by the mouth of the Holy Spirit of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God himself now quitted of injustice and want of bowels of compassion You have a witness of it undeniable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my eyes have seen it Salvation clear even to the sense and to the certain'st the sight The eye may see it 2. Viderunt oculi he might have added contractaverunt manus me◠and his hands handled it but if the eye see it we need not sue to the hand for certainty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these eyes No longer now the eyes of Prophesie those are grown dim and almost out Isaiah indeed could say is born is given so certain was he of it but never viderunt oculi for all that be never liv'd to see it one degree this above the infallibility of Prophesie Time was when this Salutare tuum was inveloped in clouds It was so till this day came a mystery kept secret since the world began lockt up in Heaven so close that mine eyes have wasted away with looking for thy saving health O Lord sighs David and the Church answers him with Vtinam disrumperes coelos Break the Heavens O Lord and come down O utinam O would thou wouldst But now as we have heard so have we seen thy salvation Nor need we any extraordinary piercing eye to see it so plain and manifest is the object that eyes almost sunk into their holes eyes over which the curtains of a long night are well nigh drawn eyes veiled with the mists of age eyes well near worn out with looking and expectation the dimmest aged'st sight may see it Mine eyes old Father Simeons Nor need the Manichee strain his eye-sight to discern it He need not as is usual when we look on curious pieces close one eye that the visual spirits being contracted we may see those things which else by reason of their curious subtilty scape the seeing 'T is no such aiery phantasm but that we may with open face and eyes behold it he may see it with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both his eyes without straining without that trouble But if our senses should play false with us yet my eyes the eyes of a Prophet a holy man inspir'd and detain'd a prisoner in the flesh on purpose for this spectacle cannot possibly deceive us Especially if you add but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he did not perceive it only as a far off Balaams sight or had a glance or glimmering of it only but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saw it plain so plain as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to know it too Saw it in his arms and lookt near it nay into it by the quick lively eye of a firm faith for with both eyes he saw it the eyes of his body and the eyes of his soul the Saviour with the one Salvation with the other the child with those the God with these And what greater evidence then that of sight what greater certainty then that of faith If all this be yet too little if viderunt be to seek and oculi fail and mei be deceived yet parasti cannot but list it above the weakness of probability put all out of question It was not only seen but prepared to be seen It came not as the world thinks of other salvations by chance but was prepared Parasti Thou hast prepared it prepared by him that prepared the world Higher yet parasti thou hast prepared done it long since the preparation began not now had a higher beginning a beginning before the face of all people before the face of any people before the face of the waters before the face of the world appeared Chosen us in him says St. Paul then chosen and prepared him for us before the foundation of the world Ephes. i. 4. But this parasti is not the blessing of this day Parasti ab aterno so to the Patriarchs too but in conspectu before our faces made manifest in these last times manifested in the flesh that 's the blessing we this day commemorate A body thou hast prepared me that prepared then lo I come he will be born presently Christmas out of hand Parasti now compleat this day he was first made ready and drest in swadling-clothes And prepared So it came not at mans entreaty or desert Nay when he thought not of it When Adam was running away to hide himself then the promise of the womans seed stept in between and when Religion and Devotion lay at the last gasp ready to bid the world adieu then comes he himself who had been so long preparing and fulfilled the promise This a degree of certainty higher then our imaginations can follow it that relies wholly on Gods own parasti without mans uncertain preparation Yet something ado there was to bring this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this salvation to be seen A long preparation there was of Patriarchs Moses and the Prophets of Promises Types and Figures and Prophesies for the space of four thousand years This long train led the triumph then comes the Saviour then Salvation Sure and certain it must needs be to which there are so many agreeing witnesses This then so variously typified so many ways shadowed so often promised so clearly prophesied so constantly so fully testified so long expected so earnestly desired This is the Salvation prepared for us Whoever looks for any other may look his eyes out shall never see it This Name the only Name by which we shall be saved the Name of Iesus Yet notwithstanding all that 's said or can be said 't is but parasti still 'T is not Posuisti prepared for all not put set up for all as if all should be saved No posui te in casum set for the fall of many those that will not turn their eyes up hither that care not for viderunt neglect this sight slight this salvation But however this dismal success often comes about Parasti it is that cannot be lost and in conspectu omnium populorum for all it is prepared for all in general none excluded this parasti he that put parasti into this good Fathers mouth put in omnium populorum too Not only the certainty but the universality of this salvation that 's the third part of the Text and thither are we come Before the face of all people Prepared that 's a favour and for the people that 's an ample one and one step to an universal People are men a great company of men and for men and a multitude of men it is prepared nusquam Angelos not for Angels in no wise for them not one of them No they are still the Sons of darkness no day-spring from on high to visit them For men and not for the better or more honourable part of men alone but for the people too the meanest sinfulest men in more favour with God then the Apostate Angels And not to some few of those people neither
rejoycing both theirs and ours joy in the positive great it was if compared with other joy above other joy in the comparative and exceeding great joy the greatest joy in the superlative as high as may be They rejoyced with exceeding great joy The Star any Star or light that leads unto Christ is a just occasion and ground of joy and when such an one we have when such an one we see we cannot be too glad we cannot exceed though it be exceeding This the sum these the particulars of the Text. I begin with the ground of our joy and theirs that we may rejoyce the more that our joy may be the greater when we see how great the ground is that their joy was not for nothing nor will ours be if it be for nothing but what theirs was Yet before we enter upon either 't is requisite we consider the persons look upon them before we look upon the Star that we may see how this They may become We how we are interested either to look or rejoyce with them The first verse tells us who they were Wise men from the East four points we may have thence and all so many grounds of joy 1. Gentiles they were And that to them a door is opened unto life Acts xiv 27. that to them that sate in darkness and the shadow of death light is here sprung up is a good ground of joy to such the light is comfortable And to us also upon the same account for we were Gentiles nay and darkness too Eph. v. 8. good reason to rejoyce that now we are not that we are come into the light 2. If Gentiles then sinners too I know not then who can be out for if heaven notwithstanding our sin and wickedness vouchsafe so to look upon us nor they nor we no body sure but must needs be glad 3. Great men they were foretold in the Psalm under the notion of the Kings of Arabia and Saba bringing gifts Psal. lxxii 10. This is more cause of joy then you would think at first St. Paul's Not many noble not many mighty are called 1 Cor. i. 26. were enough to startle and amaze the rich and great men of the world and how hard is it for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Our Saviours words might very well trouble us spoil all our mirth all our joyes but for this that the Magi great Princes and rich and honourable have an interest in Christs Star for all that as well as any 4. They were learned too Magi Wise men is the name the story gives them And the Apostles Not many wise not many learned again might well amaze us and make us more than sad but for this They that such as they are not yet such but that they may come one day to see Stars under them and in the mean time have their part and portion in the Star that leads to Christ. A sound cause of joy that however the new lights count of Princes and great and learned men as enemies to him whose this Star was yet this Star shines to them too them before any was lighted up for them above all the rest Shepherds and Women and ignorant People are not to be taught or led by Stars they understand not their voice and language that 's for the wise and learned to guide them Mean and ordinary capacities must have other ways other guides and lanthorns to lead them to Christ. Thus from the persons we have four grounds of the great joy we hear that neither Heathen Ignorance nor Heathen Learning nor Honour nor Greatness neither great temptations nor great sinfulness no condition or quality how sad or cumbersom but this Star rises for and is ready to attend into the presence of Christ all may have a portion in the Star and in the Ioy. And good reason we have to rejoyce for our selves and our relations that no persons or condition is debarr'd it Proceed we yet deeper into the grounds of this joy Three there are that they we speak of saw 1 Saw somewhat to speak of 2. Saw the Star 3. Saw it at that time when they were even at a loss had but a while before quite lost the fight that 's when they saw it the time when they saw it in The first point is that see they did and a point worth noting that notwithstanding their great distance from Iudea the only Nation that then sate in light that had the knowledge of his Laws these yet came seeing That God hath some particular persons all the world over to whom he hath given eyes to see him No Nation indeed no whole people but the Iews were seeing yet Iob in Vz and Iethro in Midian and Rahab in Iericho and Ruth in Moab and Ittai in Gath and the Queen in Sheba and the Widow in Sarepta and Naaman in Syria some in every Nation that could see the light of Heaven and rejoyce in it Corporal sight then of the eye is one of the greatest temporal comforts our life is capable of we lose the chiefest of joy and pleasure of a mortal life when we are deprived of that 'T is worth rejoycing then worthy rejoycing in the Lord too that that we have that we can see that we are not blind But there is a spiritual and immaterial eye and seeing with it the eye of Faith and our believing by it that is far beyond the bodily sight and seeing 'T is that by which we live Heb. x. 38. 't is that only by which we truly see Heaven or behold Stars that 's a great ground of joy Especially if we add hope to it the other eye of the Spirit that pierceth within the vail that sees all the joys and pleasures of beatitude with affection and delight that does as it were bring Heaven home into not our eyes only but our bosoms The hope of Heaven and heavens happiness how glad and jocund will it make the heart more than when the Corn and Wine and Oyl increase a better sight by it than all the riches and pleasures of the earth all the profit and assistance of it all the beauties and glory of it can afford us This sight of Hope and that of Faith were they the Wise men had It was thus they saw the Star believed it was the Star of the Messias the only guide to their new-born Saviour their convoy to him and that such an one there was they should come to by and by this they saw by the eye of faith Thereupon they proceed to hope to see their hopes also in him hope ere long to be admitted to the sight and service of him hope this Star will now bring even them to its Master and give them a place hereafter with him among the Stars that they may one day shine in glory like them Thus you see Videntes will easily enough be brought home to us We even at this day thus see the Star by the two eyes of faith
our own spirits within or be put into us by other spirits by the ministery of Angels from without but inspired truths from this Spirit alone Angels indeed are sometimes the messengers of it but never called the spirits of it they bring it they do not breath it When they have brought it and done their message be it never so true never so comfortable it will not comfort but amaze us it will not sink into us but ly only at our doors till this Spirit breath and work it in He alone Spiritus Veritatis the Inspirer of truth Hence it is that this Spirit of of all Spirits is only call'd the Comforter for that he only lets in the comfort to the heart whatever Spirit is the Messenger Be it the Angels those Spirits and Messengers of heaven or be it the Ministers those Messengers upon earth with all the life and spirit they can give their words no comfort from either unless this Spirit of truth blow open the doors inspire and breath in with them Truth it self cannot work upon our spirits but by the spiration of this Spirit of truth 'T is but a dead Letter a vanishing voice a meer piece of articulate air the best the greatest the soundest truth no other it has no spirit it has no life but from this Spirit of truth To conclude this Point It is not when the Spirit of truth is come or when He that is the Comforter is come though both be but one he shall guide you neither title single but He the Spirit of truth both together to teach us first That the truth which this Spirit brings is full of comfort always comfortable Startle us it may a little at the first but then presently Fear not comes presently to comfort us trouble us it may a little at the first nay and bring some tribulation with it as times may be but ere the verse be out ere the words be out almost Be of good chear says Christ 't is but in the world and I have overcome the world and in me ye shall have peace St. Iohn xvi 33. that came before so that tribulation is encompassed with comfort Ye shall be sorrowful indeed but your sorrow shall be turned into joy ver 20. the first is no sooner mentioned but the other follows as fast as the Comma will let it Christs truth and this Spirits truth is the Comforters truth as well as the Spirits and have not only spirit to act and do but comfort also in the doing and after it to be sure Nay Joyn'd so 2. He the Spirit of truth to teach us again that nothing can comfort us but the truth no Spirit hold up our Spirits but the Spirit of truth Lies and falshoods may uphold us for a time and keep up our Spirits but long they will not hold a few days will discover them and then we are sadder than at first To be deluded adds shame to our grief 't is this Spirit only that is the Spirit of our life that keeps us breathing and alive t is only truth that truly comforts us which even then when it appears most troublesome and at the worst has this comfort with it that we see it that we see the worst need fear no more whilst the joys that rise from false apprehensions or lying vanities indeed from any thing below this Spirit of truth and heaven bring so much fear of a change or close or too sudden an end that I may well say they have no comfort with them They flow not from this Comforter they come not from this Spirit that 's the reason they have no Comfort no Spirit in them It may well occasion us as soon as we can to look after this He the Spirit of truth and for our own sakes enquire where he is watch his motion what and whence and whither it is 2. To understand the motion and coming of the Spirit what it means we can take no better way than to peruse the Phrases of the holy Book under what terms it elsewhere does deliver it The first time we hear of it we read it moving Gen. i. 3. The next time striving with man Gen. vi 3. Then filling him Exod. xxxi 3. Then resting upon him Num. xi 25. Sometimes he is said to come Iudg. iii. 10. Sometimes to enter into us Ezek. ii 2. Sometimes to fall upon us Ezek. xi 5. Sometimes to be put upon us Num. xi 29. Sometimes to be put into us Ezek. xxxvi 27. Sometimes to breath sometimes to blow upon us Isa. xl 7. All these ways is he said to come whether he move us to good or strive with us against evil or fill us with sundry gifts and graces or rest upon us in their continuance whether he comes upon us in the power of his Administrations or whether he enter as it were and possess us wholly as his own whether he appear in us or without us whether he come upon us so suddenly and unusually that he seems even to fall upon us or be put upon us by ordinary ways and means whether by imposition on or breathing in whether by a softer breath or a stronger blast whether he come in the feathers of a Dove or on the wings of the wind whether in Fire or in Tongues whether in a visible shape or in an invisible power and grace they are his comings all sometimes one way sometimes another his comings they are all Yet but some not all of his comings for all his ways are past finding out and teach us a Lesson against curiosity in searching his out-goings And yet this word Come sounds somewhat hard for all this still Did we not say he was God And can God be said to come any whither who is every where Nay of this very Spirit expresly says the Psalmist Psal. cxxxix 7. Whither shall I go then from thy Spirit And if I cannot go from him what needs his coming Coming here is a word of grace and favour and certainly be we never so much under his eye we need that need his grace need his favour Nay so much the more because he is so near us that so we may do nothing unworthy of his presence But He speaks to us after the manner of men who if they be persons of quality and come to visit us we count it both a favour and honour So by inversion when God bestows either favours or honours on us when this holy Spirit bestows a grace or a gift or a truth upon us that we had not before then is he said to Come to us I need not now trouble my self much to find out whence he comes Every good and perfect gift comes from above says St. Iames Iam. i. 17. From heaven it is he comes from the Father he sends him St. Iohn xiv 26. From the Son he sends him too in this very Chapter ver 7. And this is not only the place whence he comes but here are the persons too whence he proceeds
or secular respects and motions but a sweetness without sensual daintiness a lustre without lightness a modest look without dejectedness a grave countenance without severity a fair face without fancy eyes sparkling only heavenly flames cheeks commanding holy modesty lips distilling celestial sweetness beauty without its faults figure and proportion and all such as was most answerable and advantageous to the work he came about every way fitted to the most perfect operations of the reasonable and immortal soul the most beautiful then sure when beauty is nothing else but an exact order and proportion of things in relation to their nature and end both to themselves and to each other Take his description from the Spouses own mouth Cant. v. 10 11 12 c. My beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousand His head is as the most fine gold his locks are bushy or curled and black as a Raven His eyes are as the eyes of Doves by the rivers of water washed with water and fitly set that is set in fulness fitly placed and as a precious stone in the soil of a Ring His cheeks are as a bed of Spices as sweet flowers his lips like Lillies dropping sweet smelling Myrrhe his hands are as gold Rings set with Beryl his belly as bright Ivory over-laid with Saphyrs His legs are as pillars of Marble set upon sockets of fine Gold His countenance like Lebanon excellent as the Cedars His mouth is most sweet yea he is altogether lovely This is my beloved and this is my friend O daughters of Ierusalem This is our beloved too Solomon indeed has poetically express'd it Yet something else there is in it besides a poetick phrase Beautiful he thus supposes he is to be who was to be this Spouse have the beauty of all beautiful things in the world conferr'd upon him at least to have the finest and subtilest part of all worldly beauties those imperceptible yet powerful species of them which make them really amiable and attractive a head and locks and eyes and hands and feet quantity colour and proportion such as darted from them not only a resemblance but the very spirit of heavenly beauty innocence purity strength and vigour Poets when they commend beauty call it divine and heavenly this of his it was truly so a kind of sensible Divinity through all his parts Shall I give you his colour to make up the beauty He was white pure white in his Nativity ruddy in his Passion bright and glistering in his life black in his death Azure-vein'd in his Resurrection No wonder now to see the Spouse sit down under his shadow with great delight Cant. ii 3. we sure our selves now can do less and yet this is but the shadow of his beauty The true beauty is the souls the beauty of the soul the very soul of beauty the beauty of the body but the body nay the carcase of it And this of the souls he had 2. in its prime perfection 2. Now beauty consists in three particulars the perfection of the lineaments the due proportion of them each to other and the excellency and purity of the colour They are all compleat in the soul of Christ. The lineaments of the soul are its faculties and powers the proportion of them is the due subordination of them to God and one another The colours are the vertues and graces that are in them His powers and faculties would not but be compleat which had nothing of old Adam in them His understanding without ignorance he knew all the very hearts of all thoughts as they rose what they thought within themselves S. Luke v. 22. thoughts before they rose what the Pharisees with other would have done to him had he committed himself unto them Now Tyre and Sidon would have repented had they had the mercy allowed to Corazin and Bethsaida S. Luke x. 13. His will without wilfulness or weakness his passions without infirmity or extravagance his inferiour powers without defect or maim his understanding clear his will holy his passions sweet all his powers vigorous Hear the Wise man describe him under the name of Wisdom Wisd. xvii 22 23 c. In her that is in him who is the Wisdom of the Father is an understanding Spirit holy one onely manifold subtile lively clear undefiled plain nor subject to hurt loving the thing that is good quick which cannot be letted ready to do good kind to man stedfast sure free from care having all power overseeing all things and going through all understanding pure and most subtile spirits and ver 25 26. A pure influence flowing from the Glory of the Almighty the brightness of the everlasting light the unspotted mirror of the power of God and the image of his goodness The powers of his soul being thus pure vigorous and unspotted they cannot 2. but be in order the will following his understanding the passions subordinate to them both all the inferiour powers obedient and ready at command and pleasure He had no sooner exprest a kind of grievance in his sensitive powers at the approach of those strange horrors of his death and sufferings but presently comes out Non mea sed tua Not my will but thine all in a moment at peace and in tranquillity No rash or idle word no unseemly passage no sowre look nor gesture or expression unsuitable to his Divinity throughout his life the very Devils to their own confusion cannot but confess it We know thee who thou art the Holy One of God S. Mark i. 24. To this add those heavenly colours and glances of grace and vertues and you have his soul compleatly beautiful Meekness and Innocence and Patience and Obedience even to the death Mercy and Goodness and Piety and what else is truly called by the name of good are all in him insomuch that the Apostle tells us the very fulness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily Col. ii 9. No Divine Grace or Vertue wanting in him In him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge ver 3. In him all sanctity and holiness not so much as the least guile in his mouth 1 S. Pet. ii 22. So holy that he is made holiness and sanctification unto us 1 Cor. i. 30. Sancti quasi sanguine uncti We Saints and holy become hallowed by the sprinkling of his blood In him lastly is all the power and vertue omnis virtus that is omnis potestas all the power in heaven and earth fully given to him S. Matth. xxviii 18. So that now we shall need to say little of the other particular of this first general point of Christs perfect beauty that he is not only Formosus but Formosus prae not only fair but very fair for where there is so much as you have heard exceeding and excellent it must needs be Where the body is compleat in all its parts the soul exact in all its powers the body without any ill inclination natural or habitual the soul without
ineffable grace whereby the Godhead is united to the Manhood By the first he himself is holy by the second he makes us so By the third he wrought all the means to do it For the first let us reverence his person For the second let us embrace him and be rul'd by him For the third let us perpetually admire and adore him 'T is ready to conceive now that he was full indeed beyond measure full the spirit not given to him by measure so he says himself S. Iohn iii. 34. and his witness is true though he bear witness of himself St. Iohn viii 14. anointed with it above his fellows as it follows ver 8. words repeated and applied expresly to him by St. Paul Heb. i. 9. So full that he pours out upon us pours in all we have We are but empty vessels till he pour into us without grace or any good till he pour it in diffusa in as well as effusa ex it is spread abroad in our hearts says the Apostle Rom. v. 5. as well as spread upon his lips Yet is our fulness but the fulness of earthy pitchers but five or six firkins a piece at most when they are filled to the brim His fulness the fulness of the fountain that pours it self over all the neighbouring Vallies and yet empties not it self runs still as fresh as ever only holds when there are no more vessels or the vessels there will hold no more His fulness minds us either of our emptiness or shallowness and if grace we have either in our hearts or lips we will deplore it fill our eyes with tears and our lips with prayers that he may fill our hearts with grace make us some way partakers of his fulness And that we need not doubt of now 't is gotten into his lips They are the conduits of his grace they convey it to us Three several graces we gather from his lips 1. His gracious Miracles by his bare word he heal'd the Lame and cur'd the Blind and restor'd the Sick and cleans'd the Leper and dispossest the Devils and rais'd the dead He spake the word and all was done Full of grace indeed to do such deeds of grace so willingly so readily so generally and in the lips indeed when it was all done only by the word of his mouth 2. The gracious instructions that proceeded out of his mouth insomuch that all wondered at it says S. Luke iv 22. He only taught with authority and a grace all other teachers the long winded Pharisee himself but wind and bubble to him St. Matthew vii 29. â— 3. The gracious promises of the Gospel pardon and forgiveness grace and mercy and peace and heaven and happiness all fully preach't and revealed by him By the word of his mouth were the heavens made says David made over now to us kept in store provided and prepared for us with that priviledge too prae filiis hominum before all the children of men that were before us that they without us should not be made perfect Heb. xi 40. We may without question apply prae filiis hominum to this point to say here also that his lips are fuller of grace then the children of men for even the officers of his enemies were forc'd to confess it long ago S. Iohn vii 46. Never any man spake like this man never so graciously never so comfortably never so effectually never so powerfully never so sweetly never so much grace and goodness and glory And 't is still diffusa lasts still His lips are his Ministers and Preachers and by them he still diffuses his graces daily to us Labia Sacerdotis custodiunt Mal. ii 7. they keep grace for others even when they keep none for themselves The ministry of the Word and Sacraments though it comes sometimes through corrupt and putrid channels is not defiled or made unprofitable by it Out of the childrens that is ignorant simple Ministers mouths sometimes God perfects praise and makes the stones the most stony and obdurate sinner among them cry out loud enough to do others good to soften others though they continue hard and impenitent themselves The Sacraments 2. are his lips too in which grace is diffus'd full grace given and poured out upon us poured in into us Never grace so fully given as in those holy Mysteries there you see diffusa to the eye the outward pouring out the Wine and must believe though you do not see the inward pouring out the Spirit Never so gracious words proceeded out of his mouth as those you hear there This is my Body which was given for you This is my Blood which was shed for you Take and eat the one Take and drink the other What more abundant grace what higher favour than thus to have our lips and mouths and hearts filled with himself and all the benefits of himself Wonder we may at it for 't is a work of wonder an ineffable mystery Gracious indeed always were his words Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will refresh you S. Matth. xi 28. I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance S. Matth. ix 13. Fear not little flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you a kingdom St. Luke xii 32. Ye that have followed me in the regeneration shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel S. Mat. xix 28. God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him should be saved S. John iii. 17. Behold I give you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpious and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you S. Luke x. 19. He will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flax S. Mat. xii 20. Lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world S. Mat. xxviii 20. Great and gracious effusions these full of grace yet to give himself daily for our food and nourishment and call us to it is to set seal to all those other sayings to bring them home particularly to every one of us the very Amen and summing up of all the rest 'T is time now to enquire whence all this fulness all this fairness Eo quod Deus benedixit reads one Transtation because God hath blessed him Christs beauty is Gods blessing all beauty is so be it what it will from him it comes is but a ray of that eternal beauty that inaccessible light that summe pulchrum as well as summe bonum the everlasting brightness of the Father all the beauty of the mind and body all the integrity and vigour of all our powers are meerly from his blessing not our merit a good lesson from it not to be proud of any of them Christ himself as man had not his beauty any other way No nor his grace neither His Manhood could not merit the union of the Godhead it was the meer gift of God so
the lowest price a man could be thirty pieces of Silver So poor he could scarce speak out Non clamabit says the Prophet he shall not cry he did not says the Evangelist S. Mat. xii 18. It was fulfilled You could scarce hear his voice in the streets ver 19. In a word so poor that he was as I may say asham'd of his name denied it as it were to him that called him by it S. Matth. xix 17. Why callest thou me good when yet he only was so Lastly poor he was in his Death too betray'd by one Disciple denied by another forsaken by the rest stript off to his very skin abus'd derided despis'd by all died the most ignominious death of all the death of Slaves and Varlets And can you now tell me how he should become poorer or can you tell me why we should think much at any time to become poor like him or not rather cry out O Blessed Poverty that art now sanctified by Christs putting on How canst thou but be desirable and becoming since Christ himself became poor If God become man what man would be an Angel though he might If Christ the eternal riches think it becomes him to be poor who would make it his business to be rich Give me rags for clothes bread for meat and water for drink a Stable for a Palace the earth for a bed and straw for a covering so Christ be in them so he be with them so this poverty be his so it be for him I will lay me down in peace and take my rest upon the hardest stone or coldest ground and I will eat my brownest bread and pulse and drink my water or my tears with joy and gladness now they are seasoned by my Masters use I will neglect my body and submit my spirit and hold my peace even from good words too because he did so I will be content with all because he was so The servant must not be better than his Lord nor the Disciple than his Master Our Lord poor our Iesus poor our Christ poor and we striving to be rich what an incongruity The Camel and the needles eye never fitted worse Poverty we must be contented with if we will have him poor at least in spirit we must be ready for the other when it comes and when it comes we must think it is becoming very much become the Disciple to be like the Master the servant wear his Lords livery For our sakes he became poor and we must not therefore think much to be made so for his be it to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the extreamest Especially seeing poverty is no such Gorgon no such terrible lookt Monster since Christ wore it over his richest Robes even chose to be poor though he was rich would needs be poor and appear to be so for all his riches Indeed it was the riches of his grace that made him poor had he not been rich superlatively rich in that in grace and favour to us he would never have put on the tatters of humanity never at least have put on the raggedest of them all not only the poverty of our nature but even the nature of poverty that he might become like one of us and dwell among us And it was the riches of his glory too that could turn this poverty to his glory What glory like that which makes all things glorious rags and beggary what riches like his or who so rich as he that can make poverty more glorious then the Robes and Diadems of Kings and Emperours who so often for his Religion sake have quitted all their secular glories plenties delicates and attendants for russet coats and ordinaty fare and rigours and hardships above that which wandring beggars suffer in the depth of Winter Christianity no sooner began to dawn into day but that we find the professors selling all Acts iv as if they thought it an indecency at least to possess more than their Master did though they were rich they became poor because their Lord became so though he was rich But when men of rich become poor the case is much different yet from that of Christs men cease to be rich when they come to poverty but not so Christ he is poor and rich together 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being rich he yet shewed poor Prov. xxii 2. The rich and poor meet together never truer any way then here utriusque operator est Dominus the Lord is both himself as well as worker of them both in others For in this low condition of his it is that S. Paul yet talks so often of the riches of Christ the riches of his grace Eph. i. 7. the riches of his Glory Eph. iii. 16. the riches of the glory of his inheritance Eph. i. 18. the exceeding greatness of his power Eph. i. 19. the exceeding riches Eph. ii 7. the unsearchable riches of Christ Ephes. iii. 8. Christ he in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Col. ii 3. his very reproach and poverty greater riches then all the treasures of Egypt Heb. xi 26. So Moses thought and reckon'd says the Apostle when he saw his riches but under a veil saw but a glimpse and shadow of them at two thousand years distance too So rich is Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only rich so great are his riches Indeed the riches of the Godhead that is all riches indeed dwell all in him though he became man he left not to be God our rags only cover'd the Robes of the Divinity his poverty only serv'd for a veil to cover those unspeakable riches to teach us not to boast and brag at any time of our riches not to exalt our selves when we are made rich or when the glory of our house is increased but to be as humble notwithstanding as the poorest and lowest wretch to teach us 2. that riches and poverty may stand together as well in Christians as in Christ the riches of grace and the poverty of estate and again the riches of estate and poverty of Spirit To teach us 3. not to put off the riches of grace for fear of poverty not quit our Religion or our innocence for fear of becoming poor by them to teach us lastly that we may be rich in Gods sight In truth and verity how poor soever we are in the eyes of the world how needy and naked soever we appear He that being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God even whilst he was so made himself of no reputation of as low a rank as could be and being the brightness of his Fathers Glory the express image of his person and upholding all things with the word of his power veils all this glory darkens all this brightness conceals all this power under the infirmities and necessities of flesh and poverty yet only veils all this great riches hides and lays it up for us that through his poverty we might be
but to all the people the whole people But in conspectu totius populi it might be for all one people and the rest ne're a whit the nearer to salvation the further off rather when it is so restrain'd â—niuscujusque populi would be better for all the people of the world 'T is somewhat near the height that of what we can desire yet omnium populorum 't is we need for all people whatsoever not only all that then were but all before up to Abraham up to Adam and all since down to us that live this day down to all that shall survive us as long as there shall be people upon earth Vniuscujusque populi had been enough for the whole world then alive Omnium populorum it must be or the Fathers before and we since are men most miserable But do not Simeons old eyes deceive him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all I know some quicker sights some younger eyes that can construe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into pauci can see no such matter It may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the glory of the elect Israel at the end of the Text dims their weak eyes or peradventure like men overwhelm'd with the news of some unexpected fortune they think themselves in a dream and dare not give credit to their eyes though they behold it so great and undeserv'd a blessing that 't is a labour to perswade 'um that they see it though they cannot but see it Simeons eyes are old enough to ponder objects he knows what he sees and he speaks what he knows and he speaks no more then the Angel before told the Shepherds gâ—udium quod erit omni populo tidings of joy which shall be to all people erit shall be for ever And say not the Apostles the same also The Saviour of all men says St. Paul 1 Tim. iv 10. specially of them that believe of them especially not them only Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. ii 4. The Saviour of the world St. John iv 14. A ransom for all 1 Tim. ii 6. God not willing that any perish not any 2 St. Peter iii. 9. Nay God himself says more Ezek. xxxiii II. I will not the death no not of the wicked not of a sinner Much less his death before he be or man or sinner That 's no kin to salutare tuum that 's not salvation but destruction prepar'd And 't is not nollem I would fain not have it so but plain nolo I will not or more to the word I not will it I deny it utterly Thy destruction is from thy self 't is none of my doings Salutare meum I will the contrary To put all out of question take his oath Vivo ego as I live I do not And accordingly does the Saviour himself send out his general proclamation St. Mat. xi 28. Come to me all that are heavy laden and who is not yet do but come come who will and I will ease He calls 'um all by that grace they may come if they will except you think he mocks 'um when they are come He will refresh them To take away all plea of ignorance or excuse we proceed further In conspectu omnium not only prepared for all but in the sight of all before their faces So prepar'd that they may see and know it know it to be prepar'd not that it might be and is not as if indeed the salvation were sufficient in it self but God would not suffer it to be so So though universal yet so hidden under obscure and nice distinctions that few can see it but withal so evident that all may see it in conspectuomnium none with good reason deny it Had it been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they migh have had some pretence and colour if they had not seen it had it been only in sight many things are so which we oft-times do not see But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is just before our faces we must be blind if we see not that If for all this they close their eyes and will not see then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is contra against 'um to confute to confound their vain imaginations So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will be against those that cry out the light of righteousness rose not upon us to prove the contrary now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to their faces There is no idle word in Scripture every Adverb and Preposition and Article the dictate of the Spirit There are other words he might have used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many more but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 methinks on purpose 1. It may be besides what has been said to distinguistâ— the Iews and Vs since this salvation came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before our faces When the light 's before the shadows are behind So it is with us ever since the Sun of Righteousness arose this day since this light of Salvation left the clouds When the light 's behind the shadows are before So to the Jewish Synagogue Salvation behind the cloud to them Nothing before their eyes but veils and shadows nothing else took up their eye-sight but we with open face behold the glory of the Lord. 2. Or may it not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the face of the world clean contrary That 's for nothing but glory and pomp God works not as man works but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the hair will have an humble Saviour lowly born of poor Parentage in a Stable wrapt in Rags laid in a Manger no Royal Cradle no Princely Palace without Attendants without State The Angels themselves at such a sight as this could not but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bow down and look and look again and mistrust their eye-sight to see God in a Cratch Heaven in a Stable and bow down we must our high towring thoughts and lay 'um level with that from whence we were taken if we would bless our eyes with so hidden secrets or be partakers of so great Salvation They were poor Shepherds that first saw this happy sight as it were on purpose to inform us that the poor humble Spirit has the first rank among those whoever see Salvation 3. Or lastly is it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the inclination and capacity of all people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 durum genus stony-hearted people those that set their faces against Salvation to soften them if possible or else to break them in pieces like a potters vessel Or again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 people so call'd from the Corner-stone Christ Iesus such as had already turn'd their faces towards salvation to further and encourage them Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only of the people to their capacity but to theirs too who were neither his people nor people whose
of dead mens mouths and shall not our Cities and Temples resound of it shall they tell the wonders of the day and we neither mind the day nor wonders of it surely some evil will befal us as said the Lepers at the Gates of Samaria if we hold our peace 'T is a day of good of glorious tidings and we must not lest the Grave in indignation shut her mouth upon us and the holy City bar us out Open we then our mouths to day and sing praises to him who made the day made it a joyful day indeed the very seal of happiness unto us Open we our mouths and take the cup of salvation as the Prophet calls it the cup of thanksgiving the Apostle stiles it and call upon the name of the Lord. Open our mouths now as the grave and he will fill them Open our mouths as the grave and be not satisfied give not over our prayers until he do Raise we all our thoughts and desires and endeavours to entertain him go which way he shall send us appear what he would have us attend him whither soever he shall lead us and when he himself shall appear he will lead our souls out of the death of sin to the life of righteousness our bodies out of the dust of death into the land of life both souls and bodies into the holy City the new Ierusalem where there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying nor any more pain but all tears shall be wip'd away all joys come into our hearts and eyes and we sing merrily and joyfully all honour and glory be unto him that hath redeemed us from death and raised us to life by the power and vertue of his Resurrection All blessing and glory and praise and honour and power be unto him with the Father and Holy Spirit for ever and ever THE THIRD SERMON UPON Easter Day PSAL. CXViii 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made We will rejoyce and be glad in it THis is the day which the Lord hath made And if ever day made to rejoyce and be glad in this is the day And the Lord made it made it to rejoyce in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as holy Ignatius a day of days not only a high day as the Iewish Easter St. Ioh. xix 31. but the highest of high days highest of them all A Day in which the Sun it self rejoyced to shine came forth like a Bridegroom in the robes and face of joy and rejoyced like a Giant with the strength and violence of joy exultavit leapt and skipt for joy to run his course Psal. xix 5. as if he never had seen day before only a little day spring from on high as old Zachary saw and sung never full and perfect day the Kingdom and power of darkness never fully and wholly vanquished till this morning light till this day-star or this day's Sun arose till Christ rose from the grave as the Sun from his Eastern bed to give us light the light of grace and the light of glory light everlasting And this Suns rising this Resurrection of our Lord and Master entitles it peculiarly the Lords making This day of the week from this day of our Lords Resurrection stil'd Lords Day ever since And of this day of the Resurrection the Fathers the Church the Scriptures understand it Not one of the Fathers says that devout and learned Bishop Andrews that he had read and he had read many but interpret it of Easter day The Church picks out this Psalm to day as a piece of service proper to it This very verse in particular was anciently used every day in Easter week evidence enough how she understood it And for the Scriptures The two verses just before The stone which the builders refused the same is become the head of the corner This is the Lords doing and it is marvelous in our eyes to which this day comes in presently and refers applied both of them by Christ himself unto himself in three several places St. Mat. xxi 42. St. Mar. xii 10. St. Luk. xx 17 rejected by the builders in his Passion made 〈◊〉 head of the corner in his Resurrection the first of the verses applied again twice by St. Peter Acts iv 10. and 1 Pet. ii 7. to the Resurrection For these doings these marvelous doings a day was made made to remember it and rejoyce in it as in the chiefest of his marvelous works And being such let us do it Let not the Jews out-do us let not them here rejoyce more in the figure than we in the substance they in the shadow than we in the Sun 'T is now properly Sunday this day ever since a day lighted upon on purpose for us by the Sun himself to see wonderful things in and as wonderfully to rejoyce in Abraham saw this day of Christs as well as Christmas St. Ioh. viii 56. saw it in Isaacs rising from under his hand from death as in a figure says the Apostle Heb. xi 19. saw it and was glad to see it exceeding glad as much at least to see Christ and Isaac delivered from death as delivered in to life Abrahams children all the faithful will be so too to see the day when ere it comes It now is come by the circle of the year let us rejoyce and be glad in it I require no more of you than is plainly in the Text to confess the day and express the joy Both are here as clear as day Dies Gaudii Gaudium Diei A day of joy the joy of the day Easter day and Easter joy A day made and joy made on it A day ordained and joy appointed God making the day we making the joy upon it Or if you please Ordo Diei Officium Diei An Order for the day and an Office for the day The Order for the day This is the day which the Lord hath made order'd and ordain'd The Office for it We will or let us rejoyce and be glad in it Exultemus laetemur An office of thanksgiving and joy ordained and taken up upon it The first is Gods doings the second ours And ours order'd to follow his our duty his day the Lords day requires sure the Servants duty Both together Gods day and mans duty make up the Text and must the Sermon But I take my rise from the days rising The Lords order for the day This is the day which the Lord hath made Wherein we have 1. The Day design'd 2. The Institution made 3. the Preeminence given it 4. The Institutor exprest 5. The ground intimated 6. The End annext This is designs the day Gods making that institutes it The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the The gives it the Preeminence the Lord is the institutor The ground is understood in the This this day when that was done that went before ver 22. and the End by the annexing joy and gladness to it Of these particularly and in order then of the
all taken away and all of you undone for ever But now he is not here you may hope better and dread no longer and I shall quickly put you out of all fear indeed for I shall tell you now He is risen as he said IV. And now indeed O blessed Angel thou saist something Away all my fears He is risen Why then 1. He is above the malice of his enemies and of all that hate him They and the Souldiers that crucified him may be dismaid and look all like dead men for fear but I shall never be dismaid hereafter seeing death has no more dominion over him For 2. if he be risen we shall rise one day too If our head be risen the body ere long will rise also He is the first fruits 1 Cor. xv the whole lump of course will follow after So certain that the Apostle tells us that in him we are all already made alive ver 22. and with indignation asks how some among them durst be so bold to say there was no resurrection of the dead seeing Christ is risen ver 12. But is he not rather raised than risen 3. that they durst say so Was it by his own power or anothers By his own sure for all the Evangelists say unanimously he is risen Indeed 't is said Acts iv 10. that God rais'd him from the dead It was so for he was God himself he and his Father one St. Ioh. x. 30. so God rais'd him and yet he rais'd himself was not rais'd as the Widows Son or Iairus Daughter or his Friend Lazarus but so as none other ever were or shall be rais'd and risen and yet so risen as not rais'd by any but himself that 's a third note upon He is risen And 4. risen so as to die no more All they did but he not He convers'd a while with his Disciples upon earth so by degrees to raise them too but after forty days he ascended into heaven Risen surely to purpose risen above all heavens risen into glory And if thus risen we have good cause 1. to raise our thoughts up after him entertain higher thoughts of him than before though then we knew him after the flesh yet now with the Apostle henceforth to know him so no more Good cause 2. If He be risen to raise up our affections after him set our affections as the Apostle infers it upon things above Col. iii. 1 2. and no longer upon things beneath set them wholly upon him Nay and 3. Raise our selves upon him build all our thoughts and hopes upon him build no longer upon Sand and Earth but upon that Rock that is now risen higher than we in whom we need fear no storms or tempests we cannot miscarry And in the mean time lastly Now he is risen let us rise and meet him rise in hast with Mary yet not to go to the grave to weep as they thought of her but to cast our selves at his feet and cry Lord If thou hadst been here if I had found thee in the grave my brother and I and all my brethren had died indeed been irrecoverably ruin'd and undone And yet for all that Come now and see where the Lord lay Be your own eyes your witnesses that He is risen And 't is but just that in so doubtful a condition of affairs and a change so unheard of you should seek an evidence not to be contradicted Come then and see it The place will shew it and your eyes shall behold it Indeed that he is risen as he said to a tittle to a day assoon as ever it could be imagined day is an argument that not being here he is truly risen Yet 't is fit that we should be certain he is not there For 't is fit that we should be able to give a reason of the faith that is in us says St. Peter We can neither believe unreasonable things our selves nor imagine others should believe them We are not to take our Religion upon trust from an Angel Si Angelus de Coelo says St. Paul Not from an Angel coming from Heaven it self Some Angel it seems thence may speaking to an absolute possibility preach some other doctrine then what we have received but believe him not says the Apostle if he do Gal. i. 8. But suppose an Angel thence can speak no other yet there is an Angel that is from below from the pit of darkness that can transform himself into an Angel of light We had therefore need take heed to our own eyes too as well as to our ears The best way to fix them is to look first into the grave of Iesus that was crucified see what we can find there to make good what the Angel tells us be he who he will Try the spirits says St. Ioh. i. 4 1. Whether they be of God before we trust them See whether things are as they are presented 'T is but dark day yet we may be deceived if we look not narrowly into the business even to the very inmost corners and cranies of the grave Come see then what is there Nothing but the linnen cloths that wrapt him in says S. Ioh. xx 6 7. and two Angels says St. Luke xxiv 4. Well this was enough indeed to prove he was not there But how proves it that he was risen had not some body stoln him thence The grave was clos'd the stone was seal'd the guard was set and who durst come to do it His Disciples why they were stoln away themselves for very fear And it is not probable they would venture for him through a guard of Souldiers when he was dead that ran from him when he was alive The Iews Why they set a watch to keep him there The Souldiers why who should hire them or Why should they take money to deny it if they were hired to it Besides it was against the Iews interests to give so fair a ground to the report of his Resurrection and his Disciples had so little subtilty to maintain so forlorn an interest as theirs that it looks not like a piece of their contrivance and so poor a purse God knows they had that they could not see so largely as to reach it Nay and the linnen cloths left all behind are a kind of witnesses against it 'T is not probable they would have stoln the dead body and left them when they came to steal and the laying them so in order by themselves requires more leisure than a theives hast So being clearly gone and clearly none to own the theft and none to prove it and nothing to evince it 't is plain he must be risen as he said We have now then no more to do then see the place where c. And where he lay we call the grave A good place sometimes to go into the house of mourning better to go into than the house of mirth says Solomon who had tried both best to recal our wandring thoughts to prepare both for a comfortable death
Rom. x. 2. without knowledge and spirit without holiness for the Spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets 1 Cor. xiv 32. much more to the God of the Prophets to his time and order And yet there is another disposition to be observed in those upon whom the good Spirit lights to make either instruments of glory to the Church or Piety to God 'T is sitting and expecting if you mark it till the day or days of Pentecost be fully come and accomplisht souls willing to keep a holy-day or holy-days to the Lord neither to be scar'd from the attendance of their Master and their Devotions nor to be shortned and interrupted in their pious course of faith and piety by the now so terrible scare-crows of set Feasts as Iewish legal and superstitious observances as the new zelots are so wise to term them because they understand not terms or times The spiritual man if they be what they boast discerns the things of God though hidden in darker mysteries knows better to distinguish Iudaism from Christianity Piety from Superstition and is not only content but studies to wait upon his Lord upon any day glad to get it too Passover or Pentecost makes use of them all and turns them fairly from their old Iudaism and consecrates them anew to his Masters service and this doing the very Spirit himself authorizes and abets whilst he thus seems to pick out the time for his own coming at the Iewish Pentecost so to sanctifie a new Christian Pentecost the Christian Whitsuntide to all Christian Generations by this solemn glory of his benefits to day to be remembred for ever Thus we have the disposition he vouchsafes to descend upon unanimous uniform peaceable orderly expecting souls Such as set apart and keep days to God with faith and patience and in obedience and order the contrary tempers are too rough lodgings for the Spirit of meekness order and peace be we so prepar'd and he will come II. Now see we how he comes the manner of the Holy Spirits coming Double it is to the ear and to the eye To the ear first and that 1. suddenly from Heaven secondly 3. like a sound thence 4. the sound of a rushing mighty wind that 5. filled all the house yet 6. the house only where they sate thus to the ear Then 2. to the eye in the appearance of tongues cloven tongues tongues of fire tongues sitting and lastly sitting upon each of them We take first what came first the sound and that first was sudden suddenly says the Text yet as sudden as it came go it shall not so not without a note or two Suddenly then it came to shew the freeness of Gods grace so far above desert that it is also above apprehension it out-runs that and is upon us ere we are aware so little probability have we to deserve it that we commonly have not time to do it and when we have yet so suddain does it fall that we may well see it comes not from our selves so dull a piece as earth and sin has made us To shew 2. the readiness of his goodness beyond expectation readier far to give than we to take comes commonly upon us sooner then we expect or wish prevents us with his goodness as the Psalmist observes to us Psal. xxi 3. and runs very swiftly Psal. cxlvii 15. flying upon the wings of the wind Psal. civ To shew us 3. the vanity of men who think it comes with observation It does not says Christ St. Luke xvii 20. 'T is not at our command The Prophets themselves could not Prophesie when they listed 't was cecidit Spiritus the Spirit fell upon them the common phrase in Scripture and then they prophesied till that fell and fall it did but at times what times it pleased the motions of the Prophet were but as other mens Indeed I remember Elisha willing to prophesie to Iehoshaphat the King of Iudah 2 King iii. 14 15. calls for a Minstrel and it came to pass that while the Minstrel play'd the hand of the Lord came upon him Not that either the Spirit was at the will and under the power of the Minstrel or the Prophet but to shew the disposition that the holy Spirit vouchsafes soonest and suddenest to come to a sweet and tunable soul dispos'd to accord to love and peace and unity And by the way you may take notice Musick and the Spirit are at no discord as the late spiritual men forsooth would have us to believe the Prophet you see thought it the only way and medium to raise his spirits into heavenly raptures to make himself capable of new Inspirations to call for an Instrument of Musick and as it were to perswade the heavenly Spirit down by some grave and sober Musick which may make us wonder how these great pretenders to the Spirt and gapers for it should be so furious enemies against the Church Musick so ever employ'd and approv'd both by God and his Prophets and Apostles for singing with melody says St. Paul too Ephes. v. 19. to fit and sweeten and raise our dull and rougher spirits to the service of Heaven and the entertainment of the heavenly and gentle motions of the Spirit in those holy performances But all this while this is but to dispose our selves the Spirit it self is at its own disposal for all this and when he comes comes on a sudden Even to awake 4. and rouse us up We are drowsie souls to Heaven-ward want some sudden change to startleus things that come leisurely will not do it It must be a sudden turn that will turn us out of our selves or from our follies or so much upward And sudden 5. it is again to shew the activity of the Spirit of God how wonderful he is among the Children of men that he cannot only turn the world upside down when ere he please but assoon as he pleases does but blow with his wind and the waters flow casts but a sudden glance of an eye at St. Peter and out run the waters out of his he that was but just now afraid of the voice of a silly girl fears not presently the lightnings and thunders of the greatest Tyrants Nox ut tetigerit mentem docet solumque tetigisse docuisse est Mam humanum subito ut illustrat immutat affectum abnegat hoc repente quod erat exhibet repente quod non erat S. Greg. He does but touch the mind and teaches it shines into it and changes it together forgets immediately what it was and is what it was not All the quickest ways of men must have time and leisure be it but to cast an eye but O qualis est artifex iste Spiritus But how wonderful an Artist is thy Spirit O Lord that knows not the least hinderance or delay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it comes so suddenly there is no appearance often of its coming not so much as a whiff or shadow before it to give us
warning of its approach for this reason among the rest least we should attribute any thing to our own preparations yea though they be such as God requires Sudden last of all to shew us our duties not to neglect the light and sudden motions of the Holy Spirit though we know not how or when or whence they rise so we know but whether they go and lead us if to good catch at them let them not go as they came but leap we into the water while it stirrs fan we our selves with this wind while it moves for how long it will stay or whether ever come again we know not take it in the present while we may omit no good motion no opportunity or occasion of any doing well suddenly it comes and suddenly it may be gone if we lay not hold upon it and make use of it Thus from the quickness and suddenness of this Spirits motion Gods grace and goodness his incomprehensible power and operation and our readiness to lay hold upon it are preached to us But from Heaven what next is preached to us but that thence it is all holy winds and breaths and spirits come from Heaven not of men no humane wit can teach what this Spirit does the spirit of man but the things of a man 1 Cor. ii 11. it knows no further the things of Heaven from the Spirit of Heaven de Caelo from the very Heaven of Heavens not any lower Heavens or any other spirits of Heaven but that which has no plural number is but one and is an Heaven it self not only a Spirit of Heaven but Heaven that is the Spirit the Heaven in whom all of us live and move and have our being as in our Heaven of Glory Yet again from Heaven that we may at any time know what wind blows in us if our affections intentions and endeavours are only totwards Heaven set upon Heaven and heavenly things if what moves us be only heavenly and not earthly interests then 't is the good Spirit that reigns and rules in us then 't is the Wind and Spirit and Fire and Tongue a wind out of Gods own treasury a Spirit out of Gods own bosom a fire from that Eternal Light a tongue from that Eternal Wisdom but if our actions come but so much as collaterally and glancing at other respects than God and Heaven 't is no Spirit no motion no work of his Spirit but some others this comes directly straight from Heaven 3. Now from Heaven what is it that comes here there came suddenly a sound from Heaven a sound yes a sound and 't is a good hearing the best news we ever heard since Christs departure a sound that is gone out into all Lands and into the end of the World Sonus coelorum the sound of the Heavens the very true Pythagorical harmony of the Spheres the sweetest sound was ever heard the sound of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven and the knowledge of it We perhaps lookt when we heard of something coming down from Heaven for some glorious Host of Angels Cherubims or Seraphims some or other of them at least or for the new Hierusalem we read of Rev. xxi 2. coming from above down from God out of Heaven and we think much to be put off with a sound yet I must tell you this sound sounds better in our ears the sound of an Eternal Comforter that should abide with us for ever and bring us in due time to that new Hierusalem and those blessed Spirits in Heaven And with a fitter convoy he could not come than with a sound who was now to send and constitute such as should sound out the Gospel over all the World so many Apostles Evangelists Pastors and Teachers Nor yet of all sounds with any so correspondent to him could he come as that of the wind nothing more to express his Glory and Godhead that this Spirit he is that very he that cometh riding upon the wings of the wind a fit blast to stop the idle breath of those saucy enquirers of our age who dispute this blessed Spirit out of his Deity Need had he appear it seems 4. as a rushing mighty wind to rush down these enemies of his and overthrow them Indeed he came to day with so mighty and powerful a blast that we might see both his Power and Godhead as well as his Mercy and Goodness to us his goodness in coming like a wind his power in coming like a rushing mighty one The benefits we receive from the wind represent the benefits we receive from the Spirit and so 1. present his goodness The Wind first purges and clears the Air from noisom and infectious vapours the Spirit clenses and purifies our souls and bodies from the stinking and unwholsom steams of sins and lusts 2. The Wind sometimes gathers up clouds and rains and sometimes scatters them again The Holy Spirit one whiles gathers clouds into the countenance and brings showers into the eyes of the penitent sinner and other while it blows away all blackness from our faces and makes the soul look up and the Spirits smile and dance in our hearts and eyes 3. The Wind cheers and refreshes the Plants and Trees the blessed Spirit cheers the Plants of Grace within us and makes them fructifie and prosper puts life and spirit into the root verdure and freshness into the leaf fineness and subtilty into the rellish of the fruit of all holy actions and vertues 4. The Wind cools the heat and revives the fainting spirit the Holy Spirit does so too allays the inordinate heat of concupiscence within us cools the over-hotness and ardors of our Passions revives us and recovers us when we are almost choakt with the fumes and flames of our own corruption affections and lusts 5. The Wind again kindles the fire and blows the spark into a flame and the Holy Spirit it is that kindles all heavenly warmth and flames within us without his breath we are all but dead coles 6. The Wind scatters the chaff and skreens the dust out of the corn the Holy Spirit blows away all our chaff and dust all our dross and rubbish our vanities and follies and makes us fit corn for Gods own Garners 7. The Wind it is that drives home the Ship into the Haven and the Holy Spirit it is that drives our poor torn and tatter'd Vessels into the Haven where we would be as the Psalmist speaks drives us up and down over the troublesom Sea of this tempestuous World into the Port of everlasting bliss into the Haven of Heaven it self You see the goodness and graces of the Holy Spirit not unfitly expressed by the resemblance of the Wind. See we now his Power as well resembled by it by the rushing mighty wind The Wind is but a thin and airy puff so subtile that we cannot see it yet what a rattling does it make rattles the Ships of Tharsis together tears up Trees by the roots throws down
Word that I thy servant may have utterance this thy people give thee audience all of us obedience and all our hearts and tongues be so thorowly heated with thy holy fire that they may be filled with thy praise and honour all the day long That we may do so here are tongues given in the Text ver 3. Cloven tongues as it were of fire there we left there we begin again at the second Way and Manner of the holy Spirits coming down to day And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sate upon each of them Where 1. of the Order 2. Of the Appearance 3. Of the Manner it self And lastly of the Continuance of it For the Order 't is the second way of the Spirits coming here first in the wind then in the fire The holy fire within us is not kindled but with a mighty wind The divine spark or soul cannot be blown up into a fire till some mighty wind has shaken all our powers blown off the dust and ashes those earthly worldly affections that choak'd and cover'd it till it has rais'd a tumult in all the corners of us dispers'd the vanities and irregularities of all our motions and scatter'd every thing that hinder'd it from the obedience to the Spirit then and not till then the fire bursts forth and as the Psalmist we speak with our tongues For the Order 2. is the same between the sound and the tongues The Sound first the tongues second We are first to hear before we speak so the Spirits order tells us here Not turn Teachers at the first dash not presume to teach others before we are thorowly taught our selves that 's none of the Spirits way of teaching how spiritual soever they think themselves that do so that speak what they have neither seen nor heard their own fancies and imaginations the divisings of their own hearts such as the Christian world never heard before whereof there is not so much as the sound or any thing sounding like it in all the Writings of the Church The sound too 3. before the fire The Spirit manifests it self by degrees first more obscurely to the ear then more evidently to the eye I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear says Iob Chap. xlii 5. that was a favour but now mine eye seeth thee that 's a greater The Spirit comes by degrees Gods favours rise upon us in order There comes first a great and strong wind that rends the mountains and breaks in pieces the rocks before him that throws down our mountainous thought and projects breaks them all in pieces crosses our designs thwarts them with some great affliction or some strange thing or other breaks our very hearts our stony hearts then follows an earthquake in all our faculties we begin to shake and tremble with the fear of the Almighty then comes the fire and burns up all the chaff scorches our very bones and warms us even at the heart whereupon presently there issues out a still small voice out of our lips the tongues follow upon the fire or are even with it This was signified to us thus by Gods appearing to Elijah 1 Kings xix 11 12. and the same order the holy Spirit of God uses here to the Apostles the same method still he keeps with us For he thrusts not in upon us unprepared he makes himself a way into us gives us not so clear an evidence as seeing him at the first not till the sound has well awaken'd us and the wind well brush'd and cleans'd our houses for him Yet then appear he does For we now presently hear of his appearance There appeared tongues The manifestation of the Spirit says St. Paul is given to every man to profit withal 1 Cor. xii 7. Not the Spirit only but the manifestation too No Spirit without some manifestation If the Spirit be an extraordinary Spirit the manifestation will be so too If it be but ordinary the manifestation will be no more 1. If God sends any with an extraordinary commission to preach or teach he enables them with an extraordinary Spirit appears with them after some extraordinary fashion tongues or miracles or some high heavenly fires come with them They but blaspheme the Spirit and usurp upon the Office who take it upon them without such a warrant they run without sending says God Ier. xxiii 21. their tongues are but their own and however those perverse fellows in the Psalm infer they are they that ought to speak who is Lord over them Psal. xii 4. they ought not to speak there is a Lord over them what ere they think that will one day call them to accompt and make them know it their fire they bring is but Nadabs and Abihu's their zeal without knowledge they have no tongue but what their mother taught them the holy Spirit has taught them none made no appearance to them either by fire or by tongues they are filled with some other Spirit the Spirit of Pride of Division or Rebellion or somewhat worse where the Spirit sends with an extraordinary commission it will appear by some gift extraordinary and miraculous somewhat will appear But 2. if our mission be but ordinary the ordinary way that the Spirit has now left in the power and authority of the Church will be sufficient yet that must appear too our authority appear thence our tongues serve to it too to the edifying of the Church 1 Cor. xiv 12. to the building of it up not to the pulling of it down Every gift of the holy Spirit is to have its manifestation tongues and interpretation and prayer and Prophesie and all the rest yet all in order Every one to employ not hide his talent he who has a ministery to waite on that he that is to exhort to attend to that he that is to teach to busie himself in that though all according to proportion Rom. xii 6 7 8. all to appear to the glory of God Yea even those saving graces of the Spirit are not always to be kept within they are to appear in tongues or fire so shine that others may glorifie so speak and act that others seeing our good conversation may be affected with it and perswaded to grace and vertue by it The Spirit is not given to be hid under a bushel the wind cannot the fire will not the tongue is not usual to be kept in so They all appear'd here after their way the wind after its way the tongues and fire after theirs in this verse to the fight the most certain of the senses that we might not be deceived by pretended Spirits might have somewhat manifest to judge by to tell us that the graces of the Spirit whether those for edification of others or sanctification of our selves are for manifestation to appear to others as well as to our selves we receive them to that purpose to profit others and to approve our selves These may serve for reasons why
the Spirit appears but why the Spirit appears now now first and not before now first visibly to the world is worth enquiry And 't is to shew the preheminence of the Gospel above the Law That stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances says the Apostle Heb. ix 10. was but the Law of a carnal Commandment Heb. vii 16. The Gospel is a Law of spirit and life the Law of Moses a dead a killing Letter but the Gospel of Christ a quickning Spirit 2 Cor. iii. 6. the Law a course of shadows the Gospel only the true light It will appear so by the next Particular we are to handle the manner of his appearing In tongues in cloven tongues in tongues as it were of fire I shall invert the order for the fire it is that gives light unto the tongues to make them for to appear of the fire then first to shew them the better For the Spirit to appear as wind or breath is nothing strange It carries them in its name Spiritus à spirando every one can tell you But that this breath should not only blow up a fire but be it self also blown into it the Spirit here appear as fire that 's somewhat hard at first perhaps to understand Yet you shall see many good reasons for it Four great ones I shall give you which comprehend more under them 1. To shew the Analogy and correspondence of Gods dealings and dispensations how they agree both with themselves and with one another 2. To insinuate to us the nature and condition of the holy Spirit 3. To signifie the several gifts and graces of it 4. To declare its operations also and effects 1. The Holy Ghost here appear'd like fire that we might see it is the same God that gave both Law and Gospel the same Spirit in both Testaments The Law was promulgated by fire Exod. xix 18. the Lord descended on Mount Sinai then in fire The Gospel also here is first divulged by tongues as it were of fire in Mount Sion The difference only is that there were here no lightnings thunders clouds or smoke as there were there nothing terrible nothing dark or gloomy here all light and peace and glory 2. Under the Old Testament the Prophets oft were Commissionated by fire to their Offices the Angel takes a live coal from off the Altar and lays it upon Isaiah's mouth Isa. vi 7. Elijah the Prophet stood up as fire Ecclus. xlviii 1. Ezekiels first Vision was of appearances of fire Ezek. i. 4 13. The Commissions therefore of the Apostles were drawn here also as it were with pens of fire that they might the more lively answer and the better express the Spirit of the Prophets 3. That the nature of the Law they were to preach might be exprest too It was the Law of love and the holy fire of Charity was it they were sent to kindle in the World 4. It was to teach them what they were to expect in the World themselves fire and faggot affliction and tribulation the lot and portion both of them and of their followers ever since 5. It was to teach them what they were to be burning and shining lights to lead others into heaven Lastly That so all righteousness Law and Prophets might be fulfilled the types of the one and the promises of the other from the first of them to the last to St. Iohn Baptists that they should be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire that the fire that Christ came to send into the earth and was then already kindled might now burn out into the World And all this to shew the Almighty Wisdom who thus agreeably orders all his doings from the first unto the last that we might with the greater confidence embrace the Doctrine of the Gospel which so evenly consented with the Law and was added only to bring it to perfection to raise up the fire of devotion and charity to the height 2. But not only to manifest the wisdom of the Father and perform the promise of the Son but secondly to intimate the nature of the holy Spirit Fire is the purest Element The holy Spirit is pure and incorruptible thine incorruptible Spirit says the Wise man Wisd. xii 1. No evill can dwell with it It will not mingle with humane interests By this you may know it from all other Spirits They intermix with private humours and self-respects and great ones fancies The holy Spirit is a fire and will not mix it must dwell alone has not a tongue now for this and then for that to please men and ease it self but is always pure and incorrupt Fire 2. is the subtilest Element it pierces into every part And whither can I go then from thy Spirit says holy David Psal. cxxxix 6. If I climb up into heaven thou art there If I go down to hell thou art there also If I take the wings of the morning and remain in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there also will it find me out Darkness cannot cover me thick darkness cannot hide me night it self cannot conceal me from thee O thou divine Spirit O keep me therefore that I may do nothing that may make me ashamed and hide my self seeing thy eyes will quickly pierce into me 3. Fire is an active nature always stirring always moving Nothing can be found better to express the nature of the holy Spirit It mov'd from the beginning actuated the first matter into all the shapes we see breath'd an active principle into them all renew'd again the face of the Earth when the waters had defaced it blows and the waters flow blows again and dries them up guides the Patriarchs inspires the Prophets rests upon the Governours of the People from Moses to the seventy Elders gives spirit and courage to the Martyrs Non permanebit spiritus meus in vagina says God Gen. vi My Spirit will not endure to be always as in a rusty sheath it will be lightning the understanding it will be warming the affections it will be stirring of the passions it will be working in the heart it will be acting in the hand it will be moving in the feet it will be quickning all the powers to the service of the Almighty nothing so busie as this holy fire nothing so active as this Spirit Though the nature and essence of it cannot be full exprest it is thus very powerfully resembled 3. The gifts of it more easily by this fire Seven there are numbred of them out of Isa. xi 2. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding the Spirit of counsel and ghostly strength the Spirit of knowledge and true godliness and the Spirit of holy fear all very naturally represented to us by so many properties I shall observe to you of the fire Fire it ascends it penetrates it tries it hardens it enlightens it warms it melts You have all these again in the seven gifts of the Spirit For 1. the holy Spirit
elevates our souls by the Spirit of Wisdom coelestia sapere as it is Col. iii. 2. to those things that are above Sapientia est rerum altissimarum says the divine Philosopher Wisdom is of things of the higest nature of a high ascending strain 2. It penetrates and pierces like the fire by the Spirit of understanding understands that which the Spirit of man cannot understand 1 Cor. ii 11. the very things of God pierces into them all 3. It tries like fire by the Spirit of counsel and advice teaches us to prove all things and choose the best 4. It hardens us against all the evils that can befall us as fire does the brick against all weather by the spirit of fortitude and ghostly strength 5. It enlightens the darkness of our souls by the spirit of knowledge teaches us to know the things that belong unto our peace the ways and methods of salvation 6. It heats the coldness of our affections by the Spirit of piety and true godliness inflames us with devotion and zeal to Gods service And 7. it softens our obdurate hearts by the Spirit of holy fear that we melt into tears and sighs at the apprehension of Gods displeasure even as Wax melteth before the fire the highest hardest rockiest mountains melt and flow down at his presence when once his Spirit does but cast a ray upon them These are the seven gifts of the Spirit represented to us by so many properties of the fire 4. There are seven other operations and effects of the same Spirit as lively also exprest by it and make the fourth reason why the holy Ghost appears under the semblance of fire 1. Fire it burns and the Prophet Isaiah calls this Spirit a Spirit of burning Isa. iv 4. It makes our hearts burn within us as it did the Disciples going to Emaus St. Luke xxiv 32. puts us to a kind of pain raises sorrow and contrition in us makes the scalding water gush out of our eyes you may even feel it burn you 2. With this burning it purifies and purges too As things are purified by the fire so are our spirits and souls and bodies purified by the Spirit 3. For purifie it must needs for it devours all the dross the chaff the hay and stubble that is in us purges out our sins burns up every thing before it that offends is a consuming fire Heb. xii 29. so is God so is his Spirit 4. Yet as it is a consuming so it is a renewing fire Fire makes things new again And do but send out thy Spirit O Lord and they are made Psal. civ 30. We are all made for so it is that thou renewest the face of the earth the face of this dull earth of ours by putting into it the Holy Spirit 5. To this purpose it makes that like as fire it separates 5. things of divers natures silver from tin metals from dross Separare heterogenea is one of the effects of fire says the Philosopher to distinguish and divide between things of different kinds And Spiritus judicii discretionis the Prophet styles the Spirit a Spirit of judgment it is Isai. 4. 4. a discerning Spirit teaches us to discern between Dross and Gold Truth and Error between Good and Evil and without it we discern nothing This the Apostle reckons as a peculiar donation of it the discerning of spirits 1 Cor. xii 10. 6. Yet as it separates things of different natures so 6. it unites things of the same kind just as the fire does several pieces of the same metal into one body This holy Spirit is a Spirit of unity They that separate they have not the Spirit St. Iude 19. Schisms and Divisions Strife Heresies and Seditions are the works of the flesh not of the spirit Gal. v. 20. The fruit of the Spirit is love and peace says St. Paul there ver 22. And the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace we hear of too Ephes. iv 3. Into one Spirit we are baptiz'd all for there is but one one Spirit one Body one Hope one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God one all that are of God ver 5 6. nothing so contrary to the Holy Spirit as divisions of the members from the head or from one another a shrewd witness this against the spirits of our age and an evidence that to what spirit soever they lay claim they lay false claim to this they belong not to this Spirit which is so much for uniting all the parts of the body of Christ together 7. And this it can do when it s sees its time for lastly it is an invincible Spirit it bears down all before it turns all into it like the fire of all the Elements the most victorious and triumphant There is no standing out against this Spirit 't is an Almighty Spirit that can do what it will It inflames the air into a fire vain airy spirits into celestial flames of love and charity It dries up the water the raw waterish humors of our souls and fixes all waverings and inconstancies It burns up our earth and all the grass and hay and sprouts what ever that stand against it It sets whole houses all a fire sets us all a fire for Heaven and heavenly business Thus it burns it purifies it consumes and renews again it separates and it gathers and it caries all before it dees what it will in Heaven and Earth subdues Scepters vanquishes Kingdoms converts Nations throws down Infernal Powers and turns all into the obedience of Christ. To this purpose it is that it now also here comes in Tongues The second manner we noted of his appearance and that for three reasons 1. nothing more convenient to express either our business or him whose it is The Tongue is the instrument of speech the Word is express by it Christ is the Word the Holy Spirit as it were the Tongue to express him comes to day with an Host of tongues to send this Word abroad into all the World Nothing more necessary for the Apostles were to be the Preachers of it had receiv'd a Commission to go and preach St. Matth. xvi 15. wanted yet their tongues some new enablements went not therefore till they were this day brought them and a more necessary thing the Holy Ghost could not bring them for that purpose Yet they had need 2. be of fire sharp piercing tongues like the little flames of fire such as would pierce into the soul reveal the inmost secrets of the heart and spirits and it seems so they proved 1 Cor. xiv 25. piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit of the joints and marrow Heb. iv 12. Tongues of fire 3. to warm the cold affections of men into a love of Christ every tongue is not able to do that it must be a tongue set on fire from Heaven that can do that Tongues and tongues of fire sharp piercing tongues warm with heavenly heat are the only tongues