euerywhere The Lord our God is but one God and in the middes of all the rout that barketh and byteth at her on all sides cryeth out coragiously All your Godds are but error and vanitie Therefore without staying vppon the others which are not worthie so much as to be looked on wee will procéede to that onely one Religion which alonly in trueth professeth the true way and the knowledge of the place whereunto wee would come Now to shewe the way the end whereto it leadeth must be knowen and the end which all of vs tend vnto is a happy lyfe And to leade a happy lyfe is to liue in God who is the very happinesse it self And the same God as I haue made the heathen-men themselues to confesse is but one The Religions therefore which were not the liuery of that but of many cannot bring vs too the happynes which we séeke for it is but one and to be had at the hand of that one Which then is the one Religion that shall leade vs to the one God Shall we séeke for it among the Assyrians They worshipped as many Gods as they had Townes Among the Persians They had as many Gods as there be Starres in the Skye and Fyres on Earth Among the Greekes They had as many Gods as they had fancies Among the AEgiptians They had as many Goddes as they sowed or planted Fruites or as the Earth brought foorth fruites of it selfe To be short the Romanes in conquering the worlde got to themselues all the vanities in the Worlde and they wanted no wit to deuyse others of their owne brayne What shall it auayle vs to aske the way of these blynd Soules which go groping by the Walles sydes and haue not so much as a Child or a Dog to leade them as some blynd folk haue but catch hold vnaduisedly of euery thing that comes in their way But yet among these great Nations we spye a little Nation called the people of Israel which worshippeth the maker of al things acknowledging him for their Father calling vpon him alone in all their néedes as for al the small account that others made of them abhorring all the glistering gloriousnes of the greate kingdomes that were out of the way It is in the Religion of this people and not elsewhere that that we shall find our sayd former marke And therefore we must séeke it onely there and leaue the damnable footsteppes of the rest as being assured that wee may more safely followe one man that is cléeresighted than a thousand that are blind For what greater blindnes of mynd can be than to take the Creature for the Creator a thing of nothing for the thing that is infinite Now that the people of Israell worshipped the true GOD in such sort as I haue described him the continuance of their whole Historie sheweth well ynough All men knowe in what reuerence the Byble hath bin had in all times among the Hebrewes And if any man doubt whether it be Gods word or no that is a question to be decyded otherwise But yet for all that it is out of all doubt that the Hebrewes themselues tooke it to be so and that wee cannot better iudge of their Beléef and Religion than by the Scriptures for the which they haue willingly suffered death And what els doe those Scriptures preach from the first word of them to the last than the onely one God the maker of Heauen and of Earth As soone as you doe but open the Byble byandby ye sée there In the beginning God created the Heauen and the Earth At the very first step in at the gate of that booke it excludeth al the Godds made or deuised by man frō that people to the intent to kéepe them wholy to the true God that created man Open the booke furtherfoorth at all aduenture whersoeuer you list and frō lyne to lyne you shall méete with nothing but the prayses of that God or protestations and thunderings against the strange Gods God made man excellent who for his disobedience is become subiect to corruption Who could punish and imprison such a substance but he that made it He founded the world and peopled it which afterward was ouerwhelmed by the flud and who could let the waters loose but he that held them at commaundement The people of Israell found drye passage through the Red Sea and who prepared them that way but hee that founded the Earth vppon the déepes Also the Sunne stoode still and went backe at the speaking of a woorde and of whose word but of his whose woord is a deede I dispute not heere as yet whether these things bee true or no but I say onely that the Hebrewes beléeued them yea and that they beléeued them in all ages and that they worshipped him whom they beléeued to be the doer of those things who certesse cannot be any other than the same of whom the first lyne of the booke sayeth That he made the Heauen and the Earth Aske of Iob who it is whome he worshippeth and hee will not say it is hee whome the inuention of the Craftesman or of the Imbroyderer or of the proyner of Uynes hath deuised nor that is sponne weaued or hamered nor that hath a Tayle cut with a Razor nor an Image turned arsyuersie nor some iuggling tricke to dazle childrens eyes withall for such as we shall see more plainly hereafter are the Goddes of the heathen but he will say it is the same GOD that founded the earth and stretched out his Metlyne ouer it which hath shet vp the Sea within doores and bounded the rage of his waues which made the light and the darknes which holdeth backe the Pleyads and vnbyndeth Orion which hath created the world and giuen vnderstanding to man It is he sayth Dauid which spreadeth out the Heauens as a Curtaine and maketh him Chambers among the the Waters which hath setled the Earth vppon hir Pillers and chaced away the Sea at one only threatning of his which maketh the Windes his messengers and the Elements his seruants It is hee sayeth Esay which is the first and the last His hand hath grounded the Earth and his right hand hath measured the Heauens As soone as hee called them they appéered together before him Heauen is his Seate and the Earth is his Footestoole Yea and besides all this Moyses will tell vs that streine we our selues to say what we can of him we can say no more of him but that it is he whose name is I am that I am euen he that alonly is of whom all things that are haue their being and in comparison of whom al things are nothing whom neither words nor workes can expresse onely in effect and yet infinite therewithall Some man will say it may be that this so greate a God voutsafeth not to stoope downe vnto vs but hath left the charge both of the world and of men to some Seruants of his whom it behoueth vs to
beléeue the things which they themselues did to be wondered at and woorshipped of the common people And thus much concerning their Gods in generall But if wee come to the particulars the matter will bee yet more cléere wherein I will bee as briefe as I can because it is a matter that is treated of expressely by others Among the innumerable rable of Gods they haue twelue of principall renowme whose names are comprehended in these two verses of Ennius Iuno Vesta Minerua Ceres Diana Venus Mars Mercurius Iupiter Neptune Vulcanus Apollo And vnto these some added Bacchus and Saturne this latter because he might seeme to haue wrong if he should not be counted a God as well as his sonne and the other because it might come to passe that being a firie fellowe he would els make some fray seeing that Ceres is a Goddesse To dispatch the chiefe of them quite and cleane of that doubt Euhemere of Messene will alone suffice who gathering the historie of Iupiter and the rest setteth downe their tytles Epitaphs Inscriptions which were in their Temples namely in the Temple of Iupiter Triphillian where was a piller set vp by Iupiter himself whereon the notablest of his doings were ingrauen And this historie being called holy was translated by Ennius the words whereof are these Saturne sayth he tooke Ops to his wife and Tytan being his elder brother claymed the kingdome but Vesta their mother Ceres and Ops their Sisters counseled Saturne to keepe his possession Which thing when Tytan perceyued finding himselfe to bee the weaker he compounded with Saturne vpon conditiō that if Saturne had any Sonnes he should not suffer them to liue that the kingdom might reuert again vnto his Children According to which composition the first child that was borne to Saturne was killed Afterward were borne Iupiter Iuno twinnes both at one birth of whome they shewed but Iuno and deliuered Iupiter to Vesta to be brought vp in secret After them came Neptune who was serued likewise And last of all came Pluto and Glauca of whom only Glauca who dyed within a while was shewed and Pluto was nurced secretly as Iupiter was Now this came to Tytans hearing who assembling his Sonnes to him took Saturne and Ops and put them in prison But assoone as Iupiter came to age he gaue battell to the Tytans and getting the vpper hand of them deliuered his father mother out of prison At length perceyuing that his father whom he had set vp againe was iealous ouer him and sought his life he deposed him from his estate and droue him into Italy In this only one historie we sée what Saturne Iupiter Iuno Vesta Ops Neptune and Ceres were that is to wit men and women yea surely euen men and among men but onely mere men And yet were they the fathers and mothers of the rest of the Gods and reigned in the Iles of the chiefe Midland Sea and in Candy a litle afore the warres of Thebes and of Troy And by that meanes wee see also from whence the Poets haue fetched their fables which are not as some thinke mere fancies or imaginations without ground but disguising of the trueth and of the Historie True in that they report déedes rightly beseeming men vntrue in that they attribute them as to Gods and not as to men Saturne is taken for the father of them al. And looke what is found of the father is to bee verified of his ofspring The Historiographers therefore haue sayd that his wife did hide his children from him and the Poets haue sayd that hee did eate them vp because a Soothsayer had told him that one of them should depose him To auoyde the absurditie of the word Krouos which is Saturne the Stoikes haue turned it to Chronos that is to say tyme which deuoureth all things But how will they applye all the rest of the Allegorie vnto the Historie Who shall bee the daies lost and who the daies saued What shall Ops be and Iupiter and Pluto who shall be this sonne of tyme that perisheth not with the tyme nor afore it But Hermes whatsoeuer he be who knewe this pedegree well enough holdeth himselfe to the letter accounting Vranus Saturne and Mercurie among the rare men that were in tyme past And Ennius sayth that this Varnus was the father of Saturne and reigned afore him Now because Vranus in Greeke signifieth Heauen the Stoikes more fabulous as sayth Plutarke than the Poets haue called his sonne Time and his graundsonne Iupiter the Welkin or highest region of the ayre whom Euhemere reporteth to haue ordeyned Sacrifices vnto Vranus And Ennius his translator reporteth that he ordeyned them vnto his Graundfather Heauen who dyed in the Ocean and lyes buryed in Aulatie To be short of all these writers of antiquities such as Theodore the Gréeke Thallus Cassius Seuerus Cornelius Nepos and others were none describeth him otherwise than a man insomuch that euen Orpheus himselfe who canonized him for a God speaketh of him after the same maner What reade we of Iupiter Iupiter sayth the Historie deposed his owne father held his assemblies in Mount Olympus stole away Europa in a ship named the Bull and caryed away Ganymed in another ship called the Eagle but he forbare Thetis because an Achilles which should be a man of greater might than his father was to be borne of her Finally after he had made certeyne Lawes and parted the offices of his estate among his friends he dyed and was buryed in the Towne of Gnosus What a life is this but the life of a man yea and of a most wicked man vnworthie not to reigne in heauen but euen to goe vpon the earth Neuerthelesse because his successors inforced men to worship him as well as his Graundfather yea and he himselfe in his life tyme had caused his Subiects Uassalles and Confederates to dedicate Temples vnto him by reason whereof wee see he was called by the names of Labradie Ataburie Tryphill and diuers other all things were fayne to be applied and referred vnto him insomuch that of a man the Poets made him a God of the Mountayne Olympus they made Heauen of a Shippe and Eagle and of Thetis a Goddesse Yet for all this his buryall place putteth al out of doubt and so doth the Epitaph that Pythagoras wrate thereon For to haue a Temple in one place and a Tombe in another and to be worshipped with prayer in the one and to be eaten with wormes in the other are things farre differing Callimachus will needes taunt the Cretanes for shewing his Tombe with this inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Iupiter the sonne of Saturne and yet hee considereth not that in saying that Rhea was deliuered of him among the Parrhasians he himselfe maketh him to dye For what is birth but a beginning of death And therefore Sibill speaketh of the Gods in these words The fond vaynglory which the Cretanes vse About
of God vpon mankynd Let vs see how the auncient writers do further these reasons The common opinion is say Abydenus and Alexander that men being bred of the earth and trusting in their own strength would needes in despight of the Gods goe reare a Tower vp to the Sunne in the same place where Babylon now is and that when they had raised it very high the Gods ouerthrewe it and cast it downe vpon their heads with a great wind and that at that tyme began the diuersitie of Languages wherevpon the Hebrewes called that place Babel Of these things speaketh Sibill also in her verses in the selfesame termes And Hestiaeus and Eupolemus doe ad that the Priests which scaped from thence gate themselues with the misteries of their Iupiter the same was eyther Nembrod or Iupiter Bele into the Plaine of Sennaar from the which place men departing by reason of the confusion of tongues began to seuer themselues abroade to people the rest of the world Here it pleaseth Iulian to fall to scoffing For sayth hee a great sort of such globes as the whole earth is being heaped one vpon an other were not able to reach halfe way to the Sphere of the Moone But the reason of this enterprise of theirs is euident namely that their intent was to haue had a refuge ageinst the height of the waters if any flud should come ageine that is to say to make a banke ageinst Gods wrath which it had bene better for them to haue pacified by prayer And this pryde of theirs is not to be thought so straunge a matter considering how wee reade in the Histories of the Greekes that one Xerxes sent letters of defyance to the Sea and in the Histories of the Romaines that one Caligula vndertooke a quarrell against Iupiter And Iulian himselfe was not a whit wiser when he would néedes take vpon him to impeach the kingdom of God by prohibiting the Christians to reade Poets And whereas Celsus will néedes beare himselfe on hand that the sayd Historie was taken out of the fable of the Aloides all men know that Homer was the first Author of that fable who came a long tyme after Moyses And in good sooth these particularities of the confounding of Tongues of the dispersing of men abroade of the place where it befell of the naming of Phaleg who was borne at the very tyme of the diuision and such other circumstances doe euidently shewe that Moyses speaketh not at rouers whereof there is also this further profe that the Originals of Nations according to the diuiding of households at that tyme are not read of in any other Author As vayne also is this saying of theirs that the burning vp of Sodom is taken from the tale of Phaeton which is in déede as farre from it as Heauen is from the earth For euen at this day there are yet still to bee séene the remaynders of Gods wrath noted by Strabo Galen Mela and others namely the bitter Lake wherein nothing can liue the banks thereof lyued with Bitumen the Stones stiuking and filthie the trées bearing fruites fayre to the eye but falling to Cinder and smoke in the hand which things we reade not of to haue bin séene any where els and yet in a valley most beautifull to behold where stoode at that tyme fiue Cities or according to Strabo thirteene which were all consumed with fire for sinne ageinst nature And Iosephus sayeth that the Image or piller of salt whereinto Loths wyfe was turned was to be séene there euen in his dayes These are the greatest woonders of the booke of Genesis The residew thereof consisteth in the historie of Abraham and of his Children As for the Princes of those dayes we haue nother Pedegrée nor historie of them among the Heathen wryters and therefore it is the more to be woondered at that they haue spoken of our Shepherds For Berosus sayeth that about a ten generations or descents from the vniuersall Flud there was amōg the Chaldees a great man that excelled in Astronomie And that by him Berosus ment to betoken Abraham Eupolemon declareth for he sayth that in the sayd tenth generation Abraham was brone in Camerine a Towne of Babylonie otherwise called Vr or Caldeople who inuēted Astronomie among the Chaldees and was in the fauour of God by whose commaundement hee remoued into Phenice where hee taught the course of the Moone of the Sunne and of the Planets whereby hee greatly pleased the King notwithstanding that he saith hee had receiued it from hand to hand from Enoch whome the Greekes sayeth hee called Atlas vnto whome the Angelles had taught many thinges Also he rehearseth the Battell that was made by Abraham for the recouery of Loth the interteinment of Melchisedek the ouerthwarts that Abraham indured for Sara his wife in AEgipt and the Plague thot God did cast vpon Pharao to make him to deliuer her to Abraham agein And Artabanus in his storie of the Iewes reporteth almost the selfesame things adding that of Abraham the Iewes were called Hebrewes wherin the néerenesse of the names deceiued him Melon in his bookes ageinst the Iewes wrate that Abraham had two wiues and that by the one of them which was an AEgiptian he had twelue children among whom Araby was parted which euen in his tyme had twelue Kings still Those were the twelue Sonnes of Ismaell the Sonne of Abraham by Agar the AEgiptian which are set downe by name in Genesis And that by the other which was a woman of the Countrie of Syria he had but onely one Sonne named Isaac who lykewise had twelue Sonnes of whom the yongest was called Ioseph of whom Moyses sayth he descended Also Alexander setteth foorth Abrahams sacrifice at length and the children that he had by Chetura And in his historie he alledgeth one Cleodemus a Prophet otherwise called Malchas whom he affirmeth to agrée with Moyses in the Historie of the Iewes Ageine Hecataeus the Abderite hauing bene in Iewry did purposely make a booke of Abrahams lyfe which thing he had not of his owne maister King Alexander To bee short that which Orpheus sayeth of a certeine Chaldee vnto whom onely God manifested himselfe seemeth to be spoken of Abraham For he had bin conuersant in AEgipt where the renowme of Abraham was so greate that euen in their Coniurings they made expresse mention of the God whom Abraham had worshipped The same Alexander writeth the fleeing of Iacob for feare of his brother Esawe his abode in Mesopotamia His seuen yeeres seruice his marying with two Sisters the nomber of his Children the rauishing of Dina the slaughter of Sichem and likewise the selling of Ioseph his imprisonment his deliuerance for expounding of Dreames His authoritie in AEgipt His marying with Askeneth the daughter of Pethefer the Highpriest His two Sonnes by name which were borne of her the comming of his brothers into AEgipt the Feast that he made them the fiue partes which he gaue
haue an eye vnto him are by and by healed of the Serpents deadly sting And whereas some thinke it straunge that so great a thing should bee figured by so vyle and base things the figure is the more profitable and the lesse dauÌ„gerous in that it is so For had so high things bene figured 〈◊〉 foretokened by things approching to their highnesse men might haue bene deceyued by theÌ„ and haue taken the figures for the things themselues and so haue rested vpon the gaynesse of the sheath without looking into it As for example if in stead of the Goate they should haue Sacrificed the man of greatest reputation in the Congregation Men béeing giuen to yéeld too much vnto man would haue mistaken him for the very Mediatour himselfe But when the figure of our reconcilement vnto God and of the forgiuenesse of our sinnes is taken at a brute beast which hath nothing sutable thereto sauing that he is giltlesse and capable of death wee bee taught that it is but a figure and that it behoueth vs to â—ade into the thing it selfe that so much the more because those Sacrifices are so solemnely and so expressely commaunded to posteritie as things which for the welfare of mankynd ought to be alwaies in remembrance or rather present before mens eyes But yet the Hebrewes held opinion that Asar Elcana and Abiasaph the three sonnes of Chore mentioned in the sixt Chapter of Exodus were authors of diuers of the Psalmes that are gathered into the second booke of Dauids Psalter and so is Moyses also of some one or two in the third booke whereby they comforted the Fathers in the wildernesse assuring them of the coÌ„ming of Christ. Unto Dauid who was of the Trybe of Iuda God himselfe constâ—â—ieth the sayd promise telling him that the blessed séed should come of him I will rayse vp saith he thy seede after thee which 〈◊〉 come one of thy loynes his kingdome will I stablish for euer I will be to him for a Father and he shall be to mee for a sonne And although this may séeme to be ment of Salomon Dauids sonne who was in déede but a figure of Christ yet notwithstanding the often repeating of these words eternally euerlastingly and for euer giueth vs to vnderstand that it cannot bee 〈◊〉 but of the thing figured that is to wit of the eternall or euerlasting King And in very deede Dauid sheweth well in his Psalmes that hee hath looked further with the eyes of his mynde than to his sonne Salomon For in the second Psalme Thou art my sonne saith the Euerlasting this day haue I begotteÌ„ thee I will giue thee the Gentyles for thyne inheritance and the vtmost coastes of the earth for thy possession And in the fiue and fortieth Psalme speaking of the mariage of this Sonne with an extraordinary preface Thy Throne ô God sayth he is from euerlasting and the Scepter of thy kingdome is a Scepter of righteousnes And in the seauen and fortith The princes of the Nations are assembled togither sayth he to be the people of the God of Abraham And in the thréescore and seauenth Thou shalt iudge folk righteously Thy sauing health shal be knowen to al Nations and thou shaâ—t direct the Nations of the earth And this later clause is shet vp with this worde Selah which the Hebrewes are not wont to vse but in some profound misterie To be short in the thréescore and twelfth Psalme after he hath sayde All Kings shall worship him and all Nations shall serue him Hée addeth for he shall deliuer the poore that cry vnto hym and the distressed that hath no helpe Yea and which more is All Nations shall report themselues to be blessed in him and they shall also blesse him Dauid is full of such sentences which shewe that he speaketh of a King howbeit of another than Salomon his owne sonne For Salomons kingdom extended not much further than his fathers neither did the Nations méete togither vnder him and as for his kingdome it ended wich his beath and within day or twayne after was rent in peeces And therefore the auncient Synagog did alwayes vnderstand those texts to be ment of Christ who was to be borne of the séede of Dauid as we may perceyue by the Chaldee translation which interpreteth them to be spoken concerning the same partie Howbeit sith it is not said in any of the Psalmes Reioyce thou Israel for thou shalt reigne ouer the Gentiles but Reioyceye Gentyles be glad ye Nations and Kings for I will giue you a King surely it is euident that the ioy which he reporteth to be so greate is not for that they should haue a Iewe to be their king for euery Nation had leuer to haue one of their owne countrie or for that this King should haue a souereine Monarke aboue them all to controll them for euery of them had leuer to reigne by himselfe alone but rather because this King should bee of a farre other nature and qualitie than all other Kings namely a King of soules a deliuerer of men from the bondage of sinne and a spirituall Monarke Also the Song of Songs is an expresse poetrie coÌ„ceruing the vnion of Christ his Church and hath bene so vnderstoode of the Iewes as it appeereth by the Chaldee Paraphrase therof which we haue As for the Prophets we find nothing els in them almost line by lyne but foretellings of Christ to come of the Nature of his Kingdome of the calling of the Gentiles of the stablithing agein of godlynes and such other matters as wel to put the people then present in remembrance of them as to prepare the aftercommers to receiue them Insomuch that if the Prophets speake of the returne from Babylon of the stablishing ageine of the kingdome of the building ageine of the Temple and such other things by and by within two or thrée verses yee shal see them caried away to the spirituall kingdome of Christ and to the true Temple which is the Church as though they had ment to say vnto vs that we must not rest vpon these temporall things which are but shadowes but remember that we be men that is to say Soules and that our welfare coÌ„sisteth not in liuing in gouerning and in reigning heere but in seruing God that we may be vnited vnto him ruled by him howbeit not so as we should reigne in the world but that God should reigne in vs by the Scepter of his word and by the power of his spirit and be obeyed of vs. It shall come to passe sayth Esay that in the latter dayes the hill of the Lords house shal be set vp vpon the toppe of the mountaynes and that all Nations shal come flocking to it and many folke shall say Come let vs goe vp to the Lords hill and to the GOD of Iacobs house This text is spoken manifestly of Christ and of his reigne and of the blessing that was to be shed out vpon all
Nations by him But let vs reade further He will teach vs his wayes sayth he and we shall walke in his pathes The Lawe shall come from out of Sion and the world of the Lorde from Hierusalem He shall iudge among the Heathen and reproue the Nations They shall turne their Swordes into Culters their Speares into Sythes Here is no speaking of wars of fighting or of force but the Lawe of Gods worde and of teaching And in the fourth Chapter At that day sayth he shall the Lords braunch be mâ—ch made of and glorious and whosoeuer abydeth in Hierusalem shall be called holy If this glorie were not expounded some would thereby behight here a triumph But at the same time saith he the Lord will wash away the filthynes of the daughters of Syon and clense away the blud of Hierusalem from the middes thereof by the spirit of iudgement and the spirit of burning It is then a glory yea and a true glorie but yet a farre other glorie then the flesh vnderstandeth Now the Iewes vnderstand this text of the Messias for whereas the Hebrewe hath Braunch the Chaldee Interpreter hath translated it the Lords Anoynted or Christ. In his nineth Chapter he sayth that he shal be called the Prince of peace and the Chaldee Paraphrast hath translated it the Christ or Anoynted of peace and that his kingdome shal be increased and that there shall bee no end of his reigne and that he shall execute Iustice vpon the throne of Dauid for euer If he shal be a Prince of peace where shal warre become And if there bee no warre what shall this increase of his kingdome bee That doth he shewe vs apparantly in his eleuenth Chapter A blossome shall spring sayth he out of the stocke of Isay and a braunch shall growe out of his roote The spirite of the Lord shall rest vpon him the spirite of wisedome and vnderstanding the spirite of counsell and strength the spirite of knowledge of the feare of the Lord. He shal smite the earth with the rod of his mouth kill the wicked with the breath of his lippes The Goate and the Lambe shall dwell together and the Leopard with the Kid. The Earth shall bee full of the knowledge of the Lord as with an ouerflowing of the Sea and the Gentiles shall inquire after the roote of Isay which shal be set vp as a Standard for people to resort vnto The Conquests then of this Emperour shal be of mens Soules his tributes their worshippings his armour and weapons the spirit of the Lord his peace the vniting of all folke together into one Church in the fauour of their Maker Also in the fiue and twentie he 〈…〉 shall destroy death for euer and take away the 〈◊〉 at hydeth the face of all people And in the fiue and thirtie The eyes of the blynd shall bee opened and the eares of the deaffe shall be vnstopped And in the two and fortie and the nine and fortie He shal be no outcryer nor loude of speech his voyce shall not be heard in the streates He shall set iudgement on 〈…〉 and the Iles shall wayt for him He shal be a maker of leagues among people and a light vnto the Gentiles Some shall come from the North and some from the South so as the land shall be to narrowe for them The Kings themselues shal be fosterâ— fathers to my people and Queenes shall bee their Nurces Which of all these things can bee vnderstood otherwise than of a spirituall kingdome On the contrary part let vs see how the same Prophet speaketh of Cyrus the great Emperour which was to deliuer Israell by the force of armes out of the hands of the Chaldees I haue taken thee by the right hand sayth the Lord to make Nations subiect vnto thee and to weaken the reynes of Kings to set open the doores vnto thee and to vnlocke the gates against thee I will breake open the gates of brasse and burst asunder the barres of yron I will giue thee the hoorded treasures and the things that lye hid in secret places What likenesse is there betweene this maner of speaking and the other and consequently betwéene the deliuerances or the deliuerers them selues But in the two and fiftie and three and fiftie he taketh away all doubt Behold saith he my seruant shall behaue himself happely and be exalted and aduanced very high As how He shall bee despised of men sayth the Prophet and thrust out of their companie A man full of sorowe and heauinesse shall he bee and euery bodie shall hide his face from him He shall bee wounded for our misdeedes and smitten for our sinnes The chastisement of our peace shal lye vpon him and by his stripes shall wee bee healed And he sayth afterward Although there was not any vnrightuosnesse in him yet was it the Lords will to breake him with sorowe And because he shall giue his life for sinne the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand and he shall see the labour of his Soule and inioy it For by his knowledge he shall make many rightuous and he shall take their iniquities vpon him Now this text is interpreted expresly of the Messias by the Chaldee Paraphrast And in the Talmud Rabbi Iacob being asked the name of the Messias sayth he shal be called Leaprous and there he bringeth in this text to proue it By which reckoning his life should be but languishing and paine sauing that he tryumphed ouer the Deuill and Death and that we vnderstand it spiritually To be short in the fiue and fiftie he is called the Law giuer of the Gentiles and in the nine and fiftie The Redeemer And in the thréescore and one The Phisition of the helplesse and the Proclaymer of the acceptable yere of the Lord And in the thréescore and two The Sauiour the League or Attonement which he bringeth to the people not that he Lordeth it but that he is holy nor that he giueth lawes to other Nations of the earth but that he hath the word of GOD in his owne mouth and in the mouthes of his seede sauing that in the kingdome of his Christ God will giue a better place to straungers then to them As for al the other Prophets like as they shoote not at any other marke so haue they not any other voyce Neuerthelesse we will content ourselues with a feawe of their sayings which shall giue credit to all the rest and so much the more bycause their wryting was comonly both at sundry times and in sundry places We haue seene how the Messias was promised to the issew of Dauid and to Dauid himself Thus therefore doth Ieremy speake thereof conformably to that which we haue sayd heretofore I will rayse vp a braunch vnto Dauid sayeth the Lord and hee shall reigne as King and prosper and execute Iustice and Iudgment vppon Earth And if ye aske the Prophet what maner of
Israell But sayth Iosephus the Iewe after the Warres betweene Aristobulus and Hircanus the last of the Machabies the Romanes being Lords of Iewrie did set vp one Herod the sonne of Antipater an Edomite that is to wit a mere Stranger to bee King there Which Herod for the easier stablishing of his state maried the daughter of Hircanus then prisoner in Parthia Afterward when hee sawe that Hircanus who onely remayned of the stocke of the Machabies was returned home fearing least the Iewes who bare an affection to hym should set him vp againe in the kingdome he killed both him and his daughter whom he had taken to wife and also the Children whom he had begotten of her And not contented with that outrage he rooted out as many of the house of Iuda as liued in any countenance or credit defaced their styles and tytles and burned their Pedegrees Also he made High Priestes whom it pleased him but not according to the Lawe nor according to their Trybes Finally as sayth Phylo the Iewe hee slew all the Sanhedrin that is to wit the Thréescore and twelue Senators of the house of Iuda which were assistents to the king and did put Proselites and Straungers in their place insomuch that hauing by his crueltie abolished both the Priesthod and the Senate vttterly cōfounded the whole state he brought to passe that at length about the thirtieth yere of his reigne he was accepted of all men for King and ruled all things as he listed himselfe This is the time say I wherein the Souereintie and Iurisdiction of Iuda did ceasse and that not lyke an Eclipse for a fewe howers dayes or yeeres but for a continuall tyme. Insomuch that from that tyme foorth which is now aboue fifteene hundred yeres ago there hath not risen vp any one man in all the world beeing a Iewe borne that hath any where had any authoritie great or small among the Iewes Nay further Vespasian Titus Domitian Adrian and diuers other Emperours of Rome haue indeuered to roote out the whole house of Iuda and they of the Trybe of Iuda haue sought to cōceale themselues and manifestly to corrupt their owne Pedegrees to rid themselues from the rigorous inquisition that was made for them Insomuch that at this day there is not a Iewe I report mee to themselues whether I say not true which can vaunt that he hath his pedegree certein yea or which can shew any lykely coniecture that hee is of the Trybe of Iuda that is to say of the blud Royall of the which Christ was promised That which I haue sayd appeareth sufficiently by the present state of the Iewes which haue so long tyme continued and yet still be without King without Gouernour without Priest without Iudge without Genealogie and without certeyne succession But forasmuch as they refuse the witnesse of the whole world let vs heare their owne In the 17. Chapter of Deuteronomie where mention is made of the King it is sayd thus Thou shalt set him ouer thee to be thy King whom the Lord thy God shall giue thee from among thy brethren and thou shalt not set a straunger ouer thee And the custome was to deliuer the Lawe to the King to reade therein as is expresly commaunded there Now sayth the Commentarie vpon that place when Herods Agrippa who was a Iewe in Religion came to the reading of that verse he fell a wéeping Neuerthelesse all the people bad him be of good courage and told him that he was their brother notwithstanding that he came of the stocke of a bondwoman And in another place it is reported that at the tyme of this chaunge there was heard a voyce from heauen saying Now shall the seruant prosper without doubt which steppeth vp in Israell against his maister Whereby Herode the great tooke courage to pretend tytle to the Kingdome And that as touching the Sanhedrin that is to wit the Senate of Israell Herode the great slew them euerychone saue only one whose name was Bota who could not create any moe Senators because it could not bee done without the laying on of the hands of moe than one And that a while afore the Romaines had driuen them out of the Palace of Hierusalem and that therevppon they tooke themselues to Sackcloth and Ashes and cryed out with passing great sorowe Wo vnto vs for the Scepter is taken away from Iuda and the Lawgiuer from betweene his feete and yet for all that the Sonne of Dauid is not yet come Thus ye see that the tyme of Christes cōming fell out in the reigne of Herode in whom the Kingdome was conueyed to Straungers and the Iewish Senate was vtterly rooted out which thing had neuer happened at any tyme afore Here followeth another marke of his comming Wee knowe there had bene in Hierusalem two Temples the first builded by Salomon destroyed by Nabugodonozor the second builded by Zorobabel vnder the protection of Cyrus and Darius Kings of Persia and destroyed afterward by the Emperour Tytus Now of the second Temple thus speaketh the Prophet Haggeus who was one of the builders therof Who is left among you that saw this house in her first beautie But what thinke you by it now Is it not in your eyes as a thing of nothing This doth vs to vnderstand that the second Temple was nothing comparable to the first in Maiestie and statelinesse And in deede wee reade in Esdras that the good old Fathers which had seene the first could not forbeare wéeping when they behild the second Also the Rabbines do report that there wanted chiefly fiue things in the second which were in the first namely Fire from heauen that consumed the burnt-offerings the glorie of God among the Cherubins the manifest breathing of the holy Ghost vppon the Prophetes the presence of the Arke and the Vrim and Thumim And they affirme that to the same end it is sayd in Salomons Ballet Wee haue a little Sister c. which they say is meant of the Church vnder the second Temple which in outward showe should not match the Church that was vnder the first Temple To bee short the Chronicle of the Hebrewes beginning the Historie of the Church of Israell vnder the second Temple sayth these wordes Hitherto the Prophets haue spoken by the holy Ghost but henceforth bowe downe thyne eare hearken to the voyce of wise men which is as much to say as that in all the tyme of this second Temple wee see not one Prophet rise vp Yet notwithstanding the same Prophet sayth thus also The glorie of the latter house shall be greater than the glorie of the first And therefore he exhorteth Zorobabel and Iosua the sonne of Iosedec and al the people to be of good cheere It was méete then that vnder this second Temple there should be some peculiar and extraordinary gift giuen of God which should excel both the Arke and
spirituall inheritance but only grace by the true Iesus And therefore the Saint Rabbi sayth That because Christ shall saue folke therefore he shall be called Iesus and because he shall be both God and Man therfore he shall be called Emanuell that is to say God with vs. And in another place The Gentyles sayth he shall call him Iesus And he draweth this name out of the nine and fortith Chapter of Genesis by a certeyne rule of the Cabale which they terme Notariak by taking the first letters of the wordes Iabho schilo velo which make the word Ieschu and likewise of these wordes in the 72. Psalme Ijnnur schemo veijthbarecu and also of these in the 96. Psalme iagnaloz sadai vecol all which are texts that are ment expresly of the Messias Although I force not of these their doings yet haue I alledged them against them selues because it is their custome to shewe the cunning of the arte of their Cabale And after the same maner haue the Machabies also their name that is to wit of the first Letters of the words of this their deuice Mi camocha baelim Iehouah that is to say Which of the Gods is like thee ô Iehouah That the name Iesus should bee reuealed vnto them it is no strange matter considering that in the third fourth bookes of Esdras Iesus Christ the sonne of God is named expresly and diuers tymes and the tyme of his comming precisely set downe according to Daniels wéekes For although the Iewes account those bookes for Apocriphase the Primatiue Church hath not graunted the like authoritie to them as to the other Canonicall bookes yet is it a cléere case that they were written afore the comming of Iesus Christ of whome neuerthelesse they speake by name Now the Scripture promised also a Foreronner that should come afore the manifesting of the Messias to the world For Malachie sayth Behold I send my Ambassadour to make way before him and by and by after shall the Lord whom you seeke enter into his Temple And in the next Chapter following he is called Elias by reason of the lykenesse of their offices and this text as I haue shewed afore is vnderstood by them concerning the Messias And soothly we haue certeine footestepes thereof in these words of the Gospel The Scrybes say that Elias must first come And in another place Art thou Christ or Elias or one of the Prophets A little afore that Christ disclosed himself Iohn the Baptist stoode vp in Israell and was followed by such a multitude of people that all the greate ones grudged at him and he is the same man whō by way of prerogatiue the Chronicle of the Iewes calleth Rabbi Iohanan the greate Preest Concerning this Iohn the Baptist forasmuch as they suspect our Gospel let them beléeue their owne Storywriter There was sayeth he a very good Man that exhorted the Iewes to vertue and specially to Godlynes and vpryght dealing inuiting them to a cleannesse both of body and mynd by baptim But when Herod perceyued that great multitudes of people followed him which to his seeming were at his commaundment to auoyd insurrections he put him in prison where anon after he cut of his head And therefore it was the common opinion that when Herods army was afterward ouercome and vtterly put to the swoord it was through Gods iustiudgement for putting of Iohn Baptist vniustly to death By this witnesse of Iosephus we sée what his office was namely to preache repentance and to Baptize or as Malachie sayth to turne the heartes of the Fathers to their Children and the heartes of the Children to their Fathers But the thing which we haue chiefly to note here is that hauing the people at commaundement yet when Iesus came he gaue Iesus place and humbled himselfe to him and yeelded him the glory the which thing man beeing led by affection of man would neuer haue done Insomuch that after that Iesus had once shewed himselfe the Disciples of this greate maister shewed not themselues as his disciples any more and that was because his trayning and teaching of them was not for himselfe but for Iesus And as touching the peculiar act of Baptizing it seemeth that the Leuites wayted for some speciall thing vpon it in that they asked of Iohn How happeneth it that thou Baptizest if thou bee neither Christ nor Elias the Prophet But let vs come now to treate of the lyfe of Iesus not according to our Gospells but according to such Histories as the Iewes themselues cannot denie and what els is it than the verie body of the shadowes of the old testament and the very pith and substance of the words that were spoken afore concerning the Messias Let vs call to rememberance to what end he came namely to saue Mankind and the nature of his Kingdome how it is holy and spirituall Whereof are all his Preachings but of the forgiuenesse of sinnes and of the Kingdome of Heauen his Disciples were alwayes importunate vppon him in asking him Lord when wilt thou set vp the Kingdom of Israel agein In sted of contenting their fancyes he answereth them concerning the Kingdome of Heauen They Imagined some Empyre of Cyrus or Alexander that their Nation might haue bene honored of all other nations of the earth One of them would néedes haue sit on his right hand and another on his left What answereth he to this Nay saith he whosoeuer will be greatest let him be the leaft and if I béeing your Maister be as a Seruant among you what ought you to bee Yee shal be brought before Magistrates that is farre from reigning Ye shall be persecuted imprisoned tormented and crucifyed that is farre of from triumphing I wil giue you to vnderstand how great things ye be to suffer for my names sake that is very farre from parting of Countryes Yet notwithstanding happy shall you bee when you suffer these things and he that holdeth out to the end shal be saued Who can imagine any temporall thing in this kingdome whereof the first and last Lesson is that a man to saue his lyfe must lose it and to become happy must wed himselfe to wretchednes The people followe him for the miracles which hee woorketh and the Iewes deny not but he did very greate ones But let vs see wherto they tended He fed a greate multitude of people in the wildernes with a feawe Loaues This miracle was matter enough for him to haue hild them with long talke but he preacheth vnto them of the heauenly bread which feedeth vnto euerlasting life Also hee healeth all sicke and diseased folke that come vnto him howbeit to shewe that that was but an appendant or rather an income to that for the which he came Thy sinnes sayth he be forgiuen thee To be short from Abrahams Well hee directeth the Woman of Samaria to the Fountaine of lyfe Béeing shewed the goodly buildings of Hierusalem and of the
at the Conquests of Alexander And why Because that beeing but a meane King of Macedonie he passed into Asia and conquered it with fortie thousand men and no moe Had he caryed a hundred thousand with him we would haue had the lesse estimation of his deedes But how much greater account would we haue made of him if he had done it with halfe his number And had he done it with the tenth man O how we would haue wondered And if wee made a God of him for conquering so what diuine honor would we think sufficiēt for him now At leastwise who would not haue thought him if not a God yet at the least assisted with the power and might of GOD But had these Souldiers ouercome their enemies by being beatē at their hands had they conquered by causing themselues to bee killed had they brought Kingdomes in obedience by submitting themselues to their Gibbets had it not bene a cryme to haue left them vnwoorshipped for Gods For if betwéene the able man and the vnable man the skilfull and the vnskilfull the difference bee that the vnskilfull can doe nothing vnlesse he haue very well and abundantly wherewith but the skilfull can worke much vpon little and by his cunning ouercome the awknesse of his stuffe What is the difference betwéene the skilfullest man and God but that the man can of a little make somewhat whereas God can of nothing and without helpe of any thing make great things yea and euen one contrary of another and by another Which is as much to say as that he is of infinite power able to fill vp the infinite distance that is betwéene contraries and specially betwéene nothing and something Now let vs see what Iesus hath done and let vs bring with vs the same eyes and the same reason which wee did to the iudging and discerning of the Historie of Alexander First our Lord Iesus was borne destitute of al worldly helps From ten to tenthousand and from tenthousand to ten millions men doe atteyne but who can atteyne from nothing to so huge a thing He was accompanyed by a fewe ignorant Fishermen of grosse wit And yet is it no small matter that he could cause them to giue ouer their Trade to follow him But what Instruments were they to make Preachers to the whole world being rather cleane contrary to such a purpose And to incourage them he sayes vnto them Blessed are ye when ye indure all maner of aduersities for my names sake This had bene enough to haue driuen them away and yet they followe him At length he sendeth them of Ambassage to al Nations And what was their message He that taketh not vp his Crosse and followeth me is not worthie of me What is he that would at this day take such a charge vpon him no though he were well rewarded for his labour They shall whippe you in their Synagog sayth he Who would vndertake to deale in such a case Specially vppon such a perswasion as this Hee that will saue his life shall lose it In the ende he dyeth And how Crucified betwéene two Théeues Those fewe followers of his are at their wits end He leaueth neither Children nor kinsfolke behinde him to vpholde his sillie kingdome The kingdome of Heauen that he had talked of seemeth to bee buryed in the earth What worldly kingdome had not perished in this plight How long did the throne of Alexander reigne notwithstanding that it was vphild with the hope of some Children with the policie of great Capteynes with the force of victorious Armies and with the very terrour of his name In the meane while those sillie Shéepe of Christ came together and wēt and preached to Hierusalem and afterward to all the world And what preached they That Iesus had bene crucified and that it behoued them to beléeue in him If he was a man what was more vayne If he was a God what was more absurd Yet notwithstanding if they may haue audience they teach men to suffer for him if they be shut out they will rather dye than forbeare to speake of him and if they bee accused for it they preach their cryme before their Iudges Malefactors are tormented to make them tell their fault and these are tormented to make them to conceale it Those hold their peace to saue themselues from death and these dye for speaking Their persecutors crye out what a miserie is this that we cannot ouercome an old man or a woman what a shame is it for vs to be more wearie of tormenting them than they bee of the torments Yet notwithstanding in lesse than fortie yéeres the world is filled full of this doctrine and the Countries are conquered to Iesus Christ by those fewe Disciples preaching his bludshed and sheading their owne from Hierusalem to Spayne yea and from Hierusalem to the Indyes And looke by what meanes this kingdome is founded by the same also is it stablished and from tyme to tyme increased and mainteyned What man if he knowe how farre man can extend can attribute these things vnto man Hée is God sayth a wise man which doth that which no creature can do And who euer did such things either afore Iesus or after him Also Aristotle sayth that of nothing can nothing bee made that in deede is a rule in nature But what els are these doings of Christ but a making not only of some thing but also of that greatest things of nothing And who can vyolate or ouercome the lawe of nature but only he that created nature Now God spake the word and it was done this surpasseth nature But when Iesus sayth He that doth not take vp his Crosse and followe me is not worthie of me to our fleshly vnderstanding it is as much as if he should say Flee from me and yet men followe him and seeke him The word say I which were enough to driue vs away draweth vs vnto him by disswading he perswadeth vs in turning vs away he turneth vs to him in throwing vs downe he setteth vs vp and in killing vs he maketh vs euerlasting Who can drawe one contrarie out of another as the effects of water out of fire and the effects of fire out of water but he that made both fire and water And who can drawe perswasion out of disswading and conuerting out of diuerting but he that made both the heart of the man that hearkeneth and the speech of the partie that speaketh And what is the conquering of the liuing by the dying of himselfe and his but as ye would say a working of an effect by taking away the cause What is this subduing of the world by disarming tying and deliuering of himselfe but a taking of a way contrarie to his businesse and a choosing of instruments most cōtrarie to his working And he that doth a thing by instruments contrarie thereunto nay rather by such instruments as are directly hurtfull to it and can no way further it doth he not shew that he could do
it by his only word without other helpe But let vs see yet more It is against nature to make something of nothing Here the Philosophers must stoope It is against nature to make a thing by speaking the contrarie Here the Orators are put to silence What wilt thou say then if besides all this there bée an extreame resistance in the thing it selfe if thou be a Phisition in the Complexion if thou bee a Capteyne in the Conquest if thou be an Orator in the willes of men Alexander did great things with fewe men I graunt But if men had made head against him as they might haue done in what case had he bin Let vs see contrarywise what resistance men made both generally and particulerly to shut Iesus out of the doores If ye speake of force he could scarsly preach without perill of death His Apostles could not open their lippes but thei were by and by whipped stoned racked crucyfied or burned The cruellest Emperours as Caligula Nero Domitian and such others wrought vpon them the chiefe déedes of their cruelties If any of those Emperours chaunced to bee more mield O what Iustice vsed he Forsooth If they bee not sedicious say they let them not be sought But come they once in Question wherefore soeuer it be let them not escape I would fayne learne what sect of Philosophers in all Greece would not haue ceassed at the least commaundement of a Magistrate And of what trueth doe we finde any monuments of Conquests ouer all the world but of the trueth of Iesus Christ If ye haue an eye to policie those that followed him were excluded from all promotions and offices And what a hell is that to a man of an ambicious nature Their Children were prohibited to goe to Schoole and what was that but a cutting vp of the tree by the roote if it had not growen by grace from Heauen Also certeyne counterfet Dialogs forged concerning Pylate and Christ full of wicked lyes and blasphemies were inioyned to bee read in Schooles and to be conned of Children by hart to steyne the name of Iesus and to make it odious and lothsome to all men for euer And what more pernicious policie could the Deuill himselfe haue deuised The Iewes worse than all others to whom notwithstanding he was promised were false Traytors to him and whereas they should haue preached him they did most eagerly accuse him insomuche that there scarsly came any of his Disciples into any towne but that they made Hew and crye vppon him to murder him Nay which more is in euery seuerall persone there was an inward incounter and an extreame resistance ageinst this word Yea sayd men within themselues shall I beleeue in Iesus An abiect man A crucified God Shal I beleeue his Disciples the ofscourings of the World and the outcasts of the Iewes Shall I beleeue in him for a two or three dayes to leaue behind me a wretched wyfe a reprochefull rememberance of myself and the report of a foole too my posteritie If the Emperours made so cruell warre ageinst this doctrine both by swoord and by their Lawes we may well coniecture what Warre euery man maynteyned ageinst it in himself And if we haue knowen what persecution is let vs here bethink vs of the battells betwéene the flesh and the spirit and of the lyuely and sharpe arguments which a man in that cace maketh ageinst himself Notwithstanding all this in the end whole Nations yeelded themselues to the word of those men and euen Empyres worshipped Iesus Christ crucified If weakenesse wrought this why did not force get the vpper hand If foly why did not wisdome tryumph ouer them If manhod why did not multitude preuayle No surely it was Iesus the sonne of God who repayred the world by his spirit as God had created it at the first by his word Cicero could not woonder ynough at Romulus for that sayeth he in a time which was not rude he had compassed so much as to be called a God And certesse I maruell at Cicero that he shewed himself so grosse in that behalf For if he were called a God who euer beleeued him to be so And what was Rome at that tyme and a long tyme after but a rout of ignorant and silly Shepherds But thereby wee may deeme what iudgment hee would haue giuen vppon Iesus Romulus was called a God but the Senate beleeued it not The Senate did put the people in feare and by that meanes made them to say it But all the whole Empyre of Rome could not scare one Disciple from professing of Iesus What resemblance then is there betweene them two The same may be sayd of Alexander as greate an Emperour as he was when he made men too woorship him as God For euen then did his army fall to mutinies he lost his estimation he disteyned his victories his owne howseholdseruants were contented too be beaten rather than they would knéele downe to woorship him And asfor Caligula Domitian Heliogabalus and others they were Laughed to skorne as long as they liued and they were not so soone dead but their Godheads were dragged in the myre lyke doggs and men voutsafed them not so much as a Tumb to be buryed in But what say yee to Iesus who being despysed all his lyfetyme was woorshipped as God after his death Whose Godhead 〈◊〉 Disciples preache euen vppon the racke and whom the very Emperours Tiberius and Antoninus and Alexander honored in their harts and woorshipped as God in their priuichambers And in what time Surely in the Learn eddest tyme that euer was and in the full florishing state of knowledge in all arts skills and sciences when Rhetoryk Logicke and all Philosophie were at their pryde and at such time as Magik and all maner of curious seiences had their full scope and were at their hyghest pitch If he be woorshipped for his wisdome what a nomber of graue Senators were there at that time If for Learning and Doctrine what a nomber of learned men If for Riches and parentage how would those greate men haue yeelded to such an ofcast If for his giltlesse death why not others also of so many which preached him and followed him And why was not Gabinius woorshipped so to being a Citisen of Rome a man of honour and vniustly crucified in whose behalf Cicero vttered all the goodly eloquence that he had Nay surely they sawe such a chaunge in the World so sodeine so greate and so vniuersall that they could not impute it to any other thing than to the power and operation of him that ruleth the world whose myghty power they perceyued in Iesus That this so suddein turning of Nations to woorship a man of Emperours to reuerence reproche and of wise men to haue folly as sayeth S. Paule in admiration is verie true I will take none other witnesses than themselues We reade in Suetonius and Tacitus that the name of Christ was knowen in Rome and throughout all Italy For they
in his first booke of his antiquities chap. 3. In his treatise that beastes are capable of reason Iohn Picus Erle of Mirandula against Astrologers Cham. The confusion of tongues or languages Alexander Polyhistor Abydenus Sibylla Euseb. lib. 9. cap. 4. de prepar Genes 11. Sodom Galen in his booke of simples Pausanias in his Eliaks Solinus in his Polyhistor Tacitus in his last booke Eusebius li. 9. de praepar Cap. 4. Eupolemus in his booke of the Iewes Abraham and his race Artabanus in his Historie of the Iewes Melon against the Iewes Artabanus concerning the Iewes Secundum Mystas Origines against Celsus lib. 4. Moysessis Myracles In sted of Cabala Plinie hath Iocabela Exod. 12. The nomber of the children of Israel Iosua Procopius in his secoÌ„d book of the warres of the Vaudales Saul Dauid The Scripture of the Prophet Iosephus libr. Antiquit 15. Cap. 16. lib. 16. cap. 11. of the Iewish warres lib. 5. cap. 2. Salomon Iosephus in his antiquities lib. 8. cap. 2. Euseb. lib. 9. cap. 4. Plutarke in his feast of Seuen Sages Iosephus liâ— cap. 2. The History of Ethiop Makeda â— Chron. 3. Gilbert Genebrand in his Chronologie The remouings of the ten Trybes 1. Kings 15. 2. Kings 17. 4. Esdras 13. Herodotus li. 2. The Deliuerance by Cirus Iosephus in his Antiquitie lib. 8. cap. 4. 1. Kings 14. Herodotus li. 2 1. Kings 18. Diodorus li. 3. Esay 38. Denis in his Hierarchie Obiections concrneing Absurdities Origen ageinst Celsus lib. 4. The needefulnesse of this third marke One Mediator God Man Man borne without Corruption The opinion of the HeatheÌ„ concerning the cleansing of Mankind Saint Austin concerning the Citie of God lib. 20. Cap. 9. 23. 32. The Mediator promised in the Scriptures from the one end of them to the other Gen. 3. Christ is a spirituall King contrary to the opinion of the Iewes of our tyme. Let the reader beare in mynd once for all that the word Messias in Hebrewe the word Christ in Greek signifie both one thing namely the Lords Anoynted The TharguÌ„r of Hierusalem The Talmud in the Treatise intytled Sanhedrim in the Chapter Melee Midrach Thehilim A tradition of the Hebrewes 2. Sammuel 7. 1. King 5. 6. 1. Chron. 2v Plal. 89. Psalm â— 45 47. 67. 72. Esay 1. Micheas Esay 4. Esay 9. Esay 11. He had said a fore that the high Cedars should be cast downe that is to say the great Princes And against those Cedars he setteth expresly this litle braÌ„ch of the roote of Iesse or Isay. This Iesse or Isay was Dauids father Esay 25. 35. 42 49. Esay 52. 53. In the Talmud in the treatise intitled Sanhedrin in the Chapter Helec Esay 55. 59. 61. 62. â—ere 23. 30. 33. Ezcehiel 34. 17. Talmud in the â—reatise intytled Sanhedrin in the chapter Helec Daniel 2. 7. 9. Osec 1. 2. 3. Amos. 9. Micheas Sophonie 2. Zacharie 3. 6. 9. 13. In the treatise Sanhedrin cap. Halec The Iewes of old tyme looked for a spirituall King Misdrach Hasâ—im Ballet Cap. 1. vers 14. cap. 4. vers 4. Rabbi Barachias in his Bereschith Rab ba Misdrach Exod. 21. * We call him Phares Thalmud in the treatise SaÌ„hedrin cap Helec Esay 11. Reasons against the Iewes of our daies It is the 13. article of the beleef of the Iewes Rabbi Moyses ben Maimon The Iewes of our dayes say that this Leuiathan is a Whale powdred for the feast of the Messias That by the Scriptures Christ the Mediator is both God and Man Gen. 3 Deut. 21. ver 8 Psalm 45. Psalm 110. The Booke sepher kibbutsim Midrasch The hilim vpon the second Psalm verse 7. Esay 9. Lament 1. ver 16. Bereschith Rabba vpon Genes 55. Rabbi Heâ—adosch Esay 7. Christ is called Iehouah that is to say the euerlasting God Esay 18. 28. 1. Bereshith Keâ—ana In the treatise Sanhedrin cap Dine Mammonoth Lament 1. vers 16. Midrasch Tehilim vpon the 23. Psal. vers 1. R. Moyses Hadarsan vpon Genesis ca. 4â— Thalmudiâ— the treatise SaÌ„hedrin Cap. Helec Midrasch Tehilint vpon the fortith Psalm In the booke intytled Siphrei vpon the 26 of Leuiticus The booke Mechilia vpon the 14. of Exo. The Ballet 8. vers 1. Leuit. 25. vers 25. The booke Tan humaâ— Midraseh vpoÌ„ Leuiticus Rabbi Moyses Hadarsan vpoÌ„ Gen. 49. Psal. 49. Midrasch sir Hasirim cap. 1 Rabbi Eleazar vnto Zohar The Cabilists R. Simeon B. Iohai vpon Gene. 1. ver 17. cap. 17. ver â— In the booke of Shamefastnes The same vpoÌ„ Genesis ca. 10. In the treatise Sanhedum cap. Helec Ieremy 16. The booke of Faith and Reconciliation In the booke Hecadma vau He Iod He. In his booke intytled the Gate of light Cap. 1. Rabbi Hecadosch That the Second Persone tooke flesh Kimhi in his booke of Rootewordes Psalm 89. Psalm 2. Midrasch Thehilim vppon the second Psalm Psalm 72. vers 17. Psalm 9. vers 2. In the treatyse Sanhedrin Cap. Helec Rabbi Iosua ben Leui in his Echa Rabethi Cap. 1. vers 16. Esai 45. ver 17 Osee. 1. vers 7. Psalm 110. Gen. 47. Psal. 147. vers 18. Gen. 10. Iob. 19. vers 26. Philo the Iew in his booke of the banished Malachy 5. vers 8. Osee. 6. ver 2. Psal. 17. ver vit In Echa Rabathi cap. 1. vers 6. Dan. 2. ver 22. Gen. 1. Psal. 36. ver 9. Psalm 18. Esay 45. In the booke intitled the Gate of light cap. 2. And of a virgin Esay 11. 14. R. Moyses Hadarsan vpon the 85 psalme Vpon the 25. of Genesis Zach. 4. vers 7. Psal. 110. Gen. 2. Hacadosch The conclusion of the three Markes of the true Religion in Israel Obiections Obiections The marks and tokens of Christes comming Gen. 49. In the Talmud vnder the tytle San hedrin the Cha. Helec The booke called Zohar Kimhi vppon Genesis and in his booke of Rootes The Kingdome is cessed Bereschith Rabba The Talmud in the Chapter Chelek Esay 18. vers 5 and 7. Esay 1. vers 25. and 26. 1. Kings 12. Sedar Olam Zura Origen in his 4. booke of Princes The Talmud in the treatyse Sanhedrin Chapt. Dine Mammouoth Rabbi Moyses the Egiptian in the preface of the Maiemonims This Hillel was a great Doctor among them out of whose Schoole issewed many greate lerned men in the Lawe Rabbi Dauid Kimhi vppon Haggeus Rabbi Moyses Haddarsan vpon Genesis chap. 49. Iosephus in his first booke of the warres of the Iewes cap. 5. 25. lib. 15 cap. 9. 10. Sedar Olam Philo in his booke of Times Deut. 17. Midrasch vpoÌ„ Deuteronomy In Bauabathra cap. Hasutaphim In the Talmud of Hierusalem in the chap. Sanhedrin Rabbi Asse Rabbi Rahamon In the foresayd place of the Talmud Seder Olam The ouerthrowe of thesecond Temple Haggeus Cap. 2. vers 4. Rabbi Samuel in the treatyse Sanhedrin In the Talmud of Hierusalem R. Aha in his booke of Dayes Midrasch on the Canticle Cap. 8. vers 8. Seder Olam Rab. Selomoh vpon the