meeting of yours in my Text wee have also MOSES face veyl'd 1 The strict rigour of the Law which like the glystering of MOSES countenance strikes a terrour into the people and makes them afrayd to come neare yee covered with the veyle of Equitie or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as Aristotle defines it Eth. lib. 5. cap. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A certaine Correction or mending of the Law beeing deficient in some cases which the Law-giver himselfe were he present would have added to the Law And this is nothing else but a wise and religious consideration and weighing of the circumstances of such facts as are to be layd in the ballance of Iustice Thus have we here a compleat Assises or rather the platforme which showes us what they should be GOD. The MAGISTRATE PEOPLE and EQVITIE And so the â—ext is easily divided not to be too curious We have heere 1. GOD and the Magistrate 2. The People and Equitie First God and the Magistrate for they must never be separated and so wee have MOSES in his glory GOD as the Author of his glory MOSES as the Subject Secondly The People and Equity which must go together too and to wee have MOSES in his veyle MOSES accommodated to the Capacity of the weake eyes of the people Or else if yee please thus Here are the two severall Aspects of MOSES 1 As he lookes upon God 2 As he lookes upon the People Like the double face of the Moone when hee is in Conjunction with the Sunne that halfe part of her Orbe with which she respects the Sunnâ— is glorious and filld with light her other 〈◊〉 that lookes upon the Earth is darke and charg'd with obscurity From the first Part of my Text the first Aspect of MOSES doe naturally arise these two Positions 1 That the face of MOSES of the civill Magistrate is glorious They are Gods Secondly That this glory of theirs comes from the Lord 't is he who hath sayd they are Gods and his dixi is a Feet With him to say they are Gods is to make them â—o Of the First I shall not need to quote much Scripture to prove the excellence of the Magistrate for to say they are Gods there in the Psalme is to say all that can be sayd and againe Exod. 22. Dijs non malediâ—as thou shalt not raile upon the Gods nor speake evill of the ruler of thy pleople Homer cals them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sheepheards of the people and Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saviours But what need we seeke any farther or travaile to Heathen writers for Tiâ—lâ—s for them when we have the Lords owne ipse dixit Hee hath sayd they are Gods It is accounted a grand subtlety and a great peece of Art in an Oratour to perswade his Auditors that they are that that they are such men already as he would have them to be Now God the best Oratour in the World humbling himself into the way of Art vouchsafes so farre to descend to our Capacity as to use the same manner of Rhetoricke He has sayd they are glorious he has sayd they are excellent on purpose to perswade them to be so Let them take heed therfore what they do Agere uti nomeÌ„ clutt behave themselves agreeable to the Title he is pleas'd to bestow upon them lost they be found strivers as much is in them is to prove the God of all truth a lyer Bee glorious bee excellent endeavour to have your faces shin before the people Let your light so shine before men that they seeing your good workes may glorifie your Father which is in heaven And yee have no other way in the World to obtaine this glory but the same which MOSES had to get his To goe up into Mount Sinai and consult with God And so wee are come already to the second Position 2. â— for indeed they cannot be long kept a sunder â—y they cannot be separated at all so neare is the kindred the relation betwixt them For no sooner is your glory nam'd but God immediately steps in nay indeed hee was there before for hee is the Author of your glory without God no glory at all no shining of the Countenance And it will not bee amisse to see the manner of MOSES consulting with God when he did obtaine this glory At the 28. verie of this Chapter So he was there with the Lord forty dayes and forty nights and did neither eate bread nor drinke water By this Lent this forty dayes fast which MOSES kept here in the Mountaine and afterwards CHRIST himselfe in the Wildernesse imitateâ— by us at this time or at least should bee as farre as our weake Natures will suffer us St. Augustine would understand the life of Man being dayes of sorrow and affliction according to the Mysticall number of weekes which a woman with Child goes before she is delivered Nor is it meerely St. Augustines observation For if yee looke narrowly into the 16 of Sâ— Iohns Gospell verse 21. Ioh. â— Ye shall â—nde our blessed Saviour himselfe to imply so much speaking how his Disciples should weepâ— and lament A Woman â—es hee while shee travaileth hath sorrow because her houre is come but as soone as she is a delivered of the Child shee remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a man is borne into the World And yee now therefore are in sorrow but I will see yee againe and your hearts shall reioyce and your ioy shall no man take from yee And that is the Christians Easter his death when hee shall keepe a perpetuall Sabboth unto the Lord with continuall Hallelujahs in his mouth The forty dayes and forty nights doe typifie then the life of man but what is meant by the fasting The same Father shall tell us Iejunium quod probat altissimus non solum intermissa corporis refectio sed a malis artibus factu disceâ—sio The true Lent which is pleaâ—ing to God is a Spirituall fast a fast from Sin and this thou must observe all the forty dayes that is the whole course of thy life Thou must fast from Bribes from Giâ—ts thou must not suffer thine eyes to wander after the fatnesse of the Oxe in the Stall nor the Wether in the Pasture thy fingers must not itch after the plumpe Gold in the Bag to divert the course of Iustice nor must thou respect the person of thy Friend Kinsman Nephew or Favorite thereby to wrong the Fatherlesse or the Widdow Thou must make a Covenant with thine eyes thou must not looke upon such a great Ladyes letter upon the Bench nor yet remember what such a Lord your Honourable Friend spoke to you in private for there is a Lord above more Honourable then hee who expects justice from thee This is the true forâ—y dayes Fast of MOSES which the Governours of the People they who sit in the Gates of Princes should observe For know that although yâ— â—t there at the
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
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
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
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
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
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
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