Eleven Choice Sermons, Part 2 · Sermon 4
1 Corinth. 2. 2.
For I determined to know nothing among you, but Chriſt Jeſus, and him Crucified.
AS often as I reade theſe words, mee thinks I conceit, how ſome Phariſaicall Doctor might ſtep up from among the Senate of the Corinthians, accuſing Saint Paul laeſae Majeſtatis, as though he had ſpoken treaſon againſt the Scriptures: even as their Predeceſſors accuſed Chriſt his Maſter of Blaſphemy, when he ſaid, He was the Sonne of God, and when he ſaid to the ſick of the Palſey, Thy ſinnes are forgiven thee, ariſe, take up thy Bed and walke. And as the Athenians once,*foreign. What babler is this, that is ſo laviſh of his aſſertions? And what? Is Chriſt the ſumme of all Divinitie? Is the knowledge of Chriſt Crucified alone ſufficient? foreign, this is an hard ſaying indeed, this is ſhort worke. But what ſhall then become of that goodly frame of the Scripture, with the monuments of Antiquity treaſures of Poeſie, Oracles of Prophecy? Ergo ibit in ignes? Yes Paul, go and take thoſe Tables of ſtone, and in a fit of zeale (forſooth) daſh them in peeces, or ſcrape out thoſe divine characters ingraven therein by the finger of God himſelfe: Nay, goe ranſack the Arke it ſelfe, with ſacrilegious piety, not only looke into it, as the men of Bethſhemeſh did, or touch it, as Vzzah, but ranſack the Arke it ſelfe, and ſacrifice thoſe ſacred volumes to the devouring flames; as the Iewiſh Princes ſerved Ieremies Role: go breake thoſe golden Pens of all the Prophets and Apoſtle, which have dared to ſpeake any thing, but that: I, and digg them out of their graves againe, and burn their bones for Hereticks▪ as the Papiſts did the bones of Bucer and Fagius, in Cambridge, in the dayes of Queene Mary: or elſe, (after a new kinde of perſecution, for ſo Chriſt ſeemes to account it) erect them new Sepulchers, and adore them, as the Phariſees did in Chriſts time. If Chriſt be ſufficient, then why doe you not make an Index expurgatorius for the Bible, (as the Jeſuites have done already for the Fathers) and ſpung out all but Chriſt crucified, for that is ſufficient? whereas the Scripture ſayes†foreign. all Scripture is inſpired of God, profitable, &c. and Chriſt himſelf ſayes, that he came to fulfill, not to diſanull the Scripture.
You heare what the curious Rabbins may object, I dare not undertake to relate what anſwer the Apoſtle might make them, leſt I ſhould ſinke under the gravitie of ſo great a perſon; you may preſume it was divine, ſed noſtro non referenda ſono. But yet becauſe it concernes the Text I have in hand very nearely, I will endeavour in that reſpect to give ſatisfaction.
Every word of God is pure, like Gold tryed in the fire ſeven times, and what was ſaid of the Orator, that the addition or detraction of a word would marre the grace or clyp the meaning of their ſentence, is moſt true in Gods word: and therefore we read this juſt and ſevere ſanction of his Books authority, he that adds to this booke, God ſhall adde to him all the plagues that are written in this booke; Rev. 22. 18 19.hee that detracts any thing, his name ſhall be razed out of the book of life: and what was ſaid in another caſe, is moſt true in this, not an foreign, nor a foreign, not the leaſt letter, nor the leaſt tittle thereof ſhall paſſe, becauſe not ſo much as one of them is idle, or ſuperfluous. And for profit, the very leaves thereof are for the healing of the nations, and the fruit, is the fruit of the tree of life; the leaves are phyſicke, and the fruit is meate; the fruit is preſervative, and the leaves are reſtorative; the leaves are health, the fruit is immortality: for this book is not for ſight, but for meat, as appeares by Iohn, who ate the booke that the Angell gave him, beſide that, it is ſweeter then the hony and the hony combe, as David, that hath taſted, hath teſtified. How then? this reſolution of S. Paul doth not aboliſh the Scripture, but eſtabliſh it: for Chriſt crucified and faith in him, is the ſumme and ſcope of all the Scripture.
And thus you ſee, I have overtaken, or rather, met with the ſame point, and in the ſame place where I left it the laſt time: for, as you may remember, after I had treated of the ſufficiency of faith in Chriſt, I propounded conſequently, that it was the ſumme of Divinitie, and the ſcope of the Scripture: that it was the ſumme of Divinitie, as I could, I then evinced, by caſting up the reckoning of both the parts thereof, faith, and obedience, which amounted to no more but this: for wee found that Chriſt was the foundation of faith, and the fountaine of obedience, the Iacobs Ladder, of aſcent and deſcent, deſcent of God to man, aſcent of man to God: and as the Spouſe ſpeaks in the Ganticles, he is Sigillum cordis, & Sigillum brachii, for he is the ſtampe of faith in the heart, that is Sigillum cordis, and he is the ſtampe of good works in the hand, that is Sigillum brachii: in the hands*foreign. the following character, but in the heart the†foreign. leading character, for he is both Sigillum cordis and Sigillum brachii, as the Spouſe ſpeaks in the Canticles. Thus is Chriſt the ſumme of Divinitie.
It remaines now then that we ſhould cleare the other, that he is the Scope of all the Scripture: which I will do firſt in generall, and ſo leade you on into the particulars. In generall, this may be demonſtrated, by that which hath been before delivered: for if faith in Christ be the Epitome of the Rule of Divinitie, then needs muſt it be ſo likewiſe of the Scripture that containes that Rule: and that in a double reſpect.
1. As the immutable ſubſtance of the Rule is conſidered, the ſubſtance was alway that which leads man to eternall Salvation, which is by Chriſt Ieſus only: and this is the maine ſcope of the Scripture in generall.
For all the ſonnes of Adam being guilty of high treaſon againſt the moſt High: the hand writing of the Law inditeing us: Heaven and earth witneſsing againſt us: the Grand jurie of the bleſſed Angels finding us guiltie: our owne conſciences anſwering guilty; what remaines, but to heare the terrible ſentence of condemnation pronounced againſt us, by the mouth of the moſt juſt Judge, the Lord Almightie? Yet the mercy of the Lord was ſuch, that when the Law had caſt us, the Lord called us to pardon. And as the Clergie of our Land is priviledged in many caſes to have their booke: ſo was it his pleaſure, to give his foreign, his inheritance, his peculiar, their booke, that by their booke they may be ſaved, and this booke is the booke of the Scripture.
The Scripture againe is the Letter of the Almightie to the ſonnes of men (as one cals it) indited by God himſelfe, and the Angell of his great counſell Chriſt Ieſus (for ſo Eſay ſtiles him) together with his Spirit, penned by his principall Secretaries the holy Prophets and Apoſtles, and ſealed with the blood of the Lamb: let me goe a little further, they are the Literae laureatae, the Superſcription is, To the faithfull, the Salutation is Salutem in Chriſto: The Argument is nothing but a Proclamation of a generall pardon in his name to all penitent and believing ſinners.
This is the Summe of the Scriptures in generall, and this is the firſt demonſtration that Christ is the ſumme thereof: becauſe Divinitie and it, like two twinnes, keepe pace with a mutuall correſpondency, like two parallels, runne on in equall extent, beginning and ending both together, and the ſumme of the one is the ſumme of the other, and the ſumme of both is eternall happines, which is to bee looked for, and can bee found in Chriſt alone.
2. This is the firſt proportion we find between them: the ſecond offers it ſelfe to your conſideration, as the Scripture may be accommodated to the mutable circumſtances of the Rule, according to the difference of time before and after Christ.
The Lord made in the beginning duo magna Luminaria, the great to rule the day, and the leſſe to rule the night, the Sunne and the Moone. Much like to this, there be two portions of the light which God hath revealed, concerning our ſalvation, given to guide two times: the old Teſtament, the leſſer light, like the Moone, to rule the night of ignorance, when the Doctrine of the Meſſiah was more obſcurely delivered: the New, the greater light, like the Sun, to rule the day of knowledge, which the faithfull have injoyed, ever ſince Chriſt the Sunne of righteouſneſſe appeared. When it was night there muſt needs be many Ceremonies, like many ſhadowes, and many humours, by reaſon of the feeble light▪ and heat the influence of the Moone afforded, which the vertue of the Sun hath ſince dryed up or driven away.
Or, the Old Teſtament is like the light created the firſt day, which though it wanted that glorious and reſplendent luſtre, yet it ſeparated betweene night and day, Goſhen and Egypt, the beloved City and the Gentiles: and the porportion holds of a day to a thouſand yeares, for a thouſand yeares is as but a day in thy ſight, ſaith the Pſalmiſt: and ſo as the Sunne was ſet in his Tabernacle the fourth day of the world; ſo the Sunne of righteouſneſſe came in the 4000. yeare of the World, in the Tabernacle of his fleſh, to fulfill all righteouſneſſe. And perhaps the 19. Pſalme may have ſome relation to this compariſon: for there the Sunne is deſcribed, tanquam Sponſus, as Chriſt is deſcribed, tanquam Sponſus Eccleſiae: and the Prophet ſlides there from the Sunne, it may be becauſe of this Analogie, to the Elogies of the Scripture.
Now both theſe were the ſame light, for the Moone receives hers from the Sunne, and the light of the Sunne is but the conglobation of the firſt light: Even as both the Teſtaments teach but one Chriſt, for he only dyed for us, and therefore they are both his Teſtaments.
The Old Teſtament containes him in the Hieroglyphicks of Sacrifices, and Types, and Ceremonies: the New, in legible and ordinary characters: in the old, he was like the corne in the eare, in the New, like the corne ſhaken out. in the Old, like the Mannah which was hidden in a pot, for he is that hidden Mannah, in the Arke: in the New, like the Shew-bread, that was ſet upon the Table: in both of them, the ſame Chriſt, heri, hodie & in aeternum idem Chriſtus: yeſterday, in the Old Teſtament, under the time of the Law; to day, in the New Teſtament, under the time of the Goſpell: yeſterday and to day and for ever the ſame Chriſt, who is God bleſsed for ever.
For they both are but one booke, but the booke that was ſhut before by the comming of the Lamb is opened, for the Lambe opened the booke that we may fetch a reſemblance of this Revelation, out of the booke of the Revelation. Compare the Miniſters of both the covenants, and we ſhall ſee the ſame: for as it was ſaid once,*foreign. What is Plato or Moſes Atticizing? ſo we may ſay now,†foreign. What is Ieſus or Moſes Evangelizing? Nay, it is even the ſame Moſes, only the vaile is removed, and we ſee him retectâ facie.
Divines have ſaid as much, that the Old Teſtament is but Novum involutum, and the new, but Vetus revelatum: as the Stoicks of old ſaid of Rhetorick and Logick; comparing them to pugnus & palma, as though the difference were no more but in contraction and explication, obſcurity and perſpicuitie. This ſhall ſerve for the propoſition of my ſecond generall Reaſon: that the Old and New Teſtament, contain nothing but faith in Chriſt Ieſus.
But theſe two are the whole Scripture: ſome have gathered out of thoſe words of Chriſt, Matth. 13. 52. Every Scribe learned to the Kingdome of Heaven, is like a certaine houſhoulder, which brings out of his treaſure old and new: The conſequution is but idle, but the concluſion is infallible, that there is no more Scripture, but the old and new Teſtament.
And thus many God would have for the confirmation of our Faith, that in the mouth of two or three witneſſes every word might ſtand. For though Origen do but deſcant upon thoſe words, when he ſayes, in the mouth of two, that is the old and new Testaments; and in the mouth of three, that is, Prophets, Evangeliſts, Apoſtles, the truth of the word, the word of truth ſhall ſtand aſſured: yet this is moſt certaine, that the foretelling, and fulfilling of the ſame thing, I ſay, the ſame thing foretold ſo long before it was fulfilled, and fulfilled ſo long after it was foretold, makes exceedingly for the ſupporting of our faith, as being an invincible argument, that this word is the word of the eternall God, before whom all times are preſent.
The ſecond Teſtament then, like Rachel and Leah, build the faith of the elect; like two ſiſters inſeparable companions hold hand in hand: chained faſter together then the invincible Armado: for Malachie gives his Lampe to Marke, as they did in the games at Athens, and Marke takes it where he leaves it, the end of Malachie reaches to the beginning of Marke: Mark begins, and Malachie ends with Iohn Baptiſt: ſo are they ſecretly ſodered together, and holding hands (take this by the way) they plucke a Crow with the Apocrypha, if I may ſo ſpeake in ſo grave an argument.
Upon theſe premiſes, that the old and new Testament containe nothing but the doctrine of Faith in Chriſt, and ſalvation by Chriſt, and yet they two make up the intire body of the Scripture, and this is my inference, that Faith in Christ is the ſcope of the Scripture.
I deſcend now from the generall to the particular declaration of this point: And firſt, for the old Testament.
To let goe all their Types and Ceremonies, with the whole ancient ſtate of Religion among the Iewes, which all had reference to the comming of Chriſt the promiſed Meſſiah, which make a great part of the argument of the booke of the firſt covenant, becauſe I touched them the laſt time: and to let paſſe whole bookes which have nothing but this, as the booke of Ruth, a Grand-mother of Chriſt, and the Booke of the Canticles, a ſweet Epithalamie, or ſpouſall of Chriſt and his Church, I will divide it for this time into two portions, Hiſtoricall and Propheticall, and make good the point in either of them, and that briefly, becauſe I perceive that my entrance hath exceeded already the ſcantling of time allotted to this exerciſe, and becauſe I reſolve to end this at this time, that ſo I may ſet afreſh upon the uſe of this Doctrine.
The Hiſtoricall part of the old Teſtament, beſide the hiſtorie of life openly propounded, containes the myſterie of faith alſo ſweetly couched therin: as will eaſily appeare, if you doe but conſider the periods of times, the context and continuation of the ſtorie, with the remarkable examples here and there diſperſed.
A man would thinke thoſe many Genealogies and many names very harſh and teadious, like craggy mountaines full of ſtones, but barren of all fruit: but if you will vouchſafe to make but a little inquiſition, foreign, to digge into the bowels of thoſe mountaines, you ſhall find a golden vaine, a golden chaine, conſiſting of many linkes, from the firſt Adam to the ſecond Adam, to derive his pedigree and ſhew his generation, of whom Eſay ſayes, Who can tell his generation, for hee is the eternall Word of his Father, and the ancient of dayes.
And I pray tell me, wherefore is there ſuch a curious context of ſucceſſion from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to David, from David to Zorubabell, from Zorubabel to Mary, but to draw a golden line (as you have ſeene the golden line in the Genealogies) a via lactea to lead to Chriſt, in whom all Genealogies are ended, and accounted by Paul in the ſame ranke with Mataeologies, and old wives Fables. And therefore Matthew begins his Goſpell with this, and cals it foreign, a Booke, a Bible, becauſe this is the very Map and Epitome of the whole Bible, as it was in the old Teſtament, that he might by this divine art of inſinuation, teach the end and uſe of all that was then written.
The like may be picked out of the very names there regiſtred; for though the conceit of the Cabaliſts be fond and vaine, that patch up the names of Mary and Ieſus, by a ſtrange Alchymie of Rapſodies and Anagrams, out of diverſe paſſages of the Scripture, yet this ought to be of ſome importance, that religious parents impoſed ſuch names to their children, as might be monuments of the Meſſiah: Maſter Broughton hath obſerved many, and I ſpare to repeate any.
View againe the Succeſsion of Kings, Prieſts and Prophets, you ſhall finde that all thoſe ſeverall currents emptie themſelves into Chriſt, as rivers into the Ocean, and Crown him with a triple Crown, for hee is the King, Prieſt and Prophet of his Church, of whoſe comming all the reſt were but Harbengers. I ſay, they three, like the three Wiſemen, offer Gold, and Myrrhe, and Frankincenſe, and ſo make a triple Crowne for Christ: and ſo again, make a three twined ſcourge, to whip the uſurping Whore out of the Temple of God, as Chriſt ſerved the Truckſters, buyers and ſellers, and money changers.
Thus is the ſeries of the ſtorie contracted into Chriſt the ſumme of all, the ſame leſſon may be read written in great letters (that hee that runnes may read them) in thoſe many illuſtrious examples, of all thoſe three kinds recorded in Scripture: ſo that if there were not many expreſſe notes, yet there were many notable impreſſions, many viſtigia omnia te adverſum ſpectantia, all looking to Christ-ward, each of them giving a taſte of that which Chriſt performed in all fulneſſe.
1 For Prieſts, I need not name any, becauſe they all repreſented Chriſt, if not in their perſonall excellencies, yet in their officiall performances.
2. For Prophets, I will name a few, becauſe they were ſo many: Two aſcended into Heaven, Enoch before the Law, Elias in the Law: thus was Chriſts aſcenſion, who was primitiae dormientium, a maine Article of our faith prefigured: Three before Chriſt were raiſed from the dead, one by Eliah, another by Eliſha, a third, by touching the bones of Eliſha being dead, revived: even as three were raiſed in the Goſpell, the daughter of Iairus in the houſe, the Widowes ſon in the gate, Lazarus ſtinking in the grave: thus was one of the greateſt miracles of our Saviour, and his owne reſurrection, who was primitiae dormientium, prefigured. Elias after his wearie perſecution by Ahab, lying under the Juniper tree, complained, and deſired that he might die: ſo did Ionas, when the Sunne beate upon his head, after the Gourd was withered, and ſomething more frowardly: thus was the paſſion of Chriſt prefigured, and the moſt uncouth exigent thereof: for when the wrath of God the Father, like the rayes of the Sunne, beat upon him, when hee hung upon the Croſſe, then was hee brought under the Juniper tree: for the heat of the heat of the wrath of God, was hotter than Juniper coales, yet he underwent it for the love of us men, and our ſalvation conſtrained him, for the fire of love is hotter then the coales of Juniper: Moſes and Elias faſted forty dayes in the Wilderneſſe, ſo did Chriſt; who notwithſtanding fed five thouſand with five loaves, as Eliſha typically had done before him.
I had intended to have propounded more; but it ſhall be enough digitum ad fontes, as they ſay, to have ſet the wheeles of your better meditations a going.
3. Many Kings and Iudges were types of Christ, in the ſtorie, as Moſes a lawgiver in the Wilderneſſe, Ioſua a foreign of the true foreign, a Mediator of the true Mediator, a leader of Iſrael into the land of Canaan, a Ioſua of the true Ioſua, the true Ieſus; David that fought the Lords battailes, and foiled the great Goliah, that defied the hoaſt of Iſrael, Salomon the beloved of the Lord; the Prince of peace, and otherwiſe were they but glaſſes which did not bound the light, but tranſported the godly to the contemplation of Chriſt.
The accommodation is eaſie, but I haſten: yet I cannot paſſe by the type of Sampſon, it was ſo lively: for as Sampſon by his owne death was the death of thouſands of Philiſtims, and David ſlew Goliah with his owne ſword: ſo Christ overcame death, by undergoing death, and brake the head of the Serpent, by ſuffering him to bruiſe his heel: for in him the fiction of Achilles is no fiction, that being otherwhere impenetrable, his heele was not: for Chriſt was only penetrable in his heele, his humanitie, his Deitie remaining altogether impaſſible.
I am raviſhed with delight in theſe ſacred reliques of antiquitie: yet I muſt cut off what I thought to have added: and me thinks I heare ſome wondring, what all this makes to the argument in hand: I anſwer, as Tamar convinced Iudah by his ſtaffe and his ſignet, and Theſeus his foreign, that made him knowne, were a paſport and certificate to his father of his legitimation: ſo Christ is acknowledge to be Ieſus, to be Meſsiah, by theſe performances: for theſe are the teſſerae of commerce, the watch word betweene the old and new. Teſtament: the badges of the whole booke, proclaiming to us they doe belong: the joynts and gimmers by which either of them is (as it were) ſcrued into the other: Mercuriall ſtatues, pointing the way to Christ: Starres in ſtorie, like the ſtarre that appeared to the Wiſemen, guiding them to Bethlehem, where it ſtood ſtill: for all ended in Christ, and he is the end of all.
Thus the Hiſtoricall part of the old Teſtament is full of Aſterisks, and hands, and lines, that draw the intelligent reader to Chriſt. To conclude this point, this is the uſe of Genealogies, to track the way of ſalvation, by the golden line that leades to Chriſt: and this is the wiſdome of wiſemen, to follow the conduct of the ſtarre, till we come to him, who is the true morning-ſtar, the true Load-ſtarre that guides our wandring feet in our wearie pilgrimage to eternall reſt in the heavenly Canaan.
The Propheticall part is more plaine by many degrees almoſt palpable: for there was not any thing almoſt fulfilled by Chriſt, but it was foretold by the Prophets, as there was not any thing foretold by the Prophets, which was not fulfilled by Chriſt. See this, 1. In the maine Articles of the Creed: he was borne of the Virgin Mary, Eſay 7. 14ſo Eſay, Behold a Virgin ſhall conceive, and beare: Suffered under Pilate; ſo Iacob, Gen 49. 10The Scepter ſhall not depart from Iuda, till Shilo come: Crucified, As the Serpent was lifted up in the Wilderneſſe: Dan. 9. 26.Dead, The Meſsiah ſhall bee ſlaine, ſaith Daniel: Buried, Thou wilt not leave my ſoule in grave, ſaid David in his perſon: the third day he roſe againe, for it was impoſſible that the paines of death ſhould hold him, as was ſignified in Ionas, comming out of the Whales bellie: He aſcended into Heaven, as Enoch and Elias, types of him had done: Sitteth at the right hand of God the Father, ſo David, the Lord ſaid unto my Lord, Pſa. 110. 1.ſit thou at my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footſtoole.
2. Becauſe Chriſt crucified more ſpecially makes for our purpoſe; conſider it of his paſsion in ſpeciall: he was betrayed, he that eateth bread with me, Pſal. 41. 9.my familiar in whom I trusted, ſaith David: ſold for thirty pieces of ſilver: ſome would have it to anſwer to the price of the ointment that Mary powred upon his feet, becauſe Iudas murmured: and ſo that hee did it, ut impleretur, that the bagge might be filled: thus the covetous Traitor ſhould have ſold the annointed of the Lord, to have gained the ointment, but this was not it: here was the true reaſon, ut impleretur, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, that ſaid ſo much, Zach. 11. 12. So they weighed my price thirty pieces of ſilver, a goodly price, that I was prized of them: he was Crucified betweene two Thieves, for ſo ſaith the Scripture, with the wicked was he counted.
3. Nay, even petty things were not omitted: he thirſted, well might he thirſt, who was ſo ſcorched with the heat, and preſſed with the weight of Gods wrath that he ſweat water and blood, and therefore well might he ſay he thirſted, ut impleretur, that he might quench it, but this was the maine cauſe, ut impleretur, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, for it was meat and drink for him to doe his fathers will: they gave him vinegar to drinke, ſo David: They caſt lots for my garments, ſo ſaid he, upon my vesture have they caſt lots: his ſide was peirced with a ſpear, Pſal. 21. 18. Zac. 12. 10even that ſpeare was guided by a prophesie: ſo ſaith David foreign not foreign: ſo Zacharie, they ſhall ſee him whom they have pierced. I might be infinite: and Matthew alone hath gathered thirty two prophecies, and applyed them to him, with this burden or underſong, ut impleretur quod dictum erat per Prophetas▪
I end this point with that of Peter, Act. 10. 43. To him give all the Prophets witneſſe, that through his name whoſoever believeth in him ſhall receive remiſſion of ſinnes: the place is very plaine, and thoſe words of the Prophets are thriſe repeated in the third of that booke: for all the Prophets are many times Boanerges, ſonnes of thunder, and then indeed they fetch all from Mount Sinai, where there were thunder and lightning and earthquakes when the Law was given: but all theſe ſtormes uſually end in ſome calme of conſolation: and when they would be Barnabas, ſons of conſolation, they fetch all from Mount Sion, the ſweet promiſes of the Meſsiah, and ſteepe all their words in his blood.
Thus Chriſt is the ſcope of the Propheticall part of the old Teſtament: I ſhould ſhew the ſame in the new alſo, but it will be needleſſe: every letter foreign, by the very ſound, as the Orator ſpeakes, avouches this truth: The foure Evangeliſts, what are they but the ſtorie of his life and death?Ioh. 20. 31 Let Iohn ſpeake for them all, Theſe things are written, that ye might believe in Chriſt Ieſus, and believing have everlaſting life, through his name: I will not hunt for compariſons, nor ſhew what reference they have to the foure beaſts in Ezekiel: but me thinkes all the reſt aime at his humanitie more principally: Iohn only, like the Eagle, is quicker eyed, and as though he had ſome window into his breaſt, as well as he leaned on his breaſt, hee peirceth through the vaile of his fleſh to his Divinity, and draws his pedigree from heaven through eternitie.
And the Providence of the Lord is worth obſervation, that he would have foure to write this ſtorie, all in a moſt celeſtiall harmony; two of which, the two Apoſtles Matthew and Iohn were ocular, and two, the two Evangeliſts Mark and Luke auricular witneſſes of that which they wrote, that all pretext of doubting might be excluded.
The Acts have nothing but the ſame Chriſt preached among the Gentiles, for he brake downe the wall of ſeparation. And as after the flood, there was a confuſion of tongues, to hinder the building of Babel: ſo was there the effuſion of the gift of tongues, to further the building of the heavenly Ieruſalem, that all knees might bow, and all tongues confeſſe that Ieſus is the Lord.
All the Epiſtles have no other argument but ſalvation by Chriſt, as may appeare out of the ſalutation, Grace and peace in Chriſt Ieſus, grace the beginning, and peace the perfection of all happineſſe, and both by Chriſt Ieſus.
And it is obſerved, that the very name of Ieſus is uſed by Paul alone, above five hundred times: and no wonder, for there be in it a thouſand treaſures, as Chryſoſtome ſaid, yea all the treaſures of wiſdome and knowledge and comfort, are hid and lockt up in him: The whole Revelation what is it but a Commonitorie for the obſervation of the government of the Church by Chriſt, the King thereof, and the expectation of his glorious comming, as the concluſion of all evidences, Come Lord Ieſus, come quickly,
Tanquam habeat ſcriptum tota tabella, veni.
That I may didicate an Egyptian Jewell to the ſervice of the Tabernacle.
And thus I ſhut up this part, that Chriſt is the ſumme of both Old and New Teſtament: in theſe three differences, as to come in the Old, and in the New as come, and to come againe to judgement.
And me thinks, thoſe two are like the two Cherubims, that ſhadowed one Mercy-ſeat, their faces were one toward another, and their wings; but both toward Chriſt the Mercy-ſeat: like Ezekiels viſion, where the foure creatures ſtirred and ſtood ſtill both together: whoſe wheels were, as it were, one wheele within another, and Chriſt in all: like the Spies, that returned to Moſes out of Canaan: for as they brought the cluſters of Grapes (a map of that good Land) betweene them, ſo the two Teſtaments bring nothing but Chriſt betweene them: now Chriſt is the true Vine, as himſelf ſayes, like the cluſters of Grapes, as the Spouſe ſpeaks: and his blood is the Wine of the Sacrament, the wine that maketh glad the heart of the faithfull, which was ſcruzed out of his body upon the Croſſe, the Winepreſse of Gods wrath; where you may behold him excellently, tanquam uva paſſa, Christ Crucified.
And therefore Chriſt is like the hinges, upon which the whole frame of time, upon which the bifores valvae of the houſe of the Sunne, the two Tabernacles, the two gates of Heaven, doe hang and turne themſelves.
And now I hope, though this my diſcourſe bee very imperfect, yet it will not bee altogether impertinent or unprofitable: for this one point, that faith in Chriſt crucified is the ſumm of al the Scripture, well conſidered, muſt needs give very much light to the reading of every part thereof: it will be like a key, to unlock the meaning, and ſo make way to the rich treaſure therein, like a clue of thread, to lead us thorow many intricate Labyrinths therof. And this makes me call to mind, what I forgat even now, that the red thread that Rahab hung out of her window, when Iericho was beſeiged, was an Embleme of Chriſt Crucified, by whom all the faithfull muſt be ſaved from eternall death, as ſhe was then preſerved from preſent deſtruction: much bettet then Leucotheae vitta, or Ariadnes filum.
Let me wind up all that hath beene ſaid, Chriſt is the ſumme of all Divinity: me thinks the Clypeus fidei, is like that Clypeus Phidiae, the Buckler of faith like the buckler of Phidias, that Hiſtorians ſpeake of, I meane the Buckler of Minerva, which Phidias made: for as in it he had ſo curiouſly intrailed his owne name, that it could not be taken out without the diſſolution of the whole frame; ſo hath Chriſt ſo divinely wrought his name in the worke of ſalvation, the rule of Divinitie, that it cannot be taken out, but that golden chaine, that ſeries cauſarum, will all fall in ſunder.
The Epheſians, when Croeſus beſeiged them, chained their City to the Temple of Diana, the Tyrians theirs, when Alexander, to the Statue of Hercules: and ſo all the precepts of Divinitie ſeem to be chained to the Croſſe of Chriſt: he is the umbilicus, where all the intrails are knit together, the Center, where all lines meet: and therefore in the Creed of twelve Articles, ten of them concern him, and beſide the other two of God the Father, and the Holy Ghoſt, have their dependance on him too, for he hath obtained the Spirit for us, and by him we have acceſse unto the Father, as I ſhewed before.
And therefore as in the firſt book we learn, the Croſſe begins the row, as though all the 24. Letters were but Commentaries upon the Croſſe: ſo ſurely, this is the ſumm of all our learning, to learn to know Chriſt Ieſus and him Crucified.
Againe, Chriſt is the Scope of all the Scriptures, Me thinks, the Scripture is a Ring of Gold, which Chriſt hath given his Spouſe the Church, as a token of his love, and himſelfe, like the Diamond in the Ring: the Scripture is the field mentioned in the Goſpell, and Chriſt like the jewell in the field, which a wiſe Merchant knowing of, would ſell all he hath to purchaſe: the Scripture the box, and Chriſt the ointment, precioſum opobalſamum in gemmeo myrothecio: and therefore Chriſt is called foreign the Word, as though every word ſounded of Chriſt, and all the Word of God were nothing elſe: and Chriſt is the Alpha and Omega thereof, as himſelf ſayes, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end; for all the Letters, without which the Spirit in the Scripture breaths not, for ſo foreign ſignifies, or Alpha and Omega, the two principall for all the Vowels, without which all the Scripture is but a mute Letter, a dead Letter, I may ſay, a killing Letter: and for him the Scripture it ſelfe is called foreign, the Bible, the booke, becauſe it is the only book, containing this knowledg, which alone is ſufficient, and which is only neceſſary to eternall ſalvation.
In a word to cloſe up all, the knowledge of Chriſt crucified, is the Theme of Theologie, the Scope of the Scripture, the Pith of all Pietie, as Paul excellently layes it downe, Epheſ. 2. 19. For through him we have acceſſe by one Spirit to the Father, being no more ſtrangers, and forreiners, but fellow-Citizens with the Saints, and of the houſhold of God, and are built upon the foundation of the Apoſtles and Prophets, Ieſus Chriſt himſelfe being the chiefe cornerſtone, in whom all the building fitly framed together, foreign, groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord. &c. you ſee the knot that holds all together. And thus much for the explication of this Text.