meeting of yours in my Text wee have also MOSES face veyl'd 1 The strict rigour of the Law which like the glystering of MOSES countenance strikes a terrour into the people and makes them afrayd to come neare yee covered with the veyle of Equitie or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as Aristotle defines it Eth. lib. 5. cap. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A certaine Correction or mending of the Law beeing deficient in some cases which the Law-giver himselfe were he present would have added to the Law And this is nothing else but a wise and religious consideration and weighing of the circumstances of such facts as are to be layd in the ballance of Iustice Thus have we here a compleat Assises or rather the platforme which showes us what they should be GOD. The MAGISTRATE PEOPLE and EQVITIE And so the â—ext is easily divided not to be too curious We have heere 1. GOD and the Magistrate 2. The People and Equitie First God and the Magistrate for they must never be separated and so wee have MOSES in his glory GOD as the Author of his glory MOSES as the Subject Secondly The People and Equity which must go together too and to wee have MOSES in his veyle MOSES accommodated to the Capacity of the weake eyes of the people Or else if yee please thus Here are the two severall Aspects of MOSES 1 As he lookes upon God 2 As he lookes upon the People Like the double face of the Moone when hee is in Conjunction with the Sunne that halfe part of her Orbe with which she respects the Sunnâ— is glorious and filld with light her other 〈◊〉 that lookes upon the Earth is darke and charg'd with obscurity From the first Part of my Text the first Aspect of MOSES doe naturally arise these two Positions 1 That the face of MOSES of the civill Magistrate is glorious They are Gods Secondly That this glory of theirs comes from the Lord 't is he who hath sayd they are Gods and his dixi is a Feet With him to say they are Gods is to make them â—o Of the First I shall not need to quote much Scripture to prove the excellence of the Magistrate for to say they are Gods there in the Psalme is to say all that can be sayd and againe Exod. 22. Dijs non malediâ—as thou shalt not raile upon the Gods nor speake evill of the ruler of thy pleople Homer cals them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sheepheards of the people and Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saviours But what need we seeke any farther or travaile to Heathen writers for Tiâ—lâ—s for them when we have the Lords owne ipse dixit Hee hath sayd they are Gods It is accounted a grand subtlety and a great peece of Art in an Oratour to perswade his Auditors that they are that that they are such men already as he would have them to be Now God the best Oratour in the World humbling himself into the way of Art vouchsafes so farre to descend to our Capacity as to use the same manner of Rhetoricke He has sayd they are glorious he has sayd they are excellent on purpose to perswade them to be so Let them take heed therfore what they do Agere uti nomeÌ„ clutt behave themselves agreeable to the Title he is pleas'd to bestow upon them lost they be found strivers as much is in them is to prove the God of all truth a lyer Bee glorious bee excellent endeavour to have your faces shin before the people Let your light so shine before men that they seeing your good workes may glorifie your Father which is in heaven And yee have no other way in the World to obtaine this glory but the same which MOSES had to get his To goe up into Mount Sinai and consult with God And so wee are come already to the second Position 2. â— for indeed they cannot be long kept a sunder â—y they cannot be separated at all so neare is the kindred the relation betwixt them For no sooner is your glory nam'd but God immediately steps in nay indeed hee was there before for hee is the Author of your glory without God no glory at all no shining of the Countenance And it will not bee amisse to see the manner of MOSES consulting with God when he did obtaine this glory At the 28. verie of this Chapter So he was there with the Lord forty dayes and forty nights and did neither eate bread nor drinke water By this Lent this forty dayes fast which MOSES kept here in the Mountaine and afterwards CHRIST himselfe in the Wildernesse imitateâ— by us at this time or at least should bee as farre as our weake Natures will suffer us St. Augustine would understand the life of Man being dayes of sorrow and affliction according to the Mysticall number of weekes which a woman with Child goes before she is delivered Nor is it meerely St. Augustines observation For if yee looke narrowly into the 16 of Sâ— Iohns Gospell verse 21. Ioh. â— Ye shall â—nde our blessed Saviour himselfe to imply so much speaking how his Disciples should weepâ— and lament A Woman â—es hee while shee travaileth hath sorrow because her houre is come but as soone as she is a delivered of the Child shee remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a man is borne into the World And yee now therefore are in sorrow but I will see yee againe and your hearts shall reioyce and your ioy shall no man take from yee And that is the Christians Easter his death when hee shall keepe a perpetuall Sabboth unto the Lord with continuall Hallelujahs in his mouth The forty dayes and forty nights doe typifie then the life of man but what is meant by the fasting The same Father shall tell us Iejunium quod probat altissimus non solum intermissa corporis refectio sed a malis artibus factu disceâ—sio The true Lent which is pleaâ—ing to God is a Spirituall fast a fast from Sin and this thou must observe all the forty dayes that is the whole course of thy life Thou must fast from Bribes from Giâ—ts thou must not suffer thine eyes to wander after the fatnesse of the Oxe in the Stall nor the Wether in the Pasture thy fingers must not itch after the plumpe Gold in the Bag to divert the course of Iustice nor must thou respect the person of thy Friend Kinsman Nephew or Favorite thereby to wrong the Fatherlesse or the Widdow Thou must make a Covenant with thine eyes thou must not looke upon such a great Ladyes letter upon the Bench nor yet remember what such a Lord your Honourable Friend spoke to you in private for there is a Lord above more Honourable then hee who expects justice from thee This is the true forâ—y dayes Fast of MOSES which the Governours of the People they who sit in the Gates of Princes should observe For know that although yâ— â—t there at the
which all their Prophecies pointed at he craftily called unto him those Wise men of the East and having told them the place he sent them away bidding them to search diligently for the Babe and when they had found him to bring him word that hee might also come and worship him Here were words faire enough but he had a heart in the meane time full of poison and blacke intentions The Magi having received this command from Herod departed and by the direction of the Starre having found Christ they offered to him their Presents of gold frankincense and myrrhe but being warned by God in a dreame that they should not returne any more to Herod they went into their owne Countrey another way Whereupon Herod finding himselfe deluded grew instantly into a rage nor could any thing quench his fury but the blood of all the male children in Bethlam and the adjoyning Countrey from two yeares old and downeward O he had thought he had made sure worke with Christ now Yee have the summe of the whole story Nor is this Truth set out to us onely in holy Writ but also Heathen Writers make mention of it Macrobius in the second booke of his Saturnalls brings in Augustus Cesar with these words in his mouth having heard that Herod amongst those slaughtered innocent children had slaine also one of his owne sonnes Melius est saith hee Herodis porcum esse quam filium It is better to bee Herods hogg then his sonne For although Herod was by birth an Idumean yet for the love of his wife hee suffered himselfe to be circumcised and observed the rites of the Jews in abstaining from the slaughter of swine In Rama was a voyce heard c. I was almost perswaded to have given yee no other division of these words but what griefe teares and abrupt sobs should dictate to mee but fearing if we had observed no method nor order in handling them we should likewise have observed no measure but have wildred our selves in a wide Sea I have made choice therefore to see vp some sea-marks to guide us in our Course The griefe then which is described in this Text runs through the verse in these parts 1 Subjectum doloris Rachel 2 Vbt doloris In Rama 3 Qualitas doloris A voyce heard mourning weeping and lamentation 4 Quantitas doloris Great great lamentation shee would not be comforted 5 Objectum doloris Her children because they were not 1 Rachel grieves What was this Rachel A woman certainly for wee heare mention made of her children in the following words A woman grieves and no wonder for it was shee who brought griefe first into the world for had not Eue eaten of the forbidden fruit there had beene no such things knowne as griefe and sorrow And see if this off-spring of hers this monster of her owne begetting doth not like a naturall and loving issue sticke close to her side This child of the woman griefe hath never left her but still gone along with her from its birth nor is it a thing possible to worke a divorce betwixt them for who can separate those whom God hath joyned together Gen. 3.16 In dolore parturies In sorrow shalt thou bring foorth children It is the curse which God laid upon the woman for her offence But it is the woman Rachel that grieves What that beautifull daughter of Labans whose pleasing lookes were of more force to binde Iacobs service to his Uncle then a strickt Indenture for hee served two Apprentiships for her Is there such a grace and beauty in bleare eyes that the incomparable Rachel by weeping strives to looke like her sister Leah Or did shee perceive her father Labans intent to give her sister first craftily into the embraces of Iacob and therefore by weeping doth shee hope to get the eyes of her sister and so to cozen the eyes of her father as her husband Iacob had before gotten the hands of his brother and by them the blessing But why stand I expostulating with departed Saints as if they were living amongst us Rachel long before the birth of Christ the death of those Innocents nay long before Ieremy wrote this Prophesie dyed and was buried as yee may see in the 35. of Gen. in the way of Ephraim which is Bethleem How then is shee said here to weepe Can the soules of Gods deare children who enjoy a blessed quietnesse assume their bodies againe to undergoe griefe and misery It is impossible The resurrection of the righteous shall bee onely to glory and happinesse No certainely wee will finde out an interpretation which shall bee so courteous to suffer the body of that good woman to sleepe in quiet Alas shee had griefe and sorrow enough while she lived we may very well spare her from any further teares Shee had her husband taken from her and in her roome her sister given into his bosome even before her eyes no small griefe and when after a tedious expectation of seven yeares more shee had obtained him her barrennesse having alwayes the fruitfulnesse of Leah before her face upbraiding of her was such an allay to her happinesse that all her marriage joy was quickly out of minde so that in the bitternesse of her soule shee cries out to her husband in the 30. of Gen. ver 1. O give me children or else I die It was a strange and unwonted strait that Rachel was in give her no children and shee dies give her children and shee dies too for they cause her death In giving life to her sonne Benjamin she lost her owne for shee died in Child-birth Let the griefe therefore she hath already sustained suffice Shee must not be called up any more from her quiet bed the grave to grieve againe By Rachel then who because shee was buried in Bethleem was as I told yee called the mother of the Bethlemites in a figurative speech is meant the women of Bethleem and of the adjoyning Countrey The women of Bethleem grieve Of Bethleem Can there bee any place for griefe to harbour in in that City wherein CHRIST the joy of the whole earth was borne Not long since wee heard the Angels telling the Shepherds and wee beleeved it then that there was tidings of great joy to all people What meanes then this voyce of mourning in Ramah The Prophet Elijah 1. King 17. for a little oyle and meale for a poore entertainment which the widow of Zareptah gave him was so courteous and gratefull to her that hee recompenced her with the restoring of her sonne to life And doth Christ recompence the place of his birth the place wherein his Eyes as he was man first saluted the light no better then with a payment of griefe O how truely might the mothers of Bethleem have taken up that speech of Zareptahs widow to the Prophet What have wee to doe with thee O thou man of God art thou come unto us to call our sinnes to remembrance and to slay our sonnes Did the
Prophet Elijah shew his thankfulnesse so to the place where hee was for a while nourished and shall Hee who is the God of all compassion bee more ungratefull more unkinde more cruell to the place of his nativity Flesh and blood would certainely interpret this to be ingratitude and cruelty For although he was not the efficient Cause of this massacre yet hee was the procuring Cause and withall had power if hee had pleased to have prevented it and therefore by that Maxime of the Civilians may in some sort stand guilty of it What shall wee thinke Is there cruelty or injustice with God God forbid that we should entertaine such a thought No the fault without all question is in our apprehension of this thing wee doe not judge rightly of it No doe we not judge rightly let us therefore joyne all the rest of the parts behind together and runne through them And indeed I durst keepe them asunder no longer for if I should have handled them all in order disioyntedly I should have beene forced to give yee to a great a potion of Wormwood in this time of Roses Let us see then whether wee doe not apprehend it aright or no. Wee have a griefe here and the subject of this griefe is Rachel that is the women of Bethleem The vbi the place of this griefe Ramah or Bethleem and the adjacent Countrey the place of Christs Nativity there the women grieve The quality of this griefe it is mourning weeping and lamentation the quantity of this griefe it is great great lamentation shee would not be comforted the object or cause is the death of their children they were not Doe we not yet apprehend it aright It seemes to me that we doe The lamentation was great and the cause was great it proceeded from the slaughter of their children and this was done in Bethleem the Citie wherein Christ was borne and it was done for his sake for Christs sake who had power to have prevented all this Doe we not yet apprehend it aright We will for a while suspend our censures Mee thinks I have a perfect Picture of that lamentable spectacle before mine eyes now and behold those women of Bethleem full of amazement mixing their lamentations with the churlish language of the Souldiers death appearing to them in as many severall shapes as there were Ministers or Instruments of death Here one whil'st her onely Sonne to innocent that yet it hath not learned so much as to feare is ravished from her breasts and dâ—â—t against the stones crying to the Executioner in St. Augustines words Quid seperas a me quem â—enâ— ex me Cruell and bloudy man why doest thou seperate him from mee who was borne of me and whilest the sterne Souldier charges her with a countenance of death shee answers him as Andromâ—cha did Vlâ—ses in the Tragedy Sâ— vis cogeâ— Andromacham metu Vitam mâ—nare nam mori votum est mihi What doest thou tell me of death if thou desirest to strike a feare into me threaten me with life for as for death I number it amongst the greatest of blessings There another with disheveld haire crying Meme quae feci What hath this poore Innocent done The crime was mine in bringing of a man-man-childe into the world the crime was mine I claime the punishment as my due Or if he be guilty too for being born junge mortem we are both offenders let us both dye Thus doth the poore Mother court the bloudy Cut-throat for death who shewes a new kinde of cruelty to her in being mercifull Then was the time if ever wherein a man might have said it is a happinesse to be borne a Woman for they are past by and onely the male children are slaine The Souldiers of Herod like cunning Woodmen pursue the best game and let the Herde passe by untouched I must not dwell upon this sight but these and a thousand other severall shapes of mourning weepings and lamentation were to be seene in Bethleem In Bethleem the Citie of Christs Nativity and all this was done for his sake too who had power and yet did not prevent it Shall wee call Christ ingratefull for this no Est quidem injustus dolor rerum aestimator Griefe is but a false Judge of things Certainly then we doe not apprehend this aright For Saint Augustine is of another minde accounting the slaughter of these children a blessednesse Beata es ò Bethlam terra Iuda saith hee quae Herodis regis immanitatem in puerorum extinctione perpessa quae sub uno tempore candidatam plebem impellis infantiae deo offerre meruisti Blessed art thou O Bethleem in the land of Iuda for suffering the cruelty of the King God was pleased to send a Present a Token of his love unto the Sonnes of men the Babe Iesus and thou alone of all the Cities of the world wert found worthy to send back againe to heaven as it were in exchange a Present a Troupe of immaculate and candidate Infants It was blessed also for the Mothers who now are proved fruitfull to heaven and are called the Mothers of Martyrs Most blessed of all it was for the Infants themselves for besides the courtesie the Souldiers did them in taking them from a troublesome and painfull life they had hereby the neerest Cut to heaven that it was possible for them to have Quam faeliciter nati saith St. Augustine in primo nascendi limine aeterna vita obviam venit vix dum gustaverant praesentem statim transeunt ad futuram nondum ingressi infantiae Cunas jam perveniunt ad Coronas rapiuntur quidem à complexibus matrum sed redduntur gremiis Angelorum O how blessed were these Children in their birth saith that Father who were scarcely stepd over the Threshold of this mortall life but the life eternall met them at the doore who had scarce time to tast what the Present was before they were tralated to the future who were crowned with eternity even in their Cradles who were indeed snatched from the embraces of their Mothers but in stead of that given into the bosome of Angells to be cherished Had they lived peradventure some of them for ought we know not to meddle with that media Scientia might have proved murtherers themselves some theeves others riotous persons and most of them having run a tedious and troublesome course in this life at the last have gone downe with sorrow into the Grave but Herod thinking utterly to undoe them by his cruelty conferres the greatest benefit on them that mortality was capable of sends them post unto Heaven For whom and all other thy Martyrs and Saints departed in thy feare we praise thy holy name O Lord humbly entreating thee to give vs of thy grace so to frame our lives according to their good example that when we depart this life whether it be by a naturall death or any other speedier way which thou hast appointed for us wee may rest with them in everlasting
Sion leapes like a young Hart and Syrion like an Vnicorne Hee is risen saith the Angel But who is this that is risen that the mountaines are so pleasant at the businesse Why it is the Lord and maker both of the mountaines and valleys that same great Lord who tells us that all the beasts of the forrest are his and the cattell upon ten thousand Hills Hee who in the pursuit after us leapt out of heaven into a stable indured the frailties and miseries of our Nature hee who suffered the reproaches of his enemies was scourged reviled spit upon crowned with thornes he whom but now we left in the grave guarded with Souldiers as if the fetters of death were not strong enough for him Hee is now risen The joyfullest newes that ever was heard upon earth This is the day which the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it For if hee had risen no more but that Death had had the victory over him his miraculous conception his stupendious birth his cruell sufferings his ignominious death and all that hee hath endured for us had not a whit availed us But now wee see to our infinite comfort that the house of death was too weak a Prison for him and the gates of Hell were not able to prevaile against him Let not us therefore who have a greater interest in this blessed newes then all creatures whatsoever bee more stupid then the heavy mountaines which in an extasie of joy are found leaping and skipping Psalm 114. Not that the mountaines did really leape but by a kinde of Prosopopaea to intimate unto us that infinite joy those glad tidings which now were come unto men even the weighty mountaines themselves which are the unlikeliest part of the world for any such motion are brought in by the holy Spirit to trace it in a daunce Which figure doth first accuse us men both of ingratitude and stupiditie Secondly it doth incite us to shake off that drowsinesse It doth accuse us first For how can wee at all bee accounted worthy of that great benefit who suffer our selves to bee overcome even of senslesse creatures in expressions of joy Or goe farther and suppose that these mountaines were sensible that they were able to move out of their places yet what doth the rising of Christ concerne them Had hee never died at all or being dead had hee never risen wee may conjecture that their estate had beene all one the Sunne had sent as gentle rayes upon them as hee doth now they had had their vicissitudes of seasons and times as well as now the Starres had looked upon them with the same Aspects and the ayre which circumscribes them had beene as courteous to them as now The resurrection of Christ hath not purchased any blessednesse or immortality for them For they shall smoake when the Lord toucheth them and melt like waxe at the presence of God when he comes to judge the whole earth But let us looke into our selves and wee shall finde multitudes of arguments inducing us nay enforcing us to a thankfull acknowledgement of his mercies Hee was borne not for himselfe but for us hee endured misery not for himselfe but for us hee dyed for us not for himselfe for us he was buried for our sakes hee went downe into hell and came from thence in triumph and he rose againe for our justification Wee were before children of darknesse and of the night but now by his resurrection wee are made heires of the light and day Before we were the cursed children of Adam under the dominion of death and hell but now by his resurrection wee are adopted the blessed sonnes of God and made inheritours of life everlasting And are these small favours think yee that we take no more notice of them but sit still like Solomons sluggard with our hands in our bosomes and suffer the very hills to take our office from us Let us at least joyne our selves with them in this rejoycing for feare least hereafter for this neglect wee be glad to wooe those mountaines to fall on us and be denied and to cry unto the hills Cover us from the presence of that angry and just God whose loving kindnesse we have contemned We have our Graves too even while wee live here on earth to arise out of the graves of our sinnes There is a two-fold resurrection as well a resurrection from sinne as from death and let that man never hope to bee a partaker in the second which is from death unlesse hee have his part in the first in the rising from sinne And being risen from the graves of our sinnes let us leape upon the mountaines grow on from strength to strength from Altitude to Altitude from one degree of perfection to another untill at last wee come to leape upon those mountaines amongst which Ierusalem which is above is scituated Wee are now come to take our last farewell of Christs corporall presence till wee shall enjoy it for ever For harke what the Spouse saith in the last verse of this second Chapter of the Canticles Vntill the day breake and the shadowes flye away returne my welbeloved and be like a Roe or a young Hart upon the mountaines of Bethel Returne my welbeloved He is now returned to the place from whence he came he came from Heaven first from Bethel from the house of God and as I told yee before to prove the circle of all figures to be the fullest of perfection he doth not leave moving untill he comes into heaven againe till hee leapes upon the mountaines of Bethel Lift up your heads O yee gates and be yee lift up yee everlasting doores and the King of glory shall come in Who is the King of glory The Lord strong and mighty even the Lord mighty in battell Quae vox utique non propter divinitatis potentiam saith St. Jerom sed propter novitatem carnis ascendentis ad dextram Dei ferebatur Which words were not spoken in regard of the power of the Deity But in respect of that new thing which was about to be done the placing of flesh at the right hand of the Father And this is the sixth and last leape I told yee of which Christ did take upon his journey towards mans redemption In the five first hee traced our footsteps who had leaped the same leapes before him but in this he leaves man behind him and makes hast before to prepare his Mansions for him In my Fathers house there be many Mansions This was that leape of which hee himselfe foretold his Disciples in the 16. of S. Iohn verse 16. ModicuÌ„ non videbitis me iteâ—modicum videbitis A little while yee shal not see me again a little while and yee shall see me for I goe to my Father O modicum modicum saith St. Bernard O modicum longum pie Domine modicum dicis quod non videmus te A little while and a little while Gracious God