〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. She is a Jerusalem a visible fair City that 's her external Communion 2. A Jerusalem above that 's her internal Sanctity 3. A Jerusalem that is free which is her supernal Redemption 4. A Mother that 's her Fruitfulness 5. The Mother of us which comprehends her Unity 6. The Mother of us all which expresseth the Universality Somewhat upon each of these as God shall assist me that the hour may be profitable to the hearers Jerusalem is the Substantive or fundamental word that bears up the whole Text and it is as musical a word as most that run upon syllables but it offers more pleasantness to the understanding than to the ear full of happy signification a name given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher Plato was wont to say to accommodate to the Church Apostolical that unless God had foreseen that his saving truth should first grow up within the walls thereof it had never been called Jerusalem The first mention of it is to be required from Josh x. i. where we read that Adoni-zedek King of Jerusalem was afraid of Joshua when he had taken the strong City of Ai Yet I will not say that it was called Jerusalem in those dayes when Adoni-zedek lived It had two names before and the best Antiquaries of the Jews confess it is not spoken of by their Wise-men which name preceded The Rulers thereof whose mention is of the oldest time are Melchi-zedek and Adoni-zedek that is the King of Justice and the Lord of Justice so that the City was formerly called Zedek or Justice that without controversy but because through the corruption of our manners Justice may set mens teeth on edg when it is too severe and inflexible therefore it was also called Salem or the Border of Peace Melchisedech kept his chief Court there and he was King of Salem and Priest of the most high God And thus in the times fore-gone augusto augurio for a more fortunate Auspice it was known by the names of Zedek and Salem Justice and Peace both which were fulfilled in Christ our Lord who suffered there to satisfie his Fathers Justice and made our peace by the Propitiation in his bloud Things by-past so long agoe for the most part are all uncertain and it is not known whether it were David the renowned Conqueror of that City or some other holy Prophet that enlarged the short word Salem and made it Jerusalem Whosoever it was if our Doctors hit him right he had an excellent reason for it In this place the mighty Hill was called Mount Moriah in the dayes of Abraham Thither he brought his onely Son Isaac to sacrifice him as the Lord commanded but when the Ram caught by the horns did excuse his Son he called that high place Jehovah Jireth the Lord will be seen in the Mount This Jireth prefixt before Salem makes it Jerusalem as who should say this City the Church will bring you to the vision of peace Or thus let her be comforted in her persecutions Deus providebit pacem God will provide peace So that Justice Peace and Providence are the flowers that spring out of her names a sign that some great Blessing was hatching within her Circuit which was brought forth when the first Flock of Christ the great Shepherd was folded there who were sent from thence to baptize all Nations Neither have we of the New Testament encroached upon this Name without leave the Psalms the Prophets all that went before have given us authority for it To cite one for all those words of Jeremy come next to my mind At that time they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord and all the Nations shall be gathered unto it We are the Parties spoken of and we are that Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord. Not to rob them of it that first possessed the Name but that both of us might be marked with one stamp as with a Seal of Unity It was Jerusalem before unto them of the Circumcision and still it is Jerusalem unto us of the Uncircumcision The Law and the Gospel are at no discord unless they be perversly mistaken the one was Christ veiled the other is Christ reveiled they make not two Churches no more than an Infant and one of full age make two diverse men it is the same bough that bears the flower and the fruit they are both Jerusalem No conjunction in the World was intended by God to be more amicable than between us two that we should be one People one Body one Sheepfold one City one Jerusalem any thing what you will which was of multitude and will hold fast together and become the same How often is our Peace-maker called a Corner-stone that he might grow with us both into one frame of building he stretched him to both Walls that both might rest in him Yet for all this none under Heaven are worse agreed than we through the envy of the Devil Socrus Synagoga divisa est contra nurum Ecclesiam says St. Austin It is as our Saviour foretold the Mother-in-law the Synagogue is divided against the Daughter-in-law the Church and the Daughter-in-law the Church is divided against the Mother-in-law the Synagogue But the scandal of the rupture is theirs and the curse of it is upon them which will never escape them that affect schismatical separations and to be holy after their own cut It were lamentable to tell you what the Polity of the Jews is at this time a spiritual Sodom is an harsh word but we that march after the Standard of Christ are an holy Jerusalem Which word must needs gather up our mind into many notions wherein Jerusalem of old and the Catholick Church do symbolize both of them the Seats of the Oracles of God both of them the Thrones of the Priesthood both of them sown with the bloud of Martyrs both of them illuminated by Prophets immediately sent from God there the Lepers that were cleansed after due Rites performed were received into the Congregation here contrite sinners after due penance performed receive their absolution to that Kings brought Presents and Proselytes came from far to this the most glorious Monarchs have afforded their bounty and protection In the one Christ was sacrificed for the sins of the World but the new Jerusalem and none but it doth partake the merit of his Sacrifice If fancy will take scope these Analogies are without number therefore I pass them by And I refer my self to two things especially how the Name descended upon the Church First While the old Tabernacle stood Jerusalem was the chief place wherein men called upon the Name of the Lord. Secondly Out of the same Sion went forth the New Law and Jerusalem was the Mother of the first born in Christ For the first as you would call a School of good letters Athens a place of good Military Education Lacedaemon and a Country of intemperance and luxury Babylon so because the Worship of God
our left but God hath given the judgment of discretion to all Christians of mature age let them mark what the Scriptures say in clear and literal Positions Thirdly The judgment of direction is committed to Pastors and Teachers that are set over your souls And judge ye what we say says the Apostle and the Lord give you understanding Fourthly There is the judgment of Jurisdiction proper to them who are in places of pre-eminency and these may determine Controversies of Faith according to plain and evident Scripture but because they may exceed the bounds of truth it is pernicious to say that men are bound to obey those determinations with as great affections of Piety as the inerrable Word of God That place so much debated that the Church is the House of God the ground and Pillar of Truth will bear no more but that it is so by Office and Calling as every King is the Minister of Justice though some have failed in the execution of it And the Note of Cameron upon it is very witty and learned that the Jews were wont to prefix these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he proves it out of Maimonides before the grand Points of Religion and so may make a Preface to the succeeding Verse The pillar and ground of truth great is the mystery of Godliness c. It is an Interpretation to better Analogie of Faith than that which his Adversaries press out of the words The sum is our Faith is not built upon the Authority and Infallibility of the present Church if it controul an higher authority than it self the holy Scripture what remains but declines her judgment as our Saviour did his Parents Wist you not that I must go about my Fathers business And as Asa did depose his Mother Maacha though she were his Mother for erecting an Idol So we may reject the Mother which should command a relative adoration of Images of Stocks and Stones and appeal to our Grandmother which was free from such scandals Judicate matrem vestram says Hoseah to the Jews when the Synagogue was corrupt Plead against your Mother Yet so says Waldensis most prudently that the humble and obedient Children of the Church may not insolently insult upon them from whom they are forced to dissent but with a reverent child-like and respectful shamefac'dness Especially it is a naughty inference to argue the Church may err and doth trip in some errors therefore it is not to be obeyed You will not deal so I hope with your fleshly Parents avoid their errors but conserve the bond of obedience entire in all things the name of Mother charms us not to deride her nakedness and to conform to her prudent opinions with all submissive willingness I draw up the Point to this Brief Hearken to the Laws of the Church in things indifferent wherein she must not be burdensom Submit unto her Censures wherein she must not be tyrannous Hearken to her determinations of faith wherein she must not be peremptory Non dominantes fidei It hath no dominion over our faith This is the reciprocal League between the Mother and the Children between that Jerusalem and us which is the Mother of us all And as this obedience may challenge a blessing as confidently as Nazianzen is said to claim it of his Father Habes obedientem benedictionem repende I have been obedient I claim a benediction from you so the next thing to be considered our unity shall bring us blessing upon blessing Our Mother is one and though we are many yet in a spiritual Connexion we all make but one All the faithful in the world are drawn up into one Pronoun the Mother of Vs As Jacob did divide his company and substance when he came from Padan Aram into Canaan One Band of men and one Flock of Cattel was with Leah another with the Handmaids a third with Rachel but all were Jacobs So God hath scattered his Churches some in Europe some in Asia some in Affrica c. but all are Christs And these are all united to him in his Spirit in his Word and in his Sacraments as Wax that is melted incorporates it self with Wax My Dove my undefiled is but one Cant. vi 9. Therefore let us preserve one bond of Peace and one Charity even as hereafter we look for one glory and one felicity Says St. Chrysostom The Ceremony of old was to eat the Paschal Lamb in one house and to carry nothing out Significans unam esse domum quae in Christo salutem consequitur Portending that they shall have no part in the Sacrifice of Christ who are divided by contentious separation from that one Family of Christ wherein only the Lamb of Salvation is made ready to be eaten There is nothing that our Saviour did sooner suppress than the least emergent division that did arise among the Apostles The Apostles themselves did condescend in many things which might bear an harsh construction with a rash Judge to prevent a rupture as if when they were put to that Dilemma better that Truth should suffer a little than Unity O it is the ground of all other mysteries the Son of God who is one with his Father is made one with us that we might be one as he is one both with him and among our selves As Christ hath but one truth so he can have but one Society one Communion of Saints to profess it as there is but one Shepherd so there can be but one Sheepfold Joh. x. 16. Nay to straiten it yet more in the phrase of the Holy Ghost the whole body of the Faithful is as it were no more than one man So we read Ephes ii 15. He abolished in himself the enmity meaning that which was between the Jews and Gentiles for to make in himself of twain one new man so making peace As who should say They of the old Leaven make a great number in their discords and diversities but they that spring from one root of Faith from Hope from one Baptism in Christ Jesus they make but one new man But what if Hereticks and Schismaticks will not suffer this unity entire and unviolated The issue is quickly cast up the unity of Jerusalem is the greater for their departure The scandal I confess is contagious to those that are without but the sounder part is the more sound for the evacuation of those bad humours Avolet quantùm volet palea levis fidei eò purior massa frumenti in horreum Domini reponetur Yet let her that calls her self the Mother take heed that she put not her Children from her for every jar and error nay nor for a Capital error unless it be joyned with an irrecoverable pertinacy Who were worse than the Galatians at the time when St. Paul wrote this Epistle What a venomous corruption was in their Churches mingling the Ceremonies of the Old Law and faith in Christ Jesus together which could never be compounded and yet the Apostle accounts
laid in such a Village The Roman Historian made a marvail that so noble an Emperour as Alexander Severus was could come out of Syria Syrus Archisynagogus as they call'd him in scorn Behold that Emperour's Lord comes not only out of Syria but out of the homeliest corner in Syria out of the despicable tributary City of David And as it is in the next verse not so well born as in the City but natus in praesepi born in a dunghil-stable in Civitate born in a City what a Citizen of this world no the words following correct it he had no room given him among men but among beasts a pilgrim and a foreiner on earth his Kingdom lay not here In a word for all Joseph and Mary were a poor couple Bethlehem a little City the stable a place of the meanest account in all that City Shepherds of the lowest condition that were sent to visit him all things were little and humble about Christ at his Birth that nothing might be proud and insolent and vain-glorious about us if we would be born the Sons of God but alas how unconformable are we to this lowly fashion of our Saviour the Feasts of many rich men are for pomp to let as rich as themselves see their munificence and not for charity to the poor who stand in need of refreshment Apparel superlatively costly most vain and most effeminate how generally it is to be seen upon all peoples shoulders to what excessive bravery is the pride of the whole Kingdom rais'd in less than the revolution of thirty years not only in this luxurious City but in little Bethlehem in every village of the field But I am sure the costly pride of the LandLords apparel shall make the poor Tenant humble Bethlehem the house of bread the poor Farmers grange shall be made small enough with these new invented expences And where men are become lovers of themselves altogether not lovers of God not lovers of the publick weal not lovers of the poor members of Christ in these there is no fruit to be seen of true humility What a revenue it would be to help the needy if the tenth of Christmas gaming and dicing were bestowed upon them yet they that will not give a shilling to the hungry are free enough to dice a pound Perdere norunt donare nesciunt Men know how to be loosely wasteful but not wisely liberal Among lawful and good pastimes of this Festival time it is strange that dicing is crept in among them The miscreant Souldiers that crucified Christ cast lots which some interpret to be throwing the Dice for his garments generally it is so painted more likely therefore to be a sport for them that keep a Feast for joy that Christ was crucified than for joy that Christ was born Beloved let the greatest part of your Christmas joy be according to the Angels pattern first ascribing glory to God then some friendly pastimes may resemble peace and joy on earth but put off all strife debate and envy so you shall observe good will towards men but at every turn remember the little City of David remember humility Bethlehem honora parvam quae te inducit in paradisum says Nazianzen Make honourable esteem of little Bethlehem of lowliness and humility and that will bring you into Paradise into the Kingdom of Heaven where the Lamb of God this day born in the flesh sits upon the Throne for evermore Amen THE SEVENTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE ii 13 14. And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly Hoste praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good will towards men GOod Christians have ever observed to keep this feast of the Birth of Christ with some decency in Apparel more than ordinary with bounty of Fare with Carols of joy and many other circumstances of chearfulness I am sure the decorum of a fit Text for the day is as much and more requisite than any thing that I have named A word spoken in season ought to taste better upon the palate of our understanding than meat in season I have gone that way hitherto and still continue in it to teach you some remarkable passage which fell out when our Saviour was born upon this blessed Day and Season wherein he was born This portion of St. Lukes Gospel which by appointment is the second Lesson for our Morning Prayer hath been the Theme of my Doctrine sundry times it afforded me to speak of the Nativity it self next of the Humility afterwards of the Sermon which the Angel preacht upon it fourthly of the poor Shepherds to whom these glad Tidings were first published Now for a conclusion here is an Host of Angels to confirm all for truth which one of their Order had said before and to make the Tidings sweeter and joyfuller by their congratulation Indeed all that goes before is made so compleat and full by that which they have added that our Church hath made a stop there and bids us read no further The Message which one Angel brought made it known that a Saviour was born in the City of David had it not been for him the birth was so obscure and private and indeed so unlikely to be the same which it was we cannot guess how it should ever have come to light and been published But those Tidings which that Angel brought were so strong so far above reason so far beyond the deservings of miserable sinners that unless a multitude of Angels had seconded all that was said before we cannot guess how it should ever have been believed The shepherds never said one to another let us go unto Bethlem and see this thing which is come to pass for that which one Angel told them they stirred not out of the field to go see the wonder until an Army of those heavenly Watchmen concorded to it and chanted it out with a merry noise Glory to God c. This convinceth the truth of the Incarnation of Jesus far more than that Text which I handled the last year though that as I shewed was a very powerful evidence For Wisemen to come from the East to Hierusalem and to have a strange Star for their Leader rais'd a mighty fame of the Nativity both in that City and perhaps in a great part of the world But if all the Stars of heaven had gone before them and all the wise Gymnosophists had made a journey it were but a mean Demonstrance to this that all the Angels of heaven I conceive no less of this multitude than of all should make an Apparition in the air and Carol the coming of Christ into the earth The Stars of the Firmament are sometimes figuratively called the Host of heaven these Apparitors in my Text are not called but are so litterally and properly The Wisemen were but Questionists and raw Disciples where is he that is born These say the word when and where with all other
and a tooth for a tooth but the Gospel exhibiteth patience for wrongs received and benediction for injuries And indeed the charity of the Law was but partial as I may say it admonisheth fairly Levit. xix 18. Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self But this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or forgetting of all evil done unto them extended only to Israelites which was not the full and large duty but an epitome of Charity If aliens from their own stock had provok'd them though many years before there 's another lesson for it Deut. xxv 17. Remember what Amaleck did unto thee by the way when ye were come forth out of Egypt Such fruit grows upon the bramble of the Law not upon the Olive tree of the Gospel God forbid that we should keep a Register what Moab or Amaleck or what any adversary hath done unto us the peace which the Angels proclaimed forbids that after the beginning of the new year we should remember the enmities or discords that were occasion'd in the old whosoever nourishes old grudges and contentions when the heavens sing peace gives the lye unto the Angels Let your ear receive this with it that all other practises of Religion having not peace and perfect amity among them are but forms of godliness which deny the power thereof This is not far off to be proved but within the verge of the Text for it will not be regarded that you give glory to God on high if there be not peace below you must leave your gift upon the Altar your glory to God and go home for peace go and be reconciled to your brother and then you are a fit instrument to give God his honour Some are always wrangling for the glory of God as they pretend and care not which way peace goes on earth Every theological conclusion I say not Articles of Faith but disputable deductions not near the foundation of Faith must be maintain'd precisely as they apprehend it or they cry out that truth is violated further than can be endured Every ceremonial observation must be either taken off or discharg'd punctually as they score a line or else they contend bitterly that Gods Worship is abused All this while two things are quite forgotten First that there is a compass and latitude for mens wits and judgments to be diverse one from another and yet no unity to be broken All points touch not to the quick and in such things because every mans reason hath not the same kind of reach and notion there may be much variety of opinions without all dissention Secondly few lay it to their thoughts that to meet in agreement as far as possibly the conservation of truth will permit is far more acceptable to God than an inflexible pertinacy which is rather rigorous than pacificous There was much ado to settle the pure Doctrine of the Church in the first four hundred years but nothing avail'd more than that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Fathers call it a condescending one to another making moderation the umpire of all strifes By these calm degrees God was more glorified among the Gentiles that were unconverted who perceived how the Christians kept the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace than if they had wrangled about every nicety and prosecuted every disagreement to an utter separation Peace on earth is a ready means that glory in the highest may not be scandalized And after all this that hath been said certainly the Angels meaning extends it self thus much further that the Child which was born in Bethlehem the Messias of the world would direct them in a way if men would be diligent to observe it that there should be no bloody Wars of seditious Princes in all the earth no Armies clattering together no rouling in blood it is his property to break the bow and knap the Spears in sunder and to burn the Chariots in the fire and it makes much that this is votum militare peace on earth comes from the mouth of Souldiers the Angels were arrayed like an host in battail when they preacht it as if military men could best tell the world what a blessed thing it is to have cessation from Wars and sweet agreement Our neighbour Kingdoms know the true rellish of this Doctrine who live in continual alarms losses destructions desolations alas their vintage is become not the blood of grapes but of men O 't is a most savage a very bruitish affection in them that are sick of the long continuance of peace and wish that Leagues and Truces were expired They are of another mind I warrant you that have felt the unutterable miseries of War for the space of fifteen years and more in their flourishing Empire without pause or respiration He that could certainly pronounce before them that they should enjoy the liberty of their conscience and no hostility should invade them they would receive him with as much gladness as the Shepherd heard the Angel say Glory he to God in the highest and on earth peace But the objection is ready to be cast in my way by every man I would it were not that all the divine inspirations of God have ensued plentifully upon Christs coming into the world but nothing less than peace Persecutions Massacres Contentions irreconcilable Wars these have entred in wheresoever the Gospel hath been taught and Jesus denied it not but said unto the twelve Think not that I come to send peace into the world I come not to send peace but a sword Mat. x. 34. Beloved opposition and war are not the right fruits of the Gospel no more than Ivy is the fruit of the Oak tree though it creep upon it But pre-supposing the malice and corruption of men the tidings of salvation though they exhort unto peace yet they will beget division for Satan reigns in the wicked and it makes him rage to hear celestial Doctrine preacht and that impiety which was asleep befere is roused up with the noise of the Gospel and grows tumultuous this is consequentiae necessitas non consequentis an accidental misfortune not a proper effect Yet very true that none is a greater adversary than our Saviour to some sorts of peace Pax Christi bellum indicit mundo voluptati carni demoni says Beda upon my Text The peace of Christ breaks the confederacy which sinners have in evil it defies the Devil and the vain pomp of the world it draws the sword against blasphemy and Idolatry it will not let a man be at quiet within himself when he is full of vicious concupiscence To make a Covenant with Hell as the Prophet speaks or to have any fellowship with the works of darkness as St. Paul speaks Illa mala pax est indigna hominibus bonae voluntatis that 's a pernicious peace and unworthy of those to whom that blessing belongs good will towards men
East to Judea these have many more reasons to eâ—ince that it was no natural Star As first that all other Stars appear unto the world by night this had a most bright complexion as well by day as by night Ignatius says or some in his name that it exceeded the Sun and Moon in splendor And Prudentius says as much for Poets will speak loftily Quâ—e solis rotam vincit splendore ac lumine it went beyond the body of the Sun in light and lustre Secondly It had not the motion of other Stars sometimes rising sometimes setting but guided the Magi in a straight line from Persia or Mesopotamia to Jerusalem Thirdly Other Stars finish their course that is whirle about the Orb in twenty four hours this pass'd but few degrees in many days from the East unto Judea Fourthly This Star disappeared at a moment as soon as ever they were received into Jerusalem and so long as they staid there I believe two or three days till they were just upon departing it shined not again Hoc non agit motus sideris sed virtus plena rationis It must not be the motion of a natural Creature but the vertue of a supernatural finger that was so punctual Yet Gregory Nyssen doth so maintain it to be an usual Star of the highest Orb that he prevents all these objections namely that it came out of the Sphere for a time and hung in the air to do homage to Christ and he that caused the Sun to stand still or go backward for Joshua's or Hezekiah's sake could make a Star to go what motion he pleased for his Sons sake Perhaps such as stick fast to the Peripatetick Philosophy would have the body of the heavens suffer no such violence as a Star to be missing in it for a time And therefore Aquinas against all exceptions concludes it to be a flame of light newly created for this purpose Fuit corpus densum multùm habens de lumine specialiter ad hoc opus ordinatum A solid body fit to receive much light ordained on purpose for this Ministry Whether it was made of some pure celestial matter or earthly concretion that they profess not to know but leave it to him that framed it Nor do they presume to deliver any certainty touching the Figure of it as whether it stream'd like a blazing Star or no yet of all things else they will not permit it to be called a blazing Star for those Meteors so they were wont to call them appear against the Death of Princes not against their Nativities But one Frier among others fell out with his wits that gives us his own fancy for an undeniable truth that this Star was cast out into the Figure of a child bearing a Cross and that it portended his blessed Mother should be called the Star of the Sea Thus he scarce modestly considering the heathen called their Venus the Star of the Sea but I am sure ridiculously What kind of created body it was fitly that 's certain formed for this purpose either we shall know hereafter in the Kingdom of heaven or at least have no curiosity to desire to know it that 's the best resolution Others stray further from the words of the Text and say that the Scripture speaks according to the opinion of the Wise-men who considering the Figure of it and the light it gave call it a Star but indeed it was no Star What then Why the Holy Ghost now appearing in the shape of a Star to manifest to Christ as once in the shape of a Dove when he revealed him at his baptism by Jordan As if nothing were worthy to make this Infant known unto the Gentiles but the Holy Ghost What share the holy Spirit had in this manifestation shall be toucht upon anon Others observing that an Angel told the Shepherds in the field the tidings of the Incarnation do most approve that this light which shew'd as if it were a Star was a very Angel of glory going before the Magi from the East to Jerusalem in a resplendent visible form For Angels are called Stars Rev. i. 20. And again Who maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flaming fire Psal civ This opinion hath St. Chrysostom to favour it that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an invisible heavenly vertue taking this shape and figure upon it And Theophylact more clearly in the same key 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a divine and Angelical vertue appearing in the fashion of a Star And one of our late Writers is more punctual how it should come to pass to be an Angel that when an Angel spake words about the Incarnation of Christ to the Shepherds the glory of the Lord shone round about him and these Wise-men of the East seeing that heavenly and Angelical glory shining afar off apprehended it to be some new Star and withal either by tradition or illumination at the present were taught that it call'd upon them to go and seek the Messias in Judea Yet this last opinion will hardly be made good for when they went out of Jerusalem that light appeared again very near unto them at that time and yet they call it a Star and not an Angel In one word had it been an Angel why should the Evangelist have concealed it that an heavenly Minister conducted the Gentiles to Christ whereas the Scripture tells it without all circumlocution that a multitude of the heavenly Host appeared unto the Shepherds watching over their Flocks by night I incline therefore to the letter that it was a Star or luminous body created for this purpose And marvel not if the Point be so ful of doubts and uncertainties for every circumstance about the calling of the Gentiles is the mighty mystery of God And so much for that Point In the next place we are left as much uncertain about the appearance of the Star as about the substance For the Question is propounded whether it made but one Apparition only to the Wise-men and being seen but once gave them sufficient notice to go into Judea or whether it guided them day by day night by night step by step till they came to Jerusalem The former opinion is not empty of reason the latter likewise stands upon reason and is much more countenanced by Antiquity The Scripture hath left it undecided and so both parts may enjoy their liberty and are fit to be heard They that incline to the first way that the Star at one shining taught the Magi to go into Judea are moved for these causes First because they say we have seen his Star in the East they do not add that it hath conducted us to you in the West and in all likelihood the Evangelist would have spoke of it if the Jews had seen it as well as they And in as great likelihood if such a flaming Meteor had appeared upon that Horizon all the way they went from Persia to Jerusalem the wonder would have been
but his illumination Wherefore the Church by way of external testimony was ever the best approved and most faithful witness of Christ yet this testimony so much beneath his Person were unauthorized and fruitless but that it is always governed by the inward Spirit of the Father Aquinas in a certain Sermon upon the Pentecost hath drawn up those things which bear witness of Christ into a certain number and that the verdict is given from twelve the most principal things in the world God the Father in this Proclamation God the Son in his own Confession God the Holy Ghost in the Dove-like Apparition the Angels at his Nativity the Saints that rose from the dead the Miracles which he wrought the Heaven which was darkned at his Passion the Fire when he sent the Comforter in that Element upon his Disciples the Air when he commanded the winds to be still the water when he made the Seas to be calm the Earth when it shook and quak'd at his Resurrection and lastly Hell it self when the Devils did acknowledge him calling him Jesus of Nazareth and saying We know thee who thou art But above all this testimony in my Text enforceth credence upon us more than any other as St. Ambrose thinks Si dubitatur de filio paterno non creditur testimonio If there be any spice of unbelief in your heart run hither to take it out for will you not take the Fathers word for the excellency of his Son that this is the Sacrifice in whom he is well pleased Shew us thy Father says Philip and it sufficeth Joh. xiv 8. Much more resolutely might the Church say Let us hear thy Father and it sufficeth We ask no surer warrant to confirm our faith For as Abraham answered the rich man concerning his brethren that did not believe If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one arose from the dead So I may say to all that receive not the faith If they will not believe the Father in whom all the treasures of knowledge are hidden then they may question if there be light in the Heavens perspicuity in the Air life in their own souls every thing that flesh and bloud can alledge must be dark and doubtful to their capacity God spoke from above through the air and it received his voice and when he speaks in our hearts shall not we receive his testimony Thus St. Ambrose in a sweet strain upon it Credidit mundus in Elementis credat in hominibus credidit in exanimis credat in viventibus credidit in mutis credat in loquentibus The rude Elements of the world were taught to admit the doctrine of Faith then much more let men embrace it inanimate things took the Symphony from the Fathers mouth let things which live much more receive it the dumb things of nature were taught to embrace the voice let those things which have tongues much more praise God for glorifying his Son To the upshot of the Point I add this and have done John Baptist did bear witness to our Saviour but his witness was too mean for so great a Person Quo ad nos in regard of our apprehension the testimony and approbation of holy men is a great matter but in regard of the honour of Christ it was fit that the Father who is coequal should testifie of the Son and so doth the Son of the Father which is excellently knit up in one Text Joh. v. 32. There is another that beareth witness of me and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true So by the voice of the Father we know the excellency of the Son and by the preaching of the Son we know the truth of the Father This is their mutual testimony In the second place the manner follows how the Father testified to the honour of his Son and that is by a voice Every Creature whether it live or whether it be inanimate every season of the year every blessing for our use that the earth brings forth though it be dumb yet I am not ashamed to say that it speaks aloud how there is a God that made us and preserved us To this purpose St. Paul spake to the Lycaonians Actc xiv 17. The living God left not himself without witness in that he gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness Since therefore all the Elements continually are dumb witnesses of the glory of God how easie is it for the Father Almighty to put a tongue into the air and make it speak I will not argue upon the strict terms of Logick how this can be called a voice being not uttered by the Throat and Palate and other Instruments of a rational Creature God is a transcendent above all the Arts in the world and many things proceeding from him are not to be examined by such rules this I may definitively say it was sonus articulatus an articulate intelligible sound of words as if it had come from the tongue of man And I would pass by this Point but that two things come in my way 1. How properly the Father is known by a voice 2. How well it expresseth the comforts of the Gospel Upon the first the School doth distinguish Efficientia vocis erat à totâ Trinitate declaratio spectat ad solum patrem Every effect belongs equally to the whole Trinity therefore this voice was as well the work of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as it was of the Father For so St. Austin beat down the blasphemy of the Arians who taught that the Father gave some honour to the Son which he had not nay says he Ille transeuntium verborum sonus non sine filio factus est alioquin non omnia per ipsum facta sunt That transient voice which was intended to glorifie the Son was made by the Son otherwise the Scriptures had not said All things were made by him and without him nothing was made But though the efficiency of the voice be common to every Person of the Trinity yet the signification of it was appropriated to the Father for he said the word and by it he made the worlds he spake and all things were created The Lord said indeed let the Firmament be made let the light be made and all things else not by oral prolocution but by the Decree of his holy will and as one said Facilius est Deo facere quam nobis dicere God can sooner make all things visible and invisible than we speak of it therefore the Phrase runs as if all things were existent at the uttering of a word And I know not if any similitude do speak that ineffable mystery of the Holy Trinity better than this from the manifest pronunciation of a speech wherein are these three things together which cannot be parted The voice begets a word spoken and there is truth in that word which was spoken by the voice
1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil IN the elder times of the Church every man can tell you who is a little acquainted with their customs that particular Churches especially those that were the principal and greatest Seats did keep an anniversary commemoration of the noble acts of the Saints and chiefly for them who had endured hard encounters for the name of Christ either into bonds and imprisonment or some other stern calamity who were called confessors or into bloud and death who were called Martyrs And this Ceremony was well instituted in praise and admiration of their victories who would not let that truth be overcome which was in their possession Therefore their memory was kept fresh every year for a double benefits sake says Minutius Felix Defunctis praemium futuris dabatur exemplum The dead were much renowned and the living were no less edified by their example What were the conflicts of men that we were so mindful of them And should not we much more remember this for ever famous conflict of the Son of God Brethren partakers of the heavenly calling consider the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession Jesus Christ who girded himself with strength and with the power of the holy Spirit and brake the heads of Leviathan in pieces Magnifie him therefore that rideth upon the heavens as it were upon an horse praise him in his noble acts praise him in his excellent greatness yea and rejoyce before him This opposition of the whole battery of Hell against him his constancy to suffer it his victory to tread it under feet hath not only a due commemoration of it once a year in the Gospel for Ash-Wednesday or the first day of Lent but every week in the year so often as we read the Litany we speak of it to his honour and to our comfort By thy Baptism Fasting and Temptation good Lord deliver us A great omission might be imputed to Divines me thinks if Poets in their versifying fury should be able to raise the Wars of Troy to such an opinion in all Ages and we should flag in setting down the most terrible battel that ever was fought between Christ and Satan the trustiest Champion and the deadliest Enemy of mans Salvation one against another I say it were a shame to our negligence not to be blotted out if we should not prosecute the description of every circumstance I for my part with all requisite industry and you with all attention I take this first verse therefore into my hands once again which was thus disparted into five points 1. That among other parts of humility wherein Christ our High Priest was made like unto us He was tempted to sin 2. It is expressed by what sort of tentation neither by the concupiscence of the flesh nor by the vanities of the world but by the outward solicitations of the Devil 3. Here is the time and opportunity which Satan chose with all despight to set upon him then says my Text that is in the next place after his Baptism which went before Immediately says St. Mark after the voice from heaven had said This is my beloved Son 4. We may learn from hence how Christ was marshalled to the combate he was led up of the Spirit or as St. Luke more emphatically Being full of the Holy Ghost he was led by the Spirit 5. It is no idle word in the verse that we have the Lists where the combat was fought at least where it was begun to be fought the Wilderness In the first place at this time I must bend my meditations to the third of these particulars having dispatcht the other two in their place before and that is the time which Satan thought he nickt very right for his purpose then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was the Motto of the wise man Pittacus of Greece know the seasons and opportunities of time and you can hardly fail of that which you enterprize Yet all things fell out contrary to the imaginations of this subtil Serpent that the time which he thought was most in season was most out of season it was no such a critical hour as he hoped for But why was Christ tempted then So lies the question and thus I answer it in the first place because our Saviour had been lately baptized then as soon as ever he was initiated in the Sacrament of purification then the engines of iniquity were planted to overthrow him If Christ had been as one of us who are prone to relapse into our former filthiness after we have vowed a new life to God this had been a likely way to have sped and as dangerous as the counsel of Achitophel A Penitent that hath newly bid adieu to all unclean conversation newly gone out of Sodom goes upon a ticklish ground and stands not so sure but that he is easily thrown down Lucerna recens extincta levi flatu accenditur how often have you seen a candle put out by a mischance and blow the snuff presently while it is hot it flames again So carnal concupiscence being but lately corrected in a good Convert by the fear of God take heed the Devil blow not presently upon the snuff for an easie matter will make it flame again A man that hath lately begun a good work which is pleasing to God must keep a Midsummer watch over it a double guard more than he shall need when he is grown into custom and continuance So Chrysologus doth abet this very reason which I give upon my Text Diabolus primordia boni pulsat sancta in ipso ortu festinat extinguere Satan hath a more malicious aim than ordinary at the first fruits of holiness he would crop the beginnings of reformation before they grow up to perfect fruits of amendment of life The smallest bird can pick off the blossoms of a tree if that blossom be not nibled away but grow a fair apple the hurt is small that the fouls of the air can do unto it So the firstlings of a godly life are in the greatest danger upon maturity of holiness when the fear of God is well rooted in the heart those unclean Harpies of the air the Devil and his Angels shall be less able to annoy us Scit quod fundata subvertere non potest says the former Author Satan wants no sagacity to observe his advantages but is aware that if the Camp put their Spade into the ground for a few days and cast their trenches they will hardly be displanted An Army that is not long set down before a place is more easily removed so I say once for all that I may roul the same stone no more expect to find the greatest impediment from the Tempter at the beginning of a good work As the Children of Israel were never so full of Wars as when they first set foot into the Land of Canaan How many Factions bandied against David when he
confirm delusions but to testifie to truth and innocency therefore if he did provoke him to turn stones into bread it would be for a true testimony that he was the very Son of God If he do this miracle and be not the Son of God the eternal truth should confirm a lie which is impossible This was Satans cunning Philosophy and now you see the very nerves of his Argument Let me draw out one Corollary for your Instruction The first part of Satans engine was ut cognosceret to prove God a liar if he could I heard a voice say you are the beloved Son of God but are you so indeed This desire to litigate and quarrel with Gods truth made him fall into a strange doting ignorance almost incredible in so intelligent a substance What he that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a most vast capacity of understanding because of his spirituality and so many thousand years experience He that thought he could open the market of knowledge and sell what he pleased to our first Parents Ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil that he should stagger and for a long time mistake the very foundation of all truth that Jesus was the Son of God Is not this passing wonderful Why this comes of it when any will bend their wits to object against the plain truth when it is manifest then God requites their iniquity with this dulness 2 Thes ii 1. For this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie Strong delusion we read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Paul and I had rather translate it the efficacy of errour Tentation is from the enemy the efficacy of Tentation is not from him but in the power of God So falshood is from the Devil but the efficacy of falshood that this error should prevail to seduce the Reprobate that is in the hand of God For if the efficacy and event of error were from the Tempter nothing would help us but that all men should be deluded The event and prevalency of errors comes from Gods permission upon them that would not obey the truth Let me put this now into your mind it is the fashion of the World to have mens persons in admiration some are carried away with the opinion of their learning and good life that walk not after the wholsom Injunctions of the Ceremonies and Discipline of our Church as Salvianus says very well Tantùm dicta existimant quantus est ipse qui dixit nec tam considerant quid legunt quà m cujus legunt They measure truth not in it self but by the opinion of him that defends it nor so much consider what it is they read as whose it is they read Purge out this leven I beseech you and remember when men would expound all things by their own private spirit God will turn their good gifts into vanity Likewise if some others stand upon it that there is no sort of Learning but abounds in the Church of Rome and why should not the most Learned wear the Garland Let them know this is as foolish an inference well considered as his in the Proverb that the Peacock must sing best of all birds because it had the fairest train Julian the most learned Emperour Galen the most learned Physician Porphyry one of the learnedst Philosophers all were Atheists and without God in the World The Novices of the Roman Colleges are sworn to particular opinions and to a particular belief and then study their course of Divinity to maintain it So it comes to pass They study to maintain a lye as Satan did against Christ and thereby they are catcht in strong delusions And let this suffice for the first general part of the Text That one end of these words which Satan cast forth was ut cognosceret to learn more perfectly that which he mistrusted before that Christ was the eternal Son of God And because he had more Hooks than one to his Angle remember that beside his curiosity to explore him his words likewise are full of malice to corrupt him Command that these stones be made bread The boldest and most flagitious attempt that ever was to make Christ sin Murdering of Sacred Princes devices to blow up the Majesty of an whole State conspiracy to root out whole Nations endeavouring to burn up an whole Empire with Nero betraying Christ himself to be crucified with Judas all these ugly sins not only single but put all together have less horror and impiety in them than this attempt to lie in wait to draw sin and impurity from the most pure God We cannot compare Satan so well as with himself therefore I go further the great rebellion of Lucifer for which he was first cast out of heaven made him not so guilty of high disobedience as this Proposition did to tempt Christ to Gluttony and Infidelity His first presumption is collected out of these words of Isaiah I will be like the most High but this presumption hath more rancor in it by far the most High shall fall into wickedness and be made like unto me Ero similis altissimo I will ascend as high as the glory of God so the evil Angel coveted his own perfection in excess but Altissimus erit similis mihi I will bring down the most High to trespass as I have done that is to covet Gods imperfection The very Angels are not pure in his sight says Job now this was the Devils practical gloss neither shall he be pure in the sight of the Angels But how foolish is the Serpent become the subtillest of all Creatures how foolish is he become because he will not understand the truth of God O Lord thou art purer than the heavens thou art Justice and Righteousness and Innocency it self and therefore the Church doth sing a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to his honour Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts One Scripture says he cannot lie another Scripture that he cannot deny himself and another that he cannot be tempted Where was Satans prudence to make an impossible motion How had he forgot his cunning to pump for an iniquity out of the Well of everlasting purity Some pretension yet there was for this plot and some hope no question as the Jews cloak'd their own malice before Pilate with this excuse Had he not been a Sinner we had not brought him unto thee so there was some likelihood to make him offend as it appeared to Satan and surely thus he collected it If Joseph who was espoused to Mary be his Father I shall prevail whatsoever is born of flesh is flesh whatsoever is begotten by carnal generation is conceived in sin But if it be true that the Angel said unto Mary the Holy Ghost should over-shadow her yet the will of every man if he be true man is indifferent and apt of it self to turn to evil as well as good Now perhaps it was not
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
these many Agonies he had with the powers of darkness Ad solatium refero so Calvin on my Text. When he prayed earnestly in the Garden to have the Cup pass from him there appeared an Angel unto him from heaven strengthening him Luke xxii 43. This was their promptness to do all dutious offices to the Son of God Non ex necessitate sed ex officio not for necessity as if he wanted such as they but out of bounden obsequiousness Toward us their care and charity is truly necessary and their friendship to succour us in our conflicts is the mercy of God as the Angels took up Lazarus to heaven after much want and poverty into Abrahams bosom Thirdly they ministred unto him may be well interpreted they worshipped and adored him For when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world he saith and let all the Angels of God worship him Their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. i. ult that is their Ministry is for the praise and glory of God whether it be that they sing Alleluja to him in heaven or help his Saints upon earth all is one the one work or the other are both of them their Liturgies For they minister only to Christ or for their sakes that shall be heirs of the Promise as St. Paul said He sustained all things for the Elâ—ct 2 Tim. ii Therefore it is an over-curious yea and false distinction to put degrees between Angels that some laud the Lord continually before his Throne some minister to his Church and nothing for the foundation of it but this Prophetical place Dan. vii 10. Thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand thousands stood before him There they stood indeed only to be sent away of the Lords Errand when he should dispatch them For what Scripture can be clearer than the foresaid place Are they not all ministring Spirits Let the Sectaries of Thomas limit it and distinguish upon it an hundred ways but the Context of the Chapter will never bear it For first the manner of the Apostles bringing it out nonne omnes Are they not all so An Interrogation as if that were a common notion and never doubted Secondly in the precedents it cannot be shifted but that he speaks of them all excepts none To whom of the Angels did God say thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Thirdly if he did compare Christ but with one part and not with all the Angels the Hebrâ—ws would have excepted against the main scope of his Epistle that Christ was not more excellent than all creatures above all comparison Let it be grounded then for the conclusion of all against the fancies of the Pseudo-Dionysius all are ministring Spirits In ministerium Christi propter homines lent unto us out of pitty and charity but attending Christ out of homage and duty His they are so we call them now by faith and such we shall perceive them to be by Vision at the last day Mat. xvi 27. The Son of man shall come in the glory of the Father with his Angels AMEN VII SERMONS UPON The Transfiguration OF OUR SAVIOUR THE FIRST SERMON UPON The Transfiguration LUKE ix 28 29. And it came to pass about an eight dayes after these sayings he took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray And as he prayed the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistering BECAUSE St. Luke doth more completely narrate all the circumstances of our Saviours Transfiguration than the other Evangelists therefore I have chosen to entreat out of his words upon that glorious miracle I confess he that reacheth this mysterie must ascend with Peter and James and John he must climb up to an exceeding high mountain of speculation which toucheth the very heavens But why should that confuse you Dearly beloved when there is so much pure glittering and illumination upon the mountain our Saviour's face shined with glory for his Gospel is perspicuous Moses ane Elias the Law and Prophets were clear and lightsom and the cloud which overshadowed the place I mean the virtue of the Holy Ghost will embrighten all obscurity There is hope then out of the explication of this story that you shall all be transfigured from darkness into light and from ignorance perhaps in some part into the knowledge of the truth And whereas I have purposely destined this work apart for this time of the year I think I have begun it in the ripest opportunity I find among antient Liturgies that the miracle of the Transfiguration was the Gospel appointed for the second Sunday in Lent the reasons were two partly to exhort all Christians in strictest times of penitence to be transformed into new men partly because it is certain this strange accident fell out in the beginning of the Spring not long before our Saviour's Passion for Moses and Elias came to tell him a short while before his death what he should suffer at Jerusalem Yet again I find in the old Latin Calender that some Churches kept a Feast in memory of the Transfiguration upon the sixt day of August But this was done upon a fancy they call it a Tradition that when Christ bad his Disciples not to tell as yet of those things they saw upon the mountain till a more convenient time they obeyed and revealed it not in five months following till the sixt of August and upon the publication of these things at that season they did consent to honour the memorial of the day with the celebration of a Feast Without prejudice to those ancient customs be it spoken I have a surer ground to stand upon that this is the proper time to preach upon it soon after the great Feast of our Saviour's Resurrection is accomplished My authority is Matth. 17.9 As the three disciples came down from the mountain Christ charged them saying Tell the vision to no man until the Son of man be risen from the dead And beside it shall appear in due order that the principal scope of the Transfiguration was to learn us what the excellency and glorification of a body shall be that is raised from the dead But because it is fit to work in the Lord's Vineyard at any hour of the day and to dress this Tree of Life the holy Scripture in every bough and branch at any instant and occasion of time therefore cutting off that Preface I will mark out those things which are fit to be handled severally in the words now read unto you and they be four quando quibuscum quâ humilitate quâ gloriâ at what time Christ was transfigured what associates he took with him with what humility he prepared himself with what glory he was dignified The Time is noted by three circumstances dicta dies iter 1. After some sayings he had uttered 2. About an eight dayes after those sayings 3. When he had gon up to a mountain In
from thee and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth But St. Paul doth not use to obscure plain Doctrin with strange Poetical Phrases and Estius hath requited Beza with another place out of the Psalms to confirm my Doctrin Psal lxiii 9. Those that seek my Soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth that is the enemies of the innocent should go into the place of the damned The other Testimony of Scripture for I will press no more is Psal xvi 10. and rehearsed by St. Peter in this Chapter Thou shalt not leave my Soul in hell c. What pains some men have taken to no fruitful end that I know to make these words bear any sense rather than that which is literal no man that marks their diligence must deny but the Soul in divers Authors is taken for the Body and Hell for the Grave and so they patch it up Thou wilt not leave my life in the Sepulcher but why should literal Scripture be so eluded St. Austins rule is that when the literal sense of the Text sounds somewhat that is sinful or impossible then discreet and learned Interpretations must mollifie the letter but it is not to be suffered where good divinity is conteined in the letter as there is in this the meaning is as no flesh in the Sepulcher was ever free from corruption but only Christs so no Soul in Hell was ever supported and assisted by God and not forsaken but only Christs So Fulgentius most divinely anima immunis à peccato non erat subdenda supplicio carnem sine peccato non debuit vitiare corruptio Christs Soul knowing no sin went not to Hell to pay any debt of punishment for an innocent could not be obnoxious to those flames and torments and his Body never executing any evil act could not be tainted with corruption and putrefaction Is it not therefore consonant to reason to stick to the letter of Scripture when it bears an Orthodox exposition of faith and whether we say that Christ being free among the dead to walk whither he would his Soul being separated in death first shewed it self to the Saints in Joy to their exceeding comfort then to the Unbelievers in Hell to their woe and confusion or whether we say He descended that such as believed may never be thrust into that infernal Prison or rather that He brought his triumph over death with him before the face of Hell and brought those unruly spirits under his yoke entred upon the strong mans house and spoiled his house as it is in the Parable Matth. xii All these ways are agreeable to Gods word and to be admitted without contention Thus far upon Scripture attended by reason Indeed Stapleton says that two Articles of the Creed are not to be found in Scripture this of Christs descent in to Hell the other of the Catholick Church I confess in his sense they are not to be found in Scripture but in ours they are But last of all attend what light the very Creed it self will give to the confirmation of this Doctrin The ground that a learned Father of our own Church lays I take to be most rational Thus take these words properly and not figuratively as it is fit in a short abstract of faith next let them have a sense different in matter from all other Articles or else they were a superfluous repetition then let every Article keep a true consequent order of time one after another or else it would make a strange confusion and all other Expositions will give place Some of the Romish and some of our own part have taught that when Christ was crucified he susteined the pains of Hell but observe against them how this Article should come in most preposterously after his death and burial which was in time before Others make this sense of it that he was dead and deteined in death others to be no more but that he was buried but according to these opinions there shall neither be property of phrase nor difference of matter in this Article from them that went before To be dead and buried are as plain speeches as be in all the Creed and should these be explained by an enigmatical Phrase to descend into Hell rather to obscure than to explain the former Observe how our Church of England hath differenced it from death and burial art 3. As Christ died for us and was buried so also it is believed mark that 's another point that He went down into Hell And the thirtieth Article of the Church of Ireland doth not satisfie me that this line is in one comma I know not whether by the negligence of the Printer He was buried and descended into Hell I cannot come to the third part of my Text and I have done as much as the time will permit upon the second only let me add let weak capacities be no ways discomforted though they cannot explicitly understand the meaning of this controverted Article of the Creed Christs descending into Hell they must believe that Christ vanquished the Devil for our sakes that 's necessary both for their comfort and salvation And all Articles of Faith are not equally necessary and fundamental Gregory Valenza and many others I think not imprudently hold that the main and necessary points for unlearned simple people to believe are the great works of God remembred in the principal Feasts of the year Christs Nativity his Passion Resurrection Ascension into Heaven and the coming of the Holy Ghost And though this Article of the Descent into Hell contein an excellent mystery of Faith yet it comes not near the excellent knowledg and use of the former Suarez the Jesuit writes confidently that if by an Article of Faith we understand a Truth which all faithful people are bound explicitly to believe so he did not think it necessary to reckon it among the Articles of Faith The Nicene Creed in our Common-prayer Book hath left it out Ruffinus says that after 400 years it came into the Latin Church and like enough for St. Austin expounds the Creed five times and Chrysologus of Ravenna ann 440. six times and never glance it For that Creed called the Apostles was not so drawn up by the Apostles for ought we can find in good antiquity but called so because it conteins the sum of all Apostolical Doctrin one part of it was laid too after another and this I believe was the last addition of all Therefore it is a main arm of faith that Christ loosed the sorrows of death and a Truth it is no doubt though not of such prime consequence that He descended into Hell to loose those sorrows for our liberty but the main Pillar of Faith is the first Comma of my Text that God raised up Jesus from death and it was impossible He should be holden of it AMEN THE SECOND SERMON UPON THE RESURRECTION JOHN xi 43. And when he had thus spoken he cried with a
four times and no less they did most grosly abuse that Talent which the Lord had given them 1. They gave Judas thirty Pieces of Silver to betray his Master 2. They were at charges to bribe a Multitude with swords and staves to take our Saviour in the Garden 3. They set a Watch to look to the Sepulchre expence was drawn from them for that use And 4. They gave large money to have the Souldiers say as it is in my Text His Disciples came and stole him away by night Pecuniam quae in usus templi data fuerat vertunt in redemptionem mendacii says St. Hierom which I would English They took a part of Gods portion to see the Devil One says that this is a note of the Antichrist Proditur venturus armatus pecuntis a Tradition goes that he shall be full of money able to bribe abundance to take his part so that they shall maintain falshoods and errors against their own conscience Not unlikely to be true and I am sure the mystery of Antichrist began betimes even on this very day and let us all take notice of it to whom the Resurrection of our Saviour is sweet and precious what an horrid and Antichristian sin Bribery is both in the Giver and in the Taker that the Devil did fly to that sin rather than any other thereby to subvert the glory of God and the dearest consolation of all Christians the Resurrection of Jesus As Brimstone will smell in Wollen so all sorts of Bribery intended to the prejudice of truth and innocency smell of that abominable corruption which put the Chief Priests and the Souldiers into this deep confederacy that shall be succinctly handled now I have made the rest that follows more easie to be understood by opening the condition of the persons that carried the plot between them The way of the Confederacy follows by putting a forged Tale in the Souldiers mouths they must say any thing that the Priests suborn Say ye There is a threefold lie says St. Austin 1. Vain Fiction which doth neither harm nor good Quod fit merâ mentiendi libidine a mere trick of scurvy custom without any bad intention yet this is a sin 2. There is a lie which hurts one party to help another and that is a greater sin than the first 3. Tale est quod nulli prodest obest alicui there is a lie which is pernicious to some and beneficial to none that is worst of all such stuff was this that was perswaded to the Souldiers Roman Souldiers were wont to be commended for their fidelity above all Military men in the world In Rom. militibus rarò fides suit desiderata They were very trusty and true in the praise of all Histories and God gave them grace to bring truth with them as far as from the Sepulchre to the Council Chamber of the High Priests but there they lost it there they were bought out of it and to this day the Jews if they could would make us unsay all the truth that we tell them O beware of such as turn away their ears from the truth and give heed unto Fables especially note those for the enemies of Christ like these in my Text that will hire others to forge to dissemble to forswear these are they that drive the Devils Market and they must look for the reward from him he is their father the father of lies and liars But what reward shall be given thee thou false tongue Even mighty and sharpe Arrows with hot burning coals We detest Baudes and Pandars very justly the wicked dealers for other mens filthy Lusts Ought not they to be as much detested I think they ought that are other mens hirelings and Instruments to vent their falshoods and dissimulations Anthimus Bishop of Nicomedia was enquired after to be put to death for being a Christian and being found had the courtesie offered him by the Serjeants that they would tell the Tyrant that sent them they could not find him they were resolved to be so kind and Anthimus had his leave to make an escape but the thing wrought in his conscience and rather than they should tell a lie for his sake he went after them and offered himself to suffer death But Sisera was not so streight-laced as we use to say he would have been content nay he desired Jael If any of the Persuers askt for such a man to say no man was there This is the case which of all others may seem most plausible whether one might be entreated to tell an untruth lawfully to save the life of another that is followed by an enemy St. Austin quickly resolves it you must not do a wicked thing to save your own life much less doth it urge you to corrupt your own soul to save another mans body So he doth extoll Firmus Bishop of Tagastum Firmus nomine firmior voluntate into whose house a fearful person fled for fear of Assassinates and being asked for him Respondit nec mentiri se posse nec hominem prodere he answered he must not lie and he would not betray a man to them that thirsted for his bloud and from this answer he would not be beaten with many wounds O take not away from me thy truth says David not Eloquence nor a shrill voice like a Symbal nor a musical warbling as sweet as a Syren none of these are the honour of a mans lips truth goes beyond them all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Synesius A word truly spoken is nobly born falshood and lies are beggarly begotten that is either out of foolish easiness or out of fear or out of base reward as when the Souldiers had the Bribe in their hand they must say any thing that was put into their mouths Say ye Say ye Why let such as they are talk their pleasure But who would believe them A lie hath a kind of croaking harshness in it at any time especially from such reporters as these I am induced to suppose that the High Priests were half jealous of them that all was not Gospel which they related about the Angels appearing and the body risen and would they have the people trust them more than they did But here was Gods judgment upon that stiff-necked Nation though these were heathen men without God in the world vile Mercenarie witnesses of no credit yet their tale was received of the Jews as if Moses had brought it and it is reported commonly to this day says St. Matthew If St. Matthew meant at that day when he wrote his Gospel that was eight years after says Theophylact. Justin Martyr says that in his days more than an hundred years after it was taken up among the Jews for a true story and that they wrote Letters to their Countrimen over all the world to assure them it was so and no otherwise But in holy Scripture that phrase to this day notes the durance and long continuance of a thing
be our Intercessor with his Father and to prepare a place for us Whitsunday or the Coming of the Holy Ghost is like a fair Land-mark to instruct the most unlearned that though our nature is most corrupt and averse from all good motions yet the spirit is poured into us whereby in some weak measure we become obedient Children and cry Abba Father These are the Days which the Lord hath made and when we devote our selves to magnifie him upon these occasions they prove the best means to teach us the Catechetical and fundamental points of faith And as Christ was great in himself and in those works of grace so He is great in the Angels of Heaven great in the Apostles in the Evangelists in all Saints and Martyrs and the choice is made by our Church of the Flower of all occasions in this kind publickly to praise the Lord and it is very fit I say that there should be a sensible difference between these and common days both for our thanksgiving and for the profitableness of our piety Gods works are all worthy of observation but not at all times alike to be remembred for as the Lord by being every where doth not give unto all places one and the same degree of holiness but the Church is more sacred than the High-ways of the Field though Gods Immensity and Omnipotency is alike in both so neither is one and the same dignity competent to all times although the Omnipotency of God doth work in all times but as his extraordinary presence hath hallowed and sanctified certain places so they are his extraordinary works which have worthily advanced certain times for which cause they ought with all men that honour God to be in more honour than other dayes I should add two things more that are very ponderous to confirm this truth one from the practice of some holy persons in the Old Testament whose constitutions God approved the other from the practice of our Fore-fathers in all Ages and 't is fit to tread in their steps in things that are laudable honest and indifferent but this shall not be hudled up I will dilate it hereafter To dispatch all beside our holy due of the Lords Day we are now to celebrate the Kings Day and for good reason in all equity we ought to do some Religious Service on His Day who is the Defendor of our Religion Next under the Providence of God who but the King doth maintain the Truth among us therefore on what day of the week soever this Day lights it becoms us to set open the Door of the Church and to praise the Lord because we have freedom to come to Church all the year by his grace and protection We have no Romish Superstition no Anabaptistical or Presbyterian Anarchy to make this holy place irksom unto us God be praised that has given his Anointed a faithful heart to serve him and to uphold his People in the right way that they may hold up clean hands to Heaven I do read that Constantine celebrated an yearly Feast for his Victory against Licinius I read that the Church of Alexandria celebrated a Day yearly wherein the waters asswaged after a great Inundation I read that Alexius Comnenus appointed a perpetual Holiday for the memory of the famous Emperor and Lawgiver Justinian nay St. Ambrose calls to mind that Felix Bishop of Cuma kept that day every year in a magnificent manner to God wherein he was consecrated Bishop Thus former Ages have given us light that we keep in the Circle of that which is lawful when we adorn the Anniversary Day of the Inauguration of our most noble King with joy and festivity in the sight of God and first let us confess the Lords benefit towards us and say as the People did of Solomon Because thy God loved Israel to stablish them for ever therefore made he thee King over them to do judgment and justice 1 Chron. ix viii Secondly let as put up Prayers and Intercessions to the Divine Majesty to give great prosperity to our Anointed Sovereign to his Royal Consort and to their Posterity for ever AMEN A SERMON UPON THE RESURRECTION PSAL. cxviii 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it IF you have ever seen a piece of Coin stamp'd with one face upon the fore-side and with another upon the reverse then set that fancy before you to understand the double sense of this Text. First If you ask according to the Letter whose Image and Superscription is this I tell you and I have told it you once before it is Davids And this is the triumphant Hymn of the devout men of Israel exulting that God had given them such a King to go in and out before them If you ask according to the Spirit to whom this Verse belongs most certainly it aims at Christ and that two ways either calculating this Day for the whole Age of the Gospel that is the day which God hath made to put gladness into his chosen through the remission of our sins because the day-spring from on high hath visited us Or else in a more eminent sort it is the joyful acclamation of the Church upon the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus that being the most honourable and most welcome of days because the Resurrection hath ever been esteemed the most glorious of all the works of the Gospel I have spun out the first of these concerning David to the last thread now my Web which is upon the Loom is concerning Christ that is I have given unto Caesar that which is Caesars and it is very expedient as the more principal duty to give unto God that which is Gods Indeed I cannot say that I am come to the heart and to the vitals of the Text till now till now that I apply it not as formerly to the Lords Anointed but to Christ himself our Lord anointed And I have clear way made me for this interpretation as clear as I can wish for never any that have received the Book of the Psalms for spiritual and divine melody but do reckon this Psalm and especially this part of the Psalm to belong to Jesus the Author and finisher of our Salvation The Doctors of the Jews says St. Hierom did use to sing it in praise of the Messias And the Doctors of the Christians must be all of one Chorus to chant it merrily to the Son of God because four places of the New Testament that is witness enough have made a challenge unto it that this Psalm is an Allelujah or Hosannah to the Son of God And because the words of my Text are obvious to be recited upon any memorable and plausible occasion sometimes they have been drawn to congratulate humane affairs yet with this reservation that none under heaven hath a true interest in them I read that in the second Constant Council held under Justinian the Emperour Johannes Presbyter as he was
necessary Imperative Law Sometimes it binds as when we find them frequently joyn Fasting with Prayer and where we meet with their strict Discipline that they delivered up obstinate offenders to Satan and cast them out of the Church but elsewhere their practice draws on no absolute necessity but leaves us to our prudent liberty and ties no harder as appears by their Colledges of Widows to wash the Saints feet by their Feasts of Charity c. For whereas St. Paul says That which you have heard and seen in me that do Phil. iv 9. It is a Commission that they may imitate him in any thing he did for he did nothing but things lawful yet it infers it not to be necessary to do all things as he did As a Physician may say to his Patient eat whatsoever you see me eat which is spoken by way of warrant not of necessary observation Well then since the practice of the Apostles sometimes leaves us at liberty to follow them sometimes presseth the duty upon us and we must do as they did how shall we know the one from the other In my small reading I could never find it cleared yet but you shall have my opinion of it It is a rule in St. Austin Quod universa tenet Ecclesia nec Conciliis institutum sed semper retentumest c. Whatsoever is not defined by any General Council and yet is practised by the whole Church it hath been delivered from hand to hand by the Apostles Here I take the hint that some things were delivered by the Apostles for order and decency sake which were but temporary agreed only to some times and some places and every Church receiv'd them freely with their own liking but whatsoever is derived from their Exemple and is dispread over the whole Church and hath continued in all Ages so hath the observation of the Lords day that was at first grounded in the practice of the Apostles not to be received indifferently but to be admitted as a Divine Institution Now I sum up the Orthodox Truth as I take it by what right and tenure we keep the Lords day holy 1. Not by virtue of the Letter of the fourth Commandment but by the natural equity and moral contents of it and reasonable consequences deduced out of it 2. The glorious act of Christs rising from the dead did not constitute the first day of the week to be a day of perpetual sanctification but upon good congruity the Church took occasion from thence to celebrate this day unto the Lord. 3. There are no express imperative words in the New Testament immediately to command it but in general principles that we are to obey our Rulers in all things 4. and lastly It is establisht in the practice of the Apostles and so uniformly received in all Ages that it is most probable they purposed it not for an Ecclesiastical Sanction which is alterable but for a Divine Institution which is perpetual and unalterable This labour which is past hath been spent about this Day in reference to Gods making that which follows is upon the same Subject in reference to our own rejoycing we will rejoyce and be glad in it that is God hath sanctified the day and we will sanctifie it that is God hath sanctified it by ordeining it to sacred use and we must sanctify it with an holy gladness imploying it chiefly in religious conversation We must separate it from profane uses to divine we must meet in holy places we must come together about holy purposes hearken to holy things and this must be our chief delight that we keep Holy-day to the Lord. Attend the time therefore with all chearfulness and diligence which summons us to appear in the House of God 't is religionis discendae introducendae medium the only and most available means to keep Religion in life and being Our sins are very grievous I confess and there is much unjust communication in the world we do not deal usually as between Brother and Brother but as between faithless Infidels and utter Adversaries but to what extremity would our sins wax if we did not pray to the Lord in his good day to guide us with a good conscience all the week after Mark therefore that the fourth Commandment is set in the midst of the Decalogue in the end of the first Table and before the beginning of the second as if it were the common nerve of Religion take away this and we shall neither know the duties of the one Table or of the other either to God or our Neighbour It is very meet therefore and our bounden duty that we should every one set forth a large share of this Day to the honour of God in Publick Assemblies not for a spurt of time and then apply our selves to other affairs as Christ bid us go every day into our secret Chamber to praise the Lord but according to the appointment both of God and the Church the best part of the day must be surrendred up to the use of Prayer and Preaching that God may have both his Morning and his Evening Sacrifice to declare his truth in the morning and his faithfulness in the night season as David says And therefore I have noted it to my self how in every Age for at least 600 years after Christ Godly Bishops did lengthen out Service by little and little to keep us the longer at Church At first there was but an Epistle and Gospel read and the Lords Prayer said and then they went to the Communion then the reading of the Psalms was added then certain Lessons out of the Old and New Testament then came in the Litany then the Confession with divers Collects of Prayers And our own Church above all others draws out the Service with the Ten Commandments Some there are that complain we spend not the Lords day totally or sufficiently in the House of Sanctification and yet with the same breath they will complain of long Prayers and will of purpose decline Cathedral Churches and never come at them because Divine Service is continued there an hour longer at least than in Parochial Congregations But how can time be better spent than in this Holy Temple that commands all time The Sabbath was made for man under the Law and the Lords day is made for man under the Gospel yet it is called the Lords day and not mans it is made for man that is for the instruction of the Soul and the refreshing of his Body but it is his day to whose honor it is set apart for the spiritual worship of Christians in all days much more in this is terminated to God And I speak it with gladness that it is a good sign that the fire of Religion burns within our breasts when we devote our selves so much to pious Exercises on Sunday that a great number are loth to hear of external joy and gladness The more observant we are of this time the more we please God
Altar it is an indignity second to none and God doth greatly disdain at it if his Churches beg your liberality for their reparation beg they must by a Brief and that impudently or else they shall lie in the dust but when they do crave your help pour in plentifully into the Corban He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly If his Priests plead for the due and true portion that belongs unto the Altar do not construe Divinity so much amiss as if the Doctrine concerned their profit only but did nothing pertain to inform your just dealing Your voluntary benevolences though they be large and bountiful shall excuse no man of Sacriledge where that which is due is pinch'd and impaired He that wrongs the Altar I mean the Church in Shillings nay in Pence that are due to it they are not his Pounds of benevolence shall make him an honest man in the sight of God Do not flatter your selves in what you are not and let me tell you the truth one of your poor Farmers that occupies under you but one hundred pound Land by year in the Country pays as much to the Church Demeans by due as five nay as ten wealthy Landlords in the City And yet you think your selves the best pay masters to the Church but no man of understanding believes you He is called a wise Steward in the Gospel but his deeds were the actions of a Reprobate that bad his Masters Debtors set down fifty for one hundred and fourscore for another I should be this unjust Steward my self if I should not tell you justly and faithfully what you owe to my Master in Heaven they have more cunning than faithfulness that teach you how to strike off part of the Sum. And yet I beseech you mark one passage in the unjust Steward He doth not come with Quid dabis How doth your mind stand for a benevolence What are you pleased to give my Master But Quid debes What do you owe my Master Pay your Debts first and talk of your Supererogation afterwards as if you should stop the free passage of a Spring and then think to recompence the Owner with a Glass of Rose-water Such a kindness it is to stop the rights of Gods Ministers and then think to make them amends with some contribution of courtesie O let not this fair object of your manifold charity before mine eyes be blemish'd with Sacriledge for when the Sacrifice is withdrawn from the Altar is it not a great sign that God is despised So much of that general Point drawn out into the several branches Ignominia indigna a disdain much undeserved that God should be despised in the opinion of Man The upshot of all that I have to say is in that which follows ignominia dignissima a scorn and disdain justly deserved that the abusers of Gods Glory shall be set at naught in his eyes They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Mercy and Justice are in all the works of the Lord. Behold the sweetness of Mercy in two things gathered out of that which is before us 1. The order of these parts will insinuate it unto us for promise doth go before minacie the affection of love before the destruction of anger Them that Honour me I will Honour God begins at that end where there is a reward in the right hand They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed that is the conclusion the last refuge upon which he is thrust with vengeance in the left Mount Gerizim is the first hill that God mentions Deu. xxvii the Mountain upon which Levi and his fellow Tribes should bless Israel Mount Ebal is prepared in the next place the Mountain upon which Dan and his fellow Tribes should curse the People Behold I set before you this day life and death blessing and cursing Deut. xxx 19. As Medicine is the first offer of Chyrurgery Amputation of the putrified part is the last and desperate help that Art doth administer 2. God will Honour the Good he takes it upon him that benediction is his proper act It is set down passively and no otherwise that the wicked shall be lightly esteemed Come you blessed of my Father Mat. xxv Benediction is from God Go ye cursed says Christ in his anger cursed by your own sins cursed by the malice of the Devil he doth not say cursed of my Father Surely somewhat is in it that God will never take the act of Malediction upon himself Isa xxviii 21. The fury of his wrath he calls alienum opus his strange work his strange act that he will perform Non est opus Dei perdere quos creavit says Lyra. It is a strange work and comes as it were unwillingly unto God to destroy those whom he hath made And therefore we have it in a Prayer of our Liturgy especially against the visitation of the woful Pestilence God whose nature and property is â—ver to have mercy and forgive Peregrinum opus est ut puniat qui Salvator est says St. Hierom upon the forenamed place it is an improper work for him to curse who is the Author of blessing for him to destroy who is the Saviour of the world for him to put any man to light estimation from whom proceedeth all honour and glory And as Mercy gives a sweet relish to this Text so Justice is no less conspicuous for here is a punishment so proportioned to the fault committed as if God had studied to retaliate may I express it as we do barbarously in a Vulgar Proverb Qui meccat mockabitur he that despiseth me shall be despised You do well know Adonibezecks confession his Thumbs and Toes were cut off as seventy Kings having their Thumbs and Toes cut off gathered meat under his Table as I have done so God hath requited me says the Tyrant So might Pharaoh and Egypt have confessed that as they did exercise cruelty upon the Infants of Israel so the Angel slew all their First-born in a night As the Seed of the Righteous was cast into the water to be drowned so Pharaoh and all his Hest were drowned in the Red Sea So Charles the Ninth of France who publish'd himself to be the Author of that bloudy Massacre committed upon many thousand innocent Protestants in the Streets of Paris bloud was his end in great quantity says the famous Annalist of our Island sanguinis profluvio inter longos graves dolores expiravit the bloud could not be stanched which gushed out from many parts of his body and so after long and grievous torments he gave up the Ghost An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth bloud for bloud Children for Children drowning for drowning ignominy for ignominy this is the retaliation of true Justice They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Where is the advancement of the Proud Where is their honour that would be noble and yet tush at the true nobility of Vertue and Religion Like as I have
you must know that there is a threefold evidence of truth to be distinguished First there is the evidence of our outward senses Matt. xvi when it is Evening you say it will be fair weather for the Sky is red O ye hypocrites can you discern the face of heaven says our Saviour as who should say then there is more to be understood 2. There is the evidence of knowledg which will condemn the Heathen that know not God for the invisible things may be understood by the things which are made even his eternal Godhead Rom. i. both these truths you see are fruitless without a third and what is that but the evidence of faith Heb. xi As for other Truths every man is in the high way to get them capiat qui capere potest but as for this Truth it hath looked down from Heaven says David looked upon whom it listeth and all men have not faith Whether Faith be the evident Truth or not all the World almost upon a time stuck at that point but onely Abraham either because their eyes were dim or because it shined like the face of Moses that they could not behold it Yea we have sundry Traditions that some Philosophers cast an eye upon the first verse of the Scripture In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth but they started at it like the Host of Israel at the dead Corps of Amasa and went no further Alas poor Philosophy who knows not how to confound the wisdom of her Principles The fire hath been as temperate as the morning air Dan. 3. the waters have stood upon an heap like the strong ribs of a Mountain Exod. xiv the Sun hath hid his face at noon day when Astronomy could find no reason for it their Art was as blind as the Heaven in the Eclipse But every part of nature should be out of frame Heaven and Earth should pass away before one title of Gods book should perish that with the dissolution of the Heavens no Angels might remain and with the ruine of the Earth no men might be left to testify against it The holy Martyrs have forsaken their lives that this truth might not forsake them And as it is reported of our Philosopher that the ashes spread upon the high Mountains of Tenariffa retain for ever any letters drawn out upon them by reason of the tranquillity of the place So no wind or storm can scatter away those holy words of Gods Book since they have been written in the ashes of the Martyrs the Law cannot endure better in the Tables of Stone than the Gospel in that sacred dust If Faith be not a Truth how did Abraham see Christmas day and rejoyce and keep it a solemn Festival more than a thousand years before the name was entred into our Calender He knew the faithfulness of Gods Promise that made Jesus our Redemption so undoubtedly that he swore him a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedech The Mother of our Lord might ask reverently quomodo How should these things be The best in the World have their doubts of infirmity but Domine non erit tibi this thing shall not be so when Christ had spoken it that was a mistake in St. Peter and yet behold the Evidence of Truth shewed it self more abundantly anon after in the faith of that Apostle than in all the skill of Greece and Egypt Tell me what Physician could promise recovery to the Cripple lying at the Beautiful Gate Durst all the Colledg of Galen say unto him confidently stand up and walk but the Apostle saw that one grane of faith could give him the use of his feet and ancle bones that he might leap and praise the Lord. Whatsoever is confirmed by the mouth of two or three Witnesses it passeth for truth by the Law of God and Man and good reason for it Now the Old Testament was confirmed under the name of three Patriarchs I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. In the New Covenant whether it were at the Transfiguration of Christ Peter James and John three Attendants did bear him company to Mount Tabor in like manner at the raising up of Jairus Daughter and in the Mount of Olives when he sweat and prayed so many were with him as before and the self same three Disciples all was confirmed under the mouth of three Witnesses But I will take no more pains in this point to prove Faith to be a Truth as I remember the great Orator reports of a good man Q. Metellus he was excused or rather forbidden to shew his proof unto the Senate in a Controversie to be debated lest the Bench should seem to distrust so reverend a Citizen None but Julian the Apostate and such accursed as he hath left behind him would scoff at Faith whose cavil it was as Nazianzen reports that we had a starting hole for all objections in one silly word Believe These men knew not that Faith in a little Pearl was worth all the substance of a Merchant and he sold all he had to buy the Pearl Matt. xiii Surely if the Womb of Mary deserved a Blessing from all Generations that bore the Infant from everlasting if the Arms of Simeon deserved a Church Anthem every Evensong that enclasped him if the Tomb of Joseph was attended by Angels where his body lay then cut down Palms and spread your Garments in the way for Christ is rode in triumph into that heart into which faith is entred Now Truth is fruitful and brings forth Truth a Daughter not unlike her self Divine Truth is the cause of Human Truth of a true Conversation of a right Balance and a just Fphah Her Merchandise is such as Abraham's was with the Hittites Gen. 23. which I will ever commend when he bought a Tomb for Sarah such as the ancient Romans was aedes pestilentes vendo the Seller was not ashamed to confess that his House had the Pestilence Not as St. Hierom told the Trades of his time tanti vitrium quanti margaritam to chop away Glass for Rubies or as St. Basil says of Gordias the Martyr that his Soul was vexed with the City and he retired into the Wilderness leaving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he could not endure the Buyers and Sellers the forswearers and liars And what doth all come to when they cast up their Audit Prov. xxi 6. The getting of riches by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death Let our Merchants beware that they carry not that report which the Wits of St. Paul's time put upon the Cretians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alwayes liars evil beasts and slow-bellies or as Plutarch spake of Demades the Pleader then grown past the best that there was nothing left in him but his Tongue and his Paunch his Tongue to tell lies and his Belly to surfeit the meer Reliques of an Ox sacrificed Nay I beseech you