more exalted notions approaching neere unto the contemplation of Angells then he doth from the Hills and Plaines For to whom much is given of him shall much be required So that as Saint Paul said of himselfe concerning preaching of the Gospell Woe is me if I preach not the Gospell so may I say of my self and of all our whole Tribe the Tribe of Levi with me of all the Priests of the Lord the Sonnes of the Prophets who are as it were a portion set apart for God himselfe and like the mountaines neerer heaven are or at the least should be farther removed from the plaines of the earth worldly cares imployments to the end that being freed from these outward destractions and disturbances wee should the more intend the honour of God and the good of his people Woe he unto us if wee above other men doe not leape for joy doe not sing songs of deliverance unto the God of our redemption In the next place O yee Hills praise yee the Lord. 'T is Davids counsell Psalme 148. Yee speculative men who are not yet growne up to the altitude of mountaines yee who are not able yet to climbe into a simple contemplation of God but doe behold his wisedome and power in the Glasse of the creature in the Creation Government of the world O doe yee leape too and although yee cannot yet fetch such Masculine leapes as the Rammes do let not this discourage yee Here is a degree of comparison for you too doe it like the Lambes or the young ones of the Flock Nor must we exempt the Fields the Plaines of the Earth from bearing a part in this joy the men of action and secular businesse they must come in for their share too and although they cannot leape or skip like the mountaines or the hills yet we will finde out an imployment for them too Whilst the mountaines and the hills dance before the presence of the Lord and trace it in comely figures together the fruitfull vallyes shall sing unto them as they passe and this I am sure they are able to doe For David in one of his Psalmes brings them in in the very same action and makes the moving cause of it to bee onely the fruitfulnesse of the Earth The vallyes saith he stand so thick with corne that they doe laugh and sing But wee have a greater cause then the fruitfulnesse of the Earth to move us the fruitfulnesse of heaven is fallen upon us and the Day-spring from on high hath visited us Hee whom the other day wee left hanging upon the Crosse the scorne and laughter of Passengers and hath lyen as imprisoned in the house of death for three dayes and three nights hath now broken from the prison of the Grave and to our endlesse comfort and eternall Salvation loosed and shaken off the bands of death not onely for himselfe over whom death shall have no more dominion but also for us too For now since his conquest Death hath lost his strength nor shall the Grave be able now to hold any of us hereafter The force of the Prison wall is decayed and through the breach which his blessed Resurrection hath made therein shall we finde a way unto eternity of living Let us therefore who are the Vallyes Plaines of the Earth though we are not able to leape and skip after the manner of the mountaines and hills who have higher and purer revelations then our selves although wee cannot sing unto the honour of our Saviour in so heavenly a straine or in so wel penn'd Anthemes as they yet let us not faile to doe our endeavours though it bee in a more homely Musick for the Lord doth not despise the Musick even of an oaten reede tuned to his Praise and he can discover a sweetnesse even in the harsh note of a sigh or a groane which is pointed to him Let us therefore for this present joyne our selves in Chorus with old Zachary Luke 1. and say Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for hee hath visited and redeemed his people Amen THE THIRD SERMON PREACHED Upon Saint Peters Day JOHN 21. VER 17. He said unto him the third time Simon the sonne of Jona lovest thou mee and Peter was sory because he said unto him the third time lovest thou me and said unto him Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Iesus said unto him Feede my Sheepe VPon the day dedicated to the memory of St. Peter wee have made choyce of a Text wherein we finde St. Peter sorrowfull and indeede wee should doe wrong to the holy Apostle if we should at all remember him without his sorrow Never feare that sorrow for sinne will ever spoile the face of a good Christian 't is the comeliest thing about him and he doth St. Peter the most honour who pictures him weeping Alas to call to minde onely the sinnes and imperfections of this holy man onely to mention how shamefully he denied his Master and to leave out his bitter weeping and his repentance which is the best part of the story were to bring him upon the stage onely to disgrace him but that man doth St. Peter right who remembers his repentance as well as his sinne Wee have in this Scripture then these three things 1. Peters sorrow Hee was sory saith the Text Secondly The cause of his sorrow And that is we see our Saviours saying unto him the third time lovest thou me Thirdly The effect of St. Peters sorrow And this is double Neerer or farther off The effect which I call the neerer is St. Peters answer Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee The effect of his sorrow which I call the farther off is the reply of Christ unto Peters answer Iesus said unto him Feede my Sheepe 1. Peter was sory What Peter might this be That Peter who in the Gospell read for this day by reason of that cleare Confession Thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God was pronounced blessed by the mouth of Christ That Peter to whom were given the Keyes of the Kingdome of heaven so that whatsoever he bindes on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever he looses on earth shall be loosed in heaven Yes Even the very same Peter even the very same Simon the sonne of Ionas whom our Saviour himselfe in that 16. of St. Mathew proclaimed blessed He is sorrowfull First Peter the blessed is sorrowfull Certainly then it is not altogether such an accursed and hatefull thing to endure affliction and troubles here upon earth as it is supposed it is Be comforted then thou who art in misery art persecuted or afflicted for thou seest that Saint Peter here who was in the opinion of no lesse then Christ a blessed man hee was in sorrow hee was griev'd which did not a whit diminish his blessednesse but rather encrease it Secondly Peter the holy is sorrowfull O then it is in vaine to looke for true felicity here
ire to rise up in a Contemplation unto such things as are above their owne nature For the first orders therefore to reade the greatnesse the wisedome and providence of God in any of the inferiour orders or in subjecta creatura in the Fabrick of the world hoe descendere potius quam saltus dare this is rather to goe downe then to leape To view the greatnesse and majestie of God in themselves in looking into their owne pure nature hoc illorum est per planum ire this is their plaine way they neither rise nor fall in doing thus But they are said to leape when they ascend into a simple and naked Contemplation of the Power the Wisedome the Majesty of God as he is in himselfe and so behold with admiration that Fountaine of beauty of goodnesse of order of proportion The second and third Hierarchies they are onely said to leape when they doe rise in a speculation into the orders above them and from thence are furnished with matter of admiration concerning the Divine power and wisedome For although it be granted that these inferiour orders have also their simple contemplations doe behold the face of God too enjoy the beatificall vision as well as the other yet this may be called illorum volatus potius quam tripudium rather their flight then their leaping because wee know hee that leapes doth not multum elongere se à stationis suae loco removes not himselfe farre from the place he was in before which we finde contrary in a flight when the thing that flies works it selfe many times into a vast distance Therefore because those orders of Angels which are here set out unto us by the name of rammes in their leapes doe never use but a simple Contemplation and the other inferiour orders never but a speculation most fitly hath the Psalmist laid his comparison together Montes exultaverunt ut arietes colles sicut agni ovium For the mountaines then to skip like rammes is when Contemplative men in a kinde of sacred extasie and overflowing of the soule doe climbe up into pure notions of the Deity abstracted from speculations doe behold the face of God not in the glasse of the creature but as he is in himselfe all splendor all glory all brightnesse all goodnesse And for the hills to skip like lambs is when speculative men doe climbe up into an admiration of God by beholding the works of his handâ— as St. Paul to the Romans 1.20 For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seene in the creation of the world being considered in his workes Pensemus ergo c. Let us therefore conceive if we be able what a mighty prerogative and grace it is for our humane and fraile natures to be likened in the motions of our minds unto the glorious Angels And let us therfore praise the GOD of Angels and men who hath made us a little lower then the Angels to crowne us with glory and worship O blessed soule and truely happy who can take such leapes as these who leaving the dull senses asleepe can secretly steale from the body and mount up in a moment unto the familiarity of Angels bee partakers of their joyes be present at their spirituall delicates and with them leape from one degree of knowledge and illumination to another and with infinite delight and admiration still bee knowing of that immensity which can never bee fully knowen Lord let my soule ever leape after this manner and I shall not envie all the flattering courtship that the world can shew me But I make haste to the Quare the cause of this leaping What aile yee O yee mountaines c. reade but the next verse and the Question is answered A facie Domini mota est terra for so good Translations as I told yee reade it The earth was moved at the Face of the Lord. Hugo set downe foure severall faces of Christ Facâ—m 1 Viventis The face of Christ living or the face of his Poverty And this face did he shew in his Nativity and after in his whole life being made poore for our sakes so that hee had not so much as whereon to lay his head 2 Morientis The face of Christ dying or the face of his Griefe And this face did hee shew us upon the Crosse which seemed to becken to all Passengers and to say in the Prophet Ieremies words Lam. 1.12 Have yee no regard all yee that passe by this way behold and see if there bee any sorrow like unto my sorrow 3 Iudicantis The face of Christ Iudging or the face of his Anger And this face will he shew to the wicked ones in the day of judgement 4 Regnantis The face of Christ reigning or the face of his Glory and pleasure And this face will hee onely shew to the Saints in the Kingdome of Heaven But I must make bold in the midst of these foure to insert one face more of Christs which Hugo Cardinalis did not thinke of and that is Facies resurgentis The face of Christ arising from the dead subduing the grave and leading Captivity captive And this is the face of Christ meant here at the sight of which the Earth was moved The Mountaines skipped c. And what thing is there so heavy that could sit still and behold this face O let not us then be more insensible then the Mountaines and Hills to which wee are compared for we must know that the strength of the comparison doth not lie in the ponderousnesse of the Mountaines No wee ought not to imitate them in this but it doth consist in the height in their neernesse to heaven and their distance from the common roades of men Lift up your heads therefore O yee gates and be yee lift up yee everlasting doores and the King of glory will come in First then O yee mountaines of the earth who doe enjoy a vicinity and kinde of familiarity with God and heaven Yee men of contemplation who by the advantage of your height have a far clearer and neerer prospect of God and of the wonders that are in him then they who are upon the little Hills and Plaines of the earth below O lift up your heads on high in a thankfull acknowledgement and admiration of the wisedome the power the mercy of our God who sent his onely Sonne in whom he was well pleased into the world that he by his poverty his ignominie his obedience his death might make an atonement for our sins And this is the day wherein that gracious worke was perfectly finished this is the day wherein our Saviour Christ having entred into the house of that strong man Death and bound him like a Giant refreshed with wine issued out of the Grave in triumph Or once This is the day which the Lord hath made let us reioyce and be glad in it For be sure that the Lord lookes for greater higher and more frequent leapes from you for purer and
reason of sicknesse which is a present evill then it is under the reason and name of the privation of good which is health But which of them soever hath the preheminence in the first place of object doth not much concerne us Let it suffice us to know that neither of them both have any thing to doe with Christ For how can hee who is Goodnesse it selfe lose that which is good and can any evill bee said to happen to him who is the fountaine from whence is derived all that is good 2 The second Cause of Griefe they say is Concupiscentia concupiscence or a desire of that absent good which wee are sensible of that wee want And as the first Cause was Causa sicut finis the object to which griefe doth tend so this is Causa sicut unde A Cause as from whence the beginning of the motion is As in the naturall appetite of a stone or any other heavy body being to move downwards the cause as the end is the place whither it tends the center of gravity having a kinde of Magnetique vertue in it which drawes it thither The cause as from whence is the naturall inclination of that body arising from the forme of it which is heavinesse So the cause of griefe as the end is the evill which is present but the cause as from whence this motion is is the inward inclination of the appetite which doth encline chiefly and in the first place to that which is good and secondarily and by consequence to the shunning of evill Now this concupiscence or desire longing after good finding it absent and in the roome of it its contrary which hee hates is immediatly turned into a griefe or rather not turned into a griefe but it still remaines with the griefe to make the griefe the greater continually desiring that which cannot be had But neither is this cause able to lay any hold upon Christ for can hee desire any absent good who hath all that is good continually present with him 3. The third Cause they will have to be Appetitus unitatis A desire of unity or union And this is nothing else but the second reason cloathed in another phrase Or if there be any it is but a little Metaphysical difference which doth not consist in the thing it selfe but in the reason of maner of apprehending the thing And so after the same manner that the desire of good was said there to cause griefe so here the desire or appetite of Unity which is nothing else but good apparelled in another kinde of dresse for the good of every thing wee know doth consist in a certaine kinde of Unity And therefore the Platonicks who were altogether for Harmony and said That the whole frame of the world was nothing else but a Musicall Instrument set in tune by the hand of that primum ens and primum principium which is God doe as well make unum à Principium as bonum Both which bonity and unity by the way of Participation although comming infinitely short of that excellence which is in the fountaine of that bonity and unity is communicated to the creatures as conducing to their perfection Now when any thing is cut off from this unity of the creature or added which is superfluous although it be but in his apprehension onely and not really finding his unity infringed which is the perfection of the crearure desiring this unity which is absent and finding a present impediment immediatly this desire begets a griefe But neither can this cause come neere or once touch Christ for hee is so farre from wanting or desiring this secondary unity this unity of the creature that hee is Vnus cum unitate prima One with unity and bonity it selfe 4. The fourth cause which they render is this Potestas cui non potest resisti A stronger power which cannot be resisted For if a present or conjoyned evill be the proper object of sorrow as is already proved then that must needs be a cause of that sorrow which makes or works the presence or conjunction of this evill and that is a stronger power For although many times wee suffer damage and hurt by a power which simply and in it selfe is lesse as in our slumbers wee are often troubled and molested by a Gnat so poore a creature that one fillip of a man is able to destroy a million of them yet in that regard that it hurts it must be called a greater Siâ—nâ—nullo modo major esset nullo modo posset nocere saith Aquinas For if in some kinde it were not greater it were impossible it should hurt us in any kinde But what power in the world can be greater then he to whom all power in heaven and earth is given We are not yet got out of the Labyrinth Let us once more consult with the Text. And when he was come neere he beheld the Citie and wept for it The knot is untyed the verse interprets it selfe He wept for it Not for himselfe Hee doth agere personam alterius Hee wept for the Citie Delirant reges plectuntur Achivi was the old saying The Kings commit the offence and their Subjects suffer for it But here we may justly invert that speech and say Delirat populus plectitur eorum Rex The people the Jewes have sinned and their King the King of the Jewes hee beares the punishment of their sinne And the Citie of Ier. might very opportunely have used those words of David with a little alteration in the last Chapter of the second booke of Samuel Behold I have sinned yea I have done wickedly but this Sheepe what hath he done What hath he committed that his eyes should send forth such plenty of teares as they doe And wept for it The wonder ceases For now wee are able to finde all those foure severall causes already mentioned in this griefe of our blessed Saviour First For in the first place Ier. had lost shee had quite deprived her selfe of all her good by her sinnes and obstinacie and evill was also hard at her doore Destruction did hang over her head like the sword in the twine threed over the head of the Parasite in the Throne wayting but when the breath of the Lord would breake it in sunder And therefore he wept Secondly There was concupiscentia a desire of that absent good they were deprived of Which desire should have beene in them but because a kinde of Lethargy and Stupidity had seized them he who bore the infirmities of us all entertaines it into his owne bosome into his owne affections Hee desired the good of them which they did not themselves and therefore he wept Thirdly he desired also their vnity their perfection which doth consist in the concatenation as it is tyed to or derived from as the beames from the Sunne that primum unum bonum that first One unity it selfe God Which chaine of participation being broken and a separation made by reason of their sinnes
that there were no Oracles delivered in his time nor for a good while before as was accustomed in former Ages was much troubled to finde out the reason of their Cessation Amongst much other discourse he falls into a disputation of the Nature of the Gods and finding that there was a kinde of Gods which the Ancients called Demi gods or halfe-gods begotten of the Gods upon mortall women which was a received opinion amongst them that the Gods many times fell in love with women upon earth and accompanied with them I shall not neede to name any particulars the writings of the Poets are full of such scapes and a fine device it was to preserve the honour of some of their great Ladies who were not altogether so true to their Husbands or their vowe of Virginity as they ought to have beene and finding moreover that these Demâ—gods although they liv'd long yet at the last dyed was brought to conjecture that these Gods might be they who did informe the Oracles and at their death the Oracles ceas'd but had Plutarch beene truely enlightened hee might easily have found out in an other cause of the defect of Oracles The same Philosopher in his booke of the defect of Oracles inserts a memorable History of one Epitherses a Grecian in the time of Tiberius Caesar who making for Italy being imbark'd in a Merchants Ship and sayling smoothly by the Ilands called Eâ—hâ—les the Sea upon a suddaine was becalmed so that they by little and little working themselves nigh unto Paxo there was an high and intelligible voyce heard amongst them calling Thamus Thamus they all heard the voyce but knew not from whence it came and therefore a suddaine affrightment invaded them this Thamus whose name was not knowne to the greater part of the passengers was the Captaine of the Shipp who hearing the voyce calling to him the third time assumed so much courage as to answere it Unto whom the voyce replyed farre lowder then before charging him that as soone as hee came against the Palodes hee should publish to the inhabitants that the great Pan was dead The whole company in the Ship being amazed at the strangenesse of the voyce message consulted amongst themselves what was best to be done and at the last agreed that if the winde were faire and prosperous for their Voyage when they came against the place they would then goe on without any stop but if the Sea were smooth and calme then they determined that Thamus should fulfill the command or the voyce Which hee did for finding it a very quiet Sea when they came thither getting into the Sterne of the Ship against the Palodes with his face towards land hee cryed with a loude voyce The great Pan is dead Which message was no sooner deliver'd but all the company in the Shippe heard upon the suddaine a strange and confused noyse sounding like the out-cryes and lamentations of a distressed multitude And this Ship afterwards arriving in Italy the report of this strange matter was soone heard of at Rome so that e're long it came to the eare of Tiberius the Emperor who sending for the Master of the Ship was certified of the Truth of the rumour and calling his wise men together demanding of them who that great god Pan should be was answered by them that hee was the sonne of god Mercurie and Penelope Yee see what an account Plutarch gives of the death of great Pan. But if wee weigh the circumstances of the story well wee shall finde that this voyce did signifie the death of Christ which caus'd the Oracles to cease and destroy'd the power of the devill And it is not unlike but those cryes which were heard in the Palodes were the lamentations of evill spirits bewayling the downfall and destruction of their Kingdome For first this is reported to be done in Tiberius time in whose raigne Christ was crucified and why might it not be at the very time of his death or immediatly after besides this certaine it was that Tiberius had enquir'd and heard of Christ and of many of his miracles for if the Senate would have agreed to it he would have canoniz'd him and put him into the roll of their gods And it is very credible that by reason of our Saviours calling himselfe by the name of the good and the great Shepheard the Heathens understanding it might conclude that it must needes be the god Pan who was said to be the god of the Shepheards And the great god Pan it was indeed who was dead taken in Christian sense the great Shepheard of our soules who left those 99 above who had not err'd and came downe to seeke and to save that One which had stray'd poore mankinde And from hence the silence of the Oracles and the lamentations of evill spirits But the strangenesse of this History related by a Heathen Writer hath carried me a little too farre To returne to the Text the opinion of the best Writers is that this darknesse was not onely over the land of Iudea but generall overall the earth The second thing we are to enquire of is of the extent of this darknesse in respect of time and that was from the sixth to the ninth houre from our 12. to 3. It began at Noone at that point which is the most opposite to darknesse and lasted till our three of the clocke which time doth include the chiefe glory strength and manhood as I may call it of the day For the day after three like a man parting with 50. begins to waxe ancient and from thence declines into a weaknesse The darknesse began at Noone as wee may suppose a little after Christ was nayl'd upon the Crosse so that if the Spouse in the Canticles should not yet be satisfied concerning her earnest request when shee cryed out in the first Chapter of that Song Shew mee O thou whom my soule loveth Cant. 1. where thou feedest where thou lyest at Noone we were able to instruct her here from my Text to tell her where her beloved lay at Noone Not onely at the Noone of the world at the fulnesse of time but also in the literall and nearer sense at the Noone of the day Nor is there any harshnesse in the phrase to say that Christ lay upon the Crosse at Noone For Iacere situs est miserorum To lye is accounted the posture of those who are miserable and therefore we use to say that Pauper ubique jacet The poore man lyes every where And let all who beheld that spectacle of Christs hanging upon the Crosse or all who have but any fancies to apprehend the manner of it judge whether the earth was able to produce a man more poore and more miserable then he was at that time Hee lay at Noone the Crosse was his bed of sorrow he lay upon the darknesse was the Curtaines drawne about him As David sayes Psal 18. Psal 18. though in an other sense Hee made darknesse
on earth The greatest Saints of God we see are not without their rainie dayes and tempests a perpetuall calme is onely to be found in heaven Nay Peter who to his inward gifts and graces of the spirit had also an outward competency of corporall goods he was full he wanted nothing hee was newly risen from a Feast he enjoy'd the company of his friends and his companions were round about him no small blessing Nay hee had the bodily presence of Christ himselfe Nor was hee furnished onely for the present but hee had also provision for many dayes no lesse then a Stock of an hundred fifty and three great fishes for hereafter so that hee might have said with the rich Foole in the Gospell Soule take thy rest thou hast goods enough layd up for thee No all this cannot shut griefe out of the heart of Saint Peter Peter for all this was sorie Let us learne therefore from hence to know that true joy which is without any mixture of griefe is not to be found in any earthly good whatsoever not in thy riches not in thy dainties not in thine honors not in the multitude and greatnesse of thy friends No Seeke for that in any other place except it be in heaven and bee sure that thou shalt lose thy labour 2 But why is Peter sory because his Master asks him whether he loves him or no What could there be in this which could grieve Saint Peter One would have thought that this should rather have made him joyfull to heare his Lord and the Lord of the whole world to talke so familiarly with him to take such particular notice of him and of his love No this is not all For wee finde our Saviour saying the very same words unto him twice before and yet he was not a whit mov'd at it then but now he sayes unto him the third time lovest thou mee As if some secret influence had beene wrapt up in those words and so convay'd into his soule yee may discerne a suddaine alteration in the man What should the meaning of this be Shall wee say that there is any Magick or Witchcraft in the number of three Wee must not say it But this wee may say A hidden vertue or power there was in those words of our Saviour repeated thrice unto him Alas at the first and second speaking of them Peter did not know the meaning of our Saviour but no sooner doth he come upon him with that question the third time but then hee begins to recollect himselfe and verily beleeve that there is something in it more then ordinary As if Peter had dialogued thus with himselfe What should this meane that my Lord and Master doth so often repeat these words to mee Lovest thou mee lovest thou mee lovest thou mee Would not this once named have served the turne Is it possible that Christ can affect empty repetitions which are like clouds without water Certainly all his words are ponderous nor doth a syllable fall from his blessed lips but what is full of meaning and mysterie No lesse then thrice together lovest thou me O my tormented conscience I have it One deepe calls upon another because of the noyse of the water pipes Now our Apostle begins to dive a little into the mystery of the number 3. and thinks with himselfe what he can call to mind within the compasse or intimation of that number which may concerne himselfe And sure he shall not need to be long in meditation about it If hee chance to bee forgetfull wee 'l bring the Cocke againe to waken his memory and that shall crow but once to tell him that hee hath denied his Master thrice O it was this which touched him to the quicke his mind presently upon Christs third repetition ran backe to his threefold deniall Now Peter understands the intent of his Master but yet sure not all his intent for then hee would never have grieved for the matter He fixes onely upon that part of it which did respect the hainousnesse of his former sinne and called that backe to his memory it is likely he never thought at that time upon the other part of Christs intention which was the good and honour of St. Peter that by this threefold open confession of his Lord and Saviour hee might as much as in him lay expiate his threefold deniall of him This was certainly the chiefest reason why our Saviour urges this to Peter the third time that hee might give him an occasion to redeeme the honour which hee had lost before Hee denied him thrice before and now to make amends for that he confesses him as often But it runnes in the Text And Peter was sory because hee said unto him the third time lovest thou mee which implies that Peter was not so much grieved for the sinne of his deniall it selfe as hee was at the unkindnesse as hee supposed of our Saviour who first seemes to make it a great doubt whether Peter loved him or no in asking him so often And well hee might doubt of it although to speake properly Christ could not doubt of any thing because he knew all things for Peter by his former denialls had given him sufficient cause to doubt And secondly by this threefold Question seemes to upbraid Peter with the same businesse that the Cock told him of before And this is the nature of us all who commonly doe thinke so well of our selves that we account it a great disparagement to have our faith or hope our love or our religion called in question No let us alone wee are well wee love God and wee love Christ wee hope for heaven and wee know all shall bee well with us To what purpose are all these questions With Peter we are sory if any one asks us whether we love Christ or no In the next place wee are of the same nature with St. Peter too by any meanes we doe not love to heare of our sinnes We doe not reade here that CHRIST was any whit plaine or open with Peter Hee did not tell him of his sinne in a diameter in a straight line for wee finde not a word of any denials mentioned but onely tacitely and insinuatingly doth hee by his threefold confession bring backe to his memory his threefold deniall which hee knew could not chuse but do it It is likely that the rest of the company who were present with them at this discourse tooke no notice at all of his meaning it was onely knowne to Peter himselfe who had a vigilant monitor within him his conscience quickning his apprehension and yet for all this Peter is grieved And it was well he was but grieved hee was not angry as many of us will bee now adayes when we heare our darling sinnes a little touched O yee will hug us of the Clergy so long as wee let yee alone so long as wee doe not bring backe your sinnes to your memory wee are quiet and honest men so long as
therefore he wept Fourthly Hee perceived also that there was potestas fortior a power which was too strong for them the power of hell sin and darknesse which did beare rule over them and therefore he wept He wept not for the dead Citie for the walls which were shortly to be overthrowne for her faire Towers and buildings which were shortly to be demolished for her Temple which hee knew was afterwards to be defiled and cast downe to the ground not one stone left upon another Hee did not weepe principally I say for this Although peradventure his griefe might cast an oblique eye thither too but the chiefe cause of his mourning was the sinnes and blindnesse of the people Which Action as it doth confute the Heresies of Valentinian Cerdon and others who deny Christ to have had a naturall body and affirme that hee was not borne of a woman neither had flesh nor suffered any Passion but had a body meerely phantasticall and did faine onely to suffer and besides shewes unto us his infinite mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which was touched with a fellow-feeling of our infirmities So especially it teacheth us what the true use of teares is They are not to be lavished out upon every slight occasion but to be reserved to bee spent for sinne That is their proper object I doe not goe about to make a mutilation in our affections or to Preach the Doctrine of the Stoicks to yee who would have no passions at all There is a sorrow there is a debt of teares which we owe and Nature will exact the payment of us to the Urne of our deceased Parents Children religious Governours Kinsfolks and Friends Ioseph weepes for his Father Iacob seaven dayes Gen. 50. The children of Israel wept for Moses in the plaine of Moab 30. dayes Deut. 34. But yet with Ioseph wee must weepe for our Father Iacob but seaven dayes i. our mourning must be moderate wee must not with the Egyptians bewaile him seventy dayes as men without hope as they did in the third verse of that Chapter of Genesis We cannot weepe too much for our sinnes for any thing else wee may There be other remedies which God hath provided for our lesse dangerous maladies and we are to use them If thou beest deprived of thy goods take Iobs confection and try what good that will doe thee The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord. Naked I came out of my mothers wombe and naked I shall returne againe Which very consideration we see wrought a cure upon that good man Doe not weepe for this it is not worth thy teares Vnicus raptus est filius as St. Ierome to Paula comforting her for the death of her daughter Bresilla Durum quidem sed tolerabile quia sustulit ille qui dederat Is thy onely sonne or thine only daughter ravished from thine eyes by an untimely death T is hard but yet to be endured when thou considerest that it is that same gracious God who lent thee that sonne or that daughter that hath taken them from thee againe neither must thou weepe too much for this But I cannot follow any more particulars and I have dwelt too long in this little Bay into which I diverted We will now make out into the river again And wept for it saying the force of the streame yee see carries mee downe into the next verse O if thou hadst knowne even thou at the least in this thy day Loquitur lachrymas He doth not onely weepe teares but he speakes teares One word as it were trickling downe after another separated from its fellowes as if there were no acquaintance betwixt them O if thou hadst knowen there he stops even thou there he makes another stop at the least in this thy day there hee stops againe those things which belong unto thy Peace What now Like a great Violl with a narrow mouth hee is here quite stopt up with his owne fulnesse Not a drop more yet Those thoughts of sorrow which knock at his lips for passage like a crowd at a little doore while every one strives to be first the passage is clogged up and none of them can get through But I discover something else comming out But now are they hid from thine eyes Quid hoc Domine Iesu quid hic sibi vult verborum saltus What should this meane what dependance have these last words upon the former Art not thou who art the Word it selfe able to make a congruity in thy words Thou who wast able to create such a ravishing harmony in the world one thing so sweetly in a comely subordination depending upon another canst not thou make musicke of a sentence make that agree together Yes Here is agreement Here is Musick More here is Rhetorick More then that here is the height the very iexcellence of all Rhetorick in this broken speech of our Saviour For if words bee nothing else but our thoughts apparelled in ayery syllables but the expression of our thoughts then of necessity those must needs be the best words which come neerest to the true expression as that Picture is the best not that hath the smoothest or the most pleasingest countenance but which most resembles the life it represents Now wee would account him but an ill describer of a Passion whether of joy sorrow anger or any other who makes his sense and words runne in a fine smooth oylie course without any breaches or abruptions as if the Soule in that troubled sea of Passion like the King-fisher in the Halcion dayes were at leasure to build a curious and well-ordered nest of words No Christ here doth so truely set forth to us the Image of a troubled Soule as they may seeme not to bee words which hee speaks but as if sorrow scorning to use the help or mediation of words should speake it selfe in its owne proper language O if thou hadst knowen even thou at the least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace What then As in that speech of the Father who being found weeping and the cause of his sorrow demanded answered Filius unicus habilis pollens ingenio Adolescens My sonne my onely sonne a young man of faire hopes and being able to goe no farther had his imperfect speech made up by a stander by relieving his halting sentence though small reliefe unto himselfe by adding that word Obiit diem is dead which hee for the greatnesse of his griefe was not able to pronounce himselfe So must we make up this imperfect speech of Christs which the thought of the sinnes and neere-drawing confusion of the City would not suffer him to finish Si cognovisses tu If thou hadst but knowne the danger thou art in and me thy Saviour who am here at hand to deliver thee out of that danger What then Thou wouldest have wept as I doe now thou wouldest have turned all thy jollity into mourning and repenting thee
thou art first bound as farre as thou canst to search out the Truth to receive thy informations attentively and seriously before thou goest out and then laying all by-respects a side to deliver thy conscience clearely and plainely For it is you who have a great stroake in making this Veile of Equity which is to cover the Face of the Magistrate He can but examine the Witnesses heare the testimonies inquests and arguings and afterwards give you an Information of all this T is you who are Vitae necis tam potentes Causarum in whose power the life and death of Causes doe chiefly consist The Magistrate or Iudge like the hand in a dyall may often times poynt to the wrong houre and yet no fault in him but in some of the wheeles which are out of Frame For it is his part to proceed and give sentence secundum probata tantum according to the Testimonies and Allegations onely 4. The next in order is the Councellor or Pleader and these is the Iudge upon the Bench is called a God may in some sort be called little Gods too But I wish I could not call a great part of this Tribe too truly the deities of Nilus the Gods of the Aegyptians Garlick and Onyons whose chiefest vertues are to force teares from the Eyes of theyr votaries O Sanctas Gentes quibus nascuntur in hortis Numina But I forgot my selfe I should have left out the first part of the verse for such are the abhominable corruptions which many of them use now adayes that we may call them the holyest and the happiest Nations who have no such Gods at all grow in their Gardens I do not speake against all mistake me not there be honest and worthy Lawyers amongst us Nor doe I go about any way to disparage the calling For the true use of it is honourable being to defend the oppressed to maintaine or else recover the right of such as have beene troden downe by theyr too potent Adversaries Put when Rhetorick I wrong the Science I must not call it so rheumaticke and obstreperous noise goes about to make the guilty innocent and the innocent guilty to Carusse ore the Blackamoore and to prove the Leopard to have no spots when a little bold wild and Sophisticate language is able to make head against Truth and overcome it and the cause Ad mensuram pulmonis Advocati aut Hares aut non flourisheth or languisheth according to the strength of the Advocates lungs and boldnesse or rather to the depth of the Clients purse and opennesse I doe not onely accuse these times this disease was ever rise amongst the ancient Romanes nay it has beene in use ever since Iupiter had a beard In Saturnes raigne peradventure it was otherwise Aut sub Iove nondum barbato But the Antiquity of it proves not the lawfulnesse yee have a saying in the Law Nullum tempus occurrit Regi No custome can prescribe against the King and by the favour of Law this is as true in Divinity no prescription against GOD the King of Heaven and Earth Hee brings but a weake argument who concludes what ought to be from what has beene Such a colour Murder might have for it selfe who is able to derive its pedigree as farre as Cain It is to no purpose for mee to lay open the sacred thirst of Gold that is in these men I might as well tell yee that there is a Sun or a Heaven which we all aknowledge nor can I hope if I should repeate it to be heard the Masculine delicious and charming harmony which the gold makes in the Bag I know would out-musicke me would sound sweetlier and lowder in theyr eares then all that I could utter The second branch of St. PAVLS distinction of Tongues would out-cry the first the Tongue of Angels would bee lowder then the Tongue of Men. But yet for the discharge of my duty I must let such men know but surely this is a very fruitfull place for controversie I see few of them at Church if they had nothing to doe it is likely they would be here who make the sacred place of Iustice no better then the Stage of a Mountebanke having received their Fee who leave the cause many times where peradventure the whole estate of the Clyent lyes at stake and fall upon theyr Brother pleader or upon the person of the man whose cause is in hand or upon the cloaths and behaviour of some of the witnesses or parties hunting after crude and indigested impertinances which walke like apparitions or ghosts in the shape of Iests thereby as I suppose to catch the easie care of the circumstant Iurer or Country Gentleman who will reserve them for his holy-day reports amongst his admiring neighbours that however these Musitians of Pythagoras these Angels who play upon the Spheares may for a time delight them and they may dance after theyr musick too yet at the latter end they shall have but a harsh close they shall end in a discord 5 And so for the Officer who by bribes taken in secret is corrupted to foyst in or take out what he please let him know also that there is an other which is a generall Assizes to come hereafter when he shall be put out of his office when the Bookes of his owne conscience shall be layd open before that great Iudge the Lord of Heaven and earth in which booke there shal be no enterlining no blotting out no putting in but all his actions shall appeare faire and in a full Character All these five sorts of men have a hand in the framing and making this Veyle which is to be put upon the Face of the Civill Magistrate but yet not altogether so but that the Iudge has the overseeing of this theyr Worke. If hee perceives that the Accuser brings materials unfitting and which will not conduce to the making of the Covering of Equitie he may so canvase the businesse eyther by examination or if that will not doe by delay so that at the last the Truth may bee found out For he does ill purchase to himselfe the title of a man of Expedition and Dispatch who hastens causes and ends them before they be ripe If he findes a palpable malice and confederacie in the Witnesse who is here in the second ranke of workmen it is in his power I take it for my want of experience in these matters will not suffer mee to be confident to deny him his Oath If hee perceives ignorance supinitie and negligence in the Iurer he may impannell new ones If Sophistry Cavelling or Meram Superbientem lasciviam verborum an unnecessary trifling and wantonnesse of of words in the Advocate his wisedome sharpe insight and experience peradventure hee himselfe once being a Pleader and so knowing the way of them the better may looke through that Veyle of forc'd language and view the realities and after those direct his sentence If in his Officer he finds Bribery and Corruption as the best Princes and Magistrates in the world sometimes cannot bee without bad Officers 't is in his power to rectifie that too But these things yee know better farre I confesse then I am able to direct yee yet it is not a bare knowledge of them that will benefit yee in the last day but Happy are yee if yee doe them It it not the knowledge that swims above in the braine but that which sinkes downe into the heart takes root in the affections and brings forth fruit in actions that will then profit thee For to whom much is given of him much shal be required not onely the Principall which was trusted to the understanding and Theorye but also the interest which is expected from the Practick part There is another kinde of Veyle too which is to be put upon the Face of MOSES which is the same that our Hieroglyphicks in the embleme put before the Face of Iustice whom they picture out by a woman having a Covering before her eyes and a payre of ballance in her hand and this is to denote unto us the impartiality that should be in a judge he should be blinded not his understanding for that cannot be too quick-sighted but to show us that there should be no respect of persons in him Exod. 23.3 Thou shalt not countenance no not a poore man in his Cause And if not a poore mâ—n much lesse does it become him to put off his Veyle that his Eyes may let in the greatnesse the favour the Friendship of the rich and potent For if the person of any man should be accepted certainly in all equity it is the person of the Poore but yee see here is a strict command against this Doe therefore all things as beeing assured that you your selves one day shall be ungodded againe for he who has sayd yee are Gods has also sayd that yee shall dye like men For the time shall come when a poore Vrne shall hold your Ashes all that little all which shall remaine of your voluminous greatnesse when that Eternall Iustice shall poize the ballance with an equall hand wicked AHAB shall then answer for NABOTHS Vineyard and IEZEBELL for the bloud of the Prophets Have but this therefore in your mindes and the God of all Iustice and mercy direct your actions labour to goe up into the Mountaine with MOSES and consult with the Lord 1 Be just and righteous let your faces reflect those cornua lucis those beams of light yee shall there receive from God and with MOSES your faces shall shine amongst the people yee shall be honour'd and reverenc'd ride on then and good lucke have yee with your honour and having past a glorious life here below the end of the Text shall be the end of your dayes Yee shall goe up againe and speake with God where your discourse shall never be interrupted so long as there is Eternity For if with MOSES yee live in the Mountaine and converse with GOD that is be imploy'd in his service and doe Iustice yee shall also with MOSES at the length heare that invitation of GOD to him in the 32. of Deutr. 50. verse Goe up into the Mountaine and dye yee shall depart this life in the favour of the Highest FINIS