Fifthly Where remission of sins is Where doth he remit them Answ Remission of sins is no where but in the Church of God Ipsa namque propriè Spiritum sanctum pignus accepit sine quo non remittuntur ulla peccata ita ut quibus dimitâ—untur consequantur vitam aeternam For the Church properly hath received the holy Ghost a pledge without whom no sins are remitted to the end that they to whom they are remitted may obtain everlasting life Isa 33.24 Aug. Enchir. cap. 65. The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity It is a benefit so proper to the Church that as Master Calvin saith we cannot enjoy it upon any other termes then that we remain in the communion thereof Whether any sin be irremissible Sixthly Whether there be any sin which is irremissible Answ The sin against the holy Ghost is irremissible for the words of Christ are plain He that shal blaspheam against the holy Ghost hath never forgivenesse S. Mar. 3.29 Blasphemy against the holy Ghost but is in danger of eternall damnation Which blasphemy against the holy Ghost is both against knowledge and against conscience by abnegation of the knowne truth by universall apostacy from Christ and from Christian religion by rebellion arising from the hatred of Gods truth together with a tyrannicall sophisticall and hypocriticall impugnation of it Seventhly Whether any sinner may despair to be forgiven Answ No sinner is to despair of pardon and remission of sins Whether a sinner may despair be they never so great never so many for if he shall truly repent God will freely forgive Nemo post centum peccata nec post mille crimina de misericordia divina desperet saith Saint Augustine Let no man despair of the mercy of God neither after an hundred sins nor after a thousand crimes De temp ser 58. Repentance may be profitable unto every man at what time soever he shall do it and be he never so bad never so old saith the same Father Wash ye make you clean Isa 1.16 put away the evill of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evill Learn to do well seek judgment 17 18. relieve the oppressed judge the fatherlesse plead for the widow Come now and let us reason together though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool saith the prophet Isaiah Eightly Whether the force and effect of remission be more to be discerned c. Whether the force and effect of remission of sins be not more to be discerned in the world to come then in this present world Answ The force and effect of the grace of God in the free remission of sins is more to be discerned in the world to come then in this present world for in this world remission of sins doth not plainly and fully produce its effect neither is the fruit of it fully to be reaped till the day of judgment 1st Because that they whose sins are now remitted are yet notwithstanding oftentimes vexed and much afflicted in the world like as on the other side all sins are not punished in this life 2ly Because the Scripture ascribeth remission of sins to the day of judgment a day of refreshing namely to those who have obtained remission of sins when the troubles and calamities of this present life shall be at an end Repent ye therefore Act. 3.19 and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Ninthly Why God wil forgive sins Why will he forgive sins Answ God will forgive sins for his owne sake that he may be glorified in the pardon and remission of sins And God will remit sins for his elect and chosen sake that they may be glorified together with him in the pardon and remission of their sins As the Apostle Saint Paul saith Rom. 9.23 That he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory Thus the blessed Evangelists having observed both what Christ did and what Christ said Concerning the explication Saint Luke setteth down the explication which sheweth the cause or reason as well of the administration as also of the participation of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in remembrance of me It is to banish ingratitude from his Church for ever We are apt to forget the benefits which we have received at the hands of others and to bury our benefactours themselves in oblivion Who would have thought that Laban would so soon have forgotten the benefits which he received at the hands of Jacob who had served him so faithfully It was that which Jacob complained of to his wives Gen. 31.5 I see your fathers countenance that it is not towards me as before Who would have thought that Pharaohs chiefe butler would so suddainly have forgotten Joseph and the interpretation of his dream But it was his ingratitude that he did not remember Joseph Gen. 40.23 but forgat him Who would have thought that the kings of Egypt would ever have forgotten Joseph and the benefits which they received at his hands Exod. 1.8 Yet the Scripture saith that there arose a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph Which remembered not Joseph nor all the benefits which he had done unto Pharaoh and to all the land of Egypt Who would have thought that the people of Israel would ever have forgotten their deliverance out of the land of Egypt Psal 78.42 and yet see what the Scripture saith They remembred not his hand nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy 43. How he had wrought his signes in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Zoan It was a deliverance that must never be forgotten and lest they should forget it he would have it to be remembered every year by the celebration of a solemn sacrament And it shall come to passe when your children shall say unto you Exod. 12.26 What mean you by this service That ye shall say It is the sacrifice of the Lords passeover who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses Our blessed Lord would not be forgotten the deliverance which he would work for his Church would be a far greater deliverance then that of the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt That was a deliverance out of a temporall bondage this is a deliverance out of an eternall bondage That was a deliverance of the body this is a deliverance of body and soul That was a deliverance from Egypt and from the heavy burthens of it this is a deliverance from hell it selfe and from the eternall torments of it By that deliverance they were brought into the land of Canaan by this deliverance we are brought into the kingdome
gave unto him was delivered in terminis Of every tree of the Garden thou maiest freely eate But of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eate of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die This was the primordiall law The primordiall Law and as Tertullian saith in this law given unto Adam we acknowledge to be laid up all those precepts which afterwards delivered by Moses sprouted forth young That is to say Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all soule and thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy selfe And Thou shalt not kill and Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not steale Honour thy father and thy mother and Thou shalt not covet that which is another mans For saith he the primordiall law was given to Adam and Eve in Paradise as the wombe of all the commandements of God Advers Judaeos cap. 2. He had no need of further grace for the observation of this law because hee might if he would have kept it by the liberty and freedome of his owne will left unto him in the custody of pure nature For which cause the breach thereof made him a transgressor to all the commandements if as Saint Augustine saith Adam's sin it be divided into its severall members For pride is there saith he for as much as man delighted to be rather in his owne power then in the power of God And Sacriledge or Infidelity because he did not give credence to God And murther because he killed himselfe And Spirituall fornication because the virginity of the humane minde was deflowred by the Serpents perswasion And theft because hee usurped that foode which was prohibited And covetousnesse because he desired more then ought to have sufficed him And whatsoever else by diligent consideration may be found to be in this one act of his transgression Wherefore by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and death passed upon all men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that or in whom namely in that one man all have sinned Thus was the deadly wound given by Adam The propagation of Adams sinne through the abuse of his free will to himselfe and unto all his posterity who were then in him tanquam in radice as in the root of mankind Aug. Enchir. cap. 26. whereby both hee and they who were to descend of and from him by ordinary generation were the same day made obnoxious or subject both to the Spirituall or supernaturall and to the bodily or naturall death with all the dreadfull precedents concomitants and consequents of them both For this and to the end that hee might restore that creature whom he had made to immortality God by his infinite wisedome and of his great mercy manifested unto man that expedient which he had foreseen and determined from eternity that he would redeeme and save him Gods Covenant of grace by the seede of the woman whom the Serpent had seduced which seede should breake the Serpents head that is to say overthrow the Devill and all his power And therefore after Adam had sinned and in him all his posterity God maketh his covenant with him and with them and requireth both of him and them that they should on their parts performe the conditions of it by beleeving and applying it every one of them particularly to himselfe and to know no other Redeemer by whom to be redeemed from sinne and death brought upon them all by Adams transgression but onely that blessed seede The first saving grace therefore that man received after his Fall whereby he might rise againe from sinne and death into which he was fallen was faith even faith in Christ for the promised seede was Christ Here therefore siste gradum for the order of this our historie doth require that I should adnote some thing by the way concerning that first and most necessary grace The old Romans held and worshipped faith for a goddesse and Numa Pompilius is first said to have dedicated a Temple to Faith Concerning Faith whether because in all the actions of life and more specially in contracts bargaines and covenants there is an urgent use and necessity of faith Or whether because traditions streaming down even from Adam unto those dayes had greatly manifested among the heathen themselves that faith which is towards God as that onely thing whereby God is moved to grant all the requests of men and by which every man may and must attaine unto true happiness it is more then I will take upon me to determine Probable it is that Numa was not altogether ignorant of that which was taught in the Church concerning faith for the Temples which he built are said to be without Images and his Bookes upon Livies report being found a long time after his death viz. Anno Urb. Cond 573. Genebr Chron. lib. 2. p. 411. were burnt as not holding correspondence with the heathenish superstition of those Idolatrous times There is faith towards Men and there is faith towards God for so speakes the Scripture I will restore thy Judges as at the first and thy Counsellors as at the beginning Isa 1.26 afterwards thou shalt be called the city of Righteousness the faithfull city Faithfull towards God in believing all his promises faithfull towards God in keeping all his commandments Faithfull towards Men in all distributive and commutative justice But concerning that faith which is towards men Faith towards men and is nothing else but a certaine veracitie or truth of mind whereby men approve themselves constant in their words in their promises and in all their contracts bargaines and covenants to performe them and is politicall active or mercatorious it pertaineth not to this our History to discourse at large Faith towards God Faith towards God is that faith whereby a man doth believe in God and apprehend and apply the Covenant of Grace first made with Adam and his posterity and all the promises of God thereupon depending to the saving of his soule So that howsoever the name or word faith be copiously and variously accepted in the Scriptures yet as now we are to speak of Faith S. Mat. 13.20 21. Heb. 6.4 5 6. Jac. 8.13 Act. 2.19 S. Mat. 17.20 1 Cor. 13.2 Tit. 1.1 we do not intend either the externall profession of Christian Religion onely Or any temporall assent or bare knowledge of the grace of God Nor yet any certaine perswasion conceived by Revelation or by particular promise concerning the working of miracles But it intends that faith which is properly and theologically styled Faith which pertaineth onely to Gods Elect and to all of them which is passive and is called by Divines the justifying or saving faith because that thereby a man is justified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the sight of God or with God as the Scripture speaketh Gal. 3.11 It is a gift of God or an holy habit wrought by the
Gentiles and the glory of Israel his people Finally having blessed them if not as a priest according to the set form of the sacerdotall benediction prescribed in the law Num. 6.24 25 26. for it is not said whether he were a priest or no and as well they who affirm it as they who deny it have no ground at all either for the affirmation or negation of it yet with a christian benediction he did pray to God to bless them by multiplying his blessings upon them in body in soul in goods and fortune blessings temporall eternall blessings Prophesying of Christ and foretelling to the Virgin her selfe that which Saint Bernard calleth her martyrdome a martyrdome by the sword that sword which should pierce through her soul a sword of bitter griefe and anguish when she should see him hanging upon the cross and hear him calling unto her and saying Woman behold thy son S. Joh. 19.26 Ser. de beaâ—a virg Maria. At the same time also Anna a prophetesse a woman of great piety and devotion who had lived a long and a vertuous life came into the temple into that place where it was permitted the women to be and she also gave thanks to God and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Hierusalem For so saith the history observing every circumstance according to the effect and substance of that which hath been related S Luc. 2.22 thus And when the daies of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished they brought him to Hierusalem to present him to the Lord As it is written in the law of the Lord Every male that openeth the wombe shall be called holy to the Lord. And to offer a sacrifice 23 according to that which is said in the law of the Lord a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons And behold there was a man in Hierusalem 24 whose name was Simeon and the same man was just and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel and the holy Ghost was upon him 25 And it was revealed unto him by the holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ And he came by the spirit into the temple 26 and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custome of the law Then took he him up in his armes 27 and blessed God and said Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace 28 29 30 31 32 33 according to thy word For mine eyes have seen thy salvation Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel And Joseph and his Mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his mother Behold this childe is set for â—he fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a signe which shall be spoken against 34 yea a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed 35 And there was one Anna a Prophetesse the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asser she was of a great age and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity 36 37 And she was a widow of about fourescore and foure years which deparâ—â—d not from the Temple but served God with fasting and prayer night and day And she comming in at that instant 38. gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all that looked for redemption in Hierusalem Such was the wonderfull birth of Christ his circumcision and presentation in the temple and so was the first year of his age transacted Whether his parents returned back immediately from Hierusalem to Bethlehem and there abode either in the Inne Hâ—story concerning the comming of the wise men where they had lodgings after the taxing ended and the great concourse of those of their tribe and family who came up to be inrolled was dissolved Or else in some house which they hired or otherwise obtained where they continued till the comming of the wise men Or whether they did not go presently so soon as they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord from Hierusalem into Galilee and to their own city Nazareth returning from thence to Hierusalem at the feast of the Passeover and then went when that feast was ended to Bethlehem again and there abode either in the Inne or in some other house where they made their habitation till the wisemen came our sacred history will not determine Certain it is that when they dwelt in Nazareth they went up yearly to Hierusalem as Saint Luke saith at the feast of the passeover S. Luc. 2.41 And certain it is that when the wise men came they went not to Nazareth but to Bethlehem came unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not into the cave where the stable and manger was but into the house where they saw the young childe with Mary his mother and fell down and worshipped him S. Mat. 2.11 as Saint Matthew saith Most likely it is that they dwelt not in Nazareth till after their return out of Egypt although Saint Luke who was a gentile by birth a proselyte of Antioch thought himselfe more specially concerned to make narration of those things which pertained to the law and to the Jewes omitteth the story wholly of the wise men and of his slight into Egypt and respecting only the time that they dwelt in Nazareth which was after their return out of Egypt saith not saying what passed in the mean time that when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord S. Luc. 2.39 they returned into Galilee to their own City Nazareth Yet Saint Matthew who was a Jew born thought himselfe more properly engaged to narrate those things which set forth in a more peculiar manner Gods great grace and mercy to the Gentiles and therefore declareth both the history of the wise men and Christ his flight into Egypt Much adoe there is concerning the time of the arrivall The time of their arrival of these wise men at Bethlehem Also concerning their persons what they were from whence they came how they came thither upon whose motion and finally as touching the star it self what it was It will be sufficient to our History omitting all disputes to set down the truth of our opinion as plainly and briefly as we can First therefore we cannot assent unto those who think the accesse of those wise men to be the twelfth day after the blessed nativity within six daies after the circumcision and therefore antecedaneus to his presentation in the temple this had been too great a festination they had need of wings to have fled especially if they came from the extreamest parts of the East as some have lightly believed and fabulously reported We cannot assent unto them
multitude saw it they marvelled and glorified God S. Mat. 9.8 which had given such power unto men Certainly Maldonats note upon the place is not amiss Observation That like as the divinity of Christ communicated to his humanity the power of doing miracles Even so the power is dirived from Christ the head unto the ministers of his Church to forgive sins Christ is the Lord he as God hath the key of authority to remit sins tum quod culpam tum quod poenam as well in respect of the fault and guiltiness of sin as also of the consequent punishment due unto the same as God and man he hath the key of excellency to remit sins upon his own merit His ministers have a ministeriall key to remit sins in the name and by the power of Christ For was this spoken by Christ and written by St. Matthew for our Instruction Hath God given such power unto men as to pronounce the pardon of sin to the sick man in his bed Is the doctrine of confession and absolution agreeable as well to the Scriptures as also to the practice of the Church both present and primitive then may every one who is a minister of the word and sacraments a priest in sacred orders rightly and duly ordained to his office and function upon good information of faith and repentance say to the sick sinner in his bed thy sins are forgiven thee Or by his authority committed unto me I absolve thee from all thy sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost For absolution as well private as publick belongeth principally yea properly and by vertue of his office to the minister as Christ his Ambassadour in his ministeriall function But of this we dispute no farther but return again to the matter Christs his miracles for the glory of God upon three respects Christ his miracles were wrought for the glory of God more particularly upon three respects 1st Because that Christ is thereby mightily declared to be the son of God and the promised Messiah Saint John the Baptist did no miracles therefore when he sent two of his disciples unto Christ to aske him this question saying S. Mat. 11.3 Art thou he that should come or do we look for another he pleadeth his miracles in evidence of his divinity The blind saith he receive their sight and the lame walk the lepers are clensed the deaf hear the dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospell preached unto them As if he should say I who do all these things and am preached to be him who else am I but the son of God and the promised Messiah 2ly Because the doctrine of the gospell is thereby confirmed Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me S. Joh. 14.11 or else believe me for the very works sake We read that when God offered a signe or miracle unto king Ahaz to the end that he might believe the words which were spoken unto him by the mouth of the prophet Isaias he refused saying I will not ask Isa 7.12 Judg. 6.17.37 39. S. Mat. 16.4 neither will I tempt the Lord. Gideon required a signe or miracle and he had it more then once or twice The Pharisees required a signe and are sharply reproved and the signe denyed Thus their actions agreed not unto their ends Ahaz out of pride 2 King 16. or peradventure out of that trust and confidence which he reposed in the strength and power of Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria refused the miracle and to contemn or refuse a signe or miracle when God shall offer it is a sin The Pharisees were a generation of proud hypocrites who had before hand set up a resolution not to believe on him whatsoever he should say or whatsoever he should do therefore when they require a miracle out of pride and curiosity they are condemned and rejected But Gideon in his humility did aske a signe for the confirmation of his faith in the promise of God It is no example for us now for the gospell is sufficiently confirmed by miracles we must believe and have recourse unto the ordinary signes the sacred and mysterious sacraments To refuse or contemn them is the sin of Ahaz Lastly they make for the glory of God because thereby he breaks the serpents head and destroyes his kingdom Sathan erecteth his kingdome among men by his works When the Jewes boasted that they were the seed of Abraham and the sons of God Christ told them that the devill was their father S. Joh. 8.48 1 Joh. 3.8 because they did their father's lusts The lusts of the devill are his works but Christ hath destroyed them He destroyed them by his miracles for he cast out devills he purified the minds of men he remitted sins he raised the dead nay he himselfe dyed and rose again Rom. 6.9 10 11. to the end that we also should die unto sin by vertue of his death and rise again unto newnesse of life by vertue of his most blessed and glorious resurrection So the glory of God was the primary and more principall end of his Divine miracles But the Secundary and lesse principall end was the utility and profit of men 1st and more specially of those men The secundary or lesse principall end who had the present benefit were healed and cured and were raised from the dead for sicknesse and death being the effects of sin they were hereby taught to believe and to hope for greater mercies The wages of sin is death the bodily death the spirituall death with all manner of sicknesses and diseases of the body tending to the bodily death and with all manner of sicknesses and diseases of the soule as griefe anger anguish horrour dread presumption desperation tending to the spirituall death Adde here all those evills in the city which the Lord hath done by war by pestilence by famine also all private crosses and losses in the particular goods and estates of men But the gift of God is eternall life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 2ly For the Church Rom. 6.23 and for all her members generally and that first to the end that if any man be sick or diseased he may look up unto Christ the true physician He that hath wrought all his Divine miracles immediately and mediately He that hath wrought his miracles in all the miseries and calamities of men He that hath wrought all his miracles by his own divine power and vertue He that wrought his miracles to destroy the kingdome of Sathan and did remit the sins of men He that wrought his miracles by his word only to them that were present to them that were absent He that wrought his miracles by his word together with a touch of his hand or by permitting the sick and diseased to touch him He that wrought his miracles sometimes by means and things naturall sometimes by means and things not naturall or
Ghost The benefit of our regeneration For being ingraffed into Christ by baptisme 2 Pet. 1.4 we are made pertakers of the divine nature not the divine essence but divine qualities those supernaturall graces lost by the fall of Adam being restored in us and we are born again of water and of the holy Ghost that so we may enter into the kingdom of God S. Joh 3.5 Gal. 3.27 S. Mat. 28.19 2 Cor. 1.12 13. Rom. 6.3 4. Our union with Christ For we are baptized into Christ and into the name of Christ and by baptism are buried with Christ and are baptized into the death resurrection of Christ as the Scripture speaketh 2ly The Sacrament of baptisme was instituted and ordained secundarily and consequently To be a testimony of our piety and obedience due to God together with the greatest gratitude for his mercy communicated to us in and by that Sacrament To be a distinctive signe whereby the Church in all her members may be visibly distinguished from the idolatrous heathen and unbelieving Jewes and as Tertullian saith the fishes from the Vipers Apes and Serpents De Bapt. cap. 1. Finally to be a strong bond of that communion and fellowship which the Church hath and of that mutuall love and charity which all the members of the same spirituall brethren and sisters by baptisme are obliged to conserve among themselves 1 Cor. 12.13 But having observed thus much briefly concerning baptisme we will now proceed with our Sacred History Christ having baptized his Disciples did then baptize others by their ministery St. Iohn the Baptist goeth into Galilee and great multitudes resorting unto his baptisme this was reported to St. John the Baptist in such manner and upon such occasion as hath been said before whereupon St. John when that he had given ample testimony to the person merits and office of Christ did then presently or not long after leave off to baptize any longer at Aenon for it became him to give place to his Lord and departed into Galilee where he was imprisoned by Herod the Tetrarch as shall be shewed more at large when the order of the History shall lead us to his decollation But Jesus abode still in Judea and his Disciples baptized He abode there till within four months before harvest and then to decline the malice of the Pharisees who maligned his baptism and the Disciples which he made and baptized S. Joh. 4.35 in the month of November he departed to go into Galilee For saith the text When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized mee Disciples then John Though Iesus himselfe baptized not but his Disciples He left Iudea S. Joh. 4.1 2 3. Christs departure out of Iudea into Galilee and departed againe in o Galilee But his way lay directly thorow the country of Samaria Now the Samaritans were not Iewes nor did they worship or consent in religion with the Iewes but were the stock and off-spring of those whom Salmaneser king of Assyria having caried away the old inhabitants captive which were Iewes brought from Babylon and from Cutha and from Ava and from Hamath and from Sepharvaim and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel In this Province was the ancient town of Sichem then corruptly called Sichar 2 Kin. 17.24 which name it got as some think from the drunkenness and deboistness of the inhabitants for Sichar being derived of Schachar signifieth to be drunk Nigh to this place was that parcell of ground which Iacob gave unto Ioseph his son Gen. 48.22 Jos 24.32 a portion above his brethren there was Ioseph himself buried And nigh to this place was Iacobs well a well which Iacob made and left to the inhabitants of the place To that Well the people of Sichar resorted for water and Christ being wearied with his journey comes thither and sate upon the well about noon tide the usuall time of refection his Disciples being gone into the city to buy meat for their dinners Mean while a certain woman comes from the city thither to draw water The History of the Samâ—ritan woman of her he asketh water to drink She perceiving him to be a Iew demanded of him why he would aske drink of her that was a Samaritane seeing that the Iewes and Samaritanes had no converse Christ hereupon taketh occasion expresly to preach himself to be the Messiah For said he If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee Give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him S. Joh. 4.10 and he would have given thee living water The woman objected not knowing what it was that he thirsted namely her faith nor what water it was that he had to give namely his Spirit but knowing that the Jewes did not would not use the same vessells with the Samaritans that he had nothing of his own to draw the water with and that the well was deep from whence then could he have that living water 11 That the water of any other fountain could not be better nor more abundant seeing that for the goodness of it Jacob himself and his children drank thereof and were well content therewith and for the abundance he had enough there for all his cattel From whence she inferreth that he who will pretend to have any such living water must make himself to be greater then Jacob. Christ did not say in express terms that he was greater then Jacob 12 but infers it from the womans own argument because he had better water to give For saith he whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst againe But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him 13 shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life 14 The woman thinking that he had spoken of some materiall water which he had to give doth now her self thirst for that water 15 16 saying Sir give me this water that I thirst not neither come hither to draw Jesus saith unto her Go call thy husband and come hither as if he should say that I may give it unto you both 17 The woman told him that she had no husband He tells her that she said truly for she had five husbands before but this with whom she did now cohabit 18 19 was not her husband The woman thereupon affirms him to be a Prophet Sir I perceive that thou art a Prophet questions him concerning divine things and first of all concerning the peculiar place of divine worship whether the temple at Hierusalem where the Iews still worshipped or the Anti-temple which had been upon mount Garizim where the Samaritans worshipped in times past before that temple was destroyed by Iohn called Hircanus high Priest of Hierusalem Vid. Ioseph antiq lib. 11. 20. were that proper place where men ought to worship He
sick of the Palsie I say unto thee Arise and take up thy bed and go thy way unto thine house For to heal the body imperativè 11. and by command of his own word only is of equall power as to forgive sins which none can do but only God Therefore when he rose up immediately before them all took up his bed and went forth they were all amazed and glorified God and were filled with reverentiall fear S. Luc. 5.26 S. Mar. 2.20 saying We have seen strange things to day We never saw it on this fashion viz. In the curation both of mind and of body After this two-fold mercy done to this Paralytick man he took occasion to go forth and to teach the people by the sea side S. Mar. 2.13 and going by the place where the customs were received he saw St. Matthew St. Matthew called from the receipt of custome whose name also was Levi the son of Alpheus one of the Publicans sitting there to receive customs for Capernaum was a sea town and there the merchants did pay the customes into the hands of the Publicans He went not that way by fortune or chance but that according to the good pleasure of his will then to be manifested in the vocation of this blessed Apostle he might find him there and call him from thence Who being called in these words S. Luc. 5.28 29. Follow me he left all rose up and followed him Yet not so but that he went home to his house where he made a great entertainment for him St. Luke saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great feast Splendidum convivium a sumptuous banquet For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not onely signifie a feast or banquet but as Erasmus observeth out of Athenaeus a rich or sumptuous feast by which name the learned Fathers are wont to style the sacred Eucharist He would spare no cost to entertain his Lord who in great favour had called him to be his Disciple At this feast was a great company of guests Publicans and others who were criminous and scandalous persons with whom he vouchsafed to sit down and to eat and drink Whereat the Scribes and Pharisees proud hypocrites murmur and obrayd him and his Disciples But he defendeth both himself and them by a Proverbiall S. Mat. 9.12 The whole need not a Physitian but they that are sick biddeth them to go and learn the meaning of the Prophet Hos 6.6 I will have mercy and not sacrifice for he came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance Inferring that he would open heaven gates unto such upon their true repentance when such proud hypocrites as they righteous in their own eyes shall be utterly excluded for their unbelief and hardness of heart Question proposed by St. Iohns disciples Now the Disciples of St. John and of the Pharisees used to fast oft and to pray much therefore some of the Disciples of St. John by the instigation of the Pharisees as it should seem came unto him and said Why do we and the Pharisees â—ast oft but thy Disciples fast not S. Mat 9.14 S. Mar. 2.18 19 20 21 22 S. Mat. 9.14 15 16 17. S. Luc. 5.33 34 35 36 37 38 39. his answer is not direct but by similitudes the children of the marriage chamber must not fast in presence of the Bridegroome a piece of new cloth must not be put into an old garment new wine must not be put into old bottles No man having drank old wine straight way desireth new by all which he defendeth his Disciples for not fasting shewing that it was not seasonable for them as yet to fast While he yet spake these things unto them there came a certain Ruler S. Mat. 9.18 S. Mar. 5.22 S. Luc. 8.41 one of the rulers of the Synagogue Jairus by name saith St. Marke and with him St. Luke Genebrard in his Chronologie telleth us out of the Rabbines that the Prophets ceasing which was under the second temple the Iews had that which they called the great Synagogue The history of Iairâ—s and of his daughter cured consisting of an hundred and twenty men whereof some were Nobles some Plebeians those did amend the Scriptures where they had been depraved and did constitute the canon of which great Synagogue were Princes Ezra Nehemiah Mardochai Zorobabel Joshuah the son of Josodec also Daniel Ananias Azarias Misael Haggai Zechariah Malachi ad an 3638. But the Synagogues so often mentioned in the new Testament were places of conveening where the people assembled to pray and to hear the law and the Prophets Their antiquitie seems to have been from the captivity of Babylon to supply the place of the Temple and after their return were built and the use of them retained in their own countrey and after their example in Asia Egypt and Europe whither the Iewes were dispersed So that finally their number so encreased especially in Iudea that in Hierusalem it self are reported to have been in the latter times of it no less then four hundred and eighty Synagogues the rulers whereof were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Princes or Praefects And such a one was this Iairus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Matthew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Luke a Prince or Ruler of the Synagogue To this man there was one only daughter at that time dangerously sick and even at the point of death he therefore came to Iesus worshipped him and fell down at his feet instantly beseeching him that he would come to his house and lay his hands upon her that she might be healed and live Christ took compassion upon him went presently with him being attended by his Disciples and much people who followed and thronged him And as he went S. Mat. 9.19 S. Mar. 5.24 S. Luc. 8.42 S. Mar. 5.25 The woman cured of a bloody issueâ— 26 27 28 29 30. A certaine woman which had an issue of blood twelve years And had suffered many things of many Physitians and had spent all that she had and was nothing bettered but rather grew worse whe she had heard of Iesus came in the presse behinde and touched his garment the hemme or border of his garment For she said within her self If I may touch but his clothes I shâ—â— be whole And straight way the fountaine of her blood was dryed up and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague Iesus immediately knowing in himself that vertue had gone out of him turned him about in the press and said Who touched my clothes when all denyed his Disciples St. Peter and the other Disciples thinking that to be a frivolous question replyed that the multitude pressed and thronged him and would he then ask Who it was that touched him Indeed the Disciples knew not to what end that question tended He did not ask this question because he knew not who it was but that upon the confession of the woman the
to their lord who expostulateth his cruelty and because he had forgiven him that great debt but upon condition that he should shew the like mercy to his fellow servant which because he had not shewed he cast him into prison till he should pay it 31 32 33 34 35. Such is the case betwixt God and us So likewise shall my heavenly Father doe also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses When Jesus had finished these sayings he departed from Galilee and came into the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan And he preached to the people who followed him in great multitudes and healed the sick S. Mat. 19.1 S. Mar. 10.1 Concerning divorcement S. Mat. 19.3 S. Mar. 10.2 So go on St. Matthew and St. Marke with the story Thither came the Pharisees tempting him with a question which they moved concerning the solubility or insolubility of marriage Is it lawfull said they for a man to put away his wife for every cause or to put her away at all Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife Christ his answer is negative and for this cause he alledgeth the originall institution and concludeth with an Epiphonema What God hath joyned together let not man put asunder As if he should say S. Mat. 19.6 because that God made them at the beginning male female because he said that a man shall leave Father and Mother and cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh and because they are no more twain but one flesh therfore that it is not lawful for a man to put away his wife They interrogate why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away Moses indeed did permit the men to put away their wives for uncleanness and the woman divorced to be married to another man this was but a temporall permission to them only Deut. 24.1 2. and for the hardness of their hearts it must not be so now for from the beginning it was not so S. Mat. 19.8 9. S. Mar. 10.11 12. That therefore now neither must the man divorce his wife nor the wife her husband but for fornication onely This seemed to his Disciples an hard saying If the case be so of the man with his wife said they it is not good to mary He tells them that continency is a peculiar gift of God rarely given and that there be three sorts of Eunuches or continent men for that some are born Eunuches and are without natural ability some castrated and made Eunuches by men the antiquity of which injury done to nature Ammianus Marcellinus lib. 14. refers to Semiramis the wife of Ninus Queen of the Assyrians who did first of all as he saith cause it to be done others who have made themselves Eunuches to live chastly and unmarried the better to serve God in a chast and single life by the grace of God S. Mat. 19.11 12. subduing the flesh with the affections and lusts for the kingdom of heavens sake This last is the expetible gift and He that is able to receive it let him receive it The time approaching that he should be received up he stedfastly set his face to go up to Hierusalem and his way from Galilee was through the country of Samaria He is denyed entertainment by the Samaritans Wherefore he sent certain messengers before him to one of the villages of the Samaritans to provide for his comming but they hating the Jewes as the Jews also did them declining to have commerce one with another refused to entertain him upon no other reason but because his face was as though he would go up to Hierusalem Whereupon two of his Disciples S. James and S. John would by his leave have called fire from heaven to consume them as Elias did those two captains of the fifties with their fifties who were sent by king Ahaziah to apprehend him 2 King 1. But Christ rebuked them S. Luc. 9.51 52 53 54 55 56. told them that they did not know what spirit they were of for that his comming was not to destroy any but to save all And so they went into another village which entertained them Ten lepers cleansed At that time it should seem as he went to Hierusalem passing through the midst of Samaria and Galilee as he entred into a certain village there met him ten men that were lepers which stood afar off and cryed out unto him to heal them of their leprosie Jesus master have mercy on us The leprosie was a foul disease pertinacissimae scabiei genus a kind of scab most hard and difficult to be cured Some think it to be that disease which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it breaketh out in hard scabs or scales white and black making the skin harsh and rugged like the Elephants Of all other diseases it was most infectious for it did infect the apparell and the walls of the house were sometimes infected with leprosie Therefore were the lepers to be put apart lest they should infect others and to give warning of their uncleanness by wearing a covering upon their upper lippe and by crying out and saying uncleane uncleane having also their clothes rent Levit. 13.45 and their head bare This was the reason why he found these lepers without the village and why also they stood afar off And when he saw them he said unto them go shew your selves unto the priests namely that the priests might see and pronounce the cure which part of their office he would not anticipate S. Mat. 8.4 S. Mar. 1.44 S. Luc. 5.14 neither did he at all cure any of that disease that we read of but he sent them to the priests And it came to passe that as they went they were cleansed Whereupon one of them who was a Samaritane returned back to express his gratitude for the cure which he had received which he did most humbly giving glory to God A duty which he rightly judged meet to be performed in the first place approved accepted and rewarded with a further benefit the spirituall sanitie of his soule for when he lay prostrate at his feet ex procubitu supplicatione fidem suam simul cum benevolentia pandens by prostration and supplication laying open his faith and devotion He bad him to arise saying Arise go thy way thy faith hath made thee whole S. Luc. 17.14 15 16 17 18 19. As for the other nine although they did hold on their way to go to the Priest as they were commanded yet because they did not first return to give glory to God they were justly blamed So he comes to the feast of Tabernacles of which feast and for what cause it was instituted we have spoken before He goeth to the feast of Tabernacles Howbeit he came not up till the midst of the feast which continued for the space of eight daies
he went not up sooner because he would not comply with the ambition and boldnesse of his kinsmen who did not yet believe in him but having sent them up first himselfe came after S. Joh. cap. 7. from v. 1. to 14. as is set forth by Saint John in his seventh chapter At this feast he taught openly in the temple though they sought to kill him and converted many The pharisees and chiefe priests sent officers to apprehend him whom they reprehend and revile because they had not brought him and also quarel Nichodemus for taking his part in the council S. Joh. 7.50 51 52. The woman absolved that was taken in adultery At this feast also he absolved the woman taken in adultery preached himselfe the light of the world justified his doctrine exhorting the believers to perseverance confoundeth his adversaries proving them neither to be free nor of Abraham nor of God but of the devill proving himselfe to be God greater and ancienter then Abraham S. Joh. 8.58 59. Wherefore when they would have stoned him he passed through the midst of them and so went his way Being departed out of the temple as he passed by with strange ceremonies shewing thereby that by his Baptisme A man cured that was born blinde which is the sacrament of illuminaâ—ion or faith he openeth the eyes of tâ—ose that are spiritually blinde he cured a man that was borne blinde when he had spit upon the ground made clay annointed his eyes and sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam S. Joh. 9.6 7. By the miracle it selfe the attestation of the party and of his parents both the neighbours and the pharisees are plainly convinced But the pharisees condemn him because he had wrought the miracle upon the sabbath day and after much altercation with the poor man they cast him out of the synagogue Christ findeth him telleth him who he is the man believeth and worshippeth v. 39 40 41. he foretelleth the gentiles to be illuminated through faith in his name and the Jewes to be blinded through unbeliefe And so proceedeth as it is 〈◊〉 the next chapter to declare both his office and person in a parable wherein he compareth Gods chosen to sheep and himselfe to a shepheard Christ the good shepheard admonishing them of three sorts of men who medle with the sheep The first is the shepheard who hath right unto the sheep careth for them and defendeth them against the wolfe with the hazard of his owne life The second is the hireling who though he come into the sheep-fold by the dore as the shepheard doth yet when the wolfe commeth he leaveth the sheep and fleeth and then the wolfe catcheth and scattereth them The third are thieves and robbers who break into the sheep-fold and come to steal to kill and to destroy That he himselfe is the good shepheard who will lay downe his life for his sheep he will not lay it downe by constraint but voluntarily and at his owne pleasure will rise again That he will bring the gentiles also into his fold that so there may be one flock consisting both of Jewes and Gentiles under Him the good shepheard For which divine sayings of his a contention arose among the people S. Joh. 10.15 16 17 18 19 20 21. Parable of the labourers S. Mat. 20.10 11 12 13 14 15 16. Seventy disciples sent forth S. Luc. 10.8 9 10 11 12. some condemning some defending him During also the time of his abode there he proposed the parable of the labourers hired by the housholder to work in his vineyard for a penny a day shewing thereby that God is no mans debtor and to shew that the gentiles also who are called last shall be equall in reward with the Jewes who are his ancient people Likewise at that time he sent out his seventy disciples seventy two saith the vulgar latine and the Rhemists but the greek hath seventy to work miracles and to preach giving them ample instructions how to demean themselves as well towards those that should receive them as also towards those that would reject them These were Christs inferiour clergie for like as the Apostles were his higher clergie and did represent the superiour clergie who are the Bishops even so were the seventy disciples his inferiour clergie and did represent the inferiour clergy called Priests The one figured by the twelve wells of Elim the other by the threescore and ten palme trees there where the people of Israel in their peregrination a type of the Church militant encamped Exod. 15.27 but not without a further mystery He did then also state the question concerning the greatest commandement S. Mat. 20.36 37 38 39 40. Taught the lawyer how to attain eternall life and to take every one for his neighbour that needeth his mercy by the parable of that poor traveller that fell among the thieves S. Luc. 10.36 37. and the courteous Samaritan who shewed mercy on him With many other divine doctrins scatteringly set down by the blessed Evangelists who as they professed to writ either annals or diaries so was it sufficient for them to enform the Church concerning his doctrines and miracles as the holy Ghost gave them to write though they observe not the same order of time place or occasion in all things which they wrote And it was at Hierusalem the feast of the dedication and it was winter therefore he departed not out of Hierusalem till after that feast S Joh. 10.22 The feast of dedication 1 King 8.63 There were three solemn dedications of the temple the first was the dedication of Solomons temple in the month of September The second was the dedication of Zorobabels temple in the month of February 2 Chron. 7.10 Ezr. 6.15 16. 1. Mac. 4.56 57. The third was the dedication of the temple repurged and the Altar repaired by Judas Machabaeus after that it had been profaned by Antiochus in the month of November decreed to be solemnly kept from year to year by the space of eight daies It appears also by Josephus that there was a fourth dedication of the temple built and enlarged by Herod solemnly kept upon the day of his inauguration to the kingdome which Herod observed during his life S. Joh. 10.23 Solomons porch to conduplicate the publick joy upon that day Lib. 15. cap. 14. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomons porch Solomons porch is also called Atrium mundorum the Court of the clean because none might enter into it but they only that were clean according to the law neither might any heathen man be permitted to come in thither And I read that upon certain pillars of marble which stood before the entry thereinto it was ingraven in the Hebrew Greek Latine and the Idumaean languages that if a stranger should presume to go in thither he should be put to death And that Herod also caused to be hanged over the eastern gate by which they came