feare but to call vs to him with a Religious hope Flagellat omnem filium quem amat saith Saint Austin he chastens all the sonnes whom he loues yes we may truely say All for hee had one Son fine peccato non tamen sine flagello who neuer deseru'd a stripe and yet he felt many How was he faine to driue vs All to his Temple not long since How did a few strokes sinke vs vpon our knees Lift vp our wearied hands Exalt our tyr'd voyces Turne our heads into Fountaines our eyes into Streames And all our selues for a time into so many Saints How did we come to him with hearty groanes Deuout thoughts Sobbing Breasts Humble Knees Serious Cryes Charming Tongues Emphaticke Prayers and aboue all a full Resolution of Amendment All which hee listen'd to with such a pleas'd Attention that he caus'd the Minister of his Iustice to put vp the Sword of vengeance with a hand of Mercy shuts those Graues that he found open and so all we that stand here this day and many thousands more are as men brought vp out of our Graues and may know that he is the Lord and that wee his people ought for euer to praise him in the great Congregation who thus hath brought vs out of our Graues And brought you vp out of your Graues Neuer did the penne of the Almighty either from his owne mouth so truely speake himselfe when he seal'd Moses Commission with his name Iehouah I am that I am Nor by any powerfull Act so proue himselfe nor by any Hieroglyphicke so deliniate himselfe as by this last Particle by bringing vp out of our Graues The Sonne of Sirach imployes all the Rhetoricke he hath to set out the Omnipotency of this Lord from the Rainbow first which hee bids vs looke vpon and praise him that made it very beautifull it is in the brightnesse thereof it compasseth the heauens about with a Glorious Circle And the hands of the Most high hath bended it Then he directs vs to the Meteors Lightning Thunder then to his Treasures from whence the Cloudes flye forth as Fowles and the hoare Frost is powr'd as Salt vpon the earth which the North winde congealeth into yee and cloatheth the waters as with a Brestplate Can Diuinity assume more then that pen giues it Yes the Holy Ghost tels vs of a Creature in the Sea whom he calls Regem super omnes filios superbiae The King of all the children of pride The Leuiathan Lay thy hand vpon him remember the Battell doe no more who can discouer the face of his Garment Or who can can come to him with his double bridle Who can open the doores of his face his Teeth are terrible round about You shall neuer find Gods owne pen dropping vpon this Creature but euen the Creator as pleas'd with his owne worke is againe ready to cry out as at the first Valdè bonum letting it breathe forth his praise as it doth the Ocean out of his Nostrils Yet this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this wonder at which all other wonders may iustly wonder must not cannot shew him so maruellous in our eyes as by the promise that he here meanes to make himselfe known by to his people by bringing of them vp out of their Graues Downe with your Scepters all Monarkes vpon earth fall at his feet you heauenly powers that attend his Throne for you may all here vse Dauids words Non nobis Domine non nobis Not vnto vs O Lord not vnto vs but vnto thee onely belongs the power to bring vp out of the Graue This Prerogatiue vnshar'd to any doth God euer keep to himselfe I wound and I heal I kill and I make aliue for Quis Deus nisi Dominus who can bring frō the Graue but our God He neuer delegated his dearest seruant in this Ability his seruant Moses so often stil'd his seruant imploid to deliuer his people from Pharoahs Bondage and therefore was arm'd for a time with many miracles made able to turne his Rod into a Serpent and his Serpent againe into a Rod could at his pleasure call for Flyes Lice Frogs Darknesse yet he neuer brought any from the Graue Christ Iesus himselfe amongst all his world of Miracles which hee did whilest hee was in the world did not make this power of his too familiar he brought one from the Bed another from the Beere but neuer saue onely one from the Graue and that was he whom he lou'd Hee would not put the strength of his Godhead to deale with so weake an aduersarie as a Disease but Cui plus est mortem vincere quà m remouere languorem he prouided not to cure Lazarus in his sicknes but to honour himselfe in his raising and euen by that temporall Resurrection of him to proue the eternall Resurrection one day of vs he doth but speake to him Lazarus come forth and he came forth not to bring amazement but faith to the beholders who might then haue shouted with that voyce of triumph Death where is thy sting Graue where is thy victory But if we goe to no other Graue but this and only looke vpon the deliuerance of Lazarus from it we may sound a Conquest before the Field bee wonne and so our Enemie which lyes in Ambush may inuade vs with an vn-lookt for assault Lazarus rose indeed and for a time enioy'd some benefit of longer life Res quidem honorabilis dominatio potestatiua fuit saith Cyprian The power that our Sauiour shewed ouer the Graue euen there ought euer to be honour'd in our memories but he was to goe to the Graue againe The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Statute in Saint Paul that all men must dye will euer stand in full force strength and vertue and therefore the Psalmist makes it an angry question to any that shall doubt it Quis viuit Who is he that liues and shall not see Death All the comfort one of the best Heathen could euer giue in this case was Cogitare id sibi accidisse quod antè se passi sunt omnes omnesque passuros The community of all suffering alike may somewhat ease the seuerity of the punishment for when we goe to our Graues they are the most sure Possessions that euer our Fathers could leaue vs inherited by them that went before vs and shall successiuely be taken vp by all generations that shall come after vs. We must all say to Corruption Thou art my Father and to the Wormes You are my Mother and my Sisters And yet now euen this comfortlesse place the Graue can yeeld vs comfort the walls of that Prison being in a manner broken downe since Christ Iesus who was the Surety for our first Fathers Debt was lay'd for a time in it to redeeme vs from it The Deuill knew that he had giuen his word for the payment but did not vnderstand that
know that I am the Lord. Secondly to whom To his owne people O my people Thirdly by what meanes by most powerfull deliuerance when I haue opened your graues and brought you vp out of your graues Gods care to be knowne first presents it selfe And you shall know that I am the Lord. Two things saith Lactantius GOD hath made man onely to be most desirous of Religionis sapientia Religion and wisdome the two onely Keyes to open that Well sealed vp The knowledge of the Lord. But the Author goes on sed homines ideo falluntur quòd aut Religionem suscipiunt omissâ sapientiâ aut sapientiae soli student omissâ Religione either men in the fury of Religion will breake vp the seales of Gods secrets and so rather discouer him then know him or else they will finde him in the Labyrinths of their subtill braines omitting the best Clue to guide them thorow Religion We may obserue how vnhappy the first intent to know GOD too neere was when He that was the subiect of the knowledge was not the Instructer Shee that was first caught by that golden hooke of knowledge would know God but it should be most ambitiously for shee would know her selfe to bee like Him in the knowledge of good and euill That wretched knowledge she quickly gain'd good she knew by its irrecouerable losse and euill shee knew not onely by knowing but being so her selfe and all because when shee first set her selfe to Schoole the Deuill was her Tutor Glorious apparition of knowledge which fier'd euen innocencie it selfe with a proud affection to it nor could euer since any Age auoyd the spices of that first disease of knowing But like ouer-fleet Hounds wee often out-runne the prey in the pursuite or else tyer'd and hungry fall vpon some dead carrion in the way and omit the Game Else how were it possible that Man who only hath that essentiall consequence of his Reason Capacity of Learning should all his time bee brought vp in a Schoole of knowledge and yet too often let the glasse of his dayes be runne out before hee knowes the Author he should studie Haue not the greatest Epicures of knowledge like children new set to Schoole turn'd from their lessons to looke on pictures in their bookes gazing vpon some hard trifle some vnnecessary subtilty and forgot so much as once to spell the Lord How great a part of this span-length of his daies doth the Grammaticall Criticke spend in finding out the construction of an obsolete word or the principall verbe in a worne-out Epitaph still ready to set out a new booke vpon an old Criticisme How will an Antiquarie search whole Libraries to light vpon an ancient Monument whilest the Chronicle of this LORD who is the Ancient of daies shall seldome be looked into We doe so wearie the faculties of our vnderstanding before-hand by ouer-practising that when wee come at the Race indeed where our knowledge should so runne that it might obtaine it giues ouer the course as out of breath before it haue begun I speake not but to honour learning and knowledge euen the first elements of the Arts they are like the Cryer in the Wildernesse before our Sauiour to prepare his way Nor I thinke ought any to be transported with the pangs of so indiscreet a zeale as to extinguish those first Lampes of knowledge polite and humane studies for though they doe not directly teach vs to know the Lord yet are they the fittest spectacles for vnripe yeeres and tender sights to put on who are not able to endure at the first vehemens sensibile so excelling an obiect as the Lord is God doth not vse now-a-dayes to rauish men extra corpus as Saint Hierome saith hee did this Prophet or as Saint Paul saith he doth not know whether it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether within or without the body when hee was taken into the third Heauen God leades vs with a more apprehensiue and ordinary hand then either by taking vs vp or sending downe lights and visions from himselfe to make his Spirit to be at command to euery obstreperous vnletter'd Extemporist vt doceat antequam didicit who will vndertake to teach before himselfe hath learn'd and so it often falls out that whilest such are about to make knowne this knowledge of the Lord though their bodies bee confin'd within the compasse of the Pulpit yet is their straggling inuention faine to wander for matter as Saul did ouer Mount Gilboa and many other Mountaines to seeke his Fathers Asses and yet neuer found them It is the comparison of that Kingly Priest who was the late Reuerend Prelate of this Sea All Miracles wee know are ceas't and yet the greatest Miracle that euer God wrought vpon earth the Incarnation of his blessed Sonne excepted the effusion of his Spirit must still be so familiar with vs that the assiduity of hauing it hath brought it amongst too many into a cheape contempt I would not be mistaken for I speake with a reuerend estimation of mine owne and all Christian soules Preaching is an inestimable Iewell and if the Physician of the body is to bee honour'd then much more they that minister 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 restoring Balsame to wounded soules That Angell of our Church reuerend Hooker et tanto nomini semper assurgo his name ought euer to bee mention'd with honour calls Sermons the Keyes to the Kingdome of Heauen Wings by which our soules soare to the heauenly Ierusalem O what a blessing is it frō heauen nay what proportion doth it hold with heauen to heare a Preachers tongue touch't by a Seraphim vtter in the Pulpit labour'd mature thoghts cloathing his sublime Theames in fit Apparell to be presented before that Person whom hee represents yet non tam loquitur fortia quà m viuit his life should be stronger speak more powerfully then his lines and euen then when his words reach as high as the Throne of God his heart should bee as low as the humble Publicans All Gods Prophets ought to be of Dauids mind to esteeme themselues Wormes and no men whilest their Audience are sweetly forc't to repute them little lesse then Cherubims What a blessed Martyrdome it were for any imploy'd in Gods Seruice to breathe forth his soule in sauing others soules Such a Preacher were like the good seruant in the Gospell who when the Lord comes he shall finde so doing That word so qualifies any extremitie that might haue been in his actions like Saint Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so runne running hee obseru'd many perchance too fast therefore he assignes the modum debitum the true path in which wee should runne Men that will be either like him or like the good seruant so doing must not fall into any excesse and bee found ouer-doing which euen in this great businesse of knowing the Lord too many doe It was St.
Hieroms complaint in his time Sola Ars Scripturarum Ars est omnium In no other Profession can any man set vp before he haue seru'd a set number of yeeres but in the knowing of the Lord euery man will bee a Doctor of the Chaire before euer he saw the Diuinity-Schoole We ought I confesse all to wish as Moses did Would God that all the Lords people were Prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit vpon them but let them bee enricht with Moses gifts too who was skilfull in all the learning of the Egyptians for otherwise although it were Moses charity to wish such a generall blessing 't was Gods wisdome not to grant it It is indeed true That to know the Lord and his saluation the Scripture affords light enough and Diuinity needs not to adde to her immortall beauty by any borrowed painting yet you shall see that when Saint Paul vndertooke to make the Corinthians know who was the Lord hee profest a wealthy variety of much other knowledge besides the Scripture and thankes God for it that hee spake with Tongues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more then all they did and able he was to cite their owne Poets among the then learned Athenians and to apply a Satyricall Verse out of Epimenides to reprehend the lying gluttonous and bestiall manners of the Cretians His powerfull language so rauish't the Lystrians in the 14. of the Acts that hee gain'd the repute of Mercury amongst them and questionlesse the sitting so long at the feet of Gamaliel made him vas electionis a vessell fit to hold that diuine Treasure which the Holy Ghost powr'd into him not that he or any other Messenger of God did euer vse to thrust themselues into a Wildernesse of Diuinity amongst Thornes and Bushes suffering euery Bramble to teare off part of that Golden Fleece which can neuer safely bee carried out of such Thickets Therefore the Psalmist tooke a direct Method in learning to know this Lord hee lookes vpon the booke of Experience which was the onely volume God himselfe open'd in Paradise written like the Booke in the Reuelation within and on the backside The Heauens declare the Glorie of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy workes and so out of euery Star could he take notes by which he might learne who was this Lord. Opus fecit quod opificem visibilitate sui manefestauit saith the Master out of St. Ambrose The inuisible workman may be known by his visible worke The beauty of Heauen The Glorie of the Starres an Ornament giuing light in the highest places of the Lord at the commandement of the Holy one they will stand in their order and neuer faint in their watches Thus the Sonne of Sirach would make the Vniuerse our Vniuersitie where we might perfect our soules in experimentall knowledge sufficient to vnderstand the power of Him that made all this All first of nothing Accedat quaecunque vis creatura et faciat tale Coelum et Terram dicam quia Deus est if these helps will not make vp our obseruation full Iob will direct vs to plainer Masters Interroga iumenta docebunt te Aske now the Beasts and they shall teach thee and the Fowles of the ayre and they shall tell thee or speake to the Earth and it shall teach thee and the Fishes of the Sea shall declare vnto thee Who knoweth not all these things that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this By the perpetuity of these creatures wee may know the eternitie of their Creator by their immensity his omnipotency by the ordering of them the wisdome of him Yet hath the Deuill so fascinated the eyes of many that in stead of knowing GOD by these his workes they haue mistaken many of his workes for their gods How commonly haue some esteem'd the strong man in the Firmament the Sun for the Sunnes Creator who could he haue spoken would haue answer'd them like the Angell in the Reuelation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 see thou doe it not for I am thy fellow-seruant and of thy Brethren Thus the willing yet impiously-deuout Heathen made their vnhappy Piety rather to be a crime then such blinded adoration to be esteem'd knowledge of this Lord. Where was that immortall Soule that Image of the sacred Trinity Where all the Faculties of that Soule Apprehension Iudgement and Discourse Nay where are they yet in the greatest and most parts of the world I desire not to dwell vpon so vnnecessarie a point as many may thinke the knowledge of God to be in this Sun-shine of the Gospell yet some I am sure that this day heare mee haue beene in parts and amongst people who can no more see this Lord then a blind man is able to discerne the Sunne at noone where amongst obseruing many Monsters in their Trauels the greatest Monster Sea or Earth affords is the ignorance of this Lord not yet knowne to the mightiest Monarkes vpon earth Let me beseech you who-euer you are that dedicate your selues to treade the vntrackt paths of the Sea and negotiate with remote Kingdomes either for the Gold of Ophir or the Spices of Arabia to carry with you along for Exchange if it be possible but not to forgoe it your selues this Merchandise sold at so low a rate now with vs The knowledge of this Lord. Let euery one of your liues be a Taper to the darkned vnderstandings of the Heathen by which they may at least see that you know the Lord for to you to you only doth he beare this loue of you onely hee hath this fatherly care that hee would bee knowne to bee the Lord of you his people for you shall know that I am the Lord O my people you are the persons to whom he would be knowne his people Did euer Father in more faire termes entertain the dearest Treasures of his bloud then God doth here his people A people who in the Chapter 〈◊〉 had awaken'd his vnwilling wrath himselfe saies of them When the house of Israel dwelt in their owne Land they defiled it by their owne wayes and by their doings wherefore I powred forth my fury vpon them And who would not haue still lookt for burning from his lips and Coales of fire from his nostrils yet he presently forgets to be angry scattered they were but they shall not straggle long as sheep without a Shepheard for he will againe be their Lord and they shall be his people His people by order of Creation all people are many blessings and benefits doe all Nations Kingdomes and people receiue from him But saith Bernard tanquam proprium eum habent singuli Electorum where he beares a selected and neere affection there he stiles himselfe and them by a more deare and peculiar Title O my people He spoke to them before in termes of strangenesse They defiled their own way effudi eos in Gentes I haue scatter'd them among
DELIVERANCE FROM THE GRAVE A Sermon preached at Saint Maries Spittle in London on Wednesday in Easter weeke last March 28. 1627. BY THO. GOFFE Batchelor of Diuinitie lately Student of Christ-Church in Oxford LONDON Printed for Ralph Mab. 1627. To the READER CHristian Reader the maine word in the Text of this following Sermon is the Graue and in a Graue of silence after that once speaking it had for euer beene laid but that I was loth to leaue it in a deeper Graue then any Ezechiels Valley afforded the throat of Detraction which Dauid iustly cals an open sepulcher I doe with all humilitie thanke the Bestower of all gifts who enabled mee to conceiue these vnworthy Meditations who strengthen'd me to vtter them and for whose sake I had an honourable learned and religious Audience whose deuout Attention did much encourage me in that holy Taske But it seemes my weake labours were not of the nature of those things which decies repetita placebunt for the Rehearser could not taste them once who rather hunted after a prey for his enuie then to performe the great and pious businesse he vndertooke Pitty it is that a Christian a Scholler a Preacher could not thinke me a fellow-Minister with him in all both of the same Church and Gospel for so the courteous imparting of my Notes to him many dayes before proues that I reputed him a fellow-labourer with me It may therfore iustly be expected by all that know how sensible I must needs be of so publike and so vndeseru'd a prouocation that I should pay him again in his owne coine and how easily could I whet my Penne and giue the reines to an vnbridled but iust anger But non sic didici Christum I haue learn'd of Him to be ready to forgiue who teacheth vs to beare with wrongs not because out of basenesse wee cannot reuenge but out of Religion we will not Therefore I will not smite an Hebrew one that should be of my Brethren whose memory I neuer intended to burthen with more of my Sermon then he pleas'd nor speake I because he left out the most part nay in effect the whole Sermon in rehearsing it neither deseru'd nor did I euer desire an exact rendring but what was wanting on his part in memory or as himselfe profest in vnderstanding to make vp with malice shew'd his zeale to be voyd of discretion and his emulation of Religion For my expressions vpon which he bestow'd some vnbeseeming tearmes of derision I know no reason why I should euer change one particle of that poore language which God hath lent me to honour him withall in hope to be vpon all occasions supplied out of the empty store of Rheumatick extempory Barbarisme yet who-euer shall truly weigh the whole body of my discourse shall find it for the most part squar'd by the comely Phrase of the Scripture which I shall euer esteeme the Well-spring of Diuinity If otherwise this small worke of mine owne will disapproue me For I am forst to that which I neuer affected to put my selfe vpon the iudgement of diuers Readers whether this Sermon deseru'd the Censure of that one Rehearser From whose lame Repetition I appeale and let this Sermon speake for it selfe as it was then spoke by my selfe who in the Pulpit neuer vttered any thought but with an vnfained intent to honour God and none but God and to benefit my Audients soules not eares To their surmises who thinke I gaue any cause to be tax't I say no to other whisperers nothing So I commit my Sermon to thy reading and thy selfe to the Almightie From my Studie in East-Clanden in Surrey April 17. 1627. Thine in Christ Iesus THO. GOFFE To the READER CHristian Reader if the conceit of mine owne labours or the requests of some friends whose entreaties in other things shall euer be commands to me could haue made me ambitious of the Presse I might haue troubled it heeretofore But I am now forc't to that which I neuer affected to put my selfe vpon the iudgement of diuers Readers whether this Sermon deseru'd the Censure of that one Rehearser For my language who-euer esteemes my stile too high for that was intimated shall finde my heart low in any Seruice I can doe to GOD And yet who-euer shall truly weigh my words shall finde them for the most part squared by the comely Phrase of the Scripture which I euer esteeme the Well-spring of Diuinity and in that though there be still the same Spirit yet Esay Amos doe not prophesie in the same words and for my part I shall neuer wish to change one particle of that poore discourse which God hath lent me to honour him withall vnlesse I were guilty of affecting rather mine owne praise than Gods glory and that well deseru'd a sharpe reprehension I doe with all humilitie thanke the bestower of all gifts who enabled mee to conceiue these vnworthy Meditations who strengthen'd me to vtter them and for whose sake I had an honourable learned and religious 〈…〉 whose deuout Attention did much encourage 〈…〉 in that holy Taske To such Readers as they 〈…〉 I appeale from the Rehearsers 〈◊〉 Repetition for which how easily could I whet my Pen and giue the reines to an vnbridled but iust passion But non sic didici Christum Christ teacheth me otherwise and I will not smite an Hebrew but leaue that to bee read which he could not speake hoping that thou good Reader wilt rather finde heere something that may profit thee then hunt after a prey for vndeseru'd malice to worke vpon So I commit my Sermon to thy reading and thy selfe to the Almightie From my Studie in East-Clandon in Surrey April 17. 1627. Thine in Christ Iesus THO. GOFFE DELIVERANCE FROM THE GRAVE EZECHIEL 37.13 And ye shall know that I am the Lord when I haue opened your graues O my people and brought you vp out of your graues IT was yet Good-Friday both with this Prophet and the people when he vndertooke for them a Text fit for Easter I am sure for the resurrection when the Israelites were stretcht vpon the Racke of miserie as Hee of whom they were then Types but afterwards persecutors vpon the Crosse when they were to be lockt vp in the graue of captiuitie as Hee was for a time in the barres of the earth quando stillauit ira Dei super Ierusalem saith Senensis from these oppressions weighty though they were to him this Robur vel imperium Domini this strength of the Lord for so the Prophets name imports breakes forth his soule being full of diuinations as the Riuer Chobar by which he sate of drops and through the vision of dead bones sees Israels restauration to its former liberty and mans resurrection to his eternity The words of the Prophet will best set themselues together in your memories if they bee taken asunder into their parts for they haue Three First Gods care to be knowne And you shall
the Principall did not at all belong to him Non autem errabat in genere sed fallebatur in crimine 'T was we had forfeited the Bond and he must be arrested so a Heard of Tigers came to seize vpon the Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world for whom he being God became Man they being men to him became Deuils they apprehend him with their bloody hands whom their hearts could neuer apprehend all wickedly intending to confound him who onely intended to preserue them and thinking one death too little for him who esteem'd his owne life and eternitie it selfe a blessing too small for them The Element of Sinne which in one of our hearts weighes not at all because it is in its proper place and Elementum non ponderat in loco suo vpon him lay so heauie because he was no Center for it that it made him who was wont to bow the heauens bow himselfe vpon the earth in the Garden of Gethsemane knocking there at the doore of his Graue to be let in from thence hee was carried to the Theater of Death strew'd with Bones and dead Bodies where the vnwholsome sauors might haue brought him to his death without a Crosse. Thus both the liuing and the dead were equally prepar'd to bring him to his Graue who came to bring both the liuing and the dead vp out of their Graues How like a Coarse and nothing but a Coarse fit for a Graue must he needs looke when that Face at which the Angels so often wondred was scarrifi'de and cauteriz'd with Thornes those eyes from which the Lamps of Heauen the Sunne that wardeth by day and the Moone which watcheth by night might borrow a better cleerenes suncke into their Caues those eares wont to heare nothing but Anthem'd Alleluiahs deafn'ed with the scornes of insulting Sinners that mouth the Torrent from whence flow'd Eloquia Domini Eloquia munda words sweeter then Honey and the Honey Combe then stopt with Gall and Vineger hee that had giuen them Wine to cheere and make glad the heart of Man what a Potion did they giue him to comfort his dying heart Thus for his sufferings they would be sure to take what impious care they could and their busie malice was so wholly taken vp with them that they forgot when they had done to prouide him a Graue Hee that in his life time was worse prouided for then the wilde inhabitants of the Field or Ayre for himselfe complaines that the Foxes haue holes and the Birds of the Ayre haue nests but the Sonne of Man hath not where to lay his head liu'd and dy'de in the same case liu'd without a bed and dy'de without a Graue Because the liuing would not the dead came from their Graues to make him roome the Earth open'd her obedient armes to entertaine him the stones of the Temple leapt from their foundations disdaining the place where the hand of any Architect had laid them when those prophane builders refus'd Lapidem angularem him that was euer the head Stone of the corner He dy'de for the sinnes of strangers and therefore a stranger Ioseph of Arimathea must prouide him a Graue he beg'd him of Pilate and had so often laid him in his heart before that hee now esteemes himselfe happy if he may lay him in his Graue Would you now thinke this Man that could not saue himselfe as they blasphem'd could saue vs That he that could not procure himselfe a Graue should bring vs all vp out of our Graues Nullas habet spes Troja si tales habet How doe they yet deride our hopes in him who do not yet beleeue in him Durst he euer challenge Death vpon his owne Dunghill the Graue with such daring termes Ero mors tua ô mors O Death I will be thy death O Graue I will be thy destruction Will the Lord euer say to him Sit thou on my right hand vntill I haue made thine enemies thy footstoole Can he euer ascend on high and take captiuity captiue who was taken by two old men Ioseph and Nicodemus to bee laid in a new Monument in Iosephs Garden In horto erat Monumentum nonum A new Sepulcher wherein neuer man was yet layd A Stone hewne out of a Rocke and therefore most fit to lay the Rocke of our saluation in and into a Rocke his Disciples could hardly dig to get him out Therefore against that Rocke must they needs dash which would haue it said His Disciples came by night and stole him away They could say to Pilate Sir we haue heard the Deceiuer say and how wretchedly did they deceiue themselues by not beleeuing what he said His dixit euer was his fiat from the first saying Let there be light though afterwards when hee had made that light come to shine in the darknesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the darknesse comprehended it not They had seene him whom they so falsely term'd Deceiuer oftentimes making his word good without all deceit The Centurion askt no more at his hands but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Say but the word onely and my seruant shall be whole and his seruant was made whole the same houre He that was himselfe the Word needes neuer doe any thing but say the word hee said hee would rise againe the third day and as hee was Filius fortitudinis to the Lord himselfe the Sonne of his strength or the strength of his Sonne hee could finde or make a way to bring himselfe vp out of the Graue Let their laborious enuie heape hills of Earth vpon his Graue let their Grand Patron the Deuill himselfe send Legions from Hell to guard his Sepulcher as Pilate did a band of armed Souldiers they could not haue kept him in His very sleepe which they thought the sleepe of death was busie in a triumphant Conquest ouer Hell it selfe he was then gone to the house of the strong man which himselfe speakes of in the Gospell binding the strong man and spoiling him of his goods he enter'd as Conquerour bound him as the stronger spoild him as the right owner of that estate in vs which he by theft and violence had once carried away The drowsie weight of sleepe sate farre more heauie vpon the Souldiers eyes and bound them faster then the High Priests Seale then the Massie Stone then the walls of the Graue then Death with all his Cords were able to fetter him Were the Fogs call'd from the Lakes and Fennes for your sakes O you once his people Was darknesse call'd from the Center of the Earth to spread it selfe vpon the face of Egypt three dayes or rather three prodigious nights Didst thou O Sunne more then stand still in Gibeon and thou Moone in the valley of Aijalon that you his people should for euer since obtenerate your owne eyes with a darknes more palpable then that of Egypt and would neither then nor yet see this Sunne of righteousnesse comming