Lord which caus'd this leaping But I shall be constrained for brevities sake to joyne the Quid the Qui and the Quomodo together the action the subject and the manner of the action Richardus de Sancto Victore and others who are for the mysticall sense of this Scripture by the rammes and lambes will understand two Hierarchies of the Angels conteining sixe of the Orders of the nine so that according to him the rammes signifie the first Hierarchy the Seraphius the Cherubin the Throni the young sheepe the last Powers Arch-Angels and Angels Sic parvis componere magna By the Mountaines and the Hills must bee meant saith hee Contemplative and speculative men and by the plaine fields which are implied here men of Action Qui hujus vitae plana non deserunt dum terrenis actibus inserviunt in camporum morem ad hujus vitae usum in terrenis lucris quasi quosdam terrae fructus ferunt Who by reason of their secular imployments are said never to forsake the Plaines of the Earth but as the fertile fields to bring forth fruit for the use and service of man Whereas the Contemplative man who is compared unto the Mountaine is commonly barren to the Earth brings no fruit to the Common wealth wherein he lives except hee joynes action to his Contemplation but yet like the Mountaine hee is a great deale nearer heaven hath a nearer accesse and acquaintance with the Lord and is more fruitfull to heaven and God although the fields active men bee more fruitfull to the earth and man The leaping of the soules of these Contemplative and speculative men meant by the mountaines and hills is a metaphor borrowed from a bodily action Now we know that to leape corporally is totum corpus a terra suspendere to take the whole body and for a while to remove it from the touch of the Earth so that for a little space it hangs as it were in the aire Et quid est aliud saith one saltus spiritualis quam spiritum totum quod spiritus est a terrenis altenare and what else is it to leape in the spirit but to remove the spirit and the soule from all earthly cogitations and to climbe up to the contemplation of things invisible The minde of man while it hath before its eyes incorporeall substances whether of Angels or the soules of men and discourses within it selfe about the nature of them is said ad se vel ad sua redire per planum ire to returne to it selfe it is then in its owne proper place and goes in a plaine course without either rises or falls because the nature of that of which he discourses is in plaine or in rancke with himselfe but when ever hee fixes a contemplative eye upon God who is the creating Nature of all things and suffers his soule to be busie upon meditation of his power his excellence his wisedome his eternity his mercy his justice then is the mind said quasi dato saltu supra semetipsam ire as by a leape given to goe above it selfe And these leapers are either the Mountaines or the Hills or Contemplative as I told ye or speculative men They are called Contemplative quibus datum facie ad faciem videre to whom it is given to see God face to face whose knowledge is not clouded in riddles aenigmas in shadowes types and allegories but behold the glory of God in nuda sua simplicitate The speculative are they qui per speculum in aenigmate vident who see God and his power and his wisedome and his greatnesse as it were by reflection presented in a glasse which is the Creator of the whole world and the preservation and governement of it But here is mention made of three things in that part of the Text which is the Coppy or Originall of rammes of sheepe and of lambes Sicut aerietes sicut agni ovium like rammes and like the lambes of the sheepe and therefore in the other part of the Text which is the Transcript we are to finde three things too to poise in the comparison against the three other and they I told yee were the mountaines the hills and the plaine or even fields for although they be not mentioned yet they are implied But here will arise a doubt seeing that in this comparison the rammes and the mountaines do hold the highest place the sheepe and the hills the second the lambes and the plaines the lowest degree of all Why then being that the mountaines are compared to rammes are not the hills compared rather to the sheepe which were to observe the true order in the comparison then to the lambes We answere that there is a great and excellent reason for this The mountaines and the rammes contemplative men and Angels of the first Hierarchy are compared together to shew that there is a similitude betwixt the leapes of the spirit of man and the leapes of those sublime and intellectuall Essenses but for feare lest any man should thinke that this might bee comparatio ad gradum a comparison of equality and from hence bee bold to affirme that the first order of men contemplatives doth ex pari respondere primo gradui Angelorum directly equall the first Hierarchy of Angells the second order of men which is the speculatives the second Hierarchy and the third order of men which are the men of Action and secular imployment the third Hierarchy therefore the Pen of David here which was certainely guided by the holy Spirit doth rather choose to inâ—ringe the order and method of the comparison and compares the Hills which are the second in order amongst men unto the lambes which are the third and last amongst the Angels And the same answere gives Richardus although in other words Quod ergo dictum non est tacuit Propheta saith hee pro removenda suspicione aequalitatis ut id quod dictum intelligatur pro ratione similitudinis But before we can learne truely after what maner the mountaines and the hills doe leape we must first looke upon the patterne after which they doe leape By those forenamed living creatures I told yee wee might in a mysticall sense understand the three Hierarchies of Angels The first three orders Seraphim Cherubin Throni which are likened unto the mountaines are they which are immediately joyned to God who doe inlighten all the inferiour orders but doe receive no illumination from any save from God The three second orders which here lie in method in the similitude although not observed by the Psalmist against the Hills are Dominations Vertues and Principalities and these doe both receive illumination from the higher orders and give to the inferiour The three last orders are Powers Arch-angels and Angels and these receive light or knowledge from the superiour Hierarchies but have no orders below them to whom to communicate any illumination Now for every one of these orders to leape in his kinde is supra semetipsos
rather where wee might have lyen for ever had God not bin as mercifull as hee is just but presently Christ adventures after us for although hee was not exhibited untill the fulnesse of time yet the vertue of his conception nativity passion and resurrection was in efficacie to beleeving Adam He who is immortall became mortall hee who is the Sonne of God and thinks it no robbery to be called equal with the Father became the Son of man took upon him the forme of a servant that wee who are the Sonnes of men might be made the Sonnes of God 2. Our next leape was into the Manger Wee became beast Man being in honour saith the Text that is in the state of innocence had no understanding but was likened unto the beast that perisheth Iumenta puto dicerent si loqui fas esset saith Saint Bernard Ecce Adam factus est quasi unus ex nobis Certainly saith that Father the very beasts themselves had God beene pleased to have bestowed upon them an articulate language as he did once upon Balaams Asse would have spoken those words simply without a figure which God did at that time figuratively and in a Sarcasme Behold man is become like one of us For indeed what was he else but Beast then having lost his excellence lost his understanding lost his immortality and in one word turned his glory the image of God wherein he was created into the similitude of a Calfe that eateth hay But doth Christ leave us here No. His mercy followes us hither too Inde est saith the same Father quod panis Angelorum factum est faenum positum in praesepio appositum nobis tanquam jumentis And therefore he that is the bread of Angells was made grasse became hay For the Word was made flesh Iohn 1. And Isay shall tell us in the fourth Chapter what all flesh is and yet not Isay neither but the spirit for a voyce said Cry and hee said What shall I cry All flesh is grasse and the grace thereof as the flower of the field hee was laid in a Manger to become foode for us who had through our owne disobedience made our selves beasts And therefore how well may we take up that holy rapture of St. Bernard immediatly following Heu tristis lachrymosa mutatio ut homo Paradise accola terrae dominus coeli civis domesticus Domini Sabaoth c. O sorrowfull and lamentable change that man the Inhabiter of Paradise the Lord of the earth a Citizen of heaven a houshold-servant of the Lord of Hoasts brother to the blessed Angells and co-heire with the coelestiall powers upon the sudden should finde himselfe for his infirmity lying in a Stable for the likenesse that hee holds with the Beast standing in neede of Fodder of grasse But much better and with a farre greater reason may wee turne the streame of this extasie and cry O grata stupenda lata mutatio ut Paradisi dominus coeli terrae conditor Dominus Sabaoth Rex Angelorum c. O happy change blessed and ever to be wondred at That the Governour and Maker of Paradise the Creator of all the world the Lord of Hoasts the King of Angells God blessed for ever should lay aside his Majestie come downe from heaven leave the innumerable company of holy Angells and be content to become a poore naked and distressed Infant whose best roome at his Nativity was a Stable a Manger his Cradle O the height and depth of the wisdome and mercy of God! He who was Lord of all the world chooses no better roome then a Stable Non quia non potuit sed quia homo noluit Not because he was not able but because Man would not suffer him A Paradox Would not man suffer him How then was he God Understand aright The sinne of man and his owne mercy would not suffer him The end of his comming was to seeke and to save that which was lost Mankind And where should he seeke for him but where he was Et ecce nunc de grege facta est egregia creatura For behold now Man who was once a glorious creature hath taken up his habitation with the beast Our third leape but stay wee should bee worse then beasts if wee should thus lightly skip over this blessed leape of our Saviour this time of preparation for that great approaching Feast instituted by the Church seeming to envite us to a further honourable mention O dies plena miraculorum saith St. Augustine Creator fit creatura qui immensus est capitur incorporeus carne vestitur videtur invisibilis c. O day full of wonders The Creator is become a creature he whom the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot containe is this day comprehended hee who is incorporeall is cloathed with flesh hee is handled now who cannot be touched hee who is the Ancient of dayes is this day become an Infant or if ye will have all in one word Nascitur Deus God himselfe is borne Qui natus est primò sine matre in coelis bodie natus est sine patre in terris Hee who was borne in the heavens from all eternity without a Mother is this day borne on earth without a Father Barbara Pyramidum sileat miracula Memphis Let Aegypt now cease to talke of her molehills of bricke the Ephesians of their Temple Babylon of her walls Rhodes of his Colosse Vnum pro cunâ—is fama loquatur opus And let this fill the mouth of all the world Nor is this all For then wee might indeed wonder but without any comfort to our selves now let us adde joy unto our wonder For natus est nobis puer There is borne to us a Child borne to us a Saviour This was that day to see which the holy Patriarches and Prophets of the old Testament so thirsted after Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth for thy love is better then wine Cant. Chap. 1. Abraham saw this day and that but in Landskip a farre off and yet for all that saith our Saviour he rejoyced And well was it called a day for then the Sunne of righteousnesse did rise to the world which before lay steeped in darknesse Blessed are the eyes saith Christ to his Disciples Luke 10.23 which see those things which yee see for I tell yee that many Kings and Prophets have desired to see the things that yee see and have not seene them Upon which words St. Bernard descants thus Quare nisi quia nox erat nondum venerat illud expectatum mane cui fuerat repromissa misericordia Why saith hee could they not see these things Because it was night as yet and that longed for morning was not broke which David so earnestly prayed for in his 143. Psalme Let me heare thy loving kindnesse in the morning for in thee is my trust How truely may wee call Iohn the Baptist the Morning-starre for as that ushers out the beautifull Sunne so did hee
Christ He was not that light saith St. Iohn in his 1. Chap. but was sent to beare witnesse of that light that was the true light which lighteth every man who commeth into the world Iohn was but as a Torch-bearer before that Bridegroome who came out of his Chamber rejoycing like a mighty man to runne his race But to leave this sacred mysterie with admiration being a Theame fitter for the pen or tongue of an Angel then of a weake man let us come unto our selves And what shall wee render to the Lord againe for all this now I will tell yee Since it hath so pleased God so to love the world as to give his only begotten Sonne to us let us thinke nothing too good nothing too deare for him let us so love him againe as to dedicate our selves unto him Since Christ hath vouchsafed to take such a leape for us to come from heaven to earth let us in all thankfulnesse leape from earth into heaven to him But ye will aske me how Hic labor hoc opus est This is a thing indeed desired of all for who would not be in heaven but it is full of difficulties I answer therfore the more noble the more to be desired The way to honour is up hill the passage craggy and thorny but bee not dismayed for this journey which I speake of is not a corporall but a spirituall journey Take thou no care how thy body which must bee laid downe in the dust nor how thy soule when it is separated from thy body shall bee carried into those heavenly habitations trust thy Saviour with this who will take custody of thy soule when thou layest downe thy Tabernacle and in his good time raise up thy body too to immortalitie If thou whilest thou art herein the body canst take thy thoughts from the earth and send them on a holy Ambassage to heaven if thou canst raise up thy thankfull heart to a blessed acknowledgement of the mercy of God in thy Saviour Iesus Christ who came downe thus to thee I dare say in this thou hast leapt from earth to heaven which moving and stirring of thy soule like a troubled boxe of pretious Oyntment whose vertuous odours slept till they were awaked by stirring shall make thee smell sweet in the nostrills of God Thy lips O my spouse saith Christ in the 4. Chapter of this Song drops as honey combes honey and milke are under thy tongue the savour of thy garments is as the savour of Lebanon Camphyre and Spikenard and Saffron and Calamus and Cinamon with all the Trees of incense Which is nothing else but to shew us by the similitude of these earthly things these odoriferous delicacies which are most acceptable to our sense how pleasing and gratefull are the lips i. the confessions the prayers the thankesgivings of his whole Church in generall or of every faithfull soule in particular unto God Wee have a saying amongst us and it is a true one Ingratum si dixeris omnia dixeris Name but the ingratefull person and thou namest every thing that is bad But alas how truely may wee quite invert this saying and inverted apply it our selves Omnia si dixeris ingratum dixeris Name all things name all the benefits all the bounties all the mercies which God with a liberall hand hath heaped upon mankinde without weight without measure without number Nay name this mercy of all mercies So God loved the world that hee gave us his onely begotten Sonne Yet for all this thou mayest call man ingratefull For where is our wedding apparell at the Celebration of these Nuptialls Where is our faith where is our charity where is our newnesse of life in these dayes of preparation where are our praises our Songs of deliverance Vox quoque Maerim Iam fugit ipsa lupi Maerim videre priores Wee are Pythagoreans now Harpocrates or the Woolfe hath seene us such a heavie silence is fallen upon us If yee aske mee how yee shall honour this time truly Saint Augustine shall tell yee Cogita Deum Patrem mittentem cogita Deum Filium venientem cogita teipsum immerentem Thinke upon God the Father in mercy sending his Sonne thinke upon God the Sonne in mercy come being sent of the Father and when thou hast done this thinke upon thine owne unworthinesse and doe this seriously and it cannot choose but worke in thee a love towards God a hating of thy selfe and thy sinnes a charity to thy poore brethren and once adorne thee with all the graces fitting the celebration of so blessed a time Our third leape was de Praesepe ad Crucem from the Manger to the Crosse from Beast to the curse due to sinne Cursed is every one who hangs upon a tree But doth Christ leave us here No. Hee leapes after us hither too No sooner are the two theeves upon the Crosse but lift up thine eyes and thou shalt finde him in the midst of them crying to the penitent This day thou shalt be with mee in Paradise And doe but reade that speech of Christ to Iudas in the 13. of Saint Iohns Gospell And then tell me whether we may not truly call this a leape of his or no a leape of joy a leape of an earnest desire The consideration of which me thinks cannot choose but make our hearts leape within us too at the 27. verse And after the sop Sathan entred into him That which thou doest doe quickly What should this bee which Iudas was about that we find our Saviour wooing him to such a speed in the execution of it That which thou doest doe quickly Why if yee will needs know it was to betray him to the death of the Crosse This was the action to the performance of which our blessed Saviour courts his betrayer Of such a love as this can no Stories make mention Had it beene to receive a Kingdome to have had his browes begirt with some imperiall Diadem to have mounted a triumphant Chariot and from thence to have beheld all his enemies dragd in fetters after him wee should not then have wondered that hee had leaped towards it and murmured at the heavie paces of time but when we consider that that which he made love to was death more an ignomâ—nious death the death of the Crosse the company be so longed to be with no better then Theeves Hee was numbred with the transgressours when we consider that the best welcome he could expect besides the pangs of death would be the bitter taunts of his enemies the banquet they entertained him with composed by those two harsh and unequall-handed Confectionaries Cruelty and Scorne no better then gall and vineger that he should leape towards this and be so desirous to have this done quickly here is the wonder I should here describe unto yee those thornie mountaines and craggy passages which Christ overcame in this leape of his from the Manger to the Crosse but this is an Antheme fitter for Good Friday
and Saviour doest thou call that but a little while wherein we are deprived of thy presence Salvum sit verbum Domini mei longum est multum valde nimis This is a language Lord wee understand Not to call him who is Truth it selfe into question for his words this which thou callest but a little while seemes to us almost as long-liv'd as eternity Call it a thousand Ages Lord and not a little while But the devout Father hath found a reconciliation Veruntamen utrunque verum saith he modicum meritis non modicum votis It is but a little while indeed if wee respect our owne merits our sinnes having deserved that we should be deprived of him for ever but it is more then a little while if we regard the fervent desires which all true and zealous Christians have of his comming againe an earnest longing for the thing we love and want spinning every moment of delay into a yeare of dayes He is ascended into the heavens his enemies here on earth are all subdued unto him the warres which he came about are fully ended Sinne Hell Death and the Grave doe all lie prostrate before his feet and hee as Conquerour returnes into heaven which is his native Countrey In jubilatione voce Tubae as the Psalmist 47. Psalm Hee hath subdued the people under us and the nations under our feet God is gone up with Triumph even the Lord with the sound of a Trumpet In voce etenim Tubae mos est victorem redire de praelio saith St. Ierome For this is the musicke wherewith the Victor is accustomed to returne from the spoyle of his enemies He is ascended into the heavens What businesse then have wee here upon earth Our head our Captaine is above O let our conversations be above too Let us lift up our eyes unto the Hills from whence commeth our help all our help commeth from the Lord. What have wee to doe with the earth any more or earthly affections Woe to us that we are constrained to remaine in Meshech and to have our habitation in the Tents of Kedar Our GOD our Redeemer is in heaven sitting at the right hand of the Father let our hearts bee there too for what is there now left upon earth worth the loving Christs Ascension doth call for our Ascension The journey indeed our soules have to Heaven is great and wee want wings to carry us but let us take comfort for our Saviour hath promised us his aid St. Iohn 12 32. And I when I am lift up from the earth will draw all men unto me Wee have done with this Text as it was interpreted by some of the Fathers of Christs comming in the flesh We now intend by Gods assistance to give yee onely a Paraphrasticall Discourse of the second Interpretation which points out this Scripture as meant of the comming of our Saviour in the Spirit to the Church in generall to each faithfull Christian soule in particular And the same divisions will serve us still we have here 1 His Motion Behold he comes 2 The manner of his Motion Of his dignation Of his repudiation 3 The way Double too according to the manner Of the motion of God how hee may bee said to come or goe to ascend or descend wee have already in the beginning of this Discourse told yee and therefore wee must come directly now to the manner And first of that manner of his motion in the Spirit which respects his mercy And this hath either an eye to the end of his journey in this word he comes venit non abit hee doth not turne his backe and fly from us but hee comes towards us For had he leapt had he leapt never so joyfully and not have come leaping made his approaches toward us but have leapt from us wee had had but a small part in this joy but now let our hearts leape within us for he comes leaping Or else the manner of his motion hath an eye unto himselfe in this word leaping Hee comes leaping and so the meaning of it is Laetus est ipse Spiritus the holy Spirit it selfe leapes that is is joyfull for we know that the outward leaping is an effect of an inward joy the holy Ghost is full of joy and takes a great deale of delight in the journey which hee makes to men Or else it hath an eye unto us in the same word leaping and so St. Bernard understands it Salit id est dat ut saliat saith hee Hee leapes that is hee makes them leape he fills them with joy and gladnesse whose hearts are thought worthy to bee made Temples of the holy Ghost Hee comes Wee sit still it is hee who comes Certainly in all good manners and reason a man would thinke that it should belong to us rather to have gone to him then to him to have come to us Wee who were the offending persons wee who had so malitiously sinned against so gracious a Father without whose reconciliation wee had for ever perished wee sit still and hee comes The Cedar in Libanus comes to the Thistle in Libanus the expression is not full enough The Eagle of the mountaines makes a journey to the Gnat in the valley nor yet but why should I hunt about for comparisons betwixt things which are infinitely distant If yee will have all in one word The omnipotent everliving God comes to poore man who indeed as David said of himselfe may be truely called a worme and no man Here is therefore place both for our joy and thankfulnesse the journey which the holy Spirit takes it is towards us it is not from us he comes Let us therefore take up the Harpe and Timbrel tune our soules into a pleasant Key rise up and meete our Lord and Master who out of his incomparable mercy doth vouchsafe to visite his poore servants nor let us bee without a song in our mouthes to entertaine him with Sing wee thereforee with holy Zachary Blessed bee the Lord God of Israel for hee hath visited and redeemed his people and let our lives and conversations continually sing this Antheme too For God is pleased indeed to heare a voyce without an Instrument but he is delighted more when that voyce is joyned to the musick of a Harpe when there is a consent betwixt the fingers the works of the hand and the confession of the lips And let us bee as merry as we can wee shall finde the holy Spirit to bee as joyfull as wee for hee doth not onely come but hee comes leaping That great God who is so infinitely happy already that nothing can be added to his blessednesse he who hath no need at all of any service of ours nor of the beautifull Angels themselves hee who if the whole hoste of heavenly spirits had fallen with Lucifer and all mankind had perished eternally had beene yet the same God he is now infinitely good infinitely perfect infinitely happy yet he comes rejoycing he
how when from â—ence and by whom they were brought into our Church in a meere opposition and contempt of the Booke of Common-Prayers But why then brought in and why still continued in contempt of that I acknowledge I understand not for if we looke into the Order Method and Disposition of that Booke we shall finde it sweet and harmonious if into the sufficiencie of it rich and full for what thing is it thou would'st name in thy Prayers whether it bee by the way of Confession or thy sinnes or of Thankesgiving for Benefits received or of Petition for the future but thou mayst furnish thy selfe with there more perfectly lively and more compendiously exprest then all thy wit can possibly contrive They went both to pray And whether went they Why into the Temple Private Prayers are good thy Closet-Devotions when none are admitted into the Dialogue but onely God and thine owne Soule are good and acceptable to the Lord the Prayers of thy Family are pleasing to God too but the publike Prayers of the Congregation which are put up to God in the Temple in the place dedicated to his Worship are more pleasing more availeable for we know that he has promised his presence in a more especiall manner where two or three be gathered together which place may bee most fitly interpreted of the gathering together of the Congregation in Gods House For a Family cannot proproperly be sayd to be gathered together because they are but as one body which is compact and contiguous which needs no gathering A Gathering does presuppose things that are scattered and separated But now the Pharisie and the Publicane must here shake hands and it is to bee fear'd that they will never meet againe no not in Heaven FINIS THE SECOND SERMON Continuing the Discourse upon the same words The Pharisee stood I This is done like himselfe indeed he comes into the Temple to Worship and when he is there he stands He is too good it seemes to bow his Knee before the Lord. Thus did not MOSES and AARON who fell both upon their Faces before the Lord. Numb 16. Saying O God Numb 16. the God of the spirits of all flesh hath one man sinned and wilt thou be wroth with the whole Congregation Thus did not DANIEL who in his 6. Chap. no lesse then three times every day was downe upon his Knees praying to God Thus did not CHRIST himselfe who in the 22. Luke 22. of Saint Luke Kneeled downe and prayed And yet this sinfull proud Pharisee a worme of the Earth he comes into the presence of the Lord and out-faces him as it were in his owne House stands in a peremptory confidence of his owne merits with a daring countenance a stretched-out Necke and a Knee stiffer then the Pillers of Heaven for IOB tels us in his 26. Chap. That they tremble and quake at his reproofe O that we had not too many such Pharisees now adayes who come into the Church stiffe as the Pillers which underprop it For whom they reserve their Knees I cannot tell certaine I am they are very sparing of them towards God and whether the Lord has deserv'd to have their Knees or no I will put it to their owne judgement Hee made our Bodyes as well as our Soules and sure we owe him Reverence with them both But our bowing before the Altar towards the East end of the Church troubles our standing Pharisees very much If I could suppose that their prejudicate opinions would give them leave to hearken to reason I should endeavor to give them what satisfaction I am able The first thing then which they must grant whither they will or no is That God must bee worshipped with the Body as well as with the Soule And therefore that Argument is but frivolous to say that God is a Spirit and he must bee worshipped in Spirit and in Truth It is true God is a Spirit and he must be worshipped in Spirit but how Fundamentalitèr non exclusire Fundamentally the Foundation of thy worship must bee layd in the Spirit without which all the bowing in the world I acknowledge is worth nothing in the Eyes of God but not exclusively excluding the bodily Worship Nay it is impossible that thou shouldst worship God in Spirit and in Truth except it bee also exprest in the body never tell me of thy inward and bare Spirituall worship Can precious Oyntment be conceal'd Can fire in the midst of combustible matter lye hid The Body is but the Instrument and Servant of the Soule and followes her Dictates This being granted the next thing we must force yee to grant is that this bodily Worship is to bee given especially in the Church for therefore come we to Church and therefore were Churches built for the Worship of God Now what is Externall worship The Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comming from the Verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Congeniculo vel in genua procumbo to bow or to fall downe upon the Knees will tell us And yee shall finde that in most places where the vulgar Latine Translation renders it Adoravit it is as much in the Hebrew as Incurvatus est he was bowed or hee was bended in his body To Worship then outwardly is to boâ— the Knee or the Body and this ought to bee done and this ought to bee done in the Church especially But why then towards the East I will strive to satisfie yee in that too I hope yee will yeild that if we doe it at all we must needs doe it with our faces pointed to one particular place and why to that place rather then to an other the reasons are excellent and they be reasons which the Primitive â—nes â—ad The Heathens were all great worshippers of the Sunne and therefore they us'd to worship towards the East the place of the Sunnes Rising where their God appear'd to them first in the Morning But the Lord because he would not have his people the Iewes to imitate the Heathen therefore by his command the Arke was set in the West part of the Tabernacle and afterwards of the Temple when it was built in the holyest place of all And Aquinas gives another reason which he calles the Figurative reason and it is this Because the whole State of the former Tabernacle was ordain'd to signifie the Death of CHRIST and this is figured out unto us by the West according to that in the 68. Psalme Sing praise unto Him who rideth upon the Heavens as upon a Horse For so it is in the English but the truth of the Interpretation according to the Originall is Qui ascendit super occasum Dominus nomen illi Who rideth upon the West the Lord is his Name Who rides upon the West that is who tryumphs over Death signified by the West the place where the Sunne sets And indeed if yee observe yee shall finde almost all the Ceremonies all the Sacrifices of the old Law
ire to rise up in a Contemplation unto such things as are above their owne nature For the first orders therefore to reade the greatnesse the wisedome and providence of God in any of the inferiour orders or in subjecta creatura in the Fabrick of the world hoe descendere potius quam saltus dare this is rather to goe downe then to leape To view the greatnesse and majestie of God in themselves in looking into their owne pure nature hoc illorum est per planum ire this is their plaine way they neither rise nor fall in doing thus But they are said to leape when they ascend into a simple and naked Contemplation of the Power the Wisedome the Majesty of God as he is in himselfe and so behold with admiration that Fountaine of beauty of goodnesse of order of proportion The second and third Hierarchies they are onely said to leape when they doe rise in a speculation into the orders above them and from thence are furnished with matter of admiration concerning the Divine power and wisedome For although it be granted that these inferiour orders have also their simple contemplations doe behold the face of God too enjoy the beatificall vision as well as the other yet this may be called illorum volatus potius quam tripudium rather their flight then their leaping because wee know hee that leapes doth not multum elongere se à stationis suae loco removes not himselfe farre from the place he was in before which we finde contrary in a flight when the thing that flies works it selfe many times into a vast distance Therefore because those orders of Angels which are here set out unto us by the name of rammes in their leapes doe never use but a simple Contemplation and the other inferiour orders never but a speculation most fitly hath the Psalmist laid his comparison together Montes exultaverunt ut arietes colles sicut agni ovium For the mountaines then to skip like rammes is when Contemplative men in a kinde of sacred extasie and overflowing of the soule doe climbe up into pure notions of the Deity abstracted from speculations doe behold the face of God not in the glasse of the creature but as he is in himselfe all splendor all glory all brightnesse all goodnesse And for the hills to skip like lambs is when speculative men doe climbe up into an admiration of God by beholding the works of his handâ— as St. Paul to the Romans 1.20 For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seene in the creation of the world being considered in his workes Pensemus ergo c. Let us therefore conceive if we be able what a mighty prerogative and grace it is for our humane and fraile natures to be likened in the motions of our minds unto the glorious Angels And let us therfore praise the GOD of Angels and men who hath made us a little lower then the Angels to crowne us with glory and worship O blessed soule and truely happy who can take such leapes as these who leaving the dull senses asleepe can secretly steale from the body and mount up in a moment unto the familiarity of Angels bee partakers of their joyes be present at their spirituall delicates and with them leape from one degree of knowledge and illumination to another and with infinite delight and admiration still bee knowing of that immensity which can never bee fully knowen Lord let my soule ever leape after this manner and I shall not envie all the flattering courtship that the world can shew me But I make haste to the Quare the cause of this leaping What aile yee O yee mountaines c. reade but the next verse and the Question is answered A facie Domini mota est terra for so good Translations as I told yee reade it The earth was moved at the Face of the Lord. Hugo set downe foure severall faces of Christ Facâ—m 1 Viventis The face of Christ living or the face of his Poverty And this face did he shew in his Nativity and after in his whole life being made poore for our sakes so that hee had not so much as whereon to lay his head 2 Morientis The face of Christ dying or the face of his Griefe And this face did hee shew us upon the Crosse which seemed to becken to all Passengers and to say in the Prophet Ieremies words Lam. 1.12 Have yee no regard all yee that passe by this way behold and see if there bee any sorrow like unto my sorrow 3 Iudicantis The face of Christ Iudging or the face of his Anger And this face will he shew to the wicked ones in the day of judgement 4 Regnantis The face of Christ reigning or the face of his Glory and pleasure And this face will hee onely shew to the Saints in the Kingdome of Heaven But I must make bold in the midst of these foure to insert one face more of Christs which Hugo Cardinalis did not thinke of and that is Facies resurgentis The face of Christ arising from the dead subduing the grave and leading Captivity captive And this is the face of Christ meant here at the sight of which the Earth was moved The Mountaines skipped c. And what thing is there so heavy that could sit still and behold this face O let not us then be more insensible then the Mountaines and Hills to which wee are compared for we must know that the strength of the comparison doth not lie in the ponderousnesse of the Mountaines No wee ought not to imitate them in this but it doth consist in the height in their neernesse to heaven and their distance from the common roades of men Lift up your heads therefore O yee gates and be yee lift up yee everlasting doores and the King of glory will come in First then O yee mountaines of the earth who doe enjoy a vicinity and kinde of familiarity with God and heaven Yee men of contemplation who by the advantage of your height have a far clearer and neerer prospect of God and of the wonders that are in him then they who are upon the little Hills and Plaines of the earth below O lift up your heads on high in a thankfull acknowledgement and admiration of the wisedome the power the mercy of our God who sent his onely Sonne in whom he was well pleased into the world that he by his poverty his ignominie his obedience his death might make an atonement for our sins And this is the day wherein that gracious worke was perfectly finished this is the day wherein our Saviour Christ having entred into the house of that strong man Death and bound him like a Giant refreshed with wine issued out of the Grave in triumph Or once This is the day which the Lord hath made let us reioyce and be glad in it For be sure that the Lord lookes for greater higher and more frequent leapes from you for purer and
more exalted notions approaching neere unto the contemplation of Angells then he doth from the Hills and Plaines For to whom much is given of him shall much be required So that as Saint Paul said of himselfe concerning preaching of the Gospell Woe is me if I preach not the Gospell so may I say of my self and of all our whole Tribe the Tribe of Levi with me of all the Priests of the Lord the Sonnes of the Prophets who are as it were a portion set apart for God himselfe and like the mountaines neerer heaven are or at the least should be farther removed from the plaines of the earth worldly cares imployments to the end that being freed from these outward destractions and disturbances wee should the more intend the honour of God and the good of his people Woe he unto us if wee above other men doe not leape for joy doe not sing songs of deliverance unto the God of our redemption In the next place O yee Hills praise yee the Lord. 'T is Davids counsell Psalme 148. Yee speculative men who are not yet growne up to the altitude of mountaines yee who are not able yet to climbe into a simple contemplation of God but doe behold his wisedome and power in the Glasse of the creature in the Creation Government of the world O doe yee leape too and although yee cannot yet fetch such Masculine leapes as the Rammes do let not this discourage yee Here is a degree of comparison for you too doe it like the Lambes or the young ones of the Flock Nor must we exempt the Fields the Plaines of the Earth from bearing a part in this joy the men of action and secular businesse they must come in for their share too and although they cannot leape or skip like the mountaines or the hills yet we will finde out an imployment for them too Whilst the mountaines and the hills dance before the presence of the Lord and trace it in comely figures together the fruitfull vallyes shall sing unto them as they passe and this I am sure they are able to doe For David in one of his Psalmes brings them in in the very same action and makes the moving cause of it to bee onely the fruitfulnesse of the Earth The vallyes saith he stand so thick with corne that they doe laugh and sing But wee have a greater cause then the fruitfulnesse of the Earth to move us the fruitfulnesse of heaven is fallen upon us and the Day-spring from on high hath visited us Hee whom the other day wee left hanging upon the Crosse the scorne and laughter of Passengers and hath lyen as imprisoned in the house of death for three dayes and three nights hath now broken from the prison of the Grave and to our endlesse comfort and eternall Salvation loosed and shaken off the bands of death not onely for himselfe over whom death shall have no more dominion but also for us too For now since his conquest Death hath lost his strength nor shall the Grave be able now to hold any of us hereafter The force of the Prison wall is decayed and through the breach which his blessed Resurrection hath made therein shall we finde a way unto eternity of living Let us therefore who are the Vallyes Plaines of the Earth though we are not able to leape and skip after the manner of the mountaines and hills who have higher and purer revelations then our selves although wee cannot sing unto the honour of our Saviour in so heavenly a straine or in so wel penn'd Anthemes as they yet let us not faile to doe our endeavours though it bee in a more homely Musick for the Lord doth not despise the Musick even of an oaten reede tuned to his Praise and he can discover a sweetnesse even in the harsh note of a sigh or a groane which is pointed to him Let us therefore for this present joyne our selves in Chorus with old Zachary Luke 1. and say Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for hee hath visited and redeemed his people Amen THE THIRD SERMON PREACHED Upon Saint Peters Day JOHN 21. VER 17. He said unto him the third time Simon the sonne of Jona lovest thou mee and Peter was sory because he said unto him the third time lovest thou me and said unto him Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Iesus said unto him Feede my Sheepe VPon the day dedicated to the memory of St. Peter wee have made choyce of a Text wherein we finde St. Peter sorrowfull and indeede wee should doe wrong to the holy Apostle if we should at all remember him without his sorrow Never feare that sorrow for sinne will ever spoile the face of a good Christian 't is the comeliest thing about him and he doth St. Peter the most honour who pictures him weeping Alas to call to minde onely the sinnes and imperfections of this holy man onely to mention how shamefully he denied his Master and to leave out his bitter weeping and his repentance which is the best part of the story were to bring him upon the stage onely to disgrace him but that man doth St. Peter right who remembers his repentance as well as his sinne Wee have in this Scripture then these three things 1. Peters sorrow Hee was sory saith the Text Secondly The cause of his sorrow And that is we see our Saviours saying unto him the third time lovest thou me Thirdly The effect of St. Peters sorrow And this is double Neerer or farther off The effect which I call the neerer is St. Peters answer Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee The effect of his sorrow which I call the farther off is the reply of Christ unto Peters answer Iesus said unto him Feede my Sheepe 1. Peter was sory What Peter might this be That Peter who in the Gospell read for this day by reason of that cleare Confession Thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God was pronounced blessed by the mouth of Christ That Peter to whom were given the Keyes of the Kingdome of heaven so that whatsoever he bindes on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever he looses on earth shall be loosed in heaven Yes Even the very same Peter even the very same Simon the sonne of Ionas whom our Saviour himselfe in that 16. of St. Mathew proclaimed blessed He is sorrowfull First Peter the blessed is sorrowfull Certainly then it is not altogether such an accursed and hatefull thing to endure affliction and troubles here upon earth as it is supposed it is Be comforted then thou who art in misery art persecuted or afflicted for thou seest that Saint Peter here who was in the opinion of no lesse then Christ a blessed man hee was in sorrow hee was griev'd which did not a whit diminish his blessednesse but rather encrease it Secondly Peter the holy is sorrowfull O then it is in vaine to looke for true felicity here
on earth The greatest Saints of God we see are not without their rainie dayes and tempests a perpetuall calme is onely to be found in heaven Nay Peter who to his inward gifts and graces of the spirit had also an outward competency of corporall goods he was full he wanted nothing hee was newly risen from a Feast he enjoy'd the company of his friends and his companions were round about him no small blessing Nay hee had the bodily presence of Christ himselfe Nor was hee furnished onely for the present but hee had also provision for many dayes no lesse then a Stock of an hundred fifty and three great fishes for hereafter so that hee might have said with the rich Foole in the Gospell Soule take thy rest thou hast goods enough layd up for thee No all this cannot shut griefe out of the heart of Saint Peter Peter for all this was sorie Let us learne therefore from hence to know that true joy which is without any mixture of griefe is not to be found in any earthly good whatsoever not in thy riches not in thy dainties not in thine honors not in the multitude and greatnesse of thy friends No Seeke for that in any other place except it be in heaven and bee sure that thou shalt lose thy labour 2 But why is Peter sory because his Master asks him whether he loves him or no What could there be in this which could grieve Saint Peter One would have thought that this should rather have made him joyfull to heare his Lord and the Lord of the whole world to talke so familiarly with him to take such particular notice of him and of his love No this is not all For wee finde our Saviour saying the very same words unto him twice before and yet he was not a whit mov'd at it then but now he sayes unto him the third time lovest thou mee As if some secret influence had beene wrapt up in those words and so convay'd into his soule yee may discerne a suddaine alteration in the man What should the meaning of this be Shall wee say that there is any Magick or Witchcraft in the number of three Wee must not say it But this wee may say A hidden vertue or power there was in those words of our Saviour repeated thrice unto him Alas at the first and second speaking of them Peter did not know the meaning of our Saviour but no sooner doth he come upon him with that question the third time but then hee begins to recollect himselfe and verily beleeve that there is something in it more then ordinary As if Peter had dialogued thus with himselfe What should this meane that my Lord and Master doth so often repeat these words to mee Lovest thou mee lovest thou mee lovest thou mee Would not this once named have served the turne Is it possible that Christ can affect empty repetitions which are like clouds without water Certainly all his words are ponderous nor doth a syllable fall from his blessed lips but what is full of meaning and mysterie No lesse then thrice together lovest thou me O my tormented conscience I have it One deepe calls upon another because of the noyse of the water pipes Now our Apostle begins to dive a little into the mystery of the number 3. and thinks with himselfe what he can call to mind within the compasse or intimation of that number which may concerne himselfe And sure he shall not need to be long in meditation about it If hee chance to bee forgetfull wee 'l bring the Cocke againe to waken his memory and that shall crow but once to tell him that hee hath denied his Master thrice O it was this which touched him to the quicke his mind presently upon Christs third repetition ran backe to his threefold deniall Now Peter understands the intent of his Master but yet sure not all his intent for then hee would never have grieved for the matter He fixes onely upon that part of it which did respect the hainousnesse of his former sinne and called that backe to his memory it is likely he never thought at that time upon the other part of Christs intention which was the good and honour of St. Peter that by this threefold open confession of his Lord and Saviour hee might as much as in him lay expiate his threefold deniall of him This was certainly the chiefest reason why our Saviour urges this to Peter the third time that hee might give him an occasion to redeeme the honour which hee had lost before Hee denied him thrice before and now to make amends for that he confesses him as often But it runnes in the Text And Peter was sory because hee said unto him the third time lovest thou mee which implies that Peter was not so much grieved for the sinne of his deniall it selfe as hee was at the unkindnesse as hee supposed of our Saviour who first seemes to make it a great doubt whether Peter loved him or no in asking him so often And well hee might doubt of it although to speake properly Christ could not doubt of any thing because he knew all things for Peter by his former denialls had given him sufficient cause to doubt And secondly by this threefold Question seemes to upbraid Peter with the same businesse that the Cock told him of before And this is the nature of us all who commonly doe thinke so well of our selves that we account it a great disparagement to have our faith or hope our love or our religion called in question No let us alone wee are well wee love God and wee love Christ wee hope for heaven and wee know all shall bee well with us To what purpose are all these questions With Peter we are sory if any one asks us whether we love Christ or no In the next place wee are of the same nature with St. Peter too by any meanes we doe not love to heare of our sinnes We doe not reade here that CHRIST was any whit plaine or open with Peter Hee did not tell him of his sinne in a diameter in a straight line for wee finde not a word of any denials mentioned but onely tacitely and insinuatingly doth hee by his threefold confession bring backe to his memory his threefold deniall which hee knew could not chuse but do it It is likely that the rest of the company who were present with them at this discourse tooke no notice at all of his meaning it was onely knowne to Peter himselfe who had a vigilant monitor within him his conscience quickning his apprehension and yet for all this Peter is grieved And it was well he was but grieved hee was not angry as many of us will bee now adayes when we heare our darling sinnes a little touched O yee will hug us of the Clergy so long as wee let yee alone so long as wee doe not bring backe your sinnes to your memory wee are quiet and honest men so long as
Provinces to runne through two difficult businesses to prove The first of which is as I told yee when I branched the queâ—stion that the authority of St. Peter above the other Apostles is hereditary and derived to his Successors and next which will bee the hardest of all to prove that St. Peter had any such Supremacy given him So that although wee yeeld that St. Peter was Bishop of Rome and that all the Popes have beene and are his lawfull Successours and grant farther that these lawfull successours of St. Peter have the very same authority and supremacy derived upon them which their Predecessour had before given him by Christ Yet for all this they have done nothing for hee who is heire ex toto asse of the whole inheritance of his father can be but heire of his whole inheritance hee can possesse no more then his father left him Now we denie that St. Peter had any such Supremacy given him and they can inherit no more Supremacy then hee had to bestow upon them But they will prove it they say out of this Text. Our Saviour saith here to Saint Peter alone and that in the presence of other of the Apostles Feede my Sheepe He doth not say to Iohn Feede my Sheepe nor to Andrew nor to Thomas Feede my Sheepe but onely to Peter The whole charge is laid upon him But did I call it a charge or burthen O no say they this word Feede doth not onely signifie a charge or burthen but it also implies a dominion and soveraignty and for this they runne to Homer who calls King Agameâ—non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sheepheard or the Ruler of the people But it seemes they are hardly put to it that they are forced to runne to a blinde Heathen Poet for an interpretation of Christs meaning A man might suppose that Saint Augustine should tell them a great deale better what kinde of feeding is here understood who upon this very Text hath these words What else is meant by this Lovest thou mee Feede my Sheepe then if Christ had said If thou lovest mee thinke not of feeding thy selfe but of feeding my Sheepe and feede them as my Sheepe not as thine owne so feede them that thou mayest seeke my honour and profit in feeding them and not thine owne But let us say as we cannot deny that this word feede doth also expresse a kinde of rule and government over the Sheepe yet this makes no more for Saint Peter then for the rest of the Apostles to whom our Saviour gives the same charge and office though in other words in the 16. of St. Marke Goe into all the world and Preach the Gospell to every creature And this to whom Not to Peter onely but to the eleven He appeared to the eleven as they sate together saith the Text and said unto them Goe into all the world c. And doe but observe what Saint Augustine saith not onely concerning this but also of that other place in which they have a greater confidence then in this in the 16. of Saint Mathew Wherein our Saviour upon that confession of Saint Peter Thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God tells him that he will give to him the keyes of the Kingdome of heaven so that whatsoever he looses on earth shall be loosed in heaven and whatsoever he bindes on earth shall be bound in heaven O the Popes have a great minde to be the onely heires to Saint Peter of these words but they are not so hasty to lay any claime to that other speech of our Saviours to Peter following in the same Chapter Get thee behinde mee Satan because thou understandest not the things that be of God but the things that be of men St. Augustines words are these in his 118. Tractate upon Saint Iohns Gospell writing upon the seamelesse coate of Christ which the Souldiers cast lots for and did not divide Omnes interrogati solus Petrus respondet c. That question Whom say yee that I am was saith the Father propounded to them all but onely Peter answered for them Hee was the mouth of the rest of the Apostles and therefore Christ saith to Peter in the name of them all To thee will I give the keyes of the Kingdom of heaven And marke the words well Tibi dabo claves regni coelorum tanquam ligandi solvendi solus acceperit potestatem cuÌ„ illud unios pro omnibus dixerit hoc cum omnibus tanquam personam gerens ipsius unitatis acceperit As if saith S. Aug. Peter had received the power of binding and loosing alone when as hee both answered for them all and received the power for them all The words are as cleare as the Sunne God forbid that I should goe about any way to disparage or under value this holy Apostle No wee will willingly give him the honour that is due to him And indeed hee had a kinde of personall preheminence above the rest of his fellowes and that by reason of his age his faith his valour his love towards his Master Concerning his faith wee finde that so great that he adventured himselfe to walke upon the face of the Sea to meete his Lord when all his fellowes stood trembling in the Ship and thought themselves scarcely secure there And although hee had almost sunke in the action yet this makes nothing against him for it argued a great Faith in that hee durst put himselfe within the danger of sinking And to give yee an answer to our Saviours words in the 14. of Saint Mathew when taking Peter by the hand he saith unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O thou of little saith wherefore doest thou feare Our Saviour doth not call him here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O thou of no faith But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O thou of little faith And it is true his faith was but litle if we make it looke towards the love power of Christ who had the windâ— and the Sea and all creatures at his command and whose love was as great as his power Peters faith indeed if it regards this was but a little faith But if wee make it respect the no faith of his fellowes in this businesse in comparison to them it may be called a great saith Then for his love and valour we see that it was only he amongst them who durst draw his sword in his Masters quarrell If yee object his deniall to mee I answer that that makes for the courage of St. Peter For in that he denied his Lord he was more valiant then all his fellowes nor is this my conceit alone but St. Augustines in one of his Sermons de tempore hee was not affraid to come so neere even to denie him The Shepheard was smitten and all the Sheepe were scattered all the rest of the Disciples as soone as Christ was apprehended forsooke him presently as if they had never knowne any such man but Peter although it was afarre off yet
yee the words of an Author of no small repute amongst them speaking of the very same comparison of the difference of faces and mindes Alii aliis non omnino assimulantur ideo privatim de anoquoque meminit Ecclesia sine aliquo mendacio Non est inquit similis illi c. Therefore saith hee doth the Church and that without any imputation of lying say of every Saint His like is not to be found Mat 22.30 Wee shall be in Heaven saith our Saviour Math. 22. as the Angels of God and the more holinesse there is in us the neerer we approach to the nature of Angels even while we live here upon earth Now Aquinas tells us that quilibet Angelus constituit speciem Every Angell doth make a severall species So that there is no numericall distinction of the Angels but a specificall And the reason of this is because those things which agree in the species and differ onely in number doe agree in the forme and are distinguished onely in regard of the matter But seeing the Angels are not compounded of matter and forme but are without that principium fundamentum distinctionis that beginning and foundation of numericall distinction which is matter therefore it is impossible that they should be distinguished any other way but in the species And the species are compared unto numbers Yee cannot say that one number is equall to another number the number of 6 is greater then the number of 4 and lesse then the number of 8. For as well in the species as in numbers there is no linea à latere but only the upwards the downward line which implies greater and lesse So it is in the Saints no equality one must needs be greater another lesse And therefore S. Chrisostome concludes substantially and subtilly If no man be greater then Iohn the Baptist all Saints compared amongst themselves are either greater or lesse therefore he who hath none greater then himselfe must needs be greater then all But I have bin too long amongst these School delicacies Here is one thing remains to be explained concerning his last greatnesse the greatnesse of his glory For our Saviour addes in that 7. of S. Luke Luk. 7.28 Neverthelesse hee who is least in the Kingdome of God is greater then he There be two answers given First That this spoken in comparison of the Angels who were onely yet the inhabitors of the Kingdome of God For say they when Christ spoke these words the Kingdome of Heaven was not open unto the soules and spirits of men the Key of that was the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ till then there were no men in Heaven As if our Saviour should have said neverthelesse all this greatnesse of Iohn which I have made mention of the least in the Kingdome of God i. the least amongst the Angels is greater then hee because Iohn notwithstanding all these commendations is but a man but the Angelicall nature is far greater then the nature of man But this answer carries along with it a point in controversie not yet determined amongst us as granted and therefore cannot fully satisfie Secondly The answer is That he who is the least in the Kingdome of God is greater then Iohn the Baptist meaning that hee is greater pro nunc greater while Iohn lived upon the earth And this greatnesse arises a securitate fruitione from security and fruition For hee who rides in his triumphant Chariot must needs be said to be greater and happier then he who is yet in the heate of the Battell although this last be farre the worthier and the valianter because this is yet in dubio certamine but the other being freed from the malice of his enemies weares his Garland upon his head in security and therefore it is not said here that he who is least in the Kingdome of God is holier or better then Iohn but is greater then hee which greatnesse proceedes from a present possession of happinesse Wee have hitherto Preached unto you of the greatnesse of this blessed Saint St. Iohn the Baptist And what harme I pray yee is there in all this now There be a Generation of People whether it be out of envie or ignorance or pride or from what other root it should proceede I know not who cannot endure to have any of the Saints of of God spoken well of No the mention of the blessed and immaculate Virgin Mary who was the Mother of our Lord and Saviour a rich Cabinet containing in it a farre richer Jewell whom the Angell of the Lord accosts with this strange salutation Haile Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou amongst women This holy name I say if it comes in usherd by the word Saint is distastfull to many of them such is their madnesse affording a more honourable mention of some of their new Saints in a Funerall Sermon then of her who was the Mother of Him who redeemed the World But these people certainly if they knew my thing must needs know that the greatnesse of the followers doth redound unto the greatnesse of their Lord who is able to make and to keepe such followers And when wee heare of the the greatnesse of St. Iohn the Baptist me thinks we should all be carried up into a consideration of his greatnesse who made St Iohn For if St. Iohn was so great that by the Testimony of Christ himselfe there was not a greater then hee amongst all who were begotten of Women O how much greater then must he needs be who was and is the Lord and Master of St. Iohn whose Herald whose forerunner whose Minister he was and as he himselfe confesses whose Shoo-latchet he was not worthy to unloose Let such of us therefore who have bin any whit faulty in this kind learne hereafter to have a more honourable esteeme of Gods Saints and of the holy dayes which are dedicated to their memory and not suppose with too many that they are dayes set apart onely for licentiousnesse and drunkennesse No the good intent of the Church was that there might be preserved an Anniversary memory of the Saints of their vertues and graces of their lives and deaths to the glory of God and our owne instruction who following their good examples shall one day come to be Saints our selves amongst them This was and is the religious use of holy dayes not excluding the Civill which is to permit honest and lawfull recreations only with this caution First serve God and then take thy honest and Christian liberty Let us then make an end of this discourse with praise and thanks-giving to Almighty God for all Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors Fathers whose lives and doctrine God hath set up as lights to guide us unto the Kingdome everlasting but especially as this day calls to our memory for the blessed Saint Saint Iohn the Baptist who was great in his conception great in his nativity great in his
fire appeared If ever we hope to bee made partakers of that beatificall vision hereafter in the heavens which the blessed Angels so thirst after and though they daily enjoy yet can never bee filled with One glimpse of which upon the mountain was enough to make Peter cry out Lord it is good for us to be here let us build three Tabernacles one for thee one for Moses one for Elias hee never thought of building of one for himselfe Hee could have beene content to have lien himselfe without a shelter so bee might still have injoyed this blessed sight If ever I say wee looke to see the face of God hereafter with joy wee must first heare his voyce heare him in his Prophets heare him in his Apostles heare him in his Priests in the dispensers of his Word and Sacraments The second is that the Church no sooner heares but presently shee knowes him by his voyce It is the voyce of my Welbeloved saith she Shee laies it downe peremptorily My sheepe know my voyce saith our Saviour If wee understand this Text of the comming of Christ in the flesh yee may be pleased to consider with me 1 His motion He is said to come 2 The manner of his motion which is double Of his dignation hee leaps upon Of his repudiation hee skips over 3 The way which is double too according to the duplicity of the manner Of his dignation or mercy he leapes upon the mountaines Of his repudiation or anger hee skips over the hills In every motion wee know there bee two tearmes 1 The place or tearme from which the motion is begunne 2 The place or tearme where the motion ceaseth The place from whence Christ came was heaven The place he came to was the earth En quantum saltum dedit saith St. Bernard upon this place a summo coelo ad terras and marke the propriety of the phrase well Saltum dedit hee gave a leape this journey of his was voluntarie And therefore to take that objection away which might be made out of the seventh of St. Iohns Gospel verse 28. Yet I am not come of my selfe but he who sent mee is true saith St. Augustine in the same place Quod videtis me in carne ipse me misit In that ye see me made manifest in the flesh in that relation hee sent me And immediatly after Vbi audis ipse me misit noli intelligere naturae dissimilitudinem sed gerentis authoritatem When thou readest this word hee sent mee doe not by that understand or thereby gather that there is any dissimilitude or disparity in the Nature in the Deity but rather conclude the authority of him who was sent who indeed himselfe was the sender Victus es O Archangele transiliit te qui praemisit te saith St. Bernard quem modo in coelo reliquisti in utero reperis O Arch-Angel Gabriel thou art overcome he who sent thee is arrived before thee him whom but now thou leftest in Heaven thou findest in the wombe Observe therefore what our Saviour Christ saith himselfe in the third of St. Iohns Gospel verse 13. when hee was upon earth discoursing with Nicodemus For no man saith he ascendeth up to heaven but hee who descended from heaven the Sonne of Man which is in heaven Hee doth not say which was in heaven but which is in heaven A miracle In terra loquebatur in coelo se esse dicebat That very instant wherein Christ spake those words upon earth hee was present in heaven Semper enim ibi erat Christus quo fuerat rediturus For Christ was ever there never departed from that place to which he was to returne Wherefore St. Augustine glosses upon this place thus Sic venit ut inde non abscederet sic redit ut nos non derelinqueret Hee so comes from heaven that still he remaines there hee so returnes thither againe that still wee have his presence here Quid miramini Deus hoc facit Why doe ye wonder it is God who doth all this whose glorious presence fills the whole world And this may give some satisfaction to that objection which may be made How can God bee said to move to come or to goe to ascend or descend when there is neither ubi nor quando in Deo neither relation of place nor time in God It is answered That it is true that God is every where If I ascend into heaven thou art there If I lie downe in hell thou art there also let mee take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the Sea yet thither shall thy hand leade mee and thy right hand hold mee saith David But yet the manifestation of his presence is not every where God is said to come to a place when he is pleased there to manifest his presence So CHRIST is said to descend to come into the world into this lower world when hee out of the riches of his mercy did vouchsafe to appeare in the flesh And for the other branch of the objection that God cannot be said to move because his actions are not limitted or measured by time it is true againe For St. Augustine In aeternitate sempiternus est dies qui nec praeceditur hesterno nec excluditur crastino In eternity Time hath no place for there is a day which hath neither a yesterday to goe before it nor a to morrow to thrust him out of his place But yet in regard of us God may bee said to doe many things in time I that very gracious act of Gods in assuming our humane Nature is said to be done in the fulnesse of time Gal 4.4 When the fulnesse of time was come God sent his Sonne made of a woman Now wee have seene how God may be said to move or to come let us look upon the manner of his comming the way both together Behold he comes leaping upon the mountaines and skipping over the hills Hee leaps upon he skips over The Spirit of God like the winde moveth which way it listeth I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy Ecce venit saltens in montibus transiliens colles But what should these mountaines signifie If we take them for the mountaines which St. Mathew in the Parable of the lost Sheepe speakes of Cap. 18. ver 12. Wherein the ninety and nine were left For St. Bernard makes the point there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he left the ninety and nine in the mountaines and not hee left the ninety and nine and went into the mountaines If I say we understand it thus then without all question the blessed Angells are here meant when that good Shepheard who layd downe his life for his Sheepe did leave the ninety and nine that infinite multitude which had not erred in the coelestiall mountaines in heaven in rest and safety and came downe into the wildernesse upon earth in pursuite of that One which had strayed poore mankinde which at the length he
concerning the errours of Iohn of Ierusalem out of his Commentaries upon the last words of Isaiah The place of St. Ierome which Ruffinus traduces against him endeavoring to fixe that aspersion upon that learned and devout Father is out of his Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Ephesians Where it plainely appeares that St. Ierome did not speake there ex propria sententia but in the person of Origen But for your better satisfaction I will name yee three or foure places which shall be enough to put to silence for ever such a monstrous conceit The first is that which I named before in the second to the Hebrews For hee tooke not upon him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham And againe Rom. 6.9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him And againe Matth. 25.41 Depart from me yee cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his Angels If any should chance to answer these words and say That it is true the fire here is called an everlasting fire but it doth not therefore follow that their mansion or abiding in that fire must bee everlasting too Our Saviour shall take away the answer presently who concludes both the fire and also their mansion or continuing in that fire to bee eternall at the last verse of that Chapter of St. Matth. And these shall goe into everlasting paine and the righteous into life eternall Christ skips over these hills But let us if yee please stand still awhile and view the scituation of these hills and wee may finde them placed if wee doe but superficially behold them most pleasantly for their prospect They are not so low but their eyes can climbe up in contemplation to behold those sublime mountains above them the holy Angels nor yet so high but that they are able with ease to take a perfect survey of the vallies Of men on earth Yet if we doe but with a serious and narrow eye consider them we shall finde this place to bee assigned unto them by God for their greater vexation In poenam suam medium locum inter coelum terram de coelo cadens sortitus est ut videat invidiat God hath allotted this middle place betwixt heaven and earth to the devils who fell from heaven to aggravate their torments For how miserable is hee when he lifts up his eyes to heaven and there beholds the infinite number of mountaines of which hee himselfe was once a part which like burnished gold with their divine radiance dazle the beholders eyes sounding and resounding with Hymnes and heavenly Songs of which Quire hee himselfe was once a member abounding in grace tall in glory But how much more miserable when he looks downe upon the valleys upon mankind below and sees them rich in faith flourishing in hope beautified in charity adorned with vertues as with flowers full of good works as loden with pleasant fruit the coole and chrystall Fountaines Meander-like gliding playing and making amorous knots upon their bosomes and all this while himselfe who was once a Lucifer an Angel of light neglected contemned hominum ludibâ—tum factum opprobrium Angelorum become a scorne and wonder both of men and Angels O how this should set us all on fire mee thinks to send up praises and thanksgivings unto our mercifull God to lay our selves downe a sacrifice at his feet and if it were possible to send up our very soules in thankfull acknowledgements of his divine grace For what were wee better then those beautifull Angels who fell yet they are passed over and wee are taken to mercy Christ skips over those hills in indignation but stayes us with flagons and comforts us with Apples Wee are the valleys which hee waters with his mercies and what were the valleys more then the hills O thou fairest amongst the sonnes of men chiefest of ten thousand What is thy welbeloved more then another welbeloved that thou art so pleased with her beauty What difference is there betwixt the hills and the valleys save onely the fruitfulnesse which is an adventitious thing and the effect of thy goodnesse Let it bee our parts therefore seeing that God hath beene so gracious to us to skip over the hills and to water and make us fruitfull and pleasant who are the valleys to imitate them so farre who as David saith doe stand so thick with corne that they doe laugh and sing let us sing therefore the praises of him who hath made us thus fruitfull and with the holy Psalmist say alway The Lord be praised Amen Behold be comes leaping over the mountaines and skipping over the hills Or if yee please wee may understand this Text thus Hee leaped upon the mountaines hee skipped over the hills .i. hee passed hee overcame all the difficulties and miseries of our nature those craggie rockes and thorny mountaines of our humanity nay he passed over that Mount Aetna of Gods wrath too which had he not endured without all question would have broke forth in fire and sulphure to the destruction of the whole world And so his 1. Leape was A gremio Patris ad uterum Matris From the bosome of his Father into the wombe of his Mother 2. De utero in Praesepe Out of the wombe of his Mother into the Manger 3. De praesepe ad Crucem Out of the Manger to the Crosse 4. De Cruce in Sepulchrum From the Crosse into the Grave 5. De Sepulchro ad Inferos From the Grave into hell 6. And sixthly From hell he leapes againe into Heaven De inferis Victor remeavit ad Coelos saith Saint Ierome in his 26. Chapter of his rule of Monks where yee may also finde all these leapes of our Saviour set downe And this motion of Christ had the Philosophers no arguments at all to prove it is sufficient to evince the circular motion of all others to be the most perfect Hee came from heaven first and he never leaves moving till he is got into heaven againe And if wee doe but marke we shall finde Christ in the five first leapes to follow us who had leaped the same leapes before him But wherefore did hee follow us Ad sanandum subveniendum Wee out of the pride of our hearts and the crafty suggestions of the devill did undertake these leapes to our owne destruction but hee out of the aboundance of his mercy followes us in our owne tract to seeke and to save that which was lost but in the sixth he goes before us to prepare a Kingdome for all such who beleeve in him The first leape which wee tooke was from heaven from Paradise from the bosome of our Father from the favour of God into the wombe of our Mother into the state of corruption which is the common Mother of us all I have said unto corruption thou art my mother and to the wormes yee are my sisters But see wee had no sooner taken this leape this fall
debitor exactor non peccator judicem videmus non supplicem venit jubere non succumbere eripere non manere What terrible armed man have wee here Who is this who is clothed with light and majesty as with a garment and lookes more like an invader then a debtor a punisher of sinners then a sinner who hath rather the face of a Iudge then of a supplicant the end of whose journey hither is not to obey but command not to stay here as a prisoner but rather to carry along with him even Captivity it selfe captive O Princeps noster hiccine est ille de cujus tibi semper futura morte plaudebas O Lucifer our Prince is this hee concerning whose future death thou hast so much comforted and applauded thy selfe Is this hee in whose destruction thou hast promised us so many and so ample spoiles at whose death thou didst hope the whole world should bee added to thy Empyre Ecce â—am tot as tibi tenebras suo fulgore fugavit omnes tuos carceres fregit captivos ejecit ligatos solvit luctus eorum in gaudium commutavit Behold now his presence hath let in the day into this place of darknesse which never knew the Sunne till now All thy prison walls are broken downe thy captives set at liberty and all their mourning and lamentations are turned into the voyce of joy and gladnesse Quid est quod facere voluisti What is it that you have done in pricking Iudas and the Iews forward to hang this man upon a tree thou hast wrought the destruction of thine owne Kingdome O yee mountaines fall on us Hell it selfe is not deepe enough to hide us from his presence What have wee to doe with thee O thou Sonne of the most High Art thou come to torment us before our time How terrible is his voyce Thunder doth but whisper to it and an inraged Sea is lowe as the breath of Eunuches Many other the like speeches doth Saint Augustine at the sight of Christ in hell bring in the devills uttering I am not ignorant that there be many who will by no meanes understand this Article of our Creed concerning Christs descension into Hell to be literall but some of them by Hell will understand the Grave because they doe finde the word Infernum taken many times for the Grave in holy Scripture But Calvin himselfe who was not very sound in this opinion as wee will shew yee after hath sufficiently confuted such as these from the very order of the Articles in the Creed his descension into Hell being mentioned after his buriall Inst lib. cap. 16. sect 8. Quantae enim oscitantiae fuisset rem minime difficilem c. For what a negligent oversight had that beene saith he in this compendium and briefe of our Christian faith to have explained or rather gone about to have explained a sentence which is plaine enough already by another that is more difficult For when ever two Speeches expressing the same thing doe follow one another the latter of those ought to be the Exegesis or Interpretation of the former Thus much Mr. Calvin But there be others and amongst these Calvin himselfe who by Hell in that Article of our Creed doe meane those many torments iratum Deum and bitter pangs such as they who bee in Hell doe feele which Christ endured in his Agony but especially on the Crosse when he cried My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And Calvin excuses for them the infringing of the order of the Articles here in these words Inst lib. 2. cap. 16. sect 10 Nimis frivola adeoque ridicula est eorum exceptio qui dicunt hoc modo inverti ordinem quia absurdum est Sepulturae subjici quod praecessit ubi enim quae in hominum conspectu passus est Christus exposita fuerunt opportune subjicitur invisibile illud incomprehensibile judicium quod coram deo sustinuit There is something I acknowledge in this but neither doe I finde weight enough in this nor in any thing that Calvin or Beza or Brentius can say for their opinion to lye in ballance against all those great names in Antiquity and learning who are all strong for the contrary such as Cyrill Catech. 4. Ambrose lib. de mysterio Paschae cap. 4. Hilary lib. 10. Trinit August 99. Epistle ad Evod. Chrysostome Eusebius and others I will not trouble yee with any of their arguments which yee shall finde fully answered by others Onely there is one argument which that much admired Catechisme written by Master Vrsine doth hugge as a pretious thing not to be answered and of that a word If Christ did descend into hell saith hee it must needs be by his humane soule for as for his body that was all this while in the Grave and for his Godhead in respect of that he could not be said to descend because that was as well in Hell as in Heaven filled all places before It could not be by his humane soule because he had before upon the Crosse committed that into the hands of his Father Father into thy hands I commend my spirit But this is nothing As though Gods arme were shortned Or to be in hell were to be out of his hands Psal 139. If I make my bed in hell thou art there also To this I confesse that the Catechisme doth reply that it is cavill A very easie way of Confutation they have and it may satisfie some onely for my selfe I crave leave to be out of that number But these are but the opinions started by some of our new men the ancient Fathers stand stiffe for a locall descension and not onely for a vertuall It is to no great purpose for us to know the exact time when this Article of Christs descension into hell which before was but implicitely there was expresly interposed in our Creed for by a generall consent of all sides it is agreed that at the first it was not in all Churches For Irenaeus who was a neighbour unto the Apostles times who being a child did heare Policarpus in Asia which Policarpus was a Disciple to Saint Iohn the Euangelist in his first booke Adversus haereses Cap. 2. repeating the Apostles Creed makes no mention at all of this Article but directly goes from the Passion to the Resurrection No more doth Tertullian in the beginning of his bookes Contra Praxeam and in his booke De velandis virginibus no more doth Origen in the beginning of his bookes De Principiis no more doth S. Aug. in his book De fide Symbolo all which Fathers did both repeat expound that rule of Faith delivered to the Vniversall Church by the Apostles and yet name not that Article at all but passe immediatly from the Sepulture to the Resurrection so doth the Nicene Creed But let not this trouble us for although it was not there expressed yet it was necessarily implied it being convenient that as the body of Christ
found and with joy returned to those heavenly habitations What are these mountaines then but those glorious Citizens of heaven which our Saviour calls there Sheepe Vt ipsi sint montes qui oves saith a Father that these mountaines and the sheepe might be all one But this may seeme very harsh that mountaines should feede upon mountaines and indeed if we take it according to the literall sense it sounds very unpleasantly but if according to the spirituall meaning it is full of mystery and sweetnesse Christ the wisdome of his Father who is the Shepheard of both those Flocks as well of those glorious and triumphant Angells and Saints which feede securely upon the Mountaines which are in heaven as also of the poore remnant that is below in the vallyes here on earth doth feede both indeed with the same foode but not after the same manner We who are Pilgrimes here in the course of our Peregrination doe eate our bread our spirituall bread I meane in the sweat of our browes For is illum labore aerumna mendicentes begging it from doore to doore for God will have us so to doe to exercise us There is no grace which we receive but it costs us a great deale of toyle and vexation We get it either by turning over the writings or hearing the well-digested labours of godly and learned men or in searching the holy Scriptures or else we reade the invisible things of God his eternall power and Godhead in the Creation of the world in the things that are seene 1. to the Romanes But the Angells they have a neerer and an easier cut to knowledge then this They neede not foradge abroad for it they have their provision brought home to their hands For although we cannot say that they have it of themselves Yet in themselves they doe receive with no lesse facility then happinesse They are not put to the trouble of discourse to compose to divide but by one simple Act as in a cleare and cristall glasse they either behold all things in their proper nature in their causes which the Schoolemen call their knowledge of the evening Or else they reade all things purely and clearely in the word in the beatificall vision and this Knowledge is called their morning Knowledge for as much difference as there is betwixt the glorious encreasing morning and the duskie gloomy and declining evening so much nay a thousand times more is there betwixt these two knowledges So that these mountaines may in some sort be said to feede upon or in the mountaines i. in themselves because they have and doe finde in themselves without stirring abroad for the matter continually viewing the face of God continually looking into the word of life meanes whereby still to perpetuate their happinesse But yee will aske me how did Christ leape upon these mountaines St. Bernard shall tell yee Saliebat in montibus i. in Angelis in quibus loquebatur suam hominibus exhibebat presentiam Hee leaped upon these mountaines the Angels when in their similitude he did speake and vouchsafe his presence to the Patriarchs Prophets in the old Testament But hee doth not dwell here for marke the Text well Behold he comes leaping Ita salit ut transilit Hee so leapes upon these mountaines that at the last he leaves them too For he tooke not upon him the nature of Angells but the seede of Abraham 2. Hebr. And if we looke into the verse immediatly following my Text there yee shall finde him standing behinde our wall Loe hee stands behinde our wall saith the Spouse looking forth of the windowes shewing himselfe through the Grates He stands behinde our wall i. our humane nature Transiliens Colles Skipping over the hills These hills or little mountaines which hee here will not vouchsafe so much as to touch in his journey but leaves them without any footsteps of his mercy imprinted on them may be understood of the Apostate Angells those powers of darknesse which rule in the ayre which are not to bee reckoned amongst the mountaines those blessed and erect Spirits which stoode For they through their pride have fallen from the height of their excellence wherein they were created but yet they are not fallen so lowe that they can deserve the name of vallyes they are hills still tumentes colles hills through their pride hills through their barrennesse And therefore wee may not without reason conjecture that these are the hills here being placed inter montes perfectorum valles paenitentium In the midst betwixt the mountaines of the perfect and excelse Angells and the vallyes of humble and penitent sinners upon earth which our Saviour is said to skip over Surely that curse which David layd upon the mountaines of Gilboa 2. Sam. 1. Where Saul Ionathan and the Worthies of Israel fell in the battell had a further reach in it then onely to those materiall mountaines though not in the intent of griefe-sick David at that time yet in the intent of the holy Spirit which then inspired David Yee mountains of Gilboa upon you saith hee bee neither dew nor raine for there the shield of the mighty is cast downe What is this Gilboa here but a Type of the Devill That overthrow of Saul and the Worthies of Israel but a figure of those many spirituall massacres overthrowes and cruelties which hee doth execute amongst the sonnes of men How were the mighty slaine in the midst of the battle saith David there O Ionathan thou wast slaine in the high places How are the mighty slaine here in the midst of the battle may we say too How many thousand of the host of Israel have perished upon these accursed hills and still doe perish daily And therefore no wonder if he who is the dispenser of grace doth passe by these hills without once sprinkling them with the dew of his mercy It was a strange conceit of Origen who would have our blessed Saviour to leape upon these Hills too nay more to bee crucified againe the second time in the ayre for the redemption of the Devils This errour yee shall finde refuted by Epiphanius in his Epistle to Iohn of Ierusalem By St. Augustine in his 21. booke de Civitate Dei cap. 17. and 23. By St. Ierome upon the 3. chap. of Ionas By Gregory in the 9. booke of his Morals 45. And by others and by the same in other places And whereas we finde Ruffinus in his first invective against St. Ierome to ascribe this heresie to St. Ierome it is most injuriously done and proceeds as may bee supposed from the malice of his emulous Adversary For St. Ierome was so farre from countenancing of this errour that if wee trace him into other parts of his workes we shall perceive him to bee one of the sharpest enemies that this Opinion had Besides the place above quoted it appeares by his 2. Apology against Ruffinus out of his 1. booke against the Pelagians out of his Epistle to Pammachius