upon the death of the Testator The Covenant of the old Testament was continued by Sacrifice renewed by Circumcision altogether confirmed by effusion of bloud Well the Covenant of the New Testament is established in Baptism in the Pool of water O what a comely thing is Order God kept it in his very death the Old Law was first drawn drie in the Bloud and the New Law succeeds it in the stream of Water and I like his Meditation well that said our Saviour had first uttered out every drop of bloud from his veins ut nos ad bibendum de aquâ aeternae vitae invitaret to invite us from thenceforth to drink of the water of everlasting life Our Romish Adversaries stand much upon that which I handle now for say they if the two Sacraments had been precisely out of Christs side then St. John would have made his Relation thus A Souldier pierced his side and there came out Water and Bloud for Baptism is our beginning in the Church our first milk and after that when we know how to examin our selves as St. Paul says then we come to the Supper of the Lord just so as they would have it Aquinas a sure man of their own side compares the Sacraments in this wise Baptism is a Sacrament of the greatest necessity of the twain the Supper of the Lord is of more perfection though not of so much necessity Well then since we must aim at perfection as the Apostle says why might not Christ give the first place to that which makes us perfect and the second place to that which is first in time but lag in perfection nay rather than we should make use of this Text for no more than a yoke of Sacraments they will allow it to be a Figure of none but of the Supper of the Lord for their wine is dash'd with water in their Chalice and this Text is the Authority for it bloud and water I am sure the letter of the Scripture is on our side that use pure wine in the Eucharist de fructu geniminis I do not read that Christ gave his Disciples ought but wine to drink I deny not but some of the ancient Fathers concur with them but it is apparent I can make no better excuse they forsake the Letter and build upon an Allegory He that feeds upon the Letter of the Text feeds upon Manna he that lives by the Allegorie feeds upon licious Quails Israel may desire such curious food but God was better pleased when they were contented with Manna I have done with the Order The period of all in a word is the readiness of the Fountain which could not be stopt for a moment Forthwith came thereout bloud and water Love is no delaier no protractor of time ready to do good speedy in execution good deeds did not hang in our Saviours fingers as they do with many of us our hands unclasp to part with any thing like a lock that 's rusty and goes hard you can scarce open it Abrahams forwardness in entertaining the Angels and the dispatch that he made is as much commended as his hospitality Gen. xviii Abraham says the Text hastened to the Tent to Sarah 2. Sarah made ready quickly three measures of fine meal 3. Abraham ran to the Herd for a tender Calf 4. Abrahams young man did hast to dress it nemo piger est in domo caritatis not a slothful person not a protractor of time in all the House of Charity Such expedition did our Saviour make to express his love to the World he yields up his body in the flower of his age not a wrinkle in his brow not a grey hair in his head he made haste to suffer Judas says he what thou doest do it quickly as who should say I know thy heart is against me and that thou wouldest sell me into mine enemies hand yet for old acquaintance sake do me the curtesie to protract no time what thou doest do it quickly There past but a little time from midnight to midday betwixt his Attachment his Arraignment and his Execution This was a Paschal Lamb eaten in haste as God gave Moses in charge for the Lord will hasten you out of Egypt And to come to the instance in my Text his joynts were stiff and cold the moisture of his body congealed long it would be I should have thought before a few drops of liquor could come forth with much violence and chafing the flesh O but the Testator was dead his Sacraments are the Seals of his mercy wherewith he assures his Promises unto us and he would not have the World stay one whit for their Legacies capiat qui capere potest out it gusheth like a torrent and forthwith came thereout bloud and water All you that thirst for the living God be as ready to drink as he was to give else we are magis mortui quà m mortuus as dead as death it self and past recovery Repent you but instantly make restitution of all things wrongfully gotten but instantly be reconciled to your enemies stick not at it but instantly instantly I say but continue those instants unto your lives end Our Saviour compared his love towards Jerusalem to a Hen that gathers her Chickens under her wings let this Comparison be the Pattern of our love to Christ You know the Hen must not sit for a spurt and be gone then her eggs addle and the Brood is spoiled Take the application unto your conscience nourish the good motions of Gods spirit in your heart sit upon them as the Hen doth upon her Brood that they may quicken in you by a lively faith We had need to do it for as Christ was sudden and made haste to express his love so he is sudden and will make haste to judgment Surely I come quickly they are the close of our Bible Even so come Lord Jesus and prepare us for thy second coming that we who drink at thy mystical Wound here may be satisfied with thy goodness as out of a River in thy Kingdom of glory AMEN THE THIRD SERMON UPON THE PASSION GEN. xxii 13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold behind him a Ram caught in a thicket by his horns and Abraham went and took the Ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his Son THe place where this memorable Sacrifice was offered up had a name given unto it by Abraham in the next verse to that which I have read Deus in monte videbatur or Deus in monte apparuit which is interpreted God is seen or God did appear in the Mount from which name Origen raiseth this Meditation Nihil hic corporeum sentias sed quae Scripta sunt in spiritu videas Do not think in the story of this Sacrifice that you see a Ram or that you see Isaac you must apprehend it in Spirit and believe that you see nothing but the Oblation of the Son of God upon the
the same end to make us magnifie God for his Wisdom Goodness and Justice Nay I add compare the Law of Works imposed upon Adam and the Law of Faith imposed upon Christians and both of them are possible to be done For the first man according to the integrity wherein he was created and by the virtue of supernatural Grace bestowed upon him might have obeyed the Commandement given if he had not turned to disobedience and by the Divine help of the same grace we to whom God hath preached the glad tidings of his Son are endewed with power to believe that we may be saved Now in a word let us lay the difference of these two one against another God gave the Law in Paradise as a King in his Justice but he gave the Gospel in Sion as a Father of Grace and Mercy according to that Law the reward had been given ex debito by debt and due say the Schoolmen but to him that believes the reward is given by mere Grace which excludes boasting He that disobey'd that Law was to look for the most strict severity of Justice so condemnation belongs likewise to the unbeliever according to Justice but perhaps it shall be temper'd with some moderation for Christs sake Finally this is the main disagreement the first Covenant made with Adam did exclude all hope of remission of sins but the second Covenant made in Christ runs in this tenour to them that live by Faith your sins shall be blotted out and your iniquities forgotten After you have understood the first point how there was a Law imposed upon Adam when he was created and endewed with original Justice you must now give ear to the next thing in order what heavy and astonishing matter is contained in that Law which was given by Moses to the Children of Israel and remember that I consider the Law deliver'd in the two Tables at Mount Sinai Seorsim and by it self separated from all the promises contained in the Prophets and in the Psalms of David These then are the remarkable differences between the Covenant written in Tables of stone and this Covenant of the New Testament in the Blood of Christ First God gave the Law at Sinai being wrath with our sins for whereas we had lost both the wisdom of our understanding and the loyal obedience of our will by the transgression of our first parent yet God impos'd his Commandement upon us and exacts such measure of holiness which we are not able to perform Therefore that Law was given in the barren Wilderness because it is not able to bring one soul unto God likewise it was delivered with signs full of wrath thunder and lightning and a dreadful noise to shew that God was full of indignation when he laid it upon us On the contrary he made the new Covenant of peace being reconciled to them that were lost or at least proffering reconciliation in his beloved Son Read this Doctrine Heb. xii from the 18. to the 24. verse Ye are not come to the Mount that might not be touched and that burnt with fire nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words which they that heard entreated they might hear it no more They could not endure that which was commanded And so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake but ye are come to Mount Sion and to the City of the living God c. Wherefore the Gospel was presented with manifest tokens of love and benevolence Ecce Evangelizo behold I bring you good tidings 2. There 's a difference arising between the first Testament and the last from the several Mediators that came between God and the people Moses was a servant faithful in the Family and he was the Mediator of the Old Testament Christ is the Son and Heir of all he was the Mediator of the New The Law was given by Moses Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ 3. The old Covenant was ratified with the blood of Beasts but loe the New Covenant doth much surpass it which was ratified with the precious Blood of that immaculate Lamb which took away the sins of the world which is therefore called the Blood of the New Testament 4. The old Law in St. Paul's phrase contained poor and beggerly rudiments not able to bring to life It was a killing letter the ministry of death and condemnation it worketh wrath it entred that sin might abound it is like Hagar which gendreth children unto bondage Gal. iv 24. The Gospel is the power of salvation to every one that believeth a quickening Spirit it purgeth us from our sins it speaketh better things than the blood of Abel 5. That which Moses brought was an heavy burden which neither the Fathers nor the Children could bear but of the Gospel Christ saith his yoke is easie and his burden is light and in it you shall find rest for your souls Lastly the Old Testament endured unto Christ and no longer wherefore because it passed away it is called the Old the New Testament remaineth for ever so says St. Paul of our Blessed Saviour taking flesh who is not made after the Law of a carnal Commandment but after the power of an endless life No passage or comparison can be made between them but the Law given at Mount Sinai will appear to be an harsh and most unwelcome injunction and that which doth clear us from the curse thereof is Evangelium the best tidings that ever arriv'd at the ear of man Hitherto I have consider'd the Old Testament in no respect but as it contains the killing letter of the Law but you must not mistake that the Holy Spirit hath interlaced many fast-holdings of Faith and promises Evangelical almost every where in the Prophets and in the Psalms of David Nay the Old Testament is rather Promise than Law yet it was fit the rigour of the Law should be repeated that it might more appear how necessary the promise of Grace was that we could not live without it and that every man being convicted in his conscience by the sentence of the Law we might more ardently fly to Grace for the end of the Moral Law is double to set us a rule what we should endeavour to do and to discover our own impotency unto us what we are not able to do that we may seek a remedy in the satisfaction of Christ But this I say that the darkness and obscurity of the Old Testament was enlightned with many excellent promises that the believing Israelites might be partakers of Faith and of everlasting life they had the same Gospel which we have the same Christ the same Faith the same Spirit sealing the truth of promise unto them Where is then the priviledge you will say that the tidings are better to us then unto them or far surpassing on our side every way Israel that believed in the promised seed was an heir but under age
your Paschal Lamb cease hereafter the circumcision of the flesh bloud and water shall take place now I deliver them to be your Sacraments you shall be born again by water and you shall be fed with that Cup which is the New Testament in my bloud but why bloud and wherefore water says St. Ambrose this question will bring on a second Mystery aqua ut emundaret sanguis ut redimeret wretched Babes we were brought forth into this world as Elisha brought the Aramites blind into the midst of Samaria among their Enemies Shall I smite them my Father shall I smite them says the King of Israel O no says Elisha use them friendly and set bread and water before them Thus I say we were born obstinati ad peccatum destinati ad judicium polluted with iniquity bound over to condemnation Shall I smite them says Justice now I have them here shall I consume them at once O no says our blessed Master I will wash away their pollutions with water and make them white as snow I will redeem them from condemnation and lay down bloud for bloud Here is a strain of curtesie far higher than that of Elisha's not bread and water but water and bloud Moses was sent to deliver Israel out of captivity he was tractus ex aquis as his name tells us sav'd out of a River where he was cast to be drown'd he came by water but the deliverance stuck a long time and could not go forward Moses's Miracles Aarons Eloquence the Plagues upon Pharaoh all could do no good until the door-posts were smitten with the bloud of the Lamb. First Moses in water and then the Lamb in bloud their Redemption was made perfect in bloud and water And these two streams at the last cast were enough to drown an Heresie which Christ knew would spring up like a Tare among the Wheat That 's the third Mystery Marcion he foresaw would doubt of the truth of his body whether his substance was flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone or but an airy phantastique I know not what Nay surely it had an elementary composition for here was water and it had the composition of the humors for here was bloud so Aquinas and the School Divines consider it even for this cause as a fountain of providence that for conviction of Heresie his side was pierced and c. But while I consider these two Blessings as they are Miracles and Mysteries so they are extra nos coming from Christ but not coming to us but upon some application you shall find them intra nos lying at every mans conscience First that which was bloud and water in Christ must be tears of much anguish for your sins in you and true compunction of heart I do not ask for a sullen grief in Nabal which smothers the heart in desperation and cannot vent it self in a weeping eye I do not ask for the weeping eye of a Crocodile which is not commanded by the compunction of the heart that were like Gideons Fleece which was wet when the Floor was dry but I ask for Mary Magdalens eye melting into tears and for Davids sinful heart melting in his breast like wax the one is the root and the other the fruit of repentance bloud and water Quicquid Christus in corpore mater sustinuit in corde every stroke that did fall upon the body of Christ did light upon the heart of the blessed Virgin Mary So who can think upon that which she did suffer but must suffer as much as she did think my pride my gluttony my wantonness my blasphemy my oppression my prophanness what have you done do you know whom you have kill'd O no Father forgive them My sins knew not what they did now they weep for it now they are prickt in heart and that 's my bloud and water Secondly that which was bloud and water in Christ what is it more in us amor erga Deum caritas erga proximum it shall be in me a provocation toward the fulfilling of the whole Law to love God and my Neighbour St. Paul speaks of a resistance unto blood and who is he that is dearer unto me than my bloud but my Redeemer Christ Our Saviour speaks of giving my Alms away or if I have nothing else in store let me give but a Cup of cold water for his names sake and it shall not lose a reward And who are they that must have my water my alms yea a plentiful gift from my hands it is my Brother my Neighbour or if you will love him better for God's sake than for your own sake he is one of the Members of Christ Martyrdom is welcom for Christs sake my love shall express it self in any good office for my Brothers sake Martyrdom and Charity are my bloud and water Thirdly and so you shall have your full doses of these two streams sanguis valet contra iram aqua contra libidinem Remember this last Application all our sensual and brutish affections are drawn into two heads by Philosophy the irascible part which is rectified by patience and endurance of evil and the concupiscible part which is rectified by absteining from that which is an apparent and a deceitful good if your stomach fret within you and malign at tribulation when the Cross of Christ is laid upon you prick the angry vein to save the Soul let out the bloud of an impatient heart if your appetite be intemperate your concupiscence effeminate dry up the body by fasting parch it even like a Bottle that is hung in the smoke Venus orta mari drain out those superfluous streams that surcharge the body sufferance of evil and abstinence from the baits of pleasures these are my bloud and water And so much touching the Conjunction of these two streams Now I come in a word to the Order first bloud and then water Some may say to the bloud here as the Midwife did to Pharez who striv'd to come into the world before Zarah his Brother Why didst thou make a breach why art thou the first Malice Beloved is ever full of confusion it heeds not where it begins nor how it proceeds to vengeance but blessings are like fruit taken in their season they descend in their order as in this place by bloud and water For do but consider how these two were applied even now to the several vertues of a Christian and you shall find that bloud hath the preeminence and deserves the first place for is not compunction of heart better than sorrowful tears is not martyrdom for Gods sake better than charity to our Neighbour is it not a greater conquest to suffer evil patiently than to abstain from deceitful good aquâ vocati sanguine electi is not Election better than Vocation If all these Comparisons hold as I think they do bloud is preeminent in way of blessing above water 2. Here were the great Legacies paid unto the World the two Testaments
as well as zealous intention of inward reverence Behold the creatures of bread and wine non quà sunt sed quà significant not as they are elementary food but as they are significant of greater things And for that significancy we bend our knees in the receiving to our Lord Jesus Christ not to do honour to the Elements let none be so simple or so uncharitable to say it nor to any visible thing present but to the Immortal God who hath saved us by the blood of his Son as of a lamb undefiled Now upon the taking of the bread and wine not absolute necessity but decency and order call for the duty of our knee The visible Sacrament is objectum adorationis à quo non ad quod upon occasion of seeing those things we do worship but the worship is not terminated to those things The people of Israel for certain worshipped before the Ark was the Ark any better sign of Gods presence than the Bread and Wine are of the Body and Blood of Christ The Ark was called Jehovah so those Elements are called his Body and Blood for the representation and Sacramental relation Throughout all the Old Testament wheresoever the people of God had notice of the divine presence and grace in signs ordinary and extraordinary they have with free conscience bowed down and worshipped Moses fell down to God when he saw the fire in the Bush Joshuah worshipped not the Angel but Jehovah at the sight of the Angel Josh v. The people fell down and worshipped when they saw the fire from heaven fall on the Sacrifice 2 Chron. vii 3. Nay Ezra cast himself down before the House of God when there was no House standing but the remembrance of the place What if a devout man walking through goodly Fields of standing corn and marking those plentiful blessings should uncover his head yea and kneel to give God thanks were not this well done much more though not any worship is done to the bread when he sees that bread in which by faith he receives Christ and all his benefits I will follow this point no further happy is he that believes and doth neither commit Idolatry to the outward Elements nor grudg at due and devout reverence to be done at the most Holy Supper of the Lord. Me-thinks now our last business of all touching the worshipping of Images should be but sport to skirmish with Babies and Puppies like the fray that is spoken of between the Cranes and the Pigmies O strong delusions in the hearts of men that there should be any cause to contest with Christians in such a Controversie Blasphemy Witchcraft Murder are not more plainly condemn'd in Scripture than to set up an Image for adoration and if Gods own words utter'd with his own mouth from Mount Sinai in thunder and lightning will not serve the turn to what end is it to dispute or preach against it but for Sions sake I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalems sake I will not rest The worshipping of Images is accounted no slender Ceremony among the Romanists but a branch of Religion wherein they shew great zeal to God and the Saints The Tridentine Catechism provides that the catechized in their childhood should learn this for Catechisms are principally for youth that it is not only lawful to have Pictures and Images in Churches wherein they see we assent so far but to exhibit honor and worship unto them Parochus sanctorum imagines in templis positas demonstrabit ut colantur left the people should think the Images stand in the wall for a cypher or for bare ornament the Parish Priest shall admonish his Flock that they stand there to be worshipped So Cajetan those stand not for fashion sake only in the Church like the Cherubins in Solomons Temple meerly to be lookt upon but to be adored and this is upheld with so much vehemency that they accurse all such as oppose it and with so much cruelty that we learn out of their own storie that Balthasar Hinâ—marus was burnt at Vienna and Aegidius Hispanus at Sevil for denying that Religious Adoration was due to Images Beside what Panegyricks Praises and Poems have been made in honor of those Statues before which many miracles have been wrought though nothing truly done but by imposture and delusion What injunctions given to Penitentiaries to creep unto them What offerings of Plate and Coin and Jewels bestowed upon them and by the bounty of fools they are made richer than the givers and the living are defrauded of the works of mercy to deck an Idol with sumptuous bravery And after all this madness and cost to uphold the credit of their golden Gods Cardinal Bellarmine's voluntary confession is worthy to be noted nihil periret de fide aut religione si nulla ficta vel picta esset imago Faith and Religion should suffer no loss though there were no Image in the world This is even such another lightning as came from him in his Controversies upon Justification for after all his arguments to make the good works of the faithful have a merit of condignity he concludes tutissimum est yet it is the safest way to hope to be saved by Christ alone so after all his sophistry for Images this is plain dealing nihil periret de fide religione it were not the worse for Faith and Religion if there were no Images at all Lend your ear now to the stir that is made among their Writers what portion of Religious Worship is allowed to their Pictures and Statues that stand for Christ especially and likewise for the Saints That infamous second Nicene Synod whose Canons are precious in the eye of the Church of Rome to this day that pack of Idol-mongers condemned all such as said their use went no further than to put us in mind of Christ nay Tharasius the busiest man in that ill work said all that confessed they did esteem venerably of sacred Images and would not adore them were hypocrites It was there defined they should have Religious Salutation and Adoration but not latriam the most Religious Worship which is proper only to God The Tridenâ—ine Council leaves men to pick what they can out of indefinite words and says only such Images are to have Veneration made to them and Holy Worship There are three Sects of opinions among their learned men who differently state the case Durandus says that Images are not adored but improperly and by abuse of the word quia ad praesentiam earum fit rememoratio exemplarium tunc adorantur in praesentia imaginum they being at hand do make men remind Christ and think upon him and then Christ is adored in the presence of the Image but not the Image at all Such remembrances sometimes might be spared because of the danger and scandal yet this opinion is moderate I only dislike that he says he would not have the people so taught for Christ bad his doctrin should be
this Text before you To treat upon a Text of multiplying and increase it may be it hath some influence upon the words of the speaker Or if not so yet it being a branch of a famous Story out of which our Church hath compiled three several Gospels observe your Common-prayer Book and you will find no less I say that which hath supplied us with three Gospels may easily afford us occasion of two Sermons It is so circumstanced with mysteries that as twelve Baskets did no more than contein that which was left of five loavs and two fishes so when I have spoken once and again upon this Theme the remainder which I must omit will be manifold more than I shall be able to deliver It came to pass at such an opportunity as in reason you may be confirmed that our Saviour meditated some great matter for setting all occurences in right order John the Baptist was newly beheaded and his bloud yet warm Matth. xiv It was as the Devil would have it the burning Light was put out the Forerunner cut off the mouth of the great Witness was stopt he that divulged Christs glory over all Judea Now his fame will be less bruited abroad than it was before not a whit for immediately as it were on purpose to supply the place of that mighty Prophet Christ amazeth the people with this Table that he spread in the Wilderness the rumour of it filled Jerusalem and all Judea so that Satan might say with Herod this is John the Baptist that is risen from the dead And it hapned to the greater glory of the Son of God that all parties were never so generally pleased with any wonder that he did In this Gospel of St. John he healed a man that had been infirm eight and thirty years It liked them not because it was done on the Sabbath day He told the Pharisees their secret sins they told him he was a Samaritan and had a Devil He gave eyes to one that was born blind but who durst confess it for he that did was sure to be excommunicated He raised Lazarus to life after he had been dead four days This made the High-Priests broil with anger that they concluded in their Council it was expedient to put him to death Onely this Miracle was taken with the right hand and for ought appears escaped all malignancy and sinister interpretation If it sped so well with them that observed no more from it but that they did eat and were filled I speak it upon good authority the Lord rebukes them for it in this Chapter ver 27. That they laboured for the meat that perished and not for meat that endured to everlasting life If these had such liking to it how much more considerable is it to us who may collect the highest mysteries of Religion out of these lowly figures First you may discern in this the communicableness of charity which passeth the good things of fortune from hand to hand to those that need as these barley loaves were derived from the Fountain to the River and from the River to the smaller Brooks Secondly you may see no less than Christ and his Church knit together by fit junctures and sinews his influence moves in his Apostles the Apostles dispense his gifts unto the people which is the harmony that keeps all in tune in the house of God Nay thirdly here is the very Sacrament of the Sacrament As the bread in this Miracle was blessed from Christs lips and drew vertue from thence above its nature so in the Lords Supper the Word infuseth it self into the Element and it becomes a Sacrament These things without peradventure the Jews did not wot of but we have light enough to discry them from this Story He distributed to the Disciples c. I am constant to that partition of the whole verse which I delivered heretofore a preparation to a Miracle and the Miracle it self The preparation as I noted I dispatched it was bodily and ghostly bodily in assumpsit Jesus took the loaves ghostly in gratias egit or benedixit he gave thanks The Miracle consists plainly of these three Members Here is the distribution which is Christs act He distributed to the Disciples 2. The subdistribution that was the Disciples Office They distributed to them that were set down 3. Here is the reception that did belong to the People They did all eat and were filled they had as much as they would Distinctly upon these three in their order There is but one giver in the Text the rest that are mentioned are all borrowers to him therefore as to the Patron of the Miracle give we the precedency in this Narration He distributed That Pronoun and Verb together make a rich conjunction and yield such an ample Revenue as the whole earth cannot receive For all the wealth of this World and our Portion of glory in the Text is lodged in the room of these few syllables He distributed But to lay hold of it with the right hand and as it belongs to the matter which is before me I consider it as it conducts us to the two regent Attributes of the Divine nature Power and goodness or in terms as easie to be remembred as a Miracle or as a Benefit First as a Miracle If the Son of God had communicated all that was before him and no more as far as it would reach the Company that was with him had barely seen his courtesie but since it pleased him to increase the loaves more than a thousand fold above their natural quantity it was an argument of his Majesty and Omnipotency Mighty things are those which thou hast done O Lord and who is like unto thee What a memorable Feast was here set forth out of an handful of meat Was ever hunger conquered with such small provision Were ever five thousand persons tabled at so cheap a rate nothing was made ready and yet nothing wanted no Ovens were heated yet they had their fill of bread without scarcity no nets were cast to drag the Seas yet fish abounded with them to their utmost satiety In brief a Child did keep and carry all the food that was among them and yet here was an open House for all comers Julian that great Apostate studied Magick and all secret unlawful Arts under that great Sorcerer Jamblichus the Philosopher His desires were to make the Scriptures and in them the Miracles of our Saviour suspected or despicable Well when he and his infernal Partners had tried all their cunning what could they produce correspondent to this unquestionable increase of five loaves and two fishes why it was too manifest to be impeached and too great to be imitated Cast seeds of corn into the ground and we look for an augmentation but with many conditions and after much leisure First the bosom of the earth after it is well manured must take it the dews and rain must liquor it the Sun must cherish it the seasons
in bloud and to sprinkle it seven times before the Lord septies sanguis no less would serve the turn and think you that Christ did fail in this perfect number no not once if you will count it 1. He was circumcised and there was bloud 2. He sweat in the Garden not without drops of bloud 3. He was buffetted upon the mouth that must needs draw bloud Then the scourgings upon his back the thorns platted upon his head the nails driven into his feet and hands those three likewise could not be without great effusion of bloud At the seventh and last time a Souldier thrust a Spear into his side and then came forth a stream of bloud The heart of man hath entangled it self with seven deadly sins like the Woman of Samaria seven had taken her to wife according to the number of the capital sins seven times did Christ lay down the price of a Ransom seven times the bloud was sprinkled before the Lord but when I say seven I do not exclude many more it is numerus finitus pro infinito The rich man in the Gospel besought Father Abraham that he would send Lazarus with his finger dipt in water to cool his tongue There was a foul mistake in the Petition to ask for water why not rather for bloud 't is bloud that quencheth the fire which without it is unquenchable And yet there is some use of water O the use of it is excellent and unvaluable therefore water also came from the side of Jesus It is a wonder that this dolorous Passion of our Lord did not call for fire to rain upon Jerusalem as it fell down upon Sodom and Gomorrah which lest it should be here was a pipe of water opened to quench the wrath of God Four great Rivers were little enough to water the Garden of Eden this little Spout is enough to water all the World for when all other Interpretations fail us the Stream that bubbled out of the side of Christ is the water above the Heavens all Israel drank of the Rock in the Wilderness every Soul which was a thirst drank What a copious deflux was that So all the Israel of God may drink of the spiritual Rock his Spring is no less abundant and that spiritual Rock is Christ A spiritual Rock did Paul say he was used no better than if he had been a very Rock of Stone As Moses struck the Rock with his Staff so was the Body of Christ with a Spear and water gushed out apace Now at several times there was a threefold passage of water in our Saviour sudoris lacrymarum lateris the one when he sweat in the Garden the second was the distillation of tears and the third was this Fountain which was opened in his side Put the seven Issues of bloud and the three Issues of water together and here are ten Drink-offerings according to the number of the Ten Commandments which we have broken Divinity is nothing else but a Tractate of admiration and lo a Miracle the last of Christ's Miracles before he was buried as the first Miracle which he wrought was by the Element of Water at Cana in Galilee so his last Miracle was in Water which came out of his side for that this was no natural Issue they know full well that have tried Dissections and Anatomies And where did you ever read that an Apostle urged the truth of that which he recited so far that he knew his record was true and that the thing was done that we might believe I say where did you ever meet with such a Protestation in the Bible if the thing entreated of were not a Miracle The sweat was miraculous in the Garden the bloud was miraculous which streamed afresh from the dead body so was this gush of water from his side most supernatural whether some inward part of Christ was resolved into this Element of a sudden or whether it was newly created for the purpose let them dispute it who love to seek that which they can never find But I am sure the water was miraculous and far be it from us to think that it was not water as some have doubted but a spumeous phlegmatick humour As Christ himself is truth and not appearance so this humour had not the name and appearance only but the essence of water There are three that bear record on earth says St. John the Spirit the Water and Blood the Spirit which he gave up when he groan'd his last and that was a true Spirit the Bloud that drill'd down from him and that was true Bloud the Water that leakt out of his side and that was very Water So much of the two Streams severally considered now I come to the Conjunction Bloud and Water For his love could bring forth no less than Twins sanguis aqua if he would undergo the Law was it not sufficient that he was circumcised and wounded in the flesh but he was baptized also in Jordan there was satisfaction both by Bloud and Water When he suffered the sharp Agony in the Garden water alone had been a sign of a terrible conflict with his Father but there trickled from him bloud and water When the whip did tear his flesh and the thorns enter into the quick many do modestly suppose that He mingled tears with bloud and then at every passion there was bloud and water John Baptist was the Forerunner of the Bridegroom he came only in water the Martyrs were the friends of the Bridegroom they came in bloud Christ is the Bridegroom himself and he came in bloud and water When the Spouse was asked what a one her Well-beloved was Cantic 4. she answered he was white and ruddy white in water and ruddy in bloud not by water alone says our Apostle Ep. 1. chap. 5. that had made but half a Mediator but by water and bloud Sanguis ejus super nos was the cry of the miscreant people they condemned him in bloud Pilate pronounced the Sentence but washed his hands at it he condemned him in water Let them behold whom they have pierced says Zachary let his Judg and Accusers behold their fact in one in bloud and water I told you of the Miracle before now I will tell you of the Mystery of this work or rather of the Mysteries for they are more than one aperuit ostium miles unde Sacramenta Ecclesiae manârunt that 's St. Austins observation the door was opened and the Sacraments of the Church issued out What all of them it seems he knew of no more the Sacraments of the Church came forth with Bloud and Water For as the Romanists make Bread serve the people by a Synechdoche for the whole Supper of the Lord so Bloud by a Synechdoche in this place stands for all that Sacrament There was Divinity even in the cold stream that flow'd from the side of Christ and it speaks like the bloud of Abel as if he had said away with