any evill at all least of all that but that out of the evill He was hable hable and willing both to draw a farre greater good Greater for good I say then that was for evill And that was Solutionem peccati ex Solutione Templi For we are not to thinke that He would thus downe with it and up with it againe onely to shew them feats and tricks as it were to be wondred at and for no other end No the end was the destroying of sinne by the destroying this Temple It went hard Et vae tibi atrocitas peccati nostri and woe to the heynousnesse of our sinnes for the dissolving whereof neither the Priest might be suffered to live nor the Temple to stand but the Priest be slaine and the Temple be pulled downe Priest and Temple and all be destroyed But sinne was so riveted into our Nature And againe our Nature so incorporate into His as no dissolving the one without the dissolution of the other No way to over-whelme sinne quite but by the fall of this Temple The ruine of it like that of Samson's That the destruction of the Philistines this Iudic. 16.30 the dissolving of all the workes of the Divell It is Saint Iohn's owne terme 1. Ioh. 3.8 Vt Solveret opera Diaboli 2. But neither was this enough yet Neither would He for all this Permitted for another aâ— good have at any hand let it goe downe but that withall He meant to have it up againe presently Never have said Solvite but with an Excitabo streight upon it which is a full amends so that the Temple loses nothing by the loosing The World with us hath seene a Solvite without any excitabo Downe with this but nothing raised in the stead But that is none of His Solvite without excitabo none of CHRIST ' s. We see with one breath He vndertakes it shall up againe and that in a short time There is amends for Solvite And so now with these two limitations vnder these two conditions 1 One of a greater good by it 2 the other of another as good or better in liew of it may Solvite be said permissivè and otherwise not by any warrant from CHRIST or from His example And thus you have heard what He saith Will ye now see what they did b Solvite the doing what became of this Solvite of His Solvite saith he and when time came they did it But he said Solvite that is loose and they cryed Crucifige at the time that is fasten fasten Him to the Crosse but that fastening was His loosing for it lost Him and cost Him his life Which was the Solutum est of this Solvite For indeed Solutum est Templum hoc this Temple of His bodie the spirit from the flesh the flesh from the bloud was loosed quite The roofe of it His head loosed with thornes the foundation His feet with nayles The side Isles as it were His hands both likewise And His bodie as the bodie of the Temple and His heart in the midst of his bodie as the Sanctum Sanctorum with the Speare Loosed all What He said they did and did it home Nay they went beyond their commission and did more then Solvere More then Solvite A thing may be loosed gently without any rigour They loosed Him not but rudely they rent and rived Him one part from another with all extremitie left not one piece of the continuum whole together With their whippes they loosed not but tore His skin and flesh all over with their hammers and nailes they did not Solvere but fodere His hands and feet With the wreath of thornes they loosed not but gâ—red His head round abouâ— and with the Speare point rived the very heart of Him as if He had said to them Dilaâ—iate and not Solvite For as if it had come è laniena it was not Corpus Solutum but lacerum 1. Cor. 11.24 Matt. â—6 â—8 His bodie not loâ—sed but mangled and broken Corpus quod frangitur And His blood not easily let out but spilt and powred out Sanguis qui funditur even like water upon the ground Well is it turned Destroy It is more like a destruction then a soluâ—iâ—n More then Solvite it was sure The Solvite of this Temple sensible Now will ye remember This was a Temple of flesh and bone not one of lime and stone Yet the ragged ruines of one of them demolished will pitie a mans heart to see them and make him say Alas poore stones What have these done yet the stones neither feele their beating downe nor see the deformed plight they lye in But He Sic solutus est vt se solvi sentiret the Solution of His skin flesh hands feet and head He was sensible of all He saw the deformitie He felt the paines of them all The Solvite of his Sweat So saw and so felt as with the very sight and sense before it came there befell Him another Solvite a strange one Solutus est in sudorem the orifices of the veines all over the texture of His bodie Luk. 22.44 were loosed and all His blood let loose that He was all over in a strange sweat stood full of great droppes of blood A Solvite never heard of nor read of but in Him onely The Solvite of the Veile And yet another Solvite For that Solvite Templum hoc might every way be true in all senses verified what time the Veile of His flesh rent that His soule was loosed and departed at the very same instant the Veile of the materiall Temple that split also in two Matt. 27.51 from the top to the bottome as it were for companie or in a sympathie with Him That it was literally true this Solvite and of the Temple that they meant And so two Solvite's of both Temples together at once The great Solvite at his Passion One more yet and I have done with Solvite and that is a Solvite in a manner of all of the great Temple of heaven and earth For the very face of Heaven then all black and darke at noone day yet no Eclipse the Moone was at the full the Earth quaking Matt. 27.51.52 the stones renting the graves opening as they then did shewed plainely there was then toward some vniversall Solvite some great dissolution as the * Diâ—â— Arâ—op Philosopher then said either of the frame of nature or of the GOD of nature Cast your eye thither looke upon that and there you shall see Solvite Templum hoc plainely and what it meanes And it had beene enough if they had had eny grace even to have pointed them to the time when this Solvite Templum hoc was fulfilled by them And this for both Solvite and Solutum est their part which was His passion by their Act. III. â— Excitabo the saying Now to answer them two to Excitabo and Excitavit
his and Ieroboam his But Abimelech with his needy indigent Sichemites Roboam with his youthe that never stood before Salomon c 2. Chro. 13.7 Ieroboam with his crue of malcontents Sonns of Belial shall I call any of these Synagoga Deorum I cannot I see no lineaments no resemblance at all nothing for which this name should once be vouchsafed them of Godds Nay nor scarse of Synagoga neither as deserving not onely to be left out of the list of Godds but even to be put extra Synagogam Scarse a Synagogue much lesse of Godds After in this Psalme at the V. Verse they are told as much when by their ignorantibus or non intelligentibus things were growen out of course And told it by GOD Himselfe and that with a kinde of indignation that he had said they were Godds and they carried themselves scarse like men gone from their names quite But I leave them and come to this of ours But ours we wish to be such There is not in the world a more reasonable request then this what you would be that to be what you would be in name that to be indeed to make good â—our name Every one to be Homo homini Deus by doing good Specially that good which is the good of all that is the good of this Assembly This the time and place for it And so my wish is you may and my trust is you will And so I leave Deorum the Godds of the Congregation and come to Synagoga the Congregation it selfe For when we consider these Godds each apart they are as in Ezechiel II. The Congregation of the Godds Eze. 1.20 Every spirit on his wheele and every wheele in his owne course when they are at home in their severall countries But when as in a Congregation then are they to come to be togither And this if cause be GOD alloweth well of God alloweth such congregations when there is â—ause 1. For he hath to that end left with his Lieutenant a power d Num. 10.34 to blow the trumpetts one or both to call togither a part or the whole Congregation By the Trumpetts while they were all within the Trumpett's sound But after when they were settled all Canaan over to call them by the penn of the writer that is by VVrit Of which we have a faire example Iud. 5.14 2. For secondly He hath willed the Angels of his Church by the Angel's example Iud 5.23 to lay Meroz's curse to them that come not to it 3. For thirdly He heere calleth their meeting by the name of a Synagogue which is a Holy place a Sanctuarie a High place or Court of refuge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies all these 4. For fourthly He hath to that end spared them a peece of his owne Temple to have their meetings in e 1. Chro. 16.15 On the south side of it called twise by the name of Asuppim which was to them as the Parlament-house is to us that so their feete might stand on holy ground And they knew 〈◊〉 〈…〉 common or 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sacred Assembly to him 〈…〉 he hath set them 〈◊〉 a Monitorie Psalme of this to put them 〈◊〉 how to beare themselves in iâ— like Godds that is Divinely 〈◊〉 For last when they are togiâ—her He comes himself in person and stands â—mong them All which sheâ— he favours and likes well such Assemblies as this The causâ— of the meeting of such Congretions But then there must be a Cause And indeed els it is Concursus atomorum rather then Congregatio Deorum Thus many so goodly a Company to 〈◊〉 to no end GOD forbidd If the Apostle had not Nature doth 〈…〉 1. Cor. 11.17 When we come togither to come togither for the better not for the 〈…〉 And nothing is worse then to come togither for nothing 〈◊〉 as Dehora saith well g Iud. 5.16 stay at home and heare the bleating of their 〈◊〉 This be farr from any Assembly specially the Assembly of the Godds who are heerin to imitate GOD who doth nothing in vaine or without a cause This cause double 1 One from Synagoga â— The other froÌ„ Deorum If you aske me the cause the two words themselves Synagoga and Deorum conteine either of them a cause of it As a Congregation for the good of the Congregation As Godds Caetus Deorum Caetus Dei saith Saint Hierom the Congregation of Godds is GOD'S Congregation As his for him for his honour who gave them theirs to the high pleasure of that GOD whose Ego dixi Godded them all And so as I remember it is written In capite libri the first page or front of your acts To the high pleasure of almighty GOD there lo is GOD and for the weale publique there is the Congregation Not this onely heere the Congregation of Godds but the Congregation of men I know not how many all the Land over even the gâ—â—at Congregation 1. From Synagoga when it is in danger Learne a parable of the Naturall Body If there be no other cause each Member is left to looke to it selfe but if there be any danger toward the whole body presently all the parts are summoned as it were to come togither and every Veine sends his bloud and every sinnew his strength and every arterie his spirits and all draw togither about the heart for a while till the safety of the whole be provided for and then returne back every one to his place againe So is it with the Body Civill in case of danger The danger of two sorts 1 Ordinarie â— Or upon speciall occasion â— Ordinary By Synagoge vitiorâ—â— and never but in it But is there any danger then towards There is and that to both To the Synagogue first and that from a twofold Synagogue and of two sorts 1 One continuall or ordinarie 2 The other not so but speciall and upon occasion The danger this Psalme expresseth thus Ver. V. That things are brought out of course 〈…〉 yea foundations and all Thus there be I may cal them a synagogue for they be many of these same mali mores that like 〈…〉 shoot out dayly no man knowes whence or how never heard of before These if they be suffered to grow will bring all out of course And grow they doe 〈…〉 for even of them some that have paenalties â—â—â—ready set â— know not how such a head they get as they outgrow their punishments that if this Congregation grind not on a new a sharper edge they will bring things yet further out of Course Besides those that should keep all in course b Ex legibus depravatis the Lawes themselves are in danger too There be a sort of men I may well say of the Synagogue of Satan that give their waies and bend their witts to nothing but even to devise how to fret through the Lawes as soon as they be made
that He had made And it was a conveniencie that He should and it was an inducement that He would vndertake the businesse and go through with it 2. What Christ is to us All this He is in Himselfe Yet not so but in all His splendor and glorie He mindeth us And that so as He is desirous to bring us to the ioynt partaking of His inheritance as Sonne of His glorie as the Brightnesse yea of the very Divine nature as the Character of His Substance The ground whereof is laid in quem fecit haeredem whom He made heire and that was as man For per quem fecit we said is GOD Quem fecit is man 1 He is made Heire Made him heire Heires are either borne or made So borne by nature or so made by purchase He was His Sonne and His onely Sonne and so borne His heire He was borne and yet He would be made There is a mysterie in this we are to looke to it It will fall out to concerne us Heire borne He was and so claimeth all as His inheritance by due of birth-right But it is further heer said He was made what meanes this Quem fecit Nay quem genuit That is true But quem fecit is true likewise Fecit haeredem qui prius fuit haeres So borne and so made too Haeres natus and haeres factus So commeth He to a double right two titles How so He needed but one He would have two To what end Not for Himselfe for Himselfe one was enough Beliâ—e His meaning was to have two that He might set over one to some body els There is the point He was borne Heire for Himselfe but made heire for us Haeres natus that serveth Him that He reteines to Himselfe Haeres factus that He disposeth of to us By this we hold euen by Quem fecit that is our tenure and best hope He is and ever was in the bosome of His Father as haeres natus He now is but on our behalfe and to our behoofe at the right hand of His Father as Haeres factus And now followeth He purged our sinnes â— He purgeth our sinnes For He could not bring us to sit with Him in His throne thus purchased being so spotted and foule as we were by meanes of the pollution of our sinnes He was then to purge and make cleane our Nature first that He might exalt it to partake His purchase being so clensed Where first our case is set downe wherein He found us and wherein we are without Him A sinners case how gloriously soever he or she glister in the eyes of men being in GODS eyes as the case of a foule diseased person And we thereby taught so to conceive of sinnes as of foule Spots without or of such humours within as go from us 2 Cor. 7.1 by purging Inquinamenta carnis Spiritus as Saint Paul termes them right defiling both flesh and Spirit which vnlesse they be purged there is no entring into the heavenly Ierusalem where the throne is into which nihil inquinatum Apoc. 21.27 no polluted thing shall ever enter Exalt us He could not being in that plight for love or pitie therefore purge us He would And heer now is the topp or highest point of elevation in this Text. Who being the Brightnesse or though He were the Brightnesse that is a Partie so excellent in Nature Glorie Person and Power Nature as Sonne Glorie as Brightnesse Person as Character Power as maker and supporter of all who though He were all this did not abhorre to come and visit us being in that foule and wretched case This will teach us Psal 84. Luk. â— 78 Domine quid est homo what is man that Thou shouldest visit him Visit him not as the day-spring from an high doth the earth but visit him as if a great Prince should go into an Hospitall to visit and looke on a lothsome diseased creature 2 And not onely visit him but not refuse the base office to looke to his purging from that his vncleannesse 3 And thirdly not cause it to be done by another but to come and do it in Semetipso by his owne selfe in person 4 And fourthly in doing not to stand by and prescribe but Himselfe to minister and make the medicine 5. And fiftly to make it Himselfe and make it of Himselfe in semetipso and de semetipso to make the medicine and be the medicine 6. And how or of what Spots will out with water Some will not with any thing but with blood Without shedding of blood there is no taking away Sinne as Chap. IX v. 22. And not every blood will serve but it must be lambs blood And a lambe 1. Pet. 1.19 without spot And not every lamb neither but the Lamb of GOD or to speake plainely a Lamb that is GOD His blood and nothing els will serve to do this Ioh. 1.29 7. And seventhly not any blood of His not of a veine one may live still for all that but His best most pretious His heart blood which bringeth certaine death with it With that blood He was to make the medicine Dy He must and His side be opened that there might issue both the water and the blood that was to be the Ingredients of it By Himself His own selfe and by Himselfe slaine by His death and by His blood-shedding and by no other meanes Quis audivit talia The Physitian slaine and of his flesh and blood a receipt made that the patient might recover And now we may be at our choise whither we will conceive of sinne as of some outward soile in the soule And then the purging of it to be per viam balnei needs a bath with some cleansing ingredients as the Prophet speakes of the herb Borith Ier. 2.22 And this way purged He us made a bath of the water that came out of His side to that end opened Zach. 11.1 that from thence might flow a fountaine for sinne and for vncleannesse Zach. 11 1. Water and mixed with His blood as forcible to take out the steines of the soule as any herb Borith in the world to take away the soile of the skinne Or whither we will conceive of sinne as of some inward pestilent humour in the soule and conscience casting us into perill of mortall or rather immortall death Then the purging of us to be by way of some Electuarie or Potion And so He purgeth our sinnes too To that end He hath made an Electuarie of His owne bodie Take Mat 26.26.27 eate it and tempered a cup with His owne blood Drink ye all of it which by the operation of His eternall Spirit in it Heb. 9.14 is able effectually to purge the conscience from dead works or actuall sinnes and from the deadly effect of them No balsame or medicine in the world like it The Summe of all is There be two defiling sinnes and two waies He purgeth
His Nativitie And this day to be no lesse solemnized for invenietis His finding then for natus est His very Birth it selfe It is more often found in the first Fathers by the name of Theophania His appearance or being found then by the name Genethlia of being borne into the world The Angells Evanâ—â—lizo reacheth to both their Gloria in excelsis is soong for both THe worke of the day is invenietis to find CHRIST We shall not be the better for natus est if we find Him not Find Him we cannot if first we find not a Signe to find Him by Erit vobis Signum and Hoc erit saith the Angell a Signe ye shall have and this shall be it Ye shall find Him swadled and laid in a manger I. The Signe Signes never come amisse but are then so necessarie as we cannot misse them when we should misse without them when no Signe no invenietis As heer For if a Signe if this Signe had not been given no invenietis CHRIST had not been found Not been found for never had been sought in such a place Had not the Angell thither directed the Shepheards Had not the Starr thither pointed the Magi neither tone nor tother would ever there have sought Him A Non est inventus had been returned by both And reason For some kind of proportion there would be betweene Signum and Signatum And if the Signe be a place as heer betweene Locus and Locatus A chiefe Person in a chiefe Place a LORD and SAVIOVR something Lord and Saviour-like To Bethlehem they will Set the Signe by let them alone say nothing to them When they came thither they would never go to an Inne or Ostrie but to the very best house in the Towne Or if to an Inne to the fairest Chamber in it Or to a Chamber at least Never to the stable there to look in the manger for CHRISTVS DOMINVS To the stable we goe to looke for an horse To the Crib for bos cognovit afinus Esay 1.3 for one of them Never thither to seeke for the SAVIOVR of the world Nay if in their search passing by by hap they had lighted upon such a Birth a Child so lying it may be they would have pitied the poore Babe and the Mother but have gone on their way and sought farther Never I dare say taken Him for CHRIST the LORD And if one should have bid them Stay for this is the Child the Angell spake of they would haue shaken him of and said with as great skorne as they 1. Sam. 16.27 I. Sam. X. Nunquid poterit iste salvare nos what shall this be our SAVIOVR trow For invenietis is not all to find Him but finding Him to applie the Angells words unto Him to beleeve of this Child thus there lying that He should be CHRIST the SAVIOVR Gaudium omni populo the joy of the whole earth It goes hard this We said when time was this message was so high as no man meet to bring it but an Angell of heaven We say now ex alio capite this signe was so vnlikely no man was meet to give it but an Angell onely And it was well it was an Angell if it had been any els His Birth would have seemd as his Resurrection did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fained tale No mans Affidavit would have been taken for it What were the Shepheards like to thinke of this Sure thanke him for Natus est the newes of His Birth but not for His Signe Erit Signum they like well but not Hoc erit If He had given them no Signe it would have troubled them Now the Signe given troubles them worse For this Signe they know not what to make of it It is so poore a one it is enough to make them halfe in the mind to give over their journey as not caring for invenietis whither they find Him or no If His Signe be no better as good lost as found Alwaies this is out of the Evangelizo vobis no part of it for no good newes thus to find Him And we if we admit a conference with flesh and blood when we lay together the Signe and of whom it is the Signe we find to our thinâ—â—ng a great disparagement and I know not how thoughts arise in our hearts as if â—â—me better Signe would have done better The meaning is we would find CHRIST faign but we would find Him in some better place Halfe Iewes we are all in this point we would have a MESSIAS in state Hoc erit this it shall be saith the Angell Shall be but should it be this No how should it be let us see Why this shall be the Signe Ye shall find the Child not in these clouts or cratch but in a crimsin mantle in a cradle of ivorie That lo were somewhat Saviour like Hoc erit Signum But in vaine take we upon us to teach the Angell We would have we know not what We forget Saint Augustines Distingue tempora as the time is the Angell is right and a fitter Signe could not be assigned Would we have had Him come in power and great glorie and so He will come but not now He that commeth heer in clouts He will come in the clouds one day But now His comming was for another end and so to be in another manner His comming now was as we say in the Collect to visit us in great humilitie and so His Signe to be according Nay then I say First goe to the nature of a Signe if CHRIST had come in His excellencie that had been no Signe no more then the Sunne in the Firmament shining in his full strength Hoc non erit Signum Contrarie to the course of Nature it would be els it is no Signe The Sunn eclipsed the Sunn in Sackcloth Luk. 31.25 that is Signum in sole the Signe indeed And that is the Signe heere the Sunn of righteousnesse entering into his eclipse beginns to be darkened in his first point the point of His Nativitie Mal 4.2 This is the Signe say I and that had been none I say againe It is not onely Signum that is not all it is Signum Vobis We shall do well to look to Vobis There is a matter in that For whom this Signe was given Not the persons so much as the condition For if He had been so gloriously borne such as these should never have been suffered to come neere Him But this is a Signe for You You that keepe sheep and such other poore people you have a SAVIOVR too He is not the Saviour of Great States onely but even of poore shepheards The poorest of the earth may repaire to Him being no other place but this and by this Signe to find Him And so hoc erit Signum Vobis I say thirdly Vobis and take in our selves too So Hoc erit Signum For what praise or thanks had it been for us to have beleeved in
your heart and not your clothes and turne unto the LORD your GOD. FOR this time hath the Church made choise of this Text. The Time wherein howsoever we have dispensed with it all the yeare beside she would have us seriously to entend and make it our time of turning to the LORD And that Now the first word of the Text. For she holds it not safe to leave us wholly to our selves to take any time it skills not when lest we take none at all Act. 24 25. Not now saith Foelix but when I shall find a convenient time and he never found any and many with him perish upon this not now Take heede of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when I shall finde a convenient time It undid Foelix that She hath found this same keeping of continuall Sabboths and Fasts this keeping the memorie of CHRIST 's Birth and Resurrection all the yeare long hath done no good hurt rather So it hath seemed good to the HOLY GHOST and to Her to order there shall be a solemne set returne Act. 15.28 once in the yeare at least And reason for once a yeare all things turne And that once is now at this time For now at this time is the turning of the yeare In Heaven the Sunne in his Equinoctiall line the Zodiaque and all the Constellations in it do now turne about to their first point The earth and all her plants after a dead Winter returne to the first and best season of the yeare Ier. 8.7 The creatures the Fowles of the Aire the Swallow and the Turtle the Crane and the Storke know their seasons and make their just returne at this time every yeare Every thing now turning that we also would make it our time to turne to GOD in Then because we are to turne cum jejunio with fasting and this day is knowen by the name of Caput jejunij the first day of Lent it fitts well as a welcome into this time a time lent us as it were by GOD set us by the Church to make our turning in And besides the time Now the manner How is heer also set downe For as it is true 2. Tim. 2.25 that repentance is the gift of GOD Si quo modo det Deus poenitentiam saith the Apostle and we by prayer to seeeke it of Him that it would please Him to grant us true repentance Heb. 6.1 So it is true withall there is a Doctrine of Repentance from dead works as saith the same Apostle and that is heer taught us The Church turnes us to these words heer of the Prophet Ioël Which though they be a part of the Old Testament yet for some speciall vertue in them as we are to beleeve She hath caused them to be read for the Epistle of this day And surely had there been a plainer then this wherin the nature of true repentance had been more fully set forth it behooveth us to thinke the Church inspired by the wisedome of GOD would have looked it out for us against this time the time sacred by her to our turning Againe that the Church carying to her children the tender heart of a mother if there were a more easy or gentle repentance then this of Ioël She would have chosen that rather For this we are all bound to think She takes no pleasure to make us sad or to put upon us more then needs She must Which in that She hath not we may well presume this of Ioël is it She would have us hold our selves to and that this is and is to be the mold of our Repentance I wote well there is in this text some-what of Sal terrae something of the graine of mustard-seed in the Gospell Mat. 5.13.13.31 The points be such as well list not heare of Fasting is durus Sermo Io. 6.60 Verse 11. an un-welcome point to flesh and bloud but as for weeping and mourning and renting the heart who can abide it The Prophet it seemes foresaw we would say as much and therefore he takes up the word before us They be the words next before these Who can abide it Abide what These dayes the abstinence in them No but the great and fearfull Day of the LORD If you speake of not abiding who can abide that As if he should say If you could abide that Day when it comes I would trouble you with none of these But no abiding of that Turne it away you may turne it into a ioyfull day by this turning to the LORD Thus you may and but thus you cannot Now therefore you see how therefore comes in Heer is our choise One of them we must take And better thus turne unto GOD in some of these little dayes then be turned of by Him in that great Day Mat. 8.12 to another manner weeping then this of Ioël Even to weeping 2. Cor. 10.11 and wailing and gnashing of teeth Scientes igitur terrorem hunc knowing therefore this feare and that upon this turning Cardo vertitur the hinge turnes of our well or evill doing for ever to be content to come to it and to turne the Heathen mans Non emam into emam tanti poenitere To this turning then Our charge is to preach to men non quae volunt audire sed quae volunt audisse not what for the present they would heare but what another day they would wish they had heard Repâ—ntance it selfe is nothing els but redire ad principia a kind of circling to returne to Him by repentance from whom by sinne we have turned away And much after a circle is this text beginns with the word turne and returnes about to the same word againe Which circle consists to use the Prophet's owne word of two turnings for twise he repeats this word which two must needs be two different motions 1 One is to be done with the whole heart 2 The other with it broken and rent So as one and the same it cannot be First a turne wherein we looke forward to GOD and with our whole heart resolve to turne to Him Then a turne againe wherein we looke backward to our sinnes wherein we have turned from GOD and with beholding them our very heart breaketh These two are two distinct both in nature and names One Conversion from sinne the other Contrition for sinne One resolving to amend that which is to come the other reflecting and sorrowing for that which is past One declining from evill to be done heerafter the other sentencing it selfe for evill done heertofore These two between them make up a compleate repentance or to keepe the word of the text a perfect revolution And this and none other doth Ioël teach the Iewes and this and none other doth Ionas teach the Gentiles None other the Prophets nor none other the Apostles For Saint Iames comes iust to this of Ioël Enioining sinners to cleanse their hands Iam. 4.8.9 and to purge their hearts which is the former and then
Eccl. 13.1 Eccl. 3.27 dallying with his conversion turning like a door upon the hinges open and shutt and shutt and open againe with vult non vult he would and yet he would not Be bold to say of that man he is out of the compasse of conversion back againe he will ad volutabrum luti And as easily it is seene when one goes to his turning with his whole heart He will come to his Quid faciemus Luc. 3.10 Set him downe what he should do and he will do it Not come neere the place where sinne dwelleth Refraine the wandring of his sense whereby sinne is awaked fulnesse and idlenesse whereof sinne breedeth but chiefly corrupt companie whither sinne resorteth For conversion hath no greater enemy then conversing with such of whom our heart telleth us there is neither faith nor feare of GOD in them To all these he will come Draw that mans apologie pronounce of him he is turned and with his whole heart turned to GOD. And so may we turne and such may all our conversion be 1 Voluntary without compulsion 2 To God without declining 3 With the heart not in Speculation 4 With the whole heart entire no purpose of recidivation II. The manner of it All this shall be done we will turne with the heart with the whole heart Is this all No heere is a Cum we must take with us Cum jejunio With Fasting Take heed of turning Cum into sine To say with it or without it we may turne well enough Since it is GOD himselfe that to our turning joineth jejunium we may not turne without it Indeed as I told you this is but the halfe-turne Hitherto we have but looked forward we must also turne back our eye and reflect upon our sinnes past be sorie for them before our turning be as it should The Hemisphaere of our sinnes not to be under the Horizon cleane out of our sight must ascend up and we set them before us and we testifie by these foure that follow how we like our selves for committing of them I know we would have the sentence end heere the other stripped of have the matter between our hearts and us that there we may end it within and no more adoe and there we should do well enough But the Prophet tells us farther or GOD himselfe rather for He it is that heer speaketh that our repentance is to be incorporate into the bodie no lesse then the sinne was Her 's hath been the delight of sinne and she to beare a part of the penaltie that the heart within and the bodie without may both turne since both have gone astray It is a taxe a tribute it hath pleased GOD to lay upon our sinnes and we must beare it I speake it for this It is a world what strange conceits there are abroad touching this point To the animalis homo flesh and bloud reveiles a farre more easie way not encombred with any of these To turne and yet not lose a meale all the yeare long and not shed a teare and not rent either heart or garment and yet doe full well And with this conceipt they passe their lives and with this they passe out of their lives as it seemes resolved to put their soules in a venture and to come to heaven after their owne fashion or not come there at all Change Ioël into Iaël take a draught of milke out of her bottle and wrappe them warme and lay them downe and never rise more Iudg. 4·17 And that which is worse they would not by their good-will have any other spoken of For this is a disease of our nature Looke how much we are of our selves disposed to doe just so much and no more must be preached to us For more then we have a liking to performe we cannot at any hand abide should be urged as needfull But these conceipts must be left or els we must tell IOEL we can turne to GOD without any of these But it is not IOEL GOD it is that speaketh who best knoweth what turning it is that pleaseth Him best and whom we must needs leave to prescribe the manner how He would have us to turne unto Him To speake after the manner of men in very congruitie when after a long aversion we are to turne and present our selves before GOD there would be a forme sett downe how to behave our selves in what sort to performe it This is it how for our chear our countenance how for our carriage every way Very duty will teach us if we will not breake all the rules of Decorum we should doe it suitably to such as have stood out in a long rebellion and being in just disgrace for it are to approch the highest MAIESTIE upon earth Now would they being to returne make a feast the same day they are to doe it with light merry hearts with cheerefull lookes and not rather with shame in their countenance feare in their hearts griefe in their eyes As they would so let us Still and ever remembring what the Prophet saith Magnus Rex IEHOVA GOD is a more High and mighty Prince then any on earth stands on His State will not be thus turned to thus sleightly with or without it skills not But we in our turning to come before Him all abashed and confounded in our selves that for a trifle a matter of nothing certaine caracts of gaine a few minutes of delight base creatures that we be so and so often Sic sic faciendo by such and such sinnes have offended so presumptuously against so Glorious a MAIESTY so desperately against so Omnipotent a POVVER so vnkindly against so Sovereigne a BOVNTY of so gracious a GOD and so kind and loving a SAVIOVR To take them as they stand Fasting Which were there nothing els but this 1. With Fasâ—ing that the Church maketh this time of our returne a time of fast it shewes plainely in her opinion how neere these two are allyed how well they sort together Which Fast the Church prescribeth not onely by way of regiment to keepe the body low that it may be a lesse mellow soile for the sinnes of the flesh for this perteineth to the former part so to prevent sinne to come but awards it as a chastisement for sinne already past For to be abridged whether by others or by our selves of that which otherwise we might freely vse hath in it the nature of a punishment They be the words of the Psalme I wept and chastened my selfe with fasting Chastened himselfe So Psal. 69.10 a chastisement it is And thus preach we Fasting 1 Neither as the Physitians enjoyne it in their Aphorismes to digest some former surfett 2 Nor as the Philosophers in their Moralls to keepe the sense subtile 3 Nor as the States Politique in their Proclamations to preserve the breed of Cattell or encrease of strength by Sea But as the holy Prophets of GOD as Ioël streight after we do Sanctificare
point the Prophet here calleth us to even how to looke upon CHRIST often and to be the better for our looking It shall be verie agreeable to the Text and to the HOLY GHOST 's chief entent if we prove how and in how diverse sorts we may with profit behold and looke upon Him whom thus we have pierced 1. Respise transfigere First then looking upon Him we may bring forth for the first effect that which immediatly followeth this Text it selfe in this Text Et plangent Eum Respice plange First looke and lament or mourne which is indeed the most kindly and naturall effect of such a spectacle Looke upon Him that is pierced and with looking upon Him be pierced thy selfe Respice transfigere A good effect of our first looke if we could bring it forth At least wise if we cannot Respice transfigere looke and be pierced yet than it might be Respice compungere that with looking on Him we might be pricked in our hearts Actâ— 2.37 and have it enter past the skinne though it go not cleane through Which difference in this Verse the Prophet seemeth to insinuate when first he willeth us to mourne as for one's onely sonne with whom all is lost Or if that cannot be had to mourne as for a first begotten sonne which is though not so great yet a great mourning even for the first begotten though other sonnes be left Verse 11. And in the next Verse if we cannot reach to naturall griefe yet he wisheth us to mourne with a Civill even with such a lamentation as was made for Iosias And Behold a greater then IOSIAS is heere Comming not as he to an honourable death in battell but to a most vile death the death of a Malefactor And not as Iosias dying vvithout any fault of theirs but mangled and massacred in this shamefull sort for us even for us and our transgressions Verily the dumbe and senselesse creatures had this effect wrought in them of mourning at the sight of his death in their kind sorrowing for the murder of the SONNE of GOD. And we truly shall be much more senselesse then they if it have in us no worke to the like effect Especially considering it was not for them He suffered all this nor they no profit by it but for us it was and vve by it saved And yet they had compassion and vve none Be this then the first Now as the first is Respice transfigere Looke upon him 2. Respice tranâ—fige and be pierced so the second may be and that fitly Respice transfige Look upon him and pierce and pierce that in thee that was the cause of CHRIST 's piercing that is sinne and the lusts thereof For as men that are pierced indeed vvith the griefe of an indignity offered vvithall are pricked to take revenge on him that offers it such a like affection ought our second looking to kindle in us even to take a wreake or revenge upon sinne quia fecit hoc because it hath been the cause of all this I mean as the HOLY GHOST termeth it a mortifying or crucifying a thrusting thorow of our vvicked passions and concupiscences in some kind of repaying those manifold villanies vvhich the SONNE of GOD suffered by meanes of them At leastwise as before if it kindle not our zeale so farre aginst sinne yet that it may slake our zeale and affection to sinne that is Respice ne respicias Respice CHRISTVM ne respieias peccatum That we have lesse mind lesse liking lesse acquaintance vvith sinne for the Passion-sake For that by this means vve do in some sort spare CHRIST and at least make his wounds no wider Wheras by affecting sinne anew we do vvhat in us lieth to crucifie Him afresh and both increase the number and enlarge the widenesse of his wounds It is no unreasonable request That if we list not wound sinne yet seeing CHRIST hath wounds enough and they wide and deep enough we should forbeare to pierce him further and have at least this second fruit of our looking upon Him either to look and to pierce sinne or to looke and spare to pierce him any more Now as it was sinne that gave him these wounds so 3. Respice dilige it was love to us that made him receive them being otherwise hable enough to have avoided them all So that He was pierced with love no lesse then with griefe and it was that wound of love made him so constantly to endure all the other Which love we may read in the palmes of His hands as the Fathers expresse it out of Esa. 49.16 For in the Palmes of his hands He hath graven us that he might not forget us And the print of the neiles in them are as Capitall letters to record his love toward us For CHRIST pierced on the Crosse is liber charitatis the very booke of love laid open before us And againe this love of His we may read in the cleft of His heart Quia Claâ—us penetransfactus est nobis Clavis reserans saith Bernard ut pateant nobis viscera per vulnera The point of the Speare serves us instead of a key letting us through his wounds see his verie bowells the bowells of tender love and most kind compassion that vvould for us endure to be so entreated That if the Iewes that stood by said truely of him at LAZARVS 's grave Ioh. 11.36 Ecce quomodo dilexit Eum when He shed a few teares out of his eyes much more truly may we say of him Ecce quomodo dilexit nos seeing him shedd both Water and Blood and that in great plentie and that out of his heart Which sight ought to pierce us with love too no lesse then before it did with sorrow With one or with both for both have power to pierce but specially Love Which except it had entred first and pierced him no neile or speare could ever have entered Then let this be the third Respice dilige Look and be pierced with love of him that so loved thee that he gave himselfe in this sort to be pierced for thee 4 Respice crede And forasmuch as it is CHRIST his owne selfe that resembling his passion on the Crosse to the Brazen Serpent lift up in the wildernesse maketh a correspondence between their beholding and our beleeving for so it is Ioh. 3. 14. vve cannot avoid but must needs make that an effect too Even Respice crede And well may we beleeve and trust him whom looking a little before we have seene so constantly loving us For the sight of that love maketh credible unto us whatsoever in the whole scripture is affirmed to us of CHRIST or promised in his name So that beleeve it and beleeve all Neither is there any time wherein with such cheerefulnesse or fulnesse of faith we crie unto him Ioh. 20.28 MY LORD and MY GOD as when our eye
taken often for the other Then to be sure to bring us to Regard He urgeth this Pertaines not all this to you Is it not for your good Is not the benefit yours Matters of benefit they pertaine to you and vvithout them LOVE and all the rest may pertaine to whom they will Consider then the inestimable benefit that groweth unto you from this incomparable Love It is not impertinent this Even this That to us hereby all is turned about cleane contrary That by his Stripes we are healed by his sweat we refreshed By his forsaking we received to Grace That this day to him 2. Cor. 6.2 the day of the fiercenesse of GOD 's wrath is to us the Day of the fulnesse of GOD 's favour as the Apostle calleth it A Day of Salvation In respect of that he suffered I deny not an evill day a day of heavinesse But in respect of that which he by it hath obtained for us It is as we truly call it A good Day a day of ioy and Iubilee For it doth not only ridd us of that wrath which pertained to us for our sinnes but further it maketh that pertaine to us whereto we had no manner of right at all For not onely by his death as by the death of our sacrifice by the blood of his Crosse as by the blood of the Paschal Lambe Exod. 12 1â— the Destroier passeth over us and we shall not perish But also by his death as by the death of our High Priest for he is Priest and Sacrifice both we are restored from our exile Nam 15.28 even to our former forfeited estate in the land of Promise Or rather as the Apostle saith Non sicut delictum sic donum Rom 8.15 Not to the same estate but to one nothing like it that is One far better then the estate our sinnes bereft us For they deprived us of Paradise a place on earth but by the purchase of his blood we are entitled to a farre higher even the Kingdome of Heaven And his blood not only the blood of Remission to acquite us of our sinnes Mat. 26.28 but the blood of the Testament too to bequeath us and give us estate in that heavenly inheritance Now whatsoever els this I am sure is a Non sicut as that which the eye by all it can see the eare by all it can heare the heart by all it can conceive cannot patterne it or set the like by it Pertaines not this unto us neither Is not this worth the regard Sure if any thing be worthy the regard this is most worthy of our very worthiest and best regard Thus have we considered and seene The recapitulation of all not so much as in this sight we might or should but as much as the time will give us leave And now lay all these before you every one of them a Non sicut of it selfe the paines of his body esteemed by Pilate's Ecce the sorrowes of his Soule by his sweat in the Garden the comfortlesse estate of his sorrowes by his crie on the Crosse And with these his Person as being the SONNE of the great and ETERNALL GOD. Then ioyne to these the Cause In GOD his fierce wrath In us our hainous sinnes deserving it In him his exceeding great Love both suffering that for us which we had deserved and procuring for us that we could never deserve Making that to appertaine to himselfe which of right pertained to us and making that pertaine to us which pertained to him onely and not to us at all but by his meanes alone And after their view in severall lay them all together so many Non sicut's into one and tell me if his Complaint be not just and his request most reasonable The complâ—int The matâ—eâ— juâ—t Yes sure his Complaint is just Have ye no regard None and yet never the like None and it pertaines unto you No regard As if it were some common ordinary matter and the like never was No regard As if it concern'd you not a whit and it toucheth you so neere As if he should say Rare things you regard yea though they no waies pertaine to you this is exceeding rare and will you not regard it Againe things that neerely touch you you regard though they be not rare at all this toucheth you exceeding neere even as neere as your soule toucheth you and will you not yet regard it Will neither of these by it selfe move you Will not both these together move you What will move you Will Pitie Heer is Distresse never the like Will Dutie Heer is a Person never the like Will Feare Heer is Wrath never the like Will Remorse Heer are sinnes never the like Will Kindnesse Heer is Love never the like Will bounty Heer are Benefits never the like Will all these Heer they be all all above any Sicut all in the highest degree The manner eaâ—nest Truely the Complaint is just it may move us it wanteth no reason it may move and it wanteth no affection in the delivery of it to us on his part to move us Sure it moved him exceeding much For among all the deadly sorrowes of his most bitter Passion this eâ—en this seemeth to be his greatest of all and that which did most affect him even the griefe of the slender reckoning most men have it in as little respecting him as if he had done or suffered nothing at all for them For lo of all the sharpe paines he endureth he complaineth not but of this he complaineth of No regard That which grieveth him most that which most he moaneth is this It is strange he should be in paines such paines as never any was and not complaine himselfe of them But of want of regard only Strange he should not make request O deliver me or Relieve me But only O consider and regard me In effect as if he said None no deliverance no reliefe do I seeke Regard I seeke And all that I suffer I am content with it I regard it not I suffer most willingly if this I maâ— finde at your hands Regard The 〈…〉 of â—t Tâ—uly This so passionate a Complaint may move us it moved all but us For most strange of all it is that all the Creatures in heaven and earth seemed to heare this his mournfull Complaint and in their kind to shew their regard of it The Sunne in heaven shrinking in his light the earth trembling under it the very stones cleaving in sunder as if they had sense and Sympathy of it and sinfull men only not moved with it And yet it was not for the Creaâ—ures this was done to Him to them it pertaineth not But for us it was and to us it doth and shall we not yet râ—gard it Shall the Creature and not we Shall we not If we doe not it may appertaine to us but we pertaine not to it The benefit if· It pertaines to all but all pertaine not to it
consuetudinem Ecclesiae Dei Such a custome we have and so 1. Cor. 11.16 the Church of GOD hath used it to take these words of CHRIST in the nature of an Edict for pacification ever at this time That whatsoever become of it all the yeare beside this time should be kept a time of peace we should seeke it and offer it seeke it of GOD and offer it each to other There hath not these sixteen hundred yeares this day passed without a Peace-offering And the Law of a Peace-offering is he that offers it must take his part of it eat of it or it doth him no good This day therefore the Church never failes but setts forth her Peace-offering the Body whose hands were heer shewed and the Side whence issued Sanguis crucis the blood that pacifieth all things in earth heaven that we Col. 1.20 in and by it may this day renew the Covenant of our peace Then can it not be but a great grief to a Christian heart to see many this day give Christ's peace the hearing and there is all heare it and then turne their backs on it every man go his way and forsake his peace insteed of seeking it shunn it and of pursuing turne away from it We have not so learned CHRIST Saint Paul hath not so taught us His Rule it is Is CHRIST our Passover offered for us as Ephe. 4.20 1. Cor. 5.7.8 now He was Epulemur itaque That is his Conclusion Let us then keep a Feast a Feast of sweet bread without any sowre levin that is of Peace without any malice So to doe and even then this day when we have the peace-offering in our hands then to remember and alwaies but then specially to ioine with Christ in His wish to put into our hearts and the hearts of all that professe His name their 's specially that are of all others most likely to effect it that CHRIST may have His wish and there may be peace through the Christian world That we may once all partake togither of one peace-offering and with one mouth and one mind glorifie GOD the Father of our LORD IESVS CHRIST A SERMON Preached before the KING'S MAIESTIE AT WHITE-HALL On the VIII of Aprill A.D. MDCX. being EASTER DAY IOB CHAP. XIX Quis mihi tribuat ut scribantur c. VER 23. Oh that my words were now written Oh that they were written even in a booke 24. And graven with an iron penne in leade or in stone for ever 25. For J am sure that my Redeemer liveth and He shall stand the last on the earth or and I shall rise againe in the last day from the earth 26. And though * Or And I shall be compassed again with my skinne after my skinne wormes destroy this body J shall see GOD in my flesh 27. Whom I my selfe shall see and mine eyes shall behold and none other for me though my reines are consumed within me Or and this hope is layed up in my bosome THIS day calleth us to say somewhat of CHRIST 's Resurrection To finde CHRIST 's Resurrection in the New Testament is no masterie Out of many places you have thence heard of it heeretofore many times and many times may heerafter out of many places â—o If it be but for varietie it will doe well not to dwell still on the New but otherwhiles to see if we can finde it in the Old It will give us good satisfaction to see IESVS CHRIST to day and yesterday the same yesterday to them to day to us Heb. 13. â— To read Resurget in IOB He shall rise as we reade Resurrexit in IOHN He is risen To see their Creed and ours differ but in tense shall rise and is risen Shall and is but the REDEEMER all one in both Much adoe is made by our Antiquaries if an old stone be digged up with any dimme letters on it In this Text I finde mention of a stone to be graven so that I shall present you this day with an Antiquitie an old stone digged up in the land of Hus as old as Iob's time and that as old as MOSE'S with a faire inscription the Characters of it yet legible to prove the faith of this Feast so ancient that it began not with the Christians the Patriarchs had it as many hundred yeares before CHRIST as we are after This Text is a monument of it And it will be never the worse welcome to us that are Gentiles that is commeth from one that is a Gentile as IOB was and not of IACOB 's line It is the stronger for that MOSES and IOB the Iew and Gentile beleeved it Psal. 90.5 MOSES put it in his ordinarie prayer the ninetieth Psalme as it were his Pater â—oster and IOB heere in his Creed Saint Hierom saith of IOB Nullum tam apertè post CHRISTVM quà m iste hîc ante CHRISTVM de Resurrectione loquitur CHRISTI suâ No man ever since CHRIST did so cleerely speake of CHRIST 's Resurrection and his owne as IOB did heere before CHRIST That his Redeemer liveth and shall rise againe Which is as much to say as Ioh. 11.25 He is the Resurrection and the life Saint Iohn could say no more It is his hope He is by it regenerate to a livelyhope Saint Peter could say no more 1. Pet. 1.3 Enters into such particulars this flesh and these eyes Saint Paul could doe no more 1. Cor. 15.53 There is not in all the Old nay there is not in all the New a more pregnant direct place There is then in this monument of antiquitie a direct prophesie or if you will a plaine Creed of the substance of this Feast of his Redeemer's rising and of his hope to rise by Him the one positivè the other illativè There is a patheticall Poëme sett before it and there is a close or farewell by way of Epiphonema after it no lesse patheticall The Summe and Division The two first verses we may well call the Parasceue or preparation to the Feast of Passeover which serve to stirre up our regard as to a Mysterie or matter of great moment worthie not onely to be written or enrolled in a booke but to be cutt in stone a monument to be made of it ad perpetuam rei memoriam Oh that c. Then followeth in the third His Redeemer and his rising his passing over from death to life I know c. and out of it in the last by way of inference his owne Et quòd ego c. set downe with words so cleere and so full of caution as in the Epistle to the Corinthians it is not fuller expressed Vpon these two there be two Acts heere sett downe 1 Scio and 2 Spero He beginnes with Scio for the truth and ends with Haec mihi spes for the comfort or vse of this knowledge Graven that it may be knowne knowne that it may be our hope His it was
begin we not with that Verily even for that even for our naturall generation we owe Him a Benedictus But what should I say Vnlesse beside our first generavit we be so happy as to have our part in this second regeneravit the former I doubt will hardly prove worth a Benedictus But if this come to it then for both a benedictus indeed Otherwise as our SAVIOVR said to Nicodemus No man vnlesse he be thus borne againe by his first birth be it never so high or noble is a whit the neerer this Inheritance following For all our goodly generavit we so much boast of it would goe wrong with us but for this Well therefore may we all say Benedictus qui regeneravit Againe that is the second time Gal. 6.15 Now Re hath in it 〈◊〉 powers Re is againe the second time So it suits well with Secundùm it is the second For two there be 1 that old creation 2 and the new creature in CHRIST And two birthes We see it daily A child is brought into the world but it is carryed out againe to the Church there to be borne and brought forth anew by the Sacrament of Regeneration Againe that is upon a lesse But Re is not onely againe but againe as it were upon a losse Not a second onely but a second upon the failing of the first So doth Re imply ever Red-emption a buying againe upon a former aliening Re-conciliation upon a former falling out Re-stitution upon a former attainder Re-surrection upon a fall taken formerly Re-generation upon a former degenerating from our first estate Our first would not serve it was corrupt it was defiled it did degenerate Degenerating made us Pilios irae Ephes. 2.3 Pro. 16.14 And ira principis much more ira Dei mors est So children of death death and damnation and there left us and all by meanes of the corruption and soile of our former degenerate generation Never aske then Quid opus est re Re cannot be spared There was more then need of a new a second a re-generation to make us children of grace againe and so of life which He hath given us power to be made by the washing of the new birth the fountaine which He hath opened to the house of Israël for sinne and uncleannesse Tit. 3.5 Zach. 13.1 even for the sinne and uncleannesse of the first Will ye have it plainely Benedictus Deus qui generatos ad mortem regeneravit ad vitam or qui generatos ad timorem mortis regeneravit ad spem vitae That we we that were begotten to the feare of death or to a deadly feare Vs He hath begotten anew to the hope of life or to a lively hope This act of regenerating is determined doubly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is twice repeted 1 To hope first In Spem To Hope then to the Inheritance ye may put them together to the hope of an Inheritance But thus parted they stand because of our two estates to serve them both In Spem To Hope Hope in this life In Spem To Hope Inheritance in that to come Hope while heere in state of grace Inheritance when there in state of glorie But because as we said an Inheritance is no present matter It is to come and to be comen to From begetting we step not streight to entring upon our Inheritance but the state of heires is a state of expectancie and so a fit object for hope Donec till the time come therefore we beginne with that Regeneravit in Spem There needs no great Benedictus for in Spem Hope is no great matter For what is hope What but vigilantis somnium a waking mans dreame And such a hope indeed it may be for such hopes there be many in the world But this is none such To shew it is none such it is severed by two termes 1 Regeneravit and 2 Vivam They are worth the marking both a Spem generation 1. Regeneravit first that it is Spes generata which implies there is another but inflata but blowne into us or we sprinckled or perfumed with it Such there is but not this but this is per viam generationis and Generatio we know terminatur ad substantiam brings forth a Substance So this a substantiall hope called therefore by Saint Paul 1. Thess. 5.8 Heb. 6.19 the Helmet of Hope I. Thess. V. the Anchor of hope Heb. VI. things of substance that will hold that have metall in them b 〈…〉 2. Then marke Vivam And vivam followes well of regeneravit For they that are begotten are so to live to have life Vivam also imports there is a dead or a dying hope but this is not â—uch but a living Nay Viva is more then Vivens lively then living Where Viva is said of ought as of stone or water the meaning is they spring they grow they have life in themselves And such is the Water of our regenaration not from the brookes of Teman in Iob VI. that in Summer will be drie but the water of Iordan Iob. 6.15.16 a running river There CHRIST was himselfe baptized there He began Matt. 3.13 and laid the Sacrament of our New birth to shew what the nature of the hope is it yeelds even viva with life in it And indeed Regeneravit is a good Verbe to joyne with hope There is in hope a kind of regendrìng power It begets men as it were anew And Viva is a good Epithet for it When one droopes give him Hope his spirits will come to him afresh it will make him alive againe that was halfe dead As Iacob when he was put in hope to see Ioseph alive it is said Revixit spiritus Iacob his spirit revived in him he shewed Gen. 45.24 Spes was viva hope was a reviver Never so well seene this as this day in them that went to Emmaus With cold hearts cold and dead God wote till they heard the Scriptures opened to this point and then Did we not said they feele our hearts warme nay whot within us Luk. 24.32 Such a vitall heat they found and felt came from this hope For to say truth what is it to give life to them that have it already dum spiro that are alive that can fetch their breath it is not worthy that to be called Spes viva Spes viva indeed is that which when breath and life and all faile failes not that that then puts life into us dum expiro when life is going away that when this life we must forgoe bidds let it goe when that is gone shewes us hope of another This is Viva indeed Nay this is Vita for the hope of that life immortall is the very life of this life mortall And for such a hope Benedictus Deus Blessed be GOD. And whence hath it this life The next word shewes it vivam 2. Vivam Per Resurrectionem Iesu Christi per Ressurectionem The
corruption For CHRIST had His psalme too as well as Ionas David composed it for him long before the XVI psalme Psal. 16.10 the psalme of the resurrection And so the evening and the morning were CHRIST'S second day Easter eve Now to Iona's ultimò Ionas his hope failed him not the Whale's bellie 3 In their comming thence Easter day that seemed his toomb proved his wombe or second birth place There he was not as meat in the stomach but as an Embryo in the matrice of his mother Strange the Whale to be as his mother to be delivered of him and bring him forth into the world againe So forth he came and to Ninive about his businesse Ion. 2.10.3 3 Thither he went to bring them out of the whale's bellie too And the evening and the morning were Iona's third day Now the whale could not hold Ionas no more could the grave Christ longer then this morning after breake of day But forth came He too And with a plus quam in respect of Ionas It was in strict speech with Ionas no resurrection For the truth is he was never dead never he but putativè But Christ was dead starke dead indeed slaine outright upon the crosse His heart pierced Ioh. 19.34 Mat. 7 6â— His heart blood rann out And for dead taken downe layd in sealed up in His grave a stone rolled on Him a watch set ever Him Made sure I trow and yet rose for all that Another Ionas rising the whale gaped wide and streigned hard and up came Ionas It was long of the whale not of him or any power of his But Christ by His owne power broke the barrs of death and loosed the sorrowes of hell of which it is impossible He should be holden 〈◊〉 2.24 A third Ionas rose but to the same state he was in before but mortall Ionas still When he scaped he drew his chaine after him and by the end of it was plucked back againe afterward But Christ left them and linnen clothes and all in the grave behind Him rose to a better to ultra non morietur never to die more He. 〈◊〉 6.9 And in a word the great Plus quà m Ionas was but ejectus in aridam But Christ was receptus in gloriam And in signe of it the place whereon Ionas was cast was drie land or cliffes where nothing growes The place wherein Christ rose was a well-watered garden wherein the ground was in all her glorie fresh and green and full of flowers at the instant of His rising this time of the yeare So as He went lower so He rose higher then ever did Ionas with a great Ecce plus quà m And yet behold a greater then all these For Ionas when he came forth came forth and there was all left the whale as he found it But Ecce plus quà m Ionas hic plus quà m indeed 〈◊〉 1.41 Christ slew the whale that devoured Him in the comming forth was mors mortis He left not the grave as He found it but altered the propertie nay changed the very nature of it by His rising Three changes He made in it very plainely 1. Of a pit of perdition which it was before He hath made it now an harbor of rest Rest in hope Hope of a new not the same it was before but a better farr with a great Plus quà m 〈◊〉 2.26 2. Made it againe as the whale to Ionas was a convoy or passing bote to a better Port then any is in our Tharsis heer even to the haven of happinesse and heaven's blisse without end This for the soule 3. And for the body made the grave as a womb for a second birth to traveile with us anew and bring us forth to life everlasting Made cor terrae ventrem câ—ti the heart of the earth to us as the bellie of the whale was to Ionas which did not still reteine him That did not him nor this shall not us shall not hold us still no more then the whale did him or the grave did Christ. There shal be a comming forth out of both And when GOD shall speake to the earth as to the whale He did the Sea and Grave both shall yield up their dead and deliver them up alive again 〈◊〉 20.13 The very terme of the heart of the earth was well chosen There is heart in it For if the earth have an heart there is life in it for the heart is the fountaine of life and the seate of the vitall spirits that hold us in it So there is we see for the earth dead for a time all the winter now when the waters of heaven fall on it shewes it hath life bringing forth hearbs and flowers againe And even so when the waters above the heavens and namely the dew of this day distilling from Christ's rising 〈◊〉 26.19 shall in like sort drop upon it it shal be saith Esai Chap. XXVI as the dew of the herbs and the earth shall give forth her dead Dead men as it doth dead plants now fresh and green againe in the spring of the yeare And so the evening and the morning were Christ's third day this day Easter day morning Thus many waies doth this sicut hold and hold with a plus quà m Were it not great pitie now that CHRIST who is so many waies plus quà m Ioâ—as for all this should come to be minus quà m Ionas in this last the chiefe of all For this is the chiefe Ionas after he came out of the whale brought to passe that famous repentance the repentance of Ninive 〈◊〉 3.5 At Iona's preaching they repented at Ninive at Christ's they did not in Ierusalem We shall mend this if we be as the Ninivites repent as they As they Absit ut sic saith Saint Augustine but adds then sed utinam vel sic As they God forbid we should be but as they As CHRIST was more then Ionas so Christians should be more then Ninivites Well in the meane time I would we were but as they but so farr onward never plead for a plus but be content with Sicut and never seeke more But that we must For lesse sure we cannot be Christ to be plus quà m Ionas we to be minus quà m Ninivitae it will not fit it holds no proportion The Sicut ye see and the plus quà m both Now What this signe portends Psal. 86.16 what is the profitt of this Signe of the Prophet This Signe being of CHRIST 's giving CHRIST gives no Signe but it is Signum in bonum a Signe for good a good Signe and a good signe is a signe of some good Of what good is this a Signe Of hope of comming forth sure Comming forth whence From a whale What is meant by the whale the dliverance most-what is as the whale is And three whales we finde heer 1 Iona's whale 2 CHRIST 's whale 3 and a third And hope we have to come forth of all
all He was He was for us And now when all is done then now loe he is the LORD IESVS CHRIST Till then a Shepheard wholy and soly The more are we beholden to him Then loe He tells us His name that He is the great Shepheard He that was brought back the blood His His the Testament Truely called the Testament There can no Inventarie be made of this It hath not entred into the heart of man to conceive what things GOD hath prepared for those that have their part in this Testament above all that we can desire or imagine Vpon earth there is no greater thing then a kingdome and no lesse then a kingdome it is His Father's will to dispose unto us But Luk. 12.32 a Kingdome eternall all glorious and blessed farre above these heere All this a good hearing Hitherto we have heard nothing but pleaseth us well II. The thing to be done by us 1 The fitting or doing GOD at peace The Shepheard brought to death that we might not and brought from death that we also might be brought from thence and not brought and left to the wide world but further to receive those good things which are comprised in his Testament This is done done by Him for us Now to that which is to be done to be done by us Not for Him I should not do well to say so but indeed for our selves For so for us in the end it will prove Both what He did and what we doe our selves That which on our part the Apostle wisheth us is that we may be so happy as that GOD would in effect doe the same for us He did for Him that is bring us backe backe from our sinfull course of life to a new given to doe good workes The Resurrection is heere termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bringing backe So that any bringing backe from the worse to the better carieth the Type is a kind of a Resurrection referrs to that of CHRIST who died and rose that sinne might die and that good workes might rise in us Both the time and the Text lay upon us this duty to see if good workes that seeme to be dead and gone we can bring life to them and make them to rise againe The rule of reason is Vnum quodque propter operationem suam every thing is and hath his being for the worke it is to doe And these are the workes which we were borne and came into the world to doe The Apostle speakes it plainely we were created for good works to walke in them Ephes. II.X. And againe That we were redeemed to be a people zealously given to good workes Tit. II. 14. So they come doubly commended to us as the end of our Creation and Redemption both In this Text we see it is GOD 's will it is His good pleasure we doe them if we anything regard either His will or pleasure In this Text the Apostle prayes that we may be made perfect in them So unperfect we are without them unperfect we and our faith both For by workes is our faith made perfect I am II. even as Abraham's faith was And the faith Iam. 2 22. that is without them is not onely unperfect but starke dead so as that faith needs a Resurrection to be brought from the dead againe And whatsoever become of the rest in this Text it is that He hath not left them out nor unremembred in his Testament They are in it and diverse good legacies to us for them Which if we meane to be Legataries we must have a care of For as His blood serveth for the taking away of evill workes So doth His Testament for the bringing againe of good And as it is good Philosophie Vnumquodque propter operationem suam So this is sure it is sound divinitie Vnusquisque recipiet secundùm operationem suam At our comming backe from the dead whence we all shall come we shall be disposed of according to them Receive we shall Matt 16.27 every man according to His workes And when it comes to going they that have done good workes shall goe into everlasting life and they not that have done evill but they that have not done good shall goe you know whither Let no man deceive you the Root of immortalitie the same is the root of Vertue But one and the same root both When all is said that can be Naturally and by very course of kind good workes you see do rise out of CHRIST 's resurrection Make you perfect so we read it which shewes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make perfect We are as indeed we are in state of imperfection till we do them Nay if that be all we will never stick for that Cognoscimus imperfectum nostrum we yeeld our selves for such for un-perfect And that is well Psal. 51.4 But we must so find and feele our imperfection Chap. 6.1 that as the Apostle tells us in the VI. Chapter before we strive to be caried forward to perfection all we may Els all our cognoscimus imperfectum will stand us in small stead Why is there any perfection in this life There is Els how should the Apostle's exhortation there or his blessing heere take place I wote well Absolute complete consummate perfection in this life there is none It is agreed of all hands None may be out of it Phil. 3.13 Non puto me comprehendisse saith Saint Paul I compt not my selfe to have atteined No more must we not atteined What then But this I doe saith he and so must we I forget that which is behind and endeavour my selfe and make forward still to that which is before Which is the perfection of Travailers of way-faring men the farther onward on their journey the neerer their journeye's end the more perfect Which is the perfection of this life For this life is a journey Now good workes are as so many stepps onward The Apostle calls them so the stepps fo the faith of our father Abraham Rom. 4.12 who went that way and we to follow him in it And the more of them we doe the more stepps doe we make the further still shall we find our selves to depart from iniquitie the neerer still to approach unto GOD in the land of the living whither to atteine is the totall or Consummatum est of our perfection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To make fill or even But not to keepe from you the truth as it is The nature of the Apostle's word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rather to make fit then to make perfect Wherein this he seemes to say That to the doing of good workes there is first requisite a fitnesse to doe them before we can do them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are both in the Text. Fitt to do them yer we can doe them We may not thinke to doe them hand over head at the first dash In an unfit and indisposed subject
mind If but ache come into a joint we know we have tried them and found them they are not hable to drive away the least paine from the least part And how then when sicknesse commeth and sorrow and the pangs of death what comfort in these Comfort Nay shall we not finde discomfort in the bitter remembrance of our intemperate using them and little regard of the true Comforter Shall we not finde them as Iob found his friends like winter-bâ—ooks Iob. 6.15 16. full of raine in winter when no need of it when it raines continually but in Summer when need is not a drop in them So when our state of body and mind is that we can susteine our selves without it then perhapps some they yield but Iob 16.2 when sorrow seiseth on the heart then none at all In the end we shall say to them as he did miserable comforters are ye all Wherefore another Comforter we are to seeke that may give us ease in our disease of the minde and in the midst of all our sorrowes and sufferings make us ire gaudentes go away rejoycing No other will do it but this that when we have Him we need looke no further The other is likewise a difference of staying with us for ever For ever the weak poore comfort we have by the creatures heere such as it is we have no hold of it it stayes not not for ever nay not for any long time There be two degrees in it 1 Non in aeternum that is too plaine â— Nay not manent nobiscum they stay not with us fugiunt a nobis they fly from us many times in a moment as Salomon's fire of thornes a blaze and out streight Nay if they would tarry with us would they not tire us Even Manna it selfe did it not grow lothsome Num. 11.6 Doe we not finde that when we are ready to starve for hunger and have meat to drive it away if we use it any while the meat is as yrksome as the hunger was and we are as hungry for hunger as ever we were for meat That we may not be cloyed we change them and even those we change them for within a while coy us as fast What shall we doe where shall we finde comfort aright Ever Per quod fastidio occurritur fastidium incurritur so that if they would tarry we must put them away the not tarrying of them with us that is the change of them is it that makes us hable to endure them Well then comfort us they cannot when we need it we must pray for Alium If they could they cannot stay not for any space much lesse for ever If they could their very stay would prove fastidious and yield us but discomfort Seeing then we cannot entreat them to stay with us and if we could in the evill day they could not stead us but then faile us soonest when our need is greatest Let us seeke for another that through sicknesse age and death may abide with us to all aeternitie and make us abide with Him in endlesse joy and comfort The Application to the Sacrament Such is this heere which CHRIST promised and His Father sent this day and which He will send if Christ will aske and Christ will aske if now we know the Covenant and see the Condition we will seale to the deed To a Covenant there is nothing more requisite then to put to the Scale And we know the Sacrament is the Seale of the new Covenant as it was of the old Thus by undertaking the duty He requireth we are entitled to the comfort which heere He promiseth Luk. 22.19 And doe this He would have us as is plaine by His Hoc facite And sure of all the times in our life when we settle our selves to prepare thitherwards we are in best termes of disposition to covenant with Him For if ever we be in state of love toward Him or toward one another then it is If ever troubled in Spirit that we have not kept His commandements better then it is If ever in a vowed purpose and preparation better to looke to it then it is Then therefore of all times most likely to gaine interest in the promise when we are best in case and come neerest to be hable to plead the condition Besides it was one speciall end why the Sacrament it selfe was ordained our comfort the Church so telleth us we so heare it read every time to us He hath ordained these Mysteries as pledges of His love and favour to our great and endlesse comfort The Father shall give you the Comforter Why He giveth Him we see How He giveth Him we see not The meanes for which He giveth Him is Christ His entreaty by his Word Heb. 12.24 in prayer by His flesh and blood in Sacrifice For His blood speakes not his voice onely These the meanes for which And the very same the meanes by which He giveth the Comforter by Christ the Word and by Christ's body and blood both In tongues it came but the tongue is not the instrument of Speech only but of tast we all know And even that note hath not escaped the Ancient Divines to shew there is not onely comfort by hearing the Word Psal. 34.8 1. Cor. 12.13 but we may also tast of His goodnesse how gracious He is and be made drinke of the Spirit That not onely by the letter we read and the word we heare but by the flesh we eat and the blood we drinke at His table we be made partakers of His Spirit and of the comfort of it By no more kindly way passeth His Spirit then by His flâ—sh and blood which are Vehicula Spiritus the proper carriages to conveigh it Corpus aptaevit sibi ut Spiritum aptaret tibi Christ fitted our body to Him that He might fitt his Spirit to us For so is the Spirit best fitted made remeable and best exhibited to us who consist of both This is sure where His flesh and blood are they are not exanimes spirit-lesse they are 〈◊〉 or without life His Spirit is with them Therefore was it ordained in those very elements which have both of them a comfortable operation in the heart of man One of them bread serving to strengthen it or make it strong Psal. 104.15 and comfort commeth of 〈◊〉 which is to make strong And the other wine to make it cheerefull or â—nd and is therefore willed to be ministred to them that mourne and are opprest with griefe And all this to shew that the same effect is wrought in the inward man by the holy Mysteries that is in the outward by the Elements that there the heart is established by grace and our soule endued with strength and our conscience made light and cheerfull that it faint not but evermore rejoice in His holy comfort To conclude where shall we find it if not heere where under one we finde CHRIST our Passe-over offered for us and the
draw water Esa. 12.3 then to draw blood from Him But indeed to looke well into the matter they cannot be separate they are mixt either is in other There is a mixure of the bloud in the water there is so of the water in the blood we can minister no water without blood nor blood without water In baptisme we are washed with water That water is not without blood The blood serves instead of nitre He hath washed us from our sinnes in His blood Apoc. 1.5 washed They made their robes white in the blood of the Lamp Apoc. 7.14 No washing no whiting by water without blood And in the Eucharist we are made drinke of the blood of the New Testament but in that blood there is water for the blood of CHRIST purifieth us from our sinnes 1. Ioh. 1.7 Now to purifie is a vertue properly belonging to water which yet is in the blood and purifying referrs to spotts not to guilt properly So either is in other Therefore the conceit of separation let it alone for ever To take heed then of dreining CHRIST 's water from his blood or abstracting his blood from his water of bringing in the Restringent sola into either Every one of us for his owne part thus to doe But howsoever men frame phansies to themselves as frame they will doe what we can that our doctrine be looked to we are not to teach IESVS CHRIST but That IESVS CHRIST that thus came in both That our Divinitie then on the one side be not waterish without all heart or comfort presenting CHRIST in water onely to make feâ—re where none is Nor on the other that we frame not our selves a Sanguine Divinitie voyd of fâ—are quite and bring in CHRIST all in blood blood and nothing els with little water or none at all for feare of Ex nimiâ spe desperatio Faith as it justifieth saith Saint Paul there is blood So it purifieth the heart saith Saint Peter Gal. 3.8 Acts 15.9 Rom. 8.20 1. Ioh. 3.3 there is water Hope as it saveth saith Saint Paul blood So it cleanseth saith Saint Iohn water In vaine we flatter our selves if they doe the one and not the other Doe we make grace of none effect that we may not Gal. 2. vlt. Doe we make the Law of none effect by faith that we may not neiâ—her Rom. 3.10 not this day specially the Feast of the Law and Spirit both but rather establish it Apoc. 15.4 Best if it could be sett right the Song of Moses and of the Lamb it is the harmonie of heaven Rom. 15.34 1. Ioh. 2.1 Ioh. 5.14 If we teach Ne peccetis water To teach also blood Si quis autem peccaverit with Saint Iohn If we say Salvus factus es blood to say Noli ampliuâ— peccare water withall with CHRIST himselfe This is that IESVS CHRIST and the true doctrine of Him neither diluta and so evill for the heart nor tentans caput and so fuming up to the head Neither Scammoniate tormenting the conscience nor yet Opiate stupifying it and making it senselesse And so much for CHRIST 's double comming II. The Spirits paâ—t Well when CHRIST is come and thus come may we be gone have we done Done we are yet in the middst of the verse before we make an end of it it must be Whitsontide The Spirit is to come too So a new qui venit that comes in both those and comes in the Spirit besides And a new non solùm not in water and blood onely but in the Spirit withall Not that CHRIST said not truly Consummmatum est that he hath not done all Yes Ioh. 19.30 to doe that was to be done CHRIST was enough needs no supplie The Spirit comes not â— His witnesse to doe comes but to testifie That inter alia is one of his Offices a A witnesse there is to be And a Witnesse is requisite There is no matter of weight with us if it be sped authentically especially a Testament but it is with a Teste And GOD doth none of His great workes but so of which this Comming is one even the greatest of all Neither of his Testaments Acts 14.17 without one As GOD in nature left not himselfe without witnesse saith the Apostle So neither CHRIST in Grace As then in the Old Testament Esay 8.20 Ad Legem testimonium saith Esay 8. So in the New Ad Evangelium testimonium to the Gospell to CHRIST and the testimonie calls Saint Iohn heere CHRIST also to have his Teste We to call for it and if it be called for of us to be hable to shew it A witnesse there needeth then and a witnesse there is One nay three b A witnesse there is nay three Deut. 17.6 In ore duorum that is in every matter nothing without two at least But in this so maine so high a matter God would enlarge the number have it in ore trium have it full no fewer then three three to His part three to ours At the ordering of it in heaven â—hree there were the 1 Father the 2 Word and 3 the Spirit that the whole Trinitie might be aequally interessed in the accomplishment of the worke of our salvation and it passe through all their hands And at the speeding it in earth three more 1 The Spiâ—it and 2 Water and 3 Bloud to answere them that all might goe by a Trinitie that Holy Holy Holy might be thrise repeated The truth heerin answereth to the type For under the Law nothing was held perfectly hallowed till it passed three the 1 cleansing watâ—r first the 2 sprincling of bloud second 3 and last that the holy oyle were upon it too the Holy oyle the Holy Ghost's type but when eny thing annointed with all three then had it his perfect halydome then it was holy indeed And even so passe we through three hands all 1 God's as men Water notes the Creation the heavens are of water and if they the rest God's â—s men 2 Christ's as Christen men Bloud notes the redemption 3 And the Spirit 's as Spirituall men which perteines to all If any be Spirituall he knowes this Gal. 6.1 Iud. 19. and you tâ—at be Spiâ—ituall doe this saith the Apostle For Christians that be animales Sâ—iâ—itum non habentes Saint Iude tells us there is no great reckoning to be made of them To let the other goe The Spiâ—it is a witnesse to IESVS CHRIST c Thâ— Sâ—iâ—it a 〈◊〉 1 〈…〉 that came in water and bloud Witnesse to IESVS CHRIST that came Witnesse to His water and blood He came in In a witnesse it is required He be Tâ—â—â—is idoneus will you see quà m idoneus how apt how every way agreeing The Sâ—irit and Iesus agree Iesus was conceived by the Spirit The Spirit and Christ agree in the word Christ is the Spirit For CHRIST is annointed Annointed with what â— To the waâ—â—r and 〈◊〉 He câ—me in
ever counted of speciall faith and trust Of the Kings Chamber But plaine it is they were of his Chamber Not of his lieges alone or of his housâ—old but which is more of his Chamber It is a wonderfull â—hing the State that the Pâ—rsian Monarchs kept No man upon paine of death to come so neere as into their inner base Court uncalled if he did he died for it unlesse the King Chap. 4.11 by holding forth hiâ— Scepter pardoned him his life You will easily then imagine in what place they were that had free recourse into his innermost chamber to go and come thither at their pleasure Not onely to do so themselves but to be those by whom all others were to go or come No man to come thither but by them For that is meant by Lords of the threshold or qui in primo limine praefidebant as the Fathers read it the very chiefe over his Chamber The Septuagint who should best know the nature of the word they turne it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first keepers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the bodie And many they had for many such Kings need have But these two they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chiefe the Arch-keepers had if any more then other the chiefe charge the very principall of all GOD do so and so to me saith King Achis to David if I make not thee the keeper of my head 1 Sam. 28.2 and in so saying thought he promised him as good a place as he had He could make him no more To this place had the King advanced these two and these two were they that sought this That it should be sought at all evill that these should seek it too bad They that if others had sought it should have staid their hands these to lay on their own to seek it themselves All men know it was no meane preferment early and late to be so neer Assuerus's person They had meanes thereby to do themselves much good So had they to do others much hurt if they were not the better men But for others hurt it skills not if they had not thereby had the meanes to do Assuerus himselfe if the Devill so farr prevailed with him as he did Of his chamber Dapifer his dish Pincerna his cup Keepers of his body principall keepers if they seek to lay their hands they will soon find what they seek the more dangerous they the more his danger by them a great deale And is not this heavinesse to death when they that were so honoured proove so unkind when they that so trusted so untrue and may we not take up the Wise man's Oh O wicked presumption whence art thou sprung up to cover the face of the earth Stay a little and looke upon them as ye would upon a couple of monsters Ecclus. â—7 3 1 To seek this in Regem alone were too much to breake their Duety to their Liege Lord if there were no more but that to lay their hands on him for whom they should lay downe their lives 2 Add then not to a King onely but to such a King nor to their Liege Lord alone but to so good and gracious a Lord that had done them so great favours placing them so neer him trusting them so farre honouring them so greatly For no honouâ— to trust no trust to the chiefe trust of all More then heathenâ—sh wickednesse this to render evill for good and whose wealth they of all other bound to seek to seek his ruine 3 And they came not to that place but they were sworne to vilifie their oath then and to teare in pieces the strongest band of religion The hands that had taken that oath those hands to lay on him 4 To betray their trust to him that had layd his innocent life in their hands and to make their trust the opportunitie of their treacherie 5 In a word of the chiefe Keepers of his body to become the chiefe seekers of his bloud the chiefe enemies to his body and life and all What can be said evill enough of these Say it were lawfull in any case it is not lawfull in any but say it were to lay hands on a King yet they in all reason of all others should not have been the doers Etsi ille dignus perpeti at non tu qui faceres tamen Were not these monsters then Was not their condemnation just It grieves me I have stayed so long on them yet if I have made them and their fact odious it grieves me not What was the matter What could move them thus to play the wretches 3. The cause wherefore They were angry Why they should not many and good reasons we see Why they did none in the Text but that they were angrie and that is no reason but a passion that makes men â—o cleane against reason many times Bigthan was angrie and Thares as angrie as he Yet if it be but a little anger it will over Indeed such it may be it will What manner anger was it The word is a shrewd word signifies an anger will not go down with the Sunne Ephes. 4.25 will not be appeased What speake we of the word their deeds shew as much We see nothing would satisfie them but his life Nothing serve but lay hands on him That they sought so angrie they were What angred them then No cause is set downe And none I thinke there was If there had we should have beene sure to have heard of it For men to be angrie without a cause and even with Superiors it is no new thing Well if no cause some colour yet if not that some shadow at least Somewhat we are to seek why they did seeke this If there be in the Text eny thing to lead us to it it is in the first words or not at all In those daies In those angrie they were as much to say as before those daies they were not but in those then they were Els there is no cause to mention that of the daies but to make this difference Out of the Text nothing can be picked els Angry for Assueru's choise of Esther Why what daies were those That goes immediately before The dayes wherein Assuerus had made choise of Esther to match with her and make her his Queene and had made a great feast upon it At the feast it seemes they surfeited they could not brook that match at eny hand Some ambitious desire of theirs disappointed by it likely that was the cause This was faine to serve for the occasion for lack of a better A bad one we say is better then none What the Great King of Persia finde no match in all his owne brave Nation Never a Persian Lady serve him but he must to this vile base people the Iewes his captives his slaves to picke him a match thence What a disparagement is this to all the Persian blood It would make eny true Persian heart rise against it
rive in sunder So either they were clustering as the manner is in mutinies to runn together on an heap and he made them shedd and sever themselves and returne to their places againe Or ye may referr it to their hearts that with these words were even smitten or cleft quite and broken of their purpose for proceeding any further in so bloudy in enterprise Their motion did not so much as enter into him his did into them â—â—red into them and as his heart smitt him so he smitt theirs smitt them and even 〈◊〉 them made them leave and let go their resolution quite and let Saul go The LXX say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he perswaded them with these words the best overcomâ—â—ng ever by words by perswasion Overcame them our Text turnes it and so Daâ—â—d had heer a victorie Nay a double victorie 1 Over himselfe one and that is a great one Great Victors have failed of it 2 Over his men another He kept them 〈◊〉 And so by these two saved the King twise And many victories he had but of 〈◊〉 all none like this this the greatest For in those other he but slew his enemies 〈◊〉 in this heer without a drop of bloud shed he saved his Prince's life And now this victorie obteined David and his men are agreed and they are satisfied not to rise but 〈…〉 and let Saul rise quietly and go his way By which some amends was made him 〈◊〉 the peece of his mantle This for David's satisfaction and for his Victorie both in 〈◊〉 For this victorie was in a sort his satisfaction and served for it And now we have sett the King safe that he may go when pleases Him would I begg a little leave to returne to David's words to his spell if I may so call it to this 〈◊〉 word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that David did not onely smite but even cleave his men's hearts 〈◊〉 what axe did he this for it is the act of an axe properly Even with these 〈◊〉 they were David's axe Shall we do this shall we so lay hands on him 〈◊〉 be God's Annointed and the edge of his axe were these two Christus Domini they did the seat all the force was in them And indeed of great force they seemed to David Chap. 26.9.11.16 2. Sam. 1.14.16 and were of great use with him came from him oft To his companies heer To Abisai a chapter after To the Amalekite the next Book after I. Chap. Twise heer Thrise to Abisai Twise to the Amalekite Seven times in all And still nothing but Christus Domini as if they had been a kind of Spell to charme any from rising to any such end And sure a marvelous energie there seemes to have been in these words David's men heer were rising these words kept them down they rose not Abisai after he was even striking they stayd his hands he strook not David himselfe he was but thinking a thought that way they smitt his heart made it to ake made him give over Now when I fall to consider what vertue these two words had in those times to hold men's feet from rising their hands from striking yea their very heart from thinking any such thought O I am forced to wonder they should not have in our times the force they then had David could not overcome some men now his men would rise do what he could feet hands and heart flie loose now these words notwithstanding They have not the power to breake men men have rather the power to breake them 2. Sam. 23.18 David's men were brave Souldiers Abisai one of his three Worthies Himself more worthy then they all Power they had to stay these so many men of armes and have not now the power to make a seely Frier hold his hands What is become of their vertue now Of the cleaving force they then had It should seem David's men were other gates men then many I will not say of our Souldiers but of our Iesuites and Friers are of late had magis subacta pectora brests of a better mold had at times been brought by David to know what GOD was what it was to be GOD 's Annointed Psal. 116.15 Chap. 26.9 how precious their bloud was in his sight how no man could lift up his hand against them and be innocent So they soon tooke an impression of this his absit so passionately so pithily withall delivered by him Men's brests are now made of a tougher metall the words meet with harder hearts in the Cloyster now then heer they did in the Camp Some men's hearts now leave not striking them till they have stricken Saul to the heart Turne David's Absit mihi à Domino into Adsit mihi à Domino facere rem hanc turne his execration into a prayer nay into many prayers rosaries and masses for GOD 's assistance to an act which his very soule abhorreth And this is the reason The words are not rebated they have not lost their edge but men have instead of hearts now flint-stones Els the words being the same the same effect would still follow if the hearts also were the same For the same effect doth still follow in all whose hearts God hath touched on whom the Spirit of God is come For where the Spirit of God is there the word of God will worke and where it workes not we may safely say there is no Spirit to worke on 1. Chro. 12.18 To trie then on whom the Spirit of God is come there comes to my mind a praegnant place it is the XII of I. Chron. full to this point and it will even bring us home to our own text againe Amasa there when the question was asked whom they would take part with he and his cried Thine are we ô David and on thy side thou sonne of Isai. And it is there in expresse termes affirmed that the Spirit of God came upon him that made him thus to crie If then the same Spirit of God be upon us that was upon him 1. Sam. 13.14 it will make us take up the same words Thine are we and on thy side ô David Thou hast a testimonie in holy Writt to have been a man according to God's own heart what was in God's heart was in thine then are we to think say and do as thou diddest and so the Spirit of God is upon us indeed Will we then be as David with him on his side If GOD'S Spirit be upon us we will now come we to our text For heer is in this our text a vive anatomie of David in each part his eye his hand his heart his mouth and all 1. His eye full of compassion to Saul his Sovereigne It was not good in his eyes to 〈…〉 any hurt good to spare him PeperciÌ„t tibi oculus meus 11. verse There 〈…〉 eye â— His hand not hable to stirr not mittere manum in Christum Domini to lay eny 〈…〉 him O ne sit
manus mea super te he twise cries 13.14 Let not my hand be 〈◊〉 thee There is David's hand 3. His heart smote him we see for putting but his knife into the edge of Saul's 〈◊〉 There is David's heart 4. His mouth from that we heare vox clamantis Absit mihi a Domino with great 〈◊〉 of passion There is David's mouth 5. So sayes David and will ye heare how he sings Heare it upon his harp 〈◊〉 his heart and harp agree heare him say it and sing it both Ye may For to 〈◊〉 for ever this day in memorie he made a Psalme of Saul's being in the cave heer and of his scaping out of it And gives it this title destroy not no not in the cave 〈◊〉 not By this meanes to sing into his mens minds their duty in this point And not into theirs alone but into the hearts and minds of all posteritie not to give their wayes to destroy Kings No though they have them in a cave as these had Saul Even there to sing destroy him not Ne perdas in the cave is worth all So have you David at full if any be of his side thus to see and say and sing and thinke and doe Sic ille oculos sic ora ferebat If you would know what his heart beleeveth touching this point percussit eum cor that gave him a shrewd check for buâ— a shred taken of Saul's cloke he beleeves he did not well in it If what his mouth confesseth Absit mihi facere rem hanc Absit saith his mouth Ne sit saith his hand Ne fiat saith his heart Ne perdas saith his harp All keepe time all 〈◊〉 one way this way all It seemed not good in his eyes to doe it that is the text Nor to his hand Let not that be upon him Nor to his mouth he spitt it out with an absit Nor 〈◊〉 his heart least of all to that that for a lesse matter for but drawing his knife though without minde of drawing a dropp of bloud fell on beating and cast him into a cardiack passion And eny who thinking but a thought that way if his heart smite not him let him smite it hardly Els is he not according to David's and so not to God's heart Thus have our eares heard of a King delivered in the Text And the like may our eyes see of a King delivered on this day Sicut audivimus sic vidimus III. The Ecce of this our day Psal 48.8 is the Psalme but Plus vidimus quà m audivimus may it truly be sayd of this day of ours I report me to You if it may not if there be not a greater Ecce nay many greater Ecce's on this day then on that Many wayes I know the ballance is even Kings both in danger and danger of Ecce tradam both Both in a cave for all caves are not under ground some above staires And of a knife or worser then a knife both And of a tumultuous rising both and yet both preserved from both Thus farr even But then in other points they are not No nor even in these For weigh them well and Saul wil be found as Balthasar was Tekel minus habens too light in the ballance Dan. 5.27 and this of ours to over-weigh to weigh him and all his downe many waies To reflect a little on this I have sayd a great deale I have sayd nothing if nothing be sayd of this It is the life of all If of the twaine the Ecce dies of this day be the greater if more Ecce's upon it The more of them the more Behold's the more beholden are we to God the more mervailous His mercies have beene to us the more plenteous our thanks to be to Him for them The Ecce dies is as the Ecce diei Ever the more remarkeable the day the 〈◊〉 the things are so that happen upon it The Ecce diei is of two sorts 1 Ecce 〈◊〉 2 Ecce abijt Rex Tradam the deliverie into the danger Abijt the 〈◊〉 from it And ever this we hold the worse the Tradam that is the danger the better the Abijt the escaping from it and the better it the more is our joy and the more our joy is the more our thanks should ever be Iehova Liberatori And O that such an Ecce might be on our thanks as there is on the day as it and the Ecce's of it do well deserve at our hands 1. To shew then the Tradam is worse I beginne with the Tradent or Traditor Ecce tradam Behold I will deliver him it is GOD that saith this this was GOD'S doing Saul's deliverie into Heer is no trecherie in the Text. Into the cave he came of his owne accord was casually found there not guilefully drawen thither So was it not to day but the King trained thither most treacherously Ecce Behold then it is farr worse when wretched men by wicked alluring meanes shall those one meaning no harme at all into a secret corner as evill as Saul's cave every whit and there set on him Worse I say for heer the Devill betrayes GOD delivers not Suffers I graunt but is not agent in it GOD never co-operates with treason So then no day this de quo dixit Dominus rather de quo dixit diabolus a day in respect of them and their trecherie of the Devill 's owne bespeaking This then the first odds that A Domino factum est illud a Diabolo factum est hoc that of GOD'S this of the Devill 's owne tradam and so the Traditor worse I am sure with an Ecce And who was delivered Inimicum tuum an enemie in the Text. Some reason in that Saul was so indeed David's enemie You were not theirs they were Yours without a cause Nay cause to the contrarie Nay â—â—uses more then one And in that regard worse Worse to deliver an innocent then a deadly enemie And delivered whither The text is into a cave Where Saul indeed saith he was shutt up but to say truth simply he was not so the cave's mouth was open he might have come forth his men might have come to him at his call But with us in our cave the King was secundùm literam in the literall sense shutt up indeed Many locks and doores fast upon him no going out for him no comming in for others The worse his case Nay a worse could not be So doth the Holy Ghost describe the hardest case of all 2. Reg. 14.26 by these three 1 Conclusus 2 derelictus 3 non erit auxiliator All three heere shutt up quite left none to help In farr worse taking then ever was Saul in the cave There is no hurt in a cave if there be no hurtfull thing in it But David saith in the Psalme Psal. 57.4 his was and sure it is Your soule was there among Lions The text is Tradam in manus tuas Tradam in manus I aske into whose hands