renounced his Communion since it is evident that no man can renounce his Prayer but must also by consequence renounce his Communion But let Saint Cyprian speak to this argument that we may be sure to have a good spokesman who in his Book de Oratione Dominica saith thus Qui facit vivere docuit orare ut dum prece Oratione quam filius docuit apud Patrem loquimur facilius audiamur He that made us to live taught us to pray that speaking to the Father in the words of his Son we might be sure not to speak in vain Again Que enim potest esse magis Spiritalis oratio quà m quae vere à Christ◠nobis data est à quo nobis Spiritus Sanctus missus est What Prayer can be more spiritual then that which he gave us who hath also given us the holy Spirit Lastly Oremus itaque fratres dilectissimi sicut Magister Deus docuit Let us pray my beloved brethren as God our master hath taught us Agnosca◠Pater Filii sui verba cum precem facimus qui habitat intus in pectore ipse sit in voce Let God the Father see his own Sons words in our Prayers and let him also that dwelleth in our hearts be also in our tongues Here is such a threefold cord as is not to be broken an argument drawn from God the Father Son and Holy-Ghost why we should often say Our Father as becomes dutiful children That God the Father may own and hear us God the Son may pray with us and God the Holy-Ghost may accompany and assist us in our Prayers SECT IX Whether a man that is not assured of his adoption in Christ can truly and rightly by virtue of his Baptism only the outward seal of adoption say to God Our Father or can lawfully and laudably use the Lords Prayer That the assurance of our adoption is according to the assurance of our conjunction with our Saviour Christ THere is nothing that so much prevails with God to give us his grace as our frequent and fervent praying and nothing that so much calls upon us to make a right use of Grace when t is given as our serious consideration and devout use of the Lords most holy Prayer for he that doth cordially say to God Our Father will not easily forget the duty and obedience that belongeth to a son according to that truly Theological observation of Saint Chrysostome in his nineteenth Sermon upon the Epistle to the Romans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When in our own Prayers we say to God Our Father we do not only call to mind his great grace and goodness but also our own obligation to virtue and righteousness that we may not do any thing unworthy of so honourable a descent or alliance For though the title of Father belong to God by virtue of the creation in which respect we profess to believe in God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth yet in the Lords most holy Prayer it is understood of him only as he is our Father by adoption having made us that were his enemies sons in his eternal Son and called us first to be heires of his promises and at last to be heirs of his Kingdom So that in saying to God Our Father we do implicitely and virtually give him thanks for our happy estate through his eternal Son that though by nature we were the children of wrath yet by him we are made the children of God that though in our selves we were enemies yet in our Saviour we are made sons and we do beseech him to confirm in us this assurance we are his children by framing us daily more and more to the Image of his only begotten Son whilst he filleth our souls with heavenly affections and our lives with a heavenly conversation such as may shew all manner of dutifulness to our Father and all manner of love to our brethren This happy estate we acknowledge he conveyed unto us in our Baptism when he made us Christians that is to say members of Christ children of God and inheriters of the Kingdom of heaven as our own Church teacheth us or when we put on Christ Gal. 3. 27. or when God sanctified and cleansed us with the washing of water by the word Ephes 5. 26. when he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. as Saint Paul teacheth the Church that is to say yet in plainer terms when God first made us his sons and gave us the priviledge of calling him Father For they that have not been baptized into Christ have no right to say unto God Our Father for whence should they have it being born the children of wrath and not yet incorporated into Christ to be made the children of God Wherefore it was not lawful heretofore for the Catechumeni or such as were not yet baptized to say the Lords Prayer as not being yet exempted from the dominion and power of the Devil and consequently not reckoned or reputed amongst Gods children whence that memorable saying of Saint Ambrose lib. 5. de Sacram. cap. 4. Primus Sermo quanta sit gratia O homo faciem tuam non audebas ad coelum attollere subito accepisti gratiam Christi ex malo servo factus es bonus filius The first word of this Prayer sc our Father how much grace and favour doth it import Thou didst not dare lift up thine eyes to heaven and thou didst suddenly receive the grace of Christ thy sins were forgiven thee and of a bad servant thou becamest a good son Ergo attolle oculos ad Patrem qui te per lavacrum genuit ad Patrem qui te per filium redemit dic Pater noster Therefore now being baptized lift up thine eyes to thy Father who hath regenerated thee by Baptism who hath redeemed thee by his Son and say Our Father concluding he had no right to say so before he was baptized and doubtless the Text which saith The Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the Counsel of God against themselves being not baptized with the Baptism of John Luke 7. 30. doth much more declare that those Christians do reject the counsel of God against themselves who will not be baptized with the Baptism of Christ Ergo Baptismus consilium Dei est Quanta est gratia ubi est concilium Dei Audi ergo nam ut in hoc seculo nexus Diaboli solveretur inventum est quomodo homo vivus moreretur vivus resurgeret saith the same Saint Ambrose lib. 2. de Sacramentis cap. 6. Therefore is Baptism the counsel of God And how great is the Grace of God where we have the counsel of God Hear it therefore For God that he might destroy in man the power of the Devil that is sin whiles he is yet in this world hath in his counsel appointed Baptism whereby being yet alive he might both dye and rise again dye unto sin and
or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was received up as unto that which he had so fully merited and deserved Again the same twofold expression shews a twofold miracle if we consider Christ in the unity of his person as those two natures of God and man made but one Christ the first miracle was the conquest over earth in his body which was taught to ascend upwards contrary to the nature of Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He went up in that body The second miracle was the conquest over heaven in his soul which for his singular piety was taught in some sort to descend downwards contrary to the nature of heaven in that the light clouds were made to come down that they might minister to his Ascension So that these must be our considerations of our blessed Saviour from the act and manner of his Ascending his twofold Title in claiming heaven and his twofold miracle in possessing it his first title to heaven was as the Son of God for so he claimed heaven by inheritance and the word used in the Apostles Creed intimates that claim or title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he went up sc to take possession of his own he went by his own power to enter upon his own right claiming heaven as his natural inheritance because he was the Son of God And this right of his Saint Paul exactly describes Heb. 1. 2 3. Where he saith God hath appointed his son heir of all things by whom also he made the world who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high In which words the Apostle teacheth us to say to the son of God what the Son taught us to say unto the Father For thine is the Kingdom the power and the glory For he fully setteth forth unto us the Kingdom of Christ both as Redeemer and as Creator As Redeemer when he saith God appointed him heir of all things in which respect Christ himself saith All things are delivered unto me of my father Mat. 11. 27. and all power is given unto me Mat. 28. 18. and the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand John 3. 35. And he setteth forth unto us the Kingdom of Christ as Creator when he saith By whom also he made the worlds for in that respect our Saviour had all power in heaven and in earth without its being given or delivered unto him as he was the eternal Son of God coequal with his Father Which his coequality the Apostle expresseth from three particulars First in that he was the brightness of his glory that is the natural brightness of his glory by necessary generation not by voluntary communication even as the Sun naturally begets brightness and not voluntarily upon choice or deliberation Secondly In that he was the express Image or character of his person not only representing his essential glory as God of which representation it is said No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him John 1. 18. but also representing his personal glory as father because the person of the Father is wholly and fully expressed in the person of the Son as in a lively Image or Character thereof in which respect Christ himself saith If ye had known me ye should have known my Father also and from henceforth ye know him and have seen him John 14. 7. and again he that hath seen me hath seen the Father ver 9. Thirdly In that he upheld all things by the word of his power to wit by the same word by which he had made them ver 2. All this being said t is no wonder if it follow immediately after that he sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high as taking that place in the nature of man which was his proper right as the Son of God But what comfort is this to us who are born the Sons of wrath and so have title only to the place of wrath and vengeance as to our inheritance T is true we have no title from our selves save only to hell such a title as we care not to claim though we labour to make good But we have also a title of inheritance to heaven from our blessed Saviour as saith the Apostle And if children then heirs heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ Rom. 8. 17. For the Son by adoption is admitted to the inheritance as if he were a Son by nature And we being adopted in Christ cannot be denyed to have a title to his Inheritance But we were best take heed that we abuse not this title or at least mistake it not as some do who cry Abba Father and are no sons or who are so the Sons of God as not led by the Spirit of God or so led by the Spirit of God as not doing the works of the Spirit but of the flesh being guilty of hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murders such horrid murders as have out-faced heaven and amazed the earth and will not believe the Apostle though he tell it before and after though he say it and say it again that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5. 21. Let the man after Gods own heart both ask and answer this question for us Psalm 24. ver 3 4. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall rise up in his holy place Even he that hath clean hands not defiled with blood and a pure heart not corrupted with Faction or Sedition and that hath not lift up his mind to vanity by taking fancie for faith or vain imaginations for holy inspirations nor sworn to deceive his neighbour convenanting for spoil and robbery to be not only impiously but also blasphemously guilty of theft He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation For such a man as hath clean hands and a pure heart is led by the Spirit of God and with his pure heart thinks the thoughts with his clean hands doth the works of the Spirit This man is heir to an inheritance in heaven because he is the Son of God and he is the Son of God because he is led not by his own private Spirit but by the Spirit of God for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God Rom. 8. 14. He that saith as many doth in effect say no more they are and none but they are the Sons of God who are led by the Spirit of God He that lifts up his mind to vanity cannot lift up his mind to heaven he that hath sworn to deceive his neighbour is sure to deceive himself he that hath no share in the righteousness may not look
must needs be controverted to the worlds end unless it could be proved that not only Christ but also the blessed Virgin doth indeed sit at the right hand of God being joyned with Christ in the government of his Kingdom which is altogether impossible for that Christ himself sits there in his humane nature only by vertue of the personal union to and with the eternal Son of God whose property alone it is to sit at the right hand of his Father For though the Holy Ghost be also equal with the Father in the same power and glory and therefore together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified yet he is not said to sit at his right hand that 's a phrase spoken peculiarly of the Son in whom the Divine nature was as it were ecclipsed for a while in the state of his humiliation and in whom the humane nature now shineth most gloriously in the state of exaltation And besides for that the Son alone doth administer the Kingdom of the Father immediately from the Father but the Holy Ghost administreth the same Kingdom not only from the Father but also from the Son For although God the Father Son and Holy Ghost do equally govern the Church both militant and triumphant that is do equally administer one and the same Kingdom in heaven and earth yet the Father administreth it of himself not by himself for he is of none as in being so in working The Son administreth the same Kingdom by himself not of himself for as his being so his working is of the Father The holy Ghost administreth the same Kingdom by himself not of himself for he is of the â—ather and of the Son so that God the Father administreth his Kingdom immediately by God the Son who is next him in order and mediately by God the Holy Ghost who so administreth from the Father as also from the Son and therefore is not said to sit at the right hand of the Father because he hath the administration of the Kingdom of God not of the Father alone but of the Father and of the Son whereas the Son hath it immediately and only of the Father So that our blessed Saviour did administer the Kingdom of his Father from all eternity as God But now since his Ascension he doth also administer the same as God in man or as God manifest in the flesh And it is his property alone to sit at the right hand of God because it is his property alone to govern all things in heaven and in earth immediately from the Father Laus Deo will reflect directly on him no less then on the Father and the Holy Ghost for the blessed administration of his Kingdom but Virginique Matri Mariae may securely be left out and is blasphemously and idolatrously put in since the blessed Virgin her self must needs think it robbery to be equal with her Son when her Son thinks it no robbery to be equal with God And certainly if the Fathers in the first Council of Constantinople thought it enough to prove the Holy Ghost coequal with the Father and the Son by saying Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified Then we cannot but think it too much that the blessed Virgin is worshipped and glorified with all three persons of the Trinity as if she were to be thought coequal with Father Son and Holy Ghost But perchance Bellarmine was resolved to gratifie the present practise of his Church with a doxology answerable to that Antiphona Gaude Maria Virgo cunctas haereses sola interemisti in universo mundo Rejoyce O Virgin Mary thou alone hast taken away all heresies in the universal world And he having made it his work to confute all for hereticks who were not of his own gan gives thanks to the blessed Virgin as if by her help he had perfected this great confutation whereas without doubt it is no more in the power of any creature to take away a heresie then it is to change the heart or will of the heritick nor is it in the power of all the Jesuites in the world to prove us poor protestants guilty of heresie because we dare not be guilty of blasphemy nor of Idolatry For it is blasphemy to ascribe that perfection and it is Idolatry to give that honour to the creature which is proper only to the Creator And t is a wonder that Baronius who is pleased to say that our Church of England is wholly drowned in heresie would not impute the cause of that mischeif to our rejecting this and the like Hymns or prayers to the blessed Virgin and say she would not take away our heresies because we had taken away her worship for this reason had certainly been more ingenuous in one of that perswasion then to tell us that we were therefore given over to our delusions because we denyed to pay the Peter pence For that is his observation in his Annals Anno Christi 740. That Ina King of the West Saxons appointed every house in his Dominions to pay a penny to Saint Peter every year that his subjects knowing Saint Peter to be their Lord should more zealously addict themselves to his service and call upon him in their necessities â—t annui census pensitatione cognosceret se subditum S. Petro quem scientes omnes Dominum esse suum propensiori studio colerent in opportunitatibus invocarent But that when this yearly revenue did cease to be payed the Church of England was swallowed up by an inundation of heresies Vbi cessavit pendi vectigal istud utcunque mali redemptum haeresum alluvione Anglicana Ecclesia absorbetur whereas if the mony were paid upon that reason of Invocating Saint Peter it could not be excused from heresie to have continued that payment However this reason is more for the Penny then for the Pater noster and sure the Church of England had more heresies whilst it paid the Peter pence then it hath had ever since unless we look upon these few late years wherein the poor woman cloathed with the Sun hath been distressed by a great red Dragon and forced to flee into the wilderness Rev. 12. But Gods truth is never the worse for being persecuted and Gods faithfull servants will not fall from his truth because of persecution For they know they serve a Master who himself hath said My Kingdom is not of this world John 18. 36. and therefore they who profess themselves subjects of his Kingdom will not change with the world For though our Saviours Kingdom be not of this world yet hath he subjects on earth as well as in hâ—…en And therefore in his Ascension whereby he took possession of his Kingdom he provided for them both For those on earth by the diffusion of his grace called by the Apostle Receiving gifts for men for those in heaven by the diffusion of his glory expressed by this phrase And sate on the right hand of God By
yet can I not glorifie thy name as I ought nor remember thee as I would yea though with my soul I have desired thee in the night and with my spirit within me I seek thee early yet have I not so great desires in my soul as I have defects in my desires All the desire of my soul and of my spirit is too little for my God I have none to spare for any else and if I had yet might I not give it unless I had something greater then it to give unto my God This is the sin which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iniquitas judicata vel judicantis digna quae à judicibus puniatur An iniquity to be punished by the Judge for a man to give that honour to the creature which is due only to the Creator for it is in effect to deny the God that is above For I should have denyed the God that is above Iob 31. 28. The earnest longings of my soul to converse with God in the actions of holy Religion are the best preparative for my soul to converse with him in the fruition of a blessed immortality my Religion must reach him or his blessedness will not reach me T is not conversing with Saints or Angels can give my soul a true gust of eternal blessedness and much less a happy enjoyment of it I should be loth to mispend my time upon so barren so unfruitful a Religion and much less to hazard my eternity upon it The Heathen Philosopher Hierocles could say It was the work of wisdom To make a God out of a man as far as was possible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Christian Divine may not say less of Religion which is the only true wisdom T is its work to transform a man into God uniting the understanding to him by faith and contemplation uniting the will to him by charity and affection Thus saith the Apostle We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. In which words are briefly described both the work of Religion and the power of it The work of Religion is with open face to behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord for the soul cannot well fix its eye and much less its love upon any inferiour glory The Power of Religion is to change us into the same image of the Lord from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord for it is only the love and the spirit of the Lord which can change the soul from glory to glory the love of the Lord working that change formally the Spirit of the Lord working that change efficiently upon the soul from glory to glory that is from the glory of Religion to the glory of Fruition from the glory of Holiness to the glory of Happiness from the glory of knowing and loving God to the glory of possessing and enjoying him This being the work of Religion to behold the glory of the Lord I dare look on nothing as Religion which doth not that work This being the power of Religion to change the soul into that glory I dare not be of that Religion which hath not that power Let those that please behold the glory of the creature instead of the Creator they will not find it sufficient to content much less to change their souls I desire a Religion which may change me into the image of the Lord and sure I am that Religion must teach me to behold his face which will change me into his image for no other can have the assistance of his Spirit and therefore no other can have the power to work this change This is the great blessing I have received from God by this his now distressed Church That I have been called to the Verity of his Religion nor do I see how I can thankfully embrace and dutifully obey this Call but only by persisting in the Vnity of her Communion Such a Communion as joyns me with the Saints whether they be Angels or men in the manner of my worshipping not as joyns the Saints or Angels with God in the equality of worshp The Pater noster as it was used heretofore in the private devotions of English Papists allowed not this practice for therein this was the first Petition Hallowed be thy name among men on earth as it is among Angels in heaven The second this O Father let thy Kingdom come and reign among us men on earth as thou reignest among thy Angels in heaven The third this Make us to fulfill thy will here on earth as thy Angels do in heaven Now Prayer being the actual hallowing of Gods name the exercising of his Kingdom the fulfilling of his will must be directed only unto God unless we will plainly thwart these three Petitions and resolve to do these three Duties otherwise then the Angels do in heaven For without doubt they fix their contemplation only on God and place their Fruition only in him And so doth our Church in all her Prayers first teaching us to contemplate God as the first truth that we may pray with knowledge and understanding then to enjoy him as the chiefest good that we may pray with zeal and affection ex gr O God from whom all holy desires all good counsels and all just works do proceed there 's the contemplation of God to enlighten the understanding Give unto thy servants that Peace which this world cannot give that both our hearts may be set to obey thy Commandments and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness there 's the fruition of God to inflame the will and affections The soul cannot have this Fruition without having that contemplation and therefore they who teach and enjoyn Prayers to any but to God are in truth injurious to the very contentation and much more to the salvation of souls SECT IV. That the Communion of the Church of England obligeth those in conscience who are members of that Church to retain it and not to reject it much less to renounce it by no less then five Commandments of the Decalogue IT having been declared that the Communion of the Church of England is founded in the Truth of Religion It cannot be reasonably denyed but that even her enemies are bound to her internal and much more her sons are bound to her external Communion And that both are also bound in conscience because Religion will not be contented with a lesser obligation The Doctrine being from God which we profess and the Devotion being from God which we practise All Christians that live at never so great a distance from us are bound to believe our Doctrine and to love our Devotion and that 's enough to constitute an internal Communion But those Christians who live amongst us are also bound to profess our
the eternal Spirit be all honour and glory now and for ever Amen Christ glorified in his Ascention The Prooeme That our blessed Saviours Ascention is not so truly observed by our commemoration as by our imitation and the manner how to consider the History of his Ascention THere is no blessing of Christ but imposeth upon a Christian the necessity of commemorating it and withall affords him exceeding great joy in its commemoration if he so observe it with other Christians as also to imitate it with good Christians For at Saint Luke gives a full definition of Christs Gospel when he calleth it a Treatise of those things which Jesus did do and teach Acts 1. 1. as if he had said A Book that containeth Christs sayings and doings so may we give this definition of a true Gospeller or of a good Christian He is a lively representer of the sayings and doings of Christ of the sayings of Christ by his profession of the doings of Christ by his practise and imitation For that man alone hath a true faith in the Passion Resurrection and Ascention of Christ who sheweth his faith by his works dying with Christ that he may live to him rising with Christ that he may live with him and ascending to Christ that he may live in him who sheweth his faith in Christs Cross by crucifying his own sinful lusts in Christs resurrection by rising to newness of life and in Christs ascention by ascending thither in heart and mind whiher his Saviour is gone before him Thus did the holy Apostles follow their Master with their eyes and with their hearts when they could not follow him with their bodies They looked stedfastly towards heaven as he went up Acts 1. 10. Surely the more to fix their hearts on him when he was above And so must we too we must go up with him thither that we may tarry with him there accordingly as Christs own Church hath taught us to pray Grant we beseech thee Almighty God that like as we do believe thine only begotten Son our Lord to have ascended into the heavens so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend and with him continually dwell who liveth and raigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost one God world without end which is such an heavenly prayer That we are infinitely bound to bless God for putting it into our devotions but yet more bound to beseech him that he will also put it into our lives and conversations For which cause I will enlarge my considerations concerning the ascention of our blessed Saviour And as Binius in setting down that vast and voluminous Council of Ephesus digesteth his work into three Tomes in the first tome reciting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the acts before the Council in the second Tome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the acts done in the Council in the third Tome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the acts done after the Council So will I consider the history of our blessed Saviours Ascention first insisting upon those things which are recorded before it His apparitions his instructions his consolations and his benedictions Secondly insisting upon those things which are recorded concerning the manner of his ascending And lastly insisting upon that one thing which is recorded of him after he was ascended viz. his sitting at the right hand of God And I have warrant enough so to do from the two Pen-men of that very History For Saint Mark describeth the Ascention with reference to Christs Apparitions upon the very day of his resurrection though that was full fourty daies before he ascended for so we read Mar. 16. 14. Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sate at meat and upbraided their unbelief and hardness of heart which apparition was clearly on the very day of his Resurrection unless we will say that unbelief and hardness of heart remained in the Apostles when it scarce remained in any of the other Disciples for he had appeared unto them no less then five several times on that very day for the confirmation of their faith And yet without any mention of more apparitions it followeth v. 19. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into heaven But Saint Luke describeth the Ascention with the sending down of the Holy Ghost which was not till ten daies after our Saviour Christ was actually ascended as appears Acts 1. 8 9. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you And when he had spoken these things he was taken up The Ascention is so placed in the narrations of these Evangelists as both to look backward to the Feast of Easter and forward to the Feast of Pentecost To look backward upon the Resurrection of God the Son to look forward upon the Descention of God the Holy Ghost Happily to teach all Christians That they must first arise from sin before they can ascend up to God there 's the Resurrection before the Ascention And that they must ascend up to God before they can receive the gifts and graces of his Holy Spirit there 's the Ascention before the coming of the Holy Ghost However this is ground enough for me to look a little backward and a little forward in my considerations of the Ascention because the Evangelists have thus related it with its antecedent apparitions and words and with its consequent exaltation or sitting on the right hand of God CAP. I. Christ Considered before his Ascention SECT I. Christ considered in his Apparitions before he ascended as to Mary Magdalen and to Saint Peter c. The wrong use that hath been made the right use that may be made of those Apparitions IT is much to be observed That since in the Gospel are mentioned but ten apparitions of Christ between his Resurrection and his Ascention yet no less then five of them are recorded on the very day of his Resurrection For he appeared five several times to several persons on that same day which Durand would perswade us the Latine Church did intimate in her very Church musick of that day singing that Invitatory Hymn The Lord is risen indeed in the fift musical tone Et est quinti toni propter quinque apparitiones Domini in ill◠die saith he This Anthymne Surrexit Dominus verè The Lord is risen indeed is sung in the fift Tone because the Lord appeared five times on that very day This is an elegant way of teaching mysteries by musical tones somewhat above that gross invention of turning pictures into Lay-mens books but yet whatsoever is to be said of the musick we are sure the thing it self is consonant to the Truth For our blessed Saviour did appear five several times on the very day of his resurrection that as soon as he had raised his own body from the Grave he might raise his Apostles souls from incredulity and prepare them to receive those Heavenly doctrines pertaining to the kingdom of God concerning which he resolved to speak with them
from that day till the time of his Ascention The first apparition was to Mary Magdalen alone as saith St. Mark Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week He appeared first to Mary Magdalen out of whom he had cast seven Devils Mark 16. 9. Which must needs be the grand comfort of any sinfull and sin-sick man that though he hath very impure and unclean thoughts and inclinations which do possess him like so many devils yet if he fly to his Saviour for relief he will immediately cast out those devils and likewise shew himself unto him in the bright beams of his grace and mercy as soon as to others that can boast of a much greater Purity But yet sure this first appearing of Christ to Mary Magdalen did neither give nor bespeak her any priviledge or prerogative above others It only shewed that he who came into the world to save sinners would not have them discouraged or dis-heartned because of their sins after their consciences had been throughly purged from dead works by faith and repentance Yet some men in these latter ages of the Church thinking those had a real preheminence above others to whom Christ first shewed himself after his resurrection would needs phansie our blessed Saviour to have appeared first to his own Mother So Durand in his Rationals lib. 6. in rubrica de septem diebus post Pascha Quidam dicunt in ipsâ etiam resurrectionis die primò apparuit Matri Some men say that on the very day of his resurrection he first appeared to his mother which is directly contrary to the Text for if first to his mother then not first to Mary Magdalen These men were so resolved to accumulate preheminencies upon the blessed Virgin that they feared not to invade the Text meerly to force upon her this imaginary priviledge or prerogative The like is Baronius his Logick Anno Christi 16. num 8. Vnde inferri potest in titulo crucis Domini non eo ordine quo recensentur ab Evangelistis Inscriptiones esse positas His drift being to advance the Latine tongue that all the world forsooth might use it in their Liturgies he would fain perswade us that the Inscriptions upon our Saviours cross were not reckoned up in order as they were written but that the Latine was before the Hebrew and the Greek Inscriptions His aim was to extoll his Churches language but this was no right way of extolling it to give it a priority of order against the Text nay against the Reliques of our Saviours cross that are daily shewed and worshipped at Rome where the first inscription is in Hebrew the second in Greek the last in Latine so that either Baronius is false or the Reliques are false saith Causabon Ergo vel Baronius falsus vel reliquiae falsae It seems he thought not of the reliques or happily he would not have disproved them but t is evident he thought of the text and cared not to disprove that This is the jumbling of Scripture which some will rather use then want arguments to justifie their own parties or phansies One saith the Latine was first written though the Hebrew and Greek be first named others say though Mary Magdalen was first named yet she was not first meant but that the blessed Virgin Mary must step in before her These Divines are not so moderate so ingenuous in their Divinity as Gregory Naz. was in his Poetry in his tragedy of Christus Patiens For although he allows Saint Mary Magdalen to say to the blessed Virgin as he supposeth them both going together to the sepulchre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sure you shall see him above any other yet when Christ comes indeed to be seen T is Mary Magdalen first spies him and first speaks of his appearance For when the text saith expresly he appeared first to Mary Magdalen t is no less then blasphemy to say he appeared first to his own mother for it is in effect to contradict the Holy-Ghost and to call that second which he called first The second apparition was to the same Mary Magdalen together with other women even those who had prepared their spices and ointments Luke 24. 1. 10. O my God let me never cease to prepare for thee spices and ointments even the sweet odours of praise and thanksgiving joyned with the tears of an unfeigned repentance and the oyle of good works that the Sun of righteousness may arise to me with healing in his wings and shew me the light of his countenance and I may be healed of all those wounds whereby I have so long weakned and so grievously tormented mine own soul The third apparition was to Saint Peter alone as saith Saint Paul 1 Cor. 15. 5. He was seen of Cephas then of the twelve which is Saint Peters ninth prerogative in Bellarmines account Nona est quod Christus resurgens primùm omnium ex Apostolis Petro se videndum praebuerit lib. 1. de Pontif. Rom. cap. 18. But if this third apparition to Saint Peter did advance him above the rest of the Apostles how did not the first apparition to Saint Mary Magdalen advance her above Saint Peter Why should we not rather suppose that our blessed Saviour made such haste to appear to Saint Peter because he knew he was still under the sorrow and burden of his threefold denyal for some of the antients were of opinion that Saint Peter never left weeping for denying his Master from the time of his death tell he saw him risen again from the dead So Sabellicus lib. 5. exemp cap. 5. Tribuunt lachrymis impendisse c. He wept bitterly all those three dayes wherein he had lost his Master and the rather certainly because he had denyed him before he lost him This reason is in effect the same with that before concerning the first apparition to Saint Mary Magdalen and t is more agreeable with true Divinity to magnifie Saint Peter for his Repentance then for his Primacy and questionless he himself had rather be so magnified However this we are sure that some very good Divines have given us this same gloss though upon another text For upon those words of Saint Mark Go â—ell his Disciples and Peter Mar. 16. 7. The reason why Saint Peter is particularly named is thus given by Theophylact ut scrupulus illi adimeretur quo poterat jure solicitari ne propter trinam abnegationem discipuli jure excidisset To take that scruple out of his mind which might then justly trouble him least by thrice denying his master he had lost the priviledge or right of a Disciple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the fathers own words Christ first appeared to Saint Peter that he might shew him he was not cast off because of his threefold denyal The same reason is in effect given by Saint Chrysostome as saith the learned Causabone in these words because he alone had denyed his Master and had reason to be afraid of appearing