Eleven Choice Sermons, Part 2 · Sermon 3
1 Corinth. 2. 2.
For I determined to know nothing among you, but Chriſt Jeſus, and him Crucified.
WHen I firſt tooke this place in hand, I thought to have finiſhed it out of hand, the ſame time I began: but it fared with me, as it did with Simonides, who, the more time they gave him to aſſoyle the queſtion, what God was, the more he craved. And what marvaile, ſince Chriſt is the argument we have in hand? They talk of a fabulous purſe of Fortunatus, I thinke few are ſo credulous to believe it; but this we may and muſt believe, for the Spirit of truth avouches it, that in Chriſt are hid all the treaſures of wiſdome and knowledge: and who is ſo impious, as once to call it into queſtion? We read in the golden Legend of Poets, of a fruitfull tree, of which he ſayes, —Vno avulſo non deficit alter Aureus— and ſomething like, in Alcinous's Garden: but Chriſt is the tree of life, in the middeſt of the Paradiſe of God, whoſe fruits are of twelve ſorts, according to the ſeaſons of the yeare, and according to the families of the houſe of Iſrael, whoſe leaves alſo were for the healing of the Nations: how much more golden then that one, fruitfull then thoſe other? We are beholding to Polydore Virgil and ancient Hiſtories, that call our England, Puteus inexhauſtus, for the ſtore of commodities: but Chriſt is a fountaine, better then that Well of Iacob, a Fountaine, of whoſe water whoſoever drinketh, ſhall never thirſt againe: For, he is a fountaine of living water, ſpringing up to everlaſting life. What doe I ſpeake of Fables? They ſay it's true of the Oyle at Rhemes, that though it be continually ſpent in the inauguration of their Kings of France, yet it never waſteth; and this they attribute of the croſſe to the bleſſing: I am ſure, it is true of the Oyle in the Cruſe of the Widow of Sarepta, that it fed her houſe, and failed not: though they be falſe and fooliſh which would father that miracle upon the Croſſe too, which they find in the ſticks that ſhe gathered, which they ſay lay a croſſe, as well it may be, as Helena found her croſſe: and as true, I am ſure it is, that Chriſt crucified is the pot of Mannah, the Cruſe of Oyle, a bottomleſſe Ocean of all comfort to the faithfull: he is rivers of oyle, and his ſteps drop fatneſſe: for this cauſe received the Spirit without meaſure, and was annointed with the oyle of gladneſſe above his fellowes: and in him God is, as he cals himſelfe, I am, becauſe in him hee is all good, that the heart of the godly can wiſh or want: he is that benedictum medicamentum, *foreign.that annointing medicine, the only†foreign. all-healing medicine againſt all diſeaſes, the only foreign, againſt all danger. To conclude, as Demoſthenes ſaid of Pronunciation, that it was primum, ſecundum, tertium, in all Rhetorick: ſo may I ſay of Salvation, it is primum, ſecundum, tertium, in all Divinitie, and in it, Chriſt is all in all.
And thus I ſee I have taken up my ſpeech where I let it fall the laſt time: for if you remember, when I ended I ſaid a great word, That faith in Chriſt crucified, was the theme of all Theologie, the ſcope of all the Scripture; which now that I may liberare fidem, I muſt endeavour to make good.
I feare not that you ſhould thinke I make quidlibet ex quolibet, as Alchymiſts they ſay can fetch oyle out of flint, and as the Papiſts ſay, the Scripture is a noſe of wax, and make it ſo, when they conclude the Popes ſupremacie out of Peters walking on the waters: for I ſee my Text will warrant me in what I have ſaid: for if Paul would preach nothing but Chriſt Ieſus, and him Crucified, and yet was to preach all that was neceſſarie to ſalvation, then queſtionleſſe he judged Chriſt crucified to bee the ſumme of all: beſide this evidence that convinced me, neceſſity compelled me to take this courſe: for when I ſought for witneſſes of that I had delivered in the Scripture, the whole booke of God offered it ſelfe: and therefore in ſuch copious plentie, I deemed this the moſt compendious path, to prove that in generall, which otherwiſe would have proved infinite, if I had once minced it into the particulars.
Having thus ſcoured the way, I come now to enter upon the point, to ſhew, that faith in Chriſt is the ſumme of Divinitie, the ſcope of the Scripture: and firſt, I will begin with Divinitie, becauſe the rule of it being the Analogie of faith, will light us in the ſearch of the ſecrets of the Scripture, and lead us into the native meaning therof with more facility: and this I will apply to the double conſideration of Divinitie, both in the maine ſubſtance, which was alway the ſame, and the mutable circumſtances therof, which according to divers times had ſome diverſitie.
The maine ſubſtance of Divinitie was alway that Doctrine and Rule that chalked out the way, in which man was to walk to eternall ſalvation, and eternall happineſſe: which will eaſily appeare to be ſummarily compriſed in faith, if that be true, which is moſt true, which I have already proved, that it is ſufficient to attaine ſalvation: and the ſame will ſhine yet more brightly, if we do but lay downe the ſeverals of the art, for this will be the ſumme that all will amount to, this will be the Epitome of all, even Chriſt Ieſus, who is the foundation of faith, and the fountaine of all obedience, which are both, and all the parts of Divinitie.
Take theſe aſunder now, and conſider them ſeverally: That Chriſt is the foundation of our faith, I will alledge but one place for it: heare what Paul ſaith, 1 Tim. 3. 16. Great is the myſterie of godlines, God manifeſted in the fleſh, juſtified in the Spirit, ſeene of Angels, preached of Men, believed in the World, received into glory. See here the myſterie, the whole myſterie of godlineſſe, and that a great myſterie, yea, and without controverſie, great is the myſtery of godlineſſe; and yet this is all, even Christ Ieſus.
Reaſon it ſelfe will ſubſcribe to this Article, and proove it too: for you know, the object of faith is God alone, and by it we are united unto him, and this was the condition of our integritie: our bodies were temples of his bleſſed Spirit, and the delight of the Lord was in the ſonnes of men: but now having provoked him to indignation againſt us, by our voluntarie tranſgreſſion, his mind is alienated, and the caſe is altered: his good Spirit being grieved, is departed from us, and he frowns upon us with an angry countenance: neither can it be otherwiſe, for he could not love his owne juſtice, if he did not hate our iniquitie.
We may read our miſery in Adams ſtory, who after his ſinne, when he heard the voyce of the Lord walking in the Garden, was afraid, and hid himſelfe: And againe, in the children of Iſrael, who hearing the terrible thunders, and ſeeing the thick flaſhes of lightning, and the mountaine ſmoaking, when the Law was given at Mount Sinai, in a great fright, came to Moſes, and ſaid, Speake thou unto us, and we will heare, but let not God ſpeake to us, lest we die: and the reaſon of this is, becauſe our guiltie conſcience ſuggeſts no other conceit of God unto us, but as of an angry Judge, who is cloathed with revenge and terrour, as with a garment, and whoſe garments are dyed in blood, as the Prophet elſewhere ſpeaketh. Moſes à foreign. And theſe examples teach us, in what need we ſtand of a Mediator, who might treate of peace, and make an attonement for us; for otherwiſe, what faith, what confidence can we have in God, whom ſinne hath made our enemie? Now Chriſt alone is that Mediator: for hee by his ſuffering hath ſmooth'd his Fathers brow, having ſatisfied his juſtice: and beſide hath purchaſed his Spirit for us, who teacheth us to call him Abba Father; and through whom we have acceſſe with boldneſse to the throne of grace: therefore he is the foundation of our faith, which was the firſt part of Divinitie.
He is (in the ſecond place) the fountaine of all obedience: I will content my ſelfe here alſo with one place, looke Phil. 1. 9 And this I pray (ſaith S. Paul) that your love may abound yet more and more, in all knowledge, and in all judgement: and in the 11. againe, that ye may be fild with all the fruits of righteouſneſſe which are by Ieſus Chriſt, to the praiſe and glory of God: behold here, love in all knowledge, and that love in aboundance, and that aboundance yet more and more: behold againe the fruits of righteouſneſſe▪ and all the fruits, and a fulneſſe of all the fruits, and yet all this, and more, if more may be, by Ieſus Chriſt, for he is the Tree planted by the rivers of water, of which the Pſalmist ſpeaketh, who is tranſplanted out of the old Adam, and ingrafted into the new, which is Chriſt, he is the tree that bringeth forth her fruit in her ſeaſon: for as ſoone as we are in him, ingrafted into his ſtocke, watered with his blood, warmed with his Spirit, who is the Sunne of righteouſneſſe, we are inabled to bring forth the fruits of Righteouſneſse.
And well may he challenge this intereſt in all our obedience in a triple right.
1. Becauſe he hath performed all obedience in his owne perſon, but in our name, and therefore for us.
2. Becauſe all the abilitie we have to performe any thing, is his gift, and the worke of his Spirit in our hearts: For of our ſelves, as of our ſelves, we can do nothing, but it is he that worketh in us both the will and the deed.
3. Becauſe he hides the deformities and waſhes away the ſpots of our actions, for otherwiſe, all our righteouſneſſe is as a menstruous cloth: he perfects all our imperfect performances. Survey but all the parts of obedience, you ſhall find this true. In the obſervation of the Decalogue, it is worth the obſervation, that this is the preface, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the houſe of bondage: we muſt be let at libertie by Chriſt, out of the bondage of Egypt, out of the fetters of ſinne and Satan, before we can ſet a ſtep in the way of Gods Commandements. And for our prayers, we need no other Beades, or bed-roll, Chriſt is the only Pearle of price in them: it is his Spirit that kindles the fire of our zeale, that teaches us how to pray, for we know not how to pray as we ought: and it is himſelfe aſcending in the flame of our ardent deſires, as he did once in Manoahs ſacrifice, that makes God ſmell a ſweet ſavour, which otherwiſe, would ſtinke in his noſthrils, would be an abomination, and turne to ſinne. For as Themiſtocles preſented himſelfe to the King of the Moloſsi, under the protection of his ſon, and that was foreign, as Plutarch obſerves: ſo unleſſe we come to God, in the name of his ſonne, there is little hope of ſpeeding: unleſſe Iacob come in the garments of his elder brother Eſau, there is ſmall likelihood of a bleſsing; and ſo unleſſe we come cloathed with the Robes of Chriſt our elder brother: but if we do, behold it is foreign, yea, the Lord will bleſſe us, as Iſaac ſaid, and we ſhall be bleſſed: The Sacrament receiving, is the laſt act of our obedience, which without Christ are but cold and dead carkaſes of Lions, unprofitable.
In a word therefore, Christ alone is he that adds value, and vertue to our weake faith; beautie, to our ſtained obedience: being the very foundation of our faith, and the fountaine of our obedience: as I have ſhewed of each of them ſeverally taken, and will endeavour to the doe ſame of both joyntly conſidered.
If you looke for the proper place of faith in Christ, in the bodie of Divinitie, you ſhall find it ſeated in the very center, where it ſtands in a double relation, of that which goes before, and that which followes after.
That which goes before, is the former part of the Rule of Faith, which all mooves to it: that which followes after it, is the Rule of life, and is all mooved from it, and all the lines of either meet in it.
As it repreſents a Center, it is the heart of Divinitie. For, as in the naturall generation, the heart is firſt articulated, and then the other parts: ſo in our ſpirituall regeneration, faith in Chriſt is firſt formed, before any other graces; and therefore Paul cals the Galatians, his Children, of whom he travelled in birth, till Christ were formed in them: foreign.
As wee looke upon it in that double relation, (me thinks) upward and downeward, it expreſſes Iacobs ladder which appeared in a viſion, by which he ſaw Angels aſcending, and deſcending, and God ſtanding on the top thereof: for Chriſt, by the conſent of all, is that ſcala coeli, by which we aſcend to God, and deſcend to good workes: and Paul hath excellenty deſcribed that compariſon in a moſt ſweet gradation, Rom. 8. 29. Thoſe whom God hath foreknowne, thoſe alſo he predeſtinated to be conformable to the image of his ſonne; whom he predeſtinated, thoſe alſo he called; whom he calleth, them he juſtifieth; whom he juſtifieth, thoſe alſo he glorifieth: behold a ſcala coeli, a golden chaine, and in it a deſcent of God to man, by the ſtepps of election and vocation, and an aſcent of man to God, by the ſtaires of juſtification and ſanctification, to the higheſt ſtate of glory.
I thinke now that I may conclude this point, That Faith in Chriſt is the ſumme of Divinitie, conſidered in the conſtant truth thereof; for in him it pleaſed God foreign, to recollect and recapitulate all, even in this ſenſe: in him it pleaſed God that all fulneſse ſhould dwell, and in him dwels foreign, the fulneſſe foreign, and it may be foreign too, for the fulneſse of the Divinitie bodily, and the body of Divinitie fully dwell in him.
Let us come yet a little lower, and take this truth in the Rule of Divinitie, as it is in a double difference, before Christ, and after Chriſt: before Christ, againe as it was before the Law, or under the Law.
Before the Law, Gen. 3. 15.I pray, what was the Religion of Adam? Moſes touches it in a word, The ſeed of the woman ſhall breake the head of the Serpent: ſee the firſt prophecie concerning Chriſt, and that by God himſelfe: he that promiſed him, prophecyed of him: for Chriſt was that Seede of the woman, which brake the head of the Serpent, and therefore was borne of a woman onelyonly, a Virgin that had not knowne a man, the Virgin Mary: and therefore at the very time when hee fulfilled this promiſe, when hee hung upon the Croſſe, he ſaid to his Mother, woman, behold thy ſonne, (meaning Iohn to whoſe care he committed her) woman, not mother, intimating, that he was that ſeed of the woman, of whom God foretold ſo long ago, that ſeed of the woman that brake the head of the Serpent, the counſell of the Divell.
Goe now to Abraham, what was the Religion of Abraham and his familie? the Lord himſelfe hath left it recorded, Abraham ſaw my day and rejoyced: Ioh. 8. 56.this then was Abrahams joy, and Abrahams Religion, even the expectation of the promiſed ſeed, which was the ſoule of the covenant that God made with him, the ſeale whereof was Circumciſion, an image of his bloodſhed: and therefore Iſaac the ſonne of promiſe, if he had not beene called Iſaac the ſonne of laughter, becauſe Sarah laughed in the Tent doore, when ſhe heard the newes of a ſonne, ſaying, Shall I that am barren beare a ſonne in mine old age? he might have beene called Iſaac the ſonne of laughter,Gen. 21. 3 6. becauſe Abraham ſaw his day, who was indeed the ſonne of promiſe, and rejoyced.
For Iſaac was not that promiſed ſeed, of which God ſaid, in thy ſeed ſhall all the Nations of the earth be bleſſed: for by the ſame reaſon ſhould many more be that ſeed, even all, that proceeded out of the loines of Ahraham in the line of Iſaac, which were like the ſtarrs of the Heaven in number: but God ſaid, not in thy ſeeds, as of many, ſaith S. Paul, but of thy ſeed, as of one, which was Chriſt, in thy ſeed, in this thy ſeed, ſhall all the Nations of the earth be bleſſed.
For Iſaac was but a type of that ſeed, and repreſented him in many reſemblances: Iſaac was borne of Sarah a barren woman, and paſt beareing: Ieſus was borne of Mary an unſpotted virgin, ſpringing like a branch out of a drie land, as Eſay ſpeakes, like a ſtone hewen out of a rocke without hands, as Daniel ſayes:Dan 2. 45 Iſaac bare the wood which ſhould have conſumed him: Ieſus bare the wood of the Croſſe, on which he was crucified: Iſaac was bound, Ieſus was bound, Iſaac ſhould have beene offered for a ſacrifice, Ieſus was offered a ſacrifice for the ſinns of the world: Iſaac on Mount Moriah, Ieſus as ſome thinke on Mount Moriah, from Iſaac aroſe the proverbe, in the Mount will the Lord be ſeene, in Ieſus it is much more true, for no man hath ſeene the father at any time, but the ſonne, and no man can ſee the Father, but he to whom the ſonne hath revealed him: and in him we ſee all the love of God, for behold what love the Father hath given us, that he hath ſent his only begotten ſonne into the world, that who ſo believeth in him, might not periſh but have life everlaſting.
Many ſuch like types had thoſe times, like proſpective Glaſſes, to conveigh their glimmering ſight to the only object of happineſſe, Chriſt Ieſus; as Iacob, who got the bleſsing in his elder brothers garment, and Ioſeph, who was ſtripped of his coate, ſold by Iudahs motion, ſtood before Pharaoh at thirty yeares old, whoſe coate dipped in blood turn'd the wrath of his Father from his brethren, even as Chriſt was ſtripped by the Souldiers, ſold by Iudas treaſon, ſtood before God in his office about thirty yeares old, and in whoſe blood we being dipped, are delivered from the wrath of God the Father.
From hence then we paſſe to the time under the Law, where we ſhall finde nothing but Chriſt neither: Indeed, all things then were more obſcurely delivered, untill the day came, and the ſhadowes fled away, Can. 2. 17.as Salomon ſpeakes: even untill Chriſt came, who was the ſubſtance of thoſe ceremonies; and untill the ceremonies fled away, which were the ſhadowes of that ſubſtance: yet were they not deſtitute of all light.
Take an Emblem of their condition. The children of Iſrael in their journey into the Land of Canaan, where guided by the conduct of a Pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night: their day was ſomething overcaſt with a cloud, and yet their darkneſſe was ſomething overcome with a light: they had a day, but not without ſome eclipſe of a cloud; they lived in a night of darknes, yet not without ſome glimpſe of light, for the Lord led them to the heavenly Canaan with a pillar of cloud by day, and by night with a pillar of fire.
And perhaps the Pſalmiſt may inſinuate ſo much, where he ſayes, Thy word is a Lanthorne to my feet, for a Lanthorne argues much darkneſſe, and is uſed in the night only; as for the day, madneſſe it were, ſplendente ſole lucernam accendere, but againe, it argues ſome light, for otherwiſe, why was it kindled? Neither is Peter farre from this alluſion,2 Pet 1. 19 when he compares the Word of the Prophets, which the Iſraelites enjoyed, to a light ſhining in a darke place. Agreeable to the firſt adumbration, ther was a day, but with a pillar of cloud, and a pillar of fire, but by night: and here wee have a light, but of a Lanthorne, a light ſhining, but in a darke place: this was then the ſtate of Religion.
Now all the light they had was borrowed from Chriſt, as the ſtarres do theirs from the Sun: and all lead us to Chriſt againe, as little Rivers to the Ocean. See this.
1. In their Sacraments, their ordinary Sacraments were Circumciſion and the Paſſeover, anſwerable to thoſe, we have Baptiſme and the Lords Supper: which both, had reference to the ſame inward grace, though there were a difference in the outward elements: for what meant the blood, ſhed in Circumciſion, and ſprinkled on their doorepoſts in the Paſſeover, but the blood of Christ, ſhed for the remiſsion of ſinnes, and ſprinkled in our hearts, to purge and cleanſe all our iniquities: for Chriſt was the true Paſchall Lambe, in whom therefore the law of it was fulfilled,Ioh. 1. 29 Not a bone of him ſhall be broken: and of whom Iohn ſayes, Behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the ſinnes of the world. Chriſt is the Lambe ſlaine from the beginning of the World for that purpoſe, and the very name of Paſſeover notes as much: for in Chriſt it pleaſed God, when he judges all the World, in mercy to paſſe over us, and when he paſſed over all the World in juſtice, to take his elect in mercy, and make them his children. Yea Chriſt himſelf therefore when hee had celebrated the Paſſover with his Diſciples, inſtituted the Sacrament of his body and blood, to ſhew that he was that truth, of which the Lambe was but a repreſentation. And in that Paſſeover we may diſcerne a modell of our Supper: they muſt eat it with ſowre hearbs, to wit, repentance and mortification, that they may the better taſte the ſweet mercy of God, in their delivery from the bondage of ſinne and Sathan, ſhadowed out in the bondage of Egypt: ſo it is unto us a Sacrament of our union to Chriſt our head: then they were to eate it with ſweet unleavened bread, that they might bee taught to take heed of the ſowre leaven of malice: ſo is ours to us, a Sacrament of communion with Saints, the bodie of Chriſt.
The difference betweene ours and theirs is, that their Sacraments were not without blood, becauſe Chriſt as then had not ſhed his blood, but ours are, becauſe the truth being come, the type is needleſſe.
Againe, what were the pillar of cloud and fire, and the red Sea, in which they were baptiſed, as Paul ſaith, but that which the Goſpell cals the Baptiſme of water and fire, even the effuſion of the blood of Chriſt, and the infuſion of his graces; the merit of his paſſion, and the efficacie of his Spirit in our hearts, to make it ours by application. What was the water that Moſes ſtilled out of the Rocke, by ſtriking it with his Rod, when the Iſraelites were like to periſh in the wilderneſſe for want of water, but the blood of Chriſt iſſuing out of all his body in a bloody ſweat in the Garden, when the very wrath of God, the Rod of God (for the chaſtiſements of our ſinnes was upon him) lay heavie upon him, and ſtreaming out of his bleſſed ſide, when the Souldier pierced it with his ſpeare, I ſay the blood of Chriſt ſpilt for our ſakes, who otherwiſe had periſhed.
And that Mannah, that heavenly food, with which they were ſuſtained in the wilderneſſe, what was it, but Chriſt, as Chriſt himſelfe expounds it, Iohn 6. that he was the bread of life that deſcended from Heaven: and Paul accommodates both of them, 1 Corinth. 10. For they all ate the ſame ſpirituall food, and they all drank the ſame ſpirituall drink (even the ſame with us) for*foreign. they drank of the ſpirituall Rock, and that Rocke was Chriſt: Chriſt is the onelyonly Rocke, on which his Church was built: foreign not foreign, not Peter, but Christ.
The Braſen Serpent, tell me, what can you ſee in it, but Chriſt, who was lifted up on the Croſſe, as that was lifted up in the Wilderneſſe: and as that ſaved all that looked to it, from the ſtinging of the poyſonous Serpents, ſo hath Chriſt ſaved us from the power of the old Serpent the Divell, and all the power of darkneſſe: he hath healed all our infirmities, for by his ſtripes we are cured, and by his wounds we are healed.
You ſee then, how all their Sacraments, ordinary, and extraordinary, receive all their life from Chriſt, and give all their light to him againe.
All the laborious and teadious paedagogy of their Ceremonies, was to no other end then this neither: in which this truth was written, as it were in great Letters, that he that ran might read them, becauſe all words of a thing not ſinſible, but ſo farre off, could not be halfe ſo legible.
So the blood of all the Sacrifices propitiatory, and gratulatory, of Bullocks, and Rams, Goats, and Lambs, Sheep, and Dove, were all but types and copies drawn from Chriſt, and drawing to Chriſt, who was the true ſacrifice in which al the other were ſanctified, (which otherwiſe were of no value) and by which Gods juſtice is ſatisfied: and they were ſo many, in ſuch varietie to ſeale to them his alſufficiencie.
So were all their curious ablations, and chargable oblations of roſt, baked, ſod, fryed, to teach our perfect waſhing by his blood, and perfect nouriſhment by his body, which ſuffered the heat of Gods wrath, and ſo was dreſſed to our appetite, and ſauced with ſuch diverſity, that he might take away our ſatietie.
Sweet was the figure of the two Goates, one of which was offered as a Sacrifice for the ſinnes of the people, and the other (the Scape Goat the Scripture cals it) being charged with all their ſinnes, Aaron laying both his hands upon his head, and confeſsing the ſinnes of the congregation over him, was let goe into the wilderneſse: both which expreſſe Chriſt in a double reſpect, either becauſe Chriſt was ſlaine that we might eſcape, or becauſe Chriſt the ſame was dead and is alive, as the Revelation ſpeakes, becauſe he dyed for our ſinnes, Rev. 2. 8. Rom. 4. 25and roſe againe for our justification, as the Apoſtle elſewhere applyes it.
Much like another in the purgation of the Leper, where two Birds or Sparrows were to be brought the one was to be kild, the other to be let flie, being dipped firſt in the blood of the former, reſerved in a veſſell for that purpoſe, even as Chriſt dyed for us, and wee being dipped in his blood, eſcape, for by him the nets are broken, and we are eſcaped.
Yea and all their holy perſons did but repreſent unto the people the perſon of the Meſsiah, all their Prieſts, eſpecially the High Priest, they ſacrificed, and bleſſed the people in his name, who was that Benedictum ſemen, in whom all the nations of the earth were to be bleſſed, even Ieſus Chriſt, who is God bleſſed for ever, and who gave himſelfe for us, a pleaſing and acceptable ſacrifice to his father. And the High Prieſt many wayes, he bare the names of the Tribes of Iſrael on his ſhoulder, when he appeared before God: ſo did Chriſt of all his faithfull: he entred into the Holy of Holies once a yeare not without blood: ſo did Chriſt by his owne blood, open the way for us into the higheſt heavens, and make a paſſage into Paradiſe, in which we could not keep our ſelvs, and out of which we were kept, by the flaming ſword of a Cherubim: upon which the Poets harping, have hatched a pretty Fable, that the aurea Heſperidum mala, are kept by the vigilant guard of a fierie Dragon, but Hercules overcame him: which in ſober truth is thus much, that the way to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden is guarded by the glittering blade of a glorious Cherubim, but Chriſt hath removed him.
Laſtly, the Holy places themſelves, were teachers of the ſame truth, ſo that if thoſe (the Prieſts I meane) ſhould hold their tongues, theſe (the ſtones I ſay) would cry thus much.
1. The Tabernacle was a viſible ſigne of Gods preſence among his people, and therefore in it were placed (among many other things) the Mercy ſeat, even Ieſus Chriſt, in whom it hath pleaſed God to have mercy on whom he will have mercy; and the Table of Shew-bread, is the ſame Chriſt, whoſe body is the true bread, by which we are fed to eternall life, which, as one obſerves, was panis propoſitionis, in the Law, but is become panis aſſumptionis in the Goſpell, even the bread of the Lords Table.
So was the Temple, and therefore they were to offer their Sacrifices at the Temple, and their prayers in or toward the Temple, becauſe all were ſanctified and accepted in Chriſt, who was the true Temple, for ſo he ſayes of his body, deſtroy this temple, and I will raiſe it againe in three dayes: and therefore when Christ was come into the world, the true light which enlightneth all men that come into the world, all theſe ſhadows vaniſhed at his preſence and fled away.
The Leviticall Miniſterie ceaſed, as you may ſee in a ſweet alluſion which ſome have obſerved: When God promiſed Iohn Baptiſt to Zachary, as he was diſcharging his office in his courſe, he was ſtricken dumbe, and therefore; when the people expected he ſhould have bleſſed them, he could not ſpeake, tacuit Zacharias generaturus vocem, ſaith one: this ſilence proclaimed that that ſervice was at an end: the ſilence of a Leviticall Prieſt, made way for the voice of an Evangelicall Preacher, even Iohn, who was a voice preparing the way of the Lord Ieſus, the only High Prieſt of our ſalvation.
You have heard that the Heathen Oracles ceaſed at the birth of Chriſt; ſo did the Iewiſh Oracles too, before his birth, for they had no anſwer from God by Vrim and Thummim, all the time of the ſecond Temple, and ſo you ſee that the Iewiſh Prieſthood ceaſed too: and at the death of Chriſt, the vaile of the Temple rent inſunder: Theophylact hath a witty conceit, a pretty gloſſe, that the Temple rent her vaile, hearing of the blaſphemies of the Iewes uttered againſt Chriſt, according to the faſhion of the Iewes, who rent their garments when they heare any blaſphemies: but this was the meaning ſurely, to ſhew that by the rents of his body the true Temple, the way was opened to all the faithfull into the Holy of Holies, the higheſt Heavens.
And no marvaile it is, that Chriſt upon the croſſe ſhould cauſe all ſhadowes to vaniſh: the T (which men make the figure of the Croſſe) in the Egyptian myſteries, is an Hieroglyphick of eternall life, which (ſay they) when it comes, ſhall put an end to our Religion. It may be they had ſome notion of ſuch a thing from the Iewes, or rather it is an after-birth: but this is certaine, that Chriſt lifted up upon the Croſſe was in his Meridian exaltation, no marvaile then, if the ſhadows vaniſhed.
We reade of one that wondred how his Hoſt had furniſhed his table with ſo rare variety, his Hoſt anſwered, that all was but Swines fleſh, only the art of the Cooke had made the difference: and I according to my abilitie have diſcovered, that all the diſhes of the old Ceremonies, furniſh us with no other thing but Chriſt, only the wiſdome of the Lord diverſly dreſſed his ſons fleſh, in proportion to the times, and palats of his people, in ſuch admirable variety.
Come we now to the laſt period of times, the time of the Goſpell, and ſee the muſicall harmony thereof with the former: wherein me thinks, I preſage already, that my talke will be more eaſie: for what meanes the departure of all the Legall ſhadowes, at the approach of Christ; if he were not the ſubſtance of all: and therefore the abolition of thoſe is a cleare evidence, that Chriſt now is all in all.
The Doctrine preached every where, is a ſilver Trumpet of this ſacred truth: but that having beene alway the ſame, my courſe propounded, permits me not to inſiſt upon it: only this difference it hath, that as it pointed forward before to Chriſt to come, ſo now it pointeth backward to Chriſt come, in whom it teacheth every man to looke for ſalvation, and no other: the outward ſignes that are left are few, but they conſpire in the ſame teſtimonie with the Doctrine, and the old ceremonies, ſealing the ſame thing, but with more ſimplicity, and with more ſignificancie.
The water of Baptiſme hath a ſutable Analogie with the blood of Christ, by which we are purged from our ſpirituall uncleanneſſe of ſinne, as we are purged by water from all corporall uncleanneſſe. In the Lords Supper we have bread and wine, meat and drinke perfect nouriſhment: bread the ſtaffe of mans life, and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, the beſt elements to expreſſe the beſt aliments: which how fully doe they ſet forth Chriſt Crucified: the Bread is broken, ſo was his body broken; the Wine is powred forth, ſo was his blood powred forth upon the Croſſe, for the remiſſion of ſinnes, to all thoſe that come to him with an hunger and thirſt after his righteouſneſſe, and feed on him by a lively faith.
The ſignification is ſo emphaticall, that I may ſay of thoſe that are partakers of this, as Paul ſaid of the Galatians, who had heard him preach Christ crucified,*foreign. before whoſe eyes Christ crucified was ſet forth, I may ſay it of all ſuch, except they bee fooliſh Galatians, and except they bee bewitched.
And thus I conclude this point, That Chriſt Crucified, is the Summe of all Divinitie, the ſubſtance of all ceremonies, the ſoule of all Sacraments, the Kernell, and Key of all knowledge, the Center, and circumference of all Divine wiſdome.
I had thought to have gone a little further, as Chriſt in the Goſpell, beyond Emaus, but the importunity of the time, which will take no denyall, forces me to turn in here againſt my will.