of all the Royal Order yet neither the hand of man nor the fury of Satan could do him hurt but immediatly the Angel c. Brethren you see my Text speaks of a smiting Angel An Angel smote the first-born of Pharaoh an Angel made an exceeding slaughter in the Host of Sennacharib An Angel brandished a Sword before David when seventy thousand died of the Pestilence Conceive not of these things as if an Angel had a Sword of Steel or offered any visible violence per contactum but as Abulensis says the Angel did apply some pestilent noisomness to the air which in a moment entred into their bowels and destroyed their Vitals Beloved the holy Angels seem as it were desirous and ambitious to avenge Gods glory against the pride of Herod Indeed there is so little zeal in his cause now adays so few do stir in it as if to this hour we left all to them and expected Angels Nay rather as if we thought of neither God nor Angel Where is the Courage of Phinehas Where is the Zeal of Elias Where is the Voice of John the Baptist Where is the Sword that is not lent in vain unto the Magistrate The lean Cattel it may be shall go to the Shambles but Amalek and the fat ones are your prey and your Sacrifice Ecquid tinnit Dolobella Then no man cuts him off though he give not God the glory The world is grown as unconscionable as that heathen man who said He had rather heaven should lose a Star from the Firmament than himself to lose an heifer from his flocks of Cattel So we are more tender of our own reputation than to maintain his glory by whom Kings reign and by whom we hope to reign as Kings in glory The Noble Descent of our Ancestors the Antiquity of our House the Dignity of our Place the Gravity of our Years Praecedere quatuor annis these are things that our bloud will rise at if they be called in question but the profanation of the name of Jesus the alienation of holy things the demolishment of Churches irreverent carriage at Divine Prayers and the holy Communions are as little our care as matters of Religion did pertain to Gallio I must again recall you to the practice of the Angels For when the Sadducees did so much dishonour them that they said there were no Angels at all yet we do not read in all the Scripture that these Angels did avenge themselves of the Sadducees in their own behalf but in another quarrel in Gods cause they are as quick and hot as a flaming fire Nay for fear lest some body should step in before them to do the deed as soon as ever the word was out of Herods mouth that he was magnified as a God immediatly he is apprehended And that is the third part Tantus tam repentè without pause without time of revocation immediately c. The Judgments of the Lord are so sudden so accustomed to tread upon the heels of sin that all the comparisons of nimble motion are borrowed to express it The Flying Arrow Psal xci The noysom Pestilence that cleaves to the flesh in a moment in the same place The coming of a Bridegroom whose longing desires use not to be tardy Mat. xxv The Thief in the night that gives no warning The gliding of the Lightning from the East unto the West The blast of a Trumpet The crowing of a Cock that breaks our sleep What can be said more that Gods Angel doth immediately strike the insolent Nazianzen speaking of those Scoffers that abused S. Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is marvel that Thunderbolts are not stirring upon such a trespass St. Hierom in his Commentary upon the Prophet Habakkuk relates That Julian the Apostate reading this story of Herods downfall cavilled against the Christians for saying their God was patient and of long suffering Nihil iracundius nihil hoc furore praesentius says he ne modico spatio indignationem distulit Nothing more angry nothing more sudden he did not defer his indignation no not for an hour It is true indeed sin and death are Acus filum iniquity draws on judgment as the Needle draws the thread immediately after it For such as are vessels of dishonour when they first jussel against Gods Commandments they begin to crack in the very moment although they break not in pieces till the fulness of time when the Milstone shall fall upon them and grind them to powder In the day that thou eatest thou shalt die says God to Adam that is thou shalt grow mortal and decline every minute more and more to the grave But there is a chosen Generation yet let them not presume upon grace that shall be pardoned seventy seven times Whereupon says St. Austin Commemoratione hujus numeri omnia peccata sunt dimissa quando ipse per quem omnia peccata remissa sunt septuagessimâ septimâ generatione secundum Lucam natus est That is if sins be remitted seventy seven times to the Elect then all their sins shall be remitted for he in whom all sins are remitted Christ Jesus was born by a mystery in the seventy seventh Generation from God the Eternal Father according to St. Luke Immediately he was smitten in such Splendour of Attire in such Celebrity of Attendants before the face of Strangers among those who in their hearts were no better than his enemies never did he come out of that Chair of the Scorner from that Throne wherein he was Canonized till he was stript of all Dignity and deprived of that Title by the Angel of the Lord. Had he been struck with sickness in any other place I know how it would have been excused the fault would have been laid upon his long journey from Galilee to Cesarea perchance the Sidonians had been charged to poyson him such suspicions are very rife as if it were impossible for Princes to come to their end by natural infirmities but now no such rumour could be broached Immediately c. Beloved It is the most dreadful thing upon earth to be suddenly apprehended by judgment What will not our strict Reformers cavil at who demand to have the Prayer against sudden death to be put out of the Litany It is well if they themselves be so well prepared for the hour of Judgment come it never so unexpected Indeed it should be so But let the Christian whom I would instruct pray every Morning as if he should see the Sun rise no more Pray every Evening as if he should see the Sun set no more be ready to meet the Bridegroom at Midnight and yet despise not that Supplication From sudden death good Lord deliver us He that promiseth God repentance hereafter pays him in the mean time with iniquity Ab hôc loco hoc ipso tempore Deo servire statui it is St. Austins Meditation If your heart be touched at any Sermon do not consult with your Almanack what day will be most
went out of Babylon to repair Hierusalem arose in the night and went their way Nehem. 2.12 And thirdly the great Redeemer who should pluck us out of the mire and draw us out of the bondage of Sin his fame is spread abroad when the Shepherds kept watch over their Flocks by night Nay almost no work of extraordinary worth and efficacy toward and after the time of the Passion but it fell out when darkness was upon the face of the earth To let his Birth alone and to say no more than my Text doth Excubarunt noctu the poor men heard of it that lay abroad in the night His Agony in the Garden took hold on him by night when the world was in a dead sleep his own Disciples drowsie and could not watch with him one hour He suffered when the Sun was darkned and the Stars gave no light Finally He arose out of the Sepulchre before any body was stirring in the morning What is the meaning of this Even to shew that we were dumb and still passives in all the work of our Redemption we slept and thought not of help and succour when it was plentifully supplied for our salvation when no soul awoke to think of blessing in the dark night of Ignorance Christ was born We are supine in our sins like men stretcht upon their bed when he sweat drops of bloud We regarded not his Passion when he suffered we were careless when he arose for our justification But of the time let this suffice to be spoken That which made up the fourth and fifth parts of my Text is concerning the persons they were Shepherds and they were many Shepherds so many as made a Plural number And there were in the same Country Shepherds c. The heathen make much ado and relate it not without admiration by what mean and almost despised persons the deep knowledge of Philosophy was first found out and brought to light As Protagoras earning his living by bearing burdens of wood and Cleanthes no better than a Gibeonite fain to draw water for his liberty Chrysippus and Epictetus mere vassals to great men for their maintenance yet these had the honour to find out the riches of knowledge for the recompence of their Poverty but the day shall come that these Philosophers will wonder that they found out no more than they did and be astonished that silly Shepherds were first deputed to find out one thing more needful than all the World beside even Jesus Christ Tiberius propounded his mind to the Senate of Rome that Christ the great Prophet in Jury should be had in the same honour with the other Gods which they worshipt in the Capitol The motion did not please them says Eusebius and this was all the fault because he was a God not of their own but of Tiberius invention So lest great men and Rulers of the earth should disdain at a Saviour which was not of their own discovery but found out by servants that kept their flocks I will make it good by reason that the Angel pickt out very choice persons for the business the Shepherds of the Field It is truly and modestly observed by Tolet Causa cur pastores visitantur est Dei beneplacitum multae autem congruentiae Why shepherds were visited by the Angel rather than men of another trade or calling and in particular why these Shepherds rather than all besides of the same Vocation no cause can be assign'd but the meer will and favour of God but his pleasure having done the deed much may be said to approve it why it is fit and convenient To be a Shepherd is a life of great servitude and poverty as Job says they spend their time desolate and solitary in the Wilderness and for vile company they are set with the dogs of the flocks and these were fit to be the first partakers of the Gospel because it is powerful in Spirit but base and contemptible according to the Flesh A sapientibus non quaerit testimonium qui parvulis se revelat he baulks the Pharises and Princes of the people and seeks the testimony of Shepherds because he reveals himself unto those that are lowly in their own eyes and poor in Spirit none more unlikely than they to do a message for Almighty God When Samuel came to Ishai and askt for his Sons that he might pick out the man whom the Lord had chosen Ishai presented the most likely as he thought indeed all but one There is one more says he in the field that keepeth sheep O says Samuel let that David be sent for from following the Ews great with young Surely thinks the Prophet because he hath been despised and neglected he is the man whom God hath in store to govern Israel Weak and impotent means are the fittest for the Lords choice that men of action and authority may not attribute that unto themselves which is only the doing of the Lord. Praevalet imperitia in rusticitate Pastorum says S. Austin When such ignaroes as these were sent abroad to tell in the City what they had heard and seen the world could not say they were enticed by Eloquence the enemies of the Faith could not say that crafty Philosophy got ground upon the simple but as the Devil chose a Serpent a wise creature above all the Beasts of the field and all that are in the water to destroy the world by subtlety so Christ chose Shepherds out of the Field and Fishermen out of the Water as the chief means to repair the world by innocency and simplicity 1 Cor. 1.26 Brethren says St. Paul you see your calling for so Erasmus will read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the present tense because the thing was open to all mens knowledge and perspicuous but what did they see so plainly not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but foolish things were chosen to confound the wise c. Two things are to be drawn from hence first that we distort not the Scripture as if it pronounced nothing but confusion to the rulers of the earth let not the honourable person hang down his head as if power and wisdom and noble blood and dignity were causes of rejection before God no beloved Isaiah foretold that Kings should be nursing Fathers and Queens should be nursing Mothers of the Church but it is often seen that the benignity of nature and the liberality of fortune are made impediments to a better life and therefore Nobles and Princes are more frequently threatned with judgment I adjoyn moreover that the Scriptures speak more flatly against illustrious Magistrates than the common sort for if God had left it to men whose tongues are prostituted to flattery they had scarce been told that their abominable sins would bring damnation 2. The comfort of the poor is never to be forgotten in this point the servile life of a poor Shepherd is as fortunate as great exaltation when it
Army which Pharaoh knew not how to withstand or which way to drive them back unless Moses prayed for him But more eminently than all other creatures the constellations of Stars are very frequently in holy Scriptures called the host of heaven as Deut. xvii 3. If there be any found among you which hath worshipped the Sun or Moon or any of the host of heaven bring forth that man or woman and thou shalt stone them with stones that they dye 2 Kings xvii 16. The reason is given why Salmanasar the King of Assyria took away Hoshea the King of Israel and the ten Tribes into captivity because they made them two Calves even molten Images and worshipped all the host of heaven and served Baal There is admirable order indeed in the Stars of the Firmament as in a well-marshall'd Camp the Planets one above another the Sun running his course in the midst as in the main battel nay there is virtue and influence in them to overthrow Gods enemies but the knowledge after what manner they fight against sinners is too excellent for us to attain unto it but Deborah the Prophetess said it that the Stars in their courses fought against Sisera Judg. v. 20. Josephus says upon that story that hail and thunder and winds were raised up by some planetary aspect which did great annoyance against Sisera and the Midianites Like as Livy says that the brightness of the Sun and clouds of dust blown about by the winds fell both together into the eyes of the Romans when they lost their whole Army at Cannae and the heavens above caused those incommodities almost to their utter destruction So Claudian sings of Theodosius the Emperor's Victory that the heavens above did fight of his side against his enemies O nimium dilecte Deo cui militat aether therefore the Stars whether you regard their order or their efficacy are rightly called an heavenly host And if these visible lights which the Lord hath set in the firmament to distinguish day and night are a celestial battel how much more the Angels whom God hath made invisible by nature and as fierce as fire in activity Who maketh his Angels spirits and his Ministers a flame of fire So Elisha presented a muster of them to his servant not simply as an host but as a fiery host the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha 2 Kings vi 17. Scarce any Prophet but touches upon it though darkly and mystically that the Angels are a militia ready to war and fight David Psalm xxxiv 7. The Angel of the Lord castrametatur encampeth round about them that fear him Is there any number of his armies meaning there is a multitude of heavenly Spirits assisting before the throne of God continually Job xxv 2. Who hath created these things that bringeth out their host by number Isa xl 26. I saw in my vision and behold the four winds of heaven strove upon the great Sea Dan. vii 2. And these says St. Hierom were the four Angelical powers to whom the four principal Monarchies of the world were committed But before any other Prophet of God mention'd that warlikeness which is in Angels Jacob did Gen. xxxii 2. when he was returning with his wife and children into Canaan the Angels of God met him and when Jacob saw them he said This is Gods host and he called the name of the place Mahanaim Mahanain is of the dual number and signifies two several Camps whether he meant the troop of Angels that came to guard him for one and the servants of his own family for another or rather as a learned Author says he saw a band of Angels before him and another behind him The Angels that particularly protect Palestina receiv'd him into that Country and they that were Guardians of Mesopotamia delivered him up and brought him thither You see that the phrase of our Evangelist is confirm'd by all the Prophets in the Old Testament but if it appear that Christ himself hath said as much you will believe the more that the sense is very useful and mystical Why Josh v. 14. when Joshua was about to besiege Jericho he lift up his eyes and saw a man over against him with his Sword drawn in his hand says he Art thou for us or for our adversaries and he said nay but a Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come Many Pontificians had the rather say this was an Angel because Joshua worshipped to help out their bad cause of the Worship of Angels but Andreas Masius proves it learnedly that this was Christ himself who conducted the people of the promise into the Land of Canaan even as he shall bring all his Elect into the Kingdom of Heaven and many times shew'd himself in a visible form as a man unto the Patriarchs to learn them the Faith of his Incarnation in the fulness of time The same Masius cites some words out of one Moses Gerundensis a Jewish Cabalist which I cannot omit says the Jew There is one principal Angel the Prince of all the rest who is the face of God for it is said Exod. xxxiii 14. Behold I will send my presence or my face before thee You know how this agrees with Christ the second Person in Trinity who is called the express image of his Fathers presence Heb. i. 3. The Cabalist goes on The Jews did much desire to see that principal Angel who he was they could not know him by any prophetical vision nor by their Law whereas the face of God can be nothing else but God himself and God promised of him to the people He shall be kind and gentle to thee neither shall he hold thee to the strict and rigid Law but shall deal favourably and mercifully with thee A most manifest description of Christ and his Kingdom but that his Jewish obstinacy would not let him see it This we gain out of it Christ is General of the Angels and they his Army Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbaoth that is of Hosts as we say it and sing it often in our morning Hymn These being under the banner of Christ are the Chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof These did once turn the point of their Sword against us now Christ hath reconciled all things in heaven and in earth and they made this armilustrium this training in warlike ostentation at the birth of Christ to give us knowledge and comfort that they will turn their arms against our enemies That the Kingdom of Satan should be thenceforth brought under and supprest that the strong man should be cast out of his house and spoiled of all his munition Therefore this Canticle of theirs is an Epinicium or Song of triumph for a victory assured or obtained Like the joy of them that divide the spoil says the Prophet Isaiah upon the occasion of the Birth of
and efficacy therefore it is very ancient Canonical Law which forbad that any person endicted for a fault secretly committed and therefore accused either upon bare suspicion or upon the mouth of one witness should purge himself by dipping his arm in hot scalding water or by walking between plow-shares red hot unequally laid which was called the Ordeal Fire for these creatures thus imploy'd have no force by nature to manifest a truth and much less is any promise annex'd unto them to be the instruments of examinatory Justice by Divine Revelation If it be pretended that God appointed the woman suspected for Adultery to drink a draught of bitter waters which should discover whether she were innocent or no I answer That this one instance was peculiarly enacted by God who no doubt would assist such miraculous proceedings as were of his own institution but it is an unpardonable boldness to imitate him in his Omnipotent Ordinations and to ascribe unto other humane causes that they shall reveal hidden things which cannot be searcht by mans wit which is proper only to the Creator is to commit Idolatry obliquely and to seek that from a poor contemptible creature which is to be expected only from Almighty God Nor doth my Doctrine hold only in things that are common and profane but even things of the Divinest use are abused when we would wring out from them to detect Thefts or Murders or other Trespasses which cannot be discover'd by the ordinary way of Justice Therefore this Canon of a Provincial Council in Worms is dislik'd by grave Authors That if any things were stoln in a private Monastery where some Monk must needs be the Thief and all denied it every one of them should receive the Holy Sacrament with these words pronounc'd Corpus Domini nostri sit tibi ad probationem Let the Body of our Lord be thy trial or probation This was an insolent temptation for the Sacrament is taken to Commemorate Christs Death until he come not to detect such as were suspected of pilfering And however the sifting out of truth to discover the enemies of Gods Anointed and to lay open perilous talk against his Sacred Person may require such means and trials as are justly to be denied to all other cases yet we see the renowned Piety of his most Religious Majesty that would not have truth decided by the sharpness of the Sword no not in a matter that concern'd his own Royal Safety and when the Laws of the Realm did directly put that course into his hands and when his Royal Ancestors in this Island and sundry Princes in other Kingdoms have often us'd it for all this his excellently guided Conscience would not hazzard the blood of an Innocent as one party must needs be so where there is no certainty of assistance promis'd from God that the guiltless should be the Conquerour My Text hath directly led me to praise God that hath so guided the heart of his Majesty not to tempt the Lord. I did not strain to bring this note in by force for I wish no mercy if I do not vehemently abhor slattery But how ill is this noble example followed by the vulgar no toy can be lost no secret which we desire to know be kept in obscurity but being impatient to want their will an hundred sensless Charms and old Wives devices and casting Figures and casting Lots shall be sought after which God hath no more appointed to manifest hidden things then the wagging of a Feather or the shaking of a Leaf before the Wind. Beloved mark this Rule Si non potest sciri quare inquiritis secreta ad Dei tribunal spectant It may be the thing we inquire after concerns us deeply and would give us much quiet and content to find it out but where God hath denied you the ordinary means of discovery it is a sign that he means to reserve it in his own power and knowledge therefore to fly to these extraordinary ways ways after our own hearts but never allow'd in the word is to endeavour by force to pluck it out of Gods bosom If the Lord should offer you a miraculous or supernatural assistance to unrip any secret wickedness it were not to be refused as in a few examples the casting of Lots is granted in Scripture either to reveal some hidden truth or to foreknow somewhat to come but out of those cases such things are not to be medled with nor in no wise to be taken into your consultation For it is not in the power of those that use the Lot nor in the nature of the Lot to effect that necessarily whereunto it is employ'd therefore I damn it as an indirect means that is taken up against or beside the will of the Lord. Let me give you to see that one word of excuse which is very trivial is very erroneous and I will hasten to conclude Many do object that the Scripture hath no pregnant place in it which condemns the decision of truth or the finding out of hidden things by Duels by Ordeals by Lotteries by other Divinations I but can you shew me where the Scripture hath bid it to be done or else you have said nothing for where no Faith is the act which you undertake cannot be free from sin but where there is no warrant of the Word of God there can be no Faith Do you think it is possible to build Faith hereupon that such a course is not directly forbidden it cannot be for Faith without the Word and without promise is not Faith but presumption So I have delivered my mind how many ways it is offensive to tempt the Lord. I have prepared all things before to say little to the last point wherein the trespass consists to tempt the Lord. In two things first in Infidelity secondly in want of due reverence to the Divine honour 1. It is a token of little Faith yea of Infidelity to be uncertain or unskilful in any of the Divine Attributes but he that tries God it makes his action guilty that either some whole Attribute of the Divine Nature or some degree of excellency in it is unknown unto him as Ananias and Saphira put it to the trial if God had so much knowledge to discover their dissimulation Zachary tempted him whether the message which the Angel brought were verily the Divine Will The Israelites mis-doubted his power when they said Can he prepare a Table in the Wilderness Secondly He that tempts a thing upon no necessary cause esteems light of it and makes no reverential account of it as he ought but that he may toy with it at his pleasure as he that will pluck a Lion by the lip certainly he neither fears the anger nor the strength of the Beast So he that will assay what God can do only to satisfie his own curiosity it is evident he sets very little by the Divine Honour But we were not best to make sport with Sampson as the Philistines did
lest he pluck the house about our ears Do we provoke the Lord to anger are we stronger then be O provoke him not lest he swear that ye shall not enter into his rest but with holy reverence and stedfast faith submit your selves to his revealed will Amen THE FOURTEENTH SERMON UPON Our Saviours Tentation MAT. iv 8. Again the Devil taketh him up into an exceeding high Mountain and sheweth him all the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them THe Scripture makes mention that there is a season at the return of the year when Kings go forth to battel This is not the time all men know it well enough quite contrary now it is usual that the wearied Souldier should draw himself out of the Field into Garrison But all times and seasons are alike unto our Adversary the Devil all the changes and quarters of the year will serve his turn to fight against us who walks about continually seeking whom he may devour Wherefore I bring him out before you to let you see how he laid about him in his last skirmish for this third is his last tentation As the Carthaginians in their third Punick War lost their City and Kingdom to the Romans and never bore Arms more so you shall see Satan so repulsed at this onset that he left the Field to the Conquerour and never after propounded any blasphemous tentation in a visible shape to the Son of God David was much imboldned to fight with Goliah and assured himself of Victory because he had grappled with two savage beasts and slain them both and thus spake chearfully to Saul Thy servant slew both the Lion and the Bear and this uncircumcised Philistin shall be as one of them So the first tentation was unto our Saviour like a ravenous gluttonous Bear Command that these stones be made bread The second was like a ramping and a roaring Lion all boldness and presumption Cast thy self down from a Pinacle of the Temple Now he that escaped both these out of the paw of the Lion and out of the paw of the Bear shall triumph most victoriously over this great Goliah in the last and most bewitching tentation which begins in this form Again the Devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain and sheweth him c. How divers is Satan from himself How unlike is this course to that which he took before Since Christ was so tender of his safety that he would not fall head-long the Tempter casts his Net on the other side of the Ship and promiseth as much as any man can wish in this world that loves himself The odds therefore are very great between the former motion Cast thy self down from a Pinacle of the Temple and between this motion Behold all the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them c. The one is Passio corruptiva make away your self utter ruine and corruption This is Passio perfectiva the perfection and solace both of the eye and the heart to see the pride of the earth and all the excellency of it as upon a Theater The ways indeed are divers but the malicious intention is the same or rather far greater in this which I will demonstrate piecemeal as I handle the several particulars of which these are to be considered in this present Verse 1. The importunity of Satan he is upon our Saviour again Again the Devil taketh him up 2. The variety of his shifts from the Pinacle of the Temple he taketh him up to an exceeding high Mountain 3. Note by what gate or passage he would enter his tentation by the eye Ostendit illi he shews a goodly object unto him 4. The dignity of the Object he shews him Kingdoms 5. For the amplitude and generality All the Kingdoms of the world 6. In their most amiable and desirable shape he shewed them in their glory All the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them 7. Satan shewed himself to be an arch Juggler or Praestigiator as Artists call it for St Luke adds that he shew'd all this in a moment of time these are all distinctly to be handled and first of his importunity Again the Devil taketh him up c. A close Solicitor and a diligence worthy to be commended if it had been in a good cause But they that are in a wrong way are most zealous in their course and negotiate for hell more urgently than we do for heaven Many a soul is lost for want of teaching and instruction it is very dreadful to remember how God will require it at our hands but in this Satan triumphs that never any soul escap'd him for want of instance and prosecution And I hold it for a true Position that many times he is assiduous to subvert good men where there is no hope of speeding to provoke God to be angry with our lazy negligence upon the comparison I believe the Devil never thought to proceed so far as to a second tentation with our Saviour much less to a third but to get what he lookt for at the first motion yet since he found an hard match of it and was twice repulsed with such evidences of Scripture as could not be answered he redoubles his boldness and thinks in the end to weary out our Saviour as Dalilah did Samson with importunity St. Paul besought the Lord thrice that the Messenger of Satan might depart from him The one prayed often the other prick'd him often The evil Spirit vied it with the good Apostle the one exceeded in the number of devout Prayers the other was not one whit behind in the number of fleshly tentations St. Austin compared the Devil to a Mastive Dog Qui nec percussus ab hominis laceratione separatur Beat him thrust him away stave him off break his teeth in his head yet he flies upon you till he have torn and devoured you So this incensed Adversary never to be reconciled will not be quite driven from you with Vows with Fastings with Supplications but listens to hear you say as one discouraged with perplexity I am weary of my groaning untill this tyranny be overpass'd But that tyranny is uncessant the hatred of the Devil hath no stint expect it be ready for it and let it not sting your conscience with horrour if you find somewhat within you always warring against the Spirit tentations are not like some diseases which are not incident to a man above once in his life scape once and secure for ever but like hereditary infirmities which are ever recurring to torment the flesh A quotidian is more like to be cured if it be well look'd to than an Ague whose Paroxysms keep longer distance Nor shall the Tempter again or his importunities bow down our neck under the yoke of sin these quotidian fits shall not weaken the inward man if the fear of the Lord be ever in our heart and his name often between our lips to conjure down the Regiment of the Prince
unless they be equalized with God Then the Platonicks taught good divinity for they worshipped their Daemones or Angels not as the first causes of all things but as Spirits employed by the first Principle of the world If an Angel from heaven teach the same doctrine in his own case which Paul did surely two such Witnesses both in one tale cannot be refused The instance is more beaten than any high way Rev. xix 10. St. John certainly being even beside himself with the excellency of Revelation fell at an Angels feet to worship him who said unto him See thou do it not I leave it to your judgments if this be not a monstrous prevarication of Bellarmines That the Angel might have accepted that dutiful homage if he had pleased and did not make shy of it before Christ was incarnate but in honour of our Lords incarnation who took our nature upon him Angels from thenceforth will not be religiously worshipped by men Therefore we do what becomes us when we fall down to worship Angels and Angels do what becomes them when they refuse it thus He. But I beseech you if learned men may take such leave to interpret Scripture they may turn it to any thing Doth the Angel say any such thing to John that the times were altered human nature was now more precious than before and grown too good for such servile observance No but very plainly in the Text See thou do it not to me I am thy fellow-servant worship God Mark both his reasons first I am thy fellow-servant Fellow servants are to worship one Master together not one to worship the other Yes says the Adversary hereafter we shall worship together in the Church Triumphant and be stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why we have the same excellency and beatitude which then shall be revealed in a lively faith and a steadfast hope And if they shall be less honoured of us hereafter than now the Angels should lose honour by our being exalted into heaven Nay rather their glory shall be increased to requite that sedulous care which they had over us here against the tyranny of the world and the devil I will wish no other Author but St. Austin to speak on my side says he Let us believe that the best Angels and most excellent ministring spirits do desire that we may worship one God together with them Honoramus eos charitate non servitute That is we love them for their good will we do not serve them Nec eis templa construimus they would not be so honoured of us for they know none better if we be holy we our selves are the Temples of the Holy Ghost This we have learnt out of the first reason what the Angel meant Fall not down before me I am thy fellow-servant Beside it is added Worship God Can any question be made but St. John would worship God Surely he was not to be taught that No but he was to be rouzed out of an extasie that God only is to be adored with a sanctified fear and no Creature It is easie to cast a scruple in any mans way so the Pontificians give us an objection to pick Josh v. 14. A man stood over against Joshuah with a drawn Sword Joshuah demands Art thou for us or for our Adversaries The supposed man replies Nay but a Captain of the Host of the Lord am I now come Then Joshuah fell on his face to the earth and did worship First the Antagonist presumes without all suspition of denial that Joshuah did worship the Angel But the Text says no more than as soon as he knew God had sent him a Captain from heaven he did worship But if it were Religious Worship it was done not to the Angel but unto Gods upon the coming of the Angel When such things come before us as are signs of Gods presence and grace of his mission and institution not of our own invention ware that it is good pious devotion to fall down and worship God when those things are before us As it is most laudable in us to kneel not to the outward Elements upon the Lords Table but unto God at the receiving of Christ in those Elements So Moses probably fell down at or before the burning bush where God spake When the fire came down from heaven to consume the Sacrafice it was a sign of the Lords special presence and the people fell down and worshipped 2. Chron. vii 3. Thus Joshuah seeing the Captain of Gods Host come to succour him fell down and praised the Lord. This answer I dare build upon yet if it were extorted that either Joshuah worshipped this Angel or Balaam that other Angel who bowed down his head and fell flat on his face Num. xxii 31. It is not or ever will be proved that these were religious Adorations but very great moral reverence done unto them more than to any men on earth according to their Coelestial and Supernatural excellency But Angels are not to be religiously worshipped in heaven why then on earth Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven and that is in this precept Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Yet a few words before I end To adore the Eucharist the Reliques of Saints the Figure of the Cross or Images of Christ and his Servants departed is to commit Idolatry with inanimate things those being all alike in that I will keep that bundle of Tares for another occasion But the superstitious worshipping of Saints is so near of kin to that of Angels against which I concluded before that the same Notions I used before and a little added will clearly condemn it We must not think more divinely of a Creature than a Creature is capable And even in this we have cause to bless God that our Religion is repurged from most strong defilements that our common Prayers have none of those blasphemies which some chant over to the most glorious Virgin the Mother of our Lord. And all this happens that they impute more Divinity unto her then is competent to a Creature So the Heathenish Lycaonians saw that Paul and Barnabas were men but they thought some Divinity did inhabite them such as is in God Certainly so the good Centurion Cornelius was mistaken for he gave unto Peter both civil observance as unto a man But because the Lord did bid him send for Peter for his souls Salvation he thought there was a genious in him above a Creature Otherwise Peter had not corrected the reverence he did him with those words Stand up I my self also am a man Acts x. 26. His cogitation had apprehended some divineness in Peter which made him commit a religious prostration for which he was rebuked And indeed an opinion is bread in the superstitious touching the Saints departed that there is more Divineness in them than they can receive else they would not bow down themselves to the mention of their names and
Hell and to all Judaea that the Son of God about that instant as I do verily believe did break the gates of Brass and smite the bars of death in sunder It was heard to heaven and the Angel came down at his qu as soon as ever that triumphal sign was given wherein I have given you my opinion and not mine alone but of sundry others that the coming of the Angel was not a cause but a consequent of the Earthquake Tremuit terra non quia Angelus descendit de coelo sed quia ab inferis dominator ascendit The ground trembled not because the Angel descended from above but because the Conquerour ascended from beneath And I know not a prettier diversion in all the Scripture to put off that which might be expected than this is Who would not look that the story should run thus Behold there was a great Earthquake for Christ arose from the dead But the Holy Ghost to keep that Circumstance out of our knowledge at what time he arose did divert it in this manner Behold there was a great Earthquake for the Angel even at that instant and occasion came down from heaven And as heaven did partake of this noise when the earth was moved so I doubt not but the horror of it went down to Hell and troubled the Spirits that abide in chains of darkness for ever In all likelihood this great body of the world did quake from the Superficies to the Center of the Earth And Luther was possessed with this pious credulity that in this Earthquake the ground was parted with a large Hiatus from the Sepulcher to Hell and in the moment of that concussion of the ground our Saviour arose to life descended visibly to Hell made shew of his Resurrection there that Satan and Death were under his feet and presently came out of the Pit which could not shut its mouth against him As Luther may enjoy his own conjecture so thus far we may concur that the terrour of the Earthquake did penetrate to the Kingdom of the Devil And how far the Inhabitants of Judaea were affrighted at it it appears in the most couragious in the band of Souldiers who were tumbled to the ground at the noise like the stone which was rouled from the mouth of the Sepulcher and no marvel for St. Hierom either by his own perswasion or by tradition delivers that the rumbling of the earth was so great Vt cuncta concuteret eversionem terrae funditus minaretur That it josselled every thing together and threatned the subversion of this Universe To what end have I amplified it thus far but to make you conceive it fell out immediately through the wonderful hand of the Almighty Philastrius in his 54 Heresie enrolls it for an Heresie Si quis terram moveri putet naturaliter If any man shall say that an Earthquake comes to pass by naturall causes there he went beyond the Line for it appears evidently in Philosophical inquisitions that exhalations and hot air may be instrangled within the bowels of the earth and seeking a way for a larger room or else to get forth it breaks out with a terrible violence and removes some parts of this heavy Element To deny this were to put out the eye of reason Yet in this Earthquake that pertains to my Text I assent that there was no preparation of natural causes to produce it For just when our Saviours soul went out of the body at his Passion and just I think at the moment when his soul returned again into the body at the Resurrection the earth was smitten in a wonderful manner that the world might take notice that the like was never heard or seen And as I do resolutely conclude This motion of the Earth was supernatural so I hold off from the usual opinion that the Angel was made Gods instrument of the execution the manner the consequence of it so great that I am perswaded it was immediately the work of Christ himself Leo cubile in quo habitat tremere fecit says Chrysologus rationally and elegantly The Lion rouzed himself up from sleep the Lion of the Tribe of Judah roared and made his own den to quake Inferiour operations are committed to the Creatures the chief abide in God When Lazarus was raised from the dead says Christ to the Disciples Take ye away the stone and afterward being come forth of the Cave Do ye loose him and let him go So the Angel was an actor in the noble work of this day to roul away the grave-stone to dismay the Souldiers to comfort Mary Magdalen and the other women to preach the mystery to all But it was Christ himself that shook the ground from the Superficies to the Center this Ecce this Behold me seems bids us behold how it came from God and not from his Minister the Angel and behold there was a great Earthquake I remove forward to that which is more useful to be taught from the efficient to the final cause for what purpose was this great trembling and concussion of the earth at the Resurrection of our Saviour I will set forth six reasons First it makes us conceit that there was a great strugling and a combate between Christ and Death Death was brought unto the Bar impleaded before Almighty God divested by just judgment from all power found guilty because the guiltless and innocent was slain It was permitted to seize upon us Prisoners But it spared not the Judge himself which is Christ We that are slaves and servants were put under the dominion of it and Death presumed to offer violence to our Lord it was suffered to rage against men and it was bold to assault God Death according to the great Doom was the wages of sin how justly is the yoke of its tyranny broken when it became the murtherer of righteousness But how hardly would it lay down the authority which it had so long usurped over all mortal flesh So many Patriarchs so many Prophets Quo Tullus Dives Ancus so many Princes and Kings whose bodies crumbled into dust and their ashes were never made whole again and when this Law which had so long continued was to be broken what could be expected but that the earth would groan and struggle against the Resurrection When I speak of Death you know that I mean the Devil who had the power of death he had deluded himself with this fallacy Cruce vivus non descendit quomodo sepulchro mortuus ascendet Christ came not down from the Cross when he was alive how will he be able to come out of the Grave when he is dead He that had so much cunning was best able to deceive himself but with what resistance and murmuring the Prey was taken out of his mouth it is best set down thus briefly instead of a large description Behold there was a great Earthquake Secondly It betokens what noise and tumult there shall be in
of Christ the other at his Resurrection Terra quae in passione concussa fuerat horrore jam prae gaudio exilire videtur The whole Land of Judaea did quake with horror when he hung upon the Cross but it danced for joy when he rose out of the Grave so I have rendred the fifth reason The Sixth is Allegorical and thus in brief that our hearts must be shaken and inwardly troubled with compunction and repentance before we believe stedfastly in the Resurrection of Jesus Peter preacht and they that heard him were prickt in heart and said to him and to the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we do There was an heart-quake before they believed Paul and Silas prayed and sung praises to God and suddenly there was a great Earthquake then the Jaylor came in trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and said Sirs what must I do to be saved Here was an heart rent and torn a commotion in his conscience greater than an Earthquake and then he believed When Eve took and eat the forbidden fruit says an eloquent Father there was no Earthquake no horror to affright her O that the Palsie had possess'd her fingers O that her teeth had chattered that she might not have eaten but vitiis semper serviunt blandimenta All was hush and still nothing but fair allurements do minister to our vices But at Christs Resurrection the sound of an hideous noise was fierce and terrible to the ear Virtutibus austera fortia sunt amica Harsh and austere occurrencies are best agreeable to vertue Roul the thoughts of your heart up and down like a tempestuous Sea if you mean to make a fair voyage to heaven the commotion of a troubled spirit will breed eternal peace As Paul was smitten down before he believed so faith must be beaten into us with violence and therefore behold there was a great Earthquake at the Resurrection of Jesus Unto the motion of the Earth I conjoyn the next circumstance of my Text which I called the motion of the heaven it were like Copernicus his fancy in Astronomy to think that the Earth did only move and the Heavens stand still at the operation of this Miracle No the everlasting doors were set open and the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven Here is one Keeper more than the Jews look'd for about our Saviours Sepulchre one more than Pilate appointed One mighty Prince of that supernal Host whose countenance was able to daunt a Legion of the best Roman Souldiers perhaps there was a multitude with him to celebrate the Resurrection as there was a multitude that appeared in the fields of Bethlem to rejoyce at his Nativity But this Angel I may say determinately was one of the most royal Spirits that stand before the face of God for ever To make short I will not defer to give my reasons presently how sweetly the eternal Wisdom did dispose to let an Angel shew himself openly both at this place of the Grave and upon the celebration of this great day First Those ministring Spirits had been attendants upon all the parts of our Saviours humility and reason good they should be occupied upon all occasions of his exaltation and glory Since we read of Angels that gave all diligent attendance at his birth the holy Spirit of God knew that men would look for their company at the Resurrection I mean that we who know him now by faith would expect their mention upon this occasion in the Book of God Besides his Resurrection is a birth not called so because of a resemblance how man is brought to life out of the womb of his mother in natural Generation but properly in it self according to the phrase of Scripture Acts xiii 33. For Paul preaching at Antioch that God had fulfilled his Promise in raising up Jesus again says he As it is written in the second Psalm thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee So that these Phrases it seems are equivalent this day have I raised thee up from the dead and this day have I begotten thee And surely as a Father of our own Church says very well the news of his birth if God had so pleased might well have been brought by a mortal man it was but the entrance into a mortal life But the news of his Resurrection do become the mouth of an immortal Messenger because it was an entrance into life immortal Secondly The women came out of doors to embalm Christs body with a great deal of confidence they never thought how many difficulties were in their way and such difficulties as could never have been mastered if the Angel had not been sent to facilitate all things for them They mind not how the High Priests would excommunicate all those that professed to believe or do good to our Lord and Saviour they came to touch a dead body which was pollution by the Law they stand not upon that The Sepulcher was guarded with Souldiers who would permit none to come near it they would try that The Grave was sealed with Pilates perhaps with Caesars Seal which none must cancel on pain of death they would venture that The Grave-stone was exceeding heavy as much as twenty men could move says Nicephorus and barred strongly with Iron and they were out of doors and far on their way before they thought of that then they ask Quis removebit Who will roul us away this stone As who should say God will send us some assistance in so good an enterprise we will put on and hope for that and the Lord to make their Pilgrimage prosperous sent an Angel from heaven to remove away the stone Scipio Africanus besieged a City in Spain well fortified every way and wanted nothing and no hope did appear to take it In the mean time Scipio heard many causes pleaded before him and put off one before it was ended to be heard three days after and being asked by his Officers where he would keep his next Court he pointed to the chief Cittadel of the besieged City and told them he would hear the Cause there in that space he became Master of the Town and did as he had appointed He was not more confident to enter into a City rampar'd against him by his valour than these women were to enter into a Sepulcher by faith sealed and shut up but the Lord is present with couragious attempts and he sent his Angel to assist them Thirdly This shewed says St. Chrysostome that he who had been buried there was God as well as man Cum ad sepulchrum tanquam in coelo ubi Deus habitat assisterent for Angels were as officious at the Sepulcher as they use to be in heaven which is the throne of God If men be laid in their Tomb the worms attend them corruption goes to corruption But the body of Christ even when the soul had left it was still united in one person with the Godhead
of them that gaze upon Passengers and would quickly reason upon it what make these abroad that they cross the streets so often It was more infamous with them of the East than it is with us for women to gad openly from place to place The married woman is described in Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 treading upon a Tortoise as an emblem that it was good for her to stay at home and to carry her house upon her back But these holy Matrons had a clear conscience in them that it could be no blemish to their honour to lackey up and down in so good an occasion and upon the Errand of an Angel If uncharitable persons censured them God forgive them still they went on Nay whereas undoubtedly all will say that a sober gate without much acceleration doth best become that Sex and especially in publick yet no pace would serve them but a gallop In the verse immediately before my Text they did run to bring his Disciples word The Heathen paint Mercury with wings at his heels The Messenger of good tidings should make haste Nescit tarda molimina spiritus sancti gratia God loves quick dispatch in his business When we are suspensive and long about that which is good we lose the thanks that he would give us that which is done sincerely is never done slackly Therefore Jesus met the women not as they went but as they ran to tell his Disciples Says the Text moreover as they went to tell his Disciples therefore some had put an Errand into their mouth Even so for it was an Angel that gave them direction what to say to our Saviours Disciples I take not upon me to guess at the reason of the secret Counsels of God but a cause there must be for it and a great one that the Angels of heaven appeared above once this day to the Women and talked with them of Christs Resurrection And they might have told the same news to the Apostles yet they did not but sent the women in their stead What! Would not one Angel visit them in his own person Is it upon dislike Because they fled away from their Master in the Garden Or is it a trial upon their big spirit who frequently contended among themselves which of them should be the greater whether they would not disdain that women should exceed them in Visions and Revelations For many times Superiours cannot disgest it that such as are under them should exceed them in the grace of God But many times he regards the low estate of his Handmaids when the Rich are sent empty away The Pillars of the Church the Apostles are admitted to hear what these women saw at the Sepulchre that adventured boldly abroad But no such glorious Creatures came to them who were shut up for fear at home And for my part I think this was it which did cross the credit of their Message The Women told the Disciples all that hapned it may be confusedly with distemper of fear and joy but they told them the truth And their words seemed to them as tales Luk. xxiv 11. For thus they would collect in all likelihood upon the merit and dignity of their Apostleship It cannot be that the Angels would appear to such as these and baulk us this is but a Tale. Those Messengers of God would come to us in the first place to us the Servants of the beloved Master and not to the Women But God sees not as man sees The Spirits of light came to these humble Handmaids and taught them And afterward by the Orgain of their mouth the Apostles were edified that taught all the World The Gospel is not ashamed of this innocency and simplicity ask us from whom our principal Doctors were first instructed and we answer roundly from a few silly women that the power of salvation may appear to descend not from Learning and humane Wisdom but from the demonstration of the Spirit of God And this was a project to out-reach the providence of Pilate and the wary consultations of all the High Priests The Sepulchre was obstructed with a great stone and as Nicephorus says that a strong Hoop of Iron fastned it to the contiguous stones of the Monument sealed also with the Governours Seal that it might be a capitol crime to burst it open And such crafty heads would not omit to set Spies upon the Apostles that they durst not look abroad as if the business were as safe as they could wish if they were prevented from divulging rumours that Christ was risen from the dead See therefore how their subtilty was out-stript God selected Witnesses whom they scorned and disdein'd certain Women are inspired to go and tell his Disciples St. Paul expresseth this mystery in his own case 2 Tim ii 9. Though I suffer unto bonds yet the word of God is not bound To which word says St. Chrysostom if our warfare were carnal if we were Souldiers that fought for the inheritance and glory of this world our attempts were restrained when our hands were tied with Chains But fighting the battels of Christ a Prison is no impediment our tongue shall declare the glory of God nothing can bind it but fear or infidelity Tie up the hands of the Husbandman and he cannot sow his seed but pinion the Seed-man of the Word of God and his tongue is at liberty Linguâ non manu seritur verbum quod nullis vinculis subjacet The Seed of the Word is sown by the Tongue and not by the Hand Men may be silenced as the Apostles were for a season but truth cannot be silenced In the defect of other Ministers the Women preacht the Resurrection they went to tell his Disciples This part these good Daughters of Jerusalem acted before Christ appeared unto them that I may handle that which concerns them by it self presuppose we that Christ met them and appeared which I will treat of hereafter what did they then Why as reason did require they intermit their motion awhile of running to the Disciples and come unto him To whom else Lord should they go Is there any thing so sweet as thou art to draw near unto it If we come not to thee we wander out of the way and turn aside from our own happiness Whatsoever we are about it is a gain of time to come unto him by the way and we shall arive the sooner at our own ends if they be just and honest And I cannot keep it out of my mind but that after our Saviour was risen from the dead there was some courteous accent in his voice and some sweet invitement in his look more than people were acquainted with before he was crucified He called one woman by name Mary in the Garden he said no more And she was instantly ravished with joy to hear his tongue utter but two syllables So there was such sweetness in the countenance of his immortal body now risen from the Grave that though the women were terribly
give him at her Brothers house at Bethany as she was wont to do she called him Rabboni and as she was wont to do she would have toucht him but where there wanted Reverence Christ corrected her mildly Touch me not But as for these Women that prostrated themselves at his feet with Adoration to worship him they had leave to touch because in heart they had tasted the fruit of life The Ark of God would not endure Vzzah's touch he died for it but the Priests that came near it with holy access had authority to touch it and it was the dignity of their Office Not to roll this stone any longer that good Saint Mary Magdalen was mistaken as if Christ lived again no otherwise than as her Brother Lazarus did to converse in the world as he had done before Touch him not with the finger of that little Faith But they that saw some greater excellency in him than before and fell low on the ground before him they may hold him by the feet Yet there is one Interpretation beside which casts no imputation at all upon Mary Magdalen and I like it the better 't is thus Christ had great use of her to dispatch her to his Disciples it being expedient to send her upon that errand yet she was loth to depart surmising that she should see him no more therefore when our Saviour would have her to insist no longer in expressing her love says he Touch me not I am not yet ascended to my Father which is to this effect I am not yet ascending or going away you shall have more time to converse with me hereafter but now it will do more good to my Disciples to hear I am risen than for you to stay and touch me depart insist no longer in these expressions of Love touch me not I am not quite going away to the Father But for these Women who made no such fond delay but laid their hands on his feet and worshipt him and rose again no such Interdict was upon them as Touch me not which is the Sum of this Point And the next thing they did confirms me that the holding his feet was unblamable and a sanctified action for they worshipt him If when the first begotten was brought into the world it is said Let all the Angels of God worship then when the first begotten from the dead came into Jerusalem his excellency proclaims it let all that behold his glorified presence worship him The wise men fell down before his Cradle and ador'd him when he lay in a poor and despicable manner and this was their wisdom to see the brightness of the Godhead in the dark Lantern of his Humanity Nay the evil Spirit having possessed the body of him that lived in the Tombs fell down before him and with a loud voice said what have I to do with thee thou Son of God most high Luke viii 28. Hell it self is not so refractory but that the Spirits of darkness confess he is to be worshipped and they did it It was not their own body but in that body over which they had command they did that function of their own accord before they were bidden Yet it was not thanks-worthy in them because they executed no more than the duty of the outward gesture I do highly commend the lowly service and inclination of the body O let down your body to the very ground before your Maker as these women did a man cannot be too reverent to his God And as a Plaister of cordial Ingredients laid to the stomach or an Unction well fomented upon the skin without comforts the spirits within and makes us more chearful in our vital operations so outward reverence helps us greatly against the dulness and drowziness of our heart the lifting up of the eyes and hands makes a man ask in prayer more passionately the knocking of our breast provokes our repentance to a more eager indignation against our selves the bowing down the head and knee makes us the better to understand the great distance between God and us the uncovering of the head fills us with that necessary consideration in whose presence we stand Glorifie God with your body 1 Cor. vi 10. Tertullian and St. Cyprian read it portate Deum in corpore vestro Carry God in your body that is bear your Religion openly in the observance and humility of your body Christ is the Husband of the Church an Husband to the Soul of every Christian now this is gained from the similitude that the Wife is the Husband 's both in her body and in her affections so we are Christ's as well in our bodily worship as in our spiritual adherence to him But because the act of worship as concerning that which the head the knee the hand do execute may be used to our superiours in civil demeanor as well as in religious usance to God it is the addition of sanctity conceiv'd in the heart and mind which makes it Religious Adoration for the complete definition of it is thus adoratio est veneratio talis exterior quae ex corde pio religioso procedit that is that 's the adoration due to God and to him alone which with the exterior veneration of the body proceeds out of the pious and religious intention of the heart If you yield any token of outward obeysance and mean it to him who hath created you who hath given you all that you have who rose from the dead that we also might rise with him then it is raised up from civil homage and it becomes Divine Worship These apprehensions were in the hearts of these women and thereupon their bodies bowed down in lowliness and so it wants not one grain of due weight but that it was the worshipping of the Lord Jesus From those things which were personally performed by the women I remove forward to all that which was personally performed by Christ and that is conteined in his action or his words his action is but in this one passage Behold Jesus met them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not to overtake one or to come behind them but to meet them full but as our phrase is therefore it hath somewhat in it diverse from that Apparition which was made to Mary Magdalen and it can not be the same for he stood behind her and she turned about to look upon him but when he presented himself to these Women he met them face to face They were going to tell his Disciples and he that was no hindrance to their journey stood in their way Behold and marvel at it for the hope of the Resurrection was out of their heads they came to embalm his dead Body not to see him living Or suppose we that the Angels had lately persuaded them to that Faith that he was alive again yet to speak indifferently they had no cause to expect him in that place or any where near to Jerusalem for the Angel told them thus in the 7. verse
Brethren Lastly as their Commission had dignity and sweetness in it so they were sent with profitable tydings to tell the Disciples they must go into Galilee and there they should see the Lord. What ailed them I may say that they were not already gone into Galilee for Christ had told them Mat. xxvi 22. When I am risen again I will go before you into Galilee Nay albeit the Women repeated this unto them they did not stir What though they would not go with him to his Cross would not they remove into Galilee when they were warned by Christ and now readmonished by the Women What might it be that hindred them shall I tell you what I think they had forgotten what Christ said and the tydings of the women made them keep closer to that place where they were Can it be that these women saw him in Jerusalem then surely say they the Lord will appear unto us in this City though we do not travel into Galilee But why did the Lord appoint the great intercourse between him and his Disciples in Galilee First it was remote from Jerusalem where much danger was there he might discourse with his Disciples with more privacy and security Secondly the Apostles were all Galileans and for their sakes he did this honour to their Country Thirdly to eject Satan out of his possession for it was a place of much sin called a place of darkness and the land of the shadow of death Isa ix 2. Fourthly there were many Disciples in Galilee and Christ had intended a famous meeting to appear to them all at once as some say on Mount Thabor where he was transfigur'd and that here it was where he was seen of more than five hundred Brethren at once Be it as it would be he promiseth they should see him there and he was better than his promise for upon this day at Even they saw him at Jerusalem Here is nothing that savours of any old grudg or displeasure no repealing of the former promise because they had forsaken him in the Garden but a confirmation of all loving kindness passed and an exceeding favour superadded that their souls might not be tortur'd with that long procrastination not to see him till they went into Galilee he prevented the time and appear'd to them in their own Chamber before they slept To this Christ who is faithful in promises and gracious in loving kindness be all glory AMEN THE NINTH SERMON UPON THE RESURRECTION MAT. xxviii 13. Say ye his Disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept IN the Parable where the King made a Marriage for his Son and I may truly apply it this day was the glorious Nuptial of the Son of God but in that Parable the Servants went out for Guests into the high ways and gathered together all as many as they found good and bad So the Evangelists have filled up the story of our Saviours Resurrection with all kind of Circumstances of Saints and Reprobates truth and fictions good and bad It is agreed by them who have exactly wrote an harmony of the Gospels that Christ made five Apparitions and no fewer all of them upon this triumphant day after he was risen from the dead to the devoutest of all others men and women that loved the Lord. The first to Mary Magdalen The second to the other Women that were going from the Sepulchre to tell the Disciples what the Angels had said unto them The third to Peter Luc. xxiv 34. The Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon 1 Cor. xv 5. Seen of Cephas then of the Twelve The fourth to Cleophas and the other Disciple toward the setting of the Sun to whom he was known in the breaking of bread The fifth to the Disciples late that night Whereas they had received a Message to go into Galilee and there they should see the Lord yet out of fear and incredulity they moved not out of doors Therefore on the same day at Evening being the first day of the Week when the doors were shut where the Disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst of them and said Peace be unto you And howsoever some of those portions of Scripture are read for the Gospel to morrow some for next Sunday yet all those five Apparitions hapned upon this one day He appeared so often to the best of those that loved him but the relation of his Resurrection was made also on this day to the worst of those that hated him The Angels spake it to the Women in the hearing of the Souldiers that he was risen to life the news went from bad to worse the Souldiers tell the High Priests and Elders what they had heard and seen the High Priests again sophisticate the news and tell them fraudulently to Pilate for the Souldiers safety then Pilate and the High Priests agreeing together fill the whole Nation of the Jews by their cunning with incredulity Look not therefore to hear me speak at this time of those good Saints to whom the mystery of Christs Resurrection was the savour of life unto life but of those wicked Infidels who by their own impiety made it unto themselves the savour of death unto death There is not one good person within the compass of the story whereof my Text is a part It is Manipulus zizaniorum If ever according to the Parable God sent his Angel to gather the worst Tares in one bundle by themselves here they are The High Priests prevaricating with God and his Angels the Souldiers corrupted Pilate the Governour misperswaded the people wholly seduced bad is the best Yet St. Matthew and no other Evangelist hath interserted this piece of treachery among the other sweet Narrations of this most happy day And for these causes if St. Chrysostome hit it right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truth will have the better audience when it passeth through the mouths of most contrary Authors say not that his Disciples and such Women as had Christ in admiration spread these things abroad for the malignant Souldiers speak the same 2. That we may see that very hour when God did first smite the Jews with that vertiginous spirit to hearken to Cabalistical Legends to the doating dreams of the Rabbines as they do at this day that is in St. Pauls Phrase to profane and old Wives Fables For indeed this Text is a mere Romancy as arrant a Jewish Fable as ever was told A Conspiracy so full of rotten Fictions that nothing is true in it all but that it is a Conspiracy and that it is a Fiction 1. Then we must bolt out the Confederates Gebal and Ammon joyn together the High Priests the Elders and the Souldiers 2. The way of Confederacy is by putting a forged Tale in the Souldiers mouths they must avouch any thing that the Priests suborn Ye shall say 3. The Plot is collaterally against the Disciples for being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
and the names of the Stars and Constellations and with flat Romances about the good Angels falling in love with mortal Creatures things most unworthy to be fathered upon Enoch that walked with God Therefore St. Jerom moderates the variance Non probavit librum totum Judas sed illud duntaxat testimonium St. Jude did patronize no more of that Book but that Prophesie which he copied out into his Epistle As St. Paul gave no divine authority to certain heathen Poets but only to those particular Verses which he borrowed To come to a point It sounds nearest to truth that Enoch was no such Prophet as left Canonical Records because Christ was wont to argue against the Jews from Moses and the Prophets allowing Moses for the most ancient Prophet that delivered Scripture to the Church by inspiration A late Capuchin Frier hath laboured to prove as he thinks solidly as I think very superficially that Monkish Fraternities and Covents were the first invention in the Church and in his sense to be a Prophet is all one as if Enoch had been of some Colledge or religious Order separated from the ordinary Sons of God Out of his own conjectures he doth erect two strict sodalities of Religion in those ancient days From Enos the Enoscaei such as professed silence from all talk and sequestration from all men And from Cainan the Cinaei or Kenites such as lived in a regular but an active Vocation More of this in due time but we read of no vow or affected institution of life into which the Patriarchs entred we read of some illuminated Prophets or Prophet among them and that was Enoch As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began Luk. i. 70. 3. His next mark of glory follows That he was an example of repentance to all Generations They that are careful to expound these words in Ecclesiasticus accurately are divided in the sense Some have searched among the Rabbines for their opinions of this and one of them says that wickedness did abound in the Age of Enoch the foul crimes of Sorceries and Witchcrafts had begun to shew their blade and Lamech was the seventh from Adam in the Race of Cain a Bigamist and a Murderer His sins in all likelihood were scandalous and contagious at that time over a great part of the earth and for these iniquities the Lord drowned the third part of the habitable world in Enochs time and Enoch threatned an universal Deluge to all flesh if they did not repent which indeed came to pass so his Doctrine and Prophesies gave notice of Repentance to all Generations But Procopius says upon this Text and he had it from some Jewish Scribes that this holy man had been very incontinent and vicious before he begat Methusalah but after that he proved so relenting a Convert laid hold so fast on God because he knew what a misery it was to lose him that his few years of repentance did God more faithful service than almost a thousand years of innocence in the best of the Patriarchs Which aspersion upon this holy Saint since it hath no ground to build upon it is answered well enough by Cajetan Enoch is twice commended in this Chapter that he walked with God in this Text and within two Verses before it the ingemination of that puts it into more probability that he was a constant follower of good works from his youth up till the time that God translated him Leaving these far-fetch'd conjectures this is the most sutable exposition to the words as I apprehend repentance is often taken for all that sanctification and righteousness which is in man that is born and conceived in sin Acts v. 31. God hath exalted Christ to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins but God gives a new heart and a new spirit to Israel and new obedience when he gives them forgiveness of sins To repent is properly reverti à peccato to return from a sinful life but sometimes it is avertere à peccato to turn a side from the broad way which leadeth to perdition though the Child of God never went astray in it So Enoch having a corruptible body which pressed down the pious alacrity of the soul and doing those things by frailty sometimes which he ought not to have done his innocency and holiness is called repentance whereupon the Son of Syrach calls him an example of repentance to all Generations 4. To be a Prophet to be an example of repentance both of these gives us an introduction to understand this Phrase that he walked with God but the true key that opens it is the fourth thing Vpon the earth was no man created like Enoch says the Son of Syrach A Cedar among other fair trees a great Star among other lesser lights a most sanctified man among many just ones like the man in the Parable that was the truest servant to his Master exceeded him that gained but two Talents exceeded him that gained five Talents he made return of ten Talents to his Lord and bore the praise away from them all that had done very well before him upon the earth was no man created like Enoch We commend those from our lips that are inter non pessimè malos not so bad as the worst But God commends them from his mouth that are inter optimos praecipui the most excellent of them that are the best Reuben was kinder towards Joseph than the rest of his Brethren so Reuben tells them of it Gen. xlii 22. yet he was but unnatural Jehu was a truer worshipper of God than the Priests of Baal yet wanted much of sincerity Gamaliel was more favourable to the Apostles than the rest of the Judges yet he did them unjustice and was an unbelieving Pharisee The Kingdom of heaven is not to be look'd for upon assurance that there are greater sinners than you but hereby you shall try if the love of God be in you when you pant and strive with all your soul and with all your might that none may be better It is a pitiful and indeed a dishonourable praise to point out a man and say he is religious devout or conscionable as the world goes Hath God ever promised to take measure from that form as a bad world goes how he will give a man an heritage with the Angels in the world to come To be an Hercules among the Argonautes I mean the first Champion in the Lords cause in the first file a Peter among the Disciples Lovest thou me more than these An Elias among Prophets a Moses an Aaron among his Priests and Samuel among such as called upon his name an Enoch among the Patriarchs upon the earth was no man created like him this is the pitch we must desire to grow unto and not to say with the Proverb Occupet extremum scabies All is well if you be not the worst of a wicked company Whatsoever you know or hear of
you must know that there is a threefold evidence of truth to be distinguished First there is the evidence of our outward senses Matt. xvi when it is Evening you say it will be fair weather for the Sky is red O ye hypocrites can you discern the face of heaven says our Saviour as who should say then there is more to be understood 2. There is the evidence of knowledg which will condemn the Heathen that know not God for the invisible things may be understood by the things which are made even his eternal Godhead Rom. i. both these truths you see are fruitless without a third and what is that but the evidence of faith Heb. xi As for other Truths every man is in the high way to get them capiat qui capere potest but as for this Truth it hath looked down from Heaven says David looked upon whom it listeth and all men have not faith Whether Faith be the evident Truth or not all the World almost upon a time stuck at that point but onely Abraham either because their eyes were dim or because it shined like the face of Moses that they could not behold it Yea we have sundry Traditions that some Philosophers cast an eye upon the first verse of the Scripture In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth but they started at it like the Host of Israel at the dead Corps of Amasa and went no further Alas poor Philosophy who knows not how to confound the wisdom of her Principles The fire hath been as temperate as the morning air Dan. 3. the waters have stood upon an heap like the strong ribs of a Mountain Exod. xiv the Sun hath hid his face at noon day when Astronomy could find no reason for it their Art was as blind as the Heaven in the Eclipse But every part of nature should be out of frame Heaven and Earth should pass away before one title of Gods book should perish that with the dissolution of the Heavens no Angels might remain and with the ruine of the Earth no men might be left to testify against it The holy Martyrs have forsaken their lives that this truth might not forsake them And as it is reported of our Philosopher that the ashes spread upon the high Mountains of Tenariffa retain for ever any letters drawn out upon them by reason of the tranquillity of the place So no wind or storm can scatter away those holy words of Gods Book since they have been written in the ashes of the Martyrs the Law cannot endure better in the Tables of Stone than the Gospel in that sacred dust If Faith be not a Truth how did Abraham see Christmas day and rejoyce and keep it a solemn Festival more than a thousand years before the name was entred into our Calender He knew the faithfulness of Gods Promise that made Jesus our Redemption so undoubtedly that he swore him a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedech The Mother of our Lord might ask reverently quomodo How should these things be The best in the World have their doubts of infirmity but Domine non erit tibi this thing shall not be so when Christ had spoken it that was a mistake in St. Peter and yet behold the Evidence of Truth shewed it self more abundantly anon after in the faith of that Apostle than in all the skill of Greece and Egypt Tell me what Physician could promise recovery to the Cripple lying at the Beautiful Gate Durst all the Colledg of Galen say unto him confidently stand up and walk but the Apostle saw that one grane of faith could give him the use of his feet and ancle bones that he might leap and praise the Lord. Whatsoever is confirmed by the mouth of two or three Witnesses it passeth for truth by the Law of God and Man and good reason for it Now the Old Testament was confirmed under the name of three Patriarchs I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. In the New Covenant whether it were at the Transfiguration of Christ Peter James and John three Attendants did bear him company to Mount Tabor in like manner at the raising up of Jairus Daughter and in the Mount of Olives when he sweat and prayed so many were with him as before and the self same three Disciples all was confirmed under the mouth of three Witnesses But I will take no more pains in this point to prove Faith to be a Truth as I remember the great Orator reports of a good man Q. Metellus he was excused or rather forbidden to shew his proof unto the Senate in a Controversie to be debated lest the Bench should seem to distrust so reverend a Citizen None but Julian the Apostate and such accursed as he hath left behind him would scoff at Faith whose cavil it was as Nazianzen reports that we had a starting hole for all objections in one silly word Believe These men knew not that Faith in a little Pearl was worth all the substance of a Merchant and he sold all he had to buy the Pearl Matt. xiii Surely if the Womb of Mary deserved a Blessing from all Generations that bore the Infant from everlasting if the Arms of Simeon deserved a Church Anthem every Evensong that enclasped him if the Tomb of Joseph was attended by Angels where his body lay then cut down Palms and spread your Garments in the way for Christ is rode in triumph into that heart into which faith is entred Now Truth is fruitful and brings forth Truth a Daughter not unlike her self Divine Truth is the cause of Human Truth of a true Conversation of a right Balance and a just Fphah Her Merchandise is such as Abraham's was with the Hittites Gen. 23. which I will ever commend when he bought a Tomb for Sarah such as the ancient Romans was aedes pestilentes vendo the Seller was not ashamed to confess that his House had the Pestilence Not as St. Hierom told the Trades of his time tanti vitrium quanti margaritam to chop away Glass for Rubies or as St. Basil says of Gordias the Martyr that his Soul was vexed with the City and he retired into the Wilderness leaving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he could not endure the Buyers and Sellers the forswearers and liars And what doth all come to when they cast up their Audit Prov. xxi 6. The getting of riches by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death Let our Merchants beware that they carry not that report which the Wits of St. Paul's time put upon the Cretians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alwayes liars evil beasts and slow-bellies or as Plutarch spake of Demades the Pleader then grown past the best that there was nothing left in him but his Tongue and his Paunch his Tongue to tell lies and his Belly to surfeit the meer Reliques of an Ox sacrificed Nay I beseech you
convenient to begin your Reformation from the moment wherein you heard the Word taught in that place that then you stand slip off the old Serpents skin and renew your youth become a new Creature No man would sin so fast but he that thinks his Age runs away but slowly no man would be an unrepentant sinner to day but that he hopes for to morrow And why to morrow Nemo non suo die moritur My day to die was every day since I had an hour to live And I was a sinner before the first minute of that hour expired therefore why should not my heart smite me and contrition humble me lest Judgment should begin as soon as this word is spoken It is the Devils muttering and not a Christians to say Art thou come to torment us before thy time Of three things Cato did repent of more than the rest this is one Quod unum diem mansisset intestatus A day past over his head wherein his Will was not made he might have died intestate If a Heathen were so sollicitous that upon every day the things of this life might be duly ordered what care ought to be taken that we suffer not our eyes to flumber untill all things be accorded for the peace of our conscience for our reconciliation in Christ Jesus against the world to come Sickness and Death and Judgment who knows whether they be not as near to us as the avenging Angel was unto Herod who did immediately smite him that he was eaten c. Now I am faln in the last place upon the true castigation of Herods pride Tantus tam luctuosè that such a Potentate should die so miserably eaten up of Worms for five days says Josephus after he was smitten and then gave up the Ghost Lest he should glory that he was smitten by no less than an Angel Aeneae magni dextrâ behold the meanest of all Creatures the Worms are made his Executioners And lest he should domineer as Eusebius said he did that he died not sordidly in the rank of a mean man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the dignity of a King which is the much admired happiness therefore the loathsomness of his Disease the ignobleness of the Scourge the irrecoverableness of the Mischief all are conjoyn'd to debase his Spirit O torture little dreamt of at this time Had he not the Physicians of Arabia about him How could he feel mortality Was he not in perfect strength to make Orations to the People What could be doubted of his health Was not his body kept sweet and clean like the body of a King Who would have suspected the putrefaction of Worms But remember that Manna bred Worms and stank though it came from heaven when it was too long preserved against Gods Commandment So though the Soveraignty of a King do come from heaven yet if it offend the Lord it will consume and putrifie He that humbled himself to be vermis non homo a worm and no man he is exalted above men to the right hand of God He that would have been Deus non homo a God and not a man is dejected below a man and made a worm See what contrariety of Instruments God did use to make his death the stranger an Angel and a Worm An Angel that he might say with the Philistines Who is able to endure these mighty Gods A Worm that he might say Et tu Brute the meanest of Creatures can conquer a King by Gods ordination An Angel for his sake who was the Judge to shew his mightiness A Worm for his sake that was judged to shew his baseness An Angel to shew how a sinner cannot look upon heaven for it is full of wrath A Worm to shew he cannot tread safely upon the earth for it is full of vengeance An Angel is an immortal Creature to threaten such pain unto the soul A Worm is a most corruptible creature to shew the fading of the body As St. Paul said of his Widows which were busie-bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She that is wanton is dead while she is alive because she is dead to Faith and good Works So I may say of Herod that he died while he was alive for Worms which feed sweetly upon the dead as Job says fed upon him in his life-time as if he had been buried after he had solemnly made his own Funeral Oration As the Poet spake of a poysonous death which wasted the body first and separated the soul afterward Eripiunt omnes animam tu sola cadaver So I may say of this Phthiriasis First it did eat up the body and so left no room for the soul to inhabite in the members Expertes opes ignaros quid vulnera vellent says Lucretius When anguish doth tear their heart skill cannot afford recovery when their whole body is but one sore they know not where they are wounded This disease is more observed in Histories to be the Arrow of the Lord against sinners of high presumption than any other Thus Sylla died thus Antiochus Epiphanes thus Herod the Great thus Arnulphus that spoiled the Churches of the Christians thus Phericides that gloried he never offered Sacrifice and yet lived as prosperously Quà m qui heccatombas immolant What do we talk of Blazing-stars that they are only fatal and ominous to the life of Noble Personages a few Worms have often bereaved them of their soul as easily as the little Worm smote the Gourd of Jonas But will some man say Do you make this disease an infallible sign of Gods especial indignation Brethren God forbid For Judgments fall promiscuously in this life upon the good and bad Seest thou a man rent with as many torments of infirmities as there be members in his body to receive them let your first Meditation be Acerrimum est praelium in viâ magnus erit triumphus in patriâ He suffers much in this life his triumph will be the greater in the world to come And let your second consideration be the dreadfulness of Gods anger Says Tertullian to the Roman Lords the tortures of your Bondslaves are Fetters your reward is a Cap of Liberty but we are servants of the most high Cujus judicium in suos non in compede aut pileo vertitur sed in aeternitate poenae aut salutis Whose judgment gives sentence either of Hell or Everlasting salvation To answer you more copiously One circumstance alone had bred no ill opinion of Herods death Many circumstances raise a suspicion that his Life was Criminal and his Death Exemplary 1. To be smitten in a sin immediately upon the fact to be smitten by an Angel to be gnawn to death with Worms the divine hand was over this Sentence and no natural cause Unless as Tertullian said of their lascivious Theaters that resounded with scurrility Ipse aer qui desuper incubat scelestis vocibus constupratur So that Sacrilegious shout which the people gave against the
relation to civil use commit great Idolatry in this first conclusion for Jews and Turks those I mean worship not the true God but a Figment of their own mind I avouch it what they adore is a mere Figment of their own it is not a Creature that they deny and very truly neither is it the Creator and Lord of all things for they do not worship Three Persons in Trinity and one God in Vnity This is the most subtil and pernicious kind of Idolatry of all others the more pernicious because so hardly discerned But thus I have made good by Paradox They that hate all Images are the greatest Idolaters I proceed to the second Tribe of them whom I endited of Idolatry even those that know the true God and serve him but yet allow a modification of Religious Worship to some of his Creatures In the censure of this Crime I will begin with that sin which is most to be detested Satan had an eye upon Idolaters that some worshipped the Elements and built Temples to the Fire to the Water and Earth and made themselves Priests for those abuses Some kneeled unto the Sun and Moon the Children gathered sticks the Fathers made the fire and the Women made Cakes to the Queen of heaven that is to the Sun which was a Feminine Idol and is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. Paul Nay Satan had traced out that Angels were adored by some superstitious therefore being puft that he was a most excellent Creature in his Essence and none of the least Angels he demands worship of our Saviour All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me This Idolatry which he would have is so rank above all other that it smels of the very fire and brimstone of Hell Because St. Paul says what the Gentiles sacrifice to Idols they sacrifice to Devils some of the Fathers expound it that the Devils lurkt invisibly in Idols that were worshipped so they themselves at the second hand were worshipped in Idols He may lurch homage by those slights but I do almost doubt whether it be possible for any man to be so intoxicated and seduced as directly to honour the Devil For my part I give no credit to such stories as are written of the Indians in Calicut They that write Cosmography or Navigations leaze up such reports from Seamen and Mariners and may be fit to be read in a sleepy day but never to be believed Those Indians they write of are a most ingenuous witty people in all Manufacture that comes from them and I cannot think them of such a dark capacity in Religion to worship that odious Fiend of Hell Mary if there be such among them as are Witches and Sorcerers though Satan croucheth to such and is commanded by them yet they be Idolaters in a most high delinquency because they compact with the Devil yea and are sealed to him by certain Characters For the Children of God are received into Covenant with God first by Circumcision then by Baptism therefore obliquely they take the Devil for a God who enter Covenant with him by marks in the flesh or any other sign as it were in imitation of a Sacrament And it makes it worship according to the true properties of Worship when they take his promises for some benefits to be received and reciprocally return him promises of obedience This is to attribute verity to Satan that he will do what he says and power that he can bring extraordinary effects to pass and so they worship him both by faith and confederation These are they against whom Moses speaks so often in the Law that they must not be suffred to live if they be detected he had been brought up in all the learning of the Egyptians and knew the ways of their most accursed Sorcerers And because every one baptized unto Christ doth detest this sin from the bottom of his heart to give honour to the Devil therefore look to it that you do not touch the skirts of it before you are aware by Ignorance Perversness or Curiosity It is idolizing of the Devil to consult with those for any satisfaction whom we suspect to have confederacy with the Devil whether they have or no. There shall not be found among you a Consulter with familiar Spirits or with a Wizard or a Necromancer Deut. xviii 11. It is Idolizing of him to use divinations by dreams by calling on the dead by the tunes of birds by Lots and generally by all such means as are not directly natural or appointed by God to find out the truth Many things are Diabolical where there hath not passed any Diabolical communication And in such things where you offer no service to Satan yet you busie your self before you take heed with the Art and Spirit of Satan You would think it were rigid Divinity to say that it was in some wise an Idolizing of the Devil to expel Aches and Diseases by Charms and strange words which you understood not What do you know but that Satan may be secretly called upon in those words when you think you do nothing less than call upon him That great Divine Zanchius confesseth of himself that he rid himself of the Tooth-ach by muttering certain strange Lines which he was taught in Italy But he repented him for the fact because for ought he knew it was the Devils receipt for God and Nature never appointed such remedies to cure diseases And so much be spoken against the idolizing the worst of all Gods Creatures the Devil Nor are the best of his Creatures to be honoured with Religious Worship no not good Angels nor Saints living or departed I must not spare any that wander from my Text for God himself is the complete and entire Object of all Religious Worship Him only shalt thou serve Shew me where the Church is bidden to adore Angels with divine Adoration What so much writing and zeal to maintain that so much fury to bid Anathema to them that dislike it and yet no exhortation in all the Bible to commend it Was ever any punish'd by God for default that way Any one so much as check'd or quarrel'd for it The Letter of the Scripture presseth upon all things else to the least scruple if they be forgotten If Gods House be not honoured if his Tithes be not paid if his Prophets be evil intreated yet for the religious reverencing of Angels not one word of expostulation to advance it in the Law or Gospel Nay St. Paul says they that teach the worshipping of Angels do but beguile you with voluntary humility Col. ii 18. O say the Rhemists if any should attribute such pious culture to the Angels as Simon Magus did making them equal with God then he is within the reprehension of that Text. A frothy evasion for who regards what Simon Magus did The Apostle gives us a general caution That we be not beguiled by worshipping of Angels Is there no trespass
Behold he goes before you to Galilee Was there any cause therefore that they should think to bless their eyes with him before they had made a journey into Galilee but behold the Angels had not all the mind of the Lord revealed unto them Jesus met the women hard by where the word was spoken and long before they went into Galilee So it is with all who are dear to God They look not for the vision of God till they are dead for no man shall see God at any time and live Yet before we get into Galilee before the Soul ascends into heaven he grants us that blessing to see him often with the eye of faith As the place is one part of the wonder so there is another Ecce another behold in the time just as they were going to tell the Disciples that an Angel had publisht at the Monument that the Master was risen just then he met them One hath made a good note of it qui communicant Christum aliis ipsum altiùs intelligent Teach the ways of the Lord to others and thou shalt understand them the better thy self Communicate unto the ignorant what thou knowest of Christ thy Saviour and thine own knowledg shall increase unto thee in the communication A great encouragement though the mysteries of faith are deep and inexplicable yet to preach them as we are able because we have this hope that Jesus the revealer of all secrets will meet us by the way And yet behold again that Jerusalem being so populous and at this time of the Passover throng'd with all sorts of strangers he was descerned of none but of these women these he meets and salutes them This is their reward that they left their soft Couch and some hours before the Sun rose came to seek the Lord. The Servants of God are called generatio quaerentium Psal xxii This is the generation of them that seek thee even of them that seek thy face O Jacob. He says in the Prophet Isaiah that he was found of them that sought him not much more will he be found of those that sought him Ask St. Cyprian why many that thought themselves Eagles could not behold him with their piercing eyes and that this little Nest of Sparrows these few women did encounter him St. Cyprian says quae ardentiùs dilexerunt quae devotiùs quaesicrunt such as loved him more affectionately such as sought him more devoutly they have the blessing to enjoy him But a wiser than Cyprian even Solomon says it Prov. viii 17. I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me In a word Christ meets all those that go in the way of faith and obedience as these women did And as the Father went out to meet his prodigal Son before his Son did look for him so go on in repentance in love in zeal in holiness and you shall see the unexpected day of the Lord. After this hear the words which our Saviour spake to the women St. Paul heard his voice from heaven but did not at first see him St. Stephen saw him stand at the right hand of God but did not hear him speak these persons had the blessedness both to hear him and see him and his tunable voice gave them this salutation before they spake to him all hail It is no question but Christ spake unto them in the Syrian or in the Hebrew tongue and their word of love and courtesie to one another when they met was shalom or peace And so the Syrian Paraphrast renders these words of my Text pax vobis peace be unto you But the Evangelist hath kept the Greek form of salutation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rejoyce The Latin tongue useth that word which was usual in the mouth of the Romans when they gave the wishes of a good day unto any avete an old Latian word whose meaning themselves did not know The Poet Martial was a good Critick that confessed it Exprimere Rufe fidicula licet cogant Ave latinum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non potes Gracum Now at last to descend to our language we express it as you read it all hail which is a Saxon ideom for all health The optative form of the Hebrews was Peace of the Greeks Joy they were merry Greeks of us English health The common custom was that friends should meet friends with auspicious words with congratulation of happiness one to another whensoever they came together upon appointment or incidentary occasions Among the Heathen Humanity and Civility among us Christians Brotherly love is the original to salute one another with a Prayer when we meet But who is he among an hundred that thinks the name of God and a Prayer is in his mouth when he bids a Good morrow or a Good even to his Neighbour he hath no perceivance of his all hail or of those charitable words that come from him He doth not bless his Brother after the meaning of the phrase but he talks by rote like a Parrot And as it is most supine negligence to mean no good in our salutation and will fall into the condemnation of idle words so it is most devillish to give the outward salute of good words and to have war in our heart As Joab spake peaceably to Abner that is saluted him and then smote him that he died as Judas gave all hail to his Master and betrayed him with a signal of a courtesie A familiar thing in this wicked world to bid God save and God speed to them whose destruction we covet and to think of cursing in our heart at the same instant when the form of blessing is in our mouth Shame be to our dissimulation that it is but a form It began to be so odious among the Heathen to salute out of wanton fashion when they meant no kindness that it grew in use among them to confirm their Greetings with an oath In one of Terence his Comedies this passage is between two Servants Salve mecastor Parmeno tu aedipol Syra they swore they did verily mean them all the good wherewith they saluted them But this would not mend the matter in our dissembling age for we have many that will salute and swear and yet intend mischief to their neighbour and so will mix malice with perjury I leave them to the bitterness of their own sins and to have their portion with Hypocrites I am sure the salutation of our Saviour did really bring peace and joy and health to them that were saluted Gaudere eas jubet quae condemnatae erant ad habendum merorem says Euthymius womenkind in Eve was condemned to sorrow Gen. iii. Now Christ bids them rejoyce and obliterates the handwriting of sorrow that was against them Avete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now be merry and joyful now that you have seen with your eys that Christ is the resurrection and the life the Heavens and all the powers therein Archangels and Angels Patriarchs and Prophets