meeting of yours in my Text wee have also MOSES face veyl'd 1 The strict rigour of the Law which like the glystering of MOSES countenance strikes a terrour into the people and makes them afrayd to come neare yee covered with the veyle of Equitie or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as Aristotle defines it Eth. lib. 5. cap. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A certaine Correction or mending of the Law beeing deficient in some cases which the Law-giver himselfe were he present would have added to the Law And this is nothing else but a wise and religious consideration and weighing of the circumstances of such facts as are to be layd in the ballance of Iustice Thus have we here a compleat Assises or rather the platforme which showes us what they should be GOD. The MAGISTRATE PEOPLE and EQVITIE And so the â—ext is easily divided not to be too curious We have heere 1. GOD and the Magistrate 2. The People and Equitie First God and the Magistrate for they must never be separated and so wee have MOSES in his glory GOD as the Author of his glory MOSES as the Subject Secondly The People and Equity which must go together too and to wee have MOSES in his veyle MOSES accommodated to the Capacity of the weake eyes of the people Or else if yee please thus Here are the two severall Aspects of MOSES 1 As he lookes upon God 2 As he lookes upon the People Like the double face of the Moone when hee is in Conjunction with the Sunne that halfe part of her Orbe with which she respects the Sunnâ— is glorious and filld with light her other 〈◊〉 that lookes upon the Earth is darke and charg'd with obscurity From the first Part of my Text the first Aspect of MOSES doe naturally arise these two Positions 1 That the face of MOSES of the civill Magistrate is glorious They are Gods Secondly That this glory of theirs comes from the Lord 't is he who hath sayd they are Gods and his dixi is a Feet With him to say they are Gods is to make them â—o Of the First I shall not need to quote much Scripture to prove the excellence of the Magistrate for to say they are Gods there in the Psalme is to say all that can be sayd and againe Exod. 22. Dijs non malediâ—as thou shalt not raile upon the Gods nor speake evill of the ruler of thy pleople Homer cals them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sheepheards of the people and Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saviours But what need we seeke any farther or travaile to Heathen writers for Tiâ—lâ—s for them when we have the Lords owne ipse dixit Hee hath sayd they are Gods It is accounted a grand subtlety and a great peece of Art in an Oratour to perswade his Auditors that they are that that they are such men already as he would have them to be Now God the best Oratour in the World humbling himself into the way of Art vouchsafes so farre to descend to our Capacity as to use the same manner of Rhetoricke He has sayd they are glorious he has sayd they are excellent on purpose to perswade them to be so Let them take heed therfore what they do Agere uti nomeÌ„ clutt behave themselves agreeable to the Title he is pleas'd to bestow upon them lost they be found strivers as much is in them is to prove the God of all truth a lyer Bee glorious bee excellent endeavour to have your faces shin before the people Let your light so shine before men that they seeing your good workes may glorifie your Father which is in heaven And yee have no other way in the World to obtaine this glory but the same which MOSES had to get his To goe up into Mount Sinai and consult with God And so wee are come already to the second Position 2. â— for indeed they cannot be long kept a sunder â—y they cannot be separated at all so neare is the kindred the relation betwixt them For no sooner is your glory nam'd but God immediately steps in nay indeed hee was there before for hee is the Author of your glory without God no glory at all no shining of the Countenance And it will not bee amisse to see the manner of MOSES consulting with God when he did obtaine this glory At the 28. verie of this Chapter So he was there with the Lord forty dayes and forty nights and did neither eate bread nor drinke water By this Lent this forty dayes fast which MOSES kept here in the Mountaine and afterwards CHRIST himselfe in the Wildernesse imitateâ— by us at this time or at least should bee as farre as our weake Natures will suffer us St. Augustine would understand the life of Man being dayes of sorrow and affliction according to the Mysticall number of weekes which a woman with Child goes before she is delivered Nor is it meerely St. Augustines observation For if yee looke narrowly into the 16 of Sâ— Iohns Gospell verse 21. Ioh. â— Ye shall â—nde our blessed Saviour himselfe to imply so much speaking how his Disciples should weepâ— and lament A Woman â—es hee while shee travaileth hath sorrow because her houre is come but as soone as she is a delivered of the Child shee remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a man is borne into the World And yee now therefore are in sorrow but I will see yee againe and your hearts shall reioyce and your ioy shall no man take from yee And that is the Christians Easter his death when hee shall keepe a perpetuall Sabboth unto the Lord with continuall Hallelujahs in his mouth The forty dayes and forty nights doe typifie then the life of man but what is meant by the fasting The same Father shall tell us Iejunium quod probat altissimus non solum intermissa corporis refectio sed a malis artibus factu disceâ—sio The true Lent which is pleaâ—ing to God is a Spirituall fast a fast from Sin and this thou must observe all the forty dayes that is the whole course of thy life Thou must fast from Bribes from Giâ—ts thou must not suffer thine eyes to wander after the fatnesse of the Oxe in the Stall nor the Wether in the Pasture thy fingers must not itch after the plumpe Gold in the Bag to divert the course of Iustice nor must thou respect the person of thy Friend Kinsman Nephew or Favorite thereby to wrong the Fatherlesse or the Widdow Thou must make a Covenant with thine eyes thou must not looke upon such a great Ladyes letter upon the Bench nor yet remember what such a Lord your Honourable Friend spoke to you in private for there is a Lord above more Honourable then hee who expects justice from thee This is the true forâ—y dayes Fast of MOSES which the Governours of the People they who sit in the Gates of Princes should observe For know that although yâ— â—t there at the
our voyages set forth from the Temple begin at God as we doe now observing the â—dable custome of our Nation and so indeed we ought to doe especially in assures of such consequence when the lives and estates of men are to be layd in the ballance but also to let us and all those whom there he stiles Gods Know that it is he who is Alpha Deorum the first beginning the Fountaine of the Gods He is the Ocean they but râ—valets deriv'd from it And as it was hee who sayd to them there in the Psalme I have said yee are Gods So it is he who sayes to this Alpha inter Deos minorum Gentium in my text as I may call him to MOSES one of the greatest amongst the deputed Gods I have sayd thou art a God For although we reade that the people saw the face of MOSES to shine here I so gloriously that AARON and the Children of Israell were afraid to come neare him vers 30. Yet if we looke into the next verse going before we shall finde this lustre to be none of his owne like the Starres which every night doe light their Tâ—pers a fresh at the Sunne he did but 〈◊〉 â—ct the beâ—mes he receiv'd from God vers 29 And it came to paste when MOSES came downe from Mount Sinai that the skinne of his face did shine Mount Sinai where hee had beene forty dayes and forty nights with the Lord. It was from thence he had his glory The vulgar Latine Translation reades this place thus Et erat facies Mosi Cornuta and MOSES had hornes upon his face from whence grew that custome amongst some Christians derided by the Iewes to picture MOSES with hornes which errour was occasioned by the vicinity of the wâ— Hebrew words Keren which signifies a horne and Karan to shine Nor yet was this opinion without its favourers for Tostatus approves it Emisit radios sayes he tanquam Cornua ficut radij a Sole derivati Cornu spectem praese ferunt Hee did dart forth beames from his glorified face like hornes as the beames which issue from the Sunne doe seeme forked but I will trouble yee no farther with these controversies nor with Cajetans opposing to this interpretation nor yet with the strange glosses of some ignorant Rabbines who affirme that MOSES face was sayd to be horned because it was so dryed up with fasting those 40. dayes and 40. nights that nothing but skinne was left upon the bones of his Cheekes which did so sticke out Vt acuta velut Cornua viderentur that they showed like hornes As though that omnipotent God who was able to preserve him all this while miraculously without meate or drinke were not able also to keepe his body from decay and dimâ—nution Without all question the genuine meaning of this place is as our Translâ—our renders it MOSES face did shine For the Chalâ— Paraphrast gives it thus The brightnesse of his face was multiplyed and the Septnagâ—nt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his face was glorious and St. PAVL in the 3 to the Rom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the glory of his countenance or pâ—rson which glory God did bestow upon him for these reasons 1 That it might be a signe of Gods favour towards him and that his prayers for the people were heard 2 That it might be a meanes to increase the reverence of the people towards him 3 That the law might thereby become glorious when the given of it was so glorious 4 That it might signifie that inward illumination shining unto them in the purity of his life and doctrine 5 Vt per hoc significetur Iustitiam legis facie tenâ— solummodo esse gloriosam To show that the Iustice which comes by the Law is onely glorious in the Face 1 Outwardlie but with God it does not seeme so For which last reason I doe confesse I am beholden unto Origen who in his 12. Hom. upon Exod. Nihil in lege gloriosum habet Moses preter sol am faciem MOSES in the law had nothing glorious about him but his Face They are his owne words Vultus est Sermo legis manus opera the face of MOSES saith he is the letter of the law his hand the workes of the law Now because no man living can be justified by the workes of the Law therefore we find MOSES his hand Leprous Exod a Et in Sinum reconditur tanquam nihil perfects operis habitura And therefore as asham'd he hides it in his bosome as an unnecessary member unable to doe any thing that was perfect His feete they had no glory â—o contumeliam potius sayes he nay rather they are branded with shame for he is commanded by the Lord Exod. 3. to put his shooes from off his Feete Put thy shones from off thy Feete for the place thou standest on is holy Ground Et hoc fieret sayes the same Father Non sâ—ne alâ— ujus formae mysterâ— Nor is this without a mâ—tâ—iâ— To begin at the head of man as being the nobler member his foot his novissima pars his last part by which the Prophet Daniel will teach us to interpret longissime futura future things which are the farthest off as in the vision of NABâ—CHADNEZZAR the Head of gold signified the present flourishing Monarchy by the feet of clay were meant novissima longinqua things which were to come last in order So that MOSES being commanded to put his shooes from off his feet was showne that the latter times should come when He 1 the Law should have his shooes pluck'd from off his feet as unwilling nay rather as altogether unable to rayse up seed unto his Brother Deutr. 25. By which Ceremony the Wife of his deceased Kinsman that is the Church in generall or each faithfull Soule in particular who ever since the death of her former husband her originall Righteousnesse which dyed in ADAMS fall had liv'd in Widdow-hood was to bee delivered up unto another which was CHRIST and his merits and his name that is the Law to be callâ— iâ—… Israel Domus discalceat vsque in hoâ—ternum diâ—m the House of him whose shooe was pluckt off for ever But the sweet rellish that â—s in these sacred mysteries his carried meâ— ofâ—tre away I will returne and by Gods assistance and you Christian patience try what wee can find oâ— from hence to make for our preâ—ent occasion without any wresting or violence offâ— to the worâ—s And what should hinder us but wee may finde something For we have first God here who is as I told yee Alpha Decâ—…um the first of the Gods by whom through whom and for whom all the rest of the Gods Kings and Iudges are Secondly we have MOSES the Civill Magistrate Gods Vice-gerent and not MOSES barely but MOSES glorified MOSES with his fare shining MOSES as it were upon the bench and next we have the People looking upon the face of MOSES And to these that yee may reade a true Character of this
of thy sinnes in sackcloth and ashes wouldst have sought for forgivenesse at mee thy Redeemer But now they are hid from thine eyes Which latter part of the verse like the Serpent carries the sting in its Taile For it was the consideration of that indeed which caused all these bitter teares namely because their day was past it was hid from their eyes But I am called backe by the words of an Expositor Domine saith hee entring into a Dialogue with Christ te rogo cur inquis quod illi te non noverunt Lord what dost thou meane to say they did not know thee Did not the Multitude carry Palmes in their hands as ensignes of thy victory which thou shouldst obtaine over sinne death and hell meet thee in the way Did they not spread their garments before thee Did they not call thee with an unanimous consent The King of Israel the sonne of David crying Hosanna Hosanna in the Highest blessed be the King who commeth in the Name of the Lord. What answer Christ himselfe would have given him we doe not know conjecture we may and first thus As for those people who met him in the way with Palmes in their hands as upon this day which from thence by the institution of the Church still retaines the name of Palme Sunday with Palmes I say in their hands and exclamations of great joy which there are called a Multitude Alas what were they in comparison of the whole City but as a drop to the Bucket besides that multitude was but of the common ignorant sort of the people few of the Rulers or Pharisees were there and such as were there were so farre from joyning with them in that joyfull confession that they call to Christ to rebuke the multitude ver 39. Master rebuke thy Disciples But Christ who bore the nature and infirmities of them all did thirst after the salvation of them all Again he who is the searcher of the reines and heart did peradventure discover that however their outsides did flatter him using a great deale of faire Ceremony and religious Complement yet for all that many of their hearts were farre enough from him Hee perceived for ought wee know some amongst that multitude such is the levity and inconstancy of the people who for all their Hosannas now drawen to it it may be for companies sake or else for the novelty and strangenesse of the thing were afterwards as lowd in the other voice Crucifige crucifige His blood be upon us and upon our children And therefore well might he say they did not know him They doe not know Christ truely neither will Christ know them at the last day who are onely worshippers of him in outward Ceremony and not in the Heart The outward Ceremonies of the Church the carrying of Palmes in our hands i. the adorning of the House of the Lord with comely ornaments is good novimus wee confesse it The spreading of our garments in the way our worshipping and crying Hosanna bowing at the blessed Name of Jesus is comely holy befitting and reverent Quis enim potest negare but as the Poet to proud Fabulla Sed dum te nimium Fabulla landas Nec dives neque bella neque puella es But should there bee too much stirre kept about these things as is objected to us and the service of the inward man in the mean time neglected they would be in the esteeme of God neither comely reverent nor holy For hee is more pleased with the worship of the heart then with all the outward pompe of their Feasts and new Moones But this discourse is not altogether so fitting for the times wee live in Alas there are not such multitudes of us now who are found meeting our blessed Saviour with Palmes in our hands worshipping and crying Hosanna spreading our garments upon the Asse and in the way and yet for all this although the number bee but small compared unto the multitude of the mockers but live the gleaning after a Vintage yet see if our new Pharisies be not as busie now as ever the old ones were about Christ crying Master rebuke thy Disciples and saying with Judas who was a Thiefe and carried the Bag Wherefore serves all this wast To what purpose are all these Palmes and branches of Trees all this worshipping and crying Hosanna in the Highest These garments spread in the way all this outward Ornament and Ceremony It followes in the verse Hadst thou but knowne at the least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now are they hid from thine eyes Yee observe here that Jerusalem had her day of Peace shee had her time of mercy and grace offered her And ye may observe also that Jerusalem did neglect this proffered grace it was hid from her eyes Who was it that hid it from her eyes Why certainly our Saviour Christ will prove the best Interpreter of himselfe Jerusalem Jerusalem which killest the Prophets Mat. 23.37 and stonest them who are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thee together as a Hen gathereth her chickens under her wings but yee would not He doth not say but yee could not but yee would not Surely the fault was their owne They had a day and the Sunne shone clearely over their heads but they hoodwinkt themselves shut out the light and would not see But I perceive this sea of teares is now proved a depth of doctrine wherein the Leviathan may sport himselfe and all this while wee have but stood upon the shore and viewed onely the troubled surface of this deepe Nor dare I adventure any farther into it The Well is deepe O Lord and I have nothing wherewith to draw Let those who have lines and plummets fit for the undertaking of such a worke sound and dive to the bottome of this deepe I will content my selfe with St. Peter to take a journey to Christ upon the face of the Sea onely to walke with him upon the waves and if I chance to sinke I will pray with him and say Lord save me I perish THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH SERMONS PREACHED Upon the two first Sundayes in Advent CANT 2.8 It is the voyce of my beloved behold he comes leaping upon the mountaines and skipping over the hills THe Church in her pious care and wisdome hath instituted no great Feast through the whole yeere but shee hath both appointed to it dayes of preparation and dayes of attendance The solemne time of Lent that prepares us for the great feast of Easter which being come wee see it accompanied for the greater state with two attendant Holy dayes so likewise Whitsunday is prepared unto us by Rogation weeke and wayted upon also when it is come by its two Holy dayes which follow it And this great and high Festivall of the Nativity of our blessed Saviour which now drawes neere upon us as it hath its twelve dayes of Attendance so it hath foure Sundayes of preparation which are called
the Sundayes in Advent the ancient Christians styling the birth of Christ or his comming in the flesh by the name of Advent And why there be foure Sundayes or weekes preparative ushering in this Feast some doe take upon them to affirme that it is to signifie to us the foure Advents of our Saviour The first is Adventus ejus ad homines Secondly In homines The third Contra homines And the fourth Super homines The first His comming to men in the flesh The second His comming into men in the spirit The third His comming against men at the day of each particular mans death And the fourth His comming above men in the day of judgement Of all which Advents of Christ this mysticall Text of ours may be understood Behold he comes leaping upon the mountaines and skipping over the hills There be some Interpreters who write upon this place who accommodate this Text to the freedom of the children of Israel froÌ„ the 70. yeares captivity in Babylon by Cyrus the Persian The first and second verses of this Chapter they will have to understand those times of deportation when Nebuchadnezzar like a furious tempest did sweepe and carrie before him all that was pretious in the land of Israel Her King her Princes her strong men of warre all her cunning workmen all the treasures of the house of the Lord all the treasures of the Kings house 2. Kings 24. ver 1. I am the Rose of the field the Lilly of the vallyes ver 2. Like a Lilly among the thornes so is my beloved amongst the daughters And this they will have to be a Propheticall complaint of the Church in those lamentable times exposed to all depopulations and conculcations of the barbarous enemie Iuxta florem in agro sine munimento The third verse Like the Apple Tree amongst the Trees of the Forrest so is my beloved amongst the Sonnes of men This they will have to depicture out the quiet though poore estate of those reliquiae populi those reliques of the people which were left behinde under the tuition of Gedaliah who here they say is meant by the Apple tree under whose shadow they had delight Humilis hic erat ad proceritatem priorum regum vel ad altissimos Cedros qui florebant in Babyloniis montibus And hee indeed was but a shrub the Thistle of Libanus if wee compare him with their former Kings or with the tallnesse of those Cedars which though in captivity yet in some sort did flourish upon the mountaines of Babylon I might leade yee farther downe with me into the Wine-Cellar and tell yee what they will have meant by that the King had mee into his Wine-Cellar and love was his banner over me namely their enemies land partly Babylon partly Egypt whither much of the people at the cutting off of Gedaliah did undertake a voluntary exile Introduxit me Rex in Cellam vinartam non in domum convivii as one notes The King had me into his Wine-Cellar not into his banqueting house which you shall finde if you looke into the 7. of Ecclesiastes rejoycing in another name The heart of the foole is in the house of mirth In domo compâ—tationis As if the Spouse had said here The King had me into a melancholly and sorrowfull Cave in locum subterraneum into a Caverne of the earth as yee know most of our Wine-Cellars be yet notwithstanding there shee found Wine The Spirit and the Word which be often compared to Wine still bore them company Nec Ecclesiae in his miseriis consolatium defuit cui Carcer vino refertus It was impossible that the Church in these miseries should want comfort when her very prison was a Wine-Cellar But I come to this verse in the Chapter which I have chosen for my Text and this they will have to be as I told yee the comming of Cyrus to their deliverance It is the voyce c. Shee falls into an abrupt mention of it as if from a farre shee had heard the voyce of her welbeloved calling to her and distracted as it were with joy at the unexpectednesse of the newes she breakes forth into this suddaine extasie It is the voyce of my welbeloved And this is nothing else say they but a Prophesie of that great joy which all those Captive Jews did feele at the rumour of those warlike preparations of the Medes and Persians against Babylon for now they knew that the time of their Manumission was at hand which was prophesied by Ieremie in his 50. Chapter The latter part of the verse sets out unto us the speedinesse of his comming Behold hee comes leaping upon the mountaines and skipping over the hills As the Comick Poet saith Cervum cursa vincit gallatorem gradu Hee came leaping over Nations and striding over Kingdomes as if hee had had Stiles on And as it is in the next verse My welbeloved is like a Roe or a young Hart. How quickly did hee leape over the Armenians Lydia Hyrcanâ—a The Bactrians Susians Carians Phrygians Cappadocians With that lightnesse that he scarce left any footsteps behinde him so soone did be vanquish them But me thinks this interpretation is too dull and earthy and farre below the dignity and majestie of this so divine a Song So that wee may say of this Text as Christ did once to the people concerning Solomon A greater then Solomon is here So may we say certainly a greater then Cyrus is here is meant here of whom Cyrus himselfe was but a Type The comming of that true Cyrus in this place is meant that Conquerour who made preparation for warre who came into the world assumed our flesh by him sanctified and made the weapons of his righteousnesse to redeeme his chosen Nation whom Nebuchadnezzar the devill had carried into Captivity into Babylon This Text then may set forth unto us either the comming of our blessed Saviour in the flesh when in the fulnesse of time hee was borne of the Virgin suffered the frailties of humane Nature and at the last death for the sinnes of the world Or else his coÌ„ming in the Spirit to each particular faithfull soule But before I fasten upon any of these give mee leave to take up an Observation or two by the way which cannot bee very well passed over in silence The first is that hearing goes before seeing The Church first heares the voyce of her Saviour and afterwards shee sees him This is the order which the holy Spirit observes in many places of sacred Scripture Heare O daughter and see as yee have it in Isay and as it is in the last of Iob I have heard of thee by the hearing of the eare but now mine eye hath seene thee And in the second of the Acts when that Comforter which Christ had promised came unto them yee shall reade that first upon a sudden there was a sound heard from Heaven as of a mighty and rushing wind and after the Cloven Tongues like