sacred Trumpet to his lips Never was it never can it be more seasonable then now now that we are fallen into a war of Religion now that our friends and Allies grone either under miscarriage or danger now that our distressed neighbours implore our help in tears and blood now that our God hath humbled us with manifold losses now that we are threatned with so potent enemies now that all Christendome is embroiled with so miserable and perilous distempers oh now it hath seasonably pleased your Majesty to blow the Trumpet in Zion to sanctifie a Fast to call a solemn Assembly The miraculous successe that God gave to your Majesty and your Kingdome in this holy exercise may well incourage an happy iteration How did the publick breath of our Fasting-prayers cleanse the aire before them How did that noisome Pestilence vanish suddenly away as that which could not stand before our powerfull Humiliations If we be not streightned in our own bowels the hand of our God is not shortned O Daughter of Zion gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thy self in ashes make thee mourning and most bitter lamentation Fast and pray and prosper And in the mean time for us let us not think it enough to forbear a meal or to hang down our heads like a bulrush for a day but let us break the bands of wickedness and in a true contrition of Soul vow and perform better Obedience Oh then as we care to avert the heavy Judgments of God from our selves and our Land as we desire to traduce the Gospel with peace to our posterity let each man humble one let each man rend his heart with sorrow for his own sins and the sins of his people shortly let every man ransack his own Soul and life and offer an holy violence to all those sinfull corruptions which have stirred up the God of Heaven against us and never leave till in truth of heart he can say with our blessed Apostle I am crucified Ye have seen Christ crucified S. Paul crucified see now both crucified together I am crucified with Christ It is but a cold word this I am crucified it is the company that quickens it He that is the Life gives it life and makes both the word and act glorious I am crucified with Christ Alas there is many a one crucified but not with Christ The Covetous the Ambitious man is self-crucified he plaits a crown of thorny cares for his own head he pierces his hands and feet with toilsome and painfull undertakings he drencheth himself with the vineger and gall of discontentments he gores his side and wounds his heart with inward vexations Thus the man is crucified but with the world not with Christ The Envious man is crucified by his own thoughts he needs no other gibbet then another man's prosperity because anothers person or counsel is preferred to his he leaps to hell in his own halter This man is crucified but it is Achitophel's Crosse not Christ's The Desperate man is crucified with his own distrust he pierceth his own heart with a deep irremediable unmitigable killing sorrow he paies his wrong to God's Justice with a greater wrong to his Mercy and leaps out of an inward Hell of remorse to the bottomlesse pit of damnation This man is crucified but this is Judas's Crosse not Christ's The Superstitious man is professedly mortifiâ—d The answer of that Eremite in the story is famous Why dost thou destroy thy body Because it would destroy me He useth his body therefore not as a servant but a slave not as a slave but an enemy He lies upon thorns with the Pharisee little ease is his lodging with Simeon the Anachoret the stone is his pillow with Jacob the tears his food with exiled David he lanceth his flesh with the Baalites he digs his grave with his nails his meals are hunger his breathings sighs his linen hair-cloath lined and laced with cords and wires lastly he is his own willing tormentor and hopes to merit Heaven by self-murder This man is crucified but not with Christ The Felon the Traitor is justly crucified the vengeance of the Law will not let him live The Jesuitical Incendiary that cares only to warm himself by the fires of States and Kingdomes cries out of his suffering The world is too little for the noise of our Cruelty their Patience whiles it judgeth of our proceedings by our Laws not by our executions But if they did suffer what they fâ—lsly pretend as they now complain of ease they might be crucified but not with Christ they should bleed for Sedition not Conscience They may steal the Name of Jesus they shall not have his Society This is not Christs Cross it is the cross of Barabbas or the two malefactors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 15. 7. All these and many more are crucified but not as S. Paul was here with Christ How with Christ In partnership in person In Partnership of the suffering every particularity of Christs Crucifixion is re-acted in us Christ is the model we the metal the metal takes such form as the model gives it so are we spred upon the Cross of Christ in an unanswerable extension of all parts to die with him as the Prophet was upon the dead child to revive him Superstitious men talk of the impression of our Saviours wounds in their Idol S. Francis This is no news S. Paul and every believing Christian hath both the lathes and wounds and transfixions of his Jesus wrought upon him The Crown of thorns pierces his head when his sinful conceits are mortified his lips are drencht with gall and vineger when tharp and severe restraints are given to his tongue his hands and feet are nailed when he is by the power of God's Spirit disabled to the wonted courses of sin his body is stripped when all colour and pretences are taken away from him shortly his heart is pierced when the life-blood of his formerly-reigning corruptions is let out He is no true Christian that is not thus crucified with Christ Woe is me how many fashionable ones are not so much as pained with their sins It is no trouble to them to blaspheme oppress debauch yea rather it is a death to them to think of parting with their dear Corruptions the world hath bewitched their love That which Erasmus saith of Paris that after a man hath acquainted himself with the odious sent of it hospitibus magìs ac magìs adlubescit it grows into his liking more and more is too true of the world and sensual minds Alas they rather crucifie Christ again then are crucified with Christ Woe to them that ever they were for being not dead with Christ they are not dead in Christ and being not dead in Christ they cannot but die eternally in themselves for the wages of sin is death death in their person if not in their surety Honourable and beloved let us not think it safe for us to rest in this miserable and
heart He could not change his blood he could over-rule his affections He loved that Nation which was chosen of God and if he were not of the Synagogue yet he built a Synagogue where he might not be a partie he would be a Benefactor Next to being good is a favouring of goodnesse We could not love Religion if we utterly want it How many true Jews were not so zealous Either will or ability lacked in them whom duty more obliged Good affections do many times more then supply Nature Neither doth God regard whence but what we are I do not see this Centurion come to Christ as the Israelitish Captain came to Elias in Carmel but with his Cap in his hand with much suit much submission by others by himself he sends first the Elders of the Jews whom he might hope that their Nation and place might make gracious then left the imployment of others might argue neglect he seconds them in person Cold and fruitlesse are the motions of friends where we do wilfully shut up our own lips Importunity cannot but speed well in both Could we but speak for our selves as this Captain did for his servant what could we possibly want What marvel is it if God be not forward to give where we care not to ask or ask as if we cared not to receive Shall we yet call this a suit or a complaint I hear no one word of entreaty The lesse is said the more is concealed it is enough to lay open his want He knew well that he had to deal with so wise and merciful a Physician as that the opening of the malady was a craving of cure If our spiritual miseries be but confessed they cannot fail of redress Great variety of Suitors resorted to Christ one comes to him for a Son another for a Daughter a third for himself I see none come for his Servant but this one Centurion Neither was he a better man then a Master His Servant is sick he doth not drive him out of doors but laies him at home neither doth he stand gazing by his beds-side but seeks forth He seeks forth not to Witches or Charmers but to Christ he seeks to Christ not with a fashionable relation but with a vehement aggravation of the disease Had the Master been sick the faithfullest Servant could have done no more He is unworthy to be well served that will not sometimes wait upon his followers Conceits of inferiority may not breed in us a neglect of charitable offices So must we look down upon our Servants here on earth as that we must still look up to our Master which is in Heaven But why didst thou not O Centurion rather bring thy Servant to Christ for cure then sue for him absent There was a Paralytick whom Faith and Charity brought to our Saviour let down through the uncovered roof in his Bed why was not thine so carried so presented Was it out of the strength of thy faith which assured thee thou neededst not shew thy Servant to him that saw all things One and the same grace may yield contrary effects They because they believed brought the Patient to Christ thou broughtest not thine to him because thou believedst Their act argued no lesse desire thine more confidence Thy labour was lesse because thy Faith was more Oh that I could come thus to my Saviour and make such mone to him for my self Lord my soul is sick of unbelief sick of self-love sick of inordinate desires I should not need to say more Thy mercy O Saviour would not then stay by for my suit but would prevent me as here with a gracious ingagement I will come and heal thee I did not hear the Centurion say either Come or Heal him The one he meant though he said not the other he neither said nor meant Christ over-gives both his words intentions It is the manner of that Divine munificence where he meets with a faithful Suitor to give more then is requested to give when he is not requested The very insinuations of our necessities are no lesse violent then successefull We think the measure of humane bountie runs over when we obtain but what we ask with importunity that infinite Goodnesse keeps within bounds when it overflows the desires of our hearts As he said so he did The Word of Christ either is his act or concurs with it He did not stand still when he said I will come but he went as he spake When the Ruler intreated him for his son Come down ere he dye our Saviour stir'd not a foot the Centurion did but complain of the sicknesse of his servant and Christ unasked sayes I will come and heal him That he might be farre from so much as seeming to honour wealth and despise meannesse he that came in the shape of a Servant would goe down to the sick Servants pallet would not goe to the Bed of the rich Rulers Son It is the basest motive of respect that ariseth merely from outward Greatnesse Either more Grace or more Need may justly challenge our favourable regards no lesse then private Obligations Even so O Saviour that which thou offeredst to doe for the Centurion's Servant hast thou done for us We were sick unto death so farre had the dead palsie of sin overtaken us that there was no life of Grace left in us when thou wert not content to sit still in Heaven and say I will cure them but addedst also I will come and cure them Thy self camest down accordingly to this miserable World and hast personally healed us so as now we shall not die but live and declare thy works O Lord. And oh that we could enough praise that love and mercy which hath so graciously abased thee and could be but so low dejected before thee as thou hast stooped low unto us that we could be but as lowly subjects of thy goodnesse as we are unworthy O admirable return of Humility Christ will goe down to visit the sick Servant The Master of that Servant saies Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof the Jewish Elders that went before to mediate for him could say He is worthy that thou shouldest doe this for him but the Centurion when he comes to speak for himself I am not worthy They said He was worthy of Christ's Miracle he sayes he is unworthy of Christ's presence There is great difference betwixt others valuations and our own Sometimes the world under-rates him that findes reason to set an high price upon himself Sometimes again it overvalues a man that knows just cause of his own humiliation If others mistake us this can be no warrant for our errour We cannot be wise unlesse we receive the knowledge of our selves by direct beams not by reflection unlesse we have learned to contemn unjust applauses and scorning the flattery of the World to frown upon our own vilenesse Lord I am not worthy Many a one if he had been in the Centurion's
us of the Devil and his Angels Messengers are inferiour to those that send them The seven Devils that entered into the swept and garnished house were worse then the former Neither can Principalities and Powers and Governours and Princes of the darkness of this World design others then several ranks of evil Angels There can be no being without some kind of order there can be no order in parity If we look up into Heaven there is The King of Gods The Lord of Lords higher then the highest If to the earth there are Monarchs Kings Princes Peeres people If we look down to Hell there is the Prince of Devils They labour for Confusion that call for Parity What should the Church doe with such a for me as is not exempliied in Heaven in Earth in Hell One Devil according to their supposition may be used to cast out another How far the command of one spirit over another may extend it is a secret of infernal state too deep for the inquiry of men The thing it self is apparent upon compact and precontracted composition one gives way to other for the common advantage As we see in the Common-wealth of Cheaters and Cut-purses one doth the fact another is feed to bring it out and to procure restitution both are of the trade both conspire to the fraud the actor falls not out with the revealer but divides with him that cunning spoil One malicious miscreant sets the Devil on work to the inflicting of disease or death another upon agreement for a further spiritual gain takes him off There is a Devil in both And if there seem more bodily favour there is no less spiritual danger in the latter In the one Satan wins the agent the suitor in the other It will be no cause of discord in Hell that one Devil gives ease to the body which another tormented that both may triumph in the gain of a Soul Oh God that any creature which bears thine Image should not abhorre to be beholding to the powers of Hell for aid for advice Is is not because there is not a God in Israel that men goe to inquire of the God of Ekron Can men be so sottish to think that the vowed enemie of their Souls can offer them a bait without an hook What evil is there in the City which the Lord hath not done what is there which he cannot as easily redress He wounds he heals again And if he will not It is the Lord let him doe what seems good in his eyes If he do not deliver us he will crown our faithfulness in a patient perseverance The wounds of God are better then the salves of Satan Was it possible that the wit of Envy could devise so high a slander Beelzebub was a God of the heathen therefore herein they accuse him for an Idolater Beelzebub was a Devil to the Jewes therefore they accuse him for a conjurer Beelzebub was the chief of Devils therefore they accuse him for on Arch-exorcist for the worst kinde of Magician Some professors of this black Art though their work be devilish yet they pretend to doe it in the name of Jesus and will presumptuously seem to doe that by command which is secretly transacted by agreement The Scribes accuse Christ of a direct compact with the Devil and suppose both a league and familiarity which by the Law of Moses in the very hand of a Saul was no other then deadly Yea so deep doth this wound reach that our Saviour searching it to the bottome findes no less in it then the sin against the Holy Ghost inferring hereupon that dreadful sentence of the irremissibleness of that sin unto death And if this horrible crimination were cast upon thee O Saviour in whom the Prince of this world found nothing what wonder is it if we thy sinful servants be branded on all sides with evil tongues Yea which is yet more how plain is it that these men forced their tongue to speak this slander against their own heart Else this Blasphemy had been onely against the Son of man not against the Holy Ghost but now that the searcher of hearts findes it to be no less then against the Blessed Spirit of God the spight must needs be obstinate their malice doth wilfully cross their conscience Envie never regards how true but how mischievous So it may gall or kill it cares little whether with truth or falshood For us Blessed are we when men revile us and say all manner of evil of us for the name of Chirst For them What reward shall be given to thee thou false tongue Even sharp arrows with hot burning coales yea those very coales of hell from which thou wert inkindled There was yet a third sort that went a mid-way betwixt wonder and censure These were not so malicious as to impute the miracle to a Satanical operation they confess it good but not enough and therefore urge Christ to a further proof Though thou hast cast out this dumb Devil yet this is no sufficient argument of thy Divine power We have yet seen nothing from thee like those antient Miracles of the times of our fore-fathers Joshuah caused the Sun to stand still Elias brought fire down from heaven Samuel astonish'd the people with thunder and rain in the midst of harvest If thou wouldst command our belief doe somewhat like to these The casting out of a Devil shews thee to have some power over Hell shew us now that thou hast no less power over Heaven There is a kinde of unreasonableness of desire and insatiableness in infidelity it never knows when it hath evidence enough This which the Jews overlooked was a more irrefragable demonstration of Divinity then that which they desired A Devil was more then a Meteor or a parcel of an element to cast out a Devil by command more then to command fire from Heaven Infidelity ever loves to be her own carver No son can be more like a father then these Jews to their progenitours in the desart that there might be no fear of degenerating into good they also of old tempted God in the Wilderness First they are weary of the Egyptian bondage and are ready to fall out with God and Moses for their stay in those fornaces By ten miraculous Plagues they are freed and going out of those confines the Egyptians follow them the Sea is before them now they are more afflicted with their liberty then their servitude The Sea yields way the Egyptians are drowned and now that they are safe on the other shore they tempt the Providence of God for water The Rock yields it them then no less for bread and meat God sends them Manna and Quailes they cry out of the food of Angels Their present enemies in the way are vanquished they whine at the men of measures in the heart of Canaan Nothing from God but Mercy nothing from them but Temptations Their true brood both in nature and in sin had abundant proofs of the
or of a Disciple Give me leave O Saviour to borrow thine own words Verily I have not found so great faith no not in all Israel He saw thee hanging miserably by him and yet styles thee Lord he saw thee dying yet talks of thy Kingdome he felt himself dying yet talks of a future remembrance O Faith stronger then death that can look beyond the Crosse at a Crown beyond dissolution at a remembrance of Life and Glory Which of thine eleven were heard to speak so gracious a word to thee in these thy last pangs After thy Resurrection and knowledge of thine impassible condition it was not strange for them to talk of thy Kingdome but in the midst of thy shamefull death for a dying malefactor to speak of thy reigning and to implore thy remembrance of himself in thy Kingdome it is such an improvement of Faith as ravisheth my Soul with admiration O blessed Thief that hast thus happily stolne Heaven How worthy hath thy Saviour made thee to be a partner of his sufferings a pattern of undauntable belief a spectacle of unspeakable mercy This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Before I wondred at thy Faith now I envy at thy Felicity Thou cravedst a remembrance thy Saviour speaks of a present possession This day thou suedst for remembrance as a favour to the absent thy Saviour speaks of thy presence with him thou spakest of a Kingdome thy Saviour of Paradise As no Disciple could be more faithfull so no Saint could be happier O Saviour what a precedent is this of thy free and powerfull grace Where thou wilt give what unworthinesse can barre us from Mercy when thou wilt give what time can prejudice our vocation who can despair of thy goodnesse when he that in the morning was posting towards Hell is in the evening with thee in Paradise Lord he could not have spoken this to thee but by thee and from thee What possibility was there for a thief to think of thy Kingdome without thy Spirit That good Spirit of thine breathed upon this man breathed not upon his fellow their trade was alike their sin was alike their state alike their crosse alike only thy Mercy makes them unlike One is taken the other is refused Blessed be thy Mercy in taking one blessed be thy Justice in leaving the other Who can despair of that Mercy who cannot but tremble at that Justice Now O ye cruell Priests and Elders of the Jews ye have full leisure to feed your eyes with the sight ye so much longed for there is the blood ye purchased and is not your malice yet glutted Is not all this enough without your taunts and scoffs and sports at so exquisite a misery The people the passengers are taught to insult where they should pity Every man hath a scorn ready to cast at a dying innocent A generous nature is more wounded with the tongue then with the hand O Saviour thine eare was more painfully pierced then thy brows or hands or feet It could not but goe deep into thy Soul to hear these bitter and girding reproaches from them thou camest to save But alas what sleabitings were these in comparison of those inward torments which thy Soul felt in the sense and apprehension of thy Fathers wrath for the sins of the whole world which now lay heavy upon thee for satisfaction This oh this was it that pressed thy Soul as it were to the nethermost hell Whiles thine eternall Father lookt lovingly upon thee what didst thou what neededst thou to care for the frowns of men or Devils but when he once turn'd his face from thee or bent his brows upon thee this this was worse then death It is no marvel now if darkness were upon the face of the whole earth when thy Fathers face was eclipsed from thee by the interposition of our sins How should there be light in the world without when the God of the world the Father of lights complains of the want of light within That word of thine O Saviour was enough to fetch the Sun down out of Heaven and to dissolve the whole frame of Nature when thou criedst My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Oh what pangs were these dear Jesu that drew from thee this complaint Thou well knewest nothing could be more cordial to thine enemies then to hear this sad language from thee they could see but the outside of thy sufferings never could they have conceived so deep an anguish of thy Soul if thy own lips had not expressed it Yet as not regarding their triumph thou thus powrest out thy sorrow and when so much is uttered who can conceive what is felt How is it then with thee O Saviour that thou thus astonishest men and Angels with so woful a quiritation Had thy God left thee Thou not long since saidst I and my Father are One Are ye now severed Let this thought be as farre from my Soul as my Soul from Hell No more can thy Blessed Father be separated from thee then from his own Essence His Union with thee is eternal his Vision was intercepted He could not withdraw his Presence he would withdraw the influence of his comfort Thou the Second Adam stoodst for mankind upon this Tree of the Cross as the First Adam stood and fell for mankind under the Tree of Offence Thou barest our sins thy Father saw us in thee and would punish us in thee thee for us how could he but withhold comfort where he intended chastisement Herein therefore he seems to forsake thee for the present in that he would not deliver thee from that bitter Passion which thou wouldst undergoe for us O Saviour hadst thou not been thus forsaken we had perished thy dereliction is our safety and however our narrow Souls are not capable of the conceit of thy pain and horror yet we know there can be no danger in the forsaking whiles thou canst say My God He is so thy God as he cannot be ours all our right is by Adoption thine by Nature thou art one with him in eternal Essence we come in by Grace and merciful election yet whiles thou shalt inable me to say My God I shall hope never to sink under thy desertions But whiles I am transported with the sense of thy Sufferings O Saviour let me not forget to admire those sweet Mercies of thine which thou powredst out upon thy Persecutors They rejoyce in thy death and triumph in thy misery and scoff at thee in both In stead of calling down fire from Heaven upon them thou heapest coals of fire upon their heads Father forgive them for they know not what they doe They blaspheme thee thou prayest for them they scorn thou pitiest they sin aganst thee thou prayest for their forgiveness they profess their malice thou pleadest their ignorance O compassion without example without measure fit for the Son of God the Saviour of men Wicked and foolish Jewes ye would be miserable he will not
of these Birds every where at home I appeal your eyes your ears would to God they would convince me of a slander But what of all this now The power of Godlinesse is denied by wicked men How then what is their case Surely inexplicably unconceivably fearfull The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodlinesse saith the Apostle How revealed say you wherein differ they from their neighbours unlesse it be perhaps in better fare no gripes in their Conscience no afflictions in their life no bands in their death Impunitas ausum ausus excessum parit as Bernard Their impunity makes them bold their boldness outragious Alas wretched Souls The world hath nothing more wofull then a Sinners welfare It is for slaughter that this Ox is fatned Ease slayeth the simple and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them Prov. 1. 32. This bracteata felicitas which they injoy here is but as Carpets spread over the mouth of Hell For if they deny the power of Godliness the God of power shall be sure to deny them Depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not There cannot be a worse doom then Depart from me that is depart from peace from blessedness from life from hope from possibility of being any other then eternally exquisitely miserable Qui te non habet Domine Deus totum perdidit He who hath not thee O Lord God hath lost all as Bernard truly Dying is but departing but this departing is the worst dying dying in Soul ever dying so as if there be an Ite depart there must needs be a maledicti depart ye cursed cursed that ever they were born who live to die everlastingly For this departure this curse ends in that fire which can never never end Oh the deplorable condition of those damned Souls that have slighted the power of Godliness what tears can be enough to bewail their everlasting burnings what heart can bleed enough at the thought of those tortures which they can neither suffer nor avoid Hold but your finger for one minute in the weak flame of a farthing Candle can flesh and blood indure it With what horror then must we needs think of Body and Soul frying endlesly in that infernal Tophet Oh think of this ye that forget God and contemn Godlinesse with what confusion shall ye look upon the frowns of an angry God rejecting you the ugly and mercilesse Fiends snatching you to your torments the flames of Hell flashing up to meet you with what horror shall ye feel the gnawing of your guilty Consciences and hear that hellish shreeking and weeping and wailing and gnashing It is a pain to mention these woes it is more then death to feel them Perhorrescite minas formidate supplicia as Chrysostome Certainly my beloved if wicked sinners did truly apprehend an Hell there would be more danger of their despair and distraction then of their security It is the Devil's policy like a Raven first to pull out the eyes of those that are dead in their sins that they may not see their imminent damnation But for us tell me ye that hear me this day are ye Christians in earnest or are ye not If ye be not what doe ye here If ye be there is an hell in your Creed Ye do not lesse believe there is an Hell for the godlesse then an Earth for men a Firmament for Stars an Heaven for Saints a God in Heaven and if ye do thus firmly believe it cast but your eyes aside upon that fiery gulf and sin if ye dare Ye love your selves well enough to avoid a known pain we know there are Stocks and Bride-wells and Gaols and Dungeons and Racks and Gibbets for malefactors and our very feare keeps us innocent were your hearts equally assured of those Hellish torments ye could not ye durst not continue in those sins for which they are prepared But what an unpleasing and unseasonable subject am I fallen upon to speak of Hell in a Christian Court the embleme of Heaven Let me answer for my self with devout Bernard Sic mihi contingat semper be are amicos terrendo salubriter non adulando fallaciter Let me thus ever blesse my friends with wholesome frights rather then with plausible soothings Sumenda sunt amara salubria saith Saint Austin Bitter wholsome is a safe receipt for a Christian and what is more bitter or more wholsome then this thought The way not to feel an Hell is to see it to fear it I fear we are all generally defective this way we do not retire our selves enough into the Chamber of Meditation and think sadly of the things of another world Our Self-love puts off this torment notwithstanding our willing sins with David's plague non appropinquabit It shall not come nigh thee If we do not make a league with Hell and Death yet with our selves against them Fallit peccatum falsâ dulcedine as Saint Austin Sin deceives us with a false pleasure The pleasure of the world is like rhat Colchian honey whereof Xenophon's souldiers no sooner tasted then they were miserably distempered those that took little were drunk those that took more were mad those that took most were dead thus are we either intoxicated or infatuated or kil'd out-right with this deceitfull world that we are not sensible of our just fears at the best we are besotted with our stupid security that we are not affected with our danger Woe is me the impenitent resolved sinner is already faln into the mouth of Hell and hangs there but by a slender twig of his momentany life when that hold fails he falls down headlong into that pit of horrour and desolation Oh ye my dear brethren so many as love your Souls have mercy upon your selves Call aloud out of the deeps of your sins to that compassionate Saviour that he will give you the hand of Faith to lay hold upon the hand of his mercy and plenteous redemption and pull you out of that otherwise-irrecoverable destruction else ye are gone ye are gone for ever Two things as Bernard borrows of Saint Gregory make a man both good and safe To repent of evil To abstain from evil Would ye escape the wrath of God the fire of Hell Oh wash you clean and keep you so There is no Laver for you but your own teares and the blood of your Saviour Bathe your Souls in both of these and be secure Consider how many are dying now which would give a world for one hour to repent in Oh be ye carefull then to improve your free and quiet hours in a serious and hearty contrition for your sins say to God with the Psalmist Deliver me from the evilman that is from my self as that Father construes it And for the sequel in stead of the denying the power of Godlinesse resolve to deny your selves to deny all ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world that having felt and approved the power
is no novelty but their apparition they are alwaies with us but rarely seen that we may awfully respect their messages when they are seen In the mean time our faith may see them though our senses doe not their assumed shapes doe not make them more present but visible There is an order in that heavenly Hierarchie though we know it not This Angel that appeared to Zacharie was not with him in the ordinary course of his attendances but was purposely sent from God with this message Why was an Angel sent and why this Angel It had been easie for him to have raised up the prophetical spirit of some Simeon to this prediction The same Holy Ghost which revealed to that just man that he should not see death ere he had seen the Messias might have as easily revealed unto him the birth of the forerunner of Christ and by him to Zacharie but God would have this voice which should goe before his Son come with a noise He would have it appear to the world that the harbinger of the Messiah should be conceived by the marvellous power of that God whose coming he proclaimed It was fit the first Herald of the Gospel should begin in wonder The same Angel that came to the Blessed Virgin with the news of Christs conception came to Zacharie with the news of John's for the honour of him that was the greatest of them which were born of women and for his better resemblance to him which was the seed of the woman Both had the Gospel for their errand one as the messenger of it the other as the Author both are foretold by the same mouth When could it be more fit for the Angel to appear unto Zacharie then when prayers and incense were offered by him Where could he more fitly appear then in the Temple In what part of the Temple more fitly then at the Altar of Incense and whereabout rather then on the right side of the Altar Those glorious spirits as they are alwaies with us so most in our devotions and as in all places so most of all in Gods house They rejoice to be with us whiles we are with God as contrarily they turn their faces from us when we goe about our sins He that had wont to live and serve in the presence of the master was now astonished at the presence of the servant So much difference there is betwixt our faith and our senses that the apprehension of the presence of the God of spirits by faith goes down sweetly with us whereas the sensible apprehension of an Angel dismayes us Holy Zacharie that had wont to live by faith thought he should dye when his sense began to be set on work It was the weaknesse of him that served at the Altar without horror to be daunted with the face of his fellow-servant In vain doe we look for such Ministers of God as are without infirmities when just Zacharie was troubled in his devotions with that wherewith he should have been comforted It was partly the suddenness and partly the glory of the apparition that affrighted him The good Angel was both apprehensive and compassionate of Zacharie's weakness and presently incourages him with a cheerful excitation Fear not Zacharias The blessed spirits though they doe not often vocally expresse it doe pity our humane frailties and secretly suggest comfort unto us when we perceive it not Good and evil Angels as they are contrary in estate so also in disposition The good desire to take away fear the evil to bring it It is a fruit of that deadly enmity which is betwixt Satan and us that he would if he might kill us with terror whereas the good spirits affecting our relief and happinesse take no pleasure in terrifying us but labour altogether for our tranquillity and chearfulnesse There was not more fear in the face then comfort in the speech Thy prayer is heard No Angel could have told him better newes Our desires are uttered in our praiers What can we wish but to have what we would Many good suits had Zachary made and amongst the rest for a Son Doubtlesse it was now some space of years since he made that request For he was now stricken in age and had ceased to hope yet had God laid it up all the while and when he thinks not of it brings it forth to effect Thus doth the mercy of our God deale with his patient and faithfull suppliants In the fervour of their expectation he many times holds them off and when they least think of it and have forgotten their own suits he graciously condescends Delay of effect may not discourage our faith It may be God hath long granted ere we shall know of his grant Many a father repents him of his fruitfulnesse and hath such sons as he wishes unborn but to have so gracious and happy a son as the Angel foretold could not be lesse comfort then honor to the age of Zacharie The proof of children makes them either the blessings or crosses of their parents To heare what his son should be before he was to heare that he should have such a son a son whose birth should concern the joy of many a son that should be great in the sight of the Lord a son that should be sacred to God filled with God beneficial to man an harbinger to him that was God and man was news enough to prevent the Angel and to take away that tongue with amazement which was after lost with incredulity The speech was so good that it found not a sudden belief This good news surprised Zachary If the intelligence had taken leisure that his thoughts might have had time to debate the matter he had easily apprehended the infinite power of him that had promised the pattern of Abraham and Sara and would soon have concluded the appearance of the Angel more miraculous then his prediction Whereas now like a man masked with the strangenesse of that he saw and heard he misdoubts the message and asks How shall I know Nature was on his side and alledged the impossibility of the event both from age and barrennesse Supernaturall tidings at the first hearing astonish the heart and are entertained with doubts by those which upon further acquaintance give them the best welcome The weak apprehensions of our imperfect faith are not so much to be censured as pittied It is a sure way for the heart to be prevented with the assurance of the omnipotent power of God to whom nothing is impossible so shall the hardest point of faith goe down easily with us If the eye of our minde look upward it shall meet with nothing to avert or interrupt it but if right forward or downward or round about every thing is a block in our way There is a difference betwixt desire of assurance and unbelief We cannot be too carefull to raise up our selves arguments to settle our faith although it should be no faith if it had no feet to stand
wrong in giving then in stealing God exspects our gifts not our spoils I fear there is too many a School and Hospital every stone whereof may be challenged Had Zacheus meant to give of his extortions he had not been so careful of his restitution now he restores to others that he may give of his own I give half my goods The Publicans heart was as large as his estate he was not more rich in goods then in bounty Were this example binding who should be rich to give who should be poor to receive In the streight beginnings of the Church those beneficences were requisite which afterwards in the larger elbow-room thereof would have caused much confusion If the first Christians laid down all at the Apostles feet yet ere long it was enough for the believing Corinthians every first day of the week to lay aside some pittance for charitable purposes We are no Disciples if we do not imitate Zacheus so far as to give liberally according to the proportion of our estate Giving is sowing the larger seeding the greater crop Giving to the poor is foeneration to God the greater bank the more interest Who can fear to be too wealthy Time was when men faulted in excess Proclamations were fain to restrain the Jews Statutes were fain to restrain our Ancestors Now there needs none of this Men know how to shut their hands alone Charity is in more danger of freezing then of burning How happy were it for the Church if men were onely close-handed to hold and not lime-fingered to take To the poor not to rich heirs God gives to him that hath we to him that wants Some want because they would whether out of prodigality or idleness some want because they must these are the fit Subjects of our beneficence not those other A poverty of our own making deserves no pity He that sustains the lewd feeds not his belly but his vice So then this living Legacy of Zacheus is free I give present I do give just my goods large half my goods fit to the poor Neither is he more bountiful in his gift then just in his restitution If I have take nought from any man by false accusation I restore it fourfold It was proper for a Publican to pill and pole the subject by devising complaints and raising causless vexations that his mouth might be stopt with fees either for silence or composition This had Zacheus often done Neither is this If a note of doubt but of assertion He is sure of the fact he is not sure of the persons their challenge must help to further his justice The true penitence of this holy Convert expresses it self in Confession in Satisfaction His Confession is free full open What cares he to shame himself that he may give glory to God Woe be to that bashfulness that ends in confusion of face O God let me blush before men rather then be confounded before Thee thy Saints and Angels His Satisfaction is no less liberal then his gift Had not Zacheus been careful to pay the debts of his fraud all had gone to the poor He would have done that voluntarily which the Young man in the Gospel was bidden to doe and refusing went away sorrowful Now he knew that his misgotten gain was not for God's Corban therefore he spares half not to keep but to restore This was the best dish in Zacheus his good chear In vain had he feasted Christ given to the poor confessed his extortions if he had not made restitution Woe is me for the paucity of true Converts There is much stoln goods little brought home Mens hands are like the fishers Flew yea like Hell it self which admits of no return O God we can never satisfie thee our score is too great our abilities too little but if we make not even with men in vain shall we look for mercy from thee To each his own had been well but four for one was munificent In our transactions of commerce we doe well to beat the bargain to the lowest but in cases of moral or spiritual payments to God or men now there must be a measure pressed shaken running over In good offices and due retributions we may not be pinching and niggardly It argues an earthly and ignoble minde where we have apparently wronged to higgle and dodge in the amends Oh mercy and justice well repaid This day is Salvation come to thine house Lo Zacheus that which thou givest to the poor is nothing to that which thy Saviour gives to thee If thou restorest four for one here is more then thousands of millions for nothing were every of thy pence a world they could hold no comparison with this bounty It is but dross that thou givest it is Salvation that thou receivest Thou gavest in present thou dost not receive in hope but This day is Salvation come to thine house Thine ill-gotten metalls were a strong barre to bolt Heaven gates against thee now that they are dissolved by a seasonable beneficence and restitution those gates of glory fly open to thy Soul Where is that man that can challenge God to be in his debt Who can ever say Lord this favour I did to the least of thine unrequited Thrice happy Publican that hast climbed from thy Sycomore to Heaven and by a few worthless baggs of unrighteous Mammon hast purchased to thy self a Kingdome uncorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away JOHN BAPTIST beheaded THree of the Evangelists have with one pen recorded the death of the great harbinger of Christ as most remarkable and useful He was the fore-runner of Christ as into the world so out of it yea he that made way for Christ into the world made way for the name of Christ into the Court of Herod This Herod Antipas was son to that Herod who was and is ever infamous for the massacre at Bethleâ—m Cruelty runs in a blood The murderer of John the fore-runner of Christ is well descended of him who would have murdered Christ and for his sake murdered the Infants It was late ere this Herod heard the fame of Jesus not till he had taken off the head of John Baptist The father of this Herod inquired for Christ too soon this too late Great men should have the best intelligence If they improve it to all other uses of either frivolous or civil affaires with neglect of spirituall their judgment shall be so much more as their helps and means were greater Whether this Herod were taken up with his Arabian warrs against Arethas his father in law or whether he were imployed in his journey to Rome I inquire not but if he were at home I must wonder how he could be so long without the noise of Christ Certainly it was a sign he had a very irreligious Court that none of his Followers did so much as report to him the Miracles of our Saviour who doubtless told him many a vain tale the while One tells him of his brother Philip's
is worthy of stoning but who shall cast them How ill would they become hands as guilty as her own What doe they but smite themselves who punish their own offences in other men Nothing is more unjust or absurd then for the beam to censure the moat the oven to upbraid the kiln It is a false and vagrant zeal that begins not first at home Well did our Saviour know how bitter and strong a pill he had given to these false Justiciaries and now he will take leisure to see how it wrought Whiles therefore he gives time to them to swallow it and put it over he returns to his old gesture of a seeming inadvertencie How sped the receit I do no see any one of them stand out with Christ and plead his own innocency and yet these men which is very remarkable placed the fulfilling or violation of the Law only in the outward act Their hearts misgave them that if they should have stood out in contestation with Christ he would have utterly shamed them by displaying their old and secret sins and have so convinced them by undeniable circumstances that they should never have clawed of the reproach And therefore when they heard it being convicted by their own conscience they went out one by one beginning at the eldest even unto the last There might seem to be some kinde of mannerly order in this guilty departure not all at once lest they should seem violently chased away by this charge of Christ now their slinking away one by one may seem to carry a shew of a deliberate and voluntary discession The eldest first The ancienter is fitter to give then take example and the yonger could think it no shame to follow the steps of a grave fore-man O wonderful power of Conscience Man can no more stand out against it then it can stand out against God The Almighty whose substitute is set in our bosome sets it on work to accuse It is no denying when that sayes we are guilty when that condemns us in vain are we acquitted by the world With what bravery did these Hypocrites come to set upon Christ with what triumph did they insult upon that guilty soul Now they are thunder-struck with their own Conscience and drop away confounded and well is he that can run away furthest from his own shame No wicked man needs to seek out of himself for a Judge Accuser Witness Tormentor No sooner do these Hypocrites hear of their sins from the mouth of Christ then they are gone Had they been sincerely touched with a true remorse they would have rather come to him upon their knees and have said Lord we know and finde that thou knowest our secret sins this argues thy Divine Omniscience Thou that art able to know our sins art able to remit them O pardon the iniquities of thy servants Thou that accusest us do thou also acquit us But now instead hereof they turn their back upon their Saviour and haste away An impenitent man cares not how little he hath either of the presence of God or of the mention of his sins O fools if ye could run away from God it were somewhat but whiles ye move in him what doe ye whither goe ye Ye may run from his Mercy ye cannot but run upon his Judgment Christ is left alone Alone in respect of these complainants not alone in respect of the multitude there yet stands the mournfull Adulteresse She might have gone forth with them no body constrained her to stay but that which sent them away stayed her Conscience She knew her guiltinesse was publickly accused and durst not be by her self denied as one that was therefore fastened there by her own guilty heart she stirs not till she may receive a dismission Our Saviour was not so busie in writing but that he read the while the guilt and absence of those accusers he that knew what they had done knew no less what they did what they would doe Yet as if the matter had been strange to him he lifts up himself and saies Woman where are thy accusers How well was this sinner to be left there Could she be in a safer place then before the Tribunal of a Saviour Might she have chosen her refuge whither should she rather have fled O happy we if when we are convinced in our selves of our sins we can set our selves before that Judge who is our surety our Advocate our Redeemer our ransome our peace Doubtlesse she stood doubtfull betwixt hope and fear Hope in that she saw her accusers gone Fear in that she knew what she had deserved and now whiles she trembles in exspectation of a sentence she hears Woman where are thy accusers Wherein our Saviour intends the satisfaction of all the hearers of all the beholders that they might apprehend the guiltiness and therefore the unfitness of the accusers and might well see there was no warrantable ground of his further proceeding against her Two things are necessary for the execution of a Malefactor Evidence Sentence the one from Witnesses the other from the Judge Our Saviour asks for both The accusation and proof must draw on the sentence the sentence must proceed upon the evidence of the proof Where are thy accusers hath no man condemned thee Had sentence passed legally upon the Adulteresse doubtlesse our Saviour would not have acquitted her For as he would not intrude upon others offices so he would not crosse or violate the justice done by others But now finding the coast clear he saies Neither do I condemn thee What Lord Dost thou then shew favour to foul offenders Art thou rather pleased that grosse sins should be blanched and sent away with a gentle connivency Far far be this from the perfection of thy Justice He that hence argues Adulteries not punishable by death let him argue the unlawfulness of dividing of inheritances because in the case of the two wrangling brethren thou saidst Who made me a divider of inheritances Thou declinedst the office thou didst not dislike the act either of parting lands or punishing offenders Neither was here any absolution of the woman from a sentence of death but a dismission of her from thy sentence which thou knewest not proper for thee to pronounce Herein hadst thou respect to thy calling and to the main purpose of thy coming into the world which was neither to be an arbiter of Civil Causes nor a judge of Criminal but a Saviour of mankinde not to destroy the Body but to save the Soul And this was thy care in this miserable Offender Goe and sin no more How much more doth it concern us to keep within the bounds of our vocation and not to dare to trench upon the functions of others How can we ever enough magnifie thy Mercy who takest no pleasure in the death of a sinner who so camest to save that thou challengest us of unkindness for being miserable Why will ye die O house of Israel But O Son of God though
and call us up out of our dust and we shall hear thy voice and live LAZARUS Raised GReat was the opinion that these devout Sisters had of the Power of Christ as if Death durst not shew her face to him they suppose his presence had prevented their Brothers dissolution And now the news of his approach begins to quicken some late hopes in them Martha was ever the more active She that was before so busily stirring in her house to entertain Jesus was now as nimble to goe forth of her house to meet him She in whose face joy had wont to smile upon so Blessed a Guest now salutes him with the sighs and teares and blubbers and wrings of a disconsolate mourner I know not whether the speeches of her greeting had in them more sorrow or Religion She had been well catechized before even she also had sat at Jesus his feet and can now give good account of her Faith in the Power and Godhead of Christ in the certainty of a future Resurrection This Conference hath yet taught her more and raised her heart to an expectation of some wonderful effect And now she stands not still but hastes back into the Village to her Sister carried thither by the two wings of her own hopes and her Saviours commands The time was when she would have called off her Sister from the feet of that Divine Master to attend the houshold occasions now she runs to fetch her out of the house to the feet of Christ Doubtless Martha was much affected with the presence of Christ and as she was overjoyed with it her self so she knew how equally welcome it would be to her Sister yet she doth not ring it out aloud in the open Hall but secretly whispers this pleasing tidings in her Sisters eare The Master is come and calleth for thee Whether out of modesty or discretion It is not fit for a woman to be loud and clamorous nothing beseems that Sex better then silence and bashfulness as not to be too much seen so not to be heard too farre Neither did Modesty more charm her tongue then Discretion whether in respect to the guests or to Christ himself Had those guests heard of Christs being there they had either out of fear or prejudice withdrawn themselves from him neither durst they have been witnesses of that wonderful Miracle as being over-awed with that Jewish edict which was out against him or perhaps they had withheld the Sisters from going to him against whom they knew how highly their Governors were incensed Neither was she ignorant of the danger of his own person so lately before assaulted violently by his enemies at Jerusalem She knew they were within the smoak of that bloody City the nest of his enemies she holds it not therefore fit to make open proclamation of Christs presence but rounds her Sister secretly in the eare Christianity doth not bid us abate any thing of our wariness and honest policies yea it requires us to have no less of the Serpent then of the Dove There is a time when we must preach Christ on the house-top there is a time when we must speak him in the eare and as it were with our lips shut Secrecy hath no less use then Divulgation She said enough The Master is come and calleth for thee What an happy word was this which was here spoken what an high favour is this that is done that the Lord of Life should personally come and call for Mary yet such as is not appropriated to her Thou comest to us still O Saviour if not in thy bodily presence yet in thy spiritual thou callest us still if not in thy personall voice yet in thine Ordinances It is our fault if we doe not as this good woman arise quickly and come to thee Her friends were there about her who came purposely to condole with her her heart was full of heaviness yet so soon as she hears mention of Christ she forgets friends Brother grief cares thoughts and hasts to his presence Still was Jesus standing in the place where Martha left him Whether it be noted to express Marie's speed or his own wise and gratious resolutions his presence in the Village had perhaps invited danger and set off the intended witnesses of the work or it may be to set forth his zealous desire to dispatch the errand he came for that as Abraham's faithful servant would not receive any curtesie from the house of Bethuel till he had done his Masters business concerning Rebeccah so thou O Saviour wouldst not so much as enter into the house of these two Sisters in Bethany till thou hadst effected this glorious work which occasioned thee thither It was thy meat and drink to doe the will of thy Father thy best Entertainment was within thy self How do we follow thee if we suffer either pleasures or profits to take the wall of thy services So good women were well worthy of kinde friends No doubt Bethany being not two miles distant from Jerusalem could not but be furnished with good acquaintance from the City these knowing the dearness and hearing of the death of Lazarus came over to comfort the sad Sisters Charity together with the common practice of that Nation calls them to this duty All our distresses exspect these good offices from those that love us but of all others Death as that which is the extremest of evils and makes the most fearful havock in families cities kingdomes worlds The complaint was grievous I look'd for some to comfort me but there was none It is some kinde of ease to sorrow to have partners as a burden is lightned by many shoulders or as clouds scattered into many drops easily vent their moisture into aire Yea the very presence of friends abates grief The peril that arises to the heart from Passion is the fixedness of it when like a corrosiving plaister it eates in into the sore Some kinde of remedy it is that it may breathe out in good society These friendly neighbours seeing Mary hasten forth make haste to follow her Martha went forth before I saw none goe after her Mary stirs they are at her heels Was it for that Martha being the elder Sister and the huswife of the family might stirre about with less observation or was it that Mary was the more passionate and needed the more heedy attendance However their care and intentiveness is truely commendable they came to comfort her they doe what they came for It contents them not to sit still and chat within doores but they wait on her at all turns Perturbations of Minde are diseases good keepers do not only tend the Patient in bed but when he sits up when he tries to walk all his motions have their careful assistance We are no true friends if our endeavours of the redress of distempers in them we love be not assiduous and unweariable It was but a loving suspicion She is gone to the grave to weep there They well knew
should all see his comfortable Divine Magnanimity wherewith he entred into those sad lists only Three of them shall be allowed to be the witnesses of his Agonie only those three that had been the witnesses of his glorious Transfiguration That sight had well fore-arm'd and prepared them for this how could they be dismai'd to see his trouble who there saw his Majesty how could they be dismai'd to see his body now sweat which they had then seen to shine how could they be daunted to see him now accosted with Judas and his train whom they then saw attended with Moses and Elias how could they be discouraged to hear the reproaches of base men when they had heard the voice of God to him from that excellent glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Now before these eyes this Sun begins to be over-cast with clouds He began to be sorrowfull and very heavy Many sad thoughts for mankinde had he secretly hatched and yet smothered in his own breast now his grief is too great to keep in My soul is exceeding sorrowfull even unto death O Saviour what must thou needs feel when thou saidst so Feeble mindes are apt to bemone themselves upon light occasions the grief must needs be violent that causeth a strong heart to break forth into a passionate complaint Woe is me what a word is this for the Son of God Where is that Comforter which thou promisedst to send to others where is that thy Father of all mercies and God of all comfort in whose presence is the fulnesse of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore where are those constant and chearfull resolutions of a fearlesse walking through the valley of the shadow of death Alas if that face were not hid from thee whose essence could not be disunited these pangs could not have been The Sun was withdrawn awhile that there might be a cool though not a dark night as in the world so in thy breast withdrawn in respect of sight not of being It was the hardest piece of thy sufferings that thou must be disconsolate But to whom dost thou make this moan O thou Saviour of men Hard is that man driven that is fain to complain to his inferiours Had Peter or James or John thus bewailed himself to thee there had been ease to their Soul in venting it self thou hadst been both apt to pity them and able to relieve them but now in that thou lamentest thy case to them alas what issue couldst thou exspect They might be astonish'd with thy grief but there is neither power in their hands to free thee from those sorrows nor power in their compassion to mitigate them Nay in this condition what could all the Angels of Heaven as of themselves doe to succour thee What strength could they have but from thee What creature can help when thou complainest It must be only the stronger that can aid the weak Old and holy Simeon could fore-say to thy Blessed Mother that a sword should pierce through her Soul but alas how many swords at once pierce thine Every one of these words is both sharp and edged My Soul is exceeding sorrowfull even unto death What humane Soul is capable of the conceit of the least of those sorrows that oppressed thine It was not thy body that suffered now the pain of body is but as the body of pain the anguish of the Soul is as the Soul of anguish That and in that thou sufferedst where are they that dare so far disparage thy Sorrow as to say thy Soul suffered only in sympathy with thy body not immediately but by participation not in its self but in its partner Thou best knewest what thou feltest and thou that feltest thine own pain canst crie out of thy Soul Neither didst thou say My Soul is troubled so it often was even to tears but My Soul is sorrowfull as if it had been before assaulted now possessed with grief Nor yet this in any tolerable moderation changes of Passion are incident to every humane Soul but Exceeding sorrowfull Yet there are degrees in the very extremities of evils those that are most vehement may yet be capable of a remedy at least a relaxation thine was past these hopes Exceeding sorrowfull unto death What was it what could it be O Saviour that lay thus heavy upon thy Divine Soul Was it the fear of Death was it the fore-felt pain shame torment of thine ensuing Crucifixion Oh poor and base thoughts of the narrow hearts of cowardly and impotent mortality How many thousands of thy blessed Martyrs have welcomed no lesse tortures with smiles and gratulations and have made a sport of those exquisite cruelties which their very Tyrants thought unsufferable Whence had they this strength but from thee If their weakness were thus undaunted and prevalent what was thy power No no It was the sad weight of the sin of mankinde it was the heavy burden of thy Fathers wrath for our sin that thus pressed thy Soul and wrung from thee these bitter expressions What can it avail thee O Saviour to tell thy grief to men who can ease thee but he of whom thou saidst My Father is greater then I Lo to him thou turnest O Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me Was not this that prayer O dear Christ which in the daies of thy flesh thou offeredst up with strong crying and tears to him that was able to save thee from death Surely this was it Never was crie so strong never was God thus solicited How could Heaven chuse but shake at such a Prayer from the Power that made it How can my heart but tremble to hear this suit from the Captain of our Salvation O thou that saidst I and my Father are one dost thou suffer ought from thy Father but what thou wouldst what thou determinedst was this Cup of thine either casual or forced wouldst thou wish for what thou knewest thou wouldst not have possible Far far be these mis-raised thoughts of our ignorance and frailty Thou camest to suffer and thou wouldst doe what thou camest for yet since thou wouldst be a man thou wouldst take all of man save sin it is but humane and not sinfull to be loath to suffer what we may avoid In this velleity of thine thou wouldst shew what that Nature of ours which thou hadst assumed could incline to wish but in thy resolution thou wouldst shew us what thy victorious thoughts raised and assisted by thy Divine power had determinately pitched upon Neverthelesse not as I will but as thou wilt As man thou hadst a Will of thine own no humane Soul can be perfect without that main faculty That will which naturally could be content to incline towards an exemption from miseries gladly vails to that Divine will whereby thou art designed to the chastisements of our peace Those pains which in themselves were grievous thou embracest as decreed so as thy fear hath given
that all this while stopped that Gracious mouth thou speakest to him that cannot fear those faces he hath made he that hath charged us to confesse him cannot but confesse himself Jesus saith unto him Thou hast said There is a time to speak and a time to keep silence He that is the Wisdome of his Father hath here given us a pattern of both We may not so speak as to give advantage to cavils we may not be so silent as to betray the Truth Thou shalt have no more cause proud and insulting Caiaphas to complain of a speechlesse prisoner now thou shalt hear more then thou demandedst Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of Heaven There spake my Saviour the voice of God and not of man Hear now insolent High Priest and be confounded That Son of man whom thou seest is the Son of God whom thou canst not see That Son of man that Son of God that God and man whom thou now seest standing despicably before thy Consistorial seat in a base dejectednesse him shalt thou once with horrour and trembling see majestically sitting on the Throne of Heaven attended with thousand thousands of Angels and coming in the clouds to that dreadfull Judgment wherein thy self amongst other damned malefactors shalt be presented before that glorious tribunal of his and adjudged to thy just torments Goe now wretched Hypocrite and rend thy garments whiles in the mean time thou art worthy to have thy Soul rent from thy body for thy spightfull Blasphemy against the Son of God Onwards thy pretence is fair and such as cannot but receive applause from thy compacted crue What need have we of witnesses behold now ye have heard his Blasphemy What think ye And they answered and said He is guilty of death What heed is to be taken of mens judgment So light are they upon the balance that one dram of prejudice or forestalment turns the scales Who were these but the grave Benchers of Jerusalem the Synod of the choice Rabbies of Israel yet these passe sentence against the Lord of Life sentence of that death of his whereby if ever they shall be redeemed from the murder of their sentence O Saviour this is not the last time wherein thou hast received cruel dooms from them that professe Learning and Holiness What wonder is it if thy weak members suffer that which was indured by so perfect an head What care we to be judged by man's day when thou who art the Righteous Judge of the world wert thus misjudged by men Now is the fury of thy malignant enemies let loose upon thee what measure can be too hard for him that is denounced worthy of death Now those foul mouths defile thy Blessed Face with their impure spittle the venemous froth of their malice now those cruell hands are lifted up to buffet thy Sacred Cheeks now scorn and insultation triumphs over thine humble Patience Prophesie unto us thou Christ who it is that smote thee O dear Jesu what a beginning is here of a Passion There thou standst bound condemned spat upon buffetted derided by malicious sinners Thou art bound who camest to loose the bands of death thou art condemned whose sentence must acquit the world thou art spat upon that art fairer then the sons of men thou art buffeted in whose mouth was no guile thou art derided who art clothed with Glory and Majesty In the mean while how can I enough wonder at thy infinite Mercy who in the midst of all these wofull indignities couldst finde a time to cast thine eyes back upon thy frail and ingratefull Disciple and in whose gracious eare Peter's Cock sounded louder then all these reproaches O Saviour thou who in thine apprehension couldst forget all thy danger to correct and heal his over-lashing now in the heat of thy arraignment and condemnation canst forget thy own misery to reclaim his errour and by that seasonable glance of thine eye to strike his heart with a needfull remorse He that was lately so valiant to fight for thee now the next morning is so cowardly as to deny thee He shrinks at the voice of a Maid who was not daunted with the sight of a Band. O Peter had thy slip been sudden thy fall had been more easie Premonition aggravates thy offence that stone was foreshewed thee whereat thou stumbledst neither did thy warning more adde to thy guilt then thine own fore-resolution How didst thou vow though thou shouldst die with thy Master not to deny him Hadst thou said nothing but answered with a trembling silence thy shame had been the lesse Good purposes when they are not held do so far turn enemies to the entertainer of them as that they help to double both his sin and punishment Yet a single denial had been but easie thine I fear to speak it was lined with swearing and execration Whence then oh whence was this so vehement and peremptory disclamation of so gracious a Master What such danger had attended thy profession of his attendance One of thy fellows was known to the high-priest for a Follower of Jesus yet he not onely came himself into that open Hall in view of the Bench but treated with the Maid that kept the door to let thee in also She knew him what he was and could therefore speak to thee as brought in by his mediation Art not thou also one of this mans Disciples Thou also supposes the first acknowledged such yet what crime what danger was urged upon that noted Disciple What could have been more to thee Was it that thy heart misgave thee thou mightest be called to account for Malchus It was no thank to thee that that eare was healed neither did there want those that would think how near that eare was to the head Doubtlesse that busie fellow himself was not far off and his fellows and kinsmen would have been apt enough to follow thee besides thy Discipleship upon a bloodshed a riot a rescue Thy conscience hath made thee thus unduly timorous and now to be sure to avoid the imputation of that affray thou renouncest all knowledge of him in whose cause thou foughtest Howsoever the sin was hainous I tremble at such a Fall of so great an Apostle It was thou O Peter that buffetedst thy Master more then those Jews it was to thee that he turned the cheek from them as to view him by whom he most smarted he felt thee afar off and answered thee with a look such a look as was able to kill and revive at once Thou hast wounded me maiest thou now say O my Saviour thou hast wounded my heart with one of thine eyes that one Eye of thy Mercy hath wounded my heart with a deep remorse for my grievous sin with an indignation at my unthankfulnesse that one glance of thine hath resolved me into the tears of sorrow and contrition Oh that mine eyes were fountains and my cheeks channels that
corps such as if all the Powers of Darkness shall band against they shall finde themselves confounded In spight of all the gates of Hell that word shall stand Not a bone of him shall be broken Still the infallible Decree of the Almighty leads you on to his own ends through your own waies Ye saw him already dead whom ye came to dispatch those bones therefore shall be whole which ye had had no power to break But yet that no piece either of your cruelty or of Divine prediction may remain unsatisfied he whose bones may not be impaired shall be wounded in his flesh he whose Ghost was yielded up must yield his last blood One of the souldiers with a spear pierced his side and forthwith there came out blood and water Malice is wont to end with life here it overlives it Cruel man what means this so late wound what commission hadst thou for this bloody act Pilate had given leave to break the bones of the living he gave no leave to gore the side of the dead what wicked supererogation is this what a superfluity of maliciousness To what purpose did thy spear pierce so many hearts in that one why wouldst thou kill a dead man Methinks the Blessed Virgin and those other passionate associates of hers and the Disciple whom Jesus loved together with the other of his fellows the friends and followers of Christ and especially he that was so ready to draw his sword upon the troup of his Masters apprehenders should have work enough to contain themselves within the bounds of patience at so savage a stroke their sorrow could not chuse but turn to indignation and their hearts could not but rise as even mine doth now at so impertinent a villany How easily could I rave at that rude hand But O God when I look up to theee and consider how thy holy and wise Providence so overrules the most barbarous actions of men that besides their will they turn beneficial I can at once hate them and bless thee This very wound hath a mouth to speak the Messiahship of my Saviour and the truth of thy Scripture They shall look at him whom they have pierced Behold now the Second Adam sleeping and out of his side formed the Mother of the living the Evangelical Church Behold the Rock which was smitten and the waters of life gushed forth Behold the fountain that is set open to the house of David for sin and for uncleanness a fountain not of water only but of blood too O Saviour by thy water we are washed by thy blood we are redeemed Those two Sacraments which thou didst institute alive flow also from thee dead as the last memorials of thy Love to thy Church the water of Baptisme which is the laver of Regeneration the blood of the new Testament shed for remission of sins and these together with the Spirit that gives life to them both are the three Witnesses on earth whose attestation cannot fail us Oh precious and soveraign wound by which our Souls are healed Into this cleft of the rock let my Dove fly and enter and there safely hide her self from the talons of all the birds of prey It could not be but that the death of Christ contrived and acted at Jerusalem in so solemn a Festival must needs draw a world of beholders The Romans the Centurion and his band were there as actors as supervisors of the Execution Those strangers were no otherwise ingaged then as they that would hold fair correspondence with the Citizens where they were engarisoned their freedome from prejudice rendred them more capable of an ingenuous construction of all events Now when the Centurion and they that were with him that watched Jesus saw the Earthquake and the things that were done they feared greatly and glorified God and said Truely this was the Son God What a marvelous concurrence is here of strong and irrefragable convictions Meekness in suffering Prayer for his murderers a faithful resignation of his Soul into the hands of his Heavenly Father the Sun eclipsed the Heavens darkned the earth trembling the graves open the rocks rent the veile of the Temple torn who could goe less then this Truly this was the Son of God He suffers patiently this is through the power of Grace many good men have done so through his enabling The frame of Nature suffers with him this is proper to the God of Nature the Son of God I wonder not that these men confessed thus I wonder that any Spectator confessed it not these proofs were enough to fetch all the world upon their knees and to have made all mankind a Convert But all hearts are not alike no means can work upon the wilfully-obdured Even after this the Souldier pierced that Blessed side and whiles Pagans relented Jews continued impenitent Yet even of that Nation those beholders whom envie and partiality had not interessed in this slaughter were stricken with just astonishment and smote their breasts and shook their heads and by passionate gesture spake what their tongues durst not How many must there needs be in this universal concourse of them whom he had healed of diseases or freed from Devils or miraculously fed or some way obliged in their persons or friends These as they were deeply affected with the mortal indignities which were offered to their acknowledged Messiah so they could not but be ravished with wonder at those powerful demonstrations of the Deity of him in whom they believed and strangely distracted in their thoughts whiles they compared those Sufferings with that Omnipotence As yet their Faith and Knowledge was but in the bud or in the blade How could they chuse but think Were he not the Son of God how could these things be and if he were the Son of God how could he die His Resurrection his Ascension should soon after perfect their belief but in the mean time their hearts could not but be conflicted with thoughts hard to be reconciled Howsoever they glorifie God and stand amazed at the expectation of the issue But above all other O thou Blessed Virgin the Holy Mother of our Lord how many swords pierced thy Soul whiles standing close by his Cross thou sawest thy dear Son and Saviour thus indignely used thus stripped thus stretched thus nailed thus bleeding thus dying thus pierced How did thy troubled heart now recount what the Angel Gabriel had reported to thee from God in the message of thy blessed Conception of that Son of God How didst thou think of the miraculous formation of that thy Divine burden by the power of the Holy Ghost How didst thou recal those prophecies of Anna and Simeon concerning him and all those supernatural works of his the irrefragable proofs of his Godhead and laying all these together with the miserable infirmities of his Passion how wert thou crucified with him The care that he took for thee in the extremity of his torments could not chuse but melt thy heart into sorrow But
interposed Hadst thou merely respected thine own Glory thou hadst instantly changed thy grave for thy Paradise for so much the sooner hadst thou been possessed of thy Fathers joy we would not continue in a Dungeon when we might be in a Palace but thou who for our sakes vouchsafedst to descend from Heaven to earth wouldst now in the upshot have a gracious regard to us in thy return Thy death had troubled the hearts of many Disciples who thought that condition too mean to be compatible with the glory of the Messiah and thoughts of diffidence were apt to seize upon the holiest breasts So long therefore wouldst thou hold footing upon earth till the world were fully convinced of the infallible evidences of thy Resurrection of all which time thou only canst give an account it was not for flesh and blood to trace the waies of Immortality neither was our frail corruptible sinful nature a meet companion for thy now-glorified Humanity the glorious angels of Heaven were now thy fittest attendants But yet how oft did it please thee graciously to impart thy self this while unto men and not only to appear unto thy Disciples but to renew unto them the familiar forms of thy wonted conversation in conferring walking eating with them and now when thou drewest near to thy last parting thou who hadst many times shew'd thy self before to thy several Disciples thoughtest meet to assemble them all together for an universal valediction Who can be too rigorous in censuring the ignorances of well-meaning Christians when he sees the domestick Followers of Christ even after his Resurrection mistake the main end of his coming in the flesh Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdome to Israel They saw their Master now out of the reach of all Jewish envie they saw his power illimited and irresistible they saw him stay so long upon earth that they might imagine he meant to fix his abode there and what should he doe there but reign and wherefore should they be now assembled but for the choice and distribution of Offices and for the ordering of the affairs of that state which was now to be vindicated O weak thoughts of well-instructed Disciples What should an Heavenly body doe in an earthly throne How should a spiritual life be imployed in secular cares How poor a business is the temporal Kingdome of Israel for the King of Heaven And even yet O Blessed Saviour I do not hear thee sharply controll this erroneous conceit of thy mistaken Followers thy mild correction insists rather upon the time then the misconceived substance of that restauration It was thy gracious purpose that thy Spirit should by degrees rectifie their judgements and illuminate them with thy Divine truths in the mean time it was sufficient to raise up their hearts to an expectation of that Holy Ghost which should shortly lead them into all needful and requisite verities And now with a gracious promise of that Spirit of thine with a careful charge renewed unto thy Disciples for the promulgation of thy Gospel with an Heavenly Benediction of all thine acclaming attendance thou tak'st leave of earth When he had spoken these things whiles they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight Oh happy parting fit for the Saviour of mankind answerable to that Divine conversation to that succeeding Glory O blessed Jesu let me so farre imitate thee as to depart hence with a blessing in my mouth let my Soul when it is stepping over the threshold of Heaven leave behind it a legacy of Peace and Happiness It was from the mount of Olives that thou tookst thy rise into Heaven Thou mightest have ascended from the valley all the globe of earth was alike to thee but since thou wert to mount upward thou wouldst take so much advantage as that staire of ground would afford thee thou wouldst not use the help of a Miracle in that wherein Nature offered her ordinary service What difficulty had it been for thee to have styed up from the very center of earth But since thou hadst made hills so much nearer unto Heaven thou wouldst not neglect the benefit of thy own Creation Where we have common helps we may not depend upon Supernatural provisions we may not strain the Divine Providence to the supply of our negligence or the humoring of our presumption Thou that couldst alwaies have walked on the Sea wouldst walk so but once when thou wantedst shipping thou to whom the highest mountains were but valleys wouldst walk up to an hill to ascend thence into Heaven O God teach me to bless thee for means when I have them and to trust thee for means when I have them not yea to trust to thee without means when I have no hope of them What hill was this thou chosest but the mount of Olives Thy Pulpit shall I call it or thine Oratory The place from whence thou hadst wont to showre down thine Heavenly Doctrine upon the hearers the place whence thou hadst wont to sent up thy Prayers unto thy Heavenly Father the place that shared with the Temple for both In the day-time thou wert preaching in the Temple in the night praying in the mount of Olives On this very hill was the bloody sweat of thine Agonie now is it the mount of thy Triumph From this mount of Olives did flow that oyle of gladness wherewith thy Church is everlastingly refreshed That God that uses to punish us in the same kind wherein we have offended retributes also to us in the same kind and circumstances wherein we have been afflicted To us also O Saviour even to us thy unworthy members dost thou seasonably vouchsafe to give a proportionable joy to our heaviness laughter to our mourning glory to contempt and shame Our agonies shall be answered with exaltation Whither then O Blessed Jesu whither didst thou ascend whither but home into thine Heaven From the mountain wert thou taken up and what but Heaven is above the hills Lo these are those mountains of spices which thy Spouse the Church long since desired thee to climbe Thou hast now climbed up that infinite steepness and hast left all sublimity below thee Already hadst thou approved thy self the Lord and Commander of Earth of Sea of Hell The Earth confest thee her Lord when at thy voice she rendered thee thy Lazarus when she shook at thy Passion and gave up her dead Saints The Sea acknowledged thee in that it became a pavement to thy feet and at thy command to the feet of thy Disciple in that it became thy Treasury for thy Tribute-money Hell found and acknowledged thee in that thou conqueredst all the powers of darkness even him that had the power of death the Devil It now onely remained that as the Lord of the Aire thou shouldst pass through all the regions of that yielding element and as Lord of Heaven thou shouldst pass through all the glorious contignations thereof that so every knee might bow
let thine enemies perish O Lord. These Bulls are seconded with their own brood the Calves of the people Who are they but those which follow and make up the herd the credulous seduced multitude which not out of choice but example join in opposition to God Silly calves they go whither their dams lead them to the field or to the slaughter-house Blinde obedience is their best guide Are they bidden to adore a God which they know the baker made they fall down upon their knees and thump their breasts as beating the heart that will not enough believe in that pastry-Deity Are they bidden to goe on pilgrimage to a Chappel that is a greater pilgrim then themselves that hath four several times removed it self and changed stations as Turselline considently they must goe and adore those wandring walls Are they bidden to forswear their Allegiance and to take armes against their Lawful and native Soveraign they rush into the battel without either fear or wit though for the aide of a sure enemy which would make them all as he threatned in Eighty eight alike good Protestants Very calves of the people whose simplicity were a fitter subject for pity then their fury can be of malice were it not that their power is wont to be imployed to the no small prejudice of the cause of God And would it boot ought to spend time in perswading these Calves that they are such to lay before them the shame of their ignorance and stupidity Hear now this O foolish people and without understanding which have eyes and see not which have eares and hear not Jer. 5. 20. How long will ye suffer your selves to be befooled and beslaved with the tyranny of Superstition God hath made you men why will ye abide men to make you vitulos populorum the calves of the people We must leave you as ye are but we will not leave praying for your happy change that God would consecrate you to himself as the calves of his altar that ye may be offered up to him an holy lively reasonable acceptable sacrifice in your blessed Conversion Amen The last and worst title of these enemies is The people that delight in warre Warre is to the State as Ignis and Ferrum the Knife and the Searing-iron to the body the last and most desperate remedy alwaies evill if sometimes necessary it is not for pleasure it is for need It must needs be a cruel heart that delights in warre He that well considers the fearful effects of warre the direption of goods the vastation of Countries the sacking and burning of Cities the murdering of men ravishing of women weltring of the horse and rider in their mingled blood the shrieks and horror of the dying the ghastly rage of the killing the hellish and tumultuous confusion of all things and shall see the streets and fields strewed with carkasses the chanels running with streams of blood the houses and Churches flaming and in a word all the woful tyrannies of death will think the heathen Poets had reason to devise Warre sent up from Hell ushered and heralded by the most pestilent of all the Furies every of whose haires were so many snakes and adders to affright and sting the world withall Little pleasure can there be in such a spectacle It is a true observation of St. Chrysostome that warre to any Nation is as a tempest to the Sea tossing and clashing of the waves together And fain would I hear of that Mariner that takes delight in a Storm The executioners of peaceable Justice are wont to be hateful no man abides to consort with a publick Headsman and what metal then shall we think those men made of who delight in cutting of throats and joy to be the furious executioners of a martial vengeance where besides the horror of the act the event is doubtful The dice of Warre run still upon hazard David could send this message to Joab The sword devoures at randome so and such 2 Sam. 11. 25. Victory is not more sweet then uncertain And what man can love to perish It is true that Warre is a thing that should not but must be neither is it other then an unavoidable act of vindicative Justice an useful enemy an harsh friend such an enemy as we cannot want such a friend as we entertain upon force not upon choice because we must not because we would It challenges admittance if it be just and it is never just but where it is necessary if it must it ought to be Where those three things which Aquinas requires to a lawful warre are met Supreme Authority a warrantable Cause a just Intention a Supreme Authority in commanding it a warrantable Cause in undertaking it a just Intention in executing it it is no other then Bellum Domini Gods warre God made it God owns it God blesses it What talk I of the good Centurion the very Angels of God are thus Heavenly souldiers The wise Lacedamonians had no other statues of their Deities but armed Yea what speak I of these Puppets the true God rejoyces in no title more then of the Lord of Hoasts In these cases say now Blessed be the Lord who teaches my hands to warre and my fingers to fight But if Ambition of enlarging the bounds of dominion Covetousness of rich booties emulation of a rival Greatness shall unsheath our swords now every blow is Murder Wo to those hands that are thus imbrued in blood Wo to those Tyrants that are the authors of this lavish effusion every drop whereof shall once be required of their guilty Souls God thinks he cannot give a worse Epithet to those whom he would brand for death then Wicked and blood-thirsty men David might not be allowed to build God an House because he had a bloody hand the cause was holy yet the colour offends How hateful must those needs be to the God of Mercies that delight in Blood the true brood of him that is the man-slayer from the beginning There are strange diets of men as of other creatures whereof there are some that naturally feed on poison and fatten with it and it may be there are Cannibals that finde mans blood sweet yet I think it would be hard to finde a man that will profess to place his felicity in a cruel hazard So doth he that delights in warre and if no man for shame will be known to doe simply and directly so yet in effect men bewray this disposition if they be first osores pacis haters of peace as the Psalmist calls them Ps 120. 7. stubbornly repelling the fair motions and meet conditions thereof if secondly they take up slight and unjust causes of warre as it is noted by Suetonius of Julius Caesar which this Iland had experience of that he would refrain from no occasion of warre if never so unjust contrary to the better temper and resolution of wiser Romans then himself who would rather save one Subject then kill a thousand Enemies if thirdly they
the sway of their natural desires into those actions of lust which are uncapable both of shame and sin but in their own seasons and within their own line these high-fed steeds are ever neighing after strange flesh and as was said of beastly Messalina may be wearied cannot be satisfied Those beasts affect not to go in any other then the ordinary road of Nature but these prodigies of Sodomitical lewdness as St. Paul speaks to his Romans even then infamous for this not-to-be-named villany burn in lust one towards another and man with man work that which is unseemly In that impure City beasts might have been Saints to the men even out of that reason which the wanton Roman Dame gave of old for their filly innocence because they are beasts Look into all the cribbs and troughs of brutish diet and see whether you can finde such a beast as a Glutton Those irrational creatures take that simple provision which Nature yields them but to a sufficiency not affecting curiosity of dressings varieties of mixtures surcharges of measures whereas the liquorous palate of the Glutton ranges through seas and lands for uncouth delicacies kills thousands of creatures for but their tongues or giblets makes but one dish of the quintessence of an hundred fouls or fishes praises that for the best flesh that is no flesh cares only to solicit that which others would be glad to satisfie appetite What shall I say more this Gourmand sacrifices whole hecatombs to his paunch and whiffs himself away in Necotian Incense to the Idol of his vain intemperance and teares his own bowels yea his Soul with his teeth Look into all the caves and dens of the wildest desart see if there be any such Tiger or Wolf as an Enemy as an Usuring oppressor Even the savagest beasts agree with themselves else the wilderness would soon be unpeopled of her four-footed inhabitants Cruel man falls upon his own kinde and spills that blood which when both are shed he cannot distinguish from his own The fiercest beast if he seize upon a weaker prey is incited by a necessity of hunger and led by a natural law of self-preservation which once satisfind puts an end to his cruelty man is carried with a furious desire of revenge which is as unsatiable as hell it self Hence are Murders of men rapes of Virgins braining and broaching of Infants mangling of carkasses carousing of blood refossion of graves torturing of the surviving worse then many deaths firing of Cities demolishing of Temples whole Countries buried in rubbish and ashes and even the Christian World turn'd to a Shambles or Slaughter-house It were too easie for me to prosecute the rest and in every vicious man to find more beasts then hides or horns or hoofs or paws can discover Brag of thy self therefore O man that thou art anoble creature and vaunt of thine own perfections look big and speak high but if thou be no other then thou hast made yea marr'd thy self the very brute beasts if they could speak as thou dost would in pity call thee as the Philosopher did in Laertius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thrice man in stead of thrice miserable God and his Angels and good men look upon thee with no less scorn then thou look'st upon that which thou art and think'st not a beast yea it were well if no worse Let me say there is not the most loathly and despicable creature that crawls upon the earth which thou shalt not once envy and wish to have been rather then what thou art Raise up thy self therefore from this woful condition of depraved humanity naturam vincat institutio as Ambrose and let it be thine holy ambition to be advanced to the blessed participation of the Divine nature and thereby to be more above thy self then the beast is below thee Fight with thy self till thou hast beaten away the beast and wrestle with God till his blessing have sent the Angel away with thee But from the common view of these beasts may it please you to cast down your eyes to the specials There are beasts of Game there are beasts of Service neither of these are for this place They are harmful beasts with which this fight is maintained and yet not every harmful beast neither Ye know the Philosopher when he was ask'd which was the harmfullest of all beasts answered Of tame the Flatterer of wild the Detractor We have nothing to doe with the former and never may that pestilent beast have ought to doe with this Presence those Serpents that swell up the Soul with a plausible poison that kill a man laughing and sleeping those Dogs that worry their masters those Vultures that feed on the eyes on the hearts of the Great Hell is a fitter place for them then Christian Courts The Detractor is a spightful beast his teeth are spears and arrows his tongue a sharp sword Ps 57. 4. It was a great vaunt that the witty Captain made of his sword that it was sharper then Slander and which is most dangerous this beast is a close one mordet in silentio bites without noise Eccles 10. 11. He carries the poison of Aspes under his tongue as David speaks and in lingua diabolum as Bernard Deliver my soul O God from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue St. Paul was vexed with two kinds of them 1 the Sophisters 2 the Idolaters 1 the wrangling adversaries of the Gospel 2 the superstitious abettors of Diana Act. 19. Both of them had foenum in cornu The first after three months confutation not onely remained refractary but blasphemous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 railing on Christianity and that openly before the multitude What beasts were these every way Beasts in that they would not be convinced by the clear and irrefragable demonstrations of truth by the undeniable Miracles of the Apostles in that as they had no Reason so they would hear none Beasts in that they bellow'd out blasphemies against the sacred name of Christ In analogy whereto let me safely and not uncharitably say that whosoever he is that wilfully stands out against a plain evidence of truth and sharpens his tongue against the way of God is no other then a beast There is a faction of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 1. 14. that do not onely turn their backs upon that bright-shining truth whose clear beams have these hundred years glared upon their faces but also spend their clamorous mouths in barking against this glorious light What marts of invectives what Bulls of censure what thunderbolts of Anathemas do we still receive from these spightful enemies of peace What doth this argue but the litter of the Beast Revel 13. The latter were the superstitious Demetrians the doting Idolaters of Diana Beasts indeed as for their sottishness so for their violence and impetuosity Their Sottishness is notable even in their ring-leader Demetrius Do you hear his exception against St. Paul vers 26. No other then this He sayes that they are
Devils and that which Dionysius said to Novatus Any thing must rather be born then that we should rend the Church of God Far far was it from our thoughts to teare the seamless coat or with this precious Oile of Truth to break the Churches head We found just faults else let us be guilty of this disturbance If now Choler unjustly exasperated with an wholesome reprehension have broken forth into a furious persecution of the gainsayers the sin is not ours if we have defended our innocence with blows the sin is not ours Let us never prosper in our good Cause if all the water of Tyber can wash off the blood of many thousand Christian Souls that hath been shed in this quarrel from the hands of the Romish Prelacie Surely as it was observed of olde that none of the Tribe of Levi were the professed followers of our Saviour so it is too easy to observe that of late times this Tribe hath exercised the bitterest enmity upon the followers of Christ Suppose we had offended in the undiscreet managing of a just reproof it is a true rule of Erasmus that generous spirits would be reclaimed by teaching not by compulsion and as Alipius wisely to his Augustine Heed must be taken lest whiles we labour to redress a doubtful complaint we make greater wounds then we find Oh how happy had it been for Gods Church if this care had found any place in the hearts of her Governours who regarding more the entire preservation of their own Honour then Truth and Peace were all in the harsh language of warre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 smite kill burn persecute Had they been but half so charitable to their modern reprovers as they profess they are to the fore-going how had the Church florished in an uninterrupted Unity In the old Catholick Writers say they we bear with many Errours we extenuate and excuse them we finde shifts to put them off and devise some commodious senses for them Guiltiness which is the ground of this favour works the quite contrary courses against us Alas how are our Writings racked and wrested to envious senses how misconstrued how perverted and made to speak odiously on purpose to work distast to enlarge quarrel to draw on the deepest censures Wo is me this cruel uncharitableness is it that hath brought this miserable calamity upon distracted Christendome Surely as the ashes of the burning Mountain Vesuvius being dispersed far and wide bred a grievous Pestilence in the Regions round about so the ashes that flie from these unkindly flames of discord have bred a woful infection and death of Souls through the whole Christian world CHAP. IV. The Church of Rome guilty of this Schisme IT is confessed by the President of the Tridentine Council that the depravation of the discipline and manners of the Romane Church was the chief cause and original of these dissentions Let us cast our eyes upon the Doctrine and we shall no less finde the guilt of this fearful Schism to fall heavily upon the same heads For first to lay a sure ground Nothing can be more plain then that the Romane is a particular Church as the Fathers of Basil well distinguish it not the universal though we take in the Churches of her subordination or correspondence This truth we might make good by authority if our very senses did not save us the labour Secondly No particular Church to say nothing of the universal since the Apostolick times can have power to make a Fundamental point of Faith It may explain or declare it cannot create Articles Thirdly Onely an errour against a point of Faith is Heresie Fourthly Those Points wherein we differ from the Romanists are they which onely the Church of Rome hath made Fundamental and of Faith Fifthly The Reformed therefore being by that Church illegally condemned for those Points are not Hereticks He is is properly an Heretick saith Hosius who being convicted in his own judgment doth of his own accord cast himself out of the Church For us we are neither convicted in our own judgment nor in the lawful judgment of others we have not willingly cast our selves out of the Church but however we are said to be violently ejected by the undue sentence of malice hold our selves close to the bosome of the true Spouse of Christ never to be removed as far therefore from Heresie as Charity is from our Censurers Only we stand convicted by the doom of good Pope Boniface or Sylvester Prierius Quicunque non c. Whosoever doth not rely himself upon the Doctrine of the Romane Church and of the Bishop of Rome as the infallible rule of Faith from which even the Scripture it self receives her force he is an Heretick Whence follows that the Church of Rome condemning and ejecting those for Hereticks which are not is the Authour of this woful breach in the Church of God I shall therefore I hope abundantly satisfie all wise and indifferent Readers if I shall shew that those Points which we refuse and oppose are no other then such as by the confessions of ingenuous Authors of the Roman part have been besides their inward falsities manifest upstarts lately obtruded upon the Church such as our ancient Progenitours in many hundreds of successions either knew not or received not into their Belief and yet both lived and dyed worthy Christians Surely it was but a just speech of S. Bernard and that which might become the mouth of any Pope or Council Ego si peregrinum c. If I shall offer to bring in any strange opinion it is my sin It was the wise Ordinance of the Thurians as Diodorus Siculus reports that he who would bring in any new Law amongst them to the prejudice of the old should come with an Halter about his neck into the assembly and there either make good his project or dy For however in humane constitutions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the later orders are stronger then the former yet in Divinity Primum verum The first is true as Tertullian's rule is the old way is the good way according to the Prophet Here we hold us and because we dare not make more Articles then our Creeds nor more sins then our Ten Commandements we are indignely cast out Let us therefore address our selves roundly to our promised task and make good the Novelty and Unreasonableness of those Points we have rejected Out of too many Controversies disputed betwixt us we select only some principal and out of infinite varieties of evidence some few irrefragable testimonies CHAP. V. The Newness of the Article of Justification by inherent Righteousness TO begin with Justification The Tridentine Fathers in their seven moneths debating of this point have so cunningly set their words that the Errour which they would establish might seem to be either hid or shifted yet at the last they so far declare themselves as to
What an happiness is it that without all offence of Necromancy I may here call up any of the antient Worthies of Learning whether humane or divine and confer with them of all my doubts that I can at pleasure summon whole Synods of Reverend Fathers and acute Doctors from all the Coasts of the Earth to give their well-studied judgments in all points of question which I propose Neither can I cast my eye casually upon any of these silent Masters but I must learn somewhat It is a wantonness to complain of choice No Law bindes us to read all but the more we can take in and digest the better-liking must the Mindes needs be Blessed be God that hath set up so many clear Lamps in his Church now none but the wilfully blinde can plead darkness And blessed be the memory of those his faithfull Servants that have left their blood their spirits their lives in these precious papers and have willingly wasted themselves into these during Monuments to give light unto others LXXII Upon the red Crosse on a Door OH sign fearfully significant This sicknesse is a Crosse indeed and that a bloody one both the form and colour import Death The Israelites doors whose lintels were besprinkled with blood were passed over by the destroying Angel here the destroying Angel hath smitten and hath left this mark of his deadly blow We are wont to fight chearfully under this Ensign abroad and be victorious why should we tremble at it at home O God there thou fightest for us here against us under that we have fought for thee but under this because our sins have fought against thee we are fought against by thy Judgments Yet Lord it is thy Crosse though an heavy one It is ours by merit thine by imposition O Lord sanctifie thine Affliction and remove thy Vengeance LXXIII Upon the change of Weather I Know not whether it be worse that the Heavens look upon us alwaies with one face or ever varying For as continual change of Weather causes uncertainty of Health so a permanent setledness of one Season causeth a certainty of distemper perpetual Moisture dissolves us perpetual Heat evaporates or inflames us Cold stupifies us Drought obstructs and withers us Neither is it otherwise in the state of the Minde If our thoughts should be alwaies volatile changing inconstant we should never attain to any good habit of the Soul whether in matter of Judgment or Disposition but if they should be alwaies fixed we should run into the danger of some desperate extremity To be ever thinking would make us mad to be ever thinking of our Crosses or Sins would make us heartlesly dejected to be ever thinking of Pleasures and Contentments would melt us into a loose wantonness to be ever doubting and fearing were an Hellish servitude to be ever bold and confident were a dangerous presumption but the interchanges of these in a due moderation keep the Soul in health O God howsoever these Variations be necessary for my Spiritual condition let me have no weather but Sun-shine from thee Do thou lift up the light of thy countenance upon me and stablish me ever with thy free spirit LXXIV Upon the sight of a Marriage WHat a comfortable and feeling resemblance is here of Christ and his Church I regard not the Persons I regard the Institution Neither the Husband nor the Wife are now any more their own they have either of them given over themselves to other not onely the Wife which is the weaker vessel hath yielded over her self to the stronger protection and participation of an abler head but the Husband hath resigned his right in himself over to his feebler consort so as now her weaknesse is his his strength is hers Yea their very flesh hath altered property hers is his his is hers Yea their very Soul and spirit may no more be severed in respect of mutuall affection then from their own severall bodies It is thus O Saviour with thee and thy Church We are not our own but thine who hast married us to thy self in truth and righteousnesse What powers what indowments have we but from and in thee And as our holy boldness dares interesse our selves in thy Graces so thy wonderfully-compassionate mercy vouchsafes to interesse thy self in our Infirmities thy poor Church suffers on Earth thou feelest in Heaven and as complaining of our stripes canst say Why persecutest thou me Thou again art not so thine own as that thou art not also ours thy Sufferings thy Merits thy Obedience thy Life Death Resurrection Ascension Intercession Glory yea thy blessed Humanity yea thy glorious Deity by virtue of our right of our Union are so ours as that we would not give our part in thee for ten thousand Worlds O gracious Saviour as thou canst not but love and cherish this poor and unworthy Soul of mine which thou hast mercifully espoused to thy self so give me Grace to honour and obey thee and forsaking all the base and sinfull rivalty of the World to hold me only unto thee whiles I live here that I may perfectly enjoy thee hereafter LXXV Upon the sight of a Snake I Know not what horrour we finde in our selves at the fight of a Serpent Other creatures are more loathsome and some no lesse deadly then it yet there is none at which our blood riseth so much as at this Whence should this be but out of an instinct of our old enmity We were stung in Paradise and cannot but feel it But here is our weaknesse it was not the body of the Serpent that could have hurt us without the suggestion of sin and yet we love the sin whiles we hate the Serpent Every day are we wounded with the sting of that old Serpent and complain not and so much more deadly is that sting by how much it is lesse felt There is a sting of Guilt and there is a sting of Remorse there is mortall venome in the first whereof we are the least sensible there is lesse danger in the second The Israelites found themselves stung by those fiery Serpents in the Desart and the sense of their pain sent them to seek for Cure The World is our Desart and as the sting of Death is Sin so the sting of Sin is Death I do not more wish to finde ease then pain if I complain enough I cannot fail of cure O thou which art the true brazen Serpent lifted up in this wildernesse raise up mine eyes to thee and fasten them upon thee thy Mercy shall make my Soul whole my wound soveraign LXXVI Upon the Ruines of an Abby IT is not so easie to say what it was that built up these walls as what it was that pulled them down even the wickednesse of the Possessours Every stone hath a tongue to accuse the Superstition Hypocrisie Idlenesse Luxury of the late owners Methinks I see it written all along in Capitall letters upon these heaps A fruitfull Land maketh he barren for the iniquity of
thou abasest thy self to behold the things both in Heaven and Earth It is our glory to look up even to the meanest piece of Heaven it is an abasement to thine incomprehensible Majesty to look down upon the best of Heaven Oh what a transcendent Glory must that needs be that is abased to behold the things of Heaven What an happinesse shall it be to me that mine eyes shall be exalted to see thee who art humbled to see the place and state of my blessednesse Yea those very Angels that see thy face are so resplendently glorious that we could not overlive the sight of one of their faces who are fain to hide their faces from the sight of thine How many millions attend thy Throne above and thy Footstool below in the ministration to thy Saints It is that thine invisible world the Communion wherewith can make me truely blessed O God if my body have fellowship here amongst Beasts of whose earthly substance it participates let my Soul be united to thee the God of Spirits and be raised up to enjoy the insensible society of thy blessed Angels Acquaint me before-hand with those Citizens and affairs of thine Heaven and make me no stranger to my future Glory LXXXVIII Upon the stinging of a Wasp HOW small things may annoy the greatest Even a Mouse troubles an Elephant a Gnat a Lion a very Flea may disquiet a Giant What weapon can be nearer to nothing then the sting of this Wasp Yet what a painfull wound hath it given me that scarce-visible point how it envenomes and ranckles and swells up the flesh The tenderness of the part addes much to the grief And if I be thus vexed with the touch of an angry File Lord how shall I be able to indure the sting of a tormenting Conscience As that part is both most active and most sensible so that wound which it receives from it self is most intolerably grievous there were more ease in a nest of Hornets then under this one Torture O God howsoever I speed abroad give me Peace at home and whatever my Flesh suffer keep my Soul free Thus pained wherein do I finde ease but in laying honey to the part infected That Medicine only abates the anguish How near hath Nature placed the remedy to the offence Whensoever my Heart is stung with the remorse for sin only thy sweet and precious Merits O blessed Saviour can mitigate and heal the wound they have virtue to cure me give me Grace to apply them that soveraign receipt shall make my pain happy I shall thus applaud my grief It is good for me that I was thus afflicted LXXXIX Upon the Arraignment of a Felon WIth what terrour doth this Malefactor stand at that Bar his Hand trembles whiles it is lift up for his triall his very Lips quake whiles he saith Not guilty his Countenance condemns him before the Judge and his fear is ready to execute him before his Hangman Yet this Judge is but a weak man that must soon after die himself that Sentence of Death which he can pronounce is already passed by Nature upon the most innocent that act of Death which the Law inflicteth by him is but momentany who knows whether himself shall not die more painfully O God with what horror shall the guilty Soul stand before thy dreadfull Tribunall in the day of the great Assizes of the World whiles there is the presence of an Infinite Majesty to daunt him a fierce and clamorous Conscience to give in evidence against him Legions of ugly and terrible Devils waiting to seize upon him a gulf of unquenchable Fire ready to receive him whiles the Glory of the Judge is no lesse confounding then the Cruelty of the Tormenters where the Sentence is unavoidable and the Execution everlasting Why do not these terrors of thee my God make me wise to hold a privy Sessions upon my Soul actions that being acquitted by my own heart I may not be condemned by thee and being judged by my self I may not be condemned with the World XC Upon the Crowing of a Cock. How harshly did this note sound in the eare of Peter yea pierced his very heart Many a time had he heard this Bird and was no whit moved with the noise now there was a Bird in his bosome that crowed lowder then this whose shrill accent conjoined with this astonished the guilty Disciple The wearie Labourer when he is awakened from his sweet sleep by this natural Clock of the Houshold is not so angry at this troublesome Bird nor so vexed at the hearing of that unseasonable sound as Peter was when this Fowl awakened his sleeping Conscience and called him to a timely repentance This Cock did but crow like others neither made or knew any difference of this tone and the rest there was a Divine hand that ordered this Mornings note to be a Summons of Penitence He that fore-told it had fore-appointed it that Bird could not but crow then and all the noise in the High Priests Hall could not keep that sound from Peter's eare But O Saviour couldst thou finde leisure when thou stoodst at the Bar of that unjust and cruell Judgment amidst all that bloody rabble of Enemies in the sense of all their fury and the exspectation of thine own Death to listen unto this Monitor of Peter's Repentance and upon the hearing of it to cast back thine eyes upon thy Denying Cursing Abjuring Disciple O Mercy without measure and beyond all the possibility of our admiration to neglect thy self for a Sinner to attend the Repentance of one when thou wert about to lay down thy life for all O God thou art still equally mercifull Every Elect Soul is no lesse dear unto thee Let the sound of thy faithfull Monitors smite my ears and let the beams of thy mercifull eyes wound my heart so as I may go forth and weep bitterly XCI Upon the variety of Thoughts WHen I bethink my self how Eternity depends upon this moment of life I wonder how I can think of any thing but Heaven but when I see the distractions of my Thoughts and the aberrations of my life I wonder how I can be so bewitched as whiles I believe an Heaven so to forget it All that I can doe is to be angry at mine own vanity My Thoughts would not be so many if they were all right there are ten thousand by-waies for one direct As there is but one Heaven so there is but one way to it that living way wherein I walk by Faith by Obedience All things the more perfect they are the more do they reduce themselves towards that Unity which is the Center of all Perfection O thou who art one and infinite draw in my heart from all these stragling and unprofitable Cogitations and confine it to thine Heaven and to thy self who art the Heaven of that Heaven Let me have no life but in thee no care but to injoy thee no ambition but thy Glory Oh make