like a great sheete a sheete may signifie either sleepe or death but neither was Peters vessell a sleepe though it were like a sheete neither was Christs bodie dead though it were lapt in a sheete For wee our selues cannot so properly bee sayd to liue in our first birth as in our second birth and Christ his life when hee lay in the new wombe in which neuer any other was conceiued is nothing to his life when hee slept in a new tombe in whihc neuer any other was buried Therefore as Iacob trauailing towards Haran when hee had layde stones vnder his head and taken a nap by the way after his tedious iourney so Christ trauailing towardes heauen when hee had slept a little in a stonie sepulchre which was hewen out of a rocke liued yet most princely after his painful passion Tell me where did Ionas liue in the hatches of the ship or in the bellie of the whale in the hatches of the shippe why that was nothing but to liue in the bellie of the whale when the marriners were in danger vpon the water Ionas was most safe vnder the water this indeede was somewhat who euer sawe such a wonder The waues whereof one while hoysted vp to the highest clowdes an other while hurled downe to the neathermost depth Ionas himselfe being all this while in the very gulfe of destruction and yet not a haire the worse Christs case was the same as Ionas was in the bellie of the whale three dayes and three nightes so and so long was the sonne of man in the bowels of the earth yet hee had no more hurt then Ionas had But he liued better vnder the earth then wee can vpon the earth and he liued better in death then we doe in life Tell mee where did Daniel liue in the kings court or in the lyons den in the Kinges court why any man might haue liued there but to liue in the lyons den when the mouth of the den was shut and the mouthes of the lyons open this indeede was the life of an Angell and no man What king could euer haue made lyons attende and waite vpon him yet here you might haue seene Daniel sitting in the middest of many hungry lyons when as the lyons lay downe at his feete couching and crouching before him and adored their owne pray cast vnto thē which otherwise they would haue wooried and being beastes became men in humanitie towards this Saint seeing men became beastes in crueltie against him The same reason was in Christ Christs sepulchre was sealed vp as well as Daniels den and hee sayth also of himselfe in a Psal. My soule is amongst lyons these lyons were the terrours of death and horror of hell yet he tooke no more hurt then Daniel did but brake the chaynes into fitters and the gates of hell into shiuers and then most gloriouslie triumphed and so the death of Christ by reason of righteousnesse is the life of himselfe It is lastly the life of man when Christs speare had opened the way of life which the cherubins sword stopped vp then sayth he This day shalt thou bee with me in paradise Adam and Eue both in one day were expelled out of paradise Christ and the theese both in one day were receiued into paradise yea both in one houre for about noone when the wind blew Gen. 3. 8. Adam and Eue were expelled and so about the sixt houre that is about twelue of the clocke in the day time Gen. 3. 44. vers Christ and the theese were receiued Christ saying vnto the theefe while hee did draw him vp into paradise Osea 11. 4. I draw thee with the cordes of man euen with bands of loue but the Septuagints translate the hebrue word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is with the destruction of a man as if he shuld say I do so deerely loue thee that I am contēt my selfe to bee destroyed that thou maist bee saued my selfe to die that thou maist liue I doe draw thee with the destruction of a man euen with bāds of loue so that the theefe which saw his own wounds death in Christs bodie did see also Christs sauing health and life in his owne bodie as Alcuinus noteth vpō the sixt of Iohn Assumpsit vit a mortem vt mors acciperet vitam when the liuing Lord dyed then the dying theefe liued Notably sayth the Prophet Dauid in one of his Psalmes The breath of our nostrilles Christ the Lorde is taken in our sinnes to whom we sayd Wee shall liue in his shadowe if Christ bee the breath of our nostrilles then hee is our life and againe If wee liue in his shadow then we liue in his death for where there is breath in a shadow there is life in death Now as the ouershadowing of the Holie ghost was the life of Christ so the ouershadowing of Christ is the life of man And as Peters shadowe gaue health to the sicke so Christs shadowe giueth life to the dead yea a thousand times rather Christs thē Peters Elias his spirit was doubled vpō Elizeus because Elias being aliue restored some to life but Elizeus as Ierome sayth being dead raised vp one from the dead Peters spirit was doubled vpon Christ because Peter being aliue was a Phisition vnto the liuing but Christ as Chryso stome sayth being dead was a Phisition to the dead or rather indeede in this cōparison there is no comparison but as Peters spirit was a shadowe to Christ his spirit so Peters shadowe was nothing to Christs death Arnobius vpō these words Despise not the worke of thine owne hands writeth thus We are the worke of thy hands seeing we are thy workmanship Now because the work of thy hands was destroyed by the worke of our hands therefore were thy hands nayled to the crosse for our sins that those hands of thine might repaire the workes of thy hāds by the tree of the crosse which was destroyed by the tree of concupiscēce thus farre he Whereby we may gather that the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and euill is euill that is death but the fruite of the tree of the crosse of Christ is life euerlasting And therefore as honey being found in a dead lyon the death of the lyon was the sustenance of Sampson so Christi fel nostrum mel Christs gall is our honey and the bitter death of Christ by reason of righteousnes is the sweete life of mankinde When Ezechias was sicke the Sunne went backwards but that going backwards of the Sun was no hurt to Ezechias for thereby he had 15. yeares added to his life So the sunne of righteousnes his going backwards was the better for vs though he was debased for vs. Thou madest him lower then the angels as Dauid saith there the sunne of righteousnes is lower ten degrees then the angels for our sakes And in another place What is man that thou art so mindfull of him or the sonne of man that thou so regardest him There he is
A MOST EXCELLENT AND HEAVENLY SERMON Vpon the 23. Chapter of the Gospell by Saint Luke THE TEXT LVKE 23. 28. Weepe not for me but weepe for your selues AT LONDON Printed for Andrew Wise. 1595. LVKE 23. 28. VVeepe not for me but weepe for your selues RIght Honourable right Worshipfull and welbeloued 4. sorts of people were about Christ when Christ was about his passion The first were executioners which tormented him the second sort were Iewes which mockt him the third were lookers on who markt him the fourth were welwillers who lamented him Now although it is like that amongst these his welwillers diuers godly mē wept for him as Ioseph of Arimathea Gamaliel Nicodemus and such like yet it is certaine that more women wept then men More women wept then men partly by the permission of men who thought that the womens weeping came rather from weakenes in themselues then for loue towardes Christ and partly by the prouidence of God who suffered more women to weepe then men that the women who bewailed Christ his death might condemne the crueltie of the mē that procured it Now the women wept also more then the men either of a naturall affection or els of a voluntarie disposition naturally subiect to many either affectionate passions or passionate affections But touching these women that which otherwise was naturall in them was here voluntarie for the sinne of a woman was the ruin of a man Therefore these women willingly wept the more that though a womā did most in the second death of the first Adam so she may do least in the first death of the second Adam For it was Eue a woman who betrayed the first Adam with an apple and caused him to sinne but it was Iudas a man who betraied the second Adam with a kisse and caused him to dye Wherefore principally indeede Christ speaketh to the womē because both more women wept then men the women also wept more then the men more women more weeping yet indifferently he speaketh to all his deare friends VVeepe not for me but weepe for your selues At the first the woman began in disobedience and tempted Adam to eate of the forbidden fruite yet since women as Mary Magdalene and Mary the Virgin and the women here with diuers others haue farre exceeded men in all obedience vnto them rather then vnto men he turneth his speech and yet saith generally VVeepe not for me but weepe for your selues In which sentence wee may obserue as many parts as there bee words eight words eight parts The first is VVeepe not that is weepe not too much The second but weepe that is weep not too little The third weepe not but weepe both together Fourthly for me not too much for my death Fiftly for your selues that is not too little for your owne liues Sixtly for me for your selues both together Seuenthly Weepe not for me Eightly Weepe not for me but weepe for your selues God graunt that our harts may be so affected with the consideration of these excellent matters as they may bee most to the encrease of our comfort in him and his glorie in vs. 1. VVeepe not c. When Iairus ruler of the Sinagogue wept bitterly for the death of his daughter Luk. 8. 52. Christ sayd vnto him VVeepe not When Rachel wept and would not be comforted for the losse of her sonne Beniamin seeing so few of her children left Iere. 31. 16. the Lord sayd vnto her Weepe not When a poore widow wept for the death of her only sonne Luk. 7. 3. Christ sayd vnto her VVeepe not And so Christ here seeing many Iairus many Rachels many widowes weeping for the son of God sayd vnto them VVeepe not Forbidding therby immoderate weeping which is condemned in nature in reason and in religion In nature the earth when it reioyceth in haruest then it is couered with corne but when it hath to too sorowfull a countenance forelorne in the winter then it is fruitles and barren The water when it is quiet and calme bringeth in all manner of Marchandize but when the sea stormes and rores too much then the very shippes doe howle and crye The ayre looking brightly and cheerefully refresheth al things but weeping too much that is rayning too much as in Noahs his floud it drowneth the whole world The fire being sprinkled with a little water burneth more cleerely but if wee cast too much water into the fire it will neither giue heate nor light The eye it selfe hath twise as many drie skinnes like sluces to stop vp the course of teares as it hath moyst humours like channels to let them flow forth If all the bodie were an eye and there were not eares in it where were then the hearing If all the eye were a moyst humour and there were no drie skins in it where were then the seeing Seeing then too much weeping is in the earth barrennes in the water shipwracke in the ayre an inundation and too much water putteth out the fire and in the eye blindnes certainly if the earth could speake and the water speake and the ayre speake and the fire speake and the eye speake they would all sing a song of fiue parts and say together We must not weep too much Mulsi nimium ingratum est which is thus translated in Prouer. 20 27. It is not good to eate too much honey and if it bee not good to eate too much honey it is naught to eate too much wormewood One sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 teares are like precious stones and as the Egyptian pearles which wee commonly call vnions which grow but one by one not one vpon another so teares must bee like these vnions shed easily one by one not one vpon another Seneca sayth that that which wee must doe daylie we must doe it moderatly so that if wee cannot quite stop the issue of our teares as she in the Gospell could not of her bloud yet wee must weepe so to day as we may weepe to morowe and keepe teares alwaies in store for some other occasion For we knowe that Heraclitus when hee had wept and sowsed himselfe in sorrow al his life time at length dyed of a dropsie and so as I may say drowned himselfe in his owne teares and Niobe by ouermuch weeping was turned into a stone euen as Lots wife by looking backe vnto Sodom was turned into a piller of salt It was one of Pythagoras his poesies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to eate the heart but too much heauines eateth the heart of man which is thus expounded Prouer. 25. 20. As a moth fretteth a garment and the worme eateth the wood so heauines hurteth mans heart Now if we must not eate vp the heart of any other thing with our teeth much lesse must we eate vp our owne heart with our teares Therefore euen blind reason such as the heathē haue had doth yet cleerely see this that wee must not weepe too much But religion goeth
might be deceiued for hee knew well enought that Christ should bee borne of a Virgin but he neuer suspected that blessed Mary was a Virgin considering she was bettothed to Ioseph Therefore hee did not lye in waite to destroy the seede of the woman so as other wise he would if he had by a whoore or wife any such thing so that the birth of Christ did cosen the diuell but the death of Chrsit did conquer the diuel and that much more gloriouslie when the temple of his bodie was vpon the pinacle of the crosse then when he himselfe was vpon the pinacle of the temple for when he was vpon the temple his words spake better things then Salomon but when he was vpon the crosse his bloud spake better things thē the bloud of Abel there his words came frō his lungs out of his mouth but here his bloud came from his hart out of his side and there hee fought standing lustily to it and withstanding so then he would not throwe down himself but here he skirmished the diuel yeelding humbling himself to the death of Christ there the diuell went vp vnto him vnto the top of an high mountaine so as I may saye bad him lose at his owne gole but here Christ himselfe descended into hell and so spoyled principalities and powers and slew the great Leuiathan in the very bottome of his owne bottomlesse pit For the diuell like a greedie rauenous fish nibbing at the baite of Christs bodie as Damascen speaketh was pearced through and twitched vp with the hooke of his deitie Hence it is that before Christs passion Peter tooke money out of a fishes mouth to pay his tribute and also after Christ his passion the Disciples boyled a fish for him to feede vpon whereby we see that as Christ made a fish paye tribute to Caesar so hee made the diuell also paye tribute to death for him and that the diuell while he wēt about to catch the good fish Iesus Christ Gods sonne the Sauiour as the letters of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seuerally signifie was himselfe caught yea also killed by Christ so that all the while our Sauiour was buried in the graue the diuell was boyled in hell Wherfore as it was bootlesse for Goliah to brandish his speare against Dauid so it little auailed the diuell to shake the speare likewise in the hand of the soldier against the heart of Christ For as Dauid hauing heard Goliah prating and talke his pleasure yet when they came to the poynt at the first stroke ouerthrewe him so Christ with the very same speare which gaue him a little venue in comparison or but a fillip on the side which was soone after recured gaue the diuell soone after a deadly wound in his forehead which he shall neuer bee able to claw off againe And again as Dauid hackt off the Giants head with his owne sword so Christ wrested that shaking sword out of the Cherubines hands and therewith chopt off the serpents head and so the death of Christ by reason of righteousnes is the death of the diuell It is on the other side the life of himselfe That noble Eunuch riding in his coach read in Esay that Christ was silent before his death as the lambe before the shearer He saith not as a lambe before the butcher but before the shearer insinuating that death did not kill Christ but sheare him a little Neither yet had death Christs fleece when he was shorne for Christ taking to him a sponge full of vineger Ioh. 19. 29. that was full of our sharpe and sower sinnes did giue vs for it purple wooll full of bloud Hebr. 9. 19. that is full of his pure and perfect iustice and indeede the onely liuerie which Christ our Lord and master giueth to his seruants is a coate made of purple wooll The iust saith Dauid shall florish like a palme tree Christ is that true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that true palme tree who although he bare al the burdens of sinne in the world vpon his backe yet then he doth most flourish of all euen as Camamile the more it is trod vpon the more it groweth and florisheth And as the palme tree hath many weights aboue many snakes beneath and yet may truely say of it selfe Nec premor nec perimor I am neither by the weights of the bowes ouermuch laden and pressed downe nor by the snakes below eaten vp or consumed So Christ neither by the weight of Gods wrath aboue is ouercharged nor by the heauines of our sinnes pressed downe but like the Swanne singeth sweetest when his death is neerest The Prophet Dauid sayth that God giueth his snowe like wooll but we may turne the sentence and say that Christ giueth his wooll like snowe For as snow couereth the ground when it is rugged and deformed so Christs coate without seame couereth our sinnes and though they were as crimson yet maketh he them white as snow And as Gedeons fleece when it was moyste the earth was drie but when it was drie the earth was moyste so when Christes fleece was moyste as a greene tree then were all wee drie like rotten stickes but when Christ his fleece was drie all the blood and water being wringed out of his pretious side then were we moystened with his grace therefore seeing Christs fleece fell not to deaths lotte when he was shorne but we haue it who beleeue in him it followeth that neither death was the better nor Christ the worse but as a lambe is much more nimble and liuelie for shearing so this shearing of Christ was a kinde of quickning to him and only a trimming to him before hee ascended to his father as Ioseph was trimmed and powled before he went to Pharaoh When Adam slept his side was opened when Christ died his side was opened Adams side being opened flesh and bone was taken out Christs side being opened water and blood was taken out Of Adams flesh and bone the woman was built of Christs water blood the church is built so the death of Christ is nothing els but the sleepe of Adam for as hee himselfe sayth of the damsels death The damsell is not dead but sleepeth so he sayth of his own death I layd me downe to sleepe and rose up againe for the Lorde susteined mee And in another place when the father saide to his sonne Awake my glorie awake my lute and harpe God the Sonne answers to his Father I will awake right early That vessell which Peter saw in a traunce which was let downe from heauen vnto the earth and knit to the foure corners and had all kind of beasts in it did betoken Christ Christ came downe from heauen vnto the earth and his glory is knit vp by the foure Euangelists and hee hath made Iewes and Gentiles yea all nations one in himselfe Now saith Cassianus it is worth the marking which the spirit of God sayth Not that the vessell was a great sheete but