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
us that we may be condemned and Christ upbraided on this wise See these Servants of yours see those Children of men how full of all iniquity they are for whom you have shed your precious bloud These slanders and foul detractions of his though we do not hear them yet I have satisfied you so far herein out of my Text because his name imports them But we do feel it to our hurt and molestation that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tempter as it is in the third verse of this Chapter The word it self I would not have you think it is altogether evil for even God is said to tempt man Non ut ipse sed ut ij quos tentat se cognoscant says St. Austin not that he may bring any thing to light which was unmanifested to him but that our own effects may be known to our selves and to all the world as Deut. xiii 3. The Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul but the vulgar Latin reads it Vt palam fiat to make it known that you love him Again one man may tempt another to find what excellency is in him as the Queen of Sheba came to prove Solomon with hard questions besides there is a good Tentation wherein a man is bound to prove and to try himself Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves 2 Cor. xiii 5. In all these acceptions the Word is innocent but there is an abusive Phrase for man to tempt God as if we had not good experiment of his power and goodness but would search it further but let not us tempt Christ as some of them tempted and were destroyed of Serpents 1 Cor. x. 9. Lastly the word Tentation taken for allurement and provocation to sin is proper to Satan and to Satans instruments Among military rules this is one in all Authors it brings some advantage with it to study the nature and condition of our enemy I will beat a little upon that advice I have met with some who have humm'd and haw'd at it whether there were any Devils or no as if it were a thing that were disputable Perchance these give credit to nothing further than their outward senses apprehend after the manner of beasts or like the Sadduces that held there was neither Spirit nor Angel because they could see none If you ask them if Christ did not cast out divers Devils from those that were possessed their evasion is perhaps those might be enormous sins But could sins which are no substance but qualities cry out and tear a man and run into the Swine and confess Christ This is such an opinion says a late Writer Ac si oves putarent fabulam esse de lupis as if the Sheep should think Wolves were but a tale there were no such creatures that sought to devour them St. Austin brings in such an unbeliever objecting How should I overcome Satan How should I repel him whom I cannot see or perceive Well enough says the Father Facile habent remedium se ipsos interius vincant de illo foris triumphant overcome the instigations of evil motions within and you triumph over the Devil without None hath described the puissance of our ghostly enemies more tragically than St. Paul Eph. vi 12. We wrastle not against flesh and bloud but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickednesses in high places Every word of this description is Vae vae Woe be to them that are not strong to resist Our Adversaries in their essence are Spirits in their form invisible in their designs wicked in their power rulers of this world in their subtilties dealers in darkness in their place they have the higher ground much above our reach they hover in the air in high places The Prophet Isaiah demonstrated the weakness of the Egyptians That their horses were flesh and not Spirit Isa xxxi 3. The odds are the more against us that our adversaries are Spirit and not Flesh Daemonum tanto major nequitia quantò natura nobilior says Aquinas The more noble is the nature of hellish Fiends the more dangerous is their wickedness The more fleshly is our nature the more weak our resistance An Epicuraean will say perhaps that gives himself over to all licentiousness it is not in me to withstand the assaults of the Devil why should I go about it since I am made of a corruptible Elementary substance which cannot hold out against a spiritual wickedness But to make all such sinners inexcusable God hath made us a recompence and we have as good help on our side to say the least of it as they have of theirs partly by the help of his assisting grace partly by the Ministry of good Angels Some there are likewise that cry out man is unequally dealt withal because the Princes of darkness have that odds of us in their multitude they boast that their name is Legion Dionysius called the Areopagite as I read it in Aquinas reduceth the damnation of all sinners to this Multitudo Daemonum est causa omnium malorum the world is so over-laid with numbers of Devils that from thence ariseth all damnation I would not set so much by that single authority if St. Hierom had not said Communis est doctorum opinio this is the common received opinion of the Doctors Aer iste coelum terram medio dividens plenus est contrariis fortitudinibus The whole Element of the Air between heaven and earth is full of Diabolical troops that rise up against our soul and oppose our Salvation Howsoever this is but opinion and I am sure the Scripture doth no where put us in the perplexity of such a terror And that of Anthony the Eremite is confessed to be but a dream that he saw all the space between heaven and earth full of Satans snares to catch the souls of men Against these dreams and opinions I set the saying of Elisha on the one hand There are more that be with us than against us And the promise of our heavenly Father to the Children of Israel on the other hand One of you shall chase a thousand and two of you shall put ten thousand to flight Howsoever in all distress of tentation here is our refuge in this or the like Prayer Wilt thou suffer the destroyer O Lord to prevail against me Wilt thou permit him to say there there we have devoured him God spake once and twice that power belongeth unto God Semel atque iterum ob firmitatem once and twice because that truth is strongly established He that hath said unto the proud waves of the Sea hitherto shall ye go and no further He doth say unto Satan Hitherto shalt thou tempt and no farther It is not for the Devils deserving but for the wicked mans undeservings that God doth give him his
and Political Priviledges made Satan desire to contaminate it with the greatest sins as with the Martyrdom of the Saints with the hypocrisie of the Pharisees with sundry other crimes and with this presumptuous precipitation if he could have drawn Christ unto it In Psalm cxxii there are three things which made very much to the praise of it 1. It was a City compact together the strongest Tower of defence in all the Kingdom 2. There sate the Thrones of Judgment even the Thrones of the house of David And 3. Thither went the Tribes up to give thanks to the name of the Lord so that for Fortitude for Civil Justice and for the use of Religion for being an holy City it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very eye of the Land of Canaan But especially the name of Jerusalem in holy Scripture is rather the name of Gods Church than of a place which contained material building and therefore very aptly called the holy City Nay there is not one word beside in all the Book of God which contains the whole threefold estate of the Church that I can remember namely both the Synagogue under the Law and the Gospel under Grace and the blessed Communion of the Saints in heaven For Jerusalem as the Grammarians note is a Noun of the dual number to signifie both the Militant part on earth and the Triumphant part in heaven of them that are sanctified and joyned to Christ the head No place so pregnant as Gal. iv 25. where St. Paul shews a double Jerusalem upon Earth the Synagogue and the Gospel Jerusalem which now is says the Apostle which desired to be under the Law under the rudiments of Moses was in bondage with her Children but Jerusalem which is above not meaning the Choirs of Angels in heaven but the Church Apostolical which is watered with the dew of heaven from above That is free which is the mother of us all Here are two Jerusalems one above another the Antitype above the Type the Substance above the Shadow the Son of God exhibited in the flesh above the Figures and Sacrifices of the Levitical Priesthood But in both respects it was called the holy City For as concerning the Law of Ceremonies there was no other place but it where they were purely exhibited to God and as concerning the New Testament or Faith in Christ there it began Repentance and Salvation were preached unto all Nations beginning at Jerusalem And for this relative holiness which that City had by being the chief and most ancient Seat of the Oracles of God even Heaven did borrow a name from Earth and hath not despised to be called the upper Jerusalem St. John says when the old Elements of the world did pass away there was a new Heaven and a new Earth and he saw the New Jerusalem coming down from God prepared as a Bride for her Husband Rev. xxi 1. For these causes it had Nomen super omne nomen A name above all names among all the dwellings upon earth even as Christ had a name above all names among the Sons of men But as the Serpent did find a way to come into Paradise so he resorted to this holy City It is his joy to make that a Cage of unclean birds which was the Sanctuary of God It is his industry to sow Tares in the midst of Wheat it is his envy to make an evil Leprosie rise up in those Walls where Christs name is praised it is his pastime to pollute the holy City that the Lord may abhor it And this was easily brought about by the Devil Jerusalem hath run his own fortune Gods honour did abide in it for a while and after a while it became an hissing to all the Earth Once there was no other place in all the world that was holy there was no other Metropolis no other Sanctuary all the habitations of the earth beside were Idolatrous therefore from that ancient purity wherein it excelled alone it is called Sancta an holy City The former renown did so remain upon it then when it had been guilty of the bloud of all the Prophets and had crucified Christ himself yet after all this the Spirit of God lets it retain a name fitter for its ancient Sanctity than for its present Iniquity Many dead bodies of the Saints arose and came into the holy City and appeared unto many Alas now it is neither holy nor yet a City but first a Theater upon which all wickedness was acted and then an heap of ruines Although after the change of many names which it hath suffered Adrichomius says that the Turks in their Language call it the holy City to this day How well doth this parallel the state of the Roman Pontificat at this day We are often told and the oftner the less reason here did the Apostles Peter and Paul preach and suffer Martyrdom here have thirty faithful Bishops successively suffered for the name of Christ here have the Arrian the Nestorian the Pelagian Heresies been refuted this is the holy City Yes as Jerusalem is so entitled for the pure Worship of God which was once professed there not for the present faith and sincerity all places have admitted impurity and corruption for it was denounced to man that the whole Earth and every part of it should bring forth thorns and thistles unto him All Kingdoms and Cities have their periods and shall have them to shew that Gods Kingdom only is perpetual All Nurseries and Seminaries of Faith have had their full Tides and their Ebbings their times of Grace and their aversions from it to shew that truth is only established in the heavens And I doubt not but after the revolution of those years and days which God hath prefixed in his secret knowledge it will be more easie for our Posterity than it is for us upon great alterations that happen in all places to prove that where the Papacy now reigns it suffers the same fate with Jerusalem was but is not the holy City Well to seek further into this Point the Tempter did devise rather to pollute Christ than the City of God to which he brought him yet certainly thither he brought him because that place did serve his turn better than the solitary Desart Our Saviours own Kindred were ambitious to have him manifested Shew thy self unto the world and this was the very Pin which Satan did drive at that Christ would affect to be gaz'd upon and admiâ—ed Digito monstrari dicier hic est to be pointed at for the mighty Prophet upon whom the Spirit descended at Jordan in the sight of all the people What went you out into the wilderness to see There is nothing to be seen in the Wilderness that is no place for pride to do its work in But come to Jerusalem and there are thousands of spectators to take notice of a Prophet This is the nature of vain-glory to mingle it self in a populous throng where it may be observed Ut
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