foreknowledg of God Now that the righteous God in whom such counsel and such foreknowledg do reside should deliver up his most innocent Son and our dear Saviour unto death that 's a mystery to be weighed with modesty the Text says positively God did deliver him yet we know there is no injustice in the Most High therefore this scruple is worth the scanning First of all it is an harsh and offensive speech that some use who perhaps mean well that God did appoint and preordain Judas to betray his Lord and the Jews to crucifie him and the reasons which they use to excuse the Phrase as if God thereby were not made the Author of sin seem to me to want sufficiency Zuinglius says justo non est lex posita you can set God no Law therefore whatsoever you attribute unto him is no sin because sin is the violation of a Law Beloved there are some things which cannot consist with Gods glory and that 's an eternal Law as we may call it observed by God to do nothing against his glory He cannot ly He cannot deny himself thus the scripture speaketh And Abraham talking face to face with God says he God forbid that the Judg of all the world should do unjustly Would thou punish the righteous with the wicked as who should say that were to thwart the eternal Law which must not be infringed This lays the opinion of Zwinglius flat There is another pretence from very venerable Authors that God purposeth and ordaineth the same act which man executeth but man hath an evil end in it so it becomes iniquity to him whereas God intends a pious end and therefore concurs not to mans iniquity and they give a fair instance of their meaning out of my Text. Christ was delivered of his Father to save the World that was the merciful and gracious work which was God's destination but he was delivered of the Devil to make the Jews guilty of his death of Judas for lucre sake of the Priests and Pharisees for envy of Pilate for fear the scope of Pilate of the Jews of Judas was extremely distorted so they became guilty of a mighty sin in the same work wherein God was righteous This will not down with me I confess for safe Divinity for first it favours that opinion of some Libertines too much that it is no crime but praise-worthy to do evil that good may come of it Secondly it cannot be shifted according to this opinion me-thinks but that God ordains man to fall into that act wherein he cannot choose but have a bad intention and most diverse from the good purpose of God And it is but a lame leg to hold up an halting cause to interpose that God can work good out of evil and bring light out of darkness therefore though He preordains evil He will wind it up well to his own glory for surely they do not think of God as they ought that He is all pure and holy that think sin must be referred to God either as an efficient cause of it or predestinately as a deficient cause to declare his honor Why God stands not in need of our good works to set forth his praise O my God my goods are nothing unto thee says the Psalmist much less doth he want our sins and our transgressions to make him glorious Thus I have premised that they have not my consent that say that God ordained or decreed that Judas should betray our Lord and that the Jews should blaspheme him and despitefully entreat him thus rather I would propound it to you in a far safer way as I conceive God did not decree those criminous actions of Judas Herod Pilate c. but He did decree the Passion of Christ and did settle it in his sixt and eternal counsel that he should shed his bloud as a Propitiation for the World actio displicuit passio grata suit I am led along with the judgment of Leo the Great in this point Thus he Did the iniquity of them that persecuted Christ arise out of Gods Counsel and Decree and that heinous treason worse than all villainy Did the hand of Divine preparation arm them to it this must not once be imagined of that supreme justice that governs all things Multum diversum multumque contrarium est id quod in Judaeorum malignitate est praecognitum quod in Christi passione est dispositum that is there is great dissimilitude between these two how God foresaw the malignancy of the Jews but it was his own disposing and ordination that Christ should suffer therefore it comes to this sense He was delivered to death simply without addition of a death procured by sin through the determinate counsel of his Father but the conspiracy and envy and bloudy outcries that concurr'd in his death the foreknowledg of God did apprehend it would be carried with that violence and decreed to suffer it Non inde processit voluntas interficiendi unde moriendi says the same Father God did not will after the same manner to have his Son die and to have him barbarously crucified To allot him unto death was very just because that Lamb of God did take upon him the iniquity of us all and Leo adds that God could have commanded some holy Prophet to have sacrificed Christ before him even as He commanded Abraham to offer up his only Son Isaac and the Lord of life and death might have permitted Abraham to strike the stroke without impiety but to allot him to such a death wherein factious Enemies delighted themselves in his pains that cannot consist with such a God as hates the least impurity But my Text you will say declines it not but that both his death and his deliverance into the hands of the Jews that is the manner of his death both of them were ordained of God and so they were but with this correction of the proposition omnia vel ordinata sunt à Deo ut fiunt vel ordinatum non impedire quò minus fiant all that is good is ordained of God that it shall be and all beside that is evil is ordained of God that it shall be suffered to be and in those things which are to be referred to permission I mean all the works of the Devil I do not exclude the determinate counsel of God nay it must necessarily be present at it Quicquid permittit Deus consultò volens permittit there is Justice and Wisdom and Counsel from above imployed about those things wherein God is highly displeased For first no sinner in the world can say he was so permitted to enter into sin that no impediments were cast in his way to avert him some illumination he had some instruction to draw him back some remorse of conscience though not in such measure as did infallibly prevail upon his crooked will Even Judas himself was deterred from his Satanical proceedings by the prediction of his Masters mouth one of you shall
mitigate our pronity to evil nothing but death will quite stop and repress sin in us the wisdom of God providing that as sin brought death into the world so death should utterly abolish sin out of the world So death dissolves the works of the Devil but the Resurrection dissolves the works of death It is the last thing that the Saints desire of God to be cloathed again With that request being heard they leave wishing and the end of all desires must be the crown and top of all felicity Finally to bring it home to the Person of Christ whom God raised up much was our benefit by his Death but much more by his Resurrection For lay these two in comparison together to be eased of misery and to be brought into a state of joy and gladness Is not the addition of some good thing more thanks-worthy than the taking away of some evil Why thus it stands with those two blessings which our Saviour obtained for us they are the words of St. Austin I think Sicut humiliatus est moriendo ut nos liberaret à malis ita glorificatus est resurgendo ut nos promoveret ad bona As he was humbled unto death to deliver us from the evil of death so he was glorified by rising again that he might bring us to happiness and glory And of this great work of raising up enough at this once this being the tenth of these Easter Festivals wherein I have spoken upon the same Argument and occasion before you Yet I have a little to add before I leave this first Point touching the Agent and the Patient God was the Author of this great work and Christ in his own body returned again to life whom God raised up May not the Power and Majesty of Christ seem to suffer in this that St. Peter says God raised him up For our Saviour did often give the Jews to know that he would raise himself again from the dead on the third day Destroy this Temple and I will raise it up again in three days Joh. ii 19. And without any Parabolical speech Joh. x. 18. No man taketh my life from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again Why then doth not the Apostle clearly attribute unto him that he was the Author of his own Resurrection Because he spake of his Humane Nature first impotently obnoxious to Passion and then powerfully restored to life The Omnipotent vertue to revoke the soul into the body again was in the Divinity of Christ not in his Humane Nature Therefore Christ declareth in those words of St. John that it is not in the power of man to reserve the soul in the body when the pangs of death are upon it but for his own part though deadly wounds should be gashed in his body yet he had power through the union of his Godhead to stay his life and not to lay it down Likewise it is far from the ability of man to re-unite his Spirit to his Flesh when it is separated but the Divinity of our Saviour kept personal union with the body in the Grave and with the soul when it is flown away therefore he could bring them together again to remain in incorruption the ancient similitude was As a man that draws a Sword out of a Scabbard holds the Sword in one hand and the Scabbard in another So the Soul was unsheathed from the body but the Divine Nature held personal union with them both And as the Weapon is fit to be put into the Case that held it yet it cannot sheath it self without the hand of the Ownor thrust it in So the Soul of Christ was restored again to the body not by any vertue or activity in the humane soul but by the Power of God Christ was made like unto other men in all things sin only excepted and re-made or raised up like other men Si homo non vicisset inimicum hominis non justè victus esset says Irenaeus The Enemy of man was overcome by a man else he would have clamoured that he was overcome by Power and not by Justice Therefore St. Paul to let us know that Christ was left in death as man to be raised up says he As by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead Him God raised up him that man Christ Jesus that was crucified the self-same body let me touch upon that and then I will go on to new matter The Resurrection of our Lord is the Samplar of ours that very same material Flesh that died was revived again in him and so it shall be in us The impious Socinians the last and one of the worst and most pestilent Sects that ever was in the Church teach that we are not bound to believe it as an Article of Faith that we shall rise again in our own bodies Why then the same dead shall not rise again for if they want one essential part and the matter is one essential part of our composition it is not the same man Matter is the principle of individuation or numerical distinction say the Metaphysicks And the old Pythagoraeans could not deny in their Paradox of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if one mans soul came by many transmigrations into another mans body it was another man But leave we the help of humane reason though that be strong on our side and come to Divinity All the Ensamples or Preludiums of the Resurrection both in Old and New Testament were of such as had life restored to them in their own body the Shunamites Child the Widows Son Lazarus the Brother of Mary and Martha the Saints that came out of their Graves in the holy City and Christ himself that came out of the Sepulchre And let any equal Auditor judge if Job were not an Anti-Socinian Job xix 26. Though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall behold for my self and mine eyes shall see and not another And is it not equity that the righteous in the same body wherein they have worshipped God they shall be glorified that the wicked in the same body wherein they have lusted after evil things they shall be punished I will name no Fathers to Patronize this cause for all concur with one voice that as God raised up Christ so he will raise us up in our own bodies With the Resurrection of our Saviour which I have handled hitherto in the first part of my Text there is adjoyned in the next place the Complement of his Resurrection the full weight and excellency of it having loosed the pains of death Solutis doloribus inferni having loosed the pains of hell so the vulgar Latine and I will now go over the divers interpretations of both readings The first which is the reading of our Translation is the right and best therefore I will begin with that First St.
of Heaven and all the Stars thereof Moreover Vna Sabbati litterally rendred is not the first but one day of the Week because one is the first ground to begin numbring and Theophilact says the Lords day is called the one day of the Week either because it is the only day from whence the blessing is procured for all the rest or besides it is a figure of the life to come Quando una tantum dies est nequaquam nocte interpolata when there shall be but one day for ever and no night of darkness to interrupt it Thus much of the words The matter of the Point is of a more profitable use And hence I begin that as God the Father upon the first day did begin to make this visible world of Creatures so Christ rose the same day from the dead to signifie that a new Age was then begun Resurrectio est alterius mundi spiritualis creatio says Justin Martyr The Resurrection is well called a creation of a new spiritual world On the first day of the Week God said Let there be light and he divided between the light and the darkness Verily on that wise on the first day of the Week God brought the light of the world out of the darkness of the Grave and the life says St. John was the light of men Now this infinite work to tread death under feet and to bring all flesh out of corruption into the state of immortality being more eximious than to make man in a possibility at first to die and perish therefore all Christian Churches have desisted to meet together at holy exercises upon the Sabbath of the Jews and the first day of the Week is the day appointed to sanctifie out selves unto the Lord for what reason I will now unfold and it is a case of no small perplexity And let me auspicate from the Text and Authority of Holy Scripture and these places following do conspire to verifie the Truth Acts xx 7. Paul abode seven days at Troas the seventh day of his abode was the first day of the Week then and not before it seems upon the first day of the Week when the Disciples came together to break Bread that is to partake of the Lords Supper Paul preacht unto them This seems to approve that in the Apostles time it was no more in use for their Disciples to meet upon the Sabbath but as well to honor the Resurrection as to separate from the Rites and Customs of the Jews in the Spirit of God they did convene together on the first day of the Week From Preaching and Administring the Holy Communion let us come to Collection of Alms. 1 Cor. xvi 2. Vpon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come How can this be expounded but that distributions were made to the poor upon the first day of the Week in their most solemn Assemblies For if the meaning were that every man should set apart a share of his own gains upon that day in his private Coffers and not in the publick Treasury when their Congregations were together then Collections had been to be made from house to house when Paul was to come who desires it might be laid up in readiness as it were in one stock before 'T is pity we are faln from that good order but in the most antient Church I find that they never miss'd to carry the Poors Box about every Lords Day witness this place of St. Cyprian Locuples es dives Dominicam celebrare te credis quae Corbanam omnino non respicis Thou that art rich and wealthy dost thou imagin thou keepest the Lords Day as thou oughtest and dost cast nothing into the Treasury Thirdly as the last day of the Week when God rested from his works was called the Sabbath of the Lord so it is of much moment to the point that the first day of the Week is called the Day of the Lord or the Lords Day Rev. i. 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lords Day as it appears Rev. i. 13. John was walking on the Sea shore meditating upon holy things in the Isle of Patmos Very probable that there was no solemn meeting to praise God as it ought to have been among those Pagan Islanders otherwise John had not betaken himself to solitary Meditations but see how he was recompensed Nactus est Doctorem ipsum Deum quando fortasse deessent quos ipse doceret when he was disconsolate because he wanted Auditors to teach God preached unto him the Mysteries of the Age to come But to enforce the Text forenamed for an Argument we have but two things in the New Testament called the Lords the Sacrament is called the Supper of the Lord 1 Cor. xi 20. and this day of Christian Assemblies is called the Lords Day the Lords Prayer and the Lords House are good Phrases but our own not the Scriptures but as we keep the Feast of Passeover no more but instead thereof eat the Lords Supper so neither do we observe the Jews Sabbath any more but instead thereof we keep the Lords Day Thus far I have prest the Authorities of Sacred Scripture The Authority of the Primitive Church and so downward to this Age will convince it clearly against any that is obstinate Ignatius was St. John's Scholar and as if he had learnt of his Teacher he writes thus Let every lover of Christ celebrate the Lords Day which is dedicated to the honor of his Resurrection the Queen and Princess of all days Justin Martyr commands the same day to be kept holy to the Lord every Week in his 2. Apolog. So doth Tertullian more than once and I cited St. Cyprian before The Council of Laodicea speaks thus resolutely Anathema to all those that rest upon the Sabbath let them keep the Lords Day when they observe a vacancy of labor and do as becometh Christians The great Council of Nice doth not command the first day of the Week to be kept holy but supposeth in the 20. Canon all good Christians would admit that without scruple and then appoints other significant Ceremonies to be kept upon the Lords Day from Easter to Whitsontide I need not reckon downward after the Nicen Council because in one word I have not heard or read that it was opposed by any of the Fathers They knew that an appointed time must be allotted for every necessary Duty and certainly upon the abrogation of the Old Sabbath not Man but God did appoint a time for so necessary a thing as the religious Service of his Name Christ made an end of all Sabbaths by his own Sabbath lying all that day and night in the Grave and to hold that the Sabbath which is but a Shadow is to continue is to hold that Christ the Body is not yet come yet that being laid apart let us
the first day of the Week We are not those that esteem one day more than another as it is the mere flux of time but we are those that must remember how God hath glorified himself in one day more than another and never so much on any as on this day The first day of the Week As God the Father upon the first day did begin to make this visible World of Creatures so Christ rose the same day from the dead to shew the beginning of a new Age. Resurrectio est alterius mundi spiritualis creatio says Justin Martyr The Resurrection is well called a Creation of a new spiritual world On the first day of the Week God said Let there be light and he divided between the light and the darkness Verily in the same sort upon the same day God brought the light of the world out of the darkness of the Grave and the life says St. John was the light of men Now this infinite work to tread death under feet and to bring mankind out of corruption into the state of immortality being more eximious than to make Adam in a possibility to die and perish therefore all Christian Churches have desisted to meet together at holy exercises upon the Sabbath of the Jews and the first day of the Week hath been solemnly appointed from the Apostles even to this Age to sanctifie the name of the Lord in publick Congregations It is but a fretful question which is too much agitated now adays since the first day of the Week is designed to be sanctified to the praise of God from the Resurrection of our Saviour what time we may borrow for the use of domestical affairs and harmless recreations He that is perswaded in his conscience no part of the day must be spared from Gods Service let him so do according to the resolution of his conscience no man can be offended that he is earnest for his own part to keep the whole day unto the Lord. Again he that is perswaded that the Lord must have his due service on that day but that he is not tied to a strict Sabbatical servitude surely his knowledge is good and he may use his liberty but without scandal to his brother To the first I say be a zealous Christian in keeping the Lords day but be not a Jew in opinion To the other I say give thanks to God for the freedom to which he hath called you and that he hath eased your shoulders from the servil burden of the Jewish Sabbath but be not a Libertine in practise And this is the sum of that which I will say to the first Point that this marvellous work was done upon the first day of the Week Now the Holy Ghost hath not only satisfied us with the designation of the day but because the more particularity the more certainty therefore the Spirit hath condescended to name almost the hour of the day so that I am sure we may guess near upon the time for it was early on the first day of the Week which denotes two things that the Lord made haste to rise from the dead to comfort the Disciples and that Mary Magdalen made haste to comfort herself with coming to the Sepulcher Christ started up suddenly out of sleep like Samson before the powers of hell those Philistines were aware of him To this it may be David alluded in Exurgam diluculò Awake my glory awake Lute and Harp I my self will awake right early Nescit tarda molimina spiritus sancti gratia Be not you slow in paying your debts to God God is ever before-hand in fulfilling his promises to you The words in the Second Psalm which are applied Heb. i. to our Saviours eternal Generation are referred by the same Apostle Acts xiii 33. to his Resurrection Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee I cannot pass it over that the Vulgar Latine reads it Ante luciferum genui te Before the Morning star have I begotten thee Very fitly to this Doctrine which I teach that Christ rose early this day before the Morning Star appeared Now that one Scripture may not seem to fall foul upon another these two must be reconciled how he that rose so early ante luciferum how he can be said to be three days like Jonas in the belly of the Grave The answer is you must measure these three days by a Synechdoche He was buried towards Evening upon the Jews day of preparation and so lay interred some part of Afternoon and all that night Upon the Jews Sabbath he rested in the Sepulcher all day and all night Upon the first day of the Week he continued in the state of death some hours of the Morning and very early he came forth an eternal Victor he fulfilled the Scriptures therefore and withal he made haste to fulfil his Promise upon the third day Euthymius expresseth it more elegantly than I can Quòd citiùs quà m sit constitutum efficitur potentiae est quòd tardiùs imbecilitatis Christus non solùm promissum explevit sed etiam gratiam velocitatis addidit To be tardier than our promise is a sign of some let and infirmity to be before hand with a promise is a sign of power and efficacy The promise of the Son of God was that in three days he would build up the Temple of his body again he did so and more than so soon after the third day was begun Behold the performance of his word and the sudden dispatch of his favour joyn'd unto it So we have seen both his truth in the Promise and his love in the speediness of the act doing above his promise Moreover I would have it be mark'd that as he rose early so he was sought early by Mary Magdalen The desire of Christ held her eyes waking and I believe she had took but small rest since Christ was crucified as soon as it was possible to have access to his Monument she came unto it I know not whether you are to learn it but it was not the usual manner of the Jews to bury their dead within the Walls of their Cities to a Garden you know the Corps of our Saviour was carried into the Suburbs of Jerusalem therefore she was compelled to attend till the Gates of the City were opened and passage being made she came before the break of day to the Sepulcher And believe it she sped much the better that she was such an early visitor do not imagine but the eye of the Lord unto this day is upon those that make haste to come unto the threshold of his sacred House and they are greatly deceived that think they shall find God as soon if they come late to Church as if they come early I pray you tell me is there any part of the Service so mean and unuseful that you can be content to spare it Or do you think that God is asleep and by that time the Congregation hath rouzed him up then
usage that the souls were put to One at the wheel another drawing water some rowling stones and some twining cords every corner full of fretful industry For if Satan himself take no rest shall his instruments look for ease and softness Six days thou shalt labour God requires no more Nay thou shalt labour seven days Sunday and every day alike and break the Sabbath that is the Doctrine of the Tempter I speak to them that can judge of the secresie of States and the wisdom of the world what a Labyrinth Matchiavel hath put his disciples into to learn his mysteries and principles of treachery How many Centuries of Rules to be observed Which I know not but by the Index it will ask brains to dig and delve for that invention of iniquity but pure Religion and undefiled may be comprehended in the smalest Medal Love thy neighbour as thy self All Liquors that are wholsom for the sound are for the most part simple and unmixed but how many extractions go before how many distillations and decoctions follow after to make a Poyson Cariùs venenum quà m vinum bibitur It is an easie matter to tread the Vintage and press out the juyce of the Grape in great plenty but you must attend the fire and furnace to confect a drachm of poyson So the service of Baal is but vassalage his Priests roar from Morning to Evening they lance and wound their Carkasses fodiunt ad inferos they dig to Hell but the service of the Lord passeth away with joy and melody A sacrifice of Prayer at Morning and a sacrifice of praise at Evening an heart without guile towards men a stedfast belief in Jesus Christ this is all And yet will you say the ways of the Lord are grievous The forbidden fruit you know it was not planted in the skirts of Paradise near to the hedge where any man might reach it but in penetralibus in the midst of the garden as if God had hidden sin from man but that the Serpent made him industrious to find it out Quid irâ laboriosius says Seneca Look upon the pale face of anger and envy Is not that sin a labour Consider the loathing of surfeit and drunkenness is not that sin a labour Go to the Hospitals of incontinent lascivious persons see how their marrow and their bones are consumed is not that sin a labour Will you laugh a little at the pitiful object of a covetous man No we will not sport our selves with his vanity the Lord shall have him in derision but when he denies sleep to his eyes and meat to his belly and rest to his bones to scrape in a mite more to his heap is not that sin a labour Finally let us look upon our Parliament Pioneers such another Band as Judas brought from the High Priest with Lanthorns and Staves to betray Christ three years they kept this Fox in their bosom till at last it eat out their bowels Three years O Lord they did behold thy heavens above and all that time did never think of Hell that was within them Did they not plow up the Seas to and fro in conference with foreign Nations Did they not plow up the Land with their own arm and possessed vaults with all Munition as if they had belonged to the Devils Armory When were any Gentlemen daintily bread put more to labour What use shall we make now of all these instances But cast off the bondage of iniquity be not vassals to the Prince of darkness since Christ hath made you free O but you will say the work of Godliness is very great the Gospel is a yoke the way to glory is streight and narrow So it is And no question if you look not upon the reward to come every course in the world is painful Life and death the fear of God and the power of sin all are vexation of spirit in this corruptible flesh But Beloved who gave you feet and hands Who did frame your body woven with veines and strengthned with sinews What may God Almighty say that did all this As that Roman did to his Son Non te genui Catilinae sed patriae Since you needs must work either in my Vineyard or in the Devils Dunghil turn unto him that gave you limbs to work they were not made to dig into Hell but for my imployment and my glory And so much for the tedious labour to the which the ungodly do enthral themselves Now secondly digging doth imply that they cast about for conveyance and secresie a thing that God did always reprove ever since he divided between the light and darkness The Ferret the Mole and the Cony those creatures that dig into the ground were unclean food to Gods children Lev. xi Spiritus movebatur super expansum Gen. i. the face of the world lay open before God when the Spirit moved upon it but there are an evil sort of men whose Spirit never moves upon the face of the earth but live as if they were strangers in our Horizon and traded with our Antipodes close and subtle fearful of nothing but a revelation you can scarce fathom how deep their soul lies within their body When Saul enquired for the Prophet Samuel every Maiden whom he found carrying a pitcher of water could certifie him that the Man of God did sacrifice on the top of the hill 1 Sam. ix But he was fain to enquire and search over all the Land to find out the Witch of Endor Apemantus the Cynick says Plutarch never thought himself better than in the company but of one more his Partner Timon never thought himself more chearful than when he was quite left alone The face of man will ever carry so much reverence so much of the Image of God that outragious sins will turn away and be loth to appear before it Herodotus reports of certain Indians that were wont to blaspheme the bright Sun when it rose in glory as if the nights were too short to commit filthiness Why but our very name is enough to dispel darkness from our actions We are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Greeks as if men and day-children did not differ one letter and they that lurk and retire like Sisera in the Tent of Jael and live like Meteors the imperfect bodies of nature in a cloud they seem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to repine at their birth and creation which hath brought them to the light Besides that the substance of our nature is more naked from the womb than any beast without hair or feathers without scales or shell to cover us like the Fishes of the Sea Besides this I say Nature hath provided that the Countenance of no creature doth betray the inward disposition so much as the face of man Then let Herod the Fox know and the profound Craftsmen of our age that God hath half opened the heart of man in the complexion of his visage as Isaac did open the two Wells in the Valley
Enoch for our Lesson that is his Text Letter upon which he flourisheth Enoch is his Antesignanus his Standard-bearer that leads Noah and Abraham and many others after him and the same that he offers to the Corinthians I commend to you Such a Patriarch that the Holy Ghost hath made a great difference between him and other men For it is the method of the Scripture to record the lives and deaths of the Saints but upon this Person the stile alters he was a priviledged man from death which is the common condition of all that are born of woman and Moses speaks of his double life he could not speak of his death his life of grace and his life of glory Ambulavit cum Deo or coram Deo he walked with God that is the Summary Collection how he lived the life of grace And Non apparuit coram hominibus He was not for God took him there is the Miracle how he was wrapt up into glory In the dividing of the parts I will put no more upon my text than it was made to bear and two Points I am sure upon which only I will insist are the very bowels of it First the Integrity of Enoch Secondly his Immortality First how uncorrupt he was in his ways and Enoch walked with God Secondly that he suffered no corruption in the body He was not for God took him In the one member is how he used this world the other how he enjoy'd a better The one of faith the other of fruition The one for our imitation the other for our consolation And first your patient attention how uncorrupt he was in his ways And Enoch walked with God In a good Picture every Limb nay every shadow of it is worthy to be looked upon and in the story of such a Patriarch as Enoch was every word that breaths upon his name is sweet and memorable Now in holy Scripture or in those books which are contiguous to holy Scripture four things are remembred of him which will make him better understood in both parts of this Verse St. Jude in the fourteenth verse of his Epistle sets two marks upon him first in his Genealogy he was the seventh from Adam Secondly in his divine knowledge he Prophesied The Son of Syrach also in his rehearsal of famous men hath given him two additions more the one that his vertue was most communicable He was an example of repentance to all Generations Eccl. xliv 16. The other that his vertue was most unparallel'd or inimitable Vpon the earth was no man created like Enoch Chap. xlix 14. I will dispatch these with a running hand First to be the seventh from Adam what if that was no more than to be the fourth or fifth or any other number For it is a general Rule there is no prerogative to be born after the flesh But God rested on the seventh day from all the work which he had made and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work therefore some Writers must needs fall upon this observation as indeed divers have noted it that Enoch the man of the seventh Generation was taken away to rest with God which bids us labour in the works of mercy and repentance all the six days of this life and after those days like Enoch the seventh from Adam we shall be translated into peace and tranquility for ever Some others go farther a little more curiously than certainly the Patriarchs for six descents all died and were turned into earth again Enoch the seventh from Adam was carried away from the world and saw not death So death shall reign through six Ages of the world Septimâ immortalitas vigebit in the seventh Age corruption shall be done away and immortality shall take place for ever Such mysteries as these are but Speculations that tangle us but plainly and directly this priviledge came to Enoch because he was the seventh from Adam that he lived most happily in a brave society of wise men it was no rude or barbarous Age as if he alone had pleased God for five of his Forefathers in a right line were then living five the brightest Lamps of the Church when the Lord translated him A happy thing it is to be well taught by any single wisdom but there is more affiance in a number of Counsellors Enoch the seventh from Adam had no less than six renowned Patriarchs to go in and out before him in the fear of the Lord. 2. To be born in such a descent is an accidental thing a contingency But the next note upon him is that he had a Prophetical illumination Enoch the seventh from Adam Prophesied All the Sons of Adam in the good Race of Seth whose names are filed in this Chapter were Heads of the People Lawgivers Priests of the most high God Noah more eminently than the rest a Preacher of righteousness in St. Peters phrase yet Enoch stands by himself alone for a Prophet And no marvel if we hear no tidings of his Prophesie till St. Jude divulged it in the last Epistle but one of all the Scripture it seems to me that it stands there in the fittest place because it is a Prophesie that concerns neither the first nor the middle Age but the very end of the world Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that were ungodly The heavens and earth were but in their first beginnings men and women did but begin to multiply yet that divinity was preached in those early days Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of Saints to judge the world the expectation of that coming draws nearer to us than it did to them how much more should we prepare to see that with our eyes which they did but hear with their ears And to double our watchfulness and attention as much as the Ages of the world since Enochs time have passed on and multiplied Enoch prophesied that which Jude hath made Canonical Scripture This hath troubled some to dispute it whether ever he wrote such books as were once in the Canon of the Scripture I hold the Negative for though he were a Prophet and had inspirations yet Scripture is not only given by inspiration of God but such inspiration as is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction of righteousness Such Oracles were deposited by God with his Church and never suffered to perish How will it appear but St. Jude received those words by tradition Or quoted them as he found them cited in some other Author It were shame such antiquity should scape both Josephus and Philo who never mention it But at last some falsary no man can guess him authored a most vain Book upon Enoch Origen who perused it gives us a taste of it in his last Homily upon Numbers that it was stuft with secrets of Philosophy about the motions of the Heavens
the Arms of the City to this day Therein before the Wars had been a most beautiful and comely Cathedral Church which the Bishop at his first coming found most desolate and ruin'd almost to the ground the Roof of Stone the Timber Lead and Iron Glass Stalls Organs Utensils of rich value all were embezell'd 2000 shot of great Ordnance and 1500 Granadoes discharged against it which had quite batter'd down the Spire and most of the Fabrick so that the Old man took not so much comfort in his new Promotion as he found sorrow and pity in himself to see his Cathedral Church thus lying in the dust so that the very next morning after his Lordships arrival he set his own Coach-horses on work together with other Teems to carry away the Rubbish which being cleared he procured Artisans of all sorts to begin the new Pile and before his death set up a compleat Church again better than ever it was before the whole Roof from one end to the other of a vast length all repaired with stone all laid with goodly Timber of our Royal Soveraign's gift all leaded from one end to the other to the cost of above 20000 l. which yet this zealous and laborious Bishop accomplished a great part out of his own bounty with 1000 l. help of the Dean and Chapter and the rest procured by Him from worthy Benefactors by incessant importunity the Gentry of Staffordshire Derbyshire Warwickshire contributing like Gentlemen whose names are entred into the Registry of the Cathedral unto which work none were backward but the Presbyterians whom our Reverend Bishop yet treated with more civility than their cross-grain'd humours deserved This rare Building was finished in eight years to the Admiration of all the Country the same hands which laid the Foundation laying the Top-stone also All which owes it self to his great fidelity incredible prudence in contriving bargaining with workmen unspeakable diligence in solliciting for money paying it and overseeing all Nehemiah's eye was ever upon the building of the Temple and therefore the work proceeded with incredible expedition The Cathedral being so well finished upon Christmas Eve Anno 1669 his Lordship dedicated it to Christs honour and service with all fitting solemnity that he could pick out of antient Rituals in the manner following His Lordship being arrayed in his Episcopal Habiliments and attended upon by several Prebends and Officers of the Church and also accompanied with many Knights and Gentlemen as likewise with the Bailifs and Aldermen of the City of Lychfield with a great multitude of other people entred at the West door of the Church Humphry Persehouse Gent. his Lordships Apparitor General going foremost after whom followed the Singing-boyes and Choristers and all others belonging to the Choir of the said Church who first marched up to the South Isle on the right hand of the said Church where my Lord Bishop with a loud voice repeated the first verse of the 24. Psalm and afterward the Quire alternately sung the whole Psalm to the Organ Then in the same order they marched to the North Isle of the said Church where the Bishop in like manner began the first verse of the 100 Psalm which was afterward also sung out by the Company Then all marched to the upper part of the Body of the Church where the Bishop in like manner began the 102. Psalm which likewise the Choire finisht Then my Lord Bishop commanded the doors of the Quire to be opened and in like manner first encompassed it upon the South side where the Bishop also first began to sing the first verse of the 122 Psalm the Company finishing the rest And with the like Ceremony passing to the North side thereof sung the 132. Psalm in like manner This Procession being ended the Reverend Bishop came to the Faldistory in the middle of the Quire and having first upon his knees prayed privately to himself afterwards with a loud voice in the English Tongue call'd upon the People to kneel down and pray after him saying Our Father which art c. O Lord God infinite in power and incomprehensible in all goodness and mercy we beseech thee to hear our prayers for thy gracious assistance upon the great occasion of this day This sacred House dedicated of old time to thine honour hath been greatly polluted by the long Sieges and dreadful Wars of most prophane and disloyal Rebels Thine holy Temple have they defiled and made it an heap of rubbish and stones yea they did pollute it with much bloud in all manner of hostility and cruelty We beseech thee good Father upon our devout and earnest prayers to restore it this day to the use of thy sacred Worship and make us not obnoxious to the guilt of their sins who did so heinously dishonour this place which was set apart for thy glory Thou art the God of peace of meekness and gentleness and wouldst not let thy Servant David build a Temple to thee because his hands were stained with the bloud of war we beseech thee that this thy Sanctuary having long continued under much pollution may be reconciled to thee and from henceforth and for ever be acceptable unto thee and that the spots of all bloud prophaneness and sacriledge may be washed out by thy pardon and forgiveness and that we and all thy faithful servants that shall succeed us in any religious Office in this place may be defended for ever from our enemies and serve thee alwayes with thankeful hearts and quiet minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen ALmighty Lord the restorer and preserver of all that is called thine since this Cathedral Church is once again made fit for thy Service and reconciled to thy Worship and Honour preserve it henceforth and for ever that it may never even to the second coming of Jesus Christ suffer the like devastation again that befel it by the impiety and disloyalty of a long and most pernicious Rebellion Save it from the power of violent men that such as are enemies to thy Name and to the beauty of holiness may never prevail to defile it or erace it Confound those ungodly ones that shall say of it down with it even to the ground Let the true Protestant Religion be celebrated in it as long as the Sun and Moon endure And we implore thee with confidence of thy love and with all vehemency of zeal that thy heavenly Spirit may fill thy hallowed Temple with thy Grace and heavenly benediction Hear the faithful prayers which thy Congregation of Saints shall daily pour out here unto thee And accept their sorrowful contritions in fastings and humiliations and in the days of joyful thanksgivings let their spiritual and gladsome offerings ascend up unto thee and be noted in thy Book Receive all those into the Congregation of Christs Flock with the pardon of their sins and the efficacy of thy Spirit to suppress the dominion of sin in them that shall here be presented to be baptized Let
clean and well shapen of a very serene and comely countenance vivid eyes with a rare alacrity and suavity of aspect representing the inward candour and serenity of his mind the temper of his body was rather delicate than strong yet through temperance and custom grown patient of long sitting and hard study His voice was ever wonderful sweet and clear so that Dr. Collins would say he had the finest Bell in the Vniversity and in one of his Speeches term'd him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Canora Cicada His behaviour was most gentile and civil no Courtier carried a better meen nor better understood the Art of behaviour which though fortuitous and contingent to him yet much became him in all company His Apparel was ever plain not morose or careless but would never endure to be costly upon himself either in Habit or Diet often quoting that of St. Austin Profectò de pretiosa veste erubesco he was as much ashamed of a rich Garment as others of a poor one and thought that they were fitter for a Roman Consul than a Christian Praesul and accordingly never put on a silk Cassock but at a great Festival or a Wedding of some near Friend holding that a glittering Prelate without inward Ornaments was but the Paraphrase of a painted Wall and on the other side if the Graces of the Mind could be seen the Beauties of the Body would seem but deformities nothing being so fair and to be admired as the lustre of Divine knowledg the eye of the soul attended with a fair hand of suitable practice These two were like Tabor and Hermon the two stately tops of the Soul that reach to Heaven it self And indeed though he had great comeliness and elegance of body his Divine Soul within was fairer than the lodging without When he was young he had a most lively and acute wit which rendred him acceptable to all companies but ever temper'd with wisdom and learning that rendred him more acceptable to the Best and with it he had a prodigious and immortal memory whereby he ever bore about him a constant Chronicle of all occurrences that he was able to give a present account of whatsoever he had at any time read heard or seen even all remarkable alterations and changes of weather that had been in his time were as present to his memory as if he had seen them written in the Air before his eyes yet all these no man valued less than he in comparison of his higher accomplishments He abounded not barely with great learning acute wit excellent judgment and memory but with an incomparable integrity prudence justice piety charity constancy to God and to his Friend in adversity and in his friendship was most industrious and painful to fulfil it with good offices and withal so ready and able upon all occasions to give good counsel that he to whomsoever God gave that Favour of his Lordship had a blessing scarce valuable Yet notwithstanding all these Endowments King Solomons words are true in regard of the body There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked and wise men must also die as well as the ignorant and foolish and the time was now come that this wise and good Bishop must die He had finished both Church and Quire which he beautified with most comely Stals of exquisite workmanship and had likewise set up an excellent Organ the whole Appartements about it Pipes Gilding Wainscot-case c. cost above 600 l. being a great lover of Church-Musick and would much bewail the peoples ignorance and fierceness who loved Guns more than Organs or else their lasciviousness that would pull them out of Churches and set them up in Taverns and chuse rather to sing in Babylon than in Zion And the last of his Lordships cares for that Church was for the Bells he had contracted with very able Founders for six excellent Bells fitting for a Cathedral which his Executor set up though three only were cast before his death and onely one viz. the Tenor hanged up which had not been hung so soon but that his Lordship called upon the Workmen to do it The first time it was rung his Lordship was very weak yet he went out of his own Bedchamber into the next Room to hear it and seem'd very well pleased with the sound and blessed God that had favour'd him with life to hear it but withal concluded it would be his own Passing Bell and so retired to his Chamber and never came out till he was carried to his Grave He had done his work and he must depart to the Church Triumphant He often said by a kind of presage many years before his death that some odd October would part us he felt his body more weak at that Autumnal season then any other and could not have held out so long but that he was forced to fly to Physick and Diet to corroborate or rather keep him from sinking every Spring and fall Accordingly he sickned upon St. Lukes day October 18. and died upon St. Simon and Judes day following aged 78 years the just time of Athanasius and St. Hierom of old according to Baronius Within a fortnight before his death he remitted nothing of his former studies when he was first taken sick he did not conceive it to be mortal and therefore sent the week before he died to a Friend in London to send him down the new Books from abroad or at home But being ever upon his Watch-Tower when he perceived God beckoned Him to come away then he laid aside his Books and all Communication or thoughts concerning any temporal matter his heart was fixed and not to be removed from the great Object of Eternal life He would say to his Visitants he was a decaying old man and desire them to avoid the Room where in confession of his sins he was ever most humble in godly sorrow most contrite in prayer most assiduous in faith most stedfast in suffering his sickness most patient in desiring to be uncloath'd of the Body most joyful and content He shewed no fear of death not the least sign of any perturbation of mind for his aproaching end but rather rejoyced that the day of the Lord was come which he had so often desired and as G. Nazianzen in his Funeral Sermon for St. Basil rejoyces that he died 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with godly sayings in his mouth in like manner did our godly Bishop so conclude his days in this world as he looked to begin them in the next that the end of this life should be sutable to the beginning of the other and that his last words he breathed forth here should have a good connexion with his first addresses when he saw God face to face there therefore being in perfect sense he sent for one of his Prebendaries to come and pray with him who after some holy conference read the Office appointed for the Sick after that his Lordship
was to be feared that he was to be admired for his excellency that he was increate immortal eternal and not like the Idols of the Heathen there was Grace and Religion other Nations knew not him therefore he puts them by as if he knew not them he is the God of Israel Secondly This whole World is made for no other end but that Christ may exalt his Dominion in it and therefore the Nation of whom he was to come according to the Flesh that is spoken of as if it belonged to God alone and all other People were quite forgotten Well therefore might Zachary say O thou God of Israel for upon the Nativity of Christ now it was fulfilled why long since he was called the God of Israel His Incarnation as old Simeon said it was the glory of his people Israel his conversation among them was their temporal protection that their enemies should not devour them while he was with them upon earth his word confirmed it that the children of the Bride-chamber should not mourn while the Bridegroom was with them Finally His appearance among them in the Flesh was their spiritual exaltation for he preacht to none other but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel But Israel doth now no longer stand for those that according to the Flesh descended out of the Loyns of Abraham as St. Paul says he is a Jew that is one inwardly Rom. ii 29. So he is an Israelite that is a true man like Nathanael that hath no guile in him he that believeth in Christ that visited and redeemed Israel And that you may know the term stands now for the Church of the Faithful and Elect St. Paul calls them that walk according to the rule of Jesus Christ the Israel of God Gal. vi 16. You know that Jacob wrestled with an Angel of God at Peniel and thereupon the Angel changed his name and called him Israel because as a Prince he had power with God and men and had prevailed Gen. xxxii 28. he prevailed over men that is over his Persecutors Esau and Laban He prevailed with God by tears and supplications and this is the exact description of all those that belong to the Church of Christ that is of the Israel of God Their outward foes shall be subdued unto them when God shall think it time to put an end to their sufferings they must overcome their spiritual Foes that is get the victory over the passions and lusts of their own flesh vanquish the Devil overcome the attractive delights of the world and then they shall be no more Jacob but Israel they shall prevail with God It is well noted by one that when the Church in holy Scripture speaks of her infirmity she is called Jacob when she speaks of her happiness she is called Israel Isa xli 14. Fear not thou worm Jacob and Amos vii 2. by whom shall Jacob arise for he is small but in a thousand places ye shall find thus saith the Lord God the King of Israel and never was the Church in more prosperity then when Christ came among us in the likeness of man then it was not Jacob the worm but it grew mighty indeed it prevailed with him that sits on high then it was fit the Song should run in the best title Blessed be the Lord God of Israel You have received the first part of the Text entirely in every particle the solemn praise of the Divine goodness now follows the reason in two most glorious acts why the God of Israel deserveth this praise For he hath visited and redeemed his people Blessed be his name for he hath visited blessed be the Lord for he hath done marvellous things We want not many of these fo rs when we ascribe excellency to the King of Heaven Fame is a good companion for Virtue I love to see them fast together let there want no praise if there be a quia visitavit a good reason for it a deserving action to advance it but to spend our good word upon them that have no merit to speak good of the covetous as David saith whom God abhorreth to cry up Absalom among the people for a little out-side formality such praise is most fulsom that 's broacht either by flattery or ignorance When renown is so ill bestowed upon the wicked it makes the righteous that they do not regard it But the object of Zachary's benediction is so gracious so full of perfection that when we say all we can in the honour thereof we shall say too little for he hath visited for he hath redeemed his people The first of these is that which makes this the double double Holy day above all the Feasts of the year visitavit he visited and it is once again repeated in this Hymn of Zachary's the day-spring from on high hath visited us ver 78. Some there be that collect the three capital works of Christs dispensation out of my Text and the verse that follows for that he visited us say they it denotes his Incarnation that he redeemed us it betokens his Death and Passion that the horn of salvation was raised up in the house of his servant David it implies his Resurrection I think these things are minc'd asunder that should not be divided but all agree that to visit is a word so proper to Christmas-day as none more namely to take flesh and to dwell among us Doth the same fountain says S. James send forth sweet waters and bitter why that 's no such marvail for this very word to visit is so diverse in holy Scripture that sometimes it relisheth as sweet as mercy can make it sometimes it is as bitter as the very gall of his anger can temper it Visitat quando flagellat quando miseretur says S. Austin God visiteth when he punisheth and he visits when he pittieth In the first acception nothing is better known than that of the Decalogue Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me And again I will visit their offences with the rod and their sins with scourges and in the Latin Translation Jer. xxvii 8. That Nation will I visit with sword with famine and with pestilence And Psal lix 5. Thou Lord of Hosts awake and visit the Heathen and be not merciful to any wicked transgressors From hence we have drawn it into our common phrase that we call the infliction of the contagious Pestilence the visitation of the Lord. God is ever present with us but when he shews himself to be present by some exterior and notable work bringing his Judgment or his Mercy in a conspicuous manner to our City or even to the doors of our own house then he is said to visit us And if it be a visitation of vengeance yet refrain not to say Blessed be the Lord God of Israel whether he send his Angel with a Sword to smite us or with a Song as at Christs Nativity
sidepieces of the tree do resemble horns he might as well have said that the Metaphor was taken from the Altar in the Old Law upon which the Sacrifices were presented because the Psalmist says bind the Sacrifice with cords unto the horns or extremities of the Altar Into the number of these that are more elegant than litteral in their allusions let me cast in Lombard thus he an horn is an altitude above the flesh and because it grows higher than the flesh therefore Christ is called an horn rather than a buckler of salvation because our hope in him is not carnal but spiritual and it is he that gives us grace and power to overcome the flesh These and such like subtilties I think it fit rather to name than to prosecute But Theophylact hath collected the solid reasons of this Appellation into few words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it betokens either the mighty power or the Kingdom of salvation An horn is the weapon and strength of that Creature out of which it brancheth and therefore it is usual almost in every book of Scripture to borrow a Metaphor from it as the Lord shall give strength to his King and exalt the horn that is the power of his Anointed 1 Sam. ii 10 and Psal lxxxviii In my name shall his horn that is his strength and fortitude be exalted and to break the horns of sinners is to pull down their pride and dominion Psal lxxiv. I spare to recite innumerous quotations which are extant every where in Scripture but in this phrase the Holy Ghost intends that according to the translation which is in our Morning Service God hath raised up a mighty salvation in the house of his servant David O puissant Lord and Saviour who is able to comprehend what infinite power did concur to this effect that the everlasting God should be incarnate and become man This birth may seem to the outward man to be nothing but a spectacle of weakness and misery Look upon an Infant laid in a Manger wrapt in swadling clouts the Son of a poor Maid espoused to a Carpenter and from these circumstances the question might be askt Where is this horn Where is this strength which Zachary hath laboured to express so emphatically I answer That the Nativity of Jesus was the greatest demonstration of the power of God that ever the world received The Virgin Mary hath commended it to be very true in her Song verse 49 of this Chapter He that is mighty hath done unto me great things And St. Basil says that the Incarnation was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the evidence of the Divine Omnipotency It is a strange efficacy of nature to conjoyn repugnant Elements in the composition of our flesh as fire and water It is yet more strange to put an Elementary body and an immaterial soul into one composition but to joyn an increated and eternal God in one union of person with these things it exceeds all other marvels Neque Adami de limo terrae formatio neque Evae de viri carne plasmatio Iesu Christi potest ortui comparari says Leo the creation of Adam from the dust of the earth the efformation of Eve from the rib of Adam both are things to astonish our weak understanding but neither of these are comparable to his Nativity that was the Son of God and the Son of Mary this is the very firmitude of the horn whereof I am to speak there are other rights and branches of it For as Gods power doth astonish us that the Word should be made Flesh so it brings our admiration to more excess that he should become a Saviour he did overcome his own justice in that act and an Orator would say he grew mightier than himself if it were possible by sparing us Certainly there is good reason in that Axiom of the School that it was more to save a sinner than to create a world The heathen had their Saviours from wasteful diseases and pestilentious contagions as Pandion and Esculapius the Israelites had their Saviours from thraldom and the peril of the Sword as Moses and Joshuah But he that delivers us from the wrath of God and from the pit of hell he is the strong deliverer he is the horn of salvation Finally The Salvation which he hath brought us hath not only set us free but it hath put vigour and animosity in us to subdue our Adversaries that held us in thraldom What the Heathen spake of another thing I may fitly apply to Christ Tu spem reducis mentibus anxiis viresque addis cornua pauperi such as were poor and in misery being fast bound in the fetters of their sins thou hast refresht them with joy and given them horns to push down their enemies The dominion of sin is abated the edge of infernal tentations is rebated Death is swallowed up in victory the Devil cries out in the Gospel that he is tormented the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church this is salvation obtained for us not by compounding with our Foes and asking their leave but by strong force and puissant victory Cornu salutare nobis sed impiis terrificum It is a soveraign horn to us but an instrument of offence against the wicked His horns are the horns of an Vnicorn with them shall he smite the heathen even the ends of the world Deut. xxxiii 17. the false flattering Prophet Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah put on horns to sooth up Ahab Antichrist is described with ten horns and seven heads Revel xvii 3. to denote that he is armed to bring destruction upon those that cleave in sincerity of truth unto the Lord. The Goat and the Ram which Daniel saw in his Vision chap. viii had terrible horns rising up between their eyes These were outragious tyrants whom God permitted to goar the innocent like mad Oxen but here 's an horn in my Text to break their malice as if it were but a slender reed The Judge that trieth the cause of the helpless against oppressors and casts them down for ever but our horn of salvation Indeed that 's his proper work to save and help his chosen it is by accident that for their sakes he wounds and offends their enemies he came not to destroy but to seek and to save that which is lost he would not the death of a sinner but that he should repent and be saved therefore it is due to be called not an horn of mischief but an horn of salvation Nor doth this word betoken his power only but his kingdom likewise as if Zachary had said God hath raised up a King of salvation to us in the house of his servant David So said St. Peter before the Council of the Scribes Acts v. 31. Him hath God lift up with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour The Chaldee Paraphrast who is very ancient agrees greatly with this for what the Psalm hath I will make the horn of David to flourish
so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until he have mercy upon us 2. Tu venis Dost thou come in humility Dost thou come in infirmity Let it suffice to say to that who should be humbled but God to expiate for the pride of man No humility could be meritorious but from him who in his own person did abound with glory an humble Prince is a rare sight a beggar if he be not humbled there is nothing more disdainful if our soul cleave unto the earth it deserves no reward for such a poor estate belongs to our sinful condition but if the Son of God come down from heaven and make himself less than the Angels that humility is stupendious and will satisfie for our presumption And as humility was infinitely meritorious in Christ so it became him to be suspected for infirmity Factus quasi unus ex aegrotis eo gratior erat medicus in that he would seem to be sick for our sakes it was more chearful to us that he became our Physician 3. Ad me venis Thou who aboundest with all things dost thou address thy self to him that wants When Solomon had built a most stately Temple to the Lord He admired that God would come down into it in the brightness of his glory But will God indeed dwell on earth The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee how much less this house which I have builded Alas here was no such sumptuous receptacle at Jordan to entertain Christ and comest thou to me Let it suffice to say He that would suffer by the hands of cruel enemies would make no difficult thing to be baptized of a friend Did he endure that Judas should kiss and betray him What marvel if he did permit a good Prophet to wash and anoint him to his Priestly Office Thus St. Austin to good purpose Did Christ admit a servant to baptize his heavenly Master Nullus à conservo non dignetur accipere Then let no man think his fellow servant too mean an Instrument to offer him the blessing of the Sacraments Good news were brought by Leapers to Samaria and they were entertain'd with joyfulness Let him be a Leaper let him be a sinful man to whom the dispensation of Gods mysteries is committed yet his weakness shall not diminish from the invisible power of Christ who in all Congregations and at all times is the High Priest that blesseth the outward means for the use of thy salvation If Judas did baptize it was not hurtful to them that did partake of his Ministry a leaden Seal may imprint the stamp of God upon thy soul as well as one of better mettal Should Paul refuse to warm himself because Barbarians did kindle the fire 4. Comest thou to me that baptize none but unto remission of sins Let it suffice to say unto it out of the Lyturgy of our own Church that Christ did sanctifie the floud Jordan and all other waters to the mystical washing away of sin Therefore he came no otherwise to Jordan than as his Angel is said to come down into the Host to battel Non ad periclitandum sed ad vincendum not as if danger could come near unto himself but to repel danger that might come near to his own people but of this I must make a full treatise the next day and at this time no reason so ponderous as his own by which he helpt John Baptist out of doubt Suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us c. These words Christ spake to John in a double style of speech Sicut Dominus imperans sicut Magister docens As a Lord by his absolute power over his Subject Suffer it to be so now As a Master willing to instruct his Disciple For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness In the first of these I will be brief the latter is of more copious observation Suffer it to be so now A word to the wise is enough says the Proverb it seems so that John Baptist was aw'd with these two short words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suffer it to be so now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now he means in the state of exinanition being made of no reputation among men and having taken upon him the form of a servant in this low condition the Son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to lay down his life for many therefore howsoever the days will come that the world shall see him in his power and great glory yet suffer it to be so now One distinction therefore makes all streight and even between Christ and his fore-runner For let the person of our Saviour be considered God and man united together so John was not mistaken if he thought it unexpedient for him to be baptized But weigh him in another scale in his Office of Mediator as he came to do all servile things thereby to gain unto us the adoption of Sons so he must bring that most desired work to pass by Baptism Fasting and Tentation by his Agony and bloudy Sweat by his Cross and Passion by his precious Death and Burial and through all other shapes of Poverty Vileness and Humiliation My Beloved there is such an exceeding distance such an interval between the most excellent person of Christ and the lowliness of his Office that the conceit of an Arch-angel is not able to measure it Videas potentiam regi sapientiam instrui virtutem sustentari says Bernard You may see him that had all rule in heaven and earth obey and be govern'd the wisdom of the Father taught and instructed that vertue which holds up all things it self supported Let me not lose a Syllable of that Fathers Elegancy in this Point Videas pavere fiduciam salutem pati vitam mori fortitudinem infirmari That which gives us all confidence it self did fear and was amazed safty it self did suffer strength it self was weak life it self did die Thus eloquence runs wittily upon this discord the most glorious person and the most inglorious Office of our Saviour St. Austin makes Elisha the Type of our Saviours humiliation by very agreeable proportions when he raised up the dead child of the Shunamite to life Elisha sent his servant Gebazi with his Staff before him so the Law came into the world by Moses long before the Incarnation of our Saviour At last the Prophet made hast in his own person Venit grandis ad parvulum salvator ad salvandum vivus ad mortuum The great one came to the little one the Saviour to that which was lost the living to that which was dead And as Elisha laid every part of his body upon the Child and so shrunk up his body to make it no larger than the childs body So Christ did make himself equal to us little ones Vt efficeret corpus humilitatis nostrae conforme corpori gloriae suae to make our vile bodies conformable to his most glorious body Finally as that
Receiver Also we apply general Promises to our selves by the word of absolution For although God only pardons sins yet he hath promised to his Priests if our hearts be well disposed to admit their work Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis What they loose upon earth shall be loosed in heaven but the special motive is the inward testimony of the Holy Ghost speaking in the conscience of true believers by the effects of grace This last is it which is opposed by some namely that there is no assurance ordinarily begot by the Testimony of the Spirit to a mans private spirit that he is the child of God But this I will prove This is not denied that this is the faith of the Gospel on which we lay hold for eternal life whosoever truly believeth on Christ he shall be saved and cannot a man infallibly infer but I do through Gods grace truly believe in Christ Cannot a man search into his own heart that he doth receive Christ not only in his judgment by a firm willing and unfained assent but also by an earnest desire to be made partaker of him and by a setled resolution to acknowledge him to be his Saviour Surely the mind is not ignorant of its own actions when it understandeth when it assenteth it knoweth it self to assent when it desireth it knoweth it self to desire when it resolveth it knoweth it self to resolve Much more is it able to examine it self being holpen by the Spirit of God I may boldly say the Letter of the Scripture is not more plain for any point of Divinity than for this Rom. viii 16. The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God Either we can feel this witness and make use of it or to what end is it given And why else are we bidden to feel and try that good work of the Spirit if it be in our selves Examine your selves whether you be in the faith 2 Cor. xiii 5. The true sorrowful penitent hath not less comfort now than if Christ were still upon the earth But to some of them while he lived in Jury it was graciously spoken Daughter be of good chear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be confident thy sins are forgiven thee And again I have prayed Peter that thy faith may not fail he let Peter know so much that he might enjoy that comfortable perswasion They that oppose frame this retorsion Some of the most excellent Saints as Peter and Paul knew that Christ did live in them and that they were living members of his body for whom God had received the Crown of life yet this they attained unto not by the ordinary strength of faith but by extraordinary revelation No such matter for says St. Peter Give deligence to make your Calling and Election sure This exhortation were frustrate to stir up our diligence for that work if certitude of salvation come only by extraordinary revelation and St. Paul protesting that neither life nor death could separate not himself only but us many more of the Elect from the love of God draws his perswasion from such reasons as were common to him with all the Saints Rom. viii 32. to the end of the Chapter Because God hath not spared his own Son for our sakes because with him he would freely give us all things because Christ is risen from the dead because he sits at the right hand of God and makes intercession for us And now I will draw up my meaning in this first conclusion 1. Nothing but true faith can breed this particular application that any regenerate person should have affiance for his own salvation 2. That true faith doth not attain it in all but is kept back in many by tentations afflictions weakness want of instruction 3. Every good Christian ought to endeavour to get this assurance 4. Many without presumption have that stedfast and infallible comfort of Christs mercies applied unto themselves 5. In all that are truly justified it hath a sure foundation to beget it if they would well examine it Let no man therefore cavil upon any of these Points single unless he remember them all together The second conclusion follows the Holy Ghost doth beget this certitude of salvation in some measure in the faithful by causing them to examine what good fruits they have produced already from a lively faith and do firmly resolve to produce hereafter Let a well-guided conscience search how contritely we have repented us of those sins which we have committed What good works we have brought forth I mean good in their kind according to the manifold imperfections of our frailty examine whether they were done to be praised of men for fear of the Magistrate for fear of infamy or for Gods glory Whether we would not willingly leave all we have life and all rather than lose our integrity Examine all these things after Gods Word and not after the fashion of the world and what strong and serious resolutions you have for the time to come and upon strict inquiry if you find a good account then conclude I feel the Lord dwell in me by his holy Spirit I feel by these good effects he will not forsake me If any look for Enthusiasms as if God should whisper this to them in their ear they are much deceived Mark by what Index St. Paul directs us by the marks of sanctification There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit And St. John clean throughout his first Epistle Hereby do we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments And by this we know we are translated from death to life if we love the brethren St. Austin thus upon it for an interpreter Let every man enter into his own heart and if he find there brotherly charity let him be secure for he is passed from death to life I confess it and I admonish you upon it it is no such easie thing as the most imagine to try and find out whether our charity be rooted in a lively faith And in examination of particular actions from whence it must be manifested there may be much deceit much mistaking this causeth doubtings and fears and suppositions and intermissions of confidence Yet this is a possibility to sound the depth of a mans own heart and so St. Austin pleads on my side again A man may know the charity wherewith he loveth his brother better then he knoweth his brother Some there are and not a few who would cloy the Doctrine of special faith with this absurdity That many are encouraged thereby to run on in all manner of iniquity as if it were no matter how many and how grievous sins they committed so long as they were assured by this special application of Christ that all their sins were remitted But mark this second conclusion and it is abundantly enough to put to silence this cavillation
sed honoramus We neither worship nor adore the Reliques of Martyrs but honour them Now decent burial is the honor of their bones as I proved before and so much for that point In the next place as Christ urged my Text against Satan so I do allege it against them that profess a superstitious adoration of the Cross for the very Cross on which Christ suffred hangs so near to the former Treatise that it is accounted the very Flower of Reliques Prima crux non modò inter imagines sed etiam inter reliquias habenda est says Aquinas the first Cross of all stands both for an Image and for a Relique to be adored The Pontifician Authors have emulated one another who should say most for the Worship of the Cross deterior qui vicerit he that hath gone farthest hath wrote foulest Aquinas speaks all at a breath that it behoves to give it latriam the highest religious service which is given to God cum habitudine relatione ad prototypum with importance and relation to the Prototype that suffer'd upon it Turrecremata finds out three ways to worship the Cross either as it represents Christs arms stretched out and himself suffering or as it was honour'd by touching his very body or as in some places his blood was sprinkled upon it So Turrecremata leavs it but one Salesius quoted truly by Chamierus I make no question thus disposeth it Ordinary Crosses exemplified by the first are to be adored as all Images The very first Cross as it is a Relique of Christ is to be worshipped with the adoration of hyperdulia but as it represents Christ crucified and is sprinkled with his blood it deserves latria the same worship that Christ himself hath thus that Salesius Costerus hath a crotchet by himself 1. That every Cross must have more veneration given it than the Images of the Saints 2. That which had Christ nailed upon it must have a more pretious religious veneration than all Creatures but where a drop of Christs blood shall appear to have coloured it there not the wood of the Cross but Christ in that drop of blood is to be adored Thus they all study as it seems to me which of them by the acuteness of his learning should run furthest into Idolatry Here is zeal as it seems but not according to Scripture that 's not once thought of in all these conclusions That one word is enough to dash all their sophistry but to tear all their devices piece-meal listen briefly First the Figure of the Cross represents our Lord as He died for our sins I deny that it represents not him in the matter or in the figure it may represent the sufferings of sundry others yet if by use and often remembrance it doth more especially recall his passion to our mind it is no more to be adored than the word which is preached upon the same occasion But if I should swallow that how it exemplifies unto us Christ crucified that comes not home to the mark that it is fit to be adored The Brazen Serpent prefigured how Christ should be lifted up and die upon a tree yet when the people fell down before it Hezekiah made it away and would not suffer it And how hath it necessarily merited religious honour because our Saviours body touched it happy were they that saw him and touched him by faith but it was no happiness to Judas lips to the Executioners arms that lifted him to the thorns that sat close upon his brows or to the wood that bore his body And whereas they make great reckoning that some of that blood which saved us was to be seen where it had run down upon his Cross I answer with reverence that if mine eyes were so happy to see any true tokens of my dear Redeemers blood I would bless God with all humility of heart and body to behold a drop of that stream which flowed from my Saviour that my poor eyes should see part of the richest ransom that ever the world had but I must not give it divine worship For ancient Councils tell me the Humanity of Christ ought to have divine honour done unto it as united personally to the Godhead therefore those drops of blood divided from the unity of his person were not religiously to be honoured It is easie to multiply fluent phrases on their side as that the Cross was the Chariot in which our Lord triumphed over death the Ladder upon which he chose to go up to heaven that wood once accursed in which He took away all malediction from us Well all this is as if you had said that the Cross by accident was an instrument of his glory and our salvation as much as the nails were and no more It was not the Cross that made him triumph but the Death He sustained on the Cross for by death he overcame death I said they did not once quote Scripture in all this Argument but a few of their loose rovers venture at the xxiv of Matth 30. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven It is worth the sifting to answer it What if that be an Hebraism as some say it is that the sign of the Son of man is the Son of man himself signantèr perspicuè venturus most evidently and expresly coming in the Heavens to judge the world or if with more likelihood the Sign of Christ is not Christ himself yet whether the Apostle means the wounds in his Body or his Cross or it may be a strange Star such as appeared at his Birth who knows but here 's no hint of Adoration no matter for the rest be it what you will But the last refuge is to betake them to Legends and strange stories especially in two instances I will not cloy you with them at large but first we are told how Helen the renown of our Britany in her age and the Mother of Constantine had a divine admonishment how to find the Cross which had been lost above three hundred years And long after when the Pagans had taken it by violence from the Christians that Heraclius the Emperor fought with Chosroes and his Persians to recover it and that stones from heaven fell upon the Persians never the like seen but once in the days of Joshua Touching the Invention of the Cross by Helena though St. Ambrose speaks of it yet it sticks hard with me to believe it because Eusebius omits it who spake of other renowned works of Helens and how Constantine her Son found out the Holy Sepulcher but let it have credit and that of Heraclius too though both deservedly suspected What will it come to the Book of the Law was as strangely found out by Josiah and more certainly yet never adored Elizeus his bones were found by casting a dead man into his Grave and nothing followed Yea Saul found out his Fathers Asses by divine admonition And for the miraculous and victorious recovery of
the second branch his associates are Peter John and James 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he took them to see his glory it was his association St. Mark adds by way of emphasis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he took three only and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 privatim he sequestred them apart from this world that they might see his glory Thirdly he prepar'd himself for this illustrious accident in great humility inter precandum he had prostrated himself before his Father in prayer And then fourthly this majestical glory came upon him two waies quoad vultum quoad vestitum in his person in his apparel in his flesh an astonishing radiancy the fashion of his countenance was altered in his cloaths an admirable purity his raiment was white and glistering I cannot be copious upon so many particulars of some more largely of the most succinctly In the first circumstance of all the Spirit of God hath noted out the Time and therefore I must not balk it no not in any of the three respects post dicta post dies post itâ—r First after those sayings says my Text inquiry shall be made what words those be and with whom he had that communication which went before the demonstrance of his glory in two preceding verses in this chapter Christ exhorted his Disciples and many others to the assurance of his Cross and that they might know he was able to recompence their sorrows who endured affliction for his name sake yea and would recompence it he speaks thus The Son of man shall come in his own glory and in his Fathers and of the holy Angels and I tell you of a truth there he some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Kingdom of God He refers the multitude to look for the last day of judgment when he would come in infinite Majesty to call the World before him but he refers certain nameless persons to expect after a while a pregustation of some heavenly apparition wherein they should see how he would be cloathed with power and excellencie when he came to sit upon his Throne and to call the Nations before him they should not taste of death till they saw a spectacle of the Kingdom of God in his transfiguration This was the occasion which made him exhibit his body with that glorious lustre in the Mount and yet some have ignorantly distorted those words to another purpose There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Kingdom of God what doth it mean say they but that John the Disciple whom Jesus loved should live till the last day of judgment as the report went among the Brethren how that disciple should not die Thus Theophylact and the counterfeit Hypolitus that error which hath run through so many Pens grew from hence that when Peter being told with what death he should glorifie God asked What should become of his fellow Disciple John Christ gave him no clear satisfaction because his question deserved it not but only thus If I will that he stay till I come what is that to thee follow thâ—â— me Let it be but probably discovered what coming Christ speaks of and there is no great perplexity in the saying Attend therefore this coming is nothing less than that great coming in personal Majesty at the last day but his coming in wrath and judgment against the Nation of the Jews to punish them and quite to extirpate their seed from Jerusalem Touching this coming by the fury of the Romans to execute his vengeance St. James speaketh to the faithful converted from Judaism and then sore afflicted by the Synagogue Be ye patient and stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh Jam. v. 8. Whereas therefore antient stories have delivered unto us that all the other Apostles were swept away by Martyrdom before the final destruction of Jerusalem onely John outlived that time even till the reign of Trajan This then is a plain meaning of our Saviour's answer if I will that he live till that dismal day when I come to destroy this people which hath crucified me what is that to thee Peter thou shalt never see that day but prepare thy self before for a speedier Martyrdom And to what use should the Apostle live a mortal life upon earth unto the end of the world and yet never appear to any man he lived to see the coming of Gods judgments against the holy City and he together with Peter and James lived to see a mirror of celestial glory in the Transfiguration that 's the meaning of our Saviour's promise going before my Text There be some standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the Kingdom of God It follows to be noted in the observation of the Time that after these sayings he fulfilled his word neither at the instant nor after a long distance but about an eight days after these sayings It was neither so quickly dispatcht before they had meditated upon it nor so long put off that they could forget it be it about an eight days or about eight thousand ages it is but a little while to God who measures all things by Eternity Now in these words which are the very front of the story there are two days odds in the relations of the Evangelists St. Luke you hear sayes about an eight days after St. Matthew and St. Mark after six days Doth not this account differ no not a whit six days complete did go between his sayings and his mighty work St. Matthew and the other speak of that time only but in a part of one day he had said there be some standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the Kingdom of God in part of another day He took those three up into the mountain and so St. Luke computes exactly 't was about an eight dayes after those sayings So hath the Divine wisdom disposed that the same thing should be repeated in several Gospels with some alteration of phrase but with no difference or contradiction and that for two causes When outwardly there seems to be some disagreement between the Text of one Evangelist and another these difficulties do whet our industry to study the book of God there must be knots and mysteries hard to be understood ut homo semper discat Deus semper doceat that man may alwayes learn and God may always teach unto the end of the world 2. Says another si per omnia consentirent nemo putarent eos seorsim scripsisse if they had all jumpt in the same words quite throughout as some say of the 72 Interpreters in the Old Testament it might have been imagined that the Gospels were not writ at distinct times and in distinct places now the dissonancy of their phrase doth warrant us to say that the Evangelists did not cast their heads together when they committed the Scriptures to writing but wrote apart and yet the same spirit
33. And let us make three Tabernacles one for Thee and one for Moses and one for Elias not knowing what he said EVery small sin that a man commits cannot chuse but make a long reckoning before the Judgment of God for one error which St. Peter did incur hath made us work enough to examine it at two several daies You have heard before that whether he had a mind to hinder the crucifying of Christ or whether he desired not to see death not to be afflicted to continue in a pleasant habitation upon earth whether he aimed at his private without respect to the Vniversal Church or whether he fixt his thought upon Christs humane nature glorified for his utmost blessedness every way his words are censurable Master it is good for us to be here Now it follows because he could not build his opinion upon a good ground he will build a Tabernacle upon his opinion And let us make three Tabernacles c. He that will not desire much shall not sin much the greatest score of our sins grows from our wishes It is a great mastery to bridle the tongue but it is a greater victory to bridle the heart Pompey the Great being in the Vniversity of Athens every Sholar offered himself to dispute before him to shew his learning but when every man had had his turn there was one that continued to say nothing and when Pompey asked why he alone was mute among all the company says he that the Romans may know we have one Philosopher that can hold his peace But neither all Athens nor all the World no nor the Apostles of our Saviour could boast that there was one among them could hold in his appetite We are either for faciamus or habeamus every hour of the day either to have this or that or to make some new thing which we wanted And how soon our thoughts may become vile with desiring things in this World below when Peter is not excused for desiring to cast all earthly conversation behind his back and to remain in a kind of Paradise upon Mount Thabor where Christ was transfigured He thought he had found out a medium between Heaven and Earth he knew it was not Heaven he saw it was more gay and glistering than earth a content between both O no it was no discreet choice to desire to sit down as it were in the half way under a golden Canopy and not to run out unto the end of the race where the reward was to be received He knew not what he said It is obvious upon this occasion to make the same charitable construction for St. Peter which Paul did for the Jews I bear them record they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge The Jews were eager to retain their ancient Ceremonies and despised that the Gentiles should be invited to the fellowship of their happiness this bears the definition of zeal exactly zelus est affectio ad quam sequitur ob vehementiam dolor tum ex consortio aliorum tum ex defectu rei quae desideratur zeal is an affection so vehement that it afflicteth it self if either it want what it desires or if others do participate it So the Apostle wished that the Vision in Mount Thabor might ever last was even faint for sorrow when the Cloud carried Moses and Elias away and the emulation was so strong that he desired the Vision might be private to himself and a few more bonum est nobis it is good for us Here is ardour and pain in wishing ut res habeatur sine consortio aliorum to enjoy a good things and to be singular without comperes therefore I will divide the Text apologetically out of St. Pauls words that here was zelus erga Deum sed non secundum scientiam Zeal towards Gods glory is the first part of the Text Let us make three Tabernacles one for Thee and one for Moses and one for Elias but zeal not according to knowledg is the second part not knowing what he said A division being ever made for perspicuity take these three things to your consideration out of the first part fabri fabrica possessores the Builders in this word faciamus and let us make the Building three Tabernacles the Possessors Christ and the two Saints assisting him one for Thee and one for Moses and one for Elias In all which I will explain two things joyntly with the other Members Peters purpose what he aim'd at in zeal and his mistake wherein he erred his zeal was not according to knowledg Faciamus let us make I give the first place for method sake to the consideration of the Builders If he had said unto Christ do thou make three Tabernacles the work it is certain would have soonest been at an end that way God made the World by his Son and his Son at one word could have made three Tabernacles who spake the word and all things were created Every house is built by some man but he that built all things it God Heb. iii. 4. therefore if he had said do thou make these Tabernacles it would have been the suddener dispatch that 's the general neglect indeed the more shame for us let God build and repair his house himself for us or it is like to be let alone Nay herein St. Peter was right since God hath given all the materials upon earth let man offer before he is askt to make an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Let us make and work for him reason good we are his servants hired by every day and hour to do some task for his honour Nor doth Peter put it off with vos facite do you John and James work and build I will give aim and look on another worldly trick to put all upon others if any thing be to be done for Christs sake and exempt our selves both from charge and trouble many do love that God should have somewhat given him and somewhat built him with their neighbours purse like the Ape in the Fable that took the hot Chesnut out of the fire with the Cats foot Here is one that had not so learnt to glorifie God but with his own tongue and with his own hand says St. Ambrose Non laudasse contentus etiam ministerium pollicetur Peter praised this beatifical Vision Master it is good but he knew that praise is a very cheap part of Gods service and therefore he offers his pains to be doing somewhat in honor of it a wide mouth and a close hand is the character of an hypocrite the birds of the air have sweet voices but they have no hands to work for their Master an operative Religion becoms him that hath a body to serve God as well as a soul Faciamus let us make If you think this Mountain to be uninhabitable and inconvenient depart not for that I offer my service with my fellow Disciples to make you bowers to entertain you God never required by
meditation I would resolve to be a true man where Pilat was an hypocrite and say in defiance of all the world c. The rather did this Deputy endeavour to clear himself of blood either because he had been taxed before for extreme severity The Galilaeans were rebellious and he mingled their own blood with their Sacrifice it was that as some conjecture which put enmity between him and Herod or rather he shun'd the imputation of blood because he was a Ruler and a Magistrate Ferrum adhibere nisi in extremis neque civile neque medicum As in the Body of man so in the Estate political that Member should be very corrupt which is cut off with the Sword Many Executions are no more honourable to the Judg than many Funerals to the Physician Mercy and Clemency are stronger than Lions to support the Crown of the King and that Throne shall be established says Synesius where the People are afraid of nothing so much as for the Kings safety It is said of Trajan the Emperor that he was both subtle and industrious to examin the crimes of Malefactors sed mallet non invenire quod quaerit quà m invenire quod puniat that it pleased him better not to find out that which he sought for than to find out any thing which must be punished The life of Jehu the Son of Nimshi is it not a strange Legend as ever was recorded no act or exploit of his memory remaining in all the Scripture but interfecit interfecit here he kill'd one there he murdered forty then he slew 400 but as soon as all the Enemies of God were cut off then says the Text he slept with his Fathers as if his work were done and he died for want of more employment But I need not enlarge my discourse in this point we having not so much cause to preach to man as to praise God for lenity And I have not so learnt Christ to think the Sword of vengeance doth not become the arm of the Civil Magistrate David had a good purpose to build a Temple unto God but it was not accepted because he was a man of war and had shed much blood 1 Chron. xxviii Why was the work then cast upon Solomon his Son had not he given sentence of death against Adonijah Joab and Shemei and is it not as lawful to cut off the Enemies in war as Malefactors in peace First the hearts of Warriours are not always bent upon justice as the heart of the Magistrate then it is the Word of the Judg that fetcheth blood but it is the Hand of the Battel therefore God himself hath thus distinguished that the blood of War did defile King David but the blood of Civil Justice did not cast a blemish upon Solomon They that cannot distinguish between vengeance and just authority are like the Moabites that lookt upon the waters and saw them ruddie and thought it was effusion of blood when it was the brightness of the Sun and the light of Heaven But was Pilat so tender of taking life away did it come so hardly from him to doom the Sentence of death against a Prisoner Lord what Dam did they suck into whose hands our Ancestors fell the Grey-head the Reverend Praelacy the fruitful Womb of Mothers all were sentenced unto one fiery Execution for Religion's sake Surely it had been a Premunire in the Court of Rome to have shewn mercy unto any man or to talk of clemency It was the disposition of the old Indian Philosophers says St. Hierom Eorum disciplina juvare non nisi justè novit nocere nec justè they would do good only when there was justice to do it but they would not hurt any man no not when they had reason for it The Papists are as far from this meekness as Dan from Beersheba that let out floulds of Christian blood to maintain their unbloody Sacrifice When Cyrus the younger would have slain his Brother Artaxerxes see the tender compassion of the Mother she bound him about her own neck with the hair of her head and it was a sufficient Sanctuary to save his life Our holy Martyrs and Professors were bound to the Church their Mother by Baptism by Truth by Faith by Charity by the Prerogative of Natural Branches and yet like a Perfume of Incense they were burnt to ashes It is enough and they cannot hate the false Church by the Canons and Confession of Trent may hate their parricidious and malicious minds by the fire in Smithfield It is a Saint-like indulgence that we do not mete the same measure into their own bosom an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth no it is canticum canticorum the Canticle of our Church and the Song of the Spouse of Christ I am innocent of blood Now I will bring Pilat upon his last Trial from innocens sanguinis to innocens hujus sanguinis to the trial of this man's blood and you shall see how he mocked his conscience that he was innocent of the blood of Christ those few things which he could say for himself are these In the first place He stood upon it before all the people that Christ was harmless and guilty of no crime or imputation Ecce priùs absolvit quam damnat if Christ was harmless why was he beaten here 's a Judg indeed fitter for Outlaws and Robbers than for a civil Corporation first he absolves and then condemns his Prisoner As St. Austin said to Lucretia Nocentior fuit quae seipsam interfecit quantò erat in causâ innocentior Lucretia was the greater Murderer of her self because Lucretia was innocent So it holds in the crucifying of our Saviour and nothing doth more aggravate the fact to make Pilat nocent than that he confesseth Christ was innocent When Sylla did send out his Guard to cut off the head of Antonius the Orator the well-spoken man did so bewitch the Souldiers with fair words who came to kill him that they hung down their heads wept and spared his life till he sent other Assassines more cruel than the former who did the deed Lo a greater wonder Christ making no declaration of his Cause in pathetical words cast such a look upon the Judg O what a sight it had been to have seen his face but for that moment that he could not but confess the heart was true where the countenance was so honest Thus according to the case of Antonius in the first assault the Ballance of Justice was held even till the Rulers inconstancy and the Peoples importunity weighed it down against the best alive therefore the clearing of Jesus from all faults by protestation is nothing to make Pilat innocent Secondly what can he say beside in his own justification marry like a tender-hearted Murderer he would not let his own hand be upon him but sent him as a Malifactor of Galilee unto Herod Call you this commiseration to be delivered from the Adversary to the Judg from the Judg to
or religious house for this saying Qualiscunque nunc sim talis ero qualem me Deus praescivit Whatsoever I am now at last I shall be no other than just as God foresaw I should be Whereas says the holy Father his saying had been better on this wise God foresaw I should be such a one either as I would make my self by sin or by his grace and piety If I can I will clear that which makes the Objection seem to be difficult No man can be condemned for actual sins unless he do commit them through his own wilfulness But nothing is wilfully done which is inevitably and necessarily done and freedom is quite taken away unless you take away all kind of necessity But Gods prevision from all eternity infers a necessity through the supposition of it that nothig can alter from the way wherein before all time he saw all things lie naked and open before him This is the Objection and the Answer is most solid and punctual though not so clear and easie to common understandings as the Objection But thus That which God foresees shall be but presupposing that God saw the effect in its causes that it would be Therefore it is all one to say that God sees it that it is and it is impossible but whatsoever is when it â—s must be even so as it is Yet a little nearer to perspicuity you may consider an action either in the putting forth and the doing or when it is past and done In the doing God foresaw man had power either to do or not to do and therein foresaw he was left to his freedom and the liberty of his own counsel thus God saw from all eternity that man was not put upon evil or destruction necessarily then consider that action as foreseen of God to be done and committed so it is necessary But no otherwise than as we know it was necessary that Lot was drunken because that which is past and gone cannot be recalled You see an Archer drawing his Bow you see he may choose whether he will let the Arrow fly from him or not but when it is gone out of the Bow it is not in his will and power to resume it So God did foresee the thoughts of the Jews and when they were shooting out their Arrows even bitter words yet after the liberty of their own will they might have stopped and refrained then he saw that they took to the worst and chose death rather than life so he let them walk in their own inventions which made them stumble and fall Perhaps you will yet plead against God and say the Lord knew the ways of wicked men and he is Almighty and could have stinted their iniquity that such hellish effects should never have been wrought I sweep away this cavil with a word God was not wanting to put impediments and very great ones in the ways of Christs enemies that they might have desisted and been wise but if these were made unsufficient know that he is not bound to use Omnipotent means to repress impiety It is his great pleasure to put his Creature to the trial of obedience therefore it had not stood with his wisdom either to have made such a Law as man could not break or to endue him with such abilities as he could not transgress He will hedge in the way of sin to some on whom he casts his best good liking he will remove the objects and occasions of lewdness far from them they shall not come within the grasp of fearful tentations He would not let Paul kick against the pricks nor hale men and women that acknowledge Christ before unrighteous Judges but all men are not Pauls in God's dearest love and purpose Some are given over as these Jews were to a reprobate sense but according to their own wish their bloud be upon their own heads for God was innocent Now it is time to draw this Point into a Conclusion and in this form and use Let no calamities or malignities of this world offend us though the Church of Saints goes by the worst oftentimes let it not provoke our soul to say in its bitterness is there any Providence above Is there any knowledge in the most High Quis putat esse Deos He that will cut a man off when he begins to narrate a matter and not hear his tale out will quite misconceive him and lose the sense of his Narration So it happens to them that look rashly upon some miserable events in the world and search no further the uppermost part of those things which they see is Satan reigning Sin increasing Justice declining Religion mourning But the bottom and the nethermost part of this tragical spectacle is Profundum justitiae sapientiae eternal Justice revenging these injuries coelestial and inscrutable wisdom drawing peace out of contention repentance out of sins content out of poverty and an innumerous increase of faithful men and women out of bonds and captivities and persecutions They have not the patience to hear God tell out his tale they will not lend their eyes so long to see him bring his work to consummation that do not discern into his holy counsels that at last he will wind up all those things that appear most disproportionable to his honour to the high advancement of his glory Was ever the name of God defied in any thing so much as in the shameful death of Christ Ah thou that buildest the Temple in three days come down from the Cross and save thy self And again He trusted in God let him deliver him if he will have him And yet this that seemed such a blur to Gods renown was converted into such a good use that all the blessings that ever we received in this world were not so fruitful so beneficial to us as the death of Jesus Look not upon the superficies of his sufferings as some do and no more a Picture in a glass-window will read you that Lesson but look into the inward sanctuary into the bosom of this mystery that he was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God You have hitherto attended to the first part of my Text that the ordination of Christs death was from God and to a good end and purpose the latter part which I will but snatch at and away is that the execution of his death came from the Devil and his Instruments out of most malignant respects Him ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain Ye have taken this is no backbiting no defiance at a distance where the Jews did not hear him but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 withstanding them to their face as St. Paul calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostome O how boldly the man of God speaks being compassed about with those murderers Some are faln in our days into a most ridiculous way of reproof and exhortation if it be compared with this They will discourse very earnestly what obedience
loud voice Lazarus come forth AMong all the miracles that our Saviour wrought this suscitation of Lazarus or raising him up from the dead it was his true Benoni or Son of sorrow None came off with so much anxiety none cost him so dear in all the Gospel Twice he groaned in Spirit and once he wept his Passions were as variable as the life and death of Lazarus Look back to the fifteenth verse and you shall see it wrought comfortably I am glad for your sakes that Lazarus is dead Look unto the 35 verse and you shall see it wrought bitterly Jesus wept What alterations are there says St. Austin Gaudebat propter discipulos flebat propter Judeos horum fides confirmabatur horum incredulitas augebatur It joyed him for the Disciples sake that their faith would be confirmed and revived It grieved him for the Jews sake whose hearts were hardened The preparation then of this Miracle was not without sorrow but the event and sequel was worst of all For although the Counsel of the High Priests stomach'd at our Saviour long before yet they wisht his life no hurt till he had wrought this wonder which all the world were amazed at From that time Caiaphas began to talk like a Wizard That one man must die for the people and Christ must suffer Now you see good cause why our Lord might groan and weep Israel shall pass over into Canaan but Moses must die upon Mount Nebo the birth of Benjamin shall be Rachels funeral Lazarus shall be revived and Jesus crucified Yet I can tell you one thing Beloved how the Son of God shall neither groan nor weep for Lazarus but rejoyce in Spirit and be glad even at this day be glad as he stands at the right hand of God and it lies upon you to do it Did he then groan for the infidelity of the Pharisees Then sure he will now rejoyce if we believe in his works and have faith in the Resurrection Did he then weep because his own death was contrived for doing good Then he will now be comforted if you take heed that you do not again crucifie the Lord of life Tâ—llite lapidem as it is in verse 39 remove the stone the hardness of your heart and joy will follow in heaven for the conversion of a sinner Do you consider that the days past were a time of mourning and sad contrition Why here is a Text which was not preach'd without Christs mourning and lamentation Do you remember his Passion but the other day Why this is the Text which was an occasion to bring him to his Cross and Passion What do you meditate upon this day but our Saviours issuing out of the Grave Why here is Lazarus broke out of the Tomb Lazarus come forth Which words as I have read them rise up into two eminent heads like Tabor and Hermon You shall perceive that the business in my Text is a work of great dignity that is one part and a work of great Divinity that is the other part The dignity consists in these two Points 1. In that which Christ had spoken before when he had said thus And what was that He pray'd unto his Father wherefore it is dignum oratione a work worthy of a Prayer for the preparation 2. It is Dignum proclamatione it was cried with a loud voice and fit to be published to all the world The Divinity appears in these three circumstances 1. Exeat mortuus that a dead man is summoned to appear 2. Exeat Lazarus Lazarus after four days departure comes forth 3. Exeat ligatus one who was bound hand and foot with Grave-cloaths walks upon his feet O strange Divinity the Monuments which were shut did open for Christ did call who had the Key of David The dead who lay in silence could hear his tongue for it was the same voice which makes the Hinds bring forth young ones and called Adam from the dust of the earth The body which lay putrified four days gave no offence in the smell Christ was at hand who is a sweet savour for us unto God The feet which were bound with Grave-cloaths could walk before him for in him we live and move and have our being Was not this excellent work worthy of a Prayer So far we have gone this day in our morning Sacrifice Was it not worthy of the proclamation of a loud voice fit to be preached that the world may hear of it and believe and be saved And that is the business which doth now take up your attentions With these two circumstances of the Miracle I must first begin the preparation of our Saviours Prayer and the promulgation of his loud voice or preaching And when he had thus said c. That is when he had prayed unto the Father Dimidium facti qui benè caepit habet And he that begins his work with Prayer as Christ did hath half dispatch'd it Vox clamantis the voice of a Crier was the fore-runner of Christ when he came upon the earth Vox orantis the voice of Prayer must be the fore-runner of our necessities when we look for any thing from heaven As the people shouted when the foundation of the Temple was laid grace grace be unto the first stone of the building so let the foundation of every thing be laid with shouting and strong Ejaculations to our God that he may say upon the moving of the first stone Grace be to the building In Gen. xii Abraham removed three times to several quarters and still before he pitcht his Tent he built an Altar to Jehovah remove not stir not enter upon no new task before you have built an Altar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostom wheresoever you are pray and your own heart is a Temple or the Alter of Jehovah Religion is the Bow and the heart is the String but Prayer is that which bends the Bow Religion is unbent as it were and the Shafts cannot fly untill Prayer dispatch them Well might Peter who was prompt of tongue and ready to speak upon all occasions be counted a chief Apostle for Prayer which is the tongue of Religion and our Consciences Orator is the chief of all our vertues Debilem facito manu debilem coxâ pede no matter for infirmities in the feet for diseases in the hands so the dumb Devil be not in our tongues The penitent Thief had no hands to hold up they were nailed to the Cross no knees to bend for his legs were broken he had a tongue to say Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom and it did him service enough to open Paradise O the delusions of the Devil For all this that I have said you shall sooner make ignorants and vain people believe that Diseases are curable by unsignificant Charms by unhallowed mutterings than by godly Prayers As if the Devil could go further with Non-sense than a good Christian with Faith and Prayer One Talent in
and Man especially how to remake him and restore him again being consumed to ashes And therefore says Beda very well Mirati sunt discipuli de exiccatione arboris quia omnia ejus miracula antehà c erant ad bonum the Disciples did marvail exceedingly to see the Figtree cursed and wither away our Saviour did never meddle with any thing before but it was the better for him The Jews talkt of their priviledg to have one Prisoner let loose against the Feast and that was a sweet one the seditious Barabbas the true King of the Jews did let loose a Prisoner indeed against the Feast and that was holy Lazarus for this Miracle was wrought not long before the dolorous day of his Passion as you may see by the sequel of the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostom as who should say this was but an introduction to make the world believe in that great sign which followed the resurrection of the dead Non est admirationi una arbor cum tota sylva in eandem altitudinem excrescit says Seneca no notice is taken of one tall Cedar when all Lebanon is full of the like so we do not spend much admiration now upon the raising up of Lazarus because many dead bodies arose and appeared in the holy City yet upon the first delivery of this man from the Goal of death having been four days dead it was a thing not heard of and a matchless Miracle Demetrius as he was a most devillish Statesman so this was one of his Maxims as bad as any whosoever they be that stand in your way cut them off it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like those things which must be granted in the Art of Geometry before they can proceed any further The High-Priests and Pharisees had got this godly Lesson from their Father the Devil and because all the world did stare upon Lazarus as upon the great work of Christ needs must they consult how to kill him Was there ever a more foolish Senate when they saw Christ could raise him again as oft as he pleased yet the Projectors of the Sanhedrim set their wits and their cunning how to put Lazarus to death O happy man if he do fall into their hands if Christ will give them leave to cut him off Four days together hath he been dead that God and his blessed Son may be glorified in his suscitation once already did he loose his life for the honour of his Saviour let him be tormented be imprisoned be crucified the second time for Christs sake and who was ever so happy as Lazarus to make one poor life serve for a couple of Martyrdoms indeed it were an hard case as St. Austin sets it down ut idem homo semel nasceretur bis moreretur to be born once and to die twice and therefore St. Chrysostom would mollifie the matter that at this time of four days sleep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was rather reposed in his Mothers Womb than in a Sepulcher but his condition in very deed was not pitiful but very fortunate to be born but once and to die twice for Gods honour But here is one question first and more will follow Was Lazarus stone dead as we say the Soul quite separated from the Body and the spirit departed or was it anima sopita but a Soul laid a sleep the functions being discharged from working for a time and no more If it were not so yet it is able to pose a man why Christ should say unto Mary and Martha non est infirmitas ad mortem this sickness is not unto death in the 4. verse of this Chapter to the Question afterwards to the Text in the first place The Scripture would be satisfied and so it shall Mors non imminebat ad mortem sed ad miraculum says Lira very well how shall I expound it to you the languishment of his sickness did not encroach upon him that death might close up his eyes for ever but to disclose a Miracle As Aristotle said he would have death called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the termination of life but not the end as if we liv'd only to die so this infirmity was not unto death as you would say to make it the end of the work but that God and his Son might be glorified To the Question then Totus Lazarus de monumento exit qui totus ibi non erat says St. Austin dead he was then and his Soul undoubtedly departed his Sisters that had tried their best for his recovery would not send him forth rashly to his Grave but that all conclusions whether any breath remained were first examined Nay should you take a living man and bind him with grave Cloths head and foot enough to smother him and lay him in a cold Rock of Stone so long in such sharp weather when after this time the High Priests had a Fire within doors in their Hall enough to starve him and let him want food four days enough to famish him I say though he had been laid in quick you would never more have heard of him till the general Resurrection and therefore Jesus said unto the Disciples plainly in verse 14. Lazarus is dead No Parable no figurative speech alas it was too true our Lord himself wept his friend Lazarus was departed Jesus said plainly Lazarus is dead Profundè mortuus sed altus est Christus in misericordiâ Christs mercy was deeper than the grave or he had never seen the day more Do not graceless Sinners the accursed seed of Cham do they not tremble at this says St. Austin Si amicus Christi moritur inimicus quid patiatur He is descended into the Grave whom our Saviour loved whither shall they go into what Bottom shall they be cast if there be a bottom whom he hates and refuses There is yet another Problem riseth up in this Text as well as Lazarus What say you to the Disciples that caught the words from our Saviours mouth as if Lazarus had been cast into a slumber our friend Lazarus sleepeth but I go to wake him I go to wake him What so far as Judea It is strange to think that the Disciples would believe a man went so far to raise up one that slept And yet when Christ spoke like a Divine they answered him like Physicians If he sleep he shall do well Utrumque verum Christus dixit Lazarus mortuus Lazarus dormit mortuus vobis dormit mihi all was true that Christ said both ways he spake good Divinity Lazarus is dead he was so dead to them that could not recover him Lazarus is asleep he was so no more than in a sleep to him that could restore him Do you not a little marvel that the Apostles should so misinterpret Christs meaning and take his words in at the left ear Why were they so slow to understand that to awake from
word of the power of Christ which coupled again those parts divorced the soul and body not by breathing a new life into the body but by breathing out a loud voice Lazarus come forth Such as had been but banished their Country in the days of Caesar the Dictator and were restored again by the grace of Augustus and Antony were called Charonitae as if they had been wasted back again into this world when they were quite extinguished Those Roman Potentates would be esteemed Gods of another world that could unlock a man from the fetters of banishment needs then must he be greater than the Kings of the earth whose authority can break the bars of death and bring the Prisoners forth from the captivity of corruption The Scythians says Lucian swear by these two Idols as the Gods of the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Wind and by the Sword Hic spirandi est autor ille mortis The one gives breath to live the other takes life away Now that which gives life and that which takes away life can be no less than a God say the very Scythians These heathen knew no more of Gods power than to give life and to take away life Had they known what it was to restore life again that would have been the chief power of divinity even in their estimation Majus est restituere quà m dare quantò miserius est perdidisse quà m omnino non accepisse It is more admirable to restore the soul again than to create it at the first because it is more miserable for the body to have lost a soul than never to have received it The great Clerks the Athenians could not tell what to make of the infinite power of the Resurrection It is pretty that St. Chrysostome observes upon them Acts xvii when Paul preached unto them and mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Resurrection of the dead they thought this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had been a God the unknown God at whose Altar they did worship Evil men can abuse that which is good God can make good employment of that which is evil Death upon the first sin was named to be a punishment It is Meritoria in Martyribus and I may say Gloriosa in resurgentibus it is made an instrument of great reward unto the Martyrs and the passage to an Article of faith to believe in the Resurrection We call them that are dead in the Lord Abraham and Isaac and Jacob alas there are no such now Abraham dissolved into dust is no longer Abraham the soul cannot be called Abraham only the whole man both soul and body but so sted fastly do we trust the dead shall rise again Quod defunctorum animas nominibus suppositi appellamus says Thomas We speak of the dead as if they were now alive because they shall live again even as Christ spake to the corps of Lazarus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as to a Corps but as to one living not as to one that was dead but as to ears that could hear Lazarus come forth And it is well says the Father that among all the Corpses in the dust Christ pickt him out by name as who should say now I will have none but Lazarus to come forth others shall appear in their time otherwise all the Legions of the dead had come to light and stood thick upon the earth from the East unto the West Indeed the souls under the Altar cry our Quousque Domine fain would they stand before him like Enoch and Elias so eager they are and vehement instantly to have tongues to speak and hands to hold up and knees and heads to bow as if they were not contented that their days to come for those things were days of eternity We shall meet together all in the same Livery cloathed with bodies of youth according to the measure of our Saviours Age Eph. iv Alexander out of a surly Magnificence Soli Antipatro Phocioni salutem scripsit in Epistolis never wrote in the top of his Letters I wish you long life and prosperity but only to Phocion and Antipater But God will direct his voice to every member of his Church one summon shall call forth Abraham and Isaac and all the world which at this time begins for a relish of faith but with this person alone Lazarus come forth And thus much for the first thing wherein the power of his Divinity appeared Mortuus excitatur a dead Man was raised Now that Lazarus after four days was raised that he which was bound came forth of the Grave is discourse for some other time Thus much only in a word upon the present occasion The next thing that you shall read concerning Lazarus after he was raised is this he sate at Supper with our Saviour in the second verse of the next Chapter Why behold the Supper of the Lord there is the next place where you are to meet with Christ after you are risen from your sins and the preparation of this Table to replenish your hungry souls with grace is as great a testimony of our Saviours Divinity as to raise up Lazarus Tu das epulis accumbere Divum it is the highest power of God which he confers to his Church upon earth to give them leave to meet together before the food of Angels As Manna melted away with the Sun-rising and new store fell upon earth the next morning which is a kind of Resurrection so you that have quenched Gods Spirit that have melted away his grace and let it putrifie for want of good employment this is the Morning this is the Season to gather a new Omer full that you may cherish and increase your faith Which that you may do c. THE THIRD SERMON UPON THE RESURRECTION JOHN xi 44. And he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with Grave-cloaths and his face was bound about with a Napkin THis is an Easterday Text notwithstanding that the party intreated of is Lazarus for as John Baptist was born a little before the birth of Christ and John was the Forerunner of his Nativity so Lazarus rose from death but a little before Christ rose and was the Forerunner of his Resurrection The Jews Passover was nigh at hand so you shall read in the 55. verse of this Chapter certainly it was not long before Christ the true Paschal Lamb was offered upon the Cross that this Miracle was done Feriâ sextâ ante Dominicam de Passione says one the Friday before Passion Sunday which is nine days past 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostom he put them into admiration with this work before this great day of admiration came Nor have we a Praeludium only how our Saviour should conquer death in this Chapter but you shall resent and perceive some resurrection wrought upon every person that had interest in this story First the news of Lazarus death was brought unto Christ beyond
you will leave at that Idem facis ac qui è monte se praecipitans velit sistere says Tully You are unwise as he that did cast himself headlong from a steepy rock and thought he could stop before he lost his breath Sin hath no moderation Qui facit peccatum est servus peccati He that commits sin is the servant of sin you cannot play fast and loose with the Devil If you be once bound it will ask you plenty of tears and many groans of repentance that Christ may make you free Sin is not like the green wit hs that tied Samson and brake like a thread of Tow but like the fetters cast upon poor Joseph The Iron entred into his soul says David It is such a long captivity as the Jews suffred in Babylon it trusseth you up as the tares were bound in bundles for everlasting fire Mat. xiii Can the Ethiopian change his skin Or the Leopard his spots Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil Jer. xiii 23. Now because sin is a bond especially sin that is enormous and scandalous not only Satan by inclining them to evil but God in his justice holds them fast to it that they cannot get loose For the Priest he casts another bond upon that Quodcunque lig averitis whatsoever you bind upon earth they bind none but incorrigible and contumacious sinners that is one bond for another and then the Lords bond is thrown upon them both whatsoever you bind upon earth it is bound in heaven the bond of iniquity is upon the sinner the bond of Ecclesiastical Censure is upon the bond of iniquity the bond of Gods judgment ratifies the bond of Ecclesiastical Censure How can the planchers fly out when they are thus hoopt about A threefold cord is not easily broken Ligantur poenâ qui ligati fuerunt culpâ à bonis operibus says Lira They are bound over to eternal punishment in the life to come who in this life bound themselves from doing good Thirdly Let us understand what it is for a sinner to be bound hand and foot Manus non extensae ad eleemosynam pedes tardi ad bonum so says the Gloss Hands that were shut to the poor and gave no Alms feet that have not frequently walked to the house of God these were bound in this life when they should have executed their Function and then follows Take him and bind him hand and foot and cast him into utter darkness Mat. xxii The hand is the principal Engine of all other instruments and if it be bound we may direct much perchance yet can execute nothing But there is no musick in that eloquence where the tongue perswades enough but the hand is like the hand of Jeroboam dried up and withered He that takes upon him to teach and direct let his hands be loose that he may give a demonstration of his Doctrine in his own works and then it is powerful Dux consilio miles exemplo as it was said of Caesar He gave the counsel of a General he did the work of a Common Souldier The Sun under a Cloud looks as if his glorious beams were shut up and imprisoned So it is a dark and a gloomy Profession of Piety to cast no beams abroad let your light shine before men that they may see your good works If your hands I mean your good deeds be bound up the bonds are such as Lazarus had and worse the swadling bonds of eternal death Pedes sunt affectus sensuales qui terrae adhaerent that is the usual Moral by feet are understood our sensual Passions and Affections which cleave unto the earth Indeed Lazarus will walk better with those feet when they are obedient to reason and bound to her Law than when they are loose and run their own ways Excellent Servants to be guided but unruly Masters to command O let your affections be set upon heaven above and not fix themselves upon earth beneath and then you may say with David I will run the way of thy Commandments So much for the binding of the hands and feet The last Point and that which shuts up all is to open this Mystery that Lazarus his face was bound with a Napkin Lazarus came forth with his winding-sheet about his body with his Napkin about his face here again is the Resurrection of Lazarus distinguished from the Resurrection of Christ As for Christs grave cloaths Peter look'd in and saw them wrapt together when his body was without And what caused this difference Beloved Why first to answer a false rumour which belied both Christ and his Disciples at once even for that cause our Saviours linnen cloaths were left behind in the Monument You will say his Disciples came by night and stole him away But if they took out the body why did they leave the linnen cloaths behind Had desperate thieves such leisure to uncase him and to fold up several parcels by themselves when a guard of Souldiers were round about them Now when as no such objection should be made against Lazarus he came forth with his winding sheet knit about his hands and feet and his face with a Napkin 2. Lazarus rose out of the Grave but to die again he was virbius One poor life served him to change it for two deaths and therefore he came abroad like a mortal man with his raggs wrapt about him to cover his nakedness But Christs says Nissen rose to immortality and therefore left those clouts in the grave which had been cast about him That blessed life which we shall enjoy needs not garments to cloath the body In the days of innocency Adam and Eve walked naked and were not ashamed they saw no uncomliness in it Then shall apparel much less be an ornament to a glorified body And therefore Elias mounting up to heaven in the fiery Chariot left his Mantle with Elisha But he in our Text returned to the estate of frailty and corruption his face was covered with a Napkin Thirdly says St. Austin Lazarus in the Tomb was the figure of a sinful man Lazarus coming forth was the type of one that was born again and is regenerate But as touching a man new born and regenerate still there remain in him Vinculum peccati velumignorantiae The intanglements of some sins and the vail of ignorance The bonds about the feet and the Napkin about the face But as for Christs linnen cloaths in whom there was nor sin nor ignorance but a soul full of grace and truth why should he carry away his Shrowd or his Kercher No he bequeathed them to the earth and left them to the Monument Let us be wise unto salvation and not too curious in searching these things the Text doth admonish us For why was Lazarus his face covered though his Spirit was returned unto him again St. Austin answers Quod in hâc vitâ per speculum videmus in aenigmate postea autem facie ad
come unto the Sepulcher it was for the consolation of their Antecedent grief It was to shew them a difference between their bringing forth a child to life and Gods resuscitating our dead bones It was expedient to have a testimony from such harmless Witnesses And Mary Magdalen is supereminently named above them all for she was a most contrite penitent and Christ died for their sins and rose again for their Justification It is my course now according to the Propositions of my Text to remove forward to the meditation of her love which was so constant even after death that she came unto the Sepulcher of our Lord. A faith though it be never so weak never so languishing yet it will produce some effect which is worth the noting For instance as I cannot maintain but there was a defect in this womans faith so according to that little faith no man shall deny but there was a great deal of love As concerning faith it is apparent that she mistook the Scriptures in two things First that she thought to find Christ's body in the Sepulcher as if it were possible he could be held of death longer than the third day The Angel gave an item to the women that their coming was a vain labour Why seek ye the living among the dead Remember what he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee He did foretel it so expressively how he would rise from the Grave after three days that all his enemies took notice of the saying but those women were hard of belief or else they had forgot it Secondly It was Maries error and common to all her Partners to bring Spices to anoint our Saviours body the other Evangelists express that they came with such preparations purposing to apply them to the Corps that it might not putrifie It seems they understood not David Thou shalt not suffer thine holy One to see corruption It was not thought upon as it fell out that the flesh of Jesus was not like ours which is rank and sinful his was pure and undefiled which had never deserved to suffer rottenness and putrefaction And they ignorantly come to the Sepulcher with Spices to embalm him that his body might not be polluted But is there no way to excuse this forgetful and deceived faith It is a good mixture of praise and dispraise which a certain Author puts together It was an error not to be defended to think that Christ was held of death and lay still in the Sepulcher but because the custom to anoint dead bodies was an assured hope that the flesh should rise again to immortality therefore setting their particular error aside touching the person of Christ in general their respect was full of faith and honour and devotion toward the Resurrection of the body which general notion of so good an Article of faith won them pardon for this particular incredulity But I said before concerning this little faith no man must deny but she shewed a great deal of love As Thomas noted into what danger our Saviour imbarked himself when he told his Disciples Lazarus is dead and we will go unto him Let us also go and die with him says Thomas So there was Souldiers abroad to watch the Sepulcher Spies in every corner from the High Priests to mark who did confess and honour our Saviour to go to his Tomb was in effect to say let us go and die with him we care not for our lives True love esteems it sweet to suffer for his sake to whose memory their affection is constantly devoted And why did she address unto the Sepulcher A stone was rouled upon the mouth of the Grave and it was sealed with Pilates Seal she could see nothing but she drew near to that which she loved to see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostome It did her good to walk in that Garden where the body of the Son of God was laid such a Garden which inclosed him who was the Flower of Jessai saies the Prophet This was a Paradise to overmatch that Garden which was once in Eden by how much the second Adam risen here from death to life was better than the first Adam who fell there from life to death This was such a place as could not chuse but strike her with reverence as Moses stood before the bush which burnt with fire and the bush was not consumed so Mary came to stand before the Sepulcher where that divine body lay the first fruits of them that ever rose from the dead the Spear had entred his heart the whips and thorns had torn his flesh yet by his own power he lived again the bush was not consumed Think with thy self if thou wert now kneeling by that Cave of the earth where thy Saviours body lay what abundance of tears it would make thee shed for thy sins What a desire of heaven it would beget in thy soul What a contempt of this loathsom earth I do ever rise up from those relations which I read or which Pilgrims make of those places with a mortified heart Certainly Helen the Mother of Constantine St. Hierom and Paula made an admirable use to enflame their zeal by frequenting this very place which Mary did And my knowledge and Religion are in a dream or else Devotion without superstition is the most heavenly thing in the world We come into the Capitol sayes Tully only to please our eyes with looking upon that Bench in the Senate where the renowned Orator Crassus was wont to sit So Mary Magdalen came with a resolved opinion that it would give her great consolation to come near that place where Joseph had interred her Saviour St. John's History is brief and hath made him omit this clause of the Story remembred in St. Luke That they came with Spices which they had prepared with sweet spices that they might anoint him says St. Mark Why Joseph and Nicodemus had bought an hundred pound weight of Myrrh and Aloes and wrapped them with the body of Jesus was not that enough Pardon them if they over-do their part Amor non credit satis esse factum nisi ipse faciat says one cordial love thinks all is not done that should be unless it self be at the doing This chargeable spicing and anointing the dead was in use among the Gentiles for so they interred their deceased friends who are men of renown and Nobility So the Greek Poet reckons this Ceremony in the Funerals of Patroclus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Virgils Misenus Corpusque lavant frigentis ungunt Donatus the Grammarian gave no other reason but this Ut cadavera mortuorum citiù◠flammam conciperent To make the Carkasses consume to ashes the faster when they were put upon a pile of wood to be burnt Although others gather out of the Heathen that they esteemed it Piety to wash away all filthiness from the Câ—rpses of the deceased and the Officers that took the care of such things were called
of the Creation This doth unavoidably suggest unto us that no day of the seven is fitter for our celebration than Sunday or the first day of the Week when Christ rose from the dead he having dispatcht all the works of exinanition and given us manifest assurance and joy for our eternal redemption And so I fall into the next member propounded what ground we have for keeping this day weekly to the service of God in the Resurrection of Christ Some what have been heedless in their assertions have confidently delivered that the Lords day is clearly instituted in the work of Christs Resurrection nay that the Resurrection did apply and determine the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment to the Lords day These go so far that all proof and reason forsakes them It is true that our Saviours victorious rising from the dead was a good occasion which the Church took to celebrate this day but that act of his rising from the dead was not instead of a Law to appoint the day They are not the works of God but his words that institute Laws and where there is no Imperative act of the Law-giver there can be no Law to bind In six days the Lord made heaven and earth and all things therein and rested the seventh day yet that Cessation of God from his works had not made that seventh day in every week holy to the Jews without his pleasure signified to keep it So the Resurrection of the Lord doth not make the Lords day a solemn day for Divine Service in all our Generations by a compulsory Statute unless it were said in the Gospel and so it was never said you shall keep the first day of the Week holy in honour of the Resurrection Without some imperative word or sentence to declare Gods pleasure we cannot deduce a Law And if the Resurrection of itself without a Precept annexed had exalted it to be an holy day St. Paul would never have agreed with them that esteemed all days alike Rom. xiv Out of this perverse zeal to make a rule out of Christs works without a Precept some would not be baptized till the age of thirty years because Christ was baptized no sooner Others stood nicely upon it that Orders of Priesthood were to be given to none before that age and for no other cause but because he preach'd no sooner Infinite fancies would be multiplied if these ways were allowed for good Divinity It is safe and true to say that the day is kept congruously but not necessarily for the Resurrection sake And surely the Primitive Church could have made choice of no day of the Week more proper and convenient for the Religious Worship of God in honour of that principal Article of our belief and the corner stone of all the rest Ignatius calls every Sunday 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Resurrection day St. Austin says Dominicus dies Christi resurrectione declaratus est ex illo coepit habere festivitatem suam Words which will bear no other construction howsoever some do torture them but thus that the Lords day is published by Christs Resurrection and from thenceforth began to be a Festival And again Domini resuscitatio consecravit nobis Dominicum diem promisit nobis aeternum diem The resuscitation of Christ hath consecrated for us the Lords day and doth promise us an eternal day yet there is no Imperative Edict from heaven to make it so but the light of holy discretion did guide the Church to appoint it so St. Austin hath clustered together many other admirable works of God done upon the first day of the Week in which God did make his first Creature of Light In which the Israelites went through the Red-Sea upon dry Land In which Manna did first fall from heaven In it was the first miracle of water turned into Wine Of the five loaves and two fishes In it Christ was baptized rose from the dead appeared often to his Disciples sent down the Holy Ghost and wherein we expect that at the last day he will come to judgment But the Resurrection is pre-eminent above all things else that hapned in it and that blessing though it do not ratifie a Law yet it is the occasion why this day is Weekly celebrated But I must tell you that one Analogy is ill prosecuted by some though it be vulgar in mens Writings That the Lords rest must be sanctified on what day soever it falleth that is not true unless there be a Law to enforce it therefore as the Sabbath was held holy when God rested from the works of the Creation so Sunday must be kept holy wherein the Son of God after his rising from the Grave rested gloriously from the work of our Redemption That last clause is falsly presumed for he made perfect our Redemption at his death and the price was paid for our sins not by his Resurrection but by his Sacrifice on the Cross and then he gave up the Ghost and said It is finished The day of the Passion therefore if you respect it as a resting from satisfying for our sins deserved to be made a continual Holy day but it was not meet to be kept with joy And mark it I pray you that we honour the day of his rising every Week rather than that of his suffering not because it is a better day or the day of his rest for he rested in the Grave and did spend his Resurrection day in much action but because it is the first day unto the Church of joy and gladness And a chief ingredient in an holy day dedicated to God is to rejoyce and be glad I proceed to the third thing to be inquired into what ground we have to keep the Lords day from any Precept mentioned in the Gospel either delivered by Christ himself or by his Apostles Certainly it never proceeded out of our Saviours mouth to appropriate this designed day to his honour and we must take heed to thrust Laws upon him of our own invention which he never imposed If such a thing had come from him no time had been fitter to express it than when the Pharisees cavilled at his Disciples for plucking the Ears of Corn on the Sabbath day Mat. xii Then he might have retorted that the observation of the Sabbath was expiring but he would constitute the first day of the Week to be the heir of the Sabbath Yet our Lord was so far from such a motion that whereas he reproved the Pharisees with much indignation Mat. v. and vi Chapters for their lax and dissolute interpretations of many moral Laws he corrects them often in the Gospel for being so strict in the rigid performance of the Sabbath which he would never have done if it had totally consisted of moral duties But about the definite appointment of a day Christ is silent for his Precepts in the New Testament are altogether touching spiritual worship And says St. Paul Carnal ordinances were imposed
your poor Lambs pine for want of milk how shall the great shepherd Christ Jesus afford you the comfort of one drop of water O the sobs of Orphans the cursings of Clients the tears of abused Virgins the bleatings of your Flocks the revealing of secrets Arcanique fides prodiga perlucidior vitro and this Psalm of David against Achitophel his false Counsellor will ring over heaven and cause judgment to fall down upon such who lifted up their heel against them that trusted too much to their slippery infidelity Yea mine own familiar c. Now the third complaint is sorest he that did eat of my bread Magnificavit dolum did exalt mischief against me It hath been said in scorn of the Epicure that the palate of his mouth was more sensible than his heart it is well that somewhat would please him But Achitophel had neither feeling of Davids true love in his heart nor any taste of his benefits in his mouth friendship and food were both lost upon him Comedebat panes and yet he is his enemy As in the overflowings of Nilus the corn fields are the better and the fatter for it but Serpents and Vermine grow out of the fruitfulness So the overflowing of benefits begets nothing in an ill disposition but Worms and Cankers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Bazil Not a Cur so fierce but will fawn upon you and lick your hands if you feed him Birds are not so wild but by giving a little meat unto them in time they may be brought to pick up crums at your Table what a brutish thing is ingratitude that the beasts may be won with that which would not win Achitophel Nay there are such says the Father that you lose them when you bestow kindness upon them and envy will repine that you have ability to supply their wants Jupiter hospitibus num te dare jura loquuntur c. The Table of hospitality was ever accounted a sacred thing And St. Austin thinks that Christ did reveal himself to Cleophas and the other Disciple in breaking of bread rather than in any other sign because they offered him part of their own entertainment at Emmaus And Salt was a Symbol of friendship among the Heathen because feeding at the same board was an uniter of affections and amity The Greek Proverb makes it the basest kind of love to have the relish of a Parasite in a mans mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to love no longer than we are fed But here is a canker worm that devours the sap of the tree that feeds him like unnurtured beggars served plentifully at rich mens doors and yet take advantage how they may break in and rob the house where they were relieved You may as soon reduce the babling of a mad man to reason as to take any measure of this vice of ingratitude Can you search the depth of that which hath no bottom It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sive or Colender which contains nothing that you pour into it It is gone like the wind which passeth by our ear and you shall hear of it no more Take the great instance from him whose case was most pitiful Why was our Saviour put to death For envy Why was he envied For his good Works What good Works had he done He fed the hungry and this bountiful Lord hath Gall and Vinegar presented to him He raised the dead divers of their own Nation and yet the giver of life is put to death Devils were cast out of another and the cleanser of the house is defiled vvith spittle Can any reason be given for this We may say indeed as one did to our own shame that there are a sort of men Divites aliorum jacturis immortales funeribus such as are rich by other mens losses and immortal by other mens funerals but what reason can we yield for that none at all It is a sin without a bottom and therefore it hath the greater affinity with Hell and damnation I have thought it one of the Devils principal projects that since the story of the Athenian and Roman Commonwealths were the most likely to be turned over and perused you shall not pass the Annals of five years but some memorable example of ingratitude will cross your way In Athens it was malum epidemicum their all deserving Miltiades Cimon Aristides Themistocles discarded disgraced imprisoned a City full of severe Laws against ingratitude Sed moribus suis quam legibus uti maluerunt full of opposite practice to the Laws In the Roman Polity Camillus Africanus Scipio Manlius many more either dethroned from dignity deprived of life or banisht their Country wherefore Africanus spat in their face again when dying in exile he did appoint this Epitaph for his Tomb Ingrata Patria ne ossa quidem mea habes he did not bequeath so much as his bones to his ingrateful Country These are the Devils Land-marks to guide after Ages by such disloyal presidents we want not history then to pattern this vice by example but if you ask for reason as I said before it is deeper than the Sea and you cannot sound the bottom Unless this may give a little satisfaction to the curious that the flower of vertue hath been always untimely cropt in Popular Government when the multitude are more prone to darken glorious deeds with envy than to make them famous by reward And I could never find in my reading that a deserving person found a due recompence in any State but by the bounty of a Monarch And therefore it is a thousand pities that our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Kings and Princes that appoint prizes to them that best behave themselves in the Combate that they should light upon ungrateful Courtiers like Davids undermining Achitophel his familiar friend that eat of his breads c. I hope the truly noble and magnificent mind will say to this Non nova mî rerum facies inopinave surgit that he full well knew and foresaw he must lose many good turns when he bestowed them among men Est tanti ut gratum invenias experiri vel ingratos says Seneca One thankful man is so precious a jewel if you find him out that it will quit cost to try twenty that are unthankful Shall a good man lose the employment of his bounty because evil men have forgot the retribution of gratitude God forbid Shew me an Usurer that hath broke up trade for being cast behind by one bankrupt Shew me a Seafaring man that leaves to traffick for one losing voyage Post malam segetem serendum You cannot shew the man that will hold his hand from the seed hereafter because one crop did not answer expectation Nay I had rather preach that there was never more than one covetous Judas in the Church who loved thirty pieces of silver better than a thousand blessings of his gracious Lord. I had rather perswade you there was never more than one projecting Achitophel who would contrive
it came to be said that he walked with God After this that hath been spoken I ought not to conceal from you any longer how the Septuagint have translated these words upon which I insist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Enoch pleased God This must not be shuffled over without observation upon it not only because St. Chrysostome and such other Greek Fathers as I have perused do so read the Text nor only for the Son of Syrachs sake Ecclus. xliv 16. who consents with the lxxii But for St. Pauls sake in whom we find the same character of him Heb. xi 5. Before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God The wisdom of God alone best knows why there should be such a diversity of terms a diversity I say without any real difference for it is but a Consequent put for an Antecedent he that walks in new obedience eschewing the company of the ungodly and setting God always before him consequently he shall please the Lord. If we had such a Master as Nabal was so crooked and unpropitious that none could speak to him or please him If we served under the Lord as Jacob did under Laban who had nothing but murmuring and persecution for all his fidelity then we might cross our arms and say we had lost our oyl and our labour But our service is full of benevolence and encouragement Euge bone serve Well done good and faithful servant every title chimes Alacrity And yet it follows that servant was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faithful what In all words and works No faithful in a little Enoch pleased because God would be pleased with his imperfect righteousness it is his indulgence to call things that are not as things that are he will give a days wages for an hours work in the Parable If there be a willing mind it shall be commended according to that which a man hath not according to that which he hath not he that affects the right way and would not swerve from it shall carry this badge upon his name that he pleased and walked with God Quamvis claudicet labatur though sometimes he limps sometimes he stumbles through the infirmity of the flesh Our renowned Patriarch in my Text was a sinner from his mothers womb for Adam begat a Son in his own likeness after his image but that likeness was the similitude yea and the very essence I may say of sinful flesh Yet such a Son of Adam doth please being made by adoption and grace the Son of God But I have not said all nay not a moiety what it is to please our holy Father For his love and complacency is not a bare affection like Man's Amor Dei in effctu non in affectu situs est Where he is pleased he doth not affect a thing only Theorically but will effect some good for it as Aeneas said of his followers Nemo ex hôc numero mihi non donatus abibit All that did attend his very games should have some reward for their labour God is not unrighteous to forget your love and your labour which you have shewed toward his name Heb. vi 10. Please not your self even as Christ also pleased not himself says St. Paul Rom. xv 3. And you shall walk before the Lord in the Land of the living Psal cxvi 9. Placebo Domino I shall please the Lord in the Land of the living so the Vulgar Latine readeth it More precisely to the cause In some sense all the Creatures and their natural operations do please the Lord but in a supernatural order nothing doth please him but that into which he hath put a supernatural bonity and those good effects which are wrought in man by his own grace He doth not only love and delight in them but will remunerate them with this sober restriction which might pacifie many hot contentions if the Devil were not too strong Bona opera non habent condignitatem ad praemium coeleste sed quandam ordinabilitatem that is good works have no intrinsecal worth or value to claim eternal life but through the gracious promise of God they are ordained unto it By Faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death Faith indeed is an ambulatory thing it hath no rest till it see God and walks from one degree to another from righteousness to righteousness and never stands still but in the clear Vision of the Beatifical Essence it walks no more but stands before the face of the Lord for ever From those notions which I have passed over grounded upon Text and Reason I proceed last of all to give them a little room in my discourse that have made either probable or unprobable divinations upon the word The Jerusalem Targum instead of Enoch walked reads it more at large he served or laboured in the truth before the Lord. Whether he were Ruler or Priest that Gloss decides it not or both Ruler and Priest as they were coincident in the person of Melchisedech and I believe long before him truth is a Princes care as well as a Prophets he is Custos utrinsque tabulae and shall answer to the King of Kings how his people discharged their duty to God as well as to their Neighbour But by whomsoever that good work is wrought that truth shall flourish upon the earth by the power and authority of the Scepter or by the diligence and painfulness of the Miter such a one shall have a blessed name that he walks with God that he is legatus à là tere he stirs not from his side he is set upon his right hand and shall remain among the blessed at that right hand for ever But howsoever I may be perswaded that Enoch was a Ruler and some great Government lay upon his shoulders yet his interest was more than so in labouring for the truth he was a diligent instructor of the people by word and communication St. Jude hath rehearsed a piece of a Sermon that he made wherein he preached of a better life to come Here again I must have recourse to the Idiom of the Scripture wherein I will shew that the very phrase to walk with God doth imply a pleasing or acceptable ministration of office before the Lord as 1 Sam. ii 30 I said indeed it is a message to old Eli that thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me for ever that is that thou and the house of thy Father should execute the office of a Priest and offer sacrifice before me And let it imprint this in your mind what veneration is due to the divine Oracles of truth when they are delivered unto you We are Embassadors for Christ says St. Paul but you must abstract that word from any earthly similitude we come indeed in the name of the King of heaven not as from him that is absent but invisible We do not only come from him to speak to men priviledge enough to our person but in the
moral just man may be carnal A moral chaste man may be covetous But if it be spiritual temperance or spiritual chastity coming from the grace of God it will be justice and peace and mercy and all the whole swarm of vertues that can be recited There is a difficult point in one of the Parables about a man that had not on a Wedding Garment What is this Wedding Garment One will have it to be Faith another to be Good Works a third to be spiritual Joy a fourth to be repentance Why Origen prevented all these controversies before they were moved if he had been mark'd Says he Vestis nuptialis est textura omnium virtutum The Wedding Garment is all these and more than these for it signifies that all vertue in the several threds should be woven into our heart Faith Hope and Charity are fruits that hang all upon a stalk three several divine graces yet they have but one soul Faith says there is a Kingdom prepared for the righteous Hope catcheth hold and says it is prepared for me Then Charity comes in for her part and says I will run to obtain it They are like the three principal vital parts in mans body the Heart the Brain and Liver One is as necessary as all three together for the decay of either is death without redemption No stragling single solitary vertue which hath no fellows comes from this coelestial watering The spiritual service of God says a learned Author may be measured three ways 1. Whether it come ex toto corde from all the heart from all the strength and from all the soul 2. Whether it be Cum totâ plenitudine with all the confluence of good works as it were in one fortunate conjunction 3. Whether it be in toto tempore continually and at all times alike Spiritus vivificat Joh. vi It is the Spirit that quickneth which makes a good man live and fructifie at one time as much as another It is no dead moisture which can do no good upon a Plant unless the Sun likewise be in a fit ascension to cherish it and make it spring This is living water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostome It impels the Conscience to be never out of motion in some spiritual exercise The Son of God is called a living stone and the Spirit living water and man a living Sacrifice Righteousness is the savour of life unto life dead works are the savour of death unto death A tree that always bears is a Plant of Paradise Not a little Repentance or a little Charity once or twice a year at a Communion and then shake hands with Mortification till the next Christmass or Easter Among other reasons why the Holy Ghost assumed the shape of a Dove this is reckoned for one that it is a bird of a most teeming fecundity whether any bird that flies lay oftner I am not certain I believe not many such fecundity there is in a lively Faith it is never without some good Work either the Tongue is Praying or the Ear is Hearing or the Heart is Meditating or the Eye is Weeping or the Hand is Giving or the Soul is Thirsting for Remission of sins And this is enough to shew what fruitfulness is brought to pass by this heavenly moisture and for the first part of the Text. Yet it were an undervaluing and a diminution to so great a blessing to be called water unless the second part of my text did hold up the dignity let us come therefore to consider the rare vertue which is in it for it takes away the molestation of thirst for ever But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst Yet I will take in no more than the Text doth directly prove and leave that which some would draw in ex abundanti by the strength of their conjectures There are those that make this verse a convincing argument how a man that hath tasted the grace of God is never empty more but assuredly full and satisfied to the end of his life Which way soever the truth of that Controversie stands I wave it off but I think this Text is not to be charged with that meaning as if it proved it 'T is true he that drinks of this water shall never thirst but quousque bibendum how long must he drink let him drink all his days while his breath lasts and then he shall be satisfied with the goodness of the Lord as out of a River Again call to remembrance what is meant by this water every good and perfect gift which enricheth the Soul descending from the Father of lights but among all that heavenly Offspring perseverance is the fairest Nymphas supereminet omnes Perseverance must not be excluded from the Text. Then I have done with this rubb in a word he that drinks of this water and puts perseverance into the Cup he shall never thirst He shall never thirst Why then says the Son of Syrach concerning the wisdom which sanctifieth all things They that eat me shall yet be hungry and they that drink me shall yet be thirsty Ecclus xxiv 21. and very certain none so greedy to have more grace as he that hath some already none so instant to get ten Talents as he that hath received five Let Elisha be inspired with a competent measure for one of the Children of the Prophets and he will presume to ask that a double portion of Elias his spirit may rest upon him if it be possible Concerning all the fruits of the Spirit this judgment of Gregorie's is undoubted cum non habentur in falstidio sunt cum habentur in desiderio they that have them not think vilely of them they that have them do insatiably desire them Please you for the true explanation of the words to mark the Proposition must not be taken alone by it self but respectively to the Comparison that went before The water which the Woman of Samaria came for it consumes after you have tasted it and it is missed as if it never had been Therefore we call for Elementary drink every day for as much as drought is a torment to nature now when we are once made partakers of living waters we call for more and more not because want and driness doth afflict us but because desire doth please us So that distinction used by many will be clear to be understood sitis ariditati non desiderio opponitur he that drinks these waters of the Holy Spirit shall never after have a dry and a parched Soul but he shall ever have a thirsty affection to drink his fill The vertue therefore of the Spirit may be well drawn to these three heads First it moistens the Soul that it feels no driness like a barren Land which hath no natural humour in it there is no such thirst in him that hath a lively faith but it cannot choose but beget a thirsty affection and a longing to add more and more unto