breakers up of Graves and robbers of the dead Say ye his Disciples came by night 4. The main intended contrivance was to discredit the true Doctrine of our Saviours Resurrection Say ye his Disciples came by night and stole him away 5. In the last place I will handle the improbability of all of what contradictions the Plot consists never to be pieced together for all this if it like you must be done while they slept Say ye c. The Text being part of a Confabulation of some that laid their heads together to do mischief in the first place it will be most proper to speak of these Confederates On the one part to see that men of the best gifts and qualities are the most wicked Sons of Belial when they are left to themselves they are of no worse credit and calling than High Priests and Elders The selected Tribe of God to burn Incense to his name and offer Sacrifice continually the eyes of the people for counsel and their tongue to pray for them So blessed by Jacob and by Moses in the name of their Father Levi that nothing but such an horrid sin as a conspiracy against Christ could unbless them again Every house thought it self happy to receive one of that order so Micah of Mount Ephraim every Lot of Israel took them for innocent and unsuspected as it is 1 Mach. vii 14. One that is a Priest of the Seed of Aaron is come and he will do us no harm Marcus dixit ita est their word was Law and their righteousness unquestioned All this credit they had that now the Devil might use them the better to suppress a manifest truth When one did highly commend Julian the Cardinal the Popes Legate at the Council of Basil Sigismund the Emperour answers Tamen Romanus est for all your great commendation this man is a Roman So the High Priests sate in Moses Chair were zealous of the Law fasted look'd sowerly pretended much affection to the Temple of the Lord Tamen sunt Pharisaici for all this praise they tasted deeply of the Leaven of the Pharisees and envied it that God himself should send his own Son to have more authority among the people or to be greater in estimation than they such as loved the praise of men more than the praise of God That was a mild character of our Saviours but the meaning of it is they had rather conjure with Hell to maintain their Error than retract it with open repentance and incur a little shame for their former obstinacy When Lazarus was raised from the dead and all the people wondred at it presently the High Priests warn their Council to meet for upon every good deed they fell a conspiring and the matter propounded to the Council was What do we For this man doth many Miracles O fools and slow of heart If he do many Miracles what should ye do But confess him to be the Son of God and fall down and worship him Is Lazarus revived to their knowledge And doth it not say unto them why will ye perish and not believe Nay God invited them thus far that those mighty sinners the Authors that put Christ to death heard of his Resurrection on this day within a little while after he was risen and by their own Ministers such as were of their own Faction that watched the Sepulchre those told them very certain tidings that an Angel of God had said to certain devout women He is risen he is not here They saw it they heard it they quak'd for fear and felt it they could not be mistaken O God what abundant means were these to let them know the truth and be saved For all this they are at their old santez What do we This man is risen from the dead let us cast a mist before mens eyes that they may never believe it Thus that which should have begot Faith in them begot madness and that heart will never be well softened which is hardened with the very grace of God Was Pharaoh ever religiously mollified that wax'd stubborn after so many Messages which Moses brought after so many Plagues on Earth so many Wonders from Heaven He never had a true relenting heart that dodg'd the grace of God so often Beloved that Pharaoh and these High Priests let them be your examples what a fearful thing it is to make ill use of those good means which are ordained for your salvation But I am not yet off from the main Point the Priests are one part of this wicked combination and they invited the Souldiers to joyn with them in the Plot against Christs Resurrection and undertake for another Plot to make Pilate wink at all passages and be pleased Davos Davos omnia these are the wits that carry the whole stratagem before them For what Impostures will not pass for fair dealing when they are recommended upon the credit of the Chief Priests Iis qui occaecantur authoritate sacerdotali facilè pro veritate obtruditur mendacium When well meaning men have the persons of some great Clerks in reverence and think the Spirit of God is among them how easie it is to fall into great errors upon that trust That it is no wonder if many stick obstinately to Popish superstition whose eyes are dazled with Pontifical Authority Woe be to them who are rotten in their own foundation and yet inveigle others to build upon their conscience And mark who those others were whom the High Priests made their Confederates some of those Souldiers that watcht the Sepulchre So the Fox and the Lion are yoked together Vulpina pellis leomna force and policy wit and violence The Sword of Paul as Pope Julian the Second said with the Keys of Peter Some of the Watch came into the City and shewed the High Priests all things that were done ver 11. At first they told the certainty of Christs Resurrection and gave God the glory and made a just Apology for themselves that they were charged indeed to look to the Tomb that the body which was in it might be kept safe and unremoved but some dreadful Powers from above came down and broke open the Sepulchre who could blame them therefore that they did not fight against Heaven If they might have been let alone to themselves they had said no more and gone away well excused But the High Priests more unjust by far than these Heathen make them unsay every word which they had spoken true and scandalize Gods name among the Heathen by teaching them to blaspheme A very hard case that in all likelihood these had been far more honest and sincere if they had never consulted with those that by their Duty and Office were their Teachers But a little matter alas draws men into the high-way of iniquity and the Priests could no sooner propound treachery but the Souldiers are in the knot First they carry more reverence to man than unto God and conjoyned to betray the greatest
Article of truth in all the Gospel to do their friends a favour Secondly See how soon the wicked forget into what great fear they were put it was but even now that they quaked and became as dead men at the Apparition of an Angel their sin was before their eyes that they should watch his Sepulchre of whom the Prophet had said Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption the guiltiness of this took all their courage from them yet within two hours after at the most they are deeper in the same wickedness than ever they were before as if the terrible admonition they had early in the Morning had been seven years since or before mans remembrance So let the Plague or Famine or Sword of the Enemy be removed from a Nation in one year nay in one month you shall see the sins of wont and custom as high and as rise as if that People had never been beaten with such calamity When Moses had interceded to God to rid away some sore judgment from Pharaoh after a little pause he was never the better But when Pharaoh saw there was respite he hardened his heart Exod. viii 15. So the Souldiers seeing there was respite and that the revenging Angel did not follow them at the heels fall immediately in a little space into a fouler service than before Thirdly As the saying is very true Facinus quos inquinat aequat great men lose much of their superiority and power when they match themselves with their underlings in a bad deed the basest servants are their equals when they have made them consorts in their iniquity The High Priests lost all their veneration in the esteem of these Souldiers when they were guilty one to another of a mutual Confederacy They should and would have been as fearful to do any wicked thing in the presence of the High Priests as in the presence of an Angel but now they carry no awe at all to them who had forgot their reverence to their God Fourthly We read at verse 11. they were but some of the Watch that concurred in this devillish stratagem against Christ and his Disciples but the Chief Priests are indefinitely named not some of them but the whole Fraternity for none are excepted So divers Synods of Christian Priests and Bishops have with one mouth protested against the Faith with one Pen subscribed to Heresie so that the unity of Priests let some say what they will is not always a token of Gods Spirit upon them but sometimes of Satanical Confederacy Of the Souldiers who watch'd the Sepulchre but one part only came into the City and of that part it may be but a few of the chief sticklers consented to evil the rest perhaps were like those two hundred in Jerusalem who were called by Absolon to Hebron of whom the Scripture witnesseth That they went in their simplicity knowing nothing Among this Band of Souldiers and among those that were tempted to tell the forgery he that writes the Calendar of the Greek Saints Simeon Metaphrastes nominates one Longinus and brings him in for a Saint on the Fifteenth of March the next day after Christ was crucified Metaphrastes hath patched together this Legend of him that it was he who pierced our Saviours side with a Spear and that a drop of the bloud which streamed out fell upon the eye of Longinus whereof he had lost the sight before by some mischance and this drop of bloud restored him to the sight yea and to the eyes of his mind presently to confess Christ and believe How will the next story hang with this That for all his conversion and belief he was by appointment of Pilate one of them that watch'd the Sepulchre of Christ surely all those were evil instruments and the Angel handled them accordingly by striking a fear into them like dead men But proceed we for Metaphrastes says that Longinus and two more with him refused the evil ways of the High Priests stiffly avouched the truth of the Resurrection for which he incurred the great hatred of Pilate and the Jews and when they despited him for it he gave up his Souldiers Cassock and Belt would serve the Romans no more went into Cappadocia to preach the Gospel and became a Martyr But that you may know Metaphrastes is no sure Author for Canonizing of Saints Baronius at the end of this and another story I shall tell you anon bids the Reader beware says he As Paul admonisheth prove all things hold that which is good But before I leave this first Point of my Text mark that which is most apparent how the Chief Priests and Souldiers pieced together why the Elders and the Council gave large money to the Souldiers like Claudius his Witnesses of whom Tully says they knew him to be a man of no faith for they would not speak one word of his side till their hire was in their Pocket Emitur à custodibus argento resurrectionis silentium The Jews gave money to the Souldiers to keep the truth of the Resurrection in silence and by so much the more is the Resurrection of Christ grown so famous because this Bribery is so infamous they offer a little Silver to them that will conceal it God doth infinitely out-bid them and offers the Kingdom of Heaven to them that preach it and publish it For the Pharisees who no doubt were the principal in this action were most greedy of gain and loth to part with their substance especially by the lump wherefore they would never have given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 large money much more than they covenanted for when they hired a Cohort to watch the Sepulchre I say they would never have given so much to the Souldiers to stop their mouth if there had been any probability left to out-face the truth no certainly if it had been possible they would have brought them in for carelesness or treachery but the matter was clear it could not be answered so they must poyson the whole Band with money or the truth would come out to their shame and infamy O what folly there is in the wisdom of the wicked What prudent man would ever hope that a Multitude would keep counsel That among so many Witnesses none would blab it out in a corner That no Scoffer in the ranks would take their money and laugh at them for their impiety Or that God would not raise up some other faithful Witnesses though all these did continue in Perjury It was a Proverb once in the Christian Church that it had Golden Priests when it had Woodden Chalices that is a brave Clergy in the times of poverty and persecution but when Riches flowed in that they had Golden Chalices they had for a great part but Woodden Priests I find this most true in the Synagogue of the Jews that in this Age they had more wealth than they knew how to use well for in these three last Chapters of St. Matthew
first observed it how Satan did clamber higher and higher in every Tentation and still changed his outward appearance to do the feat the better First as a man he did commiserate humane wants and necessities and insinuates the sin of Infidelity Secondly He transformed himself into an Angel of light and urgeth him to presumption and vain-glory In the last bout having now deceived himself that Christ was not the eternal Son of God he did truly manifest the Luciferian audaciousness and impudency and in his own shape he provokes the most holy one of God to most horrid Idolatry The Thief comes not but to steal says our Gospel and the Impostor of the world comes not but to deceive Totus quantus est mendacium est Every thing in him was lying and fiction and delusion The promises which he made were lying promises the pity which he pretended was lying pity the Scripture which he quoted as he quoted it was lying Scripture and the shape in which he came was a lying shape Alas that man who was made an excellent Creature after the Image of God should degenerate so much in all goodness that his shape should grow a fit coverture to cloak the couzenage of the Devil Might not this be the art of this our capital enemy That since God cursed the Serpent because the Devil came in his shape to tempt our first Parents so the Lord might be exasperated to curse mankind because his only Son was tempted to wickedness in the shape of man Beloved this inference from hence may be our instruction We know not in what form or transmutation Satan will come to seduce our souls therefore be wise as Serpents And since our own shape is not free from his Impostures as it follows in the next verse Mat. x. 17. Beware of men Take heed that beauty tempt you not to wantonness it is but dirt well tempered with bloud Let not pleasing words steal away your heart from the truth that is but to dance when the Devil Pipes Every man that speaks contrary to faith and holiness his mouth is become the instrument wherein Satan speaks his Oracles And so much for that circumstance how he disguised himself in the shape of man After this I will lay hold of one of the main parts of the Text. The Tempter had two ends in casting forth these words before our Saviour Vt cognosceret incognitum ut corrumperet cognitum First to learn more perfectly that which he terribly mistrusted whether Christ were the Son of God and upon this do depend some remarkable observations And to make this Point profitable I begin from hence that Satan had not yet perfectly discovered who our Saviour was and therefore he wrought in this Mine in the first Tentation to find it out Many of the Fathers do acknowledge that this was part of his business and St. Hillary doth well express it Erat Diabolo de metu suspicio non de suspicione cognitio The Devil being rather suspicious than clearly resolved took this course to find it out whether this were the Seed of the woman that should bruise the Serpents head And mark how his words lie to this purpose He did not say since you are hungry bid this stone be made bread that were to entice him to bare gluttony Nor thus you are the Son of God bid this stone be made bread but in a doubting irony If thou be the Son of God It is strange that a Spirit so subtil by nature so intellectual so vigilant to espy Christ in all his ways so able to understand Jacobs Prophesie that the Scepter was departed from Judah and therefore Shiloh should come should hold off so long and doubt of that which was clearly manifest There were some Divines in St. Hieroms time that took a middle way for their opinion how the Inferiour Furies of Hell did long before believe and tremble and had cast it up for certain that this was the Son of God but Beelzebub the Prince of Devils was so much blinded with malice more than all the rest that he continued a time after all the rest in ignorance and Infidelity But this is meerly their own fancy without the suffrage of the holy Scripture The darkness of unbelief was upon all the Angels of disobedience for Satan who is the accuser of the brethren and no doubt complaineth to God that many of his Elect are slow of belief hath this malicious slander retorted upon himself that after many evident tokens better known to him than to weak men he faltred and doubted shamefully as my Text says If thou be the Son of God This was like for like repayed unto him he blinds our hearts with sundry fallacies that we should not know good from evil and God blinded his understanding that he should not discern truth from falshood And that you may not marvel that the Tempter should be dubitative in so manifest a case and knew not which way to incline recollect one thing that did infatuate him he being the Angel of pride and judging all events according to the pitch of his own ambition how could it come into his mind that the Son of God would debase himself with so much humility And so it hath fared ever since those days nothing hath so much hardned their hearts who are slow of belief as pride and insolency For it is the arrogant conceit we have of our own wit which hinders sometimes that we do not subject reason to the knowledge of God I must be careful in this Point that one place of Scripture may not make another obscure especially to leave no shadow of contradiction between one Text and another In this business Jesus fasting forty days in the Wilderness the Devil seems not to understand perfectly that he was Christ the Lord. In the Synagogue of Capernaum Luk. iv 34. the unclean Spirit calls him by his name and title and Country Jesus of Nazareth I know thee who thou art the holy one of God So intelligent above any of the Jews that he is the first that ever called him a Nazarite Nor do I reckon upon these words so much that the evil Spirit said I know thee who thou art for Satan is a liar and must not be credited when he speaks truth But the Evangelist St. Luke says in his own person from the inspiration of God he suffered not the Devils to speak for they knew that he was Christ in the same Chapter verse 41. Beloved distinguish the times and the matter is reconciled Before the encounter of this Tentation the enemy knew him not Christs humility and extreme exinanition did shadow him that he was not discerned After the infamous repulse that Satan suffered in these Tentations and upon the admiration of some other subsequent miracles he was compelled to confess thou art he that art come to torment me and to destroy my Kingdom the holy one of God So Nazianzen exprobrates to the Arians how they resisted that
Happy is the man that feareth alway but he that hardneth his heart falleth into mischief Prov. xxviii 14. Now there is a fear of a finer thread which is timor filiorum this ariseth out of the love of God when we take care not to displease because He hath made us and poured all his benefits upon us because it is the best of all things to enjoy his favour Nothing so much to be loved as God therefore nothing so much to be feared that He be not offended they that love most abound with it This is a joyful fear which outlasts all the fears of this life The fear of the Lord is clean and endureth for ever Psal xix 9. This reverential fear is in the Angels the Cherubins standing before God cover their faces with their wings awing his glorious Majesty the Elders before the throne fall down prostrate and cover their faces with their wings As the New Testament calls God charity God is love saith St. John so the Old Testament calls him fear Jacob swears by the fear of his father Isaac that is by God himself Gen. xxxi 43. Fear therefore is a vein that runs through all Religion and whatsoever buds out of Religion may be called fear it is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all piety the first and the last The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledg Prov. i. 7. and the end of all is fear God and keep his Commandments Eccl. xxi 13. The Lord threatens to the end we should be dejected that 's worship annexed to servile fear and the Lord multiplies his blessings upon us to the end we should bow down and be thankful that 's worship annexed to filial fear True fear doth continually worship our Redeemer desperate fear like the impenitent Thief doth blaspheme him and these two differ as much as sharp sawce that gives an appetite to the stomach and poison that destroys the vitals So far that the word fear in the Law is chang'd into worship in the Gospel for so it was fit to refute the Devil who said all these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me And the worship of God is that Theme which without more circumstance now it befals me to handle What is it to worship God what is requir'd unto it every man knows that's the first question to be askt and I will make you a very satisfactory answer out of a devout example which is thus St. Matthew sayes there came a Leper and worshipped Christ saying Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Math. viâ—i 2. that 's the word of my Text. You shall meet with this party again Mark i. 40. What find we there there came a Leper to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beseeching him and kneeling down to him yet another Evangelist says more to make it clearer Luke v. 12. Behold a man full of leprosie fell on his face and besought him saying Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean The collection from hence is this when these scatter'd members are put together that to worship the Lord is to kneel down unto him to fall down on our face before him and to beseech him by earnest prayer Be advertised in one thing that to worship to kneel before to bow down unto in reverence are media vocabula as we say terms for civil respects between man and man as well as for religious offices between God and Man a great confusion falls out thereby in the handling of this doctrine and it cannot be avoided Saies St. Austin in linguâ latinâ non habemus ullum vocabulum quod solùm dicatur de cultu Dei there is not any word betokening the worship of God in the latin tongue so proper to it that it may not be communicated to man all tongues are alike in that poverty of expression In the New Testament the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is constantly kept for the outward worship of God saving that Matth. xviii the Servant who feared to be sold away he and all he had is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Parable speaks of an earthly Master though the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Epiparabola come home to God in the English tongue the nearest word that is meant only of divine honour and a little too high for civil reverence is adoration If you say you adore an earthly man in our language we almost esteem it flattery But they are not words or outward gestures which can decide what it is which properly constitutes the essence of that worship which God claims The word adore I said might have a religious meaning with us but in no tongue else Saies Valla very well adorare includit orare supplicare voce uti plicare genu the word adore doth import the humble petition of the tongue and the supplication of the knee but these are things common and promiscuous to civil and holy uses All the reverent deportments of the body which piety ascribes to God civility without offence performs sometimes to Magistrates and Superiours It may be some Nations had their Customs to keep certain peculiar venerations of the body for God alone as the Athenians put Timagoras their Embassador to death quòd Regem Persarum tanquam Deum salutasset because he did obeisance to the King of Persia as to a God I know not what peculiar bendings of the body they appropriated to their Gods it was a national custom of their own and for my part I will not say a bad one but nature hath no such ground to limit the most humble gestures of the body to God alone Prophets in holy Scripture have faln on their face before Kings and great men have faln on their face before Prophets Though this doctrine be most true yet Cardinal Bellarmin did not pick out Abraham so luckily to make him the example of it He says that Abraham prostrated himself alike to God to Angels and to the Honourable men of the Sons of Heth. I say and will manifest it that the Scripture says he made a difference in his congees to them all Abram fell on his face and God talked with him Gen. xvii 3. When he went to meet the Angels he bowed himself toward the ground Gen. xviii 2. When he spake to the children of Heth Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people Gen. xxiii 7. You hear he fell on his face to God he bowed himself to the ground to the Angels and he bowed himself without more addition to the people of Heth. But this distinction is not kept by other holy men who walked perfectly before the Lord therefore I stand upon my former ground that neither by simple terms nor by postures and bowings of the body can it be resolv'd what worship is proper to the Lord for my part I could never make an intelligible interpretation of that
they felt his mind whether he held it lawful to give Tribute unto Caesar or not and the like there he was Vitis circumfossa a Vine which was under-digged But when subtil questions proved too weak to undermine his Wisdom then he was Vitis perfossa the last malice was to bore the Vine quite through the heart that it might utterly wither away and reflourish no more Weak inventions and the devices of them that knew not the Scripture nor the power of God for it was impossible that he should be held of death He laugheth at the shaking of a Spear as Job says of Leviathan The vulgar Translation reads my Text miles aperuit that the Souldier opened his side as if the gate of Paradise was now set open which was shut before against the Sons of men We read not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he opened but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he pierced him He made a Schism in the body of Christ and divided one part of it from the other O labour for the unity of the Church decline Faction as you would shun a Serpent in the path Every division pierceth through the skin of my Saviour through the side into the heart For the divisions of Reuben are great thoughts of heart But Fodit lanceâ so St. Hierom reads He digged into him with a Spear a word of Husbandry and fructification The Plowers plowed upon my back and made long furrows meaning the scourging that he suffered Sputis sicut fimo impinguatus His face was laid over with Spittle as tilth is spread to fatten the Land He was drencht in bloud like a field that is watered with wholsom springs They digg'd into his body like as the ground is turned up to make it fruitful They digged and there they found a Treasury which had been long hid the salvation of the Gentiles says the Father That you may see Abner a great Prince in Israel in the hands of Joab who smote him into the fifth rib here is Christ wounded with the same kind of cruelty his side was pierced with a Spear I have told you what it is to be a Souldier in Arms against God and what it is to open and divide the flesh of the Son of God but what sins are their Spears that are bent against his breast Producta peccata sins of long custom and continuance extensive impieties such as St. Paul calls the old man when a sin waxeth upon us like the gray hairs of our age that is a long Spear in Satans Artillery When Saul did first malign at David he cast a Javelin at him Jaculum Saulis that was but short and a hasty fit of anger but when he would never cease to persecute the man of Gods right hand then you shall read of Hasta Saulis a Spear which David took from the head of Saul Inveterate malice which will not be reconciled it is Homers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I may say a Spear of such a length that one end is above ground and the point in Hell one fit of Intemperance in Noah one Oath in Joseph one Superstision in John when he fell down before the Angel these have their turn and they return no more Happy Saints which dasht the Babylonish Children against the wall But there is a sin which doubles in the mouth of the sinner like that of the Edomites against Sion Down with it down with it unto the ground Like Crucifige crucifige Crucifie crucifie him as if once would not serve the turn And there is a treble sin like St. Peters denial three times over And there is iniquity of four links as Amos said For three transgressions and for four I will not turn away my wrath from Damascus saith the Lord. Seven Devils went out of Mary Magdalen Ten times the heart of Pharaoh was hardned Our Saviour puts the case if one man offend another Septuagies septies Seventy times seven times There are sins like the staff of Goliah's Spear as big as a Weavers Beam I will tell you what other sins Leo likens unto Spears and so I will finish this Point In vain says he did the Jews keep their own hands from violence in vain do they think that they made not the wound because a Souldier digged his side Qui venenata vocum spicula letalia verborum tela jaciebant Their teeth were Spears and Arrows and their tongue a sharp Sword They shot reproachful speeches like shafts of death as out of a well drawn bow all blasphemers that revile the Saints are as guilty of this wound as the Souldier that pierced his side with a Spear I must now speak of that part of his body whereon the Spear did light and to use the Fathers Elegancy Venimus ad cor dulcissimum Iesu bonum est nobis esse hic We are come even unto the place where the heart of Jesus lies and it is good for us to be here O sacred Passion O dearest wound This is a breach for the righteous to enter in This is none other as Jacob said but the gate of heaven Why did the Watchmen smite thee as the Spouse said What did direct their arm to touch that place How durst an uncircumcised Souldier dare to enter upon thy heart even upon the Holy of Holies Literally all this was done lest they had not finished their work of damnation For no mortal wound had been given to our Saviour before as some think and therefore when Joseph came to beg the body for burial Pilate marvelled if he were dead already the Jews mistrusted some delusion and to be sure to dispatch him a Souldier was suborned to thrust a Spear into his side As who should say he talked when he was alive of going to his Father and that from thenceforth we should see him in power and great glory no matter whither he go so we be rid of him as Bassianus said of his brother Geta Sit divus frater meus dum non sit vivus Strike him to the heart and then let God deliver him if he will have him Delilah enquired diligently of Samson where his strength lay that she might maim that part of the body and leave him weak like another man So these implacable enemies ransacked every part of the body to let out life If life be in the bloud of man the bloud was exhausted many ways If life be in the brains as others say the Crown of thorns was sufficint to offend them If life be in the heart there it should have no refuge for one of the Souldiers pierced his side with a Spear Now you that are babes in Christ like young ones in the nest implumes pulli hatcht under the wings of Christ untill you be fledg'd with feathers of Gold Behold the tender affection of a true Pelican hath drawn most precious bloud from his breast to revive his young ones And all you that will enter into the Ark and be saved from
Church was that there were no divisions or distractions in their Body God be praised for the multiplication of his Saints now over all the world we cannot meet now under one Roof as these did nor sit down in rows in one Field together as those 5000 did whom our Saviour fed in the Desart the bounds of all the Land of Canaan are not able to hold us God be glorified for the increase Our unity of place is to meet in those publique Assemblies which are allotted to particular Churches at those appointed times which are enjoyned us In no wise to slack our presence here on the Lords day to flock together on other festival days at Morning Prayer on week days to be much more diligent than we have been fie upon our tardiness and excuses in that duty do we look that God shall bless us in our Persons and Calling to take a Benediction away with us to serve us the whole week and come no oftner is not he the God that makes men to be of one mind to come to the Temple together and there to receive the Holy Ghost Chiefly I wish heartily in Christ that they would consort together with us who take no offence at our Doctrine established but make a separation and strangeness both from us and among themselves for matter of Ceremonies and things indifferent They that are baptized into Christ and one Faith why should they not come together with one accord in one place I must not be prolix I will say no more to it but let us say with St. Paul Hebr. x. 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are not of them who separate or draw back unto perdition Vnto perdition let that be noted The observation of this point gains thus much more out of St. Austin As all the Tribes of Israel were gathered together about Mount Sinah to hear in what manner the Law was proclaimed so here was an agreement of all persons to joyn together to receive the Holy Ghost but in that admirable similitude there is this dissimilitude that the people were prohibited with many terrors to come near the place where the Law was delivered but at this time the Holy Ghost was sent unto them who expecting the promise were all with one accord in one place And Calvin conjects much unto this note that the minds of the faithful were exceedingly encouraged and chang'd for the better the stoutest Champions of them all had no manlike fortitude in them before the Shepherd was smitten and instantly they were scattered and ran away for fear now the very women had hardned themselves against all danger they mix themselves together in one place with that holy company and fear no evil that can happen unto them A resolved constant mind an heroick heart to take up the Cross of Christ and to suffer unto the death for righteousness sake is a sign of much grace in the soul and an admirable preparation to receive the greatest measure of the Holy Ghost And that you may not think this Apostolical Society had crept into a dark corner where no espials could find them out Many Authors that have laboured to understand where it was say it was a spacious goodly Room of as much note as any private House in all Jerusalem and frequented so often by the Apostles that their haunt was known through all the City All that I have met withal conclude it was the same upper Chamber where our Saviour celebrated his last Supper and so consecrated the place Nicephorus and Cedrenus say it was the House of John the Evangelist for he took the Blessed Virgin to his own home and she was now among them a slender guess God wot and repugnant to many circumstances of Scripture Theophylact says it was the House of Simon the Leper how can that be when his House was in Bethany Matth. xxvi 6. Euthymius says it was the House of Joseph of Arimathea an honourable Counseller and had goodly Rooms to receive them Baronius goes with the most voices all are but conjectures that it was the House of Mary the Mother of John whose surname was Mark. To this Adrichomius consents and says this was the place where 3000 Jews were converted by Peter and baptized thither Peter betook himself when the Angel brought him out of prison there Stephen and others were made Deacons there James the Brother of our Lord so called was consecrated Bishop of Jerusalem there the first Council of the Apostles was held Acts xv All ancient Authors conclude it was about where the Tower of Sion stood and this is certain that Helen the Mother of Constantine did build a goodly Temple upon the same place to honour that holy ground It was a Figure of the whole Church of Christ so much the more to be remembred and the Church is a Figure of the Kingdom of Heaven where all the Saints and I trust all we shall praise the Lord with one accord in one place for evermore It follows now as the outward Bond of Peace was with this Society so they were claspt together faster with the inward Bond of Agreement with the unity of the same spirit they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one accord There cannot be a more proper true and certain disposition to make us meet for the Holy Ghost than unanimity As the Halcyon so our Naturalists say never appears but against fair weather so the Spirit comes either not at all or not very plentifully unto us until he find concord among us without jars and tranquility without bitterness The unity of the Apostles is called by the Fathers parasceue spiritus the way-making to receive the grace of God and if the Patient be prepared aright the Agent will do his work the sooner and the better No gifts of benediction are given to strive and oppose to fight one against another but for charity and edification therefore it was the beginning of our Collect three Sundays past Almighty God which dost make the minds of all faithful men to be of one will and it is a principal part of our Gospel for this day Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you That peace which Christ left among the Apostles was as it were an earnest penny put into their hands that they should have the full donative of the Comforter from above Our Saviour was born in the days of Caesar Augustus when a still Peace was over all the world now He pours out his holy spirit upon them that were of one accord and of one heart the one was his first act upon earth the other is his last then he was cloathed with our flesh now we are invested with his spirit This remarkable amity and Saint-like brotherhood among the Members of the Church which had no ruptures was well prefigur'd in the old Feast of Pentecost which was kept by the Jews For Levit. xxiii 19. upon the day of Pentecost among other Burnt-offerings the Priests were appointed in
called did extol the unanimity and most concordious proceedings of it with these words This is the day c. I read that one Cyriacus a just and a learned man was made a Bishop and the people so well pleased with his Election cried out Hic est dies Domini But Gregory the Great told the people that no Creature ought to be magnified with that solemn note which belongs to the Creator But he adds Cur ista reprehendo Qui quantùm gaudia mentem rapiunt scio Why do I chide you for it It was your gladness that did transport you It was your charity that made you so exult and your meaning was not to give the honour to man but unto God And so I have laid the corner stone of my Text that Christ is the subject of this Prophetical and triumphant acclamation And because there are two opinions how he is the subject of it that variety shall divide my Text. Briefly and plainly either this day which the Lord is said to have made is meant of the whole time of the Gospel so St. Hierom and St. Austin with a fair Troop of learned Writers beside or else it is understood of that day wherein Christ arose from the dead which is the Epitome of the whole Gospel Now these two opinions are so equally embraced that I find that the Church in her solemn Service hath favoured them both First some that have taken pains in Liturgical Antiquities tell me that this Psalm was of old appointed to be recited by the Priest every Sunday in the year that is an evident argument that the day which the Lord hath made belongs equally to all the days which shine upon us since Christ was incarnate that is to the whole duration of the Gospel Again it hath long continued and is used to this day in the Church of Rome that my Text is set in the front of the gradual for Easter-day and is repeated in the same manner constantly for six days after that high Feast which demonstrates that it hath principally been applied to the glorious mystery of the Resurrection Give me leave therefore to bring them both into my Treatise one after another And upon each to speak of two things De beneficio divino de officio humano the one half of the verse is Gods benignity This is the day which the Lord hath made the other half is mans acceptance and duty We will rejoyce c. You know I have already answered to the Interrogation Cujus Whose day this is Whose but Christs And for certain it cannot be his day as he is God from everlasting His goings out are from all eternity Micah v. iii. Again this is dies factus a day that is made and such an adjunct cannot sute with him that was never made but is the everlasting one before the world began It is that day therefore which was made with him when he was made flesh It is a curtesie among men for a Creditor to give a day to him that is behind hand to pay his debts Have patience with me says the servant that was arrested to the cruel Exactor and I will pay thee all But the Lord knew that it would not help us one whit to have the favour of the longest day that could be set to make payment for what we owe unto him nay the longer we live the longer is the Tally of our sins the reckoning will be the more enflamed by giving us time to discharge it Therefore God made a day for his Son and appointed him a season to offer up a price in our stead and through his satisfaction the hand-writing is discharged which was against us Yea but S. Luke remembers us that there are many days belonging to the Son Luk. xvii 22. The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man What day of all those is this Why not one but all those days since the world received him and received him with the glad tidings of Salvation all Evangelical days at large every day that we hear his voice and harden not our hearts is this day It may very well be opposed to that dismal day wherein our first Parents transgressed and fell that was a day which the Devil made and he took his pastime in it because the League of friendship was broken between God and man but the Lord made a new day to repair us again by the mediation of Jesus Christ Non est dies miseriae quam ipsi nobis fecimus sed dies redemptionis quam fecit Dominus I think it is St. Austins this is not the day of misery which we brought upon our selves but it is the good day of pacification and redemption which God created It is not to be thought that the whole current of the Gospel is called a day but that the nature of it will endure that name in some fit and excellent proportion For First There was no day until a day was set that Christ should come into the world darkness did cover the earth and gross Doctrin the People as the Prophet says no night that troubles melancholy people with strange and horrible Apparitions could be more dismal than the time was before some Evangelical Promises were preached to the drooping conscience Take a sinner or malefactor that knows not how God hath sealed his pardon and what is this earth better than a prison or a Dungeon unto him where he lies fettered with the bands of a long night and is exiled from the eternal providence as it is Wisd xvii 2. O what a Sun-shine there is in the salvation of Christs name which bringeth the Prisoners out of Captivity it is a day which is an introduction to an eternal day where there is light for evermore So says Arnobius Dies cui non succedit nox quam horae non dividunt quem umbra non impedit It is a day which is not divided by the short space of moments and hours no Eclipses can obscure it no night can succeed it Day began with Christ and it shall continue with him for ever Secondly The Gospel is a most brightsom day compared to that Age wherein the Jews walked under the Ordinances of Moses For what was that Law but an Evening with many shadows All things in their Religion were Types and Figures unrevealed which caused an ignorant Priesthood and a People of a gross capacity Wherefore St. Austin observes that our Saviour was brought forth into the world at midnight but the glory of the Lord which shone round about the Angel that brought the tidings made the night as clear as the day But the Law was delivered on Mount Sinah at Noontide but with so many mists and dark pillars of smoke that it made the day as obscure as the night Do but put your self to one Task to examine by the Contents of the Law how you will come to the knowledg of the Resurrection of Christ you
justly say as Abraham did to the rich Glutton there is a great gulf between you and I. I mean those that turn away their face from pitty and reconciliation never to look upon it I say lay down your enmities upon the first motion of peace they say no not upon the last summons of death I conclude from my Text that all displeasure must quickly be scattered they consult with the black book of their own Satanical malice and say it shall never be mitigated How many wedges must be driven in before this knotty heart will cleave Cleave and yield without delay or the use of that logg shall be to be cast into eternal fire You are all in haste will some object and stubborn hearts are as slow to lay down their enmities would not a moderation do well What 's that Why this is called discretion and moderation not to embrace too soon after a falling out to press our adversary down and drive him to affliction that he may be the more beholding to reconciliation Is this the wisdom of the world I am sure it is enmity with God and this is such a Paradox to foster malice for a while I know not for what pretensed ends to wind up all with chariry at the last as if a wound would be the better for rankling All that time which the Devil gains of you to stand out and exclude charity is to harden your heart that you may never relent and he that is not mollified to disgorge all mallice at the preaching of one Sermon if I mistake not the manifold threatnings in Holy Scripture as I am sure I do not he will be worse and worse after the preaching of an hundred Esau indeed had spent all his spight at last and fell upon Jacobs neck and kissed him but did not that curse remain both upon him and upon his House Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated In Ecclesiastical Stories that which befel Saprisius is a Sermon alone to put you on speedily to be at perfect peace with all men unless you have resolv'd not to break your Covenant with Hell Sapricius was a Church-man of great note and name but an errand Boanerges a Son of thunder he had a quarrel against one Nicephorus a Lay person Nicephorus desired his friendship Sapricius would not It fortuned that Sapricius preaching the Doctrine of Christ with much diligence was attacht by Pagan Officers to suffer Martyrdom As he was led to Execution Nicephorus then took his time to pacify him This venemous Priest even at that hour refused him and turned away his face God above was angry took away his good spirit from him and even at the point of death Sapricius revolted denied his Saviour for hope of life and Nicephorus that stood by weeping and had besought reconciliation with tears took his Girlond from him and suffered Martyrdom in his place I know Sapricius could have said as much for himself as any witty rankerous person whatsoever he loathed not Nicephorus upon revenge but he had justice on his side to detest him for divers injuries he had received Avoid Satan and all such Apologies Justice is the Garland of all Virtues Revenge is the most stinking weed of all Vices What a wide mistake is here He that should call black white must needs have a great fault in his eyes and he that will call revenge justice must needs have a foul blot in his conscience I will not rob the other points of the Text of that time that is due unto them otherwise much more might be said and very profitably for look for this doom and sentence from God no charity no Christianity no mercy no salvation So much malice so much devil Therefore depart from me ye malicious into everlasting fire c. The Lord smelled a sweet savour mark then in the next place what welcom entertainment this is for all the fruits of a godly life when we do any thing well there is joy in Heaven the delight of the Lord is in his Saints and in them that fear him Because the old world was full of wickedness and in every part but like a corrupt Dunghil therefore it was every whit drowned and made a loathsome Kennel of waters All these wicked Generations had left a stink behind them fulsom as mortified carrion therefore the perfume of Noahs piety was very expedient to air the new world that the Lord might be delighted with a better savour But in this phrase there are many figures to be unfolded many shells to be broken before I come to the kernel 1. Here is one Figure to translate bodily senses to the Divine Essence which is incorporeal 2. Though it were spoken of a man yet there must needs be another Figure to say He smelt sweetness from that wherein you mean he took delight and complacency wherein he rejoyced 3. Here is another Figure to speak of Gods immutable Essence as of things created to which somewhat happens in time that was not in them before Angels and Men may be partakers of some good news to day which were not in being before from whence they feel a new branch of comfort and exhilaration but do you ween that any savour was sweet unto God at this time and kindled a new act or a new affection in him which he had not before O no he knows our infirmity that we are Children and cannot speak of him as we ought therefore He lets us talk of him as a man that we may learn to honour him as God But the true notion how God is pleased with the sweet odour of that which Noah did then or that we do now is in this Maxim of the School Ab aeterno laetatus est Deus simul semel unico actu de toto ordine punitionis praemiorum There is one immutable joy and delight in God which never changed never did fall or rise by addition or diminution of parts and degrees with this one eternal act he delights himself in his own justice and in his own mercy and in the shadow of his glory which is his Church and this must last and persevere in the same constancy for ever But because the speculation of this truth is far more abstruse than the forms of ordinary speech with which we are familiar the Lord leaves it unto us to make use of that joy which he takes in our faith and zeal as if at that instant when Noah offered a good Sacrifice He smelt a sweet savour So Luke xv 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rejoyce with me for I have found the piece of silver which I lost and in the same chapter when the lost Child came home again the Father tells his elder Son It was meet that we should make merry and be glad for this thy Brother was dead and is alive again Now I bring my motive to you and lay it down at the door of your conscience Contend and strive for that
the light that was before and to turn to the smoak that was behind This is no distorted amplification but an evident spot in her crime yet not in her alone but in all those that cannot shew the use of good examples in the fruits of their lives A good Example is the fairest transcript of Gods will texted in capital letters so that he that runs may read and as a Picture expresseth the life more when colours are laid upon it than when 't is drawn out only in the rude figure so where piety lives and moves in the actions of virtuous men 't is more illustrious so by far than in empty Precepts and God expects it at our hands that where we are deaf to plain instruction yet we would easily be won with imitation We will run after thee in odore unguentorum says the Spouse in the smell of those fragrancies which the Worthies of the Church have left behind them Our Church which hath omitted no opportune occasion to put sound devotion in our mouths hath taught us often to pray in several Collects in that admirable piece of piety the Common-Prayer Book for grace of conformity with the best of Gods Children that we may learn to love our enemies by the example of his Martyr St. Stephen that after the example of John the Baptist we may constantly speak the truth and patiently suffer for the truths sake that we may follow all the Saints that are knit together in one communion and fellowship in vertuous and godly living this is the true celebration of their Holy-days to tread their footsteps as they have gone before us unto everlasting life But Novelists had rather be talkt of that they began a fashion and set a Copy for others than that they contein'd themselves within a strict imitation of the most excellent Presidents Be ye followers of me says Paul to the Church of Corinth and is it not better says Nazianzen to one Nichobalus upon the mention of those words to come after the Apostles heels than be a ringleader or the formost among Sectaries Praestat infra aquilas paululum quà m supra alaudas volitare it is a fairer pitch to fly a little under an Eagle than to soar somewhat above a Lark The Age is blessed the days are blessed when conspicuous facts of holy men are like Beacons on a hill which cannot choose but be gazed upon And if our sluggishness obscure such rare Examples for want of emulation and make them vanish like prints in snow that are soon forgotten the Lord will set up others of a contrary kind that shall last longer to our terror For since the memory of the just is no more regarded which is eternized for our imitation he will powder and make brine of the wicked for our confusion Here 's an instance in my Text of one that observ'd not a faithful Leader that conducted her She would not be tied to example and in that place where she refused to learn she was left for an example to all posterity But why do I stick at this only that she would not be a Scholar to Lot he was a frail man and had need of a Guide himself herein rather it appears that she was most averse from discipline nothing would make her wise for there was an Angel or twain in the Troop they were the Leaders of this little Flock out of Sodom yet she order'd her steps disobediently even in the sight of an Angel No earthly means or perswasions no nor heavenly patterns can reduce some head-strong sinners to repentance they have hardned their hearts like the nether milstone The rich Glutton in Hell thought that by some new device his Brethren might be converted if one would come from the dead and admonish them And do not most of you imagin if an Angel were sent from Heaven to preach there would be great reformation among us we would mend apace yes perhaps as much as Lots Wife did who would tread her own path though the Angel were at her elbow They that will not hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be converted for that they would be at the same stay though Angels walked daily among them The express words of my Text have afforded me hitherto all that I have objected against this sinner and what I shall say more shall be deducted out of it both by facil and easie consequence and by fair authority especially in the imputations of incredulity and recidivation And to come to them with the more perspicuity and order I observe the same rottenness in the sin of Lots Wife which Cajetan discovered in the transgression of Eve Eve cavilled upon that which God had commanded two wayes first she turned that absolute sentence in the day thou eatest that fruit thou shalt die into ye shall not eat of it lest you die or as the Vulgar Latin ne forte lest perhaps ye die Then she cloyed the Commandment with more austerity than was in it to shew she was weary of it ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it concerning the not touching her own loathing of the Law did put in that addition So the poison of the Devil had crept into her understanding and into her affections says Cajetan In intellectum per haesiâ—ationem poenae in affectum per displicentiam praecepti in her understanding she doubted no such punishment would follow as was threatned in her affections she distasted the Commandment and these are just so in the Subject we handle In the 10. of Wisdom ver 7. I name an Author of all that are in the Apocryphal List next to Canonical credit Lots Wife is called a standing Pillar of salt as a Monument of an unbelieving soul An unbeliever is one that gives not faith to that which God hath said and revealed Now she fell into unbelief in one of these two points or in both either she believed not that the place from whence she came should be destroyed as the Angels had denounced or else she believed not it would conduce to her safety whether she looked back or no the former she would try out of curiosity and the latter she would put to hazard upon peevish presumption The Sun rose clear that morning ver 23. there was no thunder nor darkness in the Heavens she began to suspect she was drawn from home to no purpose and they were wiser that stayed behind So she stood in motu trepidationis she knew not whether she should believe or not believe at last she resolved to trust Gods Messenger no further than she saw cause and would make her own eyes her sureties though she were strictly forbidden You cannot provoke God to anger sooner than by reserving power and license to your self to judg whether all his sayings are certain and infallible He that believeth not is condemned already Faith is the eye of all Religion if you wink with that eye you shall never see the Lord Especially to think you can discern
more with these bodily senses than with the inerrable light of Divine Truth is an extreme indignity A grave Patrician would be grieved that the deposition of a noted Varlet should be heard against his innocency And will you hear the objections of sense and reason against that sacred evidence Thus saith the Lord that were to trust to darkness before light the Flesh before the Spirit to lying vanities before unalterable and eternal truth But to her senses this Infidel would appeal and they would instruct her sufficiently whether it had gone with Sodom so ill as it was foretold And was she sure to be satisfied by looking back I greatly doubt it a mist might rise up like the smoak of a Furnace and she conceive it to come from fire when it did not Or the Sun might shine upon the waters in the Plain and she misdoubt that the waters were become bloud as the Moabites were so mistaken Doth not a late Historian tell us of the whole Watch of a City that misdoubted a Field of thistles a far off was a Troop of Pikemen that encamped there to besiege them Was ever man more cautious according to humane rules than St. Thomas the Apostle He would trust no mans reports that his Master was risen from the dead he would see somewhat neither would he trust his own eyes he would feel too nay he would not trust his fingers ends in small wounds but he would wallow his whole hand in the rent of his side For all this wariness he might have been deluded The Syrians saw Elisha and yet wist not it was he The Sodomites felt all night at Lots door and were still to seek Old Isaac held Jacob fast and was deluded the hands are Esau's hands says he and yet they were not And will this woman trust her eye-sight and at a distance rather than Gods peremptory assertion O trust not in man trust not in these fallible humane means Our senses are bruitish Nature is corrupt Philosophy is vain but Faith leans upon that strong pillar the revelation of the Spirit from above which cannot falter and to lie it is impossible And as this woman was called an incredulous Soul because she looked back to see whether vengeance had passed upon the Cities of the Plain as the Angel of the Lord had foretold so for want of faith touching the caution which was given to her own person she fell into presumption and by presumption into death it would not sink into her thoughts that God was in earnest that as many of their Troop as looked behind them should be consumed she thought they were big words to scare timerous persons such as Prophetical men in their zeal did every day denounce against sinners yet they liv'd and rub'd on that took their own liberty to disobey for God was gracious and would not suffer his whole displeasure to arise against miserable sinners Feel feel the pulse of your own conscience I beseech you tell me if it do not beat disorderly Doth it not confuse you to call to mind that this infidelity this in ipso genere hath betrayed you to the tentations of Satan more than all his snares beside that desperate courage which you assume to your selves upon some hope of impunity is it not the spur to all transgression God is gentle and of long suffering his minacies are terrible but his dearly beloved Son and our only Saviour is merciful sed exorabile numen fortasse experiar says the Heathen his loving kindness is soon entreated This is a bastard faith of our own to subvert the true faith which is begotten by the Spirit A Diabolical infusion that God doth menace out of policy that which He never meant to make us obsequious by the shadow of his scourge but remember that non moriemini was a lie 'T is the Serpents Master-piece to expel all faith and fear out of our mind for they go hand in hand together and to break our necks with confidence A barbarous beastly kind of life says Aristotle hardned the Scythians that they neither feared Thunder nor Earthquakes but it is infernal witchcraft that makes obdurate hearts believe that all the woes and curses in the Gospel are but a strong noise terrible while it is heard but comes to nothing Quotidie Diabolus quae Deus minatur levigat says Gregory God affirms the Woman doubts the Devil denies O unhappy they that think Truth it self may be deceived and give ear to a deceitful spirit If all the maledictions against Impenitents were not indubitably to be expected Christianity were but fainthearted superstition Religion nothing but panick fear Faith not the Evidence of things to come but a devised Fable and the sacred Scriptures in all penalties and threatnings a vizard of mockery But as sin brought punishment upon us so let the certain expectation of punishment bring us out of sin Remember Lots Wife the only memento that Christ fixeth upon any Story of the Old Testament The less she believed the less she feared but the less she feared the more she smarted What God hath threatned will not be declin'd by our contrary opinion Though Christ shed his bloud to save a sinner God will not lie to save a sinner No title of his Word shall fail no not to save an hundred thousand souls out of the infernal pit I am come to the utmost portion of the hour and not to the utmost of the first part of my Text by three points She fainted in well-doing she neglected mercy and was slow to save her self she contemned the benefit of preservation in respect of that which was taken from her But as Logick convinceth more than Rhetorick as the fist knit together is stronger than the hand spread abroad so all this will be most doctrinal in one point that she relapsed and sunk after she was in fair speed to obtain mercy because she fell in love with wicked Sodom again from whence God had withdrawn her This is her crime which Philo exaggerates more than once aestu refluo retrosum absorpta she was like a Ship sailing with full sails from the sinful delights of the World but the contrary winds and tides of concupiscence carried her clean back again Josephus accuseth her worse upon the same charge that though her feet came from that impious City yet her heart staid behind Et saepius tardavit vertendo se ad civitatem she stood still more than once to take her full view of that loss which she so much bemoaned nor was it at the first turning about as he says that she was turn'd into a pillar of salt The very Apples of Sodom remain as a token against her to this day which put forth at first as if they would grow to be very delicious in the taste and in conclusion they pulverize and become sooty ashes So Lots Wife ran well at first but in the midst of her course nay almost at the end she fainted and stuck fast