perpetuall Miracle O God which thou workest for our preservation Without thee there is no more power in the grain to multiply then in the loaf it is thou that givest it a body at thy pleasure even to every seed his own body it is thou that givest fulness of bread and cleanness of teeth It is no reason thy goodness should be less magnified because it is universall One or two baskets could have held the five loaves and two fishes not less then twelve can hold the remainders The Divine munificence provides not for our necessity onely but for our abundance yea superfluity Envy and ignorance whilst they make God the authour of enough are ready to impute the surplusage to another cause as we commonly say of Wine that the liquour is God's the excess Satan's Thy Table O Saviour convinces them which had more taken away then set on thy Blessing makes an estate not competent onely but rich I hear of barns full of plenty and presses bursting out with new wine as the rewards of those that honour thee with their substance I hear of heads anointed with oyl and cups running over O God as thou hast a free hand to give so let us have a free heart to return thee the praise of thy Bounty Those fragments were left behind I do not see the people when they had filled their bellies cramming their pockets or stuffing their wallets yet the place was desart and some of them doubtless had far home It becomes true Disciples to be content with the present not too solicitous for the future O Saviour thou didst not bid us beg bread for to morrow but for to day not that we should refuse thy bounty when thou pleasest to give but that we should not distrust thy Providence for the need we may have Even these fragments though but of barley loaves and fish-bones may not be left in the desart for the compost of that earth whereon they were increased but by our Saviour's holy and just command are gathered up The liberall housekeeper of the world will not allow the loss of his orts the childrens bread may not be given to dogs and if the crums fall to their share it is because their smalness admits not of a collection If those who out of obedience or due thrift have thought to gather up crums have found them pearls I wonder not Surely both are alike the good creatures of the same Maker and both of them may prove equally costly to us in their wilfull mis-spending But oh what shall we say that not crusts and crums not loaves and dishes and cups but whole patrimonies are idly lavisht away not merely lost this were more easy but ill spent in a wicked riot upon dice drabs drunkards Oh the fearfull account of these unthrifty Bailifs which shall once be given in to our great Lord and Master when he shall call us to a strict reckoning of all our talents He was condemned that increased not the summe concredited to him what shall become of him that lawlesly impairs it Who gathered up these fragments but the twelve Apostles every one his basket-full They were the servitours that set on this banquet at the command of Christ they waited on the Tables they took away It was our Saviour's just care that those offalls should not perish but he well knew that a greater loss depended upon those scraps a loss of glory to the omnipotent Worker of that Miracle The feeding of the multitude was but the one half of the work the other half was in the remnant Of all other it most concerns the successours of the Apostles to take care that the marvellous works of their God and Saviour may be improved to the best they may not suffer a crust or crum to be lost that may yield any glory to that Almighty Agent Here was not any morsel or bone that was not worthy to be a relique every the least parcel whereof was no other then miraculous All the ancient monuments of God's supernatural power and mercy were in the keeping of Aaron and his sons There is no Servant in the Family but should be thriftily carefull for his Master's profit but most of all the Steward who is particularly charged with this oversight Wo be to us if we care onely to gather up our own scraps with neglect of the precious morsels of our Maker and Redeemer XXIII The Walk upon the Waters ALL Elements are alike to their Maker He that had well approved his power on the Land will now shew it in the Air and the Waters he that had preserved the multitude from the peril of hunger in the Desart will now preserve his Disciples from the peril of the tempest in the Sea Where do we ever else find any compulsion offered by Christ to his Disciples He was like the good Centurion he said to one Go and he goeth When he did but call them from their nets they came and when he sent them by pairs into the Cities and Country of Judaea to preach the Gospel they went There was never errand whereon they went unwillingly onely now he constrained them to depart We may easily conceive how loth they were to leave him whether out of love or of common civility Peter's tongue did but when it was speak the heart of the rest Master thou knowest that I love thee Who could chuse but be in love with such a Master And who can willingly part from what he loves But had the respects been onely common and ordinary how unfit might it seem to leave a Master now towards night in a wild place amongst strangers unprovided of the means of his passage Where otherwise therefore he needed but to bid now he constrains O Saviour it was ever thy manner to call all men unto thee Come to me all that labour and are heavy laden When didst thou ever drive any one from thee Neither had it been so now but to draw them closer unto thee whom thou seemedst for the time to abdicate In the mean while I know not whether more to excuse their unwillingness or to applaud their obedience As it shall be fully above so it was proportionally here below In thy presence O Saviour is the fulness of joy Once when thou askedst these thy Domesticks whether they also would depart it was answered thee by one tongue for all Master whither should we go from thee thou hast the words of eternal life What a death was it then to them to be compelled to leave thee Sometimes it pleaseth the Divine goodness to lay upon his servants such commands as savour of harshness and discomfort which yet both in his intention and in the event are no other then gracious and soveraign The more difficulty was in the charge the more praise was in the obedience I do not hear them stand upon the terms of capitulation with their Master nor pleading importunately for their stay but instantly upon the command they yield and go We are
hath so graciously abated thee and could be but so low dejected before thee as thou hast stooped low unto us that we could be but as lowly subjects of thy Goodness as we are unworthy O admirable return of humility Christ will goe down to visit the sick Servant The Master of that Servant says Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof The Jewish Elders that went before to mediate for him could say He is worthy that thou shouldst doe this for him but the Centurion when he comes to speak for himself I am not worthy They said he was worthy of Christ's Miracle he says he is unworthy of Christ's Presence There is great difference betwixt others valuations and our own Sometimes the world under-rates him that finds reason to set an high price upon himself Sometimes again it over-values a man that knows just cause of his own humiliation If others mistake us this can be no warrant for our errour We cannot be wise unless we receive the knowledge of our selves by direct beams not by reflexion unless we have learned to contemn unjust applauses and scorning the flattery of the World to frown upon our own vileness Lord I am not worthy Many a one if he had been in the Centurion's coat would have thought well of it A Captain a man of good ability and command a founder of a Synagogue a Patron of Religion yet he overlooks all these and when he casts his eye upon the Divine worth of Christ and his own weakness he says I am not worthy Alas Lord I am a Gentile an Alien a man of bloud thou art Holy thou art Omnipotent True Humility will teach us to find out the best of another and the worst piece of our selves Pride contrarily shews us nothing but matter of admiration in our selves in others of contempt Whilst he confest himself unworthy of any favour he approved himself worthy of all Had not Christ been before in his heart he could not have thought himself unworthy to entertain that Guest within his house Under the low roof of an humble breast doth God ever delight to dwell The state of his Palace may not be measured by the height but by the depth Brags and bold faces do ofttimes carry it away with men nothing prevails with God but our voluntary dejections It is fit the foundation should be laid deep where the building is high The Centurion's Humility was not more low then his Faith was lofty That reaches up into Heaven and in the face of humane weakness descries Omnipotence Onely say the word and my Servant shall be whole Had the Centurion's roof been Heaven it self it could not have been worthy to be come under of him whose Word was Almighty and who was the Almighty Word of his Father Such is Christ confessed by him that says Onely say the word None but a Divine power is unlimited neither hath Faith any other bounds then God himself There needs no footing to remove Mountains or Devils but a word Do but say the word O Saviour my Sin shall be remitted my Soul shall be healed my Body shall be raised from dust both Soul and Body shall be glorious Whereupon then was the steddy confidence of the good Centurion He saw how powerfull his own word was with those that were under his command though himself were under the command of another the force whereof extended even to absent performances well therefore might he argue that a free and unbounded power might give infallible commands and that the most obstinate Disease must therefore needs yield to the beck of the God of Nature Weakness may shew us what is in strength By one drop of water we may see what is in the main Ocean I marvell not if the Centurion were kind to his Servants for they were dutifull to him he can but say Doe this and it is done These mutuall respects draw on each other Chearfull and diligent service in the one calls for a due and favourable care in the other They that neglect to please cannot complain to be neglected Oh that I could be but such a Servant to mine heavenly Master Alas every of his Commands says Doe this and I doe it not every of his Inhibitions says Doe it not and I doe it He says Goe from the World I run to it he says Come to me I run from him Woe is me this is not service but enmity How can I look for favour whilst I return rebellion It is a gracious Master whom we serve there can be no Duty of ours that he sees not that he acknowledges not that he crowns not We could not but be happy if we could be officious What can be more marvellous then to see Christ marvell All marvelling supposes an ignorance going before and a knowledge following some accident unexpected Now who wrought this Faith in the Centurion but he that wondred at it He knew well what he wrought because he wrought what he would yet he wondred at what he both wrought and knew to teach us much more to admire that which he at once knows and holds admirable He wrought this Faith as God he wondred at it as Man God wrought and Man admired he that was both did both to teach us where to bestow our wonder I never find Christ wondring at gold or silver at the costly and curious works of humane skill or industry yea when the Disciples wondred at the magnificence of the Temple he rebuked them rather I find him not wondring at the frame of Heaven and Earth nor at the orderly disposition of all creatures and events the familiarity of these things intercepts the admiration But when he sees the grace or acts of Faith he so approves them that he is ravished with wonder He that rejoyced in the view of his Creation to see that of nothing he had made all things good rejoyces no less in the reformation of his Creature to see that he had made good of evill Behold thou art fair my Love behold thou art fair and there is no spot in thee My Sister my Spouse thou hast wounded my heart thou hast wounded my heart with one of thine eyes Our Wealth Beauty Wit Learning Honour may make us accepted of men but it is our Faith onely that shall make God in love with us And why are we of any other save God's diet to be more affected with the least measure of Grace in any man then with all the outward glories of the World There are Great men whom we justly pity we can admire none but the Gracious Neither was that plant more worthy of wonder in it self then that it grew in such a soil with so little help of rain and Sun The weakness of means addes to the praise and acceptation of our proficiency To doe good upon a little is the commendation of thrift it is small thank to be full-handed in a large estate As contrarily the strength of means doubles the revenge
of our neglect It is not more the shame of Israel then the glory of the Centurion that our Saviour says I have not found so great faith in Israel Had Israel yielded any equall faith it could not have been unespied of these All-seeing eyes yet though their Helps were so much greater their Faith was less and God never gives more then he requires Where we have laid our Tillage and Compost and Seed who would not look for a Crop but if the uncultured Fallow yield more how justly is that unanswerable ground near to a curse Our Saviour did not mutter this censorious testimony to himself not whisper it to his Disciples but he turned him about to the people and spake it in their ears that he might at once work their shame and emulation In all other things except spirituall our self-self-love makes us impatient of equalls much less can we endure to be out-stripped by those who are our professed inferiours It is well if any thing can kindle in us holy ambitions Dull and base are the spirits of that man that can abide to see another overtake him in the way and out-run him to Heaven He that both wrought this Faith and wondred at it doth now reward it Go thy ways and as thou hast believed so be it unto thee Never was any Faith unseen of Christ never was any seen without allowance never was any allowed without remuneration The measure of our receits in the matter of favour is the proportion of our belief The infinite Mercy of God which is ever like it self follows but one rule in his gift to us the Faith that he gives us Give us O God to believe and be it to us as thou wilt it shall be to us above that we will The Centurion sues for his Servant and Christ says So be it unto thee The Servant's health is the benefit of the Master and the Master's Faith is the health of the Servant And if the Prayers of an earthly Master prevailed so much with the Son of God for the recovery of a Servant how shall the intercession of the Son of God prevail with his Father in Heaven for us that are his impotent Children and Servants upon Earth What can we want O Saviour whilst thou suest for us He that hath given thee for us can deny thee nothing for us can deny us nothing for thee In thee we are happy and shall be glorious To thee O thou mighty Redeemer of Israel with thine Eternal Father together with thy Blessed Spirit one God infinite and incomprehensible be given all Praise Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen XIII The Widow's Son raised THE favours of our beneficent Saviour were at the least contiguous No sooner hath he raised the Centurion's Servant from his Bed then he raises the Widow's Son from his Bier The fruitfull clouds are not ordained to fall all in one field Nain must partake of the bounty of Christ as well as Cana or Capernaum And if this Sun were fixed in one Orb yet it diffuseth heat and light to all the world It is not for any place to ingross the Messengers of the Gospel whose errand is universal This immortal Seed may not fall all in one furrow The little City of Nain stood under the hill of Hermon near unto Tabor but now it is watered with better dews from above the Doctrine and Miracles of a Saviour Not for state but for the more evidence of the work is our Saviour attended with a large train so entering into the gate of that walled City as if he meant to besiege their Faith by his Power and to take it His providence hath so contrived his journey that he meets with the sad pomp of a Funeral A wofull Widow attended with her weeping neighbours is following her onely Son to the grave There was nothing in this spectacle that did not command compassion A young man in the flower in the strength of his age swallowed up by death Our decrepit age both expects death and solicits it but vigorous youth looks strangely upon that grim Serjeant of God Those mellow apples that fall alone from the tree we gather up with contentment we chide to have the unripe unseasonably beaten down with cudgels But more a young man the onely Son the onely Child of his mother No condition can make it other then grievous for a well-natur'd mother to part with her own bowels yet surely store is some mitigation of loss Amongst many children one may be more easily missed for still we hope the surviving may supply the comforts of the dead But when all our hopes and joys must either live or die in one the loss of that one admits of no consolation When God would describe the most passionate expression of sorrow that can fall into the miserable he can but say O daughter of my people gird thee with sackcloath and wallow thy self in ashes make lamentation and bitter mourning as for thine onely Son Such was the loss such was the sorrow of this disconsolate mother neither words nor tears can suffice to discover it Yet more had she been aided by the counsel and supportation of a loving Yoke-fellow this burthen might have seemed less intolerable A good Husband may make amends for the loss of a Son Had the Root been left to her intire she might better have spared the Branch now both are cut up all the stay of her life is gone and she seems abandoned to a perfect misery And now when she gave her self up for a forlorn mourner past all capacity of redress the God of comfort meets her pities her relieves her Here was no Solicitour but his own Compassion In other occasions he was sought and sued to The Centurion comes to him for a Servant the Ruler for a Son Jairus for a Daughter the neighbours for the Paralytick here he seeks the Patient and offers the Cure unrequested Whilst we have to doe with the Father of mercies our Afflictions are the most powerfull suitours No tears no prayers can move him so much as his own commiseration O God none of our secret sorrows can be either hid from thine eyes or kept from thine heart and when we are past all our hopes all possibilities of help then art thou nearest to us for deliverance Here was a conspiration of all parts to mercy The Heart had compassion the Mouth said Weep not the Feet went to the Bier the Hand touched the Coffin the power of the Deity raised the dead What the Heart felt was secret to it self the Tongue therefore expresses it in words of comfort Weep not Alas what are words to so strong and just passions To bid her not to weep that had lost her onely Son was to perswade her to be miserable and not feel it to feel and not regard it to regard and yet to smother it Concealment doth not remedy but aggravate sorrow That with the counsel of not weeping therefore she might see cause of
labouring under the cold fit of Infidelity and the hot fit of self-Self-love and we sit still at home and see them languish unto death This Ruler was neither faithless nor faithfull Had he been quite faithless he had not taken such pains to come to Christ Had he been faithfull he had not made this suit to Christ when he was come Come down and heal my son ere he die Come down as if Christ could not have cured him absent Ere he die as if that power could not have raised him being dead How much difference was here betwixt the Centurion and the Ruler That came for his Servant this for his Son This Son was not more above the Servant then the Faith which sued for the Servant surpassed that which sued for the Son The one can say Master come not under my roof for I am not worthy onely speak the word and my servant shall be whole The other can say Master either come under my roof or my Son cannot be whole Heal my son had been a good suit for Christ is the onely Physician for all diseases but Come down and heal him was to teach God how to work It is good reason that he should challenge the right of prescribing to us who are every way his own it is presumption in us to stint him unto our forms An expert workman cannot abide to be taught by a novice how much less shall the All-wise God endure to be directed by his creature This is more then if the Patient should take upon him to give a Recipe to the Physician That God would give us Grace is a beseeming suit but to say Give it me by prosperity is a sawcy motion As there is faithfulness in desiring the end so modesty and patience in referring the means to the authour In spiritual things God hath acquainted us with the means whereby he will work even his own Sacred Ordinances Upon these because they have his own promise we may call absolutely for a blessing In all others there is no reason that beggars should be chusers He who doeth whatsoever he will must doe it how he will It is for us to receive not to appoint He who came to complain of his Son's sickness hears of his own Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe This Nobleman was as is like of Capernaum There had Christ often preached there was one of his chief residencies Either this man had heard our Saviour oft or might have done yet because Christ's Miaracles came to him onely by hear-say for as yet we find none at all wrought where he preached most therefore the man believes not enough but so speaks to Christ as to some ordinary Physician Come down and heal It was the common disease of the Jews Incredulity which no Receit could heal but Wonders A wicked and adulterous generation seeks signs Had they not been wilfully graceless there was already proof enough of the Messias the miraculous conception and life of the Fore-runner Zachary's dumbness the attestation of Angels the apparition of the Star the journey of the Sages the vision of the Shepherds the testimonies of Anna and Simeon the Prophecies fulfilled the Voice from Heaven at his Baptism the Divine words that he spake and yet they must have all made up with Miracles which though he be not unwilling to give at his own times yet he thinks much to be tied unto at theirs Not to believe without Signs was a sign of stubborn hearts It was a foul fault and a dangerous one Ye will not believe What is it that shall condemn the world but Unbelief what can condemn us without it No Sin can condemn the Repentant Repentance is a fruit of Faith where true Faith is then there can be no condemnation as there can be nothing but condemnation without it How much more foul in a noble Capernaite that had heard the Sermons of so Divine a Teacher The greater light we have the more shame it is for us to stumble Oh what shall become of us that reel and fall in the clearest Sun-shine that ever looked forth upon any Church Be mercifull to our sins O God and say any thing of us rather then Ye will not believe Our Saviour tells him of his Unbelief he feels not himself sick of that disease all his mind is on his dying Son As easily do we complain of bodily griefs as we are hardly affected with spiritual O the meekness and mercy of this Lamb of God! When we would have look'd that he should have punished this Suitour for not believing he condescends to him that he may believe Goe thy way thy son liveth If we should measure our hopes by our own worthiness there were no expectation of blessings but if we shall measure them by his bounty and compassion there can be no doubt of prevailing As some tender mother that gives the breast to her unquiet child in stead of the rod so deals he with our perverseness How God differences men according to no other conditions then of their Faith The Centurion's Servant was sick the Ruler's Son The Centurion doth not sue unto Christ to come onely says My servant is sick of a palsie Christ answers him I will come and heal him The Ruler sues unto Christ that he would come and heal his Son Christ will not goe onely says Goe thy way thy son liveth Outward things carry no respect with God The image of that Divine Majesty shining inwardly in the Graces of the Soul is that which wins love from him in the meanest estate The Centurion's Faith therefore could doe more then the Ruler's Greatness and that faithfull man's Servant hath more regard then this great man's Son The Ruler's request was Come and heal Christ's answer was Goe thy way thy son liveth Our mercifull Saviour meets those in the end whom he crosses in the way How sweetly doth he correct our prayers and whilst he doth not give us what we ask gives us better then we asked Justly doth he forbear to go down with this Ruler lest he should confirm him in an opinion of measuring his power by conceits of locality and distance but he doeth that in absence for which his presence was required with a repulse Thy son liveth giving a greater demonstration of his Omnipotency then was craved How oft doth he not hear to our will that he may hear us to our advantage The chosen vessel would be rid of Temptations he hears of a supply of Grace The sick man asks release receives patience life and receives glory Let us ask what we think best let him give what he knows best With one word doth Christ heal two Patients the Son and the Father the Son's Fever the Father's Unbelief That operative word of our Saviour was not without the intention of a trial Had not the Ruler gone home satisfied with that intimation of his Son's life and recovery neither of them had been blessed with success Now the news of
This piece of the clause was spoken like a Saint Jesus the Son of the Most high God the other piece like a Devil What have I to doe with thee If the disclamation were universal the latter words would impugn the former for whilst he confesses Jesus to be the Son of the Most high God he withall confesses his own inevitable subjection Wherefore would he beseech if he were not obnoxious He cannot he dare not say What hast thou to doe with me but What have I to doe with thee Others indeed I have vexed thee I fear in respect then of any violence of any personal provocation What have I to doe with thee And dost thou ask O thou evil Spirit what hast thou to doe with Christ whilst thou vexest a Servant of Christ Hast thou thy name from Knowledge and yet so mistakest him whom thou confessest as if nothing could be done to him but what immediately concerns his own person Hear that great and just Judge sentencing upon his dreadfull Tribunal Inasmuch as thou didst it unto one of these little ones thou didst it unto me It is an idle misprision to sever the sense of an injury done to any of the Members from the Head He that had humility enough to kneel to the Son of God hath boldness enough to expostulate Art thou come to torment us before our time Whether it were that Satan who useth to enjoy the torment of sinners whose musick it is to hear our shrieks and gnashings held it no small piece of his torment to be restrained in the exercise of his tyranny Or whether the very presence of Christ were his rack For the guilty spirit projecteth terrible things and cannot behold the Judge or the executioner without a renovation of horrour Or whether that as himself professeth he were now in a fearfull expectation of being commanded down into the deep for a farther degree of actual torment which he thus deprecates There are Tortures appointed to the very spiritual natures of evil Angels Men that are led by sense have easily granted the Body subject to torment who yet have not so readily conceived this incident to a Spiritual substance The Holy Ghost hath not thought it fit to acquaint us with the particular manner of these invisible acts rather willing that we should herein fear then enquire but as all matters of faith though they cannot be proved by reason for that they are in a higher sphere yet afford an answer able to stop the mouth of all reason that dares bark against them since truth cannot be opposite to it self so this of the sufferings of Spirits There is therefore both an intentional torment incident to Spirits and a real For as in Blessedness the good Spirits find themselves joyned unto the chief good and hereupon feel a perfect love of God and unspeakable joy in him and rest in themselves so contrarily the evil Spirits perceive themselves eternally excluded from the presence of God and see themselves settled in a wofull darkness and from the sense of this separation arises an horrour not to be expressed not to be conceived How many men have we known to torment themselves with their own thoughts There needs no other gibbet then that which their troubled spirit hath erected in their own heart And if some pains begin at the Body and from thence afflict the Soul in a copartnership of grief yet others arise immediately from the Soul and draw the Body into a participation of misery Why may we not therefore conceive meer and separate Spirits capable of such an inward excruciation Besides which I hear the Judge of men and Angels say Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels I hear the Prophet say Tophet is prepared of old If with fear and without curiosity we may look upon those flames why may we not attribute a spiritual nature to that more then natural fire In the end of the world the elements shall be dissolved by fire and if the pure quintessential matter of the sky and the element of fire it self shall be dissolved by fire then that last fire shall be of another nature then that which it consumeth What hinders then but that the Omnipotent God hath from eternity created a fire of another nature proportionable even to spiritual essences Or why may we not distinguish of fire as it is it self a bodily creature and as it is an instrument of God's justice so working not by any material virtue or power of its own but by a certain height of supernatural efficacy to which it is exalted by the Omnipotence of that Supreme and Righteous Judge Or lastly why may we not conceive that though Spirits have nothing material in their nature which that fire should work upon yet by the judgment of the Almighty Arbiter of the world justly willing their torment they may be made most sensible of pain and by the obedible submission of their created nature wrought upon immediately by their appointed tortures besides the very horrour which ariseth from the place whereto they are everlastingly confined For if the incorporeal spirits of living men may be held in a loathed or painfull body and conceive sorrow to be so imprisoned why may we not as easily yield that the evil spirits of Angels or men may be held in those direfull flames and much more abhor therein to continue for ever Tremble rather O my soul at the thought of this wofull condition of the evil Angels who for one onely act of Apostasie from God are thus perpetually tormented whereas we sinfull wretches multiply many and presumptuous offences against the Majesty of our God And withall admire and magnifie that infinite mercy to the miserable generation of man which after this holy severity of justice to the revolted Angels so graciously forbears our hainous iniquities and both suffers us to be free for the time from these hellish torments and gives us opportunity of a perfect freedome from them for ever Praise the Lord O my soul and all that is within me praise his holy Name Who forgiveth all thy sins and healeth all thine infirmities who redeemeth thy life from destruction and crowneth thee with mercy and compassions There is no time wherein the evil Spirits are not tormented there is a time wherein they expect to be tormented yet more Art thou come to torment us before our time They knew that the last Assises are the prefixed term of their full execution which they also understood to be not yet come For though they knew not when the Day of Judgment should be a point concealed from the glorious Angels of heaven yet they knew when it should not be and therefore they say before the time Even the very evil spirits confess and fearfully attend a set day of universal Sessions They believe less then Devils that either doubt of or deny that Day of final retribution O the wonderfull mercy of our God that both to wicked men
he was so deaf that he could not hear of Christ so dumb that he could not speak for himself good neighbours supply his ears his tongue they bring him to Christ Behold a Miracle led in by charity acted by power led out by modesty It was a true office of love to speak thus in the cause of the dumb to lend senses to him that wanted Poor man he had nothing to intreat for him but his impotence here was neither ear to inform nor tongue to crave his friends are sensible of his infirmity and unasked bring him to cure This spiritual service we owe to each other It is true we should be quick of hearing to the things of God and of our peace quick of tongue to call for our helps but alas we are naturally deaf and dumb to good we have ear and tongue enough for the world if that do but whisper we hear it if that do but draw back we cry after it we have neither for God Ever since our ear was lent to the Serpent in Paradise it hath been spiritually deaf ever since we set our tooth in the forbidden fruit our tongue hath been speechless to God and that which was faulty in the root is worse in the branches Every soul is more deafned and bedumbed by increasing corruptions by actual sins Some ears the infinite mercy of God hath bored some tongues he hath untied by the power of regeneration these are wanting to their holy faculties if they do not improve themselves in bringing the deaf and dumb unto Christ There are some deaf and dumb upon necessity some others upon affectation Those such as live either out of the pale of the Church or under a spiritual tyranny within the Church we have no help for them but our prayers our pity can reach farther then our aid These such as may hear of a Christ and sue to him but will not a condition so much more fearfull as it is more voluntary This kind is full of wofull variety whilst some are deaf by an outward obturation whether by the prejudice of the teacher or by secular occasions and distractions others by the inwardly apostemating tumours of pride by the ill vapours of carnal affections of froward resolutions all of them like the deaf adder have their ears shut to the Divine charmer O miserable condition of foolish men so peevishly averse from their own salvation so much more worthy of our commiseration as it is more incapable of their own These are the men whose cure we must labour whom we must bring to Christ by admonitions by threats by authority and if need be by wholsome compulsions They do not onely lend their hand to the deaf and dumb but their tongue also they say for him that which he could not wish to say for himself Doubtless they had made signs to him of what they intended and finding him forward in his desires now they speak to Christ for him Every man lightly hath a tongue to speak for himself happy is he that keeps a tongue for other men We are charged not with supplications onely but with intercessions Herein is both the largest improvement of our love and most effectual No distance can hinder this fruit of our devotion thus we may oblige those that we shall never see those that can never thank us This beneficence cannot impoverish us the more we give we have still the more it is a safe and happy store that cannot be impaired by our bounty What was their suit but that Christ would put his hand upon the Patient Not that they would prescribe the means or imply a necessity of his touch but for that they saw this was the ordinary course both of Christ and his Disciples by touching to heal Our prayers must be directed to the usual proceedings of God his actions must be the rule of our prayers our prayers may not prescribe his actions That gracious Saviour who is wont to exceed our desires does more then they sue for Not onely doth he touch the party but takes him by the hand and leads him from the multitude He that would be healed of his spiritual Infirmities must be sequestred from the throng of the world There is a good use in due times of solitariness That soul can never injoy God that is not sometimes retired the modest Bridegroom of the Church will not impart himself to his Spouse before company Or perhaps this secession was for our example of a willing and carefull avoidance of vain-glory in our actions whence also it is that our Saviour gives an after-charge of secrecy He that could say He that doeth evil hateth the light eschueth the light even in good To seek our own glory is not glory Although besides this bashfull desire of obscurity here is a meet regard of opportunity in the carriage of our actions The envy of the Scribes and Pharisees might trouble the passage of his Divine ministery their exasperation is wisely declined by this retiring He in whose hands time is knows how to make his best choice of seasons Neither was it our Saviour's meaning to have this Miracle buried but hid Wisedom hath no better improvement then in distinguishing times and discreetly marshalling the circumstances of our actions which whosoever neglects shall be sure to shame his work and marre his hopes Is there a spirituall Patient to be cured aside with him to undertake him before the face of the multitude is to wound not to heal him Reproof and good counsel must be like our Alms in secret so as if possible one ear or hand might not be conscious to the other As in some cases Confession so our Reprehension must be auricular The discreet Chirurgion that would cure a modest patient whose secret complaint hath in it more shame then pain shuts out all eyes save his own It is enough for the God of Justice to say Thou didst it secretly but I will doe it before all Israel and before this Sun Our limited and imperfect wisedom must teach us to apply private redresses to private maladies It is the best remedy that is least seen and most felt What means this variety of Ceremony O Saviour how many parts of thee are here active Thy finger is put into the ear thy spittle toucheth the tongue thine eyes look up thy lungs sigh thy lips move to an Epphatha Thy word alone thy beck alone thy wish alone yea the least act of velleity from thee might have wrought this cure why wouldst thou imploy so much of thy self in this work Was it to shew thy liberty in not always equally exercising the power of thy Deity in that one while thine onely command shall raise the dead and eject Devils another while thou wouldst accommodate thy self to the mean and homely fashions of natural Agents and condescending to our senses and customs take those ways which may carry some more near respect to the cure intended Or was it to teach us how well thou likest
Samaritan Cottage It was thy choice O Saviour to take upon thee the shape not of a Prince but of a Servant How can we either neglect means or despise homeliness when thou the God of all the World wouldst stoop to the suit of so poor a provision We know well in what terms the Samaritans stood with the Jews so much more hostile as they did more symbolize in matter of Religion no Nations were mutually so hatefull to each other A Samaritan's bread was no better then Swines-flesh their very fire and water was not more grudged then infectious The looking towards Jerusalem was here cause enough of repulse No enmity is so desperate as that which arises from matter of Religion Agreement in some points when there are differences in the main doth but advance hatred the more It is not more strange to hear the Son of God sue for a lodging then to hear him repelled Upon so churlish a deniall the two angry Disciples return to their Master on a fiery errand Lord wilt thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them as Elias did The Sons of Thunder would be lightning straight their zeal whether as kinsmen or Disciples could not brook so harsh a refusal As they were naturally more hot then their fellows so now they thought their Piety bade them be impatient Yet they dare not but begin with leave Master wilt thou His will must lead theirs their choler cannot drive their wills before his all their motion is from him onely True Disciples are like those artificiall engines which goe no otherwise then they are set or like little Children that speak nothing but what they are taught O Saviour if we have wills of our own we are not thine Do thou set me as thou wouldst have me goe do thou teach me what thou wouldst have me say or doe A mannerly preface leads in a faulty suit Master wilt thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them Faulty both in presumption and in desire of private revenge I do not hear them say Master will it please thee who art the sole Lord of the Heavens and the Elements to command fire from Heaven upon these men but Wilt thou that we command As if because they had power given them over diseases and unclean spirits therefore Heaven and Earth were in their managing How easily might they be mistaken Their large commission had the just limits Subjects that have munificent grants from their Princes can challenge nothing beyond the words of their Patent And if the fetching down fire from Heaven were less then the dispossessing of Devils since the Devil shall inable the Beast to doe thus much yet how possible is it to doe the greater and stick at the less where both depend upon a delegated power The Magicians of Aegypt could bring forth Frogs and Bloud they could not bring Lice ordinary Corruption can doe that which they could not It is the fashion of our bold Nature upon an inch given to challenge an ell and where we find our selves graced with some abilities to flatter our selves with the faculty of more I grant Faith hath done as great things as ever Presumption undertook but there is great difference in the enterprises of both The one hath a warrant either by instinct or express command the other none at all Indeed had these two Disciples either meant or said Master if it be thy pleasure to command us to call down fire from Heaven we know thy word shall enable us to doe what thou requirest if the words be ours the power shall be thine this had been but holy modest faithfull but if they supposed there needed nothing save a leave onely and that might they be but let loose they could go alone they presumed they offended Yet had they thus overshot themselves in some pious and charitable motion the fault had been the less now the act had in it both cruelty and private revenge Their zeal was not worthy of more praise then their fury of censure That fire should fall down from Heaven upon men is a fearfull thing to think of and that which hath not been often done It was done in the case of Sodome when those five unclean Cities burned with the unnatural fire of hellish Lust it was done two severall times at the suit of Elijah it was done in an height of triall to that great pattern of Patience I find it no more and tremble at these I find But besides the dreadfulness of the judgment it self who can but quake at the thought of the suddenness of this destruction which sweeps away both Body and Soul in a state of unpreparation of unrepentance so as this fire should but begin a worse this Heavenly flame should but kindle that of Hell Thus unconceivably heavy was the revenge but what was the offence We have learned not to think any indignity light that is offered to the Son of God but we know these spiritual affronts are capable of degrees Had these Samaritans reviled Christ and his train had they violently assaulted him had they followed him with stones in their hands and blasphemies in their mouths it had been a just provocation of so horrible a vengeance Now the wrong was onely negative they received him not And that not out of any particular quarrel or dislike of his Person but of his Nation onely the men had been welcome had not their Country distasted All the charge that I hear our Saviour give to his Disciples in case of their rejection is If they receive you not shake off the dust of your feet Yet this was amongst their own and when they went on that sacred errand of publishing the Gospel of Peace These were strangers from the commonwealth of Israel This measure was not to Preachers but to Travellers onely a meer inhospitality to misliked guests Yet no less revenge will serve them then fire from Heaven I dare say for you ye holy sons of Zebedee it was not your spleen but your zeal that was guilty of so bloudy a suggestion your indignation could not but be stirred to see the great Prophet and Saviour of the world so unkindly repelled yet all this will not excuse you from a rash Cruelty from an inordinate Rage Even the best heart may easily be miscarried with a well-meant Zeal No affection is either more necessary or better accepted Love to any Object cannot be severed from hatred of the contrary whence it is that all creatures which have the concupiscible part have also the irascible adjoyned unto it Anger and displeasure is not so much an enemy as a guardian and champion of Love Whoever therefore is rightly affected to his Saviour cannot but find much regret at his wrongs O gracious and divine Zeal the kindly warmth and vital temper of Piety whither hast thou withdrawn thy self from the cold hearts of men Or is this according to the just constitution of the old
both lose our labour and thy cost The Parable is of two Debtours to one Creditour the one owed a lesser sum the other a greater both are forgiven It was not the purpose of him that propounded it that we should stick in the bark God is our Creditour our sins our Debts we are all Debtours but one more deep then another No man can pay this Debt alone satisfaction is not possible onely remission can discharge us God doth in mercy forgive as well the greatest as the least sins Our love to God is proportionable to the sense of our remission So then the Pharisee cannot chuse but confess that the more and greater the sin is the greater mercy in the forgiveness and the more mercy in the forgiver the greater obligation and more love in the forgiven Truth from whose mouth soever it falls is worth taking up Our Saviour praises the true judgment of a Pharisee It is an injurious indiscretion in those who are so prejudiced against the persons that they reject the truth He that would not quench the smoaking flax incourages even the least good As the carefull Chirurgion stroaks the arm ere he strikes the vein so did Christ here ere he convinces the Pharisee of his want of love he graceth him with a fair approbation of his judgment Yet the while turning both his face and his speech to the poor Penitent as one that cared more for a true humiliation for sin then for a false pretence of respect and innocence With what a dejected and abashed countenance with what earth-fixed eyes do we imagine the poor woman stood when she saw her Saviour direct his face and words to her She that durst but stand behind him and steal the falling of some tears upon his feet with what a blushing astonishment doth she behold his sidereall countenance cast upon her Whilst his eye was turned towards this Penitent his speech was turned to the Pharisee concerning that Penitent by him mistaken Seest thou this Woman He who before had said If this man were a Prophet he would have known what manner of Woman this is now hears Seest thou this Woman Simon saw but her outside Jesus lets him see that he saw her heart and will thus convince the Pharisee that he is more then a Prophet who knew not her conversation onely but her Soul The Pharisee that went all by appearance shall by her deportment see the proof of her good disposition it shall happily shame him to hear the comparison of the wants of his own entertainments with the abundance of hers It is strange that any of this formall Sect should be defective in their Lotions Simon had not given water to so great a Guest she washes his feet with her tears By how much the water of the eye was more precious then the water of the earth so much was the respect and courtesie of this Penitent above the neglected office of the Pharisee What use was there of a Towell where was no water She that made a fountain of her eyes made precious napary of her hair that better flax shamed the linen in the Pharisee's chest A kiss of the cheek had wont to be pledge of the welcome of their guests Simon neglects to make himself thus happy she redoubles the kisses of her humble thankfulness upon the blessed feet of her Saviour The Pharisee omits ordinary oyl for the head she supplies the most precious and fragrant oyl to his feet Now the Pharisee reads his own taxation in her praise and begins to envy where he had scorned It is our fault O Saviour if we mistake thee We are ready to think so thou have the substance of good usage thou regardest not the complements and ceremonies whereas now we see thee to have both meat and welcome in the Pharisee's house and yet hear thee glance at his neglect of washing kissing anointing Doubtless omission of due circumstances in thy Entertainment may deserve to lose our thanks Do we pray to thee do we hear thee preach to us now we make thee good chear in our house but if we perform not these things with the fit decency of our outward carriages we give thee not thy water thy kisses thy oyl Even meet ritual observances are requisite for thy full welcome Yet how little had these things been regarded if they had not argued the woman's thankfull love to thee and the ground of that love sense of her remission and the Pharisee's default in both Love and action do necessarily evince each other True love cannot lurk long unexpressed it will be looking out at the eyes creeping out of the mouth breaking out at the fingers ends in some actions of dearness especially those wherein there is pain and difficulty to the agent profit or pleasure to the affected O Lord in vain shall we profess to love thee if we doe nothing for thee Since our goodness cannot reach up unto thee who art our glorious Head O let us bestow upon thy Feet thy poor Members here below our tears our hands our oyntment and whatever our gifts or endeavours may testifie our thankfulness and love to thee in them O happy word Her sins which are many are forgiven her Methinks I see how this poor Penitent revived with this breath how new life comes into her eyes new bloud into her cheeks new spirits into her countenance like unto our Mother Earth when in that first confusion God said Let the earth bring forth grass the herb that beareth seed and the fruit-tree yielding fruit all runs out into flowers and blossoms and leaves and fruit Her former tears said Who shall deliver me from this body of death Now her chearfull smiles say I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. Seldome ever do we meet with so perfect a Penitent seldome do we find so gracious a dismission What can be wished of any mortall creature but Remission Safety Faith Peace All these are here met to make a contrite Soul happy Remission the ground of her Safety Faith the ground of her Peace Safety and Salvation the issue of her Remission Peace the blessed fruit of her Faith O Woman the perfume that thou broughtest is poor and base in comparison of those sweet savours of rest and happiness that are returned to thee Well was that ointment bestowed wherewith thy Soul is sweetned to all Eternity XXXIV Martha and Mary WE may reade long enough ere we find Christ in an house of his own The foxes have holes and the birds have nests he that had all possessed nothing One while I see him in a Publican's house then in a Pharisee's now I find him at Martha's His last entertainment was with some neglect this with too much solicitude Our Saviour was now in his way the Sun might as soon stand still as he The more we move the liker we are to Heaven and to this God that made it His progress was to Jerusalem for some holy Feast He whose
thing here had horrour The Place both solitary and a Sepulcher Nature abhors as the visage so the region of Death and Corruption The Time Night onely the Moon gave them some faint glimmering for this being the seventeenth day of her age afforded some light to the latter part of the night The Business the visitation of a dead Corps Their zealous Love hath easily overcome all these They had followed him in his Sufferings when the Disciples left him they attended him to his Cross weeping they followed him to his Grave and saw how Joseph laid him even there they leave him not but ere it be day-light return to pay him the last tribute of their duty How much stronger is Love then death O Blessed Jesu why should not we imitate thy love to us Those whom thou lovest thou lovest to the end yea in it yea after it even when we are dead not our Souls onely but our very dust is dearly respected of thee What condition of thine should remove our affections from thy person in Heaven from thy lims on earth Well did these worthy Women know what Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus had done to thee they saw how curiously they had wrapped thee how preciously they had embalmed thee yet as not thinking others beneficence could be any just excuse of theirs they bring their own Odours to thy Sepulture to be perfumed by the touch of thy Sacred Body What thank is it to us that others are obsequious to thee whilst we are slack or niggardly We may rejoyce in others forwardness but if we rest in it how small joy shall it be to us to see them go to Heaven without us When on the Friday-evening they attended Joseph to the intombing of Jesus they mark'd the place they mark'd the passage they mark'd that inner grave-stone which the owner had fitted to the mouth of that tomb which all there care is now to remove Who shall roll away the stone That other more weighty load wherewith the vault was barred the seal the guard set upon both came not perhaps into their knowledge this was the private plot of Pilate and the Priests beyond the reach of their thoughts I do not hear them say How shall we recover the charges of our Odours or How shall we avoid the envy and censure of our angry Elders for honouring him whom the Governours of our Nation have thought worthy of condemnation The onely thought they now take is Who shall roll away the stone Neither do they stay at home and move this doubt but when they are well forward on their way resolving to try the issue Good hearts cannot be so solicitous for any thing under Heaven as for removing those impediments which lie between them and their Saviour O Blessed Jesu thou who art clearly revealed in Heaven art yet still both hid and sealed up from too many here on earth Neither is it some thin veil that is spred between thee and them but an huge stone even a true stone of offence lies rolled upon the mouth of their hearts Yea if a second weight were superadded to thy Grave here no less then three spirituall bars are interposed betwixt them and thee above Idleness Ignorance Unbelief Who shall roll away these stones but the same power that removed thine O Lord remove that our Ignorance that we may know thee our Idleness that we may seek thee our Unbelief that we may find and enjoy thee How well it succeeds when we go faithfully and conscionably about our work and leave the issue to God Lo now God hath removed the cares of these holy Women together with the grave-stone To the wicked that falls out which they feared to the Godly that which they wished and cared for yea more Holy cares ever prove well the worldly dry the bones and disappoint the hopes Could these good Visitants have known of a greater stone sealed of a strong watch set their doubts had been doubled now God goes beyond their thoughts and at once removes that which both they did and might have feared The stone is removed the seal broken the watch fled What a scorn doth the Almighty God make of the impotent designs of men They thought the stone shall make the grave sure the seal shall make the stone sure the guard shall make both sure Now when they think all safe God sends an Angel from Heaven above the earth quakes beneath the stone rolls away the Souldiers stand like carkasses and when they have got heart enough to run away think themselves valiant the Tomb is opened Christ is risen they confounded Oh the vain projects of silly men as if with one shovel-full of mire they would dam up the Sea or with a clout hang'd forth they would keep the Sun from shining Oh these Spiders-webs or houses of cards which fond children have as they think skilfully framed which the least breath breaks and ruines Who are we sorry worms that we should look in any business to prevail against our Creatour What creature is so base that he cannot arm against us to our confusion The Lice and Frogs shall be too strong for Pharaoh the Worms for Herod There is no wisedom nor counsell against the Lord. Oh the marvellous pomp and magnificence of our Saviour's Resurrection The Earth quakes the Angel appears that it may be plainly seen that this Divine person now rising had the command both of Earth and Heaven At the dissolution of thine Humane nature O Saviour was an Earthquake at the re-uniting of it is an Earthquake to tell the world that the God of Nature then suffered and had now conquered Whilst thou laiest still in the earth the earth was still when thou camest to fetch thine own The earth trembled at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob. When thou our true Sampson awakedst and foundest thy self tied with these Philistian cords and rousedst up and brakest those hard and strong twists with a sudden power no marvell if the room shook under thee Good cause had the earth to quake when the God that made it powerfully calls for his own flesh from the usurpation of her bowells Good cause had she to open her graves and yield up her dead in attendence to the Lord of Life whom she had presumed to detain in that cell of darkness What a seeming impotence was here that thou who art the true Rock of thy Church shouldst lie obscurely shrouded in Joseph's rock thou that art the true corner-stone of thy Church shouldst be shut up with a double stone the one of thy grave the other of thy vault thou by whom we are sealed to the day of our Redemption shouldst be sealed up in a blind cavern of earth But now what a demonstration of power doth both the world and I see in thy glorious Resurrection The rocks tear the graves open the stones roll away the dead rise and appear the Souldiers flee and tremble Saints and Angels