shalt die in the Mount whither thou goest up and be gathered unto thy people as Aaron thy Brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered unto his people therefore if Aaron died as we know he did Moses was not translated that he might not see death Nay the next opinion is more probable than so which takes away the offence which the former opinion gives and attributes great honor to Moses namely it consents as it ought to do that Moses died and that God by the ministry of his Angels did lay down his Body for a while to be buried in the Land of Moab but it did not abide in the earth there to be corrupted but was presently restored to life again and translated to immortality and because he did not abide in death therefore it is said that no man knoweth of his Sepulcher unto this day I draw to this side the rather because in the ninth verse of St. Judes Epistle the Angel did contend and dispute with the Devil about the Body of Moses Some say the contention was that the Angel bound the Devil not to reveal where his Body was buried lest the children of Israel finding it out should venerate and adore his Sepulcher and run into Idolatry Some say because the Angel buried him against Bethpheor which was a place of most diabolical Idolatry and Satan strugled not to be turned out of that place by the burial of this holy man I see no incongruity to say because the Angel did not only contend but dispute says Jude not about the Burial but about the Body that the argument was why the Body of Moses should be restored to life and not rot and putrify in the dust This opinion is maintained by Luther by Brentius and by the Jesuit Maldonat and it puts all in good square to defend and it may be done for ought I see without any absurdity that the Body of Moses was reserved in immortality with the Body of Elias and both were in all readiness to come to our Saviours Transfiguration Yet a number of Doctors have a fourth strein that Moses his Body was gathered by the power of God just at this time out of the dust and he took it up so long as this miracle lasted and then laid it down again and either resumed it shortly after when our Saviour rose from the dead for then many dead bodies of the Saints arose and appeared unto many in the holy City or else he awaits Gods leisure to be cloathed with his flesh for ever at the solemn and general Resurrection This cannot be gainsaid for nothing is irksom to Gods Saints which most conduceth to their Masters glory Yet once I must speak again that there is a fifth opinion and most commonly defended That Moses his own Body was reunited at this time to his Soul and that it did abide with him for ever and he did never lay it down more If we keep not this Opinion steady it will be much shaken with this Objection That Christ is commonly known by this property to be the first who rose from the dead to die no more The first-born from the dead Colos i. 18. The first-fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. xv 20. Some answer he is the first of them that rose from the dead as he is said to be the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world He was crucified from the beginning of the world and rose from death from the beginning not actually but virtually for the power of his Death and Resurrection were available ever since the Promise was made Secondly he is Primogenitus the First-born the strength the might of them that rise for he rose by his own will and virtue all beside him not by their own power but by the power of Christ But I shall neither satisfie my self nor you with an answer till I add a third thing that Christ was the first-fruits of them that rose from the dead and ascended up with his Body before the Majesty of the glory of the Most High For here I must bring in a very fit distinction though not used by many that it is one thing to make a Body change corruption into incorruption so shall all our Bodies be when they are raised from the dead another thing to make our vile Bodies be changed into glorified Bodies that shall not be till they are exalted into the highest Heavens Elias his Body being translated was incorruptible so was Moses his Body if he had it before the Transfiguration or if he retained it after but Christ Jesus was the first of them that rose from the dead whose glorified Body entred into the highest places I have been very brief in this intricate Controversie which is so stiffly disputed of all sides and it will make the next point come off more easie From whence Moses and Elias came to talk with Christ at his Transfiguration I conclude out of the former question that Elias was translated up on high in Soul and Body that 's indubitable and that Moses rose out of his Grave and assumed his own Body at this instant Miracle of all opinions that I take it is most probable Therefore I say Elias came down from whence he was ascended before and Moses rose up from whence he was descended before So the Son of God did demonstrate says S. Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he had the power in his hand both of life and death By Moses says Aquinas are represented all those Saints whose bodies from the beginning of the world to the end lye buried in the dust by Elias are understood the whole stock of men and women that shall be found at Christs second coming living upon the earth and both kinds shall be summoned to appear before him Oh that we may come from heaven to meet him as Elias did that we may shine with repentance and faith and charity these are the characters of them that shall be bold to stand before the Son of God in Majesty and they that have these endowments do as it were come from heaven with Elias to meet our Saviour But to the point we make no scruple from whence Moses his Body came to mount Tabor from whence but from the dust of the earth the difficult question will be out of what place of sequestration Elias came with his Body To which briefly as I am able to conjecture not to certifie you St. Cyprian was not earnest to enquire it when he left it off thus quo raptus sit Elias Deus novit whither Elias was taken up God knows yet sure he means he had not been taught nor could teach into what Region of Heaven he was assumed yet he never doubted but he was in some Canton of that Celestial Habitation The Scripture says no more of Enoch but he walked with God and he was not for God took him Gen. v. 24. But of Elias in plain words that he went up in a whirlwind to Heaven The
desired him to add two Collects naming first that for the second Sunday in Lent and then afterward that for the first Sunday after Trinity both most pertinent to that great occasion and then to give the Blessing which being done he thanked him heartily with a faltring speech whereby the Company plainly perceived that with the end of his Prayers he drew near the end of his mortal life and desired to be left alone and so all departed the Room save a couple of Servants who within half a quarter of an hour gave notice of his placid departure with as gentle a transmigration to happiness as I think was ever heard of Thus I have declared sincerely the Life the Sickness the Departure of this worthy Christian Prelate who lived as good men desire to live and as many men that are but shadows appear to live and then departed with as easie an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as any man could desire to die His Funerals onely remain which were performed by the Reverend and Learned Dr. Scattergood his Lordships Chaplain in the Cathedral Church where He was interred neer the Body of his Predecessor Bishop Langthon as old people said both great Benefactors to that Church under a fair Tomb erected by the Piety of the most accomplisht Sir Andrew Hacket his Eldest Son and Heir both of his Estate and Virtues He was attended thither by multitudes of the Loyal Gentry and sorrowful Clergy of his Diocess all desirous to pay the utmost dues and rights they were able to his Memory thinking no Flowers too sweet for his Herse and no Box of Ointment too costly for his Burial all admiring his past Diligence sage Government admirable Ministrations and bewailing the great and universal loss by his Death Quantum praesidium Ausonia quantum Tu perdis Iule O Diocess of Lichfield what a Father hast thou lost O University of Cambridge what a Friend O House of Aaron what an Ornament O Church of England what a Saint Sic ora ferebant But we will no more deplore his Death or repine that He is taken from us but rather rejoyce and give God thanks that we ever had Him and that He lived so long with us This World was not worthy of Him who was fitter Company for Angels and Stars of Heaven then Clods of dust and bloud below and therefore God took Him from this Dunghil to stand before his Throne Where we leave thee blessed Soul among the Angelical Choir joyful in the illumination of the holy Trinity and ravisht with thy contemplation of the Divine and unconceivable glory We will endeavour not only to read and admire but practise all thy holy Counsels which now sound more loud from thy Books and Writings then they formerly did from thy rare Discourses and Preachings We ascribe the glory of all to God and will compose our selves to imitate thy Graces and Virtues O Divine Hacket whose Name is renowned and Memory for ever blessed And will hereafter listen with patience for the voice of the Arch-Angel and Trump of God for the Resurrection of the Dead the Renovation of the World the Creation of the New Heaven and New Earth at the glorious appearing of Christ Jesus with all his holy Angels and Saints and then in the Number of godly Prelates and faithful Doctors of the Christian Church I shall see again my Bishop and Father and hope to be seen of Him in Glory AMEN Come Lord Jesu come quickly OPTIMO PATRI PIENTISSIMVS FILIVS ANDREAS HACKET MILES F. F. JOANNIS HACKET Episc Lichf Coventr cinerib sacrum PRimaevae pietatis Et summae eloquentiae Praesulem Ecclesiae Anglicanae fidei orthodoxae Assertorem strenuum Concionatorem etiam ad ultimum assiduum Et Superstitionis Babylonicae tam maturum hostem Vt penè in cunis straverit Loyolitas Raro exemplo Vt Poeta praeluderet Theologo Vitae denique integritate innocentiâ Morum suavitate candore Charitate ergà pauperes eximiâ Et liberalitate erga suos insignem typum Verbo omnia Joh. Williams Metropol Ebor. Patroni sui Ectypum Desine ulterius quaerere Ista omnia Tabula haec unico in Hacketo exhibet Adversus positum caetera marmor habet Obiit 28. Oct. 1670. sub anno aetatis suae 79. Sistamus ergo Morae pretium est scire Quis demum Langthono claudit latus Solus HACKETUS tanto dignus contubernio Cujus piae liberalitati debetur Quod Langthoni cineres non frigescunt Aedis Cathedralis Lichfieldiae Instanrator illic Restaurator hìc jacet Ecclesiae Anglicanae antistitum par ingens Eóque ingentius quòd sibimet pares Scire vis Lector Quà m multis ille bonis flebilis occidit Schola regia Westmonast Alumnum Collegium SS Trinitatis Cantabr Socium Ecclesia S. Andreae Holbourn Quadragenarium Rectorem Et Cheam in agro Surriensi Quadragenarium Rectorem Aedes D. Pauli Residentiarium Sedes haec Episcopalis dignissimum sibi Praesulem abreptum deflet Sed ludo te Viator Dum inter mortuos refero Eum VIRVM Quem restauratae Pauli reliquiae Ceddae ruinae Quem Hospitium Episcopale SS Trin. Coll. de novo extructum Et Cantabr Bibliotheca libris cumulatè aucta Longum dabunt superstitem At the head of the Statue upon the Monument is ingraved I will not suffer mine eyes to sleep till I have found out a place for the Temple of the Lord. Psal 132. At the Feet Quam speciosa vestigia Evangelizantium pacem The Motto of the Coat at the Head of the Tomb Zelus domus tuae exedit me On the opposite Coat at the Feet Inservi Deo laetare Upon the Grave-stone that covers the Body in the Isle contiguous to the Monument JOHANNES HACKET Episcopus Lichf Coventr heic situs est THE FIRST SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE ii 7. And she brought forth her first born Son and wrapped him in swadling cloths and laid him in a Manger because there was no room for them in the Inn c. THis is a part of that joyful news which God did impart at first unto the Angels which the Angels in the twelfth ver did reveal unto the Shepherds which the Shepherds in the seventeenth verse made known abroad and thereby at first perchance it came to St. Luke which St. Luke made known in this Gospel to the Church which the Church from time to time hath delivered unto us which I at this day deliver unto you and which you must tell unto your Children that one Generation may comfort another with it unto the ends of the World I am in love with my Text but how shall I open and dilate my joy upon it No that most venerable name Mary the blessed Mother of our Lord knew not how to do it For although when Gabriel brought tidings unto her that she should conceive then she could come out with a strange word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if her spirit friskt and danc'd within for gladness
Tribes carried quite away by Salmanezar only Judah and Benjamin were left behind not able for their small number to fill the whole Land of Canaan whereupon that part wherein Nazareth and Capernaum did stand was called Galilee of the Gentiles Mark here the equity and indifferency of the Son of God both to Jew and to Barbarian He was conceived among the Gentiles at Nazareth brought forth into the world among the Jews at Bethlem Lived at Galilee of the Nations but died at Hierusalem So in this Gospel his Mother brought him forth within the Walls of the City that was proper to the Jew but the tydings were heard abroad without the Walls in the Country that was proper to the Gentiles The Collection is not violent but natural for so St. Paul argues that Christ belonged unto us aliens from the Covenant who were not of the Jews that served at the Tabernacle for Jesus also that he might sanctifie the people with his own bloud suffered without the Gate The benefit of our Saviours life and death was communicated to all people not only to the Seed of David passus extra Hierusalem He suffered not within but without Jerusalem because the fruit of his death lay open to all Ascendens è monte Oliveti extra Bethaniam Ascended into Heaven upon the mount of Olives without the Town of Bethany because he opened the Kingdom of Heaven for all believers But hear what follows in the Jesuit Salmeron natus in Speluncâ extra Bethlem born in a Grote or Cave for so he calls the Manger without the Town of Bethlem because the benefit of his Incarnation was open and publick to all Here his observation sticks and is erroneous although he hath the judgment of Cajetan to favour him and the conjecture of Baronius almost concurring with him for he says the Stable was in Suburbiis Bethlem not within but without the Gates in the Suburbs of Bethlem And what more manifest to convince their fancy than the eleventh verse of this Chapter This day is born unto you a Saviour in the City of David The Moral therefore is more fitly made up as I told you before that He came first into the world in the City of Bethlem by which deed he doth intimate that He was made flesh for the Salvation of the Jew but the tidings were heard abroad at the first publication in the same Country whereby it appears he was made man also for the salvation of the Gentile Another circumstance of place is in the Text that the Angel chose the open fields to annunciate the Messias of the world and who can deem but that they were fitly chosen for the purpose The Priests of the Temple would not be glad to hear of him that cut off their Types and Ceremonies they that inhabit the City would not relish such a Prophet that will say unto them Sell all and give it to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven The pleading places of Justice would laugh at his prescription He that taketh away thy Coat let him have thy Cloak also The Seas had heard of nothing but Neptune and Thetis and the titles of false Gods all their ships were called by the names of Idols but the plain Fields had no such prejudicate opinion against a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. Upon their pleasant fruitfulness the happy news are showred down as if the dawning of this bright day should change all the Earth into another Paradise Mystically thus much may be collected as all increase and abundance wherewith we are fed is brought out of the field so the Incarnation of Christ should fill the world with the plenty and abundance of Salvation I will not say according to the Letter of the Miracle in the Gospel that the fishermen laboured hard all night and took nothing so in the darkness of the Law which may not unfitly be called the night nothing at all was taken yes there was a number of those that believed but a very small one here a berry and there a berry says the Prophet upon the top of a bow The Pharisees compassed Sea and Land to gain one Proselyte and scarce glean'd up one in all their travel but since the Church writes it self not Jew but Christian Since the day spring from on high hath visited us the number of the fishes is so great which the Apostles drew into the Ship that the nets were ready to break because of the multitude As the Widows oyl fill'd every vessel which she could borrow of her neighbours so the faith of our Redeemer hath fill'd all Nations in the world As Job said by Allegory Petra mihi effundit rivos olei Rivers of oyl trickled down from the rock and the rock was Christ During the time of Moses Law what a paucity there was of those that spent their industry to interpret the Canon of the Scriptures How few are reckoned that shed their bloud for the maintenance of the truth Not any almost that made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven many Ages yielded small store of Saints But see what the Gospel hath brought forth like a fruiful field many Penmen of holy Writings many Virgins unspotted touching the flesh thousand thousands of Martyrs They that have gone about to cast up the number think that as many have lost their lives for the profession of righteousness in the time of the Gospel as there were beasts in the old Law slain for Sacrifice before the Altar Et nunc omnis ager nunc omnis parturit arbor Now the trees of the Lord are full of sap now the Temples of the Lord are throng'd with those that believe as the fields stand thick with Corn in Harvest This is the good will of him that was born in Bethlem prefigured to give increase and abundance because the Angel did annunciate him in the fields where fruit grows up for the use of man The errors of men are captious and catch at any occasion to argue for their own defence and why may not this Text be distorted by some to prove that fields and desarts are fit receptacles for Congregations of Christians But for Churches and Chappels they may be demolished or else neglected It was an Heresie of the Massilians as Damascen oserved that God might be worshipt as well in the Woods or vast Mountains in any place unhallowed as in those Oratories that are dedicated to his honour I would they had left none of their brood behind them but the first broacher of that corrupt Doctrine as I have told you once before in my conceit was Jeroboam for he made a rent in the Kingdom of Israel alienating ten Tribes from their Allegiance due to their lawful Prince Rehoboam But one thing troubled him that according to the Law all the Tribes must go up once a year to worship at Hierusalem which was the imperial City of the King of Judah This was it that cut the very nerves of his conspiracy
so notorious that all heathen Histories which toucht upon those times would have spoken of it Secondly At the ninth verse of this Chapter we read Lo the Star which they saw in the East not low the Star which ushered them through all their journey And thirdly When they came to Judea they took in at Jerusalem to seek Christ there but what probability is there that the light of God could carry them to a wrong place Thus far upon one opinion You shall now hair what some say and almost all of the best antiquity for the other conclusion Namely that the Star was their constant companion all their journey and that it rested over all places where they rested till they came to Jerusalem First As the manner of the Fathers is to illustrate the New Testament with the Old they consider that the Pillar of the cloud went along with the Children of Israel wheresoever they removed and rested in the place where they pitched their Camps but this Star attended the Gospel as thaâ— Cloud attended the Law and God was as constant in his favour to the one as to the other And some go further that an Angel of the Lord did always remove the Cloud with his motion when the Israelites marched away mine Angel shall go before thee and bring thee into the Land of the Amorites and Hittites Exod. xxiii So an Angel did move this Star from the East to Jerusalem for says St. Austin Mark how that light vanisht not away till they took in at Jerusalem Hoc non cogit motus sideris sed virtus plena rationis I will never say an inanimate Star could so guide it self but by Angelical vertue No bright Star did shine upon that City where the Scribes and stiff-necked Jews were congregated for their hearts were blind and their understanding did not see the Nativity of Christ So at his Passion there was thick darkness over all the Land of Judah for they resisted the truth and would neither know the mysteries of his Death nor of his Incarnation If this were portended it was an intelligent Star that went with the Magi all the way till they were housed in Jerusalem as the Cloud passed on before the Tribes of Israel from Mount Sinah till they came to Canaan Thus far upon collation between the Old Testament and New there are other reasons assayed to be drawn out of the Text that the Star kept way with them to their journeys end as at the ninth verse of this Chapter Loe the Star which they saw in the East went before them till it came and stood over where the Child was If it marshall'd them which way to go from Jerusalem to Bethlehem why not also from their own Country to Jerusalem At the next verse When they saw the Star they rejoyced with exceeding great joy The Scribes had told them where they should find Christ why then should they rejoyce so much to see the Star again but because it was a new thing to have it vanish Moreover the Star vanishing when they went into Jerusalem they suspected Christ might be there and askt for him but if their Leader had forsaken them as soon as ever it first shined they would have askt in many other places And by what art could they collect that a Star glaring in their eyes in the East and wagging no further should notifie unto them the Land of Judea rather than any other neighbouring Country And what skills it that all Histories are silent and take no notice that there was such a wonder in the World Though many holy things were common in those days and well known yet the Lord chose not the heathen to be witnesses of his glory and so they over-pass'd them Or perhaps the Star was visible to these Wise-men and the eyes of others were held that they should not see it John Baptist saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove upon Christ He saw it says the Text Mat. iii. 16. it is uncertain if any beside did see it Paul heard a voice from heaven but they that were with him heard it not Acts xxii 9. Or be it so that many others might behold this Star yet they knew not to what end it was sent but made some constructions of humane reason upon it wide mistakes upon heavenly tokens as when God answered Christs Prayer from heaven that He had both glorified his name and would glorifie it the people said it thundred Not to be long in this point because faith is bound to neither opinion this is sure the Star hid it self away for a time but they recovered sight of it again before their journeys end so the Spirit may draw back his comfort and illumination for a time from those that are graciously called to come to Christ their sins deserve it and God will make them more careful to stand sure because they have stumbled but at last before their journey be done before they end their days the light shall be renewed again to guide their feet into the land of the living The third question of enquiry is what aptitude there was in such a sign or miracle to bring the Wise men unto Christ Outward aptitude is not always discerned in the means of a mans Conversion nay sometimes the means used seem most repugnant to bring that end to pass Who would have imagined that the way to make a Publican a Disciple had been to call him from the receipt of Custom and quite to give over his traffique yet this wrought well with St. Matthew or that the Woman of Samaria would the sooner have believed Christ to be the Messias because she was upbraided to be a Concubine He whom thou now hast is not thy Husband yet this way did take with her These are courses to pose natural reason in the work of Regeneration But with sundry other persons the Lord did descend in a familiar way to their capacity and drew them to heaven by things that were obvious to their notion Baptism or washing often was a thing most ordinary with the Jews the more ordinary the sooner did Christ use it to be the initial Sacrament that should bring them unto life Fishermen were put into admiration of Christs power by a mighty draught of fish and the Text whereupon St. Paul preach'd to the Athenians was their own Altar of the unknown God So the Eastern Philosophers who were skilful in the Sphere and in the course of the Stars are attracted by a wonderful Star to the first taste of Christianity Vt per Christum materia erroris fieret occasiâ— salutis says St. Austin That contemplation of Stars which lead them out of the way of truth doth now bring them to him who is the way the truth and the life You see what aptitude there was in a Star to be an instrument of the conversion of these Wise-men There are other apt proportions in it which Piety and good Meditation hath framed First to shew that God
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
the second branch his associates are Peter John and James 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he took them to see his glory it was his association St. Mark adds by way of emphasis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he took three only and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 privatim he sequestred them apart from this world that they might see his glory Thirdly he prepar'd himself for this illustrious accident in great humility inter precandum he had prostrated himself before his Father in prayer And then fourthly this majestical glory came upon him two waies quoad vultum quoad vestitum in his person in his apparel in his flesh an astonishing radiancy the fashion of his countenance was altered in his cloaths an admirable purity his raiment was white and glistering I cannot be copious upon so many particulars of some more largely of the most succinctly In the first circumstance of all the Spirit of God hath noted out the Time and therefore I must not balk it no not in any of the three respects post dicta post dies post itâ—r First after those sayings says my Text inquiry shall be made what words those be and with whom he had that communication which went before the demonstrance of his glory in two preceding verses in this chapter Christ exhorted his Disciples and many others to the assurance of his Cross and that they might know he was able to recompence their sorrows who endured affliction for his name sake yea and would recompence it he speaks thus The Son of man shall come in his own glory and in his Fathers and of the holy Angels and I tell you of a truth there he some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Kingdom of God He refers the multitude to look for the last day of judgment when he would come in infinite Majesty to call the World before him but he refers certain nameless persons to expect after a while a pregustation of some heavenly apparition wherein they should see how he would be cloathed with power and excellencie when he came to sit upon his Throne and to call the Nations before him they should not taste of death till they saw a spectacle of the Kingdom of God in his transfiguration This was the occasion which made him exhibit his body with that glorious lustre in the Mount and yet some have ignorantly distorted those words to another purpose There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Kingdom of God what doth it mean say they but that John the Disciple whom Jesus loved should live till the last day of judgment as the report went among the Brethren how that disciple should not die Thus Theophylact and the counterfeit Hypolitus that error which hath run through so many Pens grew from hence that when Peter being told with what death he should glorifie God asked What should become of his fellow Disciple John Christ gave him no clear satisfaction because his question deserved it not but only thus If I will that he stay till I come what is that to thee follow thâ—â— me Let it be but probably discovered what coming Christ speaks of and there is no great perplexity in the saying Attend therefore this coming is nothing less than that great coming in personal Majesty at the last day but his coming in wrath and judgment against the Nation of the Jews to punish them and quite to extirpate their seed from Jerusalem Touching this coming by the fury of the Romans to execute his vengeance St. James speaketh to the faithful converted from Judaism and then sore afflicted by the Synagogue Be ye patient and stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh Jam. v. 8. Whereas therefore antient stories have delivered unto us that all the other Apostles were swept away by Martyrdom before the final destruction of Jerusalem onely John outlived that time even till the reign of Trajan This then is a plain meaning of our Saviour's answer if I will that he live till that dismal day when I come to destroy this people which hath crucified me what is that to thee Peter thou shalt never see that day but prepare thy self before for a speedier Martyrdom And to what use should the Apostle live a mortal life upon earth unto the end of the world and yet never appear to any man he lived to see the coming of Gods judgments against the holy City and he together with Peter and James lived to see a mirror of celestial glory in the Transfiguration that 's the meaning of our Saviour's promise going before my Text There be some standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the Kingdom of God It follows to be noted in the observation of the Time that after these sayings he fulfilled his word neither at the instant nor after a long distance but about an eight days after these sayings It was neither so quickly dispatcht before they had meditated upon it nor so long put off that they could forget it be it about an eight days or about eight thousand ages it is but a little while to God who measures all things by Eternity Now in these words which are the very front of the story there are two days odds in the relations of the Evangelists St. Luke you hear sayes about an eight days after St. Matthew and St. Mark after six days Doth not this account differ no not a whit six days complete did go between his sayings and his mighty work St. Matthew and the other speak of that time only but in a part of one day he had said there be some standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the Kingdom of God in part of another day He took those three up into the mountain and so St. Luke computes exactly 't was about an eight dayes after those sayings So hath the Divine wisdom disposed that the same thing should be repeated in several Gospels with some alteration of phrase but with no difference or contradiction and that for two causes When outwardly there seems to be some disagreement between the Text of one Evangelist and another these difficulties do whet our industry to study the book of God there must be knots and mysteries hard to be understood ut homo semper discat Deus semper doceat that man may alwayes learn and God may always teach unto the end of the world 2. Says another si per omnia consentirent nemo putarent eos seorsim scripsisse if they had all jumpt in the same words quite throughout as some say of the 72 Interpreters in the Old Testament it might have been imagined that the Gospels were not writ at distinct times and in distinct places now the dissonancy of their phrase doth warrant us to say that the Evangelists did not cast their heads together when they committed the Scriptures to writing but wrote apart and yet the same spirit
away one opinion of St. Austins as quite out of the cancels of truth and then proceed He doth not deny but the dead through Gods concession may upon such occasions as the Lord directs them to appear unto the living he cites Samuel brought up by the Witch of Endor to speak with Saul What if that were not Samuel but an evil Spirit or an Imposter he cites Ecclesiasticus He objects what if that Book be refused because it is not in the Canon of the Hebrews Then he cites our present instance of Moses and Elias yet he falls off again and thinks the Saints themselves appear'd not but seem'd to appear by the Ministry of Angels Many times in the Old Testament when the Angel is sent from God as a Legate He speaks in the person of his King I am the Lord thy God therefore he presumes that Angels in this place might be called by the names of Moses and Elias for whom they appeared The same most excellent Author is more orthodox in other places upon this point This cannot well consist Christs glory was true and not ficticious it betokened a true estate of blessedness to us miserable men hereafter therefore it cannot piece well together that all this should be confirmed by ficticious and imaginary Witnesses Now I venture forward and first I will speak of Elias how he came in his own body then of Moses I have a reason for it and St. Mark 's words ly so there appeared unto them Elias with Moses In what body should Elias be an assistant to Christs glory now but in the same body wherein He was taken up in a whirlwind to Heaven Henoch and Elias were ever parallelled to be of the same condition in Gods favour that their Body was never dissolved from the Soul but in their whole substance assumed up on high Some Jewish Rabbins have presum'd to teach more than Scripture that the Bodies of Henoch and Elias were dissolved into Elements in their rapture and nothing but their Soul was received into Abrahams bosom I smell the leaven of the Sadduces in those Rabbies for certainly the origen of it came from such as they who resisted the truth that a Body could not be exalted to heavenly places Is not St. Paul enough to silence all tongues of that language Heb. xi 5. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death If Enoch did not see death in his translation and that 's the fair letter of the Scripture no more did Elias Says Epiphanius Henoch and Helias their Bodies and Souls were never parted but remain undivided for ever Henoch lived a married life Elias was a Virgin to shew that continency in Marriage and Virginity shall both be glorified in the great day of the Resurrection Thus Epiphanius and I could name a multitude of concurrents who are advowers of the same sentence They that list to be contentious gainsay this Doctrin touching Elias his Body that it never was corrupted from the common theme of mans mortality Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. v. 12. Death passed upon all men what 's that but a just Sentence and Decree and none can say Why am I born to dy But there is mercy and power in the Most High to spare and to execute his Decree upon whom he pleaseth Heb. ix 27. Statutum est that presseth home says the Antagonist it is appointed unto men once to dye that 's the Text indeed but not statutum est omnibus it is appointed unto all men once to die as some do read it The ordinary end of men is death but God hath his exemptions and priviledges to limit that Statute I tell you a mystery says St. Paul We shall not all die but we shall all be changed there 's one limitation They that are found upon the earth at the second coming of Christ shall not die but shall be snatcht up with Christ in glory non separatione formae sed immutatione qualitatum their Soul shall not be taken of the Body but corruptible qualities shall be taken from the Body So it was in Elias his Rapture the Body was not destroyed but only that corruption which was in his Body Again it is appointed unto men once to die semel once and no more Yet the Shunamites Son Jairus Daughter Lazarus and many others brought back from their Graves died twice there 's another limitation of the Statute Nothing concludes from thence but that Elias his Body was never dissolved in that Body wherein he talked with God at Mount Horeb in the same Body he heard God talk to his Son at Mount Tabor about the time of the Transfiguration But as for Moses after what manner he came to Christ in the shape of a Body I cannot speak with any certainty To hold that the elements were compacted into the figure of a Body that he might use it for that occasion and then disperse it into air when the mysterie was finished hath an ill relish in it because imaginary shapes like Pageants to be set up for a while and strait taken down again were not fit demonstrations of the truth of the Resurrection Damascen observes wittily that it is likely how the Promise which God did long before make to Moses was now fulfilled Exod. xxxiii 23. That thou shalt see my back parts but my face shall not be seen meaning says he that the eye of man could not see his Divinity but he should have the honour to see Christ incarnate That is not unfitly called posteriora or exteriora Dei the out parts or the Veil of the Godhead Now was that desire of Moses fulfilled and the Son of Man in excellent beauty stood before him but had he not seen him with his own eyes all had not been according to his first desire and affection And me-seems that this conjecture is not weak if Elias had appeared in his own flesh Moses but in a phantastical shape this had derogated from the dignity of Moses who was the Prophet than whom none was greater from the Law to John the Baptist The Jews oppress us again with their figments in a second opinion saying that Moses was so beloved of God that he never saw death but continued in his Body for ever as Elias doth Josephus tells us his mind herein so plainly that I perceive the most did follow him that when Joshuah and Eleazar had parted with Moses upon Mount Nebo he was taken away from them in a Cloud and advanced to Heaven but to make the people quiet that they might not talk too much of his exaltation and attribute too much honour unto him he left it written that he died in the Land of Moab But this doth peremptorily contradict the Holy Word in divers places He died and was buried in a Valley in the Land of Moab Deut. xxxiv 6. according to the word of the Lord. That word is in the same book Deutr. xxxii 50. Thou
Davids words Hei mihi quia incolatus meus prolongatus est Alass for me that I see any more days upon earth when I cannot see that we have kept that peace in the Church which we have received from our Fore-fathers And I forget not the Poetry of Theodore Beza he lived so long till he had made Elegies upon the Funerals of all his learned Friends at last he heard of a choice pair Gualter and Lavater that they were dead to honour whose memory thus he begins Semper ego infelix lugenda in funera fratrum vivam superstes omnibus Shall I unhappy out-live all my Brethren to make Epitaphs upon them He that sees many days and nights sees many calamities And therefore one said elegantly of John the Apostle who out-lived all his fellows but died not a Martyr as they did that to live to such an extreme old age was his Martyrdom Longaevitas Johanni Martyriam quoddam fuit Surely God multiplies the days of a good man oftentimes that he may please him the more by desiring death Do not deplore with Micah of Mount Ephraim that our false Gods are taken away but that we are so long kept from the true God Of this good desire of dissolution and departure Peter would deprive himself by affecting a phantastical kind of felicity in Mount Thabor Master it is good c. I call it fantastical felicity because it ariseth from the love of the flesh which thinks all is well enough when it is removed far enough from sorrow and trouble therefore I ask in the third place An bonum sit non effligi If that condition of life be well chosen in this world which appears as this did to Peter to be exempted from all affliction Solomon said no and he is to be believed when he speaks by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost Eccles vii 2. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting those were two diverse things in his days but now every house of mourning must be an house of feasting and banqueting but he adds Sorrow is better than laughter for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better What a petty Kingdom had this Apostle chosen for himself and his fellows a Paradise as he thought without thorn or briar no labour in it no exercise no adventuring for Christ no profit for the Church somewhat like Monastical Recluses every one in his Tabernacle and in such places where there is least stir there is the greatest tentation Is this the holy ground whereon he would set his feet and never depart No it was better for him when he walked unto his Master upon the waters of tribulation Danger is the best Centinel in the world to make us watch our enemies Fear is the best warning-bell to call us often to Prayer Tribulation is the best Orator to perswade us to humility O Lord in trouble have they visited thee and they poured out a Prayer when thy chastising was upon them Isa xxvi 16. If any man be afflicted let him pray says St. James but if any man be not afflicted let him fast and pray for he is in the greater danger Plato was requested to draw a book of Laws for the Commonwealth of the Cyrenians he said he would take time and they asked him how long He answered Till some great calamity befall the City for hitherto they had been so happy that no Law giver could appoint them such Rules as were fit to govern them And surely St. Austin was not of St. Peters mind he would not have chosen to inhabit in a Mountain devoid of all misery for he had proved the world and found it true Mundus ille periculosior est cum se allicit diligi quà m cum secogit contemni This world will bring more hurt about when it allures us to love it than when it vexeth us to hate it A pretty Fable is that in the Moralist of a man that sought Pearls upon the Sea-shore at a low tide he lighted upon many shells of good Pearl able to enrich him and he ventured upon the Shelves for more and more till the Tide came round about him and he could not scape with his life O says he I should have learnt wisdom of the God of Nature who cast these Gems loosely and regardlesly upon the Sea-shore as things rather to be lost than found At last he besought a fisherman who came that way to take all his Pearls for his pains and save his life in his Cock-boat As he was taken in an ambush of the Sea in the midst of his good fortune so mischief arrests the worldly man in the midst of prosperity When Peter was scourged by the High-Priests when he was imprisoned by Herod when he was under Nero in the Lions paw that devoured him these were good times for the health of his soul that as the outward man perished the inward man might be renewed dayly But to be in a brightsom pleasant habitation Grave est molestum est periculosum est says Gregory It was dangerous it was obnoxious to many inconveniences which will appear yet further by the fourth question An bonum sit in terrâ manere Is there any rest upon earth on which we may say It is good c. 4. Where shall the Dove rest his foot If we would be contented with the present state we enjoy yet all things will change and though all things should remain as they are and never change yet we would never be contented The Sea is a new Sea every Tide the earth is a new earth every month or every quarter at the longest distance the same mutability whirls us about and the things that we possess Whether I be upon Sea or Land upon Mount Tabor or upon Mount Hermon I carry my self about and shall be weary of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was a Cynical Philosopher indeed that ran over every kind of life as unsatiated with it but it was not Philosophy but the state of flesh and bloud that taught it him The City had no Recreation The Country no Society Studies of Arts were laborious Navigation perilous run over all the world and he would ask for somewhat which he wanted what content then could Peter take in one Hill though it were furnish'd with a most desirable Vision How quickly would it have cloy'd him to have been long there like a Lark hopping upon one turf of grass Though God prepare for us a new Heaven and a new earth yet he must give us a new heart likewise to delight in them forever For it is not the object alone but the disposition of the soul which receives it that must make us say When I awake up after thy likeness I shall be satisfied with it The Poets set down this case of St. Peter in a pretty Fiction that the Goddess Calypso offered Vlysses her pleasant Island to live there always and to be immortal upon it
and Saviour was God from everlasting and by him the worlds were created his hands had made and fashioned every one of these malicious Jews when their substance was yet imperfect in their mothers womb shall he not disdain then as well as Sophocles to contest in judgment with his own Creatures Ask Job if it be fit for God to come in judgment like the Son of Man No let his patience speak for his humility His fasting forty days for his sobriety his miracles and healing the sick for his charity his cleansing of the Temple of buyers and sellers for his zeal to the House of God Let Judas speak before he goes to his own execution let the Wife of Pilate speak and her vision let the Ruler himself speake his conscience and if these be silent the stones shall speak but let Jesus hold his peace and taciturnity it self shall prove him a just person Indeed I have seen a great evil under the Sun I do honour our Courts of Justice for my part and the municipal Laws of the Realm but I cry out shame upon this fault that it is grown an art among pleaders to be a good Accuser He that can aggravate a crime well is in good hope to be a thriving Practiser Alas if Accusers were charitable Innocents should not need to pay so dear for learned Counsel to defend them That which might be dispatch'd by yea and nay is grown a volume and if it be wyre-drawn by Statute upon Statute it will fill five hundred sheets of Paper Brethren this ought not to be so for pity sake let it not be so costly a matter to be a just person The truth of the Lord says David Psal xii Is like Silver purified seven times in a furnace of fire But this custom is grown so chargable that the truth of an honest man must be purified seven times in Silver If we had less eloquence among pleaders and more plain dealing a just person might come before Magistrates either as our Saviour prepared his Apostles Care not what to say The Holy Ghost shall direct you in an answer or else the Judge might find the defendant to be innocent as Pilate did esteem our Saviour when he answered not to his Accusers but stood dumb before him But hear a second reason more forcible than the former from the unanimous consent of all the Fathers Christ held his peace when his just dealing was suspected before Pilate Ne passionem suam impediret Lest upon manifestation of his good life his Passion had been hindred And what would he not suffer suspicions infamies imputations rather than the work of our Redemption should become void Though he went leisurely on foot from one City to another to preach the Gospel yet he would needs ride to Jerusalem to suffer nay rather than his Cross should be left behind or come tardy after he would carry it part of the way upon his own shoulders unto Golgotha There passed but a little time from midnight to mid-day betwixt his Attachment his Arraignment and his Execution as if his feet had stood upon thorns until his head was crowned with them After the manner of men who expect verily to be gathered to their Fathers his Grave was provided before he was dead in Josephs Garden Why did he not take Judas to Mount Olivet Why did he not carry him with Peter and James and John and cast him into a dead slumber in the Garden nay mark the Commission which he had for his Enterprise fac citò do it quickly as if he had been sent like Ahimaaz to outrun the rest of the Servants and to be the first that should betray him I had like to have said Judas was not the only one that did betray him let me speak it with reverence did he not betray himself when he gave up his life saying Whom seek ye I am he Take all the lump together so forward of his journey so mindful of his Cross so hasty to dismiss Judas so well provided of a Grave who would not presume that he would suffer his back-biters to revile him and say nothing David made this Cause both a Psalm and a Prophesie a Psalm of remembrance and a Prophesie of wonder I held my tongue and spake nothing I kept silence yea even from good words but it was pain and grief unto me His heavenly tongue should it have pleased him to touch the string of defence and apologie would have made the Judges to license his life and to fall down and worship him the Servants would have said to their Masters as the High Priests did sometimes to their Servants when they were astonisht at his speech and words What are you also taken to say more than this had he but shed a few tears when they smote him on the head as Moses did in the Ark of Bulrushes some mild spirit as merciful as Pharaohs Daughter would have rescued his life from the power of the Enemy So I have given you two observations warrantable why so just a person should neglect to purge himself of his accusation First the Enditements were grosly slanderous and therefore he would not speak Secondly he would endure such contradiction of sinners as the Apostle speaks rather than purchase deliverance from the Cross to hinder our redemption The consideration hereof will bring forth two Sons more unto Jacob a double speculation arising from the former First that Jesus could have hindred these bloody passions But secondly out of endless compassion he had set us as a Seal upon his hand and as a Signet upon his right arm and love was strong to death Passus est quia voluit He would not hinder them Posse nolle nobile He could have hindered his death The Jews were so far from thinking that such a feeble man in outward appearance could deliver himself that they did not think when He was fast and nailed that God could deliver him He trusted in God let him deliver him if He will have him Insultando quod non fieret non credendo quod factum esset says St. Austin not supposing that God could rescue him but braving him with that which was impossible O fools and slow of heart this was not the unruly Sacrifice impotent to help it self bound with cords to the horns of the Altar but such a Prisoner as St. Paul was Act. xvi who might have sprung out of prison when the doors were opened by the Angel but yet contented himself in bonds without liberty or enlargement Give me leave to forespeak your attention and I will discourse unto you briefly in the conclusions of the Schoolmen how the humanity of our Saviour might have been exempted from death and passion First had it pleased him to discover his Glory as he did at the Transfiguration in Mount Tabor would He but charm the Jews from their furious outrage with one graceful word what Devil durst have laid hands upon him Tun ' homo audes occidere Caium
Brethren Lastly as their Commission had dignity and sweetness in it so they were sent with profitable tydings to tell the Disciples they must go into Galilee and there they should see the Lord. What ailed them I may say that they were not already gone into Galilee for Christ had told them Mat. xxvi 22. When I am risen again I will go before you into Galilee Nay albeit the Women repeated this unto them they did not stir What though they would not go with him to his Cross would not they remove into Galilee when they were warned by Christ and now readmonished by the Women What might it be that hindred them shall I tell you what I think they had forgotten what Christ said and the tydings of the women made them keep closer to that place where they were Can it be that these women saw him in Jerusalem then surely say they the Lord will appear unto us in this City though we do not travel into Galilee But why did the Lord appoint the great intercourse between him and his Disciples in Galilee First it was remote from Jerusalem where much danger was there he might discourse with his Disciples with more privacy and security Secondly the Apostles were all Galileans and for their sakes he did this honour to their Country Thirdly to eject Satan out of his possession for it was a place of much sin called a place of darkness and the land of the shadow of death Isa ix 2. Fourthly there were many Disciples in Galilee and Christ had intended a famous meeting to appear to them all at once as some say on Mount Thabor where he was transfigur'd and that here it was where he was seen of more than five hundred Brethren at once Be it as it would be he promiseth they should see him there and he was better than his promise for upon this day at Even they saw him at Jerusalem Here is nothing that savours of any old grudg or displeasure no repealing of the former promise because they had forsaken him in the Garden but a confirmation of all loving kindness passed and an exceeding favour superadded that their souls might not be tortur'd with that long procrastination not to see him till they went into Galilee he prevented the time and appear'd to them in their own Chamber before they slept To this Christ who is faithful in promises and gracious in loving kindness be all glory AMEN THE NINTH SERMON UPON THE RESURRECTION MAT. xxviii 13. Say ye his Disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept IN the Parable where the King made a Marriage for his Son and I may truly apply it this day was the glorious Nuptial of the Son of God but in that Parable the Servants went out for Guests into the high ways and gathered together all as many as they found good and bad So the Evangelists have filled up the story of our Saviours Resurrection with all kind of Circumstances of Saints and Reprobates truth and fictions good and bad It is agreed by them who have exactly wrote an harmony of the Gospels that Christ made five Apparitions and no fewer all of them upon this triumphant day after he was risen from the dead to the devoutest of all others men and women that loved the Lord. The first to Mary Magdalen The second to the other Women that were going from the Sepulchre to tell the Disciples what the Angels had said unto them The third to Peter Luc. xxiv 34. The Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon 1 Cor. xv 5. Seen of Cephas then of the Twelve The fourth to Cleophas and the other Disciple toward the setting of the Sun to whom he was known in the breaking of bread The fifth to the Disciples late that night Whereas they had received a Message to go into Galilee and there they should see the Lord yet out of fear and incredulity they moved not out of doors Therefore on the same day at Evening being the first day of the Week when the doors were shut where the Disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst of them and said Peace be unto you And howsoever some of those portions of Scripture are read for the Gospel to morrow some for next Sunday yet all those five Apparitions hapned upon this one day He appeared so often to the best of those that loved him but the relation of his Resurrection was made also on this day to the worst of those that hated him The Angels spake it to the Women in the hearing of the Souldiers that he was risen to life the news went from bad to worse the Souldiers tell the High Priests and Elders what they had heard and seen the High Priests again sophisticate the news and tell them fraudulently to Pilate for the Souldiers safety then Pilate and the High Priests agreeing together fill the whole Nation of the Jews by their cunning with incredulity Look not therefore to hear me speak at this time of those good Saints to whom the mystery of Christs Resurrection was the savour of life unto life but of those wicked Infidels who by their own impiety made it unto themselves the savour of death unto death There is not one good person within the compass of the story whereof my Text is a part It is Manipulus zizaniorum If ever according to the Parable God sent his Angel to gather the worst Tares in one bundle by themselves here they are The High Priests prevaricating with God and his Angels the Souldiers corrupted Pilate the Governour misperswaded the people wholly seduced bad is the best Yet St. Matthew and no other Evangelist hath interserted this piece of treachery among the other sweet Narrations of this most happy day And for these causes if St. Chrysostome hit it right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truth will have the better audience when it passeth through the mouths of most contrary Authors say not that his Disciples and such Women as had Christ in admiration spread these things abroad for the malignant Souldiers speak the same 2. That we may see that very hour when God did first smite the Jews with that vertiginous spirit to hearken to Cabalistical Legends to the doating dreams of the Rabbines as they do at this day that is in St. Pauls Phrase to profane and old Wives Fables For indeed this Text is a mere Romancy as arrant a Jewish Fable as ever was told A Conspiracy so full of rotten Fictions that nothing is true in it all but that it is a Conspiracy and that it is a Fiction 1. Then we must bolt out the Confederates Gebal and Ammon joyn together the High Priests the Elders and the Souldiers 2. The way of Confederacy is by putting a forged Tale in the Souldiers mouths they must avouch any thing that the Priests suborn Ye shall say 3. The Plot is collaterally against the Disciples for being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
upon them to make them loiter from their daily necessary labour but it was an high solemnity as fell out in all the year Dies celeberrimus sanctissimus as the Vulgar Latin reads it Lev. xxiii 21. where we read that then they should proclaime and call an holy Convocation So I have summed up the three occasions of this Feast in the Old Law first to give thanks for their deliverance from bondage Secondly to honour the day wherein first they received the Law at Mount Sinah and thirdly to offer up the first fruits of their Harvest will you see now how aptly the gift of the Holy Ghost was distributed at the same time When the day of Pentecost c. First Whereas the Jews did celebrate at the Feast of Pentecost their enfranchisement from the house of bondage so the benefit of liberty was augmented this day much more than ever it was before This Satan knew well enough and therefore the longest thing wherein he held the Church in ignorance was about the sending of the Holy Ghost long after the name of Christ and his power was received whole Cities and Societies confessed they had not so much as heard whether there were an Holy Ghost or not Ignorance in those Points which are necessary to salvation is the greatest thraldom and captivity in the world False Prophets says S. Paul do lead captive silly women laden with sins 2 Tim. iii. 6. I spake not only of such as sate in the darkness of death and were lost these were like Samson in fetters having their eies put out but the Disciples the flower of Christs train saw nothing in holy mysteries as they ought to see till the influence of this glorious day cleared there eye-sight their eyes were held their hearts were held they knew not which way their Redemption was brought about and how Israel was restored Our Saviour took out but one Text in all the New Testament it is out of Isaiah and it is to this very purpose that the Spirit of God redeemed us out of the captivity of ignorance the place is extant Luk. iv 18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised This comes home to the matter I am sure Yet moreover this is a day of restitution unto liberty because it dissolved the Church from the tye and yoke of Levitical Ceremonies from those multitude of Statutes which overwhelmed the people with observation As Pharaoh was drowned in the red Sea so the tenure of Mosaical Ceremonies was drowned in the bloud of Christ which was shed upon the Cross and on this Feast we received the Seal of the Spirit that we were rid of them all So far I have demonstrated that at this time we shook off the bondage of Ignorance and Ceremonies which makes it a feast of Pentecost to us Christians as well as it was to the Jews Secondly You shall find the other correspondency marvelously kept between the Law and the Gospel Christ at his death was slain not only as the Paschal Lamb but even when the Lamb was slain on the Feast of Passeover Now from the Feast of Passeover or rather from the second day of sweet bread reckoning fifty days the Children of Israel came to Mount Sinah and there received the Law which was kept ever after with a most sacred memorial so fifty days after Christ rose from the dead the Apostles and the Church received the Spirit of Sanctification And I am sure we have much more cause to renown our Pentecost than the Jews had to honour theirs If the Law which was the ministration of death was so thankfully remembred how much more the dedication of the Gospel For this day as the Fathers say very well was the first dedication of Christs Catholick Church upon earth They were made the Sons of the bondwoman by the Law we are made the Sons of the free-woman by the Spirit We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but we have received the spirit of adoption Rom. viii 15. A sinner could have no comfort in the Pentecost of the Jews they had the Law and that condemned them this was miserable comfort We have gladsom tidings this day not from Sinah but out of Sion which bids us live by faith in Christ In no other Feast of the Jews might Leaven be eaten it was an hainous transgression but the two loaves of the first fruits were to be baked with Leaven which were dedicated to God at this Feast Lev. xxiii 17. Expositors say no more to it but thus Leaven was put into the dough of new corn Vt panes sapidiores essent to make it more savory certainly so vulgar an interpretation is much under the meaning of the Holy Ghost I would rather say it had a mystical construction that Leaven was allowed at this Feast to intimate that the Holy Spirit would bear with the leaven of our nature with our sins of frailty and infirmity And it is observable that this is the number of the Jubilee every fiftieth year was the Jubilee year which was a time with the Jews to restore all men to their Lands which were sold away by ill-husbandry and a general forgiving of all debts So this day was a true Jubilee for remission of Trespasses it was at this time that Peter preach'd remission of sins to all that did repent and believe to all without exception for says he the Promise is to you and to your Children and to all that are afar off even to as many as the Lord our God shall call So I have shewed that we received the divine Spirit of grace at Sion at the same time that they received the terrible Law at Sinah which makes it a greater Feast of Pentecost to us Christians than it was unto the Jews Thirdly We agree no less with them in the next similitude for keeping this day The Israelites according to the early maturity of corn in that climate began to put their Sickle at this time into Wheat Harvest so the Apostles from this day forward went forth to reap that which the Prophets had sown gathering much fruit unto eternal life and bringing the Wheat of God into his Garner unto the everlasting praise of the glory of his grace Their Barly Harvest such was the condition of their Soil and Husbandry begun at Easter their Wheat was begun to be cut down seven weeks after at Whitsuntide and the latter was called Tempus primitiarum the Time or Festival of First-fruits which were presented to the Lord. So God breathed his spirit into man at the creation of Adam that was the first Harvest which spirit being choked by him and coming to nothing this day there was a second emission of the spirit into man fully to restore and renew him again Now the two Loaves
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