Industry and being blessed by thy goodness may bring many Souls to thee and maintain True Doctrine and Holy Discipline in thy Church till the second coming of Christ our Saviour The tenth is Charitable beneficence to the houshold of Faith as witnesseth S. Paul Phil. 4. 18. I received the things that were sent an odour of a sweet smell a Sacrifice acceptable to God But the first is that alone which can make the rest acceptable before God and without which the Prayers of the most devout the blood of the Martyrs the alms of the most Charitable and the Religion of all mankind were ineffectual to their Salvation It is by this Sacrifice alone our sins are wash'd our natures purified our duties rewarded and the Christian Faith secured of the glories of Eternity O blessed Jesus O Eternal Son of God! Who can sufficiently admire this mystery or adore thy goodness Who can sufficiently extol thy incomprehensible love who gavest not thy Wealth not thy Brethren not thy Kindred not thy Angels but thy self God and Man for us Sinners and Enemies Pious Devotions have been carried into many admirable raptures in the contemplation of this sublime Mystery but none seems to have gone higher than that of Origen who urges this great High Priest to have offer'd himself not for man only but to have tasted death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extending the merits and efficacy of his passion to the Stars otherwise impure in the sight of God and therefore in need to be cleansed that so all things might be restored to the Kingdom of the Father Orig. in Evang. Joh. And which S. Paul seems highly to favour in that famous place of Col. 1. 19 20. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell and having made peace through the Blood of his Cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him I say whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven If this be so we need not break the Glasses of Galiloeo the spots may be washed out of the Sun and total nature sanctified unto God that made it However this may be it is safest for us to attend to Holy Scriptures telling us Heb. 9. that the Son of God offer'd through the Eternal Spirit this Sacrifice upon the Cross to purge our Consciences from dead works to serve the living God And he is not now enter'd into the holy places made with hands but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us Which is to say in effect that Christ offered himself a Sacrifice upon the Cross which because it was perfect and infinitely meritorious could be but one and that but once but because the needs of the World should last as long as the World it self it was necessary there should be a perpetual Ministry establisht whereby this one sufficient Sacrifice should be made for ever effectual to the several new arising needs of all the World To this end Christ was made a Priest for ever not that he should offer himself often For then must he often have suffer'd since the foundation of the World Heb. 9 25. But being ascended into Heaven he there represents and exhibits to the Father the great effective Sacrifice which he offer'd on the Cross to eternal and never failing purposes And as Christ is pleas'd to represent to his Father that great Sacrifice as a means of atonement and expiation for all mankind and with special purposes for all the elect all that serve him in holiness So he has appointed that the same ministry shall be done on Earth too in our manner and according to our promotion And therefore he chose first the Fisher-men of Galilee to offer the Sacrifices of Righteousness and has ever since preserved in his Church an order of men who by shewing forth the Lords death by Sacramental representation may pray unto God after the same manner that our Lord and High Priest does that is offer to God and represent in this most solemn Prayer and Sacrament Christ as once for all offer'd already upon the Altar of the Cross So sending up a gracious instrument whereby our Prayers may for his sake and in the same manner of Intercession be offer'd up to God in our behalf and for all them for whom we pray to all those purposes for which Christ died And as the Holy Priests do in a Sacramental manner present to God the Sacrifice of the Cross by being Imitators of Christs Intercession So the people are Sacrificers too in their manner For that besides in saying Amen they join in the Act of him that ministers and make it also to be their own So when they worthily receive the Holy Eucharist they receive Christ within them and therefore may also offer him to God while in their Sacrifice of Obedience and Thanksgiving they present themselves to God with Christ whom they have Spiritually received that is themselves with that which will make them gracious and acceptable The offering their Bodies and Souls and services to God in him and by him and with him who is his Fathers well-beloved and in whom he is well pleased cannot but be acceptable to all the purposes of blessing grace and glory And this is the Sacrifice of Righteousness the Mincha purum spoken of by the Prophet Malachi 1. 11. From the rising of the Sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place Incense shall be offer'd unto my name and a pure offerring For my name shall be great among the Heathen saith the Lord of Hosts Wherefore let us all exult in that mystical expression of the Son of Barachiah Zech. 9. 17. How great is his goodness and how great is his beauty Corn shall make the young men cheerful and new Wine the Maidens 3. They shall suck of the abundance of the Seas and of Treasures c. Those as hath been noted before how study mystical senses of Holy Scripture refer all this to the Doctrine of Christ and the calling of his Apostles For in these parts he was not only much conversant himself but also chose many of his Disciples and Followers who though in their own persons they did not suck of the abundance of the Seas or treasures of the Sand i. e. the Riches and Emoluments of the two Elements yet they did in the Body which they built and in the persons of their Successors the Bishops and Pastors of the Church For when Emperours and Kings became Proselytes of the Gospel they became kind to the Church and she became rich by their Donations The wealth of all Seas flowed into the bosome of the Church and the Treasures of all Lands was laid at the feet of the servants of Jesus Then was fulfilled that of the Prophet Isa 60. 4 5. Lift up thine eyes round about and see all they gather themselves together they come to thee thy Sons shall come from far and thy daughters
and wicked men planted the Doctrine of Jesus Christ over the most famous Kingdomes of the Universe And as S. Chrysostome observes it was no obstacle to their proceedings that they were few or unlearned or private persons or that they preacht austere and unwonted Doctrines or that mankind was prepossest with old Laws and old Customes But the previous grace of God took away all these hindrances turning their infirmities into strength their ignorance into wisdom their stripes into joy their imprisonments into liberty and all their impediments to the advantages of Religion Insomuch that they daily converted multitudes in every Nation from false principles and dissolute lives from the slavery of Sin and Satan to serve the living God in soberness righteousness and godliness So plentiful was the draught of Fish when God commanded the Net to be let down And now what more useful Application can we make of all this than that which Syracides observes Ecclus. 3. 19. Many are in high place and of renown but mysteries are revealed unto the meek Their minds are the freest from the perturbations of passions and unruly affections and therefore the fittest receptacles of the Divine Truth And as S. Basil in Praef. in Isa discoursing concerning the diversities of gifts tells us that a mind stain'd with sin like an abused Looking-glass renders but a broken and confused Image And as we cannot see our faces in any matter but in such only as is smooth and pellucid so there is required a meekness and clearness of Soul for the right perception and reflection of Heavenly verities Hence it is that we see so many of the learned World Artheistical in their principles so many great men dissolute in their lives and so many people every where ignorant or careless of their Salvation Not that they are incapable to apprehend the Doctrines or unable to practise the duties but because they have sullied the purities and clearness of their Souls with the lusts and evil habits of their Bodies and so render'd them unfit for Holy Mysteries A man might measure the motions and distances of the Stars might act in the most important affairs of the World muster Armies fit Navies pitch Battels though he came from his last nights surfeit and his eyes were yet red with Wine but a man can never say his Prayers or serve his God till his passions are becalm'd and his mind brought to a certain frame and evenness Nay it will be hard to receive or long to retain any true Idea of God or his Religion so long as our Lusts his Enemies are our Masters as is visible in the Gentiles who when they knew God glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darken'd Rom. 1. 21. Till by the meekness of the Gospel this Prodigal was brought to himself And I am apt to think that some meek and humble Cottagers have better notions concerning God and his word than any proud inflate Philosopher And this might be the reason of our Saviours great rejoycing in Spirit Luk. 10. 21. I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto Babes Even so Father for so it seemed good in they sight 2. They shall offer the Sacrifices of Righteousness S. Chrysostome recounts ten Sacrifices not enjoined by Law but such as become the Evangelical Grace The first is that Spiritual and Mystical gift mentioned by S. Paul Eph. 5. 1. Be ye followers of God as dear Children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour The second is the blood of the Martyrs or the virtues and holy life of the mortified Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your Bodies a living Sacrifice boly and acceptable to God which is your reasonable service The third that of Prayer Psal 141. 2. Let my Prayer be set forth before thee as Incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening Sacrifice The fourth is the pleasant warbles of Hymns and the grateful returns of Praises to the Divine Majesty Psal 116. 17. The fifth is Justice which the noble Prophet calls upon the people for with so much Zeal Isa 1. 17. Cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgement The sixth Alms and mercy according to S. James c. 1. 27. Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Orphans and Widows in their affliction The seventh is the Jubile and exulation in the Victories and Glories of Christ as the Prophet speaks Isa 26. 1 2. In that day shall this Song be sung in the Land of Judah We have a strong City Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks Open the Gates that the righteous Nation which keepeth the truth may enter in Then it is that Zabulun shall rejoice Then shall he suck of the abundance of the Seas and treasures hid in the Sand. Then shall the Daughter of Tyre be there with a gift even the rich among the people Instead of thy Fathers thou shalt have Children whom thou mayest make Princes in all Lands And we will remember the name of the Lord from generation to generation and all the people shall give him thanks world without end Ps 45. The eight is the Sacrifice of an humble and contrite Spirit which however despicable in the eyes of men is more acceptable to God than a thousand Holocausts The ninth is the preaching of the Gospel whereof S. Paul so often glories and particularly Rom 15 16. exults in the Grace of God by which he was called to be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles ministring the Gospel of God that the sacrificing up of the Gentiles might be acceptable to God being sanctified by the Holy Ghost Happy S. Paul who with thy fiery Tongue didst burn so many reasonable Sacrifices to God! Happy S. Chrysostome too in this Sacrifice who first offering to God the Calves of thy Golden Lips didst afterward present so many willing Holocausts of Converts unto the Eternal Majesty Happy the Gentiles in a Doctor to preach the mysteries of the Eternal Word to convert Nations to convince Hereticks to reduce wanderers and bring all men into the paths of Salvation And thou once happy City of Constantine while thou didst cherish the most eloquent of men who sanctified all the Learning of the Grecians by the Holiness of his mouth and offer'd to God so many the most acceptable Sacrifices the Spirits of Proselytes won by the irresistible charms of his Oratory and mortified to the severities of Repentance and the Doctrine of the Cross Glory be given to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who gavest such gifts unto men May there rise in every generation such persons as may imitate their Sanctity Zeal and
the part of a Mother to suckle her own Infants which if so the taking away the staff of Water Isa 3. 1. may not only prove the dissolution of the little but also of the greater World All Nations from the observation of its cleansing quality have adopted it into the Ceremonies and Mysteries of their Religion and the Platonists have not only made it Purgative here but Cathartick hereafter sending humane Souls to be washt in the next World from the stains they had contracted in this Aliis sub gurgite vasto Infectum eluitur scelus But it is of infinite advantage to us that we may be washt by a more easie and purifying Sacrament when the stains of our Nature and the Errours of our Lives are cleansed by the Waters of Baptism through which so many graces of God descend upon us as in a shower according to the Prophetick Doctrine of that Ocean of Scripture and Labyrinth of the Mysteries of God Ezek. 36. 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you Which though we should interpret with the Jews to signifie an abundance of Temporal Blessings increased and refreshed with the dews of Heaven it could not be disadvantageous to the Hōnour of our Subject But if with S. Aug. de doct Chr. c. 34. we understand it of those many graces which shall as it were distil through the Holy Font upon the Christian Church it will much more ennoble this fruitful spring of all Vertues which gave not only blessings to the Church but a Name and Title of Honour to Christ himself who Cant. 4. 15. is call'd a well of living waters And truly the same Prophet has made use of this Symbol Ezek. 47. to denote the whole fate of the Chruch from a beginning so small and inconsiderable till Christ should have dominion from Sea to Sea and from the River unto the ends of the Earth Psal 72. 8. But S. Gregory understands it of the different degrees and progresses of Christian life washing first the feet and Epithumetick Organs and then growing by degrees of good works and an holy life till we come to be swallowed in the unfathomable Ocean of Divine Contemplations But it is time after so long a Voyage to make for the Havens of Zabulun to survey the strength of her Ports and the Riches brought in by the Sea which were so considerable that they were esteemed a reward worthy those who should be the great Preachers and Examples of Religion who should call the people to the Mountain to offer the Sacrifices of Righteousness We will therefore begin with the History of these two Tribes from the Benediction and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their great Patriarch Jacob and then proceed to considerations more practical and to be deduced from the following words of the Text. 1. Rejoyce O Zabulun c. Gen. 49. 13. Zabulun shall dwell at the Haven of the Sea and he shall be for an Haven of Ships and his border shall be unto Zidon So that though he was but the tenth Son yet is he preferred before his Seniors perhaps for that Christ was to be conceived in Nazareth of that Tribe And therefore he has a prerogative the first which the Holy Text mentions given to man viz. a Dominion over the Fish of the Sea Gen. 1. 28. And accordingly his portion was allotted in the Agrarian Laws of Joshua Josh 19. 10 11. And indeed in such a place too where his Neighbours the Tyrians and Zidonians pretended to a chief Admiralty in the Sea as the first Inventors of Navigation For though a man would think Adam could not well exercise his jurdiction over his watery Subjects without the assistance of shipping and wonder more the world should be so dull that in sixteen hundred years no commerce should be us'd at Sea especially if it were as well peopled before the Flood as in the like number of years after yet there is no positive account of any Naval Architecture till the days of Noah who by divine direction prepared his Ark of Gopher against the general inundation Afterwards several Nations pretended to be the Authors of this most useful Art and perhaps it might be found out by several people who had yet no commerce one with another necessity being ingenious under all Climates But the Phoenicians put in the fairest who as they are accounted the Authors of Arithmetick and Astronomy so also of Navigation whence is that of Tibullus Prima ratem ventis credere docta Tyrus They were the first that took the observation of the North Star in suppliment to the Naval mystery But Herodotus complains that these Phoenicians who came with Cadmus into Greece as they civilized the people by their Sciences and Literature so they exceedingly debauched them by their Luxury and insatiable avarice which together with their Merchandise they first imported thither The Greeks call them Phoenicians but the Hebrews Canaanites Their Country is the Sea-coast of Syria and Tyrus the maritime Metropolis thereof bordering upon the Tribe of Zabulun whose Trade and Commerce was so great and remarkable in the days of Ezekiel that two whole Chapters are spent in the description of her vastness and judgments Ezek. 26 27. She is there stil'd a Merchant whose Ships were made of Firr their Masts of Cedar their Oars of Bashan Oak the Hatches of Ivory the Waste-cloths Vanes Flaggs and Pendants of Purple and Scarlet The common Mariners were the Zidonians and Inhabitants of Arvad their Calkers were the Antients of Gebal and their Pilots the Wisemen of Tyrus Near unto such ingenious and thriving Neighbours was the lot of Zabulun But they had also Havens of their own upon the Sea of Galilee Capharnaum Bethsaida and Tiberias where probably they took in the Oyl the Wine and Corn of their Brother Issachar So advantageously were they situated both for the advantages of the most ingenious and useful conversation as also for the advancement of their Trade and Commerce And it is very like they much improved themselves hereby For in the Song of Deborah we read of those of Zabulun to handle the Pen of the Writer Judg. 5. 14. And it might not be improper they should handle the Pen of the Law who were to be the Trumpeters of the Gospel 2. And Issachar c. The Text gives a character of Issachar like that which the Poets usually give of the first and best men of the World that is that he finding a rich Soil was content to labour for his living to pay his Gabel to enjoy through the sweat of his Brows the Treasures of the Sands and the productions of the Earth containing himself within his own bounds without encroaching upon the Lands or Havens of Zabulun which seem strangely to break the square of his Portion and Inheritance And though the Heraldry of the ninth Son of Jacob promise no great effects either in
Jews and baffle the learning of the Greeks what can we say else but that the Prophecy of Jeremy is fulfilled Jer. 16. 16. I will send for many Fishers and they shall fish them and the call of Christ become effectual to the Salvation of the World Mat. 4. 19. Follow me and I will make ye Fishers of men All which S. Paul very well expresses 1 Cor. 2. 4 5. My speech was not in the enticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God Go then busy Statesman lay the uncemented bulk of thy future designs upon the tottering Basis of thy own Wisdom Devise Laws joyn Interests oppress thine Enemies plot against whom thou suspectest cajoul thy Friends and remove all the possible obstacles of thy greatness All this while thou dost no more than what the trifling fancies of men usually practise upon a Cloud making Dragons Chimaera's and Armed men fighting according to their own conceits and presently the Wind drives them away and all that they beheld with admiration in the Heavens falls down in Water upon their Heads and makes Mortar under their feet All our wisdom is folly all our strength is weakness it is God only that can manifest his power in our infirmities and turn all our imperfections to his Glory It was he alone that upon the weak foundation of these poor Sons of Zabulun weak indeed in the eyes of men but what can be weak that is supported by the Arm of God built his Church to continue the admiration and glory of all the world till time shall be no more It was he alone that could strengthen the most abject persons in the World to go through all the oppositions of humane wit or strength or malice to drive the Oracles from their Stools and the false Gods from their Temples placing in their rooms the Doctrine and Cross of Jesus It was he that by the preaching of these silly Orators united together people of Nations so distant of natures so unlike of manners so different and in Religion so disagreeing to serve him for ever in the Communion of the Catholick Church giving some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Till we all come in the unity of Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Eph. 4. 11 12 13. Why then do the Heathen rage and why do the people imagine a vain thing The Kings of the Earth stood up and the Rulers took counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed Yet for all this have I set my King upon my Holy Hill of Sion Ps 2. O unfathomable abyss of the Divine Wisdom and Power that out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings hast ordained strength that thou mightest still the Enemy and Avenger that by such contemptible means hast dasht to pieces the strength and polity of the World like a Potters Vessel to advance the trophies of thy on and to shew us that nothing is too weak to accomplish the ends of God But if we shall search into the History of this sort of men we shall find them to have had the first hand in the greatest transactions of the World as if God had on purpose chose always to make use of Fisher-men to give the first motion to those Wheels that should set all the rest agoing For if as S. Basil observes Bas Hexam Adam first exercis'd his faculties where God gave him his first Dominion he was first a Peter man and the Sea the earliest Scene of Humane action And yet the Jewish Traditions run far beyond this telling us that God in the fifth day of the Creation form'd the Behemoth and Leviathan and finding them too big for one Element pickled up the one to be the food of the Elect in the time of the Messiah And though this story grounded upon that passage 2 Esar 6. 49. may seem to some a fable more ridiculous than the Whale of Lucian yet if this mighty Whale which no Element can contain be but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Fish of the Sibyls then is this Parable such as contains the greatest mystery of the Christian Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and tells us in plain English that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Saviour of the World that he is the Bread of Life and the food of the Elect. Which may illustrate or at least enlarge our contemplations upon those words of our Saviour Mat. 7. 10. If he ask a Fish will he give him a Serpent Moses was drawn out of the Waters as his name imports Exod. 2. 10. to lay the foundation of the Synagogne which like his Ark built of Bulrushes Bitumen and Pitch moral ceremonial and politick Laws floated its Votaries upon the uncertain Waves of a troublesome World till the Kings Daughter should receive them into the favours and honours of her King Ita nos pisciculi secundum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nostrum Jesum Christam in aquâ nascimur nec aliter quà m in aquâ permanendo salvi sumus Tert. de Bapt. c. 1. Let Infidels and Hereticks like Asps and Vipers draw poison from the dry and barren Sand Water is the Element of Fish and Regenerate of God The Gentiles too owe much of their Religion and much of their knowledge to the Hebber-men of Coos who at one lucky draught brought up the famous Tripos whose ternary of Feet denote the full perfection of knowledge the great prerogative of Apollo So that while Janus keeps the Storks off from behind and blindly peeps forward to future events the God of Delphos glories in the knowledge of all Tenses past present and to come And truly this Oracle did so strangely inchant the spirits of men given over to superstition false fears and unreasonable hopes that he grew famous through the Universe Kings and Councellors the greatest and the wisest men upon Earth sent to him in all doubtful affairs to perplex them the more as willing to be cheated with the ambiguity of his Answers In this reputation he flourisht for many Ages till the Hebrew Boy packt him from his Altars and sunk him into a darkness like that of his Responses Then it was that God sent the true Fisher-men the Apostles with the true Tripos and mystery of the Eternal Wisdom of the Father the expectation of the past the glory of the present the hopes of the future and Salvation of all the ages of the World Fraught with this Wisdom these poor Ideots fail'd through the World stopt the mouths of the Philosophers silenced the Oracles destroyed the false Gods banisht Satan out of his Kingdom converted the Nations and maugre all the malice of Hell
shall be nursed at thy side Then thou shalt see and flow together and thine heart shall fear and be enlarged because the abundance of the Sea shall be converted unto thee the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee As if he had said Look about thee little flock fear not All this strength these Arms this wealth of Sea and Land all this Wit Learning Arts and Sciences and whatever thou beholdest now so obstinately set against thee shall all come in and prostrate themselves at thy feet for thy defence support and ornament For as the same Prophet chap. 49. 22 23. Behold I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles and set up my Standard to the people saith the Lord and they shall bring my Sons in their Arms and thy Daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders And Kings shall be thy nursing-fathers and Queens thy nursing-mothers They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the Earth and lick up the dust of thy feet and thou shalt know that I am the Lord For they shall not be ashamed that wait for me Happy Monarchs to be made the Parents of a Religion so holy and so salutiferous to men May the Eternal Jesus the Prince of Peace bless your Persons unite your Counsels strengthen your Arms that Religion may daily spread it self under your conduct over all the corners of the World May the Enemies of God if any seel the force of your Weapons and see the Trophies of your Valours but being at unity amongst your selves may we who profess the name of Jesus ever serve him in the beauty of Holiness in the decency of Order in the protections of Peace and if possible in the blessings of Unity But above all mayst thou ever be happy Great Defender of the Faith Apostolick ever triumphant over the Enemies of thy Peace and ours May thy reign never cease O Breath of our nostrils but having long protected us in Peace and the enjoyments of a most happy Religion mayst thou be translated to the Kingdom of Jesus to raign with him for ever And may all the outward advantages of Religion serve only for her defence and comely ornament for the suppression of Heresie Schism and all ungodliness and licentious disorder but never minister to our Covetousness Pride Lust or other enormities that so we may ever worship the Divine Majesty in the profession and practice of that truth and holiness which becomes the redeemed of the Lord Jesus And in order hereunto the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ by his Eternal Spirit make us all faithful in our Ministry devout in our Prayers powerful in our Preaching pure in the administration of his Holy Sacraments charitable in good works temperate in our lives meek and humble in our conversations and bring a plentiful Harvest to his Kingdom by our labours There is also another sense of these words which though far more remote is yet of greatest advantage to Zabulun and Issachar and indeed unto us all and that is Christ himself shall the most happily accomplish this benediction He shall to the eternal purposes of Salvation of his Elect suck the abundance of the Seas and treasures bid in the Sand when the last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall call up those that groan under the Waters in the houses of the Giants and awake them that sleep in the dust to meet their King in the air to be with the Lord for ever 1 Thess 4. 17. For they indeed are the true riches of the deep and treasures of the Sand. Other things how strong or precious soever shall yield to the fury of the devouring Element and the same power that brought them out of nothing shall reduce them thither again But the Bodies of his Saints and their separated dust after so many Pilgrimages and Transformations into the parts of Minerals Plants Animals which the natural order of things must necessarily carry them into shall return to their primitive shape and join again to their primary and predestinate forms And as at the Creation there was a Separation of that confused Mass into its species so at the destruction thereof there shall be a Separation into its distinct Individuals Which great Truth though perplext with some nice curiosities is more fully explicated unto us than any other mystery of our Faith For seeing as most aver our Salvation consisteth in the knowledge of three principal Articles the Trinity the Incarnation with its effects and consequences and the Resurrection Whereas the other two do sometimes like the top of Olympus hide themselves in clouds and darkness yet in this God disposing himself more to our ends than his own has more abundantly explained the point than any other as an arcle most relating to our peculiar felicities For it is well enough known that having afforded the Ancients but very obscure knowledges of the Trinity and Incarnation he has proclaim'd the Resurrection by the Law of Nature by the order of the World by the publications of the Law Mosaical and more fully by the Evangelical Word In Nature there is not a flower a grain a plant which preaches not this Homily and Art its great Imitatrix will drive old Proteus through a thousand forms and when they please bring the Prodigal back again home to his Fathers house and fix him there in the embraces of his Kindred In Mundane affairs we see Governments are born and grow up to a certain maturity and decay and die and rise again The fancies genius's fortunes of the dead rise daily and fall again to be imitated by after generations Humane Nature is not capable of more variety than may be seen in a few Ages and therefore Providence has been kind to make our days so few lest we should too often behold the resurrection of our own follies and miseries Job a man before all Letters all Doctors all Schools cries out in a condition the most forlorn I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another Job 19. 25 26 27. The eternal Truth pronounced himself in the Law of Moses Exod. 3. 8. The God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob which himself interprets to signifie a relation to the Resurrection Mat. 22. In the Evangelical Dispensations besides the passages of S. Mat. S. Joh. and S. Paul our Saviour after his Resurrection conversed forty days upon Earth and was seen of five hundred people at once to ingraft this mystery in the hearts of the Faithful That he who is the first fruits of the dead will sanctifie the whole lump What Riches what Pearls may we imagine shall then be found in the deep what Treasures what Stones in the Sands to build up the great City the Heavenly Jerusalem Come Lord Jesus come
quickly put an end to our sins and miseries Let us enjoy our long expectations call the Sea to deliver up her dead and the Earth to set free her Prisoners that we with all them that are departed in the true Faith and fear of thy most Holy Name may have our perfect consummation and bliss both in Body and Soul by entring into the full fruition of the face and excellencies of the most adorable Trinity Now as we have given different senses of the words so shall we also in correspondence thereunto make our Applications And first to the adventurous Marriners that they do above all things labour to secure the favour and protection of God by an Holy Life And truly if they shall but seriously consider the condition thereof they will find themselves to lye under many and extraordinary circumstances that call them thereto as 1. The wonders and mighty works of God which they behold as the Psalmist speaks They that go down to the Sea in Ships and occupy their business in great waters these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep Psal 107. 23. The several climates the different rising and setting of Stars the divers temperatures of the air the various commodities of all Countries call upon you to praise and adore that God who has disposed all things in such a wonderful order and so various a manner for the benefit of the whole 2. The dangers of Storms of Rocks of Shelves of Sands make your preservations miraculous and consequently require the greatest and most constant Devotions to God for your safeties Pacuvius gives us a description of a Tempest sufficient to allay the courage of the most valiant and it is this Inhorrescit mare Tenebrae conduplicantur c. The Sea roars with horrour the darkness becomes palpable the blackness of the night and storms is a perfect blindness the Lightning flashes through the Clouds and Heaven trembles with the Thunder Hail and rain mixt together fall 't is hard to say in greater plenty or violence the Winds break out from all points as if they would not only destroy themselves but all the World and the Ocean rages with the Tyde Now how canst thou expect to be preserv'd in such concussions and strugglings of Nature How canst thou expect that God should becalm this Tempest asswage the fury of the Elements and stretch out his almighty arm to save thee in dangers so great if thou daily provokest him to anger by thy sins No worship him all the days of thy liâ—e with a pure mind and a chaste body and then call upon him in the needful time of trouble and he shall hear thee at large He shall still the raging of the Sea and the storms when they arise He shall preserve thee in a thousand dangers shall bless thee in thy going out and in thy coming in and bring thee safe and prosperously into the Haven where thou wouldst be so that thou shalt rejoice like Zabulun in thy Ports 3. The great Profits and Emoluments which accrue from your employment is a third obligation to your Piety Navigation is that which makes the Riches of the World common and the Merchant may truly be said to suck the abundance of the Sea and treasures hid in the Sand. It is he that mingles the manners and wealth of all Nations together that makes good the poverty of one place with the riches of another Navigation is certainly the greatest and most useful Art humane nature was ever master of And whatever there is of Wit whatever there is of Manners whatever there is of Riches whatever there is of Glory nay whatever there is of Religion in the World is in great measures owing to the professors thereof Go then happy Marriner fear thy God above all things and he shall bring the Winds out of his Treasures to fiâ—l thy Sails with gales of Prosperity Go spread thy Religion thy Laws thy Manners and Customes through the Universe and for thy reward reap the harvest of the River sack the abundance of the deep and Treasures hid in the Sands 4. The great Influence that good example has upon others calls upon you especially to a circumspection in your manners that no Profaneness Injustice or Intemperance appear in you to the scandal of others or the disparagement of our Religion For it is not deep Mysteries multitude of Laws or Rational Discourses that will convert Nations Holy Examples move beyond Precepts and a conversation void of offence is the most effectual Sermon to bring those that are without into the fold of the Church In vain therefore poor Christendom dost thou expect the coming in of unbelievers while they see thy wickedness at home thy profaneness abroad Learn then all and especially those who view foreign and unconverted Nations a conversation suitable to the doctrine ye profess Learn that most useful lecture of our Saviour Mat. 5. 16. Let your light so shine hefore men that they may see your good works and glorifie your father which is in heaven 2. The second of our Applications shall be to us all but especially to the true Zabulonites that we learn highly to esteem this Religion we profess A Religion which has overcome so many difficulties been confirm'd by such Miracles continued by such a wonderful Providence through so many Ages A Religion that glories in so many Martyrs Doctors Pastors Bishops and Holy men of the clearest Spirits and greatest accomplishments in the World A Religion that corrects our Errours that bridles our Passions that sanctifies our Natures and gives us the greatest assurances of Gods love to us here and the most infallible revelations of a future and eternal felicity What if some little Spirit blown up with a system an experiment a fantastick song or some giddy vortex in his Head make now and then a fally out against this Truth Is it reasonable for this think you to waver in our Faith or grow neglective of our duty No we have a Law deliver'd by the Word it self which millions of Martyrs have sign'd with their Blood which the best of mankind professes the wisest heads of the World have illustrated with the lights of their Writings and for whose defence Heads and Pens the most able labour daily But alas that ancient Zeal which brought the Church to so great Glory and so vast extent seems much decay'd and instead thereof the Spirit of Atheism Heresie Schism and luke warmness has succeeded So that the state of Religion runs low the Word of God wants its due belief the holy Priests that reverence that becomes persons who handle the mysteries of God the Churches the decency of holy places And in short God is defrauded of that Glory which all beings owe to the Majesty of Heaven and we all want those comforts of Religion our wiser and more zealous Ancestors enjoy'd The Lord in his due time restore that devotion and prudent Zeal which was so remarkable in the early Christians 2 Cor. 9. 2. that many may be provoked to the same Repentance Faith and good works may suck the abundance of the Seas and treasures hid in the Sand i. e. the secrets of the Law and Mysteries of the Gospel 3. Let us all prepare for that account we must give when Christ shall seize the heritage and benediction of Zabulun and Issachar when the Sea shall give up her dead and the Earth restore the Bodies committed to her charge that so whatever our condition is in this World our Souls and Bodies may be happy in the next For They that be wise shall outshine the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever Dan. 12. 3. And as S. John teaches 1 Joh. 3. 2. Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him For we shall see him as he is This is that vision alone which can terminate all our desires in the enjoyment of that essence whose boundless goodness shall fill us with the perfection of himself For in his presence is fulness of joy and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore Psal 16. 11. FINIS