Dives Table Moses did fast upon Mount Sinai when he talked with God but in the Valley beneath the people sate down to eat and to drink and rose up to play Elias did not drink for forty days at length he did pray for rain and had drink from heaven But Luxury corrupts the Air and breeds sterility Tot curiis decuriis ructantibus acescit coelum says Tertullian by an excellent Hyperbole Daniel by his slender food of pulse and water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Basil taught the Lions to hunger and want their prey all night when he was cast into their Den. Therefore foul shame it was for the Pharisees says the same Father to look sowerly and sickly when they wanted their repast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why did they not rejoyce rather for the healthfulness of their soul Wherefore when thou fastest anoint thy head and wash thy face says our Saviour You would think by this that a Fast were the celebration of some Bridal He was no Benefactor in Greece that did not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mend their diet No Emperour for the people of Rome that did not enter into his Kingdom with a Congiary or Banquet But the Saints of God will not let us know when or what day they went to heaven without a Fast before it Let not this Doctrine give occasion to the Wealthy of this Kingdom to lessen their Magnificence and pinch their Table Charitable house-keeping hath been always the honour of this Realm and a blessing destined for the poor But whatsoever your eye beholds when you set before you plenteous provision will you think as the Epicure of Rome did that the Table is furnished for your own throat and boast that Lucullus sups with Lucullus No Beloved look upon it as the Father of a Family whose eyes wait upon your benevolence look upon it as the Steward of the poor whose mouths shall bless God that hath enlarged your heart to do good unto them And be not like the larded Epicure that eateth like Behemoth Job xl 16 whose force is in the navel of his belly What unfitness is in such a corps for speculation of knowledge What dulness to Prayer and Devotion Had we not need of a long Lent between our Shroving and our Easter And besides the sin of the gurmundizing Glutton I must not spare to tell you that there is luxuria in modico a riotous diet which longs after nothing but dainties and delicates As to be wanton stomacht after Mandrakes with Rachel to long after the fruits of Pontus and Asia with Lucullus To affect strange Cookery of France and Italy Why should you make more of your corruptible bodies than our Saviour did of his glorified body Ecquid habetis filioli Children have you any thing to eat Do but observe the prohibition of meats in the old Law neither herbs nor roots nor any homely food were forbidden but the curiosity of some delicious flesh was denied to the children of Israel They had their Quails indeed in the Wilderness when they lusted and they that fasted three days in the Desart with our Saviour had nothing but two fishes and five barly loaves among two thousand Chuse you with whether of these you would make your Table They with the Quails had the curse of God and these had the blessing of our Saviour It is a mystery methinks that Father Jacob sent away his Honey and Spices Nuts and Almonds for a Present unto Joseph to buy him coarser food I mean the Corn of Egypt Nos oleris coma nos siliqua foeta legumine paverit innocuis Epulis says the sweet Prudentius In Ethnick Rome a Senator was charged to keep so mean a Table by the Law called Centussis that a Mess of Friers now adays would rise an hungry from it Ignorance it is wilful ignorance that hath made the world so riotous both in Gluttony and Drunkenness because forsooth these are such sins as are not forbidden in the Ten Commandments Not to trouble you with many conjectures why God did so I will give you this answer for your utmost satisfaction Nothing is forbidden in the Ten Commandments Nisi directè deordinet hominem ad Deum aut ad proximum says Hales except it be a transgression directly against God or our Neighbour Gluttony and drunkenness are principally inordinate passions not against God and our Neighbour but against our own body But doth this diminish the guilt of these sins No Beloved but rather they do many ways dispose a man to disorder himself both to God and his Neighbour God is often blasphemed bloud spilt lust provoked the Lords day violated the Magistrate disobeyed and next to the pronity of original sin intemperance of meats and drinks is the fuel of all sins Wherefore be a Rechabite or the next to a Rechabite in surfeit and immoderation to drink no Wine There is but one thing remains to dispatch our exercise for this time I have made a large discourse how Fasting and Temperance are the third Encomium or praise of the Rechabites Indeed David doth wish it above all curses to the enemies of the Lord that their Table may be made a snare But for mensa laqueus that a prodigal Table is a snare to a good conscience it is no strange thing What say you to inedia laqueus To fast and subdue the body is made a greater snare as the Devil hath contrived it among our Romish Adversaries I knew the Devil could tempt an innocent to offend with eating but would you think he could take advantage upon an empty stomach Would you think that Lent and a few Ember Weeks should be called Lutrum peccatorum A satisfaction for sin To cross this error that it was not abstinence from meats and drinks simply taken which did commend us unto God therefore as we lost the knowledge of God by Gluttony and eating Gen. iii. So the Second Adam was known to his Disciples and Cleophas thrice after his Resurrection as they were at meat to shew that the Table of sobriety was sanctified in the Lord. Wherefore let the boast of the proud Pharisee I fast twice a week be made a Collect in the Roman Prayer-book We are tied to say grace unto God when we receive our meat but these men expect most impiously that God should say grace and give them thanks for fasting especially if it were a Vow as this was of the Rechabites Nunquam bibemus for ever we will drink no wine It is a blessed conspiracy when sundry souls confederate themselves together to serve the Lord. Glad was Davids heart to have company to go to the Altar I was glad when they said unto me we will go into the house of the Lord. Indeed the Spouse of Christ is not one stick of Juniper or a single lump of Frankincense though never so sweet but Fasciculus Myrrhae a bundle of Myrrh Cant. i. Faith in unity it is the glory of Christianity I know not
the same end to make us magnifie God for his Wisdom Goodness and Justice Nay I add compare the Law of Works imposed upon Adam and the Law of Faith imposed upon Christians and both of them are possible to be done For the first man according to the integrity wherein he was created and by the virtue of supernatural Grace bestowed upon him might have obeyed the Commandement given if he had not turned to disobedience and by the Divine help of the same grace we to whom God hath preached the glad tidings of his Son are endewed with power to believe that we may be saved Now in a word let us lay the difference of these two one against another God gave the Law in Paradise as a King in his Justice but he gave the Gospel in Sion as a Father of Grace and Mercy according to that Law the reward had been given ex debito by debt and due say the Schoolmen but to him that believes the reward is given by mere Grace which excludes boasting He that disobey'd that Law was to look for the most strict severity of Justice so condemnation belongs likewise to the unbeliever according to Justice but perhaps it shall be temper'd with some moderation for Christs sake Finally this is the main disagreement the first Covenant made with Adam did exclude all hope of remission of sins but the second Covenant made in Christ runs in this tenour to them that live by Faith your sins shall be blotted out and your iniquities forgotten After you have understood the first point how there was a Law imposed upon Adam when he was created and endewed with original Justice you must now give ear to the next thing in order what heavy and astonishing matter is contained in that Law which was given by Moses to the Children of Israel and remember that I consider the Law deliver'd in the two Tables at Mount Sinai Seorsim and by it self separated from all the promises contained in the Prophets and in the Psalms of David These then are the remarkable differences between the Covenant written in Tables of stone and this Covenant of the New Testament in the Blood of Christ First God gave the Law at Sinai being wrath with our sins for whereas we had lost both the wisdom of our understanding and the loyal obedience of our will by the transgression of our first parent yet God impos'd his Commandement upon us and exacts such measure of holiness which we are not able to perform Therefore that Law was given in the barren Wilderness because it is not able to bring one soul unto God likewise it was delivered with signs full of wrath thunder and lightning and a dreadful noise to shew that God was full of indignation when he laid it upon us On the contrary he made the new Covenant of peace being reconciled to them that were lost or at least proffering reconciliation in his beloved Son Read this Doctrine Heb. xii from the 18. to the 24. verse Ye are not come to the Mount that might not be touched and that burnt with fire nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words which they that heard entreated they might hear it no more They could not endure that which was commanded And so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake but ye are come to Mount Sion and to the City of the living God c. Wherefore the Gospel was presented with manifest tokens of love and benevolence Ecce Evangelizo behold I bring you good tidings 2. There 's a difference arising between the first Testament and the last from the several Mediators that came between God and the people Moses was a servant faithful in the Family and he was the Mediator of the Old Testament Christ is the Son and Heir of all he was the Mediator of the New The Law was given by Moses Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ 3. The old Covenant was ratified with the blood of Beasts but loe the New Covenant doth much surpass it which was ratified with the precious Blood of that immaculate Lamb which took away the sins of the world which is therefore called the Blood of the New Testament 4. The old Law in St. Paul's phrase contained poor and beggerly rudiments not able to bring to life It was a killing letter the ministry of death and condemnation it worketh wrath it entred that sin might abound it is like Hagar which gendreth children unto bondage Gal. iv 24. The Gospel is the power of salvation to every one that believeth a quickening Spirit it purgeth us from our sins it speaketh better things than the blood of Abel 5. That which Moses brought was an heavy burden which neither the Fathers nor the Children could bear but of the Gospel Christ saith his yoke is easie and his burden is light and in it you shall find rest for your souls Lastly the Old Testament endured unto Christ and no longer wherefore because it passed away it is called the Old the New Testament remaineth for ever so says St. Paul of our Blessed Saviour taking flesh who is not made after the Law of a carnal Commandment but after the power of an endless life No passage or comparison can be made between them but the Law given at Mount Sinai will appear to be an harsh and most unwelcome injunction and that which doth clear us from the curse thereof is Evangelium the best tidings that ever arriv'd at the ear of man Hitherto I have consider'd the Old Testament in no respect but as it contains the killing letter of the Law but you must not mistake that the Holy Spirit hath interlaced many fast-holdings of Faith and promises Evangelical almost every where in the Prophets and in the Psalms of David Nay the Old Testament is rather Promise than Law yet it was fit the rigour of the Law should be repeated that it might more appear how necessary the promise of Grace was that we could not live without it and that every man being convicted in his conscience by the sentence of the Law we might more ardently fly to Grace for the end of the Moral Law is double to set us a rule what we should endeavour to do and to discover our own impotency unto us what we are not able to do that we may seek a remedy in the satisfaction of Christ But this I say that the darkness and obscurity of the Old Testament was enlightned with many excellent promises that the believing Israelites might be partakers of Faith and of everlasting life they had the same Gospel which we have the same Christ the same Faith the same Spirit sealing the truth of promise unto them Where is then the priviledge you will say that the tidings are better to us then unto them or far surpassing on our side every way Israel that believed in the promised seed was an heir but under age
the numbers of the Saints nay rather it speaks of them with the least many are called but few are chosen and fear not little flock it is your fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdom But Satan thinks to have credit from his multitudes and pretends to the whole retinue of them that have power and glory in the world whereas divers carry the true virtue of nobility in their heart as well as the title of nobility in their name and owe no service to him God doth permit the wicked sometimes elsewhere to reign for the sins of the people his antecedent will is upon all men especially upon the most renowned that are next and immediately under him Be ye holy as I am holy but he permits Ahab and Manasses to take their turn in the Kingdom of Israel to scourge the people for their sins and therein the adversary prevails against Gods velleity and complacency now that inch which God gives Satan calls it an ell and boasts that all the Princes of the Earth do hold in fee of him What saies he to Christ do you think to sit upon the seat of your Father David by fasting and prayer and by retiring for the discipline of your soul into the Wilderness no if you will rise and be some great one you must come to it by me frame your self to the fashion of the world the disposing of all Royalties and Honours are delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will give them Omne mendacium est in aliquo vero that 's the ground of this first point which I handle every falsehood leans upon some truth that it may appear not to halt lamely but to go upright To that end doth the Tempter cogg in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that is delivered unto me fatetur tradentem he doth acknowledge by that word that there is one above him who gives the Letters Patents of all honor and glory he is only intrusted as a Minister to deliver it Well this will not serve his turn like those conjuring Oracles which abused the Heathen of old which had alwayes an ambiguous meaning so the Devil in every proposition he makes as in this particularly hath some concealed aequivocation This is delivered unto me but by whom let us discover his pol-foot which he would conceal not by God he durst not bely his Maker so much but by the custom and practice of the world and custom is the strength and soul of a Law we have corrupted the pure stream of honour with flattery with gratuities with slavish services with Simony they that bid for advancement by such crooked means trust the Devil to keep stakes and if you will have them you must ask him to deliver them We have put the conveyance of many promotions into his power by the sinful practice of ambition as if he were our great Feoffee in trust as King Darius in the story of Esdras yielded himself up and all the power of his Majesty to Apame his Concubine she might take his Crown from his head and put it upon her own and he waited her courtesie to receive it again In such a sense it is true Satan hath a great share of honours to bestow but he received no such authority in Gods name as his words darkly convey'd do seem to challenge it for that is delivered unto me and unto whomsoever I will give it Some there are that make this climax or gradation to cast another shadow of truth upon his meaning Man was created Lord of the whole world and God bestowed the dominion of all things upon him which this Globe of creatures contains afterward by transgression man became the captive of sin and Satan for his servants ye are to whom ye obey that 's Gospel so that the Devil having Lordship over him who was Lord of all the whole world and the pomp thereof became to be his fee in our title that were captivated to him But I list not to stretch so many conclusions to make him speak truth who was a lyar from the beginning This shall suffice for that deceitful likelihood of truth which is in this motion it will be more glory to God and more benefit to our selves to examine the unlikelyhood The Devils Ministers have dared to contest with those Powers that were ordeined of God the contentious Hebrew asked Moses Who made thee a Prince or a Judg The Pharisees maundred at Christ By what authority dost thou these things and who gave thee this authority and doth the Devil suppose it shall go unaskt when this imperial sway was put into his hands to deliver all Kingdoms to whomsoever he will give them Promotion says the Psalmist cometh not per spiritum ventorum it cometh neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South no nor per spiritus infernorum it ascends not up from the pit with the spirits of damnation for why God is Judg of the Earth he setteth up one and plucketh down another Psal lxxv 6. This excessive claim of Satan to impute unto himself that all Kings hold their Scepters of him calls his whole faith in question that Charter cannot stand with Solomons Verdict which he hath given upon that title for thus he speaks for the Lord Prov. viii 15. By me Kings reign and Princes decree justice by me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth In true and exact propriety rendred the learned in the original tongue render the word not by me Kings reign but in me Kings reign God reigns in them as his Deputies they reign in God as their Author and Authoriser wherefore it is elegantly noted by one of our own Writers that Melchisedech is the first King spoken of in Scripture and he is brought in without Father without Mother upon earth to shew that Kings are Gods generation who only his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 none can declare his Generation St. Chrysostom says very well that this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the especial dignity of Kingly estate that it comes from God and therefore Popes who now assume most unchristianly if not anti-christianly to depose anointed Princes and translate their Kingdoms to their enemies they were wont to write to Kings with all lowliness of stile wishing them health and long happiness in eo per quem Reges regnant in him by whom Kings reign that is in God under whom in their own Dominions they are next and immediately supreme Governors David sware by the Lord unto Bathsheba that Solomon his Son shâ—uld reign in his stead an Oath is the strongest proof of humane faith so that by an Oath God and man have put it out of all doubt that the Most High alone doth appoint who shall sit upon the Throne of David but huic injurato crederem we would sooner believe David though he had not sworn that the Power and Principality of Kings depends upon God than Satan with all his promises and protestations that he hath
for the profit of my Soul rather than upon all the eloquence and wit in the world There is more to be learnt by meditating upon his Passion seriously and devoutly one day than by ripping up all other needless questions through the whole year Si Christum discis satis est si caetera nescis Si Christum nescis nihil est si caetera discis Says the Old Verse If you have learnt Christ crucified for thy sins do not bewail thy ignorance simple Soul though thou knowest no more if thou hast not learnt his sufferings and that with his stripes thou art healed bewail thy knowledg great Master of Arts and Sciences though except that one thing thou hast learned all And what though you fix your speculations upon Christ himself yet all is in vain that you can preach of Christ until you set your notions afloat upon his blood and sail down to this out of all that he was crucified for our transgressions If you be not enemies to his Cross you will easily agree with the truth of the whole Gospel if you do not agree with his Cross as with the only cause by which we obtain salvation you will be an enemy to all the truth of the Gospel Turn this key right that we are justified from our sins by his blood shedding and all is open wrench the door with any other key as if we would pick open the lock of Heaven gates with our own sufferings and righteousness and all is shut Surely St. Paul did pattern his preaching by this Copy of Moses and Elias 1 Cor. ii 2. I determined not to know any thing among you saving Jesus Christ and him crucified Secondly Yes indeed this was fit communication for Paul to impart nothing else to the Corinthians who did abound with the Greek Philosophy and eloquence and it sorted the better to speak of nothing but the sorrows of our Lord while fears and persecutions and death did daily environ them but in my next Observation it shall appear that this discourse was well chosen rather than any other at the Transfiguration of glory here was nothing upon the Mountain but celestial joy and in the height of this joy no other talk to entertain the time but about a Cross and about a woful tribulation If our sorrow be not enlightned with some joy it will turn to a melancholick desperation so if our joy be not dampt with the sadness and seriousness of some sorrow it will fly out into excess and presumption The Graecians did not allow their frisking Lydian Musick to be playd without the gravity of the Dorique Instruments which they called in one name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So David tun'd this mixture upon his Harp Psal ii 11. Serve the Lord in fear and rejoyce unto him with reverence Surely Peter and the other Apostles thought they were past all the bitter storms and frowns of the world where the place whereon they stood was more bedeckt with beauty than ever they had read of Paradice as if God had rained down Heaven upon Earth their mind was filled with this saying and their lips in the next verse spake nothing less Give us the Kingdom which is prepared for us give us the fruition of thy glory Nay hold and take this before Priùs de calice cogitate quà m de regno Drink of my cup before you reign in my Kingdom hear Moses and Elias preach of my Cross before you be enthronized among the Elders to sing praises unto the Lamb for evermore But was this a gratulatory Oration fit for the Prophets to make to Christ in the brightness of his Excellency did He love to hear of this above any thing that He should die an ignominious death at Jerusalem yes it was as the most pleasant thing to our Saviour and none so acceptable to be spoken of When a poor woman annointed his head with ointment in the house of Simon the Leper he defends her for it against the indignation of his Disciples says He In that she poured this ointment on my body she did it for my Burial I have a Baptism to be baptized with and how I am straitned till it be accomplished Luke xii 50. never was such haste made to any place as he made to Mount Calvarie there past but a little time from midnight to midday betwixt his Attachment his Arraignment and his Execution as if his feet had stood upon thorns until his head were crowned with them The content he took in those torments is thus laid forth in St. Paul who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross Heb. xii 2. A certain Author makes an elegant comparison between that triumph when Christ rode upon an Ass to Jerusalem and between this triumph of the Transfiguration on Mount Thabor Infesto palmarum illacrymat considerans mala nostra in hoc festo mirabiliter exultat recolens mala sua Though he was then received with Palm branches and shoutings yet he wept upon Jerusalem to consider their sins at this Feast he is all glorious and rejoyceth for our sakes to hear the commemoration of his own sorrows And thirdly it must not be forgotten how Moses and Elias were those chosen Orators which spake of his decease that he should accomplish at Jerusalem all that was mystical in the Types and Shadows of Moses Law all that was darkly delivered in the deep style of the Prophets concerning this passion is explained against the teeth of the Jews Moses and Elias came to interpret themselves Moses say the Fathers saw what medicine and healing was in the cross when he lift up the brazen Serpent in the Wilderness to cure the people that were stung and wounded and Prudentius in a sweet versifying way that Moses learnt how all spiritual foes Death Satan Sin and Hell should be vanquisht by the Cross when by the stretching out of his hands the Amalekites were destroyed in Battel by the Children of Israel Passis in altum brachiis sublimis Amalech premit crucis quod instar tum fuit Again they make the same Commentation upon Elias that he laid his body upon the Childs body his hands upon the Childs hands which he brought to life again even as Christ did stretch himself out upon the Cross and hath quickned us being dead in our sins having forgiven us all our trespasses Colos ii 13. and not us only who have been born since the time that his blood was actually shed but all those who lived with the Fathers under the Law and from the beginning of the world who did believe to escape eternal death by the blood of that Sacrifice which should be offered up upon the Tree of malediction A strange Medicament that the drops of this sacred bloud should cure so many millions before it self was extant If an Herbalast say he will make a Panacaea a rare juice of salutiferous roots the next year can it cure this Spring yet the Remedy of the Cross
Shepherds and not like Wolves That is the just Latitude of this Precept This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him The first part of the Text would require much more to be spoken but here must be the end of that because much more remains behind Therefore in the second Point that the Church might the better admit Christs sole Authority to hear him and no other all other persons of excellency vanisht and he was left alone The Disciples lookt up says St. Matthew and lookt about says St. Mark and when the voice was past Jesus was found alone Whether they that come back from the dead depart from us again as did Moses and Elias in this place or whether our living Friends whom we tender dearly go from hence for ever unto the dead let this comfort remain with you that the best Friend of all sticks by you Christ is with you and stays behind And much better it is to find him alone than all the world beside without him Vnus Iesus satis superque nobis est So I think Gregory It is an happy solitariness to be forsaken of all other and to be left with him alone St. Austin enumerating the several Temples which the Romans built to their Deities reckons up one for Vertue another for Felicity another for Fortune Says the Father If the Heathen had been wise men at least they would have spared the Temple of Fortune and made no use of that Quid ei sufficit cui virtus felicitasque non sufficit He that hath vertue and felicity hath enough or he will never be contented So he that can keep our Saviour hath the fulness of joy abiding with him and he cannot choose but be satisfied What small hearts-ease had the Blessed Virgin to find all her Kindred at home and to miss him And if his Room be empty the house is in a pitiful case though it be furnish'd with all manner of store beside When the whole World was lost in the Deluge of waters one Ark was unto Noah instead of all the world beside to save him so when all things flit away and consume by little my Father and Mother forsake me our friends our means our strength our health our life Tu autem Domine non dereliquisti one Redeemer is all and more than all As when the leaves drop off from the Tree yet the Sun continues to comfort it and make it spring again so the reliefs and pleasures of this Age shall wax old with time and be shaken off as the leaves before the wind but nothing shall separate us from the love of God and nothing shall separate God from the love of us And as Christ is enough for all so this one reason is suficient why the Disciples found him alone yet I have another to spare which is this Postquam legis Prophetarum umbra decessit omnia in Evangelio reperiuntur When the Shadows and Types of the Law and Prophets are dispersed away the Gospel abides for ever and is the true repertory of all things that belong to salvation The Law of Moses is a killing Letter no flesh living shall be justified by the works of the Law The Spirit of Elias breaths nothing but fire and perdition to them that sin against the Lord. O God what will become of us miserable offendors if we meet with such as these O remove these away and let us find Jesus alone who came into the world to seek and to save that which is lost A poor Prisoner must needs suspect that he should have a bloudy trial when such angry Judges came from heaven as Moses and Elias let them rise off from the Bench and depart and leave our cause to be heard before a Saviour so full of pity who is all bowels all compassion An potior judex Puerisve quis aptior orbis He will not recompence us according to our misdeeds but deliver us from the Tormentor The poor woman taken in Adultery had a sweet taste of this Doctrine Christ cast a scruple of conscience before her bitter Accusers which made them slip away one after another then the day began to go on the poor sinners side When Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst Joh. viii 9. Beside I have repeated it to you very often that the Transfiguration was an Idea or Model of the Resurrection and therefore Christ was left alone to let you see the condition of that period of time when all things shall pass away at the end of the world Vt Deus maneat omnia in omnibus when Christ shall be our portion alone and the glory of every thing in earth shall vanish and come to nothing And he alone is an hundred fold those all things else which we enjoy'd in this life according to the reckoning of the Gospel and yet that is but a modest comparison a finite proportion for an infinite In this course of life which now we lead every man acts his part in the mutual Communion of Saints and we have all need one of another For as the members depend upon the head so every member doth want his fellow member to support him the hand cannot say it hath no need of the foot nor can the eye say it hath no use of the ear we must have the help of Moses and Elias and all those bright shining stars that have gone before And the Ages to come shall acknowledge that they were the better for the help of those good men which these times produce But after the final consummation of all things we shall no more be put to these shifts to require the assistance one of another though there were no Moses no Elias no Peter no James and John yet every one shall be perfect in Christ and shall be filled with the fulness of him that filleth all in all St. Hierom in a certain Epistle to Amandus takes upon him to interpret the words of St. Paul 1 Cor. xv 28. on this wise All things shall be subject unto him that God may be all in all Says he our Lord and Saviour is not now all in all but according to the several distributions of his gifts a part only in every several man For example Wisdom in Solomon Zeal in David Patience in Job Interpretation of dreams in Daniel Power of Miracles in Paul Faith in Peter Virginity in John In caeteris caetera but when the end of all things shall come then he shall be all in all Vt singuli sanctorum omnes vertutes habeant ut sit Christus totus in cunctis That every Saint may be filled with all vertue and the fulness of Christ may be in all alike And so far on the second part that Jesus was found alone This is the Argument of the third part of the Text that when God from heaven had commanded the Disciples to hear his Son and left him alone to be heard instead of the Law and the Prophets Christ
consult with Nature ask her if she do not sometime use superfluity for the greater elegancy of her workmanship plura ad unum assumit sicut duos oculos Why might not man have been a Cyclops why might not Nature have spar'd an eye but if she will make pairs where a single instrument might serve why should we limit God's grace and scant it to just as much passion as would fit the turn since there is plenteous redemption with our God Seconly Per suavitatem peccavit homo per asperitatem maximam satisfecit it seems there was some delicious relish in the fruit forbidden as it was very pleasant to the eye The taste of Adam was of a most sapid and quick mixture the Apple was of the most refined composition being the food of Paradice and Gods own Plantation these could not but leave a touch upon Adams lips sweeter than the Honey-comb or Manna in the Wilderness Now set the Scale of justice in an equal poise the transgression was sweetness the satisfaction must be bitterness the transgression was pleasure in the highest degree the satisfaction must be grief in the very gall of bitterness but what so bitter as death especially the Cross that death of malediction Thirdly this is the Master-piece among Lombards reasons but a flower pickt from St. Austins Garden Deus justitiâ voluit Diabolum vincere non potestate the Dragon and his Angels do plead against Michael and his Angels that the Judgment might be proportioned to the Crime committed But what did Satan accomplish by his impleadment God doth not deal like Pilate and the corrupt Judges of the world shift the Law out of their sight when it doth not serve the turn and stand a tip-toe upon their Power and Prerogative He doth not deal with Justice as Festus did with Paul Go thy wayes I will speak with thee at another time Justitiâ ' vincere voluit non autoritate Satan is confounded by Gods Justice not by his Authority Fourthly and lastly as Draco the rigid Magistrate wrote his Laws in blood so Christ that innocent Lamb wrote the Instructions of patience in his own blood Let the great Rabbies of Divinity dispute it whether one drop of our Saviours blood could not save as many Worlds as there be sins in this World that is infinite yet he took his share of all sorts of persecution ut nobis praeberet exemplum patientiae that when we are persecuted and stung with fiery vermin we might look upon the Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness and be comforted with patience For now by the Examples of his Sufferings when my Soul languisheth with any calamity I will turn me to my Lord and lay my wounds to his wounds my tears to his tears and my mouth dipt in gall to his mouth and my disgrace to his reproaches Finally in all my afflictions I will seem as it were to read his Title upon the Cross Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews I have drawn out my Clue very far to enlarge the true testimony that Pilate gives of Christ though he forbore to open the trial of his integrity which had he undertaken his arm was strong enough to disarm his Persecutors and to delude his Enemies but compassion of our misery made him draw out a long line of torments to stripes to buffettings to death to consummatum est till all was finished We may well give his tender heart that honourable title which St. Chrysostom gave unto St. Paul a volume of charity Is there any weak conscience in this place that marvails at our Saviours proceedings and makes it his own case whether it be fit to plead innocency before the Magistrate or whether wrongful accusation should be endured without an answer for such a man I give this Doctrin for his resolution As the Passover was divided into two Portions part thereof was to be eaten and that part which remained to be burnt with fire so among the actions of Christ some are to be eaten that is drawn into example as his Prayers his Purse of charity for the Poor his converting of Publicans to the fear of God some are to be consumed with fire that is to be adored with faith and zeal but not to be drawn into imitation as his miraculous fasting his walking upon the seas and this compassionate silence before Pilat he would not speak to shun death that our hearts and tongues might be blessed through his name to praise and magnifie him for ever For as Caesar said of his Souldiers when they were offered conditions to depart with safety Caesaris milites salutem dare solent non accipere that they used to give such benefits not to receive them so Christ came into the world not to take his life as the gift of Pilate but to give life to every one that should repent and believe in the Gospel I have one bough yet to prune off in this branch and then I will proceed Great bundles of Wast-paper are printed every moneth and discharged against us by the busie-headed Jesuits to disparage the integrity of our Reformed Religion for the most part such slight and unlearned stuff that we may say in another sense than Christs Disciples did of Solomons Building Lord what manner of stones be these yet if every Scribler be not answered the Chalenger goes out of the field and cries victoria I think it was Crassus the Roman that replied not one word to a foul-mouth'd fellow who railed on him by the way till he came to his own dores Light him home says Crassus to his Servant and bring him to his Lodging Beloved it doth become our patience to shew the same contempt to these idle Pamphleters and it becoms our Profession to shew them as much curtesie that is to light them home to the Kingdom of Heaven if they will hear our Doctrin When Israel fought with Amelech but the victory was swayed by the hands of Moses held up by Aaron and Hur It was not the hand which fought says Nazianzen but the hand which did not fight that conquered Amelech And it is said of Scaevola non retentis sed amissis manibus he put the Etruscans to flight not by using his hand but by burning it off so though we give a Truce and respite to the Pen which should write yet the patience which doth not write and the mildness which neglects their bitter words shall confound our Adversaries We dare lanch into the Seas as the learned Writings of this Kingdom can testifie our Ship that is our Religion is sound and will hold out water against all objections It is our modesty to harbor sometimes in the Haven to shun Pirats and stormy winds lest we should encounter with ignominious Rabsheka's and be perswaded it is no loss of reputation unto us no gain unto our Enemies that we stand dumb like Jesus before the Jews and say nothing at the Bar of Pilate I have prosecuted my method thus far to avouch the
Egyptians hasted away the Israelites at midnight to be gone let them go with their Jewels and Riches which they had borrowed for if they staid they were afraid to lose lives and all Thus much of the literal sense that Lazarus came forth bound and that instantly says the Latin vulgar Translation Now for the Moral which is the Use of this Point wherein thus I will proceed 1. What it is to come forth 2. What it is to be bound 3. Concerning the binding of the feet and hands 4. Concerning the binding of his face with a Napkin Briefly of these that we may make such haste from the Text as Lazarus did from the Tomb. What is it to come forth Do we first question that Poenitet surgit Confitetur prodit says Burgensis To repent of sin is to rise from it to come forth is to confess it which was hid before When Jonathan and his Armour bearer appeared to the Philistines the Philistines derided them saying See how the Hebrews come out of the holes where they hid themselves So profane men will laugh at you if you betray your self so much unto any man as to confess your sins and imperfections but God is well pleased when you do not disguise your self in hypocrisie When the Publican smote his breast Arguebat aliquid quod latebat in pectore says St. Austin He pierced his own heart and gave it vent to draw out that acknowledgment God be merciful to me a sinner Why hast thou eaten of the tree that I forbad thee says God to Adam What is this that thou hast done says he again to Eve He calls both them to an account that they may make an humble confession and be pardoned Serpens persuasor qui non erat revocandus ad veniam non est de culpâ requisitus says Gregory but the Serpent was never questioned It was bootless for him to confess and give an answer because God never thought to pardon him To accuse our selves of great disobedience what is it but to magnifie his mercies who remits our sins Si nos accusemus Deum laudemus bis Deum laudamus says St. Austin Then if we condemn our selves and praise him what is it but to give double praise unto his name As gall and bitter humours come off from the stomach with great distaste unto the mouth So it doth not please our Palat it offends our tongue to bewray those vices which our heart would fain conceal I but all this while Lazarus is in the Tomb he is close kept and stinks said Martha While you would not be known of that which is past Non te Domino sed dominum abscondis tibi You do not keep your self close from God but you keep God from your self You take a course a woful course that you may not see his face that sees all things in the world but you cannot bring it about that he who sees all things in the world may not see you I have not covered my transgression says Job as Adam did by hiding my iniquity in my bosom a testimony of a sound conscience howsoever his body was diseased Vir iste magnus in virtutibus suis mihi certè etiam sublimis apparet in peccatis says Gregory Job was a man of eminence in his vertues but I renown him in his very sins because he opened them to him that will have mercy The confession that we speak of is thus amplified further in my Text that Lazarus came forth when another called him Many take a pride to descend to so much humility as to impeach themselves but if another condemn them and provoke them to acknowledge their faults they deny it with indignation You must not say that he is a Swearer though himself comfesseth he is a Blasphemer You must not say he is Intemperate though he confess himself to be Luxurious You must not say that he is uncharitable though himself confess that he hates his enemies thus while we arrogantly defend our selves against reproof it is manifest that we did accuse our selves but out of arrogance or for fashion sake or out of hypocrisie In this vitious Age I admire Chastity and Justice and charitable works but considering the stubborn imaginations of mens hearts I do not so much wonder at those vertues as I do admire the humble confession of a sinner when he is chid and reproved by him that hath the charge of his soul It is not so hard to shun some sins before they are committed as to cry guilty when they are committed And therefore to teach us to come out of the close dens of sin by confession Christ says Gregory did not say to this man revivisce but prodi foras not Lazarus live again but Lazarus come forth Secondly Let us learn what it is to be bound it is to be plunged in sin like Simon the Sorcerer who was in obligatione iniquitatis In the bond of iniquity Acts viii 23. As debtors are in bonds to pay what they owe or else to yield their bodies to imprisonment Wherefore our trespasses are called our debts in the Lords Prayer Mat. vi Lex a ligando It is good to keep the Law of God there is no greater freedom in the world but they that take freedom to have their own swing and to do what they list are held unto the greatest slavery in the world Man is born like a wild Asses Colt says Job The wild Ass is not bridled and he taketh his pastime where he will in the Wilderness but such beasts as are of use and service must be tied unto the Yoke So the natural man gives his lusts and desires what they ask no command controuls him but he is held with the cords of his own sins saith Solomon Prov. v. And who is such a Vassal as he that can deny the lust of his own concupiscence nothing Herod was bound by promise to Herodias and so he could not save the head of John Baptist who might have cut off the head of Herodias had he been a free man Judas had taken Press-money of the Devil and he must betray his Master More than forty men had bound themselves by oath to kill St. Paul O what a Tyrant is Satan He binds Kings in chains and Nobles with links of Iron And when the hand of one Ruffian might have killed a silly weak Apostle he knits above forty men with one knot to eat nothing till they had dispatch'd him as who should say You shall starve if you will not be Murderers God hath set bounds unto the Ocean Sea and hath said unto it Hither thou shalt go and no further Can any man say so to his own lusts thus far I will sin and no more You fools that gaze upon beauties and put your feet into unchaste doors and say that you will go no further into wantonness You doating Covetous that think it nothing to corrupt your selves with one base reward and say
Father Vasarenes as Agathias reports the Soothsayers foretold that his Mother should bring forth a Male child and he was crowned in her Womb his honour began the soonest I ever read of any and his guiltiness of sin and obligement to Gods wrath began as soon as the soul did inform the body If ever there were a Paradox in the world which Turks and Infidels hitherto have shamed to maintain it is the contrary to this doctrine that some iniquity is not the cause of perishing before the wrath of God Peribit in iniquitate it was ever good Divinity before Mariana and some Jesuits have perswaded desperate cast-aways to be saved by iniquity Saved did they say And for working abomination O are not the tender mercies of the wicked cruel St. Paul comforted our Mothers in their travel that the woman should be saved by bearing Children into the world they teach Reprobates to purchase a Saintship by murdering such whom the world is not worthy of Slaughter and bloudshed says our Philosopher Rhet. 1. lib. are not fit to make a question for discourse because it was never disputed by some either to be lawful or tolerable Nay in the second Eth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing can make Murder a good action much less Treason But this was the pity of a Philosopher and Alexanders Courtier not the stomach of a Jesuit and a grand Inquisitor If all the Saints should appear before God with the Instruments of their Piety Moses with the two Tables Aaron with his Rod David with his Psaltery Dorcas with the Garments of her Charity would you look for a Priest among them girded with a bloudy knife Or a Villain provided with fire and Gunpowder Who would look for it Except as when the Sons of God stood before the Lord Job i and Satan also was among them Nay heaven and earth shall pass away before Peribit in iniquitate become Apocryphal before the Wormwood of sin become the Palm of immortality Thus much for the cause in general but what offence his iniquity did give the sin of Achan will ask a peculiar and a larger trial You are deceived if you think it was but Larceny or greedy pilfering if a Thief steal he shall restore fourfold says the Law or seven fold says Solomon when stealing grew worse and worse that was the most of it But God saw more pernicious faults in Achan for his justice is not fidelis in minimo sharpest against small offences like the Popes Decretals which enjoyn a Priest forty days penance if he spill one drop of the Cup of the Lords Table and but seven days penance for Fornication But hainous was the fact of Achan first in scandal that an Israelite preserved so long in the Wilderness one that fought the Lords Battels and came always home with victory that he should be the first that trespassed among the Canaanites the heathen that would blaspheme the living God Secondly In disobedience that Joshuah his noble General made the head of all the Tribes by Gods appointment and Moses good liking and Eleazars Unction could not command to be obeyed Thirdly In faithless covetousness That since Manna did fall no more from heaven about their Tents the Lord did heed his people no longer every man must catch what come to his hands so Achan took the accursed c. Here is scandal to them that were without within themselves contempt of the Lord and his servant Joshuah in his own heart an inordinate desire to grow rich and sumptuous I do not make Achans fault the greater that Gods vengeance may be more plausible as St Austin spake of disgracing Cacus to honour Hercules the more Nisi nimis accusaretur Cacus parum Hercules laudaretur but remember my scope is all one with S. Pauls Interrogatories With whom was he grieved And to whom did he swear in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest If there be any delight in comparing sins as the Prophets use to dash the Idols of Jerusalem with the Idols of Samaria me thinks the first transgression of the Garden of Eden and the pleasant Land of Canaan almost another Eden are very semblable Eve walking in Paradise saw the fruits and her eye enticed her to take that which was forbidden and then she hid her self out of Gods sight So Achan treading upon the soil of Canaan saw a Babylonish Garment and his eye enticed him and he took it when it was forbidden and accursed and hid both the Garment and his sin from the sight of Joshuah But those are impudent crimes like the forehead of an Harlot that leave their memory to the evil world to be the first examples of transgressions cursed be that sin for it festers into scandal and unhappy shall be their end that fly from the Lord till they be left as a Beacon on the top of a Mountain and as an Ensign on a Hill says the Prophet Isaiah Many offences had never been committed or else brought forth by a worse Generation long after unless an evil Author had made the way known and easie for our corrupt nature therefore the first that gathered sticks and broke the Sabbath the Shilonites Son the first that cursed impious Gehazi the first that took sinful wages for the gift of God Ananias and Saphira the first dissemblers in the Primitive Church Achan the first Malefactor in the Land of Canaan these had their portion suddenly and drunk the Cup of Gods fury unto the dregs thereof I know not how fatal it is but since the small trenches of Rome were filled with too much bloud of Rhemus anon after they were digg'd massacres and persecutions have never departed from that unlucky building As the heavens are spread above us and seem to speak like the Statue of the King of Egypt In me quis intuens pius esto So the ground whereon we tread sometimes quakes and seems to be too holy to be defiled But if ever there were an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or incongruity of place to say unto sin exiforas this is no ground for sinners was it not the Land of Promise A small sin in Canaan was greater than a fornication in Egypt a trespass in Jerusalem is worse than an Idol in Samaria Had this deed been done in the Wilderness or in the paths of the Red Sea it had been more tolerable as one speaks of Pompeys obscure death in Egypt a thousand Leagues from Rome Procul hoc ut in orbe remoto abscondat fortuna nefas the offence had not been so notorious But the Angels themselves do wonder in a field of choice Wheat Vnde zizania Lord whence come Tares Will you resolve the Prophet Jeremy the same question He makes very strange fidelis civitas How is the faithful City become an Harlot To use the Lords own Sacrifice with the Sons of Eli for Riot and Extortion his own Supper for drunkenness with the bad Corinthians to employ the soyl of his own
gave you Sons and Daughters you give Obsides Domino Hostages unto God and if you rebel as Nathan said to David because thou hast made the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the Child that is born unto thee shall surely die The Fathers sins are visited unto the third and fourth Generation while the Grandsire full of fourscore years of sin stays awhile behind like the rotten root of evil and sees the tender branches cut away because the root was bad and corrupted Thus is the brief sum of the second part of my Text man perished in iniquity Corporeorum incorporeorum horison says Synesius the noble Image of God Secondly That man Achan a branch of the Olive tree even Israel which God had planted But an evil branch is evil though the stock were a Cedar of Libanus Non debent gloriari sarmenta quia non sunt spinarum ligna sed vitis says St. Austin Is it any glory for the dead branches to boast they were Vine branches and not Heythorn since they are cut off and cast away Lastly Non solus periit he fell down like the Tower of Siloam and brain'd all that were about him I have but one short part to dispatch Periit his execution how that man Perished c. To search much into Achans punishment were not the way to be more learned but more tormented And he that is Ingeniosus in suppliciis exquisite in describing the ruine of any man his invention smells of tyranny Briefly thus Every man in the rank of a Subject lives under the authority of three Commanders 1. Under the Conscience of his own heart 2. Under the Laws of his King 3. Under the Commandments of God Triplici nodo triplex cuneus every knot hath a wedge to drive into it And if we displease either God or the King or our own Conscience vengeance meets us on every side Conscientia parit vermem Magistratus mortem Deus Gehennam Conscience hath a worm in store nay a Cockatrice to sting us the Magistrate bears a Sword to divide us but especially it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God In an evil conscience we die unto all joy and comfort In our trespass against the Laws of man we die unto men In breaking the Statutes of God we die unto heaven surely he deserved not to die but one death that offended three All sin is mortal yet among sins some are still-born and make no noise in the world Some are crying sins that have a voice and a voice like the Edomites that cryed against Jerusalem Down with it down with it unto the ground Like the Jews that cried Crucifie him crucifie him and doubled the files of their iniquities Like the men of Ephesus that for two hours space made a noise Great is Diana of the Ephesians When sinners do double thus God finds out more deaths than one to punish them as if judgment had ransack'd the body to find two or three souls and would not leave to destroy all the brood of the Viper Abimelech a cruel murtherer of seventy brethren was crush'd under a Mill-stone and slain with his own Servants Sword it is pity he died not seventy times It was Sauls destiny first to die by the Arrows of the Bow and then to fall upon his own Sword It was Absolons destiny to be hang'd by the head in the Oak tree and be thrust through the heart with the Darts of Joab It was Judas his destiny to cast himself from the Gallows and to be broken in pieces upon the ground And lastly it was Achans destiny to be stoned with stones and then burnt with fire Thus that man perished c. It is very likely if this notorious rich sinner had lived his Tomb should have been as costly to lie over his dead corps as his Babylonish Garment was sumptuous to cover his living body But now there is not so much honour left him for his burial as earth to earth all is turned to ashes that the winds may blow him back again out of Canaan into Egypt from whence he brougt his iniquity A fair Tomb I confess cannot prove that I died a good man but that I died a wealthy Yet some honour is to be shewed to our dead corps because a dead body is nearer to the Resurrection than a living The Egyptians embalming the dead and the Odours and Spices which the Jews were wont to bestow do condemn those uncivil Funerals which some report of Geneva and Amsterdam that bury their dead in ditches and dunghils It makes Jesuits scoff at our Religion Scis ut haeretici colant parentes sulcant coemiteria sic colunt parentes Michael the Archangel fought about the body of Moses and Prudentius played the Poet very well touching Eulalia a Virgin Martyrs body cast abroad in a frosty night to the injury of the air and before morning it was overspread with icycles like a crystal Tomb. Pallioli vice linteoli ipsa elementa jubente Deo exequias Tibi virgo ferunt And certainly there was some such thing or St. Austin would not report it that divers Miracles as healing the sick and converting unbelievers have been wrought by Gods providence at the Tombs of the Martyrs to honour their death and memory But Achan was denied this happiness and though he had two deaths yet he had not one Tomb to be buried in Only an heap of stones were cast upon him for an infamy that as Varro said Monumentum quasi monimentum a Monument for admonition that we fear God and rebel not like Achan that perished fearfully c. The Papists will not leave Achan thus and remove him from Joshuahs hands and the Valley of Achor where he suffered into Purgatory But by what proof or warrant or Enditement Expect an Exposition fit for the nimble brains of the Colledge of Jesuits Achan was stoned with stones and then he died Afterward he and all he had were burnt with fire viz. Opera ejus accensa sunt in Purgatorio he and his works were burnt in Purgatory A likely matter since Joshuah was commanded to burn him and not the Devil Do you think Columbus that found out the fourth part of the world could have found out this third place to receive souls in which is neither Heaven nor Hell The Devil is much beholding to his Advocates that have made him not only Prince of darkness but that which God never made him Prince of Purgatory Some perchance will go a thought further and pronounce a fearful sentence that this man was wiped for ever out of the book of the living That is periit at the height the Lord bless us from it But St. Chrysostom was more mild and charitable As the digging of the earth says the Father and the plowing of it may seem but churlish usage yet that is the way to make it fruitful Ita magis erat Achani salutare supplicium quam aliis impunitas So Achan might go sooner to
perfume the sweetness overcomes our sence Here 's one line for a copy and enough to be taken out at one time Vnto you is born this day c. The Text cannot be divided into equal parts for here is one word among them which not only in this place but wheresoever you find it it is like Saul higher by head and shoulders then all the rest As Painters and Guilders write the names of God in glass or upon the walls with many rays and flaming beams to beautifie it round about so the name of Saviour is the great word in my Text and all that is added beside in other circumstances is a trail of golden beams to beautifie it First then with reverend lips and circumcised ears let us begin with the joyful tidings of a Saviour 2. Here 's our participation of him in his Nature natus he is born and made like unto us 3. It is honourable to be made like us but it is beneficial to be made for us and natus vobis unto you is born a Saviour 4. Is not the use of his Birth superannuated the virtue of it long since expir'd no 't is fresh and new as a man is most active when he begins first to run hodie natus he is born this day 5. Is he not like the King in the Gospel who journeyed into a far Country extra orbem solisque vias quite out of the way in another world no the circumstance of place points his dwelling to be near in civitate David he is born in the City of David 6. Perhaps to make him man is to quite unmake him shall we find him able to subdue our enemies and save us since he hath taken upon him the condition of humane fragility yes the last words speak his excellency and power for he is Christus Dominus such a Saviour as is Christ the Lord for unto you is born this day in the City of David c. The beginning of our days work is from that word which magnifies him that is the word of God above all things for he is a Saviour Time was when the children of Israel had rather Moses should speak unto them than God Speak thou with us and we will hear but let not God speak with us lest we dye Exod. xx 19. Now let Israel say let not Moses speak with us nor the Law for then we shall surely die Above all tongues let the Angel speak with us that proclaims a Saviour and we shall surely live If all comfort in the world were forgotten nothing but darkness and weeping and captivity over all the earth yet here 's a word which is enough to turn all that sorrow into gladness yea to turn Hell it self into Heaven This day is born unto you a Saviour it comprehends all other names of Grace and blessing as Manna is said to have all kind of sapors in it to please the taste When you have call'd him the glass in which we see all truth the fountain in which we taste all sweetness the ark in which all precious things are laid up the pearl which is worth all other riches the flower of Jesse which hath the savour of life unto life the bread that satisfieth all hunger the medicine that healeth all sickness the light that dispelleth all darkness when you have run over all these and as many more glorious titles as you can lay on this one word is above them and you may pick them all out of these syllables a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. Abraham could endure to live in a strange Land nay he could endure to want his only Son Isaac if God pleas'd Elias could want his bodily sustenance for forty days John Baptist could want the comfort of all society in the Wilderness Peter could leave all he had and want his substance Paul could live in bonds and want his liberty Paphnutius could want his eyes yea the Martyrs for Christs sake could want their lives but they could not be without the redemption of their soul they could not want a Saviour The Prophet Isaiah hath foretold that the heaven and earth should joyn their strength together to make a Saviour Isa xlv 8. Drop down the heavens from above and let the earth open and let them bring forth salvation that 's the effect and the 15. verse speaks of the person O God of Israel the Saviour The heavens must drop down from above and the earth must open and concur beneath the whole universe must be put together the Divine Nature and the Humane tantae molis erat to make a Saviour To confuse the Jews with this place I have read of a learned Scribe of theirs one Rabbi Accados who wrote thus before the coming of Christ that the Messias should come into the world to save men and the Gentiles should call him Jesus or the Saviour of the world Indeed the Gentiles did not only do so after our Saviours ascension into Heaven being taught unto it by the Apostolical preaching but in the time of Idolatry which is very strange Tully says in the 4. Oration against Verres that he saw an Image at Syracuse in Sicily with this Inscription upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Saviour and he admires at the strong significancy of the word Hoc quantum est magnum est ut latine exprimi uno verbo non possit to give salvation or to be a Saviour is such an appellative that all the Latine tongue was not furnished with a word to set it forth But what if their language could have fit it that 's nothing unless the soul do unite it to it self and write it upon the tables of the heart But that the name may not be an empty sound to us as it was to them consider these three things 1. With what honour it was impos'd 2. What excellency it includes 3. What reverence it deserves For the first of these an honour in the imposition of a name will ever stick by the person and the origen hereof came from the chiefest that is above all Phil. ii 9. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name It was ever of old in the right of the Father to give a name unto his child Zachary when he could not speak call'd for writing tables to appoint the name of John the Baptist therefore Christ having no Father on earth his Father gave him a name from Heaven His Father gave it but he did commit it to the trust of an Angel to bring it for the Angel was the first that ever mention'd it to Joseph the husband of Mary in a dream Thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins Matth. i. 21. God gave it the Angel brought it and men did assign it the eighth day when he was circumcised his name was called Jesus which was so named of the Angel before he was conceived in the Womb. Hereupon Bernard casts in
Observation of days touching the very labour of the Cattel in the field and what not It was a burden as the Apostles testifie which neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear yet there was sweetness in all this because it was done for the Lords sake though the task had been stricter David did well set forth the condition of the Law unto what great bondage it did captivate a man in these words Behold O Lord how that I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thine handmaid a servant in extremity of thraldom and therefore it was repeated a Servant born for partus sequitur ventrem he must needs be so that was the Son of an handmaid he was born to be circumcised and to be a debtor to the whole Law Such were all they that boasted themselves to be the only freemen in the world because they were the Sons of Abraham Nay Simeon was not only such a Servant as I have hitherto described bridled under the Pedagogy of Moses Law but out of the relative terms of my Text I will shew that he was in greater subjection and aw for how doth he call the Lord here Not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Lord that had power of life and death over his Vassal you shall not find it used again in all the four Evangelists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Favorinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Lord of a bondman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a freeman that is an hired servant I have plaid the Critick enough such servants those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were anciently called so not because they were paid for their labour which they did undergo in drudgery but because they were taken by hostility and their lives were forfeited to the Conquerour who had power to slay them yet spared them and resigned them up into their hands that would lay down a ransom for them So Simeon confesseth that God had the power of life and death over him when he might have killed him out of his clemency he spared him Behold a Servant then and such as he was such were all the Jews a man under the yoke of the Law and under the power of death But behold as this day the Deliverer was born and did quite change the copy of our service Christ as God did put the Church under the servitude of the Law but being made man he hath exempted us to the liberty of the Gospel and though we shall all die through that sentence which cannot be repealed yet if we believe that he hath given himself a ransom for us and live unto righteousness we shall not die unto condemnation But that you may know what kind of servants they are that retain to that family whereof God takes the care and administration mind the character of Simeon which the Holy Ghost gives him in the verses preceding my Text for his Calling it is obscurely past over thus there was a man in Jerusalem Galatinus says out of the Rabbins that one Simeon the just was the Master of the great Doctor Gamaliel and that may very well light upon this Simeon Much hath been urged to prove him to be a Priest but to no purpose Salmeron and Tolet alledge that when a child came to be presented to the Lord the Priest took the child out of the arms of his Mother and did not restore him again till he was redeemed for five Shekles of Silver according to the Law Num. xviii but how will they prove that a Child might not light into the arms of some other incidentally as well as into the arms of the Priest Yea but Simeon blessed Joseph and Mary ver 34. that is a Sacerdotal action Nay not always old Jacob blessed Pharaoh and every Prophet is an instrument of Benediction At the last heave says Tolet it is an old tradition of the Church to paint him in a Priestly Vesture an hard refuge when they refer us for a proof to Pictures and not to the Word of God Whether the Priesthood or the Layty may challenge him for theirs I know not one thing I know that he was a just man and waited for the consolation of Israel a pious holy Father a frequenter of the Temple a man uncompounded with the world but this was his righteousness that he lookt for the blessed off-spring God and man whom the Lord would send to redeem his Saints You will say perhaps did not all the Jews expect the Messias What did he more than other men Why herein he did exceed them that they did not look for such benefits from the Messias as Simeon did such spiritual refreshment for the soul and for the spirit Then the common sort of people lookt for Christ afar off he lookt for him just at that time near at hand As Joseph of Arimathea is said to look for the Kingdom of God that is to see Christ incarnate even then in the fulness of time Luke xxiii 51. Again others waited for Christ but carelesly without any earnest affection Simeon even languisht with longing and did passionately desire it St. Austin says that he did continually pray for the coming of Christ and often repeated that of David Psal lxxxv Shew us thy mercy O Lord and grant us thy salvation and then God answered him that he would fulfill his hearts desire Nicephorus tells us a vagrant story that Simeon was reading those words Isa vii Behold a Virgin shall conceive a Son and being sollicitous what that place should mean an Angel appeared and told him he should not die till he had seen that Babe with his eyes of whom Isaiah Prophesied This is certain the Holy Ghost had given him some great assurance of it The Spirit was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 25. not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only in him but upon him which signifies extraordinary assistance as when it is said the Spirit of the Lord is upon me Isa lxi You see now with what endowments of heavenly graces Simeon was enricht before he called himself the servant of the Lord. His modesty would give himself no better title yet our Saviour speaks better things of those that believed Henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth but I have called you friends c. Joh. xv 15. It is not the meaning that we shall ever out-grow the name of servant for even at the day of judgment in the time of our reward it shall be said Well done good and faithful servant But here it is we are all servants by debt and nature the Gospel stiles us friends by Covenant and Composition Before Christ was revealed God dealt with them of the Synagogue as with servants he did not reveal the mysteries of the Trinity of the Incarnation of the coming of the Holy Ghost if he did reveal them to the Prophets it was ex privilegio not ratione status it was by
that Herod had a Son born who was heir to the Crown they could not mean it for then they would never have made a question where he was born but have gone directly to his Fathers Palace Where should he be born else Besides all Herods Sons were grown to manly stature beside none of his children were born to any right of succession for in those days the Kingdom of Judaea was appointed to them who were most in favour with the Court of Rome But the meaning must be Where is that King of the Jews that is born That King of whom we have been told that all Nations shall worship and obey him For else what had they to do with the King of another Kingdom as St. Austin says Nisi â—am agnoscerent regem Judaeorum qui rex est etiam seculorum but that they acknowledge though Jury gave him birth yet all the world and all Ages should do him homage They do not say they came to see him upon his fame or upon any exploit that he ever yet did but upon the presages of that glorious Kingdom which should be his in time to come O the wonderful working of the Lord and O the power of his grace where he gives it an effectual blessing Some relations or traditions these Magi had had perhaps from no better hand than Balaams and his Successors with these poor means and with the help of the Star what Mysteries they pickt out of it God knows they make a better confession of their faith than the Jews did with the helps of all the Prophets Illi consitentur alienum regem isti proprium non agnoscunt yet these strangers did confess a foraign King as it were the Jews denied him though most principally he was their own They were angry to the death at Herod a stranger that he was their King now God opens them a royal way that they may have a King of their own if they will and yet they refuse him It is an argument of no small force to beat down infidelity that the heathen in most parts of the world did speak of an extraordinary King that was to come in that age and some of them directly pointed out Judea for the place Suetonius says that it stirred up the Jews to rebellion because there was a constant saying in all the Eastern Countries Perâ—rebuit in oriente toto vetus constans opinio mark it for these Wise-mens sakes Esse in fatis ut eo tempore Judaeâ profecti rerum potirentur That it was destined that about that time some should come out of Judea that should reign over all the world And that grave Author Cicero says a certain fellow whom he was angry at interpreted Sibyls verses that he whom we had or must have to be our King Appellandum esse regem si salviesse vellemus We must call him a King if we would be saved But he was no such King as Tully feared that would erect a Monarchy and destroy the liberty of the Senate I have been copious before you but lately that Christ was possessed of no temporal soveraignty in refutation that Satan shewed him all the Kingdoms of the world and said All these things will I give thee The Jews were angry with him that he would not meddle with temporal things but they themselves have lost all their temporalties for refusing him Christ was born a King as the world gave testimony in my Text and died a King as Pilate gave testimony in the title upon his Cross Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews Nor was he simply a King allotting him a spiritual Kingdom as I have lately discoursed upon it but a King of Kings anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellows I will make him my first-born higher than the Kings of the earth Psal lxxxix 28. His Kingly Office is part of his Mediatorship by which he reconciles us to God and saves us from our sins and cloaths us with righteousness And to understand that point of faith clearly these are qualities of his Kingly Office 1. To choose out his own Subjects that is the members of his Church 2. To give them Laws to keep 3. To provide for their peace and to keep the enemy from them 4. To call all the world before him in the last and universal Judgment But that legislation the appointing of Laws to his Subjects is the most conspicuous part of that Office in this life and believe the Prophet Ezech. for it Chap. xxxvii 24. David my servant shall be King over them and they shall all have one shepherd they shall also walk in my judgments and observe my Statutes to do them You see wherein the Kingdom of the Son of David consists to give us Statutes and Judgments to do them He commands the heavens above as it seems by this Star and who are we that should not obey him Quis est iste rex tam parvus tam magnus nondum in terris loquens in coelis edicta proponens What King is this says St. Austin so little for he is but new born and yet so great an Infant that hath not yet spoken and yet his Edicts are kept in heaven We are willing and content at his Priestly office that he should die for us on the Cross and intercede for us to his Father we are willing he should be our Prophet to teach us and will you make his Kingly Office stand for a Cypher Shall he not give us Law and bind us to his Commandments That Office stands for all the rest and the Wise-men ask about it instead of all beside Where is be that is born King of the Jews So I have done with their Question And I have need to make haste to the first of their Assertions which is very copious in the contents Vidimus enim stellam ejus in oriente for we have seen his Star in the East The particulars to be inquired into are 1. What was the substance of this Star 2. How it appeared in the East 3. What aptitude there was in such a sign or miracle to bring them to Christ 4. Why it is appropriatively called his Star 5. Whether there were no secret illumination an invisible but a better star than this which made them true believers These sayings of the Wise-men troubled all Jerusalem says the next verse and no marvel for they have troubled the whole common-wealth of Learning ever since what this Star should be All Authors meet in one consent that this could be no star fix'd and remaining in the Firmament aloft for how can it be imagined that any of those heavenly lights so remote could point to one Country more than another to a little Village in that Country nay to a Stable in that Village 2. Natural Creatures are no convenient presages of the supernatural works of God Moreover they that swallow it down without mistrust that the Star went along with the Wise-men all the way from the
is able to make use of any of his Creatures as well as of the tongue of man to set forth his glory The Synagogue of the Jews was wont to have Prophets to teach them but there was not a Prophet more heard in their Land from Malachi to John the Baptist in five hundred years What skills it The Lord can make a Prophet out of any thing in the world Cessante linguâ Prophetarum Deus loquutus est per stellâ—s When Prophesies do fail in the Tongues of men the Stars of heaven shall Prophesie Secondly The Children of Israel as I have noted it before had a Pillar of safe conduct to go before their Army they were an innumerable multitude of people and had need of a fair mark to look upon why then at least it were requisite that these few Magi should have a little Star to grace their journey from the East to Jerusalem Surely the heavens would be as benign to set out the glory of the New Testament as to set out the glory of the Law and the dignity of Christ doth exceed the dignity of Moses as much as an heavenly Star doth exceed a Cloud which is but a vapour nay there are more odds in the comparison Thirdly it was expedient that his Nativity and coming into the world should be attended with great light as his Death and going out of the world brought darkness upon the face of the earth Novam stellam declaravit natus qui antiquum solem obscuravit occisus says St. Austin The true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world was pointed at by a miraculous light when he came into the world and so much or rather so little what aptitude there was in this Star to bring the Magi to our Saviour There are some scruples likewise upon the fourth Question why it is appropriatively called his Star For we have seen his Star in the East The Priscillianists with as much dotage as heresie call'd it the Star of Christ because this Star had some dominion over his Geniture for they speak in the Phrase of judicial Astrologers that impute the actions and events of a mans life to the Horoscope of the Zodiack or Planet under which he was born Vain Philosophy but more vain Divinity Vain Philosophy and very strange it is that it should have any credit to this day after it hath been found out false in so many thousand Prognostications If they happen to foretell one thing right they make ostentation of it before all the world which was mere accident and no cunning but their mistakes and errors are at least a thousand to one true Prediction How often says Tully have I heard those Chaldeans promise long life and prosperous death to Caesar Crassus and Pompey and many others whose ends have been lamentable Therefore he concludes with Panaetius the Stoick that all Astrology is vain when it comes to Prediction Why should not the Stars be as full of influence and vertue over any part of mans life as over his birth-hour And why not much rather over the first minute of conception which no man can guess at than over the first minute of our birth Certainly the contagion of the heavens or temperament of the Stars is nothing to that hour for we see the Child for the most part follow the complexion and condition of the Parents and many by Art and Industry rid themselves of those imperfections wherewith they were born What moment of day or night wherein many Infants are not brought forth into the world some did hap to be born at the same moment with the renowned Affricanus but says the Orator Nunquis talis fuit Was there ever such another Scipio for all the nativivity of some hapned in the same moment Nothing more deceitful more offensive in curiosity more unjudicious than that which is called Judicial Astrologie St. Austin professeth that he excluded out of the Church one of those that would set down the fate of mens lives as they called it by the Conjunction of Stars either raigning at their birth or some other time of their life and would not admit him into the society of Christ again without publick and solemn repentance But the Divinity of the Priscillianists was far more corrupt than their Philosophy that delivered blasphemy to their Disciples saying this Star is called Christs because it had dominion in his Nativity Whereas Christs Nativity depended not on the Star but the Star on Christs Nativity It did not only serve Christ but it served his servants For the Israelites removed from place to place as the Cloud did give the sign but this Star removed from place to place as the Wise-men had occasion for their journey Non stella fatum pueri sed is qui apparuit fatum stellae fuit says Gregory The Star was not the Fate of the Child but this Child was the Fate of that Star The motion of that bright Creature did not move him but he ordained the motion of it And the Wise-men knew him hereby to be the King of heaven because the lights of heaven or this light as good as they did serve and obey him Chrysologus his elegancy must not be forgotten Stella haec ministra viae non vitae non dominantis Domina sed ancilla servorum This Star had no influence upon the life of the Child but was a Lanthorn to the paths of the Wise-men It was not a Lord over our Master but a Minister to our Masters Servants the coronis of the point shall be St. Austins words Non ad decretum dominabatur sed ad testimonium famulabatur The Star which they saw had no regency over him they sought but it was a testimony that he whom they sought was Christ the Lord. St. Chrysostom argues upon it the Magi knew no more from the Star but that the King of the Jews was born 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. but that is not the profession of an Astronomer to know who is born but what things shall come to pass hereafter upon the Nativity of them that are born So having cleared that Question from the authority and reasons of those grave Writers the fifth observation upon the Star is positively thus to be set down that there was a secret illumination an invisible but a better Star than this which made the Magi true believers Some who were mentioned before did see the assistance of the Holy Ghost so manifestly in the direction of this journey that they profess'd it their opinion how the Holy Ghost appeared now in the form of this Star as once after he manifested Christ in the shape of a Dove There is a day Star which riseth in our hearts says the Apostle 2 Pet. i. 19. It was an influence into the heart and not an object in the eye which made the Wise-men dispatch this journey to come and worship Christ Cathedram habet in coelo qui corda docet his Cathedral
me yet they are not so uncharitable to bid Anathema to any in so disputable a point I am sure St. Austin having disputed on both sides concludes he would not strive eagerly with him that should say sins were remitted in the Baptism of John meaning it did not essentially differ from the Baptism of Christ yet I will end with this third observation that in some less principal respects the Baptism of Christ doth exceed the Baptism of John I will name five distinctions 1. In formâ verborum John baptized in the name of the Messias that came after him Acts xix 4. and it was more advantage to teach it to every of the Jews as he baptized them one by one than to proclaim it to the whole multitude But Christ bade his Disciples choose another form and for that he would not take all honour to himself it must be in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost 2. They differ in amplitudine nationum John medled with none but such as were within the Regions of Judea Christ bad his Disciples to except no people but to wash all Nations from their sins 3. Christs Baptism transcends Johns in varietate personarum for it sounds not to likelihood that John baptized Infants they could not confess their sins nor learn the doctrine of Repentance nor be taught the coming of the Messias such only came to him But Christs Baptism pertains to little ones and his spirit was poured out upon all flesh your Sons and Daughters shall Prophesie and your young men see visions 4. Christs Baptism hath the upper hand in gradibus efficaciae the Spirit is more operative in Baptism since Christ did go to his Father to send us the Comforter than ever it was before 5. It is greater than Johns baptism in modo necessitatis The Sacraments of the New Testament had the seeds of life in them from the first institution and they were good to the receiver but they were not imposed by necessary commandment till the old Law was quite abolished and that was at the Resurrection says Leo or at the farthest in other mens opinions at the feast of Pentecost So Johns baptism was always good never necessary Christs baptism is always good is and ever will be necessary unto the end of the world These are less principal differences the substance of both being the same for one thing yet remains to be proposed that the Baptism of John opened the gate unto everlasting life as some have shewed by an Allegorical reason taken from the place where John did baptize Christ in Jordan says this Text not a private dipping in a Chamber and of all other places of Jordan it was Bethabara Joh. i. 28. which is being interpreted Domus transitus the house of passing over even in all likelihood where Joshuah divided Jordan and passed over into the Land of Promise this is the circumstance of place which I propounded the fortunate seat where this work was done to betoken that as Joshuah brought the twelve Tribes at that very standing through the River into that pleasant Land which was promised to Abraham so Jesus will bring us through the sprinkling of water into the Kingdom of heaven AMEN THE SECOND SERMON UPON THE Baptism of our Saviour MAT. iii. 14. But John forbad him saying I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me IN which Text you may see that ancient Sentence verified how an ambitious man is afraid left too little honour be cast upon him and an humble man is afraid of too much Our blessed Saviour saw multitudes of Penitents coming to John to be baptized and to confess their sins Among these people whose iniquities stood in need of cleansing he steps in for one into the River Jordan not to receive Sanctification unto himself but to sanctifie the waters unto others O exceeding dignity far above all honour that ever was vouchsafed to any Prophet for to which of them was it said at any time Dip thine hand in water and anoint the head of my Son And therefore Christ was pleased to give this Character of John that he was more than a Prophet More than a Prophet not only in the Office which he sustained to be the immediate fore-runner of the Messias but more than any Prophet or Patriarch in the expression of his humility Jacob wrestled with God but it was to get a blessing from his Angel he would not be denied John the Baptist wrestles with the Son of God to decline the blessing which was brought before him and fain he would be denied His hand shrunk up and durst not attempt to pour water upon his head who is the immortal head of the Church visible and invisible both of men and Angels He thought it no sin to disobey when he was required to such a work which in his eyes appeared far too excellent for any creature Therefore conceive him modestly starting back and making this reply to our Saviour Lord why dost thou tempt thy servant Why wouldst thou put the Potter into the hand of the Clay What is it to thee to be dipt in water Whose precious Bloud shall wash away all sins and mine in the reckoning among the rest Behold this exact humility more than any Prophet exprest how John forbad him to be baptized saying I have need to be baptized c. The matter of the Text may be handled in these three several Points 1. The Baptist did declare how jealous he was of Gods honour therefore the Text says he forbad Christ to come under the Ministry of a Sacrament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he would fain have put him by thinking it ignoble for the Lord of all Lords to descend so low 2. He disables himself and makes profession of his own vileness and infirmity I have need to be baptized of thee 3. He ends with the admiration of his Saviours humility And comest thou to me Yet again I will consider him in the exercise of the three spiritual vertues Faith Hope and Charity 1. He believed this was the Christ as soon as ever he saw him and that made him interpose to forbid him stoop so low as to be baptized there was his faith 2. He confesseth that he relies upon him to be baptised with his Spirit and to be saved through his merits there is his hope Lastly he breaks out into an extasie of admiration as soon as ever he saw him like old Simeon that sung a Canticle for joy Comest thou to me O thou expectation of the World O thou desire of our eyes There was his ardent love these are his Faith his Hope his Love and remember that every tittle of his praise is the rule of your practise Set your attentions now upon the first part of the Text that John was jealous of our Saviours honour and forbad him to be baptized The interpretation of the word certainly is not so harsh as it may be thought to
so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until he have mercy upon us 2. Tu venis Dost thou come in humility Dost thou come in infirmity Let it suffice to say to that who should be humbled but God to expiate for the pride of man No humility could be meritorious but from him who in his own person did abound with glory an humble Prince is a rare sight a beggar if he be not humbled there is nothing more disdainful if our soul cleave unto the earth it deserves no reward for such a poor estate belongs to our sinful condition but if the Son of God come down from heaven and make himself less than the Angels that humility is stupendious and will satisfie for our presumption And as humility was infinitely meritorious in Christ so it became him to be suspected for infirmity Factus quasi unus ex aegrotis eo gratior erat medicus in that he would seem to be sick for our sakes it was more chearful to us that he became our Physician 3. Ad me venis Thou who aboundest with all things dost thou address thy self to him that wants When Solomon had built a most stately Temple to the Lord He admired that God would come down into it in the brightness of his glory But will God indeed dwell on earth The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee how much less this house which I have builded Alas here was no such sumptuous receptacle at Jordan to entertain Christ and comest thou to me Let it suffice to say He that would suffer by the hands of cruel enemies would make no difficult thing to be baptized of a friend Did he endure that Judas should kiss and betray him What marvel if he did permit a good Prophet to wash and anoint him to his Priestly Office Thus St. Austin to good purpose Did Christ admit a servant to baptize his heavenly Master Nullus à conservo non dignetur accipere Then let no man think his fellow servant too mean an Instrument to offer him the blessing of the Sacraments Good news were brought by Leapers to Samaria and they were entertain'd with joyfulness Let him be a Leaper let him be a sinful man to whom the dispensation of Gods mysteries is committed yet his weakness shall not diminish from the invisible power of Christ who in all Congregations and at all times is the High Priest that blesseth the outward means for the use of thy salvation If Judas did baptize it was not hurtful to them that did partake of his Ministry a leaden Seal may imprint the stamp of God upon thy soul as well as one of better mettal Should Paul refuse to warm himself because Barbarians did kindle the fire 4. Comest thou to me that baptize none but unto remission of sins Let it suffice to say unto it out of the Lyturgy of our own Church that Christ did sanctifie the floud Jordan and all other waters to the mystical washing away of sin Therefore he came no otherwise to Jordan than as his Angel is said to come down into the Host to battel Non ad periclitandum sed ad vincendum not as if danger could come near unto himself but to repel danger that might come near to his own people but of this I must make a full treatise the next day and at this time no reason so ponderous as his own by which he helpt John Baptist out of doubt Suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us c. These words Christ spake to John in a double style of speech Sicut Dominus imperans sicut Magister docens As a Lord by his absolute power over his Subject Suffer it to be so now As a Master willing to instruct his Disciple For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness In the first of these I will be brief the latter is of more copious observation Suffer it to be so now A word to the wise is enough says the Proverb it seems so that John Baptist was aw'd with these two short words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suffer it to be so now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now he means in the state of exinanition being made of no reputation among men and having taken upon him the form of a servant in this low condition the Son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to lay down his life for many therefore howsoever the days will come that the world shall see him in his power and great glory yet suffer it to be so now One distinction therefore makes all streight and even between Christ and his fore-runner For let the person of our Saviour be considered God and man united together so John was not mistaken if he thought it unexpedient for him to be baptized But weigh him in another scale in his Office of Mediator as he came to do all servile things thereby to gain unto us the adoption of Sons so he must bring that most desired work to pass by Baptism Fasting and Tentation by his Agony and bloudy Sweat by his Cross and Passion by his precious Death and Burial and through all other shapes of Poverty Vileness and Humiliation My Beloved there is such an exceeding distance such an interval between the most excellent person of Christ and the lowliness of his Office that the conceit of an Arch-angel is not able to measure it Videas potentiam regi sapientiam instrui virtutem sustentari says Bernard You may see him that had all rule in heaven and earth obey and be govern'd the wisdom of the Father taught and instructed that vertue which holds up all things it self supported Let me not lose a Syllable of that Fathers Elegancy in this Point Videas pavere fiduciam salutem pati vitam mori fortitudinem infirmari That which gives us all confidence it self did fear and was amazed safty it self did suffer strength it self was weak life it self did die Thus eloquence runs wittily upon this discord the most glorious person and the most inglorious Office of our Saviour St. Austin makes Elisha the Type of our Saviours humiliation by very agreeable proportions when he raised up the dead child of the Shunamite to life Elisha sent his servant Gebazi with his Staff before him so the Law came into the world by Moses long before the Incarnation of our Saviour At last the Prophet made hast in his own person Venit grandis ad parvulum salvator ad salvandum vivus ad mortuum The great one came to the little one the Saviour to that which was lost the living to that which was dead And as Elisha laid every part of his body upon the Child and so shrunk up his body to make it no larger than the childs body So Christ did make himself equal to us little ones Vt efficeret corpus humilitatis nostrae conforme corpori gloriae suae to make our vile bodies conformable to his most glorious body Finally as that
the witness is born the Eternal Father witnesseth to his Eternal Son Thou art my Son The best way to know so much concerning the eternal Generation of Christ as sufficeth for a good Christian is to speak little of it Among the Gods there is none like unto thee O Lord says David among the Sons of God none like unto that Son who is the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father Joh. i. 18. Other Sons I will declare by and by are adopted by his grace Sons not begotten but by denomination of good liking as it is Mat. v. 9. Blessed are the peace-makers for they shall be called the children of God but Christ is the only begotten being of the same substance with the Father for surely that doth rightly explicate the Phrase to be in the bosom of the Father not as the Arians would evade it that to be in the bosom was to be the well-beloved of the Father God loved the world and most dearly such as believed yet where do ye read that such are said to be in his bosom It is a word by St. Chrysostoms exposition which agrees to Christ alone wrapping up much sense as it were in a Syllable that he is of the same substance the same power the same knowledge with his Father lying in his bosom and participant of all his secrets Sinus est divinitatis arcanum in quo est filius That bosom is the secret essence of the Father by which he made all things and knows all things and there is the Son To be called a Father after the manner of men rests upon three things 1. That the Son have his being from part of his substance that begets him then a Picture cannot be said to be the Son but the work of him that draws it 2. Father and Son must be of the same nature and species then the Heaven is not the Father of Flies and Gnats though the heat of the Sun begets them 3. It must be a living thing that begets another living thing in its own likeness then fire is not the father of fire though one spark kindles another But God begets a Son without these conditions and exceptions for his Son is not such another but consubstantial Not a part divided from the Fathers substance to make him but of the same substance with the Father Yet there is another ground of difference laid down by St. Austin that among us it hapneth to a man to be a Father and is contingent But in God it is no hapning accidental thing The Father was always a Father and the Son was always a Son And though he be a Father by a relative notion and not according to his substance yet nothing is said to be in God by accident as if he were mutable That peculiarity of a Son in Christ distinguisht from us is best set down by St. Paul with least curiosity Rom. viii 32. God spared not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Filio proprio non pepercit we read he spared not his own Son That Translation doth not altogether satisfie me for at the third verse of the same Chapter we read God sent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own Son in the similitude of sinful flesh but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is more emphatical he spared not his own proper Son Therefore though we be truly called Sons yet not so properly as Christ But David would be any thing though it were but a door-keeper to be in the house of the Lord so let us be stiled which way soever the Sons of God and it sufficeth Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God And tu es Filius say the Fathers upon my Text comports that the captivity and servitude of the Old Law is changed into the liberty of Sons Adoptio est similitudo filiationis naturalis Adoption makes him that was not born a Son be taken into the similitude of a Son And we have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear that was the condition of the Law but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father What an Ocean of comfort breaks into our soul upon this Meditation Five thousand Cubits higher than all the comforts of this world as the waters in the time of Noah are said to be fifteen Cubits higher than the tallest Mountains For first If we be Sons of God Christ will not refuse us to call us Brethren Yea when he was risen from the dead in his glory he sent Mary Magdalen to his Disciples saying Go tell my Brethren Secondly To be exalted to be a Son doth enfranchise us to take the inheritance of the Kingdom of heaven For if Sons then heirs heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ Rom. viii 17. Thirdly If Sons it is a great word but I speak it by authority of Scripture then we are Gods Psal lxxxii 6. I have said ye are Gods and ye all are children of the most highest For God made his Son participant of our infirmity that by the merit of his humiliation we might be made participants of his Divinity And besides Consolation great names are great Engagements O what a strict exercise of holiness and obedience lies upon his soul that will be called the child of God Noli degenerare a praecelsis cogitationibus filiorum Dei Degenerate in nothing beneath that high cogitation how thou art become the Son of the most high Should I that am made partaker of divine Parentage surfet my body with meats and drunkenness Why it is loathsom in a Swine Should I satisfie my lust promiscuously against the bond of Matrimony Why it is odious in a Dog Or should the Sons of light lay snares in the dark to malice and despite the innocent O it is detestable in the Devil Be not a foolish Son to dishonour your heavenly Father It is observed in many of the noble Romans Cato Scaurus Cicero Antoninus how they were unhappy in nothing so much as that they had Posterity for their vicious branches blemish'd the glory of the root from which they sprung So a dissolute Christian makes that venerable name of Father come into contempt and reproach Mallem videre de malis editum quà m de bonis lapsum as Cassianus said It were better for a Reprobate that his Father were an Amorite and his Mother an Hittite than to be a stain to the heavenly Parentage when he is called to be a Son of God It was the motive which St. Austin pressed from the example of the Heathen if Varro was not ashamed to encourage valiant men to think themselves descended from Jupiter and Hercules or some other heathen Puppit though they belied their knowledge that the fancy of coming from such Progenitors might provoke them to great Atchievements Then a Christian is engaged to all manner of Divine and very Heroical works of godliness when his heart shall
sancti factum est ut quae obscura sunt in Scripturis per apertiora possunt illustrari says St. Austin God hath compounded easie places with difficile that you may have some fruit ready to reap and some to be gathered and expected hereafter unto the ends of the world As we read of Manna that it was saporous to all Palates and every man might taste in Manna whatsoever he loved to taste so the Scripture hath all good relishes in it taste and try and it wants nothing which is delightful for the soul unto salvation No Book in the world hath so many rewards for vertue no Edicts set forrh by all the Princes of the world so many punishments for iniquity no store-house among all the Papers in the world so full of consolation such lofty wisdom delivered in all simplicity such fortitude commanded with so much sufferance and patience such strict justice observed with so much equity and forgiveness is not to be found elsewhere beneath the Sun save in those Volumes of the Holy Ghost Let your eyes love to gaze upon this Fountain as the Doves in the Canticles are said to gaze upon the waters and if you will gaze upon them with a Dove-like innocency you will read them for these five ends First You see in my Text that Christ quotes them to repel the Devil He fought against the Flesh by fasting against the wicked World by retiring into the solitary Wilderness but against the Devil with the authority of the Word of God You shall seldom meet with an Apollos that is mighty in the Scripture with such a one as Antonius of Padua who was called Arca Testamenti by them that admired his cunning in the Scripture his memory was like the Ark wherein the Law of God was laid up seldom shall you find such a man but he will over-master at least the very criminal and notorious suggestions of the Devil Secondly Read them to learn Christ and his glory in them for this end our Saviour directed the Pharisees to Moses and the Prophets and the Beraeans are stiled more noble than those of Thessalonica because when Paul preached Jesus they searched the Scriptures whether those things were so Acts xvii 11. Thirdly Read them for the consolation of that glory which is laid up for you These things were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. xv 4. All the Traditions in the world beside leave the mind fluctuating and miserably uncertain into what state hereafter the soul shall be received Fourthly Read them to be instructed in the study of Piety and good Works to the glory of God Thou hast known the Scriptures from a child to make thee wise unto Salvation says Paul to his Timothy in that 2 Epist iii. 15. In all the exhortatives and Pandects of Laws which the Heathen made there was not only the omission of some excellent vertues but the permission the very institution of some notorious vices Fifthly Read the Scriptures not to engender questions as very many do but to produce Peace and to be the end of all Controversies To keep up Discords when the Law and Gospel is in our hand to decide them nay to enflame the more because we have waters from the Well of life to quench them is Satans imperial device he is now grown so cunning to wring what he list out of the sacred Text that he presumes Scriptum est shall little hurt him And to the end the Scripture may be more unapt to cut off Controversies the sharpest Controversies in the Church are raised upon the very Scripture As 1. upon the incorruption of the sacred Text. 2. Upon the validity of Translations 3. By augmenting them with Apocryphal Books that are not inspired by the Holy Ghost 4. By interposing they are an incomplete rule without unwritten traditions 5. That they prove nothing indubitably without the unanimous consent of pure antiquity 6. That all the Lay part or at least the unlearned are to be interdicted the reading and possessing them as well because of their obscure sense as because the ignorant may suck out of them the venom of Heresie 7. They jossle the Church and Scripture together which should be superiour 8. They have wrangled themselves almost into Atheism that they know no way but by an historical faith or mans testimony that this is the Writ of God Thus because the Scriptures are given to overthrow the Kingdom of Satan Satan hath done his endeavour by these bad instruments to overthrow the Scriptures But I say again Beloved let us read them not to increase the rent of the Church but to moderate contentions and to stop the gap Thus St. Austin in a sweet strain of concord to please both God and man Fratres sumus quare litigamus Non intestatus mortuus est pater c. We are brethren and therefore should not strive especially since the Will and Testament of our Father is before us to end all branglings Men fall out sometimes about the goods and inheritance of the dead but if a Will be found the quarrel is quickly taken up read how your Father hath bequeathed all things and you can ask no more Brethren we have the first and later Testament of our Father open them peruse them How do you read there Will you not stand to his Will and Ordination Why the Law will compel you As for a Father upon earth Jacet in monumento valent verba ipsius sedet Christus in coelo contradicitur testamento ejus He is rotten in his grave and yet his will given under the testimony of man quiets all suits Christ sits in heaven for ever and shall not his Testament confirmed by the Testimony of the Holy Ghost be an end of all Controversie So far I have pointed at the utility in reading and well using the holy Scripture because the Scripture is the seat of Christs Argument as I called it And more particularly he doth honour the Law so far as thrice together to quote none other but the words of Moses Moses whom above all the men in the world Satan hated as appears by his striving with the Angel about the body of Moses to advance the Text of Moses against Satan was lapides loqui not to turn stones into bread but to turn his words into stones and to cast them at him Moses is truly called Oceanus Theologiae the Ocean from whence all the Prophets since his time did borrow their divinity Aquo seu fonte perenni vatum divinis ora rigantur aquis Moses his Pen was the first that ever drew History For when Alexander the Great took Babylon his Preceptor Aristotle was most diligent to preserve and examine the most ancient Histories in the Babylonian Libraries and their Computations come short of Moses above two thousand years Moses his subject so admirable as none to be compared The Creation of the world the first foundations of
Such another example is scarce to be found as that of David whose Cup was filled brim-full God magnifies his bounty towards him by the mouth of Nathan I gave thee thy Masters house and the house of Israel and Judah 2 Sam. xii 8. yet these were but the narrow Territories of the Land of Canaan far from this insatiable Possession All these things will I give thee The prodigal Child in the Parable though a most rank consumer yet this evil Spirit had not entred into him for he desired no more of his Father than the portion of goods which fell unto him But the Devil cuts out no portions for his Minions he disciplines every one of them to aim at all that can be gotten to be like a rouling Snow-ball ever gathering and growing bigger and bigger Quis metus aut pudor est unquam properantis avari There is no such bridle as shame and modesty in the heart of him that makes haste to be rich I say he wants the bridle of shame I do not recal my word Either cruel Usury or pestilent Couzenage or base Corruption or sordid Penuriousness or unchristian slackness in Charity some of these must concur to raise up a mountain of Wealth from a mean beginning When Sylla that powerful Roman made very witty Apologies for those evil courses he took to oppress the Commonwealth one choak'd him with an unanswerable Objection that he could not be througly good that had scrap'd so great wealth together and was born to nothing God will bless and reward industry with gainful success that is to be presupposed and granted for the encouragement of those that are diligent in an honest Calling but these boundless gatherers that would know no end of getting have their Bank in the Devils Mart for it is he that bids them carry more and more that they shall never have load enough All these things will I give thee St. Austin very truly lays the crime of Covetousness not upon that abundance which a good rich man hath but upon the corruption of his will and upon that which he would have Avaritia est esse velle divitem non jam esse divitem It is no breach of Gods Commandment to be rich but to long and thirst for more They that will be rich says St. Paul fall into temptations and snares and many hurtful desires Dives qui fieri vult citò vult fieri Let fortune come in quickly though the Devil lead it by the hand Beware of these swelling purchasing imaginations that are ever reckoning upon more confine your heart to moderate contentation if you will live in peace Nay St. Chrysostome says the less you desire and want the less you shall live like a mortal man and the more like an immortal Angel Quanto paucioribus indigemus tanto magis Angelis appropinquamus But above all remember that God directs the soul to be contented with a little the evil Spirit would have you ingross the whole earth and perhaps he could suggest devices how a luxurious man might be able to spend all the wealth in the world if he had it but immense Projections for riches come from the motion of the evil one All these things will I give thee In the next place let us declare against these words of Satan that his gift is not more spacious than it is unjust He presents before Christ the whole earth and the fulness thereof and our Saviour look'd upon all those things not with the eye of concupiscence but as a Physician looks upon a disease without any passion of infirmity But Satan would be his very gracious Benefactor and put all into his hands Would he undertake it But what should become of that portion and possession in which every man was estated The poor man that had but one Ewe Lamb should he lose that Naboth that had but one field of his Fathers Inheritance should he be turned out of that Should the very Nervs of all Justice be crackt in sunder Meum and tuum be banish'd out of the world to make up this Donative This is like the condition which Saul required of David he would make David his son-in-Son-in-Law if he would give him two hundred fore-skins of the Philistins David must not only provide him that which was none of his own but be the destruction of two hundred men to give Saul a Present So Satan would rob the whole world to make up an excessive liberality A Legerdemain which he devised from the beginning to give that which was none of his own as when he gave Eve the forbidden fruit which God had both planted and reserved And this is the most tyrannical and unconscionable injustice in the world to wring and extort from one and to cast it away as wastefully and profusely upon another This was the familiar sport which the ancient Comaedians made it was sport with them that knew not God for a lustful young man to cozen his own Father and lavish it all upon some sumptuous Harlot This is the most remorseless prodigality of our own times to steal with one hand and to scatter it away most excessively with the other How many ungodly borrowers take up upon credit that which they can never restore and leave the Lender in the lurch to his utter undoing and this wicked shift is made not through necessity to satisfie nature but to be bountiful to such Ravens as pick from him upon his Creditors cost An incloser of Commons that draws out his sin the longer by depopulating the whole Village turns forth a swarm of poor People to the mercy of the wide world by whose ruins he advanceth his own Posterity Aristotle says that a Prodigal that gives away nothing but his own and draws himself dry by such neglectful spending is rather a fool than a vicious person but that Prodigal abounds as much with viciousness as the other doth with folly that cares not from whom he takes that he may be giving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is vicious indeed for 't is the Devils vein of giving saies my Text he considers not this mans right or that mans in his goods and chattels or what belongs to the Widow or Orphan absolutely all these things will I give thee Ina and Offa and some other Saxon Kings that reigned in this Island but they especially were the greatest Patrons to this Church of England that ever it enjoyed either before or since their dayes perhaps it would pose any Histories in the world to shew the like Yet I must tell you that the Bishop of Rome hath been a great giver to Religious Maintenances in this Kingdom and which is very strange it cost him nothing he was never the poorer For he gave away the greatest part of the Tythes in the Kingdom from the Parsonages and preaching Ministry to maintain contemplative men as they call'd them in Abbeys and Monasteries This was the first spawn of Impropriations now this is giving
Davids words Hei mihi quia incolatus meus prolongatus est Alass for me that I see any more days upon earth when I cannot see that we have kept that peace in the Church which we have received from our Fore-fathers And I forget not the Poetry of Theodore Beza he lived so long till he had made Elegies upon the Funerals of all his learned Friends at last he heard of a choice pair Gualter and Lavater that they were dead to honour whose memory thus he begins Semper ego infelix lugenda in funera fratrum vivam superstes omnibus Shall I unhappy out-live all my Brethren to make Epitaphs upon them He that sees many days and nights sees many calamities And therefore one said elegantly of John the Apostle who out-lived all his fellows but died not a Martyr as they did that to live to such an extreme old age was his Martyrdom Longaevitas Johanni Martyriam quoddam fuit Surely God multiplies the days of a good man oftentimes that he may please him the more by desiring death Do not deplore with Micah of Mount Ephraim that our false Gods are taken away but that we are so long kept from the true God Of this good desire of dissolution and departure Peter would deprive himself by affecting a phantastical kind of felicity in Mount Thabor Master it is good c. I call it fantastical felicity because it ariseth from the love of the flesh which thinks all is well enough when it is removed far enough from sorrow and trouble therefore I ask in the third place An bonum sit non effligi If that condition of life be well chosen in this world which appears as this did to Peter to be exempted from all affliction Solomon said no and he is to be believed when he speaks by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost Eccles vii 2. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting those were two diverse things in his days but now every house of mourning must be an house of feasting and banqueting but he adds Sorrow is better than laughter for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better What a petty Kingdom had this Apostle chosen for himself and his fellows a Paradise as he thought without thorn or briar no labour in it no exercise no adventuring for Christ no profit for the Church somewhat like Monastical Recluses every one in his Tabernacle and in such places where there is least stir there is the greatest tentation Is this the holy ground whereon he would set his feet and never depart No it was better for him when he walked unto his Master upon the waters of tribulation Danger is the best Centinel in the world to make us watch our enemies Fear is the best warning-bell to call us often to Prayer Tribulation is the best Orator to perswade us to humility O Lord in trouble have they visited thee and they poured out a Prayer when thy chastising was upon them Isa xxvi 16. If any man be afflicted let him pray says St. James but if any man be not afflicted let him fast and pray for he is in the greater danger Plato was requested to draw a book of Laws for the Commonwealth of the Cyrenians he said he would take time and they asked him how long He answered Till some great calamity befall the City for hitherto they had been so happy that no Law giver could appoint them such Rules as were fit to govern them And surely St. Austin was not of St. Peters mind he would not have chosen to inhabit in a Mountain devoid of all misery for he had proved the world and found it true Mundus ille periculosior est cum se allicit diligi quà m cum secogit contemni This world will bring more hurt about when it allures us to love it than when it vexeth us to hate it A pretty Fable is that in the Moralist of a man that sought Pearls upon the Sea-shore at a low tide he lighted upon many shells of good Pearl able to enrich him and he ventured upon the Shelves for more and more till the Tide came round about him and he could not scape with his life O says he I should have learnt wisdom of the God of Nature who cast these Gems loosely and regardlesly upon the Sea-shore as things rather to be lost than found At last he besought a fisherman who came that way to take all his Pearls for his pains and save his life in his Cock-boat As he was taken in an ambush of the Sea in the midst of his good fortune so mischief arrests the worldly man in the midst of prosperity When Peter was scourged by the High-Priests when he was imprisoned by Herod when he was under Nero in the Lions paw that devoured him these were good times for the health of his soul that as the outward man perished the inward man might be renewed dayly But to be in a brightsom pleasant habitation Grave est molestum est periculosum est says Gregory It was dangerous it was obnoxious to many inconveniences which will appear yet further by the fourth question An bonum sit in terrâ manere Is there any rest upon earth on which we may say It is good c. 4. Where shall the Dove rest his foot If we would be contented with the present state we enjoy yet all things will change and though all things should remain as they are and never change yet we would never be contented The Sea is a new Sea every Tide the earth is a new earth every month or every quarter at the longest distance the same mutability whirls us about and the things that we possess Whether I be upon Sea or Land upon Mount Tabor or upon Mount Hermon I carry my self about and shall be weary of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was a Cynical Philosopher indeed that ran over every kind of life as unsatiated with it but it was not Philosophy but the state of flesh and bloud that taught it him The City had no Recreation The Country no Society Studies of Arts were laborious Navigation perilous run over all the world and he would ask for somewhat which he wanted what content then could Peter take in one Hill though it were furnish'd with a most desirable Vision How quickly would it have cloy'd him to have been long there like a Lark hopping upon one turf of grass Though God prepare for us a new Heaven and a new earth yet he must give us a new heart likewise to delight in them forever For it is not the object alone but the disposition of the soul which receives it that must make us say When I awake up after thy likeness I shall be satisfied with it The Poets set down this case of St. Peter in a pretty Fiction that the Goddess Calypso offered Vlysses her pleasant Island to live there always and to be immortal upon it
therefore to what end without great error could he erect a Tabernacle there either for sacred or for civil use To make a Church or an Oratory in Heaven to praise the Lord was a most wandring fancy St. John says of that Vision which he saw in his Divine rapture before the Throne of God Templum non vidi in eâ I saw no Temple therein in that supernal City of God for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it Revel xxi 22. In this world we are gathered together into the House of God to make Prayers together to hear Instructions to dispense the Sacraments but in the next life these Forms shall cease for we shall have a most blessed Mansion in God himself as in a Divine Temple for ever So the Prophet Jeremy foretold that in the new World there shall be one Sabboth for ever but no Pastors to teach the Flocks no Sheep coats to drive the Flocks unto no Churches no Tabernacles for Divine Service but all things in a better estate and condition These are his words They shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest saith the Lord Jerem. xxxi 34. But the most Expositors take the words of the Apostle in relation to a civil use as if he would make small Sconces or Tabernacles upon the top of the Hill to shelter Christ and Moses and Elias from the injuries of the air Such things he had wanted himself when he was a Fisherman and spent his time and labour near about the Sea of Tiberias he did often miss a poor Shed to keep him from foul weather and now he knows not how to gratifie Christ and the two Prophets but by building Tabernacles that they might find no annoyance in the Mountain What if God had sent a Worm to make these Bowers he talked of wither of a sudden as the Gourd of Jonas came to nothing in a day where was his Shelter then if God had not made a better Heaven for man than man it seems would make for himself he should exchange this World for small advantage and pass from misery to infelicity Where God is seated in his holy places there is neither heat nor cold storm nor tempest no offence or affliction tuti sub matribus agni balatum exercent as safe as the nursling Child is in the bosom of the Mother in such safety and tranquillity the Saints are reposed with Christ above and therefore it is called Abrahans Bosom Hills are nearer to Gods Thunder said the Heathen Poets than the bottoms of the Valleys therefore this was no steady Anchor for a man to trust to though Mount Thabor had been never so high and although the plain fields are more obnoxious to the inundations of Seas and Rivers yet in the days of Noah the waters prevailed fifteen cubits higher than the tallest Mountains As for the glistering of Mount Thabor perhaps the Apostles who expected Christ should take upon him an earthly Kingdom they might swel in their heart and thinks it carried the semblance of a Princes Throne why the natural pulchritude of the Earth in one flower in a Lilly excels Solomon in all his Royalty how much more doth the supernatural glory of the Throne of God excel it The Son of Sirach speaks of the triumphing Majesty of Simon the Son of Onias and among other comparisons that he lookt like a Rainbow in a cloud of dew Ecclus 50.7 A Rainbow is mixt of fair colours and is a comfortable sign but it melts away presently in a cloud of dew such a dropping imaginary thing is all the glory upon earth a Rainbow in a cloud of dew There is an excellent passage to this purpose in the next verse when I come unto it Peter would have satisfied himself with that glory which bedazled him upon earth and while he was yet speaking there came a Cloud and overshadowed him and took that glory away Some dark Cloud interposeth it self and bedusks all worldly glory then shall we be left in fear as he was and that 's the sting which is ever in the tail of that admiration which thinks a slash of vain pomp is a very Heaven upon Earth So far we have seen what an unnecessary thing it was to propound the making of a Tabernacle at this time for wheresoever Gods glory doth appear there is protection and safety goes with it it was to as little purpose as if he would have built an Ark like Noah where there was no fear of a deluge The children of men shall be safe under the shadow of thy wings says the Psalmist there 's Tabernacle enough for all that fear him but Peter is excessive and would have a plurality of defences faciamus tria tabernacula let us make three Tabernacles Why shall Moses and Elias part one from another or shall both be disjoyned from Christ Herein St. Peter was no good Harbinger for these must lodg together Evangelium Lex Prophetae unum habent Tabernaculum Ecclesiam Dei the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the Commandments of the Law the Histories and Predictions of the Prophets make up one Catholick Church dispersed through all places of the World propagated through all the Ages of the World unus Pastor unum Ovile there is but one Shepherd and one Sheepfold and whom God hath joyned into one family let not man put asunder into three Tabernacles Non quaerere debes quà m prudenter hortabatur sed quà m fervens caritate Dei says St. Ambrose If you examine what the Apostle said by wisdom and sage judgment you shall find a great defect but if charity and zeal may cover a multitude of faults here is much to answer for him love is ready to commit faults by too much presumption but it is a good argument to excuse them Peters was an error of love and so to be passed over with a light reprehension but whosoever in these days shall set up three Tabernacles in the Church one for Christ one for Moses and one for Elias is a Schismatik As we have two eyes and yet they see but one object and two ears which hear but one sound so the Law and the Prophets and the Gospel are the eies and the ears of a Christian blessed are the eyes that see what they demonstrate blessed are the ears that hear what they deliver for faith cometh by hearing yet we see but one Redeemer there is but one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus We hear but one truth and our hearts and affections must all be of one mind there is but one Faith one Christ one Baptism there must be but one Church and one Tabernacle As Charles Duke of Burgundy said in a Scoff for his part he loved the Kingdom of France so well that where it had one King he wished it had six so where the Church
could be suspected like Cato that came into the Theater at one door and went out at another Ideo tantum intrarunt ut exirent Surely the Disciples thought if these would have staid they could have hung at their lips and heard the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven from their mouth No says the voice let them go here is one that is the chief Master in Israel far above Moses and Elias hear him Moses will stand dumb while he speaks and this is Moses his own Doctrine concerning Christ A Prophet will the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me hear him Deut. xviii Moses confesseth of himself O Lord I am not eloquent I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue therefore hear not him Exod. iv 10. Elias is rigid and severe and will call down fire from heaven hear not him Peter knew not what he said in this very story David said it in his haste but it is very true upon deliberation all men are liars Lying is not all that is naught in the mouth of man filthiness and blasphemies issue from some uncircumcised lips no ways fit to be heard as Eliakim the servant of Hezekiah besought that odious tongued Rabshekah to speak in such a language as few or none might understand him The talk of him that sweareth much maketh the hair stand upright and their brawls make one stop his ears Ecclus. xxvii 14. In a word men may bewitch us with their fair words not to obey the truth but we are sure how all that Christ speaketh is just and righteous therefore let men vanish away the truth of the Lord abideth for ever hear him Again the Disciples might be confused not only for the departure of Moses and Elias but because the form and fashion of Christ did return to his wonted humility the fashion of his countenance did no more look like the Sun neither was his rayment white and glistering what amends can be made for this loss But that God declares our happiness consists not in seeing but in hearing His Person must ascend unto the Father and his glory dwell there but his Word abideth for ever if we keep his sayings we are Christs and Christ is one with us hear him Be it the abrogation of Moses Law be it the contempt of the world the denying of our selves the sufferance of the Cross the losing of our life all is one his roughest Precepts are to be obeyed hear him indefinitely without restriction or exception As the Blessed Virgin his Mother said unto the Servants at Cana in Galilee Whatsoever he saith unto you do it Joh. ii 5. Be the Commandment great or small it claims obedience whosoever breaketh one of the least Commandments and doth not repent him shall be counted the least in the Kingdom of heaven Some man I know hath framed this cavillation already in his own heart if Jesus Christ were now upon the earth as sometimes he was in the Land of Jury who would not travel over Sea and Land to hear him This Precept should be kept with all alacrity Indeed the words which dropt from his own lips were most winning and pathetical Therefore this voice might justly challenge the Jews to give him fair audience and hear him speak and they could not refuse him If Tertullian presumed in his Apologetick to the Emperor that the Christian cause in his days had never been cried down if it might have been heard speak in the trial of judgment much more must it hold in the person of Christ himself Nolentes audire quod auditum damnare non possunt The Judges would not hear our Plea says Tertullian for had they heard us with patience they knew they could not cast us so the gracious words which fell from our Saviour made those Officers relent at least if not repent that were sent to betray him Never man spake like this man Joh. vii 46. They brake out into that passion before the Pharisees They had heard but little from Christ says St. Chysostome yet enough to turn their hearts from that purpose which they were sent to execute Cum mens fuerit incorrupta non longis sermonibus opus est Few words will prevail where the mind brings no corrupt passions to hold off the truth This is to shew that the Oracles which the Son of God spake from his own mouth were most moving and gracious that tongue was able to charm the very Devils to obey him Why Beloved we do hear him speak continually in the Church as verily as if he were now among us and preach'd daily as sometimes he did in the Temple at Jerusalem So St. Paul commends the Thessalonians that his Doctrine took with them as if they had heard Christ himself Ye received it not as the word of man but as it is in truth the Word of God For whatsoever we believe if you ask after the formal cause of faith the answer is neither because the Apostles writ it or the Church delivered it or such to whom God hath commited the dispensation of the Word do preach it but because God reveals it the formal cause of all faith is divine revelation therefore hear Christ speaking among you to this day not by the instrument of his own tongue but by the revelation of his Spirit I say the formal cause of faith is divine revelation but the Church is the mouth that utters it And therefore because the Church is the Pipe which conveys those sacred mysteries which Christ reveals our Lords own sentence was If he will not hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Ethnick The meaning is while the Church directs you in a right line The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses Chair all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe observe and do You hear what awful submission is due to them who are sent from God to teach you Perhaps you will demur upon those words of our Saviour For in that same Chap. Mat. xxiii 16. Christ calls the Pharisees blind guides reproves their interpretation of Scripture for saying If a man swore by the Temple it was nothing if he swore by the Gold of the Temple he was a debtor Generally he gave his Apostles a caveat Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees not meaning their Bread but their false Traditions But take our Saviours exhortation in a right construction and thus it is all that the Scribes and Pharisees recite out of Moses and the Law observe and do They are the mouth of God by their place and calling When they speak the truth all is one whether you hear them or Christ or God speak from heaven it is the same Gospel and all have but one intendment He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that heareth me heareth him that sent me you know who spake it This voice did not purpose the present Age should hear Christ only but that the future Ages should hear his Priests when they speak like
the Torturer Is John Baptists head so soon forgotten that it could be suspected of this Herod he would pitty Christ could it be imagined so chast a person could find good usage before such a man whose Marriage was incestuous This was like the removing of the Prophet Jeremy from the Kings Prison to the Dungeon of Malchal Jer. xxxviii But thus it was fit to be say the Fathers to toss Christ between Annas and Caiaphas Herod and Pilat that he might be reviled by four slanderous Judges as his glory should be revealed in the Gospel by four Evangelists yea Pilat and Herod interchangeably made another mystery flat against themselves For Herod clad our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a white shining Robe says St. Luke as the Ancients read it Pilat did alter the colour and made it purple says St. Matthew to express against their own corrupt proceedings that he was candidus innocentiâ rubicundus martyrio that his Soul was white with innocency and his Body died purple with passion according to that which Solomon spoke mystically of Christ I am the Rose of Sharon and the Lilly of the Valleys the White Lilly of the Valleys in his sanctified life the Red Rose of Sharon in his bloody sufferings There is a superstition in some men and perchance it is all the Religion which they have they will not put their own finger into an ill Cause but they make no scruple to sollicit and procure it by their Instruments This was a piece of Statism which Saul observed against David let not my hand do him hurt but let the hand of the Philistins be upon him Like our lascivious Gallants who call them Bawds and Panders who deal for other mens sins and are Officers for these voluptuous Markets but to enjoy that sin which their Instruments compounded for as they think it is no stain to their reputation So Pilat in my Text shifts our Saviour from his own Tribunal Justice forbid that He should hurt him but he removes him into Herods Court to receive his Sentence from a Tyrant Alas then this was not enough to make Pilat innocent But thirdly his Apologie stands upon one point more for perceiving the insatiate rancour of the Jews that nothing would content them except they had revenge upon the Body of Christ he stript him naked and scourged him that his stripes might give satisfaction and his life be saved Debilem facito manu debilem coxa pede vita dum superest bene est says Mecaenas a smart in the hand or in the head may be patiently taken to save our vitals 'T is true that such pitty is in the wisdom of the Judg when a lesser offence is compared with a greater but it is more injustice to chastise an innocent like a petty malefactor than to punish a petty Malefactor like a notorious Offendor The Jews cried out that if he spared his life but I say if he race his skin he is no Friend to Caesar but as it happens unto some Beasts that if they taste of blood it puts a thirst into them to make them raven and devour every prey that they catch So the drops that trickled from his shoulders put a ravenous appetite into the Jews to thrust a Spear into his side as deep as to his heart to make a passage for a greater effusion the very nakedness of his body when he was stript to be scourged and to be crucified says St. Austin was irksom to a modest man Obtenebratus est sol ut celaret pudicitiam creatoris in nudo corpore says the Father but to take such a scourging that Pilat himself shook his head to behold the man Et fuit in toto corpore sculptus amor says a Christian Poet that the testimony of his love was enameled or engraven in every part of his body to fall into the hands of such Executioners that did over-do their Commission and would gratifie the People in their Function as much as their Master had done in his Sentence before them will this defence hold water to make Pilat innocent Then let us hear his fourth Allegation When he had made a Protestation of Christ's integrity but it would not be believed when he had tempted Herod to end the Trial but the Cause was returned to his own Court when scourges were applied to take off the edg of his Enemies cruelty yet nothing was heard but crucifie him in the voice of the Multitude he casts about to save him by the priviledg of the Passover choose you who shall be released Barabbas that seditious Murderer or Jesus that is called Christ Is it come to the choice and the People made Arbiters then no doubt Christ must prepare for the Altar and Barabbas shall be hircus emissarius the Scape-goat let to run away into the Wilderness Et mecum certasse feretur may the Son of God say shall the Joy of Heaven and Earth come in scrutiny with Barabbas but we have no quarrel against him Non reprehendimus O Judaei quod per Pascha liberastis nocentem sed quod occidistis innocentem says St. Austin If you have a mind O ye Israelites to save a sinner at the Passover spare not to shew mercy who can be offended at it But if that be a business fit for the day it cannot be a good work to kill an innocent Upon what occasion the custom was grounded to acquit a Thief at the Passover it is not upon record Some are confident that it was very ancient in memory of their own deliverance out of the Land of Egypt some think it was later begun after the Roman Conquest upon this occasion Their Cities of Refuge were quite taken from them because the crimes of blood and death were translated from the Law of Moses to the Tribunal of Caesar wherefore this courtesie was instead of a recompence to release unto them one Prisoner at the Passover Now I strike at Pilats hypocrisie for this custom says Lyra was not ex imperiali sanctione sed consuetudine the surrender of one Malefactor was not strengthened by the Imperial Law but by courtesie Why did not Pilat then confine the Roman mercy to this just person but leave it indifferent as well for him as for the benefit of a Murderer There is no such Beast in the World as Demetrius and the City of Ephesus broke loose into a mutiny what they choose or what they refuse the greater part are always ignorant take the people in this wild phrensie and they would like the company of Barabbas before any man such an hair-brain would make a Ringleader fit to cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him be crucified Had Antiochus the chief Enemy of their Nation been living and set up against our Saviour surely the voice had gone not Him but Antiochus wherefore to propound Christ and Barabbas it was a delusion and will not hold to make Pilate innocent Give him water now to wash his hands manus lavet
foreknowledg of God Now that the righteous God in whom such counsel and such foreknowledg do reside should deliver up his most innocent Son and our dear Saviour unto death that 's a mystery to be weighed with modesty the Text says positively God did deliver him yet we know there is no injustice in the Most High therefore this scruple is worth the scanning First of all it is an harsh and offensive speech that some use who perhaps mean well that God did appoint and preordain Judas to betray his Lord and the Jews to crucifie him and the reasons which they use to excuse the Phrase as if God thereby were not made the Author of sin seem to me to want sufficiency Zuinglius says justo non est lex posita you can set God no Law therefore whatsoever you attribute unto him is no sin because sin is the violation of a Law Beloved there are some things which cannot consist with Gods glory and that 's an eternal Law as we may call it observed by God to do nothing against his glory He cannot ly He cannot deny himself thus the scripture speaketh And Abraham talking face to face with God says he God forbid that the Judg of all the world should do unjustly Would thou punish the righteous with the wicked as who should say that were to thwart the eternal Law which must not be infringed This lays the opinion of Zwinglius flat There is another pretence from very venerable Authors that God purposeth and ordaineth the same act which man executeth but man hath an evil end in it so it becomes iniquity to him whereas God intends a pious end and therefore concurs not to mans iniquity and they give a fair instance of their meaning out of my Text. Christ was delivered of his Father to save the World that was the merciful and gracious work which was God's destination but he was delivered of the Devil to make the Jews guilty of his death of Judas for lucre sake of the Priests and Pharisees for envy of Pilate for fear the scope of Pilate of the Jews of Judas was extremely distorted so they became guilty of a mighty sin in the same work wherein God was righteous This will not down with me I confess for safe Divinity for first it favours that opinion of some Libertines too much that it is no crime but praise-worthy to do evil that good may come of it Secondly it cannot be shifted according to this opinion me-thinks but that God ordains man to fall into that act wherein he cannot choose but have a bad intention and most diverse from the good purpose of God And it is but a lame leg to hold up an halting cause to interpose that God can work good out of evil and bring light out of darkness therefore though He preordains evil He will wind it up well to his own glory for surely they do not think of God as they ought that He is all pure and holy that think sin must be referred to God either as an efficient cause of it or predestinately as a deficient cause to declare his honor Why God stands not in need of our good works to set forth his praise O my God my goods are nothing unto thee says the Psalmist much less doth he want our sins and our transgressions to make him glorious Thus I have premised that they have not my consent that say that God ordained or decreed that Judas should betray our Lord and that the Jews should blaspheme him and despitefully entreat him thus rather I would propound it to you in a far safer way as I conceive God did not decree those criminous actions of Judas Herod Pilate c. but He did decree the Passion of Christ and did settle it in his sixt and eternal counsel that he should shed his bloud as a Propitiation for the World actio displicuit passio grata suit I am led along with the judgment of Leo the Great in this point Thus he Did the iniquity of them that persecuted Christ arise out of Gods Counsel and Decree and that heinous treason worse than all villainy Did the hand of Divine preparation arm them to it this must not once be imagined of that supreme justice that governs all things Multum diversum multumque contrarium est id quod in Judaeorum malignitate est praecognitum quod in Christi passione est dispositum that is there is great dissimilitude between these two how God foresaw the malignancy of the Jews but it was his own disposing and ordination that Christ should suffer therefore it comes to this sense He was delivered to death simply without addition of a death procured by sin through the determinate counsel of his Father but the conspiracy and envy and bloudy outcries that concurr'd in his death the foreknowledg of God did apprehend it would be carried with that violence and decreed to suffer it Non inde processit voluntas interficiendi unde moriendi says the same Father God did not will after the same manner to have his Son die and to have him barbarously crucified To allot him unto death was very just because that Lamb of God did take upon him the iniquity of us all and Leo adds that God could have commanded some holy Prophet to have sacrificed Christ before him even as He commanded Abraham to offer up his only Son Isaac and the Lord of life and death might have permitted Abraham to strike the stroke without impiety but to allot him to such a death wherein factious Enemies delighted themselves in his pains that cannot consist with such a God as hates the least impurity But my Text you will say declines it not but that both his death and his deliverance into the hands of the Jews that is the manner of his death both of them were ordained of God and so they were but with this correction of the proposition omnia vel ordinata sunt à Deo ut fiunt vel ordinatum non impedire quò minus fiant all that is good is ordained of God that it shall be and all beside that is evil is ordained of God that it shall be suffered to be and in those things which are to be referred to permission I mean all the works of the Devil I do not exclude the determinate counsel of God nay it must necessarily be present at it Quicquid permittit Deus consultò volens permittit there is Justice and Wisdom and Counsel from above imployed about those things wherein God is highly displeased For first no sinner in the world can say he was so permitted to enter into sin that no impediments were cast in his way to avert him some illumination he had some instruction to draw him back some remorse of conscience though not in such measure as did infallibly prevail upon his crooked will Even Judas himself was deterred from his Satanical proceedings by the prediction of his Masters mouth one of you shall
Pollinctores quia pollutos ungerent But among divine Writers all do embrace this as a strong conjecture and indeed not to be denied that the Servants of God embalmed and anointed the dead both in the Old and New Testament in honour of the Resurrection So Joseph commanded the Physicians to embalm his Father So certain devout Widows washed the body of Tabitha and laid her forth in an upper Chamber Acts ix 37. Let me not omit how Christ himself did approve of that Ceremony while he was living A woman broke a box of Oyntment of Spikenard very precious upon his head and when some had indignation at it he forbad his Disciples to trouble her saying She is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying Mar. xiv 8. That woman spent her cost upon him when he was alive to give her thanks Mary came to pour her Spices upon his Grave when she thought he was dead true Love is munificent to them who are dear unto it when they live but more abundantly when they are deceased Now carry your attention with you to the third part of the Text that no season was so fit to be watch'd as this which the women laid hold of The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalen This coming was upon the third day after Christ had been laid in the Grave and it was upon the same day which from thenceforth was called the Lords day wherein our holy Assemblies every week do meet together these two things are fit to be examined before I leave the Treatise of this Point From the beginning of the world was there never any thing of so great expectation as the success of this day whether that which Christ had so often foretold should come to pass that he should die and the third day he would rise again How busie were the women to come abroad and try what they could learn And I verily think the waves of the Sea rowl not about so fast in a Tempest as the thoughts of the Disciples beat within their heart and earned within them between fear and hope whether the day were like to prove glorious or uncomfortable well God did rather go beyond his own word than come a whit behind it He made this third day the most memorable Feast that ever the Sun shined upon It was a third day when Joseph released his brethren out of Prison Gen. xlii 18. On the third day in the morning after the people had come to Mount Sinai the Law of God was delivered Exod. xix 16. On the third day Esther put on her Royal Apparel and stood before Ahasuerus and desired him to be good to her Nation Esther v. 1. On the third day Abraham came to the place where his faith was tried and Isaac was restored back again alive when the sacrificing knife had been at his throat Gen. xxii 4. To come near to the mark the third day Jonas was cast safe upon the Land out of the belly of the Whale and that was the sign which Christ gave to the Jews able to convince all infidelity as Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of the Whale and then came forth alive so Christ burst open the Monument the third day and appeared unto many Reason may be busie to enquire why the Son of God prefix'd such a space of time for his Resurrection before he would quicken his flesh rather than any other Certainly there is but one modest conjecture which is this he would lie no longer than some hours of a third day in the grave lest he should keep the weak faith of his Disciples too long in suspense yet sooner he would not open his monument lest his enemies the Jews should pretend he was but cast into a swoon by the sharpness of pain and not truly dead These following I will allow for ingenuous allusions and no more that our Redeemers body was bereaft of life unto the third day to appease the offended justice of every Person in Trinity God the Father Son and Holy Ghost to signifie that we were dead in sin by thought word and deed To bring unto eternal life them that believed either under the Law of nature under the Law of Moses or under the new Covenant of grace To restore the three parts of spiritual life unto us Faith hope and charity Tria sunt omnia says another three days are the sum of mans life both here and for ever A day of labour in this World a day of rest in the Grave a day of reward in the Resurrection If there be any Son of Adam that would have a fourth day Dies otii in hâc vitâ A day of ease and pleasure in this life such a one is Lazarus quatriduanus putet It may be said of him as the two Sisters said of Lazarus their Brother He hath lain four days in the ground and begins to smell Three days are all labour rest and reward these are allusions I said to the Resurrection of Christ upon the third day One thing is very observable to match this circumstance of the New Testament and an accident which fell out in the Old Even this very day wherein Christ arose and gate dominion over death the same day which was the third day after the eating of the Passeover Moses brought the Children of Israel through the Red Sea unto dry Land certainly intimating that they went through death to life and so did Christ St. Peter hath a Text 1 Epist 1.10 which doth authorize me yet to search further and more diligently about the time of this Resurrection Saies he The Prophets have enquired and searched diligently what manner of time the Spirit of Christ did signifie when it testified before hand the sufferings of Christ and the glory which should follow And surely there is a great mystery coucht in the circumstance of time that the Evangelists have differently set down other observations that concurred upon the Resurrection but all of them in one phrase do agree in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that this wonder was wrought upon the first day of the week 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vna Sabbati The Jews gave such honour to their Sabbath that every day following had the denomination from it the first second and the third day after the Sabbath and so unto the sixth The Latine Church in their Liturgies hath given the same honour to Easter Day for Easter day by principallity being called Feria the Holy Day The Latines from it call the days of the week primam secundam tertiam Feriam and so unto the sixth Our vulgar English calls the first day of the week Sunday and all other days following are denominated from some of the Planets we received such Language in this Island from our Forefathers who were Paynims and knew not God but we differ from them in the intention they did it out of Idolatry to the Sun and Moon c. we to signifie that God made the Host
the twelve stones which Joshuah set up on the banks of Jordan are there to this day after Dagon fell on the Threshold the Priests of Baal tread not on the Threshold to this day so this figment was commonly reported among the Jews long after that is unto this day See what Prophets were their Instructors after they had set their heart to resist the truth Testimonium Martyrum nolunt audire ut vivant testimonium dormientium receperunt ut pereant They stop their ears at the Doctrine of the holy Martyrs that invite them to eternal life and receive the witness of Souldiers that belie themselves saying they slept and did not and belie Christ and his victory over the Grave saying that such men as I think they knew not His Disciples came and stole him away by night Attende potiùs eum qui emit te non eum qui mendacium emit tibi Listen unto Christ and learn of him who hath bought thee with a price with the price of his own bloud to inherit eternal life listen not to them that gave a price of money to buy a lie whereby thou shalt be swallowed up of eternal death And beware to be either active or passive in false subornations either the giver or the taker Beware of lying lips and a deceitful tongue all these are most odious for their sakes that would have undermined the credit of our Saviours Resurrection Wherefore putting away all lying speak every man truth with his neighbour for we are members one of another Buy the truth and sell it not Prov. xxiii 23. Now the Jews have rigg'd their Witnesses and set them forth so well greazed in the hand that they dare say any thing We are come in the third place to that which they must say First They must lop at the branches and strike at the root afterward the Disciples must be first drawn into danger that they are breakers open of graves and robbers of the dead his Disciples came by night Poor souls they thought they had taken the safest way that the wit of man could invent to escape both envy and danger they were shut up stirr'd not abroad medled with nothing but let a man live as private as he can as retired as he can if malice mean him an ill turn it shall fall upon him Christ was private enough in Mount Olivet yet there he was attached And it is an argument unto us that many times they fared better through Gods providence who adventured themselves abroad in ill times and contested for the name of Christ rather than they that out of humane providence would hide themselves and their gifts for fear like a Candle under a Bushel But whether in a private or in a publick life the Disciple is not better than his Master If Christs Doctrine and Miracles were so ill entertained by the Pharisees that they hated him to the death yea and beyond death his Ministers shall feel their anger before the storm be ended the very name of a Disciple was grown a taunt and reproach The Synagogue thought it had called the blind man all to nought when they said of him in their passion Thou art his Disciple Joh. ix This is an infallible character of a base and ignoble spleen to grudge at all those that depend upon such as they persecute to despite the poor Disciples for Christs sake As Zedekiah commanded not only Jeremiah the Prophet to be laid up in Prison but Baruch his Scribe to be apprehended Jer. xxxvi 26. And the Jews when they could not tear Paul in pieces nor come at him they beat Sosthenes his Companion whom he had converted to the faith Act. xviii The old devillish State rule was leave no whelps living of the brood of a Lion so the Pharisees would destroy all those whom Christ had gathered about him if these were made away they thought there was not a tongue left that would wag to offend them with this truth that Christ was risen from the dead His Disciples came by night did they will you stand to it then call the Disciples and the Souldiers face to face and examine them before Pilate reus ore proprio respondere debet it is the Law of Nations and Nature that the accused in all Courts of the world must speak for themselves against their accusers this is most indifferent justice it cannot be denied to believe a tale against a man without suffering him to say what he can for his innocency is barbarous and inhumane proceeding He that came to the Marriage Chamber not having on a Wedding Garment was not cast forth till he became speechless and could not answer But the Disciples have no shadow of law or trial permitted unto them but are impleaded and condemned behind their backs his Disciples came by night Since they were not permitted to say ought to clear themselves I will anticipate a little of the last point and say one thing for them how improbable this defamation was with little partiality to their person They that ran away in the Garden from their Master when he was alive because a few Bandogs of the High Priests had him in their teeth how durst they adventure against an whole Cohort of Souldiers to come near his Sepulcher when he was dead though one of them drew a sword and smote a Servant of the High Priests it was before Christ was griped in their clutches but since they saw him dead nil iste nec ausus nec potuit their hearts fainted they shut themselves close and durst not be known where they were are these likely to rescue their Masters Body from a Roman Garrison Loquere verisimilia speak likelihoods though they be falsehoods Good wits says one love to make discoveries of treasons where there are none it makes their own perspicacy and discerning admired but they do it upon seeming and strong conjectures but here is no scent in this tale to follow it to any probability The truth is a knavish wit might have found out many more colourable evasions but with this fiction if it took the High Priests set forth themselves not only for wise men but to have Prophesie and Divination in their spirit for in the former chapter verse 64. they request Pilate that he would command the Sepulcher should be made sure lest his Disciples come by night and steal him away No better excuse therefore to advance their credit to be Divine and Prophetical than to charge the Disciples with the same fact even as they had foretold it a day before Nonne sex totos menses priùs olfecissem says old Demea So these were such cunning men that they had the Disciples plot in the wind before ever it was intended Silly fellows God wot for all this cunning fifty days full had not run on after Christ rose from the dead but St. Peter and his Associates filled all Jerusalem with their Doctrin that Jesus was risen from the dead and that He
fulness not that the Vessel of any of their hearts was so replenisht but that God could have poured in more if it had seemed good unto him for nothing but the essence of God is all sufficient and can admit of no augmentation but never was there such copious measure of it either diffused among the Israelites in the Old Law no nor imparted to us Christians since this Generation did leave the world Rupertus says upon it it was now now when this Ocean of the Spirit was poured out that the Devil was bound and cast into the bottomless pit though that is rather to be ascribed to the virtue of Christ's Passion and to his bloud shed upon the Cross When Mary poured a Box of Spiknard very precious upon our Saviour's head Judas grumbled and said quorsum perditio to what end is so much waste and lest any profane person should so gibe at this blessing and say to what end was so much plenty and superfluity of the Spirit take these reasons with you for your use and instruction and I will begin with two Maxims of reasons 1. Si natura non deficit in necessariis multò minùs spiritus sanctus if Nature is furnisht with all instruments and faculties fit for its work surely the Holy Ghost would not be scanty in any thing that should conduce to resound the Glory of God over all the world 2. Speculative men tell us tantum medii sumendum est quantum ad finem conducit he that is a wise Appointer will lay forth so much means as will bring the end to pass Put these together and it will follow that here was neither too little nor too much nothing wanting nor yet to spare The work of the Apostles was the greatest Task that ever was put upon mens shoulders Christ gave them one Commission which might be discharg'd with some moderate pains and adventures to preach unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel Their second Commission might seem unto flesh and bloud insupportable Go and teach all Nations c. How much ground was to be trod how many deaths to be hazarded how many subtle Philosophers to be convinced we preach unto them that are brought up in Religion and are glad to hear us they were sent to those that stop their ears at them and could not endure the name of Christ their heart therefore their judgment their courage their patience did require a far other proportion of the Spirit than will suffice a common Christian their filling must be more abundant because they were to empty it out to so many And unto whomsoever God hath imparted more copious grace let him not despise his Brethren but let him use that plenteous Gift for the benefit of many for the edification of the Members of Christ's Body or else the blessing that did adorn him will condemn him The next thing we learn is that we must strive and contend and pray for the fulness of the Spirit it is not every Modicum and pittance of it which will content him that truly loves the Lord. The Son of Syrach says of that wisdom which sanctifieth all things They that eat me shall be hungry and they that drink me shall yet be thirsty Ecclus xxiv 21. And very certain none so eager to have more grace as they that have a liberal portion already None so instant to get ten Talents as he that hath received five Let Elisha have some enlightnings of a Prophetical Spirit and then he makes bold to ask that a double portion of Elias his Spirit may rest upon him Gregory says it is the property of the fruits of the Spirit Cum non habentur in fastidio sunt cum habentur in desiderio They that have them not either never miss them or think vilely of them they that have them do insatiably desire them It is a sign of a disdainful lothsomness in nature to come to the Fountain of living waters and to do no more but sip and wet our lips with it He that hath a truly heavenly gust of it pleno se proluit alveo As St. Paul phraseth it We are all made to drink into one spirit 1 Cor. xii 12. Still we shall call for more and more not because want and driness doth afflict us but because desire doth please us Nemo primo statim die ad satietatem potatur spiritus sancti says Calvin no man is made Christian enough in a day to go to the Kingdom of heaven unless it be in such a rare example as that was of the penitent Thief It is a false spirit that says unto any mortal man it is well if you can keep at this stay and prove no worse I know the greatest part of indifferent Christians are so affected to carnal content that if it were possible to measure out to a drachm what quantity of righteousness would serve them to be endued with that they might attain salvation they would reach so far if the grace of God would assist them but would take no care to seek any further I say if they knew the trick how to make just a Saint and no more they would spare a labour for seeking beyond that Point and for the rest sacrifice to carnal security Christianum esse probant minimum esse non probant as St. Hierom speaks they do not love a man unless he be a Christian And again they will not love him if he be a vehement and an earnest Christian to serve the Lord. Certainly it is a sign that there is no sanctification in that conscience where there is not a studious longing of the soul for an augmentation The learned among the Heathen love to talk of strange Creatures and Plutarch tells of a fish whereof if a man taste but a little it is hurtful if he eat it up all it is medicinal True or false be his story it comes fit to be applied a little holiness will vanish away like a morning mist as Hosea speaks nay it is prone to turn to mans hurt for when there is but little of it it turns to hypocrisie but as God hath given us plenteous redemption in Christ so we must return him plenteous faith and plenteous obedience with all our heart and with all our soul and love our neighbour with a plenteous love even as we love our selves and that is to be filled with the Holy Ghost Let this be the conclusion of the first part of my Text the inward donation of the Spirit the outward exercise of it remains to be handled They began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance The Spirit which is signified by the wind and inspiration is necessary to all Christians who are invited to faith But as it appears in Tongues so it was requisite for them only that were sent to teach all Nations That is if God had meant only to make good men of them the wind would have sufficed but intending to make good Apostles of
Day of Salvation says Isaiah and that day reacheth from the time that Remission of sins is preached in the bloud of Christ unto the end of the world Now as the Text is common to all Evangelical Days so there is one Day that lifts up its head above them all the most memorable Day of our Saviour's Resurrection then it was verily fulfilled as Peter urg'd it that the Stone which the Builders refused became the head of the corner St. Chrysostom Nyssen and almost who not pitch upon Easter-day for the particular application of this Text that was the Day wherein God did bring forth a more eminent work than in other common days and upon every Sunday in the year for that Day 's sake the Church hath appointed sacred Assemblies that we may rejoyce and be glad Well then of Davids Day first and from thence how particular Holidays may be ordeined to magnifie Gods extraordinary benefits next of the blessed Age of the Gospel wherein we have great cause to rejoyce and be comforted for Christ hath wiped away all tears from our eyes And last of all I shall take the right opportunity to speak of the glorious Feast of the Resurrection and how the Church doth keep the weekly Feast of the Lords day to rejoyce and be glad in it And first the Holy Ghost hath left it written for the honor of the Lords Anointed This is the Day which the Lord hath made There is one thing in that form of speech which jarrs a little against the ear how can it be said that God did make one day more than another for he hath framed all Times and Seasons alike the Sun knoweth his going down and he maketh it return again every morning to give light unto the World In the Hymns of the Heathen he is called Diespiter the Father of all days indifferently it is he that sets the Heavens in perpetual motion and makes the hours run on and when he calls back his word the Plumbets shall go down and time shall be no more It is granted therefore that he giveth continuance and being to all days after one sort and for the Phrase of my Text a new Writer hath well exprest himself Non includitur mensura temporis sed conditiones tempori incidentes it is not meant of the Day which the Sun makes with his diurnal motion but of the great Work which was wrought in that Day that is not that God made that Day more than others but that He made more in that Day than in others It is vulgar to impute the condition of things which fall out in some certain dayes to the days themselves per metonymiam adjuncti although a day as it is meerly a space of time cannot possibly be capable of such Attributes We take liberty to call this a cold or a moist day not for its own sake but because coldness and moisture happen in the day so for the contingency of glorious things we call the day it self glorious and to renown the memorable acts of the Lord we have got a use to speak thus This is the day which the Lord hath made In 1 Sam. 12.6 according to the Original and that 's pointed at in our Margent it is said that the Lord made Moses and Aaron why are not all that are born of a woman the works of his hands as well as Moses and Aaron therefore our Translation hath rendred the sense rather than the word that the Lord advanced Moses and Aaron In like manner we may read my Text thus This is the Day which the Lord advanced for he made it remarkable with an extraordinary favour and thereby gave it a Dignity and Exaltation above its fellows The going out and the return of every year are from the Almighty with the store and abundance that it brings forth but when the clouds drop fatness with unusual plenty then the Prophet says that he crowns that year with his goodness Psal lxv 11. So some principal Days are crowned above the rest as this Day wherein through the sun shine of his mercy he set a Crown of pure Gold upon the head of David his Servant Piety forbid that we should not thankfully receive the most vulgar benefits I know that common things are commonly neglected but learn to see God in small things or you shall never see him in greater If I had learnt it of no other yet I find enough in Seneca for that use Communia negligenda non sunt c. neglect not to give thanks for common and quotidian favours for life and health and suppeditation of food that the Sun doth shine upon us that we have the air to breath in that the Sea doth ebb and flow for navigation There are days of small things as Zachary calls them chap. iv 10. but those small things are to be consider'd of us with a grateful heart who are less than the least of all his mercies but how much more requisite is it then to observe those days wherein some eminent blessings are confer'd upon us what a behooveful thing it is every man for his own part to keep a Calender of the famous Acts of the Lord for our Birth for our Baptism for great Preservations and to represent them before us at the return of every year with grateful acknowledgment from the bottom of our heart and when God doth see that we are so mindful of a prosperous Day he will grant us many prosperous Years and for the period of joy a most prosperous Eternity that shall never have a period This is made as plane then as you can wish upon what special Prerogative the Lord is said to make a particular day because he doth appoint some special favour to fall out upon it and the Wise-mans Question is answered Ecclus. xxxiii 7. Why doth one day excel another when as all the light of every day of the year is of the Sun It is not the material light which distinguisheth the nobleness of Dayes but he that made the Sun more excellent than the other Stars of the Firmament hath made Princes glorious as the Sun in the Orb of the Common-wealth and a Day of a Princes Exaltation is like a Prince among Days and in that capacity to be magnified Such a day is said to be made by God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because God himself and none else is the Author of the Power of Kings He and none but He took David from following the Ews great with young and set him over the Princes of his People In a word since the Day is taken for the Work of the Day the real meaning of the first words of my Text is this is the King which the Lord hath made Samuel anointed him the People shouted and cried God save him but the Lord did constitute him the Ruler of the Twelve Tribes and gave him his Sovereign Authority the Crowns of Glory in Heaven and the Crowns of Dignity upon Earth are both held by
called did extol the unanimity and most concordious proceedings of it with these words This is the day c. I read that one Cyriacus a just and a learned man was made a Bishop and the people so well pleased with his Election cried out Hic est dies Domini But Gregory the Great told the people that no Creature ought to be magnified with that solemn note which belongs to the Creator But he adds Cur ista reprehendo Qui quantùm gaudia mentem rapiunt scio Why do I chide you for it It was your gladness that did transport you It was your charity that made you so exult and your meaning was not to give the honour to man but unto God And so I have laid the corner stone of my Text that Christ is the subject of this Prophetical and triumphant acclamation And because there are two opinions how he is the subject of it that variety shall divide my Text. Briefly and plainly either this day which the Lord is said to have made is meant of the whole time of the Gospel so St. Hierom and St. Austin with a fair Troop of learned Writers beside or else it is understood of that day wherein Christ arose from the dead which is the Epitome of the whole Gospel Now these two opinions are so equally embraced that I find that the Church in her solemn Service hath favoured them both First some that have taken pains in Liturgical Antiquities tell me that this Psalm was of old appointed to be recited by the Priest every Sunday in the year that is an evident argument that the day which the Lord hath made belongs equally to all the days which shine upon us since Christ was incarnate that is to the whole duration of the Gospel Again it hath long continued and is used to this day in the Church of Rome that my Text is set in the front of the gradual for Easter-day and is repeated in the same manner constantly for six days after that high Feast which demonstrates that it hath principally been applied to the glorious mystery of the Resurrection Give me leave therefore to bring them both into my Treatise one after another And upon each to speak of two things De beneficio divino de officio humano the one half of the verse is Gods benignity This is the day which the Lord hath made the other half is mans acceptance and duty We will rejoyce c. You know I have already answered to the Interrogation Cujus Whose day this is Whose but Christs And for certain it cannot be his day as he is God from everlasting His goings out are from all eternity Micah v. iii. Again this is dies factus a day that is made and such an adjunct cannot sute with him that was never made but is the everlasting one before the world began It is that day therefore which was made with him when he was made flesh It is a curtesie among men for a Creditor to give a day to him that is behind hand to pay his debts Have patience with me says the servant that was arrested to the cruel Exactor and I will pay thee all But the Lord knew that it would not help us one whit to have the favour of the longest day that could be set to make payment for what we owe unto him nay the longer we live the longer is the Tally of our sins the reckoning will be the more enflamed by giving us time to discharge it Therefore God made a day for his Son and appointed him a season to offer up a price in our stead and through his satisfaction the hand-writing is discharged which was against us Yea but S. Luke remembers us that there are many days belonging to the Son Luk. xvii 22. The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man What day of all those is this Why not one but all those days since the world received him and received him with the glad tidings of Salvation all Evangelical days at large every day that we hear his voice and harden not our hearts is this day It may very well be opposed to that dismal day wherein our first Parents transgressed and fell that was a day which the Devil made and he took his pastime in it because the League of friendship was broken between God and man but the Lord made a new day to repair us again by the mediation of Jesus Christ Non est dies miseriae quam ipsi nobis fecimus sed dies redemptionis quam fecit Dominus I think it is St. Austins this is not the day of misery which we brought upon our selves but it is the good day of pacification and redemption which God created It is not to be thought that the whole current of the Gospel is called a day but that the nature of it will endure that name in some fit and excellent proportion For First There was no day until a day was set that Christ should come into the world darkness did cover the earth and gross Doctrin the People as the Prophet says no night that troubles melancholy people with strange and horrible Apparitions could be more dismal than the time was before some Evangelical Promises were preached to the drooping conscience Take a sinner or malefactor that knows not how God hath sealed his pardon and what is this earth better than a prison or a Dungeon unto him where he lies fettered with the bands of a long night and is exiled from the eternal providence as it is Wisd xvii 2. O what a Sun-shine there is in the salvation of Christs name which bringeth the Prisoners out of Captivity it is a day which is an introduction to an eternal day where there is light for evermore So says Arnobius Dies cui non succedit nox quam horae non dividunt quem umbra non impedit It is a day which is not divided by the short space of moments and hours no Eclipses can obscure it no night can succeed it Day began with Christ and it shall continue with him for ever Secondly The Gospel is a most brightsom day compared to that Age wherein the Jews walked under the Ordinances of Moses For what was that Law but an Evening with many shadows All things in their Religion were Types and Figures unrevealed which caused an ignorant Priesthood and a People of a gross capacity Wherefore St. Austin observes that our Saviour was brought forth into the world at midnight but the glory of the Lord which shone round about the Angel that brought the tidings made the night as clear as the day But the Law was delivered on Mount Sinah at Noontide but with so many mists and dark pillars of smoke that it made the day as obscure as the night Do but put your self to one Task to examine by the Contents of the Law how you will come to the knowledg of the Resurrection of Christ you
being caught up into the clouds to live with God for ever Their judgment is right that he was disarrayed of all malignant qualities sin and mortality which belong to the soul or body But I wonder they should call these by the name of death for it was no otherwise with Enoch than it shall be with all men and women whom Christ shall find upon earth at his second coming St. Paul says they shall not die but they shall be changed that changing is no death for change and death are membra dividentia in the Apostle and cannot be confounded Now I have brought you out of all incumbrances of wrong opinions to the clear truth Enoch was not How He ceased not absolutely to live but he ceased to live any longer in a corruptible Tabernacle he prevailed above the sentence which was pronounced against Adam by the Judge of quick and dead Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return Mortality came from disobedience against the Commandment neither is it possible for any mere man to attain to such a measure of obedience as to deserve immortality do not imagine this holy Saint was without sin so that death could claim no dominion over him St. Chrysostome who speaks much for Enoch how the Lord rewarded his integrity with incorruption says no more but that he received Gods Law not that he kept it inviolably 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God kept him alive that received the Commandment that received it willingly and with an earnest heart to keep it But how was that Statute dispensed with you will say it is appointed to men once to die and after that comes judgment Heb. ix 27. An easie dispensation will serve for that for it was no otherwise with this man than it shall be with all the earth at the last day when the Inhabitants of the world shall not be uncloathed of skin and bone but be changed into an incorruptible perfection in the twinkling of an eye But that you may not wonder at Enochs case as if justice had connived and forgot it self remember this rule in St. James There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy Jam. iv 12. Mark that there are Judges constituted under the Law and it is not in them to save life where the Letter of the Law condemns for the Law governs them and not they the Law but there is a regent and principal authority whose clemency is above the Law That speech of Senecaes is as trivial as any Proverb Occidere contra legem nemo non potest servare nemo praeter te Every Varlet can kill a Citizen against the Law none but the Supreme Magistrate can save a Citizen against the Law You see then by what rectitude of justice Enoch might be exempted from death albeit we were all sentenced to become dust and clay out of which we were made because God is the most supreme independent Judge of all the world and may mitigate the severity of his own decrees Why should not his mercy preserve where it will And if he will preserve who can destroy Is there any curse but he can turn it into a blessing Where the Lord pleaseth to sweeten a bitter cup Poverty shall not be grievous nor ignominy dishonourable nor sickness painful nor life mortal A thousand fell before this Patriarch and ten thousand at his right hand but he was impassible and did not die He was not for the Lord took him Because the Septuagint Translators concur with St. Paul in one reading it is due to my Text to let it be known how they have enlarged this concise phrase And he was not in their words is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was not found And Clemens the Scholar of St. Peter and Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was not found that he ever died He appeared not and yet the Lord killed him not so the Chaldee Paraphrase For as St. Jerom said figuratively of the sweet end that Nepotian made that he did Migrare non mori And St. Bernard as much of Hubertus that he did Abire non obire Those pious men might rather be said to have gone a journey out of the way than have died so very properly and without a Metaphor it was true of Enoch that he did not die but was retired out of the way where he could not be found It seems he was much sought for as certainly good men will quickly be missed Antigonum refodio as the honest mans saying was he would have scrap'd the just King Antigonus out of his Grave when he was departed Though Elias was manifestly taken away into heaven yet the Sons of the Prophets besought Elisha that fifty strong men might go seek him lest the Spirit of the Lord had cast him upon some Mountain or into some Valley I could not blame them to wish they might find him again So says one upon that inquisition was made for Elias Enochus cum raperetur fortasse diu inquisitus fuit It may be Enoch was much inquired for in many places after God had took him Selneccerus says that the Lord exalted him up into the clouds Coram totâ Ecclesiâ praecipuis Patriarchis a great Congregation of men and the chief Patriarchs looking upon it Bolducus the Capuchin more particularly yet both altogether uncertainly using their own divinations Tulit eum Deus in nube in quâ apparebat ministranti God took him away in a cloud wherein he appeared as Enoch ministred unto him in the time of Sacrifice If this were done before a throng of Witnesses they might think it no more than a rapture for a little time as Paul was taken up into the third heavens for a small space and afterward restored to the Church They might search and hope to enjoy him again but he was not found the more was their loss that they wanted him the more was his happiness that he was quite gone and wanted nothing But Luther is of opinion that he was retired alone to walk with God in Prayer and sweet Meditations and then the Lord lifted him away to the habitations of the blessed when none were privy to it Seth and all the other Fathers of the Church knew not what was become of him his Son Methasalem and his Family look'd for him with sad hearts as Joseph and Mary sought for Jesus sorrowing no doubt they suspected the malice of the Caiâ—ites they thought he was slain like innocent Abel and privily buried Perhaps it was not revealed in a long time after what was become of him But as the Romans were highly discontented with the loss of Romulus their Founder and would not be satisfied till Proculus swore he saw him carried away into Heaven So when the Patriarchs had sate down sorrowing because they found not the very Gem of the Church the righteous man Enoch it made their gladness the greater when they knew the Lord had translated him alive into Paradise Now I proceed The benefit of it
that they would ascend to Heaven and talk familiarly about those things which they had delivered so Simon Magus made ostentation of himself to the Romans Mahumet promised as much unto the Thracians that which they forged but never came to pass was fulfilled in the true Prophet Enoch his doctrine was glorified with this miracle that he was caught up into heaven Now this was a mixt benefit equally shared between him and those that were his Disciples the other use and conveniency is wholly his own that God took him away long before he came to the age of his Forefathers that he might suffer no more under the afflictions of those wicked times For as St. Austin says of Lot that he lived in peace and he lived in persecution among the Sodomites in external peace but their abominable sins were the persecution of Lot so Enoch might live in dignity and renown yet his righteous soul was vexed from day to day with the unlawful deeds of the Sons of Cain Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because men keep not thy Law says David What life can be sweet to a good man where the Lord of life is blasphemed and those that are dearest to him suffer reproach and are disesteemed What an irksom thing is the world to a good man where most things he sees are thorns to his eyes and the third part at least of that he hears is a grating and scandal to his ears Iniquorum vita justi aures oculos non delectando sed feriendo tangit says Gregory the life and actions of Reprobates must fall upon the senses of conscionable men nor to delight them but to excruciate them And is not a quiet egress out of this world a most desirable thing to be a Saint joyfully received among Saints rather than be a Saint maligned among Devils As Priam said of his Son Hector that he seemed to be descended of some God rather than of a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Enoch was fit to be joyned to God and Angels rather than to converse with rebellious children He was one of that list of whom St. Paul says the world was not worthy Heb. xi 38. Which words Theophylact puts into this sense make a price and estimation of all things in this world beneath collect them into one sum and such a devout soul as Enoch is more worth than all of it The sins of the earth are most vexatious the momentary things which we enjoy most vile and unprecious what should detain a good man here with any delight or complacency The sooner Enoch was snatcht away from those things the more dear he was to the Lord his good deliverer I have yet another benefit of this translation to communicate unto you not as a certain conclusion but as a conjecture of some good Authors out of Wisd iv 10 11. He pleased God and was beloved of him so that living among sinners he was translated yea speedily was he taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding or deceit beguile his soul If this place aim at Enoch as very learned ones modern and ancient will have it and our last Translation doth so direct us in the Margin then one special favour done to him to be speedily snatcht away was that he might not slide back from that perfection to which he had attained So St. Ambrose comforts himself for the loss of his brother Satyrus that the Lord did abbreviate his days to stop him from incurring those sins which he might have committed I will not go far in this Doctrine because a man that launcheth into it may quickly be tossed upon the waves of endless opinions Conditional possible events are known of God not only conjecturally but certainly and it is laid up in the store-house of Gods infinite wisdom which man shall never know whether a faithful man chopt off in the middle of his Age was prevented of more good deeds or more bad if he had finished his course Among twelve Conclusions which St. Austin heapt together to confute Vitalis of Carthage two of them are most fit to keep our knowledge within the bounds of Sobriety The one is that we shall all stand before the Tribunal of God and every man shall receive according to that which he hath done in his own body Non secundum ea quae gesturus fuerit si diutius viveret sive bonum sive malum Not according to those things which they might have done in the body whether good or evil Secondly We know blessed are the dead that die in the Lord Nec ad eos pertinere quicquid acturi fuerant si tempore diuturniore vixissent neither shall it prejudice their blessedness whatsoever foul acts they might have committed upon longer space of life I draw it up to this conclusion It is beyond our intelligence to conceive how many iniquities Enoch escaped by his sudden rapture but it is easie to conceive that he was not present at many publick miseries and calamities which he must have beheld with a grieved heart As King Josias out of Gods great favour was prevented by an untimely death never to see the Captivity of Judah St. Jerom says that Anastasius a good Bishop of Rome was newly dead before Rome was sack'd by the Goths Ne orbis caput sub tali Episcopo truncaretur that the Imperial Seat of the world might not be dishonoured before his eyes Merciful men are taken away says the Prophet Isaiah none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come Isa lvii 2. One part of my Text was Enochs passage out of this world I have done with that The other part is his reposure in a better world in these words For the Lord took him The Poets have their obscene Fables de raptu Ganimedis Proserpinae the ravishing of Ganimedes and Proserpina rather than the raptures by their God Jupiter Somewhat they imitate now and then out of holy Scripture but they quite abuse it To give their Fictions no longer the looking on I come to those two questions that are much searched into perhaps too much The former demands to what place Enoch was taken the latter debates whether ever he shall return again If it were profitable to know these things exactly the Scriptures had revealed it therefore to enquire into them pressingly is curiosity to determine them resolutely is presumption but to take a little say of them will be profitable for instruction For the first question Whither God took him St. Cyprian St. Chrysostome and Gregory the Great lay their hand upon their mouth and will say nothing to it The Scholastical Doctors began to define it first without all reservation of modesty proceeding to an Affirmative Sentence that he was sequestred to Limbus Patrum or Paradise and to a Negative Sentence that the Heavens did not receive him When some of them tell us that he was reposed in Paradise it is not worth the
mans excogitation is frivolous Indeed Ceremonies for the most part are unprescribed that particular Churches may be their own carvers in them only let them beware that they use their liberty discreetly But the offering of burnt Sacrifices is a matter of substance how came this into Noahs heart to do it By divine information certainly At some time about the beginning of time God did appoint a form of Religion to Adam and his Posterity which in the Breviary of the Book of Genesis is omitted which Lesson was read to Cain and Abel from whom they undertook the solemnity of Sacrifice and the Candle was lighted from hand to hand till the Tradition came safe to Noah Or thus very briefly Which God did deliver to Adam which Adam did commit ro Jared he to Methusalem which Methusalem did commend to Noah Never imagine that they were appointed precisely about the food of their body that is in the Letter of the Book and no instruction delivered for the food of their Soul That were such an omission that the worst Lawgiver would prevent much more the wisest The Lord did set his holy Patriarchs in order from succession to succession till the Law was written to communicate true Religion And it is St. Hieroms rule Omne verum à quocunque dicitur à spiritu sancto est Every mouth that speaks truth speaks it from the Holy Ghost From Abel downward all those whose Oblations had a sweet savour offered by Faith if by Faith then by Precept and Instruction for Faith comes by hearing Rom. x. 17. Sacrifice then was that Divine Worship which God revealed did please him that was the general approbation I do not say that every time they kept that duty they had need of a new and a special Commission St. Ambrose says that Noah did this good work of his own genius and not by any new particular Commandment Qui debitum gratiae ut à se exigatur expectat ingratus est A man must not stay after he hath received a benefit till God say unto him thank me now for such thankfulness were ingratitude Yet St. Ambrose hath far more voices against him than of his part that this holy Father had special directions for the solemnizing this Sacrifice and that expresly it was revealed unto him upon the taking in of seven of the clean beasts into the Ark Gen. vii 2. Of clean beasts by sevens that three Pairs were for propagation and the single odd one the seventh of clean Beasts and clean Fowls the celebs animal the pure Creature which mixt with no female was to be dedicated in an whole burnt-offering to the Lord. And then this example will so little favour Will-worship that it utterly beats it down the invention of man had so little hand in it that it was Scientia à Deo indita an inspiration immediately put into the Prophet by the will of God The reason why the bloud of Beasts was poured out to the Lord and well accepted of him will be ripe to be rendred by and by when I have first shewn in a word that Religion did never discord from it self by mutation of times The Saints in all Ages had the same Faith the same Worship the same Hope and expectation Pietas ante legem in lege post legem piissime sibi concordat Piety in the Law before the Law and since the Law is constantly the same and did never vary Mark therefore from this Text that the Levitical Ordinances of Moses in many things are but a renovation and amplification of Ceremonial Customs before the Law I said in many things that I might not fall into the same error with them who have overlasht that all the Ceremonial Law was in use and practice with the Patriarchs and that Moses did but compile and gather it up into a body If these men had been askt where they did read of the Levites and all the ritual Orders of the Priesthood before Moses where concerning the trial of Leprosie of Jealousie and an hundred things more I know they must be gravell'd and could not answer Nay in the next Chapter and the third verse says the Lord to Noah Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you but many living things were prohibited to the Jews in the Law of Ordinances that they should not eat them But this ground I know cannot be shaken that many parts of the Ceremonial Law had clear passage in the Church presently after the Floud long before they came forth in Moses name And the whole Moral Law was acknowledged to be just and righteous even from the beginning of the world Sacrifices Altars distinction of clean from unclean abstaining from bloud and things strangled Vows the Brother to raise up seed unto the Brother that died without Issue these are all purely Ceremonial and yet in practice before ever Jacob went down into Egypt and that was 210 years before ever the Levitical Institutions were enacted And that all the Ten Commandments were ingrafted in the good seeds of nature there are such evident examples for them in all the book of Genesis that it will be less tedious for you to ruminate upon them than for me to remember them But as a Book which is ill set forth or rare to be had is sometimes reprinted again in a good Edition by them that are careful to propagate Learning So those things Moral and Ceremonial which were in use before were revived again when the Law was committed to Writing and called the Scripture partly because the Age of man grew short and the Tradition of Religion through the more hands it went was the more corrupted and because the Devil did superseminare in corde scatter so many Tares among the Wheat that the pure Law was scarce to be found in mans heart and partly men were grown so guilty of the Law that they would not look into their own hearts where they found thoughts accusing them Facti sunt fugitivi à cordibus suis says St. Austin they shunned to look into their own knowledge and conscience which did condemn them therefore it was necessary to have the Law written that it might come unto men since men did run from it But the effects and grounds both of Ceremonial Sacrifices and Moral Precepts were in force from the beginning And we may say with Solomon There is no new thing under the Sun that which is called new hath been already of old time which was before us Eccles i. 10. And because all things which are written are written for our instruction I will spare some time to shew that it concerns us even after the cessation of all Sacrifice to learn why the Lord would be honoured with the bloud of beasts and with the fat of Sacrifices One of the best and choicest of the Fathers thought it such a gross kind of serving of God to kill Oxen and Sheep and throw their flesh into the fire such a tyrannizing over the
as his sins let him look upon this Pillar and mark that it is a Monument erected against a relapsing convert against one that was turning from the vain pomp of the World and did not persevere For she that fled from Sodom and lookt back perished as well as they that never came out And he that will consider what an heinous crime it is to be invited unto mercy and abuse it let him taste of this salt and feel what a strange judgment remains in this example to cast away that which God would have saved All this is tacitly included in the words which I have read unto you and as the Prophets of old uttered their Prophetical spirit many times by deeds and gestures as well as by word and speech So God doth teach his Church as well by fact as by precept Those Exhortations I premised were not doctrinally delivered at the castigation of Lot's Wife but miraculously exhibited in a visible work objectivè non praeceptivè they are not passed over in a line or two by the Pen of a ready Writer but built up for all posterity to look upon in a durable Monument And when judgment advanceth it self in a Trophy in a standing Pillar every man will conceive that it is meant it should be a monitory to all succession rather than if it were a fluxive a transitory penalty that left no print behind it The Idol Calf which the Israelites worshipped was beaten to powder the dust of it blown away before the wind and drunk up in the River The Sea which had given back on either side for the passage of Gods Host met together and overwhelmed Pharaoh and his Army in the bottom that they were no more seen The Earth clave and opened it self to swallow up Korah Dathan and Abiram and it closed again so that no appearance of them remained Nothing was found of Jezebel eaten up of dogs but her skull her feet and the palms of her hands So it pleased him who sits on high that all visible memorial of these sinners should be rid out of the way But He made brine of Lot's Wife and congealed it into a Statue where it stood longafter nay I cannot convince those reporters who have written that the reliques of it are to be seen to this day that passengers might shake their heads at it and say Ah thou that wert pluckt out of Sodom like a brand out of the fire and yet didst loiter by the way and couldst not refrain to cast back a wishing and a voluptuous eye upon those filthy habitations Ingenious fancies have taken scope to riddle upon this judgment Cadaver nec habet suum sepulchrum sepulchrum nec habet suum cadaver sepulchrum tamen cadaver intus that she was a dead corps that had no sepulcher and that she was a sepulcher that had no dead corps and yet it was both corps and sepulcher This gives me the hint to divide my Text into an Epitaph and a Tomb the Epitaph His wife looked back from behind him the Tomb which that Epitaph respects is that she became a pillar of salt If you will have it in Logical terms which come all to one pass thus here are two principal heads to which all the matter is to be referred qua fecit quae passa est first what she did and that 's the summary Enditement of her sin secondly what she suffered and that 's the sentence of her punishment I bind my self to the first part only at this time in which there is cumulus salis as many corns of salt as will lie upon a knifs point so in these few words she looked back from behind him many Commandments are broken 1. She was inobsequens she looked back being expresly forbidden there 's disobedience 2. Excors here 's blindness of heart she might have saved her self by going streight on and looking forward yet she violated those easie conditions 3. Iâ—docilis she looked back from behind him Lot was a good example that went before her and she would go her own ways 4. Incredula she doubted whether those Cities should be destroyed as God had sent word or she thought it would not be the worse for her though she stood still and gazed upon Sodom 5. Recidiva she fainted in well doing and had a desire growing upon her to live again among those filthy sinners whom she had escaped 6. Misericordiae contemtrix she was slow to save her self and did not fly away upon the wings of mercy 7. Beneficii pertaesa she rather valued what she had lost than what she had saved her Habitation her Estate and Riches were consumed for her lifes preservation she set little by that and so loathed the benefit The Angel speaks in the 17. verse of this Chapter Escape for thy life look not behind thee neither stay thou in all the Plain yet she would not hearken no not to such a Monitor as an Angel but she looked back from behind him and so stands guilty of disobedience For disobedience is a sin by it self alone Cum crimen potius contra prohibitionem quà m contra rem ipsam fiat says the School when the fact it self were innocent but that the prohibition of the Lawgiver makes it nocent There are some Commandments of Gods which lean not so much upon apparent reason as upon absolute authority For though there be weighty causes which moved the most wise God to appoint it so yet when those reasons are not emergent out of the seeds of nature nor any way exprest and revealed as the Angel expresseth none in this place then the Command is said to come from absolute and uncontradicted dominion to try obedience There is a natural Law which lighteth every man that cometh into the World to choose the good in sundry cases of honesty and to refuse the evil this light is not a pure elementary fire but ignis culinaris as we say in Philosophy an impure smoaky flame which makes it apparent to the understanding what 's filthy to the soul as well as what 's noxious to the body And in those things where God is little known or at least little thought of humanity it self doth suggest the performance But because we rest not in the good of nature only as beasts do but aspire to a supernatural end and felicity therefore there is a supernatural Law to bring us to it Repent and believe and thou shalt be saved this is the Covenant of mercy and forgiveness which is made in Christ and the grace of God doth work in us a good will to those Divine duties that we do not frustrate our salvation Then thirdly the Sacraments of the New Testament are the Seals of the righteousness of faith as Sacraments they are Ceremonial Ordinances and are solemnly kept upon submission to the absolute Command of the Divine Authority but as faith is necessarily now knit unto them so they are a limb of the supernatural Law and are carefully observed not as Canons
neither thrive abroad nor at home Pyrrho haec Samnitibus I can wish our Enemies no greater harm than such corrupted minds That Pyrrhus it is in Plutarch was a rambling Warriour and cared not whom he oppressed Says Cyneas to him his best Counsellor Shall we live thus always No says Pyrrhus when we have vanquished the Romans Compotabimus in otio vivemus We will drink stoutly and live merrily His Horse would have said as much if he could have spoken that when his service was done he would stand in the Stable and eat his Provender But the end of War is Peace and the end of Peace is to die unto Sin and to live unto Righteousness These are the last words I have to say now In the justness of our Cause confidence of Faith fervour of Prayer amendment of our Lives United Hearts and in our Religious and Noble ends we commend our most serene and excellent Admiral the whole Royal and gallant Expedition which he manageth to God In whom alone is our help For there is none that fights for us powerfully and irresistably but only thou O God To which God c. A SERMON UPON PROV iii. 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee THE Children of Israel were exhorted from their Prophet Moses to write the Law upon the Posts of their doors and to have Copies of it in the Fringes of their Garments as if the whole Land of Jury had been bound into one Sacred Volume to make a Bible for them This was Mandatum latissimum as David said a Commandment exceeding broad but a Proverb being by the very interpretation of the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Basil says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a quaint speech used in every street of the City and every high way of the field it is more vulgar and common than the Law it self that thou maist be unexcusable O man when his words are gone forth into the ends of the world Now in this brief essay which I have read unto you as the Heathen were wont to set up the Image of Mercury in the turnings of high-ways to direct Passengers their journey which was called Mercurialis acervus so King Solomon in these words hath reared up a Pillar in the broad way to instruct our ignorance which is ready to turn aside and wander like the lost sheep that whithersoever we set our face we keep this Via Regia the Kings high way Let not c. Mercy and truth so excellent a workmanship that I reverse what I said before it is not like a Pillar set up for an heathen Idol but rather Solomon hath made a new Cherubin for a new Temple a Cherubin with two wings stretched out upon our soul The wings are Mercy and Truth which either bear up the body to heaven as David says My soul flieth unto the Lord before the morning watch I say before the morning watch Or if it grow laden with sin that so great a burden cannot be supported these wings can fly away alone these vertues will be gone like Elias in his firy Chariot for a wounded Conscience who can bear it But if it be true that Tertullian says Omnis spiritus ales est Every Spirit is winged to fly much more let the Spirit of every regenerate man be this Avis Paradisi that our soul may say as David the Sparrow hath found her a nest and the Swallow a place to lay her young ones even thine Altar O Lord of Hosts and being thus fledg'd Mercy and Truth shall not forsake us Out of which words I collect these parts in order The first wing of a Christian soul is Mercy He shall protect me under his wings and I shall be safe under his feathers so God was merciful unto David and mercy is a Wing Secondly The next that answers unto it is Truth For the word of the Lord is that flying roul which Ezekiel saw and the Word of the Lord is the truth it self so that Truth is a wing Thirdly Note their conjunction Mercy and Truth they are coupled together Mercy and Truth are met together righteousness and peace have kissed each other they met long ago in Christ the head and we must not part them in his members Fourthly You must know that we may be so careless in our holy Profession that we may be stript of all the good endowments which we had Mercy and Truth may forsake us and then say we had them Lastly If we look to our part the gifts of God are without repentance ne deserant let them not depart there is a careful way whereby we may imp these wings from flying that they shall not forsake us else ne deserant were sounding brass and no true doctrine these are the five Lamps it remains I put oyl into them I begin at Mercy the fairest Omen that ever the World had in it The unmerciful brethren of Joseph consulted to put the blame of their cruelty upon the beasts we will say a cruel beast hath devoured him It is very well that they durst not profess themselves to be men who were so barbarous But neither is â—t in every beast of the field to be stony hearted The fouls of the air are gentle in their kind witness the Ravens that fed Elias and for the Cattel upon the hills the Ass forsook not his old Master the Prophet that was rent by the Lion The meanest of Creatures then have mercy by instinct of nature yea and the most glorious also dread not the Angels though they be called flaming spirits but rather consider what pity they have shewn in their Function towards the Sons of men To execute Gods wrath few do always come down as loath to be Ministers of indignation One destroying Angel appeared to punish Jerusalem one alone brought weeping news to Bochim Jud. ii Three appeared unto Abraham to bring him the joyful Message of a Son but their company grew less by one and but two of them brought tidings to Lot of the vengeance of Sodom But Elishas Servant saw Chariots and Horsemen and thousands in the Mountain to protect them To publish peace and joy heaven it self as I may so speak it was empty and there appeared a multitude of the heavenly Host to the Shepherds and sang praises unto God surely then one of their wings is Mercy But we must fetch our example further than the Angels let us go boldly to the throne of grace and fetch it from the third heavens Be you merciful with a sicut says our Saviour as your heavenly Father is merciful And if we cast our eye upon that pattern it blossoms like the rod of Aaron into these two buds condonationem and donationem First To forgive and remit sins Secondly To give liberally as God hath enabled us In the first I will thus proceed First that it is Gods nature and property to forgive secondly that man should rather forgive than God It did well deserve record
it is 1 Cor. vi 11. But ye are washed but ye are sanctified In that sacred Laver we are sprinkled with the bloud of Christ and so made Saints Sancti quasi sanguine tincti it is a bloud which purifieth from uncleanness for of old they that desired to be purified did dip some part of their body in the bloud of the Sacrifice Baptism is Pactum vitae purioris cum Deo a Covenant with God to lead a pure and unspotted life a sequestration of that which is holy from all profane abuses it is jus gentium says Tully a national and received Law throughout all the world Vt ne mortales quod Deorum immortalium cultui consecratum est usu capere possint that no man usurp that for common uses which was consecrated to the service of the immortal Gods so that a Saint is as much as one that is washt and made clean in Christ and engaged unto holiness all the days of his life 3. For the confession of the true doctrines sake which flesh and bloud could not reveal unto us but our Father which is in heaven our reward was to be called the faithful the faithful of the circumcision Acts x. 45. and in many places beside This continued our note of distinction more than any other in ancient Liturgies and so remains in some of our own Collects as grant we beseech thee merciful Lord to thy faithful people pardon and peace And it stuck more close to the Church than any title in St. Cyprians days as appears by these words Quid Christiana plebs faceret cui de fide nomen est What should Christian people do in this case whose name is given them from the Faith So I have represented to you that in the earliest days of the Gospel the Disciples were called Brethen from their sincerity of love Saints from the purification of Baptism Faithful from that Orrhodox truth which they professed and hope in Christ which St. Paul hath put all together in one verse To the Saints and faithful Brethren in Christ which are at Colosse chap. i. ver 2. But as St. Paul says By honour and dishonour by evil report and by good report we approve our selves the Ministers of Chrisft And they that scoffed at the way of salvation did load us with contumelious taunts that they might soil our Profession The first bitter arrow that our Enemies shot forth was to call us Nazarens Tertullus the spruce Orator was aware of that and charged St. Paul that he was a ring leader of the Sect of the Nazarens Act. xxiv 5. Surely they delighted the more in this Nickname because of that opprobrious by word can there any good come out of Nazareth St. Hierom says that the spiteful Jews had no other term for the Christians in his days and how in that term they cursed us thrice every day in their Synagogues Now when they thought to gall us both with their curse and their venemous scorn Epiphanius says that the Apostles liked it well enough to be called Nazarens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their intention was to put the name of Nazareth upon him where the Angel Gabriel saluted the Blessed Virgin and where she conceived Christ and they were contented It seems so for because they held it no disgrace Julian the Emperor would not call them Nazarens but Galilaeans and proclaimed it says Nazianzen that they should plead or be empleaded by no other name throughout all his Dominions the name of Christian says the same Father it grated his ear some Divine Majesty was in the syllables that it put horror into his conscience but for his own quiet and their wrongs he thought it better to call them Galilaeans his slanderous intention was all that was ill in it for the appellation it self was not slanderous an Angel of God directed his Message to them in that form Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into heaven Act. i. 11. But here was the secret gibe one Judas of Galilee a Firebrand of sedition had lodged an ill opinion in many of the Jews who were born in that Region that such as paid Tithes to God were not to pay Tribute to Cesar neither ought they to call any one their Lord but him that created Heaven and Earth In plain meaning he and his Consorts of Galilee were errant Rebels and though none were so far from faction and disobedience as these modest Disciples yet to perswade the World that they had an Anti-monarchichal grudg in their bosom this Apostate called them Galilaeans Lastly because the Orthodox Champions of the Church confounded the obstinate Gentiles with certain verses cited out of the Books of the Sibyls therefore in despite they invented the name Sibyllistae and pointed at us for the Disciples of those Prophetesses the Sibyls whereas it was their own doing to make us urge them with those proofs since they would not believe the Old Testament and the Prophets of the Lord. I cannot forget how Albertus Pighius played such a wise part or rather a far worse being the first that called our Reformed Divines Scripturarios Scripture-men because they grounded all their Doctrin upon the written word of the holy Scriptures yet in my judgment Sibyllist was not so ill a scoff as Scripturarian Now you know from that which hath been spoken what good Titles adorned the Primitive Saints and how their Enemies drew their name with a black coal in terms of scurrillity the bad appellations vanished away by the brightness of their vertue the good ones were like a scanty Robe too short to cover all their excellency they bore the Cross of Christ gladly and triumphantly wherefore this eximious Inscription was given them which is here in my Text all other names were but as a trail of golden beams to beautify this which includes them all Christian 'T is very much that no Author is mentioned here who was so lucky to impose this name which will be glorious no doubt in all the World as long as the Sun and Moon endure Carthusian hath his opinion that Infidels were the Inventers in disdain at Christ whom that pious Generation worshipped Comestor imputes it to the converted Greeks and Gentiles to the end that they and the believing Jews might have one common cognizance There are more than enough that think it may proceed from St. Peter whose first Episcopal See was at Antioch and then they think they have engrossed all Christians to be under the Pastoral charge of him and his Successors his Successors at Rome they mean and not at Antioch Turrian the Jesuit is far more reasonable sayiâ—â— that the Nomenclator is not known but that the name was ratified by a Synod of Apostles for he mentions a Synod held at Antioch in which these three Canons passed 1. That none should be circumcised for Baptism was the true Circumcision made without hands 2. That all Nations that believed might be collected into the Catholick
And to be threatned to be little in Gods Kingdom is to loose it for ever whereas every one must be great who shall be rewarded with that immortality When the Heathen traduced the Christians that they debased their Emperour and made him less than the God of heaven Know you not says Tertullian that this is the eminency of your Emperour to be less than God Imperator ideo magnus est quia coelo minor est And as the Orator perswaded Caesar Dum Pompeii statuas ornat suas erigit While he took care to adorn Pompeys Statues he did advance his own so we build our selves a Throne by falling down low before the foor stool of the Lord and the hands which are lifted up to praise him shall one day stand at the right hand of his Majestly Somewhat was in it but the Heathen knew not what it was they called it abusively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that every thing which grew too tall was thunder-blasted and that great fortunes when they came to excess did end in some shameful ruine Wherefore the wise Historian said of Poppaeus Sabinus that when divers Senators were cut short he lived secure in the reign of three Tyrants Quòd par negotiis neque supra habebatur he was fit for the business he undertook and not too great for it St. Chrysostom observes it among St. Pauls Salutations to the Romans that no man was saluted by the name of honour as Lord and Master and the like but Andronicus his fellow-prisoner Amplias his beloved Epaenetus his well beloved these were Titles in which the Saints delighted expressing their glory to be the union of charity in the holy Spirit As Virgil says of his Bees that they are full of stomach and revenge and that one Hive will fight cruelly against another Atque haec certamina tanta pulveris exigui jactu compressa quiescunt Cast a little dust into the air and the fray is parted So when the pride of man hath set up sails and swells with vain opinion Pulveris exigui jactu methinks the casting of a little dust should pluck down our stomach the base mould of which our flesh is made Tolle jactantiam quid sunt homines nisi homines says St. Austin Set aside this corrupt leaven of ostentation and all men are but men as naked in their pomp as when they were born or when they shall be buried It was pride that dethroned the bad Angels and it is that makes man stubborn against the Law and refractory against faith hence it passeth currently to be the root of evil Yet Covetousness also as if there were emulation among Vices is taxed by St. Paul for the root of all evil setting the soul to be a Vassal to the love of the world and deceitful riches This Controversie coming before the Schoolmen to be decided this is the judgment of Aquinas These two parts are in the nature of sin Aversio à bono incommutabili a departure from the love of the Creator and Conversio ad bonum commutabile an inclination to the love of the Creature In the inclination to the transitory good Covetousness is the root of all evil in the departure from the chief good Pride is the root and matter of all evil that as the Aegyptians at the burial of the dead were wont to tear out the dead mans belly and to cry over it Thou wert it that killedst this man so if we would dissect out Pride from the rest of our vices we might more justly make that invective over it Thou wert the fall of Man and the ruin of evil Angels The Devil would lead our Saviour into the Wilderness little manners to go before his Maker Sequitur superbos ulton says the Poet but it is with punishment The Adulterer is a sinner in secret the Covetous commits Idolatry iu his Cabinet the Slanderer is like Pestilence that flieth by night alia vitia fugiunt à Deo sola superbia se opponit other vices are afraid and keep out of the way only Pride spurs on like Balaam upon his Ass when God and his angry Angel stand before him Now there are four ways as the Schoolmen make the account whereby this daring vice of Pride doth diminish from that which should be given to Gods glory 1. Cum homo existimat à se habere bonum quod habet A sin no less ungrateful than presumptuous to enjoy wit and art and memory and the blessings of the best Portion but the founders name to he quite lost and God forgotten when the Romans began to insult over the world well says one if every Country had their own which they have seized upon by violence and robbery ad casas reducerentur they would have nothing left them but their Shepherds Cottages But should God have all his own restored unto him which we have received what should I fay Ad casas reduceremur our strength our honor wisdom and eloquence all must be returned nay we should not have so much left as the Cottage of our Body for we had it from the Lord every thing that renowns us that feeds us that preserves us is but mica sub mensa a crum that falls from our Masters Table Did not the Egyptians make themselves fools in their Phitosophy that thought their Country was not the clearer for the Sun and Stars but that the Sun and the Stars sucked up sweet vapours from their Rivers and were the clearer for their Country so abominable are they in the pride of their hearts who think they did not receive the spirit of Prayer and the gift of Faith and the peace of a good conscience from Heaven but that they do pay Prayers and Alms and Charity to Heaven which they never received Secondly Violence is done to Gods glory cum desuper datum credunt sed pro suis se accepisse meritis when conscience will acknowledg that God doth give all but arrogancy will infer that man deserves all The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the free Gift of God the Father the Unction of the Holy Spirit are turned quite aside like a river from his own true channel when it falls into such a Soil that thinks it deserves it As the Jews said unto our Saviour on the other side of Gehezareth Rabbi quà huc venisti Master how camest thou hither so let us say Sanctification quà huc venisti We did not shew the way with Palms neither did we lift up the Gates there was no entrance which our merits could prepare for sactification not by our ears which are profane not by our mouths which are blasphemous and as our Saviour said If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee so in another sense I may say if thy right eye do not offend thee if any part of thy body usurps that it is not sinful cut it off and cast it from
best harmony with our best chearfulness from the example of Angels especially at this time for the Birth of our blessed Lord and Saviour c. THE EIGHTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE ii 14. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good will towards men O Sing unto the Lord a new Song for he hath done marvelous things I will begin the New year from that portion of Davids Canticle Marvelous things they were you will all confess that the powerful God should be made a feeble Infant that a woman should bear him in her womb who supports the world and all the Creatures that are contained in it that the Eternal should be born who had no beginning never was the like heard or seen before therefore whatsoever was said of old will not agree to set it forth it must be a new Song of praise and thanksgiving to our God So is the Text which I have read before you It cometh to pass by the providence of God that St. Lukes Gospel is more chearful than all the rest and full of Musick So that he is well called by one not only the Evangelist but the Psalmist of the New Testament The Song of Zachary the Song of Maries Magnificat the Song of Simeon this Song of the Angels the Church is beholding to him for reciting them and to no other Penman of the holy Word St. Paul calls him Luke the Physician some of the Roman Church to serve their own Imagery delights out of some Histories unallowed call him Luke the Painter there is no conjecture for that out of the book of Scripture which cannot lye But I have more conjecture for my own opinion that he was Luke the Musician a man of divers gifts and qualities for the Prophets and Evangelists wrote the Scriptures by divine revelation yet always with a sweet tincture of their own abilities The stately eloquence of Isaiah shews his breeding St. Pauls Logical Arguments shew his Scholarship St. Peters facile Exhortations shew his zeal and plain Education Finally if I be not deceiv'd the repeating of so many celestial Hymns in St. Luke shew his musical art and affection Now the Spirit of the Church hath been ever so directed by God to take in all the Songs of the New Testament into its publick Service and Liturgie the Magnificat the Benedictus the Nunc Dimittis Thus it is not only with us but was so most anciently in all flourishing and well established Churches Neither is this Versicle of the Angels I mean my Text left out but it is referred to the chief part of our serving of God in the celebration of the holy Communion before we part from the Table of the Lord our Rubrique commands us to sing or say Glory be to God on high Indeed that Prayer as we have it is enlarged with many other pithy strains of devotion We praise thee we bless thee we worship thee we glorifie thee c. And such as have wrote of ancient Ceremonies say that Pope Telesphorus made up that excellent prayer of Laud and Thanksgiving beginning with my Text. Very ancient it is I am sure because I meet with it for the most part in those pieces which are called the Constitutions of Clemens and St. James his Liturgy But for the words which I handle I have great cause to judge that they were the most acceptable Prayer of the Primitive Church for St. Paul begins his Epistles with grace and peace be multiplied as much as to say peace on earth and good will towards men and the end of many clauses in his Epistles is that Doxology to God To whom be glory for evermore Amen I wonder that the words themselves are bended in and out with such curious divisions by many Divines for the Angel hath parted them into three several rests and I will not go about to mend his work and whereas Points are raised out of Grammatical constructions of the Verb whether they should be the Indicative or the Optative Mood it shall be all one to that way in which I will handle the parts for I will handle every of the three members three ways First As a Congratulation or thanksgiving Secondly By way of Prayer or Petition Thirdly By way of Doctrine and Instruction Thanksgiving unto God that his glory on high appeareth that peace doth flourish on earth and that he is pleased with men or make it a Prayer or Postulation that all glory may be given to God all safety to the earth and that an happy reconciliation may be begun with men Otherwise if it be a Sermon or Exhortation the sum is that God be magnified peace preserved a friendship with God endeavoured thus nothing shall be lost of this divine musical Embassage Glory be to God in the highest c. Now we cannot be to seek what is the sum of the first member Glory to God in the highest it must be thus the Angels glorifie God for sending Christ in the flesh to redeem mankind and they wish and pray that men may glorifie God in Christ and they teach us that Gods glory is to be sought before all things and so I proceed to explicate it before you If the Disciples be silent at what time it is fit to praise God the stones shall speak says our Saviour that 's ultimum refugium the last shift and refuge that the very dross of the earth if need were should not want a tongue to magnifie its Creator But it stirs up emulation and provokes us more when those that are far above us discharge the duty which we ought to execute rather than when those things which are much beneath us should give us example So my Text lets you see that if men be silent and set not forth the praise of the Lord the Angels will speak and give him glory It were a great shame for the Commons to be rude and irrespectful towards their King when the Nobles and Princes of the people are most dutiful and obsequious so when the Cherubins devote their Songs to extol the most High it were a beastly neglect in man a worm in respect of a Cherubin not to bear a part in that humble piety But to speak after the method of reason had it not been more proper for the Angels at this time to have proclaimed Christs Poverty than his Power his Infancy than his Majesty his Humility in the lowest rather than his glory in the highest If there wereany glory coming out of this work of the Incarnation it may seem we had it rather than our Saviour and he lost it But the piercing eye of those celestial Spirits could see abundant honour compassing Christ about where ignorant man could espy nothing but vileness and misery For first they celebrate the glory of Gods justice in sending his Son made of a woman and made under the Law to suffer for us that had sinned against the Law because that Justice would not receive man into favour
without a Lutrum or satisfaction This stops the mouth of the Devil that he cannot calumniate and it resounds the praise of God that the iniquity of the world did not escape unrevenged Caiaphas meant to speak bitterly and to blaspheme but the Lord turned the curse of his mouth into the words of blessing It is expedient for us that one man die for the people and that the whole Nation perish not Joh. xi 50. Secondly They divulge the honour of Christ unto the ends of the world for the mercy that came down with him upon all those that should believe in his name if his Justice was not forgotten in their Song surely his Mercy should be much more solemnized The Angels for their own share were unacquainted with mercy 't was news in heaven till this occasion hapned they had felt gratiam confirmantem but not gratiam condonantem that is the Lord bestowed upon the good Angels grace to confirm them in grace but for those rebellious ones of their Order that had sinned they found no grace to remit their trespasses properly that is called mercy but a thing so rare and unheard of in heaven that as soon as ever they saw it stirring in the earth they sing Glory to God in the highest Thirdly They praise the Lord on high for the Incarnation of his Son because the dignity of the work was so from himself that no Creature did merit it none did beseech or intercede unto him for it before he had destinate it nothing but his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and compassion could move him to it Nemo in hoc opere glorietur nullius merito ascribatur no man can ascribe it to his deserts no man can partake in the glory What was man that the Son of God did visit him For him we shall be glorified by him we have obtained peace through him good will hath shined upon men therefore unto him be all the glory This was the Angels Congratulation and no doubt God shall be glorified in his holy places on high but shall that God who is most high be worshipped and glorified by us below That is it the Angels pray for and wish for our sakes and for our Salvation that we of the Militant Church beneath may extol the name of the Lord and give him glory Among men sinners pray for sinners and it is but one for another the People pray for the Prince and the Prince for the People The Priest for the Congregation and the Congregation for the Priest Great and small there are no odds in that they requite one another with their mutual Charity the head cannot say unto the feet I have no need of your Prayers nor the feet unto the head Dum singuli orant pro omnibus omnes orant pro singulis while every particular man prays for all Christians in the Church all Christians in the Church pray for every particular man but as I said this is sinners for sinners quid pro quo But when the Angels are sollicitous in Hymns and Supplications for us it is not that we should pray to them or pray for them again but shew charity that cannot be requited They know that many Sacrifices of Prayers are requisite to bless any Congregation on earth that God may have his due honour from it and therefore all the powers in heaven above assist us with their intercession And especially they are mindful over us to make that Petition on our behalf that we may never forget that our condition is base and as low as the clay and dust of the earth and that God is highly exalted above all the world therefore that we are made to worship him and to fall down before him and to render the homage of our humility to our Chief that is dominion and glory to him that is the highest We find this title of most high in Melchisedechs title Gen. xiv 18. and never before There it comes in as some say whom I approve for this reason Melchisedech is the first in holy Scripture that is called a King that being the greatest name of pre-eminency among men God blazons his own honour just at the first discovery of that name to shew how far it exceeds all earthly Principality and calls him Melchisedech King of Salem a Priest of the most high God And indeed there was a glory due to that Melchisedech and to every one in his rank that is set on high above the people but take heed we let not our Worship and Service rest in them and in the admiration of their outward Pomp and go no higher God set Princes in their Thrones of Majesty to be bowed unto and obeyed that we may rise up in our Meditations and consider how excellent and superlative he is that gave such power and dominion to men Before Christ came into the world it was Gloria in excelsis men worshipt their Idols in every high place as the Prophets did greatly complain of it but it was not Deo in altissimis they worshipt the Host of heaven and things above but they did not lift up their hearts to him that sitteth above the heavens Therefore this is the sum of the Angels Prayer that men may give dominion and praise and thanksgiving to the true God and their wish was as effectual as they could desire for even immediately upon the Birth of Christ Idolatry went down the heathen Gods were discovered more and more to be but Wood and Stone the work of mens hands and the praise of the true God began to be sounded forth in all places The next issue of this first Point is the Angels teach us by the contents of their Prayer that Gods glory is to be sought before all things Nihil aequius est quam ut pro quo quis oret pro eo etiam laboret says St. Austin Whatsoever we pray for we must not only stand wishing it but as much as in us lies endeavour it also First repeating often the marvelous works which he hath done for the conservation of those that praise him and for the destruction of his enemies O God we have heard with our ears and our Fathers have declared unto us the noble works that thou didst in their days and in the old time before them Secondly By confessing of our grievous sins which makes his mercy and his grace so excellent throughout all the world and depressing our best works to be as ineffectual as our sins unto Salvation unless the Lord will cover the stains that are in them with the bloud of Christ Surely the reward which he brings with him is much exalted when we deny not but the best thing we do is less than the least of all his mercies Thirdly by defying by shunning by resisting nay by rooting out the children of Belial that blaspheme his glory for God will avenge himself of them that are tame and patient when his name is violated and his honour prophaned it is the glory of humane Laws
thing cannot be in the same understanding Secondly neither did the evil spirit fortifie the sight of Christ or put virtue into his eye to make it see more than the organ did see before non quod visum ejus qui omnia videt amplificaverit the Lord of Heaven and Earth indeed is able to put strange perspicacie into the eye of man if he please to make him see things clearly and distinctly at a mighty distance so he caused Moses at 120 years of age to go up to mount Nebo to look upon the land before him and to die there First God put courage into his heart to go thither to die with as much chearfulness as if he had been invited to some Festival entertainment secondly he put virtue into his aged eye to see all the remote Regions as perfectly as if they had been Valleys close by and all lying under mount Nebo on which he stood Now as for the eye of Christs body surely it needed no such amplification of visual virtue for assume it for granted that all parts of his humane nature were so perfect that his eye could clearly behold any thing though at never so far distance I mean how far soever the visible object could cast a species no gross opacous body casting it self between for Christ being made like unto us in all things sin onely excepted I allow no possibility to any created one to see through the thick interposition of earth and stones that Lynceus was able to do so Poets did invent in in a Midsummer Moon But I resume no species could multiply to our Saviours sight and fall upon it with never so acute angles though the distance as long as between a star in the highest Region and this earth but he could clearly receive the object as present at hand before him Having such virtue in his eye he could receive no amplification neither could any visual virtue upon the highest Mountain on earth make him to see all the Kingdoms of the World ot once for Philosophers grant enough that an object may appear in one Horizon to an excellent sighted eye three hundred miles off and more they think impossible Nor thirdly did Satan work any perturbation in Christs phansie to make him imagine he saw that which indeed he did not To be conceited that things are present and before a man which indeed are not if it fall out in ones sleep it is no more than a dream if it come to pass by Gods working supernaturally it is a prophetical illumination so God wrought such wonderful passions upon the fancies of Ezekiel and St. John and the Monks say that it pleased the Lord to shew unto St. Bennet in a trance a little before he died all the Kingdoms and Empires upon the face of the earth but if such a thing come to pass by the Devils mists and devices then it is praestigiation or delusion but Satan had no such power to abuse the senses or the spirits of our blessed Lord moving disorder in his body or in his head by which course only he can procure fanciful and vain imaginations of things that are not Besides if this shew had been no more but deluding the fancie to make it credulous he saw the whole world when he did not what needed he make choice of an exceeding high mountain to go up to that That might be done every where and he might as easily work it into his fancy that he was upon a mountain when he was not as to see a most ravishing object of all the earth when he did not But that which I said before is most convincing that Satan had no power to disturb our Saviours fancy inwardly neither is He that is above the wisdom of men and Angels subject to delusion As it was impossible to be brought to pass after these wayes that I have toucht upon to represent all the Kingdoms of the World before our Saviour so there are other wayes how this might be done without any flat contradiction or absurdity As First Satan is able if God permit him to compose certain species or models of all the Kingdoms of the world bubbles as I may call them in the air to last for a little while for the twinkling of an eye and so to vanish and for the better colour of his jugling that they were the real Kingdoms of the World and not their counterfeits he assumed Christ up into a most lofty prospect These are delusions not in Christs fancy which I disclaimed before but without him Nor were they any delusions unto Christ at all because he knew them what they were that they were not true but feigned images The most piercing objection that can be made is then he did not shew any Kingdom unto Christ but only the glasses and models of them all So it must be indeed by this description yet they are called the Kingdoms of the World per modum signi because the glory of the World was cunningly display'd in those counterfeits Secondly though it be past the skil of man to perform for I am no Rosicrucian yet it is not past the capacity of man to imagine it possible how Satan might make the species of all the Kingdoms of the World conjoyntly be seen before Christs eye by refractions per artem speculorum positorum in commodâ habitudine one terse clear body like a Glass receiving the shadows or species of things from one to another and in a very quick instant all display'd in the air round about that Mountain being fitly prepared to receive such fractions But I will not trouble you nor my self with such intricate optical Philosophy as must make this good But thirdly I am most strongly possessed with that way which is most easie and obvious though it be pelted with objections that Satan shewed our Saviour all that pleasant Country that might be seen from the top of the Mountain and did indigitare or monstrare shew the rest by pointing to the flourishing Monarchies of the World which way they lay as in a Cosmographical Sphere But this exposition will be cavill'd with that he could not be said properly to shew all Kingdoms Not so properly indeed as He that travails through every Region but secundum ultimum posse he shew'd him all as far forth as his skil and power would permit him Neither is it necessary to hold so hard to the Text that every angle of the world was made apparent and nothing unshewn The note of universality stands oftentimes for multitude He shew'd him the most part of the Kingdoms of the world or perhaps all that had glory in them that is Victory Peace Civility not barbarous savage Nations who had neither Cities of munificence nor Laws of good government nor wealth nor honor nor any thing desirable Others that can oppose this opinion and yet give no sensible reason of their own to expound this Text but these object that discourse must take up some time if Satan
spake upon all the Kingdoms of the World this could not be done in the twinkling of an eye But no man can read an Author but he will find many such hyperbolical speeches The Syrian Paraphrast translates St. Luke in brevissimo tempore Satan did it in a trice in a very short time beyond the imagination of man to think how it should be done so quickly that 's the meaning of the Holy Ghost It was his subtilty to hurry over things that Christ might have no time of deliberation but be surprized of a sudden before He could give a well meditated answer I know it may be descanted upon likewise that such things told upon relation could not move any mans appetite so well as to muster them before the eye Segnius irritant animos dimissa per aures c. therefore I say this was a mingle of tentation all that could be was shewed unto the eye and the rest was supplyed by narration Use which of these last opinions you will or if none do satisfie yet believe the Text to be true for that must be believ'd though the manner be unsearchable The Lord will come at the blast of a Trumpet and all flesh shall be gathered together in the twinkling of an eye and then all mysteries shall be opened to us among other things that are not yet discover'd how the Devil took our Saviour up into an exceeding high Mountain and shew'd him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them in the twinkling of an eye THE FIFTEENTH SERMON UPON Our Saviours Tentation MAT. iv 9. And saith unto him All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me BErnard meditates upon our Saviours suffering on the Cross that there were tria pungentia three sharp pointed Instruments that ran into his flesh But the first more lightly The second much more sensibly And the last made a further entrance into his body than all the rest The thorns platted on his head raced the skin the Nails went through his hands and feet But the Speare made a ruder and a deeper wound through his side into his very heart So these three Tentations of the Devil succeed one another like those tria pungentia every one had a sharper point and a greater sting to do mischief than the other but it was not possible they should stick like thorns and nails in the Son of God The tentation to make stones of bread was an advice to make bad provision for the sustenance of this life there was Spina necessitatis Satan would have prickt Christ on with the thorns of want and necessity The tentation to cast himself down from the top of the Temple was to draw him to a violent and a presumptuous death as bad as that nail if he could have fastned it which Jael struck into the head of Sisera The third tentation is a mash of all the venom which the Devil had left Peccata peccatis producta here are sins hanging upon sins one at the end of another to make up the length of a Spear In a word here is a brood of sins in a nest four apparently without all subdivisions First Peccatum habendi he offers him the sin of Covetousness to give him all the Possessions of the world Secondly Peccatum regnandi he would rub Ambition upon him and put into his hands all the Kingdoms and Power of the world Thirdly Peccatum malè credendi he would seduce him to believe that all these things which God alone brings forth from his treasure were his to dispose Fourthly Peccatum turpiter adorandi he durst ask that which is so horrid that it is able to curdle a mans bloud to repeat it that Christ would fall down and worship him Aquinas builds the gradation of these three Tentations on this sort First The evil Spirit demanded no more of Christ Quà m quod appetunt quantumcunque veri spirituales which the holiest men in the world and most endowed with the Spirit must use but to refresh and feed his body Secondly He required that which holy men ought not to do yet it is incident through frailty now and then for holy men to do it to jump down from a Pinacle out of ostentation and to be gazed upon for vain glory But he climbs up in the third tentation to such a motion as never any spiritual and holy man can commit to be bribed with wealth and honour to forsake the Lord and to adore his foulest enemy Therefore in both the former temptations he began with this preface If thou be the Son of God but he leaves out those words when he makes this Proposition in my Text for the Son of God would never commit such black Idolatry though he could give more than all yet he laies all at the stake for this venture All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me Though Satans Kingdom be not divided yet his Tentations may But first I will read you my Text as St. Luke hath enlarged it that we may miss nothing which the Spirit of God hath uttered upon these words Thus that Evangelist Chap. iv 6. All this power will I give thee and the glory of them for that is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will give it if thou therefore wilt worship me all shall be thine Now I suppose we may charge these particulars upon the Text made up out of both the Evangelists First Wherein the enticement of this tentation consists why in giving in most liberal remuneration pretended Dabo I will give Secondly What and how much he will give and that is twofold As a Mammonist of Wealth he will he says put into his hands all the Riches and Possessions that the eye can see All these things will I give thee And as a Lucifer of pride he tells him that he will give him title to all the honours of the world all this power will I give thee and the glory of them Thirdly he shews Christ his evidences Quo jure by what right and authority he can make over all this unto him In these words For that is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will give it Fourthly and lastly Every Bait hath his Hook under it So this promise is laid upon a most impious condition if Christ will fall down and worship him Set your minds now upon these things and I will deliver them in their order Every tentation had some clawing provocation in it peculiar to it self now the sharpness and dangerousness of this tentation is in giving that is the first Point Dabo tibi I will give thee that is a speeding word we must confess it to the shame of the world Every one is a friend to him that bringeth gifts says Solomon All Satyrical Invectives Fables or Morals Writings of every cut and fashion are full of this that these things which Satan requires are commonly to be bought Worship Homage and what you
a little extemporary acquaintance and no more with that to which they say Amen Next let every man preach that challengeth he hath the gift sorrily God knows and then he knows that Preaching will come to nothing as well as Prayer Beware that you let not our great Adversary subvert all Piety and Religion by these encroachments bad men may mock holy Ordinances but God is not mocked Fear the Lord reverence his ways receive the blessings of the Spirit with thanksgiving and praise rule the Tongue to glorifie him that made it to set forth his honour that gives it utterance AMEN THE FIRST SERMON UPON THE CORONATION PSAL. cxviii 24. This is the Day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and he glad in it THE words which I have selected to preach upon are part of a Psalm which excels both in the Letter and in the Spirit rich in the litteral sense copious in the spiritual the Kingdom of David set forth magnificently in the one the Kingdom of Christ glorified in the other Sometimes the ditty of the Song points directly at the Throne of David and sometimes at Christs Triumphs over his Death and his victorious Resurrection I cannot choose between them both but think of the Country of Mesopotamia the fruitful Garden of the world girt about with waters the Rivers did flow in and out in all quarters of the Land and the Land was much more pleasant for the windings and intricate Maeanders of the Rivers So this Hymn hath a most delightful alternation in it skipping often from Christ to David and from David to Christ with sundry melodious changes as if it purposed to make the Reader lose himself if he did not curiously note the Narration There hath been much ado among Expositors whether the Psalm should concern them both or only one of them choose you which you will Some refer it all to David and to the rejoycing of the People in his behalf that they saw him happily inaugurated King of Israel after he had been long kept back by the House of Saul and many other potent Enemies The Jewish Rabbins make no other construction of it and they follow the Chaldee Paraphrast who doth thus read the 22. verse of this Psalm the Builders did reject the youngest of the Sons of Jessai and would not let him reign over them but he hath deserved to be received for their Prince and Governor therefore we will keep holy day and rejoyce Thus Vatablus and Isidore Clarius and many others of this latter Age have dived no further than into the superficies of this Scripture that is into so much and no more than concerned the Monarchy of David But they did not see into the bottom that lookt no further for the Antient Fathers of the Church not one but all have discover'd so manifest a Prophesie concerning our Saviour that nothing can be clearer It is a general rule that David in most of his Psalms had more regard to Christ than to Himself in this more eminently than ordinary so that the New Testament is full of the application Pick out the 22. verse The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner according to three several Gospels our Saviour demonstrates that himself was the Stone which the Scribes and Pharisees refused but God had exalted him to be the Head of the Church both ih Heaven and Earth St. Peter proves as much in the audience of many thousands of the Jews and none of them did contradict him Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom ye crucified this is the Stone which is set at naught of you Builders which is become the head of the corner ver 26. of this Psalm Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord I doubt not but all the loyal hearts of Juda and Jerusalem did congratulate David in those words when he entred into the Royal City but all the Multitude of the People applied them to the Advent of the Messias Hosanna to the Son of David blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Matth. xxi 9. And indeed St. Hierom says that the Jews in their Liturgy of old were wont to read this Psalm in their Synagogues for the Messias sake and did put it among those Prayers in which they did heartily desire the coming of Christ the Lord Nay says Cajetan the 17. verse can become the mouth of no mortal man but it is the voice of the immortal Son of God to say I will not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. Therefore those Authors that had the most judicious Palat have acknowledged that sometimes Davids matters are brought into this Psalm and sometimes Christs nay sometimes both of them in one verse as in my Text. The begining of the Psalm says St. Chysostom was a Celebration for the setting on the Crown upon the head of the King of Israel but ex improviso mutavit argumentum in a sudden extasie the Prophet changeth his argument and speaks of Christ nay says Euthymius if a man will be acquainted with the stile of the Propets let him remember that this is their custom intercidere solent sermones in rem aliam transire ne adversarii manus injiciant they use to break off abruptly and fall from one thing to another lest if the Enemies of the Truth did understand them they would make away those holy Writings to the irrecoverable loss of the Church of Christ This was necessary to be premised that you might know what to look for out of my Text namely David's Day in the Letter and Christ's Day in the Spirit In the Case of David no man doubts what day is pointed at surely it is the day of his Inauguration when after much resistance made by his Enemies at last he did enjoy the Scepter of all Israel quietly and peaceably and there was an Holy-day instituted to remember it with sacred Solemnity The Lord had made that Day happy unto David and the People did celebrate it in a joyful and religious manner I need not to tell you how proper that construction of my Text is to this Day wherein God hath settled our Anointed Sovereign over all the Kingdoms of his Father and I trust you profess your due thankfulness to God for his most pious and religious Reign and that we have great cause to rejoyce and be glad in it But which is that among all the days of Christ which God did make more transcendently than the rest there 's a little scruple in that point I find one or two refer it to the day of his Nativity but their reasons are weak and they are no considerable number to be followed St. Hierom and St. Austin are in the right I think for they apply it to the whole time of the Gospel wherein the terrors of the Law are broken and all things are most sweet and pleasant to penitent Believers Behold now is the acceptable Time now is the