we are lead to place and persons of a little better condition to shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night from the shepherds by a manifest ascent to the Apparition of an Angel the Angel of the Lord from one Angel to a multitude which is much better a multitude of the heavenly Host from that noble Army to him who is greater than all the Angels a Saviour which is Christ the Lord And lastly from that Saviour on earth to his most excellent dominion in heaven Gloria in excelsis glory be to God on high And as in our Church Service we do or should shut up every Psalm with that devout Doxology Glory be to the Father c. as if that were it which gave every Psalm his tune and relish so glory be to God on high is a verse which may most fitly be said or sung to every circumstance which belongs to the birth of Christ He was laid in a Manger glory be to God on high for that humility proclaimed by Angels glory be to God on high for their attendance and ministry manifested to Shepherds glory be to God on high for instructing their simplicity finally to comfort our hearts that night and darkness are dispelled a glorious beam of light made the earth glister where they stood and therefore glory be to God on high for the comfort of that heavenly illumination and glory The Text which I have read unto you contains those particulars which are most natural to heaven and most proper to earth things most truly celestial are Angels and Light and glory all these did joyn together to solemnize this great Nativity when tidings came unto the Shepherds and that which properly savours of earth is fear especially 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great fear and shepherds not able suddenly to entertain heavenly visions were sore afraid If you will fully know how and in what triumphant manner these tidings were declared from heaven and withal with what astonishment they did possess the earth lend me your attention to these four parts in general 1. Here is Gods Minister imployed to divulge the Incarnation Loe the Angel of the Lord. 2. The pomp and solemnity which the Angel brought with him the glory of the Lord did shine round about 3. Here are the persons though I have spoke largely of them heretofore I say the persons honoured both with that messenger and that solemnity the Angel came to them the glory shone round about them they were Shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night 4. How this Angel and that shining glory did affect these poor men they were sore afraid And for your parts dearly beloved so prepare your souls so to meditate upon Christs Birth that when you promise your selves after your dissolution the joy of Angels and glory shining round about you remember to temper presumption with the Shepherds fear and reverence and again when weakness and little faith are sore afraid be mindful that Christ was born to bring us to that light which knows no darkness and to everlasting glory So knit them into your heart as they are most divinely woven into my Text And loe the Angel of the Lord came upon them c. And first be ready to hear how Gods Mnister was employed to divulge the Incarnation Loe the Angel of the Lord came upon them touching whose Apparition five interrogatories must be answered Quis what Angel this was of all the heavenly Hierarchy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it should seem one of conspicuous glory the Angel of the Lord. 2. Quando when he came I believe instantly after Mary was delivered Ecce loe he came that note demonstrative expresseth the celerity 3. Quomodo the true substance of an Angel is not visible and apparitive to men he came in some fashion altered from himself ecce it was wonderful loe an Angel 4. Quo situ how he did apply himself to the Shepherd de coelo supervenit says one Translation he stood above them astitit juxta illos says another he stood near unto them we say he came upon them 5. Quare why men were not accepted to do this office to manifest the Birth of Jesus but loe an Angel of the Lord. 1. Quis and who was this Angel of all the heavenly Hierarchy modest ignorance is better than presumptuous knowledge doubtless the Holy Spirit had given him his Name in this place if it had concerned our edification yet he was no novice but St. Cyprian himself that ventured to call him Gabriel Veniunt in Bethlehem quam praedixit Gabriel invenitur Emanuel that is the Shepherds came to Bethlehem as Gabriel had taught them and there they found Emanuel who is God with us Surely so Divine a Father would not bolt out without a mark to aim at and I discern some colour for that conjecture out of a Grammatical Article Zachary was visited by a messenger from heaven as he was doing his office in the Temple Luke 1.11 There appeared unto him an Angel of the Lord but verse 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Angel Gabriel was sent to the Blessed Virgin in the City of Nazareth and as if he were to be known from that holy Spirit who came to Zachary by this emphatical Article being once named Gabriel from thenceforth he is spoken of according to his office the Angel of the Lord. Surely he was one of the most glorious attendants of heaven one of those principal Seraphins that stand always before the throne of God the business about which he came was of the highest nature that ever was sent from Heaven to Earth and therefore who should undertake it but as great a creature as the Heaven and Earth afforded But the School Doctors say otherwise who build upon the groundless curiosities of their adulterate Dionysius list to their speculation forsooth that Cherubins and Seraphins Thrones Principalities and Dominions are vertues of the highest rank and order always resident in the Orbs of Heaven never giving attendance to the Militant Church beneath But that commonly stiled Archangels and Angels in which degrees they place this Gabriel they have intercourse and messages as God appoints them to the world below A brave president if you mark it for their lazie Cardinal Prelates that the active Angels such as proclaim and preach Christ should be the underlings to the rest and to pretend that there are others of no such troublesome office and employment that are the superiour principalities Well as it is probable with St. Cyprian to say this welcome Messenger was Gabriel so it is more probable to hold against Dionysius his conjectures that this glorious Herauld who came to publish a Saviour to the world was one of the mightiest and chief of the Cherubins loe the Angel of the Lord. 1. The next interrogatory is quando at what time and season the Angel came Ecce venit surely he made no stay but came with great expedition after Christ was born if it were not in the same
hour the heart of man is cast down and presageth some evil to come when God and his Angels appear though they entreat us peaceably The main reason is this Ne dignam suis meritis accipiant retributionem our own sins rise up against us as unanswerable accusers and we ominate and conjecture that God appears for nothing but to judge and condemn us When God and his Angels presented themselves to Jacob in a dream he breaks out into these words Gen. 28.27 How dreadful is this place this is no other but the gate of heaven Peace Jacob why doest thou not cry out how comfortable is this place this is no other but the gate of Heaven but it 's certain that the very comfort of heaven was dreadful and unpleasant to men in the Old Testament and our nature is still corrupted the vessel is still unclean that receives these blessings and therefore we are afraid of the great mercies of the Lord as well as of the great punishments Alas O Lord for I have seen an Angel of the Lord face to face says Gideon and yet for all that fear Gideon is named a mighty man of valour Manoah the sire of that race from which Sampson came the very name of valour yet he said to his Wife We shall surely dye because we have seen the Lord. The charitable widow of Sarepta was no less afraid of Elias an extraordinary Prophet Art thou come to slay my son and to call my sins to remembrance finally Peter drawing a miraculous draught of fish into the Ship as Christ bad him cast out the net thought of nothing but his own sins and Gods vengeance Depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man But here 's a messenger in my Text that bids the Shepherds cashiere all these affrightments neither to be dismay'd at the light that shin'd about them nor yet that God was in the glory of that light First Not to be troubled at the light for it was to make this doctrine manifest as if it had been written with a beam of the Sun that Christ is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world And why says Bernard did God ordain that light should be instead of John the Baptist to usher Christ into the world when he was born but because he would illuminate him without Qui interioribus ignorantiae tenebris obducitur who was overcast with darkness within In him was life and that life was the light of men John 1.4 Quae necdum infundi poterat at divina saltem circumfunditur claritas as the light was but spread about their bodies here so it was a sign that if they would believe in him that was come to be the Messias and to save them from their sins their whole bodies should be transform'd into bodies of light hereafter in the Kingdom of Heaven And as every living thing rejoyceth when the night is past and the Sun appears upon the earth so they and we have cause to rejoyce that the night of Ceremonies pass'd away and the clear evidence of truth did shine abroad Vnto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise Mal. 4.2 Therefore according to Bernards elegancy this is the Angels fear not drawn out at large timetis phantasma en adest veritas You are afraid of some spectrum or vision fear not behold we come with the evidence of truth You suspect this is the lightning that goes before a thunder-clap No no it betokens there is a light risen into the world which is the comfortable light of men You suspect death but I annuntiate life You fear the gates of Hell but the Heavens are opened and God is come down among you You conjecture some perdition but behold I preach a Saviour that shall save you from your sins This is the meaning of the light which did dance at Midnight about the air when Jesus was born and the Angel said to them that trembled at the Vision fear it not But what if God himself were in that light What if it were a fiery Apparition darted from the presence of his Majesty Why yet Nolite timere Fear it not Once it pleased our heavenly Father to keep a distance with man upon these terms no man hath seen God at any time and lived Now the day is come when you shall see he communicates himself more friendly to dust and ashes so St. John begins his Epistle That which was from the beginning yet we have seen it with our eyes we have looked upon it and our hands have handled the Word of life It is not from henceforth since Christ was born as it was with the Bethshemites that lookt into the Ark which represented the glory of God and died for it Now no man hath so much cause to fear his indignation as he that shuns his presence and fears lest the Lord should appear before him How did St. Stephen exult when he saw the heavens opened and Christ Jesus standing at the right hand of God Do you think the Martyr was amazed to see the sight No my Beloved ever since the Son of God vouchsafed to take flesh in the womb of Mary it is not a sign of death to see any part of Gods glory but a good ominous presage of everlasting life Therefore be it that God was in the light which shin'd about the Shepherds yet all is well says the Angel Nolite timere Fear it not Secondly They must take courage and not be troubled à propriâ indignitate because of their own unworthiness Indeed what might they think within themselves that they were vouchsafed to hear the first Proclamation of this Blessed Nativity To us these Congratulations To us poor Swains this heavenly Embassage To us miserable Shepherds these Tidings who are set with the Dogs of the Flock Tell them to Caesar or to Herod his Lieutenant or to the chief Priest Non nobis Domine non nobis We are most desertless Wretches and why should God bestow such a royal favour upon us Do you remember Beloved how Peter drew our Saviour near unto him by crying out Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord Luk. v. 8. The more he requested him to be gone the more Christ did abide with Peter so by how much the Shepherds did abase themselves before the Angel the more did the Angel raise them up and bade them be encouraged to behold the Glory of God He that did choose little Infants to be his first Martyrs and ignorant Fishermen to be his first Apostles and Mary Magdalen a woman and a sinner to be the first Witness of his Resurrection it may appear that his grace is manifestly toward them who have a quick feeling of their own indignity The blessed Virgin when she had conceived her Son came to her Cosin Elizabeth that God might prove her lowliness and thus she exprest it Whence is this to me that the Mother of my Lord should come unto me
that heavenly Host who were the first that preacht the Gospel to the Shepherds I take my self off from this discourse in which I might amply proceed lest you say unto me as one said of Hortensius that he advanc'd Eloquence to the skies craftily meaning that himself might be advanc'd as an Eloquent Orator in the commendation If we glory we will glory in our infirmities and in the Cross of Christ not presuming upon that amplification of analogy with Angels I will lay the scene of my reproof beyond the Seas but I would we were quit of the fault at home How many exalted Prelates refuse to do that office to teach Christ especially to poor Shepherds although a Cherubim of Heaven in my Text did willingly submit himself to do the work It troubled the Historiographers among our Adversaries to find out one Pope in almost 100 years that was a pulpit man when he became a Pope that was Pius V and he but rarely I may say of such men as Pliny did of those Emperours who made great suit to be Consuls and then disdain'd to discharge the Function O inscitia verae majestatis concupiscere honorem quem dedigneris dedignari quem concupieris O ignorance of duty to affect that honour which they scorn'd to execute to scorn to execute that honour which they earnestly affected Is an Angel no more than fit to preach Christ and is proud man too good for it 6. The fancies of men have assaye'd to add this for a sixth reason to the former that the noble Hierarchies of Heaven do merit some increase and addition of glory by their care and obsequiousness toward the universal body of the Church of Christ but the matter was better scann'd by Biel who therefore refutes that sentence of Lombard Tum sequitur si homo non fuisset creandus Angelus non habuisset summam suam beatitudinem Then it would follow that the Eternal Felicity of the Thrones of Heaven did depend upon the creation of man for except there had been a Church here below to which they might administer they had wanted occasion to demerit some increase of their glory Indeed it is an opinion that savours of servility and baseness as if they that stand always before the face of God would do nothing but upon gain and advantage Alas they have no other end of their labour but that which every man should have in charity the increase and enlargement of the Triumphant Church in Heaven and therefore our Saviour Luke 12.9 threatens Apostates from the Faith thus He that denieth me before men him will I deny before the Angels of God that is before the greatest friends and well-wishers of our beatitude Lastly It is an observation not to be omitted how St. Austin compares three several ways wherein Christ was manifested to the Shepherds by an Angel to the Wise men by a Star to Simeon and Anna devout people that spent their age in the Temple by the Holy Ghost Simeon and Anna were exceeding faithful such as waited and expected every day the salvation of Israel and therefore the Holy Ghost told them secretly in their hearts as soon as the Babe was brought into the Temple that this was the Lamb of God which should take away the sins of the world The Shepherds I presume were just men but had not so much perfection in the knowledge of the Law to look for and expect a Saviour therefore an extraordinary Nuntio an Angel was sent unto them but the Gentiles utter aliens from the Faith were directed to the Manger by signs and wonders from heaven So says St. Paul 1 Cor. 14.22 Signs are for them that believe not and Prophesies for them that believe And as the axiom is in Philosophy every thing is best collated when it is fitted ad modum recipientis Now the Shepherds were Jews and were taught in the Synagogues concerning the Apparition of Angels the Magi were Astronomers and better knew the course of Stars The book of the Creature was sit to teach the Gentiles but a Divine Spirit was better accommodate to teach a Jew that they might receive the Gospel even as they had received the Law and the Law was delivered says St. Paul by the ministration of Angels And so much for the first general part all the five questions being satisfied which of the Angels this was when he came in what figure and apparition how he did apply himself to the Shepherds and lastly why men were not accepted to do this office but loe an Angel of the Lord. The order which I propounded requires now that I speak of the pomp and solemnity which the Angel brought with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the glory of the Lord shone round about them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the glory of the Lord fitly rendred in this place by the vulgar Latin Claritas Domini a lightsome brightness or splendor which God caus'd to shine in that place making the night unto the Shepherds as clear as if it had been day So when a lightsome pure cloud did appear in the Dedication of Solomons Temple the Text says 1 Kings 8.11 The glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord therefore it was not properly that essential glory of God unto which no man in this life can approach but lux ante gloriam the consolation of a beautiful light which was the shadow and the fore-runner of Glory But it were a great trespass in Art to run into obscurity and confusion when we are to speak of light 1. Therefore I will endeavour to shew how many ways such brightsome apparitions are observable in holy Scripture 2. Why this illustrious Glory did shine round about the Shepherds When God would beautifie and adorn a thing in some excellent manner I find that in a four-fold fashion he scatters and transfuses the beams of light and splendor either upon it or about it 1. Let us reflect our remembrance upon our Saviours Transfiguration his face did shine as the Sun and his rayment was white as the light as white as snow says St. Mark so that no Fuller on earth could make a thing so white Now we know that Christ was not as yet glorified his body had not yet put on incorruption therefore Eluxit splendor à Divinitate it was the pleasure of his Divinity at this instant to alter his countenance and his garment and from the union of his Divine nature this glory did redound upon the outward parts 2. In the Resurrection when our flesh shall become an inhabitant of the heavens not only the face but all the body of man shall look in a triumphant manner like a pillar of light which unspeakable beauty shall result from the soul to the blessing and ornament of the body So I read Dan. 12.3 They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever 3. This claritude and heavenly
earthen pitcher if martyrdom burn in it like a lamp and the pitcher be broken to pieces then we shall have victory against our spiritual enemies and peace with God Fourthly Let us make that use of our Saviours first coming into the world in flesh which St. Paul doth of his second coming in glory 1 Cor. 4.5 The Lord cometh who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart and then shall every man have praise of God The most obscure things shall be made manifest unto his light and the thoughts of all hearts shall be revealed unto him The righteous Lord trieth the very hearts and reins Psal 7.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to try the heart is verbum forense as when Magistrates examine the truth not by questions only but by rack and torments they will have all out in confession so God is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to draw out all secrets from our inward breast And it is impossible to keep the subtilest thred of iniquity concealed When he came to judgment against Egypt and sent his Angel to kill their first-born yet at midnight he knew which was an Egyptian and which was an Israelite so though we carry our sins with a demure countenance and smooth it with subtile hypocrisie yet his knowledge shineth in the darkness of our hearts as if it were light and he can distinguish between our inward affections our thoughts our fancies our sighs and yearnings that this is an Israelite born of the will of God and this an Egyptian born of the will of flesh Laban could not find his Idols because Rachael had laid them privily in her stuff but the Lord can detect that Idolatry which we keep close in our hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Grammarian the Greeks denominate God from penetrating all things with his eye and when Christ could see into the profoundness of Nathanaels thoughts behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile Nathanael instantly confest Thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel Alas that we go on still in darkness and do not understand are you in your wits that think iniquity is farther from judgment because it is farther from appearance do you forget the discoverie of Achans wedge and Gehazi's briberie do you not recal how the Priests of Bel were detected for gluttons and impostors creeping in at secret doors to gurmandize the junkets prepared for the Idol deal squarely and without dissimulation for you think it is night and no man sees but the glory of the Lord is round about you Fifthly No sooner was the world blest with the Birth of this holy Child God and Man but the Angels put on white apparel the air grows clear and bright darkness is dispell'd therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and walk as children of the light the earth should be more innocently walkt on too and fro because Christ hath trod upon it our bodies kept clean in chastity because he hath assum'd our nature and blest it Gods word should be heard more respectfully because he hath preacht it finally our conversation should be honest as in the day because the day-spring from on high hath visited us Wicked men are groping like the Sodomites to find out mischief though God have hid it out of the way The Saints and Angels are in a state of light wherein they know as they are known perfectly partaking of the beatifical vision between these two there is a middle condition of godly men who see into the way of righteousness though it be darkly as in a glass but they that dress them by a glass can discern how to mend any thing that mis-becomes them So the Gospel of Grace is a mirror of the light of Glory it is not the fault of the Gospel but of our own darkness if we learn not of it to put on the true wedding garment The Apostle calls it the putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ Vbi animus tenebrescere tentationum caligine coeperit ad lucem gratiae reformatur When the conscience is overcast with the darkness of temptation it flies to the looking-glass of Grace and reforms it self by looking into it This is to vindicate our selves from the powers of darkness and to walk decently as in the day Works of lewdness come from the darkness of our understanding they love to be done in privacy and not before the eyes of men abjiciamus says St. Paul as if he would have you fling them away to the Devil and bid him take his own As a wise servant would not be found with folly in his hand if he knew his Master were near so because our salvation is come as this day in humility and we know not how little he will defer to come in Majesty therefore abjiciamus throw away his filthiness from you lest Christ should come and find profanation in your mouth oppression in your purse false tinctures of art and pride in your face and disobedience in your heart Every child of light will have his lamp burning in his hand and by this he will know you whether you be his Disciple if you speak the truth and come to the light as if the glory of the Lord were round about you Lastly A glimpse of some celestial light did sparkle at his Birth to set our teeth on edge to enjoy him who is light of lights very God of very God and to dwell with him in that City which hath no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the Glory of God did enlighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof I conclude with St. Paul Col. 1.12 Let us give thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Amen THE FOURTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE ii 10. And the Angel said unto them Fear not for behold I bring yon good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people THat which is every mans salutation wherewith he greets his neighbour at this time of the year is the subject of my Text a merry Christmas it is it which we wish one to another among our friends and familiers and it is it which the Angel in my Text wisheth to all kindreds of the world as if we were all become his friends and familiers good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people And surely were it not that the Birth of Jesus made us merry at this season and put gladness into our hearts all the year beside would be louring and lumpish without all manner of consolation Until God sent forth his Son made of a woman we might not receive the adoption of Sons Without adoption we had no part in the inheritance without hope of the inheritance what
comfort could the children have we had been all like Esau afflicted and desperate when we had no share in the birth-right no part in the blessing of our Father The Israelites that toil'd like Gally-slaves under the works of the Law had their New Moons and their Solemn Feasts of Trumpets and Tabernacles had many other gaudy days which carried a shew of gladness but indeed there was no solid consolation in them they wanted a Christmas-day the Nativity of a Saviour to make all chearful their pleasantness was like the singing of a bird fast lockt in a cage sometimes it chants a sweet note yet flutters and is always unquiet because it is under captivity Therefore it is to them that Amos denounceth that heavy note chap. 8.10 The Lord will turn your feasts into mourning but for our sakes the message is transpos'd and the Lord will turn our mourning into an everlasting feast So said the Angel not only to a few Shepherds as in the former verse but to all that watch over their souls as they did over their flocks Fear not c. It is very manifest therefore that the scope of my Text bends to this point how Christ made flesh as this day in the similitude of man that he might redeem that nature from the curse of his Fathers wrath which he had taken into the union of his Person I say how the Son of God for our sakes incarnate is our crown and our rejoycing the consummation of all our felicity which thus I prove by a true division of the parts To that eternal happiness in which we shall rejoyce before God for ever two things say the Schoolmen very rightly do equally concur Omnis miseria excluditur omne desiderium expletur all misery shall be excluded all desire shall be satiated and both these two are most remarkable in this Angelical congratulation First the depulsion or sending of all manner of evil and misery from our blessed estate fear not Secondly the inclusion of all those joys and solaces that can be askt that 's laid open in Evangelizo good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people Privatively the messenger brought no discomfort nay positively he brought comfort which twain put together make up the complement of our final beatitude In the first general branch wherein the Angel promiseth a deliverance or award from all evil that might make the Shepherds sorrowful I consider these particulars for the explication 1. What they should not fear 2. How they should not fear 3. Why they should not fear in the first they are incourag'd that three things be not dreadful unto them Splendor Angelicus propria indignitas legis maledictio tremble not either at the heavenly glory that shone round about them nor be dejected at their unworthiness nor be affrighted at the threatnings and maledictions of the Law In the second we may consider a natural fear which may be too passionate and immoderate they must cast off that and there is a worldly sorrow or fear which is altogether unprofitable they must fly that but there is a religious reverential fear which is not passio but donum not a passion of flesh and blood but a gift of the Holy Spirit they must pray for that The next interrogatory was why they should not fear and that for two reasons Propter nuntium propter nuntiatum first in a less principal respect because an Angel came to comfort them but chiefly in a more principal regard because Christ was born to be their comfort The second general branch abounds much above this where not only evil is dispell'd but a whole box broken and all the oyl of gladness poured upon their head wherein you may note first the Angels Trumpet with which he proclaims his errand ecce behold it then the errand consisting in no less than seven parts of Benediction 1. Ecce ego says Gabriel Behold I bring unto you the terms were much amended with Heaven and us that an Angel came upon a peaceable message 2. Ecce Evangelizo he was no Law-giver that was terrible but an Evangelist 3. The sweet air of the Gospel hath some harsh tidings to take up the Cross and endure unto blood and death but these were tidings of joy 4. Joys are of several sizes this is a great one nay none so great 5. Joys and great ones are quickly done this is gaudium quod erit joy that shall be and continue 6. A man may be a conduit-pipe to transmit joy to others and have no benefit himself this is gaudium vobis joy to you to every ear that hears it 7. A good nature would not engross a blessing but desires to have it diffused and so was this gaudium omni populo joy to all people None of these many circumstances can be omitted for I must be faithful in making this rehearsal Sermon as I may call it and omit nothing of that which the Angel hath preacht before me Now let us begin again with every parcel divided asunder The Angel said unto them fear not what should they not fear first non a splendore divino let not their hearts be troubled because the glory of the Lord shone round about them Sore eyes are distempered at much light and it is a sign there is some darkness within us all which loves not to be discover'd that the best of us all are much perplext if any extraordinary brightness flash upon us A glorious splendor fill'd the mountain where Christ was transfigur'd and it did amuse Peter James and John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who carry the name of the chief Apostles that they knew not what they spake Out of St. Pauls own mouth concerning his conversion Acts 22.6 Suddenly from heaven there shone a great light about me and I fell with my face unto the ground Well might the Psalmist say his lightnings gave shine unto the world the earth trembled and was afraid Ever ever shall we be afraid of any surpassing measure of light in this life because our deeds are darkness Especially the Shepherds hearts did mis-give them that the Lord himself was in this marvellous light it is his decking and his garment when he comes forth in Majesty Thou deckest thy self with light as with a garment Now you know Elias a man of mighty courage covered his face with a mantle when a still small voice passed by his ears and the Lord was in the voice then it were strange if poor Shepherds should not quake when they were perswaded that the Lord was in the light that shin'd upon them A learned Expositor confirms what I say Erat claritas creata praeseferens divinam Majestatem it was a splendor of glory newly made on purpose which did bear the evident shew of no created Spirit but of a Divine Majesty And ever since Adam was diffident of himself in the Garden or Eden and confessed in this wise Gen. 3.10 extimui I was afraid and hid my self ever since that
and of Princely Justice that there is no impunity or connivency for them that scandalize the glory of the great King who ruleth over all Fourthly God hath his house wherein he hath promised to dwell let every thing therein be magnificent full of splendor bountiful fit to entertain his Majesty The Angels might have said Fie upon the earth when they sang glory in the highest to see Christ tumbled heedlesly in a Stable by most brutish hospitality I am sure men deserved no glory for this days work to bestow their Saviour in so ignominious a Lodging we may all blush to remember it but that I hope through all Ages we will satisfie for it as we shall be able and reform it Provide for him sumptuously in the beauty of holiness let no place be statelier than Christs Church among us Gentiles because no place was worse than the Manger wherein he was received among the Jews These things as I have laid them in order you may do well to do and then the good Angels have their wish but the Devil doth all he can to spoil their celestial musick We like not this partition says St. Austin wherein men have peace demised to them and God hath all the glory Et dum gloriam usurpant turbant pacem but they drive away their own peace by usurping glory O stulti filii Adae qui contemnentes pacem gloriam appetentes pacem perdunt gloriam Fond and silly men that neglect peace and seize upon glory to themselves and so they lose both peace and glory But most accurate is this distribution as the Choir of heaven hath laid it forth Here is nothing but discord and sedition in this lower world Nation against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdom nay the very bowels of the Church torn out with Questions and Controversies here the blessing of peace is most to be desired to bring bone unto his bone and sinew unto his sinew In the world above their is nothing but righteousness and zeal and purity therefore the proper Incense to be sent up thither is perpetual praise and glory Avoid Satan that wouldst confound these things that malignant Spirit knows it would be no peace in earth if men on earth should hunt for glory but peace will ensue here if glory be given to him that is above So runs these words which are the Angels Congratulation to God their Prayer for men their Sermon unto men Glory be c. The next staff of the Song is and on earth peace for the second happiness on earth is peace and there is but one blessing that is Gods glory before it Some take the word peace in this place personally for Christ himself as if the Song went Let God be glorified that hath sent Jesus the Prince of Peace upon earth who brings good will to men Qui in coelis glorificatur in terrâ est factus terrenus says one He that sitteth in the heavens and ruleth over all dwelt upon the earth and became the peace of earth and the chastisement of our peace is upon him Isa liii Indeed he is God from heaven man from earth partaker of both in his two natures and therefore fit to reconcile all and to put all in peace It is the Hypostatical union that brings both ends together the two extremes heaven and earth and by that inseparable union God greets us with the kiss of love and gives us osculum pacis the Symbol of much endeared friendship the kiss of peace All enmities were so compounded and well agreed for his sake that St. Paul says He is our peace Eph. ii 14. The principal reconciliation which he obtained was that man might have peace with God for God wanted his own glory through the Idolatry of the world and therefore men wanted their peace because of their sins Our first Fathers prevarication we must often look back to that woful estate had caused such a rupture between God and us that no doubt the very Angels wondred how that offence would ever be remitted and forgotten And indeed that rent could never have been made up unless God and man by an infinite dispensation had been pieced together in one person unless he that is greater than Moses had stood before him in the gap to turn away his wrathful indignation we should all have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah Justice hath a great voice among the Attributes of God carries a mighty sway and it roared out from Mount Sinai Cursed is he that keeps not this whole Law cursed be he that breaks a tittle Then Christ steps in the Malediction light upon me I will endure it but these Sheep let them be spared Why Justice could not say this was a total indulgence then it would have clamoured but only a commutation of punishment for our acquitment the Lord did lay upon his Son the iniquity of us all We must not say this was just therefore the Lord decreed it but the Lord decreed it therefore this was just Alius solvit pro debitore aliud solvitur quam debebatur one was the debtor and another satisfied one thing was owed to God I mean the life of sinners another thing was paid I mean the life of an innocent So Justice had no injury and Mercy had no denial but justitia pax osculatae sunt two things that stood at distance were brought together that is righteousness and peace did kiss each other Psal lxxxiv If we set not Christ before us the Mediator between God and man our unworthiness would be such that we durst not ask of God to be appeased with us We could expect nothing but tribulation and anguish upon every soul both Jew and Gentile and that all the Angels should be in arms like Souldiers to bid us battel and to slay us But Christ came into the world like an Herald to stop the battel the Angels sang of their arms Salvation appeared unto us we cast up our eyes with joy to heaven from whence cometh our help our help cometh even from the Lord which hath made heaven and earth therefore when Christ was brought with triumph into Jerusalem the Song of the people did a little vary from my Text Peace in heaven say they and glory in the highest for when the great Majesty of heaven was pleased to spare men on earth the sure part of the amity was peace in heaven for when Christ had reconciled us to his Father that the peace came downward the Covenant was sure and could never be broken The next peace which the Angels congratulate unto us is Interioris domus tranquillitas if Christ have attoned the variances which our sins made between us and God peace will succeed within the closets of the conscience where there was nothing but horror before and perturbation Therefore Theophylact doth thus connect the first and second part of this Song Gloria in excelsis Deo quia in terra pacem secit Glory
it renders thus I will make the kingdom of Davids glory to sprout forth Euthymius pleaseth me who gives the analogy thus the oil was poured out of an horn with which Kings were anointed you can instruct your selves that it was so both in David and Solomon and from thence an horn though an evacuation of nature and a mean thing became an ensign of Kingly Majesty Neither was this known only to the Jews but to the Heathen also so that their Kings did wear it among the honours and ornaments of their head as ours are painted with a mund and a Scepter in their hand Pyrrhus in Plutarch was known in the battail from all his subjects by wearing a Goats horn in his Helm and Villalpandus reports of an ancient piece of coin which had the image of Tryphon the Egyptian Monarch on the face and on the reverse it had his Crest with a Goats horn rising up before it Nay the same Author says that it was the fashion of David to wear the like thing in his head-piece And all this I have alledged because I would not want proofs that an horn was the representation of Kingly Sovereignty The meaning then of Zachary is this that Christ hath abased himself to be incarnate and to become our salvation yet he hath reserved this glory to himself in his humiliation that he will be a Saviour unto none but unto them that accept of him for their King and obey him in all things In almost all books of Scripture he is called a King I will not take so wide a scope to expatiate in but strictly I will touch at a little In Genesis he is resembled in Melchisedech the High Priest but he was also King of Salem In the Psalms yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion In one of the Lessons for the day he shall sit upon the Throne of David and upon his Kingdom Isa ix 7 At his Birth the wise men did inaugurate him in that honour Where is he that is born King of the Jews At his triumph when he rode into Jerusalem Blessed is the Kingdom that cometh in the name of the Lord of our Father David Mark xi 10. At his arraignment when Pilate askt him if he were a King he left him in suspence with this answer thou sayest it Finally upon his Cross he would not let the title be altered but there it stood Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews The right of this Kingdom was given him in his Incarnation promulged by the preaching of the Apostles perfected after his Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven and shall be consummated in the end of the world He is so fully constituted a King by being called the Christ that ever since it is the Dignity of all Kings to be called the Lords Christs Him hath the Lord anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power Acts x. 38. in which words St. Peter hath exprest both his Sacred and his Kingly Sovereignty and to match him for the Texts sake with David in this point you must call to mind that David was thrice anointed first at his Fathers house by Samuel the next time at Hebron after the death of Saul and finally anointed at Jerusalem a King over all Israel So Christ was anointed by shedding of blood in Circumcision by blood again at his Agony in the Garden and thirdly by the great effusion of his dearest blood upon the Cross Or will you lay it thus He was anointed by his Father from heaven anointed by Mary with her box of Spikenard upon earth and lastly his dead body was anointed by the women when it was laid in the Sepulchre So in proportion there is a three-fold Unction to make us Kings and Priests for ever the first of Regeneration in Baptism the second with the blood of Jesus in the participation of the holy Communion and the third of glorification in the Kingdom of heaven but nihil dat quod non habet he that crowns us in glory had title to a crown himself he that makes us Kings was the horn or prince of our Salvation This is the stone of offence against which the Jews stumble that the Kingdom promised so expresly and literally to the Messias was not verified in the person of Christ our Saviour had he sate upon the throne of David with Power and Majesty reason would that they should believe but this is it as they plead which enervates their faith that he who is set forth so often in the name of a King should be born so meanly die so ignominiously and be acquainted in all his life with nothing but weakness and poverty 1. Remember this for the ground of my answer that Jesus Christ was God's only Son and our Lord that is our King is an Article of our Belief and therefore his Kingdom appears only to the eye of Faith and is not to be discerned after an earthly manner in outward pomp and visible glory for then it were no Article of the Creed 2. No humane Kingdom came to him by descent for ought we know he was of the house and lineage of David but it appears not that he was the true and lawful successor in the right line to the Crown of David Armacanus makes much ado to no purpose to derive his pedigree so that the Kingdom of David might truly be hereditary in him I say to no purpose for since the right should come to him by his Mother and she out-lived him that temporal Kingdom had been in her and never descended upon him unless he had survived her 3. Note it that the Prophets who prophesied of the Kingdom of the Messias must not be understood literally that 's not the fashion of Prophesies How then why with Evangelical qualifications and they are clear that his Kingdom is not of this world that he was no King to the prejudice of Caesar his laws pertained to the spirit and conscience he rules over his Church and yet was obedient to Rulers but he had not the temporal seat of David even as David had not the spiritual seat of Christ In a regal Throne he did not sit for he came not to be ministred unto but to minister although he was made heir of all things by virtue of the Hypostatical Vnion Just as David after he was anointed by Samuel was debased a while as the meanest servant But Christ being of the line of David and having an heavenly Dominion given him which had influence into the soul and conscience commanding things in heaven and earth making all things in the world stoop to the word of his truth converting sinners to salvation drawing all the Gentiles to take up his Cross ruling thus for ever and to the worlds end I hope you will say O that the Jews would heed it that this is a more excellent Sovereignty than ever David had therefore God hath made good his promise and transcended it that God had given him the Kingdom of his
is able to make use of any of his Creatures as well as of the tongue of man to set forth his glory The Synagogue of the Jews was wont to have Prophets to teach them but there was not a Prophet more heard in their Land from Malachi to John the Baptist in five hundred years What skills it The Lord can make a Prophet out of any thing in the world Cessante linguâ Prophetarum Deus loquutus est per stellâ—s When Prophesies do fail in the Tongues of men the Stars of heaven shall Prophesie Secondly The Children of Israel as I have noted it before had a Pillar of safe conduct to go before their Army they were an innumerable multitude of people and had need of a fair mark to look upon why then at least it were requisite that these few Magi should have a little Star to grace their journey from the East to Jerusalem Surely the heavens would be as benign to set out the glory of the New Testament as to set out the glory of the Law and the dignity of Christ doth exceed the dignity of Moses as much as an heavenly Star doth exceed a Cloud which is but a vapour nay there are more odds in the comparison Thirdly it was expedient that his Nativity and coming into the world should be attended with great light as his Death and going out of the world brought darkness upon the face of the earth Novam stellam declaravit natus qui antiquum solem obscuravit occisus says St. Austin The true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world was pointed at by a miraculous light when he came into the world and so much or rather so little what aptitude there was in this Star to bring the Magi to our Saviour There are some scruples likewise upon the fourth Question why it is appropriatively called his Star For we have seen his Star in the East The Priscillianists with as much dotage as heresie call'd it the Star of Christ because this Star had some dominion over his Geniture for they speak in the Phrase of judicial Astrologers that impute the actions and events of a mans life to the Horoscope of the Zodiack or Planet under which he was born Vain Philosophy but more vain Divinity Vain Philosophy and very strange it is that it should have any credit to this day after it hath been found out false in so many thousand Prognostications If they happen to foretell one thing right they make ostentation of it before all the world which was mere accident and no cunning but their mistakes and errors are at least a thousand to one true Prediction How often says Tully have I heard those Chaldeans promise long life and prosperous death to Caesar Crassus and Pompey and many others whose ends have been lamentable Therefore he concludes with Panaetius the Stoick that all Astrology is vain when it comes to Prediction Why should not the Stars be as full of influence and vertue over any part of mans life as over his birth-hour And why not much rather over the first minute of conception which no man can guess at than over the first minute of our birth Certainly the contagion of the heavens or temperament of the Stars is nothing to that hour for we see the Child for the most part follow the complexion and condition of the Parents and many by Art and Industry rid themselves of those imperfections wherewith they were born What moment of day or night wherein many Infants are not brought forth into the world some did hap to be born at the same moment with the renowned Affricanus but says the Orator Nunquis talis fuit Was there ever such another Scipio for all the nativivity of some hapned in the same moment Nothing more deceitful more offensive in curiosity more unjudicious than that which is called Judicial Astrologie St. Austin professeth that he excluded out of the Church one of those that would set down the fate of mens lives as they called it by the Conjunction of Stars either raigning at their birth or some other time of their life and would not admit him into the society of Christ again without publick and solemn repentance But the Divinity of the Priscillianists was far more corrupt than their Philosophy that delivered blasphemy to their Disciples saying this Star is called Christs because it had dominion in his Nativity Whereas Christs Nativity depended not on the Star but the Star on Christs Nativity It did not only serve Christ but it served his servants For the Israelites removed from place to place as the Cloud did give the sign but this Star removed from place to place as the Wise-men had occasion for their journey Non stella fatum pueri sed is qui apparuit fatum stellae fuit says Gregory The Star was not the Fate of the Child but this Child was the Fate of that Star The motion of that bright Creature did not move him but he ordained the motion of it And the Wise-men knew him hereby to be the King of heaven because the lights of heaven or this light as good as they did serve and obey him Chrysologus his elegancy must not be forgotten Stella haec ministra viae non vitae non dominantis Domina sed ancilla servorum This Star had no influence upon the life of the Child but was a Lanthorn to the paths of the Wise-men It was not a Lord over our Master but a Minister to our Masters Servants the coronis of the point shall be St. Austins words Non ad decretum dominabatur sed ad testimonium famulabatur The Star which they saw had no regency over him they sought but it was a testimony that he whom they sought was Christ the Lord. St. Chrysostom argues upon it the Magi knew no more from the Star but that the King of the Jews was born 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. but that is not the profession of an Astronomer to know who is born but what things shall come to pass hereafter upon the Nativity of them that are born So having cleared that Question from the authority and reasons of those grave Writers the fifth observation upon the Star is positively thus to be set down that there was a secret illumination an invisible but a better Star than this which made the Magi true believers Some who were mentioned before did see the assistance of the Holy Ghost so manifestly in the direction of this journey that they profess'd it their opinion how the Holy Ghost appeared now in the form of this Star as once after he manifested Christ in the shape of a Dove There is a day Star which riseth in our hearts says the Apostle 2 Pet. i. 19. It was an influence into the heart and not an object in the eye which made the Wise-men dispatch this journey to come and worship Christ Cathedram habet in coelo qui corda docet his Cathedral
and fell to them again seven times and no less and never made an end till his Servant told him he saw a little cloud rising out of the sea He that will give over for seven times seven repulses and will not be importunate with the Lord it were pity his desires should be successful Such constant such contrite devotion how can it choose but pierce the clouds The High Priest went once a year into the Holy of Holies with the perfume of Incense What is Incense but Prayer What is the Holy of Holies but the Kingdom of heaven O that you would believe which I am sure you ought to do that no part of Piety is so beneficial to the soul as Prayer You will remember my saying perhaps when you are upon the bed of your last sickness that Prayer is the Key to open the gate of heaven that Prayer is that address of the soul with which God appointed we should draw near unto him Now I know the most of you had rather spend your pains another way but at that last hour of anxiety unless God forsake you for your sins your heart will be intent upon nothing but upon zealous Prayer It is but a circumstance drawn into my Text from another Evangelist therefore I will pass it by with Bedes observation that Prayer is an active and a passive Benediction it draws God to us and by the same motion draws us to God as if a ship lay at Anchor tost upon the waves you may pluck the Cable with your hands and think to hale the ship to you but the Cable being of stronger tack will pluck you to the Ship The Prophet Isaiah in his Prayers was confident he could not be denied therefore he cries out O that thou wouldst burst the heavens O Lord and come down Our High-Priest Jesus offered the sweet odours of his Prayers unto his Father and loe the heavens were opened unto him The second consideration of the first Point is ended but I would you would diligently begin to practise it Thirdly I shall recite it before you how this Miracle fell out to glorifie Christ Therefore the Text says Loe the heavens were opened to him opened manifestly for the view of all beholders that were present but opened unto him because it was meant for his inauguration to honour his Mediatorship who came to redeem mankind from the curse of endless death and captivity Therefore imagine not as if the whole heavens did seem unveiled to discover all their glory but only so much of the Firmament did spangle like a Canopy advanced in state over our Saviours head as might betoken his Celestial Dignity The Father at this Baptism proclaimed him from above to be his well beloved Son and to make us understand that his love where it lights consists not in sweet words of affection only he did attire the Air in most Princely beauty to honour his well-beloved in whom he was well pleased Contrariwise at the Passion of Christ the Sun denied his light to the earth and the Regions above did never look so terrible as then with black clouds and darkness for he carried the malediction of us all upon him and it was a day of wrath and vengeance when God took punishment upon all iniquity We read of no Angel that was near to behold him at that dolorous hour upon the Cross belike it was a sight so ingrate and pitiful to behold that they withdrew themselves but at the triumph of his Baptism it is not mine but St. Austins opinion that the heavens which reach as far as the habitation of all blessed spirits were opened Vt in coelestibus esset miraculum de his quae agebantur in terris that the Angels might take this amiable spectacle into their view of those things that were done upon earth for would it not ravish the Powers of Heaven to peep into this Mystery that the Son of God should stoop so low in the River Jordan That a mortal man should hold up his hand above his head to baptize him When Israel came out of Egypt and the house of Jacob from the Babylonish bondage the deliverance was so gladsom to the Land of Canaan to receive her ancient Inhabitants again that the Mountains skipped like Rams and the little Hills like young Sheep When the Apostles prayed among them that were converted and had received the Holy Ghost the place was shaken where they were assembled as if the ground could have cleft for joy Acts iv 31. Then could the Heavens contain to burst themselves for joy when Christ was initiated into his Royal Office The Earth was obsequious to the honour of such as were earthly the Heavens did honour Christ at his Baptism for the second man was from the heaven heavenly Now I come to fill up the last thing considerable in this Miracle what joy and comfort the opening of the heavens affords to all them that believe in Jesus The heavens were opened the Dove descended a voice from above proclaimed the good will of the Father to rejoyce our hearts that the immortal Laver of Baptism is able to cast all those blessings upon us not that all those were not in Christ and due to him before the Sacrament For did he then begin to have the Spirit rest upon him who is of the same eternal substance with the Spirit Or was that the first time when the heavens were opened to him of whom it is said of old Heaven is my seat and Earth is my foot stool Nor did his Father then begin to call him Son for we read in the book of the Psalms Thou art my Son this day that is from all eternity I have begotten thee When God spake and answered our Saviours Prayer from Heaven Christ turns to the Jews saying This voice came not for me but for your sakes Joh. xii 30. Likewise he might expound upon the opening of the heaven this was not for me but for your sakes Restincta est aquis baptismi romphaea flammatilis quae claudit paradisum says Ratbertus A fiery flaming Sword debarr'd the way into Paradise by Gods appointment which flame is mystically quenched in the Baptism of our blessed Mediator and now as if the Angel had said I will stop the way into Paradise no more the Heavens were opened And if Marriage be called honourable inasmuch as he vouchsafed his Presence at a Marriage at Cana in Galilee then Baptism is most honourable and blessed because he was more than present at it He came in his own person from Galilee to Jordan to be baptized To what purpose should this Scripture say Loe or behold the heavens were opened Unless it were a continual opening from that time to this how could we behold it If open and immediately shut again it were not so proper to say unto us behold But if they always stand open by the meritorious Redemption of Christ then it is an apt Phrase to say Behold the Heavens were opened
to be the Cabinet Counsellors both to great and petty Princes not only in Europe but beyond the Line in Peru and Goa in more Kingdoms than I think verily the Devil shew'd our Saviour The general Constitutions of their Order as we may read them in print do strictly command them in severest manner no way to meddle in State matters or in Kings affairs But verte folium I would we could see the other leaf of special instructions for in their practice the world never saw the like Corporation for stickling in all Kingdoms and Civil Governments but I leave them with him that useth to shew all the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them upon the top of a Mountain Thirdly this is the Tempters way if not to shew to the eye yet to buz into mens thoughts and to possess them with strong apprehensions that they are not unlikely to get Kingdoms and Glory and Exaltation fools men with imaginations of strange fortunes and advancements as the Bramble in Jothams Parable thought it self fit to be a King over the Trees of the Wood and the Thistle in another Parable would have the Cedars Daughter married to his Son The Holy Ghost thought it fitter to deliver these senseless impossible ambitious projects of men in Parables than to speak plainly how folly and melancholy make some men suck at the Dugs of hope and fill themselves with wind and vanity Luther expresseth this madness in this phrase that every man hath a Pope in his belly It seems the truth of his saying may go far if such mean persons as the Mother of Zebedees Children the Wife of a silly drudging Fisherman could make such a Petition that one of her Sons might sit at the right hand of our Saviour in his Kingdom the other at his left Who had greater fortunes than David and who did expect less Psal 131. I do not exercise my self in great matters which are too high for me but I refrain my soul and keep it low like as a Child that is weaned from his Mother he restrained his soul and would not let it wander in ambitious speculations he weaned it as a Child from his Mother from the Earth which is the Mother of us all and from her transitory abundance But though all which Satan did shew could not move Christ one jot yet in the next point the amplitude and generality of the object I am sure is worth our admiration he sheweth him all the Kingdoms of the World and St. Luke adds that he did not carry him about in any long travail but so suddenly that it is exprest in a momentary motion in the twinkling of an eye There hath been some shame and disorder some soul blur upon every Realm and Territory in the earth therefore the Devil durst shew all and every parcel without any prejudice to his own proceedings The description of a Platonique Common-wealth an Vtopia or new Atlantis is to be found in ink and paper but never among men There have been treacheries tyrannical intrusions disinheriting the true and lawful Successors deposing of anointed Princes in every Government of the world such horrid things have passed every where to get Kingdoms by blood and violences and all kind of cruelties that Kingdoms so set forth are fit only for the Devil to shew 't is pity any History should record them qua terra patet fera regnat Erinnys as David said the whole earth is full of darkness and cruel habitation Satan hath quite marr'd this world and made it fit for himself and for his own children to look upon Omnis seculi honor est diaboli negotium says St. Hilarie that is all kind of honor is so degenerated and stained that the wicked Fiend makes it his business to represent it all unto our Saviour Nay but Satan shewed all the Kingdoms and the glory of them therefore none of their soils and deformities Very right indeed as St. Ambrose catcheth at that word ostendit regna gloriam celavit taedia labores he shewed the best outside of Kingdoms the pomp power attendance and riches but he did not represent within this pleasing object the multitudes of cares the distractions the fears and jealousies all those restless vexations that dance within the circle of a Crown and cannot be separated from Soveraignty well be it granted that these were kept out of sight I concur with St. Ambrose that they were yet I deny that he was able to shew the true and essential glory of the Kingdoms of the world for the first original beauty and integrity which they had is quite gone irreparably lost and never to be recalled All the foundations of the earth are out of frame saies the Psalmist the ancient Land-marks are removed all Nations have been invaders have been invaded every man means for his own ends and not for the publick peace is loathed if it be long kept Princes would over-over-rule and Subjects would but half obey how can the glory of Kingdoms be shewn when almost nothing is in that fashion wherein God ordein'd it Do you think a large Territory of Land a fruitful Soil a rich People a ruffling Gentry a war-like Nation terra potens armis atque ubere glebâ do you think I say that these are the original and essential glory of a Kingdom belike Satan would have ye believe so and since he could shew no more my Text speaks after his meaning and purpose He shewed him all the Kingdoms c. But admit he had not presumed to medle with the glory of the Earth it is enough to take up our admiration that he shewed every quarter and parcel of it yea and that in the twinkling of an eye and upon this whether miracle or delusion I will spend the time arguing two wayes in what manner this could not be done in what manner possiby it was done but since the Scripture is silent concerning the modus no man must define resolutely thus it must be done First then it must not be conceiv'd as if Satan did or could shew any thing which was not manifest to Christ before Ostensio fit quasi ignoranti to take upon him to shew the world unto Christ was to suppose there was ignorance in him before whom all things lye naked and unto whom all the foundations of the world are discovered the attempt comes to one pass as if a mortal man would teach an immortal Angel what incomprehensible glory is laid up in heaven nay the odds are far greater if I would go about to amplifie it The metaphysical Maxim is duo accidentia ejusdem speciei non possunt esse in eodem subjecto as two sweetnesses cannot be in the same lump of sugar nor two hardnesses in the same piece of steel so the knowledg of all the Kingdoms of the world was in Christs mind before in him were all the treasures of wisdom therefore the Devil could not cause any knowledge there for two knowledges of the same
from another at the first asking and never draw sword for it nor give battel to resist it It was a short Motto which Pompey gave touching his speedy victories in Asia yet the work was longer a doing than so Veni vidi vici he came towards them and looked them in the face and vanquisht them Yet Satan pretended to make briefer work than this Motto execrable spirit he dares to assume that which is proper to the Almighty to speak the word and the whole World should have a new face of government and that he could remove Kings as Christ said his Disciples by faith should remove mountains be thou cast into the sea and it should be gone Perhaps he remembers how suddenly himself was deposed from glory I saw Satan fall like lightning sayes our Saviour which flasheth through the air and is out before you could think of it and when God pleaseth all the Kingdoms of the Earth shall have as sudden a transmutation when he shall come in glory and take all power and dominion into his own hand to judg both the quick and the dead But in the mean time the Thrones of Kings are established in Heaven the powers that are they are from God and it is not in the strength of Satan to confuse those Governments which God hath put in order therefore he is a lyar with an hyperbole of impudencie to say all this power will I give thee c. Yet by these words Ambition is accused to be an unstinted sin for why should Satan offer all but that he knows it to be an unlimited passion which is not satiated with one Crown but would subject every corner of the world unto it self The Sun can endure the Moon to partake with it in giving light unto the earth the Sun to govern the Day and the Moon to govern the Night but amongst these proud imperious Spirits some can endure no Superiour and some no equal Every one that is not their Vassal is held their Enemy Fire is a raging Element and would turn all other Elements into it self if God should not temper and asswage it So if God should not raise up Adversaries to oppose some mens Ambition they would bruise the four quarters of the world with a rod of Iron Is it not enough to write this word under a terrestrial Sphere for an Empreza of large Dominions Sol mihi semper lucet it is always day in some of his Realms if the Sun set in one of his Kingdoms it is shining in another Is not this enough I say But further to betray a mind that aims at all these Letters were engraven upon a Gate at Rome at a solemn time of Triumph Vnus Deus unus Papa unus rex catholicus I will not interpret them out of Latine for I hope they shall never be turned into English I think if God should create a new earth which never was made before some would lay claim to it As Fr. Victoria and sundry other Divines stretcht their learning to prove it out of the Gospel that the whole Tract of America possess'd before by millions of Owners but newly discovered to Europe did every whit belong to the King their Master The cares the anxieties the watchings that a good Ruler suffers to keep a small part of the earth which God hath given him in Justice and the love of true Religion The Eagerness the Fury the Phrensie that the Ambitious hath to clasp and compass all that God hath made here beneath which is more wide and ample by far than it is possible for one mans forcast and providence to keep in order None shall be more willing than Satan to make one man Lord of all for that is the ready way to mar all And when that enemy of our peace hath stoln away our content he cares not what we compass though it were all the power and glory in the world for without it we shall seem losers to our selves and such as are always wanting When Eve was Lady and Mistress of the whole world without a Competitor yet because there was a Godship higher than that estate she was not satisfied with her portion but would try conclusions to be like unto God knowing good and evil But to contract this Point I give it this minatory farewel He that extends his Ambition to get all power and all glory he that knows no top in that honour that he would mount to shall be cast down into misery that hath no bottom into the bottomless pit It is but late that I told you in a former Sermon upon this Text that when the Tempter made an overture to Christ of all the Riches in the Universe that the gift was not more spacious than unjust for it cannot be supposed how one man should be seized of all that is in the world by his proper right but by ejecting all Possessors in the world and respectively every private man from that Inheritance which he held before And that the wicked one may be constant to himself at all times alike stark naught he deals worse in this half of his liberality than in the former for if he intend to make Christ the Catholick Monarch of the world and give him all the power and glory of it it must need fall in that all the Kings and Princes of the world must be deposed from their Soveraignty and strike sail to the new erected A discovery not to be passed in silence It hath been defended by many Pens of late that Gregory the Seventh was the first that ever broach'd the Doctrine and Practice together that the Anointed of the Lord might be unking'd and stript of all their Royaltie by the effulminations of the Romans Pontife Loe you now that the learned of the Protestants should be so much over-seen in Antiquity for here is a Classical Author in my Text that holds that opinion about a thousand years a little over or under before Hildebrand had his honour For that Gregory the Seventh flourished much about a thousand years after Christ that very time which the Spirit of God said should be fulfilled and then Satan should be let loose after that one thousand years for a little season But as I said Hildebrand was not the first broacher of that disloyal Paradox here is his chief in my Text and to confirm what I say Matthew Paris our own Historian of great fame avers that the said Pope at his death which was in banishment cried out of his own wicked ways and treacherous Principles against his Lord the Emperour and confessed that the Devil set him on to disturbe the whole world with mutiny Yet how little the Successors in the Papacy have profited by his repentance I will tell you by that which is disputed daily in the School of one Tyrannus that I may allude to that of St. Luke Acts xix 9. Those Dogmatists are divided three several ways Some consciencious Romanists have taught that the Pope may not at
quâ tanta sit fides ut speret omnia tanta devotio ut Deum videatur cogere let it be strong in faith to hope all things strong in patience to persist at all times and I know not what it is not able to effect to cast mountains into the sea says Christ to be transfigured says my Text into the glory of God to bring Peter out of Prison when Herod had locked him up within a brazen Gate yet then at the dead hour of the night did the Angel bring him forth and at the same time of midnight Peter found the Church at prayer for his deliverance Acts xii 5. Well I pray you remember that when our Saviour went up into the Mountain as well to be transfigured as to pray yet the Text names this only that he went up into the mountain to pray that name stands in chief and drowns the mention of the other business as if Prayer were a greater work than that resplendent Transfiguration And what needed he to pray but to bring us upon our knees humbly and frequently before his Father and our Father As Solomons Temple had three especial Ornaments the Golden Candlestick the Table of Shewbread and the Altar of Incense so three things of principal use do correspond to these in the Church of Christ the Word Preached which doth enlighten our darkness is the Golden Candlestick which is dearer says David than much fine gold Instead of the Table of Shew-bread we have the Communion of Christs Body and Blood the Table of the Lord. And instead of the Altar of Incense we have that which is much sweeter in Gods nostrils the Incense of Prayer Now abide these three to direct us in a good way says Bernard Verbum Exemplum Oratio the Word Preached the Edifying Examples of Holy men and Zealous Prayer but the greatest of these is Prayer Ea namque operi voci gratiam efficaciam promeretur for whether they be the actions of a pious life or the words of an eloquent tongue it is Prayer which accompasseth from Gods mercy that all should be effectual I have amplified this the more because some Ignaroes out of a preposterous zeal shuffle off this Christian duty with a most wicked and a regardless negligence if any man be transfigured from such a corrupt opinion by that which I have deliver'd it is that which I aimed at and which I desire of God yea it is that which our Saviour intended when he would be occupied in Prayer at that time and in nothing else when he was transfigured in glory Now in the fourth and last general Observation upon the Text as our Lord prepared himself with much humility in Prayer so in the consequent he was exalted in much honor the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistering Beloved we are all like the Children of Israel standing below the Hill and dare not go up to pry in to the mystery of the inscrutable glory Let it suffice us to enquire into three things that follow which we may safely do since all Scripture is written for our instruction They are these 1. The Final Cause why Christ was transfigured 2. The Efficient Cause from whence this splendour was derived And 3. The Effect it self alteration in his countenance whiteness and glistering in his raiment In these three I will be brief without offensive curiosity to make us not only search but find out the cause why He would be transfigured I have regard to this rule of Damascens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every thing that Christ did in his conversation upon earth it is to be referr'd to the good of man First then I render this reason that the Redeemer of Souls lived in great humility upon earth nay like an abject worm to attract the love of the Church now he chang'd himself into this admired excellency to encrease their faith St. Peter pronounced a Confession of faith for all the Apostles Matth. xvi which their Master did exceedingly commend Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Yet they who did see the Majesty of God to be in him and did adore it were as yet ignorant of what glorification his body was capable which was the Veil of the Godhead He had suspended all outward appearance of Divine lustre that it should not shew it self in him To this meaning you cannot well choose but refer that of the Prophet Isaias chap liii 2. He hath no form nor comliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him that is he was pleased for a season not to look like one whose body had an illustrious influence from the soul and from the union with the Godhead he did suppress it till he was pleased to make it known Psal xciii The Lord is King he hath put on glorious apparel and in another place Thou art cloathed with Majesty and honour Indeed to have a brightness in his body as great or greater than the light of the Sun was as natural to that humane nature which is united to the Godhead as it is for the Sun to shine in the Firmament The Disciples marvailed that his face should glister this one time so that no Fuller on earth could make a thing so white whereas the greater marvel is that it was not so at all times Majus miraculum fuit hujus gloriae influxum reprimere quà m eam perpetuò retinere It was a greater miracle to restrain the apparition of this glory at any time than to have it alwayes dwel upon his face for blessed souls which enjoy God always have a virtue of claritude in them which redounds of it own accord into the body Therefore well might the Psalmist say of Christ whose soul was always blessed Thou art fairer than the children of men And though at other times his brightness was discoloured by humility yet now he removed the cloud and let his Witnesses see the fair beams of his Divine honor for a little time which is the first motive of his Transfiguration Secondly by this Apparition the three Disciples saw in what form he would come to judgment It is no dreadful thing to a good man either to see or to meditate with himself in what manner Christ will come in the Clouds at the last day to call the Quick and the Dead before him The Wicked that know they have crucified him again and trampled the blood of the Covenant under their feet will run into the dust for fear of his glorious presence and call for the Hills to cover them and the Mountains to fall upon them as for the Righteous that then shall be found upon earth in whose hearts he hath sealed the promise of his Holy Spirit they shall tremble with an awful reverence but when they have gain'd their memory to recall that he cometh with his reward in his hand they will praise that pomp of Judgment and say now our labour
as is derived from a Soul that is perfectly beatified Moses his face did shine like a God when he came down from the Mount yet it was ab externo colloquio because he had been a Companion with God Christs face did shine ab innatâ gratiâ potentiâ not because he was the Companion of God but because he was very God and was the fountain of all grace and beauty to communicate it to others Neither was St. Stephens irradiation any more than a preparative of the Resurrection and a declaration of his innocency to make the Council afraid of wrong judgment all that lookt upon him saw his face as it had been the face of an Angel But that which hapned to our Saviour was not from an external gift as Stephen saw Christ standing at the right hand of God but from an internal influence and emanation of the Deity Moses and Stephen were but Passengers and not to be compared in any sort of excellency with their Lord who was God and Man Yet by the dispensation of the Divine Power it was not such a total illumination in Christ as results from the Soul unto the Flesh when both shall come to appear before the living God The reasons are very full and home for the proof 1. The Soul in the state of eternal happiness shall derive amiable splendour to all the outward parts of the Body but no further In this present case the very garments were changed into such an outward gloss as the like was never seen Therefore this must be some brightness created for this instant by the Deity 2. Splendour is but one of the Ornaments of a glorified Body when the Soul doth transfuse the benefits of beatification into it it shall be a Spiritual Body it shall be nimble to pass from place to place like an Angel or like a thought likewise it shall not be obnoxious to death or dolour where were these Because therefore this was but a partial not a total glorification it flowed not from the Soul 3. It was not so large not so complete a claritude and beauty as will adorn the Lamb of God hereafter but a pittance and measure attemper'd for their weak reception that should see it His face did shine like the Sun What but like the Sun so much is promised to the faithful that they shall shine like the Sun in the Kingdom of his Father And think you that the Lord is not greater than the Servant and shall much excel that proportion of glory which we expect Therefore Lyra sayes this was an Ornament of the same true glory which we shall have hereafter quantum ad essentiam sed non quantum ad modum it had the very essence and truth of such illuminated brightness as the righteous shall have in Paradise but it had not such an ample measure and proportion 4. To make it sure and uncontradicted that this was not like to that glory which shall be derived from the Soul in eternal joy that is dos connaturalis this is passio transitoria Then it shall be a natural endowment never to be separated away Now it was but a transient passion soon on and as soon off again even as soon as ever the voice from Heaven had spoken Permanency unchangeableness never altering Eternity are so proper to future blessedness that without them it is not to be imagined St. Paul was elevated by the Divine grace to see and hear things unutterable in this rapture that is as I believe he saw the very Divine Essence in a short prospect and away yet Paul by this exceeding favour was none of the Beati till after his dissolution none of the Classis in St. Matthew Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God quia beatitudo denotat permanentiam Beatitude is not the participation of the best thing in the World for a little time but for ever and ever THE SECOND SERMON UPON The Transfiguration LUKE ix 29 30 31. The fashion of his Countenance was altered and his Raiment was white and glistering And behold there talked with him two wen which were Moses and Elias IN a well laid description an Artist represents things that are absent so verily so lively as if they were before us As Scaliger says of Virgil he did not read it in his verses but did even see the Mountain Aetna belching out fire and impestred with smoke and vapour But no Art so powerful in mans Writings to call back things that are done and past and to cloath them with such significant words as if they were before us like to the Pen of the Holy Ghost Do but observe for our present instance how St. Matthew began to delineate the beauty of Christ transfigured how St. Mark added fresh colours to make it appear more excellent and then how St. Lukes Pencil cometh after all and finisheth the Picture and you will say upon attentive heed these are not words which we read but even Christ himself in his Majestique glory St. Mathew begins thus His face did shine as the Sun and his raiment was white as the light Doth not this call the Idaea of your Lord into your mind as if your eye beheld him He said much for the face St. Mark speaks loftier for the Garment His raiment became shining exceeding white as snow so that no Fuller on earth can white them Then St. Luke neither compares him to the Sun above nor to the Snow beneath but says enough to make us conceive that positively it was a greater splendor than could be likened to any created thing The fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistering A vegetous faith is able to say unto a Mountain be removed into the Sea and it shall be removed much more is it able to carry the soul into the highest heaven into the presence of God by such a stedfast apprehension as it cannot judge it self whether it be in the body or out of the body Thus let every mans faith say at this time unto his Soul be thou removed into Mount Tabor thrust in with Peter and James and John perswade thine heart thou seest as much by relation as ever they saw by apparition there is thy Saviour having laid down the austere front of a Judge and looking like a specious Bridegroom The fashion of his countenance was altered c. Now that you may hear things laid down in order for a stay to your memory you will grant unto me that there are two things which make a spectacle to be wishly look'd upon Res mirae personae miâ—ae strange and uncouth things strange and unexpected persons Come therefore and see most rare things in the first part of my Text Christ even now an object in which you could discern nothing but poverty and humility Momento turbinis and as quick as a flash of lightning He hath put on such a countenance and such apparel as the clearest day light and the driven
snow did not equal him His countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistering Then for strange persons such as long since were departed and gone out of the world because the world was not worthy of them they return in visible shapes to play a new part upon the stage of the earth Behold there talked with him two men which were Moses and Elias I enter upon the handling of these Points without more circumlocution I have acquainted you before with two things of main consequence in this Miracle of the Transfiguration first the final cause why Christ was transfigured Secondly the efficiency from whence this exceeding brightness was derived Now I come to set it forth unto you first in his face then in his raiment Distill out the very best that all the Heathen have wrote and it is not able to teach us so much as is contained in this portion of Scripture touching the immortality of the soul and the beatitude of the life to come Here are the two last Articles of the Creed exemplified and set out in their real truth the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting The immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the flesh are confirmed in the persons of Moses and Elias who are brought forth to appear before mortal men face to face And our Saviour makes himself a spectacle of the happiness of the world to come for the fashion of his countenance was altered or thus in another Evangelists description his face did shine as the Sun I may say unto him as Daniel did to Nebuchadonosor upon the interpretation of his dream Tu es caput aureum Thou O King art the head of Gold Dan. ii 38. But we are sure if that head be gold the inferiour members under him shall not be iron and clay Of his glory we shall all receive and with the light of his face all the body shall be beautified This is a Beacon shining upon the top of an hill which shines from the East unto the West from one end of the earth unto the other But it is a pacificous Beacon which portends peace and not war where you read that the Lord looks like burning fire there he threatens us to beware of his indignation so John makes a character of Christ Rev. i. 14. His eyes were as a flame of fire in a great commotion of passion the eye will look like a forge of wrath as Tully displaies Verres ardebant oculi toto ex ore crudelitas emicabat His eyes did burn with anger cruelty did every where sparkle out of his face The Philosopher says that the Phancy is seated in the middle Region of the brain above the eyes which upon great and sudden wrath calls up the spirits hastily unto it self and with that swift motion they are heated and seem to flame in the eyes Flammea torquens lamina says the Poet of his Turnus Therefore this phrase of speech is borrowed from the manner of men that the eyes of Christ were as a flame of fire And it bids us kiss the Sun lest he be angry if his wrath be kindled yea but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him But at this apparition which I entreat of he did recreate his servants with his looks Here is no mention of fâ—â—e in his eyes but of light in his face and that is always taken in good part for an auspicious Omen They looked upon him and were lightned and their faces were not ashamed Psal xxxiv 5. They that stand before him and have a reflection from the light of his countenance shall not knit their brow and look down for fear unto the earth as Cain did Yet more than so this Sunshine Majesty wherewith he was beautified doth not only dissipate shame but serve us with the hope of Salvation Make thy face to shine upon thy servant O save me for thy mercies sake Psal xxxi 16. It is a good thing to be safe under his mercy the chearful aspect of his face doth promise that at the least And doth not this glistering transmutation assure us likewise that his grace shall shine in our hearts to produce the fruits of life The life is the light of men says St. John and by inversion it is true to say that this light is the life of the soul Therefore this was not the irradiation of the Sun or any other star which though it be a comely creature yet it is but an inanimate thing but to shew it was Lux viva and Lux ad vitam living light and light that begetteth eternal life therefore it sparkled from the living flesh of the eternal Sun of God And it may be observed how usefully St. Matthew says his face did shine like the Sun not as if he did then illuminate half the world at once with his face for then the rest of the Disciples who went not up to the Mountain must have known somewhat of this alteration it being most probable that the Transfiguration fell out in the night but because the Sun doth enough on his part to shine unto all men and if any want the benefit it is not for defect of the light which is spread sufficiently abroad So Christ by himself and his Priests hath annunciated the truth openly that it is our own fault and not his if it be not tendered to all people and known throughout the world 2. The Sun before he ariseth sends out beams and gives some light to the Horizon but makes the day more clear when he is risen upon the earth So Christ did give the Patriarchs a glimpse of faith before he was incarnate and lived upon the earth but he did embrighten the Church much more with faith when the world had heard and seen with their eyes and looked upon and their hands had handled the word of life And do you mark who were present witnesses at the fulgor of this transfiguration Both Moses and Elias who had lived on earth in the Age before and three Apostles who did live in that present Age because he was that light which gave the lustre of faith both to the former and to the latter Ages of the world take heed your heart be not thick clay and gross earth which will not admit and give transparency to this spiritual light He that believeth not abideth in darkness It is perilous to be in darkness and most horrible to abide in it and without faith you shall abide in the darkness of Hell for ever Though this which I have said already be much yet this prospective of admirable light leads us further for in this Transformation the Master did shew what Liveries of glory the Servants should wear when they should dwell with him in his Kingdom for ever As Zalumna said to Gideon of Gideons brethren so doth this enlightened countenance of Christ say unto his Saints As thou art so shall they be each one according to the form of the Children
of a King No Soothsayer no Palmester no judicial Astrologer is able to tell any man the event of his life what honours and promotions shall betide him But he unto whom all the wisdom of the world is foolishness Christ hath manifested not in word but in sign the true state of the blessed for ever they shall shine like the Stars in the Firmament or like the Sun it self at Noon day And because this may seem to be an Hyperbolical comparison I will raise you up higher in your thoughts though I shall seem to speak strangely that the Sun comes short of that enamouring fair light wherewith the bodies of the just shall be cloathed that are raised in incorruption My reason is strong enough for the Sun is not made to stand for ever in heaven but when the whole heavens shall be rouled away with a noise that mighty Planet shall melt away with heat therefore it cannot shine so beautifully and divinely as that body which shall be immortal and have no seeds of change or corruption in it Alas I am so far from aggravating any thing that if I had a thousand tongues and inventions I should speak faintly and depressively of that supernal Palace which is filled with light which no man now can approach you must conceive that which I cannot urge in speech All the light which is in this world is but like a Glow-worm to the day in respect of that Mirror of marvellous light in the heavenly Jerusalem where millions of millions of Saints shall be gathered together and every Saint shall shine more sweetly and Majestically than the whole Globe of the Sun what a ravishing object will this be What an unutterable concurrence of illumination especially when the sence of the eye shall be perfecter than the Eagles a thousand sold and no whit dazled to behold it O Lord what good things hast thou laid up for them that fear thee And thus you see what the Transfiguration in our Saviours countenance did portend Light of grace in this world Light of glory in the next And light of mercy and comfort in respect unto them both We know that God dispenseth all things much better than we can reach into the cause yet I will suffer an ignorant man to aske Why did not Christ appear at all times upon earth thus glorious with the Majesty of his Divine Nature shining in his face Then the Jews and the whole world would have received him and never doubted Would they are you sure And yet we are sure Peter denied him John and James forsook him albeit they had seen the glory of his Transfiguration But Beloved it was more fit to be darken and shadow over his excellency as he used to do otherwise the earth could not have told how to have conversed with him how to have entertained him how to have looked upon him if he had openly manifested himself to be the eternal Son of God as clearly as we know it now adays Besides it was not necessary for him to be always illustrious it was necessary for him to die and suffer therefore he came into the world like Codrus the Athenian into the Army with rags and poverty in vile estimation that the High Priests and Pharisees might proceed against him as against a wretched man and a Malefactor His ordinary fashion of life upon earth was shame and dishonour he took a turn for once and no more to have the fashion of his countenance altered in glory Non pristinam formam amisit sed qualitatem mutavit or as Cajetan this transformation was neither assuming a new substance nor turning his face into new Figures and Lineaments but brightning the outward superficies with a new lustre of glory And Tertullian argues it to be true when the Lord retired to a mount and did as it were cast a new robe of light all over both upon his face and garments Lineamenta Petro cognoscibilia servaverat Peter after he awoke out of sleep did still acknowledge him by his Lineaments there was the ancient feature of his visage without any alteration Yet I conceive that in the Resurrection of the Just every Countenance which had disfigurement in it or any monstrous disproportion shall be new shap'd and fashion'd Because that great workmanship of God which abideth for ever shall be conspicuous to all eyes with most exact decency and comliness One thing more may yet be expected from me to be spoken of for the finishing of this Point St. Luke says that his countenance was altered and his rayment glistered Was that all Was his face only glorified with light and not the rest of his body There are some that hold how his whole body was transfigured and bedeckt with light and that the radiancy of the body did shine through the garments and make them brightsome and they think that St. Matthews Text doth favour this opinion for he speaks of a total transfiguration first and then of the shining of the face He was transfigured before them and his face did shine as the Sun The matter is not great which way the truth stands But I assent to that which is the more probable Tenent that the rays of splendour did issue out from no part of his body but from his face only For which of the Evangelists hath put forth a word that any part of his body his face only excepted did shine with brightness Nay hath not St. Mark Epitomised St. Matthews meaning most intelligibly He was transfigured before them and his rayment was white as snow He spake of the Transfiguration but in one word because it was but in one part of the body that is in the face And I urge it strongly from the final cause The end of his being transfigured was not to dignifie his flesh with that dignity which he shall have when it is exalted in glory for then very fit all the body should have been amassed into an excellent shape but the time was not yet come The end was to exhibit a taste of that future glory which the Saints shall have in the Resurrection and for that end more need not be required than St. Luke hath explicitely set down in my Text His countenane was altered and his rayment was white and glistering As the face of Christ did bear the greatest share of ignominy at his passion being buffeted being spit on being prickt with thorns so the honour of his Transfiguration did light upon his face rather than upon any other part of the body because Gods reward shall make amends in every kind for the despite of Satan The Jews did strip him of his Garment and arrayed him with a robe of scorn and then led him to be crucified So God to shew that his his Son deserved no such ignominy made his garments to shine with unspeakable purity As Lapidaries say of a true Diamond that whereas other precious Stones have some colour in their Superficies well known by name as the
fullonicant ingeniis suis says Origen Hereticks set a bright gloss upon their false opinions they in his construction are those Fullers upon earth that would make their doctrine if it were possible as white as truth but if you pattern it with the Scripture you shall see it colours not with that spiritual light which comes from Christ That Doctrine which hath the simplicity of the Spirit without the knotty entanglements of mans wit that which says let God have the glory but to us belongs shame and confusion of face That which impresseth humility into the thoughts zeal and devotion into the heart all manner of vertue into the practice This is that true light which comes from heaven no Fuller upon earth none that sit in the pestilent Chair of deceitful tongues can make a thing so white and every one that is of the truth loveth the light and hateth darkness And so far upon this admirable vision His countenance was altered and his rayment white and glistering These were res mirae strange and uncouth things the next general part of the Text doth handle personas miras strange persons whom a man would not expect in that place and at that time Behold there talked with him two men which were Moses and Elias If any of the people had been by that took him to be Elias or Jeremias or one of the old Prophets they should have seen a difference in this Vision between the head and the feet between the Lord and his Servants For surely some of the old Prophets two for all and those whom the Jews did most admire came upon this Theater to be seen that Christs glory might appear the more Let the eyes of Peter look upon them together and see if Christs glory be not far exalted above all the Saints Quantùm lenta solent inter viburna cupressi Among the Gods there is none like unto thee O Lord Psal lxxxvi 8. Non in Angelis coelestibus seu in altissimis says the Chaldee Paraphrase not among the Angels nor among any of the blessed souls that live in the highest places Was this such a business to be taught will some men say to bring the dead out of their graves Can any mistake that the honour of Christ is far exalted above all his Servants For to which of the Angels did the Father say at any time Sit thou on my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstool Beloved are there none that keep the festival days of the Saints with more devotion and observance then the first day of the week for ever to be sanctified because Christ rose from the dead on that day Do they not make more Pilgrimages and Vows to some Patrons of their own invention who have been but men Are not there more Temples erected in their name More costly Ornaments bestowed upon their Images More Prayers poured out unto them than to Christ himself And had I not need to remember you that two men who were now glorified talked with Christ upon Mount Tabor that they might appear like little stars obscured before the greatest Planet Moses did but verifie in person what he had taught in a Song before Who is like unto thee O Lord among the Gods Who is like unto thee Exod. xv 11. I adjudge it for another reason that two men beatified came to talk with him because he would not seem to ingross the light of glory to himself without derivation to others It is not a treasure to be reserved unto himself but a communicable donative The glory which thou gavest me I have given them Joh. xvii 22. As a seed-corn is fruitless unless it die and bring forth stalks of Wheat so Christ compares himself to such a grain of Wheat which must die to bring forth much fruit or else it abideth alone as if all were marred unless we were accommodated by his fruitfulness The Kings honour is in the multitude of his people the joy of the Father is in the Olive branches round about his Table The glory of the woman is for the children to grow up and call the mother blessed The felicity of these consists herein to have some that are partners of their felicity But God is all-sufficient to contemplate his own glory though he had never made the world he did not make man to praise him as if he wanted voices to magnifie his name and make him God Yet he is pleased to express his love so far that his honour should be alone unless the goodly fellowship of Saints and Prophets were round about him Except a seed-corn fall into the ground and die it abideth alone Joh. xii 24. Lord why dost thou esteem thy self alone and heaven to be solitary without us But O man how canst thou be without him in thy heart on earth that would not be alone without thee in heaven Behold when he brought down heaven upon earth in his own body two of the Elect brought down their glory to the Mountain to assist him His own Disciples were yet but earth and corruption and therefore incapable of such illuminated brightness till the time should come to be translated out of the prison of mortality And Angels were not fit to be his Compeers at this bout because he manifested the glorification of the flesh which pertains not to Angels but to Men. None of the living would serve the turn to appear with him in Majesty they were not supernaturalized to undergo it nor any of the Angelical Order they were not of the right Predicament two men came down unto him who had been exalted into Heaven and now I will shew with what great congruity these two men who were Moses and Elias But to omit nothing which is fit to be observ'd I will make three general heads of this matter 1. Whether all Elias and all Moses did appear both body and soul 2. From whence they came to be Parties at the celebration of this great Miracle And 3. If I can reach so far Why they became the representative persons for the whole Body of the Saints in Heaven To the first that these two Witnesses presented themselves in bodily shapes there is no wit so scrupulous I think that can make a question of it for S. Matthew says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these men were seen of Peter James and John Then they were heard talking and by their talk discover'd to be those grand Prophets as I will shew hereafter They talked as men to men vocally not in an intellectual fashion as spirits do And the Apostles in their extasie mentioned the making of Tabernacles to shrowd them in but a Tabernacle is a Coverture for a Body and not for a Spirit The controversie doth not consist in this therefore I pass it over That which hath caused diversities of judgments to arise is herein what manner of Bodies these were wherewith Moses and Elias were cloathed to attend the Transfiguration of Christ I will make bold to remove
much therefore in Origen to amplifie an Error so far There may be Perversus error in excusando perversa delectatio in accusando A dangerous partiality in excusing a fault and a dangerous delight in accusing Pascasius Ratbertus doth very well to impute all to his amazement yet he also conceives him more amazed than I can imagine namely that waking out of sleep Putabat quod resurrectionis speciem solutus carne per extasin jam videret He thought he was out of the body and that in an Extatical phancy he beheld the Resurrection I apprehend him not so much deluded Bellarmine is so dim sighted when he list that he can find nothing in all St. Peters words to be called a sin no not when he would have enjoyed Heaven upon Earth and said Master it is good for us to be here Licet in tali excessu mentis errate potuerit Petrus certe peccare nullo modo potuit Though Peter might err in this extasie yet he could not sin for he knew not what he said Indeed Paul had been a blasphemer and a persecuter Yet he obtained mercy because he did it ignorantly in unbelief 1 Tim. i. 14. Though he did those things through ignorance yet those things were sins for why did he obtain mercy but because he had been a sinner So it betokens a sin that Peter said he knew not what Our Saviour told James and John they askt they knew not what Mar. x. 38. Was there not a trespass for all their ignorance They that crucified our Saviour knew not what they did Luke xxiii 34. Was it not a bloudy sin for all their Ignorance St. Paul says of false Teachers they understood not what they said nor whereof they affirmed 1 Tim. i. 7. God will pardon slips of ignorance that they shall not be judged with Hell fire but we must not excuse them so far that they shall not be judged for sins Therefore of all Opinions their moderation sounds to my ear most judicious that make this error of Peters a small sin because it proceeded from vehement love but yet a sin because it proceeded from precipitated ignorance Excellently Optatus against Parmenian touching some other slips of this Apostle Ipsius Sancti Petri beatitudo veniam tribuat si illud commemorare videar quod factum constat legitur Let not blessed Peter think amiss if I shew him offending where the fact is manifest and recorded in holy Scripture The Gloss took the right estimation of Peters words upon this hint that Christ gave him no answer again it was frivolous and inordinate he spake and Christ gave him no reply to approve it yet it was no impious speech therefore he gave him no sharp rebuke to condemn it St. Ambrose descants upon it many ways and gives this close Proximum indulgentiae est quod de excessu venit pli amoris That which comes from the excess of love is pardonable and will obtain indulgence As Poets and Orators make men speak strangely strong lines as some odd brain'd men call them so fear admiration joy rapture drew these words not well weighed from the Apostle And though we shall give account of every idle word yet the word of God hath taught us that not only where sins are of small growth but even where sin abounds grace will abound much more through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN THE SIXTH SERMON UPON The Transfiguration LUKE ix 34. While he thus spake there came a Cloud and overshadowed them and they feared as they entred into the Cloud UNruly passions can yield no cause why they are stirred up but our own natural impotency they surprize us of a sudden before we can meditate why we did admit them and therefore are obnoxious to many questions why they should be so but it is not easie to afford a reasonable answer Says David Psal xxvii 1. The Lord is my light and my salvation whom then shall I fear The Lord is the strength or protector of my life of whom then shall I be afraid He could pose himself to ask why he should be fearful yet he could not be rid of fear It is apparent in his Psalm that there were two arms of comfort to embrace him Light and Protection and the Gloss doth branch them thus illuminatio spectat ad animi consilia salus ad removenda corporis pericula that Light is to direct the counsels of the mind that Protection is to remove away all hurt and offence from the body Had not Peter all this before him that David speaks of and after the most ample manner that ever was seen upon earth and yet he was so weak in heart that his fear was exceeding strong Peter might truly say the Lord was his light for here was a Cloud to illuminate him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bright Cloud says St. Matthew it was Gods Cloud above any other and God was in the Cloud as it is manifest in the next verse then he might truly say the Lord was the protection of his life for the Cloud overshadowed him and so he was safe as a Bird under the feathers of the Almighty but if you ask him with the Psalmist Of whom then shall I be afraid he is not able to reply In the compass of this accident of the Transfiguration I find him thrice exceeding fearful every time upon a new object and occasion but you must find out this by looking narrowly into the History as all the three Evangelists have related it Observe St. Mark and he implies that Moses and Elias appeared who preacht of our Saviours Sufferings as I have told you before Peter and the other two Disciples heard it and trembled at it so much that he spake distractedly says St. Mark He wist not what to say for they were sore afraid Then St. Luke as I have read it before you in my Text notes that they were perplext at another bout when the Cloud appeared and that Christ and Moses and Elias entred into the Cloud St. Matthew reveals another thing that troubled them how a voice from Heaven was heard This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him When the Disciples heard it they fell on their face and were sore afraid I have met with no Expositor who hath observ'd these three distinct occasions and eruptions of their fear yet they are all apparent to him that will examine it And I mark it how every new passage of admiration in this Miracle took them with a quivering till at the third time Christ encouraged them therein St. Matthew hath helpt us with a passage which the others have omitted Matth. xvii 7. Jesus came and touched them and said arise be not afraid Therefore piecing that addition in St. Matthew to this Text in St. Luke which I must do to handle all occurrences in this Transfiguration faithfully the parts will arise to these two the Fear of the Disciples and their Succour In the first part I will
he called unto Moses out of the midst of the Cloud Some more veneration certainly redounds to the Divine Majesty by drawing a Veil before him that his glory may be kept secret The Mercy-seat from whence God promised the Children of Israel to tell them all things whatsoever they should do it was covered with the wings of the Cherubins that every rash eye might not behold it But this was not all that a shadowed darkness should beget veneration there was another reason that men might see no manner of shape or resemblance to make them figure the Lord in any form and commit Idolatry I will take Salmeron the Jesuit at his word in this Notation Ne si aliqua effigies videretur Deus pingeretur a Cloud did invelop the glory of the Father whensoever he spake that men might not say they saw his likeness and therefore paint or carve an image like unto him And since the Lord continues to speak out of a Cloud as well in the New Testament as in the Old surely his purpose continues the same to bridle our inclinations to Idolatry O that men knew what this Cloud meant and they would never be so forward to make the Images of God and they that will not learn that wholsom lesson from the Pillar of Cloud shall be consum'd by the Pillar of Fire Let us come from the substance of it to the qualities and certainly St. Matthew hath left us matter to work upon that he says it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bright Cloud it seems it lookt like that part of Heaven which we see in a fair night and is called via lactea the Milky way which is the concurrence of the light of many small Stars as if it were a Lane made or paved with dimpling Stars Such a Cloud must needs be more delectable than the clearest Summer day which had no thickness in the air but were all serenity And such it must be in a great measure in Aquinas's interpretation for when Peter talkt of Tabernacles close shady Arbors to keep out the light of the Sun he was thus confuted says Aquinas that light did rather become the Saints than shady darkness Claritas mundi innovati erit sanctorum tabernaculum when there shall be a new Heaven and a new Earth bedeckt with infinite light that 's the Tabernacle of the Blessed which shall abide for ever But the chief reason was to fulfil that promise which David knew should be performed the Lord shall make my darkness to be light here was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World Jesus Christ it is He that came to bring a Lantern to our feet and a Light unto our paths that we should not stumble and fall In the Old Testament the Clouds where God appeared were densissima tenebrosae thick and dark Clouds Exod. xix 16. vapours and pillars of smoak in the New Covenant the darkness is dispersed and the Cloud remaines white and of a pure lustre For the first Testament is full of Ceremonies and Shadows of things to come the Covenant of Faith in the Gospel exhibits the manifest and open truth says Paschasius Ratbertus it was neither a fiery Cloud nor a dark Cloud but a brightsom quia non in igne terroris nunc venit non in caligine caecitatis sed in lumine veritatis the terror of fire is overpast the mistiness of Clouds is cleared truth comes forth like the morning and is ascended to the height like the Sun at noon day Nay as the things to be believed are clear so there are no mists and fogginess in their affections where the spirit of grace will abide Non calligat affectibus hominum sed revelat occulta says St. Ambrose Our depraved imaginations shall not make the truth a lie but God shall bring to light the hidden things before the eyes of all men What 's the whole Gospel indeed but nubes lucida a very Cloud in it self but made lightsome and perspicuous by the gift of interpretation For although the Veil of the Law is removed away yet even among the Evangelical Writers there are says St. Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certain things hard to be understood the Incarnation of our Lord the Resurrection of the Dead the ineffable mystery of the Holy Trinity still we are in nubibus these are thick Clouds and it is impossible for the natural man with the dim eye of nature to see through them without doubt great is the mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh Faith is a very mysterious thing but that the cloud is illuminated by the revelation of the Holy Spirit and as he that sees through the Water or through a Cloud suppose an Oar through the Water or the Sun through a Cloud will rather trust to his judgment than to his outward sense which would much deceive him so because we do all see the secrets of God through a thick Cloud let us rather trust to our faith than to our reason there are many strong delusions incident to reason because it looks through the clouds of sin and infirmity And Beloved as for the Priests that should keep the Key of knowledge what is their Office and Calling but to make Clouds appear bright And therefore Christ said of his Apostles Vos estis lux mundi Ye are the light of the world Though now adays it is the fashion of many to make that which was lightsom before appear as duskie as a Cloud Such as especially about Gods unsearchable decrees tangle knots and ravel Divinity that you shall find no end And after much is spoken or written you may say Incertior sum multó quà m dudum I was in a Cloud before that was dark now I am in a smoak that puts out my eyes All the light which some voluminous Compilers afford which would teach men Gods secret purpose in their Election and the way of their own heart in their Conversion both which are inscrutable it is like a Candle in a Thieves Lanthorn perhaps they see a little themselves but I am sure no body else shall be the better for their light Finally to end this Point God who can colour a thick Cloud with whiteness and make it transparent is able to lay the dark conveyances of our hypocrisie conspicuous and naked before him Laban could not find his Idols because Rachel had hid them in her Tent but God can discover those sins which are our greatest Idols though we have set them up in the inmost corner of our heart If the Spirit of Elisha went along with Gehazi when Gehazi ran after Naaman to take a Bribe then the Lord that gave that Spirit to Elisha traceth along all the Compacts of Simony all the fine conveyances of Bribery all manner of Corruption though it be dark as midnight The fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is 1 Cor. iii. 13. When it once catcheth fire it will be
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
Spirit of grace into the Soul and is not discerned there it sanctifies there it reforms there it changeth the mind and yet we cannot understand what manner of quality it is a thing of no appearance and yet of infinite efficacy Our senses are the Cinque-ports of all humane knowledg if any thing come into us either it must enter by those passages or we have no means to know how it should enter without those passages But when we feel the agitation of grace in our heart nothing is left us but to say Lord how camest thou hither We know not which way thou camest The Jews were sealed outwardly in the Body with the Mark of Circumcision whereby every man knew his Brother but our Mark is privily imprinted upon the Soul the Holy Spirit whereby we are sealed unto the day of Redemption whereby God only knoweth his Elect. God knows it the Conscience of the faithful feels but if we go about to consider what manner of Essence or Influence it is it will amaze us that we cannot understand it Again do you wonder at things which are rarely found then marvel to see how sparingly the Grace of God doth grow upon the Earth To whom hath the Arm of the Lord been revealed and who hath believed our Report The Sun illuminates half the World at once with his Light and leaves the other half in Darkness but the tenth part of the Sons of Men are not beautified with the Light of Grace nay the sixth part of the Earth hath not heard whether there be an Holy Ghost It strikes me with Admiration how so many do want the Heavenly Calling for the Ravens and the Sparrows do not want the comfort of their daily Food Naturas rerum minimarum non destituit Deus the smallest things that be God doth not leave them destitute yet there are Millions of men and women that continue in a barbarous and unrepented life So that it turns to be the Subject of Admiration to find out those few that are the small Remnant of Jacob. Christ himself marvelled at the faith of the Centurion a Commander and so submissive a Gentile and so devout an Example seldom seen and the Lord did marvel at it So he lifted up his voice in Acclamation to the Canaanitish womans praise O woman great is thy faith a denied Supplicant and so constant a disgraced Supplicant and so patient Seldom doth the Grace of God inhabit where it proves so well But O love the Saints and magnifie God in their good success Such as serve God truly in spirit are no usual sight therefore the coming down of the Holy Ghost was matter of Amazement But above all the Effects and Benefits of it are so beneficial to mankind that it amounts to the highest admiration It opens unto us the meaning of the Scriptures without which the Eunuch may read but he knows not the interpretation it teacheth us to pray with zeal and faith without which our words are but babling it makes us hear the Word of God to our edifying and salvation without which it is lost in stony or thorny ground it puts the tast of Christs Body and Bloud into our mouths when we receive the Sacrament without which we eat and drink our own damnation it comforts us though we find the horror of sin in our conscience and tribulation in the world without which the vengeance of God and the wrath of man would overwhelm us it seasons our actions with piety and obedience without which nothing that we can do but is corrupted with the root of bitterness it intenerates the most stony Hearts it hath civilized the most barbarous Nations it hath brought in Nurture and the Use of Laws and Discipline among them that lived by nothing but rapine and robbery it hath made the Flesh of Man which was a Cage of uncleanness to be the Temple of God Upon whomsoever the Spirit of Grace doth rest the Lycaonians may say of them without offence Gods are come down unto us in the likeness of Men. You may justly extol it with a boundless Praise and a boundless Praise must needs close in with an Extasie of admiration You would bless your selves with wonder to see a mighty Cure wrought upon the Body by the Finger of God a Cure above nature and is it not more astonishable to see a supernatural Cure wrought upon the desperate Diseases and Distempers of the Soul If one that is born blind be made to see O then they cry out Never was the like seen from the beginning of the world Consider your selves I pray you in the better part are we not by nature blind and ignorant groping in darkness and cannot find a true step to Heaven The Spirit is eyes unto the understanding it makes us walk in marvelous light so that we shall not dash our foot against the stones and ruins of tentations which of these two is the greater Miracle To cast out a Devil from him that is possessed would make the Earth ring of the mighty virtue Doth not Grace cast out a Legion of Devils from the Soul To skip over all other instances but one no Miracle which Fame did publish with a lowder Trumpet than to raise the Dead chiefly to raise up Lazarus that had been four days dead Why a continuance in sin is the death of the Soul and no Paradox it is to say it is an immortal death Yet Christ rolls away the stone of impenitence under which it is buried looseth our hands and feet which were bound with the cords of Satan calls us forth from the Grave of Custom renews our spirit and makes us live unto holiness and you being dead in sins and trespasses hath he quickned Colos ii 13. So you see how hard it is to know the Spirit how rare to find it for totus mundus in maligno positus how copious and infinite in his Effects and Benefits it is above our capacity to measure it and most worthy of amazement to admire it Now as we know the Gift of the Holy Ghost better than these Jews so it is the more admirable to us by how much we know it the better but the persons of the Apostles were better known to the Jews than to us and that circumstance they fell upon as a strange thing which they could not dive into why the Lord did put so great a Treasure into such homely Vessels There was not a Moses among them skill'd in all the Learning of the Egyptians not a Joshua in all the cluster that could lead a Battel not a Samuel that had worn a Linnen Ephod from his childhood before the Lord not a Rabbi not a Pharisee not one of polite Education It is that which confounded the Multitude at the 7. verse Behold are not all these which speak Galilaeans There was some reverence done to them in that Character they might have said are not all these Fishermen Publicans and Ideots Truly if there were nothing else these
mea c. The preservation of the innocent doth necessarily follow upon the detection of their enimies yet a question stands in my way and I must remove it both in this place and elsewhere Why God doth more often express how the treacherous-hearted are inclosed than how his Children are delivered Because their wickedness doth more deserve shame and detection than our slender righteousness can deserve preservation and therefore they are pointed at more visibly inde educet c. Here are two discomforts for all those that lay baits against the soul of the righteous 1. Inde educet thence he will take them Gods eye is never off though they dig into Hell 2. Manus ejus educet though Hell be on their side yet this hand is mightier and will break them in pieces like a Potters vessel For the first The eyes of God are upon the conspiracies of men like burning-glasses and cast a light upon those things which afterward they will consume to ashes The very Heathen says Clemens of Alexandria thought that nothing did more completely make a God than to see all things and to be seen of no man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore one says of the Crocodile that the Egyptians in that vain Idol did resemble a God Quia ex omnibus aquaticis habet oculos obtectos ut cernat nec cernatur It hath eyes so befilmed that perceives afar off and is not perceived What should we light Candles to the Gods in the day time says Seneca giving that wipe as I think to the Jews Quoniam lumine nec Dii egent ne homines quidem delectantur fuligine For neither God can stand in need of candle-Candle-light and men can take no great pleasure in smoke In vain then shall sinners earth themselves in Vaults and make Sellers their secret Pavilions to hide their head Though Mountains were tost upon Mountains between heaven and them yet is not the eye of Gods Divinity more active than Christs Humanity Though the doors be shut to enter in and come unto them I will search Jerusalem with Candles saith the Lord Zeph. i. 12. That is not all the grave shall open and give up her dead The Grave is a place deep and hidden but Hell is a darker corner than that yet Satan himself appeared before the Lord. Job i. But above all darkness the thoughts of the heart are most obscure and the secrets of all hearts shall lie naked before him Quo fugis Encelade quascunque accesseris oras sub Jove semper eris You are as near to Gods eye in the utmost part of the Sea as standing before his Altar But secondly that the counsels of evil men may be of no effect as the eye of God is always open so is not his hand folded up in his bosom but his hand shall take them thence that hand which never any saw alone but King Belshazzar and you know what followed his Kingdom departed from him Indeed all the parts of the body which are made both for defence and offence are attributed unto God for the confusion of his enemies From the arm to the hand from the hand to the finger from the finger to the least touch if he do but touch the Mountains they shall smoke Against great invasions there is brachium Domini a stretched out arm to deliver Israel from Egypt But when he will fashion out deliverance with wonderful salvation as if a workman had wrought it curiously with a tool then the Prophets speak of the hand of God but when the Lord doth demonstrate his great affection and give us to learn some godly lesson by deliverance Verè digitus Detest hic that is a token of the finger of God His finger beloved doth always point his arm is always stretched his hand is always open And as Vegetius said of Chariots armed with sharp Sithes that at first they were made for terrour and afterward forscorn So is it with all malicious practises which are beaten a while upon the forge and Blacksmiths are busie at the fire to hammer out some Engine for our affrightment but the Lord comes down and brings victory to his Chosen that he may go up on high like a Conquerour with a merry noise and as the Lord of Hosts with the sound of the Trumpet Holy Bernard was toucht with a spice of vain ambition in a godly Exercise but recovering himself casts away Satan with these words Nec propter te hoc opus coeptum est nec propter te finietur So we may be bold to say in the name of our God touching our Religion it was neither reformed for Satans sake neither shall it be deformed by his Conspiracies Propter salutem duorum hominum duo millia porcorum perierunt says St. Austin upon Mat. viii that two men might be saved from the Devils that possessed them two thousand Swine ran headlong and perished in the Sea Much less will the Lord suffer so great a flock as he hath in this Kingdom to be yielded up to the prey of the hunter or that the wild Boar of the wood should root it up Quamvis ad inferos though he should root and dig to Hell c. When John and James would have called for fire from heaven Christ rebuked them saying You know not what spirit you are of as who should say that is not the Spirit of the Gospel O beloved they that would call up for fire from Hell what Spirit wot you are they of Why that that ever was and ever will be the spirit of the Jusuite Papalins God rebuke them Lord how often have I said with my self surely the calamity of the poor Indians is much to be lamented whom God hath delivered over into mens hands of such bloudy Religion certainly the report of those Millions whom they slew with the Sword is as true as lamentable For what would they not do against savage men that worshipped Devils and are forlorn of God who would have caused the Channels to run with bloud in that Kingdom where Christ is truly praised But the hope of the Hypocrite says Job shall be swept away like the Spiders Web. Spiders Webs you know are spun from the vapour of their own poison from within their secret bowels So are the devices of the treacherous Spiders Webs are woven in the darkest and most unfrequented corners of the house so are the devices of the treacherous Spiders Webs are long a framing with much curiosity but a feather sweeps them away in a moment so shall be the devices of the treacherous But admit that God be so careful for us and so powerful against tyrants that seek after our soul Vt te ipsum serves non respicis shall we cast all the burden of our safety upon Gods providence Because Christ is praying and watching in Mount Olive◠shall Peter sleep Is it enough to have a Sermon of Thanksgiving to day And an Anthem to sing an holy Jubilee And leave all the rest
appointed Which is the fountain of all discontent not to stay Gods leisure and to complain of his Providence as if he had broke his day Such will fall into a passion as if they wanted ease and that the ground was not soft enough under their feet though the way should lead them to the Kingdom of Heaven But a true faith expects Gods leisure from day to day will neither faint nor fret that his suit hangs long in the Court of Requests Many sores will never be well healed unless they be long dressing and many deliverances will never be throughly perfect unless they be long settling and many mercies are like seed in the ground and will be long growing A second Instance of grudging is in the 5. verse Our soul loatheth this light bread Is that a fault in bread to be light see how they commend it in dispraising it I am sure they came lightly by it It fell like a hoar frost about their Tents they neither ploughed nor sowed nor reaped they did but stoop and gather it they lived as easily as young birds in the nest when the Dam puts meat into their mouths They did not see how God did take away the curse of Adam from them to eat bread in the sweat of their brows Let them look to this and make use of it that are of the best rank that God do not lay this sin to their charge on this wise you labour not at all yet you want not you have store enough and ease enough into the bargain yet never content They that work hard for one dayes food depend upon God and call upon him more than they that have before hand for a year nay sufficient for an age Now put both the exceptions of the Israelites together for their bones and their belly for their journey and their bread and you see a little painfulness was repined at as a great deal of misery and a great benefit slighted for but a little favour But was there so much evil in this sin to cause a flight of Serpents to fall upon the Camp I believe so and I will prove it First there are two sins so scandalous to the Jewish Nation that Philo conceals them nay Josephus out of more love to his Country then fidelity in History never remembers them those be the worshipping of the Golden Calf and this serpentine sin of murmuring at Salmonah Therefore this artifice of Josephus tells you that murmuring was one of the two sins of the first magnitude Secondly it is a filthy crime to obscure great benefits under a black cloud of unthankfulness They murmured at Moses whom no praises could sufficiently extol for his rare deservings He brought them out of Egypt and made them all free men that were slaves What recompence could they make him for their liberty They were beholding to him for one thing more which was greater than all the rest to uphold them in true Religion and the right Worship of God so that it was said of them and of no other Nation in the Earth Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God Deut. xii 2. In all things he ruled them with a faithful hand yet they were ever at this key O that it were otherwise that it were better thus and thus which were no better than Nebuchadonosor's Dreams he knew not himself what he had dreamt of when he was awake The use of it from their error is that we should sit down and count how many blessings we have received and be thankful rather than fret at a few imaginary inconveniences which I can puff away with a little breath as easily as a downy blow-ball O all ye works of the Lord which he hath wrought in England in less than two years praise him and magnify him for ever We have cause to frame a ditty balsamed all over with a perfume of thanksgiving for all things that God hath done for us from the center of the Earth to the top of Heaven Thirdly God hath laid a great burden upon the shoulders of the Ruler to provide for the safety of so many millions and what reward hath he in this World but acceptance and encouragement from his Lieges This was the comfort of David 2 Sam. iii. 36. Whatsoever the King did pleased the People But if so much merit meet with frowardness then says Moses I cannot bear your cumbrance burden and strife Deut. i. 12. And if they weary the good spirit of Moses doubtless they shall receive the recompence of their own bitter spirit Nay if the Ruler be not the better for your good word let him not be the worse for your undutiful language A reasonable thing as can be askt If you will not honour him do not murmur at him that 's the least that can be required and too little in conscience But we must get what we can from bad debtors To be short in this point if you speak evil of that which you are bound to praise if you fall foul on the ways of God because you will not wait his leisure if you pick quarrels at good things for which you are bound to give thanks I appeal not as I might to mans judgment to dry up the filth that runs from faction with the spunge of the Laws I refer them to God and to the Host of his venemous creatures which he will send to correct their poisonous tongues The sin is like to nothing more than an Asp or Viper no serpent so much a serpent as a murmuring spirit therefore such a punishment was a fit cover to clap upon such a sin The Lord sent serpents among them A Judgment 1. vile 2. painful 3. strong 4. incurable First a vile one to die serpent-bitten was inglorious to the warlike stomach of that People their sword could not help them and if they kept not in their Tents like Prisoners one of these Sergeants of God would shoot through the air and clap upon them Let no man say a woman slew me says Abimelech Judg ix 54. Let not the uncircumcised thrust me through says Saul 1 Sam. xxxi 4. But this was far below them both and most opprobrious to humane nature For as the Devil could not choose a viler creature wherein to tempt us so there is not a meaner on earth to chastise us They might be for ought we know created on purpose for this office of wrath as the Frogs and Locusts in Egypt or gathered from all quarters to fall thick upon their Camp as Quails were brought from all places to feed them there might be store of them in the Wilderness before now but never stirred up till now to do execution I define it not but which way soever they came they were never a whit the better It is a reproach upon man who had the dominion of the Creatures and saw them all put under his feet that every paultry worm is able to turn against him and bring him to the dust Marvel not
which hath five barley loaves and two fishes that he did belong to him and his fellow Disciples 't is neither in the Book nor in the nearest likelihood Baronius says that it is descended by Tradition that this Lad was St. Martialis who became an holy Martyr and was Bishop of Limoges in France Whosoever the party was if it be yielded as no man can refuse it that these Viands were his own how came they into Christs hands without bargain and sale for ought we read When Offertories were frequent in the Church every Sunday a voluntary oblation presented to the Lord by all that could give then the answer to this scruple was quickly understood If this were St. Martialis piety revealed it self in him in his tender years for I may safely say he surrendred these things up unto Christ as a willing Offertory as soon as he knew that our Lord did ask for them No offices of Religion will vanish away insensibly so soon as those that be chargeable For can any man tell how free Oblations are quite laid down and disused among us unless it be at some Solemn Festivities and Magnificent Funerals no reason but that two much thrift hath marr'd our thankfulness Abel and Noah and Abraham did not forget it in those Sacrifices which they offered up unto the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law of nature egg'd them on gratitude provokt them say the Clementine Constitutions to which I can give no less than the antiquity of the fourth Century The Israelites beside their Tithes and First-fruits and other Ceremonies to which they were taskt were left to their own discretion for the Choice Vow and the Freewill Offering and they perform'd it sumptuously knowing that it was a glory due to the name of the Lord to bring an offering into his House of their own accord Psal xcvi 8. The lights that shined in this piety under the Gospel was the poor Widow that cast her two Mites freely into the Corbâ—n Mary Magdalen that poured a Box of Spicknard upon Christs head of great estimation beside the Wise men of the East that cast their Gold and Myrrh before his Cradle and Nichodemus that dedicated his hundred pound weight of Aloes and Spices to his dead Body in the Sepulchre It were ostentation of reading to point to free Oblations out of Antiquity for there was no Age or Church without them Happy was he whose life was accounted so unreprovable that the Bishop would suffer him to bring a Gift to the Altar Sycophants Drunkards Whoremongers unjust Judges all scandalous persons were turned back disgracefully with their Oblation in their hand and it would not be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but such as possessed any substance by lawful increase they did voluntarily bring a Portion to the Lord to acknowledg their Tenure that they held all from him and their debt that they owed all unto him And this is pressed unto you by putting the case if Jesus took the loaves by free donation But what shall we say if he commanded them before they were offered to him Bring them hither to me so he speaks in St. Matthew By what Title did he require them be brought unto him or by what authority did he take them if another had the right possession even by that authority wherein he was invested in the dominion of all earthly things by that Prerogative whereby he sent for the Ass and the Colt when he rid into Jerusalem Bring them unto me and if any man say ought unto you ye shall say the Lord hath need of them and straight way he will send them By that propriety which he had in the Gadarens Swine by that right which he had in the Figtree which he cursed manifest signs that he did dispose of all things as he pleased without asking leave of the owners Belike say some Papalines there was a temporal Soveraignty in our Saviour over all things here beneath and this did rest upon St. Peter after him and is now immanent in St. Peters Successors all the Kingdoms of this World are theirs nec Constantinus dedit quickquam Sylvestro in strict justice Constantine gave nothing to Pope Sylvester for he was Lord of all before a poor plea for so proud a purchase And surely Pilat was more just in this point than those flattering Canonists The Jews exclaimed against our Saviour that he made himself a King Pilat could find no such fault in him but pronounced him innocent And well he might for all things were given unto him by the Father yet not by ruling all things like a King in his Kingdom but by uniting the humane nature to the Godhead and that ye doubt it not but that he had power over all Creatures as he was Man by the influence of that hypostatical union he had a name written on his thigh King of Kings and Lord of Lords Revel xix 16. super femur mark that upon his thigh that is upon his humane nature Now what should I call this Dominion of Christs whereby he was made Heir of all things Heb. i. 2. Surely it surpasseth all description and it hath no name But I am sure he held it not after a Regal way as David and Solomon were Kings in Israel It was transcendent above humane Majesty commanding Men and Angels Heaven and Earth Quick and Dead things sensible and insensible yet withall he was most subject to Rulers paying Tribute to Cesar and refusing to divide a small Inheritance between them that were contentious A mystical Kingdom and not to be exprest ruling over all and yet most obedient to Magistrates commanding every thing under Heaven and yet ministring to his Servants seized of no Inheritance yet having right in every Inheritance quod de suo non habuit sumpsit de alieno says St. Austin of these Loavs he had not bread of his own but that which another had became his own there was a justice paramount wherein no mortal Creature succeeds him which gave him interest in all things Therefore without offence or injury to the owner he took the Loaves But if he had them from his Disciples amicorum omnia communia then he might usurp them without any litigious brabble moved against his power and that the possession was theirs may be as true as the contrary the truth inclines rather to that side as I conceive because our Saviour said unto them date vos illis give ye them to eat and they and none else took away the twelve Baskets of that which remained And was this the purveyance which they had made against hunger five barley loaves and two fishes little enough and coarse enough God knows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostom this was the Phylosophy and austere temperance of the Disciples they abhorred luxury and superfluity Yet do you miss nothing to make up the Meal where was their drink the fish is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by our Evangelist
is a semplar how such as have great heaps should disperse them It had been a churlish and an envious act in the Disciples if when lump upon lump succeeded in their clutch they had piled it all up in their own baskets and reserved it for their own belly most ridiculous you will say they could never consume it Believe it their Parsimony is no less odious that gather and purchase and fill their Treasures without all Christian communication nay without remorse of humanity to them that are oppressed If the poor are hungry and naked it is not Gods fault the Rich have enough for all and if it stick in the Misers hands as the Stone stops the passage of the Urine in the bladder let him take heed of the torments to come by that similitude It is worthy to be attentively heeded that it being our Saviours purpose to give his Apostles exact breeding in all works of Piety he did steale into them this wholsom Lesson while their minds were exalted in doing Miracles to do good and to impart out of all the substance that was poured upon them It hath all the conditions of a good Alms so absolute as it were in a figure as it may well sway with the conscience as much as any Precept It was performed chearfully without excuse without grudging Judas was not so bad at this time to oppose it with Quorsum perditio haec To what end is this waste 2. It was distributed with a frank and a generous hand till every one had as much as they would 3. It came before it was ask'd Non expectat petentem sed praeoccupat 4. They were not such as did distrust that their store did spend too fast for it was verified in them that their left hand knew not what their right hand did 5. It came to pass that they had a gracious reward in eodem genere for when they had dispatched their Dole and had left to give they had more remaining than when they began to give that is the use that our Church hath collected out of this Miracle in the Collect before the Gospel That we plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works may be plenteously rewarded Gaudeat indigens de dato tuo ut gaudias de dato Dei it is St. Austin Let the needy be comforted with that which you give and you shall be more comforted with that which God gives The Lord did bless all the store of his people Israel and put much into their hands that they might send to the poor Deut. xv 9. The abundance of Corinth is endebted to help the want of Macedonia 2 Cor. viii The Christians of Antioch no sooner heard that there would be a great famine in the days of Claudius but presently they sent aid to the Brethren in Judea among whom says Orosius most memorable was the bounty of Helena Queen of the Adiabeni Nay the very Ravens what God did put into their mouths they brought it to Elias if the Prophet had lived among the Rooks and Ravens of these days they would rather have taken all away than have brought him any thing But the Instruments which obey God not only rational but sensible insensible are all for distribution as for the proper use of their creation He made the Sun to give light the Fire to give heat the Water to quench thirst the Sea to give fish the Earth to give fodder the Cattel to give milk and wool and surely think you that he hath made any man so un-uniform to all his Creatures that he should take and gather and give nothing Artaxerxes Longimanus plaid upon his own infirmity that he was born with the right hand longer than the left that his right hand which was fair and large might give magnificently and that his left hand which was short and shrunk up might receive but sparingly What he inferred out of the infirmity of his natural birth may better be applied to every of us out of the sanctity of our regeneration But Artaxerxes though an Heathen yet he had moral justice in him What say you to Julian the most profligate of Idolators yet you shall hear as good a passage from him he was desirous to transplant-some of the best and most plausible Vertues of the Christians into the stock of the Pagans and he wrote a Letter to one Arsacius the chief Pontif of the Superstition of the Gentiles to borrow three things from the practice of the Christians 1. To sing sweet Hymns and Psalms when they assembled together as we did 2. To appoint some Canonical Penances for Delinquents as we had 3. To provide for the sick the decayed and such as were in misery in Hospitals and Mansions of charity for says he I blush that they should provide for their own Poor and for ours and we are not compassionate to help our own Well might Julian smell the sweet odour of the Christians charity but he and his could never imitate it It is not Philosophy on which he doated but Faith which he had renounced that teacheth us to love God and our Neighbour with our own detriment which instructs us to wash away our sins with tears to wipe them with alms and to dry them up with fasting Julian and his Sectaries had the Vein seared up which should open to give alms because they did not believe in the reward to come The reversion of an hundred fold for that which is given in this life is that which visits Prisoners redeems Captives For if the Heathen as Pliny says canonized Tyrants that were bountiful and made them Gods will not the Lord do glorious things for his Servants in that Title and make them Denisons with the Angels But would you drink of the Brook in the way and not await so long for the futurition of a recompence Why look into the business we have in hand Quantò plura dederis tantò plura largius confluent the more the Disciples distributed to them that were set down the more they had to distribute they spent so well that they fared the better and abounded Avaro semper aliquid deest a pinching sordid wretch is always whining and somewhat he wants that he would have for the Soul is of that capaciousness that it is made to receive God and not this World capacem Dei quicquid Deo minus est non implebit says Bernard very well nothing which is infinitely less than God can fill that which is capable of God Therefore a griping Chremes must needs be indigent whereas he that is merciful and free-handed shall have sufficient to content him for the present and a portion to spare for the time to come Some Monks that are good at telling Tales have jobb'd in an odd Story upon the occasion of my Text that Pope Hadrian the Second brought out forty pieces of silver to give to so many poor that were at his Gate and when he had dealt to every one to a penny there