bodie nor with our substance He shall have neither our goods nor our knee but likely we put it off He shall have our soul why this is only to give God his thirds as a reverend Father saies to compound like Bankrupts and give him two parts less than we owe him and yet we look for ten thousand times more than He owes us We have some that are to be suspected for a kind of Sadduces among us that believe no resurrection of the body else they would never palter with discipline but be more forward in the prostration and worship of the bodie than the Church could be to command them Some have given a great blow to this duty by harping upon the bare words of S. John and not digesting the true meaning of his Text Joh. iv 23. The hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth Mark the occasion why this was spoken and the words precedent The woman of Samaria moved a doubt whether God was to be worshipped at Jerusalem as the Jews taught or at Mount Girizin as the Samaritans taught Now the Samaritans worshipt God falsely they worshipt they knew not what says Christ The Jews held strictly to Moses Law and observ'd figures and shadows of things to come which were all to give place and vanish upon the incarnation of our Lord. Now it is easie to discern the substance of our Saviours answer what it is to serve God in spirit and truth Truth is opposed to the false superstition of the Samaritans Spirit is opposed to the Jewish figures and sacrifices And Christ tells the woman God will neither be served any more after the Samaritan way or Jewish way but after the newness of the Gospel The hour cometh and now is when ye shall neither worship the Father in this Mountain nor at Jerusalem but they shall worship him in spirit and truth Do these words exempt the worship of the body nothing less The word spirit is not taken there for the soul divided from the body signifying only an internal act of the spirit but for all manner of virtuous actions as well external as internal which proceed from the grace of the Holy Spirit being acceptable to God because the Holy Spirit brings them forth not because they are figures of things to come I will sing with the spirit says St. Paul 1 Cor. xiv 15. and yet singing is a bodily action He did worship in spirit when he said For this cause bow I my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Ephes iii. to come to a point Remember therefore how we adore God in spirit when we adore him with those outward gestures of the body to which we are stirred up by the Spirit of truth And so much of the first member of my Text which I laid out to be handled by it self the Lord God is to be worshipped The next duty is the other Pillar of Religion which upholds the Church of the Elect the Lord God is to be served By worship you know already we understand all humble outward devotion and reverence Now by service you must conceive the inward conformity of the heart to all duty and obedience The will of the Lord is revealed to us two manner of ways Either as he doth promise us blessings and benefits and assures us great rewards in the Kingdom of heaven Or as he doth stipulate and covenant with us what we shall do to obtain his favour In the former respect as he hath given us the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth most liberally and as he doth promise greater fruits of his mercy most graciously we fall down and worship him for his benefits but as he doth condition with us to do somewhat for his sake that he may leave a blessing with us we serve him faithfully and bind our inward faculties our soul and our mind to be prompt and ready to execute all obedience That you may the better compose your hearts to attend Gods will in all things and to serve him I will supply your knowledge with these few motives following First There is no other Lord beside our God properly called 1 Cor. viii Though there be that are called Gods as there be Gods many and Lords many that is by opinion and nuncupation but to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him And again Eph. v. 4. One Lord one Faith one Baptism one God who is above all and through all and in you all Super omnes dominio per omnes providentiâ in omnibus justificatione Above all by his Dominion through all by his Providence in all by sanctifying us with his grace and justifying us from sin He that is subject to none inferiour to none independent of himself in all his power He may well be called a Lord and such a Lord deserves to be served Petty Magistrates hold of Princes favours and Kings hold their tenure under God Therefore some of the Roman Emperours having the perceivance that they could command nothing absolutely if he that sate above the heavens did stop it they would not be called Domini because themselves were servants in relation to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords therefore their circumscribed power did not answer the title When the Scripture brings in the most High the saying is Haec dicit Dominus Thus saith the Lord. If we would examine this after the stile of man you would say Lord of what Why universal Lord without any particular designment Specifications to be Lords of this or that are earthly phrases are notes of minority Attalus the Martyr was askt what name that Lord had whom he served Says he Qui plures sunt nominibus discernuntur qui autem unus est non indiget nomine Where there are many Lords they must be distinguish'd by their properties but what need that Lord a name for distinction who is the only Ruler by himself without any equal or partner in his dominion now since we must serve for sin hath brought servitude into the world whom would a man choose to serve but that only Lord to whose sheave all other sheaves do bend and who only hath authority Secondly In all service you will consider in what state and place it puts you Do so in this and spare not But let St. Peter be the Judge 1 Epist ii 9. Ye are a chosen generation a royal Priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people There is royalty in the very service Cui servire est regnare To do him service is a Kingly Ministry Nay there is more in one of our Church Collects in one Line of it than in the most Augustious title of a King God whose service is perfect freedom A King may be so much subject to naughty passions as he shall be in vile thraldom to his own sensualities and so
Army which Pharaoh knew not how to withstand or which way to drive them back unless Moses prayed for him But more eminently than all other creatures the constellations of Stars are very frequently in holy Scriptures called the host of heaven as Deut. xvii 3. If there be any found among you which hath worshipped the Sun or Moon or any of the host of heaven bring forth that man or woman and thou shalt stone them with stones that they dye 2 Kings xvii 16. The reason is given why Salmanasar the King of Assyria took away Hoshea the King of Israel and the ten Tribes into captivity because they made them two Calves even molten Images and worshipped all the host of heaven and served Baal There is admirable order indeed in the Stars of the Firmament as in a well-marshall'd Camp the Planets one above another the Sun running his course in the midst as in the main battel nay there is virtue and influence in them to overthrow Gods enemies but the knowledge after what manner they fight against sinners is too excellent for us to attain unto it but Deborah the Prophetess said it that the Stars in their courses fought against Sisera Judg. v. 20. Josephus says upon that story that hail and thunder and winds were raised up by some planetary aspect which did great annoyance against Sisera and the Midianites Like as Livy says that the brightness of the Sun and clouds of dust blown about by the winds fell both together into the eyes of the Romans when they lost their whole Army at Cannae and the heavens above caused those incommodities almost to their utter destruction So Claudian sings of Theodosius the Emperor's Victory that the heavens above did fight of his side against his enemies O nimium dilecte Deo cui militat aether therefore the Stars whether you regard their order or their efficacy are rightly called an heavenly host And if these visible lights which the Lord hath set in the firmament to distinguish day and night are a celestial battel how much more the Angels whom God hath made invisible by nature and as fierce as fire in activity Who maketh his Angels spirits and his Ministers a flame of fire So Elisha presented a muster of them to his servant not simply as an host but as a fiery host the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha 2 Kings vi 17. Scarce any Prophet but touches upon it though darkly and mystically that the Angels are a militia ready to war and fight David Psalm xxxiv 7. The Angel of the Lord castrametatur encampeth round about them that fear him Is there any number of his armies meaning there is a multitude of heavenly Spirits assisting before the throne of God continually Job xxv 2. Who hath created these things that bringeth out their host by number Isa xl 26. I saw in my vision and behold the four winds of heaven strove upon the great Sea Dan. vii 2. And these says St. Hierom were the four Angelical powers to whom the four principal Monarchies of the world were committed But before any other Prophet of God mention'd that warlikeness which is in Angels Jacob did Gen. xxxii 2. when he was returning with his wife and children into Canaan the Angels of God met him and when Jacob saw them he said This is Gods host and he called the name of the place Mahanaim Mahanain is of the dual number and signifies two several Camps whether he meant the troop of Angels that came to guard him for one and the servants of his own family for another or rather as a learned Author says he saw a band of Angels before him and another behind him The Angels that particularly protect Palestina receiv'd him into that Country and they that were Guardians of Mesopotamia delivered him up and brought him thither You see that the phrase of our Evangelist is confirm'd by all the Prophets in the Old Testament but if it appear that Christ himself hath said as much you will believe the more that the sense is very useful and mystical Why Josh v. 14. when Joshua was about to besiege Jericho he lift up his eyes and saw a man over against him with his Sword drawn in his hand says he Art thou for us or for our adversaries and he said nay but a Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come Many Pontificians had the rather say this was an Angel because Joshua worshipped to help out their bad cause of the Worship of Angels but Andreas Masius proves it learnedly that this was Christ himself who conducted the people of the promise into the Land of Canaan even as he shall bring all his Elect into the Kingdom of Heaven and many times shew'd himself in a visible form as a man unto the Patriarchs to learn them the Faith of his Incarnation in the fulness of time The same Masius cites some words out of one Moses Gerundensis a Jewish Cabalist which I cannot omit says the Jew There is one principal Angel the Prince of all the rest who is the face of God for it is said Exod. xxxiii 14. Behold I will send my presence or my face before thee You know how this agrees with Christ the second Person in Trinity who is called the express image of his Fathers presence Heb. i. 3. The Cabalist goes on The Jews did much desire to see that principal Angel who he was they could not know him by any prophetical vision nor by their Law whereas the face of God can be nothing else but God himself and God promised of him to the people He shall be kind and gentle to thee neither shall he hold thee to the strict and rigid Law but shall deal favourably and mercifully with thee A most manifest description of Christ and his Kingdom but that his Jewish obstinacy would not let him see it This we gain out of it Christ is General of the Angels and they his Army Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbaoth that is of Hosts as we say it and sing it often in our morning Hymn These being under the banner of Christ are the Chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof These did once turn the point of their Sword against us now Christ hath reconciled all things in heaven and in earth and they made this armilustrium this training in warlike ostentation at the birth of Christ to give us knowledge and comfort that they will turn their arms against our enemies That the Kingdom of Satan should be thenceforth brought under and supprest that the strong man should be cast out of his house and spoiled of all his munition Therefore this Canticle of theirs is an Epinicium or Song of triumph for a victory assured or obtained Like the joy of them that divide the spoil says the Prophet Isaiah upon the occasion of the Birth of
best harmony with our best chearfulness from the example of Angels especially at this time for the Birth of our blessed Lord and Saviour c. THE EIGHTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE ii 14. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good will towards men O Sing unto the Lord a new Song for he hath done marvelous things I will begin the New year from that portion of Davids Canticle Marvelous things they were you will all confess that the powerful God should be made a feeble Infant that a woman should bear him in her womb who supports the world and all the Creatures that are contained in it that the Eternal should be born who had no beginning never was the like heard or seen before therefore whatsoever was said of old will not agree to set it forth it must be a new Song of praise and thanksgiving to our God So is the Text which I have read before you It cometh to pass by the providence of God that St. Lukes Gospel is more chearful than all the rest and full of Musick So that he is well called by one not only the Evangelist but the Psalmist of the New Testament The Song of Zachary the Song of Maries Magnificat the Song of Simeon this Song of the Angels the Church is beholding to him for reciting them and to no other Penman of the holy Word St. Paul calls him Luke the Physician some of the Roman Church to serve their own Imagery delights out of some Histories unallowed call him Luke the Painter there is no conjecture for that out of the book of Scripture which cannot lye But I have more conjecture for my own opinion that he was Luke the Musician a man of divers gifts and qualities for the Prophets and Evangelists wrote the Scriptures by divine revelation yet always with a sweet tincture of their own abilities The stately eloquence of Isaiah shews his breeding St. Pauls Logical Arguments shew his Scholarship St. Peters facile Exhortations shew his zeal and plain Education Finally if I be not deceiv'd the repeating of so many celestial Hymns in St. Luke shew his musical art and affection Now the Spirit of the Church hath been ever so directed by God to take in all the Songs of the New Testament into its publick Service and Liturgie the Magnificat the Benedictus the Nunc Dimittis Thus it is not only with us but was so most anciently in all flourishing and well established Churches Neither is this Versicle of the Angels I mean my Text left out but it is referred to the chief part of our serving of God in the celebration of the holy Communion before we part from the Table of the Lord our Rubrique commands us to sing or say Glory be to God on high Indeed that Prayer as we have it is enlarged with many other pithy strains of devotion We praise thee we bless thee we worship thee we glorifie thee c. And such as have wrote of ancient Ceremonies say that Pope Telesphorus made up that excellent prayer of Laud and Thanksgiving beginning with my Text. Very ancient it is I am sure because I meet with it for the most part in those pieces which are called the Constitutions of Clemens and St. James his Liturgy But for the words which I handle I have great cause to judge that they were the most acceptable Prayer of the Primitive Church for St. Paul begins his Epistles with grace and peace be multiplied as much as to say peace on earth and good will towards men and the end of many clauses in his Epistles is that Doxology to God To whom be glory for evermore Amen I wonder that the words themselves are bended in and out with such curious divisions by many Divines for the Angel hath parted them into three several rests and I will not go about to mend his work and whereas Points are raised out of Grammatical constructions of the Verb whether they should be the Indicative or the Optative Mood it shall be all one to that way in which I will handle the parts for I will handle every of the three members three ways First As a Congratulation or thanksgiving Secondly By way of Prayer or Petition Thirdly By way of Doctrine and Instruction Thanksgiving unto God that his glory on high appeareth that peace doth flourish on earth and that he is pleased with men or make it a Prayer or Postulation that all glory may be given to God all safety to the earth and that an happy reconciliation may be begun with men Otherwise if it be a Sermon or Exhortation the sum is that God be magnified peace preserved a friendship with God endeavoured thus nothing shall be lost of this divine musical Embassage Glory be to God in the highest c. Now we cannot be to seek what is the sum of the first member Glory to God in the highest it must be thus the Angels glorifie God for sending Christ in the flesh to redeem mankind and they wish and pray that men may glorifie God in Christ and they teach us that Gods glory is to be sought before all things and so I proceed to explicate it before you If the Disciples be silent at what time it is fit to praise God the stones shall speak says our Saviour that 's ultimum refugium the last shift and refuge that the very dross of the earth if need were should not want a tongue to magnifie its Creator But it stirs up emulation and provokes us more when those that are far above us discharge the duty which we ought to execute rather than when those things which are much beneath us should give us example So my Text lets you see that if men be silent and set not forth the praise of the Lord the Angels will speak and give him glory It were a great shame for the Commons to be rude and irrespectful towards their King when the Nobles and Princes of the people are most dutiful and obsequious so when the Cherubins devote their Songs to extol the most High it were a beastly neglect in man a worm in respect of a Cherubin not to bear a part in that humble piety But to speak after the method of reason had it not been more proper for the Angels at this time to have proclaimed Christs Poverty than his Power his Infancy than his Majesty his Humility in the lowest rather than his glory in the highest If there wereany glory coming out of this work of the Incarnation it may seem we had it rather than our Saviour and he lost it But the piercing eye of those celestial Spirits could see abundant honour compassing Christ about where ignorant man could espy nothing but vileness and misery For first they celebrate the glory of Gods justice in sending his Son made of a woman and made under the Law to suffer for us that had sinned against the Law because that Justice would not receive man into favour
But for brethren to dwell together in a good amity and as much as in us lies to have peace with all men it makes heaven upon earth Malignities and disagreements are things whereof the Angels have no experience in heaven but because the earth is full of mischief and debate and there must be seditious truce-breakers at all times that peace-makers may be more approved Therefore the Angels do not only congratulate the Church but they pray for it that it may abound with peace and they preach unto it that it may seek peace and ensue it We know not so well as the Angels do what an Hell it is to be an enmity with God we perceive not so well as they what a black sin it is to be at strife and division among our selves Hear and attend what they wish for our sakes and will not we wish the same benefit as heartily to our selves wish and labour for it for they that will not do their part to effect that they pray for they did but dream and not pray The Angels in these words gave our Church a pattern to repeat the collect for peace every day in our morning Devotion O God which art the author of peace and lover of concord And that which we pray for daily compose we our charity to practice daily especially while it is called to day when we come to the Table of the Lord The Angels Song is perswasive but the Body and Blood of Christ doth more effectually commend unto us this middle strein of my Text Peace on earth Now I come to the last part of the three and as the close of a Song is best composed when it hath a soft and a gentle cadence so it fails not here in the last note of all and good will towards men And good will c. so our old English Translation reads it with the conjunction copulative and perhaps upon the authority of some Greek Copies but for my own part I never saw or heard of any that had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet Beza commends the Syrian Paraphrase for adding it to the clearing of the sense and so do I. And this is gained by it that the author of that Syrian gloss goes against the common reading of the Latin Church that make but two portions of this Angelical Ditty Glory be to God on high and on earth peace to men of good will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make that noun the Genitive case as they do and the whole order is inverted It is not to be denied unto them but that such a reading is in some ancient Fathers but the most and the best concur with our Translation Howsoever let the words have the right interpretation and that shall make no disagreement The Latin Expositors are divided in it for some say it is peace of good will towards men others say it is towards men of good will peace So Beda Non est pax impiis sed hominibus bonae voluntatis This peace on earth belongs not to all promiscuously good and bad elect and reprobate but to such as are well affected to Gods glory And Leo inclines most that way In terra pax conceditur quae facit homines bona voluntatis such a peace is come down on earth as makes men willing and ready to serve the Lord. Surely this is an inforced sense and must rightly be understood of Gods good will towards men and not of mans good will towards God for it is the praise of God and not of man it is but a colour therefore of some learned Romanists to say that as it is specified in the first section to whom glory is given to God in the highest so it is fitly specified in the second section to whom peace is bequeathed to men of good will For the very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or good will is mostly referred to God and not to man and surely it refers it self to God and his good pleasure not to men or to any good will of theirs I know it and ever preach that consolation to you that where there is a diligent and a studious endeavour God will accept of our good will though the action be offensive Vt si sit actionis infirmitas at sit voluntatis integritas and the Lord will speak peace unto their souls that are men of good will but Christ came not to save us because any of us all were men of good will and took delight in him nay he came unto his own and his own received him not and when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. v. 10. They make far better use of the Latin reading that expound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men of good will are men whom God hath respected from on high in his good will and pleasure such as belong to his beneplacitum to his election and purpose before the beginning of the world and are the children of it So Tolet most ingeniously on earth peace of good will towards men Hoc est ex Dei beneplacito gratuita voluntate non ex eorum meritis in the Jewish salutation peace was as much as health and salvation and God grants peace and salvation of good will to men out of his free love and the eternal counsel of his own will and out of no merits of ours Sponte gratis nullis praecedentibus meritis voluit mundum salvare says Nyssen upon it Of his own accord of his gratuitous goodness Christ came to save mankind and for no preceding good works or good will of ours And then the most common reading of the Greek Church is coincident with that true Orthodox sense and good will towards men that is and Gods free grace and kind acceptation towards them with whom he was offended So St. Chrysost conceives it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and reconciliation to men So the Syrian Paraphrast Et bonum nuntium or Evangelium hominibus and good tidings towards men a happy chearful message to all that will believe in the name of the Lord Jesus for Christ is our glorifier in heaven our pacifier on earth and our reconciler to God Indeed as there is no difference in the Text between earth and men so there is as little between peace and good will peace were rather a captious advantage than a true peace unless benevolence and good will did follow it Let God the Father have his glory to himself alone and to no other then God the Son will be our peace our peace that shall have no end Isa ix 7. and God the Holy Ghost who is the essential love of the Godhead will seal a pledge and earnest of the Divine Love unto our hearts and will breath into us the Spirit of love and good will one to another Amen THE NINTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE xi 27 28. A certain woman of the company lift up her voice and said unto him
Blessed is the Womb that bare thee and the Paps whcih thou hast sucked But he said Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it THis is the Sons day and not the Mothers This is Christs own day and not Maries Therefore it is not for the Wombs sake but for the Fruit of the Womb not for the Paps of a mortal woman but for the Infants sake an immortal God that I have chosen this Text. A good Israelitess she was that magnified Christ on this manner though she was not spoken to yet her heart was full and she must speak for her joy would have stifled her if she had not uttered it If you mark the Context of the Chapter immediately before these words our Saviour had taught his Disciples to pray most divinely he had cast out devils most triumphantly he had answered the Calumniations of the Pharisees most rationally he had put on glorious apparel as the Psalmist says and girded himself with strength While these wonderful works were fresh in memory the Lord from on high could have sent Legions of Angels to magnifie his Son and to praise him with celestial Canticles But to strike the greater shame into the Pharisees that had blasphemed him he stirs up a woman a nameless one a poor Plebeian one not admitted near him she stood afar off and was fain to speak aloud to be heard Blessed is the Womb that bare thee and the Paps which thou hast sucked It was a free acclamation a sudden start a passion that came from her spirit ex tempore and that I may give Christ his full honour and attribute no more to the woman than is truth she prophesied in this saying of greater things than at that time she understood The Holy Ghost gave her the priviledge to be the tongue that delivered this Congratulation but it remains to us to lend it an heart that we may truly conceive it For the inward sense of it is the gladsom contents of this day blessed be the Father of all mercies for the Incarnation of his Son that he was made of a woman for our sakes and blessed are all mankind that he hath taken flesh of our flesh and that he is made partaker of our humane nature But because it would not prove our benefit that he was born for us unless he be born in us likewise by faith and obedience it follows to make our joy and crown complete yea rather blessed are they that hear c. The parts are as manifestly two as the two hands wherewith we handle First Blessedness offered to us in Christs Incarnation Secondly Blessedness made complete in our own application The woman begins the Text in the first part Christ finished in the second She said well for his Incarnation Blessed is the Womb that bare thee He makes it much better by stirrig us up to the use and fruit of it yea rather c. She blesseth Christ and Christ blesseth us she would have all felicity to rest in him he would have a share of felicity to be derived to us A pretty strife between a devout Creature and a merciful Creator between an humble Servant and a bountiful Master between a true faith that heaps all honour upon God and between a gracious God that heaps the treasures of his riches upon a true faith To begin with that which the woman said it must be considered two ways in a Litteral sense such as flesh and bloud revealed to her And in a Prophetical sense above her understanding such as the Spirit of God hath revealed to us Blessed is the Womb that bare thee And so it was indeed according to the Latitude of this womans natural understanding For first she knew at large that it was a blessed thing to be an Instrument or conveyance of any great good unto others Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber be blessed shall she be above women in the Tent Judg. v. 24. Shee had done her part to work deliverance for Israel And when Judith had sped in her adventure to cut off the head of Holofernes says Oziah Blessed art thou of the most high God above all the women upon earth Judith xiii 18. A good Messenger is called an happy and the feet of those are pronounced beautiful that bring glad tidings of peace It is a narrow and an abject conceit of some that think themselves fortunate and at the best when they receive and take in all that can be heapt upon them These men measure felicity backward for beatius est dare quam accipere it is more blessed to give than to receive Though that Maxim be not extant in any of the Evangelists St. Paul tells us upon his credit it was our Saviours The souls of them that are converted to true holiness shall bless the lips of the Priest the poor shall bless the liberal after Ages shall bless publick Spirits that do famous things and are provident for Posterity A Cistern that contains the waters poured into it is much inferiour to a Fountain that sends them forth It is nothing so laudible to be wrought upon as to work that which is honourable Even the Parents that have enricht the world with such as are ornaments unto it benediction reflects upon them for it because they are Conduit pipes of publick felicity Yet all those that have made others happy by their gifts and qualities had been for ever unhappy themselves if the Child that was born this day had not suckt the breasts of a Virgin O happy Parent whose Womb contained all the treasure that maintains the whole earth Somewhat she collineated at this meaning that said unto our Saviour Blessed c. And each Parent partakes in this reason that it is joy and honour to them to have a renowned Son and it may be this woman was partial to her own Sex that contented her self to speak of no more than the womb of the Mother In strict Divinity indeed her words are admirable for Christ had no Father according to the flesh but that is more than I collect out of St. Luke that she mentioned not his Father for that reason But in all humane births that prove successful and glorious the loyns of the Father are blessed as well as the womb of the Mother and the glory of children are their Fathers Prov. xvii 6. Yet in the next construction of mere natural capacity it was proper to say for his sake blessed is the womb because barrenness was a curse and fruitfulness of children a blessing They that propagate a faithful seed upon earth give the means to replenish heaven with Saints it is that wherein we exceed Angels to beget Sons and Daughters in our own likeness and to continue a Generation like our selves makes mankind by succession as incorruptible as the Angels God blessed all living Creatures mark that God blessed them and said unto them be fruitful and multiply Gen. i. 28. Though the Lord said
is but dust and ashes Christ did empty himself of his glory and fulfilled all the righteousness of humility The fifth word of consideration is the plurality of persons spoken of in the Proposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus it behoveth us to fulfil all righteousness It was fit indeed for our Lord Jesus to perform all obedience to the Law in every tittle and minim that is commanded because it lay upon his person to undo the curse of the Law Surely Johns name must stand for a cipher in that work for Christ alone trod the Wine-press of his Fathers wrath neither John nor any of the Saints were made co-partner with him in our redemption By his one Oblation of himself once offered he made a full perfect sufficient Sacrifice and Oblation for the sins of the world What means this saying therefore in the Plural Thus it behoveth us Take again what the Spirit hath supplied for exposition of this word in divers manners One way it is satisfied that Christ according to that excellent power which is in him speaks of himself regally as of many Joh. iii. 11. We speak that we know and we testifie what we have seen and yet Christ only spake to Nicodemus Again it is a sweet consolation that after the taking of any Sacrament we are no more one and one and so to be reckoned single by our selves but Baptism and the Lords Supper are the very bonds of perfection and make us all members of one mystical body the Scripture is admirably accurate in this particular as 1 Cor. xii 13. By one Spirit we are all baptized into one body and have been all made to drink into one spirit Here it appears that we are become one spirit by drinking one cup of the Lord and one holy lump because we are sprinkled with one spirit in the water in the name of the Lord so our Saviour phraseth the sentence of my Text according to this mystical union Thus it behoveth us to fulfil all righteousness One other Paraphrase is very plain and literal and perhaps therefore the more natural John was loth to put his hand unto the water to cast it upon the head of Christ his Master rectifies his error and tells him it must be done it is expedient for both Obedience is required in the Servant humility in the Lord thus it behoveth us on both sides to fulfil all righteousness Take the last conjecture of the word with you and as I approve it the most useful Christ was made righteousness and sanctification for us by shedding his innocent bloud which is testified in the water of this Sacrament He alone is the meritorious cause of our Salvation But the application of this justice is not to be expected to fall upon our heads without ordinary means and such instruments as God hath appointed Ye are Gods Husbandry says St. Paul to them of Corinth but we are labourers together with God 1 Cor. iii. 9. He regenerates by his word which is committed to the lips of sinful men he cleanseth and sanctifieth his Church by the washing of water whereof we are made dispensers therefore our Saviour hath joyned this Prophet to himself not by way of merit God forbid but by way of instrument and ministry in the work of our redemption thus it behoveth us to fulfil all righteousness Now I shall end this Text in a word that Christ did fulfil all righteousness at this time not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a strict necessary rigour but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for decency sake because it did become him Thus it becometh us c. Many abasements our Saviour did endure and became obedient in many parts of humility which could not be exacted at his hands in strict justice as he took our nature upon him but they were certain voluntary strains of lowliness which were full measure pressed down and running over As for his dolourous Passion of the Cross that could not be escaped it was the cup which he must drink to satisfie for the sins of the world therefore he preacht to his Disciples in this unavoidable expression Nonne oportuit c. Ought not Christ to have suffered and thus to enter into his glory But to stoop like one of the multitude to the Baptism of John was not of absolute necessity but a decency which did well befit his humiliation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus it becometh us c. A comliness in every one is to be observed according to his Christian calling and decency though necessity were set apart will prevail much with tractable and honest dispositions Some will bend to nothing but to that which is clearly exprest in so many words out of the sacred Text. But what if decorum require it to be done though it be not in specialty contained in Scripture but in general Maxims why surely then it cannot be neglected if we will offer up to God a perfect Sacrifice Whatsoever is fitting for an outward sanctification of a sincere heart you cannot omit it without maiming that ingenuous comliness which is required at our hands This is not my own fancy for I observe it frequently in St. Paul that he argues from that which becometh a Christian 1 Cor. xi 13. Judge in your selves is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered 1 Tim. ii 10. Let the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefastness and sobriety not with broidered hair But as becometh women professing godliness Eph. v. 3. Fornication uncleanness let it not once be named among you as becometh Saints Where is that wrangling excuse now for all your pride and bravery Will you be stiff in your opinion that you may paint and powder and crisp and clip hair and use all those Island dog tricks about your head because the Bible doth in no place by name condemn these things Beloved if the Spirit of God had penn'd a thousand Bibles more they could not have contain'd the Catalogue of all those Peacock fashions into which you transform your selves from time to time therefore one rule stands for all that you must do as becometh women professing godliness and remember that there is a decency to be attended in Christianity I will not say to you as St. Paul did to the women of Corinth Judge in your selves if this be comly We should have wise reformation for all faults if you were made the judges who are quite addicted to vanities Who shall tell you then what is decent for Christians Will you rather believe the handmaid that attires you Or the Waiting-woman that hath wages to flatter you Or those Gallants that call themselves your servants and would have you proud that they may idolize you Will you believe these rather than the Priest of God whose soul must answer for every word he teacheth you Learn from him what it is that becometh you to fulfil righteousness Much might be enforced from hence likewise to commend unto you all the Ceremonies so exactly
ingrafted into Christ by Baptism before they can perceive their insition and do not say this reason holds not in us we are of age to understand our own belief It is not our understanding that makes God gracious unto us but his own free mercy And in this respect many like new-born babes receive the kingdom of heaven I mean that divers go out of this World into Abrahams bosom who never overcome distrusts and tentations at least till they are even going out of the World But this charitable and most true assertion were invalid if particular application of Christs mercies by firm assurance did justifie a sinner I resolve it therefore unto you that general assent goes first in order that Christ perfect man and perfect God is the Saviour of all those that believe then we draw a particular assent that he is my God and my Saviour then our boldness and assurance that by him we shall pass from death and reign with him in glory is the effect of that particular assent and so the Scripture speaketh Eph. iii. 12. In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him Here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which causeth us to speak with alacrity to God here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may assure it self any thing and these are effects produced by faith in him that is by justifying faith Not to cloy you with more than one other quotation 1 Tim. iii. 13. They purchase themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus The object of faith is verum the object of certitude and assurance is bonum Faith is a perswasion or assurance of the mind though working upon the heart Affiance is an affection of the heart though proceeding from the assurance of the mind Now hear the fourth Conclusion speak This affiance or special assurance is not alike in all that are justified nor at all times alike in any man This Conclusion will serve to quiet the troubles of the Conscience two ways First When the same man at sundry times finds himself so divers from himself now full of spiritual Consolation a few days after that his comfort is but luke-warm at another season almost stark cold let no man think his case remediless because of these alterations in his Spirit Many times doubts will arise and continue long with a terrible perplexity Nevertheless though I am sometime afraid yet put I my trust in thee says Dauid Psal lvi 11. When these flat contrary perswasions come into your mind yet God will never leave you so destitute of his grace but that you shall have some strength left to pray to be delivered out of those tentations that the bones which he hath broken may rejoyce and a happy wading out of those doubts may prove to be the greater confirmation The spirit of a good man is sometimes well enlightned with assurance sometime a little obscured sometime very dark after there shall be a long and a lasting serenity in his Conscience As a woman that hath newly conceived begins to suspect her conception by and by some other signs cast into her mind that she is deluded Afterwards she feels the fruit of her womb quicken and then her opinion is constantly confirmed Faith after the manner of alterative qualities hath its growth its declension its reparation It grows to an infancy then to youthfulness then to a stronger age and the more it lays hold of the Promise for its own blessing the more it cleaves fast to the foundation Besides this should procure them peace of mind who cannot alledge that great confidence for their own part and strength of assurance that others seem to challenge to themselves yea and truly have Every tree doth not shoot out his root so far as another and yet may be firm in the ground and live as well as that whose root is largest So every faith stretcheth not forth the arms of particular assurance to embrace Christ alike and yet it may be a true faith that lives by charity repentance and good works some faith abounds with one sort of fruits some with another God is delighted with all that are good and he will reward them In all kind of Divine Conclusions some are more doubtful spirited than others In our very meats one believeth that he may eat all things another eateth herbs Rom. xiv One man esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth all days alike Let not him that is strong in faith despise him that is weak So one hath examined himself is perswaded especially by his good endeavours to please the Lord and by the redemption of Christs bloud which he felt effectual in him in the Sacraments rests every way assured that Christ will glorifie him at his second appearance Another dares not take such solid comfort for he is more oppressed with tentations more afflictions come upon him and chiefly perhaps ignorance darkens his understanding give this man leave to say and he shall be heard Lord I believe help thou my unbelief Because I said that ignorance especially darkens the understanding of them that are so weak in faith you shall know wherein Many are pluckt back from particular affiance in Christ because they know not the method how to proceed For they are taught that nothing is to be believed with the certainty of faith unless it be contained in the Creed or in holy Scripture but they cannot find this or that mans Salvation written there therefore they are posed how to apprehend it with the certainty of faith I make my answer First how easie it is to reduce it to one of the Articles of the Creed or more than one but especially to this that we believe the forgiveness of sins But to the main Objection all the Doctrine of Faith which we believe is written or deduced out of holy Scripture but the act wherewith we believe is in our selves and not to be lookt for in Paper and Ink No but that is wrot in our own hearts through the testimony of the Spirit by good examination Now the Major Proposition is Whosoever believeth stedfastly shall be saved in Scripture The Minor Proposition but I believe stedfastly is wrote by the Spirit in our own heart therefore the Conclusion is divine and good And because it dependeth upon an Argument whereof the principal part which draws on all the rest is totally and immediately revealed in Scripture therefore the assurance of a mans particular Justification is lawfully reduced to the assurance and certainty of Faith Another fair pretence causeth divers men rather to leave place in themselves for some distrust than to aim at strong assurance because it relisheth much more of humility to be cast down at the recognition of our manifold sins Indeed it is good to ponder our own unworthiness and imbecillity so far as to make us humble and to acknowledge no good can come to us from any thing that is in our selves but it
to consider upon these words and as I begin at Satans demand so I make two branches of it the Motion and the Mover The Motion is tumbling headlong to be cast down and the Mover must be himself Cast thy self down To the handling and use of these are required your ear my utterance and Gods grace to both I begin with the Motion and if the meaning of him that counselled it had been well carried it were a motion easily perswaded to him that is of an humble spirit a good man is ever ready to be directed to go and sit down in the lowest room and to be abased to the very center of humility When the heart is in good awe of God the joynts will bend unto the earth O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker This we are sure is far from Satans purpose and can be no construction of his words Optat omnes cadere qui se sentit prae omnibus cecidisse says St. Austin He would have all men fall in that sort as himself hath done with aspiring and presumption that they might never rise again The Beast in the Fable which had lost his tail made an Oration before all the Beasts of the Wood what a comly thing it was to want a tail and very useful and so concluded that they would all cut off theirs but the Fox made answer You intend not to make us decent like your self but to have us all as deformed After the same manner the Devil Preacheth unto Christ to descend from the top of the Pinacle to the bottom not to set him in the posture of an humble man but to make him arrogant like Lucifer for such a violent precipitation says he can do no hurt at all to such a one as you are a most holy one that are called the Son of God I will use Bonaventure's saying upon it Satan did interlace lofty pride with this lowly seeming motion Vt descendendo corporaeliter faceret cum superbire spiritualiter ut simul esset ascensus vanus descensus verus That he might fall down bodily and be proud spiritually and so he thrust together a frivolous presumption and a dangerous descension How much is humility abused when Pride will wear the colours of that good vertue to deceive the world There was grose ambition in Absalons stooping to steal the hearts of the people The Scribes and Pharisees would dop to the ground when they greeted their friends in the Market place The same Bishop that hath more Princely Augustious titles ascribed unto him then would fill up a Sermon by themselves subscribes himself very often Servus servorum Christ the servant of the servants of Christ As a Kite will sweep the earth with his wings that he may truss the Prey in his Talons and fly aloft to devour it So all the crouches and submissions which an ambitious man makes are to get somewhat which he seeks for and to clamber to promotion This is observed because Satan impels Christ to cast himself down not for true humility sake but upon vain glory to flutter in the Air that all Jerusalem might take notice how precious he was to the care and custody of all the Angels In the next place convert your thoughts to this see what kind of Miracles they are which the Devil delights in the working of Miracles is reduced to Gods Omnipotent Prerogative beyond the ordinary Law of Nature And Christ did often put it in act to save to revive to comfort the body to convert the soul Nay but these are no part of the Devils asking neither cure the sick nor give eyes to the blind nor raise the dead nor help up Eutiches again as Paul did when he fell from the upper window of the house to the ground none of these good offices of mercy doth he require but mitte te deorsum if you be the Son of God tumble down and confound your self Non signa humano generi salutaria sed perniciosa requirit says Bernard Do some pernicious Miracle and then you please him Beware of those men whose wit whose counsels whose directions tend to nothing but to some mens ruine and destruction Hic niger est hunc tu Romane caveto you see who is their Leader and whose steps they follow The Heathen could say how that Orator must needs have much malice in his complexion who was a better Accuser than a Defender that could sooner find a hole in his Adversaries cause than help his own Client so it is Satanissimum let me use a new word in this case he is a very Satanist upon whom that description of David lights Destruction and unhappiness is in their counsels and the way of peace they have not known The Magicians of Pharaoh could bring forth Frogs upon all the Land of Egypt as well as Aaron when he stretcht forth his rod but the Magicians with all their Inchantments could not rid the Land of those Frogs as Aaron did when he cried unto the Lord. Inchanters are permitted to work strange mischiefs but the Lord hath reserved it to himself to work strange mercies Ahitophel was exceeding wise no doubt accounted the Oracle of his age yet we know no instance of his wit in all the Scripture wherein he had his hand but in most turbulent and seditious propositions The Devil made use of his craft to serve his own turn but a wit that is sanctified with Gods grace know it by this character it had rather make than mar advance than pull down preserve than destroy reconcile than put at enmity When the voice from heaven spake to Peter as he was in a trance Arise Peter kill and eat the meaning was he should eat of such things as the Gentiles did which were prohibited before communicate with the Gentiles convert the Gentiles Now do you think that Cardinals mouth was not full of gall that made this Exposition of the Miracle Arise Bishop of Rome wage war with the Venetians and kill them because they will not obey yout Interdict Certainly this mans breath was like the strong East Wind that brought most of the grievous Plagues of the Land of Egypt I do not like such Prophets though Micaiah was wrongfully reputed such a one by Ahab that never prophesie good but evil nor such Disciples as would shew their authority by calling down fire from heaven nor such unlucky spirits that are like the malignant Planets which produce nothing but maleficous effects When Songs were sung in every Street of Greece that Philip had eraced the fair City of Olynthus O but when will he build up such a City Says a silly woman and then I would sing too An ill turn is quickly watcht for beside the venomous inclination of our own nature to do hurt You shall have the Devil to boot to help it on he counsels like an enemy no miracle which brings good with it to mankind but destruction Mitte te deorsum Cast
faciem Because in this life we see darkly as in a glass but hereafter we shall see God face to face As concerning natural Causes and Effects says Aristotle we see into them but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Owles eyes by day that discern nothing clearly but as concerning the Mysteries of Godliness we look upon them as Moses did upon the Land of Canaan when Jordan was between we are in one Country and see afar off indistinctly the prospect of another As Rebecca took away her vail when Isaac came toward her that she might see his face so this vail shall be taken from the Church which is the Spouse of God when he draws near unto it Now Lazarus his Napkin is about our face O that thou wouldst rent away this vail O Lord that we might see thy glory Behold as the eyes of Servants look unto the hand of their Masters and as the eyes of a Maiden unto the hand of her Mistress even so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until he have mercy upon us AMEN THE FOURTH SERMON UPON THE RESURRECTION JOHN XX. I. The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark unto the Sepulcher and seeth the stone taken away from the Sepulcher THis is the day which the Lord hath made and thus begins the Gospel appointed for this great day of the Lord. A Gospel of which I may say it is full even to the brims of Divine Meditations For here are those two Christian Pillars that uphold the Church of God such as shall never be removed Fides Fidelis the faith of the Elect and relatively an elect Vessel that receiv'd the faith a principal Article of our Creed that Christ rose again the third day from the dead and a very illustrious instance of Mary Magdalene who was brought to believe in that Article 1. The Faith which must be believ'd to sanctifie our contemplations 2. The Faithful that did believe to bring us to a godly practice So the Spirit of God hath led Mary Magdalene to the Sepulcher to see that Christ was risen from the dead and the self-same Spirit hath led us to see the love and piety of Mary Magdalene And as this devout woman hath obtained a place of memorial for her name among the blessed of the New Testament because the example of her zeal did shine before us So our names shall find a place among those that are recorded in the Book of Life such honor shall they have that follow after My Text begins a story concerning that first witness to whom our Lord and Saviour's Resurrection was revealed Now upon so much of the Story as is recorded in this verse five things shall be handled First the Condition of that Witness before whom our Lord did first appear after he came out of the Grave Mary Magdalene 2. You may note the Constancy of her love that she remembred him after death and came unto his Sepulcher 3. It is to be ascribed to her Faith that she chose the right season the first day of the week 4. The Expedition which she made is a token of restless diligence that she came early when it was yet dark 5. An Accident of admiration encounters her that she seeth the stone taken away from the Sepulcher No Witness more classical for Gods use than Mary Magdalene a repentant Sinner No love more expressive than to shew affection even after death no season so fit to be watcht as the same which Christ foretold how the third day he would rise which fell out on the first day of the week no fruit that doth better become Faith and Love than vigilant diligence without sloth Repentance Love Faith Diligence shall ever be thus requited that God will shew them a sign from Heaven beyond their expectation The condition of the person is the first thing that we encounter Mary Magdalene cometh unto the Sepulcher She came not alone but other Associates did bear her company such as were devout women and loved our Lord. But our Evangelist knew a reason that she alone was worth the mentioning instead of all besides and upon her name only his Narration runs that Mary Magdalen came unto the Sepulcher The Scripture hath not forgot some of those that were her Associates in other Gospels St. Matthew says Mary Magdalen went forth as it began to dawn and the other Mary St. Mark names three Mary Magdalen and Mary the Mother of James and Salome St. Luke speaks of an indefinite number but every Divine Writer begins with Mary Magdalen she and Joanna and Mary the Mother of James and other Women that were with them But this Woman in my Text was more fervent and passionate in the cause she incited all the rest to go with her to the Sepulcher wherefore she is remembred by our Evangelist in a kind of singularity above all the rest John himself was the Disciple of Love and was careful to eternize her name in this story which did abound in Love above all her Fellows Some antient Writers knew not how so good a Work could be done wherein many religious Women conspired together without the most Blessed Mary the mother of our Lord. Rather than it should turn to her disesteem to stay behind Sedulius Nyssen and Nicephorus were willing I think to mistake that the Woman whom St. Matthew calls the other Mary was the Holy Virgin The disadvantages which this Opinion brings with it were not thought upon that another name should stand before hers to be past over with such an easie mention as the other Mary and not the mother of our Lord a thing which especially St. Luke useth not to forget And what an instance of moment were this that among all others our Lord did first appear to Mary Magdalen after he was risen from the dead Surely his mother had been partaker of that sweet Vision as soon as any if she had been in place to behold him Bernard invents a reason to satisfie himself though perhaps it will not satisfie all men why the Blessed Virgin did willingly absent herself from coming to the Sepulcher the first day of the Week because her Faith abounded more than all the rest She was constantly persuaded that Christ was risen upon the third day even as he had spoken before and she would not go to the Sepulcher to seek the living among the dead But if any man should cast a doubt that the Holy Scriptures would not have concealed such a superexcellent strain of Faith in the Blessed Virgin if she had believed the Mystery of the Resurrection when the Disciples and all other were mistaken besides that none of the Church did perfectly understand the Scriptures until the Holy Ghost fell down upon them at the Feast of Pentecost I say if any should cast in such a doubt I know not how it would be resolved I have no Warrant to affirm any thing in this point neither doth the Scripture
express when Christ did appear to his mother after his Resurrection to shew he was no accepter of persons in way of carnal Affinity He did appear to more than five hundred brethren at once doubtless she was one of them he did appear to the eleven and to them that were gathered together with them Luk. xxiv 33. I may suppose the Blessed Virgin was there because she was John's charge to take her with him but certainly she was none of that Train which came early in the morning with Mary Magdalen to the Sepulcher Then let us proceed and say from hence that God hath done great honour to this Sex to make them the first Instruments that should know and declare his Resurrection Where were the Apostles at this time Alas they were terrified and had â—â—ielded like Men to the Passions of the Flesh they were shut up close for fear of the Jews and durst not shew their heads only a few Women which had followed Christ were more adventurous than all the rest and as if it irked them to care for their Life any longer since the Life of the World was put to death una salus nullam sperare salutem they step out boldly let come what will Wherefore to give you St. Austins words Munus Apostolicum viris creptum ad breve tempus eis resignat the Apostolical Office was taken from the Disciples for a time and it was given to them to preach that wonderful work of God Christ risen from the dead Audentes tu Christe juvas you shall lose nothing to be couragious in a good cause that great glory to see the Son of God in a vision now alive again was given to them that did adventure to find him Secondly none wept so much for his death as these tender-hearted souls the Daughters of Jerusalem they were the first that mourned and they are the first that be comforted the greatest partakers of grief for his passion are made the first partakers of joy for his Resurrection Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted And if there be any that repine much at their own daily misfortunes who say they have buâ—â—â—ttle joy in this world let them strike their hand upon their brest and say it is because they have taken but little grief Jesus is our Passeover that was sacrificed for us but you heard the Ceremony read to day which God appointed the Lamb must be eaten with sower herbs or else you must not taste of the Passeover Christian whosoever thou be that art taught this day what a victory thy Saviour obtained against the Grave and against the nethermost Hell if thy heart be not replenished with joy upon the tidings if it do not assure unto thee the seal of the Divine Promise which is the earnest of thine inheritance it is because thou hast not eaten sower herbs with the Passeover Thou hast not yet afflicted thy voluptuous heart sufficiently as Mary Magdalen did and the other women before they came unto the Sepulcher Thirdly women are the first witnesses in daily Childbirths how we are born into this world children of wrath and God hath revealed to their knowledge in the first place how we shall be made alive again and become heirs of salvation For Resurrection is the birth of the dust and when the Grave had given up the dead body of Christ these women came as it were unto the labour much about the time that the Monument did groan even when an Earthquake had gone just before it Once it was their curse to have a woe pronounced upon them In dolore paries In sorrow shalt thou bring forth Children Gen. iii. 16. Now they see another manner of travel that God can quicken us to life again not miserably but triumphantly and the earth shall give up the dead with joy and gladness Fourthly we may well know him to be the same Christ who was crucified and rose again the third day because he chose no better witnesses than these were for so great a mystery The world it may be will contemn such simplicity of the Spirit but because it so pleased our Saviour Mary Magdalen and the women are most authentick witnesses and beyond all exception Shepherds address unto his cratch where he was born Women unto his Tomb where he was risen from the dead that you may see how Satans method of deceiving is quite contrary to Gods method of saving The Devil dealt all by craft to tempt our first Parents in the shape of a Serpent and Christ deals all by simplicity and innocency through the testimony of Shepherds through the testimony of Women If you be hard to believe the things which were very strange at his Nativity and at his Resurrection examine these persons and ye shall have plain truth without tricks and turnings A righteous cause needs not a supportance by Art and subtilty a piercing wit may find a way to make a bad action seem good but when the action is without controversie good already the devices of a sharp wit will never make it seem better for truth is least suspected when it is not varnished over with Policy Lastly To end this Point among all other women Mary Magdalen the great sinner is with the first that comes unto the Sepulchre to refresh our conscience which is opprest with the fore burden of iniquity that our Redeemer liveth to gratifie repentant sinners in especial wise that fly unto his mercy If it were fit for Mary to bury her sins in that Grave it will be fit likewise for thee and me Repentance may be described to be the Resurrection of the soul from the death of sin And this Resurrection from sin which I may call Metaphorical hath a fast interest none so sure as it in Christ as he comes forth from the darkness of the grave and shines upon the world All men shall be restored to life just and unjust for the Son of God redeemed the whole nature of man from the corruption of the Grave and the Devil did utterly lose jus mortis the whole dominion of death because our Saviour being an innocent was put to death over whom he had no dominion But the glory of our Saviours victory was to conquer two at once Hell and Death So the Prophet Hosea cries out in form of an Epinicium O death where is thy sting O hell where is thy victory And from his own voice he declares his glory Rev. i. 18. I am he that liveth and was dead behold I am alive for evermore and have the keys of Hell and of Death Therefore this great Festival is the penitent sinners holy day for whose sakes both the Keys are turned for whose sakes both the Gates are opened that the soul may pass from the judgment of Hell and the body from the rottenness of corruption And thus it appears why Christ was first seen of Women in his bodily manifestation after death It was granted to their couragious attempt that durst
exist hic exclusus intravit these two St. Austin makes to be very like being shut in the Sepulchre he came out by his own power being shut out of doors he came in by his own power Well let it be answered that Christs body did not penetrate the dimensions either of stone or door as I told you before but that a passage was made for him miraculously so that in a moment which could not be discern'd they gave way and made him entrance and though this answer like not our Adversaries I am sure they cannot refute it And is this fair dealing when St. John doth not tell how Christ came in the doors being shut from thence to pronounce how Christ is present in the Holy Communion and see their inference Christ came in to his Disciples the doors being shut ergo Christs body being in heaven the same body is in the Priests hands in ten thousand places at once and in every little crumb of the Host his whole body is present He that understands this consequence is more than a mortal creature I will run over their chiefly alleaged subtilties and dispatch all Bellarmine affirms that the corporeal substance of Christ partakes the spiritual manner of Angelical existence that is he is present in the Eucharist substantially not quantitatively And yet Aquinas and He himself confess that the substance of Christs body is not there naked or divested of dimensive quantity it hath quantity there but is not there after a quantitative manner to have quantity but not the nature of quantity is not this a flat Chimaera to be in the Host substantially but not with quantity and local dimensions I have read it from them a thousand times but could never found what it should be And shall I think those millions of godly but unlearned Souls in the Church must learn such distinctions to obtein salvation but a late Jesuit would thus illustrate it the soul of man is an whole soul in every part of the body an Angel at once in distinct ubities or places the thoughts of man may be at once in many quarters of the Earth God is in Heaven and Earth at once therefore the body of Christ may be in many Hosts at the same instant I answer there is not one of these things alleaged will fit the purpose for every Angel is definitively in a place so that being in one site he removes to another The soul is immaterial by nature and the form of the body the thought of man is an intentional motion and action and not a corporeal or spiritual thing God is every where because he is infinite but Christs humane body is finite material limited to certain place and measure and differeth from all the former things therefore it hangs not together from the pretence of those instances that the same identical body of Christ is multiplied in the Sacrament of so many thousand Altars Thus their sophistical cavils have compel'd me to go with them one mile and for the last conclusion I will go with them twain But say those subtle Writers if God can put an whole Camel in the eye of a needle may he not put the whole body of Christ in the least part of a consecrated Crum In this Objection they strain at a Crum and swallow a Camel Christ did not say that a Camel continuing in his ordinary quantity can pass through the eye of a needle but by a supposition a rich man making Mammon his God may as easily pass to Heaven But lest we may seem to be averse to Gods omnipotency I go further that there is a two-fold power in God ordinata absoluta one according to the order which himself hath fixed by his Word and Will the other according to the infiniteness of his Essence which exceedeth his Will According to the power of God measur'd and regulated by his Word and Will it is impossible that a Camel in his gross bulk should pass through the eye of needle or that the whole body of Christ can be in a bit of bread or that he is substantively present in many places at one instant We do not say that the infinite Essence of God could not have ordeined these things to be possible but he hath in every place of Scripture reveal'd that He will not have these things to be possible The power of God is his will and what He will not He cannot is the saying of Tertullian Now that God will have it possible to have the body of Christ pass through the dimensions and solidity of the Grave-stone He no where affirmeth and therefore I do utterly reject the Pontifician interpretation I have finisht what I had premeditated upon all the three motions in my Text at last we see all was composed into quiet and the Angel sat upon the Grave-stone But here I will rest my self at this time and proceed no further Almighty God roll away the stone of ignorance and stubbornness from within us and settle all these things in our hearts for Jesus Christ his sake who died for our sins and rose again as this day for our justification AMEN THE SIXTH SERMON UPON THE RESURRECTION MAT. xxviii 3 4. His Countenance was like lightning and his Rayment white as snow And for fear of him the Keepers did shake and became as dead men THere is no day mentioned in all the Scripture upon which so much business and action is recorded to fall out as upon this grand day the day of our Lord and Saviours Resurrection The holy Evangelists according to the secret wisdom of the Spirit write in a confused order the sundry accidents of this day which with your patience I will set down very briefly every one in their own place Mary Magdalen and the other women bought Odours and sweet Spices to embalm the body lying in the Sepulcher and to that end came forth very early in the Morning As they hastened on the day there hapned a great Earthquake and the Angel of God rouled the stone from the Sepulcher The Watchmen who kept the Monument are sore afraid at the sight of the Angel and at the opening of the Grave they certifie the High Priests all that was done and the High Priests out-face the truth with lying and corruption Now Mary Magdalen and the women being come to the place where the body had been laid miss it and wonder at it Mary runs to Peter and John and tels them they have taken the Lord out of the Sepulcher and we know not where they have laid him While Mary was gone the Angel comforts the other women that staid behind fear not ye seek Jesus which was crucified he is not here but he is risen go tell his Disciples c. Yet these women went not far from thence But in this space Peter and John came to the Sepulcher and found the Monument empty save of a few linnen cloaths Mary Magdalen also comes back to the Sepulcher and weeps
that her Lords body was gone but then Christ appears first unto her whom she took to be the Gardener Presently she goes and tells the Disciples she had seen the Lord. The other women who had fled from the Sepulcher and were amazed said nothing to any man of that which the Angel before did bid them say for they are yet incredulous and then comes in St. Lukes relation that they looked again into the Sepulcher and the two men in white whom they saw said unto them Why seek ye the living among the dead He is not here but he is risen And as St. Matthew adds he goeth before you into Galilee there shall ye see him Then they returned and told all these things to the Eleven but they seemed to them as idle tales And as these women went to tell the Disciples Christ did meet them according to the Angels promise and saluted them and they held him by the feet and worshipped him These rumours went abroad into every mans mouth and toward the setting of the Sun Christ adjoyned himself to Cleophas and the other Disciple as a waifaring man and was known of them in the breaking of bread whereupon they return to Jerusalem and tell the Disciples Now the Disciples had a message sent them to go into Galilee and there they should see the Lord but out of fear and incredulity they durst not move out of doors Therefore on the same day at Evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the Disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst of them and said peace be unto you This was the fourth Apparition which he made on this very day A day of so many noble acts and chances that it is able alone to make an history and a history of that great moment that St. Paul writes as if a lively and effectual assent to this Article of the Creed to this one Article were able alone to make a Christian Rom. x. 9. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved And although there are other limbs of truth which make up the body of Christian Faith yet if any man ask me about Faith as one askt Christ about the Commandments which is the first and greatest Commandment So in the Point of belief if any one shall say which is the first and great Article of the Creed I would boldly reply this before any other The third day he rose again from the dead The matter then which it behoves us to speak on at this solemn Feast for the quality it is the very Essence and Elixar of our faith and for the quantity so copious that above all the narrations of the Gospel it is most venerable and delightful for the variety of the story I have passed already as the year hath come about into these Points how Mary Magdalen and the other women brought sweet Odours and Spices on the first day of the Week to embalm his body and that as they were on their way three strange motions came to pass the one in the whole Element of Earth the foundations whereof were opened behold there was a great Earthquake and then the heavens were opened for an Angel came down from thence and then the Grave was opened by the rouling away of the stone Now follows the Text which I have read in order wherein is contained this section of the story the Angel puts on a terrible appearance and removes away those that would not believe and so makes room for those that came devoutly prepared If the Band of Souldiers had staid at the Sepulcher these godly women durst not approach for fear of violent ravishment nor durst the Disciples have come near lest these hirelings should spill their bloud But to prevent all outrage the Angel put on a look like lightning and made the hearts of these miscreants faint and when they were driven off the zealous women and the Disciples were admitted to see this glorious work which the Lord had wrought and to testifie what they had seen to all the world The two verses which enter us into this part of the story may be thus distinguished The first is a description of Gods Watchman of his coelestial guard His Countenance was like lightning and his Rayment white as snow The second is a description of Pilates Watchmen and his Roman Guard For fear of him the Keepers did shake and became as dead men Gods Angel is notified by his Visage His Countenance was like lightning and by his Rayment it was white as snow Pilates Ruffians are much betrayed by outward fear for fear of him the Keepers did shake but the inward damp of conscience was most terrible they became as dead men Of these particulars that God may be glorified and you edified You have seen the figures of many Angels and Cherubims about the Tombs of Princes and great men carved by the Art of the Statuary but all the histories of the world afford not such an instance that a very Angel sate upon a Grave-stone excepting this occurrence at our Saviours Resurrection St. Luke says that the women saw two men cloathed in white St. Mark says it was a young man cloathed in a long white garment but they were not very men that came from the dead as Moses and Elias were seen in the Mount at the Transfiguration they were true Angels in the visible shapes of men who took it now for a dignity to be seen in a body because our body was exalted to be incorruptible in the Resurrection of Christ Whether then they be called Angels or men all is one but when St. Matthew mentions one Angel and St. John reckons two when St. Mark says there was one young man in white St. Luke says there were two men in shining garments Is not this a discord No not at all There was but one Angel that spake to the women now St. Matthew and St. Mark refer us only to that person that was the speaker St. Luke and St. John labour to tell us the number of those witnesses that were present and testified of his Resurrection and they were two This is no difference when some write of the singular person of that Angel which spake and others in the plural person of those Angels that witnessed You have heard the reason why this Angel is called a man and why but one is named though there were two in place now I will put this unto it that he came to the Sepulcher neither as a man alone nor as an Angel alone but as an Angel and a Man John Baptist the fore runner of the Nativity came poorly clad with a vesture of Camels skins and a leathern Girdle about his loyns his Errand was to witness to the Son of God coming to us in great humility but this Angel who is the fore-runner of the
it will be time enough for you to come in and joyn in Prayer O ye loyterers Do you know the hurt of it when ye lose the opportunity of one minute to serve the Lord Pliny in his Letters to Trajan reports of the Christians that they had Ante lucanos congressus they met together before day to read the Scriptures to pray and sing Psalms I confess there was great reason for it then because they held their Assemblies when their Enemies were in bed that they might not know of it But I am sure since the Apostles time never were so many miracles wrought as at those early Vigils And that I may conclude this Point with one use more Mans life is but a day and what part of life is the early morning of that day but Youth If you will do well unto your own souls seek out Christ betimes when the Sun of Reason begins to dispel the darkness of ignorance in your tender age Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth and God will not forget thee nor forsake thee in thy old Age. Some Fiend of hell made that Proverb Angelicus juvenis senibus Satanizat in annis as if the Child could be taught too soon to choose the good and to refuse the evil as if young holiness were obnoxious to become old iniquity I will ask you Why do we Catechize the younger of both Sexes in Lent but to teach them to seek Christ early against Easter I will come to a less matter why do we ever paint Angels with the faces of young men or Children but that youth is a fit stock upon which we should ingraft the heavenly vertues and holiness of Angels If Mary Magdalen gained by rouzing her self up early to seek Jesus Christ seek him then I beseech you when he may be found that is with the most timely opportunity I have done with the circumstances which were but Preambles to the substance of the Text that substance may easily be discerned from all the rest for the Kernel taken out of the words is this that Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalen As it is said of St. Thomas the Apostle so of her she believed more than she saw yet according to the dimness of faith which was in those times unless she had seen she had not believed If Christ as soon as he was risen had ascended immediately unto heaven if no Witnesses had been left behind that could say they saw him and eat with him and conversed with him the words of truth would have wanted credit with the world because our wisdom is rather carnal than spiritual Therefore says St. Peter Acts x. 40. God raised him up the third day and shewed him openly not to all the people but unto Witnesses chosen before of God This made the Apostles set their Seal to the confirmation of it Luk. xxiv 34. The Lord is risen indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as you would say in good earnest he is risen and hath appeared unto Simon Now let no man contradict it for Peter hath seen him with his eyes But let me tell you the bodily eye ought not to come in for his part to peep into those mysteries into which Faith doth search The secrets of the Kingdom of heaven which we believe are invisible and incomprehensible But Christ considered it was but New Moon with the Church now it was but Tyrocinium Ecclesiae the fresh-man-ship I may say of Christian Religion and the young graft must be held with Props from the shaking of the winds which are needless to be used to an old Tree whose root is fastned The Apostles and sundry women and divers brethren did see Christ after he was risen this was milk for babes but now we must believe that which we have not seen and the vision of God and of his Son shall be the reward of faith in the Kingdom of glory Last of all he was seen of me also says St. Paul as of one born out of due time 1 Cor. xv 8. Then look not to see him manifest in his fleshly presence any more till he comes in judgment For the Apostle seems to me to say plainly that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last of all that shall see him in that manner So having setled the ground-work that he appeared I draw on to consider by what degrees he appeared and that is suppeditated to us with much variety out of the twentieth Chapter of St. John's Gospel The last year you know I handled that part of sacred story fit for the day how this woman having complained to the Disciples that the body of our Lord was stoln away Peter and John ran hastily to see the wonder and she would not be left behind she follows them to see what they could make of it they found it true as she had related and departed full of great admiration This poor Wretch alone continues at the Monument and resolves not to stir till she have better satisfaction Quantum bonum est assiduitas perseverantia says Theophylact Shall not assiduity and perseverance reap plenteous fruits of comfort Yes no question yet because she was a narrow-brim'd vessel observe how God pours his favours into her as it were by spoonfuls that she might not be overwhelmed with the excellency of revelations She that had often lookt into the Sepulchre and was sure the body she sought was not there I know not by what divine instinct she looks in again Whether it were as Tully said of Crassus the Orator says he we came into the Capitol to please our selves with looking upon that Bench in the Senate where that famous Citizen was wont to sit So she looked in now with a resolved mind that it would delight her to view the place where her Saviour had been interred though nothing else were to be discerned But loe she spied that there she did not look for two heavenly Ministers all in white the Grave which always before was the den of worms was now become the throne of Angels And it came so to pass first to refer us to that which shall befall all the Sons of God our bodies shall be buried by the Ministry of men as Christs was by Joseph and Nicodemus but we shall be raised out of the dust at the last day by the Ministry of Angels Secondly says St. Hierom in his Epistle to Hebidias this was enough for all parties if they would think upon it wisely that the body of our Lord was not stoln out of the Grave by any malicious Adversaries because the place was so well guarded with the custody of Angels And thirdly Jesus appeared by these as by his Proxies they stand in his stead for a while to tell Mary to tell the other women He is not here he is risen But behold she looked for a greater than these for him of whom it is said When he bringeth his first-born into the world he saith and let all the Angels of God worship him
And with a little motion with a turning about he was just behind her and now first she got the sight of him She got the sight of him but loe here is another degree of his appearance before he was clearly revealed he was presented to her in such a fashion that as yet she knew not that her blessedness was so near her She mistook him it is hard to say how for the Gardener that dress'd those grounds But how came this ignorance upon her I do not believe that Christ carried a rake and spade in his hand like a Gardener as vulgar Pictures make bold to set him out He might offer himself in a poor habit and without any upper Garment like one that was not far from home and being so early in the ground these circumstances would suit so well to no man as to the Gardener Very well this conceit might have taken her if our Lord had been a stranger to her knowledge But this is marvellous she sought none but him she knew no mans person in the world so well as him and yet the first glimpse he is any body but himself he is a Gardener How comes this I have it for you I think out of two Texts of the Gospel In the 12. verse of this chapter it is said that after Mary had seen him he appeared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in another form to two of them by the way Yet concerning the same parties we read Luke xxiv 16. Their eyes were holden that they should not know him We may collect thus much out of both these put together that in those forty days wherein Christ walked upon the earth after he was risen he seemed by his Divine power to wear many sorts of Garments but he wore none for a glorified body needs not the coverture of Apparel and the eyes of those that saw him had not the power to perceive who he was until such time as he saw fit to disclose himself And take it for very truth that I say their outward senses had no power to judg of their object but when he pleased for as I will shew in good time by and by Mary talkt with him and did not know his voice till he opened her ears When he thought it due time and not before her eyes and ears recovered their faculties But I confess the question doth yet depend upon a little more resolution why Christ would let her continue a while deluded that she knew not who he was I answer she deserved not to partake of more favour she loved much indeed but we cannot say that she believed much She believed no more than the High-Priest would have all the world believe that his body was stoln out of the Sepulcher Since therefore she was more zealous in her love towards Christ than all others he appeared unto her but because she would not believe in his resurrection no not for the testimony of the holy Angels therefore for a little space he hid himself from her contriving that in his body now which he doth continually in the sending of his Holy Spirit a little love shall have some reward but he will come and dwell with them and be known of them that believe without wavering As yet he passeth with this woman for a Gardener and that was no unhappy error it was he that did sow the seeds of faith in her heart and planted repentance in her soul that it might grow up and prosper to amendment of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she supposed him to be a Gardener it is true in the allegory but not in the letter Take heed that our carnal affections do not impress Christ into our thoughts otherwise than he is When we are full of earthy low flat cogitations we frame a God of a strange fashion to our selves As Mary Magdalen giving no trust to the Angels that he was risen from the dead took him for no better than the Gardener But to strike up this point to the head whatsoever Christ seemed to her he was himself without all transformation he had now a glorified body he did not change the form and lineaments of his body it was the poison which the Manichaeans suckt out of this Text says St. Hierom that forasmuch as the Lord seemed to this woman diverse from himself he was diverse from himself and had a phantastique body not made of flesh and bone of the seed of the woman ridiculous he contiued very God and very man in the unity of one person the same man Jesus Christ that was born of the Virgin But his wisdom did contrive it so as to reveal himself to this party by degrees First by his Proxies the Angels Secondly by the shape of a Gardener now thirdly he threw the Veil aside and shewed himself clearly as he was unto her and she that desired but to find him dead found him living for ever The manner the manner of it I say is that which is well worthy of a godly eare to mark it for which I still refer you to the 20. of St. John Our Saviour when he came in presence gave her occasion of discourse on this sort woman why weepest thou whom seekest thou Good expressions both of a most passionate love weeping and seeking Yet to seek did befit her diligence but to weep was out of date at this time and convinced her of a reproveable weakness It was no day to spend tears upon which offered occasion of eternal joy and shall so continue a day of gladness every week while the world endures But says St. Austin she that wept for her Brother Lazarus and obteined his resurrection with tears she makes assay if by weeping she could obtein the resurrection of Christ But whatsoever may be thought her infirmity in weeping it was gracious in Gods eyes when it was joyned with seeking Doubtless says St. Paul God is not far from every one of us Act. xvii 27. yea but he is always near at hand to those that seek him not far from any but thou Lord never failest them that seek thee Psal ix 10. Mary had done as much as diligence could express she had wept as much as grief could express now Joseph could not choose but make himself known to his Brethren now Jesus would hold the woman in suspence no longer but he chang'd the accent of his voice and spake so tunably that she knew him at the first word he said no more but Mary as God said unto Moses Thee have I known by name and then she turned and said Rabboni as who should say I know the voice of my Master and I am thine Handmaid It sounded well in her mouth to call him Rabboni or Master now he was alive for she continued to call him Lord when she took him for lost and that he was no better than one of the dead When all ignominy had been cast upon him when none would own him for a Lord yet she reserves his title to him they
the dead and the resurrection of the soul from sin in this interview between himself and Mary Magdalen All men shall be restored to life good and bad for the Son of God redeemed the whole nature of man this day from the corruption of the Grave and the Devil did utterly loose jus mortis the dominion of death because our Saviour being an Innocent was put to death over whom he had no dominion But the glory of Christs victory was to conquer two at once Hell and Death So the Prophet Hosea cries out in form of triumph O Death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victory and from his own voice Revel i. 18. I am he that liveth and was dead behold I am alive for evermore and have the keys of Hell and of Death So in his own person he shewed that he had conquered Death in the person of Mary Magdalen that he had conquered Hell Beloved this great day is Christs Festival and it is the Holiday of every penitent sinner because first he appeared to such an one to Mary Magdalen For our sakes both the Keys are turn'd and for our sakes both the Gates are opened that our bodies may escape the curse of corruption and that our souls may be delivered from the judgment of Hell through Jesus Christ the first fruits of the dead and that first appeared to an humble Convert AMEN THE EIGHTH SERMON UPON THE RESURRECTION MAT xxviii 9 10. And as they went to tell his Disciples behold Jesus met them saying all hail and they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him Then said Jesus unto them be not afraid go tell my Brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me YOU may call to your remembrance that my subject upon Easter-day the last year was How Christ was first seen after he rose again from the dead of one whom he had raised before from the death of sin he appeared first to Mary Magdalen And in this Text other women have the next turn to see him appear in order of story That Sex it is apparent had the honour of the day in the first and second bout that the power of God might be seen in the weaker Vessels The women brought sweet Spices to embalm his body and they encounter that which was sweeter than all the Spices in the world the Vision of the Lord who came forth from the dark places of the dead to life again There is not the weakest capacity among you but must needs observe that the relations of these things are very diversly set down in the four Evangelists And there is not the learnedst capacity among men that can distinctly unfold how they should be reconciled I suppose the Primitive Church I mean the Disciples that were taught by the Apostles and other Scholars taught by them were informed of the true Exposition how every thing hapned in its order but the tradition is lost And they who boast they have kept the Traditions of the Church faithfully are not able to give us a clear rule how to refer these confusions to a certain order St. Paul 1 Cor. xv rehearseth sundry ways how Christ was seen of many after he rose from the dead yet he utterly omits how he was seen of these devout women St. John Chap. xx speaks of the famous interview between our Saviour and Mary Magdalen and no more Our Evangelist in the beginning of this Chapter mentions Mary Magdalen and the other Mary that is the Mother of Zebedees children he goes no further St. Mark quotes another woman that is Salome St. Luke names also one Joanna she was the Wife of Chusa Herods Steward and indefinitely he folds it up that there were other women whose particular cognisance is not revealed And divers things are related divers ways of these which may be reconciled as divers ways without jar or contradiction The stiffest knot in the dissention is that although St. Luke and St. Mark record how the Angels appeared to the women and spake unto them of Christs rising yet they do not say that Christ was seen of them St. Mark relates that he was seen of Mary Magdalen So doth St. John they go no further St. Matthew holds him to Mary Magdalen and to one other Mary that is all Yet he involves at large that as the women not those women only went to bring tidings to the Apostles of what they had seen and heard Christ did meet them by the way For the perplexity of these Narrations some do argue that none of the women saw him this day risen from the dead but Mary Magdalen and that when this Scripture says that he did appear to the women plurally yet it is a Synechdoche speaking that of many which was verified but in one for but one saw him instead of all her companions This is not so probable for it would work better if this truth were manifested by a multitude of Witnesses Others also consider that Mary Magdalen saw him alone and was controuled at that time not to touch him therefore it must be another Apparition when divers women did touch him and worship him Some say therefore that in a very little compass of time Mary Magdalen saw him twice this day unless there were two Mary Magdalens as St. Ambrose would have it first alone and then immediately with her Consorts Yet that seems not so congruous I can say no more against it that two Apparitions should be granted to her in a few moments Therefore without any pertinacy in rejecting the conjectures of others I conceive this second Apparition of Christ which we have in hand to be made to Mary the Mother of James Joanna and Salom with other devout women of Galilee when Mary Magdalen was lately departed from them to tell her errand to the Disciples Laying my ground upon that opinion I deduct these parts out of the Text First I will treat upon it what proceeded from the women Secondly what proceeded from Christ Touching the women again I will handle first what they did before they saw Christ secondly what they did after they had seen him Before they saw him they went to tell his Disciples somewhat After they had seen him 1. They came to him 2. They held him by the feet 3. They worshipped him That which belongs to Christ is contained in his Action and his Words His Action is thus expressed Behold Jesus met them His Words are first a Salutation All Hail 2. A Consolation Be not afraid 3. A Commission Go tell my Brethren that they go into Galilee 4. A Promise There they shall see me These are the several talents which God hath committed to me in this and now I will employ them for my Masters profit The women before they had seen our Saviour went to tell his Disciples that must be our beginning They went and went to and fro sundry times upon this occasion It could not choose but be observed by the eyes
of them that gaze upon Passengers and would quickly reason upon it what make these abroad that they cross the streets so often It was more infamous with them of the East than it is with us for women to gad openly from place to place The married woman is described in Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 treading upon a Tortoise as an emblem that it was good for her to stay at home and to carry her house upon her back But these holy Matrons had a clear conscience in them that it could be no blemish to their honour to lackey up and down in so good an occasion and upon the Errand of an Angel If uncharitable persons censured them God forgive them still they went on Nay whereas undoubtedly all will say that a sober gate without much acceleration doth best become that Sex and especially in publick yet no pace would serve them but a gallop In the verse immediately before my Text they did run to bring his Disciples word The Heathen paint Mercury with wings at his heels The Messenger of good tidings should make haste Nescit tarda molimina spiritus sancti gratia God loves quick dispatch in his business When we are suspensive and long about that which is good we lose the thanks that he would give us that which is done sincerely is never done slackly Therefore Jesus met the women not as they went but as they ran to tell his Disciples Says the Text moreover as they went to tell his Disciples therefore some had put an Errand into their mouth Even so for it was an Angel that gave them direction what to say to our Saviours Disciples I take not upon me to guess at the reason of the secret Counsels of God but a cause there must be for it and a great one that the Angels of heaven appeared above once this day to the Women and talked with them of Christs Resurrection And they might have told the same news to the Apostles yet they did not but sent the women in their stead What! Would not one Angel visit them in his own person Is it upon dislike Because they fled away from their Master in the Garden Or is it a trial upon their big spirit who frequently contended among themselves which of them should be the greater whether they would not disdain that women should exceed them in Visions and Revelations For many times Superiours cannot disgest it that such as are under them should exceed them in the grace of God But many times he regards the low estate of his Handmaids when the Rich are sent empty away The Pillars of the Church the Apostles are admitted to hear what these women saw at the Sepulchre that adventured boldly abroad But no such glorious Creatures came to them who were shut up for fear at home And for my part I think this was it which did cross the credit of their Message The Women told the Disciples all that hapned it may be confusedly with distemper of fear and joy but they told them the truth And their words seemed to them as tales Luk. xxiv 11. For thus they would collect in all likelihood upon the merit and dignity of their Apostleship It cannot be that the Angels would appear to such as these and baulk us this is but a Tale. Those Messengers of God would come to us in the first place to us the Servants of the beloved Master and not to the Women But God sees not as man sees The Spirits of light came to these humble Handmaids and taught them And afterward by the Orgain of their mouth the Apostles were edified that taught all the World The Gospel is not ashamed of this innocency and simplicity ask us from whom our principal Doctors were first instructed and we answer roundly from a few silly women that the power of salvation may appear to descend not from Learning and humane Wisdom but from the demonstration of the Spirit of God And this was a project to out-reach the providence of Pilate and the wary consultations of all the High Priests The Sepulchre was obstructed with a great stone and as Nicephorus says that a strong Hoop of Iron fastned it to the contiguous stones of the Monument sealed also with the Governours Seal that it might be a capitol crime to burst it open And such crafty heads would not omit to set Spies upon the Apostles that they durst not look abroad as if the business were as safe as they could wish if they were prevented from divulging rumours that Christ was risen from the dead See therefore how their subtilty was out-stript God selected Witnesses whom they scorned and disdein'd certain Women are inspired to go and tell his Disciples St. Paul expresseth this mystery in his own case 2 Tim ii 9. Though I suffer unto bonds yet the word of God is not bound To which word says St. Chrysostom if our warfare were carnal if we were Souldiers that fought for the inheritance and glory of this world our attempts were restrained when our hands were tied with Chains But fighting the battels of Christ a Prison is no impediment our tongue shall declare the glory of God nothing can bind it but fear or infidelity Tie up the hands of the Husbandman and he cannot sow his seed but pinion the Seed-man of the Word of God and his tongue is at liberty Linguâ non manu seritur verbum quod nullis vinculis subjacet The Seed of the Word is sown by the Tongue and not by the Hand Men may be silenced as the Apostles were for a season but truth cannot be silenced In the defect of other Ministers the Women preacht the Resurrection they went to tell his Disciples This part these good Daughters of Jerusalem acted before Christ appeared unto them that I may handle that which concerns them by it self presuppose we that Christ met them and appeared which I will treat of hereafter what did they then Why as reason did require they intermit their motion awhile of running to the Disciples and come unto him To whom else Lord should they go Is there any thing so sweet as thou art to draw near unto it If we come not to thee we wander out of the way and turn aside from our own happiness Whatsoever we are about it is a gain of time to come unto him by the way and we shall arive the sooner at our own ends if they be just and honest And I cannot keep it out of my mind but that after our Saviour was risen from the dead there was some courteous accent in his voice and some sweet invitement in his look more than people were acquainted with before he was crucified He called one woman by name Mary in the Garden he said no more And she was instantly ravished with joy to hear his tongue utter but two syllables So there was such sweetness in the countenance of his immortal body now risen from the Grave that though the women were terribly
give him at her Brothers house at Bethany as she was wont to do she called him Rabboni and as she was wont to do she would have toucht him but where there wanted Reverence Christ corrected her mildly Touch me not But as for these Women that prostrated themselves at his feet with Adoration to worship him they had leave to touch because in heart they had tasted the fruit of life The Ark of God would not endure Vzzah's touch he died for it but the Priests that came near it with holy access had authority to touch it and it was the dignity of their Office Not to roll this stone any longer that good Saint Mary Magdalen was mistaken as if Christ lived again no otherwise than as her Brother Lazarus did to converse in the world as he had done before Touch him not with the finger of that little Faith But they that saw some greater excellency in him than before and fell low on the ground before him they may hold him by the feet Yet there is one Interpretation beside which casts no imputation at all upon Mary Magdalen and I like it the better 't is thus Christ had great use of her to dispatch her to his Disciples it being expedient to send her upon that errand yet she was loth to depart surmising that she should see him no more therefore when our Saviour would have her to insist no longer in expressing her love says he Touch me not I am not yet ascended to my Father which is to this effect I am not yet ascending or going away you shall have more time to converse with me hereafter but now it will do more good to my Disciples to hear I am risen than for you to stay and touch me depart insist no longer in these expressions of Love touch me not I am not quite going away to the Father But for these Women who made no such fond delay but laid their hands on his feet and worshipt him and rose again no such Interdict was upon them as Touch me not which is the Sum of this Point And the next thing they did confirms me that the holding his feet was unblamable and a sanctified action for they worshipt him If when the first begotten was brought into the world it is said Let all the Angels of God worship then when the first begotten from the dead came into Jerusalem his excellency proclaims it let all that behold his glorified presence worship him The wise men fell down before his Cradle and ador'd him when he lay in a poor and despicable manner and this was their wisdom to see the brightness of the Godhead in the dark Lantern of his Humanity Nay the evil Spirit having possessed the body of him that lived in the Tombs fell down before him and with a loud voice said what have I to do with thee thou Son of God most high Luke viii 28. Hell it self is not so refractory but that the Spirits of darkness confess he is to be worshipped and they did it It was not their own body but in that body over which they had command they did that function of their own accord before they were bidden Yet it was not thanks-worthy in them because they executed no more than the duty of the outward gesture I do highly commend the lowly service and inclination of the body O let down your body to the very ground before your Maker as these women did a man cannot be too reverent to his God And as a Plaister of cordial Ingredients laid to the stomach or an Unction well fomented upon the skin without comforts the spirits within and makes us more chearful in our vital operations so outward reverence helps us greatly against the dulness and drowziness of our heart the lifting up of the eyes and hands makes a man ask in prayer more passionately the knocking of our breast provokes our repentance to a more eager indignation against our selves the bowing down the head and knee makes us the better to understand the great distance between God and us the uncovering of the head fills us with that necessary consideration in whose presence we stand Glorifie God with your body 1 Cor. vi 10. Tertullian and St. Cyprian read it portate Deum in corpore vestro Carry God in your body that is bear your Religion openly in the observance and humility of your body Christ is the Husband of the Church an Husband to the Soul of every Christian now this is gained from the similitude that the Wife is the Husband 's both in her body and in her affections so we are Christ's as well in our bodily worship as in our spiritual adherence to him But because the act of worship as concerning that which the head the knee the hand do execute may be used to our superiours in civil demeanor as well as in religious usance to God it is the addition of sanctity conceiv'd in the heart and mind which makes it Religious Adoration for the complete definition of it is thus adoratio est veneratio talis exterior quae ex corde pio religioso procedit that is that 's the adoration due to God and to him alone which with the exterior veneration of the body proceeds out of the pious and religious intention of the heart If you yield any token of outward obeysance and mean it to him who hath created you who hath given you all that you have who rose from the dead that we also might rise with him then it is raised up from civil homage and it becomes Divine Worship These apprehensions were in the hearts of these women and thereupon their bodies bowed down in lowliness and so it wants not one grain of due weight but that it was the worshipping of the Lord Jesus From those things which were personally performed by the women I remove forward to all that which was personally performed by Christ and that is conteined in his action or his words his action is but in this one passage Behold Jesus met them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not to overtake one or to come behind them but to meet them full but as our phrase is therefore it hath somewhat in it diverse from that Apparition which was made to Mary Magdalen and it can not be the same for he stood behind her and she turned about to look upon him but when he presented himself to these Women he met them face to face They were going to tell his Disciples and he that was no hindrance to their journey stood in their way Behold and marvel at it for the hope of the Resurrection was out of their heads they came to embalm his dead Body not to see him living Or suppose we that the Angels had lately persuaded them to that Faith that he was alive again yet to speak indifferently they had no cause to expect him in that place or any where near to Jerusalem for the Angel told them thus in the 7. verse
of First-fruits which at this time by the Levitical Sanctions were waved to the Lord are rendred after the spiritual gloss of our Church to be amor Dei proximi the love of God and the love of our Neighbour and these must be weaved or heaved up after their manner what 's that why our integrity and piety must shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father that is in heaven Beloved here 's the difference they gave first-fruits of earthly things this day unto God but this day we celebrate the memorial how God gave First-fruits of heavenly things unto man In Rom. viii 23. St. Paul speaks of the first-fruits of the spirit in a diminutive sense as the inchoation of grace the enlightning of faith the hope of better things that what he hath begun in us he will perfect but the first-fruits of the spirit which the Church reapt this day was that which sanctified the whole lump for ever after for this last correspondency and for the other forenamed the Apostles in a most acceptable time expected the Holy Ghost when the day c. A most delicious gift poured out from God in the very strength and deliciousness of the year A festival time it was you have heard and such a Festival as brought a Concourse of many Nations to Jerusalem so it appears in this chapter I have my authority from St. Ambrose that the Lord had this time much in mind to do it honor many years before for some Jewish Tradition hath encouraged him to say that the certain season when the Angel came down to the Pool of Bethesda to trouble the water that whosoever stepped in first might be made whole of his disease it was but once a year and that once was the Feast of Pentecost Mark how the Lord design'd out that day for his Angelical Miracle I will not engage my self into that Chronological question whether our first Whitsunday when the Holy Ghost appeared in firy tongues was the very Pentecost of the Jews or rather the day after To the latter opinion many incline upon that slight reason because St. Luke writ this Story of the Acts 28 years after Christ's ascension into heaven and then the Jews Pentecost was abolished the doubt is much uncertain wherefore I let it pass But I can assure you that in very ancient times of the Christian Faith yea in the most ancient if Clement his Constitutions were warrantable this day was kept with as high honour and devotion as the zeal of our Forefathers could excogitate Says Eusebius lamenting that his Master Constantine the Emperor died at the same time if I should call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holiday of Holidays we should not erre He adds that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it had honour done it seven weeks together This in my apprehension refers us to three things First the Church was wont to sing that chearful Anthem of Alleluia every Sunday from Easter to Whitsuntide an arbitrary Ceremony at the discretion of every particular Church and our Church of England since the Reformation continued the custom according to the first Liturgies set forth in Edward the sixth his Reign to sing or say alleluia from Easter to Whitsuntide at Morning Prayer 2. By the ancient Prescript no Fasts were bidden all those seven weeks nothing but joy and exultation was heard and practiced 3. During all that space they did not kneel at time of Prayer but stand upright looking towards Heaven from whence the Holy Ghost descended Nefas erat de geniculis adorare in Tertullian's time these were ancient Rites and Prescriptions to magnify this day in the beauty of holiness But whereas Eusebius adds that Christ ascended into Heaven the very same day the Holy Ghost descended this was his oversight though not his alone who would not pick the right sense Act. i. 3. that Christ was seen of his Disciples but fourty days speaking of the things of the Kingdom of Heaven therefore on the fourtieth day he was taken from them into Heaven and ten days after the plentiful showers of grace did rain down upon the Church the time is so precisely noted says Isidor Palcusiot to refute that proud Heretick Montanus who said the great promise of the Holy Spirit was not fulfill'd at the Feast of Pentecost but long after in his days This is the glorious day which the Lord hath made wherein he summ'd up the complement of all his benefits as the sixt day was the complement of the Creation All other preceding mercies were but words to this the Holy Ghost is the Seal or Signature of those words to make the deed the stronger in quo signati estis Eph. iv 30. in whom ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption Rejoyce in this day and keep it holy before the Lord not in decking the body in full diet in sport in idleness but in thankfulness in purity of mind in spiritual consolations in the feast of a good conscience and ever set before you at such seasons what Gregory said Quid prodest interesse festis hominum si contingat deesse festis Angelorum What profit is it to keep holiday with men if we should be excluded from keeping holiday with Angels for evermore So much for the time of the Holy Ghosts coming I repent me not that I have been long in it for it was most material The persons that received this power from on high are next in the way of my discourse omnes all of them Many there are that understand this note of Universality collectivè not as meant of all that were present but of all the Apostles The whole Church was gathered together for the Election of a new Apostle that 's apparent in the former chapter and the lot fell upon Matthias The number of names together were about an hundred and twenty Among these there were divers women Mary the Mother of our Lord is expresly mentioned for one of them these continued together in prayer and supplication even until the time that the Holy Ghost did fill the Room Now I would put the case into this distinction whether the spirit came down upon them all upon them all in some great measure no question but not upon them all with the same virtue and power and illumination Many talents of rare perfections were distributed among all the Believers that were present men and women for else Peter had not applied the place of the Prophet Joel so pertinently ver 17. of this chap. In the last days I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophesie your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions St. Hierom leans to this side and says that the mighty gift of grace was given to all that believed even as God took the spirit of Moses and gave it to the 70 Elders and it came to pass when the spirit rested upon them
more with these bodily senses than with the inerrable light of Divine Truth is an extreme indignity A grave Patrician would be grieved that the deposition of a noted Varlet should be heard against his innocency And will you hear the objections of sense and reason against that sacred evidence Thus saith the Lord that were to trust to darkness before light the Flesh before the Spirit to lying vanities before unalterable and eternal truth But to her senses this Infidel would appeal and they would instruct her sufficiently whether it had gone with Sodom so ill as it was foretold And was she sure to be satisfied by looking back I greatly doubt it a mist might rise up like the smoak of a Furnace and she conceive it to come from fire when it did not Or the Sun might shine upon the waters in the Plain and she misdoubt that the waters were become bloud as the Moabites were so mistaken Doth not a late Historian tell us of the whole Watch of a City that misdoubted a Field of thistles a far off was a Troop of Pikemen that encamped there to besiege them Was ever man more cautious according to humane rules than St. Thomas the Apostle He would trust no mans reports that his Master was risen from the dead he would see somewhat neither would he trust his own eyes he would feel too nay he would not trust his fingers ends in small wounds but he would wallow his whole hand in the rent of his side For all this wariness he might have been deluded The Syrians saw Elisha and yet wist not it was he The Sodomites felt all night at Lots door and were still to seek Old Isaac held Jacob fast and was deluded the hands are Esau's hands says he and yet they were not And will this woman trust her eye-sight and at a distance rather than Gods peremptory assertion O trust not in man trust not in these fallible humane means Our senses are bruitish Nature is corrupt Philosophy is vain but Faith leans upon that strong pillar the revelation of the Spirit from above which cannot falter and to lie it is impossible And as this woman was called an incredulous Soul because she looked back to see whether vengeance had passed upon the Cities of the Plain as the Angel of the Lord had foretold so for want of faith touching the caution which was given to her own person she fell into presumption and by presumption into death it would not sink into her thoughts that God was in earnest that as many of their Troop as looked behind them should be consumed she thought they were big words to scare timerous persons such as Prophetical men in their zeal did every day denounce against sinners yet they liv'd and rub'd on that took their own liberty to disobey for God was gracious and would not suffer his whole displeasure to arise against miserable sinners Feel feel the pulse of your own conscience I beseech you tell me if it do not beat disorderly Doth it not confuse you to call to mind that this infidelity this in ipso genere hath betrayed you to the tentations of Satan more than all his snares beside that desperate courage which you assume to your selves upon some hope of impunity is it not the spur to all transgression God is gentle and of long suffering his minacies are terrible but his dearly beloved Son and our only Saviour is merciful sed exorabile numen fortasse experiar says the Heathen his loving kindness is soon entreated This is a bastard faith of our own to subvert the true faith which is begotten by the Spirit A Diabolical infusion that God doth menace out of policy that which He never meant to make us obsequious by the shadow of his scourge but remember that non moriemini was a lie 'T is the Serpents Master-piece to expel all faith and fear out of our mind for they go hand in hand together and to break our necks with confidence A barbarous beastly kind of life says Aristotle hardned the Scythians that they neither feared Thunder nor Earthquakes but it is infernal witchcraft that makes obdurate hearts believe that all the woes and curses in the Gospel are but a strong noise terrible while it is heard but comes to nothing Quotidie Diabolus quae Deus minatur levigat says Gregory God affirms the Woman doubts the Devil denies O unhappy they that think Truth it self may be deceived and give ear to a deceitful spirit If all the maledictions against Impenitents were not indubitably to be expected Christianity were but fainthearted superstition Religion nothing but panick fear Faith not the Evidence of things to come but a devised Fable and the sacred Scriptures in all penalties and threatnings a vizard of mockery But as sin brought punishment upon us so let the certain expectation of punishment bring us out of sin Remember Lots Wife the only memento that Christ fixeth upon any Story of the Old Testament The less she believed the less she feared but the less she feared the more she smarted What God hath threatned will not be declin'd by our contrary opinion Though Christ shed his bloud to save a sinner God will not lie to save a sinner No title of his Word shall fail no not to save an hundred thousand souls out of the infernal pit I am come to the utmost portion of the hour and not to the utmost of the first part of my Text by three points She fainted in well-doing she neglected mercy and was slow to save her self she contemned the benefit of preservation in respect of that which was taken from her But as Logick convinceth more than Rhetorick as the fist knit together is stronger than the hand spread abroad so all this will be most doctrinal in one point that she relapsed and sunk after she was in fair speed to obtain mercy because she fell in love with wicked Sodom again from whence God had withdrawn her This is her crime which Philo exaggerates more than once aestu refluo retrosum absorpta she was like a Ship sailing with full sails from the sinful delights of the World but the contrary winds and tides of concupiscence carried her clean back again Josephus accuseth her worse upon the same charge that though her feet came from that impious City yet her heart staid behind Et saepius tardavit vertendo se ad civitatem she stood still more than once to take her full view of that loss which she so much bemoaned nor was it at the first turning about as he says that she was turn'd into a pillar of salt The very Apples of Sodom remain as a token against her to this day which put forth at first as if they would grow to be very delicious in the taste and in conclusion they pulverize and become sooty ashes So Lots Wife ran well at first but in the midst of her course nay almost at the end she fainted and stuck fast
from godly sorrow and repentance It knows not the way to sit down and to be dejected to the earth and yet to none else but such will our Saviour say Friend go up higher Another observation on this Point is that when sorrows came hudling upon Nehemiah and fell as thick as hail he sate down which is an evidence of patience that he submitted himself under the hand of the Lord. It is our modern phrase to express the humour of a man who struggles to repel an injury that he will not sit down by it But this servant of the Lord in my Text had no quarrel against the providence of his Maker let the cup of judgment be never so bitter which he was to drink he was quiet and sate down He knew we are all as clay in the hand of the Potter and shall the Vessel say to him that framed it what makest thou Gods judgments are wonderful and unsearchable sometimes they are never unjust And what fruit can the stubborn reap by endeavouring to break their chains What hath it ever profited them to challenge the Lord in the bitterness of their discontent What have they got by cursing murmuring and repining no other than to make the furnace of tribulation seven times hotter As it is best for the Child and for the Mother when the birth stays the due time before it be born So let us not struggle and toss about to ease our selves in a time of infelicity our redress will be most facile and fair when the Lord bringeth it to pass at his good pleasure If you think to be delivered sooner by quarrelling violence commotion it will prove an abortive remedy If you long to have things better when they are ill tarry for the Lord sit down and mourn be humble obedient keep a good conscience girt Nehemiahs patience unto you sit down and be still A third instruction upon this Point is that to sit down is to muse and to consider sadly of that which is brought before us So Nehemiah sate down to call his soul to counsel he intermitted all worldly business and composed himself to think of the Judgments of God It is well that the Royal Piety hath called us together to day upon so good an occasion Here is a Senate of Gods Servants gathered together in this holy place and in all other houses of God throughout this Realm Now we are set to it to call our ways to remembrance to revolve in our mind both every one a part how far we have corrupted our ways And likewise have taken this pause of time and sequestred our selves from all secular affairs to take a considerate view upon the sins of the Kingdom how near we are in all likelihood to relapse into some great troubles because the fear of the Lord is not much conspicuous among any sorts of men Are our Peers and Nobles renowned for their advancement and protection of true honour and vertue as their great Ancestors have been Sit down and think upon it The Reverend Sages of the Law are their minds set upon righteousness And do they judge the thing that is right with courage and integrity Sit down and think upon it The portion and Tribe of God the holy Clergy do they remember or can they forget how they were lately trodden down reviled and cast out of all they had for twenty years And doth it stir us up to be burning and shining lights more than ever And to double our diligence now in Prayer in Preaching and administring the holy Sacraments Sit down and think upon it For the Gentry are they not addicted to waste and riot Do they not crowd themselves into our enlarged Suburbs where they have no Calling but to emulate one another in excess of feminine Pride and rude debauchery Sit down and think upon it As for what concerns the great City not to rub it with salt and Satyrs is it not as palpable as Gods light that it did poison the whole Land with Rebellion and still infects it with Gaudiness Gluttony Whoredoms and Falshoods Sit down and think upon it Do the Country Villages deserve the old commendations of simplicity and innocency But how ignorant are they in the knowledge of Salvation How unthankful to God in all seasons How hath Satan bewitched them of late years into dissolute lives and drunkenness Sit down and think upon it I pass over many things in silence as not fit for publication Now though I have shewn you an Ocean of ungodliness breaking in upon us who almost unless such an extraordinary day as this doth spur them on who doth consider it and muse upon it with a leisurable sorrow The most will shake their heads at it and give it a shrug and then they are at their furthest There is all the regard they have when the sins of an whole Nation look as if they were white for harvest It is too tedious for them to sit down to cast up a sollicitous account to survey the parcels of our crimes to cast them up into a total sum as much as is possible This is too long labour for them who are very busie a doing nothing They will sit down as the Israelites did to eat and to drink and rise up to play Whereas the beginning of true repentance is to allot some time day by day for considering our own works seriously and the criminal faults of the whole Land Grant some good hours for the serious understanding of those things and run not away lightly from such holy thoughts but possess Nehemiahs room sit down and ponder the Judgments of the Lord. It follows in the second branch of his penitential carriage that the sins and desolation of Jerusalem wrought upon him so far that he wept Perhaps some sturdy spirit will say Mulier quid ploras Woman what ailest thou to weep A manly courage thinks shame of it Nay Infans quid ploras It is childish as some conceive to put the finger into the eye Indeed Quid potest infans nisi plorare How can a Child help it self when it is offended but by crying But when our heavenly Father is offended it is a sweet sign of grace to demean our selves like Children and cry Except you become as little children you cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven Mat. xviii 3. Nay says David I have brought my soul low like a weaned Child Psal cxxxi 2. and yet he no coward He became as a Child and not such a one as hath the breast and is still but a weaned Child taken from the comforts and lullabies of the Nurse and then you know it will burst into tears True repentance you see abhors all stubbornness and obstinate resolutions it abates its fortitude it melts in the sight of God Is not this much more religious than to have Nerves of Adamant and an heart of brass A stomach that is insensible of the divine wrath is a symptome of madness and not of courage There is