suffered till now now thy bloody Passion begins a cruell expoliation begins that violence Again do these grim and mercilesse Souldiers lay their rude hands upon thee and strip thee naked again are those bleeding wales laid open to all eyes again must thy Sacred body undergoe the shame of an abhorred nakednesse Lo thou that clothest man with raiment beasts with hides fishes with scales and shells earth with flowers Heaven with Stars art despoiled of cloaths and standest exposed to the scorn of all beholders As the First Adam entred into his Paradise so dost thou the Second Adam into thine naked and as the First Adam was clothed with Innocence when he had no cloaths so wert thou the Second too and more then so thy nakednesse O Saviour cloaths our Souls not with Innocence only but with Beauty Hadst not thou been naked we had been cloathed with confusion O happy nakednesse whereby we are covered from shame O happy shame whereby we are invested with glory All the beholders stand wrapped with warm garments thou only art stripped to tread the wine-presse alone How did thy Blessed Mother now wish her veile upon thy shoulders and that Disciple who lately ran from thee naked wish'd in vain that his loving pity might doe that for thee which fear forced him to for himself Shame is succeeded with Pain Oh the torment of the Crosse Methinks I see and feel how having fastned the transverse to the body of that fatal Tree and lai'd it upon the ground they racked and strained thy tender and sacred Lims to fit the extent of their fore-appointed measure and having tentered out thine arms beyond their natural reach how they fastned them with cords till those strong iron nails which were driven up to the head through the palms of thy Blessed hands had not more firmly then painfully fixed thee to the Gibbet The tree is raised up and now not without a vehement concussion setled in the mortise Woe is me how are thy joynts and sinews torn and stretched till they crack again by this torturing distension how doth thine own weight torment thee whiles thy whole body rests upon this forced and dolorous hold till thy nailed feet bear their part in a no lesse afflictive supportation How did the rough iron pierce thy Soul whiles passing through those tender and sensible parts it carried thy flesh before it and as it were rivetted it to that shamefull Tree There now O dear Jesu there thou hangest between Heaven and earth naked bleeding forlorn despicable the spectacle of miseries the scorn of men Be abashed O ye Heavens and earth and all ye creatures wrap up your selves in horrour and confusion to see the shame and pain and curse of your most pure and Omnipotent Creator How could ye subsist whiles he thus suffers in whom ye are O Saviour didst thou take flesh for our Redemption to be thus indignely used thus mangled thus tortured Was this measure fit to be offered to that Sacred body that was conceived by the Holy Ghost of the pure substance of an immaculate Virgin Woe is me that which was unspotted with sin is all blemished with humane crueltie and so wofully disfigured that the Blessed Mother that bore thee could not now have known thee so bloody were thy Temples so swolne and discoloured was thy Face so was the skin of thy whole body streaked with red and blew stripes so did thy thornie diadem shade thine Heavenly countenance so did the streams of thy blood cover and deform all thy parts The eye of Sense could not distinguish thee O dear Saviour in the nearest proximity to thy Crosse the eye of Faith sees thee in all this distance and by how much more ignominy deformity pain it finds in thee so much more it admires the glory of thy mercy Alas is this the Head that is decked by thine eternall Father with a Crown of pure gold of immortall and incomprehensible Majesty which is now bushed with thorns Is this the Eye that saw the Heavens opened and the Holy Ghost descending upon that head that saw such resplendence of Heavenly brightnesse on mount Tabor which now begins to be overclouded with death Are these the Eares that heard the voice of thy Father owning thee out of Heaven which now tingle with buffettings and glow with reproaches and bleed with thorns Are these the Lips that spake as never mans spake full of grace and power that called out dead Lazarus that ejected the stubbornest Devils that commanded the cure of all diseases which now are swoln with blows and discoloured with blewnesse and blood Is this the Face that should be fairer then the sons of men which the Angels of Heaven so desired to see and can never be satisfied with seeing that is thus foul with the nasty mixtures of sweat and blood and spittings on Are these the Hands that stretched out the Heavens as a curtain that by their touch healed the lame the deaf the blind which are now bleeding with the nailes Are these the Feet which walked lately upon the liquid pavement of the sea before whose footstool all the Nations of the earth are bidden to worship that are now so painfully fixed to the Crosse O cruell and unthankfull mankind that offered such measure to the Lord of Life O infinitely mercifull Saviour that wouldst suffer all this for unthankfull mankind That fiends should doe these things to guilty souls it is though terrible yet just but that men should doe thus to the Blessed Son of God it is beyond the capacity of our horrour Even the most hostile dispositions have been only content to kill Death hath sated the most eager malice thine enemies O Saviour held not themselves satisfied unlesse they might injoy thy torment Two Thieves are appointed to be thy companions in death thou art designed to the midst as the chief malefactor on whether hand soever thou lookest thine eye meets with an hatefull partner But O Blessed Jesu how shall I enough admire and celebrate thy infinite Mercy who madest so happy an use of this Jewish despight as to improve it to the occasion of the Salvation of one and the comfort of millions Is not this as the last so the greatest specialty of thy wonderfull compassion to convert that dying Thief with those nailed hands to snatch a Soul out of the mouth of Hell Lord how I blesse thee for this work how doe I stand amazed at this above all other the demonstrations of thy Goodnesse and Power The Offender came to die nothing was in his thoughts but his guilt and torment whiles he was yet in his blood thou saidst This Soul shall live Ere yet the intoxicating Potion could have time to work upon his brain thy Spirit infuses Faith into his heart He that before had nothing in his eye but present death and torture is now lifted up above his Crosse in a blessed ambition Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdome Is this the voice of a Thief
one sinner how much more when a world of sinners is perfectly ransomed from death and restored to Salvation Certainly if but one or two appeared all rejoyced all triumphed Neither could they but be herein sensible of their own happy advantage who by thy mediation are confirmed in their glorious estate since thou by the blood of thy Cross and power of thy Resurrection hast reconciled things not in earth onely but in Heaven But above all other the Love of thee their God and Saviour must needs heighten their joy and make thy Glory theirs It is their perpetual work to praise thee how much more now when such an occasion was offered as never had been since the world began never could be after when thou the God of Spirits hadst vanquished all the spiritual powers of darkness when thou the Lord of Life hadst conquered death for thee and all thine so as they may now boldly insult over their last enemy O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Certainly if Heaven can be capable of an increase of joy and felicity never had those Blessed Spirits so great a cause of triumph and gratulation as in this day of thy glorious Resurrection How much more O dear Jesu should we men whose flesh thou didst assume unite revive for whose sake and in whose stead thou didst vouchsafe to suffer and die whose arrerages thou payedst in death and acquittedst in thy Resurrection whose Souls are discharged whose Bodies shall be raised by the power of thy rising how much more should we think we have cause to be over-joyed with the happy memory of this great work of thy Divine Power and unconceiveable Mercy Lo now how weak soever I am in my self yet in the confidence of this victorious Resurrection of my Saviour I dare boldly challenge and defie you O all ye adverse Powers Doe the worst ye can to my Soul in despight of you it shall be safe Is it Sin that threats me Behold this Resurrection of my Redeemer publishes my discharge My Surety was arrested and cast into the prison of his Grave had not the utmost farthing of mine arrerages been paid he could not have come forth He is come forth the Summe is fully satisfied What danger can there be of a discharged Debt Is it the Wrath of God Wherefore is that but for sin If my sin be defraied that quarrel is at an end and if my Saviour suffered it for me how can I fear to suffer it in my self That infinite Justice hates to be twice paid He is risen therefore he hath satisfied Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen Is it Death it self Lo my Saviour that overcame death by dying hath triumph'd over him in his Resurrection How can I now fear a conquered enemy What harm is there in the Serpent but for his sting The sting of death is sin that is pulled out by my powerful Redeemer it cannot now hurt me it may refresh me to carry this cool Snake in my bosome O then my dear Saviour I bless thee for thy Death but I bless thee more for thy Resurrection That was a work of wonderful Humility of infinite Mercy this was a work of infinite Power In that was humane Weakness in this Divine Omnipotence In that thou didst die for our sins in this thou didst rise again for our Justification And now how am I conformable to thee if when thou art risen I lie still in the grave of my Corruptions How am I a lim of thy body if whiles thou hast that perfect dominion over death death hath dominion over me if whiles thou art alive and glorious I lie rotting in the dust of death I know the locomotive faculty is in the Head by the power of the Resurrection of thee our Head all we thy Members cannot but be raised As the earth cannot hold my body from thee in the day of the Second Resurrection so cannot sin withhold my Soul from thee in the First How am I thine if I be not risen and if I be risen with thee why do I not seek the things above where thou sittest at the right hand of God The Vault or Cave which Joseph had hewn out of the rock was large capable of no less then ten persons upon the mouth of it Eastward was that great stone rolled within it at the right hand in the North part of the Cave was hewn out a receptacle for the body three handfuls high from the pavement and a stone was accordingly fitted for the cover of that Grave Into this Cave the good Women finding the stone rolled away descended to seek the body of Christ and in it saw the Angels This was the Goal to which Peter and John ran finding the spoils of death the grave cloaths wrapped up and the napkin that was about the head folded up together and laid in a place by it self and as they came in haste so they return'd with wonder I marvel not at your speed O ye blessed Disciples if upon the report of the Women ye ran yea flew upon the wings of zeal to see what was become of your Master Ye had wont to walk familiarly together in the attendance of your Lord now society is forgotten and as for a wager each tries the speed of his legs and with neglect of other vies who shall be first at the Tomb. Who would not but have tried masteries with you in this case and have made light touches of the earth to have held paces with you Your desire was equal but John is the yonger his lims are more nimble his breath more free he first looks into the Sepulcher but Peter goes down first O happy competition who shall be more zealous in the enquiry after Christ Ye saw enough to amaze you not enough to settle your Faith How well might you have thought Our Master is not subduced but risen Had he been taken away by others hands this fine linen had not been left behinde Had he not himself risen from this bed of earth he had not thus wrapped up his night-cloaths and laid them sorted by themselves What can we doubt when he foretold us he would rise O Blessed Jesu how wilt thou pardon our errours how should we pardon and pity the errours of each other in lesser occasions whenas yet thy prime and dearest Disciples after so much Divine instruction knew not the Scriptures that thou must rise again from the dead They went away more astonished then confident more full of wonder as yet then of belief There is more strength of zeal where it takes in the weaker Sex Those holy Women as they came first so they staid last especially devout Mary Magdalene stands still at the mouth of the Cave weeping Well might those tears have been spared if her Knowledge had been answerable to her Affection her Faith to her Fervour Withall as our eye will be where we love she stoops and looks down
for thanks who would be a debter With the God of Mercy this cheap payment is current If he then will honour us so far as to be blessed of us Oh let us honour him so far as to blesse him Quare verbis parcam gratuita sunt Why do we spare thanks that cost us nothing as that wise heathen O give unto the Lord ye mighty give unto the Lord the praises due to his name offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving and still let the foot of our song be Blessed be the Lord. This for the Descant of gratulation the Ground follows His own sake hath reason to be first God will be blessed both as Jah and Adonai the one the style of his Essence the other of his Soveraignty Even the most accursed Deist would confesse that as a pure simple infinite absolute being God is to be blessed for if Being be good and these two be convertible Nature must needs teach him that an absolute and infinite Being must needs be absolutely and infinitely good But what do I blur the Glory of this Day with mention of those Monsters whose Idol is Nature whose Religion is secondary Atheism whose true region is the lowest Hell Those damned Ethnicks cannot will not conceive of God as he is because they impiously sever his Essence from his inward Relations We Christians can never be so heavenly affected to God as we ought till we can rise to this pitch of Piety to blesse God for what he is in himself without the external beneficial relations to the creature Else our respects reflect too much homeward and we do but look through God at our selves Neither is it for us only to blesse him as an absolute God but as a Soveraign Lord too whose Power hath no more limit then his Essence the great Moderator of Heaven and earth giving laws to his creature overruling all things marshalling all events crushing his enemies maintaining his Church adored by Angels trembled at by Devils Behold here a Lord worthy to be blessed We honour as we ought your conspicuous Greatness O ye eminent Potentates of the earth but alas what is this to the great Lord of Heaven when we look up thither we must crave leave to pity the breath of your nostrils the rust of your Coronets the dust of your graves the sting of your felicities and if ye take not good heed the blots of your memories As ye hold all in â—ee from this great Lord so let it be no disparagement to you to doe your lowliest homage to his footstool homage I mean in Action give me the reall benediction I am sure that is the best They blesse God that praise him they blesse him more and praise him best that obey him There are that crouch to you Great ones who yet hate you Oh let us take heed of offering these hollow observances to the searcher of hearts if we love not our own confusion They that proclaimed Christ at Jerusalem had not only Hosanna in their mouths but palms in their hands too so must we have Let me say then If the Hand bless not the Lord the Tongue is an Hypocrite Away with the wast complements of our vain Formalities Let our loud actions drown the language of our words in blessing the name of the Lord. Neither must we bless God as a Soveraign Lord only but which is yet a more feeling relation as a munificent Benefactor Who loadeth us daily with benefits Such is man's self-love that no inward worth can so attract his praises as outward beneficence Whiles thou makest much of thy self every one shall speak well of thee how much more whiles thou makest much of them Here God hath met with us also Not to perplex you with scanning the variety of senses wherewith I have observed this Psalm above all other of David's to abound see here I beseech you a four-fold gradation of Divine Bounty First here are Benefits The word is not expressed in the Original but necessarily implied in the sense for there are but three loads whereof man is capable from God Favours Precepts Punishments the other two are out of the road of Gratulation When we might therefore have exspected Judgments behold hold Benefits And those secondly not sparingly handfulled out to us but dealt to us by the whole load loadeth with benefits Whom thirdly doth he load but us Not worthy and well-deserving subjects but us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rebels And lastly this he doth not at one doal and no more as even churls rare Feasts use to be plentifull but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 successively unweariedly perpetually One favour were too much here are Benefits a sprinkling were too much here is a load once were too oft here is daily largition Cast your eyes therefore a little upon this threefold exaggeration of Beneficence the measure a load of benefits the subject unworthy us the time daily Who daily loadeth us with benefits Where shall we begin to survey this vast load of Mercies Were it no more but that he hath given us a world to live in a life to injoy aire to breath in earth to tread on fire to warm us water to cool and cleanse us cloaths to cover us food to nourish us sleep to refresh us houses to shelter us variety of creatures to serve and delight us here were a just load But now if we yet adde to these civility of breeding dearnesse of friends competency of Estate degrees of Honour honesty or dignity of vocation favour of Princes successe in imployments domestick comforts outward peace good reputation preservation from dangers rescue from evils the load is well mended If yet ye shall come closer and adde due proportion of Body integrity of parts perfection of senses strength of nature mediocrity of health sufficiency of appetite vigour of digestion wholsome temper of seasons freedome from cares this course must needs heighten it yet more If still ye shall adde to these the order and power and exercise of our inward Faculties inriched with Wisdome Art Learning Experience expressed by a not-unhandsome Elocution and shall now lay all these together that concern Estate Body Minde how can the axel-tree of the Soul but crack under the load of these Favours But if from what God hath done for us as men we look to what he hath done for us as Christians that he hath imbraced us with an everlasting Love that he hath molded us anew enlivened us by his Spirit fed us by his Word Sacraments clothed us with his Merits bought us with his Blood becoming vile to make us glorious a Curse to invest us with Blessedness in a word that he hath given himself to us his Son for us Oh the height and depth and breadth of the rich mercies of our God! Oh the boundlesse toplesse bottomlesse load of Divine benefits whose immensity reaches from the center of this earth to the unlimited extent of the very Empyreal Heavens Oh that men would praise the
of darknesse Heaven is high and hard to reach Hell is steep and slipperie our Flesh is earthy and impotent Satan strong rancorous Sin subtle the World alluring all these yet God is the God of our Salvation Let those infernal Lions roar and ramp upon us let the gates of Hell doe their worst let the World be a cheater our Flesh a traitor the Devil a tyrant Faithfull is he that hath promised who will also doe it God is the God of our Salvation How much more then in these outward temporal occasions when we have to doe with an arm of flesh Do the enemies of the Church rage and snuffe and breath nothing but threats and death Make sure of our God he shall be sure to make them lick our dust Great Benhadad of the Syrians shall come with his hempen collar to the King of Israel The very windes and waves shall undertake those Mahumetan or Marian powers that shall rise up against the inheritance of the God of Salvation Salvation is rateable according to the danger from which we are delivered Since Death therefore is the utmost of all terribles needs must it be the highest improvement of Salvation that to our God belong the issues from death Death hath here a double latitude of kinde of extent The kinde is either temporal or eternal the extent reaches not only to the last compleat act of dissolution but to all the passages that lead towards it Thus the issues from death belong to our God whether by way of preservation or by way of rescue How gladly do I meet in my Text with the dear and sweet name of our Jesus who conquered Death by dying and triumphed over Hell by suffering and carries the keyes both of death and hell Revel 1. 18 He is the God the Author and Finisher of our Salvation to whom belong the issues from death Look first at the temporary he keeps it from us he fetches us from it It is true there is a Statutum est upon it die we must Death knocks equally at the hatch of a Cottage and gate of a Palace but our times are in God's hand the Lord of life hath set us our period whose Omnipotence so contrives all events that neither enemy nor casualty nor disease can prevent his hour Were death suffered to run loose and wild what boot were it to live now it is tether'd up short by that Almighty hand what can we fear If envy repine and villany plot against Sacred Soveraignty God hath well proved upon all the Poisons and Pistols and Poniards and Gun-powders of the two late memorable successions that to him alone belong the issues from death Goe on then blessed Soveraign goe on couragiously in the waies of your God the invisible guard of Heaven shall secure your Royal head the God of our Salvation shall make you a third glorious instance to all posterities that unto him belong the issues from death Thus God keeps death from us it is more comfort yet that he fetches us from it Even the best head must at last lie down in the dust and sleep in death Oh vain cracks of valour thou bragst thy self able to kill a man a worm hath done it a flie hath done it Every thing can finde the way down unto death none but the Omnipotent can finde the way up out of it He findes he makes these issues for all his As it was with our Head so it is with the Members Death might seize it cannot hold Gustavit non deglutivit It may nibble at us it shall not devour us Behold the only Soveraign Antidote against the sorrows the frights of death Who can fear to lay himself down and take a nap in the bed of death when his heart is assured that he shall awake glorious in the morning of his resurrection Certainly it is only our infidelity that makes death fearfull Rejoice not over me O my last enemy though I fall I shall rise again O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory Cast ye one glance of your eyes upon the second and eternal death the issues wherefrom belong to our God not by way of rescue as in the former but of preservation Ex inferno nulla redemptio is as true as if it were Canonical Father Abraham tells the damned Glutton in the Parable there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great gulf that bars all return Those black gates of Hell are barred without by the irreversible Decree of the Almighty Those bold Fabulists therefore whose impious Legends have devised Trajan fetcht thence by the prayers of Gregory and Falconella by Tecla's suspending the finall sentence upon a secundum praesentem injustitiam take a course to cast themselves into that pit whence they have presumptuously feigned the deliverance of others The rescue is not more hopelesse then the prevention is comfortable There is none of us but is naturally walking down to these chambers of death every sin is a pace thitherwards only the gracious hand of our God staies us In our selves in our sins we are already no better then brands of that Hell Blessed be the God of our Salvation that hath found happy issues from this death What issues Even those bloody issues that were made in the hands and feet and side of our Blessed Saviour that invaluably-precious blood of the Son of God is that whereby we are redeemed whereby we are justified whereby we are saved Oh that our Souls might have had leisure to dwell a while upon the meditation of those dreadfull torments we are freed from of that infinite goodnesse that hath freed us of that happy exchange of a glorious condition to which we are freed But the publick occasion of this day calls off my speech and invites me to the celebration of the sensible mercy of God in our late Temporal deliverance Wherein let me first blesse the God of our Salvation that hath put it into the heart of his chosen Servant to set up an Altar in this sacred threshing-floor and to offer up this daies Sacrifice to his name for the stay of our late mortal contagion How well it becomes our Gideon to be personally exemplary as in the beating of this Earthen pitcher in the first publick act of Humiliation so in the lighting of this Torch of publick joy and sounding the Trumpet of a thankfull jubilation and how well will it become us to follow so pious so gracious an example Come therefore all ye that fear the Lord and let us recount what he hath done for our Souls Come let us blesse the Lord the God of our Salvation that loadeth us daily with benefits the God to whom belong the issues of death Let us blesse him in his infinite Essence and Power blesse him in his unbounded and just Soveraignty blesse him in his marvellous Beneficence large continual undeserved blesse him in his Preservations blesse him in his Deliverances We may but touch at the two last How is
service Those that will goe no further then they are dragged in their Religious exercises are no whit of kin to her whom all Generations shall call blessed The childe Jesus in the minority of his age went up with his Parents to the holy solemnity not this year only but in all likelihood others also He in the power of whose Godhead and by the motion of whose Spirit all others ascended thither would not himself stay at home In all his examples he meant our instruction This pious act of his nonage intended to lead our first years into timely Devotion The first liquor seasons the vessel for a long time after It is every way good for a man to bear God's yoke even from his infancy it is the policie of the Devil to discourage early holinesse He that goes out betimes in the morning is more like to dispatch his journey then he that lingers till the day be spent This Blessed Family came not to look at the Feast and be gone but they duly stai'd out all the appointed daies of unlevened bread They and the rest of Israel could not want houshold-businesses at home those secular affairs could not either keep them from repairing to Jerusalem or send them away immaturely Worldly cares must give place to the sacred Except we will depart unblest we must attend God's services till we may receive his dismission It was the fashion of those times and places that they went up and so returned by troups to those set meetings of their holy Festivals The whole Parish of Nazareth went and came together Good fellowship doth no way so well as in the passage to Heaven much comfort is added by society to that journey which is of it self pleasant It is an happy word Come let us goe up to the house of the Lord. Mutual incouragement is none of the least benefits of our holy assemblies Many sticks laid together make a good fire which if they lie single lose both their light and heat The Feast ended what should they do but return to Nazareth God's services may not be so attended as that we should neglect our particular callings Himself cals us from his own House to ours and takes pleasure to see a painful Client They are foully mistaken that think God cares for no other trade but devotion Piety and diligence must keep meet changes with each other Neither doth God lesse accept of our return to Nazareth then our going up to Jerusalem I cannot think that the Blessed Virgin or good Joseph could be so negligent of their Divine charge as not to call the child Jesus to their setting forth from Jerusalem But their back was no sooner turned upon the Temple then his face was towards it He had businesse in that place when theirs was ended there he was both worshipped and represented He in whom the Godhead dwelt bodily could doe nothing without God his true Father led him away from his supposed Sometimes the affairs of our ordinary vocation may not grudge to yield unto spirituall occasions The Parents of Christ knew him well to be of a disposition not strange nor sullen Stoicall but sweet and sociable and therefore they supposed he had spent the time and the way in company of their friends and neighbours They do not suspect him wandered into the solitary fields but when evening came they go to seek him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance If he had not wonted to converse formerly with them he had not now been sought amongst them Neither as God nor man doth he take pleasure in a stern froward austerity and wilde retiredness but in a milde affableness and amiable conversation But O Blessed Virgin who can express the sorrows of thy perplexed Soul when all that evening search could afford thee no news of thy Son Jesus Was not this one of those swords of Simeon which should pierce through thy tender breast How didst thou chide thy credulous neglect in not observing so precious a charge and blame thine eyes for once looking beside this object of thy love How didst thou with thy careful Husband spend that restless night in mutual expostulations and bemoanings of your loss How many suspicious imaginations did that while rack thy grieved spirit Perhaps thou mightest doubt lest they which laid for him by Herod's command at his birth had now by the secret instigation of Archelaus surprised him in his childhood or it may be thou thoughtest thy Divine Son had now withdrawn himself from the earth and returned to his heavenly Glory without warning or peradventure thou studiedst with thy self whether any carelesness on thy behalf had not given occasion to this absence O dear Saviour who can miss and not mourn for thee Never any soul conceived thee by faith that was less afflicted with the sense of thy desertion then comforted with the joy of thy presence Just is that sorrow and those tears seasonable that are bestowed upon thy losse What comfort are we capable of whiles we want thee What relish is there in these earthly delights without thee What is there to mitigate our passionate discomforts if not from thee Let thy self loose O my soul to the fulness of sorrow when thou findest thy self bereaved of him in whose presence is the fulness of joy and deny to receive comfort from any thing save from his return In vain is Christ sought among his kindred according to the flesh So far are they still from giving us their aide to finde the true Messias that they lead us from him Back again therefore are Joseph and Mary gone to seek him at Jerusalem She goes about in the City by the streets and by the open places and seeks him whom her soul loveth she sought him for the time and found him not Do we think she spared her search The evening of her return she hastes to the Inne where she had left him where missing him she inquires of every one she met Have you not seen him whom my soul loveth At last the third day she finds him in the Temple One day was spent in the journey towards Galilee another in the return to Jerusalem the third day recovers him He who would rise again the third day and be found amongst the living now also would the third day be found of his Parents after the sorrow of his absence But where wert thou O blessed Jesu for the space of these three daies where didst thou bestow thy self or who tended thee whiles thou wert thus alone at Jerusalem I know if Jerusalem should have been as unkind to thee as Bethleem thou couldst have commanded the Heavens to harbour thee and if men did not minister to thee thou couldst have commanded the service of Angels But since the form of a Servant called thee to a voluntary homeliness whether it pleased thee to exercise thy self thus early with the difficulties of a stranger or to provide miraculously for thy self I inquire not since thou revealest not only this I
a Woman nor so look upon him as a Son that she should not regard him as a God He was so obedient to her as a Mother that withall she must obey him as her God That part which he took from her shall observe her she must observe that nature which came from above and made her both a Woman and a Mother Matter of miracle concerned the Godhead only Supernatural things were above the sphere of fleshly relation If now the Blessed Virgin will be prescribing either time or form unto Divine acts O woman what have I to doe with thee my hour is not come In all bodily actions his style was O Mother in spirituall and heavenly O Woman Neither is it for us in the holy affairs of God to know any faces yea if we have known Christ heretofore according to the flesh henceforth know we him so no more O Blessed Virgin if in that heavenly glory wherein thou art thou canst take notice of these earthly things with what indignation dost thou look upon the presumptuous superstition of vain men whose suits make thee more then a solicitor of Divine favours Thy Humanity is not lost in thy Motherhood nor in thy Glory The respects of Nature reach not so high as Heaven It is far from thee to abide that honour which is stolne from thy Redeemer There is a Marriage whereto we are invited yea wherein we are already interessed not as the Guests onely but as the Bride in which there shall be no want of the wine of gladnesse It is marvel if in these earthly banquets there be not some lack In thy presence O Saviour there is fulnesse of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Blessed are they that are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb. Even in that rough answer doth the Blessed Virgin descry cause of hope If his hour were not yet come it was therefore coming when the exspectation of the guests and the necessity of the occasion had made fit room for the Miracle it shall come forth and challenge their wonder Faithfully therefore and observantly doth she turn her speech from her Son to the Waiters Whatsoever he saith unto you doe it How well doth it beseem the Mother of Christ to agree with his Father in Heaven whose voice from Heaven said This is my well-beloved Son hear him She that said of her self Be it unto me according to thy word saies unto others Whatsoever he saith to you doe it This is the way to have Miracles wrought in us obedience to his Word The power of Christ did not stand upon their officiousnesse he could have wrought wonders in spite of them but their perverse refusall of his commands might have made them uncapable of the favour of a miraculous action He that can when he will convince the obstinate will not grace the disobedient He that could work without us or against us will not work for us but by us This very poor house was furnished with many and large vessels for outward purification as if sin had dwelt upon the skin that superstitious people sought Holiness in frequent washings Even this rinsing fouled them with the uncleannesse of a traditional will-worship It is the Soul which needs scowring and nothing can wash that but the blood which they desperately wished upon themselves and their children for guilt not for expiation Purge thou us O Lord with hyssop and we shall be clean wash us and we shall be whiter then snow The Waiters could not but think strange of so unseasonable a command Fill the water pots It is wine that we want what do we goe to fetch water Doth this Holy man mean thus to quench our Feast and cool our stomacks If there be no remedy we could have sought this supply unbidden Yet so far hath the charge of Christs Mother prevailed that in stead of carrying flagons of wine to the table they goe to fetch pails-full of water from the Cisterns It is no pleading of unlikelihoods against the command of an Almighty power He that could have created wine immediately in those vessels will rather turn water into wine In all the course of his Miracles I do never finde him making ought of nothing all his great works are grounded upon former existences He multiplied the bread he changed the water he restored the withered limmes he raised the dead and still wrought upon that which was and did not make that which was not What doth he in the ordinary way of nature but turn the watery juice that arises up from the root into wine He will only do this now suddenly and at once which he doth usually by sensible degrees It is ever duly observed by the Son of God not to doe more miracle then he needs How liberal are the provisions of Christ If he had turned but one of those vessels it had been a just proof of his power and perhaps that quantity had served the present necessity now he furnisheth them with so much wine as would have served an hundred and fifty guests for an intire Feast Even the measure magnifies at once both his power and mercy The munificent hand of God regards not our need only but our honest affluence It is our sin and our shame if we turn his favour into wantonness There must be first a filling ere there be a drawing out Thus in our vessels the first care must be of our receit the next of our expence God would have us Cisterns not Channels Our Saviour would not be his own taster but he sends the first draught to the Governour of the Feast He knew his own power they did not Neither would he bear witness of himself but fetch it out of others mouths They that knew not the original of that wine yet praised the taste Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine and when men have well drunk then that which is worse but thou hast kept the good wine untill now The same bounty that expressed it self in the quantity of the Wine shews it self no lesse in the excellence Nothing can fall from that Divine hand not exquisite That liberality hated to provide crab-wine for his guests It was fit that the miraculous effects of Christ which came from his immediate hand should be more perfect then the natural O Blessed Saviour how delicate is that new Wine which we shall one day drink with thee in thy Fathers Kingdome Thou shalt turn this water of our earthly affliction into that Wine of gladnesse wherewith our Souls shall be satiate for ever Make haste O my Beloved and be thou like to a Roe or to a young Hart upon the Mountain of Spices The good Centurion Even the bloody trade of War yielded worthy Clients to Christ This Roman Captain had learned to believe in that Jesus whom many Jews despised No Nation no trade can shut out a good heart from God If he were a forreiner for birth yet he was a domestick in
I am baptized O Saviour even thou who wert one with thy Father hast a Cup of thine own never Potion was so bitter as that which was mixed for thee Yea even thy draught is stinted it is not enough for thee to sip of this Cup thou must drink it up to the very dregs When the vinegar and gall were tendred to thee by men thou didst but kiss the cup but when thy Father gave into thine hands a potion infinitely more distastful thou for our health didst drink deep of it even to the bottome and saidst It is finished And can we repine at those unpleasing draughts of Affliction that are tempered for us sinful men when we see thee the Son of thy Fathers love thus dieted We pledge thee O Blessed Saviour we pledge thee according to our weakness who hast begun to us in thy powerful suffereings Onely do thou enable us after some four faces made in our reluctation yet at last willingly to pledge thee in our constant Sufferings for thee As thou must be drenched within so must thou be baptized without Thy Baptisme is not of water but of blood both these came from thee in thy Passion we cannot be thine if we partake not of both If thou hast not grudged thy precious blood to us well maiest thou challenge some worthless drops from us When they talk of thy Kingdome thou speakest of thy bitter Cup of thy bloody Baptisme Suffering is the way to reigning Through many tribulations must we enter into the Kingdome of Heaven There was never wedge of gold that did not first pass the fire there was never pure grain that did not undergoe the flail In vain shall we dream of our immediate passage from the pleasures and jollity of earth to the glory of Heaven Let who will hope to walk upon Roses and Violets to the throne of Heaven O Saviour let me trace thee by the track of thy Blood and by thy red steps follow thee to thine eternal rest and Happiness I know this is no easie task else thou hadst never said Are ye able Who should be able if not they that had been so long blessed with thy presence informed by thy doctrine and as it were beforehand possessed of their Heaven in thee Thou hadst never made them judges of their power if thou couldst not have convinced them of their weakness Alas how full of feebleness is our body and our minde of impatience If but a Bee sting our flesh it swels and if but a tooth ake the head and heart complain How small trifles make us weary of our selves What can we doe without thee without thee what can we suffer If thou be not O Lord strong in my weakness I cannot be so much as weak I cannot so much as be Oh do thou prepare me for my day and enable me to my trials I can doe all things through thee that strengthenest me The motion of the two Disciples was not more full of infirmity then their answer We are able Out of an eager desire of the Honour they are apt to undertake the condition The best men may be mistaken in their own powers Alas poor men when it came to the issue they ran away and I know not whether one without his coat It is one thing to suffer in speculation another in practice There cannot be a worse signe then for a man in a carnal presumption to vaunt of his own abilities How justly doth God suffer that man to be foiled purposely that he may be ashamed of his own vain self-confidence O God let me ever be humbly dejected in the sense of mine own insufficiency let me give all the Glory to thee and take nothing to my self but my infirmities Oh the wonderful mildness of the Son of God! He doth not rate the two Disciples either for their ambition in suing or presumption in undertaking but leaving the worst he takes the best of their answer and omitting their errors incourages their good intentions Ye shall drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with my baptisme but to sit on my right hand and my left is not mine to give but to them for whom it is prepared of my Father I know not whether there be more mercy in the concession or satisfaction in the denial Were it not an high Honour to drink of thy Cup O Saviour thou hadst not fore-promised it as a favour I am deceived if what thou grantest were much less then that which thou deniest To pledge thee in thine own Cup is not much less dignity and familiarity then to sit by thee If we suffer with thee we shall also reign together with thee What greater promotion can flesh and blood be capable of then a conformity to the Lord of Glory Enable thou me to drink of thy Cup and then set me where thou wilt But O Saviour whiles thou dignifiest them in thy grant dost thou disparage thy self in thy denial Not mine to give Whose is it if not thine If it be thy Fathers it is thine Thou who art Truth hast said I and my Father are one Yea because thou art one with the Father it is not thine to give to any save those for whom it is prepared of the Father The Father's preparation was thine his gift is thine the Decree of both is one That eternal counsel is not alterable upon our vain desires The Father gives these Heavenly honours to none but by thee thou givest them to none but according to the Decree of thy Father Many degrees there are of celestial Happiness Those supernal Mansions are not all of an height That Providence which hath varied our stations upon earth hath pre-ordered our seats above O God admit me within the wals of thy new Jerusalem and place me wheresoever thou pleasest The Tribute money pai'd ALL these other Histories report the Power of Christ this shews both his Power and Obedience his Power over the creature his Obedience to civil Powers Capernaum was one of his own Cities there he made his chief abode in Peter's house to that Host of his therefore do the Toll-gatherers repair for the Tribute When that great Disciple said We have left all he did not say We have abandoned all or sold or given away all but we have left in respect of managing not of possession not in respect of right but of use and present fruition so left that upon just occasion we may resume so left that it is our due though not our business Doubtless he was too wise to give away his own that he might borrow of a stranger His own roof gave him shelter for the time and his Master with him Of him as the Housholder is the Tribute required and by and for him is it also paid I inquire not either into the occasion or the summe What need we make this exaction sacrilegious as if that half-shekel which was appointed by God to be paid by every Israelite to the use of the Tabernacle and
timbrels how shall we think those Angelical Spirits triumphed in meeting of the great Conqueror of Hell and Death How did they sing Lift up your heads ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of glory shall come in Surely as he shall come so he went and behold he shall come with thousands of his Holy Ones thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand thousands stood before him From all whom methinks I hear that blessed applause Worthy is the Lamb that was killed to receive power and riches and wisdome and strength and honour and glory and praise Praise and honour and glory and power be to him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb for evermore And why dost not thou O my Soul help to bear thy part with that happy Quire of Heaven Why art not thou rapt out of my bosome with an extasie of joy to see this Humane nature of ours exalted above all the Powers of Heaven adored of Angels Archangels Cherubin Seraphim and all those mighty and glorious Spirits and sitting there crowned with infinite Glory and Majesty Although little would it avail thee that our Nature is thus honoured if the benefit of this Ascension did not reflect upon thee How many are miserable enough in themselves notwithstanding the Glory of their humane nature in Christ None but those that are found in him are the happier by him who but the Members are the better for the glory of the Head O Saviour how should our weakness have ever hoped to climb into Heaven if thou hadst not gone before and made way for us It is for us that thou the Fore-runner art entred in Now thy Church hath her wish Draw me and I shall run after thee Even so O Blessed Jesu how ambitiously should we follow thee with the paces of Love and Faith and aspire towards thy Glory Thou that art the way hast made the way to thy self and us Thou didst humble thy self and becamest obedient to the death even to the death of the Cross Therefore hath God also highly exalted thee and upon the same terms will not fail to advance us we see thy track before us of Humility and Obedience Oh teach me to follow thee in the roughest waies of Obedience in the bloody paths of Death that I may at last overtake thee in those high steps of Immortality Amongst those millions of Angels that attended this triumphant Ascension of thine O Saviour some are appointed to this lower station to comfort thine astonished Disciples in the certain assurance of thy no-less glorious Return Two men stood by them in white apparel They stood by them they were not of them they seemed Men they were Angels Men for their familiarity two for more certainty of testimony in white for the joy of thine Ascension The Angels formerly celebrated thy Nativity with Songs but we do not finde they then appeared in white thou wert then to undergoe much sorrow many conflicts it was the vale of tears into which thou wert come down So soon as thou wert risen the women saw an Angel in the form of a young man cloathed in white and now so soon as thou art ascended Two men cloathed in white stand by thy Disciples thy task was now done thy victory atchieved and nothing remained but a Crown which was now set upon thy head Justly therefore were those blessed Angels suited with the robes of light and joy And why should our garments be of any other colour why should oile be wanting to our heads when the eyes of our Faith see thee thus ascended It is for us O Saviour that thou art gone to prepare a place in those celestial Mansions it is for us that thou sittest at the right hand of Majesty It is a piece of thy Divine Prayer to thy Father that those whom he hath given thee may be with thee To every bleeding Soul thou saiest still as thou didst to Peter Whither I goe thou canst not follow me now but thou shalt follow me hereafter In assured hope of this Glory why do I not rejoyce and beforehand walk in white with thine Angels that at the last I may walk with thee in white Little would the presence of these Angels have availed if they had not been heard as well as seen They stand not silent therefore but directing their speech to the amazed beholders say Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing into heaven What a question was this Could any of those two hundred and forty eyes have power to turn themselves off to any other Object then that Cloud and that point of Heaven where they left their ascended Saviour Surely every one of them were so fixed that had not the speech of these Angels called them off there they had set up their rest till the darkness of night had interposed Pardon me O ye Blessed Angels had I been there with them I should also have been unwilling to have had mine eyes pull'd off from that dear prospect and diverted unto you Never could they have gazed so happily as now If but some Great man be advanced to Honour over our heads how apt we are to stand at a gaze and to eye him as some strange meteor Let the Sun but shine a little upon these Dials how are they look'd at by all passengers Yet alas what can earthly advancement make us other then we are dust and ashes which the higher it is blown the more it is scattered Oh how worthy is the King of Glory to command our eyes now in the highest pitch of his Heavenly exaltation Lord I can never look enough at the place where thou art but what eye could be satisfied with seeing the way that thou wentest It was not the purpose of these Angels to check the long looks of these faithfull Disciples after their ascended Master it was onely a change of eyes that they intended of Carnal for Spiritual of the eye of Sense for the eye of Faith This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him goe into Heaven Look not after him O ye weak Disciples as so departed that ye shall see him no more if he be gone yet he is not lost those Heavens that received him shall restore him neither can those Blessed Mansions decrease his Glory Ye have seen him ascend upon the Chariot of a bright Cloud and in the clouds of Heaven ye shall see him descend again to his last Judgement He is gone can it trouble you to know you have an Advocate in Heaven Strive not now so much to exercise your bodily eyes in looking after him as the eyes of your Souls in looking for him Ye cannot O ye Blessed Spirits wish other then well to mankind How happy a diversion of eyes and thoughts is this that you advise If it be our sorrow to part with our Saviour yet to part with him into Heaven it is our comfort
who is infinitely careful for the good of his Church above all possible reaches of our desires but that we may be raised up to a meet capacity of Mercy God cannot hate his enemies or love his own ever the more upon our intreaties yet he will be sued to for the particular effects of both if ever we look to tast of his Mercy in either If we have not a heart to pray God hath not an hand to help So did God hate Amalek that he commanded it to be rooted out of the earth so did he love Israel as the apple of his eye Yet unless Moses hold up his hand Amalek shall prevail against Israel These are our best our surest weapons even our Prayers and blessed be God that hath put it into the heart of his Anointed to seek his face in these powerful Humiliations We sought him against the Pestilence and prevailed almost miraculously against that destroying Angel why should we not hope to find him against unseasonable Clouds against the opposite powers of flesh and blood Here is your safety here is your assurance of victory O ye great Princes and Potentates of the earth if ye trust to the arm of flesh it will fail you Let your Navies be never so well rigg'd and mann'd let your Forces be never so strong and numberless let them have not onely hands and feet that is horsemen and footmen but a bulk of body too that is full substance of wealthy provision as the word of Flaminius was let your counsel be vigilant your munition ready your troops trained and valiant yet if there be not Devotion enough in our bosome to make God ours in vain shall we hope to stand before our enemies This onely whatsoever the profane heart of Atheous men may imagine this is the great Ordnance which can batter down the wals of our enemies yea the very black gates of Hell it self in comparison whereof all humane powers are but paper-shot Yea this is that Petar which onely can blow open the gates of Heaven and fetch down victory upon our heads and make us another thundring Legion What is it that made us so happily successful in Eighty eight beyond all hope beyond all conceit but the fervency of our humble Devotions That Invincible Navie came on dreadfully floating like a moving wood in the sight of our coast those vast Vessels were as so many lofty Castles raised on those liquid foundations Then straight as if those huge bottoms had been stuft with Tempests there was nothing but thunder and lightning and smoak and all the terrible apparitions of death We what did we we fought upon our knees both Prince and people Straight God fought for us from Heaven Our Prayers were the gale yea the gust that tore those mis-consecrated flags and sails and scattered and drencht those presumptuous piles and sent them into the bottom of the deep to be a Parlour for Whales and Sea-monsters There lay the Pride of Spain the Terrour of England And is the hand of our God shortned Is he other then what he was We may be as we are weakned and effeminated by a long luxurious peace Our God is yesterday and to day and the same for ever If we be not wanting to him in our Prayers he cannot be wanting to our Protection Look up to him O dear Christians that is the God of our Salvation Behold the Lions out of their reeds the Buls out of their forests and these in banded multitudes conspire against us and the mis-led Calves of the people are apt enough to back their attempts Neither is this a fair hostility our enemies are those that hate peace and delight in war offering insolent provocations to our State in dis-inheriting part of the Royal Issue violating their faiths maintaining their unjust affronts ambitiously aspiring to undue Soveraignty What shall we then doe O put not your trust in Princes nor in the sons of men whose breath is in their nostrils O put not your trust ye Princes and Peers in your sword in your bow in your powers and confederacies Trust onely to the great God of hoasts who alone can but blow upon all the proudest preparations of your enemies and scatter them to the lowest Hell Come to him in your humble devotions with an Increpa and Dissipa he shall soon make your enemies to lick the dust But what shall I say Honorable and Beloved we have pray'd and have not been heard and thou O Lord hast not of late gone forth with our hoasts yea thou hast rebuked us in stead of our enemies Alas we can more grieve then wonder at this issue Israel in the hot chace of all their victory is foiled more then once by a Canaanite Whence was this There was a pad in the straw an Achan in the camp Theft and Sacriledge fought against Israel more then the men of Ai the wedge of Gold wounded them more then the enemies steel the Babylonish garment disarmed and stripped them Israel had sinned and must flee Alas my brethren what do we pray for victory over our enemies when our sins which are our deadliest enemies conquer us To what purpose are our Prayers loud when our sins are louder to what purpose are our Bodies this day empty if our Souls be full of wickedness whiles we provoke God to his face with our abominable licentiousness with our fearful profanations with our outragious lives how do we think to glaver with him in our formal Devotions What care he for our smooth tongues when our hearts are filthy what cares he for an elevated eye when our Souls are depressed to vile lusts what cares he for the calves of our lips when the iniquity of our heels compasses us about The very Sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to the Lord his very Prayer is turned into sin even that whereby he hopes to expiate it Oh that my people had hearkned to me and Israel had walked in my waies faith God I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves to him but their time should have endured for ever Psal 81. 13 14 15. Oh then cleanse your hands ye sinners and purge your hearts ye double-minded wash your hands in innocence and then compass the Altar of God Then shall the God of our righteousness hear in his holy Heavens and rise up mightily for our defence then shall he be a wall of brass about our Iland then shall he wound the head of our enemies and make the tongues of our dogs red with their bloud then shall he cover our heads in the day of battel and make this Nation of ours victoriously glorious to the ends of the world even to all ages and times then shall he be known to be our God and we shall be known to be his people for ever Which he of his infinite mercy vouchsafe to grant us for the sake of the Son of his Love