his soule was a diuinitie to his body so was his diuinitie a soule to his humanity To create man God â—reathed a spirit like himselfe into him him to redeeme man God himselfe entred into him and though the diuinitie could not hee crucified yet was the vnion of it with the passion of the humanitie counted as the passion of the diuinitie Thus by the bountie of interpretation and communication of proprieties they verily crucified the Lord of glory Whose carcasse now as cold as death raises a flame of loue in the breasts of Ioseph and Nicodemus Ioseph in a couragious Christianitie goes vnto Pilate and begges the body When Christ was aliue Iudas sould him and now he is dead Pilate giues him away whose body though it were preserued by the diuinitie yet Nicodemus sweetens it with Myrrhe and Deuotion They wrap him in a linnen cloth not so much concealing his nakednesse as expressing his innocence They lay him in Iosephs Tombe which was in a garden and was not then this garden Paradise It was a glorious sepulchre as if by the prophesie of loue it had been proportioned to the guest Whose bodie being heere entertayned with magnificent pietie his illustrious soule forces a triumph in Hell crucifies the Deuill and ouerthrowes the tyranny of damnation He does not take away damnation but contract it And now you see after this redemption of our Sauiour you may like Thomas put your hand and faith into the wound of his side receiue saluation You may behold the opening mouth of this wound which with eloquent bloud inuites you to faith and loue You may behold the Lord of glory comming from Edom with his died garments from Bosrah This is the Lord of glory glorious in his apparell glorious in his nakednesse glorious in his mightinesse to saue Wherefore art thou red in thine apparell and thy garments like him that treadeth in the Wine-fat Thou hast trodden the Wine-presse alone and of the people there was none with thee O what did cause these soundings of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards vs Who can expresse thy sorrowes and thy louing-kindnesse towards vs Who can expresse what thou hast done for our soules Thou wast afflicted thou wast despised thou wast whipt wounded bruised condemned sacrificed for our soules thou wast made a seruant of death thou wast numbred with the transgressours thou madest thy graue with the wicked for our soules Wherefore God has highly exalted thee and giuen thee a name aboue all names that at the Name of Iesus euery knee shall bow of things in Heauen and things in earth and things vnder the earth And euery tongue shall confesse that Iesus Christ is the Lord of glory And the foure and twentie Elders shall fall downe before the Lambe with their Harps and golden Vials full of Odours and in their new Song shall they prayse thee And the Angels about thy throne euen ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands shall say with a loud voice Worthy is the Lambe that was slaine to receiue power and riches and wisedome and strength and honour and glory Therefore with Angels and Arch-angels and with all the company of Heauen wee laude and magnifie thy glorious Name euermore praysing thee and saying Holy holy holy Lord of glory Heauen and earth are full of thy glory and of thy mercies The Angels in Heauen wonder at thy mercies the powers of Hell tremble at thy mercies thou thy selfe triumphest in thy mercies and the sonnes of men rejoyce in thy mercies Wherefore O thou that takest away the sinnes of the world deliuer vs by thine agonie and bloudie swear by thy crosse and passion by thy precious death and buriall deliuer vs And wee will fall downe before thy glorie and we will sing praises vnto thy mercie and we will triumph in the victorie of thy bloud and we will for euer euen for euer acknowledge that Thou the crucified Lord of glorie art the Christ of God and the Iesus of men The end A Sermon preached at Saint Marie's in Oxford on Easter-Tuesday 1623. 1. CORINTH 15.20 Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that slept IT were vnnecessarie art feare to stirâ—e to keepe the liuing awake with a preface when as the dead are at the businesse of a resurrection WoÌ„ders blessings are aboue their auditors who must be glad to be staâ—â—led to the newes Now was our Sauior task'd with his most vnweildie miracle His mercie had before bestowed many vpon others but now his power tries one vpon himselfe His diuinitie acts a miracle vpon his humanitie repairing this second Trinitie of his person from the immortall ruines of a God a soule and a carcasse Three dayes did hee consecrate for the performance of this wonder and three dayes doe wee consecrate for the perswading to this wonder which should haue beene the joy and was the shame of the Apostles who were slow to apprehend it though Christ was their Schoole-master They had not as yet learned their owne Creed which their peruerse sense was pleased to bee taught not so much by our Sauiour as by his sepulchre whose opening mouth when it sent forth Christ the Word pronounced his Resurrection which is the Epitaph of God Thus did the ambition of the graâ—e instruct the preuented Angell and though it cannot as the multitude of Tombes with the voice and conquest of proud Death tell vs whom it does captiue yet does it remember to vs whom it did Which assumed triumph of death is as short as its combat Ioseph's deuotion bestowed this Tombe vpon our Sauiour but our Sauiours victorie bestowed it vpon death which since his Resurrection has lien buried in his tombe But can a dead man bee warmed againe into life And can the lungs that haue forgot to breathe learne to breathe againe Faith indeed can answer this with as much ease as speed and being honoured with an imitating omnipotencie can with a coequall extension of assent apply it selfe to the number and degrees of Gods actions But as hard it was to raise the faith as the body of Saint Thomas nay it was his body that caused him to beleeue the Resurrection of Christ's bodie which was a way of faith more certaine then gratefull Yet must the vnderstanding bee so raised before it can beleeue that the bodie can bee raised that the diuine indulgence does gradually chastize the difficultie by the length of instruction For scarce had man viewed the materials of his Creation when straight hee was practised vnto an essay of this second Creation When Adam descended into sleepe there was a Resurrection of his rib which awaked into a woman Did not mortalitie then put on immortalitie when a senselesse bone was so endued with reason that it could apprehend its owne preferment Mee thinkes the Chymique might hence extract an easie Rhetorique for his promotion of metalls and without an Apologie teach that vsurie of art And heere too
THREE SERMONS VPON THE PASSION RESVRRECTION AND ASCENSION OF OVR SAVIOVR PREACHED At Oxford BY BARTEN HOLYDAY Now Archdeacon of OXFORD LONDON Printed by William Stansby for Nathaniell Butter and are to be sold at his Shop at Saint Austines Gate in Pauls Church-yard 1626. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL Mr. Dr. CORBET DEANE OF CHRIST-CHVRCH IN OXFORD Worthy Sir I Cannot forget your fauours whiles I enioy them and yet the contemplation of that which is present cannot properly be called Remembrance But when I thinke of giuing thankes mee thinkes it is not more my purpose then my feare since gratitude does in some sort make bountie lesse bountie being more content when it is attended by gratitude but being more eminent when it is opposed by ingratitude so that the greatest thankes though not the best is not to giue thankes Besides bountie hauing in it more of outward good then gratitude hath gratitude may seeme a purer goodnesse then bountie and so whiles it striues to requite it may seeme to exceed it Yet since reason tels vs that ingratitude is against reason being an iniustice and so against nature I choose to giue thankes the common way not that I iudged it enough gratitude to giue thankes thus but that I iudged it too much ingratitude not to giue thankes thus That I might not therefore requite your goodnesse with iniury I endeauour to imitate that goodnesse by making my thankes like vnto it publicke and yet sincere Secret thankes are often free from flatterie yet alwayes like it being commonly at as much distance from examination as flattery desires to be Happy then are my thankes which are as iust as your merit being made iust by your merit which so appeares in your exemplary daily Deuotion that you haue taken more possession of your Church then of your Dignitie And for your Colledge you haue made it enioy a Statute of Improouement not so much in Dyet as in Studie ruling it by the Statute of your Example which will be Deane beyond Your time Any man May say thus much but I Must truth will make it iustice in another but choice will make it gratitude in Mee who owe my selfe vnto you nay who owe my Friendes vnto you They haue giuen me blessings but you haue giuen me Them euen the most Noble and through your fauour My Sir Francis Stuart whom when I haue Named I haue Bounded my vnderstanding and when I haue named him Mine I haue Contented it Which happinesse must needes make mee remember You as the cause of that happinesse and as before I was His by being Yours so now by being His I shall be the more Your Barten Holyday A Sermon preached at Christ-church in Oxford on Good-friday 1621. 1. CORINTH 2.8 Had they knowne it they would not haue crucified the Lord of glory GReat sorrowes are dumbe and can custome then iustly expect that this should bee eloquent This day has enough with his owne griefe and shall wee adde vnto it by repetition The seueritie of this passion admits no other wit of Rhetorique then the salt of a teare nor sharper accent then of a groane equall to a lost friend or to a sinne Yet see the endeuour of compassion which had rather with moderate teares recouer it selfe to language by the reliefe of complaint to ease affliction then to be guilty of ingratitude by wonder and silence This day must cry-out and articulately lament vnto all dayes this horrible truth the tragedie of God which seemes as much to exceed our faith as our sorrow Is our God our liuing God as the carcasse-idols of the Heathen whose God-heads suffer the stroake and victory of the Chizell and the Hammer Or are Poets Prophets indeed and are there very Giants that dare inuade God Fiction that intends to perswade neither contradicts nor exceeds nature and story must be more seuerely contriued within the possibility of action otherwise it begets not faith but scorne and the Historians reason is rather questioned then his eloquence Yet this day breathes-out such vnion of extremities the humiliation of God and the insolence of man in Iesu crucified and the crucifying Iewes that your pietie can scarce be more amazed at our Lord's affliction then at the Iewes crueltie so that if the motiue and condition of these vnreasonable actors were not expressed our suspicion might cry-out Who will beleeue our report History or inuention has anciently told vs of some altars where-on wild deuotion sacrificed men but durst Poetry euer faigne a people that sacrificed their God Would any man haue thought that the Iew would haue beene the first Antichrist of his Messias That the children of Abraham would murder the God of Abraham That the partakers of the Lords glory would crucifie the Lord of glory I must admit you a respite to wonder and satisfie as well your admiration as your enquiry which does me thinkes with the labour of expectation desire to know not only the fact but also the affection of the Iewes as if then you would bee perswaded to the story of the action when first you shall haue heard the story of the actors Not the Iewes alone were partakers in this guilt but chiefly the Iewes triumph'd in this guilt the Iewes who were alwayes of a churlish vnderstanding and now their soules were as darke as peruerse They had before committed an essay of cruelty vpon the Prophets but that was but a yonger practice to this fury Then they crucified the Lord in his Saints but now they will doe it without a figure And may not our reason as well as piety here demand with wonder What aild the Heathen nay what aild the Iewes to murmure themselues into a Conspiracie against the Christ of the Lord Surely their rage did not discerne in him the mysticall systeme of God and man for had they knowne it they would not haue crucified the Lord of glory Yet shall execrable violation bee softned into an ignorance shall elaborate malice be excused into so gentle a guilt shall the crucifying of our Sauiour be made but man-slaughter It is not an errour to pardon an errour but it is a crime but to excuse a crime Could the Iewes bee ignorant of his innocence who was pronounced not-guilty by his judge Who was pronounced innocent by his Iudas Who was pronounced holy by Iewes amaz'd to silence and in that to confession at the power of his innocent syllogisme If I am guiltie why doe you not conuince mee If I am innocent why doe you not beleeue mee Could the Iewes be ignorant of his office when as hee so repaired the senses of the diseased that their sense might justly perswade their vnderstanding to beleeue When as he called by the voice of his power the dead to a compendious resurrection When as he proued his life to be a Commentary vpon the Prophets Could the Iewes bee ignorant of his diuinitie which was as necessary to the actuating of his wonderfull office as of his wonderfull person
His diuinitie which was acknowledged by the Deuils whom he dispossessed who for a moment did by a greater miracle leaue their lying then their habitation and being tormented vnto truth admirably confessed him the Sonne of God His diuinitie which at his Baptisme Heauen reuealed vnto the Baptist which reuelation he likewise reuealed vnto the Iewes the best of whom esteem'd him as a man of God the worst of whom fear'd him as a man of God And he told them what he saw not in the contriuance of phancie or by the fallacie of a glasse And hee did see the veile of Heauen diuided as if the diuine persons who neuer had beene vndiuided would now sensibly appeare vnited at this the Synod of their Trinitie And hee did see the mild embleme of the Holy Ghost descend vpon him and he heard the voyce of the Almighty who was both the father and the witnesse at this great Christning And shall we yet say that this light of the World was so obscured in the cloud of flesh that it was not cleerely presented to the eyes of the world shall we yet say that we doe not sufficiently vnderstand whether or no the Iewes did sufficiently vnderstand shall wee yet say with a bold compassion Had they knowne it and yet wee must say with a safe compassion Had they knowne it they would not haue crucified the Lord of glory The common Iew was the common sense of that politique bodie his outward soule was able to see the Law but for Prophesie hee was as farre from the vnderstanding of it as from the gift of it Hee could with enough ignorance gaze at the wonders of our Sauiour but it was a greater wonder to worke in a Iew a beliefe of these wonders then to worke these wonders Yet some did beleeue them and abuse them vilely apprehending these demonstrations as the impotent perswasions of probabilitie And some thus thought him to bee the Christ yet durst not reueale this cheape opinion least they should bee excommunicated to saluation by being cast-out of the Synagogue to Christ and his Disciples It is the property of a wiseman not to haue his heart in his tongue but neuer was it the property of a wise man to haue a heart without a tongue The mercie of our Sauiour made the dumbe to speake but the feare of the Rulers made these speakers dumbe thus were their consciences tongue-tied by authoritie And the Rulers themselues did not more impose this silence vpon others then vpon themselues but striuing as much to exceed the people in peruersenesse as in authoritie vnto their ignorance they added fury Indeed they could not by the sharpest discretion of their eye distinguish an incarnate God nor was the Critique Gamaliel able to instruct his Disciple Saul in the Catechisme of this mystery though Saul's vnwilling ignorance admitted him neerer to pardon and conuersion But the chiefe of the Iewes to whom the Gospell was a schisme politiquely rejoycing in their wisdome and honour scorn'd the imputation of leuity by a change and a suspected dejection by this change whereby the High-priest of Ierusalem should be abused into an obscure Christian Wherefore arm'd thus with the affectation of ignorance and the malice of ambition at what thunder would these startle at what vnconceiued almightinesse would this fury turne dastard Yet had they knowne it they would not haue crucified the Lord of glory And yet by an vnmoued decree this passion was sealed to a necessitie and can we then make this predestinated execution depend vpon the will of the vncertaine Iewes This dazles the eye and is a wheele turning in a wheele a spheare wrapt in a spheare the lowest against the order of Heauen and nature seeming to giue motion to the highest the will of the Iewes to the decree of God Had Festus vpon his judgement-seate heard holy Paul preach this seeming opposition wee may easily beleeue that without the manners of deliberation he would once more haue cryed-out to our Apostle Much learning has made thee mad But wee leaue him to his owne ignorance and an other judgement-seate◠and without being rapt to the third Heauen wee know that Those things which are necessary in respect of the first cause admit vncertainty in respect of second causes The crucifying of our Sauiour was necessary cōpared to Gods decree but it was contingent cōpared to the libertie of the Iewes will in whom it was choice and not necessitie to will or not to will the death of Christ If the Iewes had knowne it then both the causes of this action and the action it selfe might haue not beene and had not beene But this condition the knowledge of our Sauiour which if it had beene our Sauiour could not haue suffer'd could not be because the first cause God had decree he should suffer And as God by this decree of his Passion did not with an actiue concurrence lay a necessity guilt vpon the will of the Iewes no more did hee impose any necessitie vpon the humane will of Christ but our Sauiour made himselfe a free sacrifice with as much mercy as affliction For though there were in his humane will a necessitie of obedience to the decree of his Passion yet was there also a true indifference this necessity being extrinsecall to his humane will precisely considered as it was intrinsecall and naturall to his person But his humane will suffering no violence did for our sake in the libertie of choice offer-vp his person to the violence of the Iewes Who were so glad of their ignorance and ambition that rather then they would fall from their Cleargy-monarchy they would not feare to set vpon God The brauest sinne that euer was was ventred in Heauen by an Angell and the basest sinne that euer was was committed on earth by a Disciple A Disciple who had he beene of an intire faith had beene euen yet of an intire fame in our sacred Kalendar enjoyed the place and title of Saint Iudas Hee was Christ's purse-bearer whose office vnder such a Master was in all likelihood of too narrow a commoditie for a large Knaue yet louing this more then his master hee bargaines with the Priests and takes earnest to be a conuenient Traitor But heere I must not forget one thing because our Sauiour has commanded mee to remember it and that is thy piety O happy woman who didst bestow vpon our Sauiour's head and feete a precious oyntment With thy beautifull haire thou didst wipe his beautifull feete from which thy oyntment returned sanctified to thine owne head and by a commanded anniuersary of thy pietie he hath poured vpon thee the oyntment of a religious fame Iustly doe I heere remember her her liberality being the vnjust cause of Iudas his murmuring and it was he whose thrift did chide at the spending of this oyntment Now therefore as if hee had vowed a repaire of this losse he finds a policie to sell the oyntment which was already spent by selling his
master who was annointed with it A subtile Merchant that labourd so with an emulation to engrosse treasure and iniquitie as if hee would haue contented with Adam for the future tradition and monopoly of sinne Thus you see that it is possible to finde actors for the crucifying of the Lord of glory and now I thinke you can beleeue that there are monsters But now behold a man a man in whom innocence and patience contend for supremacy His enemies are preparing for his death by malice and hee himselfe is preparing for the same by loue The most of them are at their conspiracie and he is at the Communion with his Traytour At which last Supper he himselfe seemes to remember and imitate the goodnesse of that woman whom hee commanded vs to remember Shee wiped his feet and he washes his Disciples and would you not thinke that these feet would for euer after goe vpright Mee thinkes when hee came to wash Iudas his feete his sullen treason might haue expressed it selfe in Saint Peter's answer Thou shalt neuer wash my feet Indeed to wash a Iudas was to wash a Black-more Yet he had more need to haue vsed Saint Peter's second answere Lord not the feet only but also the hands and the head But it would haue beene a mercy vnwelcome to his stubbornenesse to haue beene washed to an vnwilling cleannesse His staine was as obstinate as his purpose and his eares were cauteriz'd as much as his conscience against our Sauious wordes which preuailed as little with his affection as with his memory Christ pointed-out the Traytour first by word and as if that had not beene enough with his very finger Hee that I giue a sop vnto he shall betray me nay with the Traytours owne finger Hee that dips his finger with mee in the dish hee shall betray mee Christ dipt and Iudas dipt and Christ gaue the sop to Iudas Who would not heere haue thought but that hee who by his garment and shadow could conferre health must by his sanctifying hand haue conferred saluation Was not heere the finger of God And yet heere was not the finger of God Iudas now found the truth of that vnhappy Philosophie Euery thing is receiued according to the nature of the receiuer Christ gaue the â—â—p but Iudas eate it When straight behold a sad transubstantiation a sop turned into a Deuill And now you will thinke it was time for him to leaue Christ's company and so indeed hee did for immediatly hee went forth and it was night a necessary shadow for the melancholy of treason yet it was but an embleme of his guilt To conclude supper they sung a Psalme this was the harmony of the Gospell in a Celestiall Quire where there was neuer a Iudas and Christ was the Chaunter Indeed they had need to sing whiles yet they had the leisure of company and joy for after this meeting sorrow had contriued the perpetuall silence of their Musique But leauing their Musique and the Citie they depart toward mount Oliuet a place where the customary deuotion of our Sauiour enjoyed the practice and happinesse of Prayer The way was but short yet our Sauiour made it tedious not by his company which was their delight but by his discourse which hitherto had bin their delight Hee tell them that this night he shall be their griefe and danger They as not seeing it make a large promise though without surety as much of their constancy as of their affection Peter especially makes this promise which our Sauiour tels him he especially will breake and that this night which is the present witnesse of his double protestation shall be the speedy witnesse of his triple deniall the Cocke ere morning being to be his watchman and remembrancer The length of our Sauiours discourse reacheth the mount where departing from his Disciples about a stones cast hee enters into a Garden and the horrour of his passion enters into him Now hee is crucified without a crosse the height whereof as it afterward aduanced him so now the feare of it depresseth him to the ground In the obedience of his supplication he bowes his knees he whose almightinesse could haue bowed the heauens In the dejection of his thoughts hee fals prostrate on his face to shew vs the nature of our guilt that dares not looke-vp vnto heauen and yet his voice is towards heauen whiles thrice he begs of his Father if it be his will that this cup may passe this cup crowned full with the bloud of sowre Grapes and thrice he returnes to his Disciples whom bee finds heauy as night and sleepe Whiles he prayes new terrours seize on him and man though vnited to God is so oppressed that an Angell from Heauen is sent to comfort him So hard it was for him that ouercame the Deuill to ouercome the Crosse But alas had hee not need of almightinesse for whom there remayned strokes and whips and wounds thornes and nailes and a speare and shall we thinke an Angell shall wee thinke one Angell enough against this host of torments Can wee with the confidence of words frighten horrour His agonie and prayer increase and from his mercifull pores flowes a sweat of bloud which beginnes his passion before the Iewes doe It pierces and dyes his garment O this would haue beene a relique worth the keeping a garment richer then Elias mantle a garment animated with bloud though not to life yet to a miracle The Prophet's loue and sorrow were but little ones though his eyes did cast-out riuers of waters for the destruction of Ierusalem but behold for our sinnes euery part of our Iesus does weepe bloud whose speedie drops seeme to imitate the expedition of the loue that sent them After which agony of deuotion on his faint limbes he raises himselfe and returning to his Disciples rayses them who willing rather to breake their sleepe then their faith arise when hee comforts them with a hope of more sleepe yet tels them that at this time they must sleepe no more treason and tyrannie by a strange friendship being in a readinesse to set vpon him Whiles yet hee speakes loe a band of Officers are come from the High Priests with Lanternes and torches and swords and staues to take him who neither meanes to fight nor runne away his mercy will not let him doe that nor his innocency this Their leader is Iudas guiding them with his feete to Christ but with his counsell against Christ When according to the compact and method of the Treason hee salutes our Sauiour with a phrase and a kisse enough to haue breathed a Deuill into any man but Christ who as much vnderstanding as abhorring his salutation by a Prophetique question preuents and reueales the newes of his intent Iudas betrayest thou the Son of man with a kisse And was there euer such a sight as Christ Iudas thus vnited Did not Christ now also descend into Hell From this kissing Traytour hee passes to the sword-men his
it is day in steed of seeing to correct their judgement made by night they confirme it leading our Sauiour from this Cleargy-censure to the Secular execution When behold the mercy of treason Iudas has a minde to bee godly and seeing his master condemned by Caiaphas he is with a swifter judgement condemned by conscience Now hee repents him of his bargaine and as if hee could as easily haue beene rid of his guilt as of his hire he brings backe the money that would not be put to vse and though it were fearefully refused in the presence and Temple of God hee throwes it downe flying from it as the Priests would haue done from death and indeed it was the wages of sinne His sinne now does acknowledge it selfe and our Sauiour's innocency This loyall Traytour betrayes his treason And would you not thinke that now againe hee hath almost vn-Iudas'd himselfe shall not Iudas also now againe bee among the Apostles Does he not seeme practised in the order of repentance He grieues he confesses he restores O would hee stay heere but Loe hee departs from the temple the God of the temple he departs and hangs himselfe He that is couetous fals into temptation and the halter of the Deuill Hee hangs himselfe and breakes asunder What could you looke for lesse but that the Dragon should breake with the pitch-ball You may remember he conceiued a sop and now behold hee brings forth a Deuill and thus by the riddle of damnation hee is both the childe and parent of the Deuill Hee breakes asunder and is deliuered of his bowels It was the wit of justice hee should lose his bowels that had lost his compassion But since Iudas hath left vs let vs leaue him and from this spectacle of justice got see our Sauiour the spectacle of injustice trauelling from Caiaphas to Pilate and from Pilate to Herod This was a Iew of a delicate Atheisme who in a reprobate joy and phansie had a most intentiue desire to see a fine miracle or two But his impietie was seuerely deluded by the silence of our Sauiour which changing the tyrants curiositie into scorne he returnes him to Pilate clad in a garment of ridiculous honour and simplicitie But Pilate desirous to free him not so much by the mercy as the custome of the Iewes proposes to the easie choice of their pardon Iesus and Barabbas a murtherer and whiles they are heere at their deliberation as he on the judgement-seate behold his loue is increased by feare His wife prompted to compassion not by a bribe but by a dreame sends to her husband to warne rather then request him to desist from judgement the trouble of a vision hauing frightned and instructed her and sure this was the best counsaile shee ere tooke of her pillow But the people possessed with the Priests demand Barabbas which was an impious yet a fit request for could there bee an aptâ—r fellowship then of a murtherer with murtherers As for Iesus as if they would crucifie him twice they twice cry-out Crucifie him Crucifie him Is now the voice of the people the voice of God Sure we are that the voice of this people is the voice of their Priests by whom Pilate being conquered yeelds-vp our Sauiour vnto souldiers who multiply scourges vpon him as they doe sinnes and plagues vpon themselues as if their madnesse would whip his diuinitie out of him making it ashamed to stay in so torne a carcasse But O you Souldiers how shall you wish that a happy palsie had made faint your hands And O thou Lord of glory how hath thy mercy wooed thy God-head vnto this ignominious patience O Lord of mercy we are scarce more saued by the power of thy mercy then confounded with the wonder of it the condemnation of a world being a cheaper losse then the least effusion of thy redeeming bloud Yet the mercilesse souldiers beyond this crueltie scornfully clothe him with a Purple Robe though their crueltie in this had preuented their scorne his innocent bloud clothing him with a nobler purple But now because in the art of crucifying they had no separated torment for the head by the increase of inueÌ„tion they inlarge their science of murder fixing on his head a crowne of thornes and thus as if he had a distinct soule in euery part they distinctly murder euery part And is not now the Lilly verily among the thornes This tender head of our beloued encoÌ„passed with the affliction of a crowne A crowne neither of gold nor Roses Neither of honour nor pleasure Behold a goodly fruit The Lord planted a Vineyard and when he comes to gather grapes he receiues thornes They abuse his hand with a scepter of reede his hand the power whereof was the scepter and that their mouthes might sinne more then in wordes they spit vpon him But their owne darke eyes had more need to be touched with our Sauiours purging spittle For had they seene what they had done they would not haue spit vpon the Lord of glory This affecting spectacle softens Pilate and by an errour of humanitie taking Iewes to be men and that their eyes peraduenture might mooue their hearts he presents him to them with this preface of compassion Behold the man But alas Pilate can any man behold this man Will not all eyes bee sooner blinded with gratefull teares Or how can they heere behold a man A man lost in his owne bloud Which striues as much to obscure his body as his body his God-head Yet the vnmooued Iewes with broad eyes of crueltie gaze vpon him And shall wee yet thinke Deuealion's people a fable Sure these children were raised vnto Abraham from stones And now they are so readie to crucifie Christ that they are ready also to condemne Pilate not fearing to pronounce him a hypotheticall Traytour if hee does not crucifie Christ Wherefore through the conquest and policie of ambition he thinkes at once to satisfie the Iewes and God so to secure his estate and conscience In the presence of the people hee takes water and washes his hands protesting himselfe innocent from this innocent bloud Hee had need to rub hard that meanes to wash away guilt with so weake an element guilt neuer to be washed away but by the water of repentance and baptisme It was in his power as well as in his desire to haue set him free but he pronounces him innocent and punishes him he condemnes himselfe and crucifies Christ he deliuers 〈◊〉 beloued Barabbas to their pardon and Christ to their crosse which now he beares as afterward it beares him But in this trauaile toward mount Caluary his strength is lesse then the burden and needs must it be a heauie crosse which was laden with a world of sinnes Wherefore to hasten the execution not to ease our Sauiour they make one Simon carry the weight of the crosse our Sauiour yet carrying the weight of the sinnes Happy Simon now eases Christ of his burden but Christ hereafter will
ease Simon of his burden Whiles he goes on a multitude of women forgetting to be Iewes bestow teares vpon him whom he exhorts to thrift of sorrow bidding them stay their lamentation till a time of lamentation for themselues and for their children whose bloud shall bee made as cheape as their mothers teares when in the vengeance and sport of slaughter the curse of barrenesse and a dry pap shall bee a blessing At last they bring this Catholique sacrifice to mount Caluary to the altar of the world where euery part of him is stretcht-out as the free embleme of his extended mercy They fasten him to his crosse with violence but hee was fastned surer by his owne loue They pierce his hands and his feete with nayles but his heart with their ingratitude thus is hee vsed in the house of his friends They exalt him on his crosse arming himselfe against himselfe and making his owne weight his owne affliction And now I must cry-out with Pilate Behold the man aduanced in the triumph of redemption vpon the Cherub of the crosse Or if your tender eyes haue not the hearts to see this spectacle yet reade the title of his crosse and sure the first word Iesus may comfort you Yet if the remembrance of his name should proue the remembrance of his sorrow where will you then alas bestow your eyes If you looke away you shall see those that passe by the way nod their heads at him if you looke on the ground you shall see the diuided souldiers at lots for his intire Coate which they more respect then they doe Christ if you looke among the company you shall see the vnhallowed Priests prophaning him if you looke on either side his crosse you shall see a thiefe made his companion Whereof one as if he were his executioner crucifies him with blasphemie though the other crucifies his owne vnbeliefe and by a new theft steales Heauen at his execution If yet you cannot behold our Sauiour behold his Disciple and his mother whom from his crosse he himselfe beholds Saint Iohn's loue had now made a recompence for his flight by conquering his feare to this returne and sorrow Our Sauiour beholds his beloued Iohn and hauing nothing left that is his owne but his mother hee bequeathes her vnto him But it may be you are as little able also to looke on these who also are crucified with the passion of loue If then you cannot at all indure these sights be indulgent to lamentation Let teares seaze on your eyes as an vniuersall darknesse does on Iudea The guilt of the Iewes puts out the Sunne and yet this huge night which can hide all Iudea cannot hide the guilt of the Iewes O how they shall hereafter wish that this darknesse had beene more speedy that it might haue preuented or excused their violence Then happily they would haue pleaded O had we seene what we did wee would not haue crucified the Lord of glory In this forc'd night and agony this man of sorrowes cries out with a voice as strong as earnest his fainting humanitie begging aide and release Thus long they haue afflicted his outward-parts and now their wit finds a deuice to torment his inward also In a drouth of combat and torment hee cries-out I thirst and when from this his Vineyard he might looke for wine behold they vilely spunge him with vngratefull vineger Being persecuted thus with a swift succession of plagues in a free obedience he bowes his head and in the Empire of his Diuinitie and loue is pleased to die giuing to the justice of his Father for a redeeming sacrifice his troubled spirit Corrupt Philosophers who now for a long time haue animated the world with a magique soule may in this truth bury their errour and now acknowledge that only this is the soule of the world Thus they haue crucified him and now they shall know whom they haue crucified The Iewes and the Deuils shall know that it was the Lord of glory and the whole world shall know that it was the Lord of glory Behold an angry miracle teares the vaile of the Temple and by a greater mystery reueales their mysteries Behold an earth-quake shakes open the graues and after the resurrection of this first-borne of the dead the glad carcasses by the returne of their disacquainted soules can no more then their soules endure the Graue Behold the stones cleaue asunder as if violated nature would lend them mouthes to cry-out against the Iewes or as if they would pronounce themselues of a softer tempter then the hearts of men And now there is a religious earth-quake in the heart of the Centurion from whose inspired mouth proceeds a voice articulated by faith and wonder pronouncing the innocence and diuinitie of our Iesus and euen the Iewes doe smite their breasts as if their hands insteed of repentance should soften their hearts But his friends neerest to him in affection stand afarre off to whom it is a death not to dye with him And indeed none of them did die by martyrdome the Lord counting the torment of this spectacle equall vnto it His friends stand afarre off yet farther from comfort then from him O how may wee imagine his tender mother weepes How may we imagine she now cryes-out O my sonne Iesu O Iesu my sonne my sonne This is a more wounding lamentation then the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon when the good Iosias when the beloued Iosias fell vnder the sword of Pharaoh Now the souldiers come to examine the execution to see if these the late prisoners of the Iewes be now become the prisoners of death and finding the two theeues breathing still in the custome of vaine crueltie on malefactors they breake their legges when alas their soules were readier to runne away then their is bodies But to our Sauiour being already dead they are pleased to shew a negatiue mercy Yet one to prooue himselfe more senslesse then what he wounds now pierces his side as if beyond the expulsion of his soule he would not leaue in him the forme of a carcasse When behold an instructing mysterie flowes from his side Water flowes out as if it would present vnto the souldier the innocency of our Sauiour bloud flowes out as if it would present vnto the soul ther the admonishing horrour of his owne guilt It was vile to wrong the innocent it was inhumane to abuse the dead but it was execrable to violate the Lord of glory But the glory of this Lord shall now dispell this night of sorrow Now weepe not that hee died but rejoyce that hee died for you It was his loue that hee would redeeme as it was his power that he could redeeme So he did redeeme as be did suffer hee suffered not in his diuine nature but by the â—nion of his diuine nature hee redâ—emed not in his diuine nature but by the union of his diuine nature For from a double nature his mysticall vnitie did arise and as
the curious zeale of the soule It will not only haue a body againe but in a precise societie it will haue only its owne againe For the preseruing therefore of such numericall identitie there shall bee wonderfully restored the substantiall vnion which is but formally distinguished from the parts vnited There shall be restored the personalitie and lastly the natiue temperament which does containe the indiuiduating dispositions whereby such a matter has a pecullar appetite to such a forme Which matter by vertue of such inclination remaynes formally the same though it may be varied by extention as when the infant shall be raysed into a man the person shall bee enlarged but not multiplyed But the vnruly wit of Philosophie will here demand how they shall rise with their owne bodies who when they liued had not bodies of their owne being not only fed with the flesh of men but descending also from parents nourished with the like horrible diet For by this wild reckoning there will bee such a Genealogie of debt that the bodie of the Nephew must peraduenture be paid to the great Grand-father To which some Christians doe reply with as much impertinent deuotion as vnwarrantable subtiltie without necessity attributing to Gods Omnipotencie a totall supply of new bodies which for the preseruing the numericall identitie shall bee endowed with the former temperature But surely we ought to judge it a safer modestie not to satisfie reason then to offend Religion And since we must rise in our old bodies without all sophistrie wee may more temperately beleeue that the diuine wisdome has decreed and prouided that there shall neuer be any humane bodie which shall totally consist of other humane bodies It being harsh to say that the same body is raised when there are only the same reproduced dispositions and as absurd to affirme that such dispositions being the speciall accidents of a former matter should be transferd vpon another You see then the sacred eagernesse of the soule It will neither loose nor change a dust nor will it only possesse but also adorne the body Mankind shall feele and expresse a youthfull spring the walking-staffe and the wrinkle shall bee no more the helpe and distinction of age and death it selfe shall suffer climactericall destruction O how the wonder will almost out-act faith when the infant and the dwarfe shall be made a proper man When the limbes exhaled with famine shall bee replenished with as much miracle as flesh When the child that left its soule before it left the wombe shall in an instant without growth be as bigge as the mother when sleepe shall bee commanded from the eye-lid no more by care but by immortalitie which shall chase death out of nature and with importunate triumph cry-out vnto the graue O earth earth earth heare the voice of the Lord Thy dead men shall liue with their primitiue bodies shall they arise awake and sing you that dwell in dust for your dew is as the dew of herbs by which blessing you shall bee made as glorious as fruitfull And since that fruitfulnesse is the gratitude of nature let it remember vs as much to acknowledge as enjoy the mercie of that power by which wee rise And wee may most justly and easily remember by whom wee rise by remembring him by whom we fell Yet if wee behold the originall of their humanitie wee shall find that they were both without sinne and that the first Adam had his best paradise within himselfe But when hee was fallen by the weaknesse of the woman that was made for his helpe neuer did woman prooue a strong helpe vnto man before the Virgin-mother of Christ God and man And then though the first Adam had eaten vp the apple the second Adam swallowed vp death He had before made the poore man take vp the bed of his sicknesse and walke but hee himselfe was the first that euer tooke vp the death-bed and walked Yet some before our Sauiour borrowed a phantasticall resurrection as Saul's equiuocall Samuel and some rose in earnest but to die againe in earnest as supererogating Lazarus that paid to nature one death more then he owed But our Lord is risen with as much perfection as power and with as much power as loue and glory The Poeticall Chymiques tell vs of an Alchymisticall man at the earth's center who by a sphericall diffusion of his vertue does like a subterraneous Sunne improoue metals to a metamorphosis yet new Which as it is bold in the fable so by a deuout mythologie may bee made modest in the morall And this secret workeman shall be our Sauiour whose vertue was so dispersed into the bowels of graues that at his resurrection he improued carcasses into Saints who were the witnesses and attendants of his power Indeed to aduance the head without the members were so vnnaturall that it were more like an execution then a preferment and it were stranger to see a Leader without his souldiers then without his armes besides were it fit that when the master rises the seruants should lie still Thus then they were raised and as much to holinesse as to life It was not only a resurrection but also a consecration Christ was the first of them that rose nay he was the first-fruits of them Hee had the precedence both in order and vertue The first-fruits were the first handfull as acceptable as ripe by a bountifull mediation obtayning holinesse and entertaynment for the rest And this first offering did commend it selfe vnto the Lord rather by the speed then the quantitie The Iew offered this at his owne home and it was as domestique as his thoughts being a present of eloquent simplicitie which at the same time did honour and ouercome the Almightie O how our Sauiour made this figure solid when at once he conquered for vs death and heauen Hee was but the first handfull of corne and yet as powerfull as small making all the rest of a like holinesse though not of an equall But there were greater first-fruites which the Iew went to pay at Ierusalem and as the first were an offering of humilitie so these of pompe those did more set-forth the thankfulnesse of the labourer and these the munificence of the Lord. If you will take the word of the Rabbines whom in the story of Custome wee haue no more need to suspect then they had to faigne when the husbandman carried-vp these fruits to the holy Citie hee had a Bull went before him whose hornes were gilded and an Oliue garland vpon his head This was the picture of his masters affection and estate as if by the impetuous beast hee would expresse the courage of his joy by the gilded hornes the riches of his plentie and by the Oliue-garland the crowne of his peace Behold the displayed Heraldry of his happinesse And that it might bee increased by applause a pipe played before them to charge all to take notice of it vntill they came to the mountaine of the Lord.
Shall not these first-fruits be likewise payed at our great Resurrection shall they not bee brought to the heauenly Ierusalem shall they not haue Angels goe before them shall there not bee crownes likewise prouided and shall they not be vshered with the voice of a trumpet It was the sound which the Iewes vsed at their brauer Funerals and may it not then fitly bee vsed when they shall awake againe from their tombes Till Christ was risen those that were buried were dead but if wee once but name him the first-fruits of them that rise let vs no more say they were dead but that they slept Yet all before the Resurrection shall not sleepe but some shal insteed of rising be only new-dressed by being clothed with incorruption and so haue rather a change of rayment then of life They shall not put-off their bodies but their mortalitie and bee made like Christ both in the truth of the Resurrection and in the glory The Eutychian shall then confesse that the two natures in Christ are not mixt though joyned and that his humanitie though exalted is not changed The Vbiquitary shall then see that Christ's body may be seene and it shall certainly prooue that it is not euery-where by being not in the graue whence it is risen The Pythagorean shall then recouer the possession and acquaintance of his vagabond soule and the Saducy shall then arise in that body in which he denied the resurrection of the body and with his bodily eyes see the errour of his soule Since then our Redeemer is as eternall in his flesh as in his God-head since the souldiers feare acknowledged his resurrection which their malice denied since we must rise both by his authority and example let our rising not only follow his but also imitate it As then the day of death and the peace of a Sabbath went before the Resurrection of our Lord so let the crucifying of our vices and the quiet contemplation of eternall joyes goe before the glory of the Resurrection So shall it be vnto vs as it was vnto our Sauiour a true Passeouer who passed thereby from this world vnto the Father So shall our hope bee as certaine as our rising so shall our soules rise as well as our bodies in that day of wonder When the last earthquake shall shake-vp death when the oecumenicall voice of one trumpet shall bee lowd enough to whisper-vp drowsie mankind when loose dust shal with the warmth and moysture of bloud bee kneaded into man when the tribute of dispersed and deuoured limbes shall bee paid-in from all countries and creatures when there shall be a Resurrection of disease of sleepe of death of the winding-sheet of the graue of rottennesse all which shall be purified into health into watchfulnesse into life into a robe of glory into a throne of glory into immortalitie when there shall bee a Resurrection of earth and heauen which shall be both renewed when there shall bee a Resurrection of God himselfe whose glory which seemed buried in this world shall illustriously arise in the face of heauen earth when there shall bee a new Resurrection of our Lord Iesus who shall no more arise from the graue but from heauen when the Iew and hell shall tremble those wounds of glory appeare which are the bloudie seales of our saluation So raise vs then O thou Lord of life vnto holinesse of life that when these things shall come to passe wee may not only rise in judgement but also stand in it and in these bodies both behold and follow thee into thy Heauen that glorious body prepared for the glorified bodies of thy Saints where thy crucified body sits at the right hand of thy Father where thy glorious company of Apostles praise thee where thy goodly fellowship of Prophets prayse thee where thy noble armie of martyrs praise thee And with their bodies O let our bodies find a labour to be learned in Heauen and let our soules euen there feele a new affliction that whiles we cannot grieue enough that we cannot prayse thee enough our increasing gratitude for our bodies resurrection may be our soule 's eternall resurrection The end A Sermon preached at Christ-church in Oxford on Ascension-day 16â—â— 1. PETER 3.22 Who is gone into Heauen and is on the right hand of God Angels and authorities and powers being made subiect vnto him FOr man to goe into Heauen is almost impossible for God to goe into Heauen is impossible To vnderstand then the wonder of Christ's ascension we might wish that our soules could but ascend like his bodie which whiles it was on the earth receiued motion from his soule but when it left the earth receiued motion from his Diuinitie without which that motion can now bee no more vnderstood then it could then be performed The greatest wonder of mans bodie has beene the structure but the greatest wonder of this bodie is now the motion The force of mans hand can make earth ascend towards Heauen but only the power of God can make earth ascend vnto Heauen Man can raise earth aboue its Spheare but only God can fixe it aboue its Spheare This day you may see both these wonders whiles the bodie is made as wonderfull as the soule whiles the bodie is made the wonder of the soule and goes to Heauen with as much ease and with more weight And indeed Philosophie may seeme to haue come short at least of perfection if not of truth whiles it has discouered the effects of its owne ignorance insteed of the causes of ascension and descension Which now seeme not to bee the workes of weight and lightnesse but of sinne and innocence seeing that a bodie free from sinne has learned to ascend and spirits loaden with sinne haue sunke themselues from Heauen to the punishment and center of sinne And yet innocence is rather a preparatiue then a cause of this wonder a bodie cannot ascend without it a bodie cannot ascend by it It has more power vpon the soule then vpon the bodie yet it has not this power vpon the soule And as the soule cannot ascend by the power of innocence so neither can the bodie ascend by the power of the soule The soule can affoord vnto the bodie the motion of progression but not of ascension progression being made by the power of the soule but by the parts of the bodie and it is a kind of friendly attraction when one foot inuites the other to a succession of motion by a succession of precedencie But the ascension of the bodie cannot bee performed but by somewhat that is aboue the bodie aboue it not so much in place as in power The bodie can bestow vpon it selfe an equiuocall ascension when a part of the foote shall be raised into the stature of the bodie but this is rather an ascension in the bodie then of the bodie Nay we cannot at all call it an ascension but by leaue when the bodie has by chance an erect situation
safer then the jailou◠could It was an angell deliuered Paul from the wrath of the tempest which was not so obedient to the angell as the angell was to Paul And when at the last Day the trumpet shall found the angels shall make as much speed as the voice of the trumpet and bee as officiously obedient as the bones of the dead which they shall raise and attend at that last ascension And then shall they waite for euer after rather vpon the person then the message of their Prince Christ Iesus of our Prince Christ Iesus Who is ascended to rayse vs to an ascension of Faith by which it being of things not seene wee doe not only honour the person in whom wee trust but modestly oblige him And thus the skilfull mercie of our Sauiour vouchsafes to make himselfe beholding to vs by his owne work for his owne worke for our faith in his absence rather then to make vs beholding vnto him for our delight in his presence Hee ascended therefore to rayse vs likewise to an ascension of Hope which has obserued his loue to bee so vnited to his power in his assumption of our nature vnto his nature that by the great act of his ascension it likewise expects the assumption of our persons vnto his person Hee ascended likewise to rayse vs to an ascension of Loue which being like fire ought to ascend and being purer then the fire ought to ascend aboue the fire and since the fire can ascend to Heauen loue ought to exceed it and ascend into Heauen Into which holy place our high Priest is entred not so much to begge pardon as to giue it and by his entring into this holy place that he might make the certaintie of our peace equall to the mysterie of it he has prooued our Priest to be equall to our God Hee had before made man but little lesse then the angels but now the man Christ Iesus is aboue all the angels to whom Enoch's ascension was newes but this amazement And as it was their singular wonder so let it be our singular joy And indeed we may well rejoyce when by ascension we shall bee purged from the melancholy of our humanitie when our faith shall be happily lost into sight when wee shall bee past hope not by despaire but by possession when we shall be more transported by loue then by angels when we shall bee no longer their charge but their company when God shall so delight in vs that if wee could sinne we should be proud that hee so delighted in vs when we shall so delight in God that if there could bee sorrow in that delight we should bee sorrie that wee had not alwayes delighted in him and the eternitie of this delight shall be an ascension of this delight O happy and full Vision when Iacob shall not dreame that hee sees angels goe vp to Heauen but shall goe thither himselfe and now adore the angell whom once he wrestled with and as he then would not part from him till he had a blessing so now he neuer shall part from him because he has this blessing O happy and full vision when Moses shall see the face of God and liue nay when he shall liue because hee sees the face of God! when Moses his face shall shine so bright that now it would shine through his veile and yet his righteousnesse shall bee more glorious then his countenance when now hee shall not need to goe to the top of Mount Nebo to see the land of promise but on the top of this holy hill enjoy the true land of promise and the God that promised it O happy and full Vision when Simeon shall with more joy bee taken vp into Heauen then he tooke-vp the child Iesus into his armes and shall find himselfe more increased in joy then the child his Sauiour increased in stature when hee shall see his Sauiour honoured at the right hand of God who once vouchsafed to honour Simeons armes O happy and full Vision when Peter shall see himselfe as much transfigured as Christ when Peter shall see Christ more then transfigured and now shall with delight behold our Sauiours face when before for feare he fell vpon his owne O happy and full Vision when Paul shall so see Christs bodie in Heauen that he shall know himselfe to bee there in bodie when Iohn shall no more need to see the new Ierusalem come downe from Heauen but shall goe-vp vnto it Vnto which O thou Lambe of God grant that by the imitatiō of thy innocēce we may ascend that we may ascend to that Ierusalem by thy light who art the light of that Ierusalem that the sight of thy triumph may bee our triumph that our petitions may now so ascend that they may make way for the ascension of our soules and bodies that with thy Cherubins and Seraphins continually wee may cry Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbaoth who doest now with victorie rest from thy passion And though wee cannot hope for the glory of thy right hand vouchsafe vs the protection Heare thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father and haue mercie For thou only art holy thou only art the Lord thou only O Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high in the glory of God the Father Heare O thou that sittest at the right hand of God and haue mercy And let thy mercy make our ascension a witnesse and part of the glory of thy ascension The end