comfort the heart And this physick doth hee still administer by his instruments his Embassadors by them that plant in the Pulpit and water in the presse that plant in their Doctrine and water in their conversation by them that administer such physick as he doth direct and apply such salves as the word doth prescribe for the healing of sick soules Secondly Christ heals immediately by himselfe pride was Adams bane Christ cured it by humility man surfeting fell by the forbidden Tree Christ fasting cured it by the cursed Tree Other Physitians d Stella in Luc. 5. restore health by opening of veynes by letting of bloud by giving of Potions and by prescribing of dyet but Christ this heavenly Physitian made e Staplet Prom. mor. Dom. inf oct nat Dom himselfe the Physick to heale us he tooke the bitter Potion f John 19.29 of vineger the deit of fasting g Mat. 4 2. the bloud-letting in his Hands his Feete his Side his Head his Body Mirabile plane incomparabile genus medicinae propter quam medicus voluit aegrotare aegrotos ipsos quibus salutis remedium procuravit sua decrevit infirmitate curare saith S. Aust. h De Sanctis Ser. 19. It was a wonderfull and incomparable kind of physick for which the Physitian would bee sick and determine to cure those sick persons to whō he procures health by his owne infirmity Esse hominis filius voluit ut nos Dei filios faceret humiliavit se ut populum qui prius jacebat erigeret vulneratus est ut vulnera nostra sanaret servivit ut ad libertatem servientes extraheret mori sustinuit ut immortalitatem mortalibus exhiberet saith S. Cyprian i De opere Elemos pag. 354 He would be made the son of man to make us the Sonnes of God he humbled himselfe that hee might exalt the humble he was wounded that hee might heale our wounds he became a servant that he might set us at liberty that were servants he dyed to restore immortality to mortall men And indeed Christs whole life whether you consider his Doctrine or his doings was healthfull and medicinable to us if we obey his precepts or imitate his patterne This Text hath been hitherto as a fruitfull Field wherein I have gathered some corne I shall now bind some profit of it up in sheaves that you may the better carry it away with you First therefore here we may see Christs love to us with astonishment and admiration What the Iewes said concerning Lazarus k John 11.36 when Christ raysed him from dead behold how he loved him so may we say behold how he loved us how deare and pretious our life hath been in his eyes may appeare by the greatnes of the price which hee payd for it even his owne life Quam indebita miseratio quam grata dilectio c. regem gloriae crucifigi pro despicatissimo vermiculo l Div. Bern. O how undeserved is that mercy how free is that love that the King of glory should be crucifyed for despicable Wormes It was a great love m Comper on Rom. 8. that Abraham shewed to Lot in hazarding his owne life n Gen. 14.14 and the lives of his family to rescue him out of the hands of Chedorlaomer but not comparable that love which our kinsman the Lord Iesus hath shewed unto us who hath given his life to deliver us out of the hand of our enemyes It was a wonderfull great love that God would make man like himselfe and all things for man greater love that he himselfe would be made man but greatest of all that he would dy for his salvation Secondly let us consider the odiousnes of sinne with hatred and detestation Thousands of Rams o Micah 6 7. nor ten thousands of Rivers of Oyle could not make satisfaction for sinne neither could the fruit of our body make satisfaction for the sinne of our soule but the Son of God must needs dy for the sins of man If sinne cost Christ so deare doubtles it will cost us dearer except we repent Memoria ergo crucifixi in nobis crucifigat omne peccatum p Div. Bern. is an excellent counsaile and worthy our practice therefore let the remembrance of Christ crucified cause us to crucify all sin in us he stretched out his hands on the Crosse to embrace us and let not us stretch out our hands to wickednes to disgrace him he was crucifyed for us let not us crucify him againe by our sins but crucify our sins that caused him to be crucified Thirdly Christ is a patterne for our imitation and that in three things First we must imitate him in the sweetnes of our action especially in dong good Secondly in our resurrection which is twofold the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The one is a resurrection of the dead the other is a resurrection from the dead We must rise from the death of sinne to the life of grace if wee meane to rise from the death of the grave unto the life of glory But we must not rise as the Rose-tree doth at the spring to dy againe the next winter but with Christ he being raysed from the dead q Rom. 6.9 dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him and we must so rise from the death of sin that we never commit the same sins againe Thirdly as Christ was conceived and borne for us so must we conceive and beare him in our hearts There is a threefold nativity of Christ Divine from his Father fleshly from his Mother and spirituall in the mind Ex patre nascitur semper de matre natus est semel in mente nascitur saepe saith Innocentius r Ser. 3. apud Barrad He is borne of his father alwayes he was borne of his Mother once and is borne in the mind often and we must endevour to keepe him there alwayes Forthly here is also matter of consolation and that in a double respect first as Christ is the Rose of the common Field and lyes open to all he refuseth none but those that refuse him Secondly because he is the Physitian of our Soules that is able to cure them hiding all our sins and healing all our Sores giving us spirituall health here and eternall health and happines hereafter Lastly as Elisha said to his servant concerning the good Shunamite ſ 2 Kings 4.13 She hath been carefull for us with all this care what is to be done for her so may I say to you concerning our Saviour he hath been thus carefull for us what shall we doe againe for him As he dranke to us in the cup of salvation so let us pledge him in the cup of thanksgiving as he gave himselfe a propitiatory sacrifice for us so let us give up our selves a gratulatory sacrifice of prayse and thankesgiving to him And let us fall downe with the t
then all spices and the smell of her garments is like the smell of Lebanon But when Isaac smelled the savour of Iacobs garments they were nor his owne for c Gen. 27.15 Rebeccah tooke goodly rayment of her elder Son Esau and put them on Iacob As hee was cloathed with the rayment of his elder brother which gave such a sweet smell so the Church is cloathed not with the garment of her owne righteousnes but shee puts on the glorious robe of her elder brother CHRIST IESVS by which she is made the sweet Rose of Sharon Thirdly as the Rose is dead in winter but shoots forth againe at the Spring so though the members of the Church ly a long rime in the grave yet at the Spring of the resurrection they shal rise againe As long as the root is quick the branches will not die but flourish Christ is the root f Rev. 5.5 22.11 we are the branches g John 15.5 and our root did not rot in the ground but rose from the grave to certify us the branches of the resurrection As long as the head is above the water the body cannot bee drowned Christ is h 1 Cor. 11 3. Eph. 5.23 the head wee are i 1 Cor. 12.27 the body but Christ our head is risen from the dead and his members the Church shall assuredly rise from death to the Resurrection of life As Christ k Church Hom. of the Resurrection dyed not for himselfe no more did hee rise againe for himselfe but for us Quia tu Redemptor noster suscepit mortem ne mori timeremus ita ostendit resurrectionem ut nos resurgere posse confideremus for as our Redeemer dyed that wee should not be afrayd of death so he rose againe that we may bee sure of our Resurrection unto life GODS Covenant with his Church l Jerem. 31.33 I will be their GOD and they shall be my people m Peâ—kins on the Creed is an everlasting covenant to last for ever but if God should leave his people in the grave for ever how could they bee called the people of GOD for n Mat. 22.31 GOD is not the GOD of the dead but of the living and therefore seeing Gods Covenant is everlasting to all the Faithfull must rise from the dead that God may alwayes bee said to bee their God and the godly be alwayes said to be his people It is an especiall part of Gods glory to shew forth his mercy on the godly and his Iustice on the wicked to render o Rom. 2.6 to every man according to his deeds But here in this life p Eccles 9.2 all things come alike to all to the righteous and to the wicked and therefore there must bee a resurrection of the dead that the godly may have a reward from his mercy and the wicked from his justice Resurrectio quidem communis est ante tribunal Christi necesse est in corpore justos stare impios Dei hoc dictante justitia ut pietas impietas in operatoribus debitis stipendiis donarentur saith Saint Cyprian q De Resurrec Christi The resurrection indeed is common and it is necesssary that all both good and bad stand before the tribunall of Christ that both piety and impiety might receive a due wages in the workers thereof Et qui finem habâ—… contempserunt in malis infinita claâ—iderentur ultione in poenis qui gloriati sunt in cruce cum crucifixo regnantes beatae fierent perennitatis participes And that they which refused to have an end in evill might bee shut up in payne without end and they which gloried in the Crosse might reigne with him that was crucified and bee partakers of blessed everlastingnes For God as hee is principium effectivum in creatione refectivum in redemptione so hee is principium perfectivum in retributione r Ioh de Comb. Comp. Theol. lib. 4. cap. 11. as hee is the efficient cause in the creation the reficient in the redemption so he is the perficient in the retribution Why should any Epicure or Atheist deny that the omnipotent and everlasting God should bee able to raise mens bodies out of the dust when experience tells us that miserable and impotent men can by art make the curious workmanship of glasse Minus est Deo reparare quod erat quam fecisse quod non erat Å¿ S. Gregor It is a lesse matter to restore that which was than to make that which was not And therefore though the members of the Church should have their bodies torne in pieces by tyrants or consumed to ashes by fire or rent by wilde beasts or devoured by Wormes or Fishes yet they doe but rest a while in the earth for at the Resurrection they shall bee restored when they shall rise from their graves as the Rose in the Spring from the ground for therein the Church resembles the springing Rose of Sharon And so I come to the limitation of this attribute of Sharon The fruitfulnes of Sharon shewes that though the Church before Christ were barren like Sarah or Rachel yet by him it is made as fruitfull as Leah But I promised to proceed in the same method that I did before and therefore the word Sharon signifying any Field I must shew you that the Church resembles the Rose of the common Field in three respects First the Flowers of the Field grow by the providence of God without the helpe of man Campus ex semetipso flores producit absque omni humanae diligentiae adjutorio saith S. Bernard t In loc Ser. 47. The Field produceth her flowers without the industry of man So the Church is not planted by mans industry but by the providence of God The Trees u Doctor Dove on Cant. 4.12 grow not in it naturally as the Trees of the Forrest which beare no Fruit but they are planted by the labour and industry of the husbandman as the fig-Tree God planteth all that are in the Vine-yard of his Church as our Saviour saith w Mat. 15.13 Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up It is he that brings forth x Psal 80.8 his vine-yard out of Egypt plants it too The Church is a Vine-yard God is the husbandman that plants and keepes it it is watered by the word dressed by the Ministers refreshed by the comfortable Sun-shine of the Gospell And here is a difference y Doctor Hall Ser. on Isay 5.4 betweene Solomons Vine-yard and his that is greater then Solomon z Mat. 12.42 Solomon let out his Vine-yard a Sol. Song 8.11 to keepers but Christ keepes his in his owne hand hee useth the help of men sometimes but as tooles rather then agents hee works by them they cannot worke but by him And as it is planted by him so is it watered by him As Promotion so grace commeth b Psal 75 7.
rise againe If they had beleeved him and the stone had beene removed from their hearts as it was from the Sepulchre in stead of saying Sustulerunt Dominum w John 20 13. They have taken away the Lord they would have said resurrexit x Mat. 28.6 he is risen and indeed they contradict themselves in saying so for if he were their Lord how could he be taken away it was enough for Labans Idols to be stollen y Gen. 31.30 when Iesus appeared unto Mary she supposing him to be the Gardiner said z Iohn 20.15 Domine si tu or sir if thou have borne him from hence tell mee This Question was well asked Domine si sustulisti if you have taken him away for none could take him away but himselfe The Rose-tree though it be troden on and trampled on in the Winter yet by the heat of the Sunne by the heavenly influence without any other helpe it springs againe so though they sought to lay our Saviours honour in the dust and even trample on him yet by the power of his Divinity without other helpe he did Erigere caput lift up his head again Happily the Gardiner if it be a Garden Rose may remove some of the Earth for the Roses springing and an Angell descended a Mat. 28.2 and rolled away the stone for our Saviours rising Others did rise before Christ for Elijah b 1 Kings 17.22 raised the widowes dead sonne of Zarephath and Elisha being alive raised the Shunamites c 2 Kings 4 34 dead sonne and being dead his dead bones did raise d 2 Kings 13.21 a dead man These were great miracles which these great Prophets did but he that was anointed e Psal 45.7 with the oyle of gladnes above his fellowes did lift up his head among the rest Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi f Virgil. as much as the loftiest Cedars overtop the lowest shrubs What they did it was in nomine fide ejus saith St. Cyprian g de resur Christ pag. 48. in his owne name and by his power but he as he layd downe his life of himselfe h Iohn 10.18 so he had power to take it up of himselfe They rose to die againe but he rose to live for ever for herein the resemblance doth not hold betweene him and the Rose the Rose springeth and dyeth againe the next winter but Christ being raysed i Rom. 6.9 from the dead dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him They did not conquer death but death did at last conquer them but Christ rediit victor a mortuis inferni secum spolia trahens k Ruffinus in Hym. Apost inter oper Cypriani did rise as a conquerour from the dead carrying with him Trophyes of his triumph over death and Hell And it was he onely Qui virtute propria ut victor prodiit de sepultura saith S. Bernard l De Resurrec Christi that by his owne power could rise as conquerour out of the Sepulchre Though they laid him in the earth they could not keepe him under the earth though they did Imponere Pelio Ossam m Virg. Georg. lib. 1. v. 181. lay a great stone upon the Sepulchre but at the Spring of the resurrection he rose againe herein shewing himselfe to be the springing Rose of Sharon and so I come to the limitation of this attribute Sharon I am the Rose of Sharon Sharon is the name n Ainsworth in locum of a place or playne which was very fruitfull wherein King Davids herds of Cattell o 1 Chron. 27.29 were fed And the Prophet speaking of the flourishing of Christs Kingdome saith p Isay 35.2 that the excellency of Carmel and Sharon shall be given unto it And in this sense it shewes that Christ takes no delight in them that are barren but in them that are fruitfull in good workes and also it shewes the fruitfull estate of the Church under Christ that it is no barren Doe but a fruitfull Hind and although before his coming shee was a barren Wildernesse yet by him she was as fruitfull as Sharon But the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sharon in the originall signifies q Pagnin Lexic a Field in generall as well as the Field Sharon in particular and therefore give me leave to follow the old Translation of this word which renders it I am the Rose of the Field for therein lyes hid three mysteries First he is the Rose of the Field not of the Garden Campus enim sine omni humano floret adminiculo non seminatus ab aliquo non defossus sarculo non impinguatus fimo sic omnino sic virginis alwis floruit sic inviolata integra casta Mariae viscera tanquam pascua aeterni viroris florem protulere cujus pulchritudo non viderit corruptionem cujus gloria in perpetuum non marcescat saith S. Bernard r De Adventu Ser. 2. The Field flourisheth without mans industry it is neither sowed nor digged nor dunged by man but the Flowers grow in it by the providence of God so Christ was conceived by the holy Ghost without the help of man the virgins Wombe did flourish and her chaste bowels like a Field of eternall greennesse brought forth a Flower whose beauty never saw corruption and whose glory shal never wither The flowers of the Feild ſ Doctor Guilliam 7 Gold Candlest tract of the Incaru have onely a father in Heaven that is the Sunne by whose heat and vertue they grow and a mother in earth that is the ground from whence they spring so this Flower of the root of Iesse had onely a father in Heaven God and a mother in earth the virgin He was Deus de patre homo de matre de patris immortalitate de matris virginitate de patre sine matre de matre sine patre de patre sine tempore de matre sine semine saith Saint Augustine t De Tempore Ser 23. he was God of his father man of his mother of the immortality of his father of the virginity of his mother of his father without a mother of his mother without a father of his father without time of his mother without seed Anselmus hath observed v Lib 2. cap. 8. foure waies by which man may come into the world First by the help of man and woman the common way Secondly without the help both of man and woman as Adam Thirdly of a man without a woman as Eve Fourthly of a woman without a man as Christ God made the first Adam without the help of man for God w Gen. 2.7 formed him of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrills the breath of life so God made the second Adam without the help of man but the holy Ghost overshadowed the virgin and she conceived Ergo si tunc licuit hominem sine homine nasci
it the fitter for use but it makes the instruments the Anvill and the Hammer the harder so Gods children being heat red hot as it were in the fire of persecution it makes them the better and the more plyable to gods service but it makes the wicked which are the instruments to bee the harder First then it is for the benefit of Gods children Candidior tribulationum aculeis efficieris f Angelomâ—in loc The Church is more white and beautifull by the prickles of persecution The Church is compared to the Moone g Sol. Song 6. Ecclesia sicut luna defectus habet ortus frequentes sed defectibus suis crevit his meruit ampliari dum persecutionibus minuitur martyrio coronatur saith S. Ambrose h Hexam li. 9 The Church like the Moone hath risings and settings fulls and waynes but shee increaseth by her defects and deserves to be augmented while shee is lessened by persecution and crowned with Martyrdome We cannot bee crowned except wee fight neither can wee triumph except wee have got the victory when we fight and conquer then may tropheys bee set up In the shop of a Ieweller the Iewells would not bee so beautifull if there were no iron instrumens to furbish them Solomons Temple had never been so glorious if there had been no craggy stones to build it so Gods children would never be so beautifull in themselves nor so glorious in the sight of God if they had no persecution to try them When we sit by the waters of Babylon then wee remember thee i Psal 137.1 O Sion As the Prophet David sayes of himselfe k Psal 119.17 It is good for me that I have been afflicted so may many a member of the Church say it is good for mee that I have been persecuted Man saith one l Clem Alexand is like unto a vine now a vine as hee there speakes and we here know unlesse it be pruned it will streight way grow wilde so man if hee have no persecution no crosse layd upon him hee will bee ready to forget himselfe and to spurne against his maker Persecution then is like the wind which doth cleanse the good grayne though it blow cold like the fire which doth purify the good gold though it burne hot for the godly are bettered by it their knowledge is sounder then it was their faith stronger their humility lower their goodnes in generall is greater towards GOD towards their neighbours and towards themselves And as it is for the benefit of Gods children and tends to their salvation so it proceeds from the malice of the wicked and ends in their destruction Iniquitatis filii cum clarorum rum hominum virtutem repraehensionem quodammodo suae pravitatis existimant veluti immanes quaedam ferae crudeliter ruunt c. saith S. Cyrill m In Gen. lib. 10. The children of wrath when they see the vertues of good men reprove their vices they rage like wilde beasts for when by their works of light the works of darknes are reproved they cast the darts of envy and malice against them which doe oftentimes returne back on their owne pates The fire of martyrdome n S. Augustin which doth purify the godly doth damnify the wicked the one it doth enrich with eternall happines the other it shall consume to dust and ashes Ashur is said to bee the rod of Gods anger o Esay 10.5 and wicked men are but the rods of his wrath with which though he doth sometimes chastice his children and suffer them to bee persecuted yet at length hee will burne the rodds But some may object and say that in those dangerous times of the primitive Church the Church might properly be said to bee the red Rose of Sharon When a man might pay deare for Christ as Christ payd for him even his life it being then almost impossible to follow Christ without Martyrdome But now thanks bee to God there is no such danger no Christianus ad Leones let the Christians bee cast into the Lions den no pulling before Magistrates but every one may practise christianity as well as professe it without danger nay it is dangerous indeede to every one that doth not professe and practise it in our Kingdome and God continue it so long as the Sun and Moone endureth so that the Church may now seeme to bee free from the rednes and prickles of persecution To this answere is made p Chrys Theoplâ— apud Cosma in 2 Tim. 3 12â— that to suffer persecution is taken not onely for that which Gods children suffer from open enemies but for that griefe and sorrow which they suffer in their owne bowells Patiuntur hanc persecutionem non in corporibus sed in cordibus saith S. Austin q De Civitat dei li. 18. cap. 5. they suffer this persecution not outwardly in their bodyes but inwardly in their soules And there is a persecution of the tongue as well as a persecution of the hand The Scripture prompts me to it where it sayes r Gal 4.21 Ismael persecuted Isaac when hee Å¿ Gen. 21.9 mocked him So that there is disguised as well as open persecution t Wissons Christ Diction by word as well as by Sword by deceit as well as violence from false brethren as well as from professed enemies And this kind of persecution I cannot say that our Church is free from for that Schismaticall brood that whips it in their words and scourgeth it in their Pamphlets written against the government and governours of the Church what doe they else but as much as in them lyes v Mat. 23.37 kill the Prophets and stone them that are sent them And who so patiently beare w Doctor Boys exposit of the Gospell on S. Steph. day those wrongs and suffer those dilapidations in their credits what are they else but Stephens meere Martyrs And this kind of persecution must the Church never looke to bee free from Though shee may sometimes bee free from stripes and strokes yet shee is never free from mocks and scoffs though shee may bee free from deaths and imprisonments yet never from raylings and revilings though shee may bee free from murtherings yet not from murmurings and so never free from the pricks of secret persecution By this wee may partly see whether wee belong to the Church or no. Wee live in the latter dayes wherein many that should countenance Religion do contemne it being like unto the Negroes x Heylens Geogr. that paint the Divell white and the Angels black because they themselves are so Dost thou then like the weather-cock turne thy selfe by their wind and conforme thy selfe to them for feare of losing a favour or getting a frowne thou art not a true member of the Church Againe we live in a scoffing age wherein true Christians are accounted by many as S. Paul was y 1 Cor 4.13 the filth of the World and the off-scouring of