A SERMON Preached before the KING On easter-Easter-Day 1684. By Francis Lord Bishop of Rochester and ALMONER to His MAJESTY Published by his Majesties special Command LONDON Printed by J. Macock for R. Royston Book-seller to His most Sacred Majesty at the Angel in Amen-Corner 1684. Hosea VI. 2 3. After two days will He revive us in the third day He will raise us up and we shall live in his sight Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord his going forth is prepared as the morning and He shall come unto us as the rain as the latter and former rain unto the earth SUCH an August and Solemn Assembly as this how well does it suit with those Glorious Titles the Ancient Fathers bestow upon Easter-Day the Feast of Feasts the Solemnity of Solemnities the Queen or Empress of all the Churches Festivals And well may the Christian Church be allowed to pay the highest observance and greatest reverence to the memory of his Resurrection Whom God hath raised up to be a Prince and a Saviour as St. Peter styles Him to be our God and our Lord as Saint Thomas calls him when even the Gentile World whom ever they took upon them to worship as a God their natural Religion dictated to them this That Feasts in Honour of Him should be observed The Roman Emperour Tiberius as Eusebius relates upon that amazing Story he received from his Lieutenant Pontius Pilate concerning our Saviours Death and Resurrection was very desirous to have Deified our Lord Christ But by the special Providence of God the Senate found a pretence to cross that Design of Tiberius for Christ would never be beholding to the Secular Heathen Powers to advance his Divinity which was to astonish the World into its belief by a quite contrary method of suffering their Persecutions and dying for it But since all the Triumphs of Christ that were the consequence of his Death and Passion began from his Resurrection Because he was obedient unto death even the death upon the Cross therefore God also hath highly exalted him again God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ which implies that Christ was made more The Christ that is more The Anointed Son of God by his being the first-begotten from the dead this Day then we must needs allow this Day a preference to all others in our Christian Calendar This is foretold As the Day of his Power when the people should offer him free-will Offerings with an holy worship when he was first enabled to declare All power is given unto me in Heaven and earth This is the Day which Christ has call'd properly His Father Abraham desired to see my Day and he saw it and was glad to see it then when he received Isaac from the dead in a Figure a Type of Christ This is the Day which the Lord hath made I could alledge a great consent of the Antients interpreting that Passage of the Psalmist as Prophetical of Easter-Day a Festival that we hear of in as old a Record and as venerable a Piece of Antiquity as is the Story of Polycarp St. John's Disciple a Festival which Constantine the first Great Christian Emperour commanded by a special Edict to be observed which Socrates our Ecclesiastical Historian assures us that in his time no Hereticks had impudence enough to disparage nay that all of them kept it Now methinks 't is exceeding strange that so many of our Schismaticks should have so much zeal as they pretend to have for the Weekly Festival and none for the Annual Commemoration of our Blessed Lords Resurrection that the Lords Day being confessedly derived from this Day every Sunday but as a shadow of Easter Yet some almost Judaizing in the Doctrine of the Sabbath should refuse to join with the rest of the Christian World in honouring of this Day whence the other one and fifty Days in the Year had all their beginning and borrow all their Glory But as for you that come hither on the score of Devotion I may address my self to you as the Angel began to those that had the honour to hear the first welcome News of this Day Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth that was crucified He is risen The Christian Saints of old when they met upon Easter-Morning the one accosted the other with this Salutation Christ is risen the Custom still continues in the Greek Churches to which the other joyfully echoes and replies Yes Christ is risen But I will not say with the Angel Ye seek Jesus He is not here Indeed he was no longer there in his Monument but he is here in the Blessed Sacrament which shall be in the worthy Receivers as Seeds of the Resurrection 't is Irenaeus's expression to make our vile Bodies like his glorious Body and he is here in the Text as I shall clearly shew though it were but an obscure Prophecy to the Jews as every Prophecy is a Mystery till it be fulfilled yet now 't is turn'd into the plain Story of this time to us Christians 't is a demonstration if it pleases Christ to open our hearts as he did those of the two Disciples that went to Emmaus when he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures and all the Prophets the things concerning himself That Christ ought to have suffered those things and to enter into his Glory for unless he open our eyes as he did theirs while he opened the Scriptures to them we may be but as they were slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Saint Paul who tells some parts of this Story concerning the Resurrection more punctually than even the Gospels have done tells us that Christ rose the third Day according to the Scriptures The Resurrection is the only Article of our Creed that has the circumstance of time particularly annexed to it and this he says was according to the Scriptures that Christ rose the third Day Which are those Scriptures then For he must needs mean those in the Old Testament and which are those None more plain than this place of Hosea which therefore I have chosen to discourse upon though it be not so commonly observed and though it be left for an exercise of our Christian Industry which should be much employ'd in searching the Scriptures for this is a Text not quoted in any place of the New Testament Yet I shall not deny but this Prophecy might also signifie that reviving or restoring of Gods people from their woful Captivity in which they were as it were dead men and dry bones as the Prophet Ezekiel calls them Recovering their Liberty was like receiving new life after those two days or two calamitous times first of the Assyrian Captivity then of the Babylonian and then a third glorious Day broke out joyful and happy to them upon the Victories and Triumphs of the Great Cyrus whom the Prophet Isaiah calls by his Name some Ages before he was born Who hath said
unto Cyrus Thou art my Shepherd accordingly Cyrus took order for gathering the scattered sheep of Israel for raising them up from a kind of Civil Death from Slavery to Freedom from Banishment to resettle them in their own Country But allowing this Interpretation of the Text in its first literal meaning it does not follow but a higher sense should be put upon the words the Fathers and learned Antients contend with one voice that Christ is here that his plenteous Redemption his gracious releasing us from the Death of sin his raising us to the Life of Grace of Righteousness and of Glory were prefigured and typified by that restauration and temporal deliverance of the Jews 'T is Christ whose going forth from the bosome of the Father into the World is said in my Text to be prepared as the Morning prepared of God by his ever-fixt and never-failing Decree by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God the very Days of Christ's Incarnation his Birth and his Resurrection were appointed set-days as certain to come as they were surely expected by those that waited for the consolation of Israel who should no more be disappointed in their expectation than those that lookt for the constant returns of the Morning-light and this Day of his was to be as the Morning as the Day-spring from on high to dispel the darkness by the presence of his Light to disperse the Fumes that from ignorance and sin with its mortal effects had so long clouded the minds of men to dilate and spread over all the World the influence of his heavenly Doctrine both of Grace and Glory and as he is likened to the Light so he is also set forth in my Text by that other great Blessing from Heaven upon Earth the Rain And he shall come unto us as the Rain so says the Psalmist He shall come down like the Rain into a Fleece of Wool so gentle so refreshing and so fructifying even as the drops that water the earth an Emblem of Christ that Isaiah delights to use Drop down ye heavens from above and let the skies pour down righteousness But there is something more implied in his Coming unto us as the latter and former rain unto the earth For in that part of the Earth the Holy Land that flow'd with milk and honey it was one of their Blessings that these Rains came at set-times and seasons not so uncertainly as in these Parts of the World but the former rain about the time of sowing their Seed the latter rain about this very time in the Spring And if Christ be there compared to that former Autumnal and this latter Easter Rain 't is easie from our own thoughts to draw out the parallel That He came like the former Rain at his holy Nativity and like the latter Rain at his new Birth for so His Resurrection is called and thus compared as well as His Eternal Generation The Dew of thy Birth is as the Womb of the Morning The Words being thus explain'd I may prosecute the Design of them either of these two ways as there are two methods of handling any Article of the Christian Faith for Example this of the Resurrection may be treated of either first in an Historical way considering the Matter of Fact it self that makes up the Article so in my Text this Matter of Fact is supposed that Christ revived after two days or was rais'd up again the third day Secondly The Article may be enquired into as it is a Mystery of Faith or as it contains the Effects the consequence of these great things that Christ either acted or suffered for us so the power of his Resurrection as St. Paul calls it is also set down in these words He shall revive us He shall raise us up again and we shall live in his sight He shall come unto us as the rain as the latter and former rain unto the earth But thirdly Here is an Obligation upon our parts or a Condition imposed upon us if we mean to reap advantage from this revealed Doctrine of Christ's Resurrection and ours then must these Principles be pursued extremely home and we must go on throughout the whole course of our lives to practise accordingly Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. First then I shall consider the Matter of Fact that makes up the Article of Faith as it is contained in this glorious Prophecy and in some others like it For the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy says St. John the Apostle and it was a great and just Appeal that the Prophet Isaiah made against Idols and their false Prophets Shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are Gods Now if ever things to come were plainly and distinctly shewed long before these so important Transactions relating to our Saviours Passion and Resurrection were written as with a Sun-Beam were translated out of Hebrew into Greek by the Command of a Heathen Prince but by Gods special Providence some Ages before their Completion Whose voice could it be if not his that was before David who spake it in his behalf They pierced my hands and my feet Who was so pierced but he with the Nails on his Cross I may tell all my Bones as it follows there Could there be a more proper description of that Distortion he suffered during his Extension upon the cursed Tree 'T is as narally painted out in Isai 25. another of the four Evangelists as I may call the four Great Prophets of the Old Testament And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim that the very Price should be set down beforehand the goodly price at which they valu'd him and what they should do with it Buy the Field of Bloud then that every circumstance of his Death should be so punctually foretold the very words they should contemptuously speak in the midst of his Passion He trusted in God that he would deliver him let him deliver him if he will have him The words stood a long time before where they stand now in the 22th Psalm the Passion-Psalm there you may also find the Souldiers parting his Garments among them and casting lots for his seemless Coat It looks more like a History than a Prophecy yet Greece from the Septuagint attests the words as well as does Judaea from the Original That there should be darkness over the earth and the Sun should not give its light they had warning of it Amos 8. 9. And it shall come to pass in that day saith the Lord God that I will cause the Sun to go down at Noon and I will darken the earth in the clear day Why there were many Eclipses say the Jews Not one by their good favour when the Moon was at Full as it was always when they kept their Passover and yet this prodigious Darkness is witnessed by several Heathen Writers of
love darkness rather than light not that Religion has any blind sides in it for God is light and in him is no darkness at all but because their deeds are evil and every one that doth evil hates the light One of themselves a great one has confess'd the only reason why men have so little controverted or contradicted the Principles of some other Sciences by which we build Houses or measure Fields 't is because says he these Principles do not cross our Appetites Be that famous Proposition in Euclid true or false for which Pythagoras offered an hundred Oxen in thanks to Heaven for helping him to find and demonstrate it they need not sacrifice one vile affection for it and yet even those Principles that are as plain as two and two is four have been gainsaid But then it was for some interest it was in hopes of founding a speculative Atheism for the sake of a practical one you may be sure of founding it I say more strongly upon Scepticism to the utter contempt of humane Nature baffling all sense and reason granting just nothing for fear of allowing some truth lest then some Notions of good and evil should have follow'd upon it But to shew 't is the inordination of mens affections that causes the evil heart of unbelief to depart from the living God instead of following on to know the Lord What was it else but the old leven of the Pharisees and of the Sadduces that converted Christs Manna into Gall that turned the very Bread that came down from Heaven into that which perish'd with them For when the people saw him multiply the Loaves they were ready to follow him for those not only to satisfie their hunger but their ambition for presently they apprehended he that was able to make such extemporary provision for a multitude had it in his power to maintain and defray an Army upon easie terms Whereupon 't is very observable in the next Chapter after the relation of this Miracle they would have taken him by force to make him King intending him no question for their General against the Romans that oppress'd them so that he was fain to avoid their irresistible importunities of accepting a Crown by retiring up into a Mountain with his Disciples But when they saw him resolv'd to be a man of retirement when they saw him bent upon it not to serve turns and their politick Ends not to head their rebellious designs against their Roman Masters nor to cherish their aspiring thoughts for Universal Monarchy then say we not well That thou art a Samaritan and hast a Devil But after all the dirt and contempt they had thrown upon him yet if at any time they took a fancy from some powerful action of his that he was breaking out in a blaze of State and Splendor straight they began again to worship him as the rising Sun then they resounded Hosannabs Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord then He was the Son of David and Messiah the Prince the Heir of the Crown while they had any hopes and expectations that the Kingdom of God as they call'd it should immediately appear But then again when they found themselves disappointed by his repeated Declarations That his Kingdom was not of this World they soon return'd to their old pass We have no King but Caesar He that maketh himself a King when they would have made him so speaketh against Caesar Nay to instance in better men His own Disciples themselves till the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon them had subdued their affections they were but men of like affections with us their passions clouded their reason they had some venial doubtings and failings too they deserv'd sometimes to be censured by their Great Master and ours for men of but little faith But all their want of affiance proceeded not from want of evidence in the thing it self That which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have lookt upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you Did these good men want Proofs of the Resurrection It was proved to all their senses and yet some doubted because they did not see him in a triumphal Chariot for to the last hour of his stay upon Earth and immediately before his ascension into Heaven they never lost that ambition which made them say Wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom unto Israel But the former Contest among themselves which of them should be the greatest had like to have made St. Peter himself no Christian as those that call themselves the Successors of St. Peter have almost turn'd the Christian World upside down with the same unhappy Contest about Supremacy so early begun in the Church they forget what a sharp rebuke it brought upon St. Peter Get thee behind me Satan for he tempted our Saviour as did the Devil before him to think of the Kingdoms of this World and the Glories of them rather than speak of suffering at Jerusalem for which his Master gave him fair warning to look to himself and his own deceitful heart For thou savourest not the things of God but those that are of men 'T is still the scandal they take at the Doctrine of the Cross of Christ or rather at the Duty of taking up the Cross themselves that hinders the whole Jewish Nation which knows so much of these Prophecies from following on to know the Lord. But it was on the other side a very remarkable Proof that they who do his will shall know of his Doctrine that when the Pharisees with their overweening pride and ambition stood out against all conviction that Christ himself could afford them when the Sadduces deny'd the Immortality of the Soul because they rather wish'd the Immortality of the Body and its fleshly Lusts the Essenes another Sect among the Jews whom we do not find any where reprehended by our Saviour for they were honest and humble men of heart they liv'd much within themselves and had little to do with the World these flock'd apace into the Church as the Church-Histories inform us and for receiving the good Seed these proved the best Ground in all the Land of Promise The Sower that is the Preacher could he be sure he were enter'd upon such Ground he might afford to do as Moses was bidden to do and put off his shoes from his feet in reverence to it Who is there that would not willingly go barefoot all the days of his life on condition the place whereon he took his standing were always such holy Ground But how shall we become such My Answer is still the same Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord and our Saviour himself has told us That the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart having heard the Word keep it and bring forth fruit with patience Which that we may all do I shall conclude with the Apostle's excellent Prayer Now the God of peace who did bring again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the blood of the everlasting Testament make us perfect in every good work to do his will working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS