saying Behold the time shall come that these tokens which I have told thee shal come to pass c. for my son Jesus shal appear c. and after these same years shal my son Christ dye Here is both his birth and passion both his names Jesus Christ plainly expressed Which book though it be not canonical yet was it extant in the world before ever Christ was born Also Rabbi Haccadosch proveth by art Cabalist out of many places of Scripture that the name of the Messiah at his comming shall be Jesus and among other he addeth this reason that as the name of him who first brought the Jews out of bondage into the Land of promise was Jesus or Josua which is all one so must his name be Jesus that shal the second time deliver them Secondly the Angels appearing to the Shepherds in the night of the Nativity with this joyful message from Heaven Behold I bring you tidings of great joy that shal be to all people that unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord And this is shall be a sign unto you ye shal find the child swad'led and laid in a cratch Thirdly the star that appeared notifying his comming into the world whereof not onely the wise men before mentioned but also generally all the Astronomers and Soothsayers of that age took special notice adjudging it to portend universal good to the earth some gathering thereupon that some God descended from heaven to the benefit of mankind and for that cause had that star an image erected to it in Rome and as Plinies words are Is Cometa unus toto orbe colitur That onely Comet in all the world is adored Fourthly his presentation in the Temple according to the Law of Moses where openly came old Simeon by the motion of the spirit for he had a revelation from God that he should not see death till he had seen the Lords Christ took the child in his arms acknowledged him for the Messiah prophesied that he should be a light to be revealed unto the Gentiles appointed for the fall and rising again o many in Israel with other events which afterwards came to pass So did likewise Anne the Prophetess as it is in the same Chapter Fiftly that most pitiful murder of all the Infants in and about Bethlehem upon this occasion as was prophesied by Jeremy saying A voice was heard on high mourning and bitter weeping Rachel weeping for her children and refused to be comforted because they were not Rachel was buried in the way to Ephrath which is Bethlehem and for that cause those infants were called her children albeit she were dead above two thousand years before they were slain and above one thousand and five hundred before Jeremy wrote this prophecy Among which Infants Herod also for more assurance slew an infant of his own for that he was descended by the Mothers side of the line of Judah Which cruelty comming to Augustus his ears he said he had rather be Herods swine then his son for that he being a Jew was prohibited by his religion to kill his swine though not ashamed to kill his Son Sixtly his flying into Egypt hereupon as also to fulfil that prophesie ' out of Egypt have I called my Son which Isaiah enlargeth further saying Behold the Lord rideth upon a light cloud which is his flesh or humanity and shal come into Egypt and all the Idols of Egypt shal tremble at his presence Which latter point Eusebius sheweth was fulfilled most evidently in the sight of all the world for that no nation came to Christian Religion with so great celerity and fervour as did the Egyptians who threw down their Idols before any other Nation And as they had been the first in Idolatry to other countries so were they the first by Christ his comming unto them that afterwards gave example of true return unto their Creator It followeth in Isaiah I wil deliver the Egyptians into the hands of cruel Lords these were the Roman Lords and Princes Pompey Caesar Antony c. ' And a migh-King shal reign over them c. this must needs be Augustus the Emperor who after the death of Cleopatra the last of the blood of the Ptolomies took possession of all Egypt and subjected it as a Province to the Roman Empire But after these temporal afflictions threatned against Egypt behold a most Evangelical promise of deliverance In that day shal five Cities of the Land of Egypt speak the Language of Canaan c. In that day shal the Altar of the Lord be in the midst of the Land of Egypt c. They shal cry unto the Lord because of their oppressors and he shall send them a Saviour and a great man and shal deliver them c. The Lord of Hosts shall bless them saying Blessed be my people of Egypt c. This blessing I say the Egyptians obtained by our Saviours being in Egypt whom here the Prophet calleth by his own name Jesus a Saviour a great man Finally the comming of John Baptist his forerunner or Messenger as was prophesied Behold I will send my Messenger and he shal prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shal speedily come to his Temple And again I will send you Eliah the Prophet that is to say John the Baptist in the spirit and power of Eliah as an Angel from Heaven expoundeth it appearing to Zacharias his Father in the Temple sent to foretel him both of his birth as also by what name he should call him even John saying Thou shalt call his name John he shal be great in the sight of the Lord he shall go before him in the power and spirit of Eliah And therefore out Saviour in plain terms he calleth him Eliah Mat. 11.14 And if you will receive it this is that Eliah which was to come he that hath ears to hear let him hear And as our Saviour gave him his due before a multitude then assembled calling him Eliah So did this Eliah also give our Saviour his due in acknowledging him for the Messiah not assuming unto himself that honour offered unto him by the Jews but refusing it absolutely and laying it upon Jesus our Saviour the true owner Then this is the record of John when the Jews sent Priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him who art thou and he confessed and denyed not and said plainly I am not the Christ I am not the Messiah I Baptize you with water but there is one among you whom you know not he it is that cometh after me which is preferred before me whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to unloose These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan where John did Baptize The next day John seeth Jesus comming to him and saith behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world This is he whom I said
one onely place of that Country namely Jerusalem whither every man was bound to repair three times every year to wit at the Pasqua Pentecost and the Feast of Taberbernacles there and no where else to offer sacrifice I say this Law of Moses being altogether Ceremonial and peculiar to that Nation it was necessary at the coming of the Messiah the same should be abolished and a more general and perfect Law given and established a Law that should be common to all men serve for all countries times places and persons otherwise how could the Gentiles be made partakers of the Covenant as well as the Jews how could all these nations so far distant from Jerusalem repair thrice every year thither how should every woman dwelling in the East or west India's repair thither for her purification after every Childbirth as by the Law of Moses she was commanded Levit. 12. Therefore it is manifest that this Law of Moses was given to continue but for a time even till the comming of the Messiah and then another to come in place to continue till the worlds end This signified Moses to the people after he had delivered the former Law to them saying The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet like unto me from among you even of thy brethren unto him shalt thou hearken As if he had said ye shall hear me till he come who must be a Lawgiver as my selfe but of a far more absolute and perfect Law and therefore more to be reverenced and obeyed And then he addeth in the person of God himself this thundering sentence against all mis-believers Whosoever will not hearken unto my Word which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him Which words cannot be verefied in any other Prophet after Moses until Christ for that of those Prophets ' there arose none in Israel like unto Moses Deut. 34.10 They had no authority to be Lawgivers as Moses had but were all bound to the observation of his Law till Christ should come whom Moses here calleth a Prophet like unto himself that is a Lawmaker exhorting all men to hear and obey him Hereunto the Prophets subscribe none of them all presuming to take upon them that priviledge to be like unto him A Prophet like unto Moses they must let that alone to the Messiah whose office it is to change the Law of Moses given upon mount Sinai and in stead thereof to promulgate a new Law to begin at Sion as saith the Prophet Isaiah The Law shall go forth of Sion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem Which cannot be understood of Moses Law published eight hundred years before this Prophesie and that from Sinai not from Sion but of the preaching of the Gospel which began at Jerusalem and from thence was spread over al the world Which the same Isaiah foresaw when talking of the Messiah he saith In that day shall five Cities in the Land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan c. In that day shall the Altar of the Lord be in the midst of the Land of Egypt and a pillar by the border thereof unto the Lord And the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day and do sacrifice and oblation and shall vow vows c. which could not be verified of the Law of Moses for by that Law the Egyptians could have neither Altar nor Sacrifice but it was fulfilled upon the coming of Christ when the Egyptians were made Christians Also in another place And the Isles shall wait for his Law The same was likewise foretold by God in Malachy where he saith to the Jews and of the Jewish Sacrifices I have no pleasure in you neither will I receive an offering at your hands for from the rising of the Sun until the going down of the same my name is great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering for my name is great among the Gentiles saith the Lord of Hosts Wherein we see first a reprobation of the Jewish Sacrifices and consequently of the Law of Moses which dependeth principally thereupon Secondly that among the Gentiles there should be a pure manner of Sacrifice more grateful unto God then the other not limitted either in respect of time or place as the Mosaical Law and Sacrifice was For so saith God in Ezekiel I gave them statutes which were not good and judgements wherein they shal not live that is not good to continue perpetually nor shal they live in them any longer but til the time by me appointed Of which time he determineth more particularly by Jeremiah in these word Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and Judah not according to that Covenant which I made with their Fathers c. Where you see a new Covenant or Testament promised different from the old Whereupon I conclude the old Law of Moses by the Messiah must be changed into a New The time of his manifestation with all other circumstances NOw for the time of his manifestation with all other circumstances of his birth life death resurrection ascension and those things also that fel out afterwards if we shal consider how particularly and precisely they were all foretold by the Prophets and how long before some hundreds some thousands of years before they fel out as also how exactly they were all fulfilled in the person of our blessed Saviour all directed like so many lines to one Center we shal as it were in a mirrour see and behold both the truth of Christan Religion setled upon a most firm and unmoveable center as also the vanity of all other Religions whatsoever especially this most vain expectation of the Jews to this day of their Messiah yet for to come as vain and fond altogether as was that opinion of one of the Philosophers which the word Center hath put me in mind of that the Earth forsooth did move and the Heavens stand still and how far they are degenerate not only from all true light and understanding in heavenly matters but also even from common sense and reason it self in things of that nature tending thereunto And first for the time Daniel who lived in the first Monarchy foretold that there should be three Monarchies more the last the greatest of all to wit the Roman Empire and then the Eternal King or Messiah should come his words are these In the days of these Kings shall the God of Heaven ser up a Kingdom which shall I never be destroyed Dan. 2.44 And just according to this time was the Messiah born namely in the days of Augustus Cesar Luk. 2. as both we Christians account and the Jews acknowledge even in those Halcyon days of peace when the Temple gates of Janus were commanded to be shut and upon that very day when Augustus commanded that no man should cal him Lord was this
Prince of Peace born Therefore to him agreeth this circumstance of time very fitly most vainly therefore do the Jews after this time expect another Secondly Jacob who lived many yeares before prophesied of this time very precisely as already hath been alledged that the Messiah whom he there called Shiloh should come at that time when the Scepter or Government Regal was departed from the house of Judah which was in the days of Herod and never till then who first usurped that government his Father-in-Law King Hircanus with all his off-spring of the blood Royal of Judah together with the Sanhedrim put to death The Genealogies of the Kings and Princes burned A new pedegree for himselfe devised In a word all authority regal whatsoever belonging to that Tribe at that time quite extinguished And just according to this time was our Saviour born namely in the days of Herod Mat. 2.1 Therefore to him agreeth this circumstance of time very fitly most vainly therefore do the Jews after this time expect any longer Thirdly God himselfe saith by his Prophet Haggai that the Messiah whom he there calleth The desired of all Nations shall come in the time of the second Temple which was then but new built far inferiour in stateliness and glory to the former built by Solomon which the old men in the book of Ezra testifie by their weeping when they saw this second Temple and remembred the glory of the first The words of the Lord by his Prophet Haggai are these Speak unto Zerubbabel who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory and how do you see it now it is not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing yet now be of good cheer O Zerubbabel for thus saith the Lord of Hosts yet a little while and I will shake the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and the dry Land And I will move all Nations and the desire of all Nations shal come and I wil fil this house with glory saith the Lord of Hosts The glory of this last house shal be greater then the first c. which must needs be understood of the comming of the Messiah to wit his personal presence in this second Temple in whom is the fulness of glory and therefore could he and none other fil it with glory being himself indeed the King of glory Lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of glory shal come in So doth Malachy prophesie in these words The Lord whom ye seek shal speedily come to his Temple even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye desire behold he shal come saith the Lord of Hosts c. And so indeed he did for Christ Jesus came into the world during this second Temple and did himself likewise foretel the destruction thereof which came to pass even in that age Therefore to him agreeth this Circumstance of time very fitly most vainly therefore do the Jews after this time to wit the destruction of the second Temple expect any further Fourthly the Messiah by the true computation of Daniels Prophesie accounting his Hebdomades or Weeks for so many years to be multiplyed by seven that is to say Weeks of Years as they must needs be understood was to come just according to the time before mentioned his words are these Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thine holy City know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the Commandement to bring again the people and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shal be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks And after threescore and two weeks shal the Messiah be slain and not for himself And the people of the Prince that shal come shal destroy the City and Sanctuary and he shal confirm the Covenant with many for one week and in the midst of the week he shal cause the sacrifice and oblations to cease Which Hebdomades or weeks of years whether we account from the first year of Cyrus who first determined the Jews reduction or from the second of Darius who confirmed and put the same in execution or from the twentieth year of Darius for that he then made a new Edict in the favour of Nehemias and sent him into Jury every way they will end in the reign of Herod and Augustus under whom Christ was born or in the reign of Tiberius under whom he suffered And by no interpretation can it be avoided but that this time is now our above one thousand five hundred years Besides this being a clear prophesie of the Messiah howsoever somewhat more intricate and obscure in respect of the years wherein the Prophet alludeth to the Captivity of Babylon as some think must needs be interpreted according to the former prophesies also of the Messiah And so doth the Prophet expound himself in the former words namely That the Messiah should be slain before the destruction of the City and Sanctuary Yet is there one week more to make up the number of seventy in the midst of which week the Messiah should be slain which came to pass accordingly for in the midst of that week that is about three years and an half after his baptisme Christ Jesus the true Messiah was slain and not for himself for Pilate could find no fault in him I finde no fault in the man I find no cause of death in him I am innocent of the blood of this just man look ye to it Not for himself but for us was he wounded as saith the Prophet Isaiah He was wounded for our transgressions Therefore to him doth this circumstance of time bear witness and consequently the Jews after these times by God himself appointed for the Messiah expecting yet for another besides the vanity of this their expectation they make God himself a lyar yea and all their forefathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the holy Prophets whose Children they hold themselves to be who all of them saw these days and prophesied of them Abraham rejoyced to see my day saith our Saviour and he saw it and was glad All these make they Lyars with themselves whereby they shew themselves rather to be the Children of the Devil who is the Father of lyes then of Abraham who is the Father of the Faithful only For so did that vile Serpent at the first even dare to give God himself the lye as it is in Genesis God saith there to Adam In the day that thou eatest of such a tree thou shalt dye the death No saith the Devil it is not so ye shall not dye at all So do these Imps of Satan Generation of Vipers as John the Baptist in his time called them even just after the same manner For saith God by his Prophets at such a time will I send the Messiah into the world and by such and such marks ye shall know him no saith this froward Generation it is not
the Egyptians Also Moses was very great in the land of Egypt in the sight of Pharaohs servants and in the sight of the people Behold I have made thee Pharaohs God saith the Lord so he brought out Israel from among them for his mercy endureth for ever with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm c. after four hundred and thirty yeers captivity in Aegypt And when the four hundred and thirty yeers were expired even the self same day departed all the hosts of the Lord out of the land of Egypt And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light He divided the Sea in two parts and made Israel to pass through the midst of it and overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the red Sea for his mercy endureth for ever So leading them through the wilderness and feeding them forty yeers with Manna from heaven till at length he brought them safe and sound as it were upon Eagles wings maugre all difficulties and oppositions of enemies whatsoever even to the promised Land of Canaan the lot of their Inheritance Where thy continued in peace and prosperity so long as they served him and kept his Commandments but when once they sinned against him or rather as often as they sinned for it was not once but often and forgate the Lord their God which brought them out of the land of Egypt out of the house of Bondage then he suffered their enemies to prevail against them and tyrannize over them somtimes one and somtimes another till at length they were carried captives to Babylon Yet ever as the Burden of that Psalm is when they cryed to the Lord in their trouble he delivered them out of their distress raising up from time to time Judges as he did Moses and Joshua at the first which delivered them out of the hands of their Oppressors Othoniel who delivered them out of the hands of the King of Aram as it is in that place where it is said That the children of Israel did wickedly in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lord their God and served Baalim therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim King of Aram whom they served eight yeers But when they cryed unto the Lord the Lord stirred them up a Saviour even Othoniel c. So the land had rest forty yeers Ehud who delivered them out of the hand of Eglon King of Moab Then the children of Israel again committed wickedness in the sight of the Lord and the Lord strengthned Eglon King of Moab c. So they served Eglon King of Moab eighteen yeers But when they cryed unto the Lord the Lord stirred them up a Saviour Ehud the son of Gera c. So the land had rest eighty yeers And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath which slew of the Philistims six hundred men with an Ox-goad and he also delivered Israel Deborah and Barack who delivered them out of the hand of Jabin King of Canaan And the children of Israel began again to do wickedly in the sight of the Lord and the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan whose chief Captain was Sisera Then the children of Israel cryed to the Lord c. And at that time Deborah a Prophetess judged Israel Then she sent and called Barack c. And the Lord destroyed Sisera and all his Chariots c. And the Land had rest forty yeers Gedeon who delivered them out of the hands of the Midianites Afterward the children of Israel committed wickedness in the sight of the Lord and the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian seven yeers c. So was Israel exceedingly impoverished by the Midianites therefore the children of Israel cryed unto the Lord c. and he raised them another Saviour even Gedeon that valiant man who with three hundred men and no more such as lapped water with their tongues the rest sent away by the Lords command overthrew the whole host of Midian with this cry The sword of the Lord and of Gedeon Thus was Midian brought low before the children of Israel so that they lift up their heads no more And the Country was in quietness forty yeers in the days of Gideon But when Gideon was dead the children of Israel turned away c. and remembred not the Lord their God which had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side c. After him succeeded Abimelech his son after Abimelech Tola after Tola Jair the Gileadite After these arose Jepthe who delivered them out of the hand of the Ammonites And the children of Israel wrought wickedness again in the sight of the Lord and served Baalim c. and forsook the Lord and served not him Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel and the Lord sold them into the hands of the Philistims and into the hands of the children of Ammon c. Then the children of Israel cryed unto the Lord c. So the Lord raised them up another valiant man even Jepthe Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jepthe c. So Jepthe went unto the children oâ— Ammon to fight against them and the Lord delivered them into his hands Thus the children of Ammon were humbled before the children oâ— Israel And Jepthe judged Israel six yeers After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel After him Elon After Elon Abdon But the children of Israel continued to commit wickedness in the sight of the Lord and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistims forty yeers Then God raised up Sampson who with the Jaw bone of an Ass slew a thousand of the Philistims at once And be judged Israel in the days of the Philistims twenty yeers Thus may we see by at these examples and make use thereof if we be wise what the state and condition of Gods people hath been ever of â—old the effect in brief or burden of the Song nothing else but this When they sinned against the Lord he delivered them into the hands of their enemies but when they cryed to the Lord in their trouble that is to say repented he straightway delivered them out of their distress raising up from time to time one Saviour or Deliverer after another and so immediately governing them by Judges till the day of Samuel When this people growing worse and worse and not contented with this sacred kind of Government immediately from God himself but desiring a King like all other Nations Make us a King to judge us like all other Nations He gave them a King in his anger saying to Samuel Hear the voice of the people in all that they shall say unto thee for they have
There arose not a Prophet in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face in all the miracles and wonders which the Lord sent him to do c. no such Prophet except the Messiah ever after to be expected but the Messiah he it is that must match and overmatch Moses every way he must be a man as Moses was in respect of our infirmities even according as the people of Israel themselves desired the Lord in Horeb saying Let me hear the voice of the Lord God no more nor see this great fire any more that I dye not And the Lord said unto Moses they have well spoken I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee c. He must be a Law-giver as Moses was but of a far more perfect Law as hereafter shal appear he must be such a one whom the Lord hath known face to face as he did Moses but of a far more divine nature For as it is in Isaiah Who shall declare his age Lastly he must be approved to the world by miracles signs and wonders as Moses was which the Lord shall send him to do as he did Moses But no such Prophet hath ever yet appeared in the world nor ever shall who hath so fitly answered this type so perfectly observed the Law of Moses which Moses himself could not do giving us instead therof a far more excellent Law as was prophesied long before that he should And finally so miraculously approved himselfe to the world to be sent from God by signs and wonders done both by himself and his Apostles as hereafter shall appear except this Christ which we profess therefore he alone is the true Messiah and no other to be expected The Prophesie of David THe fift is the Prophesie of David a type also of the Messiah who for that he was a holy man a man after Gods own heart out of whose linage the Messiah was to come had this Mystery most manifestly revealed unto him for the assurance whereof as of a great mystery even that of Christ and his Church God bindeth himselfe by an Oath saying I have made a Covenant with my chosen I have sworn unto David my servant thy seed will I establish for ever and set up thy Throne from generation to generation Selah Which words although the lattter Jews will apply to King Solomon and so in some sort they may for that he also was a type of the Messiah yet properly these words I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever so often repeated cannot be verified of Solomon whose earthly Kingdom was rent and torn in pieces streight after his death by Jerâ—boam and not long after as it were extinguished but they must needs be understood of an eternal King and Kingdom as must also those other words of God in the Psalms Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the ends of the earth for thy possession Thou shalt crush them with a rod of Iron and break them in pieces like a Potters Vessel which prophesie was never fulfilled in Solomon nor in any other temporal King in Jury after him And much lesse this that followeth They shal fear thee as long as the Sun and Moon endureth from Generation to Generation In his days shall the righteous flourish and aboundance of peace so long as the Moon endureth His dominion also shall be from Sea to Sea and from the River unto the ends of the Earth They that dwell in the Wilderness shall kneel before him and his enemies shall slick the dust The Kings of Tharshish and of the Isles shall bring presents the Kings of Sheba and Seba shall bring gifts yea all Kings shall worship him all Nations shall serve him His Name shall be for ever his Name shall endure as long as the Sun all Nations shall be blessed in him and shall bless him And blessed be the Lord God even the God of Israel which only doth wondrous things And blessed be his glorious Name for ever and let all the Earth be filled with his glory Amen Amen And so he endeth as it were in a trance ravished beyond measure with the sweet and Heavenly contemplation of this spiritual and everlasting Kingdom of the Messiah for to him and to no other can all these Circumstances and Hyperbolical speeches of David rapt with the Spirit of Prophesie properly and primarily appertain though literally the Jews understand them of Solomon as they do many other places in like case applying them only to the type never looking to the substance whereof those types and fitures were but shadows and semblances God of his mercy in his good time take away the vaile from their hearts that at length they may see the true Solomon in all his royalty not any longer to grope at noon days winking with their eyes against the clear Sun like their fore-Fathers as it is in Isaiah a most fearful judgement of God laid upon that Nation of old objected to them many times and oft both by Christ and his Apostles but in vain Go and say unto this people ye shall hear indeed but shall not understand ye shall plainly see and not perceive make the heart of this people fat make their ears heavy and shut their eyes least they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and convert And be healed Whereupon ensueth even upon this winking and wilful obstinasie a most severe denunciation of final desolation Lord how long saith the Prophet and he answered Untill the Cities be wasted without inhabitant the houses without a man and the Land be utterly desolate c. But yet a tenth reserved to return a holy seed remainig in due time to be converted This judgment and desolation hath been a long time upon them they feel it and groan under the burthen of it as their forefathers did in Egypt under Pharaoh and yet winking shut their eys and will not see it I mean acknowledge the true cause of these so great judgements revealed from Heaven upon them even the contempt of Gods holy Prophets sent unto them from time to time but especially of the Messiah whose blood lyeth heavily upon them even to this day as their forefathers desired His blood be upon vs and on our Children which all the world seeth is come to pass yea they themselves feel it yet winking with their eye they will not see it But there is a tenth to return c. The rest which will not this Messiah to reign over them let them look into that Parable in the Gospel there shall they find a far more fearful destruction denounced then the former The first being but for a time but a type of the other but a beginning of woes the other eternal for ever and ever The first he pronounceth with tears
Scepter was not departed they had their Sheckes that is to say chief men of their Tribes in all parts where they inhabit Moreover that some of the Moores forsooth had brought them word of a People or Nation of the Jewes inhabiting in a far Country he could not tell me the place where but first there is a River to be passed two Trees growing on either side directly one against another which two trees every saturday and no day else do of their own accord bow one towards another making as it were a bridg for men to go over Now the Jews by reason that day is their Sabbath may not attempt to pass over it But the Messiah at his comming shal bring them altogether into the Land of promise they know not how rebuild the City and Sanctuary in a trice much more glorious then ever it was before To which purpose he alledged that place out of the Psalms The Lord doth build up Jerusalem and gather together the dispersed of Israel So likewise interpreting that of Haggai the glory of this last house shal be greater then the first of this third imaginary Temple So literally applying that of Isaiah that in those days the Wolfe should dwell with the Lamb the Leopard lie with the Kid the Calf and the Lyon and the fat beasts together and a little child to lead them c. That these things should thus come to pass litterally according to the very Hebrew Characters This is all the knowledge they have in the Scriptures the bare Hebrew letters and no more Yet can they not speak one word of the true spiritual language of Canaan but in stead of Shiboleth like those Ephraimites they pronounce Siboleth no interpretation spiritual of the Celestial Canaan the Heavenly Jerusalem of the spiritual Temple of the mystical body of the Messiah that is to say his Church no relish at all of the spirit of God or any spiritual worship amongst them And yet forsooth they will be the people of God alone and who but they the Children of Abraham and of the promise and none but they yea they are so vainly puft up with the foolish pride of this their high pedigree that they think verily and will speak it confidently I have heard it from them that none of them unless for very heinous offences as Perjury or such like shall be judged after this life or be in danger of hell fire they only to have their punishment in this world and not else As though hell fire were only prepared for us Gentiles and Heaven only for the Jews which unless they repent they shall finde quite contrary if the words of our Saviour be found true which hitherto they have found but too true to their wo as I noted before I say unto you that many shall come from the East and from the West and shal sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Where are now the Jews with their lofty pedigree Even as Esau sold to Jacob his birth-right for a mess of pottage so have the Jews to us Gentiles their birthright to the Kingdom of Heaven for a mess of idle dreams and fantasies they imagin to themselves Towers and Castles in the air Crowns and Kingdoms in expectance even in this world another Paradice here on earth But in the end they shall find themselves to have been all this while in a fools Paradice and as it were in a dream which when one awaketh vanisheth and so I leave them to their dreams and profound sleep till it shal please God of his mercy to awake them Thus then it is manifest both by Scripture Tradition and Observation of the Jews themselves that about the time before mentioned to wit in the days of Augustus Cesar the new Roman Emperor and of Herod the usurper King of Jury who was the first that took away the Scepter from Judah even in the time of the second Temple the true Messiah was to be born And hence it was that the whole nation of the Jews remained so accent at this time more then ever before or since in expecting the Messiah Whereupon so soon as ever they heard of John Baptist in the Desart The Jews sent Priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask if he were the Messiah And in another place it is said ' As the people waited and all men mused in their hearts of John if he were the Messiah John answered and said unto them c. So that you see in those days the whole people of the Jews waited for his comming all men mused upon their Messiah So did also John himselfe being in prison sent two of his Disciples to Jesus demanding Art thou he that shall come or shall we look for another and again at the feast of the Dedication they came flocking to him from all parts they came round about him as it is in that place saying How long dost thou hold us in suspense if thou be that Christ tell us plainly All which importeth the great expectation wherein the people remained in those days of which fame expectation and greedy desire of the people divers deceivers took occasion to call themselves the Messiah Judas Galilaeus Judas the Son of Hezechias Atonges a Shepherd Theudas and Egyptus all notable deceivers But above all one Barcozham who as the Talmud affirmeth for thirty years together was received for the Messiah by the Rabbins themselves till at last they slew him because he was not able to deliver them from the Romans Which facility in the people when Herod saw he caused one Nicholaus Damascenus to devise a pedigree for him from the ancient Kings of Juda and so he as well as the rest took upon him the title of the Messiah whom divers carnal Jews that expected the Messiah to be a magnificent King as Herod was would seem to beleeve and publish abroad whereupon they are thought to be called Herodians in the Gospel who came to tempt Christ But all these deceivers are vanished and gone their memorial is perished with them whereunto our Saviour seemeth to allude where he saith All that ever came before me are theeves and robbers but the sheep did not hear them I say all these false Messiahs with their followers they are vanished and gone onely Jesus Christ and his Religion contrary to all other Religions in the world without either sword spear or shield against all world strength and policy hath increased and multiplied and shall do to the end of the world as Gamaliel long ago prophesied to the Jews wilfully bent put all in vain even in the very first infancy thereof to have destroyed it His words are these ' And now I say unto you refrain your selves from these men and let them alone for if this councel or this