death the Sun rose earlier by certain hours than the natural season Vt redderet lucis horas quas terror Dominicae passionis invaserat to make restitution of those hours of light which were lost by the Eclipse of the Sun at our Saviours Passion and so it should be called a Day because it was miraculous and longer than the natural proportion of a Day But this is without the Book and rather Poetical than Theological But secondly to more purpose it justly bears the title of a Day for were it not for the benefit of Christ's Resurrection we had been buried in eternal night our bodies had gone down into the Sepulchre as into the Land of darkness to perish and rot and never to see the light more Nox est perpetuò una dormienda but through him who hath planted us into the similitude of his Resurrection we awake from sleep we stand up from the dead and Christ shall give us light 3. The claritude of those glorified Bodies which we shall put on in the General Resurrection will make us carry Day about with us whithersoever we go You know how Christ did look at his Transfiguration his face did shine as the Sun and his raiment was white as the light Mat. xvii 2. therefore it must needs be day with the Saints for ever after they are risen from the dead since according to the Pattern of their Masters beauty their faces shall shine like the Sun in the Firmament But fourthly whether these curiosities touch the Point I am not sure upon this I dare build that it is called the Day which the Lord made because no greater work than the Resurrection of Christ was made upon any day since the world began for two things are to be considered in it Quod apparuit in Christo quod nondum apparuit in nobis that which was wrought upon Christ's Body and was seen in him and by virtue of his rising from the dead that which shall appear in us hereafter O infinite Power which quickned Jesus again the life and soul of all the Members of his Body and would not let him see corruption I know not how to compare the noblest Acts of the Lord as many have done I dare not do it as whether it were more to create a man out of nothing or to recompose a man again when his Soul was flitted and the Substance of his Body passed about into innumerous Transmutations after the revolution of five or six thousand years This I know that on our part it had been better for us never to have been than not to have been restored to the Image of God which was defaced in us and simply to be is nothing so well as to be made incorruptible in the outward man and the inward man to be restored unto Righteousness and Holiness of life Besides after the Creation God did cease from his work and there is no new thing under the Sun but after the Resurrection of Christ God doth continually save his people from their Sins Or if you interpose that as the Father did rest the last day of the Week from the Works of the Creation so the Son did rest on the first day of the Week having absolutely accomplished the Work of our Redemption then I infer if the Rest of the Father ceasing from creating material things did sanctifie a Day then this greater Rest of the Son must much more sanctifie a Festival As the new Heavens and the new Earth shall be more glorious than the old which are subject to vanity so the Jewish Feast on the Sabbath for the Remembrance of the Creation is nothing so honourable as the Christian Feast of the Lords Day in Remembrance of the Resurrection Therefore at the close of the Benefit let me admonish you of the Duty We will c. When Israel came out of Egypt and the house of Jacob from a strange Land they came home again to the Land of Canaan from whence they were descended like men that had lien long among the dead and were quite forgotten But with so much mirth and joy as is unutterable their mouth was filled with laughter and their tongue with joy This was but a Type of the Body brought back out of the Grave therefore this gladness will become us much better in the Substance than in the Figure Christ is returned victoriously out of the Sepulcher and in that victory hath redeemed us all from the captivity of the Grave then how requisite is it that our mouth should be filled with laughter and our tongue with singing for the Lord hath done very great things for us whereof we are glad There was never any Society I am perswaded more disconsolate more crest-faln than the Disciples were upon the Eve of this happy Resurrection their faith failed them and their courage failed them they lockt themselves up and sat drowzily like men that had lost the fairest expectation that heart could imagin and had neither life nor soul Heaviness did endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Jesus came into the midst of them the doors being shut and shewed them his feet and his hands Then were the Disciples glad when they saw the Lord Joh. xx 20. before the Lords Ascension though their minds were yet somewhat carnal yet they were glad that his sayings were verified in despight of the Jews that He was risen again the third day The old Father confuted his churlish Son with that principle of good nature it was meet that we should make merry and be glad for this thy brother was dead and is alive again Luke xv 32. Again the Disciples were very frollick because when they saw the Lord revived again they were perswaded that He would restore the Temporal Kingdom unto Israel a thing which erroneously they had long lookt for but after his Ascension then their joy was high swoln and full to the brim for it was illuminated by faith they rejoyced that he was risen and gone up in glory to possess his Kingdom for when Christ our life shall appear again then shall we also appear in glory But because ancient Customs are things that will stick to the remembrance I will borrow a little time to impart unto you what glad remonstrances the Old Fathers of the Church were wont to make of it First their very outward Garments were of the best they had and full of splendor not out of pride and wantonness but to testifie that in every circumstance they did magnifie that holy Mystery of Christs rising from the dead and to witness in their outward habit that the resurrection of the dead is the cloathing of us with new and immortal apparel Therefore Nazianzen wishing for his own dissolution cries out take from me this ponderous Garment that is this sinful corruptible Body which makes me sweat and faint and give me a lighter that will never trouble me Secondly their Churches were trickt up with the best bravery that they could
of the Creation This doth unavoidably suggest unto us that no day of the seven is fitter for our celebration than Sunday or the first day of the Week when Christ rose from the dead he having dispatcht all the works of exinanition and given us manifest assurance and joy for our eternal redemption And so I fall into the next member propounded what ground we have for keeping this day weekly to the service of God in the Resurrection of Christ Some what have been heedless in their assertions have confidently delivered that the Lords day is clearly instituted in the work of Christs Resurrection nay that the Resurrection did apply and determine the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment to the Lords day These go so far that all proof and reason forsakes them It is true that our Saviours victorious rising from the dead was a good occasion which the Church took to celebrate this day but that act of his rising from the dead was not instead of a Law to appoint the day They are not the works of God but his words that institute Laws and where there is no Imperative act of the Law-giver there can be no Law to bind In six days the Lord made heaven and earth and all things therein and rested the seventh day yet that Cessation of God from his works had not made that seventh day in every week holy to the Jews without his pleasure signified to keep it So the Resurrection of the Lord doth not make the Lords day a solemn day for Divine Service in all our Generations by a compulsory Statute unless it were said in the Gospel and so it was never said you shall keep the first day of the Week holy in honour of the Resurrection Without some imperative word or sentence to declare Gods pleasure we cannot deduce a Law And if the Resurrection of itself without a Precept annexed had exalted it to be an holy day St. Paul would never have agreed with them that esteemed all days alike Rom. xiv Out of this perverse zeal to make a rule out of Christs works without a Precept some would not be baptized till the age of thirty years because Christ was baptized no sooner Others stood nicely upon it that Orders of Priesthood were to be given to none before that age and for no other cause but because he preach'd no sooner Infinite fancies would be multiplied if these ways were allowed for good Divinity It is safe and true to say that the day is kept congruously but not necessarily for the Resurrection sake And surely the Primitive Church could have made choice of no day of the Week more proper and convenient for the Religious Worship of God in honour of that principal Article of our belief and the corner stone of all the rest Ignatius calls every Sunday 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Resurrection day St. Austin says Dominicus dies Christi resurrectione declaratus est ex illo coepit habere festivitatem suam Words which will bear no other construction howsoever some do torture them but thus that the Lords day is published by Christs Resurrection and from thenceforth began to be a Festival And again Domini resuscitatio consecravit nobis Dominicum diem promisit nobis aeternum diem The resuscitation of Christ hath consecrated for us the Lords day and doth promise us an eternal day yet there is no Imperative Edict from heaven to make it so but the light of holy discretion did guide the Church to appoint it so St. Austin hath clustered together many other admirable works of God done upon the first day of the Week in which God did make his first Creature of Light In which the Israelites went through the Red-Sea upon dry Land In which Manna did first fall from heaven In it was the first miracle of water turned into Wine Of the five loaves and two fishes In it Christ was baptized rose from the dead appeared often to his Disciples sent down the Holy Ghost and wherein we expect that at the last day he will come to judgment But the Resurrection is pre-eminent above all things else that hapned in it and that blessing though it do not ratifie a Law yet it is the occasion why this day is Weekly celebrated But I must tell you that one Analogy is ill prosecuted by some though it be vulgar in mens Writings That the Lords rest must be sanctified on what day soever it falleth that is not true unless there be a Law to enforce it therefore as the Sabbath was held holy when God rested from the works of the Creation so Sunday must be kept holy wherein the Son of God after his rising from the Grave rested gloriously from the work of our Redemption That last clause is falsly presumed for he made perfect our Redemption at his death and the price was paid for our sins not by his Resurrection but by his Sacrifice on the Cross and then he gave up the Ghost and said It is finished The day of the Passion therefore if you respect it as a resting from satisfying for our sins deserved to be made a continual Holy day but it was not meet to be kept with joy And mark it I pray you that we honour the day of his rising every Week rather than that of his suffering not because it is a better day or the day of his rest for he rested in the Grave and did spend his Resurrection day in much action but because it is the first day unto the Church of joy and gladness And a chief ingredient in an holy day dedicated to God is to rejoyce and be glad I proceed to the third thing to be inquired into what ground we have to keep the Lords day from any Precept mentioned in the Gospel either delivered by Christ himself or by his Apostles Certainly it never proceeded out of our Saviours mouth to appropriate this designed day to his honour and we must take heed to thrust Laws upon him of our own invention which he never imposed If such a thing had come from him no time had been fitter to express it than when the Pharisees cavilled at his Disciples for plucking the Ears of Corn on the Sabbath day Mat. xii Then he might have retorted that the observation of the Sabbath was expiring but he would constitute the first day of the Week to be the heir of the Sabbath Yet our Lord was so far from such a motion that whereas he reproved the Pharisees with much indignation Mat. v. and vi Chapters for their lax and dissolute interpretations of many moral Laws he corrects them often in the Gospel for being so strict in the rigid performance of the Sabbath which he would never have done if it had totally consisted of moral duties But about the definite appointment of a day Christ is silent for his Precepts in the New Testament are altogether touching spiritual worship And says St. Paul Carnal ordinances were imposed
of Heaven and all the Stars thereof Moreover Vna Sabbati litterally rendred is not the first but one day of the Week because one is the first ground to begin numbring and Theophilact says the Lords day is called the one day of the Week either because it is the only day from whence the blessing is procured for all the rest or besides it is a figure of the life to come Quando una tantum dies est nequaquam nocte interpolata when there shall be but one day for ever and no night of darkness to interrupt it Thus much of the words The matter of the Point is of a more profitable use And hence I begin that as God the Father upon the first day did begin to make this visible world of Creatures so Christ rose the same day from the dead to signifie that a new Age was then begun Resurrectio est alterius mundi spiritualis creatio says Justin Martyr The Resurrection is well called a creation of a new spiritual world On the first day of the Week God said Let there be light and he divided between the light and the darkness Verily on that wise on the first day of the Week God brought the light of the world out of the darkness of the Grave and the life says St. John was the light of men Now this infinite work to tread death under feet and to bring all flesh out of corruption into the state of immortality being more eximious than to make man in a possibility at first to die and perish therefore all Christian Churches have desisted to meet together at holy exercises upon the Sabbath of the Jews and the first day of the Week is the day appointed to sanctifie out selves unto the Lord for what reason I will now unfold and it is a case of no small perplexity And let me auspicate from the Text and Authority of Holy Scripture and these places following do conspire to verifie the Truth Acts xx 7. Paul abode seven days at Troas the seventh day of his abode was the first day of the Week then and not before it seems upon the first day of the Week when the Disciples came together to break Bread that is to partake of the Lords Supper Paul preacht unto them This seems to approve that in the Apostles time it was no more in use for their Disciples to meet upon the Sabbath but as well to honor the Resurrection as to separate from the Rites and Customs of the Jews in the Spirit of God they did convene together on the first day of the Week From Preaching and Administring the Holy Communion let us come to Collection of Alms. 1 Cor. xvi 2. Vpon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come How can this be expounded but that distributions were made to the poor upon the first day of the Week in their most solemn Assemblies For if the meaning were that every man should set apart a share of his own gains upon that day in his private Coffers and not in the publick Treasury when their Congregations were together then Collections had been to be made from house to house when Paul was to come who desires it might be laid up in readiness as it were in one stock before 'T is pity we are faln from that good order but in the most antient Church I find that they never miss'd to carry the Poors Box about every Lords Day witness this place of St. Cyprian Locuples es dives Dominicam celebrare te credis quae Corbanam omnino non respicis Thou that art rich and wealthy dost thou imagin thou keepest the Lords Day as thou oughtest and dost cast nothing into the Treasury Thirdly as the last day of the Week when God rested from his works was called the Sabbath of the Lord so it is of much moment to the point that the first day of the Week is called the Day of the Lord or the Lords Day Rev. i. 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lords Day as it appears Rev. i. 13. John was walking on the Sea shore meditating upon holy things in the Isle of Patmos Very probable that there was no solemn meeting to praise God as it ought to have been among those Pagan Islanders otherwise John had not betaken himself to solitary Meditations but see how he was recompensed Nactus est Doctorem ipsum Deum quando fortasse deessent quos ipse doceret when he was disconsolate because he wanted Auditors to teach God preached unto him the Mysteries of the Age to come But to enforce the Text forenamed for an Argument we have but two things in the New Testament called the Lords the Sacrament is called the Supper of the Lord 1 Cor. xi 20. and this day of Christian Assemblies is called the Lords Day the Lords Prayer and the Lords House are good Phrases but our own not the Scriptures but as we keep the Feast of Passeover no more but instead thereof eat the Lords Supper so neither do we observe the Jews Sabbath any more but instead thereof we keep the Lords Day Thus far I have prest the Authorities of Sacred Scripture The Authority of the Primitive Church and so downward to this Age will convince it clearly against any that is obstinate Ignatius was St. John's Scholar and as if he had learnt of his Teacher he writes thus Let every lover of Christ celebrate the Lords Day which is dedicated to the honor of his Resurrection the Queen and Princess of all days Justin Martyr commands the same day to be kept holy to the Lord every Week in his 2. Apolog. So doth Tertullian more than once and I cited St. Cyprian before The Council of Laodicea speaks thus resolutely Anathema to all those that rest upon the Sabbath let them keep the Lords Day when they observe a vacancy of labor and do as becometh Christians The great Council of Nice doth not command the first day of the Week to be kept holy but supposeth in the 20. Canon all good Christians would admit that without scruple and then appoints other significant Ceremonies to be kept upon the Lords Day from Easter to Whitsontide I need not reckon downward after the Nicen Council because in one word I have not heard or read that it was opposed by any of the Fathers They knew that an appointed time must be allotted for every necessary Duty and certainly upon the abrogation of the Old Sabbath not Man but God did appoint a time for so necessary a thing as the religious Service of his Name Christ made an end of all Sabbaths by his own Sabbath lying all that day and night in the Grave and to hold that the Sabbath which is but a Shadow is to continue is to hold that Christ the Body is not yet come yet that being laid apart let us
the first day of the Week We are not those that esteem one day more than another as it is the mere flux of time but we are those that must remember how God hath glorified himself in one day more than another and never so much on any as on this day The first day of the Week As God the Father upon the first day did begin to make this visible World of Creatures so Christ rose the same day from the dead to shew the beginning of a new Age. Resurrectio est alterius mundi spiritualis creatio says Justin Martyr The Resurrection is well called a Creation of a new spiritual world On the first day of the Week God said Let there be light and he divided between the light and the darkness Verily in the same sort upon the same day God brought the light of the world out of the darkness of the Grave and the life says St. John was the light of men Now this infinite work to tread death under feet and to bring mankind out of corruption into the state of immortality being more eximious than to make Adam in a possibility to die and perish therefore all Christian Churches have desisted to meet together at holy exercises upon the Sabbath of the Jews and the first day of the Week hath been solemnly appointed from the Apostles even to this Age to sanctifie the name of the Lord in publick Congregations It is but a fretful question which is too much agitated now adays since the first day of the Week is designed to be sanctified to the praise of God from the Resurrection of our Saviour what time we may borrow for the use of domestical affairs and harmless recreations He that is perswaded in his conscience no part of the day must be spared from Gods Service let him so do according to the resolution of his conscience no man can be offended that he is earnest for his own part to keep the whole day unto the Lord. Again he that is perswaded that the Lord must have his due service on that day but that he is not tied to a strict Sabbatical servitude surely his knowledge is good and he may use his liberty but without scandal to his brother To the first I say be a zealous Christian in keeping the Lords day but be not a Jew in opinion To the other I say give thanks to God for the freedom to which he hath called you and that he hath eased your shoulders from the servil burden of the Jewish Sabbath but be not a Libertine in practise And this is the sum of that which I will say to the first Point that this marvellous work was done upon the first day of the Week Now the Holy Ghost hath not only satisfied us with the designation of the day but because the more particularity the more certainty therefore the Spirit hath condescended to name almost the hour of the day so that I am sure we may guess near upon the time for it was early on the first day of the Week which denotes two things that the Lord made haste to rise from the dead to comfort the Disciples and that Mary Magdalen made haste to comfort herself with coming to the Sepulcher Christ started up suddenly out of sleep like Samson before the powers of hell those Philistines were aware of him To this it may be David alluded in Exurgam diluculò Awake my glory awake Lute and Harp I my self will awake right early Nescit tarda molimina spiritus sancti gratia Be not you slow in paying your debts to God God is ever before-hand in fulfilling his promises to you The words in the Second Psalm which are applied Heb. i. to our Saviours eternal Generation are referred by the same Apostle Acts xiii 33. to his Resurrection Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee I cannot pass it over that the Vulgar Latine reads it Ante luciferum genui te Before the Morning star have I begotten thee Very fitly to this Doctrine which I teach that Christ rose early this day before the Morning Star appeared Now that one Scripture may not seem to fall foul upon another these two must be reconciled how he that rose so early ante luciferum how he can be said to be three days like Jonas in the belly of the Grave The answer is you must measure these three days by a Synechdoche He was buried towards Evening upon the Jews day of preparation and so lay interred some part of Afternoon and all that night Upon the Jews Sabbath he rested in the Sepulcher all day and all night Upon the first day of the Week he continued in the state of death some hours of the Morning and very early he came forth an eternal Victor he fulfilled the Scriptures therefore and withal he made haste to fulfil his Promise upon the third day Euthymius expresseth it more elegantly than I can Quòd citiùs quà m sit constitutum efficitur potentiae est quòd tardiùs imbecilitatis Christus non solùm promissum explevit sed etiam gratiam velocitatis addidit To be tardier than our promise is a sign of some let and infirmity to be before hand with a promise is a sign of power and efficacy The promise of the Son of God was that in three days he would build up the Temple of his body again he did so and more than so soon after the third day was begun Behold the performance of his word and the sudden dispatch of his favour joyn'd unto it So we have seen both his truth in the Promise and his love in the speediness of the act doing above his promise Moreover I would have it be mark'd that as he rose early so he was sought early by Mary Magdalen The desire of Christ held her eyes waking and I believe she had took but small rest since Christ was crucified as soon as it was possible to have access to his Monument she came unto it I know not whether you are to learn it but it was not the usual manner of the Jews to bury their dead within the Walls of their Cities to a Garden you know the Corps of our Saviour was carried into the Suburbs of Jerusalem therefore she was compelled to attend till the Gates of the City were opened and passage being made she came before the break of day to the Sepulcher And believe it she sped much the better that she was such an early visitor do not imagine but the eye of the Lord unto this day is upon those that make haste to come unto the threshold of his sacred House and they are greatly deceived that think they shall find God as soon if they come late to Church as if they come early I pray you tell me is there any part of the Service so mean and unuseful that you can be content to spare it Or do you think that God is asleep and by that time the Congregation hath rouzed him up then
utterance ALL the joy which we celebrate for the famous acts of Christ is irksom to the Devil and the particular Solemnities which we keep are grievous to those that shut their eyes against the truth Upon the yearly day of our Saviours Nativity the Jew is sad and displeas'd because he believes not that he that was born of Mary a pure Virgin was the Son of God and the Messias whom their Fathers lookt for that should sit upon the Throne of David for evermore Upon the high Feast of his Resurrection the Sadducee gnasheth with his teeth because he denieth that the dead can be raised to life So upon this triumphant Feast wherein we abound with comfort for the sending of the Holy Ghost the Pelagian is malecontented who is an enemy to the efficacy of Grace and the more cause we have to maintain the dignity of it and to be throughly disciplin'd what the Holy Ghost hath wrought for our Soul because the Church is miserably soured of late in all places with the leaven of Pelagius Again as all the parts of our Saviours Mediatorship were several degrees to advance our Salvation and like the several steps of Jacobs Ladder to bring us nearer and nearer to Heaven so in this comparison the sending of the Holy Ghost is the loftiest degree and as it were the top of the spire which is next neighbour to the Kingdom of Glory for as man in his first creation had but an incomplete being till the Lord breathed into his nostrils the breath of life so man in his reparation was but incompletely restored till Christ did send the Comforter to infuse into him the breath of sanctification This day therefore is the concluding Feast of all the great days wherein we rememorate the noble works of our Lord and to go further this Text is the upshot of all the blessings that were conferred upon the Church in this happy day Christ took our nature upon him that he might die for our sins he suffered and was crucified that he might reconcile all such to his Father as would repent and believe repentance and faith to please God cannot enter into the heart of the natural man by his own abilities a power from Heaven must be the means to bring that about which is so repugnant to our corrupt nature Traverse over the mystery of our Redemption and you shall find that the work is at a stand till supernal grace poured in do draw it forward as Physicians say that spiritus est ultimum alimenti the last concoction and the most refined part of our nourishment is that which makes the spirits so the donation of the Holy Spirit is the accomplishment and final resolution of all the benefits which we partake in Christ And the last payment collated by that precious liberality to enrich the Church for ever is here in my Text nay indeed it was but a preparation before the talent of grace was not tendred till now That which was set forth in figure in the former verses is here exhibited in real substance Before a rushing wind made a noise here was the very thing imparted which was shadowed by the wind before certain firy tongues made a glittering that sat upon their head now their own tongues became most fluent and voluble with wonderful eloquence In brief to the exact building up of the Church two things were requir'd which are not wanting but abound in this verse First that the Lord should speak unto the Heart Secondly that he should speak unto the Ear by an invisible word and by a visible He spake invisibly to the Heart when they were all filled with the Holy Ghost he spake visibly to the Ear when his Ministers began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance Nay more to gather a Society together whose Labours should be dispread over all the world it was expedient that the Lord should confer both ordinary and extraordinary Gifts upon them His ordinary Blessing and indeed nothing is blest without it is some quantity of Sanctification his extraordinary Blessing is twofold to send such as are not lightly sprinkled but filled with the Spirit and to speak with divers Tongues that their sound may go forth into all the World Yet again to shew the Amplitude of Gods allowance to his Primitive Church he makes a double provision first for every Disciple as he is one Member of this Body and so all and every one of them were filled with the Holy Ghost and then he provides for all the Members of his Body junctim in one union and communion they began c. so that here 's the inward and the outward blessing the ordinary and the extraordinary the particular and the universal The inward ordinary and particular blessing is this that they were all filled with the Holy Ghost If you look for the provision with which the Primitive Church was stored look for it in this Chapter and you will find out upon judicious survey that there are three things which make it plenteous with all manner of store Pastores Verbum and Spiritus First certain Pastors allotted to the sacred Function to guide the souls of the People 2. the Word of life which is put into their mouth to be preacht unto all Nations 3. The Spirit of grace accompanying the Word to make it fruitful and prolificous in the hearts of them that hear it and obey it That some were ordeined Pastors and Bishops to teach and rule the Church that 's clear the Apostles met together in Jerusalem with one accord as Christ had appointed and the Cloven Tongues which came from Heaven sat upon each of them that was their Commission to take their Bishoprick upon them that the Word was delivered unto them which they should preach and Elocution to impart that Word to every Kingdom and Language that 's as clear Eight times in this one Chapter St. Peter quotes the Scripture of the old Testament and with divers tongues according to the capacity of all the Nations and Languages that were met together and that the Holy Ghost was infused with much abundance at the same time that 's as clear and pregnant as the rest 't is twice gone over in my Text both in the beginning and in the end they were filled with the Holy Ghost and the Spirit gave them utterance A Church without lawful Pastors is but a Synagogue of Schismatiques a Pastor without a Tongue is but an Idol Shepherd or a dumb Dog a Tongue without the power of the Spirit is but sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal As St. Paul said of the three grand Theological Virtues Now abideth Faith Hope Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity so I say of these necessary parts that constitute the Church the Ministry the Word and the Spirit but the chiefest and most excellent of these is the Spirit In some strange manner God may have a Church without a consecrated Priesthood as when Adam and
shall be our only work when we have attained to blessedness for God doth bless man by pouring his benefits upon him and man doth bless God by confessing the good which he hath received Fifthly and lastly Whereas our Saviour did abase himself to become man and emptied himself of his glory for our sakes we set upon it to do him all possible honour that we may weigh up again the Scale of his glory which himself depressed for our advancement as Peter said unto him when he went about to do that work of a servant to his Disciples Dost thou wash my feet no thou shalt never wash my feet he contended with his Lord that he would not cast himself down so far So Zachary sings a triumphal ditty to bless his poor Nativity we do all bow at the name of Jesus who bowed the heavens and came down to visit us we advance his Cross in our forehead we erect our goodliest Churches in his name we make Christmas day the high Feast of the year the great holy day of Praise and thanksgiving as if the Saints of God had conspired not to let Christ be humbled though he would be humbled So when he came to Jerusalem with the meanest pomp that could be imagined riding upon an Ass they that had loyal and zealous hearts to him combined to conduct him into the great City in as Princely a manner as they could devise laying their garments under his feet and in a manner proclaiming my very Text before him Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. The sum of this first Point is thus much O sing unto the Lord for it is a good thing to sing praises unto our God yea a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful So I have discharged the first Point that there is a comprehension of all praise in this word Blessed beside here is a comprehension of the chief divine titles the Lord God of Israel The names of the Lord do not consist in compound Epithets and magniloquous appellations The heathen did affect that bravery to set out the lustre of their Idols 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as the Poet Callimachus expresseth it in his Hymn of Diana she desired an hundred brave names to be given her by her Priests as many attributes as Apollo had in his Temple Some will have these to be those vain repetitions of the Heathen which our Saviour reproves Mat. vi 7. taxing them that they thought they should be heard for their much speaking Sacred titles consist not in number but in weight and no words could be more ponderous and significative and yet contracted into fewer Syllables than these the Lord God of Israel A Law-giver will prefix his most ample attributes before the Pandect of his Laws and this is the Inscription over the two Tables Deut. xx I am the Lord thy God which is all one as to say I am the Lord God of Israel And the very words of my Text seem to be a current Eulogy in Davids time as it is Psal cvi 48. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting and let all the people say Amen Which names must needs contain an infinite excellency when they march in a rank together since if you take them one by one they are most dreadful and venerable He is called the Lord because he is the supreme and highest above all things so every King in his Sphere is a Lord in chief as Joab said to David Why doth my Lord the King delight in this thing He is called Elohim or God because he is set over all his Creatures to judge and revenge their iniquities therefore the Princes of the people are nuncupative Gods in Scripture because they sit upon the Throne of Judgment on earth to judge between man and man Or rather he is called God from his infinite and incomprehensible Essence Lord from his power and dominion but Lord God of Israel by application of his mercy to his Church above all the Kingdoms of the World Therefore he is to be worshipped as God eternal to be obeyed in all his Commandments as the Lord Omnipotent and be magnified and blessed for Israels sake because he loved that people above all things whom he hath chosen to be his inheritance for ever St. Austin cast out the difference on this wise that the Creator of all things is stiled God and when he gave a Law unto mankind Gen. ii 15. then he was stiled a Lord. But the observation hath an oversight in it for he is called the Lord God four times in the same Chapter before he commanded Adam to dress the garden of Eden and to keep it The Annotation would run better thus that while all things were in making in the Creation the Creator is termed God and God said let there be Light and God said let there be a Firmament so in every work throughout all the first Chapter of Genesis When the Creation was quite finished and the whole Universe of Creatures set in order then in the second of Genesis he is called Lord. From whence a question is started much agitated in the School Whether the great Jehovah may be called Dominus ab aeterno The Lord from all eternity Thou art God from everlasting that is an Article of faith never doubted of Nebuchadonosor could see that by the wonders and tokens which were wrought for Daniels sake therefore he makes a Decree that men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel for he is the living God and stedfast for ever But the scruple is since he did not exercise his dominion before the works which he made were extant whether the title of Lord did not accrue unto him in the beginning of time and not from all Eternity St. Austin moved the Controversie but out of his wonted modesty passed it by undefined Tertullian against Hermogenes says It is none of the eternal Appellations of the Divine Nature for it belongs not to the Divine Essence but to the Power and the Power could not exercise it self before there was an Object created Many of the School-men are convicted in their judgment by this reason of Tertullian and hold to his opinion I think if St. Austin would have determined it he would have gone the other way and for my part I take it to be most probable that we may say God was the Lord from all eternity before the Creatures were existent and produced It is true that if we measure things by our own power or rather by our own infirmity we can command nothing but that which is and hath a being but God is the Lord of all things even before they are and when they yet are not he can command them to have a being he spake the word and all things were made he commanded and they were created Non possunt per mandatum fieri quae non erant nisi dominium praecederet things that have no being could not be
they are to be seen and testifie what I say do never aspire to that sublimity nay they that referred every thing they had to the gift and goodness of their Idols Riches to Plutus joyful Marriage to Juno Victory to Mars prosperous Navigation to Neptune all these and the very breath of their life to Jupiter yet the Devil was not suffered to fool them with this gross opinion that any of their adulterate Deities was worth the name of a Saviour Salvation belongeth to our God and his goodness upon his people says the Psalmist Salvation had never been known upon earth unless this day heaven had faln down upon the earth But though all comfort in this world were forgotten nothing but darkness and weeping and captivity over all the Universe yet this one word is enough to turn all the sorrow into gladness nay to turn hell into heaven Where art thou O Lord that we may find thee Wherein shall we enquire for thee that we may see thy love and glory If I look for thee in the work of Creation thou art Omnipotent if I consider thee in the work of Preservation thou art most vigilant if I seek thee in the store of all things wherewith thou hast filled Sea and Land thou art most indulgent but when the incarnation of my Lord Jesus and the mystery of Salvation comes into my thoughts then O God thou art most transcendent and I am lost in the Abyssus of thy goodness When I call him the Glass in which I see all truth the Fountain in which we taste all sweetness the Ark in which all precious things are laid up the Pearl which is worth all other Riches the Flower of Jessai which hath the savour of life unto life the Bread that satisfies all hunger the Medicine that healeth all sickness the Light that dispelleth all darkness when I have run over all these and as many more glorious Titles as I can lay on this description is above them and you may pick them all out of these Syllables our salvation much more when he is exalted with this adjunct in my Text an horn of salvation And can so great a thing as Salvation be amplified through so mean an Epithet Beside that it is a badg of a beast it is not of the choicest substance of nature for what is an horn but the excrement of the Nerves in the outward parts as Teeth proceed out of our gums within But as God did not abhor to be made man for our deliverance so he recoiles not from having his goodness compared to the grossest things for our better intelligence And yet to see the perverseness of the most learned Wits likely they intangle those Similitudes with intricate difficulties to which God hath mightily condescended and even abased himself for our better perspicuity Did not he intend to set up a plain and a sensible Sacrament before our eyes when his Evangelist hath thus described him an horn of salvation And yet what abstruce mistakes are some faln into that would be more subtil than the Spirit of God Abulensis says that this phrase is originally derived from the horn that shined upon the head of Moses when he came down from the Mount and had talkt with God forty days And there being this ample resemblance between Christ and Moses the one brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt the other acquits us from the bondage of sin and hell Therefore Christ should take this character from Moses that was his Type and be called an horn of salvation I like not this opinion for many reasons First Moses had no such disfigurement in his face as the appearance of horns when he came from God Ignorant Painters make us ridiculous to the Jews with their childish errors They know he put a vail on when his face shined and can they tell how horns branching out would admit of such a vail Some Limners conceived that the splendour of his face sent forth beams of light which indeed Rabby Solomon calls by a figure cornua magnificentiae others that were bunglers in the Art took these beams to be horns and with the help of the Vulgar Latine Translation they have made him of an holy Saint a prodigious monster Their error stops not here for this character doth so little agree with Moses that the Scriptuce is very wary never to call Moses the salvation of the people Why For salvation comes not by the Law but by Faith If eternal life could be attained by the works of the Law there had been no need of Christmas day our Mediator had been born in vain he had died in vain therefore mark it in Mat. xxii when the Pharisees askt our Saviour which was the great Commandment of the Law as if all their study all their hope and confidence were in the Law he answers them fully but immediately he calls them to another question What think ye of Christ whose Son is he As who should say by the works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified it were better for you to know and believe in Christ there is no other name under heaven through which you can be saved So I cast off this first opinion to impute horns unto Moses is a vanity to impute salvation to him is an Heresie Secondly Some would draw the Phrase from an heathen Proverb Delrio the Jesuit is not against it The heathen Jupiter as their Poets tell us in their raptures was nourisht by a Goat in his Infancy and for the memory of it that horn was endued with vertue to bring forth plenty of all things for the life of man and constantly they call that which exceeds with all abundance the horn of Amalthea Now Christ replinishing us with all good things supplying us with more than we can desire or deserve in whom we are complete as St. Paul says Col. ii 10. he is this celestial horn about which prophane Authors puzzled themselves and knew not what they said And shall I ever be perswaded that the Scripture hath borrowed terms of honour out of their Fables to give to the Son of God It sounds not well to my judgment yet I subscribe it was an eximious Title of great antiquity for when God raised up the fortunes of Job again he had three Daughters the name of the first was Jemima which is by interpretation day The second Kesia that is sweet Cassia The third Keren happuch that is the horn of plenty and the best Editions of the Septuagint have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the horn of Amalthea Yet to strike off that opinion that horn in the old Addage betokened an inexhaust Fountain of earthly felicity this horn in my Text is the staff and stay of heavenly salvation Therefore they differ as much in effect as finite and infinite Barradius observing that Christ accomplisht the work of our salvation upon his Cross would deduce that from thence he should be called the horn of salvation because the two
make us his instruments to defile the holy Temple Gods glory is put to the greatest scandal and reproach And this is brought to pass so many ways that it is plain to see there hath been a most witty complotter in the treachery 1. When any Prelate is so puft up that he thinks himself too great to be a door-keeper in Gods house but will be higher than all the Church and seâ— on the top of the Pinacle who sitting in the Temple of God exalts himself above all that is called God 2. The Temple is defiled by setting up Idols in the Courts of our heavenly King even in the midst of thee O thou Sanctuary of the Lord. 3. By offering up unclean Sacrifice either false Doctrine or impious Prayers or superstitious Worship or corrupted Sacraments 4. When men set their foot within the sacred Tabernacle with carnal thoughts with worldly imaginations with no zeal or attention 5. To bring any prophane work any secular business within those walls which are consecrated to the name of the Lord. This is that Camel which the Jewish Priests did swallow when they strained at a Gnat. For they told our Saviour that he brake the Sabbath he did not keep the Law but they themselves did licence and allow the prophanation of the Temple by bringing Merchandize into it selling of Sheep and Oxen and changing money and you know how Christ revenged it even with anger and indignation I must borrow time to tell you how Christ did bestir himself in the reformation of that abuse more than in any thing else throughout all the Gospel For first he corrected that fault twice over in the second of St. Johns Gospel in the beginning of his Ministry and Mat. xxi toward the end of his life anon before he suffered You see what an obstinate evil it was which would not be redressed for one admonition 2. When he came to Jerusalem there were many other faults flagrant crimes wherewith the place abounded yet the first thing he reformed was the abuse of the Temple 3. He would not tolerate the least prophanation wink at no fault for he would not permit that any should carry so much as a Vessel through the Temple Mar. xi 16. 4. He reformed this trespass not only by preaching and quoating Scripture against it but by a scourge and by violence by word and deed And surely if words will not serve God will bring blows to maintain the reverence of his house that it be not contemned What a dissolute carriage it is to see a man step into a Church and neither veil his head nor bend his knee nor lift up his hands or eyes to heaven Who dwels there I pray you that you are so familiar in the house Could you be more saucy in a Tavern or in a Theater This is no other but the very gate of heaven says Jacob when he had but a vision of God and his Angels Brethren renounce the Devil let him not alienate your reverence from that place which God hath specially appointed for the saving of your soul Holiness becometh thine house for ever O holy blessed and glorious Trinity AMEN THE ELEVENTH SERMON UPON Our Saviours Tentation MAT. iv 6. And saith unto him If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down For it is written He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone IT is altogether unknown to man when a sin comes merely from the suggestion of his own heart and when it comes from the tentation of the Devil But in one case eminently above many others it is most likely that there is some hellish provocation when out of good principles and religious grounds our heart is quite turned out of the way to rebell against the Lord. Ely the High Priest had a tender fatherly affection Who could turn this wholsom water into poyson to make him wink at the vices and dissoluteness of his Sons but Satan David was a thankful Prince and loved to remember how God had multiplied his favours upon him yet upon this stock grew that evil fruit to number the people Why the Text says Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel King Josias was an enemy to the Heathen that knew not God and he that deludes good motions made him so irreconcilable that he would fight against Pharaoh Necho to his own destruction and harkened not to the word which came from the mouth of God Certainly the hand of Joab was in this and in all such fallacies where a good fountain is made to send forth sweet waters and bitter as to sin because grace abounds to neglect publick Prayer because faith comes by hearing to cark and care too much for the world because a man would provide for his Posterity And this master-wit of Hell laid this bait to make our Saviour swallow it in this present tentation For Christ being demanded to make bread of stones he replies that he was confident in his Fathers Promises Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Are you so confident Thinks the Tempter and upon this confidence I will thrust you on Have you appeal'd to Cesar And to Cesaer you shall go It is true that you say God is very gracious and will not destitute you in any want or danger you have answered very well therefore cast your self down from this Pinacle and be confident still God will look to it that you shall be supported This is the very train discovered and made as clear unto you as the light of the Sun In the former tentation he would drive Christ to unlawful means if that take not because he trusts in God then trust in him still and refrain from the use of things lawful so St. Austin distinguisheth that his first fallacy was Deum defuturum ubi promisit that God would not help where he had promised to assist and the second fallacy which now I am to handle is Deum adfuturum ubi non promisit that God would help where he had not promised to assist Where many things are to be found out in one verse they must be divided severally and in this order I take it to be expedient 1. Here is Satans demand Cast thy self down 2. Upon what supposition he demands it Why if thou be the Son of God 3. Upon what authority authority enough for it is written 4. Upon what assistance why the best in the world whether it is the supreme or the instrumental The supremeis God He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and the instrumental are the most glorious powerful and excellent creatures in all the world the whole Host of Angels in their hands they shall bear thee lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone These are such particulars as the wisdom of the Spirit hath left us
sands of bondage and slavery Vbi desinit Pharisaeus ibi incipit Monachus the Pharisees if they took an oath upon the Altar not to relieve their Parents thought it enough to say I know you not to the Grey head which gave them education and to the paps which gave them suck Philo the Jew had it from hence when he concluded doctrinally that a man was bound to provide sustenance for his Parents unless he had vowed the contrary Not one jot more charitable are those shaven Crowns who afford their Parents no remembrance of their Birth but to repent that they bore Children Moreover what obligements did lie upon the Rechabites but such as were calculated for common frailty A Shepherds life the drink of an abstemious man the Estate of a Foreiner to have neither Lands nor Possession this doth neither press nor overload Obedience But Sulpitius tells another tale for Monastical duty nullum unquam recusaturus quamvis indignum toleratu imperium to be commanded to sow the wind and to reap folly this is to abuse our Creation which gave us bodies to do something not to be set on work to lose good hours and do nothing to please a Superior Besides thus the Rechabites continued their life to follow the Statutes of Jonadab that they might be accepted for their harmlesness and innocency as Strangers and Pilgrims in Israel Are the Jesuits so those undertakers of State affairs who endenison themselves in every Kingdom whose eyes as one said very well are like Burning-glasses which fire all things upon which they look But this is their practice to entitle the Worthies of the Scripture by the name of their own Orders to whose conversation their life was nothing agreeable Baronius makes the Mother of our Lord to live a cloistred Virgin in the Sanctum Sanctorum until she was betrothed to Joseph and there was fed familiarly with Angels Do you not believe it when she trembled to hear one bring that good salutation Ave Maria In Nyssens time this was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a report that knew not the Author and out of doubt a Fable John the Baptist is tossed about in the Schools for the example of a contemplative Anchorite because he lived in the Wilderness But to be abroad in the Desert did no more make him an Hermite than it made Nebuchadonosor who was mad seven years among the wild beasts They presume also that Philip the Evangelists Daughters were Nuns and had entred into some Covenant of Virginity whereas in the third Book of Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History and the thirtieth chapter the story is upon record that they were all happily married St. Chrysostom conjoyns an Eremite and Elias in some similitude but to what purpose I would our Adversaries would heed it better that although an Eremite were as devout as Elias in the Wilderness yet he would prefer a Bishop before him who in the Cities of God taught the Word and dispensed the Sacraments St. Hierom I find calls the Rechabites Monks in the 13. Epist ad Paulinum not as if the causes or institution of both their lives were alike but because they concurred in some points of austerity If there be such sutableness between our Predecessors in the Law and the Religious Orders of Rome now adayes methinks Balaam should carry these marks of a Jesuit First Balaam died in Arms Jos 13. and Loiola was a Souldier in the Field Balaam was a great complotter with the King of Moab they are busy and factious in all Kingdoms of Europe Balaam was ready to curse Gods Inheritance for a reward this pernicious Fatherhood have laid their heads together to root out our reformed Israel Balaam had the good gifts of Prophesie but wanted grace and so confer the Writings of the Jesuits and their practice and you will say as Isaac did to his Father Here 's a pile of wood but where is the Sacrifice In like manner we may say here 's a Volume of Divinity in our works learned Fathers but in your lives not an ABC of Religion To conclude this point Howsoever they bear the World in hand that Vows of Monastical perfection are expressed in the Word of God yet the alleged Examples are either such as never did vow I mean the Virgin Mary John Baptist Elias and Ananias says Cardinal Cajetan or such as vowed rashly out of precipitant zeal like Saul and Jephta or such as made no such Vow as they contrive by the Pattern I mean the Nazarites the Rechabites and St. Pauls Widows Who kept a College to entertain Disciples and to tend the Funeral of Christians like those Widows who washt the Body of Tabatha Acts 9. If you will needs know from what Quiver they draw their Shafts sift the Pythagoraeans and their captive obedience sift the Vestal Maids and their Devoted Virginity sift the Pagan Philosophers and their Obstinate Poverty is not the very Name to be found that Cloister Lubbers were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Heathen appellations Search the Scriptures and search Pagan Education and the case will appear on our side that the Romish Votaries enter into Orders not by the Door of the good Shepherd but by the dark Entry of Philosophers And so much I have spoken to shew that the Patrons of Monastical Perfection are much mistaken though we praise the Rechabites The end and last part of all is this That forasmuch as God was well pleased with these abstemious People that would drink no Wine therefore promise unto the Lord and do the deed for that is my final conclusion that a Vow justly conceived is to be solemnly performed When we have breathed out nunquam bibemus a resolved Protestation before God it is like the hour we spake it in past and gone and can never be recalled Effudi animam says David I have poured out my soul in prayer as if upon his supplication it were no longer his but Gods for ever Surely if our Soul be gone from us in our Prayers then much more in our Vows they are flown up to Heaven like Lazarus to the Bosom of Abraham they cannot they should not return to earth again He that changed his Sex in the Fable is not so great a wonder as he that changeth any Covenant which is drawn between God and his Conscience He that hath consecrated himself to God doth as it were carry Heaven upon his shoulders Support your burdens in Gods name lest if you shrink the wrath of God press you down to the nethermost pit I admonish the Friers of Italy to look to this they cast a colour upon their Vow of Lenten fasting but they lie unto the Holy Ghost whereas their Vow is not to eat bread till toward the Evening as if God knew not how the day went but by the Church Saints-Bell they read Even-song before twelve a clock at Noon that the Clergie may go to Supper Right Judas quicquid facis fac citò he had his sop