perhaps that his Fasting and Watching and Scourging the night before had so exceedingly weakened him that he that could beare the burthen of our sinne yet could not heare the burthen of his Crosse but was faine to have Symon of Cyrene to beare it for him and therefore was little better then dead already Or if these were not enough to hasten his death was it not perhaps his own doing who had power to lay downe his life and to take it up againe at his pleasure and therefore dyed the sooner that it might be verified which was Prophesied There shall not a bone of him bee broken For if hee had not dyed when hee did his legges should have beene broken as the two Malefactors were to hasten their death that they might be dead before the Sabbath O deare Jesus what such haste was there for thy death who onely wert worthy never to dye but that by thy death thou hast given us life though all our lives were not worth the hastening it but that thy infinite love never thought it to be haste enough It is an olde Heresie of some that Christ himselfe was not Crucified but Symon of Cyrene in his stead but the Temple and the Sunne make this knowne to bee a Fable For would the Temple have rent in twaine Would the Sunne have beene darkened so long together for Symon of Cyrene No alas too true it is that Christ himselfe was Crucified and woe to us that true it is and yet more woe to us if it were not true but woe of all Woes that true it is in that for us and for our sinnes it was that he was Crucified O my Soule that thou couldst bee alwaies meditating upon this Crucifying of Christ Not that it could be any pleasure to thinke of his being Crucified but the better to make thee apprehend First the great causes of it thy own sinne and his love and then the great effect of it thy Everlasting Redemption for which thou canst never bee enough gratefull if thou bee never so little unmindefull Dead And now having Beleeved that Christ was Crucified our next Beliefe is that hee was Dead and yet how can we Beleeve that hee could Dye For is not Death the Wages of Sinne and could hee receive the Wages that had not done the Service Had committed no sinne But is it not that hee dyed not for any sinne he committed himselfe but for the sinnes of others which he tooke upon him Even as a Surety payes the Penaltie of a Debt that was none of his owne And this reason the Prophet Daniel gives where hee saith Messiah shall bee slaine not for himselfe but for his people to make reconciliation for their Iniquities and to bring in Everlasting Salvation And here appeares another reason why Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate For the same Prophet Daniel fore-sheweth That after seven weekes and threescore and two weekes from the going forth of the Commandem at to restore and build Hierâ—salem Messiah shall bee slaine Which being computed according to 〈◊〉 Prophets sense agreeth just with the time that Pontius Pilate was Governour in Judea And thus as in the Article before the Virgin Mary was justly mentioned to shew that Christ was the true Messiah by the circumstance of his Discent So in this Article Pontius Pilate is justly mentioned to shew that Christ is the true Messiah by the circumstance of the time And for whose sinne was it then that Christ dyed O my Soule this Question reflects upon thee for amongst others even for thine Thy sinnes were the cause that Christ was Crucified Thy sinnes the cause that Christ Dyed and Alas will be the cause to make him Dye continually if continued that if there bee any sparke of Grace if any life of the Spirit at all in thee thou wilt now at last dye to those sinnes that made him to Dye and every nayle that fastned him to his Crosse will bee a nayle to peirce thy heart But if wee Beleeve that Christ was Dead will wee fix our Beliefe upon a Dead man Can we hope for Life from him who was Dead himselfe Indeed therefore we hope for life from him because he was dead himselfe For if hee had not Dyed we could not have Lived seeing hee therefore Dyed that hee might Redeeme us from Death as it is said of him Thou wast slaine and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud For though hee were now dead yet hee continued not dead long but after three dayes wee shall heare of his rising to life againe and then wee shall heare him say I am hee that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore But howsoever now dead he is and with him is dead all our joy and all our comfort but where is the Lamentation that is made for his death David when he heard Absolon was dead cryed out Oâ— Absolon my Sonne would to God I had dyed for thee my sonne Absolon but where is any now he heares Christ is dead that crieth out O deare Jesus would to God I had dyed for thee most deare Jesus And is it not a grievous thing that David should more lament the death of a wicked Sonne then we should lament the death of the Sonne of God and by whom we are made the Sonnes of God Is it not a shame that a Heathen should say of a Heathen In ignem posita est fletur and that we hearing Christ to be dead should not affoord him so much as a teare Alas it were well if we would floore him but the common office of Humanity to see him Buried but where are they should doe it His friends have all forsaken him Not an Apostle now that will be seen about him even Peter himself that had made such Protestations what great matters he would doe for his sake is slunke away and gone perhaps to looke after the Sheepe committed to his charge never regarding what became of the Shepherd and if it had not beene for one good man the blessed Joseph of Arimathea God knowes what Indignities they might have offered to his Sacred Body being dead who had so vilely abused it being alive But thou blessed Joseph hadst the bâ—lâ—â—esse to begge his Body of Pilate Thoâ— tookest it downe from the â—â—resse Thou wâ—ap'dst it Linnen Cloathes and laid'st it in a Sepulchre where never man was laid that as his Bodie at first came out of a Virgins Wombe so now at last it is laid in a Virgine Tombe thereby perhaps in mysterie to honour Virginity both in Life and Death And thou blessed Joseph for this thy pious Fact shalt live in the memories of men as long as there shall be memories in men and thy name shall bee had in everlasting remembrance It may be thought no great matter what becomes of the Body when the Soule is out of it For lay it where you will or lay it how you will it turnes to Dust and yet I know not how there seemes to
the Sunne left his light and was covered with darkenesse so now that Christ riseth from the Dead the Sunne riseth from the darke and makes the day spring from on high againe with his light Was it ever heard before that two Suns did rise both together And why was it so now but to shew that he is the true light that lighteth every one that commeth into the world and that in his light we shall see light O blessed Sunne of Righteousnesse as thou didst then rise and appeare to thy Apostles with beames of comfort to remove from them all darknes of sorrow so vouchsafe now to rise in my heart with beames of grace to dispell from mee all clouds of errour that I may not take thee for a Cardiner as Mary Magdalen did but that calling me by my name I may answer thee with Rabboni as Mary Magdalen did who though shee came too late to annoint thee with her Spices dead yet she came time enough to be the first messenger of thy rising from the dead and to have the honour to bee Apostola Apostolis the Apostle to thy Apostles who but for her incessant diligence might have languished longer in the ignorance of thy rising But is it true indeed that Christ did rise from the dead and that it is not a tricke put upon us Seeing he appeared not to all the people but onely to some few men and are a few men sufficient witnesses to make so incredible a thing to be credited But though he appeared not to all the people yet he appeared to all the Apostles that their holinesse might well supply their number and to all the Apostles at diverse times that the frequencie might well cleare them from mistaking and if incredulity notwithstanding all this will still bee excepting against their witnesse have we not then more then five hundred brethren at once that saw him being risen from the dead that if we beleeve it not now having so many witnesses and such witnesses to confirme it neither would wee beleeve it though an Angel should come and tell it us from Heaven and indeede an Angell did come from heaven and tell it to Mary Magdalen He is risen he is not here But why would not Christ being risen from the dead suffer himselfe to be seene of the Jewes was he affraid they would Crucifie him againe as they had done before but there needed bee no such feare seeing his body was now impassible and not subject any more to such indignities But indeede to what ende should the Jewes have seene him For it would but have moved them to more blasphemy they would but have said as they had said before that he was a Magcian and had a devill and though they had beeue allowed the favour of Saint Thomas to put their hands into his sides yet they would never have beleeved him to bee the same man whom they had put to death but rather some Devil that appeared in his likenesse And were these fit men to have the favour to see Christ The penitent Mary Magdalen could not be allowed to touch him and should such reprobate Jewes be allowed to doe it even to the Disciples themselves he appeared but at times and in short fits rather to confirme their beliefe of his resurrection then to keep them company with his conversation So as there was cause enough why he was not seene of the Jewes but why after he was risen he stayed forty daies upon the earth before he Ascended and in those forty daies appeared nine times and but nine times to his Disciples This indeed is a Mystery whereof without divine Revelation wee shall never come to understand the reason But though Christs body might rise from the dead yet how could it come forth of the Sepulchre seeing a great stone was rowled against it to keep him in Was it that the Angel came from heaven of purpole to let him out In this indeed the Doctors of the Church are much divided some of them holding that the Angel came directly for that purpose as amongst others of the Authors Pope Leo I thinke the second and of the later amongst us Master Perkins Some againe holding that the Angel rowled away the stone indeed but not to any such purpose as amongst others of the Ancients Saint Hierome and of the latter Bishop Andrewes who in his seventeenth Printed Sermon saith thus The Angel indeed rowled away the stone but Christ was risen first and the stone rowled away after But seeing Mary Magdalen asked not this question why should we Was it not more that Christs body should rise at all then that rising it should make its way through any obstacle And why more to come out of the Sepulchre while the stone lay there then to come in amongst his Apostles when the doores were shut For indeed who knowes or is able to define what the abilities and priviledges of a glorified body are But how are we sure that it was the true body of Christ that appeared and not rather a phantasme or ghost seeing a phantasme seems also to be a body as the Samuel which the Witch of Endor raised up to Saul Indeed for this we are beholding to Saint Thomas for his doubting hath made this out of doubt For putting his hand into his side without which he would not beleeve hee found it to bee flesh and bone of which a phantasme or ghost hath none and therefore though it may deceive the seeing yet it cannot deceive the touching And here besides the litterall sense there may not unfitly bee drawne a good Morall observation that as Christ did not rise from the dead till he had first descended into Hell so the best meanes to rise from the death of sinne is to descend into the Hell and torment of Conscience by penitent contrition and indeed he that truely feeles the compunction of soule for his sinne may justly be said to be in hell for the time seeing no hell can minister greater torment but yet with this difference that where in the torment of Hell there is utter despaire in this torment of Compunction there is assured hope O gracious God so frame mee to descend into this Hell of Compunction by penitent contrition that I may never come to feele the torments of that Hell where there is nothing but weeping and gnashing of teeth But by what power was it that Christ rose from the dead For there is great difference betweene rising and being raysed to rise is properly by ones owne power to be raised is properly by the power of another and they cannot bee both true and why then are they both said For as it is said here that he rose so in another place it is said that he was raised Is it not that his rising was as his dying voluntary and yet imposed he dyed because he would dye and he dyed because his Father decreed him to dye and in this there is no inconguitie seeing all Opera ad
extra all exteriour workes and all are exteriour works that are not personall as they be common to all the persons in the Deitie so they may be affirmed of the whole Deity After the Article of beliefe He ascended into Heaven that Christ rose from the dead our next Beliefe is that he ascended into Heaven and indeed it followes well For as when he came downe from heaven he never left descending till hee descended into hell so now that he is risen he never leaves rising till he ascend up to Heaven And so my soule shouldst thou doe not thinke it enough to rise up from sinne and there stay but never leave rising till thou ascend up to Heaven as Christ did But what Ascend as soone as he was risen What time was there then for Thomas to put his hand into his side What time for Peter to take charge of his Sheepe Hee therefore ascended not presently after his up-rising but stayed forty dayes upon earth before he ascended in which time hee appeared nine times to his Apostles and Disciples But what needed he to have stayed fortie dayes if hee appeared but nine times Or why appeared hee but nine times if hee stayed fortie dayes Indeed to give the reason of the number of his times of appearing and why at other times hee concealed himselfe is perhaps a secret beyond our capacitie Onely in generall wee may conceive that hee appeared sometimes to make his Disciples assured of his Resurrection and he forbore appearing sometimes to weane them from their carnall desire of his presence He appeared sometimes to instruct them in many things which they knew not before and he forbore appearing sometimes to prepare their mindes for his ascending But howsoever by these his appearings hee manifested foure faculties of a glorified body that it can vanish away at pleasure that it can eate or fast at pleasure that it can alter shape at pleasure that it can enter where the doores are shut For all these Christ did after his rising by vertue of his glorified body But that his Body though glorified was at any time in more places then one at once is no where to be found in the holy Scriptures and can never bee proved by the Word of God But to what Heaven was it that Christ ascended Not as some foolishly interpret those words of David In Sole posuit tabernaculum suum as though hee placed his Tabernacle in the Sunne and went no higher For if this were so how could he come to sit at the right hand of his Father whose throne is in the highest heavens This ascending of Christ into heaven makes justly a high Festivall among us which wee call Ascension day but should we not rather call it Ascension yeare or some longer time then a yeare at least if wee meane it as long as the time hee spent in ascending For if it were lesse then yeares it may be written for a Wonder seeing Alpharabius a great Astrologer amongst the Arabians affirmes for certaine the Starry-Heaven to be so high above the Earth that a man with reasonable journeyes could hardly goe it in eight thousand yeares and other Astronomers affirme the distance from the Earth to the nethermost Heaven to bee no lesse then fourescore Millions of miles And another expresseth the distance thus that if a Mill-stone were falling downe from Heaven it would be neere a hundred yeares in falling before it came to the Earth And if wee wonder at these things as indeed they are most wonderfull wee may consider what just cause there is to have this Attribute given to God to be the Maker of heaven and earth But though the distance of place be so great and the motion of a naturall body bee so slow yet what is this to a glorified body that makes no reckoning of distance of place but instar fulguris like Lightning is able to move from any part of the world to another in an instant that if we measure the length of the Festivall by the length of the time which Christ spent in Ascending we need not call it Ascension day but Ascension minute seeing his glorified body was able in a minute to passe from the Earth to the highest Heavens And though when hee began his Ascent from Mount Olivet hee set out at first so slowly that if he went no faster he was not like to get to Heaven in many yeares yet that was done but ad pascendos Discipulorum oculos as it were to feed his Disciples eyes to the end they might the better observe his Ascending and be the more sensible of it and perhaps to shew how unwilling hee was to leave them For afterward no doubt hee mended his pace and made use of the agility of his glorified Body and perhaps was arrived in Heaven while the Angel stood blaming the Apostles for gazing up after him But if he had been Ascended into Heaven sooner why did he not send the Holy Ghost downe upon his Apostles till after fifty daies that he began his Ascending that so hee might have kept his promise And loe I am with you alwayes to the ende of the world meaning either by himselfe or by the Holy Ghost where now there were fifty dayes in which they neither had Christ nor the Holy Ghost amongst them O my soule what presumption is this to inquire into Mysteries that are hidden from us and will be still till wee come our selves to heaven from whence the Holy Ghost was sent But what ground have wee for it that Christ indeed ascended into Heaven Seeing Saint Mathew and Saint John who were likely to have seene it speake nothing at all of it onely Saint Marke and Saint Luke who saw it not and had it but at the second hand record it to us and is it reason to beleeve them that speake but by heare-say when eye witnesses if any such thing were are silent especially in a matter of so great consequence as his Ascension is It is true indeed Saint Mathew for what cause I know not breaks off his Gospel before Christs Ascending but Saint John though hee speake not of it in the place where the other doe yet hee had delivered it at least intimated it before in his Gospel where hee mentions Christ to say What and if yee shall see the Sonne of man ascend up where he was before And Saint Paul a Witnesse without exception affirmes plainely That more then five hundred brethren at once saw him Ascending and himselfe also though he saw him not Ascend yet he saw him being Ascended that nothing can have a more sure ground of Beleeving nothing bee more certaine then Christs Ascending into Heaven And of his Ascention wee may easily conceive two speciall effects One which we are sure off the other which wee hope the first his owne glory that having received indignities on earth hee might receive the reward of them in Heaven the other our comfort that where he is we may be also
distinction it will keepe us right in the true understanding of this Article For if hee descended into Hell as an Agent then not as a Patient and if not as a Patient then not to Suffer but onely to Triumph Lastly if Christ descended into Hell to suffer why did not then his body descend aswell as his soule seeing our bodies aswell as our soules should have suffered the paines of Hell Which cannot be objected if wee hold hee descended into Hell but only to Triumph For as it was a sufficient and proper triumph for the soule to triumph over Hell so it was a sufficient and proper Triumph for the body to triumph over death which it did by rising the third day as it followes in the next Article Indeed for his descending into Hell to triumph over Satan there was great reason seeing hee it was that had offered him so many great indignities here on earth He it was that had tempted him in the Wildernesse Hee it was that put it into Judas heart to betrary him It was therefore very expedient that the first thing he should doe when hee came to be an Agent should be to goe into Hell to be revenged upon him as it were in hot bloud and for his greater disgrace to triumph over him within his owne Kingdome Now which of these opinions is the more probable perhaps wee may but which is the truer who can bee sure Seing probability and truth doe not alwaies goe together and sometimes the more true is the lesse probable there being fallacies aswell in Reason as in Sense and indeed in matters obscure and not recalled in Scripture we may sooner mistake all then take any at all right and never know in any of them when we be right or wrong and therefore of such poynts though it may be tolerated to make Disquisitions yet it is not safe to make conclusions Sapere ad sobrietatem is an excellent rule in all cases but where the truth is but conjecturall as in this case most of all and it was justly said of Christ Yee erre not knowing the Scriptures For if our knowledge be grounded and not upon Scriptures not onely Errour is easily let in but it is hardly kept out What the Scripture delivers in plaine termes we may be bold to build upon but inferences and deductions are for the most part fallacious seldome so cleare to induce a beliefe seldome so certaine to breed a knowledge and therefore in this poynt our safest course is to content our selves with that which our Creed delivers that Christ descended into hell and not be too curious in examining much lesse too peremptory in concluding either the manner or the causes of his descending But if Christ descended locally into Hell How could he ever come from thence againe Seeing it is said and truly said Omnia te advorsum spectantia nulla retrorsum That from Hel there is no returning No returning indeede for those that are damned and are brought thither to live and die there but for him who descended into Hell to overcome Hell for him who by descending into Hell merited ascending into Heaven It was not onely possible that he should returne but impossible he should be there detained There have beene Hereticks of old at least if they were Hereticks called Psychopanichitae who held this opinion that when the body dyes then the soule falls asleepe and that there is an Interstitium of living as wel in the soule as in the body the soule lying asleep and not waking till the body at the last day rise againe because it hath beene said of men when they dyed that they slept with their Fathers and Saint Paul also expresseth death by sleeping where he saith For this cause many of you are weake and many sleepe and by this meanes it may bee justly said that when a mandies he knowes his judgement presently For though there bee a million of yeares betweene his death and the day of Judgement yet the soule lying all the while asleep they are to him as contiguous And this seemes to bee no improbable opinion and by which many difficult places in Scripture may be cleared for if it were not thus how could it be said that where the tree falleth there it lyeth for if the soule be in action while the body is dead how will the Tree lye where it falleth Seeing the good soules will alwaies be doing of good and the evill soules of evill But if notwithstanding these reasons this opinion bee not suffered to passe Can it better bee confuted then by that which is said here Hee descended into Hell for what Hee but his soule If then his soule descended and descending bee a voluntary action and no voluntary action but of that which is awake then certainely was Christs soule awake after death and not asleep and if his soule then ours aswell seeing there is no difference that we know off betweene his soule and ours but propension to sinne But what a kind of perswading is this to seeke to perswade us to beleeve in Christ by hearing hee was scourged and crucified and hanged amongst common Malefactors and after all this to descend into Hell Is he like to be a Saviour to us that could not save himselfe For if he had saved himselfe and come downe from the Crosse the Jewes pretended at least they would have beleeved in him But when he did not this upon so just a Motive what reason had they but to thinke he could not doe it and then what reason had they to thinke him a Saviour This indeed was the mist that blinded the Jewes eyes they could never be brought to think him the true Christ because he came in such meannesse humility where they looked for a Messias that should come in state one that should domineere in the world and restore the temporall Kingdome to the Hebrew Nation And yet is this one of the maine reasons which makes us know and beleeve him to be the true Christ because it is most agreeable to all the ancient Prophecies that such a one the true Christ should bee And indeed seeing hee came into the world to bee a Redeemer and Redeeming consisted no lesse in suffering then in doing It was necessary hee should come in such an Estate as might be fittest for suffering so to pay for us the uttermost farthing of our debt not onely by Active but aswell also by Passive obedience which hee could not have done at least not made appeare to have done if hee had come in such state as the Jewes expected But though he descended into Hell and no doubt The third day hee rose againe did great matters at his being there yet it seemes he was not long about it for the Third day he rose againe Not sooner then the third day that it might appeare hee had beene certainly dead Nor later that he might not leave his Disciples too long in discomfort Not sooner then the third day that