weakness When the Spouse misses him whom her Soul loveth every watchman hath a buffet for her O Saviour if thou be never so little stept aside we are sure to be assaulted with powerfull Temptations They that durst say nothing to the Master so soon as his back is turned fall foul upon his weakest Disciples Even at the first hatching the Serpent was thus crafty to begin at the weaker vessell experience and time hath not abated his wit If he still work upon silly Women laden with divers lusts upon rude and ungrounded Ignorants it is no other then his old wont Our Saviour upon the skirts of the hill knew well what was done in the plain and therefore hasts down to the rescue of his Disciples The clouds and vapours do not sooner scatter upon the Sun's breaking forth then these cavils vanish at the presence of Christ in stead of opposition they are straight upon their knees here are now no quarrels but humble salutations and if Christ's question did not force theirs the Scribes had found no tongue Doubtless there were many eager Patients in this throng none made so much noise as the father of the Demoniack Belike upon his occasion it was that the Scribes held contestation with the Disciples If they wrangled he sues and that from his knees Whom will not need make both humble and eloquent The case was wofull and accordingly expressed A son is a dear name but this was his onely son Were his grief ordinary yet the sorrow were the less but he is a fearfull spectacle of judgment for he is Lunatick Were this Lunacy yet merely from a naturall distemper it were more tolerable but this is aggravated by the possession of a cruell spirit that handles him in a most grievous manner Yet were he but in the rank of other Demoniacks the discomfort were more easy but lo this spirit is worse then all other his fellows others are usually dispossessed by the Disciples this is beyond their power I besought thy Disciples to cast him out but they could not therefore Lord have thou mercy on my Son The despair of all other helps sends us importunately to the God of power Here was his refuge the strong man had gotten possession it was onely the stronger then he that can eject him O God spirituall wickednesses have naturally seized upon our Souls all humane helps are too weak onely thy Mercy shall improve thy Power to our deliverance What bowels could chuse but yearn at the distress of this poor young man Frenzy had taken his brain that Disease was but health in comparison of the tyrannicall possession of that evill spirit wherewith it was seconded Out of Hell there could not be a greater misery his senses are either bereft or else left to torment him he is torn and racked so as he foams and gnashes he pines and languishes he is cast sometimes into the fire sometimes into the water How that malicious Tyrant rejoyces in the mischief done to the creature of God Had earth had any thing more pernicious then fire and water thither had he been thrown though rather for torture then dispatch It was too much favour to die at once O God with how deadly enemies hast thou matched us Abate thou their power since their malice will not be abated How many think of this case with pity and horrour and in the mean time are insensible of their own fearfuller condition It is but oftentimes that the Devil would cast this young man into a temporary fire he would cast the sinner into an eternall fire whose everlasting burnings have no intermissions No fire comes amiss to him the fire of Affliction the fire of Lust the fire of Hell O God make us apprehensive of the danger of our sin and secure from the fearfull issue of sin All these very same effects follow his spiritual possession How doth he tear and rack them whom he vexes and distracts with inordinate cares and sorrows How do they foam and gnash whom he hath drawn to an impatient repining at God's afflictive hand How do they pine away who hourly decay and languish in Grace Oh the lamentable condition of sinfull souls so much more dangerous by how much less felt But all this while what part hath the Moon in this man's misery How comes the name of that goodly Planet in question Certainly these diseases of the brain follow much the course of this queen of moisture That power which she hath in humours is drawn to the advantage of the malicious spirit her predominancy is abused to his despight whether it were for the better opportunity of his vexation or whether for the drawing of envy and discredit upon so noble a creature It is no news with that subtle enemy to fasten his effects upon those secondary causes which he usurps to his own purposes What-ever be the means he is the tormentour Much wisedom needs to distinguish betwixt the evil spirit abusing the good creature and the good creature abused by the evil spirit He that knew all things asks questions How long hath he been so Not to inform himself That Devil could have done nothing without the knowledge without the leave of the God of Spirits but that by the confession of the Parent he might lay forth the wofull condition of the Child that the thank and glory of the Cure might be so much greater as the complaint was more grievous He answered From a child O God how I adore the depth of thy wise and just and powerfull dispensation Thou that couldst say I have loved Jacob and Esau have I hated ere the children had done good or evil thoughtest also good ere this Child could be capable of good or evil to yield him over to the power of that Evil one What need I ask for any other reason then that which is the rule of all Justice thy Will Yet even these weak eyes can see the just grounds of thine actions That child though an Israelite was conceived and born in that sin which both could and did give Satan an interest in him Besides the actual sins of the Parents deserved this revenge upon that piece of themselves Rather O God let me magnifie thy Mercy that we and ours escape this Judgment then question thy Justice that some escape not How just might it have been with thee that we who have given way to Satan in our sins should have way and scope given to Satan over us in our punishments It is thy praise that any of us are free it is no quarrell that some suffer Do I wonder to see Satan's bodily possession of this young man from a child when I see his spiritual possession of every son of Adam from a longer date not from a child but from the womb yea in it Why should not Satan possess his own we are all by nature the sons of wrath It is time for us to renounce him in Baptism whose we are till we be regenerate He hath right
from mistakings If men could but know how much safety and sweetness there is in all Divine truth it could receive nothing from them but welcomes and gratulations Misconceits have been still guilty of all wrongs and persecutions But if Herod were troubled as Tyranny is still suspicious why was all Jerusalem troubled with him Jerusalem which now might hope for a relaxation of her bonds for a recovery of her liberty and right Jerusalem which now onely had cause to lift up her drooping head in the joy and happiness of a Redeemer Yet not onely Herod's Court but even Jerusalem was troubled So had this miserable City been over-toiled with change that now they were settled in a condition quietly evil they are troubled with the news of better They had now got a habit of Servility and now they are so acquainted with the yoke that the very noise of Liberty which they supposed would not come with ease began to be unwelcome To turn the causes of joy into sorrow argues extreme dejectedness and a distemper of judgment no less then desperate Fear puts on a visour of Devotion Herod calls his learned counsell and as not doubting whether the Messiah should be born he asks where he shall be born In the disparition of that other light there is a perpetually-fixed Star shining in the writings of the Prophets that guides the chief Priests and Scribes directly unto Bethlehem As yet envy and prejudice had not blinded the eyes and perverted the hearts of the Jewish Teachers so as now they clearly justifie that Christ whom they afterwards condemn and by thus justifying him condemn themselves in rejecting him The water that is untroubled yields the visage perfectly If God had no more witness but from his enemies we have ground enough of our faith Herod feared but dissembled his fear as thinking it a shame that strangers should see there could any power arise under him worthy of his respect or awe Out of an unwillingness therefore to discover the impotency of his passion he makes little adoe of the matter but onely after a privy inquisition into the time imploys the informers in the search of the person Goe and search diligently for the Babe c. It was no great journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem how easily might Herod's cruelty have secretly suborned some of his bloudy Courtiers to this inquiry and execution If God had not meant to mock him before he found himself mocked of the Wise men he had rather sent before their journey then after their disappointment But that God in whose hands all hearts are did purposely besot him that he might not find the way to so horrible a mischief There is no Villany so great but it will mask it self under a shew of Piety Herod will also worship the Babe The courtesie of a false Tyrant is death A crafty Hypocrite never means so ill as when he speaketh fairest The Wise men are upon their way full of expectation full of desire I see no man either of the City or Court to accompany them Whether distrust or fear hindred them I inquire not but of so many thousand Jews no one stirs his foot to see that King of theirs which Strangers came so far to visit Yet were not these resolute Sages discouraged with this solitariness and small respect nor drawn to repent of their journey as thinking What do we come so far to honour a King whom no man will acknowledge what mean we to travel so many hundred miles to see that which the inhabitants will not look out to behold but chearfully renew their journey to that place which the ancient light of Prophecy had designed And now behold God encourages their holy forwardness from Heaven by sending them their first Guide as if he had said What need ye care for the neglect of men when ye see Heaven honours the King whom ye seek What joy these Sages conceived when their eyes first beheld the re-appearance of that happy Star they onely can tell that after a long and sad night of Temptation have seen the loving countenance of God shining forth upon their Souls If with obedience and courage we can follow the calling of God in difficult enterprises we shall not want supplies of comfort Let not us be wanting to God we shall be sure he cannot be wanting to us He that led Israel by a Pillar of fire into the Land of Promise leads the Wise men by a Star to the Promised seed All his directions partake of that Light which is in him for God is Light This Star moves both slowly and low as might be fittest for the pace for the purpose of these Pilgrims It is the goodness of God that in those means wherein we cannot reach him he descends unto us Surely when the Wise men saw the Star stand still they looked about to see what Palace there might be near unto that station fit for the birth of a King neither could they think that sorry Shed was it which the Star meant to point out but finding their guide settled over that base roof they go in to see what guest it held They enter and O God! what a King do they find how poor how contemptible wrapt in clouts laid in straw cradled in the manger attended with beasts What a sight was this after all the glorious promises of that Star after the Predictions of Prophets after the magnificence of their expectation All their way afforded nothing so despicable as that Babe whom they came to worship But as those which could not have been wise men unless they had known that the greatest glories have arisen from mean beginnings they fall down and worship that hidden Majesty This Baseness hath bred wonder in them not contempt they well knew the Star could not lie They which saw his Star afar off in the East when he lay swaddled in Bethlehem do also see his Royalty farther off in the despised estate of his infancy a Royalty more then humane They well knew that Stars did not use to attend earthly Kings and if their aim had not been higher what was a Jewish King to Persian Strangers Answerable therefore hereunto was their adoration Neither did they lift up empty hands to him whom they worshipt but presented him with the most precious commodities of their Country Gold Incense Myrrh not as thinking to enrich him with these but by way of homage acknowledging him the Lord of these If these Sages had been Kings and had offered a Princely weight of Gold the Blessed Virgin had not needed in her Purification to have offered two young Pigeons as the sign of her penury As God loves not empty hands so he measures fulness by the affection Let it be Gold or Incense or Myrrh that we offer him it cannot but please him who doth not use to ask how much but how good V. The Purification THere could be no impurity in the Son of God and if the best substance of a pure
the Temple God will be mercifull though we miscarry and just though sinners seem lawless Neither will he be any other then he is or measured by any rule but himself But what is this I see Satan himself with a Bible under his arm with a Text in his mouth It is written He shall give his Angels charge over thee How still in that Wicked one doth Subtlety strive with Presumption Who could not but over-wonder at this if he did not consider that since the Devil dares to touch the sacred Body of Christ with his hand he may well touch the Scriptures of God with his tongue Let no man henceforth marvel to hear Hereticks or Hypocrites quote Scriptures when Satan himself hath not spared to cite them What are they the worse for this more then that holy Body which is transported Some have been poisoned by their meats and drinks yet either these nourish us or nothing It is not the Letter of the Scripture that can carry it but the Sense if we divide these two we profane and abuse that Word we alledge And wherefore doth this foul Spirit urge a Text but for imitation for prevention and for success Christ had alledged a Scripture unto him he re-alledges Scripture unto Christ At leastwise he will counterfeit an imitation of the Son of God Neither is it in this alone what one act ever passed the hand of God which Satan did not apishly attempt to second If we follow Christ in the outward action with contrary intentions we follow Satan in following Christ Or perhaps Satan meant to make Christ hereby weary of this weapon As we see fashions when they are taken up of the unworthy are cast off by the Great It was doubtless one cause why Christ afterward forbad the Devil even to confess the Truth because his mouth was a Slander But chiefly doeth he this for a better colour of his Temptation He gilds over this false metal with Scripture that it may pass current Even now is Satan transformed into an Angel of light and will seem godly for a mischief If Hypocrites make a fair shew to deceive with a glorious lustre of holiness we see whence they borrowed it How many thousand souls are betrayed by the abuse of that Word whose use is sovereign and saving No Devil is so dangerous as the religious Devil If good meat turn to the nourishment not of nature but of the disease we may not forbear to feed but endeavour to purge the body of those evil humours which cause the stomack to work against it self O God thou that hast given us light give us clear and sound eyes that we may take comfort of that light thou hast given us Thy Word is holy make our Hearts so and then shall they find that Word not more true then cordial Let not this Divine Table of thine be made a snare to our souls What can be a better act then to speak Scripture It were a wonder if Satan should doe a good thing well He cites Scripture then but with mutilation and distortion it comes not out of his mouth but maimed and perverted one piece is left all misapplied Those that wrest or mangle Scripture for their own turn it is easie to see from what School they come Let us take the Word from the Authour not from the Usurper David would not doubt to eat that sheep which he pulled out of the mouth of the Bear or Lion He shall give his Angels charge over thee O comfortable assurance of our protection God's Children never goe unattended Like unto great Princes we walk ever in the midst of our Guard though invisible yet true carefull powerfull What creatures are so glorious as the Angels of heaven yet their Maker hath set them to serve us Our Adoption makes us at once great and safe We may be contemptible and ignominious in the eyes of the world but the Angels of God observe us the while and scorn not to wait upon us in our homeliest occasions The Sun or the Light may we keep out of our houses the Air we cannot much less these Spirits that are more simple and immaterial No walls no bolts can sever them from our sides they accompany us in dungeons they go with us into our exile How can we either fear danger or complain of solitariness whilst we have so unseparable so glorious Companions Is our Saviour distasted with Scripture because Satan mis-lays it in his dish Doth he not rather snatch this sword out of that impure hand and beat Satan with the weapon which he abuseth It is written Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God The Scripture is one as that God whose it is Where it carries an appearance of difficulty or inconvenience it needs no light to clear it but that which it hath in it self All doubts that may arise from it are fully answered by collation It is true that God hath taken this care and given this charge of his own He will have them kept not in their sins they may trust him they may not tempt him he meant to incourage their Faith not their Presumption To cast our selves upon any immediate Providence when means fail not is to disobey in stead of believing God We may challenge God on his word we may not strain him beyond it We may make account of what he promised we may not subject his promises to unjust examinations and where no need is make trial of his Power Justice Mercy by devices of our own All the Devils in Hell could not elude the force of this Divine answer and now Satan sees how vainly he tempteth Christ to tempt God Yet again for all this do I see him setting upon the Son of God Satan is not foiled when he is resisted Neither Diffidence nor Presumption can fasten upon Christ he shall be tried with Honour As some expert Fencer that challenges at all weapons so doth his great Enemy In vain shall we plead our skill in some if we fail in any It must be our wisedom to be prepared for all kind of Assaults As those that hold Towns and Forts do not onely defend themselves from Incursions but from the Cannon and the Pioneer Still doth that subtle Serpent traverse his ground for an advantage The Temple is not high enough for his next Temptation he therefore carries up Christ to the top of an exceeding high Mountain All enemies in pitcht fields strive for the benefit of the Hill or River or Wind or Sun That which his servant Balak did by his instigation himself doth now immediately change places in hope of prevailing If the obscure Country will not move us he tries what the Court can doe if not our Home the Tavern if not the Field our Closet As no place is left free by his malice so no place must be made prejudicial by our carelesness and as we should always watch over our selves so then most when the opportunity carries cause of suspicion Wherefore is
hurt me it may refresh me to carry this cool Snake in my bosome O then my dear Saviour I bless thee for thy Death but I bless thee more for thy Resurrection That was a work of wonderfull Humility of infinite Mercy this was a work of infinite Power In that was humane Weakness in this Divine Omnipotence In that thou didst die for our sins in this thou didst rise again for our Justification And now how am I conformable to thee if when thou art risen I lie still in the grave of my Corruptions How am I a lim of thy body if whilst thou hast that perfect dominion over death death hath dominion over me if whilst thou art alive and glorious I lie rotting in the dust of death I know the locomotive faculty is in the Head by the power of the Resurrection of thee our Head all we thy Members cannot but be raised As the earth cannot hold my Body from thee in the day of the Second Resurrection so cannot sin withhold my Soul from thee in the First How am I thine if I be not risen and if I be risen with thee why do I not seek the things above where thou sittest at the right hand of God The Vault or Cave which Joseph had hewn out of the rock was large capable of no less then ten persons upon the mouth of it Eastward was that great stone rolled within it at the right hand in the North part of the Cave was hewn out a receptacle for the body three handfulls high from the pavement and a stone was accordingly fitted for the cover of that Grave Into this Cave the good Women finding the stone rolled away descended to seek the body of Christ and in it saw the Angels This was the Goal to which Peter and John ran finding the spoils of death the grave-cloaths wrapped up and the napkin that was about the head folded up together and laid in a place by it self and as they came in haste so they return'd with wonder I marvell not at your speed O ye blessed Disciples if upon the report of the Women ye ran yea flew upon the wings of zeal to see what was become of your Master Ye had wont to walk familiarly together in the attendence of your Lord now society is forgotten and as for a wager each tries the speed of his legs and with neglect of other vies who shall be first at the Tomb. Who would not but have tried masteries with you in this case and have made light touches of the earth to have held paces with you Your desire was equall but John is the younger his lims are more nimble his breath more free he first looks into the Sepulcher but Peter goes down first O happy competition who shall be more zealous in the enquiry after Christ Ye saw enough to amaze you not enough to settle your Faith How well might you have thought Our Master is not subduced but risen Had he been taken away by others hands this fine linen had not been left behind Had he not himself risen from this bed of earth he had not thus wrapped up his night-cloaths and laid them sorted by themselves What can we doubt when he foretold us he would rise O Blessed Jesu how wilt thou pardon our errours how should we pardon and pity the errours of each other in lesser occasions when as yet thy prime and dearest Disciples after so much Divine instruction knew not the Scriptures that thou must rise again from the dead They went away more astonished then confident more full of wonder as yet then of belief There is more strength of zeal where it takes in the weaker Sex Those holy Women as they came first so they staid last especially devout Mary Magdalene stands still at the mouth of the Cave weeping Well might those tears have been spared if her Knowledge had been answerable to her Affection her Faith to her Fervour Withall as our eye will be where we love she stoops and looks down into that dear Sepulcher Holy desires never but speed well There she sees two glorious Angels the one sitting at the head the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain Their shining brightness shew'd them to be no mortall creatures besides that Peter and John had but newly come out of the Sepulcher and both found and left it empty in her sight which was now suddenly filled with those celestiall guests That white linen wherewith Joseph had shrouded the Sacred Body of Jesus was now shamed with a brighter whiteness Yet do I not find the good Woman ought appalled with that inexpected glory So was her heart taken up with the thought for her Saviour that she seemed not sensible of whatsoever other Objects Those tears which she did let drop into the Sepulcher send up back to her the voice of those Angels Woman why weepest thou God and his Angels take notice of every tear of our Devotion The sudden wonder hath not dried her eyes nor charmed her tongue She freely confesseth the cause of her grief to be the missing of her Saviour They have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him Alas good Mary how dost thou lose thy tears of whom dost thou complain but of thy best friend who hath removed thy Lord but himself who but his own Deity hath taken away that humane body out of that region of death Neither is he now laid any more he stands by thee whose removall thou complainest of Thus many a tender and humbled Soul afflicts it self with the want of that Saviour whom it hath and feeleth not Sense may be no judge of the bewailed absence of Christ Do but turn back thine eye O thou Religious Soul and see Jesus standing by thee though thou knewest not that it was Jesus His habit was not his own Sometimes it pleases our Saviour to appear unto his not like himself his holy disguises are our trialls Sometimes he will seem a Stranger sometimes an Enemy sometimes he offers himself to us in the shape of a poor man sometimes of a distressed captive Happy is he that can discern his Saviour in all forms Mary took him for a Gardener Devout Magdalene thou art not much mistaken As it was the trade of the First Adam to dress the Garden of Eden so was it the trade of the Second to tend the Garden of his Church He digs up the soil by seasonable afflictions he sows in it the seeds of Grace he plants it with gracious motions he waters it with his Word yea with his own Bloud he weeds it by wholsome censures O Blessed Saviour what is it that thou neglectest to doe for this selected inclosure of thy Church As in some respect thou art the true Vine and thy Father the Husbandman so also in some other we are the Vine and thou art the Husbandman Oh be thou such to me as thou appearedst unto Magdalene break up the fallows of my Nature
have seen Oft-times those which are nearest in place are farthest off in affection Large objects when they are too close to the eye do so over-fill the sense that they are not discerned What a shame is this to Bethlehem the Sages came out of the East to worship him whom that village refused The Bethlehemites were Jews the Wise men Gentiles This first entertainment of Christ was a presage of the sequell The Gentiles shall come from far to adore Christ whilst the Jews reject him Those Easterlings were great searchers of the depths of nature professed Philosophers them hath God singled out to the honour of the manifestation of Christ Humane Learning well improved makes us capable of Divine There is no Knowledge whereof God is not the Authour he would never have bestowed any gift that should lead us away from himself It is an ignorant conceit that inquiry into Nature should make men Atheous No man is so apt to see the Star of Christ as a diligent disciple of Philosophy Doubtlesse this light was visible unto more onely they followed it who knew it had more then nature He is truly wise that is wise for his own Soul If these Wise men had been acquainted with all the other stars of heaven and had not seen the Star of Christ they had had but light enough to lead them into utter darknesse Philosophie without this Star is but the wisp of errour These Sages were in a mean between the Angels and the Shepherds God would in all the ranks of intelligent Creatures have some to be witnesses of his Son The Angels direct the Shepherds the Star guides the Sages the duller capacitie hath the more clear and powerfull helps The wisedome of our good God proportions the means unto the disposition of the persons Their Astronomy had taught them this Star was not ordinary whether in sight or in brightnesse or in motion The eyes of Nature might well see that some strange news was portended to the world by it but that this Star designed the Birth of the Messias there needed yet another light If the Star had not besides had the commentary of a revelation from God it could have led the Wise men onely into a fruitlesse wonder Give them to be the offspring of Balaam yet the true Prediction of that false Prophet was not enough warrant If he told them the Messias should arise as a Star out of Jacob he did not tell them that a Star should arise far from the posterity of Jacob at the birth of the Messias He that did put that Prophecy into the mouth of Balaam did also put this Illumination into the heart of the Sages The Spirit of God is free to breathe where he listeth Many shall come from the East and the West to seek Christ when the Children of the Kingdom shall be shut out Even then God did not so confine his election to the pale of the Church as that he did not sometimes look out for special instruments of his glory Whither do these Sages come but to Jerusalem where should they hope to hear of the new King but in the Mother-city of the Kingdome The conduct of the Star was first onely generall to Judaea the rest is for a time left to inquiry They were not brought thither for their own sakes but for Jewrie's for the world's that they might help to make the Jews inexcusable and the world faithfull That their tongues therefore might blazon the birth of Christ they are brought to the Head-citie of Judaea to report and inquire Their wisedome could not teach them to imagine that a King could be born to Judaea of that note and magnificence that a Star from Heaven should publish him to the earth and that his subjects should not know it and therefore as presupposing a common notice they say Where is he that is born King of the Jews There is much deceit in probabilities especially when we meddle with spirituall matters For God uses still to go a way by himself If we judge according to reason and appearance who is so likely to understand heavenly Truths as the profound Doctours of the world These God passes over and reveals his will to babes Had these Sages met with the Shepherds of the villages near Bethlehem they had received that intelligence of Christ which they did vainly seek from the learned Scribes of Jerusalem The greatest Clerks are not alwaies the wisest in the affairs of God these things goe not by discourse but by revelation No sooner hath the Star brought them within the noise of Jerusalem then it is vanished out of sight God would have their eyes lead them so far as till their tongues might be set on work to win the vocal attestation of the chief Priests and Scribes to the fore-appointed place of our Saviour's Nativity If the Star had carried them directly to Bethlehem the learned Jews had never searched the truth of those Prophecies wherewith they are since justly convinced God never withdraws our helps but for a farther advantage However our hopes seem crossed where his Name may gain we cannot complain of loss Little did the Sages think this Question would have troubled Herod they had I fear concealed their message if they had suspected this event Sure they thought it might be some Son or Grandchild of him which then held the Throne so as this might win favour from Herod rather then an unwelcome fear of rivality Doubtless they went first to the Court where else should they ask for a King The more pleasing this news had been if it had faln upon Herod's own loins the more grievous it was to light upon a Stranger If Herod had not over-much affected Greatness he had not upon those indirect terms aspired to the Crown of Jewry so much the more therefore did it trouble him to hear the rumour of a Successour and that not of his own Settled Greatness cannot abide either change or partnership If any of his Subjects had moved this question I fear his head had answered it It is well that the name of forreiners could excuse these Sages Herod could not be brought up among the Jews and not have heard many and confident reports of a Messias that should ere long arise out of Israel and now when he hears the fame of a King born whom a Star from Heaven signifies and attends he is nettled with the news Every thing affrights the guilty Usurpation is full of jealousies and fear no less full of projects and imaginations it makes us think every bush a man and every man a thief Why art thou troubled O Herod A King is born but such a King as whose Scepter may ever concur with lawfull Sovereignty yea such a King as by whom Kings do hold their Scepters not lose them If the Wise men tell thee of a King the Star tells thee he his Heavenly Here is good cause of security none of fear The most general enmities and oppositions to good arise
performance meets him one half of the way and he that believed somewhat ere he came and more when he went grew to more Faith in the way and when he came home inlarged his Faith to all the skirts of his Family A weak Faith may be true but a true Faith is growing He that boasts of a full stature in the first moment of his assent may presume but doth not believe Great men cannot want clients their example sways some their authority more they cannot go to either of the other worlds alone In vain do they pretend power over others who labour not to draw their families unto God XV. The Dumb Devil ejected THat the Prince of our Peace might approve his victories perfect wheresoever he met with the Prince of darkness he foiled him he ejected him He found him in Heaven thence did he throw him headlong and verified his Prophet I have cast thee out of mine holy mountain And if the Devils left their first habitation it was because being Devils they could not keep it Their estate indeed they might have kept and did not their habitation they would have kept and might not How art thou faln from heaven O Lucifer He found him in the Heart of man for in that closet of God did the evill Spirit after his exile from Heaven shrowd himself Sin gave him possession which he kept with a willing violence thence he casts him by his Word and Spirit He found him tyrannizing in the Bodies of some possessed men and with power commands the unclean Spirits to depart This act is for no hand but his When a strong man keeps possession none but a stronger can remove it In voluntary things the strongest may yield to the weakest Sampson to a Dalilah but in violent ever the mightiest carries it A spirituall nature must needs be in rank above a bodily neither can any power be above a Spirit but the God of Spirits No otherwise is it in the mentall possession Where ever Sin is there Satan is As on the contrary whosoever is born of God the seed of God remains in him That Evill one not onely is but rules in the sons of disobedience in vain shall we try to eject him but by the Divine power of the Redeemer For this cause the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devill Do we find our selves haunted with the familiar Devills of Pride Self-love Sensuall desires Unbelief None but thou O Son of the ever-living God can free our bosoms of these hellish guests O cleanse thou me from my secret sins and keep me that presumptuous sins prevail not over me O Saviour it is no Paradox to say that thou castest out more Devils now then thou didst whilst thou wert upon earth It was thy word When I am lifted up I will draw all men unto me Satan weighs down at the feet thou pullest at the head yea at the heart In every conversion which thou workest there is a dispossession Convert me O Lord and I shall be converted I know thy means are now no other then ordinary If we expect to be dispossessed by miracle it would be a miracle if ever we were dispossessed O let thy Gospell have the perfect work in me so onely shall I be delivered from the powers of darkness Nothing can be said to be dumb but what naturally speaks nothing can speak naturally but what hath the instruments of speech which because spirits want they can no otherwise speak vocally then as they take voices to themselves in taking bodies This Devill was not therefore dumb in his nature but in his effect The man was dumb by the operation of that Devill which possessed him and now the action is attributed to the spirit which was subjectively in the man It is not you that speak saith our Saviour but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you As it is in bodily diseases that they do not infect us alike some seize upon the humours others upon the spirits some assault the brain others the heart or lungs so in bodily and spirituall possessions in some the evill spirit takes away their senses in some their lims in some their inward faculties like as spiritually they affect to move us unto severall sins one to Lust another to Covetousness or Ambition another to Cruelty and their names have distinguished them according to these various effects This was a dumb Devill which yet had possessed not the tongue onely of this man but his ear nor that onely but as it seems his eyes too O subtle and tyrannous spirit that obstructs all ways to the Soul that keeps out all means of grace both from the door and windows of the Heart yea that stops up all passages whether of ingress or egress of ingress at the Eye or Ear of egress at the Mouth that there might be no capacity of redress What holy use is there of our Tongue but to praise our Maker to confess our sins to inform our brethren How rise is this dumb Devill every-where whilst he stops the mouths of Christians from these usefull and necessary duties For what end hath man those two privileges above his fellow-creatures Reason and Speech but that as by the one he may conceive of the great works of his Maker which the rest cannot so by the other he may express what he conceives to the honour of the Creatour both of them and himself And why are all other creatures said to praise God and bidden to praise him but because they doe it by the apprehension by the expression of man If the heavens declare the glory of God how doe they it but to the eyes and by the tongue of that man for whom they were made It is no small honour whereof the envious Spirit shall rob his Maker if he can close up the mouth of his onely rationall and vocall creature and turn the best of his workmanship into a dumb Idol that hath a mouth and speaks not Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise Praise is not more necessary then complaint praise of God then complaint of our selves whether to God or men The onely amends we can make to God when we have not had the grace to avoid sin is to confess the sin we have not avoided This is the sponge that wipes out all the blots and blurs of our lives If we confess our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness That cunning Man-slayer knows there is no way to purge the sick soul but upward by casting out the vicious humour wherewith it is clogged and therefore holds the lips close that the heart may not dis-burthen it self by so wholsome evacuation When I kept silence my bones consumed For day and night thy hand O Lord was heavy upon me my moisture is turned into the drought of summer O let me confess against my self my wickedness unto
acknowledges a virtue inherent in her It was his virtue that cured her yet he graciously casts this work upon her Faith Not that her Faith did it by way of merit by way of efficiency but by way of impetration So much did our Saviour regard that Faith which he had wrought in her that he will honour it with the success of her Cure Such and the same is still the remedy of our spiritual diseases our sins By faith we are justified by faith we are saved Thou onely O Saviour canst heal us thou wilt not heal us but by our Faith not as it issues from us but as it appropriates thee The sickness is ours the remedy is ours the sickness is our own by nature the remedy ours by thy grace both working and accepting it Our Faith is no less from thee then thy Cure is from our Faith O happy dismission Go in peace How unquiet had this poor Soul formerly been She had no outward peace with her Neighbours they shunned and abhorred her presence in this condition yea they must doe so She had no peace in Body that was pained and vexed with so long and foul a disease Much less had she peace in her Mind which was grievously disquieted with sorrow for her sickness with anger and discontentment at her torturing Physicians with fear of the continuance of so bad a guest Her Soul for the present had no peace from the sense of her guiltiness in the carriage of this business from the conceived displeasure of him to whom she came for comfort and redress At once now doth our Saviour calm all these storms and in one word and act restores to her peace with her Neighbours peace in her Self peace in Body in Mind in Soul Goe in peace Even so Lord it was for thee onely who art the Prince of Peace to bestow thy peace where thou pleasest Our body mind Soul estate is thine whether to afflict or ease It is a wonder if all of us do not ail somewhat In vain shall we speak peace to our selves in vain shall the world speak peace to us except thou say to us as thou didst to this distressed soul Goe in peace XXV Jairus and his Daughter HOW troublesome did the people's importunity seem to Jairus That great man came to sue unto Jesus for his dying Daughter the throng of the multitude intercepted him Every man is most sensible of his own necessity It is no straining courtesy in the challenge of our interest in Christ there is no unmannerliness in our strife for the greatest share in his presence and benediction That onely Child of this Ruler lay a dying when he came to solicit Christ's aid and was dead whilst he solicited it There was hope in her sickness in her extremity there was fear in her death despair and impossibility as they thought of help Thy daughter is dead trouble not the Master When we have to doe with a mere finite power this word were but just He was a Prophet no less then a King that said Whilst the child was yet alive I fasted and wept for I said Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live But now he is dead wherefore should I fast Can I bring him back again I shall goe to him but he shall not return to me But since thou hast to doe with an omnipotent agent know now O thou faithless messenger that death can be no bar to his power How well would it have become thee to have said Thy daughter is dead but who can tell whether thy God and Saviour will not be gracious to thee that the child may revive Cannot he in whose hands are the issues of death bring her back again Here were more Manners then Faith Trouble not the Master Infidelity is all for ease and thinks every good work tedious That which Nature accounts troublesome is pleasing and delightfull to Grace Is it any pain for an hungry man to eat O Saviour it was thy meat and drink to doe thy Father's will and his will was that thou shouldst bear our griefs and take away our sorrows It cannot be thy trouble which is our happiness that we may still sue to thee The messenger could not so whisper his ill news but Jesus heard it Jairus hears that he feared and was now heartless with so sad tidings He that resolved not to trouble the Master meant to take so much more trouble to himself and would now yield to a hopeless sorrow He whose work it is to comfort the afflicted rouzeth up the dejected heart of that pensive father Fear not believe onely and she shall be made whole The word was not more chearfull then difficult Fear not Who can be insensible of so great an evil Where death hath once seized who can but doubt he will keep his hold No less hard was it not to grieve for the loss of an onely Child then not to fear the continuance of the cause of that grief In a perfect Faith there is no Fear by how much more we fear by so much less we believe Well are these two then coupled Fear not believe onely O Saviour if thou didst not command us somewhat beyond Nature it were no thank to us to obey thee While the Child was alive to believe that it might recover it was no hard task but now that she was fully dead to believe she should live again was a work not easy for Jairus to apprehend though easy for thee to effect yet must that be believed else there is no capacity of so great a Mercy As Love so Faith is stronger then death making those bonds no other then as Sampson did his withes like threds of tow How much natural impossibility is there in the return of these Bodies from the dust of their Earth into which through many degrees of corruption they are at the last mouldred Fear not O my Soul believe onely it must it shall be done The sum of Jairus his first suit was for the Health not for the Resuscitation of his Daughter now that she was dead he would if he durst have been glad to have asked her Life And now behold our Saviour bids him expect both her Life and her Health Thy daughter shall be made whole alive from her death whole from her disease Thou didst not O Jairus thou daredst not ask so much as thou receivest How glad wouldst thou have been since this last news to have had thy Daughter alive though weak and sickly Now thou shalt receive her not living onely but sound and vigorous Thou dost not O Saviour measure thy gifts by our petitions but by our wants and thine own mercies This work might have been as easily done by an absent command the Power of Christ was there whilst himself was away but he will go personally to the place that he might be confessed the Authour of so great a Miracle O Saviour thou lovest to go to the house of
and decrepit age of the world into which we are fallen How many are there that think there is no wisedom but in a dull indifferency and chuse rather to freeze then burn How quick and apprehensive are men in cases of their own indignities how insensible of their Saviour's But there is nothing so ill as the corruption of the best Rectified zeal is not more commendable and usefull then inordinate and misguided is hatefull and dangerous Fire is a necessary and beneficial element but if it be once misplaced and have caught upon the beams of our houses or stacks of our corn nothing can be more direfull Thus sometimes Zeal turns Murther They that kill you shall think they doe God service sometimes Phrensie sometimes rude Indiscretion Wholsome and blessed is that Zeal that is well grounded and well governed grounded upon the word of Truth not upon unstable fancies governed by Wisedom and Charity Wisedom to avoid rashness and excess Charity to avoid just offence No motion can want a pretence Elias did so why not we He was an holy Prophet the occasion the place abludes not much there wrong was offered to a servant here to his Master there to a man here to a God and man If Elias then did it why not we There is nothing more perillous then to draw all the actions of Holy men into examples For as the best men have their weaknesses so they are not privileged from letting fall unjustifiable actions Besides that they may have had perhaps peculiar warrants signed from Heaven whether by instinct or special command which we shall expect in vain There must be much caution used in our imitation of the best patterns whether in respect of the persons or things else we shall make our selves Apes and our acts sinfull absurdities It is a rare thing for our Saviour to find fault with the errours of zeal even where have appeared sensible weaknesses If Moses in a sacred rage and indignation brake the Tables written with God's own hand I find him not checked Here our meek Saviour turns back and frowns upon his furious suitours and takes them up roundly Ye know not of what spirit ye are The faults of uncharitableness cannot be swallowed up in zeal If there were any colour to hide the blemishes of this misdisposition it should be this crimson die But he that needs not our Lie will let us know he needs not our Injury and hates to have a good cause supported by the violation of our Charity We have no reason to disclaim our Passions Even the Son of God chides sometimes yea where he loves It offends not that our Affections are moved but that they are inordinate It was a sharp word Ye know not of what spirit ye are Another man would not perhaps have felt it a Disciple doth Tender hearts are galled with that which the carnal mind slighteth The spirit of Elias was that which they meant to assume and imitate they shall now know their mark was mistaken How would they have hated to think that any other but God's Spirit had stirred them up to this passionate motion now they shall know it was wrought by that ill spirit whom they professed to hate It is far from the good Spirit of God to stir up any man to private revenge or thirst of bloud Not an Eagle but a Dove was the shape wherein he chose to appear Neither wouldst thou O God be in the whirlwind or in the fire but in the soft voice O Saviour what do we seek for any precedent but thine whose name we challenge Thou camest to thine own thine own received thee not Didst thou call for fire from Heaven upon them didst thou not rather send down water from thy compassionate eyes and weep for them by whom thou must bleed Better had it been for us never to have had any spirit then any but thine We can be no other then wicked if our mercies be cruelty But is it the name of Elias O ye Zelots which ye pretend for a colour of your impotent desire Ye do not consider the difference betwixt his Spirit and yours His was extraordinary and heroical besides the instinct or secret command of God for this act of his far otherwise is it with you who by a carnal distemper are moved to this furious suggestion Those that would imitate God's Saints in singular actions must see they go upon the same grounds Without the same Spirit and the same warrant it is either a mockery or a sin to make them our Copies Elias is no fit pattern for Disciples but their Master The Son of man came not to destroy mens lives but to save them Then are our actions and intentions warrantable and praise-worthy when they accord with his O Saviour when we look into those sacred Acts and monuments of thine we find many a life which thou preservedst from perishing some that had perished by thee recalled never any by thee destroyed Onely one poor fig-tree as the reall Emblem of thy severity to the unfruitfull was blasted and withered by thy curse But to man how ever favourable and indulgent wert thou So repelled as thou wert so reviled so persecuted laid for sold betrayed apprehended arraigned condemned crucified yet what one man didst thou strike dead for these hainous indignities Yea when one of thine enemies lost but an ear in that ill quarrel thou gavest that ear to him who came to take life from thee I find some whom thou didst scourge and correct as the sacrilegious money-changers none whom thou killedst Not that thou either lovest not or requirest not the duly severe execution of justice Whose sword is it that Princes bear but thine Offenders must smart and bleed This is a just sequel but not the intention of thy coming thy will not thy drift Good Princes make wholsome Laws for the well-ordering of their people there is no authority without due coercion The violation of these good Laws is followed with death whose end was preservation life order and this not so much for revenge of an offence past as for prevention of future mischief How can we then enough love and praise thy mercy O thou preserver of men How should we imitate thy saving and beneficent disposition towards mankind as knowing the more we can help to save the nearer we come to thee that camest to save all and the more destructive we are the more we resemble him who is Abaddon a murtherer from the beginning XXVII The Ten Lepers THE Samaritans were tainted not with Schism but Heresie but Paganism our Saviour yet balks them not but makes use of the way as it lies and bestows upon them the courtesie of some Miracles Some kind of commerce is lawfull even with those without Terms of intireness and leagues of inward amity are here unfit unwarrantable dangerous but civil respects and wise uses of them for our convenience or necessity need not must not be forborn Ten Lepers are here met those that