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
hour the heart of man is cast down and presageth some evil to come when God and his Angels appear though they entreat us peaceably The main reason is this Ne dignam suis meritis accipiant retributionem our own sins rise up against us as unanswerable accusers and we ominate and conjecture that God appears for nothing but to judge and condemn us When God and his Angels presented themselves to Jacob in a dream he breaks out into these words Gen. 28.27 How dreadful is this place this is no other but the gate of heaven Peace Jacob why doest thou not cry out how comfortable is this place this is no other but the gate of Heaven but it 's certain that the very comfort of heaven was dreadful and unpleasant to men in the Old Testament and our nature is still corrupted the vessel is still unclean that receives these blessings and therefore we are afraid of the great mercies of the Lord as well as of the great punishments Alas O Lord for I have seen an Angel of the Lord face to face says Gideon and yet for all that fear Gideon is named a mighty man of valour Manoah the sire of that race from which Sampson came the very name of valour yet he said to his Wife We shall surely dye because we have seen the Lord. The charitable widow of Sarepta was no less afraid of Elias an extraordinary Prophet Art thou come to slay my son and to call my sins to remembrance finally Peter drawing a miraculous draught of fish into the Ship as Christ bad him cast out the net thought of nothing but his own sins and Gods vengeance Depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man But here 's a messenger in my Text that bids the Shepherds cashiere all these affrightments neither to be dismay'd at the light that shin'd about them nor yet that God was in the glory of that light First Not to be troubled at the light for it was to make this doctrine manifest as if it had been written with a beam of the Sun that Christ is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world And why says Bernard did God ordain that light should be instead of John the Baptist to usher Christ into the world when he was born but because he would illuminate him without Qui interioribus ignorantiae tenebris obducitur who was overcast with darkness within In him was life and that life was the light of men John 1.4 Quae necdum infundi poterat at divina saltem circumfunditur claritas as the light was but spread about their bodies here so it was a sign that if they would believe in him that was come to be the Messias and to save them from their sins their whole bodies should be transform'd into bodies of light hereafter in the Kingdom of Heaven And as every living thing rejoyceth when the night is past and the Sun appears upon the earth so they and we have cause to rejoyce that the night of Ceremonies pass'd away and the clear evidence of truth did shine abroad Vnto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise Mal. 4.2 Therefore according to Bernards elegancy this is the Angels fear not drawn out at large timetis phantasma en adest veritas You are afraid of some spectrum or vision fear not behold we come with the evidence of truth You suspect this is the lightning that goes before a thunder-clap No no it betokens there is a light risen into the world which is the comfortable light of men You suspect death but I annuntiate life You fear the gates of Hell but the Heavens are opened and God is come down among you You conjecture some perdition but behold I preach a Saviour that shall save you from your sins This is the meaning of the light which did dance at Midnight about the air when Jesus was born and the Angel said to them that trembled at the Vision fear it not But what if God himself were in that light What if it were a fiery Apparition darted from the presence of his Majesty Why yet Nolite timere Fear it not Once it pleased our heavenly Father to keep a distance with man upon these terms no man hath seen God at any time and lived Now the day is come when you shall see he communicates himself more friendly to dust and ashes so St. John begins his Epistle That which was from the beginning yet we have seen it with our eyes we have looked upon it and our hands have handled the Word of life It is not from henceforth since Christ was born as it was with the Bethshemites that lookt into the Ark which represented the glory of God and died for it Now no man hath so much cause to fear his indignation as he that shuns his presence and fears lest the Lord should appear before him How did St. Stephen exult when he saw the heavens opened and Christ Jesus standing at the right hand of God Do you think the Martyr was amazed to see the sight No my Beloved ever since the Son of God vouchsafed to take flesh in the womb of Mary it is not a sign of death to see any part of Gods glory but a good ominous presage of everlasting life Therefore be it that God was in the light which shin'd about the Shepherds yet all is well says the Angel Nolite timere Fear it not Secondly They must take courage and not be troubled à propriâ indignitate because of their own unworthiness Indeed what might they think within themselves that they were vouchsafed to hear the first Proclamation of this Blessed Nativity To us these Congratulations To us poor Swains this heavenly Embassage To us miserable Shepherds these Tidings who are set with the Dogs of the Flock Tell them to Caesar or to Herod his Lieutenant or to the chief Priest Non nobis Domine non nobis We are most desertless Wretches and why should God bestow such a royal favour upon us Do you remember Beloved how Peter drew our Saviour near unto him by crying out Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord Luk. v. 8. The more he requested him to be gone the more Christ did abide with Peter so by how much the Shepherds did abase themselves before the Angel the more did the Angel raise them up and bade them be encouraged to behold the Glory of God He that did choose little Infants to be his first Martyrs and ignorant Fishermen to be his first Apostles and Mary Magdalen a woman and a sinner to be the first Witness of his Resurrection it may appear that his grace is manifestly toward them who have a quick feeling of their own indignity The blessed Virgin when she had conceived her Son came to her Cosin Elizabeth that God might prove her lowliness and thus she exprest it Whence is this to me that the Mother of my Lord should come unto me
do all that God bids Give me a contented heart ready to endure all that God imposeth and then as thou shalt be an heir with Christ in the inheritance of heaven so thou shalt share with him in his sweetest title upon earth Thou art my beloved Son c. The last part of the Testimony comes now to my hand to be be dispatch'd that Christ is Filius complacentiae in whom and through whom the Father is well pleased O delicious words fit to be uttered by a voice from heaven and at the appearance of the Holy Gbost Partem aliquam venti Divum referatis ad aures We have delighted our hearts in the former Treatises to consider that from Servants we are become Sons from a People justly hated we are become beloved but to whom do we owe all this Surely as Mary and Martha said to Christ If thou hadst been here my brother Lazarus had not died So may we turn it and say if thou hadst not been here we had all died in our sins Therefore the voice points upon him that we may take notice how he is worth the knowing Hic est quem quaerimus hic est This is he that hath turned anger into reconciliation and enmity into peace As who should say I was once pleased at the making of the first Adam and I said all was very good for he was endued with original righteousness that he might have done all things well How much better am I pleased with the second Adam who hath done all things well and though it repented me afterward that I made man my Son yet now I am pleased with all that repent for my Sons sake Therefore thou art he for whose sake I will give heaven to them who have deserved the nethermost Hell thou art he by whom I have ordained to execute my pleasure to save the world To whom therefore do we owe our Salvation Or what moved our Father which is in heaven to elect us to the fruition of his glory If you will have an answer both clear according to Scripture and befitting our own humility it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good pleasure of the Father whose will is the true and only cause that can be given for the happiness of all things that shall enjoy him who hath predestinated us to himself unto the adoption of Sons by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will Eph. i. 6. To ascribe our Election to any thing discerned in our selves as I apprehend it shakes the foundation of the Gospel which in every passage makes Salvation the free gift of God by grace in Christ But Christ is both the exemplary the final and the meritorious cause of our Salvation The exemplary for whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son Rom. viii 23. From whence Aquinas fetcheth it that Christ is the true Pattern by which we are predestinated respecting the manner by which we obtain that infinite good which is by mere grace For as the humane nature was united to the Godhead by no precedent merits so by his mere good pleasure without any thing precedent in us to attract him we shall be united to his glory 2. He is the final cause of our Election for to what end are we beloved To what end pluckt out of the jaws of Hell like a brand out of the fire But that he might be glorified among his Brethren God ordained his Son to be head of the Church and then he gave unto him a portion to be members of his body Wherefore the Church most aptly is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fulness of him that filleth all in all Eph. i. ult As if Christ had not esteemed his own glory to be full and perfect without us But 3. He must also be acknowledged the meritorious cause of our Salvation For God so loved the good of his Creature that he did not forget to see his own justice satisfied by the obedience and death of Christ which satisfaction the Father lookt upon as the meritorious cause that we should be ordained to adoption of Sons God lookt upon the ransom of this Sacrifice when he did predestinate us to Salvation which surely is the sense of this voice This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Therefore this clause of my Text was St. Pauls warrant for so much as he wrote to the Colossians Chap. i. 20. It pleased the Father to reconcile all things unto himself by him by him I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven The self-same three things which are considerable in my Text and not yet opened are here likewise in their proper notions 1. That peculiarly above other Persons of Trinity the Father is said to be pleased with us and the Father reconciled 2. That it is assigned to the Office of the Son by it self to please and reconcile 3. That the Father is pleased in all things both in heaven and earth by the reconciliation of the Son cursorily of each For the first still the Scripture speaks that the Sacrifice placatory was offered up to the Father that he might draw us to himself who were aliens and castaways When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. v. 10. Believe it that every sin is committed against the whole divine Majesty and as every person in Trinity was dishonoured in the offence so we have need of pacification with all in the reconcilement But that the Scripture makes us rather take notice how the Father is reconciled unto us there are two reasons One that the Father is the Fountain of all Divinity the first person in order against whom we sin yet we sin against all So the first Person in order that is reconciled unto us yet we are reconciled to all 2. Though every work belonging to the Church be the conjunct act of the Trinity yet there are proper Offices belonging to several Persons to make our conceit more methodical So we know it by the phrase of Scripture that it is proper to the Father to receive us into grace proper to the Son to pay the price of our redemption and proper to the Holy Ghost to seal it to our hearts and to beget assurance in us It follows secondly that it belongs to the Office of the Son to make us pleasing and to reconcile us to God There is no other name under heaven but his in which Salvation can be hoped for Acts iv 12. for should the Angels or should men be appointed to such an Office to knit us into amity again with God and to reduce us to that eternal concord who were become open enemies It could not be For Angels and men owe as much obedience for their own part as they could perform Neither ought it to be for it was not fit that man should owe his Redemption to any other than to whom he owed his Creation
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
all intermeddle with the disposition of earthly Kingdoms either to restrain or depose Princes though tyrannical or heretical or blasphemous Their conversion is to be zealously prai'd for in the mean time their yoke is to be born with patience and we must kiss the scourge of God The Sorbon Divines of Paris do generally carry this badge and the Protestant Churches unanimously speak this Language The second Tenent is that the Temporal Soveraignty of the whole world is inherent in the Office of Christs Vicar as they call him to give change alter or confirm the Titles of particular Princes as his infallible judgment shall lead him Let every brain that is not distempered judge what a Doctrine this is Non sani esse hominis non sanus juret Orestes The third Tenent which Cardinal Bellarmine and the Jesuitical Pack maintain is a modification of the former The Pope hath no temporal Soveraignty at all annexed by vertue of the Papacy but Indirectè in ordine ad spiritualia indirectly and to remove the impediments of the common good especially of the Church he might send to the people by his Briefs that they owe no subjection to a wicked King that he could take off their Oath of Fealty and free them from Perjury that he hath power to excommunicate such Princes and translate their Kingdoms from them to such as he shall adjudge to be more Catholick Whether he will arm the Son against Father the Brother against the Brother a Rebel against his true King all these have been done why it lies In scrinio pectoris he may collate the Dominions of such Princes on whom it liketh him Pray you how much doth this opinion differ from the second You may easily find it is but white money turned into Gold and comes all to one payment For the Bishop of Rome is made the Judge himself when a Kingdom wants a fit Governour for the good of the Church for the wholsom administration of Justice since therefore all Regal Authority hangs upon Papal discretion it comes all to one pass with that most impudent second opinion which says the Power and glory of the Kingdoms in the world are absolutely in his donation It is no toying in so main a cause as this which concerns the Crowns and Scepters of all Sacred Princes therefore I will demonstrate that I plead against them according to the charge of their own Bill Thus Baronius to begin with him who speaks his mind in these words for his holy Father whom our Lord Jesus Christ the King of glory hath constituted a Prince over all the Kingdoms of the world Augustinus Triumphus All Power and Royalty is subdelegated from the Pope to other Princes No man can give him any Soveraignty which he had not by right before Nec Constantinus dedit quicquam Sylvestro quod non prius erat suum says he The Canonists talk of Constantines donation to Sylvester giving him the temporal Principality of Romania he gave him nothing but that which was his own before that and all beside was St. Peters Patrimony And some of them stake Scripture to prove it but most untowardly as that all power is from God therefore all power Regal and Imperial from Christs Vicar Yet more sinistrously from those words If I be lifted up I will draw all men after me that is if I had an Army strong enough I would recover all the Seigniories of the earth into mine own hand Practice is a plainer Argument than Book-words I will satisfie you then in that Alexander the Sixth a giver that will do but small credit to the gift but such as he is take him with all his faults he bestowed the whole West-Indies upon Ferdinand King of Spain Ex merâ liberalitate motu proprio as the Patent ran Their own Histories say that Athabaliba King of Peru maintained his Royalty by fighting against that Grant till he was taken Prisoner in Battel and then cried out that Pope could have no vertue or reverence to the God of heaven that gave away another mans Dominions from him but I will bring the case home That Bull which Pius the Fifth signed with his own Seal wherein he excommunicated the most blessed Queen Elizabeth hath this Line in it touching his own authority to use that incomparable Lady so unchristianly Hunc unum super omnes gentes omnia regna principem constituit God had constituted him over all Nations and over all Kingdoms O what vaulting spirits are these which run in the Veins of wretched man This forgetful Prelate grant him his own asking from whence his original came and it is from a most humble Apostle whose actions being all of them recorded not any one do lean toward Soveraignty or Principality Yet his Successor in challenge exalted above all that is called God will be a parallel Line and side with him in my Text who makes nothing to dispose of all the Regal Dignities in the world All this power will I give thee c. Let this be enough which I have said to have been discoursed upon the immensity of that honour which Satan challenged to be in his Jurisdiction I proceed to shew upon whose shoulders he would be content to lay it upon our Lord and Saviour Tibi universam hanc potestatem As for the thing it self he wisht that Christ had it in good earnest I make no doubt of it namely that his fortune had been to be an earthly King to be a Caesar Caesarum the Conquerour of all the Dominions in the world rather than such a one he suspected him for that Messias that came to redeem his People and to invite the Nations far and wide over all the earth to the fear of the Lord. Let him be all in all in a temporal Kingdom rather than Saviour that came to erect the spiritual Kingdom of faith to the subversion of the powers of darkness Conceive now unto your selves as if he had spoken more largely on this wise to Christ I find you hungry and forlorn in this Wilderness neither train to attend you nor food to cherish you Alas that such a one as you should be thus negglected 't is pity you are not honoured enough according to the great gifts of sanctity that are in you Why you are worthy to be Lord of the whole world if promotions went by desert And will you live in Famine and Scorn and Humility and at last be crowned with thorns and crucified Nay follow my directions and you shall be crowned with Gold and sway the whole Universe with a Scepter All this power will I give thee and the glory of them It came to pass with our Saviour after this Proposition as it befell chaste Joseph in the house of Potiphar He would not be incontinent yet upon defamation of incontinency he was clapt up in Irons So Christ would no such Kingdom as Satan offered yet upon suspicion that he went about to make himself a King his
quâ tanta sit fides ut speret omnia tanta devotio ut Deum videatur cogere let it be strong in faith to hope all things strong in patience to persist at all times and I know not what it is not able to effect to cast mountains into the sea says Christ to be transfigured says my Text into the glory of God to bring Peter out of Prison when Herod had locked him up within a brazen Gate yet then at the dead hour of the night did the Angel bring him forth and at the same time of midnight Peter found the Church at prayer for his deliverance Acts xii 5. Well I pray you remember that when our Saviour went up into the Mountain as well to be transfigured as to pray yet the Text names this only that he went up into the mountain to pray that name stands in chief and drowns the mention of the other business as if Prayer were a greater work than that resplendent Transfiguration And what needed he to pray but to bring us upon our knees humbly and frequently before his Father and our Father As Solomons Temple had three especial Ornaments the Golden Candlestick the Table of Shewbread and the Altar of Incense so three things of principal use do correspond to these in the Church of Christ the Word Preached which doth enlighten our darkness is the Golden Candlestick which is dearer says David than much fine gold Instead of the Table of Shew-bread we have the Communion of Christs Body and Blood the Table of the Lord. And instead of the Altar of Incense we have that which is much sweeter in Gods nostrils the Incense of Prayer Now abide these three to direct us in a good way says Bernard Verbum Exemplum Oratio the Word Preached the Edifying Examples of Holy men and Zealous Prayer but the greatest of these is Prayer Ea namque operi voci gratiam efficaciam promeretur for whether they be the actions of a pious life or the words of an eloquent tongue it is Prayer which accompasseth from Gods mercy that all should be effectual I have amplified this the more because some Ignaroes out of a preposterous zeal shuffle off this Christian duty with a most wicked and a regardless negligence if any man be transfigured from such a corrupt opinion by that which I have deliver'd it is that which I aimed at and which I desire of God yea it is that which our Saviour intended when he would be occupied in Prayer at that time and in nothing else when he was transfigured in glory Now in the fourth and last general Observation upon the Text as our Lord prepared himself with much humility in Prayer so in the consequent he was exalted in much honor the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistering Beloved we are all like the Children of Israel standing below the Hill and dare not go up to pry in to the mystery of the inscrutable glory Let it suffice us to enquire into three things that follow which we may safely do since all Scripture is written for our instruction They are these 1. The Final Cause why Christ was transfigured 2. The Efficient Cause from whence this splendour was derived And 3. The Effect it self alteration in his countenance whiteness and glistering in his raiment In these three I will be brief without offensive curiosity to make us not only search but find out the cause why He would be transfigured I have regard to this rule of Damascens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every thing that Christ did in his conversation upon earth it is to be referr'd to the good of man First then I render this reason that the Redeemer of Souls lived in great humility upon earth nay like an abject worm to attract the love of the Church now he chang'd himself into this admired excellency to encrease their faith St. Peter pronounced a Confession of faith for all the Apostles Matth. xvi which their Master did exceedingly commend Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Yet they who did see the Majesty of God to be in him and did adore it were as yet ignorant of what glorification his body was capable which was the Veil of the Godhead He had suspended all outward appearance of Divine lustre that it should not shew it self in him To this meaning you cannot well choose but refer that of the Prophet Isaias chap liii 2. He hath no form nor comliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him that is he was pleased for a season not to look like one whose body had an illustrious influence from the soul and from the union with the Godhead he did suppress it till he was pleased to make it known Psal xciii The Lord is King he hath put on glorious apparel and in another place Thou art cloathed with Majesty and honour Indeed to have a brightness in his body as great or greater than the light of the Sun was as natural to that humane nature which is united to the Godhead as it is for the Sun to shine in the Firmament The Disciples marvailed that his face should glister this one time so that no Fuller on earth could make a thing so white whereas the greater marvel is that it was not so at all times Majus miraculum fuit hujus gloriae influxum reprimere quà m eam perpetuò retinere It was a greater miracle to restrain the apparition of this glory at any time than to have it alwayes dwel upon his face for blessed souls which enjoy God always have a virtue of claritude in them which redounds of it own accord into the body Therefore well might the Psalmist say of Christ whose soul was always blessed Thou art fairer than the children of men And though at other times his brightness was discoloured by humility yet now he removed the cloud and let his Witnesses see the fair beams of his Divine honor for a little time which is the first motive of his Transfiguration Secondly by this Apparition the three Disciples saw in what form he would come to judgment It is no dreadful thing to a good man either to see or to meditate with himself in what manner Christ will come in the Clouds at the last day to call the Quick and the Dead before him The Wicked that know they have crucified him again and trampled the blood of the Covenant under their feet will run into the dust for fear of his glorious presence and call for the Hills to cover them and the Mountains to fall upon them as for the Righteous that then shall be found upon earth in whose hearts he hath sealed the promise of his Holy Spirit they shall tremble with an awful reverence but when they have gain'd their memory to recall that he cometh with his reward in his hand they will praise that pomp of Judgment and say now our labour
is at an end we shall reign for evermore And because Christ did appear in Mount Tabor no otherwise than as he means to come to Judgment therefore he did qualify the light of his face to be no greater than the light of the Sun his body which is strange to consider shall have more resplendency than that mighty Lamp of Heaven but it is not for the Wicked to behold them they shall see him shine upon his Throne but with as little comfort as sore eyes gaze upon the Sun or with as little joy as we see flashes of lightning in a terrible thunder non dat lucem videntibus sed pavorem which is not sent to illuminate us in darkness but to agast us with the apparition Of this more at large hereafter But this is the second motive of this Miracle he transformed himself into that Majesty wherein He will judge the World Thirdly He did represent himself as the Argument and Idaea of that beautiful Reward which the bodies of the Just shall have in the General Resurrection The Pharisees required a Sign and Christ told them they should have no sign but the sign of the Prophet Jonas that a body being swallowed up in death should come to life again but these few Disciples over and above the Sign of the Prophet Jonas had the Sign of Transfiguration which is the dainty and delicate part of the Resurrection Say no more but that God will be the Redeemer of his Elect yet it would amuse a man to think what should become of this vile body every member whereof hath been a thousand times an instrument of iniquity well even this very naughty flesh shall have a beam of Divine mercy shine upon it it is impossible to make it ought in this life but a sink of corruption no Fuller upon earth can make it so white as God can In these days the Soul is full of bad concupiscence and the Body is made miserable Hereafter the Soul will be full of grace and the Body shall be made delectable And mark it that the Disciples had their item not to talk of these things till Christ were risen from the dead because the Transfiguration was intended to make up the complement of our joy touching the resurrection of the Body And to sink it deeper in our hearts that this brightsom alteration did not concern the Spirit but the Body his raiment was white and glistering which is no more than the shrowd of the Body In a word God did never reveal that He could take away the essential properties of a true Body and yet keep it a true Body they that believe so much believe beside the Book but in this Miracle appeared that God can add a celestial and beauteous form unto a Body so that the Sun in all his brightness shall not come near it This is the seed of that faith which St. Paul preacheth It is sown in dishonour it is raised in honour Praise the Lord therefore in Body and Soul since both shall be invested with a Royal Dignity to make them both fit for the society of Angels But herein we exceed the happiness of Angels they are glorious Spirits we shall be glorified both in body and spirit So the Prophet Isa lxi 7. They shall possess the double in their land everlasting joy shall be with them Duplicia possidebunt their Soul filled with the vision of God their Body transfigured in glory Fourthly this wants not a granes weight of a principal cause the Son of God in the dayes of his exinanition lookt like a person for this once of divine authority ut crucis scandalum tolleret that their minds might not be cast down with despair to see the misery of his Cross who had seen his glory upon Mount Tabor Now he lookt more Angelical than a Cherubin then he lookt more ruthful than the poorest Lazarus now the greatest in heaven did speak graciously unto him then the scum of the earth reviled him he than was glorified at one time could not be compelled to shame and ignominy but from his own patience and yielding would be crucified at another Sicut luctatores corpus inclinant sayes a Father Christ wrestled with Satan and though that old supplanter the Serpent did bruise his heel yet he could not get the Mastery Christ stooped low like a Lion couching for his prey and when he might seem to be cast down this was his feat to overturn his adversary Fifthly The fifth and last Reason hath a Moral Use There is an old man with his corruptions to be metamorphosed in us all sicut Pelias recoctus as the Fable goes that Medaea bathed the body of Pelias with certain magical drugs and from a decrepit old man transmuted him into a vigorous youth This is a figment for no man spent his young years so well to deserve at Gods hands in this world to be young again but there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a renovation in the spirit of our mind God will not know us in our own form and filthiness unless we put on the Image of Christ As Jacob obtained his Fathers blessing not in his own shape but in the Garments of Esau so we must sue our blessing having put on the righteousness of Christ then the Lord will receive his servant and say unto thee as Jacob did unto Esau I have seen thy face as though I had seen the face of God You have heard the final cause more wayes than one why this Miracle was wrought I may speak somewhat of the efficient cause how this splendor was derived and further than so I must not proceed now because of the time Many obscure points will come to light by asking this question Whether this lightsom beauty like the Sun did appear in our Saviour's face from the beatification of his humane Soul or from the union of his Divine nature First you must understand that the great School-man Aquinas took the best end of the cause into his hand when he answered to neither of those two members but rather to the purpose of the question in this wise fuit haec qualitas gloriae sed non corporis gloriosi quia nondum erat immortalis this Transfiguration was a quality of glory but not of a glorified body because He was not yet passed death and raised up to be immortal and impassible In this distinction is covertly included that it was not such a brightness as the Soul shall communicate to the Body when it is reunited in a joyful resurrection but was created at this time by the Divine power to foretel and shadow what would come to pass with much increase in the Kingdom of God Praelibatio regui Dei fuit haec transfiguration says Cajetan this was but the Landskip or Pattern of the true happiness which shall be in the Kingdom of Heaven It was a far more excellent splendour than that of Moses or Stephen upon earth but not so perfect or proper
of a King No Soothsayer no Palmester no judicial Astrologer is able to tell any man the event of his life what honours and promotions shall betide him But he unto whom all the wisdom of the world is foolishness Christ hath manifested not in word but in sign the true state of the blessed for ever they shall shine like the Stars in the Firmament or like the Sun it self at Noon day And because this may seem to be an Hyperbolical comparison I will raise you up higher in your thoughts though I shall seem to speak strangely that the Sun comes short of that enamouring fair light wherewith the bodies of the just shall be cloathed that are raised in incorruption My reason is strong enough for the Sun is not made to stand for ever in heaven but when the whole heavens shall be rouled away with a noise that mighty Planet shall melt away with heat therefore it cannot shine so beautifully and divinely as that body which shall be immortal and have no seeds of change or corruption in it Alas I am so far from aggravating any thing that if I had a thousand tongues and inventions I should speak faintly and depressively of that supernal Palace which is filled with light which no man now can approach you must conceive that which I cannot urge in speech All the light which is in this world is but like a Glow-worm to the day in respect of that Mirror of marvellous light in the heavenly Jerusalem where millions of millions of Saints shall be gathered together and every Saint shall shine more sweetly and Majestically than the whole Globe of the Sun what a ravishing object will this be What an unutterable concurrence of illumination especially when the sence of the eye shall be perfecter than the Eagles a thousand sold and no whit dazled to behold it O Lord what good things hast thou laid up for them that fear thee And thus you see what the Transfiguration in our Saviours countenance did portend Light of grace in this world Light of glory in the next And light of mercy and comfort in respect unto them both We know that God dispenseth all things much better than we can reach into the cause yet I will suffer an ignorant man to aske Why did not Christ appear at all times upon earth thus glorious with the Majesty of his Divine Nature shining in his face Then the Jews and the whole world would have received him and never doubted Would they are you sure And yet we are sure Peter denied him John and James forsook him albeit they had seen the glory of his Transfiguration But Beloved it was more fit to be darken and shadow over his excellency as he used to do otherwise the earth could not have told how to have conversed with him how to have entertained him how to have looked upon him if he had openly manifested himself to be the eternal Son of God as clearly as we know it now adays Besides it was not necessary for him to be always illustrious it was necessary for him to die and suffer therefore he came into the world like Codrus the Athenian into the Army with rags and poverty in vile estimation that the High Priests and Pharisees might proceed against him as against a wretched man and a Malefactor His ordinary fashion of life upon earth was shame and dishonour he took a turn for once and no more to have the fashion of his countenance altered in glory Non pristinam formam amisit sed qualitatem mutavit or as Cajetan this transformation was neither assuming a new substance nor turning his face into new Figures and Lineaments but brightning the outward superficies with a new lustre of glory And Tertullian argues it to be true when the Lord retired to a mount and did as it were cast a new robe of light all over both upon his face and garments Lineamenta Petro cognoscibilia servaverat Peter after he awoke out of sleep did still acknowledge him by his Lineaments there was the ancient feature of his visage without any alteration Yet I conceive that in the Resurrection of the Just every Countenance which had disfigurement in it or any monstrous disproportion shall be new shap'd and fashion'd Because that great workmanship of God which abideth for ever shall be conspicuous to all eyes with most exact decency and comliness One thing more may yet be expected from me to be spoken of for the finishing of this Point St. Luke says that his countenance was altered and his rayment glistered Was that all Was his face only glorified with light and not the rest of his body There are some that hold how his whole body was transfigured and bedeckt with light and that the radiancy of the body did shine through the garments and make them brightsome and they think that St. Matthews Text doth favour this opinion for he speaks of a total transfiguration first and then of the shining of the face He was transfigured before them and his face did shine as the Sun The matter is not great which way the truth stands But I assent to that which is the more probable Tenent that the rays of splendour did issue out from no part of his body but from his face only For which of the Evangelists hath put forth a word that any part of his body his face only excepted did shine with brightness Nay hath not St. Mark Epitomised St. Matthews meaning most intelligibly He was transfigured before them and his rayment was white as snow He spake of the Transfiguration but in one word because it was but in one part of the body that is in the face And I urge it strongly from the final cause The end of his being transfigured was not to dignifie his flesh with that dignity which he shall have when it is exalted in glory for then very fit all the body should have been amassed into an excellent shape but the time was not yet come The end was to exhibit a taste of that future glory which the Saints shall have in the Resurrection and for that end more need not be required than St. Luke hath explicitely set down in my Text His countenane was altered and his rayment was white and glistering As the face of Christ did bear the greatest share of ignominy at his passion being buffeted being spit on being prickt with thorns so the honour of his Transfiguration did light upon his face rather than upon any other part of the body because Gods reward shall make amends in every kind for the despite of Satan The Jews did strip him of his Garment and arrayed him with a robe of scorn and then led him to be crucified So God to shew that his his Son deserved no such ignominy made his garments to shine with unspeakable purity As Lapidaries say of a true Diamond that whereas other precious Stones have some colour in their Superficies well known by name as the
glory the lustre of his clouds the voice which came from Heaven to magnifie him that made them afraid in his behalf they suffer and therefore they are sure to be raised up His mercy doth so far engage him to relieve all those who find any oppressure for his cause that a little trouble shall soon end in a great deal of joy a little amazement shall soon be blown over with a great deal of satisfaction a little fear shall soon be rid away with a great deal of loving kindness For when the Disciples were dejected with the awfulness of his Majesty presently he touched them and said arise be not afraid THE SEVENTH SERMON UPON The Transfiguration LUKE ix 35 36. And there came a voice out of the Cloud saying This is my beloved Son hear him And when the voice was past Jesus was found alone And they kept it close and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen IN divers manners God spake in the old time to our Fathers by the Prophets Heb. i. 1. and in as divers manners he hath spoken to us in the New Covenant by the Evangelists Variety is delectable when it doth not jar but make up unity I have gone along in this story of the Transfiguration upon the Text of St. Luke but by the way I made advantage to insert every passage out of St. Matthew and St. Mark which is remembred in them over and above St. Lukes Relation nor will I wrong the Subject which I have handled so much to fail in that diligence at this time because it is the last act in which I shall dispatch my Meditations upon this Miracle Wherefore when I have inlaid the Story with those particulars which occur in all the holy Authors it will be perfect thus I gave you account upon the last occasion what the Eternal Father uttered from above concerning his Eternal Son the glory which he gives his Son riseth up in two tops namely the honour which He finds with the Father this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and that obedience which all the world must yield him hear Him Now as soon as this voice had ceased to speak all the bravery of his Transfiguration vanisht and was seen no more so says my Text when the voice was past Jesus was found alone hereupon the three Disciples wondred what was become of Moses and Elias and the fair Cloud that overshadowed them S. Matthew says they lifted up their eyes and saw no man save Jesus only nor did they only look up to Heaven for what they missed St. Mark says they looked round about and saw no man any more save Jesus only with themselves Now touching the consequent of all mark what followed and all 's done my Text says they told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen St. Matthew supplies why they told of nothing and how long they conceal'd the matter As they came down from the Mountain Jesus charged them saying tell the vision to no man till the Son of man be risen again from the dead St. Matthew says the Disciples were enjoyned secrecy but he omits that they obeyed St. Luke says they kept secrecy but he omits that they were enjoyned therefore St. Mark hath compacted both into his Story thus As they came down from the Mountain he charged them they should tell no man what things they had seen till the Son of man were risen from the dead and they kept that saying with themselves Having thus laid all the Narration close together I do not strictly hold me to the narrow compass of my Text but I will divide that which remains to be spoken of this Miracle in the full amplitude as I find it in all the Evangelists And I will confine my discourse and your memory to be helpt by four Particulars First the Father did commit all Power and Authority to the Son in this word Hear him Secondly that the Church might the better admit his sole Authority and none other all other persons of excellency vanisht and Christ was left alone the Disciples lookt up and lookt about but there was none left with them save Jesus only Thirdly Christ did put his Authority in execution as they came down from the Mountain he charged them they should tell no man the things which they had seen till himself was risen from the dead Fourthly the Disciples did as he commanded them they kept it close and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen Of these to Gods glory and with your patience Being now to enter upon the Exhortation to hear I hope all my Auditors will be attentive The Ear is that Omer wherein we must receive the Manna which coms down from Heaven and the Heart is as the Ark of the Lord wherein we must lay it up The Ear is the Tunnel through which the liquor or new wine is poured the Heart is the new Bottle that receives and keeps Offer your self pliantly and diligently to take in the words of wholsom doctrine at the brim of the Ear and God will shake them down lower and lower till they come into the Heart All things in this World beneath are under the conditions of vanity and corruption and therefore the Eye hath nothing to see which is worth the seeing but the Word of God is pure and undefiled and therefore the Ear hath somewhat to hear which is worth the hearing Our Saviour never provoked the Eye to circumspection with he that hath eys to see let him see but he called upon the Ear for attention very often in the Gospel He that hath ears to hear let him hear By extraordinary dispensation the Lord hath converted some by inward motion before they were appeal'd to Gods service by outward calling and his Spirit spake to their inward Heart before they heard the sound of faith preacht to the outward Ear. For we know not how the Wisemen of the East came to know that the Star which went before them belong'd to him that was born King of the Jews but by a Divine inspiration and so we must leave that strange work to the secret power of God that call'd them for we read no more of them after that one place how they lived or died in the true Religion of the Son of God God did suggest to old Simeon that the Babe which came into the Temple with his Mother was the Christ John Baptist sprang in his Mothers womb at the Salutation In like manner Cornelius found favour before God by an instinct from above which spake to his inward conscience before he was made a Scholar to hear the Church teach and instruct him yet the love of him that called him to be an elect Saint staid not there but commended him for his Souls instruction to be Peters Disciple Send to Joppa for one Simon whose surname is Peter he shall tell thee what thou oughtest
emulation may go out for want of combustible matter and in this case not he that violates the peace by stickling much but he that obeys and holds his peace deserves the greater reward This power our Saviour exercised over his Apostles to tie their tongues for a time that they should not publish the glory of his Transfiguration till men were fit to receive it He charged them they should tell no man of the things which they had seen I would but so much humility might be marked from hence as would repress insolence and vain boasting Christ laid his command upon this matter rather than upon any other and imposed silence upon all the three Witnesses that they should not blab the Vision of his Excellency abroad How much unlike is this to them who had rather lose an ounce of their blood nay the sweet odour of virtue than an hour of fame and popularity And so much good as is done and not openly known and divulged is soon repented Where shall we find such a modest temper as that of St. Paul so much admired by Theophylact after fourteen years he tells the Corinthians of the Revelation which God granted him and of his Rapture into Paradise and in all that space he did never impart that celestial honour which was done him either to friend or stranger and then he was ashamed that he was put to it says he I am become a fool in glorying ye have compelled me but what fools are they then that will make such proud boasting without compulsion Jospeph being but a child he did as a child and having the inspiration of two several Dreams he could not hold but made all his Brethren acquainted with them to his own affliction He dreamt a dream and told it to his brethren and they hated him the more Therefore in his riper years though God had given him the spirit of Prophesy he would not divulge himself that he had the interpretation of Dreams He bad Pharaoh's Butler remember him when he was in place And according to the old Saw qui bene latuit bene vixit he conteined himself from manifesting the Gift of God which was in him till the Butler could not choose but call him to mind to put Pharaoh's heart in peace Elizabeth hid her self five months after the Lord had made her conceive a Child miraculously to the astonishment of all the World that great Prophet John the Baptist The Blessed Virgin was saluted by an Angel from Heaven conceived by the Holy Ghost visited by the Wisemen from the East she encountred every day many strange celestial Tokens and yet made no noise of these things to the World but kept all these sayings in her heart Luke ii 51. The mighty power of God will shine and shew it self at last be not ambitious to have it displayed for your own ostentation Christ refrained to have the Vision of the Transfiguration presently notified He charged them c. Generally the Fathers consider the Apostles but as Novices in sacred matters who were yet but in training up and as deficient in those abilities which were requisite to handle such a mysterie Sacred things saies the Greek Proverb must not be toucht 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with unwashen hands This made the ancient Fathers of the Church as fearful to come into a Pulpit as our raw Scholars now adays are forward You need not charge these hasty Predicants as our Saviour did his Disciples not to speak of that for a certain time which they know I would they could be admonished not to be so bold to speak of that which they know not I am not certain for the greater part of such that they have seal but I will bear them record with St. Paul it is not according to knowledg But will you know the spring head from whence this abuse ariseth How can they preach unless they be sent And why was Authority so overseen to send them licentiâ sumus omnes deteriores it is the licence which enables for those things wherein they have no ability Yet again another Text of St. Paul rubs my memory multa licent quae non expediunt there are too many such licences granted which are not expedient If men would let knowledg ripen in them before they speak and not blurt out any thing with extemporary barbarism the Word of God preached would not come so much in contempt for a Parable is an undecent thing in the mouth of a fool Prov. xxvi 9. Our Saviour destined a large space of time to have the cogitation of his great Works mellow in the thoughts of Peter James and John before they testified them to the World which is another reason why they must not speak of that which they had seen till the Son of man was risen from the dead Another reason shall stand in the last place of this point it is fit that they and none but they should preach of Christs Glory who are affrighted with nothing The Apostles were very timerous and would desert a good Cause if they were strongly opposed you know the infirmity of Peter that could not answer the challenge of a silly Damosel but denied his Master This was in diebus illis when the Holy Ghost had not yet come down upon him in the shape of a fire afterward he durst speak the truth though he had been in the midst of fire nay he could not repress the Gospel his will was overcom and could not revolt if the literal sense of the Text be right as sure it is We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard Act. iv 20. Grace was as it were turned into nature in them now as in the Angels confirmed in grace says the ordinary Gloss Vino coelesti ebrit se continere non poterant says Lyra the Scoffers of Jerusalem said they were full of new wine it was indeed by a figure a celestial wine with which their spirit was inebriated and as a drunken mans tongue will not ly quiet so in this resemblance they were such that could not but speak the Gospel of Jesus Christ they were these times of courage which Christ had destin'd that in them his Transfiguration should be revealed openly Moses found not constancy in himself and therefore would have balked Gods Message says he Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh So the eleven Disciples were so fearful after out Saviours death that they shut the doors upon themselves where they were assembled for fear of the Jews and after the Resurrection we read that Christ did many times erect their courage which was dejected with these words Be not afraid and therefore he said unto them Tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem until ye be indued with power from on high Luke xxiv 49. When that power had possessed them with spirit and resolution they had leave to unfold this mysterie and not before he charged them saying Tell the Vision to no man till the Son
of our Saviour with Eutyches and thought the Son of God to be passive to have been scourged and crucified Which opinion when one of his Sectaries would have propounded to Philarchus an Orthodox man Philarchus did thus ingeniously put him off and told him that he had haste of other business and could not intend him for even hard before he had received Letters that Michael the Archangel was dead That is a Fable replies the Eutychian an Archangel is not subject to frailty and mortality Is not an Angel replies Philarchus And would you perswade me that the Deity of Christ is mutable and obnoxious to change Ejus latus then did not concern the nature of God and for the nature of man the part being bereaft of a soul as well he might have smote his Spear upon the trunk of the Cross Well might Isaiah say that he was a Lamb dumb before the Shearers could any Lamb be more dumb His teeth were set his mouth closed up as the world thought for ever and yet is Christ in the hands of the Shearer I will scourge him says Pilate and let him go What Pilate Think you that such Adversaries will be answered with a scourging Though you crucifie him they will not let him go Who knows what immanity had been shewn if Joseph had not hasted to take down the body The living it was wont to be said the living are they at whom malice shoots and not the dead Livor post fata quiescit Nay such as could never obtain a good report from the world while they lived among us fame hath renowned them when they were laid in their graves As Theodoret said of St. Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was more desired after his death than when he dayly lived among them Our Saviour was not so lucky his Persecutors are the same first and last both while he breaths and when his Soul was departed in his Examination they change his Raiment and put a Reed in his hand and then they mock him As he was drawing on and at the last gasp of life they say he call'd upon Elias as if he had prayed to Saints and then they mockt him and when he bowed down his head like fruit which is mellow ripe and droping off from the Tree then a Souldier thrust a Spear into his side Most savage men they sport themselves with that flesh which is the eternal glory of our nature And what cause was in it that Christ would suffer this after passion what fruit was there of such a Wound for the School-men say the Church was not redeemed with the bloud which came out of this Wound neither was it washed clean with this water quia post mortem non est locus meriti after the Epilogue of his bloudy Agony that he cried out all was finished no part of his Passion say they was meritorious What need we subscribe to so much curiosity but the fruit even of this Wound was threefold First to shew that Christ doth compassionate and hath a fellow-feeling with the Members of his Church unto the ends of the World Think you that he never was wounded since he was taken down from the Cross yes he was a Lamb slain from the beginning of the World and is a Lamb that will be wounded unto the ends of the World Why did you not feed me and cloath me you uncharitable Matth. xxv Why do you persecute me Saul Acts ix he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye Zach. ii O what a tender thing it is not only to be in the body but in the very eye of Christ in the apple of his eye are not the bowels as tender as the eye perchance more tender Therefore a Christian Poet said of Savanorola the Martyr that Christ did beg to have his own Bowels sav'd that they might not be consumed with fire Parcite sunt isto viscera nostra rogo 2. If they have called the Master Beelzebub what will they call the Servants if they have ignominiously abused the dead Body of Christ then certainly Tyrants will dishonour the dead Bodies of his Servants But what were Wicklif or Bucer or Fagius the worse for it We that live feel the indignity done unto them says St. Austin but they have no feeling of it themselves no passion affecteth the dead for this disgrace but we are they that are affected with compassion Lysimachus in Tully threatned Theodorus to crucifie him and to let his body rot upon the Tree meâ nihil refert humi ne an sublimis putrescam says Theodorus a poor revenge what is it to me whether my body rot under ground or above ground If Heathen men were so resolute that accounted the body quite lost then will we be much more couragious whose Saviour was so despitefully handled in times past and who have hope of the Resurrection in times to come 3. The art of patience and sufferance it is instar omnium none so useful as it to them who must take up the Cross would you be ready for the fiery Trial as Paul was when he was wrapt up into the third Heavens whether in the body or out of the body he knew not would you pass by your torment in the flesh as Christ did this wound which he never felt Consepeliamur cum Christo let us die with Christ let us be buried with Christ Colos ii 12. If two sleep together they have heat says Solomon but how can he be warm that is alone True says St. Ambrose si duo dormiant if you sleep with Christ your faith will be warm your courage warm Frigidus est qui non moritur cum Christo he shall be bitten with frost he shall be nipt with every storm that doth not sleep that doth not die with Christ Give me any other reason if you can why the Martyrs went oftner to death with Psalms in their mouths than with tears in their eyes but because they were dead unto the World And what is it to them that are dead though a Souldier thrust a Spear into their side I have done with the first general Part conteining four Circumstances of the Malice of the living Now let us lay our mouth to the sacred Stream the blessing which issued from the dead forthwith came thereout bloud and water This is the Honey-comb that came out of the Carkass of Samson's Lion this is it even the price of our sins which is the bloud of the Lamb. At Evening you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red as you shall find it prognosticated Matth. xvi How is it made red or how doth the day grow clear rubet coelum Christi sanguine says St. Austin our Redeemer hath dipt his bloud upon the Sky as upon the door posts Exod. xii and then the day is clear the Sun of consolation shines upon us When an Offering for sin was offered up the Priest was commanded to dip his finger
Cause which was a Cause before all time and then with that Cause which was a Cause in time Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledg of God What is this determinate counsel what is this foreknowledg how was Christ delivered through those means these are the first Doctrins to be opened Counsel or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Aristotle is to canvass and to consider doubts discreetly and providently before some action is to be effected and to conclude out of those doubts well weighed what is best to be done that is it which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or understanding 't is very true this is the way and progress of mans wit to run through uncertain objections and at last to come to clear determinations and counsel among us is a rational remedy against rash and precipitate proceedings beware to think that these rules do conclude Almighty God there is counsel in God not by way of deliberation and discourse but because his infinite wisdom hath decreed all things both which way they shall tend and the bounds which they shall not pass and that 's the event of counsel Concilium dicitur non propter inquisitionem sed propter certitudinem cognitionis says Aquinas that is counsel is attributed to God not because He doth advise and demur much less because He doth require the suffrages and opinions of others but forasmuch as He hath established all things how they should be effected in the fulness of time therefore that Order and Decree which is the upshot of counsel among men is called to help the infirmness of our capacity counsel in the Most High Damascen was so scrupulous in this that he chose words on purpose to destinguish between God and Man In Deo est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a resolution as you would say not a consultation for all things are manifest to him at once both of things that are and things that shall be nay of things that are only possible in themselves and never shall be But St. Paul prevented Damascen and avoids that distinction by putting those words together to make up one sense Ephes 1.11 Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Will and Counsel are united in the operations of God when you hear of his counsel conceive the wonderful and mysterious wisdom of God when you hear his will is joyned unto it observe his free power and authority it was of old the description of a Tyrant that his will was law sic volo sic jubeo he managed all things according to the decree of his will but if you lookt for counsel you should find nothing but rashness and for the most part injustice but in all the Statutes and Ordinances of God there is counsel in his will summa ratio verity and judgment in all things that he hath appointed yet summa libertas nothing impels God to any Decree but his own free will and election tempering all things with wisdom and justice God doth decree both the means and the end of all things and hath set them a Law as David says that they shall not pass In the next place some light must be given to this other term in the Text the Foreknowledg of God to foresee a thing before it be actually effected comes to pass in a threefold manner either by the insight of natural causes So Artists can foretel at what day and hour Eclipses of the Sun and Moon will happen or by rational sagacity as a prudent man can espy how affairs will succeed when a good foundation is laid or by Divine inspiration when the Lord from above doth give a spirit to his Prophets to behold things to come as if they were present before their eyes These three are thus laid down after the measure of our own understanding but when we speak of Gods foreknowledg it is of another fadom for first all things that were that are that shall be are present to him at one instant those successions of time past present and to come which are differences to us are none at all to God his knowledg which is eternal reacheth with one simple act even to the producing of effects in time without all variation and therefore is called Prescience very improperly and with much dissimilitude from humane ways of prescience 2. Our foresight is bare foreknowledg not able to put forward a good event and as unable to prevent a calamity Abraham could truly presage that Israel should come out of Egyptian bondage but he could not hasten the time of their return Isaiah could foretel that Judah should be led away into captivity but he could not mitigate their bondage but Gods foreknowledg hath his hand and power always annexed unto it for whereas my Text says Christ was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledg of God St. Peter says Acts iv 28. that Herod and Pilate and the Gentils were gathered together against Christ to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done He doth not only foresee good how like it is unto himself and evil per dissimilitudinem sui how unlike it is unto himself but his providence intervenes and manageth that evil which he foresees will arise out of the corrupt and depraved will of the creature to his own glory It were an Epicuraean dream to imagin there is such a dull barren knowledg of things to come in God as should not interpose but leave all things to their own course and swing therefore Stapleton had no such just cause to declaim against Beza for rendring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place not Praescience but Providence God did not provide that is decree it antecedently that Judas should sin and betray Christ but since the Creature will decline from good consequently the Lord decrees the evil man shall not be restrained but shall be suffered to heap vengeance upon his own head Let Stapleton chafe at Estius a great Doctor of their own that says Prescience in this place stands for Predestination him being delivered by the determinate counsel and praedestination of God Now Providence is the ordaining of all things to a good end but Predestination is the ordaining of Gods chosen Portion to a blessed end I am sure Tremelius for Foreknowledg doth translate it Providence out of the Syrian Paraphrast and do but mark the scope of this place and you will find that Prescience here is annext with Providence For whereas the Jews thought that Christ had faln into their hands through unability of defending himself from his Enemies St. Peter beats down that error that Gods determinate Counsel and Providence was in the fact but that had been a very weak Apology to say that God foresaw it long before And so much concerning these simple terms to wit the determinate counsel and
foreknowledg of God Now that the righteous God in whom such counsel and such foreknowledg do reside should deliver up his most innocent Son and our dear Saviour unto death that 's a mystery to be weighed with modesty the Text says positively God did deliver him yet we know there is no injustice in the Most High therefore this scruple is worth the scanning First of all it is an harsh and offensive speech that some use who perhaps mean well that God did appoint and preordain Judas to betray his Lord and the Jews to crucifie him and the reasons which they use to excuse the Phrase as if God thereby were not made the Author of sin seem to me to want sufficiency Zuinglius says justo non est lex posita you can set God no Law therefore whatsoever you attribute unto him is no sin because sin is the violation of a Law Beloved there are some things which cannot consist with Gods glory and that 's an eternal Law as we may call it observed by God to do nothing against his glory He cannot ly He cannot deny himself thus the scripture speaketh And Abraham talking face to face with God says he God forbid that the Judg of all the world should do unjustly Would thou punish the righteous with the wicked as who should say that were to thwart the eternal Law which must not be infringed This lays the opinion of Zwinglius flat There is another pretence from very venerable Authors that God purposeth and ordaineth the same act which man executeth but man hath an evil end in it so it becomes iniquity to him whereas God intends a pious end and therefore concurs not to mans iniquity and they give a fair instance of their meaning out of my Text. Christ was delivered of his Father to save the World that was the merciful and gracious work which was God's destination but he was delivered of the Devil to make the Jews guilty of his death of Judas for lucre sake of the Priests and Pharisees for envy of Pilate for fear the scope of Pilate of the Jews of Judas was extremely distorted so they became guilty of a mighty sin in the same work wherein God was righteous This will not down with me I confess for safe Divinity for first it favours that opinion of some Libertines too much that it is no crime but praise-worthy to do evil that good may come of it Secondly it cannot be shifted according to this opinion me-thinks but that God ordains man to fall into that act wherein he cannot choose but have a bad intention and most diverse from the good purpose of God And it is but a lame leg to hold up an halting cause to interpose that God can work good out of evil and bring light out of darkness therefore though He preordains evil He will wind it up well to his own glory for surely they do not think of God as they ought that He is all pure and holy that think sin must be referred to God either as an efficient cause of it or predestinately as a deficient cause to declare his honor Why God stands not in need of our good works to set forth his praise O my God my goods are nothing unto thee says the Psalmist much less doth he want our sins and our transgressions to make him glorious Thus I have premised that they have not my consent that say that God ordained or decreed that Judas should betray our Lord and that the Jews should blaspheme him and despitefully entreat him thus rather I would propound it to you in a far safer way as I conceive God did not decree those criminous actions of Judas Herod Pilate c. but He did decree the Passion of Christ and did settle it in his sixt and eternal counsel that he should shed his bloud as a Propitiation for the World actio displicuit passio grata suit I am led along with the judgment of Leo the Great in this point Thus he Did the iniquity of them that persecuted Christ arise out of Gods Counsel and Decree and that heinous treason worse than all villainy Did the hand of Divine preparation arm them to it this must not once be imagined of that supreme justice that governs all things Multum diversum multumque contrarium est id quod in Judaeorum malignitate est praecognitum quod in Christi passione est dispositum that is there is great dissimilitude between these two how God foresaw the malignancy of the Jews but it was his own disposing and ordination that Christ should suffer therefore it comes to this sense He was delivered to death simply without addition of a death procured by sin through the determinate counsel of his Father but the conspiracy and envy and bloudy outcries that concurr'd in his death the foreknowledg of God did apprehend it would be carried with that violence and decreed to suffer it Non inde processit voluntas interficiendi unde moriendi says the same Father God did not will after the same manner to have his Son die and to have him barbarously crucified To allot him unto death was very just because that Lamb of God did take upon him the iniquity of us all and Leo adds that God could have commanded some holy Prophet to have sacrificed Christ before him even as He commanded Abraham to offer up his only Son Isaac and the Lord of life and death might have permitted Abraham to strike the stroke without impiety but to allot him to such a death wherein factious Enemies delighted themselves in his pains that cannot consist with such a God as hates the least impurity But my Text you will say declines it not but that both his death and his deliverance into the hands of the Jews that is the manner of his death both of them were ordained of God and so they were but with this correction of the proposition omnia vel ordinata sunt à Deo ut fiunt vel ordinatum non impedire quò minus fiant all that is good is ordained of God that it shall be and all beside that is evil is ordained of God that it shall be suffered to be and in those things which are to be referred to permission I mean all the works of the Devil I do not exclude the determinate counsel of God nay it must necessarily be present at it Quicquid permittit Deus consultò volens permittit there is Justice and Wisdom and Counsel from above imployed about those things wherein God is highly displeased For first no sinner in the world can say he was so permitted to enter into sin that no impediments were cast in his way to avert him some illumination he had some instruction to draw him back some remorse of conscience though not in such measure as did infallibly prevail upon his crooked will Even Judas himself was deterred from his Satanical proceedings by the prediction of his Masters mouth one of you shall
not be avoided when his own familiar friend did lift up his heel against him Such friends as Achitophel was our unworthy Age is packt with great observers in the time of our dignity devoted to our good fortunes shadows of our prosperity but if Absalon the Usurper thrive then they shrink like Sheba we have no part in David they are gone like the fishes in the small Rivers that come up into the Brooks at full tide and return into the Sea at ebbing waters Fugiunt amici cum probari debuerint says Seneca 't is a hard case friendship is but a mere name before distress come to try it what it is and when you come to catch hold of the succour of faithless men you grasp water and the rule is infallible cui placet pretium in amicitiâ placebit pretium contra amicitiam they that love to taste some benefit in their friendship may be induc'd to like a benefit so well as to betray friendship to obtain it Aelian and some other such scatter-stories as himself do make more reports of Dogs and Elephants of Birds and Horses and some other unreasonable creatures that they did either compassionate or relieve if they were able the miseries of those Masters whom they had long attended than of reasonable men What have we lost both nature and good nurture and have the beasts found it This made the Prophet complain Psal xii They speak vanity to their neighbour and flatter with their double heart This made Obadiah tell Hierusalem that the men of her peace and those that eat of her bread deceived her This made Jeremy advise the Jews Jer. 9. Take ye heed every one of his Neighbour and trust not in a Brother for every Brother will utterly supplant This made our Saviour protest that a mans Enemies were those of his own House this made King David decipher Achitophel in my Text Yea mine own c. Secondly I proceed to consider in this complaint how hateful a thing it is to wrong the trust which is reposed in us My friend in whom I trusted I cannot but break out abruptly with the Psalmist I have hated the sins of unfaithfulness and as the old Patriarch said of his Sons Simeon and Levi that drew from the Sichemites the holy bloud of Circumcision that they might the sooner spill their lifes bloud upon the ground O my soul come not thou into their secret into their assembly mine honour be not thou united Let us instance in some points of trust To betray a secret is fit for none but Doeg the Edomite a Beast set to keep the Beasts of Saul The Lacedaemonians sitting in counsel had a Ceremony to charm their doors as if no secret should get out of that circle and Alexander says Plutarch was wont to set his Seal upon their lips to whom he had committed his affairs of trust Tertullian reports of the fidelity of an Athenian Woman who was made privy to the counsels of Harmodius and Aristogiton and being brought before a Tyrant that urged confession from her rather than she would do it she spat her tongue in his face In matters of greater trust if greater may be than silence the old Roman Laws urged men to perform such faithfulness that an orphan Child committed to the pupillage of a friend lay upon his charge to look unto it next to his own Parents next to the Orphan the Client that had committed his Cause to his Patrons protection was to be respected and both these before their own Brethren Gellius abounds with testimonies to prove it primum locum juxta parentes tenere pupillos proximum locum clientes says the Author And the Poet Virgil in the detestation of that wicked Guardian which slue young Polydor for his Portions sake makes the very trees to drop bloud that grew in the place where the child was buried Did I say before that Simeon and Levi broke fealty with the Sichemites Did they deal any better with their own Father Jacob put two things into their charge his Flocks and their Brother Joseph 't is true they did tend their Flocks but you know their usage to their Brother O ye fools says St. Basil if dreams be vain why do you vex him for a dreams sake if dreams be true and infallible why do you think to thwart and hinder the Divine Providence If infidelity did only breed an ill opinion in that one disloyal party which commits it the matter were not great but for one Achitophels sake jealousies evil suspicions wrong surmises are counted the wise mans character in this subtle generation Epicharmus his saying went current with Tully for a most sage dictate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is the very strength and sinews of prudence to distrust and be circumspectious Thus Sycophants and Impostors have changed the face of the world and the innocency of the Dove is nothing so much respected as the wiliness of the Serpent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let them that dare trust that man who is too much mistrustful Have you been deceived says St. Ambrose do not dislike your self for that So was our Saviour in his Apostle Judas ut nemo aegre ferat erasse judicium pertisse beneficium and I see no reason why he that is a wise man should seem a fool because he that seemed an honest man is proved a knave Simonides was conceited of the Thessalians that no man could over-reach them but did he commend them for this Take his reason with you and you will say no. Stolidiores esse quà m ut possint decipi They were such gross Idiots that no man knew their disposition how to practise upon them I did ever think meanly of the wits of Sycophants all the glory that they reap is this the Impostor had no faith and he that trusted in such men had too much charity If the portion of the Fatherless be made over to thy custody remember old Tobies friend Gabael of Media who delivered up to Tobias the Talents sealed In the cause of the distressed Client be as trusty as Solomon was to the Harlot and let her have her own If thou hast betroathed a Virgin remember what Jacob endured with what constancy he persevered in the love of Rachel Lastly There is not a greater trust in the world than to be deputed a shepherd over the flock of Christ O be faithful and vigilant break the bread of life which Christ hath bequeathed But if the Portions of Orphans cleave fast to your hands how can you hold them up to that Saviour who committed himself to Josephs trust when he was a Babe and was not deceived If the cause of an abused Client rattle in your mouth how can you plead for mercy to him who did plead so well for the woman taken in Adultery and she was acquitted If the faith of some poor betroathed Virgin whom you have wronged cry for vengeance how can Christ the faithful Spouse of the Church attend to your supplication If
hand justice and vengeance and above head he that walked on the tops of the Mulberry trees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God a mechanick and workman of our salvation The first part of the Text the Beast is like a place profaned but excussit he shook it off is like a Sanctuary And as the Rooms of the Temple were one within another and the inmost was the best so I may proceed in the degrees of this preservation Bare deliverance is but Atrium misericordiae the outward Porch of Solomon the Prince of peace but then we go on to the confusion of our enemies to excussit as unto the Altar whereon the beasts were slain but the holy of holies and the very Oracle of mercy is to escape the breaking of a bone with our Saviour not to lose the lap of our Garment with Saul or with our Apostle to feel no harm Upon these three let us divide St. Ambrose his Hymn Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbath and meditate with St. Austin Quid non misericorditer à Deo hominibus praestatur a quo etiam tribulatio est beneficium Wherein is not our God a merciful Father if our chastisement be our glory if with St. Paul we shake beasts into the fire and feel no harm I must not separate the bark from the tree the bark is the danger of the Apostle and the first part of my Text and there want not causes to wonder at the strangeness of the enemy For though Adam gave names unto the Creatures and Noah lent them a place of rest to be saved from the waters yet the beasts are at enmity with Paul Alas our Warfare is not honourable but bellum servile Zimri riseth up against his Master We no longer Gods Servants the Creatures no longer ours And what Creature is it but a Serpent Hast thou found me out O mine enemy Yes from the Garden of trees wherin Eve was tempted to a handful of sticks which St. Paul gathered here and every where upon an old quarrel we are sure to find the Serpent an adversary While we live Wisdom is our glory and so the Serpent is wise When we die Resurrection is our glory and you know the Serpent renews his youth When we are buried our Tomb is our glory and even there say Philosophers Serpents are begotten of the marrow of our bones But if any venom be more hateful than other it is the Vipers it was company fit for none in the Roman Laws but murderers of Fathers and Mothers because says Aristotle when the brood is great and the Viper every day brings forth but one at once the latter of the brood eat through the womb of the Dam to be born the sooner Well to suffer these things it was no news to Paul and why should it seem strange to us All his Pilgrimage in this world was either fighting with men at Ephesus after the manner of beasts or with beasts in my Text after the manner of men As Cato being vanquished by Caesar and flying into Africa was troubled with noisom Vermine Pro Caesare pugnant dipsades peragunt civilia bella Cerastae That the Snakes fought out the Civil Wars on Caesars side So the Vipers take part with the Pharisees against St. Paul those Pharisees whom our Saviour called in his Gospel Generations of Vipers Pythagoras compared our life to the combats of the Olympick Games and so did our Apostle both met in the Comparison but not in the Application to the Olympick Games says Pythagoras some men come to wrestle some to make merry with their friends but for his part he was among those who did but gaze upon the Wrestlers O no says St. Paul only God and Angels are the lookers on that do not sweat and fight to win the mastery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Plato in Phaedon which is all one with that of St. Paul Nos spectaculum facti sumus we are all combatants and made a spectacle for the eyes of heaven As Pelopidas said in Plutarch Tantum duces in bello laudantur qui sunt sinc cicatrice non milites A scar was a comly sight in an ordinary Souldier but not in a General So it agrees well with the blessed souls to be in peace but for us to be in warfare And happy are they thrice happy who make the bitterness of this life but a gaine of Wrestling and though a severe sport yet but a sport and recreation A most reverend Bishop of our own Church the first who saw some reformation of Religion altered the ancient Arms of his Family from three Cranes to three Pelicans his righteous soul divining before his Martyrdom that he should feed the Church with his bloud as a loving Pelican and so contentedly he died making his Coat of honour an Emblem of persecution If we will be any thing if we will be born at all it must be in tears and to be honestly born is to be a Son and not a bastard that is to be chastened and not neglected And to be nobly born is to give Arms such as Constantine and Theodosius did in their Military Ensigns the mourning Cross of Christ Quis enarrabit generationem Will you know how a Christian is begotten St. Matthew makes a Pedigree and fourteen Generations reach to King David David is zeal and devotion The next fourteen Generations reach to Captivity and the waters of Babilon and after Captivity the next fourteen Generations reach to Christ our Lord. It was a dastard mind not befitting Augustus of all things else to desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might steal out of the world and not feel the least gripe of a disease it did rather become the beastly Epicurus who when he felt his sickness desperate drowned his stomach with immoderate Wine and so knew not what it was to dye but went drunk to Hell If we Christians were only anointed with oyl Oleo laetitiae supra socios with the oyl of gladness above our fellows Satan might speak home to our shame Doth Job serve God for nought But we are first anointed with the Baptism of water unto the death of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Nazianzen We are dipt like Iron into the water that our edge may be setled against all injuries And we are ready to be anointed with bloud every day is the eighth day with us to be wounded and circumcised Nay if it be our destiny to be anointed with Pitch and Tar In morem nocturni luminis to waste away like a Taper welcom glory Or if it be our danger to be lick'd with the poysonous tongue of the Viper Son of man says Ezekiel be not afraid though thorns and briers be with thee nay though thou live among Scorpions For who would not venture with such a Charm as this is against any Serpent Excussit ho shook off the beast into the fire it is the second part of my Text and St. Pauls deliverance The Apostle indeed did shake his
them That the Nazarites had any dwelling in the Temple Maldonat is mistaken no more had these Shepherds who lived in Tabernacles Again some constrain themselves to the observation of a Vow but for a time for never any but Samson that we read of was a perpetual Nazarite some oblige the Votary for ever such was this which I treat of in Tabernacles they must live for ever Fourthly Some stand upon conditions like that of Anna if she had a Son she would give him to the Lord. Some are absolute like the Vow of Baptism wherein there is no capitulation But were it a Vow in any rank of these which I have named yet the complexion of the matter must have these four conditions according to the Schoolmen We will take that which is sound and refuse that which is corrupt Esto say they res adiaphora possibilis licita faciens ad cultum Dei 1. The thing vowed must be indifferent and free from necessity 2. An atchievment possible and not out of the reach of humane frailty 3. Unless it be lawful we offer our service unto Devils 4. That which we vow unto God must not be every idle fancy of our own brain it must bear weight and moment if we promise it unto the Lord. To begin with the first A thing not commanded but indifferent to be done or not done is the first condition of a Vow says Aquinas Stay there a while Shall I believe Aquinas or the Patriarch Jacob For I learn that the first ground of making a Vow is in Jacobs example Gen. xxviii by the light of nature before the Law and he vows both res praeceptas that God should be his God and res adiaphoras where the Stone was set to build up an house to God Beloved be not deceived with the leaven of the Jesuits this is Diana of the Ephesians and their credit lies upon it Indeed such Commandments as literally forbid sin are negative and obligant ad semper the yoke of them is never off from our conscience and so it is easie to acknowledge that they are Commandments But whereas inclusively there are duties to be done quae non obligant ad semper which bind us but at times and seasons therein we may meet with many parts of Divine Worship which seem superfluous and as it were given into the bargain Especially we want a good inspection to make a difference between these three things 1. There is the end of a Christian life 2. The next and immediate means to that end 3. The remoter means and further off The end is Gods glory and we cannot oversee that point but that it is the first injunction which lies upon our Soul The next and the proper end to that means are the strict words of the Commandments and those we cannot gainsay it are a necessary part of Christianity But as for the remote means which are further of there we boast that we do pay that which we did never owe but supererogate with God O deluded Conscience hearken and consider purity of body and soul is the scope of the seventh Commandment The next means to avoid Adultery is in some men Marriage in some the shunning of lascivious talk and lewd Company there are means more distant to subdue the wantonness of the body by strict Fastings by Canonical hours of Prayer to shun the very Country where bewitching Beauties tempt our affections Should you tell me in this case that your Prayers your Fastings your Pilgrimages were more than measure and above the Commandment I would tell you you did lie against God and your Conscience against God who hath commanded all that you can perform by might and strength and against Conscience for whatsoever my heart tells me will give me advantage to serve the Lord conscientia in iis est regula faciendorum and it is sin to omit it I appeal to a Jury of the Schoolmen Why did Christ and his Angels vow no vow because they are the most perfect Creatures of reasonable essence full of the noblest speculation yet they keep the Law of God and observe it Down then with that blasphemy that the observation of the Law is but Milk for Babes and Vows are left to try the vertues of an excellent and heroick spirits greater Tasks for the Champions of the Militant Church The Law is like the Passover which must be eaten Devotions of indifferency when conscience doth prescribe them are like the sower herbs to be eaten with it If you think the Sawce better than the Meat the Herbs more costly than the Lamb they are fermentum in Paschate and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees You will say was not this res adiaphora was it not in the power of the Rechabites to drink wine or refrain yes but when conscience had set it down before them as an excellent disposition to serve the Lord conscience hath made that which was indifferent in it self necessary unto them and their Task in this very thing to please the Lord. If this Chapter be not strong enough to convince our Adversaries though they glory in the Example of the Rechabites let them take the Cause For although they restrained themselves to the poorest life of keeping sheep and dwelt in Pavillions and drank no wine yet it came not from these observations that they were acceptable to God no God himself reduceth their good service to the fifth Commandment in the last verses of this Chapter because they have obeyed their Father Jonadab in all things therefore there shall not want a man of that Race to stand before him for ever And so much for the first condition of this Vow the observations in themselves are of indifferency and liberty but yet media remota ad praeceptum they are reducible to the fifth Commandment In the second condition I concur with the Schoolmen that a Vow must be possible to accompass lest they that pass by shake their heads and say this man laid a foundation and was not able to build it up non est votum sed ostentatio it is no Vow but plain boasting and ostentation They deal as certain of the Sect called Druides among the Gauls that took much upon trust in this life to pay their Creditors in the Resurrection When St. Peter would trust his feet to walk upon the Seas to Christ the waves surged and had well nigh drowned an Apostle A good Emblem for those who finding their affections calm and even say to morrow will be as yesterday and vow for the years to come but in time our heart loatheth this Manna and what are we but Bankrupts unto God and Peter sinketh A true Votary says Anselm gives unto God the whole tree with the fruit root and branches the works of the will and the power of the will for ever But if the Thistle should vow and threaten to bring forth grapes would it not be trodden down by the Beasts of the field as it is in the
language Vt ex politica dignitate auctior illustrior que fieret Ecclesiastica that the Ecclesiastical Dignity may become more ample and illustrious in the right of the Political Well to end all Antioch had once the day renowned for Orthodox Believers for constant Martyrs for innumerous Disciples she conteined 366 Parish Churches says Volateranus now her material buildings are for the most part eraced down her spiruual building quite vanished and her streets are possessed with Mahumetans You see that the Church is a removing Tabernacle rolling about from Sea to Sea from Land to Land That Truth which shall never fail upon Earth may fail in any particular Kingdom The Antiochians that were the first Christians are become the last God knows how the mystery of his vocation will work that the last shall be first Be not high-minded but fear that fearing we may work with diligence and believe with stedfastness and suffer with patience that we may be partakers of the first Resurrection in newness of life and of the second Resurrection in the glorification of Soul and Body AMEN A Commencement Sermon AT CAMBRIDGE ACTS xii 23. And immediately the Angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory and he was eaten of worms and gave up the Ghost IF the Caesarea was so attentive to hear King Herods Eloquence and how he did exalt himself above God What is your alacrity may I presume Dearly Beloved to give ear to this story and to Gods vengeance how he did exalt himself above Herod It might be suspected that Caesarea the Region which was called by the name of Caesar would be chiefly for the honour of the King but now we are in the house of the Lord and in his Temple doth every man speak of his honour says the Prophet David St. Luke hath occasioned the mention of two Angels in this Chapter and they are both strikers The first Angel is in the seventh verse that smote St. Peter on the side and rouzed him up from sleep I wish that a good Spirit sent from God may now stir up your attentions The second Angel is in my Text that smote King Herod in the inward bowels and believe it such as was the sin of Herod a presumptuous speaker such is the sin of every carless and unprofitable hearer that serves the vanity of his own imaginations in this holy place and gives not God the glory Is the Lord asleep think you because ye are drowzie Are not his Angels heedful of their charge because your thoughts are wandring Are you sure to come often to Church hereafter if you leave your affections at home to day Nay but though the present business be confined to an hour so is not the vengeance of the Lord for immediately the Angel smote him because he gave not God the glory Every religious exercise should be too long by a Preface I come therefore to set the Text in order that I may proceed to the explication of the parts and they are two First That Herod would not glorifie God indeed that is the bitter root out of which grew all these worms he gave not God the glory Secondly That God was glorified in Herod he was smitten of an Angel eaten of Vermine and gave up the Ghost Herod says St. Chrysostom gave not God the glory two ways 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his mouth spake proud things before the people 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he suffered the people to speak proud things as if he were equal with God and did not rebuke them Wherefore God was glorified in Herod four ways 1. That tantus periit the Ruler the Prince of the people he was smitten 2. A tanto periit no less than a mighty Angel smote him 3. Tantus tam repentè immediately he was smitten 4. Tantus tam luctuosè he was eaten of worms and gave up the Ghost Did not the Lord shew great glory in plucking down the mighty He was smitten Is not his arm exalted when the Angels are his Ministers An Angel smote him Shall not his wrath be terrible when it consumes in the twinkling of an eye Immediately he was smitten Lastly How weak is man in his sight even as a bulrush in the field All the beasts are his Army and the vilest creatures if he send them forth are strong as Lions the Worms did eat up this Galilaean and he gave up the Ghost As the man said in the Gospel Mat. xvii That his child fell often into the water and often into the fire two merciless Elements and very dangerous So Herod in the first part of the Text fell in aquas tumoris into the swelling waters of pride and in the second part in ignem terroris into the fire of vengeance and castigation The offence is to be offered to the first consideration he gave not God the glory There is a satiety of all things and to exceed a just proportion even in that which is good it is blameful and vicious too much justice is rigour too much temperance is diseaseful too much love is troublesome But to give God the glory it is a duty unto which we are bound with an infinite devotion if it were possible even as He is infinite so that we cannot fill up the measure much less are we able to exceed it Wherefore if God gave Children by seventies as he did to Ahab he asked but the first born who was consecrated to his service every hour of time that we live is his benevolence yet the Law is our remembrancer only to keep the Sabbath day the Earth is the Lords and all that therein is and yet his portion is but the tenth of the field but of his glory he hath parted no stakes to the Sons of men it is his own entirely non dabo never ask him for a share he will not part with it As his Ark did never thrive at Ashdod nor at Ekron but only when it was returned to Israel so let not the strength of the mighty nor the wisdom of the prudent be magnified glory will never thrive but when it is returned to the God of Israel and Dagon shall fall down before the Ark of his Majesty Themistocles demanding Tribute of the men of Andria told them that he had brought two powerful Advocates to plead his cause Suadam Vim Perswasion if they pleased Violence if they refused The self-same two Apparitors go before the glory of the most high Exhortation and Confusion Doth it like you to bless his name So God is glorified by the devotion of his Creature Doth it like you to exalt your self with Ero similis altissimo Then you shall be brought down and he will be honoured in your confusion He that swells to the greatest in this world shall be called the least in the Kingdom of heaven Et fortasse ideo non erit in regno coelorum ubi nisi magni esse non possunt says St Austin