Fear as all Passions disquiets the heart and makes it for the time unfit to receive the messages of God Soon hath the Angel cleared these troublesome mists of Passions and sent out the beams of heavenly Consolation into the remotest corner of her Soul by the glad news of her Saviour How can Joy but enter into her heart out of whose womb shall come Salvation What room can Fear find in that breast that is assured of Favour Fear not Mary for thou hast found favour with God Let those fear who know they are in displeasure or know not they are gracious Thine happy estate calls for Confidence and that Confidence for Joy What should what can they fear who are favoured of him at whom the Devils tremble Not the Presence of the good Angels but the Temptations of the evill strike many terrours into our weakness we could not be dismaied with them if we did not forget our condition We have not received the spirit of bondage to fear again but the spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father If that Spirit O God witness with our spirits that we are thine how can we fear any of those spirituall wickednesses Give us assurance of thy Favour and let the powers of Hell doe their worst It was no ordinary favour that the Virgin found in Heaven No mortall Creature was ever thus graced that he should take part of her nature that was the God of Nature that he who made all things should make his humane Body of hers that her Womb should yield that Flesh which was personally united to the Godhead that she should bear him that upholds the World Loe thou shalt conceive and bear a Son and shalt call his name JESVS It is a question whether there be more wonder in the Conception or in the Fruit the Conception of the Virgin or Jesus conceived Both are marvellous but the former doth not more exceed all other Wonders then the latter exceedeth it For the child of a Virgin is the improvement of that power which created the world but that God should be incarnate of a Virgin was an abasement of his Majesty and an exaltation of the Creature beyond all example Well was that Child worthy to make the Mother blessed Here was a double Conception one in the womb of her Body the other of the Soul If that were more miraculous this was more beneficiall that was her Privilege this was her Happiness If that were singular to her this is common to all his chosen There is no renewed Heart wherein thou O Saviour art not formed again Blessed be thou that hast herein made us blessed For what womb can conceive thee and not partake of thee who can partake of thee and not be happy Doubtless the Virgin understood the Angel as he meant of a present Conception which made her so much more inquisitive into the manner and means of this event How shall this be since I know not a man That she should conceive a Son by the knowledge of Man after her Marriage consummate could have been no wonder But how then should that Son of hers be the Son of God This demand was higher How her present Virginity should be instantly fruitfull might be well worthy of admiration of inquiry Here was desire of information not doubts of infidelity yea rather this question argues Faith it takes for granted that which an unbelieving heart would have stuck at She says not Who and whence art thou what Kingdome is this where and when shall it be erected but smoothly supposing all those strange things would be done she insists onely in that which did necessarily require a farther intimation and doth not distrust but demand neither doth she say This cannot be nor How can this be but How shall this be So doth the Angel answer as one that knew he needed not to satisfie Curiosity but to inform Judgment and uphold Faith He doth not therefore tell her of the manner but of the Authour of this act The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most high shall over-shadow thee It is enough to know who is the Undertaker and what he will doe O God what do we seek a clear Light where thou wilt have a Shadow No Mother knows the manner of her naturall Conception what presumption shall it be for flesh and bloud to search how the Son of God took flesh and bloud of his Creature It is for none but the Almighty to know those works which he doeth immediately concerning himself those that concern us he hath revealed Secrets to God things revealed to us The Answer was not so full but that a thousand difficulties might arise out of the particularities of so strange a Message yet after the Angel's Solution we hear of no more Objections no more Interrogations The faithfull Heart when it once understands the good pleasure of God argues no more but sweetly rests it self in a quiet expectation Behold the Servant of the Lord be it to me according to thy Word There is not a more noble proof of our Faith then to captivate all the powers of our Understanding and Will to our Creatour and without all sciscitations to goe blindfold whither he will lead us All Disputations with God after his will known arise from Infidelity Great is the Mystery of Godliness and if we will give Nature leave to cavill we cannot be Christians O God thou art faithfull thou art powerfull It is enough that thou hast said it in the humility of our obedience we resign our selves over to thee Behold the Servants of the Lord be it unto us according to thy word How fit was her Womb to conceive the Flesh of the Son of God by the power of the Spirit of God whose Breast had so soon by the power of the same Spirit conceived an assent to the will of God And now of an Handmaid of God she is advanced to the Mother of God No sooner hath she said Be it done then it is done the Holy Ghost overshadows her and forms her Saviour in her own Body This very Angel that talks with the Blessed Virgin could scarce have been able to express the Joy of her heart in the sense of this Divine Burthen Never any mortal creature had so much cause of Exultation How could she that was full of God be other then full of Joy in that God Grief grows greater by concealing Joy by expression The Holy Virgin had understood by the Angel how her Cousin Elizabeth was no less of kin to her in condition the fruitfulness of whose Age did somewhat suit the fruitfulness of her Virginity Happiness communicated doubles it self Here is no straining of courtesie The Blessed Maid whom vigour of Age had more fitted for the way hastens her journey into the Hill-country to visit that gracious Matron whom God had made a sign of her miraculous Conception Onely the meeting of Saints in Heaven can parallel the meeting of these two Cousins
then native subjection yet where God did countermand Herod there could be no question whom to obey They say not We are in a strange Country Herod may meet with us it can be no less then death to mock him in his own territories but chearfully put themselves upon the way and trust God with the success When men command with God we must obey men for God and God in men when against him the best obedience is to deny obedience and to turn our backs upon Herod The Wise men are safely arrived in the East and fill the world full of expectation as themselves are full of wonder Joseph and Mary are returned with the Babe to that Jerusalem where the Wise men had inquired for his Birth The City was doubtless still full of that rumour and little thinks that he whom they talk of was so near them From thence they are at least in their way to Nazareth where they purpose their abode God prevents them by his Angel and sends them for safety into Egypt Joseph was not wont to be so full of Visions It was not long since the Angel appeared unto him to justifie the innocency of the Mother and the Deity of the Son now he appears for the preservation of both and a preservation by flight Could Joseph now chuse but think Is this the King that must save Israel that needs to be saved by me If he be the Son of God how is he subject to the violence of men How is he Almighty that must save himself by flight or how must he flie to save himself out of that land which he comes to save But faithful Joseph having been once tutoured by the Angel and having heard what the Wise men said of the Star what Simeon and Anna said in the Temple labours not so much to reconcile his thoughts as to subject them and as one that knew it safer to suppress doubts then to assoil them can believe what he understands not and can wonder where he cannot comprehend Oh strange condition of the King of all the world He could not be born in a baser estate yet even this he cannot enjoy with safety There was no room for him in Bethlehem there will be no room for him in Judaea He is no sooner come to his own then he must flie from them that he may save them he must avoid them Had it not been easie for thee O Saviour to have acquit thy self from Herod a thousand ways What could an arm of flesh have done against the God of spirits What had it been for thee to have sent Herod five years sooner unto his place what to have commanded fire from heaven on those that should have come to apprehend thee or to have bidden the earth to receive them alive whom she meant to swallow dead We suffer misery because we must thou because thou wouldest The same will that brought thee from Heaven into earth sends thee from Jewry to Egypt As thou wouldst be born mean and miserable so thou wouldst live subject to humane vexations that thou who hast taught us how good it is to bear the yoke even in our youth mightst sanctifie to us early afflictions Or whether O Father since it was the purpose of thy wisedom to manifest thy Son by degrees unto the world was it thy will thus to hide him for a time under our infirmity And what other is our condition we are no sooner born thine then we are persecuted If the Church travail and bring forth a male she is in danger of the Dragons streams What do the Members complain of the same measure which was offered to the Head Both our Births are accompanied with Tears Even of those whose mature age is full of trouble yet the infancy is commonly quiet but here life and toil began together O Blessed Virgin even already did the sword begin to pierce thy Soul Thou which wert forced to bear thy Son in thy womb from Nazareth to Bethlehem must now bear him in thy arms from Jewry into Egypt Yet couldst thou not complain of the way whilest thy Saviour was with thee His presence alone was able to make the Stable a Temple Egypt a Paradise the way more pleasing then rest But whither then O whither dost thou carry that blessed burthen by which thy self and the world are upholden To Egypt the Slaughter-house of God's people the Furnace of Israel's ancient affliction the Sink of the world Out of Egypt have I called my Son saith God That thou calledst thy Son out of Egypt O God is no marvell It is a marvell that thou calledst him into Egypt but that we know all earths are thine and all places and men are like figures upon a table such as thy disposition makes them What a change is here Israel the first-born of God flies out of Egypt into the promised Land of Judaea Christ the first-born of all creatures flies from Judaea into Egypt Egypt is become the Sanctuary Judaea the Inquisition-house of the Son of God He that is every where the same makes all places alike to his He makes the fiery Furnace a Gallery of pleasure the Lions den an house of defence the Whales belly a lodging-chamber Egypt an harbour He flees that was able to preserve himself from danger to teach us how lawfully we may flee from those dangers we cannot avoid otherwise It is a thankless fortitude to offer our throat unto the knife He that came to die for us fled for his own preservation and hath bid us follow him When they persecute you in one City flee into another We have but the use of our lives and we are bound to husband them to the best advantage of God and his Church God hath made us not as Butts to be perpetually shot at but as the marks of Rovers movable as the wind and sun may best serve It was warrant enough for Joseph and Mary that God commands them to flee yet so familiar is God grown with his approved servants that he gives them the reason of his commanded flight For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him What wicked men will do what they would doe is known unto God beforehand He that is so infinitely wise to know the designs of his enemies before they are could as easily prevent them that they might not be but he lets them run on in their own courses that he may fetch glory to himself out of their wickedness Good Joseph having this charge in the night staies not till the morning no sooner had God said Arise then he starts up and sets forward It was not diffidence but obedience that did so hasten his departure The charge was direct the business important He dares not linger for the light but breaks his rest for the journey and taking advantage of the dark departs toward Egypt How knew he this occasion would abide any delay We cannot be too speedy in the execution of Gods commands we may be too late
healthfull fear sickness the free servitude the people fear a Tyrant's oppression and cruelty the Tyrant fears the people's mutiny and insurrection If there have been some so great as to be above the reach of the power and machinations of inferiours yet never any that have been free from their fears and suspicions Happy is he that fears nothing but what he should God Why did Herod fear the people They held John for a Prophet And this opinion was both common and constant even the Scribes and Pharisees durst not say his Baptism was from men It is the wisedom and goodness of God ever to give his children favour somewhere If Jezebel hate Elias Ahab shall for the time honour him and if Herod hate the Baptist and would kill him yet the people reverence him Herod's malice would make him away the people's reputation keeps him alive As wise Princes have been content to maintain a faction in their Court or State for their own purposes so here did the God of Heaven contrive and order differences of judgment and affection betwixt Herod and his Subjects for his own holy ends Else certainly if all wicked men should conspire in evil there could be no being upon earth as contrarily if evil spirits did not accord Hell could not stand Oh the unjust and fond partiality of this people They all generally applaud John for a Prophet yet they receive not his message Whose Prophet was John but of the Highest what was his errand but to be the way-maker unto Christ what was he but the Voice of that Eternal Word of his Father what was the sound of that Voice but Behold the Lamb of God He that comes after me is greater then I whose shoe-latchet I am not worthy to unlose Yet they honour the Servant and reject the Master they contemn that Prince whose Embassadour they reverence How could they but argue John is a Prophet he speaks from God his words must be true he tells us this is the Lamb of God the Messias that should come to redeem the World this must then needs be he we will look for no other Yet this perverse people receives John and rejects Jesus There is ever an absurdity in unbelief whilst it separates those relations and respects which can never in nature be disjoyned Thus it readily apprehends God as mercifull in pardoning not as just in punishing Christ as a Saviour not as a Judge Thus we ordinarily in a contrariety to these Jews profess to receive the Master and contemn the Servants whilst he hath said that will make it good He that despiseth you despiseth me That which Herod in policy durst not in wine he dares doe And that which God had restrained till his own time now in his own time he permits to be done The day was as one of the Evangelists styles it convenient if for the purpose of Herodias I am sure for God's who having determined to glorify himself by John's martyrdome will cast it upon a time when it may be most notified Herod's birth-day All the Peers of the Country perhaps of the neighbour Nations are now assembled Herodias could not have found out a time more fit to blazon her own shame and cruelty then in such a confluence The wise Providence of God many times pays us with our own choice so as when we think to have brought about our own Ends to our best content we bring about his purposes to our own confusion Herod's Birth-day is kept and so was Pharaoh's both of them with bloud These personal stains cannot make the practice unlawfull Where the man is good the Birth is memorable What blessing have we if Life be none and if our life be a blessing why should it not be celebrated Excess and disorder may blemish any Solemnity but that cleaves to the act not to the institution Herod's birth-day was kept with a Feast and this Feast was a Supper It was fit to be a night-work this Festivity was spent in works of darkness not of the light it was a child of darkness that was then born not of the day Those that are drunken are drunk in the night There is a kind of shame in Sin even where it is committed with the stiffest resolution at least there was wont to be if now Sin be grown impudent and Justice grown bashfull wo be to us That there might be perfect revells at Herod's Birth-day besides the Feast there is musick and dancing and that by Salome the daughter of Herodias A meet Daughter for such a Mother bred according to the disposition of so immodest a Parent Dancing in it self as it is a set regular harmonious motion of the body cannot be unlawfull more then walking or running Circumstances may make it sinfull The wanton gesticulations of a Virgin in a wild assembly of Gallants warmed with Wine could be no other then riggish and unmaidenly It is not so frequently seen that the Child follows the good qualities of the Parent it is seldome seen that it follows not the evil Nature is the soil good and ill Qualities are the herbs and weeds the soil bears the weeds naturally the herbs not without culture What with traduction what with education it were strange if we should miss any of our Parents mis-dispositions Herodias and Salome have what they desired The dance pleased Herod well those indecent motions that would have displeased any modest eye though what should a modest eye doe at Herod's Feast over-pleased Herod Well did Herodias know how to fit the tooth of her Paramour and had therefore purposely so composed the carriage and gesture of her Daughter as it might take best although doubtless the same action could not have so pleased from another Herod saw in Salome's face and fashion the image of her whom he doated on so did she look so did she move besides that his lavish cups had predisposed him to wantonness and now he cannot but like well that which so pleasingly suted his inordinate desire All humours love to be fed especially the vicious so much more as they are more eager and stirring There cannot be a better glass wherein to discern the face of our hearts then our pleasures such as they are such are we whether vain or holy What a strange transportation was this Whatsoever thou shalt ask half a Kingdom for a dance Herod this pastime is over-pay'd for there is no proportion in this remuneration this is not bounty it is prodigence Neither doth this pass under a bare Promise onely but under an Oath and that solemn and as it might be in wine serious How largely do sensual men both profer and give for a little momentany and vain contentment How many censure Herod's gross impotence and yet second it with a worse giving away their precious Souls for a short pleasure of sin What is half a Kingdom yea a whole World to a Soul So much therefore is their madness greater as their loss is more So large a boon was
think the weather is changing to serenity O Saviour we may not always measure thy meaning by thy semblance sometimes what thou most intendest thou shewest least In our Afflictions thou turnest thy back upon us and hidest thy face from us when thou most mindest our distresses So Jonathan shot the arrows beyond David when he meant them to him So Joseph calls for Benjamin into bonds when his heart was bound to him in the strongest affection So the tender mother makes as if she would give away her crying child whom she hugs so much closer in her bosome If thou pass by us whilst we are struggling with the tempest we know it is not for want of mercy Thou canst not neglect us O let not us distrust thee What Object should have been so pleasing to the eyes of the Disciples as their Master and so much the more as he shewed his Divine power in this miraculous walk But lo contrarily they are troubled not with his presence but with this form of presence The supernatural works of God when we look upon them with our own eyes are subject to a dangerous misprision The very Sun-beams to whom we are beholden for our sight if we eye them directly blind us Miserable men we are ready to suspect Truths to run away from our safety to be afraid of our comforts to mis-know our best friends And why are they thus troubled They had thought they had seen a Spirit That there have been such apparitions of Spirits both good and evil hath ever been a Truth undoubtedly received of Pagans Jews Christians although in the blind times of Superstition there was much collusion mixed with some verities Crafty men and lying spirits agreed to abuse the credulous world But even where there was not Truth yet there was Horrour The very Good Angels were not seen without much fear their sight was construed to bode Death how much more the Evil which in their very nature are harmfull and pernicious We see not a Snake or a Toad without some recoiling of bloud and sensible reluctation although those creatures run away from us how much more must our hairs stand upright and our senses boggle at the sight of a Spirit whose both nature and will is contrary to ours and professedly bent to our hurt But say it had been what they mistook it for a Spirit why should they fear Had they well considered they had soon found that evil spirits are never the less present when they are not seen and never the less harmfull or malicious when they are present unseen Visibility adds nothing to their spite or mischief And could their eyes have been opened they had with Elisha's servant seen more with them then against them a sure though invisible guard of more powerfull Spirits and themselves under the protection of the God of Spirits so as they might have bidden a bold defiance to all the powers of darkness But partly their Faith was yet but in the bud and partly the presentation of this dreadfull Object was sudden and without the respite of a recollection and settlement of their thoughts Oh the weakness of our frail Nature who in the want of Faith are affrighted with the visible appearance of those adversaries whom we profess daily to resist and vanquish and with whom we know the Decree of God hath matched us in an everlasting conflict Are not these they that ejected Devils by their command Are not these of them that could say Master the evil spirits are subdued to us Yet now when they see but an imagined Spirit they fear What power there is in the eye to betray the heart Whilst Goliah was mingled with the rest of the Philistin hoast Israel camped boldly against them but when that Giant stalks out single between the two armies and fills and amazes their eyes with his hideous stature now they run away for fear Behold we are committed with Legions of Evil spirits and complain not Let but one of them give us some visible token of his presence we shreek and tremble and are not our selves Neither is our weakness more conspicuous then thy mercy O God in restraining these spiritual enemies from these dreadfull and ghastly representations of themselves to our eyes Might those infernal Spirits have liberty to appear how and when and to whom they would certainly not many would be left in their wits or in their lives It is thy power and goodness to frail mankind that they are kept in their chains and reserved in the darkness of their own spiritual being that we may both oppugn and subdue them unseen But oh the deplorable condition of reprobate souls If but the imagined sight of one of these spirits of darkness can so daunt the heart of those which are free from their power what a terrour shall it be to live perpetually in the sight yea under the torture of thousands of legions of millions of Devils Oh the madness of wilfull sinners that will needs run themselves headily into so dreadfull a damnation It was high time for our Saviour to speak What with the Tempest what with the Apparition the Disciples were almost lost with fear How seasonable are his gracious redresses Till they were thus affrighted he would not speak when they were thus affrighted he would not hold his peace If his presence were fearfull yet his word was comfortable Be of good chear it is I yea it is his word onely which must make his presence both known and comfortable He was present before they mistook him and feared there needs no other erection of their drooping hearts but It is I. It is cordial enough to us in the worst of our afflictions to be assured of Christ's presence with us Say but It is I O Saviour and let evils doe their worst thou needest not say any more Thy voice was evidence enough so well were the Disciples acquainted with the tongue of thee their Master that It is I was as much as an hundred names Thou art the good Shepherd we are not of thy Flock if we know thee not by thy voice from a thousand Even this one is a great word yea an ample style It is I. The same tongue that said to Moses I am hath sent thee saith now to the Disciples It is I I your Lord and Master I the Commander of winds and waters I the soveraign Lord of Heaven and earth I the God of Spirits Let Heaven be but as one scroll and let it be written all over with titles they cannot express more then It is I. Oh sweet and seasonable word of a gracious Saviour able to calm all tempests able to revive all hearts Say but so to my Soul and in spight of Hell I am safe No sooner hath Jesus said I then Peter answers Master He can instantly name him that did not name himself Every little hint is enough to Faith The Church sees her Beloved as well through the Lattice as through the open Window Which
Women the first witnesses of the Resurrection as also of the two Disciples walking to Emmaus whose hearts burning within them had set their tongues on fire in a zealous relation of those happy occurrences with the assured reports of the rising and re-appearance of many Saints in attendence of the Lord and giver of life yet still he struggles with his own distrust and stiffly suspends his belief to that truth whereof he cannot deny himself enough convinced As all bodies are not equally apt to be wrought upon by the same Medicine so are not all Souls by the same means of Faith one is refractory whilst others are pliable O Saviour how justly mightest thou have left this man to his own pertinacy whom could he have thank'd if he had perished in his unbelief But O thou good Shepherd of Israel that couldst be content to leave the ninety and nine to go fetch one stray in the wilderness how carefull wert thou to reduce this straggler to his fellows Right so were thy Disciples re-assembled such was the season the place the same so were the doors shut up when that unbelieving Disciple being now present with the rest thou so camest in so stoodst in the midst so shewedst thy hands and feet and singling out thy incredulous client invitest his eyes to see and his fingers to handle thine hands and his hand to be thrust into thy side that he might not be faithless but faithfull Blessed Jesu how thou pitiest the errours and infirmities of thy servants Even when we are froward in our misconceits and worthy of nothing but desertion how thou followest us and overtakest us with mercy and in thine abundant compassion wilt reclaim and save us when either we meant not or would not By how much more unworthy those eyes and hands were to see and touch that immortall and glorious Body by so much more wonderfull was thy Goodness in condescending to satisfy that curious Infidelity Neither do I hear thee so much as to chide that weak obstinacy It was not long since thou didst sharply take up the two Disciples that walk'd to Emmaus O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken but this was under the disguise of an unknown traveller upon the way when they were alone Now thou speakest with thine own tongue before all thy Disciples in stead of rebuking thou onely exhortest Be not faithless but faithfull Behold thy Mercy no less then thy Power hath melted the congealed heart of thy unbelieving follower Then Thomas answered and said unto him My Lord and my God I do not hear that when it came to the issue Thomas imployed his hands in this triall his eyes were now sufficient assurance the sense of his Master's Omniscience in this particular challenge of him spared perhaps the labour of a farther disquisition And now how happily was that doubt bestowed which brought forth so faithfull a confession My Lord my God I hear not such a word from those that believed It was well for us it was well for thee O Thomas that thou distrustedst else neither had the world received so perfect an evidence of that Resurrection whereon all our Salvation dependeth neither hadst thou yielded so pregnant and divine an astipulation to thy Blessed Saviour Now thou dost not onely profess his Resurrection but his Godhead too and thy happy interest in both And now if they be blessed that have not seen and yet believed blessed art thou also who having seen hast thus believed and blessed be thou O God who knowest how to make advantage of the infirmities of thy chosen for the promoting of their Salvation the confirmation of thy Church the glory of thine own Name Amen LI. The Ascension IT stood not with thy purpose O Saviour to ascend immediately from thy grave into Heaven thou meantest to take the earth in thy way not for a sudden passage but for a leisurely conversation Upon thine Easter-day thou spakest of thine Ascension but thou wouldst have forty days interposed Hadst thou meerly respected thine own Glory thou hadst instantly changed thy grave for thy Paradise for so much the sooner hadst thou been possessed of thy Father's joy we would not continue in a Dungeon when we might be in a Palace but thou who for our sakes vouchsafedst to descend from Heaven to earth wouldst now in the upshot have a gracious regard to us in thy return Thy Death had troubled the hearts of many Disciples who thought that condition too mean to be compatible with the glory of the Messiah and thoughts of diffidence were apt to seize upon the holiest breasts So long therefore wouldst thou hold footing upon earth till the world were fully convinced of the infallible evidences of thy Resurrection of all which time thou onely canst give an account it was not for flesh and bloud to trace the ways of Immortality neither was our frail corruptible sinfull nature a meet companion for thy now-glorified Humanity the glorious Angels of Heaven were now thy fittest attendents But yet how oft did it please thee graciously to impart thy self this while unto men and not onely to appear unto thy Disciples but to renew unto them the familiar forms of thy wonted conversation in conferring walking eating with them And now when thou drewest near to thy last parting thou who hadst many times shewed thy self before to thy severall Disciples thoughtest meet to assemble them all together for an universall valediction Who can be too rigorous in censuring the ignorances of well-meaning Christians when he sees the domestick Followers of Christ even after his Resurrection mistake the main End of his coming in the flesh Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel They saw their Master now out of the reach of all Jewish envy they saw his power illimited and irresistible they saw him stay so long upon earth that they might imagine he meant to fix his abode there and what should he doe there but reign and wherefore should they be now assembled but for the choice and distribution of Offices and for the ordering of the affairs of that state which was now to be vindicated Oh weak thoughts of well-instructed Disciples What should an Heavenly body doe in an earthly throne How should a spirituall life be imployed in secular cares How poor a business is the Temporall Kingdom of Israel for the King of Heaven And even yet O Blessed Saviour I do not hear thee sharply controll this erroneous conceit of thy mistaken Followers thy mild correction insists rather upon the time then the misconceived substance of that restauration It was thy gracious purpose that thy Spirit should by degrees rectify their judgments and illuminate them with thy Divine truths in the mean time it was sufficient to raise up their hearts to an expectation of that Holy Ghost which should shortly lead them into all needfull and requisite verities And now with a gracious promise of that Spirit of thine
with a carefull charge renewed unto thy Disciples for the promulgation of thy Gospel with an Heavenly Benediction of all thine acclaiming attendents thou takest leave of earth When he had spoken these things whilst they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight Oh happy parting fit for the Saviour of mankind answerable to that Divine conversation to that succeeding Glory O Blessed Jesu let me so far imitate thee as to depart hence with a blessing in my mouth let my Soul when it is stepping over the threshold of Heaven leave behind it a legacy of Peace and Happiness It was from the mount of Olives that thou tookest thy rise into Heaven Thou mightest have ascended from the valley all the globe of earth was alike to thee but since thou wert to mount upward thou wouldst take so much advantage as that stair of ground would afford thee thou wouldst not use the help of a Miracle in that wherein Nature offered her ordinary service What difficulty had it been for thee to have styed up from the very center of earth But since thou hadst made hills so much nearer unto Heaven thou wouldest not neglect the benefit of thine own Creation Where we have common helps we may not depend upon Supernaturall provisions we may not strain the Divine Providence to the supply of our negligence or the humouring of our presumption Thou that couldst alwaies have walked on the Sea wouldst walk so but once when thou wantedst shipping thou to whom the highest mountains were but valleys wouldst walk up to an hill to ascend thence into Heaven O God teach me to bless thee for means when I have them and to trust thee for means when I have them not yea to trust to thee without means when I have no hope of them What Hill was this thou chosest but the mount of Olives Thy Pulpit shall I call it or thine Oratory The place from whence thou hadst wont to showr down thine Heavenly Doctrine upon the hearers the place whence thou hadst wont to send up thy Prayers unto thy Heavenly Father the place that shared with the Temple for both In the day-time thou wert preaching in the Temple in the night praying in the mount of Olives On this very hill was the bloudy sweat of thine Agony now is it the mount of thy Triumph From this mount of Olives did flow that oyl of gladness wherewith thy Church is everlastingly refreshed That God that uses to punish us in the same kind wherein we have offended retributes also to us in the same kind and circumstances wherein we have been afflicted To us also O Saviour even to us thy unworthy members dost thou seasonably vouchsafe to give a proportionable joy to our heaviness laughter to our mourning glory to contempt and shame Our agonies shall be answered with exaltation Whither then O Blessed Jesu whither didst thou ascend whither but home into thine Heaven From the mountain wert thou taken up and what but Heaven is above the hills Lo these are those mountains of spices which thy Spouse the Church long since desired thee to climbe Thou hast now climbed up that infinite steepness and hast left all sublimity below thee Already hadst thou approved thy self the Lord and commander of Earth of Sea of Hell The Earth confess'd thee her Lord when at thy voice she rendered thee thy Lazarus when she shook at thy Passion and gave up her dead Saints The Sea acknowledged thee in that it became a pavement to thy feet and at thy command to the feet of thy Disciple in that it became thy treasury for thy Tribute-money Hell found and acknowledged thee in that thou conqueredst all the powers of darkness even him that had the power of death the Devil It now onely remained that as the Lord of the Air thou shouldst pass through all the regions of that yielding element and as Lord of Heaven thou shouldst pass through all the glorious contignations thereof that so every knee might bow to thee both in Heaven and in Earth and under the earth Thou hadst an everlasting right to that Heaven that should be an undoubted possession of it ever since it was yea even whilst thou didst cry and spraul in the Cratch whilst thou didst hang upon the Cross whilst thou wert sealed up in thy Grave but thine Humane nature had not taken actuall possession of it till now Like as it was in thy true type David he had right to the Kingdom of Israel immediately upon his anointing but yet many an hard brunt did he pass ere he had the full possession of it in his ascent to Hebron I see now O Blessed Jesu I see where thou art even far above all Heavens at the right hand of thy Father's Glory This is the far country into which the Nobleman went to receive for himself a Kingdom far off to us to thee near yea intrinsecall Oh do thou raise up my Heart thither to thee place thou my Affections upon thee above and teach me therefore to love Heaven because thou art there How then O Blessed Saviour how didst thou ascend Whilst they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight So wast thou taken up as that the act was thine own the power of the act none but thine Thou that descendedst wast the same that ascendedst as in thy descent there was no use of any power or will but thine own no more was there in thine ascent Still and ever wert thou the Master of thine own acts Thou laidst down thy own life no man took it from thee Thou raisedst up thy self from death no hand did or could help thee Thou carriedst up thine own glorified flesh and placedst it in Heaven The Angels did attend thee they did not aid thee whence had they their strength but from thee Elias ascended to Heaven but he was fetch'd up in a chariot of fire that it might appear hence that man had need of others helps who else could not of himself so much as lift up himself to the Aiery Heaven much less to the Empyreall But thou our Redeemer needest no chariot no carriage of Angels thou art the Authour of life and motion they move in and from thee As thou therefore didst move thy self upward so by the same Divine power thou wilt raise us up to the participation of thy Glory These vile bodies shall be made like to thy glorious body according to the working whereby thou art able to subdue all things unto thy self Elias had but one witness of his rapture into Heaven S. Paul had none no not himself for whether in the body or out of the body he knew not Thou O Blessed Jesu wouldst neither have all eyes witnesses of thine Ascension nor yet too few As after thy Resurrection thou didst not set thy self upon the pinnacle of the Temple nor yet publickly shew thy self within it as making thy presence too cheap but madest choice