will The Tongue of man the Knee the Heart nay Body and Soul together are to be purchased As you bring with one hand you shall carry away Favour and Justice in the other The access of profit carries the main stroke in every thing The Heads judge for reward and the Prophets divine for money Mich. iii. 11. They that should be most clear from this fault you see are chiefly in the reprehension No man knows with what stint he would spend or how much he would lay up therefore unless where the conscience is much refined from greediness it is a pleasure to sacrifice to our net and above all things to catch at that which comes in with so much easiness as Dabo I will give thee Hazael King of Syria must have a present even all the hallowed things that were dedicated to the Lord that he might not come up against Jerusalem Felix the Governour without a feeling would not set Paul at liberty The corruption of the times was such in Israel that men thought the Prophets as greedy as themselves and would not ask them counsel of the Lord without a gift in their hand Benhadad sent a Present of all the good things in Damascus even forty Camels burdens to Elisha to enquire if he should recover of his sickness And Saul more apparently being counselled to go to Samuel to ask which way he should return home made a stand at it saying What shall we give to the man of God There is not a present left This polling Covetousness was very ordinary no doubt in that Land when the People knew nothing but the Prophets were devourers of gifts and would not open the Oracles of God unto them without Satans complement Dabo I will give thee The giver that would corrupt another such as the High Priests that delivered Judas thirty pieces of Silver to betray his Master such a one you see by the instance of my Text doth supply the place of the Devil I am sure God gave no man wealth to this end to buy another out of his honesty the eternal Law says that vertue only should be rewarded and he that keeps the Commandments therefore to give a Pension to man or woman to be vicious is to cross that supreme fundamental Law by which heaven and earth are governed Fie that so good a vertue as Liberality should be so scornfully imitated No vertue is more often commended by God than bounty and giving but above all moral qualities it is most plausible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle hit the reason in a word it redounds to the common benefit of others more than any other vertue which begets it favour and affections Now to cast dirt in the face of this vertue Satan sets up a liberality which is of a most different condition and nothing of kin to it when the great Patrons of sin care not what they bestow upon them that serve their turn for flattery for injustice for lust for sensuality When poor Lazarus wants a draught of cold water a shower of Gold shall rain down into the Lap of Danae the wages of an Harlot are far greater for the most part than the recompence of most faithful and honest service The Egyptian Rhodope out of the gifts of her Lovers was able to dispend enough to build a Pyramis an expence so great that few Kings in Egypt could accomplish it If the Daughter of Herodias shew her self lascivious and immodest Herod will cast away half his Kingdom upon her or if that be too little he leaves her to be her own carver she may ask any thing Dabo quodcunque volueris I will give thee whatsoever thou wilt ask O that noble qualities were as sure of Patronage as Instruments of wickedness are sure of means and maintenance As Suetonius said of his Nero Pecuniae fructum non alium putabat quà m profusionem He thought there was no use of riches but waste and profusion So in the Line that Satan draws out there is no use of giving but to procure Idolatry to fall down and worship him Cursed be those hands that open themselves wide to any one man or woman to make them the child of perdition Judah gave his Ring to Thamar to hire her unto Fornication I believe he repented him with many tears of bitterness because old Jacob did so abundantly bless him but let me propound unto him that is prone to do the like will you abuse those blessings those temporary blessings which God hath given you to buy Souls for the Devil Christ hath given a ransom out of his bloud to redeem that soul from Hell and will you give Gold and Silver to buy it into Hell again Was there no poor Member of Christ whose body you might save with that money wherewith you destroy a soul He that giveth to the needy lendeth to the Lord but he that purchaseth any one to be sinful by his bounty he lendeth to the Devil This that I have spoken of was the sin of Balaac to barter and be at a price with Balaam to do an evil act to curse them whom the Lord had blessed and it is the Chapman that makes the Market woe be to the giver that tempts the weakness of man with such a forcible provocation Aureo pugillo ferreus murus frangitur says the Heathen A Hammer of Gold will beat down a Wall of Iron Yet is there nothing to be said to the receiver Shall his hand be clear that hath taken when he is called to answer Nay none more accused by the Spirit of God none more criminous They are companions of thieves every one loveth gifts and followeth after reward Isa i. 23. Neither is robbery their alone enditement but the worst of sins against the Second Table Bloud and Murder Shut not up my life with the bloud-thirsty in whose hands is wickedness and their right hand is full of gifts Psal xxvi 9. He that takes reward to do evil takes a fee to lose his own salvation Nay what toil and drudgery some will undergo to earn the wages of iniquity Minori labore margarita Christi emi poterat says St. Hierom You might accompass that invaluable Pearl in the Gospel whereof the Parable speaks that the Merchant sold all he had to buy it I say that Pearl might have been gained with less danger and industry the whole treasure of the Kingdom of heaven Espencaeus being a Romish Doctor and a most learned may be bold with his own friends who hath revealed more corruption and bribery in the Roman Court than a modest Protestant could almost believe As Pensions taken not only for the punishment of incontinence past but to lay down somewhat before-hand for the time to come What if the Visitors met with such as resolved to be chaste yet the common Levy was exacted of such a one Habeat si velit O shameless word he may use the sin if he will Then the Taxa Camerae as they call it
the Spirit of grace and strive to put off the incomprehensible work of God with a jest These men are full of new Wine So that as soon as God sent firy Tongues from heaven upon his Apostles the Devil likewise raised up firy Tongues from Hell and put them in the mouth of his Apostles Envy and despitefulness cares not what reproach it puts upon good men though there be neither sense nor probability to make it credible That is right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word which is here used to vent any thing against the credit of holy persons whether it be right or wrong It was impossible they should perswade it in any one that they were overtaken with new Wine for there is no such liquor to be had in May not till September at the soonest But slanders use to rove at random And new wine say the Greeks will sooner intoxicate than old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But what sign was there to make the objection credible that the Apostles were drunken Did their tongues falter Were their eyes red Was the Gesture foolish I know no man but Carthusian who goes about to invent a sign which should put the Jews into that unlikely suspicion that as the face of Steven when he was full of the Holy Ghost did shine with brightness so the countenances of the Disciples had a splendour and ruddiness in them with the fire of the tongues which sate upon their heads which made the rash Gazers conceive that they were inflamed with drink As the countenances of many that are most sober being red with the heat of the Liver make the uncharitable surmise that they are intemperate so I remember a story that Cassius Bishop of Narnia was despised by King Toteila because he was high coloured whereas Cassius was most abstemious but high coloured by natural infirmity Another thing concurred that it was the Feast day of Pentecost wherein the Jews were wont to rejoyce yet it was not their wont to solemnize the day with Feasting till the morning Sacrifice was offered up and that time was not yet come Therefore St. Peter answers That these men were not drunken for it was but the third hour of the day They that are scandalous in the sin of drunkenness use not to be gone so soon They that are drunken are drunken in the night says St. Paul that is most usual Although some do spend the whole night in quaffing untill the morning In lucem semper Acerra bibit Some prevent the rising of the Sun and are scarce sober one hour of the day whose souls lie under the Prophets woe Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning to follow strong drink Isa v. 11. But Peter did not strive to make an invincible refutation of their slander because their scurrility was so improbable and ridiculous and a defence which is over-anxious makes a good cause suspicious Had the accusation been true it had deserved a scorn as Noah was derided when he was drunken The drunkard makes himself an Ape for Boys to sport with his brutishness a natural fool is not such an object for derision and laughter So that passively it is true what Solomon says Wine is a mocker Prov. xx 1. It exposeth it self to the flouting of vain persons here and shall reap the scorn of God hereafter But says St. Cyril the wickedness of man shall turn to the praise of God and this slander of the Jews shall expound some Prophesies of Scripture and the mystery of the Holy Ghost It is granted says the Father the Apostles on this day were full of new Wine Novum verè erat illud vinum novi Testamenti gratia that is it is the grace of the New Testament which makes glad the heart of man Inebriabuntur pinguedine domus â—uae the Vulgar Latine keeps that word Psal xxxvi 8. we read They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures And again Cant. v. 1. I have drunk my wine with my milk meaning both the comfort and the nourishment of the Gospel O friends drink yea drink abundantly O beloved To this pertains another Psalm of David xxv 5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies thou anointest my head with oyl my Cup runneth over Here is the oyl of the Spirit here is the Table of the Lord here is the Cup of Christs bloud an overflowing Cup sufficient to save a thousand worlds This Cup is that which ravisheth our Souls and carries up our Spirit to Heaven to partake of the body and bloud of Christ when we come to his holy Table this is Sobria ebrietas non madens vino sed ardens Deo This is a sober drunkenness an inflammation not with Wine but with the love of the Lord Jesus Happy were these Apostles that were drunken with drinking of him who says I am the Vine and ye are the branches But here is the difference between the meaning of these Scoffers and the meaning of those that make it an heavenly mystery he that is drunken with Wine looks like an incarnate Devil he that is drunken with the Spirit looks like an incarnate Angel I will stay a little while more not very long to shew how the mighty gifts poured out upon the Apostles on this day was a spiritual drunkenness First excess of Wine procures forgetfulness of things past so the Mission of the Holy Ghost made them that were converted to Christ forget the Ceremonial Law of Moses saving that little that was tolerated for a time to satisfie the weakness of the Jews it was laid aside as if it were quite dead and out of remembrance Thus St. Paul doth as it were make his Shears to pass between the Old and the New Law forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before Phil. iii. 13. Upon that accident that there wanted Wine at the Marriage in Cana the Gloss says Vetus legis vinum defecerat in nuptiis Ecclesiae none of the Wine of the Law remained at the Marriage of the Christian Church it was tilted and spent Secondly He that is giddy with wine makes no distinction of persons knows not his Friends from his Foes So he that is full of the Spirit renounceth all friendship affinity parentage in respect of the engagements of holiness and Religion Per calcatum perge patrem If thy Mother hold out her Breasts to entice thee from God if thy Father stop thy way shut thine eyes against the one tread upon the other make no respect of persons in that cause It is the praise and a most magnificent one which Moses gives to Levi Deut. xxxiii 9. Who said unto his Father and to his Mother I have not seen him neither did he acknowledge his brethren nor knew his own children Thus the mighty working of God works an extasie in his Servants that they care not for
But for brethren to dwell together in a good amity and as much as in us lies to have peace with all men it makes heaven upon earth Malignities and disagreements are things whereof the Angels have no experience in heaven but because the earth is full of mischief and debate and there must be seditious truce-breakers at all times that peace-makers may be more approved Therefore the Angels do not only congratulate the Church but they pray for it that it may abound with peace and they preach unto it that it may seek peace and ensue it We know not so well as the Angels do what an Hell it is to be an enmity with God we perceive not so well as they what a black sin it is to be at strife and division among our selves Hear and attend what they wish for our sakes and will not we wish the same benefit as heartily to our selves wish and labour for it for they that will not do their part to effect that they pray for they did but dream and not pray The Angels in these words gave our Church a pattern to repeat the collect for peace every day in our morning Devotion O God which art the author of peace and lover of concord And that which we pray for daily compose we our charity to practice daily especially while it is called to day when we come to the Table of the Lord The Angels Song is perswasive but the Body and Blood of Christ doth more effectually commend unto us this middle strein of my Text Peace on earth Now I come to the last part of the three and as the close of a Song is best composed when it hath a soft and a gentle cadence so it fails not here in the last note of all and good will towards men And good will c. so our old English Translation reads it with the conjunction copulative and perhaps upon the authority of some Greek Copies but for my own part I never saw or heard of any that had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet Beza commends the Syrian Paraphrase for adding it to the clearing of the sense and so do I. And this is gained by it that the author of that Syrian gloss goes against the common reading of the Latin Church that make but two portions of this Angelical Ditty Glory be to God on high and on earth peace to men of good will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make that noun the Genitive case as they do and the whole order is inverted It is not to be denied unto them but that such a reading is in some ancient Fathers but the most and the best concur with our Translation Howsoever let the words have the right interpretation and that shall make no disagreement The Latin Expositors are divided in it for some say it is peace of good will towards men others say it is towards men of good will peace So Beda Non est pax impiis sed hominibus bonae voluntatis This peace on earth belongs not to all promiscuously good and bad elect and reprobate but to such as are well affected to Gods glory And Leo inclines most that way In terra pax conceditur quae facit homines bona voluntatis such a peace is come down on earth as makes men willing and ready to serve the Lord. Surely this is an inforced sense and must rightly be understood of Gods good will towards men and not of mans good will towards God for it is the praise of God and not of man it is but a colour therefore of some learned Romanists to say that as it is specified in the first section to whom glory is given to God in the highest so it is fitly specified in the second section to whom peace is bequeathed to men of good will For the very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or good will is mostly referred to God and not to man and surely it refers it self to God and his good pleasure not to men or to any good will of theirs I know it and ever preach that consolation to you that where there is a diligent and a studious endeavour God will accept of our good will though the action be offensive Vt si sit actionis infirmitas at sit voluntatis integritas and the Lord will speak peace unto their souls that are men of good will but Christ came not to save us because any of us all were men of good will and took delight in him nay he came unto his own and his own received him not and when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. v. 10. They make far better use of the Latin reading that expound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men of good will are men whom God hath respected from on high in his good will and pleasure such as belong to his beneplacitum to his election and purpose before the beginning of the world and are the children of it So Tolet most ingeniously on earth peace of good will towards men Hoc est ex Dei beneplacito gratuita voluntate non ex eorum meritis in the Jewish salutation peace was as much as health and salvation and God grants peace and salvation of good will to men out of his free love and the eternal counsel of his own will and out of no merits of ours Sponte gratis nullis praecedentibus meritis voluit mundum salvare says Nyssen upon it Of his own accord of his gratuitous goodness Christ came to save mankind and for no preceding good works or good will of ours And then the most common reading of the Greek Church is coincident with that true Orthodox sense and good will towards men that is and Gods free grace and kind acceptation towards them with whom he was offended So St. Chrysost conceives it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and reconciliation to men So the Syrian Paraphrast Et bonum nuntium or Evangelium hominibus and good tidings towards men a happy chearful message to all that will believe in the name of the Lord Jesus for Christ is our glorifier in heaven our pacifier on earth and our reconciler to God Indeed as there is no difference in the Text between earth and men so there is as little between peace and good will peace were rather a captious advantage than a true peace unless benevolence and good will did follow it Let God the Father have his glory to himself alone and to no other then God the Son will be our peace our peace that shall have no end Isa ix 7. and God the Holy Ghost who is the essential love of the Godhead will seal a pledge and earnest of the Divine Love unto our hearts and will breath into us the Spirit of love and good will one to another Amen THE NINTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE xi 27 28. A certain woman of the company lift up her voice and said unto him
It is a wonder how many learned men did acquiesce in this opinion as if none were like it Whereas cui bono to what end should two Evangelists spend such pains to describe both the legal and the natural line of Joseph and in the mean time the family of Mary should be forgotten by whom only it may be demonstrated that according to the Scripture Christ was of the house of David 3. The safest opinion and without any intricacy is that Joseph was the true Son of Jacob but the Son-in-law of Heli by the marriage of the Virgin Mary so the Virgin being the Daughter of Heli and Heli being of the stock of Nathan the Son of David the truth lifts up its head against all adversaries that Christ was of the lineage of David If any one dislike this as Calvin doth because Sons-in-law are called Sons I reply why not as well as Daughters-in-law Daughters Ruth xviii And if you will admit of the acuteness of Gomaras all is salved he doth enlarge the parenthesis Luke iii. 23. Jesus began to be about thirty years of age being the Son of Heli For that which comes between is a parenthesis being as was supposed the Son of Joseph but being the Son of Heli c. This reading hath my great approbation Heli being Christs Grand-father by the Mothers side and by this reading it is as clear as the light of the Sun that Christ was of the house of David Pardon me if I have troubled you with a genealogy at other times I will forbear but it is proper to this day Now I will end all with the use and fruit of his birth all this salvation this mighty salvation raised up to the admiration of heaven and earth all is for us and hath c. But for this word all the rest were loose this girds about us nay it fills our bosoms with it The Devils renounced his coming into the world What have we to do with thee says Satan Mat. viii 29. The good Angels had joy derived unto them through his Birth but neither glory nor salvation they were ours because he is ours because he is our horn of salvation But in what capacity doth Zachary take him to be his first as a Jew for it was fit that salvation should first be offered to them that were the natural branches Secondly As a Priest salvation came to the Priesthood out of the house of David that is the protection of the Church by God and the King Thirdly and principally as a man who is a sinner that had need of a Mediator For God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of all mankind He excludes only those that include not themselves Want of Faith causeth that he that is born to all is not born to all Unto us a child is born says Isaiah c. 9. and he directs his message to King Ahaz a man of great iniquity but Christ was born for him as likewise he was born unto Zachary a just man and one that lived most unblamably The sinner that hath done very wickedly by faith in him and by repentance he may be saved the good man that lives obediently and devoutly without him he cannot be saved Finally since this horn of salvation is raised up unto us let us lay hold of it and fasten upon it Vtamur nostro in utilitatem nostram let us use him for our best behoof and draw the proper extract out of him I mean salvation He is ours by being made flesh and blood we shall be his by renouncing flesh and blood he is ours by his natural generation we are his by spiritual regeneration he is ours his Body and Blood are ours in the Holy Sacrament we shall be his both body and soul by receiving those mysteries worthily that is faithfully thankfully charitably penitently devoutly Amen THE THIRTEENTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION MAT. ii 1 2. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King behold there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem Saying where is he that is born King of the Jews For we have seen his Star in the East and are come to worship him THe Nativity of Christ was that wonder which came to pass this day but how he was revealed and known of them that sought him is the use of the day for Christ was born that he might be found And that is the cause that the manifestation of his birth is joyned together with his birth and more copiously handled a great deal both by St. Matthew and St. Luke by St. Luke how the Shepherds were sent to find him in a Manger by St. Matthew how the Sages of the East were admonished to come from a far Country that he might be known unto them God could have brought it to pass that the blessed Virgin should have been delivered as she travelled to Bethlem either in the Wilderness or in the Forest of Lebanon where none should have been the wiser but loe this had been contrary to his own work of grace to fold up his mercy in darkness when light was come into the world Therefore he call'd so many witnesses about him after such a manner with such new and over-natural signs that his Nativity was as publick as Angels and Stars and Jews and Gentiles could make it The Angel sent the Shepherds out of the fields to enquire him as if he would have the whole Country of the Jews flock thither The Star called the Wisemen out of the East to come and worship him as if the heavens would invite all the Gentiles to resort to him thither God diffused the tidings that his Son was born both to common places such as Bethlem and the Stable and to holy places such as the Temple at Jerusalem where Simeon and Anna confessed him to be the light of the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel Mark it Beloved so long as the Witnesses came to worship him so long as those that had him in their arms praised the Lord and blessed the day they saw him so long he was manifested more and more But instantly he sate in a cloud as soon as Herod sought to kill him then he drew back the light by which he was known and hid himself in Egypt If then we are now met together with such faith as is fruitful to yield him honour and worship and praise and glory some strange Star will rise in our hearts and make it easie to find him out then those mysteries of my Text shall be opened to us how he was first revealed to the Gentiles hearken then to that story which hath been so precious with the Church in all Ages and begins as I have read unto you When Jesus was born in Bethlem c. Each of these verses contain a several portion of matter to be handled by it self the one concerning the doings the other concerning the sayings of the Wise-men first you have their Journey and then their Errand
of man be risen from the dead In the fourth general member of the Text as they were enjoyn'd so my Text says they kept secrecy they told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen When I first entred upon this part of the Gospel I told you that the Latin Churches keep an annual Feast in memory of the Transfiguration upon the sixth day of August for this reason the Transfiguration it self fell out in the beginning of the Spring a few weeks before our Saviours Passion The three Disciples which saw it being admonished to be private in that which they had seen till more convenient time confessed it not in five moneths following unto their fellow Disciples and then made a solemn publication of it upon the sixth of August which day thereupon had some sacred honour done it Obedience is a virture of great necessity even in the smallest things and they that are subject to obey must not examin with what little prejudice a small command may be broke but rather consider with what great ease it may be kept Things forbidden says the School are of two sorts Quaedam prohibentur quia mala quaedam sunt mala quia prohibentur some things are absolutly evil in themselves and therefore are prohibited as Murder and Adultery some things are prohibited by just authority and therereupon respectively become evil as the eating of the forbidden fruit in Paradise if God had not expresly prohibited that Tree to man it had been no sin to taste of it So our Saviour made that sinful by his command which otherwise had been harmless to be spoken of if he had not encharged his Disciples to obsequiousness and they performed that secrecy which they undertook not envying their Brethren the relation of the things which they had seen but observing that time of restraint which their Master had prefixed And thus they reap praise even out of their infirmity that although they were unfit to speak of such transcendent miracles as yet yet they knew their duty to hold their peace Dearly Beloved the wonderful works of our Lord were never brought to pass to be hid like a Candle under a Bushel and to remain alwayes undiscover'd no it was Pauls defence before Felix and Agrippa that every thing which belonged to Christ was advanced to the open view These things sayes he were not done in a corner The Heathen had their sacra Cereris Eleusinia non divulganda the Ceremonies and Rituals of Ceres never to be divulged the more shame for those Idolaters to have such filthy abominations in their Temples which they durst not publish Christ did only sequester his secrets for the most apt times of manifestation Dies dici eructat verbum one day certifieth another Time is the most prudent Master in the world In those days appointed for silence Peter and John and James did shut up the secret committed unto them but only in those times and now it is left to be preached to all Nations as to you at this time ever since the Resurrection of the Son of God The Catechumeni in the Primitive Church that is the novice Christians instructed in the Rudiments of Faith and not yet baptized were not permitted to be present in the Church at the celebration of the Lords Supper such as are baptized have admittance to partake of all Mysteries when they can examine themselves because they are baptized into the Faith of his Resurrection And yet there is a Veil drawn before our eyes till the times of great accomplishment I mean the Resurrection of the body then we shall be filled with the glory of the Lord which shall enlighten us to behold all things that conduce to our eternal happiness AMEN FOUR SERMONS UPON THE PASSION OF OUR SAVIOUR THE FIRST SERMON UPON THE PASSION MAT. xxvii 24. I am innocent of the bloud of this just Person see you to it AS Pilate sate in Judgment upon our Saviour so are we met together this day to sit in judgment upon Pilate The Ruler marveled when his Prisoner stood before him and said nothing for himself But now is the time to speak it was Christs good pleasure to leave his cause to be defended by us who should live in after Ages and wheresoever the Gospel is preached throughout the world the Word doth testifie now in every mans mouth Christ is pittied and Pilate is censured When they reach'd a Reed unto our Saviour they put an Emblem in his hand says St. Hierom that their own infamy should be endited against them to after Ages Calamum tenet in manu ut inimicorum sacrilegium scriberet The Reed was in his hand to pen the sacriledge of his enemies But Pilates crime shall be the least part of our Meditation that which I would require to be the fruit of your attention is to beware of committing the same faults which we tax in another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reproach retorted upon our selves is a double infamy For as the Orator said of the Faction of Augustus and Antony when Caesar was treacherously slain Tyrannus occidit tyrannis vivit the Tyrant was suppressed but not the Tyranny so when Pilate shall have sentence against him we must every man also arrain his own infidelity which thinks it self innocent of the bloud of Christ or else I must tell you plainly that you do condemn the Hypocrite and acquit Hypocrisie He that says he did not crucifie Christ is his greatest crucifier he that will confess that they were his blasphemies which spat upon his face his Briberies that nailed his hands to the Cross his gluttony and drunkenness that gave him Gall to drink his wrath and malice that pierced him in the side his disobedience against Magistrates that bruized him in the head his wanton Apparel that stript him of his Robe he that will not only die with Christ in his arms as old Simeon did but acknowledge that Christ died by his arms he shall find peace at the last and righteousness with the God of his salvation What became of our Saviours Reed and of his Robe we find in holy Scripture they were taken from him by the Souldiers but it is not written whether any man took up the Crown of thorns as if that were our share or any mans else who is goaded with true compunction And to say truth all the sins which we do commit let us make the best of them are but thorns and briers but if we confess them in humility and ask pardon in tears and contrition then they are corona spinea a crown of thorns Before I begin either to judge Pilate or to examine our selves I must tell you of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a figure of confusion which is most proper to the Devils Rhetorick For in one and the same breath nay in the self-same period he will do three divers things Lie and tell truth and Prophesie Lie like himself tell truth like a believer and Prophesie
everlasting curse His bloud be upon us and upon our Children Sanguis ille veniat super nos sed in ablutionem Let his bloud come upon us all I beseech God but to wash away our sins in the Laver of Regeneration But upon whom it comes for vengeance it must needs put out their eyes and make them stark blind A bloudshed eye can never see well A man never fares worse than when he is his own carver No greater infelicity can betide us than when we have our own wishes Inter vota imprecantium senescimus says Seneca No marvel if we do not thrive in this world What by our own prayers what by the prayers of our friends who shoot wide of the true good we spend our age in imprecations The Jews here did ask such a thing that they never had the reason more to ask any thing that was good They see no more than if a beam were in their eyes a beam as big as the tree of the Cross of Christ And so much for the second punishment the blindness of the Nation But thirdly A just reward is faln upon these murderers that the haters of the Lord should be despised in the eyes of all men Canes facti sunt filii filii facti sunt canes says Theodoret long since Those who were called dogs in the person of the Syrophaenician woman are beloved like the Children and those that were Children are spurned at like Dogs under the Table If we meet a Jew our phancy makes us believe that we see our enemy Nay the most part of men presage no better luck after their sight than if some dismal beast had been in the way which our superstition is afraid of Truly we may say of their dejected countenance and that malignant Mark of Cain in their face as Caesar did of Cassius Quid Cassius sibi vult mihi pallor ejus non placet Cassius did dart treason in his eyes and they dart murder I will not report it upon tradition because fame is but the Post-master to carry lies that the savour of death is in their bodies to this day or that their Children are born with knots of bloud in their hands This I may be bold to say it is an heavy vengeance and the great judgment of God if these things be true But true or false the anger of God is broke out upon them that the whole world with one consent should speak such things unto their infamy as their Conquerours thought them not worthy to be Freemen So as if they had been worse than beasts and not fit to make good bondslaves thirty of them have been sold at a baser price than an Ass head was sold in Samaria or than they sold our Saviour Alas they that find none to love to regard to pity them to prize them at an honest rate they are in Hell already but God forbid that I should teach you to hate a Jew Every living soul for which Christ died is the object of a Christians charity This is the very day wherein we offer up our prayers both at Morning and Evening Sacrifice for the salvation of Jews and Paynims according to our Church Liturgie I come now to end this long discourse with the fourth malediction to wit that we may well fear that they and their Children die an accursed death who crucified our Saviour They that were so nice as to deny to come into Pilates house in the days of the Passeover lest they should be defiled with bloud What will become of their poor souls when they shall be thrust into the Valley of Hinnon Into the Tophet of damnation Timent contaminari habitaculo alieno non timent contaminari scelere proprio says the Gloss It was a perillous thing to set foot in Pilates doors that would defile them But what destruction will it be to take the mystical house of Pilate I mean the Kingdom of darkness over their head for ever They that ignominiously bad our Saviour come down from the Cross the greatest Cross in the world is come down upon them says Nazianzen Forty years did the Lord prove them in the Wilderness seventy years in Babilon But as Christ said unto Peter Thou shalt forgive thy brother unto seventy times seven times Even just so many years were there by true computation between the return from Babylon and the destruction of the Temple Now they have endured almost one thousand seven hundred years of desolation O that the anger of the Lord would go no further then they might sing a Jubilee for ever But the Prophet Isaiah doth threaten them Though you lift up your hands I will not hear your Prayers because they are defiled with bloud Their Mothers were fruitful for nothing but to bring forth abundance of them who might be slaughtered Beside the number as great as the sand upon the Sea-shore that perished under Titus in the Wars of Adrian when they gathered themselves under Barcosdau their Pseudomessias twice as many say our Histories were slain with the Sword as came out of Egypt Assyria and Babylon have known their Captivity Vespasian drove them into Italy Adrian from thence into Spain They have been cast out into Brittany and cashiered Into France and banished Out of Spain by Emanuel and Ferdinand expulsed O where shall they rest at last But where there is no rest for ease no Christ for Redemption no pity for consolation Yet believe it Brethren the Lord hasten the day of his merciful visitation the time will come when a Remnant shall be saved The Holy Ghost did dip the Pen of St. Paul into Prophesie and he cannot deceive us Wherefore one glosseth thus upon my Text Vestrum peccatum vestra poena vestra ut omnium redemptio Your sin it is O Israel your punishment it must be and see to it further for if his Persecutors do repent your redemption it shall be But to construe the words of the Prophets touching a visible Kingdom of the Jews to come a new Jerusalem another Temple a potent Monarchy over all the World Let this fancy prevail with other men for my part I will say to it as one did in the like case His victoribus herbam porrigo sed elleborum Two things says St. Hierom are of great obscurity in the New Testament the Kingdom of Antichrist and the restauration of the Jews We know all about what hour Christ gave up the Ghost so we shall be able in some conjecture to trace the steps of Antichrist but at what hour Christ arose from the dead we cannot tell Ita majus est mysterium quando Judaei restituentur quia est quaedam resurrectio says the Father So it is a more intricate mystery when the Jews shall be restored because it is a kind of resurrection But O Lord we call upon thee and beseech thee to begin thy Kingdom of grace in our hearts upon earth Also to call home thine ancient people the Jews and to hasten thy Kingdom of
glory Put thy fear into us all that we do not crucifie our Lord anew by Blasphemies by Vncharitableness by an Impenitent heart lest we be brought into the bondage of sin lest our heart wax gross and want understanding lest we lose thy favour as thine own Israel did upon earth lest we lose the light of thy countenance in heaven for ever O Lord hear us and be merciful to us for his sake who died upon the Cross c. THE SECOND SERMON UPON THE PASSION JOHN xix 34. But one of the Souldiers with a Spear pierced his side and forthwith came there out Bloud and Water WE cannot meddle with any part of our Saviours Body this day but we shall touch a wound and the greatest of them all without controversie is this in my Text. Thomas might put a finger in where the nails had entred but where the Spear had opened his side Christ bad him thrust in his hand Of Evils be sure to choose the least as David did but of Blessings such were all the wounds of Christs Passion wisdom without art will lead our meditations to the greatest And as Lot chose the Plain of Jordan to dwell there before all the Land of Canaan besides because it had variety of Springs of waters so this wound was the moistest and had the most plentiful issue of all the five it gushed out into two streams of blood and water I have not found such a passage in the Meditations of the Ancients that they came to drink at the hands or feet of Christ although the bloud trickled down from them also But it is usual with them in their Allegories to speak unto their Soul as if they laid their mouth unto the side of our Lord and did draw at it for the Fountain of everlasting life Did they suppose said I that they laid their lips there Nay Bernard could not satisfie his desire till he found a way to lay his heart upon the place and at length thus he hit upon it he believed as he had received that this Souldiers Spear entred at the right side of our Saviour Now says he that Elisha stretcht his living Body upon the dead Corps of the Child to raise it again to life it is a figure that Christ should apply his Body to our body which is dead in sin that it might live unto God his mouth which bled with buffeting upon our mouth that hath been full of deceit and bitterness his brows enameld with the pricks of thorns upon our heads which have contrived mischief and malice his hands which were riveted with nails upon ours that they may be washt in innocency his feet upon ours that have trod in the crooked ways of the Serpent then the Orifice of this Wound laying his right side to our left shall ly directly upon our heart and cure that part which disperseth iniquity to all the body The other three Evangelists exact in most circumstances of the Passion have all omitted this violence done to the dead Body of Christ surely had they wrote like meer men you might have thought the long story of these sufferings to be so lamentable that they could not for very compassion draw it quite out to an end John says in the next verse that he saw it done and that he knows he speaks the truth Amatus amans vulnera Domini the beloved Disciple that loved the wounds of his Master and would not let one of them be unrecorded this is the last wound that the Son of God received and therefore it is recorded by the last Evangelist The whole Story is comprized in this one verse and it will yield us these two points the malice of the living and the blessing that came from the dead The malicious action conteins four circumstances 1. Who was that evil person who did offer ignominy to the Body of Christ one of the Souldiers 2. What was the violence he offered he pierced him with a spear 3. Upon what part of his Body this fury did light upon his side 4. When he smote him you shall find by the thirtieth verse when he had given up the ghost In the second general branch which is the blessing that came from the dead there is the mystical opening of the Fountain of life wherein I consider first the two streams severally Bloud and Water 2. Their Conjunction Bloud and Water together 3. Their Order first Bloud and then Water 4. The Readiness of the Fountain that gushed out the stream could not be stopped no not for a minute forthwith there came out Bloud and Water Of these in their order Vnus militum one of the Souldiers did a despiteful fact upon the Body of Christ The Romans having the whole Nation of the Jews under their subjection at this time did gratifie them notwithstanding in many things to prevent rebellion and to satisfie their Law which forbids their dead to hang upon a tree after Sun-set lest the Land should be defiled Pilate gave them leave to take away the Bodies this day crucified from the Cross Wherefore to dispatch the Malefactors that they might be taken down two Thieves had their legs broken in whom there was life remaining It seems the chief Centurion would not be more rigid than the Law to do any further despite to Christ when he was dead already yet the cracking of his bones to splinters was the chief thing the Jews intended but one of the Souldiers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certainly says the Father for a fee to please the people thrust a spear into his side I doubt me that those who delighted in war bore no good will unto our Saviour His birth was destinated by providence unto the days of peace his Name was the Prince of Peace his Doctrin was utterly against the Sword qui gladium sumpserit gladio ferietur now see what comes of it when he is faln into the hands of Souldiers Joab and the mighty men of the Camp were all for Adoniah and all against Solomon Adoniah was like to live in the field as his Father David had done but Solomon's hand must spill no blood that it may build up a Temple The Emperor Probus let a word of meekness slip from him equus nascetur ad pacem he hoped to have horses brought up to do service in peace and not in war and the Captains of the Host cut short his dayes and so it far'd with the great Preacher of Peace Christ had as good be guarded by one of the Pharisees as by one of the Souldiers As Aristotle said of Bees and Swallows Nec feri sunt generis nec mansueti they were neither reckoned among those creatures that were wild nor those that were tame but of a middle sort Such was the condition of these Spear-men somewhat ruder than civil men somewhat tamer than Savages but violent in their disposition as they are pleased or provoked Yet I am not of Tertullian's mind to
best luck then I have thee Affrica says he and I will hold thee What man is it whose feet have not slipt whose sins are not so burdensome as to cast him down the turning of the luck is where our hand lights God send our lot fall in a fair ground that we may say teneo te redemptor meus teneo te Domine I have laid hold on thee O Lord I caught thee fast my Redeemer So did the Father of the Faithful he went and took the Ram he took him and offered him for so it follows the same which he received the same he gave back again Quippe Dominum sui ipsius dono honorat says one he did as much as the best in the world can do that is to honor God with no other gift but with the same that God himself did give before but in this word Abraham acts another person than Abraham obtulit he offered up the Ram and who did ofâ—er up the Son but God the Father When Abraham went out of his own Country and grew rich in a strange place who was he then in the resemblance but Christ the second person of Trinity says St. Austin Qui relictâ Judaeâ ubi natus est apud gentes prevalet who leaving the faithless Countrey of Jury where he was born purchased to himself an Inheritance among the Gentiles but when his name was interpreted Pater multarum gentium a Father of many Nations and when this Priestly Office in my Text lay upon him obtulit that he offered up the Ram there we see the first Person in Trinity of him in this we see how God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that who so believed in him should not perish but have life everlasting Deus liberalitatem cum hominibus certavit says Origen he makes God in this place to contend with Man in liberality Abraham spared not his Son whom he loved no more did God this was his only Son so was he Gods but his Son was mortal and must die once Gods Son was immortal and his Father made him that he might unmake him he made him flesh that he might bring him to the Grave his Son should die for his own sins Christ died for ours his Son had been chopt off at once without sense of dying Gods Son was tented and beaten and bruised and wounded from midnight that he was taken in the Garden to this hour of the day wherein we speak of it which was turned for sadness into the first hour of the night In the Levitical Law the Priest laid his hand upon the head of the Sacrifice when it was to be kill'd Quia patris voluntate suscepit nostra peccata filius says one because the Son was an Expiation for our sins by the will of the Father so Luke xv 23. Bring the fat Calf and kill him says the relenting Father that he might bid welcom home to his Prodigal Son But you will say how did the Father offer up the Son Let the blame lie upon Judas and Pilate and the Souldiers but what did God you shall hear the Schoolmen answer it appertinently 1. Praeordinando who but the Father preordain'd it before the foundation of the World 2. Voluntatem patiendi humanam naturam infundendo it was he that did infuse an obedient affection into the Soul of the Manhood and did perswade it to be willing to suffer 3. Non protegendo a persecutoribus he that did not deliver him out of the hands of his Persecutors when he might have sent an hundred Legions of Angels to scatter his Enemies it was his charity towards us to offer him up for a Burnt-offering At this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Burnt-offering there comes in Christs part a Burnt-offering is that where all the flesh of the Sacrifice is quite consumed with fire grant us therefore both the active and passive obedience of Christ for our justification grant us the merit of his humility with the merit of his death or else it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some part was sacrificed for us but it was not an whole Burnt-offering Consider that every vein of his body had evacuated bloud that every inch of his flesh was gashed with wounds as the Firmament stands thick with stars consider that every faculty of his Soul was sad and sick with agony and distress and then tell me if he was not a Sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every part when Christ himself concluded with consummatum est as who should say all the bitterness of anguish is past upon me that can be imagined then the Sacrifice was quite burnt out and the Passion ended Yet listen to one word which our Saviour uttered and then we will not stick at a scruple that may be made how his death was shadowed in a Ram that was burnt when his body suffered no corruption nor incineration but was crucified upon the Cross We must weigh this doubt in the Balance of that heavy Speech My God my God why hast thou forsaken me it was not it could not be the out-cry of his own Soul that was in desperation because it self was forsaken it was the voice of him that susteined the punishment of those who were plunged into despair and condemnation Non suscepit opera sed stipendia peccatorum our sins did not properly lye upon him but the wages of our sins Now will you see a Burnt-offering indeed now will you see a fire of brimstone flaming more violently than if a Mountain did burn from the top to the bottom Flammae inferni in animo Christi insufflantur says Brentius let us speak warily the pains of Hell had not got hold upon him but he saw the fire of vengeance which was prepared for us it scorcht I may say the very compassion of his heart when he saw that his Fathers justice would kindle it for the sins of the world not a spark could take hold on him Sed tu quod facies hoc mihi Pete dolet it set him all on fire as if he were a Burnt-offering for fear that we should suffer it the darkness which was over the face of the earth non solum incurrerunt in oculos sed etiam in animam Christi says Brentius it did not only appear like night to the eye of his Body but his Soul for our sakes did see and dread the utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth A little before when he said in the Garden My soul is heavy unto death there he did grapple with the horror of death and conquer'd it but when he lifted up his voice upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me there he did struggle with infernal fire there he did grapple with the horror of Hell and conquer'd it Tell me I beseech you are you not affected with these things like Cleophas and the other Disciple do not your hearts burn within you to hear them if you feel
of nothing doth it not appear much easier to him to joyn them together again in one substance when they are separated Finemque potentia coeli non habet superi quicquid voluere peractum est To expound that Heathen Poet by our Heavenly Poet Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in heaven in earth in the sea and in all deep places He that will consider how every day is renewed after the night hath overcast it by the dawning of a new morning how every year is renewed after the cold and darkness of Winter by the return and advancement of the Sun how the naked Trees reflourish by the Vegetative vertue of the Spring how Flies and Moths and the brood of the Silk-worm have no motion no quickness no token of life in them for many months together and yet instantly quicken again when the warmth of the Sun beams do cherish them Finally to end in that chief instance for the Scripture hath made it so how the seed of Corn falls into the ground and dies and then revives again and brings forth much fruit he that puts all this together rationally will more easily consent that it is not improbable that God will shew more wonderful signs of his workmanship in man being next under the Angels the beauty of all his Creatures An unwise man doth not mark this as the Psalmist said and a fool doth not understand it St. Austin says that Tully in his 3. lib. de Repub. disputed against the reuniting of soul and body His Argument was To what end Where should they remain together For a body cannot be assumed into heaven I believe God caused those famous monuments of his Wit to perish because of such impious opinions wherewith they were farced But to his slender Argument the body raised up shall have shaken off all malignancy of flesh and bloud which made it unfit for heaven And when it is become a glorious body why not a body inhabit heaven as well as a spiritual coelestial soul converse upon earth But Plato was more Theological than Tully and he taught very truly that souls could not remain separated for ever without their bodies And though he put not a reason to his opinion there is a very sufficient one Posse perficere materiam est animae hominis essentiale It is the essential difference for ought we know between the Spirit of a man and an Angel who is a spiritual substance that mans soul hath an aptitude a desire a natural reference to inform and actuate a body and so hath not an Angel Therefore it cannot be that this natural aptitude to dwell in flesh should be in it unto all eternity when it is separated from the body and never be satisfied Perhaps some will think that this labour may be spared to shew the possibility of a body to be raised from the dead for here is that power in act it is done it is manifested in Christ it cannot be controuled Whom God hath raised up Some have wondred at our Saviour for his Birth his obedience to his Parents his Poverty his Passion that he should humble himself so far but no man can take hold of any occasion to wonder why he should be raised from the dead and glorified so far It was conformable to the eternal justice of his Father to exalt him that had humbled himself so much Lowliness shall not always be left in the dust to be despised Therefore some of the ancient Writers make those words by Analogy to suit with Christ Psal cxxxix 2. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising And that of Micah in the same Key Chap. vii 8. Rejoyce not against me O mine enemy when I fall I shall arise Obedience and patience shall not be forgotten at last Every Valley that subjecteth it self under the mighty hand of God shall be exalted Jesus Christ though he was crucified through weakness yet he liveth by the power of God 2 Cor. xiii 4. Secondly Satan must make this restitution for the wrong that he had done to an innocent Death had dominion no further than sin did reign so that it was a most unjust usurpation in death to seize upon him who knew no sin the Devil set on his Instruments to kill our Lord and prevailed but Hell and the Grave must needs regorge that which they had so unjustly received That eternal Law which hath destined most several retributions to the pure and impure would not suffer that he should continue in death whose soul was pure and his body undefiled The Resurrection of us sinners is out of grace and mercy the Resurrection of Christ is out of merit and justice Both shall arise alike as St. Austin says Similiter surgent corpora quae dissimiliter orta sunt Christi Adami nostrum Bodies that were diversly framed and made as Christs and Adams and ours shall not rise after a divers manner but have the same kind of Resurrection Yet the excellency of the head is above the members for though the head and members are conformable in nature yet they are not in vertue Therefore I bring it home to my second reason that God is pleased in his loving kindness that we should overcome death but he consented to his own justice that Christ should overcome death for Satan must make restitution again because he had slain an innocent That is the second reason upon the main whom God hath raised up Thirdly As God hath turned the sting of death to our benefit so much more out of the Resurrection of his Son he hath given us a salve of consolation For if his humility and reproach were our blessing how much more his glory Death is two ways abolished first by the pardoning of our sins for it is now become the passage to heaven for all penitent sinners which before was the gate of hell for all transgressors Secondly It is much more abolished by the Resurrection evacuating all that mortality had caused by the restauration of soul and body into an integral composition We have three grand enemies combined together against us Sin and Death and Hell But through the happy victory of Christ of all these Enemies Death doth least harm and therefore of all our Enemies he is last destroyed Among the Heathen death was their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most amating terror that could be set before a man the reason for they knew neither how that loss should ever be repaired nor what entertainment their Spirit should find in another world when it was departed But God hath provided better things for us not to let us fluctuate in these fears and uncertainties Nay we are enlightened to know that the malediction which was in death is extinguished how that which was at first inflicted as an entrance into perpetual pain is now a rest from all our labours Rev. xiv Furthermore that it is a rest from sin for while we draw in our breath we suck in iniquity grace doth
get that the very Walls of Gods House might bear a part in their rejoycing As for Processions from one Church to another on this day I find no such Custom in the best Ages of Religion Although in some late hundred years it is in use at Rome that their chief Prelates visit the seven principal Churches in grand Procession because and alass for so poor a cause that Christ after He was risen bad his Disciples go before him into Galilee Thirdly the Word of God was preached laboriously and studied for that occasion Ex verbo illud potissimum quod est tempori convenientissimum says Nazianzen let that Scripture be handled which belongs to the Season and beside the Sermon their Service was set forth with all gravity and sweetness of Musick Laeti exultantesque celebremus says St. Ambrose c. let our shrill voices proclaim it that we are glad and Theodoret gives warning that this Panegyrical Day be kept honestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with drunkenness and riot and profuse laughter but singing Psalms and hearing the Word attentively Fourthly this Feast was the solemn time for receiving Baptism this and the Feast of Whitsuntide and unless in case of necessity it was never given of old at other times all that were presented at Baptism coming in white Garments professing thereby that they would keep their righteousness pure and immaculate until the second coming of the Lord. Fifthly as Baptism is the washing away of sins which could not choose but comfort their hearts over all the Church and make them chearful so the confirmation of that Faith was the receiving of the Holy Communion of Christs Body and Bloud which all did universally apply themselves to that could examin themselves and none did fail whereupon says Leo this is the peculiar Blessing of Easter-day ut in remissione peccatorum universa gaudeat Ecclesia that the whole Church had cause to rejoyce that remission of sins was sealed unto them that is either in the Sacrament of Baptism or in the Supper of the Lord. Sixthly whereas it was disputed and tossed about extremely at what time all Christians should keep their Easter the holy Bishops that were otherwise at odds consented in two things the one that it should begin immediately after the sorrowful affliction of Lent was laid aside The other that it should be appointed in the sweetness of the Spring when the year is most delightsom and beautiful Et laetitiam conciliat huic festo verna amaenitas says one the amiable verdure of the Spring is joyn'd unto it to make Easter more joyful Seventhly some did alter the year and set the beginning of it from the Feast of the Resurrection We come very near it in one computation our selves This I find that as some friends do send Presents one to the other at the beginning of the new year So Nazianzen says that at Easter all were wont to give either Oblations to God or Gifts to their Neighbours or Alms to the Poor For Festival Solemnities are a due mixture of Praise and Bounty The Jews at the Passover did offer to God the first fruits of their Barly at the Feast of Pentecost Loaves made of new Wheat at the Feast of Tabernacles the first fruits of other Fruits which they had gathered All pompous days had some mixture of liberality Eighthly in Theodosius the Emperors time a Law passed to the end that all might keep their Easter merrily without interruption that no Process or Arrest should go forth in any Court against any man from the Sunday before Easter to the Sunday after Easter that is for the space of fifteen days Ninthly as the Political Magistrate was so respectful of this Festival so was the Ecclesiastical For the ancient Council of Ancyra order'd that to the end all might rejoyce and be glad this day Excommunications Suspensions and all Censures should end at Easter nay the great Council of Nice took care that in every Province or Diocess a Synod of the Clergy should be held every Lent to set all matters strait against this time that there might be no variance no quarrel no complaint remaining As if this were our Jubilee wherein Servants were manumitted from Bondage Debts were remitted and Possessions restored to the owners that had sold them Certainly the holy Fathers meant that above all the Feasts of the year this was our joyful Jubilee Tenthly and lastly the principal stamp of gladness set upon this day was that the first day of the week namely Sunday is kept holy every day of the week for Easter-days sake of which I will make a larger work hereafter But every Sunday was strictly kept with such solemn postures of joy that the last Canon of the Nicene Council interdicted all Christians from kneeling on those days they must pray standing that is chearfully and kneeling was supposed to be the gesture of affliction and humiliation The end of all these Edicts and Ceremonies was to let us know that the Lord had done great things for us for which we ought to rejoyce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even to skip for joy for true joy will break forth as John did in the womb of Elizabeth Death is a comfort against all sorrows and the Resurrection is a comfort against Death and Christ is our comfort that we shall have a joyful resurrection and the holy Sacrament is our visible comfort that we still live in Christ for evermore AMEN A SERMON UPON THE Church Festivals PSAL. cxviii 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it THE Substance of Religion is to fear God and to praise him The Circumstances thereof are to perform this in fit time and place and to do all things belonging to his Worship decently and in order It is for the sutableness of time that I continue my Meditations upon this Text for there are many things which are but accidentary to the main and yet of such forcible consequence that nothing can stand without them So opportunity of time is such a forcible annexion to the performance of Divine Service as no external thing is more available The sweet tongue of Musick would be unpleasant if it kept not time so the Christian Melody which we make to God would want the grace and delight that is in it if days and times were not solemnly and prudently divided to call holy Assemblies together for the work of the Lord. If I speak of time like a Naturalist it is but the measure of the continuance of things that have a being given unto them and it neither works in them any real effect nor is it self capable of any But passing it by in this low regard and taking it in hand Theologically so the hours which are appointed to present our reasonable Sacrifice in the House of the Almighty are of such great consideration to the furtherance of Piety that they are woven into Religion like sinews into the body neither
his Story of the Jesuits affairs makes his Protoplast Ignatius Loiola to be so fortunate in carrying all the substance of the Scripture in his mind that had the Scriptures been utterly lost a thing perchance which he wisht for Ignatius could have delivered all points of faith without book I would you were all as truly such as Orlandine fain'd and imagin'd him to be I would you were such as that Antonius of Padua who by those that admired his cunning in the Scriptures was called Arca Testamenti the Ark wherein the Law of God was laid up to be kept I would you would make them your inheritance as David did Thy testimonies have I claimed as mine inheritance for ever Like righteous Naboth though Ahab and Jezebel the Devil and the flesh would extort that Inheritance from you sooner die than part with it but when you are so oblivious and forgetful of all holy things Gods blessings your own repentance and the sweet relish of the Scriptures is it not a sign that you despise the Lord Thirdly contempt is seen in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to take it to heart not to be wounded with compassion when Sion is wasted and Gods honour is trampled under feet Like Gallio the Deputy in the 18. of the Acts that professed he sat in judgment to take up discords of civil peace but if a controversie come before him about the Law of God let it be right or wrong he would not meddle with it But Lot was grieved and afflicted with the filthy conversation of the Sodomites 2 Pet. ii 7. though Persecutions of bloud be not upon our land and O Lord be gracious still and for ever to keep them from us yet a righteous man suffers some persecution in his soul when filthy conversation jets about before his eyes Phineas was inflam'd with zeal to see Adultery in the Congregation and slew both Zimri and the Moabitess Num. 25. Ezekias rent his Garments and put on sackcloth when he heard the blasphemy of Rabshekah against the living God Horror hath taken hold on me says David because of the wicked that forsake thy Law Psal cxix 53. there is not such a Sacrifice offered up unto God says St. Ambrose as a zealous conscience that is eaten up as it were and consumed because the fear of God is imminish'd among the Sons of men nay says he take away zeal for Gods honour and you take away the office the excellency nay the very nature and substance of an Angel Old Polycarpus went always right with the true Doctrine of the Church but because Hereticks grated his ears with their unsavoury opinions he cries out Deus bone in quae tempora me reservasti at haec audiam Good Lord why do I live to hear such pestilent speeches against thy glory Beloved upon these your Festival days of pomp and ostentation give ear a little to the calamities which the Protestant Church doth suffer at this day under the hands of Tirants that do not love the purity of our Gospel Our Brethren that suffer the least share of their fury are threatned and besieged a most Valiant and Illustrious King through the covetousness and mutiny of his own Forces much weakned and dejected the florishing Inheritance of the Rhene quite rent away from the true and ancient Possessors Can O can you forget when the Tribe of Benjamin was as it were quite cut off with the edg of the sword that the Eleven Tribes remaining came to the House of the Lord and abode there till Evening and lift up their voices and wept sore and said O Lord God of Israel why is this come to pass in Israel that there should be to day one Tribe lacking in Israel The Country Palatine was a strong Pillar to uphold the happy proceedings of the Reformed Churches our Confederacy is now much weakned in that damage Away with Sports and Revels and gaudy Pastimes a Tribe it wanting this day in Israel let us mourn for it in our Prayers and engage our fortunes for it in the field He that doth not condole for the great blow given to the Church doth he not slight the miseries of Sion and depise the Lord Hearken now to the fourth sign of scorn and contempt which consists in this to speak ill of those things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who are precious to God and of high esteem as when Hezekiah called the brasen Serpent Nehushtan a lump of Brass which the people did superstitiously adore it is manifest that Hezekiah did despise the vanity of the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the saying is speak that which may be lucky and fortunate both to your selves and others let the Praises of God and his Saints be in your mouths the Lord delights to have their names exalted and magnified See what a commemoration S. Paul hath made of the faithful departed Heb. xi he passeth not over one without some Encomium of his zeal and piety nay our Saviour gave Mary Magdalen his blessing that wheresoever the Gospel was preached in all the world it should be reported to her honour what costly ointment she had poured upon his head and should we be so froward as some are to put down the solemn Holy-daies which are allotted to the memory of the Evangelists and Apostles upon whose foundation I mean their doctrin and not their person the Church is built throughout the world I fear that God would be offended at us and impute it to our disdain that we despised him because we grew weary to revive the memory of his Saints Many are willing that Bartholomew or any other Apostle should hold a Fair in the City for the quick uttering of Wares and Merchandize but they would not have the Church opened upon a solemn day for St. Bartholomews My Brethren both may be well done but the last of the two much better than the other for I hope you will know St. Bartholomew was a Churchman and not a Merchant Another fault there is let it lye upon the score of private persons and not upon the whole Church The adoration which the Church of Rome ascribes to the Blessed Virgin Mary the Invocation of Saints which they maintain St. Peters Supremacy and the Popes Succession in his person which they defend as their life these opinions are false and superstitious but none of those noble persons have therefore deserved ill at your hands that in the heat of the controversy we should insult over St. Peters faults or make havock of the Reliques of the Saints or speak slightly of that incomparable vessel the Virgin Mary and mince her title of Blessed when the sacred Hymn says that all generations shall call her blessed leave this to the railing Jew who in disdain calls our Saviour not Ben Mariam the Son of Mary but Ben Aariam the Son of her that is vile as smoak As for such backbiters of the glorious Children of God like as the smoak vanisheth so shall
confess that we owe both our life and our substance to the Eternal Majesty yet our thankfulness could return nothing to him but it is spilt and consumed to nothing Unto these two blessings which the Jews did enjoy by his mercy long life and rich means to maintain it sanguis adeps we have received two blessings ten thousand times richer first that the Most High did offer up his Son on the Cross for our sakes and then he did as it were sacrifice the Holy Ghost unto Man sending him down in cloven tongues as it had been of fire these are sanguis and adeps the best bloud and the best fat or unction in the world O let us not forget his honour and goodness to make continual mention of it and since the Father hath sacrificed as it were the Son and the Holy Ghost to us let us sacrifice our selves to the holy and individed Trinity both bloud and fat both life and fortunes both soul and substance Secondly by slaying a Beast in Sacrifice the humble Penitent did confess his unworthiness and the guiltiness of his sins which made him deserve to be quite consumed by the anger of the Lord even as the flesh of a Sheep or Goat was burnt in the fire As the Ninevites in their humiliation cast ashes upon their heads that such a spectacle of desolation might speak their mind that they and their City did justly deserve to become ashes and desolation Such a Ceremony in the Injunctions of Penance hath often been imposed upon infamous Delinquents to hold a wax Candle lighted in their hand before the people which was a silent confessing that as the Taper wasted away with the flame so their iniquities made them fit to be burnt in Hell fire but that they hoped the Lord would be merciful The old Manichaeans therefore and the modern Anabaptists had small reason to reject the Books of Moses because he delivered a form of Religion which consisted much in the slaughter of Birds and Cattle I am sure Christ allowed that old way while it was a way to be very laudable both by his Precept Luke v. 14. He bad the Leper whom he had cured Go thy self to the Priest and offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded and by partaking no doubt every year as well as at his last Supper of the Paschal Lamb a Rememorative according to the present point in hand that the Children of Israel should confess how their first-born deserved to have been slain as well as the first of the Egyptians were and as well as that Lamb was whereof they eat if justice had been strictly executed upon them as it was upon the Egyptians Certainly this was no small profit arising out of Sacrifice which made a contrite man discern his own sins and unworthiness wherein he compared himself with the Beast that perished And this was wont to be done in the Law by one annual Ceremony more solemn than ordinary wherefore St. Paul says in those Sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year Heb. x. 3. and in the usual Sin-offering which came often to the Altar according as such as were laden with sins did unburden their conscience And I will interpose one thing in a touch and a way to convince their obstinacy that hold it no way material for the peace of their mind to have the absolution of their sins pronounced unto them by the lips of the Priest such a one for ought I can see in this opinion thinks himself to make a Church alone without the Communion of Saints yet as he is convinced by the power of the Keys committed to the Apostles and their Successors under the Gospel so the Lord did refute him by the Ceremony of the Sin-offering under the Law for one part of the Sin-offering was burnt to God an the Priest had the other part ad significandum quod expiatio peccatorum sit à Deo per ministerium Sacerdotum to prove symbolically that God did remit sins by the ministry of his Priests and therefore God had the main share and the Priest the remaining portion of the Offering But alas though this second reason were very useful to the Jews while they were like Elementary Children fed with Signs and Figures yet now we Christians have other principles stronger meat for what need we confess our unworthiness and what punishment we deserve over the Carkass of a Beast when we see much better what penalty remains unto us if God would be extreme to mark what is done amiss who spared not the life of his only Son when he bore the person of our transgressions And there 's the third reason which is the full and complete use of all the ancient Sacrifices it was to prefigure the immolation the bloudshedding the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ those were the Parables of the Old Testament as I may call them and Christs Death was the intepretation of them all Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world says John the Baptist Agnus qui redemit oves the Lamb that redeemed all the Sheep which hear his voice Behold the Lamb of God slain from the beginning of the world Revel xiii 8. says John the Divine slain personally under Pontius Pilate but slain representatively from the beginning of the world in the immolation of all those beasts whose blood by faith did embrew the Altar The bloud of Bulls and of Rams the slaughter of the Morning and Evening Sacrifice did all belong to the acknowledgment of the same reckoning which at last was fully discharg'd by the bloud of Christ those were but like petty sums to pay the Interest in the mean time at last the Principal the whole Debt was discharg'd by that most Royal ransom of our Saviour In a word all those bloody Oblations were like John Baptist forerunners of Christ Indentures sealed with bloud that the Redeemer would come and die for his People Not the least Sparrow which was offered for cleansing but might move our Saviour to say unto the Jews If yes believed in Moses ye would believe also in me Now for as much as the Holy Ghost hath made us able to interpret obscure things since the comming of Christ how fluent and facil are these meditations to us to discern our Lord in every clean offering which was offered up by Noah in every Lamb which came to the office of the Sons of Aaron with great difficulty did the Patriarchs pick out that construction When we read of a Sacrifice we see as much in it as if Christs Passion were represented on a Stage Bernard made a pious and an eloquent gradation how faith gathered strength by degrees being a little spark with those that were ordinary Believers before the Law then a candle under the Law lumen in laterna no more as David said in his daies thy word is a Lantern unto my feet and a light unto my paths then like a flaming Beacon in
a Pillar of Salt But let us come from persons to things that concern Gods Worship and Honour and note how we defalk and rob God in them Of two Testaments of holy Scriptures the Manichaeans Hereticks in ancient times and now our modern Anabaptists do reject the Old Of two parts of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Bread and Wine to signifie the body of Christ crucified and his bloud spilt the Layty you know where have lost the use of the Cup. Of four Commandments in the First Table of the Law the Second among some is either snapt off for brevity sake or crouded into the First to make it lose its force and vigour Instead of Faith and good Works which are both necessary to salvation we are much too slow with our good Works and think to come off well enough with a dry barren Faith Instead of our Prayers early and late as a Morning and Evening Sacrifice dissolute men and women think a short good-night will serve the turn as they go to bed Instead of glorifying God in our bodies and in our spirits many do subtract their humility of bodily worship and suppose it is abundantly well done to serve him in Spirit Finally instead of devoting our whole Age to repentance and newness of life many will not abandon their sins till their sins are forsaking them in their last years nay perhaps in the last hour nay God help them perhaps but in the last gasp or two of that latest hour thus the Devil hath envenomed the World with a Sacrilegious Poyson and perswades us that all is well gotten which is lost to God But in deed and in truth God loseth nothing He will be honoured either in our Conversion or in our Confusion As his mercy was content to be glolified in the deliverance of Lots Wife so his justice was exalted in her punishment Thirdly This woman was come out of Sodom come out of the Plain hard by the Gates of Zoar at the very last Furlong of the way as Adrichomius describes it and cast her self wilfully away when she was almost past all danger as the Proverb is In portu naufragium she had pass'd the Waves of a perilous Journey but shipwrackt and lost all when she was come home to the Haven Quod quisque vitet nunquam homini satis cautum est in horas None perish so soon as they that think they cannot perish now they are past the worst and so become less wary of their safety When Caesar had it divin'd unto him that the Ides of March should be fatal to him he should never out-live that day he was jocund and secure about afternoon and frumpingly told his Wizzards the day was far-spent and he felt no sign of death O but says one that Prophesied evil to him the day is come but it is not pass'd yet and the event of the day was the slaughter of Caesar So many are wound up to the last minute of confidence and security and there began their ruine where they thought to consummate their felicity Abimelech marched against the City of Thebes he took it he besieged the Tower close to the Gates of the Tower and was about to set fire to the Gates thus he stood in limine victoriae as his Victory was come to the just complement a woman cast down a piece of a Mill stone and brake his skull that he died Judg. ix 22. Thus as a Gamesters whole Stake and winnings may be lost at the last cast so many men have had a long progress in prosperity and for want of due thankfulness of that they had received their conclusion and shutting up of their eyes hath been bitterness Relapsing in sickness a thing as frequent as the water that runs by us it is not unskilfully imputed to the heedlesness of him that was too adventurous upon recovery and some other indisposition of natural causes but when we see a man brought down to the Grave with infirmity and brought back again by Art and skil and yet in the midst of his joy to be strangely cast back into the former languishment Let not the sound judge anothers servant but let the sick party judge himself that either he returned to the vomit of his former sins which he did abandon upon fear of death or promised restitution of something got by fraud which afterwards he would not perform or forgave his enemies at the point of extremity and being restored renewed his old grudge or forgot his Vows which he had made or flubbered over the benefit which God had done for him with careless ingratitude Certainly some offence did intervene that when the bitterness of death did seem to be past the Lord should cause his very recovery to be his ruine For there is nothing more dangerous than deliverance out of danger if we do not use our fortune reverently and stand in awe of God even in the midst of his mercies And this is more conspicuous in the soul than in the body Gods grace leads a penitent man along by the hand in the narrow way of righteousness but if he begin to think that he can go alone without a supporter when he thinks he hath one foot in heaven he shall be thrown down to hell or as our Saviour speaks the latter end of that man shall be worse than the first How many have revolted from the true Faith through the deceivable wit of seducers even upon the last bed of their sickness How many have repulsed Satans tentations oftentimes and have yielded as you would say at the last time of asking As Samson denied Delilah sundry times but betrayed his life into her hands at the last onset and importunity What a courage had Peter against the whole band of the Priests servants And how much discouraged at the voice of a silly Damosel and made to forswear his Master This was in extremo actu deficere to be far from Sodom and almost at Zoar and yet to fall back from God when we are within sight and almost within touch of the Crown of life this is that turpitude which is most ignominious to our Christian Warfare With shame enough shall back-sliders hear that reproach from God You did run well who did hinder you You were almost at the top of my holy hill why did your feet slip Why did you look back to Sodom Wherefore my Beloved when your conscience tells you that hitherto your heart hath been right with the Lord you have plaid your part well to the last act why then be most sollicitous that you be not defective in the end and lose your reward and the fruit of all your labour that went before But pray with David Forsake me not O Lord in mine old age when I am gray-headed Let me not forget thee as Lots Wife did when I am almost at Zoar and then the Lord will say Even to your old age even to your hoary hairs will I carry you Isa xlvi 4. So much be
heaven out of the fire than some out of their feather-bed The soul is in the body as the Lamps were in Gideons Pitchers break the Pitchers and the Lamps will shine and then begins the Victory What Seneca said of the state of Rome under Caesar the Dictator Respub sub eo stare non potuit sed cecidit in sinum boni principis the same is competent to the state of man We cannot hold out long we shall sink under the burden of sin Sed cecidit homo in sinum boni principis repent and we may fall into Abrahams bosom When Scipio led his Army against Carthage and his Scabberd fell off from his Sword his Souldiers were dismayed at it as a sign of ill fortune This is nothing says Scipio for I have my Sword still in my hand and that I must fight with So let the body fall into the dust or ashes keep the Soul clean make it white in the bloud of the Lamb by Faith and then all is safe It is the soul that first must taste of glory St. Austin asks why the Devil made so much of his darling Sylla that in all his life he was scarce perplexed with any misfortune The Father replies Timuit magis Diabolus nè corrigeretur Sylla quà m nè vinceretur The Devil cared not if he had burst his neck but he was afraid his vertue would be greater if his felicity were less Wherefore if Achan did give God the glory as Joshuah did instruct him all might go well with his soul though iste periit his body were consumed The Romans were wont to Deifie their Emperours on this sort Their bodies were placed in a pile of wood and at the top of the Hearse an Eagle was kept close untill the flame had taken hold of the body and then the Eagle was suffered to fly away to heaven So leave we the body of Achan in the Pile of wood yet in the mercies of Jesus Christ his Soul might take the wings of the Morning as David says and after all his tedious Pilgrimage live in rest for ever Nothing should make me mistrustful and doubt of his salvation but his too late repentance Is this a time to leave off sin when we must leave off life and can sin no more Poenitentiam dare possumus securitatem non possumus Do you then come to play the Huxters for mercy as if the Market were cheapest at the latter end of the day The Son of man will come to judgment suddenly as swift as the lightning The Resurrection shall be suddenly at one blast of the Archangels Trumpet Corruptio fit in momento the soul will not creep but fly out of the body suddenly Shall all things be sudden but mans repentance If you love your Country and wish it victory against all her enemies if you tender your Children and Allies and desire their safety nay if you love your Gold and Silver and cast about to leave a good inheritance beware to draw the anger of God Vnius ob noxam furias upon so many innocent souls have peace in Jesus Christ and let Achan perish alone in his aniquity AMEN A SERMON Preached before the KING at WHITE-HALL the 5. of April 1665. UPON THE SOLEMN FAST To crave a Blessing of GOD for his MAJESTIES NAVAL FORCES NEHEM i. 4. And it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain dayes and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven WE have many Solemn dayes in the year to remember the noble Works of our Saviour But the Church hath set forth no proper day to mind us how He will come to judgment in the end of the World Is not that an oversight will some say that there is no red letter in the Calender to bring the Object of that mighty Judgment before us that it may not be forgotten Hear the reason and I know you will excuse it All the beneficial Works of our Saviour came to pass upon certain days of the year whose revolution is known or easily guessed at and those days are exactly kept with holy diligence But for the Day of Judgment it is kept secret so that the Angels of Heaven are ignorant of it Therefore to keep one solemn day recurrent every year for an admonition that such a dreadful hour is to come were in a sort to prescribe God to an appointed time who must not be prescribed If any press it further and say Shall we then have no solemn opportunity to learn that capital Lesson that Christ will come in the clouds with power and great glory to call the Earth before him Far be that omission from us For to what end servs a publick Fast but to prepare us all to hear that voice Behold the Bridegroom cometh go ye forth to meet him This is the day wherein every tender conscience should feel the Ax laid to the root of the Tree Now the whole Kingdom stands as it were at the Bar to be arraigned before the Majesty of God We come to call our selvs to judgment before Christ calls us to prevent him Here we are met not to justify our selves O God forbid but to confess the evil we have done that we may not suffer the evil we have deserved They are mighty sins which we come to deplore not only the iniquities of this place though great and exemplary not the sins of the great City alone though it abound in people and wickedness but the innumerous contagious crying sins of this Nation of this England for which and whose pardon we come to make our mournful supplication Now to teach you to stear your course by a Godly instance I lay my matter among the Servants of God in the Land of Judah of whom I could have told you that when they were in fear of bad Neighbours round about them kept a general Humiliation for all the People Nehem. ix 1. The People fasted in sackcloth and cast ashes upon their heads But I know where I am and I will rather instruct you from the Pattern of Nehemiah called the Tirshata a mighty Prince among the People who was so zealous for the prosperity of his Country that you can scarce match him with all that went before him Moses was the Grandfather of Israel that brought them out of the Captivity of Egypt Nehemiah was their Co founder or Foster father who repaired the ruins of the Captivity of Babylon The Text shews what he did in the beginning of his zeal to appease the anger of the Lord. In two general parts I will discover his piety which I call the wound of his heart and the cure of that wound the occasion of his humiliation and the humiliation it self The wound of his heart was given by evil tydings It came to pass when I heard these words which afflicted him two wayes first for the ruins which the Land had suffered secondly for the impediments of its reparation The care of the
in holy Scripture both how the Devil tempted Christ to see if He were God and how the Pharisees brought a case before him to try if He were Messias Cast thy self down from the Pinacle of the Temple says Satan if thou be the Son of God No that were cruelty against his own person and charity begins at home Then the Pharisees brought a sinner before him taken in adultery Joh. viii Their fingers itcht to be casting stones at her but he would not suffer them And this mercy proved him both to be Messias and the Son of God If men and Angels had kept good we had only known the friendship of God what it was and not his anger that was natural unto him We provoked justice violently and wrung it out of his hands And as the King of Israel said to Elisha when his enemies were inclosed within his power Shall I smite them my Father shall I smite them No says the Prophet but set bread and water before them So Justice said to God when we had transgressed Shall I smite them Shall I consume them at once O no says our Saviour but set bread and wine before them the Sacrament of his body and bloud which being eaten by faith will save our souls Christ wept but twice in all once over his friend Lazarus that was a natural grief and once over Jerusalem that sought his bloud that was a coelestial passion Nay though he went but a foot pace from one City to another to preach the Gospel yet he would needs ride to Jerusalem so to make haste to suffer longing till the work of our Redemption was finished St. Ambrose says he groaned as well to have the bitter Cup come quickly as to have it pass away and grew weary of delay till He had paid the Hand-writing which was against us There passed but a little time from midnight to midday betwixt his Attachment his Arraignment and his Execution as if his feet had stood upon thorns until his head was crowned with them Now tell me how you will look upon this Christ O ye malicious hearted whose feet are swift to shed bloud in Duels and fierce Encounters your hatred and his pitty your desire to destroy your enemies and his good will to recover them and bless them they savour undoubtedly of two sort of Serpents Christ is the Brazen Serpent lifted up who cured the infirmities of the People they are like the fiery Vermin which stung Gods Travellers in the Wilderness And when God was put to it to punish see how Mercy wrestled with Indignation Ah I will be avenged of mine enemies says the Prophet Isaiah he sighed because he must be wrathful as it was said of the mild Emperor Vespasian Indoluit quoties debuit esse ferox When he destroyed Sodom with an heayy wrath his justice came down but in slow drops of fire but his mercy is a full torrent like Jordan in a time of Harvest it brought Israel to a Land flowing with milk and honey for his mercy endureth for ever His goodness is swifter than Eagles for in six dayes he framed the World and all that is therein But he took forty days to destroy one City of Nineveh and then he spared it When he was first angry with man he did but walk in the cool says the Text to chide Adam but the Father of the Prodigal you know who I mean ran in haste to meet his Son and pardon him when he was yet far from him Finally it is written in Mat. xxv that benediction is from God Come ye blessed of my Father But malediction and cursing are not from him Go ye cursed but not cursed of my Father no such word in the Text he has no hand in that It was Gods Dialogue with Jonas Shouldst thou grieve that the Gourd of herbs is decayed and should not compassion touch me much more for this mighty People true Lord but if thou pardonest man for sin who in thy sight is but as a flower of the field less than the Gourd of Jonas should not man much more remit the offence of his Brother which is done against him I say much more it behoveth man and I will hold my self to that For first there is somewhat in our eyes that blinds them it is pulvis humanitatis the dust of our humane nature that makes us when we are the most sharp censurers of other mens faults not to discern truly the filth of their sin but the eyes of the Lord are bright as a couple of flaming Torches in the Revelation and offences appear before them more ghastly and tragical than our dim Candle half put out can enlighten us to perceive For instance hereof To morrow there is a Feast unto Jehovah says Aaron but the Lord could see that the Feast was luxury they rose up to play and the Sport was flat Idolatry So Saul could discern no harm in himself but a little foolish pitty when he spared Agag but the flaming eye saw it was Rebellion as foul as the sin of Witchcraft And is the Lord merciful to our transgressions when they cry unto him like the sound of many waters and should not Man much more acquit the World of every offence done against him for as much as we conceive not what is evil because our selves are evil Secondly among men a gift pleaseth the eyes and a recompence is a safe correcting of an injury but that were peccatum bis tinctum a sin died in scarlet to think to blot out sins before the Lord with the Fruit of our Body or with Rivers of Oil And can this God be reconciled then and should not man much more be merciful Beloved in the third place We are all full of our own infirmities Who knows whose turn it may be next to fly unto the Altar for a pardon Two that grind in the same Mill and two that walk in the same Field nay Barnabas and Paul fellow Labourers in the same Gospel may daily stumble one at another Our communication together cannot choose but be offensive as the earth licks up the water and the water devours the earth but who is the churlish Labourer to whom God cannot say Friend I do thee no wrong O can the just one have mercy upon us and should not offenders between themselves sinners unto sinners much more be charitable But there is one thing more in mercy than forgiveness alms and bounty to do good and distribute to be Oil and Physick to the wounded like the good Samaritan this is also a full Plume in the Wing of Charity like that other Mat. xxiii how often would I have gathered thee under my wings as a Hen doth her Chickens but thou wouldest not Beloved God hath suffered his fire to be unmerciful to sweep away the Habitation of the fatherless and innocent that our hands might build it up again And we shall not only build up houses of clay the reward
as if our charity could be altogether inoffensive No the Spirit helpeth our infirmities Rom. viii but it doth not quite take away all infirmity we are not made of the substance of Angels while we travel in this mortal flesh Sanctification will leak out at certain crannies but all is made sure with cupio dissolvi take in sunder the soul and body by death and in the state of our Exaltation Mercy can never get away There is a molting time for these two Wings and the best Christian displumes certain feathers through tentation but O that I had wings like a Dove says David for then would I fly away and be at rest Now the last Point is that which troubles all the world especially our Western world which is in continual combat with our Romish Adversaries wherein the Art lies to preserve Truth that it may not forsake us But some there are clouds without water men unstable in their minds halting between God and Baal that think the whole Church is at a loss for truth and we can stedfastly trust to nothing For it will easily break prison out of the Syllogism of the old Philosophers witness so many busie disputations of late and the success so unprofitable it cannot be bound up in the laborious Tomes of Controversies no Age more industrious to write than ours hath been and none further from Peace To think that the limits of Truth are bound to St. Peters Chair so called is most childish and frivolous The two Testaments indeed are the touchstone of Truth but they are stained with presumptuous glosses and we do not ask now adays Quomodo scriptum est How is it written But Qomodo expositum est What is the intepretation of Expositors Lastly If we say that Truth is the Daughter of Time and that the reverend Antiquity of the Fathers must be her Register What if one say one thing and some another What if they be equally divided What if index expurgatorius spunge out all that should be justly alleadged And hear what Cyprian says Non dixit Christus ego sum consuetudo sed ego sum veritas Surely yet among these many conflicts there is a way to bind truth as a Crown unto us give me leave to unfold it without ornament of Language in a particular declaration In the midst of a froward Generation whose Wits sweat on both sides to win the day who would not take a sure course which cannot be reproved Now all the Law and the Prophets are comprised in these three things 1. In Prayer and Thanksgiving to God 2. In a sincere belief 3. In obedience to his Commandments The absolute form of Prayer is the same which Christ taught us Mat. vi The sum of our Belief is the Apostles Creed And the two Tables of the Law want nothing which should teach Religion and Justice towards God and men What Christianity can be more secure than this How can Truth forsake him that rules himself to the Letter of these holy Institutions and goes no further But whatsoever is more than this is tossed about with every blast of disputation it may be erroneous it may be Will-worship it cannot be the substance of things not seen it impeacheth Gods wisdom as if he would not reveal unto man the explicite way of his salvation When I come into the Temple and see a devout Monk running over the Hierarchy of heaven upon his Beads and filling the Saints with the noise of his complaints and when I see another Christian piercing the highest heavens with zeal and coming boldly to the Throne of Grace to God alone to which part shall he that is unlearned say Amen Beloved if Our Father would not serve the turn it may seem John Baptist did teach his Disciples to pray better than Christ Sweet Jesu they are thine own words therefore I cannot do amiss to turn me from the Angels when I have Christ for my Master but they that make the Elders about the Throne Partners with God in Invocation they cannot be so confident that truth doth not forsake them Again one Church entertains the craft of Demetrius and the Silversmiths even upon Gods own Shrine their eyes are filled with their molten Images when they look unto the hills from whence cometh their salvation But they distinguish that they keep their body to a lesser Religious Worship and not to the highest Adoration and they exalt the Image of the true God not the Idols of the heathen Our Church refuseth no Ornaments of Decency no Histories of Piety no remembrance of eternal Glory But the Law is not in our eye but in our heart and we pray as if it were our Saviour at midnight in the Garden when no resemblance could be before him What should a soul say here disquieted with the rents of Sion Why thus Lord thou hast forbidden all graven Similitudes thy Commandment did not comment upon a petty duty to the Saints a nice Hyperdulia to our Lady and an admirable Latria to thy self thou hast not made me so good a Lapidary to discern in stocks and stones between an Image and an Idol I may be an Idolater with the Inventions of the former I cannot err in the spiritual Worship of the latter Confounded then be all they that worship carved Images I will not let thy Truth forsake me Thirdly Concerning that inquinatissima purgatio that loathsom cleansing of sins after this life in torments which is a kind of Spanish Inquisition Why art thou so vexed O my soul And why do thoughts arise within thee So trust in God not as fearing the scorching Kitchin of Purgatory or the freezing of St. Patricks Lake for a season but as dreading an eternal death for ever not as if my punishment must be mitigated after my death by the Beads and Orizons and Bribery of my forgetful Executors but as if in my life they must be redeemed by the luke-warm bloud of Jesus Christ Then for the thing propounded I know my Saviour descended into Hell to triumph over Satan and bruize his head I know He ascended up into Heaven to make Intercession for us to God the Father this is my Creed I am sure and the third place is Apocrypha my belief is as broad as the holy Apostles made the pattern and if I stop mine ears at the rest I will not let thy truth forsake me Fourthly Concerning the material part of the holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper I take my Saviours words into the explication of my Faith This is my body this is my bloud But what have I to do to let men interpret Christs meaning when themselves confess it is such a mystery that cannot be comprehended Is it not enough for me to receive these precious gifts with thanksgiving but that I must argue how and after what manner Christ is present at that participation I am sure the outward Elements of Bread and Wine are there for as God gave me an heart to believe so he
gave me not my outward senses to delude me I am sure that Christ is there and I partake the meritorious Passion of his Body crucified and his Bloud shed upon the Cross all that men controvert more than this is to beget sorrow to the Church and laughter to the Devil My soul dwelleth among them that are enemies unto peace but I am content to say this is my Saviour who offered himself up for me therefore I will not let thy truth forsake me Lastly In that great Controversie of Justification there is a way in which the mists of errour cannot arise and there is a way in which the substantial food is lost by striving to comprehend the shadow with it By vertue of the Law I know my duty that I must be a Doer and thereby I discern my infirmity that I must be a Debtor By vertue of the Lords Prayer I find my self arreraged in iniquities that are past my flesh trembling at tentations to come my soul and body gasping for deliverance from evil round about me I find not one line wherein I may obtest unto God by any part of my own Sanctification Thirdly By vertue of my Creed I find that my Saviour was incarnate suffered and rose again to purchase Redemption unto us and Remission of our sins The Angels are not more sure of their incorruptible glory than we may be to say As many as walk in this rule peace be to them and mercy and on the Israel of our God Cogita de Deo quicquid meliùs potes de teipso quod deterius vales says St. Bernard and then thy truth is like Mount Sion which cannot be removed But to go a little further and to creep into the Mediatorship of Jesus Christ there is no likelihood but it should prove an unthankful blasphemy Being rooted in this most holy Faith and in our active Mercy toward the whole body of Christs Church there remains for us a passive mercy which will not forsake us the sure mercies of David in our blessed Redeemer who is called Amen and in whom are all the Promises And there is a truth which will stick to us as fast and answer for us against the slanders of Satan who is the Reviler of the Brethren For he that confesseth me before men there is truth on our part I will confess him before my Father which is in heaven there is truth on Gods part to which God Father c. A SERMON UPON THE RECHABITES JEREM. xxxv 6. But they said we will drink no Wine AT the first hearing of these words I may conjecture that some men thought of no such Scripture and that most men look for a strange construction and you shall have a construction to mollify the Paradox since it was ever safe to decline extremes in all opinions for they are like Jehu in his furious march what have they to do with peace Indeed if you will recount among many who they were that have professed so much austerity as those that say in my Text We will drink no wine you will neither commend them for wisdom nor for piety Lycurgus in the Luxury of his Country cut up every Vine by the roots and destroyed the Vineyards like those inconsiderate men in our dayes superexcessive Reformers of Religion who think there is no way to amend that which is abused but with Hezekias Justice against the Brazen Serpent utterly to consume it The Manichees would not endure to taste the Cup at the holy Communion as if Christ had been too prodigal to bestow Wine at his last Supper upon his Disciples And you know who they are that want not much to be Manichees Tertullian mentions a most harsh Discipline among the Romans that no Woman might know the taste of Wine sed sub Romulo quae vinum tetigerat impunè à marito trucidata est that it was lawful for the Husband to shed his own Wifes bloud if she tasted of the bloud of the Grape So likewise there were certain Christians called Severiani by a nick name that grudged the whole World St. Pauls allowance that Modicum which he granted unto Timothy and Pharaohs Butler with these men had been kept for ever in prison had he pressed a few Grapes into the Kings own Cup. But for all these men who grudg Cato his draught of wine when he is wearied with the affairs of the Common-wealth I say their abstemious life is perverseness and such were not the Rechabites that say in my Text We will drink no wine In which Text barren as it may seem there are many things very Religious and profitable to make up my Treatise at this time And as boldly as Prudentius said by a Catachresis that there were jejuniorum victimae many Sacrifices offered up to God by fasting and abstaining from meats so say I that this Text is abstemiorum racematio there is a fruitful Vintage to be gathered out of non bibemus We will drink no wine This whole Chapter is but of one entire piece like the silver Trumpets of Moses Numb 10. so is the discourse thereof without interruption or almost without full point from the beginning to the end First God is provoked to wrath by the rebellions of Judah False Prophets were crept in that had taught strange Doctrin and the People had itching ears and were worse Disciples Now what instrument should the Lord choose to lay open his indignation whom but Jeremy the Propher and him God knew to be fit for the Errand not as he knew Nathaniel under the shade of his Fig-leaves sed sub carnis umbraculo in his Mothers Womb. Jeremy sets himself to the Task and lays open their sins not by revilings by menacies by zeal as hot as fire and who could do less they made Moses the meekest Soul alive throw stones at them and break the Tables but setting before them the Example of the Rechabites promising their obedience should be had in an everlasting remembrance and Judah his stubborn Son should see their happiness and want it Et spectet nostros jam plebs Romana triumphos Will it not grieve them to see Strangers and Aliens bear the Bell away and themselves look on and be quite neglected Lastly what was the Obligation that kept the Rechabites under such aw and duty for Jeremy spread a Table entreated them courteously and set Flagons of wine before them Why nothing but this their Father Jonadab had made them protest to take this austere life upon them that they would drink no wine A hard case between God and Israel if you mark it What was Jonadab or who was it that gave him wisdom no stedfast faith could be put in his Laws nor certainty in his Statutes nay upon this Text it is Calvins opinion laudatur obsequium filiorum non legi approbatum fuisse consilium paternum 't is true that Jeremy commends the Sons of Jonadab for their obedience but the Holy Ghost did no where commend Jonadab for making such
the bones of them that have been or shall be interred here rest in peace untill a joyful resurrection Let heavenly goodness be on all those that shall here be wedded in lawful Matrimony remembring it is the mystery of Christ and his Church made one with him O let the most Divine Sacrament of Christs Body broken and his Bloud shed for us be the savour of life unto all that receive it Sanctify to holy Calling such as shall be ordained Priests and Deacons by Imposition of hands And we heartily pray that thy Word preached within these walls may be delivered with that truth sincerity zeal and efficacy that it may reclaim the ungodly confirm the righteous and draw many to salvation through Jesus Christ c. BLessed and immortal Lord who stirrest up the hearts of thy faithful people to do unto thee true and laudable service we magnifie thy Grace and the inward working of thy holy Spirit upon the heart of our gracious Soveraign Lord King CHARLES his Highness James Duke of York and his most Religious Dutchess and all Dukes Dutchesses Nobles and Peers of this Realm with our most gracious Metropolitan and all Bishops and others of the holy Orders of the Clergy all Baronets Knights and Gentry Ladies and devout persons of that Sex and for all the Gentry and godly Commonalty for all Cities Burrows Towns and Villages who have bountifully contributed to re-edify and repair this ancient and beautiful Cathedral which was almost demolished by Sons of Belial But these thy large-hearted and bountiful servants have raised up this Holy Place to its former beauty and comliness again Lord recompence them all sevenfold into their bosom As they have bestowed their temporal things willingly and largely upon this holy place so recompence them with eternal things and with increase of earthly abundance as thou knowest to be most expedient for them Let the Generation of the faithful be blessed and let their memories be precious to all posterity O Lord this is thy Tabernacle it is thy House and not mans perfect it we beseech thee in that which is wanting to accomplish it And for all those thy choice servants whose charitable hands have given their oblation to raise up again this sacred Habitation which was pulled down by impious hands give them all thine eternal Kingdom for their Habitation Amen O Thou Holy One who dwellest in the highest Heavens and lookest down upon all thy servants and considerest the condition of all men now we have begun to speak to our Lord God who are but dust and ashes permit us to continue our prayers for the souls health and external prosperity of all those that are concerned in this place Be favourable and merciful to the most reverend Father in God Gilbert Lord Archbishop of Canterbury our most munificent Benefactor under whose Government we reap much peace good order and happiness O Lord be merciful to me thy Servant the most unworthy of them that wear a linnen Ephod yet by thy providence and his Majesties favour the Bishop of this Church and of the Diocess to which it belongs Be a loving God to the Dean Archdeacons Canon Residentiaries Prebendaries Vicars Coral and to all that belong to this Christian Foundation Bless them that live and are encompassed in the Close and Ground of this Cathedral Pour down the plentiful showers of thy bounteous goodness upon this neighbour City of Litchfield the Bailiffs Sheriff Aldermen all the Magistrates and all the Inhabitants thereof Lord we extend our petitions further that thou wilt please to bless all that pertain to this large Diocess for all the Clergy of it that they may be godly examples to their Flock that they may attend to Prayer to Preaching and to administer thy holy Sacraments and diligently to do all duties to those under their charge that are in health or sickness O Lord multiply thy blessings upon all Christian people in the several Shires and Districts belonging to the Government of this Bishoprick and keep us all O Lord in faith and obedience to thee in loyalty to our Soveraign in charity one toward another in submission to the good and orderly Discipline of the Church And save us from Heresies Schisms Fanatical separations and all scandals against the Gospel And guide us all to live as becometh us in the true Communion of Saints Grant all this O Lord for Jesus Christ his sake To whom with Thee and thy Holy Spirit be ascribed and given c. PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorifie thy holy Name and finally by thy mercy obtain everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Then the Bishop pronounced a solemn Blessing upon the whole Administration performed and upon all that were present Then followed the Service of Morning Prayer for that day two especial Anthems in extraordinary being added Provision was made instantly for Alms to the Poor And in a very stately Gallery which the Bishop erected in the House where he lived his Lordship annexed to the precedent Solemnity a Feast for three days First to feast all that belonged to the Choir and the Church together with the Proctors and other Officers of the Ecclesiastical Courts On a second day to remember God's great goodness in the restauration and reconciliation of the Church He feasted the Bailiffs Sheriff and all the Aldermen of the City of Lichfield On a third day to the same purpose in the same place He feasted all the Gentry Male and Female of the Close and City He would often afterwards give God thanks who had accepted him as an unworthy Instrument to build him an House that what he could not accomplish at Holbourn in his younger years when he was more able to take pains yet He had now enabled him to do in his old age and far worse times when he found by experience the Wars had exhausted not only the Wealth but Piety of the Nation and that it was far easier under Charles the First his Reign to raise an hundred pound to Pious Vses than now ten pounds So some observe that in the Primitive Church Charity ebb'd lower and lower till the stream quite dried up the first examples thereof were most bountiful to provoke the liberality of following Ages Barnabas gave all his Possessions and so did many others Ananias divided half or thereabouts but the next Age minced it to a considerable Legacy and then it fell to Charity in small money afterwards to good words only as St. James sayes and I pray be comforted sed ecquid tinnit Dolabella seldom one cross or coyn dropt from them the like he observ'd in our own Church in the Ages past and present when Christianity was first planted among us our glorious Founders built Colledges and Cathedral Churches the next rank of Benefactors endowed Schools and Parishes after Ages gave
desired him to add two Collects naming first that for the second Sunday in Lent and then afterward that for the first Sunday after Trinity both most pertinent to that great occasion and then to give the Blessing which being done he thanked him heartily with a faltring speech whereby the Company plainly perceived that with the end of his Prayers he drew near the end of his mortal life and desired to be left alone and so all departed the Room save a couple of Servants who within half a quarter of an hour gave notice of his placid departure with as gentle a transmigration to happiness as I think was ever heard of Thus I have declared sincerely the Life the Sickness the Departure of this worthy Christian Prelate who lived as good men desire to live and as many men that are but shadows appear to live and then departed with as easie an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as any man could desire to die His Funerals onely remain which were performed by the Reverend and Learned Dr. Scattergood his Lordships Chaplain in the Cathedral Church where He was interred neer the Body of his Predecessor Bishop Langthon as old people said both great Benefactors to that Church under a fair Tomb erected by the Piety of the most accomplisht Sir Andrew Hacket his Eldest Son and Heir both of his Estate and Virtues He was attended thither by multitudes of the Loyal Gentry and sorrowful Clergy of his Diocess all desirous to pay the utmost dues and rights they were able to his Memory thinking no Flowers too sweet for his Herse and no Box of Ointment too costly for his Burial all admiring his past Diligence sage Government admirable Ministrations and bewailing the great and universal loss by his Death Quantum praesidium Ausonia quantum Tu perdis Iule O Diocess of Lichfield what a Father hast thou lost O University of Cambridge what a Friend O House of Aaron what an Ornament O Church of England what a Saint Sic ora ferebant But we will no more deplore his Death or repine that He is taken from us but rather rejoyce and give God thanks that we ever had Him and that He lived so long with us This World was not worthy of Him who was fitter Company for Angels and Stars of Heaven then Clods of dust and bloud below and therefore God took Him from this Dunghil to stand before his Throne Where we leave thee blessed Soul among the Angelical Choir joyful in the illumination of the holy Trinity and ravisht with thy contemplation of the Divine and unconceivable glory We will endeavour not only to read and admire but practise all thy holy Counsels which now sound more loud from thy Books and Writings then they formerly did from thy rare Discourses and Preachings We ascribe the glory of all to God and will compose our selves to imitate thy Graces and Virtues O Divine Hacket whose Name is renowned and Memory for ever blessed And will hereafter listen with patience for the voice of the Arch-Angel and Trump of God for the Resurrection of the Dead the Renovation of the World the Creation of the New Heaven and New Earth at the glorious appearing of Christ Jesus with all his holy Angels and Saints and then in the Number of godly Prelates and faithful Doctors of the Christian Church I shall see again my Bishop and Father and hope to be seen of Him in Glory AMEN Come Lord Jesu come quickly OPTIMO PATRI PIENTISSIMVS FILIVS ANDREAS HACKET MILES F. F. JOANNIS HACKET Episc Lichf Coventr cinerib sacrum PRimaevae pietatis Et summae eloquentiae Praesulem Ecclesiae Anglicanae fidei orthodoxae Assertorem strenuum Concionatorem etiam ad ultimum assiduum Et Superstitionis Babylonicae tam maturum hostem Vt penè in cunis straverit Loyolitas Raro exemplo Vt Poeta praeluderet Theologo Vitae denique integritate innocentiâ Morum suavitate candore Charitate ergà pauperes eximiâ Et liberalitate erga suos insignem typum Verbo omnia Joh. Williams Metropol Ebor. Patroni sui Ectypum Desine ulterius quaerere Ista omnia Tabula haec unico in Hacketo exhibet Adversus positum caetera marmor habet Obiit 28. Oct. 1670. sub anno aetatis suae 79. Sistamus ergo Morae pretium est scire Quis demum Langthono claudit latus Solus HACKETUS tanto dignus contubernio Cujus piae liberalitati debetur Quod Langthoni cineres non frigescunt Aedis Cathedralis Lichfieldiae Instanrator illic Restaurator hìc jacet Ecclesiae Anglicanae antistitum par ingens Eóque ingentius quòd sibimet pares Scire vis Lector Quà m multis ille bonis flebilis occidit Schola regia Westmonast Alumnum Collegium SS Trinitatis Cantabr Socium Ecclesia S. Andreae Holbourn Quadragenarium Rectorem Et Cheam in agro Surriensi Quadragenarium Rectorem Aedes D. Pauli Residentiarium Sedes haec Episcopalis dignissimum sibi Praesulem abreptum deflet Sed ludo te Viator Dum inter mortuos refero Eum VIRVM Quem restauratae Pauli reliquiae Ceddae ruinae Quem Hospitium Episcopale SS Trin. Coll. de novo extructum Et Cantabr Bibliotheca libris cumulatè aucta Longum dabunt superstitem At the head of the Statue upon the Monument is ingraved I will not suffer mine eyes to sleep till I have found out a place for the Temple of the Lord. Psal 132. At the Feet Quam speciosa vestigia Evangelizantium pacem The Motto of the Coat at the Head of the Tomb Zelus domus tuae exedit me On the opposite Coat at the Feet Inservi Deo laetare Upon the Grave-stone that covers the Body in the Isle contiguous to the Monument JOHANNES HACKET Episcopus Lichf Coventr heic situs est THE FIRST SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE ii 7. And she brought forth her first born Son and wrapped him in swadling cloths and laid him in a Manger because there was no room for them in the Inn c. THis is a part of that joyful news which God did impart at first unto the Angels which the Angels in the twelfth ver did reveal unto the Shepherds which the Shepherds in the seventeenth verse made known abroad and thereby at first perchance it came to St. Luke which St. Luke made known in this Gospel to the Church which the Church from time to time hath delivered unto us which I at this day deliver unto you and which you must tell unto your Children that one Generation may comfort another with it unto the ends of the World I am in love with my Text but how shall I open and dilate my joy upon it No that most venerable name Mary the blessed Mother of our Lord knew not how to do it For although when Gabriel brought tidings unto her that she should conceive then she could come out with a strange word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if her spirit friskt and danc'd within for gladness
the same end to make us magnifie God for his Wisdom Goodness and Justice Nay I add compare the Law of Works imposed upon Adam and the Law of Faith imposed upon Christians and both of them are possible to be done For the first man according to the integrity wherein he was created and by the virtue of supernatural Grace bestowed upon him might have obeyed the Commandement given if he had not turned to disobedience and by the Divine help of the same grace we to whom God hath preached the glad tidings of his Son are endewed with power to believe that we may be saved Now in a word let us lay the difference of these two one against another God gave the Law in Paradise as a King in his Justice but he gave the Gospel in Sion as a Father of Grace and Mercy according to that Law the reward had been given ex debito by debt and due say the Schoolmen but to him that believes the reward is given by mere Grace which excludes boasting He that disobey'd that Law was to look for the most strict severity of Justice so condemnation belongs likewise to the unbeliever according to Justice but perhaps it shall be temper'd with some moderation for Christs sake Finally this is the main disagreement the first Covenant made with Adam did exclude all hope of remission of sins but the second Covenant made in Christ runs in this tenour to them that live by Faith your sins shall be blotted out and your iniquities forgotten After you have understood the first point how there was a Law imposed upon Adam when he was created and endewed with original Justice you must now give ear to the next thing in order what heavy and astonishing matter is contained in that Law which was given by Moses to the Children of Israel and remember that I consider the Law deliver'd in the two Tables at Mount Sinai Seorsim and by it self separated from all the promises contained in the Prophets and in the Psalms of David These then are the remarkable differences between the Covenant written in Tables of stone and this Covenant of the New Testament in the Blood of Christ First God gave the Law at Sinai being wrath with our sins for whereas we had lost both the wisdom of our understanding and the loyal obedience of our will by the transgression of our first parent yet God impos'd his Commandement upon us and exacts such measure of holiness which we are not able to perform Therefore that Law was given in the barren Wilderness because it is not able to bring one soul unto God likewise it was delivered with signs full of wrath thunder and lightning and a dreadful noise to shew that God was full of indignation when he laid it upon us On the contrary he made the new Covenant of peace being reconciled to them that were lost or at least proffering reconciliation in his beloved Son Read this Doctrine Heb. xii from the 18. to the 24. verse Ye are not come to the Mount that might not be touched and that burnt with fire nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words which they that heard entreated they might hear it no more They could not endure that which was commanded And so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake but ye are come to Mount Sion and to the City of the living God c. Wherefore the Gospel was presented with manifest tokens of love and benevolence Ecce Evangelizo behold I bring you good tidings 2. There 's a difference arising between the first Testament and the last from the several Mediators that came between God and the people Moses was a servant faithful in the Family and he was the Mediator of the Old Testament Christ is the Son and Heir of all he was the Mediator of the New The Law was given by Moses Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ 3. The old Covenant was ratified with the blood of Beasts but loe the New Covenant doth much surpass it which was ratified with the precious Blood of that immaculate Lamb which took away the sins of the world which is therefore called the Blood of the New Testament 4. The old Law in St. Paul's phrase contained poor and beggerly rudiments not able to bring to life It was a killing letter the ministry of death and condemnation it worketh wrath it entred that sin might abound it is like Hagar which gendreth children unto bondage Gal. iv 24. The Gospel is the power of salvation to every one that believeth a quickening Spirit it purgeth us from our sins it speaketh better things than the blood of Abel 5. That which Moses brought was an heavy burden which neither the Fathers nor the Children could bear but of the Gospel Christ saith his yoke is easie and his burden is light and in it you shall find rest for your souls Lastly the Old Testament endured unto Christ and no longer wherefore because it passed away it is called the Old the New Testament remaineth for ever so says St. Paul of our Blessed Saviour taking flesh who is not made after the Law of a carnal Commandment but after the power of an endless life No passage or comparison can be made between them but the Law given at Mount Sinai will appear to be an harsh and most unwelcome injunction and that which doth clear us from the curse thereof is Evangelium the best tidings that ever arriv'd at the ear of man Hitherto I have consider'd the Old Testament in no respect but as it contains the killing letter of the Law but you must not mistake that the Holy Spirit hath interlaced many fast-holdings of Faith and promises Evangelical almost every where in the Prophets and in the Psalms of David Nay the Old Testament is rather Promise than Law yet it was fit the rigour of the Law should be repeated that it might more appear how necessary the promise of Grace was that we could not live without it and that every man being convicted in his conscience by the sentence of the Law we might more ardently fly to Grace for the end of the Moral Law is double to set us a rule what we should endeavour to do and to discover our own impotency unto us what we are not able to do that we may seek a remedy in the satisfaction of Christ But this I say that the darkness and obscurity of the Old Testament was enlightned with many excellent promises that the believing Israelites might be partakers of Faith and of everlasting life they had the same Gospel which we have the same Christ the same Faith the same Spirit sealing the truth of promise unto them Where is then the priviledge you will say that the tidings are better to us then unto them or far surpassing on our side every way Israel that believed in the promised seed was an heir but under age
better tidings to you Israelites than to any other Nation if you will accept them The Son of God came of their Fathers according to the flesh in their Country he came to preach daily and no where in the world beside in their eyes he wrought his Miracles and upon their bodies he practis'd his wonderful power to cure their Diseases to make their Blind to see and their Lame to walk He professed himself to be more devoted to their welfare than to all the earth beside before the Canaanitish woman I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel They were his he did acknowledge it he was theirs but they denied it he came to his own but his own received him not To abreviate my discourse in this point Evangelizo vobis they are glad tidings to you because it is given to you to hear the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven for blessed is the ear that heareth the things which you hear Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God It is flat cheating in the Devil to put dubitation into mans fancy on this wise I am partaker of the outward word but I know not whether God have gone any further with me to give me his inward Spirit to quicken that seed unto immortal life Beloved as Christ did institute both Bread and Wine to be the outward Elements of the Sacrament of his Body and Blood Bread is the substance of food Wine causeth the concoction and makes it comfortable food So the word preacht is the food of life and God never lets it go alone without some drops of the Wine of his Grace to make it nourishing and beneficial Jude xiii 23. Manoah the Father of Sampson cries out to his Wife we shall surely die because we have seen God Nay says she If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not receive a burnt-offering at our hand Neither would he have shewed us all these things nor would at this time have told us such things as these So let me answer all dubitative Christians unless the Lord did desire thy salvation he would not put his Word into thy ear nor his Sacrament into thy mouth The Gospel is an happy annuntiation to every one that hears it unless he quench the Grace which is offered unto him Evangelium omni populo the tidings are auspicious to all people To all people Trahit sua quemque voluptas There are so innumerous many fond pleasures desires vanities affections in several appetites can any thing satisfie them all yes it is relishable to every palat that will taste it though the true delight apprehended is included among the small number of the Elect yet it is given to all and no man shall say he is lost for want of a Redeemer and a sacrifice for his sins Cum omnibus scriptus significavit omnes says Origen He was taxed in his Mothers Womb by Augustus Caesar when all the world was taxed to intimate that he did communicate himself to all the world that after that conscription of their names in Caesars enrollment whosoever believed in him his name might be written among the Saints in the book of Life In the first lesson read upon Christmas-day thus you have it Isa ix 3. They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest and as men rejoyce when they divide the spoil A good Harvest is not welcome to one Village but it is gladsome to the whole Country round about and when spoils are divided after the vanquishing of an Enemy every Souldier is enricht and hath his share Such a communicative blessing is our Saviours Incarnation every man fills his bosom with the sheaves of the harvest every Christian Souldier that fights a good warfare plucks somewhat from the spoils of the Enemy The dew of thy birth is as the womb of the morning A learned Father of our own Church transposeth the Versicle on this wise Thy birth from the Womb is as the morning dew which waters the whole earth As the walls of Jericho fell down before the sound of the rams horns so the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile methinks it fell down flat to the ground at this blast of the Angels trumpet in my Text that these were glad tidings not toti populo but omni populo not to the whole people of the Jews but to all the people of the world The wall of discord is taken away in the universe which parted those two great houses and shall not the sweet welcome of the Birth of Christ take away a wall of partition between thee and thy neighbour which is in thy heart Can you out of enmity and hatred wish sorrow unto any when God wisheth joy great joy unto all dost thou envy at the prosperity of thy brother when the Lord would have the same glad tidings common to you both Lay down old grudgings and quarrels with the old year and begin the new year with a new reconciliation in love unfeigned and true meaning Charity and the Lord renew a right spirit in us all Amen THE SIXTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE ii 11. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. THE Angel hath made a brief Sermon upon a great occasion The occasion is the Incarnation of our Lord and who can be so copious upon that subject as the Mystery requires yet the Sermon which the Angel preacheth is neither a whole Chapter nor a whole Gospel but three verses of a Gospel In the multitude of words a great deal is lost unto the hearer the good application of a little whatsoever we think will yield the best fruits of increase But for such divine joy as is here proclaimed it was fit to roul it up in a small pill and to minister it to the audience in a little quantity How is it possible for frail flesh to subsist and not to be dissolv'd for gladness if the Angel had continued his tidings with such matter as he begun a Saviour is born unto you a Saviour is born no petty redeemer but the Lord strong and mighty a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. O it was provident care after the Shepherds had heard a little to tell them no more at once but rather to send them away into the City that they might see the rest After Israel had shaken off the Chaldean slavery and the Lord had turned the captivity of Sion David knew not how to express their astonisht joy but thus they were like unto them that dream as Livie says of the Grecians when the Romans that conquer'd them sent them unexpected liberty Mirabundi velut somni speciem arbitrabantur they received the tidings as if it had been a pleasing dream and themselves scarce awake So our sins have so much discomforted our hearts that our spirits are confus'd and faint if we receive all the comfort that God sends at once like a strong
be to God on high because he hath made peace on earth Lord let me not be at war with my own heart though all the world should defie me and set themselves against me As a continual dripping of humors upon the lungs consumes the body so a continual disquieting of mind as if viols of anger from heaven were ready to be poured upon it breeds such an anxiety in the whole man that he will wish his whole substance were dissolved into nothing O thrice happy when God sends that serenity of favour into our thoughts and cogitations to make us truly say with David Turn again unto thy rest O my soul Psal cxvi 7. This is that peace which the world cannot give This is St. Paul's confidence against all opposers Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that justifieth When the Wise men askt Where is he that is born King of the Jews Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him So sore troubled that he would not spare poor inoffensive babes who could not offend him no not his own babes as some say who were the pillars of his family when he thrust his sword into them he digged into his own bowels No man is able to express what a discomfortable mutiny this wretch had within himself No plague like a wounded disturbed spirit whereas old Simeon that saw death at the door that felt one foot in the Grave was exhilerated for all that through the joy which he had in Christ and warbled that Swan-like Dirge over his own Grave Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Wherefore if there be any of you which have a conscience sorely wounded with horror and even tempted to despair which God forbid chide it with David out of that dreadful moode Why art thou so sad O my soul and why art thou so disquieted within me Hath not Christ said there is peace between God and thee and dost thou say there is enmity foolish heart shall I not rather believe the tidings which an Angel brings than that which thou dost suggest and doth not he say Peace on earth Whosoever will not be cheared up will not be comforted will not be established with hope from this sweet proclamation which the Ministers of Heaven sang unto the Shepherds it had been better for him that he had never been born nay I speak it with reverence to God and condemnation to such a one it had been better for him that Christ had never been born because he receives not the Son of God into his heart neither believes in his Redemption Many flagitious sins do make men as execrable before God as the devil himself but he that despairs of Gods mercies as if Christ would not keep his Covenant of peace with him I may truly pronounce it against him that he is even possessed with a devil O cast forth that evil Spirit and be resolved the Lord would never have sent his Angel to sing the Hymn of peace unto men but to revive our souls and to raise them up from dust and despair because he is gracious and favourable to all penitent sinners And thus you have heard that upon the occasion of this blessed Nativity of Christs the Angels have congratulated both heaven and earth as David foretold it Psal xcvi 11. Let the heavens rejoyce and let the earth be glad The congratulation to men on earth hath been unfolded in two members that there is peace above us which passeth all understanding and peace within us such as the world cannot give Thirdly It follows they sing and rejoyce for our sakes that there is peace without us and on every side a good way laid open to take away all Schisms strifes divisions debates and as Solomon says in his mystical Song the voice of the Turtle is heard in our land What a hurly burly was in the world before Christ made his Church one body out of all Languages and Nations They that professed the Law of Moses you know had no communication with those millions of millions that knew no Schoolmaster to teach them but the law of nature Among those few that were zealous of the Law the Jew forsook them of Israel of the ten Tribes for Rebels and Idolaters Among the Jews the Pharisee condemned the Sadducce for an Heretick Then the Samaritan had an antipathy both against Jew and Israelite and all these accounted of the Gentiles no other ways than as bond-slaves of the Devil Here was nothing but hate and defiance between one Sect and another over all the world until Christ broke down the wall of separation made of two one invited them all to embrace and to greet one another with an holy kiss Thus the Prophet Isaiah upon it Chap. xix 23. in his stately but dark eloquence In that day shall there be a high-way out of Egypt to Assyria and the Assyrians shall come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria and in that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and Assyria that is there shall be traffique and friendship and conversation together from one Nation to another over all the earth And indeed National feuds are the more odious and unchristian by how much Christ hath called all people to the sprinkling of the same water and to alike participation of his Body and Blood at the same table And it was well apprehended of one that God hath given unto men more excellent gifts in the skill of Navigation since his Son is born than ever they had before that he might shew the way how all the Kingdoms of the earth should be sociable together for Christ hath breathed his peace upon all the Kingdoms of the world Then I descend from generals to specials The Angels did not only see that our Saviour had built a wall of Charity as it were about the whole earth and made it one but that his Gospel is the love knot and band of agreement between one member and another in all particular persons It turns the hearts of the Fathers unto the Children and of the Children unto the Fathers it makes peace conjugal between man and wife for Marriage is a Mystery of Christ and his Church and the instance which the Apostle lays before us is how Christ loved his Church and laid down his life for it It attones variances between Neighbour and Neighbour for it calls upon us to forgive and put up injuries it non-suits many actions of trespass between man and man with St. Pauls sweet proposition to the Corinthians Why do ye not rather suffer wrong That jangling fellow in the Gospel that came to Jesus to give him authority for his contention Dic fratri ut mecum dividat Master bid my brother that he divide the inheritance with me our Lord put him off and would hear of no division Such motions did jar in the ear of him that was the God of reconciliation The Law of Moses either was or did seem to be vindicative an eye for an eye
truth that the very God became a perfect man and was Immanuel God with us says David Psal viii 4. When I consider the heavens the work of thy hands the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of man that thou visitest him as who should say he that hath such rare and excellent heavenly bodies to delight in what should he do on earth what is the Son of man who is nothing but sin and misery that the Son of God should visit him O first let it be remembred with faith and thankfulness lest desolation come upon us as it did upon the Jews because we knew not the time of our visitation Luke xix 44. Secondly Let us answer the humility of our Saviour with all possible humility and say as the Centurion did Lord we are not worthy that thou shouldest come under our roof well deserved that all the succors of heaven should have fled from us and abhorred our face therefore blessed be his name for evermore that brought us peace from his Father sanctification from the Holy Ghost justification by his own merits humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in the day of his visitation as the vulgar Latin reads it 1 Pet. v. vi Thirdly Abraham made a feast to the three Angels when they visited him at his tent door Gen. xviii so let us prepare a table to entertain our blessed Lord that is come unto us not a feast of junckets and costly viands but let us receive him piously and devoutly as befitteth such a guest at his own Table Ipse est conviva convivium He is come to be feasted and he hath giuen us his own body to make us a feast and blessed be the Lord God of Israel that hath visited us and given himself to be the true spiritual food for the nourishment of our souls And so much of that act which is most conjunct with the festivity of this day Christ hath visited us yet peradventure we should esteem that work of courtesie and friendship but of no benefit at all unless it did extend it self to some further end and what can our desires wish to follow better than that which comes after in this place visitavit redemit by visiting he hath redeemed his people It is of such consequence above all things else that are needful to our well-being that St. Cyprian doth quite drown the former act in the latter and reads my Text thus Prospexit Deus redemptionem populo suo not a tittle about visiting but he hath provided redemption for his people Now captivity must be presupposed on our part because we did await and expect redemption Miseri sunt quos visitavit captivi quos redemit as I said before our soul was filled with a sore disease and therefore we were visited we were also under the captivity of sin and the Devil and lamentable were our case if we had not been redeemed Look upon the bondage out of which we were pluckt and it will make us more thankful for the freedom unto which we are called Ad servum rex descendisti ut servum redimeres says St. Austin thou didst descend to be a servant O King of Heaven to enfranchise a servant and to bring him out of thraldom Remember therefore at once for all since we all desire to have our part in this redemption we must all confess we were envassalled in a servitude So St. Austin against the Pelagians who denied the traduction of natural corruption from Adam says he How can Infants be said to be redeemed in Baptism unless they were captives before by original sin Therefore in imitation of our Saviours mercy as the Ancient Church 1200. years ago was copious in all deeds of Charity so their greatest care was to dispend their treasury to redeem captives and Paulinus a Pious Bishop as some stories say when all the stock of the Church was spent put himself into captivity to redeem a poor Christian miserably chained under the yoke of Infidels But this charitable deliverance of their brethren from temporal bondage was to shew how gratefully we should take it that Christ had redeemed all those that would lay hold of his mercies from eternal captivity Secondly As his goodness is amplified from our captivity so the redemption is the more valuable because none else could have pluckt us out of those fetters but the Holy One our Lord and Master Says David no man can deliver his Brother nor make a ransom to God for him for it cost more to redeem their souls so that he must let that alone for ever Psal xlix 7. when we had all incurred everlasting misery and mercy did so far prevail that the Divine Justice was content to forgive us the wisdom of God held the scale and arbitrated the case that when a law was broken and a mediation for pardon was entertained the best way was not to pass by the fault with a total indulgence but with a commutation of punishment And when men and Angels were unfit for that service then steps in the Son of God and undergoes the condition in his own person and became our brother flesh of our flesh that according to the Law being next of kindred to us he might redeem that which we had morgaged Lev. xxv 25. we had sinned and so needed a Redeemer and not so sinned but God the Father being placable a Redeemer would serve the turn And there the point had stuck for ever and we for ever had been helpless unless Christ had given himself a ransom for many Alius solvit pro debitore aliud solvitur quam debebatur one was the debtor and another satisfied one thing was owed to God I mean the life of sinners but another thing was payed I mean the life of an Innocent And let it make a third animadversion that the manner of our redemption doth greatly exaggerate the most meritorious compassion of the Redeemer there hath been redemption wrought by force and victory so Moses brought the Israelites with an high hand out of the slavery of Egypt There is a redemption which is wrought by intercession and supplication so Nehemiah prevailed with King Cyrus to dismiss the Jews out of the Babylonish captivity or thirdly either gold or silver or somewhat more precious is laid down to buy out the freedom of that which is in thraldom that 's the most costly and estimable way when value for value is payed or fourthly the body of one is surrendred up for the ransom of another life for life blood for blood and greater charity cannot be shewn than to bring redemption to pass by such a compensation So St. Peter extolls that act in our Saviour says he ye were not redeemed with corruptible things but with the Blood of Christ as a lamb undefiled So out of his own mouth Matth. xx 28. the Son of man came not
it renders thus I will make the kingdom of Davids glory to sprout forth Euthymius pleaseth me who gives the analogy thus the oil was poured out of an horn with which Kings were anointed you can instruct your selves that it was so both in David and Solomon and from thence an horn though an evacuation of nature and a mean thing became an ensign of Kingly Majesty Neither was this known only to the Jews but to the Heathen also so that their Kings did wear it among the honours and ornaments of their head as ours are painted with a mund and a Scepter in their hand Pyrrhus in Plutarch was known in the battail from all his subjects by wearing a Goats horn in his Helm and Villalpandus reports of an ancient piece of coin which had the image of Tryphon the Egyptian Monarch on the face and on the reverse it had his Crest with a Goats horn rising up before it Nay the same Author says that it was the fashion of David to wear the like thing in his head-piece And all this I have alledged because I would not want proofs that an horn was the representation of Kingly Sovereignty The meaning then of Zachary is this that Christ hath abased himself to be incarnate and to become our salvation yet he hath reserved this glory to himself in his humiliation that he will be a Saviour unto none but unto them that accept of him for their King and obey him in all things In almost all books of Scripture he is called a King I will not take so wide a scope to expatiate in but strictly I will touch at a little In Genesis he is resembled in Melchisedech the High Priest but he was also King of Salem In the Psalms yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion In one of the Lessons for the day he shall sit upon the Throne of David and upon his Kingdom Isa ix 7 At his Birth the wise men did inaugurate him in that honour Where is he that is born King of the Jews At his triumph when he rode into Jerusalem Blessed is the Kingdom that cometh in the name of the Lord of our Father David Mark xi 10. At his arraignment when Pilate askt him if he were a King he left him in suspence with this answer thou sayest it Finally upon his Cross he would not let the title be altered but there it stood Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews The right of this Kingdom was given him in his Incarnation promulged by the preaching of the Apostles perfected after his Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven and shall be consummated in the end of the world He is so fully constituted a King by being called the Christ that ever since it is the Dignity of all Kings to be called the Lords Christs Him hath the Lord anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power Acts x. 38. in which words St. Peter hath exprest both his Sacred and his Kingly Sovereignty and to match him for the Texts sake with David in this point you must call to mind that David was thrice anointed first at his Fathers house by Samuel the next time at Hebron after the death of Saul and finally anointed at Jerusalem a King over all Israel So Christ was anointed by shedding of blood in Circumcision by blood again at his Agony in the Garden and thirdly by the great effusion of his dearest blood upon the Cross Or will you lay it thus He was anointed by his Father from heaven anointed by Mary with her box of Spikenard upon earth and lastly his dead body was anointed by the women when it was laid in the Sepulchre So in proportion there is a three-fold Unction to make us Kings and Priests for ever the first of Regeneration in Baptism the second with the blood of Jesus in the participation of the holy Communion and the third of glorification in the Kingdom of heaven but nihil dat quod non habet he that crowns us in glory had title to a crown himself he that makes us Kings was the horn or prince of our Salvation This is the stone of offence against which the Jews stumble that the Kingdom promised so expresly and literally to the Messias was not verified in the person of Christ our Saviour had he sate upon the throne of David with Power and Majesty reason would that they should believe but this is it as they plead which enervates their faith that he who is set forth so often in the name of a King should be born so meanly die so ignominiously and be acquainted in all his life with nothing but weakness and poverty 1. Remember this for the ground of my answer that Jesus Christ was God's only Son and our Lord that is our King is an Article of our Belief and therefore his Kingdom appears only to the eye of Faith and is not to be discerned after an earthly manner in outward pomp and visible glory for then it were no Article of the Creed 2. No humane Kingdom came to him by descent for ought we know he was of the house and lineage of David but it appears not that he was the true and lawful successor in the right line to the Crown of David Armacanus makes much ado to no purpose to derive his pedigree so that the Kingdom of David might truly be hereditary in him I say to no purpose for since the right should come to him by his Mother and she out-lived him that temporal Kingdom had been in her and never descended upon him unless he had survived her 3. Note it that the Prophets who prophesied of the Kingdom of the Messias must not be understood literally that 's not the fashion of Prophesies How then why with Evangelical qualifications and they are clear that his Kingdom is not of this world that he was no King to the prejudice of Caesar his laws pertained to the spirit and conscience he rules over his Church and yet was obedient to Rulers but he had not the temporal seat of David even as David had not the spiritual seat of Christ In a regal Throne he did not sit for he came not to be ministred unto but to minister although he was made heir of all things by virtue of the Hypostatical Vnion Just as David after he was anointed by Samuel was debased a while as the meanest servant But Christ being of the line of David and having an heavenly Dominion given him which had influence into the soul and conscience commanding things in heaven and earth making all things in the world stoop to the word of his truth converting sinners to salvation drawing all the Gentiles to take up his Cross ruling thus for ever and to the worlds end I hope you will say O that the Jews would heed it that this is a more excellent Sovereignty than ever David had therefore God hath made good his promise and transcended it that God had given him the Kingdom of his
this blessed time loe there is Christ 4. Behold a Table prepared for us of which food Christ hath spoken it This is my Body which is given for you and this is my Blood Which is shed for you and loe there is Christ O Lord entertain thy faithful servants at that heavenly banquet and make us partakers of the benefit of thy Nativity Circumcision Passion Resurrection and all other fruits which thou hast ordained for our salvation Amen THE FIFTEENTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION MAT. ii 2. Where is he that is born King of the Jews For we have seen his Star in the East and are come to worship him FRom two several Prophets and both of them Kings I collect two things of much praise in a wise man First Solomon says Sapiens diriget gressus suos A man of understanding walketh uprightly or ordereth his steps aright Prov. v. 21. Secondly David says A good man guideth his words with discretion Psal cxii 5. So that I find by both these put together that Wisdom consists in these two Points to order our ways and to order our words with understanding After this manner did these Wise-men in my Text whose matters are come the third time to be handled before you They spared not to make a difficult journey in the hardest time of the year to seek out Christ so devoutly they guided their ways and they did not forbear to confess Christ before ever they saw him and to tell Herod to his face there was another King of the Jews so much greater than he that not men but the very Stars were subject unto him nor should the people where he was born only do him homage but the remotest strangers of the world came to worship him So with their words they glorified God as much as with their journey 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostom Mark the magnanimous vertue of these men that so tedious a journey should not detain them from coming nor such a Tyrant as Herod deter them from speaking so adventurous in their way as to be commended and using such liberty of speech as much more to be approved I have cast the words you know into a method of Treatise before fitting several parts to the chief days of the late Feast You may remember I made three Points of consideration out of the Text in all I observed the journey of the Wise-men as they were holy Pilgrims the words which they spake as they were Christian Orators and the occasion of both The occasion is the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the days of Herod the King that found us work on Christmas day it was proper for it Secondly Their person and their journey come after Behold Wise-men came from the East to Jerusalem that subject belonged to Twelfth day as you call it or the feast of the Epiphany and then I dispatcht it Now follows the oratory or speech of these Eastern Embassadours in the last place and that will come out of season at no time Where is he that is born c. From hence you may note for our order of proceeding that the Wise-men make one question and give two assertions The question was Vnâ—m necessarium more necessary than all other questions they could make were they never so wise Where is he that is born King of the Jews The assertions they lay down are thus First what God had wrought for them We have seen his Star in the East Secondly What God had wrought in them And are come to worship him Where is he that is born King of the Jews So stands the question but are they aware in what times and before whom they ask it Herod had begg'd away the Jews Kingdom from them tried all courses to settle it in his own Race that it might never return to a Jew born the most suspicious man that ever I read of lest by some secret practice or open violence his Kingdom should be taken from him and are these Wise-men that come to pull the Lion by the beard and to tell Herod to his face they come to worship one that was born King of the Jews Neqâ—e vultus instantis tyranni mente quatit solidâ Can they bring forth their Message And will it not put them out to deliver it before such a man of bloud I believe that our Wise-men now adays would have been more reserv'd But to come to a point I will not deny but these Sages thought their tidings would have been receiv'd with great gladness but put it to the true exigent that they found it otherwise and that all Jerusalem was troubled with their news Do you find that they faultred for fear or went from their word Nothing less but continue in it to hear what the Synod of Scribes would say upon it and if the Lord had not warned them in a dream they had return'd back to Herod to tell him they had found the Babe and they had worshipt the true King of the Jews and let him do his worst The love of God constrained them and they must speak though if God had not prevented it had brought mischief upon their head True wisdom I see is no such cautilous thing as the World takes it for no such politick head-piece that will keep silence for its own safety though truth and religion and all good Government suffer for it The Son of Syrach was an Oracle of prudence in his time and this is his counsel Refrain not to speak when there is occasion to do good and hide not thy wisdom in her beauty Eccl. iv 23. He that hath proceeded to the complete act of Martyrdom to lay down his life for Christs name the Learned in all Ages have promised them rewards of great consequence as that Martyrdom hath in effect the whole Sacrament of Baptism in it and infers remission of sins Origen set the opinion on foot which all the Shcool-men have followed But the Scripture on which they ground is as comfortable for them that confess Christ to their great peril as for them that lose their lives in that quarrel Mat. x. 32. Whosoever shall confess me before men him will I confess also before my father which is in heaven Christ will confess him to be his and receive him for his whosoever shall bear his name before Princes though it be to his own hazard and calamity Then it remains that these persons deserve the stile of Wise-men who took courage against the clamor of Jerusalem and the frown of Herod and confidently confest the Lord saying Where is he that is born the King of the Jews And as this resolution of theirs is to be extolled so the knowledge wherewith they were illuminated is to be admired that these Philosophers of the East strangers to Jerusalem strangers to the Law of God should give our Saviour the true stile of a King and of a King though but newly born They did not mean
they believed him to be more than that little one or they had not worshipped him To make a full choir of consent thus St. Austin Adorant in carne verbum in infantiâ sapientiam in infirmitate virtutem They adored in the flesh that Word that was made flesh they adored in that Infant the Wisdom of the Father they adored in that infirmity the mighty power of God To whom c. SIX SERMONS UPON THE BAPTISM OF OUR SAVIOUR THE FIRST SERMON UPON THE Baptism of our Saviour MAT. iii. 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him YOU shall hear a Story beginning at this Verse and so ending with the Chapter how christ did enter into his Office of Mediatorship and how he began to make himself known to be the Promised Seed who should reconcile God and Men together It was as I have read unto you at a solemn Baptism which he received from the hand of John A happy beginning for us men and for our Salvation and a Baptism as useful for the spiritual liâ—e of all Christians as the Air conduceth to our natural conservation For as the same Air which God created in the beginning is the breath which our Fore-fathers did draw and which sustains us and shall serve the Generations of men which are yet unborn So the Baptism of our Saviour it purged all true believers that have gone before us it cleanseth us according to our Faith and shall work the same good work upon our childrens children for ever It stands us under the Gospel instead of the same comfort which the Rainbow afforded unto the old world The Rainbow is a reflexion of the Sun-beams in a watry cloud and was ordained as a sign of pacification that Gods anger should no more strive with man Such a Rainbow was Christ Jesus and therefore it encompasseth his Throne round about Apoc. 4. look upon him not standing majestically in a cloud above but wading like an humble servant into the waters of Jordan beneath look upon him how he sanctifies that Element which was once a means to drown the World and now is made a means to save it look upon him in that posture as a Rainbow in the water and you may read Gods sure Covenant made with his whole Church that his anger is pacified in his well beloved Son and that he will be gracious with his Inheritance A brave beginning and worthy to be the first work of his Mediatorship which is enough to say it will be most worthy your best attention Theodorus in Aristotle would never play a part in any histrionical sport unless he might be the first that came upon the stage He thought the first entrance in any person made the deepest impression in the Spectators And surely a good onset is no small grace to all that follows The first-born were sanctified to the Lord. God smelt a sweet savour out of the first Sacrifice that Noah offered unto him a distinct mark is set upon the first miracle which our Saviour wrought at Cana in Galilee by turning water into wine And this being the first work of his Prophetical Office is transcendently observable that he came from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him Which verse is but the preparatory to that which follows and therefore it affords no more than three circumstances of the main matter which lies behind at ver 16. First It refers us to inquire into the circumstance of time Then cometh Jesus from Galilee surely it was some very fit season and opportunity Secondly After what manner he would be baptized with the Baptism of John it will be necessary therefore to examine the dignity of Johns Baptism Thirdly The place must not be omitted which was the fortunate seat where this work was done not in Galilee but in Jordan Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan c. For the first of these we need not divine or follow conjectures of our own invention how seasonable it was for the Son of God to declare himself just at this present to be the Messias that would save his people three reasons may be drawn out of express Scripture and we can have no better 1. You may read in this Chapter the men of Judea and all Jerusalem round about were baptized in Jordan confessing their sins John preacht the doctrine of Repentance before them and wrought great compunction of heart in many that heard him they were afflicted for their sins and grieved for the days that were past Then did the Son of God present himself to be baptized in Jordan In the midst of their contrition when their souls were filled with the desire of grace Then said I loe I come Poor People they began to know themselves in what miserable condition they were even sick unto death and when their bowels did yearn O is there none to deliver us Then steps in the peace of heaven and earth as who should say Is it I that you look for Is there any beside me that can cure your miseries Observe my beloved how pat the comfort of Salvation comes in after true repentance David said unto Nathan I have sinned against the Lord and Nathan said unto David in the same line The Lord also hath put away thy Sin As soon as ever Stephen was besmeared with the bloud of Martyrdom then he saw the heavens opened and Christ standing at the right hand of God And Repentance comes but thus short of Martyrdom that it fetcheth bloud from the soul and killeth the old man with his concupiscence When tears of godly sorrow trickle down or at such time as compunction hath a bleeding heart within though the eyes be dry without then it hath an imaginary vision that it sees the Son of God making intercession for us to his Father and beckoning with his right hand to our wounded conscience that we should be comforted No man can ever say he languisht long in desire to obtain Gods grace and could not find it Let Mary Magdalen weep and wring her hands that Christ is taken away and if she turn about glad woman she shall perceive how near he is unto her He was born indeed at Bethlehem Angelis cantantibus when the Angels of heaven did sing for joy But being lost as it were to the knowledge of the world for a long space at the end of thirty years he manifests himself again hominibus plorantibus when men were broken in heart with Mortification and Repentance at the preaching of John Then cometh Jesus from Galilee c. Secondly The austerity of Johns life and the divinity of his preaching did amuze the world therefore the Priests and Levites sent to him from Jerusalem to know if he were the Christ Joh. i. 19. And another Evangelist says all the people were in suspence in their hearts whether John were the Christ Luke iii. 15. Now at this instant that the servant might no longer rob the
Saints but would not have them forget Zeal Ne dolum habeas in columba demonstratum est ne simplicitas frigida remaneat in igne demonstratum est Guile and circumvention are to be banisht from Christianity if the Dove sit upon your head it will instill simplicity but simplicity may be chil and faint in a good cause therefore if a Pillar of fire sit upon your head it will infuse fervency There was no fire wanting in Stephen the Martyr when he did asperse the Jews with all manner of disdainful reproaches because they were stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart There was no Dove-like simplicity wanting because he prayed for them that stoned him And so far of the second point how aptly the Spirit came like a Dove upon Christ at his Baptism in cloven tongues and in fire upon the Apostles at the Feast of Whitsontide The conclusion of the Text rests now upon this Point that the figure of the Dove sweetly doth admonish us concerning many properties of the Holy Ghost It sate upon Christs head not to enrich him with any heavenly treasure which he wanted before but to derive the manifold issues of sanctification into our heart Solus injuriis se subdidit Dominus sed solus gratiam non quaesivit says St. Ambrose all manner of ignominies and buffetings all manner of injuries upon the Cross our Lord and Saviour took them to himself alone but the coming down of the Spirit that he took not to himself alone I will pray unto the Father and he will send you another Comforter Open your heart wide therefore and this Dove will fill it A dumb creature ye know and may signifie many things and because I am perswaded the Holy Ghost came down in that shape which had the largest number of significations for the advancement of piety therefore I will hold me to my task to collect all that are profitable and omit none And because it bears a similitude which will increase into many applications I will enter upon that occasion first therefore it is animal foecundum it is a bird of a most teaming fertility and whether any bird that flies doth breed oftner I am not certain I believe not many such fecundity there is always in a lively faith Like the trees of Eden always bearing fruit never without some good work either the tongue is praying or the ear is hearing or the heart is meditating or the eye is weeping or the hand is giving or the soul is thirsting for remission of sins and every pious action is like a Pomgranate in Aarons garment full of kernels to betoken it will seed farther and spread in infinitum This is faiths fertility therefore the Spirit harboured himself in the shape of a Dove Secondly The Gall is the drought of cholerical matter in mans body out of that distemper proceed anger revenge and malice but the Dove hath no gall or if Aristotle hath observed it better than others so small a one that it can scarce be perceived So the Spirit loves to inhabit in a mild and gentle soul without wrath and fury The wrath of man worketh not the will of God for his will is mercy and forgiveness The Dove will intreat for Miriam as Moses did and sheild off the revenge of David from Nabals folly as Abigail did and crave pardon of Philemon for his fugitive servant Onesiphorus as Paul did The bruised reed shall not be broken and the smoaking flax shall not be quenched therefore when James and John called for fire from heaven upon the Samaratans their check was Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of as who should say ye have forgot the coming down of the Dove Thirdly The harmlesness of that bird is notable it hath neither beak nor talons to tyrannize over smaller Creatures Sine armis extra sine felle intus the smallest flies or gnats may hum about it and take no harm for it devours nothing wherein there is life There is not I dare pronounce it a more Saint-like ornament in any Christian than a Dove-like innocency Devour not one another by greedy gaining by racking oppression by strict advantages by extortion by treacherous blind informations He that wrongfully fleeceth his neighbour of all his substance to increase his own store would eat the flesh likewise from his brothers arm like a savage Cannibal if he wanted sustenance The spoyls which you have robb'd from others perhaps they shall be found upon thy back at the dreadful hour of judgment but wil our Saviour say thou didst not learn this thou extortioner from the Dove that sate upon me Fourthly The Dove feeds cleanly not upon Carrion like Vultures Corvi de morte pascuntur Crows peck upon dead carkasses but it picks up grains of corn and the purest fruits of the field Me thinks in this propertie I see the Spirit invite us to the Table of the Lord What corn-food so pure as that which our Saviour brake and gave to his Disciples saying Take eat this is my body Non hoc corpus quod crucifigetur c. not as St. Austin glosseth my very body which shall be crucified and my very bloud which shall be spilt that was the gross understanding of the sapernaits to think our Saviour meant his fleshly body The Dove is no devourer of that fleshly body of Christ which he assumed from the Virgin Mary but it satisfies its spiritual hunger with those pure crums of bread which are the Sacrament of his body Fifthly It is impossible to teach a Dove to sing a chearful tune for nature hath ingrafted in it a solemn mourning Gemitus pro cantu and it is the Spirit that puts compunction into our spirit with groans unutterable Sometime hang up the Harps of mirth and sit down and weep You never read that God will honour your joy in his eternal remembrance you are sure he will not forget your mourning says David Psal lvi 8. Thou tellest my slittings put my tears into thy bottle are not these things noted in thy book Yea not only doth he bear them in mind and keep them in register but if some Interpreters erre not he wears them upon his head Cant. v. 2 My head is filled with dew says Christ and my locks with the drops of the night as if he wore our tears says the Paraphrast like drops of Pearl upon his head Dry eyes and unrelenting hearts are the curse of God Ezek. xxiv 23. Ye shall not mourn nor weep but ye shall pine away for your iniquities Sixthly The Holy Ghost useth the wings of Angels the wings of the wind the wings of the Dove a bird of strong flight for the Spirit is swift in operation what he doth he doth it quickly Nescit tarda molimina Abraham ran forth to meet the Angels that drew to his Tent Sarah made ready quickly three measures of fine meal Abrahams young man ran to the Herd to fetch a Calf tender and good Nemo piger est
good effects Then the will of man according to that free liberty it hath which is helped toward good works not taken away doth all things with that indifferency that it may cast away this initial grace or embrace it work fruitfully with it or unfruitfully This is that qualification and condition of grace which some wicked ones are said to resist this is that Spirit which other sensual men are said to grieve They will not understand they will not be gathered together they will not follow their Leader through the servile liberty of their own concupiscence It is this first pittance and portion of a good life that many are said to begin in the Spirit and to end in the flesh In the work of conversion though a man hath power to resist it being founded in the natural liberty of the will yet no man doth actually resist the grace of conversion yet this grace of preparation many do resist out of the pravity of their will in which respect they are said to quench the Spirit I cannot speak so much as I might in this subject but because the understanding of Gods favour and justice and the provocations of our own duty depend much upon it therefore I will give you some short rules and corollaries to bear away 1. I do not say all men but as many as are invited by the preaching of the Word are made partakers of some preparatory grace for as a Vein and Artery run together in the body natural to convey bloud wherein the life consists so the Word preacht and some measure of supernatural grace go hand in hand in the mystical Therefore St. Paul says We are Ministers not of the Letter but of the Spirit It is told to no man in vain that Christ died for him the possibility of apprehending the benefit of that sacrifice is offered him if he do not hinder the work of God 2. In this previous grace and for the good use of it we apply unto you the exhortations comminations invitations of all the Prophets and Apostles giving you truly to wit that God hath given you the means to be saved if you do not reject them The last end at which we drive in all our Sermons is your conversion and regeneration that is the Crown of all diligence in this world but the immediate and next end that we labour is that men and women do their diligence to make good use of this preparatory grace 3. This grace of preparation before convertion is shorter in some than in others God did presently hasten the conversion of Paul of Lydia of the Jaylor Why may he not do what he will with his own And give a Peny to them that have laboured one hour as soon as to them that have laboured ten But usually there is large trial and with some this preparatory grace continues alone till anon before they end their life 4. God forsaketh no wicked man within the Church till he hath quenched this grace and interrupted the chain of those means which were prepared for his conversion Prius quam deseratur neminem deserit multos desertores saepe convertit says Prosper which is in part thus Englished 2 Chron. xxiv 20. Because ye have forsaken the Lord he hath also forsaken you Solomon was an excellent Divine as well as a Philosopher Prov. i. 24. Because I have called and ye refused ye have set at nought my counsel they hated knowledge and did not chuse the fear of the Lord therefore I will mock at their calamity but though he forsakes none untill they forsake him yet he forsakes not all that forsake him So said Prosper Multos desertores saepe convertit Peter and Judas both did reject this grace of preparation and fall from it yet the one hath efficatious grace given to convert him the other hath not This inequality is from the pure pleasure of God and no man can sound the depth 5. Some are much more largely watered with this heavenly dew of preparatory grace all may drink their fill but some have their cup brim full some are endued with more patience proved with fewer tentations Yet none can justly grudge why hath he five talents and I but three Why doth God stand longer at the door to knock for him than he will for me God is not bound to follow men with all manner of grace 6. If these works of preparation be not hindred if this grace be not quenched God will follow the soul with saving grace Not that any man in the world did ever use this precedaneus help so well but that it deserved to be taken from him How many sins do we incur How stubborn how disobedient is the heart of every man Here we might be for ever forsaken according to our misdeeds but the Lord will accept of small endeavours as great accomplishments In a word the good use that we can make of this gift of God is no way meritorious to salvation the ill use of it in those that perish is demeritorious and makes them justly undeserving to be called to salvation This I am perswaded is the true doctrine of this Point to stop the mouth of them that are lost and to shew the plenteous riches of Gods mercy in the vessels of Election Fourthly I labour for the easiest notions I can invent to make these intricate things plain the fourth Point will require an intelligent Auditor with what great and mighty power the Spirit doth lead the children of God in converting grace I have spoke of the first preparation of grace and the will prepared so I must speak distinctly of the act of renovation and the will renewed and the nature of renovation or conversion is best conceived in these six heads 1. What this converting grace adds above that preparatory help 2. God doth work it alone and the will doth passively receive it 3. It doth infallibly attain its effect 4. It is no violent compulsion upon the will 5. It is more than a moral perswasion 6. This is not repugnant to the Promises to the comminations or to the exhortations of God First It adds this above preventing initial grace that it doth but dispose a man to life but after this act we may say justly this man is born of God That is common to them that are lost who quench the first beginnings of divine assistance by their own evil will this is only given to the elect servants of Christ God works by several quantities and doses of Sanctification 1. That they can resist if they will as in Adam before his Fall 2. In others that they will not though they can as in those in whom he doth conserve his preparatory grace 3. In others that they will not nor cannot in the introduction of that act as in them whom he doth actually convert 4. In others that shall never can nor will as in the Angels and Saints of heaven God foresaw if he should only give this grace of preparation all
may be referred to his glorie to deny all manner of sustenance to our selves for a time Beloved thus it stands that we acknowledge our selves in fact not in word only to be unworthy of all those good gifts with which he hath replenisht the earth that we deserve no longer to be fed with his liberality and so we humble our selves before Almighty God confessing we deserve not with the little Whelps to pick up the crums under his Table and desiring that they who deject themselves under his mighty power may not be trodden down by Satan and his Ministers of perdition Moreover take away Oyl from the Lamp and the flame will go out by little and little and surely hunger and thirst and afflicting the body joyned with prayer and repentance shall obtain this mercy that the violence of Voluptuousness and Luxury shall be abated in our sinful flesh Not that a Fast is acceptable to God of it self without other good offices of Religion but being well accompanied with Prayer and godly sorrow for as the Apostle speaketh Bodily exercise profiteth nothing of it self it disposeth and inclineth us to mortification and chastity In times of old abstinence and fasting more than ordinary were held a special part of their praise that did practice them It is the character of Anna the religious widow how she continued in prayers and fastings Luk. ii And our Saviour himself teacheth how to fast and proposeth a reward to them that did it well and not for ostentation and hypocrisie Mat. 6. There Christ taught it and here he did it this is the true demonstration of the Spirit Cum dixit quid faciendum sit probat faciendo As the old bird will fly forth sometimes not upon necessity but to teach her young ones to fly after So Christ fasted in the Wilderness not to gather strength by that means in his own person against the Devil but to teach his young ones as well as they could to fly or flutter after him and he tells us there is a kind of Devil which will not be cast out but by prayer and fasting Mar. ix 29. If any man put in a cross saying How can Fasting have a defensive force in it against temptation since almost all Writers say upon weighty considerations Christ had not been tempted but that he fasted I answer Our case and this are far unlike Satan durst not assail Christ so long as he doubted him to be the eternal Son of God but upon his fasting and hunger he took boldness to joyn issue with him because he falsly collected from those signs he was but the Son of man Neither do I deliver unto you that he will not tempt such as fast and pray for I have taught already how envy drives him on that where there is abundance of sanctity there will be abundance of tentation but I do deliver that Fasting and Prayer shall have prosperous success to overcome temptations So Aquinas Si non profuit jejunium ut non tenteris tamen profuit ut à tentationibus non vincaris I do not promise you peace from tentations though you fast often religiously before God but I promise you victory The second part of Christs will and pleasure in this Fast is ratione membrorum to do our humane nature honour by temperance for the reproach which it suffered by intemperance and to triumph over the Devil upon the same conditions that he overcame our first Parents There was the First Adam here was the Second there was a Paradise where the first man had store of all things here was a Wilderness where Christ had nothing that disobedient Son of God eat of that which was forbidden this most obedient Son of God refrained from those things which were lawful Adam did not eat for need but for his lust he was not an hungry Christ was so abstinent that he would not satisfie necessity for he was an hungry By gluttony we lost our honour and fell low to be compared to the beasts that perish But here is one that continued and maintained sharp hunger against all tentations who in the beginning of this story kept company with the beasts but in the end was ministred unto by Angels Uno tanto jejunio universam Johannis abstinentiam superavit says Cajetan This one fast and his constant continuance in it mauger the devises of the old Serpent did exceed all the abstinence of John the Baptist who for many years fed upon Locusts and wild honey For John was abstinent to himself Christ fasted to bring us out of the thraldom of Satan and for the expiation of our Gluttony Quaelibet actio Christi fuit nobis meritoria passio ejus meritoria satisfactoria it is commonly said of the School Divines The Death and Passion of Christ did both merit for us before Gods mercy and satisfie for us before his justice but every part of Christs obedience as this fasting among the rest was meritorious for his members Such wits as delighted in holy ingenuity have applied the several parts of Christs merit and sufferance and passion unto us in the notions of Physick and Chirurgery Curavit non per diaetam cum jejunavit per electuarium quando corpus sanguinem dedit in coenâ discipulis c. He took upon him to cure us by the prescription of a diet when he fasted By an Electuary when he gave his body and bloud to his Disciples in his last Supper By a Sweat when drops of bloud trickled from him in the Garden By an Emplaster when his face was smeared with Spittle By a bitter potion when he drank Vinegar upon the Cross By cutting and lancination when his feet and hands were pierced with nails and his side with a Spear There was no disease of sin whereof we were not sick there was no kind of cure to be invented which was not practised to restore us And so much for this exercise of fasting as he made use of it for the members of his body Thirdly As his will was always subject to his Father according to that Prayer in the Garden not my will but thy will be done so the Divine Nature did suggest a reason to his Humane Nature to fast to put a fallacy upon Satan that he might peremptorily conclude Christ was no more than a man who suffered hunger and sought for somewhat to eat in the Wilderness and was not replenished As if a Lion should put on the skin of a silly sheep to draw on a ravening Wolf to set upon him and thereupon devour the Wolf who came to be the devourer So our Saviour walked about the Desart in the person of a silly man half famish'd the Tempter was in great suspense and knew not what to think of him and stood ambiguously in this Dilemma says St. Chrysostome He hath fasted forty days and eat nothing I dare not meddle with him this is no man but after forty days ended he is hungry and wants food I will
unnecessary daring Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God then Cast thy self down from a Pinacle of the Temple is unauthorized albeit the Promise goes He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee c. To dispatch this out of hand the misconstruing the Word of God is the beginning of all strife the true Allegation of it is the end of a Controversie Therefore upon the surging of Heresies the holy Fathers were wont to convene in Councils or great Assemblies Positis in medio sacris Scripturis the holy Scriptures ever lying in the midst they were the Center of all their opinions and by them they built up the Church in unity which was divided before By them the Faithful stopped the mouths of Lions that they could rore no more And as Socrates says when Babylas the Martyrs bones were buried near to the Oracle of Apollo the Oracle spake no more so the clamours of all Satanical men are husht by the sound of the two silver Trumpets By one blast of the Trumpet Satan was outed from his first tentation and by another blast in these words from a second tentation Rursus scriptum est Again it is written thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God I pass from these few gleanings in the first part of the Text to the full sheaves in the second A Medicine works upon a Disease to expel it partly by similitude partly by contraries So our Saviour provided an Antidote against the Devils pernicious counsel partly by similitude giving him like for like Again it is written partly by contraries resisting presumption with modesty with fear and reverence Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God This Precept is so full of cases and instances that it is like a thick over grown Wood and the ambiguities so many that I can light upon no man that hath made a clear path to go through and the reason is that there are such multiplicious significations in this phrase to tempt God that you cannot describe it in one Proposition The great Schoolman was fain to shuffle it up thus Tentare Deum est explorare an Deus sciat velit aut possit id quod ei proponitur To tempt God is to enquire unnecessarily what God hath folded up in his Knowledge or laid up to do in his secret Will or comprehended in his mighty Power You perceive plainly this is not to draw one straight Rule but to spread an ambiguous thing into many branches I am purposed therefore to impart my apprehensions upon the point unto you on this wise First how many ways God may be tempted without offence Secondly how many ways it is sin to tempt him Thirdly wherein the trespass doth consist to tempt the Lord. From hence the ordinary hearer shall learn some instances for his share and the intelligent Auditor may apply all cases which I must omit for brevity to these general Rules The first Doctrine to be pass'd over is how many ways the Lord may be tempted without offence One and the prime instance is when we cannot help our selves by any natural means where all the possibilities which humane Providence can imagine have failed us therein to cast our burden upon the Lord and to look for some extraordinary deliverance from his protection is a tentation of Faith and not of Presumption This Psalm xci from whence Satan drew his Text to inveigle our Saviour He shall give his Angels charge c. I say this Psalm goes very far to strengthen my observation for if you mark it those perils from which the most High hath promised to deliver us are not such things which we may avoid Proprio Marte by our own Arm but they are things quite out of our own defence as the snare of the Hunter the Pestilence the flying Arrow What good can we do our selves against such invisible mischiefs If we had means to help our selves thank God for that supply but his Omnipotency is for that time discharged But the Promise of the Psalm doth extend to them who fly to extraordinary Providence when ordinary industry will not serve the turn Luther says very well therefore that the Contents of that xci Psalm are not for every mans humour now adays he means it is not for those who will expect what the Lord is able to do for them in some strange way when necessity doth not thrust them upon it to have such expectation The usual similitude of the School is this he that gallops an horse only to mark how swift he is of pace Tentat equi virtutem he doth it to find out the metal of the horse but he that puts him to his speed upon a journey doth it not to find out the worth of the horse but to rid the way for his business So one man leaves the event of his affairs totally to Gods especial succour that he may try his goodness or his omnipotency another man flies to the same goodness and omnipotency because necessity hath inclosed him about the former tentation cannot be approved the latter cannot be condemned I will fit the Point with an example to make it easier Every sickness is not unto death and therefore the Lord hath appointed Drugs for the maladies of the body Altissimus creavit medicinam says the Son of Syrach The most High hath created Medicines and a wise man will not despise them therefore they chose an ill matter to commend who praised St. Agatha that she would never take any remedy for the infirmities of her body Habeo Dominum Iesum qui solo sermone restaurat universa this was rash adventuring Far otherwise that woman in the Gospel diseased with an Issue of bloud twelve years and had spent all her means upon Physicians when no receipt of mans skill would do her good she put her faith in a Miracle and came near to touch Christ to explore if she should be cured by laying her finger upon the fringe of his Garment and so it came to pass First the course of Nature had failed and then the Lord blessed her for relying upon a supernatural Medicine When we have nothing and see nothing like to fall unto us we may resolutely say with Abraham God will provide and as Jehosaphat said There is no strength in us to stand against this great multitude now we know not what to do our eyes are toward thee 2 Chron. xx 12. This is the declaration of the first instance that it is no unlawful tempting of God when it is not wantonness or curiosity but the last and most extreme necessity that puts us upon it The next instance is thus framed such as had commandment or Prophetical instinct from God to ask a sign from heaven or to look for some wonderful effect these did not offend by unlawful tentation The Disciples when they were sent abroad two by two to preach in several Cities had a Rule given them by Christ To take no provision with them for their journey they did so
sed honoramus We neither worship nor adore the Reliques of Martyrs but honour them Now decent burial is the honor of their bones as I proved before and so much for that point In the next place as Christ urged my Text against Satan so I do allege it against them that profess a superstitious adoration of the Cross for the very Cross on which Christ suffred hangs so near to the former Treatise that it is accounted the very Flower of Reliques Prima crux non modò inter imagines sed etiam inter reliquias habenda est says Aquinas the first Cross of all stands both for an Image and for a Relique to be adored The Pontifician Authors have emulated one another who should say most for the Worship of the Cross deterior qui vicerit he that hath gone farthest hath wrote foulest Aquinas speaks all at a breath that it behoves to give it latriam the highest religious service which is given to God cum habitudine relatione ad prototypum with importance and relation to the Prototype that suffer'd upon it Turrecremata finds out three ways to worship the Cross either as it represents Christs arms stretched out and himself suffering or as it was honour'd by touching his very body or as in some places his blood was sprinkled upon it So Turrecremata leavs it but one Salesius quoted truly by Chamierus I make no question thus disposeth it Ordinary Crosses exemplified by the first are to be adored as all Images The very first Cross as it is a Relique of Christ is to be worshipped with the adoration of hyperdulia but as it represents Christ crucified and is sprinkled with his blood it deserves latria the same worship that Christ himself hath thus that Salesius Costerus hath a crotchet by himself 1. That every Cross must have more veneration given it than the Images of the Saints 2. That which had Christ nailed upon it must have a more pretious religious veneration than all Creatures but where a drop of Christs blood shall appear to have coloured it there not the wood of the Cross but Christ in that drop of blood is to be adored Thus they all study as it seems to me which of them by the acuteness of his learning should run furthest into Idolatry Here is zeal as it seems but not according to Scripture that 's not once thought of in all these conclusions That one word is enough to dash all their sophistry but to tear all their devices piece-meal listen briefly First the Figure of the Cross represents our Lord as He died for our sins I deny that it represents not him in the matter or in the figure it may represent the sufferings of sundry others yet if by use and often remembrance it doth more especially recall his passion to our mind it is no more to be adored than the word which is preached upon the same occasion But if I should swallow that how it exemplifies unto us Christ crucified that comes not home to the mark that it is fit to be adored The Brazen Serpent prefigured how Christ should be lifted up and die upon a tree yet when the people fell down before it Hezekiah made it away and would not suffer it And how hath it necessarily merited religious honour because our Saviours body touched it happy were they that saw him and touched him by faith but it was no happiness to Judas lips to the Executioners arms that lifted him to the thorns that sat close upon his brows or to the wood that bore his body And whereas they make great reckoning that some of that blood which saved us was to be seen where it had run down upon his Cross I answer with reverence that if mine eyes were so happy to see any true tokens of my dear Redeemers blood I would bless God with all humility of heart and body to behold a drop of that stream which flowed from my Saviour that my poor eyes should see part of the richest ransom that ever the world had but I must not give it divine worship For ancient Councils tell me the Humanity of Christ ought to have divine honour done unto it as united personally to the Godhead therefore those drops of blood divided from the unity of his person were not religiously to be honoured It is easie to multiply fluent phrases on their side as that the Cross was the Chariot in which our Lord triumphed over death the Ladder upon which he chose to go up to heaven that wood once accursed in which He took away all malediction from us Well all this is as if you had said that the Cross by accident was an instrument of his glory and our salvation as much as the nails were and no more It was not the Cross that made him triumph but the Death He sustained on the Cross for by death he overcame death I said they did not once quote Scripture in all this Argument but a few of their loose rovers venture at the xxiv of Matth 30. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven It is worth the sifting to answer it What if that be an Hebraism as some say it is that the sign of the Son of man is the Son of man himself signantèr perspicuè venturus most evidently and expresly coming in the Heavens to judge the world or if with more likelihood the Sign of Christ is not Christ himself yet whether the Apostle means the wounds in his Body or his Cross or it may be a strange Star such as appeared at his Birth who knows but here 's no hint of Adoration no matter for the rest be it what you will But the last refuge is to betake them to Legends and strange stories especially in two instances I will not cloy you with them at large but first we are told how Helen the renown of our Britany in her age and the Mother of Constantine had a divine admonishment how to find the Cross which had been lost above three hundred years And long after when the Pagans had taken it by violence from the Christians that Heraclius the Emperor fought with Chosroes and his Persians to recover it and that stones from heaven fell upon the Persians never the like seen but once in the days of Joshua Touching the Invention of the Cross by Helena though St. Ambrose speaks of it yet it sticks hard with me to believe it because Eusebius omits it who spake of other renowned works of Helens and how Constantine her Son found out the Holy Sepulcher but let it have credit and that of Heraclius too though both deservedly suspected What will it come to the Book of the Law was as strangely found out by Josiah and more certainly yet never adored Elizeus his bones were found by casting a dead man into his Grave and nothing followed Yea Saul found out his Fathers Asses by divine admonition And for the miraculous and victorious recovery of
as well as zealous intention of inward reverence Behold the creatures of bread and wine non quà sunt sed quà significant not as they are elementary food but as they are significant of greater things And for that significancy we bend our knees in the receiving to our Lord Jesus Christ not to do honour to the Elements let none be so simple or so uncharitable to say it nor to any visible thing present but to the Immortal God who hath saved us by the blood of his Son as of a lamb undefiled Now upon the taking of the bread and wine not absolute necessity but decency and order call for the duty of our knee The visible Sacrament is objectum adorationis à quo non ad quod upon occasion of seeing those things we do worship but the worship is not terminated to those things The people of Israel for certain worshipped before the Ark was the Ark any better sign of Gods presence than the Bread and Wine are of the Body and Blood of Christ The Ark was called Jehovah so those Elements are called his Body and Blood for the representation and Sacramental relation Throughout all the Old Testament wheresoever the people of God had notice of the divine presence and grace in signs ordinary and extraordinary they have with free conscience bowed down and worshipped Moses fell down to God when he saw the fire in the Bush Joshuah worshipped not the Angel but Jehovah at the sight of the Angel Josh v. The people fell down and worshipped when they saw the fire from heaven fall on the Sacrifice 2 Chron. vii 3. Nay Ezra cast himself down before the House of God when there was no House standing but the remembrance of the place What if a devout man walking through goodly Fields of standing corn and marking those plentiful blessings should uncover his head yea and kneel to give God thanks were not this well done much more though not any worship is done to the bread when he sees that bread in which by faith he receives Christ and all his benefits I will follow this point no further happy is he that believes and doth neither commit Idolatry to the outward Elements nor grudg at due and devout reverence to be done at the most Holy Supper of the Lord. Me-thinks now our last business of all touching the worshipping of Images should be but sport to skirmish with Babies and Puppies like the fray that is spoken of between the Cranes and the Pigmies O strong delusions in the hearts of men that there should be any cause to contest with Christians in such a Controversie Blasphemy Witchcraft Murder are not more plainly condemn'd in Scripture than to set up an Image for adoration and if Gods own words utter'd with his own mouth from Mount Sinai in thunder and lightning will not serve the turn to what end is it to dispute or preach against it but for Sions sake I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalems sake I will not rest The worshipping of Images is accounted no slender Ceremony among the Romanists but a branch of Religion wherein they shew great zeal to God and the Saints The Tridentine Catechism provides that the catechized in their childhood should learn this for Catechisms are principally for youth that it is not only lawful to have Pictures and Images in Churches wherein they see we assent so far but to exhibit honor and worship unto them Parochus sanctorum imagines in templis positas demonstrabit ut colantur left the people should think the Images stand in the wall for a cypher or for bare ornament the Parish Priest shall admonish his Flock that they stand there to be worshipped So Cajetan those stand not for fashion sake only in the Church like the Cherubins in Solomons Temple meerly to be lookt upon but to be adored and this is upheld with so much vehemency that they accurse all such as oppose it and with so much cruelty that we learn out of their own storie that Balthasar Hinâ—marus was burnt at Vienna and Aegidius Hispanus at Sevil for denying that Religious Adoration was due to Images Beside what Panegyricks Praises and Poems have been made in honor of those Statues before which many miracles have been wrought though nothing truly done but by imposture and delusion What injunctions given to Penitentiaries to creep unto them What offerings of Plate and Coin and Jewels bestowed upon them and by the bounty of fools they are made richer than the givers and the living are defrauded of the works of mercy to deck an Idol with sumptuous bravery And after all this madness and cost to uphold the credit of their golden Gods Cardinal Bellarmine's voluntary confession is worthy to be noted nihil periret de fide aut religione si nulla ficta vel picta esset imago Faith and Religion should suffer no loss though there were no Image in the world This is even such another lightning as came from him in his Controversies upon Justification for after all his arguments to make the good works of the faithful have a merit of condignity he concludes tutissimum est yet it is the safest way to hope to be saved by Christ alone so after all his sophistry for Images this is plain dealing nihil periret de fide religione it were not the worse for Faith and Religion if there were no Images at all Lend your ear now to the stir that is made among their Writers what portion of Religious Worship is allowed to their Pictures and Statues that stand for Christ especially and likewise for the Saints That infamous second Nicene Synod whose Canons are precious in the eye of the Church of Rome to this day that pack of Idol-mongers condemned all such as said their use went no further than to put us in mind of Christ nay Tharasius the busiest man in that ill work said all that confessed they did esteem venerably of sacred Images and would not adore them were hypocrites It was there defined they should have Religious Salutation and Adoration but not latriam the most Religious Worship which is proper only to God The Tridenâ—ine Council leaves men to pick what they can out of indefinite words and says only such Images are to have Veneration made to them and Holy Worship There are three Sects of opinions among their learned men who differently state the case Durandus says that Images are not adored but improperly and by abuse of the word quia ad praesentiam earum fit rememoratio exemplarium tunc adorantur in praesentia imaginum they being at hand do make men remind Christ and think upon him and then Christ is adored in the presence of the Image but not the Image at all Such remembrances sometimes might be spared because of the danger and scandal yet this opinion is moderate I only dislike that he says he would not have the people so taught for Christ bad his doctrin should be
quâ tanta sit fides ut speret omnia tanta devotio ut Deum videatur cogere let it be strong in faith to hope all things strong in patience to persist at all times and I know not what it is not able to effect to cast mountains into the sea says Christ to be transfigured says my Text into the glory of God to bring Peter out of Prison when Herod had locked him up within a brazen Gate yet then at the dead hour of the night did the Angel bring him forth and at the same time of midnight Peter found the Church at prayer for his deliverance Acts xii 5. Well I pray you remember that when our Saviour went up into the Mountain as well to be transfigured as to pray yet the Text names this only that he went up into the mountain to pray that name stands in chief and drowns the mention of the other business as if Prayer were a greater work than that resplendent Transfiguration And what needed he to pray but to bring us upon our knees humbly and frequently before his Father and our Father As Solomons Temple had three especial Ornaments the Golden Candlestick the Table of Shewbread and the Altar of Incense so three things of principal use do correspond to these in the Church of Christ the Word Preached which doth enlighten our darkness is the Golden Candlestick which is dearer says David than much fine gold Instead of the Table of Shew-bread we have the Communion of Christs Body and Blood the Table of the Lord. And instead of the Altar of Incense we have that which is much sweeter in Gods nostrils the Incense of Prayer Now abide these three to direct us in a good way says Bernard Verbum Exemplum Oratio the Word Preached the Edifying Examples of Holy men and Zealous Prayer but the greatest of these is Prayer Ea namque operi voci gratiam efficaciam promeretur for whether they be the actions of a pious life or the words of an eloquent tongue it is Prayer which accompasseth from Gods mercy that all should be effectual I have amplified this the more because some Ignaroes out of a preposterous zeal shuffle off this Christian duty with a most wicked and a regardless negligence if any man be transfigured from such a corrupt opinion by that which I have deliver'd it is that which I aimed at and which I desire of God yea it is that which our Saviour intended when he would be occupied in Prayer at that time and in nothing else when he was transfigured in glory Now in the fourth and last general Observation upon the Text as our Lord prepared himself with much humility in Prayer so in the consequent he was exalted in much honor the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistering Beloved we are all like the Children of Israel standing below the Hill and dare not go up to pry in to the mystery of the inscrutable glory Let it suffice us to enquire into three things that follow which we may safely do since all Scripture is written for our instruction They are these 1. The Final Cause why Christ was transfigured 2. The Efficient Cause from whence this splendour was derived And 3. The Effect it self alteration in his countenance whiteness and glistering in his raiment In these three I will be brief without offensive curiosity to make us not only search but find out the cause why He would be transfigured I have regard to this rule of Damascens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every thing that Christ did in his conversation upon earth it is to be referr'd to the good of man First then I render this reason that the Redeemer of Souls lived in great humility upon earth nay like an abject worm to attract the love of the Church now he chang'd himself into this admired excellency to encrease their faith St. Peter pronounced a Confession of faith for all the Apostles Matth. xvi which their Master did exceedingly commend Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Yet they who did see the Majesty of God to be in him and did adore it were as yet ignorant of what glorification his body was capable which was the Veil of the Godhead He had suspended all outward appearance of Divine lustre that it should not shew it self in him To this meaning you cannot well choose but refer that of the Prophet Isaias chap liii 2. He hath no form nor comliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him that is he was pleased for a season not to look like one whose body had an illustrious influence from the soul and from the union with the Godhead he did suppress it till he was pleased to make it known Psal xciii The Lord is King he hath put on glorious apparel and in another place Thou art cloathed with Majesty and honour Indeed to have a brightness in his body as great or greater than the light of the Sun was as natural to that humane nature which is united to the Godhead as it is for the Sun to shine in the Firmament The Disciples marvailed that his face should glister this one time so that no Fuller on earth could make a thing so white whereas the greater marvel is that it was not so at all times Majus miraculum fuit hujus gloriae influxum reprimere quà m eam perpetuò retinere It was a greater miracle to restrain the apparition of this glory at any time than to have it alwayes dwel upon his face for blessed souls which enjoy God always have a virtue of claritude in them which redounds of it own accord into the body Therefore well might the Psalmist say of Christ whose soul was always blessed Thou art fairer than the children of men And though at other times his brightness was discoloured by humility yet now he removed the cloud and let his Witnesses see the fair beams of his Divine honor for a little time which is the first motive of his Transfiguration Secondly by this Apparition the three Disciples saw in what form he would come to judgment It is no dreadful thing to a good man either to see or to meditate with himself in what manner Christ will come in the Clouds at the last day to call the Quick and the Dead before him The Wicked that know they have crucified him again and trampled the blood of the Covenant under their feet will run into the dust for fear of his glorious presence and call for the Hills to cover them and the Mountains to fall upon them as for the Righteous that then shall be found upon earth in whose hearts he hath sealed the promise of his Holy Spirit they shall tremble with an awful reverence but when they have gain'd their memory to recall that he cometh with his reward in his hand they will praise that pomp of Judgment and say now our labour
ended really and in truth his word was consummatum est all was finisht and at that stop he bowed his head and gave up the Ghost Inclinavit caput as if he had said I have held out thus long against the fury of man now I willingly die I will hold out no longer against the truth of God Very wittily the Author of the Questions to Antiochus whom I cited before all enemies were come about our Saviour on the Cross and had the foil only death hovered aloof and durst not approach ideo Christus inclinato capite vocavit eam antequam inclinaret caput propiùs accedere verebatur therefore when all things were accomplisht Christ nodded with his head and called death unto him which durst not approach unseasonably before He bowed down his head How sweet it is to sleep in death when we have accomplisht all things that are acceptable to God even so Christ did not decease till he had finisht all things which were due to his Father and then this world could not claim him a minute longer but woe and bitterness shall be in that mans end who hath been troubled about many things in this but in no one thing that is good can shew a dispatch much more how far is He from saying with St. Paul I have finished my course hence forth is laid up for me a Crown of life Sow your Seed ripen your Harvest that it may be gathered into the Barn Let not your conscience begin to lament about the last hour and say I have promised repentance to the Lord I have promised works of mercy to the poor I have promised reconciliation to my Brother these fruitless words will come in judgment against me for I have accomplished nothing This second general part sticks only at the last word the Place where Christ should suffer is designed by Moses and Elias they spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem Jerusalem indeed was grown to be the Scaffold upon which the best blood on earth had been spilt for many ages It cannot be that a Prophet should perish out of Jerusalem Luke xiii 13. and Christ did them no wrong when he taxt them with that officious cruelty that they laboured to draw the execution of all the Prophets to themselves Nor yet is the meaning so universal that all the Martyrs had perisht within their Walls The greater part did and enow to dishonour all the daily Sacrifices which they offered up in the Temple when they polluted themselves with the Sacrifices of the Saints True indeed that Jeremy the Prophet as Epiphanius relates suffered in Egypt Ezechiel in Chaldaea Jezebel in her time put to death many excellent men in Samaria and Herod as Josephus says cut off John Baptists head at the Castle of Macheranta in the utmost confines of Galilee But Jerusalem was become the Gulf which had swallowed more holy blood than all other places And I mark it in St. Paul when Agabus told St. Paul by the spirit that he should be bound in chains and shortly after die for the confession of the faith as yet God had not revealed that he must go to Rome and testifie his name there but Paul makes haste to Jerusalem as if he would meet death in the face in that great Metropolis which was so infamous for many Martyrdoms Well this is that City which had so incurr'd the anger of the Lord that he suffered it to fill up the measure of all iniquity and be odious to all Generations for crucifying the Lord of Life Yet the Praeposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have fitly translated at Jerusalem For Christ did not suffer within the City but without the Gates I will take my thread from St. Paul to lead me in this way from the 11. to the end of the 13. verse The bodies of those Beasts whose blood is brought into the Sanctuary by the High Priest for sin are burnt without the Camp Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctifie the people with his own blood suffered without the Gate Let us go forth thereforce unto him without the Camp bearing his reproach Of those Beasts with whose blood the Sanctuary was expiated and their flesh burnt without the Camp you may read Levit. xvi 27. They that serv'd at the Tabernacle had no portion in this Sacrifice So Christ was carried out of the City to suffer and they that still retain the yoke of Ceremonies upon their neck have no part in him He suffered near to Jerusalem he came unto his own but they cast him forth He suffered not in the Temple for says Leo Crux Christi mundi est ara non templi Christs Cross was an Altar of which the whole world should partake and not that Temple only Nay to go further He was crucified out of the Privileges of that Jewish City to betoken that the blessing of his Passion would light upon the Gentiles The use which the Apostle makes is as he went forth of Jerusalem so let us go forth of the Camp to God Extra urbem extra mundum sequamur Christum let us leave our Pleasures our Riches our Country our Life and this whole World when it is requisite to do God honour by those means Quid est egredi ad eum videlicet communicemus cum eo passiones sayes St. Chrysostom What is it to go out to him but to follow the example of his patience humility and sufferings then we shall go out from our sins and come into his glory And so much briefly for every part of that Communication which Moses and Elias had in the Mount They spake of his decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem There is a whole verse yet remaining to be excussed which I read unto you I would not be prevented but to speak of that which follows entirely by it self yet I will so handle this with a short Paraphrase that I may not be tedious But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep This is right man and his regardlesness God shines in his works the Law and the Prophets preach daily and yet men sleep No nor the strong out-cries and exclamations of our Saviour in prayer could keep them awake Lord if thou shouldst not make intercession for us with strong cries and groans unutterable when we slumber and regard not our own misery what endless woe would fall upon us but here 's the difference between Moses and Elias immortalized in their body they talk divinely and between the best men Peter and the Apostles in their corruptible nature they are but drowsie lumps of flesh So it ought to be to impress this humility into our heart quod Apostoli dormiunt ignaviae est quid ipsis contigit spectaculum felicitatis Dei gratiae It is our own idleness that makes us sleep and when we slept in death it was Gods mere mercy no merit of ours that sent us happiness and glory it is not our vigilancy or our
of Heaven ut gentilis deprecatione ultio sanguinis istius à nobis ablata sit that the vengeance of his blood should be denounced against Israel and the Nations excused but yet Pilat was but mungril good and therefore his hand was in this bloody passion as well as the men of Jerusalem both Jew and Gentile did concur to his sufferings says Origen ut pro persecutoribus qui oraret gentiles non excluderet that when he prayed for his Persecutors the Gentiles might be at one end of his persecution and be partakers of his Prayers Had Pilat been as malicious as the Jews we poor souls had been liable to the vengeance of his blood had Pilat stopt his ears against the outcries and never yielded to the passion we had not been in the number of those Persecutors for whom he made intercession therefore this luke warm Magistrate began with Jacobs voice but ended with the hands of Esau neither could he say he was innocent of the blood of this just man Nay then I must tell you to forget Pilat a while were you all in this Assembly dearly beloved of none other but of the very choice and flower of the resurrection of the just a Rank of Patriarchs an Army of Martyrs a Company of holy Prophets yet Qui omnes conclusit sub peccato omnes conlusit suh homicidio he that doth lay sin to every mans soul doth lay the murder of our Lord and Saviour to every mans charge for the redemption of sins And then are you better than your forefathers Are you more righteous than the Prophets that you alone are innocent No you are also the crucifiers of your Redeemer and if your consciences do not say so bear witness of my words for an action of slander Solum peccatum homicida est Not Pilate but hypocrisie not Caiaphas but Simony not Herod but incestuous lust not the Souldiers but Bands and Troupes of Rapines and Blasphemies were the murderers of Christ When a Bullock was slain for a sin Offering to make an attonement for the whole Congregation Lev. iv 25. All the Elders of the City says Moses shall lay their hands upon the head of the Bullock that they being the representative body of all Israel might testifie that every soul in Israel was accessory to the death of the Sacrifice This was a figurative expression how the whole Generation of mankind did concur to be guilty of the bloudy Oblation of the Son of God As the trial hath been seen upon murderers when they have drawn near to the Carkass which hath been slain by their hands either fresh bloud from the wounds of the Carkass or an issue of their own bloud hath betrayed them as some say so let me question you when you stand before Christ especially when he stands before you in the holy Sacrament do not your hearts bleed within you to express your guiltiness of his Passion O give the flux a passage to come out I do not say in bloud but in tears which are the bloud of the soul The bleeding of the Vine draws away the life of the tree and leaves it barren of the Clusters which should hang upon it but the flowing of tears makes us fruitful to bring forth many Bunches of good works not the Clusters of an earthly but of an heavenly Canaan And now let me ask you as I would ask of men that shun those places out of horrour wherein they have spilt anothers bloud I say Why do you love this world so much wherein you have killed Christ Why are you not aweary of this place What can please us in such a soyl which should be unto us all as Aceldema was to Judas the Theater to act sins and therefore the field of bloud Wherefore do we not rather say with Tertullian Nihil nostri refert in hoc mundo nisi de eo quà m citò excedere We Christians have nothing to do in this earth but to make haste to forsake it for a better especially abandon the thoughts of deadly revenge do not wish for more bloud at any hand we have all spilt enough already in the funerals of our Saviour were he not both a Sacrifice slain for us as he is a Sacrifie slain by us more than ever we could answer for Make not your revengeful heart like Golgotha where Christ was crucified a place of dead mens sculls But least any man should be swallowed up with too much grief because he is endited for this hainous crime the bitter death of his Saviour let him take this for his comfort to put gladness in his heart it is not one death that our Lord Jesus doth stand upon Passus est quia voluit he never shrinks for one death but stretched out his arms upon the Cross to embrace it Take heed only that you do not crucifie him anew Nay mistake me not here though you sin ten thousand times over yet he can die but once for you but my meaning is the Summa totalis of all mens sins did abase the Son of God to the ignominy of the Cross yet this dolorous day was from Gods preordination But that we may not crucifie him anew first Do not neglect his death as if it were some common and uncommiserated anguish Secondly Do not run into admiration of your own merits as if had there been all such as you in the world his Passion had been spared Lastly Do not presume upon grace as if Remission of sins were a safe Indulgence for sins to be multiplied They that do commit such things are guilty not once but often to crucifie the Lord of life To conclude then against Pilates falshood and hypocrisie three things do concur in the crucifying of our Saviour Destinatio passionis executio passionis iteratio passionis In the Predestination of Christs Passion God did look upon all mankind the Elect especially as lapsed into sin and therein Pilate was not innocent The execution of his Passion upon earth was committed by the envy of the Priests the cruelty of the Souldiers and the power of Pilate What though his mind did not consent Yet he lent them his authority Herod was not willing it seems to have John Baptists head but it comes all to one pass if Herodias must have her content and therefore in the execution was not Pilate innocent The iteration of his Passion lights upon those who make an impenitent end and do not apply his sufferings to their sin-sick conscience and since Pilate lived a Vagabond for ever after and died like a desperate cast-away either by drowning at Vienna or falling upon his own Sword at Lions that is the difference of the History neither in this respect nor in any else could he say I am innocent of the bloud of this just person And so I pass to the second general part of my Text from this lie which Pilate told to his true testimony concerning Christ that he was a just person Yet I commend this disposition in
they felt his mind whether he held it lawful to give Tribute unto Caesar or not and the like there he was Vitis circumfossa a Vine which was under-digged But when subtil questions proved too weak to undermine his Wisdom then he was Vitis perfossa the last malice was to bore the Vine quite through the heart that it might utterly wither away and reflourish no more Weak inventions and the devices of them that knew not the Scripture nor the power of God for it was impossible that he should be held of death He laugheth at the shaking of a Spear as Job says of Leviathan The vulgar Translation reads my Text miles aperuit that the Souldier opened his side as if the gate of Paradise was now set open which was shut before against the Sons of men We read not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he opened but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he pierced him He made a Schism in the body of Christ and divided one part of it from the other O labour for the unity of the Church decline Faction as you would shun a Serpent in the path Every division pierceth through the skin of my Saviour through the side into the heart For the divisions of Reuben are great thoughts of heart But Fodit lanceâ so St. Hierom reads He digged into him with a Spear a word of Husbandry and fructification The Plowers plowed upon my back and made long furrows meaning the scourging that he suffered Sputis sicut fimo impinguatus His face was laid over with Spittle as tilth is spread to fatten the Land He was drencht in bloud like a field that is watered with wholsom springs They digg'd into his body like as the ground is turned up to make it fruitful They digged and there they found a Treasury which had been long hid the salvation of the Gentiles says the Father That you may see Abner a great Prince in Israel in the hands of Joab who smote him into the fifth rib here is Christ wounded with the same kind of cruelty his side was pierced with a Spear I have told you what it is to be a Souldier in Arms against God and what it is to open and divide the flesh of the Son of God but what sins are their Spears that are bent against his breast Producta peccata sins of long custom and continuance extensive impieties such as St. Paul calls the old man when a sin waxeth upon us like the gray hairs of our age that is a long Spear in Satans Artillery When Saul did first malign at David he cast a Javelin at him Jaculum Saulis that was but short and a hasty fit of anger but when he would never cease to persecute the man of Gods right hand then you shall read of Hasta Saulis a Spear which David took from the head of Saul Inveterate malice which will not be reconciled it is Homers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I may say a Spear of such a length that one end is above ground and the point in Hell one fit of Intemperance in Noah one Oath in Joseph one Superstision in John when he fell down before the Angel these have their turn and they return no more Happy Saints which dasht the Babylonish Children against the wall But there is a sin which doubles in the mouth of the sinner like that of the Edomites against Sion Down with it down with it unto the ground Like Crucifige crucifige Crucifie crucifie him as if once would not serve the turn And there is a treble sin like St. Peters denial three times over And there is iniquity of four links as Amos said For three transgressions and for four I will not turn away my wrath from Damascus saith the Lord. Seven Devils went out of Mary Magdalen Ten times the heart of Pharaoh was hardned Our Saviour puts the case if one man offend another Septuagies septies Seventy times seven times There are sins like the staff of Goliah's Spear as big as a Weavers Beam I will tell you what other sins Leo likens unto Spears and so I will finish this Point In vain says he did the Jews keep their own hands from violence in vain do they think that they made not the wound because a Souldier digged his side Qui venenata vocum spicula letalia verborum tela jaciebant Their teeth were Spears and Arrows and their tongue a sharp Sword They shot reproachful speeches like shafts of death as out of a well drawn bow all blasphemers that revile the Saints are as guilty of this wound as the Souldier that pierced his side with a Spear I must now speak of that part of his body whereon the Spear did light and to use the Fathers Elegancy Venimus ad cor dulcissimum Iesu bonum est nobis esse hic We are come even unto the place where the heart of Jesus lies and it is good for us to be here O sacred Passion O dearest wound This is a breach for the righteous to enter in This is none other as Jacob said but the gate of heaven Why did the Watchmen smite thee as the Spouse said What did direct their arm to touch that place How durst an uncircumcised Souldier dare to enter upon thy heart even upon the Holy of Holies Literally all this was done lest they had not finished their work of damnation For no mortal wound had been given to our Saviour before as some think and therefore when Joseph came to beg the body for burial Pilate marvelled if he were dead already the Jews mistrusted some delusion and to be sure to dispatch him a Souldier was suborned to thrust a Spear into his side As who should say he talked when he was alive of going to his Father and that from thenceforth we should see him in power and great glory no matter whither he go so we be rid of him as Bassianus said of his brother Geta Sit divus frater meus dum non sit vivus Strike him to the heart and then let God deliver him if he will have him Delilah enquired diligently of Samson where his strength lay that she might maim that part of the body and leave him weak like another man So these implacable enemies ransacked every part of the body to let out life If life be in the bloud of man the bloud was exhausted many ways If life be in the brains as others say the Crown of thorns was sufficint to offend them If life be in the heart there it should have no refuge for one of the Souldiers pierced his side with a Spear Now you that are babes in Christ like young ones in the nest implumes pulli hatcht under the wings of Christ untill you be fledg'd with feathers of Gold Behold the tender affection of a true Pelican hath drawn most precious bloud from his breast to revive his young ones And all you that will enter into the Ark and be saved from
the wrath to come behold a door is opened in the side that you may enter in You that want and have any thing to wish this is the beautiful gate of the Temple lie down here and ask your Alms. One said of our Saviours hands Non possunt claudi ad beneficia quia in cruce fixae apertae sunt Benefits must drop from them they cannot keep close because they were opened upon the Cross So in his side a gate is made that will never be closed against thee Thomas found it open and so shall I. You have heard of the Marriage of the Lamb and that his Beloved hath made her self ready Behold the time when he made a Wife unto himself and when the Marriage was celebrated For as Adam was cast into an heavy sleep and then God opened his side and made woman out of the man while he slept So says St. Austin Christ bowed down his head as if he did but nod and sleep upon the Cross the side of the Bridegroom was then opened that with bloud and water he might make a Spouse unto himself which is the body of his Church Thou hast ravished my heart my Sister my Spouse says Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast ravished my heart as if we had not robb'd him of his bloud but of his very heart so infinitely is he enamoured upon the salvation of his Saints Vulnerasti cor meum that interpretation goes current with the Fathers thou hast wounded my heart my Sister my Spouse thou hast wounded my heart Twice wounded you see His enemies did wound him and so did his Beloved There is a carnal wound which was done by the violence of the Souldier there is a spiritual wound which he suffers for compassion of his Elect. Woe worth their malice that rent the wound in his flesh blessed be his own mercies which made a spiritual wound of love in his heart Why was thy side wounded O mirrour of sufferance when head and feet and hands and every part of thy body had suffered before Me thinks He answers because he would teach us throughly to crucifie the old man in our sinful flesh It is not enough to look to thy feet and thy paths It is not enough to set a watch before thy lips to make a Covenant with thine eyes Open thy heart dive into the depth of it there thou shalt find the root of evil and concupiscence St. Basil reasons seriously why our Saviour in his Sermon on the Mount Mat. v. was more earnest to repress the inward corruption of concupiscence in the heart than the outward disordered actions As for outward sin says the Father it cannot be done without attendance of circumstances opportunity and time of execution and yoke-fellows to draw on iniquity with Cartropes and bodily labour But the evil thought of the heart is still born without noise it is conceived with less labour than breathing it is fruitful at all seasons it betrays not a demure look then it boots not to crucifie and afflict and subdue the whole body unless the grace of God pierce into the bottom of our heart But let me ask again and it is sweet to question it Why was thy side wounded O blessed Jesus Was it not to shew that thou didst not love us in tongue and in word only but at the very heart John the Disciple did but lean upon his breast and yet he carries the title away from them all Discipulus amatus the Disciple whom he loved The breast was shut when John did lean upon it now his side is opened his Elect may go into his very bowels and see how he loved them The Use is proper for the place we are in for the world slanders the Court much or else there is more protestation of good will than sound affection among you Court holy water is an ancient by-word your consciences know best whether you deserve it God and his Christ have given you a most notable example to amend it It was not enough for our Saviour to stretch out his hands as if he would embrace us nor yet to pray earnestly and forgive us but to shew what the love of a Christian should be to a Christian he suffered the precious Casket to be broken open and let us see his heart Yea I will ask but this once why was thy side pierced and opened O sweet Redeemer Was it to set up a mark for our devotion That we may lay our mouth spiritually at it and suck at the fountain of eternal life Thomas touched it with his hand and it proved to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a demonstration for belief O taste and try how sweet the Lord is Let us be called dogs such dogs as the Canaanitish woman was full of faith so we may lick these wounds as the dogs did the sores of Lazarus Constantine the Emperour kissed the hollow pit of Paphnusius eye kissed it often which had been plucked out for the profession of the Gospel The Jaylor washed the stripes of Paul and Silas The wounds of them that suffer for the name of Christ are the wounds of Christ himself let them be more honourable to us than the most unspotted beauty in the world To end this Point We read of blessed souls under the throne of God there they are safe and happy we read of Lazarus in Abrahams bosome there he found refreshment But I even I says Bernard will direct my soul unto this gaping wound thither it shall fly I will take my aim at it Hora mortis meus slatus intret Iesu tuum latus A door it is but a narrow door cast away the superfluity of sin and the immoderate care for things of this world These are great burdens upon our back and a Camel cannot enter in at the side of Christ but especially they that look to pass through a raw and a tender part must not have the thorns of malice about them lest they tear and offend the wound of Christ It is a wound of love and by antipathy would bleed afresh if the malicious should approach unto it The fourth and last circumstance of the Souldiers violence is now to be scanned that pierced ejus latus Christs side when he had given up the Ghost A carkess bereft of life is no more a man but the image of a man Now as some have exprest their malice against their enemies Image when his person was out of their reach as the Antiochians brake the Statues of the Empress Pulcheria for anger So the Souldier runs his Spear at an Image at a shadow at the cold body of him who was stiff and dead A stout Souldier I wiss such a one as Aristophanes gibed at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he dare kill none but him that is slain already For with whom doth this Champion fight The divine nature of Christ is uncapable of a wound negatively unless he confounded the natures
your Paschal Lamb cease hereafter the circumcision of the flesh bloud and water shall take place now I deliver them to be your Sacraments you shall be born again by water and you shall be fed with that Cup which is the New Testament in my bloud but why bloud and wherefore water says St. Ambrose this question will bring on a second Mystery aqua ut emundaret sanguis ut redimeret wretched Babes we were brought forth into this world as Elisha brought the Aramites blind into the midst of Samaria among their Enemies Shall I smite them my Father shall I smite them says the King of Israel O no says Elisha use them friendly and set bread and water before them Thus I say we were born obstinati ad peccatum destinati ad judicium polluted with iniquity bound over to condemnation Shall I smite them says Justice now I have them here shall I consume them at once O no says our blessed Master I will wash away their pollutions with water and make them white as snow I will redeem them from condemnation and lay down bloud for bloud Here is a strain of curtesie far higher than that of Elisha's not bread and water but water and bloud Moses was sent to deliver Israel out of captivity he was tractus ex aquis as his name tells us sav'd out of a River where he was cast to be drown'd he came by water but the deliverance stuck a long time and could not go forward Moses's Miracles Aarons Eloquence the Plagues upon Pharaoh all could do no good until the door-posts were smitten with the bloud of the Lamb. First Moses in water and then the Lamb in bloud their Redemption was made perfect in bloud and water And these two streams at the last cast were enough to drown an Heresie which Christ knew would spring up like a Tare among the Wheat That 's the third Mystery Marcion he foresaw would doubt of the truth of his body whether his substance was flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone or but an airy phantastique I know not what Nay surely it had an elementary composition for here was water and it had the composition of the humors for here was bloud so Aquinas and the School Divines consider it even for this cause as a fountain of providence that for conviction of Heresie his side was pierced and c. But while I consider these two Blessings as they are Miracles and Mysteries so they are extra nos coming from Christ but not coming to us but upon some application you shall find them intra nos lying at every mans conscience First that which was bloud and water in Christ must be tears of much anguish for your sins in you and true compunction of heart I do not ask for a sullen grief in Nabal which smothers the heart in desperation and cannot vent it self in a weeping eye I do not ask for the weeping eye of a Crocodile which is not commanded by the compunction of the heart that were like Gideons Fleece which was wet when the Floor was dry but I ask for Mary Magdalens eye melting into tears and for Davids sinful heart melting in his breast like wax the one is the root and the other the fruit of repentance bloud and water Quicquid Christus in corpore mater sustinuit in corde every stroke that did fall upon the body of Christ did light upon the heart of the blessed Virgin Mary So who can think upon that which she did suffer but must suffer as much as she did think my pride my gluttony my wantonness my blasphemy my oppression my prophanness what have you done do you know whom you have kill'd O no Father forgive them My sins knew not what they did now they weep for it now they are prickt in heart and that 's my bloud and water Secondly that which was bloud and water in Christ what is it more in us amor erga Deum caritas erga proximum it shall be in me a provocation toward the fulfilling of the whole Law to love God and my Neighbour St. Paul speaks of a resistance unto blood and who is he that is dearer unto me than my bloud but my Redeemer Christ Our Saviour speaks of giving my Alms away or if I have nothing else in store let me give but a Cup of cold water for his names sake and it shall not lose a reward And who are they that must have my water my alms yea a plentiful gift from my hands it is my Brother my Neighbour or if you will love him better for God's sake than for your own sake he is one of the Members of Christ Martyrdom is welcom for Christs sake my love shall express it self in any good office for my Brothers sake Martyrdom and Charity are my bloud and water Thirdly and so you shall have your full doses of these two streams sanguis valet contra iram aqua contra libidinem Remember this last Application all our sensual and brutish affections are drawn into two heads by Philosophy the irascible part which is rectified by patience and endurance of evil and the concupiscible part which is rectified by absteining from that which is an apparent and a deceitful good if your stomach fret within you and malign at tribulation when the Cross of Christ is laid upon you prick the angry vein to save the Soul let out the bloud of an impatient heart if your appetite be intemperate your concupiscence effeminate dry up the body by fasting parch it even like a Bottle that is hung in the smoke Venus orta mari drain out those superfluous streams that surcharge the body sufferance of evil and abstinence from the baits of pleasures these are my bloud and water And so much touching the Conjunction of these two streams Now I come in a word to the Order first bloud and then water Some may say to the bloud here as the Midwife did to Pharez who striv'd to come into the world before Zarah his Brother Why didst thou make a breach why art thou the first Malice Beloved is ever full of confusion it heeds not where it begins nor how it proceeds to vengeance but blessings are like fruit taken in their season they descend in their order as in this place by bloud and water For do but consider how these two were applied even now to the several vertues of a Christian and you shall find that bloud hath the preeminence and deserves the first place for is not compunction of heart better than sorrowful tears is not martyrdom for Gods sake better than charity to our Neighbour is it not a greater conquest to suffer evil patiently than to abstain from deceitful good aquâ vocati sanguine electi is not Election better than Vocation If all these Comparisons hold as I think they do bloud is preeminent in way of blessing above water 2. Here were the great Legacies paid unto the World the two Testaments
Altar you see the strength and mightiness of his power in the Goats that he bore the similitude of sinful flesh in the Ram his Principality that he governed the Flock in the Lamb his meekness and innocency but before the Law this in my Text is the first by name which the Fathers took notice of as a type of the Sacrifice upon the Cross Quis in ariete figuratus nisi Christus spinis Judaicis coronatus of this Type St. Austin is bold to say this Ram in the Thicket was but a rellish and pregustation of him that was compelled to weare a Crown of thorns It is the first praise that Pliny gives to this harmless Creature Magna huic pecori gratia in placamentis Deorum among other attonements it was very gracious to please and pacifie the divine powers how could Idolaters confess so much unless with Caiaphas they prophesied and knew not what they said Indeed we can say omnis huic pecori gratia in placamentis Domini All our attonement all our reconciliation all our pardon it rests upon the head of this Oblation the principal of the Flock Who can think upon the innocence of the Sheep and not remember this spotless Sacrifice without sin Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth 1 Pet. ii 22. Non Petrus erat qui haec dixit adulatus Magistro sed Esaias praedixit says Cyril Peter did not say this of himself to flatter his Master he had it from an Evangelical Prophet Isaiah foretold it under the name of an innocent sheep led unto the slaughter The Pharisees called him Carpenter in disgrace but they could not call him Sinner Clamant habet damonium non Clamant habet peccatum they cry out he had a Devil and yet their tongue would not let them say there was a fault in him Our Saviour proclaimes it Quis vestrum Which amongst you doth accuse me of sin Again who can think upon the meekness of the sheep and not remember this Sacrifice that was led dumb before the Shearer Moses was meek yet he commanded that the Adulteress should be put to death Christ was meeker his sentence was clemency every jot Joh. viii Go and sin no more Moses was meek yet he brought Mandatum lapideum a stony Law to the People Christ was meeker and turned those stones into bread at his last Supper he set before them Mandatum triticeum Take and eat in remembrance of me At his Baptism a Dove sat upon his head Columba super agnum a Dove upon a Lamb meekness upon meekness What heart could be more intenerated and mollified than that which prayed for his Persecutors Yet once more let me speak who can think upon the profitableness of the Sheep and not remember this Sacrifice that did yield commodity both in life and death He liv'd in innocency of life for our imitation he suffered in the bitterness of death for our redemption ut afferret remedium in passione mortis ut praeberet exemplum in innoecntiâ vitae says Leo Innoceny Meekness Utility all do correspond that the Angel should take one of the Flock rather than any other Beast to prefigure the Sufferings of Christ And we must not omit that among all the Flock the Ram was cull'd out to be substituted for Isaac propter masculam virtutem never was there more need of a masculine courage and a spirit heroick than to tolerate and endure so much as our Saviour did this day stripes and strokes blasphemies and buffetings thorns and nails to drink up all the bitterness of the Cup to fight with God himself and his wrath in that Agony in the Garden every vein of the body vented bloud quia de toto corpore id est de Ecclesiâ emanaturae sunt passiones martyrum says Prosper because the Martyrs should suffer in every part of his Body which is the Church Such a Samson we had need of that could break the green wit hs and snap the cords in sunder Such a Lion we had need of sprung from the Tribe of Judah and it falls out I know not whether by art or by arbitrary imposition that the Latin word Aries for a Ram comes from the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a Lion come to his growth and vigour I am sure he that is the Ram in my Text is likewise the strong Lion of the Tribe of Judah Very appertinent is that which I find related in Ortelius concerning the Christian King of the Abyssens that he gives for his Crest a Lion holding a Cross in his paw notifying that Christ stuck to his Passion and his Cross with that power and fortitude like a Lion that no tentation nor Devil nor infirmity could pluck him from it An Angel came to strengthen him says St. Luke I pray you did the Ram give back then was the Lion frighted did weakness creep upon him not so but because in the very gall of affliction he had strength and courage therefore he did merit to be strengthened by the ministery of Angels For example in this Militant state of the Church they that couragiously endure their trial at length shall not want Divine consolation This Exposition likes me best which ascribes all masculine courage to the Ram which was caught in the Thicket Ecce aries behold a Ram why John Baptist makes him younger above a thousand years after Ecce Agnus Dei behold the Lamb of God Nay in one mystical verse Gen. xlix 9. Judah is called a Lions Whelp and a strong Lion and an old Lion great diversity of age in so few words I must say of these places as St. Austin did reconciling the Prophesies of Esay and Jeremiah To us a Child is born says Esay Mulier circumdabit virum says Jeremiah A woman shall compass a man and both speak of Christ Why time says the Father doth not make him older than he was before the beginning of the world sed insinuant ei nunquam defuisse virtutem but if the Child be call'd a man it is to insinuate that full strength and perfection was alwayes in him Now you have seen the thing which was bestowed upon Abraham The Wife of Manoah could say if the Lord were pleased to kill them he would not accept a Burnt-offering at their hands neither would he have told them of a Son to be born much more may I say if the Lord were not pleased with Abraham and his Seed he would not have given us a Burnt-offering nor told us of him that was to come in the ends of the World as it is in the first mark which is upon this Ram He is Aries post eum Abraham saw a Ram behind him For long it was indeed long after Abrahams days that the manifestation of this Shadow was revealed in the death of Christ My father says Isaac in the 7. verse of this Chapter behold the Fire and the Wood but where is the Lamb Isaac spake of no more than the present
such a spark of fire blow it and kindle the whole man to be a perfect Oblation an whole Burnt-offering to be presented to God Immolata sacrificia sunt perfecta studia virtutum says Origen an whole Burnt-offering is he that hath quite renounced the world consumed the root of concupiscence denies himself all unlawful desires crucifies the old man suffers zeal even to eat and devour him encreaseth charity so far to enflame his heart as if his frail flesh could scarce subsist because of the love of God For such a one the Son of God became a Burnt-offering that He might not perish in everlasting fire this is the full satisfaction of Christ to purchase the full of redemption of them that shall be saved in the last part Abraham offered up the Ram in holocaustum pro filio instead of his Son The Jews as their own Rabbies testifie did so much rejoyce in after ages for the deliverance of Isaac that in the Feast of Tabernacles they sounded the praise of God with Rams horns as if they had been Trumpets because a Ram was substituted to death instead of their Patriarch Alas for pitty the spilling of Isaacs bloud it is of no price for the redemption of a Soul it is not a sufficient Pawn for his own head much less for the sins of the World Meliorem animam pro morte Daretis persolvo as Entellus said when he offered up an Heifer instead of Daris so the Ram in my Text the Lord of the Flock an Attonement of infinite value must bear the Curse and the Cross of our iniquities and lay down his life for his Sheep a strange Sacrifice consisting of two Natures in the Personal Union of God and Man must satisfie God for the absolution of Man such a one as suffered not for himself but was offered instead of Isaac pro semine Electorum and for the Seed of all the Elect that shall reign in glory The Heathen had a glimpse of some such thing in their superstitious manner of Expiation for if ruin did threaten any State or Kingdom they thought it possible to remove the publick vengeance upon one or a few more that would willingly undertake it whom they called Piaculares homines men that took upon them the punishment or calamity due to all the people and Caiaphas did seem to allude to this when he told his fellow Priests that one man must suffer for the whole Nation Caritas in patriam impietas in Christum his charity towards his Country was laudable his impiety against Christ was damnable One man must suffer indeed unum pro multis dabitur caput as he said of Palinurus so this was the true Pilot of the Ship that guides his Church in the tempestuous waves of tentation and the Pilot only was cast away in the storm that Isaac and the Sons of Promise might come safe to the Haven of eternal happiness To end all let us all conceive and let our hearts be strongly possessed with the credulity that we are going with Abraham to Mount Moriah to the Hill of Divine Worship and Adoration take Isaac along with you that is all your laughter your joy the strength of your pleasure in this world to offer it up unto the Lord then trust and be assured Isaac shall be spared and the Ram shall die Thus Bernard unfolds the Allegory Non peribit tibi laetitia sed contumacia Domino vives sed crucifixus mundo you shall not lose your joy nor your hearts solace wantonness lasciviousness rebellion of the flesh these shall be offered up and consumed you shall live unto God but be crucified unto the World Cum laetus accesseris ad Deum iterum tibi reddet quod obtuleris a sweet Meditation of Origen's when it is gladness and delight unto you to come unto God when you bring Isaac for a Sacrifice you shall not lose your Offering but again it shall be restored unto you as he that multiplied his Talents by good husbandry they were his own for his labour and more to boot take the single Talent and give it to him that hath ten Talents saith the Lord. You that live in excess of pleasure and jollity you that think Abraham hath lost his Isaac that a religious and a devout life obstinately averse from the sweetness of your time-consuming mirth and sport is but sadness and melancholy and mistaken As no man heard the Musick of Heaven but Pythagoras so such as have lost the exulting bravery of the world in appearance are the only men to whose soul the harmonious joy of Heaven doth reveal it self Like young Abishag in Davids bosom so Isaac and the fruit of joy and gladness is always before the eyes of Abraham Your heart shall rejoyce and no man shall take it from you says our Saviour Almighty God grant that we may esteem it the greatest treasure of our joy and felicity that Jesus Christ a Sacrifice well pleasing to his Father hath died for us and that his bloud hath washed away our sins and purchased us an Inheritance immortal with the Saints AMEN THE FOURTH SERMON UPON THE PASSION JOHN iii. 14. And as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up THough King Hezekiah destroyed the substance of the brazen Serpent to avoid peril of Idolatry yet Christ hath renewed the memory of it in this Text. Neither was it fit that the remembrance of it should die because it represented the death of him by whom we live for ever The Disciple to whom our Saviour directed these words was Nicodemus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Ruler a primary man ver 1. the best in quality of all the Jews that had yet come to Christ to be taught The Text I am sure is not grown less than it was but still it is fit to be preacht of before a Ruler Rulers are illustrious in their outward splendor and Titles Let them use them nobly and he that is greater than they will make them greater But Christ calls Nicodemus to a new way of honour to be all glorious within and tells him copiously that this is to be atchieved two ways First By regeneration of holiness he must become a new man he must be born again he must be born of the Spirit or he cannot see the Kingdom of God ver 4 5. Secondly By Justification through Remission of sins in the bloud of a Saviour and of this my Text speaks magnificently as Moses c. So that Nicodemus the Ruler hath no readier way to amplifie his honour than to be acquainted with the Passion of our Lord And no way more direct to understand that salutiferous Passion than to possess his imagination with the figure of the Serpent which was erected in the Wilderness Christ could have taught him the mystery of his death in another Type and a little more ancient the immolation of the Paschal Lamb. But first Nicodemus took good liking to
our Saviour from his Miracles No man can do these miracles that thou dost except God be with him ver 2. Now the mactation of the Paschal Lamb had nothing in it but that which was ordinary in the external work but the use of the brazen Serpent was a mighty miracle Secondly As many Lambs were killed as there were housholds to eat them whereas there was but one Serpent made which comes nearer to the just resemblance that the Son of God by his one Oblation of himself once offered up made a sufficient satisfaction for the sins of the world Thirdly The Lamb was presented as other Viands are in a dish The Serpent was set up aloft as an Ensign a clearer pattern of the exaltation of the Cross Fourthly In the consumption of the Lamb God did embalm the memory of his great mercy and keep it fresh how he passed over the houses of the Israelites and did not kill them as he killed the Egyptians But the Serpent was set up for the cure of those that were bitten with Serpents In the former Type the people were sound and whole in the latter Type they were stung and sick and they that are whole do not perceive so well that they have need of the Physician as they that are sick Lastly He that did feed on the Paschal Lamb did eat by faith And he that look'd on the Serpent did see by faith But though faith is the evidence of things not seen yet the eye is more of kin to faith than the â—aste because it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bodily mind as the Heathen said and our most heavenly sense In a word there were many other Figures of Christs sufferings but not any so plain as this for the use and application of it that none but true believers can be saved by his sufferings To the full satisfaction therefore of that which is concerned upon this day here you have Christ upon his Cross two ways both in the Old and in the New Testament For the Old Testament in the best and most exact Figure for the New Testament in a direct and literal prediction The figure contains these parts first the symbolical thing a Serpent Secondly The posture of it it was lifted up Thirdly The place in the Wilderness Fourthly The end for which Sicut Moses as Moses lifted it up The Prediction of the New Testament is to fulfil the Figure And that denotes 1. The Person the Son of Man 2. His inglorious glory must be lifted up 3. Here is a sic for the former sicut a correspondence with the manner and the end of the Figure so must the Son of Man be lifted up First Here is Christ crucified in the Old Testament in a symbolical sign which is a Serpent When his body hung upon the Cross it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Luke calls it a sight for all the People to look upon that were present for outwardly it was the deed of wicked men But there was profundum crucis as St. Austin observes part of the accursed Tree was under ground for the stronger fastning the end and use of it which came from God which is discovered to them that search by faith is thus in a short sum a remedy against that punishment which our sins had deserved therefore to make a compleat survey of this Serpent first we must look upon it for our sins sake secondly for our punishment and thirdly for our remedy And first by the object of the Serpent we see sin in the Author Satan is traduced openly in this memorial for that Tempter that perswaded our first Parents to eat of the forbidden fruit It is his contumely to see himself disguised in so base a creature as God would not permit him to come in the form of a better creature but in this vile shape to do the office of a murderer so he is exposed to all Ages in the pourtract of that shape that his pride may see it self in a vaste distance of declension an Angel in Creation a despicable worm in his own mischievous Assumption But as St. Athanasius doth well observe there was a Serpent the Instrument and there was the Devil the Ingeneer two several natures compacted in some sort into one person and joyning in one stratagem to cast man out of Paradise So God and man two natures in one person met together in our Redeemer to reduce us unto the favour of God and to repossess us in a better Paradise And as the Language of sin was first taught through the mouth of a Serpent in the Garden of Eden so that it may never be forgotten it is continued in the dumb shew of a Serpent that was set up in the Wilderness Secondly By the object of the Serpent we see sin in the infection and contagion of it It is the biting of an Adder not perilous only to that part which is wounded but dispreading all over even to the vital parts of the body Every drop of bloud soaks in the malignity of that which is next unto it till there be no soundness remaining So one part of our body being tainted with the poison of sin traduceth its corruption to another if the ear be tickled with filthy talk the loins will be unchaste If the eye be wanton the heart will suffer and wax impure If the body pride it without the soul cannot be humble within every sense and faculty about us is a gangrene to another and if you give up one member you give up all to be instruments of uncleanness There is yet more contagion in the tooth of the Serpent by committing one transgression you are at the brink of the pit to fall into another the second offence makes the way smooth and slippery for the third Peccatum quod per poenitentiam non deletur mox suo pondere ad aliud trahit says Gregory Every sin that meets not with the Antidote of Repentance hath an operative and a venemous nature to fetch in another evil spirit like unto it self An high mind carries us to wrath and wrath to revenge and revenge to malice and malice to murder Thus it runs on like a spark in the stubble and unless grace extinguisheth it it is as unquenchable as the fire of hell Beside there is yet another Serpentine and pestilentious derivation in the works of darkness one sinner is a thousand sinners more in the dangerousness of his Leprosie one Absalom is an host of Rebels one Ring-leader is a shole of Hereticks one Jeroboam is a Kingdom full of Idolaters one incestuous person endangered the whole Church of Corinth with fornication says St. Paul and he was the occasion of his Proverb That a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump A drop of Poison mars a glass of Nectar Serpunt vitia in proximum quemque transiliunt contactu nocent says Seneca Stand far off from those that are impious they have a catching disease about them there is an infectious
or religious house for this saying Qualiscunque nunc sim talis ero qualem me Deus praescivit Whatsoever I am now at last I shall be no other than just as God foresaw I should be Whereas says the holy Father his saying had been better on this wise God foresaw I should be such a one either as I would make my self by sin or by his grace and piety If I can I will clear that which makes the Objection seem to be difficult No man can be condemned for actual sins unless he do commit them through his own wilfulness But nothing is wilfully done which is inevitably and necessarily done and freedom is quite taken away unless you take away all kind of necessity But Gods prevision from all eternity infers a necessity through the supposition of it that nothig can alter from the way wherein before all time he saw all things lie naked and open before him This is the Objection and the Answer is most solid and punctual though not so clear and easie to common understandings as the Objection But thus That which God foresees shall be but presupposing that God saw the effect in its causes that it would be Therefore it is all one to say that God sees it that it is and it is impossible but whatsoever is when it â—s must be even so as it is Yet a little nearer to perspicuity you may consider an action either in the putting forth and the doing or when it is past and done In the doing God foresaw man had power either to do or not to do and therein foresaw he was left to his freedom and the liberty of his own counsel thus God saw from all eternity that man was not put upon evil or destruction necessarily then consider that action as foreseen of God to be done and committed so it is necessary But no otherwise than as we know it was necessary that Lot was drunken because that which is past and gone cannot be recalled You see an Archer drawing his Bow you see he may choose whether he will let the Arrow fly from him or not but when it is gone out of the Bow it is not in his will and power to resume it So God did foresee the thoughts of the Jews and when they were shooting out their Arrows even bitter words yet after the liberty of their own will they might have stopped and refrained then he saw that they took to the worst and chose death rather than life so he let them walk in their own inventions which made them stumble and fall Perhaps you will yet plead against God and say the Lord knew the ways of wicked men and he is Almighty and could have stinted their iniquity that such hellish effects should never have been wrought I sweep away this cavil with a word God was not wanting to put impediments and very great ones in the ways of Christs enemies that they might have desisted and been wise but if these were made unsufficient know that he is not bound to use Omnipotent means to repress impiety It is his great pleasure to put his Creature to the trial of obedience therefore it had not stood with his wisdom either to have made such a Law as man could not break or to endue him with such abilities as he could not transgress He will hedge in the way of sin to some on whom he casts his best good liking he will remove the objects and occasions of lewdness far from them they shall not come within the grasp of fearful tentations He would not let Paul kick against the pricks nor hale men and women that acknowledge Christ before unrighteous Judges but all men are not Pauls in God's dearest love and purpose Some are given over as these Jews were to a reprobate sense but according to their own wish their bloud be upon their own heads for God was innocent Now it is time to draw this Point into a Conclusion and in this form and use Let no calamities or malignities of this world offend us though the Church of Saints goes by the worst oftentimes let it not provoke our soul to say in its bitterness is there any Providence above Is there any knowledge in the most High Quis putat esse Deos He that will cut a man off when he begins to narrate a matter and not hear his tale out will quite misconceive him and lose the sense of his Narration So it happens to them that look rashly upon some miserable events in the world and search no further the uppermost part of those things which they see is Satan reigning Sin increasing Justice declining Religion mourning But the bottom and the nethermost part of this tragical spectacle is Profundum justitiae sapientiae eternal Justice revenging these injuries coelestial and inscrutable wisdom drawing peace out of contention repentance out of sins content out of poverty and an innumerous increase of faithful men and women out of bonds and captivities and persecutions They have not the patience to hear God tell out his tale they will not lend their eyes so long to see him bring his work to consummation that do not discern into his holy counsels that at last he will wind up all those things that appear most disproportionable to his honour to the high advancement of his glory Was ever the name of God defied in any thing so much as in the shameful death of Christ Ah thou that buildest the Temple in three days come down from the Cross and save thy self And again He trusted in God let him deliver him if he will have him And yet this that seemed such a blur to Gods renown was converted into such a good use that all the blessings that ever we received in this world were not so fruitful so beneficial to us as the death of Jesus Look not upon the superficies of his sufferings as some do and no more a Picture in a glass-window will read you that Lesson but look into the inward sanctuary into the bosom of this mystery that he was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God You have hitherto attended to the first part of my Text that the ordination of Christs death was from God and to a good end and purpose the latter part which I will but snatch at and away is that the execution of his death came from the Devil and his Instruments out of most malignant respects Him ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain Ye have taken this is no backbiting no defiance at a distance where the Jews did not hear him but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 withstanding them to their face as St. Paul calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostome O how boldly the man of God speaks being compassed about with those murderers Some are faln in our days into a most ridiculous way of reproof and exhortation if it be compared with this They will discourse very earnestly what obedience
allow God a seventh day for sanctification so much is divine in the fourth Commandment and what seventh day but the same which Christ sanctified in his Resurrection which is the new Creation of the World the same which the Scriptures point at the same which the Church hath constantly kept in all successions Salve festa dies toto venerabilis anno says Lactantius and Origen says that Manna did begin to fall down about the Tents of the Israelites the first day of the Week and in the same day you are bound to bring your Omer to gather Spiritual Manna in your holy Assemblies that your Soul may eat and be satisfied When the Proconsuls of several Provinces enquired who were Christians to punish them you shall find in the Acts of the Martyrs this was their Question to descry them Dominicam servâsti What do you keep the Lords Day The good man being persecuted answers Christianus sum intermittere non possum I am a Christian and cannot intermit it Do we differ from the Jews then in nothing but exchanging day for day Yes Beloved as in sanctifying Gods name we are to go beyond them because the Spirit is given to us in more abundant measure than it was to them so in nice Points of rest and cessation from all bodily labour and exercise we are not tied so strictly as they were I wonder from whom they had their Doctrine that teach the contrary I know they will not say they had it from the Fathers I know they cannot say it justly I appeal to the best lights of this latter Age. Out of the French Reformed Churches I cite Beza Thus he The keeping of the Lords day is an Apostolical and a divine Tradition yet so that we are not tied he means by Gods Law to observe the Judaical cessation from all kind of work for to observe the Judaical rest were to change the day and not the Judaism Imperial Laws made by Constantine and other godly Princes did first interdict that no open and usual buying and selling or other Merchandise should be used for it is fit for the better sanctifying of the day that we should sequester worldly affairs and be altogether vacant to God Thus far he Out of the German Reformed Churches I will cite Paraeus This is his Argument Who first approves that the Lords day is to be kept with a decent cessation from manual labours and that it is very scandalous to pollute it with usual secular affairs but if any will run further to impose upon Christians the Rites and Ceremonies of the Jewish rest in their Sabbath thus he convinceth them The observation of the Jewish rest was figurative and typical and all those figures of truth were to be kept under pain of severe judgment because the figure was the pledge and Protestation of the truth which should come to pass now there being no such figurative dependence upon the sanctification of the Lords day we are tied only to such rest as shall adorn and beautifie our Worship of God upon that day I mean both our Morning and Evening Sacrifice Beware therefore to be a Jew in opinion but beware to be a dissolute Libertine in practice Violate not this day nor any the like in the whole year with Negligence Idleness Luxurious Pastimes or Riot give thy body rest that the soul may be more busie in the holy work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rest which is not imployed in the fear of God is the Mother of all wickedness I cannot end this Point better than with those words of St. Basil Let me adventure with your patience upon the next Point and I will defer the handling of the last That which I mean only to speak of is Mary Magdalens expedition her restless diligence her watchfulness without all sloath She came early when it was yet dark Every hour seemed seven to this pious Matron till she came to the body of Christ the Sabbath of the Jews was but now ended and she had much ado to refrain coming before it was done The Stars of the night had not yet run their courses when she set forth toward the Monument for it is probable she kept the Sabbath at her own Town and she dwelt at Bethany two miles from Jerusalem yet by Sun-rising when it was yet dark she was come to the Sepulcher a journey of two miles and had brought her Spices with her She had no sleep I believe fell upon her eyes for thinking of her Saviour I am sure she had no leisure to paint her face to powder her hair or to dress her self with finical curiosity We had divers I confess that came early this morning to the holy Sacrament when it was yet dark I praise them for it We have others that seldom or never find the way to Church till the Afternoon you may know by their vain Attire trickt up in Print what they were doing all the Morning At last we have their company scarce with half a thought to please God but with their whole heart to be praised of fools and to please such wanton and adulterous eyes that gaze upon them What a coil is here with this carion flesh Ye are but painted Sepulchers full of rotten bones and not worthy to come with Mary to the Sepulcher of Christ much less to come to the Communion of his body and bloud O proud mortality they that make their Looking-glass all the Text which they take out in the Morning little think that the Grave may be the Pew in the Church wherein they shall be placed before Evening Now they walk abroad so strong with sweet smells that they are able to perfume a Sepulcher with Spices in less than four days all this delicacy may turn to stink and rottenness Come early to the Sepulcher that is think of death in your young blossoming years how suddenly ye may be cut off then leave to fashion your selves after this French or that Italian dressing and spin a poor shrowding sheet which may wrap you up in the earth against the day of the Resurrection I hasten Was it yet dark when Mary came when St. Mark says punctually it was at the rising of the Sun What an intricate case some have made of this objection which is nothing in it self For the Evangelist doth not mean it was so dark that the women could not see about them for then all they reported would be taken to be fancy and not a known truth But the Sun newly rising some obscurity of darkness remains in some places especially it might be so about a Monument which was cut of a Rock in the Earth and the Monument in a Garden where shady trees do not suddenly admit light and the Garden perhaps lying under an Hill and compassed about with a Wall some dusky darkness may incloud such a place early in the Morning They shoot wide therefore that expound the darkness figuratively that the Scriptures were not opened as yet how
our Lord who is head of the body above all the members of the body that the Scriptures did indigitate he would rise again the third day after his death and burial but neither day nor year nor age is specified of the general Resurrection when our Carkasses shall be raised up to incorruption It is a common rule and best exprest in Bernards words Dies ultimus salubriter ignoratur ut semper praesens esse credatur It is good and useful to be ignorant of the day of judgment that we may always think it to be at hand and imminent And whereas the custom hath held in all Christian Churches since the Apostles I know not any custom which hath found less contradiction for this hath found none at all to gather all persons that can examine themselves to the Lords Table at the Feast of Easter among other sound and fruitful reasons rendred this is one because it is no imprudent conjecture that God will raise our bodies out of the Grave about the same season of the year that his own body was brought back again from the dead It is fit therefore to sanctifie our vessel at this time as well to eat his flesh and drink his bloud by faith as to make our Lamp ready to meet the Bridegroom And that he may not come upon us unawares like a flash of lightning let us send up our prayers unto him with much zeal and strong intercession as St. Hierom says like a clap of thunder Another varies the meaning why the Angel had this fashion in his countenance on this wise Aspectus sicut fulgur quia omnia abscondita erunt clara This lightning in his Aspect doth betoken that our most hidden sins shall be revealed and that all things shall lie naked and open before the judgment of Christ To what purpose doth Adam hide himself in the shade of the Garden Or Jonas lie concealed under the hatches of the Ship Or Saul imprivacy himself in a Cave Or Benhadad run into an inward Chamber Doth the Adulterer look for impunity that he walks to his stallion by twilight Or the Thief that he gets his prey in the darkness of the night Nec teste quisquam lumine peccare constanter potest sayes Prudentius Some have that check of modesty in their bloud that they cannot sin with alacrity where there is any light if there be but a Candle in the room they must put it out miserable shifts and mists raised before their eyes by the Devil who can work no greater infatuation among the wicked than to puff them up with this blind error as if they had Gyges ring upon their finger that they might walk where they would and never be discerned But the lightning will pierce into every corner those eyes of Christ which are likened to a flame of fire Rev. i. 14. let nothing escape them unrevealed and as a Burning-glass transmits the beams of the Sun to shine upon those things which it will set on fire so Gods eye is upon all the works of ungodliness both to view them and to revenge them with everlasting fire If Elisha could say that his heart went along with Gehazi when he ran after Naaman to take a bribe doth not the Spirit of the Lord much more attend all secret compacts of bribery and corruption If Elias could tell Ahab all the conspiracy that He and Jezebel had closely framed against Naboth so that Ahab cried out in astonishment Hast thou found me out O mine enemy then no innocent bloud shall be spilt without witness no Inheritance craftily wrung from the true possessor but the God of Elias shall challenge them for it so that the wicked shall be astonished and say hast thou found us out O Lord and are all our misdeeds before thee To end this point let the good Christian say with David Blessed is the man whose unrighteousness is forgiven and whose sins are covered not so covered but that thou O God knowest them all together St. Hierom says it thus Peccata deleta per poenitentiam nunquam patefient they shall not be discovered to our shame before Men and Angels at the publique reckoning of all faults or at least their deformity and that guilt in them which calls for vengeance shall be covered and though our sins be known yet it shall be to our triumph and praise if we be truly penitent and detest that in our selves wherein we have rebelled against a loving Father And so far on the first point that the countenance of the Angel was like lightning which teacheth us that there will be great terror to the wicked at the solemn day of the last Resurrection that Christ will come suddenly like the lightning out of the clouds and that the light will discover the most hidden wickednesses of the Sons of men I call'd you know this first verse upon which I entreat a description of Gods Watchman and by that name Angels are often called in holy Scripture I saw a Watchman and an holy one come down from above Dan. iv 13. This Angel in the superior parts had an aspect like lightning and from thence downward his raiment was white as snow The times are taxt that there are some such who come to Church to see faces and to look upon gay clothes I am afraid I may believe it Why here is employment in my Text for such Auditors though they be the worst that can come to a congregation as we have lookt our fill upon the countenance of the Angel so now I refer you to look upon his clothing Look over all the Apparitions of Angels in the Old Testament and in the Gospel till you come to this place you shall never read that they had apparel or what kind of apparel they did wear This is the day for whose sake they took a new Habit a new Comportment a new Splendor and these three things are taught us in this Raiment white as snow puritas gaudium gloria First that purity belongs to all those that hope for the resurrection of the just So St. John 1. Ep. iii. 23. We know when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and every one that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure And although the Angel did personate this purity only in the outward superficies yet our instruction rests not in that but refers us to the purity of the heart The pattern which is set before us is far from a fair semblance without a good inside no 't is extra albedo intus Angelus great pulchritude without and within an Angel That grace to the outward eye which man saw is nothing to those internal invisible graces which only God saw Sometimes one may be compared in holy Scripture to be as white as snow and yet be impure Gehazi went out from the presence of Elisha a Leper as white as snow and therefore David knew that the purity of the
not the same For howsoever they took upon them this glorious appearance yet it was nothing to them they are glorious spirits we shall be glorified both in body and in spirit they shall possess the double in their Land Everlasting joy shall be with them Isa lxi 7. Duplicia possidebunt this is their double portion their soul shall be filled with the vision of God and their body shall be bright like this Angels Garment yea fairer than earthly resemblance can decipher And so much for Gods Watchman upon the first verse and for those occurrent meditations which fell out upon it His countenance c. Against these the next verse opposeth Pilates Watchmen Watchmen indeed out of suspicions and infidelity not out of devotion and reverence Souldiers they were and no worse than of a Roman Garison but Souldiers in a piece of Arras would have serv'd as well Are these Romani rerum Domini Roman spirits whose brave resolution is a Proverb throughout all the world miserable Keepers that were set to daunt others and yet themselves shake for fear and became as dead men The Doctrin of this point will make up several Propositions to be considered First That the stoutest of wicked men have their great fears for their own heart tells them that there is one against them against whom it is impossible to stand The Philistins are mistrustful Who is able to withstand these mighty Gods The Aramites are quell'd if they do but think they hear a noise All the Money-changers of the Temple run away from a little scourge if Christ take it into his hand The High Priests Servants arm'd with swords and staves fall flat to the ground if He say no more unto them but whom seek ye I am He. Non potest stare quem conscientia destituit quem impellit reatus He that hath plummets of sin upon his conscience must sink to the ground it is impossible his legs should bear him And do not think this doctrine is less to be credited because there appears most resolute courage in many blasphemous Ruffians that are scarce half Christians that neither fear roaring Seas nor Earthquakes as the barbarous Celts were wont to say of themselvs for howsoever they are prodigal of their bloud and had rather die than seem to quail yet if you could see into their brest it must be that you should find a natural damp there because the Soul will be inquisitive what shall betide it hereafter and it is impossible it should speak comfort unto it self A Wolf is a most adventurous Beast yet he cannot run a furlong to seek his prey but he looks about to watch who follows him because he knows he is hated so the stoutest of the ungodly is bridled by the terror of an evil conscience in all his pride and glory I confess that some portion of fear is a passion incident to the righteous and best disposed Many things may intimidate a good man or woman for want of instruction what the Divine assistance can bring to pass out of a soft complexion out of a remorse for sin more acute in some than in others and out of too much love to themselves and those things upon earth which are most dear unto their love for such imperfections are in the best but it is not such a confus'd malignant fear as the enemies of Christ feel which makes Judas burst in twain which makes Arius fall in pieces which makes Cain surmise every one that sees him will kill him which makes Tyrants they dare not trust their nearest Servants nor their dearest Children which makes the Keepers of the Sepulcher shake for fear and become as dead men Secondly attend how terror falls upon them that think to terrifie Christs Saints they that were set to afright the Disciples are more afrighted themselves 'T is true that the zealous women which came with Odors and sweet Spices to the Sepulcher were much amazed yet the Angel spake mild and gentle words unto them and bid them be not afraid but the Souldiers were overwhelmed with perturbation and never comforted Let Pilate set another Guard upon his Guard for these are daunted upon whom both He and the Jews relied to maintain their fact which they had done against God and Man But the terrible men are requited with terror Pharaoh did never threaten Moses so sharply but before he saw him again he was in a worse perplexity than Moses for some grievous plague that was faln upon him David fled from Saul and yet Saul was more dejected in his heart than David Eusebius says upon the resolution of the Martyrs that their Persecutors were more afraid to see them suffer their torments than they were to endure it And some Heathen Historians testifie to this that Julian the Emperor had a device to trouble the Christian Church above measure by allowing and furthering the Jews to build up the Temple at Jerusalem again but the Workmen and their Taskmasters were let from proceeding by thunder and eruptions of fire and many such impediments which came from Heaven Satan was sent to buffet Paul but Paul did buffet Satan by mortiâ—ying his body by praying to the Lord that the rebellion of concupiscence might be taken from him The poor man in the Gospel possessed with Devils who fomed and gnasht with his teeth and was even torn with violence this man was not so much tormented as the Devils were to be cast forth and sent headlong to the Sea Of all stories methinks those are the pleasantest to read to see a malicious man stewed in his own sawce burnt in the same fire which he kindled for his neighbour An invading Enemy driven back with a mighty overthrow a litigious person cast in Law to his undoing A merciless man in the Gospel changing places with him whom he cast in prison Matth. xviii Hamans plot against Mordecai executed upon himself the Lions that were kept hungry to eat up Daniel devouring those that accused him the Souldiers set to scare all the well-willers of Christ that came to the Sepulcher and themselves scared out of their wits that their heart was dead within them The Dogs are sometimes gor'd and pauncht by the Beast which they hunted and they that meant destruction to the Saints are first destroyed O Lord let the malice of them that are ill affected to Christ and his Flock be ever so requiâ—ed Thirdly let it be attended that the fear of death is exceedingly in the hearts of them that do not believe in the Resurrection Alas they that set all their stake upon this life and are perswaded when this puff of breath is stopt that they shall sleep in an eternal night and never be wakened more can you wonder if they be infinitely agast upon the summons of death The Stag when he is at bay and ready to be pluckt down and torn sheds tears naturally and drops of sorrow trickle down from him because he shall part with his life for ever
Spirit of grace into the Soul and is not discerned there it sanctifies there it reforms there it changeth the mind and yet we cannot understand what manner of quality it is a thing of no appearance and yet of infinite efficacy Our senses are the Cinque-ports of all humane knowledg if any thing come into us either it must enter by those passages or we have no means to know how it should enter without those passages But when we feel the agitation of grace in our heart nothing is left us but to say Lord how camest thou hither We know not which way thou camest The Jews were sealed outwardly in the Body with the Mark of Circumcision whereby every man knew his Brother but our Mark is privily imprinted upon the Soul the Holy Spirit whereby we are sealed unto the day of Redemption whereby God only knoweth his Elect. God knows it the Conscience of the faithful feels but if we go about to consider what manner of Essence or Influence it is it will amaze us that we cannot understand it Again do you wonder at things which are rarely found then marvel to see how sparingly the Grace of God doth grow upon the Earth To whom hath the Arm of the Lord been revealed and who hath believed our Report The Sun illuminates half the World at once with his Light and leaves the other half in Darkness but the tenth part of the Sons of Men are not beautified with the Light of Grace nay the sixth part of the Earth hath not heard whether there be an Holy Ghost It strikes me with Admiration how so many do want the Heavenly Calling for the Ravens and the Sparrows do not want the comfort of their daily Food Naturas rerum minimarum non destituit Deus the smallest things that be God doth not leave them destitute yet there are Millions of men and women that continue in a barbarous and unrepented life So that it turns to be the Subject of Admiration to find out those few that are the small Remnant of Jacob. Christ himself marvelled at the faith of the Centurion a Commander and so submissive a Gentile and so devout an Example seldom seen and the Lord did marvel at it So he lifted up his voice in Acclamation to the Canaanitish womans praise O woman great is thy faith a denied Supplicant and so constant a disgraced Supplicant and so patient Seldom doth the Grace of God inhabit where it proves so well But O love the Saints and magnifie God in their good success Such as serve God truly in spirit are no usual sight therefore the coming down of the Holy Ghost was matter of Amazement But above all the Effects and Benefits of it are so beneficial to mankind that it amounts to the highest admiration It opens unto us the meaning of the Scriptures without which the Eunuch may read but he knows not the interpretation it teacheth us to pray with zeal and faith without which our words are but babling it makes us hear the Word of God to our edifying and salvation without which it is lost in stony or thorny ground it puts the tast of Christs Body and Bloud into our mouths when we receive the Sacrament without which we eat and drink our own damnation it comforts us though we find the horror of sin in our conscience and tribulation in the world without which the vengeance of God and the wrath of man would overwhelm us it seasons our actions with piety and obedience without which nothing that we can do but is corrupted with the root of bitterness it intenerates the most stony Hearts it hath civilized the most barbarous Nations it hath brought in Nurture and the Use of Laws and Discipline among them that lived by nothing but rapine and robbery it hath made the Flesh of Man which was a Cage of uncleanness to be the Temple of God Upon whomsoever the Spirit of Grace doth rest the Lycaonians may say of them without offence Gods are come down unto us in the likeness of Men. You may justly extol it with a boundless Praise and a boundless Praise must needs close in with an Extasie of admiration You would bless your selves with wonder to see a mighty Cure wrought upon the Body by the Finger of God a Cure above nature and is it not more astonishable to see a supernatural Cure wrought upon the desperate Diseases and Distempers of the Soul If one that is born blind be made to see O then they cry out Never was the like seen from the beginning of the world Consider your selves I pray you in the better part are we not by nature blind and ignorant groping in darkness and cannot find a true step to Heaven The Spirit is eyes unto the understanding it makes us walk in marvelous light so that we shall not dash our foot against the stones and ruins of tentations which of these two is the greater Miracle To cast out a Devil from him that is possessed would make the Earth ring of the mighty virtue Doth not Grace cast out a Legion of Devils from the Soul To skip over all other instances but one no Miracle which Fame did publish with a lowder Trumpet than to raise the Dead chiefly to raise up Lazarus that had been four days dead Why a continuance in sin is the death of the Soul and no Paradox it is to say it is an immortal death Yet Christ rolls away the stone of impenitence under which it is buried looseth our hands and feet which were bound with the cords of Satan calls us forth from the Grave of Custom renews our spirit and makes us live unto holiness and you being dead in sins and trespasses hath he quickned Colos ii 13. So you see how hard it is to know the Spirit how rare to find it for totus mundus in maligno positus how copious and infinite in his Effects and Benefits it is above our capacity to measure it and most worthy of amazement to admire it Now as we know the Gift of the Holy Ghost better than these Jews so it is the more admirable to us by how much we know it the better but the persons of the Apostles were better known to the Jews than to us and that circumstance they fell upon as a strange thing which they could not dive into why the Lord did put so great a Treasure into such homely Vessels There was not a Moses among them skill'd in all the Learning of the Egyptians not a Joshua in all the cluster that could lead a Battel not a Samuel that had worn a Linnen Ephod from his childhood before the Lord not a Rabbi not a Pharisee not one of polite Education It is that which confounded the Multitude at the 7. verse Behold are not all these which speak Galilaeans There was some reverence done to them in that Character they might have said are not all these Fishermen Publicans and Ideots Truly if there were nothing else these
their nearest Relations if they be a bar to the Kingdom of Heaven And who cares if revilers call it a drunkenness of the Spirit Thirdly Much Wine gives a great edge to valour and courage In praelia trudit inermes it runs into any danger because it knows not what is danger but there is nothing of such animosity nothing so undaunted as the Spirit of God The righteous is bold as a Lion says Solomon It must needs be that strength is doubled in him because he hath two lives in his heart this life and the life to come What could the world say but that some illapse from heaven was in the breast of the Apostles that those miselli those neglected worms should overtop the terrors of Councils of Prisons of Death of Devils Let such as Rabshekah call it drunkenness it was the boldness of the Spirit Fourthly Wine is a rejoycer of the heart Ecclus xl 20. But what joy is comparable to that which is begotten by the infusion of the Holy Ghost Let the righteous rejoyce and be glad let them also be merry and joyful A good conscience recreated by the Promises of God and assurance of forgiveness of sins is like a volary of sweet singing birds chirping and carolling within the Soul nothing but the pleasant notes of heaven and immortal blessedness When we sing Psalms of chearfulness let Scorners censure it for vanity but it is the new Wine of the Spirit which makes the heart glad Lastly As the airy vapours of wine make a man to broach his secrets and reveal them Arcana recludit so the Holy Ghost coming down this day did open the fountain which was sealed up before the Mysteries of Gods eternal counsel brought to pass in time by the Incarnation of his Son were made manifest to all the world This was it which confounded the Jews that were present to hear those abstruse things of Godliness divulged and they did not understand them The Spirit made the Apostles pour them out and they could not hold they were transported above natural to supernatural reason and they were carried above themselves as men even drunken with great Revelations Upon those words of St. Paul 2 Cor. v. 13. Whether we be beside our selves it is to God or whether we be sober it is for your cause says Bernard Audi sanctam insaniam Festus told Paul he was mad here he professeth little less for the Gospel sake he neither says that he was sober and he doth not contend whether he were beside himself or no. Such as he was he was for the Church sake possessed of the Spirit and full of that new Wine which gave him a tongue of utterance to preach Jesus Christ to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Gentiles foolishness These uses rise out of an holy and mystical sense of the words and that is no thanks to these taunting Jews who being full of malice a sin that is worse than drunkenness burden the Apostles that they were full of Wine or as the Syrian Paraphrast reads it without mincing these men are drunken The just upright man is laughed to scorn Job xii 4. Isaac the Son of Promise was scoffed at by Ismael the Profane Gen. xxi 9. The Septuagint calls it Ismaels play or sport Illa lusio erat illusio says St. Austin it was his pastime to mock the righteous Be prepared therefore against evil words and reproaches you must have your share of them if your conversation be Christian First you have a Paracletus which is a spirit of comfort to bear them off with patience Then you have a Paracletus for that is the word an Advocate to answer against the Accuser of the Brethren who shall discover your innocence Apoc. xii 10. There is no good action but the Devils claw of scornfulness is upon it At our Saviours Resurrection the Jews made the Apostles Thieves they forsooth had stoln away their Master by night and at the coming of the Holy Ghost they make them Drunkards But this was a baptizing with the Holy Ghost not a sousing with Wine it was somewhat poured on them no strong drink poured in them it was no drunken thing but rivers of living waters springing up to everlasting life and this he spake of the Spirit which they that believed on him should receive Joh. vii it is the fountain of the water of life issuing from the Throne of God and of the Lamb Rev. xxii So Moses likened the inspiration of Prophesie to the dew falling on the herbs or to the rain poured on the grass Deut. xxxii It is no distempering heady liquour but the Cordial of joy and the Balm of Gilead If then the effusion of the Spirit was tax'd with drunkenness what do you that think profane persons have devised concerning the Cup of the Sacrament Horrendum dictu because it is our Saviours Doctrine by a figurative speech that the Cup is the New Testament in his bloud the heathen traduced the Christians soon after the Apostles days that they killed a Child in their private Feasts and Sacrifices and drank his bloud And a long time it was before the heathen Magistrates would be perswaded that such as partaked the holy Communion were not murderers Indeed it is true though they understood it not that such as partake unworthily are murderers of their own souls But again if Gods mighty miracle was scoft at when he gave grace to his Apostles to preach so divinely what will profane persons say to our weak Doctrine so much inferiour to theirs Quoties dicimus toties judicamur nothing is more snatcht at to be made matter of idle talk and frumping discourse than that which is delivered in the Pulpit Take heed and remember that Michol was barren who scorned ac David that no Scorner might be begotten of her says St. Ambrose But the Devil hath got a new way to bring both Preaching and Praying into contempt For Preaching let every one practice it that will and then it will come to pass I am sure if not Musto pleni spumâ pleni if they be not full of new wine they will be full of froth Says the Apostle 1 Cor. xii 29. Are all Prophets Are all Teachers Are all workers of miracles It can no more agree that all should be Teachers than that all should be workers of Miracles As for publick Prayer the deriders of sanctity call it not new wine but they call it worse by the name of that homely broth for which Esau sold his birth-right But as the Prophet said to the calumnious Jews against whom do you sport yourselves Against whom do you make a wide mouth and draw out the tongue Against whom do you shoot out Arrows even bitter words Are ye not children of transgression a seed of falshood Isa lvii 4. But this is the derision which Satan would put upon Religion in this unsanctified unpeaceable Age. First take away directly the publick Liturgie of Prayers that the people may have
Altar it is an indignity second to none and God doth greatly disdain at it if his Churches beg your liberality for their reparation beg they must by a Brief and that impudently or else they shall lie in the dust but when they do crave your help pour in plentifully into the Corban He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly If his Priests plead for the due and true portion that belongs unto the Altar do not construe Divinity so much amiss as if the Doctrine concerned their profit only but did nothing pertain to inform your just dealing Your voluntary benevolences though they be large and bountiful shall excuse no man of Sacriledge where that which is due is pinch'd and impaired He that wrongs the Altar I mean the Church in Shillings nay in Pence that are due to it they are not his Pounds of benevolence shall make him an honest man in the sight of God Do not flatter your selves in what you are not and let me tell you the truth one of your poor Farmers that occupies under you but one hundred pound Land by year in the Country pays as much to the Church Demeans by due as five nay as ten wealthy Landlords in the City And yet you think your selves the best pay masters to the Church but no man of understanding believes you He is called a wise Steward in the Gospel but his deeds were the actions of a Reprobate that bad his Masters Debtors set down fifty for one hundred and fourscore for another I should be this unjust Steward my self if I should not tell you justly and faithfully what you owe to my Master in Heaven they have more cunning than faithfulness that teach you how to strike off part of the Sum. And yet I beseech you mark one passage in the unjust Steward He doth not come with Quid dabis How doth your mind stand for a benevolence What are you pleased to give my Master But Quid debes What do you owe my Master Pay your Debts first and talk of your Supererogation afterwards as if you should stop the free passage of a Spring and then think to recompence the Owner with a Glass of Rose-water Such a kindness it is to stop the rights of Gods Ministers and then think to make them amends with some contribution of courtesie O let not this fair object of your manifold charity before mine eyes be blemish'd with Sacriledge for when the Sacrifice is withdrawn from the Altar is it not a great sign that God is despised So much of that general Point drawn out into the several branches Ignominia indigna a disdain much undeserved that God should be despised in the opinion of Man The upshot of all that I have to say is in that which follows ignominia dignissima a scorn and disdain justly deserved that the abusers of Gods Glory shall be set at naught in his eyes They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Mercy and Justice are in all the works of the Lord. Behold the sweetness of Mercy in two things gathered out of that which is before us 1. The order of these parts will insinuate it unto us for promise doth go before minacie the affection of love before the destruction of anger Them that Honour me I will Honour God begins at that end where there is a reward in the right hand They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed that is the conclusion the last refuge upon which he is thrust with vengeance in the left Mount Gerizim is the first hill that God mentions Deu. xxvii the Mountain upon which Levi and his fellow Tribes should bless Israel Mount Ebal is prepared in the next place the Mountain upon which Dan and his fellow Tribes should curse the People Behold I set before you this day life and death blessing and cursing Deut. xxx 19. As Medicine is the first offer of Chyrurgery Amputation of the putrified part is the last and desperate help that Art doth administer 2. God will Honour the Good he takes it upon him that benediction is his proper act It is set down passively and no otherwise that the wicked shall be lightly esteemed Come you blessed of my Father Mat. xxv Benediction is from God Go ye cursed says Christ in his anger cursed by your own sins cursed by the malice of the Devil he doth not say cursed of my Father Surely somewhat is in it that God will never take the act of Malediction upon himself Isa xxviii 21. The fury of his wrath he calls alienum opus his strange work his strange act that he will perform Non est opus Dei perdere quos creavit says Lyra. It is a strange work and comes as it were unwillingly unto God to destroy those whom he hath made And therefore we have it in a Prayer of our Liturgy especially against the visitation of the woful Pestilence God whose nature and property is â—ver to have mercy and forgive Peregrinum opus est ut puniat qui Salvator est says St. Hierom upon the forenamed place it is an improper work for him to curse who is the Author of blessing for him to destroy who is the Saviour of the world for him to put any man to light estimation from whom proceedeth all honour and glory And as Mercy gives a sweet relish to this Text so Justice is no less conspicuous for here is a punishment so proportioned to the fault committed as if God had studied to retaliate may I express it as we do barbarously in a Vulgar Proverb Qui meccat mockabitur he that despiseth me shall be despised You do well know Adonibezecks confession his Thumbs and Toes were cut off as seventy Kings having their Thumbs and Toes cut off gathered meat under his Table as I have done so God hath requited me says the Tyrant So might Pharaoh and Egypt have confessed that as they did exercise cruelty upon the Infants of Israel so the Angel slew all their First-born in a night As the Seed of the Righteous was cast into the water to be drowned so Pharaoh and all his Hest were drowned in the Red Sea So Charles the Ninth of France who publish'd himself to be the Author of that bloudy Massacre committed upon many thousand innocent Protestants in the Streets of Paris bloud was his end in great quantity says the famous Annalist of our Island sanguinis profluvio inter longos graves dolores expiravit the bloud could not be stanched which gushed out from many parts of his body and so after long and grievous torments he gave up the Ghost An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth bloud for bloud Children for Children drowning for drowning ignominy for ignominy this is the retaliation of true Justice They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Where is the advancement of the Proud Where is their honour that would be noble and yet tush at the true nobility of Vertue and Religion Like as I have
rage the People tumult the Kings and Rulers of the Earth take counsel God is despised and beset round as it were with the Bulls of Basan How shall this strong conspiracy be broken Why in the fourth verse the Lord laughs and hath them in derision Do you make a question how all these shall be oppressed Non est res difficilis aut laboriosa ludendo facturus est quoties libuerit says Calvin It is no hard matter to bring to pass the Lord will do it at leisure nay as it were with sport and pastime The wicked can look for no other but to be put to shame hereafter and lightly esteemed For as they that honour God are called Oves à dextra Sheep on the right hand oves propter fructum naturae mansuetudinem Sheep for that they yield fruit to the Shepherd and because of the innocency and patience of their nature So the despisers have their Name Haedi à sinistrâ Goats on the left hand Quia salaces per praecipitia incedunt says Origen Because of their petulancy and that they walk in slippery places ready to break their necks Finally says St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is not mocked that is not without retorting scorn for scorn for they that despise him shall be lightly esteemed Now from all contempt of his glory from all contempt of his Word and Commandment Good Lord deliver us AMEN A SERMON Preached upon the Gowry Conspiracy BEFORE KING JAMES PSAL. xli 9. Yea mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted which did eat of my bread hath lift up his heel against me THere is one way says Plutarch in Demetrius to make the whole world the better one course to be taken to put shame into all mens faces that they dare not sin It is but thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to suffer the acts of evil men to pass unregistred let their names be known and their deeds set forth in black colours that they who could find pleasure in a sinful life may be discouraged by an infamous memory Cum de malo Principe posteri tacent manifestum est eadem facere praesentem says Pliny It holds not only in Princes but in the manners of all men When we dare not speak of the vices of other men it is a sign they are rise among ourselves Can we then pass over this high and unsufferable wrong done to an innocent person in my Text Such a complaint as can hardly be match'd in all the Scripture For say that one friend hath parted from another as Demas lest St. Paul or that Ziba being trusted did fail Mephibosheth or that Jobs acquaintance whom he fed with his Morsels did shun him in the days of his sorrow yet for all these crimes to meet in one man disloyalty against friendship treachery against trust ingratitude against daily benefits this is strange quod nulla posteritas probet sed nulla taceat fit to be blazon'd that for infamies sake the most prostigate may fear to do the like This is my Scope there is the Center where I will fix the foot of my Compass and whatsoever I do add more is the Circle drawn about it In the days of King Davids persecution you would think the Text were sit for none but him Expositors indeed are not all of one mind to say who it is that is pointed out for this disloyal enemy Perchance his ungracious Son Absolon an untimely Usurper perchance Joab the Captain of his Host trusted with the command of all his Forces and yet complotting with Adonijah to supplant Solomon against the Fathers affection But most likely and you shall hear at this time of no other it was the great States-man Achitophel admitted into the secrets of his bosome and rewarded with the best honours of his Court even he his own familiar friend in whom he trusted which did eat of his bread did lift up his heel against him In the days of our Saviours humiliation the Text doth so fit his turn and that St. John saw in the thirteenth of his Gospel and did so apply it that at the first blush you will say it doth directly serve to express his pittiful case and the wickedness of Judas who did betray his Master Judas that followed him when he had no where to lay his head and could a friend do more Judas that dispensed his Alms to the poor surely the greatest trust that could be laid upon any servant by so charitable a Lord Judas his guest at all times and more especially a partaker of his Last Supper take him with all these titles and yet did he lift up his heel against his Master One interpretation more of this Text is revealed in this our Age. And it is verified in application to none so fitly as to our most renowned Soveraign in the happy and successful deliverance which God gave unto him this day against his enemies his Companion in recreations his confederate in counsels of the same unanimity of Religion that had broke the same bread at the Communion Table did rise up against the Lords Anointed But he that lifted up his heel was supplanted himself and cast down praised be God for evermore You see here are three examples of Traitors so notorious that we who live may almost be ashamed of Mankind and there are three examples of them who suffered so innocently that we may be proud there were men so good to endure it Wherefore I will draw my discourse into such a method that neither Achitophel may be forgotten that wronged King David nor Judas omitted that betrayed his Master nor those wicked Imps let alone in silence whom this day bath made notorious to Generations Achitophels treachery hath the precedency in time and therefore it shall be handled in the first part in whom you shall see three things 1. How odious it is to violate friendship yea mine own familiar friend 2. How hateful it is to wrong the trust reposed in us My friend in whom I trusted 3. How impious it is to forget the benefits we have received to spurn against him that seeds us He that ate of my bread hath lift up his heel against me Judas his Apostacy is the second part of my Text and in him let Hereticks discern how grievous it is to wound their Saviour whom they have served and let our Runnagates to Rome and Rhemes consider what a lamentable backsliding it is to leave the sincere Altar whereon they have eaten the body of Christ and drank his bloud I would our own Island had not brought forth such men as make up the third part of my Text in whose desperate attempt you shall see how the best alive are not only like to spill their good turns upon barren sands but also to lose their life their country their liberty even where they had cause to look for nothing but due homage and fidelity An first attend unto Davids complaint c. Yea mine own
not be avoided when his own familiar friend did lift up his heel against him Such friends as Achitophel was our unworthy Age is packt with great observers in the time of our dignity devoted to our good fortunes shadows of our prosperity but if Absalon the Usurper thrive then they shrink like Sheba we have no part in David they are gone like the fishes in the small Rivers that come up into the Brooks at full tide and return into the Sea at ebbing waters Fugiunt amici cum probari debuerint says Seneca 't is a hard case friendship is but a mere name before distress come to try it what it is and when you come to catch hold of the succour of faithless men you grasp water and the rule is infallible cui placet pretium in amicitiâ placebit pretium contra amicitiam they that love to taste some benefit in their friendship may be induc'd to like a benefit so well as to betray friendship to obtain it Aelian and some other such scatter-stories as himself do make more reports of Dogs and Elephants of Birds and Horses and some other unreasonable creatures that they did either compassionate or relieve if they were able the miseries of those Masters whom they had long attended than of reasonable men What have we lost both nature and good nurture and have the beasts found it This made the Prophet complain Psal xii They speak vanity to their neighbour and flatter with their double heart This made Obadiah tell Hierusalem that the men of her peace and those that eat of her bread deceived her This made Jeremy advise the Jews Jer. 9. Take ye heed every one of his Neighbour and trust not in a Brother for every Brother will utterly supplant This made our Saviour protest that a mans Enemies were those of his own House this made King David decipher Achitophel in my Text Yea mine own c. Secondly I proceed to consider in this complaint how hateful a thing it is to wrong the trust which is reposed in us My friend in whom I trusted I cannot but break out abruptly with the Psalmist I have hated the sins of unfaithfulness and as the old Patriarch said of his Sons Simeon and Levi that drew from the Sichemites the holy bloud of Circumcision that they might the sooner spill their lifes bloud upon the ground O my soul come not thou into their secret into their assembly mine honour be not thou united Let us instance in some points of trust To betray a secret is fit for none but Doeg the Edomite a Beast set to keep the Beasts of Saul The Lacedaemonians sitting in counsel had a Ceremony to charm their doors as if no secret should get out of that circle and Alexander says Plutarch was wont to set his Seal upon their lips to whom he had committed his affairs of trust Tertullian reports of the fidelity of an Athenian Woman who was made privy to the counsels of Harmodius and Aristogiton and being brought before a Tyrant that urged confession from her rather than she would do it she spat her tongue in his face In matters of greater trust if greater may be than silence the old Roman Laws urged men to perform such faithfulness that an orphan Child committed to the pupillage of a friend lay upon his charge to look unto it next to his own Parents next to the Orphan the Client that had committed his Cause to his Patrons protection was to be respected and both these before their own Brethren Gellius abounds with testimonies to prove it primum locum juxta parentes tenere pupillos proximum locum clientes says the Author And the Poet Virgil in the detestation of that wicked Guardian which slue young Polydor for his Portions sake makes the very trees to drop bloud that grew in the place where the child was buried Did I say before that Simeon and Levi broke fealty with the Sichemites Did they deal any better with their own Father Jacob put two things into their charge his Flocks and their Brother Joseph 't is true they did tend their Flocks but you know their usage to their Brother O ye fools says St. Basil if dreams be vain why do you vex him for a dreams sake if dreams be true and infallible why do you think to thwart and hinder the Divine Providence If infidelity did only breed an ill opinion in that one disloyal party which commits it the matter were not great but for one Achitophels sake jealousies evil suspicions wrong surmises are counted the wise mans character in this subtle generation Epicharmus his saying went current with Tully for a most sage dictate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is the very strength and sinews of prudence to distrust and be circumspectious Thus Sycophants and Impostors have changed the face of the world and the innocency of the Dove is nothing so much respected as the wiliness of the Serpent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let them that dare trust that man who is too much mistrustful Have you been deceived says St. Ambrose do not dislike your self for that So was our Saviour in his Apostle Judas ut nemo aegre ferat erasse judicium pertisse beneficium and I see no reason why he that is a wise man should seem a fool because he that seemed an honest man is proved a knave Simonides was conceited of the Thessalians that no man could over-reach them but did he commend them for this Take his reason with you and you will say no. Stolidiores esse quà m ut possint decipi They were such gross Idiots that no man knew their disposition how to practise upon them I did ever think meanly of the wits of Sycophants all the glory that they reap is this the Impostor had no faith and he that trusted in such men had too much charity If the portion of the Fatherless be made over to thy custody remember old Tobies friend Gabael of Media who delivered up to Tobias the Talents sealed In the cause of the distressed Client be as trusty as Solomon was to the Harlot and let her have her own If thou hast betroathed a Virgin remember what Jacob endured with what constancy he persevered in the love of Rachel Lastly There is not a greater trust in the world than to be deputed a shepherd over the flock of Christ O be faithful and vigilant break the bread of life which Christ hath bequeathed But if the Portions of Orphans cleave fast to your hands how can you hold them up to that Saviour who committed himself to Josephs trust when he was a Babe and was not deceived If the cause of an abused Client rattle in your mouth how can you plead for mercy to him who did plead so well for the woman taken in Adultery and she was acquitted If the faith of some poor betroathed Virgin whom you have wronged cry for vengeance how can Christ the faithful Spouse of the Church attend to your supplication If
the time of the Gospel lumen super montem nay super coelum more than a candle upon a hill even as the Sun it self in the firmament Christus fuit in spicâ in fide patrum in similâ in doctrinâ legis post humanitatem assumptum panis formatus Christ was in the faith of the Patriarchs like corn in the ear in the faith of the Law like corn ground into flower but since the word took flesh and dwelt among us He is in our faith completely as when corn is made into bread The Patriarchs in their Burnt-offerings did hope for him the Levites in their Sacrifices did look for him more near at hand but we have him really exhibited in our Sacrifice and if we have a Sacrifice left unto us likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to St. Chrysostom we do commemorate the Sacrifice of the Cross where we do not profess that then Christs Body is slain or then his Bloud is shed but we remember all his sufferings past we look for his grace at that present and we hope for his coming hereafter in glory And so much upon those three reasons why God did institute Religion of old to be discharged in sacrifice Noah had all these things in his heart as I will shew when I come to speak of the sweet savour Now although the value of a gift consists not in the plenitude of the thing given but in the good affection of the giver yet the Sacrifice of Noah wanted not fulness and weight it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint expressed all that he brought to the Altar was burnt and nothing reserved as God bad Abraham offer up Isaac for an whole burnt-offering Under the Law of Moses those kind of Sacrifices were the principal in three regards 1. It was an Offering completely burnt and nothing must remain of it 2. It burnt all night upon the Altar until the morning Levit. vi 8. 3. As St. Austin truly adds holocaustum est totum incensum sed igne divino at first of all that Sacrifice was lighted from heaven with fire that did consume them there came a fire out from before the Lord and consumed upon the Altar the Burnt-offering Levit. ix 24. and when Nadab and Abihu brought other fire in their Censers to add it unto the fire of that Altar which came from heaven a fire went out from the Lord and devoured them Literally you see what an whole Burnt-offering was mystically it imported such an exact yielding up of the Soul and Body to the Lord wherein we dedicate all our faculties unto his service from the bottom of our heart reserving nothing unto our selves with Ananias and Saphira but with the commendable Widow casting our two mites even all we have into the Corban and whatsoever we do to please the Lord it must be kindled in our breast by celestial motions as it were with fire from heaven A man may give all he hath unto the poor is that an whole Burnt-offering simply by it self no a man may give his body to be burnt is not that enough is not that all he can do no St. Paul says neither this nor that shall profit you if you have not charity Be perfect in the study of all good vertues but have the fire of divine love with them do all to the honor of God The whole Burnt-offering which is first mentioned in Noah's piety is then acceptable when God doth inflame it with the fire of his holy Spirit from heaven I will hold you no longer upon the first point the second consists herein of what kind and species Noah did offer unto the Lord of every clean Beast and of every clean Foul. God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good it is no variation of sense to say God saw every thing that He had made and behold it was very clean All creatures are clean to him Peter learnt it in a trance that we might not doubt it waking What God hath cleansed let no man call it common Nothing is properly impure in his eyes but sin and the works of the Devil How comes this distinction then of clean and unclean Beasts in the Holy Scripture two ways ex Traditione ex Lege by Tradition before Moses and then more amply and particularly by the Law of Moses I will begin a notioribus from the information of the Law which will direct us far better than the dark steps of Tradition Twelve chapters and no less are spent in the Book of Leviticus to discriminate clean things from unclean wherein some things are called unclean for two uses quoad esum quoad sacrificium some things were impure and not to be eaten some things impure and not to be sacrificed the 11. chapter of Leviticus doth enumerate both fouls and Fishes and creeping things which were unhallowed meat and for the Beasts which are permitted for food they are summ'd up in two rules if they divided the hoof and chewed the cud they might be eaten and all the rest to be forborn But God was far more strict in appointing himself sacrifice than in appointing of us food for first many sort of Fishes were clean food yet none of them were clean Sacrifice they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have no bloud or at least abound not with bloud and so not fit for the Altar 2. Many sort of Fouls might be serv'd up to the Table yet none but Turtles and Pigeons were fit to be offered in the Temple and Sparrows in the expiation of leprosie 3. Among all Beasts that divided the hoof and chewed the cud none but Beeves and Sheep and Goats were to be slain in that religious service unto the Lord the Hart and the Roe-buck might be eaten Levit. iv so you see here is a great difference between clean meat in the Law and clean sacrifice As the wits of men will expatiate upon all things so from hence they take leave to ask why the Lord did call one thing clean and another unclean But first I shall tell you all Gods words are undisputable and to argue why He did it is rather to dishonour than to understand his commandment Humility will sit down contented with this answer but I will go further to satisfie the itching inquisitions of our heart And first I will joyn another question to elucidate this Why was Adam restrain'd eating of the Tree of knowledg of good and evil for the same reason some living things were made unclean and unlawful unto the Jews to make them know the Earth is the Lords and the store thereof and He gave Man Dominion over the Creatures but with exception that man was subject to Authority of touch not taste not where he laid his prohibition 2. As Images are called by some Laymens Books so the mark of cleanness and uncleanness set upon some Creatures made them visible Sermons what cleanness did become the Saints a clean hand that hath
this Altar did fortune to stand why not most likely upon the Mountains of Ararat or Armenia upon which the Ark rested But certain it is this is the first time that we read of an Altar And though the substance were like other earth yet being once erected for that use it became a very holy place the Altar sanctifieth the Gift says our Saviour Mat. xxiii 19. And therein it was a Figure of Christ by whom we offer up to God praise and thanksgiving and all the desires of our heart he is understood by all Expositors whom I have seen to be the Golden Altar before the Throne upon which the Prayers of all the Saints were offered up Rev. viii 3. And there is not an Altar of any fashion or stuff in Moses but the Fathers have found out somewhat in it to agree with Christ in their pious Meditations First Propter unicam aram in the Tabernacle in the Temple there was but one Altar so there is but one Christ that reconciles us to his Father but one Mediater between God and Man Secondly Because some special occasions were now and then dispensed with to set up another Altar the materials of those Altars were either to be rude earth or else rough and unpolished stones 1. Undigested earth with much simplicity and devoid of all ornament Vt nihil in eis admiraremur praeter salutis pretium Nothing was made beautiful or to be admired in the outward form of things that the mind of the devotionary might be transported with no outward thing but inwardly conceive the excellency of that ransom which was paid for the sins of the world And then Gregory will carry you with him to this fancy Why were religious Altars to be made of earth Questionless to betoken the Incarnation of our Lord. Quicquid offerimus Deo in altari terreo i◠in fide dominicae incarnationis solidamus Whatsoever we bring unto the Lord to please him deliver upon the Earthen Altar upon this ground and foundation that the Word was made flesh the Son of God was made the Son of Man that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have life everlasting Litterally these earthen Altars made of sods of grass Temeraria de cespite altaria as Tertullian calls them did best like the Lord before the Temple was established that they might crumble away and not stand long lest their permanency should breed diversity of Worship and confusion in Religion And it is very likely considering how readily a few clods of earth may be piled up and Noah as yet wanted stuff and means for any other Architecture his Altar was but a bank of earth not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a structure in a Temple but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a place to receive Sacrifices set up in the open-fields so Philo gives me the distinction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word which is accurately kept in this place by the Septuagint If the Altar were a little more costly and elaborate that is made of stone the order was it should be rough and unpolished no iron tool must be lifted up upon it and in these materials likewise we shall meet with Christ First Christ is Lapis vivus insectus called in the Gospel a living stone called by Daniel the stone which is cut out of the Mountain without hands He was not polished by Art by Education or by any thing that man could put into him as he came from the very Quarry from the Womb of his Mother he was full of grace and truth Secondly Those rough ragged stones did best become the work of the Altar partly to imply in what poor and despicable manner Christ came into the world without form or comliness in him says Isaiah partly it did figure those rough and dolorous sufferings which he sustained upon the Cross which was an Altar truly taken and his body the Sacrifice which was slain upon it Thirdly No Iron Instrument must grate it self upon the stones of the Altar for he who is the Altar on which we eat was the Prince of Peace he came not to redeem us by Sword or by Conquest or taking earthly Kingdoms into his hand by force and victory which was the weak imagination of some that were his best Disciples but by Patience and Sufferance and putting up the Sword into the Sheath Cicero testifies for the Heathen that they used no Brass or Iron about their Altars nor knit the stones together with such Metals Aes ferrum arcenda sunt à delubris duelli instrumenta non fani says he those warlike Metals are for the Martial Field not for Divine Sanctuaries And thus you see what semblance those Altars of Earth and of stone had with our blessed Saviour But by this the good Patriarch Noah hath shewed that an Altar was a necessary part of Religion that he began with that work before any other it was the first fruits of his piety But now the Church hath outgrown that name properly taken we have no real and external Sacrifice of Christs body and bloud by himself he did once offer a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice for the sins of the whole world therefore to erect a real Altar without a figurative construction is to overthrow the Cross of Christ But many both have been delighted and are delighted to keep the name figuratively without offence And Bellarmine doth but fight with words that there can be no Altar without Sacrifice that Antiquity useth the name of an Altar when Christs body and bloud are proposed to the Receivers therefore the Priest doth properly sacrifice our Saviour Thus many words which passed to and fro in antiquity with great eloquence have been distorted to make dissention In Origens and Arnobius time the case stood thus Objiciunt nobis quod non habemus imagines aut aras The Heathen quipt them that they had no Images nor Altars And Clemens of Alexandria says we have no other Altars but these earthly bodies of ours which we bring to the Congregation of Prayer Afterward the holy Communion began to be celebrated with many elegant and sumptuous Ceremonies and that upon which the Elements of Bread and Wine were set properly by St. Paul called a Table improperly and figuratively was called an Altar The Writers of Sacred things delighted in many names of Mosaical use for the similitude of the Law and Gospel hence it is frequent to call Prayer by the name of Incense to call the Christian Priesthood Levites the Thanksgiving of women after their safe deliverance from Childbirth their Purification Finally to call the holy Communion a Sacrifice and the Table of the Lord an Altar But how far they were from allowing the new Philosophy of Transubstantiation from hence the diligent Reader may mark it Even our own Church since it renounced the opinion of an External propitiatory Sacrifice in the Mass yet in the first Liturgies set forth by Publick Authority
more with these bodily senses than with the inerrable light of Divine Truth is an extreme indignity A grave Patrician would be grieved that the deposition of a noted Varlet should be heard against his innocency And will you hear the objections of sense and reason against that sacred evidence Thus saith the Lord that were to trust to darkness before light the Flesh before the Spirit to lying vanities before unalterable and eternal truth But to her senses this Infidel would appeal and they would instruct her sufficiently whether it had gone with Sodom so ill as it was foretold And was she sure to be satisfied by looking back I greatly doubt it a mist might rise up like the smoak of a Furnace and she conceive it to come from fire when it did not Or the Sun might shine upon the waters in the Plain and she misdoubt that the waters were become bloud as the Moabites were so mistaken Doth not a late Historian tell us of the whole Watch of a City that misdoubted a Field of thistles a far off was a Troop of Pikemen that encamped there to besiege them Was ever man more cautious according to humane rules than St. Thomas the Apostle He would trust no mans reports that his Master was risen from the dead he would see somewhat neither would he trust his own eyes he would feel too nay he would not trust his fingers ends in small wounds but he would wallow his whole hand in the rent of his side For all this wariness he might have been deluded The Syrians saw Elisha and yet wist not it was he The Sodomites felt all night at Lots door and were still to seek Old Isaac held Jacob fast and was deluded the hands are Esau's hands says he and yet they were not And will this woman trust her eye-sight and at a distance rather than Gods peremptory assertion O trust not in man trust not in these fallible humane means Our senses are bruitish Nature is corrupt Philosophy is vain but Faith leans upon that strong pillar the revelation of the Spirit from above which cannot falter and to lie it is impossible And as this woman was called an incredulous Soul because she looked back to see whether vengeance had passed upon the Cities of the Plain as the Angel of the Lord had foretold so for want of faith touching the caution which was given to her own person she fell into presumption and by presumption into death it would not sink into her thoughts that God was in earnest that as many of their Troop as looked behind them should be consumed she thought they were big words to scare timerous persons such as Prophetical men in their zeal did every day denounce against sinners yet they liv'd and rub'd on that took their own liberty to disobey for God was gracious and would not suffer his whole displeasure to arise against miserable sinners Feel feel the pulse of your own conscience I beseech you tell me if it do not beat disorderly Doth it not confuse you to call to mind that this infidelity this in ipso genere hath betrayed you to the tentations of Satan more than all his snares beside that desperate courage which you assume to your selves upon some hope of impunity is it not the spur to all transgression God is gentle and of long suffering his minacies are terrible but his dearly beloved Son and our only Saviour is merciful sed exorabile numen fortasse experiar says the Heathen his loving kindness is soon entreated This is a bastard faith of our own to subvert the true faith which is begotten by the Spirit A Diabolical infusion that God doth menace out of policy that which He never meant to make us obsequious by the shadow of his scourge but remember that non moriemini was a lie 'T is the Serpents Master-piece to expel all faith and fear out of our mind for they go hand in hand together and to break our necks with confidence A barbarous beastly kind of life says Aristotle hardned the Scythians that they neither feared Thunder nor Earthquakes but it is infernal witchcraft that makes obdurate hearts believe that all the woes and curses in the Gospel are but a strong noise terrible while it is heard but comes to nothing Quotidie Diabolus quae Deus minatur levigat says Gregory God affirms the Woman doubts the Devil denies O unhappy they that think Truth it self may be deceived and give ear to a deceitful spirit If all the maledictions against Impenitents were not indubitably to be expected Christianity were but fainthearted superstition Religion nothing but panick fear Faith not the Evidence of things to come but a devised Fable and the sacred Scriptures in all penalties and threatnings a vizard of mockery But as sin brought punishment upon us so let the certain expectation of punishment bring us out of sin Remember Lots Wife the only memento that Christ fixeth upon any Story of the Old Testament The less she believed the less she feared but the less she feared the more she smarted What God hath threatned will not be declin'd by our contrary opinion Though Christ shed his bloud to save a sinner God will not lie to save a sinner No title of his Word shall fail no not to save an hundred thousand souls out of the infernal pit I am come to the utmost portion of the hour and not to the utmost of the first part of my Text by three points She fainted in well-doing she neglected mercy and was slow to save her self she contemned the benefit of preservation in respect of that which was taken from her But as Logick convinceth more than Rhetorick as the fist knit together is stronger than the hand spread abroad so all this will be most doctrinal in one point that she relapsed and sunk after she was in fair speed to obtain mercy because she fell in love with wicked Sodom again from whence God had withdrawn her This is her crime which Philo exaggerates more than once aestu refluo retrosum absorpta she was like a Ship sailing with full sails from the sinful delights of the World but the contrary winds and tides of concupiscence carried her clean back again Josephus accuseth her worse upon the same charge that though her feet came from that impious City yet her heart staid behind Et saepius tardavit vertendo se ad civitatem she stood still more than once to take her full view of that loss which she so much bemoaned nor was it at the first turning about as he says that she was turn'd into a pillar of salt The very Apples of Sodom remain as a token against her to this day which put forth at first as if they would grow to be very delicious in the taste and in conclusion they pulverize and become sooty ashes So Lots Wife ran well at first but in the midst of her course nay almost at the end she fainted and stuck fast
King Agrippa's leave almost a Christian was three parts an Atheist Such a glimmering light of zeal is like a Morning mist which quickly vanisheth away and it is Christus suffuratus as the Souldiers said Christ stoln away and pilfered out of our heart I know not how He that never saw the Sea is as near his journeys end to pass it over as he that wades but to the ankles The hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundation of this house and his hands shall finish it Zach. iv 9. that was a blessing from the Lord. To be of Caesars mind Nil actum credens cum quid superesset agendum to think nothing done when any thing was undone that was a Spirit to make a Conquerour My love is a bundle of Myrrh Cant. xiii As if she were like Seleucus shafts which could not be broken in the cluster Such a bundle of Myrrh is in St. Peter 2 Epist i. 5. Give all diligence and add to your faith vertue to your vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to all these charity What will all these serve the turn when they stand as thick as corn in harvest Yes says the Apostle Si abundaverint if they abound in you they will make you you shall not be barren and fruitless Thus then Truth and Mercy will forsake us if we do not further the gift of God take away the single Talent and give it to him that hath ten more The next way to make our heart cast this happy brood and to miscarry when it travels with Truth and Mercy is admotione contrarii by taking part both with God and Belial Asahal was not more nimble than St. John to fly away when he spied Cerinthus the eldest Son of Satan in the same Bath with him and therefore do not think to make your soul an Ark for the clean and unclean beasts to lie together A little frosty air is so forcible that it bursts the clouds and forceth out the hot exhalation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is spirted out between the fingers and gone before you can think of it Beloved that field in Israel was hated like Aceldama which was sown with divers seeds and Nehemiah cursed the children that spake one half in the Hebrew Tongue and another part in the Language of Ashdod Covetousness is so wealthy and it thrives so fast that it easily purchaseth the whole heart of man and whom at first you entertained like a foreiner to have one moyety in your heart it buys the whole possession over Mercies head Veios migrate coloni and so casts it forth And likewise so incompatible is truth with the least falshood that the haters of the Lord were found liars at our Saviours arraignment when he spake nothing Is it not strange Very strange That Christ should come before unrighteous Judges be impeached by malicious Adversaries all this while hold his peace and yet the Witness not agree Will you know the reason There came two false Witnesses Mat. xxvi Averring that this fellow said I am able to destroy the Temple of God and to build it again in three days There is another tale told Mar. xiv We heard him say I will destroy this Temple made with hands and will build another without hands But what said our Saviour in very deed You shall find his saying Joh. ii 19. Neither I can destroy with the former nor I will destroy with the latter But vos solvite do you destroy and solvite templum hoc the Temple of his body and in three days I will raise it up You cannot clap good and bad together but with waxen pins if you move them a little they fly asunder the wax melteth and it confounds the Chariot and his Rider For what agreement hath light with darkness or the Temple of the Lord with Idols Touching the third manner and the last how a quality may cease to be desitione subjecti when that faileth wherein it is it hath no place only in Truth and Mercy Other things indeed we can expect to remain no longer than the house of our body lasteth beauty ceaseth with the bloud and strength faileth with the sinews nay tongues shall cease and knowledge shall vanish away but mercy and charity abideth for ever Yea and truth also but veritas in visione not in fide Truth in the clear vision of God and not darkly in faith In a word as Joseph furnished his Brethren both with food for their travel and Corn to keep house with in the Land of Canaan So there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. James gifts for our Pilgrimage in this life and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gifts to abide with us in our Country above perfect gifts descending from the Father of lights So some endowments drop away with this house of flesh but after glorification this voice shall no more be heard in our ears let not Mercy and Truth forsake thee But this uncomfortable deserant that Gods gifts may forsake us is to view Jacob but as a Criple halting and failing in his combate but nè deserant let them not forsake thee shews Israel wrestling with the Angel and keeping God as I may speak it with reverence fast unto him with a chain of Faith To begin therefore with Mercy there are two ways to keep a firm possession of it by Meditation and by Petition The Meditations also shall be twain and very short ones for the time sake First Consider that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Fathers call it the deep engagement of our Charity in the Lords Prayer Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive our brethren and no otherwise Lord what a deep curse do we bring upon our soul if this be not said in earnest Secondly Consider the compassion of all the Members in that mystical body whereof Christ is the head He that is hard hearted against a Christian is cruel against a part of himself Nero might fill the streets with the slaughtered bodies of the Saints For why he was none of ours but a Lion in the Sheepfold but a little bitterness a disdaining contempt a reviling malediction the neglect of the misery of a Christian at the hands of a Christian is more unnatural It was St. Basils counsel and most elegant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that as he that looks upon the sore eye of another man may chance to provoke the rheum in his own eyes so our eyes should grow feeble and conceive tears when we see the tears of our brother If we chance to offend against Mercy and to forget one of these Meditations it is very likely that it will stop at the other but if both fail then we must fly unto uncessant Prayer and Petition That is Anchora sacra for the last refuge let us fall down before his footstool and confirm Gods grace to our soul as Elias made the heavens of brass I do not mean so
Dives Table Moses did fast upon Mount Sinai when he talked with God but in the Valley beneath the people sate down to eat and to drink and rose up to play Elias did not drink for forty days at length he did pray for rain and had drink from heaven But Luxury corrupts the Air and breeds sterility Tot curiis decuriis ructantibus acescit coelum says Tertullian by an excellent Hyperbole Daniel by his slender food of pulse and water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Basil taught the Lions to hunger and want their prey all night when he was cast into their Den. Therefore foul shame it was for the Pharisees says the same Father to look sowerly and sickly when they wanted their repast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why did they not rejoyce rather for the healthfulness of their soul Wherefore when thou fastest anoint thy head and wash thy face says our Saviour You would think by this that a Fast were the celebration of some Bridal He was no Benefactor in Greece that did not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mend their diet No Emperour for the people of Rome that did not enter into his Kingdom with a Congiary or Banquet But the Saints of God will not let us know when or what day they went to heaven without a Fast before it Let not this Doctrine give occasion to the Wealthy of this Kingdom to lessen their Magnificence and pinch their Table Charitable house-keeping hath been always the honour of this Realm and a blessing destined for the poor But whatsoever your eye beholds when you set before you plenteous provision will you think as the Epicure of Rome did that the Table is furnished for your own throat and boast that Lucullus sups with Lucullus No Beloved look upon it as the Father of a Family whose eyes wait upon your benevolence look upon it as the Steward of the poor whose mouths shall bless God that hath enlarged your heart to do good unto them And be not like the larded Epicure that eateth like Behemoth Job xl 16 whose force is in the navel of his belly What unfitness is in such a corps for speculation of knowledge What dulness to Prayer and Devotion Had we not need of a long Lent between our Shroving and our Easter And besides the sin of the gurmundizing Glutton I must not spare to tell you that there is luxuria in modico a riotous diet which longs after nothing but dainties and delicates As to be wanton stomacht after Mandrakes with Rachel to long after the fruits of Pontus and Asia with Lucullus To affect strange Cookery of France and Italy Why should you make more of your corruptible bodies than our Saviour did of his glorified body Ecquid habetis filioli Children have you any thing to eat Do but observe the prohibition of meats in the old Law neither herbs nor roots nor any homely food were forbidden but the curiosity of some delicious flesh was denied to the children of Israel They had their Quails indeed in the Wilderness when they lusted and they that fasted three days in the Desart with our Saviour had nothing but two fishes and five barly loaves among two thousand Chuse you with whether of these you would make your Table They with the Quails had the curse of God and these had the blessing of our Saviour It is a mystery methinks that Father Jacob sent away his Honey and Spices Nuts and Almonds for a Present unto Joseph to buy him coarser food I mean the Corn of Egypt Nos oleris coma nos siliqua foeta legumine paverit innocuis Epulis says the sweet Prudentius In Ethnick Rome a Senator was charged to keep so mean a Table by the Law called Centussis that a Mess of Friers now adays would rise an hungry from it Ignorance it is wilful ignorance that hath made the world so riotous both in Gluttony and Drunkenness because forsooth these are such sins as are not forbidden in the Ten Commandments Not to trouble you with many conjectures why God did so I will give you this answer for your utmost satisfaction Nothing is forbidden in the Ten Commandments Nisi directè deordinet hominem ad Deum aut ad proximum says Hales except it be a transgression directly against God or our Neighbour Gluttony and drunkenness are principally inordinate passions not against God and our Neighbour but against our own body But doth this diminish the guilt of these sins No Beloved but rather they do many ways dispose a man to disorder himself both to God and his Neighbour God is often blasphemed bloud spilt lust provoked the Lords day violated the Magistrate disobeyed and next to the pronity of original sin intemperance of meats and drinks is the fuel of all sins Wherefore be a Rechabite or the next to a Rechabite in surfeit and immoderation to drink no Wine There is but one thing remains to dispatch our exercise for this time I have made a large discourse how Fasting and Temperance are the third Encomium or praise of the Rechabites Indeed David doth wish it above all curses to the enemies of the Lord that their Table may be made a snare But for mensa laqueus that a prodigal Table is a snare to a good conscience it is no strange thing What say you to inedia laqueus To fast and subdue the body is made a greater snare as the Devil hath contrived it among our Romish Adversaries I knew the Devil could tempt an innocent to offend with eating but would you think he could take advantage upon an empty stomach Would you think that Lent and a few Ember Weeks should be called Lutrum peccatorum A satisfaction for sin To cross this error that it was not abstinence from meats and drinks simply taken which did commend us unto God therefore as we lost the knowledge of God by Gluttony and eating Gen. iii. So the Second Adam was known to his Disciples and Cleophas thrice after his Resurrection as they were at meat to shew that the Table of sobriety was sanctified in the Lord. Wherefore let the boast of the proud Pharisee I fast twice a week be made a Collect in the Roman Prayer-book We are tied to say grace unto God when we receive our meat but these men expect most impiously that God should say grace and give them thanks for fasting especially if it were a Vow as this was of the Rechabites Nunquam bibemus for ever we will drink no wine It is a blessed conspiracy when sundry souls confederate themselves together to serve the Lord. Glad was Davids heart to have company to go to the Altar I was glad when they said unto me we will go into the house of the Lord. Indeed the Spouse of Christ is not one stick of Juniper or a single lump of Frankincense though never so sweet but Fasciculus Myrrhae a bundle of Myrrh Cant. i. Faith in unity it is the glory of Christianity I know not
manner of superfluity The Morallists and Poets of the Heathen were wise men and when they character the best and happiest times of the World I am not presumptuous but confident of my knowledge that they all insist upon this that the men of that Age studied not for their Diet but took the voluntary Offerings of the Springs and Mountains Now we have left that praise and happiness to the Beasts and Fowls of the air who take the next thing they light upon to satisfie their thirst and hunger Non fuit noverca nobis natura ut homo sine tot artibus non possit vivere It is our own fault that we consume our Revenues and spend all our labour as the Wise-man says for the belly Nature is not so much a Stepdame to us alone that no less than two hundred Arts and Trades may be reckoned before his Table can be magnificently furnished This is the only conveniency of great sins which are very expenceful though not for the sin yet for the charge sake they use to vanish away by little and little I have the more hope my labour shall not be fruitless to exhort you to fall back to some laudable measure of ancient frugality Though it be a thing grown quite out of the constitution of your bodies to thirst for water as my Text says yet I would you would thirst less for wine and as one said though once our Saviour was so gracious to turn water into wine yet it were happy now on our part if he would infuse such temperance into us as to turn our wine into water See into what luxury we have sopt our Souls in the revolution of time see how we are metamorphosed in our appetite those Wines which were wont to be sold by the Apothecaries for a Drug are now become every Meals liquor at our Tables and Water which was the ordinary drink of man now it is never used but as a Potion and for some Medicinal operation So that which was our Physick is become our ordinary Drink and that which was our daily Drink is become our Physick Satis est populo fluviusque Ceresque though bread for hunger and water for thirst are but a bare enough yet such expressions from our Saviour who knows what is fittest for us will make the most of us I hope ashamed when we compare it with an Epicures too much But whether temperate or intemperate whether the poor Beggar that drinks of the running Brook or the rich Glutton that quaffs the bloud of the Grape at sundry times they feel a scarcity and want of moisture it is an affliction upon our nature that all men have their thirst The Schoolmen ask and which is more they contend among themselves whether hunger and thirst had befallen Mankind if they had never sinned against the Lord The Controversy comes to this issue This heavenly part of us which God breathed into the body it is both Anima and Spiritus a Soul and a Spirit and therefore it causeth both an animal life which consists in the faculties of nourishment augmentation of every part generation c. and it causeth by Gods gracious gift a spiritual life making this corruptible flesh of ours incorruptible and transfusing many more of its own excellencies into this gross substance and then it is a glorified Body These by the Divine ordination were appointed after a large space to be one after another so says St. Paul That was not first which was spiritual but that which was natural and afterward that which is spiritual It was necessary therefore while it was a natural body that sustenance must be taken and at such a time when man knew right well by his own constitution that it was fit to repair nature he could not err and be deceived in that in the state of innocency and at that time his appetite would call for it as a pleasant and wholesome thing to be taken for you know what a loathing thing it is to take meat and drink into the mouth without an appetite Here 's the scruple plainly laid down before you whether hunger and thirst did provoke such an appetite in man before he fell into disobedience I answer that this Controversy is but a bare mistaking of a word If hunger and thirst be largely taken for that sense which a man hath how the stomach must be replenisht for the maintenance of life so Adam before he fell had sensum indigentiae a far more exacting feeling than we have when nature was in indigency and must be supplied but strictly and properly hunger and thirst habent adjunctam molestiam cruciatum they come upon us with some molestiousness and torment and so they are only incident to wicked man where punishment is manifold ways inflicted upon transgression Where heat doth dry up moisture and parch the juyce of the veins there our thirsty soul doth gape like a barren and dry Land that is when one elementary quality doth feed upon another and consume it But before sin entred into the World there was such an orderly mixture of all parts in us that the Elements were at peace in our Body no quality did seek to over-master another and corrupt it but the pangs and girds of thirst did ensue upon just revenge Reason proved rebellious to the Law of God the sensual appetite grew rebellious to reason and the distemperature of the body grew rebellious to appetite Shall I need to tell you how the Israelites in a sore thirst were ready to renounce God in the Wilderness or how the strength of Sampson fainted till the Jaw bone besmeared with the bloud of his Enemies did run with water or how Darius in extremity of drought was glad to drink of a most putrified puddle Every man hath felt such anguish in himself at some time or other every little scarceness threatens death or is worse than death to them that want the friendship of God And as our appetite is never but sick of longing so the body troubles it with a perpetual craving that which it takes to day is forgot to morrow as if it never had been Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again That which nourisheth the Soul of man must be immortal like the Soul but that which nourisheth a corruptible Body it self is corruptible One lean Harvest in Egypt made seven rich ones be quite forgotten A short Fast will gnaw the bowels though Ahasuerus his long Feast had gone before it Whatsoever you taste the pleasure of it is not remembred in a minute the strength and virtue of it is gone in a few hours A man that is grown to the end of a full age if he would reckon by measure and proportion how much waste in threescore and ten years one Belly hath made it would make him wonder and say to himself am I run on the score so far for my daily sustenance is it not due that my Carkass should rot in the
double condition of our sinful nature homo nec fructum servat operationis nec statum rectitudinis the rectitude of innocency is turned crooked in us and then it is impossible we should bring forth the fruit of good works The Soul stands upright when it desires to be with Christ but it is bowed down with a spirit of infirmity when our treasure is upon earth You know how Gedeon's choice Souldiers did drink of the Brook putting water in their hands and lapping like a Dog but the rest bowed down to the River to drink upon their knees ver 6. Whereupon Gregory took occasion to shew symbolically what different postures our spiritual and our carnal appetite have in partaking those things they love mundi aqua bibitur facie pronâ in terram fons aquae viventis facie supinâ we drink the waters beneath with our face bowed down to the earth we drink the waters of life with our face and eyes turned up to Heaven To him that walks in a Valley every Shrub is tall that grows upon the top of a Mountain so perhaps our pleasures seem aloft to us and not to lie so low as the bottom of a Well because we our selves do walk in the shadow of death and in the valley of corruption An ambitious man will scarce believe his soul is bowed down when he seeks for honour but rather that aspiring to a grand Title doth lift up his thoughts O that you did stand upon a Pinacle of faith and from thence look up to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith and you would then acknowledg that all these empty clouds did fly below you Why do you not expect the grace of God and pray often unto him when wilt thou make good thy promise to me O Lord which thou hast spoken to me O Lord Es lviii 14. Thou shalt delight thy self in the Lord and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth Sustollam te super altitudines terrae O that I could be exalted above the earth then would I not bow down my soul to draw forth vanity from this deep Well and nothing but the waters of bitterness You see what these waters are there is no permanency in them they flit away and yet we draw them from the very depth of Hell with much toil and carefulness and it is disputable with St. Austin which of the two be more commodious to man labor in hauâ—iendo affligens aut sitis crucians but after the labour of our body to draw them forth follows the greediness of our heart to be filled with them we drink them down All things were made for man the pleasures of art and wit the abundance of the whole World the Myrrh and Frankincense of one India the Gold and Silver of the other Divinity must not deny you that which is your own The great God is as liberal to us as He was to his own People but he gave them the labours of the Heathen in possession that they might keep his Laws Carnalis populus si parva non acciperet magna non credoret says Gregorianus As Caleb and Joshua brought a bunch or two of Grapes to let the people see what a rich Land it was which the Lord had promised so a Modicum is allotted to us for our present use that we may look for a real and more substantial treasure in Heaven And indeed this is the purpose of my Text to commend the Grace of God above all things but not altogether to contemn his Creatures The Crime reproved is to swallow them down like drink that runs in all our veins and is presently incorporated into our bloud and spirits as a learned Author says that a greedy heart hath animam triticeam not an heavenly spirit but a wheaten soul altogether projecting for outward means it must have bread it must have store the Barn must be thwackt full the provision must be able to serve many years such wheaten cogitations make a wheaten soul By such another Catechresis I may say out of my Text that a greedy tipling desire makes a drunken soul an unsatiated mind is as brutish a Monster as Job's Behemoth He drinketh up a river he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth David would not drink of that water which was brought from the Well of Bethel with the jeopardy of his Servants bloud therefore he poured it out to the Lord but our desires fetch such things unto us which are brought with the hazard of that which is better than life David hath shewed us the way what is to be done pour them forth unto the Lord if they be sinful pleasures by repentance if they be riches by alms and charity By all means pour them forth lest they consume us like those waters in the Levitical Law which the Priest gave to the Woman suspected for Adultery if she were defiled the waters turn'd bitter and did rot her thigh and she became a curse among all the people It is a prefiguration I do verily think of that diseaseful rottenness which doth oftentimes in these days befall Adultery And as the rottenness goes before so be sure the curse will come behind it I might be copious from this Allegory in my Text that a wanton appetite is a drunken disease but I will contract it by shewing one dissimilitude he that pours any liquor into his body it is to cherish himself but the most men drink greedily of worldly things to make others swell and heap up riches that their children may gather them So the Son often times vomits up that wealth whereof the Father surseited for you shall never purchase so much as your Posterity would sell away in the third or fourth Generation The good Father thought he said enough to discipline an avaritious fool when he bad him number his days which were very short and therefore cut shorter his covetous desires which were very long Longa nostra desideria increpat vita brevis Alas says Nabal I measure not my necessities by the span of my own life but according to the breadth and length of all my Posterity who must enjoy these things after me I shall answer it with a Paradox yet it is such a rule as I never saw many exceptions against it If your children love gains as well as you have done they will thrive though you leave them but a little If they regard not Parsimony as you have done they will break and decay though you bequeath them a great treasure Lighten your self therefore of these superfluous burdens which you carry like a Camel for their sakes that will never bear them after you And if God have given you a large Issue be you more bountiful in Alms-deeds and Charity as St. Cyprian reasons Pro pluribus placandus est eleemosynis as Job offered Sacrifices to God according to the number of his Sons and Daughters So must you offer up gifts unto the Lord
natural men began from Religion whensoever they feasted for before they tasted any thing they did offer or sequester a first fruits to their Gods as Plutarch says in his Symposiacks But as for Christians though it were no Feast though their Fare were most course and slender yet says Tertullian Non prius discumbitur quà m oratio ad Deum praegustetur aequè oratio convivium dirimit And Gregory tells us it is in his Dialogues indeed that a man that eat but a few herbs and blest not God before the eating was possessed with a Devil I will not say upon so poor a Repast but where there is a full Table I will say it with Origen that there is a kind of bewitching in meats and drinks a kind of luxurious devil that dances in the Dish Which made holy Job offer Sacrifice for his Sons and Daughters when they had spent some days in liberal entertainments For though I may charitably suppose that the Children of so Venerable a man were educated in Sobriety yet it is an hard thing to be confined within an unblameable temperance Quis est qui non aliquantulùm rapitur extrametas necessitatis Says St. Austin in his Confessions and yet a man of admirable abstinence Who is it that doth not pamper himself with more than that which is barely necessary And therefore all men had need to protect themselves with Prayer against excess and superfluity If Christ thought it meet when five thousand were to be fed with five Loaves and two Fishes what need have we to be munitioned against Luxury Where Quails and Manna are but homely fare in respect of our condited delicates Seria ludicra verba jocos trina superna regat pietas says a sacred Poet. You may be serious you may be frolick at Table and mirth is more beseeming than sadness at that season yet begin all in the name of God that seriousness may not turn into melancholy nor mirth into scurrility Fie on their corrupt ears that love to be tickled with lascivious Ballads while they are pampering their belly Penelopes Suitors were great Gluttons and Minstrils they had meal by meal but blind Homer says any new Song would please them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet these were nebulones Alcinoique Now a days it must be obscene or it is nothing O these that abuse both the sustenance of the Body and the sweet delight of the Spirit they are neither worthy of Meat nor Musick but are reserved for howling and gnashing of teeth Now I shall come to an end for this time For I have done with that word of sacred and ghostly preparation which St. John useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he gave thanks the other Evangelists use the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be blessed That you may learn that to bless and to give thanks are words convertible says St. Cyril that signifie the same thing he makes no more of it And it is true that at some times they are Synonyma as 1 Cor. xiv 16. When thou shalt bless with the Spirit how shall he that supplies the place of the unlearned say Amen at the giving of thanks There they must be the same but here they must be divers for Christ gave thanks unto his Father but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Luke he blessed the bread To give thanks was the Piety of his Humane Nature but this blessing came from the vertue of his Divine Nature He did infuse a new miraculous quality into the Loaves and imparted a seminal power unto them of increase and multiplication I know not what ailes some Interpreters I think they are afraid of Magick that they do so avoid this word and turn it from the right signification when our Saviour is said to bless any outward matter that was before him But saving their Criticisms wherein they are most laboriously impertinent to confound it with Prayer and giving of thanks I find a threefold blessing of the Creature in the Gospel Communis Miraculosa Sacramentalis First at a common Supper for so I conceive it Luk. xxiv 30. Our Saviour blessed bread Not as if there were any impurity in the Creature especially there could be none to him Deo artifici tam mundus est porcus quam agnus says St. Austin But it teacheth us to invocate Gods goodness that those things which we use may be salutiferous unto us And herein I cannot deride them that have a Ceremony to bless their Honey and Eggs on Easter day their Pastures on St. Stephens day their Wine on St. Johns day their Orchards and Gardens on the Assumption as they stile it of the blessed Virgin There is no vanity in these common Benedictions Secondly There is a blessing of the Creature with a mighty hand when a Miracle is wrought So these Barly Loaves were blessed exalted to an enlargement above their nature and this is to be adored and not to be imitated If you would have it inquired into whether this blessing was executed with any outward Ceremony I have no resolute answer for it Whether Christ did use some set form of Prayers or words or used the imposition of his hands or the gesture of his body in some remarkable Figure I cannot tell One of these are not unlikely because the Passengers that went to Emaus knew him by his blessing and breaking of bread It may be they had been at the spending of these five Loaves in the Wilderness and knew the form of his customary Benediction Cajetan puts it off with a trifling conjecture that he was used to break bread with that evenness as if it had been cut with a Knife and that discovered him It is more likely I take it that he was known by a decent and outward Ceremony of Benediction Lastly There is a Sacrament al Benediction of the outward Elements So the water of Baptism is sanctified to be the Pool of Regeneration So our Saviour did not only give thanks but he blessed and consecrated both the Bread and the Cup which he divided among his Disciples No doubt in the beginning of the Supper before they fed of the Lamb he had blessed the Table That he did as the Son of man But afterward he began an eximious and singular Benediction for a new work as the Son of God he exalted them thereby to be the lively Sacrament of his body and bloud Et non sunt quod natura formavit sed quod benedictio consecravit says St. Ambrose They are no more that which Nature hath made them but that for which then Christ and since we in our Priestly Benediction do consecrate them The hand of Jesus is with us in our work and the blessing c. THE SECOND SERMON UPON JOHN vi 11. He distributed to the Disciples and the Disciples to them that were set down and likewise of the fishes as much as they would THis is the second time I take leave to remember you of it that I have propounded
that the worst they could say slander us so and spare not says St. Austin upon it maledictio sit super nos super nostros liberos let that reproach fall upon us and our Children for ever But if any Age were more in jeopardy than another to wrest the word Disciple to an ill sense I am perswaded 't is ours For if a Disciple be a learner of the Divine Testimonies there are many that affect to be Discipulissimi by their good will there is no day of the week but they would sit at the feet of their own Gamaliels the pretence of learning is so great in these our days that I am sure all former times come short of this double diligence And were they such Disciples that were first called Christians Certainly the word of God was very precious unto them and as St. James bids it be so they were swift to hear Seek the Lord while he may be found seek his face evermore quaeramus inveniendum quaeramus inventum seek him for He is glorious seek him evermore for He is infinite And that Heathen saying was to good purpose when we have one foot in the Grave be still willing to learn But these Disciples gathered their heavenly Manna by moderate measure in a fit proportion to digest it not like our open-ear'd people in a numberless quantity to make them loath it Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth says the great Doctor 1 Thes iv always walking and never going home not desiring to have instruction fall down in sweet drops to make the seed of the Word fructifie but with an Inundation to make it putrifie and continually gaping for somewhat that tends to the curiosity of knowledg rarher than the conscience of practice And where have they got this use but from outlandish fashions where there is no decent face of a Church no air of Devotion no solemn Liturgie to employ the time in whereby they must needs make up that which is wanting with continual preaching But you will say if this ravening after Sermons as I may call it be a fault it flows from the zeal of them that mean well and charity may construe it to the best There 's more in it than so as I conceive First it is too manifest to conceal it or deny it that superfluity of hearing is a cloak of dissimulation and hath bred a consumption of practising and scire est propter ire say the old Friers we know the way that we may go the way 2. Let any one descend skilfully into the nature of man and he shall see that it is our humour to grow too familiar with that which is told too often a decent distance and intermission would breed more reverence and attention 3. Whom doth it not afflict that hath a right sense of piety to see so much havock and loss of that which is so precious A Carpenter may hew off large chips from a Block but a Lapidary will make no waste of a Diamond when he pares it It was not the itching ear then which thinks it can never hear enough that made a Disciple in the Primitive Church they did not heap to themselves vain Teachers that every one of the common sort might prove a Doctor rather than a Learner and controul the best as if they were Masters rather than Disciples yet their heart was bent with meekness to receive the Word as St. James says they discharged their duty in good sort to hear and learn for hearing is the Key of knowledge but they did not turn the Key continually in the Lock and never open the door they were wise builders that heard the truth and did if and their desire was set to incarnate the written Word in their Souls by doing it as the blessed Virgin gave flesh to the Eternal Word by bearing it In a word they were such Disciples as gave the tongue of praise just occasion to call them Christians I will recite but a little of that which antiquity hath witnessed for their sakes Their Vessel was kept so chaste and clean that every day if persecutions dispersed them not they partaked of the body and bloud of their Saviour their temperance so great their fasting so constant that one says The Constitution of Lent began not till such time as their perpetual sobriety began to be unimitated Their Charity drew this admiration out of their forest enemies See how they love one another Even their Tormentors while their bodies lay bleeding under their hands were converted to believe and suffer with them by their Patience and Fortitude Finally Their contempt of the world was testified in this That no man said that ought which he had was his own but they had all their possessions in common Angelica respublica nihil dicere proprium says St. Chrysostom That made it no less than a Society of Angels to renounce their part in any proper possession It was not therefore hearing upon hearing that denominated them Disciples these were the Elements of which their Piety consisted and then they proceeded to be called Christians Yet before I come to the birth of this new title which is the chief corner-stone of my Text it will suit well to speak a little of the privation or cessation of their old names by which in former times they were known And they are of two sorts Such as the Church claimed to her self and delighted in or such wherewith flanderous tongues did think to wound her And they may be equally divided into three of the one sort and of the other First you meet it every where in the Epistles of the New Testament that such as professed to obey the Gospel were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the brethren One is the Mother of us all in our natural being the earth One Mother of our spiritual Connexion the Church one common Father of our flesh the first man Adam one Father of our Regeneration the Holy Ghost But certainly Charity was the special scope in this appellation for no relation of love is so complete in all points as between Brother and Brother The love between Husband and Wife is not born with them The love between Father and Son is not level and reciprocal because it is not between persons that are equal the love between Friend and Friend is of our own choice nor of necessary duty only the love of Brothers is from the Womb from instinct of nature stands upon equal conditions and is underpropt with all circumstances that ingender affection And to give Charity the pre-eminence this was the first precious oyntment that was poured upon our head we were called brethren And secondly Saints to the Saints that are at Ephesus to the Saints at Colossi And many of the Saints did I shut up in prison says St. Paul before King Agrippa Acts xxvi 10. And this Attribute was given to our famous Predecessors from the Sacramental Seal of Baptism as
it is 1 Cor. vi 11. But ye are washed but ye are sanctified In that sacred Laver we are sprinkled with the bloud of Christ and so made Saints Sancti quasi sanguine tincti it is a bloud which purifieth from uncleanness for of old they that desired to be purified did dip some part of their body in the bloud of the Sacrifice Baptism is Pactum vitae purioris cum Deo a Covenant with God to lead a pure and unspotted life a sequestration of that which is holy from all profane abuses it is jus gentium says Tully a national and received Law throughout all the world Vt ne mortales quod Deorum immortalium cultui consecratum est usu capere possint that no man usurp that for common uses which was consecrated to the service of the immortal Gods so that a Saint is as much as one that is washt and made clean in Christ and engaged unto holiness all the days of his life 3. For the confession of the true doctrines sake which flesh and bloud could not reveal unto us but our Father which is in heaven our reward was to be called the faithful the faithful of the circumcision Acts x. 45. and in many places beside This continued our note of distinction more than any other in ancient Liturgies and so remains in some of our own Collects as grant we beseech thee merciful Lord to thy faithful people pardon and peace And it stuck more close to the Church than any title in St. Cyprians days as appears by these words Quid Christiana plebs faceret cui de fide nomen est What should Christian people do in this case whose name is given them from the Faith So I have represented to you that in the earliest days of the Gospel the Disciples were called Brethen from their sincerity of love Saints from the purification of Baptism Faithful from that Orrhodox truth which they professed and hope in Christ which St. Paul hath put all together in one verse To the Saints and faithful Brethren in Christ which are at Colosse chap. i. ver 2. But as St. Paul says By honour and dishonour by evil report and by good report we approve our selves the Ministers of Chrisft And they that scoffed at the way of salvation did load us with contumelious taunts that they might soil our Profession The first bitter arrow that our Enemies shot forth was to call us Nazarens Tertullus the spruce Orator was aware of that and charged St. Paul that he was a ring leader of the Sect of the Nazarens Act. xxiv 5. Surely they delighted the more in this Nickname because of that opprobrious by word can there any good come out of Nazareth St. Hierom says that the spiteful Jews had no other term for the Christians in his days and how in that term they cursed us thrice every day in their Synagogues Now when they thought to gall us both with their curse and their venemous scorn Epiphanius says that the Apostles liked it well enough to be called Nazarens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their intention was to put the name of Nazareth upon him where the Angel Gabriel saluted the Blessed Virgin and where she conceived Christ and they were contented It seems so for because they held it no disgrace Julian the Emperor would not call them Nazarens but Galilaeans and proclaimed it says Nazianzen that they should plead or be empleaded by no other name throughout all his Dominions the name of Christian says the same Father it grated his ear some Divine Majesty was in the syllables that it put horror into his conscience but for his own quiet and their wrongs he thought it better to call them Galilaeans his slanderous intention was all that was ill in it for the appellation it self was not slanderous an Angel of God directed his Message to them in that form Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into heaven Act. i. 11. But here was the secret gibe one Judas of Galilee a Firebrand of sedition had lodged an ill opinion in many of the Jews who were born in that Region that such as paid Tithes to God were not to pay Tribute to Cesar neither ought they to call any one their Lord but him that created Heaven and Earth In plain meaning he and his Consorts of Galilee were errant Rebels and though none were so far from faction and disobedience as these modest Disciples yet to perswade the World that they had an Anti-monarchichal grudg in their bosom this Apostate called them Galilaeans Lastly because the Orthodox Champions of the Church confounded the obstinate Gentiles with certain verses cited out of the Books of the Sibyls therefore in despite they invented the name Sibyllistae and pointed at us for the Disciples of those Prophetesses the Sibyls whereas it was their own doing to make us urge them with those proofs since they would not believe the Old Testament and the Prophets of the Lord. I cannot forget how Albertus Pighius played such a wise part or rather a far worse being the first that called our Reformed Divines Scripturarios Scripture-men because they grounded all their Doctrin upon the written word of the holy Scriptures yet in my judgment Sibyllist was not so ill a scoff as Scripturarian Now you know from that which hath been spoken what good Titles adorned the Primitive Saints and how their Enemies drew their name with a black coal in terms of scurrillity the bad appellations vanished away by the brightness of their vertue the good ones were like a scanty Robe too short to cover all their excellency they bore the Cross of Christ gladly and triumphantly wherefore this eximious Inscription was given them which is here in my Text all other names were but as a trail of golden beams to beautify this which includes them all Christian 'T is very much that no Author is mentioned here who was so lucky to impose this name which will be glorious no doubt in all the World as long as the Sun and Moon endure Carthusian hath his opinion that Infidels were the Inventers in disdain at Christ whom that pious Generation worshipped Comestor imputes it to the converted Greeks and Gentiles to the end that they and the believing Jews might have one common cognizance There are more than enough that think it may proceed from St. Peter whose first Episcopal See was at Antioch and then they think they have engrossed all Christians to be under the Pastoral charge of him and his Successors his Successors at Rome they mean and not at Antioch Turrian the Jesuit is far more reasonable sayiâ—â— that the Nomenclator is not known but that the name was ratified by a Synod of Apostles for he mentions a Synod held at Antioch in which these three Canons passed 1. That none should be circumcised for Baptism was the true Circumcision made without hands 2. That all Nations that believed might be collected into the Catholick
make interpellations before the face of God that their hoary head may go down to the Grave in sorrow which afflicted his Servants The Saints are so ravisht with the splendour of the Beatifical Vision that they have no leisure to think of the passions which they endured in this life much less can they spare a minute to cast away a thought upon their Persecutors As Plato replied stoutly to Dionysius of Syracusa the Tyrant had entertained him in his Court and was loath to let him return home when Plato much desired it After much importunity I would dismiss you says the Tyrant were it not that you would talk of me too much in your own Country Nay Sir says Plato I have somewhat else to do when I am in Athens among the Academicks than to talk of Dionysius So Stephen and Peter and James stoop not so low as once to mention the Pharisees or Herod or Nero but their Ashes in their Graves exclaim against them Parrisides that murdered those holy Fathers Even as Abel being dead doth yet speak by faith Heb. xi 4. which is in the words of God himself Thy Brothers bloud crieth unto me from the ground Gen. x. 4. Not thy Brother but thy Brothers bloud that direful Act which thou hast committed in the effusion of it that is it which pierceth mine ear though his soul utter not a word to that effect because it is never abstracted from Coelestial Contemplations It is a corrective manner of speaking when we glance at the secret sins of another to say If such a Room or such a Bed could speak if the Doors or the Hangings could speak they would tell foul Tales Spare your suppositions I beseech you and go roundly to work for every inanimate thing wherein we have committed any crime or injury it hath a voice to impeach us and we cannot escape the Accusation Job says of an Oppressour That his Land will cry against him and the furrows of the field will complain of him Job xxxi 38. Habakkuk says of him that hath built his house by cutting off many people I suppose he means Depopulators that the Stone shall cry out of the Wall and the Beam of the Timber shall answer it Chap. ii 9. So Judas Machabaeus implores God that he would remember the wicked slaughter of harmless Infants and hear the bloud that cried unto him 2 Mach. viii 3. Take heed of wrong and rapine take heed of cruelty of murdering the Innocent of beating your fellow-servants Luk. xii Every violence which you offer hath a tongue to accuse you and the ear of the Lord is in every place It is an easie thing by terrours to awe a poor simple man that he shall suck in his spittle and say nothing when he is ruin'd It is no unlikely thing that he shall be brought to Mortification to pray to the power above to forgive his Oppressors but he is not able to muzzle the wrongs that have been done him or to pluck out their tongue when he is asleep in his Bed when he is stiff in his Grave they never sleep they never die they never end their clamour and there is no such distance but that the cry of the Innocent will knock against it This is not meant to weaken the hand of Justice which rewards the wicked after their deserving Impenitent Caytives shall never come near the Altar in Heaven to moan themselves never fear their out-cry but beware to push at an innocent soul No private mans Oppressions shall be unrepayed how much more when whole Kingdoms and Principalities are devoured by the Invader When whole Nations are wasted out of their Inheritance when whole Rivers of bloud lift up their voice when the Scepters of Princes do plead for justice before his Throne that gave them their Throne and Dignity The Sun will shine upon that day when they shall be filled with slaughter that have delighted in it Forget not what Abner said to Joab Shall the Sword devour for ever Knowst thou not that it will be bitterness in the End And let this be the close of this second part of my Text the Souls themselves under the Altar make no unquiet interpellations to be revenged but the wounds and stripes and marks which they bore in their bodies for the Lord Jesus they cry out day and night how long Lord holy and good c. The next Point is almost of the same piece and very conjunct with the Petition it self it is the manner of preferring it which to the greater terrour of them that live by wrong hostility is done with all vehemency and importunity with a loud voice and a solicitous iteration The Heathen Poets fancied that the Souls in the Elysian Fields did utter their mind with audible and vocal sounds but with a low whispering as if Reeds were shaken with the wind Sometimes they would strive to speak out but all in vain Inceptus clamor frustratur hiantes This is Fiction and not Philosophy For separated souls speak not with corporeal Organs but with their Wills and Affections Animarum verba sunt ipsa desideria Their words which they utter are their desires which they send forth and therefore David says Thine ear hath heard the desire of their heart There is no such thing therefore as a loud voice proceeding from the souls in Heaven but flesh and bloud must be spoken to as it may understand and because the miseries are great which the Saints have suffered under the impotent rage of Tyrants and the Martyrs while they lived were wont to roar out for disquietness of heart in those extremities therefore by Prosopopea they are still said to call upon Heaven to judge their cause So Theophilus Antiochanus a most ancient Author Secundum eos affectus quos anima aliquando pro necessitate corporis generat such as were their affections in this life by a figurative translation such they are said to be in heaven Then they cried aloud for help and now they or rather their bloud and Martyrdom is said to cry aloud for vengeance Not they indeed but their injuries do so strongly plead against their Oppressors but they and their injuries are confounded as if they were but one Plaintiff in Law Therefore it is in Esdras Behold the righteous and innocent bloud crieth unto me and the souls of the Just complain continually Having cleared the Doctrine that this was no vocal clamour but an imaginary such as St. John encountred in a Vision note these few things in it First That all those Expositors that dare make an exact calculation of those times when the Seals in this mystical Book were opened say that the opening of the Fifth Seal when the Souls cried out so strongly was the instant deliverance from the Tenth and the greatest Persecution Observe from hence rather by experience than by rule that when God is about to give any thing unto us he stirs up our hearts unto Prayer more than ordinary Qui timide
rogat negare docet A saint Petitioner addresseth himself as if he meant to be denied But when you find a robustiousness in your Spirit that you are set to wrestle with God to cry out and not to give over it is an enlightning that you shall prevail but all the while that you are sluggish in asking it is an ill Presage that the time of mercy is not come Yet secondly Though the Lord be but modestly or rather remissly called upon for pardons and blessins out of his indulgence he will meet with our desires and crown them Two of Johns Disciples said unto our Saviour no more but this Rabbi where dwellest thou They did scarce knock at door and yet Christ invited them into his Train he bad them come and see But his sufferance and patience is so great that yellings and clamours must awake him before He be stirred up to vengeance He forgives one injury connives at another bears with a third and fourth it may be a year runs on perhaps seven perhaps an Age and Oppressors slide away without a check at last when their insolencies make a noise over all the Earth and roar like Bulls of Basan then the Avenger awakes out of sleep like a Giant that is refresht with Wine Thirdly Oppression and tyrannizing over the poor and helpless make the loudest clamours of any sins in the ears of God they will follow the unjust Rulers of the world like an heard of Wolves howling and yelling and tear up their Carkasses out of their very Graves There are but four sins that are said to cry in all the Scripture the bloud of Abel Gen. iv and that was for Oppression The bondage of the Israelites in Egypt and that was for Oppression The hire of the Labourer kept back by fraud Jam. v. 4. And that was for Oppression And the licenciousness of the Sodomites Gen. xviii who among their other crimes did most injuriously insult over Lot because he was a stranger and so you see that even their exorbitancy was not without Oppression Do not the tears run down the Widows cheeks And is not her cry against him that causeth them to fall Eccl. xxxv 15. You see that pious Author ascribes a crying and a clamour to the tears of the Widow and that also is for Oppression therefore I am sure it will be the Oppressors own turn to cry at the last in the place where there is nothing but weeping and gnashing of teeth Cast your eye back now to the two former Points which I have handled to bring on the next the Souls of the righteous that have shed their bloud for the Testimony of Christ make Prayers that their slaughter may be revenged Fatal tidings to their Murderers the Martyrs cry out vehemently to have their Petition sign'd with a Fiat ut petitur a dismal exclamation to their Persecutors Nor is it one shreek and away but cry upon cry followed with instance and importunity They will never give over till vengeance light at last on their Enemies Witness this Vsque quo How long Lord The Author of the Second Book of Esdras Chap. iv 35. alludes to these words on this manner Did not the Souls of the righteous ask questions of these things in their Chambers Saying How long shall I hope in this fashion When cometh the fruit of out reward Surely he meant that the Saints begg'd continually for the augmentation of their triumph by the Resurrection of the body Others suppose it to be a vehement efflagitation that God would collect his Church into one body in Heaven and reveal his glory and that nothing doth hinder this but the destroying the man of sin and his adherents who have crush'd the Servants of God with a rod of Iron therefore they press it passionately that those that let the second appearance of Christ in glory may be taken out of the way St. Austin in one place exhorts his Auditors to holiness of life with this perswasion that the Saints in Heaven are hindred of their desires by our remissness in Piety We must accomplish the number of our good works before the end of all things come Et dum nos retardamus sanguis martyrum inultus est While we dispatch not apace to do our tasque the wicked flourish in their pomp and power and the bloud of the Martyrs is unrevenged All that draw this Line you may note it they apprehend that the words of my Text are the personal complaint of the Souls under the Altar and not the interpellation of their injuries I quarrel not the opinion for it is modest and rational But I will help it out of the briars of one scruple No man is so censorious to impute it to the Society of the Blessed as if they contended with Gods Justice that he delayed them they are cleared from all such impatiency or expostulation because they call him holy and true But we may ask what they mean to solicite him with Vsque quo's For they know that his Decrees are fix'd and that one minute of that time which he hath set shall not be broken though all the Angels made intercession The answer is to this and such case Preces fidelium antecedenter se habent ad Dei decretum non consequenter The Servants of God pray for Mercies or Judgments to be hastened abstracting from the Divine Decrees for though the Decrees cannot be refixed yet we are encouraged to beg for that which is conducible to our own necessities But the readiest way to put off all objections is to hold to my Fifth Conclusion that not the Martyrs themselves but the wrongs which they endured exclaim against their Enemies the atrocity of them doth seem to plead that the Lord should send his swift thunderbolts against cruel men they seem to cry out a day is too much to let them breath any longer they deserve not to be reprieved a minute till they go down to Hell O well is it for them that have been nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers of the Church They are secure among these vociferations for vengeance O how happy will it be for Moses and Samuel and Daniel that they have hurt no man that they have oppressed no man O what quiet of conscience have they that are clear from the bloud of all men for it is but a little season and the pride of Tyrants shall have a fall God tells the Martyrs so in the next verse Quod petendo esuriunt praesciendo satiantur They spake thirstingly to see the doom of their Enemies and here they are satiated with this Prediction that it will be after a little season but a little season indeed in respect of Eternity for Christ shall reign for ever Neither is God slack as men count slackness for that which is done in a fit ordination at the right minute that is fruit taken in its season and there is no tardiness at all Let Sion rejoyce let the desolate be comforted the
hypocrite I am perswaded in the world that thinks his soul blank and to have no spot upon it Every man must go a little further to try what opinion he hath of his own righteousness Is the rumour of War or the fear of Pestilence or the calamity of a Famine in the Land This is a case to prove an humble Consessionary For if your heart smite you as if you knew enough by your self to provoke all that vengeance it is well you have made a strict examination But if you look about you to see who should blush first and take it to himself you are not in good terms with God and a good Conscience Behold what St. Peter preacheth the Heavens and the Earth are reserved for fire against the day of judgment Will an humble sinner lay his head upon his Pillow with the Prophet Jonas And suffer the rest of the Passengers to cast lots upon the trial and find him out that hath offended A true Disciple hath learnt that his wantonness hath subjected every Creature to vanity so that they must be purged by the fire of God Such a one will strive to put out the flame with tears of contrition which he and his Concupiscence have kindled in heaven and earth Finally you cannot be ignorant that there was Copiosa redemptio plenteous redemption in our Saviours Sufferings enough and to spare a man would thinks Suppose that fewer stripes had been laid upon his back fewer buffetings given him on the face fewer thorns platted upon his head I say had all this been spared but his death upon the Cross had not our ransom been sufficiently discharged O but perswade your Consciences every man in particular I beseech you that the overplus was paid for you and that your Bond must be cancelled out of the superfluity of his sufferings Bonarum mentium est ibi culpam agnoscere ubi culpa non est There is no hurt in that He that doth not look upon his own sins with that detestation that he would look upon those that multiplied ignominy upon Christ he hath wash'd his hands in Pilates Bason Now I proceed to shew what crime it is which Pilate would so much abandon it is the crying sin of Murder Innocens sanguinis I am innocent of bloud a fault which God would not pardon in Cain though he were the first-born in the Generations of men In the sin of bloud Jehoiada the Priest would not spare Athaliah the Mother of the King David would not spare it in Joab the Captain of his Host Jacob would not forgive it in his own Sons Simeon and Levy but did revile them in his blessing A fault which St. Austin looking upon the bare story doth tax in Moses for killing the Egyptian but St. Stephen defends him Acts vii that it was a courage inspired from God The life of any thing that bears Gods Image is to be gently handled For if the body be the Temple of the Holy Ghost then our soul is the Priest and to cast the Priest out of the Temple it is not only violence but profanation But above all the Heathen men were so tender to confess that bloud-guiltiness could obtain pardon that Socrates in Phaedon tells it upon his knowledge Animam quae caede alicujus polluta est fugit quisque though a murderous man upon better behaviour were admitted to the Elysian joys yet he lived solitary by himself and was quite abandoned The Philosopher Aristotle speaking what things those were which were not Enthymems for an Orator that is no fit subjects for a probable Argument excepts nothing but committing of murder for no Rhetorick can ever make so foul a sin to be plausible How God himself hath accustomed man for meekness and not for cruelty I will give you a short survey out of the holy Scripture before the Flood we had no food but herbs and fruits no blood was lawfully spilt that we read of for 1600 years except it were for sacrifice When flesh was allowed to our Table for after the Floud the green herb and the trees afforded not such nourishment as they had done before to eat with the blood from the Law until Christ was meat unhallowed Nay the Churches of the Gentiles were held unto that Ceremony by the Apostles Acts xv and long after the Apostles no man did eat either blood or strangled Gregory could say in his time Non diu est ex quo Christiani suffocatum aut sanguinem comederunt it was but yesterday in his time since that strict observation was cancelled and I hope we can all collect that if it was unlawful for the mouth to taste blood it was more execrable for the hand to spill it or for the heart to thirst for it When Lepers and blind men when sick folks that had Fevers nay when such as had Devils came to Christ he put forth his hand and toucht them and they were healed but the woman that had the bloody Issue put her own finger upon his Garment and our Saviour laid not his hand upon her Disease alone because it was an Issue of blood Now shame be it unto Christians to fall into deadly quarrels upon terms of Honour and count it reputation to shed blood when Pilat had the conscience to shun the infamy Surely he that thinks it a disparagement to receive the lye did never scan what Honour was unless he think it a far greater infamy to be a wilful Murderer Seneca gives it as a Character of the most pure and harmless Age of the World that there was no single Combats fought in fury no bloody Wars of seditious Princes odium omne in feras verterant all that they killed it was in hunting and having spent their anger upon their Game they were satisfied But no cruelty hath more offended the Church in all Seasons than exposings of mens lives to death in Sports and Recreations the adventuring of their young Champions to encounter wild Beasts to propound reward unto their Sword-players to kill each other upon their Theatres it could not but be a great eye-sore to all Christians that knew how precious every life was unto God for which the Son of God did pay his life Homo occiditur in hominis voluptatem scelus non tantum geritur sed docetur quid potest inhumanius quid acerbius dici they are the words of St. Cyprian A pleasure it is unto you barbarous Nations to see a mans throat cut with skill and dexterity you have Masters to teach it Schools to practise it and which is worst of all eyes which do not weep but smile to behold it But for your part Beloved enlarge your bowels with clemency and compassion as I would love to do good offices in Christian burial much the better for Josephs sake that took my Saviour from the Cross and laid him in his own Tomb so I would hate a bloody mind much the more for their sakes who did scourge and pierce his body Upon that
meditation I would resolve to be a true man where Pilat was an hypocrite and say in defiance of all the world c. The rather did this Deputy endeavour to clear himself of blood either because he had been taxed before for extreme severity The Galilaeans were rebellious and he mingled their own blood with their Sacrifice it was that as some conjecture which put enmity between him and Herod or rather he shun'd the imputation of blood because he was a Ruler and a Magistrate Ferrum adhibere nisi in extremis neque civile neque medicum As in the Body of man so in the Estate political that Member should be very corrupt which is cut off with the Sword Many Executions are no more honourable to the Judg than many Funerals to the Physician Mercy and Clemency are stronger than Lions to support the Crown of the King and that Throne shall be established says Synesius where the People are afraid of nothing so much as for the Kings safety It is said of Trajan the Emperor that he was both subtle and industrious to examin the crimes of Malefactors sed mallet non invenire quod quaerit quà m invenire quod puniat that it pleased him better not to find out that which he sought for than to find out any thing which must be punished The life of Jehu the Son of Nimshi is it not a strange Legend as ever was recorded no act or exploit of his memory remaining in all the Scripture but interfecit interfecit here he kill'd one there he murdered forty then he slew 400 but as soon as all the Enemies of God were cut off then says the Text he slept with his Fathers as if his work were done and he died for want of more employment But I need not enlarge my discourse in this point we having not so much cause to preach to man as to praise God for lenity And I have not so learnt Christ to think the Sword of vengeance doth not become the arm of the Civil Magistrate David had a good purpose to build a Temple unto God but it was not accepted because he was a man of war and had shed much blood 1 Chron. xxviii Why was the work then cast upon Solomon his Son had not he given sentence of death against Adonijah Joab and Shemei and is it not as lawful to cut off the Enemies in war as Malefactors in peace First the hearts of Warriours are not always bent upon justice as the heart of the Magistrate then it is the Word of the Judg that fetcheth blood but it is the Hand of the Battel therefore God himself hath thus distinguished that the blood of War did defile King David but the blood of Civil Justice did not cast a blemish upon Solomon They that cannot distinguish between vengeance and just authority are like the Moabites that lookt upon the waters and saw them ruddie and thought it was effusion of blood when it was the brightness of the Sun and the light of Heaven But was Pilat so tender of taking life away did it come so hardly from him to doom the Sentence of death against a Prisoner Lord what Dam did they suck into whose hands our Ancestors fell the Grey-head the Reverend Praelacy the fruitful Womb of Mothers all were sentenced unto one fiery Execution for Religion's sake Surely it had been a Premunire in the Court of Rome to have shewn mercy unto any man or to talk of clemency It was the disposition of the old Indian Philosophers says St. Hierom Eorum disciplina juvare non nisi justè novit nocere nec justè they would do good only when there was justice to do it but they would not hurt any man no not when they had reason for it The Papists are as far from this meekness as Dan from Beersheba that let out floulds of Christian blood to maintain their unbloody Sacrifice When Cyrus the younger would have slain his Brother Artaxerxes see the tender compassion of the Mother she bound him about her own neck with the hair of her head and it was a sufficient Sanctuary to save his life Our holy Martyrs and Professors were bound to the Church their Mother by Baptism by Truth by Faith by Charity by the Prerogative of Natural Branches and yet like a Perfume of Incense they were burnt to ashes It is enough and they cannot hate the false Church by the Canons and Confession of Trent may hate their parricidious and malicious minds by the fire in Smithfield It is a Saint-like indulgence that we do not mete the same measure into their own bosom an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth no it is canticum canticorum the Canticle of our Church and the Song of the Spouse of Christ I am innocent of blood Now I will bring Pilat upon his last Trial from innocens sanguinis to innocens hujus sanguinis to the trial of this man's blood and you shall see how he mocked his conscience that he was innocent of the blood of Christ those few things which he could say for himself are these In the first place He stood upon it before all the people that Christ was harmless and guilty of no crime or imputation Ecce priùs absolvit quam damnat if Christ was harmless why was he beaten here 's a Judg indeed fitter for Outlaws and Robbers than for a civil Corporation first he absolves and then condemns his Prisoner As St. Austin said to Lucretia Nocentior fuit quae seipsam interfecit quantò erat in causâ innocentior Lucretia was the greater Murderer of her self because Lucretia was innocent So it holds in the crucifying of our Saviour and nothing doth more aggravate the fact to make Pilat nocent than that he confesseth Christ was innocent When Sylla did send out his Guard to cut off the head of Antonius the Orator the well-spoken man did so bewitch the Souldiers with fair words who came to kill him that they hung down their heads wept and spared his life till he sent other Assassines more cruel than the former who did the deed Lo a greater wonder Christ making no declaration of his Cause in pathetical words cast such a look upon the Judg O what a sight it had been to have seen his face but for that moment that he could not but confess the heart was true where the countenance was so honest Thus according to the case of Antonius in the first assault the Ballance of Justice was held even till the Rulers inconstancy and the Peoples importunity weighed it down against the best alive therefore the clearing of Jesus from all faults by protestation is nothing to make Pilat innocent Secondly what can he say beside in his own justification marry like a tender-hearted Murderer he would not let his own hand be upon him but sent him as a Malifactor of Galilee unto Herod Call you this commiseration to be delivered from the Adversary to the Judg from the Judg to