Looke from Adam And behold THE PROTESTANTS FAITH AND RELIGION EVIDENTLY PROVED OVT OF the holy Scriptures against all Atheists Papists loose Libertines and Carnall Gospellers and that the Faith which they professe hath continued from the beginning of the world and so is the true and ancient Faith HEREIN HAST THOU ALSO A SHORT SVMME OF THE WHOLE BIBLE and a plaine manifestation that all holy men who have pleased God have beene saved through this Christian Faith alone LONDON Printed by Iohn Haviland for Thomas Pavier and are to be sold at his shop in Ivie Lane 1624. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER HAving divers times observed with my selfe most Christian Reader that the doctrine of the Gospell which hath beene now freely preached these many yeeres amongst us in this our flourishing Common-wealth is yet daily and ordinarily by sundry persons charged with noveltie as which being an upstart were not of sufficient standing or antiquitie I thought it not amisse in this respect either for the confutation of the obstinate adversarie or for the comfort of the weake and simple professour of religion to publish and set forth this little worke of M r. Miles Coverdale who for his integritie of life and fame in learning and other excellent gifts was so renowmed in the Church of Christ in his age that I doubt not but that his onely name will be a sufficient credit with any man that is not maliciously disposed for the full allowance and well-liking of any such monument of his as he of pure zeale and good affection hath commended to us his posteritie By which travels of his as hee hath generally shewed himselfe a notable member in the Church of God so hath he thereby especially well deserved of this his native Countrey Wherefore not willing to detain thee from better matter I wish thee to use this booke to thy profit and with mee to give thanks to our mercifull Father for this valiant Souldier as also for other worthie Martyrs of his time which after the battell by themselves fought have by Gods providence left spirituall children I meane their good bookes to make a supply that Christs Church may bee encreased to the utter confusion and overthrow of Antichrist Farewell in the Lord. Miles Coverdale TO ALL CHRISTIAN Readers wisheth grace mercy and peace from God the Father through our Lord and onely Saviour IESVS CHRIST LIke as the Almighty eternall God three in persons and one in substance of his tender mercy and love not only created man at the beginning after his owne similitude and likenesse but also when he was lost most graciously redeemed him and brought him out of bond age Even so when man neither regarding his wonderfull creation nor his most deare redemption gropeth in darknesse in vice and blindnesse lieth in the Devils prison and goeth in the way of damnation God alway setteth up his light before him sendeth the message of his word unto him sheweth him what case he is in giveth him warning openeth the prison doore calleth him out of the Devils service telleth him what danger it is to be his bondman or servant unto sinne This doth God alway afore he punish and plague the world This I say hath ever beene the worke of God since the beginning as the stories and prophesies of all the holy Bible doe testifie And though we had no writing of Gods acts in times past yet hath he practised this same his wonderfull worke of mercy upon us So that like as we must needs confesse that we are created of God and redeemed by his only mercy in his deare Sonne Iesus Christ So can we not denie but we have heard his holy message had no lesse preachings and warnings of dangers to come than other have had afore our daies Yea even the same mercifull God that sent Noe to preach righteousnesse unto the wicked world and converted the Ninivites by his word in the ministration of the Prophet Ionas hath done even so with us in every condition And some thanks be unto him therefore hath bee brought out of darknesse into his wonderfull light and out of the devils service into the kingdome of his deare Sonne But alas and woe to this unthankfull world For like as a great number that be in prison of Satan will not come forth when they are called and the doore set open but goe on still stumbling in darknesse when the lanterne of light is offered them Even so if any play a wise mans part and doe as he is warned by Gods word hee shall have a sort of apish people a number of dizerds and scornfull mockers which because the man will not dance in the devils morrys with them nor keepe their company in the bondage of sinne and vice neither runne with them unto like confusion as S. Peter calleth it laugh him to scorne and bleare out their tongues at him even like fooles and cockscombs of the world And like as when a poore wretch commeth out of prison he shall have moe to stand gasing and gaping upon him than to doe him good or to helpe him to his fees Even so now that God of his mercy hath called us out of Satans prison and from the schoole of false doctrine my Lords foole with his companions standeth staring upon us and mocketh us because we sit not still with other prisoners There goeth a fellow of the new learning saith one there is one of these new-fangled Gospellers saith another that is one of the new brethren saith the third he followeth the new faith c. Wherefore in consideration hereof I have here set forth this booke partly because it sheweth the antiquitie and ancient age of our holy Christian faith and partly to give occasion unto all such as have received it not to be ashamed of it nor to shrinke from it for any opprobrious mockage or scornfull derision in this world The Apostle saith that the preaching or word of Christs crosse is foolishnesse to them that perish and that the thing which appertaineth to the spirit of God is foolishnesse to a carnall minded man Whereby like as we may learne that it is no new thing to be mocked and stared upon for holding with the doctrine that maketh so much of Christ his death and the true worshipping of God in the spirit even so may we see to the singular comfort of our conscience that no man mocketh us for it but such as perish and are carnally minded and that for all their derision and scorning it is yet the power of God 1 Cor. 1.18 and belongeth to his holy spirit 1 Cor. 2.14 and is not our owne doctrine neither of any other mans making This is now to us a comfort and consolation But because the world is angry with us for our faith and giveth us so euill report for teaching it it shall be expedient for us to declare what faith is and what faith we meane when we make mention thereof First
him and goe in his footsteps Out of all this is it easie to understand what faith and knowledge Adam had of our Lord Christ namely that he knew in him very Godhead and manhood and that he saw in faith his Passion and Crosse a farre off Moreover that the passion of Christ once done for all breaketh the kingdome of the devill and bringeth life againe to such as faithfully beleeve Secondly that it is to our living an example at the which wee ought to learne patience in adversitie and daily to die from all evill And hereto now serve all doctrines of patience of bearing the crosse of despising the world and mortifying or putting off the old Adam which thing is contained and with many and goodly words handled thorowout the Prophets and Apostles As for Adam and Eve they lacked none of these things though they had not the matter in writing For God spake it all to them himselfe and wrote it in their hearts Moreover our first Elders had no Church rites nor ceremonies save only the bodily offering a representation of the sacrificing of Christ and exercises or tokens of thankfulnesse For how should Cain and Abel else have knowne any thing of sacrifice if they had not received the same at the custome of their father who with his wife Eva the mother of us all was saved by none other worke or merit of man but only through and in the blessed seed our Lord Iesus Christ CHAP. V. That the holy Patriarks also were Christians and saved by Christ SUch faith in Christ Iesus as we now have spoken of did the holy father Adam no doubt teach his children that they also might plant in their children the promise of God his mercy and device concerning the Messias or Saviour that was for to come And truly Abel had such a notable faith in God that the holy Apostle Paul wrote of him after this manner Through faith did Abel offer a greater sacrifice than did Cain and thereby obtained he witnesse that he was righteous For God bare record to his gifts In as much then as it cannot be denied but that all they which are just and righteous be made righteous through the blessed seed And Abel was justified It followeth that he was made righteous through faith in Iesus Christ In that he did sacrifice it is a token and fruit of a heart that was thankfull and feared God It was no such enterprise that he would clense and make himselfe acceptable unto God through that outward sacrifice For certaine it is that no outward oblation purifieth man within But the grace of God granted unto us through Jesus Christ purifieth us aright And the outward sacrifices of the old fathers beside that they were tokens of thankfulnesse praise and magnifying of God as it is said afore were figures of the only perpetuall sacrifice of our Saviour Christ And in this behalfe they were even as much as sacraments of things to come Thus also and in like understanding have our first fathers done sacrifice as hereafter it shall follow more largely Now like as in Abel there is set forth unto us an example of Gods seed and of a regenerate true faithfull Christian man So is Cain a seed of the Serpent a childe of the Devill which despised the inspiration of God and harkened to the deceitfull Serpent And in these two brethren wee may see what God meaned when he said I will put enmitie betweene the seed of the woman and thy seed As though he would say There shall be two manner of people the one shall cleave unto Christ the blessed seed the other shall cleave unto the Devill And these two generations shall in no wise agree but be at variance in faith and religion I will endue my seed that they shall cleave only unto me feare me honour and worship mee seeke all salvation in me through the blessed seed live vertuously honestly and soberly Then shall the Serpent tempt their seed with hypocrisie not to love me nor serve mee aright not to hold of mee as they should not to trust in me but to love the world and to follow the lusts and temptations thereof All this finde wee here in these two brethren in whom beginneth the first difference of true and false beleevers For Abel was simple godly and of a constant faith in God And in as much as he tooke God for his refuge he brought him gifts of his best substance no doubt because he had first given over his soule and all his power unto God at whom alone hee sought all good without any hypocrisie He was also innocent vertuous and friendly and followed not his owne tentations And for this faiths sake did his sacrifice please God but Cains pleased him not for his heart was not right with God he was a dissembler greedie and vnfaithfull person which set his heart and minde upon earthly things alway despising Gods word and following his owne tentation Which thing was evident in this that he having no cause only of a wilfull heart and through the temptation of the serpent murthered his owne brother Whereby hee hath obtained to be the Arch-father of all murtherers which persecute and murther the seed of God that is to say the true beleevers only for their faiths sake Thus became Abel the first martyr and instrument of God and of Christ in the holy Church For these two brethren have set forth before us the whole battell and strife which the world the citie of the devill the children and citizens of the cursed citie wherein the Serpent is head and master and hath the dominion shall make against the citie and citizens in whom Christ is the head unto the end of the world The freemen of the citie of God and of Christ doe cleave only unto God serve him with all their heart build only upon Christ The citizens of the Serpent despise God and yet they boast of God to whom also they offer and doe service but not as they ought to doe Now when they perceive that their faith is not right and that their hypocrisie is espied and misliked then fall they to murthering to the which God is an enemie and forbiddeth it with his word For Cain also exhorted hee from his purpose and said Thou needest not to arme thee because of thy brother for thou hast none occasion to be angrie with him For if thou doest right thou shalt finde it and have joy thereof but if thou dost not right then is thy misfortune sinne and trespasse open and thou shalt shame and destroy thy selfe Thy brother goeth on without fault he shall doe thee no hurt nor harme he shall also not be Lord over thee nor minish thy right Yea he shall have respect unto thee and thou shalt have dominion over him and so keepe thy birth-right and still remaine the first borne although his sacrifice be acceptable unto mee and not thine Cease therefore
from thy wicked purpose and offend not against thy brother But Cain did as all ungodly doe For he went forth and slew his innocent brother And afterward when the Lord would have brought him into the knowledge of his great sinne and pardon him he despised the voice of the Lord with craking and facing For the which cause the Lord was wroth with him and cursed him Then despaired he first and went forth and became yet more wicked dealt altogether ungodly set first his minde upon earthly things thought to exalt his name upon earth and builded the first citie which he called Hanoch hee begat sonnes and daughters but little feare of God was before their eyes in so much that the Scripture saith Adam lay with his wife againe and shee bare a sonne whom shee called Seth. For God said shee hath given me another seed for Abel whom Cain slew Seth also had a sonne and he called him Enos And then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. Out of the which words it is easie to understand that as touching holy Adam hee held no more of Cain than as though he never had had childe For Adam feared God Cain with his progenie despised God and became the Serpents generation Wherefore when Adam had gotten another sonne he was of a good hope that in Abels stead God had given him another sonne which should doe right and of whom the root of the blessed seed should spread out afterward For the which cause also he called him Seth which by vs is called a plant meaning that God had set and planted him as a branch out of which the Messias should be borne For as for Cain hee doubted of him And from the same Seth proceeded the generation of the righteous untill Noe and from him to Abraham and so unto David and from thence forth unto Christ This Seth repaired our holy faith which received great hurt at the death of Abel This did Seth I say for as much as he being taught inwardly of God and by mouth or outwardly of Adam learned his children and their seed to put their trust in God and to comfort themselves in the blessed seed and to cleave unto the same For it is written manifestly And then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. Till this time was Adam with Heva his wife only a true friend and server of God The generation of Cain was now well spread abroad and come to two hundred and fiftie yeeres and aboue but the more part lived without the feare of God unrepentant and ungodly Wherefore in as much as the generation of Seth now increased and the feare of God and right beleefe was among them the Scripture faith well And then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. And by this calling upon doth the Scripture meane the true right beleefe and Gods service that he most alloweth Of the progenie therefore of righteous Seth sprang the servants of God and presidents of our Christian faith As for the cursed generation of Cain and of the ungodly it was destroyed and drowned with the Floud To the holy genealogie of the true beleevers pertaineth the Patriarke Enoch of whom it is written that he walked before God that is he ordered his life and conversation altogether after the will of God being constant and upright no doubt in all that which God had spoken unto Adam Therefore became he also an example of the immortalitie of the soule and resurrection of the bodie and that all Gods servants shall be saved after this life For thus saith the Scripture And in as much as hee applied himselfe to walke after God God tooke him away and he was no more seene The holy Apostle Paul also in the eleventh chapter to the Hebrewes speaketh very excellently of Enochs faith so that no man may doubt but that hee had respect to the blessed seed and pleased God through Christ Moreover the enmitie betweene the children of God and of man that is the issue of the Serpent grew ever more and more so that on the one side the multitude of God increased and on the other side the multitude of the devill Yet at the last the multitude of the wicked was greatest For when the children of God withheld not themselves from the children of the world but tooke wives and husbands among them they begat rough people which had no faith at all and lived only after their owne lust and temptation forgat God utterly and regarded not the hundred and twentie yeeres which God gave them to amend Therefore was God constrained so to punish the unfaithful world once that all posterities unto the end of the world might have a terrible example of the just wrath of God whereby they might learne how ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse displeaseth God Thus the Lord brought the floud upon all the earth overthrew all that stood up and destroyed every thing that had life when the world had stood now a thousand six hundred and six and fiftie yeeres For so many yeeres finde wee in the fifth and seventh of Genesis where it is written that Noe was six hundred yeeres old when the floud came upon the earth Now if wee reckon the yeeres of the old Fathers in the fifth chapter untill Adam wee shall finde the foresaid summe And thus the issue of the Serpent had an end and all ungodly and unrighteous living was mightily supprest and destroyed of God And in this horrible destruction of the ungodly was faithfull Noe saved he being the eighth and preserved in the Arke through the grace and mercie of God Here our holy true Christian faith had the victorie and triumphed For Noe was of our faith even of the seed of God and put his trust in the blessed seed our Lord Jesus Yea the Arke or ship of Noe was a figure of Christ as we may easily understand by the words of S. Peter 1 Pet. 3. Seeing then that Noe was preserved through the Arke it followeth that hee was saved by Iesus Christ therefore is it manifest that hee first beleeved in Christ Noe also was hee with whom God first renued the covenant made with Adam For it is but one covenant onely even the foresaid promise and end made by God unto Adam Howbeit the same covenant was afterward at certaine times renued by reason of certaine occasions Here might Noe have thought that all the world and all men should utterly have beene undone for as much as the Lord said I am determined to destroy all flesh Therefore immediately he addeth moreover and saith But with thee will I set up my covenant that is to say whatsoever pertaineth to my covenant and what I have promised Adam alreadie the same will I surely and constantly make good and though I now destroy the world yet will I performe my truth through thee For I will preserve thee alive that the blessed
because we may not describe it after our owne judgement we will rehearse the words of the Apostle which writing to the Hebrewes saith after this manner Faith is a substance of things to be hoped for an evidence or certaintie of things which doe not appeare By the which definition it is manifest that when we set forth or teach this faith we meane no vaine faith no false opinion of faith no fond imagination of faith no dead faith no idle faith but a substantiall thing even a sure beleefe of things that are to be hoped for and a proofe experience or knowledge of things that are not seene This faith then is the instrument whereby we feele and are certaine of heavenly things that our corporall eye cannot see Now because none other vertue can so apprehend the mercy of God nor certifie us so effectually of our salvation as this living faith doth therefore hath the Scripture imputed our justification before God only unto faith among all other vertues not without other vertues following but without any other worke or deed justifying This is the faith of Christ which all the Scripture speaketh of This is the faith that S. Paul preacheth to justifie in the sight of God as S. Iames teacheth that works justifie in the sight of men and that it is but a dead faith which hath no works This is the faith without the which it is impossible to please God and of the which whatsoever proceedeth not is sinne This is the faith whereby God purifieth our hearts and whose end is salvation This is the faith that worketh by charitie or godly love is of value before God This is the faith whereby the holy fathers which were afore Christs incarnation did in spirit eat and drinke enjoy the same mercy of God in Christ that we are partakers of To be short this is the same faith whereby God saved those his elect of whoÌ„ S. Paul maketh mention in the foresaid epistle to the Hebrewes and rehearseth many godly fruits of the same in their conversation This then is no new-fangled faith no strange faith no faith invented by mans braine but even the same that Gods holy spirit teacheth in the infallible truth of his Scripture and that Adam Abel Enoch and all the other servants of God were saved in Why doe men therefore either call it a new-fangled faith or report evill of us for setting it forth Why I feare me this is one cause The old faith that all those servants of God had whom the Apostle nameth in the eleventh to the Hebrewes had a life and conversation joyned unto it which was rich and full of all good works Therefore seeing there be so many bablers and pratlers of faith and so few that bring forth the worthy fruits of repentance it giveth the world occasion to report of us that our faith is but new-fangled They see us not fall to labour and taking of paines as Adam did They see not the righteousnesse and thankfulnesse in us that was in Abel They see us not walke after the word and will of God as Enoch did They see us not take Gods warning so earnestly as Noe did They see us not so obedient to the voice of God nor so well willing and content to leave our friends to forsake our owne wils our owne lands and goods at Gods calling and dwell in a strange country to doe Gods pleasure as Abraham did they see that wee chuse not rather to suffer adversitie with the people of God than to enioy the pleasures of sinne for a season They see us not esteeme the rebuke of Christ or trouble for his sake to be greater riches than all the treasures of this world as Moses did To be short they see not in our garden those sweet flowers and fruits of Gods holy Spirit which were in them that had the old faith Ashamed may wee be therefore as many of us as either write teach preach speake or talke of the old faith if wee endevour not our selves to have those old heavenly vertues that were ever plentifull in all Gods true servants in every one I meane according to his calling Not that it is evill to teach or talke of the true old faith but this I say because that according to the doctrine of S. Iames they are but deceivers of themselves that are not doers of Gods word as well as hearers thereof And through such slender receiving of Christs holy Gospell it is now come to passe that like as we haue need of such an Apostle as was holy S. Paul to rebuke this vaine confidence that men put in their workes and to tell us that no worke of our doing but faith of Gods working doth justifie us in his sight Even so have wee no lesse need of such another Apostle as was holy S. Iames to rebuke this horrible unthankfulnesse of men that professing themselves to bee Christians and to hold of Christs old faith are yet dead unto all good workes receive not the word of God in meekenesse cast not away all uncleannesse and malitiousnesse are swift to speake to talke to jangle and to take displeasure are forgetfull hearers of the Word and not livers thereafter boasting themselves to be of Gods pure and undefiled Religion and yet refraine nor their tongues from evill visit not the poore the friendlesse and the desolate in their trouble neither keepe themselves undefiled from this world Reade the first chapter of his Epistle What an occasion might such an Apostle as holy Iames was have to write another yea a sharper Epistle seeing so many pretending to be of Iesus Christs old faith are yet so partiall have such a carnall respect of persons are not rich in faith despise the poore practise not the law of godly love talke and jangle of faith not having the workes thereof clothe not the naked helpe not the poore to their living regard not their necessitie have but a dead faith declare not by good and godly workes the true and old faith of Christ are but vaine beleevers have not the eflectuous the working and living faith that Abraham and Rahab had Reade the second chapter of his Epistle How would holy Iames reprove these bringers up of strange doctrines blasphemers backbiters belieâ—s of good men false teachers against Gods truth dissemblers with the same cary fire as they say with the one hand and water in the other pretend to be learned and yet bring not forth the workes of good conversation in meekenesse out of Gods wisdome but in frowardnesse and out of carnall doctrine How would he take up these that delight in malice and strife belie Gods truth are given to earthly fleshly and devillish wisdome are unstable full of all evill workes are not in the schoole of Gods wisdome and learning are not given to unfainednesse of heart are not peaceable are churlish uneasie to be intreated c. Reade the third chapter
threatning that in what houre soever he did eat of the same tree he should die an everlasting death But untruly dealt man with his faithfull God transgressed his commandement and gave more credit to the perswasion of the woman and of the serpent than to the true word of God which was nothing else but even as much as to take the forme of good and evill out of themselves or elsewhere rather than of God and not to cleave and be obedient onely unto him as to such an one as wisheth good unto every man For man being deceived through the woman and the Serpent did beleeve that God was not indifferent and that hee had withdrawne from him some of his godly wisdome And for as much as the minde now was departed from God through infidelity and looked not for all good at his hand therefore tooke the hand the noisome apple and the mouth did eat the forbidden meat And thus thought hee to helpe himselfe to Gods Majesty by another meanes rather than by God and so to repaire his necessitie which he thought hee had And so with infidelity unfaithfulnesse disobedience and unthankfulnesse he wrought life and died the death that is he offended against God and fell into the punishment of everlasting damnation Yea he made himselfe bound unto the devill whom he was so diligent to beleeve to follow and to serve Contrariwise he forsooke God and so came he utterly into the bondage of the devill and darknesse And thus have we now the goodnesse and faithfulnesse of God Againe the wickednesse and great unfaithfulnesse of man CHAP. III. The first and right foundation of our holy Christian faith HEre now had the just God occasion and right to expell man to destroy him to damne him and to leave him utterly to the devill And the same also did his righteousnesse and truth require For he had said In what day soever thou eatest of the fruit thou shalt die the death Contrariwise the goodnesse and mercy of God required not utterly to suppresse man a poore and naked creature In the meane season was there found a way whereby the righteousnesse and truth of God should be satisfied and in the which the mercy of God should specially be exercised and declare it selfe that is to say Christ Iesus which is given us by the manifest grace of God was offered for our sinnes satisfied and recompenced the righteousnesse of God and so delivered us out of the bonds of the Devill For hee died for us all in as much as God said In what day soever thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Therefore died Christ for us all that through his death we might live and be taken out of the kingdome of darknesse and be set in the kingdome of the deare beloved Sonne of God This device of Gods wisdome which no doubt was determinate from everlasting was also directly opened unto Adam after the fall in manner following When man had eaten of the fruit of the forbidden tree immediatly his eyes were opened in so much that he was ashamed when he saw that he was naked Hitherto had hee lived in innocencie therefore began he now to cover himselfe but with simple clothing which they trusted not much to like as it is all unprofitable that man of himselfe will cover his sinne withall saving that they fled from the Lord and hid themselves from him But the Lord followed upon the fugitive put him in minde of his decay miserie and the life that hee was fallen from and said Adam where art thou Or knowest thou what miserie thou art fallen into from great felicitie Now should man have acknowledged his fault but hee shewed himselfe stiffe-necked And the Lord moveth him still to see if he will acknowledge his sinne and said Who told thee that thou art naked Yea to helpe him in the matter and to make him confesse his sinne hee saith moreover Hast thou not eaten of the tree of the which I forbad thee that thou shouldest not eat But man was loth to knowledge his sinne and laid it first upon the woman his companion and the same did he with so froward and unadvised words that a man may easily see that secretly in his heart he wickedly and unreasonably laid the fault upon God For hee said not onely The woman gave me of the tree to eat but added proudly thereto The woman which thou gavest me c. As though he should say Thou thy selfe art in the fault if thou haddest not given mee the woman I had not beene deceived And yet the righteous God gave him not the woman to deceive him but to bee an helpe to him Therefore appeareth it here againe that the sinne of man was the more wilfull grievous Yet for all this did the gracious God proceed further and would prove whether hee might finde any knowledge of the sinne with the woman the beginning and occasion of the sinne But nothing at all could he finde The one person was as the other and they both had no power Therefore like as Adam put all the fault to the woman even so laid the woman all the fault upon the Serpent that is upon the Devill Which nature doth yet to this day cleave in man But what man which hath well considered this foresaid matter by himselfe would now say or durst thinke that any part of the promise of righteousnesse and salvation of man were to bee ascribed to his owne power and deserving For as much as it is so manifest how unable and lost a creature man is of himselfe which doth nothing but heape sinne upon sinne and disobedience upon disobedience Againe who is so blinde but he seeth that all salvation is to be ascribed to the onely meere grace and mercie of God For now followeth it first how God handled this matter Now when all the complaint was made upon the Serpent the Lord asketh and examineth the Serpent nothing at all for the deed was open neither was the Serpent created of God to speake and with the Devill was there no truth Therefore doth the Lord righteously curse the Serpent the Devill Unto the bodily serpent also whom the Devill used as an instrument he giveth a sore curse and saith Vpon thy belly shalt thou goe and earth shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life When this was done it was ordained now first for man that according to the righteousnesse and truth of God he should bee punished also with the curse and with eternall death but for the causes expressed in the beginning of this chapter the curse was directed unto Christ who also with cleare words was promised and so was life in him promised likewise Therefore saith not the Lord now And cursed bee thou man because thou hast done against my Commandement but And I will put enmitie betweene thee and the woman betweene thy seed and her seed the same shall tread thee on
the head and thou shalt tread him on the heele Which is thus much to say Thou hast used the woman to the destruction of men so that from henceforth they bring death and by kinde and nature are damned when they are borne Therefore will I also use the woman but to salvation for of the woman shall a seed or childe bee borne which shall breake thy head power and kingdome sinne damnation and death howbeit in his manhood he shall be trodden down and bitten That is Man with his transgression hath deserved eternall death so that after the rigour of my justice hee should perish and belong to the Devill for ever neverthelesse I Will have mercie upon him and receive him to grace againe But to the intent that my truth and righteousnesse may be satisfied I will cause my Sonne to take the verie nature of man upon him Then will I that hee take upon himselfe the curse and damnation and die and with his innocent death to take away that noisome death and curse and so to set the generation of man out of death into life out of the dominion of the Devill into his owne kingdome out of darknesse into light Thus the right foundation or ground of our holy faith continueth fast and unmoved in so much as all the generation of man is whole and cleansed from sinne and delivered from the curse from the Devill and everlasting damnation onely through the mercie and meere grace of God by Iesus Christ As touching this Paul said when hee wrote to the Romans in the 8. Chapter God sent his Sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh and through sinne that is to say through the sinne-offering and willing death of Christ he condemned sin in the flesh And in the first Epistle to the Corinthians the first Chapter the same Paul saith Christ Iesus is appointed of God to be our wisdome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption that as it is written who so glorieth and rejoyceth let him glorie and rejoyce in the Lord. But for as much as this is the first promise and the first sure Evangelion I will now speake of everie word in especiall First God calleth his Sonne our Lord Iesus the seed of the woman A seed because of the verie nature of man and because that our Lord should not take upon him a fantasticall but a verie true bodie But to these words there is added Of the woman For our Lord was not conceived and borne of mans seed but of the Holy Ghost out of the Virgine Marie Therefore cannot this sentence be understood of Eve but of the Virgine Marie Now whereas she is called a woman it is done because of the kinred For even the daughters also and maidens are reckoned in the womens kinred and yet continue undefiled virgins God also hath spoken here distinctly and said not I will put enmitie betweene thee and this woman but betweene thee and haischah the woman understanding some speciall woman no doubt even such an one as he afterward set forth cleerely by Esay saying Behold a virgin shall conceive and beare a sonne c. And this word seed was alway afterward in everie renewing of this promise concerning Christ Iesu among all the Patriarks and Prophets rehearsed used and expressed untill the time of David Of whom the Lord afterward was called a flower the root sprowting or blossome of David The holy Apostle Paul expoundeth this word seed clearely and plainly and saith it is Christ Gal. 3. Moreover it serveth to the praise of the Lords mother that God saith I will put enmitie betweene the woman and thee for he meaneth the difference of both their natures The Devill is proud subtill wicked false and untrue but the mother of Christ is lowly simple vertuous faithfull and upright chaste and cleane And the same pure virgin and gracious mother hath borne unto us him that trod downe the Serpents head The head of the Serpent is the power and kingdome of the Devill even sinne the curse and damnation All this hath that blessed seed broken for his faithfull All which things the holy Apostle Paul also hath taught with these words The Lord is become partaker of our flesh and bloud that he through death might take away the power from him which had the Lordship over death that is to say the Devill and to deliver them which through feare of death were all their life time in bondage For hee tooke not upon him the Angels but the seed of Abraham tooke hee upon him c. And to the same meaning doth this also serve that followeth And thou shalt tread him on the heele The heele is the lowest part in man and here it signifieth the most inferiour thing in Christ even his flesh This hath the old Serpent the Devill persecuted and trodden downe by his members Caiphas Annas Herod and Pontius Pilate For Peter saith Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh The Godhead is impassible and the soule immortall But by this treading downe of the Lord hath God trodden downe the kingdome of the Devill that is to say by his death hath he destroyed death and brought life againe to all them that beleeve Hereof commeth it that Christ saith himselfe Ioh. 12. Now is the judgement of the world now shall the Prince of this world be thrust out And I when I am lift up that is to say crucified from the earth will draw all things to me At the last saith the Lord that he will put enmitie betweene the Serpent and the womans seed This may wee see in the Devill and his members and acts how they are contrarie to Christ and his members and deeds But how strong soever the Serpent is yet shall he be trodden downe through Christ and his faithfull Hereof commeth it that Paul spake so comfortably to the Romans Rom. 16. The God of peace shall shortly tread downe the Devill under your feet And herewithall is the dutie also of the faithfull in Christ shortly comprehended For as touching them that say Is it enough then and is all well when I knowledge that I am a sinner and saved through the blessed seed only To them it is here answered and cleerly given to understand that all they which put their trust in the blessed seed take upon them the kinde of the seed and hate the kinde of the Serpent that is to say sinne and blasphemie and fight alway more and more against the world and the Devill as long as they live yea and occupie themselves most faithfully about that which is Gods will And hereto now serveth it that followeth after For when the Lord had taken away the everlasting death he laid upon man a temporall punishment correction and discipline in the which hee should be exercised as long as hee lived upon earth And upon the woman he laid trouble sorrow and paine when she should beare and bring
forth children Subjection also and service with feare and obedience which she oweth to the man To man hee enjoyneth labour for the Lord cursed the earth and said With sorrow shalt thou get thy living all the dayes of thy life Yea in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread Moreover he layeth temporall death upon them both and saith Earth thou art and to earth shalt thou returne Of the first doth Paul speake also 1 Tim. 2. The woman shall be saved by bearing of children if she continue in faith and in love and in holinesse or cleannesse and nurture Of the second speaketh the same Paul likewise to the Ephesians and Thessalonians Let no man undermine or deceive his brother in occupying and who so hath used falshood and deceit let him doe it no more but let him rather labour with his hands some honest thing that he may have to distribute unto such as have need And as touching death Paul also saith to the Hebrewes in the ninth Chapter How that it is appointed unto men once to die and that even so Christ Iesus was offered up and died once for all CHAP. IIII. Of the first faithfull Christians ADAM and EVE ANd hitherto I trust we have had in the first promise of God the foundation and the whole summe of our holy Christian faith namely that the whole generation of man was but lost through his owne fault and wickednesse and fallen into death and damnation so that there remaineth nothing in man but it is displeasant to God Hereof commeth it that there is nothing to be ascribed unto the power and deserving of man save sinne and malediction But God of his abundant mercy had compassion on us and of very grace promised he life unto us againe in his Sonne our Lord Iesus whom he would to become man and to suffer death in his flesh that thereby hee might tread downe the devill death sinne and hell Item he would put enmitie betweene the womans seed and the serpent that is he would endue us which are the seed that is to say the children of Adam if wee beleeve with another heart and power that we might become enemies unto the devils workes resist his suggestion and hold our selves fast by the blessed seed labouring and suffering whatsoever God enjoyneth us to worke and suffer Who is it now which seeth not herein all that is written in the whole Scripture of beleefe of love and innocencie that is to say of a Christian life and faith Who so is disposed let him looke upon the 2.3 and 4. chapters of Paul to the Romanes the first and second to the Ephesians let him compare those chapters toward this summe and he shall finde it none otherwise For as much then as Adam and Eve had faith in God and stood so toward God that they knowledged themselves to be sinners and trusted to be saved only through the blessed seed giving themselves over willingly into the discipline and nurture travell and trouble of this time No man can say contrary but it followeth that our first elders were Christians Neverthelesse we will declare the same yet more clearely by Moyses words following And Adam called his wife Heva because shee should be the mother of all living For as soone as he was now strengthned through the promise of God and beleeved that hee and his posteritie which else were children of wrath of the devill and of death should live through the blessed seed he turned his wives name and called her Heva for the remembrance of the matter and practising of his faith for he beleeved that shee now living in the power of the blessed seed should bring forth not only quicke men temporally as pertaining to this naturall life like as we call other creatures living but living that is to say children of salvation For Adam had lost eternall life from himselfe and from us his posteritie but the same is given unto us againe through Iesus Christ our Lord. Adam for as much as he beleeved changed his wives name like as we finde that for great weighty causes the names of certaine places cities and men were changed Thus was Iacob called Israel Simon Peter Luthz Bethel Eve had now a name of life for Haiah in Hebrew is as much to say as Life Afore was shee called Ischa that is to say Woman because shee was taken from out of the man which in the Hebrew is called Isch Gen. 2. And thus it is manifest what faith Adam had whereby we may well suppose that Eve had none other faith But God used his mercy and loving kindnesse yet furthermore even in the mids of all correction for when he would now expell man out of paradise into miserie he doth unto him in every condition even as a faithfull father which for some misdeed putteth his sonne away from him notwithstanding leaveth him not utterly comfortlesse but provideth him a garment and comforteth him with friendly words and then first sendeth him away from him Even thus doth God the father of heaven also For first he cloatheth Adam and Eve against the frost and tempest of weather in as much as by the meanes of sinne the weather the earth the aire and all creatures were no more so subject tame and obedient unto man as they were afore the fall Therefore even now at this present time whatsoever inconvenience and harme is in the good creatures of God it commeth by the meanes of our sinnes Afterward doth the Lord comfort the miserable wretched man with very loving words after this manner Behold Adam is become like one of us or Loe Adam shall be as one of us and it shall happen unto him as to one of us and he shall know good and evill This doth God speake which is one in substance and three in persons he prophesieth here unto Adam that he shall know or have experience of good and evill that is to say that upon earth he must feele prosperitie and adversitie miserie and trouble sowre and sweet and must suffer necessitie paine and affliction Yet in all this must he be constant and patient forasmuch as nothing shall happen unto him save even the same that shall happen to one of them And he meaneth the Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ the second person in the holy Trinitie With this his passion and through the same doth he comfort Adam As though he would say let the paine sorrow and trouble which thou must suffer upon earth not vex thee and consider that one of us also shall take upon him the kinde and nature of man and that the serpent as it is said afore shall tread him on the heele that is to say he shall die he shall be opprest and have much affliction and trouble all the daies of his life In the same meaning also did the holy Apostle Peter say Christ suffered for our sakes and gave us an example that we should follow
whom they have taken their name The Law also was given 430. yeeres after the promise as Paul made the reckoning Gal. 3. It followeth therefore that our Christian faith is 2048. yeeres elder than the Circumcision and 2449. yeeres elder than the Law the Priesthood and ceremonies of the Iewes For from Adam unto the Floud were 1656. yeeres And from the Floud untill the departing of Abraham out of Caldea 363. yeeres From that time are reckoned 430. yeeres untill the departing of Israel out of Aegypt And on the 50. day after the departing was the Law given unto Israel upon Mount Sinâ— Exod. 19.20 And after certaine daies was the Priesthood and ceremonies appointed them Whereas God then made a covenant with Abraham when he ordained the Circumcision it serveth more to the confirmation of our holy Christian faith than to the maintenance of the Iewish ceremonies Isaac and Iacob were Abrahams children not only after the flesh but also after the spirit For they had the saith of their father and grandfather Abraham put their trust only in God through Iesus Christ and lived a sober and vertuous life Of this doth the Scripture beare them record thorowout Yea Iacob whom the Lord also called otherwise Israel of whom afterward all the people of God received the name Israel had many visions of the Lord Christ as with the ladder that stood upon the earth the top reaching to heaven on the which the Angels of God went up and downe For herewith was represented unto him the Lord Iesus which is the way unto heaven the truth and life without whom no man commeth unto the Father Upon the vision of Iacob saith he also himselfe Iohn 1. Verily I say unto you henceforth shall yee see the heaven open and the Angels of God going up and downe upon the sonne of man And so constant was Iacob in remembring the same that afterward at the commandement of the Lord he set up in the same place an Altar no doubt as it is said before for a figure of the crosse and sacrifice of Christ and there honoured he and worshipped the Lord he commanded all his people also that they should forsake strange gods and give him the Idols that they had brought with them out of Mesopotamia and he buried them under an Oke that stood beside Sichem Gen. 35. And when he would now die he prophesied very clearely of the Lord Christ how he should be borne out of the kinred of Iuda and that hee should be borne the same time that the kingdome should be taken from Iuda Which thing also came to passe in Herods time For in the 32. yeere of the reigne of Herod was CHRIST borne at Bethleem in Iewry Whereof the words of Iacob are these The scepter shall not be taken away from Iuda nor a Ruler from his feâ—t till Schilo come that is to say the Saviour and he in whom all nations shall be blessed and the people shall fall unto him This stedfast faith of Iacob did Ioseph follow also which mortified his owne flesh declared patience in adversitie and prison and exercised great justice and equitie in his governance He was a figure of our Lord Iesus Christ who also being sold of his owne unto the Heathen preserved his brethren alive So that from the beginning of the world untill the death of Ioseph the right Christian faith endured 2300. yeeres And thus all holy Patriarks before the Law were sawed not through the Law nor by their owne strength and deserving but through the blessed seed our Lord Iesus Christ CHAP. VI. The law of God given by Moses leadeth unto Christ and maketh mention of all his doings THe Israelites after the death of Ioseph untill their departing and deliverance out of Aegypt were in the land 140. yeeres And like as before in the time of Noe the dwelling among the wicked became occasion of falling unto the righteous Even so now did the Israelites learne idolatry and all unhappinesse of the Aegyptians For the which cause also they were sore oppressed a long season howbeit there remained yet many excellent men which kept still the old faith and hated the abhominations of the Aegyptians For of Moses which was borne 60. yeeres after the death of Ioseph saith Paul Moses through faith when he grew up and was great refused to bee called the sonne of Pharaos daughter and chose rather to suffer adversity with the people of God than to enioy the pleasures of sinne for a season and esteemed the rebuke of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt for he had respect to the reward Heb. 11. Now can no man desire to suffer with Christ except hee have knowledge of Christs suffering Therefore Moses in the midds of all persecution had knowledge of Christ and the faith in Christ So is there no doubt but more vertuous people had this true faith which were all oppressed and vexed in Aegypt like as afterward the right faithfull beleevers were somewhat more persecuted as among the heathen in the time of the Iudges and Kings of Iuda and Israel under king Antiochus under the Emperors Nero Traâ—â—nâ—s Domitianus Maximianus Iulianus and other As for the unbeleevers they in such miserable times received the reward of their unthankfulnesse disobedience idolatry and blasphemie But when the appointed time came which God had foreseene opened unto Abraham Gen. 15. he brought the people of Israel by Moses out of Aegypt with and through great wonders and tokens By the which he first declared his power then his loving kindnesse and mercy toward his owne and his terrible justice and vengeance against his enemies whereby all the world might know that there was none other just and true God save the God of Israel in whose hand only consisteth all things which also of his meere mercie preserveth his owne and with right judgement rewardeth his enemies Specially this is most wonderfull that in this great businesse and worke hee hath so mightily set forth the redemption performed by our Lord Iesus Christ yea and expressed it to be a very mighty redemption For the same night when they should depart away and be dispatched in the morning the Lord commanded them to kill a lambe and with the bloud thereof to sprinkle the doores and posts of the house So when the Angell that in the same night slew the first borne of the Aegyptians saw the bloud hee should doe no harme and slay no man therein Exod. 12.3 Now testifieth Paul 1 Cor. 5.7 that Christ Iesus is our Easter Lambe and Passeover So saith Saint Iohn Behold the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world Therefore were not the Israelites spared because of the bloud of beasts but for the blouds sake of the blessed seed that was promised for to come And thus the whole deliverance out of Aegypt was a figure of the true redemption by the which we
that used and did such service without faith and lifting up of the minde But they that put their trust in God cleaving only unto him and lifting up their hearts higher and remained not in the visible thing those pleased God Whereas they had but one Altar and one place appointed where they should doe sacrifice it signified the crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ and that he should be offered up but once and that in one place for the sinne of the world Therefore whereas the high Priest also every yeere went into the inward Tabernacle with bloud it signified that our Lord Iesus should come into this world and shed his bloud once for all to forgive and cleanse our sinnes and so to ascend unto heaven Yea all oblations and all sheddings of bloud in the sacrifices of the old fathers signified the death of our Lord Iesus Christ Nothing was cleansed among them without bloud which signifieth that all the purging of our uncleannesse is done by the bloud of Iesus Christ And all the Priesthood which was ordained for to teach to pray and make intercession to offer and doe sacrifice represented the office of our Lord Christ which came into this world to teach us the truth and righteousnesse then to offer himselfe to the Father for our sinnes and after the sacrifice done to rise up againe from death to ascend unto heaven there to sit at the right hand of God and even there as a true high Bishop to appeare alway in the presence of God and to pray for us This is the summe of the rites and ceremonies of the old fathers the understanding of the figures and the spirit of the letter whereof holy Paul hath written much in the most excellent epistle to the Hebrewes Out of all this is it easie to understand how that these rites and ceremonies of the fathers were sacraments and given to the people of God Not that they with the letter and outward visible and corporal thing should sufficiently serve God which is a spirit but that they should lift up their mindes above the same to the spirituall things pondering the mercy of God out of the which hee being moved is become gracious unto us And when he might have damned us for our sins and misdeeds he spared us for his Sons sake whom he gave unto death and his innocent death hath he accepted for our sinnes Such a faithfull consideration which is the true beleefe pleaseth God and with such a faith is God served and such a faith would the Lord have taught and planted in us with the foresaid rites and ceremonies Therefore all they that pleased God among the old fathers pleased him not for the letters sake but by reason of the spirit When the sacrifice also and ceremonie was executed after the ordinance of God in the congregation the beloved friends of God had not only respect unto the outward thing but much rather beheld they Christ with the eyes of faith and thought thus Behold the will of God hath ordained to do sacrifice for sinne now are we all sinners and debtors unto God in so much that he hath power and right over us that like as the beast which is now slaine and offred dieth and hath his bloud shed Even so might God now also kill us all and condemne us for ever Neverthelesse he hath taken us to his mercy and promised us a seed which should thus die on the Crosse and cleanse us with his bloud and with his death restore us unto life which thing no doubt shall as surely come to passe as this beast is slaine and offered now afore our eyes And like as the bloud is sprinkled over the people for the bodily cleansing so shall the bloud of Christ be sprinkled upon our soules c. And out of such a thought and faithfull consideration of the sacrifices grew repentance and sorrow for their sinnes a gladnesse praise comfort and thanks-giving unto God the mercifull Father And to this doe serve certaine Psalmes which were made concerning the sacrifices To this also serve all the rebukings of the holy Prophets and the refusing of the oblations For the externall pompe and shew of the offerings without faith in God and the blessed seed is nothing worth yea it is rather abominable unto God as thou seest in the first chapter of Esay Thou wilt aske Might not God have taught and shewed his people the cause of Iesus Christ of true beleefe none other way than through and with such cost pompe and glory of sacrifices and other gorgeousnesse of the Church I answer If the people had not fallen to more wickednesse in Egypt through their dwelling among the Idolaters but had constantly and stedfastly remained as did their fathers Abraham Isaac and Iacob then might they well have continued by the old short simple forme as it was among the holy fathers But now had they seene in Egypt an outward costly Gods service with temples altars sacrifices priesthood holy daies ornaments c. Likewise the idolatry increased daily in all the world so that now there was utterly no people which had not their owne outward ceremonies wherewith they served God To the intent then that God might retaine his people within the compasse of faith in one God and in the blessed seed promised afore to the intent also that they should shew no outward service to any other gods or take upon them to serve God after the manner of the Egyptians or of other heathen he appointed an outward Gods service and commanded to doe the same unto him and else to none and in the same pleased it him to set forth all the cause of the foresaid seed till he came and performed all things in deed that they had figuratively in their sacrifices Moreover God according to his wisdome of his speciall mercy and good heart that he hath unto mans generation would with these outward tokens tender our weaknesse which of spirituall heavenly things hath better understanding when they are shewed unto it by corporall visible things God therefore through such corporall representations laboured to shew unto that grosse and fleshly people the heavenly cause of his Sonne Neverthelesse the corporall visible things were given for no longer but untill the time of the fulfilling But now that Christ hath appeared and fulfilled and performed all that was written and figured of him in the Law and the Prophets the figure ceaseth and the outward sacraments of Moses law are of no more value to be exercised and used Thus much be said of the ceremonies Whereas beside the ceremonies there is much written also in the Law concerning civill policie ordinance judgement to live peaceably and well in citie and land of buying and selling of warre and peace of inheritance and proprieties of lawes matrimoniall of punishment of the wicked of the judgement and counsell of lending and borrowing c. It is no newes at all