Preachers of the comming of the Mediator and witnesses of the antiquitie trueth and vncorruptnes of the Prophestes ageinst the effect whereof neuerthelesse they set themselues with all their power For what better witnesses I pray you could the Gentyles haue than the Iewes themselues namely in that they being the putters of Iesus and of his disciples to death were ready notwithstanding to dye for the trueth soundnesse of the bookes wherein he was foreshewed foretold and fore-promised vnto them at all tymes Furthermore that this King promised by the Prophetes and the Sibyls should deliuer the Law of good lyfe to the whole world Cicero séemeth to haue had some vnderstanding howsoeuer he came by it or els I caÌ„not tell wherto I should apply this goodly sentence of his in his third booke of his Commonweale Soothly the very Lawe in deede sayth he is right reason shed into all men constant euerlasting which calleth all men to their duetie by commaunding and frayeth them from fraud by forbidding which yet notwithstanding neither biddeth nor forbiddeth in vayne to the good nor by bidding or forbidding moueth the bad From this lawe may nothing be taken to it may nothing be put neither may it be wholy abrogated Neither Senate nor Pope can discharge vs of this Lawe neither needeth there any interpreter or expounder thereof to make it playne There shall not bee one Lawe at Rome and another at Athens one tooday and another toomorrowe But one selfesame Lawe being both euerlasting and vnchaungeable shall conteyne all Nations and at all tymes and there shall be but one common mayster and commaunder of all euen God He is the deuiser the discusser and the giuer of this Lawe which who will not obey shall flee from himselfe as if he disdeined to be a man which dooing of his must needes be a sore punishment vnto him though hee were sure to scape all other punishments Who seeth not here that this Heathen man espyed that all Lawes of man are but vanitie and that he looked that God himselfe should come openly into the sight of the world to giue a good lawe to Mankind Now Iesus hath manifestly giuen this Lawe causing it to be published by his Apostles and their voyce sounded to the vttermost bounds of the earth And for proof hereof what is more conuenient and meete for man in the iudgement of conscience than to loue God with all his heart and all his Soule and his neighbour as himself which yet notwithstanding doth more surmount our abilitie to performe and more bewray our corruption and more condemne whatsoeuer is in vs of our owne than doth the Lawe it selfe vniuersally in all mankind On the contrarie part what find we in all the writings of the Heathen but a Hireling vertue and a teaching to cloke vice that is to say Hipocrisie But as this Lawe is verily of God so let vs see whether the bringer thereof bee God And I beseech all worldly wise men not to hearken vnto mee by halues nor to looke vpon things at a glaunce for I come not to daly with them but to yeeld mée both their eares and to looke wistly to bend all their wits aduisedly for the néerer they looke vnto the matter the more deliberatly they consider of it the sooner will they yeeld to our doctrine as to the vndoubted trueth yea as to very nature it self Iesus therefore is borne in the little Countrie of Iewrie subdewed by the Romaines of poore parents in a sorie Uillage destitute of friends and of all worldly helpes and yet was he to be Emperour of the whole world to giue the Law to the whole world Let vs see the procéeding of this Emperour of his Empyre Amend sayth he and beleeue the Gospell for the kingdome of Heauen is at hand If we consider the maiestie of the Romaine Empyre the eloquence and learning of the great Clerks and the pride of the Sophists and Orators of that tyme what greater fondnesse could there be to all seeming than to talke after that maner Who would not haue thought folly both in Christ and in his Apostles for their preaching so But what addeth he Whosoeuer wil come into this kingdome let him forsake goodes father moother wife children yea and himselfe too And let him take vp his Crosse and followe me Let him thinke himself happie that he may suffer a thousand miseries for me and that in the end he may dye for my names sake What maner of priuiledges are these I beseech you to drawe people into that kingdome What a hope is it for them that serue him What are these promises of his but threatnings and his perswasioÌ„s but disswasions What say we to a friend whom we turne from some other man but thus eschewe that mans companie for ye shall haue nothing with him but trauell and trouble And what worse could the veriest enemies of his doctrine say than he himselfe sayd Also what a saying of his was this to S. Paule a man of reputation among the Pharisies and greatly imployed afore in following the world I wil shew thee how great things thou hast to indure for my names sake And yet notwithstanding what a sodeyne chaunge insewed from apprehending and imprisoning to bee apprehended and imprisoned from being a Iudge to be whipped and scourged from stoning of others to death to offer himselfe from Citie to Citie to bee stoned for the name of Iesus Let vs heare on the contrarie part the voyce of a worldly Conquerour Whosoeuer will followe me sayth Cyrus to the Lacedemonians if he be a footman I will make him a Horseman if he bee a Horseman I will giue him a Charyot if he haue a Manor I will giue him a Towne if he haue a Towne I wil giue him a Citie if he haue a Citie I will giue him a Countrie and as for Gold he shall haue it by weight and not by tale What â—ddes is there betwéene the spéeches of these two Monarkes and much more betwéene their Conquests And therefore what comparison can there bee betwixt the Conquerours themselues This Cyrus as great an Emperour as he was could not haue the Lacedemonians to serue him for all his great offers But Iesus being poore abiect and vnregarded did by his rigorous threats euen after his own suffering of reprochfull death and his manacing of the like to his followers drawe all people and Nations vnto him and not only Souldyers but also Emperours nor only Cities but also whole Empyres Cyrus dyed in conquering and Iesus conquered by dying The death of Cyrus decayed his owne kingdome as a bodie without a soule But the death of Iesus inlarged his kingdome euen ouer the Empyres And how could that haue bene but that the death of Iesus was the life of all Empyres and all Kingdomes Who seeth not then in the mightinesse of the one a humaine weakenesse and in the weakenesse of the other a diuine mightinesse Wee woonder
was proclayming his Lawes and yet notwithstanding those Lawes bare sway in Lacedemon many hundred yéeres after But Iulian must remember also that the Phrasians being next neighbours to Lycurgus and his confederates companyons in armes would not admit them and that the Lacedemonians themselues corrected them while he was yet aliue vpon the report whereof he dyed out of hand for pride greef disdeyne But what comparison is there betweene Sparta and the whole world betwéene dying for disdeyne to see his Lawes corrected and dying willingly to correct the Lawes of all the world What will he tell vs now of Alexander He had a great Hoste and power of men so much the more weaker was he of himselfe Iesus was despised and full of infirmitie so much the greater is his mightinesse and honor Alexander vanquished the Persians in Battell how much more commendable had it bene if he had done it with a blast of his mouth If he had liued he would haue conquered the whole world how much more honorable had it bene if he had tryumphed ouer the world by dying Alexander increased his kingdome by oppressing and Iesus by yéelding Alexander by killing and Iesus by dying But Alexanders Empyre decayed by his death whereas the kingdome of Iesus was both founded and stablished by the death of himself and his The difference therfore betwixt them is as great as is betwixt him that dyeth and him that quickeneth or betwéene him that of all maketh a thing of nothing and him which of nothing maketh all things To bee short if ye looke for vertue A man that excelled in vertue was in old tyme a wonder The Philosophers themselues sayth Cornelius Nepos condemned themselues in their owne teachings But after the tyme that Iesus was once preached what a number of men women and euen children in Towne and Countrie yea and in Wildernesses taught vertue to the world by their example If ye require rightuousnesse what were the first Christians but teachers of equitie of vncorruptnesse and of vprightnesse Yea what enemie of theirs doe wee finde that once openeth his mouth to accuse them If ye seeke the despising of death in déede they make a great a doe of one Zeno an Eleate for spitting out his Tongue at a Tyrant least he might confesse what the Tyrant demaunded and likewise of one Leena a woman of Athens that indured all maner of torments without vttering one word If this be so great a matter what a thing is it that in one age ye shal haue whole millions of all fexes of all ages of all states degrées and conditions go willingly and ioyfully to death insomuch that the Historiographer Arrianus makes a generall rule of it That all Christians made in effect no account of death not to conceale any fault of theirs as those others did who had leuer to haue suffered tormēts than to haue dyed but for professing the thing openly before all people which they had learned of God as folke that would haue thought themselues vnworthie to liue if they had hild their peace To bee short what Disciples what Subiects what Souldyers had Socrates Lycurgus or Alexander in all their life that came any thing nigh this these I say which were taught ruled and trayned vp by Iesus euen after he was departed hence and by his Apostles which were rude ignorant and weake as long as he was conuersant with them yea and euen at the very tyme of his death Besides this notable alteration I sayd also that at that tyme the seruing of Idols ceassed in all places at once Are they thinke you so voyd of wit as to say that the ceassing thereof in so many places in so notable maner and in so great geynstriuings happened by chaunce And must it not be that those Gods were made in great haste which had perished by so sodeine chance No say they it came to passe by a Constellation that is to say I wote not what a méeting together of the Starres in the Skye Let vs examin◠this Astrologie a little They suppose and it is a cōmon opinion that according to the diuersitie of Images in the Skye there are also diuers Religions and diuers Goddes in diuers Nations and therefore they deuide the world into seauen Clymates and vn to euery Clymate they allot a seuerall Planet to haue the rule of it But how wil they answer to Bardesanes the Syrian who as they themselues cannot denye was the wisest of all the Chaldees Ye part the world sayth he into seauen Clymates euery Clymate to bee gouerned by a Planet and what a number of Nations are vnder euery Clymate In euery Nation what a number of Shyres In euery Shyre what a sort of Townes All which doe differ both in Lawes in Gods and in Religions and that not only according to the number of the twelue Signes or of the sixe and thirtie faces only but in infinite sorts In India vnder one selfesame Clymat some eate mans flesh and some eate no flesh at all some worship Idols and othersome admit none at all Againe ths Magusians carie them whether soeuer ye will are giuen to Incest after the custome of their Moothercoūtry Persia from whence they descend And the Iewes being dispersed ouer all the world alter not their Religion nor their maner of life wheresoeuer ye bestow them To be short a Nation departing out of one Clymate carieth new Goddes and newe Lawes into another Clymate and yet the Clymate neither troubleth nor hindereth the doing thereof What vertue haue the Clymats or the Signes ouer Lawes and Religions the differences whereof are made by Forrestes Riuers and Mountaynes which are the bounds of Iurisdictions rather thā by them And which they are brought into againe euen in despite of them by men by custome and by conquest And in good sooth whereof commeth it that in the Countries where Venus Mercurie and Saturne were worshipped in old time the Gods are now abolished quite and cleane yet the signes are still in the same places where they were afore And whereof commeth it that the Iewish Lawe beeing banished and vtterly rooted out of their owne Countrie continueth vnder all Clymates still How happeneth it that the Religion of Mahomet is now where the Christian Religion was in tyme past and the Christian is now where sometyme were the bluddy Altars of Saturne and Mars and in some places many and contrarie Religions together For the saluing of this absurditie they runne into another Not the Clymates in very déede say they doe make the differences in Religion but the great Cōiunctions of the Planets and yet euen about this poynt they bee at great oddes among themselues For some say that the great Coniunctions of Iupiter and Saturne and none other do dispose of Religion Others say that properly Iupiter betokeneth Religion and that after as he is accompanied so bringeth he foorth the diuersities of them as for example accompanyed with Saturne the
seeing that in all the Countrie where he planteth them wee finde Men Cities and Kingdomes no lesse whit florishing than the same wherein hee himselfe was and as for any lykelyhod of that which he writeth of those things we find none at all As touching the Southcountryes and the Northcountryes that is to wit beyond the Circles of the two Poles The fower Empyres which haue bene so renowmed neuer heard speaking of them but at randon and much lesse extended them selues so farre in so much that euen we our selues know but a little of them which Tempest and Shipwrecke hath taught vnto vs. What win wee then by this discourse Uerely that the World was not knowne of all those great Empyres and much lesse of them that liued vnder their subiection And that it was not peopled all at once but that as folke ouerswarmed in a place and chaunced to hit vpon a man that was aduentrus they spred themselues further and further vnder his guyding into the Countries next vnto them And to be short that the néerer any Countries were to our foresayd Centre the sooner were they inhabited made ciuill and manured which thing appeareth more plainly euen by the very genealogie of the World Therefore let vs take our Centre to be eyther the toppe of Mount Taurus where it is called Caucasus and where Stories report the Arke of Noe to haue rested or els the playne of Sennaar where Moyses sayth that the Languages were confounded and folke dispersed abroade or els some place of Mesopotamia for it skilleth little in respect of the world and by considering the auncientest Estates we shall finde the States of Assyria of Syria of AEgipt and of Persia to haue bin nerest to our Centre and that the State of Assyria was the greatest of them all and yet in very trueth but small in comparison of the States that succéeded it From that Assyrians the Monarchie came to the Persians from the Persians to the Greekes froÌ„ the Greekes to the Latins from the Latins to the Frenchmen and from the Frenchmen to the Almanes accordingly as Countries multiplyed their habitations and that their people growing in Ciuilitie matched their force with wisedome And Spayne which heretofore was counted the vttermost part of the World is now become the first discouerer of the newe World But let vs goe on with the East parts from the Persians wee goe to the Indians and from the Eastindians to the Westindians so long vntill wee come to their vttermost Coast which is the selfesame place where the Spanyards found their first landing And surely if two folke should kéepe on their way continually the one on the one side and the other on the other that is to say the one Eastward and the other Westward in the ende they should méete both together if there were firme land all the way for them to go vpon And in very déed like as Ireland a part of Scotland Laplond and Groneland being the vttermost parts of our side of the World are as good as sauage so also be the vttermost inhabiters of the Westindies namely Canada Baccalea Brasilie and Petagon which are descended of the Eastindies And contrarywise like as in our Countries the more they tend towards the Centre which I haue taken the mo tokens haue they of their antiquitie as Fraunce mo than Germanie Italy mo than Fraunce Greece mo than Italy AEgipt mo than Greece and so forth of the rest So the Spanyards who in their first Conquests found but Cotages and Bogges did at their entering further into the Land finde goodly Cities wel inhabited orderly distinction of Commons and Nobilitie Ministers of Iustice and men of Warre Trades and Handycraftes well gouerned Histories of their doings wonderfull antiquities Towers passing the Pyramyds of AEgipt and whatsoeuer els the world hath counted wonderfull And out of doubt the néerer they come to the Centre of that part the more shall they find still For there is no man ignorant nowadayes what goodly great Cities and florishing Kingdomes haue within these fewe yéeres bin discouered in the Westindies And where it commeth to face the Eastindia with the Sea betwixt them both there we see the great Empyre of China so beautifull so florishing and so well gouerned in al respects that the ciuilest tyme of all the Romane Empyre may well séeme vnto vs to haue bene barbarous in comparison of that It is in effect all one as though the Westerne Indians making Conquests vpon vs as we haue done vpoÌ„ them should haue arriued at the first in Ireland Scotland or Groneland for as little could they haue sayd of vs as wee of them And whereas it may be replyed that although the people there be rude yet notwithstanding it hath euermore bin peopled Let it be added thereunto that in following the Coastes men haue found many Countries euen yet vnpeopled And also that euen in the best peopled places of all their Conquestes they haue not found the tenth part of so much people as the Countrie being manured were able to beare whereas on the contrary part in our Countries the Natiâ—ns doe pester one another And wheras our very vttermost borders are more frequented then theirs the cause therof is that ours be much néerer the Centre which I set downe then theirs bee as the Cosmographers doe easly perceyue Wherevpon it hath come to passe that the people which haue bene spred abroade from our Centre vnto the vttermost Coasts of the frosen Sea finding them selues more multiplyed than their Lands were able to mainteyne and being not able to go any further for the Sea that hemmed theÌ„ in haue rebounded backe agayne vppon the next Countries as namely the Cymbrians vppon the Almanes and Romanes and afterward the Gothes vpon Italy and Fraunce the Humes vpon Pannoye the Vandales vpon Spayne and lastly the Turkes and Tartarians vpon all Europe Which thing hath not happened vppon the other part of the World because of the large scope of their Countrey which eniptyeth the Easterne Indya nito the Westerne The Westerne into newe Spayne newe Spayne into Brasilie and Brasilie into the Southerne land wherof not so much as the Sea-coast is yet knowne Neither befell it so vnto vs in the first ages because our part of the World was not yet sufficiently peopled to ebbe backe agayne but it befell chiefly a little afore or a little after the comming of Iesus Christ that is to wit towards the perfect age of the World To bee short were there neuer so much people yet were it no woonder to him that would take the peynes to account what onely one ofspring might amount vnto in one hundred yéeres and how many one man might see to come of himselfe in his owne lifetyme which in another hundred yéere might increase into an infinite multitude The Empyres haue alwaies extended their largenesse towards the North and the South but yet more Northerly than Southerly because the Centre which I take is still afore
cause one to be borne of the womans seede which shall subdew the diuell and the diuell shal do his indeuer to trip vp his heeles by tempting him all maner of wayes but he shall treade the diuell vnder his feete and make him to yeeld vp his weapons that is to wit Sinne and death Now who seeth not that to ouercome the diuell it behoueth him to be God and that to be borne of a Woman it behoueth him to be man that is to say both God and man as I haue sayd afore Here beginneth our controuersie ageinst the Iewes of these later tymes who hold opinion that the Messias or Chryst whom we vphold to be the Mediator betweene Gods Iustice and Mannes sinne shal be some greate Emperour that shall deliuer them from bodily oppression whereunto I haue answered at large heretofore Howbeit they cannot denie but that by the death which God threateneth to Adam for his transgression Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon vnderstandeth a spirituall death that is to wit the death of the Soule wounded with sinne and forsaken of hir lyfe which is God and that by the venoume of the Serpent he meaneth sinne it self which shall ceasse sayeth he vnder the Messias and that the same is also the Interpretation of the auncient Cabalists and lykewyse that the Sinagog of old time vnderstoode the sayd text to be ment of the Messias as the Interpretation of the thréescore and ten Interpreters and the auncient Translation of Hierusalem itself do giue vs cause to beleeue For sayeth this Latter expresly so long ô Serpent as the womans Children keepe the Lawe they kill thee and when they ceasse to doo so thou stingest them in the Heele and hast powre to hurt them much But whereas for their harm there is a sure remedy to heale it for thyne there is none For in the last dayes they shal crushe thee al to peeces with their Heeles by meanes of Christ their King Now if the death bee spirituall and the enemy spirituall and his weapons spiritnall how can it be denyed that the battell betweene him and the Messias who is to vanquish him is lykewise spiritual his power spiritual and his Kingdome spirituall Moreouer what were Adam Henoch Noe and Abraham benefited by this promise if it extend no further than to temporall things Which of vs would indure here a thousand miseries vnder pretence that certeine thousands of yeres hence we should haue an Emperour borne which should he redouted euerywhere Now lyke as the scripture beginneth with the promise of the Messias that is to say of the deliuerer of our Soules so doth it shewe euidently that it aimeth not at any other mark than that For leauing the great States of the world and the breeding of Kingdomes and Principalities which are things whereon Histories stand so curiousely it leadeth vs directly too the birth and ofspring of Abraham whereof the Messias was to be borne And vnto the same Abraham doth God repe 〈…〉 promise often times that in his seede al nations should be blessed 〈◊〉 is to say that one should be borne of his seede by whom Saluation should be profered to all nations of the Earth And age in that in Isaac the seede should be called vnto him which thing surely is not spoken of the Posteritie of his Sonne Ismael notwithstanding that GOD told him that his fleshly posteritie should be verie florishing But this preface which the Lord maketh shall I hide any thing from my seruant Abraham c. Sheweth euidently how it is a misterie that passeth al vnderstanding of man and whereunto Abraham had no lesse ryght than his seede From Abraham this promise passed by hand to Isaac from Isaac to Iacob and Iacob left it by his last will too his children with these woords The Scepter shalnot be taken from Iuda nor the lawgiuer from betweene his feete vntil Silo come and vnto him shall the Nations resort Which woords were spoken to Iuda by name bycause the sayd holy seede was to come of his stocke And that the same saying was ment of the Messias the Thargum of Hierusalem and the Onkelos which are bookes of chéef anthoritie among the Iewes do assure vs. For they translate it thus vntill Chryst or the Anoynted come whereunto is added this too whom the Kingdome belongeth And the schoole of Rabbi Sila being demaunded in the Talmud what should bee the name of the Messias answereth Silo is his name for say they it is sayd vntill Silo come Albeit now that the sayd kingdome be other than a temporall Dominion yet is the text formall in that place For the Iewes wayt that the Messias or Christ should come of the Trybe of Iuda and that at the tyme of his comming the Scepter and the Lawgiuer should both be taken from Iuda Surely the thing that Israell looked for as then was not to subdue other Nations seeing that Israell himselfe was not to reigne at that tyme. And wretched had the hope of other Nations bene which looked for him also according to this text if his comming should haue bene but to spoyle them and make hauocke of them But he was to reigne yea euen ouer all Nations yea and to the benefite of all Nations His reigning then shal be according to the first promise namely ouer mens Soules the which he shall deliuer from the bondage of Sinne and the tyrannie of the Deuill In the Lawe of Moyses the Sacrifices and Ceremonies doe represent vnto vs the satisfaction which Christ was to make for the sinnes of the people by the sacrificing of himselfe But specially the Passouer Lambe the Sacrifice of the red Cowe the sending of the Scapegoate into the Wildernesse and the raising vp of the brasen Serpent for the healiâ—â— of diseases were all of them Memorialles for the people to put them in mynd both of the comming of the Messias and to what ende hee should come For whereas wee reade that the doorepostes of the houses were besmeared with the blud of a Lamb to the intent that the destroying Angell should not touch them that the Ashes of a Cowe without spot were kept for the sinnes of the Congregation That the Highpriest laying his hand vppon a Goates head acknowledged the sinnes of the people ouer him and the Goate went away with them into a place vninhabitable to the intent as ye would say he might neuer be heard of any more and that as many as beheld the brasen Serpent were healed incontineutly of the stinging of Serpents seeing that the things which were imployed to those purposes could not of their owne nature serue there vnto we must néedes conclude that they were signes signes say I of spirituall and inward matters like the Scripture it selfe which is spirituall and serueth for the inward man That is to wit That the Deuill hath no power ouer those which are reconcyled to God by the Sacrifice of the Messias who is charged with their Sinnes and that those which
of the remembrance of ydols from the earth sayth the Lord of Hostes. All this is nothing els but the clearing of men from their sinnes and the abolishing of Sathans reigne To bee short Malachie telleth vs of Christ That he shall bring vs an Attonement betwéene GOD and vs. And of the Ambassadour whom GOD ment to send afore him to prepare his wayes He sayth that hee shall turne the heartes of the Children to their Fathers and the heartes of the Fathers to their children By the preparation of the Ambassadour we iudge of the Office of his Maister namely that his comming is properly to reigne in our Soules seeing his Ambassadour prepareth them for him exhorting vs to turne away from our sinnes Now of this long but yet néedefull discourse wee gather two things The one against the Gentyles which is that the meane of cleansing mankind hath bin promised and preached euen from the fall of Adam and that the same promise is from time to time brought to our remembrance by our scriptures to wit that it is doone by Christ who was to bée borne of the womans séede by Abraham Iuda Dauid and others The other is against the Iewes of our tyme who looke still for a Christ to come which is that the deliuerāce promised by him is not ment of the tyranny of some earthly Prince ouer vs but of the Tyranny which the diuell exerciseth in our Soules by the vnrighteousnes of sinne the rewarde whereof is euerlasting death The Gentiles of old tyme yéelded vnto these texts when they had once imbraced the spirituall kingdome of Christ and it may be that if we had to doo with the Iewes of elder tyme the matter should soone bee dispatched For all the forealledged Texts haue bene vnderstood of the Messias and of his reigne both by the auncient Rabbines and by the Chaldee Paraphrasts Moreouer it is very manifest that the Cabalists who wrate long tyme afore the Talmudistes and who as they say doo pearce into the very Marowe of the Scriptures wheras the Talmudists doe but grate vppon the barke of them haue vnderstoode that the cleansing away of sinne and the heating of the contagious venome which the Serpent did shed into Adam and by him into the whole ofspring of man was to bee wrought by the Messias Yet for all this notwithstāding al the forecasts of mans wit we want not some euen of the newer sort of Writers which haue vnderstoode it after the maner aforesaid The exposition of Salomons Balett vpon these words A Grape of Copher makes this allusion Eschcol Haccopher That vnto the Church Christ is a man of full attonement who shall be borne of the Children of Abraham and shall make satisfaction for sinnes in such sort as he may say to the measure of Iudgement It is enough that is to say he may stay Gods wrath and punishment and God sayth he will lay him to gage and deliuer him for those that are his And vpon the fourth Chapter where it is written thus A thousand sheelds hang there that is to say in the Tower of Dauid the sayde exposition hath these words Often haue I saith the Lord taken my people in in protection for the dezert of one that was to come after a thousand generatiōs And I haue made them to succeede one after another to bring the Sheeld at the last vnto him which is the onely desyre of my Children and shal defend them better then a thousand Sheelds Also the Rabbines say That the Creatures which are growen out of king by Adams fall shall be set in their perfect state againe by the Sonne of Perets and according to their accustomed fondnesse for proofe thereof they bring in a Text of Ruth and another of Genesis where this worde Toledoth is written very plainly that is to wit with two Vaus And as thouching the sayd Sonne of Perets euery man knowes among them that it is the Messias whom they looked for to come of Iuda by his sonne Perets Concerning the calling of the Gentiles the Talmud maketh this comparison That the Horse shal be set in the stall of the halting Oxe Which wordes Rabbi Iacob and Rabbi Selomoh expound thus namely that forasmuch as the Iewes shall haue forsaken the Lawe God will put the Gentyles in their place and yet not driue them away afterward though the Iewes turne again vnto him which is a thing very farre of from the Monarchie which they imagin as oft as there is any speaking of the calling of the Gentiles To bee short the notablest of their Rabbines are ashamed of the feastings extraordinarie pastimes which the Iewes behight themselues at the comming of the Messias and conclude with Rabbi Moyses ben Maimon of whom they report that since Moyses hymselfe vntill this Moyses there was none so like vnto Moyses that the felicities and pleasures of that tyme ought to bee vnderstood according to this saying of Esayes That the earth shal be as it were ouerflowed with the knowledge of the Lord and that euery man shal be occupyed in seeking and in knowing GOD. But Rabbi Hechadoseh sayth yet more plainly That the Messias shall by his death saue Adams race and deliuer mens Soules from Hell and therefore shall bee called Sauiour Let vs yet further by reason ouercome the wilfull sort if it bée possible They hold it for an Article of their faith both by Scripture and by tradition that there shal be a Messias He that denyes that say they denyes the Lawe the Prophetes and is condemned to Helfyre And therefore say they he that denyeth the comming of the Messias cannot be saued If he which is to reigne in Israell and to giue them prosperitie bee a temporall King what skilles it me greatly whether I knowe him and beleeue in him or no or what ioy can it bee to me sith I cannot see him Nay rather what a griefe is it to mee that I shal not see him and what a peine is it to pyne away in wayting for him Ageine what goodnesse is it in GOD to haue foretold vs it if by beléeuing it we fare neuer the better yet must dye euerlastingly for not beléeuing it In the Articles of their faith they beléeue in the only one God There is greate reward in beléeuing well They beleeue a blessed lyfe As it is the Soule that beleeueth so doth the reward redound vnto her And euen so is it with all other things which are no Articles of fayth furtherfoorth than a man hath benefite by beleeuing them But as for this Article of the Messias what booted it Abraham Moyses so many Kings so many Prophetes such a nomber of people if there were no further secret in it Why was it foretold so carefully by the Prophetes Why was it so oft repeated no lesse in the prosperitie than in the aduersitie of that people and no lesse vnder the good Kings than vnder the Tyrants Nay which
persecuted the Christians a fresh contrarie to the custome of the Romanes insomuch that Nero made them to be put to the slaughter as if they had bin the authors of the burning of Rome which he himself had caused to be set on fire And we reade that in the same time the Senate made certeyne decrées whereby many thousands of Christians infected with the Iewish superstition for so did they terme them bycause they had their originall from the Iewes were banished into dyuers Iles. Which thing the Senate would not haue done considering their ordinary maner of proceeding in caces of Religion if the hastie increase of that spirituall kingdome had not put them in feare And within a whyle after we see how all the Emperours were amazed at this flocking of people togither vnto thē for counsel how to extinguish that doctrine and how fires were kindled ageinst them on all sides and yet how Nations neuerthelesse were shaken at the voice of the Apostles and the verie Courts of Princes with their Legions of Souldyers were made to inclyne vnto Christ. Sufficient witnesses whereof be the Lawes of that age wherein it was inacted that the Swoordgirdle of a Souldyer should not bee worne of any Christian that they should not beare any office or haue any charge in the Court and such other And Vlpian the Lawyer did himself write fower bookes ageinst the christians And truely we reade that a greate many gaue ouer their charges rather than thei would forsake the Christen fayth Moreouer in the tyme of Marcus Aurelius there was a Legion that was called the Legion of Malta which was altogither of Christians of which Legion hee witnesseth in a certeine Epistle of his that being vpon a time brought to vtter distresse by the Marcomanes this Legion obtayned by prayer beth Thunder from Heauen ageinst the enemie and Rayne wherewith to refresh the whole army whereupon that Legion was afterward called the Thunderer And therefore saieth Tertullian in his Apologie If as many of vs as be Christians should get vs away into some corner of the world ye would woonder to see how feaw people ye should haue remayning to you ye should be fayne to seeke other Cities to commaund or rather you to flee away out of hand and too hyde yourselues for yee should haue mo enemyes than Citizens left ye We haue filled now whole Cities Ilands and Castles Counselles Palaces and Courtes Trybes Legions and Armyes What warre were we not able inough to vndertake if we listed And what is it that we might not bring to passe dying so manfully and so willingly as wee do Nay the Lawe of our warre teacheth vs to dye and not to kill Now what kingdome euer had so greate increase in so short tyme But which is a greater matter what a thing is it to vanquish by yeelding to be furthered by retyring and to conquer by dying We reade of the Emperour Tiberius that vppon a letter written to him from Pilate reporting the miracles of Iesus his giltlesse death and his rysing agein from the dead he preferred a bill to the Senate with his assent vnto it to haue had them proclayme Iesus to bee God and that the Senate refused it because they themselues were not the authors thereof but that Tyberius abode still in his opinion And therevpon Tertullian sayth Goe looke vpon your Registers and the Acts of your Senate Also Vespasian the scourge of the Iewes forbare the Christians and Traiane moderate the persecution vpon the report of their innocencie made vnto him by Plinie Marcus Aurelius hauing felt the helpe of their prayers did the like Likewise did Antonine but to another end namely because that as he himselfe writeth in an epistle of his persecution did stablish the Church of the Christians To bee short Alexander the sonne of Mammea did in his Chappell worship Iesus surnamed Christ of whom also he tooke his Poesie and therefore the Antiochians called him the Archpriest of Syria And it is reported that for Christs sake the Emperour Adrian builded many Temples without Images Finally the good Emperours of Rome Vespasian Adrian Traiane Antonine the méeke and such others had Christ in estimation and allowed of the Christians But how farre Surely as to acknowledge in their hearts that they were good and honest men and that Iesus had more in him than was of Man But yet for all this If they be accused say these good Emperours let them bee punished if not let them not be sought This is a good proofe and allowance of their innocencie but surely it is but a slender reléefe for them Contrarywise the wicked Emperours Nero Domitian Valerian Commodus Maximine Decius and such others condemned them and by their condemning of them did iustifie them For what did they euer allowe but euill But what maner of condemning is this Kill all burne all yea whole Cities haue no respect of sex of age or of qualitie Scarcely had the Christians any breathingtime but a new counterbuffe came vpon thē againe they were no sooner from the torture but they must too it againe And yet God did so rule all things by his prouidence to the intent the whole glorie in this misterie should redound to himself that the mield dealing of the good Emperours did in déede iustifie the trueth but yet durst they not aduaunce or further it whereas on the contrary part the malice of the other sort condemned it and persecuted it to the vttermost but yet could they not destroye it To be short in fewe yéeres there passed ten horrible persecutions vppon that poore Church and yet in the end the Emperours themselues submitted themselues to the Crosse of Christ and their Empyres sought their welfare there Therefore we may alwaies come back to this poynt That he yea only he which first created the world of nothing when there was not yet any thing to withstand him is able to recouer the world from Sathan and to subdue it to himself without the helpe of any thing euen by instruments repugnant to him and in despight of the whole world bending itself ageinst him But what will ye say if he subdue not onely men but also their Gods not only the world but also the Souereynes of the world I meane the Diuels which at that time held the world vnder their tyrannie Let vs reade the Histories of the Greekes Romanes that were afore the comming of Christ and what shall wee find in them but the Myracles and Oracles of Diuels What els haue Varro Cicero Titus Liuius and such others among the Romanes or Herodotus Diodorus Pausanias and the residewe among the Greekes On the contrarie part we see that euen euer since Christ was borne and preached the world hath chaunged his hewe Iesus was borne vnder the Emperour Augustus and see here what Apollo answereth vnto him An Hebrew Child which daunteth with his powre The blessed
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
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
euident and absolute that it is a starke shame to denye it And so is it applyed by Rabbi Saadias vpon Daniell by Rabbi Nahman of Geround and by Rabbi Hadarsan who be the notablest among them For as for Rabbi Selomoh who vnderstandeth it of Cyrus or Aben Ezra who applyed it to Nehemias or Rabbi Leui the sonne of Gerson who vnderstaÌ„deth it of Iosua the High-priest there is not that word in this text which doth not disprooue them besides that the Anoynting which is spoken of here must needes be a spirituall anoynting considering that there was not any more anoynting at all vnder the second Temple There are sayth he threescore and ten weekes Let vs see what maner of wéekes they be The Scripture telleth vs of wéekes of daies and of wéekes of yéeres and examples of them both are in Leuiticus and in diuers other places The wéekes of daies serue for ordinary matters and the wéekes of yéeres for matters of great weight and of long continuance But Daniell may bee his owne expounder For in the next Chapter hee speaketh expresly of mourning three weekes of daies whereas here in a matter of estate which passeth with slower steppes and requireth larger measure he speaketh of weekes simply without addition And in very deede Hierusalem could not bee builded agayne in seuen weekes of daies but it was to be builded agayne in many weekes of yeeres After that maner are they taken by Rabbi Saadias Rabbi Moyses and Rabbi Selomoh also vnto whom all the best of them consent and there is not any one of them to my knowledge which taketh these wéekes to be wéekes of daies But as for the yoonger Rabbines whensoeuer they bee pressed they say these weekes conteyne eyther ten yéeres a péece or fiftie yeres yea or a whole hundred yeres a péece a thing without reason in this text and without example in all the whole Scripture It followeth from the going forth of the Commaundment for the building again of Hierusalem to the anoynted Prince are seuen weekes and threescore and two weekes That is to say as the Prophet himselfe expoundeth it for the building vp of the Citie of Hierusalem and the Temple seuen weekes which make nine and fortie yéeres And from the building againe of Hierusalem vnto Christ threescore and two weekes which make fower hundred thirtie and fower yéeres all which together amount vnto fower hundred fowerscore and three yéeres And in good sooth if wee begin as the Prophet teacheth vs to account the wéekes froÌ„ the day wherein the word was spoken that Hierusalem should be builded againe that is to wit from the thréescore and tenth yere of the Captiuitie or from the first yéere of King Cyrus when Ieremie wrate to the prisoners at Babylon assiâ—ring them of their deliuerance at which tyme Cyrus gaue commaundement for the building againe of the Temple vnto the tyme of Herode King of the Iewes or of Tyberius the Emperour of Rome we shall finde that in that very tyme were fulfilled the fower hundred fowerscore and thrée yeres yea and the very thréescore and tenth weeke wherin Christ was to stablish the Couenant of God with men And it seemeth that Daniell or rather the Angell ment in these thréescore and ten wéekes to allude to the thréescore and ten yéeres spoken of by the Prophet Ieremie as if he should haue sayd At such tyme as ye were led away captiue to Babylon Ieremie assured you that you should bee deliuered from that temporall Captiuitie within thréescore and ten yéeres and ye see it is so come to passe And now I tell you that within thréescore and ten weekes of yeeres ye shall be deliuered from the spiritual captiuitie by Gods couenant made vnto you whereof the Anoynted shal be the Mediatour I am not ignorant how some writers begin the account of these weekes at the first yéere of King Cyrus and some at the second yéere of Artaxerxes othersome at the twentie yeere of the same Artaxerxes because at that tyme there went out another Proclamation in fauour of Nehemias by reason that the building of the Temple had bene stayed But which way soeuer they goe to worke the ende of these weekes falleth still vpon the tyme of Herod and Tyberius and méeteth iumpe with the prophesies that went afore And it can not bee denyed but that they were accomplished according to the circumstaunces set downe here by the Prophet For the Prince of the people that was to come destroyed the Citie that is to wit the Emperour of Rome did ouerthrow Hierusalem and beate downe the Temple and abolish their Sacrificings through the whole Land of Iewrie and bring vpon them the extreme desolation that is spoken of here by the Prophet And therefore some of the Rabbines being vnable to shift of this text haue presumed to say that Daniell had sayd well in all the rest but that he ouershot himselfe in this account The very traditions of the Iewes themselues doe bring vs to this tymer At leastwise there is not any whose date is not out long ago In the Talmud is this saying of the schoole of Elias so greatly renowned among them The world shall indure Sixthousand yeeres Two thousand yeeres emptie that is to say without Lawe Two thousand yeeres vnder the Lawe And two thousand yeres vnder Christ. And Rabbi Iacob sayth herevpon that the first two thousand yeeres ended in the tyme of Abraham the second about the destruction of the Temple which thing he proueth by an account of the tymes at the ende of which latter twoo thousand he sayth that Christ should come and deliuer Israel from captiuitie Thus farre he agreeth with vs. But he addeth for our sinnes sakes his comming is deferred This glosse marreth the text For in other places it is sayd flatly that the tyme of the comming of the Messias is past now seauen hundred and fortie yeeres ago which thing they lament in both their Talmuds And vppon this verse of Esay I will make hast to doe it in his tyme which is spoken expresly of Christ and of his Kingdome Rabbi Iosua the sonne of Leuy apposeth these words I wil make haste against these other words in his tyme. I will make haste sayth the Lord at leastwise if they be worthy addeth Rabbi Iosua In his time sayth the text that is to say euen when they would not addeth Rabbi Iosua which meaning of his he might haue expressed much more fitly in saying That Gods grace geinstandeth our sinnes in such sort as that all our iniquities cannot stop or stay the course thereof We haue another Tradition vpon the ninth Chapter of Esay where he setteth downe this excellent Prophesie coÌ„cerning Christ A Childe is borne vnto vs c. In that place are written these words lemarbeh hammisrah concerning the increasing of his kingdome with the Hebrewe Letter â— Mem closed in the mids of the word notwithstanding that the sayd Letter which as
the Prophet Haggeus expounded heretofore vntil at length after long and pernicious abusing of them when he could not deliuer them from the yoke of the Romaines in the end they knockt him on the head Yet notwithstanding afterward againe about a fortie yeres after the destruction of the Temple another of the same name gathered into the Citie of Bitter all the Iewes that were thereabouts and of him they report wonders as that he should haue a hūdred thousand men about him which vpon trust of their inuincible strength did cut off one of their fingers that going to battell he was wont to say Helpe vs not thou Lord of the world seeing thou hast forsaken vs c. And that the Rabbines which had bene deceiued by the former so greatly were they perswaded of the tyme receiued this man neuerthelesse and made him also to be receiued of others applying vnto him this text of the booke of Nombers A Starre shall come out of Iacob because the Hebrewe word Cocab signifieth a Starre and saying that in stead of Cocab it ought to be written Cozab or Cozba which was his name And this is written by their owne Histories and confirmed afterward by ours and also by the very Heathen writers which wrate the life of the Emperour Adrian Yet for all this they were still the more wasted and caryed away into Spayne and Hierusalem was peopled with other Nations and the whole Land of Iewrie made vtterly heathen And as many as went about afterward to abuse the Iewes vnder that pretence as one did not long since in Italie were by and by destroyed and welnere wyped cleane out of rememberance Let vs adde yet further that since that tyme which is now aboue fiftéene hundred yéeres agoe they neuer had any Prophetes any comfort from GOD any extraordinarie gifts no nor any knowledge of their Tribes which is a most euident token that the Prophesies which amed chiefly at Christ are fulfilled and that in him the Church is comforted and indewed with the giftes which it hoped for and to bee short that he for whose sake the pedegrees were to be kept certeyne is not now to be borne And therefore wee see how some of them doe say with Rabbi Hillel That the daies of Ezechias haue swallowed vp the Messias that is to say that he is not to bee looked for any more and that folke haue made themselues vnworthie of him and that some others through extremitie of despayre do pronounce them accursed which determine any certeyne tyme of the comming of the Messias Thus then we see now that the holy Scripture and the auncient interpretation thereof doe méete together in the tyme of Herod to shewe vs the Messias there and therevpon it is that we sée the people in the Gosphell so ready to ronne after Iohn Bapthst and Christ and to moue these ordinarie questions Art thou hee that should come When wilt thou restore the Kingdome of Israell Shall we waite for another yet still and such other But But let vs see what startingholes stubbornes hath inuēted against the things aforesaid The Messias say the new Rabbines was borne at the very same time and in the very same day that the second Temple was destroyed that this Prophesie of Esay might be fulfilled Before hir throwes or pangs came she was deliuered of a Manchylde but he is kept secret for a tyme. For so doe we reade vpon the xxx Chapter of Genesis And in the Talmud Rabbi Iosua the sonne of Leuy sayth that it is a Reuelation that was made vnto Elias I would faine then haue them to shewe me what one Text in all the Scripture giueth any incling thereof They ad that he shal be hidden sower hundred yeeres in the greate Sea eight hundred yeres among the sonnes of Coree and fower score yeres at the gate of Rome And Rabbi Iosua the sonne of Leuy saith in the Talmud that he himselfe sawe him there lapping vp his sores among the Lazermen What are these things euen by none other witnesse then them selues but tales contriued vpon pleasure of purpose to mock folke Some say he shal be set vp in great honour next vnto the Pope and that in the end he shall say to the Pope as Moyses did to Pharao Let my people goe that they may serue mee and so foorth If he be borne so long agoe and keepe him selfe secret as they say in their Talmud but till he be called to deliuer them what cause is there why he should kéepe himself away still seeing they haue called him so much and so lowd and so many hundred yeres seeing also that the time is expyred yea and almost dubble expyred and finally seeing that euen according to their owne exposition it is sayd I will hasten them in their tyme They answere yet still there remayneth but a good repentāce Tooto◠miserable surely were we if God should not preuent our repentance with his grace For the very repentance of the best men is but a sorynesse that they cannot be sory enough But let vs heere a pretie Dialogue of two Rabbins disputing in their Talmud of this matter It is written sayth Rabbi Eliezer Turne againe yee stubborne Children and I will heale you of your stybbornesse Yea but it is also written sayth R. Iosua Ye haue bene sold for nothing and ye shall be redeemed with mony that is to say ye haue bene sold for your Idolatryes which are nothing and ye shal be redeemed without your repentance good workes Yea but it is sayd sayth R. Eliezer Turne yee to mee and I will turne to you But let vs also reade sayth R. Iosua I haue taken ye in mariage as a wyfe and I will take you one of a Citie and twoo of a Household and giue you enterance into Sion R. Eliezer replyeth thus It is sayd ye shal be saued in calmnesse and in rest Nay sayth R. Iosua it is written in Esay thus saith the Lord the Redeemer of Israell to the despised Soule and to the people that is abhorred that is to say that your wickednes shal not stop the course of Gods decree In the end Eliezer sayth what meaneth Ieremy then to say If thou turne thee ageine ô Israell seeing it is a conditionall maner of speaking Nay saith Rabbi Iosua what ment Daniel then by this Text I heard the man that was clothed in linnen and stood vppon the Water of the Riuer and he lifted vp his right hand and his left hand vp to Heauen and sware by him that liueth for euer and it shal be for a tyme and tymes and halfe a tyme And the Talmud sayth that at this tert R. Eliezer was blankt and held his peace which was as much to say as that he condescended to that which R. Iosua had sayd namely that the offences of Israell should not stay the comming of Christ but that God would preuent Israell with his holy grace
of God And what a blasphemie is it toâ— vphold that the power of God is so tyed to his name that his enemyes may whether he wil or no serue their owne turnes both with his name and with his power to the ouerthrowe of his kingdome and to the stablishing of theirs Nay rather let vs say according to their owne teaching that Iesus did great miracles both in the name of God and in the power of GOD and that God gaue power vnto his name and not the name vnto God Iesus therefore was certeinly the seruant of God and endewed with such power from God Now whereas some deny that Christ should worke myracles when as notwithstanding the Scripture sayth the contrarie and the Iewes in the Gospel do continually exact signes and myracles at his hand their Talmud reporteth that Christ should discerne good from euill by the onely sent or sauour by the want of which propertie they say that Barcozba was bewrayed not to bee the Messias and whereas they affirme that the wild beasts should lay away their woodnesse and that Hierusalem should bée hoyssed vp three leagues into the ayre and such other like I confesse in déedâ— that the chiefe end of Christes comming was not to worke myracles accordingly also as we see that his doing of them was but as by workes and vppon occasion and I esteeme more of those which do heare his word and kéepe it than of those which remoue Mountaines Neuerthelesse Rabbi Hadarsan sayth he had learned of Rabbi Natronai that Christ should come with very great signes and myracles and that the Pharisies should attribute them to Art Magicke and to the names of vncleane Spirits according whervnto we reade in the Gospell that they sayd thus He casteth out Deuilles by the name of Beelzebub And the Commentarie vppon the booke of the Preacher sayth that all the myracles which went afore are nothing to the myracles of the Messias Also the Talmud in a certeine place sayth That the myracles which shal be wrought in the tyme of the Messias in the kingdomes of the Gentyles compared with the myracles that were wrought in AEgipt shal be as the substance to the accident Unto Myracles is ioyned Prophesying as a thing to be numbered among the chiefe myracles That Christ should bee a Prophet they will not denye for they take the text of Deuteronomie where a Prophet is promised them to be ment of Christ therevpon riseth this common demaund in the Gospell Art thou the Prophet And wheras they say in their Talmud that the Messias shall iudge of things by their only smell it cannot bee soundly vnderstood of any thing els than of an excellent gift of Prophesying To let passe a thousand particular Prophesies and a thousand texts whereby we perceyue that Iesus read things in the hypocritish hearts of the Pharistes and sawe things in the hearts of his Disciples which they themselues neither sawe nor perceiued who will not woonder at these which wee see so peremptorilie come to passe namely Ye shal be brought before the Princes and Magistrates of the earth men shall thinke they doe seruice vnto God when they murder you for my names sake that the glad tydings of his kingdome should bee preached through the whole world notwithstanding all impediments That Hierusalem should bee destroyed That all things should bee wasted and vnhalowed there That of the same Temple which they reuerenced so much one stone should not be left standing vpon another And that the tyme wherein these things should bee done was then so neere hand that euen those which led him to death had cause to bewayle themselues and their ChildreÌ„ For what I pray you could those poore Fishermen thinke when he spake to them of being led before Kings and which more is when he told them that they should driue Nations like flockes of Shéepe afore them at the hearing of the Gospell What likelihood was there hereof in his owne person or in theirs considering the lowlinesse of his life and the reprochfulnesse of his death And as touching the destruction of Hierusalem which befell about a fortie yéeres after sith we reade expresly in their owne Histories that the Emperour Tytus offered them peace sought the preseruation of their Temple graunted them the free vse of their Religion and during his seege did seeke as it were by intreatance to them being beseeged that he might saue and preserue them and yet notwithstanding as Iosephus reporteth they would needes perish whether he would or us and wilfully cast themselues into the same extremities whereof Iesus had forewarned them who can say that he was ignorant of the vnchaungeable determination of God notwithstanding that to the sight of Man the matter was as likely to haue falâ—e out otherwise as euer any was specially considering that the enemies themselues on whom the whole case seemed to depend laboured by al meanes to turne the destruction away from the beseeged Now albeit that as well Prophesying as Myracles haue eyther of them their peculiar and vncommunicable markes of Gods spirit and finger whereby to discerne the one from the other Yet certesse doctrine is the touchstone of them both For if there rise vp a Prophet sayth the Law and giue thee a signe or myracle and therevppon he come and counsell thee to turne aside to straunge Gods thou shalt not hearken vnto him Therfore let vs see what doctrine Iesus matched with his signes and miracles Let vs reade the Gospell from the one ende to the other and wee shall see nothing there but to loue God with all our heart and our neighbour as our selfe Also he came not to abolish the Lawe but to fulfill it nor to destroye the Temple but to purge it The Pharisies had extended the Lawe but to the outward man he condemneth their hypocrisie and bringeth it backe againe to the inward man They sayd hate your enemies but he sayd if ye loue none but your friends what are ye better than the Publicanes They sayd Thou shalt not commit adulterie thou shalt not kill But he sayd If thou looke vpoÌ„ a woman to lust after her thou hast broken the Lawe and if thou say to thy brother Racha thou hast alreadie killed him To bee short a neighbour by their interpretation was but in Iericho or néere thereabouts but he told them that a neighbour was in Samaria in idumea in all the corners of the world Also if a case concerne God he taught men to forsake Goods Preferments Father Moother Wife Children and all that euer is for loue of his seruice As for Saluation and Welfare he taught men to hoord vp treasure in Heauen and to shake off the world in this life that they may be clothed with glorie in another What is there in all this I say not which turneth a man away but which setteth him not in the right way and which tendeth not in effect to the glorie of the true
Insomuch that their owne Historywriter beholding so many records of Gods wrath was in maner cōstreyned to come somewhat nye the cause thereof which he affirmeth to be that the Highpriest Ananus had vniustly and hastily caused Iames the brother of Iesus to be stoned to death and certeine others with him to the great griefe of good men and of such as loned the Lawe To the which purpose also may this saying of the notablest of their Rabbines be applyed That the second Temple was destroyed for their selling of the Rightuous and for hating him without cause according to this saying of Iesus concerning them They haue hated me without cause And whereas some Iewes at this day doe say that they bee punished because some of them receiued this Iesus for the Christ there is no likelyhood of trueth in it For considering that Gods maner is to saue a whole Citie for some ten good mens sakes if they be found in it he would much rather haue saued his own people for so many mens sakes being the chiefe and representing the state of the Realme of Iewrie which did put their hands to the accusing of Iesus and for so great a multitudes sake which cryed out Away with him away with him crucifie him And if God confirmed the Priesthood vnto Phinees for his zealousnesse in punishing a simple Israelite what thinke you your selues to haue deserued for crucifying as you beare your selues on hand an enemie of God one that named himselfe Christ the Lords Anoynted yea and which sayd he was very God himselfe Yet notwithstanding in the middes of all these calamities the Citie and Temple of this Iesus were builded vp first in Iewrie it selfe and afterward in the whole world and according to Daniels Prophesie the Couenant of Saluation was stablished among all Nations by the preaching of his Apostles and the Sacrifices of the Iewes were then put downe and neuer anywhere reuyued againe since that tyme. And within a while after the very ydolatries of the Gentyles which had possessed the whole world were likewise dasshed also as wée shall see hereafter Whereof Rabbi Hadarsan writing vpon Daniell seemeth to haue giuen some incling in that he sayth Halfe a weeke that is to say three yeeres and a half shall make an end of Sacrificing And so doth R. Iohanan in that he sayth Three yeeres and a half hath the presence of the Lord cryed out vppon Mount Oliuet saying seeke God while he may be found and call vpō him while he is nere hand And vpon the Psalmes it is sayd That by the space of three yeeres and a halfe GOD would teache his Church in his owne persone Now it is manifestly knowen that Iesus preached betwéene thrée and fower yeres about Hierusalem and that his preaching was pursewed and continued afterward by his Apostles Sothen we haue in the Prophets a Christ the sonne of God which was to be borne of a Uirgin in the end of the thréescore and and ten wéekes mention in Daniel at Bethleem in Iewrie whom being foregone by an Elias it behoued to preache the kingdome of God to dye a reprocheful death to mans Saluation and to ryse agayne with glorie shortly wherevpon should follow the destruction of Hierusalem and of the Temple And at the very selfesame tyme we haue in our Gospels in the stories of the Iewes themselues one Iesus the sonne of God borne of the Uirgin Marie at Bethleem in Iewrie who beeing foregone by Iohn the Baptist preached the kingdome of Heauen both in woord and déede was crucified at Hierusalem beléeued on by the Gentiles and reuēged by the ouerthrowe and destruction of the Temple And all these circumstances and markes are so peculiar vnto him that they can by no meanes agrée to any other Wherefore let vs conclude that this Iesus is the very same Christ that was promised from time to time in the Scriptures and exhibited in his dew time according to our Gospell For that is the thing which wee had to proue in these last two Chapters The xxxj Chapter An answere to the Obiections which the Iewes alledge ageinst Iesus why they should not receiue him for the Christ or Messias NOw let vs examine the obiections of the Iewes and sée what they can say ageinst the Testimonie of all the Prophetes which agreeth fitly to Iesus and can agree to none but him First If Iesus say they were the Christ who should haue knowen and receiued him rather than the great Sinagogue which was at that time This obiection is very old for in the Gospell the Pharisies say Doe any of the Pharisies or chiefe Rulers beleeue in him saue onely this rascall people which know not the Lawe who be accursed Here I might alledge Simeon surnamed the rightuous a Disciple of Hillels who had serued fortie yeres in the Sanctuarie how hée acknowledged Iesus for the Sauiour of Israell and the light of the Gentiles in the which Simeon the Iewes themselues confesse that Spirit of God to haue sayled which was woont to inspire the greate Sinagogue and inspired him still during all his lyfe Also I could alledge Iohn the Baptist whom they called the great Rabbi Iohanan who acknowledging Iesus to be the sonne of God sent his Disciples vnto him And likwise Gamaliel whom in the Acts of the Apostles we reade to haue sayd If this Doctrine be of God it will continew if not it will perish and in Clement to haue bene a Disciple of the Apostles and in their owne bookes to haue bene the Disciple of the sayd Simeon And finally S. Paule him selfe a disciple of the sayd Gamaliel soothly a very great man and of great fauour and authoritie among them of whom they cannot in any wyse mistrust To bee short Iosephus reporteth that this Iesus was followed among that Iewes of all such as loued the trueth and that as many as loued the Lawe did greatly blame Ananus the highpréest for causing the disciples of Iesus to be put to death Also R. Nehumia the sonne of Hacana hauing recounted the miracles of Iesus within a litle of whose tyme he was sayth expresly I am one of those which haue beleeued in him and haue bene baptized and haue walked in the right way Likewise the S. Rabbi seemeth to haue hild of Iesus and if he did not then is it yet more wonderfull than if he had knowen him considering that he séemeth to describe this Iesus by the selfsame circumstaunces that the very Christ is described by him But without any stāding vpō that poynt I say further to them That whereas the Synagogue receiued not Iesus for the Messias their so doing is a token that he was the very Messias in deede and that their receiuing of Barcozba for the Messias was a sure proofe that Barcozba was not the Messias For it is expresly sayd by the Prophetes that when the Messias came vnto them they should be so blynde as not too
such a one and to imbrace his doctrine with all our heart Howbeit to take all cause of doubt from the Heathen let vs shewe them yet further that Iesus is God the sonne of God without the testimonie of the Scriptures For it may be that although they will not beleeue Iesus to be very God by meanes of our Scriptures yet they will beléeue our Scriptures to be of GOD in very deede when they shall see that Iesus is God whose comming hath bene declared so plainly and so long aforehand in our Scriptures But to begin withall let vs call to mynd this saying of Porphyrius That Gods prouidence hath not left mankind without an vniuersall cleansing and that the same cannot be done but by one of the beginnings that is to wit by one of the three Persones or Inbeeings of Gods essence And likewise these poynts which I haue proued already namely That man is created to liue for euer That by his corruption hée is falne from Gods fauour into his displeasure and consequently excluded from that blessednes That to bring him in fauour ageine a Mediator must step in who must be man that he may susteine the death which mankind hath deserued and God that he may triumphe ouer death and decke vs with his desert And such a one doe we say the same Iesus is which was crucified by the Iewes and beleeued on among the Gentyles of olde tyme And God of his grace graunt in our tyme to inlighten all those to whom he hath not as yet giuen grace to beléeue Surely as the Mediator came for the Gentyles as well as for the Iewes that is to say for all men so it should seeme that the Gentiles had some incling thereof reuealed to them from GOD that they might prepare themselues to receiue him In the Scripture we reade of a Prophet named Balaam who prophesied plainly enough of Christ. And some auncient writers say that his Prophesie and the prophesie of one other named Seth were kept in the East partes of the world And Iob who was an Edomite sayth I am sure that my Redeemer liueth and shall stand vp last vppon the earth Also the Sibils and specially Sibill of Erithra who is so famous aboue the rest at leastwise if the bookes which wee haue vnder their names be theirs doe tell vs that he should be the sonne of God be borne of a Uirgin be named Iesus woorke miracles be crucified by the Iewes be raysed ageine to glory come in the ende to iudge both the quicke and the dead and so foorth and that which is a greater matter in such termes and with such particularities as it seemeth to be the very Gospel turned into verse as though God had meant to vtter his misteries more manifestly by them to the Gentiles than he had done to the Iewes bycause the Gentyles had not bene inured to the heauēly doctrine any long time aforehand and namely to the hope of the Redéemer And as for them which thinke those bookes to haue bene counterfetted in those Sibils names surely they may more easely say it than proue it but I passe not greatly for that For as Suetonius Tranquillus reporteth the Emperour Augustus made them to bee locked vp in two Cofers of gold at the foote of the Image of Apollo on mount Palatine in Rome where it was hard for men to haue falsifyed them And in the tyme of Origen of Clement of Alexandria and of Iustine the Martir which was not long after the preaching of the Apostles those bookes were abrode in the world as appeareth by the discourses of Celsus the Epicure who sayth in deede that they were counterfet but hee proueth it not Also the Emperour Constantine in a certeine Oration of his witnesseth that hee had séen and read them and referred the Gentiles of his time to them Well it cannot be denied but that there was at leastwise some such like thing For Cicero in his bookes of Diuination writeth these words Let vs obserue the bookes of Sibyll We must name vs some King if we will liue in safetie And yet all men knowe how hatefull a thing the name of King was both to all the Romaines and to Cicero him selfe Also he maketh mention of Sibils Acrosticke that is to say of certeyne verses of hirs whose first letters made the name of that King of which sort wee haue some in the eighth booke of the Sibyls wherevpon he concludeth that they had a sound and wel setled mynd Moreouer the Emperour Constantine affirmeth that Cicero had translated the booke Sibyll of Erithra that Antonie would haue had it abolished In these bookes it was sayd that as soone as the Romanes had set the King of AEgipt againe in his State by and by should bee borne the King of the whole worlde And therefore Cicero writing to Lentulus who sewed to haue that charge doth mention that Oracle vnto hym and the Romaines made a dout whether they might restore the King of AEgipt or no by reason of that matter whereof the Sibyls doe make some spéeche in their second booke Neuerthelesse when the Romaines had well canuased the case Gabinus conueyed home Ptolomie King of AEgipt into his Kingdome and at the same time was Iesus Christ borne Virgill who by the fauour of Augustus had accesse to those bookes made an Eglog which is but a translation of certeine of the Uerses of those Sibyls concerning the happie state which Sibyll behighted by Iesus Christ the sonne of God sauing that Virgil not looking deepely into the matter applyed it wholy to one Salonine in fauour of Augustus whō he meant to flatter After which manner the Romanes wrested this famous foresaying of Syria to the Emperour Vespasian That out of Iewrie should come the Souereine of the whole world But wee reade that one Secundian a notable man in the tyme of the Emperor Decian and one Verian a Peinter and one Marcelline an Orator became Christians vpon the onely reading and conferring of those Oracles And therefore the first writers among the Christians as Iustine Origen Clement such others doe sommon the Heathen to the bookes of the Sibyls because they would not with their good willes haue beléeued ours and also to a former prophesie of one Histaspes which spake plainly of the comming of the sonne of God into the world and of the conspiring of all kingdomes ageinst him and his And therefore all those bookes were forbidden by the Heathen Emperours vpon peyne of death But God of his wonderfull prouidence had prouided for the Saluation of the Gentyles by scattering the Iewish nations with their books and prophesies into all the fower quarters of the World howbeit that we reade not of any other Linage or Nation to haue bene so scattered without losing their tytles their bookes their name and the very knowledge of their original which prerogatiue the Iewes had to the intent they should bee
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