of Gods mercy acted in so many shapes and by such various wayes that they require a Chronicle to giue you information rather than a short discourse Let me carry you once more backe and leaue you vpon the holy Story of the Scriptures and from thence you will soone conclude that Deliuerance is Gods Title confirm'd to Him not only by the confession of those records but by the Obedience of euery Element Which to serue his purposes haue changed and altered their properties The fire hath laid by his heat and the churlish element of water growne tame that it might be a preseruatiue to such as God was pleased to saue His three seruants walked in that Vault of flames as in an Arbour the fire hauing no more power to hurt them than the gentlest breath of Aire that nourishes not kills those that take it in When He led his people out of Egypt He was not only their Leader but their Hoast too both their Captaine and their Army He was their Vaunt He was their Reregard Whil'st they were vnder March He went before them in the Pillar of Smoake and Fire both to discouer and cleare their passage But when Aegypt had them in Chase He came behind them interposing Himselfe betwixt the Armies as a trench or stronger Bulwarke to keepe them asunder And when He brought them to the Red Sea the obedient Floud recoiled against its owne streame flowed backe against it selfe to giue them way making the waues a solid Wall whilst they recouered the other Shore Which Deliuerance referr'd to an higher For Egypt was figuratiuely the Captiuitie of Sinne and Christ our Sauiour was typed by the Paschall Lambe So that the whole storie of that deliuerance was not consummate till Christs passion whose Consummatum est concluded all the preceding types fulfilled the Law and the Prophets and put a Period to the great worke by Him vndertooke for Mankind To warrant which Digression of mine from the first Person of the Trinity to the Second it is the Opinion of some that this whole Psalme pointed at the Incarnation of the Sonne of God taking that Habitabit in vmbra c. to signifie the wombe of the blessed Virgin where the Diuinitie lay veyled and shadowed in flesh And Sadai in the Hebrew mentioned vers 1. to be one of the Names of the Messias denoting Him as the sense of the word carries it Qui solus pro humano genere satisfacere sufficit who was the only sufficient sacrifice for the sin of Mankind But my purpose is not to dispute his Title to this Psalme I only plead his right to my Text so far as the Title of Deliuerance enforces it Which was His by the full allowance of Faith and Scripture It is a Rule in Diuinitie that Opera Trinitatis ad extrà sunt Indiuisa in an externall consideration The works of the whole Trinitie which looke outward are vndistinguished and common What one Person does all doe because all are but one and the same God Our Creed attributes the Creation properly to God the Father and yet you see Gen. 1. the whole Trinitie exercised both in the Act and in the Consultation when Man was created Faciamus Let vs make man By the same latitude of speech we communicate Saluation to the whole Trinitie though the peculiar right and strict proprietie of the Idiome belong to the Second Person at whose comming Saluation arriued vpon the Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Prophet His Chariot brought Deliuerance into the World Himselfe being not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sauiour but Saluation in the Abstract Who of God is made vnto vs wisdome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption He that was a Deliuerer by an early promise so soone as the first Mans ruine made him capable of Redemption being that Seed of the woman which should bruise the Serpents head He that was the Soule of euery Sacrifice all which were but Hostages of that greatest Propitiation by his bloud The Prophet Esay gaue him Liuerie and Seizin in this Title Ecce Saluator tuus venit Behold thy Sauiour commeth And Luc. 1. the Angell which proclaimed Him puts Him in the full possession To you a Sauiour is borne A Title vnto which He was iustly fitted in euery Action of his Life declaring that He was not only the Sauiour of the Soule in forgiuing sins but of the Bodie too in curing the diseased in cleansing the Leprous in dispossessing such as were possest of Deuils In opening the doores of euery sense Eares barr'd vp with deafenes and Eyes that had neuer bin acquainted with any thing but Night and Darknes He was a Sauiour Actiuely and Passiuely a Deliuerer by way of Purchase and Redemption a Deliuerer by way of Rescue and a Deliuerer by way of Conquest too He purchased vs from the wrath of God and rescued vs from the iawes of Death and Hell in his Passion and He triumphed ouer those Enemies in the victorious Act of his Resurrection When the first Man had sold himselfe to sin in that luckles bargaine cōcluded vs his wretched posteritie passed vs away into the power of the Deuill who bought him from all Obedience He then stood forfaited to the wrath and iustice of God as hauing violated the conditions vnto which God at first bound him For so runs the Indenture Quô die comederis c. In that day thou eatest of it thou shalt die the Death Vpon which trespasse his Charter was cancelled and the priuiledge of his birth reuersed God now seizing backe into his hands the possession of that happines wherein at first he was instated The Earth was cursed out of her plenty into weeds and barrennes his wife doomed vnto the sorrowes of trauell and himselfe bound to preserue life by a perpetuitie of sweat and labour So that since his happines and whole being was now confiscate he had no possibilitie to discharge the debt but like a miserable Debtor must haue languished in his imprisonment had not the Son of God become his Surety had not he vndertaken to satisfie the offended Creditor Which He did and with no meaner Sum than the vnualued drops of his bloud tendered at six seuerall payments The first at his Circumcision which was the opening of that Exchequer which neuer shut vp till the full ransome was paid The second in the Garden where in his painfull Agony He sweat more bloud for vs than we euer wept teares for our selues The third at his Scourging when his backe was plowed vp in furrowes and his whole flesh which was now Caro discontinua indeed as Caietan calls it had not so much skin to fence it as would distinguish one wound from another the heauy chastisement of our peace now vpon him hauing made his whole body but one wound The fourth was at his sad Coronation which proclaimed Him not only virum dolorum a man of sorrowes but
a King of sorrowes when the sharpe thorny Crowne not fitted but beaten to his head opened so many weeping issues at his Temples that He was now vnctus sanguine vulneratorum as Dauid spake of Saul anointed with his owne bloud in stead of Oile The fift was on the Crosse where vpon a most vniust Statute enacted by the clamour and importunity of the Iewes who still cried Crucifie him Crucifie him his whole body was extended for the Debt his hands and feet forcibly entered by hammers and nailes which possessed themselues of his whole stocke of life and almost all the treasure of his bloud sauing only so much as was reserued for the Sixt and last payment which his side pierced with the Speare powred out when he was dead Wherein to shew that he had fully perfected his bloudy Audit without collusion or reseruation that he had paid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vtmost farthing euen to the last drop That he was not onely Exinanitus emptied and deuested of his Diuine Attributes but Euacuatus in a literall corporeal sense Euacuated and Powred out He sent forth that thin watrish moisture which lodgeth with the bloud in so much that his witnes saw at one Wound a double current of water and bloud flowing out This was the fearefull Method of his Redemption at this bloudy Rate did he repurchase Gods fauour which wee had lost Pacificans per sanguinem suum making our peace with God and redeeming vs to God by his bloud that is as well re-enstating God in vs as vs in His Fauour Which was a true Redemption a payment so full that the Apostle auowes the bargaine as purchased for a valuable Consideration Pretio empti estis magno Yee are bought at an high rate But yet though by this payment the iustice of God was satisfied the malice of the Deuill more vnsatiate then Hell or Death vnder whose arrest's Man now lay would not bee satisfied nor would he giue consent that the Prisoner should be released though the Ransome were paid Therefore our blessed Sauiour by way of Rescue as well as Purchase was faine to deliuer him from his vniust Iaylor Pharaoh held out an obstinat siege against Gods Commands and in that Rebellion stood the danger of Nine Plagues He did not thinke the Destruction of his Cattell or Famine of his Land valuable Plagues to ransome such a Nation as Israel from his bondage and therefore would not be induced to let them goe till the immediate Arme of God rescued them and then forced to it by his sword that had the whole Land vpon an Execution for there was no house wherein there was not one dead He did not only dismisse but vrge them to a departure Of such Rescue as this did man stand need of Treatie or Composition would not preuaile with the deafe Graue which vses not to let out any that lie vnder his silent ward but still calls for more And therefore see how our Sauiour prepares himselfe for this Combat encountring the Enemie vpon the euenest termes that might be for he engaged only his Humanity in this quarrell not bringing his Diuinitie in sight till the Battell was wonne Si pro peccatoribus sola se opponeret Deitas nō tam ratio Diabolum vinceret quam potestas saith Leo. To let them see Hee did not contest with them vpon apparant disaduantage He would not fight against them with the Power of his Godhead which must needs ouer-match them and keepe himselfe vnhurt but entered the lists for Man as Man not Impassible not Invulnerable but with a body subiect to all that man is Sinne and Corruption onely excepted This holy one could not taste corruption saith Dauid though He was wounded and killed for vs as Esay and Daniel prophesied of Him And that they might not complaine of the disaduantage of ground Hee inuaded Death in his owne Quarters In Golgotha was his Battell pitched which is the Field of death In which Field the most eminēt but indifferēt peece of groūd was chosen out Mount Caluary which by the opinion of some Fathers Iustin Martyr others was the very graue where Adams body was interred Vbi Cadauer ibi Aquilae where should Eagles congregate but where the Carkase lies Where could Christ better combat for Adams Libertie than at the Prison doore vpon the Tombe where Adams Body was shut vp There did our Sauiour meet Death and in a Passiue Defensiue Warre suffered him to preuaile vpon his Bodie seeming to giue ground at first that so he might foile him by a greater Stratagem He knew that Caluary was but the Out-workes of Death from which slight Fort raised only with dead mens bones if He should haue beaten Him He well vnderstood there were other lower workes stronger Redoubts vnto which Death might haue retired and therefore that He might be sure to get within him to be admitted into the strongest of Deaths fortifications like Souldiers that sometimes surprize an Aduerse Towne by putting themselues into the Enemies Colours Hee disguised Himselfe in the wan pale Colours of Death He died that so getting his Accesse into the Graue He might beat Death in his owne Trenches Which hee performed and hauing by this defeat rescued the Prisoners from their bondage the third day proclaimed his Victory and Resurrection Three daies he lay in Earth like sleeping Samson in the lap of Dalilah linteis inuolutus manicled and bound with linnen cloathes as you reade in the Gospell He might truly say Cinxerant mee funes Mortis The snares or cords of Death compassed me but it was impossible for him to be holden with those cords saith another Scripture And therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loosing the sorrowes or Bands of Death so the Syriack reades it he came out His incorruptible body lay indeed like a dangerous surfet in the Stomacke of Earth which was vnable to digest it or by assimilation to turne it into its own substance as by that common chyle of putrefaction ordinary courses conuert into Earth and therefore it must needs cast Him vp againe or perish by that distemper And cast Him vp it did as Aegypt ejected Israel laden with their owne spoiles In that Triumph He disarm'd Death broke off the sharpe point of his dart tooke out his sting O mors vbi aculeus He led captiuitie captiue and by this Ascent gaue gifts liberty and enfranchisement to Men. His glorious resurrection which most properly we now commemorate stiled his Deliuerance in the loftiest key that glory or conquest could be strain'd vp to A Deliuerance wrought by a high hand to manifest his Godhead cleare our Faith which though it were sorely shaken by his Death Before that we trusted saith Cleopas that it had bin He who should haue deliuered Israel yet it recouered againe and was established by his resurrection A Deliuerance by which he quitted Himselfe as well as vs Saluator
told you the Pestilence was called the hand of God and Gods hand could haue reach't you at any distance had not He sanctified your flight It was obserued that in the great Plague at Greece if any to auoid the Infection had remoued into some Citie of safety and better Aire they only died that thought by flight to shun it But God dealt not so with you He blest your Flight your Secession your Remoues Neither hath He in them only blest you but in your returne also bringing your Tribes backe againe into your Citie vniting all her scattered Lines vnto their proper Center and assembling them in this very place from whence the growing sicknes this last yeare frighted you making you translate the solemnitie to another Place And He doth still deliuer you by continuing this His Deliuerance whose fruits are Health and Safetie vnto vs all For though the Mortality be now happily stayed yet let me tell you it is rather as yet Slumbred then Extinguished Non desunt venena sed torpent There are bad relicks enough to awake it againe In bedding or garments infected there is Contagio residua a lurking residuous contagion able to cause a Relapse no lesse fearefull then the late Disease Though it be raked vp in Ashes yet amongst these Ashes there be some sparks which now and then discouer themselues that may raise the Flame as high as euer God grant that either our owne Securitie in aduenturing too soone vpon Things or Places that yet may retaine Infection or especially our foule sins which shew we haue forgot God so soone as his Rod is taken off vs doe not kindle His Anger freshly against vs lest we be vtterly consumed Last of all that I may trace Gods mercifull Deliuerance euen as low as the Graue He hath deliuered those that died by this contagion some of them from their pressing wants and exigencies more grieuous then Death A peste aerumnarum as Iunius and Tremelius read it Others from Toile and Seruitude but all of them from a wretched sinfull life so putting a Period to many calamities many forrowes many discontentments by one Death And He hath yet a future Deliuerance for vs later then that which was their last not only from Disease which is the Bayliffe of the first Death but from Sin which exposes vs to the danger of the second Death That greatest Deliuerance in whose purchase He bled and for whose Assurance He rose againe The Deliuerance first of our Soules from our sinfull Bodies when Death by giuing Nature a Bill of Diuorce shall seuer them from each other and they must take seuerall Sanctuaries one aboue in the Bosome of Abraham the other in the Bosome of Earth And then the finall Deliuerance of those Bodies from the Earth againe vnto whose custodie they were committed when by a new indissoluble vnion they shall be remarried one to another and both together vnited to their Head Christ Iesus by which vnion they shall be married to the Ioyes of His Kingdome vnto which in their Election they were contracted On this Assurance as on a Rock rest all our comforts We shall not need to feare what can become of this Earthy stuffe we beare about vs in our Bodies since our Soules like Gedeons lamps shall burne bright when these earthen Pitchers are broken And what euer Fate shall break these Pitchers these Bodies of ours whether the violent hand of an Enemy or a fiercer Disease an Higher hand will recollect the scattered Relicks of our Frailtie and by infusing nobler qualities of Glory and Incorruption for this corruptible must be invested with incorruption make them in stead of Clay vessels of Honour fit for his Kingdome So long as by our Faith we are allowed a recourse vnto this pretious Balsam Death can looke grim in no dresse nor Deaths most fearefull Executioners affright vs. The very name of Resurrection so sweetens the bitternes of Death that enamoured on the Ioyes it leads to we haue rather cause to court then feare it Whether we perish by the sword a Peace softer then Rest shall close our Wounds Or whether by the Pestilence this thought shall abate the horrour of that Noysome Disease Quid est quod pestis nomen exhorreas cum potius solatij genus sit vt comitatior moriaris It may appeare a Comfort rather then a Calamity to fall with a Multitude That company that coÌ„munion in Death shew's vs through a sad Perspectiue the ioyfull communion of Saints vnto which we in the next life shall be admitted And although like a tempestuous Autumne it shakes vs by heaps into our Graues our Extraction will be more orderly in better Method then was our Buriall For vnusquisque suo ordine we shall Arise in Order That confused tumultuous kind of Death shall not disguise vs from the knowledge of our Maker who will distinguish each Bone and giue it to the right Owner Nor can the deepest dungeon of Earth the lowest Graue deteine vs since our Deliuerer will be our Baile He that hath the Keyes of Dauid keeps also the Key of our Prison By that Master-key He will vnlocke our Graues those doores of Mortalitie and with it will He open the euerlasting doores giuing vs our entrance into Heauen After which happy Resurrection we shall liue not sub vmbrâ altissimi vnder the shadow but in the bright Sunshine of Gods presence and the comforts of his Spirit and the fruition of our Redeemer who is both our Resurrection and our Life Amen FINIS Diuision 1. He. Iob 38. 31. Cant. 4. 16. Iob 38. 8. 11. Verse 1. Matth. 7. 12. * Act. 25. 12. Shall Deliuer Exod. 25. 20. Leo Ser. 11. de Pass Esay 43. 6. Hebr. 13. 8. Dan. 3. Exod. 13. 21. Petr. Galatin de Arcanis Cathol verit l. 3. c. 14. Psal. 90. 1. Habac. 3. 8. 1 Cor. 1. 30. Gen. 3. 15. Esa. 62. 11. Gen. 2. 17. Gen. 3. Psal. 129. 3. Esay 53. 5. Esay 53. 3. Ioh. 19. 34. Col. 1. 20. Reu. 5 9. 1 Cor. 6. 20. Exod. 12. 30. Leo Serm. 5. de Pass Psal. 15. 10. Esay 53. 5. Matth. 27. 33. Matth. 24. 28. Ioh. 19. 40. Psal. 116. 3. Act. 2. 24. Lorinus Luc. 24. 21. Ephes. 5. 23. Iohn 2. 20. Mat. 27 66. Gen. 2. 21. Mat. 27. 60. Leo Serm. de Quadrages Gregor Nazianzon Mat. 28. 2. Hieron Iustin. Mart. Athanasius Psal. 87. 6. Tertullian 1 Cor. 15. 20. Tho. Aquin. part 3. quaest 53. art 1. Arist. Metaph. 2. * Debemus mortem peccato primi hominis sed per eam perueniemus ad vitam aeternam Aug. Tom. 10. Rom. 7. 24. 3. Thee Augustin Leo ser. 3. de Pentecost Petr. Lom lib. 2. dist 21. Psal. 8. 6. Hebr. 2. 12. Hebr. 1. 13. From the Snare of the Hunters Isidor Pelus l. 2. Ep. 135. Esay 32. 2. Ierem. 16. 1 Pet. 5. Abacuc 1. 16. Iohn 8. 44. Psal. 10. 2. Ambros. Ser. 11. in Psal. 118. 1 Cor. 6. 18. Matth. 3. 1. Matth. 22. 15. Psal. 21. 17. Reu. 7. 3. Matth. 16. 18. Esay 53. 5. Psal. 69. 21. Ambros. lib. 1. de Poenit. cap. 15. Psalm 2. Snare Marc. Eremita Prou. 5. 22. Bern. in Psal. 90. Esay 5. Hilarius in Psal. 118. pag. 47. Ecclesiastes 7. 28. Psal. 69. 22. Tho. Aquin. in 1 Tim 6. 1 Tim 6. 9. Habac. 1. 15. Ambros. in Psal. 118. Ser. 14. Psalm 54. 2 Tim. 2. 26. Reu. 2. 20. Mat. 27. 5 6. Ambros. lib. 2. offic cap. 16. Iac. 5. 2 3. Iac. 5. 4. Luc. 20. 25. Iuvenal Malac. 3. 10. Psal. 10. 6. Ezec. 38. 22. And from the Noysome Pestilence Iac. 3. 6. Pestilentia est hamo malus detractor Aug. Hom. 10. Bernard in Psal. 90. Ser. 3. Chald. Paraphr Tho Walsing Hist. Angl. Ed. 2. p. â—â—8 Aâ—nal Stow pag. 218. Iob 5. 26. a Walsingham Histor. Aug. Ed. 3. pag. 168. b Stow Annal. pag. 664. Euagrius Histor. Eccles. lib. 4. cap. 29. Boterus de orig Vrbium lib. 2. cap. 7 11. Zach. 12. 11. Epiphan Aug. Psal. 103. 21. Vers. 6. 2. Sam. 24. 15. Ezek. 7. 15. 2 Sam. 24. 14. Iob 5. 18. Mr. G. Sands Relation lib. 2. pag. 97. Dier Genial lib. 1. cap. 6. Thucid. lib 2. Bel. Pelopones Lactant. lib. 2. de Orig. Erroris cap. 8. 2 Sam. 24. 16. Conclusion Hebr. 10. 30. Rom. 9. 15. Rhem. Test. Annot in Rom. 8. â—7 Iesuit Catechis lib. 1. cap. 10. Leuit. 14. Isych lib. 4. in Leu. cap. 14. 1 Ioh. 2. 2. a Hinc nòn minor ferè extitit Diuorum famulantium turba quà m Deorum quondam apud Romanus Riuius l. 1. ae Superfâ—it b Riuius loc cit c Heur Steph. Apolog. Herocot cap. 38. d Sohn de Cultu Dei Thes. 90. Iudic. 9. 15. Psal. 90. vers 1. Vers. 5. Vers. 6. Marlorat Caluin Vers. 4. Esay 43. 2. Ierem. 46. 8. Ezek. 32. 2. Esay 43. 14. Esay 17. 13. Psal. 124. 7. Cyrill Alexandr Glaphyr lib. 3. de Leprâ Exod. 14. Tho. Walfingham Histor. Anglic. Edw. 3. pag. 168. Annal. Stow. pag. 245. Virgil. Georg. 3. Euseb. Eccles. Histor. l. 9. c. 8. * Histor. Angl. Edw. 2. pag. 108. Euagrius lib 4. Histor. cap. 28. * Nah. 3. 8. Volateran l. 24. pag. 579. Euagrius loc cit Seneca 1 Cor. 15. 33. Petrarch de Remed vtriusque fortu lib. 2. Dialeg 92. 1 Cor. 15. 23.