hast neither part nor portion in this Saviour Oh then bethink your selves that God is a Preserver The Rabbines tell us of a City of Refuge God had appointed in the time of the old Law that there should be a City of Refuge and that the man-slayer should flee thither and there was a care had that at every turning of the way there stood an hand pointing out every particular passage to the City of Refuge and written at the end of the hand REFUGE as if it should have said Fly man-slayer for thy life thou hast the way before thee What truth is in it I know not yet it is an excellent representation of every one that are sinners we are in the case of man-slayers all of us and God hath appointed at every turning of the way a finger at every corner of the City there is a voice that calls upon us Refuge Refuge to save our selves while the enemy is at our back the Devil follows us with might and main at the committing of every sin that he may reach us before we get to the City God hath his voice and his finger to point us thither it must be our wisdome to go while the finger points and the voice calls We know not how long we shall hear the voice of God in our Churches let us bestir our selves as they that fly for their lives let us hear the voice of God and gird up our loins we see by every dayes example the uncertainty of life let us fly to him that is the refuge of sinners he that had his arms this day spread on the Crosse to save all will not refuse thee and that he may shew us his mercy who is the Preserver of men God of his mercy grant us for his Sons sake for his mercy sake Amen And thus this sweet Singer of our Israel this ravishing Nightingale or if you will this Dove did groan forth unto you the Passion of his Lord he like a dexterous Physician did clap a plaister of warm bloud to your souls and I hope it will prove like the bloud of Goats qualifying you that you will afford plyable hearts to God and obedient hearts to him and charitable hearts to your brethren seeing you have a share in this Preserver But there lies no comfort in the death of Christ if we hear not of his Resurrection What is it to hear of a Saviour dead if he be not risen What is it to have our Surety to be in prison but he is out Hence breaks the day both of his triumph and our comfort that this Sampson hath carryed away the gates of brasse this rod of Aaron hath devoured all the other rods this God though he overcame not at the first yet he overcomes at the last this Jonah is now cast on the shore and this happy tidings an Angel of our Church brought from another Angel and his Text was in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew chap. 28. verse 6. A Sermon Preached by Dr Thomas Morton Lord Bishop of Durham at the Spittle on Monday April 26. 1641. before Sir Wright Lord Major Right Honourable Worshipful and beloved in Jesus Christ hearken I beseech you with reverence to the Word of God as it is written in the holy Evangelist Saint Matthew Chap. 28.6 He is not here for he is risen THese are the words of the Angel of God unto two devout women that came to visit the Sepulchre of our Saviour declaring unto them the Resurrection of Christ from the dead a Fundamental point of Christianity and the argument of these three dayes Festivity is the Resurrection of our Saviour and this Feast hath obtained from Gregorie Nazianzen this acclamation Oh Feast of all Feasts Oh Festivity of all Festivities Oh Celebrity of all Celebrities And therefore beloved we are so much the more bound to the discharge of our duties for a solemn and deliberate commemoration of it and you to a diligent devout and reverent attention unto those four points and parts which are deduceable out of this Text He is not here for he is risen The parts are these The first is Logical the second Historical the third Analogical and the fourth Moral The Logical thus from the word and particle for He is not here for c. Secondly Historical in the words following he is risen a declaration of the Resurrection it self Analogical from the person he in the relation that Christ hath as Head unto all Christians that shall be raised again unto everlasting life as the members of Christ The Moral that dependeth upon the same words he is risen because it doth challenge of every Christian man a conformity of life in rising unto newnesse of life conformable to that Resurrection of Christ as the Apostle will tell us afterwards I begin with the Logical He is not here for c. His assertion is Negative He is not here the proof of it for he is risen This for is a causal term which if it be turned into an illative it stands thus He is risen therefore he is not here As if a man should say the stars they are not seen for the Sun is up Verte the Sun is up therefore the stars are not seen The conclusion therefore of the Angel should be this Christ cannot be in the grave and out of the grave not here and there not in two places at once and that is our present Theme This doctrine that I teach unto you it was the confession and profession of this our Protestant Church alwayes it was written in Rubrick in the bloud of the Martyrs in the days of Queen Mary both Bishops and others whensoever they were called to that murderous rack of Interrogation among the Papists asking them this question What say you to the bodily presence of Christ in the Sacrament They answered he is not there bedily they proved it for he is risen he is ascended into Heaven a reason as you see Angelical this being granted that the body of Christ is not in two places at once then is the foundation of all the Romish Masse utterly ruined dissolved into rubbish and dust for then farewell the bodily presence the feigned and forged Transubstantiation the grosse oral and bodily receiving of it the sacrilegious sacrificing of it and that which is the last and worst the idolatrous adoring of bread in stead of the person of the Son of God Christ himself Neverthelesse we may not imagine that the Doctors of that Church make no answer to this consequence of the Angel He is not here for he is risen Their answer is this that he spoke not these words Doctrinally but onely Morally secundum modulum according to the capacity of the women who might think peradventure that he was risen not out of the grave but in the grave a transparent falsity as will be proved now to the contrary As this holy Evangelist He is not here could he walk in the grave to Galilee for he is risen look
have seen that which your hands have handled that we declare unto you c. He laies the faith of Christ on this foundation hearing seeing handling Here again I am justly occasioned to deal with the Church of Rome by this light to dispel the darknesse thereof that their great infatuation concerning the body of Christ they say he is in the Sacrament in these three opinions First he is here say they and yet his body is invisible Secondly it is here impalpable And lastly 't is in Heaven both visible and palpable It is here invisible impalpable and yet it is in Heaven both visible and palpable three monsters which are now to be expulsed not by the strength of my wit but by the authority of this Angel here speaking from Christ here spoken of from tâ—â— Church of Christ their whole voice for a general union for this the Angel in the next words even in this Text this verse he saith unto the women Come and see Come and see where they laid the Lord. I say he is not here I will prove it unto you demonstrate it unto your sight let your sight be Judge the arbitration of your sight shall satisfie you Come and see he is not here though they laid him here he is not here here is the argument of the Angel But here they will tell us he passed by men out of company to avoid danger and they saw him not This is truth but this is not all the truth for the reason why they saw him not it was because their eyes were held that they could not see How many of you now see this Pulpit and yet wink with your eyes you cannot see it Is this Pulpit ere the lesse visible because you do not see it When mens eyes are held they cannot see Christs body notwithstanding was visible still to be seen And now to confirm this that I have said unto you St. John himself shall make it good There was one of the Disciples saith he John 20. and he speaks of himself the other Disciple he looked into the sepulchre and he saw the linnen clothes he saw not Christ there present and what doth he but resolve and beleeve that he was risen out of the grave And indeed it had been a mockery of these women for the Angel if their eyes being held to bid them to see without their sight Therefore you have the first point concerning this sense of Seeing sufficiently demonstrated unto you Come to our Saviour Christ As the Angel said to the woman Come and see so Christ he said to his Disciples Come and feel feel I am I this body is mine feel my body search the wounds c. So that now Christ makes this truth even palpable unto them that they may have their faith from the vertue of their own fingers This is the doctrine of Christ the body of Christ is palpably to be seen Come unto our faith the Councel of Ephesus one of the first Councels in the Christian world for the humane nature of Christ resolves thus Corpus Christi est visibile palpabile ubicunque fuerit The body of Christ it is visible and tractable wheresoever it is therefore may we come now to our resolution and conclude that the body of Christ in the Sacrament of the Masse you say it is invisible I say then it is not the body of Christ Do you say it is impalpable it is not the body of Christ Do you say also it is both visible and invisible I return to the Fathers and they say thus This is say they sottish Why you may as well say that the same body of Christ can be finite and infinite it can be created and not created at once which the distinction of places can never reconcile Oh but say they unto us this is natural reason this is reasoning like Ethnicks and Pagans Nay we have the Authority which is the Authority of the Catholick Church we have the Authority Angelical we have not onely the Authority Evangelical but of Christ himself He is not here c. Thus I have shewn that he is palpable wheresoever he be Now the evidence being thus plain let us ascend a little higher to know that what if some should say that notwithstanding these evidences I doubt whether this doctrine be true or no that Christ is risen Our Apostle Saint Paul hath answered this argument long ago when he said thus If that Christ be not risen we are false witnesses As if he should say a thing most incredible for they which were with our Lord and Saviour and saw and heard and felt him were alwayes ready to lay down their lives for Christ and for this very Article he is risen There Saint Paul speak for himself If Christ be not risen what should it advantage me that I fought with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men to endanger my life for this Article Christ is risen and this was that Paul that could say of himself 1 Cor. 10. That among all those many troubles and afflictions for this profession In carcere c. I was in death often oftentimes left for dead stoned and persecuted so manifold a Martyr was this one Saint Paul He speaks also of the rest of the Apostles 1 Cor. 5. We are in jeopardy every day every day in jeopardy even for this Article and this truth that Christ is risen he stands upon in that 1 Cor. 15. Well then beloved for the establishing of our Christian faith in this one point certainly these Apostles of Christ had been most shamelesse if they had published to all that which they saw not most faithlesse if they had not believed that which they all saw most heartlesse if they had not ventured their lives for the profession of that the resurrection of Christ from the dead by vertue whereof their bodies should also be reserved to eternal life and most foolish also if they should have spent their bloud for that they believed not they having thus seen thus heard thus believed thus Preached thus dying and suffering death they may be eyes and have been to the Christian world to see by their faith and so I perswade my self of you all that are here present to give faith unto this Article of the resurrection of Christ from death and therefore I am authorised to give unto you the benediction which Christ gave unto such as you saying Blessed are they that see not and yet believe and so Blessed be you Now you have heard the evidence this is an evident truth we have not yet heard the power of it but that is in the next part wherein I said that this is a truth which is Omnipotent an Omnipotent truth look to our Text I but saith the Evangelist He is risen he doth not say Agarthes he is raised but he is risen and because it was he that raised himself from the dead It is he that said I have power to lay down my life and
the adultery he committed with the look of an eye the murder with the turn of an hand it was but writing a Letter to Joab but though the story be never so short in Samuel yet the repentance is long in the 51. Psalm thereâ— much ado Cause the bones that thou hast broken to rejoice Wash me purge me cleanse me purifie me with hyssop the sin of one night did cause the tears of many nights Behold Manasseh 2 Chron. 33.12 13. he did pray and pray and put up prayer upon prayer and did humble himself greatly he prayed and he prayed this was no vain repetition but prayer upon prayer suit upon suit and all little enough to obtain mercy from God God is quickly offended but not so soon pleased the wound is soon taken but not so soon cured our sins are compared to debts in the Lords Prayer a man may run more into debt one day then he can get out of many dayes God would have it so that his mercy might come sweeter unto us See it in Joab and David Joab intreated of David that Absalom might come and see him David was content he should go to his house but he must not see his face Thou that sinnest God may suffer thee to come into thy house nay into the Congregation for the present but there may be a Veil upon his face he may not suffer us to see his face for anger Oh then woe be to those that presume as though they had their pardon sealed As one relates of an uproar among the members and the will would command the eye and the hand you shall do this and that the old Beldam the flesh wondring to hear such an uproar starts up and asks the reason of it saying I have been quiet so long and so I will be still you give way to sin but you know not which way to get out of it again that 's the main thing the prodigal son after his going from his father do you think he could think of coming in a day that was going but half a day Is it possible we should continue in sin forty fifty sixty years and then turn to God presently no beloved there 's more time goes to this and therefore be not presumptuous take heed of trusting too much upon the mercy of God not having an eye upon the justice of God and take heed of committing sin upon presumption of an easie cure we must not think to come to Heaven easier then David did he cryes and he calls he weeps and mourns like a Dove Joseph and Mary lost their son but a dayes journey they were finding him two or three days And thus much for the consideration of the Text in regard of the context as it reflects upon the words before Now of the Text There is mercy with thee that thou maist be feared mercy mercy with thee There are several kinds of mercy the word is very large mercies of prevention and mercies of assistance mercies of subvention and mercies of support but certainly the mercy of God is especially intended here and therefore some Translations read it There is forgiveness with thee that thou maist be feared it is with thee it is alwayes at home God hath it in his hand about him close unto him There is mercy with thee that thou maist be feared and what kind of mercy not meerly pardon of sin as I pardon a debt or injury and there 's an end but the propitiation for sins It is in some Translations There is propitiation with thee c. Thus there is mercy with thee whence ariseth this Instruction That God is prompt and ready to have mercy upon and forgive a penitent sinner when he seeks to him I say God is prompt c. Though God be a just God yet there is mercy with him Now this mercy of God it is to be considered three wayes that are very observable First consider the mercy of God comparatively Secondly consider it absolutely Thirdly in the circumstances of it First consider the mercy of God comparatively in respect of his justice I know if you speak of the Attributes of God they are all Essential alike but if you speak of the expression of them towards us God may be said to be more merciful then just You see that God when he came to Adam he came to judge him in the cool of the evening he staid long but he sent labourers into his Harvest betimes We find that Ninevâ—â— had forty dayes given it before it should be destroyed but God made haste he did run to meet the prodigal child he made haste It is easie to pul down but it is hard to build up God takes more delight in building then in pulling down you see the mercy of God expressed unto Adam unto Sodom unto the Prodigal and we may make comparison of it unto the Firmament God made it in one day but God would not destroy the City of Nineveh under forty dayes and many hundred years before he will destroy the world Again the world was made in six days but you see it is six thousand years before he will destroy it he is more prone unto mercy then unto justice nay take it in the executing of justice he shewed justice in destroying Sodom but mercy in sparing Lot he shewed justice upon the old world but mercy in preserving Noah God shewed his justice on the Jews in casting of them off but mercy to the Gentiles in calling of them There was his justice fell upon our Saviour but by it his mercy upon us that from his Cross there should come cure to us There was justice in sending an Angel to destroy Jerusalem but mercy in sending another Angel to mark those that mourned in Jerusalem Thus you see how God doth mingle his justice and mercy together So Exod. 3.4 5 6 7. The Lord the Lord merciful and gracious abundant in c. Every word hath its weight Jehovah thou hast broke thy promise with him but he is Jehovah and will not erre the Lord mighty and powerful God it is a work of power to forgive many sins but he is the Lord mighty to save and to forgive thou art sinful but God is merciful thou art gracelesse but God is gracious thou hast broken thy vowes made unto him but he is true of promise unto thee And though thy sins be great for quantity and hainous for quality he forgives iniquities transgressions and sins of all sorts And therefore 2 Cor. 1. God is called the Father of mercy The natural Bee may make honey naturally but it doth not sting naturally that is not without provocation See it also of God in his justice upon Sodom when Abraham did put up a suit for Sodom that if there were but fifty persons found there he would not destroy it and came down by degrees from fifty to forty from forty to thirty from thirty to twenty from twenty to ten and it is observed that God did never