his secret place and his Pavilion round about him Christ was borne in the night as we understand by the Gospell Luke 2. And there were Shepheards watching their Flocks by night Yet when the Angell delivers the tydings of his birth to the Shepheards hee doth not say this night but this day is borne to you a Saviour It was naturally a night but the birth of Christ miraculously made it a day and the glory of the Lord shone about them sayes the Text. Christ dyes wee see here in the day in the mid day but even that is turn'd into a Night It was a day naturally but the death of our Saviour made it a night miraculously And the reason for it is good for it was not altogether so fitting that the earth should have worne one and the same Garment both at the Birth and Funerall of her Lord. He was borne in the night and that becomes day hee dyed in the day and that becomes night See how Christ both in his Nativity and Passion manifests himselfe to be the God of Nature who to shew her allegiance to her Lord and Master quite inverts her ordinary course and doth not wayte upon him in that livery which pleases her best but in that which he commands and is the most agreeable to his fortunes So that as the Disciples cryed out in an admiration when he quieted the Stormes and Tempests Who is this whom the winde and the Sea obeyeth So may wee say here Who is this whom the Night and the Day obeyeth It began at the sixth and lasted till the ninth so that the whole compasse or time of the darknesse was three of our ordinary houres I might here observe a mysterie in the number of 3 being the first perfect number that number which as Geometricians say doth make the first figure the number which Aquinas calls Numerus omnis rei the number of every thing and certainly hee had that hinte from Aristotle in his first booke de Caelo Omne totum sayes he in tribus ponimus To every whole perfect thing is requir'd the number of 3. And why may not wee say that as there went three dayes over his death like three witnesses to beare record of the truth of his death so there went three houres of darknesse over his Passion to beare witnesse of the Truth of his Passion The compleat number of 3 went over his sufferings to manifest to the world that now his sufferings were whole perfect and compleat and therefore no sooner are the three houres of darknesse over but presently he cryes Consummatum est it is finished gave up the ghost But we have beene too long in searching out the cause of this darknesse which was the third thing I propounded to be enquir'd for The neerest cause I told yee was the darkning of the Sunne But alas this will not satisfie us For as the Prophet David in the 114. Psalme which is appointed by the Church to be read upon Easter day doth not content himselfe with saying The Sea saw it and fled Iordan was driven back But hee addes also the question and sayes What aylest thou O Sea that thou fieddest and thou Jordan that thou was driven back So neither must wee thinke it enough to say the Sunne was darkned and goe no further but wee must Causam causae investigare Finde out the supreame cause of that subordinate cause and say What aylest thou O Sunne that thou wast darkened and thou Light that thou wast driven back The Sunne was darkned we confesse but what was it that darkned the Sunne This certainly will trouble us There are but three things supposing that wee are Sub dio et in sterili prospectu Under the open Heaven and withall have our eyes perfect which can any wayes take from us the sight of the Sun First The interposition of Vapours or Clouds Secondly The interposition of the Earth Thirdly The interposition of the Moone As for Clouds it is not likely that they should cause this darknesse For Saint Luke here after hee hath made mention of the darknesse which was in the ayre the place of Clouds and Vapours hee presently addes and the Sunne was darkned making this the reason of the other darknesse below so that wee may very safely beleeve that the Sunne was not darkned onely to us but even in it selfe too Hee who sayes unto the proud billowes of the Sea Be yee still and thus farre yee shall goe and no farther Hee is also able to say unto the Sunne Thou shalt not shine Hee who at the beginning was able to say Let there be light and there was light sayes now Let there be darknesse and it was so It could not be the interposition of the Earth for whensoever that is interposed it makes it night being nothing else but the shadowe of the Earth which is betwixt our eyes and the Sunne but this was at noone-day when the Sunne was in his height over the heads of the people of Jerusalem Nor yet was it possible it should bee the interposing of the Moone for the Sunne never suffers an Eclipse by the darke body of the Moone but onely when the Sunne and Moone are in a conjunction but now they were in opposition the Moone was at the full or but newly past it 180. degrees distant from the Sunne Which is easily proved for the Paschall Lambe was not by Gods command to be slaine nisi Luna quatuordecima but upon the foureteenth day of the Moone Exod. 12. and Levit. 23. and just the night before hee was crucified did Christ eate the Passeover with his Disciples so that this must needs be the fifteenth day of the Moone wherein he suffered quando solennitai erat Azimorum the first day of unleavened bread which was the great and chiefe day of the Passeover howsoever the Evangelist St. Matth. 26.17 may seeme to make the foureteenth day the first day of unleavened bread Mat. 26.17 Now the first day of the Feast of unleavened bread the Disciples came to Iesus saying unto him Where wilt thou that wee prepare for thee to eate the Passeover which must bee understood according to their Civill Account their naturall day according to that computation beginning at Sun-rising and ending with the rising of the next Sunne and in this regard the foureteenth day might be called the first of unleavened bread because it comprehended in it part of the first day of unleavened bread which day in their religious account began at the Sunne-setting and ended at the setting of the next Wee have not yet found out the Cause of this darknesse What should the Night make here usurping the dominion of the Day It is not such a hard question to answere I will give it ye in three words Christ the scond Person in the sacred Trinity united to our humane nature the wisedome of the Father by whom the worlds were made the Lambe without spot who was free from all sinne He hangs
Provinces to runne through two difficult businesses to prove The first of which is as I told yee when I branched the queâ—stion that the authority of St. Peter above the other Apostles is hereditary and derived to his Successors and next which will bee the hardest of all to prove that St. Peter had any such Supremacy given him So that although wee yeeld that St. Peter was Bishop of Rome and that all the Popes have beene and are his lawfull Successours and grant farther that these lawfull successours of St. Peter have the very same authority and supremacy derived upon them which their Predecessour had before given him by Christ Yet for all this they have done nothing for hee who is heire ex toto asse of the whole inheritance of his father can be but heire of his whole inheritance hee can possesse no more then his father left him Now we denie that St. Peter had any such Supremacy given him and they can inherit no more Supremacy then hee had to bestow upon them But they will prove it they say out of this Text. Our Saviour saith here to Saint Peter alone and that in the presence of other of the Apostles Feede my Sheepe He doth not say to Iohn Feede my Sheepe nor to Andrew nor to Thomas Feede my Sheepe but onely to Peter The whole charge is laid upon him But did I call it a charge or burthen O no say they this word Feede doth not onely signifie a charge or burthen but it also implies a dominion and soveraignty and for this they runne to Homer who calls King Agameâ—non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sheepheard or the Ruler of the people But it seemes they are hardly put to it that they are forced to runne to a blinde Heathen Poet for an interpretation of Christs meaning A man might suppose that Saint Augustine should tell them a great deale better what kinde of feeding is here understood who upon this very Text hath these words What else is meant by this Lovest thou mee Feede my Sheepe then if Christ had said If thou lovest mee thinke not of feeding thy selfe but of feeding my Sheepe and feede them as my Sheepe not as thine owne so feede them that thou mayest seeke my honour and profit in feeding them and not thine owne But let us say as we cannot deny that this word feede doth also expresse a kinde of rule and government over the Sheepe yet this makes no more for Saint Peter then for the rest of the Apostles to whom our Saviour gives the same charge and office though in other words in the 16. of St. Marke Goe into all the world and Preach the Gospell to every creature And this to whom Not to Peter onely but to the eleven He appeared to the eleven as they sate together saith the Text and said unto them Goe into all the world c. And doe but observe what Saint Augustine saith not onely concerning this but also of that other place in which they have a greater confidence then in this in the 16. of Saint Mathew Wherein our Saviour upon that confession of Saint Peter Thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God tells him that he will give to him the keyes of the Kingdome of heaven so that whatsoever he looses on earth shall be loosed in heaven and whatsoever he bindes on earth shall be bound in heaven O the Popes have a great minde to be the onely heires to Saint Peter of these words but they are not so hasty to lay any claime to that other speech of our Saviours to Peter following in the same Chapter Get thee behinde mee Satan because thou understandest not the things that be of God but the things that be of men St. Augustines words are these in his 118. Tractate upon Saint Iohns Gospell writing upon the seamelesse coate of Christ which the Souldiers cast lots for and did not divide Omnes interrogati solus Petrus respondet c. That question Whom say yee that I am was saith the Father propounded to them all but onely Peter answered for them Hee was the mouth of the rest of the Apostles and therefore Christ saith to Peter in the name of them all To thee will I give the keyes of the Kingdom of heaven And marke the words well Tibi dabo claves regni coelorum tanquam ligandi solvendi solus acceperit potestatem cuÌ„ illud unios pro omnibus dixerit hoc cum omnibus tanquam personam gerens ipsius unitatis acceperit As if saith S. Aug. Peter had received the power of binding and loosing alone when as hee both answered for them all and received the power for them all The words are as cleare as the Sunne God forbid that I should goe about any way to disparage or under value this holy Apostle No wee will willingly give him the honour that is due to him And indeed hee had a kinde of personall preheminence above the rest of his fellowes and that by reason of his age his faith his valour his love towards his Master Concerning his faith wee finde that so great that he adventured himselfe to walke upon the face of the Sea to meete his Lord when all his fellowes stood trembling in the Ship and thought themselves scarcely secure there And although hee had almost sunke in the action yet this makes nothing against him for it argued a great Faith in that hee durst put himselfe within the danger of sinking And to give yee an answer to our Saviours words in the 14. of Saint Mathew when taking Peter by the hand he saith unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O thou of little saith wherefore doest thou feare Our Saviour doth not call him here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O thou of no faith But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O thou of little faith And it is true his faith was but litle if we make it looke towards the love power of Christ who had the windâ— and the Sea and all creatures at his command and whose love was as great as his power Peters faith indeed if it regards this was but a little faith But if wee make it respect the no faith of his fellowes in this businesse in comparison to them it may be called a great saith Then for his love and valour we see that it was only he amongst them who durst draw his sword in his Masters quarrell If yee object his deniall to mee I answer that that makes for the courage of St. Peter For in that he denied his Lord he was more valiant then all his fellowes nor is this my conceit alone but St. Augustines in one of his Sermons de tempore hee was not affraid to come so neere even to denie him The Shepheard was smitten and all the Sheepe were scattered all the rest of the Disciples as soone as Christ was apprehended forsooke him presently as if they had never knowne any such man but Peter although it was afarre off yet
his Nobles his servants though yee have not yet I hope yee have fancies to conceive it And without all doubt wee shall account him the most honourable amongst his Princes whom wee behold the neerest to the person of the King and whom the King peradventure admits to goe in rancke with himselfe Now all the Fathers the Patriarches and Prophets of the old Testament did walke before Christ our great and eternall King who came in solemne Procession into the world a spectacle to men and Angels and all the rest of his Court of his Traine who have lived since his Incarnation have followed after him And therefore of Abraham who was one of the Pracurfores of the fore-runners of Christ saith the Lord in the 17. Gen. 17.7 of Gen. 1. I am God all-sufficient walke before me and be upright And Hezekiah praies unto the Lord Isay 38.3 and saith in the 38. of Isay ver 3. Remember I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth But concerning those in the new Testament we shall finde the phrase altered Sequimini me follow me To Peter and Andrew in the 4. of St. Matthew Follow me and I will make â—ee fishers of men To Matthew sitting at the receipt of Custome in the 9. of his Gospel Follow mee and he arose and followed him and to us all in the 9. of St. Luke ver 23. If any man will come after mee let him deny himselfe and take up his Crosse and follow me But the holy Baptist was neither of the company that went before nor that followed Hee was the end of the old Law and the beginning of the new All the Prophesies of Christ before his comming runne in this straine Veniet Rex ecce Dominus veniet the King will come behold the Lord will come So Isay David and the rest All they who have writ of him since say Venit Rex misit Deus Filium suum The King is already come God hath sent his Sonne into the world But St. Iohn the Baptist who was à latere regio waited upon the body of his Prince and was never found farre distant from him to shew the greatnesse and the honour which Christ vouchsafed him in permitting that neernesse to his owne Person his voice is neither with the Prophets hee will come nor with the Apostles hee is already come but like the Index in the margent of a booke holding out his finger hee points to him and saith Ecce agnus Dei qui tollit peccata mundi Behold the Lambe of GOD which taketh away the sinnes of the world Great hee was also in his death being a Martyr dying for the Testimony of the Truth and after all these greatnesses on earth for never was there man who had so many and so great Testimonies given him wee cannot choose surely but beleeve that he must needs be great also in his glory But I finde some small difference amongst Expositors concerning this greatnesse of Saint Iohn which they will have to be not a greatnesse or rather majority of Prophecy or revelation but of holinesse And it is occasioned by the doubtfulnesse of the exposition of those words of our Saviour in the 11. of St. Matthew named to yee before Mat. 11.11 I say unto yee that amongst them who are begotten of women arose there not a Greater then Iohn the Baptist The quarrell although it bee of no great moment is betwixt no meane Authors no lesse then St. Ierome and St. Chrysostome both ancient learned and religious Fathers and it is this St. Ierome by these words There hath not arose a greater then Iohn will by no meanes have it to follow that therefore Iohn was greater then all the sonnes of men but that which naturally followes from hence saith he is that none of the sonnes of men were greater then Iohn And so by his rule although none arose greater then Iohn yet there might be some who were his equalls But Saint Chrysostome in his 27. Homily in that which is called His imperfect worke upon Saint Matthew contends and mee thinks very subtlely and strongly to prove from hence that by naturall consequence St. Iohn the Baptist must needs be greater then all that were begotten of women To give yee his owne words Cum tanta sit Iustitiae altitudo ut in illa nemo possit esse perfectus nisi solus Deus c. Seeing that so great is the height of Justice or righteousnesse that it is a thing impossible for any but God to be perfect in it I thinke saith our Father that although according to the pâ—rblinde judgement of men wee may guesse at an equality in the sanctity of severall Saints yet in the all-discerning Eye of God in the Divine scrutiny and this is Gods censure of Iohn and not the opinion of men it is impossible but there should bee a difference in degrees of sanctity and righteousnesse From whence it followes saith Saint Chrysostome that if none arose amongst the sonnes of men who were greater then Iohn then Iohn must necessarily be the greatest of all the sonnes of men For we are to consider of the way to Heaven as of a narrow passage cut in the side of some steepe and rigid mountaine to the Top of which we are to travaile which passage is so strait Sâ— â—n hâ— Gâ—spel that it will not admit two a breast and therefore there can be no equality in ranke or line Narrow is the way that leadeth to life and fewe there be that finde it Say then of any one that travailes that strait way that there is none before him and this speech necessarily implies that he is before all and all behinde him And the reason is Non datur alia linea nisi sursum deorsum Because there is no right hand or left hand line given here but onely the line of upwards and downe-wards As it is in the faces of men Thou mayest travaile the whole world over ere thou finde two faces which answer one another directly in all parts I will not deny but thou mayst pick out one who may have a lippe or an eye or a cheeke or some particular grace of carriage like to an other but that two should agree so in all parts that a judicious eye should not distinguish was never yet heard of So it is in the soules of men they may in some graces in some peeces of Sanctity seeme to goe hand in hand but it is impossible they should be equall in all things And where there is a difference there must needes be degrees majority and minority And this is the ordinary excuse which they of the Church of Rome doe make for that Chorus which they commonly sing in their private Masses to any of their Saints Non est inventus similis illi qui conservaret legem Excelsi His like is not found who keepes the law of the most High And this they sing to any of their meaner Saints I will give
rather where wee might have lyen for ever had God not bin as mercifull as hee is just but presently Christ adventures after us for although hee was not exhibited untill the fulnesse of time yet the vertue of his conception nativity passion and resurrection was in efficacie to beleeving Adam He who is immortall became mortall hee who is the Sonne of God and thinks it no robbery to be called equal with the Father became the Son of man took upon him the forme of a servant that wee who are the Sonnes of men might be made the Sonnes of God 2. Our next leape was into the Manger Wee became beast Man being in honour saith the Text that is in the state of innocence had no understanding but was likened unto the beast that perisheth Iumenta puto dicerent si loqui fas esset saith Saint Bernard Ecce Adam factus est quasi unus ex nobis Certainly saith that Father the very beasts themselves had God beene pleased to have bestowed upon them an articulate language as he did once upon Balaams Asse would have spoken those words simply without a figure which God did at that time figuratively and in a Sarcasme Behold man is become like one of us For indeed what was he else but Beast then having lost his excellence lost his understanding lost his immortality and in one word turned his glory the image of God wherein he was created into the similitude of a Calfe that eateth hay But doth Christ leave us here No. His mercy followes us hither too Inde est saith the same Father quod panis Angelorum factum est faenum positum in praesepio appositum nobis tanquam jumentis And therefore he that is the bread of Angells was made grasse became hay For the Word was made flesh Iohn 1. And Isay shall tell us in the fourth Chapter what all flesh is and yet not Isay neither but the spirit for a voyce said Cry and hee said What shall I cry All flesh is grasse and the grace thereof as the flower of the field hee was laid in a Manger to become foode for us who had through our owne disobedience made our selves beasts And therefore how well may we take up that holy rapture of St. Bernard immediatly following Heu tristis lachrymosa mutatio ut homo Paradise accola terrae dominus coeli civis domesticus Domini Sabaoth c. O sorrowfull and lamentable change that man the Inhabiter of Paradise the Lord of the earth a Citizen of heaven a houshold-servant of the Lord of Hoasts brother to the blessed Angells and co-heire with the coelestiall powers upon the sudden should finde himselfe for his infirmity lying in a Stable for the likenesse that hee holds with the Beast standing in neede of Fodder of grasse But much better and with a farre greater reason may wee turne the streame of this extasie and cry O grata stupenda lata mutatio ut Paradisi dominus coeli terrae conditor Dominus Sabaoth Rex Angelorum c. O happy change blessed and ever to be wondred at That the Governour and Maker of Paradise the Creator of all the world the Lord of Hoasts the King of Angells God blessed for ever should lay aside his Majestie come downe from heaven leave the innumerable company of holy Angells and be content to become a poore naked and distressed Infant whose best roome at his Nativity was a Stable a Manger his Cradle O the height and depth of the wisdome and mercy of God! He who was Lord of all the world chooses no better roome then a Stable Non quia non potuit sed quia homo noluit Not because he was not able but because Man would not suffer him A Paradox Would not man suffer him How then was he God Understand aright The sinne of man and his owne mercy would not suffer him The end of his comming was to seeke and to save that which was lost Mankind And where should he seeke for him but where he was Et ecce nunc de grege facta est egregia creatura For behold now Man who was once a glorious creature hath taken up his habitation with the beast Our third leape but stay wee should bee worse then beasts if wee should thus lightly skip over this blessed leape of our Saviour this time of preparation for that great approaching Feast instituted by the Church seeming to envite us to a further honourable mention O dies plena miraculorum saith St. Augustine Creator fit creatura qui immensus est capitur incorporeus carne vestitur videtur invisibilis c. O day full of wonders The Creator is become a creature he whom the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot containe is this day comprehended hee who is incorporeall is cloathed with flesh hee is handled now who cannot be touched hee who is the Ancient of dayes is this day become an Infant or if ye will have all in one word Nascitur Deus God himselfe is borne Qui natus est primò sine matre in coelis bodie natus est sine patre in terris Hee who was borne in the heavens from all eternity without a Mother is this day borne on earth without a Father Barbara Pyramidum sileat miracula Memphis Let Aegypt now cease to talke of her molehills of bricke the Ephesians of their Temple Babylon of her walls Rhodes of his Colosse Vnum pro cunâ—is fama loquatur opus And let this fill the mouth of all the world Nor is this all For then wee might indeed wonder but without any comfort to our selves now let us adde joy unto our wonder For natus est nobis puer There is borne to us a Child borne to us a Saviour This was that day to see which the holy Patriarches and Prophets of the old Testament so thirsted after Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth for thy love is better then wine Cant. Chap. 1. Abraham saw this day and that but in Landskip a farre off and yet for all that saith our Saviour he rejoyced And well was it called a day for then the Sunne of righteousnesse did rise to the world which before lay steeped in darknesse Blessed are the eyes saith Christ to his Disciples Luke 10.23 which see those things which yee see for I tell yee that many Kings and Prophets have desired to see the things that yee see and have not seene them Upon which words St. Bernard descants thus Quare nisi quia nox erat nondum venerat illud expectatum mane cui fuerat repromissa misericordia Why saith hee could they not see these things Because it was night as yet and that longed for morning was not broke which David so earnestly prayed for in his 143. Psalme Let me heare thy loving kindnesse in the morning for in thee is my trust How truely may wee call Iohn the Baptist the Morning-starre for as that ushers out the beautifull Sunne so did hee
nor doe I thinke it honourable enough for this Argument to bee handled in a discourse that is onely passant the greatnesse of the Theame duely chalenging a Tractate of its owne wherein it may command not serve as an Attendant And indeede so doe all the other but wee must not swell up Sermons into volumes my intent now being onely to give you a glance in my passage to leape onely upon these mountaines as I passe by and not to fixe or dwell upon any of them For should I affect largenesse here yee see I might take occasion from this Text to write the whole History of Christ Wee have brought him yee see to the Crosse and there he remaines the scorne and laughter of the multitude But shall we leave him so Pilat then and the Iews have done as much for him as wee Although wee are not able to help him in his misery and can onely with his acquaintance in 23. of S. Luke 49. Stand a farre off beholding those things yet this wee may doe too wee may joyne with those people in the 48. verse of that Chapter who came together to that sight and beholding the things that were done smote their breasts and returned O let us smite our breasts too as acknowledging all those blowes and stripes which fell upon his sacred body to be due to us Nos nos qui fecimus in nos convertite ferrum That Speare which pierced his blessed side ought to have beene pointed against our breasts for wee have sinned we have done wickedly but that Lambe what hath he done I had here broken off this discourse for this time but that I considered to suffer him to hang a weeke upon the Crosse had beene a greater cruelty then was showne by the Iews themselves who because it was the preparation of their Sabbath took him downe Let us therefore with the good and just Counseller Ioseph goe to Pilat and begge the body of Iesus and ere wee depart accompany him to the Grave where till we returne againe to draw the Curtaines and bid good morrow to the rising Sunne wee will wish his flumbers sweet and peaceable And so we are come to his 4. Leape De cruce in sepulchrum From the Crosse into the grave Into the grave O tell it not in Gath nor publish it in the streets of Askalon lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoyce lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph Ye mountaines of Gilboa upon you bee neither dew nor raine for there the shield of the mighty is cast downe Into the grave What should the Lord of life doe in the lodgings of death Sure hee hath no businesse of his owne there Yes Because his mercy is his owne therefore the businesse is his too Hee was that good Shepherd who leaving behind him the ninety and nine came in pursuit of that one which had strayed poore mankind And where should he seeke for man but where hee was In sepulchro positus Death had carried him away captive and Christ to redeeme him breaks into the strong hold of this mighty man and being mightier then he overcomes him binds him and sets the prisoner at liberty And this was all the businesse hee had in the grave Hee came not as owing any homage to the Lord of that darke mansion nor yet was it any debt of his owne which brought him thither but the end of his journey was to pay the ransome for captivated man who had taken a leape thither before him And as before he could not be at rest but thought every houre an Agâ— till hee was got upon the Crosse so when hee was there still hee hath a longing desire to goe forward on his journey and now is as earnest to bee in the grave as he was before to be upon the Crosse and therefore he cries out sitto I thirst Sitio art Christus non doleo saith St. Bernard and a little before the same Father Bone Iesu coronam spineam sustines de tua cruce vulneribus taces prosola fiti clamas dicens sitio O blessed Iesu thou hadst a crowne of Thornes upon thy Head thy wounds were all fresh and bleeding and yet not a word of them thou makest no mention at all of the pangs and torments thou enduredst thou criest out onely for a little thirst as if thou who wast able to suffer the piercing of the nayles couldest not suffer a little drinesse in thy body Say Lord what was it thou diddest thirst for so The same S. Bernard shal give you his answer Certe solam redemptionem hominis gaudium humanae salutis It was the salvation of man the consummation of his redemption which he so longed for and not the vinegar and the gall they gave him in the Crusa there could be but little pleasure in that But see Ioseph hath entreated Pilate for the body he hath prepared the linnen cloathes to wrap him in and a Tombe for him hewen out of a Rocke wherein yet was never man laid Here wee will leave him sleeping for a time desiring God of his goodnesse to make us truely sensible of these his mercies that as he leapt over these mountaines difficulties and thorny passages to come to us so wee may leape over all impediments of sinnes of innate corruptions of inward and outward temptations that we may skippe over all those hills barracadoes bulwarks and trenches which the world the flesh and the divell our three grand enemies doe cast up daily in our way to hinder our journey towards him that he may alter the speaking Person in this Dramaticall song and say of us as the spouse here said of him It is the voyce of my welbeloved behold shee too comes leaping upon the mountaines and skipping over the hills THE EIGHTH SERMON Being a continuation of the former Discourse upon the same words WE left CHRIST as ye may remember in the Grave being the fourth leape hee tooke in his journey to Mans redemption the Stone rolled before the mouth of the Sepulchre the Souldiers watching him O the Iewes verily beleeved that they had made sure worke with him now And let them enjoy that conceit a while it will not long continue with them But what sudden Calme dwells on the face of Hell The Lord of Heaven hath taken a leape thither too Hee hath triumphed over death and the devill already in his Portall as I may call it his outward house the grave and now he pursues him even into his inward Pallace his strongest hold of all and there hee conquers him too To use St. Augustines words in his Sermon De descensu Christi ad inferos Me thinks I see those legions of darknesse those multitudes of evill Spirits which fell and all the Common people of that gloomy habitation stand in a maze at the arrivall of Christ in that place and calling to one another in that Fathers words Quisnam est iste terribilis niveo splendore coruscus invasor iste non