UPON Christian Solennitas ab eo quod solet in Anno esse, dici­tur. S. August. Serm. 186. de Temp. Solemnities in Generall. Exod. 16. Ps. 112.6. 1 Cor. 14.40.
DISQUISITION 1.

SHall all things have their appointed Time, Eccles. 3. as the Wise man speaks, and not Devotion? which sure, should rather have a share in all times what­soever: For albeit Reli­gion be not tyed to Time Confes. Hel­vet. c. 24. ; yet can it not be planted or exercised without a due Dividing and allotting out of Time for it: and forasmuch as it is kindly, to gather all fruits in their seasons; so too is it for the Church of God to consider each of his great Benefits, even in the day wherein it was wrought (as neer as can be imagined) and therefore it is well ordered by the true Chur­ches, Ancient and Modern, to solemnize the memorial of Christs main Actions and Passion: with the imitable vertues of his Saints and Martyrs, upon set-times, and annuall revoluti­ons, lest haply, (in a while) those Persons and Things be forgotten, that ought to be had in everlasting remembrance. To which end, saith Saint Augustine, God hath designed weekly. [Page 2] and his Church annuall De Civit. Dei, lib. 10. cap. 4. Commemorations of the Mysteries, Means, and Witnesses of our Redemption; to preserve a Solemn memory of those high Benefits which either by Himself or any of his blessed Instrumens he hath bet­stowed upon Mankind. Not that we should luxuriate in Festivities, (as some do) dedicating Dayes even to fictitious Saints, that never were men, or had a name, but in mistaken Calen­ders: as it is doubted by the two grand Sup­porters of the Heterodox perswasion, Bellar­mine and Baronius, Lib. de Beati­tudine Sancto­rum. cap. ult. whether there were ever any such man as S. George, or such a woman as Saint Catherine. The Cardinall doth acknow­ledg that they worship certain Saints whose stories are uncertain, reputing the Legend of Saint George Apocryphal, for all 'tis used in the Missall: Eccl. Annal. Tom. 2. ad An­num 290. and Baronius confesseth as much of Quiriacus and Julitta (to say nothing of Saint Christopher and others) declaring plainly, that their Acts were written either by Fools or He­reticks. So that they seem much in danger of two places of Scripture (that worship such) Rom. 14.23. and 1 Cor. 8.4. and will hardly come off from self-condemnation, and flat I­dolatry. And whether this, or that other ob­ject of their worship be the worst, (I leave to the Readers Judgment) that Divifie such as never were holy men, as the D ^r Sutcliff examinat. of Rom. cap. 7. Pagan souldier that pier­ced the side of Christ, by the name of Longinus, the Millenarian Papias, Becket, Sanders, Garnet, &c. most or all of which stand Sainted in the Ti­berine Calender, (I may say with one, D ^r Abbot Antipol. p. 3. non Mar­tyres Domini, though in charity I add not, sed [Page 3] Mancipes Diaboli) til the crowd is so great, that the whole yeer hath too few days to be devoted.

But confining unto truth and modesty, we un­derstand here such Solemnities as S ^t Austin speaks of, Festa quae vel ab ipsis Apostolis, vel gener alibus Consiliis instituta, à toto terrarum orbe servantur. Which either by the Apostles themselves As those concerning Christ, &c. , or by general Councels institu­ted As those concerning the Apostles. Epist. 118. , are observed throughout the Christian world; and all these in their proper seasons, (as neer as can be aim'd at by Mortality) the Sub­stance clothed with the circumstances of the Performance; and as on these good grounds, so likewise for good ends we celebrate them: Eccles. Hist. lib. 4. c. 14. [...]. Not only as a memorial of the Dead (saith Eu­sebius) but for an holy imitation of the Living: Sancti non servitute, sed charitate honorandi; (would all of Durandus his side were as inge­nuous in that) The blessed Saints are not to be honoured with any worship either of Invoca­tion, or Adoration; but only with love, and the charity of Imitation; which indeed calls on us to look both on their Actions, and their holy Pas­sions; sending us also to Prayer and Fasting, and other duties of Mortification: wherewith (beside the set and solemn times of devout Ab­stinence) each of these Festivals is to be attend­ed; both these Solemnities (as it were) making up the soul a pair of Angels wings, much fur­thering her flight to heaven, and even grounded on the law of Nature, to regulate piously those [Page 4] two raigning Passions, of our Joy and Sorrow, with which all the Actions of our life are mix­ed; so that whatever we can do, or may be done unto us, still the sequell is one or other of the said Affections, and our Life according. Wherefore the Church of Christ, (that most absolute and perfect Schoole of Vertue) hath (by the special direction of Gods good Spirit) hitherto inured men from their infancy, partly with dayes of Festival exercise, for the framing of their Joy; and partly with Times of a con­trary sort, for the regulation of their Grief: by both These (I say) consecrating the whole life to God. And here it must ever be remembred, that the intent of the Church in these her holy Solemnities, is not only to inform us in the My­steries which are commemorated; but also, and that chiefly to conform us thereby unto Christ our Head, and his glorious Members, which is the sum and substance of all our Celebrations. [...] is the Apostles word of exhorta­tion, Phil. 3. Phil. 3.10. Conformable unto him: if not thus affected by them, we neither approve our selves of the number of his Followers, nor of his lively Members: but these well improved, are multiplyed Advantages to Devotion: a Chri­stian practice, I know not whether of more Piety or Antiquity, Eusebius telling us, how Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria, Eccles. Hist. lib. 7. cap. 19. above 1400 years agoe wrote upon this Argument. And do not all the golden Fountains of the Fathers (both of the East and West, Coloss. 2.16. the Greek and Latine Church) flow with the same streams? Quorum saluberrima est Authoritas, whose [Page 5] Authority's a sufficient conduct in Saint Au­gustines Judgment, that there's no fear of falling into Saint Pauls Reprehensions Loco praeci­tato. (ei­ther touching Times, Gal. 4. or Abstinence) no kinn to Heathenish Observations, 1 Cor. 8.8. or Judaicall Re­serv'dnesse; but a religious Obedience on better grounds, and ends of Piety: more claiming interest in his Commendations, 1 Cor. 14. [...], All being done decently and in Order, and tending onely to Gods Honour, his Saints Memory, and our Edification: Without which, ('tis too visible) Religion will soon languish, and even die away by de­grees As Sir W Ra. prophesies, de lege Mosaica, prope initium. , into Profanenesse, Heresie and Athe­ism! But that a Disquisition swell not into a Volume, I referr your further satisfaction herein to those too Starrs of the first Magni­tude in the Church of England, judicious Hooker Eccles. pot. l. 5.373. , and the learned His defence of Christian Feasts. Featly.

Advent Sunday.
DISQUISITION 2.

THis day is to the Feastival of the Nativi­ty, as St. John Baptist to his Master, a kinde of a fore-runner, to make way for it; somewhat like the Jewish [...], to the Feast of Easter, a preparation to the grand Solemnity; nay indeed, this and the three fol­lowing Sundays of Advent, may in some sense be called (like the four Evangelists) Quadriga Domini, our Saviours four wheel'd Chariot; carrying the glad tydings of his approach, throughout the Church; as those do his glory and Salvation through the world: Moreover, here beginneth the peculiar computation of the Churches year (though learned Hooker, E. P. l. 5. p. 378. on some other considerations, take it somewhat higher, viz. From the Annunciation of Christ his Conception, by Angelical Message.) But the Church initiateth her solemn service at this Preface to his Birth, and first appearance of [Page 8] him to mankinde: And herein differing from all secular computes whatsoever; to let the world perceive, she numbereth not her days, and measureth not her seasons, so much by the mo­tion of the Sun, as of her Saviour: beginning and progressing her year, according to the Sun of Righteousness, who now began to dawn upon the world, and as the day star from on high, to shine on them that sate in spiritual darkness; and with his beams of light and life, to chase away the shadows both of sin and death. Lastly, this day, as it were, inviteth all of us to the Marriage Feast (for the Incarnation was a My­sterious Match) it calleth off the busie world, both from their vain prosecutions and excuses, admonishing us of our Lords coming Advent speaks as much ; I, and in its four several days, hints Christs four several ways of coming, viz. First, his Corporal, by Incarnation; secondly, his Spiritual, by In­spiration; thirdly, his Ministerial, by Instructi­on; fourthly, his Judicial, by Final Sentence, and Determination: The first is a strange Humi­lity; the second, equal Mercy; the third, his Word and Sacraments; the fourth, is his last Judgement. Now then, whosoever seriously takes heed to the three former, shall never need to fear the latter, Rom. 8.1. And it is Christs own advertisement; Matth. 24.42, 46. Watch, for you know not, &c. And blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh, shal find so doing.

Ʋpon the Feast of Christ his Nativity.
DISQUISITION 3.

THis is the Foundation Festival, whereupon the fabrick of the rest is raised; and there­fore, it is Fundation-like laid very deep, and may well admit of Saint Pauls exclamation, Rom. 11.33. [...]; O the unfathomable Abyss thereof! It consisteth of an History, and a Mystery: That which appears above ground, is the story, Luke 2.15. Luk. 2. and the substance thereof is known by the Circumstances. Quis? Quare? Ʋbi? Quan­do? The Time, the Place, the Person, the End. I shall reserve the two first of them, to the last observable, and begin the History with the time of his Nativity; and that was a time of peculiar designation (though computations vary, nor is it much material) Christ not be­ing subjected to the necessity or chance of time (like others) but as Lord and Maker of it. Gal. 4.5. Elegit suum Nascendi tempus. He chose his opportunity, took his own time, wherein he would be born; which the Apostle calls the Fulness of it, Gal. 4. [...], which was, as most agree (from that old Of Rabbi, Elias obser­ving the He­brew Letter א (which is the numerical of 1000) six times repeated in the first of Genesis, and that of the Psalmist, Psal. 90.4, &c. Tra­dition of the worlds lasting just 6000 years) well toward the 4000th year. Scaliger, Reus­ner, and Calvin say, Christ was born, Anno Mundi, 3947. Others say, in the year following. as Func. & Helv. in their Chronologies. Diony­sius [Page 12] the less, with others, think two years after that, being 3950, while others again Anno 3970. Nor need this variety cause any scruple or distraction (no more then in the Dominical day) so it be solemnized as neer as may be (though the punctual hours in some cases can­not be retained) and if our very Clocks accord not twenty fours hours (some striking most, when others fewest;) or scarce three Neighbors meet in the relation of a story, done among them; how easily may the most faithful Chro­nologers, discent a little, about the motion of the wheels of time, that have been so long, so long a running; besides, that speech of our blessed Lord, Acts 1.7. to his Apostles, Acts 1. It is not for you to know the times and the seasons, &c. Omnes calculatorum digitos, St. Augustine. (saith Saint Augustine) puts all Arithmeticians out of their numbers, shuffling their Counters into a Bag of Ignorance; The time when Christ born. and indeed, Pia est ignorantia Dei Arcana non scrutari: Where the Scripture hath not a tongue, it is Piety for us, to have neither Eie, nor Ear: and therefore, not to follow the wanton Postillers to the very year, nay, moneth, and day, and hour of Christs Nativity, we may with more modesty, and certainty, collect it to have been about the two and fortieth year of the reign of Peaceful Octavianus (com­monly called Augustus) Josephus telling us, Josep. Antiq. that that was the year of the general taxing, and the Scripture telling us, that that was the time of the Birth of Christ, Luke 2. And there­fore then, was the time for Shiloh's coming. Herod the son of Antipater an Idumaean, being [Page 13] King of Judea, and so the Scepter departing from Juda, Gen. 49. then, Gen. 49.10. when all the prophesies were accomplished, all types and shadows sub­stanced, then was the fulness of time for Christs Nativity; and then more particularly, shortly after the Winter Solstice, when night grows shorter, and days longer, to shew, that now shadows were shortning, dark ignorance diminishing, and the glorious light of divine knowledge increasing, John 3.30. John 3.30. And here let us borrow time, to glance on the place where the Lord was laid, and that was Bethlem, as the Pharisees could tell Herod out of the Prophet Micah. And thou Bethlem, Micah 6.2. &c. out of thee shall he come, &c. But why there? Is it not a lit­tle one? Yes, therefore he chose it, that chose all the circumstances of his Life and Death, Ʋt nos doceret humilia eligere: To teach us to choose the lowest rooms at Feasts, or Synagogues, and to be contented with our meanest accommoda­tions, as all exceeding his; whose whole life was a continual Passion; (as one saith) others Die Martyrs, but he was born a Martyr, Christ found a kinde of Golgotha, even in Bethlem; his birth and death as it were, but one protract­ed act; his Christmas day, and his Good Friday, Dr. Donne, in Festo Nativit. but the Evening and the Morning of his Passion! Born among Beasts, lived among worse, died among theeves! Born in the meanest Town, the meanest House, the meanest Room, the pro­phets may wel call it his coming down; the Apo­stles [...], his emptying of himself, &c. Beth­lem, an Inn, a Stable; and yet these not with­out their intimations. In Bethlem, where Boaz [Page 14] the Jew, and Ruth the Gentile, were married, Ruth 4.13. There was he born (i.) God and Flesh married, who married Jew and Gentile into one Flock together. The Inn, domus populi. Entertains him, that was to entertain all comers, salvator populi. The House of the people, re­ceives the Saviour of the people; and the Stable still more extends his Grace unto the foulest sinner, so repentant: Again, Bethlem was the City of David, and Nursery of Kings, of whose linage he was; and though born in Bethlem, by occasion of the taxing, yet con­ceived a Nazarite (thence came this good, in spight of all ill Proverbs) Luke 1. Luke 1.55. That Town of Ephrata, which as it signifies fruitfulness, is a Region not onely of Wood, but of Wine, saith Adricomius; Adricom. Del­phius, f. 41. and Bethlem signifying an House of Bread, Affords us this comfortable ex­tract, That the Word made Flesh in the House of Bread, [...] and Region of Wine, leads us to the Arms of Christ, in the blessed Sacrament, worthily received. And now to avoid tedious­ness, let me knit the Person, and the End toge­ther (which indeed, as the Apostle saith) is [...], 1 Tim. 3.16. 1 Pet. 9.12. a Great Mystery; God manifested in the flesh, &c! The Riddle which the very Angels, as well as men desired, [...]. (i.) To pry into (as through the Hangings) of which we may say, Deut. 4.32. as Moses, Deut. 4. Was there ever such a thing as this? For this Mystery (as well as the Virgin Mary) the Holy Ghost hath overshadowed; yet may we also say of it (as the Lepers in another case, 2 King. 7.9. 2 Kings 7.) This is a day of good tydings: Maximum mi­raculorum [Page 15] & beneficiorum; as it is the greatest of Miracles, so it is the highest of Benefits, be­stowed upon mankinde This, wherein the Deity and Humane Nature were mutually espoused, without either present confusion, or future separation; by an incomprehensible Hypostasis, and ineffable union Quis enar­rabit generati­onem ejus? Isai. 13.8. ; for which then, let curiosity be turned into gratitude, and That be expressed in Hospitality and Devotion joyned; least like Israel, we proclaim an Holy day to Jehovah, and worship a Calf, Exod. 32.8. that so this eminent Festival, may make up those three wonders Bernard in Festo Nativi. of the World, viz. God and Man, Mother and Virgin, Faith and our Heart united.

[Page] [Page]

Saint Stephens Day.
DISQUISITION 4.

YEsterday presented a Nativity, and this a Martyrdome (like a Deaths-head served up at a Festivall) the Church thereby, first ta­citly intimating human Condition, both our na­tural & accidental frailty! how neer our End bordereth on our Birth! Finis (que) ab origine pendet. And yet how many outward dangers (equalling inward diseases) hasten the pace of precipitating Nature! Vitae unicus introitus, mille exitus! Our life, for one sole ingress; having many thousand out-lets! And second­ly, expressly desirous (by joyning these two Festivals) that we should all learn to live well, as Christ; and to die well, as St. Stephen: Ideo natus est Dominus ut moreretur pro servo, In a Sermon on St. Stephen. ne servus deficeret mora pro Domino (saith ho­ly Austin) yesterday we celebrated the Birth of that heavenly King of Martyrs born into the World, and to day the first fruits of Martyrs going out of the world. It behoved the Immortall (saith he) First to take Flesh for Mortals, that so mortall man might the bet­ter contemn Death for the Immortall: There­fore was the Lord born to die for his servant, that the servant might not fear to die for his Lord. Christ was born in Earth, that Saint Stephen and his other followers might be born in Heaven. Christus pro nobis induit ho­minem, [Page 18] Stephanus pro Christo hominem exuit. Christ, for us, put on human Flesh; and Saint Stephen, here, for Christ, put it off.

The story is so obvious, that I shall need only glance on it out of the Scriptures for the Day, Acts 7. it consisting of two remarkables, Acts 7. viz. the Jews cruelty, and his Piety: their bloody, and his godly behaviour in his Martyrdome: First here, Mat. 23. They (retaining their old Title, of Killers and stoners of the Prophets) put him to death, who endeavoured to bring them to e­verlasting life! by his large Sermon to them, Acts 7. that sweet [...], Acts 7. or Recapi­tulation of the whole sacred Scripture, ( Law, Prophets and Evangelists) even from Abra­ham to Christ, whom he would have applied home to them, had not their fury withstood their conversion, even that they should have seen him, as he did, at the right hand of God, but that they stopt him there, with a Constru­ctive Blaspphemy, becomming Accusers, Judges, and Executioners all at once! present­ly beginning their persecution with their tongues, and teeth, v. 54. gnashing on him with, &c. (beside the malice of their tongues) that they could even tear his Flesh, but that their hands beguiled their mouthes, with as ready and more mortall instruments! The Jews had among them Quatuor magna sup­plicia, foure speciall sorts of torments (be­sides their bonds, and scourgings, and other lighter punishments) which they had borrow'd from Scythians (the Masters of those Arts) and other cruell Heathens; as the first, was Bur­ning, [Page 19] Gen. 38.24. Dan. 3.22. The second, Casting to wild Beasts, Dan. 6. (and St. Pauls Case supposed by many, [...], 1 Cor. 15.32.) Thirdly, Stoning, Exod. 19, 13. And lastly, Crucifying, Luke 23.21. (as all are fre­quently to be seen elsewhere in Scripture) but of all, this of stoning was most ordinary among them, as the onely Deucalion-race of mankind Ʋnde homines nati durum genus! ad lapides currebunt, (saith Loco citat. St. Augustine) Duri ad duros. Presently they run to stones, hard hearts unto hard instruments of mischief, whether for their readiness, cheapness, fatal­ness, I argue not; or as the best Emblems of their flinty nature: Sed Petris lapidabatur qui pro Petra (i.) Christo moriebatur: but with stones destroyed they the servant of him, who was the chiefe Corner stone, and Rock of his Church, Jesus Christ: an harsh and an hard act of a right stony people! whose obdu­ratnesse to God and man, hath turn'd their memory into a Niobean monument of shame (not sorrow) while Arator hath inscribed this due Epitaph,

Till at length their Punishment so ecchoed their Sin, that (for their killing of the Pro­phets, and stoning them who were sent unto them) Non lapis super lapidem, inter Lapi­datores. Their House was left to them so deso­late, [Page 20] that not a stone was left upon a stone, Matth. 24.2. O let all their Successors consi­der this, not onely in Judea, but in England or where ever, that still make the Prophets cry and sigh (and that as lowd as in most times heard heretofore.) Psal. 44.22. onely with a little cruell variation, For sheep appointed to be slain, Pastors appointed to be starv'd! Think of stony Jerusalem, avoid her sins, and so her Plagues, lest likewise the same judgement fol­low, and overtake you: Temporall, your house be left unto you desolate! Spiritual, Christ say­ing, You shall not see me henceforth: Matth. 23. And eter­nall, that upon you come not all the righteous blood both of Abel and Zechariah (i.) both of Laicks and Clergy! So Cajet. in locum.

But now to take a glimpse of that which more particularly concerns us, observe St. Ste­phens behaviour in his suffering, an excellent Patern to reflect on, at our deaths; made up of Piety and Charity: a man of an high Chara­cter, and and that by the pencill of the Highest, Acts 6.55 Full of faith and power, & of the Holy Ghost, v. 55. a man of fervent Prayer, Humiltiy, Reve­rence, miraculous Patience and forgiveness; [Page 21] all evidenced in his Christian Deportment. First, his Faith, through his eye, S. Stephen sted­fastly looking up into heaven (there saw blessed visions even before his death, while here on earth) saw Christ standing at the right hand of God. Mark that posture of encouragement, our Creed Article telleth us of Christ sitting at the right hand of God; but our St. Stephen here sees him standing, (i.) in a readinesse of assistance, & defence: And if Christ thus stand with his suffering servants, who shall withstand their happiness? but that as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, even so also shall our conso­lation abound through him, 2 Cor. 1. Prayer is all his shield, v. 59. Calling upon God (He who is invited to the Fountaine, needs not go to the streams) nor using Lord alone, a name of pow­er, but through Justice not of willingness: and therefore adding Jesus. Dulce & salvatore nomen, the saving name of Mercy. The good Angels and blossed Saints in Heaven are wil­ling but not able; uncharitable men on Earth neither of them. Onely Christ is both, and therefore invocated here. Able because Lord, willing because Jesus. Quem in coelis, quem in terris? Psal. 73. Whom then have I in Hea­ven? &c. His Charity's extensive, yet wisely be­gins at home (would all men would do so for spirituall charity) He takes care to recommend his soul to the right owner, Col. 3. Lord Jesu take thine own into thine own custody (Souls then survive the bodies (in spite of Atheists who think, but what they wish) and are imme­diatly determined, in their state of Bliss or [Page 22] Misery, in spite of other Hereticks. St. Ste­phen here, quite contrary to most, is all for his soul, and nothing for the body. For alas! Quid proderit mundus? Matth. 16.26. as our blessed Lord saith, Matth. 16. &c. the soul being of more price then all; were there as many worlds as Empedocles and Democritus imagined, Laertius in vita Democriti. (i.) Thousands. Save This, and save all, and so the contrary: according to that Dutch Pro­verb (one of the wholsomest things I ever heard of from them) Goods lost, nothing lost; Credit lost, much lost; Soul lost, all lost! Next unto Faith in God, he adjoyneth Love to Men (the best evidence in Foro exteriori) with­out which all the rest had been but [...], a tinkling, 1 Cor. 13.3. not a well-tuned Cymball. But He, a true Disciple of his great good Ma­ster, Luke 23.34. Qui pendebat & tamen pete­bat (as Augustine sweetly) who as he hung upon the Cross prayed, Ignosce pater, &c. So this holy Saint forgives his enemies, & that is more then to give; he that gives, doth it Desuo, of his goods; but who so forgives, gives De se, something of himself: yet more, he prayes for them, though enemies, mortall enemies, and in hot blood, when he scarce had any time to think of his friends. Lord lay nt, &c. more sorry for them, Serm. 5. de Stepha. then for his own ruine, (saith St. Augustine) because eternall death followed their impiety; but his Death, eternall life. And was not this the Apex, the Height of Cha­rity?

And 'tis remarkable that he kneeled down when he prayed for his enemies (that stood when [Page 23] for himselfe) shewing the greatnesse of their sin, that could not easily be forgiven, and there­fore the earnestnesse of his Piety, Qui plus il­lorum dolebat peccata quam sua vulnera, Cajetan in lo­cum. that did more lament their Sins then his own wounds! Magnus clamor, magnus amor: his lowd voyce shewed his great affection, and his kneeling down his reverend gesture in devoti­on, the God of both parts challengeth both. Exteriores actus demonstrent interiores affectus. Dan. 6.10. Acts 9.40. cap. 26.36. Luke 22.41. In praying, either stand as a servant before his master, or kneel as a subject to his Prince. Da­niel prayed kneeling, so St. Peter, so St. Paul, so Christ himself.

And the Centurists acknowledge this gesture the most ancient and most usefull in all sacred solemnities, in all Ages among Christian Con­gregations: Magdeburgenses centuria secun­da. And therefore not to kneel, (ex­cept in case of corporall infirmity) argueth either Ignorance or Arrogance, or some other worse infirmity of Mind. And herein tis, Saint Hierom so commends Asella for devotion, Epist. ad Mar­cellum. that her knees were grown Brawny, like the knees of Camels, with her pious Genicula­tion. Saint Stephen (you see) here used both postures, and kneeling, for his most earnest and last prayer. Loco citato. Wherein he was heard (saith Au­gustine) Si Stephanus non sic orasset Ecclesia Paulum non habuisset: For if St. Stephen had not thus prayed, the Church had never had St. Paul a Convert. And Fulgentius saith, whither St. Stephen went before, being slain with stones, thither St. Paul followed, being holpen with his prayers. And when he had thus spoken, [Page 24] he fell asleep. Such and so pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints; asleep in re­spect both of Rest, & Resurrection: Graves are grown but Isa. 57.2. Beds, and Churchyards [...], (i.e.) sleeping places; so here, like Jacob, his pillow is of stone, whereon lying down, as well as if on Down, Saith Damia­nus Serm. de Steph. he taketh rest, and fell asleep. Foelix somnus, it was an happy sleep, being joyned with such rest, that rest with pleasure, that pleasure with eternity. Thus blest St. Ste­phen, as Nissen observes, Oratione de Stephan. (esteemed the Ring of his persecutors, with which he was inclo­sed, as his Crown, and every stone flung at him as a pretious one, as a pretious Diamond: so that, that of David might be applied to him, Psal. 21.3. Thou hast set a Crown upon my head: I, a Crown of Proto-martyrdom upon his Name: and on his Soul a Crown of Glory. An­no Christi 35.

Ʋpon the Festivall of S ^t. JOHN the Evangelist.
DISQUISITION 5.

THis St. John was one of the sons of Ze­bede, and had at length (for better rea­sons) as much as his Mother asked for him; Matth. 20.20. Chap. 4. 18. he was the brother of James, surnamed the Great; where, by the way, take notice how Christ at first made choyce of Brethren, as Matth. 4.18. Simon which was called Peter, and Andrew his brother: So afterward, Si­mon and Jude brethren, sons of Alphaeus: and here John the brother of James. Hereby pru­dently providing against Schisme and division, both by corporall and spirituall correlation: For (what ever it would have been in That) sure in this Age, one of them had been too little to prevent it. We shall here reflect upon this Saint first as a Disciple while abiding with his Master; and then as an Apostle, sent out with Commission from him, St. John his double No­tion. both which I take to be sufficiently distinct Notions. First, as a Dis­ciple, for so He oftnest stiles himself through his Gospel, and 'tis exemplary humility, not terming himselfe a Master in Israel, though one of the first Magnitude; but a Disciple, yet with some Emphasies, The Disciple, and with a quem dilexit, whom Jesus loved, John 21. not onely one of his Triumvirate, admitted [Page] [Page 27] to Mount Tabor, John 21.7: Matth. 17.2. but even the most eminently beloved Disciple, at least Ex­tensivè as the School speaks) though inten­sively He bespake all of them alike, Aquin. tom. p. 1. Quaest. 20. Ar. 3. John 15.9. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you, Continue in my love. Which sure St. John did eminently (being the last at the Crosse, and the first at the Sepulcher) besides his amiable sublime graces, and coming unto Christ so young: for which 'twas certainly, that Christ shewed more signes of favour and familiarity to St. John, then to the rest: For he is said to have leaned on his breast at Supper; and when St. Peter and all his other fellows were silent, only he durst ask, Lord, John 13.24. which is he that betray­eth thee? John 13. When the Eagle broods (saith Plutarch) the Chick that cometh of that Egge that lieth nearest her heart, is best beloved of her; and so here, Coloss. 2.3. our St. John lea­ning on that breast (in which are hid all the trea­sures of Wisdome and Knowledge) may well gratefully acknowledge himself honored, with the Title of the Disciple whom Jesus loved. Whereof his fellow- Disciples had a kind of jealous emulation, which our Saviour checked in Peter, John 21. (the Dialogue is obvious in the words fore-going) where St. Peter neglect­ing the charge given himself both as to life and death) is curious touching St. John, John 21.19. What shall this man doe? to which Christs Redargution is, If I will that he tarry, &c. What is that to Thee? &c. teaching him and all Excentrick Spirits, to move in their own Spheare, not to examine others, but their own imployments, [Page 28] 1 Cor. 1. 1 Cor. 1.25. c. 7.20. 1 Thess. 4.11. See to your own calling, and Let eve­ry man abide in the same calling wherein he is called, studying to be quiet, and to meddle with his own business, 1 Thess. 4. (Seasonable cau­tions for this Age, so over-full of Bees, and Apes!) all these being parallels to that of Christ, What is that to thee? Confining all to their professions, and that in all matters Theological, Ecclesiastical, Political, moral, Oeconomical; for each of them may say each one of another Function, Quid tibimet? What is that to thee? for neither of them must [...], 1 Pet. 4.15. as St. Peters word is, Play the Bishop in another mans Diocesse. For What is that to thee? Advising on the contrary, to do good unto all men, Gal. 6.10. especially, &c. For else 'tis easie for the wisest to mistake, as the Disciples here did that speech of our Saviour, If I will that, &c. How heedfully had we need hear, Heming in loc. and read the Scriptures? as one notes, when so many Disciples are mistaken, apprehending an absolute Affirmative in a conditionall proposition, If I will that, &c. as the Vulgar Translation corruptly taking [...] for [...], If for so, without any reason or si­militude, and therefore modest St. John here retracts that error, that went abroad among the brethren in the same 23. (as some do that translation) no man so denominated from grace (as our St. John) will promise himself an im­munity from suffering, and especially in such an Age as he then lived in, or we now. And that [...] is generally interpreted of Christs coming in that famous execution on the Jews [Page 29] oft mentioned in the Gospel, Matth. 23. and 24. Luke 19. and John 21. which John survived thirty years, continuing not onely till Titus his time, but through Domitians and Coc­ceius Nerva's, to Trajans reign, above an hun­dred years after Christs birth; and so 30 years after this coming of Christ was past, and by what Irenaeus adds of the Seniores qui non so­lum Johannem viderint, sed alios Apostolos. And it is probable that some other of the A­postles lived to that time of Trajan also. That St. John wrot this Gospel at the intreaty of the Bishops of Asia, constituted by him, is affirmed by Eusebius. And yet for all his modesty there was somewhat in it (what ever fell out afterward, as will appear anon) he was in present, the Saul among his bre­thren.— Inter Delphinas Arion, highest in his Masters affection; and records it thankfully as his most honorable Title, and Fount of all his graces, that he was the Disciple whom Jesus loved, and leaned on his breast. Nay, St. Am­brose saith, that Christ too leaned on his bosome, saying, there was Sinus triplex, a threefold Bo­som, whereon Christ did rest, (who else had not whereon to rest his head viz. in Patre Divinitas, in Matre virginitas, in Evangelista Johanne Fides, in the bosom of his Father rested his Deity, in his mothers bosom rested his virginity, & in St. John Evangelists bosom rested his faith and confidence, bequeathing his dear Mother to His sole care and affection, and Him to Hers, as a mutuall legacy, John 19. And thus having seen him as a Disciple most beloved, let us now [Page 30] take one view of him as an Apostle publishing the Name and Faith of his dear Lord and Ma­ster. 'Tis said Ephes. 4. that Christ ascending, Eph. 4.11. gave some to be Aposles, and some Prophets, and some Evangelists, and some Pastors and Do­ctors, according to his will, distributing to every man a severall gift. 1. Cor, 12.11. St. Peter was an Apostle, but not an Evangelist; St. Mark an Evangelist, not an Apostle; St. Matthew both these, yet no Prophet; St. Augustine a Doctor, but no Martyr; St. Laurence a Martyr, but not a Doctor. But behold (saith one the beloved Disciple was Portan & Petrus de Pa­lude. all these: in his Epistles an A­postle, in his Apocalyps a Prophet, in his Gospel an Evangelist, in his Faith & Sufferings a Con­fessor, in his preaching a Doctor, St. John the Divine: in his chastity a Virgin, in his readiness and will to suffer, a Martyr, yea the Proto­martyr (saith Osorius) suffering inwardly when Christ outwardly, Osorius in lo­cum. (St. Stephen will spare him the Figure of a Sympathy) Amans quippe plus in amato, quam in seipso patitur: ('tis an high complement that a lover suffers more in his beloved object, then in his own person suf­fering, yet St. John both did, and suffered much in his own person also: 1. The same is he that testified and wrot these things, John 21.24. v. 24. & is for his piercing sight into high mysteries, well Em­blem'd by the Towring Eagle, Jovis ales right, his quil writing the Divinity of Christ, against Ebion and Cerinthus, early Hereticks, and Grandfathers of Arrianisme, as that is of Soci­nianisme and later errors: beginning his Gos­pell before Moses, or the beginning of the [Page 31] world, and ending his Revelation beyond all Historians, beyond Time it selfe, or the end of the world. He chiefly lived at Ephesus, where he wrot his Gospel in the 69. year of Euseb. Ni­ceph. at the desire of the Asian Bishops by him there constituted. Christ, whence the neighbour Churches of the lesser Asia were (by that division made by the Apo­stolical Synod, Acts 15.) alotted to his Visita­tion; for his diligence wherein, and testimony to the truth, he was by the Pro-Consull of A­sia transported to Rome, to suffer about the 90. year of Christ, where being miraculously pre­served in a Chaldron of scalding oyl, Alsted. Chron. Euseb. Ec. Hist. l. 3. c. as the three Children in the fiery furnace, he is banished by Domitian into Patmos, a disconsolate Isle of the Aegaeansea, where the defect of earths accom­modations was advantagiously supplied with heavenly Revelations, and afterwards re­call'd by Cocceius Nerva home to Ephesus. Cocceius Nerva. Though some write that he suffered after un­der Trajan, yet the most and best write that he died there of an Apoplexy, Anno Christi 104. aetatis 102. Happily determining the fore­mentioned ambiguity of our Saviours words, according to the Disciples aprehension of them, Tarrying till his Master came, not by any violent, but a naturall dissolution. And now as Aristotle said, Metal. l. 2. c. 1. if Timotheus had not been we had not had so much sweet musick, but if Phrynis (which was his Master had not been, we had not had Timotheus: So here, if St. John had not been, we had wanted much of the Evangelical Harmony; but if our great Master Jesus had not been gracious to his Church, it should not have had such a John to ornament it; and there­fore [Page 32] in this holy Saint, as in all others, we honor and praise through the Servant, but his Lord and Master.

UPON The Festivall of Inno­cents Day.
DISQUISITION 6.

WHy the Feast of Christs Nativity is at­tended with These Saints above the rest, St. Stephen. St. John, and these blessed Innocents, Johan. Raulin. Ser. 2. de beat. Innocen. is handsomely conjectured by some, to shew his comming into the world for all sorts of men, of what degree or age soever, and by These severally represented; or happi­ly, that these here applyed rather then other, as having more fulfilled that of Christ, Mat. 16. Mat. 16. 24. By taking up the Cross and following him. There being three kinds of Martyrdom in Christs Cause (as St. Bernard notes) the first, Ʋoluntatis & operis, both in will and act, as that of St. Stephen. 2. Ʋoluntatis sed non ope­ris, in will, Ser. de Inno­cent. but not in Act, as that of Saint John. The 3. Operis sed non voluntatis, in act, but not in will, as this of the Innocents: And sorasmuch as St. Stephens Martyrdom comes neerest unto Christs, his Festival is next unto him: and in the 2d. place, St. Johns, and in the 3d. These suffering Innocents, all three making Christ, as in Cant. 5.10. white and ruddy, the chiefest of 10000. Candidus in Jo­hanne, [Page 35] Rubicundus in Stephamo, electus ex mil­libus, Ludolp. de vit. Christi. p. 1. c. 13. in Innocentibus; And it was impossible to Christen the Day with a Name of a more vast Reputation, then Innocency: which dares not signifie any thing here below, but the state of the first Man, and that of Children: and sure, he must have little of man in him, nothing at all of God, the more of the Devil, that could so break into the Circle of such harmless simplicity, and self-shielding inno­cence. Yet this doth barbarous Herod! but which of them? (he deserves to be known, that he may both in person and example be abhorred!) Then not to wrong the rest (as most do by their not distinguishing) know there were three Herods, and all neer ally'd, Mat. 1.4 not onely in Name, but in Bloud also! 1. He­rodes Antipas, that beheaded St. John Baptist, Mat. 14. Herodes Agrippa, (brother to the for­mer) that killed St. James, and imprisoned S. Peter, Acts 12. Acts 12. 3d. and this Herodes Ascalonita surnamed the Great, who was that Fox wor­ried these tender Lambs, an act reflecting on Christs humanity, Mat. 2, Mat. 2.13 as being a child and forced to flee; and Herods inhumanity, in murdering those, that neither could, nor would have injur'd him! we must glance on the first, for Christ was mainly aimed at; I, onely that King of Israel; but he is warned away by an Angel, ver. 13. Gods mercy and his Angels ministry vigilantly attend his Chil­dren in Afflictions, Psal. 34. and 103, Psal. 34.7.103.13. 13. yet flight is lawfull in their times of danger, Mat. 10.23. though to Aegypt, where Christ [Page 36] at once fulfilleth Prophesies, and gives an earnest to the Gentiles: Exod. 4.22. Take the Babe and his Mother: not stil'd the wife of Joseph, to speak her more the Virgin, and the childe named first, to hint the greatest care for him, as most designed at, and the greatest duty to him, as most worthy; not as Sonne onely, but Saviour to his Mother. Flie into Egypt, Christs entertainment was so hard at his comming into this world, as shews his King­dom was not of it. Beuxamis in locum. He flyeth, Quia totam cau­sam salutis nostrae occiderat (saith one) If Christ had permitted himselfe to be slaine so young, the whole cause of our salvation had suffered in it, his worke not being as yet done, Joh. 17.4. nor his hour come, Joh. 17. for which he came into the world. But why into Aegypt? touched before, and thither as the ne [...]rest opportunity, Aretius Muscu­lus, Maldonat in locum. out of Herods jurisdiction: and to shew his spirituall Kingdom should be translated from the Jews the Gentiles; ô the Riches of divine mercy! that even those places and persons that were malorum officinae, for­merly the shops of villany, should now be­come Custodes filii unigeniti, ensafers of Gods onely begotten Sonne, instead of Persecutores populi primogeniti, opposers and destroyers of his first born people; but non crudelitate sed credulitate quaerendus est Christus, Christ is to be sought by faith, and not by Cruelty; and there­fore Herod found him not, for all his project with the wise men, who were indeed too wise for him, returning an other way, God taking the wily in their own craftinesse, Job 5.13. Job 5. [Page 37] and Honesty being ever the best Policy, the Mocker was mocked; he mocked the wise men by pretending Servire, when he intended Saevire, to adore, when he meant to devour, to worry, not to worship that innocent Lamb, as appeared by his subtilty turned into fury, Mat. 2.16. vers. 16. as commonly such usur­ping Tyrants, when they faile of their Ma­chiavillian Rhetorick, betake them to the Carters Logick, as here did Herod, who was troubled much at the first news of him, vers. 3. But when he saw that he was mocked by &c, verse 16. is all on a flame with wrath and frenzy, fearing Christs lineal descent from the seed of David might restore Judah her own native Successour, Prudentius Hymn. Epip. as the Christian Poet sweet­ly chants out Herods passion.

Which give me leave to Paraphrase.

Thus, like another Heretales furent, he laies about him, and would not suffer the King of Heaven and Earth, and of all the world, to reigne in Jewry, Heb. 1.8. if he could hinder it; and to that end, sends out Those that live by o­thers dying, to massacre all the Bethlemitish sucklings! (as Prudentius excellently) Loco citat.

And fitted for their errand, they ransack all poor Mothers Beds, and Nurses bosoms, making their Cradles swim with blood of Innocents! while their small joynts could scarse be handled by the cruel Murderers! and their throats too little for the Poniards; there is an high aggravation in the number of them (at least) irrightly recorded, The Greeke tradition in the Rubrick for the day, and so the Ae­thiopick missals. [...], that is, no lesse then 14000. whereof his own Son made up the sad ac­count, (as Baronius tells us out of Philo.) which caused Augustus Caesar to fix that due proverb on him, Melius est esse Herodit poreum quam puerum; Better be Hereds Sow then his [Page 39] Sonne. and Brocardus in his Description of the holy Land, Macrob. Sa­turn. l. 2. c. 4. points us to the very place where they were slaine: Adricomius and others, to the Chappel where they were buried, betwixt Bethlem and Bethany: to which Prudentius hath added an Epi­taph.

The which accept thus Rendered.

I, These were (as St. Austin sweetly) Pri­mitiae Martyrum (as it were) the Prim-roses of Martyrdum, early witnesses to the Lamb: Non loquendo sed moriende, (saith St. Austin) Not by speaking, but by dying: Jer. 13.15. Yet was there a voyce heard in Ramah, a cry not onely of la­mentation here below, of poor rob'd, & dis­poil'd [Page 40] Mothers! but too in excelsis as [...] signifieth High, above, (that is) even in the ears of God, a knocking at the Gates of Hea­ven, Jam. Jam. 5 4. 5 and that as for vengeance on their persecutor (which fell heavie after­ward, Acts 12. [...], Acts 12.23. eaten of worms before dissolution) so likewise as a song of praise, Psal. 8.2 Mat. 21.16. Psal. 8. Mat. 21. Christ surely got great praise, by the Angelick Anthem at his Birth, Glory to God on high, &c. and great praise by St Stephen his Protomartyr, and by St. John that same beloved Disciple (as fore-shewed) but you see, his praise is made per­fect by the mouthes of these Babes and Innocents, who here came to the Haven without know­ing tempests, injoying the comforts of an o­ther life, Giron. in Fest. before they knew the miseries of this Qui prius in capitibus Corona [...], Quam ca­pillos accepistis (as one wittily) Blessed babes that have your heads Crowned with happi­nesse, e're covered with Hairs: Herods cruel­tie was turned by God into a felicitie, tran­slating you, from your earthly Mothers armes, in a valley of tears, to your heavenly Fathers bosom, in his Kingdome of Glory: It hath been a custome, and yet is, else where, to whip up the Children on this morning, that the story might stick the closer; but this is to act it over again in kind, by a mo­derate proportion! Lewis 11. Of France was so seri us a remembrancer of this Martyr­dome, that he would not be in­ter [...]upted in it by any affaires of state how im­portant soever. Phil. de Com. while all then seem to condemne the literall crueltie of Herod, I wish they may not imitate him in the Fi­gure snatching them from the armes of their mother Church, and from her breasts of ho­ly [Page 41] Baptisme; and so, as much as in them ly­eth, killing them spiritually! not regarding Christs words, Mat. 19.14. Suffer little chil­dren, and forbid them not to come unto me; Mat 19.14. for of such is the Kingdome of heaven; or his Apo­stles, 1 Cor. 14. instead then of injuring them, 1 Cor. 14.20. become like unto them, for humilitie, for in­nocence for obedience, for dependance; who so humbleth himself as a little childe, the same shall be great in the Kingdom of hea­ven.

Ʋpon the Feast of the Cir­cumcision of Christ.
DISQUISITION 7.

A Lmighty God both before and after the fall of man; before, under, and after the Law still manifested his wil by two things especially, viz. an understanding Mind, and a perceiving Sense: as in Paradise at first, Adam had his word, and that witnessed by a double sign, the Tree of life, and that of knowledge, Gen. 2. Gen. 2. After his lapse, he had a promise, c. 3.15. Gen. 3. and thereunto sacrifices added, as outward signes: so after the Flood, a promise of no more Deluge, and the Rain-bow a signe, c. 9.13. Gen. 9. Arcus sine sagittâ, a Bow without an Ar­row, or if with any, shot against himself in his Sonne; for it stands bent alwaies to­wards heaven: the promise of deliverance from Egypt, is sealed with the Pasohal Lamb, Exod. 12. and that to Abraham, Exod. 12. of multiply­ing and magnifying his seed, signalized by instituting this Circumcision, Gen. 17. Lastly, Gen. 17. Joh. 13.16. God giving his Sonne, and by him everlasting life, to believers, confirms all with two Sa­craments, as seals of his grace, viz. Baptisme, and the Lords Supper. Thus the Father of mer­cies hath in all ages provided for mans weak­ness, Psal. 3.149. that He might tast and see how gracious [Page 44] the Lord is, Psal. 34. and therefore those that pretend to be so spiritual, as not to endure significant Ceremonies, and outward Rites in the Church, runne a violent course, quite contrarie to the goodnesse of God, Apud. Martyr in Rom. 4. and the meeknesse of his holy Spirit, who doth instruct the conceiving Mind by the perceiving Sense, and by visible words, as Augustine calls the Sacraments; one of which, was this of Circum­cision to the Jewes, and that may well ap­peare in a red Letter; as being their bloudy Sacrament; who therefore, when they Circum­cised a childe, called him— Sponsum sanguinis, applying those words of Zippora unto him, Exo. 4. Thou art a bloody Husband; Exod. 4.25. because that day, they hold the child is married to the Co­venant. There was in this of the old, (as in the Sacraments of the New Testament) two con­stitutive parts, signum & signaculum, both the signe, The two parts of a Sacrament and the seal of a sacred Covenant: (not onely bare badges, as the defective Anabaptists; nor immediate justifiers, ex ope­re operato, Hook l. 5. s. 60. as some others in the excess, sta non tribuunt, quod per ista tribuitur; They doe not confer, what is conferred by them.) This Circumcision here was a triple signe. 1. Me­morative of the promise to Abraham, touch­ing his seed, his inheritance, and the Messiah to come of him. 2. Distinctive, of the Jews from all other people; and of the Sex, Males only undergoing it, Females yet being within the Covenant, Reductive, as sprung from Cir­cumcised Fathers, and married to such hus­bands. 3. Prefigurative, of Baptisme, and the [Page 45] spiritual Circumcision of the heart. Againe, as Circumcision was thus a various signe, so was it a Seale also; a double one, on Gods part, as the Paten of Kings, for confirmation: on Abrahams part, Ardens in lo­cum. as his obedience and faiths At­testation. Some note a threefold Circumcisi­on, viz. Carnall under the Law, Spirituall under Grace, Celestiall in the Kingdom of Glory. The first is Nascentium, good in its due time, of children, the eight day, Gen. 17. Gen. 17. The second, Renascentium, at all times bet­ter, of such as are born again, and that of the heart in the spirit, Rom. 2.29. Rom. 2.29. effected by the sword of the spirit (sharper then all the flinty knives of circumcision, [...], Josh. 5.2. Heb. 4.12. The word of God sharper then any two-edged sword, that circumciseth not onely the fore-skin, but all the Faculties of the soule, the parts and senses of the body, the eyes, Job 31.1. Psal. 119.37. Job 31. turneth away those least they be­hold vanity, Psal. 119. The eares and lippes, that they heare, or speak no guile, Ephe. 4. Circumcising the hands against all Theft and idlenesse, Ephe. 4.25, 28 c. 5.4. Ephe. 4.28. the Head from imagi­ning mischiefe, and the feet from blood-shed, Psal. 14.6, 19.13. Psal. 14. Circumcising the intellect from curiosi­tie and errour, Act. 26.25. the Will from all presumptuous wickednesse, Coloss. 3.2, 3. Psal. 19. the affecti­ons from inordination, Coloss. 3. even the ve­ry thoughts and imaginations, Isai. 1.16. in a word, Circumcising the whole man, cutting off all superfluous cares of the world, and lusts of the flesh, even to that happy Metamorphosis of the old into the new man, Ephe. 4.22. Eph. 4. whence [Page 46] flowes the third kind of Circumcision by consequence, Resurgentium, in the world to come, when all superfluity of sinne, defor­mity, and corruption shall bee cut off utterly, so that we may appear be­fore the Throne of God, without any spot in our soule, Apoc. 14.5. 1 Cor. 15.53. or corruption in our body, Apoc. 14. 1 Cor. 15. But in this Circumcision of Christ, which was carnall onely (as needing none of the other) Three circumstances are remarkeable, the Quando, Ʋbi, Quare, the Time, the Part, the Reason; the time was the eighth day, Gen. 17. Gen. 17. ( and Christ then under­goes it, Luke 2.21. Luke 2.21. comming not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it you see, in every circum­stance) Some say, then, as because that ten­der age could more easily bear the griefs, but this is both too dubious, and too gener­all: others say the eighth day, Chrys. & Mar. in Rom. 4. because that was the time of our Lords Resurrection: so Lombard in Rom. 4. seven dayes, figurative­ly signifying the time of this present world, and the eighth day the resurrection, wherein mortality shall be cut off with immortality, 1 Cor. 15.53. For the Ʋbi: Circumcision was placed in the generative part. Aug. in Johan. tract. 30. 1. Because the Propagation of originall sinne is thence tra­duced, Per actum generationis. 2. As a signe of the promise, Martyr in Rom. 4. Aquin. part 3. Quest. 7. Art. 3. both to Parent and Posterity, Gen. 17.7. 3d. ad diminutionem carnalis concupiscentiae. Lastly, why Christ un­dergoes this Circumcision, Luke, 2.21. [ut supra] more particular reasons to shew [Page 47] he was the seed of Abraham, Heb, Heb. 2.16. 2.16. to demonstrate he had true flesh against Mani­cheus; not his body Coessential with the Deity, as Apollinaris; or fetched from heaven, Epiph. Haeres. 30. as Valentinus: but as Rom. 1.2. Circumcised he was, ut figuram ipsa veritas finiret, that he, who was the truth and substance, might at once fulfill and take away the typg of Circumcision: and all this out of obedience for us, Isai. 9.6. Isai. 9. nobis puernatus, vobis, saith the Angel, expound­ing the prophesie, Luke 2.11. unto you men: I, for us born, for us circumcised, Gal. 4.4. Gal. 4.4. made of a woman, and under the Law, hereby giving publike testimony, that he would ful­fill the whole Law, (as the circumcised is bound, Gal. 5.2.) and that he would do all the rest for us, to make up our unwilling Faylures, so we give but all diligence, 1 Pet. 1.5.10. 1 Pet. 1. This cir­cumcision was the prologue of his Passion, and first rise of Ezechiels waters c. 47. flowing above the knees, till after, it came to Davids Deluge, Psal. 99. all the way sponsus sangui­num, Psal. 99.1. to keep us from, or at least to sanctifis our bloody sufferings, as is intimated hence, Mat. 1.21. by his consolatory and saving Name, of Jesus now imposed, Mat. 1.21. for which all hearts and knees are obliged unto signall gra­titude, Phil. 2.8, 9. Phil. 2. whose mercifull indulgence extends here to our bodies, as well as souls, tenderly changing this sharp, into an easie Sa­crament; and instead of those knives of flint and stone (prefiguring this Corner stone) com­manded, Iosh. 5. saying now but as Elisha, Josh. 5.2. 2 King. 5. to each leaprous soule, wash and [Page 48] be cleane, and therefore if the neglect of That so punished, Gen. 17.14. Gen. 17.14. how much more the contempt of this more easie Seale of the new Covenant, whereof such Children are al­together as capable, as of that old; being in­deed still but one, John 3.3. and the same renewed Sacrament.

Ʋpon the Feast of Epiphany or appearing of the star.
DISQUISITION 8.

SEasonably doth the Church celebrate the ho­nour of Christ's Epiphany, next unto his Cir­cumcision, that his glory might be manifested in the Flesh as well as his humility. Aug. S. 30. de Temp. And the very Name speaks the Antiquity of this Festival, and its early rise in the Greek Church; and 'tis fairly Englished by the day of apparition, or manifestation of Christ from above; that ig­rance might no more call it the Tiffany, as in the Legend, or as one that bidding it holy day, said he knew not whether 'twere a He, or a She Saint. It reflecteth on three manifestations of our Savi­our (and therefore called [...]. i. e. The manifestation of manifestations. The first, Casaub. exe [...]. cit. 2. N. 35. [...], being that of the blessed Trinity; all the Three Persons, as witnesses, sensibly appearing on it, Mat. 3.16. the Father in the voice, the Son in the Flesh and the Holy Ghost in the Dove, ma­nifesting Christs glory at his Baptism. The second [...], D. Boys in Fest. For that on the same day twelve month after his Baptisme (which Baptisme was on the same day 29 yeers after his Birth) his Glory ap­peared at the marriage in Cana, by turning [Page 50] water into wine, Joh. 2.11. Joh. 2.3. and the most per­tinent is this [...]. This appearing of the Star to the wise men, Three main Considerables. and their holy Pilgrimage to Christ, Matth. 2.10. wherein are most re­markable, the Travellers, their journey, and their business: In the first, their Condition and Country; In the second, their guide and Dili­gence: In the third, their Bounty and Devotion. (I must rather touch, then handle each of them.) First, their condition speaketh them at once, Wise and great men: the Name then of Magus (in that Age when Philosophers did reigne) being in greater account then that of Magnus (saith Ludolph and others:) De vita Chri­sti, p. 1. c. 11. Magi hints their wisdom, and speaks them such among their own, as the Philosophers among the Greeks, Scribes, a­mong the Iewes, Chaldeans among the Assyri­ans, &c. e Meliore Luto, of the wisest of their country: that they were great ones (not to mind the Friers only, Maldonat in locum. or lesuites who somewhat mo­dester, say they were Reguli, not Princes, but pe­tite Lords of some small places, like those Kings of Sodom, Gen. 14. &c. and so sufficient initiato­rily to make good that of the Psalmist, Kings shall bring gifts: Psal. 62.29.72.10. but for their names coyned in Hebrew, Greek and Latine, as also for their particular Age, and several Translations, and changing of their scaene, Constant ex picturà, sed non ex scriptura; Austin. medi­tat. in Festo. 'tis sooner painted on a wall, then proved by the word; and therefore I pass them, as too uncertain and ridiculous, wondring that men should be so easily fooled, with an a­bused story of the wise Men. Their country in general was Eastern, and so Heathens, the first [Page 51] fruits of the Gentiles, Ab oriente ad orientem (saith Chrysologus sweetly;) from the East, S. 156. they came to Him that was the East, whose name is the East, Zech. 6. Rev. 2. Zech. 6.12. Rev. 2.8. and hence the An­cient Christians used their posture toward the East in prayer, buriall, &c. as the Moores to­ward the South, and Others toward the West. Ʋnde dies nascitur, inde fidei initium: Thus whence the light ariseth, the day-spring of grace appeared. For the second, their Journey, it had an heavenly Conduct, a Star (so the Scripture cals it:) what need we strain to think it an Enthus. The­oph. in locum. An­gel with some, the Author de ad­mirab. Scri­pturae. Holy Ghost with others? I am content to think it, with Orat de nati­vit in loc cit. Nyssen and Aquinas, a new one created for this purpose, and differing in place in the Air; in motion not circular, but like Israels pillar of fire: and in brightness, shining both night and day; as the wise Poet sweetly chants the wonder of it.

Yet were they led more by an Inward then an Outward light: not as Albertus thought, only by their skill in Astrologie; but as Leo, Veritas illuminat Magos, infidelitas obcaecat Magi­stros: Truth illuminateth the Wise men, while infidelity blinded the foolish Jews, S. 3. in Festo. whose great Doctors were like the Highway-statues, directing others while themselves stand still: a Star is their conduct, as holding best proportion to its object, Lux mundi, Christ the light of the world, and the bright morning-star; to the Prophecies, Num. 27. the Star of Jacob; Num. 27.14. and to them­selves, as being Astrologers, and Stars the ca­pitals of the book of Nature: and this in parti­cular magnifica lingua coeli, S. 3. in Festo. as S. Augustine calls it, the eloquent tongue of heaven; and I may adde, Psal. 19.1. Quae enarrat gloriam Dei, that declares the glory of God, his light unto the Gentiles. Nor was their Guide more eminent then their Diligence imitable: for no sooner it appeared, but they followed and attended it, not sticking at the season, though Winter; or the di­stance, though some hundreds of miles; or the difficulties and dangers of it, as thorow crag­gy theevish desarts. Faith takes no notice of discouragements, but persevereth as they did, till it come to Christ. Where lastly, mark their Business, Matth. 2.3. and bate worldly Anxieties, Venimus adorare, We are come to worship him: practi­cal [Page 53] Devotion; and that devotion exemplarily evidenced in three things: first, in prostration of the body: They fell down before him; Matth. 2.11. [...] a word of most empha­tical humiliation: Se more canum prosternere; even fawning and creeping like Spaniels to their master, Pardon the Metaphor, for thence 'tis taken. How immodest then are those that grudge him Hat, or Knee! Secondly, in adoration of the soul, believing, confessing, worshipping him, vers. 3. (How these first fruits condemn the later!) V. 3. And thirdly, both those hightned, and confirmed by an oblation of their presents, vers. 11. Faith justifieth the soul, but Works justifie our Faith; as though their piety and bounty, had been emu­lous of His they worshipped; who indeed, giveth every good and perfect gift, corporal, spiritual, James 1.17. temporal; all which they return and eccho, in some measure, by their former actions: the last whereof, were not onely enriching treasures, but significant emblemes, on Christ's part: Gold, as to a King; Frankincense, as to an High-priest; and Myrrhe, as to embalm Mortality: as the Christian Poet sings;

On man's part, the Gold of Faith, the In­cense of Prayer, and the Myrrhe of morti­fied affections. To close up all, the Church this day bespeaks Thee, Reader, in her Ma­ster's language, Go, and do thou likewise: seek Christ by the guidance of the Star, i.e. the light of his Word: offer the three gifts; thine Alms, Prayer, and Fasting; which respect God, thy Neighbour, and thy Self: and then return to thy Country, walking another way, even by newness of life; and thou shalt surely finde thy Saviour: I say, Do thou likewise honour him with thy soul, body, and substance, and then thou art truely one of the number mentioned.

Ʋpon the Fast of Ash-wednesday.
DISQUISITION 9.

THis day is Tropicus Christianus, as 'twere, the Christian Tropick, or Term of Refle­ction: turning the sensual career and jocularity of the yeer into a Christian sorrow and humilia­tion: For (as Tertullian saith) Qui Deum per escas colit, prope est, ut Deum ventrem ha­beat: He that worships God onely with Feasts, is somewhat suspicious, of making his belly his god. This day is unto Lent, as a fair Portal to a goodly building; and is of very grave anti­quity, carrying in its very name emblemes of Mortification, Ashes; and first putting on us the weeds of sorrow, Gen. 3.19. sackcloth: a strong and needful reflection on that Gen. 3. Pulvis & Ci­nis es: Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return: checking our extravagancies, and bring­ing us into Job's good company, Job 42.6. chap. 42. that being more sinful, we might be as penitent, and abhor our selves in dust and ashes! as the Eastern manner was to sprinkle those upon the head, Chap. 2.12. in case of deep affliction, Job 2. whence good Christians borrowed, and as on this day better used those ensignes of Humiliation. Now, [Page] [Page 57] I say, the Christian Church first puts on her Blacks; David, S. Peter, and Mary Magda­lene, being now fittest companions for our Medi­tations, Not Davids harp, but eyes; the noise of his water-pipes! not S. Peters confidence, but his penitence! not Magdalene's sins, but her tears! Davide, nemo constantiùs; Petro, nemo acerbiùs; Mariâ, nemo abundantiùs: then David, none ever wept more constantly, Psal. 6, &c. more continually, even till he had wept away his sight, and sighed away his voice; My throat is dry, (saith he) mine eyes fail! tears were his food by day, and his bath by night! then S. Peter, no man ever mourned more bitterly, with greater compunction of heart, [...], bitterly! then Mary Magdalene, none ever wept more, for the time more abundantly, even till she almost actuated Jeremiah's wish, her eyes turned rivers, and her head a fountain! her locks, by a just penance, of nets becoming towels for the feet of Christ. Quos secutus es peccantes sequere poenitentes: this day calls on thee, to follow those in penitence, whom perhaps thou hast outgone in wickedness. Hic fluxus oculorum, ne post haec stridor den­tium: We fill the world with sin, and sin fills us with sorrow, which that it may not be eter­nal, must be temporal: here must be a sorrow of compunction, that hereafter none of condem­nation. In odore horum unguentorum (as one saith sweetly) we cannot possibly follow Christ in the sent of sweeter ointments, then of These examples. This is the [...]. 2 Cor. 7.10, &c. T'other worketh death; this is the godly sorrow, that by Joel and his other Prophets, God so earnestly, [Page 58] so often calls for. Not that he is an hard Ma­ster, and delights in his servants affliction, but onely as it is the furnace to burnish his gold and silver, purging out the tin: and you may see the rare effects of it, 2 Cor. 7.11. 2 Cor. 7. (and Heaven grant we may feel them too) well usher'd with an Ecce; Behold (saith the Apostle) this self same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort: what carefulness it wrought in you? yea what clear­ing of your selves? yea, what indignation? yea, what fear? yea, what vehement desire? yea, what zeal? yea, what revenge? in all things approving of your selves to God. Such are the happy consequents of true Contrition; Circumspection without, Renovation within, Approbation above, Consolation in all: yet all this amounteth not to any precedent, or encou­ragement for those Antique Formalites, and bloody disciplines now used by some, (not onely to the impairing of health, but sometimes to the hastening of death also) and too far approved by some Casuists: which if free from Delusion, if such be not half Felones de se, or [...], my charity forbears to Vide Dr. Donne's Pseu­do-martyr. censure. While others think they have no better rise then that of Isai. 1.12. Quis requisivit? Who hath required? and no better close then that of Solomon, Prov. 19.29. Flagellum sequitur flagitium. Indeed, there was a laudable custom in the Primitive Church, of a godly Discipline (used about this time) a­gainst notorious offenders, of an open and se­vere enjoyned Penance; that their punishment be­ing as publike as their scandal, it might at once both reform Themselves, and deter Others (as in [Page 59] her Commination, our Church prayeth for its re­stitution, as we do now for hers) but the voluntary Humiliations were not of that nature and seve­rity, but onely by lessening of Diet, humbling the Habit, and multiplying of Devotions, by giving up the bodies and souls [...] a reasonable service acceptable to God, Rom. 12.1. But of what kinde soever, certainly they build on sand that lean on any such duties as a satisfaction: to man, that may be, must be made; to God, it cannot, but alone by God and Man: there being nothing of proportion (in the very [...] and height of them) Arithmetrical or Ge­ometrical; either to our numberless offences, Mica. 6.7. or the object infinite: Mica. 6.7. Will the Lord pleased with thousands of rams? &c. Yet however, these duties of mortification must be performed ex necessitate praecepti, not as the means (that's Christs merits onely) but as com­manded, Isai. 22.12. Isai. 22. and out of conformity to Christ. 1 Pet. 2.21. who though he humbled, yet (you know) he tormented not himself, nor did any of his Apostles do so. We must ferre Crucem, non creare; i. e. bear his Cross when imposed by him, but not make our own. We may, and now must with S. Paul [...] subdue the body, by mortification, 1 Cor. 9.12. and devout Abstinence; thereby disarming the strong man of the weapons that our Flesh lends against us; who is indeed most strong, ex infirmitate nostra, by taking advantage of our weakness. Substract we but the combustible matter, and his fiery darts will out of themselves, and prove but as Granado's against a wall of Adamant. [Page 60] Pride and Lust are the devils, not to be cast out but by such Mortification, Matth. 17.21. Prayer and Fasting: of which & all other good works, I may say as S. Paul doth, Heb. 13. (not as the Rhemists, Pro­meretur Deus, Heb. 13.16. but) [...] With such sacrifices God is pleased; as is exemplified in Ni­neveh, and even in Ahab himself, 1 King. 21.19.

Ʋpon the Solemn Fast of Lent.
DISQUISITION 10.

LEnt (which is the Saxon Apellative of the Spring) is so ancient and solemn a Fast, that, like the River Nilus, we can scarce finde the head of it; of very eminent credit and continu­ance in the Christian Church: we read of it both in the Greek and Latine Fathers (though not without some difference of the several times:) 'tis mentioned by Epist. ad Philip. Ignatius & Irenaeus, two of Saint Iohns Scholars; by Hom. in Le­vit. Origen, who liv­ed not long after them: by Cant. 5. de quadragessima. the famous Councel of Nice, little above 300 yeers after Christ, where they mention the fourty daies of Lent as a thing known, and long observed before their time: by Tertullian, the first of the Latine Fathers (and perhaps too highly:) so by Saint Cyprian his Scholar; and by that renowned Triumvirate, and contemporary Pieties, Saint Ambrose, Saint Augustine, Hooker, l. 5. Field, l. 3. Church. and Saint Hierome, in their writings frequently; besides a whole Cloud of witnesses since, even down to our own times. Some observe Jejunium triplex, distinguishing a threefold Fast: Expectationis; the first was a [Page] [Page 93] Fast of expectation; and such were those of the Iewes for the Messiah, before the Bridegroom came: Contemplationis; The second was a Fast of Contemplation. Such as of Moses and Eli­as, and others, sublimating the Spirit by un­clogging of the flesh: Refrenationis; The third was a Fast of restraint, Matth. 24.44. and bridling in corrupti­ons. The two former directly concern not us (only in the figure, as to grace in present, and Christs future coming.) But the third, the Fast of Refre­nation, we all much stand in need of, I, the best of men, the very Apostles themselves, Matth. 9.15. as our blessed Lord himself told them, after the Bridegroom once was taken from them, then should they Fast; which having him, they needed not; who on all occasions was a bridle to their extravagan­cy; whose Eye onely, or Word being present, could do more in them, then all Austerity and strictest discipline in others: yet after such ex­ample and Instruction, they are injoyned Fast­ing, after Christs departure; Then shall they Fast in those daies: shall they? how much more then need We! all whose helps are too lit­tle to restrain corruptions! The first Command we read of laid on man after his Creation, was this of abstinence, Gen. 2. and you know, Gen. 2.17. the Law of Iustice was given by Fasting Moses, Exod. 24. and so again restored by Elijah, Exod. 24.18. 1 Kings 9.8, 1 King. 9. The Iewes had all their weekly, Monthly, Yearly Fasts, as well as Festivals, (as shewed before) and this duty was frequent a­mong the Prophets, and holy Saints of God, wit­ness David, Daniel, Esther, Judith, Esth. 4. the Mo­thers of Samson and Samuel, the Ninevites, [Page 64] &c. And afterward the Law of Grace was pro­claimed by abstemious Iohn, Matth. 11.18. Nec manducans nec bibens, Mat. 11, he and his Disciples Fast­ed; nor were they, or the Pharisees themselves blamed by Christ for often Fasting, but for their boasting hypocrisie therein. Chap. 16.16. Matth. 16. in such holy duties He loving cheerfulness, sincerity, and secrecy. Ocult hominum basilisci operum; the designed eyes of men being the Basilisks of all good actions. Moreover our blessed Lord himself by his own practice, did canonize the sacred use of Fasting, Chap. 4.2. Matth. 4. fasting fourty daies and fourty nights at the dedication of the new Cove­nant, as Moses at the old. In pious Imitation whereof, not emulation, hath his Spouse the Church since derived her Quadragessimal so­lemnities; yet not as necessarily imposed from that example, but voluntarily thence devoting some such time to Christian abstinence, looking at the moral of it, and not at the miracle, modo possibili, Jansenius de Quadrages. (as the School) not wholly abstaining à toto, all sustentation, yet at least à tanto, ba­ting both of the measure, and the manner of our usual diet, Dan. 10.3. like Daniel 10.3. I was in heavi­ness three weeks of daies (saith he) and eat no pleasant bread, neither tasted flesh nor wine; the better to prepare our selves for holy duties, by subjugating the flesh, and infranchizing the Spirit, to liberal contemplations: and this is it Saint Basil intimates, when he saith, Christus noluit tentari, usquedum jejunasset, that Christ would not yeild himself to be tempted, untill he had first arm'd himself with Fasting; yet not as he could otherwise have incurred any [Page 65] danger, but thereby (saith he) to teach his Church and us what guard to stand upon; that Fasting and Devotion were the onely armout of proof, against temptation; to which end (as Ecclesiasti­cal History telleth us) the Western Churches, Socrates l. 5. chap. 21. Rome and others, Fasted pertres septemanas in­te pasca, three whole weeks before Easter. Qui autem in Illyriâ & tot a Graecia sex simul jeju­nant, & quadragessimam appellant; but the Eastern Churches, all Greece, Illyrium and A­lexandria, continued this solemn Fast (as we did) for full six weeks, before the Resurrection-Festival: and tis fit (saith one) so grand a Feast, should have such ample Vigils; and that at this time of the year especially, both for prudent and pious reasons; now the Body best can bear it, and with most advantage to the general increase; and tis fit sure some time should thus be set apart at least once a yeer for the Soul, for each one to take an account of himself, as well as of his shop: wherein by Fasting Prayers, and Teares (those three heavenly companions, Gen. 19.2. like Abrahams three Angels) to make his peace with his offend­ed God; and none so fit a season as this, where­in we Celebrate the Passion, Christ sufferings for sin! the strongest motive to repentance to see their heinousness none otherwise expiable then by the bloudshed of the Son of God! and now did the Church humble her self with Fasting and other holy duties, that God would vouchsafe a graci­ous acceptation of such as were presented by her, either by the holy Sacraments or Ordina­tion, both being as about this time more solemn­ly performed. This was the convenient tradition [Page 66] of antiquity touching Lent and solemn Fasting; not as absolutely Commanded, or accepted (of God) barely for it self, as of some special merit in its owne nature (as some strain up the pegs too high) but respectively, and onely for such ends as follow, Psa. 58. viz. as tis a devout Handmaid both to Piety and Charity, Isa. 58. it sets the greater edge upon our Prayers, kindles our zeal, and en­ableth us the more to every good; The ends of pi­ous Fasting. testifieth to the world our Pensiveness for sin; doth as it were amerce and punish us for former excesses, undermineth the strong holds of Satan, harden­eth whom pleasure would melt; it not onely re­lieveth, but encourageth the poor to patience, in that hardship which they see voluntary in o­thers, out of Religious purposes, and it check­eth and admonisheth sensual persons, with whol­some examples of Frugal and severer life; lastly, by these abstemious contemplations, we here as twere begin the life of Angels, fore taste the sweetness of that heavenly Manna; anticipate the excel­lency of that life, which we shall one day live in heaven, where we shall hunger and thirst no more, after such outward nourishments; fed on­ly with the beatifick vision of the Lamb, and the Fountain of living water: yet for all this Antiquity, and instrumental Piety of Fasting, some are cloyd with it, stomackful at very Absti­nence, and even uncivilly disgorge themselves against it, both in their practice, and invectives! So that the Church complains with David, Ie­junavit anima, Psal. 69.10. my soul fasted and it was turn­ed to my reproach! These Fast-breaking Hereticks are as old as Epiphanius his time (I might have [Page 67] said as Epicurus; [...], Slow-Bellies (saith the Apostle) He meaneth not at their meat; Tit. 1.12. but to all good inclinations belly- Gods, that think the best Feast-maker the perfectest Saint (and es­pecially if on an Ash-wednesday, or a Good-fri­day) and yet so meer Spirit (forsooth) that all our corporal assistance to devotion, pleaseth not. Epi­phanius bestoweth on them his 73 Heresie, Epipha. 73. haer. Haeres. and they deserve it (you shall meet their Objecti­ons answered elsewhere) I will not here spoil the Harmony of our speculation, with their discord. Passing then the Adversaries, look we unto our own practice, lest some as justly complain of us, as honest Lindanus of the other perswasion, Panoplia. lib. 5. c. 11. Je­junta nostra vini copia natant, & piscium va­rietate carnium delicias superant! Our Fasts abound with lusty wine (saith he) and with va­riety of choicest fish; we outvie the luxury of fleshly delicates! Or if not so, yet are there other abuses of this Fasting; some making it their gain, some their Physick, some their Art, and (I hope) some their Virtue, The six several kinds. according to the old verse, Abstinet aeger, egens, cuptdus, Fallax, gula virtus; the sick man fasts, but tis for for want of appetite; the poor man fasts, but tis for want of nourishment: the covetous man fasts, and tis for want too, for want of the gift to eat of his labours; the Poet laughed to see an Ass loaden with Gold, feeding on Thistles; but a good man may mourn to see this folly a­mong the Sons of men! The Hypocrite fasteth too, twice a week, if you will believe him; but [Page 68] that fast is a pampered body in a Pharisees dress (a short haire perhaps, and a sowre look) a meer Phantasm, an appearing unto men to Fast. The fifth is the Gluttons Fast, whose stomack doth but Arietare, play the fighting Ram (i. e.) goes a little backward, as part of a meal, or so, to return with the stronger Appetite. The last and best, is the Fast of Vertue and Religion; which besides habitual temperance, is the bodi's parsimonious fare, for spiritual advantage; and this goes still accompanied with prayer in Scrip­ture; Neh. 14. Act. 13.3. Matth. 17.21. Nehemiah Fasted and Prayed before the Lord: so Anna, so the Disciples; I, these two together, cast out the worst Devil that is. This is that acceptable Fast, by which God wooes his people so: Convertimini in Jejunio; to which they should answer with David, We have hum­bled our souls with Fasting Psal. 96. and then (as Saint Austin saith) they would compleat each other: Augustin, Cirel, Hierome, Chry­solog. Jejunium orationem corroborat; oratio Jejunium sanctificat: Fasting corrobora­teth prayer while prayer bettereth and sanctifieth our Fasting. [...] Hippocrates his Aphorism is true on both sides: Diseases for the most part both of Soul and Body, owe their Original to fulness and redundant humours. And indeed, where Satan tempteth one Fasting, he tempts 1000 full. Prov. 30.9. Lest I be full and deny thee, Prov. 30.9. and say, Who is the Lord? And, many are the Elogies of such a Fast; tis the Au­gust, i. e. the harvest of the Soul, the tithe of our time an unbloudy Martyrdom: such a Fast, saith Cyril, is a greater Sacrifice then that of Abraham; for that was to be done upon [Page 69] anothers Body (saith he) but this upon our own: Scutum contra adversarium (saith ano­ther) tis the best Shield to quench the fiery darts of the Devil. Fundamentum virtutum, the foundation of all other vertues; an Oar, a Spur, a wing to goodness; as Chrysologus notes of the Prodigal: his Fame pereo brings him to his ibo ad Patem; his hunger makes him re­solve of penitence and diligence: I will arise and go, &c. But lest while I treat of abstinence, I glut your patience, I here injoyn my Quill for­bearance.

Ʋpon Palm-Sunday, being that next before Easter.
DISQUISITION 11.

THis day (for some considerations) beareth away the Palm from all the rest, as begin­ning the Hebdonioda magna, Sancta, poenosae (as antiquity calleth it) the great, the holy, and the painful week: the great, as being that indeed, wherein were the most various scoenes and grea­test Interchanges of our Saviours life, and death: the holy, as that wherein our meditati­ons should be such (in conformity to Christ) by the apprehensions of our sins, and his suffer­ings: and the painful, as that wherein was more then personated the last act of our blessed Saviours Tragedy on the Cross, for the Mor­tification of our Sins: and yet the great week, beyond all this again, for the happy Catastro­phe of his Resurrection, both for our Souls and Bodies Justification, Rom. 4.2. Rom. 4. And first, this day openeth a pleasing scaene, presenting us our bless­ed Lord riding in triumph to Jerusalem, and that in some measure of befitting equipage, suiting (at least) the Prophesies (if not his Ma­jesty) Zech. 9. yet with general Acclamations of Rex Israel, Zech. 9.9. and gloria in excelsis, round a­bout [Page] [Page 73] him, Behold thy King cometh, the King of Israel, and glory in the highest; cheerfully and with a double Hosanna acknowledging his God­head and Humanity, and the dignity of both; where I shall contract your speculations unto Christs Actions herein, and theirs, the Jewes, Saint Mat. registereth the History at large, chap. 21. where at the second verse, Matth. 21. vers. 2. Christ sends two of his Disciples for the Ass and the Colt. In the very circumstances of which Message (as well as in the substance) appeared some glimmerings of the Deity, foretelling them those future con­tingencies whereof Angels have no cognizance, but in the prospect of their causes; and likewise in his Authoritative sending for those Beasts (whosoever was the owner) this spake no less then his divine prerogative; dominium despoticum (as the School speakeh) the was the grand Master of the whole Creation, by which he might at any time, curse the barren figtree, command the fish to be his treasurer; send whom, and whither, and for what he pleased, with a Dominus opus habet; the Lord hath need of him; and therefore non trahendum in exemplum; such actions of our Saviour are no object of our imitation, unless we will become like the Beasts he sent for; and that was an Ass, both as to the Prophecie, Zech. 9. Zech. 9. &c. and as to the mystery of his taking our flesh, compared unto such riding; and as to the Al­legory of Christs, and all true Christians meek­ness, laboriousness and patience; this being la­boriosum, patiens, & mite animal; and in this sense tis good to say with David, Ʋt Jumentum factus sum, Psa. 72. Psal. 72.23. I was even as a Beast be­fore [Page 74] thee. Again tis said, an Ass used to the yoak, vers. 5. Christ loves no Sons of Belial, i. e. such as cast off the yoak, whether of Church or State, by rebellion, or Sacriledg; obedience to him being better then Sacrifice: Psa. 72.23. and too this Ass used to the yoak, may signifie the Iewes mancipated to the Law, whereas the Colt whereon never man sate, till Christ now ri­ding on both by turnes (as is observed) signified the Gentiles used to the liberty of nature: he thus came Riding that came to save both: and now let us look a little on their actions, wherein they are grown so officious in attending Christ, The Jews acti­ons. as though they would become his Prose­lytes, rather then his persecutors; and Ierusalem happily exchange her old bloudy title (of sto­ner of the Prophets) for an honourer of them, if not an Adorer of their Master; evidencing their affections by flocking out in throngs to meet him; which when they did, they cut down bran­ches and strewed them in the way (so hot on it) as they would make every Tree pay a tri­bute to his welcome. Luk. 19. Mat. 21. From the story, as de­scribed by Saint Luke 19. and Saint Mat. 21. some of the ancient Church took occasion, as on this day, to go in procession with palms in their hands, and to denominate it, Dominica in ra­mis Palmarum (i. e.) Palm-Sunday; and these Trees being Palms (though native to that coun­try) were nevertheless Emblems emphaticall of his victory, and patience: we too should strew his way, i. e. our life, with flourishing virtues, breaking down boughes, from Abra­ham-obedience, from Joseph-chastity, from Mo­ses [Page 75] humility &c. and then as David saith, Flo­rebit just us sicut Palma. Psa. 92. Psa. 92.12. The righte­ous shall flourish like the Palm-tree. Besides, as if the Trees yeilded not ornament enough, they even strip themselves to dress his way, spread­ing their garments; and so should our charity to his poor Servants, like Job; casting garment to the poor, that would make him him exchange garments with us, even the robe of righteous­ness, wherewith he is clothed, as with a gar­ment; and then that their hands might not out­act, nor their Feet out-run their Tongues they make a consort of both sexes and all ages, distri­buting themselves in roy all Method, vers. 9. The multitudes that went before, and that followed, singing all Hosanna to the Son of Davd, Psa. 118.25. as though it had been no other then the solemn Proclamation of the King of Israel: for the Hosanna. Vocabulum Sy­riacum ex He­braeo [...] & [...] quaeso. Psal. 118.25. Salvare, aut salvificare, ser­va quaeso, O Regem Deus-Ex optatio, similis illi, 1 King. 4 34. Vivat Rex So­lomo; as much as God save the King. word signifieth to save, and is taken, Psal. 118.25. as a prayer for the King, and like that 1 King. 1.34. God save the King, and this Ho­sanna was the cry of both of them, the ante-nati and the post-nati. Those that went before, were the Patriarchs and Prophets; they that followed after, are the Apostles, Martyrs, and all pious Christians; all whose praises and gratulations make but up the same Hosanna (either of accla­mation to Christ, or apprecation to themselves; Salva obsecro, or Glory to the Saviour: the Ancients Faith and ours is the same, though the manner of believing divers. But alas! how soon the beams of Popularity are beclouded? Their Sun goes down at noon (as is said in an­other case) the scaene again is suddenly and sadly [Page 76] chaged, their acclamations turned into accusa­tions, their Benedictions into Blasphemies, their Palms into Thornes, and their Hosaenna into a double Crucifige! no stone so rowling as the mobile vulgus; tis like its gender with Gram­marians; neutrum modo, mas modo vulgus. So fluctuant and unsteady is popular affection, that David calls it madness, and parallelleth it with the Seas tumultuousness Psal. 65.7. ; and there's but one hand onely that can still them both; and therefore let him caution how far to trust it, Psal. 118. 118.8, 9. Trust in the Lord, cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils, &c. see the instability of earthly favour (and learn to scorn it) how agu­ish the temper of the many-headed monster, a­gainst which, of all beasts, make use of your Letany, Libera nos Domine; their Magnificat is soon turned into a wronged sense of venite ex­ultemus! as our Saviour this day found (and we have often seen!) who was never in any great honour all his life, but twice; externally had but two cheerfull daies; one was that of his trans­figuration, yet there he talked with Moses and Elias of his death, whereby that was sowred! and here he is going to his Death indeed, and weepeth even in the midst of his glory! Luk. 19.41. and this honour continued but a very little while, Luke 19.41. so slippery a Pinnacle is the bosom of a multitude, a reed shaken with the wind; nay like the wind that shakes it! for they that so admired him in the morning, would none of them vouchsafe him a lodging at night, Matth. 21.17. Matth. 21. fain to go back to Bethany; their affecti­ons cooling faster then ere before they kindled, [Page 77] till their fire became a frost! they that even now cryed him up as the King of Israel, soon after cry lowder, We have no King but Caesar; and they that erewhile cut down boughes to strew his way, soon after cut down a Tree to hang him on, the cross, the curse! and those that cast their Garments, now soon cast losts for his! So that the Church, as by her devotions on it appear­eth, may well call this the passion-Sunday, as be­ing but one step short of Calvary.

Ʋpon Christs Passion, com­monly called Good-Fryday.
DISQUISITION 12.

AS an affectionate and Loyal Wife, that hath had her most indulgent Husband wronged, wounded, murdered! telleth it ever after, with Tears and sorrow, to her Friends and Neighbors; So likewise doth the Spouse of Christ, As in the Pro­phets Canticles, Gospel, and A­pocalypse. the Church, in these her solemn Anni­versaries, story to the world her Welbeloved's Passion; How Sponsus Ecclesiae, Sponsus Ani­mae, that Bridegroom of the Church, and of each pious Soul, was scourged, thorned, wound­ed crucified! and once brought forth by Pilate, (as by Marcus Antonius, sometime the mangled Body of Caesar) with an Ecce Homo, Behold the man! Bern, in Pas­sionem. John 19.5. Quotidiana lectio Passionis recorda­tio: indeed our Saviours Passion should not only be an Annual, but even a Christians daily Con­templation; this Christ-cross-row should be our constant Lesson, which we should Read (saith Ludolphus) ad minùs septiès in die, seven times a Day at least; Ludolphus de Vitae Christi in Johan. 19. it being Liber Vitae, a Book of Life to us, although of Death to Christ; prefigured in Sampson, [Page] [Page 77] who was ploughed against by his own Heyfer, and as it were kissed into the hands of his ma­licious enemies, who having first cruelly tortu­red him, by putting out his eyes, Judg. 14.21. and binding him with Fetters of Brasse, they bring him forth afterward in a generall conflux, led in a ridiculous manner, to exercise their wits and spleens! And here behold the Body of that Figure! the substance of that shadow Christ, the true Nazarite and Champion of our Souls, betrayed also by one of his Bosome, by his own familiar Friend, too familiar so to kisse him into bloudy Hands! who having inhumanly scourged him! bloudily crowned him! and ridi­culously clothed him! they next add scorn unto their Tyranny, bringing Him forth into the clamourous throng of his insulting adver­saries, to be the subject of their scoffs and fu­ry! Ecce homo! Behold the Man! For that's the most contracted passage, of this main ground of Christianity, John 19.5. diffused through both Testaments (the Center of the whole Circum­ference;) yet like a curious Perspective, shew­ing the most ample view of Him, even from his Cratch to his Crosse! all the while that he was Man— Ecce homo! This Usher going a­long with him as Ruth and Naomi. Ruth 1.16. Whereso­ever is this Man of sorrows, there is likewise this same Ruthfull Ecce! Behold the man! which I may call a safe, and inoffensive Cru­cisix, (to be worn not so much in the Eye or Ear, as in the Bòsome, in the Heart:) lively representing our dying, yet ever-living, our life-giving Saviour, to each faithfull Soul: [Page 78] Behold the man! Despectivè loquendo (faith Lu­dolphus) vel admisericordiam provocando. Pi­lat spake this in part despisingly, Ludolph. de vita Christi in loc. and partly (saith he) to move the Jews to pittie. Ecce ho­mo! as well it may bear either sense, either a Qualm of Pittie, or a Belch of Envy! St. Au­gustine is for his pittie (whether rais'd from any Justice in himself, as seems, vers. 4. or from his wifes caution, it matters not) but that they are words of compassion, he argues, Behold the man! Ʋt ejus ludibria inimici biberent & ulterius sanguinem non sitirent. St. Augustine. He here cry'd out to them, Ecce homo! Behold the man! that they might satiat their malice on his Reproaches, and so thirst no further after Innocent bloud! Si Regi invidetis, jam parcite, quia dejectum videtis, as much as if he had said, If you envy or fear his being a King, yet be appeased, now seeing him debased thus be­low the form of a servant! Non clarus impe­rio, sed plenus opprobrio! not swelled with any Ambition, but even like to burst with Griefe! Not glittering with pomp, but sordid with a­buses. Fervet ignominiâ frigescat invidia, (as that sweet Father warbles on) since then he frieth in such a fiery tryall! let now your En­vy cool, (saith he and be extinguished. Vide­te caput perforatum! faciem consputam! cor­pus laceratum! look well but on his boared head! his smeared face! and furrowed body! and see whether he be not likelier for a Grave then a Throne! Ecce homo! Behold the man! Yet all this is not enough for Jews, or Jewish spirits! And therefore Venerable Bede, and [Page 79] others, are for the later, Beda in locum. and that these words were a Belch of Envy: (whether from fear of Caesar, or to please the Jews, not much ma­teriall) and they prove it by the close: Nam quem absolvit Judicio, crucifigit ministerio. For whom he cleareth in word, he doth condemne in action. I find no fauls in Him, take ye Him and crucifie him! Ecce homo! Behold the man! so that all the washing of his hands, though he rubbed neyer so hard, would hardly ever fetch out the steins of this Bloud from his Heart! Behold the man! But here not to build a Min­dus ( sorrow loving no descant, and being but an ill Methodist) I shall briefly resolve this sub­ject into these 3 circumstances, (reserving the Ecce toattend the Application, if not rather carrying it along with us all the way) viz. The Quis? the Quid? the Quare? and consider the Person, the Act, and the Reason of it: Who it was? What it was? and why it was Christ suffered? All wrapped up in this Ecce homo! Behold the man!

First for the Quis. Who? as to his being the Son of God, is answered with another Quis? another Question, Isai. 53. Quis enarrabit? Isa. 53 8. Who shall declare his generation? Not the Tongues, or Quils, of Men, or Angels! as he is Aquila in Nubibus, St. Johns Eagle in the clouds: Yet may we look upon him, as Ver­mis in pulvere, Davids worm in the dust, and outcast of the people. Though we cannot reach his Deity, yet as this Text inviteth, we may be­hold the man! And so indeed was he too plainly seen by the eye of an oppressive world [Page 80] Vir dolorum, no sooner man, then center of ca­lamities, one acquainted with Griefs! His only Intimates and Familiars, his inseparable com­panions! Thus as in relation to his sufferings (our businesse here) this word most particular­ly answereth the Quis? with [...], Be­hold the man! Man, and Son of Man, our Sa­viours usual compellation, John 8. and frequent­ly elsewhere, the Son of Man: and that for weighty Reasons; John 8.28. As first, to strengthen his Disciples Faith, Whom say you that I the Son of Man am? Secondly, to demonstrate his Hu­manity, as his Miracles did his Divinity: And here most properly Man, as being Passive on­ly in his Human Nature. Thirdly, called Man, to shew Christ was not ashamed of our Infirmities; but, as the Prophet speaks, hath born them, and our sorrows! meaning all those infirmities that are painfull without sin; but none of those that are sinfull without pain, as Lombard well distinguisheth. Lombard. 4. Distinct. And yet withall he is Man with an Article, that imports an Em­phasis [...], (i.e.) among men, as Demost­henes among Greek Orators, or as Tully among the Latins, or Homer among the Graecian Po­ets, or Virgil amongst other. The Man [...], by a Figure of Excellency, Behold the Man! a- Dicier Hic est. Christ here Empha­tically stiled Man and by a transcendent sin­gularity above all others: Not like ordinary men propagated in sin originall, and by a double Parentage; This spotlesse Lamb having in Heaven no Mother, and on Earth no Father: No, nor like Adam in his best state, with a Posse [Page 81] labi, with any possibility of falling into actu­all. But [...], Heb. 2.17. the Man in all things like us, but that which is nothing, sin excepted, Heb. 2. 'Tis remarkable, that none is called Sonne of man in Scripture, except Daniel once. But the Prophet Ezekiel, and He so, Dan. 8.17. neer an hundred times, as being more conversant with Angels, and Diviner Revelations. How much more Christ in that regard, here stiled emphatically, Behold the man! Nor yet is this all his Excel­lency, He was Innocens, Benefaciens, Rex, Dei Filius, &c. all easie to dilate on (I can but name them) He was innocent, and declared so by his Judge: Insons ante Reum, the Dove of Innocence, the Lamb without blemish, the true Nathaniel: He was the Ʋniversall Bene­factor of the world, to all parts doing good, ac­cording to their severall Receptivities. He was a King, acknowledged not only by the Scrip­tures, but also by his enemies at his Crucisixion, by his Title on the Crosse, &c. He was the Son of God, testified by miracles on earth, and thrice at least by a voyce from heaven, and the Devill himself was tormented to this Truth, Matth, 8.29. Behold the man, that was the summe of the whole world both God and Man.

And all this Excellency of Person doth in fi­nitly highten the indignity of his Sufferings, which are the next Considerable, the Quid? What this person underwent? But soft, let me not promise more then I can perform, alas! more then can be performed! This being In­fandum scelus, infandi (que) dolores! on the Jews part a wickednesse unutterable; on Christs [Page 82] part sorrows inexpressible! and therefore fit­ter here to be Effigiesed like sacrified Ipbige­nia, with Agamemnon's veil of silence! How hard the holy Penmen labour here for Metaphors? Psal. 129.3. Isai. 53.7. Rom. 4.25. Luke 22.47. Phil. 2.8. He was ploughed upon, saith Da­vid; Dumb before the shearers and Butchers, saith Isaiah; given up, saith St. Paul, [...], Given up of God, betrayed of man! Traditus mundo, John 3.16. Delivered to the world, that Scoen of miseries and vale of tears! Traditus dolori, Delivered up to sorrows. Traditus Popu­lo, Luke 22. Delivered up to the people, and no wild beast or Sea so raging! Traditus morti, traditus Cruci! Delivered to Death, even to the death of the Crosse, as the Complement of all Tortures! And this is the generall Prospect of Christs innumerable sufferings! which come on so thick and fast upon us, that they will not permit us here to glance upon his Prior passio, (as the Fathers call Christs life from his first Birth to the institution ot his last Supper) his former passion! Cujus tota vita continuata pas­sio, whose whole life indeed was but one Crim­son Thred spun to make us a Garment! But his later Passion now calleth us into the Gar­d [...]n, Joh 18. John 13.1. Where think not of a place of Re­creation, but of Passion! Dream not of Beds of Roses, and delicious Flowers, but think of bitter Herbs, of Rue and Wormwood, There Ecce homo! Behold the man! there weeping! sweating, bleeding for us! Till he becometh [...], even a Circle of Calamity, made an Island in his own inundation of Tears, of Sweat, of Bloud! a treble Island! as Bernard [Page 83] passionatly, Non tantum oculis, Serm. 3. de Ram. Pal­mar. sed membris singulis! Christ wept (saith he) not only with his eyes, but with all the members of his bles­sed body, to wash away our sins! And whoso­ever would scan the supernaturall causes of these so unnaturall showres, must think well on the weight of sin, and wrath of God! and then shall find much comfort in them; shal find the first a Bath of Tears, for every Naaman to wash in and be clean: The second, one of Sweat, to purge the slothfull servant: And the third of Bloud, wherein a murderous David, that can be but as penitent, may white his purple Soul.

These are the Fountains open to Judah and Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleannesse, the foun­tains of Christs Garden: And if you ask me why he chose no sadder place (no Cave or Desart but thus began his Passion in a Garden? I answer with Ludolphus, De vita Christi in locum. Ʋt medela responderet morbo, that mans Recovery might eccho to his Fall, as 'tis easie to carry on the Metaphor, but I would fain avoid prolixity. Next, our Ecce homo is become [...], Luke 22.47. Behold a multitude of men, or rather, Armed murderers come forth against him, as if one of their own fraternity! and (as the manner is) no sooner are his Ene­mies in sight, but his Friends are out of it: One tarrieth to betray him, another to deny him! but of the people there was none to help! And he that ere-while so over-prized a little Oynt­ment, more under-values now the Lords Anoyn­ted! For The Roman peny about our 7. d. or if those pieces were of Silver Shekels, the single she­kel was 15. d. that of the Sanctuary dou­ble: at most then not aboe 3. l. 15. s. Sterl. thirty pence sells the rich ransom of the World, and with a Joabs kisse seals up his hellish bargain! But let his Brother Judasses [Page 84] remember what such ill gain doth purchase in the end! viz. nothing but Acheldamah's and Fields of Blood! 'Twas but a trick of more wit then judgment, in him that Apologiz'd for Judas, as not acting out of malice, but one­ly out of Hope to cheat the Jews, both of their money and their expectation, for that Christ he thought) could easily passe through the midst of them, as he often had done, and conveigh himself from danger; and so onely in derision, bid them hold him fast, &c. But Davids prophesie of Him, and Christs calling him Devill, doth befool this Phansie, as well, as his own after-game, betraying his own neck in­to the Halter of Despair and 'twas the Wit of Justice that he should lose his Bowels, who was [...] before, and had lost his Compassion. But Ipse viderit, see he to that the insulting Jews are gone with their self-yeelding Captive, who yet had he pleas'd, could with more ease then Sampson, have burst their bands, and cast away, &c. but only to shew Thee, penitent soul, that he who led Captivity captive, was content him­self to be inslav'd and bound, to expiate thy loosnesse and abused Liberty! See next, his tra­velling Affliction halling him to the Mint of all his miseries, the High Prieshs The Sane­drim which consisted of all sorts. Councell, where more Mischiefs are showred on him, then he hath parts to bear them! The pitifull sport and Tennis-Ball of those unrighteous Judges, among whom, Ducitur reducitur, à Judicio in Judicium, de opprobio in opprobrium, à supplicio ad supplicium! Hurried up, and down from one Tribunall to another, from [Page 85] Annas to Caiaphas! from Caiaphas to Pilat! from Pilat to Herod! from Herod back again to Pilat, foot-balled between Jews and Gen­tiles, all having a hand in His death that died for all; mean while his Torment like the stream or snow-ball, Crescit eundo, still ga­thers by the motion! all tenturing their inven­tions for his shames and tortures: Such indeed as— Siculi non invenere Tyranni! Perillus his Bull being but a Calfe as 'twere unto their worse then Trojan Woodden Horse! How un­weariedly busie is their malice! as though their Mouths had not sin'd enough before in Blas­phemy, they spit upon him! Him, whose hea­ling Spittle their own ill eyes had need of: and then to make Him somewhat like Themselves, they blind-fold Him, thinking to bufiet forth some new Prophesie out of him; but when they ask him, Who smote thee? We may well an­swer in the words of St. Ambrose, In his Com­ment. on St. Luke. Doles Do­mine, non tuased mea vulnera! Thou smartest O Lord, not with thine own, but with my wounds!— Me, me, adsum qui feci! I am the the Jonah, Et propter me haec tempestas! and for my sake, Dear Lord, is this great tempest come upon thee! Ecce homo! Behold him next at the Jews strange election! when Custome more then Mercy, freed one at the Passover, see their unworthy choyce, Not Him, but Ba­rabas! preferring Dross to Gold, the Wolfe before the Lamb! Nolumus regnare, nolumus vivere! We will not have this man reign over us; No, not to live among us: Quid hoc est aliud? And what else was this prayer, saith [Page 86] Ludolphus, In locum. then as they should have said, Let him be killed, that oft among us Rais'd the dead! and let him Live that hath and yet wil kill the living! Not Him but Barrabas. If Pi­lat preach to them his experienced Innocency, they rage at him; Let him wash his hands, can he not? (but such had need rub hard!) Let the bloud light on Them and on their Children; the Guilt they mean, In locum. but not the Benefit! and so indeed it did (as our venerable Beda obser­veth) Haeret usque hodiè Judaeis sua Petitio! How closely to this day doth their wish stick to Them in a Double Curse, Spiritual and Cor­porall! Some Authors reporting that their Bodies monthly suffer an unnaturall flux of bloud! but infallibly fulfil'd upon them at that generall Devastation of their populous Jerusa­lem, where thirty of them were sold for a Peny, who sold our Saviour for thirty pence. Others telling us, what those that bought them did with them, affirming that the Romans had no such manurance for their Fields and Gardens, as was the bloud of Jews! his bloud was so upon Them, even corporally also (God grant at length its Spiritual benefit may be on them) their own Josephus tells us, that 1100000. of them there, Joseph. lib. 7. de bello Jud. c. 12. became as Dongue of the earth! The thought of this (me thinks) should bind all Hands, and stay the swiftest Feet from bloud­shed. This you see out- crying all sins! and for which God commonly makes Inquisition here, even in this life, (what ever else he bears with till the next!) each then, with David, cry as lowd against it, Psa. 51.13, A sanguinolentiâ Domine! De­liver [Page 87] me from bloud-guiltinesse, O God (whether of past, or Future Tense) Thou God of my health; 'Tis for desperate Jews to be so blou­dy! For Christians to be mercifull, as their Heavenly Father, who will have mercy and not sacrifice, no bloudy sacrifice but this of Christ. Take but a view of that, and I have done: and here behold obedient Isaac, the willing Porter of his funerall pile! Loyall Ʋriah carrying the Instrument of his own destruction! where (by the Riddle of Tyranny) his enemies make good that double Crucifige, as 'twere twice crucifying him! once as with a Burden, and secondly as with a Crosse! the Crosse the worst of all the Jews four Tortures, which for their slaves they had borrowed from Heathen Cru­elties! And Tully himself is here at a Non­plus. In 7. Oratione contra Verrem. To bind a Citizen of Rome (saith he) is hainous, to scourge him villany, a kind of Pa­ricide to kill him! but Quid dicam? What shall I call it, to put him on the Crosse! O that were (sure a strange Piaculum! what shall I say to this? The Apostle answereth somewhat, [...]. He humbled, He emptied himself. Phil. 2. Christ emptied himself of glory! of Beauty! of Help! of Company! of Life! all his veins of bloud! all his senses of delightfull objects, for contrary! Nay, emptied his soul of Divine comfort, emptied, Phil. 2.7. humbled himself even to the death of the Crosse! that sin might be carried out of the world as it came in (i.) upon the Woodden Horse! whereon his nailed body is extended, as the Hieroglyphick of his ample mercy.— Brachia in amplexus dimittit, [Page 88] in oscula vultum. What should I here trouble you with the nice Speculation of some Friers? How big the nails were? whether big enough to make Constantine an Helmet, Ludolp. de vita Christi in loc. and a Bridle? What severall sorts of wood the Crosse was of, and why? with the strict number of his stripes and wounds? Let Granatensis and Acosta an­swer for their boldnesse, numbring about 500. while more exact Osorius argueth from the Band of Souldiers, full 660. in the Body, 72. in the Head, beside the 5 main Wounds, in Hands, and Feet, and Side! But— Pauperis est numerare. Numbring is but an argument of paucity (though Starrs, and Sands, and eve­ry leaf in Autumn score a griefe! All this were but a Substraction to Christs infinite sor­rows! who therefore in his Type assureth us, Innumerable troubles have compassed me about, Psal. 40. And if any thing in this world could come ought neer them, (me thinks) our Sins were likeliest! O then, let each of Them number out a wound in him, & find its Cure there! And if they come short, Why, then to reach his multi­plied miseries, to our offences, add his Enemies, who had they been either Graves, or Earth, or Rocks, or any thing but Jews, how would they have Opened? Rent? & Quaked in compassion? & added no more scoffs, & spunge, & spear unto his Grucifixion? which yet They do, even til the Sun's ashamed! the Temple's angry! and the Earth's afraid! Insomuch that the very Astro­logers of that Age acknowledged (from that totall unnatural Eclipse of the Sun, the Moon being at ful) Aut Deus Naturae patitur, aut ma­china mundi dissolvitur. That either the world [Page 89] or its Maker was then a dying! And Josephus telleth us of the Angels valediction, a voyce heard in the Temple about that time Trans­eamus hinc! Let us flye hence, and pitch our Tents no longer about such wicked Persons! And now one would think we were neer the Consummatum est, his Passion finished. Indeed of his outward suffering is somwhat opened to you; but I have said nothing yet of his Inter­nall Passion! The deep impressions of all those ignominies, and ingratitudes cast on him! No­thing of the Burden of his Fathers anger, which caused that second Agony on the Cross, [...] My God, My God! wherein his Soul complaineth, and even Descends to Hell! and therefore we may well joyn prayer with that old Greek Liturgie, [...], By thine unknown fuffering, good Lord deliver us! And here that Ecce homo, is lost into an Ecce Ag­nus Dei. Behold the slain Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the World. Here I might wind you into the Labyrinths of School-Di­sputes, Why Christ so earnestly did deprecate his Passion, with a Transeat Calix, Let this Cup pass from me! whether out of the Dominion of his inferiour will, or no? or only out of human infirmity! How far then and after, he was Re­linquisht of the Diety? whether only in regard of momentary Suspension, or of any Separa­tion? As also how his Temporall Passion could satisfie for our Eternall Debts? Whether by the Excellence of his person, or by the preven­tion of His graces in us? But aiming more at the kindling of Devotion, then swelling up a [Page 90] volume, we will send these Questions back a­gain to School; while with more profit we now apply the QUARE? The Quare. Why all this was done and suffered? What David said to his bro­ther Eliab, 1 Sam. 17.29. 1 Sam. 17. when Goliah defyed the Hoast of Israel, is there not a Cause? the same (me thinks) Christ here answereth his brethren of flesh and bloud, to their treble Ecce, of At­tention, Admiration, and Compassion, Deman­manding also, Why camest thou down hither? Down from Heaven? down to Earth? down to misery? down to the grave? nay down to Hell it self? ( ad triumphandum, non ad patiendū, an inchoation of his Triumph, after the con­summation of his Passion.) Why is there not a Cause, saith Christ? Do not Sins play the insulting Philistims? and Satan defie the Is­rael of God? and therefore he re-encountreth him like David, with the Staffe and Sling, of his Cross and passion slaying the Goliah, Death, and with his own Sword beheading him. Is there not a Cause? Yes, hence we see a double one! on Christs part Love, on mans part dan­ger! on Christs part not onely, ut implerentur omnia, that all the Prophesies and Prefigurati­ons might be fulfilled, (though even in that sense also saith the Evangelist) ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his Glory?) Luke 24.26. but likewise an inva­luable love, an incomprehensible Affection to poor mankind: Non praevisa fides, non opera. Not Faith, or any works foreseen (which were effects, not causes of this mercy) but onely that [...], Ephes. 1.9. Eph. 1. that same free grace, good [Page 91] will and pleasure of the Diety, of all the glorious persons of it. Quorum opera ad extrà sunt in­divisa. Their actions outwardly being undi­vided, though distinguished: the love of the Father sends the Son, John 3. John 3.16. Luke 2.34. John 10.16. The Holy Ghost overshadowed the blessed Virgin-mother, Luke 2. yet neither impeadeth the voluntary com­ing of the second person, who layeth down his life here, none taketh it from him, John 10. Misit tota Trinitas. Thus the whole sacred Trinity wrongth this great work of Mans Re­demption.—Ʋnicui (que) operanti cooperantibus duobus. Whatsoever one worketh, the other two cooperating, consenting as here the Fa­ther of Mercies, and the Spirit of Consolati­on, joyn'd with the Son of everlasting love, specialiter tamen filio yet is it notwith­standing principally attributed to the Son, the work of our Redemption, Matth. 1.25. because (as his Word witnesseth) twas his person that be­came [...] that is, God with us, Mat. 1.23. & in whom we have redemption through his bloud, according to the Riches of his Grace: I that onely was the Causa [...], both the leading and impulsive cause of all Christs woes and sufferings! the sole Quare? why this good Shepheard left the 99. in the Wildernesse, i. the fallen Angels in their sin and punishment! and died to ransom this one lost sheep, mankind. Well therefore may the vulgar Latin read that, John 15.13. Nimia Chari­tas, Greater love hath no man, so great, too great a love, too great on both sides! The Quare on our part, being the expiating of sin, Rom. 4.24. Rom. 4. [Page 92] and conferring of Grace, 1 Cor. 1. Being hereby made unto us Wisdome, 1 Cor. 1.30. and Righteousnesse, San­ctification, and Redemption. The Riches of his Grace paid our Talents, and much more will our Pence, we doing our Duty in mean time, and giving but all diligence, 2 Pet. 1.10. 2 Pet. 1. satisfied both our Eternall and our Temporall Debts to God, cancelled Satans. [...], that black Scrowle against us, and is to us, as the Angel to St. Peter bound in Prison; as the indulgent Father to the returning Prodigall; and the ve­ry good Samaritan unto the wounded Travel­ler. For by his stripes we are healed, Isai. 53. [...], Isai. 53.5. 1 Tim. 2.6. His we are by Ransome, his by Purchase. [...], and his by Con­quest, John 16.33. [...]. Be of good cheer, John 16.33. I have overcome the world. Thus Christs sufferings were proportioned, to his Person suf­fered in, to the sins suffered for, to the Good will he suffered with, and for the End he suffered to; all Universals and Superlatives, all inex­pressibles! our businesse is to be [...], Conformed in some measure, Phil. 3. to his Life and Death, that being partakers of his sufferings, we may be also of the consolation: and that's done two wayes chiefly, St. Gregory. Cum per abstinentiam affligitur corpus, & per compassionem animus. (We will mend it somewhat in the rendring) When we beat down the body with Abstinence and Devotion, and the Mind with Penitence and Compassion. Sit thee down then my Soul this day, and make it thy Good Friday by applicati­on, that was so bad to Christ by bloudy passi­on! Cheer up to think, with how many Privi­ledges [Page 93] this day was honored, viz. Sin cancel­led, Death subdued, Hell spoyled, Heaven o­pened, Scriptures verified, Man redeemed, and all this by thy Saviour crucified!

This Meditation would allay all out Ex­travagancies, and moderate the excesses of our former pleasures: 'Twould sweeten all our bitter draughts, and fit us in some measure to pledge Christ in this bitter Cup, if he should please to call us to that Honour, as we have comfortably seen in Others! This would forti­fie us against the worst could happen: Then let not Ignorance (for shame) be more busie with superstitious Figures of the Cross, then true Devotion with this frequent Meditation, and the more lively representations of it, in the Word and Sacraments. For [...] is the Motto of every true Christian as well as Con­stantine, Under this Banner shalt thou over­come.

From the QUIS, the person of this glo­rious subject, we may gather, First, Obedience and Compassion (among many other Fruits on the Tree of the Cross.) Obedience to God, Heb. 10.9. Psa. 40. & to his legitimate Vicegerents, Rom. 13. And never was there such compassion. Indeed 'tis storied of Trajan (that was stiled the Good) that he tore off his own Robes all to pieces, to bind up the wounds of his Loyall Souldiers, and 'twas a noble pitty: But our great Cap­tain here (though Monarch of the World) throws off his Robes of Glory, and imparts them: Suffereth not his Garments onely, but his skin, his Flesh, his very Heart to be all [Page 94] ren and torn! that through his Death we might have life: though so great love hath no man, yet each may gain somewhat from it, [...]. This boundlesse love of Christ, with all its Distances, may teach men how to stand affectioned to each other; Men, I say, 'twixt whom (unlesse in some few Transitories) there is no difference, as after a few years, whoso looks into their Graves, will find but little difference between their bones! John 15.35. Love is the Christian [...], the Ear-mark of Christs Sheep, John 15. And therefore the A­postle presseth it with a [...]. 1 Pet. 4.8. Above all things have fervent love, &c. 1 Pet. 4. and he gives a good Reason, For love covereth a mul­titude of sins. in utro (que) foro. by preventing, by excusing, by forgiving.

From the QUID, what our Saviour suffe­red, we must learn Mortification and Submissi­on, Phil. 3. Crucifying the Old Man with his corrupt Affections. Phil 3.10. There is a story of St. Fran­cis (that by austere meditation of the Passion) he had Christs five main wounds imprinted on him, and so plain, that many since scarce know the one from the other: and that Ignatius by the like mortification, had the Holy Name of Jesus written visibly in his Heart. However these may stand in credit, I am sure the Apostle cannot faile, who maketh Fellowship of his sufferings the best assimulation unto Christ, Phil. 3. Nay, Rev. 2.17. even incorporates us into his Bo­dy, and writes that new Name on us, Rev. 2. And for Submission, remember the demeanour of this Sheep before the Shearers, and let not each Triviall injury incense thee into such an usuall [Page 95] Fury; Look on Him here, who lost all but Patience, and be not so crucified with a few worldly losses! What ever is thy Distresse, it cometh far short of His! Let some of His Patience bear thee company, and He that gave Himself will not deny thee succour: mean time accept of his own Legacy, Luke 19. without which no man is Compos animae, Luke 19.21. possessor of his own Soul; and we should look to that especially, living in an Age wherin none know­eth how long he may possesse any thing else! And now the last Circumstance, the QUARE? Why all this? Hints us to Gratitude, Emen­dation, Comfort: Magnes Amoris Amor: Love is the Loadstone of Love. St. Bernard. Quanto pro me vi­lior, tanto mihi charior. Let not Christ ask again, Where are the Nine? Nor forgetfull Is­rael be the Type of us: Disobedient at the Sea, even the Red Sea, Psal. 106. Let us not pledge Josephs Butler in his Cup of Oblivion, but Da­vid rather in his Cup of Salvation, praising the Lord for his Goodnesse, and declaring the won­ders that he doth for the children of men. Psal, 106. [...]. (i.e.) Prayer & praise (saith the Jewish Proverb) is the sum of all devotion. If then a single Heart be too barren of Thankful­ness, borrow a Magnificat of Mary. My Soul doth magnifie the Lord, Jobs gratefull extasie, Quid faciam? as if all were too little, what shal I do unto thee, O thou Redeemer of Men. A Te De­um of all the Saints, We praise Thee, O God, &c. Joyn with that grateful Consort, Rev. 5. Rev. 5.11. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches, and Strength, and Glory (all outward [Page 96] and inward gratulation) for ever and ever. And because true Gratitude is Gratiarum actio, not a Thanks-saying but Thanks-giving, it must be evidenced in our Emendation, our bettered Conversation: Since Sin hath cost so deer, as the dear Son of God, O beware how we come ever so in debt again! As 'twas our sins that crucified Christ once, so renewed sins will even crucifie him again! Believe St. Paul else, Heb. 6. [...], Heb. 6.6. at least to themselves, They crucifie (and in his honour) the Lord of Glory! Every unrepented sinne is as a Thorn, a Nail, and Spear unto him! In a word, Those that are the Fleshes Souldiers, crucifie Christ; but those that are Christs crucifie the flesh, with the affections and lusts thereof, Gal. 5.24. Gal. 4. And to close up with comfort (as an effect of all Christs sufferings) How can we but rejoyce to see our Reconciliation made with God? of Enemies thus to become Friends, Sons, Heirs, Coheirs with Christ: and all this, saith the A­postle, 1 John 2.2. through the bloud of his Crosse, 1 John 2. Oh what a comfort is it to Spirituall Israel, to see the sinful Pharaoh and his numerous Hoast all drowned and overwhelmed in this same Red Sea! St. Bernard. Well may that Father invite here to a Feast of joy—Jubilate Coeli, plau­dite Terra, & universitas Creaturae: And let the Apostle English it, unto the Readers Heart, Phil. 4. Phil. 4.4. Rejoyce in the Lord alwayes; and again I say, Rejoyce: Rejoyce inasmuch as ye are par­takers of the sufferings of Christ, 1 Pet. 4. that when his Glory shall appear, you may rejoyce. And now to shut up all, shut up thy Saviour in thy Bo­some, [Page 97] go act the devout Arimathaean; as thou hast alwayes beheld Christ on the Crosse; now take him down from thence, and bury him in a new Tomb, that is, in the Tomb of a new Heart; embalming him with sweet odors, that is, of Faith, Prayer, and Good works: and at least so far imitate the Jews, that you do seal the Sepulcher, and the Seals are his Word and Sa­craments, which if well impressed, will hold him faster then the Grave and Death! Thus, as stout Luther said, Who takes such care of the Good Friday of his Death, need never doubt a joyfull Easter, of his Resurrection.

EASTER DAY.
DISQUISITION 13.

THis Festivall is as ancient, as the Resurre­ction of our blessed Lord himselfe, and therefore ought to be proportionably sacred to its subject: as it was highly venerable to the Primitive Fathers of the Church, witnesse their innumerable Sermons on it, and most solemne Acts, even of both Sacraments reserved for the same; however this stolid disobedient Age con­temn the devotions of Antiquity. Christiani sine Christo! as though they would be Christi­ans, by passing Acts of Oblivion upon the Re­cords of Christianity! But God hath still his thousands in our Israel, whom I shall here greet with the old Christian salutation, The Eastern and Greek Churches sa­lutation. [...]. Christ is risen, desiring the Reader but to Eccho with joy and gratitude, that same u­suall Response, The Lord is risen indeed; or to Paraphrase it with that good Christian, who meeting his enemy, said, Surrexit Christus, Christ is risen the Reconciler, and therefore let us be friends again. The first stone of Chri­stian Faith was laid in this Article of the Re­surrection, in this was the first promise per­formed, Ipse conteret, He shall bruise the Ser­pents [Page 107] head: Gen. 3.15. Augustine. for in this Trophaeum de morte exci­tavit, He triumphed over Death and Hell. And the last stone of our Faith is laid in the same, that is, the Day of Judgement, of which God hath given assurance unto all men, (saith St. Paul at Athens) in that he hath raised Christ Jesus from the Dead: Acts 17.3. In this Christ makes up his Circle, in this he is truly Alpha and Omega. His coming in Paradice in a pro­mise, and his coming to judgement in the clouds are tied together in the Resurrection; and therefore all the Gospel, all our Preaching, our Believing, and endeavour, are all contra­cted into this one Article of the Resurrection, 1 Cor. 15.14. 1 Cor, 15. and that being all the signe Christ would at any time afford the Jews, the Pha­rises, Saduces, or any that importuned him, the signe of Jonas, and the destroyed Temple, still turning upon the Resurrection, Matth. 12.35. And so true is that of Tertullian, Resur­rectio mortuorum, est summa consolatio vivo­rum, The Resurrection of the dead, John 4.18. is the main Consolation of the living; as without which, all Christs former Actions and Passi­ons, had been fruitlesse, 1 Cor. 15. But by which we hold our hopes of Immortality; 1 Cor. 15.17. from whence all the Sundays of the year cheer­fully borrow new Denomination, and are as 'twere) new Christned, The Lords Day, in me­moriall of this happy Reparation: So that Lu­dolphus (out of Nazianzen and others) may well call this day, Solennitas solennitatum, the Festivall of all Festivities: Most of the Lear­ned applying that of David to it, Psalm 118. [Page 108] Haec est Dies quam fecit Dominus, Ludolph. de vi­ta Christi in Locum. Psal. 118.24. This is the Day which the Lord hath made, &c. And not onely for our gladnesse, but also inverting it for his Honour: Haec est Dies quae fecit Domi­num. So St. Cyril in locum. This is the Day which (in a sense) made the Lord, (i.e.) de­clared. For hereby (saith the Apostle) was he wonderfully declared to be the Sonne of God. Wonderfully indeed, the wonder of all Mira­cles, wrought by a God, testified by Angels, seen of Men; of Men, not onely as witnesses, but partakers; and yet a no lesse Benefit then Miracle: a benefit both Corporall and Spiri­tuall, extending to both parts of Man. And whereas Christs former Miracles, (for the most part) tended but to the Bodies good, as Restitution of Limbs, Eyes to the Blind, Ears to the Deaf, Tongue to the Dumb, and Feet to the Lame: or else for Restauration of health, as, Healing diseases, casting out Devils, raising the Dead; This an ex­tensive bene­fit to both parts of man. or for human sustenance, as feeding many thousands with few Fishes, multiplying the Loaves, metamorphosing of Water into Wine, &c. But this miraculous benefit, and beneficiall Miracle of Christs Resurrection, ex­tendeth it self both unto Soul and Body: And first, it cheereth up the Drooping body, comfor­tably telling it, That shall not alwayes sleep in Dust! not ever be the Food of worms, and companion of creeping things! but shall be one day raised, raised to incorruption, to the society of Angels, and vision of the blessed Trinity: that even Flesh and Bloud (though not as yet a while) shall one day inherit the [Page 109] Kingdom of God. So that the Body (now) the Body of every faithfull penitent, may be as con­fident as ever Job was. Scio quod Redemptor vivit. I know that my Redeemer liveth, John 19.25. &c. and that he shal stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin Worms destroy my Body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see, &c. And that not onely in Calvins sense, Calvin in lo­cum. of a Temporall Restitution; but even in Jobs own sense, and the Fathers Exposition, of a literal and numerical Reinvestion. Again, This likewise secures the Soul, that she is Christs ho­ly One, whom he will never suffer to see corrup­tion: assureth Her, that she neither hopeth nor beleeveth in vain. 1 Cor. 15. This is the Foun­dation Article. But happy Time, This, happy Day for us, whereon Christ became the eldest child of the Grave, the First born of the Dead. [...]. 1 Cor. 15.20. The first fruits of them that sleep, all comfortable Relatives (First still implying the later) Christs Resurrection altogether as sure as Death. Rom. 4. Rom. 4.25. Who died for our sins, and rose again for our Justification. For us you see, Both, not for Himselfe, but us: and that for both parts of us, Souls and Bodies. As if your meditation please to draw neer the Sepulcher, Luke 24.6. Luke 24. you shall there meet with two Angels that will witnesse the Surrexit, and tell you, Non est hic. Why seek you the living among the Dead? He is not here, but is risen.

But er'e with Peter and John we enter the Sepulcher, Luke 24.6. 'twill be no uncivill Digression to take notice of the Company we meet with there, that were the first Evangelists of these [Page 110] glad tidings; and those were no lesse then An­gels, v. 4. to no greater then Women, v. 10. Some mention but one, yet St. John expressly telleth us of two Angels. Duo propter testimo­nii sufficientiam. Two for a full and sufficient Testimony by the Jews own Law: Witnesses of all sorts, from Heaven and Earth too: An­gels tell the Women, He is not here, but, &c. An­gels, I, they were alwayes ready attendants on our Saviour. Et congruum fuit, ut Rex Coelo­rum Satellitium haberet Angelorum. Most fit it was, that the King of Heaven should al­wayes have such a Guard, such a Retinue: and had so, at his Conception, Luke 1. an Arch-An­gell: at his Birth, Luke 2. a Multitude of the Heavenly Hoast: In his Temptation, Mark 1. in his Agony, Luke 22. Angels ministred unto Him. At his Apprehension, (had he so pleased) could have easily prayed down more then twelve Legions, (i.) innumerable company of Angels, (had he meant to countenance Religion propa­gated by the Sword) and to come home here to his Resurrection. (And so likewise afterward to his Ascention) miraculously proclaimed by Angels. And if These to the Creature, be ap­pointed [...]. How much more ought they to be alwayes Ministring spirits to their Maker, Heb. 1.14. Pennati proceres in­duti vestibus albis, Matribus hi Christum jam surrexisse reportant. These winged Mercuries of Heaven, here tell the seeking women to their joy and astonishment, He is not here, but is risen. To women then Christ first was mani­fested, to three women, and to them doubly, by [Page 111] the voyce of Angels, and his own First appea­rance, John 20. Three pious women Mary Magdalen, Joanna, and Mary mother of James, v. 12. who to the glory of their Sex) were led by their Devotion, as the three wise Men by the Star, unto their Saviour; for they were seeking Christ, Mark 28.5. 'Tis not here worth while to dispute, whether or no Christ first appeared to his Mother as some con­tend) since the Evangelists mention not his appearing unto her at all; but sure we are, 'twas to her Sex, I, and to her Name also, Mark 16. Mary Magdalen. Apostolorum A­postola. (as Cajetan calleth her) she was the first preacher of the Resurrection, the Apostoless of the Apostles: and various are the reasons of this Condescention. I passe the phansie of some Misogynists (as too light) that it was because they are the more garrulous, the more divul­ging Sex, to spread a rumour, sticking too ri­gidly on the 10. and 11. verses. This might hold, in secular affairs perhaps, but here too contrary to Christs humble modesty.— Ne­mini dixeris, still prefaced to all those Acts ten­ding to his honour, See thou tell no man: more probable is that of Ludolphus In Lenim en doloris. On Christs part, as an Antidote and Cordiall to their Deeper sorrows. First, he ap­peared to them, lest by his longer absence, their griefs should prove too strong a Passion, for those weaker vessels: Woman, why weepest thou? v. 15. To asswage their sorrow, and comfort them. Then at other side (saith Beda) Quae [Page 112] prima ad culpam, prima ad veniam. Woman that first made hast to sinne, now come first to Pardon; She that first broke her Faith in Paradice, Bedas Reasons in Locum. first recovereth it at the Sepul­cher: Contendit de morte rapere vitam, quae prius de vitâ rapuit mortem: That Sex (saith he) which first snatcht Death (as it were) out of Life; here contends as much to fetch Life even out of Death. Aemulemur saltem Foeminas. Though that Angelicall Atten­dance on our Saviour, passe our dull Earths Imitation. (I, our Souls, and their most active Graces) Yet let us (at least) aemulate these Womens piety. Men for shame, lest that feebler Sex prove the strongest in Devotion, and Ver­tue appear so farre of the Foeminine Gender, as not derived à viro.

Again, let Women imitate them, lest (with the Foolish Virgins) they Eclips the Glo­ry of their vertuous kind, and honour their Sex onely with that worst of Arguments,— Corruptio optimae, est pessima. The corrup­tion of the best proves the worst. Those that will accompany them, must note, how they came Early, and not Empty: Early—Nec ubi mox abiit, nec tamen orta dies. In the Dawning (saith Saint John, while it was yet dark. John 20.1. No deferring holy Duties, Poeniten­tia sera, raro seria: Especially delay not Pe­nitence: Christ himself must he sought Early, in the Day of Life, (Age and Sicknesse, being Dies mortis, days of Death) in the morning of this day, (i.e.) in times of strength and [Page 113] health. Early in this Morning, (i.e.) in the prime of youth, with Samuel and Timothy; nay, in the very Dawning, (i.e.) in the time of tender innocency (as Saint Jerom of Eu­stochium.) Materno lacte. That she sucked in Piety with her Mothers milk, loving to hear Children— Balbutire Christum. Epist. ad Eu­siock. Chant­ing Hosanna's er'e they wel could speak: None ever came too soon to CHRIST, or can make too much hast to Heaven. Many E­sau's with too late Teares, to gain a Bles­sing. And as early, so these came not emp­ty; reflecting upon that Nemo vacuus, Exod. 23.15. Ex­od. 23.15. None shall appeare before me emp­ty (saith the giver of all things) And minde it, you cheap Auditors and Readers. Quae­libet Aromata & Ʋnguenta. Each here brought her Oyntments and sweet Odours. And such must be our addresses.— Odore virtu­tum, & suavitate Orationum. With flow­ers of Vertue, and Fragrancies of Prayer. Revel. 8. With the pretious Unguents of Alms and Hospitality. Rev. 8. Psalm. 141. All which indeed are like Mary Magdalens effused Oyntment, Matth. 26. And to close this with St. Ber­nards sweeter Allegory. Tres mulieres sunt, Mens, Lingua, Manus. The three good Wo­men (here) bringing pretious Oyntments, and sweet Odours, must be (saith he) the Mind, the Tongue, the Hand. Serm. in Loc. Those of the Mind are Zeal, Compassion, Patience. Those of the Tongue are Prayers and good Exhorta­tions. Those of the Hand are Charity and [Page 114] Distributions. Thus having saluted the Com­pany, Observe next the Person, and his Mo­tion: He, John 1.1. is not here, but is risen: He, a word of the Person: He that was the Word, John 1. He that was born among Beasts, lived among Publicans, and died among Thieves! He whom they attached, bound, reviled! He whom they buffeted, scourged, thorned! He whom they nailed, pierced crucified! whose Sepulcher they stoned, sealed, watched! and that with the Garrison appointed to guard the Temple (saith Josephus) yet He (so little the Plots of the impious prevaile against the Righteous) He who sitteth in Heaven, so laugheth them to scorn, and Catastropeth all their wits into Dirisions, The Person He. that— Ipsissimus. He, the very selfe-same Christ awakeneth his Di­vinity, which seemed before to sleep, and at once conquereth those Fatall Enemies, Sin, Death, and Hell! even to a sensible Demon­stration, Luke 24. Videte & palpate. Handle me and see me. Luke 24.35. When the Priests and Scribes, those grand Councellors at Law, expected from the Grave an Habeas Corpus, the Bo­dy which they gave it, they receive from Angels, a non est inventus; He is not here, but is risen. Hence then our Faith and Hope are quickened, sufficiently both confirmed and fortified.

Now, what though Afflictions and Diseases torture, and even crucifie our Body? What though our burdenous Tombstone stop up the mouth of our Grave, and forbid Re-entry into [Page 115] the world? what though the inviolable course of Nature seal up our Sepulcher, for Time ner'e to open? what though Corruption set worms and other noysom creatures as 'twere) to watch our carcasses? yet shall they (maugre all these the very same (I say) shall one day likewise find themselves redintegrated, by this powerfull Resurrection, we shall not be stoln away, either by Mortality or Time; then feare no more to trust thy Body, then the Sower doth his Grain unto the Earth: The Grave must come to Restitution, and give ac­count of each Dust, and Atome committed to her trust and not so much as an hair of our head shall perish, Luke 21. Luke 21.18. While the head is above water, no fear of drowning: Mirum esset si caput per unum, corpus per aliud intraret. 'Twere strange indeed, that the Head should enter Heaven at one door, and the Body at a­nother! Socinus therefore was but sottish, to deny the consequent of ours, from Christs Re­surrection: Decet quemadmodum praecessit caput, Bernard. Serm. in Resurrect. sequantur membra. It is but naturall proporti­on, that as the Head is gone before; we, all the other members, should follow after.

Thus, being acquainted with the Person, observe next his Motion. His progressive or Egressive motion. Wherein are also those two poynts of locall motion. Terminus à quo. He is not here; and Terminus ad quem, He is risen. The first is, whence he rose, and that was, à statu mortuorum, not from any Poe­ticall Limbus, but from the state of the [Page 116] Dead. à Sepulchro. From the Grave: From triumphing over Hell it selfe, as Davids [...] And the Septuagints [...] ( pro [...]) will bear it all. Psal. 116.10. He is not here: Where our Meditations have overtaken the Disciples, and are entring the Sepulcher; where we find nothing but the Linnen left, and Watchmen stupified: But that Agnus occisus jam Leo vincens. That Lamb which was slain, Terminus à Quo. is now the Triumphing Lion of the Tribe of Judah: too holy an One to see corruption: He is not here in Earth, or earthly Elements, that is every where ac­cording to his Deity, and Spirituall In­fluences: Accedas Saducaee, & Sepulchrum inspice. Come hither then Atheisticall Sa­duce, and let thine Eye tutor thine Infidell Heart to a belief of the Resurrection. Mark but the method of the Linnen; Bern. in Fest. Lineamina posita, & bene disposita: That not onely remaining, but keeping the severall postures of the parts that wore it, And would a Thiefe have left it (thinkest thou?) or left it so distinguished? Or if the World had had a Thiefe so Honest: Quam opportu­nitatem habuisset? What time could he have had of stripping off those cleaving Sear-Clothes, and bearing forth the Body, so many Souldiers, so many Watchmen pre­sent? No, no, 'twas that same Power one­ly which loosned formerly Saint Peters Fet­ters, made this Winding sheet fall off: the Deity it selfe so kept this Citie, that the [Page 117] Watchmen watched but in vain! In vain in­deed; for the sight of an Angell countenanced like lightning, so terrified and amazed them, that as though they had been struck with Lightning, they became [...]. Matth. 28.4. Even as dead men! Fitter to be buried in the Sepul­cher, then to watch it! So that the envious Sanedrim endeavour to revive them with mo­ney (that usuall Aqua vitae of ill fainting Causes) hiring the Souldiers to say, That His Disciples came by night and stole him a­way, The Jewes strong delusion to this day. O stulta insania dormientes testes adhibent. Rhemigius in locum. A­las fond dream of sleeping Watchmen! (saith Rhemigius) if they slept, how could they perceive the Theft? If not perceiv'd, how could they witnesse it? Not taken a­way, and therefore risen, [...]. For He is not here. And this is the strangest Epi­taph that er'e was read on Sepulcher! Non est hic. Turn over all the leaves of Story and Antiquity, become Companions of the Sunne, (like Drake and Cavendish) tra­vell the whole Circle of the Earth, view all the Monuments, Pyramids and Tombs of Mortals, and you shall still meet with there, a Trophae of Deaths Conquest, a Stone in­graven with an Hic jacet: Here lieth such, Christs Epi­taph. or such an one. Here he lieth, be he a Ne­buchadnezzar, a Nimrod, or Baltshassar! Here the bright Hellen, and great Alexan­der! Here the wise Cato, and learned Ari­stotle! or what ever other Grandees of the [Page 118] world. Here lie their Bodies; bound in Fet­ters of Corruption! chambred up in Dust! prisoners to the Grave, and Captives un­to Death! Hic jacet! But in an holy Pil­grimage, come we to our Saviours Sepul­cher, and to our equall joy and wonder, we meet with Ensignes of Death's over­throw, the stone removed from off his Grave, and there an Angel penning this his Epitaph! No, his [...], and Song of victory, Non est hic, He is not Here. Hee who is Life it selfe, could not be detained of Death, [...], (saith the Apostle) 'Twas impossible he should be holden of it. But like his Type Samson, Ruptis Laethi vincu­lis, He breaketh the bonds of Death, and casteth his Cords from him; Nor from him­selfe alone, but from his Servants also, 1 Corinth. 15. 1 Cor 15.15. Where you may see one of them out-braving Death and Hell: Where is thy sting? where thy victory? To which S. Ber­nard sweetly alluding, Ʋbi opprobria Judaee? Ʋbi fabulae? Ʋbi vasa Captivitatis? Where now, thou stony Jew, are all thy cruelties? A­las! Where are now the sports, the Reed, and Purple of your injured King; and all those other Instruments of his Captivity? Ʋbi mors victoria tua? Bern. in Fest. Nay Death it selfe, Where's now thy conquest? Then alluding to the Answer, as well as to the Question. Confusus Calumniator, raptor spoliatus; The Mocker is mocked. He that sitteth in Hea­ven, hath laughed them to scorn, and Death [Page 119] is swallowed up in Victory by CHRISTS glorious Resurrection. Non est hic. He is not here. Mark (Christian Reader) Christus non quaerendus in Terrenis. CHRIST is not to be sought for in these earthly Transito­ries. I am sure, not to be found there: Not in the Avaritious man his Coffer: Achan found a Non est hic, in the Golden Wedge, He is not here! Not on the Ambitious Pinacle; Haman found a Non est hic. Hest. 4. In the Chair of the scorner; He is not here! Not in the vo­luptuous mans bed, Cant. 6. The Spouse her selfe found a Non est hic. In Ease, Idlenesse, or worse, He is not here. And therefore [...]. Set your Affections on things that are above, and not, Coloss. 3.1.2. &c. Coloss. 3.1. and that leadeth to the Terminus ad Quem. The point to which Christ rose, ad vitam, unto life and glory.

And here is a comfortable sight to wipe sad eyes: Ecce Joseph de carcere, Samson de Civitate, Daniel de specu: Jonas è Coeto. Here is the Sunne that was ecclipsed, cometh forth like a Bridegroom: That Eagles age re­newed, by casting of his Bill: The good grain sowed, and quickned by dying: The destroy­ed Temple the third day repaired: Here is the substance of all those shadowes, Surrexit, CHRIST is risen from the Dead; and yet no Article of our Faith so much opposed; Satan knows well, that shaking the Foundation will hazard all the Building! Math. 28.14 But all his poy­sons are strongly Antidoted severall wayes, [Page 120] (besides the mentioned prefigurations) First, by praedictions, Psal. 72.15. Ezek. 37. Psalm 72. He shall live, &c: Ezek. 37. in the vision of the Dry bones. And the Evangelist applieth that of Jonah unto Christ, Matth. 12. Secondly, by the A­postles Declarations, Acts 1.3. chap. 2. 24. chap. 13. 34. But thirdly, and convincingly, by his own frequent appearance (five times on the day of his Resurrection) 1 Corinth. 15. from verse 4. &c. and that an eminent Jews testimony might confirm Christianity, 1 Cor. 15.4. heare what Josephus saith of him, [...]. There was at that time (saith he) a certain wise man, Joseph. Antiq. lib. 18. c. 4. if it be lawfull to call him a man: for he was the performer of divers ad­mirable workes, and the Instructor of those that willingly entertain the Truth; and he drew unto unto him divers Jewes and Greekes his Followers. This was Christ (saith he) who being accused by the Princes of our Nation, Josephus his testimony concerning Christ. and condemned to the Cross by Pilate; appeared to his Disciples alive the third day after, according as the Divine Pro­phets had before testified the same, &c.

What can be more manifest? Why should Philosophizing Flesh and Bloud so stick at this? Idem numero corruptum ne­quit reproduci. That the selfe-same thing corrupted, can never possibly bee re-inty­red: [...]. Is any thing impossi­ble unto Omnipotence? Nay, when as (to say nothing of the Phoenix) we know some da­ring Chymists have reduced Flowers at least, [Page 121] to shape and colour, after they had been consumed unto ashes; How much more ea­sie can the Almighty (think you) recall both Flesh and Sinews, till dry bones live a­gain, Ezek. 37. Till they friendly jog each o­ther, Ezek. 37. as 'twere asking, Livest thou Brother? Sure it is as easie to Reduce as to Create. Author tollit dubitationem; me thinks the ve­ry Author then should take away all haesita­tion, in that Christ is risen; and that Christ is God, and that same God Almighty.

For those Praecursores, those Harbin­gers of CHRIST'S Resurrection, (as Saint Bernard calleth those revived by the Pro­phets) they were rather to bee stiled Rai­sings then Risings, 1 King. 21. 2 King. 13.21. Suscitations more then Resurrections, as appeares by their Discri­minations: First, Surrexerunt illi moritu­ri. They rose shortly to dye again, and so will one day need another Resurrection! But CHRIST being risen, dieth no more, (saith the Apostle) and in that he liveth, he liveth unto God, Rom. 6.

Again, Illi virtute aliena. Those were rai­sed by the power of another, nay, indeed, Former resur­rections how differing from Christs. of CHRIST, who lent that power; but CHRIST here, Virtute propriâ, by his own power, by his owne Arme, by his own Right Hand hath hee gotten himselfe this victory. He whose mercy hrd former­ly bestowed many miracles on others, his power now worketh one upon himselfe: He who by his Word [...] raised Jairus [Page 122] daughter, Mark 1. who by his Touch re­vived the Widowes sonne, Luke 17. Luke 7. Who by his Prayer, restored unto life putrified Laza­rus, John 11. John 11. Sure, with as much ease could his inhabitant Divinity re-animate his owne Body to a Resurrection: and therefore in Saint Luke 'tis not [...], He is raised, but [...], He is risen, and actively translated, not suscitatus. but surrexit.

The Time too of his Resurrection, is Time well spent to contemplate; and that was the first day of the Week, and the third of his Passion, at once fulfilling the Prophe­sie, and translating the Sabbath. Ideo post tres dies (saith Austine) Therefore after three dayes Christ rose, Lib. 4. de Trin. to intimate and manifest the Ascent of the whole Trinity, in the passi­on of the Sonne: On the third (saith Ber­nard) that Himselfe and Prophets might be found faithfull, who foretold it, Hosea 2. Matth. 27.63. Intra triduum, within three dayes indeed; for we know he slept not in the grave above two Nights, and one whole Day, some 40. houres; and then knitting the end of the first, to the beginning of the last, ha­stened, lest tedious sorrow should too much wrack the minds, and faith of his Disciples. And here the Mathematitians help out wel, to make good that same Type of Jonah (of three dayes and three nights, which taken as gene­rally as his death, that is, all parts of the World considered, and then his buriall cometh up full to that of Jonah, yet but three dayes at [Page 123] most, to teach us, not to bury our desires in the earth, to become Eagles and not Moles, to spend but two or three dayes, that is, but some small time and industry to gain a compe­tency. For Quatriduani faetant. (Think of that) those worldly Lazar-souls that lye foure dayes interred (that is) all the foure quarters of their lives, groveling for transitories, stink in the nostrils of the Almighty. O happy those when Christ with an offended eye, beholds these earthly vanities, of whose soule he may say, as this Text doth of him, Luke 24.6. Surrexit, non est hic. It is not here, but is risen. And then more and more still rise it shal, till the Scale of Grace, lodge them among the stars of Glory.

And this Resurrection of our Saviour (saith Bernard on this Argument) was not Reditus, sed Transitus, Bern. in Fest. not any Regress into his former state again, but a kind of Transmigration into a better: Non rediit in nostram mortalitatem, sed in sublimius ali­quid transiit. CHRIST returned not (saith he) into our mortality, and the mi­series of this present life again, but Rose in­to some higher degrees of perfection, even to a glorified condition: Yet not as the Eu­tychian Hereticks phantasied: The Heresie of Entychus confuted. Humana Na­tura in Divinam conversa: As though CHRISTS Humane Nature by his Re­surrection, had been changed into the Di­vine; sed servatis essentialibus, but reser­ving still the Essentiall properties of an [Page 124] humane Body: it was visible, palpable, and cir­cumscribed, Luke 24.39. Luke 24. Quàlitas transiit, Na­tura non defecit. The body was adorned with refined qualities, but not devested of its for­mer Nature. His corruptible, here, put on in­corruption, The Conditi­on of glorified bodies. his mortall immortality: Totus sur­rexit gloriosus. He is risen altogether a Body glorified. Whose eminencies the Schoolmen are very busie with, (I confesse) and write more of, then even Saint Paul himselfe durst that had bin in the third Heaven: I shall men­tion onely the most probable. Claritas, agili­tas, subtilitas, impossibilitas. The first Bright­nesse and Angelick Beauty which was prefigu­red by shining Moses, Exod. 34. and acknowledged in Christ, (by S. Jerom) Stellatum splendorem. Even a starry luster. And if in his Transfiguration his face did shine as the Sun, and his very ray­ment as the light, Mat. 17.3. Matth. 17. How bright (think you) how much more radiant was his Resurrection? Nay, if (as himselfe telleth us) The just shall shine like the Sun, Chap. 83.43. &c. Matth. 13. with what resplendent Rayes (think you) a­rose this Sunne of Righteousnesse, this Sun of Glory himself? whereof all other lights what­soever are but beams? Agility. Answerable to this, the second is Agility and lightsomness of motion, such a supernaturall Activity of Body, as (if we may beleeve the Schools) giveth it an equal facility of either motion, of Ascending or De­scending; such an imperceptible quicknesse as made Christ sometime seem invisible; when he pleased to passe through, or to appear in the midst of the company, John 20.26. John 20.

But for that which they term subtillity, cui aliud non resistit, as to which (they say) materi­all things make no Resistance; that seemeth so destructive to the properties of a naturall body, that I passe it as a meer subtilty indeed, Subtilty. but ushering the way to a double Heresie, both in Philosophy, and Religion; viz. penetration of bodies, and transubstantion. The last con­dition of a body Glorified, is Impassibilitas, that is, an incapacity of any further sufferings, Aquinas in lo­cum. or indigence of Natures sustenance after the Resurrection, mans body shall not need the staffe of Bread to walk with, nor any other Antidotes of humane frailty: but did not Christ, after his Arise, Eat? Luke 24. yes, but non in Nutritionem sui, sed discipulorum Fi­dei; that was not to nourish himself, but his Disciples Faith, non ex Egestate sed ex potestate, not out of want, but power; it not turning to Aliment, but like drops of water sprinkled on fire, evaporated, vanished: such bodies Hun­ger no more, and thirst no more. Rev. 21. Rev. 21. nei­ther They need Sun or sheild, for the Lamb to them is all in all. These are some of the Tran­scendencies of a glorious body; and to satisfie some other scruples of flesh and bloud, How arise the dead, and with what bodies shall they come? whether of the same Age? Sex? forme? or deformity they died in? (though these are rather Niceties, then ne­cessaries) yet know it shall bee of the whole Compositum, the whole person; (like Christ here) both parts Re-united: both have shared here in Good or Evill [Page 130] so shall they in the Retribution: And for De­formity, Tertullian telleth us, All imperfecti­ons shall be done away, Tertul. Rev. 21 from Rev. 21. There shal then be no more sorrow, no more death; and the lamenesse or deformity of any part is the grief (as 'twere) and death thereof. So that if death shall then be totally expelled, then by fair consequence, from each particular mem­ber. To this, some add that of S. Peter, Act. 3. [...], Act. 3.21. till the Times of Restitution, (i.e.) according to the perfection of Adam in his Innocence: whereupon Saint Augustine saith of monsters, that all defects shall be amended in that second moulding of the great Artificer: Usual scruples answered. And for the scars and wounds of Martyrs, that those shall make more for their glory, and then be in their bo­dies, like stars in the Firmament, the brighter parts of all about them; there & then so much more glorious, as they here have been more dolorous: Non sic impiis; but as for the wic­ked, 'tis not so with them, they shall arise with all their blemishes, with all their imperfections whatsoever! whatsoever may conduce to the improvement of their shame, and punishment!

For the Sex, Tertullian again biddeth us re­member, that the same bodies we lay down, we shall take up, Mat. 22.8. from that Matth. 22. where Christ answers the Pharisees, not that there should be no women, but no wives at the Resur­rection, no marrying, or giving in marriage, but [...], as the Angels: natural relations cease there, Sexes do not. Lastly, for the Age that all shall rise in: St. Augustin, and from [Page 131] him the whole Cry of the Schools, proportion it unto the age of Christ, that is, as about 33 yeers, asserting it from S. Paul's oracle, Eph. 4.13. Eph. 4. and likewise, from that forementioned Reducti­on, Acts 3. that so, as in Adam all die, so by Christ (say they) even for the same age also, shall all be made alive. Yet S. John telleth us of a great multitude, he saw before the throne, both of small and great (whether for stature, or degrees of glory, is not manifest) and there­fore these things I intrude not into the Articles of any ones Beleef, but only present them mo­destly, as Scholastick probabilities; fully con­tented (for mine own part) gratefully to read, That Christ will change our vile bodies, 1 Cor. 19. and make them like unto His, &c.

And therefore, to turn Searches into Exhor­tations, Let us [...], not [...], be wise unto sobriety, and possess our vessels in holiness, as those that are (you see) and shall be the Temples of the holy Ghost: Each one therefore now rowse up his sluggish soul; Surge, mea a­nima, surrexit Christus: Awake, arise, O my slumbring soul, for thy Saviour is already up: Stand up from the dead; for sin is the grave of the soul, and that dead in trespasses and sins! buryed in the customs of it! yet Christ shall give thee life, Ephes. 2. Yea, Eph. 2.1. he lendeth the same hand unto us, as unto Lazarus, reviving, raising, sweetning of us, with his fragrant gra­ces. And this may be our confidence of the second Resurrection, if we give but all diligence to be partakers of the first, that is, from sin; then no fear of the second death. Rev. 20.6. Beleeve Christs [Page 132] reason of it, Joh 6.54. John 6. Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud, hath eternall life, and I will raise him up at the last day. This is the true Nectar and Ambrosia (the Poets did but feign such Fare for their Gods) [...], to use Homers phrase, the immortall bloud, the true Nepenthe, that shall make us forget worldly sorrows; that will Renew our Age better then an Aesons Bath: this the heavenly Manna, the Living, the life-giving bread: so that the Schools in Generall, and many of the Fathers where opinioned (from this John 6.) that there is a kind of divine seed, infused by the Eucharist, not only into the souls, but into the bodies also of faithfull Receivers; whose [...], or vivifying Quality inclineth, and as 'twere, fitteth them to a Reviviction: non Disputo sed Credo, ut Cre­do Edo; how far the words may bear it, I dis­pute not, but believe him that said it, John. 6.54. whosoever eateth my flesh, and drinketh my bloud, hath eternall life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

Ʋpon Ascension Day, or Holy Thursday.
DISQUISITION 14.

WEe may well say of this Feast, as the Jews of that same Sabbath, John 19. John 19.31. [...], That this is an High Day; dies Solennis, a day of Joy to all Generations, both in respect of Christ our Lord, and of all true Christian people: as being the first day of Christs Ascension in the flesh (for his Deity cannot be said either to ascend, or descend;) this being the first day of his sitting in joy and glory, rest and triumph, The Proem. at the right hand of God. And as to our selves; This the first day (as it were) of our right to Heaven, the first day that our Nature entred there, whence we have both a Priviledg and an Assurance to fol­low; as this day the sentence of our corrupti­on was changed; and in stead of that curse in the beginning, Earth thou art, &c. it was now said unto our Nature, Ascend to Heaven, and (which never was to Angels) Sit thou at my right hand, &c. Heb. 1. Sure, Heb. 1.13. an inestimable happinesse was Christs personall Society, his bodily Presence while he lived on earth, could the hardened Jews have seen, or seeing, have perceived it; but Light came into the world, [Page 136] and darknesse comprehended it not. They like the brutish Gadarens, had rather have their swine, then this pearle; while the devout Saint Augustine, made it, you know, the chie­fest of his chiefe desires, Romam in Flo­re, Paulum in Cathredra, Christam in Carne. S. August. 3 chief desires. To have seen widowed Roome in her Virgin Foelicity; to have heard that Divine Oracle, Saint Paul, out of the Pulpit: but above all, to have embra­ced his Redeemer in the flesh; And could then have sung his Swann like Anthem; the Nunc dimittis, as cheerfully as old Sime­on; could willingly have closed his eyes with that blest object. How full of joy, needs must his presence be on earth? in whose presence is fulnesse of joy in heaven? I, and who still carryed Heaven along with him?

And so fill'd with this joy of his presence, were his Apostles (he having oft miraculous­ly sed them by Land, saved them by Sea, instructed them both by Sea and Land) that they could not with patience, endure once to think of his abscence; or hear of his Departure: and therefore one of them to enjoy him longer, disswadeth him from his sufferings, Mat. 16. (though he be called Satan for his labour) the rest in a sad copart­nership of sorrow, lament the death and losse of him. Mat. 16.22. All his other actions were desidera­bilia, but this parting as another death! here their affections cry out with the Pilgrims of [Page 137] Emmaus, Mane nobiscum Domine we have now most need of thee. Advesperascit, For now the dark evening draweth on, &c. All of them at his Final valediction, his telling them of his Ascending to Glory, seem impati­ently unwilling to stay behind him. John. 13.37. John 13. verse 17. Why cannot I follow thee now (saith Saint Peter.) He hath done with his Bonum est esse hic: now he thinks nothing worse, then to bee here, his Ma­ster gone [...] How can wee know the way? saith Saint Thomas, John 14. verse 5. how indeed, Thou gone, who art the way? Then saith Saint Philip unto him, Lord shew us the Father, verse. 8. heareing Christ speake of going to Him: Thus all of them in an united Longing, desire either to detaine him, or accompany him! and sweetly Saint BERNARD, In 2 Serm. in Ascens. Sym­pathizeth with them; Quantus dolor ir­rupit Apostolica Pectora, dum eum propter quem omnia Reliquerant, à se tolli vide­runt! what heart-breaking Grief, alas! seazed on the Apostles, when hee for whom they had left all, was now lea­ving them! Oh, how could the chil­dren of the Bride-Chamber chuse but mourne, when the Bride-groome was to bee taken from them, Mat. 9.15 Matthew 9. verse 15. And if so irkesome bee thy cor­porall absence! Oh CHRIST, Let us never know how unsufferable is thy Spirituall, thine eternall se­paration! [Page 138] but since for his corporall Absence there is an Oportet, Act. 3.21. Acts 3. for the heavens must contain him till &c. and an Expedit, John 16.7. Joh. 16. that it was expedient he go to the Father, for else the Comforter would not come; see how like a tender Parent, he goes about to wean their affections, & 14.1, 2. &c. John 14. Little children (saith he, admonishing them to be such, in the best sense) yet a little while, and I am with you, (our longest abode here is no better, Job 14.2.) but let not your heart be troubled: Cur turba­retur cor, cum tantùm deserit oculos? What need your heart be troubled, when he onely leaveth your eyes, and not at all your heart? Therein I am with you to the end, and therefore be not troubled, either to think what shall become of you hereafter; For I go to prepare a place for you, ver. 2. For there was never any place for humane flesh, til he carried it thither. Nor fear your selves left desolate in present, for you shall not lose, but change your com­fort, &c. Orabo Patrem, that is his Office, In­tercession; I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, you shall rather have two, then lose any one: I pass my word, whose word shall never pass, John 14.18. Non relinquam, I will not leave you comfortlesse, John 14.18. to which S. Augustine sweetly alludeth, Euarg. in Psal. 46. Videte ascendentem, Credite absentem, Sperate venien­tem; sed tamen per misericordiam occultam, etiam sentite praesentem: Behold him now a­scending, beleeve in him being absent, expect his second coming, and yet by his inward mer­cies, apprehend him present with you. 'Tis [Page 139] handsomly observed by some learned August. 157. Serm. de Temp. Greg. in Hom. in Ezech. 1. &c. Au­thors, that those four Beasts, ( Ezek. 1. and A­poc. 4.) mystically represent the four chief A­ctions of Christ, in his work of our Redemption, the first with the face of a man, pointeth at his Incarnation: the second like a Bullock, deno­teth his Passion: the third like a Lion, speak­eth his Resurrection: the fourth of the Eagle, This of his Ascension, flying above the clouds, and pearching in the highest heavens, at the right hand of God. Though our Saviours first life on earth (for he lived two, you know, before, and after his Resurrection) although his first (I say) was but one crimson thred, a meer debasement, and continued passion! yet was his second as full of Triumph and Exaltation: whereof there were three degrees or sublimati­ons, answerable to those three of his later Hu­miliation: Resurrectio Morti, Ascensio Discen­sui, Sessio ad dextram, permansioni in sepulchro; Christs Exal­tation three­fold. viz. his Resurrection, opposed to his Death; his Ascent into heaven, to his Descent into hell, and his sitting on the right hand of God, to his lying in the Sepulchre: The first step of this exaltation, was his step out of the grave; his Resurrection (as before demonstrated:) the second stair of his Triumphancy, is this which now wee contemplate, his translation from earth to heaven; In Festum. and this (saith Bernard) is Consummatio reliquarum Solennitatum, & foe­lix causula totius Itinerarii Christi, as it were the complement of all other Solemnities, and happy period of Christs whole Journal in the flesh. S. Luke describeth the substance, and [Page 140] circumstances of it, Luke 24.50. &c. Luke 24. Eduxit discipu­los. Christ now about to take his ultimum vale of his disciples, He led them forth the city to Bethania; out of the city, to admonish them, and us, of a Non habemus; that wee have here no continuing city, Heb. 13. but must seeke one to come, Heb. 13. and led them forth only a few witnesses; to shew, He was as private in all those actions tending to his glory, as publick in those pointing out his shame: as his Twin-born poverty is laid open in an Inne, Domus populi: nay, the commonest room, of that same common house, a Stable! his buffetings and derisions in Pilat's open Hall! his crucifixion in the eye of Jerusalem, when that was the very Face of the world. But the glorious attendance on his Birth, that's by night, Luke 2. a multitude of the heavenly Hoast. His radiant Transfiguration hath but three beholders, Peter, James, and John. All his miraculous cures he would have gratified with silence, See thou tell no man. His Re­surrection, at first, manifested but onely to Mary Magdalene; and this his most glori­ous Ascension, but to his Apostles only. He led them forth, and all this to prick the blad­der of vain glory, which so puffeth up the heart of man, especially now a dayes, so much made of, every where so be-plush'd and scar-letted! but you see, Ostentatious ones are Christs Antipedes; who here contenteth his wonderfull preferment, with no more pomp, then His Apostles company; He led them forth: and that for their own sakes too, [Page 141] giving them both a Blessing, and a Charge, The Blessing. & the Charge. Luke 24.50. ver. 50. He lift up his hands, and blessed them; Happy those imployments that are so led on with his Blessing; Rom. 10.15. Jer. 23.21. and so those partings too, that close in mutuall Benedi­ctions. Secondly, There was exite & prae­dicate, Goe ye forth into all Nations, Matth. 10.5. and preach the Gospel: there is a double com­mission for them whom he chooseth, both of Authority, and Ability. This not to be done without warrant, Rom. 10.15. Jer. 23.21. the inward Call is best known by the Talents, and both best made known by the externall Call of lawfull Authority. And here that former Edict was repealed, Matth. 10. Goe not into the way of the Gentiles: that was to be the main way now, to all Na­tions, to every creature, that is, capable thereof, or to the System and the Epitome of all creatures, Man, and to whom they are all subservient; yet this large Commission of the Apostles, is since again contracted into Pro­vinces, Dioces, and parishes; yet too, with some latitude of preaching any where, Acts 1.9. as need or oc­casion shall require. And when he had spo­ken those things, he was taken up, Acts 1. ver. 9. not till then. Observe the God of Or­der, Hee would not leave the World, as it were Forbeares his Glory, untill hee had first established all things in a com­posed setlednesse: it is Christian wisdom, then, the timely ordering of our Affaires, e're Death prevent the care. Achitophell was [Page 142] so far commendable, 2 Sam. 17.23. that He set his house in order before he disordered himself, 2 Sam. 17. It is counsell worthy a Prophet to give, and a King to receive, Set thine house in order, for thou must die, 2 King. 20. thy treble house, of Soul, 2 Kin. 20.1. Body, and Estate: and when he had spo­ken these things, [...], he was taken up: the word intimateth not any outward aid or supportation (a glorified body needing no such advantages as is foreshewed) etsi Angelico co­mitatus obsequio, Bern. in festum. non tamen fulius Auxilio. though Angels bare Him company, they bare not Him; They were his Servitors, not his Por­ters; and (you know) the Apostles saw them in the place of Attendance, below him, far be­hinde him, Act. 1.10. Act. 1.10. Yea, he who of his own Will, laid down his body in the dust, the same by his own Power, raised it up to Heaven: so the Apostle, (using the Active voice like­wise) [...], Eph. 4.10. He that descended, even the same also is he which ascended, Ephes. 4.

And (with the affectionate Disciples) now to look a little at the Circumstances of our as­cending Saviour: The Time (you know) was forty dayes after his Resurrection, Acts 1.3. so long was his second life on earth,— repressis adhuc fulgoris sui radiis; Moses-like, vailing the splendor of his glorious countenance, 40 daies. His body had formerly been acquainted with that number, Mat. 4.2. Matth. 4. having forty dayes mi­raculously abstained all naturall sustenance; and here again, abstaining in some kind, if not somewhat of his celestiall Banquet, yet at least his Banqueting-house of Heaven, 40 dayes. Of [Page 143] all which time, himself can onely give an ac­count. 'Tis not for flesh and bloud to trace the ways of Immortality: Yet sure we are, The time of Christs Ascen­sion. that his stay was not, as some of his Apostles thought, then to restore again the Kingdom to Israel. S. Bernard calleth those, weak thoughts of so well instructed Disciples. What should an hea­venly body do with an earthly Throne? how poor a businesse is the temporall Kingdome of Israel, for the King of all eternity? and me thinks, the fond Millinaries should be cauti­oned by these Misprisions: No, a more accep­table reason why our Saviour did not immedi­ately ascend from Golgotha to Paradise, from his Grave to Heaven, per saltum (which had been all one to his omnipotence) was more fully to convince the diffident world, of the in­fallible evidences of his Resurrection, as also more fully to instruct his Apostles in the my­steries pertaining to the Kingdom of God, Acts 1.3. Acts 1.3. Yet longer then forty dayes he tarried not, saith Augustine, ne videretur terrena me­ditari: least he should seem to affect or me­ditate on earthly things: and thereby (I hope) lendeth our souls wings, to fly along with him to Heaven: yet by the way, take notice of the place of Christs Ascension. And therein of a duplex terminus, the place from whence, and the place whither: the Terminus à quo, St. Luke in his Gospel telleth us, was Bethania, Luk. 34.50. in his book of the Acts, The Mount of Olives. But he will soon be Reconciled to himself; if we take notice that Bethania in latere Montis oli­veti sita, Act. 1.12. that the village Bethany is scitu­ate [Page 144] in the way, and on the side of the Mount of Olives, both neer Jerusalem. This Mount (you know) our Saviour much frequented, so that a Reverend Prelate of our own, calleth it his Pulpit. Bishop Hall. Thence indeed was his Do­ctrine wont to distil like the dew, and his Prayers to ascend as Incense: and this very mount was the place of his Agony! but now the Hill of his Triumph and victory, once he found it planted with Thorns, Cant. 8.14. or worse! but now one of those Mountaines of spices, Cant. 8. how fit was it, the same place which had witnessed his Humanity by suffering there, should likewise testifie his Deity, by his ascending thence; the same place for both, Passionem & Ascensionem Eodem spectare docet, The place of Christs Ascen­sion. demonstrates both his Passion and Ascension tended to the same end, mans salvation. And in that he ascended from Bethania, which signifieth an house of afflicti­on, and obedience; how doth it incite us to that better sacrifice, obedience? and forewarn us, that we must not likewise look to ascend but from the place of sufferings.

Through many Tribulations must we enter in­to that Kingdom, Acts 14.22. Now the Ter­minus ad Quem, Act. 14.22. to which he ascended, was the highest heaven; I, whether else but home to his own habitation? jam cum se Dominum universorum quae sunt in terrâ, mari & inferno probasset! (and saith holy Bernard) having already proved himself Lord of earth, sea, and hell, as the Earth acknowledged him her Lord, [Page 145] when at his voice, She rendred up his Lazarus, and quaked at his passion: the Sea obeyed him, when as it became a glassy pavement to his feet, and his treasury for Tribute. And Hell confessed him Conquerour, when Satan yeilded in the wil­dernesse, and was out-braved by Him. O Hell, where is thy victory! it therefore now remai­ned, that as Lord of Heaven also, He should pass through all the yeilding Regions of the aire, un­to the Glory of the highest Heavens. Old Phi­losophy told us of eight severall Heavens; Aristot. l. de coelo. and new hath since found out three or four Orbes more; but the safest guide, Theology, reduceth all to three, 2 Cor. 12. 2 Cor. 12.2. The first taken for that Element of aire, Gen. 1. and frequently in Scripture, the fowles of Heaven. The 2 ^d. for the whole Frame of the coelestiall Orbes, viz. the Firmament, and Planets, Psal. 19. Coeli e­narrant Gloriam Dei; Every Star is as a Gol­den Tongue materially to speak the praises of their Maker. But the third is Sedes Beatorum, that Glorious Mansion, where are the many Mansions of the Blessed, called by some Coe­lum Empyreum, not as being of any burning nature, but of a Fire-like, lightsome bright­nesse. Saint Paul, who was wrapt thither, cal­leth it the third Heaven, in relation to the for­mer two. Saint Augustine giveth another pro­per Tripartition of Coelum corporale, Saint Austin. Coelum. 3. spiritua­le, & super intellectuale: the Corporal Heaven, (saith he) conteins the Spheres, and whole ma­teriall Fabrick: the Spiritual One is the Habita­cle of Angels, & all blessed Spirits; the Super-intellectual is a Place apart, a Sanctū sancto­rum, solely appropriated to the Deity, and thi­ther, [Page 146] (saith he) Christ ascended as the Apostle meaneth, Eph. 4.30. [...] farr a­bove all heavens, Ephes. 4. into that true Pa­radise, that habitation of light, that light in­accessible, the Kingdom of Heaven. But read we not of others that ascended before Christ? yes, but like those that rose before him, with difference enough. Enoch indeed walked with God, Gen. 5.24. and was taken away, Gen. 5. and Elijah found a Coach-way to Heaven, 2. King. 2. So me dare not think these bodily ascended, 2 King. 2. but as 'tis said of Moses, Deut. 34. that God buried them, no man knowing of their sepulchre unto this day. Others dreaming that they are still alive, reserved in some by part of the world, personally to fight with Antichrist; but suâ fruantur insaniâ, let them have their Phansie to themselves; Greg. the great in locum. while we here, distinguish with Gregory, Homo purus Adjuto­rio indigebat; These, though purest of men, wanted supporters (you see) a Chariot from Heaven, and Angels to draw it: but Christ by his own power, whereby he first made all things, lifted himself now above all things; nay indeed, Causa fuit ejus Ascensio, His Ascension, though later in time, yet in order of Nature before, was the sole efficient of their elevation, as shall be one day of ours. Next for the Instruments of his Ascension: Ps. 104 3. Act. 1.9.11. a cloud (saith the text) received him out of their sight; and not unprophesied, posuit Nubem vehi­culum, Psalm 104. He it was that made the Clouds his Chariots, and rode upon the wings of the wind. I, that cloud was the Canopy of the King of glory, which the blessed Angels car­ried [Page 147] over him, while he was now going to that high Court of Parliament, the Court of the most high, to treat about a Peace 'twixt Heaven and Earth. A cloud received him out of their sight, (we cannot without a just Reprehension, pry with curiosity, where God hath interposed a cloud of secresie,) Act. 1.11. and therefore let not the Piety of our Affections spend it self in vain de­sires of an Earthly Pilgrimage, to see the pre­tended steps of our Ascending Saviour, the Pressures of his Feet still on Mount Olivet; but rather veiw and trace his spirituall footsteps (I am sure) more certain, less expensive, in his sacred Oracles of Scriptures; for thereunto are we called (saith the Apostle) 1 Pet. 2. for Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an exam­ple, 1 Pet. 2.21. that we might follow his steps: though not Passibus aequis, yet Amoris: Ephes. 5. Eph. 5.2. Be ye followers of God &c. and walk in love as Christ hath loved us.

Lastly, the end of his Ascension, was, ut impleret omnia, Ephes. 4.10. that he might ful­fill all things: all things concerning us, all that concerned himself for us, to compleat the work of our Redemption, and to Prepare each of us one of those many Mansions, to open the Kingdom of heaven to all beleevers. The day of Christs Ascen­sion. Pro Nobis facta (saith Saint Bernard) Christ his Ascension, was also for our exaltation, assu­ring us here with a confirmed hope, that our souls shall, whensoever separated, ascend to him, and at length our soul and body both, like his, by his to heaven, John 14.3. And as unto himself, to fulfill Prophesies, Psalm 68. [Page 148] Thou art gone up on high, Ps. 68 18. hast led captivity cap­tive, &c. Also to shew an irrefragable De­monstration of his Godhead, by that exal­ting his Manhood into heaven: to manifest to the whole world (to Heaven, as well as earth) that glorious Majesty of his, which by Di­vine dispensation had so long lay shrowded in the form of a servan, till now by entring [...], God and Man into Heaven, such a new Guest, as the glad Angels never saw there before: and how readily (me thinks) how joyfully did those Dorekeepers of the house of our God, [...]. open unto him? when hee called, Aperite Portas, stand ope yee Gates, bee you lift up yee Everlasting dores, that the King of glory may come in.

And, if some serious devotions have be­leeved, that at Christs Passion, the whole Quire of Angels and Saints were interrupted in their sacred Hymns, and for a season ceased their Singing Haliluiahs! O what in­crease of joys, by Rule of contrariety, may we here imagine, when he returned Tri­umphantly unto his Throne of Glory? David, as though he had heard that Musick of the Spheres, awakeneth his Harp and Lute, bears a part with them, Psalm 47. Psal. 47.5. Deus ascendit cum Jubilatione, God is gone up with a merry noise, and the Lord with the voice of Melody. Gone up, I, to the third and highest steppe of all his exaltation; and that is the Right hand of God. (And but a touch of that, which mor­talls cannot handle) Dextra, Majestratem, [Page 149] Gloriam, Honorem Denotat; Gods Right hand what? the Right hand is a Metaphor, expressing Power, Honour, Glory, Empire and dominion, to all which Christ was here exalted, Ephes. 1.21. Raised from the dead, Ephes. 1.21. set at Gods right hand in Heavenly places, farr above all principalities and powers, might and Dominion, and every name that is named in this world, or that to come. Indeed, his Resurrecti­on and Ascension were but Motus ad hunc Terminum, Onely the motion tending to this perfection: This being, Solium Tri­umphale; his transcendent Throne of Glory, where (Triumphing over sinne, death and Hell) He shall Raigne (saith the Apostle) till He hath put all things un­der him, 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Cor. 15. And where­as the other two, Resurrection and Ascensi­on, shall be in some manner common to us with Christ (thorough his infinite good­nesse) one day to Arise, and ascend to Glory: but to Sit at the right hand of God in his Kingdome of Glory, is too high for the most beloved Disciple, Heb. 1.13. that is onely the Fathers Gift, and the Sonns Prero­gative, not communicable, either to Man or Angell, Hebr. 1.13. There he Sitteth alone, the Posture of State, of Rest of Judge­ment (as one pithily, and sweetly) Qui­escentis, Regnantis, Judicantis est. Well is our Redeemer (after his Passion and Ascension) said to Sit at the Right hand of God (saith he) Quia post Laborem Requiescit, Ardens in lo­cum. post prae­lium Regnat, & postquam Judicatus est Judicat, as keeping his Sabbath [Page 150] of Rest after his six grand His Nativity, Circumcision, Presentation, Baptism, Pas­sion, Resurre­ction, Ascen­sion. Raulin in Fe­stum. Labours: as after Conquest raigning: and after himselfe ad­judged, being the Judg of all things; and what a comfort is it to have a Friend of the Judg, before we come to the Barr? and that is our consolation, if not our own default; Christ is ascended our Best friend, our Brother, our Advocate, and now we have a Mediatour in Heaven. I, till this Peace-maker went up, Sin had set open war 'twixt heaven and earth, Ju­stice with an unbound Arm fetched a more heavy stroke! not only on single persons, but upon whole Cities, Gen. 17. Gen. 7 Gen. 19. nay on the whole sinful world, Gen. 7. then no Moses in the gap, no Jacob there, to wrestle for a blessing! but now (happy day for us) the Angel of the Co­venant is gone up, to hold the hand of the striking God of Abraham: our Aaron is at the high Al­tar to pray for the People, Heb. 9.24. The Sanctum Sanctorum. Hebrews 9.23. Christ our high Priest is entered into the Heaven of Heavens, once for all; to make an Attonement for us: what place then is there now left black Dispaire, but only Hell? Rouse thee, af­flicted soul, and ly no longer in the groanes of Cain! For though the envious man, Satan, be ever pleading against us at the throne of God, yet now is salvation in heaven (saith Saint John) and the power of Christ, which casteth down the accuser of the Brethren, Rev. 12.10. &c. Rev. 12.10. There his Intercession cries louder for us, then our sins against us: Ostendit Patri vulnera, (saith Saint Augustine) He is ever shewing to his angred Father those wounds He suffered for our sins! and so, whatever he be with us, God [Page 151] is in Him appeased. Thus pleadeth he our cause before the eternall Judge: an Advocate, 1 John. 2.1. 1 John 2. If any man sin, &c. Yet for all this presume not, Ransomed Soul, bee not high-minded, but fear: God forbid, sinne should, because grace abounds. Desperation, like Saul, slayeth thousands, but Presumption her ten thou­sands. This were even to crucifie the Son of God afresh, and grieve the Holy Spirit, Eph. 4.30. Ephes. 4.30.

Lastly, Though wee have now one, yet have we but one Mediatour in Heaven: we dare not admit of that Delusion, that there are as many Saviours as good men, (Each one meriting for himselfe, some for others,) and no fewer Intercessours then Saints and Angels; (since Noah, Job, and Daniel shall deliver but their own soules by their righte­ousnesse, Ezech. 14.) Ezeck. 14.14. We dare not so rob God of his Honour, nor derogate from Christ's all-sufficient merits, and intercession; (for all the thinne Distinction of Mediatio Redemp­tionis & Intercessionis.) Away with cobweb shifts, and Aiery phansies, Listen to infalli­bility, 1 Tim. 2. [...]. 1 Tim. 2.5. There is one God, and one Mediatour between God and man, even He that was both, (and none but He,) Jesus Christ: then to close with St. Bernards Counsel, Ascendit Christus, sequamur Fratres, sequamur Agnum quocunque ierit, se­quamur patientem, resurgentem, multo lubentius Asceudentem, &c. Christ is now ascended into Heaven, what do we groveling so on earth? Letus follow, Brethren, let us follow the Lamb whither soever he goeth. Let us follow him suffering, Bernard. in Festum. [Page 152] Arising, much more willingly ascending: exalta­tionem concupiscimus omnes. We all love to be ex­alted, born Corahs all, of an aspiring Nature, yet change but the object, (set Heaven and grace in the place of earthly transitories) and keep your Ambition stil. Si consurrexistis. coascendite, if risen with Christ, Ascend with him. Bor­rowing the wings of the Dove, Scalam de vi­tiis, make a ladder of your Sins, saith Aug. every one of which subdued, is a new stepp toward Heaven.

Whitsunday.
DISQUISITION 15.

THis Day is worthily devoted to the Holy Ghost, the third Person in the Blessed Trinity, by whom all things, times, and persons, that are such, are sanctified and made holy: Epist. 118. ad Januarium. and therefore so devoted over all the world, saith Augustine, in memoriall of that day, Acts 2. wherein the Spirit, after a Wonderful and mysterious manner descended, for the propa­gating, governing, and preserving of Christs ho­ly Catholick Church, unto the end of the world: 'Tis sometime called Pentecost, as being fifty days after our Christian Passeover, ( Deut. 16.) The Jewish Pentecost was a memoriall of the Law, which was an hidden Gospel; [...], from [...]. i. e. Fifty. Acts 2.1. but our Pentecost a memoriall of the Gospel, which is the revealed Law: One delivered in Mount Sinai, th' other in Mount Sion, and somtimes called Whitsunday, from the glorious light of heaven, that was then shed upon the earth; as also from a custome of some Christians: Thence cloathing themselves in white, Cyril. Catech. in to­ken of the joy and solemnity thereof, as Saint Augustine speaks; for whereas Christs Birth, and other times, we keep in Honour of his coming in the flesh; now at Whitsuntide, wee should rejoyce more for his com­ing [Page 156] in the Spirit. Now we have a double joy, Serm. 133. de Evang. (saith he) Quod abeuntem Christum non amisimus, venientem Spiritum possidemus: that we have not lost our Christ departed, but yet enjoy the Spirit approached. I, the Sun of Glory, being now in his height, shines forth on his Apostles in a Light from Heaven: and knowing the worlds charity would soone wax cold, (as he foretold them Matth. 24.) He warmeth them with a show­er of Heavens better fire: and lest great sorrows for his Absence strike them dumb; as ingentes stupent! He sendeth each of them for a Token, an inspired tongue. Christs Promises, O how worthy confidence! that so in each point answered their necessities, as not in any thing left them comfortlesse, John. 14. [...], whereas without him, Joh. 14.15, 16. and his Comforts, what for­lorne Orphanes are the best of men? very Apostles, you see in the Metaphor, here as fatherlesse children, or widdowed mothers! Orphanos. In locum. Hierom rendreth it, Orbos; so Beza. One of the words speaking a neer Allegory to helplesse children. The other to deprived parents! both pregnantly expressing man's destitute condition without Christ; Christs Fa­therly affection towards man: Man, who left a­lone, is the desolatest creature in the world! espe­cially for Spirituals, how unable therein to help himselfe, Rom. 1.19. so much as to a good thought, Rom. 7. When thus the Apostles without Christ, are very Orphanes, as children, Fatherlesse, ex­posed to oppressions, injuries, and delusions! [Page 157] Let Nature boast of nothing, what are the rest of men without him, but even wormes, as it were, and no men! But on the other side, How manifestly, did Christ's Parentall care appear to them! that while present, gathered them as an Hen her chicken, and now absent, set so good a Guardian over them! Earth could not afford a Comforter sufficient, (no alas, her miserable ones!) and therefore Heaven shall; nor is any Angel there thought good enough, to be intrust­ed with so dear a charge, but even God him­selfe, the Holy Ghost, who from the sweet effects of his Illumination and Assistance, is Emphatically stiled [...], of all the world, the Comforter; indeed sometimes he is called [...]; John 14.16. (i. e.) another Comforter; yet not exclusively, but rela­tively; Christ still remaining one. Abiit per id quod Homo est, manet per id quod De­us. 'Tis Saint Augustines; Christ, though ab­sent in body, yet by spirituall protection, Lo, I am with you to the end of the world, Matth. 28. Nay, and so farre even literal­ly, it is made good by Him, Matth. 28.20. being perso­nally for ever with our humane Nature: Lo, I am with you, &c. or else another Com­forter, (saith Calvin both for distinction of Persons, In locum. and difference of Gifts: as it was proper to the Son to pacifie the wrath of God, to ransome us from hell, to purchase life by dying: but peculiar to the Spirit to aply these Benefits; to make us partakers of Christ, and all his saving graces. I, we have [...]: Cor. 12.14. [Page 158] (i. e.) Diversities of gifts by that same Spirit; or as the same Apostle else where calleth it, [...]. (i. e.) the manifold wisdome of God. Spiritus benignus, Spiritus dulcis, Spiritus fortis: So St. Bernard, He is a Spirit of Comfort, as vari­ous as our Misery; a Spirit of Love, to unite the envious; a Spirit of strength, to support the weak; a Spirit of truth, to guide the igno­rant; a Spirit of Consolation, to bind up the Afflicted. Psal. 68.18. So that David's prophesie is fulfilled here, Psal. 68. Ascendisti & Dedisti: Thou art gone up on high, and hast given gifs unto men. I, Thou hast now given all good gifts, by giving them the Giver of all, the Holy Spirit. The gifts bestowed, as upon this day, were of a double considerability: viz. Officia, & Gratiae, Abilities, or Graces: Either gifts of Edification for the Church, which are legi­ble, Eph. 4.11. He gavesome Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Evangelists, and sme Pa­stors and Teachers: Or gifts of Sanctification, for the immediate Benefit of Soules, whose Catalogue you have, Gal. 5.22. The Fruit of the Spirit, is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentlenesse, goodnesse, faith, meeknesse, &c. Psal. 68.18. which St. Paul repeats, Ephes. 4.8. Davids word, received; and the Apostles. Gave; no opposition, butshewing the Heavenly Deriva­tion, &c. But what? John 20.22. Dr. Hammon. in locum. had they not formerly recei­ved the Holy Ghost? Joh. 20. [...], yet some say, This signifies here, not the actu­all giving of the Holy Ghost: for that came not on them, till Acts 2. and they are appointed [Page 159] to abide at Jerusalem, Luke 24.29. til they were endued with power from above; which ther­fore now before his Ascension they had not received; and when the Spirit came, it would lead them into all truth: and as yet it appears by their question, Acts 1.6. Acts 1.6. they were not thus led, but onely the confirming to them his former promise, and by the ceremony of breathing on them, to expresse the [...], The eternall Breath and Spirit of God, seal­ing it, as it were, solemnly unto them; The Holy Ghost, not re­ceived, til now. and preparing and fitting them for the receiving of it. So saith Theophylact, [...]. The words [Receive the Holy Ghost] signifie; Be ye ready to receive him: and a­gain, [...], &c. He breathed on them, not now distributing the perfect gift of the Holy Ghost; for that was to be done at Pentecost, but fitting them for the receiving of it; for though in the next words, [Whose sins, &c.] the Power of the Keys, or Steward­ship of the Church, were actually instated on them, yet not to be exercised by them, til the ho­ly Ghost came down upon them, as Ephes. 4.8. It is first, He gave gifts to men, (at the De­scent of the Spirit) and then gave some to be Apostles, &c. v. 11. yet this preparation of them amounts to what others assert of the Holy Ghost, ver. 11. formerly given, though in remisse de­grees. Per Infusionem non per effusionem: ac­cording to David's begged infusion, not to Joel's effusion, per Insufflationem, non per Imissio­nem [Page 160] (saith Ludolpus) by Christs breathing on, them, accipite Spiritum sanctum, (The pattern of our Churches pious ordination) Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Spiritum ante, hic plenitudi­nem: The Apostles (saith he) had received the Spirit before, but now the fulnesse of it; they receive now not onely it, but Him: not onely the Grace of the Spirit, but the Spirit of Grace himselfe, by a more personall Immis­sion. Priùs Spiritum Fidei, et Intelligentiae: nunc Fervoris et Illuminationis. Before they had a Spirit of Faith, and understanding; now One of zêal, 2 King. 2. and higher Illumination. So that, they had now what Elisha sometimes prayed for, Duplicatum Spiritum, the Spirit doubled on them, 2 King. 2. I, They had alrea­dy Baptismum Fluminis, the watery Baptism of John; but now Flaminis, They receive this of the Holy Ghost, and of fire; here every of their tongues is touched with a Cole from the Hea­venly Altar; and as of old, God showred upon I srael the Food of Angels, Tertullian in Festum. so here he seemeth to bestow on men, the Tongues of Angels: Thus Christ ascending up on high, and leaving of the world, that we might be the better as­sured of his coming again, (saith Tertullian) Took our Pledg, that is, our flesh to Heaven; and also left with us his Pawn, to wit, his Spirit; which is therefore called Arrha, or Arrabo, 2 Cor. 1.22. 2 Cor. 1.22. Who hath given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. And the earnest, you know, is a Relative to the rest of the Recom­pence. The Jews, you know, had three more solemne Feasts, which their Leviticall Law, [Page 161] bound them to observe Deutr. 16.) viz. [...], [...], [...] (i. e.) first, the Passeover, so called and instituted for a Remembrance, Deut. 16. how the destroying Angell smiting the Egyptians, passed over the Hou­ses of the Israelites. 2. The Feast of Ta­bernacles, being an humble Memoriall of their living in Tents, in the wildernesse af­ter their Deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The third, This of Pentecost or the Feast of weeks, in Commemoration of the Law gi­ven in Mount Sinai, fifty dayes after their coming out of Egypt, and therefore named from the number, and celebrated so many dayes after the Passeover. Upon this later Fe­stivall, (which now we solemnize in this later Reflection,) the Chorus Apostolicus, or whole Company of the Apostles, being as­sembled, Acts 2. [...], as in One Place, Acts 2.1. so All with One Accord: (Unity is a Preparative for Sanctity, and holy gifts seldom are bestowed on such as love Divisions) the promised Comforter is performed to Them: given some ten days after Christ's Ascension, (when Re-promised.) God often heareth prayers, which He not answereth presently: ten days after: Ʋt Apostoli or ationibus se aptos Adventui praepararent: that in mean time the Apostles might with prayer, and other pious exercise, prepare for so Divine a Guest, & render themselves fit Temples for the Holy Ghost. Hodiè visibiliter, apparuit Invisibilis, as on this Festi­val, the Invisible himself, appeared visibly: and now, as one observes, all the three Persons [Page 162] of the Sacred Trinity have, (as it were) bodily manifested themselves to man: God the Father to Adam, to Moses, and the Patriarcks: God the Son exhibited himselfe in humane flesh, to, and for all the world; and here the Apo­stles are so unanimously, so devoutly met; as that the Holy Ghost thinks good to be of the Company: where but observe the Act, and the Concomitants; the Person, and his Atten­dants: Ludolphus in locum. Spiritus Sanctus in variis figuris, pro varietate operationum; The Spirit to emblem forth his variety of operations, cometh here accompanied with severall remarkables: and first, a sudden sound from Heaven begin­neth the wonder Sonus hic symbolum, Sonitus Evangelii: and this found was but the Sym­boll of the Apostles Doctrine: whose sound went into all lands, Psalm 19. Psal. 19. I say, the Prea­ching of the Gospel, through the world after this Receipt, was but the eccho of that sound: next, there was Flatus vehemens, a mighty wind; and that was the wind that bloweth where it listeth, à carnali Palea Corda purga­re. A wind that is, and need be mighty, to blow away the chaffe of all Carnality, and teach an holy Impetuousnesse, against the strong holds of Sin: Then after these two Ushers, cometh the Spirit himselfe, in cloven Tongues like Fire: Three grand Questions. where I resolve all into these three Queries, Why the Holy Ghost here pleased to descend in Fire? why in tongues? why in cloven tongues?