the length the Lord will take compassion vpon them and call and conuert so many amongst them by the gospel as appartayn to the kingdome of Christ which knoweth who be his sheep and his sheep shall know their shepheard This prophecy is so playn that it needeth no long exposition The Iewes haue now these 1560. yeares since the comming of Iesus of Nazareth which time is those many dayes which the prophet speketh of bin dispersed abroad throughout the whol world and haue neither king nor prince of their own neither yet vntil this day know they Christ the true Messias or king And they are constrayned as afflicted and abiects and miserable men to liue here and there vnder straunge kings throughout the whol world Their temple and altar with their place of sacrifice are destroyed and so continue And they haue neither priest nor true diuine seruice God graunt that they may shortly be plentifully conuerted Amen The word of God can not lye or deceiue vs They shall seek the true God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob the father of our Lord Iesus Christ by Iesus of Nazareth the true Messias And after their long error at the last they shall be conuerted and brought into the way and shall seek after Iesus Christ the true king promised in Moyses and the prophets who was sent at the fulnes of time born of the house of Dauid and is placed at the right hand of the father and equall with him in power They shal also preach and set forth with vs his bounteous grace and liberality which he offereth and geueth vs in the gospel Anna. Hoseas saith that they shall come vnto Dauid in the last day Shall Dauid then rise again before the last day to be king ☞ Vrb. No forsoth You haue heard before in Ezechiel and in the psalme that Christ is called Dauid because he was born of Dauids stocke according to the flesh And he is in deed true Dauid as in this place S. Hierome noteth that is strong of hand For he onely by his own power vertue and strength delyuered his people frō the captiuity of the deuil and so the Iewes themselues vnderstood this prophecy to be meant of Christ the seed of Dauid of which thing their Thargum is witnes in which this text is read thus After this shall the children of Israell be conuerted and seeke the glory of their God and be obedient to Messias the sonne of Dauid that is to Christ their king ¶ Anna. If the matter stand so then truely are not the Iewes quite to be condemned and reiected seeing God hath promysed that he will be so gracious vnto them and conuert so great a number of them ☞ Vrb. I often speake and geue warning of this that christians doe not with such despight vpbrayd despice or spite so proudlye and contemptuouslye at the Iewes but let them call to minde and wey well the warning which S. Paul geueth to the Rom. Hose doth prophecy more of our resurrectiō by messias saying In their affliction they will seek me diligently saying Come and let vs returne to the Lord for he hath spoyled and he will heale vs He hath wounded vs and he will binde vs vp After two dayes will he reuiue vs and in the third day he will rayse vs vp and we shall liue in his sight Then shall we haue knowledge and indeuour our selues to know the lord His going forth is prepared as the morning and he shall come vnto vs as the rayn and as the latter rayn vnto the earth which maketh it fruitfull S. Ambrose and other holy doctor of the church doe vnderstand this prophecy to be meant of the resurrection of Christ and of our rising agayne For Messyas rose agayn frō death the third day And whē we haue borne our cros in this frayl and mortall life and are fully mortefyed vnto the world then will he rayse vs vp againe in the day of redemption and we shall euer be and liue with him as Paul saith to the Thessalonians For he is rysen again and hath appeared with the bright morning star as the true sonne of righteousnes which doth illuminate vs and make vs fruitfull with the ferrill rayn of his grace that we may bring forth the fruit of true repentance And Hoseas in his 13. chap prophesyeth very plainly of Christ his victory how that for our sakes profit he hath ouercome sinne death and hel saying I will redeeme thē frō the power of the graue I will delyuer thē from death O death I will be thy death O graue or hell I will be thy destruction This thing Christ fulfilled when for our sakes he died vpon the crosse and gloriously rose againe the 3. day by which he satisfied for our sinnes and ouercame death which had ouerthrowne vs redeemed vs frō the damnation of hel The sin with which mans nature was infected euen vnto euerlasting death was deadly or present poysō but now Christ by his death destroyeth sin and killeth death in which of right we should haue taried for euer Hose also in his 14. chapiter doth very cōfortably prophesy of Christ and his kingdome and telleth vs that in him is grace and forgeuenes of sinns in him is mere loue and fayth in him are true good workes and securitye and in him is great good will toward vs and the bud of God in vs For Iesus Christ is God in deede and our defender saying O Israell returne vnto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thy iniquitie Take vnto you wordes and turne to the Lord and say vnto him take away all iniquitie and receaue vs gratiously so will we render the calues of our lips Asshur shall not saue vs neither will we ride vpon horses neither will we say any more to the worke of our hands ye are our Gods for in thee the fatherles findeth mercy I will heare their rebellion I will loue them freely for my anger is turned away from him I will be as the dew vnto Israell he shall grow as the lily and fasten the rootes as the trees of Libanon His braunches shall spread and his beuty shall be as the olyue tree and his smell as Libanon They that dwell vnder his shadow shall returne they shall reuiue as the corne and florish as the vine the sent therof shall be as the wine of Libanon Ephraim shall say what haue I to do any more with Idolls I haue heard him and looked vpon him I am lyke a greene fir tree vpon me is thy fruite found In the beginning of the 14. chapiter Hoseas moneth the Israelites to repētaunce But seing that true repentaunce is the worke of the holy ghost in vs and not of the naturall man the holy ghost at the end addeth these notable promises that Israell by them might be stirred vp to beleue the grace which god promised so receaue the power of the holy ghost that he might obay the
been before him and raigned in the seat of Dauid For Ieremy saith that he shall execute iustice and iudgement in the earth through the whol world cōdemne destroy the wicked make them which were vniust and sinful very pure righteous For his kingdome is a kingdome of true iustice and innocency And Iuda Israel that is both those people shall haue help of him not that the x. tribes shold returne out of Assiria into Samaria and there haue a king of their own and set vp a corporall kingdome as Iudah had before time in Ierusalem when they liued vnder Dauid and Salomon with peace and quyetnes but that they shold haue a spiritual help through Christ who should deliuer them from sinne and death that so they might dwel boldly and safely that is that they might haue their consciences quyeted appeased and mery as men which now by faith in Christ haue their sinnes forgeuen are at peace with God through Christ So that they need not dread nor feare death or any other euill because that this wise king the most pure and florishing blossome of righteousnes is made the righteousnes of all Christians that all faithfull beleeuers the spirituall Israell consisting both of the Iewes and Gentils may through faith receiue the holy Ghost which testifyeth in their harts that they are the children of God heyres of God and coheires with Iesus Christ and so with bouldnes of siprite say with Paul We are perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Is not this a famous help and a strong and firme fortresse for the godly that they can say we know that we are translated from death vnto life That is the holy spirite hath taught vs by the word and heauenly vnction that Christ hath freed vs both from sinne and death and that we by him after death shall rise from death and liue for euer This is that hope of Israell which neither Gentil nor Infidel hath Now marke what noble and miraculous works of diuinity which none could doe but very God him selfe the prophet ascrybeth to this sonne of Dauid He sayth He shall execute and set vp iustice and iudgement in the earth And he shall iustify others Ergo he must not only outwardly but also inwardly purge the hart and forgeue sinne And this is only the worke of god For it is he onely that can change a wicked and malicious hart and it is he which can illuminate and regenerate vs and none but he And agayn if he can forgeue sinnes he can also abolish death which is the reward or stipend of sinne and the sting of death If then he could ouercom death and make vs righteous and geue vs euerlasting life he is true God which can only in deed deliuer vs from our sinnes and eternall death and geue and preserue true tranquility and peace If then Iudah and Israell that is the hole church of the godly shall be delyuered from their sinne and death then must it needes follow that they shall liue with Christ for euer Here then in this prophecy if we marke it wel we may see that Christ should dye as the naturall sonne of Dauid but not abide in death but that he should iustify and saue Iudah and Israel that is to say his people the godly and faithful And for this cause should he first rise again from death that he might rayse his Israelites that is his faithful from death and that he might purchase for them and geue them eternal life securitie for euer For if he should haue geuē them peace but for a time he should not truely and in deede haue delyuered them neither were it a true tranquility and peace Wherfore it was necessary that that peace and saluation which he should geue his elect should continue for euer and euer Thus then in this short prophecy haue we this eternall king together with his death resurrection and euerlasting kingdome expresly and soundly descrybed And so doth Ieremy again teach vs in the 33. chapter calling the gospel the voyce of ioy which God speaketh to Israel and Iuda For the law only sheweth Gods wrath and punishment but the gospel that new couenant promyseth meere grace and redemption And then he prophesieth how the helpe and redēption which this king bringeth shal extend it selfe to all people farre and nere The people of God in tyme past soong and spake of the great benefits of god how he brought them forth out of the land of Egipt and deliuered them by many marueilous miracles but when Christ that sonne of Dauid shall come then shall they gloriously triumph and tell of farre greater good gifts of God to wit how Christ hath brought and deliuered vs out of the hellish black Egipt and kingdome of sin death and euerlasting damnation and gathered not onely the Israelites after the flesh but all his elected children in all the world out of all nations into this Church of the godly which thing hath ben done euer since the Apostles time euen to this daye For wee which beleue in Christ haue a more excellent and notable captaine then Moses and Iosua Wee haue Iesus Christ for our captayn who hath deliuered vs out of the bondage and howse of the spirituall Pharao to wit from the captiuitie of Sathan This eternall redemption doth euery day renew in vs the remembraunce of our god so that we say the Lord liueth who hath deliuered vs from sin death and Sathan hath brought vs from all errors to the true knowledge of the Gospell This is a spirituall deliueraunce and bringing out of Egipt and a spirituall kingdome where in wee see Iudaisme should once cease Christianisme by Christ our king be set vp through all the world and therefore it was conuenient that he should rise agayne that he might erect this kingdome vpon earth and conserue it for euer To which sence the prophet speaketh saying Therfore behold the day is come sayth the Lord that they shall no more say the Lord liueth which brought vp the children of Israell out of the land of Egipt but the Lord liueth which brought vp and led the seed of the house of Israell out of the north country and from all countryes where I had scattered them and they shall dwell in their owne land Here we must note that all temporall deliuerances which the Iewes had here vpon earth from the hands of earthly tyrants and the gentiles were but figurs of the true and euerlasting deliuerance which we haue by our Messias Christ of which in this place to speake is not to our purpose The prophets for most part set downe such circumstances in their writings that we may well gather they had a farther respect then
Christ and being sent vnto thē on whitsōday taught thē put them in remembrance of all thinges which were written of Christ which Christ before his death with his own tongue had taught them And looke what soeuer the Holy Ghost taught them it tended only to this end That they might know Christ and by Christ know the Father and through this knowledge be iustifyed and saued ¶ Anna. It is possible then as far as I perceiue to know what that Sermon was which Christ made to those two Discyples as they went to Emaus wherewith he made their harts so burne within them But if I also might come to the hearing of that Sermon Oh I would desire nothing in comparyson of it nay I had rather heare that sweet Sermon then haue all the pleasures in the earth and ioyes of the world ☞ Vrb. You may easily coniecture what that Sermon was seeing he expounded all the Prophets beginning at Moyses Doth not Luke I pray you eloquently and plainly testifie that he expounded to thē all that is writen of him in the wholl Scripture It was the Prophesies therfore which are writen in the Scripture of Christ which he interpreted vnto them which is nothing els but euen the very Gospel it self which he commaunded his Discyples to preach and spread euen to the worlds end For this Gospel is the doctrine of Christ the Sonne of God which telleth why he was made man and declareth to vs the eternall counsell of God the Father and his great good wil to vs in promising so redely that he wil be our Father and in imbrasing vs with more then a Fatherly affection and in vouchsafeing to knowledge vs for his deere Sonnes but onlye through his onlye begotten Sonne Christ This Gospel teacheth vs also that the Father so ordained that when the fulnes of time was come Christ should be born true man of the seed of Dauid and that he should dye on the Crosse and rise againe from the dead to the end he might purge mannes sinnes pay the raunsom for them destroy and take away death bring vs to euerlasting life reconcile his Father to vs and ascend into heauen and sitting there at the right hand of his Father begin his true and euerlasting kingdome where we shal raign and reioyce with him for euer Into this glory would his father haue him to enter by his own payn passion and opprobrious death of the Crosse That by this meanes he might deserue the same glory for vs This was done at Ierusalem vnder Herod Pontius Pilat and Caiphas when Tiberius Caesar was Emperor and so were the Prophesies fulfilled which are written of him Now he sitteth at the right hand of Gods Maiesty and being Lord of all he defendeth and gouerneth his Church that is to say all godly and truely beleeuing men by the holy Ghost and in the last day he shall come in his Maiesty to iudge the quick and the dead and shall geue euerlasting Life to those that beleeue But he shall throw hedlong down into hel amongst the multitude of Deuils all those that at that day shall not haue beleeued the Gospell And he doth by his Ministers dayly declare vnto vs these his Merits Works precious Passion Resurrection and Ascention into Heauen That those which beleeue of Christ the sonne of God as the scriptures do speake of him might be deliuered from the burthen of their sinnes be reconcyled to God the Father and liue with him for euer in the glory of Christ And for this cause especially doth the gospel moue vs and cal vs to repentaunce to the end that we may be hartely sory for our sinnes that we may abhor and detest our sinnes and with al our indeuour fly al things that might moue vs to sinne seeing our sinnes could be taken away by no other Sacrifice but only by the most precious bloud of Christ which he shed for vs that he might cleanse vs and delyuer vs from sinne death and hel And furthermore the Gospel promiseth remission of sinnes and euerlasting life to all that beleeue in Christ and refuse not this Gospel but with all their hart faithfully receiue the same vsing it reuerently and holyly And thus of meere grace without all our deserts only for the works and merits of Christ if we beleeue in him are we washed from our sinne beutefyed with the holy Ghost and are iustifyed sanctifyed saued and made heyres with God and coheyres with Christ in his kingdome and liue for euer We also heare the Gospell with a godly deuotion we trust in Christ and we beleeue him to be the only Sauyour of the world And then also are we angry with our sinnes and detest and abhor them we repent vs and are sory that through our sinnes we haue offended God we begin better to frame our liues and we loue God with all our harts which hath bestowed his great and wonderful mercy and his vnspeakable and infinite goodnes in Christ Iesu his Sonne vpon vs we loue also our neighbours euen as Christ loued vs and we doe our diligence that we may as becometh holy children lead a chast holy modest sober and innocent life after Christes example and so for the loue of righteousnes and godlynes we doe all good works sauing that while we are in this flesh we haue not the full feeling of our frailtye and sinne and that our faith and knowledge of Christ that is of the great and incomprehensible mercy loue care grace and benefits which in Christ and for Christ are freely geuen and bestowed vpon vs is not full perfect and pure in this life but while we liue doth stil grow and increase And we must also fight and striue continually while we liue with the flesh and mortefie renue and reforme our old Adam vntil the Image of God be renued again in vs and vntil we shall haue put on that most beutiful and holy Image of Christ like as before our receiuing of faith and regeneration we did beare that euil fauoured and horrible Image of the old Adam Now you haue heard what Christ taught his two Disciples And without doubt the Apostls afterward taught the same things which Christ did teach and confirmed the doctrine of Christ after the same sort by the Prophets wrytings For the holy Ghost had sufficyently instructed them therto as plainly appeareth in the Actes of the Apostles ¶ Anna. As far then as I perceiue Christ preached nothing to those two Discyples out of the prophesies but the very pure doctrine of the Gospel wherby they might learn what Christ was for what cause he was sent into this world what he did what he suffered what he meryted by his suffering and how we might haue benefit by his Merits and what was to be hoped and looked for of him This then no doubt was it that comforted them so made their harts so glad ☞ Vrb. And haue not these thinges I pray you sufficient matter inough to make
virgin Mary For Christ in deed is that stone which without handes that is without the seed or helpe of man was taken out of the pure body of Mary For so the holy and godly doctors of the primatiue church as Didimus Ambrosius Hierom Augustine and Irenaeus tooke it And so doth the holy church now take it consenting and agreeing with these godly doctors Now where as the sonne of this virgin is called Emanuel or Immanuel it ministreth great and infinite comfort to the godly For Immanu doth signifie with vs and El signifieth God because God is now with vs and amongst vs not onely thorow his grace as he is alwayes in euery place as he was in tymes past with our fathers but he is with vs otherwise after a new and singuler maner to wit in a bodily presence or in his present body For God is become man And as Paul sayth In Christ dwelleth all fulnesse of the Godhead bodily That is God is not only in Christ in power and grace as he is in all other holy and godly men But very God himselfe dwelleth in the holy manhood of Christ euen as in his temple so that both God and mā is in Christ one person And as Athanasius saith in his Creede As the reasonable soule and flesh is one man so God man is one Christ ▪ That is as Augustine sayeth Of things which God made this is the most gracious that man is ioyned with God in vnitie of person in heauēly things the highest truth is rightly attributed to the word of God. What greater honor and more excellent dignity could our humaine nature haue then to haue God himselfe descend from heauen out of his high maiesty and glory and come into the earth and take into vnity of person not angels nature but mans nature euen the seed of Abraham and so become true man that by that meanes he might bring our nature to the glory of the blessed euerlasting life and as it were hauing now laid apart his power wisdome and dietie shewe himselfe altogether as myld meeke lowly louing tractable duetifull to vs as if he were our seruant and bondeman bought with our mony For as Paul to the Phil. saith When he was in forme of God he thought it no robbery to be equall with God but he made himselfe of no reputation and tooke on him the forme of a Seruant and was made like vnto men and was found in shape as a man He humbled himselfe and became obedient to the death euē the death of the crosse And to Titus he sayth that the goodnes and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is loue towardes men of God our Sauiour appeared Truly that was an infinite great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For how could he by any means set forth the flagrant affection of his loue towardes vs more then both sweetely and louingly to imbrace our miserable and humaine nature and also earnestly seeking our saluation vouchsafe to be made man. Be not these I pray you especiall arguments and sure signes of his great mercifulnes good will loue infinite affection towards mankind Surely he would not haue become man for any other cause but only that he might plentifully poure vpon vs vnworthy wretches his vnmesurable incomprehensible vnsearcheable treasures with the infinite riches of his abundant goodnes and grace Verily we may now truely say Immanuell God is with vs seeyng he is not onely graciously with vs and amongst vs as a creator and gouernor with his creatures mouing renuing nourishing and preseruing all things by his power But also in that he is man and for our cause only to the ende he may make vs partakers of his kingdome and lyfe euerlasting and so is with vs after a new and peculiar maner Afore tyme he dwelt with his creatures only as God But now he is with vs men as man yea he is a heauenly man and a humaine god What sounder greater truer or fruitfuller comfort can there be in all affliction and calamitie then that God in this sort is with vs who now as Paul boldly sayth can be against vs If God after this admirable vnspeakable incomprehensible and maruelous maner of his manhood had not bene with vs we needed not haue looked for lyfe For there had bene neither hope nor helpe counsayle nor comfort left for man to looke for who by reason of sinne is in so great and horrible danger of eternall death But we may now in the Lord alway reioyce we ought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 always to giue thanks to Christ our God for this great mistery of his holy and sauing incarnation For now our mortall nature hath a certayne and sure hope nay it hath so sufficient and precious a pledge of lyfe that it cannot wauer or doubt But that together with Christ it shall liue for euer For as Athanasius that godly and auncient Doctor saith touching this matter in his booke of the passion of Christ the mortall body was ioyned to the immortall and corruptible man was coupled with the incorruptible worde Wherefore death by the worde which discended from heauen in Christ is abolished euen as stubble is of the fire consumed ¶ Anna. Blessed be that Haalmah for euer amongst all women and blessed bee the fruite of her wombe our true Emanuel world without ende ☞ Vrb. Amen ¶ Anna. You promised to expound me the name of Christ and to open the prophesies in the scriptures which spake of it long before Of Christes Name Vrbane CHrist in the holy scriptures hath many names and all of them most sweete and comfortable as is this Emanuel of which you heard euen now out of the seuenth of Esay But there be two especial chief names which the scripture giueth him which we wil first hādle The former of them is Iesus a name most proper and agreeing with him and most comfortable to vs This name is an Hebrue word for the Hebrues say that Ieschuah or Iehoschuah is as much to say as health a sauiour or keeper and it cōmeth of the worde Iascha which is saued or deliuered or els it may come of Hoschia that is he hath saued kept or deliuered This roiall or glorious name agreeth not with any so truely fitly as with Christ He iustly in deed and by good desert is honoured and called by this name for he onely it is that deliuereth and saueth vs from all calamities both temporall and eternall And thus doth the Angell interprete this name in Mathew where he sayeth to Ioseph Ioseph thou sonne of Dauid feare not to take Mary for thy wyfe for that which is conceiued in her is of the holy ghost she shall bring forth a sonne and thou shalt call his name Iesus for he shal saue his people from their sinnes And whē Hanna the high priest and Caiphas and Ioanne and Alexander and as many as were of the kindred
glad of the bride so shall thy God reioyce ouer thee Here the prophet sayth a great part of men regard neither God nor Christ and yet shall the elect seeke for the spirituall and true Sion and waight for Christ their onely Sauiour But seing the Church lyeth open to Sathans persecutions and of him is afflicted and wasted it hath great neede to be comforted Therefore he sayth I will not keepe silence but I will teach Christ cōtinually vntill he come For Christ as Paule witnesseth is the onely righteousnes of Sion or of the spirituall Hierusalem And he is the onely saluation of the Church as the Euangelists and Apostls teach in euery place Esay therfore teacheth of none but Christ Iesus whome God sent vs to be our Sauiour that both Iewes and Gentiles might enioy and be partakers of this his benefite as it hath ben fulfilled in all places euer since thapostles tyme And this new name here spokē of is nothing els but that Gos people is now called the Church of the sonne of God and the true and heauenly Hierusalem which is the mother of all the elected saintes And heare behold how precious and deare a darling the Church is to God our good and faithfull father For the prophet calleth it a crowne of glory the worlde counted the godly as vngodly as fooles as doultes as outcasts and as of scouringes of all thinges euery man did scoffe mocke scorne and iniury thē at their pleasure But the Church hath here an other manner of name for it is called a beloued precious glorious crowne my delight is in her and a people that hath a god that will not forget them These be most cōfortable promises when we be vnder the crosse But they must be stedfastly beleued or els they little auailed For it is most certaine although in this world we be contemned and afflicted that God yet loueth vs so derely and wel that al the creatures of the world are compelled to serue helpe vs euen then when the world supposeth they must torment vs Yea the Angels in heauen care for cherish and defend vs and God himselfe beareth vs in his armes as doth the louing Father his onely beloued childe But now consider this great worke of the loue of God I meane the passion of Christ and that God became man for vs All these thinges he did for the Church to the end that hauing deliuered them by this meanes from all euills he might bring them to health lyfe euerlasting How could he declare and shew a more fatherly loue and good will to his Church thē he hath done in deliuering his onely begotten sonne vp vnto death for it that he might deliuer it when as yet it was his enemy Though this infirmitie sore temptation and cros of ours in this world appeare outwardly horrible and detestable yet in deede thy are nothing els but a Fatherly rod wherewith he correcteth amendeth and reformeth his derely beloued children As for the glory which in the day of redemption shall be reuealed vnto vs I wil now say nothing of it but thē it shal appeare how dearely God loueth his church And then shall it be seene that this temporall trouble which we Christians haue heare is a certaine signe of Gods great good will and true fatherly loue towardes vs Esay his wordes seeme to sound as though he spak of that earthly Ierusalem in the land of Canaā And the prophet beholding the Church with spirituall eyes is cōpelled to speake as if he spake of these earthly thinges because they were figures of the true and heauēly Ierusalem and land of righteousnes As Peter and Paul doe sufficiently witnesse prescribing vs a sure rule how to vnderstād the prophets aright when they speake of Christ and his kingdome the church Note also that Esay calleth the church such a crowne as is in the hand of the Lord or which is caried in the Lordes hand Whiche is as much to say as the Church is a spirituall kingdome which God himselfe doth gouerne and rule It is also a crowne of glory or a glorious crowne in the hand of the Lord because it doth not appeare glorious in the eyes of the world And wheras the prophet taketh his similitude of a mariage and of fayth geuen betwene man wife that is very comfortable For hereby we learne how dearely tenderly and inwardly God loueth vs what infinite treasures we shall receaue of him For we know that the bridgrome makes his bride partaker of all he hath It followeth I haue set watch men vpon thy walles O Ierusalem which all the day and all the night continually shall not cease Ye that are mindful of the Lord keep ye silēce geue him no rest till he repare and set vp Hierusalem the prayse of the world The watchmen are the faythfull preachers of Gods word which watch and take paines in the Church in prayer doctrine least Sathan that deadly enemy by his false prophets should deceaue ouercome thē And these prechers alwayes preach true repentaunce and the grace of God in Christ and they diligently by their exhortations and sermons teach vs the knowledge of god and our selues and to geue God thankes for all his vnspeakeable benefits It followeth The Lord hath sworne by his right hand and by his strong arme surely I will no more geue thy corne to be meate to thine enemies and surely the sonnes of the strangers shall not drinke thy wine for the which thou hast labored But they that haue gathered it shall eate it and prayse the Lord and the gatherers therof shal drinke it in the courtes of my sanctuary This is spoken and ment of the spirituall corne and wine And this is the meaning therof It cannot be but the worde which these preachers teach should take place after it shall follow and rise the fruite of fayth which appeareth not at all in the vngodly These courtes that he speaketh of is the congregatiō or Church of Christiās or the godly amongest whome the gospell is purely taught where mens consciences were pacified quieted mery and pleasaunt in the Lord when the inward man feeleth peace tranquilitie quietnes securitye felicity perfect pleasure in the worde of god None of the vngodly either feele or haue taste of this pleasure And least we should any thing doubt of this promise he bindeth it with an oth that we shall haue those things which he promiseth It foloweth in the text Go through go through the gates prepare you the way for the people Cast vp cast vp the way and gather out the stones and set vp a standerd for the people Behold the Lord hath proclaimed vnto the endes of the world Tell the daughter Sion Behold thy Sauiour commeth Behold his wagis is with him and his worke is before him and they shall call them the holy people the redeemer of the Lord And thou shalt
wrought by corporall and earthly armour as bowes swords and such like but euen by the Lord their god What other thing is this but that God would after another way and meane bles and help Iuda that is Dauids kingdome and all other Israelites and confessors of God then worldly princes vse to helpe their subiects The Lord will haue mercy on them That is wil pardon them iustify them and saue them and so bring and delyuer them out of Sathans kingdome of which the Psalmist speaketh thus The Lord wil redeem Israell from all his iniquities This is the sole hope and redemption of Israel from his iniquity and consequently from all his euils which cursed sin had brought vpon man and all mankind that is from that horryble death and captiuity wherein the faithles reuolting murdering and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frauduler spirit did holde vs as Paul briefly expoūdeth this prophecye to the Eph. saying we haue in Iesus Christ the sonne of God redēption through his bloud euen the forgeuenes of sinnes according to his rich grace And although we vnderstand that temporall help by which God delyuered Iuda from Senachari◠and brought the Iewes from Babylon to Ierusalem yet was that temporal deliuerance angore of the true and euerlasting saluation by which Christ hath delyuered all true Iewes that is his elect from sinne death and the tyranny of hel by his crosse without all externall force But now see how the lord wil at the last forsake and abolish Iudaisme all their earthly and figuratiue priesthood The priests wife brought out a sonne whō the Lord called Loam that is not my people and he addeth the cause Because sayd he you are not my children neither will I be your God Hereby might the Iewes haue seen that there was a notable change to come And they ought thus seriously to haue reasoned the matter with them selues How shall we I pray you vnderstand the word of God He promiseth vnto Israel and Iuda great and infinite treasures in all the prophets he sayth he will be their king and they shall be his people and that he wil haue mercy on them and geue them on euerlasting kingdome and he made an eternall couenant of grace with them How then agree these thinges with this prophecye wherin it is prophesyed that Israel shall be captiue God wil forget them and neuer after haue compassion vpon them Are we the true Israelites or no truely it is like and must nedes be ment of vs And in the 6. chapter the Lord sayth For I desired mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge in God more then burnt offerings By these words of Hose they might easely haue vnderstood that the foundation of true religion consisted not of ceremonies but that God requyred faith that worketh by loue and is ready to doe good for which Abraham Isaac and Iacob were cōmended and called the seruants of God rather then for their corporall circumsition Here might the Iewes haue seene what was the matter and cause that the Lord denyed them to be his people Anna. I would heare the cause and see this question answered For I doubt not but as all thinges are come vpon the vnbeleeuing Iewes which God thretned so all things shall be performed which he promysed I pray you confer these places and reconcile them ☞ Vrb. God sayth in deed in the psalmes that he wil not reiect or cast of his people and forsake his inherytance And Paul saith That God hath not cast away his people And the Psalmist sayth The Lord hath remembred his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israell Like as also Mary the blessed mother of Christ sayth in her psalme of thankesgeuing And Zacharye sayth that God will not forget his mercy which he promysed to his people Israell Know you therfore that God is true and constant in all his promyses and that he perfourmed vnto the Iewes all thinges which he promysed them But the maner of Gods promyses must be marked for they are of two sorts Some of them are temporal or corporall and are made vpon condition As when God promysed that the land of Canaan and the materiall temple should contynue and such like These promises pertain to Iudaisme and haue this condition annexed If the Iewes would keep the law of God as it was to be kept then that promise should be fulfilled but they kept not the law and yet notwithstanding being blindly bewitched they looked for the fulfilling of those promises The Lord in deed performed those promises rightly as they were to be performed But figures ought of right to geue place when the truth commeth God sent also his sonne the Messias vnto thē that he might be born a Iew of the Iewish family of Abraham Dauid And for this his sōnes sake he brought them out of the land of Egipt and gaue them the land of Cannan for their inheritance and he separated them from all the people of the world by an earthly kingdome by an outward priesthood by an holy worship and by a propper forme in religion to be a people vnto himself and he preserued and defended thē afterward by great wonderfull miracles yea he brought them out of the captiuity of Babilon To be breef he preserued their law religion temple citie and politicall gouernment by a singular care and marueilous zeale euen vntil the promised Messias the true and eternal king of Israel was come of them Wherby in deed they receiued a great glory and prerogatiue aboue all the world and many of them by Messias were deliuered from sinne death and damnation and so at the last were brought into that true Ierusalem and Syon And these are called in the prophet the remnant of his people the remnant of Iacob and Israell whom God amongst others had chosen to himselfe and predestinated to saluation in Christ of which sort there be many But if they be cōpared to the great number of the vnbeleeuers they are but a few There are other free promises of the meere grace and mercy of God without all mans desart and worthynes These doe appertayn to the new testament and consist in the merits and worthynes of Messias These haue a firme sound and vnshaken foundation to wit the great and wonderfull mercy of God and his fatherly goodnes and truth and they depend not of our worthynes at all Wherfore they are firme and certayn and cannot be called back agayn And they are promises of the spirituall and euerlasting treasures to wit of the victory by which sinne death and Sathan were extinguished of the forgeuenes of sinnes of the true and euerlasting righteousnes and of life and saluation in Christ These kind of promyses doe not only appertayn to Israelites Iudaisme and the Iewes according to the flesh but all respect set aside without difference not regarding whether they be Iewes or Gentils to the true Iewes Israelites according to the spirit