according to that Domini est terra plenitudo ejus And Let no man appear before the Lord emptie Therefore as this sacrifice consisted of two parts as I told you of Praise and Prayer which in respect of the other I call sacrificium quod and of the commemoration of Christ crucified which I call sacrificium quo so the symbols of Bread and Wine traversed both being first presented as symbols of Praise and Thanksgiving to agnize God the Lord of the creature in the sacrificum quod Then by invocation of the Holy Ghost made the symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ in the sacrificium quo So that the whole service throughout consisted of a reasonable part and of a materiall part as of a Soul and a Body of which I shall speak more fully hereafter when I come to prove this I have said by the testimonies of the Ancients SECTION 2. ANd this is that Sacrifice which Malachi foretold the Gentiles should one day offer unto God In omni loco offeretur incensum Nomini meo Mincha purum quoniam magnum erit Nomen meum in Gentibus dicit Dominus exercituum Which words I am now according to the order I propounded to explicate and apply to my Definition Know therefore that the Prophet in the foregoing Words upbraids the Jews with despising and disesteeming their God forasmuch as they offered unto him for sacrifice not the best but the lame the torn and the sick as though he had not been the great King Creator and Lord of the whole World but some petty god and of an inferior rank for whom any thing were good enough If I be a Father where is mine honour If I be Dominus where is my fear saith the Lord of Hosts unto you O Priests that despise my name and ye say wherein have we despised it Ye offer polluted bread upon mine Altar and ye say Wherein have we polluted thee In that ye say The Table of the Lord is contemptible or not so much to be regarded that is you think so as appears by the basenesse of your offering For the Present shewes what esteem the giver hath of him he honoureth therewith But you offer that to me which ye would not think fit to offer to your Prorex or Governour under the King of Persia which shewes you have but a mean esteem of me in your hearts and that you beleeve not I am He that I am because you see me acknowledged of no other Nation but yours and that ye have been subdued by the Gentiles and brought into this miserable and despicable condition wherein you now are you imagine me to be some Topicall god and as of small jurisdiction so of little power But know that howsoever I now seem to be but the Lord of a poor Nation yet the days are coming When from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered to my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the Heathen saith the Lord of Hosts it follows though you have prophaned it in that ye say the Table of the Lord is contemptible whereas I am a great King and my Name shall be dreadfull among the Heathen This is the dependence and coherence of the words Now to apply them Incense as the Scripture it self tels notes the Prayers of the Saints It was also that wherewith the remembrance was made in the sacrifices or God put in minde Mincha which we turn Munus is oblatio farrea an offering made of meal or flower baked or fryed or dryed or parched corn We in our English when we make distinction call it a meat-offering but might call it a bread-offering of which the Libamen or the drink-offering being an indivisible concomitant both are implyed under the name Mincha where it alone is named The Application then is easie Incense here notes the rationall part of our Christian sacrifice which is Prayer Thanksgiving and Commemoration Mincha the materiall part thereof which is oblatio farrea or a present of Bread and Wine BUT this Mincha is characterised in the Text with an attribute not to be overpast Mincha purum in omni loco offeretur incensum nomini meo Mincha purum The meat-offering which the Gentiles should one day present the God of Israel with should be munus purum or as the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us learn if we can what this Purity is and wherein it consisteth or in what respect the Gentiles oblation is so styled Some of the Fathers take this Pure offering to be an offering that is purely or spiritually offered The old sacrifices both of the Jew and Gentile were offered modo corporali by slaughter fire and incense but this of Christians should be offered onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Iustin Martyr expresses it whence it is usually called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reasonable and unbloody sacrifice namely of the manner of offering it Not that there was no materiall thing used therein as some mistake for we know there was Bread and Wine but because it is offered unto God immaterially or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely which the Fathers in the first Councell of Nice call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be sacrificed without sacrificing rites This sense of Pure sacrifice is followed by Tertullian as may appear by his words ad Scapulam where speaking of the Christian Liturgie Sacrificamus saith he pro Imperatore sed quomodo praecepit Deus pura prece Non enim eget Deus Conditor Vniversitatis odoris aut sanguinis alicujus Also in his third Book against Marcion cap. 22. In omni loco offertur incensum Nomini meo sacrificium mundum that is saith he gloriae relatio benedictio hymni which he presently cals munditias sacrificiorum The same way go some others But this sense though it fitly serves to difference our Christian sacrifice from the old sacrifices of the Jews and Gentiles and the thing it self be most true yet I cannot see how it can agree with the context of our Prophet where the word Incense though I confesse mystically understood is expressed together with Munus purum For it would make the literall sense of our Prophet to be this In every place Incense is offered to my Name and an offering without Incense And yet this would be the literall meaning if Pure here signified without Incense Let us hear therefore a second Interpretation of this Puritie of the Christian Mincha more agreeable to the dependence of the words and that is a conscientia offerentis from the disposition and affection of the offerer according to that of the Apostle Tit. 1. 15. To the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbeleeving is nothing pure but even their minde and conscience is defiled They professe they know God but in their works
never cease from having a King or being a Kingdom but that it should not cease from being a State a body Politick or Common-wealth having a power of Government and Jurisdiction within it self untill Messiah came wherefore the Septuagint here for Sceptrum or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For it is certain that Iudah was so far from being a continued Kingdom untill Messiah should come that there was no Kingly Royalty in that Tribe for more then two third parts of that time namely not till David nor after Zedekiah saving that of the Maccabees who were Levites and of Herod by originall an Edomite which both put together will not make fourscore years yet were they never without some Ruler or Rulers of their own at that time The next word I consider is Law giver which will not be hard to understand if we mark well what is implied by Scepter for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word here translated Law giver signifies not onely a maker of Laws but qui jus dicit he that exerciseth Jurisdiction and so differs not much from the former if they be not altogether Synonyma As for the phrase from between his feet it means nothing else but of his posterity For so the Scripture modestly expresseth the place of generation as it doth also by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Femur or Crus For where we reade in the 26. of this Book of Genesis and again in the first of Exodus All the souls that came out of the loins of Iacob were seventy souls in the Hebrew it is all the souls that came out of his thigh whence by the way you may observe the occasion of that Fable that Bacchus or Dionysius was born ex femore Iovis which according to the Orientall expression whence that whole story of Bacchus came implied no more then that he was Iupiters son but the Greeks not understanding the meaning converted it unto that Fable which you all know Now for the word Shiloh if we derive it as I think we should it will signifie a Peace-maker or Saviour of the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Tranquillus Pacificus or Salvus fuit And if the Masorites had so pleas'd they might have pointed it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was the name of the eldest son of Iudah that survived and in the Hebrew Etymology can signifie nothing else but Peaceable or Peace-maker And whether the Patriarch Iacob or the Holy Ghost directing him might not chuse this name before any other to designe Messiah in this Prophecy in respect of the allusion it had to one of Iudahs sons I will not affirm but leave to your better consideration Others following the Jewish Rabbies go farther about to bring the word Shiloh to signifie Filius ejus that is Iudahs construing the Prophesie thus The scepter shall not depart from Iudah till his son namely Messiah come For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they will have put for the affix Vau as sometimes it is elsewhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secundina that wherein the infant is wrapped in the womb and so by a Metonymie to signifie here the Childe it self In a word they will have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secundina ejus and that to mean Filius ejus But this me thinks is somewhat too ambagious and therefore lesse probable but let every one follow his own judgement And now I am come to the Application to shew at what point of time this prediction was fulfilled To make the way plain whereunto I must first alter a little the construction of the remaining words namely And unto him shall the gathering of the People or the Nations be For here the word shall be or shall is not in the Hebrew but added in translating and so may be left out the words in the originall being onely Et ei aggregatio or obedientia populorum I construe therefore the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Vntill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as common to this with the former sentence namely thus The Scepter shall not depart from Iudah c. untill Shiloh come and the gathering of the people be to him that is Untill Messiah come and the People or Nations be gathered unto him the Scepter shall not depart Where note that two things are specified to come to passe before the Scepter departs from Iudah or Iudah ceases from being a Common-wealth First the comming of Christ or Shiloh into the world Secondly the gathering of the Nations or Gentiles unto him For I construe the word Vntill as I told you as common to both sentences Vntill Shiloh come and untill the Nations be gathered unto him And now me thinks your thoughts might almost prevent me in designing the time when this prediction was fulfilled namely neither when the Jews came first under the Roman subjection for then Shiloh was not yet come nor under Herod or as some will seven years after him when his son Archelaus being banished Judaea was reduced into a Province For though Christ was then born to wit in the end of Herods reign yet were not the Nations or Gentiles yet gathered unto him But at the destruction of the Jewish State by Titus when both these things were come to passe Christ being come and the Gentiles converted unto his obedience then did the Scepter depart from Judah and they cease from being any more a Common-wealth That this is the true application of this prediction besides the evidence of the event appears by our Saviours Prophesie of this destruction of the Jewish State in the Gospel of S. Mat where after he had named some other things to precede it he addes this for the last signe And this Gospel of the Kingdom saith he shall be preached in all the world for a witnesse unto all Nations and then shall the end come that is the end of the Jewish State when the Gentiles by the preaching of the Apostles should be gathered unto Christ then should the Jewish Church and Common-wealth be utterly dissolved which till then had continued united under some Polity and form of Government from its first beginning For so it pleased the wisdom of Almighty God when he would reject the Iews not to dissolve their State till he had erected him a new among the Gentiles PSALM 8. 2. Out of the Mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest quell the Enemy and the Avenger THese words are alledged by our blessed Saviour Matth. 21. 16. and three more of the verses following this by S. Paul to prove that Christ must raign till he had subdued all his enemies under his feet As Heb. 2. 4. What is man that thou art mindefull of him or the son of man that thou visitest him 5. For thou hast made him
water of Baptism in the New Testament but to the rite and manner of sacrificing in the Old where the Altar was wont to be sprinkled with the blood of the Sacrifices which were offered and that which was unclean purified with the same blood whence is that elegant discourse of Saint Paul Heb. 9. comparing the sacrifices of the Law with that of Christ upon the Crosse as much the better And that whereas in the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Almost all things were purified with blood so much more the blood of Christ who offered himself without spot to God cleanseth our consciences from dead works But that this washing that is cleansing by the blood of Christ should have reference to Baptism where is that to be found I suppose they will not alledge the water and blood which came out of our Saviours side when they pierced him For that is taken to signifie the two Sacraments ordained by Christ that of blood the Eucharist of water Baptism not both to be referred to Baptism I add because perhaps some mens fancies are corrupted therwith that there was no such thing as sprinkling or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in Baptism in the Apostles times nor many ages after them and that therefore it is no way probable that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Peter should have any reference to the Laver of Baptism Let this then be our conclusion That the blood of Christ concurres in the mystery of Baptism by way of efficacy and merit but not as the thing there figured which the Scripture tels us not to be the blood of Christ but the Spirit And so I come to my other Quaere From what property or use of water the washing therewith is a Sacrament of our new birth for so it is here called the washing of regeneration and our Saviour sayes to Nicodemus Except a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God For in every Sacrament there is some analogy between what is outwardly done and what is thereby signified therefore in this But what should it be It is a thing of some moment and yet in the tractates of this mystery but little or seldom enquired after and therefore deserves the more consideration I answer this analogy between the washing with water and regeneration lies in that custome of washing infants from the pollutions of the womb when they are first born for this is the first office done unto them when they come out of the womb if they purpose to nourish and bring them up As therefore in our naturall birth the body is washt with water from the pollutions wherewith it comes besmeared out of the matrix so in our second birth from above the soul is purified by the Spirit from the guilt and pollution of sin to begin a new life to God-ward The analogy you see is apt and proper if that be true of the custome whereof there is no cause to make question For the use at present any man I think knows how to inform himself For that of elder times I can produce two pregnant and notable testimonies one of the Jews and people of God another of the Gentiles The first you shall finde Ezek. 16. where God describes the poor and forlorn condition of Jerusalem when he first took her to himself under the parable of an exposed Infant As for thy nativity saith he in the day thou wast born thy navell was not cut neither was thou washed in water to supple thee thou wast not salted at all nor swadled at all None eye pitied thee to do any of these things unto thee to have compassion on thee but thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born Here you may learn what was wont to be done unto infants at their nativity by that which was not done to Israel till God himself took pity on her cutting off the navell string washing salting swadling upon this place S. Hierome takes notice but scarce any body else that I can yet finde that our Saviour where speaking of Baptism he says Except a man be born of water the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God alludes to the custom here mentioned of washing Infants at their nativity The other testimony and that most pertinent to the application we make I finde in a story related by Plutarch in his Quaestiones Romanae not far from the beginning in this manner Among the Greeks if one that were living were reported to be dead and funerall obsequies performed for him if afterward he returned alive he was of all men abominated as a pro phane and unlucky person no man would come into his company and which was the highest degree of calamity they excluded him from their Temples and the Sacrifices of their gods It chanced that one Aristinus being faln into such a disaster not knowing which way to expiate himself therefrom sent to the Oracle at Delphos to Apollo beseeching him to shew him the means whereby he might be freed and discharged thereof Pythia gave him this answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arastinus rightly apprehending what the Oracle meant offered himself to women as one newly brought forth to be washed again with water from which example it grew a custome among the Greeks when the like misfortune befell any man after this manner to expiate them they called them Hysteropâ—tmi or Postliminiâ—nati How well doth this befit the mystery of Baptism where those who were dead to God through sin are like Hysteropotmi regenerate and born again by water and the Holy Ghost These two passages discover sufficiently the analogy of the washing with water in Baptism to regeneration or new birth according as the Text I have chosen for the scope of my discourse expresseth it namely that washing with water is a signe of spirituall infancy for as much as infants are wont to be washed when they come first into the world Hence the Jews before Iohn the Baptist came amongst them were wont by this rite to initiate such as they made Proselytes to wit as becomming infants again and entring into a new life and being which before they had not That which here I have affirmed will be yet more evident if we consider those other rites anciently added and used in the celebration of this mystery which had the self-same end we speak of namely to signifie spirituall Infancy I will name them and so conclude As that of giving the new baptized milk and honey ad infantandum as Tertullian speaks ad infantie significationem so S. Hierome because the like was used to infants new born according to that in the seventh of Isay of Immanuels infancy A Virgin shall conceive and bear a son butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse evill and chuse good Secondly that of salt as is implied in that
the exercise of devotion as the poor and mean rather then the rich and full Wherefore Agur desired of God not to give him more then food convenient for him lest being full he should deny him and say Who is the Lord Such likewise is the state of adversity and affliction whence it is that God useth this discipline of his corrections and judgements to make us crouch and bow down unto him when he seeth us ready to forget him Whence David Psal. 94. 12. pronounceth the man blessed whom the Lord chastiseth and Psal. 119. ver 67 71. Before I was afflicted saith he I went astray but now I have kept thy word It is good for me that I have been afflicted For diseases say the Physitians must be cured by contraries It was pride that caused the disloialty and rebellion both of men and Angels against their God and Maker Whence it is that Syracides saith Ecclus. 10. 12. The beginning of pride is when one departeth from God and his heart is turned away from his Maker 13. For pride is the beginning of sin and he that hath it shall pour out abomination If pride be the beginning of our rebellion against God then must lowlinesse be the proper disposition of those who fear and worship him And so Tanto quisque est vilior Deo quanto est pretiosior sibi Now then to return to our Argument of Fasting we may observe beside the ceremony specified in my Text that all other Rites or Ceremonies used by the Ancients in this solemne devotion or yet continued by us imply nothing else but lowlinesse and humility partly to work and beget it partly to expresse and signifie it They are reducible to three heads 1. of habit 2. of gesture 3. of diet For habit it was anciently sackcloth and ashes by the coursenesse of the sackcloth they ranked themselves as it were amongst the meanest and lowest condition of men by ashes and sometimes earth upon their heads they made themselves lower then the lowest of the creatures of God For the lowest of the elements is the earth then which we use to say a man cannot fall lower Qui jacet in terra non habet unde cadat For gesture they sate or lay upon the ground which in the Primitive Church was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 humicubatio a naturall ceremony both to expresse and ingenerate or encrease this disposition of lowlinesse and abjection of our selves and as frequently practised by our devout Fore-fathers as it is seldome or never used amongst us It were a thing most comely and undoubtedly most profitable if either these ceremonies or some other answerable to them were revived amongst us at such times as these If we were all of us this day attired if not in sackcloth which perhaps sutes not so well with the custome of our Nation yet in the dolefullest habit of mourners if we lay all groveling upon the ground would not such a rufull spectacle would not the very sight of so uncouth an assembly much afflict and move us The mournfull hue of Funerall solemnities we know by experience will often make them to weep who otherwise have no particular cause of sorrow how much more when they have But the principall ceremony and which we still retain is abstinence from meat and drink whence this kinde of supplication hath the name of Fasting the end thereof being as to bring down our bodies thereby the better to humble our souls so to expresse and testifie the same Mores animi sequuntur temper amentum corporis If the body be full and lusty the minde will be lofty and refractory and most unfit and uncomposed to approach the Divine Majesty with reverence and fear How uncomposed is that heart to sue to God for mercy and aversion of his judgements which is fraught with rebellious unclean and lustfull thoughts like so many dogges barking within it But these are all ingendred and cherished by full feeding and cannot be easily quelled unlesse they be starved When I fed Israel to the full saith the Lord Ier. 5. 7 8. then they committed adultery and assembled by troups in harlots houses c. Ieshurun saith Moses in his Propheticall song Deut. 32. 15. waxed fat and kicked and forsook the Lord that made him and lightly esteemed of the Rock of his salvation Wherefore S. Paul was fain to pinch his body and bring it down with Fasting I keep under my body saith he 1 Cor. 9. ult and bring it into subjection lâ—st that by any means when I have preached unto others I my self should be a cast-away Hilarion a religious young man when after much abstinence and course diet he felt his flesh still unruly and rebellious Ego inquit Aselle faciam ut non Calcitres nec te hordeo aâ—am sed paleis Fame siti te conficiam such is the danger of a pampered body and such the necessity of keeping it under But as Fasting is a Physicall means if it be used to purpose to take down the loftinesse of our minds and affections by subtracting the fuell and foment of our lusts which is full feeding so is it a ceremony chosen for that naturall effect it hath to signifie and testifie that by reflection upon our vilenesse and unworthinesse we strike the sail of our high flying affections and humble our selves before the Majesty of Almighty God upon such occasions as these For as we use feasting not only to beget but also to expresse and testifie our erection and chearfulnesse of heart in times of joyfulnesse whence in the Old Testament to rejoyce before the Lord is put for to feast before him So is fasting when we would intend our devotions used not only as a means to further but also as a ceremony whereby we testifie our sorrowfull dejection and humiliation of minde before God Well then you see what is the chief end we are to aim at in this our solemne abstinence namely to take down our proud hearts and bring them to a state of lowlinesse and humility a disposition so acceptable and prevailing with God to check our high-mounting passions and allay the smoaking flames of our unruly lusts which as it is at all times requisite in some measure whensoever we approach the Majesty of God to sue for mercy and forgivenesse so then especially and in a more then usuall manner when God shakes the rod of his judgements over our heads and biddeth us down and prostrate both soul and body before him lest his wrath break us in pieces if we will not bow He that hath attained this hath fasted well he that hath not may hereby know he hath not done enough or not as he should do If the boiling of our lusts be cooled and calmed if the swelling conceits of worth in our selves be taken down with a true and feeling apprehension of our vilenesse and wretchednesse through sin which maketh us the most unworthy creatures in the world if those ramping weeds of contempt and
stature of mankind was diminished after the stood in a manner throughout the world and for many ages yet was there by Gods disposition still a race of Giants left even till the time of David for a monument and witnesse of the truth of a far bigger stature in former times which else could not so easily have been beleeved or imagined Such were the Zanzummims in Abrahams time the sons of Anak in Moses and Goliah in the time of David and it may be there are yet some in some part of the world to be found So I say as these seem to have been preserved by God as a memoriall unto men that they were not now as at the first so it may be it was the will of God and is amongst so many kinds of Serpents to preserve this one that it should not as the rest go groveling upon the earth but might be as a monument of the truth of the malediction of the rest to all posterity Thus much of the possibility which would be far greater if we should with S. Basil Ephrem Bar Cephas and many others affirm that the Serpent had feet namely some short ones beneath the navell for feet are not essentiall to the nature of a thing as appears by the lame who can live without them and by others sometimes by the defect of nature born without them And those who can beleeve the wonderfull change of man by his fall of an immortall creature to become mortall of one to have been born with all glorious endowments both of body and soul now to be brought into the world the most unfurnished of the creatures Those who beleeve the great alteration of the earth it self when it was accursed for mans sin the diminution of the time of mans life and of his stature even since the flood Can any who believe these things think it so incredible for the Serpent once to have had some small feet and afterward to have had none being a creature wherein God intended to leave a monument for ever But of this I will determine nothing neither doth my assertion simply depend upon it but may well enough consist without it But because possibility is not sufficient of it self alone to infer a probability I have therefore one thing to adde more thereto namely the reason and cause even in nature supposing still Gods abasing of the Serpents first creation of this alteration of the posture of the Serpents gate from that it was at the beginning First we know the more excellent and sublime the nature of a creature is the more it raiseth it self upward the more ignoble and baser the more it fals downward This we see in the elements themselves the fire the most excellent and operative of the four raiseth it self above the rest The earth the basest and most unactive of all is also of all the most dejected Secondly as there is this difference in the elements so there is in the mixed bodies some consisting of a more sublime and excellent temper others of a more base and ignoble mixture and that as in other so amongst such creatures as live and move upon the earth Thirdly this their noblenesse within discovereth it self in the body without by advancing them naturally in their gate and gesture whence man being of all creatures living upon the earth of the most excellent temper and sublimed condition of nature is therefore of all other the most advanced in body Pronáque cum spectant animalia caetera terram Os homini sublime dedit c. Yea experience will tell us that even amongst men themselves those who are of a more exalted nature either by heroick temper or predominancy of heat are also more advanced in the posture of their bodies Among beasts themselves the basest is the most creeping the noble Lion advanceth his head and brest so far as the frame of his body is thereof capable and so the rest and of all creatures we may observe besides that such creatures have the most sagacity who come most near to walk upright as a man doth If therefore the Serpent were of so sublime a nature at the first as thereby it was more subtle then any beast of the field which God had made how could so excellent a temper the ground of so much sagacity but advance the body thereof as far as the frame and shape thereof could admit On the contrary if afterward the Serpent became the most abased and accursed of all the beasts of the field how should not this alteration of his former temper and disposition of nature make the gesture of his body also sutable by stooping and groveling upon the earth Who knows not that the naturall position of man is erected agreeable to his excellency above other creatures having life and motion and yet notwithstanding so much hath the dejection of his primitive nature for sin weakned in him this propension that were it not for education it is supposed yea and by experience confirmed that he would walk upon all four like a beast And shall we wonder that the malediction of the Serpent exceeding that of mans should produce as much as this So then to conclude this first particular of the Serpents curse I understand it from the ground aforesaid as insinuating the cause by the outward and sensible effect according to the manner of the Scripture namely the abasement and fall of the Serpents whole nature from his primitive perfection discovered by the fall of his once advanced body thenceforth to go groveling upon the earth Even as the despoiling of the nature of man of the inward indowments of perfection is by the same sacred trope insinuated by his outward nakednesse that is the obsruration of that glorious and celestiall beauty which he had before his sin The difference whereof was so great that he could not endure afterward to behold himself any more but sought for a covering even to hide himself from himself And now I come to the second particular Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life The coursest diet that any living creature hath allowed him None of the beasts of the field with whom he is compared are thus poorly provided for nay not any other unlesse the base earthworm not worthy to be named among the creatures Even with this vilest of creatures is now ranked that once so noble a creature the Serpent Which yet is not so to be understood as though the Serpent did not sometime eat something else for they sometime devour birds frogs and such like but that this is the ordinary fare which God hath provided him and if at any time he getteth any other he goeth beyond his limits Whence Esay 65. among the blessings of the new Jerusalem this is reckoned for one That the Serpent should eat dust that is be made contented with the diet God had appointed him and not to encroach upon the food appointed for others But why did God appoint him this food I answer
darknesse in this world against spirituall wickednesse in high places Thus then having seen the marshalling of these two Armies which are at so deadly an enmity let us at last see the successe of their skirmishes and of the stratagems which they practise one against the other these are described on the Devils part very terrible that his head should be mauled But on Christs side the losse should be very small the Devil prevailing but to the wounding or bruising of his heel But what is this Head of the Serpent and what the Heel of the womans seed Those who understand the seed of the woman singularly of the person of Christ only make his head to be the Godhead against which the Serpent could prevail nothing but his heel to be the manhood which the Serpent so bruised at his Passion that the grave became his bed for three days together This indeed is true and no marvell for the head is as it were the whole bodies epitome But we who have expounded the seed of the woman collectively of Christ and his Members must also in this mysticall body find a mysticall head and a mysticall heel and so in like manner for the Serpent and his seed The Head therefore or if you had rather Headship is nothing else but Soveraignty The Serpents head is the Devils Soveraignty which is called â—rincipatus mortis the Soveraignty of death namely both objectivè and effectivè that is such a Soveraignty as under which are only such as are liable to death both temporall and eternall and such a Soveraignty whose power consists not in saving and giving of life but in destroying and bringeth unto death both of body and soul. Under the name also of death understand as the Scripture doth all other miseries of mankind which are the companions of this double death I speak of This is that damnable head of the Serpent the Devillish Soveraignty of Satan Now the Sword whereby this Soveraignty was obtained the Scepter whereby it is maintained or as S. Paul speaks the sting of this Serpents head is Sin This is that which got him this Kingdome at the first and this is still the right whereby he holds the greatest part thereof Imporium iisdem artibus conservatur quibus acquiritur This Soveraignty of the Devil which once overwhelmed nigh all the world the womans seed should break in pieces and destroy which according to this Prophecy we see already performed in a great measure and the grounds laid long ago for the destruction of all that remaineth As saith S. Iohn Ep. 1. c. 3. v. 8. The Son of God is revealed for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the Devil And Christ himself said that the time was come that the Prince of this world should be cast out and bade his Disciples be of good chear for he had overcome the world If you would see what a wonderfull victory he hath long ago gotten of the Serpent when after a terrible battell he overcame and destroid the Soveraignty of the Serpent in the Romane Empire see it described in the 12. of the Revelation where a Michael that is Christ and his Angels fought against the great Dragon and his Angels till the Dragon with all his Army was discomfited and their place found no more in heaven that is he utterly lost his Soveraignty in that state whence there was a voice in heaven Now is come salvation strength and the Kingdome of our God and the power of his Christ. And what he will at the length do with the remainder yet of the Devils Soveraignty you may finde in the 19. and 20 of the Revelation For he must reign as S. Paul saith untill he hath put all his enemies under his feet untill he hath destroyed all power rule and authority adverse unto him And then last of all destroying death by giving immortality to our raised bodies shall surrender up his Kingdome unto his Father as it is 1 Cor. 15. But Satan saith my Text shall prevail something against him for the Serpent shall bruise his heel What is this heel Those who understood the seed of the woman singularly as I told you made it Christs Manhood But how we expound the seed Christs mysticall body what shall we make the heel thereof I could say that by it were only meant a light wound or the Devils assaulting the Body of Christ ex insidiis at unawares for that is his fashion since the great overthrow which our Michael gave him to work his feats underhand and to undermine our Lord in his members But this though true is not full enough It may seem therefore the fittest to make hypocriticall Christians who professe Christ outwardly but inwardly are not his to make those the heel of his mysticall body for against such the Devil we know prevaileth somewhat and by them annoyeth the rest of the Body with his venome though he be far enough yet from impeaching our Lords Headship and Soveraignty But will you give me leave to utter another conceit If the blessed souls in heaven be the upper part of Christs mysticall Body the Saints on earth the lower part of the same may not the bodies of the Saints deceased which lye in the earth be accounted for the heel for I cannot beleeve but they have relation to this mysticall Body though their souls be severed from them and yet must that relation be as of the lowest and most postick members of all If you will admit this then it will appear presently what was this hurt upon the heel when Christ had once mauled the Devils head for the Text seems to intimate that the Devil should give this wound after his head was broken I will hold you in suspence no longer read the 13. of the Revelation and see what follows upon Michaels Victory over the Dragon what the Devil did when he was down He forms a new instrument of the wounded Roman Empire by whose means under a pretence of the honour given to the precious reliques of the Saints and Martyrs he conveyed the poison of Saint-worship and Saint-invocation into the Kingdome of Christ with which wound of the heel the Devil comming on the blinde side the true Church had been long annoyed and limpeth still THE Christian Sacrifice OR The Solemne VVorship in the EVCHARIST Foretold by the Prophet Malachi Taught by our blessed SAVIOUR AND Practised by the Primitive CHVRCH BY JOSEPH MEDE B. D. and late Fellow of Christs Colledge in CAMBRIDGE LONDON Printed by M. F. for JOHN CLARK and are to be sold at his Shop under S. Peters Church in Cornhill MDC XLVIII THE Christian Sacrifice MALACHI 1. 11. Abortu solis usque ad occasum magnum erit nomen meum in Gentibus in omni loco offeretur Incensum Nomini meo Munus purum quia magnum erit nomen meum in gentibus dicit Dominus exercituum THIS place of Scripture howsoever now in a manner silenced and forgotten was once and
solas perfectas esse Deo charas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipse quoque affirmaverim Has verò solas facere Christiani traditione acceperunt If you ask where and how he tels you Nempe in commemoratione Alimoniae suae aridae juxtà liquide in qua passionis quam per seipsum pertulit Dei filius memoria celebratur It is a description of the Eucharist wherein as I have already told you the Bread and Wine were first presented unto God as the Primitiae to agnize him the Giver of our food both dry and liquid and then consecrated to be the Symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ. My next Author shall be Tertullian ad Scap. in the place before alledged Sacrificamus saith he pro salute Imperatoris sed quomodo praecepit Deus purâ prece Non enim eget Deus Conditor Vniversitatis odoris sanguinis alicujus Haec enim Daemoniorum pabula sunt The Gentiles so thought that their Gods were refreshed and nourisht with the smell and savour of their Sacrifices Besides in his third Book contra Marcionem cap. 22. In omni loco sacrificium nomini meo offertur sacrificium mundum to wit saith he Gloriâ— relatio benedictio hymni And Lib. 4. ca 1. Sacrificium mundum scilicet simplex oratio de conscientia pura Thirdly Clemens Alexandrinus Lib. 7. Stromat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We Christians honour God by Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this we send up unto him as the best and holiest sacrifice honouring him by that most sacred Word whereby we receive knowledge that is by Christ. Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sacrifice of the Church is an oration exhaled from sanctified souls He speaks not of the private Prayer of every Christian but the publick Prayer of the Church as a Body as will be evident to him that reads the place and appears by the words quoted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sacrifice of the Church and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exhaled not from a sanctified soul but from sanctified souls For to private prayer was not given this title of the Christian Sacrifice but unto the publick which the Church offered unto God when She presented her self before him as one Body in Christ by the mysticall communion of his Body and Blood This my next Author Cyprian will make plain in his 16 Epist. ad Mosen Maximum Nos quidem saith he vestri diobus noctibus memores quando in sacrificiis precem cum pluribus facimus cum in secessu privatis precibus oramus where we see the sacrifice of prayer to be cum precem cum pluribus facimus and distinguisht from that we do cum in seâ—essu privatis precibus oramus These Authorities are all within the first three hundred years to which I will adde one of the fourth Optatus Milevitanus Lib. 6. contra Parmenianum where he thus expostulates with the Donatists for breaking and defacing the Altars of the Catholicks Quid est enim tam sacrilegum saith he quam Altaria Dei in quibus vos aliquando obtulistis frangere radere removere in quibus Vota opuli membra Christi portata sunt quo Deus omnipotâ—ns invocatus sit Gather hence what parts the Christian Sacrifice consisted of Vota populi are the Prayers of the Church Membra Christi the Body and Blood of Christ which the Prayers were offered with both of them upon the Altar For it is worthy your notice that the ancient Church had no other place whereat she offered her publick Prayers and Orizons but that whereon the memory of the Body and Blood of Christ was celebrated that as they were joyned in their Use so might they not be severed in their Place According to which use and agreeable to this passage of Optatus speaks the Councell of Rhemes commanding the Table of Christ to be reverenced and honoured Quia Corpus Domini â—bi consecratur sanguis ejus hauritur Preces quoque Vota populi in conspectu Dei à Sacerdote offeruntur Furthermore that the Christian Sacrifice was an Oblation of Prayer and consisted in Invocation is also another way to be evinc'd Namely because the Fathers when they speak thereof use the terms of Prayer Oblation and Sacrifice promiscuously and interchangeably one for the other as words importing the same thing Tertullian Exhort ad Cast. disswading a Widower from marrying again because it would be uncomely in the Sacrifice of the Church to make mention as the manner then was of more Wives then one speaks thus Etiam repete apud Deum pro cujus spiritu postules pro qua oblationes annuas reddas stabis ergo ad Deum cum tot uxoribus quot illas oratione commemoras offerres pro duabus commemorabis illas duas per Sacerdotem de monogamia ob pristinum de virginitate sancitum circundatum virginibus univiris ascendet sacrificium tuum cum libera fronte Here postulatio and oblatio oratio and offerre oratio and sacrificium are interchangeably put one for the other So also in his Book De Oratione are Oratio and Sacrificium where he speaks of the kisse of Peace and Reconcilement used at the Eucharist Quae oratio saith he cum divortio sancti osculi integra quale sacrificium à quo sine pace receditur Augustine De Civit. Dei Lib. 8. cap. 27. speaking of the honour of Martyrs Nec Martyribus saith he sacrificia constituimus quis audivit aliquando fidelem stantem ad Altare etiam super sanctum corpus Martyris ad Dei honorem cultúmque constructum dicere in Precibus Offero tibi sacrificium Petre vel Paule c. Here Sacrificium is expounded by Preces and Preces put for Sacrificium And Lib. 22. cap. 8. concerning one Hesperius a man of quality in the City whereof Austin was Bishop who by the affliction of his cattell and servants perceiving his Country-Grange liable to some malignant power of evil spirits Rogavit nostros saith S. Austin me absente Presbyteros ut aliquis corum illò pergeret cujus orationibus cederent Perrexit unus obtulit ibi sacrificium corporis Christi orans quantum potuit ut cessaret illa vexatio Deo protinùs miserante cessavit The Priest was intreated to pray there he went and offered sacrifice and so prayed For this reason the Christian Sacrifice is among the Fathers by way of distinction called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrificium laudis that is of Confession and Invocation of God to difference it from those of Blood and Incense Augustine Lib. 1. contra Adversarios Legis Prophetarum cap. 20. Ecclesia immolat in corpore Christi sacrificium laudis ex quo Deus Deorum lâ—cutus vocavit terram à solis ortu usque ad occasum Again Epist. 86. Sacrificium laudis ab Ecclesia toto orbe diffusa diebus omnibus immolatur and elsewhere And amongst the Greek Fathers this term is so