yee the words of an Author of no small repute amongst them speaking of the very same comparison of the difference of faces and mindes Alii aliis non omnino assimulantur ideo privatim de anoquoque meminit Ecclesia sine aliquo mendacio Non est inquit similis illi c. Therefore saith hee doth the Church and that without any imputation of lying say of every Saint His like is not to be found Mat 22.30 Wee shall be in Heaven saith our Saviour Math. 22. as the Angels of God and the more holinesse there is in us the neerer we approach to the nature of Angels even while we live here upon earth Now Aquinas tells us that quilibet Angelus constituit speciem Every Angell doth make a severall species So that there is no numericall distinction of the Angels but a specificall And the reason of this is because those things which agree in the species and differ onely in number doe agree in the forme and are distinguished onely in regard of the matter But seeing the Angels are not compounded of matter and forme but are without that principium fundamentum distinctionis that beginning and foundation of numericall distinction which is matter therefore it is impossible that they should be distinguished any other way but in the species And the species are compared unto numbers Yee cannot say that one number is equall to another number the number of 6 is greater then the number of 4 and lesse then the number of 8. For as well in the species as in numbers there is no linea à latere but only the upwards the downward line which implies greater and lesse So it is in the Saints no equality one must needs be greater another lesse And therefore S. Chrisostome concludes substantially and subtilly If no man be greater then Iohn the Baptist all Saints compared amongst themselves are either greater or lesse therefore he who hath none greater then himselfe must needs be greater then all But I have bin too long amongst these School delicacies Here is one thing remains to be explained concerning his last greatnesse the greatnesse of his glory For our Saviour addes in that 7. of S. Luke Luk. 7.28 Neverthelesse hee who is least in the Kingdome of God is greater then he There be two answers given First That this spoken in comparison of the Angels who were onely yet the inhabitors of the Kingdome of God For say they when Christ spoke these words the Kingdome of Heaven was not open unto the soules and spirits of men the Key of that was the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ till then there were no men in Heaven As if our Saviour should have said neverthelesse all this greatnesse of Iohn which I have made mention of the least in the Kingdome of God i. the least amongst the Angels is greater then hee because Iohn notwithstanding all these commendations is but a man but the Angelicall nature is far greater then the nature of man But this answer carries along with it a point in controversie not yet determined amongst us as granted and therefore cannot fully satisfie Secondly The answer is That he who is the least in the Kingdome of God is greater then Iohn the Baptist meaning that hee is greater pro nunc greater while Iohn lived upon the earth And this greatnesse arises a securitate fruitione from security and fruition For hee who rides in his triumphant Chariot must needs be said to be greater and happier then he who is yet in the heate of the Battell although this last be farre the worthier and the valianter because this is yet in dubio certamine but the other being freed from the malice of his enemies weares his Garland upon his head in security and therefore it is not said here that he who is least in the Kingdome of God is holier or better then Iohn but is greater then hee which greatnesse proceedes from a present possession of happinesse Wee have hitherto Preached unto you of the greatnesse of this blessed Saint St. Iohn the Baptist And what harme I pray yee is there in all this now There be a Generation of People whether it be out of envie or ignorance or pride or from what other root it should proceede I know not who cannot endure to have any of the Saints of of God spoken well of No the mention of the blessed and immaculate Virgin Mary who was the Mother of our Lord and Saviour a rich Cabinet containing in it a farre richer Jewell whom the Angell of the Lord accosts with this strange salutation Haile Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou amongst women This holy name I say if it comes in usherd by the word Saint is distastfull to many of them such is their madnesse affording a more honourable mention of some of their new Saints in a Funerall Sermon then of her who was the Mother of Him who redeemed the World But these people certainly if they knew my thing must needs know that the greatnesse of the followers doth redound unto the greatnesse of their Lord who is able to make and to keepe such followers And when wee heare of the the greatnesse of St. Iohn the Baptist me thinks we should all be carried up into a consideration of his greatnesse who made St Iohn For if St. Iohn was so great that by the Testimony of Christ himselfe there was not a greater then hee amongst all who were begotten of Women O how much greater then must he needs be who was and is the Lord and Master of St. Iohn whose Herald whose forerunner whose Minister he was and as he himselfe confesses whose Shoo-latchet he was not worthy to unloose Let such of us therefore who have bin any whit faulty in this kind learne hereafter to have a more honourable esteeme of Gods Saints and of the holy dayes which are dedicated to their memory and not suppose with too many that they are dayes set apart onely for licentiousnesse and drunkennesse No the good intent of the Church was that there might be preserved an Anniversary memory of the Saints of their vertues and graces of their lives and deaths to the glory of God and our owne instruction who following their good examples shall one day come to be Saints our selves amongst them This was and is the religious use of holy dayes not excluding the Civill which is to permit honest and lawfull recreations only with this caution First serve God and then take thy honest and Christian liberty Let us then make an end of this discourse with praise and thanks-giving to Almighty God for all Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors Fathers whose lives and doctrine God hath set up as lights to guide us unto the Kingdome everlasting but especially as this day calls to our memory for the blessed Saint Saint Iohn the Baptist who was great in his conception great in his nativity great in his
life great in his doctrine in his office great great in his sanctity in his dignity and Authority great in his death and great in his glory and yet for all these greatnesses was and is but the servant of thee who art the great God To thy greatnesse therefore O Father Sonne and holy Ghost we ascribe as due is all praise power majesty dominion from this time forth and for ever Amen THE FIFTH SERMON PREACHED Upon the blessed Innocents Day MATH 2.18 In Rama was a voyce heard mourning and weeping and great lamentation Rachel weeping for her Children and would not bee comforted because they were not YEe must not thinke it strange if in the midst of all your jollity amongst so many straines of joy the enlargers of the spirits and soule to qualifie your mirth the better and keepe it within the bounds of moderation we shall interpose one sad note of mourning Nor will it sound harsh to an eare that is truly Musicall for to have nothing but Sun shine and faire weather nothing but smooth and prosperous dayes while wee live here on earth were it a thing possible is the same Solaecisme in mans life which good Musitians observe amongst those who are but Smatterers in the Science who doe Nauseam creare nimia dulcedine beget a kinde of loathing and tediousnesse even out of the too much sweetnesse of their Notes and the frequencie of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor can I judge my selfe guilty of any Incivility or want of good manners in that I have in such a time of rejoycing in stead of sprightfull Ayres presented yee with the argument of a Tragaedie For although I am not ignorant that it was the custome amongst the Ancients whensoever they were to come to a Feast Omnia tristia ad limen ponere to leave all sad and heavy conceits behinde them and bring nothing over the Threshold which should cause griefe either in themselves or in any who sate at meate with them Yet I rather approve of the way of that King or Philosopher shall I call him or both who continually amidst the multitude of his dainties had a deaths head served up in a Charger to put him in minde of his mortality It favoured of wisedome and Philosophy this although it was accounted no great point or Courtship And see if our Church doth not observe the very same way of service at this Festivall time The standing dish as I may call it Caput cardo festi the head and the hinge of the Feast is indeed the Birth-day of our blessed Saviour a day of mirth and of lifting up the heart but no sooner is this past but the next service is a head in a Charger St. Steven the first Martyr And although the day of St. Iohn the Euangelist bee the next in rancke of whom our Saviour saith to St. Peter If he tarry till I come what is that to thee and fitly hath the Church placed this day so neere and leaning as it were in the bosome of Christs day being celebrated in the honourable memory of that Disciple whom Jesus loved and did often leane upon the bosome of his Master yet no sooner is this gone but the very next service againe is not one but many deaths heads in a platter the day of the blessed Innocents and that is now Verse 16. Then Herod seeing that he was mocked of the Wise men was exceeding wroth and sent forth and slew all the male Children that were in Bethleem and in all the coasts thereof from two yeares old and under according to the time which hee had diligently searched out of the Wise men Then was that fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet Ieremiah saying in Rama was a voyce heard c. The place of the Prophet Ieremie which the Euangelist St. Matthew quotes for this Scripture is the 31. Chap. verse 15. And this Prophecy was fulfilled in the literall sense as Cajetane saith in the Captivity of the children of Israel or of those tenne Tribes which were commonly called Ephraim And the reason why the Prophet Ieremie brings in Rachel here as weeping for her children is because that Ephraim the sonne of Ioseph whom hee begot of Potipheras daughter the prince of On as ye may reade in the 41. of Genesis was lineally descended from Rachel the mother of Ioseph But this Prophecy in the mysticall sense was not fulfilled untill this cruell and bloody Massacre of these poore Innocent children by the command of Herod and therefore saith the Text verse 17. Then was that fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet Ieremie And the reason why Rachel is here mystically called the mother of these slaine Infants is because shee was buried neare unto this City of Bethleem as yee may see in the 35. of Gen. from whence shee was called Mater Bethlehemitarum the mother of the Bethlemites In Rama was a voyce c. I shall not need to trouble either you or my selfe much to lay open to yee so knowen a history for to doubt that any living especially as we doe in a Church where there is such plenty of knowledge should be ignorant of this is as much as to thinke that there may bee a kinde of people who know not whether the Sunne shines or not without a teacher But because it is possible that there may be such an ignorance amongst us I will in a word or two relate that unto yee which yee may finde set downe a great deale more fully and sweetly in the Chapter When our Saviour CHRIST according to the decree of God the Father from all eternity and according to all the predictions of the Prophets in the fulnesse of time being by the vulgar Computation in the 3949. yeare of the worlds creation and withall the 42. of Augustus Cesars reigne and of Herods about the 34. was borne in Bethleham a City of Judah there was a Starre sent by God to conduct certaine Wise men out of the East Countrey which is thought to be Persia and the reason which leades us to thinke this Countrey Persia is the very name Magi which is a Persian word and signifies as much as amongst the Romans Wisemen amongst the Grecians Philosophers amongst the Indians Gymnosophists who comming to Jerusalem and enquiring where hee was who was borne King of the Jews Herod presently and all the City with him were startled at the question and indeed according to the policie of this world and Herods principle he built upon which was that Christ was to bee an Earthly King and a King of Israel it was time for him to looke about him and to seeke by all meanes to crush this infant King in his Cradle and therefore immediately upon the arrivall of the Wise men there hee calls all his Wise men together too all the Priests and the Scribes of the people and demanded of them where it was that Christ should be borne and understanding by them that Bethlam in Iudea was the place
in my disposition It is not impossible but there may be somthing found in this booke which may rellish harsh to many of our preciser people and open their mouthes both against it and me but I should shew my selfe an ingratefull Son of the Church a bad Subject to my Soveraigne and an unequall spirited man in my selfe if I should much esteem of the suffrages of those who esteeme not at all of the sacred lawes and authority of their Prince and State nor of the blessed discipline and unity of the Church whose comly harmonious order the Nations our neighbors round about us do looke upon with envie and admiration But I feare I have already tyred thee with a Preface so that I shall deterre thee from going any farther rest and so will I till I have some other occasion to tell thee that I am Thy friend PETER HAUSTED Summa Approbationis PErlegi has undecem Conciones quas habuit Mr. Petrus Hausted super varia argumenta in Dominicis aliis diebus festis una cum Epistola Nuncupatoria ad D. Christoph Hatton militem de Balneo Praefatione ad Lectorem in quibus omnibus nihil reperio sanae doctrinae aut bonis moribus contrarium quo minus cum utilitate publica Imprimantur ita tamen ut si non intra novem menses proximè sequentes typis mandentur haec licentia sit omnino irrita Ex aedibus Lambethanis Novemb. 10. 1635. GUIL BRAY R.P.D. Arch. Cant. Capel Domesticus Faults escaped Page Reade Page Reade 5 crucified him with 231 Synonomaâ—s 6 did crucifie him really 233 fault 14 found out another Ibid. Divino 42 Elongare 237 Sepulchies 61 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 249 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 72 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 252 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 74 Praecursores 261 Ambodexter 79 this is spoken 263 Judicabor 88 wandred 264 fact 95 translated 266 Legis 101 heare Ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 206 entertain'd 267 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 208 as it is with the 269 Advocate 209 then 277 It is not the knowledge c. 211 in the reason or Ibid. principall 217 exclusivè   THE FIRST SERMON UPON The PASSION of our Blessed SAVIOVR St LVKE 23. VER 44 45. 44 And it was about the sixth houre and there was a darknesse over all the Land untill the ninth houre 45 And the Sunne was darkned and the Vetle of the Temple rent through the midst WHen Great Ones weare Blacks and the Peeres of a Kingdome are seene in mourning wee may I hope without the helpe of Divination conclude that the funerall of their King or of some great Prince amongst them is neere And finding the Earth here apparelled in a mourning garment and the Sunne himselfe who uses at other times to appeare like a fresh Masker now wearing a Suit of Blacks and to these the Temple which was was once the holiest Place the glory and joy of the whole Earth like a loving Mother robd of all her children at once those deare pieces of her selfe sitting alone disconsolate wringing her hands and for griefe rending her precious garments in sunder wee cannot chuse but suppose presently that these great and unusuall signes of griefe which the senslesse creatures yet eminent in their kinde doe expresse must needs point out the death of more then of an ordinary man Wee see that mighty Kings and Emperours die and yet the Sunne lookes upon them even when they give up the ghost without any alteration of countenance Like a Heralds Coat or the face of a Widow who has buried three or foure Husbands hee beholds diverse Funeralls without any change of colour The Earth shee endures the slaughter of whole Armies thousands and ten thousands fall together the blood of great Commanders mixes with the blood of the common Souldier so that the streames which issue from them following the course of all rivers which make hast to the ocean doe seeme to threaten that with the name of the red Sea And shee beholds all this without any changing of her livery she does peradventure sometimes at the sight of a slaughtered Armie in a kinde of jollity and pride die some of her greene into a scarlet but that shee ever wore blacke at the death of any was never heard of before Xerxes the Persian indeed who carried that numerous Army into Europe against the Grecians consisting as some report of a million of men who drunk up whole rivers as they past and made mountaines plaine before him having at a certaine time got the advantage of a Hill and by that meanes taking a survey of his great Host is reported by Historians to have sighed and wept to think that all those multitudes of men which were then in his eye should within lesse then an Age bee laid in the dust not so much as their very names remembred Yet afterwards when this mighty Prince joyned battell with the small Navy of the Grecians and was discomfited and the greatest part of his men slaine we doe not reade that the Sunne sighed or grieved at all but went on his ordinary course undisturbed and unmoved with the spectacle nor doe wee heare that the Earth was at all troubled with the matter Great Alexander dies hee who conquered every thing but his owne desire of still conquering more Iulius Caesar dies that learned and valiant Romane that spirit of the world whose Sword and Tongue were alike victorious and this man dies treacherously betrayed in the Senate amongst his gowned friends And to come to sacred History Abraham the Father of the faithfull dies Moses that great Law-giver hee dies too hee who had the honour to see God face to face and yet lived All the Prophets die who were the Pen-men and Temples of the holy Ghost David a man after Gods owne heart hee dies too Solomon who was the wisest and the happiest King that ever lived dies and yet we doe not finde in any Story either holy or profane that either the Sunne or the Earth did put themselves to the expence of blacks for any of these or else that any Church or Temple did rend her garments in sorrow for their deaths What shall wee say then surely we must be constrained to take up our Saviours words in the 12. of St. Matthews Gospel Mat. 12 42 ver 42. Behold a greater then Solomon is here For wee see here in my Text both Sunne Earth and Temple are mourners at his death I shall not neede I hope with Pilate to set up a Title upon the Crosse and tell ye that he whom they mourne for is Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iewes because I suppose that this Title is written in Capitall letters in the heart of every true Christian Here be in this Text which does containe the solemnity or pompe which was at the death of Christ these two parts 1 Paratus fanebris Naturae 2 Paratus Dei. 1 The funerall solemnity of Nature Then was darknesse over all
the Land and the Sunne was darkned 2 The funerall solemnity of God And the veyle of the Temple was rent in the midst And it was about the sixth houre sayes our Evangelist The first thing I doe shall bee to make St. Luke and St. Marke friends who at the first sight may seeme to be at variance a little Marke 15.25 For St. Mark tells us in the 15. Chapter that it was at the third houre of the day Wee are to understand therefore that the artificiall day amongst the Jewes began at sixe a clock in the morning and ended at sixe in the Evening so that the compasse of their artificiall day was twelue houres Are there not twelue houres in the day sayes our Saviour So that calling our sixth in the morning the first houre of the day the sixth houre according to their computation must needs bee our Noone and about or a little before this time was our Saviour crucified But why doth St. Marke call it the third houre I will not give ye Cajetanes answere who saith that there may bee an errour in the Scribe mistaking and writing the Greeke Character of one number for another because there is some affinity betwixt them in the figure exemp gr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Augustines is something better who to excuse the matter hath these words Linguis Iudaeorum crucifixus est horâ tertia manibus horâ sexta The Jewes saith hee crucified with their tongues at the third houre when they cryed out so unanimously Crucifie him crucifie him his blood be upon us and upon our children but they did not crucifie him with their hands untill the sixth But if we observe St. Marks words well wee shall finde that this interpretation cannot stand for after he had said that hee was crucified at the third houre hee presently addes and at the sixth houre there was darknesse over the face of the earth which last words imply that they crucified him not at the sixth houre but at another houre Wherefore I doe rather subscribe to the opinion of St. Ierome in his Epistle to Cyprian As the Night saith he was divided into foure watches so their Day into foure parts or houres Into the first houre beginning at six in the morning and lasting till nine conteining in it three of our ordinary houres Secondly into the third houre beginning at nine and ending at twelue and into the sixth and ninth conteining the other sixe Pomeridian houres Erat quasi or ferè hora sexta saith our Text it was about the sixth houre he doth not say it was perfectly the sixth houre but it was about the sixth houre meaning a little before Noone and so the two Euangelists are reconciled For it is true that St. Marke saith they did crucifie really at or in the third houre and it is also true which St. Luke saith here and it was about the sixth houre About the sixth houre that is a little before mid-day our twelue of the clocke and it was in the third houre too i. in the latter part of the third houre a little before Noone And so although he was fastned to the Crosse a little before noone yet hee did not give up the ghost untill the ninth houre which is our three of the clocke after mid-day that hee might directly answere to the Paschall Lambe which by the Lords command was to bee killed at the Evening Exod. 12.6 Exod. 12 6. Or as the Originall reades it betwixt the two Evenings And here there may a question bee raised what part of the day should be meant by these words The opinions I finde are two 1 The first is Aben Ezras and hee saith That there is vespera Solis and vespera luminis An Evening of the Sunne when the body of the Sunne is removed from our eyes when that sets and an Evening of the light when the beames or shining of the Sunne doe also forsake us And betwixt these two Evenings saith hee was the Paschall Lambe slaine which time by us is called the twilight which by the opinion of Astronomers doth ordinarily endure an houre and one third part 2 The second from Rabbi David and he is larger in his interpretation and understands a greater latitude of Time There is saith he vespera declinationis and vespera occasus An Evening of the Sunne declining and an Evening of the Sunne setting The Evening of the Sunne declining begins at twelue of the clock when the Sunne is in his Altitude in the Meridian and so declines by degrees towards his fall The Evening of the Sun setting what that is wee all know And betwixt these two Evenings i. betwixt Noone and the Sunne setting the Paschall Lambe saith he was to be killed And certainely this second opinion is that which will endure the Touch-stone the best for without question by this phrase Betwixt the two Evenings we are to understand such a parcell of time wherein the dayly Evening Sacrifice might bee slaine too as well as the Paschall Lambe for even that was commanded to bee done inter duas vesperas betwixt the two Evenings as well as the other Num. 28.4 Num 28.4 And as the Talmud reports if wee reckon the houres according to our ordinary computation the dayly Sacrifice of the Evening Lambe was usually slaine betwixt two and three and betwixt three and foure it was offered but upon the Passeover Eve it was slaine betwixt one and two and offered betwixt two and three and the reason was because they might have time afterwards for the slaying and offering of the Passeover But if their Passeover Eve fell upon the Eve before their Sabbath then their dayly Evening Sacrifice was slaine and offered an houre sooner then ordinary that there might bee time enough both for the Passeover and also for the preparation of their Sabbath after that And Christ that hee might shew us that his death did comprehend all Sacrifices which indeed were nothing else but shadowes and types of that one and perfect Sacrifice which hee at this time made upon the Crosse for the sins of the whole world he began to be crucified in the third houre of the day with the dayly Morning Sacrifice and finished it at the ninth houre with the dayly Evening Sacrifice and the Paschall Lambe Hee was both the Sacrifice of the Morning and of the Evening Hee was sacrificed as well for those who lived in the Morning of the world before the Incarnation as for all us who have lived since in the Evening in its declining Age. Hee was the Sacrifice of the Morning and Evening both for Young and old Of the Morning and Evening for the East and for the West for the whole world The Morning and the Evening Sacrifice hee was and therefore observe how the Morning and Evening here doe meet together as if it had beene on purpose to mourne for him and perceiving it seemes that their owne Apparell was a great deale too light and glorious to appeare
that there were no Oracles delivered in his time nor for a good while before as was accustomed in former Ages was much troubled to finde out the reason of their Cessation Amongst much other discourse he falls into a disputation of the Nature of the Gods and finding that there was a kinde of Gods which the Ancients called Demi gods or halfe-gods begotten of the Gods upon mortall women which was a received opinion amongst them that the Gods many times fell in love with women upon earth and accompanied with them I shall not neede to name any particulars the writings of the Poets are full of such scapes and a fine device it was to preserve the honour of some of their great Ladies who were not altogether so true to their Husbands or their vowe of Virginity as they ought to have beene and finding moreover that these Demâ—gods although they liv'd long yet at the last dyed was brought to conjecture that these Gods might be they who did informe the Oracles and at their death the Oracles ceas'd but had Plutarch beene truely enlightened hee might easily have found out in an other cause of the defect of Oracles The same Philosopher in his booke of the defect of Oracles inserts a memorable History of one Epitherses a Grecian in the time of Tiberius Caesar who making for Italy being imbark'd in a Merchants Ship and sayling smoothly by the Ilands called Eâ—hâ—les the Sea upon a suddaine was becalmed so that they by little and little working themselves nigh unto Paxo there was an high and intelligible voyce heard amongst them calling Thamus Thamus they all heard the voyce but knew not from whence it came and therefore a suddaine affrightment invaded them this Thamus whose name was not knowne to the greater part of the passengers was the Captaine of the Shipp who hearing the voyce calling to him the third time assumed so much courage as to answere it Unto whom the voyce replyed farre lowder then before charging him that as soone as hee came against the Palodes hee should publish to the inhabitants that the great Pan was dead The whole company in the Ship being amazed at the strangenesse of the voyce message consulted amongst themselves what was best to be done and at the last agreed that if the winde were faire and prosperous for their Voyage when they came against the place they would then goe on without any stop but if the Sea were smooth and calme then they determined that Thamus should fulfill the command or the voyce Which hee did for finding it a very quiet Sea when they came thither getting into the Sterne of the Ship against the Palodes with his face towards land hee cryed with a loude voyce The great Pan is dead Which message was no sooner deliver'd but all the company in the Shippe heard upon the suddaine a strange and confused noyse sounding like the out-cryes and lamentations of a distressed multitude And this Ship afterwards arriving in Italy the report of this strange matter was soone heard of at Rome so that e're long it came to the eare of Tiberius the Emperor who sending for the Master of the Ship was certified of the Truth of the rumour and calling his wise men together demanding of them who that great god Pan should be was answered by them that hee was the sonne of god Mercurie and Penelope Yee see what an account Plutarch gives of the death of great Pan. But if wee weigh the circumstances of the story well wee shall finde that this voyce did signifie the death of Christ which caus'd the Oracles to cease and destroy'd the power of the devill And it is not unlike but those cryes which were heard in the Palodes were the lamentations of evill spirits bewayling the downfall and destruction of their Kingdome For first this is reported to be done in Tiberius time in whose raigne Christ was crucified and why might it not be at the very time of his death or immediatly after besides this certaine it was that Tiberius had enquir'd and heard of Christ and of many of his miracles for if the Senate would have agreed to it he would have canoniz'd him and put him into the roll of their gods And it is very credible that by reason of our Saviours calling himselfe by the name of the good and the great Shepheard the Heathens understanding it might conclude that it must needes be the god Pan who was said to be the god of the Shepheards And the great god Pan it was indeed who was dead taken in Christian sense the great Shepheard of our soules who left those 99 above who had not err'd and came downe to seeke and to save that One which had stray'd poore mankinde And from hence the silence of the Oracles and the lamentations of evill spirits But the strangenesse of this History related by a Heathen Writer hath carried me a little too farre To returne to the Text the opinion of the best Writers is that this darknesse was not onely over the land of Iudea but generall overall the earth The second thing we are to enquire of is of the extent of this darknesse in respect of time and that was from the sixth to the ninth houre from our 12. to 3. It began at Noone at that point which is the most opposite to darknesse and lasted till our three of the clocke which time doth include the chiefe glory strength and manhood as I may call it of the day For the day after three like a man parting with 50. begins to waxe ancient and from thence declines into a weaknesse The darknesse began at Noone as wee may suppose a little after Christ was nayl'd upon the Crosse so that if the Spouse in the Canticles should not yet be satisfied concerning her earnest request when shee cryed out in the first Chapter of that Song Shew mee O thou whom my soule loveth Cant. 1. where thou feedest where thou lyest at Noone we were able to instruct her here from my Text to tell her where her beloved lay at Noone Not onely at the Noone of the world at the fulnesse of time but also in the literall and nearer sense at the Noone of the day Nor is there any harshnesse in the phrase to say that Christ lay upon the Crosse at Noone For Iacere situs est miserorum To lye is accounted the posture of those who are miserable and therefore we use to say that Pauper ubique jacet The poore man lyes every where And let all who beheld that spectacle of Christs hanging upon the Crosse or all who have but any fancies to apprehend the manner of it judge whether the earth was able to produce a man more poore and more miserable then he was at that time Hee lay at Noone the Crosse was his bed of sorrow he lay upon the darknesse was the Curtaines drawne about him As David sayes Psal 18. Psal 18. though in an other sense Hee made darknesse
his secret place and his Pavilion round about him Christ was borne in the night as we understand by the Gospell Luke 2. And there were Shepheards watching their Flocks by night Yet when the Angell delivers the tydings of his birth to the Shepheards hee doth not say this night but this day is borne to you a Saviour It was naturally a night but the birth of Christ miraculously made it a day and the glory of the Lord shone about them sayes the Text. Christ dyes wee see here in the day in the mid day but even that is turn'd into a Night It was a day naturally but the death of our Saviour made it a night miraculously And the reason for it is good for it was not altogether so fitting that the earth should have worne one and the same Garment both at the Birth and Funerall of her Lord. He was borne in the night and that becomes day hee dyed in the day and that becomes night See how Christ both in his Nativity and Passion manifests himselfe to be the God of Nature who to shew her allegiance to her Lord and Master quite inverts her ordinary course and doth not wayte upon him in that livery which pleases her best but in that which he commands and is the most agreeable to his fortunes So that as the Disciples cryed out in an admiration when he quieted the Stormes and Tempests Who is this whom the winde and the Sea obeyeth So may wee say here Who is this whom the Night and the Day obeyeth It began at the sixth and lasted till the ninth so that the whole compasse or time of the darknesse was three of our ordinary houres I might here observe a mysterie in the number of 3 being the first perfect number that number which as Geometricians say doth make the first figure the number which Aquinas calls Numerus omnis rei the number of every thing and certainly hee had that hinte from Aristotle in his first booke de Caelo Omne totum sayes he in tribus ponimus To every whole perfect thing is requir'd the number of 3. And why may not wee say that as there went three dayes over his death like three witnesses to beare record of the truth of his death so there went three houres of darknesse over his Passion to beare witnesse of the Truth of his Passion The compleat number of 3 went over his sufferings to manifest to the world that now his sufferings were whole perfect and compleat and therefore no sooner are the three houres of darknesse over but presently he cryes Consummatum est it is finished gave up the ghost But we have beene too long in searching out the cause of this darknesse which was the third thing I propounded to be enquir'd for The neerest cause I told yee was the darkning of the Sunne But alas this will not satisfie us For as the Prophet David in the 114. Psalme which is appointed by the Church to be read upon Easter day doth not content himselfe with saying The Sea saw it and fled Iordan was driven back But hee addes also the question and sayes What aylest thou O Sea that thou fieddest and thou Jordan that thou was driven back So neither must wee thinke it enough to say the Sunne was darkned and goe no further but wee must Causam causae investigare Finde out the supreame cause of that subordinate cause and say What aylest thou O Sunne that thou wast darkened and thou Light that thou wast driven back The Sunne was darkned we confesse but what was it that darkned the Sunne This certainly will trouble us There are but three things supposing that wee are Sub dio et in sterili prospectu Under the open Heaven and withall have our eyes perfect which can any wayes take from us the sight of the Sun First The interposition of Vapours or Clouds Secondly The interposition of the Earth Thirdly The interposition of the Moone As for Clouds it is not likely that they should cause this darknesse For Saint Luke here after hee hath made mention of the darknesse which was in the ayre the place of Clouds and Vapours hee presently addes and the Sunne was darkned making this the reason of the other darknesse below so that wee may very safely beleeve that the Sunne was not darkned onely to us but even in it selfe too Hee who sayes unto the proud billowes of the Sea Be yee still and thus farre yee shall goe and no farther Hee is also able to say unto the Sunne Thou shalt not shine Hee who at the beginning was able to say Let there be light and there was light sayes now Let there be darknesse and it was so It could not be the interposition of the Earth for whensoever that is interposed it makes it night being nothing else but the shadowe of the Earth which is betwixt our eyes and the Sunne but this was at noone-day when the Sunne was in his height over the heads of the people of Jerusalem Nor yet was it possible it should bee the interposing of the Moone for the Sunne never suffers an Eclipse by the darke body of the Moone but onely when the Sunne and Moone are in a conjunction but now they were in opposition the Moone was at the full or but newly past it 180. degrees distant from the Sunne Which is easily proved for the Paschall Lambe was not by Gods command to be slaine nisi Luna quatuordecima but upon the foureteenth day of the Moone Exod. 12. and Levit. 23. and just the night before hee was crucified did Christ eate the Passeover with his Disciples so that this must needs be the fifteenth day of the Moone wherein he suffered quando solennitai erat Azimorum the first day of unleavened bread which was the great and chiefe day of the Passeover howsoever the Evangelist St. Matth. 26.17 may seeme to make the foureteenth day the first day of unleavened bread Mat. 26.17 Now the first day of the Feast of unleavened bread the Disciples came to Iesus saying unto him Where wilt thou that wee prepare for thee to eate the Passeover which must bee understood according to their Civill Account their naturall day according to that computation beginning at Sun-rising and ending with the rising of the next Sunne and in this regard the foureteenth day might be called the first of unleavened bread because it comprehended in it part of the first day of unleavened bread which day in their religious account began at the Sunne-setting and ended at the setting of the next Wee have not yet found out the Cause of this darknesse What should the Night make here usurping the dominion of the Day It is not such a hard question to answere I will give it ye in three words Christ the scond Person in the sacred Trinity united to our humane nature the wisedome of the Father by whom the worlds were made the Lambe without spot who was free from all sinne He hangs
upon the Tree in torments to satisfie for the sinnes of the world a spectacle to men and Angels All his friends and kinsfolkes stand a farre off and they who passe by in derision wagge their heads at him And can we suppose that the Sunne can looke upon such a sight as this and not plucke backe his head againe as confounded with the spectacle Or is it possible that the Light which was Gods first Creature his eldest sonne in the Creation should endure that pitifull object and not flye Alas it stood and gazed upon him in that misery as long as it could but being able no longer to looke upon his tortured Lord it resigned his Empire to the Night and fled into the lower world Or else as at his Birth the Day whose proper place was then the lower Hemispheare for he was borne in the night did come round from below to view him as hee lay in the Cradle so doth the Night now steale about from the Antipodes to have a sight of him as hee hangs upon the Crosse Peradventure the sonnes of darknesse wicked Spirits and men who were the instruments to procure his death had by this time with great triumph proclaimed the newes of his crucifyâ—ng in the gloomy Court of their mother Night and she not easily crediting that which she much desired lifts up her drowsie head to see if the report were true and true shee findes it and therefore as delighted and pleased with the sight she forgets her selfe it seemes and stands full three houres together to looke upon him Or else is the Night imployed here upon an Ambassage by the Moone who is ordinarily called the Queene of the Night and by her traine of Attendants the Stars to see what the matter was above that the Sunne denied them that tribute of influence and light which he was accustomed to pay them For wee must needs suppose that the Sunne was not the only sufferer here but also the Moone and the Stars below where it was naturally a night did partake of the darknesse too As when some great Peere falls by Treason his whole blood all his children and kindred are tainted and his whole family usually suffers in his fall For the Moone and Stars borrowing their light from the Sunne when the Sunne is darkned must need bee darke themselves too so that at this time there was a second night invaded even the night it selfe And this is an other Argument to prove the Universality of the darknesse It was darke in Ierusalems Horizon which is called umbilicus terrae the Navell or the middle of the Earth because the Sun to them to the Inhabitants was darkned and it was darke a tergo terrae in the other halfe in the backe parts of the Earth because the Sunne was darkened not onely to the Inhabitants for had hee remained in his glory at this time he would have given primarily at the first hand no light to them because the Earth was interposed betwixt their sight and it but also to the Moone and Starres all whose light which they seeme many times to bee so liberall of as if it were their owne peculiar is nothing else but the reflection of his beames And there may bee three reasons given of this darkning of the Sunne First That it might upbraid the hard-heartednesse of the Jewes and Souldiers who crucified him seeing that nature even in her insensible parts did suffer with Christ and beget a compassion and fellow-feeling of his miseries even in stony hearts as we see it did in the Centurion a Souldier a man acquainted with cruelties blood and massacres a generation of people which are not easily moved to pity by funeralls or slaughters and yet this man in the next verse but one following my Text seeing what was done is forced to give glory to God and say of a surety this man was just And if it wrought so upon this Captaine this Romane spirit O how did it worke upon the tender heart of the blessed Virgin the mother of our Saviour upon Iohn the beloved Disciple of the Lord and upon all those women who followed him from Galilee and stood afarre off looking upon him as well as the obscurity would give them leave It wrought so bitterly with them that it is the note of an Expositor That not one of them who were present I meane compassionatly present at this sight did after suffer Martyrdome Adeo enim vehemens saith hee fait ille crucis gladius adeoque ptarum animarum teneritudnem transverberavit ut fuerit illis pro Martyrio computatum So vehement sharpe and bitter was that fight unto their wounded eyes and like a sword dividing the marrow and the bone did so pierce through their softned hearts that it excused them from any after-Martyrdome the Lord thought that enough for them They were even Martyrs in beholding the Martyrdome of Christ Secondly That the taking away of this outward light might bee a signe of the subtraction of the true light out of the hearts of the Iewish Nation which was the effect of that unanimous voice amongst them His blood be upon us and upon our children For we see that there hath beene a darknesse ever since over the hearts and understandings of that people even unto this houre denying Christ to be come in the flesh Thirdly That the naked body of Christ dying in that accursed manner exposed to the contempt and scorne of all who passe by might not bee looked upon with joy by his wicked Tormentors and blasphemours therefore is this darkenesse sent to strike a terrour into their soules even when they supposed to make themselves merry with the sight Wee have seene how Nature was affected at his death for for the state of his Funerall shee hung Heaven and Earth with blacks Wee are now to see how the God of Nature takes the matter Et certe indignissimè The veyle of the Temple was rent through the midst But we must expect the gracious returne of an other Good Friday for this discourse * ⎠* THE SECOND SERMON UPON The Resurrection of our Blessed SAVIOVR Preached on EASTER Day PSAL. 114. VER 6. What aile yee O yee Mountaines that yee skip like Rammes and yee little Hills like young Sheepe THis whole Psalme which by the Institution of the Church is appointed as part of the Even-song for this blessed day of the resurrection of our Lord Saviour Jesus Christ is in the nearest and literall sense meant of the freedome of the children of Israel from the captivity Aegyptian when the Lord by a mighty and stretched out arme redeemed them from the cruelty of Pharaoh freed their weary hands from making the bricks their wearied feete from travelling for straw which was denied them wee know and yet the number of their bricks reserved And this is as plaine as may bee if wee reade the beginning of the Psalme ver 1. When Israel came out of Egypt and the house of Iacob from among
the strange people 2 Iuda was his Sanctuary and Israel his dominion 3 The Sea saw that and fled Iordan was driven back 4 The Mountaines skipped like rammes and the little Hâ—lls like young sheepe And from thence hee proceeds unto the Question What aileth thee O thou Sea that thou fleddest c. And the Psalmist in the next verse seemes to render an Answere to his owne Question For although our English Translations give it in the Imperative Mood and say Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord yet the best Translations amongst the Latins render it The earth was moved in the Indicative Mood which positively sets downe a Thing or done or not done A facie Domini mota est terra a facie Dei Iacob The old Psalter St. Augustine and Prosper reade it Commotae which signifies motus cum motu a motion with a motion i. violently the Earth was violently or exceedingly moved St. Ierome reades it contremiscit the Earth trembled And the reason of this diversity of Moods amongst Translators I doe conceive to be the divers apprehending of the letter Iod in the Hebrew word for as they know who are growen to any proficiencie in the sacred Tongue the word Chuli doth properly command Tremble thou or be thou moved or be thou moved in griefe yet by reason that the letter Iod is sometimes added to a word meerely for Ornament and the greater grace of the sound therefore Saint Ierome Saint Augustine Prosper and others have rather chose the Indicative moode and say The Earth was moved or did tremble And so Lorinus the Iesuite Quae vox saith hee proprie refert formaâ— imperativi modi interdum tamen litera Jod additur ornatus tantum causâ Genebrardus will have this motion of the Earth here to be a Metaphor taken or borrowed from the paines of a Woman while shee is in Travaile Quae sese agitat prae dolore And of this mind is Aquila who therefore translates the Hebrew word Chul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Parturivit the Earth was in travaile or did bring forth with griefe And to countenance this Exposition that place of the Prophet Habacuck is very pregnant 3.10 Viderunt te et doluerunt montes The mountaines saw thee and they were in paine or feare Some of our English reades it The mountaines saw thee and they trembled and the difference is not great for in the Latine it is presented to us in the inward cause or perturbation which was paine or feare and in the English according to the outward expression or effect of that feare which is trembling But being that the slaverie of Israell in Egypt under the cruell Taskmasters was but a type of the servitude of man under sinne and the devill and the freedome of them from that bondage did but typifie out unto us our deliverance from the bondage of Sinne Hell and the Grave which worke as upon this day was fully perfected Christ having overcome Death which was the last of his Enemies he had to subdue this Text may be nay it is understood also in a sense farther off and Spiritual lof the resurrection of our Saviour when as upon this day having broke the bonds of death in sunder as Samson the seaven greene cords wherewith the Philistimes bound him He triumphed over the Grave And this second and allegoricall sense is either in the Figure or in the mysterie In the Figure and it is a kinde of Prosopopaeia attributing the actions of joy and leaping unto the mountaines and hills which are onely proper to men and other living creatures and least of all to the ponderous mountaines This Figure is very frequent in holy Scripture and not onely there but also among the Heathen Poets and Orators So Tully in his Oration Pro Marcello Ipsi Parietes curiae Caesari gratias agere gestiunt The very walls saith hee of the Senate-house are ambitious to give thanks to Caesar And Virgil in his 5. Eclog Ipsi laetitiâ voces ad sydera jactant Intonsi montes The unshorne Mountaines themselves doe lift up their voyces in joy and if so then the aime of David in this Scripture is to set out unto us the greatnes of that joy which the resurrectioÌ„ of our Saviour did beget in the world which made the weighty mountaines forget their nature and for joy to skip about like Rammes for I am not of their opinion who would understand this motion of the hills in tristiorem partem to be ob terrorem faciei domini for the feare and terrour of the presence of God although they be no meane Authours such as Cajetane Iansenius Genebrardus Peregrinus Herus Philippus de Portes Bellarmine but I doe rather encline unto that other sentence of Lorinus others who will have the cause to be nova laetitiae voluptas and of this opinion are many if not the whole current of the Greeke Authors who interpret it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an hyperbole or excesse of joy and to countenance this I have no lesse witnesses then the testimony of the word exultandi in the Latine then the word gestiendi in the Romane Psalter Saint Augustine and Prosper the word subsiliendi in St. Ieromes translation Nor doe I stay here but I am also able to produce the testimony of the Originall it selfe and the Greeke Rakad and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as my Author tells mee never signifying any thing else quaÌ„ saltare subsilire exilire prae laetitia but to skip or leape about for joy And so here exultaverunt montes The mountaines did leape out of themselves as it were for joy as the word signifies In the mysterie and then it signifies the joy of Angells and men covered under the names of Mountaines and Rams Hills and young Sheepe But give me leave to look back a little upon the literall meaning of the Text as it points at the comming of Israell from Aegypt The Opinions are divers I wil but touch them Titelman by these Mountaines and Hills would faine understand those rockes uneven places and precipices which while the red Sea was in his naturall course were covered by the waters but when the Children of Israell were in their passage through it by the retiring of the waves began to lift up their heads and appeare to the people Others understand it verbally of the Mount Sinai which was mightily shaken at the presence of the Lord when the Law was given that Mountaine being so bigge that the greater parts of it might be called so many severall Mountaines Agellius would understand this figuratively of the neighbouring Kings and Princes who at the report of this new and strange passage of the Hebrewes through the Sea and the drowning of the Egyptians were possest with trembling amazement as Moses sings in the 15 of Exod. 15. Then the Dukes of Edom shall be afraid and trembling shall come upon the great men of Moab Rabbi Isaack and some other of the Hebrew Writers affirme
ire to rise up in a Contemplation unto such things as are above their owne nature For the first orders therefore to reade the greatnesse the wisedome and providence of God in any of the inferiour orders or in subjecta creatura in the Fabrick of the world hoe descendere potius quam saltus dare this is rather to goe downe then to leape To view the greatnesse and majestie of God in themselves in looking into their owne pure nature hoc illorum est per planum ire this is their plaine way they neither rise nor fall in doing thus But they are said to leape when they ascend into a simple and naked Contemplation of the Power the Wisedome the Majesty of God as he is in himselfe and so behold with admiration that Fountaine of beauty of goodnesse of order of proportion The second and third Hierarchies they are onely said to leape when they doe rise in a speculation into the orders above them and from thence are furnished with matter of admiration concerning the Divine power and wisedome For although it be granted that these inferiour orders have also their simple contemplations doe behold the face of God too enjoy the beatificall vision as well as the other yet this may be called illorum volatus potius quam tripudium rather their flight then their leaping because wee know hee that leapes doth not multum elongere se à stationis suae loco removes not himselfe farre from the place he was in before which we finde contrary in a flight when the thing that flies works it selfe many times into a vast distance Therefore because those orders of Angels which are here set out unto us by the name of rammes in their leapes doe never use but a simple Contemplation and the other inferiour orders never but a speculation most fitly hath the Psalmist laid his comparison together Montes exultaverunt ut arietes colles sicut agni ovium For the mountaines then to skip like rammes is when Contemplative men in a kinde of sacred extasie and overflowing of the soule doe climbe up into pure notions of the Deity abstracted from speculations doe behold the face of God not in the glasse of the creature but as he is in himselfe all splendor all glory all brightnesse all goodnesse And for the hills to skip like lambs is when speculative men doe climbe up into an admiration of God by beholding the works of his handâ— as St. Paul to the Romans 1.20 For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seene in the creation of the world being considered in his workes Pensemus ergo c. Let us therefore conceive if we be able what a mighty prerogative and grace it is for our humane and fraile natures to be likened in the motions of our minds unto the glorious Angels And let us therfore praise the GOD of Angels and men who hath made us a little lower then the Angels to crowne us with glory and worship O blessed soule and truely happy who can take such leapes as these who leaving the dull senses asleepe can secretly steale from the body and mount up in a moment unto the familiarity of Angels bee partakers of their joyes be present at their spirituall delicates and with them leape from one degree of knowledge and illumination to another and with infinite delight and admiration still bee knowing of that immensity which can never bee fully knowen Lord let my soule ever leape after this manner and I shall not envie all the flattering courtship that the world can shew me But I make haste to the Quare the cause of this leaping What aile yee O yee mountaines c. reade but the next verse and the Question is answered A facie Domini mota est terra for so good Translations as I told yee reade it The earth was moved at the Face of the Lord. Hugo set downe foure severall faces of Christ Facâ—m 1 Viventis The face of Christ living or the face of his Poverty And this face did he shew in his Nativity and after in his whole life being made poore for our sakes so that hee had not so much as whereon to lay his head 2 Morientis The face of Christ dying or the face of his Griefe And this face did hee shew us upon the Crosse which seemed to becken to all Passengers and to say in the Prophet Ieremies words Lam. 1.12 Have yee no regard all yee that passe by this way behold and see if there bee any sorrow like unto my sorrow 3 Iudicantis The face of Christ Iudging or the face of his Anger And this face will he shew to the wicked ones in the day of judgement 4 Regnantis The face of Christ reigning or the face of his Glory and pleasure And this face will hee onely shew to the Saints in the Kingdome of Heaven But I must make bold in the midst of these foure to insert one face more of Christs which Hugo Cardinalis did not thinke of and that is Facies resurgentis The face of Christ arising from the dead subduing the grave and leading Captivity captive And this is the face of Christ meant here at the sight of which the Earth was moved The Mountaines skipped c. And what thing is there so heavy that could sit still and behold this face O let not us then be more insensible then the Mountaines and Hills to which wee are compared for we must know that the strength of the comparison doth not lie in the ponderousnesse of the Mountaines No wee ought not to imitate them in this but it doth consist in the height in their neernesse to heaven and their distance from the common roades of men Lift up your heads therefore O yee gates and be yee lift up yee everlasting doores and the King of glory will come in First then O yee mountaines of the earth who doe enjoy a vicinity and kinde of familiarity with God and heaven Yee men of contemplation who by the advantage of your height have a far clearer and neerer prospect of God and of the wonders that are in him then they who are upon the little Hills and Plaines of the earth below O lift up your heads on high in a thankfull acknowledgement and admiration of the wisedome the power the mercy of our God who sent his onely Sonne in whom he was well pleased into the world that he by his poverty his ignominie his obedience his death might make an atonement for our sins And this is the day wherein that gracious worke was perfectly finished this is the day wherein our Saviour Christ having entred into the house of that strong man Death and bound him like a Giant refreshed with wine issued out of the Grave in triumph Or once This is the day which the Lord hath made let us reioyce and be glad in it For be sure that the Lord lookes for greater higher and more frequent leapes from you for purer and
more exalted notions approaching neere unto the contemplation of Angells then he doth from the Hills and Plaines For to whom much is given of him shall much be required So that as Saint Paul said of himselfe concerning preaching of the Gospell Woe is me if I preach not the Gospell so may I say of my self and of all our whole Tribe the Tribe of Levi with me of all the Priests of the Lord the Sonnes of the Prophets who are as it were a portion set apart for God himselfe and like the mountaines neerer heaven are or at the least should be farther removed from the plaines of the earth worldly cares imployments to the end that being freed from these outward destractions and disturbances wee should the more intend the honour of God and the good of his people Woe he unto us if wee above other men doe not leape for joy doe not sing songs of deliverance unto the God of our redemption In the next place O yee Hills praise yee the Lord. 'T is Davids counsell Psalme 148. Yee speculative men who are not yet growne up to the altitude of mountaines yee who are not able yet to climbe into a simple contemplation of God but doe behold his wisedome and power in the Glasse of the creature in the Creation Government of the world O doe yee leape too and although yee cannot yet fetch such Masculine leapes as the Rammes do let not this discourage yee Here is a degree of comparison for you too doe it like the Lambes or the young ones of the Flock Nor must we exempt the Fields the Plaines of the Earth from bearing a part in this joy the men of action and secular businesse they must come in for their share too and although they cannot leape or skip like the mountaines or the hills yet we will finde out an imployment for them too Whilst the mountaines and the hills dance before the presence of the Lord and trace it in comely figures together the fruitfull vallyes shall sing unto them as they passe and this I am sure they are able to doe For David in one of his Psalmes brings them in in the very same action and makes the moving cause of it to bee onely the fruitfulnesse of the Earth The vallyes saith he stand so thick with corne that they doe laugh and sing But wee have a greater cause then the fruitfulnesse of the Earth to move us the fruitfulnesse of heaven is fallen upon us and the Day-spring from on high hath visited us Hee whom the other day wee left hanging upon the Crosse the scorne and laughter of Passengers and hath lyen as imprisoned in the house of death for three dayes and three nights hath now broken from the prison of the Grave and to our endlesse comfort and eternall Salvation loosed and shaken off the bands of death not onely for himselfe over whom death shall have no more dominion but also for us too For now since his conquest Death hath lost his strength nor shall the Grave be able now to hold any of us hereafter The force of the Prison wall is decayed and through the breach which his blessed Resurrection hath made therein shall we finde a way unto eternity of living Let us therefore who are the Vallyes Plaines of the Earth though we are not able to leape and skip after the manner of the mountaines and hills who have higher and purer revelations then our selves although wee cannot sing unto the honour of our Saviour in so heavenly a straine or in so wel penn'd Anthemes as they yet let us not faile to doe our endeavours though it bee in a more homely Musick for the Lord doth not despise the Musick even of an oaten reede tuned to his Praise and he can discover a sweetnesse even in the harsh note of a sigh or a groane which is pointed to him Let us therefore for this present joyne our selves in Chorus with old Zachary Luke 1. and say Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for hee hath visited and redeemed his people Amen THE THIRD SERMON PREACHED Upon Saint Peters Day JOHN 21. VER 17. He said unto him the third time Simon the sonne of Jona lovest thou mee and Peter was sory because he said unto him the third time lovest thou me and said unto him Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Iesus said unto him Feede my Sheepe VPon the day dedicated to the memory of St. Peter wee have made choyce of a Text wherein we finde St. Peter sorrowfull and indeede wee should doe wrong to the holy Apostle if we should at all remember him without his sorrow Never feare that sorrow for sinne will ever spoile the face of a good Christian 't is the comeliest thing about him and he doth St. Peter the most honour who pictures him weeping Alas to call to minde onely the sinnes and imperfections of this holy man onely to mention how shamefully he denied his Master and to leave out his bitter weeping and his repentance which is the best part of the story were to bring him upon the stage onely to disgrace him but that man doth St. Peter right who remembers his repentance as well as his sinne Wee have in this Scripture then these three things 1. Peters sorrow Hee was sory saith the Text Secondly The cause of his sorrow And that is we see our Saviours saying unto him the third time lovest thou me Thirdly The effect of St. Peters sorrow And this is double Neerer or farther off The effect which I call the neerer is St. Peters answer Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee The effect of his sorrow which I call the farther off is the reply of Christ unto Peters answer Iesus said unto him Feede my Sheepe 1. Peter was sory What Peter might this be That Peter who in the Gospell read for this day by reason of that cleare Confession Thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God was pronounced blessed by the mouth of Christ That Peter to whom were given the Keyes of the Kingdome of heaven so that whatsoever he bindes on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever he looses on earth shall be loosed in heaven Yes Even the very same Peter even the very same Simon the sonne of Ionas whom our Saviour himselfe in that 16. of St. Mathew proclaimed blessed He is sorrowfull First Peter the blessed is sorrowfull Certainly then it is not altogether such an accursed and hatefull thing to endure affliction and troubles here upon earth as it is supposed it is Be comforted then thou who art in misery art persecuted or afflicted for thou seest that Saint Peter here who was in the opinion of no lesse then Christ a blessed man hee was in sorrow hee was griev'd which did not a whit diminish his blessednesse but rather encrease it Secondly Peter the holy is sorrowfull O then it is in vaine to looke for true felicity here
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-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
the Sundayes in Advent the ancient Christians styling the birth of Christ or his comming in the flesh by the name of Advent And why there be foure Sundayes or weekes preparative ushering in this Feast some doe take upon them to affirme that it is to signifie to us the foure Advents of our Saviour The first is Adventus ejus ad homines Secondly In homines The third Contra homines And the fourth Super homines The first His comming to men in the flesh The second His comming into men in the spirit The third His comming against men at the day of each particular mans death And the fourth His comming above men in the day of judgement Of all which Advents of Christ this mysticall Text of ours may be understood Behold he comes leaping upon the mountaines and skipping over the hills There be some Interpreters who write upon this place who accommodate this Text to the freedom of the children of Israel froÌ„ the 70. yeares captivity in Babylon by Cyrus the Persian The first and second verses of this Chapter they will have to understand those times of deportation when Nebuchadnezzar like a furious tempest did sweepe and carrie before him all that was pretious in the land of Israel Her King her Princes her strong men of warre all her cunning workmen all the treasures of the house of the Lord all the treasures of the Kings house 2. Kings 24. ver 1. I am the Rose of the field the Lilly of the vallyes ver 2. Like a Lilly among the thornes so is my beloved amongst the daughters And this they will have to be a Propheticall complaint of the Church in those lamentable times exposed to all depopulations and conculcations of the barbarous enemie Iuxta florem in agro sine munimento The third verse Like the Apple Tree amongst the Trees of the Forrest so is my beloved amongst the Sonnes of men This they will have to depicture out the quiet though poore estate of those reliquiae populi those reliques of the people which were left behinde under the tuition of Gedaliah who here they say is meant by the Apple tree under whose shadow they had delight Humilis hic erat ad proceritatem priorum regum vel ad altissimos Cedros qui florebant in Babyloniis montibus And hee indeed was but a shrub the Thistle of Libanus if wee compare him with their former Kings or with the tallnesse of those Cedars which though in captivity yet in some sort did flourish upon the mountaines of Babylon I might leade yee farther downe with me into the Wine-Cellar and tell yee what they will have meant by that the King had mee into his Wine-Cellar and love was his banner over me namely their enemies land partly Babylon partly Egypt whither much of the people at the cutting off of Gedaliah did undertake a voluntary exile Introduxit me Rex in Cellam vinartam non in domum convivii as one notes The King had me into his Wine-Cellar not into his banqueting house which you shall finde if you looke into the 7. of Ecclesiastes rejoycing in another name The heart of the foole is in the house of mirth In domo compâ—tationis As if the Spouse had said here The King had me into a melancholly and sorrowfull Cave in locum subterraneum into a Caverne of the earth as yee know most of our Wine-Cellars be yet notwithstanding there shee found Wine The Spirit and the Word which be often compared to Wine still bore them company Nec Ecclesiae in his miseriis consolatium defuit cui Carcer vino refertus It was impossible that the Church in these miseries should want comfort when her very prison was a Wine-Cellar But I come to this verse in the Chapter which I have chosen for my Text and this they will have to be as I told yee the comming of Cyrus to their deliverance It is the voyce c. Shee falls into an abrupt mention of it as if from a farre shee had heard the voyce of her welbeloved calling to her and distracted as it were with joy at the unexpectednesse of the newes she breakes forth into this suddaine extasie It is the voyce of my welbeloved And this is nothing else say they but a Prophesie of that great joy which all those Captive Jews did feele at the rumour of those warlike preparations of the Medes and Persians against Babylon for now they knew that the time of their Manumission was at hand which was prophesied by Ieremie in his 50. Chapter The latter part of the verse sets out unto us the speedinesse of his comming Behold hee comes leaping upon the mountaines and skipping over the hills As the Comick Poet saith Cervum cursa vincit gallatorem gradu Hee came leaping over Nations and striding over Kingdomes as if hee had had Stiles on And as it is in the next verse My welbeloved is like a Roe or a young Hart. How quickly did hee leape over the Armenians Lydia Hyrcanâ—a The Bactrians Susians Carians Phrygians Cappadocians With that lightnesse that he scarce left any footsteps behinde him so soone did be vanquish them But me thinks this interpretation is too dull and earthy and farre below the dignity and majestie of this so divine a Song So that wee may say of this Text as Christ did once to the people concerning Solomon A greater then Solomon is here So may we say certainly a greater then Cyrus is here is meant here of whom Cyrus himselfe was but a Type The comming of that true Cyrus in this place is meant that Conquerour who made preparation for warre who came into the world assumed our flesh by him sanctified and made the weapons of his righteousnesse to redeeme his chosen Nation whom Nebuchadnezzar the devill had carried into Captivity into Babylon This Text then may set forth unto us either the comming of our blessed Saviour in the flesh when in the fulnesse of time hee was borne of the Virgin suffered the frailties of humane Nature and at the last death for the sinnes of the world Or else his coÌ„ming in the Spirit to each particular faithfull soule But before I fasten upon any of these give mee leave to take up an Observation or two by the way which cannot bee very well passed over in silence The first is that hearing goes before seeing The Church first heares the voyce of her Saviour and afterwards shee sees him This is the order which the holy Spirit observes in many places of sacred Scripture Heare O daughter and see as yee have it in Isay and as it is in the last of Iob I have heard of thee by the hearing of the eare but now mine eye hath seene thee And in the second of the Acts when that Comforter which Christ had promised came unto them yee shall reade that first upon a sudden there was a sound heard from Heaven as of a mighty and rushing wind and after the Cloven Tongues like
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
and Saviour doest thou call that but a little while wherein we are deprived of thy presence Salvum sit verbum Domini mei longum est multum valde nimis This is a language Lord wee understand Not to call him who is Truth it selfe into question for his words this which thou callest but a little while seemes to us almost as long-liv'd as eternity Call it a thousand Ages Lord and not a little while But the devout Father hath found a reconciliation Veruntamen utrunque verum saith he modicum meritis non modicum votis It is but a little while indeed if wee respect our owne merits our sinnes having deserved that we should be deprived of him for ever but it is more then a little while if we regard the fervent desires which all true and zealous Christians have of his comming againe an earnest longing for the thing we love and want spinning every moment of delay into a yeare of dayes He is ascended into the heavens his enemies here on earth are all subdued unto him the warres which he came about are fully ended Sinne Hell Death and the Grave doe all lie prostrate before his feet and hee as Conquerour returnes into heaven which is his native Countrey In jubilatione voce Tubae as the Psalmist 47. Psalm Hee hath subdued the people under us and the nations under our feet God is gone up with Triumph even the Lord with the sound of a Trumpet In voce etenim Tubae mos est victorem redire de praelio saith St. Ierome For this is the musicke wherewith the Victor is accustomed to returne from the spoyle of his enemies He is ascended into the heavens What businesse then have wee here upon earth Our head our Captaine is above O let our conversations be above too Let us lift up our eyes unto the Hills from whence commeth our help all our help commeth from the Lord. What have wee to doe with the earth any more or earthly affections Woe to us that we are constrained to remaine in Meshech and to have our habitation in the Tents of Kedar Our GOD our Redeemer is in heaven sitting at the right hand of the Father let our hearts bee there too for what is there now left upon earth worth the loving Christs Ascension doth call for our Ascension The journey indeed our soules have to Heaven is great and wee want wings to carry us but let us take comfort for our Saviour hath promised us his aid St. Iohn 12 32. And I when I am lift up from the earth will draw all men unto me Wee have done with this Text as it was interpreted by some of the Fathers of Christs comming in the flesh We now intend by Gods assistance to give yee onely a Paraphrasticall Discourse of the second Interpretation which points out this Scripture as meant of the comming of our Saviour in the Spirit to the Church in generall to each faithfull Christian soule in particular And the same divisions will serve us still we have here 1 His Motion Behold he comes 2 The manner of his Motion Of his dignation Of his repudiation 3 The way Double too according to the manner Of the motion of God how hee may bee said to come or goe to ascend or descend wee have already in the beginning of this Discourse told yee and therefore wee must come directly now to the manner And first of that manner of his motion in the Spirit which respects his mercy And this hath either an eye to the end of his journey in this word he comes venit non abit hee doth not turne his backe and fly from us but hee comes towards us For had he leapt had he leapt never so joyfully and not have come leaping made his approaches toward us but have leapt from us wee had had but a small part in this joy but now let our hearts leape within us for he comes leaping Or else the manner of his motion hath an eye unto himselfe in this word leaping Hee comes leaping and so the meaning of it is Laetus est ipse Spiritus the holy Spirit it selfe leapes that is is joyfull for we know that the outward leaping is an effect of an inward joy the holy Ghost is full of joy and takes a great deale of delight in the journey which hee makes to men Or else it hath an eye unto us in the same word leaping and so St. Bernard understands it Salit id est dat ut saliat saith hee Hee leapes that is hee makes them leape he fills them with joy and gladnesse whose hearts are thought worthy to bee made Temples of the holy Ghost Hee comes Wee sit still it is hee who comes Certainly in all good manners and reason a man would thinke that it should belong to us rather to have gone to him then to him to have come to us Wee who were the offending persons wee who had so malitiously sinned against so gracious a Father without whose reconciliation wee had for ever perished wee sit still and hee comes The Cedar in Libanus comes to the Thistle in Libanus the expression is not full enough The Eagle of the mountaines makes a journey to the Gnat in the valley nor yet but why should I hunt about for comparisons betwixt things which are infinitely distant If yee will have all in one word The omnipotent everliving God comes to poore man who indeed as David said of himselfe may be truely called a worme and no man Here is therefore place both for our joy and thankfulnesse the journey which the holy Spirit takes it is towards us it is not from us he comes Let us therefore take up the Harpe and Timbrel tune our soules into a pleasant Key rise up and meete our Lord and Master who out of his incomparable mercy doth vouchsafe to visite his poore servants nor let us bee without a song in our mouthes to entertaine him with Sing wee thereforee with holy Zachary Blessed bee the Lord God of Israel for hee hath visited and redeemed his people and let our lives and conversations continually sing this Antheme too For God is pleased indeed to heare a voyce without an Instrument but he is delighted more when that voyce is joyned to the musick of a Harpe when there is a consent betwixt the fingers the works of the hand and the confession of the lips And let us bee as merry as we can wee shall finde the holy Spirit to bee as joyfull as wee for hee doth not onely come but hee comes leaping That great God who is so infinitely happy already that nothing can be added to his blessednesse he who hath no need at all of any service of ours nor of the beautifull Angels themselves hee who if the whole hoste of heavenly spirits had fallen with Lucifer and all mankind had perished eternally had beene yet the same God he is now infinitely good infinitely perfect infinitely happy yet he comes rejoycing he
to point onely at the West of CHRIST at his Death at the setting of our Sunne of Righteousnesse But no sooner had this Sunne who for a while was set unto the World recover'd the East and was Risen again from the Grave but immediately this West worship of the Iewes was abolished For His Death did set a Period unto all their Ceremonies Nay the Temple it selfe we know not long after was Destroyed as being now of no use because CHRIST had already suffered at whose Death the Worship of that Temple did point And therefore the Christians of the primitive times who now had a new Law the Law of the Gospell which did and does chiefly looke unto the East of CHRIST unto his Resurrection that they might acknowledge against the Iewes who were Enemies to CHRIST and denyed him to be come in the Flesh that he was both come dead and risen againe they did turne from the West to the East The Iewes even to this houre doe Worship towards the West still expecting when CHRIST should come and set and dye At nos a tergo ponimus mortem Christi a fronte Resurrectionem adventum ad judicium But we turne our Backs upon the West as professing CHRISTS Death to be past and behinde us and point towards the East as confessing his Resurrection and expecting his comming againe to Iudgement who shall come as he himselfe telles us in th 24. of St. Math vers 27 As the Lightning which commeth out from the East and shineth into the West and therefore the Câ—u â—n has thought fâ— in the buriall of Christian bodyes so to dispose of the scituation of them in the Grave that they are placed with theyr Faces as it were looking into the East expecting the comming againe of their Lord and Saviour in his Glory I might here adde that the East is the Nobler part of the World wherein Gods Greatnesse and Majestie does most appeare beeing manifested in the motion of the Heavens which is from the East I might also tell you that Paradise was scituated in that part of the World for so it was if we'll beleeve the Translation of the Septuagint in the 2d. of Gen. Quasi quaeremus ad Paradisum redire sayes Aquinas as if by worshipping thus we sought to returne backe to Paradise from whence the Sinne of our first Parents drove us I could adde also that the Sunne the Day and the Light have their blessed and comfortable inroades upon us from that Part of the World and being that we are to worship a God whose Infinite Majestie to us is invisible and onely yet to be seene in the Workes of the Creation therefore we bend our selves in this Religious action towards that Part of the Creation which is the most Glorious and by consequence of greatest vertue to excite and inflame our present Devotion And this may give you some satisfaction concerning our turning towards the East at the Hymnes the Doxologies and Prayers For these and other Heavenly reasons has the Church thought good to make the East part of the Temple to imitate the Holyest place of the Iewes which was in the West and therefore there they have plac'd the Altar or Communion-Table where the Body and Bloud of our blessed Saviour is administred unto the people where the Prayers and Thankesgivings of the Congregation like a Sacrifice of Incense is by the mouth of the Priest offer'd unto God and before or towards this place doe we worship God It is a scandall and an ignorance grosse as Aegyptian darkenesse which may be felt to say that we bow to the Altar or Table No we bow to God and the having of that Table in my sight when I bow putting me in minde of the mercies and Sufferings of my Saviour cannot chuse but make me bow the lower Seeing that the stiffe knee of this Pharisee has put me into this discourse I would willingly give all the satisfaction I could possible and truly I would thanke that man who but would whisper an objection into me that I might by Gods assistance endeavor to answer it and I have receiv'd one already from which of yee it comes I know not and it is this We ought yee say when ever wee come into the Church to joyne with the Congregation presently if they be at Prayers then indeed to kneele with them if hearing the Lessons or the Sermon immediately to settle our selves to that if they be standing up confessing theyr Faith then to joyne with them and intend that What without so much as once taking notice what Place it is yee are come into Without so much as once acknowledging God to dwell in that House Yee durst not thrust thus rudely into the Presence Chamber of a King His Chayre of State would strike a greater awe into yee Yee ought to doe thus Who told yee that yee ought to doe thus I never heard any say so but your selves and I doe not hold your credit so good in Learning that your bare word should passe in a Controversie of this high Nature But suppose I yeeld that yee ought to doe thus I le tell yee of another thing which yee ought too and yee shall not onely take my Assumpsit for it yee shall have a Canon of the Church to backe it Yee ought also to joyne with the Congregation in comming to the Church betimes before divine Service is begun not to stay lurking 〈◊〉 your houses till the Confession and Absolution be past nay many times till the Psalmes be done because yee would prevent the standing up at the Doxologyes betwixt them nay sometimes till the Lessons and the Popery of the Letanie as yee call it be over and then come stealing in as if yee were sent for Spyes to see what Religion we are of This yee ought to doe also and then we will allow yee to joyne presently with the Congregation for so yee shall have time enough before yee come to the publike duty to worship God and acknowledge the ground â—ee stand upon to be Holy But I heare another object Will not presently Kneeling downe in my seate when I come into the Church and saying a private Prayer lifting up a private Ejaculation to the Lord serve the tuâ—ne without first bowing and prostrating my selfe before the Altar I answer doe but so and no man shâ—ll finde fault with thee thou doest well in doing it but yet he who does the other too and does it truly from his heart and withall knowes the reason why he does it does a great deale better And therefore untill thy judgement bee a little better inform'd at the least suspend thy censure of those men who doe it Be not too rash in accusing them of Popery or Superstition Who art thou that judgest anothers Servant For if thou wilt observe a little in coole bloud this Nuda genu flexio as I may call it this naked bowing before the Altar which is not accompanied with Prayer but is onely a
Aristotles answer who sayes that Iustice and Equitie doe not Discrepare in genere sed gradu quodam they are not contrary but doe onely differ a little in degree Equitie making up what the Law in it selfe was deficient in being as I sayd before onely universaliter loquens able onely to speake generally and not to every particular case in which cases equity interprets the Law not opposes it but what is more then all this we have the example of God himselfe for it In the day that yee eate of that Tree yee shall dye the death There was the Law which he gave to our first Parents this Law was presently broken But does God now deale with them according to the strict sentence of this Law No. Out of his infinite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his admirable mercy whereas hee might have justly slaine them presently he suffers them to live that they might have a space for Repentance The like are frequent in the Scriptures nay the whole world is nothing else but a great Booke full of the like examples For alas should the Lord have executed the strict rigour of Iustice upon every one of us we had beene carryed immediately from the wombe of our Mother unto the Grave I am not so farre a Patron for mercy that I desire Iustice should any whit suffer No I subscribe to that voyce Fiat Iustitia Let Iustice be done though the world parish but yet with Aristotles limitation Equitie does not any way change oppose or alter that Ius naturale that naturall justice but having degrees it mittigates the strictnesse of the Law where the Law-giver has not left any thing exprest I have showne yee thus farre what this Veyle is and the necessity of it to be over the face of MOSES the Civill Magistrate I will now descend to the manner both of the framing and wearing it And because the wearing of it belongs to the Magistrate upon the Bench onely the framing of it to many and divers kinde of people I will follow a while the Particulars These five severall sorts of men then doe concurre to the framing or making of this Veyle The Accuser Witnesse Iury-man Advocaâ—e or Pleader Officer I can but touch upon them and first for the Accuser whether in Iudiciall Controversies or in causes criminall who brings the materials for this Covering Let him take heed that he be not found a rayser of false reports a speaker against his Brother Psal 50. And one who slandereth his owne mothers Sonne For be sure then that the Lord will goe on with the 21. verse And will reproove thee and set before thee the things that thou hast done We know one of whose greatest and most glorious Titles it is to be called the Accuser of the Brethren and know that whoever he be that participates in the Action must also have his share in the Name and afterwards inherit the punishment too If thou wilt doe the workes exercise the Trade of the Divell which is to accuse falsely expect no other recompence but the reward of the Divell which is to perish utterly But what is it to accuse falsely Not onely Struere de proprio calumnias Innocentiae to create a false report upon an innocent person meerely of our owne heads which the Oratour calls vernaculum crimen a domesticke crime such a crime as is borne with us at home in our owne breasts and has no being but there Such an one was that of Iezebels where it was Naboths Vineyard that had blasphem'd and not himselfe but also to aggravate a small crime and so to blow it up into a quantity when through the multiplying-Glasse of a little glozing Rhetorick they can make an Ant seeme an Elephant which was so common amongst the Roman Pleaders that CICERO calls it Accusatoria Consuetado the Custome of the Accusers And it is to be wish'd that it was not too frequent amongst our Word-Merchants who sell ayre and Syllables as men doe horses in a Faire he who bids most is the welcommest man be the Cause what it will An other way of accusing falsely is when thou tel'st the Truth though it bee nothing but the Truth with a wicked intent ayming to doe mischiefe So Doeg though he told Saul nothing but the truth concerning Ahimelech the Priest his releeving of David yet because his intent was ill and he was prickt forward by mischiefe to make that narration we shall finde DAVID Psal 52. Branding him with the Title of a Lyer Thy tongue imagineth wickednesse and with lyes thou cuttest like a sharpe Razor 2. The Witnesse is the next in ranke And let him onely know this that as hee is here brought to beare witnesse against his Neighbour so shall his owne conscience one day be brought to beare witnesse against him which if it finde him peccant shall never leave calling and crying in the cares of that great and righteous Iudge untill hee have passed that irrevocable Sentence against him In what a desperate condition then are all they who make no more of bearing false witnesse against theyr Neighbour I and in taking the just and powerfull Iudge of all the World to record that their false Calumniations are Truths then that Emperour did of cutting off the heads of Poppies O consider this you who are to lay your hands upon the Booke It is not the abatement of the thirtieth part of a Fine when you depose in your Landlords cause nor the Summering of a Horse or a Cow it is not the countenance of the best man as yee call him that is the richest man in the Parish who if thou swearest for him lustily and to the purpose and commest to him beforehand to know of your good Master what it is that will doe the deed peradventure will when thou hast drawne Gods curse upon thee so by thy perjurie that thou art not able to live honestly adventure his credit with the two next Iustices to make thee an Ale-house-keeper and so thou shalt live upon the sinnes and intemperance of the People curst both of God and men Alas it is not this nor greater things then these thou shalt gaine by thy oath which can lye in ballance against the displeasure of so great and righteous a God whom thou as much as in thee was hast endeavour'd to make a mocke of 3. And for the Iurer almost the same admonition will serve for him Thou shalt not follow a Multitude to doe evill Exod. 23. When thou takest thy oath consider with thy selfe whether it be upon the life or estates of men thou goest that thou swearest to bring in thy verdict as thy conscience shall dictate to thee according to truth and Iustice Thou art not bound to follow the first man like horses in a Teame because hee has the fayrest Feather in his Crowne because he has beene an old Iury-man and has layd many a poore Cleargy man on his backe has got himselfe a name amongst the easie swearers of the Laitie No
thou art first bound as farre as thou canst to search out the Truth to receive thy informations attentively and seriously before thou goest out and then laying all by-respects a side to deliver thy conscience clearely and plainely For it is you who have a great stroake in making this Veile of Equity which is to cover the Face of the Magistrate He can but examine the Witnesses heare the testimonies inquests and arguings and afterwards give you an Information of all this T is you who are Vitae necis tam potentes Causarum in whose power the life and death of Causes doe chiefly consist The Magistrate or Iudge like the hand in a dyall may often times poynt to the wrong houre and yet no fault in him but in some of the wheeles which are out of Frame For it is his part to proceed and give sentence secundum probata tantum according to the Testimonies and Allegations onely 4. The next in order is the Councellor or Pleader and these is the Iudge upon the Bench is called a God may in some sort be called little Gods too But I wish I could not call a great part of this Tribe too truly the deities of Nilus the Gods of the Aegyptians Garlick and Onyons whose chiefest vertues are to force teares from the Eyes of theyr votaries O Sanctas Gentes quibus nascuntur in hortis Numina But I forgot my selfe I should have left out the first part of the verse for such are the abhominable corruptions which many of them use now adayes that we may call them the holyest and the happiest Nations who have no such Gods at all grow in their Gardens I do not speake against all mistake me not there be honest and worthy Lawyers amongst us Nor doe I go about any way to disparage the calling For the true use of it is honourable being to defend the oppressed to maintaine or else recover the right of such as have beene troden downe by theyr too potent Adversaries Put when Rhetorick I wrong the Science I must not call it so rheumaticke and obstreperous noise goes about to make the guilty innocent and the innocent guilty to Carusse ore the Blackamoore and to prove the Leopard to have no spots when a little bold wild and Sophisticate language is able to make head against Truth and overcome it and the cause Ad mensuram pulmonis Advocati aut Hares aut non flourisheth or languisheth according to the strength of the Advocates lungs and boldnesse or rather to the depth of the Clients purse and opennesse I doe not onely accuse these times this disease was ever rise amongst the ancient Romanes nay it has beene in use ever since Iupiter had a beard In Saturnes raigne peradventure it was otherwise Aut sub Iove nondum barbato But the Antiquity of it proves not the lawfulnesse yee have a saying in the Law Nullum tempus occurrit Regi No custome can prescribe against the King and by the favour of Law this is as true in Divinity no prescription against GOD the King of Heaven and Earth Hee brings but a weake argument who concludes what ought to be from what has beene Such a colour Murder might have for it selfe who is able to derive its pedigree as farre as Cain It is to no purpose for mee to lay open the sacred thirst of Gold that is in these men I might as well tell yee that there is a Sun or a Heaven which we all aknowledge nor can I hope if I should repeate it to be heard the Masculine delicious and charming harmony which the gold makes in the Bag I know would out-musicke me would sound sweetlier and lowder in theyr eares then all that I could utter The second branch of St. PAVLS distinction of Tongues would out-cry the first the Tongue of Angels would bee lowder then the Tongue of Men. But yet for the discharge of my duty I must let such men know but surely this is a very fruitfull place for controversie I see few of them at Church if they had nothing to doe it is likely they would be here who make the sacred place of Iustice no better then the Stage of a Mountebanke having received their Fee who leave the cause many times where peradventure the whole estate of the Clyent lyes at stake and fall upon theyr Brother pleader or upon the person of the man whose cause is in hand or upon the cloaths and behaviour of some of the witnesses or parties hunting after crude and indigested impertinances which walke like apparitions or ghosts in the shape of Iests thereby as I suppose to catch the easie care of the circumstant Iurer or Country Gentleman who will reserve them for his holy-day reports amongst his admiring neighbours that however these Musitians of Pythagoras these Angels who play upon the Spheares may for a time delight them and they may dance after theyr musick too yet at the latter end they shall have but a harsh close they shall end in a discord 5 And so for the Officer who by bribes taken in secret is corrupted to foyst in or take out what he please let him know also that there is an other which is a generall Assizes to come hereafter when he shall be put out of his office when the Bookes of his owne conscience shall be layd open before that great Iudge the Lord of Heaven and earth in which booke there shal be no enterlining no blotting out no putting in but all his actions shall appeare faire and in a full Character All these five sorts of men have a hand in the framing and making this Veyle which is to be put upon the Face of the Civill Magistrate but yet not altogether so but that the Iudge has the overseeing of this theyr Worke. If hee perceives that the Accuser brings materials unfitting and which will not conduce to the making of the Covering of Equitie he may so canvase the businesse eyther by examination or if that will not doe by delay so that at the last the Truth may bee found out For he does ill purchase to himselfe the title of a man of Expedition and Dispatch who hastens causes and ends them before they be ripe If he findes a palpable malice and confederacie in the Witnesse who is here in the second ranke of workmen it is in his power I take it for my want of experience in these matters will not suffer mee to be confident to deny him his Oath If hee perceives ignorance supinitie and negligence in the Iurer he may impannell new ones If Sophistry Cavelling or Meram Superbientem lasciviam verborum an unnecessary trifling and wantonnesse of of words in the Advocate his wisedome sharpe insight and experience peradventure hee himselfe once being a Pleader and so knowing the way of them the better may looke through that Veyle of forc'd language and view the realities and after those direct his sentence If in his Officer he finds Bribery and Corruption as the best Princes and Magistrates in the world sometimes cannot bee without bad Officers 't is in his power to rectifie that too But these things yee know better farre I confesse then I am able to direct yee yet it is not a bare knowledge of them that will benefit yee in the last day but Happy are yee if yee doe them It it not the knowledge that swims above in the braine but that which sinkes downe into the heart takes root in the affections and brings forth fruit in actions that will then profit thee For to whom much is given of him much shal be required not onely the Principall which was trusted to the understanding and Theorye but also the interest which is expected from the Practick part There is another kinde of Veyle too which is to be put upon the Face of MOSES which is the same that our Hieroglyphicks in the embleme put before the Face of Iustice whom they picture out by a woman having a Covering before her eyes and a payre of ballance in her hand and this is to denote unto us the impartiality that should be in a judge he should be blinded not his understanding for that cannot be too quick-sighted but to show us that there should be no respect of persons in him Exod. 23.3 Thou shalt not countenance no not a poore man in his Cause And if not a poore mâ—n much lesse does it become him to put off his Veyle that his Eyes may let in the greatnesse the favour the Friendship of the rich and potent For if the person of any man should be accepted certainly in all equity it is the person of the Poore but yee see here is a strict command against this Doe therefore all things as beeing assured that you your selves one day shall be ungodded againe for he who has sayd yee are Gods has also sayd that yee shall dye like men For the time shall come when a poore Vrne shall hold your Ashes all that little all which shall remaine of your voluminous greatnesse when that Eternall Iustice shall poize the ballance with an equall hand wicked AHAB shall then answer for NABOTHS Vineyard and IEZEBELL for the bloud of the Prophets Have but this therefore in your mindes and the God of all Iustice and mercy direct your actions labour to goe up into the Mountaine with MOSES and consult with the Lord 1 Be just and righteous let your faces reflect those cornua lucis those beams of light yee shall there receive from God and with MOSES your faces shall shine amongst the people yee shall be honour'd and reverenc'd ride on then and good lucke have yee with your honour and having past a glorious life here below the end of the Text shall be the end of your dayes Yee shall goe up againe and speake with God where your discourse shall never be interrupted so long as there is Eternity For if with MOSES yee live in the Mountaine and converse with GOD that is be imploy'd in his service and doe Iustice yee shall also with MOSES at the length heare that invitation of GOD to him in the 32. of Deutr. 50. verse Goe up into the Mountaine and dye yee shall depart this life in the favour of the Highest FINIS