finished But he spake not of that Temple the matter whereof was wood and stone but of his own body which properly is that temple in which the divinity it self dwelleth by the hypostaticall union a figure whereof was that materiall temple which the Jewes had And indeed had they dissolved that temple he could have raised it up in less then three dayes he could have raised it in a moment only by his word But because they dissolved this Temple the temple of his body he could not by divine dispensation raise it but in three days For the types and prophecies of the scripture must be fulfilled in him It was a parable which the Disciples themselves to whom he did not then nor afterwards expound it understood not till after his resurrection How be it at that feast he did many miracles and for those miracles sake many believed on him to whom being perswaded but only by his miracles he did not commit himself because he knew their hearts and that they were not firmly rooted and would peradventure fall off again Then answered the Jewes S. Joh. 2.18 19 and said unto him what signe showest thou unto us seeing that thou doest these things Jesus answered and said unto them Destroy this temple and in three dayes I will raise it up Then said the Jewes forty and six years was this temple in building 20 21 and wilt thou reare it up in three dayes But he spake of the temple of his body When therefore he was risen from the dead his Disciples remembred that he had said this unto them and they believed the Scripture 22 and the word which Jesus had said Now when he was in Hierusalem at the passeover in the feast day many believed in his name 23 24 25. Nichodemus when they saw the miracles which he did But Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men and needed not that any should testifie of man for he knew what was in man Among these Nichodemus a Ruler of the Jewes and a Master in Israel being attracted by those miracles which yet are not written was one but was desirous to be further confirmed by his heavenly doctrine for as St. Chrysostome saith They who are more gross are drawne by signes but they who are more rationall by prophecies or by doctrine Apud Aquin. in Catena He therefore came unto Jesus by night acknowledgeth him to be a master and his master and that he had by his miracles approved himself to be a teacher come from God Him Christ instructeth wonderfully concerning the necessity of regeneration of faith in his death concerning the love of God towards the world condemnation for unbelief As it is in the third chapter of the Gospell by Saint Iohn from the beginning of the chapter to v. 21. But our sacred History leaveth those things to expositers The paschall solemnities being ended Iesus came from Hierusalem into Iudea Christ cometh from Jerusalem into Iudea and baptizeth together with his Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and staying there some time with them but how long it is not mentioned he baptized saith the text as if it should say he baptized them For it is congruous that they who were to administer that great and venerable Sacrament unto others should first receive it themselves and how could they receive it but of Christ his own hands They being baptized by him baptized others for him and as his ministers in no other manner then they themselves had been baptized by him in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost This indeed is not expressed in the Scripture and I know that many grave and learned Authors both ancient and modern do dissent from this some thinking that he baptized none with his own hands some that he baptized only the Apostle St. Peter and by him the other Disciples some that he baptized all the Apostles but most probably after his resurrection our History is not to dispute these things severally I think it rightly deduced from the text that he baptized with his own hands his Disciples at that time in Judea where he then was though it be not literally expressed that he did baptize them no more then it is said particularly where whom or how he did baptize And this I thought good for the order of our History to premonish the Reader The Apostles themselves or as many of them as were called to be his Disciples for as yet they were not made his Apostles being first baptized then did he dispence his Baptism by their ministery unto others baptizing them also in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Whereupon much people came and were baptized of them in this manner And because the people magnified his
of Jordan S. Mat. 3.6 Act. 8.38 and that Saint Philip baptized the Eunuch in the same manner it is altogether as probable that those three thousand who were baptized by Saint Peter and the other Apostles in one day Act. 2 41. and that at Hierusalem were not dipped but sprinkled with water If any will object against the use of our Church which baptizeth by aspersion the custome of other Churches which baptize only by immersion let him learn to know that which Saint Gregory to Leander a bishop layeth downe as a rule In una fide nihil officit sanctae ecclesiae consuetudo diversa So long as the faith be one and the same a different custome bringeth to the holy Church no detriment at all The internall part The internal part or thing of the signe communiter is Christ for he is res sacramenti the thing exhibited in that sacrament and in every sacrament and that upon three principall respects 1st In respect of his person for Christus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ God and man is exhibited as well in regard of his divinity as of his human nature 2ly In respect of his merit in that the variety and utility of the death of Christ whereby he purchased life for us is propounded and confirmed 3ly In respect of his benefits for look what Christ had and what Christ did he setteth forth by his sacraments testifying by the visible signes that he had them and did them for us which benefits Saint Paul reduceth to foure heads wisdome 1 Cor. 1.30 righteousnesse sanctification and redemption But the internall part or thing of the signe properly is 1st The precious blood of Christ shed for the remission of sins whereby our souls and bodies are so clean washed from originall and all actuall sins that they shal never be imputed It is that blood of sprinckling Heb. 12.24 that speaketh better things than that of Abel Abels blood was vox sanguinum the voice of blood and it cryed aloud but it cryed for vengeance Eph. 1.7 not for remission of sins but the voice of Christ his blood is remission of sins 2ly The spirituall efficacy of the same blood whereby we are regenerate and born again by the mortification of the flesh and by the vivification or quickening of the spirit For these things doth God require by the very text and tenour of his covenant of all those who are initiated to Christ and consecrated and by the signe or seal of the covenant Rom. 6.3 4. do give their names to him 3ly That neer union and conjunction betwixt Christ and us whereby we are so joyned unto Christ and Christ to us that we have put him on Gal. 3.27 and are verily and indeed made partakers of his person of his merit and of all his benefits The analogicall and sacramentall relation The analogicall or sacramentall re ation betwixt the signes and the things signified consisteth in three things 1st In signification for by a most convenient proportion or similitude the water of Baptisme doth signifie the blood of Christ and the dipping of the person baptized into that water or the sprinckling of that water upon him the death of the old man by mortification of the flesh and the life of the new man by the vivification of the spirit And the communion of the Baptisme of the faithfull with Christ doth fitly set forth that neer conjunction which is betwixt Christ and them in that he also was baptized This is a new birth if we die unto sin which is signified and represented when we are dipped into the water or when the water is sprinckled upon us for then we are as it were laid into the grave and are given to understand that we die unto sin by vertue of Christ his death who was buried in the grave And if we live unto righteousnesse which is signified and represented when we are taken up from the water for then we do as it were rise out of the grave and are given to understand again that we live unto God by vertue of Christ his resurrection Hos 6.2 who was raised again from the dead upon the third day 2ly This analogicall or sacramentall relation consisteth in obsignation And that because as well the verity of that similitude which is betwixt the signe and the thing of the signe is confirmed as also because that the power and efficacy of them both in the lawfull use of that sacrament is assured by the seal For when the Eunuch said unto St. Philip See here is water what doth hinder me to he baptized Act. 8.36 to receive a full assurance by the seal St. Philip said If thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest 37. 3ly In Praebition For the things signified and represented in Baptisme the same by baptisme are made good unto the person baptized not by virtue of the outward act of baptisme ex opere operato but sacramentally and by faith 1. Because by that sacrament he doth exhibit them to the minds of those that believe as if they were visibly present And again because he doth thereby as by his own seale assure them that those things are certainly made good in the soule which are shewed and promised by the visible signe When they cryed out to the Apostle St. Peter and to the rest of the Apostles saying Men and brethren what shall we do St. Peter sends them away to the Sacrament of baptisme saying Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost Act. 2.38 Rebecca who was a type of the Church found Abrahams servant at the well of water and the Church it self as St Augustine saith found Christ at the sacrament of Baptisme The ends for which the sacrament of Baptisme was instituted and ordained For what causes Baptisme was ordained are either primary and antecedent or secundary and consequent The first respect our faith towards God the second our confession before men Upon the first respect the end of baptism is to signifie to seal to deliver in a sacramental manner the remission of our sinnes the benefit of our regeneration and our union with Christ I say first the remission of our sins for howsoever it must be affirmed that sinne for so the state of nature doth remain in those that have received remission of sinnes in baptisme as touching the matter the root and disease of sin like the head of an arrow sticking still in the flesh though the deadly wound be cured yet for the state of the person baptized it is taken away in as much as concerneth the guilt or forme of sin Act. 2.38 which is not imputed to the believer For baptisme is given for the remission of sinnes And is as Tertullian saith The ablution of sins which faith obtaineth sealed up in the Father the Son and the holy
they might touch if it were but the borders of his garment and as many as touched him were made whole All which in effect is also reported by Saint Matthew 56. S. Mat. 14.34 35 36. But Saint Iohn proceeds in the story cap. 6. setting down at large that Sermon of his wherein he reproveth the people flocking after him and all the fleshly hearers of his word preacheth unto them the bread which he will give telling that he is come from heaven and therefore that he is able to give such bread as can quicken the world even his own flesh and that himself is the bread of life to all that believe At which doctrin many of his Disciples were offended revolted from him and walked no more with him though he had told them that they should see by his ascension into heaven that he came down from heaven Yet the twelve would not forsake him because he had the words of eternal life and because they did believe and were sure that he is Christ the son of the living God Upon which confession of theirs made by St. Peter he intimateth the treason of Judas whom he saith to be a devill knowing that the devill would enter into him and put it into his heart that he should betray him About that time there came from Hierusalem into Galilee Pharisees and certain Scribes who observing the demeanour of Christs Disciples The Disciples eat with unwashen hands S. Mat. 15.2 and that some of them did sit down to meat and did eat with unwashen hands they took occasion from thence to fly upon Christ himself saying Why do thy Disciples transgress the tradition of the elders for they wash not their hands when they eat bread The Pharisees and all the Jewes had many washings and purifications by water superadded to those which Moses ordained as the washing of cups and pots and brazen vessels and tables to wash when they came from the market and to wash their hands before they did eat and such like they called these the traditions of the elders and did carefully observe them as necessary duties Traditions of the Pharises reproved and the neglect of them they utterly condemned Christ therefore defendeth his Disciples by reproving their hypocrisie whereby they laid aside the commandements of God for their traditions sake And by shewing wherein they did so For Moses said Honour thy father and thy mother and who so curseth father or mother S. Mar. 7.10 11. let him dye the death But ye say if a man shall say to his father or mother Corban that is to say a gift a gift devoted to the sacred treasury by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me Corban what it was he shall be free We read in the book of Kings that when Iehoash would repair the Temple which was then in decay 2 King 12.9 Iehoiada the Priest took a chest and bored an hole in the lid of it and set it beside the Altar That chest the Iewes called Corban a gift from the office which it had or use whereto it was put which was to keep and contain the money given towards the reparation of the Temple but the Greeks called it Gazophylacium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the treasure was kept there Howbeit under the second temple it was no more a single chest but a capacious building called the Treasury The tradition of the Pharisees therefore was S. Mar. 12 41 S. Luc. 21.1 that they who would give to the Corban and put in their gifts there should not be obliged to any other charity no not to the reliefe of their own parents by which tradition of theirs they made the commandment of God of none effect This offended the Pharisees but he regardeth not the offence which they took seeing they were justly reproved and were the blinde leaders of the blinde S. Mat. 15.13 14. v. 16 17 18 19 20. S. Mar. 7.18 19 20 21 22 23. who should fall into the ditch with those that were led by them And to the people he yeelded the reason of that which they reproved and again to his Disciples shewing the ground of the Pharisaicall washing to wit that meats otherwise defile the soul to be false Having thus shaken off the cavilling Scribes and Pharisees he went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon cities of Phoenicia in the tribe of Nepthali yet never subdued but alwaies inhabited by Gentiles He went thither to obscure himselfe for a time for Saint Mark saith that he entred into an house and would have no man know it but he could not be hid S. Mar. 7.24 The dauâ—hter of the Canaanitish woman healed For a certain woman who was a Greek or Gentile of the stock and progeny of the Canaanites came to supplicate him on the behalfe of her daughter grievously vexed with a devill the faith of which woman was notable for she came and fell at his feet freely acknowledging him the Messiah Have mercy on me O Lord thou son of David At first he seemed altogether to neglect her for he gave her no answer Then to reject her for his disciples besought him to send her away 3ly To excuse himselfe as being sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel And when she would not be so answered but still persisted to worship him and to cry unto him then fourthly he reproached her calls her dog and that it is not meet to take the childrens bread and to cast it to dogs That when she acknowledged to be true and yet beg'd the crumbes of his mercy then obtained she her petition S Mat. 15 28 S. Mar. 7.29 with that singular Elogium O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt For this saying go thy way the devill is gone out of thy daughter Being departed from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon he came unto the sea of Galilee S. Mar. 7.31 Concerning Decapolis through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis Which country took its name from those ten principall cities which were scituated in it That country I take it to be which the Scripture calleth Gilead and was a part of Galilee lying beyond Jordan towards the East and was so named of that heap of stones which Laban and Iacob made Gen. 31.47 48 Num. 32.26 Deut. 3 10.12 Josh 3.8 for a witnesse betwixt them and was given to the Reubenites and Gadites for their inheritance together with the halfe tribe of Manasseh Which those ten cities were from which that region took its name I will not contend there were many fair cities in that land At the request of the people of that place he healed a man that was deafe and had an impediment in his speech One cured that was deaf and had an impediment in his speech S Mar. 7.33 34 he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that could not speak but with great difficulty He cured him with greater ceremonie
be the Son of God The vail of the temple rent Having rendred his sweet soul into the hands of his most holy and most heavenly Father forthwith the vail of the temple which was a most beautifull wall of firm stone and of great strength which divided the holy from the most holy which was only pervious to the high Priest as hath been said before was rent in twain from the top to the bottom together with the hanging or vail which was hung before it being of blue and purple and scarlet Exod. 23.31 and fine twined linnen of cunning work and made with cherubims For by the death of Christ the gates of heaven figured by that vail were opened and the middle wall of partition between the Iew and the Gentile was broken down And forthwith the earth did quake The earth did quake not universally but in Iudea and about Hierusalem and by vertue of this earthquake the rocks did rent The rocks did rent not all the rocks of the world but some particular rocks in Iudea where the earthquake was And forthwith the graves did open The graves did open and many of the bodies of the Saints which slept arose from the sleep of death but came not out of their graves so as to appear to any till after his resurrection and then they went into the holy city Hierusalem so called in respect of the temple and divine worship yet fixed there S. Mat. 27.51 52 53. S. Mar. 15.38 S. Luc. 23.45 though otherwise it was a valley of slaughter a den of theeves and the place of dragons and there they appeared unto many that knew them therefore it seemes they were of those who had not been long dead From which holy city after his resurrection it is piously to be conjectured they went up with him into the holy and heavenly Hierusalem which is above that so he that came down alone might go up with company He carried the soul of the thiefe into paradise together with his soul he carried the bodies of the saints into heaven together with his body All these miracles attending his death to the end that he might be believed and confessed to be the Son of God The Centurions confession though the Iewes remained still blinded in minde and hardned in heart so as neither to have remorse of conscience for the perpetration of so great a wickednesse much less to believe in him whom they had crucified The Centurion and the soldiers that were with him who had divided his garments and cast lots for his vesture and were appointed to watch and to see the execution done taking notice of the miracles of the darknesse and of the earthquake and of the manner of his death that he cried with a loud voice whereby they perceived that he did not languish and that he bowed his head and gave up the ghost whereby they also perceived that his death was voluntary and that it was in his power to die when he pleased S. Mat 27.54 S. Mar. 15.39 S. Luc. 23.47 they were all exceedingly afraid and the Centurion for his part confessed him to be the Son of God saying Truely this was the Son of God An egregious confession of an heathen man extorted from him by fear but servile fear serves oftentimes to a good end for if right use be made of it it will bring a man to the chast fear whereby God is loved for his own sake Serviliter times formido est mali nondum dilectio boni sed time tamen ut ista formido custodiat te perducat ad dilectionem saith Saint Augustine excellently Thou fearest servilly it is the fear of that which is evill it is not yet the love of that which is good But yet fear notwithstanding that so this fear may keep thee and bring thee to the love of that which is good De verb. Apost Ser. 18. I cannot say that this Centurions name was Longinus though some contend to have it so the Scripture names him not nor any of the antient Fathers But I shall easily be induced to believe that he who first confessed him upon his expiration to be the Son of God received further grace at his hand to confess him by blessed Marâ—yrdome It was the parasceue or day of preparation and every friday was a parasceue The parasceue or day of preparation to the sabbath ensuing for upon that day they did prepare and make ready such things as they would eat upon the sabbath But that sabbath day was an high day as Saint John observeth for upon that day they would eat the passeover Wherefore because the law had provided concerning those malefactours that were hanged upon the tree that their bodies should not remain all night upon the tree but that they must in any wise be taken downe Deut. 21.22 23. and buried the same day and because it was then drawing towards the Evening of the sabbath which would then begin so soon as the sun was set therefore the Jewes came unto Pilate and besought him that their legs might be broken to the end that they might the sooner die the subpedaneous part of the crosse being by that means made useless to preserve their life longer in torment and that they might be taken away Pilate having given them leave so to do the soldiers came and brake the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified with him but seeing that Iesus was dead before they brake not his legs But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side and forthwith not without great mystery came there out blood and water Saint John testifieth that he saw it and thereunto applieth two places of Scripture the one taken out of Exodus cap. 12. v. 46. A bone of him shall not be broken S. Joh. 19.31 32 33 34 35 36 37. which was literally spoken of the paschall lamb but spiritually meant of Christ The other taken out of the prophecy of Zecharias Zech. 12. v. 10. who foretold it of Christ They say that the pericardium which is a skin or filme about the heart containeth in it clear vvater to cool the heat of the heart Colum de re Anat. lib. 7. If this be true it is likely that skin vvas then pierced Hovvever the blood and the water setting forth in a mystery the great sacraments of the Church are pregnant proofes of a true and not a putative death O mors unde mortui reviviscunt quid isto sanguine mundius quid isto vulnere salubrius crieth out Saint Augustine O death vvhereby the dead revive vvhat is more clean then this blood vvhat is more salubrious then this vvound When the even was come which was the fourth part of the artificiall day The history of his buriall Arimathea called the Even as hath been observed before and began from the ninth houre Joseph of Arimathea a city scituate sixteen miles from Hierusalem towards the north-west