Marium says the Consul Marius and so daunted his Executioner Thus then our Saviour had escaped their hands divinitatem publicando 2. Where were the Legions of Angels that did attend him That Host of Princes who solemnized his Nativity with peace on earth and good will towards men would have recanted and sung a song quite of another nature to guard him from his passion And thus our Saviour had escaped exercitum producendo Durandus tries his skill for a third reason thus corpus in se mortale ad immortalitatem perducendo If you ask what he means by it I will enlarge his mind Our bodies do decay and decline every day more and more unto corruption necessarily because it is past the cunning of any mortal man to know precisely to a crum of bread what nourishment is best to fulfil the place of that which decays daily in our body but as for Christ scivit in alimento quantum necesse fuit sumere ad restaurationem deperditi He having the treasures of all wisdom hidden in him needed not the advise of any man to instruct him how the decays of nature being justly repaired could preserve his mortal body in a sound constitution for everlasting Scotus thinks this reason too weak and so do I also For although Christ had this inspection to discern wholsom from unwholsom in all the works of nature yet consumption and dissolution would happen to his body from two things The first prejudice to his health would be impuritas alimenti the earth and all the fruits thereof yield not such strength and vertue as they did before the Floud of Noah Si Adam habuisset alimentum nostrum mortuus fuisset senio says the same Schoolman very boldly if Adam in his best estate had been fed with such meats as we are and none besides age had brought him to his Grave Again there is potentiae nutritivae debilitatio that gentle heat which gives warmth to the faculty of concoction would have gone out like a candle in the socket and therefore it stands for a conclusion in his Divinity that a medicinal intelligence of herbs and fruits and other viands had not drawn out our Saviours life unto immortality There is a fourth reason how Christ could have restrained all agony and passion from his body for ever and it is without exception Death in a reasonable creature is the wages of sin they are relatives secundum esse so that a man may say here is a sinner and therefore a dead man here is the Tomb of a dead man and therefore the Grave of a sinner The next conclusion cannot be parted from the former for if Sin and Death be acus filum if one do draw the other after it then there must be some miraculous disposition in that mans body who is no sinner but innocent as an Angel of light and yet obnoxious to death as a vile transgressor Where then lies the miracle in the substance of our Saviour why thus the whole Manhood was united to the whole Godhead in the Union hypostatical but the influence the grace and priviledg of the Divine nature was not diffused over the flesh nay it cast not the celestial beams upon all the parts of his Soul till after the resurrection but it shined only upon the superior faculties of the will and understanding The strength then of our Samson did lye in capite in the Divine nature which he would not use to immortalize his Body before the Resurrection Potuit relaxare influentiam divinae naturae ut in inferiorem portionem redundarâ—t sayes Biel. It was a miracle then that He could confine the influence of his Godhead for a time to the superior faculties of the Soul and I think you will confess that there was no miracle done by necessity or compulsion but upon this presumption that the flesh was left unassisted of the Divinity there follows a threefold necessity of his death and dissolution The first is called necessitas naturae nature would have dropt away when it grew mellow ripe according to the course of humane constitution The second is called necessitas coactionis supposing the malice of the Jews and his obedience to unjust Authority he must have suffered by necessity of compulsion The third is called necessitas finis a necessity of death lay upon him from Gods eternal Decree to accompass the happy end preordeined which is mans Redemption But what is the fruit of this Doctrine now where are the sheaves to fill our bosom you will say now I doubt it not that Christ had power to lay down his life and to take it up Then enlarge your hearts to receive St. Austins Meditation Amplius tenemur Christo quod liberè voluit pati quà m quòd necessario Our engagement had been less if Christ had suffered by absolute and imperious necessity but we praise our God the more we bless him we magnifie him we give thanks unto him with the greater affection because our Sacrifice is of choice and liberty But I pass from the consideration of the mighty power which was in our Saviour Had he rejoyced like a Giant to run his course what death could have seized upon him had our Samson awoke out of sleep and shook himself no fetters could have held him But if you will lay your ear to the sweetest harmony that ever was tuned ad aquae lene caput sacrae if you will give attention to the soft and still bubling from whence sprung all our salvation voluit in a word he would not plead his innocency before Pilat he would be offer'd up he would be crucified It is a memorable accident which Plutarch doth report of a Sacrifice in Lacedaemon The Priests were in great distress for an unspotted Beast to be slain Satan no doubt desiring to supply them with fuel to kindle their Idolatry an unspotted Heifer swam over the River and laid it self down before the Altar I know not the truth of this Story but sure I am that I know a Sacrifice which will fit the Parable For when wrath had faln upon Mankind throughout all Generations and a burnt-Offering was wanting to appease the Lord to the end that Isaac and the Sons of Promise and Election might escape the blow of death the chief Ram of the Flock vir gregis even Jesus Christ thrust his horns into the Thicket and entangled his strength in the guilt of our sins so Isaac was saved and the Ram was sacrificed Voluit would he suffer was there no remedy but to cut off the Head to save the Body had not Christ humbled himself so far as to the death of the Cross yet had not our Redemption been finished by the ignominy of his poor Nativity the lowliness of submission to his Parents the pang of his Fastings the horror of his Agony in the Garden might not all other reproaches have ransomed his life This curious Question the Schoolmen ask therefore let them resolve it First says Biel
mitigate our pronity to evil nothing but death will quite stop and repress sin in us the wisdom of God providing that as sin brought death into the world so death should utterly abolish sin out of the world So death dissolves the works of the Devil but the Resurrection dissolves the works of death It is the last thing that the Saints desire of God to be cloathed again With that request being heard they leave wishing and the end of all desires must be the crown and top of all felicity Finally to bring it home to the Person of Christ whom God raised up much was our benefit by his Death but much more by his Resurrection For lay these two in comparison together to be eased of misery and to be brought into a state of joy and gladness Is not the addition of some good thing more thanks-worthy than the taking away of some evil Why thus it stands with those two blessings which our Saviour obtained for us they are the words of St. Austin I think Sicut humiliatus est moriendo ut nos liberaret à malis ita glorificatus est resurgendo ut nos promoveret ad bona As he was humbled unto death to deliver us from the evil of death so he was glorified by rising again that he might bring us to happiness and glory And of this great work of raising up enough at this once this being the tenth of these Easter Festivals wherein I have spoken upon the same Argument and occasion before you Yet I have a little to add before I leave this first Point touching the Agent and the Patient God was the Author of this great work and Christ in his own body returned again to life whom God raised up May not the Power and Majesty of Christ seem to suffer in this that St. Peter says God raised him up For our Saviour did often give the Jews to know that he would raise himself again from the dead on the third day Destroy this Temple and I will raise it up again in three days Joh. ii 19. And without any Parabolical speech Joh. x. 18. No man taketh my life from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again Why then doth not the Apostle clearly attribute unto him that he was the Author of his own Resurrection Because he spake of his Humane Nature first impotently obnoxious to Passion and then powerfully restored to life The Omnipotent vertue to revoke the soul into the body again was in the Divinity of Christ not in his Humane Nature Therefore Christ declareth in those words of St. John that it is not in the power of man to reserve the soul in the body when the pangs of death are upon it but for his own part though deadly wounds should be gashed in his body yet he had power through the union of his Godhead to stay his life and not to lay it down Likewise it is far from the ability of man to re-unite his Spirit to his Flesh when it is separated but the Divinity of our Saviour kept personal union with the body in the Grave and with the soul when it is flown away therefore he could bring them together again to remain in incorruption the ancient similitude was As a man that draws a Sword out of a Scabbard holds the Sword in one hand and the Scabbard in another So the Soul was unsheathed from the body but the Divine Nature held personal union with them both And as the Weapon is fit to be put into the Case that held it yet it cannot sheath it self without the hand of the Ownor thrust it in So the Soul of Christ was restored again to the body not by any vertue or activity in the humane soul but by the Power of God Christ was made like unto other men in all things sin only excepted and re-made or raised up like other men Si homo non vicisset inimicum hominis non justè victus esset says Irenaeus The Enemy of man was overcome by a man else he would have clamoured that he was overcome by Power and not by Justice Therefore St. Paul to let us know that Christ was left in death as man to be raised up says he As by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead Him God raised up him that man Christ Jesus that was crucified the self-same body let me touch upon that and then I will go on to new matter The Resurrection of our Lord is the Samplar of ours that very same material Flesh that died was revived again in him and so it shall be in us The impious Socinians the last and one of the worst and most pestilent Sects that ever was in the Church teach that we are not bound to believe it as an Article of Faith that we shall rise again in our own bodies Why then the same dead shall not rise again for if they want one essential part and the matter is one essential part of our composition it is not the same man Matter is the principle of individuation or numerical distinction say the Metaphysicks And the old Pythagoraeans could not deny in their Paradox of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if one mans soul came by many transmigrations into another mans body it was another man But leave we the help of humane reason though that be strong on our side and come to Divinity All the Ensamples or Preludiums of the Resurrection both in Old and New Testament were of such as had life restored to them in their own body the Shunamites Child the Widows Son Lazarus the Brother of Mary and Martha the Saints that came out of their Graves in the holy City and Christ himself that came out of the Sepulchre And let any equal Auditor judge if Job were not an Anti-Socinian Job xix 26. Though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall behold for my self and mine eyes shall see and not another And is it not equity that the righteous in the same body wherein they have worshipped God they shall be glorified that the wicked in the same body wherein they have lusted after evil things they shall be punished I will name no Fathers to Patronize this cause for all concur with one voice that as God raised up Christ so he will raise us up in our own bodies With the Resurrection of our Saviour which I have handled hitherto in the first part of my Text there is adjoyned in the next place the Complement of his Resurrection the full weight and excellency of it having loosed the pains of death Solutis doloribus inferni having loosed the pains of hell so the vulgar Latine and I will now go over the divers interpretations of both readings The first which is the reading of our Translation is the right and best therefore I will begin with that First St.
Jordan his Disciples being with him What did this advantage them why Mors Lazari cum Lazaro discipulorum fides surgit cum sepulto says Chrysologus Lazarus was translated from death to life and this did increase the Disciples faith which lay half dead before 2. Martha sollicits for her Brother and 't is strange that Christ came to Bethany on purpose for Lazarus sake and yet spent more time with Martha than with them all The case is plain says Theophylact 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alas her belief was near unto death almost quite gone and Christ came especially to quicken her with his grace that was Martha's resurrection 3. Her Sister Mary was a woful woman and she falls down in compassion about out Saviours feet St. Austin takes her to be the very same Mary that was the publick sinner which washt his feet with her tears and wip'd them with the hairs of her head Luke 7. whereupon he infers Maria peccatrix magis resuscitabatur quà m Lazarus Mary the Sinner was more revived when she was made a penitent Saint than Lazarus was when he was made a living man that was Marries resurrection 4. Here were divers Jews that came to comfort the two Sisters they were witnesses of this work and did glorifie God and believe Christ thanked his Father for it Whereupon says St. Ambrose Non unum Lazarum sed fidem omnium suscitavit it was a Resurrection day not for Lazarus alone but for the faith of all the multitude that were present whether they were the Disciples or Martha or Mary or the multitude of the Jews they had not been as they were if Christ had not made one in every part of the Miracle wherefore let us make a difference between them that came to gaze and them that came to believe a Miracle from the twelfth of this Gospel and the ninth verse The Jews came not only for Jesus sake but to see Lazarus also We come not together this day so much to see Lazarus reviv'd as to see the strength of Jesus above the power of death I have entred once before into this verse and the former both which rise up into two eminent heads like Tabor and Hermon First it is a work of great Dignity that 's one part and a work of great Divinity that 's the other part The Dignity consists in these two points First in that which Christ had spoken before when he had thus said and what was that he prayed unto his Father wherefore it is dignum oratione a work worthy of a Prayer for the preparation Secondly it is dignum proclamatione it was cried with a loud voice and fit to be publisht to all the world The Divinity appears in these three Circumstances 1. Exeat mortuus that a dead man was summon'd to appear 2. Exeat quatriduanus Lazarus after four days departure comes forth 3. Exeat ligatus he that was bound hand and foot with Grave-cloaths and his face with a Napkin he comes forth of the Monument O strange Divinity the Sepulchers which were shut did open for Christ did call who had the key of David the dead who lay in silence could hear his tongue for it was the same voice which makes the Hinds to bring forth young ones the Body which lay putrified four days gave no offence in the smel Christ was at hand who is a sweet favour for us unto God the feet which were bound with Grave-cloaths could walk before him for in him we live and move and have our being Was not this work worthy of a Prayer was it not worthy of a Proclamation so far I have gone already as likewise into the first Circumstance of the Divinity that a dead man was raised up As Aelian says of the Sybarites that they invite their Guests to a Feast a just year before the day of the Feast so long is it since I promised you the dispatch of this Text and now I am come to perform it you see what remains for this hours employment the two latter Circumstances Quatriduanus excitatur Lazarus is raised up after he had been four days in the Grave and 2 ligatus excitatur it was he that was bound hand and foot with Grave-cloaths and his face with a Napkin two strange parts of his resurrection not lightly to be passed over for to speak of a Miracle suddenly and in a word non dat lucem videntibus sed pavorem it is like lightning says one the flash that glides by of a sudden it may terrifie the eye but not enlighten it First of ille quatriduanus he came forth alive who had been four days asleep in the Monument It is hard to perswade death to part with any thing it hath gotten The Devil strove with the Angel about the Body of Moses think you that Death would not strive with Christ much more about the Soul of Lazarus what a Guest of four dayes continuance and let him go I may say to the Grave as the Prophet said to Ahab for letting Benhadad escape Why hast thou let a man go out of thy hand who was appointed to utter destruction Wherefore St. Chrysostom brings in Death to complain of this fact for a sore grievance on this wise Elias rais'd up a Child whose soul was departed for a time Elisha did as much likewise this I took for a violence done to nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but here 's a Conqueror that 's more violent than them both he takes a dead man out of my chaws who stinks and hath been four days in the Sepulcher The same Father replies again this is a small thing to raise up one from burial after four days do you complain of that what if he were putrified what if he were dry bones what if he were dust and clay yea what if that dust were converted into other creatures Adam shall be cloathed again with flesh Noah hath lived in two Worlds he shall live again in a third And according to the Basil Edition of the 72. Job was one of those that rose and appeared in the holy City unto many Matth. 27. Si attendamus quis fecit delectari debemus potiùs quà m mirari says St. Austin If we do but attend who it is that doth all these things we shall rather break out into a passion of Joy than into Admiration For Christ that died for us and rose again for our Justification he hath the Keys of Life and Death and therefore we shall not see corruption for ever Martha had a faith that God could raise up her Brother again and that He would do it if Christ would pray unto him I know even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God God will give it thee O Woman says Chrysologus thou art yet but of little faith Judex ipse est quem tu postulas Advocatum Wouldest thou make Christ thine Advocate to plead thy Cause Nay Comfort is nearer at hand he is the Judge whom thou
as when a bow-string is snapt in twain yet both parts of the strings do still remain in the nocks of the Bow So the body of our Saviour was holy and venerable because it retained the personal union of the Godhead and the Sepulcher where it was reposed deserved the attendance of an Angel Fourthly If not an Angel who else would be believed in so great a matter as this was Tell me who could give testimony beside that would be credited The Disciples were never so tardy to conceive never so unapprehensive in any thing else as in this They knew not as yet what the rising from the dead did mean Observe the talk of Cleophas and the other Disciple Luk. xxiv 21. And guess at all the company beside They confess Christ had been a Prophet mighty in word and deed whom Pilate and the Rulers had condemned to death and crucified but we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel As who should say being he is dead there is an end of our hope we look for no more redemption from him God loves to have better witnesses than these in all his works that we may not say he takes us unprepared we were not well wrought to credulity David said it in his haste what if he had said it upon premeditation All men are liars It was not fit so fundamental an Article of faith as this was should be preatcht at first time by lying lips nay rather by an Angel who was confirmed in grace that he would not lie And how little had the authority of any man swayed Mary Magdalen to believe when albeit an Angel had told her the truth how Christ was risen yet she distrusts and runs to Peter and John with a quite contrary tale that some body had taken away her Masters body and she knew not where they had laid it and therefore because an Angel could not put that faith into her Christ took it in hand and disclosed himself Fifthly An Angel appears at the mouth of the Grave after Christ came to life again who is the first fruits of our Resurrection which is in effect to promise that we shall be exalted after death to the society of Angels Thus a worthy Author observed it before me The finding of an Angel in the place of dead bodies is for a pledge that there is a possibility and hope that dead bodies may come into the place of Angels Why not the bodies in the Grave to be advanced in heaven one day as well as the Angels in heaven to be about the Grave this day And I pray you mark it with me There are many Apparitions of Angels recorded in holy Scripture yet this one time and no more if I be not mistaken an accurate description is made what manner of Robe and Garment they did seem to wear His countenance was like lightning and his rayment white as snow in the next verse to my Text. The Holy Ghost would never have instanced in the bright colour of the Garment but to shew with what Angelical shapes we shall be cloathed in the Resurrection 6. Lastly Angels desire to be present at every thing wherein mankind is benefited that they may rejoyce with us No envy no malignity in them that we shall be made perfect in both parts of nature both in body and soul and so in that respect exceed them who are only spiritual substances For they that rejoyce when one sinner is converted how much more do they rejoyce that all mankind shall be deliver'd from the Prisons of death and beautified with immortality they fought with the Devil about the Body of Moses they will strive with death and corruption about the restauration of our bodies For God will send forth his Angels and they shall gather his Elect from the four corners of the earth this is meant of their Ministry to rake up our bones and dust together at the great day of the Resurrection Surgente Christo terrenis redditur coeleste commercium now Angels came down in bodily shapes because Christ had exalted frail flesh unto incorruption now they talk familiarly to Gods servants as with the tongues of men because our tongues shall be made Psalteries of the divine praise for ever I have done with the Angels descent from heaven and now I come to the third motion which was particularly about our Saviours Sepulchre He came and rolled back the stone from the door When you hear that the door of our Saviours Sepulchre was a great stone and a stone rolled upon it you must not conceive the manner by such Tombs and Monuments as we have now adaies Neither will I refer you to those types and Medals which are printed now adaies and taken from the fashion of the Sepulchre which at this day is to be seen in the Holy City and is kept by certain Orders of Friars with great reverence For with what assurance can I say it is the same Sepulchre wherein our Saviour lay when Eusebius says that in the reign of Constantine the Emperor the place was nothing but a rude heap of earth so that there was no memory remaining of our Saviours Burial place But those of the learned that seem to me to speak probably say thus Jerusalem was seated upon a rocky place so that all their chief Monuments were digged out of stony Quarries Every Family of noble reputation as the learned Casaubon notes it out of the Rabbies had a Sepulchre proper to it self with a certain number of hollow places or excavations to receive the Corpses of that Family Some say there were wont to be thirteen in every Vault some say but eight In such a Vault belonging to Joseph of Arimathaea was Christ laid a rocky stony Moument it was lest some should say he was digg'd out by some secret Mine a new one wherein never any had been laid lest they should say not He but another body rose a Tomb not belonging to himself but to another man because he neither died nor was buried for himself but for us men and for our salvation St. Cyril helps us further to know that the Monuments of the Kings of Juda and Israel were raised a little above the ground but the Tombs of all others of that Nation who were under the Princely rank were hewn out seven cubits under ground Eusebius very directly says of his Tomb it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Cave but none so pat as the Prophet Jeremy Lam. v. 53. They have cut off my life in the dungeon and cast a stone upon me An hollow descension into a low place is called a Dungeon And as we cover a Wells mouth with planks of wood or with lead so in sundry places of Scripture it appears that they rolled great stones upon the mouth of their Caves And surely Joseph of Arimathaea barr'd this Sepulchre with a stronger stone than ordinary that our Lords body might not be abused by the malice of his Enemies
special priviledge not by common publication that which was a secret among some few is now vulgar to all God hath disclosed his hidden treasures to us as unto friends He was their Lord so he is ours but he is also our Father They were his servants and so are we but the interest we have in Christ that hath taken our nature upon him hath made us more than servants and exalted us to be his friends Hitherto I have held your attentions to the Supplicant now the Petition of his soul comes in order that he may depart The Servant had a burden that opprest him a frail and a corruptible body and he desires the Lord to ease him of it and to take it from him For so St. Ambrose and the Syrian Paraphrast read the word optatively Dimitte O take me away from hence and let me depart And they that say it is dimittis for dimittes the Present Tense for the Future bring it up to the same sense Lord thou wilt now let thy servant depart so Origen and St. Cyprian read it for the Hebrews use to make their Petitions in the future time as thou shalt hear my prayer in an acceptable time which is a fit form of words to ask in faith and not to waver as St. James says but the word here is Metaphorical in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as you would say in the native term Lord now lettest thou thy servant be unloosed as horses are taken from the Plough and set up to rest when they have drawn till Evening and are weary or to signifie says St. Ambrose that necessity compelled him to stay here Ideo dimitti poscit quasi à vinculis quibusdam ad libertatem festinaret therefore he desires to be let loose as if he had been enthraled like some Captive and now would shake off his bonds and attain his liberty This earth is not our Country therefore though we have an inbred desire to have the union of the body and soul maintained yet our willingness inclines to be uncloathed of the body rather than not go from hence when we are full of days Quis peregre constitutus non prepararet in patriam regredi says St. Cyprian that man were unnatural that affected to be a stranger and had rather travel always than settle himself at home in peace revolve in your memory the words of just men in holy Scripture and you shall find that this is common to them all to mourn and sigh because their pilgrimage was prolonged Wo is me that I am constrained to live with Mesech says David Who shall deliver me from the body of this death Says St. Paul It is enough Lord take away my life I am not better than my Fathers says Elias While the body was a Palace the soul was content to stay in it now it is become a filthy prison no wonder if it desires to be gone Let not Simeons Nunc dimittis nor this Doctrine be mistaken every mans willingness to leave this world and to die is not commended from hence but when it is joyned with patience and good internal motives especially when we find an aptness and good preparation in our selves that when we go from hence we shall be joyned to the Lord. There is no worse sign in some that God is departed from them than when they are sullen and froward with their life and care not which way they break violently out of the world so they may depart Seneca could say Mori velle non tantum fortis patiens set etiam fastidiosus potest that is not only stout men are resolved to die and such as are fortified against fear but the discontented that cannot bear his cross had rather lose himself than his peevishness good and bad upon several reasons are contented both to die and to live Sunt homines qui cum patientiâ moriuntur sunt autem quidam perfecti qui cum patientiâ vivunt says St. Austin There are some holy men that exercise their patience to be content to die there are some perfect men that exercise their patience to be content to live therefore the motives that induced Simeon to this must be sifted to make him an inoffensive nay a profitable example Salmeron the Jesuit follows a most capricious invention that this reverend Sire importuned God to put a period to his days as soon as Christ was born that he might be the first Nuncio to the Fathers that were in limbo and certifie them that the Messias was come into the world who would exalt them from that lowly condition in which they were held and conduct their souls into the Kingdom of heaven This is so extravagant that I give it you to note the man and the far-fetcht way of their expositions The true reason is that this cygnea cantio this farewel Song of his hath taught us that there is no terror in going to the Grave no sting in death since God appeared before us and became man to deliver our souls from the nethermost hell and to make our bodies like to his own most glorious body They that know not what their condition may be in the next world must needs think of death with an heavie heart and sigh and wring their hands when they feel it approaching He that could see Christ no otherwise than through the dark mists of the Law did count it somewhat an irksom thing to go out of the land of the living it was a good King of Judah that chattered like a Swallow when Isaiah told him he should live no longer But it is incredible to humane reason how it encourageth a faithful man to meet his death with chearfulness because though not in our own bodies yet in the Apostles and others we have seen we have heard and our hands have handled the word of life and that we know there is plentious redemption for us in Christ our Saviour Simeon knew the instant of his dissolution was at hand and yet he sang away the remainder of his life with joy as who should say Egredere ô anima fly away my soul fly away like a dove and take thy rest for now I see that the promises of grace and mercy are true here is Christ thy Saviour in thy hands thine eyes do see thine arms do support thy Salvation though thou departest thou shalt not go from him for he is man on earth to comfort thee and God in heaven to glorifie thee This is it which did animate Simeon to say Lord let me depart and therefore as the Patriarches in the time of the Law desired length of days upon earth that they might live to see the Messias so let us desire a joyful departure to be with him for evermore I proceed the time which he sets for the accomplishment of his Petition is presently or at that instant Now Lord now let c. Nunc ante hâc non item As who should say if I had been summoned to leave
is at an end we shall reign for evermore And because Christ did appear in Mount Tabor no otherwise than as he means to come to Judgment therefore he did qualify the light of his face to be no greater than the light of the Sun his body which is strange to consider shall have more resplendency than that mighty Lamp of Heaven but it is not for the Wicked to behold them they shall see him shine upon his Throne but with as little comfort as sore eyes gaze upon the Sun or with as little joy as we see flashes of lightning in a terrible thunder non dat lucem videntibus sed pavorem which is not sent to illuminate us in darkness but to agast us with the apparition Of this more at large hereafter But this is the second motive of this Miracle he transformed himself into that Majesty wherein He will judge the World Thirdly He did represent himself as the Argument and Idaea of that beautiful Reward which the bodies of the Just shall have in the General Resurrection The Pharisees required a Sign and Christ told them they should have no sign but the sign of the Prophet Jonas that a body being swallowed up in death should come to life again but these few Disciples over and above the Sign of the Prophet Jonas had the Sign of Transfiguration which is the dainty and delicate part of the Resurrection Say no more but that God will be the Redeemer of his Elect yet it would amuse a man to think what should become of this vile body every member whereof hath been a thousand times an instrument of iniquity well even this very naughty flesh shall have a beam of Divine mercy shine upon it it is impossible to make it ought in this life but a sink of corruption no Fuller upon earth can make it so white as God can In these days the Soul is full of bad concupiscence and the Body is made miserable Hereafter the Soul will be full of grace and the Body shall be made delectable And mark it that the Disciples had their item not to talk of these things till Christ were risen from the dead because the Transfiguration was intended to make up the complement of our joy touching the resurrection of the Body And to sink it deeper in our hearts that this brightsom alteration did not concern the Spirit but the Body his raiment was white and glistering which is no more than the shrowd of the Body In a word God did never reveal that He could take away the essential properties of a true Body and yet keep it a true Body they that believe so much believe beside the Book but in this Miracle appeared that God can add a celestial and beauteous form unto a Body so that the Sun in all his brightness shall not come near it This is the seed of that faith which St. Paul preacheth It is sown in dishonour it is raised in honour Praise the Lord therefore in Body and Soul since both shall be invested with a Royal Dignity to make them both fit for the society of Angels But herein we exceed the happiness of Angels they are glorious Spirits we shall be glorified both in body and spirit So the Prophet Isa lxi 7. They shall possess the double in their land everlasting joy shall be with them Duplicia possidebunt their Soul filled with the vision of God their Body transfigured in glory Fourthly this wants not a granes weight of a principal cause the Son of God in the dayes of his exinanition lookt like a person for this once of divine authority ut crucis scandalum tolleret that their minds might not be cast down with despair to see the misery of his Cross who had seen his glory upon Mount Tabor Now he lookt more Angelical than a Cherubin then he lookt more ruthful than the poorest Lazarus now the greatest in heaven did speak graciously unto him then the scum of the earth reviled him he than was glorified at one time could not be compelled to shame and ignominy but from his own patience and yielding would be crucified at another Sicut luctatores corpus inclinant sayes a Father Christ wrestled with Satan and though that old supplanter the Serpent did bruise his heel yet he could not get the Mastery Christ stooped low like a Lion couching for his prey and when he might seem to be cast down this was his feat to overturn his adversary Fifthly The fifth and last Reason hath a Moral Use There is an old man with his corruptions to be metamorphosed in us all sicut Pelias recoctus as the Fable goes that Medaea bathed the body of Pelias with certain magical drugs and from a decrepit old man transmuted him into a vigorous youth This is a figment for no man spent his young years so well to deserve at Gods hands in this world to be young again but there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a renovation in the spirit of our mind God will not know us in our own form and filthiness unless we put on the Image of Christ As Jacob obtained his Fathers blessing not in his own shape but in the Garments of Esau so we must sue our blessing having put on the righteousness of Christ then the Lord will receive his servant and say unto thee as Jacob did unto Esau I have seen thy face as though I had seen the face of God You have heard the final cause more wayes than one why this Miracle was wrought I may speak somewhat of the efficient cause how this splendor was derived and further than so I must not proceed now because of the time Many obscure points will come to light by asking this question Whether this lightsom beauty like the Sun did appear in our Saviour's face from the beatification of his humane Soul or from the union of his Divine nature First you must understand that the great School-man Aquinas took the best end of the cause into his hand when he answered to neither of those two members but rather to the purpose of the question in this wise fuit haec qualitas gloriae sed non corporis gloriosi quia nondum erat immortalis this Transfiguration was a quality of glory but not of a glorified body because He was not yet passed death and raised up to be immortal and impassible In this distinction is covertly included that it was not such a brightness as the Soul shall communicate to the Body when it is reunited in a joyful resurrection but was created at this time by the Divine power to foretel and shadow what would come to pass with much increase in the Kingdom of God Praelibatio regui Dei fuit haec transfiguration says Cajetan this was but the Landskip or Pattern of the true happiness which shall be in the Kingdom of Heaven It was a far more excellent splendour than that of Moses or Stephen upon earth but not so perfect or proper
as is derived from a Soul that is perfectly beatified Moses his face did shine like a God when he came down from the Mount yet it was ab externo colloquio because he had been a Companion with God Christs face did shine ab innatâ gratiâ potentiâ not because he was the Companion of God but because he was very God and was the fountain of all grace and beauty to communicate it to others Neither was St. Stephens irradiation any more than a preparative of the Resurrection and a declaration of his innocency to make the Council afraid of wrong judgment all that lookt upon him saw his face as it had been the face of an Angel But that which hapned to our Saviour was not from an external gift as Stephen saw Christ standing at the right hand of God but from an internal influence and emanation of the Deity Moses and Stephen were but Passengers and not to be compared in any sort of excellency with their Lord who was God and Man Yet by the dispensation of the Divine Power it was not such a total illumination in Christ as results from the Soul unto the Flesh when both shall come to appear before the living God The reasons are very full and home for the proof 1. The Soul in the state of eternal happiness shall derive amiable splendour to all the outward parts of the Body but no further In this present case the very garments were changed into such an outward gloss as the like was never seen Therefore this must be some brightness created for this instant by the Deity 2. Splendour is but one of the Ornaments of a glorified Body when the Soul doth transfuse the benefits of beatification into it it shall be a Spiritual Body it shall be nimble to pass from place to place like an Angel or like a thought likewise it shall not be obnoxious to death or dolour where were these Because therefore this was but a partial not a total glorification it flowed not from the Soul 3. It was not so large not so complete a claritude and beauty as will adorn the Lamb of God hereafter but a pittance and measure attemper'd for their weak reception that should see it His face did shine like the Sun What but like the Sun so much is promised to the faithful that they shall shine like the Sun in the Kingdom of his Father And think you that the Lord is not greater than the Servant and shall much excel that proportion of glory which we expect Therefore Lyra sayes this was an Ornament of the same true glory which we shall have hereafter quantum ad essentiam sed non quantum ad modum it had the very essence and truth of such illuminated brightness as the righteous shall have in Paradise but it had not such an ample measure and proportion 4. To make it sure and uncontradicted that this was not like to that glory which shall be derived from the Soul in eternal joy that is dos connaturalis this is passio transitoria Then it shall be a natural endowment never to be separated away Now it was but a transient passion soon on and as soon off again even as soon as ever the voice from Heaven had spoken Permanency unchangeableness never altering Eternity are so proper to future blessedness that without them it is not to be imagined St. Paul was elevated by the Divine grace to see and hear things unutterable in this rapture that is as I believe he saw the very Divine Essence in a short prospect and away yet Paul by this exceeding favour was none of the Beati till after his dissolution none of the Classis in St. Matthew Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God quia beatitudo denotat permanentiam Beatitude is not the participation of the best thing in the World for a little time but for ever and ever THE SECOND SERMON UPON The Transfiguration LUKE ix 29 30 31. The fashion of his Countenance was altered and his Raiment was white and glistering And behold there talked with him two wen which were Moses and Elias IN a well laid description an Artist represents things that are absent so verily so lively as if they were before us As Scaliger says of Virgil he did not read it in his verses but did even see the Mountain Aetna belching out fire and impestred with smoke and vapour But no Art so powerful in mans Writings to call back things that are done and past and to cloath them with such significant words as if they were before us like to the Pen of the Holy Ghost Do but observe for our present instance how St. Matthew began to delineate the beauty of Christ transfigured how St. Mark added fresh colours to make it appear more excellent and then how St. Lukes Pencil cometh after all and finisheth the Picture and you will say upon attentive heed these are not words which we read but even Christ himself in his Majestique glory St. Mathew begins thus His face did shine as the Sun and his raiment was white as the light Doth not this call the Idaea of your Lord into your mind as if your eye beheld him He said much for the face St. Mark speaks loftier for the Garment His raiment became shining exceeding white as snow so that no Fuller on earth can white them Then St. Luke neither compares him to the Sun above nor to the Snow beneath but says enough to make us conceive that positively it was a greater splendor than could be likened to any created thing The fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistering A vegetous faith is able to say unto a Mountain be removed into the Sea and it shall be removed much more is it able to carry the soul into the highest heaven into the presence of God by such a stedfast apprehension as it cannot judge it self whether it be in the body or out of the body Thus let every mans faith say at this time unto his Soul be thou removed into Mount Tabor thrust in with Peter and James and John perswade thine heart thou seest as much by relation as ever they saw by apparition there is thy Saviour having laid down the austere front of a Judge and looking like a specious Bridegroom The fashion of his countenance was altered c. Now that you may hear things laid down in order for a stay to your memory you will grant unto me that there are two things which make a spectacle to be wishly look'd upon Res mirae personae miâ—ae strange and uncouth things strange and unexpected persons Come therefore and see most rare things in the first part of my Text Christ even now an object in which you could discern nothing but poverty and humility Momento turbinis and as quick as a flash of lightning He hath put on such a countenance and such apparel as the clearest day light and the driven
away one opinion of St. Austins as quite out of the cancels of truth and then proceed He doth not deny but the dead through Gods concession may upon such occasions as the Lord directs them to appear unto the living he cites Samuel brought up by the Witch of Endor to speak with Saul What if that were not Samuel but an evil Spirit or an Imposter he cites Ecclesiasticus He objects what if that Book be refused because it is not in the Canon of the Hebrews Then he cites our present instance of Moses and Elias yet he falls off again and thinks the Saints themselves appear'd not but seem'd to appear by the Ministry of Angels Many times in the Old Testament when the Angel is sent from God as a Legate He speaks in the person of his King I am the Lord thy God therefore he presumes that Angels in this place might be called by the names of Moses and Elias for whom they appeared The same most excellent Author is more orthodox in other places upon this point This cannot well consist Christs glory was true and not ficticious it betokened a true estate of blessedness to us miserable men hereafter therefore it cannot piece well together that all this should be confirmed by ficticious and imaginary Witnesses Now I venture forward and first I will speak of Elias how he came in his own body then of Moses I have a reason for it and St. Mark 's words ly so there appeared unto them Elias with Moses In what body should Elias be an assistant to Christs glory now but in the same body wherein He was taken up in a whirlwind to Heaven Henoch and Elias were ever parallelled to be of the same condition in Gods favour that their Body was never dissolved from the Soul but in their whole substance assumed up on high Some Jewish Rabbins have presum'd to teach more than Scripture that the Bodies of Henoch and Elias were dissolved into Elements in their rapture and nothing but their Soul was received into Abrahams bosom I smell the leaven of the Sadduces in those Rabbies for certainly the origen of it came from such as they who resisted the truth that a Body could not be exalted to heavenly places Is not St. Paul enough to silence all tongues of that language Heb. xi 5. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death If Enoch did not see death in his translation and that 's the fair letter of the Scripture no more did Elias Says Epiphanius Henoch and Helias their Bodies and Souls were never parted but remain undivided for ever Henoch lived a married life Elias was a Virgin to shew that continency in Marriage and Virginity shall both be glorified in the great day of the Resurrection Thus Epiphanius and I could name a multitude of concurrents who are advowers of the same sentence They that list to be contentious gainsay this Doctrin touching Elias his Body that it never was corrupted from the common theme of mans mortality Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. v. 12. Death passed upon all men what 's that but a just Sentence and Decree and none can say Why am I born to dy But there is mercy and power in the Most High to spare and to execute his Decree upon whom he pleaseth Heb. ix 27. Statutum est that presseth home says the Antagonist it is appointed unto men once to dye that 's the Text indeed but not statutum est omnibus it is appointed unto all men once to die as some do read it The ordinary end of men is death but God hath his exemptions and priviledges to limit that Statute I tell you a mystery says St. Paul We shall not all die but we shall all be changed there 's one limitation They that are found upon the earth at the second coming of Christ shall not die but shall be snatcht up with Christ in glory non separatione formae sed immutatione qualitatum their Soul shall not be taken of the Body but corruptible qualities shall be taken from the Body So it was in Elias his Rapture the Body was not destroyed but only that corruption which was in his Body Again it is appointed unto men once to die semel once and no more Yet the Shunamites Son Jairus Daughter Lazarus and many others brought back from their Graves died twice there 's another limitation of the Statute Nothing concludes from thence but that Elias his Body was never dissolved in that Body wherein he talked with God at Mount Horeb in the same Body he heard God talk to his Son at Mount Tabor about the time of the Transfiguration But as for Moses after what manner he came to Christ in the shape of a Body I cannot speak with any certainty To hold that the elements were compacted into the figure of a Body that he might use it for that occasion and then disperse it into air when the mysterie was finished hath an ill relish in it because imaginary shapes like Pageants to be set up for a while and strait taken down again were not fit demonstrations of the truth of the Resurrection Damascen observes wittily that it is likely how the Promise which God did long before make to Moses was now fulfilled Exod. xxxiii 23. That thou shalt see my back parts but my face shall not be seen meaning says he that the eye of man could not see his Divinity but he should have the honour to see Christ incarnate That is not unfitly called posteriora or exteriora Dei the out parts or the Veil of the Godhead Now was that desire of Moses fulfilled and the Son of Man in excellent beauty stood before him but had he not seen him with his own eyes all had not been according to his first desire and affection And me-seems that this conjecture is not weak if Elias had appeared in his own flesh Moses but in a phantastical shape this had derogated from the dignity of Moses who was the Prophet than whom none was greater from the Law to John the Baptist The Jews oppress us again with their figments in a second opinion saying that Moses was so beloved of God that he never saw death but continued in his Body for ever as Elias doth Josephus tells us his mind herein so plainly that I perceive the most did follow him that when Joshuah and Eleazar had parted with Moses upon Mount Nebo he was taken away from them in a Cloud and advanced to Heaven but to make the people quiet that they might not talk too much of his exaltation and attribute too much honour unto him he left it written that he died in the Land of Moab But this doth peremptorily contradict the Holy Word in divers places He died and was buried in a Valley in the Land of Moab Deut. xxxiv 6. according to the word of the Lord. That word is in the same book Deutr. xxxii 50. Thou
through him might be saved And indeed the best that we can say of the Figure is That it was harmless and no very Serpent But it were dotage to suppose that the material thing had any secret vertue of restauration no more than the Figure of the Cross upon the post-fact is operative a superstition which our Church hath justly disclaimed He sent forth his word and he healed them says David it was Gods Word and Promise that cured them and not the brazen Element But Christ conteined remedy in himself and in his all-sufficient Sacrifice For the Son of righteousness did arise with healing in his wings Mal. iv 2. What hath he not healed if we will lay the plaisters of his Passion to our sins By his Poverty he hath condemned Covetousness by his charitable Prayers for his enemies implacable malice by the price for which the holy One was bought and sold Sacriledge by his Crown of thorns Ambition by the humility of his Cross Pride by his Gall and Vinegar Luxury by his Patience Impatience by his infinite Love Envy all his torments were preservatives against poison every part of him is sanity And that not only because this Figure was unvenomed but chiefly because it was a dead lump and not a living Serpent Mortuus serpens vivos superabat says Macarius The living Serpents were charmed by the dead one that they had no power to kill The bloud of Christ purgeth us from our sins and his death was our victory against death that we might live for ever It was well done of Nicodemus to spare no cost to imbalm his body It was piously done of Mary Magdalen to pour her precious Ointment upon his head against the day of his burial for therein we became the savour of life unto life and his Funeral was our immortality As Samson found his honey comb in the Carkass of the Lion so the Church finds sweetness in the bitterness of his Passion Caiaphas did not feel the vigour of his own Prophesie it slipt from his tongue and not from his heart That it was expedient that one man should die for the sins of the people His Successors contradict it obstinately to this day and controul it thus How can he save us that is crucified I return them an answer from my Text How could a dead lump of Brass expel their poison that were wounded If they depended upon a thing inanimate for the life of their body wherefore do they not attend the mystery that they must depend upon a Saviour put to death for the life of their Soul Attenditur serpens ut nihil valeat serpens attenditur mors ut nihil valeat mors says St. Austin The Jews look'd upon a Serpent to be freed from Serpents and Christians look upon death to be delivered from death There is one analogy more to be collected out of the unity of the Figure One Serpent was lifted up for the general preservation of all the Camp of Israel Not twelve distinct ones according to the number of their Tribes and much less no uncertain multiplication according to the number of their Families Nulla salus sine unitate The hope of health and remedy is founded in unity Our Gods are not Plural our Redeemers are not many they that have divers Saviours have never a Saviour They that have tutelary Martyrs for almost every Church and Patron Saints distinctly for every Kingdom they have so many Serpents lifted up and they look so many ways that their wounds stink and are corrupt through their foolishness and they prosper no way We have one head to which the body is knit one Shepherd to guide the Flock one corner stone in the building one Serpent in the Wilderness One Mediator between God and man the man Jesus Christ An infinite vertue can admit of no co-partnership I tremble at their infidelity that frame Scholastical Cases out of their own brain how others are subservient to the Son of God in the work of our Redemption But he says I have trod the wine-press alone and of the people there was none with me Isa lxiii 3. Whether an Israelite chanced to be stung in the head or in the face whether upon the breast or in the lower parts of the body one Serpent upon the Pole was enough to heal all So we have sins original and actual of commission and omission of ignorance infirmity and presumption of thought word and deed Vndique morsus we are stung from the crown of the head to the soul of the foot But as all are dead so one died for all that they which live should not live unto themselves but unto him that died for us and rose again Now for the material part out of which this Figure was carved it was not wrought in stone The Law was written in Tables of stone but grace and mercy are of another complexion It was not Silver or Gold though they in some sort are most correspondent in nature with Serpents for they are the bane of godliness and justice but we were not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious bloud of Christ as of a Lamb undefiled It was erected in the strong and durable substance of Brass For one Generation passeth away and another cometh but the vertue of Christs Cross is perpetual and endures for ever It is not my excogitation but Isidors In serpente mortuus in aere aeternus Dead as the Serpent upon the Pole but durable as the Brass because the benefit of his death continues always Therefore his bloud is called The bloud of the everlasting Covenant Heb. xiii 20. Sooner shall all the brazen Pillars and Monuments upon earth be resolved into dust than one jot of this Covenant should be violated the merit of his Passion makes intercession for us continually before his Father and never ceaseth Behold our Pardon is engraven in Brass never to be blotted out it is too strong to be dissolved I look not upon that which is fluxive and changeable but upon a propitiation in Brass Yet not upon the Altar of Brass lest the Israelites should think that their own Sacrifices of Sheep and Oxen did help them but upon the Serpent of Brass to let them perceive that it was the Sacrifice of Christ that healed them Beside could a Statue of Brass endure more injuries than were laid upon the tender body of our Saviour Could an Anvile sustain more stripes and blows When Job began to sink under the pressure of his afflictions says he Is my strength the strength of stones Or is my flesh of brass He was a man that had the courage to suffer much yet he had not a brazen body infirmity made him sink and wish for death but Christ endured for our sakes as a man of brass I pray God we have not hearts of steel that do not consider it Above all the Prophets Isidore doth well to call Jeremy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most passive of
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
Chrysostomes judgment upon it is that when Christ came out of the Grave death it self was delivered from pain and anxiety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 death knew it held him captive whom it ought not to have seized upon and therefore it suffered torments like a woman in travel till it had given him up again Thus he But the Scripture elsewhere testifies that death was put to sorrow because it had lost its sting rather than released from sorrow by our Saviours Resurrection Secondly Cajetan understands by the loosening of the pains of death the undoing or taking off those penalties which he suffered in triduo mortis in those three days while he lay asleep in the Sepulchre But what penalties are those in his construction Why one thing irksom unto him was that the body and soul should be divided in sunder the other that the very place of hell to which his soul descended is in it self ordained for torment Et mora in inferno erat paena infamiae as another said any stay or delay in hell was a derogation to his honour and for the body resting in the Grave though then it have no sense of smart yet for that while it is sub mortis victoriâ imperio under the charge and Empire of death There is somewhat near to truth in this Exposition as I will manifest by and by and somewhat clean mistaken For all the sorrow and punishment of Christ was finished in his death that was the consummation of all his penal sufferings Wherefore his body was not kept in the Grave much less his soul made progress to Hell to bear any penalty revenge or sorrow for our sakes or to satisfie for our sins but to fulfill all righteousness to confirm our faith that he was truly dead and to captivate the Devil Therefore his Resurrection did not cut off or mitigate any sorrows which he sustained in death I cannot consent to Cajetan if he mean the contrary But if he take not sorrows in a proper signification but Metaphorically for the bands of death as the Syrian Paraphrast reads it Solvens funes mortis loosening the cords or twists of death so I think it to be the very marrow and true sense of the Text that God raised up his Son not Christ but God the sense continuing in the same person having loosened or unbound him from that death wherein he was detained three days But if it agree to the Person of Christ that he loosed the pains of death though it be a little violence to Grammer me thinks then thirdly it comes to this interpretation that Christ had paid you know that is solvere too he had undergone he had satisfied the pains of death or a most painful death So Beza says it may be taken here Dolores mortis pro morte dolorum The pains of death for a death full of pains even all that spight and malice could wreck upon him Andradius likewise in his defence of the Tridentine Faith agrees with Beza that Christ after he had given up the Ghost and paid the debt of Nature upon the Cross was acquitted or exempted from the sorrows of death that is from a death full of sorrows sorrows that were not only deeply impressed into the body as far as whips and thorns and nails could reach but exceeding anguish and pain of mind sighs and horrors that we can not conceive Thus far only we may peep into it that God was represented to him most â—ngry at our sins that He felt the malediction of his wrath lying upon him for our sakes especially that He was troubled to shed his bloud for so many ungrateful wretches that had no regard of it these were the sorrows of death that compassed him about but that He should put on the horror of our guiltiness so far and suppose himself to stand in our person at his Fathers Tribunal even to the forgetting of himself to the confusion of his reason to the pangs of desperation as if He felt hell about him whatsoever a grave and worthy Author says to this point upon my Text and in other places I draw my consent from it Exceeding sorrows both of body and mind gat hold of him but they were loosened and finished upon the Cross But will some man say why doth St. Luke speak of these in order after his Resurrection I answer that Christ satisfied the wrath of God to the full upon the Cross and paid that debt for which He was our surety to the utmost farthing Thereby He loosed the deadly sorrows yet it did not appear so well that He had loosed those sorrows till the time He rose from the dead therefore the victory over those sorrows being estated as it were in his rising again St. Luke ascribes it to his resurrection I have not spared you see to open this third and most common opinion unto you yet I rather satisfie my self in this Interpretation that as it was Gods work to raise up Christ so it was his act to loose the pains of death solvere i. e. irritum reddere all that the pains and sharpness of death could do was to divorce his Soul from his Body and God did frustrate and dissolve all that by uniting them again in the Resurrection And according to this true reading of the words which I have hitherto beaten upon the Expositions are easie and full of consolation full of consolation I say for neither could the Scripture say that the sorrows of death were all paid neither had it been possible for Christ to have got out of the Grave if there had been any one sin though the least in the world unsatisfied The other reading is strange to the Original yet admitted by all them that are bound even to the errors of the vulgar Latin Translation and often quoted and cited for great authority in some Controversies solvens dolores inferni having loosed the pains of Hell 'T is true that Irenaeus and some others of good credit of old do use the same and our Criticks tell us of one antient Greek Copy that concurrs with them and a learned Bishop of our own Church reconciles the seeming difference on this wise that by death in that place is meant not the first but the second Death the second Death you know is eternal punishment in Hell fire and in his opinion it comes all to one pass to say having loosed the sorrows of death and having loosed the sorrows of hell This will be examined by and by but first I will premise how some have blundered themselves in this reading St. Austin in that famous Epistle of his to Evodius propounds it though very faintly that it is not improbable that the Soul of Christ went into Hell in triduo mortis and carried away with him some that were there tormented and if none other were released yet at least Adam was If the Father can be expounded to mean that Christ blotted out the hand-writing against us harrowed Hell and
wouldst make an Advocate It is in his own power to raise up thy Brother after four days Two days our Saviour abode beyond Jordan after Lazarus was dead and after he set forward to Bethany he made two days Journey of it before he came to the place all this while the Prisoner was fast lockt up under the Gates of Death Belike Lazarus could not be released till Christ came unto the Cave where he was laid No such necessity Beloved Vbicunque Christus steterat patebant inferi Hell must open her mouth in any place where Christ did set his foot nay in any place where he should but say unto the Grave I will be thou opened Therefore another Reason must be given why Lazarus staid until the fourth day for his Enlargement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostom Jonas and Lazarus both were Servants they must not jump with Christ in the same Privileges in every thing then the Servant should be equal with his Master Jonas came out of the Whales Belly the third day so did Christ out of the Tomb but Jonas was alive and Christ was dead there was the Difference between the Servant and the Master Christ rose from the dead and so did Lazarus but Christ the third day and Lazarus the fourth there 's the Difference between the Master and the Servant The Resurrection of the dead is an Article of the Creed ingendred in the heart by a very strong Faith 't is mirabilium mirificentia as one says The astonishment of all admiration and when it shall be reported by the Women that an Angel told them it the best of them all will doubt Thomas and many more will flatly deny it What deny that Christ could quicken himself the third day when he raised up Lazarus the fourth Lazarus was unto Christ as Aaron's Rod was unto Aaron The Sedition of Dathan and Abiram opposed Aaron and would not acknowledge him to be the High Priest That shall be tried says the Lord and Aaron's Rod which was a dry stick budded buds and bloomed blossoms as if it had been living more than all the other Rods of the Tribes of Israel So Lazarus was laid up in the Cave like the Rod of Aaron in the Tabernacle and when his life was restored the fourth day it proved that Christ could build up the Temple again in three days which they had pluckt down before What shall we say then That the Resurrection was more wonderful in Lazarus by one day than in Christ himself Nothing less For Christ was raised up by his own power and Lazarus by the power of Christ Christs death was violent his very heart as some think was digg'd through with the Souldiers Spear Lazarus his death was natural and no principal part of his body was wounded or impaired Si aliud videtur vobis mortuus aliud videtur occisus if it be one thing to die in the peace of nature and another thing to be made away by violence Ecce Dominus utrumque fecit here are examples of both that returned to life Christ the third day from the death of violence Lazarus the fourth day from the death of nature both are from the Lord. As a Servant said of an unlucky day wherein all things went cross huic diei oculos eruere vellem he vished the Sun had never shined upon it So this fourth day hath not a little troubled Satan Upon the fourth day Gen. i. 14. God set lights in the Firmament to what end to divide the day from the night and the light from the darkness Periisti Satana this is a fatal day with the Devil who would have mingled night with day and darkness with light but now his works are discovered The fourth year hath been as climacterical unto him and as much out of his way in the 13. of St. Luke and the 7. verse These three years says the Lord of the Vineyard I have lookt for fruit and find none now I will cut down the Vine nay says the Dresser of the Vineyard stay but this year also and the fourth there are hopes it will bring forth grapes and please the Lord. To say thus much for our Evangelist St. John the fourth Evangelist gave the shrewdest blow to the stratagems of Satan and hath so prov'd the Divinity of Christ almost in every verse that Ebion and Cerinthus were confounded and Heresie is proved a lyar to her face for ever Even so was this number critical unto death in the Resurrection of Lazarus three days he was given for lost and upon the fourth day Christ cried with a loud voice Lazarus come forth There is a moral sense besides that whereof I have spoken and that is like fine flower boulted out of the Letter and it yields like the bread which our Saviour broke to the multitude and will satisfie thousands Death was the reward of sin In that Lazarus was dead and buried I read the Parable of a sinner upon his Sepulcher In that he was four days dead he must be magnus peccator says St. Austin no small offender can be meant by that but a grievous sinner Where have you laid him says Christ O what a dreadful question is that Lord know me for one of thy children but know me for a sinner rather than not know me at all Let it not be said unto me Depart from me I know you not Projectus sum à facie oculorum tuorum says David in the person of a castaway I am cast out of the sight of thine eyes Perditum nescit ubi sit it is Gods language he pretends he sees not them he knows not them that were lost Adam where art thou says God O Adam that question had confounded thee if Christ had not answer'd for thee Loe I come Where are the other nine says Christ of the Lepers de ingratis quasi ignotis loquitur ungrateful men were not in Christs Book he knows not what becoms of them nor whither they wander so to enquire of Lazarus as if he knew not where he was laid is to set him forth as the similitude of a great sinner ubi posuistis where have you laid him nay but this agrees not perchance with his Sisters message He whom thou lovest is sick and again See how he loved him Yes it agrees full well Si peccatores non amaret Deus de coelo non descenderet it was out of a most compassionate love that God descended from heaven to save sinners Behold he lov'd him and yet Lazarus stands for the Parable of a sinner That foundation is laid and then you shall know the better what is meant by lying four days in the Sepulcher First we are all dead born man as soon as he sees the light his heart is in darkness he brings the seeds of original sin with his frail flesh into the world and then he is dead one day 2. Nature hath dictated a Law unto us The Gentiles are a Law unto themselves sais St.
express when Christ did appear to his mother after his Resurrection to shew he was no accepter of persons in way of carnal Affinity He did appear to more than five hundred brethren at once doubtless she was one of them he did appear to the eleven and to them that were gathered together with them Luk. xxiv 33. I may suppose the Blessed Virgin was there because she was John's charge to take her with him but certainly she was none of that Train which came early in the morning with Mary Magdalen to the Sepulcher Then let us proceed and say from hence that God hath done great honour to this Sex to make them the first Instruments that should know and declare his Resurrection Where were the Apostles at this time Alas they were terrified and had â—â—ielded like Men to the Passions of the Flesh they were shut up close for fear of the Jews and durst not shew their heads only a few Women which had followed Christ were more adventurous than all the rest and as if it irked them to care for their Life any longer since the Life of the World was put to death una salus nullam sperare salutem they step out boldly let come what will Wherefore to give you St. Austins words Munus Apostolicum viris creptum ad breve tempus eis resignat the Apostolical Office was taken from the Disciples for a time and it was given to them to preach that wonderful work of God Christ risen from the dead Audentes tu Christe juvas you shall lose nothing to be couragious in a good cause that great glory to see the Son of God in a vision now alive again was given to them that did adventure to find him Secondly none wept so much for his death as these tender-hearted souls the Daughters of Jerusalem they were the first that mourned and they are the first that be comforted the greatest partakers of grief for his passion are made the first partakers of joy for his Resurrection Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted And if there be any that repine much at their own daily misfortunes who say they have buâ—â—â—ttle joy in this world let them strike their hand upon their brest and say it is because they have taken but little grief Jesus is our Passeover that was sacrificed for us but you heard the Ceremony read to day which God appointed the Lamb must be eaten with sower herbs or else you must not taste of the Passeover Christian whosoever thou be that art taught this day what a victory thy Saviour obtained against the Grave and against the nethermost Hell if thy heart be not replenished with joy upon the tidings if it do not assure unto thee the seal of the Divine Promise which is the earnest of thine inheritance it is because thou hast not eaten sower herbs with the Passeover Thou hast not yet afflicted thy voluptuous heart sufficiently as Mary Magdalen did and the other women before they came unto the Sepulcher Thirdly women are the first witnesses in daily Childbirths how we are born into this world children of wrath and God hath revealed to their knowledge in the first place how we shall be made alive again and become heirs of salvation For Resurrection is the birth of the dust and when the Grave had given up the dead body of Christ these women came as it were unto the labour much about the time that the Monument did groan even when an Earthquake had gone just before it Once it was their curse to have a woe pronounced upon them In dolore paries In sorrow shalt thou bring forth Children Gen. iii. 16. Now they see another manner of travel that God can quicken us to life again not miserably but triumphantly and the earth shall give up the dead with joy and gladness Fourthly we may well know him to be the same Christ who was crucified and rose again the third day because he chose no better witnesses than these were for so great a mystery The world it may be will contemn such simplicity of the Spirit but because it so pleased our Saviour Mary Magdalen and the women are most authentick witnesses and beyond all exception Shepherds address unto his cratch where he was born Women unto his Tomb where he was risen from the dead that you may see how Satans method of deceiving is quite contrary to Gods method of saving The Devil dealt all by craft to tempt our first Parents in the shape of a Serpent and Christ deals all by simplicity and innocency through the testimony of Shepherds through the testimony of Women If you be hard to believe the things which were very strange at his Nativity and at his Resurrection examine these persons and ye shall have plain truth without tricks and turnings A righteous cause needs not a supportance by Art and subtilty a piercing wit may find a way to make a bad action seem good but when the action is without controversie good already the devices of a sharp wit will never make it seem better for truth is least suspected when it is not varnished over with Policy Lastly To end this Point among all other women Mary Magdalen the great sinner is with the first that comes unto the Sepulchre to refresh our conscience which is opprest with the fore burden of iniquity that our Redeemer liveth to gratifie repentant sinners in especial wise that fly unto his mercy If it were fit for Mary to bury her sins in that Grave it will be fit likewise for thee and me Repentance may be described to be the Resurrection of the soul from the death of sin And this Resurrection from sin which I may call Metaphorical hath a fast interest none so sure as it in Christ as he comes forth from the darkness of the grave and shines upon the world All men shall be restored to life just and unjust for the Son of God redeemed the whole nature of man from the corruption of the Grave and the Devil did utterly lose jus mortis the whole dominion of death because our Saviour being an innocent was put to death over whom he had no dominion But the glory of our Saviours victory was to conquer two at once Hell and Death So the Prophet Hosea cries out in form of an Epinicium O death where is thy sting O hell where is thy victory And from his own voice he declares his glory Rev. i. 18. I am he that liveth and was dead behold I am alive for evermore and have the keys of Hell and of Death Therefore this great Festival is the penitent sinners holy day for whose sakes both the Keys are turned for whose sakes both the Gates are opened that the soul may pass from the judgment of Hell and the body from the rottenness of corruption And thus it appears why Christ was first seen of Women in his bodily manifestation after death It was granted to their couragious attempt that durst
and be utterly annihilated So an unbeliever who knows of no better condition that shall befall him than happens to Beasts that is not established in faith that though worms eat this Body in the Grave yet our Soul shall be cloathed with flesh and bone and enjoy an everlasting union in the highest places this man looks upon death as the extremity of all evils in which there is nothing but irreparable loss a thing that can admit of no consolation Resurrection is the edg of all valour and fortitude there can be no courage without it In assurance of it there is no sting there is no terror in our dissolution Says St. Paul Why stand we in jeopardy every hour why have I fought with beasts at Ephesus if the dead rise not as who should say there 's the encouragement of all that endure for the name of Christ Now these Souldiers whom the Jews obtein'd of Pilate to watch the Sepulcher were so far from apprehending this comfort that this Tabernacle of ours when we lay it down is sequesterd for a time till God restore it again out of the dust that they kept that place on purpose that there might be no resurrection According to their great demerits therefore those that were the most envious adversaries of life did shake for fear and became as dead men Fourthly the Souldiers feared exceedingly because they had been aiders to the malice of the Jews to crucifie Christ now when they saw the Sepulcher open the stone rolled away the Angel sitting upon it and by these signs the Resurrection declared that He whom they had put to death most barbarously was greater than death and Lord of the Angels their guiltiness must needs shake them to pieces and extreme horror stare them in the face When St. Peter came to that verse of his Sermon Act. ii 36. God hath made the same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ The Jews that heard this they were pricked in their hearts and cried out Men brethren what shall we do St. Chrysostom says that many of those who had cried out in Pilate's Judgment-Hall Crucifie him crucifie him were at the Sermon so perhaps those Souldiers that had cast lots upon his Vesture and he that thrust the Spear into his side was at the Sepulcher The greater would be their oppressure of fear when they had been actors in the Tragedy They shall look upon me whom they have pierced Zach. xii 10. a most melancholy object to his Persecutors Eusebius says that the Jews did recall to mind that innocent bloud of Christ which they had shed upon the time that their City was besieged by Titus and that the thought thereof did so enfeeble their hands that they could not fight Although their own Historian Josephus will not impute the calamity of the City to that fault but confesseth sin did reign in Jerusalem at that time so copiously and prodigiously as the like was never in Sodom and Gomorrah but certainly the suspicion of that sin hath debased the courage and broke the heart of all the Nation of the Jews to this day St. Paul writing to the Hebrews bids them cast aside 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. xii 1. the weight of their sin and I do not remember that he useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a weighty ponderous sin to any other but to them I know we ought all to be sorry and lament that Christ was crucified for our sakes for those manifold sins that we have perpetrated and solum peccatum homicida est therefore we must be crucified with Christ in mortification and be buried with him in Baptism but the personal procurers of his death were the capital transgressors their sin was died in his bloud as it were in scarlet The Son of man must die and be betrayed but wo unto that man that doth betray him and crucifie him Beware therefore that we do not crucifie to our selves the Son of God a fresh the exposition is in the words following that we do not put him to an open shame Heb. vi 6. by heinous scandalous sins to cause Christs name to be blasphemed that is to put Christ to an ignominy and as it were to crucifie him again Such crimes will leave a sting behind them that will never cease to wound your conscience especially at the hour of death The Gentiles at first could not endure the Sign of the Cross it called their sins to remembrance but how will it tear your heart within you when you call to mind that the ignominy of Christ crucified is in your Soul The Souldiers saw what abomination they had committed when an Angel beautified Christs Sepulcher with his presence and for fear of him c. Fifthly the Souldiers could not keep Christs body in the Sepulcher as they were appointed by Pilat and the High-Priests therefore they feared those that had commanded them the task an evil Instrument is ever afraid of those that do imploy him The Pharisees were angry with their Servants and Officers that they did not bring Christ unto them and lay hands upon Him Joh. vii 43. yet it was not in them to do it no man could lay hands on him then for his hour was not yet come So the Watchmen knew what offence would be taken that Christs body was taken out of the Sepulcher yet they could not stop it No servitude in the world so heavy so dangerous so full of fear as to observe a wilful unreasonable Tyrant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nebuchadonosor put his Chaldaeans and Southsayers to death because they could not tell him the Dream which himself had forgotten Dan. ii 12. It is a just reward of wicked Instruments that they were always suspected always secretly hated by those that practise with them And when I have told you but one story in that kind I could be voluminous you will say Ohe jam satis est it is enough to represent the certain perdition of them that minister to ungodly practises But thus briefly Pope Paul the fifth fell out with the whole State of Venice interdicted all their Dominions began to raise arms against them for imprisoning the Abbot of Nervase whose crimes beside many other foul offences were these three 1. He poisoned his own Brother and wrought the death of a Prior of St. Austins Order and his Servant because they were conscious of it 2. He had long time the carnal knowledg of his own Sister and empoisoned her Maid lest she should betray him 3. He caused an Enemy of his to be killed and after that empoisoned the Murtherer lest he might accuse him This is related by no Protestant Pen but by Friar Paul of Venice of the Order of the Servites Nor do I report it to let you know what kind of offender the Pope protected but to manifest how He brought all those to an untimely end that had either the privacy or their parts to work for his iniquity I do
mind but unless we intermix the solemn Service of God at those times and spend some hours with godly profit in the Church it is but the Feast of Fools or perhaps worse the Feast of Epicures So the Prophet mentions some Swinish Carousers that thought they did solemnize their Kings Day in a jovial manner with drinking healths till they lost their wit and their health In the day of our King the Princes made him sick with flagons of wine Hos vii 5. Such Tospots celebrate a Feast to the use of the Devil and not to the Glory of God But it was unto that Glory that this Song and this Day which is chanted and this Joy which is so chearfully profest are all dedicated This is the Day which the Lord hath made c. But how hard a thing it is to draw men and women with their good will to Church for some have stretcht all their wits and their learning to defie our Church because it hath appointed Holidays for solemn occasions of Prayer and Thanksgiving and the greatest part of the Kingdom not out of opposition but out of negligence and slothfulness doth omit the due observation which belongs unto them You give your selves over at such times to cessation from work it may be to Sports and Games and Interludes the Fields shall be all day full of loose persons and the House of the Lord empty It is true that rest from labour becoms an Holiday yet the very vacation from labour is not simply pleasing to God but the better to follow Religious Service and beware to confound rest and idleness as if they were all one they are idle whom the painfulness of action causeth to avoid that labour whereunto God and Nature bindeth them they rest that either cease from their work when they have brought it to perfection or else give over a meaner labour because a better and more worthy is to be undertaken therefore though some part of an Holiday is indulged to put gladness into the life of them that are toiled with continual work yet the substantial character of the day is to meet together in our Religious Convocations and to adore the Name of the Lord. I shall not be able at this fag end of the hour to traverse this point as I would some satisfaction I will give you now God willing and defer that which remains to a more spacious occasion My Doctrin which I lay down is this that it is lawful for any Church to celebrate what Feasts it will so all be done with order and edification And I say more that every Church ought to set apart Solemn Times to remember annually the extraordinary works of God though such designed and determinate Days are not commanded in Holy scripture And I put to this moreover that God doth accept what the Church in due consideration doth voluntarily consecrate to Religious use I will put two parts of my Proposition together that this was lawful to be done and that it ought to be done Nature did teach the Heathen God taught the Jews and Christ by his own practice while he was upon earth taught us that to meet at Extraordinary Times for the celebration of Excellent Things was just and righteous One doth eloquently and very truly commend the various fruit of keeping such Sacred Times in this full Encomiasticon Festival days are the Splendour and outward Dignity of our Religion forcible Witnesses of ancient truth agnizing of great Benefits received Provocations to the Exercises of Piety Shadows of our endless felicity in Heaven First I will begin at the last of these That there must be great consolation in the due keeping of an Holiday if you rightly understand it because it represents the joy which is laid up for us in the Kingdom of Heaven and it is a most comfortable expectation when the very outward countenance of that which we are about on Earth doth prefigure after a sort that which we tend unto in the everlasting Habitations Bear but this in mind that the Rubrick days in the Almanack do prefigure that celestial condition wherein being mixed with Angels we shall sing Haleluia to the Lamb for evermore having no worldly toil or vexation to distract us and this would make us most chearful to bear a part in a solemn Congregation The Kingdom of Heaven was but darkly revealed to the Jews in the Old Testament and yet to bear in mind the glory which is laid up for the Godly they devoted a portion of every Day to the Divine Service in the Morning and Evening Sacrifice a portion of every Week upon the Sabbath a portion of every Moneth upon the New Moon a portion of every Season of the Year the Passover in the Spring the Feast of Pentecost in the Summer the Feast of Tabernacles in the Autumn and in latter Ages the Feast of Dedication in the Winter Every seventh Year was a Solemn Year for the Cessation of all Plowing and Sowing and that 's a contracted Age Every Fiftieth Year was most solemn for the memorizing of the Grand Jubilee and that 's a long protracted Age. If they did so often represent their longing to be at rest in heavenly places much more doth it concern us under the Gospel who are nearer neighbours than they to that future glory Secondly such gandy dayes are most meet for the agnizing of great benefits received I esteem the more of this reason because it is St. Austins Ne volumine temporum ingrata obreperet oblivio by Festival Solemnities and set Days we dedicate and sanctifie to God the memory or his chief benefits lest unthankfulness and forgetfulness should creep upon us in the course of time Nor is it enough to remember some notable favour upon one day and no more with great pomp and splendor for the revolution of time will obscure that as if it had never been the constant habit of doing well is not gotten without the custom of doing well without an iteration of holy Duties Beside such as are weak and tottering in faith might imagin that we did set no high price upon the Nativity of our Lord upon his Passion his Resurrection his Ascension and upon the Coming of the Holy Ghost if we did not extol him for them with some outward and eminent acts of glory Thirdly the principal Articles of Faith are nailed fast to our memory by clothing great Feasts with some transcendent tokens of joy and holiness At the Feast of Christmas every simple body is put in mind that Christ took our nature upon him and was born of a pure Virgin On Good Friday even Babes and Children are taught that he died upon the Cross to redeem us from eternal death Easterday proclaims it that our Saviour rose again in his own Body from the Grave and will raise up our Flesh at the last day to be like his own glorious Body Ascension day or Holy Thursday rememorates every year that He is gone up into Heaven to
Aaron and the Bishops of the Church that succeed St. Paul Let them know that it is not in their hand to be avenged of the life of their Adversaries The secular Sword in the Priests arm did never turn to the benefit of justice but to scandal And as St. Austin speaks of Sylla revenging the tyranny of Marius with greater cruelty Vindicta perniciosior fuit quam si scelera impunita relinquerentur that it had been better the faults had been unchastised than so revenged so say I to them better vindicative justice should sleep than be awaked by the Clergy Let the Priests of Baal be armed with Knives and Lancers to fill the ditches with bloud as Elias did with water let the Sacrificers of Bacchus give wounds to every one that passeth by instead of blessing But Christs Disciples are sent about even without the protection of a little staff in their hand If David would have a Sword in the Church Ahimelech must answer Non est hic here is none save the Sword of Golias which was kept there not for any use of it but for the memory Our weapons are Prayers and Tears and if we strike it is but vulnus calami the stroke of our Pen and that should always be Penna columbina I would it were so taken from the Doves wing not unsavory reproaches and Satyrical tants as if our Writings were stuck with the quils of Porcupines Angels were wont to fight against Jerusalem and against Senacharib but did you ever hear in our days of a fighting Angel The Shepherds when they saw an heavenly Host Luk. ii and pitch'd in the field and coming suddenly upon them looked for no other but a battel but quite beside the old manner they sung Praises to the Lord. Beloved the Ministry of our Gospel it succeeds the Ministry of Angels It is to be marked that St. Paul salutes the Corinthians Ephesians and the rest with grace and peace only but to Timothy and Titus his two Bishops he sends grace mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ The Popes Parasites never lin putting of him in mind Girt thy Sword upon thy thigh O thou most mighty good luck have thou with thy battels and renown and shake the Vipers into the fire And who shall determine who be Vipers Who but the Pope Who then kindle the fire to burn them Who but the Jesuits Gladiatores potiùs quà m clerici Fencers rather than Priests of God Rome while the Gentiles lived in it had for the Ensigns of their honour duos pugiones pileum two Daggers and a Cap Junius Brutus was the Author But see what time can do and to what encrease it brings every thing the two Daggers are become two Swords and the Cap is turned into a Triple Diadem Well Ahimelech gave up his Sword to David the King Peter and the Apostles are the salt of the earth and have nothing to do with such instruments Me thinks the Pope in this point had a very good answer from the Emperour when expostulating why one of his Sons the Cardinals was slain in battel the Emperour returned unto him the Cardinals Harness and this word Haec est tunica filii tui Is this your Son Josephs Coat But I warrant you the Church is in a strange case if she may not sight her own battels Truly no. St. Bernard thought it safe enough in the protection of the King Vterque gladius he speaks it to the Pope non tuâ manu sed tuo nutu est evaginandus And tuo natu was too much and smelt of the Age he lived in But the intercession of the Church may obtain the Sword from the Defender of the Faith to maintain the Gospel It cannot be so in Julians Reign and in the time of wicked Princes I grant it why then let us forbish up our own Armory Faith and Prayers and Tears So did Nazianzen in the Churches distress 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we entreat thy flaming sword O Lord to cut down thine enemies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we demand thy Plagues to light upon them and is not this good security God and the King Only one thing must be interposed for satisfaction in this point Why should Nazianzen or why should the Church curse her enemies with such a bitter curse Is not that breach of charity The Schoolmen very well have collected their answers into five heads 1. When you think the Prophets and holy Fathers curs'd they did not curse but prophesie It was St. Austins Collection long ago Solent figurâ imprecantis futura praedicere So David prayed that another might take the Bishoprick of Judas which needs must be a Prophesie 2. Their end is good and holy that the heathen may know themselves to be but men and in the bitterness of affliction seek the Lord. 3. Ad conformitatem divini judicii in all things to say the will of the Lord be done God hath spoken it in his holiness that he will cut off the wicked and we must say Amen in obedience 4. Ad regnum peccati destruendum not so much to destroy sinners as to destroy the kingdom of sin Curse your Meros curse it bitterly that the power of sin may fall with the fall of Kingdoms Lastly Ad consolationem infirmorum for the comfort of weak ones that they may know how the Church is the true Paradise by the flaming Sword which did defend it As Nero spake excellently when he entred into the Empire Nec odium nec injurias nec cupidinem ultion is ad regnum ferebat There was no hatred in his mind no revenge in his soul no injury in his memory so must we take the Kingdom of Heaven with the violence of love and not of hatred Better might Moths and Rust and Canker be suffered to be in Heaven than Malice and Revenge and Envy Then hear you godly to discern Gods finger from the hand of Paul He did not cast the Viper into the fire to shew us a way to be avenged of our enemies And hearken you ungodly for in this Text is the very similitude of your condemnation which shall appear by these circumstances 1. St. Paul gathered the sticks for fuel and so the good Angels shall gather the Tares in bundels for the fire 2. The barbarous people kindled the fire so shall the Devil and his Angels be your executioners 3. The Viper drops into the flame but we do not read it was consumed I say it is not expressed in the Text so tedious and everlasting is your misery In this world we mourn at every burial of our friends because death hath entred in by sin into the world Vbi mors nolentem animam pellit è corpore where death cashiers the soul unwillingly out of the body but in Hell-fire sinners shall bewail that there is no death Vbi mors nolentem animam tenet in corpore where death shall imprison the soul unwillingly in the body says
relate but that he finished this life I cannot say it His years are numbred before my Text like other mens three hundred sixty five just as many years as there be days in an usual year after the motion of the Sun not that this reckoning is the term of his life but the term of that time that he conversed with men As Tertullian glosseth upon St. Pauls words I am crucified with Christ How crucified and yet live Per emendationem vitae non per interitum substantia by the reformation of his life not by the loss of his life So Enoch had a period when he left to be with men Per emendationem vitae non per interitum substantia By an exaltation to a better life not by the corruption of his body As the men of Israel would not let Jonathan suffer death though Saul had given Sentence against him What say they shall Jonathan die that hath wrought such great salvation in Israel So when the Spirit of the Lord had testified what a Prophet Enoch was a perfect obedient that abhorred Will-worship a stiff maintainer of Gods part against the Devil and all his Instruments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a friend a familiar acquaintance a walker with God Upon this testimony Mercy opposeth Justice and though the Lord had said to Adam and to all that were in his loyns Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return What says Mercy shall Enoch die an example of repentance to all Generations So the stroke of death was diverted that he saw not the Grave and Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him The partition which I framed upon the whole Verse was on this wise first how uncorrupt Enoch was in his ways he walked with God and secondly that he did not see corruption And this second Point which is reserved for this hours labour is to be handled in two several heads the former I will call Enoch's passage out of this world He was not The latter his reposure in another world For God took him His place was left empty among the Patriarchs below and he filled a room among the Thrones and Angels above Upon these two I shall handle many particular Doctrines before you And he was not a concise phrase you see and brevity will breed obscurity especially put this unto it that it is a form of speech which is not used again in this sense to my remembrance in all the Scripture But the sense is made plain by St. Paul Heb. xi 5. By Faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death He had a passage out of this world without any dissolution of the soul from the body In the same body that he pleased God says Irenaeus he was translated being never uncloathed of the flesh that he might put on immortality That this truth may be carried the clearer I will debate it a little with them that oppose it and with them that qualifie it Some of the Hebrew Rabbines as I find them quoted because they consult not with the authority of the New Testament think they are not convicted by the Old Testament but that they may conclude how Enoch died and was taken away in an early Age as those times went much sooner than his Forefathers As if this Verse did rather bemoan him for his untimely departure than renown him for some glorious favour which did befal him The phrase indeed if we look no farther will bear it both in sacred and in heathen Writings to say of one departed fuit he was but is not this was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fair way of language to avoid an unpleasing word Yet the phrase doth not always stand in that sense but hath a double acception and both in one verse that you may the better carry it away Gen. xlii 36. Jacob there bemoans himself for the waat of two Children Joseph is not and Simeon is not the one he took to be dead indeed the other to be in fast hold and taken from his eyes removed where he could not come at him as Enoch was but no more So the Chaldee Paraphrase explains the meaning of Jacob Joseph non superest Simeon non est hic Joseph is quite lost and Simeon is not here The phrase then accords very well with that place of the Hebrews by faith Enoch was translanted that he saw not death And my Text must incline to that exposition for two reasons First that the Lord took him stands for a consequent that he was pleased in him it is the reward as you would say that he walked with God not that there is a necessary and perpetual coherency in it that whosoever walks with God should be exalted into Paradise and not see corruption but Enochs righteousness by a priviledge of favour was so requited a favour then being understood in those words it cannot be the sentence of death upon him it is impossible Secondly in this Chapter the last word that the Holy Ghost gives of Adam is Et mortuus est and he died so of Seth so of Enos so of Cainan so of all the Antecessors of Enoch wherefore unless Enoch had some other issue out of this world diverse from the rest which was by translation without death why should it be said of him so differently from all others he was not for the Lord took him So I have corrected the great error of those Hebrew Doctors who would lay Enochs honour in the dust But I suppose the general Exposition of the Jews was right and according to St. Pauls doctrine For Paul wrote to the Hebrews that he saw not death knowing the tradition was commonly so received among them and the Chaldee Paraphrast who lived straight after Christ was of the same judgment beside one of great note among them says he was disarrayed of the foundation corporal and cloathed with the foundation spiritual which words I conceive do jump with those who oppose not the Scripture that he saw not death far be it from them but they have a qualification for the meaning of it that death is taken two ways most properly for the separation of one essential part of man from the other the body from the soul a loath to depart it is a most unwelcom dissolution a punishment upon the sin of our first Father which was remitted to Enoch improperly it is no more but the separation or extinction of corruptible qualities from the soul and body one whom I named even now called it the disarraying of a man from the foundation corporal and so Enoch was purified altered made quite another man in the very moment that he was wrapt up to heaven This evacuation of corruptible qualities from the flesh is called death by some very good Authors in our own Church and so Procopius much more ancient than they Mirabili modo mortis defunctus est ad vitam coelestem translatus it was a rare and admirable kind of death he suffered
being caught up into the clouds to live with God for ever Their judgment is right that he was disarrayed of all malignant qualities sin and mortality which belong to the soul or body But I wonder they should call these by the name of death for it was no otherwise with Enoch than it shall be with all men and women whom Christ shall find upon earth at his second coming St. Paul says they shall not die but they shall be changed that changing is no death for change and death are membra dividentia in the Apostle and cannot be confounded Now I have brought you out of all incumbrances of wrong opinions to the clear truth Enoch was not How He ceased not absolutely to live but he ceased to live any longer in a corruptible Tabernacle he prevailed above the sentence which was pronounced against Adam by the Judge of quick and dead Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return Mortality came from disobedience against the Commandment neither is it possible for any mere man to attain to such a measure of obedience as to deserve immortality do not imagine this holy Saint was without sin so that death could claim no dominion over him St. Chrysostome who speaks much for Enoch how the Lord rewarded his integrity with incorruption says no more but that he received Gods Law not that he kept it inviolably 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God kept him alive that received the Commandment that received it willingly and with an earnest heart to keep it But how was that Statute dispensed with you will say it is appointed to men once to die and after that comes judgment Heb. ix 27. An easie dispensation will serve for that for it was no otherwise with this man than it shall be with all the earth at the last day when the Inhabitants of the world shall not be uncloathed of skin and bone but be changed into an incorruptible perfection in the twinkling of an eye But that you may not wonder at Enochs case as if justice had connived and forgot it self remember this rule in St. James There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy Jam. iv 12. Mark that there are Judges constituted under the Law and it is not in them to save life where the Letter of the Law condemns for the Law governs them and not they the Law but there is a regent and principal authority whose clemency is above the Law That speech of Senecaes is as trivial as any Proverb Occidere contra legem nemo non potest servare nemo praeter te Every Varlet can kill a Citizen against the Law none but the Supreme Magistrate can save a Citizen against the Law You see then by what rectitude of justice Enoch might be exempted from death albeit we were all sentenced to become dust and clay out of which we were made because God is the most supreme independent Judge of all the world and may mitigate the severity of his own decrees Why should not his mercy preserve where it will And if he will preserve who can destroy Is there any curse but he can turn it into a blessing Where the Lord pleaseth to sweeten a bitter cup Poverty shall not be grievous nor ignominy dishonourable nor sickness painful nor life mortal A thousand fell before this Patriarch and ten thousand at his right hand but he was impassible and did not die He was not for the Lord took him Because the Septuagint Translators concur with St. Paul in one reading it is due to my Text to let it be known how they have enlarged this concise phrase And he was not in their words is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was not found And Clemens the Scholar of St. Peter and Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was not found that he ever died He appeared not and yet the Lord killed him not so the Chaldee Paraphrase For as St. Jerom said figuratively of the sweet end that Nepotian made that he did Migrare non mori And St. Bernard as much of Hubertus that he did Abire non obire Those pious men might rather be said to have gone a journey out of the way than have died so very properly and without a Metaphor it was true of Enoch that he did not die but was retired out of the way where he could not be found It seems he was much sought for as certainly good men will quickly be missed Antigonum refodio as the honest mans saying was he would have scrap'd the just King Antigonus out of his Grave when he was departed Though Elias was manifestly taken away into heaven yet the Sons of the Prophets besought Elisha that fifty strong men might go seek him lest the Spirit of the Lord had cast him upon some Mountain or into some Valley I could not blame them to wish they might find him again So says one upon that inquisition was made for Elias Enochus cum raperetur fortasse diu inquisitus fuit It may be Enoch was much inquired for in many places after God had took him Selneccerus says that the Lord exalted him up into the clouds Coram totâ Ecclesiâ praecipuis Patriarchis a great Congregation of men and the chief Patriarchs looking upon it Bolducus the Capuchin more particularly yet both altogether uncertainly using their own divinations Tulit eum Deus in nube in quâ apparebat ministranti God took him away in a cloud wherein he appeared as Enoch ministred unto him in the time of Sacrifice If this were done before a throng of Witnesses they might think it no more than a rapture for a little time as Paul was taken up into the third heavens for a small space and afterward restored to the Church They might search and hope to enjoy him again but he was not found the more was their loss that they wanted him the more was his happiness that he was quite gone and wanted nothing But Luther is of opinion that he was retired alone to walk with God in Prayer and sweet Meditations and then the Lord lifted him away to the habitations of the blessed when none were privy to it Seth and all the other Fathers of the Church knew not what was become of him his Son Methasalem and his Family look'd for him with sad hearts as Joseph and Mary sought for Jesus sorrowing no doubt they suspected the malice of the Caiâ—ites they thought he was slain like innocent Abel and privily buried Perhaps it was not revealed in a long time after what was become of him But as the Romans were highly discontented with the loss of Romulus their Founder and would not be satisfied till Proculus swore he saw him carried away into Heaven So when the Patriarchs had sate down sorrowing because they found not the very Gem of the Church the righteous man Enoch it made their gladness the greater when they knew the Lord had translated him alive into Paradise Now I proceed The benefit of it
roved at random so I would not put it upon Philosophical Inquisition how she became a Pillar of Salt He that wrote of the marvelous works of God that occur in Scripture and calls himself St. Austin bids it be observed that there is an hidden vein of salt in every mans body as appears by the tears in our eyes and the rheum in our mouth and that this salt Spring did overflow all the body in an instant as God commanded and turned the whole substance into its own malignity Aben Ezra the Rabbine says that she felt part of the punishment of Sodom for as it is Deut. xxix 23. The whole Land is brimstone and salt and burning So that the fire that came down from God upon those Cities had salt and sulphur in it and she was scorched with those salt sulphurious flames and made a Pillar of salt Not incinerated as the word is as if a sudden flash of fire had wasted her into small corns of salt as into ashes for then the translation should have been not statua but cumulus not a Pillar but an heap of salt and so indeed it was translated before St. Hieroms time but when he visited the Holy Land and saw this Figure with his own eyes he mended the errors of all former Copies and translated it a Pillar of salt Nor was it of the nature of that salt which we make by Art and sometimes compact it into Pyramidal shapes and other Figures that you know fall away into dirt if wet take it but this lump into which Lot's Wife was congealed endured all injuries of Rain and Snow Therefore it was that which we call Sal metallicum the Metal of salt which is a durable stubborn stone which kept the shape of an humane body as the Reporters say continually lick'd upon by the Herds of Cattel that grazed in those places to provoke their appetite by the saltish sapour yet not at all diminished Nunquam pluviis nec diruta ventis says Tertullian but that Poem of his hath such prodigious additions that I shame to rehearse them Burchardus says that this fatal Monument was to be seen in his days not three hundred years past between Engadi and the Red Sea The Jerusalem Targum undertook to Prophesie almost 1600 years ago that there it was to stand untill the Resurrection And therefore I conjecture that Luther had met with none of these reports for he says that the Pillar of Salt into which she was turned was presently destroyed with the City of Sodom and pash'd to pieces with thunder But all Geographers who have wrote upon it testifie there was the very taste of salt in it literally it was a Pillar of salt Others that love to find more in the Scripture than there is in the Letter say it is not so called because it was of a saltish Element but for another respect 1. Because it was to stand for long continuance and a Pillar of Salt is as much as an incorruptible Pillar so Numb xviii Gods eternal Covenant with his people is called a Covenant of Salt for Salt is a preservative from Corruption 2. As Salt makes Viands taste well upon the palate so the sight of this dreadful Monument was to put the savour of Gods judgements in the thoughts of them that called it to mind Humilibus fidelibus quoddam praestitit condimentum ut sapiant aliquid says St. Austin Every notable punishment that a sinner incurs in the eyes of all the world it is salt unto the wise to make them cautious In me quis intuens pius esto as it was engraven upon the Monument of an Egyptian King who went down with much sorrow to his grave because of his Sacriledge so look upon this pair that came out of Sodom upon Lot and his Wife Hic perfectè mundum deserit illa tepide he renounced the vain world perfectly and devoutly and it went well with his life She said she would renounce it and did not persevere and she died relapsing Though she was foolish she may make us wise though she were evil yet her salt is good Let her unsavouriness be our seasoning There are yet two Points to be dispatcht The one of terrour that this was a momentaneous and a sudden death The other of some alloy that though it were a mortal yet we cannot say it was a final destruction She that is her body was concrete into salt in an instant the soul you know could admit of no such transmutation but it was violenced out of the flesh in the twinkling of an eye O if she had suspected her eyes should have been closed for ever at that turning her self about she would not have look'd back for all the world If Ananias had imagined he should have breathed his last while he was forging a lie to deceive the Holy Ghost he would not have retained a denier of his possessions but cast it all at the Apostles feet No man would be an unrepentant sinner to day but that he hopes for to morrow No man can be so desperate to sin so fast but that he thinks his Age runs away but slowly The Devil knows there is no way to advance his Kingdom but to set a false glass before us that we have long to live Perswade your selves that your days are numbred and the strength of sin is evacuated I never heard of more constancy in any man of this kind than Thuanus records to have been in a Landgrave of Hessen within these forty two years for the space of ten years and more before he departed he composed himself to die every night with all the solemnity of taking of leave of Children Friends and Family confessing where he had offended that day and asking pardon of his worst inferiours and so he left very little room for any sin to enter because he prepared himself to give place unto death and to admit it every moment Beloved against death we cannot fortifie our selves against the suddenness of death we may and yet our labour is to put off death and to live always which is impossible and nothing is less studied than to mitigate the mischief which may come by sudden death and that is possible and necessary But I will not close my Text in a disconsolate key She became a Pillar of salt that is her body became a hard rock and her breath was stopt before she could cry Ah Lord God or ah be merciful Surely death in the very act of sin is most terrible especially put this unto it that it was no common Visitation But from hence shall we leave her among those that went down into the nethermost pit Gods gentleness and mercy will not let me say so Christ prevented such censures when he gave us some comfort of their salvation on whom the Tower of Siloam fell suddenly How the soul may commend it self to the compassion of God in the very moment of egress and out passage it is within the hope of
to wound them but to heal them I have learnt a distinction in another place from the same man sufficient to refute him It is this Every affliction that gainsays the pleasure and content of nature is first a punishment then it is a medicine or salve to cure you as you use it Do you not see the error that Aquinas draws upon himself If to punish one man for anothers trespass is unjust and wrongful except it be like the Acrimony of some preventing Physick then God doth evil that good may be gained from it O says Abraham God forbid that the Judge of all the world should do unjustly Now do you understand how these cunning Benjamites the Schoolmen have cast their distinctions at the truth just like Mnestheus in Virgil who shot at the Dove and mist it but cut the string in twain by which it was tied fast before Ast ipsam miserandus avem contingere ferro Non valuit nodos vincula linea rupit Now the harvest is ripe and it is time to give in the right Verdict upon the Controversie And as the Alabaster Box of Oyntment which was broken in the Gospel was burst for the honour of our Saviour but the sweet smell did refresh all the Disciples which were about it So my conclusion shall be dedicated to Gods honour and to your instruction I have many Theorems to propound unto you but all shall end in this Doctrine That excepting the first Adam the root of our corrupt nature and excepting the second Adam who being without spot or sin gave himself to the death of the Cross for the sins of all the world these two excepted every man dies propter peccatum suum for his own iniquity First I do presume that you will consent unto me that the heart of man is only evil continually And that we may call it as Theodorus did revile Tiberius Lutum saenguine maceratum mud tempered with pollution As one said of the High Court of Judges in Athens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you could not miss of a righteous man among them though you pickt in the dark But I say we cannot find out a good man though we sought him carefully at noon-day For the Lord himself hath looked down from heaven and we are all become abominable usque ad unum and that one is Jesus Christ Then it is confessed that the wages of sin is death Seriùs ocyùs sometimes before we were born but as suddenly as God shall call upon us to pay the common debt of nature Nemo nisi suo die moritur says Seneca My day to die was every day since I had an hour to live Silly soul do you think it an injury to die a babe To die an Ignorant of misery Did you ever hear an Infant complain of short life Nay rather did not Moses weep because he was preserved in the Ark of Bulrushes and had his misery prolonged We have heard many old men that would cry rather than sing at Nunc Dimittis when they put from shore for ever But come death quickly come heaven the sooner let all the world change in the twinkling of an eye and then come Resurrection come Lord Jesus Are the shortest Livers unkindly dealt with Non magis queri debes de repentinâ morte quam qui citò navigavit Do complain that wind and tide have brought you too quickly to your haven Give me your credit but to one thing more You are bound to answer to as painful and severe death as Gods vengeance shall inflict upon you I think I might have seen in the days of Herod when Rachel mourned for her Children one little Saints soul pincht out of the body as a cherry stone spirted between the fingers a most calm deliverance and another babe Lacerum crudeliter ora ora manusque ambas cut in pieces with a wound bigger than the body How comes this to pass for both were Infants Not because the one smarted for his Fathers Usury and Sacriledge more than the other but because God said no more Gen. iii. then man shall die But whether by fire or water peaceable or tyrannous it is free in the Lords appointment from the sixth day of the Creation to the worlds end Now let us see if we can find any thing in that which we have caught to pay Tribute unto God You cannot deny but Death and Diseases and Poverty Laethumque labosque are due to every sinner and all these in such a time as God likes best whether it be at Noontide or at Evening or in the Dawning of the day and with such measure and quantity as God hath prepared the Viols of his wrath Then why art thou disquieted O my soul and why should I fear to pay the price of those sins which are not mine The poor Subjects have lost their lives in the Kings iniquity witness David and Israel The Children for the Fathers witness Sodom and Gomorrah The Family with the Master as it was with Core and his accomplices Lastly some of all sorts did drink the same cup with Achan in his iniquity ay dearly beloved at this time God called upon them all to die who were bound to die for their own sins at any time Now let me raise you up from the long consideration of this Point as the Angel did Elias under the Juniper tree and you shall find a Cake upon the coals some few Meditations from hence that God makes the sin of one man an occasion to destroy a multitude First If the disobedience of one sinner is enough to consume many persons Lord whither will a multitude of iniquity send one man headlong Sufficient are our evil days wherein we have walked too much before after the vanity of our mind Secondly As the greatest unity of the Triumphant Church above doth consist in the glory which they enjoy together in the sight of God So our unity of the militant Church below is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to suffer and die together Poterant nec morte râ—velli It is that which must combine the souls of Christians Thirdly Shall not this make me as careful to prevent every mans sins as mine own Shall I not offer my self to be my brothers keeper Like watchmen that compass the Câ—ty in the night not only for the safety of their own house but lest any Mansion take fire about them But especially who is a Father of Children that will not consider his sins may be as ready to destroy as his Loyns have been fruitful to bring Sons into the world Can you revile the King of Moab that sacrificed his Son Do you detest their abominations that made their Children pass through the fire to Molech Is it good in you to declaim against the severity of Brutus and Torquatus and such cruel Fathers But spare them O child of pollution or accuse thy self Are not your sins murderers as well as theirs You gave life by nature and you destroy it by iniquity When God
apt to be separated I suppose an Epicure may lose his conscience in a mist for a little while and dispute it like a Galenist that the soul is nothing else but the temperature of the first qualities and so in death extinguished but can you imagine that the Spirit it self doth not often give him the lie and say within his breast you do me wrong I am immortal Verily I believe that they that put it off doubtingly and would be uncontrouled in their voluptuousness it may be it is not so are often tormented with the other part of the opinion it may be it is so If you will hear this truth upheld out of holy Scripture there is no resistance or cavillation against it Because I will not tie my self to every Text which chimes that way I will choose compendiously where others have made choice before me The Sadduces being stiff opposers against the separated existence of the Spirit and yet commending themselves in the Holy Patriarchs from whose Loyns they descended our Saviour selected that Scripture above all other to convict them which would catch them in their own net I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living How was God the God of Abraham unless he lived And in what did Abraham live but in his soul which was divorced from the body Irenaeus admires that any one should doubt of the souls perseverance after death since the enarration is so â—lear that the rich man saw Lazarus in joys when himself was tormented St. Hierom sets his rest upon those words Mat. x. 22. Fear not them that kill the body but are not able to kill the soul St. Austin recommends the words of Stephen to nick the Point without all contradiction Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Si animus moriturus esset causae nihil foret cur animum potiùs quà m corpus commendaret Aquinas against the Gentiles lays his strength upon that place of St. Paul 2 Cor. v. 8. We are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with God One quotation were enough then how forcible are all these together He must be a beast in understanding that knows not that the souls of good men are Angels in reversion There are others that profess so much faith that the soul hath a state of happiness in reversion to those that die in the favour of God But that it comes not to any gust of this happiness till the end of the World For the soul say they falls asleep when the body perisheth that is it dies together with the body and when the flesh shall be quickned again and gathered out of the dust then the soul shall live again when both it and the body shall be exalted in the Resurrection I do not create Monsters to fight with all St. Austin found such Hereticks in his days he calls them Arabians who taught it every where that the Soul had no being after death till in the consummation of the World they both obtained together a joyful Resurrection Nay these Tares were sown long before St. Austin lived Irenaeus took the pains to root them up in his Age and he confutes them out of my Text says he how did St. John see the souls of the Martyrs who had been slain for the Testimony of Christ if the Soul should cease to be till the final Resurrection And if a Caviller shall say it doth not cease to be but it lies quiet and senseless in a trance Irenaeus blunts the point of that objection because in the next verse they desire vengeance for their bloud that was shed but principally because in the eleventh verse they are clad in white garments which are cognizances of their joy and glory and doubtless they wear them not sleeping but waking And do not think that I rake in the ashes of ancient Heresies that are quite forgotten For the Anabaptists in their Theses Printed at Cracovia Anno 1568 have this position We deny that any Soul hath a separated being after death that was a devise invented by the Papists to maintain Invocation of Saints and Purgatory this is Popery trimly reformed and according to that Proverb of the Jews they cast out Devils through Beelzebub the Prince of Devils And even at this day a new Generation of Vipers risen up at Racovia in Polonia do pledge the Anabaptists in the same cup namely that there is a futurition of glory for the soul when the whole Fabrick of man shall be redintegrated again in the Resurrection but they profess they cannot tell whether in the mean time there be any such thing extant as a separated soul yet St. Paul says he desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ And yet Christ told the good Thief that day he should be with him in Paradise And yet the Souls of just men departed do follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes Rev. xiv 4. These instances are more perswasive I am sure than that which they pretend that the Just do rest from their labours What rest in Gods name do they dream of They are not in a profound trance without motion or action as Adam was cast into a deep sleep when Eve was taken out of his side but it is a rest when the Spirit doth acquiesce in the Vision of God as David said Turn again unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath rewarded thee There are some that I must afford a little Patronage who are accused to lean to the Anabaptists in their opinion that do nothing less It was allowed for 1400 years as a Problem wherein Christians without breach of charity might have Latitude to dissent granting that the soul after the dissolution from the body was received into the joys of heaven whether it be not sequestred in some distance from the highest heaven where the invisible God doth chiefly reign in Power and Majesty till the whole Body of the Saints be accomplished It is well known what way St. Bernard took Nec sancti sine plebe nec spiritus sine carne That such as die before us shall not see the Beatifical Vision of the holy Trinity without us nor without their own body and that an integral Beatitude is not given but to an integral person And Calvin hath taken his freedom to be of the same mind says he Christ himself only is entred into the supreme Sanctuary of Heaven Et solus populi eminus in atrio residentis vota ad Deum defert and he alone commends the Petitions of the Saints to his Father whose Spirits attend in the outward Courts Those over-awing Fathers of the Florentine and Tridentine Councils have defined it indeed as an irrefragable Article of Faith that the Saints enjoy the most perfect Vision of God immediately after death What is that to us who will not lose our moderation in indifferent points for their
clean and well shapen of a very serene and comely countenance vivid eyes with a rare alacrity and suavity of aspect representing the inward candour and serenity of his mind the temper of his body was rather delicate than strong yet through temperance and custom grown patient of long sitting and hard study His voice was ever wonderful sweet and clear so that Dr. Collins would say he had the finest Bell in the Vniversity and in one of his Speeches term'd him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Canora Cicada His behaviour was most gentile and civil no Courtier carried a better meen nor better understood the Art of behaviour which though fortuitous and contingent to him yet much became him in all company His Apparel was ever plain not morose or careless but would never endure to be costly upon himself either in Habit or Diet often quoting that of St. Austin Profectò de pretiosa veste erubesco he was as much ashamed of a rich Garment as others of a poor one and thought that they were fitter for a Roman Consul than a Christian Praesul and accordingly never put on a silk Cassock but at a great Festival or a Wedding of some near Friend holding that a glittering Prelate without inward Ornaments was but the Paraphrase of a painted Wall and on the other side if the Graces of the Mind could be seen the Beauties of the Body would seem but deformities nothing being so fair and to be admired as the lustre of Divine knowledg the eye of the soul attended with a fair hand of suitable practice These two were like Tabor and Hermon the two stately tops of the Soul that reach to Heaven it self And indeed though he had great comeliness and elegance of body his Divine Soul within was fairer than the lodging without When he was young he had a most lively and acute wit which rendred him acceptable to all companies but ever temper'd with wisdom and learning that rendred him more acceptable to the Best and with it he had a prodigious and immortal memory whereby he ever bore about him a constant Chronicle of all occurrences that he was able to give a present account of whatsoever he had at any time read heard or seen even all remarkable alterations and changes of weather that had been in his time were as present to his memory as if he had seen them written in the Air before his eyes yet all these no man valued less than he in comparison of his higher accomplishments He abounded not barely with great learning acute wit excellent judgment and memory but with an incomparable integrity prudence justice piety charity constancy to God and to his Friend in adversity and in his friendship was most industrious and painful to fulfil it with good offices and withal so ready and able upon all occasions to give good counsel that he to whomsoever God gave that Favour of his Lordship had a blessing scarce valuable Yet notwithstanding all these Endowments King Solomons words are true in regard of the body There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked and wise men must also die as well as the ignorant and foolish and the time was now come that this wise and good Bishop must die He had finished both Church and Quire which he beautified with most comely Stals of exquisite workmanship and had likewise set up an excellent Organ the whole Appartements about it Pipes Gilding Wainscot-case c. cost above 600 l. being a great lover of Church-Musick and would much bewail the peoples ignorance and fierceness who loved Guns more than Organs or else their lasciviousness that would pull them out of Churches and set them up in Taverns and chuse rather to sing in Babylon than in Zion And the last of his Lordships cares for that Church was for the Bells he had contracted with very able Founders for six excellent Bells fitting for a Cathedral which his Executor set up though three only were cast before his death and onely one viz. the Tenor hanged up which had not been hung so soon but that his Lordship called upon the Workmen to do it The first time it was rung his Lordship was very weak yet he went out of his own Bedchamber into the next Room to hear it and seem'd very well pleased with the sound and blessed God that had favour'd him with life to hear it but withal concluded it would be his own Passing Bell and so retired to his Chamber and never came out till he was carried to his Grave He had done his work and he must depart to the Church Triumphant He often said by a kind of presage many years before his death that some odd October would part us he felt his body more weak at that Autumnal season then any other and could not have held out so long but that he was forced to fly to Physick and Diet to corroborate or rather keep him from sinking every Spring and fall Accordingly he sickned upon St. Lukes day October 18. and died upon St. Simon and Judes day following aged 78 years the just time of Athanasius and St. Hierom of old according to Baronius Within a fortnight before his death he remitted nothing of his former studies when he was first taken sick he did not conceive it to be mortal and therefore sent the week before he died to a Friend in London to send him down the new Books from abroad or at home But being ever upon his Watch-Tower when he perceived God beckoned Him to come away then he laid aside his Books and all Communication or thoughts concerning any temporal matter his heart was fixed and not to be removed from the great Object of Eternal life He would say to his Visitants he was a decaying old man and desire them to avoid the Room where in confession of his sins he was ever most humble in godly sorrow most contrite in prayer most assiduous in faith most stedfast in suffering his sickness most patient in desiring to be uncloath'd of the Body most joyful and content He shewed no fear of death not the least sign of any perturbation of mind for his aproaching end but rather rejoyced that the day of the Lord was come which he had so often desired and as G. Nazianzen in his Funeral Sermon for St. Basil rejoyces that he died 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with godly sayings in his mouth in like manner did our godly Bishop so conclude his days in this world as he looked to begin them in the next that the end of this life should be sutable to the beginning of the other and that his last words he breathed forth here should have a good connexion with his first addresses when he saw God face to face there therefore being in perfect sense he sent for one of his Prebendaries to come and pray with him who after some holy conference read the Office appointed for the Sick after that his Lordship
into mourning and never suffer you to see a joyful day more Take heed you use not your liberty for a cloke of licenciousness Take heed of mid-night revels The Shepherds were not dancing but keeping watch over their flocks The Poet Virgil hath billited the sinful joys of the world mala mentis gaudia with Famine and Poverty and the very Haggs of Hell and indeed a vicious pleasure is a devillish thing for lawful and moderate pleasure is the preservative of nature filthy and corrupt pleasure destroys the glory of our nature I mean the soul And so much for this point that the coming of Christ doth inhibit all extravagant voluptuousness but for spiritual and bodily pleasure which is lawful the Angel brought tidings of joy of great joy which shall be to all people Now I must speak of the two supporters of this joy 1. That it is great for the size 2. That it is of long continuance for the measure gaudium quod erit joy that shall be unto you Great joy says the Angel he pass'd it over without a word of comparison lest he should seem to the Shepherds to have boasted but yet he meant there was no joy like to this to attain to such felicity as to have a Saviour born Other things may make us glad this is only a vehement and intensive exultation Let a carnal man pamper his skin with gluttony satiate the desires of the flesh with filthy fornication decline all industrious labour in pleasurable idleness let him have all things wherein fortune can favour a sensual Epicure Suppose that neither War nor Famine nor Death nor Dishonour nor Poverty eclipse his content yet for all this there is a Melancholy Fiend of Hell that upon sundry frivolous occasions will fret his heart and break his sleep and make his passions jar within themselves and he hath no firm and stable argument to perswade his soul to get out of this heaviness But if any discontent creep upon him that hath set up a stedfast Faith as a pillar in his heart and hath engraven these words upon it Jesus is my Redeemer this supports the soul that it shall not be cast down but it recovers it self from all pensiveness even as David chid all anguish from his heart Why art thou so sad O my soul and why art thou so disquiet within me still trust in God for he is the help of my countenance and my God Vna est ratio vincendi inimicum laetitia spiritualis This spiritual gladness and festivity is the principal assistance to vanquish Satan and all desperate doubts with which he would perplex our conscience it is a royal joy which comforts us that we shall be heirs of a glorious Kingdom it is a sanctified joy which gives us promise that we shall not only be Kings but Priests for ever to offer up the sweet odors of our prayers to God it is a superlative joy which cries down all other petty delights and makes them appear as nothing it is endless joy of durance and lasting for ever and ever for my Text says it is Gaudium quod erit joy that shall be unto you All the joy upon earth is gaudium quod est now it is and anon it is not joy for a spirt and away Eccles vii 8. as the crackling of thorns under a pot so is the laughter of a fool Like a gol-sheave all of a flame and out again suddenly The end of mirth that is of worldly mirth is heaviness Prov. xiv 13. Times of feasting have a period every man is glutted at last he that hath his fill of sport is weary by the late of night and glad to take his rest But the joy that you have in Christ is with you all the year in all your sorrows in all your adversities it sleeps with you it grows old with you it will change this life with you and follow you into a better And my joy shall no man take from you says our Saviour John xvi 22. Christmas joy was not only for the first twelve days when the Son of God was born but for all the twelve months of twelve hundred years and many hundreds after them unto the worlds end So St. Peter doth solace us 1 Pet. i. 8. Though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Eccles xi 9. Mark I pray you how much line this Syren world gives a voluptuous man to play with Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thine heart chear thee and walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but when the hook is in his jaws observe how it is twicht and snatcht up at last Know thou that for all these things God will bring thee unto judgment So that let the wicked speed never so well in his frolicks and jocundities he returns home as Theseus did with black sails of sorrow as if he had never made a saving voyage All their laughter is like the joy of Herod's Birth-day dancing and revels and offering of great gifts last for a while but before evening you shall see an alteration and when their surfeited Tables are removed away the last service in the platter is the Head of John the Baptist But the mirth which we have in the Mediator of our salvation is a song which hath no rest in it nor ever shall have a close We begin the first part here that we may sing the other part in Psalms and Hallelujahs with the Saints for ever As Christmas is celebrated part of the new year and part of the old so it is joy that is in this life and shall be in the life to come Our last peroration upon the Text is to meditate upon the persons to whom these glad tidings and great joy are directed Vobis omni populo to you and to all people And personally to those Shepherds the joy was great I do not question it for the Angel did not light upon them casually as if he took the first he met chance and fortune are words made by our ignorance things of no being in the providence of God but certainly they were pickt out rather than any others because they were men of just and holy conversation fit to receive glad tidings from Heaven they were of an humble and a lowly spirit not of a proud and stiff opinion that would dispute against the Scriptures which said Jesus was the Christ like the Scribes and Pharisees they were useful men to the Commonwealth in which they liv'd painful in their vocation and watching over their flocks by night Out of all these premises we may collect that God had a respect to them in particular unto such belongs the Kingdom of Heaven the good tidings fell upon their head They did apply the benefit of Faith to themselves and that Saviour which was born was their Redeemer And vobis Judaeis to you Jews the Text will bear that I am sure
Mother and in his own arms he might not live to see him hanging between two Thieves as if he had said O let me not survive to see the infidelity of mine own Nation O let me not live to see him crown'd with thorns Lastly A mans native Country can never deserve so ill but he will wish it subsistence that it may not utterly be ruined and albeit the sins of Jerusalem would call for vengeance and desolation upon it this loving Patriot desired to be called out of the way that he might not see her made an heap of stones As the Historian says that Anastasius a good Bishop of Rome gave up his breath with a broken heart immediately before the Goths had sackt that imperial City Ne orbis caput sub tali Episcopo truncaretur So Simeon saw that the sins of the Jews were not yet come to the worst but that their hardness of heart rejecting Christ would draw more grievous judgments upon them therefore he desired while matters were not yet come to their extremity now he might depart in peace I know 't is trivial with every rash spirit that is discontented with his fortune to say emori cupio like Clitipho in the Scene I would I were out of the world but it is a good corrective speech of the old mans Prius quaeso disce quid sit vivere learn first to live as you ought and so had Simeon done for in the fourth part of my Text he pleads that he was prepared to die in peace Lord now c. It cannot be conceiv'd of him since we must allow the best men some grains of infirmity but that his heart had been oppressed with many recurrent thoughts between that long space that God did first make the promise unto him unto the actual birth of Christ never did any Father expect the return of his only Son after twice seven years travail from month to month from day to day as he did watch the advent of the Lord continually when he should be presented in the Temple and surely it is likely that Hanna and divers more had heard from Simeons mouth what the Lord had revealed unto him and that his credit suffered a little with good people as if he had deluded them for the riff raff if such a thing were come to their ear no marvail if they taunted him that he was a lying Prophet and that he was possessed with a spirit of wicked divination These assaults from without and the revolvings of his heart from within did make his conscience boil like a troubled Sea because that gracious Oracle which he had received was not yet to come to pass nor like to be fulfilled in the short remainder of his days since his candle was burnt to the socket wherefore at the first glimpse that he viewed the holy one of God in swadling clouts this ejaculation starts from him as if his joy had burst the vessel like new liquors that swell'd within it as who should say I began to be troubled I began to distrust I was afraid that thy promises would fail and by so much the more I was afraid of death now come what will come I am secure and confirm'd my heart is quiet my Faith is built upon a rock Lord now c. just as old Jacob was ready to die for gladness when he saw that Joseph was alive says he now let me die since I have seen thy face because thou art yet alive Gen. xlvi 30. And the content which this holy Prophet took in embracing the Messias who had been so long waited for could not be better exprest than thus that his soul was ready to take leave of the world in peace for as bread imports all manner of sustenance in the phrase of the Hebrews so peace in their signification imports all manner of good that is desirable health plenty honour safety tranquility of conscience comfort in the Holy Ghost all sorts of prosperity heavenly and earthly are no more but peace in their acception therefore the interpretations what Simeon would have are many and all agreeable to pious analogy First Euthymius expounds it of the peace of his thoughts that he did fluctuate before and hang in suspence what God would do but when Christ was born he was resolv'd against all the slights and cavillations of Satan that the Lord was just in all his sayings and holy in all his works There may be security in a bad man I will not deny him that carnal priviledge who refresheth himself with the comforts of this life but there can be no stability in him no setledness against distraction and fluctuation unless by much meditation he do set Christ before his eyes as if he were born in him and endeavour to Incarnate the promises of the word in his soul by Faith as the blessed Virgin gave flesh to the eternal word by bearing him in her womb Secondly Others interpret this peace de pace intrepiditatis he did not fear to be dissolved though his decayed body lay even under the stroke of death he saw nothing why he should flinch but that he might say with David I will lay me down in peace and take my rest Before a Saviour was granted to mankind death was death and Hell to boot now it is but a sleep without all disturbance a repose without all annoyance a releasement out of bonds a transmigration to felicity He therefore that will not die in peace knowing that Christ stands at the right hand of God to make intercession for him and to purchase in his behalf instead of a transitory estate a far abundant exceeding weight of glory the fault is his own Vitam in manibus fero mori non timeo A strange darkness is before the eyes of unbelieving impenitent men at their last gasp their conscience knows not how to answer that objection which it makes to it self Quae nunc abibis in loca My soul whither art thou going in what woe or sorrow shalt thou be entertained hereafter Thus Cain was dejected Every one that findeth me will slay me Gen. iv 14. Thus Nabals dastardly spirit fainted and nothing brought him to death but the fear of death His sordid churlish inhospitable life here and the rest of his undeservings represented nothing but horrors to entertain him in the life to come Sed quis est iste qui de hoc seculo recedit in pace nisi is qui intelligit Deus erat in Christo mundum reconcilians sibi says St. Austin But who is the man that gathers up his feet into his bed sweet and placidly as old Jacob did and dies in peace but he that felt the consolation within him that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself Thirdly The sense holds very well to interpret it de pace gaudii he should be gathered to the dead in great joy because the troubles and thraldoms of his Nation should no more disquiet him For who could doubt of
Ordination shall be necessary for us for nothing is necessary in it self but as the Lord hath decreed and made it so Wherefore this is my first Proposition That the use of Baptism is simply necessary to a true Church and where it is not in use as among Jews and Mahometans that alone is enough to defie them that they are not members of that body whereof Christ is the head It is not to be opposed that the due administration of the Sacraments is an inseparable note of the Church For the Church being an outward company of Professors that depend upon the grace of God How can it outwardly be discerned that we depend upon him unless we accustom our selves to the outward means that seal and assure his blessings unto us Touching Baptism therefore it is necessary to a company of Believers who make a Church it is so necessary that they could give no evident token of their Christianity to men if that mark of our initiation into the visible Church were omitted Though Baptism as I will shew instantly is not simply necessary for the invisible incorporation of Infants in to Christ yet it is certain that the sprinkling of water gives them that visible incition whereby they are ingrafted into him That must be our ordinary practice or else we are none of his flock he is none of our Shepherd In the description of Paradise we read of two things that were in it Pleasant Rivers of waters and Trees which did abound with fruit for sustenance So the Church in whose blessings Paradise is restored unto us hath spiritual sustenance for life in the Lords Supper and water of Regeneration in the other Sacrament Without these two it is no more it self and therefore the Church of God in general may say I have need to be baptized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a necessity laid upon me My next Proposition consists of these terms Suppose that there are some grown to years of knowledge able to discern between good and evil who from their birth were Paynims Mahometans altogether ignorant in the truth of Salvation but at last the light of heaven hath shined upon them and by the preaching of the Word hath wrought upon their hearts to believe such Converts must desire to be wash'd in the Sacrament of water and confess that they have need and that they would be baptized First I say they must desire it cordially and with all the affection of their mind If it be not the only Lesson of the Gospel yet I am sure it is the main drift of Christ and his Apostles to teach all men to attain to Salvation by humility Therefore to pluck down our high imaginations see the admirable wisdom of Gods Dispensations he hath made man subject to those creatures which are much beneath himself that they should be the sanctified instruments to make him partaker of everlasting life Naaman the Syrian thought great scorn at first to make use of an whole River to recover his Leprosie Now leâ—t any man should have such insolent thoughts that he would not be beholding to small things for his salvation they that will be heirs of heaven must come to a Font and be glad of a little sprinkling in token that Christs bloud will cleanse them from their sins They must kneel and fall down likewise at Gods Table to pick up the crumbs and to taste a little of his banquet of bread and wine And he that despiseth these Elements as poor rubbish for so great a purpose he despiseth God himself and his heart is not right with the Lord. It is an essential propriety of faith to long for the Sacraments even as the Hart thirsteth after the Rivers of waters And he that sets those Mysteries at a low price as if it were not material to his souls benefit whether he used them or no the Devil hath pust him up to destroy him he wants the true life of Faith and is given over to the captivity of Satan I say no more than God hath denounced against the uncircumcised Gen. xvii 13. My Covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting Covenant the uncircumcised man-child shall be cut off from his people he hath broken my Covenant Beloved if an Israelites child died before the eighth day which the Lord appointed for Circumcision that did not offend the Lord neither was the child accounted out of the Covenant but if an Israelite of ripe years or a stranger within his gates did despise Circumcision that soul was cut off in the anger of the Lord. My third Proposition touching Converts of ripe age is this that if they desired Baptism and were prevented by the suddenness of death the Lord will accept the desire of their Faith and their soul shall not suffer for the want of Baptism Two Texts in the New Testament imply a strict command that we must all be baptized if we desire to be entred into the Covenant of grace yet I will draw from them that they are not altogether without limits and mitigation Mar. xvi 16. They are our Saviours words He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Mark with what wariness the words are repeated not thus he that is not baptized shall perish only the other member is taken into the threatning He that believeth not shall be damned To be an unbeliever to avoid the Sacrament out of disdain and not to be prevented by necessity that is the crime which according to our Saviours words shall not be unrevenged Hear in another place what he presseth more strictly upon Nicodemus Joh. iii. 5. Vnless a man be born again of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Here is no time limited but it is spoken as if instantly the institution of Baptism were in force and that from thenceforth no man could plead his right to the Kingdom of heaven without it Yet we know the soonest that it took place was not till anon after his Resurrection when the Disciples had the word given Go and baptize all Nations c. For as he said elsewhere Joh. vi 53. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his bloud ye have no life in you the words run in the Present tense yet he did not perfectly declare what he meant nor put in force till he eat his last Supper with his Disciples So it appears that Text before cited Vnless a man be born again of water and of the Spirit is not without limitation and the next verse clears the matter on this sort That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit where we see the Spirit alone is able to regenerate a man and not always necessarily both water and the Spirit Bernard in his 77 Epistle to Hugo writes more diligently I think than any before him in this argument He proves from the confession of the
forswearing unhallowing the Lords day Rebellion against the Magistrate Rapines murders Lying Dissimulation want of Remorse all these sins which we knew of old and all those new sins which mischeif can invent are incident to him that cares not to grow rich by Gods blessing alone but by any sort of Policy Judas had an impatient heart that he did not raise his fortunes by Christs service he got little or nothing under him How easie it was for Satan to enter in at this gap and to put it into his heart to accept of thirty pieces of Silver to betray him If Christ would have bid most and given him Gold for Silver Judas would have tried his cunning then to have betrayed the Devil Ad mercedem pii sumus ad mercedem impii Therefore the Devil brought him speedily to an untimely death lest he should revolt for a greater reward and retain to the contrary faction And as for the thirty pieces the wages which he took both to sell Christ and his own soul for the High Priests had so much more than they covenanted for Judas durst not keep them they durst not receive them the Pension of innocent bloud none durst finger it but as the holy man said He hath swallowed down riches he shall vomit them up again Job xx 15. Because the Lord doth sometimes alledge the Heathen against the disobedience of his own Servants to provoke them by a foolish people therefore I will give you an instance from the morals of an Heathen Philosopher whom he did condemn for such as were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as took where they had no right and heapt possessions and gain unto themselves by unjust dealing And very judiciously he premiseth that there are two sorts of men that pluck much to themselves by unjust rapine who are transcendent sinners above the usual stile of them that are noted for filthy lucre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tyrants that invade whole Kingdoms that are not their own and sacrilegious persons that lay hands on Gods portion and to satisfie their own Avarice despoil that which is consecrated to holy uses The first of these Usurping Tirants do not repine that they want a little bread but like Ahab they are sick for vexation and cannot eat their bread with joy unless they may have Naboths Field nay unless they may have whole Regions that are not their own This was a Goatish barbarous Conclusion every Nation had a Title to that Kingdom which was better than their own Such as these will pretend not to satisfie their need but to feed their pride and luxury and care not how much bloud they sell to buy a wrong name a dignity which the Lord did never give them Take heed of the bread of violence and oppression says Solomon though in the beginning such bread be sweet to the Palate yet afterward their mouth is filled with gravel and then follows gnashing of teeth in which Christ deciphers one sting of torment belonging to eternal damnation The Amalekites spoil'd the Kingdom of Israel burnt Ziglag and took away the women Captives but while they were eating and drinking and dancing because of the great spoil David smote them from twilight even till the Evening of the next day 1 Sam. xxx 17. The other sort of transcendent unjust ones are they who if they be not prosperous in the abundance of wealth to joyn house to house and Land to Land God himself shall not keep his own from them these are the Sacrilegious they are not common stones that these men move to become rich but they will command that the stones of the Temple be made bread The Sons of Eli the High Priest for I will confess it to our shame that the very Priests themselves in all Ages have not been quit from Sacriledge would lurch from the Sacrifice it self the best part of the Sacrifice and the vengeance fell from heaven not only on their own persons to be slain in battel but the Ark of God being under the custody of such wicked Levites was taken by the Philistins and carried away in triumph Even mighty Princes have smarted for this sin for when Belshazzar called for the golden and silver Vessels which his Father had taken out of the Temple of Jerusalem that he his Princes his Wives and his Concubines might drink therein in the same hour was the hand seen which wrote upon the wall that his Kingdom was taken from him No Nation so Idolatrous but abandoned them which made private gain of that which was due to the Altar to the Priests or any way to the honour of their Gods It was strict and strange justice in the Athenians that put a little boy to death who had scrapt off a little Plate of Silver from some shrine in Dianaes Temple but the reason of that severe Sentence was Metuebant ne sacrilegus evaderet if he had liv'd to be a man they fear'd he would prove notoriously socrilegious These which I have spoken of Tyranny and Sacriledge a mere Naturalist could call the two transcendent tops of injustice There are others under these indeed yet of a most vile condition that eat their bread by wrongful dealing when it is grounded with the Devils Milstones and according to Aristotle my former director these may be ranged into three sorts Such as maintain themselves with no calling such as use a bad calling and such as cheat in a good Calling We must eat our bread by Prayer to God and good employment in the world that is by the duty of Invocation and by the fruits of our Vocation therefore he that fills up no place or part in a Common-wealth to earn his gains must needs take the Devils counsel to live by unjust means command that these stones be made bread I consider not so much in this censure Parasites and Flatterers that subsist by fauning upon those that will be gull'd with assentation nor Buffoons and Jesters upon whom the Philosopher toucheth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as lead an apish ridiculous life a far greater curse than if they would undergo Gods curse to eat their bread with the sweat of their brows but I speak of them whose impious hands maintain them no otherwise but by pilfering and stealing what swarms of these are round about us in every corner of the streets yea sometimes in this very house of God More witty wicked inventions are excogitated I am perswaded in this City to cheat to filch to circumvent than all the Nations beside under the Sun are aware of If ever any sin grew a monster in a State this is improved to be so in ours And the good suffer this shame for their sakes who are bad that thievery in other Countries is accounted the National blot of this Island It is not imprisonment it is not branding it is not a fatal death that will deter them Nay it is not the fear of eternal fire hereafter it is not that denouncement
the Church The first institution of Marriage the Fall of man and the Promise of Christ And God chose him above all men to receive his Commandments out of the dark Cloud for which his excellency hath been renowned above all men in all Generations But as the chief Lesson in all the Prophets is the coming of Christ in the flesh so none more express for that than Moses If you believed Moses you would believe in me says our Saviour In every of his Five Books he hath left some notable instance for this a Beacon upon an hill The Seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head Gen. iii. Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us in the Paschal Lamb Exod. xii The Serpent lifted up in the Wilderness even so the Son of man was lifted up Num. xxi In Leviticus all the Ceremonial Sacrifices were Types of him especially the Scape-goat But above all Deut. xviii A Prophet will the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me hear him This is that Prophet who is the chosen quiver out of which Christ takes his shafts Mallens doctrinâ Moses quà m miraculis pugnare Our Saviour had rather convince the Devil with Moses than with Miracles And above all the Scripture or above all other works of Moses Christ hath refuted the Devil only out of the Book of Deuteronomy at every turn that he spake unto him Whether Moses were anciently divided into a Pentateuch or five several Books whereof this is the last I concur with them that doubt it This is certain the seventy Interpreters were the first that called it Deuteronomy for the Jews gave the Five Books no other names but the first words of the Book A singular and most select piece of Scripture it is containing the whole body of godly practice and true Religion for the King for all Magistrates for the Priests and for the People It is Moses his Cygnaea cantio the last exhortation which he made before he took his leave of the world And it is supposed there is more Divination in the Spirit in the nearest enlightnings before death than at other times as if the soul were almost out of the earth and a little in heaven The great Prophet took such abundant care to preserve it and to put it into the hands of all men that it was wrote in stone for an eternal memorial Deut. xxvii 3. Every seventh year it was to be read to all the people at the solemn Feast of Tabernacles Deut. xxxi 10. The King was enjoyn'd to keep a Copy of it and read it all his days Deut. xvii 18. And after he had spoke it he wrote it and delivered it to the Priests Ruminate upon this that you shall not find such instances for the memorial of any other sacred Book and that Christ drew only out of this fountain to quench the fiery darts of the Devil and although comparisons I know are odious between one book of Gods Word and another yet some excellency will redound out of the premises to this Scripture in every mans imagination It took the name of Deuteronomy because when the Law had been delivered before this is a repetition of the Law again Nunquam nimis dicitur quod nunquam satis dicitur Moses was not ashamed to preach the same things over again no more was Paul To me says he it will not be irksome to you it will be profitable The Law had need to be repeated often for our rebellion and depravation and perhaps because the oldest men of Israel were all dead in the Wilderness for the sin of murmuring who had first heard the Law it was fit to propound it again to the new Generations That I may not be too tedious in this I will only add what St. Hierom says Deuteronomy or the second Law is a prefiguration of the Gospel or Evangelical Law Sic habet quae priora sunt tamen novae sunt omnia de veteribus So the Gospel doth antiquate no moral thing which is old and yet old things in the Law become new in Christ by the faith of the Gospel Heaps of Expositors follow this hint that Christ retorted Texts of Deuteronomy upon Satan for this reason because it affords a kind of shadow of the Gospel A weak reason for so many to be in love with since it was not God that imposed the name of Deuteronomy on that Book but men that did interpret it Why that Book was only in Christs mouth upon this occasion let no man take upon him to determine but it will teach us to search diligently for some excellent Treasure in those Lines which were thought worthy to be applied and them only by the wisdom of the Son of God And thus much for the seat of the Argument and for these words It is written Before I come to the words themselves we must pass over the second Point that the application of them is drawn to Christ The place originally is to be read thus Deut. viii 3. He humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with Manna which thou knewest not neither did thy Fathers know that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live It was Christs pleasure to have himself comprehended in this rule our case is his case he will fare as we fare he trusts in Gods blessing as we ought to trust in it in a word he answers altogether as man and not as God As the Israelites had no Corn or Harvest in the Wilderness to make bread yet they had sustenance equivalent or better which fell from above round about their Tents so Christ intimates the same providence could help him though he wanted bread which supplied the Iraelites of whose stock he was descended He could have confounded Satan with his Majesty and power but it was more tormentuous to the Adversary to be thrown off as with the weakness of mere man and his humility This is not it which Satan look'd for to hear Christ answer him by the title of man and far less did he look for it that he should get the upper hand of him in that title a triumph which is most molestious to his pride above all other punishments Here it began that he should be subject to mans nature yet it was that nature co-united in one person with God but hereafter all the band of Hell shall be turned over to the children of men who have been the children of God that they may insult over them Do ye not know that the Saints shall judge the world says St. Paul 1 Cor. vi 2. Nay know ye not that we shall judge Angels Not only comparatively because our works are better than theirs as the Ninivites and the Queen of the South shall rise up in judgment against the unbelieving Jews Mat. xii But directly our suffrage shall go to their eternal condemnation
Angel if his Superiour called him he must come instantly away These are whimsies in the head when the Devil prompts them to do some strange tricks more than ordinary Christians are able even as he would have put our Saviour upon a supernatural shall I say Nay upon a contra-natural exploit because he was the Son of God Whereas the true marks of Filiation and Adoption are these Humility awful Fear Faith that works by Love hate of Vain-glory Denying of our selves giving all honour to God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost AMEN THE TWELFTH SERMON UPON Our Saviours Tentation MAT. iv 6. For it is written He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone THey that meditate mischief against others usually they begin with perswasion and end in hostility their first way is subtilty and their last is violence As Themistocles told the men of Andria that he had brought two great Goddesses with him to exact Tribute of that Island 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perswasion and Necessity First I pray do it and then you must do it The Devil held our Saviour play all the while he was on the Earth with the same method For a long space he laid his train privily to overcome him with Art and Tentation at length he made his assault openly to bring him to his Death and Passion Vulpes in primo congressu leo in crucifixione at this bout he made towards him like a Fox with many trim perswasions but when he stood out perswasions he rose against him like a Lion as David prophesied They would tear my soul in pieces like a lion while there is none to deliver me In this story of Scripture upon which I insist he practiseth the Arts of the Fox upon which subtil creature Gregory lends this Observation to our present matter Nunquam rectis itineribus sed tortuosis anfractibus currunt they never run straight on when they are hunted but make an hundred windings and doublings that it may be more difficult to trace them So Satan never went right on with any Proposition which he made to our Saviour sometimes he urgeth one way sometimes another comes forward and falls back practiseth like Pharaoh with Moses who profess'd he would deal subtilly with the people of Israel One while Pharaoh makes an offer to let the men of Israel go serve the Lord in the Wilderness but not their Children nor their Cattel then he changeth his Sentence and detains them all Then he gives them leave to take their Children with them but nothing else at last he gives order to let them all be gone Children and Herds and Flocks Bag and Baggage they should have all to be rid of them Beloved there can be no good meaning where there is so much alteration and inconstancy Square dealing stands upon one firm base hold fast to that without being removed Delusions and devices hop about like Ignis fatuus This holds very right on the Tempters part in my Text. You see he shifted ground from the Wilderness to the Temple and then he flies back from the Temple to the Mountains in the Wilderness He tries if he can make him despair then he falls off and ventures to make him presume Upbraids him at first that God would give him no bread Perswades with him by and by that God will give him all his Angels First he would put the working of a miracle into Christs hands command that these stones be made bread Next he refers the work of power to the Angels He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up Thirdly He assumes the doing of great matters to himself All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me He laboured with our first Parents neither to believed God nor the Word which he spake now he makes a shew that he would have Christ both trust in God and in his Angels and in his Word the holy Scripture For it is written He shall give his Angels charge c. The whole verse was thus distributed to you before First in order I propounded the demand which Satan made Cast thy self down 2. Upon what supposition If thou be the Son of God there I ended with the hour 3. Upon what Authority Why upon the warrant of the holy Scripture For it is written 4. Upon what assistance Why the best in the world which here is twofold Supreme and Instrumental The Supreme is God He will give his Angels charge concerning thee The Instrumental helps are the first Instruments of all Creatures the whole host of good Angels In their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone And first I must meditate hereupon at this time that the wicked one hath quoated the best Authority which the Church hath to justifie the lawfulness of his demand Scriptum est enim for it is written Perhaps he had never thought of Scripture at this time but that Christ put him in mind of it in the fomer Tentation and it was his old sin Ero similis altissimo I will be like the most High do every thing as Christ did not out of pious imitation but out of perverse affecting an equality And because Christ had the start of him to fly first to the Word of God therefore the Devil doth both quote Scripture and carry him to the Temple as if he would shew Religion and Sanctity double as much as our Saviour did Joab in his necessity will fly to the horns of the Altar for sanctuary as if the Lord would protect a Rebel that had set up a concurrent against his lawful King So the Devil will fly to the Scripture for a need as if there were any refuge there for him that had been a Traitor to his God Occasio fallendi est maxima ubi est maxima authoritas says St. Ambrose the most perilous way to deceive is under pretence of the greatest authority Therefore the Tempter comes like a Divine with a Psalter in his hand you know how well he counterfeited Samuel putting on the shape of that good Prophet to abuses Saul and here he counterfeits David nay therein he counterfeits the very Spirit of God A man would have thought Satan would have skipt the Book of the Psalms though he had search'd over all the Scripture beside It is the Volume of joy of consolation of alacrity the very Songs of Angels Is any man merry Let him sing Psalms says St. James Is there any use of that sweet harmony for him that lives in perpetual torment But they that mean to abuse the Sacred Text instance in those places where you would least expect to find them From the Commandment to sanctifie the Sabbath day the Pharisees wrung in their exception that it was not lawful for Christ on that day to
and efficacy therefore it is very ancient Canonical Law which forbad that any person endicted for a fault secretly committed and therefore accused either upon bare suspicion or upon the mouth of one witness should purge himself by dipping his arm in hot scalding water or by walking between plow-shares red hot unequally laid which was called the Ordeal Fire for these creatures thus imploy'd have no force by nature to manifest a truth and much less is any promise annex'd unto them to be the instruments of examinatory Justice by Divine Revelation If it be pretended that God appointed the woman suspected for Adultery to drink a draught of bitter waters which should discover whether she were innocent or no I answer That this one instance was peculiarly enacted by God who no doubt would assist such miraculous proceedings as were of his own institution but it is an unpardonable boldness to imitate him in his Omnipotent Ordinations and to ascribe unto other humane causes that they shall reveal hidden things which cannot be searcht by mans wit which is proper only to the Creator is to commit Idolatry obliquely and to seek that from a poor contemptible creature which is to be expected only from Almighty God Nor doth my Doctrine hold only in things that are common and profane but even things of the Divinest use are abused when we would wring out from them to detect Thefts or Murders or other Trespasses which cannot be discover'd by the ordinary way of Justice Therefore this Canon of a Provincial Council in Worms is dislik'd by grave Authors That if any things were stoln in a private Monastery where some Monk must needs be the Thief and all denied it every one of them should receive the Holy Sacrament with these words pronounc'd Corpus Domini nostri sit tibi ad probationem Let the Body of our Lord be thy trial or probation This was an insolent temptation for the Sacrament is taken to Commemorate Christs Death until he come not to detect such as were suspected of pilfering And however the sifting out of truth to discover the enemies of Gods Anointed and to lay open perilous talk against his Sacred Person may require such means and trials as are justly to be denied to all other cases yet we see the renowned Piety of his most Religious Majesty that would not have truth decided by the sharpness of the Sword no not in a matter that concern'd his own Royal Safety and when the Laws of the Realm did directly put that course into his hands and when his Royal Ancestors in this Island and sundry Princes in other Kingdoms have often us'd it for all this his excellently guided Conscience would not hazzard the blood of an Innocent as one party must needs be so where there is no certainty of assistance promis'd from God that the guiltless should be the Conquerour My Text hath directly led me to praise God that hath so guided the heart of his Majesty not to tempt the Lord. I did not strain to bring this note in by force for I wish no mercy if I do not vehemently abhor slattery But how ill is this noble example followed by the vulgar no toy can be lost no secret which we desire to know be kept in obscurity but being impatient to want their will an hundred sensless Charms and old Wives devices and casting Figures and casting Lots shall be sought after which God hath no more appointed to manifest hidden things then the wagging of a Feather or the shaking of a Leaf before the Wind. Beloved mark this Rule Si non potest sciri quare inquiritis secreta ad Dei tribunal spectant It may be the thing we inquire after concerns us deeply and would give us much quiet and content to find it out but where God hath denied you the ordinary means of discovery it is a sign that he means to reserve it in his own power and knowledge therefore to fly to these extraordinary ways ways after our own hearts but never allow'd in the word is to endeavour by force to pluck it out of Gods bosom If the Lord should offer you a miraculous or supernatural assistance to unrip any secret wickedness it were not to be refused as in a few examples the casting of Lots is granted in Scripture either to reveal some hidden truth or to foreknow somewhat to come but out of those cases such things are not to be medled with nor in no wise to be taken into your consultation For it is not in the power of those that use the Lot nor in the nature of the Lot to effect that necessarily whereunto it is employ'd therefore I damn it as an indirect means that is taken up against or beside the will of the Lord. Let me give you to see that one word of excuse which is very trivial is very erroneous and I will hasten to conclude Many do object that the Scripture hath no pregnant place in it which condemns the decision of truth or the finding out of hidden things by Duels by Ordeals by Lotteries by other Divinations I but can you shew me where the Scripture hath bid it to be done or else you have said nothing for where no Faith is the act which you undertake cannot be free from sin but where there is no warrant of the Word of God there can be no Faith Do you think it is possible to build Faith hereupon that such a course is not directly forbidden it cannot be for Faith without the Word and without promise is not Faith but presumption So I have delivered my mind how many ways it is offensive to tempt the Lord. I have prepared all things before to say little to the last point wherein the trespass consists to tempt the Lord. In two things first in Infidelity secondly in want of due reverence to the Divine honour 1. It is a token of little Faith yea of Infidelity to be uncertain or unskilful in any of the Divine Attributes but he that tries God it makes his action guilty that either some whole Attribute of the Divine Nature or some degree of excellency in it is unknown unto him as Ananias and Saphira put it to the trial if God had so much knowledge to discover their dissimulation Zachary tempted him whether the message which the Angel brought were verily the Divine Will The Israelites mis-doubted his power when they said Can he prepare a Table in the Wilderness Secondly He that tempts a thing upon no necessary cause esteems light of it and makes no reverential account of it as he ought but that he may toy with it at his pleasure as he that will pluck a Lion by the lip certainly he neither fears the anger nor the strength of the Beast So he that will assay what God can do only to satisfie his own curiosity it is evident he sets very little by the Divine Honour But we were not best to make sport with Sampson as the Philistines did
Spirit to a great and an high Mountain and shewed him the New Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God Rev. xxi 10. So the hand of the Lord brought Ezekiel and set him upon a very high Mountain to see the new City and the new Temple Ezek. xl 2. Yet these were but raptures or illuminations of the fancy after a divine manner and no more But if Satan plaid the Mimick to imitate God specially in this action there is much likeness in a case which I have not yet remembred But thus The Lord spake unto Moses Deut. xxxiv to go up to the top of Mount Nebo before he died and from thence he shewed him all the goodly Land of Promise from Dan even to the Land of Jericho which the Children of Israel should possess whom he had brought out of Egypt This is it certainly which the Tempter imitated and like a presumptuous fiend placeth not Moses a servant of the Family but Christ more excellent by far than Moses not upon Mount Nebo without the Land of Canaan but upon an hill near unto Jerusalem not to see one Territory and there to die and not enjoy it but to see all the Kingdoms of the world and to take them in possession A man may see with half an eye this was to vilifie Gods Miracles and Promises and to extol his own But that must be more copiously touch'd in the sequel Enough of the second Point the third is to this purpose by what gate or passage the Devil would bring in his Tentation and that is by the eye Ostendit illi He shews him all the Kingdoms of the World There is nothing so soon enticed and led away as the eye We are almost all like Labans Sheep every mans heart conceives as the delight of his eye doth impress upon his fancy O these fair Orbs which the Workman made to be the casements of light but they open to let in death into the soul There it began to shew it self to be an Instrument that had lost all purity when Adam and his Wife were called and hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the Trees of the Garden Whereupon says St. Austin when Adam had a pure conscience he had a single eye and loved to stand before the Lord Postquam peccato sauciatus est oculus caepit lucem formidare divinam But when his eye grew sin-sore his guiltiness would not let him look upon the divine splendour Refugit in tenebras veritatem fugiens umbras appetens Now it had rather seek out secret places and dark empty shadows than the eternal truth Here the eye began to fall from its primitive honour and ever since it became pernicious Says the Son of Sirach What is created more wicked than an eye wherefore it weepeth upon every occasion Eccles xxxi 3. St. John reduceth the whole brood of sin to these three Seed-plots all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life First there is Achans eye that lusteth after Silver and Gold and costly Babylonish Garments such eyes commit thievery upon all costly things that they behold Some would have all as far as they can look Hell and destruction are never full so the eyes of man are never satisfied says Solomon Prov. xvii But this is not all there is Shechems eye that lusteth after the beauty of Dinah Nay less than the lively Person a very Picture is able to strike the eye and dead colours can inflame it with lasciviousness Ask Ezekiel if it be not thus Cha. xxiii 16. Aholibah saw men pourtrayed upon the Wall the Images of the Chaldaeans as soon as she saw them she doated upon them and sent Messengers unto them into Chaldaea And not unusually this malignity hath extended to spiritual fornication for it is often alledged that the workmans cunning and beauty of the Image hath bewitch'd the eye and drawn the vain beholders to commit Idolatrie and these fair lights thus degenerating to be the brokers of wanton sins are called by Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Panders and Bawds to corrupt the Soul And yet there is another capitol mischief imputed to the eye by St. Austin Ad concupiscentiam oculorum pertinet nugacitas spectaculorum Gazing after all manner of vanities and spectacles of bravery filling the mind with rank effeminateness and idleness casting away most unthriftily the good hours of our life to see and to be seen The Theaters are not large enough now adays to receive our loose Gallants Male and Female but whole Fields and Parks are thronged with their concourse where they make a muster of their gay cloaths acd that day is counted the luckiest of the Week not wherein they have done God most faithful service but wherein they have glutted their eyes abroad with gaudy Gallantry Did Solomon mean such as these can you tell when he said The eyes of a fool are in every corner of the earth But I am sure they are of a condition much better than these whom Christ meant Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Mat. v. 8. Such as are not of a very strict conscience to look to their integrity think they may easiy defend themselves against this charge for is not every thing which is visible made to be seen And more fit to be seen if it be a comly piece of Art or Nature St. Bernard brings in Eve excusing her self for looking upon the forbidden fruit Oculos tendo non manum non est interdictum ne videam sed ne comedam That is May I not cast mine eye toward the Tree I do not reach out my hand to it The Tree is pleasant to the eye and though I am forbidden to eat yet I am not denied to look at it The Father takes upon him to answer as if he had been by to talk with her Hoc etsi culpa non est culpae tamen indicium est The darting of the eye formally is not the transgression of the Commandment but it begets the transgression of the Commandment Behold the heaven and the earth and all the works of the Lord which he hath made in such manifold wisdom the invisible things may be understood by things which are seen and the well-governed eye shall teach the heart to glorifie God Wherefore mark the consequent what passions your eyes beget in your soul examine your own frailties prove your strength and your weakness keep your innocency and look your fill but turn away your eyes when you perceive that the devil shews the Object Job said his heart should not walk after his eye that his eye should not stray from reason But what if the heart chance to wander after the eye What remedy then Christ never gave a more angry Precept in all the Gospel than upon this occosion If thy right eye offend thee pull it out and cast it from thee 'T is an Hyperbole so all
Happy is the man that feareth alway but he that hardneth his heart falleth into mischief Prov. xxviii 14. Now there is a fear of a finer thread which is timor filiorum this ariseth out of the love of God when we take care not to displease because He hath made us and poured all his benefits upon us because it is the best of all things to enjoy his favour Nothing so much to be loved as God therefore nothing so much to be feared that He be not offended they that love most abound with it This is a joyful fear which outlasts all the fears of this life The fear of the Lord is clean and endureth for ever Psal xix 9. This reverential fear is in the Angels the Cherubins standing before God cover their faces with their wings awing his glorious Majesty the Elders before the throne fall down prostrate and cover their faces with their wings As the New Testament calls God charity God is love saith St. John so the Old Testament calls him fear Jacob swears by the fear of his father Isaac that is by God himself Gen. xxxi 43. Fear therefore is a vein that runs through all Religion and whatsoever buds out of Religion may be called fear it is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all piety the first and the last The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledg Prov. i. 7. and the end of all is fear God and keep his Commandments Eccl. xxi 13. The Lord threatens to the end we should be dejected that 's worship annexed to servile fear and the Lord multiplies his blessings upon us to the end we should bow down and be thankful that 's worship annexed to filial fear True fear doth continually worship our Redeemer desperate fear like the impenitent Thief doth blaspheme him and these two differ as much as sharp sawce that gives an appetite to the stomach and poison that destroys the vitals So far that the word fear in the Law is chang'd into worship in the Gospel for so it was fit to refute the Devil who said all these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me And the worship of God is that Theme which without more circumstance now it befals me to handle What is it to worship God what is requir'd unto it every man knows that's the first question to be askt and I will make you a very satisfactory answer out of a devout example which is thus St. Matthew sayes there came a Leper and worshipped Christ saying Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Math. viâ—i 2. that 's the word of my Text. You shall meet with this party again Mark i. 40. What find we there there came a Leper to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beseeching him and kneeling down to him yet another Evangelist says more to make it clearer Luke v. 12. Behold a man full of leprosie fell on his face and besought him saying Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean The collection from hence is this when these scatter'd members are put together that to worship the Lord is to kneel down unto him to fall down on our face before him and to beseech him by earnest prayer Be advertised in one thing that to worship to kneel before to bow down unto in reverence are media vocabula as we say terms for civil respects between man and man as well as for religious offices between God and Man a great confusion falls out thereby in the handling of this doctrine and it cannot be avoided Saies St. Austin in linguâ latinâ non habemus ullum vocabulum quod solùm dicatur de cultu Dei there is not any word betokening the worship of God in the latin tongue so proper to it that it may not be communicated to man all tongues are alike in that poverty of expression In the New Testament the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is constantly kept for the outward worship of God saving that Matth. xviii the Servant who feared to be sold away he and all he had is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Parable speaks of an earthly Master though the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Epiparabola come home to God in the English tongue the nearest word that is meant only of divine honour and a little too high for civil reverence is adoration If you say you adore an earthly man in our language we almost esteem it flattery But they are not words or outward gestures which can decide what it is which properly constitutes the essence of that worship which God claims The word adore I said might have a religious meaning with us but in no tongue else Saies Valla very well adorare includit orare supplicare voce uti plicare genu the word adore doth import the humble petition of the tongue and the supplication of the knee but these are things common and promiscuous to civil and holy uses All the reverent deportments of the body which piety ascribes to God civility without offence performs sometimes to Magistrates and Superiours It may be some Nations had their Customs to keep certain peculiar venerations of the body for God alone as the Athenians put Timagoras their Embassador to death quòd Regem Persarum tanquam Deum salutasset because he did obeisance to the King of Persia as to a God I know not what peculiar bendings of the body they appropriated to their Gods it was a national custom of their own and for my part I will not say a bad one but nature hath no such ground to limit the most humble gestures of the body to God alone Prophets in holy Scripture have faln on their face before Kings and great men have faln on their face before Prophets Though this doctrine be most true yet Cardinal Bellarmin did not pick out Abraham so luckily to make him the example of it He says that Abraham prostrated himself alike to God to Angels and to the Honourable men of the Sons of Heth. I say and will manifest it that the Scripture says he made a difference in his congees to them all Abram fell on his face and God talked with him Gen. xvii 3. When he went to meet the Angels he bowed himself toward the ground Gen. xviii 2. When he spake to the children of Heth Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people Gen. xxiii 7. You hear he fell on his face to God he bowed himself to the ground to the Angels and he bowed himself without more addition to the people of Heth. But this distinction is not kept by other holy men who walked perfectly before the Lord therefore I stand upon my former ground that neither by simple terms nor by postures and bowings of the body can it be resolv'd what worship is proper to the Lord for my part I could never make an intelligible interpretation of that
off and abandon their Society and he shall find heavenly comforters in his soul as if Angels ministred unto him Qui expellit à se Satanam allicit ad se Angelos Bid Satan get him hence and the Angels take it for an invitation that they should pitch their Pavilions round about you Lot lived like a stranger in his own City and conversed not with the men of Sodom they called him a stranger he shut himself up and barr'd his doors against those filthy people What could he do more to keep the ungodly from his very sight as David said Thus estranging himself from the conversation of pernicious sinners he made himself sit to give hospitality to Angels A good Lesson for these times wherein ribbald roaring company is rather sought for than declined A strange thing that a Christian who feels some comfort in Christ and desires salvation in his bloud should with so much affection and longing thrust himself among them whose desperate behaviour is easily perceived if repentance help not to tend to utter damnation St. Paul was weary of his own body called it a body of death and groaned to be delivered from it because the Flesh rebelled against the Spirit Did he loath himself that he might love Christ the more And will you invite those into your friendship and fellowship that blaspheme Christ Shake off this dust from your feet all prophane intemperate lascivious persons from your familiarity if either you expect that God should give his Angels charge of you in this life or make you partakers of their fellowship of heavenly glory in the life to come The next thing towards which we turn our eyes at this word behold is the alteration of rest and quietness before there were assaults and troubles and molestations all this is changed in a moment into peace and tranquillity which shall be the certain issue of all those that fight a good fight with patience Semper asperiora laetiorum vicissitudine mitigantur Rough beginnings have joyful events by the temperature and vicissitude of Gods gracious mercy Such as were called prosperous among the heathen most usually the best share of their fortune was in the forepart of their life and their end was lamentable the seven first years in Pharaohs dream did betoken plenty but the seven last years famine and scarcity the head of Nebuchadonosors Image was of Gold and the toes of Clay the rich man had a great time of gathering more than he knew where to bestow it but in one night lost his soul and all This is an unkind and an unnatural method to taste the sweetest at the top of the Cup and after a little sipping to have our teeth set on edge with Aloes Doth it not taste better when the gracious providence turns the lot thus First a Deluge and then a Rainbow First a Captivity and then a joyful return First a Dioclesian and then a Constantine First the impugnation of the Devil and then the Congratulation of Angels Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour untill the evening says the Psalmist There is a time to give the body a cessation from toil and do you think the Lord doth not measure out when he will give the soul and spirit relaxation from misery As a stranger is received at night and bids God b'you in the morning so indignation and the severity of chastisement are stangers unto the Lords clemency he calls vengeance Peregrinum opus his strange work Isa xxviii Therefore it shall be dismissed from him like a stranger after it hath staid a while Heaviness may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Psal xxx 6. Tentations have their bout and the storms of hell their period but the good Angels know their qu when to enter and to turn the scene Behold the Angels came and ministred unto him And once more this note of admiration Behold bids us regard to what alteration of dignity the truly humble are called Recusavit dominatum in homines habet imperium in Angelos Our Saviour turn'd away from that ambitious suggestion All this power will I give thee and the glory of them He desired not to have a Kingdom in this world or to have the pre-eminence of men and loe the pre-eminence over Angels is given unto him And it is more dignity to have two Angels minister unto him than to have ten thousand Kingdoms Every part of Christs humility was inlaid with honour to recompence it To be laid in a Manger was not so vile as it was most magnificent to be adored of the Wisemen of the East to be visited by Shepherds was not so contemptible as it was most glorious to be proclaimed of Angels To ride upon an Ass was not of such debasement but the cry of the children made amends Hosanna blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord. It savoured not so much of infirmity to be tempted of the Devil but it is supplied as much with Majesty to be attended by the Cherubins No part of his humility went without a reward from the first to the last nay the last part had amends made for all He humbled himself unto the death even unto the death of the Cross propter quod wherefore God hath highly exalted him c. Humility was his direct way to glory but we think we are out of the way to promotion unless we shift and shuffle for the highest place and the chiefest room in the Synagogues The first shall be last and the last shall be first This is a riddle to them that love to set their feet upon a rising ground Yet David hath laid a curse upon preposterous ambition that it shall decline That which should have been for their wealth says he let it be unto them an occasion of falling The holy Father Basil lost no honour in this life by shunning the dignity which was intended him and flying away into obscurity when he was called to be a Bishop The Apostle Bartholomew is reported in some histories to have been of the bloud royal of the Kings of Egypt Was it any diminution to him to have left all to be a poor Disciple Is there any Christian King that doth not wish he had rather born his Office of Apostleship than have swayed a Scepter When Princes die their honour shall not follow after them but those twelve humble ones of our Saviours train shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel If spiritual thoughts will lift a man up to heaven an humble man is mounted above the earth all the while he seeks those things which are above Themislius an holy man put this Lesson in so pure a verse as it is beyond translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his heart sunk down when ambition puft him up but he felt his feet upon the Angels Ladder going up when humility cast him down Our Saviour despised all the Kingdoms of the world and the glory
the second branch his associates are Peter John and James 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he took them to see his glory it was his association St. Mark adds by way of emphasis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he took three only and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 privatim he sequestred them apart from this world that they might see his glory Thirdly he prepar'd himself for this illustrious accident in great humility inter precandum he had prostrated himself before his Father in prayer And then fourthly this majestical glory came upon him two waies quoad vultum quoad vestitum in his person in his apparel in his flesh an astonishing radiancy the fashion of his countenance was altered in his cloaths an admirable purity his raiment was white and glistering I cannot be copious upon so many particulars of some more largely of the most succinctly In the first circumstance of all the Spirit of God hath noted out the Time and therefore I must not balk it no not in any of the three respects post dicta post dies post itâ—r First after those sayings says my Text inquiry shall be made what words those be and with whom he had that communication which went before the demonstrance of his glory in two preceding verses in this chapter Christ exhorted his Disciples and many others to the assurance of his Cross and that they might know he was able to recompence their sorrows who endured affliction for his name sake yea and would recompence it he speaks thus The Son of man shall come in his own glory and in his Fathers and of the holy Angels and I tell you of a truth there he some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Kingdom of God He refers the multitude to look for the last day of judgment when he would come in infinite Majesty to call the World before him but he refers certain nameless persons to expect after a while a pregustation of some heavenly apparition wherein they should see how he would be cloathed with power and excellencie when he came to sit upon his Throne and to call the Nations before him they should not taste of death till they saw a spectacle of the Kingdom of God in his transfiguration This was the occasion which made him exhibit his body with that glorious lustre in the Mount and yet some have ignorantly distorted those words to another purpose There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Kingdom of God what doth it mean say they but that John the Disciple whom Jesus loved should live till the last day of judgment as the report went among the Brethren how that disciple should not die Thus Theophylact and the counterfeit Hypolitus that error which hath run through so many Pens grew from hence that when Peter being told with what death he should glorifie God asked What should become of his fellow Disciple John Christ gave him no clear satisfaction because his question deserved it not but only thus If I will that he stay till I come what is that to thee follow thâ—â— me Let it be but probably discovered what coming Christ speaks of and there is no great perplexity in the saying Attend therefore this coming is nothing less than that great coming in personal Majesty at the last day but his coming in wrath and judgment against the Nation of the Jews to punish them and quite to extirpate their seed from Jerusalem Touching this coming by the fury of the Romans to execute his vengeance St. James speaketh to the faithful converted from Judaism and then sore afflicted by the Synagogue Be ye patient and stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh Jam. v. 8. Whereas therefore antient stories have delivered unto us that all the other Apostles were swept away by Martyrdom before the final destruction of Jerusalem onely John outlived that time even till the reign of Trajan This then is a plain meaning of our Saviour's answer if I will that he live till that dismal day when I come to destroy this people which hath crucified me what is that to thee Peter thou shalt never see that day but prepare thy self before for a speedier Martyrdom And to what use should the Apostle live a mortal life upon earth unto the end of the world and yet never appear to any man he lived to see the coming of Gods judgments against the holy City and he together with Peter and James lived to see a mirror of celestial glory in the Transfiguration that 's the meaning of our Saviour's promise going before my Text There be some standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the Kingdom of God It follows to be noted in the observation of the Time that after these sayings he fulfilled his word neither at the instant nor after a long distance but about an eight days after these sayings It was neither so quickly dispatcht before they had meditated upon it nor so long put off that they could forget it be it about an eight days or about eight thousand ages it is but a little while to God who measures all things by Eternity Now in these words which are the very front of the story there are two days odds in the relations of the Evangelists St. Luke you hear sayes about an eight days after St. Matthew and St. Mark after six days Doth not this account differ no not a whit six days complete did go between his sayings and his mighty work St. Matthew and the other speak of that time only but in a part of one day he had said there be some standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the Kingdom of God in part of another day He took those three up into the mountain and so St. Luke computes exactly 't was about an eight dayes after those sayings So hath the Divine wisdom disposed that the same thing should be repeated in several Gospels with some alteration of phrase but with no difference or contradiction and that for two causes When outwardly there seems to be some disagreement between the Text of one Evangelist and another these difficulties do whet our industry to study the book of God there must be knots and mysteries hard to be understood ut homo semper discat Deus semper doceat that man may alwayes learn and God may always teach unto the end of the world 2. Says another si per omnia consentirent nemo putarent eos seorsim scripsisse if they had all jumpt in the same words quite throughout as some say of the 72 Interpreters in the Old Testament it might have been imagined that the Gospels were not writ at distinct times and in distinct places now the dissonancy of their phrase doth warrant us to say that the Evangelists did not cast their heads together when they committed the Scriptures to writing but wrote apart and yet the same spirit
shalt die in the Mount whither thou goest up and be gathered unto thy people as Aaron thy Brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered unto his people therefore if Aaron died as we know he did Moses was not translated that he might not see death Nay the next opinion is more probable than so which takes away the offence which the former opinion gives and attributes great honor to Moses namely it consents as it ought to do that Moses died and that God by the ministry of his Angels did lay down his Body for a while to be buried in the Land of Moab but it did not abide in the earth there to be corrupted but was presently restored to life again and translated to immortality and because he did not abide in death therefore it is said that no man knoweth of his Sepulcher unto this day I draw to this side the rather because in the ninth verse of St. Judes Epistle the Angel did contend and dispute with the Devil about the Body of Moses Some say the contention was that the Angel bound the Devil not to reveal where his Body was buried lest the children of Israel finding it out should venerate and adore his Sepulcher and run into Idolatry Some say because the Angel buried him against Bethpheor which was a place of most diabolical Idolatry and Satan strugled not to be turned out of that place by the burial of this holy man I see no incongruity to say because the Angel did not only contend but dispute says Jude not about the Burial but about the Body that the argument was why the Body of Moses should be restored to life and not rot and putrify in the dust This opinion is maintained by Luther by Brentius and by the Jesuit Maldonat and it puts all in good square to defend and it may be done for ought I see without any absurdity that the Body of Moses was reserved in immortality with the Body of Elias and both were in all readiness to come to our Saviours Transfiguration Yet a number of Doctors have a fourth strein that Moses his Body was gathered by the power of God just at this time out of the dust and he took it up so long as this miracle lasted and then laid it down again and either resumed it shortly after when our Saviour rose from the dead for then many dead bodies of the Saints arose and appeared unto many in the holy City or else he awaits Gods leisure to be cloathed with his flesh for ever at the solemn and general Resurrection This cannot be gainsaid for nothing is irksom to Gods Saints which most conduceth to their Masters glory Yet once I must speak again that there is a fifth opinion and most commonly defended That Moses his own Body was reunited at this time to his Soul and that it did abide with him for ever and he did never lay it down more If we keep not this Opinion steady it will be much shaken with this Objection That Christ is commonly known by this property to be the first who rose from the dead to die no more The first-born from the dead Colos i. 18. The first-fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. xv 20. Some answer he is the first of them that rose from the dead as he is said to be the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world He was crucified from the beginning of the world and rose from death from the beginning not actually but virtually for the power of his Death and Resurrection were available ever since the Promise was made Secondly he is Primogenitus the First-born the strength the might of them that rise for he rose by his own will and virtue all beside him not by their own power but by the power of Christ But I shall neither satisfie my self nor you with an answer till I add a third thing that Christ was the first-fruits of them that rose from the dead and ascended up with his Body before the Majesty of the glory of the Most High For here I must bring in a very fit distinction though not used by many that it is one thing to make a Body change corruption into incorruption so shall all our Bodies be when they are raised from the dead another thing to make our vile Bodies be changed into glorified Bodies that shall not be till they are exalted into the highest Heavens Elias his Body being translated was incorruptible so was Moses his Body if he had it before the Transfiguration or if he retained it after but Christ Jesus was the first of them that rose from the dead whose glorified Body entred into the highest places I have been very brief in this intricate Controversie which is so stiffly disputed of all sides and it will make the next point come off more easie From whence Moses and Elias came to talk with Christ at his Transfiguration I conclude out of the former question that Elias was translated up on high in Soul and Body that 's indubitable and that Moses rose out of his Grave and assumed his own Body at this instant Miracle of all opinions that I take it is most probable Therefore I say Elias came down from whence he was ascended before and Moses rose up from whence he was descended before So the Son of God did demonstrate says S. Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he had the power in his hand both of life and death By Moses says Aquinas are represented all those Saints whose bodies from the beginning of the world to the end lye buried in the dust by Elias are understood the whole stock of men and women that shall be found at Christs second coming living upon the earth and both kinds shall be summoned to appear before him Oh that we may come from heaven to meet him as Elias did that we may shine with repentance and faith and charity these are the characters of them that shall be bold to stand before the Son of God in Majesty and they that have these endowments do as it were come from heaven with Elias to meet our Saviour But to the point we make no scruple from whence Moses his Body came to mount Tabor from whence but from the dust of the earth the difficult question will be out of what place of sequestration Elias came with his Body To which briefly as I am able to conjecture not to certifie you St. Cyprian was not earnest to enquire it when he left it off thus quo raptus sit Elias Deus novit whither Elias was taken up God knows yet sure he means he had not been taught nor could teach into what Region of Heaven he was assumed yet he never doubted but he was in some Canton of that Celestial Habitation The Scripture says no more of Enoch but he walked with God and he was not for God took him Gen. v. 24. But of Elias in plain words that he went up in a whirlwind to Heaven The
which came to pass in after ages did as well cure the faithful in the former as in the latter world 't is never too soon to believe and seek after Christ never too late to believe and repent Moses and Elias are Proxies for all those who died before the coming of Christ that it was beneficial and pleasant to them to have this communication that He should die at Jerusalem Libenter exules de reditu in patriam loquuntur by our own just demerits and by the sin contracted in our first Parents Moses and Elias and all the Sons of Adam were justly exiled from the joys of Paradise but do thou suffer O Lamb of God and thou wilt open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers Tell me if it were not joyful to banished men to speak of those means which should restore them to a Kingdom This was the last thing that their Soul did meditate upon earth upon the meditation of his passion they as we also ought to do did shut up their last breath and this is the first thing which they have to say when God did grant them tongues to speak in the Resurrection Discamus ea in terris quorum scientia nobis perseveret in coelis says St. Hierom Let us learn such good lessons here upon earth whose knowledg may remain with us hereafter in the Kingdom of Heaven Here it is remorseful fit it should be so to think of his agony and passion because our sins are before us those very Judasses which betrayed him in the society of Angels the case is altered there it is no sad discourse to speak of it for the guiltiness of our sins doth no more infest our memory every thing that the Lord willeth is pleasant and acceptable to us therefore in my fourth Notation Moses and Elias speak of Christs sufferings in no disconsolatory phrase but much to our comfort that it was a decease and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem Fourthly A mitigating word to lenify a harsh sound of a most dreadful thing The Heathen men did love to do and to speak couragiously and yet they who know no worse by death than that it was the cessation of our being or the dissolution of Soul and Body did describe it by the most judicious Pen that ever wrote among them to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of terrors the most terrible what if they had known the Scriptures that God spake in his anger that it is the wages of sin and unless mercy prevent judgment that it is a departure into endless misery But get up courage again O frail mortality the Son of God through death hath overcome death the Serpent hath lost his sting As willingly as a Passenger deceaseth or departeth from a strange place to his own home with such quietness and composed satisfaction of mind we go from hence for ever where we shall have an abiding City Be not unfurnisht for a sudden journey if God call but say with Simeon Lord I am ready to depart in peace Tully said that a worthy man in a good old age made no more than an exit or a decease out of a Theater with a plaudite The Scripture varies the name of death in good words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a tranquil rest Blessed are they that die in the Lord they rest from their labours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sound sleep our brother Lazarus sleepeth Jo. xi Sometimes it hath the title of an exaltation As Moses lifted up the brazen Serpent in the wilderness so shall the Son of man be lifted up And my Text names it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a decease as the Prophet hath called that Book which entreats of the Children of Israel's departure out of Egypt Exodus their decease out of that Country of captivity and slavery so if your soul cleave not too much to the dust of the earth death is no Bugbear no quivering meditation but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as joyful a decease to us as that was to them a departure out of bondage and misery O what death can be dreaded since Moses and Elias spake so mildly of the death of Christ Had his daies been cut off without all pain sorrow or ignominy take the Proposition thus barely without amplification of his wounds and sufferings mortuus est pro peccatoribus he died for sinners the just for the unjust who could sufficiently estimate the dear price of his payment or the miserable contract of our debt Mortiferum fuit quod non nisi morte Christi sanari potuit the wound of sin in our Soul was very mortal which made the Immortal die to cure it Lord it is not one Soul in every man nor ten thousand understandings and cogitations in that Soul which can cast up the estimation of that matchless benefit How much more when Christs death is dispread into a full description of all circumstances the longest Gospels by seven parts in all the Church Service are read upon the Passion and yet more must be conceiv'd than can be wrote of it in the largest Folio Yet I will print that Breviary of St. Paul in my memory to read it day and night Galat. iii. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree But that eternal life which he purchased to us thereby hath candied over the bitterness of death and it is called by a soft gentle word a decease and spake of his decease which he should accomplish c. Fifthly If as I intend to speak in the fifth place all the circumstances of his death were opened Peter and the rest did hear what manner of decease it was There were many Pikes to be passed through a complete order of afflictions to be undergon and accomplisht Fat Bulls of Basan have compassed me on every side His miseries stood round about him and Gods predeterminate counsel was the circle there was no moving out till every enemy had spent his spight upon him so many stripes and wounds foretold in several Psalms so many sharp pangs and doleances commemorated in several Chapters and he could not give up the ghost till all these things were come about and every jot of the Scripture fulfilled St. John hath set this down with the accurate wisdom of the Holy Ghost to be admired Joh. xx 28. Christ hanging upon the Cross had power to lay down his life at any minute at the first twitch of pain and though weariness and the agony of sweat and the torments he sustained made him very dry yet he could have died in that thirst and never call'd for drink But after all things in the Scripture were fulfilled one verse of David was unsatisfied They gave me vinegar to drink Psal lxix 2. therefore He cries out I thirst and having received no better than vinegar he bears testimony that then all Prophecies about his Passion were
follow which I propound by way of question and thus first An bonum sit Christum non crucifigi If it could be good for them that Christ should entrench himself in Mount Thabor and never go to Jerusalem to be crucified Lord grant us not our own wishes when we desire evil unto our selves for this Apostle unwittingly desired as much mischief to fall upon his own head as the Devil could wish Peter was well strucken in years his person of grave authority his affections full of well-meaning love to Christ therefore this was but one of three times that he made bold to resist his Masters passion and disswade it Mat. xvi 22. Be propitious unto thy self Lord thou shalt not be killed by the Scribes and High Priests At another time he cut off Malchus ear in the Garden to save his Saviour And though he durst not openly dehort him now for he was check'd before and called Satan for that fault yet the same meaning is closely conveyed in these words Master it is good for us to be here What should I say It was not his opinion alone but it seems all his brethren were of the same mind they knew not the Scriptures and thought the Church might do well enough though Christ did never die upon the Cross for when Peter alone did speak in this cause St. Mark says Christ turned about and looked upon all his Disciples Mar. viii 33. And then rebuked Peter Get thee behind me Satan Peter gives him the title of Master if he would stay there and not die but St. Paul shews that even by death he won himself the Mastership Col. 2.18 He is the first-born from the dead that in all things he might have the pre-eminence His deceived Servants thought that it was inglorious for him to die whereas it was an honour to the Lamb of God to be brought unto that Altar So it behaved Christ to suffer and to enter into his glory I have met with one who delivered his opinion very eloquently how fit it was for our Saviour to remove from this place where his Disciple would have fixed him Says He this is not the Mount where our Lord must end his days but the fatal Calvary His face shall not shine with light but be disgraced with Spittle and smeared with bloud His Garments shall not be white to honour him but in scorn and derision He shall not stand between Moses and Elias but hang between two Thieves Thou Peter shalt not think it good to be with him but run away and deny him The Father shall not call unto him from heaven Thou art my well-beloved Son but the Son shall cry out that he is forsaken of the Father There shall not be a bright cloud over the place but darkness over the face of the earth Finally no other Tabernacle shall be built for him but a Cross of malediction 2. And might not Peter counsel him without offence against this ignominious death No my Beloved For it is not to be excused how he knew not the Scriptures that this was the course appointed for the redemption of the world the hungry could not eat their bread until it was broken We could not quench our thirst with the water of life till it was poured out of his wounds We could not be healed of the sting of death till the brazen Serpent was lifted up Jonas must be cast out of the belly of the Whale before he preach to the Ninivites Christ must die and rise again before the Disciples be sent to preach to all Nations The lxx Psalm hath this title A remembrance to the chief Musician and the first words of the Psalm are these Haste thee O Lord to deliver me make haste to help me O Lord. As who should say Thou that art the chief Musician unto whom all the Angels of heaven sing their Alelujah haste thee to redeem us by thy precious bloud Go up to thy Cross and suffer for it is time that thou have mercy upon us yea the time is come But you will say Had it not been most barbarous in Peter according to the tenure of that Psalm in the Exposition which I have given to wish the death of Christ First it might become his own Apostle that did tenderly love him neither to urge him nor disswade him but to say The will of the Lord be done Next I must tell you it is no such horrid thing as a weak Christian may imagine to have pray'd unto the Father that his Son might die upon the Cross for our Redemption Even so Father because thou wilt have it Yet this distinction must mollifie it Intuitu nostrae redemptionis non ipsius cruciatus says Lombard Rejoycing for the benefit of our Salvation but sorrowing for the bitterness of his Passion grieving for his sorrows but giving thanks with gladness for our own deliverance Therefore in no wise did Peter give right counsel when to decline the issue of that dismal Passion he said Master it is good c. But Ne quicquam sapit qui sibi non sapit How should he be a good Counsellor for his Master that was not wise for himself For I ask in the next place An bonum non videre mortem If it could be good for Peter and the two Disciples not to see death No surely there is a gain and advantage to be made by death Phil. i. 21. Then when we languish as we think of our last sickness then we begin to call our sins to remembrance then we look over the Covenant of the Law which we have so often broken then we breath out our soul in Prayer and fill our eyes and our heart with repentance the sense of imminent death takes away the sting of death by contrition and a most consciencious examination of the days that are past one hour well imployed about that time is better than a year in diebus illis when we were remiss and careless Even Balaam the Sorcerer did perceive what Soveraign Physick of Salvation God did administer to his Saints upon their sick bed and therefore he cries out O let me die the death of the righteous A righteous mans death is like the Cherubin standing before the Garden of Eden that with one blow lets him into Paradise and would Peter stay in the Mountain and want the best Schoolmaster of Repentance and Mortification Besides it is a good thing to be weary of every thing even of life it self till we come to heaven I know a man may desire to die out of frowardness I praise not that As Elias and Jonas were fretful because they were cross'd and in that vexation of mind they desired to die This is rudeness and impatiency to desire to die because they would not live as God would have them But there is earning to get above the desires of frail nature and to desire to put off the body that we may put on Christ So Nazianzen begins an Epistle to Nyssen out of
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
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
of our Saviour with Eutyches and thought the Son of God to be passive to have been scourged and crucified Which opinion when one of his Sectaries would have propounded to Philarchus an Orthodox man Philarchus did thus ingeniously put him off and told him that he had haste of other business and could not intend him for even hard before he had received Letters that Michael the Archangel was dead That is a Fable replies the Eutychian an Archangel is not subject to frailty and mortality Is not an Angel replies Philarchus And would you perswade me that the Deity of Christ is mutable and obnoxious to change Ejus latus then did not concern the nature of God and for the nature of man the part being bereaft of a soul as well he might have smote his Spear upon the trunk of the Cross Well might Isaiah say that he was a Lamb dumb before the Shearers could any Lamb be more dumb His teeth were set his mouth closed up as the world thought for ever and yet is Christ in the hands of the Shearer I will scourge him says Pilate and let him go What Pilate Think you that such Adversaries will be answered with a scourging Though you crucifie him they will not let him go Who knows what immanity had been shewn if Joseph had not hasted to take down the body The living it was wont to be said the living are they at whom malice shoots and not the dead Livor post fata quiescit Nay such as could never obtain a good report from the world while they lived among us fame hath renowned them when they were laid in their graves As Theodoret said of St. Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was more desired after his death than when he dayly lived among them Our Saviour was not so lucky his Persecutors are the same first and last both while he breaths and when his Soul was departed in his Examination they change his Raiment and put a Reed in his hand and then they mock him As he was drawing on and at the last gasp of life they say he call'd upon Elias as if he had prayed to Saints and then they mockt him and when he bowed down his head like fruit which is mellow ripe and droping off from the Tree then a Souldier thrust a Spear into his side Most savage men they sport themselves with that flesh which is the eternal glory of our nature And what cause was in it that Christ would suffer this after passion what fruit was there of such a Wound for the School-men say the Church was not redeemed with the bloud which came out of this Wound neither was it washed clean with this water quia post mortem non est locus meriti after the Epilogue of his bloudy Agony that he cried out all was finished no part of his Passion say they was meritorious What need we subscribe to so much curiosity but the fruit even of this Wound was threefold First to shew that Christ doth compassionate and hath a fellow-feeling with the Members of his Church unto the ends of the World Think you that he never was wounded since he was taken down from the Cross yes he was a Lamb slain from the beginning of the World and is a Lamb that will be wounded unto the ends of the World Why did you not feed me and cloath me you uncharitable Matth. xxv Why do you persecute me Saul Acts ix he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye Zach. ii O what a tender thing it is not only to be in the body but in the very eye of Christ in the apple of his eye are not the bowels as tender as the eye perchance more tender Therefore a Christian Poet said of Savanorola the Martyr that Christ did beg to have his own Bowels sav'd that they might not be consumed with fire Parcite sunt isto viscera nostra rogo 2. If they have called the Master Beelzebub what will they call the Servants if they have ignominiously abused the dead Body of Christ then certainly Tyrants will dishonour the dead Bodies of his Servants But what were Wicklif or Bucer or Fagius the worse for it We that live feel the indignity done unto them says St. Austin but they have no feeling of it themselves no passion affecteth the dead for this disgrace but we are they that are affected with compassion Lysimachus in Tully threatned Theodorus to crucifie him and to let his body rot upon the Tree meâ nihil refert humi ne an sublimis putrescam says Theodorus a poor revenge what is it to me whether my body rot under ground or above ground If Heathen men were so resolute that accounted the body quite lost then will we be much more couragious whose Saviour was so despitefully handled in times past and who have hope of the Resurrection in times to come 3. The art of patience and sufferance it is instar omnium none so useful as it to them who must take up the Cross would you be ready for the fiery Trial as Paul was when he was wrapt up into the third Heavens whether in the body or out of the body he knew not would you pass by your torment in the flesh as Christ did this wound which he never felt Consepeliamur cum Christo let us die with Christ let us be buried with Christ Colos ii 12. If two sleep together they have heat says Solomon but how can he be warm that is alone True says St. Ambrose si duo dormiant if you sleep with Christ your faith will be warm your courage warm Frigidus est qui non moritur cum Christo he shall be bitten with frost he shall be nipt with every storm that doth not sleep that doth not die with Christ Give me any other reason if you can why the Martyrs went oftner to death with Psalms in their mouths than with tears in their eyes but because they were dead unto the World And what is it to them that are dead though a Souldier thrust a Spear into their side I have done with the first general Part conteining four Circumstances of the Malice of the living Now let us lay our mouth to the sacred Stream the blessing which issued from the dead forthwith came thereout bloud and water This is the Honey-comb that came out of the Carkass of Samson's Lion this is it even the price of our sins which is the bloud of the Lamb. At Evening you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red as you shall find it prognosticated Matth. xvi How is it made red or how doth the day grow clear rubet coelum Christi sanguine says St. Austin our Redeemer hath dipt his bloud upon the Sky as upon the door posts Exod. xii and then the day is clear the Sun of consolation shines upon us When an Offering for sin was offered up the Priest was commanded to dip his finger
knew not what to say but in admiration of his mercy lift up his eyes to heaven as if these thoughts did rise up in Abrahams fancy Sarah the Mother of my Son did muse how a Child could be born unto her in her old age but she did ill to laugh because the Lord had spoke it then give me leave to ponder how this Child can live any more when the mouth of God hath spoken that he must be sacrificed for a burnt offering Nay O Lord Non unum redimis sed unitatem In this act thou dost not so much redeem this one from death as the unity of all the faithful in this one all those Nations that shall be blessed in my name wilt thou spare them all as thou sparest Isaac What are our merits What justice is in us What is man that thou wilt not visit him with indignation Thus the soul of Abraham was in an extasie to consider the mercy of God wonder had possessed him we see it in this cast of his eye that he looked up to heaven When the Lord turned the Captivity of Sion then we were like unto them that dream says the Prophet The deliverance was so fortunate so much it did out-strip their hope that they did receive it at first not as that which was done indeed but as a delightful dream As Livie relating how the Graecians were strangly strucken with sudden joy upon the day when the Romans sent them unexpected liberty says he Mirabundi velut somni speciem arbitrabantur they thought it was a pleasing vision in their sleep and not the happiness of them that were broad awake So when God did really make good that Promise which the Devil pretended that he would bring about Non moriemini You shall not die The faithful Patriarch knew not how to apprehend it at the first but his eye did testifie that his soul was ravished with the mercies of the Lord. The wicked shall not end half his days the seed of the ungodly shall be rooted out eternal fire is prepared hereafter for them that shall be turned over to the Devil and his Angels there shall be much wrath and vengeance every where among the dwelling places of the unrighteous but as for Isaac and they that are born according to the Spirit Noli tangere says the Angel the hand of violence shall not come near them as the Poet in his Eclogue brings in Melibaeus wondring at the clemency of Cesar to his fellow-shepherd when all the neighbour-Cottages were burnt and wasted Vndique totis usque adeò turbatur agris So when God shall work so much destruction in the world redemption is an admirable thing where it lights John Baptist as we read it in the vulgar Latine blazeth out with two notes of astonishment one upon another Ecce Agnus Dei ecce qui tollit peccata mundi Behold the Lamb of God I and again Behold him that taketh away the sins of the world In two respects it is to be wondred at without any prejudice to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or fulness of our faith as I will shew by the examples of two memorable women in holy Scripture Whence is it that the mother of my Lord comes unto me says Elizabeth Why did she marvel at it Quia non sui meriti sed divini fatetur esse muneris says Beda because it was a favour of mere grace and not a recompence of merit And again the blessed mother of our Saviour astonished at the Angels message that she should conceive and bear a Son Quomodo says she How shall these things come to pass Tanquam certa de facto querit de modo fiendi as it is the common answer She was sure it should be so she marvelled how it should be so and that was a blameless admiration Both these passions did Abraham suffer he knew there was no worth in man that God should release him from condemnation he knew not the manner what should be paid for his ransom his eye did fix it self upon the throne of God to find the mystery out and so you see it was Gestus admirantis the expression of wonder and astonishment that Abraham lifted up his eyes Thirdly It is Gestus inquirentis besides that he lifted up his eyes he look'd about him from the tops of Moriah it is the demeanour of him that did seek out for a Sacrifice to be offered up unto the Lord. Reges Parthes non potest quisquam salutare sine munere says he No man was admitted to salute the Parthian Kings unless he brought some Present in his hands so because Abraham came to this Mountain to worship before the Angel of the Lord he look'd and enquired for some Oblation that he might not turn back until he had laid a gift upon the Altar Many will lift up their eyes but they list not to seek an Offering for the Lord. Such are best pleased with devotion when it comes off with as little cost as may be Nay says David when Araunah would have born his charges I will not sacrifice to God of that which shall cost me nothing An Objection is framed in the School that the Piety of the Jews was more acceptable to God than the piety of Christians because they in their daily Service were at great expense to provide beasts for the Altar we are at no such charge in our Spiritual Worship it is enough if we offer up a broken heart in mortification a thankful heart in Praise and a devout heart in Prayer But this puts not our Purse to any trial like the Oblations of the Jews To cancel and wipe out this opposition it is answered that we supply that charge of the Sacrifice of beasts In Sacrificio Eleemosynarum in the Sacrifice of Alms to the poor The hand must look about it where to give as well as the eye look upward where to be thankful A distribution to the wants of the needy it is Pro sacrificio and prae sacrificio in place of sacrifice and to be preferred before all sacrifices Mercy is a better Oblation than a Beast that is slain this day you know how much was paid for the price of your redemption but not the price of corruptible things as Silver and Gold Spare O spare some portion of that which you spend profusely in the consumption of vanity at this solemn time of redemption to redeem the distressed in Prisons that are fast bound in misery and iron Look about you as Abraham did and you shall find I assure you Arietes prehensos in Vepribus Rams shall I say Nay they have scarce any fleece upon their back but they are catch'd fast poor Souls by the horns in the Thicket thence they cannot stir unlâ—ss Abraham will take them and offer them up for an Oblation to the Lord. Above all other casts of the eye this same Gestus inquirentis pleaseth me best to look about that we may present some gift upon the Altar
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
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
them all therefore God ordained him to be the dungeon of misery in these words Behold I have made thee this day as an iron Pillar and a brazen Wall Jer. i. 18. So Christ endured the merciless wrath of his persecutors as if he had been scourged and crucified not in flesh and bloud but in brass or iron What a raging heat there is in a furnace of brass So Christ complains in his Agony as if he had been a molten furnace Lam. iii. 13. From above hath he sent fire into my bones and it prevaileth against them Therefore God appointed Moses to make a fiery Serpent Num. xxi 8. It seems the Serpent was like a Censor of brass and the fire of Incense was put into it that it might be a sweet savour unto the Lord ascending up with the prayers of the Congregation Or what is fitter to express the two natures of God and Man in one person than brass when it gloes with fire The Humane body without and the fire of the Divinity within these are the Ingredients of that Mediatour who bruised the head of the old Serpent took away our reproach and abolished our Iniquities Therefore the fire was as necessary for our use as the Brass the Brass that is the Manhood to suffer but the Fire that is the Godhead to make the sufferings of infinite price and inestimable value But that which we translate as the seventy two have guided us a fiery Serpent is Saraph in the Original which if it signifie fire it is Coelestial fire for from thence comes the word Seraphim the highest order of Angels who are inflamed with the zeal of charity O how much of that fire was in the Serpent that healed us What a Grove of love was in his heart which no eye nor thought can penetrate Who could have passed through so many thorns and nails so many scoffs and derisions but that his love was like fire that could not be quenched Lord if thou hadst not loved me thou hadst not been born for me But if thou hadst not loved me more than thy self thou hadst not died for me thy humility bore all thy patience overcame all but love sate at the Helm of the Ship and that commands all O thou sweet Tyrant says Nazianzen how strong are thy fetters with which thou tiest the Son of God And so I have done with the Serpent for his own frame and composition for the present use of it and for the Mystery I come to the Posture it was exaltation for Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness For else how could six hundred thousand men and more have recurrence unto it in their necessity to look upon it if it had not been lifted up Justin Martyr who had reason to be skilful in these things being a Samaritan by birth says that Moses having fastned the Serpent to along Pole erected it upon the top of the Tabernacle and then the remotest person might easily glance upon it for every Tribe keeping the distance of two thousand Cubits that is an English mile from the Tabernacle Josh iii. 4. and the doors of all their Tents opening inwards towards the Tabernacle their eye-lids could not open but they must see that object which was the Mast of the Ship or the Spire of the Steeple upon the Church of the Tabernacle Others consider it as an Ensign or Banner as if God had prepared to fight for Israel against the spiritual wickednesses in high places But if we fall into the slumber of Metaphors we shall meet with nothing but dreams It was disposed by the most High that the remedy to which the people were bidden to look should be exalted that the interiour thoughts of the heart might fly to God for succour after the president of the exteriour contemplation Israel might stoop to the earth to gather Manna for the sustentation of their body but they must look towards heaven for their preservation and to be delivered from death and hell I see nothing but corruption under me salvation and immortality are on high above me Translate our meditations from the sign to the thing signified and a Serpent elevated upon a Pole was Christ hanging upon the Cross It is his own exposition Joh. xii 32. And I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me This he said signifying what death he should die He calls not that most ruful death his ignominy or his confusion or his humiliation but a lifting up a promotion an exaltation Can you devise a more chearful word for so sad a business Three ways he was lifted up Vt victima ut victor ut mediator In the manner of his death as a Sacrifice in the triumph over death as a Conquerour in his glorification to sit at the right hand of God as a Mediator First The manner of his death was ordained that he should hang upon a tree wherein pain and reproach and malediction might fall together like so many bitter waters in one torrent The magnitude of the pain refers unto numberless considerations Begin from hence that his body was weak and enfeebled with Agonies with watchings with scourgings with bearing his Cross then this torn and bruised body was stript naked so that his raw wounds took air and their smart was much augmented After this began the execution his feet and hands were pierced with nails where the quickest sense of the body doth most resent offence his Nerves and Arteries were crackt and distended his body hanging upon its own weight his arms were pluckt out to his little ease and great vexation further than their natural longitude But the further they were stretcht the greater Emblem it was that he was ready to embrace us His feet were pluckt down and fastened to a Pedestal to let us know he will not go from us till we depart from him The concurrence of so much torment parch'd the roof of his mouth and made him thirst and that thirst of his cannot be quenched but by our faith and repentance which is liquidated with tears All these concurring forced his life from him that he gave up the Ghost But tantò mirabilior resurrectio quantò mors certior Since his death was so certain that none could choose but know his Resurrection is more triumphant that none can choose but admire it And as the pain was excessive so the ignominy of that death was superlative Pone crucem servo To hang on a Cross was a death for servants not for Freemen and Citizens Paul a Citizen of Rome was beheaded Peter one reputed a vile person was crucified It was the destiny of none but slaves till Constantine in honour to our Saviour did utterly forbid it to all Malefactors Yet he whose service is perfect freedom endured it that he might abrogate the thraldom of sin by the chastisement of bondage and lead captivity captive Add unto all this the malediction of that death for cursed is every one that hangeth on
took away all power from it against penitent sinners and so preserved Adam and other just men from that place of torment his Judgment is right but if his Sentence be flat for the other meaning that any of the damned were redeemed of those pains that so he loosed the sorrows of Hell then we forbear to give him credit But you shall hear him in the right anon Secondly there are more than many that think they have found their so much contended for fire of Purgatory in my Text for neither the Schoolmen nor almost any other of the Church of Rome do take the word Hell in the Creed properly and litterally as they ought for the Hell of the Damned it is their Doctrine that Christ went virtually thither but not locally no in their common Tenent he descended but to the Limbus of the Fathers or to the place of temporal sorrows where some were deteined for a while for the satisfaction of some venial sins Therefore Bellarmine having laid his conclusion at first that Christ descended to the nethermost Hell afterward went from it and held with their common way that in his substantial presence he went at the most no further than Purgatory This Pill being commonly swallowed among men it purgeth this fancy out of divers of their Authors that Christ redeemed not the damned out of Hell but He released many by a Plenary Indulgence out of Purgatory This is nothing else but to make the Scriptures chime according to that idle conceit that runs in their brains And thirdly Aquinas shuts this opinion out of doors to take in another to wit that to loose the pains of Hell was to loose the pains of the Patriarchs and Fathers who were sequestred in a Receptacle of ease but not admitted into any joys of Heaven till Christ had first ascended but what pains had these that were to be mitigated if they lived in quiet refreshment and in no pain at all he answers that they were full of sadness and affliction of mind because their deliverance was so long stopt and Christ staid so long before He came in the flesh to release them But I rejoyn if they were in such a state as they describe dato non concesso they might be full of desire and expectation but without any molestation or anxiety All these opinions which I have rankt formost as they miss the meaning of the Text so neither are they right according to analogie of faith But the last Paraphrase of the words though it rove from the meaning of the Text yet it is sound according to analogie of faith 't is thus that Christ loosed the sorrows of Hell not as if ever He had felt the sorrows of Hell in himself and shook them off but He subdued Satan for our sakes and delivered us from those pains with which we should have been held and captivated And herein St. Austin speaks to this point most intelligently that it is easie to understand how these sorrows were loosed to set us free quemadmodum solvi possunt laquei venantium ne teneant non quia tenuerunt as the snares of Hunters may be untied not to redeem that which is caught but that they may never catch any thing No man will ever deny but that we may be as well delivered from that torment which is deserved as from that which is inflicted and to prevent the Devil that he should not tyrannise over us is to loose and break in sunder the fetters that he had prepared for us and enough to make us confess with David Thou hast brought my soul out of hell thou hast kept my life from them that go down into the pit The three headed Monster that fights against us is the strength of Sin and Death and Hell put together Sin must not reign Death must no more sever Soul and Body Hell must have no power to receive and torment us all these must be vanquished or else Satans Kingdom is not quite destroyed and Christ subdued them all but the greatest and most perfect Conquest that He made whereof we most triumph in this life is that He overcame Hell or loosened the sorrows of Hell For Sin doth remain in us here though the force be broken Death also prevails against our body though it shall be but for a time but here is the fulness of our Redemption and of Christs Victory that Hell is absolutely conquered and shall never lay hold of them that believe And I must go one step further with them that follow this interpretation wherein my judgment favours them for true Doctrine that Christ did locally go down into Hell when He loosed the sorrows of Hell for his Elects sake Christus inferos adiit ne nos adiremus says Tertullian Christ went into Hell that we might never come thither and Fulgentius is a great light to this Article of the Creed It was fit that the Son of God being without sin should descend as far as man had faln by sin and so He freed all the faithful of the world from the beginning to the end that they should never come thither I will fill the Scale with no more authorities than St. Austin's this is his Sentence it was convenient that Christ should descend into Hell to procure us freedom from Hell as it behoved him to die and to rise again the third day that we might not die for ever but rise from death Some that affect not this way of Christs local descending into Hell rejoyn thus that no man denies but Christ delivered us from the power of darkness and that He spoiled Principalities and Powers and made a shew of them openly but it is not certain by what means this was done by his Divinity or by his Humanity or both by the vertue of his Sufferings Death Burial Resurrection or by the real Descending of his Soul in that place nay one Lutheran Confession is not averse to think that He went thither both in Body and Soul in the very moment of his Resurrection I believe by the penetration of the gross body of the Earth they would bring in some succour to help forward their Consubstantiation The most equal way to try this is the express Letter of the Scripture the clearest exposition of the Apostles Creed and the greatest consonancy of reason The Testimonies of Scripture most firmly to be insisted on is Ephes iv 9. That he ascended what is it but that he first descended into the lowest parts of the earth I know this may well be expounded that Christ was humbled to be a man upon earth in the form of a Servant But if the learned and pious Fathers that were of old may be the Judges of the interpretation And who fitter the lowest parts of the earth are the nethermost Hell Beza hath cited a parallel place out of the Psalms to make these words of the Apostle agree unto the Incarnation of our Lord Psal cxxxix 15. My substance was hidden
and Man especially how to remake him and restore him again being consumed to ashes And therefore says Beda very well Mirati sunt discipuli de exiccatione arboris quia omnia ejus miracula antehà c erant ad bonum the Disciples did marvail exceedingly to see the Figtree cursed and wither away our Saviour did never meddle with any thing before but it was the better for him The Jews talkt of their priviledg to have one Prisoner let loose against the Feast and that was a sweet one the seditious Barabbas the true King of the Jews did let loose a Prisoner indeed against the Feast and that was holy Lazarus for this Miracle was wrought not long before the dolorous day of his Passion as you may see by the sequel of the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostom as who should say this was but an introduction to make the world believe in that great sign which followed the resurrection of the dead Non est admirationi una arbor cum tota sylva in eandem altitudinem excrescit says Seneca no notice is taken of one tall Cedar when all Lebanon is full of the like so we do not spend much admiration now upon the raising up of Lazarus because many dead bodies arose and appeared in the holy City yet upon the first delivery of this man from the Goal of death having been four days dead it was a thing not heard of and a matchless Miracle Demetrius as he was a most devillish Statesman so this was one of his Maxims as bad as any whosoever they be that stand in your way cut them off it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like those things which must be granted in the Art of Geometry before they can proceed any further The High-Priests and Pharisees had got this godly Lesson from their Father the Devil and because all the world did stare upon Lazarus as upon the great work of Christ needs must they consult how to kill him Was there ever a more foolish Senate when they saw Christ could raise him again as oft as he pleased yet the Projectors of the Sanhedrim set their wits and their cunning how to put Lazarus to death O happy man if he do fall into their hands if Christ will give them leave to cut him off Four days together hath he been dead that God and his blessed Son may be glorified in his suscitation once already did he loose his life for the honour of his Saviour let him be tormented be imprisoned be crucified the second time for Christs sake and who was ever so happy as Lazarus to make one poor life serve for a couple of Martyrdoms indeed it were an hard case as St. Austin sets it down ut idem homo semel nasceretur bis moreretur to be born once and to die twice and therefore St. Chrysostom would mollifie the matter that at this time of four days sleep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was rather reposed in his Mothers Womb than in a Sepulcher but his condition in very deed was not pitiful but very fortunate to be born but once and to die twice for Gods honour But here is one question first and more will follow Was Lazarus stone dead as we say the Soul quite separated from the Body and the spirit departed or was it anima sopita but a Soul laid a sleep the functions being discharged from working for a time and no more If it were not so yet it is able to pose a man why Christ should say unto Mary and Martha non est infirmitas ad mortem this sickness is not unto death in the 4. verse of this Chapter to the Question afterwards to the Text in the first place The Scripture would be satisfied and so it shall Mors non imminebat ad mortem sed ad miraculum says Lira very well how shall I expound it to you the languishment of his sickness did not encroach upon him that death might close up his eyes for ever but to disclose a Miracle As Aristotle said he would have death called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the termination of life but not the end as if we liv'd only to die so this infirmity was not unto death as you would say to make it the end of the work but that God and his Son might be glorified To the Question then Totus Lazarus de monumento exit qui totus ibi non erat says St. Austin dead he was then and his Soul undoubtedly departed his Sisters that had tried their best for his recovery would not send him forth rashly to his Grave but that all conclusions whether any breath remained were first examined Nay should you take a living man and bind him with grave Cloths head and foot enough to smother him and lay him in a cold Rock of Stone so long in such sharp weather when after this time the High Priests had a Fire within doors in their Hall enough to starve him and let him want food four days enough to famish him I say though he had been laid in quick you would never more have heard of him till the general Resurrection and therefore Jesus said unto the Disciples plainly in verse 14. Lazarus is dead No Parable no figurative speech alas it was too true our Lord himself wept his friend Lazarus was departed Jesus said plainly Lazarus is dead Profundè mortuus sed altus est Christus in misericordiâ Christs mercy was deeper than the grave or he had never seen the day more Do not graceless Sinners the accursed seed of Cham do they not tremble at this says St. Austin Si amicus Christi moritur inimicus quid patiatur He is descended into the Grave whom our Saviour loved whither shall they go into what Bottom shall they be cast if there be a bottom whom he hates and refuses There is yet another Problem riseth up in this Text as well as Lazarus What say you to the Disciples that caught the words from our Saviours mouth as if Lazarus had been cast into a slumber our friend Lazarus sleepeth but I go to wake him I go to wake him What so far as Judea It is strange to think that the Disciples would believe a man went so far to raise up one that slept And yet when Christ spoke like a Divine they answered him like Physicians If he sleep he shall do well Utrumque verum Christus dixit Lazarus mortuus Lazarus dormit mortuus vobis dormit mihi all was true that Christ said both ways he spake good Divinity Lazarus is dead he was so dead to them that could not recover him Lazarus is asleep he was so no more than in a sleep to him that could restore him Do you not a little marvel that the Apostles should so misinterpret Christs meaning and take his words in at the left ear Why were they so slow to understand that to awake from
Paul and when we do those things which Nature her self is asham'd at and blusheth then we are dead the second day 3. God gave us a Law by Moses for the spark which he had kindled in nature was almost put out and it was time to dig that into stone which was worn out in flesh and he that violates the Law of Moses is dead the third day 4. Sin is grown strong by the Law Precept upon Precept made us the worse corruption in the soul is like an ill affected body it desires that most which is forbidden And therefore Christ gave us Legem Evangelii a short Lesson Repent and believe which is called the Law of the Gospel and if we violate that Law it is the fourth day of death and we begin to stink in the Sepulcher What an hard task hath Christ what a troublesome work have we put him to to diminish the power of original sin to rectifie the impairs and decays of Nature to satisfie for the Law but above all to mollifie a stony heart that will not believe to quicken an unrepentant heart this is dignus vindice nodus Martha and Mary sent to Christ when their Brother was sick to come and help now he had more need of Christ quatriduanus est this is the Parable of a sinner that will not believe the Gospel Help Lord and raise us up for who else can do it but the Lord Five Miracles you shall meet with in this Gospel of St. John four of which are recorded by no other Evangelist every one is greater than another but this is the Master-piece The first was turning of Water into Wine at Cana in Galilee Christ at the first conversion makes us quite other men than we were before cold water becoms warm and chearful wine 2. Follows the scourging of the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple that signifies contrition and compunction of the heart when theevish fancies such as steal away our soul are cashiered from the holy place 3. A man was healed at Bethesda that had been sick of an infirmity 38 years Custom in sin and want of devotion is a sore languishing sickness it is more to cure them than to cast the den of theeves out of the Temple 4. A man born blind was restored to his sight he that languished 38 years had enjoyed health before but he that was born blind was never better and it exceeded all the rest to dispel ignorance and blindness quando synteresis extincta est when the light of the conscience was quite put out But fifthly what talk we of sickness or blindness the dead man the Graves Tenant for four dayes dead by original sin dead by imperfection of nature dead by disobedience to the Law dead by unbelief and want of faith in Christ dead four days is raised up Tollite lapidem says Christ away with the stone removete legis pondus gratiam praedicate away with the burden that lies heavy upon him preach grace and remission of sins unto him and he shall live Behold another Moral of the same Authors in the Sermons de tempore if they be St. Austins Sin when it is made very sinful grows up by four degrees titillatione consensu facto consuetudine 1. By delighting in the suggestions of sin not but that suggestions of sin are sin but I speak of the growth of sin and not the root 2. By consenting to those delights 3. By committing the evil whereunto we consented 4. By continuing in the custom of delight and consent and committing evil Delight is the rotting of the seed in the ground Consent is the blade Commission of evil is the grown fruit Custom is the root that fastens it to the ground the seed may quickly be pickt up the blade may be blasted the fruit may be cut down but the root lies deep hidden you must plow and turn up the earth and dig deep before you can get it out In the 3 former parts the waves of ungodliness are coming up but custom is the inundation of iniquity the stream that goes over our head It was said of one Mandrabulus that the Oracle of Apollo pronounced against him that he grew worse and worse For out of a thankful mind for all his happiness received the first year he offered up a Gold Cup he repented him of his cost and the next year it was a Cup of Silver yet he thought he was too bountiful and the third year it was a Boul of Wood the fourth year he thought he had been thankful enough and gave just nothing Now says Apollo is Mandrabulus as bad as He can be So the heart which pleaseth it self with vicious cogitations is much corrupted yet God may still have the better part The heart that makes a bargain with Satan to do injustice is half the Devil 's yet the Body is not defiled with the act The body also may be an instrument of uncleanness then the heart is even lost and gone yet it may detest the fact and return unto the Lord. But when custom hath as it were sealed the Covenant to the Devil and delivered up the Deed the case is very desperate all the heart is in the enemies hand Lazarus is under a Grave-stone four days Difficilè surgit quem moles malae consuetudinis premit he will hardly swim above water again that is cast into the bottom of the Gulf with a Milstone of evil custom about his neck Yet Christ can quicken him as he did Lazarus I do not deny it but let no man treasure up sin as it were to prepare himself to repent of such a mass of iniquities but let no man dispair of that repentance if frailty have overtaken him If you feel your self incline to presume of repentance says St. Austin oppose against it the uncertain hour of death if you feel your self incline to despair of repentance oppose against it the abundance of grace Moderation is the best When sin doth post from delight to consent from consent to act from act to custom yet after four days says Christ Lazarus come forth So much of that circumstance Lazarus quatriduanus that being four days dead he was raised up to life It follows to be considered Lazarus ligatus he was bound hand and foot with grave-cloaths and his face with a Napkin He was laid like a pledge in the grave and bound for security Christ was willing to release him some bonds he cancelled himself and some he left to be untied by others As for the bonds of death God did bind them and unloose them as for the bonds of the grave-cloaths let them unknit them that made the knot God did unty that which God bound let men unty their own work and then they are sure there can be no deceit As if our Saviour had said I know you will say of Lazarus as you did of the man born blind This is not he Will you deny it But here is your own
come unto the Sepulcher it was for the consolation of their Antecedent grief It was to shew them a difference between their bringing forth a child to life and Gods resuscitating our dead bones It was expedient to have a testimony from such harmless Witnesses And Mary Magdalen is supereminently named above them all for she was a most contrite penitent and Christ died for their sins and rose again for their Justification It is my course now according to the Propositions of my Text to remove forward to the meditation of her love which was so constant even after death that she came unto the Sepulcher of our Lord. A faith though it be never so weak never so languishing yet it will produce some effect which is worth the noting For instance as I cannot maintain but there was a defect in this womans faith so according to that little faith no man shall deny but there was a great deal of love As concerning faith it is apparent that she mistook the Scriptures in two things First that she thought to find Christ's body in the Sepulcher as if it were possible he could be held of death longer than the third day The Angel gave an item to the women that their coming was a vain labour Why seek ye the living among the dead Remember what he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee He did foretel it so expressively how he would rise from the Grave after three days that all his enemies took notice of the saying but those women were hard of belief or else they had forgot it Secondly It was Maries error and common to all her Partners to bring Spices to anoint our Saviours body the other Evangelists express that they came with such preparations purposing to apply them to the Corps that it might not putrifie It seems they understood not David Thou shalt not suffer thine holy One to see corruption It was not thought upon as it fell out that the flesh of Jesus was not like ours which is rank and sinful his was pure and undefiled which had never deserved to suffer rottenness and putrefaction And they ignorantly come to the Sepulcher with Spices to embalm him that his body might not be polluted But is there no way to excuse this forgetful and deceived faith It is a good mixture of praise and dispraise which a certain Author puts together It was an error not to be defended to think that Christ was held of death and lay still in the Sepulcher but because the custom to anoint dead bodies was an assured hope that the flesh should rise again to immortality therefore setting their particular error aside touching the person of Christ in general their respect was full of faith and honour and devotion toward the Resurrection of the body which general notion of so good an Article of faith won them pardon for this particular incredulity But I said before concerning this little faith no man must deny but she shewed a great deal of love As Thomas noted into what danger our Saviour imbarked himself when he told his Disciples Lazarus is dead and we will go unto him Let us also go and die with him says Thomas So there was Souldiers abroad to watch the Sepulcher Spies in every corner from the High Priests to mark who did confess and honour our Saviour to go to his Tomb was in effect to say let us go and die with him we care not for our lives True love esteems it sweet to suffer for his sake to whose memory their affection is constantly devoted And why did she address unto the Sepulcher A stone was rouled upon the mouth of the Grave and it was sealed with Pilates Seal she could see nothing but she drew near to that which she loved to see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostome It did her good to walk in that Garden where the body of the Son of God was laid such a Garden which inclosed him who was the Flower of Jessai saies the Prophet This was a Paradise to overmatch that Garden which was once in Eden by how much the second Adam risen here from death to life was better than the first Adam who fell there from life to death This was such a place as could not chuse but strike her with reverence as Moses stood before the bush which burnt with fire and the bush was not consumed so Mary came to stand before the Sepulcher where that divine body lay the first fruits of them that ever rose from the dead the Spear had entred his heart the whips and thorns had torn his flesh yet by his own power he lived again the bush was not consumed Think with thy self if thou wert now kneeling by that Cave of the earth where thy Saviours body lay what abundance of tears it would make thee shed for thy sins What a desire of heaven it would beget in thy soul What a contempt of this loathsom earth I do ever rise up from those relations which I read or which Pilgrims make of those places with a mortified heart Certainly Helen the Mother of Constantine St. Hierom and Paula made an admirable use to enflame their zeal by frequenting this very place which Mary did And my knowledge and Religion are in a dream or else Devotion without superstition is the most heavenly thing in the world We come into the Capitol sayes Tully only to please our eyes with looking upon that Bench in the Senate where the renowned Orator Crassus was wont to sit So Mary Magdalen came with a resolved opinion that it would give her great consolation to come near that place where Joseph had interred her Saviour St. John's History is brief and hath made him omit this clause of the Story remembred in St. Luke That they came with Spices which they had prepared with sweet spices that they might anoint him says St. Mark Why Joseph and Nicodemus had bought an hundred pound weight of Myrrh and Aloes and wrapped them with the body of Jesus was not that enough Pardon them if they over-do their part Amor non credit satis esse factum nisi ipse faciat says one cordial love thinks all is not done that should be unless it self be at the doing This chargeable spicing and anointing the dead was in use among the Gentiles for so they interred their deceased friends who are men of renown and Nobility So the Greek Poet reckons this Ceremony in the Funerals of Patroclus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Virgils Misenus Corpusque lavant frigentis ungunt Donatus the Grammarian gave no other reason but this Ut cadavera mortuorum citiù◠flammam conciperent To make the Carkasses consume to ashes the faster when they were put upon a pile of wood to be burnt Although others gather out of the Heathen that they esteemed it Piety to wash away all filthiness from the Câ—rpses of the deceased and the Officers that took the care of such things were called
Hell and to all Judaea that the Son of God about that instant as I do verily believe did break the gates of Brass and smite the bars of death in sunder It was heard to heaven and the Angel came down at his qu as soon as ever that triumphal sign was given wherein I have given you my opinion and not mine alone but of sundry others that the coming of the Angel was not a cause but a consequent of the Earthquake Tremuit terra non quia Angelus descendit de coelo sed quia ab inferis dominator ascendit The ground trembled not because the Angel descended from above but because the Conquerour ascended from beneath And I know not a prettier diversion in all the Scripture to put off that which might be expected than this is Who would not look that the story should run thus Behold there was a great Earthquake for Christ arose from the dead But the Holy Ghost to keep that Circumstance out of our knowledge at what time he arose did divert it in this manner Behold there was a great Earthquake for the Angel even at that instant and occasion came down from heaven And as heaven did partake of this noise when the earth was moved so I doubt not but the horror of it went down to Hell and troubled the Spirits that abide in chains of darkness for ever In all likelihood this great body of the world did quake from the Superficies to the Center of the Earth And Luther was possessed with this pious credulity that in this Earthquake the ground was parted with a large Hiatus from the Sepulcher to Hell and in the moment of that concussion of the ground our Saviour arose to life descended visibly to Hell made shew of his Resurrection there that Satan and Death were under his feet and presently came out of the Pit which could not shut its mouth against him As Luther may enjoy his own conjecture so thus far we may concur that the terrour of the Earthquake did penetrate to the Kingdom of the Devil And how far the Inhabitants of Judaea were affrighted at it it appears in the most couragious in the band of Souldiers who were tumbled to the ground at the noise like the stone which was rouled from the mouth of the Sepulcher and no marvel for St. Hierom either by his own perswasion or by tradition delivers that the rumbling of the earth was so great Vt cuncta concuteret eversionem terrae funditus minaretur That it josselled every thing together and threatned the subversion of this Universe To what end have I amplified it thus far but to make you conceive it fell out immediately through the wonderful hand of the Almighty Philastrius in his 54 Heresie enrolls it for an Heresie Si quis terram moveri putet naturaliter If any man shall say that an Earthquake comes to pass by naturall causes there he went beyond the Line for it appears evidently in Philosophical inquisitions that exhalations and hot air may be instrangled within the bowels of the earth and seeking a way for a larger room or else to get forth it breaks out with a terrible violence and removes some parts of this heavy Element To deny this were to put out the eye of reason Yet in this Earthquake that pertains to my Text I assent that there was no preparation of natural causes to produce it For just when our Saviours soul went out of the body at his Passion and just I think at the moment when his soul returned again into the body at the Resurrection the earth was smitten in a wonderful manner that the world might take notice that the like was never heard or seen And as I do resolutely conclude This motion of the Earth was supernatural so I hold off from the usual opinion that the Angel was made Gods instrument of the execution the manner the consequence of it so great that I am perswaded it was immediately the work of Christ himself Leo cubile in quo habitat tremere fecit says Chrysologus rationally and elegantly The Lion rouzed himself up from sleep the Lion of the Tribe of Judah roared and made his own den to quake Inferiour operations are committed to the Creatures the chief abide in God When Lazarus was raised from the dead says Christ to the Disciples Take ye away the stone and afterward being come forth of the Cave Do ye loose him and let him go So the Angel was an actor in the noble work of this day to roul away the grave-stone to dismay the Souldiers to comfort Mary Magdalen and the other women to preach the mystery to all But it was Christ himself that shook the ground from the Superficies to the Center this Ecce this Behold me seems bids us behold how it came from God and not from his Minister the Angel and behold there was a great Earthquake I remove forward to that which is more useful to be taught from the efficient to the final cause for what purpose was this great trembling and concussion of the earth at the Resurrection of our Saviour I will set forth six reasons First it makes us conceit that there was a great strugling and a combate between Christ and Death Death was brought unto the Bar impleaded before Almighty God divested by just judgment from all power found guilty because the guiltless and innocent was slain It was permitted to seize upon us Prisoners But it spared not the Judge himself which is Christ We that are slaves and servants were put under the dominion of it and Death presumed to offer violence to our Lord it was suffered to rage against men and it was bold to assault God Death according to the great Doom was the wages of sin how justly is the yoke of its tyranny broken when it became the murtherer of righteousness But how hardly would it lay down the authority which it had so long usurped over all mortal flesh So many Patriarchs so many Prophets Quo Tullus Dives Ancus so many Princes and Kings whose bodies crumbled into dust and their ashes were never made whole again and when this Law which had so long continued was to be broken what could be expected but that the earth would groan and struggle against the Resurrection When I speak of Death you know that I mean the Devil who had the power of death he had deluded himself with this fallacy Cruce vivus non descendit quomodo sepulchro mortuus ascendet Christ came not down from the Cross when he was alive how will he be able to come out of the Grave when he is dead He that had so much cunning was best able to deceive himself but with what resistance and murmuring the Prey was taken out of his mouth it is best set down thus briefly instead of a large description Behold there was a great Earthquake Secondly It betokens what noise and tumult there shall be in
of Christ the other at his Resurrection Terra quae in passione concussa fuerat horrore jam prae gaudio exilire videtur The whole Land of Judaea did quake with horror when he hung upon the Cross but it danced for joy when he rose out of the Grave so I have rendred the fifth reason The Sixth is Allegorical and thus in brief that our hearts must be shaken and inwardly troubled with compunction and repentance before we believe stedfastly in the Resurrection of Jesus Peter preacht and they that heard him were prickt in heart and said to him and to the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we do There was an heart-quake before they believed Paul and Silas prayed and sung praises to God and suddenly there was a great Earthquake then the Jaylor came in trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and said Sirs what must I do to be saved Here was an heart rent and torn a commotion in his conscience greater than an Earthquake and then he believed When Eve took and eat the forbidden fruit says an eloquent Father there was no Earthquake no horror to affright her O that the Palsie had possess'd her fingers O that her teeth had chattered that she might not have eaten but vitiis semper serviunt blandimenta All was hush and still nothing but fair allurements do minister to our vices But at Christs Resurrection the sound of an hideous noise was fierce and terrible to the ear Virtutibus austera fortia sunt amica Harsh and austere occurrencies are best agreeable to vertue Roul the thoughts of your heart up and down like a tempestuous Sea if you mean to make a fair voyage to heaven the commotion of a troubled spirit will breed eternal peace As Paul was smitten down before he believed so faith must be beaten into us with violence and therefore behold there was a great Earthquake at the Resurrection of Jesus Unto the motion of the Earth I conjoyn the next circumstance of my Text which I called the motion of the heaven it were like Copernicus his fancy in Astronomy to think that the Earth did only move and the Heavens stand still at the operation of this Miracle No the everlasting doors were set open and the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven Here is one Keeper more than the Jews look'd for about our Saviours Sepulchre one more than Pilate appointed One mighty Prince of that supernal Host whose countenance was able to daunt a Legion of the best Roman Souldiers perhaps there was a multitude with him to celebrate the Resurrection as there was a multitude that appeared in the fields of Bethlem to rejoyce at his Nativity But this Angel I may say determinately was one of the most royal Spirits that stand before the face of God for ever To make short I will not defer to give my reasons presently how sweetly the eternal Wisdom did dispose to let an Angel shew himself openly both at this place of the Grave and upon the celebration of this great day First Those ministring Spirits had been attendants upon all the parts of our Saviours humility and reason good they should be occupied upon all occasions of his exaltation and glory Since we read of Angels that gave all diligent attendance at his birth the holy Spirit of God knew that men would look for their company at the Resurrection I mean that we who know him now by faith would expect their mention upon this occasion in the Book of God Besides his Resurrection is a birth not called so because of a resemblance how man is brought to life out of the womb of his mother in natural Generation but properly in it self according to the phrase of Scripture Acts xiii 33. For Paul preaching at Antioch that God had fulfilled his Promise in raising up Jesus again says he As it is written in the second Psalm thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee So that these Phrases it seems are equivalent this day have I raised thee up from the dead and this day have I begotten thee And surely as a Father of our own Church says very well the news of his birth if God had so pleased might well have been brought by a mortal man it was but the entrance into a mortal life But the news of his Resurrection do become the mouth of an immortal Messenger because it was an entrance into life immortal Secondly The women came out of doors to embalm Christs body with a great deal of confidence they never thought how many difficulties were in their way and such difficulties as could never have been mastered if the Angel had not been sent to facilitate all things for them They mind not how the High Priests would excommunicate all those that professed to believe or do good to our Lord and Saviour they came to touch a dead body which was pollution by the Law they stand not upon that The Sepulcher was guarded with Souldiers who would permit none to come near it they would try that The Grave was sealed with Pilates perhaps with Caesars Seal which none must cancel on pain of death they would venture that The Grave-stone was exceeding heavy as much as twenty men could move says Nicephorus and barred strongly with Iron and they were out of doors and far on their way before they thought of that then they ask Quis removebit Who will roul us away this stone As who should say God will send us some assistance in so good an enterprise we will put on and hope for that and the Lord to make their Pilgrimage prosperous sent an Angel from heaven to remove away the stone Scipio Africanus besieged a City in Spain well fortified every way and wanted nothing and no hope did appear to take it In the mean time Scipio heard many causes pleaded before him and put off one before it was ended to be heard three days after and being asked by his Officers where he would keep his next Court he pointed to the chief Cittadel of the besieged City and told them he would hear the Cause there in that space he became Master of the Town and did as he had appointed He was not more confident to enter into a City rampar'd against him by his valour than these women were to enter into a Sepulcher by faith sealed and shut up but the Lord is present with couragious attempts and he sent his Angel to assist them Thirdly This shewed says St. Chrysostome that he who had been buried there was God as well as man Cum ad sepulchrum tanquam in coelo ubi Deus habitat assisterent for Angels were as officious at the Sepulcher as they use to be in heaven which is the throne of God If men be laid in their Tomb the worms attend them corruption goes to corruption But the body of Christ even when the soul had left it was still united in one person with the Godhead
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
afraid yet they stept forward and came unto him Nay to come unto him in this glorified state Peter girt his fishers Coat about him and cast himself into the Sea and swam unto him Note it that these good women recoiled from the Angels when they saw them and gave back their countenance was like lightning and dismal to the beholders But when Christ was before them they come unto him nearer and nearer Let them that have a mind to such superstition talk of Angels and Saints for their Mediators and Intercessors But Lord give me leave to come directly to thee and to thy Child Jesus there is my comfort and my confidence Securtus loquor ad Dominum meum quà m ad aliquem sanctorum I think it is St. Austins I can pour out my mind more safely unto Christ my Lord than to any of the Saints St. John came too near to the Angel when he fell down to worship him But make up more and more to your Saviour you can never come too near to him Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden Whither do you fly away for fear of your sins Do you not hear that he calls for us That fear which keeps you from him is not reverence but despaire it is not humility but infidelity Are you distrustful that you may be too forward Not a whit if you believe and repent Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace Heb iv 16. Come unto him in this life says St. Chrysostome and he is a throne of grace Hereafter we dare not come unto him for then he is a throne of justice Well their next action shews that they must come and come very near to do that which they did for they held him by the feet Hold fast devout Matrons you were before like waves of the Sea tossed about with suspicions and uncertainties you were carried hither and thither with doubtful fears whether Christ would come again from the dead as he promised on the third day but now you have your hand upon the Anchor upon his feet hold them fast and your faith shall no more be shaken You touch his flesh you feel the pulse of his veins his joynts and bones are under your fingers You have explored that he is no Phantome or Delusion the true and the same body committed to the Sepulchre is alive again All this your sense suggests unto you because you hold him by the feet But the times of this happiness are passed away no expectation now of enclasping him about the feet but Mitte fidem in coelum tenuisti says St. Austin Extend your Faith into heaven and you shall touch him there Secondly They that held him by the feet had the occasion to honour those parts of his body which had been pierced with Nails for our sakes upon the Cross And I doubt it not but to shew themselves thankful for his death they did offer to lay their modest lips upon his wounds As when Paphnutius his right eye was pluck'd out for being a constant Christian the Emperour Constantine kissed the hollow pit from whence the eye was taken in reverence to his sufferings Thirdly Take it in the most simple and plain sense to take him by the feet was one of the most observant forms of lowliness that could be expressed So did that Shunamite demean her self to Elisha when her soul travelled with agony and desire to have her Son revived to life Mary Magdalen her penitent and humble prostration is reduced to this when she washed our Saviour's feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head The most expressive Poet notes it that it was the best garb for a passionate Suppliant Et genua amplectens effatur talia supplex So when the tongue of these devout women did cleave to the roof of their mouth in a sudden astonishment and they could not bring out one word not so much as Rabboni all that Mary Magdalen could say ex tempore yet their dumb actions were instead of a voice There was much Congratulation and Thanksgiving and Prayer contained in this gesture They held him by the feet One great scruple troubles all Expositors upon this Point why Mary Magdalen was repulsed from him Joh. xx 17. with Touch me not and yet these women were not repulsed but admitted to hold him by the feet They that make no first and second Apparition but say that Mary Magdalen and these women did not see him at two times but altogether at once are confounded very much in their answer and resolve it that Mary Magdalen did touch him as well as they which doth not appear and that these persons were interdicted when she was though St. Matthew hath passed it over in silence and that is a conjecture which hath no expression in the Word of God Musculus a man of good judgment otherwise hath failed most of all in his opinion I think for he says that this beavie of good women did not lay hands upon his feet but offered it and it is a phrase of Courtship in this Complemental Age that such as give a visit of humble respect to a great person say that they come to kiss his hand though they do not use that particular Ceremony so these stooping low to worship him are said to hold him by the feet though they did not go so far in their salutation as the Letter expresseth But here is a word too strong for that evasion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they held him it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not lightly to touch but to seize upon him as strongly as their grasp could hold Let not the truth then be denied let two Apparitions be granted and at the first time Mary Magdalen was denied leave to touch him and these had permission to hold him fast What was in it that the favour was so unequally granted Why first there was nothing did repugn but that a mortal hand might touch his glorified body without offence They that went to Emmaus and met him by the way are reported to have constreined him to go no further which imports at least they held him in a friendly manner by the Arm he invited all the Disciples to feel if he had not an elementary Composition of Body Flesh and Bone and S. Thomas put his whole hand into his Side and wallowed it there and Christ felt no pain at all Then simply there was no Offence to touch unless some circumstance in the act make it irregular and so it is supposed that Mary Magdalen though a vessel of great holiness yet she had forgot that Christ was past the times of humiliation when he was a worm upon earth now he had taken his Kingdom and his Glory upon him after he was risen from the dead and yet she came familiarly to him upon the old acquaintance and would have given him such a Welcome and Embracement as she was wont to
all Saints must be glad at those news all hail to this day for all the Feasts and Sundays of the year borrow their festivity from Easterday This is the day which the Lord hath made c. It is an easie thing to make us break out into carnal and voluptuous joy but it is not easie to make us apprehend spiritual joy Christ spake the good word unto the women all hail 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rejoyce There is somewhat in original sin which makes us great misdeemers it is not one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that will set us right though Christ himself pronounced it there were some signs which betrayed these parties that they were sore afrighted they said nothing for ought appears and therefore it is likely they were strucken dumb with the astonishment their countenance I suppose changed and every joynt of them shaked when they held him by the feet and therefore the gracious Lord adds be not afraid We may put it at large thus I come as a friend I have saluted you with peace and joy therefore be not afraid of me as if I were an enemy So Josephs Brethren being mistrustful of some great evil were enheartned by Josephs Steward Peace be unto you fear not Gen. xliii 23. The comfort of the salutation was reinforced by this consolation that there was no cause to fear When reason hath repulsed the fallacies of our passions by good arguments fear will diminish by little and little But here 's a case wherein reason could afford no succour for what could reason conceive touching the resurrection of the dead It is a dreadful thing to mans wit let it be never so dispassionated to see one come alive out of the Grave for it is a most natural thing for a man to tremble when he sees an accident far above nature therefore the exhortation must proceed from Christ and supernatural grace in such an instance as this Fear not The Angels said as much unto them before in the same syllables he is risen and be not afraid Comfortable speeches indeed yet they did not take it required a greater Doctor than they to inculcate that Lesson Christ preacheth it and it took effect they did remit of their fear for the Angels spake unto the ear and Christ unto the heart And when the conscience is enlightned by grace it cannot choose but see that the greatest avoider of fear is to know that Christ is risen from the dead Death is called the King of terrors by Job as being the strongest of earthly fears and yet this is quite assuaged in them that have an assured hope of joyful resurrection Wy boastest thou thy self thou Tyrant that thou canst kill the body death is not extinction but an intermission of life My bones shall be covered again when worms have eat my flesh and with mine eyes I shall see my Saviour It is the Whetstone of fortitude in battel and in all dangers scelus est rediturae parcere vitae who but a base mind will dastardly preserve that life which shall return again An application of the Holy Spirit will make a good Christian as stout as a Lion setting the most valiant object of the Resurrection before him Though the Pharisees would hate them to death that should testifie how Christ was raised in power though the Scouts of the High Priest were abroad to note them in the black book that travell'd about that errand though the Souldiers were grim and cruel and would spare none that should refute their falsehood that the Disciples had taken away the Body while they slept yet these weak women dare do any thing to confront the evil world since Christ had said unto them be not afraid After this they have a Commission to dispatch and depart Go tell my Brethren they must not stay and dispute it Lord whither should we go thou hast the words of eternal life send us not away from thee for in thy presence there is the fulness of joy If the Blessed Virgin was not happy that her paps gave him suck but that she heard the word of God and kept it then it was no happiness to see Christ or to touch his feet but to do his will and obey it It was not a time to feed still upon this gladness and to stay with him but go and impart it There was a season when Mary Magdalen was commended for sitting still at his feet and choosing the better part but now blessed are the feet that stir and walk upon this errand to bring glad tidings of salvation As the Samaritan Woman did well not to stay with Christ but it was better to go into the City and to tell her kindred that she had found the Messias Beside their Commission was a special dignity to go from him and to bring a Message to the Disciples neither did they pretext as Moses did we are ignorant women slow of speech let Aaron rather be sent unfit for the preaching of these mysteries Christ knew what sufficiency and aptitude was in them better than themselves and therefore they must undertake to go to the chief Princes of the Church to them that succeeded Aaron in his Bishoprick The Apostles lurkt at home for fear so that Christ was fain to find out new Apostles to preach him these Daughters of Jerusalem And as their Commission had dignity in it so it was very pleasing and full of sweet address to those that sat disconsolate Go tell my Brethren they that run away from him and forsook him did not look it may be for so sweet a Title No doubt their hearts did catch at it as soon as ever they heard it like those that came from the King of Syria thy Brother Benhadad The Angels did not give them this style but plainly thus Go tell his Disciples and it was well considering their fault that they did not lose the name of Disciples but Christ exceeds the Angels in loving kindness and is not ashamed to call them Brethren Hebr. ii 11. But the more he advanceth his Servants in title the more ought they to depress themselves the more he calls us Brethren the more let us cast our selves down before him as Servants to the Mighty Lord. This also they learnt into the advantage that now Christ was risen in immortality he had not put on another body or chang'd his nature he is still as we are in his fleshly substance and therefore calls his Disciples Brethren And this we are taught likewise that he doth acknowledg them for his Brethren after he appeared in glory even as Joseph claimed kindred of his Brethren in the top of his honour Haughty men will forget their old acquaintance when they rise unto promotion but in true morality amicitia non dissolvitur per fortunae accessionem a true friend will persist a friend though he ascend to a noble accession of fortune Christ being made the greatest that ever was upon earth calls these Fishermen his
handle the improbability of this formal Tale and Fiction of what contradictions the Plot consists never to be pieced together for all this if it like you must be done while they stept Say ye c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was a Proverb in Greece if a man talked idly that he told a tale as if he crept out of a Tomb. I am sure this story about our Saviour stoln out of his Tomb is as doting a Dream as ever was told out of a Tomb no part hanging together with congruity to another Certainly it was with them as God said He would deal with them that built Babel Go to let us go down and confound their language that they may not understand one what another says The error of those Jews was affected and very wilful they knew that Christ was risen and they would not know it and voluntary errors are ever punished with great blindness they that will believe a lie shall fall into strong delusions First why would the Souldiers say they slept why would they be brought to put themselves into such infamy and danger Infamy that such a crew of them would be talked of to have slept and snorted on the ground about the Sepulcher like Swine in their drunkenness but danger also admit the High Priests for all their fair promises could not have pacified the Governour where had they been according to the Laws of some Countries they that were to watch the Corpses of Malefactors executed were to answer Body for Body When Herod sought for Peter and found him not he commanded the Keepers should be put to death yet they could not help it will these Souldiers say they lost the Body by negligence which they should have kept and do they look to be rewarded ille crucem sceleris pretium tulit hic diadema This forgery would have cost them dear if Pilate had been a just Magistrate But the High Priests knew what a notable Ruler should sit upon the cause they could tell the Souldiers before hand how he should shuffle up all and pronounce as they would have him but it had been justice they should have suffered for this fault which they never committed I mean for sleeping in the time of their charge as David kill'd the Amalekite who made a formal tale that he slew King Saul when indeed he did not One wonders at it and for very good reason that all of the conspiracy were not afraid lest in the very moment that they began to publish their fiction Christ should have appeared and stood before them and convinced them for their forgery As when Athanasius was accused at a Council for breaking of Arsenius his Readers arm in his rage just at the nick Arsenius came in presence of the Council and it appeared upon his body that he had suffered no such violence But such cautions were so little in their thoughts at that time that they consider'd nothing at all a thick darkness which might be felt was faln upon them for who would ever produce witnesses that were a sleep would their testimony be ever taken unless the Judg were asleep too and if the body was stoln away while they slept which way did they come by the spirit of Prophecy to know the Disciples did it rather than other men or why did they not follow them and take it from them or why did they not crave Pilates Warrant to search for it where they had conveyed it durst they not abuse Pilates Authority so far and durst they mock God Into what confusions and inextricable errors a man falls that sins against his own conscience I could waken them with many questions more but I will not be tedious But who will believe them that in such a great Court of Guard as no doubt this was all the Band slept at once and not one of them so careful as some say a Flock of Cranes are by nature to watch by course or how could they all sleep when that which they had in charge was of so much rumour and expectation or is it possible such a deep Lethargy was faln upon them the air being so sharp that anon before they had a fire of coals within doors that none of them should waken either when the Disciples went in or came out of the Sepulcher the creaking which the stone would make when it was rolled off from the door must needs be heard a far off Answerable to this too the linnen cloaths which were about the Body were in the Sepulcher by themselves Had they such leisure to strip those off and stay longer by far than they needed had it not been a better concealment for the Body to bear it away wrapt than naked Beside Myrrh and Alloes which were cast about Christs Body were most glutinous things and would stick to the flesh so fast that they could not be taken off without much cunning and long patience Unless witnesses which were asleep may say any thing these things were impossible to be reconciled And his observation was right true that made it that the Priests might have spread this rumour with far more safety and likelihood if they had never trusted the Souldiers to tell the lie for them But God would not let them see their way that all Ages might be astonisht at their folly For this Guard of Souldiers was not begged of Pilate to compass the Sepulcher about till Christ had lain one night in the Grave till the day after he was crucified If they had said his Disciples stole him away the first night before the Watch was set the lye had been the stronger but with far less cunning they impute the loss of the Body to the Souldiers negligence not looking well to their charge the second night Say ye his Disciples came and stole him away while we slept A sleepy Project Nec fide constantes nec in perfidiâ men of no faith and of most foolish infidelity I reduce the Use of it to that notable Memorandum Where men are averse from hearing truth God dazles their mind with gross and senseless deceipts yea though they be High Priests as we know who they are that entangle themselves with a thousand absurd questions about the Sacrament because they will not be driven from their idolatrous practice to adore the Elements But let us approach unto it with simplicity of heart setting aside all contention and frowardness let us believe in Christ in this breaking of bread that our eyes may be opened let us drink of the fruit of the Vine in remembrance of his blood-shedding here that we may eat and drink with him in his Kingdom Finally as being risen with Christ let us seek those things which are above AMEN FIVE SERMONS UPON THE Descent of the Holy Ghost THE FIRST SERMON UPON THE Descent of the Holy Ghost ACTS ii 1. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one
Church was that there were no divisions or distractions in their Body God be praised for the multiplication of his Saints now over all the world we cannot meet now under one Roof as these did nor sit down in rows in one Field together as those 5000 did whom our Saviour fed in the Desart the bounds of all the Land of Canaan are not able to hold us God be glorified for the increase Our unity of place is to meet in those publique Assemblies which are allotted to particular Churches at those appointed times which are enjoyned us In no wise to slack our presence here on the Lords day to flock together on other festival days at Morning Prayer on week days to be much more diligent than we have been fie upon our tardiness and excuses in that duty do we look that God shall bless us in our Persons and Calling to take a Benediction away with us to serve us the whole week and come no oftner is not he the God that makes men to be of one mind to come to the Temple together and there to receive the Holy Ghost Chiefly I wish heartily in Christ that they would consort together with us who take no offence at our Doctrine established but make a separation and strangeness both from us and among themselves for matter of Ceremonies and things indifferent They that are baptized into Christ and one Faith why should they not come together with one accord in one place I must not be prolix I will say no more to it but let us say with St. Paul Hebr. x. 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are not of them who separate or draw back unto perdition Vnto perdition let that be noted The observation of this point gains thus much more out of St. Austin As all the Tribes of Israel were gathered together about Mount Sinah to hear in what manner the Law was proclaimed so here was an agreement of all persons to joyn together to receive the Holy Ghost but in that admirable similitude there is this dissimilitude that the people were prohibited with many terrors to come near the place where the Law was delivered but at this time the Holy Ghost was sent unto them who expecting the promise were all with one accord in one place And Calvin conjects much unto this note that the minds of the faithful were exceedingly encouraged and chang'd for the better the stoutest Champions of them all had no manlike fortitude in them before the Shepherd was smitten and instantly they were scattered and ran away for fear now the very women had hardned themselves against all danger they mix themselves together in one place with that holy company and fear no evil that can happen unto them A resolved constant mind an heroick heart to take up the Cross of Christ and to suffer unto the death for righteousness sake is a sign of much grace in the soul and an admirable preparation to receive the greatest measure of the Holy Ghost And that you may not think this Apostolical Society had crept into a dark corner where no espials could find them out Many Authors that have laboured to understand where it was say it was a spacious goodly Room of as much note as any private House in all Jerusalem and frequented so often by the Apostles that their haunt was known through all the City All that I have met withal conclude it was the same upper Chamber where our Saviour celebrated his last Supper and so consecrated the place Nicephorus and Cedrenus say it was the House of John the Evangelist for he took the Blessed Virgin to his own home and she was now among them a slender guess God wot and repugnant to many circumstances of Scripture Theophylact says it was the House of Simon the Leper how can that be when his House was in Bethany Matth. xxvi 6. Euthymius says it was the House of Joseph of Arimathea an honourable Counseller and had goodly Rooms to receive them Baronius goes with the most voices all are but conjectures that it was the House of Mary the Mother of John whose surname was Mark. To this Adrichomius consents and says this was the place where 3000 Jews were converted by Peter and baptized thither Peter betook himself when the Angel brought him out of prison there Stephen and others were made Deacons there James the Brother of our Lord so called was consecrated Bishop of Jerusalem there the first Council of the Apostles was held Acts xv All ancient Authors conclude it was about where the Tower of Sion stood and this is certain that Helen the Mother of Constantine did build a goodly Temple upon the same place to honour that holy ground It was a Figure of the whole Church of Christ so much the more to be remembred and the Church is a Figure of the Kingdom of Heaven where all the Saints and I trust all we shall praise the Lord with one accord in one place for evermore It follows now as the outward Bond of Peace was with this Society so they were claspt together faster with the inward Bond of Agreement with the unity of the same spirit they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one accord There cannot be a more proper true and certain disposition to make us meet for the Holy Ghost than unanimity As the Halcyon so our Naturalists say never appears but against fair weather so the Spirit comes either not at all or not very plentifully unto us until he find concord among us without jars and tranquility without bitterness The unity of the Apostles is called by the Fathers parasceue spiritus the way-making to receive the grace of God and if the Patient be prepared aright the Agent will do his work the sooner and the better No gifts of benediction are given to strive and oppose to fight one against another but for charity and edification therefore it was the beginning of our Collect three Sundays past Almighty God which dost make the minds of all faithful men to be of one will and it is a principal part of our Gospel for this day Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you That peace which Christ left among the Apostles was as it were an earnest penny put into their hands that they should have the full donative of the Comforter from above Our Saviour was born in the days of Caesar Augustus when a still Peace was over all the world now He pours out his holy spirit upon them that were of one accord and of one heart the one was his first act upon earth the other is his last then he was cloathed with our flesh now we are invested with his spirit This remarkable amity and Saint-like brotherhood among the Members of the Church which had no ruptures was well prefigur'd in the old Feast of Pentecost which was kept by the Jews For Levit. xxiii 19. upon the day of Pentecost among other Burnt-offerings the Priests were appointed in
the name of the whole Congregation to offer up two Lambs of the first year for a Sacrifice of Peace-offerings You will say that 's no strange matter to present a Peace-offering to the Lord true indeed particular persons did it often in their own behalf but Maimonides observes it that the publick Body the Vniversal Church of the Jews never offered any Peace-offering but at the Feast of Pentecost O who will work this work for the Militant Catholique Church that we may say of all the parts of it omnes unanimiter they conclude all for the Orthodox Faith with one accord Some strange salvation must drop out of the clouds we know not how to work this Attonement yet on both sides let every man take heed he make not the rent bigger with more obstinacy and greater separation sweetly did a meek Moses of our own Church write there will come a time when three words uttered with charity and meekness shall receive a far more blessed reward than three thousand Volumes written with disdainful sharpness of wit It may seem a wonderful and unanswerable scruple that many in the former Ages of the Church did so much transcend us in these dayes for gifts of Miracles gifts of Devotion and Learning for Watchings and Fastings for Industry and assiduous diligence for most prosperous success in winning many Souls to the Kingdom of Heaven but the true cause is that their unanimity and pious agreement opened a wide gate to admit sanctification into their breast and our discords exclude it No spirit can give life to Members dismembred unless they be first united and compact together Ezekiel knew not how scattered bones could live but the bones came together bone to his bone and then the breath of the Lord came into them and they lived and stood upon their feet Ezekiel xxxvii 10. The Scribes and Elders of the Jews in few years after our Saviour was crucified were like broken bones scattered and divided like as one breaketh and heweth wood every year by bribery or calumniations the High Priest lost his dignity and a new one was substituted Josephus most impartially hath related that there was no care of Religion no zeal for the Law among them because there was nothing but bandings and factions in their Synagogues Here was no accord and therefore no Holy Spirit came down into their habitations Against the Congregation of the famous first Nicene Council the Fathers that met together it is not to be concealed forgat themselves so far that they put up innumerous Bills of complaints one against another before the Emperor Constantine The Emperor knew this was a most repugnant beginning to the good work they had in hand to enter into the consideration of Christs business with distracted enmities therefore he threw all their bills and brables into the fire and then bad them proceed in the name of Christ and in the grace of his Holy Spirit Their heart is divided now shall they be found faulty says the Prophet Hosea chap. x. 2. A contentious stickler that loves to be the head of a Faction and to disjoynt things out of peace and quietness I wonder whether ever he thinks how the Apostles were composed and prepared when they received the Holy Ghost Fuerunt omnes eâdem animatione simul in unam so St. Austin reads they had one heart and one mind and one inclination to advance the Kingdom of Christ they were all with one accord in one place I enter now upon the last part of all that I may find the way out of my Text and conclude it is the other Preparation for the coming of the Holy Ghost as all the Disciples were knit in vinculo pacis in the bond of peace and concord so they were united together in vinculo spei in the bond of hope by patience and expectation they were ejusdem unanimitatis and ejusdem longanimitatis they kept together for the promise of the Holy Ghost till fifty days were fulfilled God made the Israelites number fifty days after their coming out of Egypt before the Law was delivered ut adventus sui desiderium accenderet to make their hearts burn within them with longing for his coming so he put off the coming of the Holy Ghost for the same space of time to make them think of his promise with eager expectation The Jews called it the Feast of fifty days and the Feast of weeks for whether we reckon by days or weeks or years we must wait the Lords leisure and say expectans expectavi Psal xl 1. I have waited patiently for the Lord and say with our Saviour not my will but thy will be done that is not my time but thy time be fulfilled Where is the faith where is the humility of those rash spirits that will not tarry the fulness of time but have all things at their whistle by and by or quarrel with God as if he had forgot them They received this blessing of wonderful grace that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 long abiders in the 13. verse of the former chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or perseverantes ver 14. such as continue till the day of promise was fully come He that believeth let him not make haste says the Prophet Isaiah God will do all things by his own leisure and maturity if he happen to stay stay for him Habak ii 3. for at last he that cometh will come and then he is no flitter his gifts are without repentance and he will abide with us for ever AMEN THE SECOND SERMON UPON THE Descent of the Holy Ghost ACTS ii 2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and filled all the house where they were sitting THE Feast of Christs Resurrection and the Feast of Whitsunday or coming of the Holy Ghost are distant one from another fifty days in space of time but are as near to themselves as the bark unto the tree in real substance and in spiritual conjunction In the Resurrection the strength of Hell was weakened for us In the descending of the Holy Ghost the vertue of Heaven was made powerful in us In the first the doors of the Grave were unlock'd that we might not be held in death In the other the windows of heaven were opened that we might be partakers of the life to come The Resurrection reduceth the soul into the body again which was dissolved by the sin of Adam The coming of the Holy Ghost doth again reduce grace into the Soul when original Justice had been taken from it by the same mans transgression These are parallell'd in primo gradu and the comparison may reach a little further to our present business that there was a great noise caused at Christs rising For behold there was an Earthquake Mat. xxviii 2. And loe as great a noise from above at the coming of the Holy Ghost for behold there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind These two honourable Feasts
resistency be never taken away in this life but is ever smothered and couchant in the bitter root of our corruption yet according to the efficacious and sweet motion of grace God disposeth that it shall not come out into act It is not therefore the power to resist which is taken away for then the will were violenced and nature quite transformed whereas grace is the perfection not the abolition or destruction of nature It is only the actual resistency which is stopt Most excellently Prosper Hanc abundantiorem gratiam ita credimus potentem ut negemus violentam There is a special abundant grace which is the Lot of that remnant which shall be saved and this we believe that it hath powerful success upon the will but makes no violent that is irresistible entrance But it carries all the affections with it with a most urgent undeniable perswasive force it ravisheth a man from himself he feels himself as it were compelled in spight of Tyrants in spight of death to confess the truth We cannot but speak the things which we have heard and seen Acts iv 20. Nihil imperiosius side The Spirit of God hath a most imperious authority over the soul where it will dwell a smooth tongue in an eloquent man will win much upon his hearers and draw them far but the Spirit of God is a commanding principle a rushing mighty wind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Oecumenius this is a sign of abundance of vehemence it is the breath of God whose might is invincible But thirdly there is another way that some conjecture at the vehemency of the Wind and that was to strike terrour Into whom you will say In some sort says Calvin into the Disciples themselves that received the Holy Ghost Thus he most judiciously Nunquam ad recipiendam Dei gratiam ritè sumus comparati nisi domitâ priùs carnis confidentiâ That is we are never fitly disposed to receive the grace of God untill our carnal pride and security be beaten down and humbled Some roaring terrible wind of judgment and the expectation of hell fire if we repent not must shake us soundly Or else we will fall asleep in our sins and wallow in wantonness with the slumbering soft noise of mercy As the Spring of the year wherein all things grow begins roughly with March and ends sweetly with May so Renovation and New-birth it begins austerely with the angry Pedagogie and Discipline of the Law with consternation in a troubled Spirit then begin the fruits of the Spirit to spring up but it proceeds to gladness and rejoycing and to peace in Christ First the strong Wind passed by Elias that rent the Mountains and brake the Rocks in pieces then an Earthquake and a fire and after the fire a still small voice The Angels coming to the Blessed Virgin had first fear and astonishment in it then greeting and salutation So the Wind that came at the Feast of Whitsontide did first roar and terrifie them that were gathered together afterwards it was as Oyl that comforted and as new Wine that maketh glad the heart So says Bernard upon the conclusion of it Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia quietum aspicere quiescere est God is peace and sets all at peace and to behold him in whom our soul rests is to rest for ever But others say for all the mightiness of the Wind it is not expressed that any fear did fall upon the Apostles the vehemency of the sound was to corroberate the Apostles and to let them know there were blasts in store to cast down their enemies Such as repelled the Darts of Maximinus the Tirant into his own face when he gave battel to the Christians Such as hath dispersed the invincible Navies of our Enemies Et conjurati veniunt in classica venti Christ descended gently as the rain into the Fleece of Wool in the days of his exinanition He shall not cry nor cause his voice to be heard in the street Isa xlii 2. But now he is exalted into glory and hath the rule put into his hand he will thunder and break forth in strong violence against his enemies Thus far you have heard that the Holy Ghost came sensibly and audibly to the Ear like a sound the similitude of that sound was the noise of the Wind the Attributes of it two sudden and mighty and yet these two Points are undispatcht the terminus à quo it came from heaven and the terminus ad quem it filled the house where they were sitting But briefly The first of these moves much to one thing that is handled before that there is vehement strength in the grace of God because it comes from heaven says the great Counsellor Gamaliel If this work be of men it will come to nought but if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it The Winds naturally arise out of the Caves of the earth they steame from beneath and blow laterally from one Coast to another So are worldly graceless devices all unsanctified counsels they blow from beneath from the Forge of Satan the principles are drawn from Ambition Hatred Emulation Treachery and have an oblique collateral motion which is profound dissimulation But the root of grace is above in heaven and grows down to the earth it fetcheth all its drifts from Peace from Religion from Charity from the Sanctuary from the Glory of God Strip all your politick projects from their fair pretences and see the ground and foundation upon which they rest and you will find them to be hollow and putrified vapours Again slight not the harmless ways and simplicity of good men for if you could discover their conscience as God doth you would find their scope and aim to be celestial And nothing comes from heaven but with this purpose to convert our earthly inclinations into heavenly directions And let this superficial inspection satisfie for the term and place whence the sound came it came from heaven The end of our work is the consideration of the place where it staid and lighted It filled all the house where they were sitting If you expect to have it treated of how the blast of the Spirit did fill the house I must put you off to the fourth verse of this Chapter where it is recorded of the Apostles that they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and better speak of it touching men than touching the Room of an house that Christ is the fulness of him that filleth all in all Moreover if you look for any touch upon the House it self remember I told you such Traditions for it last year as I found in Antiquity but with this modest conclusion that the Point was not material and all humane Records are uncertain This we may and must build upon that it was an upper Room of some dwelling in Jerusalem Acts i. 13. and of large capacity we are sure to contain at least one hundred and twenty persons ver 15. Perhaps also of
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
are Clavis Ecclesiae sera Coeli Baptism the Key to open a door and give us admittance into the Church of Christ and the Eucharist is such a confirmation of grace that it is like a bolt that shuts us up into Heaven What reverence what devotion can be too much for such blessed mysteries Mistake me not when I speak of Reverence and Devotion I mean nothing less than Adoration and Worship to the Elements I allow not nay I abhor Popish Elevation and Procession I fear this lifting up of the Host ever since the Devil took up Christ to a Pinacle of the Temple I detest their gamish and gaudy Procession as if our Saviour did think it an Honour to ride upon the Popes Palfrey as Haman did upon King Ahasuerus Horse away with such ridiculous gesticulations But I am ashamed on the other side that there should be such froward Persons such unthankful Receivers of the Sacrament of thankfulness in our Church that deny the duty of their knee to the Supper of the Lord their feet stand stiff like the two Pillars which upheld the Theatre of the Philistines and Samson can scarce pluck them to the ground The very Devil durst not deny the truth in this Point Ask him what it is to honour Mat. 4. to fall down and worship As Maecoenas spake of a Roman that being amazed forgot to kneel unto Caesar when he came in his presence Hic homo timet timere Caesarem so these men are afraid lest they should over-reach themselves and give God more honour than his due It was an excellent speech of Scipio Africanus who being to ride in honour refused to sit in an Arch Triumphal Quia seni praetereunti non potuit assurgere if an old man passed by he could not rise up and do him reverence Beloved the Table of the Lord is a time of great triumph and solemnity and God is not passing from us but coming to us and is this all the honour that we will do him to stand upon stilts rather than kneel Will neither the apprehension of Christs Passion move us at that time Nor that Prayer which is used that body and soul may be preserved unto everlasting life will not that make us fall down Nor the consideration how Christ did humble himself for us unto the death of the Cross will not that make us humble Let it be the reproach of such profane men that Manna is faln down from Heaven round about our Tents and they will not stoop to gather it The fourth and last Honour which redounds to God is to obey the powers which are ordained of God It is good Divinity every day it is the proper Theam of this day O Lord make it a victorious and joyful day to thine Anointed Servant and our most gacious Soveraign many and many years and make it an happy and a triumphant day to his People that are under him and to their Children that are yet unborn Nazianzen speaking of Kings and Rulers to be the Images of God says that Monarchs and Kings in respect of God were like Pictures drawn clean throughout to the Feet the middle sort of Governours to Pictures drawn to the Girdle the third rank and lowest in authority to Pictures drawn but to the neck and shoulders but all in some sort are the Images of God only Christ is the express Image of his Person that sate down at the right hand of his Majesty Heb. i. O let Man who is made according to the similitude and likeness of Gods own goodness be faithful and Loyal to obey Kings and Princes in whom he hath imprinted the Image of his power and authority Mary Magdalen sate at our Saviours feet his Disciple John came nearer to his head and leaned upon his breast so God hath put all the world under his feet but Kings and Rulers lean as it were upon his breast as coming nearer to his love Now as the Altar was a refuge for them that fled unto it so Kings being as it were united unto God by an invisible copulation they are like priviledged persons always next unto the Altar and the hand of violence must not hurt them He that despiseth you despiseth me and he that honoureth you honoureth me But the Jesuit is more subtle than any beast of the field and he puts in a quarrel against Gods Anointed that if any prove an Heretick or a scandalous person to the Church nolumus hunc regnare then he hath lost the privilege of his Unction and his Scepter shall be broken by the Popes effulminating Authority I cannot answer this traiterous opposition better than by an Embleme of a Diamond with this word dum formas minuis He that pares a Diamond to make it give a better lustre and to point it artificially impairs the worth and value of the Diamond so to cut such large allowance from the due which God hath granted without that qualification to his Vice-gerents under pretence to make their Kingdom more beautiful and religious is the next way to break the neck of all Soveraignty it were well we had less of their art and more of their honesty As Agesilaus wrote to the Judges in the behalf of Nicias if Nicias his Cause be good let justice prevail if his Cause be wrong let favour prevail but be sure that Nicias prevail So say I if the Scepter of the King be a Scepter of mercy and righteousness God be blessed it is then we will honour it for righteousness sake if it should go wrong and not as we would have it so it hath far'd with other Common-wealths the Throne of the King is established in heaven and we must honour it for Gods sake but be sure the King be honour'd and obeyed There is a Fable which Plutarch hath to this purpose the Tail of the Snake began to cavil with the Head because the Head did always lead the way and direct the Body which way it list The Tail would not be contented unless it might go formost by course and the Head come sometimes behind but what followed upon this new contrivance the Tail prickt it self in thorns the Body was bruised every part offended and at last the Head was intreated to take upon him to lead and then the whole body was contented Beloved our part is to pray to God that the Head may run on in the right way like the matchless Pair that went before the mirrour of women pious Queen Elizabeth and the most excellent and learned of all wise Princes that ever were or shall be blessed King James Our part is to submit our wisdom to the secret counsels of the King and to demonstrate our faithfulness and love more amply by how much the times are like to be dangerous and troublesome but for the Tail to go formost it is a dishonour to God who hath given the Crown and Scepter to the King and it can breed nothing but disorder and confusion To sum up these four
residue the Lord will give victory to his chosen people But as Cyrus in Xenophon speaks of the manner of the Median hunting beasts in Gardens that they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hunt beasts that were bound so to follow these turncoat Fugitives which have sheltred themselves in Cloisters and are sworn to do us mischief it were vincta venari to pursue that which was entangled therefore I leave them with Judas and this brand upon both their foreheads concluding the second part of my Text c. I am now descended in the third place to the stratagem of this day and am faln upon the haters of my Lord the King A King who is an uniter of Kingdoms into one body as David was of Judah and Israel none more zealous no not David himself for the prosperity of Jerusalem and the magnificence of the holy Temple Under Christ not only the Supreme Head but under Christ the most careful Watchman of our Churches and as Christ did tenderly affect his Apostles above all other men so the Successors of the Apostles the Reverend and most holy Bishops of our Church have found not the smallest place in the love of our gracious Soveraign Surely above all men if the Clergy be not careful to set forth the honour of this day with great joy and solemnity it is their ignorance or their negligence Ignorance is the very annihilating of a Scholar negligence the foulest fault in a Labourer Had these furious Sword-men that laid their weapons to his throat sound an austere Master nay a Tyrant they must have born with it and not touch the man that bears the character of the Lords Anointed But his Peers are verè parâ—s welcom as his equals his familiar friends Had they been out of the lists of counsel not acquainted with secret affairs what should they do but be thankful for the peace which they enjoy without trouble and pray for that Government which fills them with plenteousness without their labour but they were familiars in whom he trusted adventuring his Royal Person not only under their roof but under their locks and custody Lastly had his bounty no way flown into their Coffers and whose bounty among all the Kings of the earth hath replenished more yet their bodies are secure by the protection of his Laws their souls secure by his maintenance of true Religion their goods secure by his Courts of Justice and yet his own c. Did eat of his bread that is true But to feed upon the Kings hospitality is a curtesie every day common to thousands that visit the Court But for a mighty Monarch to grace his Subjects Table with his Royal Presence and to eat of his bread this is not the felicity of every one Pauci quos aequus amavit Jupiter it is a respect of high honour where it lights and the glory of an illustrious Family And out of doubt that mind must be very sordid and avaricious that esteems it not the more noble grace to make their service find acceptation that they may expend somewhat rather than receive somewhat of a mighty Potentate I can spare no more time to publish the black sin of the Authors of this treachery It was Dionysius his saying to Plato that if he should dismiss him and give him leave to depart for Greece Plato would make him the common talk of Athens Do not think O King says Plato that we have so little care of learned conference that we would chuse you for our discourse So I hope beloved that our hearts are so full charged with thankfulness to God for this days deliverance that in twenty years and more we have no leisure as yet to think of the Malefactors Let this day be spent and many days following only in Prayer and Supplication and Thanksgiving to that God who hath given victory to his Anointed and will do to his Seed for evermore Nay let me add one thing coronidis vice and I have quite done we have found this verse to tax Achitophel to condemn Judas and lastly to lie at their door who perished deservedly this day in their own fury Bonaventure hath yet smelt out another enemy and such a one as none more familiar none more intimate to any of us all Is not this fair warning beloved And will you know who it is O man it is thy self He that prays to God to bless him from his enimies is afraid of malice indeed it is a dreadful thing He that prays to God to bless him from his friends is afraid of treachery and indeed no mischief less avoidable But let me pray to God to bless me from my self no enemie so full of flattery so like to prevail so cunning in tentation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the Civil War which wastes the inward parts it is the carnal man against the spiritual Self-love is every mans disease Why You are your own familiar friend Confession of sins can hardly be extorted from us Why We trust to our selves too much Gluttony and Riot are within our Walls Why We feed our selves and are our own carvers From our enemies defend us O Christ from Forain Invasion from Domestical Conspiracy from the malice of Satan and from the corruption of this vile Flesh the body of death which we carry about Good Lord deliver us AMEN THE FIRST SERMON UPON THE Fifth of November AMOS ix 2. Though they dig into Hell thence shall my hand take them WE have two sorts of Holy-days and Festivals to call Assemblies together into the Church of God Some in honour of the Saints who are our friends that their Piety may redound to our imitation Some occasioned by the malice of our enemies to sing praises for our preservation both are useful if we advise aright And who knows whether King David was instructed better from Hushai his Friend or from Shemei that reviled him He that would be safe says Plutarch and walk sure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he must either have true Friends or bitter enemies And as God would have it the Church hath plenty of both sorts Saints of honour in heaven spiteful men to undermine it upon earth darkness beneath to complot treachery light above to reveal it There is both manus fodiens an hand digging into Hell against us and manus educens the eternal hand that fashioned all things on our side to take them out Beloved here are two chief instructions from two main ways to inform our faith blessed is every one that hath duly prepared one heart to receive them Which that we may the better do I pray observe what a lofty Hyperbole the whole verse doth consist of threatning the ungodly that they shall neither have advantage by Heaven nor Hell Though they dig c. They that go about to cast away themselves are not in their way except they wander And that you may know how sinners straggle whithersoever they go mark what several interpretations the words do bear Hugo the
hand when so malicious a burden hung upon it yet I do not see how he shook off the Viper but I believe and know that it was the voice of the Lord which shaketh the wilderness yea the Lord that shaketh the wilderness of Cades Excussit What no more words concerning this great deliverance So great a work contracted into so small an Epitome If the Children of men work deliverances and strange ones too the relation will ask a Book perchance a Volume or a Legend to record it but it is a blessing so frequent with God that the world would not hold the Books of his preservations if it were not for excussit and tetigit he touch'd the sore and dixit he said the word as short as may be And yet to shake off a beast is such a sudden rescue in the turning of an hand that it is a most complete and more comfortable salvation Monstra superavit priùs quà m nosse possit as Seneca said of Hercules that he slew a Serpent before he knew what a Serpent was What a gentle cure it is As easie as a slumber For the most part it is sickness enough to be diseased with remedies Like as a Philosopher said being made whole after much Physick that it was with him as with a pestilent air cleansed by a clap of thunder And I make a doubt whose fortune was the worse whether the poor womans that took Physick but twelve years together for an issue of bloud or the sick man 's that in thirty eight years sought after no help but from the Pool of Bethesda Wherefore this is the sweetest mercy not to cast off the Viper by loathsom Potions but with no more hurt than Aaron cast forth his rod before Pharaoh from his hand which became a Serpent Gen. vii 10. This deliverance from a Viper makes good the Promise of the Lord Mar. xvi If you take up Serpents they shall not hurt you But as God was the chief Author so Paul had the glory of the execution What Paul himself and no other Indeed there was scarce a friend by to do it for him Hasty Souldiers that even now would have killed him and pitiless Barbarians and Malefactors his fellow Prisoners none of these were likely to relieve him the honour was his own to shake off the beast and yet enquire among all the other Apostles and you shall not find that any one was made an instrument to preserve himself St. Peter could not enter into the High Priests Hall but by a Damosel nor get out of Prison but by an Angel The ignominy was cast upon our Saviours self He saved others himself he cannot save He saved others bear with him in that I pray you though he did not save himself and perchance could not St. Peter As it was said of Mucianus the Roman Facilius erat ei dare imperium quà m accipere it was easier for him to advance another man to the Empire than to exalt himself so God hath ordained to the end that Charity might abound in all things even in the gift of Miracles to give the Apostles the power of healing not to cure themselves but to cure their Brethren No man must buy long life at so base a rate as Herodicus did of whom Aristotle reports that he rended nothing all his days but his own health Of many examples we have but this one in holy Scripture where the Physician did cure himself Paul then did heal himself But advise we well with every circumstance about the Text and then I ask did he not heal the infirmities of many more Yes and there were more Vipers than one in Melita so many Barbarians as thought in their heart but they were cruel thoughts that Paul was a murderer so many Vipers every evil censure against our neighbour it is Venenum charitatis the poyson of our charity shake it off a Gods name before it fasten Qui istoc credis de homine potes facere even for this hard opinion of Paul I doubt Melita had many murderers Yea I am perswaded that this their uncharicableness did more afflict St. Paul than any evil Serpent could as a more tender affection touch'd the heart of Romanus the Martyr to see the cruelty of Heathen Tyrants than to feel his own pain Quod lancinamur non dolet dolet quod error pectori insedit suo Thus the sin of the Barbarians hung upon the heart of the Apostle the Viper only upon his hand but one excussit did serve for both the beast was cast into the fire and then the uncharitable thoughts did vanish Well I see there was some divinity in those hands which were so often lifted up to God in Prayer those hands which wrote such divine Epistles to so many Churches those hands which consecrated the two famous Bishops Titus and Timothy those hands which gathered Alms for the poor Saints at Jerusalem O those hands were blessed no Serpent could envenom them The first office that the courteous fire did afford to Fructuosus the Martyr was to burn the cords which bound up his zealous arms which fain he would lift up to heaven Non ausa est cohibere paena palmas in morem crucis ad patrem levandas solvit brachia qâ—a Deum precentur so sung Prudentius And St. Hierom writes that Julian the wicked took up the body of John the Baptist and burnt it to ashes but his Head wherein the voice of a Crier spake and the Finger wherewith he pointed out Ecce agnus Dei Behold the Lamb of God those could not be consumed And I dare report it after so many Writers that the heart of our most reverend Cranmer was preserved by Gods Providence from the fire in honour of his integrity like the three Children in the Furnace O why should we doubt when God doth thus miraculously save the particular member of our body from harm but that the whole man in the whole entire body our corruptible shall put on incorruption If some should answer to these examples as Diagoras in Tully said to one that presented many Pictures before him of those who had escaped Sea-danger by calling upon Neptune Nusquam esse pictos qui in mari perierant naufragium fecerant There were more examples of them if they could be seen who were drowned in the Sea and yet called upon Neptune So perhaps many faithful men may be named who were not always fortunate in their deliverance Beloved what deliverance do you mean All this while you do not reckon how many miseries they prevent who are dispatch'd by one is it no excussit Do we shake off no small store of mischief when the soul doth uncase it self of this body of sin that with good King Josiah we may not see the evil to come Death is like the Angel set before the Garden of Eden which with one blow lets him that passeth by into Paradise When sinners and uncircumcised feel the wrath of God their
to be sought out in a higher rank Great astonishments are quite above our nature Aquinas hath contrived them into three sorts First The wonder lies in substantiâ facti in the very thing done as when the Sun went backward Secondly The thing may be natural in it self but admirable and past our power if we consider the subject upon which it is wrought as for the blind to see for the dead to be raised up to life Thirdly and lastly Both the thing performed is ordinary and done with ease upon the subject but the manner of doing it makes the wonder as for a Fever to be cured in a moment Of all these three the first in order is the greatest in substantiâ facti such was this in my Text and no meaner that it should not kill and empoyson Aesculapius among the heathen the very deity of Physick his Emblem was a Serpent as the glory of his Cures and the very utmost of his Art Now when Miracles have but two ends say the Schoolmen to do honour to the Word of God and to confirm it that is the first or to honour the life of him that works in the Ministry in the justice of both causes never was there more need than at this time of a Miracle Here was the poor Island of Melita which Publius and the Roman Army had found out long ago to destroy it but the Gospel was not heard of before this day to save it St. Paul that should plant the faith was cast ashore by shipwrack as one neglected of God bound over a close Prisoner as one hated of his Countrymen suspected by the Barbarians to be a Murderer then his cause was tried by the word of the Lord it was time to shake Vipers into the fire and feel no harm Thus Christianity began by a Miracle in the Island of Melita and perchance long ago so it began with us but now we do not so learn Christ when the boughs of the Church are grown and spread like the goodly Cedar trees Nehemiah and all the People shouted for joy when the Foundation of the Temple was laid but from thenceforth they built with silence no exclamations were heard When faith had scarce made entrance into Jerusalem our Saviour came in strangely when the doors were shut but being once in he went plainly to work with Thomas Put thy finger into my side and be not faitless but faithful This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fit wedge to drive out the jugling Divinity of the Papists What do you tell us of your Legend of wonders in Compostella Thousand Miracles and more thousand Murders in India Images that turn their eyes about and Statues that weep and sweat Saints limb'd out in bloudy straws Strange Exorcisms of Devils When the worst was but the Toothach or a Fever As Apelles said to another Painter none of the best workmen but one of the quickest that bragg'd he made twenty Pictures every day and shewed the Patterns I wonder says Apelles you do not make twice twenty of this sort So the Miracle that I take hold of is this why the learned Fatherhood invent no louder or more unlikely miracles But take it to you work Signs and Wonders perchance by the secret operation of Satan Et eorum spirituum operatione videbantur admirandi à quibus sunt damnandi says their own Master Lombard And they lookt for admiration by the power of those Spirits by whom they shall receive damnation As the Rivers of Paradise are without Paradise and run into divers parts of the world so the gifts of Miracles and the gifts of Tongues are like those Rivers which run both within and without the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostome Signs and Wonders are not so near to Gods House as the Porch is unto the Temple except there be holiness to the Lord in Aarons Breast as well as Buds of Almonds in his Rod. Remember Jannes and Jambres remember Simon the Sorcerer yea the very Divels do Miracles says Lombard Ne tale aliquid facere fideles pro magno desiderent lest the Faithful should seem to desire to do the like as if it were some great matter If not Magnum then surely not Maximum the greatest note of a Church Especially if it be true which St. Austin says Omni miraculo quod fit per hominem majus miraculum est homo If man be a greater wonder than can pass through the hands of man then certainly a regenerate man is the greatest power of God his Prayers and Charity and Faith are more excellent than to shake a Viper into the fire and feel no harm Grant O Lord such Wonders unto thy Church whereby thy name may be glorified in true holiness and cloath thy Priests with health as thou didst thy Servant Paul and because we look for a greater deliverance Quis me liberabit Who shall deliver me from the body of this death Let us say assuredly as he did even Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN THE FIRST SERMON UPON ENOCH GEN. V. 24. And Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him DAys appointed for Repentance and Humiliation you know these to be of that institution but those are times to do and not to say therefore I have read a Text unto you rather of Deeds than Sayings an active Example and not a verbal Exhortation And it is an Example of no mean pitch you will like it the better for that one Star differs from another in glory and one Saint differs from another in sanctity and perfection There were Pillars in Solomons Temple and golden Chapiters on the top of the Pillars so the Patriarchs of old the Apostles in the Christian Ages were Pillars of the Church all of them Pillars but such as bore the chief praise for using the gifts of grace with all advantage to Gods glory these are the golden Chapiters upon the tops of the Pillars I will promise you to make it good by that which I shall say anon that I have propounded unto you one of the golden Crowns upon the top of the Pillars as heavenly and as happy a president as can be found out of a meer man as compleat a Pattern as can be chosen out of all the Sons of Adam and who would not write by the best Copy In the most ancient Epistle of Clemens the Roman written to the Corinthians lately made publick to the world out of the Princely store-house of this Kingdom that holy Father moves the Corinthians with this extimulation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us look stedfastly towards them who have perfectly ministred in holy service to the excellent glory of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to the Catalogue of Saints in the middle Region but to them that walked highest above this world And in the very next words following Ecce homo behold the man of his choice to whom he gives precedency above all others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let us take out
that was snatcht away unpreparedly without all sense of death It is true she had no Will to make she had no Legacies to bequeath for all was lost She had no house to set in order with Hezekiah for her Habitation was consumed with fire and brimstone yet she had a Soul to set in order which was ten thousand times more than all beside And although I will define nothing rashly against her for this judgment sake for I have learnt that modesty to let God only judge his own servants yet this momentary destruction of Lots Wife I am sure is worth both this and many hours meditations Quod cuivis cuiquam that which hapned but once since the world began to this one person may happen in some kind every day to any man Saul was desperately driven to seek to raise Samuel from the dead and appear before him this instance in my Text is one that never went down to the grave among the dead that she might always be in the remembrance of the living how she looked back to Sodom and became a Pillar of Salt Which words I divided formerly into such terms as might both respect the Contents of the Text and be expedient places for your memory Therefore I called the two principal branches an Epitaph and a Tomb. The Epitaph thus But his Wife looked back from behind him The Tomb which this Epitaph respects in that which follows And she became a Pillar of Salt If God made Epitaphs the stones of the Church should not be guilty of such flattery as they are for none of the offences of Lots Wife are left out in these few words but she is accused and very justly of these particulars as I shewed before 1. Of disobedience that she would not observe the precise Commandment of God in every motion of her body 2. Of great folly and blindness of heart that she would reject God and the preservation of her own life upon such easie conditions as to hold still her head 3. Of a Spirit most unattentive to learn for Lot went before her constantly and stedfastly the example was in her eye every step from Sodom to Zoar yet she would go her own ways 4. Of incredulity an incredulous soul Wisd x. 7. Either she did not believe that Sodom should be consumed as God had sent word or else she thought it would not be the worse for her though she turn'd about and lookt upon it 5. She relapsed and fainted in well-doing and desired to live again among those wicked sinners from whom God had withdrawn her This was opened in the first part The second is as strange for a Tomb as this was for an Epitaph A Christian Poet wrote thus Enigmatically upon it Cadaver nec habet suum sepulchrum sepulchrum nec habet suum cadaver sepulchrum tamen cadaver intus That she was made a Carkass that had no Sepulchre nay that she was made a Sepulchre that had no Carkass or rather that she was both Carkass and Sepulchre And to conform my self to the resolution of this Riddle I will consider this punishment inflicted from God two ways in reference to her self as to the Carkass and in reference to that into which she was turned as to the Sepulchre She that was punisht 1. Was one of those very few that professed the name of God among thousands that were unrighteous 2. She was one of four that were brought out of Sodom and yet there wanted one of those four before they got into Zoar. 3. She was well nigh pass'd all danger and suffred shipwrack in the very Haven 4. She did wilfully cast her self away at the last cast therefore we read she was lost but not that she was ever bemoaned After this in reference to the Pillar of Salt 1. I consider it as a new punishment the like was never heard 2. As a sudden or momentaneous punishment 3. As a miraculous and most supernatural punishment 4. As a mortal punishment but not as a final destruction Of these in order The Lord told Abraham in the former Chap. that the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah was very great and therefore He was come down to see how grievous their sin was That which called him down to execute vengeance was not the iniquity of Lots house that little Family was all the remnant He had there to call upon his name but the filthy sins of the other Canaanites that abounded with rank and unnatural pollutions And the Angel tells Lot in this Chapter they were come to spare him and his but the Lord had sent them to destroy that City because the cry of it was waxen great before the Lord. They confess their Commission was given them to punish none but those Children of perdition that were aliens from all fear of God And yet behold one that was in the Catalogue of them that professed the Worship of God she offended and the hand of Gods fury is stretched out upon her She became a pillar of Salt Says one upon it Par est ut judex priùs suam domum examinet quà m alienam A Magistrate that will reform abuses let him make his own house the first example of reformation and then his Justice may more confidently call any to account that are not so near unto him St. Paul grounding upon that equitable case deciphers a good Bishop to be one that ruleth his own house well for if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the Church of God 1 Tim. iii. 5. This brings it to our apprehension directly why this person in my Text was chastised with no less than death because God would shew his justice upon his own Family where they sinned that unconverted Reprobates might expect nothing but the utmost of severity For if these things be done in a green tree what shall be done in a dry Luk. xxiii 31. There is no sort of anguish no calamity of any name or magnitude Captivities Famines Diseases that doth not shew it self as soon within the bowels of the Church as in any part of the World beside For a small trespass is taken more unkindly at their hands where grace abounds than a great profanation from the Heathen who were left as forsaken as the Mountains of Gilboa in Davids curse upon whom no dew of heaven did fall A small sin in Judah is as bad as an Idol in Samaria A lukewarmness or faintness of Religion in Laodicaea as bad as Paganism in those Regions that sate in darkness and in the shadow of death Therefore the first stroke of indignation shall light upon their sins from whom the Lord did expect the least offence and the most obedience Slay utterly both young and old both Maids and Children and begin at my Sanctuary says God Ezek. ix 6. You hear that the sword of vengeance shall be drawn forth first against the Sanctuary that is the pollutions of the Sanctuary Christ will sooner take his scourge
spoken of the punishment of Lots Wife as in reference to a Carkass now I proceed to speak of it in reference to that into which she was turned as to the Sepulchre She became a Pillar of Salt Exemplum sine exemplo that is the first thing I collect out of it it is new and singular without any thing to match it The justice of the Lord may say upon this in the words of the Prophet Isaiah Remember ye not the former things neither consider the things of old behold I will do a new thing Isa xliii 19. To kill a Transgressour with such a death as never any died before must needs be remarkable Moses bid the Israelites mark it in Core Dathan and the rest of that Rebellion that they had incurred a great displeasure Num. xvi 29. If these men die the common death of all men if they be visited after the visitation of all men then the Lord hath not sent me but if the Lord make a new thing c. then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. Sceleratius commissum est quod est gravius vindicatum says St. Austin Great impiety went before when it was revenged with such great severity But that is not all for surely there is a kind of singularity in the sin where there is such a singularity in the judgment as to slay the Delinquent in that manner as was unheard of to all former Generations You will say there was nothing new and singular in this womans sin disobedience unthankfulness infidelity relapsing these are common cases vulgar faults committed a thousand times over I grant it but do you ever read that God was so soon forgotten by any one while the memory of so great a deliverance was fresh and warm and while an Angel of the Lord was present and before her eyes to aw her and instruct her Never did any sinner so wilfully cast their life away and therefore never was any humane creature so strangely congealed into a lump of Salt Core and his band of Rebels were swallowed quick into the lowest Pit Ne terram contaminarent sepulchro says St. Ambrose that the interring of such odious corpses might not defile the earth and since that time many others have been so devoured by the open jaws of the ground in an Earthquake But the Grave did never admit the dead body of the sinner there it was left between heaven and earth never the like done before or since because she wavoured and doubted whether she should still look up to heaven or look back to that portion of earth from whence she was escaped It was a Statute of grace and mercy that the body of a Malefactor put to death should be buried soon after his execution The Gibeonites indeed when the Sons of Saul were delivered up to them did use them after their heathenish manner and let them remain for a publick spectacle many months after they were hanged on a tree but God was more pitiful as it is Deut. xxi 23. If a man have committed a sin worthy of death and be put to death his body shall not remain all night upon the tree thou shalt in any wise bury him that day that the Land be not defiled The monument of Gods curse was not to remain visibly in that place but burial was to abolish the curse from appearing in the Lords Land This is the particular instance in all the Scripture this of Lots Wife where God did leave the Malefactor slain to be seen above ground for many Ages after I think I have proved it a new and unheard of punishment For the righteous Judge hath new kind of blessings for some holy ones that were never known before and he hath new kind of revengeful Arrows in his Quiver for his rebellious enemies such as were never felt before A new kind of sustenance shall be found out for Elias in the Wilderness a new kind of remedy to cure Hezekiahs sickness a new way to save Jonas in the belly of a Whale a new form of Gaol-delivery for Peter out of Herods Prison And as men are full of new inventions and excogitate unheard-of Pride and Luxury fresh ways to serve the Devil which were never known before so God doth fill the earth with new Plagues to correct them Novae febrium terris incubuit cohors strange symptoms of Fevers rage oftentimes which put Physicians to a new study That murrion or Morbus vervecinus Anno 1580. of which thousands died in Germany and Italy was a new infliction of mortality never wrote of by any Artist in former Ages The Sweating sickness called the English sweat over all the world was first inflicted upon England in the Reign of Henry the Seventh Our Histories are silent if there were any such Malady among us in former Ages And I need not to remember you that Columbus his return out of West India brought the first contagion of deserved loathsomness upon Fornicators which for reverence to your ears I will not mention It is the singularity of our sins which is justly requited with such singularities of chastisement It is too vulgar that every little Cross will make us fall into a bitter expostulation An quisquam hominum est aequè miser Was there ever the like that hapned to any man None so wrongfully defeated for want of justice none so perfidiously betrayed by false friends none so continually afflicted with recurrent sickness These discontents are nought and peevish there is none but the Son of God can justly complain Was ever any sorrow like my sorrow But if you be truly perswaded that your calamities are new and unheard-of lay it to your conscience and examine your self upon it that you are made an example like Lots Wife because of some unparallel'd and matchless disobedience Yet some kind of new punishments rise out of natural causes so did not this for it is miraculous and supernatural to be turned into a Pillar of Salt The Heathen have many devices in their elaborate Fictions of Men and Women metamorphosed into Plants and Stones indeed into all kind of Creatures Celestial and Terrestrial and surely that which provoked their busie wits was to tell some things as strange in fiction as this story in my Text is infallible truth Nay this narration of Lots Wife how she look'd back to Sodom and so perished set their inventions so much on work that the heathen grounded a particular Fable upon it how Orpheus had Pluto's license to bring his Wife Eurydice out of hell if he kept this condition not once to look back upon her till he had brought her safe to earth out of those shades of darkness but he could not refrain out of fondness to cast back his eyes upon her and so lost his longing Blessed are they that have the spirit of understanding for you see that the best use that the heathen made of sacred Scripture was to turn it to the worst And as these Poetical heads
of his people You shall rather find Achan distracted in sorrow between the heaviness of his sins and the death of his children It was much that a Mother in the Maccabees could exhort seven Sons one after another to despise King Antiochus and to suffer death for the name of the Lord. It is much that Prudentius reports of a woman that carried her infant in her own arms to Martyrdom Nec tantum osculum impressit unum vale inquit ô dulcissime Nature can hardly stoop to part with those children unto God in a good cause but to lose a Son in the anger of God in the guiltiness of a trespass O my son Absolon c. then we are afraid least they be lost for ever Give me Children says Rachel or else I die and alas she was but a dead woman in the birth of Benjamin Elisha strived to be thankful to his good Hostess the Shunamite he would do any courtesie for her O says Gehazi give her children before any thing and then you please her The greatest cruelty that moved St. Ambrose against the Emperour Theodosius for the Massacre committed at Thessalonica was on this wise A Father came to redeem two Sons taken captive and appointed to be slain He was allowed but the life of one for his money take which he would His kind heart equally earning after both could not say this rather than him the elder before the younger and for want of speedy resolution both were made away before his face This says Sozomen cost the poor Father his wits for ever to think he might have saved one Son and did not No colours could paint the face of Agamemnon where his Daughter was to be offered for a Sacrifice Par nulla figura dolori As it was said to Tully when Antony perswaded him to burn his invective Orations Commentus est Antonius eripere quemadmodum vixeras Fie said his friends unto him die rather for Antony would strip you of that glory which will give you life for ever So all the Pedigree of Achan being erased out Eripuit Dominus quemadmodum viveret God took that from him wherein he might hope to survive this was not only to put out the right eye of the men of Jabesh Gilead but for a Jew to die without succession Christ being theirs after the flesh is to go down with sorrow to the grave where all things are forgotten Whatsoever else is tumbled into the fire before Achans face it was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it moved not his eyes to pity nor his ears to the cries of lamentation As his body was burnt wherein a soul so covetous did inhabit so his Tent was consumed with fire the habitation of so vile a body that Tent under which he was wont to sleep is cast over him the last time at his death where he must sleep for ever And as if every man were afraid to inherit Aurum Tolosanum his unlucky Gold it is made away for company Et pallium quod debuit cremari crematum est the Babylonish Garment which was appointed to be burnt in Jericho is now fired about his ears in the Valley of Achor Lastly The Cattel that should have laid down their lives honourably before the Altar under the Priests hand for a trespass offering even those innocent beasts are not suffered to live how many yellings were about his ears to resemble the very horrors of hell where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth A good man says Solomon is merciful to his beast as if the beasts fared the better for a good mans sake And jure Dominii the Lordship of man doth extend so far upon the Creatures that they are consortes paenae partakers of the punishment of evil men The Cattle of Egypt were slain with hail stones for the Egyptians Idolatry the beasts of Nineveh fasted for the Ninevites Luxury nay says the Prophet Jeremy the Herbs of the field wither and the Birds of the Air are consumed for the wickedness of them that dwell in the Land Dearly beloved the beasts are but Figures of God fierce indignation they are our brutish sins our cruelties more unnatural than the rage of beasts which God aims at it was not worth the praise to Achan that the beasts perished in his iniquity they will and must die with us Quicquid antea debebam nolle nunc non possum The only Sacrifice which God requires is to have them die before us And so I have done with every thing that partaked in the punishment of Achan I must now commit my self to a Problem of great perplexity how it stands with the righteousness of God that every man should not perish alone in proprio peccato in his own iniquity I am no Advocate against Gods Justice but against the ignorance of man Phaedon speaks thus to Socrates in Plato I pray you are you not displeased with these unrighteous Judges that have condemned you O not I says Socrates and if I were I would refer the case until I were dead and then meet Ajax and Palamedes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and would ask them how they could endure a wrongful judgment and so put up my injury A reverend opinion of a Heathen concerning the judgment of sinners how contented would this man have stood before any sentence of Gods Tribunal But to the purpose this shall be my method to follow the cause in hand First That it is self love to our own person which perswades us other men sin and we pay the ransom Secondly Heathen men and not Christians did first fill the world with that opinion Thirdly That the melancholy distinctions of some School Divines have abused the truth But lastly our Conclusion shall be that the hair of an innocent never fell to the earth but that every man dies propter peccatum suum for his own iniquity For the first Nature as it is good and perfect taught us to love our selves fond and corrupt nature taught us to love our selves too much Out of this vanity those excuses spring up which make us absolve our selves and bind others Let us tell our own tale and we will say our Fathers eat the sowre grape when we may be discovered with the bunches in our own hands Rather than confess our own complection we will bely the Heavens and say the Sun hath scorched us Delicta majorum immeritus lues Romane To pluck in immeritus no desert of ours we will lay the Child at their door that never begot it The very Pharisees thought themselves so holy and our Saviour so bad that for no fault of theirs but for his blasphemies the Romans would come and carry away their Nation Wherefore says Socrates it were well with some men instead of travelling Si a seipsis aberrarent if they could wander from themselves No man says Plutarch doth know his own blemishes because he doth always carry himself about A Painter brings his work to good perfection when he leaves it for a time
gave you Sons and Daughters you give Obsides Domino Hostages unto God and if you rebel as Nathan said to David because thou hast made the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the Child that is born unto thee shall surely die The Fathers sins are visited unto the third and fourth Generation while the Grandsire full of fourscore years of sin stays awhile behind like the rotten root of evil and sees the tender branches cut away because the root was bad and corrupted Thus is the brief sum of the second part of my Text man perished in iniquity Corporeorum incorporeorum horison says Synesius the noble Image of God Secondly That man Achan a branch of the Olive tree even Israel which God had planted But an evil branch is evil though the stock were a Cedar of Libanus Non debent gloriari sarmenta quia non sunt spinarum ligna sed vitis says St. Austin Is it any glory for the dead branches to boast they were Vine branches and not Heythorn since they are cut off and cast away Lastly Non solus periit he fell down like the Tower of Siloam and brain'd all that were about him I have but one short part to dispatch Periit his execution how that man Perished c. To search much into Achans punishment were not the way to be more learned but more tormented And he that is Ingeniosus in suppliciis exquisite in describing the ruine of any man his invention smells of tyranny Briefly thus Every man in the rank of a Subject lives under the authority of three Commanders 1. Under the Conscience of his own heart 2. Under the Laws of his King 3. Under the Commandments of God Triplici nodo triplex cuneus every knot hath a wedge to drive into it And if we displease either God or the King or our own Conscience vengeance meets us on every side Conscientia parit vermem Magistratus mortem Deus Gehennam Conscience hath a worm in store nay a Cockatrice to sting us the Magistrate bears a Sword to divide us but especially it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God In an evil conscience we die unto all joy and comfort In our trespass against the Laws of man we die unto men In breaking the Statutes of God we die unto heaven surely he deserved not to die but one death that offended three All sin is mortal yet among sins some are still-born and make no noise in the world Some are crying sins that have a voice and a voice like the Edomites that cryed against Jerusalem Down with it down with it unto the ground Like the Jews that cried Crucifie him crucifie him and doubled the files of their iniquities Like the men of Ephesus that for two hours space made a noise Great is Diana of the Ephesians When sinners do double thus God finds out more deaths than one to punish them as if judgment had ransack'd the body to find two or three souls and would not leave to destroy all the brood of the Viper Abimelech a cruel murtherer of seventy brethren was crush'd under a Mill-stone and slain with his own Servants Sword it is pity he died not seventy times It was Sauls destiny first to die by the Arrows of the Bow and then to fall upon his own Sword It was Absolons destiny to be hang'd by the head in the Oak tree and be thrust through the heart with the Darts of Joab It was Judas his destiny to cast himself from the Gallows and to be broken in pieces upon the ground And lastly it was Achans destiny to be stoned with stones and then burnt with fire Thus that man perished c. It is very likely if this notorious rich sinner had lived his Tomb should have been as costly to lie over his dead corps as his Babylonish Garment was sumptuous to cover his living body But now there is not so much honour left him for his burial as earth to earth all is turned to ashes that the winds may blow him back again out of Canaan into Egypt from whence he brougt his iniquity A fair Tomb I confess cannot prove that I died a good man but that I died a wealthy Yet some honour is to be shewed to our dead corps because a dead body is nearer to the Resurrection than a living The Egyptians embalming the dead and the Odours and Spices which the Jews were wont to bestow do condemn those uncivil Funerals which some report of Geneva and Amsterdam that bury their dead in ditches and dunghils It makes Jesuits scoff at our Religion Scis ut haeretici colant parentes sulcant coemiteria sic colunt parentes Michael the Archangel fought about the body of Moses and Prudentius played the Poet very well touching Eulalia a Virgin Martyrs body cast abroad in a frosty night to the injury of the air and before morning it was overspread with icycles like a crystal Tomb. Pallioli vice linteoli ipsa elementa jubente Deo exequias Tibi virgo ferunt And certainly there was some such thing or St. Austin would not report it that divers Miracles as healing the sick and converting unbelievers have been wrought by Gods providence at the Tombs of the Martyrs to honour their death and memory But Achan was denied this happiness and though he had two deaths yet he had not one Tomb to be buried in Only an heap of stones were cast upon him for an infamy that as Varro said Monumentum quasi monimentum a Monument for admonition that we fear God and rebel not like Achan that perished fearfully c. The Papists will not leave Achan thus and remove him from Joshuahs hands and the Valley of Achor where he suffered into Purgatory But by what proof or warrant or Enditement Expect an Exposition fit for the nimble brains of the Colledge of Jesuits Achan was stoned with stones and then he died Afterward he and all he had were burnt with fire viz. Opera ejus accensa sunt in Purgatorio he and his works were burnt in Purgatory A likely matter since Joshuah was commanded to burn him and not the Devil Do you think Columbus that found out the fourth part of the world could have found out this third place to receive souls in which is neither Heaven nor Hell The Devil is much beholding to his Advocates that have made him not only Prince of darkness but that which God never made him Prince of Purgatory Some perchance will go a thought further and pronounce a fearful sentence that this man was wiped for ever out of the book of the living That is periit at the height the Lord bless us from it But St. Chrysostom was more mild and charitable As the digging of the earth says the Father and the plowing of it may seem but churlish usage yet that is the way to make it fruitful Ita magis erat Achani salutare supplicium quam aliis impunitas So Achan might go sooner to
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
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
moral just man may be carnal A moral chaste man may be covetous But if it be spiritual temperance or spiritual chastity coming from the grace of God it will be justice and peace and mercy and all the whole swarm of vertues that can be recited There is a difficult point in one of the Parables about a man that had not on a Wedding Garment What is this Wedding Garment One will have it to be Faith another to be Good Works a third to be spiritual Joy a fourth to be repentance Why Origen prevented all these controversies before they were moved if he had been mark'd Says he Vestis nuptialis est textura omnium virtutum The Wedding Garment is all these and more than these for it signifies that all vertue in the several threds should be woven into our heart Faith Hope and Charity are fruits that hang all upon a stalk three several divine graces yet they have but one soul Faith says there is a Kingdom prepared for the righteous Hope catcheth hold and says it is prepared for me Then Charity comes in for her part and says I will run to obtain it They are like the three principal vital parts in mans body the Heart the Brain and Liver One is as necessary as all three together for the decay of either is death without redemption No stragling single solitary vertue which hath no fellows comes from this coelestial watering The spiritual service of God says a learned Author may be measured three ways 1. Whether it come ex toto corde from all the heart from all the strength and from all the soul 2. Whether it be Cum totâ plenitudine with all the confluence of good works as it were in one fortunate conjunction 3. Whether it be in toto tempore continually and at all times alike Spiritus vivificat Joh. vi It is the Spirit that quickneth which makes a good man live and fructifie at one time as much as another It is no dead moisture which can do no good upon a Plant unless the Sun likewise be in a fit ascension to cherish it and make it spring This is living water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostome It impels the Conscience to be never out of motion in some spiritual exercise The Son of God is called a living stone and the Spirit living water and man a living Sacrifice Righteousness is the savour of life unto life dead works are the savour of death unto death A tree that always bears is a Plant of Paradise Not a little Repentance or a little Charity once or twice a year at a Communion and then shake hands with Mortification till the next Christmass or Easter Among other reasons why the Holy Ghost assumed the shape of a Dove this is reckoned for one that it is a bird of a most teeming fecundity whether any bird that flies lay oftner I am not certain I believe not many such fecundity there is in a lively Faith it is 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 this is enough to shew what fruitfulness is brought to pass by this heavenly moisture and for the first part of the Text. Yet it were an undervaluing and a diminution to so great a blessing to be called water unless the second part of my text did hold up the dignity let us come therefore to consider the rare vertue which is in it for it takes away the molestation of thirst for ever But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst Yet I will take in no more than the Text doth directly prove and leave that which some would draw in ex abundanti by the strength of their conjectures There are those that make this verse a convincing argument how a man that hath tasted the grace of God is never empty more but assuredly full and satisfied to the end of his life Which way soever the truth of that Controversie stands I wave it off but I think this Text is not to be charged with that meaning as if it proved it 'T is true he that drinks of this water shall never thirst but quousque bibendum how long must he drink let him drink all his days while his breath lasts and then he shall be satisfied with the goodness of the Lord as out of a River Again call to remembrance what is meant by this water every good and perfect gift which enricheth the Soul descending from the Father of lights but among all that heavenly Offspring perseverance is the fairest Nymphas supereminet omnes Perseverance must not be excluded from the Text. Then I have done with this rubb in a word he that drinks of this water and puts perseverance into the Cup he shall never thirst He shall never thirst Why then says the Son of Syrach concerning the wisdom which sanctifieth all things They that eat me shall yet be hungry and they that drink me shall yet be thirsty Ecclus xxiv 21. and very certain none so greedy to have more grace as he that hath some already none so instant to get ten Talents as he that hath received five Let Elisha be inspired with a competent measure for one of the Children of the Prophets and he will presume to ask that a double portion of Elias his spirit may rest upon him if it be possible Concerning all the fruits of the Spirit this judgment of Gregorie's is undoubted cum non habentur in falstidio sunt cum habentur in desiderio they that have them not think vilely of them they that have them do insatiably desire them Please you for the true explanation of the words to mark the Proposition must not be taken alone by it self but respectively to the Comparison that went before The water which the Woman of Samaria came for it consumes after you have tasted it and it is missed as if it never had been Therefore we call for Elementary drink every day for as much as drought is a torment to nature now when we are once made partakers of living waters we call for more and more not because want and driness doth afflict us but because desire doth please us So that distinction used by many will be clear to be understood sitis ariditati non desiderio opponitur he that drinks these waters of the Holy Spirit shall never after have a dry and a parched Soul but he shall ever have a thirsty affection to drink his fill The vertue therefore of the Spirit may be well drawn to these three heads First it moistens the Soul that it feels no driness like a barren Land which hath no natural humour in it there is no such thirst in him that hath a lively faith but it cannot choose but beget a thirsty affection and a longing to add more and more unto
convenient to begin your Reformation from the moment wherein you heard the Word taught in that place that then you stand slip off the old Serpents skin and renew your youth become a new Creature No man would sin so fast but he that thinks his Age runs away but slowly no man would be an unrepentant sinner to day but that he hopes for to morrow And why to morrow Nemo non suo die moritur My day to die was every day since I had an hour to live And I was a sinner before the first minute of that hour expired therefore why should not my heart smite me and contrition humble me lest Judgment should begin as soon as this word is spoken It is the Devils muttering and not a Christians to say Art thou come to torment us before thy time Of three things Cato did repent of more than the rest this is one Quod unum diem mansisset intestatus A day past over his head wherein his Will was not made he might have died intestate If a Heathen were so sollicitous that upon every day the things of this life might be duly ordered what care ought to be taken that we suffer not our eyes to flumber untill all things be accorded for the peace of our conscience for our reconciliation in Christ Jesus against the world to come Sickness and Death and Judgment who knows whether they be not as near to us as the avenging Angel was unto Herod who did immediately smite him that he was eaten c. Now I am faln in the last place upon the true castigation of Herods pride Tantus tam luctuosè that such a Potentate should die so miserably eaten up of Worms for five days says Josephus after he was smitten and then gave up the Ghost Lest he should glory that he was smitten by no less than an Angel Aeneae magni dextrâ behold the meanest of all Creatures the Worms are made his Executioners And lest he should domineer as Eusebius said he did that he died not sordidly in the rank of a mean man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the dignity of a King which is the much admired happiness therefore the loathsomness of his Disease the ignobleness of the Scourge the irrecoverableness of the Mischief all are conjoyn'd to debase his Spirit O torture little dreamt of at this time Had he not the Physicians of Arabia about him How could he feel mortality Was he not in perfect strength to make Orations to the People What could be doubted of his health Was not his body kept sweet and clean like the body of a King Who would have suspected the putrefaction of Worms But remember that Manna bred Worms and stank though it came from heaven when it was too long preserved against Gods Commandment So though the Soveraignty of a King do come from heaven yet if it offend the Lord it will consume and putrifie He that humbled himself to be vermis non homo a worm and no man he is exalted above men to the right hand of God He that would have been Deus non homo a God and not a man is dejected below a man and made a worm See what contrariety of Instruments God did use to make his death the stranger an Angel and a Worm An Angel that he might say with the Philistines Who is able to endure these mighty Gods A Worm that he might say Et tu Brute the meanest of Creatures can conquer a King by Gods ordination An Angel for his sake who was the Judge to shew his mightiness A Worm for his sake that was judged to shew his baseness An Angel to shew how a sinner cannot look upon heaven for it is full of wrath A Worm to shew he cannot tread safely upon the earth for it is full of vengeance An Angel is an immortal Creature to threaten such pain unto the soul A Worm is a most corruptible creature to shew the fading of the body As St. Paul said of his Widows which were busie-bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She that is wanton is dead while she is alive because she is dead to Faith and good Works So I may say of Herod that he died while he was alive for Worms which feed sweetly upon the dead as Job says fed upon him in his life-time as if he had been buried after he had solemnly made his own Funeral Oration As the Poet spake of a poysonous death which wasted the body first and separated the soul afterward Eripiunt omnes animam tu sola cadaver So I may say of this Phthiriasis First it did eat up the body and so left no room for the soul to inhabite in the members Expertes opes ignaros quid vulnera vellent says Lucretius When anguish doth tear their heart skill cannot afford recovery when their whole body is but one sore they know not where they are wounded This disease is more observed in Histories to be the Arrow of the Lord against sinners of high presumption than any other Thus Sylla died thus Antiochus Epiphanes thus Herod the Great thus Arnulphus that spoiled the Churches of the Christians thus Phericides that gloried he never offered Sacrifice and yet lived as prosperously Quà m qui heccatombas immolant What do we talk of Blazing-stars that they are only fatal and ominous to the life of Noble Personages a few Worms have often bereaved them of their soul as easily as the little Worm smote the Gourd of Jonas But will some man say Do you make this disease an infallible sign of Gods especial indignation Brethren God forbid For Judgments fall promiscuously in this life upon the good and bad Seest thou a man rent with as many torments of infirmities as there be members in his body to receive them let your first Meditation be Acerrimum est praelium in viâ magnus erit triumphus in patriâ He suffers much in this life his triumph will be the greater in the world to come And let your second consideration be the dreadfulness of Gods anger Says Tertullian to the Roman Lords the tortures of your Bondslaves are Fetters your reward is a Cap of Liberty but we are servants of the most high Cujus judicium in suos non in compede aut pileo vertitur sed in aeternitate poenae aut salutis Whose judgment gives sentence either of Hell or Everlasting salvation To answer you more copiously One circumstance alone had bred no ill opinion of Herods death Many circumstances raise a suspicion that his Life was Criminal and his Death Exemplary 1. To be smitten in a sin immediately upon the fact to be smitten by an Angel to be gnawn to death with Worms the divine hand was over this Sentence and no natural cause Unless as Tertullian said of their lascivious Theaters that resounded with scurrility Ipse aer qui desuper incubat scelestis vocibus constupratur So that Sacrilegious shout which the people gave against the
Jerusalem our Mother hath indulgence to appoint all external administrations of holiness It is no small ease as I have shewed it to be disingaged from the incumbrance of the old Ceremonies but that which comes next in order is so essential to our happiness that from thence we may say truly and from nothing else the Lord turned the captivity of Sion The time is past when salvation was offered to them turned the captivity of Sion The time is past when salvation was offered to them that did the works of the Law O those were days of bitterness and desperation the Covenant is renewed unto us in another form through the promise of mercy to them that believe in Jesus Christ Now Sin that great Tyrant shall have no dominion over us for we are not under the Law but under Grace Rom. vi 14. Mark the two Covenants and the severe exaction in the one and the mild temperature of the other the one comes blustering like the whirlwind and breaks down Mountains before it the other is the still voice which beats sweetly upon the ear of Elias the one hath nothing but dayes of trouble and reproach the other is a continual Jubilee of rest and peace The Law may be compared to those wretched men that work at the Oar in a Gally they strein their sinews and their strength to plow the waves and yet they meet with such strong tempests that they cannot recover the Haven but the Gospel is a Ship whose sails are spread with faith and hope and the winds of mercy blow them fairly on that the Passengers are carried as in a dream to the Port with speed and tranquillity Hear them both speak Rom. x. 5. for that 's the clearest Scripture I take it for their distinction The righteousness of the Law saith the man that doth these things shall live by them but the righteousness which is by faith speaketh on this wise if thou shalt confess the Lord Jesus thou shalt be saved The man that doth these things shall live but the Lord looked down from Heaven and found no such man upon all the earth Be the imperfections in our manners that are not scandalously culpable yet the law hath not pardon for them that which must be weighed in Gods Balance it must not want a scruple Correct the wandring of your eye bridle your tongue watch your heart â—r servent in prayer be vigilant against tentations yet there is that repugnancy to the Law that unruliness in this body of death that the evil which you would not you shall do and then the Law turns to be that Adversary in St. Matthew which delivers you over to the Tormentor till you have paid the utmost farthing This was not only a bondage under a churlish Nabal that would not be satisfied with such diligence as a Servant could perform but the condition of a beast whose qualities cannot excuse him totally but that sometimes he shall be spurred and beaten Yet none were ever born that can impeach the Law of rigour no not in the equity of humane reason if you will examine them from first to last it will come but into the Margent of our Enditement that our actions have not been so pure and holy and fervent as the bounty of the Divine goodness towards us requires turpitudes of life abominable desires of the heart bruitish intemperance scalding malice unclean passions will fill up our accusations O what a perturbation what unquietness of consciences what a hell of fear it is to know that our Arraignment is just and to have nothing but the Law that inexorable letter of condemnation to comfort us Imus imus praecipites we should feel our selves tumbling down and see no bottom Sin is so ponderous that if the Ship had not been lightned of Jonas it had sunk the Heaven could not hold the Devil and his Angels from falling the Earth could not support Core and Dathan but it is more massy and leaden upon the conscience than in all the Elements What need I to tell you that God did give the Law in an angry form upon Mount Horeb or that he delivered it to Moses a Servant to bring to note the bondage of the Letter I have looked back enough to this let me bring you from this Ergastulum this Prison of Works into the Courts of Gods House into Jerusalem above which is free Jerusalem at the time when this Epistle was written to the Galatians was in bondage two ways in Civil servitude under the Romans in Legal servitude under Moses a miserable case that they should not feel the oppression they were in under Moses car'd not for a Deliverer nay did as much as in them lay to curse their Deliverer Christ that came to set them free they used him as a Servant in crucem servus they crucified him which was a most servile punishment Thus their stupidness in their bondage did make for our freedom and thereby was consummated the Covenant of Faith that we might believe in him who died to be a propitiation for our sins O what a pleasant condition it is what a free what a Princely state of life to wait upon Gods mercy and to be subject to the Ordinance of Faith Upon it depend Pardon Forgiveness Reconciliation Grace Adoption of Saints the Inheritance the Kingdom the Promise of everlasting life With how much diffidence did the Lawgiver intercede in the behalf of Israel Forgive the sin of the people if not blot me out of the book of life To supplicate forgiveness is a message sent from Faith but the Law plucks it back with this distrustful Omen if not if there be no hope then is my confusion before me for ever This is noted in the Generation of Ismael the Son of the Bond-woman Says Sarah to Abraham Go in to Hagar it may be I may obtain children by her This is the Law which despairs and doubts whether God will be gracious but Faith never speaks so faintly looks for no denial how unworthy soever to obtein its Petitions Publicans invite Christ home Adulteresses wash his feet Thieves recommend themselves to be received into his Kingdom and all this not because they are free from the Law but from the Covenant of it which is the bondage of the Law Had their conscience misdeemed that they must be saved by Works they had run away like Bond-men from an austere Lord their tongue had been tied that it durst not wag but light shining in their hearts revealed unto them that Jerusalem was free that the Inheritance came by the Promise of Grace they flock unto him who is the Mediatour of a better Covenant who vindicates his Portion from the bands of Sin and Death and Hell and hath given power to his Ministers to bring those that seek for mercy out of the prison and servitude of Satan for whatsoever they loose upon Earth shall be loosened in Heaven Hold here and stir not from this rock put not the point to
is the portion which comes unto us and for which our Covenant is called the Gospel of glory For tribulations which did not accord with the Jewish Oeconomy if they be not above our strength we must not only expect them but rather invite them then avoid them Vre seca hic ne parcas Domine ut in aeternum parcas Prove me chastise me bruize me like sweet Gum till thou beest pleased with my savour pitty me not in these momentary afflictions that thou mayest spare me for ever As the soul is free from the prison of the body when it is dissolved in death so it is most free from the faeces and earthiness of the body when it is not wedded to the desire of transitory things Mushrooms that have no savour when we have enjoyed them but a day Briefly Jewish servility is an unbeliever like St. Thomas Nisi mittam digitum Let me touch let me feel let me grasp my handful or it is in vain to obey the Lord Christian liberty is ingenuous and heroical it hath swum out of this dead Sea in whose mud the unregenerate do stick and if the Lord will give us himself let Ziba take all The greater is our freedom because we know we need not the aids of fortune I have heard that a Cardinal being elected to be Pope his former State is rifled because his new dignity will supply him in abundance Just so when the Spirit comforts us that we are called to a Crown of glory pardon the similitude it is no worse than as Christ hath compared himself to a Thief that comes in the night but our confidence of our new Election to that Inheritance makes us easie to part with that which others keep for a while and leave it in a moment And thus when freedom hath struck inward to our affections pardon us if we speak despicably of the Jews for our Jerusalem alone is free The whole Charter of Jerusalems freedom is dispatcht Though the hour were to begin again I would not stick at the next question how we came by it We all know the procurer and what he did to gain it for us it is a flower that grew out of the bloud of Christ We were not protected as Joshuahs Spies were by a common woman nor set at large as Samaria was by the tidings of Lepers our Deliverer is more honourable to us than our freedom the Son of God was made a Servant that we Servants might become Sons As God made nothing in nature but by his Son by him he made the Worlds so he did nothing for the restauration of the World without him He is all in all He hath freed us from the bondage of shadows by taking a body From the Covenant of Works by satisfying his Fathers Justice From the dread of fear by the sweetness of his Mercy From the sordid desire of earthly things by the operation of his holy Spirit The purchase of our Freedom was carried in this sort so that the Jesuit à Lapide borrowed a fit name to call it by you know from whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the gift of a King of David our King Imagine by a Prosopopaea that you saw the Devil and Sin and death defying us in the same words that Goliah did the Camp of Israel If you be able to fight with us and to kill us we will be your Servants but if we prevail against you then you shall be our servants and serve us Then David our Champion slew these Giants of Gath in our quarrel and from thenceforth we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his purchased people as St. Peter says St. Austin says that by nature we were Pharaohs bondmen that is Satans and when we forsook him and fled away to serve God in the Wilderness he followed after us but no further than the Red Sea Quid est mare rubrum Vsque ad fontem Christi cruce sanguine consecratum What is the Red Sea that divided us from him The Fountain of Baptism consecrated to save us by the Cross and Bloud of Christ Bernard alludes to the words of Jacob and says that the Church is that portion which Christ won from the Amorite with his Sword and with his Bow Gladio praedicationis arcu incarnationis With the Sword of his Doctrine with the Bow of his incarnation where the shaft and the string make but one Instrument as his Godhead and Manhood make but one Person Thus he hath snatcht us from our Enemies that were made Lords over us and from the hard bondage wherein we were made to serve Isa xiv 3. Having seen the Copy of our Freedom and knowing how we got it it is a Lesson fit to conclude with that every mans memory may carry that away at the least how we should use it No blessing hath been more abused than this Under colour hereof the Galileans would be free from Tribute the Nicolaitans from the bond of Marriage the Gnosticks from all Justice and Temperance the Clerks of the Roman Church from the Courts of the Civil Magistrate and the Anabaptists from all Moral Duties No says St. Peter to all these As free but not using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God It was St. Austins by-word Dilige Deum fac quod vis You are free therefore love God and do what you will If ye love him keep his Commandments We are not so soon loosed but we are tied again both freed and bound at once Liberando servos nos facit says the same Father in Joh. viii We must recompence his goodness with our imperfect obedience it is the Law of Gratitude it is the Bond of Nature As we commonly say that nothing is more dearly bought than that which comes by gift so we owe the greater service to him of whom we got our freedom Nay we are bound to endure all for his sake Neque hoc facit stupor sed amor nec deest dolor sed contemnitur says Bernard We feel the pain as much as they that curse and rage in their sufferings but our love unto Christ doth overcome it A Free-man that will thrive follows his Trade as close as any Apprentice though not by austere compulsion So our Freedom will not make our hands slack from working if we mean to lay up a treasure in heaven Every piece of Land they say holds of some Lord so every man retains to some Lord either we serve God or sin and Satan If we count it Freedom to take our swing in all voluptuousness pity their frensie that can stir no where but as their intemperate appetite commands them and yet mistake themselves to live without controul who are the Vassals of the Devil While they promise them liberty they themselves are the servants of corruption 2 Pet. i. 19. Tully objects to Clodius that he set up the Picture of Liberty in his house in the habit of a Strumpet Says that approved Senator
Prologue for both the Vision which he saw and the words which he heard though they deserve an Interpreter yet they are much more obvious to the capacity than the Antecedent Predictions If I had put it into my tasque to speak of the opening of the fifth Seal which begins the verse then I must have embarqued my self in a great controversie about the precise Age when such things fell out and what distance of Ages the several Seals do include But I undertake not to foretell events that were to Prophesie out of my own brain I apply nothing which St. John saw either to the Empire or to the Church below I deal no further than the prospective of these words doth carry me that is the Theatre of the Church Triumphant The Church Triumphant That puts another objection upon me For who is sufficient to handle that Subject Eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man what God hath done for his Saints in those glorious places I submit unto it and will not touch their inscrutable glory with my unwashen hands Upon two things we may taste without surfeiting of curiosity and I will set no more before you They are these Let us neither think that the Saints are extinguished in death for St. John saw the Souls under the Altar of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the Testimony which they held Nor let us think that their enemies are forgotten for those Souls cry night and day saying c. To contract it into short terms for the more apt division here are two parts what the Apostle saw in the Church Triumphant and what he heard But of no more than the first of these at one time Wherein first I must speak a little de modo videndi after what manner he saw this Theory I saw 2. Quid vidit what he saw he saw Souls 3. Quales vidit what kind of Souls they were Souls of them which were slain for the Word of God and for the Testimony which they held 4. Vbi vidit where and in what place he saw them Vnder the Altar When St. John relates how he did comprehend this wonderful object he says he saw it With what eye doth he mean No bodily Instrument you may be sure not such an eye as every birds dung can put forth not these foggy lights in our head that wax dim with Age and at last will spend themselves quite out in their Sockets these cannot attain to behold the Spirits of Saints Tertullian mistook a Parabolical passage for a real branch of a story where the Rich man in hell is said to see Lazarus in Abrahams bosom from whence he ascribed effigiation and colour to a soul and would not endure Critolaus and the Peripateticks that said it was a quintessence and no body no error more visible than this that the Souls in heaven are visible and have corporality The eye of man shall be endued with vertue to see the Angels nay to see the very Essence of God when this flesh shall be clarified and refined in the Resurrection In virtutem ipsius mentis quodammodò convertentur oculi says St. Austin This bodily eye shall then be transformed into an intellectual Faculty But as yet it can discern nothing but that which is earthy like it self Search we out therefore for some other way how John saw the souls under the Altar It lies in those words which we meet twice before in this Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was in the Spirit That is as I take it a Prophetical Revelation was infused into him through imaginary forms joyned with an abstraction from the senses Blame me not if this desription be somewhat difficult for who can tell what a divine Rapture is unless himself had been in a rapture I call it a Revelation it is the title of the Book for this reasâ—n Pharaoh and Nebuchadonosor had Visions and understood not what they meant but when the intelligence of the thing is opened as it was to Joseph and Daniel it became a Revelation So St. Austin observes Maximè propheta est qui in utroque excellit ut videat in spiritu corporalium rerum similitudines eas vivacitate mentis intelligat He is an eminent Prophet both ways who sees in the Spirit certain Figures and Similitudes of things to come and knows them by illumination So did this Apostle no question for all Scripture was opened to the Apostles much more was this Scripture opened to the Apostle who wrot it from the mouth of God 2. I blazon'd it for a Prophetical Revelation for the Angels have all things revealed unto them in the Vision of the Divine Essence but that is no Prophesie to them because as the Schoolmen speak it is Sine omnibus creatis adminiculis they have it put into them neither by word nor by deed nor by dream nor by figurative presentation but this being communicated to St. John by imaginary species it was no Angelical way of seeing but a Prophetical Revelation 3. I add infused by the holy Spirit For when Moses saw the bush burn and not consume it was a Prophetical Revelatio yet without inward infusion because he beheld it with his eyes This was not so but he saw it through abundant inspiration He was in the Spirit which is in effect to say that he became very Scriptural As Camerarius fits the phrase out of the Poet Euripides that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are very learned men most intimate with the Muses so this phrase denotes that the Holy Ghost had the dominion in John for the Spirit was not in him but he was in the Spirit 4. This must go with the rest that the Spirit infused this Revelation into him through imaginary forms supplying his fancy with the fashion of an Altar of a Throne a Lamb newly slain a Sea of Crystal and a thousand things more Many times new species and forms are created in the fancy of him that is illuminated many times that light which God gives doth shine upon those notions and conceptions which were in the mind before So we see that Isaiah and Amos this Apostle and other Prophets do utter their Prophesies through the similitudes known unto them in their former conversation 5. The utmost of all is that this Revelation was accompanied in him with a Rapture or abstraction from the senses So Beza interprets that phrase he was in the Spirit Correptus spiritu he was swallowed up of the Majesty of God so that his mind was taken away from the body Ezekiel says in one place that the Spirit entred into him Chap. ii 2. In another place that he was carried away in the Spirit Chap. xxxvii 1. There is great odds between these two the one was by ordinary inspiration the other by extasie and so was this of our Prophet when he saw the souls under the Altar he was so enwrapt in Celestial
sakes But Cornelius à Lapide the Jesuit puts the infamy of an Anabaptist upon Calvin as if he had taught that the soul departed had no sense or taste at all of the glory of God Why did he not censure Ambrose and Bernard Why did he not spit his venom upon Pope John the XXII There was good reason for that if we may believe Gerson a most grave Author of their own part But Calvin was the first that ever I met withall who writ a voluminous Treatise to prove that the souls of good men after this life have their quartering and Mansion in Heaven that they are not insensible of their state or benummed in sleep or fettered with darkness but that they praise the Lord continually and Christ that redeemed them which is consonant to this Point of my Text that John saw the souls under the Altar Yet I like not their way who are so careful to teach the people that the souls deceased do not sleep that they keep themselves waking with a thousand Fictions and Impostures there is scarce one leaf written of any Saint in the Church of Rome especially of the modern ones but you shall meet with two or three sprinklings in it how his soul appeared in this or that manner to his friends upon earth their posthumous miracles after their death exceed the number of those which they did when they were living And if any thing be out of order it is straitway rectified with an apparition And from whence think you the Elf or Goblin comes that appears From a place where I am sure this good Apostle saw no souls from the correction house of Purgatory Their Larvae or night-walking souls are their best Doctors for the confirmation of that opinion Ask Gregory the Great else who could urge little beside to gain credit to his opinion for the temporary chastisements of the faithful after this life but as the dead came and made relation to their surviving acquaintance Some silly men were first affrighted out of their wits with a gastly Vision and then guess you who it was that taught them points of Religion But four ages ran out after Gregories time before this cousenage grew trivial and common Gregory the Fourth in the year 835. decreed that a Solemn Feast should be held over all the Church to the memory of all the Saints in heaven that whatsoever was not fully performed in the Feasts and Vigils of particular Saints might be consummated on that day this was nothing to the puling souls detained in the prison of temporary castigation But almost two hundred years after Odilo the Abot of Cluni in commiseration to them that were departed in his own Monastery dedicated a day for the relief of their souls not yet admitted into heaven And Pope Jo. XVIII anno 1007 taking light from Odilo commanded the Feast of all Souls to be general in all places The Devil wanted nothing but the opening of this door to beat down all opposites with apparitions And let the Readers mark it that from that Age not a Book was written not a Chapter of a Book but it relates what Nocturnal Mercuries appeared to bring tidings from Purgatory Some Jangler will catch at this and say Belike you reject all Apparitions of the dead for lies or Demoniacal Impostures If I should I had Tertullian to abet me Omnem mortuorum exhibitionem incorporalem praestigias judices All incorporeal Phantosms of the dead are juglings and delusions And if any point of doctrine depend upon the sleeveless Errands that the souls departed bring I do renounce them for delusions We have Moses and the Prophets and we are certain their Spirits are ever to be preferred before any Spirit that comes from the dead For the living to go to the dead says the Prophet Isaiah none of that but to the Law and to the Testimony Isa viii 19. Rabbi Maimon says that some superstitious Jews would burn Incense among the graves that the dead might come and talk with them And therefore God said that man should be cut off from among the people that sought the truth among the dead Deut. xviii 11. Yet I deny it not but that the divine power hath sometimes presented the Saints departed to communicate with the living as they that appeared in the holy City to testifie our Saviours Resurrection Mat. xxvii Likewise in the 2. of Mach. Chap. ult Onius who once had been High Priest he was exhibited being dead to Judas Machabaeus that is another instance if you have any stomack to that Historian But the upshot is that Souls have been seen in heaven that was the Vision of St. John so Souls may be sent from Heaven but not from Purgatory Through fire I confess these souls had passed which the Apostle saw yet not through that subterraneous fire which they imagine but through the fire of Martyrdom and persecution He saw the Souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the Testimony which they held And if it be true as none of the worst Expositors conjecture that the computation of the fifth Seal opened immediately before the words of my Text is rightly calculated at what time Dioclesian did cease to make havock in the Church it was a very fit time to see souls in heaven slain for the Word of God it was thwackt with Martyrs like an hive with Bees For burning of Churches for massacring of Christians for Proscription of Innocents no Persecution was ever like it It lasted ten whole years without ceasing and in the first year of his Reign in Egypt only an hundred forty and four thousand Christians were put to death beside seventy thousand that were banisht insomuch says Scaliger that the Epocha of Dioclesian is called the Epocha of the Martyrs in Chronology Who would have thought that the Posterity of Cham a Generation branded with dark and unlovely visages should have afforded so many sacrifices to be offered up unto the glory of Jesus Christ Well might the Church of Aethiopia sing the Canticle of Solomon I am black but comely O ye Daughters of Jerusalem And not only these but exceeding great numbers of Bishops Priests and People in all quarters of the habitable world a long bedroll of faithful men and women in this Island did taste of the bitter Cup under the same Tyrant Fathers lost their Children Children lack'd their Parents the Wife missed her Husband and one friend another whom St. John hath found altogether making up one Chorus of blessed Spirits and while Rachel the Church below mourneth for her Children Jerusalem which is above the Mother of us all rejoyceth for them Martyrdom is the way to sublimate death into a Cordial which was a poyson the means to make that a blessing which was a curse upon our nature A Traffick proper to none but to the Citizens of the supernal City to secure our whole adventure not by assuring but by losing their life It is not only the
so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until he have mercy upon us 2. Tu venis Dost thou come in humility Dost thou come in infirmity Let it suffice to say to that who should be humbled but God to expiate for the pride of man No humility could be meritorious but from him who in his own person did abound with glory an humble Prince is a rare sight a beggar if he be not humbled there is nothing more disdainful if our soul cleave unto the earth it deserves no reward for such a poor estate belongs to our sinful condition but if the Son of God come down from heaven and make himself less than the Angels that humility is stupendious and will satisfie for our presumption And as humility was infinitely meritorious in Christ so it became him to be suspected for infirmity Factus quasi unus ex aegrotis eo gratior erat medicus in that he would seem to be sick for our sakes it was more chearful to us that he became our Physician 3. Ad me venis Thou who aboundest with all things dost thou address thy self to him that wants When Solomon had built a most stately Temple to the Lord He admired that God would come down into it in the brightness of his glory But will God indeed dwell on earth The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee how much less this house which I have builded Alas here was no such sumptuous receptacle at Jordan to entertain Christ and comest thou to me Let it suffice to say He that would suffer by the hands of cruel enemies would make no difficult thing to be baptized of a friend Did he endure that Judas should kiss and betray him What marvel if he did permit a good Prophet to wash and anoint him to his Priestly Office Thus St. Austin to good purpose Did Christ admit a servant to baptize his heavenly Master Nullus à conservo non dignetur accipere Then let no man think his fellow servant too mean an Instrument to offer him the blessing of the Sacraments Good news were brought by Leapers to Samaria and they were entertain'd with joyfulness Let him be a Leaper let him be a sinful man to whom the dispensation of Gods mysteries is committed yet his weakness shall not diminish from the invisible power of Christ who in all Congregations and at all times is the High Priest that blesseth the outward means for the use of thy salvation If Judas did baptize it was not hurtful to them that did partake of his Ministry a leaden Seal may imprint the stamp of God upon thy soul as well as one of better mettal Should Paul refuse to warm himself because Barbarians did kindle the fire 4. Comest thou to me that baptize none but unto remission of sins Let it suffice to say unto it out of the Lyturgy of our own Church that Christ did sanctifie the floud Jordan and all other waters to the mystical washing away of sin Therefore he came no otherwise to Jordan than as his Angel is said to come down into the Host to battel Non ad periclitandum sed ad vincendum not as if danger could come near unto himself but to repel danger that might come near to his own people but of this I must make a full treatise the next day and at this time no reason so ponderous as his own by which he helpt John Baptist out of doubt Suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us c. These words Christ spake to John in a double style of speech Sicut Dominus imperans sicut Magister docens As a Lord by his absolute power over his Subject Suffer it to be so now As a Master willing to instruct his Disciple For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness In the first of these I will be brief the latter is of more copious observation Suffer it to be so now A word to the wise is enough says the Proverb it seems so that John Baptist was aw'd with these two short words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suffer it to be so now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now he means in the state of exinanition being made of no reputation among men and having taken upon him the form of a servant in this low condition the Son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to lay down his life for many therefore howsoever the days will come that the world shall see him in his power and great glory yet suffer it to be so now One distinction therefore makes all streight and even between Christ and his fore-runner For let the person of our Saviour be considered God and man united together so John was not mistaken if he thought it unexpedient for him to be baptized But weigh him in another scale in his Office of Mediator as he came to do all servile things thereby to gain unto us the adoption of Sons so he must bring that most desired work to pass by Baptism Fasting and Tentation by his Agony and bloudy Sweat by his Cross and Passion by his precious Death and Burial and through all other shapes of Poverty Vileness and Humiliation My Beloved there is such an exceeding distance such an interval between the most excellent person of Christ and the lowliness of his Office that the conceit of an Arch-angel is not able to measure it Videas potentiam regi sapientiam instrui virtutem sustentari says Bernard You may see him that had all rule in heaven and earth obey and be govern'd the wisdom of the Father taught and instructed that vertue which holds up all things it self supported Let me not lose a Syllable of that Fathers Elegancy in this Point Videas pavere fiduciam salutem pati vitam mori fortitudinem infirmari That which gives us all confidence it self did fear and was amazed safty it self did suffer strength it self was weak life it self did die Thus eloquence runs wittily upon this discord the most glorious person and the most inglorious Office of our Saviour St. Austin makes Elisha the Type of our Saviours humiliation by very agreeable proportions when he raised up the dead child of the Shunamite to life Elisha sent his servant Gebazi with his Staff before him so the Law came into the world by Moses long before the Incarnation of our Saviour At last the Prophet made hast in his own person Venit grandis ad parvulum salvator ad salvandum vivus ad mortuum The great one came to the little one the Saviour to that which was lost the living to that which was dead And as Elisha laid every part of his body upon the Child and so shrunk up his body to make it no larger than the childs body So Christ did make himself equal to us little ones Vt efficeret corpus humilitatis nostrae conforme corpori gloriae suae to make our vile bodies conformable to his most glorious body Finally as that
Prophet by prostrating himself did bring life again into that which was dead so Jesus by making himself an ignominious reproach to the world did justifie and acquit those who were appointed to everlasting death Thus you see why our Saviours answer strikes upon the circumstance of that present time Suffer it to be so now He came in the form of a Servant and as long as he emptied himself in that shape he would do the duties of a Servant Sine modo now I will be baptized of thee in water hereafter I will baptize my Church with the Holy Ghost and with fire As yet I stand for one of the multitude as yet the Holy Spirit hath not descended upon me to make me manifest to the world that I am the Son of God therefore suffer it to be so now Mark I beseech you how in the lowest depression of a servant he keeps the Majesty of a Lord For he makes himself a servant by his own command Sic volo sic jubeo it is my own pleasure to make my self a worm and no man yea a very scorn and derision of them that are round about me As Cesar did not lessen his own dignity because he would both command as General and yet work in the trenches like the meanest Pioneer Dux consilio miles exemplo and as Helen the Mother of Constantine was not under the honour of a Princess because she would dress the Blains and Ulcers of poor Cripples in the Hospital So the mighty Son of God was not diminished in his glory because he put himself into the rank of abject ones by his own yielding and accord not by compulsive necessity His obedience did not spring from any legal servitude as one whose Parents did beget him in bondage nor from any penal servitude as one that was enthralled by trespasses or violent captivity But he did put his neck into the yoke and did appoint himself certain years of misery and abasement therefore he lays his authority upon the Prophet that it should be so Suffer it to be so now And is not this example worth the learning That God is better served by him that hath a yielding spirit and will stoop in humility than by him that is stiff to maintain the honour of his person and will not condescend for the advantage of much good from his place and dignity You shall have them that will defend Augustine the Monk that would neither veile his head nor bend his knee to the Brittish Monks of this Island that were met to receive him Forsooth such courtesie did not become him because he was the Nuncio of the Apostolical See There was a great Clerk that bolstered up the fiery humour of Pope Paul the Fifth in the Venetian quarrel and bad him keep his dignity inviolable whatsoever became of peace with this Text to enflame him Arise Peter kill and eate O if there be any such evil Monitor that provokes you to stiffness and stubborness by the consideration of your Greatness and Principality answer him with our Saviour Sine modò frater whatsoever I be in pre-eminence of honour let me forget it now many things unworthy our person must be swallowed up for the glory of God When Shimei reviled David Abishai would have had his head for it suffer it to be so now says David though he were the King of Israel I must pass it over without revenge it is the Lord that will afflict me There are such as will blow coals especially to incense great men if their inferiours chance to trespass Are you not noble Of ample fortunes Of great power and reputation And will you not crush an underling that affronts you But such injuries as your bloud could not put up your office which you sustain must remit that you are members of Christ linkt together in love which is the bond of perfection Christs Office of Mediatorship made him be contented with those abasements which where far unworthy of his Majestical person But suffer it to be so now c. This Point which I have latest handled was the strict command of Christ over John Baptist as his Lord in that which follows as a Preceptor he teacheth his Disciple and gives him reason that he might know upon what ground he must obey Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness in which reason so many words so many notations six in all which will require discussion 1. What signification the word righteousness hath 2. What is required to fulfil it 3. How it was fulfilled in this Baptism for our Saviour hath put an Emphasis upon the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus I must fulfil it 4. How it can be said that the coming to Johns Baptism was the fulfilling of all righteousness 5. Why the Proposition speaks of more than one of us in the Plural 6. That Christ did fulfil all righteousness at this time not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a strict necessary rigour but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for decency sake because it did become him So you see every word is ponderous and observable Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness Of these as the scantling of the time will permit The significations of the word righteousness or justice are four First It is the name of all vertue taken in the lump where none is wanting So did the Philosopher state it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justice is not a part or a fragment of Vertue but the whole continent of it And so it is to be found in God only and in no other Creature And thus our Saviour did fulfil all righteousness because we had fulfilled all manner of wickedness And so St. Chrysostom understands this place that to make our peace with God Christ was tied to the exact performance of all the Commandments Secondly Justice is one particular branch of Vertue which is thus defined Constans perpetua voluntas jus suum cuique tribuendi A constant and perpetual resolution to give every man his own And St. Paul puts it in one Precept Rom. xiii 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Render therefore to all men their dues And Christ was most respectful to see that every one had their own both in heaven and earth according to that most admirable principle Give unto Cesar that which is Cesars and to God that which is Gods Thirdly Justice is taken for faithfulness in our word and being exactly true in our promises and certainly lying is a fraudulency most opposite to Justice Thus did our Saviour shine in righteousnes full of grace were his lips neither was any guile found in his mouth Yea let God be true says the Apostle and every man a liar that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and overcome when thou art judged Rom. iii. 4. Fourthly Righteousness doth many times very properly signifie that integrity which is found in a man according to that special Office which he sustains There is a particular Justice belonging to every state and condition of
Heathen described justice in their Idol Jupiter it was Aquila cum fulmine an Eagles eye to discern a fault a Thunderbolt to strike a Malefactor and the way thereof is as the way of an Eagle in the air when at the highest pitch we cannot see him Wherefore address we attentions to hear the cause how that man perished c. I have seen malum sub sole says Solomon evil under the Sun He might well tell it for a wonder that such a difference should light together The Sun builds up nature like a Giant Psal xix and evil pulls it down as fast like a Monster It was the vision of Moses at Mount Horeb Exod. iii. a flame of fire in a bramble bush and he that will look like a Prophet shall see there is nothing among us but Flamma splendoris divini or spina peccati I renounce the Manichees I make not two main causes good and evil but I say every thing shews the brightness of Gods glory shining in his works or the thorns and briars of sin in the defacing thereof such thorns were the sinful Jebusites I would the world were as free from it as the Song of Solomon wherein the name is not once to be read lest it should breed a discord in the tunes of love There must be sin there must be heresies but sin what art thou Alas that every man can sooner sin than tell what it is When we talk of it then it grows upon us when we forget it it encreaseth more when we hate it then we sin because we do not hate it as we ought but call it in one word as St. John doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the breach of Gods Law and you have said enough Me thinks Moses made the definition when spying the trespass the Calf they worshipped in Horeb He cast the Tables from him as who should say the Law is broken Only here is the difference the Tables were crackt in few pieces perhaps but the Law hath been ground like the Idol into powder so that a remnant is not kept whole in man St. Paul Rom. iii. reduceth sin into every part of us both soul and body as unto certain common places or you may call it the Geography of wickedness There is none that understandeth thus our reason is ignorant none that seeketh after God our will is disobedient If the Leaven be so bad what hope remains in the lump Our tongues have used deceit and the kisses of our lips envenom like the Asp Our feet are not lazy but swift to shed bloud Our eyes not dim but wanting before them the vail of reverence There is no fear of God before our eyes Our throat not cramm'd up or strangled but wide as an open Sepulchre Was Goliah more furnisht to do evil with that tomb of brass upon his body Was Esau more rough and hairy from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot Or that Hermogenes whom the Wits of Greece plaid upon that the Rasor knew not where to begin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all his body was but one lock As we bring bloudy bodies into the world Tabe polluti occisis magis quà m natis similes says Plutarch so we bring a most wretched soul That as Marius could shew no honourable Pedigree for a Consulship to the Senate but thirty six wounds in his Breast so we cannot shew the glory of our immortal and heavenly created soul her Pedigree from God by reason of the wounds which stick fast upon it Aristotle said our soul was like a fair skin of Parchment wherein nothing was written O that it had been so they are rather like Ezekiels book within and without written with woes and lamentations or as Plato speaks of Dionysius his soul that it was scribled all over with evil Characters What an enditement may be made of this cause then when iniquity is a blemish all over as the whole bird was dipt in bloud Lev. xiv which was an Emblem of our pollution No words can sufficiently describe it but as one speaks of the Spanish Tyranny over the Indies the best Rhetorick was to besmear a bloudy leaf to express it Sin in its Essence is confederate with death and punishment It is the obedience of dumb creatures to chastise it The Earth waxed evil in bringing forth Plants and fruits when the choicest mold of it did fail in Adam it would not be so fruitful for a Sinner as for an Innocent The Prophetess Deborah knew so much Astrology that the Stars in their course fought against the Tyrant Sifera Et navicula Petri in quâ erat Judas turbabatur says St. Ambrose the Sea stormed at Peters Ship when Judas was in it but these are senseless scourges and God applies them What need I speak of Phinehas his righteous passion that killed the Princely Adulterer If the Angels might have their will no Tares should stand in the field they would root up every thing that had not the blade of Wheat But these are all heavenly Souldiers and holiness provokes them Well let the Devil be the judge and he delights both to accuse and punish Put it to evil men and they think Naboth should die for cursing God and the King The vilest persons for the most part are the Satyrs of the time and tax all the world like Angustus Nay put it to the sinner himself put it to Cain and Judas they find no favour no mitigation I dare say in the Court of their own conscience Prima est haec ultio quod se Judice nemo nocens absolvitur Let me lead you on with this distinction betwixt in and propter to perish in iniquity and for iniquity Sin is not always the propter the moving cause of Gods chastisements but sometimes the triall of an heroick faith so it was in Job Sometimes the confirmation of grace so it was in St. Paul the Messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him that Gods grace might be sufficient for him But in iniquitate is certain truth the wrath of God lights not but where transgressions have gone before Thus the Disciples were at a loss Joh. ix Did this man sin that he was born blind How was that possible in his Mothers Womb But was the sin of his Father or the guilt of his Mother imputed to him The imperfect fruit of the Womb could do no evil the offence of his Parents must not be thought his evil Rabbi quis peccavit Nec ille nec parentes says our Saviour neither for his nor his Parents sins was he born blind but that the works of God might be made manifest in him That was the cause and yet a mote had not troubled the eye of this blind man but that a beam of sin had possessed it before in his Mothers Womb I mean by original corruption Alas that we should be grown big enough for punishment before we are born to nature Sabores being but a breeding at the death of his
Father Vasarenes as Agathias reports the Soothsayers foretold that his Mother should bring forth a Male child and he was crowned in her Womb his honour began the soonest I ever read of any and his guiltiness of sin and obligement to Gods wrath began as soon as the soul did inform the body If ever there were a Paradox in the world which Turks and Infidels hitherto have shamed to maintain it is the contrary to this doctrine that some iniquity is not the cause of perishing before the wrath of God Peribit in iniquitate it was ever good Divinity before Mariana and some Jesuits have perswaded desperate cast-aways to be saved by iniquity Saved did they say And for working abomination O are not the tender mercies of the wicked cruel St. Paul comforted our Mothers in their travel that the woman should be saved by bearing Children into the world they teach Reprobates to purchase a Saintship by murdering such whom the world is not worthy of Slaughter and bloudshed says our Philosopher Rhet. 1. lib. are not fit to make a question for discourse because it was never disputed by some either to be lawful or tolerable Nay in the second Eth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing can make Murder a good action much less Treason But this was the pity of a Philosopher and Alexanders Courtier not the stomach of a Jesuit and a grand Inquisitor If all the Saints should appear before God with the Instruments of their Piety Moses with the two Tables Aaron with his Rod David with his Psaltery Dorcas with the Garments of her Charity would you look for a Priest among them girded with a bloudy knife Or a Villain provided with fire and Gunpowder Who would look for it Except as when the Sons of God stood before the Lord Job i and Satan also was among them Nay heaven and earth shall pass away before Peribit in iniquitate become Apocryphal before the Wormwood of sin become the Palm of immortality Thus much for the cause in general but what offence his iniquity did give the sin of Achan will ask a peculiar and a larger trial You are deceived if you think it was but Larceny or greedy pilfering if a Thief steal he shall restore fourfold says the Law or seven fold says Solomon when stealing grew worse and worse that was the most of it But God saw more pernicious faults in Achan for his justice is not fidelis in minimo sharpest against small offences like the Popes Decretals which enjoyn a Priest forty days penance if he spill one drop of the Cup of the Lords Table and but seven days penance for Fornication But hainous was the fact of Achan first in scandal that an Israelite preserved so long in the Wilderness one that fought the Lords Battels and came always home with victory that he should be the first that trespassed among the Canaanites the heathen that would blaspheme the living God Secondly In disobedience that Joshuah his noble General made the head of all the Tribes by Gods appointment and Moses good liking and Eleazars Unction could not command to be obeyed Thirdly In faithless covetousness That since Manna did fall no more from heaven about their Tents the Lord did heed his people no longer every man must catch what come to his hands so Achan took the accursed c. Here is scandal to them that were without within themselves contempt of the Lord and his servant Joshuah in his own heart an inordinate desire to grow rich and sumptuous I do not make Achans fault the greater that Gods vengeance may be more plausible as St Austin spake of disgracing Cacus to honour Hercules the more Nisi nimis accusaretur Cacus parum Hercules laudaretur but remember my scope is all one with S. Pauls Interrogatories With whom was he grieved And to whom did he swear in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest If there be any delight in comparing sins as the Prophets use to dash the Idols of Jerusalem with the Idols of Samaria me thinks the first transgression of the Garden of Eden and the pleasant Land of Canaan almost another Eden are very semblable Eve walking in Paradise saw the fruits and her eye enticed her to take that which was forbidden and then she hid her self out of Gods sight So Achan treading upon the soil of Canaan saw a Babylonish Garment and his eye enticed him and he took it when it was forbidden and accursed and hid both the Garment and his sin from the sight of Joshuah But those are impudent crimes like the forehead of an Harlot that leave their memory to the evil world to be the first examples of transgressions cursed be that sin for it festers into scandal and unhappy shall be their end that fly from the Lord till they be left as a Beacon on the top of a Mountain and as an Ensign on a Hill says the Prophet Isaiah Many offences had never been committed or else brought forth by a worse Generation long after unless an evil Author had made the way known and easie for our corrupt nature therefore the first that gathered sticks and broke the Sabbath the Shilonites Son the first that cursed impious Gehazi the first that took sinful wages for the gift of God Ananias and Saphira the first dissemblers in the Primitive Church Achan the first Malefactor in the Land of Canaan these had their portion suddenly and drunk the Cup of Gods fury unto the dregs thereof I know not how fatal it is but since the small trenches of Rome were filled with too much bloud of Rhemus anon after they were digg'd massacres and persecutions have never departed from that unlucky building As the heavens are spread above us and seem to speak like the Statue of the King of Egypt In me quis intuens pius esto So the ground whereon we tread sometimes quakes and seems to be too holy to be defiled But if ever there were an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or incongruity of place to say unto sin exiforas this is no ground for sinners was it not the Land of Promise A small sin in Canaan was greater than a fornication in Egypt a trespass in Jerusalem is worse than an Idol in Samaria Had this deed been done in the Wilderness or in the paths of the Red Sea it had been more tolerable as one speaks of Pompeys obscure death in Egypt a thousand Leagues from Rome Procul hoc ut in orbe remoto abscondat fortuna nefas the offence had not been so notorious But the Angels themselves do wonder in a field of choice Wheat Vnde zizania Lord whence come Tares Will you resolve the Prophet Jeremy the same question He makes very strange fidelis civitas How is the faithful City become an Harlot To use the Lords own Sacrifice with the Sons of Eli for Riot and Extortion his own Supper for drunkenness with the bad Corinthians to employ the soyl of his own