sin The sin of a Prince greater then the sin of a vulgar person and therefore in the Law there was a greater Sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the Prince and Priest then of the people The third circumstance aggravating his sin was the easinesse of the commandment and the easinesse man had to keep the same both in regard of himself whom no itching concupiscence urged as being altogether free therefrom and not as we his off-spring are continually vexed with the boiling thereof Secondly in regard of the thing it self he was to abstain from being onely one fruit in so great a liberty of all the garden besides How easily might he have abstain'd from one to whom God had given the use of all saving this one he wanted not to feed him he wanted no variety of food he had even enough to surfet on only to approve his obedience to Him who had given all the rest unto him he was to abstain from one and yet he would not Quanta fait saith S. Aug. iniquitas in peccando ubi tanta erat non peccandi facilitas The fourth circumstance aggravating this sin was the place which was Paradise as it were in Gods own presence even afore his face for as heaven above other parts of the world is the place of Gods speciall presence so was Paradise above other parts of the earth as it were an heaven upon earth the place wherein he singularly revealed himself and therefore an holy place and the Temple of God Do not men otherwise giving the loose rein to wickednesse yet abhorre to commit it in Gods Temple How impudently contumelious was this sin therefore which was committed in Gods very Presence-chamber All these aggravations are common to both our Parents which all laid together makes their sin as great as ever any was saving the sin against the holy Ghost for so the best Divines do think But Eve addes one aggravation more to her weight in that she was not content to sin her self alone but she allured and drew her husband also into the like horrible transgression with her whereby she was not only guilty of her own personall sin but of her husbands also And this added so much unto her former summe that S. Paul 1 Tim. 2. 14. speaks of her as if she had been the only transgressour Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression So great and horrible a thing it is in the Eye of God to be cause or mover of anothers sin woe be unto them who by any means are the cause of anothers fall And justly might God say to Eve for this respect though there had been no more What is this that thou hast done Now I come to the womans excuse The Serpent beguiled me In which words are three things considerable The author the Serpent The action Guile The object Me. Concerning the author the Serpent two things are inquirable first what the Serpent was indeed secondly what Eve supposed him to be For the first I think none so unreasonable as to beleeve it was the unreasonable and brute Serpent for whence should he learn or how should he understand Gods commandment to our first Parents Or how is it possible a Serpent should speak and not only so but speak the language which Eve understood For though some there be who think that beasts and birds have some speech-like utterings of themselves yet none that a beast should speak the language of man It remains therefore that according unto the Scriptures it was that old deceiver the Devil and Satan who abused the brute Serpent either by entring into him or taking his shape upon him The last of which I rather incline unto supposing it as you shall hear presently to be the law of spirits when they have intercourse or commerce with men to take some visible shape upon them as the Devil here the Serpents whence he becomes styled in Scripture The old Serpent Now for the second question what Eve took him to be whether the Serpent or Satan If we say she thought him to be the brute Serpent how will this stand with the perfection of mans knowledge in his integrity to think a Serpent could speak like a reasonable creature who would not judge her a silly woman now that should think so and yet the wisest of us all is far short of Eve in regard of her knowledge then Again if we say she knew him to be the Devil I will not ask why she would converse at all with a wicked spirit who she knew had fallen from his Maker but I would know how we should construe the meaning of the Holy Ghost in the beginning of this Chapter where he saith The Serpent was the subtillest of all the beasts of the field which God had made and so implies the womans opinion of the Serpents wisdome was the occasion why she was so beguiled otherwise to what end are those words spoken unlesse to shew that Satan chose the Serpents shape that through the opinion and colour of his well-known wisdome and sagacity he might beguile the woman For the assoiling of which difficulty I offer these propositions following First I will suppose there is a law in the commerce of spirits and men that a spirit must present himself under the shape of some visible thing For as in naturall and bodily things there is no entercourse of action and passion unlesse the things have some proportion each to other and unlesse they communicate in some common matter so it seems God hath ordained a Law that invisible things should converse with things visible in a shape as they are visible which is so true that the conversing presence of a spirit is called a Vision or Apparition And experience with the Scriptures will shew us that not only evil Angels but good yea God himself converseth in this manner with men And all this I suppose Eve knew Secondly I suppose further that as spirits are to converse with men under some visible shape so is there a law given them that it must be under the shape of some such thing as may lesse or more resemble their condition For as in nature we see every severall thing hath a severall and sutable physiognomy or figure as a badge of the inward nature whereby it is known as by a habit of distinction so it seems to be in the shapes and apparitions of Spirits And as in a well governed Common-wealth every sort and condition of men is known by some differing habit agreeable to his quality so it seems it should be in Gods great Commonwealth concerning the shapes which spirits take upon them And he that gave the law that a man should not wear the habit of a woman nor a woman the habit of a man because as he had made them divers so would he have them so known by their habits so it seems he will not suffer a good and a bad spirit a noble and ignoble one
to appear unto men after the same fashion And this also I suppose Eve knew Now from these grounds it will follow that good Angels can take upon them no other shape but the shape of man because their glorious excellency is resembled only in the most excellent of visible creatures the shape of an inferiour creature would be unsutable no other shape becomming those who are called the sons of God but his only who was created after Gods own image And yet not his neither according as now it is but according as he was before his fall in that glorious beauty of his integrity Age and deformity are the fruits of sin and the Angel in the Gospel appears like a young man his countenance like lightning and his raiment white as snow as it were resembling the beauty of glorified bodies in immutability sublimity and purity Hence also it follows on the contrary that the Devil could not appear in humane shape whilest man was in his integrity because he was a spirit fallen from his first glorious perfection and therefore must appear in such shape which might argue his imperfection and abasement which was the shape of a beast otherwise no reason can be given why he should not rather have appeared unto Eve in the shape of a woman then of a Serpent for so he might have gained an opinion with her both of more excellency and knowledge But since the fall of man the case is altered now we know he can take upon him the shape of man and no wonder since one falling star may well resemble another And therefore he appears it seems in the shape of mans imperfection either for eyes or deformity as like an old man for so the Witches say and perhaps it is not altogether false which is vulgarly affirmed that the Devil appearing in humane shape hath always a deformity of some uncouth member or other as though he could not yet take upon him humane shape entirely for that man himself is not entirely and utterly fallen as he is By this time you see the difficulty of the question is eased now it appears why Eve wondred not to see a spirit speak unto her in the shape of a Serpent because she knew the law of spirits apparitions better then we do Again when she saw the spirit who talked with her to have taken upon him the shape though of a beast yet of the most sagacious beast of the field she concluded according to our forelaid suppositions that though he were one of the abased spirits yet the shape he had taken resembling his nature he must needs be a most crafty and sagacious one and so might pry farther into Gods meaning then she was aware of And thus you may see at last how the opinion of the Serpents subtilty occasioned Eves fall as also why the Devâ—â— of all other beasts of the field took the shape of a Serpent namely to gain this opinion of sagacity with the woman as one who knew the principles aforesaid Here I observe that overmuch dotage upon a conceived excellency whether of wisdome or whatsoever else without a speciall eye to Gods commandement hath ever been the occasion of greatest errours in the world and the Devil under this mask useth to blear our eyes and with this bait to inveigle our hearts that he may securely bring us to his lure It was the mask of the Serpents wisdom and sagacity above the rest of the beasts of the field whereby he brought to passe our first Parents ruine The admired wisdome of the long living Fathers of the elder world having been for so many ages as Oracles to their off-spring grown even to a people and Nation while they yet lived was the ground of the ancient Idolatry of mankinde whilest they supposed that those to whom for wisdome they had recourse being living could not but help them when they were dead This we may learn out of Hesiod The men saith he of the golden age being once dead became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they became godlings and Patrons of mortall men c. So the opinion of the blessed Martyrs superlative glory in heaven was made the occasion of the new-found Idolatry of the Christian Churches wherewith they are for the greater part yet overwhelmed And the esteem which Peter had above the rest of the Apostles in regard of chiefdome even in the Apostles times was abused by the old Deceiver to install the man of sin This made S. Paul to say the mystery of iniquity was even then working and therefore laboured as far as he could to prevent it by as much depressing Peter as others exalted him Nay he puts the Churches in minde of this story of the Serpents beguiling Eve that her mis-hap might be a warning to them 2 Cor. 11. 2 3. I am jealous over you saith he with a godly jealousie for I have espoused you to one husband that I might present you as a chaste Virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilly so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. And to come a little nearer home have not our Adversaries when they would get Disciples learned this of the Devil to possesse them first with an opinion of superlative learning in their Doctors surpassing any of ours I will say no more in this point but that we ought so to prize and admire the gifts and abilities of learning which God hath bestowed upon men that the pole-starre of his sacred word may ever be in our eye THE next thing to be spoken of is the action Guile and first I shall shew what it is To beguile is through a false faith and perswasion wrought by some argument of seeming good to bereave a man of some good he had or hoped for or to bring upon him some evill he expected not Practice hath made it so well known that I should not need to have given any definition or description thereof but only for a more distinct consideration whereas therefore I said that guile wrought by forelaying a false perswasion or beleef I would intimate that it was nothing else but a practicall sophism the premisses whereof are counterfeit motives the conclusion an erroneous execution Now as all practice or action consists in these two The choice of our end and the execution of means to attain thereunto so is this practicall sophism we call Guile found in them both either when an evil end is presented unto us in the counterfeit of a good and so we are made to embrace Nubem pro Iunone and find our selves deceiv'd in the event whatsoever the means were we have used or else we apply such means as are either unlawfull or unsufficient to attain our end as being so mask'd that they appear unto us far otherwise then they are With both these sorts or parts of guile the Devil wrought our first Parents ruine first by making it seem a
Saxons first used Preoster which by a farther contraction came Preste and Priest The high and low Dutch have Priester the French Prestre Italian Prete but the Spaniard onely speaks full Presbytero But to come more near the point our men in using the word Minister for a distinctive name in stead of Priest incurre four Solecisms I mean when we use the word Minister not at large but for a distinction from the Order of Deacons saying Ministers and Deacons First we run into that we sought to avoid For we would avoid to call the Presbyters of the Gospel by the name of the Sacrificers of the Law and yet run into it in such sort that we style those of the Gospel by the legall name and those of the Law by the Euangelicall name the Hebrew cals them of the Law Cohanim of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifies to minister and thence comes the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but we call those of the Gospel Cohanim when we style them Ministers On the contrary the Apostles style those of the Gospel Presbyteri but we transferre that name to those of the Law when we call them Priests This is counterchange Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim Secondly It is a confusion or tautology to say Ministers and Deacons that is Ministers and Ministers For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in Greek what Minister is in Latin both signifying a Minister as if one should say Homo and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Dilavium and Cataclysmus and think so to distinguish things of severall natures or conditions Thirdly We impose upon that Order a name of a direct coÌ„trary notion to what the Apostles gave them The Apostles gave them a name of Eldership and Superiority in calling them Presbyteri we of inferiority subordination in calling them Ministri The Jews had no name more honourable then that of Elders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so they called their Magistrates so we read of Elders of the people and Elders of the Priests and Levites meaning the chief in both sorts This honourable name the Apostles gave as a name of distinction to the Euangelicall Pastors whereby they dignified them above those of the Law whose name in the Hebrew as I said before is but a denomination of ministery And we have rejected the name of Dignity of Fathership and Eldership and assumed in stead thereof a name of under-service of subjection of ministery to distinguish our order by I say to distinguish our order For in a generall sense and with reference to God we are all his Ministers and it is an honour unto us so to be more then to be other mens Masters as our Apostle in my text intimates Fourthly in the Churches beyond the Seas there is a worse Solecism by reason of this misapplied speech They have a kinde of Officers who are the Pastors assistants in Discipline much like to our Churchwardens these they call Elders we style them Lay-Elders These are but a kinde of Deacons at the most and of a new erection too And yet these are dignified by the name of Elders and Presbyters who are indeed but Deacons or Ministers and the Pastor himself is called a Minister who in the Apostles style is the onely Presbyter or Elder For so they speak The Minister and his Presbyters or Elders To conclude it had been to be wished that those whom the term of Priest displeased as that which gave occasion by the long abuse thereof to fancy a Sacrifice had rather restored the Apostolicall name of Presbyter in the full sound which would have been as soon and as easily learned and understood as Minister and was no way subject to that supposed inconvenience But the mis-application of the word Presbyter in some Churches to an Order the Apostles called not by that name deprived those thereof to whom it was properly due Howsoever when they call us Ministers let them account of us as the Ministers of Christ and not of men Not as deputed by the Congregation to execute a power originally in them but as Stewards of the mysteries of God S. JOHN 10. 20. He hath a Devill and is mad IT is a matter of greater moment then perhaps every man thinks of under what notions things are conceived and from what property or Character the names we call them by are derived For hereby not seldom it comes to passe That the same things presented to us under different notions and names derived therefrom are not taken to be the same they are Even as he that meets a man well known unto him in an exotick disguise or antick habit takes him to be some other though he knew him never so well before For example a man would wonder that a Comet as we call it being so remarkable and principall a work of the Divine power and which draws the eyes of all men with admiration towards it should no where be found mentioned in the Old Testament Neither there where the works of God are so often recounted to magnifie him when as Hail Snow Rain and Iee works of far lesse admiration are not pretermitted neither by way of allusion and figured expression in the Prophets predictions of great calamities and changes whereof they were taken to be presages especially when we see them borrow so many other allusions both from heaven and earth to paint their descriptions with Should a man therefore think there never appeared any of them in those times or to those Countreys It is incredible Or that the Jews were so dull and heedlesse as not to observe them That is not like neither What should we say then Surely they conceived of them under some other notions then we do and accordingly expressed them some other way As what if by a Pillar of fire such a one perhaps as went before the Israelites in the Wildernesse or by a Pillar of fire and smoke as in that of Ioel I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth Blood and Fire and pillars of Smoke Or by the name of an Angel of the Lord whereby no doubt they are guided according as is said of that Pillar of Fire which went before the Israelites That the Angel of the Lord when they were to passe the Red-sea came and stood between them and the AEgyptians when that Pillar did so And who knows whether that in the 104 Psalm may not have some meaning this way He maâ—eth his Angels Spirits or windes and his Ministers a Flame of fire to wit because they are wont to appear in both It comes in in the Psalm among other works of God in a fit place for such a sense both in regard of what goes before and follows after These I say or some of these may be descriptious of those we call Comets which because they are disguised under another notion and not denominated from Stella or Coma hence we know them not Now to
come toward my Text a like instance to this I take to be that of the Daemoniack so often mentioned in the Gospel For I make no question but that now and then the same befals other men whereof I have experience my self to wit To marvel how these Daemoniacks should so abound in and about that Nation which was the people of God whereas in other Nations and their writings we hear of no such And that too as it should seem about the time of our Saviours being on earth onely because in the time before we finde no mention of them in Scripture The wonder is yet the greater because it seems notwithstanding all this by the Story of the Gospel not to have been accounted then by the people of the Jews any strange or extraordinary thing but as a matter usuall nor besides is taken notice of by any forrain Story To meet with all these difficulties which I see not how otherwise can be easily satisfied I am perswaded till I shall hear better reason to the contrary that these Daemoniacks were no other then such as we call mad-men and Lunaticks at least that we comprehend them under those names and that therefore they both still are and in all times and places have been much more frequent then we imagine The cause of which our mistake is that disguise of another name and notion then we conceive them by which makes us take them to be diverse which are the same That you may rightly understand this my Assertion before I acquaint you with the reasons which induce me thereunto you must know that the Masters of Physick tell us of two kindes of Deliration or alienation of the understanding One ex vi morbi that namely which is with or from a Fever called Delirium or Phrenitis the latter being a higher degree then the former Another kinde sine Febre when a man having no other disease is crased and disturbed in his wits And this they say is either simple dotage proceeding from some weaknesse of the brain or intellective faculty or Melancholia and Mania which they describe and distinguish thus Both of them to be when the understanding is so disturbed that men imagine speak and do things which are most absurd and contrary to all reason sense and use of men But their difference to be in this that melancholia is attended with fear sadnes silence retirednesse and the like symptomes Mania with rage raving and fury and actions sutable which is most properly styled madnesse Now then I say that those Daemoniacks in the Gospel were such as we call mad-men understand me to mean not of Deliration ex vi morbi or of simple dotage but of these two last kindes Melancholici and Maniaci whereunto adde morbus Comitialis or the falling sicknesse and whatsoever is properly called Lunacy Such as these I say the Jews beleeved and so may we to be troubled and acted with evill Spirits as it is said of Sauls Melancholy That an evil Spirit from the Lord troubled him and therefore passing by all other causes and Symptomes they thought fit to give them their Name from this calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An occasion of the more frequent use of which expression in our Saviours time and the ages immediately before him then formerly had been or may seem to have been given by the sect of the Sadduces which after the time of Hyrcanus had much prevailed and affirmed as S. Luke tels us that there was no resurrection neither Angel nor Spirit To affront and cry down whose errour it is like enough the Pharisees and the rest of the right-beleeving Jews who followed them affected to draw their expressions wheresoever they could from Angels and Spirits as presently they did in the Acts when Saint Paul awakened their faction in the Councell saying I am a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee c. We finde no evill say they in this man but if a Spirit or an Angel hath spoken unto him let us not fight against God Having thus sufficiently stated and explicated my assertion now you shall hear what grounds I have for the same First therefore I prove it out of the Gospel it self and that in the first place from this Scripture which I have chosen for my text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath a Devil and is mad Where I suppose the latter words to be an explication of the former Secondly I prove it out of Mat. 17. 15. where it is said There came to our Saviour a certain man kneeling down to him and saying Lord have mercy on my son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he is Lunatick and sore vexed For oft times he falleth into the Fire and oft into the water That this Lunatick was a Daemoniack it is evident both out of the 15. ver of this Chapter where it is said Our Saviour rebuked the Devill and he departed out of him and the childe was cured from that very hour As also out of the 9. of the Gospel of Saint Luke where it is said of the self-same person Lo a spirit taketh him and he cryeth out and it teareth him that he foameth again and bruising him hardly departeth from him By comparing of these places you may gather what kinde of men they were which the Scripture cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now I come to other Testimonies And first take notice that the Gentiles also had the like apprehension of their mad-men whence they called them Larvati and Cerriti where Larvati is as much as Larvis id est Daemonibus acti so Festus Larvati saith he furiosi mente moti quasi Larvis exterriti And for Cerriti they were so called quasi Cereriti hoc est à Cerere percussi And therefore you may remēber that when Menechmus in Plautus fains himself mad and talks accordingly the Physitian who was sent for to cure him asks the old man who came to fetch him whether he were Larvatus or Cerritus If the Gentiles thought thus of their mad-men should we think it strange the Jews should I could tell you here that the Turks conceit of their madmen is not unlike this but that they suppose the spirit that works in them to be a good rather then an evill one But I let this passe My next testimony shall be out of Iustin Martyr who in his second Apology ad Antoninum to prove at least to a Gentile that the souls of men have existence and sense after death brings for an argument their Necyomantia and their Evocationes Mortuorum together with other the like in the last place this of Daemoniacks where by his descriptiō of them we may easily gather what kinde of people they were which were so taken to be Item illi saith he qui à mortuorum manibus corripiuntur for such were these Daemonia taken to be atque humi abjiciuntur homines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which all call Daemoniacks and mad-men
beginning to such a power as to grapple with the Enemy and overcome him But behold there is yet something more admirable namely that this should not be done by the strength of his Arm but by the breath power of his Mouth Out of the mouth of Babes and sucklings thou hast ordained strength because of thine enemies c. What Enemies Thine saith the Psalmist and such too as are ultores avengers the enemies both of God and mankinde And who are those but Satan and his Angels those Principalities and Powers of the Air those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Rulers of the Darknesse of this world as Saint Paul speaks For when mankinde is the one party what can the other be but some Power that is not of mankinde Besides who are the Enemies both of God and mankinde but these And of mankinde especially I put enmity saith God to the serpent between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed Hence he is called Satan the adversary or Fiend and the enemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold I give you power saith our Saviour to the seventy Disciples Luke 10. 19. to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the Power of the Enemy Your Adversary the Devill saith S. Peter And this is he as I conceive who is here called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Enemy the Avenger mans tormentor which words being found again in the 44. Psalm may for ought I know by warrant of this place be taken for the same Enemy and the usuall distinction altered and the place read thus By reason of the Enemy and the Avenger all this to wit the Calamity and confusion he spake of before is come upon us that is by the malice of Satan Now that such Enemies as these should be subdued by an arm yea by a mouth of flesh is a thing which might justly make the Prophet cry out Lord what is man c. Now that this which I have given is the true meaning of this place may be gathered from S. Paulâ— inculcating the word Enemy when 1 Cor. 15. he demonstrates out of this Psalm that Christ before the end shall abolish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For He must raign saith he till he hath put all enemies under his feet The last Enemy which shall be destroyed 〈◊〉 Death and then he alledges for his proof that Corollary in this Psalm For he hath put all things under his feet But in all this Psalm there is no mention of Enemies or subduing them but onely in the verse I have in hand which unlesse it be thus expounded S. Pauls allegation from hence will be too narrow to prove what he intendeth Having thus cleered the words I chose for my Theme I shall not spend much time to shew you how directly and literally the purport of them was fulfilled in our blessed Saviours incarnation You have in part heard such Scriptures already as do evince it The summe is this The Devill by sin brought mankinde under thraldom and became the prince of this world himself with his Angels being worshipped and served every where as Gods and the service and honour due to the great God the Creator of heaven and earth cast off and abandoned and all this to receive at last for reward eternall wo and everlasting death To vanquish and exterminate this enemy and redeem the world from this miserable thraldom the Son of God took upon him not the nature of Angels which might have been the enemies matches but the nature of weak and despicable man that growes from a babe and suckling Who saith Esay in that famous Prophecy of Messiah hath beleeved our report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed namely that works such powerfull things by weak means for he shall grow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a tender plant or sucker it is the very word here used in my Text for a sucking childe and translated by the Seventy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as a root out of a dry ground that is a small and little one This is that whereof S. Paul discourses so divinely in the Epistle to the Hebrews To which of the Angels said he at anytime Sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool For unto the Angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak but unto him of whom it is said What is man that thou art mindefull of him or c. Again We see Iesus who was made little lower then the Angels that is was made man that 's the meaning for the suffering of death crowned with Glory and Honour what can be so plain as this It is the Son of man by whom in part we are and more fully shall be delivered out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve the true God without fear as Zachary sayes in his Benedictus It is the Son of man that delivered us from the power of darknesse Col. 1. 13. The Son of man that spoiled Principalities and Powers and made a shew of them openly Col. 2. 15. It was no Angel that did all this but the Son of man even as was prophesied from the beginning when the Devill first got his Dominion That the Seed of the woman should break the Serpents head Nor is this all for this Son of man enables also other sons of men his Disciples and Ministers to do the like in his name The seventy Disciples in the Gospel return with joy saying Lord even the Devils are subject to us through thy name Yea not these onely but as many as fight under his Banner against these enemies have promise they shall at length quell and utterly subdue them Yea at that great Day shall sit with their Lord and Master to judge and condemn them Do ye not know saith S. Paul that the Saints shall judge the world know ye not that we shall judge Angels Lastly this victory as for the event so for the manner of atchieving it is agreeable to our Prophesie For as much as Christ our Generall nor fights nor conquers by force of Arms but by the power of his Word and Spirit which is the power of his mouth according to my Text Out of the mouth of Babes c. Hence in the Apocalypse Christ appears with a sword going out of his mouth In the 2 Thess. 2. it is said He shall consume Antichrist with the Spirit of his mouth Esay prophesies Chap. 11. 4. That the Branch of Iesse should smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips should stay the wicked That is he does all nuâ—â— verbo as God made the world By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Hoasts of them by the breath of his mouth Psal 33. 6. So doth Christ vanquish his enemies and enable his Ministers to vanquish them Verbo Spiritu oris according to that Hos. 6. 5. I have
joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the Name of the Lord to be his servants every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold of my Covenant namely that I alone shall be his God even them will I bring to my holy Mountain and make them joyfull in my House of Prayer their burnt offerings and sacrifices accepted upon mine Altar Then follow the words of Text For my House shall be called shall be it is an Hebraism a House of Prayer for all People What is this but a Description of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gentile worshippers And this place alone makes good all that I have said before That this vindication was of the Gentiles Court Otherwise the allegation of this Scripture had been impertinent for the Gentiles of whom the Prophet speaks worshipped in no place but this Hence also appears to what purpose our Euangelist expressed the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely as that which shewed wherein the force of the accommodation to this occasion lay which the rest of the Euangelists omitted as referring to the place of the Prophet whence it was taken those who heard it being not ignorant of whom the Prophet spake Thirdly the circumstance of time argues the same thing if we consider that this was done but a few dayes before our Saviour suffered to wit when he came to his last Passeover How unseasonable had it been to vindicate the violation of legall and typicall sanctity which within so few dayes after he was utterly to abolish by his Crosse unlesse he had meant thereby to leave his Church a lasting lesson what reverence and respect he would have accounted due to such places as this was which he vindicated JOHN 4. 23. But the hour commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth For the Father seeketh such to worship him THey are the words of our Blessed Saviour to the woman of Samaria who perceiving him by his discourse to be a Prophet desired to be resolved by him of the great controverted point between the Jews and Samaritans whether Mount Garizim by Sichem where the Samaritans sacrificed or Ierusalem were the true place of worship Our Saviour tels her that this question was not now of much moment For that the houre or time was near at hand when they should neither worship the Father in Mount Garizim nor at Ierusalem But that there was a greater difference between the Jews and them then this of place namely even about that which was worshipped For ye saith he worship that ye know not But we Jews worship that we know Then follow the words premised But the houre commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth It is an abused Text being commonly alledged to prove that God now in the Gospel either requires not or regards not externall worship but that of the Spirit onely And this to be a characteristicall difference between the worship of the Old Testament and the New If at any time we talk of externall decency in rites and bodily expressions as fit to be used in the service of God this is the usuall Buckler to repell whatsoever may be said in that kinde It is true indeed that the worship of the Gospel is much more spirituall then that of the Law But that the worship of the Gospel should be onely spirituall and no externall worship required therein as the Text according to some mens sense and allegation thereof would imply is repugnant not onely to the practice and experience of the Christian Religion in all ages but also to the expresse Ordinances of the Gospel it self For what are the Sacraments of the New Testament are they not rites wherein and wherewith God is served and worshipped The consideration of the holy Eucharist alone will confute this Glosse For is not the commemoration of the sacrifice of Christs death upon the Crosse unto his Father in the Symbols of Bread and Wine an externall worship And yet with this rite hath the Church in all ages used to make her solemne addresse of Prayer and Supplication unto the Divine Majesty as the Jews in the Old Testament did by Sacrifice when I say in all Ages I include that of the Apostles For so much Saint Luke testifieth of that first Christian society Acts 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They continued in breaking of Bread and in Prayers As for bodily expressions by gestures and postures as standing kneeling bowing and the like our blessed Saviour himself lift up his sacred eyes to heaven when he prayed for Lazarus fell on his face when he prayed in his agony Saint Paul as himself saith bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ He and Saint Peter and the rest of the beleevers do the like more then once in the Acts of the Apostles What was imposition of hands but an externall gesture in an act of invocation for conferring a blessing and that perhaps sometimes without any vocall expression joyned therewith Besides I cannot conceive any reason why in this point of Euangelicall worship Gesture should be more scrupled at then Voyce Is not confessing praising praying and glorifying God by voyce an externall and bodily worship as well as that of Gesture why should then the one derogate from the worship of the Father in Spirit and Truth and not the other To conclude there was never any society of men in the world that worshipped the Father in such a manner as this interpretation would imply And therefore cannot this be our Saviours meaning but some other Let us see if we can finde out what it is There may be two senses given of these words both of them agreeable to reason and the analogy of Scripture let us take our choice The one is That to worship God in Spirit and Truth is to worship him not with types and shadows of things to come as in the Old Testament but according to the verity of the things exhibited in Christ according to that The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Iesus Christ. Whence the mystery of the Gospel is elsewhere by our Saviour in this Euangelist termed Truth as Cap. 17. ver 17. and the Doctrine thereof by Saint Paul The word of truth See Ephes. Cap. 1. ver 13. Rom. 15. ver 8. The time therefore is now at hand said our Saviour when the true worshippers shall worship the Father no longer with bloody sacrifices and the Rites and Ordinances depending thereon but in and according to the verity of that which these Ordinances figured For all these were types of Christ in whom being now exhibited the true worshippers shall henceforth worship the Father This sense hath good warrant from the state of the Question between the Jews and Samaritans to which our Saviour here makes answer which was not about worship in generall but about the kinde
of worship in speciall which was confessed by both sides to be tied to one certain place onely that is of worship by Sacrifice and the appendages In a word of the typicall worship proper to the first Covenant of which see a description Heb. 9. This Iosephus expresly testifies Lib. 12. Antiq. cap. 1. speaking of the Jews and Samaritans which dwelt together at Alexandria They lived saith he in perpetuall discord one with the other whilest each laboured to maintain their Country customes those of Ierusalem affirming their Temple to be the sacred place whither sacrifices were to be sent the Samaritans on the other side contending they ought to be sent to Mount Garizim For otherwise who knows not that both Jews and Samaritans had other places of worship besides either of these namely their Proseucha's and Synagogues wherein they worshipped God not with internall onely but externall worship though not with sacrifice which might be offered but in one place onely And this also may seem to have been a type of Christ as well as the rest namely that he was to be that one and onely Mediator of the Church in the Temple of whose sacred body we have accesse unto the Father and in whom he accepts our devotions and services according to that Destroy this Temple and I will rear it up again in three daies He spake saith the Text of the Temple of his Body This sense divers of the Ancients hit upon Eusebius Demon. Euang. Lib. 1. Cap. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not by Symbols and Types but as our Saviour saith in Spirit and Truth Not that in the New Testament men should worship God without all externall services for the New Testament was to have externall and visible services as well as the Old But with such as should imply the verity of the promises already exhibited not by types and shadows of them yet to come we know the Holy Ghost is wont to call the figured Face of the Law the Letter and the Verity thereby signified the Spirit As for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both together they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but once found in holy Writ to wit onely in this place And so no light can be borrowed by comparing of the like expression any where else to expound them Besides nothing hinders but they may be taken one for the exposition of the other that to worship the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with to worship him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But howsoever this Exposition be fair and plausible yet me thinks the reason which our Saviour gives in the words following should argue another meaning God saith he is a Spirit therefore they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth But God was a Spirit from the beginning If therefore for this reason he must be worshipped in Spirit and Truth he was so to be worshipped in the Old Testament as well as in the New Let us therefore seek another meaning For the finding whereof let us take notice that the Samaritans at whom our Saviour here aimeth were the off-spring of those Nations which the King of Assyria placed in the Cities of Samaria when he had carried away the ten Tribes captive These as we may reade in the second Book of the Kings at their first comming thither worshipped not the God of Israel but the gods of the Nations from whence they came Wherefore he sent Lyons amongst them which slew them which they apprehending either from the information of some Israelite or otherwise to be because they knew not the worship of the God of the Countrey they informed the King of Assyria thereof desiring that some of the captiv'd Priests might be sent unto them to teach them the manner and rites of his worship which being accordingly done they thenceforth as the Text tels us worshipped the Lord yet feared their own gods too and so did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Chrysostome speaks mingle things not to be mingled In this medly they continued about two hundred years till toward the end of the Persian Monarchy At what time it chanced that Manasse brother to Iaddo the High Priest of the returned Jews married the daughter of Sanballat then Governour of Samaria For which being expelled from Jerusalem by Nehemiah he fled to Sanballat his Father in Law and after his example many other of the Jews of the best rank having married strange wives likewise and loth to forgo them betook themselves thither also Sanballat willingly entertains them and makes his son in Law Manasse their Priest For whose greater reputation and state when Alexander the Great subdued the Persian Monarchy he obtained leave of him to build a Temple upon Mount Garizim where his son in Law exercised the office of High Priest This was exceedingly prejudicious to the Jews and the occasion of a continuall Schism whilst those that were discontented or excommunicated at Ierusalem were wont to betake themselves thither Yet by this means the Samaritans having now one of the sons of Aaron to be their Chief Priest and so many other of the Jews both Priests and others mingled amongst them were brought at length to cast off all their false gods and to worship the Lord the God of Israel onely Yet so that howsoever they seemed to themselves to be true worshippers and altogether free from Idolatry neverthelesse they retained a smack thereof in as much as they worshipped the true God under a visible representation to wit of a Dove and circumcised their Children in the name thereof as the Jewish Tradition tels us who therefore always branded their worship with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or spirituall Fornication Just as their predecessors the ten Tribes worshipped the same God of Israel under the similitude of a Calf This was the condition of the Samaritan Religion in our Saviours time and if we weigh the matter well we shall finde his words here to the woman very pliable to be construed with reference thereunto You ask saith he of the true place of worship whether Mount Garizim or Ierusalem which is not so greatly materiall for as much as the time is at hand when men shall worship the Father at neither But there is a greater difference between you and us then of place though you take no notice of it namely about the object of worship it self For ye worship what ye know not but we Jews worship what we know How is that Thus Ye worship indeed the Father the God of Israel as we doe but you worship him under a corporeall representation wherein you shew you know him not but the houre commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth In spirit that is conceiving of him no otherwise then in spirit And in truth that is not under any corporeall or visible shape For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not fancying him as a body but as indeed he is a Spirit For those who worship him under a corporeall similitude doe bely him according as the Apostle speaks Rom. 1. of such as change the glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man Birds or Beasts They changed saith he the truth of God into a lie and served the creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 juxta Creatorem as or with the Creator who is blessed for ever Hence Idols in Scripture are termed Lies as Amos 2. 4. Their Lies have caused them to erre after which their Fathers walked The Vulgar hath Seduxerunt eos Idola ipsorum And Isa. 28. 15. We have made Lies our refuge And Ier. 16. 19. Venient gentes à finibus terrae dicent Verè mendacium possederunt the Chaldee hath coluerunt Patres nostri vanitatem in qua non est utilitas Nunquid faciet sibi homo Deos ipsi non sunt Dii This therefore I take to be the genuine meaning of this place and not that which is commonly supposed against externall worship which I think this demonstration will evince To worship what they know as the Jews are said to doe and to worship in spirit and truth are here taken by our Saviour for equivalents else the whole sense will be inconsequent But the Jews worshipped not God without Rites and Ceremonies who yet are supposed to worship him in spirit and truth Ergo to worship God without Rites and Ceremonies is not to worship him in spirit and truth according to the meaning here intended S. LUKE 24. 45. Then opened be their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures 46. And said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day OUr Blessed Saviour after he was risen from the dead told his Disciples not onely that his suffering of death and rising again the third day was foretold in the Scriptures but also pointed out those Scriptures unto them and opened their understanding that they might understand them that is he expounded or explained them unto them Certain it is therefore that somewhere in the Old Testament these things were foretold should befall the Messiah Yea S. Paul 1 Cor. 15. 3 4. will further assure us that they are I delivered unto you saith he first of all that which I received how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures 4. And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures Both of them therefore are somwhere foretold in the Scriptures and it becomes not us to be so ignorant as commonly we are which those Scriptures be which foretell them It is a main point of our Faith and that which the Jews most stumble at because their Doctors had not observed any such thing of Messiah The more they were ignorant thereof the more it concerns us to be confirmed therein I thought good therefore to make this the Argument of my Discourse at this time to inform both you and my self where these things are foretold and if I can to point out those very Scriptures which our Saviour here expounded to his Disciples Which that I may the better do I will make the words fore-going my Text to be as the Pole-star in this my search These are the things saith our Saviour which I spake unto you while I was with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me Then follow the words I read Then opened he their understanding c. These two events therefore of Messiahs death and rising again the third day were foretold in these three parts of Scripture in the Law of Moses or Pentateuch in the Neb im or Prophets and in the Psalmes and in these three we must search for them And first for the first that Messiah should suffer death This was fore-signified in the Law or Pentateuch first in the Story of Abraham where he was commanded to offer his son Isaac the son wherein his seed should be called and to whom the promise was entailed That in it should all the Nations of the world be blessed What was here acted else but the mystery of Christs Passion to wit that the promised seed should make all the Nations of the world blessed by becomming a sacrifice for sin which that it might be the more evident the place is also designed the region of Mount Moriah there Abraham was bid to offer his son Isaac even where Messiah who was then in the loins of Isaac was one day to be offered upon the Crosse. The second prediction in the Law of Messiahs suffering death was by the slaying of Beasts for the atonement of sin in their sacrifices which were nothing else but shadows and representations of that offering upon the Crosse which Messiah was one day to make of himself for the sins of the world Which mystery of the end of those legall sacrifices was shewed in the former story of Abrahams offering Isaac For when he had now brought his son to the place appointed and had built an Altar and was now ready to slay him as he was commanded the Angel of the Lord stayed his hand and shewed him a Ram caught in a thicket by the horns which Ram Abraham took and offered for a burnt offering in stead of his son to signifie that the offering of the blessed seed was yet to be suspended and that God in the mean while would accept the offerings of Buls and Rams as a pledge of that expiation which the blessed seed of Abraham in the loyns of Isaac should one day make And thus much for the Law now I come to the Prophets wherein I finde three evident Prophecies that Messiah should suffer death The first is that famous one in the 53. of Isay the whole Chapter through I will not repeat it all but some two or three passages thereof ver 5. He was wounded saith the Prophet for our transgressions he was bruised for 〈◊〉 inâ—quities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed And ver 7. He was oppressed he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he was brought as a Lamb to the slaughter 〈◊〉 as a Sheep before his Shearers is dumb so he opened noi his mouth Ver. 8. He was cut off out of the Land of the living for the transgression of my people was 〈◊〉 smitten Now that this Prophecy was one of those by which the Apostles used to prove this verity appears by the story of the conversion of the Eunuch Acts 8. unto whom Philip comming whilst he was in his Chariot reading this place of Scripture and hâ— thereupon asking Philip of whom the Prophet spake these words the Text tels us that Philip began at the same Scripture and preached unto him Iesus The
suggested in extraordinary manner by the Holy Spirit as Prophecy was given of old according to that of S. Peter Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost So because many in the beginning of the Gospel were guided by a like instinct in the interpretation and application of Scripture they were said to Prophecy Thus the Apostle useth it in the fourteenth Chapter of this Epistle where he discourses of spirituall Gifts and before all prefers this of Prophecy because he that prophecieth saith he speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort But neither of these kinds of Prophecy sute with the person in my Text which is a woman For it is certain the Apostle speaks here of prophecying in the Church or Congregation but in the Church a woman might not speak no not so much as ask a question for her better instruction much lesse teach and instruct others This the Apostle teacheth us in this very Epistle Chapter the fourteenth even there where he discourseth so largely of those kinds of Prophecy Let your women saith he keep silence in the Churches For it is not permitted unto them to speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to be subject And if they will learn let them ask their husbands at home Again in the first of Timothy the second and the eleventh Let the women learn in silence with all subjection 12. But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence Note here that to speak in a Church Assembly by way of teaching or instructing others is an act of superiority which therefore a woman might not do because her sex was to be in subjection and so to appear before God in that Garb and Posture which consisted therewith that is they might not speak to instruct men in the Church but to God she might To avoid this difficulty some would have the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my Text to be taken passively namely to hear or be present at Prophecy which is an acception without example either in Scripture or any where else It is true the Congregation is said to pray when the Priest only speaks but that they should be said to preach who are present only at the hearing of a Sermon is a Trope without example For the reason is not alike In prayer the Priest is the mouth of the Congregation and does what he does in their names and they assent to it by saying A men But he that preaches or prophecies is not the mouth of the Church to speak ought in their names that so they might be said to speak too but he is the mouth of God speaking to them It is not likely therefore that those who only hear another speaking or prophecying to them should be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no more as I said then that all they should be said to preach who were at the hearing of a Sermon What shall we do then Is there any other acception of the word prophecying left us which may fit our turn Yes there is a fourth acception which if it can be made good will sute our Text better I think then any of the former to wit that prophecying here should be taken for praising God in Hymnes and Psalms For so it is fitly coupled with praying Praying and praising being the parts of the Christian Liturgy Besides our Apostle also in the fourteenth Chapter of this Epistle joyns them both together I will pray saith he with the spirit and will pray with understanding also I will sing with the spirit and I will sing that is prophecy with understanding also For because Prophets of old did three things First foretell things to come Secondly notifie the will of God unto the people And thirdly uttered themselves in musicall wise and as I may so speak in a poeticall strain and composure Hence it comes to passe that to prophecy in Scripture signifies the doing of any of these three things and amongst the rest to praise God in verse or musicall composure This to be so as I say I shall prove unto you out of two places of Scripture and first out of the first of Chronicles ch 25. where the word Prophecy is three severall times thus used I will alledge the words of the Text at large because I cannot well abbreviate them These they are v. 1. Moreover David and the Captains of the Host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph and of Heman and of Ieduthun who should prophecy with Harps with Psalteries and with Cymbals and the number of the men of Office according to their service was 2. Of the sons of Asaph Zaccur and Ioseph and Nathaniah and Asarelah the sons of Asaph under the hands of Asaph which prophecied according to the order of the King 3. Of Ieduthun the sons of Ieduthun Gedaliah and Zeri and Ieshaiah Hashabiah and Mattithiah and Schimei six under the hands of their Father Ieduthun who prophecied with a Harp to give thanks and to praise the Lord. Lo here to prophecy and to give thanks or confesse and to praise the Lord with spirituall songs made all one Nor needs such a notion seem strange when as even among the Latins the word vates signifieth both him that foretels things to come and a Poet for that the Gentile Oracles were given likewise in verse And S. Paul to Titus cals the Cretian Poet Epimenides a Prophet as one saith he of their own Prophets said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Arabians whose language comes the nearest both in words and notions to the Hebrew call a chief Poet of theirs Princeps omnium Poetarum saith â—rpenius quos unquam vidit mundus Muttenabbi that is Prophetizans or Propheta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now then if Asaph Ieduthun and Heman prophecied when they praised God in such Psalms as are entituled unto their severall Quires as we find them in the Psalm-Book for know that all the Psalms entituled to the sons of Korah belonged to the Quire of Heman who descended from Korah why may not we when we sing the same Psalms be said to prophecy likewise namely as he that useth a prayer composed by another prayeth and that according to the spirit of him that composed it So he that praiseth God with these spirituall and propheticall composures may be said to prophecy according to that spirit which speaketh in them And that Almighty God is well pleased with such service as this may appear by that one story of King Iehoshaphat in the second of Chronicles who when he marched forth against that great confederate Army of the children of Ammon Moab and Mount Seir the Text there tels us that having consulted with his people He appointed singers unto the Lord that should praise the Beauty of holinesse as they went out before the Army and to say Praise the Lord for his mercy endureth
for whom even themselves being Judges it would be an uncomely thing to wear a vail that is a womans habit so by the like reason was it as uncomely for a woman to be without a vail that is in the guise and dresse of a man And howsoever the Devils of the Gentiles sometimes took pleasure in uncomelinesse and absurd garbs and gestures yet the God whom they worshipped with his holy Angels who were present at their devotions loved a comely accommodation agreeable to Nature and Custome in such as worshipped him For this cause therefore saith he ought a woman to have a covering on her head because of the Angels Lastly he concludes it from the example and custome both of the Iewish and Christian Churches neither of which had any such use for their women to be unvailed in their sacred assemblies If any man saith he be contentious that is will not be satisfied with these reasons let him know that we that is we of the Circumcision have no such custome nor the Church of God For so with S. Ambrose Anselme and some of the ancients I take the meaning of the Apostle to be in those words Thus you have heard briefly what was the fault of these Corinthian Dames which the Apostle here taxeth From which we our selves may learn thus much That God requires a decent and comely accommodation in his House in the act of his worship and service For if in their habit and dresse surely much more in their gestures and deportment he loves nothing that is unseemly in the one or in the other TITUS 3. 5. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost THese words as it is easie to conceive upon the first hearing are spoken of Baptisme of which I intend not by this choyce to make any full or accurate tractation but onely to acquaint you as I am wont with my thoughts concerning two particulars therein One from what propriety analogy or use of water the washing therewith was instituted for a sign of new birth according as it is here called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the washing of regeneration The other what is the counter-type or thing which the water figureth in this Sacrament I will begin with the last first because the knowledge thereof must be supposed for the explication and more distinct understanding of the other In every Sacrament as ye well know there is the outward Symbole or sign res terrena and the signatum figured and represented thereby res coelestis In this of Baptism the sign or res terrena is washing with water The question is what is the Signatum the invisible and celestiall thing which answers thereunto In our Catecheticall explications of this mystery it is wont to be affirmed to be the blood of Christ That as Water washeth away the filth of the body so the blood of Christ cleanseth us from the guilt and pollution of sin And there is no question but the blood of Christ is the fountain of all the grace and good communicated unto us either in this or any other Sacrament or mystery of the Gospel But that this should be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the counterpart or thing figured by the water in Baptism I beleeve not because the Scripture which must be our guide and direction in this case makes it another thing to wit the Spirit or Holy Ghost this to be that whereby the soul is cleansed and renewed within as the body with water is without so saith our Saviour to Nicodemus Ioh. 3. Except a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God And the Apostle in the words I have read parallels the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost as type and countertype God saith he hath saved us that is brought us into the state of salvation by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost where none I trow will deny that he speaks of Baptism The same was represented by that vision at our Saviours Baptism of the holy Ghosts descending upon him as he came out of the water in the similitude of a Dove For I suppose that in that Baptism of his the mystery of all our Baptisms was visibly acted and that God sayes to every one truly baptized as he said to him in a proportionable sense Thou art my Son in whom I am well pleased And how pliable the analogy of water is to typifie the Spirit well appears by the figuring of the Spirit thereby in other places of Scripture As in that of Isay I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and slouds upon the dry ground I will pour my Spirit upon by seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring where the latter expounds the former Also by the discourse of our Saviour with the Samaritan woman Iohn 4. 14. Whosoever saith he drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life By that also Ioh. 7. 37. where on the last day of the great feast Iesus stood and said If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink He that beleeveth on me as the Scripture saith that is as the Scripture is wont to expresse it for otherwise there is no such place of Scripture to be found in all the Bible out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water But this saith the Euangelist he spake of the Spirit which they that beleeve on him should receive Nor did the Fathers or ancient Church as far as I can finde suppose any other correlative to the element in Baptism but this of this they speak often of the blood of Christ they are altogether silent in their explicatioÌ„s of this mystery many are the allusioÌ„s they seek out for the illustration thereof and some perhaps forced but this of the water signifying or having any relation to the blood of Christ never comes amongst them which were impossible if they â—ad not supposed some other thing figured by the water then it which barred them from falling on that conceit The like silence is to be observed in our Liturgy where the Holy Ghost is more then once paralled with the water in Baptism washing and regeneration attributed thereunto but no such notion of the blood of Christ. And that the opinion thereof is novell may be gathered because some Lutheran Divines make it peculiar and proper to the followers of Calvin Whatsoever it be it hath no foundation in Scripture and we must not of our own heads assigne significations to Sacramentall types without some warrant thence For whereas some conceive those two expressions of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or sprinkling of the blood of Christ and of our being washed from our sins in or by his blood do intimate some such matter they are surely mistaken for those expressions have reference not to the
would eat no meat as long as the world lasteth rather then make his brother to offend Would they would consider this who are not content alone to sin themselves but play the Devil in corrupting others It seems they long to be double damn'd I would also they would think of this who make no conscience at all by extremities and vexations and other grievances to drive a man to perjury and other grievous sins and yet think themselves free when they should know that he that is the author of anothers sin makes anothers guilt his own and shall share in the punishment every whit as deep as he But this shall suffice to have observed in the first part the reason of the Serpents doom Now I come to the second the doom it self wherein the words as you see have all relation to the Serpent for the Lord said unto the Serpent Thou are cursed c. Thou shalt go upon thy brest c. But because this Serpent was more then a brute Serpent the Devil himself being the chief agent in this his instrument it is a thing much controverted upon which of these this curse is here pronounced Some would have it spoken only of the brute Serpent because here is a comparison made with cattell and beasts of the field thereby accounting the Serpent one of that number Besides Satan they say was accursed before this time and some of the words in this curse cannot well be applied to any but the brute Serpent as that he should eat the dust of the earth c. Others would have this curse pronounced only upon the spirituall Serpent the Devil because the brute Serpent was only an instrument abused by the Devil and neither knew what was done nor could do withall and why should it therefore be punished Others would divide the controversie applying the first part of the curse in the 14. verse to the brute Serpent the latter in the 15. verse to the Devil or spirituall Serpent because as the latter of the promised seed of the woman which should destroy the Serpent and his seed must needs be meant of Christ and Satan so the former words are most fitly appliable to the brute Serpent only But against this may be said that the same Thou and Thee spoken of in the first part of the curse is all one with the Thou and Thee in the latter and therefore of whatsoever the first is meant of the same is also meant the latter There is therefore a fourth opinion that this curse is throughout pronounced upon both both upon the Serpent and the Devil In which though there be some difference about the manner how yet I imbrace it as the truest as not only conceiving it may be so by the fitnesse of all the parts so applied to both but think moreover that this only ought to be the meaning and no other if it be conceived as I am now to shew For in the first place the Devil when he beguiled man came not as a naked spirit but in the shape and figure of a Serpent as I have shew'd heretofore and therefore that his punishment in the manner might be sutable and answerable to his offence he was to receive his doom likewise under the figure of a Serpent and the style thereof framed unto a Serpents condition for it is the constant method of the all-wise God to brand the punishment with the stamp of the sin that the offender thereby might not only know what he felt but also read why he suffered Why was Adonibezeks thumbs and great toes cut off but that he might read therein as he did his former cruelty Threescore and ten Kings having their thumbs and toes cut off gathered meat under my Table As I have done so God hath requited me Why was Pharaoh with his Host rather drowned in the Sea then slain in the field but that all the world might read it was for his cruell Edict to drown all the male children of the Hebrews Why did Absalom lie with Davids Concubines but to put David in minde that he had lien with Vriahs wife And why was the curse of the Devil shaped here in and unto the condition of the Serpent but because he had beguiled man in a Serpents shape Secondly for the Serpent The fashion excellency and subtilty of the Serpent above all the beasts which God had made the Devil had abused to gain credit with the woman that he was an excellent and a most sagacious spirit and therefore might be able to pry farther into Gods meaning then she could which was the cause of her attention and so of her ruine For I have shewed heretofore that the woman in the state of integrity knew well enough that as it was the law of spirits in their commerce with men to present themselves under the shape of some visible thing so it must be likewise under the shape of some such thing as may more or lesse resemble their condition And that as the glorious spirits might take no other shape but of man the glory of visible creatures so the fallen spirits could not then afore mans fall take any other shape but of a beast thereby to bewray his abasement yet because the Devil here took upon him the shape of the most wise and most excellent of beasts he so bleared the womans eyes with an opinion of his excellency and sagacity that in a manner she forgot or regarded not that he was one of the evil and abased spirits which was the ground of her miserable ruine and overthrow Now because the excellency and sagacity of the Serpent had thus been the occasion of mans confusion by being made the lying counterfeit of the Devils excellency and wisdome and the mask whereby he so covered his vilenesse that the woman took him not to be as he was indeed Therefore God in his wisdome thought good to change the copy and henceforth to blurre and deface that unhappy physiognomicall letter and by abasing the Serpent for the time to come to make him an everlasting embleme and monument wherein man might hieroglyphically read the malice vilenesse and execrable basenesse of that wicked spirit which had beguiled him to hate him as now we do the Serpent with mortall hatred and by his unlucky and brained fortune to expect the Devils destiny In a word that which was once used for a mask to cover the Devils knavery should for the future be a glasse wherein to behold his villany These being the reasons which have led me to understand this curse in an equall sense both of the brute Serpent and the Devil and in the literall applied unto the Serpent yet therein shaping out the malediction of the Devil as truly as the Devil had taken upon him the Serpents shape Let us now come to the particular handling of the words and first consider them as they are the curse of the unreasonable Serpent Secondly as they include the Devils malediction But for the better understanding
even to continue him in that accursed and vile condition to which he had dejected him For food is for the repairing and preservation of nature and the goodnesse and badnesse thereof doth make the temper of the body better or worse Hence according to the degrees of excellency in the creatures their food is finer or courser Plants suck the moisture of the earth beasts live most upon plants but man of the flesh of cattell fowl and fishes Since therefore the Serpent was to have no better fare then the dust of the earth as it argues the basenesse of his nature which can with such food be nourished so doth it necessarily imply his continuance in that his dejection and vilenesse whereas otherwise it were not impossible because his nature for the essence is still the same it was if his diet were as it had been for him to improve himself more near to his primitive temper then now he is But God who had decreed he should ever remain under this malediction appointed also the means to retain him therein VERSE 15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman c. THE third and last particular remains to be treated of I will put enmity between thee and the woman c. This no doubt intendeth in some things more directly the spirituall Serpent then the brute yet for the generall it may and ought as well as the rest to be expounded of the brute Serpent as a glasse wherein to behold the malice and destiny of the other the Devil It containeth two parts The Enmity and the Event and managing thereof For the enmity how it is verified concerning the brute Serpent experience telleth It is some part of the happinesse of the creature to be the favourite of man who is the Lord thereof what honour could betide it greater then this But between the Serpent and Man is the most deadly enmity and the strongest antipathy that is amongst the beasts of the field Such an one as discovereth it self both in the naturall and sensitive faculties of them both For the first their humours are poison each to other the gall of a Serpent is mans deadly poison and so is the spittle of man affirmed to poison the Serpent For the sensitive antipathy it appears in that the one doth so much abhorre the sight and presence of the other mans nature is at nothing so much astonished as at the sight of a Serpent and like enough the Serpent is in like manner affected at the sight of man And that more especially as the Naturalists affirm of a naked man then otherwise As though his instinct even remembred the time of his malediction when he and naked man stood before God to receive this sentence of everlasting enmity And whereas the words of the Text do in speciall point out the woman in this sentence of enmity the Naturalists do observe that is greater and more vehement with that sex then with the male of mankinde Insomuch that Rupertus affirmeth that if but the naked foot of a woman doth never so little presse the head of a Serpent before he can sting her both the head and body presently dieth which no cudgell or other weapon will do but that some life and motion will still remain behinde Hoc saith he ita est ipsorum qui per industriam exploraverunt fide relatione comperimus Lib. 3. de Trin. c. 20. You know my Author The remaining words of my Text do expresse the managing and event of this enmity which is far more dangerous and unlikely on the Serpents part then on Mans for man is able to reach the Serpents head where his life chiefly resideth and where a blow is deadly but as for the Serpent he shall not be able to prevail against man otherwise then privily and unawares and that but in his lowest part namely when he shall passe him unseen to sting him by the heel And that this is the nature of a Serpent it appeareth in the words of Dans blessing Gen. 49. Dan shall be a Serpent by the way an Adder in the path that biteth the horse heels so that his rider shall fall backward And to make an end of this discourse also it is a thing to be observed in the nature of a Serpent that assoon as he perceiveth man ready to throw or strike at him he will presently roul his body for a buckler to save his head even as though he had some impression of that doctrine which God here read him in my Text Ipse conteret tibi caput Beware thy head And thus hitherto I have considered these words as they are the curse of the brute Serpent now I am to go over with them again to shew how they are propounded unto us by God as a glasse wherein to behold the Devils malediction the Serpent being made now the discovery of his vilenesse which once he abused for a mask to hide it from the woman As therefore the Serpent is the most accursed of all the cattell and beasts of the field so is the Devil the most accursed spirit amongst all orders and degrees of spirits namely of the highest of Angels become the abjectest of spirits more base accursed then the most cursed damned soul having little or nothing left him of that good which was sutable to a spirituall condition and this is the state of the Devil for the generall answerable to that of the Serpent Now for the particulars The first is Vpon thy brest shalt thou go How doth this befit the Devil The Devil hath no bodily brest to go upon But as I shewed in the Serpent that this groveling signified the abasement of his whole nature from his primitive excellency so in the Devil it signifies his stooping down and falling from his most sublime and glorious condition A wonderfull stoop this was when that which had been advanced as high as heaven was made to fall down as low yea lower then the earth it self This is the Devils going upon his brest this the groveling of that once so highly reared posture according to that description of Iude ver 6. who cals them the Angels that kept not their first estate but left their own habitation agreeable to that of S. Peter 2 Ep. c. 2. v. 4. God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to hell The second particular is The dust of the earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life The food wherewith spirits are fed is analogicall spirituall and not corporall we must therefore here seek out that which in them hath the fittest resemblance with corporall food The life of Angels consists in the continuall contemplation of the excellent greatnesse wonderfull goodnesse and glorious beauty of the essence of God both as it is in it self and as it is communicated unto his creatures This is that which our Saviour intimates Mat. 18. 10. Their Angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven The