fall out with the whole Profession of Chivalry for one Miscreants sake that pierced my Saviours side or for four at the most as some say that scourged him Quis requiescet super lonco quo perfossum est Christi latus for by that reason we should fall out with the Priests and High-Priests too who were deeper interested in the business than the Souldiers The Sons of Aaron were his first Enemies as you would say Hereticks and corrupt Teachers that sow Tares among the Wheat were the first Adversaries against the Church of Christ The Military men were his last Enemies they that wounded him in my Text and belyed the truth of his Resurrection afterward watching at the Sepulcher So the Battels of usurping Princes put on pestilently to be the last ruin of the Church Caesaris milites Caesar's Souldiers such as these were his Souldiers that would be an Universal Monarch the Caesar over all the Princes of the earth Some Expositors out of their respects to the honour of a Martial life would have this person to be ne unus militum no Souldier at all rightly called but by abuse and usurpation and I think you will say they speak reason when I tell you why When Hannibal was Master of the field against the Romans a People of Italy called Brutiani revolted to the Conquerors side But fortune turn'd and the time came that the Romans had clear'd the Coast of the Carthaginians and could take revenge of their Enemies at home then they neither would let those Brutiani live so happily as in Peace nor so honourably as to bear Arms in War but took them along with their Camp and made them Lictores Lorarii that is base Instruments for correction and execution of Malefactors so that by good conjecture this was but unus è Brutianis an Executioner and not a Souldier but as he lived in the Camp Now where villany was bred in the bone and the condition of the man was to be like Satanas emissus ad vexandum orbem appointed to vex all that came into his hands what could be expected but that he should thrust his Spear into the bowels of an Innocent As it was said of Maximinus the Tyrant who was born a Barbarian both by Father and Mother in quo fuit conscientia degeneris animi he did not apply himself to good because his conscience always told him that his original was base and degenerous Let him be as bad as we would have him or as good as the Text calls him he was as we are in one thing a Gentile and not a Jew a Gentile that did malice Christ The divisions of both those two great Houses did concur to these cruel and dolorous sufferings that both in their Posterity to the worlds end might think themselves indebted to expiate so great an offence both had an interest in these bloody passions prosecuting our Saviours death ut qui pro persecutoribus oraret Gentiles non excluderet says Origen That since he prayed for his Persecutors the Gentiles who were at one end of his Persecutions might be partakers of his Prayers And the counterfet Gospel of Nicodemus tells us what success this Gentile had upon our Saviours most potent Intercession and Prayer for his Enemies For this Longinus that name his new Godfathers have given him having lost the use of one eye long before a little sprinkling of this bloud did light upon it and restore it again The miracles and the grace of God made him a Christian and finally a constant profession of him that was crucified made him a glorious Martyr Whether the Story be true or false I dispute not this Author knew that there was a possibility we might believe it For 't is true that St. Hierom said upon the conversion of many Publicans and Harlots Christus est succinum ad congregandas sibi stipulas paleas many who had copious vices were drawn unto Christ as the Coral and the Jet draw chaff and straws and things of the least moment about them Men and Brethren to this day Christ is crucified to this day Armed men and Souldiers bend their fury against the Church of Christ are about his Cross For as the Philosopher said that an ill man was the worst of all Beasts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he was arm'd with wit and reason to do injustice So every sinner is not so strong as a Souldier to hurt nor furnisht with ability to be so bad as he would be he wants a spear to thrust Christ into the side as Isaiah said of the Army of Senacharib which threatned sore against the Temple of the Lord but fell short of their purpose The Children are come to the birth and are not able to bring forth But when I see Power and Authority make the worst use of it to oppress when I see a pregnant Wit set it self to scoff and libel when I hear Eloquence whet her tongue to plead against the innocent alas say I this is robusta iniquitas this impiety is armed with a Spear the weapons of malice are girt about it my Saviour and his poor Members are sure to smart for it Says the Prophet Ezekiel chap. xxxii they shall go down to Hell with their Weapons of War that is with their violent and powerful sins Transgressors we may be Souldiers that fight against Heaven I hope we will never be Cast away the weapons of Satan and put on the armour of light I have done with the Person I come to the Violence offered lanceâ fodit he pierced him with a Spear The hand of Jereboam which was stretched out against the man of God dried up and withered the hand of the Emperor Valens shook with an extreme Palsie and could not subscribe to the Banishment of Basil the Great says Theodoret but the hand of the Persecutor which aimed at the Body of Christ himself that was stedfast no infirmity in it no sinew shrunk Let these go their way says Christ of his Disciples when they were all taken together in the Garden let not these be apprehended the Shepherd rather than the Sheep the Master than the Servants In me convertite ferrum whosoever escapes his own flesh shall never flinch at torment St. Austin asks why his dearest flesh was pierced and despitefully mangled but according to the Scriptures not a bone of him was broken quia ossa sunt electi eorum virtutes his flesh was the Sacrifice which must be offered upon the Altar of the Cross but his Elect and their Virtues are understood by his bones and whatsoever betides himself yet his Elect that is his bones must not be broken In the Similitude of the Vine whereunto our Saviour is compared more than once Bernard hath thus continued the Allegory that in Circumcision he was vitis praecisa a Vine that was pruned and though a little cut yet no substantial part was wounded In the captious questions of the Pharisees when
man Therefore this opinion doth thus distinguish ante devolutum lapidem prodiit non ante concussum he passed forth out of the mouth of the Cave not before the Stone was shaken off with the Earthquake but before it was rolled away The fourth opinion I have read in no Author but I find it cited by one or two once in the Remish Testament and again in Estius potuit prodire per rimam ostii vi subtilitatis as he came into his Disciples when the doors were shut so he came out of the Sepulchre when the door was shut by some chink or crany where the passage was not stopt close This I know that they who speak to this purpose upon other occasions do quote St. Paul 1 Cor. xv 44. It is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body because a body raised from the dead is called a spiritual body many do assume that it hath no grosseness as our bodies have but can attenuate it self as a thick piece of gold is malleated and made ductile into a thin leaf and so to pass through a narrow crevis Beloved this opinion is not so simple as some would make for the learnedst Clerk in the world cannot define what manner of spirituality a glorified body should have neither shall we understand it till we come to know in Heaven even as we are known Yet I confess I am puzzled when I think that by this cobweb subtilty Christ must needs lose the figure and lineaments of a manly body beside Theodoret Tertullian and all that wrote against the Marcionites do stiffly maintain the truth of Christs Body to be no aereal phantastical thing Beside I will frame an argument as well against these who hold our Saviour slipt in by a chink of the door when the doors were shut as against the Pontificians who define he came through the wood of the door and so violated nature both these Tenents are contrary to that which himself said to Thomas the Apostle to remove the suspicion that he was no spirit says he Handle and see me for a spirit hath not flesh and bone as you see me have this had not been enough to prove the truth of his bodily presence and resurrection in the body if they had been perswaded he came in as an aereal spiritual substance or by penetration of the door contrary to nature In the fifth place Zwinglius and Sadael and some others of the Reformed Churches conceived there was so much difficulty in all the four opinions which I have run over and finding no compulsive reason to be driven out of the plain way deliver'd their sentence that the Angel tumbled the stone from the door of the Monument and then the passage being clear Christ came forth without a miracle Certainly as well as I could peruse the Scriptures though I see nothing in them to favour this opinion so I see nothing in the Sacred Text to contradict it I would the Fathers had countenanced it Leo the Great did howsoever some would shuffle it but he proving against the Marcionites that Christ had no phantastical body breaks out Can his substance be phantastical which was nailed to the Cross lay in the Sepulchre and the Stone being rolled away rose again the third day therefore the scruple is that the general consent of all the Fathers beside bend that way how the Grave was not unclosed when he rose Non indigebat ut amoto lapide surgeret sicut Lazarus says St. Austin he needed not like Lazarus to have the stone rolled away that he might come forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Chrysost the Grave was open after he was risen ftom the dead nay in plain terms he says the Seal and stone were still untoucht Set aside that reverence which we bear to these glorious lights of the Ancient Church I see no absurdity which follows if we said he rose to life when the Stone was rolled from the Sepulchre But in all these opinions nothing is grosly repugnant to Faith or Nature only I had rather addict my self to the first opinion which considers not how or which way he came out of the Grave but says the manner was miraculous and inexplicable But I can in no wise digest the sixth and seventh opinions I must couple the Pontificians and Lutherans together though the one side be Transubstantiators the other side Consubstantiators The Lutherans say boldly and blindly that his body passed through the stone so the substance of bread and the substance of Christs body are both together in one place in the Sacraments The Faction of Rome say he went through the stone but what 's that to them who hold not that the substance of Bread and his Body remain together after Consecration in the Host but the substance of bread is abolished and his body remains under the quantitative dimensions of bread but they infer if two bodies may be together in one place by Divine power then one and the same body may be in divers places at once by the same power without a contradiction For these are equivalent and of the same capacity There want not those who deny that the possibility of the one is so probable as the other but to make haste I will speak of this Pontifician opinion as they refer us for the like to other instances in Scripture and then as they refer it to the Eucharist their Allegations are that Mary remain'd a Virgin after Christs birth quem clausa virginitas ad presentem tulerat vitam clausum sepulchrum ad vitam reddidit sempiternam Marics virginity was not enclosed when he was born nor the stone rolled away when he rose 'T is strange that this was ever urg'd when the Holy Ghost applieth that Scripture to our Saviour Luke ii 23. Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. And her virginity consisted in this which she spoke to the Angel virum non cognosco I know not a man and truly such a Nativity as they speak of cannot properly be called a Birth The second instance is very witless when the Jews would have thrown our Saviour down an hill he passed through the midst of them and went his way A most blind inference to say out of those words his body passed through the midst of their bodies and as much to the purpose as to have cited that he sat in the midst of Doctors at twelve years of age It avails as little in the third plate to cite St. Paul Heb. iv 14. We have a great High-priest that is passed into the heavens Is this objection of any strength unless they think the Heavens could not be opened to receive him of whose opening we read so many times in the Holy Testament therefore their strength lies onely upon one place Joh. xx 19. when the doors were shut where the Disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst Inde clausus
the Feast Go and sit down in the lowest room but litterally descension is infallibly the motion of a body And otherwise the wonder had herein consisted not that such a Dove was seen but that such a strange spectacle appeared to John and to all the multitude which was not to be seen John did see the object it did not phantastically in a shadow deceive him as if he saw it And it is a touch worthy to be observed by the way that my Text says he saw the Spirit which is a clear Metonimy of the sign for the thing signified for in truth he saw no more than the outward sign of the Spirit To call the holy Spirit by the attribute of the Dove is a Sacramental signification not an essential mutation just such a form of speech as when Christ brake bread at his Last Supper and said unto his Disciples This is my body I proceed to that which follows how aptly the Spirit came in one figure at this time upon Christ in another of fire and cloven tongues at this day of Pentecost upon the Apostles If I would rake old Heresies out of their dead embers to refute them here I had occasion The Arians extorted from hence that Christ did receive the mighty gift of Sanctification at this Baptism and other admirable graces of the Spirit which he had not before If they were worth the refuting I could tell them Joh. i. 14. As soon as ever the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us he was full of grace and truth On the contrary the Macedonian Hereticks men of corrupt minds did make a difference of dignity between Christ and the Holy Ghost as the body of a man was more excellent which belonged to Christ than the body of a Dove wherin the Spirit sate upon him Then belike if an Angel should come in the shape of a man or of an Eagle which is more glorious than a Dove he should also have the preheminence But the blindness of the error came from hence that they did not distinguish how Christ took upon him the nature of a man but the Holy Ghost did not assume the nature of a Dove Let these blasphemies go let them rot and consume with the Authors which invented them the Father the Son and the Spirit are all one in Glory equal in Majesty coeternal Upon occasion of Baptism the Master sent forth his Disciples saying Go and baptize all Nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Can I pass by the surpassing wit of St. Austin upon that place Non in nominibus sed in nomine patris ubi unum nomen est ibi unus Deus Not in the names but in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Where there is but one name and no more there is but one God and no more As in like argument St. Paul Gal. iii. 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the Promises made he saith not and to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ Let me return into my own path which I am to beat that Christ had one sign of the Holy Ghost coming down upon him and the Apostles had another Upon which diversity thus I find the Fathers exercising their wits in several meditations First The Spirit sate upon our Saviours head in the shape of an whole entire creature in no other figure but a tongue upon the Apostles which is no more than a little part of the body for we receive the grace of God by scantlings and pittances and small measures the whole Spirit flowed into Christ in all abundance In like manner Gregory shews the odds between his fulness and ours in Analogy between the head and other members of the body A body hath the sense of touching only and no more the head is the continent of all the five senses Ita membra superni capitis in quibusdam virtutibus emicant ipsum caput in cunctis virtutibus flagret So the Saints have several gifts and ornaments divided among them some in one kind some in another but the head of the Church hath all flourisheth with all those vertues united in himself which are parted among his members Secondly The tongues of holy men and Prophets did often promise grace and reconciliation to the world and therefore a tongue did sit upon them as it were a Crest of Armory a Dove when time was did actually exhibit that God was pacified and appeased when he had been wroth I mean the Dove which returned to the Ark with a dry Olive branch in her mouth in token that the waters were dried up and that Noah and his Family might come forth with safety Therefore a Dove most properly did belong to Christ Most properly I say but more transcendently says St. Chrysostom now than ever The first Dove did comfort the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that punishment was taken away this Dove is a sacred pledge that grace and blessings shall be bestowed upon us Now it appeared not to bring one man and his family safe into the possession of the earth but to bring all Believers safe into the possession of heaven Thirdly The Spirit came not to Christ in fire for he was full of Zeal nor yet in the shape of a tongue for full of grace were his lips But discite quia mitis learn of me because I am meek and gentle therefore says Bernard the Dove came to testifie the placidness of the Lamb. Quod agnus in animalibus columba in avibus such as the Lamb is among the beasts of the field such is the Dove among the fouls of the air Fire is stern and formidable Christ would have none of that that which sorts with consolation to recreate a trembling conscience was his peculiar choice therefore the third Person descended like a Dove and sate upon him Fourthly The tongues wherein the Apostles received the grace of God were cloven and divided not to signifie a rent and a division Linguarum distantiae non sunt schismata but because there is a diversity and a dispreading about of the gifts of God Then comes down one single Dove to honour Unity Spiritus sanctus divisus in linguis unitus in columbâ says St. Austin it was pride which caused that diversity of tongues it was the Holy Ghost through the humility of Christ which sanctified that diversity Quod turris dissociaverat Ecclesia collegit Babel the Tower of pride scattered the world the Church which is the Tower of humility gathers the world together But the Dove was the Ensign of our Saviours Kingdom standing for the unity of the Spirit which is the bond of peace Fifthly The Holy Ghost was made manifest to the Chruch first in a Dove at the feast of Christs Baptism afterward in fire at the Feast of Whitsontide to betoken it is the same Spirit which requires innocency in the
first observed it how Satan did clamber higher and higher in every Tentation and still changed his outward appearance to do the feat the better First as a man he did commiserate humane wants and necessities and insinuates the sin of Infidelity Secondly He transformed himself into an Angel of light and urgeth him to presumption and vain-glory In the last bout having now deceived himself that Christ was not the eternal Son of God he did truly manifest the Luciferian audaciousness and impudency and in his own shape he provokes the most holy one of God to most horrid Idolatry The Thief comes not but to steal says our Gospel and the Impostor of the world comes not but to deceive Totus quantus est mendacium est Every thing in him was lying and fiction and delusion The promises which he made were lying promises the pity which he pretended was lying pity the Scripture which he quoted as he quoted it was lying Scripture and the shape in which he came was a lying shape Alas that man who was made an excellent Creature after the Image of God should degenerate so much in all goodness that his shape should grow a fit coverture to cloak the couzenage of the Devil Might not this be the art of this our capital enemy That since God cursed the Serpent because the Devil came in his shape to tempt our first Parents so the Lord might be exasperated to curse mankind because his only Son was tempted to wickedness in the shape of man Beloved this inference from hence may be our instruction We know not in what form or transmutation Satan will come to seduce our souls therefore be wise as Serpents And since our own shape is not free from his Impostures as it follows in the next verse Mat. x. 17. Beware of men Take heed that beauty tempt you not to wantonness it is but dirt well tempered with bloud Let not pleasing words steal away your heart from the truth that is but to dance when the Devil Pipes Every man that speaks contrary to faith and holiness his mouth is become the instrument wherein Satan speaks his Oracles And so much for that circumstance how he disguised himself in the shape of man After this I will lay hold of one of the main parts of the Text. The Tempter had two ends in casting forth these words before our Saviour Vt cognosceret incognitum ut corrumperet cognitum First to learn more perfectly that which he terribly mistrusted whether Christ were the Son of God and upon this do depend some remarkable observations And to make this Point profitable I begin from hence that Satan had not yet perfectly discovered who our Saviour was and therefore he wrought in this Mine in the first Tentation to find it out Many of the Fathers do acknowledge that this was part of his business and St. Hillary doth well express it Erat Diabolo de metu suspicio non de suspicione cognitio The Devil being rather suspicious than clearly resolved took this course to find it out whether this were the Seed of the woman that should bruise the Serpents head And mark how his words lie to this purpose He did not say since you are hungry bid this stone be made bread that were to entice him to bare gluttony Nor thus you are the Son of God bid this stone be made bread but in a doubting irony If thou be the Son of God It is strange that a Spirit so subtil by nature so intellectual so vigilant to espy Christ in all his ways so able to understand Jacobs Prophesie that the Scepter was departed from Judah and therefore Shiloh should come should hold off so long and doubt of that which was clearly manifest There were some Divines in St. Hieroms time that took a middle way for their opinion how the Inferiour Furies of Hell did long before believe and tremble and had cast it up for certain that this was the Son of God but Beelzebub the Prince of Devils was so much blinded with malice more than all the rest that he continued a time after all the rest in ignorance and Infidelity But this is meerly their own fancy without the suffrage of the holy Scripture The darkness of unbelief was upon all the Angels of disobedience for Satan who is the accuser of the brethren and no doubt complaineth to God that many of his Elect are slow of belief hath this malicious slander retorted upon himself that after many evident tokens better known to him than to weak men he faltred and doubted shamefully as my Text says If thou be the Son of God This was like for like repayed unto him he blinds our hearts with sundry fallacies that we should not know good from evil and God blinded his understanding that he should not discern truth from falshood And that you may not marvel that the Tempter should be dubitative in so manifest a case and knew not which way to incline recollect one thing that did infatuate him he being the Angel of pride and judging all events according to the pitch of his own ambition how could it come into his mind that the Son of God would debase himself with so much humility And so it hath fared ever since those days nothing hath so much hardned their hearts who are slow of belief as pride and insolency For it is the arrogant conceit we have of our own wit which hinders sometimes that we do not subject reason to the knowledge of God I must be careful in this Point that one place of Scripture may not make another obscure especially to leave no shadow of contradiction between one Text and another In this business Jesus fasting forty days in the Wilderness the Devil seems not to understand perfectly that he was Christ the Lord. In the Synagogue of Capernaum Luk. iv 34. the unclean Spirit calls him by his name and title and Country Jesus of Nazareth I know thee who thou art the holy one of God So intelligent above any of the Jews that he is the first that ever called him a Nazarite Nor do I reckon upon these words so much that the evil Spirit said I know thee who thou art for Satan is a liar and must not be credited when he speaks truth But the Evangelist St. Luke says in his own person from the inspiration of God he suffered not the Devils to speak for they knew that he was Christ in the same Chapter verse 41. Beloved distinguish the times and the matter is reconciled Before the encounter of this Tentation the enemy knew him not Christs humility and extreme exinanition did shadow him that he was not discerned After the infamous repulse that Satan suffered in these Tentations and upon the admiration of some other subsequent miracles he was compelled to confess thou art he that art come to torment me and to destroy my Kingdom the holy one of God So Nazianzen exprobrates to the Arians how they resisted that
as when a bow-string is snapt in twain yet both parts of the strings do still remain in the nocks of the Bow So the body of our Saviour was holy and venerable because it retained the personal union of the Godhead and the Sepulcher where it was reposed deserved the attendance of an Angel Fourthly If not an Angel who else would be believed in so great a matter as this was Tell me who could give testimony beside that would be credited The Disciples were never so tardy to conceive never so unapprehensive in any thing else as in this They knew not as yet what the rising from the dead did mean Observe the talk of Cleophas and the other Disciple Luk. xxiv 21. And guess at all the company beside They confess Christ had been a Prophet mighty in word and deed whom Pilate and the Rulers had condemned to death and crucified but we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel As who should say being he is dead there is an end of our hope we look for no more redemption from him God loves to have better witnesses than these in all his works that we may not say he takes us unprepared we were not well wrought to credulity David said it in his haste what if he had said it upon premeditation All men are liars It was not fit so fundamental an Article of faith as this was should be preatcht at first time by lying lips nay rather by an Angel who was confirmed in grace that he would not lie And how little had the authority of any man swayed Mary Magdalen to believe when albeit an Angel had told her the truth how Christ was risen yet she distrusts and runs to Peter and John with a quite contrary tale that some body had taken away her Masters body and she knew not where they had laid it and therefore because an Angel could not put that faith into her Christ took it in hand and disclosed himself Fifthly An Angel appears at the mouth of the Grave after Christ came to life again who is the first fruits of our Resurrection which is in effect to promise that we shall be exalted after death to the society of Angels Thus a worthy Author observed it before me The finding of an Angel in the place of dead bodies is for a pledge that there is a possibility and hope that dead bodies may come into the place of Angels Why not the bodies in the Grave to be advanced in heaven one day as well as the Angels in heaven to be about the Grave this day And I pray you mark it with me There are many Apparitions of Angels recorded in holy Scripture yet this one time and no more if I be not mistaken an accurate description is made what manner of Robe and Garment they did seem to wear His countenance was like lightning and his rayment white as snow in the next verse to my Text. The Holy Ghost would never have instanced in the bright colour of the Garment but to shew with what Angelical shapes we shall be cloathed in the Resurrection 6. Lastly Angels desire to be present at every thing wherein mankind is benefited that they may rejoyce with us No envy no malignity in them that we shall be made perfect in both parts of nature both in body and soul and so in that respect exceed them who are only spiritual substances For they that rejoyce when one sinner is converted how much more do they rejoyce that all mankind shall be deliver'd from the Prisons of death and beautified with immortality they fought with the Devil about the Body of Moses they will strive with death and corruption about the restauration of our bodies For God will send forth his Angels and they shall gather his Elect from the four corners of the earth this is meant of their Ministry to rake up our bones and dust together at the great day of the Resurrection Surgente Christo terrenis redditur coeleste commercium now Angels came down in bodily shapes because Christ had exalted frail flesh unto incorruption now they talk familiarly to Gods servants as with the tongues of men because our tongues shall be made Psalteries of the divine praise for ever I have done with the Angels descent from heaven and now I come to the third motion which was particularly about our Saviours Sepulchre He came and rolled back the stone from the door When you hear that the door of our Saviours Sepulchre was a great stone and a stone rolled upon it you must not conceive the manner by such Tombs and Monuments as we have now adaies Neither will I refer you to those types and Medals which are printed now adaies and taken from the fashion of the Sepulchre which at this day is to be seen in the Holy City and is kept by certain Orders of Friars with great reverence For with what assurance can I say it is the same Sepulchre wherein our Saviour lay when Eusebius says that in the reign of Constantine the Emperor the place was nothing but a rude heap of earth so that there was no memory remaining of our Saviours Burial place But those of the learned that seem to me to speak probably say thus Jerusalem was seated upon a rocky place so that all their chief Monuments were digged out of stony Quarries Every Family of noble reputation as the learned Casaubon notes it out of the Rabbies had a Sepulchre proper to it self with a certain number of hollow places or excavations to receive the Corpses of that Family Some say there were wont to be thirteen in every Vault some say but eight In such a Vault belonging to Joseph of Arimathaea was Christ laid a rocky stony Moument it was lest some should say he was digg'd out by some secret Mine a new one wherein never any had been laid lest they should say not He but another body rose a Tomb not belonging to himself but to another man because he neither died nor was buried for himself but for us men and for our salvation St. Cyril helps us further to know that the Monuments of the Kings of Juda and Israel were raised a little above the ground but the Tombs of all others of that Nation who were under the Princely rank were hewn out seven cubits under ground Eusebius very directly says of his Tomb it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Cave but none so pat as the Prophet Jeremy Lam. v. 53. They have cut off my life in the dungeon and cast a stone upon me An hollow descension into a low place is called a Dungeon And as we cover a Wells mouth with planks of wood or with lead so in sundry places of Scripture it appears that they rolled great stones upon the mouth of their Caves And surely Joseph of Arimathaea barr'd this Sepulchre with a stronger stone than ordinary that our Lords body might not be abused by the malice of his Enemies
Brethren Lastly as their Commission had dignity and sweetness in it so they were sent with profitable tydings to tell the Disciples they must go into Galilee and there they should see the Lord. What ailed them I may say that they were not already gone into Galilee for Christ had told them Mat. xxvi 22. When I am risen again I will go before you into Galilee Nay albeit the Women repeated this unto them they did not stir What though they would not go with him to his Cross would not they remove into Galilee when they were warned by Christ and now readmonished by the Women What might it be that hindred them shall I tell you what I think they had forgotten what Christ said and the tydings of the women made them keep closer to that place where they were Can it be that these women saw him in Jerusalem then surely say they the Lord will appear unto us in this City though we do not travel into Galilee But why did the Lord appoint the great intercourse between him and his Disciples in Galilee First it was remote from Jerusalem where much danger was there he might discourse with his Disciples with more privacy and security Secondly the Apostles were all Galileans and for their sakes he did this honour to their Country Thirdly to eject Satan out of his possession for it was a place of much sin called a place of darkness and the land of the shadow of death Isa ix 2. Fourthly there were many Disciples in Galilee and Christ had intended a famous meeting to appear to them all at once as some say on Mount Thabor where he was transfigur'd and that here it was where he was seen of more than five hundred Brethren at once Be it as it would be he promiseth they should see him there and he was better than his promise for upon this day at Even they saw him at Jerusalem Here is nothing that savours of any old grudg or displeasure no repealing of the former promise because they had forsaken him in the Garden but a confirmation of all loving kindness passed and an exceeding favour superadded that their souls might not be tortur'd with that long procrastination not to see him till they went into Galilee he prevented the time and appear'd to them in their own Chamber before they slept To this Christ who is faithful in promises and gracious in loving kindness be all glory AMEN THE NINTH SERMON UPON THE RESURRECTION MAT. xxviii 13. Say ye his Disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept IN the Parable where the King made a Marriage for his Son and I may truly apply it this day was the glorious Nuptial of the Son of God but in that Parable the Servants went out for Guests into the high ways and gathered together all as many as they found good and bad So the Evangelists have filled up the story of our Saviours Resurrection with all kind of Circumstances of Saints and Reprobates truth and fictions good and bad It is agreed by them who have exactly wrote an harmony of the Gospels that Christ made five Apparitions and no fewer all of them upon this triumphant day after he was risen from the dead to the devoutest of all others men and women that loved the Lord. The first to Mary Magdalen The second to the other Women that were going from the Sepulchre to tell the Disciples what the Angels had said unto them The third to Peter Luc. xxiv 34. The Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon 1 Cor. xv 5. Seen of Cephas then of the Twelve The fourth to Cleophas and the other Disciple toward the setting of the Sun to whom he was known in the breaking of bread The fifth to the Disciples late that night Whereas they had received a Message to go into Galilee and there they should see the Lord yet out of fear and incredulity they moved not out of doors Therefore on the same day at Evening being the first day of the Week when the doors were shut where the Disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst of them and said Peace be unto you And howsoever some of those portions of Scripture are read for the Gospel to morrow some for next Sunday yet all those five Apparitions hapned upon this one day He appeared so often to the best of those that loved him but the relation of his Resurrection was made also on this day to the worst of those that hated him The Angels spake it to the Women in the hearing of the Souldiers that he was risen to life the news went from bad to worse the Souldiers tell the High Priests and Elders what they had heard and seen the High Priests again sophisticate the news and tell them fraudulently to Pilate for the Souldiers safety then Pilate and the High Priests agreeing together fill the whole Nation of the Jews by their cunning with incredulity Look not therefore to hear me speak at this time of those good Saints to whom the mystery of Christs Resurrection was the savour of life unto life but of those wicked Infidels who by their own impiety made it unto themselves the savour of death unto death There is not one good person within the compass of the story whereof my Text is a part It is Manipulus zizaniorum If ever according to the Parable God sent his Angel to gather the worst Tares in one bundle by themselves here they are The High Priests prevaricating with God and his Angels the Souldiers corrupted Pilate the Governour misperswaded the people wholly seduced bad is the best Yet St. Matthew and no other Evangelist hath interserted this piece of treachery among the other sweet Narrations of this most happy day And for these causes if St. Chrysostome hit it right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truth will have the better audience when it passeth through the mouths of most contrary Authors say not that his Disciples and such Women as had Christ in admiration spread these things abroad for the malignant Souldiers speak the same 2. That we may see that very hour when God did first smite the Jews with that vertiginous spirit to hearken to Cabalistical Legends to the doating dreams of the Rabbines as they do at this day that is in St. Pauls Phrase to profane and old Wives Fables For indeed this Text is a mere Romancy as arrant a Jewish Fable as ever was told A Conspiracy so full of rotten Fictions that nothing is true in it all but that it is a Conspiracy and that it is a Fiction 1. Then we must bolt out the Confederates Gebal and Ammon joyn together the High Priests the Elders and the Souldiers 2. The way of Confederacy is by putting a forged Tale in the Souldiers mouths they must avouch any thing that the Priests suborn Ye shall say 3. The Plot is collaterally against the Disciples for being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
breakers up of Graves and robbers of the dead Say ye his Disciples came by night 4. The main intended contrivance was to discredit the true Doctrine of our Saviours Resurrection Say ye his Disciples came by night and stole him away 5. In the last place I will handle the improbability of all of what contradictions the Plot consists never to be pieced together for all this if it like you must be done while they slept Say ye c. The Text being part of a Confabulation of some that laid their heads together to do mischief in the first place it will be most proper to speak of these Confederates On the one part to see that men of the best gifts and qualities are the most wicked Sons of Belial when they are left to themselves they are of no worse credit and calling than High Priests and Elders The selected Tribe of God to burn Incense to his name and offer Sacrifice continually the eyes of the people for counsel and their tongue to pray for them So blessed by Jacob and by Moses in the name of their Father Levi that nothing but such an horrid sin as a conspiracy against Christ could unbless them again Every house thought it self happy to receive one of that order so Micah of Mount Ephraim every Lot of Israel took them for innocent and unsuspected as it is 1 Mach. vii 14. One that is a Priest of the Seed of Aaron is come and he will do us no harm Marcus dixit ita est their word was Law and their righteousness unquestioned All this credit they had that now the Devil might use them the better to suppress a manifest truth When one did highly commend Julian the Cardinal the Popes Legate at the Council of Basil Sigismund the Emperour answers Tamen Romanus est for all your great commendation this man is a Roman So the High Priests sate in Moses Chair were zealous of the Law fasted look'd sowerly pretended much affection to the Temple of the Lord Tamen sunt Pharisaici for all this praise they tasted deeply of the Leaven of the Pharisees and envied it that God himself should send his own Son to have more authority among the people or to be greater in estimation than they such as loved the praise of men more than the praise of God That was a mild character of our Saviours but the meaning of it is they had rather conjure with Hell to maintain their Error than retract it with open repentance and incur a little shame for their former obstinacy When Lazarus was raised from the dead and all the people wondred at it presently the High Priests warn their Council to meet for upon every good deed they fell a conspiring and the matter propounded to the Council was What do we For this man doth many Miracles O fools and slow of heart If he do many Miracles what should ye do But confess him to be the Son of God and fall down and worship him Is Lazarus revived to their knowledge And doth it not say unto them why will ye perish and not believe Nay God invited them thus far that those mighty sinners the Authors that put Christ to death heard of his Resurrection on this day within a little while after he was risen and by their own Ministers such as were of their own Faction that watched the Sepulchre those told them very certain tidings that an Angel of God had said to certain devout women He is risen he is not here They saw it they heard it they quak'd for fear and felt it they could not be mistaken O God what abundant means were these to let them know the truth and be saved For all this they are at their old santez What do we This man is risen from the dead let us cast a mist before mens eyes that they may never believe it Thus that which should have begot Faith in them begot madness and that heart will never be well softened which is hardened with the very grace of God Was Pharaoh ever religiously mollified that wax'd stubborn after so many Messages which Moses brought after so many Plagues on Earth so many Wonders from Heaven He never had a true relenting heart that dodg'd the grace of God so often Beloved that Pharaoh and these High Priests let them be your examples what a fearful thing it is to make ill use of those good means which are ordained for your salvation But I am not yet off from the main Point the Priests are one part of this wicked combination and they invited the Souldiers to joyn with them in the Plot against Christs Resurrection and undertake for another Plot to make Pilate wink at all passages and be pleased Davos Davos omnia these are the wits that carry the whole stratagem before them For what Impostures will not pass for fair dealing when they are recommended upon the credit of the Chief Priests Iis qui occaecantur authoritate sacerdotali facilè pro veritate obtruditur mendacium When well meaning men have the persons of some great Clerks in reverence and think the Spirit of God is among them how easie it is to fall into great errors upon that trust That it is no wonder if many stick obstinately to Popish superstition whose eyes are dazled with Pontifical Authority Woe be to them who are rotten in their own foundation and yet inveigle others to build upon their conscience And mark who those others were whom the High Priests made their Confederates some of those Souldiers that watcht the Sepulchre So the Fox and the Lion are yoked together Vulpina pellis leomna force and policy wit and violence The Sword of Paul as Pope Julian the Second said with the Keys of Peter Some of the Watch came into the City and shewed the High Priests all things that were done ver 11. At first they told the certainty of Christs Resurrection and gave God the glory and made a just Apology for themselves that they were charged indeed to look to the Tomb that the body which was in it might be kept safe and unremoved but some dreadful Powers from above came down and broke open the Sepulchre who could blame them therefore that they did not fight against Heaven If they might have been let alone to themselves they had said no more and gone away well excused But the High Priests more unjust by far than these Heathen make them unsay every word which they had spoken true and scandalize Gods name among the Heathen by teaching them to blaspheme A very hard case that in all likelihood these had been far more honest and sincere if they had never consulted with those that by their Duty and Office were their Teachers But a little matter alas draws men into the high-way of iniquity and the Priests could no sooner propound treachery but the Souldiers are in the knot First they carry more reverence to man than unto God and conjoyned to betray the greatest