our left but God hath given the judgment of discretion to all Christians of mature age let them mark what the Scriptures say in clear and literal Positions Thirdly The judgment of direction is committed to Pastors and Teachers that are set over your souls And judge ye what we say says the Apostle and the Lord give you understanding Fourthly There is the judgment of Jurisdiction proper to them who are in places of pre-eminency and these may determine Controversies of Faith according to plain and evident Scripture but because they may exceed the bounds of truth it is pernicious to say that men are bound to obey those determinations with as great affections of Piety as the inerrable Word of God That place so much debated that the Church is the House of God the ground and Pillar of Truth will bear no more but that it is so by Office and Calling as every King is the Minister of Justice though some have failed in the execution of it And the Note of Cameron upon it is very witty and learned that the Jews were wont to prefix these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he proves it out of Maimonides before the grand Points of Religion and so may make a Preface to the succeeding Verse The pillar and ground of truth great is the mystery of Godliness c. It is an Interpretation to better Analogie of Faith than that which his Adversaries press out of the words The sum is our Faith is not built upon the Authority and Infallibility of the present Church if it controul an higher authority than it self the holy Scripture what remains but declines her judgment as our Saviour did his Parents Wist you not that I must go about my Fathers business And as Asa did depose his Mother Maacha though she were his Mother for erecting an Idol So we may reject the Mother which should command a relative adoration of Images of Stocks and Stones and appeal to our Grandmother which was free from such scandals Judicate matrem vestram says Hoseah to the Jews when the Synagogue was corrupt Plead against your Mother Yet so says Waldensis most prudently that the humble and obedient Children of the Church may not insolently insult upon them from whom they are forced to dissent but with a reverent child-like and respectful shamefac'dness Especially it is a naughty inference to argue the Church may err and doth trip in some errors therefore it is not to be obeyed You will not deal so I hope with your fleshly Parents avoid their errors but conserve the bond of obedience entire in all things the name of Mother charms us not to deride her nakedness and to conform to her prudent opinions with all submissive willingness I draw up the Point to this Brief Hearken to the Laws of the Church in things indifferent wherein she must not be burdensom Submit unto her Censures wherein she must not be tyrannous Hearken to her determinations of faith wherein she must not be peremptory Non dominantes fidei It hath no dominion over our faith This is the reciprocal League between the Mother and the Children between that Jerusalem and us which is the Mother of us all And as this obedience may challenge a blessing as confidently as Nazianzen is said to claim it of his Father Habes obedientem benedictionem repende I have been obedient I claim a benediction from you so the next thing to be considered our unity shall bring us blessing upon blessing Our Mother is one and though we are many yet in a spiritual Connexion we all make but one All the faithful in the world are drawn up into one Pronoun the Mother of Vs As Jacob did divide his company and substance when he came from Padan Aram into Canaan One Band of men and one Flock of Cattel was with Leah another with the Handmaids a third with Rachel but all were Jacobs So God hath scattered his Churches some in Europe some in Asia some in Affrica c. but all are Christs And these are all united to him in his Spirit in his Word and in his Sacraments as Wax that is melted incorporates it self with Wax My Dove my undefiled is but one Cant. vi 9. Therefore let us preserve one bond of Peace and one Charity even as hereafter we look for one glory and one felicity Says St. Chrysostom The Ceremony of old was to eat the Paschal Lamb in one house and to carry nothing out Significans unam esse domum quae in Christo salutem consequitur Portending that they shall have no part in the Sacrifice of Christ who are divided by contentious separation from that one Family of Christ wherein only the Lamb of Salvation is made ready to be eaten There is nothing that our Saviour did sooner suppress than the least emergent division that did arise among the Apostles The Apostles themselves did condescend in many things which might bear an harsh construction with a rash Judge to prevent a rupture as if when they were put to that Dilemma better that Truth should suffer a little than Unity O it is the ground of all other mysteries the Son of God who is one with his Father is made one with us that we might be one as he is one both with him and among our selves As Christ hath but one truth so he can have but one Society one Communion of Saints to profess it as there is but one Shepherd so there can be but one Sheepfold Joh. x. 16. Nay to straiten it yet more in the phrase of the Holy Ghost the whole body of the Faithful is as it were no more than one man So we read Ephes ii 15. He abolished in himself the enmity meaning that which was between the Jews and Gentiles for to make in himself of twain one new man so making peace As who should say They of the old Leaven make a great number in their discords and diversities but they that spring from one root of Faith from Hope from one Baptism in Christ Jesus they make but one new man But what if Hereticks and Schismaticks will not suffer this unity entire and unviolated The issue is quickly cast up the unity of Jerusalem is the greater for their departure The scandal I confess is contagious to those that are without but the sounder part is the more sound for the evacuation of those bad humours Avolet quantùm volet palea levis fidei eò purior massa frumenti in horreum Domini reponetur Yet let her that calls her self the Mother take heed that she put not her Children from her for every jar and error nay nor for a Capital error unless it be joyned with an irrecoverable pertinacy Who were worse than the Galatians at the time when St. Paul wrote this Epistle What a venomous corruption was in their Churches mingling the Ceremonies of the Old Law and faith in Christ Jesus together which could never be compounded and yet the Apostle accounts
SERVE GOD AND BE CHEAREFVLL THE RIGHT RD. FATHER IN GOD IOHN HACKET L D BISHOP OF LICH AND COVENT Aged 78 Dyed 28. Oct. 1670. W. Faithorne sculp His face this Icon shewes his pious wit These Sermons would you know him further yet your selfe must dye for Reader you must looke In Heau'n for what 's not of him in this Booke A CENTURY OF SERMONS Upon Several Remarkable Subjects PREACHED BY The Right Reverend FATHER in GOD JOHN HACKET LATE LORD BISHOP OF Lichfield and Coventry Published by THOMAS PLUME D. D. LONDON Printed by Andrew Clark for Robert Scott at the Princes Arms in Little Britain MDCLXXV TO His Most Sacred MAJESTY CHARLES II. By the Grace of GOD King of Great Britain France and Ireland Most Gracious and Dread Soveraign I Here present with all Humility to Your Royal Majesty a Bundle of Holy Frankincense and Myrrh hoping that Your Majesties great Piety will please to admit It among the many Rarities of Your Closet and at times seasonable into the more sacred recesses of your Mind and Soul It was the Compound of a late Reverend and Learned Prelate exalted by your Majesty to be the Intelligence to rule the Orb of Lichfield and Coventry Who in his ordinary attendance upon your Majesty your Royal Father and Grandfather had the Honour to preach more than Eighty times at Court and in This one Volume has comprized no less than a Whole Body of Divinity wherein the Great Mysteries of our Christian Faith are clearly explained all mens Duty towards God sincerely taught your Majesties Regal Authority strongly maintained the Doctrine and Discipline of our Church by Law established learnedly Vindicated Long may your Majesty peaceably retain your rightful Jurisdiction over this Church and State Long may there be in it such Religious and Learned Prelates placed by your Majesty in Higher Spheres free from Parity and Poverty And long may your Majesty continue like the Sun not onely to Irradiate the Stars of greater Magnitude above but also in due time to cast more Lustre upon the lesser Luminaries of the Church that they may shine more bright beneath And then as your Majesty like your Blessed Saviour was attended with an Happy Star at your Birth so your Majesty shall likewise with Him be attended by a Good Angel at your Death to translate your Majesty to that Crown of glory that fadeth not away Which is the perpetual prayer of Your MAJESTIES Most humble Supplicant and Dutiful Subject THOMAS PLUME A TABLE Directing to the TEXTS of SCRIPTURE handled in the following SERMONS XV Sermons upon our Blessed Saviours Incarnation I. UPon S. Luke ii 7. And she brought forth her first born Son and wrapped him in swadling clothes and laid him in a Manger because there was no room for them in the Inn page 1 II. Vpon S. Luke ii 8. And there were in the same Country Shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their Flock by night p. 10 III. Vpon S. Luke ii 9. And lo the Angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid p. 20 IV. Vpon S. Luke ii 10. And the Angel said unto them Fear not for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people p. 30 V. Upon the same p. 40 VI. Vpon S. Luke ii 11. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord p. 50 VII Vpon S. Luke ii 13 14. And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly Hoste praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good will towards men p. 60 VIII Upon the same p. 70 IX Vpon S. Luke xi 27 28. A certain woman of the company lift up her voice and said unto him Blessed is the Womb that bare thee and the Paps which thou hast sucked But he said Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it p. 79 X. Vpon S. Luke ii 29 30. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation p. 88 XI Vpon S. Luke i. 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people p. 98 XII Vpon S. Luke i. 69. And hath raised up an horn of Salvation for us in the house of his servant David p. 109 XIII Vpon S. Matth. ii 1 2. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the dayes of Herod the King behold there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem Saying where is he that is born King of the Jews for we have seen his Star in the East and are come to worship him p. 118 XIV Upon the same p. 127 XV. Upon the same p. 136 VI Sermons upon the Baptism of our Saviour I. Vpon S. Matth. iii. 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him p. 147 II. Vpon S. Matth. iii. 14. But John forbad him saying I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me p. 157 III. Vpon S. Matth. iii. 14 15. And comest thou to me And Jesus answering said unto him Suffer it to be so now For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness p. 166 IV. Vpon S. Matth. iii. 15 16. Then he suffered him And Jesus when he was baptized went up straightway out of the water p. 175 V. Vpon S. Matth. iii. 16. And loe the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him p. 184 VI. Vpon S. Matth. iii. 17. And loe a voice from heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased p. 193 XXI Sermons upon the Tentation of our Saviour I. Vpon S. Matth. iv 1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil p. 205 II. Upon the same p. 214 III. Upon the same p. 224 IV. Vpon S. Matth. iv 1 2. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil And when he had fasted forty dayes and forty nights he was afterwards an hungry p. 234 V. Upon the same p. 244 VI. Vpon S. Matth. iv 3. And when the Tempter came to him he said If thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bread p. 254 VII Upon the same p. 263 VIII Upon the same p. 273 IX Vpon S. Matth. iv 4. But he answered and said it is written Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God p. 282 X. Vpon S. Matth. iv 5. Then the Devil taketh him up into the holy City and setteth him on a pinacle of the Temple p. 292 XI Vpon S. Matth. iv 6. And saith unto him If thou be Son of God cast thy self down For it is written He shall give his
veritas displiceat seditiosa After his Majestie 's return and restauration of the Church of England he prayed for nothing more in this World than the downfal of Mahomet and the resurrection of the Greek Empire and Church again and would say he thought in his complexion and Religion both that he was the greatest Anti-Ottoman in Europe he was extremely afflicted for poor Hungary the Antimurale or Bulwark of Christendom in the last Invasion and consequently for the horrible division of Christians through the juglings of the Papacy for which reason he could not yet foresee which way possible they should unite under one General who might be able to put an Hook into the jaws of Mahomet and repulse the Grand Signior into Arabia again or to his Scythian Cottages and therefore he never hoped for this happy time till he saw the Papacy fall first which yet he hoped should never be brought to pass by those Infidels though he was very much affected with the words of Musculus spoken above a hundred years ago Ecclesia Sancti Petri sic aedificatur Romae ut ad plenum aedificata sit nunquam citiùsque destruenda sit a Turcis quà m ad finem structurae perducenda a Romanis He took the Pope to be an ill Member of Christendom yet would have no man desire the Devil should pull him down viz. the Turk or Goths and Vandals viz. German Anabaptists and Socinians for fear the change should be for the worse the Italians were a civil people and lovers of learning the Anabaptists of Germany more ignorant and bloudy far than they From this civility of his own temper he did not much love to fix the Title of Antichrist upon the Papacy yet believed that our learned Divines Mr. Mede and Dr. More especially had with that great learning in all kinds so charg'd this crime upon Him that he admired his Champions who daily scatter books of all other matters could permit their supreme Pontife to be so slander'd if it were not true and he thought it frivolous for them to write upon other controversies before they were able to clear themselves before all the world of this Capital one and which being true concluded all other crimes in it Though a reconciliation of all Christians were desireable yet he held it impossible to be effected as long as the Doctrines of their Churches Infallibility and the Popes Supremacy were so obstinately maintain'd The Pope was now become like a Blazing-star dreadful to all Potentates and Rulers and therefore whereas his two great Friends Bishop Vsher and Mr. Mede out of Apocalyptical Principles were of opinion that there would be a general Apostacy and Dagon set upon his feet again he could not believe it For he never feared Christian Princes would be so forsaken of their own understandings and other Counsellers as to resign their own Crowns to adorn a foreign Mitre especially when both Mr. Selden and Sir Robert Cotton had told him they could shew undoubted testimonies that all the Princes in Christendom envied Henry the Eighth's Act in this kind and would gladly have imitated him if they durst But this he imputed to a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or want of Magnanimity in them who would not endeavour to recover their own rights in calling Councils presenting to Churches and other Flowers of their Crowns unjustly deteined from them by the See of Rome and therefore ever prayed the Kings of England might still retein their own just Supremacy without giving up their Regalia to any foreign Jurisdiction He thought the increase of Popery ought to be strictly watched not only for the perniciousness of the Tenents of their Heterodox Religion in themselves as being in his opinion Idolatrous and favouring of Rebellion but likewise for the cruelty and sanguinary minds of Papists themselves that whereas all Protestants express a charitable respect towards the souls and bodies of all Papists abhorring all bloudy Persecutions of them on the other side Designant nos oculis ad mortem Papists ever bear bloudy minds towards us and want nothing but power and opportunity to make as many Bonfires in England as they had done formerly and whereas in their excuse some say that the many late Treasons against their Princes were but the private Acts of some particular Papists then he wondred no Pope should ever think fit to send out his Bull to declare that he abhorred them or that none of their learned men should print books licensed by authority wherein they were renounced which he would have given a great deal of money to read The Bishop was an enemy to all separation from the Church of England of whatsoever Faction or Sect But their hypocrisie he thought superlative that allowed the Doctrine and yet would separate for mislike of the Discipline these mens impudence outwent all preceding Histories and he would challenge any to shew him in all Antiquity for 1500 years where any Christian withdrew from the Churches Communion much less rose up against lawful Governors for their imposition of indifferent matters or Ceremonies though in ancient times they imposed more than we do now All that were baptized were presented in White Garments which the Priest charged them to keep white and undefiled to the Coming of the Lord and they used not only the Sign of the Cross but praegustatio mellis lactis intimating that they were now brought to the Land of Canaan flowing with Milk and Honey Standing at Prayers was required upon all Lords-days between Easter and Whitsuntide and Prayer with their hands extended after the similitude of a Cross sometimes which must needs be very tedious and so many other things in St. Austin's time that his complaint is well known Tolerabilior erat Judaeorum conditio yet no Separate Churches were then set up for these things Truth is he thought the permission of Conventicles did shew great irresolution and unsatisfaction in the Truth administred great tentation to Shopkeepers and sedentary people to be tainted with errors and novelties of which the English temper is too receptive people being generally vain and whimsically sceptical and never to be satisfied like Him in the Talmud that would alwayes be questioning why the Sun rose in the East and set in the West to whom it was answered if it should do otherwise he would still complain to know the reason But above all he held we ought to become wise by former experience for Conventicles in Corporations were the Seminaries out of which the Warriours against the King and the Church came and therefore would much admire that if any man coin'd false money it was counted Treason if any man cheated a Pupil or an Orphan he was punisht or if he spread false News he was lyable to suffer for it but if any man publish'd false Divinity to the damnation of souls or perverting the minds of people from their obedience to their Governors there was little or no regard of it Beside he
a scandalous Minister had confiscated his own authority of reprehending that in others which he was guilty of himself and that the Doctrin and Discipline of our Church could never have been so contemptible but for their sakes who with their ill lives and manners made all the threatnings of holy Scripture which they preached and all the Censures of the Church which they passed or denounced ridiculous and insignificant yet withal his Lordship ever gave the people warning not to despise the chastening of their Mother for no man can lightly esteem the power of the Keys upon earth and yet be well prepared in heart to receive the judgment of God in the World to come For better amendment of whatsoever was amiss his Lordship would like St. Austin and other antient Bishops frequently sit Judg in his Ecclesiastical Courts and hasten the dispatch of all Affairs and especially if there were any thing that concerned his Clergie would always be present at the hearing of those Causes that neither his Clergie nor any by them might be wronged when he went not in person to the Court he gave ready access at his own House to all who came to complain even the meanest people who were grieved with long and tedious Suits and after hearing what they could say would sometimes send for the Chancellour and Proctors on both sides and what he could not redress at home he would oftentimes go to Court and end there throwing out many Causes that had been long depending for trivial matters and would not suffer any Causes to be entred for defamatory words or trifles without his own knowledg first to the end they might be composed without much vexation to the parties by this means his Lordship created to himself much trouble which he valued not for the great good he did by it and though less profit came to the Officers of the Court yet were they also contented believing God would better bless them for taking onely those Fees which so conscientious a Judge was willing to allow After Ordination he seldom dismissed any whom he ordain'd without rare counsel To remember they were Ordain'd to Cures not to Sine Cures the Cure of Souls the greatest of all others and wish them every day to think of the invaluable dignity and seriousness thereof and therefore in all their Preachings to avoid lightness Quia Nugae in ore Sacerdotum sunt blasphemiae as likewise all ridiculous gestures and loud vociferations empty affectation of words and phrases without weighty and ponderous sense and significancy accounting that elegant words without solid matter were but perfum'd Nonsense and that there was infinite difference between plainness and rudeness They had a duty to discharge both to the wise and unwise and therefore must take care that the learned Auditor might still learn somewhat and the unlearned Auditor might understand not only some but all His charge was that in every thing we should retain this great Principle to offer to God the very Best we have whosoever builds God an House let them build it better than their own the Ornaments thereof should be fairer than our own our Sermons there superiour to our ordinary discourses or labours in any other kind arising not from extemporary sawciness but our studied and best industry and therefore ever warned them as St. Paul did Timothy though he had the gift of Prophecying still to attend to reading as Preaching and remember St. Paul himself would not preach without Books and therefore caused them to be brought after him in all his Travels and sometimes preached the same thing the next Sabbath-day and therefore probably kept Notes He conceived it small commendations to any to pour out faster than they took in and that indiligent and over-frequent Preaching beyond the Preacher's parts or what the people 's needs required was no advantage to learning or piety especially in the obvious way of Preaching altogether by Doctrin Reason and Vse which of all Expositors of Scripture Musculus first took up and was one great means to lay the Pulpit open to the prophanations of the late times such Preaching being oftentimes so poor and easie that every Justice of Peace his Clerk thought he could perform as well as his Minister whereas a good Preacher had need be skill'd in the whole Encyclopedy of Arts and Sciences Logick to divide the Word aright Rhetorick to perswade School Divinity to convince Gainsayers knowledge of many Tongues to understand Originals and learned Authors and above all he would recommend St. Hierom's counsel Discamus in Terris quorum scientia nobis perseverabit in Coelis for otherwise all kind of learning in a Minister without good Example and innocency of life was but a jewel of gold in a Swine's snout This was his constant advice to his Clergie at Ordinations and Visitations which he duly held every third year Visitation of Churches he would maintain was no Filia noctis started up in a night of darkness and Popery but an Apostolical Institution and practised afterwards by all the Primitive Fathers and Bishops Herein his Lordship would oftentimes be the Preacher himself so that in his first Visitation Anno 1665. in his Progress in Shropshire and at Stafford from the last of May to the fifteenth of June he preached eight times in the compass of those few dayes at Bridgnorth Salop Elsmere Wem Whitchurch Drayton Hodnet and Stafford and confirmed above five thousand persons whom he required not to be tumultuarily presented but with the preexamination of their several Ministers and was in all places most joyfully received So that when he put on his Episcopal Robes he put not off his Ministerial Labours no man had reason to say his Majesty by making him Bishop had spoiled a good Preacher as it was said of Frier Giles that the Pope had marr'd a painful Clerk by making him a powerful Cardinal nor was he like Julius the third of whom the Historian complains that he had been formerly a diligent man but when he came to the Popedom never minded his Study or the Affairs of the Church more Our Bishop on the other side professed he found as many cares in his Bishops Rochet as he believed Antigonus did in his Royal Purple and if it were not for the glory of God and good of his Church had rather throw it away than hang it about his shoulders St. Paul very well understood his Office when he called it a good work not to be discharged without painful study often preaching daily hearing and determining Cases of Conscience judging in Causes Ecclesiastical repairing or building of Churches These and so many other things beside he found to do at home that all absence seemed tedious and intolerable to him abroad so that he never slept out of his Bishoprick in many years nor was willingly absent from his Flock but upon extraordinary occasions as in Parliament c. and then would often request my Lord Chamberlain
of his Passion his Resurrection or Ascension into heaven They that can stir up zeal and love to Jesus by those sights in God's name for me let them enjoy their good affections Yet for all I say this the score is not clear between us and our adversaries touching Pilgrimages as they maintain them The first things that were forbidden in the Reformation of the Church of England was worshipping of Images and gadding to the Shrines of Saints in Pilgrimages Excepting the main point of cashiering the Popes pretended Authority over the whole Church those two abuses were the first things corrected by Authority in our Realm therefore the Remists fly at us very fiercely that we did not according to the most laudable example of the Magi in my Text who made a Pilgrimage to Christ What utter disagreement there is between their practise and this instance here the Servants came to seek their living Lord in a strange Country is there piety in it therefore for one servant to seek another and the Lord living upon earth must be sought to therefore the servant which is dead or because Christ was thus sought to therefore the fragments of Saints bodies or the Sages did this by Gods calling through a Star therefore they may creep to what Shrine and Monument they will without a calling Finally these came to Worship Christ the Eternal Saviour they come to worship Creatures which is Idolatry Therefore they may do well to let this example alone to them that will use it better But so much for the Pilgrimage which will be more commended in the length of it it was from the East to Jerusalem and certain Wise men came from the East to Jerusalem If it can probably be detected what Eastern Climate this was from whence these Pilgrims set forth we shall measure the true length of their journey with the same labour It is all one from whence they came unto that end for which they came to worship the Son of God and to get salvation through Faith in his Incarnation Many shall come from the East and from the West and sit down with Abraham and Isaac in the Kingdom of God East and West all 's alike welcome from all parts of the world to the Kingdom of Heaven This is the reason I guess why we have such a dark and confused expression in St. Matthew to what region these Wise men did belong for what can be more uncertain than to say indefinitely they came from the East There is no place in the world but hath an Oriental point to some horizon and so an Occidental point Every part of the world is East and West to several degrees but commonly if you speak of the East and with no more addition it is taken for that principal part of the habitable world which respects the rising of the Sun to us and that 's India They that applied it so to my Text and allow the Wise men to be the Inhabitants of the remotest Eastern Countries are compell'd to give them more than twelve days time for their journey St. Austin in one place makes them begin their travel almost two years before Christ was born others mistake as wide on the other side that they came to Jerusalem two years after he was born both of them regarded the 16 verse of this Chapter for their Direction Herod sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof from two years old and under according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men St. Austins conjecture is easily laid aside that the Magi were so long on their way before Christ was born for the beginning of this Chapter is joyned by a particle to the end of the next by a particle of time Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem no star appeared no Wise men made a progress to visit him till he was born in Bethlehem The second opinion of coming two years after he was born directly falls out with other circumstances of Scripture For at the end of forty days the Mother and the Babe did quite leave Bethlehem and when the days of Maries Purification were accomplished they brought the child to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord there Simeon had him in his arms there Anna spake of him to all that lookt for redemption and when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord they returned unto Galilee to their own City Nazareth Luke ii 39. Therefore the wise men could not find him at Bethlehem unless they prevented him before the forty days were accomplisht And for Herods killing the children of two years old and under nothing can be constantly collected from the malice and over-doing of a Tyrant Ex propria malitia ampliavit tempus sicut locum as one says he slew the children not only in Bethlehem but in all the coasts round about As he suspected more places than he needed so he kill'd not only new born babes but all of two years old and like an insatiate Tyrant suspected more persons than he needed And as Euthymius says the Magi could not tell him how long Christ was born before the Star appeared Therefore he slew all the male children from two years old and under before the appearing of the Star The inference of thus much which I have opened upon the case is the coming of the Wise men to Christ was at least within the compass of forty days before the Purification therefore no colour to make us suspect that they were inhabitants in the furthest Regions of the East But strictly and after a very usual form of speech the East is that Country in this place which lay East from Palestina or the Country of Jury and so their own home is said to lie nearer or further off according to several surmises of the learned some fetching them hard by from the bordering Countries of Arabia so Justin Martyr says they came out of Arabia because they brought such gifts as Myrrhe and Frankincense and that was called East in regard of the holy Land for Job that lived in the land of Huss near to Arabia is said to be the richest of all that dwelt in the East St. Chrysostom adjudgeth them to have been of Mesopotamia and of the posterity of Balaam dwelling in that fruitful land And Balaam says that Balaac the King of Moab brought him from Aram out of the Mountains of the East Numb xxiii 7. Mesopotamia was East to Jerusalem and seven or eight common days journey from it for Laban coming from Mesopotamia overtook Jacob at Libanus in seven days And the learned Steuchus holds that the Wise men of Chaldea were called Magi before those of Persia All this favours the opinion of St. Chrysostom and lays their journey to be much the shorter But as I laid it down in the first point the Magi were best known over all the world to be the Priests and Satrapae or
Person of the Trinity did fight against them they resisted the Spirit of God and the same Spirit resisted them Certainly you shall confess out of holy Scripture that not only these but all other refractory men are inchanted with a kind of Sorcery who are contumacious and will not believe what the Word of God doth evidently perswade them 2 Tim. iii. 7. There are some says the Apostle ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth for as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobates concerning the Faith There are some who are always learning why there is no hurt in that nay it is most worthy of praise Seek the Lord and your soul shall live says David seek his face evermore My often named St. Austin hath a pure meditation upon it Quaeramus inveniendum quaeramus inventum ut inveniendus quaeratur occultus est ut inventus quaeratur immensus est That is seek the Lord that he may be found seek him when he is found be ever learning His glory is hidden secretly therefore he must be sought that he may be found And his glory is immense and infinite therefore seek him evermore when he is found But how comes it to pass that such as are always learning never come to the knowledge of the truth Because they deceive themselves and think that God hath made them wiser than their Teachers They will do nothing unless their own ignorant surmises and private spirit and doating revelations give them satisfaction There are labourers great store in the harvest you cannot say that you want Teachers I would we had not cause to complain that we want Learners Every illiterate man is as peremptory in his own opinion as if he were not a Disciple but a Judge of Divinity and if they be checkt for perverseness that they will not let the Pastor of their soul perswade them they are ready to reply as Zedekiah the false Wizzard did to Michaiah Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from us to you Take heed of this stiff-neckt perverseness as well in Civil matters as Spiritual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the best Poet let us condescend one to another I to you you to me and reach out our arms to hold peace and charity fast between us As for the obstinate and contentious they are far from the spirit of John Baptist who knew himself to be most insufficient to baptize our Saviour yet after one words direction he obeyed and Then he suffered him And this is enough to be spoken of the first part of the Text unless some turbulent spirits among you do still resolve to be obstinate in their obstinacy John refuseth no more and the impediment of this famous baptizing is removed away so the instrumental cause being aptly prepared now follows the effect Jesus was baptized The reasons for which Baptism I will first pass on and then some meditations of Use upon it I draw the reasons why Christ submitted his own Person to be baptized into five heads First that an Institution so poor and despicable in it self might not be contemned for what can be said more to give it warrant and authority than to say Thus my Saviour was washt in Jordan What so divine an instigation to press us all to come unto the floud of living waters to thirst for that immortal spring of grace than this that the Son of God himself did not decline to be partaker of the Baptism of Repentance To what end did he apply that remedy to himself whereof most manifestly he did not stand in need but that sinners should wishingly affect it for their souls health whose infirmities before the eyes of God and men do want a remedy Christus recipiendo Johannis baptismum instituit suum John did neither point to any Prediction to enable him to baptize which was spoken of by the Prophets no miracle from heaven did shine upon his labours that all men might say this is the finger of God the Scribes and Pharisees although they durst not gainsay because of the people yet they did not encourage and applaud his Ministry this Ceremony therefore had faln away like water which is spilt and cannot be gathered but that the mirrour of heaven and earth that draws all men after him came to Jordan to be baptized of him God dwelleth in light incomprehensible and he is too great to be imitated by man Man himself is a creature of much corruption and is a most ticklish uncertain example to be immitated by man the wisdom from above therefore did provide for us in the safest wise Vt videret homo quem sequeretur Deus factus est homo says Leo To set up a spectacle fit for our eyes to look upon God himself was made man And as our own Histories report of Cesar being somewhat reproachfully repelled by the ancient Brittains insomuch that his Cohorts kept themselves in their Ships and durst not land at last Cesar cast forth the chief Ensign their Eagle upon the shore waded forth himself into the waters and bad the best daring spirits to follow him So to make my Parallel complete the beginning of the next Chapter manifests that we have a Ghostly enemy to encounter our Ensign is not an Eagle but a Dove that came down upon the waters our Commander is the mighty God who first casts himself into the waters of Jordan that we may follow him and at the same Sacrament defie the Devil our enemy and all his works A comfortable General that would wear his own Colours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Paul The author and the finisher of our faith Heb. xii 2. which Text may comfortably be reduced to the two blessed Sacraments for in his Last Supper he was the Author of our Faith most probably it being supposed that first he eat bread after he had blessed it and then gave it to the Disciples In Baptism he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the perfecter and finisher of faith for John did begin that wholsome Ordinance and Christ did finish it and stampt a Seal of Authority upon the Institution because himself was baptized Secondly Christ was not only baptized to seal the Sacrament with his Priviledge and Licence but in that act he did sanctifie the waters to the blessing of his Church If Naaman had not been filled with the disease of Leprosie Elisha had not sent him to Jordan to wash and be clean If there had not been some impurity upon the best of the Apostles our Saviour had omitted his Ceremony to rinse their feet in water and to wipe them with a Towel Because every Infant is polluted with bloud from the nativity Occiso magis quam nato similis says Seneca more like to one that is killed than to one that is born therefore it is rub'd with water to take away all defilement So unless much filthiness did inhere in every child
for us and by imputation to bear our iniquities is part of those unknown torments of our Saviour which cannot be uttered Christo innocentissimo maxima fuit crux tradi iniquitati says one it was not such a sorrow to Christ to be delivered up to Caiaphas to Pilate to the Souldiers to the Cross as to be bound over to carry the mass of all our sins upon his shoulders Who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the Cross 1 Pet. ii 17. Moriar prae amore amoris tui Domine O let me die for love of that great love of thine O Lord as one cries out upon it There are three things miserable and afflictive in the nature of man and that our Elder Brother Christ Jesus might be like unto his Brethren in all things he did in some manner undergo them all The first are taedia naturae the tedious and irksom difficulties of nature as hunger thirst weariness sharp punishments and fetters there was never any Martyr better acquainted with these than our blessed Lord. The second are languores naturae the diseases and defects of nature but these belong not to mankind in general but are personal mishaps for this and other reasons our Saviour was clear of them yet he did bear all those sicknesses and maladies for us in compassion as St. Paul says Bear ye one anothers burdens Gal. 6. that is by mutual pitty and affection so Christ did take our diseases upon him by compunction and commiseration for his brethren The third are deformitates naturae all manner of sins which are the ugly blots and deformities of nature and those he did bear for us not by being made a sinner but by representation when he stood before John in Jordan like one that was defiled He came to undergo infirmities and to confer strength to take injuries to bestow dignities to stand for a sick person and to bring health to represent a sinner but to act a Saviour That is the sum of the third reason Fourthly St. Austin imagined that Christ had another intention in his Baptism indirectly and by the by Vt Daemoni se occultaret for the device of a stratagem to mock the Devil that he might not be known of him but to draw Satan into the combat of a tentation which fell out in the beginning of the next Chapter The Figures out of the Old Testament were not unknown to this cunning Serpent that it must be only an Heifer without blemish and a Lamb without spot which was offered up unto the Lord to be a Sacrifice of attonement Therefore he must be holy and undefiled who should be sent from God to bruise the Serpents head and to save the people from their sins Then this projecting Satan makes no question to rank him for a defiled person that came to be baptized therefore he doth infer foolishly that upon advantage of fasting forty days he might tempt him to sin against the Lord. Because the Devil and his Angels make it their life and pleasure to delude us silly men God makes it his glory in our just revenge to mock and delude our enemy as the Priests of Baal abused the poor people with hypocritical false pretences therefore Elias turned those scoffs upon themselves and flouted the Priests of Baal It is strange that when as the Devil glories in the subtilty of a Serpent yet God should make his understanding so blind that he never perfectly understood how Christ was the eternal Son of God that came to destroy his grizzly kingdom untill he had suffered upon the Cross and died for the sins of the world First Satans eyes were dazled that he could not learn whether Christ was born of a pure Virgin because by Gods providence she was married to Joseph Besides like a meer man he was obedient to his Parents and for thirty years neither preacht nor wrought any miracle In the first issue he sees him baptized in the representation at least of a sinful man he sees him in a great peril upon the waters nigh to drowning observes he kept no austere life but eat and drank with sinners finally views him betrayed by a Disciple that was his own familiar friend then beaten and bruised by every cruel Officer All these badges of infirmity put together did drive those Fiends of darkness to surmise this was not He that should conquer death and the nethermost Pit At last the most refined of the ancient Authors do ingenuously collect that when Satan perceived him answering nothing before Pilate but willing to be offered up then he began to interpret this was the Lamb dumb before the shearer so opened he not his mouth and finally at the Passion of the Cross he might see plainly that God had darkned him not to find the truth and that his Dominion through his own malice was taken away for ever by the death of Jesus Therefore I return where I began the reason this wicked one was intrapt to think our blessed Lord was a sinner because he was baptized Says Origen upon the Passion Christ was visibly crucified in Mount Calvary but invisibly the Devil and the powers of Hell was nailed to the Cross so I may say Christ was visibly baptized but Satan and his Host were invisibly drowned in those waters because they were sanctified in this washing to save us from our sins And that is the sum of the fourth reason For brevity sake I will joyn our last reason and some meditations of Use together Our Saviour came to be baptized Vt per novum ritum homines ad novitatem introducerentur that by his example to undergo a new Rite and Ordinance men might be drawn from old customs to newness of life The new Ordinance had ratification and authority from the act of Christ as I have shewed before he was both circumcized and baptized but says Bernard Illud mihi tenendum tradidit quod ultimò suscepit He hath delivered to me to have and to hold for the perpetual Sacrament of the Church that which was last in being for the form of a new Covenant was established to evacuate the old But what 's a new form if the old corruptions be retained What an eye-sore is a new piece in an old garment As good be an unbelieving Jew after the ancient tincture of the Law as be a novel transformed Christian after the old leven of the Devil As St. Paul put the Romans in mind of their first rudiments so must I remember you Rom. vi 4. Therefore we are buried with Christ by Baptism unto death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so also we should walk in newness of life Here are three things in order that have a pious connexion between them first a burial as it were in the water then a death and after that a rising again First I say the plunging or dipping in the water resembles a burial for although
keep this Fast And let me tell you we do not keep the same time that our Saviour did The learnedst Calculators of time ascribe his Baptism to the sixth of January immediately he began his fast which continued to the middle of February For the most part we begin our Lent where he ended but many times later Ecclesiae consuetudo roboravit that is the answer the custom of the Church hath so confirmed it So the observation hath descended to us from hand to hand and our own Church treading in the steps of pure antiquity hath admitted it Beloved the days of the year which are of especial observance are either days of joy or days of fasting and sorrow The chief day of joy is that wherein Christ rose from the dead and it appears that the Apostles appointed it for the solemnity of Christian meetings weekly and called it the Lords day but God left it indifferent to the Church to appoint themselves their own days of fasting and mourning and repentance for we owe all our gladness to God but we owe all our griefs and sorrow to our selves And indeed Fasts are things to be dispensed with to sundry persons and upon divers occasions therefore Almighty God left these things to the discretion of Authority in particular places A great tyranny is exercised in this matter when the Roman Church which is but one particular of the whole will prescribe Laws of abstinence from meats to all other Churches The lesser Churches indeed for uniformity sake were wont to have a respectful regard to the Ceremonies and Adiaphorous Rites which Imperial Cities and Patriarchal Sees did follow Not I say as if the richer and mightier Church did or could bind the smaller to the prestation of her customs but because in things honest and without exception it was meet that the noblest places should be rather imitated than descend to imitate others But O the advantages that Pride will take courtesie in a while was turn'd to necessity and the Roman Bishops did dare to challenge all Churches for Heretical that do not profess uniformity with them in all Fasts and Ceremonies But all the Inke in Italy is not enough to blot out the Canon of the Council of Chalcedon consisting of six hundred Bishops that the Churches of Constantinople because the Emperours kept their chief Palace there should have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal Priviledges with the Church of Rome And it is a Story known to all Divines when Monacha St. Austins Mother came to Millain St. Ambrose kept Institutions of Fasts divers from the Church of Rome and was never quarrelled for it Look among all the reasons of the Fathers which perswaded the fast of forty days I find not one that says itwas expedient to be kept because so it seemed good to the Roman Pontifical Authority The Institution depends upon a custom received from one to another in particular Churches A Constitution it is then propagated unto us from age to age The next quaere is whether it be a lawful Constitution That is whether the Church hath power to make Laws for appointed times and qualities of Fasting That the Magistrate may bid a Fast according to the convenience of some seasonable occasion it finds no contradiction unless perhaps some Anabaptistical fury doth oppose it So did Ezra so did Esther so did the King of Nineveh so says Joel Proclaime a Fast call a solemn assembly and in all occasions of woe and calamity to forget our food for a time and to intend nothing but spiritual exercise I know no Christian Church in the world but doth practice it But admit there be no extraordinary woe apparently like to fall upon us either by Sword Famine or Pestilence may not certain times and revolutions of the year challenge an abstinence and parsimony in our diet if the Church will have it so as Friday in every week some Saints Eves in every Month the Ember Fast as we call it every Quarter the Lenten abstinence and prohibition of some meats every year I have said enough before the Primitive Antiquity was very constant and regular in these observations de facto now I will refer you to the proofs of holy Scripture that it may be done de jure Zach. vii 5. There it appears that for the space of seventy years while the Children of Israel were in Captivity in all that space as the year turn'd about they did solemnize Fasts in the Fifth and in the Seventh Month not by Gods Law we find no such Precept but by their own Ecclesiastical Ordinances When ye fasted in the fifth and seventh month even those seventy years did ye at all fast unto me even unto me Their hypocrisie is blamed because they did not humble themselves before the Lord as they ought but the Ordinance was irreprovable The next stone that I will move is that Text Luk. v. 33. The Disciples of John complain that they fasted and the Pharisees fasted but the Disciples of Christ did not fast What Fast is this which they object unto him For it can be no Statute of Gods Laws Who would have kept it sooner than Christ and his Disciples For he came to fulfil the Law and not to break it It could be no Fast of private devotion for it had been most injurious to cavil with Christ for pretermitting their private Fasts it follows therefore that they were Fasts publickly kept enacted by the Synagogue observed not only by the Pharisees but by godly men Johns Disciples Only Christ did dispense with his train because the Children of the Bride-chamber were not to mourn while the Bridegroom was with them and to shew that he was above the Synagogue Moreover it is very strongly probable that all the Jews were bound by their own rules and by no other to fast upon every Sabbath until the sixth hour of the day Josephus their own Historian testifies so much the Gentiles among whom they lived did deride them for it and the Scripture gives us some light for it Neh. viii 3. The ears of all the people were attentive to the Law from morning until noon-day and at the twelfth verse they were dismissed and went to meat But our judicious Hooker argues very learnedly upon Mat. xii 1. Christ walking through the fields the Disciples pluckt the Ears of Corn The Pharisees challenge them for doing that which was not lawful to be done on the Sabbath day The bodily labour to rub the Corn was no such great trespass that it should offend them wherefore nothing could displease them but the breaking of the Fast before the sixth hour and our Saviours answer doth apologize not for their bodily labour not for making bold with another mans Corn it was no theft for the detriment was not valuable but he defends them that they satisfied their hunger by the example of David when he eat the holy bread And thus the Scripture approves the Doctrine which I teach that it is lawful for the
Angel if his Superiour called him he must come instantly away These are whimsies in the head when the Devil prompts them to do some strange tricks more than ordinary Christians are able even as he would have put our Saviour upon a supernatural shall I say Nay upon a contra-natural exploit because he was the Son of God Whereas the true marks of Filiation and Adoption are these Humility awful Fear Faith that works by Love hate of Vain-glory Denying of our selves giving all honour to God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost AMEN THE TWELFTH SERMON UPON Our Saviours Tentation MAT. iv 6. For it is written He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone THey that meditate mischief against others usually they begin with perswasion and end in hostility their first way is subtilty and their last is violence As Themistocles told the men of Andria that he had brought two great Goddesses with him to exact Tribute of that Island 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perswasion and Necessity First I pray do it and then you must do it The Devil held our Saviour play all the while he was on the Earth with the same method For a long space he laid his train privily to overcome him with Art and Tentation at length he made his assault openly to bring him to his Death and Passion Vulpes in primo congressu leo in crucifixione at this bout he made towards him like a Fox with many trim perswasions but when he stood out perswasions he rose against him like a Lion as David prophesied They would tear my soul in pieces like a lion while there is none to deliver me In this story of Scripture upon which I insist he practiseth the Arts of the Fox upon which subtil creature Gregory lends this Observation to our present matter Nunquam rectis itineribus sed tortuosis anfractibus currunt they never run straight on when they are hunted but make an hundred windings and doublings that it may be more difficult to trace them So Satan never went right on with any Proposition which he made to our Saviour sometimes he urgeth one way sometimes another comes forward and falls back practiseth like Pharaoh with Moses who profess'd he would deal subtilly with the people of Israel One while Pharaoh makes an offer to let the men of Israel go serve the Lord in the Wilderness but not their Children nor their Cattel then he changeth his Sentence and detains them all Then he gives them leave to take their Children with them but nothing else at last he gives order to let them all be gone Children and Herds and Flocks Bag and Baggage they should have all to be rid of them Beloved there can be no good meaning where there is so much alteration and inconstancy Square dealing stands upon one firm base hold fast to that without being removed Delusions and devices hop about like Ignis fatuus This holds very right on the Tempters part in my Text. You see he shifted ground from the Wilderness to the Temple and then he flies back from the Temple to the Mountains in the Wilderness He tries if he can make him despair then he falls off and ventures to make him presume Upbraids him at first that God would give him no bread Perswades with him by and by that God will give him all his Angels First he would put the working of a miracle into Christs hands command that these stones be made bread Next he refers the work of power to the Angels He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up Thirdly He assumes the doing of great matters to himself All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me He laboured with our first Parents neither to believed God nor the Word which he spake now he makes a shew that he would have Christ both trust in God and in his Angels and in his Word the holy Scripture For it is written He shall give his Angels charge c. The whole verse was thus distributed to you before First in order I propounded the demand which Satan made Cast thy self down 2. Upon what supposition If thou be the Son of God there I ended with the hour 3. Upon what Authority Why upon the warrant of the holy Scripture For it is written 4. Upon what assistance Why the best in the world which here is twofold Supreme and Instrumental The Supreme is God He will give his Angels charge concerning thee The Instrumental helps are the first Instruments of all Creatures the whole host of good Angels In their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone And first I must meditate hereupon at this time that the wicked one hath quoated the best Authority which the Church hath to justifie the lawfulness of his demand Scriptum est enim for it is written Perhaps he had never thought of Scripture at this time but that Christ put him in mind of it in the fomer Tentation and it was his old sin Ero similis altissimo I will be like the most High do every thing as Christ did not out of pious imitation but out of perverse affecting an equality And because Christ had the start of him to fly first to the Word of God therefore the Devil doth both quote Scripture and carry him to the Temple as if he would shew Religion and Sanctity double as much as our Saviour did Joab in his necessity will fly to the horns of the Altar for sanctuary as if the Lord would protect a Rebel that had set up a concurrent against his lawful King So the Devil will fly to the Scripture for a need as if there were any refuge there for him that had been a Traitor to his God Occasio fallendi est maxima ubi est maxima authoritas says St. Ambrose the most perilous way to deceive is under pretence of the greatest authority Therefore the Tempter comes like a Divine with a Psalter in his hand you know how well he counterfeited Samuel putting on the shape of that good Prophet to abuses Saul and here he counterfeits David nay therein he counterfeits the very Spirit of God A man would have thought Satan would have skipt the Book of the Psalms though he had search'd over all the Scripture beside It is the Volume of joy of consolation of alacrity the very Songs of Angels Is any man merry Let him sing Psalms says St. James Is there any use of that sweet harmony for him that lives in perpetual torment But they that mean to abuse the Sacred Text instance in those places where you would least expect to find them From the Commandment to sanctifie the Sabbath day the Pharisees wrung in their exception that it was not lawful for Christ on that day to
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
of Heaven and all the Stars thereof Moreover Vna Sabbati litterally rendred is not the first but one day of the Week because one is the first ground to begin numbring and Theophilact says the Lords day is called the one day of the Week either because it is the only day from whence the blessing is procured for all the rest or besides it is a figure of the life to come Quando una tantum dies est nequaquam nocte interpolata when there shall be but one day for ever and no night of darkness to interrupt it Thus much of the words The matter of the Point is of a more profitable use And hence I begin that as God the Father upon the first day did begin to make this visible world of Creatures so Christ rose the same day from the dead to signifie that a new Age was then begun Resurrectio est alterius mundi spiritualis creatio says Justin Martyr The Resurrection is well called a creation of a new spiritual world On the first day of the Week God said Let there be light and he divided between the light and the darkness Verily on that wise on the first day of the Week God brought the light of the world out of the darkness of the Grave and the life says St. John was the light of men Now this infinite work to tread death under feet and to bring all flesh out of corruption into the state of immortality being more eximious than to make man in a possibility at first to die and perish therefore all Christian Churches have desisted to meet together at holy exercises upon the Sabbath of the Jews and the first day of the Week is the day appointed to sanctifie out selves unto the Lord for what reason I will now unfold and it is a case of no small perplexity And let me auspicate from the Text and Authority of Holy Scripture and these places following do conspire to verifie the Truth Acts xx 7. Paul abode seven days at Troas the seventh day of his abode was the first day of the Week then and not before it seems upon the first day of the Week when the Disciples came together to break Bread that is to partake of the Lords Supper Paul preacht unto them This seems to approve that in the Apostles time it was no more in use for their Disciples to meet upon the Sabbath but as well to honor the Resurrection as to separate from the Rites and Customs of the Jews in the Spirit of God they did convene together on the first day of the Week From Preaching and Administring the Holy Communion let us come to Collection of Alms. 1 Cor. xvi 2. Vpon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come How can this be expounded but that distributions were made to the poor upon the first day of the Week in their most solemn Assemblies For if the meaning were that every man should set apart a share of his own gains upon that day in his private Coffers and not in the publick Treasury when their Congregations were together then Collections had been to be made from house to house when Paul was to come who desires it might be laid up in readiness as it were in one stock before 'T is pity we are faln from that good order but in the most antient Church I find that they never miss'd to carry the Poors Box about every Lords Day witness this place of St. Cyprian Locuples es dives Dominicam celebrare te credis quae Corbanam omnino non respicis Thou that art rich and wealthy dost thou imagin thou keepest the Lords Day as thou oughtest and dost cast nothing into the Treasury Thirdly as the last day of the Week when God rested from his works was called the Sabbath of the Lord so it is of much moment to the point that the first day of the Week is called the Day of the Lord or the Lords Day Rev. i. 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lords Day as it appears Rev. i. 13. John was walking on the Sea shore meditating upon holy things in the Isle of Patmos Very probable that there was no solemn meeting to praise God as it ought to have been among those Pagan Islanders otherwise John had not betaken himself to solitary Meditations but see how he was recompensed Nactus est Doctorem ipsum Deum quando fortasse deessent quos ipse doceret when he was disconsolate because he wanted Auditors to teach God preached unto him the Mysteries of the Age to come But to enforce the Text forenamed for an Argument we have but two things in the New Testament called the Lords the Sacrament is called the Supper of the Lord 1 Cor. xi 20. and this day of Christian Assemblies is called the Lords Day the Lords Prayer and the Lords House are good Phrases but our own not the Scriptures but as we keep the Feast of Passeover no more but instead thereof eat the Lords Supper so neither do we observe the Jews Sabbath any more but instead thereof we keep the Lords Day Thus far I have prest the Authorities of Sacred Scripture The Authority of the Primitive Church and so downward to this Age will convince it clearly against any that is obstinate Ignatius was St. John's Scholar and as if he had learnt of his Teacher he writes thus Let every lover of Christ celebrate the Lords Day which is dedicated to the honor of his Resurrection the Queen and Princess of all days Justin Martyr commands the same day to be kept holy to the Lord every Week in his 2. Apolog. So doth Tertullian more than once and I cited St. Cyprian before The Council of Laodicea speaks thus resolutely Anathema to all those that rest upon the Sabbath let them keep the Lords Day when they observe a vacancy of labor and do as becometh Christians The great Council of Nice doth not command the first day of the Week to be kept holy but supposeth in the 20. Canon all good Christians would admit that without scruple and then appoints other significant Ceremonies to be kept upon the Lords Day from Easter to Whitsontide I need not reckon downward after the Nicen Council because in one word I have not heard or read that it was opposed by any of the Fathers They knew that an appointed time must be allotted for every necessary Duty and certainly upon the abrogation of the Old Sabbath not Man but God did appoint a time for so necessary a thing as the religious Service of his Name Christ made an end of all Sabbaths by his own Sabbath lying all that day and night in the Grave and to hold that the Sabbath which is but a Shadow is to continue is to hold that Christ the Body is not yet come yet that being laid apart let us
to our Christian Conversation the heart cannot always be intentive upon the glory of God Miro modo ex amore Dei homo aliquando non cogitat de Deo At our times of respite from sacred Offices to delight our sullen nature with harmless pleasure it rubs off the rust of melancholy and puts alacrity in us to rejoyce always in the Lord. Away with the lowring of the Pharisee and take heed of austerity which is groundless and hath no foundation in the Word of God And here I stint my self to proceed no further upon the first part which I laid forth for you have heard enough that the whole current of the Gospel is that Day which the gracious mercy of the Lord did make all things without it are anxious and grievous all things with it are sweet and delicious and therefore it is the very joy of our heart But as commonly a Diamond is more valuable than the Ring wherein it is set so if I will take our Grammarians at their word annus quasi annulus that a Year is a Circumvolution of Time that hath no end but runs round like a Ring then I may speak it out of the mouth of all antiquity that the High Feast of Easter is the Jewel of the Year whose lustre hath been most beautiful in the eyes of godly men in all Ages As there is mention in Scripture of an Holy of Holies and a Song of Songs so Nazianzen calls this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Solemnity of Solemnities others the Metropolis of sacred Feasts the Queen of Holy-dayes and like the Virgin Mary among Women so this among the Days of the Year all Generations shall call it blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Epiphanius the great Assembly the greatest Concourse of Christians throughout all the year Such a Concourse that when that day came the most bloudy Persecutions could not deter them from assembling together they that hid their heads in dark places and Caves of the earth would come abroad and fill up a Congregation as if they had rather choose death than be wanting to praise God for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ A goodly fair Church being built at Alexandria but not yet consecrated Athanasius was blamed that he suffered the People to meet together for the performance of Divine Service in a Church that wanted Episcopal Consecration his answer was it was the Feast of Easter and all other Churches were too little to receive those multitudes of Christians in the City and their ardor was so great that in despight of my authority they would fill up the most capacious Church against that principal Solemnity I should make you surfeit with story if I should tell you what religious care Christian Emperors and General Councils of most famous Bishops had to settle this holy Festival that it might be kept more solemnly than all the Feasts of the year Cui non dictus Hylas who doth not know that it was worthy to be consider'd and ratified by 318 Bishops in the first Nicene Council and they had reason to do so for it appears though other Holy-days dropt in one after another in later times yet the Apostles themselves and all Ages deduced from them did celebrate one day yearly for the Resurrection of our Lord. Therefore says Constantine the Great in his Oration at the Nicene Council be it lawful for us Christians rejecting the Jewish manner to honour that day which ever since the Passion of Christ hath been observantly kept until this time and let us transmit the due constitution of it to all Ages to come And so St. Austin commending the pious use of this Feast that which is an inviolable Custom in all Orthodox Churches of the world and hath none to gainsay it it must be confest that it was established by the Apostles themselves and that 's authority enough And those were most concordious and happy times that it being but a Ceremony of Decency and Order none did lift up their tongues against it These latter Ages have been more froward and combustious though David pointed it out with so clear a Prophesie This is the day which the Lord hath made though the Angels appeared in white early this morning in our Saviour's Tomb that is in the Garments of joy and gladness though St. Paul says upon our Christian Pasche Let us keep the Feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity though the Apostles in all likelihood ordein'd it though both Eastern and Western Churches kept a solemn Jubilee upon it yet some have snarl'd at it and would neither give it any particular honour nor appoint any Service suitable for that happy occasion The Church of Geneva was at that point once but I am far from blaming Calvin for it as some have done for their giddy-headed multitude had banisht him out of their City at what time they quite erased out all Holy-days and when he return'd again he did prevail with them to reestablish the two great Feasts of Christmas and Easter And for that which hapned before he answer'd se nescio invito factum esse it was neither done with his will nor with his knowledg It is more than I know if any other Christian Church in the world did keep no Feast for the Resurrection of Christ saving that this thankful remembrance of Christs victory over Death was forgot in the Church of Scotland till by the learned and pious industry of King James of Blessed Memory about eighteen years past they did consent at an Ecclesiastical Synod to receive five solemn Feasts in honour of our Saviour and Easter for the principal O how these Churches would have been inveighed at in Athanasius and Hierom and Austin's days I dare confidently say it they would have been excommunicated by General Councils none would have held communion with them during the time that they had no solemn Easter as long as they did not keep the Day which the Lord hath made Aerius excepted against that Holy-day and presently he was scored up for an Heretick But our Church which is most decent in all good order and reasonable Ceremony doth not only give honour to the grand Day but to the two Days following as the enlarging of our faith and joy and this is exact according to ancient order For in Nyssen's first Sermon on the Pasque it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Three days Festival and St. Austin speaks of it as a thing known that there was tertius festi dies a third day solemnized that as Christ rose the third day so the memory of it was kept in three days continuation Some have stood much upon it that the time when Christ rose out of the Grave is not called a Feast but a Day as if there had been somewhat in it to make it a Day rather than any other time Chrysologus gives his reason as one that is transported with joy beyond the truth that in the Morning wherein our Champion overcame
upon the Jews until times of reformation Heb. ix 10. Nay whereas the Jewish Sacraments were nicely tied to days as the Child must be circumcised on the Eighth day and the Paschal Lamb must be eaten on the Fourteenth day of the First Month these Ceremonies being expired and Christ giving new Sacraments in their place Baptism and the Lords Supper no days are punctually prescribed for the use of them but in all Ages it hath been left to the liberty of the Church and that liberty hath been used piously and prudently without all manner of Scandal For there are no particular Laws for Circumstantial observations of what time and place with what Garments with what Liturgie of Prayers The reason is Christ hath called us to liberty and we are not hedged in such streights as the Jews were Yet if the right of the day be founded in any Apostolical Precept it is all one as if it were the immediate voice of God for they had the Spirit of Christ and they had his Commission Mat. xxviii 20. Go and baptize all Nations teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you If they have taught us any thing this way it is commanded by Christ Now in all the Epistles Apostolical there is but one place that hath any seeming to speak Imperatively 1 Cor. xvi 1. Concerning the collection for the Saints as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia even so do ye Vpon the first day of the Week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him c. Here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Constitution from St. Paul but about what Not for Church Assemblies to meet together on the first day of the week He doth not say when you are together give to the poor but let every one lay somewhat by him And that imports that they were to deduct somewhat from their gains in their private Family Apud te repone domum tuam fac Ecclesiam lay by your Alms at home and make your own house the Church says St. Chrysostome But admit that this were a solemn day as I will not stand in it but it was as well for religious Assemblies as for charitable Contributions yet St. Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the order he took was for Alms and not for appointment of the Lords day that must come in by way of Practice of which I shall speak by and by and not by way of Precept Shall I conclude then that no Commandment can be found in the New Testament which will reach to the imposition of this day Not so neither It is enough if we have general warranty for it though not particular The Church hath ratified it to be kept holy in all Ages And Christ hath confirmed their act to be most obligatory He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me None can appoint a day but God by way of excellency or original authority but the Fathers of the Church being appointed Rulers by Christ may do this by delegate and derivative authority and by vertue of their Commission It is as slender as a rush to object that the Lord is the immediate founder of that holy time because it is called the Lords day If it be Gods own immediate assignation point it out Neither is there any impediment but that the Church may give the name Lords day to any holy day as well as a Bishops Consecration of some fair structure may cause it to be called the Lords house or as the laying on of his hands may make one that is a Lay-man be called a Minister of our Lord Jesus Christ But you will say it were a faster tye to hold that the Injunction is immediately from God then mediately from the Church Beloved Saul was appointed a King immediately from God and Hezekiah came not so to the Crown as Saul did but by succession of bloud Yet were not the People as much subject in conscience to Hezekiah as to Saul I trow they were So Aaron was called by God to be the High Priest Zadok was put into the place by Solomon he reigning under God And was not Zadok to be obeyed in his Priesthood as well as Aaron It is a common but a dangerous error to think that pious Ordinations are but weak and impotent if they be conveyed by the mediation of the voice of the Church Whereas if they be convenient means to the better fulfilling of the Commandment of God they are subordinate to the Divine Law nay they are incorporate into it and become sacred and venerable And remember that the Composers of them are sacred Persons and authorized to that Office by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and the Commission of Christ The last Member of our enquiry is what ground we have for sanctifying this day in the name of the Lord from the practice of the Apostles and from the practice of the Church in all Ages And this tenure as I conceive will prove so strong that it will make it not only a firm Ecclesiastical Sanction but also a Divine Institution There are manifest footsteps that the Apostles were occupied in Sacred Offices upon this day that is uncontroulable The first day of the Week the Disciples came together to break bread that is to celebrate the Supper of the Lord and Paul preached unto them Acts xx 7. I know that Paul taught every day of the Week sometimes Acts xix 9. But this preaching joyned with the breaking of bread and that eye which the Church in all Ages hath cast upon this place as a pattern fit to be followed it makes it eminent and remarkable Again the first day of the Week being signed out in the Churches of Corinth and Galatia for relieving the poor it may well be inferred that it was the practice of the Apostle and Apostolical men to exercise Religious duties upon that day then the day was graced with this name of dignity to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords day Rev. x. 10. For though it may be put off that the recurrent day wherein Christ rose is called by St. John the Lords day yet that evasion is taken off because Apostolical men who no doubt did keep the sound form of words did use the very same word while the Apostles were living and immediatly after Ignatius whose felicity it was to be St. Johns Scholar says he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let every one that loves Christ keep the Lords day holy And as he speaks so did all others that were near his age The practice of the Apostles is so pregnant for it in Scripture that all the Fathers of the nearest times unto them call it their Institution and Tradition So doth Irenaeus St. Basil and a multitude of the same rank To put this Point home because it especially concerns the Doctrine which I have in hand it may be truly opposed that the practice of the Apostles doth not always make a
Christ had all effects and operations of grace and goodness from the beginning of the world The other answer is no man hath ascended into heaven but Christ but Enoch Elias and those that rose out of their graves and appeared in the holy City these were translated into heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 negatur non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one distinguisheth To ascend is to exalt himself by his own power to be translated is to be carried away by the power of God So Gregory says upon Elias his triumphant departure out of this world Ligitur in curru ascendisse quia homo purus adiutorio indiget alieno He is described to be mounted in a Chariot for it is not in man to reach up to heaven without divine assistance Wherefore I conclude this Point that nothing is repugnant to the dignity and priority of Christ but that Enoch was carried away to heaven in the hand of God And surely as the Apostle says the gifts of God are without repentance he took him not away from the state of corruption here to kill him hereafter As he saved him from death once and translated him so he will keep him from death for ever I confess it is strange to me that the greatest part of the Fathers should be of another mind but I confess the most ancient and the best part of them are of another mind Justin Martyr Tertullian and so downward to St. Austin Vivunt Enoch Elias sed reddituri ut morti debitum solverent Enoch and Elias are alive but the time is to come that they will return and pay the debt of nature and die Such learned judgments had carried me clear along with them but that the foundation upon which they built was evidently rotten The obstreperous Jews I dare avouch it laid the first stone of that error to oppose the true Messias that came to save them for whereas Malachi concludes the Old Testament with a Prediction that the next Prophet after him should be John the Baptist who should prepare the way unto Christ the Lord behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. The Jewish Septuagint would make the world believe that the very Elias should personally appear against the Apparition of Messias and have cogged in a word to that purpose Behold I will send Elijah the Thisbite before the great day of the Lord. Upon this Tryphon the Jew being put to it learnedly by Justin Martyr falls at last into this cavil for his part he knew not whether the Messias were come or no but he knew he should have no power or authority till Elias anointed him What doth Justin Martyr reply to this We have not wanted one Elias already meaning John the Baptist and we shall see the true Elias himself going before the second coming of Christ Thus the good Fathers of the Christian Church were mistaken by the fraud of that addition Elias the Thisbite And since they lookt for Elias to come again they thought it as expedient that Enoch his pew-fellow and associate should joyn with him in the same fortune Well this comes not yet home to our Point for the Jews did not meddle or make with that question whether Elias and by consequent Enoch should die when he came again No that was brought in by Christian Disciples who were much stunned with an hard place in the Revelation in Chap. xi The two Witnesses that should fight with the Beast and be slain by the Beast the two Olive trees the two Candlesticks standing before the God of the earth Some ancient Writers have distorted this place to Enoch and Elias that they should preach against Antichrist three years and an half cloathed in Sackcloth be slain in Jerusalem and rise again in the face of all people before the general Resurrection Venerable Bede was the first whom I light upon that expounds it of the two Testaments of the Scripture which openly convince all false Prophets by the evidence of truth In this latter Age divers adhere to that exposition among the rest the Learned and Princely Pen of King James of blessed memory I believe many of those excellent Fathers if they had lived in these times would have approved the ingenuous collection of a late Writer how nothing is proved but that certain men in the last days shall preach against Antichrist and his Idolatries Now two Witnesses are spoken of that is very few if they be compared with the great numbers of their enemies but Witnesses must be two at least according to the Law therefore by the two Olive trees and two Candlesticks are meant Zorubabel and Joshua in the Prophet Zachary By them that have power to shut heaven in the days of their Prophesie that it rain not Elias and Elisha by them that have power to turn waters into bloud and to smite them with Plagues when they will Moses and Aaron But none of those are meant definitively and personally but that the Lord shall have powerful Witnesses to preach against false Prophets such as these and not any colour of intimation to bring in Enoch who is not glanced at in any description of the Text Many Writers opposite unto us are confident that if any Witnesses come from Heaven to fight against Antichrist they shall be Moses and Elias and Enoch shall continue where he is for ought they know Nay their judgments are so various herein that some follow St. Hilary and say the Witnesses shall be Moses and Elias One Hippolytus thrusts in St. John the Evangelist because it is said of him Thou must prophesie again Some say as much for the Prophet Jeremy because the time of his death is unrecorded locus est pluribus umbris it may be we shall hear of more hereafter For they have a wild and large field to run in that will interpret Prophesies unfulfilled Now if our Adversaries will be so resolute in their curiosities to define who these Witnesses are and be angry with them that dissent from them they for their part have less cause to blame them who will be so confident in their Expositions about the Beast his number the City on seven hills c. For their part they are well requited though I commend neither the secret things belong to thee O God the revealed unto us And it is revealed to us that God took Enoch to himself not that he will return him to us again But as David said after the departure of his Child We shall go to him he shall not come again to us And the Lord grant us all an happy passage out of this life to live with him for ever AMEN O Lord help thy Servants whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious bloud and make us to be numbred with thy Saints in glory everlasting through Jesus Christ c. THE FIRST SERMON UPON NOAH GEN. viii 20 21. And Noah builded an Altar unto the
Church 3. That such as were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus should be called Christians I could acquiesce in this conjecture if it ascended higher that the Synod Apostolical confirmed it because it came from God I confess I have neither read nor heard that either Christ did leave the Tradition that it should be so with some of his Disciples or that an Angel proclaimed out of the clouds from Heaven or that it was imparted either by dream or revelation sent to any of the Prophets but since no man can challenge that he was the Founder of it I think it surpâ—sseth mortal Authority and therefore I leave the original of it to God It was only in the right of the Father in those times to give a name to his Child Zachary the Priest when he could not speak called for Writing-tables to give the name to John the Baptist and Christ himself having no Father on earth his Father gave him a name from Heaven Then why should not the Father of all that is called Father give that universal Name which belongs to his Children whom he hath regenerated by the Holy Ghost Put the Prophet Isaiah's authority to this reason and who can gainsay it Isa lxii 2. his scope is to extol Sion or the Church Evangelical says he The Gentiles shall see thy righteousness and all Kings thy glory and thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name It were endless to rehearse how many Authors apply this to the Nomenclature of Christian And again Isa xliii 1. I have redeemed thee certainly that 's the voice of Christ I have called thee by my name thou art mine Who will doubt now but that I have reduced our Title to the true original Our Godfather is the Lord above Let me reduce it likewise to the exact time when it began it will be no lost labour This is granted at all hands it did not happen so soon as ever Christ ascended up we were not crowned in our Cradle Pamelius takes advantage at a place in Tertullian to hold that the word Christian began to spread abroad in the fifth year after our Saviours Ascension that is in the very latter end of the Reign of Tiberius but I had rather say that his Author Tertullian mentions it too early for this will quite confound the History of the Scripture The Centurion Cornelius was not converted till two years of that there must be a competent space of time for those tidings to come to Antioch and for the work of the Ministry after that to gain a great number of the Gentiles for Barnabas to be sent for to undertake for a better increase it follows after all this the most successful St. Paul was brought thither and he and Barnabas assembled themselves a whole year with the Church this is plain in the Context before and then the Disciples were first called Christians in Antioch I like not Pamelius his supputation then he is too forward Genebrard in his Chronology runs as much backward and allows sixteen years to be run out since the death of our Lord before the faithful had the honor to get this memorable Title he takes his aim at the Synod which Turrian speaks of that the Apostles could be assembled no sooner in a sacred Council at Antioch whereas Turrian claims no more for his Synod but that the Apostles established that which was illustrious long before during the pains that Paul and Barnabas did spend at Antioch Therefore I suppose that the most judicious Baronius is but a little under or over that it fell out in the tenth year after the Ascension the Believers at Antioch being Decimae Domini the Tyth of the Lord those that were gained to the Faith in the tenth year being a selected Portion and a peculiar Benediction fell upon them Yet I am content to let that pass rather than you should think that there is some necessary efficacy in the number I look more sted fastly upon another great occurrency in those days which made this tenth year the fulness of time and the Disciples so ripe to receive this name that it could not well be deferred any longer For when the Gentiles were made partakers of the common salvation as well as the Jews who had been strangers together so many Ages before there was still a distance between them or at least no perfect conjunction and it grew an hard Task to piece them because the Jews either out of weakness did still affect the Ceremonies of Moses or having been so long familiar with them did desire to dismiss them reverently at their parting but the Gentiles loved all inoffensive liberty which was not contrary to nature and chiefly could not endure to refrain from meats which in themselves were lawful This quarrel was not decided till the Apostles at a full Council took a course with it in the fifteenth chapter of this Book Nay Clemens in the 7. lib. Const c. 48. says That they of the Circumcision had one Bishop over them to wit Evodius in this very City of Antioch they of the Uncircumcision in the same place at the same time another Bishop over them Ignatius this is his report though Ignatius himself say no such matter but gives the preeminence to Evodius alone next after the Apostles some variance and unkindness there was that 's certain and the first means to unite both sides in a perfect peace was that the one should not have this name and the other that name but to denominate them all from our Saviour and to call them Christians Quis nominum reatus quae accusatio vocabulorum says Tertullian names are guilty of no crime you cannot accuse them of any harm With the pardon of that Holy Father it is far otherwise for it is never seen but that men are stiff in opposition and almost irreconcilable when they please themselves to be distinguished from others by the names of those Doctors whose opinions they cleave unto If it once grow to a difference of Titles that which was but friendly disquisition of argument at first it turns to Emulation Emulations improve to be Factions and Factions that would soon have broke up like a mist many Ages cannot dissolve them If you know any that have mens persons in admiration and love to be denominated from them as the Captains of the Lords Host they are no better than Felons in Divinity that have set fire on the Becons to put all in tumult and combustion whereas except themselves there are no Enemies in arms within the Church of God That impartiality and indifferency to truth which this happy Church of England hath maintained not turning the Scale either this way or that way for Luther or Calvin's sake or whomsoever else it hath given us the advantage to be most comely in Discipline most retentive of good antiquity most certain of fundamental truth and of all Churches in the World to have least disagreement
was performed after the best form and exactness within the Precincts of this City therefore those that emulate the Jews in an holy way to magnify the Lord Jesus and to advance his Name in their reasonable service they carry this good report to be called the Jerusalem of God Obadiah's Cave conteined most Orthodox Prophets Capernaum had a Synagogue to preach in perhaps as good Sermons delivered there as in all Judea Joppa had many devout people in it Bethany afforded a Family which exceeded all others in love to our Saviour but if you will shape unto your selves the beautiful Churches of Christ you must pass by these reserving much praise unto them all for that wherein they did very well and you must extend your thoughts to the flourishing Profession of Gods Name at Jerusalem Thither the Tribes went up that they might worship together in their most populous Assemblies not like some in our days that keep at home when the Convocations of the Lord require their presence and flatter themselves with their own sufficiency as if they needed no Prayers to commend them to Heaven but their own But one Simon Stylita mounted up in his Pillar by himself is not an whole Jerusalem To keep Religion in life there is nothing more needful than that such as are of the Visible Church have communion and society one with another Beside in this Metropolis of the Land of Canaan the degrees of the holy Priesthood were conspicuous from the chief Pontif to the meanest Levite Not all fellows as Core would have it And why not every one as good as Aaron This would make Babel and not Salem Demetrius his concourse for all the World Act. xxix no man was tied to say by your leave to his Companion for every man was a Master of the Mutiny Let not the pride of them that cannot get preeminence cry down the Authority of them who have commanded from the Apostles to this Age And remember that St. Jude hath pointed out some who were Spots in the Church not in the Synagogue that perished in the gainsaying of Core Now Core's gainsaying if you will expound it to the Letter can be nothing else but a seditious attempt against Ecclesiastical Dignity Beside the sound of Jerusalem brings to our remembrance all Divine Offices that were done in the Temple to celebrate his glory who is wonderful above all wherein we succeed them either in the same or by clothing their Figures with a Substance They had appointed hours of Prayer day by day in the Publick Congregation for their sakes that will find out a little time between Morning and Evening to step out of the affairs of the World into the Courts of Heaven they had the Law preached and expounded with uncessant diligence there were no less than 460 Synagogues within the Circuit of that City in the days of Josephus so many Pulpits to inculcate Doctrin into the People It seems they had a form of Catechizing by that Conference which was held between our Saviour and the Doctors they had Psalmody according to the most skilful Musick of David and Asaph they had Incense to learn us devotion they had Sacrifices to teach us mortification The exercise of all which indeed was much kept down under captivity and during Antiochus his Persecution But in the days of peace and liberty it had this external face of holiness And that our solemn and outward Profession of Gods worship should be suitable to this decency and splendor and not shuffled up as if we took our Platform from such an obscure Village as Bethphage or Emmaus it is incited to do all things after a sacred comeliness and magnificence by the name of Jerusalem So it is and yet these Mosaical fashions are passed away But it is an indelible Character belonging to that place from whence the Church rejoyceth to take its name that the first foundations of Christianity were laid in Jerusalem for as Seneca said of the Heavens dignum idoneum spectaculum si tantum praeteriret it was a gay and a goodly sight though it did no more but move above our head and pass away how much better was it to us by the virtue of its light and influence So Jerusalem is famous for that Levitical Worship of God which is passed away and vanished but much more glorious for the influence dispersed from thence over all the World by the Apostolical preaching for out of Sion went the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem Isa ii 3. Let us do it all favour says the Emperour Justin the Elder to Pope Hormisda for it is Mater Christiani nominis the Mother the Foundress of our Christian Profession We may take leave I think to discourse a little upon the wisdom of Gods good pleasure why this was the Brood-nest wherein the first Assembly was hatched that taught the Gospel First says Leo Vt ubi passus est Christus ignominiam ibi subiret gloriam Christ chose Bethlem for his Nativity but populous Jerusalem for his Passion where many might behold his opprobrious Death Lo in that soil where he became a scorn and dirision to them that were round about him he ascended into Heaven for Mount Olivet browed upon Jerusalem there he sent down the Holy Ghost there Faith and Repentance began to be preached in his Name there St. Peter made his first Sermon among devout men that were gathered together of every Nation under Heaven As there had been the Golgotha of his Humility so there he advanced the Standard of his Glory 2. Since our Saviour began to take his Kingdom upon him where should he proclaim himself first but in his Royal City there was the Court of David and of Solomon and meet it was that His Court should be there who was to sit upon the Seat of his Father David And it jumps well that he did not take possession of Jerusalem presently after he was baptized no not till he was crucified He did not actually reign in full Majesty till he triumphed over Death in his Resurrection From thenceforth the Royal Robe of Immortality was upon him and his Scepter in his hand to crush his Enemies and this was made known in the chief place of Gods Worship in the Gates of Jerusalem 3. Had the Gospel been preached in the beginning near about us in Europe or in Affrica or elsewhere far from that Country where Christ preached and suffered and rose again the news would have been strange and Unbelievers would have replied who are your Witnesses of these things But in the first utterance of Christian Faith to preach of his Passion within sight of Calvary of his Doctrin within the Temple of his Resurrection hard by Joseph of Arimathaea's Garden This was a demonstration of truth that it vented it self where it was best known Much unlike unto them who tell us in these parts what Miracles their Disciples do in India and tell them in India what Miracles they
from your holy Mothers Lacte gypsum miscet as the old Proverb is the World is a Stepmother whose Milk is infected with poison no redress for such but as it was said of the Shunamites Child when he complained of his head Take the Child unto his Mother as St. Peter exhorts desire the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby the end of it is to grow and encrease not to stand at a stay true Piety never thinks so well of it self as if it needed no augmentation that 's Pharisaical hypocrisie He that gets nothing loseth much he that doth not add to his talent will forfeit it and lose it Says Bernard did not all the Angels which Jacob saw upon the Ladder that reached up to Heaven either ascend or descend Inter ascensum descensum inter profectum defectum nullum est medium There is no medium between proficiency deficiency between going backward or forward Either you are continually mending in all parts of Religion by the fatness of this milk or you will consume away like a shriveled Changeling But the Nurse will not be wanting in suppeditating milk if you are not wanting to your self in the wholsom concoction And now to end this Point I pronounce unto you that you can expect no greater miricle from God than to have such a Mother and such a Nurse First Were you not dead in Adam and then this Mother took you into her womb and brought you forth alive most stupendious Nay must you not die unto sin and be crucified to the world before you could be born again Quid difficilius cognitione quà m ut homo nascatur moriendo says St. Austin And what is the effect of her nourishment but continually to draw you from death to life Et amplius est suscitare semper victurum quà m suscitare iterum moriturum says he Was it miraculous in Elias or in the Apostles to raise the dead unto life that should die again How much greater is it to raise them unto life that shall never This benefit begins with the Church as our Mother and continues with us through her Ministry as our Nurse This is that Jerusalem whis is the Mother of us all Thus far I have drawn out before you the blessing of the Mother upon those whom she brings forth now while this benefit is fresh in our memory it is good time to shew what obedience the Children do owe to this Mother That is to her Laws to her Censures to her Determinations To her Laws of outward Order to her Censures of Discipline to her Determinations of Faith For the first to tread lightly in their steps that have gone before me Prudence and Reason find out what is fit for the well reigling and comly demeanour of them that are knit together in any body And when authority is joyned unto it and imposeth it it is a Law There must be an Order agreed upon touching our manner of union and living together in Commonwealths And grave and well-governed men are most nice to see those fashions of order inviolably observed And is not this equally to be heeded nay much more in our Ecclesiastical Oeconomy For the persons to whom we associate our selves in the Church are not only holy men but God and Angels Shall we not have Laws of agreement to go all one way and to do the same thing in Rites and Ceremonies Can there be such that would not be ashamed to see distraction and confusion in the holy Sanctuary Is there any possibility of drawing a Congregation together without Rules and Advertisements to proceed thus and thus in the administration of the Lords Service And for those Rites which are in force among us hath not this Church proceeded with most sanctified moderation to ease Christian people of that superfluity whereof they complained at the extirpation of Popery and to retain such only as were most expedient and carry no shadow of scandal but to them that are hot and contentious Since we must have Orders of Decency his wits are broken that thinks otherwise why not these which are established and to which your consent is included by reason of them that were Agents in your behalf and present at their confirmation for we were alive in our Predecessors and our Successors shall live in us It skills not what Vtopia some have framed in their own heads In positive Laws mens private fancies must give way to the higher judgment of the Church which is in authority a Mother over them And do not say you are an obedient Child since you do that which your heavenly Father requires why not also what your spiritual Mother requires Since the one bids nothing repugnant to the other I hope there is none in this Climate but explodes the Anabaptists opinion that all Christian Liberty is lost if any Laws be imposed upon the people but the Gospel of Jesus Christ Beside what is required for order and good carriage in the Church God hath given the power to settle it What is done is done by his leave and by that light of Nature and Reason given to frame such Constitutions and therefore do not prevaricate as if God were not disobeyed in that obstinacy which conforms not It is commendable and necessary for every man single to profess the substance of true Religion contained in the Scriptures But it is also required at their hands to observe the Circumstances and Decencies of it comprehended in positive Laws when they are in society with others It was in a Circumstance and a Ceremony that St. Paul checks the Corinthians What despise ye the Church of God 1 Cor. xi 22. You cannot call Jerusalem your Mother with a sober reverence if you decline her Piety and Authority in Constitutions indifferent Secondly The power and the wisdom of the Church meeting together must use the rod though unwillingly towards them that must be made examples to others by shame and punishment For such as will not be softned with love and the Spirit of meekness Shall I come to you with a rod says the Apostle Dread the anger of your Mother provoke not her displeasure to smite you with Abstentions Anathemaes Excommunications Remember how the incestuous person was swallowed up with desperation when her Censure was upon him If Esau lift up his voice and wept when he had not the blessing of his Father what sorrow will it beget in a Child that is not past feeling or leadenly stupid to have the curse of his Mother The ancient forms of humble Penants used by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are so disused that their custom will seem strange to be repeated When they were sequestred from the Prayers and Sacraments of the holy Church for scandalous and flagitious actions they cast themselves down before the entrance of the Church groveled upon the ground full of tears and lamentations and besought every Christian that passed by