vinegar put upon hyssope Joh. 19. 29. was given to our Saviour on the cross both examples declaring unto us that by the blood shedding and sharp sufferings of him that made himself of no account we should be delivered Thus God did guide the hearts and heads of all his enemies though ignorantly and maliicously to set forth the honour of his Son But David expresly doth by the name of Hyssope understand no other thing no not in ceremony but our Saviour Christ himself where he prayeth unto the Lord to purge him with hyssope Psa 51. 7. Purge me with hyssope and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter then snow As for washing liquid and thin substance is proper but no other water whatsoever hath the power to make clean and white bloody sins but the blood of the Lamb of God So much for these two Prodigious Diseases and their Significations Now I shall shew you Reader that some Remedies and Medicines have also been appointed by Almighty God to typifie things of great moment present and to come I could finde out some more of this nature but I hope to satisfie my Reader with two The First of these two Remedies so significative is the precious liquor or oyl of Balm whose plant grew not at first in Egypt and thence by the gift of the Queen Sheba unto Solomon transplanted into the land of Canaan as Josephus inconsiderately affirms For the Holy Scripture declareth the contrary where it first shews that the Ishmaelites transported from Gilead into Egypt Spicery Balm and Myrrhe Gen. 37. 25. which had not been done if the Balm tree had grown and yielded Balm in Egypt Again Balm is by Jacob to his Sons named among the best fruits of the land which he was minded to send as a present into Egypt Gen. 43. 11. And Pliny in his Naturall History Book 12. 25. acknowledgeth that tree to be peculiar to the land of Judea and therefore not elsewhere originally to be found I shall not follow much the praises which are given unto this excellent Oil of Balm by Pliny or other ancient heathen Writers as of the incomparable sweetnesse thereof to the smell above all other liquors nor touching the price thereof which Pliny avers to have been sold for twise the weight thereof in Silver Nor will it make much matter what particular diseases they say it was helpful against which is affirmed to have been very effectuall against the pain of the Head and Dimness of sight But in what God shall here enable me to speak thereof the Scripture shall be my guide and Experience The Scripture doth commend this liquor of Balm as an incomparable medicine taken according to the literall under the mystical sense thereof against diseases otherwise incurable and to be a taker away of pain Jer. 8. 22. Is there no Balm in Gâ—lead Is there no Physician there why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered And cha 46. 2. Go up into Gilead and take Balm O virgin the daughter of Egypt in vain shalt thou use many medicines for thou shalt not he cured Likewise Cha. 51. 8. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed howl for her take Balm for her pain if so be she may be healed These were the natural vertues of Balm but this was not the end and scope of the Prophet as if he would have the people of Judah in their spiritual disease of sin take and use a natural and outward Remedy pertaining to a Bodily Disease For what could natural Balm do in help to recover the miserable and deplorable estate of the Egyptians destined to destruction whose many Remedies mentioned were no other then sundry waies and means affaied to avoid ruine though they should have gone unto the mountain of Gilead and fetched Balm from thence where it grew Besides how could that medicinable oyl prevail to help the fall and destruction of the City of Babylon For it was not the sicknesse of the body under which the Babylonians laboured Wherefore observe that if we must not understand these things according to the Letter because the disease and pain is not to be taken literally it behoves us here to finde out what is meant by Disease and want of health and Pain which are of such a nature as that they can be taken away by Balm in what sense soever taken and by no other thing So doing we shall finde what I did at first affirm concerning natural Balm to be true I said before that sins were named diseases and that Afflictions and Punishments were called by the name of Diseases I shall yet farther prove it unto you Psa 41. 4. Heal my soul saith David for I have sinned and Ezek. 34. 4. The diseased have ye not strengthened neither have ye healed that which was sick neither have ye bound up that which was broken c. In which place the people are likened to a flock of sheep their sins of errours in Judgement and Life and Troubles in Conscience called by the names of Diseases Sickness and Breaking of Bones their Prophets and Teachers are named Shepherds as often in other places And when Christ healed men he forgave them their sins as healing of men is interpreted forgiving of sins for when our Saviour had made mention of the grosness of the peoples hearts the darknesse of the eyes of their mindes he concludes they were obstinate and refused to be healed Mat. 13. 14. and in the same history repeated by Mark cha 4. 12. this healing is called forgivenesse of sins That saith the Evangelist seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them The heathens themselves esteemed Vices Diseases and Maladies of the Soul Cicero in Tusculane Questions Book 3. hath these words At morbi perniciosiores pluresque sunt animi That is But for the Diseases of the minde they are more hurtful and of greater number meaning then those which are of the body Afflictions and Punishment are called by the name of Diseases when as Sorrow for sin even to despair is called broken bones Psa 51. 8. and the same by Solomon is named wounding of the Spirit Wherefore Sins Transgressions and Afflictions being the Diseases of these people the Jews Egyptians and Babylonians and the Remedy prescribed unto them all being Balm and Balm only what can hereby be signified but He that was the onely Fountain opened for sin and uncleannesse the only Medicine against these maladies He that healeth sickness both of Soul and body the precious blood of him called by David for his humility Hyssope for the medicinable quality of his blood Balm Which counsel in respect of the Times is thus to be applied When the Jews were without Natural Balm as now they are and fick and miserable as they also be and the Spiritual Egypt and Spirituall Babylon both which places typifie and
Lord was wont to send them Prophets in evil and sinful times Prophets so inspired with his Spirit that they knew infallibly and did shew unto that people most certainly what things both good and bad and how they should befal them that their oppressors and the wicked might not live secure nor the oppressed and righteous be discouraged But in a short time after our Saviours Ascension such Prophets which were thus miraculously instructed ceased to be among men By which difference of the times those from these it might at first seem either that God loves not the Christians so tenderly as formerly he did the children of Israel or at least that the Christians now adays have no need of such forewarnings as the children of Israel were wont to have Divine and miraculous premonitions were so usuall to them that they accounted it and complained of it as an affliction when they wanted them This appeareth true from the words of Asaph a man left in Judea when the rest were carried into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar complaining of the want of a Prophet and Signes which they were formerly accustomed unto to declare and foretell how long their captivity after the present destruction of the City and Temple was yet to last For thus he speaketh Psa 74. 9. We see not our Signes there is no more any Prophet neither is there among us any that knoweth how long Albeit Jeremiah the Prophet had formerly prophesied unto them of 70 years captivity and Daniel and Ezekiel were both now in Chaldea and did prophesie Whereby it appeareth as I said that Asaph was left in the land and that he speaketh of the remainder of the Jews which were left in the same place with him and lastly that this Psalm was written after the carrying away of Jeremiah into Egypt Concerning the difference of those old times before our Saviours coming from these although we should grant it true and we must grant it to be so in some kind touching Prophets yet is the Assumption false to conclude from thence That God loves not the Christians so tenderly as formerly he did the children of Israel for how little soever the Lord loveth any of his children he accounteth and nameth them his Jewels and is as tender of them as of the apple of his eye who spared not his onely and beloved Son but gave him to dye for the least of them all But this is an inestimably greater favour then to premonish and forewarn them of that which is to come a thing which he hath done even to his greatest enemy the devil though for a different end from that for which he forewarns his children letting him know his secret counsel touching Saul and his Sons For did not the Lord reveal unto Satan that Saul and his three sons should be slain even as it came to pass and the Spirit told Saul the day following 1 Sam. 27. 19. And while we consider that the Lord is unchangeable in his love For he is not a man that he should repent this cannot be the cause want of Gods love that Christians are without divining Prophets In the second place as little reason is there to say That we which are Christians have no need of forewarnings of our suffering nor of our deliverance As if the oppressions in Egypt were more than under the Pope and these not seven-fold greater then those as the burning in a fiery furnace or in fire than making and burning of brick by and in such a place or the thraldome of the body greater then of the soul or the length of the captivity under Pharaoh which lasted not in all two hundred and fifteen years more tedious then under Antichrist who began to reign above a thousand years agoe Whereupon neither of these two Causes being to be admitted want of love from the Lord toward his people and no need of Premonitions and likewise necessarily admitting and confessing it to be truth Fully illuminated and infallibly inspired Prophets have not been found and are not now to be expected much after our Saviours leaving the earth it behoveth us to enquire after the reason of this thing Of which by Gods grace I find there are Two Causes 1. Why we may not look for such Prophets in these times which are fully illuminated and infallible is the End and the consideration thereof for which such Prophets were sent by Almighty God for the information of his people which being accomplished and come and past that which points to that end is not necessary any longer Such Prophets were instituted to be forerunning Types and Figures of Christ thereby to signifie that there was a Prophet to come after them like unto themselves but greater who should fully and infallibly know the Lords mind and counsels For thus saith Moses of our Saviour who was to be exhibited in the flesh and making himself the Type of Christ Deut. 18. 15. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me unto him ye shall hearken In respect of whom some though not all of the Prophets had power at some not at all times to work certain Miracles and alluding to this it is said The Prophets were unto John 2. Prophets were more fully enlightned before our Saviours coming than in these times there can be found any for another cause even for their sakes to whom their Prophecies and Messages were sent that is because of the people The Prophets were sent principally to call men to repentance thus speaketh the Lord Jerem. 7. 25. Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the Prophets daily rising up early and sending them V. 26. Yet they hearkened not unto me nor inclined their ear but hardened their neck they did worse then their fathers The different condition of the people therefore is a second cause why the old Prophets were more enlightned and infallible then the Prophets or Preachers which now are for so are Preachers called by the Apostle Paul or necessarily are required to be In those old times the understanding of the people of Israel concerning God and heavenly things was very small witnesse the Apostles themselves who were conversant with Christ when Peter reproved our Saviour speaking of his suffering death telling his Master that this should not befall him that he should not dye Yea the Lord threatens his people blindeness of mind and stupidity of understanding greater then formerly they had by the mouth of Isaiah calling it fatness of heart for fat is insensible For which cause if the Prophets should not have shewn before their eyes great and wonderfull matters they would not have beleeved and if such Prophets had not also had extraordinary knowledge they would have wanted a guide if they had not also been indued with infallibility the people would certainly have fallen into errours And notwithstanding
Disease do pourtray unto us their cunning fraud combinations injustice cruelty with the rest of their eminent Sins In the Disease it self let us first consider the Pathognomik and most constant Signe and Symptome thereof which is the HEAD OVER-GREAT For the understanding whereof if we call to minde that in Holy Scripture a HEAD is a GOVERNOR or person chief in rule as where the Princes of the Tribes are stiled the Heads of the children of Israel Numb 13. 4. and when the Husband is named Head of the wife Eph. 5. 23. for Head in both Testaments is near seventy times set for the chief and for Rulers and that it is proper not only to the Hebrew but to the Greek and Latine nations and to our own language to call Magistrates and Rulers our Heads we will not I hope deny but that it is fitly enough exprest by the OVER-GREATNESS of the HEAD describing the OVER-GREATNESS of such men by assuming unto themselves and growing to so great POWER to have been the most certain and unremoveable cause of our late afflictions For much power is called great power where the Angels are stiled Greater in Power 2 Pet. 2. 11. By the Greatness of the head therefore is very aptly set out unto us the taking and gaining too-much power to have been the first and great cause of the misery which we have undergone from those which were set over us In the next place the SOBER GRAVITY of the FACE of such children comes to be examined and we may joyn thereunto the more then ordinary WIT and UNDERSTANDING found in such children far beyond what is found in others of that age This argues in what sense and signification head is to be taken that is in no other than as a HEAD of WISEDOME Counseil and GRAVITY this last being a discreet behaviour of a man such as may serve for the begetting of awe and reverence in inferiors that their governors be not despised and this is exprest in and mesnaged very much by the SADNESS of the COUNTENANCE Eccles 7. 5. Anger is better then laughter for by a sad look the heart is made better And whereas it is observed that the NOSES of such which are troubled with this Malady are UNPURGED remaining dry without distillation of Rheum which in other children abounds this is to let us understand that these our swelling heads which thus ruled over us although they seemed to cleanse themselves by removing Malignants which they named PURGING of the HOUSE again and again from sitting among them yet did not these Heads PURGE THEMSELVES from nor yet cast out from among them Malignity and Malignants but did notwithstanding retein in themselves their sins and vices such as least become a Court of Justice Oppression and Delay among many other less scandalous sins PURGING in the Scripture is casting away the FILTH of SIN 2 Tim. 2. 21. If any man saith Paul therefore purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honor From the Nose I come unto the TEETH which in such children become all ROTTEN and FALL out or else beyond the custome in other yong children they for a great space TOOTHE NOT. The Signification whereof that we may understand we are to consider that the TEETH are those Bones which God hath given unto us for grinding and CHEWING MEAT by which the body is nourished We likewise knowing that PREACHING of Gods word is termed FEEDING of Gods flock because thereby is administred unto the hearers FOOD for their SOULS for it keeps the soul by that profitable knowledge knowledge being hungred after by the soul as meat by the body from eternal death to everlasting life in feeding upon Christ by faith Well therefore may those PASTORS which prepare by breaking it after grinding in their mindes and hearts the Bread which came down from Heaven contained in the Holy Word be accounted and be typified by TEETH in which sense the same are to be understood Cant. 4. 2. Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn which come up from the washing which all of them bear twins and Chap. 6. 5. Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing whereof every one beareth twins and there is not one barren among them The TEETH of the CHILDE of GOD whereof the King is Head are the PREACHERS the ROTTEN TEETH are to be expounded such Ministers which being CORRUPT and UNSOUND in their LIVES DOCTRINE and FAITH unto all which the Holy Ghost in Scripture gives such names have been removed from the Church But NOT-TOOTHING and LATE-TOOTHING doth imply that SOUND PREACHERS which should painfully skilfully and uprightly prepare nourishment for the Body of Christ which is his Church should here in England be MUCH and LONG WANTING withdrawing and hiding themselves leaving the mouth empty as it were those places where they should be fixed as it hath proved most true also in the event because of unlawful oaths and engagements against their Sovereign to be laid upon them which with a good conscience they could not submit unto and for the like un just causes The ARM BONES of such children as labour of the REKETS turn CROOKED the Mystery whereof we shall finde by Scripture phrase ARMES in Gods Word noteth sundry times military Forces and ARMIES and this not without just reason in a fleshly arm men put their confidence and the strength thereof for by the strength of their arm they yield their sword for offence and defence The Armes of the wicked shall be broken saith David Psa 37. 17. and in armed men the strength multitude and valor of them Princes place their confidence In this sence Armes are to be taken where God speaking by his Propher and foretelling the destruction of the king of Egypts forces by the King of Babylons army nameth the forces and armies of them boâ—â— Armes Ezek. 30. 22. I will break his Pharaohs Arme and ver 24. And I will strengthen the arm of the King of Babylon Now let us search in the same place for the meaning of this word CROOKED Here we may finde that whensoever men once INTIRE and as it were STRAIGHT which figure in the limbs is the just and proper shape shall become by what means soever BOWED from their former STRAIGHTNESS and turn to be worse they are for this declining accounted and reputed CROOKED For which cause the Israelites are intitled a crooked generation Deut. 32. 5. and for the same cause the people of the Jews are by S. Paul who formerly had walked in the ways of the Lord uprightly which the Gentiles had not done meant where he saith Phil. 2. 15. In the midst of a naughty and crooked generation Hereby the Almighty and Just Lord by inflicting such CROOKED ARMES upon our children doth not only punish us mediately in the persons of them but would have us to be premonisht that by the Signe of CROOKED ARMES he was for our sins sending against us