THE Argument of my Text is the voice of a Cri­er, proclaiming the Messias; the oiez fits Iohn well. For the Fathers call Ecce, Praeconem Dei, Gods Cryer, and this is Iohn the Baptist, whom the Prophet cals a Cryer. Onely where the use of Cryers among men, is to make a triple oiez, Iohn makes his but twise. It is againe, ver. 36. For the eye is quicker, then the eare; one iteration may suffice that sense. And indeed this is not an oiez, but a voiez, the Cry is to the eye, Ecce, Be­hold.

The Prophets cryed Ecce as well as Iohn. So did Esai, Behold a Vir­gin shall conceive. So did Zacharia, Ecce Rex tuus venit, Behold thy King commeth. But their Cry was but [...], their cry was to the eye, but to the eye of Faith. But Iohn the Baptist, whom our Saviour calleth more then a Prophet, his Ecce is [...], not to the eye of Faith, but to the eye of flesh. Iohn that was Christs Harbenger, is his Herauld now, not to runne before him, as his [...], but to cry before him; to proclaime him to the people. That he doth here, but not in Procla­mation stile; few words, but of force; but five in all; but like Christs five Barley loves, able to feed thousands; like Davids five smooth stones, able to fell Giants, even Sathan, the great Goliah of Hell.

Doth the Oiez of a Cryer excite the eares of men; and the Ecce of a Prophet stirres it not the eyes of men? Doe we not hearken, when [Page 2] the one cryes heare; and will we not looke, when the other cries, loe. As therefore Esay, when God bad him Cry, askt, what shall I cry; so the Baptist in my Text crying Ecce, Behold, let us answer, what shall we behold? The cry containes five wordes; let us (if you please) be­hold 1 five things, for every word one. The first, the Object, it is a 2 Lambe; Behold the Lambe. The next the Owner, it is Gods Lambe; 3 Behold the Lambe of God. The third, his act or office, it is to beare, 4 for so Saint Peter consters it. The fourth, the burthen, it is sinne. 5 The last, the bulke of the burthen, it is a world of sinne. Behold the Lambe of God, that beares the sinne of the world. These are the things conteined in my Text; I will speake of them severally.

Doth not Saint Iohn the Evangelist call Christ a Lion? Apoc. 5. 5. Why doth Saint Iohn the Baptist call him then a Lambe? The Lion and the Lambe, the Prophet Esay tels us, both shall dwell together in the daies of Christ: but may they both be together in the person of Christ? not onely in one place together, but also in one case toge­ther? Different respects may tie discordant titles unto one Subject. His courage against Sathan, whom he conquered, his patience among men, whom he suffered, declared there was met in one Messias, the stoutnesse of a Lion, and the meekenesse of a Lambe. Saint Bernards distinction so determines it, Agnus in passione, Leo in resurrectione, he rose like a Lion, but he suffered like a Lambe.

Christ askes in the Gospell, Whereunto shall I liken the Kingdome of God? I may much rather aske, whereunto shall I liken the Sonne of God? Iohn Baptist doth liken him here unto a Lambe; the fairest of all men, so David calleth Christ, to the best of all beasts: so Philo cales the Lambe, [...], the best of the brute Creatures. A name, not newly founded, nor onely used by the Baptist. Both Esay before him, the Evangelicall Prophet, and Saint Iohn after him, the pro­pheticall Evangelist, almost in every Chapter of his Revelation, hath called Christ, the Lambe. All three of them doe grace it with a note of demonstration, the Prophet and Evangelist with an article alone, but the Baptist in my Text, with a particle besides, Behold the Lambe; both of them demonstrative; yea which is not easie to parallel in Scrip­ture, article upon article; every word hath one; [...]. Surely we must thinke, where the spirit hath beene pleased to make so many markes, that the matter is remarkeable; wor­thy both the preachers carefull paines, and the peoples heedfull eares, [...], the Lambe. Christ was Agnus singulariter. Aug. tract. 7. in Ioan. col. 62.

You that are learned, I would not with your leave, lose the article. Christ saith, that one iota shall not faile of his word: shall not an I, and shall not an O? It is indeed a little one; but it waites on him, that cals himselfe a great one. I am Alpha and Omega, saith this Lambe in the Apocalypse.

Behold the Lambe; What Lambe? As the name is [...] so the note is [...], it hath relation to the Lambe in the law; the famous Paschall Lambe, the type of the Messias. Looke at that Lambe, and see our Saviour. The blood of that Lambe striken with Hyssope [Page 3] on the doorepostes of their houses, preserved the people from the plague of the destroyer. The bunche of Hysope is the type of faith, which dipped in Christs death, and stricken on our hearts, the houses of our soules, preserves the same from sathan, and all the powers of Hell. And therefore as that Lambe was called the Passeover; so is also Christ. 1 Cor. 5. 7. Saint Paul cals him our Passeover. The Article in this place alludes to this Lambe, [...] the Lambe.

Yet the aime of the Article is not at that Lambe alone. The Law hath other Lambes, some for the daily sacrifice, some for trespasses, and some for peace: but all for one maine purpose, to be reconcilia­tions, and propitiations, and ransoms for sinne; but all in type. The truth, and substance, and body of them all, is hee, whom saint Iohn heere pointeth at. Christ is [...], he is the Lambe. And therefore all those termes, reconciliation, propitiation, ransome, and peace, are all by the Apostles conferred upon Christ. Those Lambes were but signifiers, shaddowes, and resemblances of Christ to come; whom now being come, the Baptist points at in my Text; and his finger is the article, [...], Behold the Lambe.

And why a Lambe? Was not the goate and bullocke among the beasts, and the dove and turtle among the foules, used in the Law to be offered to the Lord, as well as the Lambe? Surely this holy man of God spake as he was guided by the Holy Ghost. That Holy Ghost, which doth all things numero, mensura, pondere, that numbreth, and measureth, and pondereth all things, words as well as workes, hath in precise proportion made choise of the Lambe before the other beastes, as the fittest of them all. Hee that was to yeeld a double obedience, both active to the Law, and passive to the Curse, both by his holy­nesse to merit life for us, and in his lowlinesse to suffer death for us, it be­hoved him to be both innocentissimus, and patientissimus; and so of all brute creatures, likest to the Lambe, the meekest and most harmeles of the beasts. Christ for these two causes, heere is cald a Lambe; a Lambe, both for his Innocency, and his Meeknesse: so harmelesse, that he never hurt others; so meeke that he resisted not any that hurt him.

First for his Innocency, let his Iudge judge that, Iohn 18. Behold I finde no fault at all in him. Surely Pilate was not partiall. Or say hee was, Sathan himselfe, Christs dea [...]liest enemy, who seekes to sift men, Luk. 22. He sought, but could not finde. Iohn 14. Non habet in me quicquam, he could finde no fault in him. [And therefore saint Peter calleth him a Lambe, [...], sine macula, sine momo; not onely without sinne, but without any darer to charge him with sinne. All men have their Momos, their Censurers, be they never so upright; that rather then faile, if they finde no vice, will carpe at vertue. But Christ was without chalenger. Yea the Councell to condemne him, were faine to seeke false witnesses, but could finde none: and though many came, yet found they none, saith the Evangelist. [...], Mo­mus himselfe could find no fault in him.] Not in his hands, Peccatum non fecit, he did no sinne, saith Peter. Not in his mouth; there was no guile in it. Not in his heart: though sathans siffe could not come there, yet the Apostle cleares that too, [...], our Saviour [Page 4] knew no sinne. And therefore whereas others are called holy, saint Augustine cals Christ Sanctum Sanctorum, the holiest of the holy; for he was wholly holy. So he singes unto his spouse, who better might have sung it unto him, Thou art all faire, my Love, and there is no spot in thee. Saint Iohn hath the generall, 1 Epist. 3. 6. In him was no sinne. Not actuall sinne; Peccatorum dimissor, non commissor, Aug. a bearer of sinne, in my Text, a forbearer of sinne, saith that Father, but no doer of sinne. Not originall sinne; saint Augustine was but a young Divine, when he feared to beleeve in Christ, in carne natum, for feare he should be forc't to beleeve also in him, ex carne inquinatum. For Christs conception was by the holy Ghost, and his seed was sanctified, though in a sinners wombe.

Secondly, for Meekenesse, he might be cald a Lambe, which Philo cals [...], the meekest, and mildest, and gentlest of the beasts. That whereas every creature hath some curstnesse in his kind, even the smal­lest flye his spleen, and the little ant his gall, the Baptist hath singled out the Lambe, to resemble our Saviour unto it, which Philo cals [...], the meekest, the mildest, the gentlest of the Creatures.

The sheepe is led unto the slaughter without strife, and the Lambe (saith the Prophet) is dumbe before the shearer. Christ was led to Gab­batha, to Golgotha, to the one to be shorne; to the other to be slaine, without resistance, without clamour. To be shorne? nay to be torne. It sufficed not his persecutors to fleece him only, but they would flea him too. His coate sufficed them not; but they rent his skinne. The sheepe shearer cares not to clippe the wooll, but hee will not cut the skinne. They had pitty on his coate, but no pitty on his body. His coate they would not cut, but cast lots for it whole. But they tore his skinne with scourges, and the whips, like ploughes made furrowes on his backe. Nay neither did his skinne content their cruelty; but as thinking that torture to be but superficiall, they digged deepe into his flesh; and as the Psalme saith of Ioseph, the iron entered into his very soule.

Thus tortured, thus martired, as never any shearer, never any slaugh­ter-man handled any Lambe, yet like that Lambe in Esay, he bore all their Butchery with silent patience, without clamour, without strife. St. Peter showes the one, [...], when he was reviled, he reviled not againe. And for the other, a sword was drawne, and a man maimed at Christs reprehension; but it was not with Christs will, who cured the maime, and rebuked the Disciple. An extraordinary pati­ence, to suffer wrong, indignity, extremity, to suffer it with silence; without mone, without grone. It is more then mans patience; flesh and bloud are not able to doe it. Tell me not of Moses: I know the Scripture cals him the meekest man on Earth. But did he not murmure at the waters of Meribah? Tell me not of Iob. You have heard (saith saint Iames) of Iobs patience. Nay let us rather hearken to Christs pa­tience, farre beyond Iobs, Iob suffered much, but not in silence: hee curst, and he complained. But our Saviour Christ in the admirable strength of his incomparable patience, Like a Lambe (saith the Prophet) dumbe before his shearer, not once opened his mouth.

Say not I hyperbolize; it is Gods spirits speech, and it is not hyper­bolicall. Surely our Saviour opened his mouth; yea he spake seaven sundry times upon the Crosse. But he spake not one word against his persecutours. Nay he prayed for them expressely, Father forgive them, they know not what they doe. That as we use to say of one, that yeelds up his Ghost quietly, without strugling with death, that hee dyed like a Lambe; so we may say of Christ above all the sonnes of men, for his matchlesse meekenesse in all his martyrdome, yea and his peereles patience in the pangs of death, that he departed like a Lambe. I am too long in this point; I come unto the next; I will be very short in it.

Behold the Lambe: what Lambe? the Lambe of God. Hee, who is 2 called by Saint Paul, Christus Dei, the Christ of God, is here called by the Baptist, Agnus Dei, the Lambe of God, The phrase is unusuall, found onely in this Chapter. Both Prophets and Evangelists call Christ a Lambe; but never was he called Gods Lambe, but by Iohn Baptist. And why Gods Lambe? are not all Lambes the Lords? So sayes the Psalmist, that all the beasts of the forest are his, and so are the cattell upon a thousand hills.

The different senses guessed by Divines, it shall not skill to cite, save onely one; that as offrings and sacrifices are called theirs in Scripture, who presented them; so Christ is called Gods Lambe, because hee offered him. The Lambe, which Abel offered, is called [...] his sacrifice. Gen. 4. The bullocke; which the people were to offer for their sinne, Levit. 4. is called there by Moses [...] the peo­ples sinne offring. Christ being Gods sacrifice, offred by Gods selfe, is justly called Gods Lambe. For God gave Christ, Iohn 3. 16. that [...], the Fathers say, dedit, idest, tradidit, God delivered him, more to the word, God did [...], God did offer him; I say, God delivered him, God offered him, God sacrificed him for sinne. A worke of wonder, and worthy of an Ecce. God to whom belongs all offering, now to be himselfe an offerer. And say, he would be so; had he nought to offer but his Sonne? O Altitudo! Oh the depth of the riches of the love of God! was there no ransome for the sinne of man, but onely the offring of the Sonne of God? Sufficed it not for sinne to sacrifice a Lambe; but must it also be the Lambe of God? Must the Altar be a Crosse? and must Christ be the Crucifixe? and was there no other to offer him, but God? the Father so farre to for­get all affection, to sacrifice his Sonne?

Such was Gods love, such was mans sinne, as imposed an oportet upon both persons: O portuit Christum pati, saith himselfe; it behoo­ved both Christ to be the sufferer, and God to be the offerer. The Lambes in the Law were but onely for the Iewes; and that but for a time; and that not of any worth, or vertue in themselves: but that God so accepted them. They served in that sort, being but the Lambes of men. But he, that should beare the sinne of a world, both a world of people, and a world of time, must be the Lambe of God. The loade of that sinne was too heavy to be laid on the Lambes in the Law, which [Page 6] were to be taken out of the flockes of men. That burthen could one­ly be borne by this Lambe, that was taken out of the bosome of God.

The next point is the Act; that Beareth. The originall terme hath two 3 translations, to beare, or to take away. Saint Peter parallels the formerα sense, himselfe bore our sinnes (saith the Apostle) in his body A frequent phrase in the old Testament, signifying commonly the impu­tation, or the punishment of sinne. Christ bore it both wayes; both the name of it, He was reckoned with the wicked: and the paine of it, Gods curse, and death. Esay hath them both together, cap. 53. He bore our infirmities, there is the guilt, and carried our sorrowes, there is the paine.

First for the imputation: the Prophet hath exprest it, Cum sceleratis reputatus est, there is the very terme. The Gospel translates it, [...]. He whom S. Peter calls [...], i. spotlesse, was accounted [...], with the lawlesse. Christ is the scape-goate in the law, upon which were laid all the sinnes of the people. They did them, but the goate bore them. So the Prophet saith of Christ, All our iniquities the Lord hath laid on him, Esa. 53. 6. Wee acted them, but Christ carryed them. God hath remooved them from us to Christ. The bond of our handwriting, the record of our sinnes, Christ nailed it to his Crosse. Wee are freed from the debt: our Saviours Assumpsit hath discharged us. We stand before God, but in the Lambes livery, our robe of righteousnes is woven of his wooll, and we may say to Christ, as Christ said to his Father, [...], all thy things are mine, and all my things are thine. Christs merits are made ours, and our sins are made his. Iohn 17. 10.

Now for the execution; the beasts in the Law, that were slaine to be sacrificed, dyed not for themselves. The death was due to them, in whose names they were offered. Christ, whom they signified, suffe­red for sinne, both torture, and slaughter, both in our stead. The A­postle therefore saith, Christ was made sinne, id est. a sinne offering; the Fathers so conster it. I say not, Christ suffered all that we should: but all that Christ suffered, he suffered for us: the wrath of God, the curse of God, ignominie and death. His wrath; Christ cryed in the sense of it, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? But that cry should have beene ours, and every sinner deserves to cry with David, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Gods curse: Christ (saith the Apostle) was made a curse, Gal. 3. 13. but it followes there, for us. Shame; the rebukes (saith Christ) of them that rebuke thee, fell upon me. Rom. 15. the rebukes were ours, but they lighted upon him. And for Death, Messias (saith Daniel) shall be slaine, [...], but not for himselfe. Death was our debt: but it pleased him to pay it, that did not owe it. Mortem, quam non debebat, exolvit, saith Saint Au­gustine.

But this is not all; there was a further debt was due to us; Hell and Damnation; Did he beare that too? I say it not, the Fathers say it not, the Scriptures say it not. Some late Divines have said it, whom I [Page 7] censure not, that Christ suffered Hell in his soule. But let me tell you what Saint Augustine saith, Quis audeat dicere, who dareth be so bold (saith that Father) as to say, that Christ suffered Hell in his soule? I once before referd you, so doe I now againe, to Bishop Bilsons booke, written of this point largely and learnedly.

Or haply doe you like the other Translation, that taketh away,β &c. [...] a simple sinner, hearing Christ fell thrice under the burthen of the Crosse, may feare, lest he fall under the burthen of my sinne; and so God may take it up, and lay it on me againe; and therefore call ra­ther for the other translation, that takes away my sinne. Say then the Ferre is Auferre, he hath taken it away.

Sundry other phrases equipollent unto this, are found in holy Scrip­ture; the covering of sinne, the purging it, the healing it, the washing it, Gods not remembring it, Gods hiding his face from it, his casting it behind his backe, his throwing it into the bottome of the Sea; all of them comfortable, but none of them sounding so sweetly, as this heere. Sinne to be covered, will not serve; for God may uncover it, for saith not our Saviour, Nihil est occultum, quod non revelabitur? Nothing is so covered, but shall be revealed. Nor will it serve to purge it; in purging any humour, some still remaines behind. Else why is the Popes pur­gatory, if Christ had purged sinne cleane? Washing will not serve; there are some staines, that will not out with washing. Healing will not serve; relapse may worke worse danger then before. Will not God remember it? how can that be? for God can not forget, or though he could; yet our sinnes are recorded; and when the bookes shall be opened, his rolles will remember him. Say God doe hide his face from it; God hath eares as well as eyes. Sinne is a cryer; it will up unto his eare. Or though it selfe be silent, yet Sathan is [...], i. e. a promoter; he will informe. But God will cast it behind his backe, neither will that serve: For he is totus oculus, saith the Father, and hath eyes behind as well as before, Rev. 4. 6. Lastly, God will throw it into the bottome of the Sea: All will not serve. For at the resur­rection, when the Sea shall be burnt up, Sinne will then be seene. Yea at the last day, when the Sea is summoned to give up her dead; sinne haply will up with all. Or if it doe not, yet rather then faile, the devill himselfe will dive to fetch it up to judgement. Thus may foolish flesh little skilled in Scripture, object against those phrases. But this terme in my Text, to take away sinne, it takes away all argument, and the sin­ners soule is satisfied with it. Psal. 10. 15. Take away mine ungodlinesse, and thou shalt find none.

Christ hath not then borne onely, but he hath taken away our sinne. Yea least the terme Originall might scrupulise the sinner by the dou­ble sense; Saint Paul to the Colossians, 2. 14. Hath put a glosse unto it, to doe away all doubt. Our Chirographum, i. e. the Bill of our hand, Our Bill of debt, that is, of sinne, Christ hath not onely cancelled it, that is, raced it with a few crosse lines, and so left it in the Creditours hands; but to make all sure, he hath taken it out. So it is there, not onely [...], he hath blotted it forth, but sustulit de medio, there is Iohns terme, and Pauls glosse together, sustulit de medio, he hath rent [Page 8] it from ever endangering us, he hath striken a naile through it, and af­fixt it to his Crosse. [...], Nyssen in Hypapanten, hee hath slaine it, saith that Father; nay he rested not in that, for so the corpse of sinne should still remaine; but [...], hee hath utterly abolisht it.

What? will you say, doth not the Preacher presse the terme too farre? hath the Lambe of God quite taken sinne away? What say you to Concupiscence? either you must say, it is no sinne, and that were Popery: or you must relent from the strictnesse of the terme, that Christ doth not utterly take away sinne. For Concupiscence re­maines in us, in us all, all our life. It is the devils indeleble Character, which is never wholy done out till death.

I answer; there are two things considerable in sinne, the strength of it, and the sting of it. The sting is twofold, for Sinne, like a Ser­pent, hath a biforked taile, reatus & supplicium, the guilt, and the paine. The guilt I call the incurring of the sentence, the desert of death. The paine is damnation. Both these the Lambe hath taken quite away. The beleever on that Lambe, is not so much as Reus, i. e. liable to the paine. The Obligatio ad poenam, i. e. the Imputation, God hath laid it on the Lambe And if the Imputation, then by consequent the paine.

Now for the other, the strength of sinne, the activity of that in-bred corruption, which both it selfe is sinne originally, and the source also of all actuall sinne, Gods Lambe hath taken that away too: Not the whole vigour of it, but the maine rigour of it. He hath not remooved Concupiscence it selfe; but her power he hath abated, [...], Epiph. he hath not slaughterd her, but he hath fetterd her: Shee workes still in us, but more weakely. To end this, this sinne, [...], as Paul termes it, that hangs so fast on us, that clings so close to us, not onely [...] borne with us, but [...] bred in us; so incor­porated in our substance, that it is cald our Flesh, the Lambe of God hath taken it away. Not, ut non sit, but ut non praesit, ut non obsit; not from being in us, but from ruling in us, and from hurting us. The site of it Christ hath not stird: but the might and spight of it, hee hath ta­ken them away; the might that it shall not regnare; the spight that it shall not damnare. Sinne dwels in all, but it doth not reigne in the re­generate. Sinne cleaves to all; but it condemnes not those, that are in Christ.

Behold the Lambe, that beares, saith the Baptist; the tense of the verbe hath matter in it too, both profitable, and comfortable. Not [...], that hath borne, not [...], that will beare, but [...], that doth beare, the sinne of the world. Grammarians have a rule, [...] be Maximè [...], present tenses are most active; the tense here doth argue the Act to bee perpetuall, that doth beare it, i. e. that is alwaies bearing it; the act but once, but the effect for ever. Christ is heri, hodie, & semper idem, saith the Apostle, Yesterday, to day, and ever the same. Yester­day, i. e. to Adam and David, to day, i. e. to Peter and Iohn; and ever, i. e. to us and our posterity. Christ sits beside his Father; and the sufferings of his Sonne are ever in his sight, and the Psalmes are excellent, though censured by some, both the Sinners Lamentation, and his humble sute, [Page 9] in which he sings of Christ, his bloudy wounds are yet to see, and that his blood is not yet dry. And I will prescribe to none, but I verily be­leeve, that the scarres of Christs wounds are yet still in his body; and what is Cicatrix, but vulneris refricatrix, scarres the present prints, and fresh remembrancers of old wounds? Christ dyed but once, but the vertue of his death is such to man, that he may say with Paul, I die daily. I say, Christs suffering, his offering was not often, it was but once: but by that one oblation; my Sire, my selfe, my seed, id est, time past, time present, and time to come, are freed from their sinnes.

To end this third point, Behold the Lambe of God, that beares, &c. How doth he beare? Saint Peter tels us how, he bore them on his body. Burthens are borne on the necke and shoulders: he bore the loade of sinne in his whole body: every part had a part of it; from head to foote; yea from the crowne of his head, to the sole of his foote. For the thornes were platted on the top of his head, and the naile went through the bottome of his feete: His body bore it every way, sum­mum, imum, medium; the Crowne above, the naile beneath, the speare in the midst. Before, behind: his backe scourged, his brest gaged; On the right hand, on the le [...]t, his armes expanded, and nailed to the Crosse. Nay his burthen was not confined with his body; neither head, nor feet, nor hands did determine them. Though he were ret­ched and stretched to the uttermost straine, as it were upon a racke, that as the Psalmist speaketh, they might tell all his bones; yet his loade went beyond the dimension of his Limmes, was longer, and dee­per, and broader then his body. For a title was over his head, that upbraided him; the people were under his feete; they derided him; and the theeves aloofe on each side disparaged him. For he hanging in the midst, and that (as some write) upon a higher tree, then they, appeared to the people, a mainer malefactour, and offender worse then they. Nay Saint Peter saith not all, when he saith, that he bore our sinne on his body: his soule also felt the weight of it. The burthen not onely pressed his body, but it sadded his soule; My Soule (saith our Saviour) is sad unto the death. The sense of the unsupportable waight of it, sinking to his soule, both forced from his face drops of bloud in the garden, and wrested from his mouth that strong cry upon the Crosse; Eli, Eli, Lammah sabachthani, My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me?

The fourth point is the Burthen. Sinne is the heaviest thing in the 4 world. What creature so ever it is in, it sinkes him downe to hell. The earth by Philosophy is the Center of all weight; there is no heavy body, but it resteth there. But sinne is so weighty that the earth can not beare it; it seekes a lower Center, and it sinkes the Creature downe unto hell. The sinne of schisme in Dathan and Abiram could not rest on earth; the ground was faine to open, and let them downe to hell. Nay Angels themselves, the lightest of Gods creatures, yet sinne waighed them downe, as the Prophet speaketh, from the sides of the North, to the sides of the pit: to the sides? Nay to the bottome of that bottomlesse pit, to the nethermost hell. What needs David say, [Page 10] Psalme 18. funes inferni, the ropes of hell. Sinne needs no haling; it is so heavy, that it fals downe headlong into hell.

Sinne is a heavy burthen; Cain complained of it: My sinne is heavi­er, then I can beare. David complained of it, Psalme 38 [...] they were too sad for him. What cite I men and Angels; God himselfe in­carnate, Christ complained of it. It made him sweate under it, and the sweate was bloud. Yea it made him grone under it, as a wagon groneth, that is ful of sheaves. Nay it made him cry out under it, cum clamore vali­do, Heb. 5. with a strong cry, My God, my God, &c. What should I la­bour to amplifie the weight of it? It is like the weight of glory, 2 Cor, 4. 17. [...], words cannot utter it, for wit cannot i­magine it. This loade, this Lambe, this day, hath borne for us; Marveile not at Samson, that bore the gates of Azzah; here is a Lambe, that bore the gates of hell.

The burthen of sinne, you have heard the weight of it, may it please you now to see the bulke of it. It is the sinne of the world. When sinne 5 is singlest, it is heavy then. One breach of one law weighes downe to hell. If sinne shall grow in number, the loade must grow in weight. But when numbers doe sinne, what is the burthen▪ then? The loade which the Lambe hath adventured to beare; it is not of one sinne, it is not of many sinnes, nay not the many sinnes of many, but all the sinnes of all, the sinnes of the whole world. A terme of large extent; take it [...], for all nations, or [...], for all times, or [...], for all states, all people, whensoever living, wheresoever breathing, whatsoever being, the loade of all their sinnes is laid upon the Lambe, the word is very excellent which the Prophet Esay hath, 53. 6. all our iniquities [...] God hath made them meete in Christ. God hath made Christ the center of all sinnes.

For altogether, Christ joynes with Iohn in the generality, Christs cry with Iohns cry, Venite ad me omnes, Come unto me all; all now, all hereafter: all here, all every where; all of all conditions, omnes labo­rantes, all that are heavy laden, and I will refresh you; your sins are your burthens, I will beare them for you all. His armes argued as much at his passion. He displaid them wide upon the Crosse, as it were to em­brace, whosoever would come to him. For shall the power of the first Adam be stronger unto death, then the second unto life? Nay, but as Augustine saith, Omnes, sicut Adam tabificavit, ita Christus justifica­vit, as by one man, the man Adam, Sinne entred into the world, and caught hold of all; so also by one man, the man Christ, the grace of God, by the Lambe of God, hath abounded unto all.

Shall we see it in the severals? I will be short in them. First for times: Saith not Christs selfe, that he was before Abraham? His Dis­ciple saith more, that the slaughter of this Lambe was from the worlds beginning. Even Adam and his wife, the first sinners upon earth, had their sinne borne by Christ. God said, Their seed shall break the Serpents head. Yet bore he not theirs onely, and all the times before him, as the nature of satisfaction is for trespasse past; but for ages also after him, for us, and our posterity, his passio was propassio, he suffered before hand for our Sinnes.

Secondly for places; came not Siloh from Iuda, and Iacobs children were they not Gods choise? The Arke, the Covenant, the Pr [...]esthood, and the Promises, [...], the Law, and the Adoption, these Princely prerogatives belongd they not to Israel? The Gentiles were strangers, the Apostle cals them so. Nay the Gentiles were dogges, our Saviour cals them so, Math. [...]5. 26. It was Pauls question, hath the Lord care of Oxen? I may better aske, hath the Lord care of dogges? Surely the preferment of the Iew above the Gentile, Paul truely saith was much, much every manner of way. But yet in this particular, in the point of salvation, the saving of our soules, by the bearing of our sinnes, all their prerogatives prejudice not us. Christs propitiation is no impropriation. Iude cals salvation [...], the common sal­vation. Gods saving health, Simeon retcheth it to all people: yea Esay stretcheth it to the ends of the earth.

Nor will I grant the Iewes. Christ onely came of them. For I find Gentiles also in Christs line Ruth was a Moabite, and Rahab was of Iericho, neither of them Iewes. Let them not insult; for Partus sequi­tur ventrem. But give Christ borne onely of the Iewes; yet he was not borne onely for the Iewes. As the Angell saith, Natus est vobis, he was borne to them, Luke 2. 11. so the Prophet saith, natus est nobis, A Child is borne to us. Esay 9. 6. That Child was called Iesus, because he should save his people from their sins. His people? they were Iewes. But so are Gentiles too. The Prophet O see tels us, Loammi was made Ammi, God said to Heathens, Populus meus tu, all nations are my peo­ple. Gentiles (saith the Apostle) are joynt-tenants with the Iewes, [...], coheires and partners in the promise; yea bre­thren to the Iewes, O se. 2. Doth the Prophet say, Salvation is in Sion? Esay. 46. Why, the Aegyptian, the Aethiopian, the Babylonian, and the Philistine are borne in Sion. I am too long in this. They were the Lambs Apostles, that preacht the Gospell to all nations. Iohn cals them so. Apoc. 21. and the Church is the Lambes bride, so also termed there; and it is cald out of all Countries. That Lambe, when he bore mans sinne upon the Crosse, he suffered in the East: but whether did he looke, whether did he point? His face was to the Sea., and his fingers pointed North and South: And the blood of his body, in which he bare our sinne, flowing every way, was an embleme of salvation shewing every way, His backe behind, his face and feet before, his hands on either side, shed forth a ransome for nations round about, and washt away the sinnes of all quarters under Heaven. Vide Theophilact. in Mat. 27. 33. So saith saint Augustine, Passio Domini, pretium est Orbis, the passion of the Lambe was the ransome of the Earth, and Saint Iohn in his Epistle, Christ is the reconciler of the sinnes of the whole world. Lastly, for all states.

THE argument of my Text is according to the Day, the Nativity of Christ, three words in the Originall, a Person, Who? a Child; an Action, What? is Borne; the Purpose, Why? for us. These three Questions my theame, Who? What? and Why? Who the Child? God. What the Birth? his taking Flesh. Why for us? for our Salvation. God was Incarnate, to save Man. Thats the Paraphrase of my Text, and the summe of all that I shal say.

For the first, a Child. The English word is ambiguous, makes no distinction betweene Sexe or Age. Whom we beare or beget, wee call our Children, whether Sonnes, or Daughters, yong or old. In the learned tongues it is not so; they difference both. The Child here is for Age, an Infant; and for Sexe a Sonne.

For the one, When Christ would take our Flesh; he would not be a Woman, but a Man. To bee true Man, it skild not, whether Sexe he should assume. Women are mankind, as well as Men; each of equall perfection, and in Gods love alike, and each made in Gods Image. But some preheminence God gave the Man above the Wo­man; the rather for her tempting him to fall. Paul saies, he is her head, & she the weaker vessell. That knew the Serpent, and therefore tempted her, not him. It pleased God therefore to take Flesh, though of the Wo­man, yet in the Mans Sexe. Not that the Womans Sexe dispara­ged his Deity; but that his wisdome found it fit: Why; I en­quire not.

For the other, God might have made a body, have created it of earth, as he did Adams, a mans body of full growth; and have brea­thed a living soule in it; and so have assumed it to his Godhead. He [Page 13] rather chose to be Parvulus, a Child. Paul and Luke have two words, both of C [...]rist, [...] Pauls word of God is but exinanivit he emptied himselfe. But he did more, Annihilavit, made himselfe almost nothing. God would not onely be Man, though a state farre under God. For a man may be great; the Sons of Anack were, the Amorite was, tall as the Cedar, sturdy as the Oke. But he would bee also the weakest of men. So is the Child, the new borne babe.

The weakest of men? the weakest of all Creatures; Vermis Ego, I am a worme, saies David. The worme is not so weake, as the new borne Child is: The Sonne of David would be weaker, then the worme. The worme creepes, the Child cannot. Every beasts yong ones finde the dammes teates: the Child does not, the n [...]ple must be put into the mouth. Such a man would God be, a Child. Christ is cald thus in the Prophets but once onely; but in the Gospell almost twenty times. An Angell cals him an Infant; St. Luke, the Child Iesus. His food, a Childs, Butter and Honie, Esay 7. His understanding too, want of wit to discerne betweene good and evill.

This hath seemed to some so unbeseeming God, that Nestorius said flatly, he never would acknowledge bimestrem aut trimestrem Deum, call an Infant God, of two or three moneths old. But he that scorned not to be Man, disdained not to be like to Man, in all things, saving sinne, Groweth in the Wombe, Birth out of it, to sucke the breast, be laid in cradle, swathed in cloathes, borne in armes, suffer and doe all things, this heavenly Sonne of Man, like all earthly Sons of Women. In some of these particulars, Papists doe oppose; which I passe by, as not much pertinent. All worthy the wonderment, the amazement of all men. Of which, more; when I shall have treated of the next word, which doth necessitate this. Esay addes, Natus est, Is Borne: that cannot be, except a Child. I come therefore to that. A Child is Borne. For never did Womans wombe deliver a Man growne. A Camell goes not through a needles eye. Bee that the first scru­ple in the second word, Natus est, is Borne.

Bearing presumes the opening of the Wombe. That Christ did not, Papists say, some Fathers too. But moe say, that he did, Papists rejoyne, that they said it Pio sensu.

If the thing seeme absurd, that a Child should so be borne: they maintaine, Christs birth was so by especiall dispensation, and Gods omnipotent power. By which, Christs body rising, passed through the graves stone, risen (the dores being shut) yet went in to his Dis­ciples; and now is in the Sacrament at once in many places. All alike true. Better, leave this scruple, then discourse it. Heare an other.

Neare kinne to it, is Mari [...]s Virginity; a Virgin beare a Child? That Nature denies, Heathens deride: but needes no proofe, all Christians beleeving it. They have reason. Scripture avouches it. That one should, the Prophet saies, Esay 7. 14. That one did, the Gos­pell saies, Luk. 2. 7. I will say with St. Austin, Tu disputa; ego credam, Dispute it, who so lists; I will beleeve it.

But why Natus, Borne? Sufficed not Incarnatus, Christs taking flesh? Iohn saies, the Word tooke flesh, Verbum Caro factum est. Thats [Page 14] his Incarnation; hee saies nothing of his Birth. Must hee needes be Natus because Incarnatus, Borne, because Incarnate? Pauls Ma [...]festa­tus in Carne, God manifested in the flesh, could it not be, but by Ge­neration onely? G [...]d by power could have w [...]ought it otherwise: but he had decreed, it should be thus. Adam and Eve, both were Incarnate; neither Borne. But Christ was Promist to come of Wo­mans seed, Gen. 3. Her wombe must Breed and Beare him. He would honour our Condition, and hold it no disparage to his Divine Person, to be called the Sonne of Man. Every Sonne in prime and proper sense is Borne. There are Sonnes by Adoption, and some otherwaies: but the terme so is but Metaphor.

But why Natus est, Is Borne? How is that true? Christ was not yet Incarnate; not borne in Esaies daies, not 700. yeares after. An un­learned Atheist would say, either he lyed; or meant his Natus est, of some other, not of Christ▪ If you read the first of Matthew, you shall find almost twenty generations betweene Esaies age, and Christs birth. But Esay lyes not, but speakes heere from Gods Spirit: who by the Prophets often delivers things to come, as if already past. But especial­ly in Esay, whom the Fathers therefore call, not so much a Prophet as rather an Evangelist, an Evangelicall Prophet. As heere of Christs Nativity, so else where of his death, of all our Saviours sufferings, he writes, as of things past already. As heere Natus est, so there vul­neratus est, attritus est, abscissus est, and many more in the same man­ner. David long before Esay did the like. This phrase therefore of Esaies the Gospell often iterates. The wise men in St. Matthew, Vbi est, qui natus est? Where is he, that is borne King of the Iewes? The Angell in Saint Luke, Natus est vobis, there is borne to you a Saviour. The Prophet Esay heere is not Testis singularis: Prophets and Evan­gelists, Angels and Apostles are Contests unto Esay. Enough of each word thus apart: weigh we them now joyntly, but with wonderment: they are well worthy.

A Child is Borne. Child-birth is ordinary; there is no wonder in it, and yet there is. Though it seeme meerely naturall; God hath in every birth his admirable worke. Though the babes body bee but small; yet the way of birth is so unpassable; that every Child would cost the mothers life, and die it selfe too in the delivery; nay there would be no delivery at all; did not Gods though usuall, yet admi­rable grace assist the Act by speciall providence. But God to bee the Child, and the Word Incarnate, to be borne, [...], God in a Wo­mans wombe, that is Miraculum miraculorum, a wonderable to amaze a world. [...], Basil, the great God (saith Saint Basil,) to be a little Babe. The Ancient of daies, Coinfantiari, it is Irenaeus terme, to become an Infant. [...], the King of eternity, to be Bimestris, trimestris, as Nestorius said, a Child of two or three moneths old. The Mighty, [...], it is heere one of Gods attributes, the Almighty Iehova, to be a weake man, yea the weakest of men; so Infants are. God Immensè magnus, unmeasurably great, that saies of himselfe, Caelum & terram impleo, Heaven and Earth cannot containe him, to be Palmaris, as David cals his daies, a Babe an handfull, a [Page 15] span long. He that doth Rugire, his voice, a Lions roare, to vouch­safe to Vagire, to cry like a poore Infant. He that guides (as Iob speakes) Arcturus, with his sonnes, (i.) the starres, to sucke a Womans neple, like our sonnes; or as Saint Austin hath it, he that is Regens Sidera, to bee Sugens Vbera, the Sterner of the Starres, to sucke a womans brests. The founder of the Heavens, to be rocked in a Cradle: the swayer of the world, swathed in Infant clowtes; it is [...], a Greeke Father saies, a most incredible thing. The Word, who is God, to become flesh; God who is a Spirit, to assume a body; Ma­jesty to put on Mortality, Power to turne infirmity; God to become Man; this is (as the Poet speakes) [...], to bring hea­ven downe to earth. The earth wondered at Christs Nativity, to see a new Starre in Heaven. But Heaven might rather wonder to see a new Sunne on earth.

The first Word, raises all this wonder: the second addes more to it. You heare, Quis Puer, who the Child is: aske Vnde Natus, who bore this Child? The Nicen Creed saies, Deus de Deo, God must be borne of God. So was God the Word, of God the Father. But the Child heere is God, and is borne of a Woman. Nestorius denied it; but the true Church maintaines it; and the Synod to that end, decreed Christs Mother to be styled [...], the bearer of God. Indeed Christ tooke but his Man-hood from her Seed. But that Man­hood being joyned to his God-head, in her wombe personally, we truely beleeve her to have borne God. The Word tooke flesh of her, and God lay in her wombe, and was borne of her body. A grand won­der, if but thus. But there is more. That woman was a Virgin. A Virgin beare a Childe? Nature abhorres to heare it. Put both words together, the Bearer a Virgin, and the Child God. Paul might well call it [...], a great mystery, [...], saies Chysostome, great in­deed, [...], full of wonderment and astonishment. Paul saies but factum ex Muliere, God sent his Sonne made of a Wo­man; that termes true, but too generall; and the Word might meane a Wife. But Esay is more explicate; Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and beare. That indeed required an Ecce. Jeremie calles it a new thing, Foemina circundabit virum, that a Woman should compasse a Man. Surely this is a thing more new, more strange, a Virgin to compasse a God. A Virgin to beare, Mirandum; to beare God, Stupendum. At the wonder of the one, the Virgins selfe cryed out, Quomodo fiet istud? How was it possible, shee should conceive, not knowing man? But take both at once; they are worthy the wonder even of Angels also. I thinke Gabriel that told her it, was amazed at it, yea were it not, that God saith, Gen. 18. nothing can be wonderfull to him, wor­thy the wonderment even of Gods selfe. Very fitly therefore it fol­lowes in this verse, the Childs name shall be wonderfull.

To end this, [Christs Incarnation a Greeke Father cals [...] the most incredible thing, that ever was. Hee meanes, to mans con­ceite.] Surely that God should thus farre disparage his Divinity by the vnion of our flesh: and how his sacred Deity could close into one person with the humane nature: that is [...], Cyril. Speech [Page 16] cannot expresse it, wit cannot conceive it. Every sober Christian must (as Saint Basil wisheth) [...], rather seriously adore the Doer, then curiously enquire the manner. For as saith the same Father, [...], the manner is above enquiry, Luther was wont to say, God will not have us Quoerists. I may better say, God will not have us Quomodists. For why God was Incarnate, the Scripture hath reveiled, but how, it hath not. Saint Paul calles it a Mystery, Saint Chrysostome saies, it is wonderfull. Then must wee not aske how it is; For (as Athanasius saies) [...] a mystery reveiled, is no longer wondered at. Thus then the Lord of Glory tooke unto himselfe the shape of a Servant. Man was first made after Gods Image; but now God was made after Mans Image. God said of Man in Ironie, behold, Man is become like one of Vs? But now we may say of God in earnest, behold, God is become like one of us.

Now Actions all have their Intentions, aime at some end. Heere I may, I must be a Quaerist, aske, Why is this Childe borne? Esay an­swers, For us, the last word in my Text. Tis in the Booke, unto us; thats all one in the Originall. Nobis, but one word, but pregnant, a word with a wombe, It beares a Child too; meanes both quibus, & ad quid: both the Persons, who have benefit by this Birth; and what the Benefit is. The later but latenter, tis but coucht. The Angel that speakes it out, is Esaies Interpreter, Luk. 2. To you is borne a Saviour. The Nicen Creed more plainly, For us men, and for our Salvation. First for ad quid, but a word, because tis but coucht onely.

Such a Child, and such a Birth, both of such wonder, must not be for nought. Tis not parturiunt montes. The end is as admirable; the Child is borne for our Salvation. The Act, you heard Chrysostome call it [...], strange. The end, Clemens cals it [...], great, very great, [...], the greatest and the royallest of all the Acts of God. A Virgin to beare, and the Child to be God, all wits wonder at that: and the name Iesus, which signifies a Saviour, every knee bowes at it. Tis [...], (Epiphanius his terme) every man honours it. Nihil tam dignum Deo, nothing so worthy of God, as mans salvation. Tert. Indeed it was not worthy, the saving of 10000. worlds was too meane a thing for so rich a price, as Gods Sonnes birth. But it pleased him to esteeme one world, halfe of one world, nay not halfe (for to how small a handfull is man compar'd with the Elect onely, the benefit of it with other Crea­tures) worthy that price. For then Natus est, he was borne, nay, he was more, much more, it follows heere, for them Datus est, he was given, a Son is given to us, i. for us. Gods Son, Datus est, i. traditus est, so the Fa­thers conster it, was given to death for us. This theme were sweet, should I prosecute it. But the terme is not exprest. I leave ad quid, and come to quibus i. Nobis, to us.

First, Nobis peccatoribus, to us Sinners, that seemes without contro­versie. For if he came to save, it must be such, who neede saving, but sinners? yet even this too is opposed. Pighius a Romanist, and Osian­der a fond Dogmatist held, that though man had not sinned, Christ had come neverthelesse. But neither could tell, why. Paul sayes expresly, [Page 17] Iesus Christ came into the world, to save sinners. The child here saith him­selfe, the Sonne of man came to save that was l [...]st. Proptereà veni, Iohn 12. 27. hee came of purpose to that end. Osiander was so impudent, as to contradict the Prophet, saith, wee were borne for Christ, Christ was not borne for us. Thats crosse to the Creed, For us men, Christ was made man. Zachar [...]as saith it too, God hath raised up an horne of salvation unto us.

That men are meant, I neede not often iterate; men only. Yet have the Angels benefit too by Christs birth. They also are by it, though not redeemed, yet confirmed. Not redeemed, because they fell not, the good Angels I meane; but confirmed; i. put out of feare of fall. But de­vils have no good at all by it: They crie to Christ, Quid nobis? What have we to doe with thee Iesus, Sonne of God? To men onely and to all, at least if we meane, genera singulorum, if not singulos generum, every se­verall man, yet some of every sort.

To all, that is, ad minimum, to men of all nations, times and states. For nobis doth not distinguish between sexe or age. For the first, Is God (saith Paul) God of the Iewes onely, and not also of the Gentiles? Iob though an Edomite calls Christ his Redeemer. Christ was borne in Bethleem, a towne of the Iewes, but bred and brought up in Galilee of the Gentiles, and his title on the Crosse had as well Iesus of Nazareth, as King of the Iewes; not onely Israels glory, in old Simeons song, but the light too of the Gentiles. For times, the ancient Patriarks, both before the floud and after it, Prophets and other holy men under the law, many beleevers in Christs dayes, and Saints sans nombre in all ages since, are within this little word, the child is borne for them. For estates, whats thy profession, or thy place, office, trade, occu­pation? Art thou Priest, or Prophet, Captaine, or Counsellour, Pub­licane, Physitian, Tent-maker, Purple-seller, Fisherman, Carpen­ter, what neede I reckon moe? The Gospell hath example of some saved of all these. Art thou a meere begger, or a man of wealth? Poore Lazarus was laid in the bosome of rich Abraham. Bond and free, male and femall are all one (S. Paul saith) in Christ Iesus. For he was borne in mans sexe, but made of womans seede: and of two bond servants grin­ding at the mill, the one shall be received. The young and aged alike too. Iohn sprong for joy in his mothers wombe, at the presence of his Saviour in the Virgins wombe: and old Simeons armes embraced Gods salvation. Lastly, Anna a widdow, and Elizabeth a wife acknow­ledged Christ their Lord, and Mary a Virgine calls her Sonne her Sa­viour.

To conclude, all grant this Nobis, Christ was borne for us: but some say, sibi too, he was borne too for himselfe. Nemo sibi nascitur; Plato saith, no man is borne for himselfe. Surely Christ was not. Some Schoolemen say, he was; Christus sibi meruit, they all hold. But Da­niel saith, Non sibi, 9. 26. It will little edifie to argue it; I end. This child, this holy child, borne (as on this day) to us, the child Iesus interceede for us unto his Father, and by his holy Spirit seale unto our soules his grant of our salvation. Vnto which three sacred per­sons of, &c.

Christs Church, S. Mary Bredin.

THE Preachers theme on this day should be of Christs birth: and Christ hath purged our sinnes by his death, not by his birth. My Text then sorts not with the time. But I have here spok be­fore, often of Christs Nativitie. And why was Christ incarnate, but to fit himselfe to suffer, and so to purge our sinnes. And have we not this morning, though it be Christmas day, celebra­ted the Sacrament of our Saviours death? And is not this Scripture a part of the Epistle appointed for this day? Yea and the Prophet Esay in the first morning lesson, hath he not conjoy­ned Christs birth and death together? Puer natus est nobis, filius datus est nobis, a child is borne for us, a sonne is given for us; Datus, i. Tradi­tus, as the Fathers conster it, given to death for us, so to purge our sins? This Theme and Scripture then is seasonable enough; consisting of foure termes; an Act, Purging, the Object, Sinne, the Subject, Ours, the Instrument, Himselfe. Hath by himselfe purged our sinnes. The person is not mentioned; that Point would be extravagant; pertinent enough unto the purpose; but my Text shall confine me. Of the foure forenamed Points, God assisting, with your patience, severally and briefely. Christmas dayes afternoone is not the best time for long attention.

First for the Act, tis purging, a necessary act. For sinne (saith Saint Augustine) aut sanabitur, aut damnabitur, must be if not purged, then damned. The terme whether a Physicke Metaphor, so made by some; or alluding to the law of purging sinne by sacrifice, which rather seemes; I shall pray leave to take it either way promiscuously. Sinne is [Page 19] [...], the dung and filth, and sullage of the soule; and Christ is [...] the expiation of that sinne. It Purgamentum, hee Piamentum. The Passion of the Sonne of God, the purgation of the sinne of man. For what is purgation, but an expiation i. a propitiation, an appeasing of Gods wrath on a sinner by sacrifice? Who knowes Pauls meaning better than himselfe? That which here is called a purging, Col. 1. 20. is called a pacifying. (He did therefore [...], offer up himselfe, that he might [...], take away our sinne, Heb. 9. ult.) I say, the end of Christs passion was to purge sinne, called therefore by Saint Augustine, the sacrifice of our purgation. Christ is dead, God is pleased, and sinne is pardoned.

But the terme hath yet more in it, to purge is to purifie, as well as to pacifie; to pacifie God, and to purifie sinne in man. There is more in purging, than to pardon Sinne (saith Saint Ambrose, Tegitur per chari­tatem, deletur per sanguinem, it is covered by the Fathers love, but quite done out by the Sonnes bloud. Hee did therefore [...], offer up his Sonne, that hee might [...], doe away our sinnes, Heb. 9. ult. Saint Iohns Epistle calls it cleansing, his Revelation washing; Christ hath purged, i. hath purified, hath washed, and cleansed our sinnes with his bloud. Bloud should seeme rather to pollute, than purge; to defile, than to make cleane. A thing bespraid with bloud, rather needs purging, than is purged by it. But that is the prerogative of Christs pre­cious bloud; because (as Saint Paul speakes of it in the 20. of the Acts) it is Gods owne bloud.

Hee hath purged our sinnes, [...], is [...] as Saint Iames termeth it, wickednesse is filthinesse. The vulgar Latine shunning the eares of­fence, hath a more civill terme, Immundities, uncleanenesse. But a man may be too manerly in this. No terme too odious to bestow on sinne: Even in the Hebrew, which is called the holy tongue, and by Gods ho­ly Spirit, sinne is not spar'd. Sinne in the civilest phrase is yet unclean­nesse and impuritie. For so it pleaseth these daintie-eared dayes, though they act positive sinnes, yet to crave privative termes; fine in naming them, though grosse in doing them. Be sinne no more then so; yet needs it purging. For God endures not, heaven receives not any uncleane, any impure thing. Out of Christs side came water and bloud. Sinne is uncleanenesse; that water washed it: it is impuritie; that bloud hath purged it. Christ is the right Physitian, Epiphanius calls him so. Ne­ver could Physitian, never would Physitian offer to cure sinne; it is the soules sicknesse. But medico omnipotenti nihil insanabile, Aug. Christs bloud is the right woundwort, that soveraine Panacea, which heales all diseases. God heales (saith David) all thine infirmities; not heales them, that is covers them; but he cures them, he removes them. Tollit (saith Iohn the Baptist) he takes sinne quite away.

Sinne is [...], a Poison; Christs bloud [...], a Conterpoison. The poison (saith Saint Cyprian) which the Serpent shot into the heeles of all Eves sonnes, is drawne out by a plaister spread of Christs bloud. Physitians write of palma Christi, that it purgeth the body infected with a feaver. But here is sanguis Christi purgeth the soule, being sicke of sin. It is the Hysope, which David in the Psalme prayed to be purged with, [Page 20] and then he should be cleane: Cleane, not in superficie; hee saith not only, wash me, and I shall be white; but purge mee with Hyssope, and I shall be cleane; not in cute, faire of skinne, but in corde, cleare of sinne. Purging pierceth deeper than bare washing: and yet in the 5. verse of the Apoca. Christ is but said to wash. But purging by Christ, and wash­ing is all one. For the water of his side was Aqua fortis, a piercer and searcher even into the soule; and so a purger too, as well as his bloud; even a purger of sinne. [Indeed, some say, sinne is not purged but pou­led, onely topt, the stumpe abides, or at least but shaven, the rootes re­maine; Peccatum rasum, a peeld conceit of shavelings. Christs washing was not superficiall. Hee did Eluere, Eruere; not lightly wet it, but wash it out; not slightly cut it, but grubbe it up.] Enough of the Act; now to the Object.

Sinne, a right peccant humour, as Physitians speake: It is it, that Christ hath purged. The devill is a purger. Hee purged Eve and Adam, but it was of grace. Hee desires to purge us too; but it is of faith, and of the feare of God. There are outlandish purgers too, from Rhemes and Rome (for some like Physicke from Italian and French Doctors, rather than from English) purgers of Heresie in pretence, but indeed of Truth. Grace, Faith, Gods feare and truth, need no purgation: that Physicke is for things impure. Sinne is corrupt, polluted, and uncleane: it needs the purging; and Christ hath purged it.

Sin both originall and actuall, both which wee draw from Adam, and which we doe our selves, Christs bloud hath purged. All sinne, for so it is, 1 Iohn 1. 7. that place a glosse to this.

All sinne? Will some man say: Concupiscence is sinne; hath Christ purged that? Is it not in us still? In all of us? Till death? Or shall wee with the Papists denie it to be sinne? It is sinne; and Christ hath pur­ged it; but as Physitians use to purge bad humours. They rid not the whole humour quite out of the bodie: that were to kill the bodie not to cure it. The humours are our Radicals, the materialls of mans bo­die. But they purge out their excesse, and their malignitie. So hath Christ purged concupiscence, not ut non sit, but it non [...]bsit, not from be­ing in us, but from hurting us. The malice of it hee hath purged. His bloud once purged, and his Spirit still checketh the enormitie of lust, but the infirmitie remaines. The might and spight of it he hath remo­ved: the might, that it shall not regnare; the spight, that it shall not damnare. But the site of it he hath not stird: it still dwels in our flesh, ad agonem, Aug. for our exercise.

I am naturally inclind to some disease; even from the wombe; it was in my conception. Physicke may ease the effects of it; but it can not roote out the originals. The actuall operation it may ease; but it can not cure the originall inclination. For the disposition is in my composition, Man is borne with concupiscence, begot with it. I would not say, Christ could not; (there the comparison failes betweene Christ and the Physitian; he can doe all things) but he did not purge out the prone­nesse of the flesh to sinne, lusts inclination. He could; for hee will at the resurrection free us quite from the infirmitie. But hee would not in this life. His bloud but purged the malice of concupiscence. The guilt and [Page 21] paine of it, desert of death and condemnation, both these are done away. But it is active still: the activitie is but purged in part; the power abated onely, [...], Epiph. Christ hath but curbed concupiscence: he hath fettered her, but not slaughtered her. For all the purging, she workes still in us; but more weakely.

Papists here take advantage. They say, Paul saith no more, then Christ hath purged our sinnes. That is nothing to the paine. But sinne, staine, and paine are comites individui; Christ hath purged both, or nei­ther: [Hippocrates twines, borne together, dead together] in the 18. of Saint Mathew, saith not Christ, Omne debitum, the whole debt is dis­charged? Either then the paine is no debt, or it is pardoned. Say Papist, is it debt or no? If it be not; then it is to be paied. If it be; then it is pardoned. And if pardoned by the Father; then purged by the Sonne. For the one pardons not, what the other purges not; and so much onely for the second point.

Two termes are yet behind, the subject and the instrument. Christ purged sinne: but whose? and how? Whose sinnes? and by what sa­crifice? The Remists text might ease me of this labour: for it hath nei­ther. First, Whose? Our sinnes, be it spoken to our shame; but it al­so to our comfort. Man made in Gods owne Image, [...], Gods conterfaict, saith the Tragicke; lower indeed, David saith; but little lower than the Angels; Lord of all the creatures. Let him rule, saith God; made with the deliberate consultation of the Trinitie, not Fiat, but faciamus, let us make man: [...], a little heaven, Philo, nay [...], a little world. Said I lower than the Angels? greater than the Angels. God gave to them but Ministerium, ministring spirits: but he gave man, Magisterium, dominus universitatis, Tert. Lordship over all, [...], amortall God; not in Sathans mouth onely, Eritis sicut Dij, you shall be as Gods; but by Gods owne nuncupation, Dixi, Dij estis, I said, yea are Gods. Shall so high a thing, Res sacra, so Seneca calls a man, a thing so high, so holy, defile himselfe with sinne, a thing so base, so unholy? He whom the Poet termes Magnum Iovis incrementum, the divine seede of God, soile himselfe with sinne, Sathanae excremen­tum, even very devils dung? Yet man so grac'd, so blest, he ownes these sinnes, Our sinnes. The more our shame.

Now for our comfort; Sinne, it hath seased as well on Angels, as on man. The devill, and all the cursed feends in hell, were once bles­sed Angels in heaven, stood before the Trinitie, and beheld the face of God. But when Lucifer in his pride, envying Gods glory, said in his heart, I will ascend up into heaven, and advance my throne above the starres; I will sit on the sides of the North, and be equall to the most highest. Then the Lord cast him downe from heaven unto hell, from the sides of the North, unto the sides of the pit. And all the rest of that rebellious Rout, partners of his conspiracie, God threw them also downe into the place of darkenesse, where they are reserved in everla­sting chaines unto the judgement of the great Day. Man for his sinne was throwne out of Paradise, the creatures for his sake accurst, and himselfe sentenced to death and hell. Christ pitied man, but not the Angels. Their case alike for sinne, but not for grace. Their damnation [Page 22] is eternall. Origen hath some hope of them, themselves have none. For the fire is everlasting, which Christ saies is prepared for the devill and his angels. But a Redeemer was ordained for Man. Gods Sonne would be Incarnate, to recover him. His sinnes had wrought Gods wrath: and Christ by his Bloud vouchsaft to purge those sinnes, not the An­gels, but our sinnes.

What if one should say to Christ, (tis Christs owne supposition) Medice, cura teipsum, Physitian heale thy Selfe? He purgd our sinnes: why purgd he not his owne? Aaron purgd sinnes; but his owne, as well as others: For he was a sinner, like to them; and therefore his sinne­offerings were not for others onely, but also for himselfe. But Christ knew no sinne: Himselfe needed no sacrifice. Gabriel told Daniel Messias should be slaine, [...], but not for himselfe. Christ hath pur­ged our sinnes not his owne, he needed not; not the Angels, it plea­sed him not. Gods Lambe must take away the sinnes of World. The Bloud of Iesus cleanseth us. He is the [...], the Reconciliation, he is the Propitiation for our sinnes.

To end this; Christ might have saved the Angels, and not us; pur­ged their sinnes, and not ours. But it pleased him to purge ours. The more his Mercy. The Angels his Souldiers, Luk. 2. The Persians had a Band, termed the Immortall Band, Socrates. Angels are so indeed, Gods immortall Band. His Souldiers: His Sonnes. Scripture calles often, Angels the Sonnes of God. Gods Sonnes? Gods Selfe. Are they not called Elohim, that is, Gods? Powers, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, their Orders. We the Sonnes of Adam; whose Father is Corruption, and the Wormes our sisters and kinswo­men; Iob 17. 14. Wormes our sisters? Wormes our selves. Both Iob and David call us so, [...], frames of clay, the Poets terme. Poets need not, the Apostles terme, vessels of Earth. This is nothing: all this makes us but vile. But (which may make us odius to God) his Enemies. Rom. 5. 10. We owne the sinnes, which Christ hath purged; he purged our sinnes.

Yet rests the Instrument, wherewith Christ hath wrought this Act 4 upon this Object. Per Semetipsum; tis Himselfe. The Actour, and the Instrument are not lightly one; heere they are, [...], Epiph. both Priest and Sacrifice: or (as Saint Augustine speakes to the Physicke Metaphor) Ipse medicus, ipse medicina, both Physitian and Physicke too. The Preists of Aarons order purged sinne. They wrought the same Act, but by other Instrument. By Bloud, like Christ; but by the bloud of Beasts. Hostia was Bestia, Beasts were Sinne-offrings. But Christ is the purger, and purgation both; both Sacrifice and Priest. David saies in the Psalmes, that a Horse is accounted but a vaine thing to save a man. What then is a Goate, a Bullocke, or a Lambe? Surely all as vaine as it: but that God had appointed them to be the types of Christ. All Beasts are peeres, in that respect; all unable to purge sin; the greatest as the least: but that God was pleased to accept of his owne Ordinance, untill the body came, whose shadowes they were. When that Body came; he became the sacrifice; and Christ per Se­metipsum, purged our sinnes by Himselfe. Silver would not serve, nor [Page 23] Gold for our purgation; which serve sometimes with Men. A World of Treasure is not worth a Soule. Angels would not serve, the divi­nest of the Creatures. The purge of sinne transcends the power of An­gels: Gods Bloud must purge mans sinne, but in mans nature. Christ therefore to this Act would use no other Instrument, but his owne bloud. Himselfe hath purged our sinnes, by Himselfe. Why then it seemes, that purgatory is but an imposture, Indeed a purger; but of purses, not of sinnes. One of the Popes mainest meanes, mainest de­meanes; sinne to be purged after death, let heathens hold it, who first devised it. Tis a conceipt, becomes not Christians: whose sole pur­gation is Christs selfe, That after death, is prophane Paganisme. Then is the time [...], of paine, not of purgation, saith Gregory Naz.

Another plea there is, in the case of indulgences, the Popes prero­gative, a very speciall plea. It is Christs Vicarship. Doth Christ purge sinnes? Why then the Pope does too: he is his Vicar. Surely he is, as other Bishops are Which of them is not Christs Vicar? Substitutes to Christ, and his deputies Ministers for many Ghostly offices. But in this businesse he deputeth none. God the Father hath delegated him; he hath subdelegated none. Should his Vicar doe that, which himselfe hath done in person? For so is the phrase in the Communion booke, that Christ purged sinne in his owne Person. The Ministers in many things are his Commissioners, in the Word in the Sacraments, in Or­dination. But the purging of sinnes, that worke he performed per­sonally. To bind and loose sinne, that the Priest may doe; but not to purge it. He might in the Law, but he may not in the Gospell. Christs Bloud was the onely sacrifice for sinne: and that he offered up Himselfe for it, himselfe alone. Others shed it, but for other purpose; not to offer it to God for Sinne. The Priests, and People, the Iudge, and executioners, whosoever had a hand, any hand in Christs Passion, they all were shedders of his Bloud, Iudas and all, sathan and all. But the offering of it up for a ransome for mans sinne; nay not [...] onely, to be a Ransome, but to speake to the Physicke sense, [...], for a Lotion, to wash our Soule: a Lotion? nay a potion, a purgative poti­on, to purge our sinne; that was Christs Act, his Personall Act.

The Romane Catholicke sacrificing Priest saies, he does it too, at every Masse, at every Eucharist, he offers up Christs bloud and body for our sinnes. But it is but [...], saith Saint Chysostome, a Re­membrance, not a Sacrifice. An Act, that could be done, but once: and it Christ did in his owne person. Paul saies it often, and Saint Peter too, that Christ suffered not, Christ offered not himselfe more then once; and by his Bloud shed but that once, purged sinne for ever.

Yet lest the Papist thinke me too refract, I will not deny utterly all power of purging to the Sacraments. Surely they purge, both Bap­tisme and Eucharist. Our Liturgie confesseth it. But the purge is my­sticall; it is the bookes terme: because the Elements in them both are the mysteries of Christs Death. Yea and Repentance too, is said to purge sinne, said in Scripture: but meerely meant, as it hath Reference unto Christs bloud. No man receives either Sacrament, or repents a­right; [Page 24] but Faith, like the bunch of Hysope in the Passeover, dips it selfe in Christs bloud, and besprinkles the Soule with it; and so pur­ges sinne.

To conclude, as God saies of saving, so Christ may say of purging, Non est preter me, there is no purgation of sinne, but Christs Bloud. Of this Act, he is sole Agent, sole Instrument. He had Simon of Cyrene to helpe him beare the Crosse; but he had not any to helpe him purge our sinnes. He bore the Crosse partly by another: but hee bore our sinnes wholly by himselfe. And therefore solely unto him, and to his Father, and the Holy Ghost, be worthily rendred all glory and thanks­giving, Nunc, & in secula.

This point hath yet one Adversary more; but he was not in his wits. One Barnardine O chinus: Who because Paul saith in the 20. of the Acts that God hath purchased the Church with his bloud, would have therefore God the Father, the Purger of our sinnes, as if his bloud were shed. And Petrus Gnapheus a madder man then he, who would joyne all the Persons compurgatours with Christ. For he held all three were cruci­fied. God the Father of Heaven, who as on this Day sent his Sonne to purge our sinnes, by his holy Spirit assure our Soules of our purgation. Vnto which sacred Persons of the Blessed Trinity, be, &c.

THE fittest argument for Christmas day is Christs Nativitie; but I have already twise preached of that Theame. I will therefore now intreate by Gods assistance, &c. Not of his carnall propaga­tion, which is from man, but of his eternall ge­neration, which was from God. The aime of the whole Chapter is the excellencie of Christ, compared with the Angels, but preferred farre before them for many high prerogatives. I have made choise of one, the fittest for this Festivall, the honourable and incomparable title of Gods Sonne, not communicated by God un­to any of his creatures. For unto which of the Angels said he at any time, Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee. A Text of Gods owne testimony, of Christs neerenesse unto God; not his servant, as was David, Psal. 89. Iuravi David servo meo. Not his friend, as was Abra­ham, Iames 2. 23. hee was called the friend of God, but his Sonne, Thou art my Sonne. His Sonne, not by creation, as was Adam, Luke 3. ult. Adam, who was the Sonne of God; Not by adoption, as are the Saints, Rom. 8. 16. Filij dei sumus, we are the sonnes of God: but by generati­on, This day have I begotten thee. [Hee said it not to men, though they be deare unto him; nay he said it not to Angels, though they be neere unto him. For to which of the Angels said God at any time, thou art my Sonne, this day have I begotten thee.]

The Text consisteth of three distinct members; the generall matter of them all is the attribute of Gods Sonne. The first removes it from the Angels [To which of the Angels said hee at any time.] The next conferres it upon Christ, [Thou art my Sonne] The third is added, either [...], for illustration, their being sundry sorts of sonnes; or [...] for demonstration; no proofe so pregnant for the sonnes assurance of his sire, as that hee hath begotten him. This day have I begotten thee. These are the generall heads of this Scripture, I will speake of them, &c.

For the first; No Angell? at no time? Surely it should seeme that Saint Paul is too peremptory. The Angell in the furnace. Dan. 3. 25. Is not hee called the Sonne of God? Then there is one. They in the first of Iob ver. 6. that are called the Sonnes of God, were they not Angells? All Expositors say they were. There then are many called so. Hap­ly you will say, that the Angell in Daniel, is not called the sonne of God, but onely said to be like the Sonne of God; and nullum simile est idem. So may I say of Christ, Iohn 1. 14. he is called not unigenitus, but quasi unigenitus, not the only Sonne of God, but as the onely Sonne of God, and yet he is indeed, and God saith it in my text, that hee is the Son of God. Comparative termes, both in the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures are not alwayes Similitudinis, but sometimes Certitudinis; and it is no question, but a point confest by all, that Angels in the Scrip­tures are called the sonnes of God.

How then? Is our Apostle, as the Athenians termed him, a [...], an Idle speaker? Saint Paul, qui soloecismos facit in loquendo, Hier. he that in his Grammar, and his Greeke, hath many incongruities; shall I say that he doth soloecise also in Divinitie, in denying the Angells to be called the sonnes of God, when the Scriptures say, they are? Surely the Angels are enstiled Gods sonnes; though sometimes Saint Chrys. said they are not (See Sist. Sen. lib. 5. p. 353. annot. 72.) so are they called, and so they are; but not in that acception, that Christ is cal­led Gods sonne. There are many sorts of sonnes. The aged person calls the young his sonne; so did old Eli, young Samuel. The master calls his disciples his sonne; [...], Pupills are called sonnes. lib. Si [...]hti. So were the young students in Gilgal and Ramah called the sonnes of the Prophets. Naamans servant calls his Lord, Fa­ther, 2 King. 5. The Preacher is the spirituall Father of his people; the name of sonnes doth not disparage them, for the King himselfe did call the Prophet so, 2 King. 6. And Kings are called the fathers of their countrie; their subjects are their sonnes. There is a sonne in law, the husband of my daughter: and there are sonnes by marriage, the chil­dren of my wife; beside sundry other sorts, which I cannot stand to cite, by Creation, by Generation, by Adoption, by Affection. Sonnes may be all these wayes. And by diverse of these wayes the Angels may be justly called the sonnes of God: Either as his creatures, hee is their maker, or as his servants, he is their Lord; or as his subjects, hee is their King, or s [...]cundum dictoaudientiam, as Iren. termeth it, for their obedience, or for his love, he is their gracious God; or for his age, for he is called the antient of dayes, and they Cherubims, that is, as chil­dren, or young men. But a sonne in that sense, in which Christ is called [Page 27] Gods Sonne, God never gave that title to any of the Angels. Saint Paul saith not, that the Angels are not any way Gods Sonnes; but asketh, Vnto which of them God said at any time, Thou art my Sonne, this day have I begotten thee? He onely denies them to be Gods begotten Sonnes. Christ in this acception is sonne to God: God hath no more but him; either before him, for he is Alpha, or after him, for he is Omega. We confesse it in our Creed, his onely Sonne our Lord. And the Scriptures expresse it often in that terme, [...], his onely begotten Sonne.

His onely begotten Sonne? Doth not our Apostle in the very next verse call him [...], Gods first begotten Sonne? Can Vnigenitus, and primogenitus be competible to one? Si solus, qui primus: si pri­mus, qui solus? If Christ be the first, then are there some besides, and if there be some more, then is not he the sole. A scruple of such force, that it put Epiphanius to a hard shift, on the first of Matthew, ver. ult. to say, Saint Matthew said not, filium primogenitum suum, but filium suum primogenitum; referring filium unto Mary, and primogenitum unto God. I call it a hard shift. For while he would not grant Mary had more sonnes, to save her Virginity, he maketh unwarily God to have more sonnes, a greater absurdity. For the advantage of the word apprehended by some heretickes to proove plurality of sonnes, is as pleadable against God, as against the Virgin. But though in common speech a first is lightly relative to a second: yet in the use of Scripture it is often otherwise; the first doth not imply other to come after, but it doth deny that any went before. And so is the terme to be taken in that place, and also in this Chapter. Christ is there Maries first begot­ten sonne, because she had none before him; and here he is also Gods first begotten Sonne, because hee had none before him. Vnigenitus & primogenitus are [...] in Scripture, they are of one signification. Gods first begotten Sonne, is the very same with his onely begotten Sonne.

Yet is not this enough. For is not Christ called Rom. 8. the first be­gotten among many brethren? Loe there Saint Paul saith plainly, that God hath more sonnes beside our Saviour; and Christ is therefore called primogenitus, because he hath more brethren. That Scripture hath many, and much different expositions; I will rest in this one, that Christ in his flesh is the first borne of them, whom God hath adopted through him to be his sonnes. Not that the adoption belonged not to them, that lived before Christs birth; but that as in the Revelations, he is called the Lambe slaine, so I may also say, he was a sonne borne be­fore the beginning of the world. As his condemnation, so likewise his incarnation was from everlasting in Gods decree. Iustly might he so be called Gods first begotten sonne among many brethren. That Pri­mogenitus of his manhood, is no prejudice to this Vnigenitus of his Godhead.

There is yet one scruple more: Saith not the Psalmist that man is little lower then the Angels? Men often in the Gospell are cald the Sonnes of God, not in a large acception, as the Angels were, but (as it should seeme) in the same sense with Christ, and so, when the Psal­mist calles lower then the Angels, I might say, that indeed they are [Page 28] higher then the Angels. The Angels are Gods Sonnes, but not like Christ, not his sonnes by generation. But it is said of men, Act. 17. Wee are his generation. It was a Poets speech, but Saint Paul hath made it Scripture, and how often doth Saint Iohn both in his Gospell, and in his first Epistle affirme of the faithfull, that they are borne of God. Borne, you will say, but not begot of God; for that terme is in my Text, This day have I begotten thee. But there being no distinction of sexe in the Deity, it is all one with God, to beare, and to beget. And yet let me tell you this withall, that though in your bookes, in your English Translations, and in the Latine too, you read it, (borne of God) yet in the Originall, it is, (begot of God.) And if all this will not serve, looke 1 Iohn. 5. 18. there shall you find the very terme in my Text, the righteous man said to be begot of God.

Now to remoove this scruple; first for the Poets speech, it is not to this purpose, that we are Gods generation, that is, his sonnes by ge­neration; but is meant of our soules, that they come immediately from the Lord. They are not like our bodies, either made of earth, as A­dams was, or bred of man, as all ours are; but they are the immediate workemanship of God, and (as the Latine Poet said) Divinae particula aurae, breathed into our bodies by the Spirit of God. They are Gods generation; but (as Saint Augustine saith) non natura, sed munere, not of his begetting, but of his bestowing: the generation is onely in­spiration, the breath of man is from the breath of God.

And for those termes of the Evangelists, borne and begot of God, which seeme more neerely to touch Christs title, they are not meant univoce; our birth and begetting is not like that of Christs; his from the substance of his Father, ours from the Spirit of his Father: the ge­neration is but his operation. Gods seed is in us, 1 Iohn 3. 9. another pregnant place to proove us Sonnes, Sonnes like to Christ. But that seed is not Gods substance, but his word. The Holy Ghost is the Fa­ther, out of the wombe of the Church, by the seed of the Gospell, he begetteth us unto God, and by the midwifry of his Ministers bringeth us forth his Sonnes, not by generation, but by regeneration. So that we are his Sonnes, not [...] nati, but [...] facti, not by begetting us, but by adopting us. The Sonneship is termed Gal. 4. 5. but [...], it is [...], as Peter Lumb. termeth it, factura, non natura, not by nature, but by grace, and therefore is no prejudice to Christs prerogative.

To conclude this first point; very honourable attributes are given to the Angels often in the Scriptures. They are in such place and grace with their Creatour, that he hath imparted his owne title unto them, and called them Gods. But Christs prerogative to be his Sonne, Christ hath reserved that title to himselfe. The Angels are Gods Nuntioes, their name betokens it; and you may proportion that honour by the Popes. They are Gods Servants, Psalme 103. ult, they are Gods Soul­diers, Luke 2. 15. his Servants and his Souldiers, but not his Sonnes. Christs meere peculiar, to be his Sonne, to be Gods begotten Sonne, gloriam meam, faith the Prophet, let me turne it, gloriam [...]am non dabo alteri; he will not give that glory unto any. Not to any Creature; no not to any Angell hath God said at any time, but onely unto Christ, [Page 29] Thou art my Sonne; and that is the next point in my Text.

The second member hath three termes, one of the Relation, it is a Sonne, and secondly of the Correlatives, under the pronominall notes, meus, and tu; Thou, i. Christ, Mine, i. Gods. For the first, will Christ robbe his Father? These words are said to David in the second Psalme Christ was the sonne of David: will Christ bereave his Father of his right, and a title appropriated by God unto his Sire, will the sonne im­propriate it unto himselfe? But Saint Paul in his Sermon ad populum Antiochenum, Acts 13. sheweth that this text is meant of the Messias; in type pretended unto David, but in truth intended unto Christ. For the words in the Originall are [...], and it is the observation of an Hebrew Rabbin, that Attah is one of the names of God; but a personall name, not common to the Trinity, but proper unto Christ; for it signi­fieth (saith he) [...] the wisedome of God; and the Apostle telleth us, 1 Cor. 1. 24. that Christ is Gods wisedome.

The person then is Christ; but what Christ? for there is Christus ho­mo, 1 Tim. 2. the man Christ, and there is Christus Dominus, Luke 2. 11. The Lord Christ. Both indeed are but one Christ. But we must di­stinguish betweene the natures. All this that hath beene said in the first point, is meant of Christ not as man, but as God. For as he was man, he had no father. Wee have fathers of our flesh, Heb. 12. 9. but Christ had none. The Apostle saith it plainely, Cap. 7. ver. 3. he was [...], i. without a father. And it is but a harsh speech, which Saint Augustine hath, Ipse homo, ex quo esse coepit, filius Dei unicus esse coepit, that Christs humanitie so soone as it had being, was presently Gods Son. Whence Servetus the Spaniard tooke the hint of his heresie, that Christ but then began to be Gods Sonne when he tooke flesh. I know the Angell said unto the Virgin, Luke 1. 35, that the holy thing which she should beare, should be called the Sonne of God. But what did shee beare? not [...], but [...], not a man onely, but God incarnate; in so much that the Ephesine Councell decreed, that she should be called the mother of God. As then Christ though being God, yet was called the sonne of Marie, in respect of his humanitie; so Christ though being man, yet was called the Sonne of God, in respect of his Dietie; which he had from him.

To end this, Gods Sonne is a title truly said of many, both of men and Angels, but so [...], concerning Christ, that in Saint Peters confession, Mat. 16. 16. to presse it the more powerfully, the Evange­list hath mustered foure articles together, you shall finde not lightly but once the like in Scripture, [...] Sic Iohn 6. 69. David thought it a great honour to be sonne to Saul, Is it a light thing, saith he, to be sonne in law unto a King? What glory is it then to be the sonne of God, 1 Sam. 18. 18. And it is Zanchies observation, that whereas [...] is a common appellation [...] is onely said of Christ.

The next terme in this member is the other correlative, Thou art my Son. A Pagan fathers it upon Salomon, that God hath no son. Aug. Ep. 49. quest▪ 5. Christ was the Son, God is the Father; a Father fit for such a Sonne; for who should father God, but God. I will not aske, which [Page 30] God, because there is but one. But yet there are three persons of that one God. The second is not hee; for so he should be sonne unto him­selfe, as Hermes called him [...]. The third is not hee, for the holy Ghost proceeds from him. But God the first person, and the fountaine of the Deitie, Christ is his sonne. We are Gods sonnes; but not the Fa­thers onely; all the persons in the Trinity have their right in that fa­therhood. But the first person onely is father unto Christ. Hee may say unto us also, that wee are his sonnes; but the holy Ghost and the Word may say it as well as hee. But unto Christ neither third, nor se­cond person, but the first alone can say, thou art my Sonne. I say the whole fraternitie of Gods Elect are sonnes to God. Yea the whole so­cietie of all mankind are sonnes to him. Nay, the universitie of all the creatures doe call him Father. Vnus pater omnium, there is one father of all, Eph. 4. 6. i. of all the faithfull. Thou art our Father, and wee thy handie worke, Esay 68. 8. it is meant of all mankind, and Iob 38. 28 He is the Father of the raine, and the dew droppes are his sonnes. Yea that which is more, the terme in my text appropriated to Christ, is there a­lienated to them, they are his begotten sonnes. But this Paternitie is a communitie; the Godhead hath three persons, and it is liable alike unto them all. But the first alone hath proprietie in Christ, and none but he can say; Thou art my Sonne. Saint Paul hath it expresly, Rom. 8. 22. hee calls him [...], his owne proper sonne. The Sonne is Father, and so is the Spirit, but onely of men. But the first person, as the Poet said of Iupiter, is [...], the Father not onely of men, but of God. It is ex altissimo patre genitura. Iren. lib. 3. cap. 21.

But saith not the Scripture, that Christ was Davids sonne? Doe not the Evangelists call Mary his mother? and the people aske, Nonne hic est filius fabri, Is not this fellow the Carpenters sonne? Nay doth not Christ himselfe call himselfe the son of man? The answer is easie. The rule of the Divines, distingue tempora, & concordabunt Scriptur [...], will serve with little change, distinguantur naturae, concordabunt Scriptur [...]. Mary was his mother according to the flesh, and Ioseph was her husband, and she of Davids line. The man Christ I say was descended of man, but the word Christ meerely is the Sonne of God.

To end this; Many with blind Bartholmew cald him sonne of David, but few with Saint Peter called him Sonne of God. But Christ hath built his Church upon this Rocke, that he is Gods Sonne, Manichaei & Marcionitae diaboli filium dicunt. Aug. tract. 43, in Ioan.

The last terme in this member, is the Title of relation, Thou art my Sonne, Christ is Gods Sonne. Saint Paul to the Corinthians, 1. 3. ult. telleth us in generall that Christ is Gods. But what is he of Gods? To be Gods servant, to be Gods friend are two glorious references, thought worthy of the two grand Worthies of the world, David and Abraham. But this relation is farre more honourable, to be Gods Sonne. Sundry eminent titles are conferred on Christ; but they are common also un­to us. Iustin Martyr cals him [...], the Apostle of God, so were many beside him. He is the holy one of God, Marke 1. 14. So are we. Psallite Domino sancti ejus, Psa. 30. He is the anointed of God, Luke 2. 26. So are we; Touch not mine anointed, Psal. 105. He is the Image of God, [Page 31] Col. 1. 14. So are we: In the Image of God Created he him. Gen. 1. 27. But to be the Sonne of God, is a title so peculiar to our Saviour in this sense, that not onely no creature, either man or Angell, but not the Holy Ghost himselfe may claime it; he is the spirit of God, but not the Sonne of God. The truth of it testified by a cloud of witnesses, God spake once and twise, as David saith, both at Christs baptisme, and when he was transfigured, This is my beloved Sonne. Christ often con­fesseth it, and calles him Abba Father. Mar. 14. 36. You heard before how Saint Peter cald him so; so doth the Angell before Mary. All Creeds in Christendome have received it: Nay heathens have proclai­med it: Sibyll in her Oracle cals him [...], the Sonne of the high­est; and the Romane Centurion cryed it at the Crosse, Doubtlesse this was the Sonne of God. Yea the devils themselves acknowledge it. What have we to do with thee, thou Iesus Sonne of God. Heaven, Earth, and Hell, you see doe witnesse it: What should I presse it further?

The third member of my Text is the explication of the second. Be­cause among men there are sundry sorts of Sonnes; yea all creatures are called Gods Sonnes in some acception; as Christ is there gene­rally said to be his Sonne, so here it is more specially expounded in what sense. This day have I begotten thee. Christ is Gods begotten Son. Arius granted him to be his Sonne, but by Creation; and all his fol­lowers granted him his sonne, but by adoption. But Saint Hilary dis­puteth it against the heretickes, and prooveth Christ Gods Sonne, ori­gine, non adoptione, nativitate, non creatione; not created, but begot­ten, not adopted, but his sonne borne.

For the former, Arius stumbling at the Greeke Text, Proverbes 8. 22. [...], the Lord created me, on that corrupt translation grounded his heresie, that Christ was a Creature. But the Hebrew is not so; and though it were, yet the Fathers doe avoid that absurdity many waies; I cannot stand to cite them. And had hee lookt a little lower, ver. 25. he might have found there the very terme in my Text, before the hilles, was I begotten. Christ was Gods Sonne, saith Arius, but [...], not borne so, but made so. But we learne by the Evangelist, that all things that were made, were made by Christ. Who then made him? He cannot say, his Father; for then hee made not all. But the Evangelist doubles it, that without him was made nothing, that was made; and I hope he will not say, he made himselfe. And therefore Peter Lomb. determines against Arius, that Christ was Gods Sonne, non factura, but natura, not by being made, but by being borne. Yea many ages before him, Athanasius in his Creed had said the same, begotten, not made. He was made the Sonne of Man, but he was borne the Sonne of God.

For the other, Christ (saith S. Hilary) is the Sonne of God, Verita­te, non nuncupatione, not in title but in truth. Had God but onely a­dopted Christ his sonne, then were he onely titular, not [...], but [...], and the Relation were but an Appellation. But both the Centurion at the Crosse, and the People in the ship, Matthew 14. 33. say of our Sa­viour, that he was [...], the Sonne of God in truth: not [...], but [...]. Cyril. Hierosol. Cateches. 10. not [...], A­thanasius, [Page 32] not adopted by grace, like us, but by generation, God is his Father, not dignatione, but prognatione, not by adopting him, but by begetting him.

By begetting him? then Saint Basils rule belike is false, [...], where is no beginning, there is no begetting. But Damascen teacheth to distinguish, [...], to beget, in God, is not meant of essence, but of subsistence, not of nature, but of person. The Godhead of the Word, as he is God is of himselfe, but the person of the Sonne is of the Father.

Hence naturally ariseth a controversed point betweene Bellarmine and Calvine, whether Christ be [...], God of himselfe. Calvine affirmeth it, the Iesuite denyeth it. The Creeds of the great Coun­cels, and the best of the Fathers doe seeme to make for him. For they say that Christ is Deus de Deo, God of God; and that the Sonne hath nought but of the Father. God saith in my Text, that he hath begot­ten him; and therefore Quicquid habet, Hilar. quicquid est, August. Whatsoever he is, or hath, it is of him. But all such sayings are to be understood, not [...], not of the substance, but of the person. The essence of God is [...]. Damasc. neither doth beget, nor is begotten. For we learne in Philosophy, that Actiones be Sup­positorum. Not the Deity of the Father begat the Deity of the Sonne, but the Person of the Father begat the Person of the Son. The Creed doth not say, deit as de deitate, but Deus de Deo, that God the Sonne is of God the Father, not his Godhead, but his Person. But say it did, for indeed some Fathers doe seeme to say as much, that even the substance of the Sonne is from the Father; yet they meane no more, then that the Father is the spring head of the Godhead, and that the Sonnes deity, doth come from him, but not Nascendo, but communi­cando; The Father did communicate his substance to his Sonne, but he did not beget it in his Sonne: for it is eadem Numero with the Fa­thers, and therefore could not be begotten. Else should the third per­son be sonnne also to the first; for his Godhead is from him, as well as Christs. For he is Fons totius Deitatis, say the Fathers, all Deity is derived from him.

To end this question, Christ is [...], God of himselfe, as he is the Word, but Deus de Deo, God of his Father, as hee is the Sonne. My Text doth determine it in an equall eare, Thou art my Sonne, this day have I begotten thee. The aime of the argument is at the person, not at the Godhead. Ego hodie genuit [...], this day have I the Father, begotten thee the Sonne.

The Law defines a Sonne, qui ex viro & uxore nascitur. A child must have two parents, a man to beget him, a woman to conceive and beare him. This is the manner of the sonnes of men; but the Sonne of God had onely a Father; and the terme in my Text is suting accor­dingly, I have begotten thee. I have begotten thee? May it not then be said, that Christ was borne of God? and doth Divinity tye us to that terme, the begotten Sonne of God? Indeed some superstitious censurers of late, fearing belike lest as Orpheus sometime said, that God was mas & foemina, so we should make him an Hermaphrodite, [Page 33] to be of both sexes, have utterly refused that phrase, and condemned it for strange Divinitie. A strange presumption to teach Gods Spirit how to speake. For not the Fathers onely, but the Scriptures also au­thorise us to say, that Christ was borne of God. For as Hillarie saith, Non est filius, qui non est natus, he is no sonne, that is not borne.

The spirit in the Scriptures was not so precise; who in describing Christs issue from his Father, hath drawne his Metaphors from the womans sexe, Prov. 8. 25. The Geneva Translators were too slight, Before the hills, was I begotten. The word hath neither the full life, nor the true sense of that in the Hebrew; it signifieth to bring forth, and that with paines, after the use of women. Shall I cause to travell, Et ipse non pariam, and my selfe not beare? saith the Lord. Nay, God disdaineth not to mention his wombe, Psal. 110. ex utero ante luciferum genui te. Birth, travell, and wombe, all taken from women. Yea this very verse, which seemeth here to favour them, if they looke it in the Hebrew in the second Psalme, they shall find it confuteth them. For howsoever the Seventie pleased to translate it, and Paul takes it from them; yet it is in the Originall, [...] This day have I begot­ten thee. The Fathers are full of the like phrases, for indeed as Saint Hilarie hath wisely determined it, Generatio & Nativitas, bearing and begetting is all one with God. And in the Creede of Constantinople, there is Natus ex patre, as well as Genitus. I am too long in this point; a word of the manner; and so I will leave it.

Generation is either [...], naturally, as it is in men; or [...] spiritually, as it is in God. In the former, but a part of the substance of the fire doth passe into the substance of the Sonne. But divine genera­tion communicateth the whole nature; for it beareth no partition. 2. The first, being a transfusion, the substance ceaseth to be the sires; but the latter being a communication, that which the Father impartes unto the Sonne, departes not from himselfe. 3. The former is acted out of the subject; the male begetteth out of the wombe of the femall. But in the Deitie, the father begat the sonne within himselfe, and there­fore Christ is said, Heb. 7. to be [...], i. without a mother. 4 In hu­mane generation there is alteration, there is motion, and passion, and diminution. But Gods begetting hath none of these; neither motion, for there is no time; neither passion, for there is no sexe, neither dimi­nution, for he hath no parts; neither alteration, for he cannot change. 5. In a word, in humaine generation, the sires substance, and the sonnes, it is the same in a sort, but yet it differs numcro. But in the Godhead, there is the very same and individuall substance in both persons.

There yet remaines one point in the adverbiall particle, to day. It is a terme of time, but here betokens the eternitie of Christs birth. [...], Philo. To day is a terme of eternitie. Rides Ariane; the Ari­an laughes at it, S. Aug. saith, and catcheth at the word to prove Christ to be a creature. But the terme in this text, saith the same Father, divinius accipitur, it is taken more divinely, and imports Christs generation to be from everlasting [...], Damas. l. 4. ca. 7. [...], ibid. You can not say, saith Aug. you cannot say of it, either erat, or erit, either yesterday it [Page 34] was, or to morrow it shall be, but that it is to day. For that which was, is not now: and that which shall be, is not yet; eternitie is a perpetuall nunc, an everlasting hodie; and therefore in Christs eternall generation, the act of Gods begetting is said to be, to day. For with God (saith Orig.) it is alwayes hodie; his day hath neither morning nor evening. Nunquam crastinus nunquam hesternus est dies, with God, saith Saint Aug. there is no yesterday, there is no morrow. For quod aeternum est, semper est, saith the same Father, eternall things are ever present.

Arius denied Christs eternitie, [...], there was a time, when hee was not. Servetus a Spaniard, burnt at Geneva in Calvins time, granted him eternall, but denied he was Gods Sonne till Mary bore him. This one word quelleth both these Heretickes, and coupleth in Christ, nati­vitie and eternity. Verbes and Adverbes of the present time are best expressers of eternity. Christs phrase hath shewed it, Iohn 8. 58. Be­fore Abraham was, I am. And the Lord bad Moses say, Exod. 3. I am hath sent me to you.

Briefely and plainely, the generation of Gods Sonne, is as ancient as Gods selfe. It is [...]. Nazian. transcendent to all time. The Sonne (saith Amphiloch.) is [...], with the father, without beginning, as well as he. For (as Athenasius teacheth in his Creed) there is no [...] in the Trinity; one person is not after nor before an o­ther. The sonne (saith Cyrill) is [...] before all ages. Not onely before Iohn, [...], He was before me, Iohn 1. 15. not onely before Abraham, Before Abraham was, I am: but ante omnes, before all men, Col. 1. 17. Nay it is better in the Greek, [...] before all things. Before the mountaines, Prov. 8. 25. I was conceived before the hills. Before the Starres; Psal. 110. ante luciferum genui te. Nay, [...], before all ages. So saith the Prophet, Mic. 5. Egressus ejus à diebus aeternitatis, his going forth, that is, his birth is from everlasting. To conclude, Christ is Gods eternall Sonne: Saint Ambroses Creed calls him, the everlasting Sonne of the Father: for filius antequàm natus erat, non erat. Hil. God is Christs eternall Father; for Sicut nunquàm erat non Deus, ita nunquàm erat non pater, Aug. as God was alwayes God, so was he alwayes Father. He alone, and no other, is both called, and is indeed the onely begotten Sonne of God, Euseb. li. 1. contra Marcellum, teste Socrate, lib. 2. cap. 21. To this eternall Father, and to his Son, and to the holy Ghost, &c.

THE kindest argument for Christmas day, is Christs Nativity; but I have already twise preached of that project. By your learned leaves, and reverend patience, I will now for­beare to touch his Incarnation, and turne my theme unto his Domination. That is the pre­sent purpose of the Apostle to presse Christs prerogative above the Angels, by a double preheminence, his Godhead, and his King­dome. His Kingdome commended by a twofold title, the firmenes of his Seate, and the straightnesse of his Scepter. These are the points conteined in this Scripture; Christs Deity, his Royalty, his Eterni­ty, and his Integrity. By Gods gratious assistance, and your favour­able patience, I will speake of them severally, and briefely, and as they lye in order. A love principium, I will beginne with his Divi­nity.

Iesus the Sonne of Mary, a King, and a God? treason and blas­phemy both at once in one Text? A dangerous Scripture to have been preacht unto the Priests; for they were the two pretences produced a [...] Christs arraignment, and pressed before Pilate, to bring him to his end. He had said, he was a King, Luke 23. and had made himselfe the Sonne of God. Iohn 19. 7. Yea the people also upbraided him with both, as he hung upon the Crosse. Let him come downe, if he be the Sonne of God, let him come downe, if he be the King of Israel. His [Page 36] Kingdome is my second point. But for his Godhead, ist not strange, that the Iewes should deny, that the Gentiles did confesse? that men should doubt of that, which the devils had acknowledged? Both the Romane Centurion proclaimed it at the Crosse; Doubtlesse this was the Sonne of God; and the feinds in the possessed cryed it in the way, What have we to doe with thee, thou Iesus Sonne of God? Publicans and Harlots will goe before you, said our Saviour: Nay I will speake like an O­rigenist, the devils themselves will goe before the Iewes into the King­dome of Heaven.

Why then doth our Saviour commonly and openly call himselfe the sonne of Man? It was partly of his lowlinesse, and partly of his love. He that scorned not our nature, disdained not our name. But Qui dix [...]t hominem, non negavit Deum; Christ when hee called him­selfe the sonne of Man, did not deny himselfe the Sonne of God. And justly might he chalenge God to be his Father; for God had chalen­ged him to be his Sonne; both at his baptisme, and when hee was transfigured. This is my beloved Sonne. The seed of David but the Sonne of God. Rom. 1. 3. Now Gods sonne is Gods selfe: for that which is borne of God is God. It is true, which Calvin said, though in an other sense, that Christ is [...], i. e. Christ is very God. His Incarnation will not disproove him; it will rather be a proofe. For it was the Word, that was incarnate, and that Word was God. The forme of a servant will not disparage him. In formam, servi transijsse, non est naturam Dei perdidisse, Hilar. The Word by taking flesh be­came the sonne of Man; but he did not therefore cease to be the Sonne of God. Forma servi accessit, non forma Dei recessit, August. he tooke unto him the substance of man, but he put not from him the essence of God. Even at the same time, when his entertaining of the man­hood made him lower then the Angels, by retaining of the Godhead made him equall to his Father, both [...], both in substance and power.

So he was, and so it behooved. For the greatnesse of Gods wrath, which was to be appeased, the sharpnesse of the curse, which was to be endured, and the hardnesse of the law, which was to be observed, re­quired the Messias to be more then a man. That God might be satis­fied, and man might be justified, the Mediatour that must goe be­tweene them both, must be both God and Man. Our Ghostly ene­mies, the devill, death, and hell, could not be conquered by a crea­ture. As he must be man, that should encounter them; so he must be God, that could discomfit them. So he must, and so he was, God as well as Man, and therefore called Immanuel, i. e. God with us, God and man, both together in one Person.

Sundry sorts of heretickes thought him [...], a meere and bare man: They turned [...], they yeilded him Divinity, but denyed him Deity. But the Apostle, &c. not only, Deus eratcum illo, Act. 10. 28, God was with Christ, but Deus erat in illo, there was a God in Christ. A God in Christ? So there is in us, who are not gods, est Deus in nobis, there is a God in us. But God in men is onely Spiritua­liter, but he was in Christ essentialiter, in us [...], but in him [...], [Page 37] Col. 2. 9. that is substantially and personally, but the Apostle telleth us, 2 Cor. 5. Deus erat in Christo, there was a God in Christ. That Godhead appeared, though covert in the flesh, yet overt in his actions; he declared his Divinity both [...], saith the Evangelist, both Miraculis and Oraculis, Tert. both by his doctrine and his miracles. Ne­ver man spake as he spake, Iohn 7. 46. Never man did, as he did. Matth. 9. 33.

There is much matter in the points behind, and indeed Christs King­dome is the maine marke of my Text; and therefore to end this: sonnes and their sires are of the same substance. Christ was determind in the Nicen Councell to be [...]; being Gods Sonne, to be also of Gods substance. Now Gods substance is God. It is an Axiome in Schoole Divinity. Quicquid est in Deo est Deus. Whatsoever is in God, is God. His Father and he were one, not onely unanimitate, as Auxen­tius said the Arian, but also deiformitate, saith Hilarie, not onely in the identity of will, but also in the verity of Godhead. And so much briefly of the first point of my Text the Godhead of Christ; I come unto his Kingdome.

Doe stables chamber Kings? doe mangers cradle Kings? a Beth­lehemite, a Nazarite, a Carpenter, a King? stables are stalles for beasts, and mangers cribs for Oxen. Bethleem the least of the thousands of Iu­dah, too base to beare a King. Nazareth so ignoble, that Nathanael said of it, Can any good thing come from Nazareth? And for Carpenters, it is a proverbe, tractant fabrilia fabri: more fit is for their handling a woodden rule, then a golden scepter. Yet Christ thus borne, thus brought up, thus profest, is heere by the Apostle avoucht to be a King. Avoucht? will some say: What meaneth then the Authour to con­ceale his name, as if his heart misgave him of treason against Caesar? That is not the cause. For Christ to be a King, as my Authour doth avouch it, so the Scripture doth averre it. David calles him so, Psalme 45. I speake of the things, which I have made unto the King. The Sonne of David calles him so, Cant. 1. [...] The King hath brought me into his pri­vy Chambers. The Prophet calles him so, Zachar. 9. 9. Behold thy King commeth. The Apostle cals him so, 1 Tim. 1. The everlasting King. Yea not the tongues of men onely, but of Angels also, doe ac­knowledge it, Luk. 1. 33. He shall raigne over the house of Iacob. Yea God himselfe confirmeth it, Psalme 2. 6. I have set my King upon my ho­ly hill, and Christ himselfe confesseth it; for so before you heard him charged by his accusers, Luke 23. that he had said, he was Christ a King. I will not say he said it; but if that silence seeme to be consent, both the people applauding him with the title; he refused it not, Luke [...]9. and the Iudge opposing him of the title, he renounst it not. And when he was examined by the Romane Deputy, he disclaimed not the title but answered, thou sayest it. Nay when the high Priest asked him, whether he were so; he plainely answered, that he was, Mar. 14. 62. Herod was affraid of it, and therefore made a massacre of all the Infants about Bethleem; Pilate an Infidell wrote it on the crosse, and the seale of a Caesar upon his grave stone might argue that a King lay buried un­derneath. What doe I presse a point approoved by us all? For in calling [Page 38] him our Lord, wee confesse he is our King; and what Christian ever praies, but he endeth his devotion, through Iesus Christ our Lord.

If Christ be a King, where then are his complements? Kings have their Crownes, their Thrones, and their anointing; Globes in their left hand, and Scepters in their right; the Robe royall, their Armes, and their Stiles; their Courts, and their Nobles, their Guard, and their Champion; swords are borne before them, and the people crie, God save the King. A goodly King, will some blasphemer say, some Lucian, some Porphyrie, some Iulian, some Iew. He wore a crowne, but made of thornes, and he bore a Scepter, but it was a reede; he was mounted on a throne, but it was the Crosse; and a title over it, but for a malefa­ctor; his Court some ship or mountaine, and his Nobles, Publicans and Fishermen; Peter his champion, but a silly maiden made him to forsweare him; a Purple garment was put upon him, and the souldiers knees were bent before him, and they cried unto him, but all in scorne, All haile King of the Iewes. Thou impious Atheist, knowest thou not that those complements are of Kings of this world? And readest thou not, Christs Kingdome was not of this world. And yet because thou urgest them, to prove Christ was no King, I say Christ hath them all, and therefore is a King. For Throne and Scepter, my text affordeth them; Thou Atheist understandest them not; but when Christ shall come to judgement, then shalt thou tremble before his throne, and be smitten into hell with the stroke of his Scepter. He beares his Vnction in his name, he was termed the Messias, i. the anointed, and wee call him Christ, because (saith the Psalmist) The Lord hath anointed him with the oyle of gladnesse above his fellowes. His Crowne, Apoc. 14. 14. not of thornes, but of gold. The world is his globe, and hee meates it with his fist, Esay 40. 12. Heaven is his Court, and the Angells his Nobilitie; and his Guard thousand thousands of Saints, and ten thou­sand thousands of Cherubims, Dan. 7. 10. His Armes are the Crosse; so the Fathers conster that Matth. 24. which himselfe calls the signe of the sonne of man. Daniel saw his Robe, a garment white as snow; his stile is on his thigh, Apoc. 19. 16. Rex regum dominus dominantium. His Word is his Sword, Heb. 4. 12. and his Martyrs are his Champions; and the people saluted him, as he rode into Ierusalem, with a solemne Ho­sanna, Luke 19. Benedictus Rex, Blessed be the King.

If Christ be a King, then what is his Kingdome? It it not like to king­doms upon earth. As he said of his peace, Ioh. 14. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you; so may he say of his power, not as the world raigneth, raigne I over you; his kingdome is spirituall. The Iewes confessing that their Messias was to be a king, thought Christ was not he, because his car­riage was not like a king. They thought he should dissesin Herod of his diademe, & throw Cesar out of his throne. But his dominion is supra, not contra, above Kings, not against Kings. It is the Churches Hymne, non e­ripit mortalia, qui regna dat coelestia, the kings of all lands are his Lievete­nants by him, and under him they rule their realmes; his people he sub­jecteth unto their scepters; only the supremacie reserves unto himself.

Nor was the end of Christs comming in the flesh presently to pro­fesse his princely jurisdiction. The drift of his descending was not ad [Page 39] judicandum, but ad salvandum, not to be a Iudge, but to be a Saviour. The nature of his office was engraven in his name, expounded by the Angell, Matth. 1. he should be called Iesus, for he should save his peo­ple. And yet it pleased him to shew sometimes some signes of his au­thoritie. As his sending for the Asse, without first asking leave of him that owned it; and his answer if the owner sticke at it, Dominus opus ha­bet; as if he should say, the King must use it. And his driving of the Merchants out of the Temple; a notorious presumption for a private man▪ besides some other particulars in the Gospell. But after his re­surrection hee plainely professed his imperiall power, by sending his disciples out into all Realmes, into the kingdomes of all Princes with­out their licence, as being a higher power than they. And now hee governes the world invisibly; even as a King being resident but in one place, yet is President in all; his palace but in one citie, but his power in all; so though his person abide among the Angels, and his seate be with the Saints, yet his power reacheth over all the world. Though his majestie be in heaven, yet his authority is on earth. His destruction of the wicked, and protection of his Church, do prove his princely power.

Christs Kingdome, I say, is not carnal, but spirituall; and yet not meere­ly spirituall. For as he hath his word, so hee hath his sword. As he that his spirit, which is the holy Ghost to confirme the faithfull: so he hath his spirits which are the holy Angels to confound the wilfull. The Pope saith he hath, but Christ indeed hath utrunque gladium, both the tempo­rall, and the spirituall sword; the one for the conversion of his children, the other for the subversion of his enemies. The sword of his mouth, i. his word beateth downe sin, the mouth of his sword, i. his vengeance eateth up sinners. His spiritual sword is forspirituall wickednesses, which are the devill and the flesh; it is his mouth sword-by his Preachers; you have it, Apoc 1. 16. this temporall sword, is for temporall enemies, which are the vexers of his Church; It is his hand-sword by his Angels; even his sword of two mouthes (my author cals it [...] (Cha. 4. v. 12. of two mouthes; i. edges, that is his two-hand sword; with the one side to de­feat their purposes, with the other to revenge the practises of the per­turbers of his people.

This Kingdome of Christs is more perfect and excellent, then ever was the Kingdome of any earthly Prince in five respects; the first, the right of his Title; the second, the fulnesse of his power; the third, the number of his subjects; the fourth, the soveraignitie of his Rule; and the fifth, the continuance of his raigne. I will speake of them severally.

For the first, his titles to his crowne are both moe, and more honou­rable; 1 his claime is fivefold; first for his hypostaticall, his personall union. In that the man Christ is also God; he is Lord of all creatures, whatsoever, wheresoever; that as when an earthly King is named, eve­rie subject doth his reverence; so at the name of Iesus every knee must bow, of things in heaven, in earth, and under earth. His second claime 2 is by right of redemption. For the Civilians have a rule, Emptum cedit in jus emptoris. Surely if sinne subjected us to Sathan, and the Devill plead his Conquest, to prove himselfe our King, by winning us from God; Christ that hath rescued us by his power, and recovered us by [Page 40] his price, hath more right to be our Lord. His third title is by inheri­tance. Is not the sonne of man, also the Sonne of God? And is not the Father Lord of all the creatures? If then he be his Sonne, he also is his heire. It is Saint Pauls argument: and you heard it also in the Epistle, that the Father hath made his Sonne heire of all things. The onely rubbe that might be in this reason is, if God had more sonnes, and Christ were not the eldest. But he is both unigenitus, Gods onely be­gotten Sonne, he hath no moe; and if he had, yet is he also primogeni­tus, his first begotten Sonne, vers. 6. hujus cap. His fourth plea, is of Merit, In that hee satisfied his Fathers wrath, and recompenst the wrong, which we had done Gods honour by his owne death; hee de­served all the honour, which his father might doe him. Yea both his active merit, his obedience of the Law, and his passive merit, his pati­ence on the Crosse; his absolute obeying of the Law, and his resolute abiding of the Crosse have duely deserved it. His last right is by Donation. The gift is promised, Psal. 2. Tibi dabo, I will give; and it is performed, Matth. 28. Mihi data est, All power is given me. Christ tooke possession, when hee tooke flesh; that was his induction, my Au­thor calls it so, vers. 6. and though the Priests disclaimed him, Iohn 19. Wee have no King; yet the people proclaimed him, Luke 19. Benedi­ctus Rex, blessed be the King. The devill proffered him all the kingdomes of the earth, an other Tibi dabo, Matth. 4. 9. but that gift was naught; for they were none of his. But here the owner is the doner. Gods is the Kingdome, and he gives it to his Sonne; and if mens Patents be of force, Gods Magna Charta is much more. The people would have made Christ King, Iohn 6. 15. but he would not take it of them, but of God. And therefore his Father calls him his King, Psa. 2. I have set my King, and the Evangelist seconds it, Luke 2. 26. he calls him the Lords Christ. That as Princes and Prelates have their places divina digna­tione, so Christ hath also his, divina donatione. That as Charles our earthly King writeth in his stile, Charles by the Grace of God King of three lands: So Christ our heavenly King may write in his stile, Iesus by the gift of God King of all lands.

The second excellencie in Christs Kingdome, is the fulnesse of his power. The power of earthly Kings hath limitation. Their subjects are not bound to obey them in all things. Their lusts are listed by their lawes. But Christs power is peremptorie; quod volumus, sanctum est: what he bids, must be: what he forbids, his subjects must not doe. The commandes of Kings have many exceptions; but Christs authoritie is absolute and infinite.

The third consideration, is the number of subjects. It is the Wise mans word, Prov. 14. that the multitude of people is the honour of a King. Mens kingdomes have their bounds, and their rule doth reach no further then their Realmes. But Christs Kingdome is in all countries, and all people subject to his power. Sesostris King of Egypt called him­self [...], the Monark of the world. But Christ indeed is [...], an Oecumenicall King. So saith the Psalmist, the whole world is his in­heritance, and his possession, the ends of the earth. For though his king­dome be not of the world, Ioh. 18. yet the kingdome of the world is his, [Page 41] Apo. 11 Nay more than that, Kings are commanders but of those that live, the dead are out of their dominion. But Christ, as at the last day he shall be Iudge both of quicke and dead; so in the meane time hee is King both over quicke and dead. For the soules of the Saints are sub­ject to his Scepter. Nay more than that, the mightiest Monarke is but ruler over men; but Christ is Lord also over the Angels. Both Michael and his Angels, and the Dragon and his Angels owe alledgeance unto him The one doe worship him, Heb. 1. 6. the other doe feare him, Iames 2 19. both do serve him, Heb. 1. 7. And therfore as the Pope doth weare a triple crowne, to signifie his threefold power, in earth, in heaven, and in Purgatorie: so Christ, who indeed hath regall authoritie, both in earth, heaven, and hell, is seene in the Apocal [...]pse, 19. 12. to have many crownes upon his head.

The fourth prerogative in Christs Kingdome, is his suremacie. Some Kings have controllers upon earth. The Spartanes had officers that might call their King to count, that might summon him, and cen­sure him. The Romane Tribune might arrest the Consuls, who were in Rome as Kings. But Christs Kingdome is uncontroleable; what he will, hee workes, and none may say unto him, quid agis, What dost thou? In earth on King is vassall to another. So was Herod unto Caesar, and so are many Kings unto the Turkish Emperour. But Christs Scep­ter hath no superiour; hee is no homager unto any; for his Diademe hath no dependance. Nay all Kings doe homage unto him; the Kings of Tharsis, and the [...]sles do [...] bring him presents, the Kings of Arabia and Sa­ba doe bring him gifts. Nay, all thrones are but his footstooles, and all crownes doe crouch to Christ, both in earth Kings fall before him, Psal. 72. 11. and in heaven the elders throw downe their crownets be­fore his throne, Apoc. 4. Hee is [...], saith Damascene, all might and domination, all power and principalitie is under him, Ephe. 1. 21. his Scepter is superlative, and his supremacie is above all sove­raigntie. In a word, his stile is embroidered on his robe, and his title on his thigh, Rex regum, & dominus dominantium, Lord of Lords, and King of Kings. Indeed the Turkish Sultan hath the one in his stile, Domi­nus dominantium, and Syrus the Persian had the other on his tombe, Rex regum. But these did but usurpe; as the haughtie hearts of man will leave the Lord no title. Nay the Emperour of Constantinople was wont to beare foure Bees in his Scocheon, in every quarter one, to signifie his su­premacy [...], that is, a King of Kings raigning over all that raigne. But Christ onely indeed is the supreme soveraigne, and the Arch-Emperour over all Kings. Heathens conceive it not; but Christian Kings confesse it; and therefore as servants doe weare their Lords cognisance, so doe they set the Crosse, which is Christs cog­nisance, on the crest of their crownes.

The fifth and last perfection, is the continuance of Christs Kingdome, and is the next point in my text. Thy seat O God endureth for ever. Thy throne? Heaven is his throne; it endureth not for ever. Himselfe hath said it, that heaven and earth shall passe, But heaven is not meant here; the terme is metonymicall and meaneth his regiment; it endu [...]eth for ever. There are two causes of Kings non-continuance, Death, and [Page 42] Disturbance Death unheads the crowne, or force uncrownes the head. I name not Resignation, because it is voluntary.

For the first, the raigne of a King determines at his death; his rule ceaseth, when himselfe deceaseth, and the expiring of his Ghost is the period of his power. Christ dyed indeed, but yet he kept his Kingdome, because he dyed not. What (will you say) did not Christ dye? saith not the Creed, he did: say not the Scriptures also, that he did? this is palpable heresie. I say againe, Christ dyed not; and yet I crosse not either Creed or Scripture. They say he dyed, and so say I; but I say he lived too, and so say they. For death and life are not contradicto­ry in Christ. Moriebatur, & non moriebatur. Ambro. Emisit spiritum, non amisit. i. e. Had he beene [...], but a meere man, he had lost his Kingdome with his life. But Saint Paul telleth us as you heard be­fore, Deus erat in Christo, there was a God in Christ. There was Chri­stus homo, The man Christ, 1 Tim. 2. and there was Christus Dominus, the Lord Christ, Luke 2. 11. Christ was both quicke and dead at once, because he was both God and man at once. The man Christ dyed, but the Lord Christ lived. He dyed but in part, the living part kept still the Kingdome. Though the parts of his manhood, his body and his soule were severed by death; yet his Godhead continued united still unto them both. His Kingdome was tyed to neither of his natures, but to his Person. That Person remaining still whole for all his death, he could not lose his Kingdome.

Kingdomes remoove from man to man by death. But Christs King­dome is like unto his Priesthood, its [...], Heb. 7. 24. not con­veighable to others by succession. As his Miter, so his Scepter, the one slippeth not from head to head, the other slideth not from hand to hand. The reason is there rendred, His raigne is for ever, because his life is for ever. As he weare the one, so he beares the other for ever­lasting.

For the second cause of non-continuance, which was disturbance. Kings are sometimes un-kingd. Either intruders at home despoile them of their Diademes, or invaders from abroad thrust them from their Thrones. There is a law entitles every man to a crowne, yea though it be already upon an others head. Polybius calles it [...], the law of hands. If the aspirers sword be sharper, and his arme be stronger, he relies upon that law, Qui potest capere, capiat, catch it, who can; if he can winne it, he will weare it. But Christ who is Almighty, Apoc. 1 8. hath none mightier then himselfe. The strong man in Christs Parable, Luke 11. keepeth his palace, till a stronger then he commeth, and overcommeth. But there is no [...], none stronger then Christ, 1 Cor. 10. 22. His palace is impregnable, no strength on earth can stirre his Crowne, nor wrest his Scepter out of his hand. Daniel avoucheth it before a King, even the mightiest then on earth, that Christs King­dome should never be destroyed, nor his Dominion be given to an other. What ground Tertullian had to say the Romane Empire should stare in seculum, should stand for ever, I doe not know. All Empires have had their ends. But the continuance of Christs Kingdome is grounded on Gods Word, and that repeated often, that his Throne is for ever.

Is Christs Throne for ever, and as Gabriel said to Mary, of his King­dome shall there be no end? How then saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. that there shall be an end? and Christ shall at length deliver up his Kingdome? It is indeed a Scripture apprehended by the Arians to dis­proove Christs Div [...]nity; but answered with ease. That which is there said of Christ, is meant onely of his manhood. Our late writers answer so. But be it that Saint Paul meant it of Christs Godhead. Christ shall not so give up the Kingdome to his Father, that himselfe shall cease to raigne. The Fathers answer so: All Power (saith our Saviour) both in Heaven and Earth, is given me of my Father. Shall I therefore say, the Father was quite stript of it himselfe? Nay, but as the Kingdome, which the Father gave the Sonne, is called the Fathers Kingdome ne­verthelesse, Math. 26. Non ita tradet, & ipse, amittat, August. So Christ shall returne it, and yet retaine it too; and as Saint Ambrose speaketh, ipsius datio, is not suiipsius fraudatio. It was a communicati­on it was not an abdication. It is a tradition, it is not a perdition.

Haply this doctrine may seeme absurd to some, and it may be you will aske me, as Mary did the Angell, quomodo fiet istud, how may this be? I say with Saint Ambrose, that regni traditio is not regnandi de­fectio, our Saviour shall resigne his raigne, and yet himselfe not cease to raigne. For two things are contained in the terme of raigne, Vnctio & Functio, that is, Dominion, and Execution; Regem esse, & Regem agere, to have the place and dignity of a King; and to doe the part and duty of a King. To weare the Crowne, to beare the Scepter, to sit up­on the Throne, and to have the peoples knees bended before him, this is to be a King. Christ in this sense shall raigne for ever, he shall not re­signe this honour to his Father, but shall raigne for ever with his Fa­ther. For his Fathers Throne disturbes not his, Apoc. 7. 21. there are both their Thrones at once. But the functions of a King, to sit in judge­ment, to reward deservers, to punish evill doers, to rescue the oppres­sed, to fight with the enemy, Christ in this sense shall cease to raigne after the day of judgement, which is the last act of his Kingdome, and shall deliver up the Kingdome to his Father.

The Elect are Gods Kingdome, their soules and bodies both are his 1 Cor. 6. Sathan plaies Rex with the one, and so doth sinne; Death doth domineere, and the World doth tyrannize over the other. God hath committed this Kingdome unto Christ, the Father to the Sonne, to the Sonne incarnate, by his merits, by his sufferings, by his Word, and by his Spirit to recover his people, and to subdue those usurpers. This worke will not be fully wrought untill the resurrection, when Death the last enemy shall be discomfited. Then Christ shall present the Elect unto his Father, which the Apostle calleth the delivery of his Kingdome. For when the Church Militant, shall become triumphant, the Father then shall raigne in the Saints by himselfe. He raigned be­fore, but by his Sonne; he was his Delegate, and Vice-roy in his stead. But then his Scepter shall be surrendred, and the Father imme­diately shall raigne by himselfe.

Desire to be conceived makes me long in this; to end it; Christs endlesse Kingdome, never to determine, as the Iewes confesse of the [Page 44] Messias, either [...] or [...], endlesse in this World, and endlesse in the next, made the Apostle call him, 1 Tim. 1. 17. Regem se­culorum, the King of Worlds. The Scripture is rich in this position: the continuance of Christs Kingdome. But I doubt I have sat too long up­on his Seate, I will now proceed unto his Scepter.

Are not all Scepters right? Though some Kings are not, yet all Scepters are. But as the Throne before was put for regiment, so by the Scepter now is meant the governement; and Kings Scepters are too often crooked in that sense. The Tragedian said truth ad recta flecti regius non vult tumor, a crooked Scepter is of too hard a mettall to be beaten straight [...], Soph. it is not easie for a Ruler to be just. Beside his owne affections, which are strong in Kings, hee shall have tempters too, who will egge him on, and urge him with Iesabels argument, Art thou a King! But Christs Scepter is right and straight. He is the righteous branch, that God would raise from Davids root, the rod that should rise out of the stocke of Iesse; that should exe­cute judgement and justice upon earth. His reines should be girt with truth, and righteousnesse should be the cincture of his loines.

Blasphemous Israel charged him with injustice, Ezech. 18. and said in their mutinie, his wayes were unequall. But the Psalmist saith, his pathes are straight, and the Lord is righteous in all his wayes. Yea Christs Scepter is so exceeding straight, and his judgements so exactly just, that Psalme 67. the report of his righteousnesse is applauded with a Selah, a note of acclamation; nay his justice Psalme 9. 16. hath two acclamatory notes, Higgaion Selah, the like is not found in all the Scrip­ture; as worthy both of present admiration, and perpetuall meditati­on. In a Word, his justice is so generall, that it filles the Earth; Yea the Heavens saith the Psalmist, [...]ing of his righteousnesse. The Har­pers sing it, Apoc. 15. 3. and the Angels say it, ibid. 16. 5.

The time will not let me prosecute this poin [...]; I must breake it off abruptly. Christ is the true Melchizedech, i. e. the King of righteous­nesse. To him, our God, our King, everlasting, and righteous, together with God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be duly ascribed, Divinity, Roialty, Eternity, Equity, in Secula.

Blessed be God, whose seate is for ever, and the Scepter of his Kingdome, a Scepter of Righteousnesse.

THIS Verse which I have read, and the o­ther next before containe the joyfull Embas­sie of the birth of Christ, brought by an An­gell to the shepheards of Bethleem. The for­mer I handled the last yeare on this day; the newes of Christs Nativitie. Gods heavenly Herald began his Oiez there; that verse hath the Proeme of his Proclamation. Eve­rie word in it maketh him way unto atten­tion. In manner of a crie, he beginneth with an Ecce, that is the Oiez. He bringeth tidings; the name of newes commandes the audience of the eare. The qualitie of the Crier, being an Angell, much encreaseth it; Behold I bring. The tidings are of joy, which are ever welcome; and the greater, the more. The Ioy not im­pertinent, but concerneth them; Behold I bring to you. And as every good King, quo communius est, eo melius est, the more common it is, the more it is welcome too; it is unto all people. Now this verse which I have read, hath the narration of those tidings; there they were pro­pounded, there they are expounded. Every word tending to the proofe of the theme there generally premised. For what are those tidings of such joy, and to so many? [The conjunctionall particle brings them on [Page 46] in their order, to be taken in this place, not causative, but narrativè [...], namely, and to wit; that is, saith the Angell: What is?] First, Natus est, there is borne. We hold it just occasion for to joy a Parent, when a child is borne. Abraham and his wife, but at the promise of a child, were ravished with such joy, that they burst out into laughter. In so much that God set the signe of their passion in the name of their sonne, and called him Isaac, which signifieth laughter. Yea the word hath yet more, for the enlarging of this joy, the sexe of the child, natus est, a male child is borne; a matter of such moment to the mother of the infant, that her joy, that a man is borne into the world, makes her pre­sently forget the grievous paines and anguish of her travell. Secondly, to you; lest the shepheards might reply, cui bono, to whose good is it? the Angell preventeth them: the joy did reach to them, for the birth concerned them, [There is borne to you.] Thirdly, this day; the very name of newes is pleasing to the eare; and the newer they be, the welcomer they be: the tidings of the Angell are of a fresh occurrent; and the newes, as we use to speake in common phrase, they are as new, as day: there is borne to you this day. Fourthly, a Saviour. To men in dolour, in danger, in distresse: what newes so delightfull, as the noise of a Deliverer? Fifthly, which is Christ the Lord. That a child was borne, borne to their good, that very day, that should be their Saviour; all these strong motives of conceit of joy. But that that new borne Babe, was the Messias; whom they had long looked for, long longed for; and that Messias was also a God; the Scripture is silent; but me­thinkes I should conceive, that as old Iacob at the newes of Ioseph, whom he had thought had beene long before devoured, when his sonnes as­sured him, not onely of his life, but also of his honour and authoritie in Egypt, his spirits failed him, and he fainted for joy; so these silly shep­heards at the birth of him, whom they so much desired, with the sud­den flow of superabundant joy at once, their hearts could not hold, but they fell into an extasie. Sixthly and lastly, In the citie of David. It skills not smally to the encrease of joy, to lay the object of it neere. The wise men of the East were faine to come from farre to visite Christ. The shepheards needed but to goe into the towne, hee was borne in Bethleem, hard by the fields, where their flockes were now pasturing. This is the context and coherence of this Scripture with the verse before.

Now the points which I propound to entreate of at this time, not in the order of your English bookes, but as they be ranked in the Origi­nall, 1 are these; Christs Incarnation, there is borne. Our benefite; it is 2 for us. The Instance of Time; it is this day. The end of Christs com­ming; 3 to be a Saviour. His Messias-ship; hee is Christ. His Divinitie, 4 Christ the Lord, And the place of his Nativitie, it is the citie of David. 5 Much matter couched in a few syllables, and as was sometimes said of 6 Thucydides stile, [...], the least word hath meaning of 7 great moment. Of these seven particulars, or of so many of them, as the shortnesse of the houre, and the weakenesse of my voyce will let, by Gods gracious assistance, &c. I will speake of at this time severally and briefely.

For the first; it is a point profounder, then mans shallow reason may presume to reach Gods descending unto Incarnation, is transcending mans imagination. Man that is blind in many workes of nature, shall he presume to pry into the God of nature. The point here propounded is the Lords birth; how shal I dare speake of it, it beseeming not the ser­vant, as Saint Cyprian saith, de Natalibus Domini disputare, to be so bold as to reason of the birth of his Lord. But there is, saith Saint Bernard. Laudabilis Curiositas, a commendable Curiosity in the sober search of Mysteries. Christs incarnation, though it cannot demonstrari, yet it may illustrari, though it cannot be expressed how it is, yet it may be expoun­ded what it is. It is the comming downe of the glorious Sonne of God, into the base wombe of a poore simple Virgin: there forming of her seed, first sanctified by his Spirit, and so free from sinne, a humane substance, and uniting that nature unto his blessed Godhead into one individuall and personall subsistence; bred of her flesh, without the helpe of man; fed of her substance until the day of birth, and now borne of her body, by the way of all Infants. The Scripture is rich in the proofe of these particulars, were it that I preached unto hereti­call hearers, such as in times past have impugned Christs huma­nity.

Now that God should vouchsafe to debase himselfe thus farre, to dis­parage his Divinity by the union of our flesh; and how his sacred Deity could close into one person with the humane nature, that is [...] and [...], saith St. Cyrill, speech cannot expresse it, thought cannot con­ceive it. Secretum meum mihi, Secretum meum mihi, saith the Lord, God hath reserved those secrets to himselfe. Every sober Christian must (as St. Basil wisheth) [...], rather se­riously adore the doer, then curiously enquire the manner. For as saith the same Father, [...], the manner is above enquiry; our Saviours Incarnation is beyond examination. The secret of our Savi­ours sacred Nativity, nec Apostolus didicit, neither Apostle learned it, neither Prophet sounded it, neither Angell understood it, saith Tertul. Luther was wont to say, God will not haue us Quaerists; I may better say in this, God will not have us quomodists. For why Christ was In­carnate, the Scripture hath reveiled that, but how he was incarnate, the Scripture hath concealed that. Indeed the Virgin Mary was bold to aske the question, Luke 1. 34. Quomodo fiet hoc? how may this be? But her question respected not Christs Divinity, but her Virginity; soli­citous not of the copulation of his Godhead, but of the violation of her Maydenhead.

Thus then the Lord of Glory tooke unto himselfe the shape of a Ser­vant, the Word who was God, homini coinfantiatum est, saith Irenaeus, became an Infant to be made Man. Man was first made after Gods I­mage; but now God was made after mans Image. God said of man in Irony, behold man is become like one of us; but we may say of God in earnest, behold, God is become like one of us. The saying of the Poet cited by Saint Paul, was, [...], we are Gods generation; but we may turne it now into [...]; God is our generation, God and man have enterchanged titles; Man is called the Sonne of [Page 48] God, Luke 3. 38. and God is called the Sonne of Man. The ancient of dayes is now become an Infant, made of a woman, whom himselfe had made; borne in those armes, which he had framed, and sucketh those brests which he had filled.

We wonder now no more at the Creatures, the earthes hanging in the aire, the bounding of the sea, the bottles of Heaven, and the wheele of nature; by which as Hilary speaketh, quaedam arent, quaedam virent, all things doe duely keepe their course. But now we wonder at the Creator; [...], Basil. the great God became a little Childe, the Lord of glory in a Virgins wombe; the founder of the world rocked in a Cradle, the Almighty swathed in Infants clouts, and he that is Regens sydera, the sterner of the starres, to be Sugens vbera, August. to sucke a womans brests, it is [...], Nemes. a most incredible thing. The Word, who is God, to become Flesh; God who is a Spirit, to assume a body, Majesty to put on mortality, God to become man, this is indeed, as the Poet speaketh, [...], to turne up side downe, this is I say indeed, as we speake in proverbe, heaven and earth to goe together.

In the workes of nature, there is yet some reason, in which the cu­rious searcher resteth in some measure. But in this mystery of Gods In­carnation, there is nothing but wonderment. The wit not able to con­ceive it, the tongue may cry out, O Altitudo, Oh the depth of the wisdome, and the power of God. A Virgin to compasse a man, Ieremie calleth it a new thing in earth; nay a Virgin to compasse a God, it may be termed a new thing in Heaven; worthy the wonder of the Angels; yea were it not, God saith, Gen. 18. that nothing can be wonderfull to him, worthy the wonderment of God himselfe. It is his worke, his strange worke, his act, his strange act.

To shut up this point, God manifested in the flesh, the Apostle cals it a great mystery. If any shall moove questions, how it could bee, [...], saith Iustine Martyr, faith must dissolve them. And yet, saith Saint August. Christs Incarnation, though it be not dicibilis, yet it was visibilis. Though we know not, how it was; yet we doubt not, that it was. Saint Iohn tels us plainely in the beginning of his first Epistle, that the eye saw it, and the hand felt it. And his sleepe, his teares, his hunger, his thirst, his agony and his death, all pregnantly prooved it. If any be yet curious, and desire to know the manner of the Incarnation; as the Angell answered Manoah, enquiring of his name, Why askest thou my name, seeing it is wonderfull, so say I unto him, Why enquirest thou the manner, seeing it is a mystery? For as Athanasius speaketh, [...]; a Mystery re­veiled, is no more admired; might the manner be made knowne, it were not then a wonder. Tu ratiocinare, ego mirabor, tu disputa, ego cre­dam, August. in an other case; it is a mystery; doe thou dispute it, if thou wilt; I will beleeve it, I will admire it, I will adore it. And so much for, &c.

The next thing I propounded, was the benefit of Christs Birth; for it followeth in my Text, There is borne to you, natus est vobis. As some­times the Priests said unto Iudas, so might the Shepheards have said [Page 49] unto the Angell, [...], you tell us of a birth; but what is that to us? The pronominall terme is indifferently here meant either to the shepheards personally, or to the Iewes nationally, or to all mankind ge­nerally. For if, as the Christians say, Favores be ampliandi, the favours of the Law must be expounded with the largest, the grace of the Gospel must much more be consterd so. Christs birth it was for them; behold (saith God) to Sion, thy King commeth unto thee, Zach. 9. 9. but it also was for us; Puer natus est nobis, A child is borne to us, Esay 9. 6. Vnto whom God promised him, to them he performed him. The promises pertained to the Iewes, Rom. 9. 4. but they also pertained unto us. For as we are inserted into their stocke, so are we nourished from their root; and Abrams seede, which is this babe now borne, hath brought a bles­sing to all nations upon earth.

And as to all Nations, so to all conditions. Both to male and female; hee was borne in mans sexe, but made of womans seed, that hee might save both; that not man onely might say with the Prophet, I will waite on God my Saviour, Mic. 7. 7. but the woman also might sing with the Virgine, my spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour. Both to young and old; as hee lived to perfect age, so to intitle the elder unto Paradise; so was he borne a little infant, that of such might be the king­dome of heaven. Both the poore and rich; the stable was his chamber, the litter his bed, and the cribbe his cradell, that the poore may not despaire to be in Abrahams bosome; and the wise men of the East pre­sented him with gold, that the rich may understand, that this day sal­vation is come unto their house. The Lord is no respecter of persons; as well the bondservant, that grindeth at the mill, as the King that sits upon the throne, is benefited by Christs birth.

The reverend Fathers of the Nicene Councell, thought this little pro­nowne worthy of their Creed; that for us men, and for our salvation Christ was incarnate, and was made man.

Christs birth was for us; Socrates Apophthegme was, Quae supra nos, nihil ad nos. But Christs birth, though it be supra nos, yet it is ad nos, though it surpasseth our conceit, yet it maketh for our benefit. Platoes proverbe, Nemo sibi nascitur, no man is borne onely for himselfe, but for his countrey, his parents and his friends, can not be said so truely of any, as of Christ. Hee was not borne at all for himselfe, but meerely for others. All his doings, all his sufferings, they were for us. For us he did the Law, for us he had the Law. Both his active obedience, his fulfilling of the Law, was in our names; and his passive obedience, his sustaining of the Crosse, was in our stead. Both his Incarnation at the first, Puer natus est nohis; a child was borne for us; and his condemna­tion at the last, filius datus est nobis, Gods Sonne was given for us, Esay 9. 6. And so much also for the second Point.

The third thing in my text, is the time of Christs birth: Natus est hodie, there is borne to you this day. The appearance of the Angell to the shep­heards at this time, it is to bring them newes of Christs birth. Newes have their name, à novitate; they are not newes, if they be stale. Christ being borne in the night, as the storie seemes to signifie, God differres not the tidings till the next day, but presently dispatcheth his [Page 50] ministring Spirit, and the Angell at the instant beares the newes unto the shepheards. Many dayes, many yeares, many ages had the Iewes waited long for the comming of the Messias. His Father often promised him, to Adam, to Abraham, to David. Balaam and Moses, and many later Prophets had foretold hee should come. The length of the delay might have forced the Iewes in regard of the former, to have said with the mockers, 2 Pet. 3. Where is the promise of his comming? and for the later, that in the fifth of Ieremie; Prophetae prophetant mendacium, the Prophets prophesie lies. Himselfe had said in Davids time, Psal. 40. 8. Ecce vemo, Behold I come; and yet there had passed above twentie gene­rations, and hee not come. When now faith was enfeebled by long looking after him, and hope began to faint even among those, who waited and watched for the redemption of Israel; then came the joyfull Embassie of the blessed Angell, and brought unto the shepheards the newes of Christs Nativitie.

The comming of Christ, the Patriarkes desired it, Prophets and Kings desired it, yea Angells desired it, 1 Pet. 1. But times and seasons are not at mans election, but at Gods prescription; the time of Christs Incarnation, fore set by Gods predestination, and the Lord performeth, as the Iewes speake in their proverbe, [...] every thing in his just time. Christs comming was not in the first age of the world; God onely promised him unto the Patriarkes; nor in the middle age, David and the Prophets onely foretold of him. But God sent his Sonne in the fulnesse of time, Gal. 4. 4. in the last dayes, Heb. 1. 2. When as now neither God himselfe appeared, nor Angell descended, nor Prophet remained, then the Word incarnate thought it time for him, to say that in the Psalm, Ecce venio, Loe I come. The expectation of the Gentiles, and the longing of the Iewes, long was he looked for, now at length hee is come.

There is borne to you this day: there are two birthes of Christ [...], saith Theophylact, Christ hath two goings forth; one of his Godhead, Egressus ejus à diebus aeternitatis, Mic. 5. the birth of his deitie is from everlasting. The other of his manhood, and that is at this time. Now is sempiternus become hodiernus, Aug. he that from ever­lasting is the Sonne of God, began this day to be the Sonne of man. The Poets have a god, whom they call Bis genitum, for so they faigne Bacchus to be twise borne. It were a wonder, if it were a truth. But the Poets stories, Cato tells us, are miranda non credenda, wonderments, but figments. But Christ is so indeed, Gods unigenitus is bis genitus; hee that first was Gods onely begotten Sonne, is now the Virgins first be­gotten sonne: both a wonder, Can a man, saith Nicodemus, be borne the second tine? and a truth, for it is Gospell.

This he that was ancient to the whole world, became a Punie unto all his creatures; [...] was made [...], Methodius. Abraham hath seede elder than himselfe, and as Iohn Baptist speaketh in an other sense, he commeth after me, that was before me. Man is become an­cient to his owne maker. For Iob hath said of us, hesterni sumus, Iob 8. 9. we are borne yesterday: but the Angell saith of Christ, natus est hodie, he was but borne to day. He that ordereth all ages from the bosome of [Page 51] his Father, is issued this day from the wombe of his mother.

To end this; that of the Arians, recorded by Theodoret, is true of Christ, though not in their sense, [...], erat, quando non erat, there was a time when Christ was not. For his humane nature was a creature, and therefore not eternall. Of that humane nature the Angell here speaketh, natus est vobis hodie, it is borne to us this day. And so much for the third point.

The fourth thing propounded, is the purpose of Christs comming; 4 it is to be a Saviour. Natus est vobis hodiè salvator. For that ancient terme found in the vulgar Translation, and ever used by all the Latine Fathers, I hold it fittest to retaine. They are too fine that translate it ser­vator, a word short of the Emphasis of the Originall, confessed by Tul­lies selfe, who could judge of Latine better than they. Saint Gregorie observeth, that the Iewes bestow this title upon God the Father; but here the Angell conferres it upon Christ. Yea God himselfe proclaimes it, Esay 62. Tell the daughter Sion, Ecce salvator tuus venit, behold thy Saviour commeth. Yea often in the Scriptures Christ is commended to the Iewes under the name of a Saviour. The act indeed of saving be­longs in common to the whole Trinitie; the Father and the Spirit may be enstiled Saviours, as well as Christ; but they authoritativè, onely Christ executivè, Bern. and therefore the name of Iesus is appropriate to him, and he called [...], Gods salvation, Luke 2. 30.

The rescuers of Israel from the yoke of Tyrants are called Saviours in the phrase of Scripture. Iosua, Samsom, Gideon, and many others, the Worthies of the world are titled by that terme. But it is bestowed on this infant here in a farre diviner sense. Othniel is called a Saviour, Iudg. 3. 9. because he saved Israel from Cusan of Neharaim, that is, by interpretation, from the Blacke-more of Syria. But Christ hath better right to the claime of that title; for he hath saved us from Sathan, the Blacke-more of hell. Nay Ioseph is called by Pharaoh, Salvator mundi, the Saviour of the world, Gen. 41. because by his providence in the dayes of famine, Egypt was fed with bread. But Christ is indeed the Saviour of the world, Iohn 4. 42. for hee is himselfe the bread of life, Ioh. 6. 45. They all were Saviours, but [...] not [...], in title rather than in birth. But Christ is [...], as the Samaritans there acknowledge him; the Saviour indeed, the mightie deliverer of all that cleave to him: not from the temporall molestations of worldly oppressors, but from the spirituall machinations of ghostly oppugners; a terme so true, nay so proper unto him, that it was given him from his name; hee was called Iesus, that is to say a Saviour.

The act excellent, the salvation of man, [...], Clem. Alex. the greatest and royallest of all the acts of God; and the name eminent, a name above all names, Phil. 2. 9. that at the name of Iesus all things shall bow the knee, both homines & daemones, Basil. not onely men and Angels, but the devills also; if their knees would not bend in honour of his name, yet they should beate one against the other at the terrour of his name.

Is there borne to us a Saviour? What is it then, that he should save us from? Not Egypt, or Amaleke, not Madian, or Moab, not the Philistims [Page 52] or Assyrians. The mightiest of all these could but kill the body onely. But our Saviour hath delivered us from the assaulters of our soules; the guilt of sinne the curse of God, the treacherie of the flesh, the sorcerie of the world, the sentence of death, the clawes of Satan, and the chawes of hell. All these, not the spillers of our bloud, but the killers of our soules, this Iesus, this Saviour, hath saved us from them all.

The world had enveigled our flesh, the flesh had enthralled us to sinne, sinne had enwrapt us in the curse, the curse had adjudged us to death, death had delivered us to Sathan, Sathan had enjayled us in hell. But as old Zacharie singeth in his hymne, God hath raised up a Sa­viour in the house of David, that should deliver us from all these enemies.

The world is a Witch, but not to be feared, our Saviours selfe hath said it, Ego vici mundum, I have overcome the world. The pricke of the flesh, his grace hath blunted it. The wound of sinne, his bloud hath sal­ved it. The vigour of the curse, his Crosse hath voided it. The doome of death, his death diverted it. The clawes of Sathan, his bonds have chained them, and the chawes of hell, his thornes have choked them. The world, the great enchanter of the sonnes of men, the sonne of a woman hath undone his spells. The flesh the false betraier of them that foster it, the Lord was made flesh, for to chasten it. Whom sinne like a fierie Serpent did perimere, them Christ like the brasen Serpent did redimere. Gods curse had adjudged us to condemnation, but wee have escaped it by Christs Incarnation. Death was entombed, when the Lord was enwombed. Sathan the roarer, is tied up from hurting, with Christs navell sting. And hell the devourer is choaked with his swad­ling cloutes.

To shut up this point, which I should further prosecute, because it is the principallest point of all my text, but that I have handled it here at other times; there is borne this day a Saviour. The Apostle telleth us, that the comming of Christ was of purpose for to save, 1. Tim. 1. Yea our Saviours selfe tells us so, that the Sonne of man came to save that was lost. Cain, the mans first borne sonne was the slayer of his brother, but Christ the womans first borne sonne was the Saviour of his brethren; both the true Saviour, Ioh. 4. 42. and the onely Saviour, Esay 43. 11. and Saint Peter saith the same, Acts 4. 12. non est nomen aliud, there is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved.

The next point in my Text, is the Messias-ship, which is Christ; the o­ther 5 was his Christen name, a Saviour, that is Iesus, and this is his sur­name. If you aske, what it doth signifie; Saint Augustine doth answer you; Quis nescit Christum ab unctione appellari? Who knoweth not that Christ hath his name of anointing? As Kings in times past were anointed by the Priests, by the powring on of the holy oyle; so was our Saviour Christ anointed by God, by the spirituall infusion of the holy Ghost. The former name was of his person; this is of his Office; for the function whereof his Father hath anointed him. That Office isα. β. γ. three fold; three honourable callings haue surnamed Christ, King­dome, Priesthood, and Prophesie; all three accustomed by record of [Page 53] Scriptures to be consecrated with holy unction: Saul, David, and Solo­mon were anointed Kings; Aaron and his sonnes were anointed Priests, and Elias was commanded to anoint Elisha to be Prophet in his roome. And therefore Iesus, in whom those callings did concurre all three, might well be called Christ, i. the anointed. In regard of which three Offices, that Epithere of Trismegistus conferred upon Mercury, may be transferred unto Christ, for the very same reasons, for which they ter­med him so; a great King, a great Priest, and a great Prophet.

For the first, the assertion of his Kingdome, the Scriptures doe com­passe it with a cloud of witnesses; I will not presse them in particular, because it is a point also, which I have handled heretofore. Both Pro­phets and People; both Iewes and Gentiles, (for the wise men of the East did him homage in that name) both men and Angells, (for it is in Gabriels message unto Mary) Yea Christ himselfe confessed it, Marke 14. 62. and his Father confirmed it, Psal. 2. 6. Herod was affraid of it, and therefore made a massacre of all the infants about Bethleem. Pilate an Infidell wrote it on the Crosse; and the seale of a Caesar upon his grave-stone might argue that a King lay buried under it. If Christ be a King; then what is his Kingdome? It is not like to Kingdomes upon earth; As he said of his peace, Ioh. 14. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you; so may he say of his crowne, not as the world ruleth, rule I over you. His Kingdome is spirituall. Mens bodies and their goods, the Kings of the Nations have dominion over them; but non sic erit in­ter vos, it was not so with him; Christ onely craveth the subjection of our soules. His entire regiment is in our hearts, by the rule of his Word, and the scepter of his Spirit. The one containes his Will, and bid­deth us to doe it; the other conveighs his grace, and aideth us to doe it.

For the second, Christs Priesthood; the Apostle avoucheth it, Heb. 10. Nay God himselfe averteth it, and that with an oath, Heb. 7. 21. Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek. A little con­temptible unto us, but acceptable unto Christ, a little despicable in the mouthes of irreligious and prophane men, but honourable in the judge­ment of the onely wise God. The function of this Priesthood con­sisteth in that sacrifice, which our Saviour was to offer once for all unto his Father on the altar of the Crosse in the shedding of his bloud for the redemption of the world.

For the third, Christ was a Prophet; the two Disciples call him so, Luke 24. 19. Yea all the people call him so, Matth. 21. 11. neither bare­ly a Prophet, but a great Prophet, Luke 7. 16. so great, that Iohn the Baptist, who was more than a Prophet, who was the greatest among all the sonnes of women, thought himselfe unworthy, (not as we speake in proverbe) to beare his bookes, but to beare his shooes, Matth. 3. 11. The Office of his Prophesie himselfe expoundeth wherein it say, Esay 61. 1. The Lord, saith he, anointed me, and his Spirit is upon me to preach good tidings unto the poore, to bind up the broken hearted, and to proclaime libertie to the captives, and enlargement to the prisoners.

Which is Christ the Lord] As there be many Antichrists, but one [Page 54] is the Antichrist; so are there many Christs, but Iesus is the Christ. Here is indeede no article, for some Grammaticall reason; but through­out all the Gospells he is called [...]. All Kings are Christs; for they have their kinde of unction; Cyrus himselfe albeit a heathen King, yet is called Christ, for his anointing royall, Esay 45. 1. All Gods people are Christs, Psal. 105. 15. Touch not mine anointed. But Iesus [...] is called Christ, because God hath anointed him farre above his fel­lowes, Psal. 45. not onely abundanter, but also redundanter; not onely above his fellowes, but also for his fellowes. For as the Apostle speaketh, wee all have received of his fulnesse. As Aarons ointment dropped downe unto his skirts, Psal. 133. so hath the oyle of Christs anointing distilled downe to all his members, over whom, as Boaz did on Ruth, so he hath spread the skirt of his garment.

This sacred surname of the Sonne of God, is all one with Messias, but that the one is Hebrew, and the other Greeke. The Evangelist so expoundeth it Iohn 1. 41. We have found the Messias, that is by inter­pretation, the Christ. The particular proofes that this was the Messi­as, by Prophesies, by Witnesses, by his Miracles, his Sufferings, and Foretellings; I am forst to pretermit, and to proceed unto the next point.

The sixth point in this Scripture, is the Divinity of this Infant; which is Christ the Lord. It is the argument which our Saviour used himselfe, Math. 22. 44. to force from the Pharisees the confession of his God­head. They thought the Messias should be a meere man. But Christ did urge this terme, to proove he should be God; because David cal­led him Lord. And therefore Thomas conjoyneth them Iohn 20. 28. My Lord, and my God.

The Word by taking flesh became the Sonne of Man; but he did not therefore cease to be the Sonne of God. In formam servi transijsse, non est naturam Dei perdidisse, Hilar. His Incarnation nihil contulit, nihil abstulit, saith Leo, as it put nothing to, so it tooke nothing from the nature of his Godhead. Though he did [...], though he did fill his mothers wombe; yet he did not [...], empty his Fathers bosome, Basil. Forma servi accessit, non forma Dei recessit, August. Hee tooke unto him the substance of man; but he put not from him the Essence of God.

The greatnesse of Gods wrath, which was to be appeased, the sharpenesse of the curse, which was to be endured, and the hardnesse of the Law, which was to be observed, required the Messias to be more then a man. That God might be satisfied, and man might be ju­stified, the mediatour that must goe betweene them both, must bee both God and man. Our Ghostly enemies, the devill, death, and hell, could not be conquered, by a Creature. As he must be man, that should encounter them; so he must be God, that could discomfit them? So he must, and so he was; God as well as man; and therefore called Immanuel, that is, God with us, God and man both together in one Person.

Sundry sorts of Heretickes thought him [...], a meere and bare man; but the Apostle telleth us, 2 Cor. 5. Deus erat in Christo, [Page 55] there was a God in Christ. That Godhead appeared, though covert in the flesh, yet overt in his actions; he declared his Divinity both [...], saith the Evangelist, both miraculis & oraculis, Tertul. both by his Doctrine, and Miracles. Never man spake as he spake, Iohn 7. 46. Never man d [...]d as he did, Math. 9. 33.

The time doth cut me off; there have beene many Christs; as our Saviour speaketh in an other sense, behold here is Christ, behold there is Christ; but this Infant onely was the Lord Christ. He is called a little after, ver. 26. The Lords Christ; but here Christ the Lord. Every King is the Lords Christ, that is, the Lords anointed. David cals Saul so, 1 Sam. 24. Abishai cals David so, 2 Sam. 19. But here is, not Christus Domini, but Christus Dominus, not the Lords Christ, but Christ him­selfe the Lord.

The last thing in my Text, is the place of Christs Nativity, the City of David. The first of Sion was called Davids City, because by him the Iebusites were ejected thence. And Bethleem also is called Davids citie, because he was borne there. The Angell meanes not Sion; it was the citie of the great King, Psal. 48. but he meaneth Bethleem; it is the citie of this little King. He might have said expresly, In the towne of Beth­leem; but it pleased him rather to use this circuition; In the citie of Da­vid; because Christ came from David; because the child now borne was not onely of his citie, but also of his seed. It was perversnesse in the people, Ioh. 7. 27. and they spake against their conscience, when they said Nemo scit, unde sit, no man should know, whence the Messias was. For the Prophets had foretold it, that there he should be borne; and the Pharisees confessed it, when Herod made enquirie of the place of Christs birth.

May I not say of Bethleem, that which Lot said of Zoar, an non modi­ca est? Is it not a little one? Yet now is little Bethleem made peere to great Ierusalem, it is the citie of God. Bethleem lately called the citie of David, is now become the citie of the sonne of David. In Bethleem the least among the thousands of Iuda, is borne this day the greatest among the Princes of Iuda. For out of it is sprung Dominator in Israel; a Lord in Israel; nay the King of Israel, as Nathanael called him; whose goings forth are from everlasting. Vnto this little Bethleemite, a little Infant, but a great God, the Saviour of Israel, which is Christ the Lord, together with God the Father, &c.

THE Copies differ in the reading, and the Fathers differ in the Sense; and the diffe­rence is such, as would take up too much time. Thinke (I pray you) I make choise both of that sense and reading, which I judge most sound. I reade it thus, Glory be on high to God, and in earth peace, to men of good will. It is an holy Antheme, sung by a quire of Angels, at Christs Nativity: a song of three parts, one of Glory, one of Peace, and one of Grace. Glory on high to God, Peace on earth to Men; but to men of Grace: for so good will here signifieth, either actively, that beare good will to Christ, that receive him, that beleeve on him; or passively, that are vouchsafed grace of Gods good will. Christs birth brings both God Glory, and Man Peace; but peace by Gods francke favour; remission of sinne, and reconciliation, but not ex debito, but ex beneplacito. Peace is Gods [...], Gods meere good will to men. These are the parts, and subject of this Song. By Gods assistance, &c.

The first part of my Text containes three termes, the Object, Place, [Page 57] and Person: the Object, Glory; the Place, Heaven; the Person, God. I will briefly speake of them, as the Angels here have Marshald them. Men end their Psalmes with Glory; the Angels beginne theirs with it. Christs birth hath exhibited matter to the Angels of glorifying God.

God p [...]rposed all things for his glory; even Christ himselfe, who is the Lord of glory. God aimed his actions meerely at that marke. All the Creatures were ordained for it. Heaven and Earth (saith David)α. both are full of it. The roofe of the Creation, which is Heaven, and the Worlds foundation, which is Earth, both [...], there is [...] in both, light in them both to lead us to Gods glory. But Christ, the Word, by which he made them both, to whom he gave them both, by whom he reconciled them both, his Incarnation in Gods Predestination, was the mainest meanes, intended to that end. Gods justice gaines him glory; his mercy then much more. If God have glory in sinners condemnation, how much more hath he it in Christs Incarnation, the Mediatour of all mercy? Saint Paul in his compari­son gives greater glory to the Gospell, then the Law: and as to Kings on earth, so even to God in Heaven, it is more glorious to be mercifull, then just. God gets more Glory Condonando, then Condemnando, by saving sinners, then by damning them: and Christs comming in the flesh was of purpose to save sinners.

Had God but saved man onely, and not sent Christ; for that hee could have done, had he so pleased, had he so cast it in his eternall counsell, he had gained Glory so. But to send his Sonne from his owne side, his Sonne, God like himselfe; to take our nature, so to be fit­ted to suffer for our sinnes, it is [...], as Saint Paul termeth it; this mercy merits glory above mans conceipt. God, that he might save man, to be made man, to disparage his high Deity by assuming our base substance, to lye nine moneths in a womans wombe, to be bred of her, to be fed of her, borne of her body, and nourisht at her brests; this glory unto God is more then [...]; it is as Paul else where saith in an other sense, [...], a farre most excellent eternall waight of Glory.

Gods workes are all [...], all worthy praise; but this is [...], wor­thy of glory. As David exhorts Psalme 66. 2. [...] make his praise glory; so doe the Angels here for the excellency of this act, Christs Incarnation, they turne praise into glory. Christs Birth wor­thily glorious to God, both for the grace and for the wonder. For the one, Gods end of grace, is glory, Eph. 1. 6. God expects it, and grace workes it. Yea [...] makes [...], exceeding grace1 Cor. 4. 15. workes God excelling glory. Gods smallest graces, and his meanest gifts are worthy praise. He hath given us Christ; the dearest thing he had: he is his Sonne; the rarest thing he had, his onely Sonne. For the other, Gods commonest workes and most ordinary actes are wor­thy praise. Christ is his worke, his strange worke; his act, his strange act; the Word, who is God, to become Flesh; God, who is a Spi­rit, to assume a body; Majesty to put on Mortality, God to become man; the Antient of daies, to be coinfantiatus, as Ir [...]n. to be borne [Page 58] a little Infant, the great God, a small Child, he that guideth Arcturus with his Sonnes as Iob speakes, to suck a Womans niple like our sonnes, to be borne like unto man, but of a Virgin, as never was any man; this wondrous worke well worthy is of glory; doe I say, of glory? alas the poorenesse of the speech of man, yea and of the speech of Angels; had the tongues of either any higher word, then it, this worke were worthy it. David bids give God the honour due unto his name: but there is none worthy it. Doe as the Psalmist bad; date gloriam laudi, put glory unto praise, Worship unto it, honour unto it, adde them all together, God is worthy all, all unworthy God, for this worthy and wonderfull worke of Christs Nativity. [Saith David in the Psalme, God hath Crowned Christ with glory? Why may not I say, Christ hath Crowned God with glory] I am too long in this, and yet in Gods glory, who can be too long. I come unto the next.

Gloria in excelsis; Christ is himselfe Excelsus, old Zachary calles him so; for he enstiles Iohn Baptist the Prophet of the highest; and he is Filius excelsi, the Sonne of the most high, Gabriel and Legeon, Angels and devils, both doe call him so. And where is it fitter, glory should be sung, to the Father for the Sonne, then in excelsis, there where the Father is, and whence he sent his Sonne, that is, on high: Where should be sung Hosannah to the Sonne of David, but in excelsis, Hosan­nah in the highest? It is meet and right, that glory be to God on high, whose Sonne, as sings old Zachary, visits us from on high. The hight of his mercy merits hight of praise; praise, as in the hundreth eight and fortieth Psalme, first in the generall, from the Heavens: then praise in the particular, from the holy Angels, and the whole army of the bles­sed Spirits; praise from the Sunne and Moone, and all the Sarres of light, praise from the Heaven of Heavens, and the waters above the Heavens. But especially from all the holy orders of the Angels, Che­rubs and Archangels, Seraphims and Thrones, Powers, and Principa­lities, all to sing joyntly, as in the Revelation. Power and Salvation, glory and honour to the Lord our God.

There are many songes of men recorded in the Scriptures; Deborahs and Moses, Davids and others in the old Testament; Zacharies and Maries; and old Simeons in the New. But of any Song of Angels, from the first Adam to the second, I remember no record. My Text is the first, that is found in all the Scripture, and it is not in excelsis nei­ther. But now Christs Birth makes the Angels also to sing Hallelujah, that is, glory unto God. Haply they sung before; Saint Ambrose holds their Hymnes were earlier then the World; And whereas Saint Paul calles them [...]; Ministring Spirits; Theodoret saith their [...] was onely [...], their ministration was meerely celebration of Gods glory. They might have matter plenty, to praise the Lord be­fore; but never had they argument, that so concerned them, as they have now. They sung before (Saint Ambrose saith) Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Holy, Holy, Holy, and what concernes Gods holinesse the An­gels? But now for Sanctus, they sing Bonus; they turne Holy into Gracious; And they say with David, our song shall be of mercy and truth; and his mercy is over all his workes. The Angels also have a [Page 59] share in it. Christs birth yeelds benefit even unto the Angels. As Christ is our Saviour, they reape some fruite by that. For the Saints fill up that gappe, which was made among the Angels by Lucifers fall. The ruines of the Angels are repaired by mans redemption, it is Saint Au­gustines saying. Quod in Angelis lapsum est, ex hominibus redditum est, it is Saint Augustines to, who is plentifull in that point. They thinke that so concerneth them, that Christ saith they rejoyce at the repen­tance of a sinner: because a repentant sinner on earth, becomes a tri­umphant Saint in Heaven; and so is made [...], Luk. 20. 36. equall to the Angels. And Origen saith expressely, Christ & terrestria salva­vit & coelestia. Hom. 1. in Levit. Saint Hierome saith as much.

And therefore if Iupiter were called Panomphaeus, as whom all voices praised; Gods glory much more merits, that all voices doe advance it, both of men and Angels. All knees must bow to him, even of things in Heaven. David ends the Psalter with it, Omnis spiritus laudet Deum, even the Spirits of the Angels, whose seates are in excelsis, sing glory unto God. And that is the next terme in my Text, the glory is to God.

The profit of Christs Birth abounds unto the creature; but the glo­ry of it, rebounds backe to God. Both what God doth unto him; and what he worketh by him, gaines praise to God. Christs grace, take it subjectivè, take it effectivè, is all Gods glory. For the one his grace inherent saith David in the Psalmes▪ God hath Crowned Christ with glory. Why may not I say, Christ hath Crowned God with glory? The Crowne of glory, which God hath set on Christ, returnes glory to Gods selfe. He made him powerfull both [...], both in word and deed: the glory of them both reflected upon God. Both his oraculous doctrine, and his miraculous workes procured God praise. The hearers and beholders both [...], Matth. 9. 8, they admired them, but they adored God. All the graces the Father con­ferred upon the Sonne, redounded to the praise and honour of the Fa­ther. Much more the gracious worke, for which he mainely sent him, which is Salvation: Mans mighty redemption, his rescue from death, from sathan, and from hell, the conquest of all ghostly enemies, our justification, and that peace in my Text, proclaimed to men on earth, our reconciliation; all these by Christ, not only advance our hands and hearts toward heaven, whence commeth this Salvation; but ex­cite the Spirits on high, to sing that heavenly Antheme in the Revela­tion, Dignus es Domine Deus, worthy art thou O God, to receive glory and honour and power.

The world may usurpe upon some other things, and claime the glo­ry to be due to him for them, Honour, Wealth, Authority, and such other temporalities. For he will say (though falsely) that they are his. But Saint Pauls position, 1 Corinthians 3. Every man will grant, that Christ is Gods. And who should have the glory of the things of God, but God? Christ is Gods Saving-health: mine eyes have seene (saith Simeon) Salutare tuum, thy Salvation. And who should have the glory? Who saving God, for Gods Saving-health?

The whole Oeconomie of salvation was plotted by Gods selfe, when as yet there was nothing existent, but Gods selfe; [...], saith the Apostle before the world was founded. Man was not then, Angells were not then, to consult with him, to resolve with him. And therefore men and Angells, both must sing with David, Non nobis domine, non nobis, Not unto us O Lord, not unto us, but give the glory to thy name. The action solely and meerely was by God; and therefore the glorie must also wholly and sheerely be to God. Peace impious Papist, that pressest thy proud merits, to pull some part of glory sacrilegiously to thee. The Angells, who knew better whose it is, then thou, doe give it unto God. It is indeed Gods due in all things whatsoever. But in Christs Incarnation, and the consequents thereof, all Christians will confesse, it is Gods meere proprietie. For Christ is Gods; and it is Christs owne rule, Quae Caesaris, da Caesari, quae Dei, Deo; that which is Caesars, must be given to him; so what is Gods, give it unto him. Glory be to God.

The second part is like unto the first, both for the number and nature of the termes, to which they have exact correspondence. There was glorie, here is peace; that on high, this on earth; that to God, this to men. The Babe that at this time was borne both God and man, his birth was behoovefull both to God and man: to the one it brought Glorie, to the other Peace.

The Authors of this antheme in the verse before my Text, are cal­led heavenly Souldiers. A song of peace, how may it sute with souldiers? The shepheards might have ask'd them, as Iehu did Iehoram, quid vobis & paci; what have you to doe with peace? The Physitian he arkens after the sicke: his wealth comes not by health. So the souldiers wish is warre. But the phrase lookes not at the matter of the message, but by circumlocution onely meanes the Angels: who otherwhere are sent for Sword, for Fire, for Pestilence; but here for peace. As a King for joy at the birth of a Sonne, sends forth his proclamations of enlargement to the prisoners, and pardon to the delinquents: so here at Christs▪ Na­tivitie, Gods heavenly Heraulds proclaime peace to men. For puer natus est nobis, saith the Prophet Esay, A child is borne, who is the Prince of peace; and his comming in the flesh, is of purpose to bring peace.

But how then saith our Saviour, thinke not, that I am come to send peace into the world? Yea, and saith not Iob also militia est vita hominis, mans life on earth is a perpetuall warfare? Christ forbids us to thinke, he sent peace into the world; but by it he meant peace towards the world. For the profession of Christ hath made the world our enemie. But this peace is not the worlds peace, but Gods. The Apostle so calls it in the fourth to the Philippians, The peace of God. And so mans life indeed is a continuall warfare. But that warre is with the World, with the De­vill, and the Flesh. Wee warre with them, but wee are at peace with God. Christs Church on earth is called the militant Church, i. the war­faring Church. Those three are Christs enemies; they are the Dragon and his Angells. Michael, i. Christ, and his Angels, i. Christians must fight continually against those enemies. That warre is no barre to this peace in my Text, which is of conscience towards God. Nay, rather [Page 61] this peace is preserved by that warre, and cannot be, where it is not.

God was mans enemie; Sinne had made him so. He had incurred the curse, and was thrall to Death, to Sathan, and to Hell. Christs Incarnation wrought reconciliation. God was displeased with man; but hee is appeased in Christ. Sinne had so incensed him, that hee swore in his wrath, that wee should not enter into his rest. But God was made man, to mediate betweene both; and his in­tercession hath procur'd us peace. The curse, the Hearault of Gods defiance, Christ hath cancel'd it. Sinne, the cause of Gods dis­pleasure Christ hath purged it. Death, the first wound, that God had given us, Christ hath cured it. Hell, the Iayle, to which God had ad­judged us, Christ hath broken it; and Sathan, the Executioner, whom God had set to torture us, Christ hath chained him. God looking on us in his Sonne, is well pleased with us for his sake; His flesh hath re­stored us unto his favour, and that is this peace. Peace hath many species; but this is Gods pardon and reconciliation.

God and man, sinne had disjoyned them; but Christ hath attoned them: and the attonement is this peace. Christs righteousnesse recove­red what mans wickednesse had lost, to wit, Gods love, the companion of this peace. Righteousnesse and Peace, saith the Psalmist, kisse each other. Christ is them both; our righteousnesse, 1 Cor. 1. 30. our peace, Eph. 2. 14. and is therefore paralleld by S. Paul unto Melchisedech, i. the King of righteousnesse, who was the King of Salem, that is the King of peace. To end this, Christ said the Peacemakers, Mat. 5. shall be called the Sonnes of God; but here the Peacemaker is the Son of God. Christ saith himselfe, that we have peace in him. And Saint Paul seconds him, that our peace with God, is through Christ our Lord. This peace (I said) meanes re­conciliation; and Saint Iohn saith of Christ, that he is [...] the recon­ciliation; hee is the propitiation for our sinnes. Christs comming downe to earth, is for bringing peace on earth; the next terme in my Text.

There was peace before in heaven: for how should there be enmitie? Was it betweene the persons of the Godhead? As Paul said of Christ, Is Christ divided? So I may say of God, is God divided? Could schisme be in the Deitie, enmity in the Trinitie? Christ saith of two of them, Ego & Pater unum sumus; the Father and the Sonne, were one. And Saint Iohn saith of all three; the Father, the Word, and the holy Ghost, they all are one. Was it betweene God and the Angels? Those of them that rebel'd, God cast them downe; and grace preserved the rest from like presumption. They all continually waite on God: they all continually have peace with God. Was it betweene themselves? Saint Iohn in­deed in the Apocalyps writes of a battell fought in heaven, betweene Michael and his Angells, and the Dragon and his Angells. But that is but an Allegorie. Was it betweene the Saints? First, it is a question, whether the Saints were there before Christs time. The current of the Fathers runnes to the negative part, that none came there before Christs resurrection; that Sanguis Christi was clavis paradisi; that hea­ven was shut, till Christs bloud opened it. I will not determine it; I [Page 62] will onely say; wheresoever they were, they were in blisse. But say, the Saints were there: they were at peace, both betweene themselves, and with Angels, and with God. Heaven hath no hostility: where should be peace, if not in Paradise? The peace then here proclamed by the Angels, it is on earth.

There is no peace in Hell; neither to the ghosts of men betweene themselves; nor to the spirits of feinds betweene themselves; nor be­tweene the ghosts and feinds; and least of all betweene them and God. The damned ghosts doe curse, every one his fellow, for suffering, for entising, for assisting him in sinne. The cursed fiends doe rage every one with other, for being his ringleader in rebelling against God. The Ghosts doe gnash at the devils, for tormenting them; and both blas­pheme God for condemning them. Said Christ he came not to bring peace unto the earth; surely he was not sent to bring peace to Hell. The Peace is there, whether now Christs selfe was come. The descending of Gods Son to us, is for the sending of Gods peace to us; and that is the next terme in my Text Hominibus to men; Peace on earth to Men.

Man was Gods enemy, the Apostle cals him so, Rom. 5. 10. Not as he is man; but sinne had made him so. Gods selfe made man, who hateth nothing that he made. But sinne, the devils creature, who is e­nemy unto God, made man his enemy too. Man had transgrest, and Iustice had sentenced him; and for the execution, there was ordained death, and hell, and sathan, and the evill day. But Mercy had metho­ded a meanes of reconcilement; and Christ would be incarnate, to procure him peace. Man was so pretious in the eyes of God, that his Sonne should suffer, rather then he starve. God would rather die, then man not live.

The Angels that apostated from their first state, Creatures more glorious farre then man, God instantly damned them. They have en­dured his doome many thousand yeares: he makes no peace with them, he takes no truce with them. The Origenists, and Mahomet, and some Anabaptists hold, that Lucifer at last shall be loosed from his bands, and restored to his light, he and all the damned fiends. But Saint Iude assureth them, that their darkenesse is eternall, and their chaines are everlasting. But man of Gods great mercy hath found a Mediatour; and Gods owne Son owne selfe hath purchased him peace. Lord, what is man, that thou regardest him? what is the Sonne of man, that thou the Sonne of God vouchsafest to visit him? Thou hast made him, not little lower, but much higher, then the Angels, and proclamest peace, not in hell to them; but in earth to him; peace in earth to men.

And why to Men? why not to devils too? Respects God persons? Is he not rich to all? and said you not before, that his mercies are o­ver all his workes? First, for the Objections; had God sent peace to them, and not to us; God should have seemed so rather to have res­pected persons, in receiving to his grace the more excellent creature; and refusing the inferiour. And the Text is true, that God is rich to all. But you take not all the Text; God is rich (saith the Apostle) to all that call on him; which the devils can not doe. And for Gods mercies, they are over all his workes; misconster not the termes. The prepo­sition [Page 63] Super is not extensive, but comparative. His mercies are not up­on all his workes, but above all his workes; they excell his other workes. Or say it have your sense; Gods mercies so are over all his workes, even over the Angels, as I showed before. For that the good Angels fall not as the bad, that is Gods mercy. Stretch not the Text unto the devils too: Mercy, Gods mercy is over all his workes; All generally, not personally; all in Specie; not in Individuo; not over every severall creature, but over every kind of worke: as peace is in my Text to Men; but not to all, but to men of good will. Nay; I will not care to yeeld it, in what sense you will. Let all meane individuals. I say, Gods mercy is on the devils too, and on all the damned Spirits. For they all are punisht short of their deserts. God hath mixt mercy with justice even in hell.

Now for the point, why peace is not to fiends, as well as men; the question is curious; and it might suffice to answer you, as the Phari­sees did Iudas, [...], What is that to us? Yet some writers yeeld these reasons. First, the guilt of Angels was greater then of Man. For they sinned of themselves, but Man by their temptation. Se­condly, they fell not all: but all mankind fell. All were in Adams loines, when he transgrest. And falling all, they needed a redeemer: it seeming pity in Gods gracious eye, that so noble a Creature should totally be lost. Thirdly, Adam slipt of ignorance, and Eve of weake­nesse; which are but trespasses against God the Father, and the Sonne: But the Angels fell of malice. and so they sinning against God the Holy Ghost, could not be pardoned. To end this point, I will praise God, for sending peace to me; I will not pose God, why he sent not unto them. Even so Lord, because it pleased thee: thou wilt have mercy, on whom thou wilt have mercy, not on Angels, but on men; and not on all them neither, but [...], upon men of good will; which is the last point in my Text; I will be short in it.

[...], I said before, this terme might be taken in two senses; active, to be meant of men, embracing Christ; passive, to be meant of God affecting men. For the first; the peace is unto men, but to men of good will, that willingly and cheerefully receive him for their Saviour. Herod was troubled, and all Ierusalem; there was no peace to them. Their will was ill, not good to Christ; with a good will they would have murthred him.

Hence would the Papists strengthen their free will. Their good will to that, you may see in the Rhemes Testament. But they are confuted by the learnedst of themselves, Bellarmine and Maldonat; who both appropriate [...] unto God, and deny it ever to be said of men.

Tak [...] it then passively; the Scripture phrase is usuall, sonnes of grace, sonnes o [...] wrath, of election; of perdition; so heere Hominibus bonae voluntatis, to men of Gods good will, that is, to men, who God of his good will, or as Saint Paul phraseth it, in the good pleasure of his will, hath purposed to his Salvation; to them is this peace; sent not of mans deserving, but of Gods vouchsafing. This peace (Saint Am­brose telles thee) is not meriti; it is not debiti; but it is placiti. God is pleased to send it them, with whom in Christ he is well pleased; [Page 64] hominibus beneplaciti, not to men of merit, but to men of grace; and therefore this peace pertaines to them alone, with whom he is well pleased: to men of good will, (an exoticke phrase, and therefore harsh,) to men vouchsafed grace of Gods free favour, and the good pleasure of his holy will. Our Saviour, who was [...] himselfe, hath sent this peace to all [...], to them onely, to them all; to all whom God hath loved in his beloved Sonne. Whose blessed Birth this day, as the Angels heere solemnize, and welcome his comming with a Ca­roll of great joy: so let us to whom this peace is here proclaimed, sing joyfully Hosannah to the Sonne of David: and say with these Angels, Glory be to God; the Father, and the Sonne, and to the Holy Ghost, this day, and evermore.

THE words are all perspicuous, saving one. What is meant by godlinesse, there is question. With­out controversie, great is the mysterie of godlinesse. But what is meant by godlinesse, is not without controversie. Expositors conster it, some of Christ, some of the Gospel. One falls fowle with Erasmus, for leaning to the latter; and the former will fit this season well, according to the words immediatly following, God manifested in the flesh. Be then (if you please) the secret of our Saviours comming in the flesh, the Argument of my Text, Christs Incarnation. It is a my­sterie, a great mysterie, and that confest; foure severall termes, set out, each by it selfe by two of the Greeke Fathers: Saint Chrysostome, and Oecumenius, for distinct consideration. [...], Without controversie, great is the mysterie of godlinesse, that is, of God Incarnate; or if that sound harshly, of the Gospell: The oddes is small. For what is the Gospell, but [...], The Booke of the Genesis of Iesus Christ; the narration of Christs generation, the storie of the Messias comming in the flesh, the Historie of this mysterie?

It is a modall proposition: first therefore of the moode, [...] Without controversie. What saith the Apostle? Is Christs Incarnation without controversie. Surely God was made flesh; it is true. But it hath the lot of other truths, to be opposed. It is a certaine truth, but yet oppugnant. There is a Greeke Father seconds Saint Paul, [...] [Page 66] no man doubts of it; it hath not in it [...], any doubt at all. More peremptorie than Paul. Of Christs Incarnation, no man doub­ting, no thing doubted. Simon Magus opposed Christ; there is a [...], and that a [...], as Saint Luke writes of him, a great man against this great mysterie. The mysterie is, that God should be made flesh. Sathan himselfe doubted, whether Christ were God; there's a [...], one thing doubted. And his body was thought to be but Phantasticum, to be man but putativè; not to be true flesh. There's an other: both his na­tures questioned.

Paulus Samosatenus, more fitly Semisathanas, held, Christ was [...], but a meere man: [...], but not [...], a man of God, but not both man and God. So did Ebion; so did Arius, and such multi­tudes after him, that Hierom saith, the whole world in a manner was tur­ned Arian. And to the truth and perfection of his humane flesh, what should I cite the sundry Heretickes, that opposed it? It is not then [...], but [...], who not almost impugned this mysterie? I oppose not these to Saint Paul; they were his punies, borne most of them long after him. He might say of this mysterie, [...], that it was without contro­versie, for all this. Examine his owne age.

What thought the Iewes, when they cried, Crucifige? Caiphas, when he rent his cloathes? Pilat would not have sentenced him, nor the Elders have delivered him, had they thought, that as (Saint Paul saith) Deus erat in Christo. Christ had beene a person compound of man and God. Saint Paul saith it, Had they knowne it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But their conceit of him was but as of a man. Come see a man, saith the Samaritane woman. Ecce homo, saith Pilat, Behold the man. Have not to doe with that just man, saith Pilats wife: a just man, but a man. Nay, it was Saint Peters terme too, though his disciple, Non novi hominem, I know not the man. Yea Saint Pauls selfe by Pauls leave, whatsoever he saith now, kept he not their cloathes, that stoned Steven, that furiously ranne on him, at his saying, he saw Christ at the right hand of God? Kept their cloathes? Thats little. Did he not him­selfe persecute Christ? Charged with it by Christs selfe, Saul, Saul, &c. and confessed by him five times. Were not Saducees and Pharisees, Priests, Elders, and Herodians, all against Christ? Were not the A­postles derided, imprisoned, and scourged for preaching him? Pauls selfe (himselfe saith) [...] more than they all? Was not the Gospel oppugned by Libertines, by Epicures, disgraced by them; and Saint Paul the Preacher called [...], a base fellow? Said not Simeon, Christ should be [...], a marke of contradiction? Nay a marke of malediction? Many blasphemed both his Person and his Doctrine, called him a Deceiver, a Samaritane, a Conjurer? And saith the Apostle here, that the Mysterie, the great mysterie of Christs com­ming in the flesh, is [...], a position without controversie? He might have said in Saint Peters phrase [...], of a truth. Or in his owne elsewhere, [...], It is a faithfull saying. He might have protested it, have sworne it for the truth. But to say, without controversie, of a thing so controverted, to call it [...], which is so [...]▪ so contra­dicted, [...], every where contradicted, Acts 28. 22. Saint Paul should seeme to hyperbolize.

But distingue tempora, consider Person, Time, and Place; Tis no Hyperbole. It was harsh to Heathens, and to Iewes sometimes, and out of Israel. But to Christians now in the Church, this sacred secret was without controversie. Nor must Saint Paul, praestare culpam, make good all translations. The Hyperbole is not Saint Pauls; it is the Transla­tors, if it be one. S. Paul saith but ex confesso, the Greeke word meanes no more. That's no peremptory terme. I said, it was a mood: and it is a modest mood and moderate. Say, the great mystery of Christs In­carnation were contradicted by all without, were controverted by some within the Church: Yet those, that were converted, did confesse it all. Whence sprung that horrible Title of confessours, frequent in the Church.

A checke to after ages, to the degenerate generations of Atheising, Heathenising, Sathanising Christians. Wee pardon Lucian, a profest Atheist. What should Christ looke for of him, but scoffes. It was he, cald Christ [...], the crucified Sophister. And so we doe Liba­nius; It was he that askt, what that Carpenters sonne was doing then in heaven. Be Christ a Galilean, and the Gospell [...] to Iulian, idle and ridiculous. He was an Apostata. And Felix his Treasurer may make up the the messe; See, what plate Maries sonne is served with, it was his Apophthegme. But that Christians should question, should quarell this mysterie; thats to me a mysterie. Some his Godhead, some his flesh, as did sundrie sorts of Heretickes. Nay, that Popes Christs owne Vicars, should denie their Lord, like Peter; Peters suc­cessours in nothing but in that; should mocke at this mysterie, this my­sterie of godlinesse, it were strange, were not Babylon a mysterie her selfe. Her brazed brow is branded with that marke, Apoc 17. Myste­rium, a mysterie, the mysterie of ungodlinesse. Nay some Papists have confest, they have seene the word Mysterium, engraven closely in the Popes Diademe. See Iames Bastardie of Fathers in his Epistle Dedicato­rie. Saith not Socrates, that Felix the second was an Arian? Then thought hee not Christ God. Christ to be God incarnate, it seemes Leo▪ the tenth thought it not Magnum Mysterium, but magnum menda­cium, not a mysterie, but a sophistrie; Illa fabula de Christo, he termes the Gospell but a meere fable. The like blasphemie was that of Gre­gorie the ninth, that reckoned three famous Impostors of the world, Moses, Mahomet, and Christ. A title fit to be put into the stile of the Bi­shops of Rome. They are indeed Impostors; and so Machiavel calls one of them, Alexander the sixth, the Impostor of the world. He that inscribed his Booke to the now Pope, Paulo V. Vicedeo; either meant some mysterie, or he must mend the title. For how can his Holinesse be justly called Vice-God, if Christ, whose Vicar hee is, be not God? Enough of the Moode; come to the Mysterie.

It is fit quid goe before quantum. Rhemists read this Scripture, great is the Sacrament. Wee must pardon their superstition. The vulgar Latine hath Sacramentum, and the Councell of Trent ties them to that Translation. Christs Incarnation is a mysterie. It is not Arca­num onely: that's too low a word for so high a thing. Holy secrets are called mysteryes. The Gospell in generall is a mysterie. Saint Paul [Page 68] calls it so, Col. 1. 26. The Church long governed by God under Ceremo­nies, under darke types and shadowes. The project of it too, a myste­rie; that the whole world estranged from God, should be cald by it to the hope of salvation, and eternall life offered unto all. God was before knowne onely in Israel. Nay all our Preaching is mostly mysterie. Gods Minister, loquitur mysteria, saith Saint Paul, most of his speech is of mysticall matter, crosse to the common conceit of men, meere pa­radoxe to carnall eares. Even morall Divinitie is harsh to flesh, absurd sense; to shunne pleasure, love our enemies, renounce the world. But the things of Faith, they are mystery indeed. And so S. Paul calls them in the 9. verse of this Chapter, mysterium fidei. The mystery of faith, of Christ, of the Gospel, of Gods beneplacitum, the Apostles termes too. Of heaven, of Gods Kingdome, the termes of the Evangelists; these are right mysteries.

The things of Christ are secrets all; his whole Historie is mysterie; his Life, his Passion, not his Incarnation onely. But yet his Incarnation most, and meant here specially. A secret [...], Saint Paul saith, and [...], husht and hid to ages past, [...] to all ages past; till the fulnesse of time came: then [...], made knowne and manifest. Vtterly hid from Heathens; very darkely shewed to Gods owne people. Abraham desired to see it, Christ saith, Angells de­sired to see it, Saint Peter saith, Abraham the friend of God, An­gells the Sonnes of God: but neither could. Christ saith, Abra­ham did: but it was but with the eyes of faith. Angells them­selves could not see it otherwise. Tis said here, it was seene of Angells. But that was after Christ was borne. See him they did not, see him they could not, in the flesh, till hee had assumed the flesh. The Prophets foresaw him, praeviderunt, Cassianus saith, foresaw him in the Spirit. But they saw him not, non viderunt, saith Christ, Matth. 13. One­ly Daniel saw him more plainely; he was vir desideriorum, belov'd of God more specially. And yet he saw him but in vision neither, Dan. 7. Nay not Abraham onely, but many other holy men, many Prophets and just men (saith Christ) desired to see him. Esay did; Oh that thou wouldst breake the heavens, and come downe. David did; Bow the heavens, O Lord, and come downe. Moses did, Lord shew me thy glory. But non vi­derunt, saith our Saviour, they have all desired to see, but have not seene him. And yet denie I will not, I may not, that Abraham saw Christ in body, in the flesh. For of the three strangers, whom he entertain'd under the Oake at Mamre, the Fathers say, that one was Christ, that Christ assum'd a body to appeare to him. Yet was not Christ truely man then. Hee united not that body to his Godhead hypostatic [...]s, personally. Christ was but transfigured (tis Tertullians terme,) transfigured for a time into mans flesh, that Abraham might see him, with whom hee was to speake. It was but a praeludium of his Incarnation. Enough of the quid; heare now the quantum; a great mysterie.

As all secrets were not mysteries; so all mysteries are not peeres. The Sacraments are mysteries, but in other sense. For the terme hath three acceptions. Religious Ceremonies are called mysteries, both by the Fathers, and Heathen Writers too. Who hath not met with Cereris [Page 69] mysteria? Thats one. An outward signe of inward secret, thats an other. Baptisme and the Lords Supper are mysteries so. Lastly, an holy secret, and so tis taken here, and else where both by S. Paul, and by our Saviours selfe. The obstinacie of the Iewes, a mystery in this sense, Rom. 11. The calling of the Gentiles, a mystery, Eph. 3. The Resurrection, a mystery, 1 Cor. 15. All these are mysteries too: but this is the grand mystery.

Nay there are some other called great too. The changes of the Moone, sometimes full, sometimes horned, sometimes halfe, Saint Ambrose calles Grande Mysterium. So is Marriage by our Apostle, Ephes. 5. called a great mystery. But the mysterie there meant, is the very same with this, Christs match with the Church, which is his Incar­nation, the next words to my Text. Saint Paul so expounds himselfe, lest any might mistake him: I speake (saith he) concerning Christ, and the Church. Yea the Resurrection, even great Philosophers have thought a great Mystery, a flat impossibility. It was for preaching of it, that Saint Paul was called a Prattler, Acts 17. Christs body to be in many places at once, surely that is either Magnum Mysterium, or Magnum mendacium, a great mystery, or a grand lye. But the Trinity is a mystery, a great mystery, [...] without controversie. How Fa­ther, Sonne, and Spirit should be three Persons, and every Person God, and yet God to be but one. But even that too must yeeld to this. It is a great mystery, but not so great, as this.

This is [...], great indeed, Chrysostomes terme. Great, first for Depth, and then for Worth. For Depth, [...], a secret unex­plicable, the tongues of men and Angels cannot utter it: a secret uncon­ceiveable, the wits of men and Angels not imagine it. Cedit adhaec Sen­sus & Sermo. Hilar. Both Words and Wit are too weake heere. Cer [...]s Secrets, Heathens cald [...], infanda too: but in other sense. Those might not be uttered, this can not be uttered. Vtter them the Priest could, but durst not. This, if we would, we can not. Infanda both, but differently; neither to be uttered. But that [...], not lawfully, this [...], not possibly. All mysteries, [...], darke and abstruse; this [...], Saint Chrysostomes terme, more abstruse. Heaven to come downe to Earth, Eternity, to put on Mortality, the Word to take Flesh, [...], Bas. the great Iehova to become a little Babe, conceived by God, borne of a Virgin, made of our seed, but not spraid with our sinne; heres a masse of mystery, worthy Saint Pauls exclamation, O Altitudo! Oh the Depth! Gods selfe calles it Novum, Ier. 31. 22. The Preacher saith, There is no new thing under the Sunne. Heere is one thing [...], Damasc. [...]. Aratus, Gods Paternity a grand mystery, Maries mater­nity, grand too, [...].

The worth, both of the Subject, tis God, that was incarnate. Not an Angell, but Gods selfe. Not Gods Servant, but his Sonne. An­gels Gods Sonnes too, but Created; Christ his begotten Sonne; his [...], his onely begotten. And of the Benefit, Salvation, [...], Clem. Alex. the greatest and royallest of all the workes of God. A worke worthy of God, Nihil tam dignum Deo, Tert. no thing so worthy God as mans Salvation. Magnos magna decent. Gods [Page 70] selfe is great; and so is his mystery. All his mysteries great; all his Workes great, Magnalia Dei, the Fathers terme. But his most worke my­sticall, the [...], Athanasius his word, the prime and chiefe mystery, is the mystery of godlinesse, the last terme in my Text. I come to it; great is the mystery of godlinesse.

What is this mystery? may I tell it you? Can I? All mysteries crave fidem silentii, Tertullian saith, may not be revealed; called there­fore [...] in Aristophanes, secrets not to be divulged. Heathens would not theirs. The very name of mystery subsignifies S [...]crefie. Christians must not open this to all. Pearles may not be throwne, nor holy things be given [...] to dogges, and hogges: So mysteries, this mystery to men prophane, Iewes, Heathens, Heretickes, and A­theists. Some of them will raile on it; the best will but scoffe at it. It is [...], not lawfull to lay open this mystery to these, the mystery of godlinesse to the ungodly. But our assemblies are Christian and religi­ous. Christs selfe saith, Datum est, it is given unto us, to know the my­steries, the secrets of his Kingdome.

But can I tell you this? Is it not [...], impossible too, a secret un­searchable? It is. Quis ennarrabit, saies the Prophet Esay, who can de­clare Christs generation? S. Basil bids [...], not [...], adore it, not examine it. Tis [...] (twas S. Pauls terme) an hidden my­stery. But what? Not the Quid, but the Quomodo. I cannot tell you how it is, but I may tell you what it is. It is [...]; question not the manner, aske not how. But for the Quid, the mystery of god­linesse, is Christs comming in the flesh. Called the Mystery of godli­nesse, because godlinesse is the scope of the doctrine of the Gospell; consisting in two things, Faith to beleeve, what God hath promist; and Obedience, to doe, what he hath bid.

The mysteries in the heathens Religion were ungodly. They had reason to hide them; they were so abominable, so uncleane, that the eare of a Christian would abhorre them. Well doe Clemens and Eusebius denominate their Mysteria from either [...]; they were filthy or false all; fabulous or scurrilous. But this of our Saviours is the mystery of godlinesse. It is Righteousnesse in the Syriacke. Tis all one. For Iustitia is one of Christs attributes in Ieremie, [...], the Lord is our Righteousnesse.

There is mysterium impietatis, 2 Thess. 2. It is Bezaes Word; or (as we read it) the mystery of iniquity. You heard Babylons forehead markt with that mystery, the mystery of Belial, of Antichrist, of Hell. Nay nere goe we so farre for it, to mysticall Babylon. Tis neerer home, among our selves. If trades and occupations be rightly called my ste­ries, tis like the stone of Christs Sepulchre, magnus valdè, exceeding great is the mystery of iniquity. Nay, examine the mysticall hypocri­sies of men, the deepe dissimulations of the most, of all almost Fidelem quis inveniet? Where shall you find a sound and single heart? a right Nathaniel, in whom there is no guile? Tis like Iudahs wickednesse, Eze. 9. Magna nimis valdè, too too exceeding great is the mystery of ini­quity. I stray now from my Text: tis holy mystery is meant heere; the mystery of godlinesse, i. e. Christs Incarnation. I say, the mystery [Page 71] of godlinesse▪ is the Historie of Christ, his Birth, his Baptisme, his Pas­sion, and his death, his Resurrection, and Ascension; every one a my­sterie, Athanasius saith, and so doe other Fathers stile them severally. And the Syriacke word signifies multum as well as magnum: tis not a single secret, but a manifold mysterie. Gods love to man is infinite, infinite in all dimensions, infinitely broad, infinitely long, infinitely deepe. This mysterie containes both the bredth, and the length, and the depth of that love. Christs Incarnation, what curse hath God menaced, but it hath averted it? What blessing hath God promised, but it hath procured it?

When I say Gods Incarnation, I meane all the concomitants men­tioned before. First his Birth, thats a mysterie. Not that Ante Luci­ferum, Psal. 110. before the world. That secret transcends this. Christ is [...], who shall declare that generation? Not that Aeternitatis (as Saint Augustine termes it) from his Father. But this Infirmitatis, from his mother, a great mysterie. Worthy of two Ecces, as a paire of Heraulds to proclame it. One of the Prophet, Behold a Virgin shall conceive and beare. An other of the Angell, Behold thou shalt conceive and beare. Birth and conception by a Virgin? Let all the Bookes on earth, Bible and all, match me that mysterie. His Baptisme another; Saint Austin calls it so. Baptisme, [...], the Bath of sinne, what skilled it Christ, who knew no sinne? But many mysteries were meant in it. Christs owne Initiation into his Office. His fulfilling of all righteousnesse. His publishing to the people, who he was, both by the audible voyce of his Father, and the visible descending of the holy Ghost. His sanctifying of the water for our Baptisme. His opening of heaven to the Baptized, and his making of us members of his body. His Death an other. [...], Saint Chrysostome saith, there were five wonders in Christs Death. Wonders differ from mysteries. But there were two mysteries. One, that Christ should die. That he should; that he would; that he could. That hee would; a Lyon for a Dogge, pro vernaculo, pro vermiculo, Saint Bernards words: the Lord of glory for vile man; for his vassalls; for his enemies. That he should; When man had sinned, that God should suffer: God love man so, to give his Sonne for him. That he could; Saint Paul saith, for God to lye, I may, for God to die, is [...] impossible. Ego sum via, veritas, vita; Christ is life, as well as truth. The Lord of life to suffer death; God to give up the Ghost. The other mysterie exceeds this, that Christ should but die. For a double death is due to sinne. The parting of the soule from the bodie is the first. But the lake of fire, saith Saint Iohn in the Apocalypse, it is the second death. Deepe then is the mysterie that Christ taking on him the discharge of our debt; should but onely die the death of the bodie. But Christ humbled himselfe, quo inferius non decuit, no further, then was fit for God. His bloud onely and death wrought our Redemption. Scripture rests there. Simpla duplae profuit, Augustine. One death in him, quit two in us. His Resurrection is another: I meane not, that his body went through the grave stone and chamber doore, where the disciples were. That (if true) is a wonder, but no mysterie. But as his death was the mysterie of his paiment of our paine: so his [Page 72] rising is the mysterie of his raising us to life; and his conquest of the grave, and his triumph over hell. Take his Ascension too; and the my­sterie is his Arrabo, our earnest of heaven, and seasin of salvation. In a word, Christs Incarnation, what curse hath God menaced, but it hath averted it? what blessing hath God promised, but it hath procured it?

To draw unto an end; Saint Paul calls the Gospell (for thats here meant by godlinesse, the historie of Christ) he calls it a great myste­rie. Credat Iudaeus Apella! Nay the Iew beleeves it not. The world will not, though hee doe. Both the booke that recordeth it, and the Preacher, that proclameth it, and the hearer that beleeveth it, vilified all. For the first, the Scriptures burnt in Dioclesians time; Thats not much; he was an Heathen. Burnt and cut too in Iehejakins dayes; hee was an Israelite. Nay Christians have burnt it: Arians have, and Do­natists; heretickes, but Christians. Nay Catholicks have, Romane-Catholickes, the English Testament, yea the Latine too: Bishop Bon­ers Chaplaine cald it his litle pretie Gods Book, and Gifford and Rainolds said, it containes some things, prophane and Apocryphall. Tis not mysterie, but foolerie, [...], the worlds word, 1 Cor. 1. Not mysterie, but clownerie, [...], Iulians terme. The Bible but a fable, Illa fabula de Christo; you heard a Pope say so. Yea the blasphemous Iewes play with the word paronomastically, call Evangelium [...], thats not a mysterie of Pietie, but a revelation of iniquitie. For the Preacher, art thou Peter? [...], thou art drunke. Art thou Paul? Insanis, thou art madde? Art thou Christ? thou hast a devill. For the Hearer, the Professour; Tu adoras Crucisixum. So would Infidels mocke Christians; you worship one, was hang'd. Saint Paul calls the Gospell, Gods Wise­dome in a mysterie, 1 Cor. 2. They flout us with that. The highth of your wisedome, is but [...], Beleeve, say they. Crede tantùm, beleeve onely, Christ required no more. The [...], and the [...], (Saint Pauls words) the ground and substance, the whole evidence of your hope, is but Faith onely. Oh the wonderfull wisedome of the Christians: the iro­nie of Infidells! What say I of Infidells? Even Christians selves dis­grace Christianity. The prophane Italian, when he saith, un Christiano; he commonly meanes a Blockehead and a foole. But as the Psalmist saith, The Lord raignes, be the earth never so impatient; so the Gospell is a mysterie, though Iulian jest at it; The mysterie of godlines, though wicked­nesse disparage it: Let not either Preacher, or Professour be discoura­ged. For if it be foolishnesse, tis the foolishnesse of God, and the foo­lishnesse of God is wiser than men.

THe Argument of my Text, is the end of Christs comming, the confortable end of his comming in the flesh, namely to save sinners. Saint Paul cries else where, vae mihi nisi evangelizavero, it would be woe with him, if he preached not the Gospel. Surely here hee preaches it. Within the sept of one period hee abbridges the whole 1 Gospel; coucht closely in one clause, consisting 2 of foure termes; the Person, Christ, Iesus Christ: 3 the Act, his Incarnation, he came into the world: the end, to save: the 4 object, sinners. Iesus Christ came into the world, to save sinners. This evan­gelicall 5 theme he both prefaces and instances. The preface praises it 6 for soundnesse, a faithfull speech; and for sweetnesse, worthy all embracing. The instance samples it by the Apostles selfe, Of whom I am cheefe. Of 7 these particulars in their order.

First for the preface, I must be breefe in it. Tis but a Porch to the pro­position. 1 A Porch must not be greater then the house. Fidelis sermo, it is a faithfull speech. There is [...], 1 Cor. 2. a speech likely, but not sure. This is [...], a sure and certaine truth: not probabile, but cre­dibile, [Page] not that wants proofe, but craves beleefe. Not [...], be­leev'd of all; infidels receive it not; but [...], worthy to bee beleev'd of all. As true, as Gospel; for it is the very Gospel. It is perhaps a Paradox, but yet true. The resurrection of the dead, Heathens held but a fable; but tis true. Paul hath this preface for that too, chap. 4. v. 9. The life to come a point too seeming so absurd, that he was faine to say, [...], tis a true saying too.

Surely to the Sadducee, the Philosopher, the Atheist, Saint Pauls pro­position is a grand Paradox; that hee may well terme it [...], a great mysterie. Nay indeede a proposition farced full with Paradoxes, almost every word one. That God should bee incarnate; that sinners should be saved; that a man, a despicable, a miserable man should save a world, tis [...], saith Nemelius, a thing utterly incredible. Miranda, non credenda, things to bee admired, but not beleeved. Tis [...]; his speech is strange, but true. Tis [...], not [...], not a fable, either heathenish, or Iewish, or any of those other kinds, which of late you were warned of, learnedly and sweetly; but tis [...], a true speech; [...] is not in all Homer, but [...] still. Not as some Popish do­ctrines are, true, but not de Fide, not to be beleeved as Articles of our Faith. But this is true de Fide. [...], a position worthy not of slight assent, but of firmest, of fastest, of most assured faith. And there­fore put conjunctim or divisim into all Christian Creeds almost: that for our salvation Christ came downe from heaven: that when he took upon him to deliver man, he did not abhorre the Virgins wombe.

Christs selfe, [...] too, the word; [...] faithfull above all words, hee avouches it. The whole Scripture, [...] too, Gods word, [...], Gods faithfull word (for his word (Christ saith) is truth) con­firmes, what Saint Paul affirmes. Both the Law prefigurd it, and the Prophets foretold it, the evangelists storied it, and the Apostles publisht it. That howsoever some old Copies, as old as Saint Ambrose have it, Humanus sermo, as if it were but the saying of a man (because some Greeke originalls have [...]) yet it is indeede divinus, the saying of Gods selfe, as the people sayd of Herod, the voyce of God and not of man. Enough of this part of the preface; now to the other, [...], &c.

Truth oft hath approbation, without Amplexation; beleeved, but 2 not embrac't of many. As her sister Vertue, laudatur, & alget, is com­mended, but yet starves; so is shee, better beleeved, then loved. God is so of the devills, trusted, but hated. So is Christ, they cry, Iesus thou Sonne of God; but they cry withall, what have we to doe with thee! Both veritie and Pietie, many will acknowledge both, but will have nought to doe with either.

Indeede some truth is but harsh and unpleasant. We must enter into heaven thorow many tribulations, [...], this is a hard saying, verus but durus, very true, but very tart. But a truth, that is comfor­table, how can it but bee acceptable? and such an one is this. That Christ descended to deliver us, to purge our sinnes, and save our soules; whose heart leapes not for joy to heare it? Whose armes will not spread to imbrace him, that proclaimes it? Even their very feete are [Page] lovely (the Prophet saith) that bring tidings of salvation. Is it not [...], a message of joy? To whom was ever joy unwelcome?

Truth that is sure, but sowre withall, no mervaile, if it bee, though acknowledged, yet abhorred. The devils beleeve that which little pleaseth them, their remedilesse damnation. But the truth in my Text is both certaine, and sweete too; and therefore worthy all imbracing. All kinds of imbracing. Worthy to be the object of our eyes, written on our gates and on our walls; and the subject of our speech, sitting or walking; at our rising up, and at our lying downe. Worthie to bee worne as a frontlet on our face, as a bracelet on our hand. The Iewes did thus embrace the Law: how much more is this worthy, which is the Golspel? But especially to bee received into the heart, to bee ap­plyed unto the soule. That is the kindliest embracing of all other; and without which indeede all the other are but vaine. And I will not say, Saint Paul meant not so; though I will not say, he did. The true Am­plexation, is the due Application of the saying to our selves, as Saint Paul doth in the last part; to make our selves the sinners, and Christs comming to save us. Enough of the preface; now to the propo­sition.

In it the first point is the person; tis Iesus Christ; two names, the 3 one of his Person, the other of his Office. I will not discourse of them; tis not so pertinent; and I have done it heretofore. [Onely observe this, that Saint Paul parallels the Angell. Hee not names him onely, but yeelds a reason too; the name Iesus, thats a Saviour: the reason, he should save his people from their sinnes. So Saint Paul here, not onely names him, but originates his name. Iesus his name; his office to save sinners. Two names, but one man: seldome so put together by the E­vangelists; by Saint Marke but once, never by Saint Luke; but in the Acts and Epistles infinite times; and that indifferently, sometimes Christ first, sometimes Iesus. So though the names bee excellent, the former especially, [...], Epiphanius termes, that is (as S. Paul saith) above all names, at which every knee must bow, a name, of hap­py, holy, heavenly signification: yet] I looke rather at the man, then at the name; not what he is cald; but who he is. For his names are both communicable to others besides him, Christ to many, Iesus to some. But the act to save sinners is proper to him onely.

Who is it then to whom Saint Paul ascribes this wonderfull worke, to save the world? Fit, wee aske after him. The people did, the whole City, all Ierusalem, when they heard the children crying to Christ, Hosannah, that is, save us; cryed Quis est iste, who is this? When he but stilled the windes, and calmed the seas, they askt Quis est iste, then. Herod at the hearth of his ordinary acts, askt quis est iste, who is this? But to save sinners, as tis here; to stand betweene Gods wrath and man, cancell his curse, conquer death, Sathan and hell; for this, all this, that man must doe, that will save sinners; tis worthy the question, worth the wonder too, quis est iste, who is this?

All works are not for all strengths. David too slight to fit Sauls har­nesse, too weake to combat with the vast Philistine, thought so by Saul. The dumbe spirit would not out at the Disciples bid­ding. [Page] As a man is, so is his strength, saith Zeba to Gideon. To wrestle with Gods wrath, which will make a man sweat blood; to sustaine sorrowes unsufferable, uncomparable; (see if any sorrowes were ever like to mine, Christ cries in the Prophet) to undergoe Gods curse, so great, so grievous, as will make one cry aloud, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? to dwell with death, with the devill, and with hell; to save a soule doomed to dye for sinne, a world of soules; [...], who is sufficient for these things? Is a man, a meere man, though (as Christ sayd of Iohn Baptist) the greatest man, that ere was borne of women? David saith no; no man can rescue, can redeeme his brother. Can the greatest man for wealth? Saint Peter saith, [...], tis not Gold, nor Silver hath redeemed us. Greatest for holinesse; [...] saith Saint Chrysostome, tis not any of the Prophets. Noah, Iob, Daniel, Prophet or Patriarke, or any holy men, God would not let save Israel from temporall calamitie, sword, famine, or pestilence; much lesse from death and hell. This Iesus Christ then was not man, not meere man: was man, but somewhat else, more then man. Is an Angell? no nor he, saith Theophilact, [...], not Angell, not Arch­angell; not Throne, not Dominion, not Power, not Principalitie, were worthy of this worke. Then was not Iesus Christ an Angell neither, a meere Angel. And yet an Angell too; the Angell of the great coun­sell, Esa. 9. 6. I reade so in the Septuagints, but cald so [...], Athen. i. improperly, & officio, non natura, saith Tert. de Carne Christi, c. 14. Is not Christ Iesus, man or Angell? Then let mee cry with Saint Paul, Quis es Domine, who art thou Lord? Even that; he is Christus Dominus, Christ the Lord. Not Christus Domini, the Lords Christ, Gods an­nointed; Kings are so, all Kings: but Christus Dominus, Christ the Lord. No creature able to save sinners, no meere creature. Christ was a creature too, the man Christ was: but God was in Christ, saith the A­postle; he was [...], God and man. God sent his Sonne from his owne side; not a servant, men are so, and Angels, ministring spirits: but his Sonne, of his owne substance, peere to himselfe, equall to God. None could save sinners, but Gods Sonne, Gods selfe. This Iesus Christ was God. There are many points behinde; leave the person; heare the act.

Iesus Christ came into the world. Theres no remission of sinnes, Saint Paul saith, [...], without shedding of blood. Christ to save sinners, must fit himselfe to bee a sacrifice, a bloudie sacrifice, to bee offered up to God. Tis oportet, he must: It behooved him to suffer, to suffer so, himselfe saith. Suffer as God, he could not: [...], Da­masc. he must be man. Then must hee be innocent; which Saint Paul cals here, comming into the world. For as to dye, is to depart the world, to goe out of it; so to be borne, is to come into it. A phrase used onely by Saint Iohn, and Paul; by Saint Paul but here onely, by Saint Iohn often. But why oportet? what necessitie? First, man had sinned, and man must satisfie. The same nature that broke the Law, must beare the paine. It must be the Womans Seede, must bruise the Serpents head. Not that God could not save man otherwise. Twas not simply so ne­cessary. Other meanes of saving us, non defuit, saith Saint Augustine, [Page] God wanted not. But his wisedome would have this; which so set downe; then followes oportet, it must be so necessarily. Vide Aquinat. part. 3. q. 1. art. 2. Secondly Gods love would appeare too. What surer signe of his love to man, then that his Sonne should be made man? Si Deus homines non diligeret, de coelo ad terram non descenderet, August. Had not God dearely loved us; he would not have come downe to us, downe to us in this manner. God came downe often, Descend [...]mus, goe we downe (saith God) to see this Babel. But that was with a Confun­damus to confound their language, & to scatter them. So he did to Sodom, to destroy it. He came downe in Fire, in a Cloud, in a Dove, in clo­ven tongues. But God here came downe into the wombe of a woman, tooke flesh of a Virgin, and was borne a man. Christ came into the world, that is, he was incarnate; thats the meaning here.

Saint Paul cals it a great mystery, and it is; and a wonder able to amaze a world. Bethleem to become [...], heaven upon earth, Methodi­us, hom. in hypanten. Verbum carni coinfantiatum, Irenaeus terme, the word (who was God) to be borne an Infant; the Antient of dayes to be rocked in a Cradle; [...] to be [...], Basil The great Iehova to become a little Babe; he that is Regens sidera, should be su­gens ubera, August. who (as Iob speakes) guides Arcturus with his Sons, to sucke a womans Neple, like our sonnes; Majestie to put on morta­litie; the word to be made flesh; God to become man; O Altitudo, O the height, O the depth, O the infinite Abyssus of the love of God! The maker of the world, that he might save sinners, would come into the world, that is, would be Incarnate; not assume the nature of the glorious Angels, but the seede of Abraham. In respect whereof, he is not ashamed to call us his Brethren. Cald therefore Adam too, 1 Cor. 15. Commercium nominis, de consortio seminis, saith Tert▪ took, as our na­ture, so our name. God first made us after his likenesse; now hee made himselfe after our likenesse. God saith once in scorne, Behold, man is become like one of us. We may say now in earnest, Behold, God is become like one of us.

There are two generations or births of Christ, the one Aeternitatis, the other Infirmitatis, Saint Austins termes: by his Father, begotten be­fore the world; by his mother, borne into the world. He that from ever­lasting was the Sonne of God, tooke flesh, to stile himselfe the sonne of man. Angels tooke flesh too, often; appeared as men, but were not men; tooke it but not into their person, were not flesh [...], were not incarnate. But Christ was; the humane nature assumed to the di­vine, united personally unto his deitie. How: thats parergon. My Theme is Quod, not Quomodo; that it was, and why; not how. [...], search not into the union, but adore it, Bas. His gracious project of redeeming man, required that union. He must be Immanuel, i. God with us, God and man in one person. That pretious project was to save sinners, the next point in my Text.

The project hath two termes an Act, to save; the Object, sinners. For the first; there are many Comers in Scriptures, to bad purposes. The theefe to steale and kill, Ioh. 10. 10. Amice ad quid venisti. Friend (saith Christ to Iudas) wherefore art thou came? Twas to betray. One [Page] Commer into the world too, though not in the sense here, sinne, Rom. 5. 12. It came into the world, to damne. Say I, one? there are two, [...], death came with him, to kill too. Yea as Christ came downe to us, so did Sathan: the devill is come downe, saith the voyce in the Apocalypse, to deceive, and to devoure. Is hee not cald Abaddon, and Apollyon, that is, a destroyer. But this Commer in my Text, as hee styles himselfe, Apoc. 1. [...], his end of comming is to save, there is another end of it, Ioh. 18. 13. to beare witnesse of the truth. Tis the no­tation of his name, so expounded by an Angell, Iesus, thats a Saviour. Christs owne saying too, The Sonne of man came to save, that was lost.

The act excellent, the salvation of man, [...], Clement, the greatest and royallest of all the Acts of God. Nay the greatest and divinest of all the workes of God: no worke so worthy, so beseeming God, as to save man. Nihil tam dignum Deo, quam salus hominis. Tertull. Here is, Homo homini Deus. And the name eminent, a name (Saint Paul saith) above all names, [...], saith Epiphanius, that at the name of Iesus every knee should bow. I must be short; what is it, he should save us from? Not Egypt, or Amalek, not Madian or Moab, Phili­stines, or Assyrians. The mightiest of all these could but kill the body onely. But Christ hath saved us from the assaulters of our soules, from the assasinates of our soules; the guilt of sinne, the curse of God, the trea­cherie of the flesh, the sorcerie of the world, the sentence of death, the clawes of Sathan, and the jawes of hell; and the Fire, the everla­sting unquenchable Fire, which is prepared for the devill and his An­gels. All these, not the spillers of our blood, but the killers of our soules, this Iesus, this Saviour hath saved us from them all.

The world had enveigled our flesh, the flesh had enthralled us to sinne; sinne had enwrapt us in the curse; the curse had adjudged us to death; death had delivered us to Sathan; Sathan had enjayled us in hell; hell had tormented us in Fire. But as old Zacharie, singeth in his hymne, God hath raised us up a Saviour, that should deliver us from all these enemies. The world is a witch; but not to be feared: Ego vici mundum, I (saith Christs selfe) have overcome the world. Here this Commer is be­come an overcomer. The pricke of the flesh, his grace hath blunted it. The wound of sinne, his wounds have healed it. The vigour of the curse, his crosse hath voided it. The doome of death his death diver­ted it. The clawes of Sathan his bonds have chained them; and the jawes of hell, his thornes have choaked them; and the unquenchable flames his blood hath extinguisht them. Enough of the Act; come to the object.

To save sinners. The object fits the act; who needs saving but sin­ners? 6 The iust are safe without a Saviour, safe of themselves. Sinne first brought in death and all danger. For it mans soule was forfeited to hell soule and body both; and Christs comming in the flesh was of purpose to save them. Theres one Osiander a German, lived about Lu­thers time, wrote, though man had not sinned, Christ had come ne­verthelesse. For man was made for Christ; Christ was not borne for man. Hee saith, one Papist saith so too, Pighius, P. Martyr, com. loc. classe 3. cap. 1. So doth Salmeron, Comment. in Evangel. tom. 2. p. 167. A. [Page] in fine, that Christs death was indeed ordained, because man would sinne. But his incarnation had beene, though sinne had not beene: this, to bring us to heaven, that to redeeme us from hell. Thats crosse to the Creede which wee must credit before him, the Nicene Creed, that for us men, and for our salvation, Christ was incarnate. Si Homo non per [...]isset filius hominis non venisset, Aug. If man should not have pe­rished, Christ should not have come. Tolle morbum, tolle medicum. Were no sicknesse, no sore; what need Physick or Surgery? Christs com­ming meerely was for man, for sinnefull man.

Theres a man in the Gospel saith, he is just. Non sum, saith the Pha­risee, hee's no sinner, hee's a Saint. For him, Christ saith, he came not to save him. Tis there to call him; tis all one. If not to call; much lesse to save. For Vocavit goes before, Iustificavit, he must be cald, that will be saved. Now Christ came not to call the just. The whole have no neede of the Physitian, but the sicke. Sinne is [...], saith Saint Basil the soules sicknesse. The Pharisee that feeles no paine of it, cares not for Christs physicke. The sinner is Christs patient.

But how then saith our Saviour, venite ad me omnes, come unto me All? All are cald; but those All, sinners: tis Omnes, but Laborantes, All that are weary, and loded with their sinnes. Christ calls himselfe a shep­herd; and all men are his sheepe; But he that strayes not, him Christ seekes not. He saith, he was not sent, but to the lost sheepe. Christs com­ming was to save that onely, which was lost. And as them onely, so them All. All, but take this withall; Omnes utique poenitentes, saith Saint August. All that repent. Else David saith, Disperdet, God will destroy sinners, Psal. 145. that is, saith Saint Augustine, persisters in sinne, con­temners of God, despairers of grace.

Shall I end this part with an Apostrophe? Is there any sinner here, in all this Congregation, his soule sinne-sicke (as Christ sayd in another sense) heavie even unto the death? Apply this faithfull saying to thy selfe, that Iesus Christ came into the world to save thee. Are thy sinnes great? are they many? are they both? yet art thou but a sinner. One­ly I hope, thou art sorry, thou art so. Then are they not so great, but Christs merits exceeds them; neither are they so many, but Gods mer­cies are moe. If Christ will have man to forgive his brother 77. times: surely God will pardon the penitent sinner 77000. times. Thats for the number. And for the greatnesse▪ Davids sinne great, murther and adul­tery. Peters greater; he denyed Christ. Pauls greater yet; he perse­cuted Christ. Yet none of these despaired. Si Paulus sanatus; cur ego desperem? Hier. If Paul, if Peter, if David were saved; why not thou as well as they? Nolo mortem Peccatoris, God will not the death, no not of any sinner. A word of the instance; and I end.

Two things in it observeable, the person, Ego; and the degree, Pri­mus. Great is Gods grace in Paul in both. First for the person; Paul samples sinners in himselfe. When sinne is questioned, whose tongue makes not his master innocent? layes it not on any but himselfe? Adam on the woman; Eve on the Serpent. Sinne needs must have some sub­ject: One of the three persons, I, thou, or hee, must father it. But of the three, the first is most unwilling, the hardliest hal'd, to say the sinne is [Page] his. Nonne tu es, saith Ahab to Elias, is it not thou that troublest Israel? This Publican, saith the Pharisee. But where finde you the first per­son? especially in the number singular. You shall reade sometimes, Peccavimus, Wee have sinned; that shame is lesse when borne by ma­ny. But Peccavi, singular, where finde wee that, but forced? Tis rare. Tis often negative; Non sum, I am not, saith the Pharisee; and I am Innocent, Pilate cryed. It must bee David, Peter, Paul, mortified men, must charge themselves. Ecce ego, saith David, tis I have sinned. Lord goe from me, saith Peter, I am a sinner. Yea theres one Publican cryes, Mihi peccatori, O God be mercifull to me a sinner.

Tis mans fashion, to hide sinne, Iobs terme: at least to slide the blame on others. S. Paul will not follow it; the fashion's naught: confesseth ingenuously his owne guiltinesse; to exemplifie sinners, he singles out himselfe.

For the last terme, the degree; the other showed S. Pauls great hu­militie. But as David once sayd, Etiam vilescam adhuc, he will be hum­bler yet. The Cardinall number might have served, Quorum ego unus sum, whereof I am one. But he saith, Primus, first of sinners; not Tempore, in order, but Pondere, in measure, worst of sinners. Paul was not first; Peter was his antient: he was Homo peccator, a sinner (you heard) too. David before him. Many before him. Nay the first man was not the first sinner; Adam was not: Eve sinned before him. But Primus, i. Summus, greatest, chiefest of sinners. Man, if he must confesse; yet he will mince his sinne, lessen it at least. Levicula vitiola lapsuum, as a Po­pish Bishop speakes, all termes diminutive. Tis a fault, not a sinne; if a sinne, a pettie one; if great, yet of infirmitie; if wilfull, yet but once, if often, yet in youth. He will thinne his sinne, if he cannot cover it. S. Paul doth not; chiefe of sinners. The sinnes of others S. Paul felt not; their load lay not on him; he felt his owne, thought them heavier then any. A patterne for the precise hypocrite; who straynes other mens faults, though Gnats, swallowes his owne, though Camels: Others are beames, his but Moates. Man should judge of his sinne, as he doth of his Crosse, Quod quisque patitur, id putat gravissimum, hold his owne sinnes most hainous; pardon others, judge himselfe. S. Paul doth, cen­sures himselfe, a blasphemer, a persecutour; here the cheefe of sinners, that is, a sinner paramont, the grand, the hainous, the superlative sinner. Not of course by Hyperbole in idle elocution; but in that hearty mea­ning, in which he cryes else where, Infelix ego homo, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death? For the profitable applying of this comfortable Scripture, the Sacrament now serves. Wherein Christ tenders you his blessed blood and body, which he of­fered on the Crosse for a Sacrifice for sinne. Come unto it chreerefully: but come to it with Faith. Come with Repentance, and in love. And then every one of us, at the taking of the Bread and Wine into his bo­dy, even the greatest and hainousest sinner of us all, may say unto his soule, Iesus Christ came into the world to save me. The Lord of his mer­cy, by his holy spirit, lift up your hearts to him, confirme your faith, comfort your spirits, forgive your sinnes, and save your soules, for our Saviours sake, Christ Iesus, Cui, &c.

SAint Stevens Prayer, at his giving up the ghost. A Saints Praier; all are not so; many pray in Scripture; not Saints. Balaam did, the Priests of Baal did. Many that are in hell, have prayed; many that shall be, pray now, Lord, Lord, Christ saith. Steven heere prayes, a Saint; more; a Martyr. The Church history cals him [...] the first Martyr. This day this holy man obtai­ned the Crowne of martyrdome. He hath his name of it; it signifies a Crowne. His Person I presse not, tis Parergon, My Text is but his Prayer onely, shall be my whole Theme. Not Quis, but Quid; not Who he is, but What he saith. He praies to Christ, Lord Iesus; com­mends his Soule to him, Receive my Spirit. But two particulars, the Person prayed too, Christ; the thing prayed for, Salvation.

For the first, Prayer is ever prefac't with the Person prayed unto. O God be mercifull. O Christ, heare us. Lord, have mercy upon us. Be we never so short in prayer; yet we doe that. Peruse all the prayers in all Christian Liturgies, all the Collects (as we call them) in our booke of Divine Service, the prayers of the Patriarkes, of the Prophets, the Apostles, all other holy men throughout the Booke of God; you shall finde it, to be so. Yea and of unholy too. O Baal, heare us. O God, I thanke thee. Christ himselfe did so, Father, forgive them; Father, if it be possible: and Pray thus, saith he, Our Father. It is fit: our Re­verence to the Person so requires. Make but Petition to a Man; to [Page 74] speake to him abruptly, were rude, and unmannerly. O man of God, saith the Captaine to Elias. Not in petition onely, but in all things al­most, compellation is discreet, nay necessary Complement: How shall it else be knowne, to whom I speake? O King, live for ever. Friend, how camest thou in hither? Woman, great is thy Faith.

The appellation not tyed precisely to be ever the first word. It is sometimes in the middes, sometimes in the end; but chiefely first. In sense first, and by nature howsoever. Onely omit it not; have it some­where. A praier without it, is the speech of a mad man. [If I will pray; it must be to some person, to some supposed person at the least. The heathens prayed to their gods. Their gods were not; the Scriptures calles them, not Elohim, but Elihin; things not existing. Yet they thought them gods, gave them names: nothing hath no name. They were nothing indeed, but in imagination; and what they thought them, that they cald them.]

The Compellation heere hath two termes, the one common to the whole Trinity, the other proper to Christ; both conjoyned in the new Testament, almost 100. times. For the former, the Athanasian Creed bids us beleeve, That the Father is Lord, the Sonne also is Lord, and so is the Holy Ghost. It is cald in the booke of Wised. 14. 21. [...], a name incommunicable, he meanes to any Creature; but every Per­son in the Godhead is called Lord.

Tis all one with Iehovah in the old Testament, a name Propriissimum, Zanchies word, most proper to God. But Cognomen Dei, Tertullian, Gods surname. None but God is Lord; but whosoever is God, is Lord and therefore Christ. Thomas called Didymus, that is a twin, cou­ples them as twins, my Lord, and my God.

The Arians say, Christ was not called Lord, before his Resurrecti­on. What brow but brazen would say so? Not once, not thrice onely, not ten times, thrice ten times is Christ cald so before. Indeed an. An­gell on the stone of the Sepulchre calles him Lord, Come see the place, saith he, where the Lord was laid. That was after he was risen. But it was his usuall title in every mouth almost before. Christs selfe approoved it, You call me Lord, and you say well, for so I am. But I must confesse, that was not in the sense meant by this Martyr. The word hath many senses. The people cald Christ so in their reverend conceipt of him, for his doctrine, and his miracles. So Obadiah, a great person called Elias Lord, a poore Prophet. Very meane men were cald so in Civi­lity, A Gardiner was by Mary, as she thought. Abrahams servant was by Rebecca. It is therefore in your English bookes, save of the last tran­slation, not Lord, but Master oftentimes. Nor Master neither, some­time Sir. But Christ is called Lord heere in a higher sense. And haply the Arians meant so, that Christ was not cald Lord in the sense heere, before the Resurrection. But that is false too. He was cald so even that morning, he was borne, Luke 2. 11. and that by an Angell, Christ the Lord. Yea in his mothers wombe, Elizabeth, cals him Lord. So did an other Angell at his Conception, Dominus tecum. Nay David called him so many hundred yeares before his Incarnation, Dixit Dominus, Domino meo.

It is a high title here due to Christ, either as the Word, peere to his Father, God as well as he. Or as the Messias, our anointed King, Heire of all things, Heb. 1. 2. all things put under him. Or as our Saviour; he bought us with a price, redeemed us with his bloud. [Three Hebrew words, Iehovah, Adonai, Bagnal, all signifie Lord, and all belong to Christ. He is Iehovah, as he is God; Adonai, as he is King; and Bagnal, as the Spouse or Husband of the Church. Saint Steven in my Text may meane any of all these.] I should chuse the first, the prayer to be prefac't with two words, the one Potestatis, of his power, the other Pietatis, of his love. Able as the Sonne of God, readie as the sonne of man, to heare and helpe us, our Lord to owne us; Iesus to save us. Who so fit, to com­mend a Christian soule unto, as he that made it, when it was not, the Lord; as he that sav'd it when it was lost, Iesus? Thats the next terme, Lord Iesus.

There are many Lords saith Paul, there is but one Iesus. Doth Saint Steven, because the first word is so common, restraine it with the se­cond? Hee doth not. For thers but one Lord neither in Stevens sense. There are many Lords; but there is but one Lord God, Dominus Deus noster unus, Deut. 6. 4. But the Persons of the Godhead being three, and this title being common to them all; if Steven will pray to one a­part, he must adde another word to Lord; and so he doth here, Iesus. But why it? I answer, why not it? Why might he not pray, as well to God the Sonne, as to the Father, or the holy Ghost? I may direct my prayer to any one of them; tis no wrong to the rest. All three are so entwind, the Father in the Sonne, the Sonne in him, the Spirit in both, both in the Spirit, that when one is worshipped, all three are glo­rified.

But yet why Iesus? First, why that Person? Then why that Name? For the one, who fitter to be the Receiver of our soules, then who was pleased to be the Redeemer of our soules? All three were cooperants in mans Redemption; but Christ was the maine; Hee was made man for us, he shed his bloud for us. Salvation is of them all, yet by him onely; Hee is our Mediatour, they are not. For the other, the person here prayed unto is [...], hath many names; the Word, the Sonne of God, the Sonne of man, Sonne of David, Christ or Messias, they two are one, Siloh, Amen, Immanuel; and here Iesus. All save the last are his Appellations rather than his Name. This is his right Name, and (if I may so speake) his Christen name, given him at his Circum­cision, as ours are at our Baptisme. Lord is but Christs Cognomen, you heard Tertullians terme, but Iesus his proper name: Imposed by an An­gell, by two Angells, to Marie by one, to Ioseph by another. A name (the Cabalists say) full of mysteries, but many idle, all impertinent. I omit them.

The Etymon of this name, whether Hebrew, as an Angell in the Gospell hath expounded it, or Greeke, as some Fathers have elegantly fitted it, sheweth the reason why Steven useth it. It signifies a Saviour. The stones battered his body, the paines bittered his soule: but the Name of Iesus sweetned them. Oleum effusum, nomen tuum, that name like precious ointment, soveraine oyle. The stones bruised his bodie, [Page 76] but the Name suppled his soule. Mel in ore, saith Bernard; It is honie to the mouth: What is it to the soule? Salvation, [...], the greatest of Gods acts, Basil. and Iesus [...], the sweetest of Christs names; [...] the mightie God: Esay calls him so, but [...], the sweet Redeemer, the faithfull find him so. The Martyr couples them, calls him Lord, that is strong; but Iesus too, that is, sweete. Iudahs Lyon like Samsons, out of the strong comes sweetnesse. Stevens corpse is brused and broken, theres no saving it. But his Spirit hath a Saviour, he commends it unto him, Lord Iesus receive my spirit. He hath another prayer for the par­don of his persecutors; he cries there but Lord onely. But to cheere and comfort his owne deceasing soule, hee addes a second title in assu­rance of salvation, not onely Lord, but Iesus too. Marie saith, her spirit rejoyc'd in him, and Steven prayes his spirit to be received by him. Thats the petition; come to it.

The Petition, like the preface hath two termes too, an Act, and an Object. Steven prayes the Lord Iesus: What to doe? to receive. To receive what? his Spirit. Both a Prayer, and a Will. As Christ did to his Father, so doth he to Christ, commends his spirit to him, as a Be­quest. But it is [...], in Prayer-wise, Receive it, a Request; a Testa­mentary Prayer. Suite is made seldome to receive, I meane on his part that is prayed to. All men sue to receive; but from him, they sue unto, not he from them. Petitioners crie, ever Da, never Accipe, give, not re­ceive. Speakes Steven advisedly? He doth. It is sometimes benefit to the petitioner, that the partie, whom he petitions, doe receive. Ia­cob prayed Esau to receive his present. It wonne his love. Princes are prayed in Parliament to receive Subsidies. It is not their private profit, but the peoples; they protect them. Steven here prayes Christ to receive his soule, not to profite him, but to save it. Hee saith not Accipe, but Suscipe, not take it as a gift, but receive it as a charge, as a precious Depositum. For so are Saints soules, committe dtoh is trust, to keepe, untill his comming, and then to redeliver them. [Christs soule more precious farre than ours▪ Christ durst commit un­to Gods hands] The graves receive our bodies, they keepe them bad­ly, suffer them to rot. But Christ is the faithfull Feoffee of our soules; If he receive them, they are safe. Steven hath reason, all men have, to petition God to receive so.

Said I, it was a Legacie? It is. Steven is seased on suddenly by the mad multitude, must die, die instantly. Make a Will he cannot, save by word, and that in a word too. Dispose of his temporall state he can not, does what he can; onely bequeaths his spirit to Christ; had beene a disciple, and learned that of his Master, commends his soule to God, breaths it out into Christs bosome. No man needs die Intestate, no Christian, either for lacke of time, or want of state. The barest beg­ger hath a soule; and the suddenest dier can say with Steven, or if not say in word, yet pray in heart, Lord Iesus receive me.

Gods craves the Spirt, Da mihi, Prov. 23. But so doth Satan too, as the King of Sodom said to Abraham, Da mihi animas, give me the soules. Give it thou him, that gave it thee. Soules are not ex traduce, from our Parents, but from heaven. Tis God, that gives them, saith the Prea­cher, [Page 77] Eccles. 12. 7. give it to God; but in the Martyrs Word, Receive it; he praied in faith; not in the Prophets mood, Take it, Ionas said so, praied so, but in anger, Elias too, but in griefe. Not, Tolle, take my Soule; the fiends doe that, Luke 12. 20. but Suscipe, receive it. A­theists in desperate imprecation bid the devill take their soules. But Christians in humble supplication, pray God, receive their soules. God thinkes not scorne to be mans Legatary, a giver to him in his life, a receiver from him, at his death. A Legatary not of his lands, or his goods; let him will them to others; but of his soule. Thats the last thing in my Text, Lord Iesus, receive my Spirit.

Yet first heare the conceipt, the base conceipt of some Christians in Arabia, in Origens dayes, and queld by him: but revived lately by Anabaptists, that the soule dies with the body, sleepes with it, till judgement. Then it needs no receiver. Calvin confuted it, because it spred in his time; I need not, it is dead now. Mens soules are kept, not in Communi Custodia, as Lactantius writes; thats an errour too: to sequester all soules (Tertullians terme) into one place, till the Re­surrection, good and bad all together. But yet in Custodia; that word may have good meaning. Yea in Communi too, if construed well; the Saints soules all in safety, the reprobates all in jayle. Papists presse Promptuaria, out of Apocryphall Esdras, certaine Cels for soules. Nor will we sticke at that. Esdraes word is not bad, if not abused, abused to build their buttries of their two Limbi, and Purgatory. The Fathers have the like, it is Receptacula, good too in right sense, and suting with my Text, places of receipt. God receives our soules, holy mens soules. His house hath many mansions, Christ saith; there hee be­stowes them. But they sleepe not there, as those fond Arabians and Anabaptists held, meaning by sleepe, death; but live and sing Hallelu­jah unto God, to the Lord Iesus, that receiveth them. I pray you marke Christs word there, his Fathers house. Heaven is Gods house; Iust mens soules are there, theres no suspense, but present fruition, not full indeed, because they want their bodies, but happy; fruition of Gods selfe, contemplation of the Trinity, saith Nazianzen: are with the King, saith Chrysostome, not by faith, as on earth, but [...], face to face; not in atrio, as Saint Bernard saith, but in summo coelo, hard by Gods throne, saith the same Father. Say not, Christ promised the thiefe upon the Crosse, Paradise, not Heaven. For both are one, Idem (saith Theophylact.) est Paradisus & Regnum coelorum. Tis but Euthymius distinguisht Heaven from Paradise, of lightest credit, because the la­test Father. If neede be, vide fusius, Bellarm. lib. de Sanctorum Beatitud. cap. 2. 3. 4. &c.

To end this Act; God gives man, every man a soule, lends it him for his life: at his death he must render it. So we doe, all men doe, the man Christ did, Iohn 19. 30. Tradidit Spiritum, we give up the Ghost▪ [that some thinke the breath, I thinke the soule] Tis received instant­ly. God receives it, or sathan; God by his Angels, sathan by him­felfe. He watches duely at every houre of death, waites for the soule, would be the Receiver generall: But the just mans Soule God sends for, receives it. Enough for the Act; come to the Object, my Spirit.

The Spirit and Soule are one. Soules are called so, and are so. Cald so often in Scripture; Are so, Immateriall substances, like unto the Angels. Soule is the baser word, common to beasts, and is but an ac­cident. That indeed dies with the body, ends with it. Spirit is meant of mans soule, never of beasts, save once, Eccles. 3. 21. theres Spiritus Iumentorum. The soules of beasts perish; but mens spirits are immor­tall. This doth this Martyr pray Christ to receive. If as a Legacy; it is acceptable to Christ. If as a Depositum; it is profitable to Steven. For the one, why should I not trust my Spirit unto God, the Father of Spirits? For the other, What should I give unto thee, but my Soule, Oh thou Lover of Soules. The wise man cals God so.

Take it in the first sense, I have a Husband, or I am under age; I dye by the Law, or I have no estate. I cannot make a Will. Yet die I will not utterly intestate. I have a soule, I will give it, give it to God. Say I have an estate, may make a Will; Yet my goods (David saith) are nothing unto God. I will give him my Soule. That excels all my temporals. Tis unworthy of God; but the worthiest thing I have. Not Melius nostrum, as Fulgentius termes it, our better part; but Nostrum Optimum, the best thing we have. Solomon cals it Pretious; thats but in the positive. But the Poet makes comparison, [...], nothing more pretious, saith one; [...], nothing so pretious, saith another; that is superlative. Christ saith as much, there is no [...], nothing of like worth to it. Gods light, Prov. 20. Gods delight, his love, you heard before, Oh thou Lover of Soules. Gods breath, Moses saith. The soules first generation is Gods immediate in­spiration, Gen. 2. 7. sweet needs must unto God be the reflection of his owne breath. Par Angelis, the Angels Peere, saith Saint Aug. [...] Gods Image, saith Saint Nazianzen.

Take it in the second sense, not a Bequest, but a Depositum. It is not thy substance, sathan seekes, tis not thy life. But he huntes, like the harlot in the Proverbes, for thy Soule. Pretiosam Animam, the pretious soule, saith Solomon: so pretious, that nothing could buy it but Christs blood. Pretiosus Sanguis, precious bloud, saith Saint Peter; Gods pretious blood, the onely ransome of mans pretious soule. A jewell of that price requires a faithfull keeper. I will trust my execu­tour with my state; none but God with my soule. I will cry to Christ onely to receive it, to God onely.

For the terme in my Text, Steven saith, his Spirit, not his Soule. Surely he was no Sadducee; they denied all spirits. What could hea­thens doe more? Nay heathen doe not; Atheists doe. Plinie saith, tis Commentum, Deliramentum, Vanitas, Mendacium, foolery and gullery, to say, our soules are spirits. Manes, the mad hereticke, as prophane as he, said the soules of men and swine are both alike.

This spirit, most liable to Iudgement, as prime Agent in all sinne, (for the body is but Accessory, as but the soules instrument, the soule, Domina Corporis, S. Augustines terme, the spirit Imperator, his word too, the soule, Lady and Mistresse, yea Empresse to the body) man hath reason to pray God, in his life to forgive, at his death to receive. Tis not the bodies paines, he feares so much, though they will be un­sufferable. [Page 79] But the spirits torments will exceed them farre, the soules intollerable torture in hell. What the feare but of Purgatory fire hath wrought, you are not ignorant. But that saying of Saint Augustines is true of all Christians, not of Papists onely, that Animae causa omnis religio est: All religion alwaies is for the soules sake. So neere, so deare to every man, that not he onely, that departs in peace, in his bed, oftentimes with little sense of paine; but he also that is tortured at the gibbet, at the stake, in the midst of his paines, yet is mindfull of his soule, and cries unto his Saviour, to receive his spirit.

The Lord sanctifie our Spirits in our life, glorifie them at our death; even for his sake, to whom this Martyr prayes, the Lord Iesus; Cui, &c.

THE Argument of my Text is a bloudy massacre, Occidit, hee slew; the slayer, Herod; the slaine, Children; their Sexe, Male [...]; their num­ber, All; their age, Infants, of two yeares old and under; and the place, Bethleem, and all the coasts about. And he slew all the male children in Bethleem, and in all the coasts thereof from two yeares old and under; seven distinct severalls.

The Agent is first, And he slew. The Hee is Herod; not the Tetrarch, but the King. Not Agrippa neither, a King too, but the great Herod, his Grandfather. Slayers all. This slew the Infants; his Sonne, Saint Iohn the Baptist; his Grandsonne, Iames the Apostle. A King a Killer [of his subjects Sonnes?] Tis not for Kings to drinke wine, Salomon saith; much lesse to sucke bloud. If not the bloud of grapes, much lesse the bloud of men. What moves him? Hee is wroth. Wrath is bloudy; especially a Kings. A King saith it, Salomon, a Kings anger is a messenger of death. Why wroth? because the Wise­men had deluded him. Kings will not be mock't. If the Lyons case will not serve, take the Foxes, saith the Proverbe. Tis contrary here. [Page 81] The Foxe, (Christ calls one Herod so) told the Wisemen, he would worship Christ, would they but bring him word where he was: but meant to kill him. They disappoint him: He turnes Lyon. He meant to kill but Christ: now he makes a massacre; murthers every mothers sonne. Not Rachel weepes alone▪ all Ramah rings of him, magna jugu­latio, magna ejulatio. A Lyon? A Dragon, a fierie Dragon: so sounds his name in the Syriacke tongue.

Herods all, men of bloud. Nullus lanienae finis, saith Carion in hi [...] Chronicle. Their butcherie infinit. This first the worst; who slew all the Sanhedrin, all the Senate of Iudaea; slew three of his own sons: his other murthers monstrous, storied by Iosephus. His end worthy his Acts. His Grandsonnes death fearefull, eaten of wormes: his, farre more hor­rible. A mungrell; his mother an Arabian, his Father an Edomite. Marvell not if a Son of Esau be bloudy. Edom sounds bloud too. Wrath and the Sword, the armes of an Edomite, Amos 1. 11. Both are here. Wrath in the clause before; the sword, in my Text. Herod should de­generate, if he should not slay. Thats the first word, the first maine word of my Text, & occidit, and he slew. [And] is a note copulative, argues some act before: he sent and slew. Tis not [...], slew them himselfe with his owne hands. Hee could not; the Babes were many, and disperst. Happly he would, had all their heads stood on one necke. Wrath is [...], will not use others in what it selfe can execute. This he could not; Misit, & occidit, hee sent, and slew. Beza is bold to put in (Carnificibus,) and doth well. Missis carnificibus, hee sent Butchers, Executioners: he sent, and slew. Officers are but instruments; Herod is the slaier: and he slew.

The Act followes. Poets call Kings [...], shepheards, fee­ders of their people. Poets? Prophets doe; God doth, by Esay, Cyrus Pastor meus, Cyrus is Gods shepheard. They may Tondere, not De­glubere, fleece them, but not flaw them; clip their wooll, not shed their bloud. Calls Christ Herod a Foxe? It was this mans sonne. This is a Wolfe here; worries his sheepe. And yet a Foxe will serve to kill a Lambe: this slaughter is of Lambes. What are infants, but Lambes? Spotlesse Lambes? We call this Innocents day. The Syriacke terme is indifferent, signifies either Lambes or Children. Peter charged with [...] Christs Lambes, as well as Sheepe. So is Prince, as well as Priest. But Lambes or Sheepe, young or old, Kings ought to foster, not to kill. Subjects are their Soveraignes charge, to tutour, not to slaughter them. Princes are Patres patriae, their peoples Fathers. Will a father slay his child? Will he not rather crie, if he die, Surely I will goe downe unto the grave unto my Sonne mourning. Yea though he be a sonne of Belial, yet crie with David, O Absalon, my son Absalon; would God I had died for thee; O Absalon my sonne, my son! And hath Herod here the heart to slay? Swords are indeed borne before Kings, to shew, that sometimes slay they may. They may; but onely malefactours. Then how great is the guilt of the private subject, gentleman or other, to denounce duell for private revenge, and shed the bloud of warre in peace? To affect magnanimitie, but forget Christianitie: to hold it generous, which in­deed is base: to wreake a little wrong, the least indignitie, but a dis­gracefull [Page 82] terme, with shedding bloud. It argue [...] spirit. It doth, but an evill one; such an one, as Sauls was, the spirit of Sathan, to despise Lawes and Religion. Gods Spirit bids thee beare. Flesh and bloud can not. Nor shall flesh and bloud enter into heaven. Tis base to suffer. He must in hell, that will not here. Slay, and Dispaire: Cain did. Save thine honour: loose thy soule. Maist thou doe, that Kings may not? A servant be above his Lord? Ioab Davids Generall slew Abner and Ama­sa. He might pretend some reason. The one had slaine his brother; the other was a Rebell. Yet David curst Ioab, and Salomon put him to death. Slaughter is murther, but in warre. The Kings selfe sinnes, if he slay. Thats Herod act, he slew, leave it; come to the Object, All the male children.

Qualis and Quot, must waite on Quis. See first the Subject; Sexe, and Age, and number after. Herod slew; Whom? Whom no man will, out of warre, and in his wits; Children, little children. Warre is no distinguisher; and a mad mans actions who examines? For the one; the Sword is mercilesse, spares no sexe, pities no age; man, woman, and child. But Ierusalem is at peace. Why should Herod here shed childrens bloud? For the other; Herod is not Antiochus: Him they surnam'd Epima­nes, the mad. Herod is angrie; that's said here, he was wroth: Angrie, but not mad, and yet that mood is madnesse too. [...], saith the Comicke, a man is franticke, when he is in mood. Said I, Herod was not Antiochus? Happly he was. His sonne was of conceit, that the soules of men departing enter into new bodies, the Pythagorean Me­tempsychosis, that Iohn might be Elias, and Christ might be Iohn Baptist, Marke 6. 16. Then might his Father here be that mad King, Herod might be Antiochus. Nay he exceeds him. Hee carried the children of Ierusalem captive; he kil'd them not. Pharaohs soule rather is in Herod: he bad slay the Hebrew infants. Nay, hee exceeds Pharaoh too. Hee corrected his commandement, would not be so barbarous, to butcher them; bad but cast them in the River. Fire and Water (they say) have no mercie. Surely they have more, then a bloudy King. For the three children scap't the Fire, and Moses scap't the Water. His name sounds so, and I doubt not, but many besides Moses, though the story saies it not. Fire and Water are furious; but a Tyrant exceeds them. Surely Herod is mad. The Fathers title him, [...], not Herod the Great, but Herod the Mad. Furor est in Rege, saith Sedulius, the King is mad. The text saith little lesse, [...], he was wroth, [...], angrie onely, but wroth: [...] quasi [...], his bloud boiles in his heart, [...], is exceeding wroth, and exceeding wrath, what is it but frensie?

A child will move pitie even in an Alien. Pharaohs daughter an Egyp­tian pitied Moses in the flagges; though she knew, and said it too, this is one of the Hebrewes children. So did the Egyptian Midwives too; not one had the heart to kill an Hebrew child, though Pharaoh com­manded them. Infants have beene pitied even by the brute creatures, have beene nurst by them, Romulus and Remus of a Wolfe, Cyrus of a Bitch, Telephus of a Hinde, Paris of a Beare. Say some are fables; all are not. It must be a Nation [...] of a hard face, Deut. 28. 50. that will not have compassion on a child. Of a hard face? Of a hard heart, [Page 83] of Stone, of [...]lint, of Adamant. Ruben, though leud otherwise, yet pittied Ioseph a young child; cried when his brethren would have slaine him, Oh shed not his bloud: and when he missed him in the pit, where they cast him alive, hee rent his cloathes, and cried againe, Oh, whe­ther shall I goe? the child is not yonder! Ionas when he grieved, that Nineveh was spar'd, he thought not on the children. But God said, Shall I not spare Nineveh, in which are sixscore thousand, that know not the right hand from the left?

The sword in peace smites but malefactours. When the Iewes cried to Pilat to crucifie Christ, he askt them, Quid mali, What evill hath hee done? Infants are Innocents, without sinne, saving Originall; and Bap­tisme washes that. They are Saints, Sancti sunt, 1 Cor. 7. Saint Iohn wonders at the Woman in the Revelation, that was drunken with Saints bloud. These are more, Martyrs too; they die for Christ. Herod is a persecutor. For there are three kinds of Martyrs, voluntate & opere, in Will and Act: so was Saint Stephen the other day; Voluntate, non opere, in Will, not in Act: so was Saint Iohn yesterday; Opere, non voluntate, in Act, not in Will, so are the children to day. Saint Stephen is stild Protomartyr, he died indeed first after Christ. But these are Protomartyrs, Saint Cyprian calls them so, the first Martyrs in their kinde. Say, not Martyrs, nor Saints; yet at least Innocents. Children all are so. It is Aetas innoxia, Saint Austins terme. These have hurt no man; much lesse trespast against Herod; and God bids in the Law, thou shalt not slay the innocent. Saul slew Ahimeleke, and all his fathers house. But an evill spirit hanted him: and he had a faire pretence; he had reliev'd David his enemie; that was treason with Saul. What have these In­nocents done, that they should die? I thinke, not one ill spirit, but a legion was in Herod. Be the sexe next, [...], the male children. Tis but coucht in the Originall; and our last Bibles have it not. But the Ge­neva have. I note it also, to satisfie all Hearers. The sexe shewes Herod yet more savage. Childrens death grieves Parents, sonnes or daughters, grieve them much: but the sonnes most, Rachels especially. Their Birth joyes them more, were there travell never so sharpe, to heare it said, thou hast borne a sonne: and their death grieves them most, especially unkind and violent. And the countrie is rob'd too by losse of sonnes more than of daughters; the males more usefull farre than femals, for many services to their countrie. Twas well, he slew not femals too. There was no Salicke law, that forbad women to raigne. Deborah had judg'd Israel, Athaliah raigned sixe or seven yeares, Alexandra 9. Some daughter happly might be borne to the crowne. But the Wise­men had askt, Where is hee that is borne King of the Iewes? Herod fea­red not femall sexe. This terme I but touch onely, because it is not in all bookes. Leave the sexe; come to the number.

Tyrants killing in rage, care not whom, nor how many. Nero his wife and mother; Abimeleck his Brethren; some their owne sonnes. Saul would; Herod did. Better be Herods swine, then his sonne, Au­gustus said. For number, tis said, All. Tria sunt omnia, All may be said of three. Twere well, the All were heere no more: seaven, tenne, any small number may be said All. But my Text meanes a mul­titude. [Page 84] But the summe uncertaine. Tis an All without a number. Iehu slew two and forty, Abimeleck 70. Saul 85. Athaliah All the Kings seed; theres an other All without a summe. The amplitude of this All, you shall heare afterward. Hearke in the meane time, that as Zeba said to Gideon, As the man is, so is his strength; so also as the man is, so is his mood. Magnos magna decent. This was Herod the great: little blood will not become him. If hee slay; it must be multitudes. Hee must massacre, not kill onely. Grande martyrium Augustine stiles this act. He slaies thousands, while he seekes but one; Millia pueritia, Sedu­lius his phrase too, thousands of Children. The Horseleech hath two daughters, Solomon saith, wrath is one of them: It cries, Give, give; sucks blood, till it burst, fals not of, till it be full; ends not at one house, at owne street, at one towne; cries still Plus ultrà; make a [...]. The sword sweepes cleane, returnes not to the scabard, till it have slaine All. Tis a Devourer. It hath a mouth, In ore gladii; Yea for quicker dispatch, it hath two mouthes, Heb. 4. 12. [...]. Innumerum nefas, sedulius his terme too. As a wolfe, if he breake into a fold, killes not one sheepe alone, though one be more then he can eat, yet he slaies many, if he can, All. Herod can, and does; can, as a King; does, as a Wolfe; a Lion, a Tiger, a Panther; he kils All.

All is an universall, but is oft straightned, meanes but few; but ma­ny heere. Tis All in Bethleem, and in all the coasts thereof. In Beth­leem, for there the Scribes had said, Christ should be borne; said, and showed it too out of the Prophets. Not in Nazareth, as some Here­tickes say in Athanasius. The slaughter thereof is in Bethleem. Bethleem becomes Acheldama, the house of bread turn'd to the field of bloud. Herod fills Bethleem, as Manasses did Ierusalem with innocent bloud. And in all the coasts thereof. A citie will not satisfie a sucker of bloud. Tis as the Prophet saith, Parvula es, Bethleem is but little. Saint Luke calls it a citie, Davids citie; Davids selfe doth. Say, it was not; for Saint Iohn calls it but [...], a small village. That were enough for such an act, too much for a murtherer. Happly the child, whom hee sought, might be remov'd (as it was indeed out of his reach) might be some­where in the countrie. Herods sword will after, into all the coasts, that border about Bethleem. The slaughter must reach farre, that Ramah shall ring of it, a citie farre from Bethleem. Which made Saint Ierom make Ramah an Appellative, In excelso vox audita est. The voyce of the dying children, and the crying parents was heard on high, reacht round about, throughout all Ephrata. Like the crie▪ of the Egyptians, when there was not an house, wherein one was not dead. So Origen saith of this, In singulis domibus bini aut terni; Bethleem exceeds Egypt, two or three in every house. Shimei cal'd David a man of bloud; onely for the death of Abner and Ishboshesh; and yet he had not slaine them neither. Heres a man of bloud, that butchers a whole countrie.

Nay, this All, is not all yet. The Age of the slaine makes the Act yet more execrable. Tis from two yeares old and under. First they must be many, in a Towne, and Countrie round about, a populous Countrie, as Palestina was; the number must be great of all the males borne in two whole yeares. That theme I have already prest. But they are In­fants [Page 85] too. Rage spares no age, spares not the child scarse a spanne long; slaies in the cradle, rends from the breast; bespraies the sword with the mothers milke, embrewes her breasts with the childs bloud. Cruor lacteus, heres milke and bloud, saith Cyprian, mixt together. Yea happly some woman that had two sonnes, the one at the dugge, the o­ther in the lappe, while her love is cleft betweene them both, striving to save one, hath both cleft asunder with the sword. Parent not suffer'd to kisse or see the child alive. Embrace them dead they might, and burie them; well they might doe that.

Esay saith of Christ, Puer natus est nobis, a child is borne to us, a sonne is given to us. They crie here, Puer raptus est nobis, our sonnes are pull'd from us, our children rent from us. Happly the butcher is at the mid­wives heeles, watches the birth, as the Dragon doth in the Apocalypse. The babe snatcht from her hands into his, slaine betwixt both. Domi­nus dedit, Tyrannus abstulit, the child no sooner delivered but destroy'd. The midwife shall not neede to cut the navell-string; the butcher will; both it, and navell too. I thinke, Herod would doe more, were hee there himselfe; would not waite the birth; as the Dragon did; would be more devilish than the devills selfe, would rippe the womans wombe, rend the child out of it, and murther it: happly sheath his sword in the mothers belly, murther both at once▪ Read (who please) the Homilies of the Fathers on this theme; he can not read them with drie eyes. Saint Basil makes even the Executioners themselves to have wept for meere compassion: they durst not but doe, what the King had commanded: But their hearts abhor'd what their hands wrought, and their bowels.

If warre doe this, tis no wonder. If the Souldier dash the sucking child against the stones, murther it unborne; I will pardon him, if He­rod will doe such an act in peace; make a slaughter, such a slaughter; of children, such children, Infants; such Infants, Males; so many, a whole City, and all the coastes about. No mervaile if mourning and weeping and great lamentation were heard in every house; if Rachel wept and would not be comforted. The figure is patheticall. Rachel was dead many hundred yeares before. But as at Christs Passion the stones cleft, and the graves opened, and the dead rose: so at the bloudy murther, the mercilesse massacre of these little babes, even Rachel rises and bewailes them, weepes for them, though dead and rotten in her grave. No mervaile, if the mother newly brought to bed, seeing her Infant but now borne, presently slaine, doe (as Saint Paul speakes) [...], fall in travaile againe, feele fresh paines and an­guish sharper then her travaile. Vnhappy mothers, happy Babes: the Church hath canonised them for Saints. Why not? What should we doubt, but Christ hath died pro interfectis, that prayed pro interfecto­ribus, saith Saint Augustine; that the Diers for Christ should not be sa­ved, when the Slayers of Christ were prayed for by the Saviour.

Rursum insanit Herodias, Saint Chrysostome so beginnes one Sermon, I will end mine with Quorsum insanit Herodes. Why is Herod thus mad? Cause and Occasion you have heard. The Wisemen mockt him, as he thought, did not indeed. That they return'd not, as he bad them, [Page 86] twas because Gods selfe forbad them. God claimes obedience before Kings; yet that incenst him. But what then? Irascimini, & nolite pec­care, at lest, nolite necare; Be angrie, but sinne not. Kings can not, Tyrant Kings. Of them Saint Basils speech is true, [...], wrath is murthers forerunner: exceeding anger blossoms bloud. But whats the project of this bloud? Be it, Herod was both mockt and wroth. Let him be wroth with them, that mockt him; and if wrath will needs slay, let him slay them. Quid meruere mori? saith the Christian Poet before cited, what have these Innocent Infants done? No man sheds bloud for the bloud sake: the shedder lookes at some further end. Theres a passion stronger farre than wrath, jelousie. Wrath but boil'd, but jelou­sie burnes: thats a furie, this a fiend. [This Act, this odious execrable Act, is Regni gratia, tis for a crowne Tis pitty Innocents should be slaine, children, infants, and thousands. But Nescit pietatis jura, saith the Tragicke, theres no pittie in this passion.] Herod heares of a new King. Theres a babe lately borne, stil'd King of the Iewes. Tis Christ. Hee feares Christ shall uncrowne him, thrust him from the throne: His project is to prevent that. Many a holier man than he, will make no scruple Regni gratia, to shed bloud for a crownes sake; to get a crowne, much more to keepe it. Greater griefe to lose, then not to find. Grander disgrace to be unking'd, then never to have raign'd.

Tis happie, that the Scribes said, Christ should be borne in Bethleem. That confind Herods furie. Had they said, he should be borne in Iurie, it had cost the childrens lives of the whole land. The Wise mens words, (Where is he, that is borne King of the Iewes?) troubled Herod, the Text saith. Peremptoria est quaesita altitudo, Saint Cyprians speech. Herod had sought the Scepter, bought it too, it is likely, and that dearely, we may thinke, when that a burgeship cost the Captaine a great summe, Acts 22. So mounted, he will slay, rather than light. Imperia pretio quolibet constant benè, saith Polynices in Seneca, crownes are not deare at any price though it be bloud, much bloud, innocent bloud. The crownes that we shall weare one day in heaven, Christ bought so. They cost him bloud, innocent bloud, much bloud, even all he had. As Ne­roes mother said in another sense, Occidat modò imperet. What cares Herod to kill, so he may raigne? Of Othoes minde the Emperour, stare se non posse, nisi principem, He can not live, but a King, die who shall, so he may live so. Herods feare needed not. Christ came to suffer, not to raigne; to weare a crowne, but twas of thornes; to beare a Scepter, but of reed. Christ was a King, and of the Iewes: Nathanael stil'd him King of Israel. The Wise men expresly, King of Jewes, both of Jewes and Gentiles. But his kingdome was not of this world. The Popes is, his Vicar: but not his. Yet Herod feared; and feare is a murtherer. If I tell Mauritius, that Phocas is fearefull, hee will answer, Homicid [...] est, then he will shed bloud. But a Tragicall argument should not be long. Be it here ended, but ended with prayer and thansgiving for our happy dayes wherein we have no bloudy Herod, but a gracious King, under whom we may goe to heaven without martyrdome, unlesse it be that holy martyrdome of our vices, which in the Collect for this Day, we desire God to mortifie and kill in us, that in our conversations our life may expresse that faith, which with our tongues we doe confesse, &c.

THE first word of my Text (I meane in the O­riginall) doth denominate this day, called the Epiphany, of the Appearance of a Starre. I have made choice of it, both for the cognation of the name, and for the parallele argument. For it hath also an Epiphany, the Appearance of Grace. That starre was Gods grace, to guide the wise men unto Christ; this grace is Gods starre to lead all men to Salvation. For what is the Gos­pell, but Gods Loadstone unto Life? By it Gods gracious purpose of saving all mankind, couched by the Prophets, as under a cloud, brake forth by the Apostles, and gave shine to all the world. As then the Title of this Day, so is the matter of this Text, a glorious Epiphany, that is, a Shine, and an Appearance. The subject of the shine, Gods Grace. The project of that Grace, it is Salvation, the object of Salvation, it is, All men. There is appeared the Grace of God, which bringeth Salvation to all men. Of these foure points, &c.

Say we not of nature, Nihil agit frustra, it doth nought in vaine? Is it true of nature, and is it false of God? Gods purpose of Salvation were meerely to no purpose, should it not in time be both publisht and effected. Both which honourable offices are performed by the Gos­pell. The letter of it beares the newes; the spirit of it workes the Grace. Vaine is the meaning that never doth appeare. Gods grace is but his [Page 88] meaning, knowne only to himselfe. It must have an appearance to make it knowne to man. And that not a darke, an obscure appearance onely (for that were but [...]) but it must [...], as a cunning picture craves a choice light, it must be an Epiphany, a bright shining forth; not apparuit, but illuxit, Saint Hierom, and Saint Ambrose have it; illuxit gratia Dei, Gods grace hath appeared.

The Prophets gave some glimpse, by which Gods purposed grace was seene by some. But the cleare light of the Gospell made it visible to all. Their light was but a Candle, which gives them onely light, that are in the house. It shone unto the Iewes, who then alone were of Gods Family. But the Gospels light is as the Sunne, which giveth shine to the whole world. Ambulabunt gentes in lumine tuo; that light (saith the Prophet) shall give luster to all lands. As once in Goshen, so then in Iury. the Hebrewes onely had the light; and the Nations, like the Egyptians, sat all in darkenesse: But the Gospell, as Simeon singeth in his hymne, was to be a light to lighten the Gentiles; and as Zachary in his, the beames gave light to them that sate in darkenesse, Luke 1. 79. there is our word againe; and the shine shot forth unto the shadow of death. I say Gods grace from all eternity had foreordained all men to this Salvation. But that gracious purpose he kept many ages secret to himselfe. Only now and than to the Patriarcks and Prophets it pleased him to impart it, but closely and obscurely. But when the time was full, and that Christ was now incarnate [...], as Saint Paul cals him to the Hebrewes, the Prince of this Salvation; it pleased him to reveale that long concealed Counsell, by the pennes and Preaching of the Apostles and Evangelists to all nations under Heaven. And that is the Appearance of the Grace of God, the glorious Epiphany of the Grace of God, here meant by our Apostle: farre paramont to that of the wise men of the East, which led them onely but to Christ a King: but this conducts all nations unto Christ a Saviour.

We learne of the Philosopher, that [...]: that some­things are, but yet appeare not; that have existence, but not appa­rence. Such a thing was this Salvation: it had the being onely in Gods hidden will, it appeared not unto men. I meane the common salvati­on, as Saint Iude termeth it, ver. 3. I know the Psalmist saith, that God was knowne in Iudah, and his Grace was great in Israel. But the name of a Saviour was not heard among the heathen. Gods grace meant to communicate salvation to all soules. But his meaning was a mystery, Ephes. 3. 9. As Gods selfe was unknowne, even to the learnedst of the Gentiles, even at Athens the Altar was found by Saint Paul, engraven, [...], to the unknowne God: as Gods selfe was unknowne, so was his Grace much more; But the Gospell proclaming redemption to all people, made grace appeare to men. Not barely to appeare, like the dawning of the morning; so it did before: but [...], to breake forth in brightnesse, and to shine clearely like the noone Sunne.

For it is fit, that the Appearance beare some proportion with the grace. The grace great, the Salvation of man: and therefore the light great. Math. 4. 17. [...], a great light. Yea the grace exceeding great, the Salvation of men, [...], 2 Cor. 9. and therefore the light [Page 89] exceeding great, 1 Pet. 2. 9. [...], an admirable light. So was it fit for the Authors sake; for the light was sent from the father of lights, and so was it also for the spectators sake: the light must be great, ad­mirable great, that all shall see, and the Prophet Esay telleth us, that all the ends of the earth shall see the Salvation of God. As by Gods grace it was purposed to all men: so by the Gospell it should be publisht to all men.

Hence is it, that the Apostles and all Preachers of the Gospell are called Starres and lights. Saint Paul cals them one, Christ calles them both. Iohn Baptist the first preacher is called a shining light. Saint Au­gustine cals the Apostles magna Ecclesiae luminaria, the great lights of the Church. One cals Saint Iohn the Evangelist [...], the Sun of the Gospell. It is Dionys. Areop. the praises impropriated from the Gospels selfe, to which meerely they belong, and conferred up­on the Preachers for the Gospels sake, whereof they are publishers. For the Preachers are Christs Trumpettours, the Gospell is the Trum­pet, [...], Clemens calleth it; the Apostles were Gods Heraulds to sound Salvation unto all lands. The Gospell in the Originall tels his nature in his name. For what is [...], but an Annuntiation, a declara­tion of good things. The good, Gods grace intended men, the Gospel hath declared to men.

Nay Saint Paul resteth not in calling the Gospell an [...], Ephes. 2. 7. a declaring of Gods grace, but cap. 3. ver. 9. he termes it a [...], a bright illustration: a parallele to this Epiphany. Not [...], a demon­stration, but [...], an illustration; to make grace appeare both solidè & lucidè, saith Saint Augustine, not soundly alone, but clearely al­so; [...], to make cleare (saith the Apostle) the mystery to all men. A mystery, at first so secret, so hidden in God, Ephes. 3. 9. that the Angels could not see it: for Saint Peter telleth us, that they longed for the sight, 1 Pet. 1. 12. now by the Gospell, men might behold it, weake-sighted men might clearely behold it. The Apostle in that Chapter is plentifull in phrases serving to this sense.

To end this point; the Scripture, (saith Saint Gregory) is Epistola Creatoris, Gods Epistle to his Creature. The Scriptures are Gods Letters, we call them Sacras literas, they are Gods holy Letters, sent unto his Church, to signifie Salvation meant to all mankind. What the grace of God decreed, that the Word of God declared. Gods grace a mystery, a hidden mystery, hidden from the eare, [...], Rom. 16. 25. hidden from the eye, [...], Ephes. 3. 9. the Gospel is the Apocalypse, the Revelation of that mystery.

The next point is the subject of this Revelation, it is the Grace of God. What grace meanes Saint Paul? Not Emanantem, which are the gifts of God, and are in men, but immanentem, which is the love of God, and is in God; not Gods out-flowing grace, but his in-biding grace. The Gospel is the Appearance, the Epiphany of that grace; and is there­fore called, Act. 20. 24. The Gospell of the Grace of God. The Grace of God, is the free good will of God, by which he loveth us in Iesus Christ, giveth us his Spirit, forgiveth us our sinnes, justifieth us, and saveth us. I say in Iesus Christ; because all grace hath hansell first in him.

Salvation is not of man, but of God; not of mans merit, but of Gods grace, not it selfe onely, Salvati estis gratia, Eph. 2. 5. You are saved by grace; but, the decree of it, and the meanes of it, and the end of it. The decree, [...], the Election of Grace, Rom. 1. 5. the meanes, both Vocation, We are called [...], according to his Grace, 1 Tim. 1. and justification, Rom. 3. 24. it also is [...], freely by his Grace, and the end of it, eternall life, it is [...], it is the gift of God. Rom. 6. 23. Both beginning and progresse, and execution of Salvation, is all from Grace. This is the Riches of Gods grace, Ephes. 1. 7. Yea [...], the exceeding, the hyperbolicall riches of his grace. Ephe. 2. 7. And there­fore this attribute is put into Gods stile, proclamed by Gods selfe, Exo. 34. 6. [...] the gratious God: so rich, so exceeding rich in grace; that the Apostles entitle him the God of grace, and his spirit, the spirit of grace, and his throne, the throne of grace.

I say, by Gods grace is not meant any thing created, or infused in us; but Gods voluntary favour, his francke and free affection, and meere mercy in Christ Iesus. Not onely workes are weake, but faith also though the chiefest of his outflowing graces, is too feeble to ef­fect the Salvation of mans soule. Mans merits, saith Saint Hierom drive to desperation; so farre are they from saving us. Doe thornes yeeld grapes, or plucke we figges of thistles? If grace could possibly grow, out of God, that thing in the Creature, which should moove it, must be good, as grace it selfe is. But we know with Saint Paul, that there is no good in man. Rom. 7. 18. Surely some is sometimes, as it sprin­geth from Gods Spirit; but the Flesh marreth it. What good soever is by God infused in us, it is instantly infected by our in-bred corrup­tion: and so no fit moover of the good grace of God. And therefore that Paradoxe of the Pelagians, that the ground of Gods grace, was the foresight of mans merit, is a franticke heresie. Not Gods Pre­science of goodnesse in man, but his conscience of goodnesse in him­selfe, mooved him to be gracious.

Gods grace hath no dependance out of Gods selfe, (as once Pelagius held, and laid a part of it on man) but solely and wholely relieth on Gods pleasure. For how shall the effect father his owne cause? All grace in man doth issue from grace in God, which therefore cannot rise from ought in man. Gods Will is the wombe that first conceived it, his beneplacitum begat it first, and as the prima matrix; so it is the prima motrix: the first moover of Gods mercy.

Grace then is free: for else it were not grace. It is Saint Augustins speech, Gratia si non est gratis, non est gratia. Grace is no debt, God owes it not. Wrath is a debt, [...] but grace is no debt, [...], saith Saint Basil; and it seemes Saint Augustine hath tran­slated it. For he calles poenam debitam, but gratiam indebitam. Death is a paine, God owes us that; but life is a favour, and God owes not it. Exercet debitam severitatem, exhibet indebitam pietatem, saith the same Father. Salvation is like the raine; God sends it freely; It costs no price, nor paines; man buies it not, man earnes it not. We have it [...], saith the Apostle, Rom. 3. 24. that is, of gift; and what is freer then gift?

To end this second point, Damnation is of right, but salvation is of Grace. The wicked man may challenge hell; or if he will not challenge it, it will chalenge him. But the righteous man can not claime heaven; the tenure of the Saints is but franke almoigne. Death is [...], a debt to sinne, but life is [...], a franke and free favour. Not merces [...]ppe­rantis, but munus largientis, Ambr. not a wages, but a largesse. In a word, it is not a dutie, but it is a bountie, it is not of merit, but it is of Grace, and so much for the second point.

The next point in the Scripture is the project of this grace; and that is salvation: that is, propositum gratiae, as the Apostle termeth it, Rom. 4. 5. the Greeke copies have it not, but the Latine have; and Saint Am­brose doth warrant it.

A project worthy of the grace of God; it is so rich and infinite in sweetnesse. For it containes both tuition from all evill, and fruition of all good. Man can not have more, God can not give more. Tuition from all evill, from sinne, from death, from Sathan, and from hell. Fruition of all good, of life, of heaven, of glory, and of joy: of the blessed presence of Saints, of Angells, and of God himselfe. I say, tui­tion from all evill; from sinne, I meane the sting of it. Grace hath pull'd it out: from death, I meane the curse of it, grace hath cancell'd it. From the clawes of Sathan, Grace hath chipped them; and from the chawes of hell, Grace hath choked them. And fruition of all good; of life, it is eternall: of heaven, it is a kingdome, a weight of glory, and a world of joy. Of the Saints and Angells presence; alwayes praising God: yea, the vision of Gods selfe, unexpressible of words, uncon­ceiveable by wit. This is the Salvation, which the Grace of God doth bring; and that unto all men. It is the last point of my Text.

The Object of Salvation, is the whole world: Grace bringeth it to all men. First men; then all. He saith not Beasts, nor Angells, but all men. That man were brutish, that should beleeve salvation belonged to brute creatures. And yet there is a Psalme, that seemes to save them to. See (I pray you) the 7. verse of the 36. Psalme: Thou O Lord (saith Da­vid) dost save both man and beast. But the Psalmist meaneth there, pre­servation, not salvation. Gods feedes them, and provides for them: but he saves them not. Hee expounds himselfe else where, God giveth food to all flesh, and feedeth the young Ravens that call upon him. Beasts, foules and fishes, and some creeping things Astronomers have put in heaven; but grace admits no such. And for the Angells; surely sal­vation doth belong to them. But it was beside Pauls purpose; and there­fore he names them not, but onely men; and that with a note of univer­salitie it is, to all men.

Not Origens all; who extended this grace not onely to all men, but to the devills to, tantò errans perversiùs, quantò sentiens clementius, Aug. of perverse pitie would have no man damned. The terme is to be taken not individually, but generally, but to all men, that is, all Ages, all Nations, all conditions; the grace of God bringeth salvation to them all.

Will you see it in the first? Gods goodnesse is a fountaine; it is never drie. As grace is [...] from the worlds beginning, Psa. 25. so it is [...] to the worlds end, Psal. 136. à seculo in seculum, from one generation to [Page 92] another. Salvation is no termer; grace ties it not to times. Noah as well as Abel, Moses as well as Iacob, Ieremy as well as David, Paul as well as Simeon hath part in this Salvation. Gods gracious pur­pose the Flood drowned not, the smoke of Sinai smothered not, the Captivity ended not, the ends of the world (Saint Paul calles them so) determined not. For Christ by whom it is, was slaine from the beginning, Saint Iohn saith so. He was before Abraham, himselfe saith so. And Clem. Alex. tomo quinto. 5. pag. 233. doth Marcion wrong, though otherwise an hereticke, in blaming him for holding, that Christ saved those also that beleeved in him, before his incarnation. The blood of the beasts under the law was type of his. And the scarres of his wounds appeare yet still, and will for ever, till he come to judge­ment. The Apostle shall end this; he is heri, and hodie, and semper i­dem, Christ is the same, yesterday, to day, and for ever.

Will you see it in the second? Grace is a grand Ocean, it compas­seth the earth. Gods goodnesse is a fountaine, streaming forth Salva­tion into all lands. The Church indeed (as Solomon cals it in his song) is an enclosed garden, and a parke impaled. But the pale and the enclo­sure are not for the pinfolding of the Church, but for the propriety and safety of the Church. The Church, it is scattered over the face of the earth; not impounded in Palestine, as it was sometime; but the Hea­then also are Christs enheritance, and his possession, the ends of the world. The Gentiles saith the Apostle, Ephes. 3. 6. are [...], and [...], joynt-tenants of the Gospell, and coheires of Salvation. God gathereth heires of his kingdome from the foure windes; he hath called the earth from the rising of the Sunne unto the West. The Ho­ly Ghost breathed into all quarters under Heaven, and conveid Gods saving health from Tabor to Hermon, and from the Sea, unto the worlds end. Christ hath bought all nations for a price; and all flesh saith Iohn Baptist shall see Gods Salvation. The infinite vertue and efficacy of Christs satisfaction reacheth to the saving of all Adams sonnes, wheresoever seated. For it were absurd to thinke, that the power of the second Adam the Lord Christ were lesse unto life, then the first was unto death. But as Adam tabificavit, sic Christus justifica­vit omnes, August. as by one man Adam, the wrath of God, and the curse, which came by it, caught hold of all: so by one man Christ, so much as in him lay, the grace of God, and the gift which is by grace, that is, Sal­vation hath abounded unto all. The Greeke word is elegant Rom. 5. 15. the grace of God [...], saith Paul. Grace doth not onely [...], burst forth with power to save; but also [...], it breakes forth round a­bout, to save all men. All men, that is, all nations? How then (as saith our Saviour) is Salvation of the Iewes, Iohn 4. 22? It is not [...], but [...], not of them as their propriety, but either from them; be­cause the Gospell that preacheth it, came forth of Iewry; or else out of them; because Christ, that procureth it, was borne of them. [...], the wheele of the Gospell, which is the charet of Salvation, is rolled (saith Gregory Nyssen.) through the whole earth. Gods grace by that drawght conveies it to all people; and is therefore justly called by Saint Iude, the common Salvation, ver. 3. as common to all ages, so [Page 93] also to all lands. Grace will not be confinde. For Gods goodnesse cannot be exhausted; he is Dives in omnes, saith the Apostle, rich e­nough for all.

Will you see it in the third? Grace brings Salvation to all sorts of men. God is no [...], he hath no respect of Persons. Doth the poore man doubt? Let him looke at Lazarus; hee lies in Abrahams bosome. Doth the rich man doubt? Christ said to rich Zaccheus, this day is Salvation come unto thy house. No age excepted; children and infants, yea the babe that dies unborne, are in the covenant, which God hath made unto their parents. No Sexe excepted: though wo­man sinned before man, yet shee is saved as well as man. Mary in her song calleth God her Saviour. Nay sinne it selfe excepteth not, so there be repentance; to day (saith Christ to the thiefe upon the Crosse) thou shalt be with me in Paradise. Yea Paul the chiefe of sinners (for so hee calles himselfe) a persecutor of the Saints, yet obtained his Salvation. The comming of Christ was of purpose to save sinners.

To conclude; God is no niggard of his grace; grace is no grudger of Salvation. With him (saith the Psalme) is copiosa redemptio. It is an excellent attribute, which is given him by Saint Iames 5. 11. [...]. In Gods mercy there is both [...] and [...], it is both free and rich; both gratiosa & copiosa, both bountifull and plentifull. Not onely [...], as we showed before, bursting forth round about, round a­bout all ages, round about all nations, round about all sorts; but [...], Rom. 5. 20. surrounding all those rounds, and with surplus and advantage overflowing all. I say, not onely [...], an aboun­ding grace, abounding unto all, to the whole world; but [...], 1 Tim. 1. a grace superabounding: that if there were more worlds, grace would bring Salvation even unto them all. Saint Pauls owne pa­rallel shall end this point, 1 Tim. 2. 4. It is Gods will, that all men should be saved. That gratious will be done on us, through Iesus Christ, Cui, &c.

IT is a part of that Antheme, which was song by old Simeon at the Virgins Purification. The Particle, the first word of it bids us see the verse before, as containing a Reason of the matter in that verse. In that, he humbly resign'd his life to God. This yeelds a reason of that resignation, Because his eyes had now beheld the Lords Christ. So the Argument of my text, is his thankefull acknowledgement of Gods performed promise; who had graciously vouchsafed him, though a very aged Father; yet before hee should die, the sight of the Messias. That Messias, Simeon here calls Salvation. Salutare tuum, Gods salva­tion. Expected hitherto, but now seene. Seene, not [...], but [...], Chrysost. not in spirit, but by Eye. Not an others eye, but Simeons owne, Mine eyes. For mine eyes have seene thy salvation. Of these five points, my purpose is to speake, God assisting, in that order, in which the Vul­gar Latine, and Originall have marshal'd them.

Viderunt is the first, in which I note two points, one of the sense, an other of the tense. For the former: The Ages both before Christ, and since his comming, have believed on Christ: but Simeon beheld him. He was prophesied of to them, and he is preached of to us; but hee is [Page 95] seene by Simeon. Faith apprehends the Object more certainely, then sense: for sense may be deceived; Faith can not. The eye may be de­luded many wayes. The sight may be feeble. The Object may have art in it. God may hold the eyes. Faith the immediate and meere worke of God, given of purpose to assure, cannot be beguiled. Faith appre­hends the Object more certainely then sense: but Sense apprehendeth it more presently then Faith: and in that respect Sight farre excelleth Faith. The dead doe see themselves in heaven now: the alive beleeve to be there one day. Hodie mihi, cras tibi: Give me to day; take who will to morrow.

Christ saith, they are blessed, qui non viderunt, sed crediderunt, that have not seene Christ, but beleeved: Then are they terque quaterque, much more blessed, that have beleeved, and seene too, and so Greg. Nyssen calls Simeon [...]. But faith without sense, hath great re­ward: but occulata fides, faith seconded by sight, is great happinesse. Beati oculi is Christs saying too, blessed are the eyes, that see the things you see. I say not, that have seene and beleeved, seene first, and then be­leeved. Faith bred of sense is not thankeworthy; but that have beleev'd and seene: and so doth Simeon. His soule is so satisfied, now his eyes have seene his Saviour, that hee is well content to die: Lord now lettest thou thy servant go in peace. Nay he desires to be dissolv'd; some Fathers read Dimitie, and the Syriacke hath it so to, Lord now let thy servant. Like Iacob, willing with all his hart to die, when he saw that Ioseph liv'd.

Abraham desir'd to see him. Iacob waited for him, expecto (saith the Patriarch even on his death bed) Salutare tuum, I waite for thy salvation. David begged it, Psal. 85. Da salutare tuum. He prayed for him; yea his heart longed after him, Ps. 119. 81. Defecit ani ma mea in salutare tuum, his soule even sowned in desire of him. For that the Psalmist meanes of the Messias. S. Austin is my Author, Quid est salutare tuum, nisi Christus tuus? he saith, it was Christ, who was meant hy that salvation. Abraham the Father of Beleevers, and the Friend of God; Iacob a wrestler with Angells, and David a man after Gods owne heart; what all these three desired, and obtained not, God here vouchsafeth Simeon.

Herod a King desir'd to see him, and was glad, gavisus valde, excee­ding glad, when he saw him. The Wise men of the East, Kings too, say some, came a great journey to see him, and were glad, gavisi gaudio magno valdè, with an exceeding great gladnesse. This Object so desir'd by such, Kings, Prophets, Patriarkes, desir'd by so many; as Haggei speakes, the desire of all Nations, it pleased God to shew to this aged holy Father.

This is the meed of faith, Gods rich reward of mans beliefe. Simeon beleev'd, before he saw; and therefore now he saw, what hee beleev'd. The storie saith, he waited for the consolation of Israel; that is, expected the Messias. And (as a Father saith) the reward of beleeving without sight, is to see, what thou beleevest. Expectator is made Spectator: the Object of his faith is now subject to his sight. A sight so joyfull, that the people, albeit he were daily in their streets, yet thronged to behold him. Not Ship, not Mount, not Desert could keepe him from the mul­titude. They were so glad of him, so eager, so importunate; that hee [Page 96] scarse had time to eate for them. Hee could not be so private, but they would find him out; and when they had him, they would hold him, and would not let him goe, Luke 4. 42. Nay his sight so joyfull, that one longing to behold him, but not able for the prease, and low­nesse of his stature; Zaccheus a rich man, and principall of the Publi­cans, stucke not at the scruple of his reputation, but ranne before, and got up into a tree, glad to see him so: but when Christ said to him, hee would be his guest, his soule was so ravish'd with extraordinary joy; that besides his quicke descending, and most cheerefull entertainement, he frankely vowed the halfe of his goods unto the poore, and a foure­fold restitution of all he had got wrongfully.

Now for the tense, viderunt, Simeon was promised, hee should see Christ: he sees him now indeed. Balaam said, videbo, I shall see him, but not now. The difference betweene the New Testament and the Old is but in tense onely. It was then Suscitabit, the Lord shall raise, saith Moses, shall raise to you a Prophet like to me. Orietur, saith Balaam, a starre shall rise. The Gospell turnes the tense; Suscitavit, saith Zacha­rie, God hath raised up a mighty salvation; Orta est, saith the Evangelist, the light is risen, and that light was Christ. God said to Ahaz, virgo pariet, a Virgin shall beare; That is turned into Peperit, Luke 2. 7. Shee brought forth her first begotten son. Iacob said, veniet, Shilo shall come. Him­selfe saith, venit, the Sonne of man is come. Christ call'd before, [...], futurus, venturus, he that was to come. Now Iohn Baptist saith of him, Ioh. 1. 26. He is among you; yea he can point at him, and say, Ecce, see the man. This is the Act, viderunt: come wee to the Instru­ment, viderunt oculi, Mine eyes have seene.

There is a sight of Faith, the Patriarkes saw Christ so. Abraham did, Christ saith it, Ioh. 8. 56. And there is a sight of Fansie; the imagina­tion sees in sleepe: dreames are called Visions. There is visio mentis, a sight of understanding, [...], saith Epichar. the minde sees. It is (saith Saint Augustine) quidam tanquam oculus animae. The understanding is the soules eye. But it is but quidam, a kinde of eye, and but tanquàm, as it were an eye, but none indeed. And there is visio spiritus, a sight in traunce. So S. Iohn saw Christ, Rev. 1. [...]. So S. Steven saw him ecstatically; even as Peter, Iames, and Iohn saw Moses and Elias at Christs Transfiguration. But Simeon sees Christ [...], not in spirit, but in bo­die: he sees him [...], with his eye. For though Saint Luke say, vers. 27. hee came in the Spirit, Saint Iohns very phrase, [...]: yet that was no ecstasie: but Saint Luke meanes mov'd by the Spirit, i. by the holy Ghost. He came [...], in bodie to the Temple; and with his bodies eyes saw Christ. Simeons seeing is not like Saint Pauls hearing, 2 Cor. 1 [...]. whether in the bodie, or out of it, he knowes not; but hee saith, he saw him with his eyes.

There is yet another sight in Scripture, Auricularis, a sight by eare. Videbat voces, Exod. 20. the people saw the sound of the thunder. Saint Iohn sees the like, Apoc. 1. ut videret vocem, he sees a voyce. Sight so excells among the senses, that they all usurpe it. The Eare, the Nose, the Palate, all would faine be eyes. Every sense would see. The Eare you have seene already. Voice is not visible; yet Saint [Page 97] Iohn would see it. So would the tongue. Psalme 34. Gustate & videte. So would the hand, Luke 24. Palpate & videte, feele and see. Wee see (saith Saint Augustine) not quid luceat onely, but quid oleat, quid ca­leat. These sorts of seeing are all [...]. unproper, and unnatu­rall. Tongue, hands, eares, members God made them not to see. But the eyes he did; theirs is the right sight; and Symeon sees with them: it is Ocularis Visio, not Auricularis, mine eyes have seene, saith Symeon.

There is an other eare-sight, which is heare-say. Herod saw Christ so, I meane Herod the Babe slayer. The blind saw him so. Yea and Iohn Baptists words must be construed so too, All flesh shall see Gods Salvation, i. e. see him with their eares: his Gospell should be preach­ed unto all nations. A joyfull seeing too, but not so certaine. Sight is the surer sense. The eare is [...], Philo saith, subject to deceipt. The eye is [...], Saint Chrys. much more true and trusty; and Symeon sees Christ so. That he may say to Christ, as Iob said to God, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the eare, but now mine eye seeth thee, Iob 42. 5. [Not saw him onely, but embraced him also: his armes held, what his eyes beheld. His hands (saith the Apostle) handled the word of life. He tooke the blessed Infant in his armes, an honour, a prerogative vouchsafed none but him; besides his Parents, who is thence called of the Fathers [...], the holder, the handler, the em­bracer of God. Irenaeus addes more, then I will urge; that hee blest the Infant too. The Text saith, God, ver. 28. he consters it of Christ.]

The next terme notes the owner of this instrument; the eyes are his. My eyes have seene. As I may see, and yet haply not by eye; so may I see by eye, and yet haply it not mine. My neighbours eye, or my friends may see for me. Oculus usurarius. He can lend me his eye, as well as his hand. Symeon sees Christ, not per alium, but himselfe. There is Oculus Vicarius: All sight is not in person. Bishops by name are seers, Episcopi, Overseers, but not everseers by themselves. There is a Church officer, whom the Canon Law calles Oculum Episcopi, the Bishops eye, to see for him. Kings see with eyes, but not their owne. Magistrates and Iudges in the common wealth are Princes eyes, they see by them. But Symeon sees Christ, as Iob hoped he should see him; My eyes, saith Iob, not others for me. Viderunt Oculi mei, My Eyes, saith Symeon, have seene thy Salvation. The phrase is often, but it is not heere an idle Pleonasmus, but an earnest Emphasis; as if a man would say, hisce occulis vidi, I have seene him with these eyes. Symeons selfe, owne selfe, with his eyes, his owne eyes personally beholds his Sa­viour.

The eyes of the aged have lightly but bad sight, if they have any▪ Symeon had small cause to hope to see his Saviour; he was so old a man; but that divine Revelation had encouraged him; and as Nicephorus writes, his age was prorogued of purpose for that spectacle. But being blinde besides, as Celsus writes in Cypriam, to have his sight restored him at his embracing of the Babe, was more miraculous. And the terme is not redundant, but fit it should be added, and his voice advanced [Page 98] with accent beseeming it, My eyes have seene thy Salvation. As if David meant of him, that saying in the Psalmes▪ Longitudine dierum, with length of dayes will I satisfie him, and I will shew him my Salvation.

The eyes of Simeons Ancestours had seene spectabilia, mirabilia, glo­rious things and [...]nderfull: the red sea parted, Iordan driven backe, the cloud and pillar of fire, the high Priest in his Robes, the standing of the Sunne and Moone, the bread of Angels, the Arke, the Tem­ple. But Simeons eyes see heere the Lord of Glory, and him, whose name is Wonderfull. Never saw eye, any eye, not mans, not An­gels, such a spectacle, the Word Incarnate, God incorporated in man.

But may we trust the Evangelist? Some have questioned his Gos­pell: Marcio [...] a part of it, Cerinthus All. some write he was a Pain­ter; was he not a Poet too? writes he not miranda, but non credenda; things wonderfull, but doubtfull? What if all this false, and Simeon saw not Christ, but his eyes deceived him, and hee us? There are three unhappy heretickes, though happy all in name, Faustus and Fe­lix, and Fortunatus, three Manichees, and some more, who deny that Christ was man, but onely God. And God, [...], saith the E­vangelist, not this man onely, but not any ever saw. Christs body was phantasticum, his flesh but putativa, his birth and death and all things concerning his humanity, were but imaginaria, all but meere apparencies. If so; ther. Simeon saw him not indeed; but thought he saw him onely. He saith he saw him; but it was deceptio visus, deceipt of sight. He saith, his eyes had seene him; but Oculi (saith the Ora­tour) sape mentiuntur, the eyes doe often leaze, This franticke he­resie, so grosse, so crosse to all Scripture, to all sense, is not worth the answearing. Christ, though he was not mere homo, as Arius held blasphemously, yet that he was vere homo, man truely, though not onely, what point in all Divinity hath proofe more plaine, more plentifull? and I have already handled this question heere be­fore.

The Object is now next; what Simeon saw; tis Gods Salvation. Twas no such great priviledge, such an honour to see Christ. What is Christus more then Vnctus? it signifies but one annointed. Kings are so, men may see them daily; Wee may: God grant that long we may. But Simeon sees Salutare tuum, not Christ, but Iesus, that is, Salvation. Christ, i e. Vnction, I confesse, is sweete; the Spouse cries in the Canticles, Oleum effusum nomen tuum, his name like pre­tious ointment. But Iesus, i. e. Salvation is more sweete by much, Mel in ore, saith Saint Bernard, that but oile, this Hony: and what saith Sampson, is sweeter then Hony? Salvation sweet every way, sweete to the taste, in ore mel, to the eare, in aure melos, to the heart, in corde jubilus, saith that Father. This Father therefore chooseth this terme rather, his eyes see Gods Salvation. Christ is the same with Iesus; but unto every seer, Christ is not the same. Simeon sees him a Saviour. Many saw him, but not their Saviour. The Scribes and Pharisees saw him their Censurer. The devils saw him their destroyer. His Crucifiers shall see him at the Resurrection, Omnes Oculus, saith Saint [Page 99] Iohn, Revel. 1. Every eye shall see him; even they shall see him, that peir­ced him; but not their Saviour, but their Iudge. But Simeon sees him, that shall save him.

Christ rather is [...], then [...], in proper speech a Saviour, not salvation: the Author of salvation, not the salvation selfe. But the Trope rife in Scripture. Christ called our Redemption, our Reconciliation, i. our Reconciler, our Redeemer. So our salvation here, that is, as Saint Paul stiles him [...], the Prince and Authour of our salvation; [...] (saith Saint Basil) it is the use of Scripture to call Christ Gods salvation, Iacob call'd him so, you heard before. So did David. So doth Iohn Baptist, Luke 3. 6. So that by Salutare tuum, he meanes, Christum tuum [...]. Zacharie meanes Christ too, by salvation, in his song. In a word, as if Christ, and salvation were all one; Christ dining with Zaccheus, told him, that salvation was come unto his house. Christ hath his name of it. He therefore was called Iesus, [...], saith Saint Cyrill, worthily and fitly [...], elegantly conjoyning both Hebrew Etymologie and Greeke together; of his soveraigne salving, that is, as the Angell derives it in Saint Matthew, of saving us from sinne. The Act so excellent, the salvation of man; that Clemens calls it [...], the greatest and royallest of all the Acts of God. The Act so individually, so personally true, so proper unto Christ; that the name of a Saviour is given him transcendently. His proper name is Iesus, it signifies a Saviour. Yet that contents not Christians, but they put to the Appellative, and surname him Saviour too, Iesus Christ our Saviour. And lest you may object, that that is done in zeale, in ignorant zeale: Gods Spirit doth it too, often in the Scripture. Yea and because many are call'd Saviours in the Scripture; it is besides most commonly usher'd with an Article, when it is meant of Christ, [...], the Saviour, that is, the Saviour paramaunt the right, the high Arch-Saviour. Nay Gods Spirit rests not there; but for yet the greater emphasis, puts it in the Ab­stract here, and else where often, not Saviour, but savation. a close insinuation of the childs Deitie. Tis Dionysius his Rule, that names are given God most properly in Abstracto, God not Wise, but Wisedome; not Righteous, but Righteousnesse; not a Saviour, but Salvation.

Now to come to Saint Cyrills [...], the merit of the Title. A Sa­viour, and salvation; why? One of the Syrian Kings was call'd salva­tor, and that too with an Article, Antiochus [...], Antiochus the Sa­viour. But like the rest of that ranke, Philopators, Philadelphus, Epiphaues, and Theos, all [...], of the quite contrarie. Names often faile, imposed by men, never by God. Absalom, a father of peace, so meanes his name, proved a sonne of murther and rebellion. God nam'd Christ, Iesus. Simeon here expounds it, to be salvation. And (as the Samaritans say in Iohn 4. 42. he was [...], a right Sa­viour indeed. How? For he hath saved his people, all people, from all enemies: not worldly, thats a light salvation; yet hee does that too; but Ghostly, thats the right salvation. Not from Egypt, or Amaleke, not Madian or Moab, not the Philistims or Assyrians, as Moses did Israel, and Sampson and Iosua, call'd Saviours too in Scripture: and yet this Saviour wrought those salvations too; they were but his instruments, [Page 100] but vice-saviours. Had this Arch-Saviour not assisted them, the fellest of those enemies could but kill the bodie. But our Sauiour hath saved us from the assaulters of our soules: the guilt of sinne, the curse of God, the treacherie of the flesh, the sorcerie of the world, the sentence of death, the clawes of Sathan, and the chawes of hell. All these, not the spillers of our bloud, but the killers of our soules, this Iesus, this Savi­our hath saved us from them all.

The world had enveigled our flesh, the flesh had enthralled us to sinne, Sinne had enwrapt us in the curse, the curse had adjudged us to death, Death had delivered us to Sathan, and Sathan had enjayled us in hell. But as old Zacharie singeth in his Hymne, God hath raised us a Saviour in the house of David, that should deliver us from all these enemies. The world is a Witch, but not to be feared: our Saviours self hath said it, Ego vici mundū, I have overcome the world. The pricke of the flesh, his grace hath blunted it. The wound of sinne his bloud hath salved it. The vi­gour of the Curse his Crosse hath voided it. The doome of Death his death diverted it. The pawes of Sathan his bands have chained them, and the jawes of hell his thornes have choked them.

To shut up this point, the Apostle telleth us, that the comming of Christ was of purpose for to save, 1 Tim. 1. Yea our Saviours selfe tells us so, that the Sonne of man came to save that was lost; both the true Saviour, as you heard of the Samaritanes, and the onely Saviour, so proclaimed by Saint Peter, Non est nomen aliud, there is none other name under heaven, by which we may be saved. Not that the Father and the holy Ghost are excluded from this act. They both as well as Christ, may be said to be our Saviours. For the workes of the Trinitie, which the Schoolemen terme ad extra belong to all the Persons. But the Fa­ther and the Spirit authoritativè, the Sonne executivè. The power and commission is common to all three, the execution proper to Christ onely. And Barnardine Ochinus was not in his wits, who because Saint Paul saith in the Acts, that God hath purchased his Church with his bloud, would have therefore God the Father to take this name on him, as if his bloud were shed. And Peter Gnapheus a madder man than hee, who would joyne all the persons coexecutours with Christ; all three to have been crucified, and so Saviours all three. Surely all are Saviours in a generall sense. But he that died for us, more kindly saved us; and on him the Scripture conferres [...] the title of a Saviour. He is [...], the Saviour is Christ: else should the name of Iesus be put upon the Fa­ther, and the holy Ghost, as well as upon Christ. I come to the last word, Salutare tuum, thy salvation.

This salvation is call'd Gods, whether as the owner, Christus autem dei, S. Paul saith, Christ is Gods, 1 Cor. 3. 23. or the Doner; for hee gave him, Iohn 3. I will not argue. Gods, whether Possessivè, the Saviour is his Sonne; or Processivè, salvation is his act. An Act worthy such an Agent: Nihil tam dignum Deo, quàm salus hominum, Tertull. No worke so worthy God, as mans salvation. Gods; for he sent him, saith the Apostle. I cannot send him, who is an others. Gods; for he gave him, saith Christs selfe. I can not giue, that is not mine. Though he be Chri­stus Dominus; yet he is Christus Domini too, as verse 26, though Christ the Lord, yet the Lords Christ.

Gods, and yet mans too. Mans Passively; Marie turnes the Pronoune, My soule rejoyceth, in salutare meo, in God my savation. So doth the Pro­phet Habacuk, in Deo Iesu meo, in God my Saviour. But Gods active­ly▪ Domini est salus, salvation, true salvation is all Gods. The Church militant sings it in the Psalme, Psal. 3. ult. The Church triumphant sings it in the Revelations, Salus à Domino, Salvation is of God. So truely Gods, that the relation is reciprocall; as it Salus Domini, the Lords sal­vation; so he Salutis Dominus, often in the Psalmes, the Lord of salva­tion; meant not of actions onely of salvation, literally; but of the Per­so also of the Saviour mystically. Thy salvation, that is, Gods: God the Fathers, as begot by him, as he was God, God the holy Ghosts, as conceived by him, as he was man.

There are many Christs, and many Saviours, this is Gods. Christs selfe foretold of many Christs; Christus hîc, Christus illîc. These were all the divills Christs. But this, the holy Ghost in Simeons Revelation calls Christus Domini, the Lords Christ. There are many Saviours and salvations, but not Gods. There is Salus hominis, Psal. 60. Mans salva­tion. Men have their Saviours. The Mammonist hath his; the Roma­nist hath his. Mammon workes great salvations, too great, too often, to too many. The malefactor hath an enemie, a sworne enemie, that threatens him shame, publike shame; Death, shamefull death. It is the law. Mammon can save him from this enemie. It can be but some-where. and but sometimes. An uncertaine saviour. Nay Mammons selfe oft needs a saviour; subject to thiefe, wrecke, fire, and other casualties. A sory saviour: he saveth others, as they said of Christ, himselfe he can­not save.

The Romanist hath better, the Saints. Mammon saves but from some evills; Saints from all. Saint Laurence from fire; yea though it be ignis sacer. Saint Anthony even from that. Saint Margaret from the paines of childbirth. Saint Leonard from bands; but that Mammon can doe too. Saint Valentine from the falling-sicknesse. Saint Roch, and Se­bastian from the plague. What cite I bodily distresses? Saints are Sa­viours also to their soules. They save them from Gods anger, from Sa­than, sinne, and hell. For you must thinke they heare their prayers, and they see their wants. Iohn could heare a voyce from heaven: can not they as well from earth? Is not Athens as neere Thebes, as Thebes to Athens? Earth to Heaven, as Heaven to it? Nay, somewhat nee­rer: for sound ascends more easily, than comes downe. Marry then you must looke you speake out when you pray; for they confesse, they know not the secrets of mens hearts: And I crow, they see. Else why set they lights, great Tapers before them? Or if they serve not; doe they not videre videntem omnia, see him who sees all things; Gods face is their looking glasse, they see all things in it.

There is yet an other Saviour: not Gods, but mans, the Papists too. No neede to seeke so farre, to heaven for Saviours: theres one much neerer home: It is Merit. Goe no further than our selves. Our workes, our owne workes are Saviours sufficient. Almes, Fastings, Orysons, Pilgrimages, Vowes, and such like holy workes of supererogation suf­fice to the saving both of our owne soules, and others. What neede we [Page 102] Saints? What neede we Christ? Bellarmine blusheth not to make our selves our Saviours. And he cites Saint Paul for it, Salutem vestram ope­remini, worke ye your owne salvation. But Saint Peter saith, (whom I thought, hee would have rather heard) non est nomen aliud; there is none other name under heaven, by which we may be saved.

To conclude, both for Saints and Merits, but especially for Saints, they will say they make them Saviours; for the Fathers, even the an­cient Fathers say they are. But first, they slander them. Secondly, say they did; here is one [...], Nyss. a right an­cient, a father of the Church indeed, appropriates the office of salva­tion unto Christ, of Gods salvation. Hee onely was Gods meanes to rescue man; the instrument Gods Wisedome decreed to use, to save mankinde. Workes and Saints Rome hath raised up them. But Moses and Z [...]charie make Christ raised up by God. Let the worldling, let the Romanist, the one say of his Money, the other of his Merits, they are his Saviours; Christ cries in Esay, Ego sum, ego sum; non est servator praeter me, there is no salvation of Gods, but onely Christ. Vnto him our onely Saviour, to God the Father, and the holy Ghost, be duely ascribed all honour, majestie, power, and salvation, &c.

THis Scripture is a part of the propheticall Antheme, sung by old Simeon at the Puri­fication of the Virgin Mary. The aged Fa­ther with his young Saviour in his armes, openeth his mouth in thanksgiving unto him, who had given him a revelation by the holy Ghost, that hee should not see death, untill he saw the Lords Christ. The song standeth on three parts, a thankefull resignation of his life, a joyfull confession of the Saviour, and a wonderfull commendation of the Messias. The last of the three, is the tenour of my Text, consisting of two titles, per­taining to Christs stile; [...], the light of the Gentiles; and [...], the Glory of the Iewes; To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the Glory of thy People Israel.

Should I not be censured for Curiosity, I would observe one thing in the order of the Titles. Why the Light of the Gentiles should be placed before the Glory of the Iewes. It is not my conceipt, but noted [Page 104] by the learned; that the sweet singer of this song guided by Gods Spi­rit, doth put the Gentiles before the Iewes; because the second calling, the conversion of the Iewes to Christ, shall not be, untill the fulnesse of the Gentiles come; Saint Paul avoucheth it, Rom. 11. 25. that their obstinacy shall continue till then: and then Totus Israel Salvabitur, all Israel shall be saved. But he termeth this a mystery: and therefore I will not meddle with it.

The first title in my Text of the Messias honour, is, the Light of the Gentiles. The Lord in former ages shut up all nations in the shadow of death. The shine of his especiall mercies was seene onely of the Israe­lites. As all the land of Egypt was covered with blacke darkenesse; onely the Hebrewes had light, where they dwelt, Exod. 10. so spiri­tuall blackenesse had covered the face of all heathen lands, onely up­on Israel did the Lord let shine the bright luster of his Grace.

The darkenesse of the Gentiles, was the ignorance of God, the sla­very of sinne, the tyranny of sathan, and subjection to death and hell. Ignorance is the blindenesse and the darkenesse of the minde. Sinne is the worke of darkenesse, Ephes. 5. Sathan is the prince of darkenesse. Death is the power of darkenesse, and hell is the pit of darkenesse. As godlinesse is called the armour of light, Rom. 13. so wickednesse is cal­led the kingdome of darkenesse. And the Gentiles before Christ were subjects in this kingdome; Atheisme, Idolatry; nay their very ver­tues, considered in themselves, out of Christ, were all but darkenesse. Themselves were darkenesse, for both their soules were clouded with errour, and their bodies instruments of sinne. Their workes were dark­nesse, all manner of licentiousnesse. Their King was darkenesse, for they served sathan; and their end was darkenesse; for they went to hell. But as when the day breaketh, the night vanisheth, and the Sun rising chaseth away darkenesse; so at Christs comming, whom Zacha­ry calleth the day breake. Luke 1. 78. light appeared: and at the rising of the Messias, whom the Prophet Malachie calleth the Sunne, Mal. 4. 2. all lands were enlightned. Errour and ignorance were chased out of heathen mindes. For the Preaching of the Gospell is the opening of the eies, Act. 26. 18. The eyes of the understanding. The pu [...]ifying of their soules to be the seates of God, and the sanctifying of their bo­dies to be the temples of the Holy Ghost, the remission of their sinnes, the amendment of their life, their rescue from sathan, and their ran­some from hell, these were the gratious beames of that glorious Sunne, the Sonne of God.

Simeon foretelleth this, Christ being newly borne: that he should be a Light to lighten the Gentiles. Yea Zachary foretelleth it, before he was borne, Luke 1. 79. that he should give light to them that sat in darke­nesse. Nay Esay foretelleth it, before Zachary was borne. Esay 60. 3. that the nations should walke in his light, and Kings in the brightnesse of his rising. Nay David foretelleth it, before Esay was borne, in lu­mine tuo videbimus lumen, In thy light wee shall see light, that is, in Christo tuo, videbimus gratiam, in Gods annointed we shall see grace. Nay Balaam foretelleth it, before David was borne, Num. 24. 17. that there should come a Starre from Iacob.

The great largenesse of this goodly light shooteth forth his shine un­to all people, and is therefore called Iohn 8. 12. lux mundi, the worlds light. Balaam calleth him a Starre, and the starres give light unto the world; but that light is small; but Christ is [...], a great light, Math. 4. 16. God made two of them, Gen. 1. 16. Luminarta magna, two great Lights, the Sunne and the Moone, a bigger and a lesse; and Christ is the greater of the two; so the Prophet Malachy calleth him, 4. 2. The Sunne of Righteousnesse; non Sol, ut stulte & impie Manichaei, Au­gustin. tract. 34 in Iohan. Balaam calleth him a starre, and were he no more then so, yet as the Starres give shine unto the night, so doth Christ give light to them that sit in darkenesse. But he is more then so, he is [...] the Sunne of righteousnesse; the starres give shine unto the night; but the Sunne turneth the night into day. Now if the Sunne be able to dart out his beames, to the hemisphere of the earth, which is but the halfe; how much more shall Christ shoot forth his grace un­to the whole earth? For the Sunne howsoever it appeare not so bigge as a waggon wheele, yet it is farre greater then the whole earth. But Christ, howsoever he seemed in body no bigger than a man, yet in his Godhead he is farre greater then the whole world. For the heavens which are the enclosure of the whole world, are but his spanne, Esay 40. 12. And therefore that which Synesius said of the Sunne, is truer of Christ, [...]; nihil divinius, nihil commu­nius. If the Sunne shooteth forth his light unto all lands, Christ much more sheadeth forth his grace into all nations.

The brightnesse of his light not any Angell of the earth can say, it hath not seene it. He that is Pater luminum, the Father of lights, Iam. 1. 17. and that dwelleth in lumine inaccessibili, in the light that none can attaine unto, 1 Tim. 6. yea that is himselfe light, 1 Iohn 1. the beames of his brightnesse cannot be so weake, as not to suffice to enlighten the whole world. If any see it not, they are such, whose eares the god of this world hath blinded. And yet his light is so piercing, that even they also see him. They see, but will not see; as the Prophet speak­eth videndo non vident, seeing they see not. They heare the Gospell, but entertaine it not; the word is preached, but they obey it not, grace is offered, but they accept it not, Gods promises are tendred, they ap­prehend them not. Christs light unto such, is as the Sunne is to some Countries, it shines upon them, but it warmes them not. They that dwell in the uttermost climats of the earth, they see some light, but they feele no heat. So doe these, they see Christs light perforce; but the comfortable warmth of his gratious Spirit they feele it not.

[That which the Metaphysicke Philosopher saith of bonum, to be diffusivum sui, it is as true of light; it is diffusivum sui, the nature of light is like to water shed, it runneth out every way, and speadeth it selfe on every side.] The Sunne no sooner riseth, but the light of his beames shooteth forth into the aire, and overspreadeth the face of the earth; The rising of this glorious light, the. Sonne of God presently enlightened the whole world. The lightning saith Christ commeth out of the East, and shineth into the West, so also shall the comming of the Son of man be, Math. 24. 27. Christ said it of his second comming, his [Page 106] comming in the Clouds; it is as true of his first comming, his comming in the flesh; for like unto the lightning, he came out of the East, but he shone into the West. His Incarnation was in Iudaea, but his Salva­tion shone into the Westerne world. For as the lightning glideth from the one side of Heaven unto the other; so the Gospell glaunceth from one side of the earth unto the other. And it is Christs lanterne to beare his light before his people; it is his torch, lighted at the beames of the Sunne shine of his grace, to direct the footesteps of the Gentiles to­ward heaven.

As King Assuerus sent out his posts into all provinces, so Christ hath sent forth his Apostles into all realmes. His raigne was from Ethiopia, unto the East Indies. His Ite, praedicate, goe and Preach, is unto all peo­ple, Math. 28. 19. Not onely Greekeland, and Italy, the Dutch, the French, the English, and the Spanish, have long enjoyed the bright­nesse of his light; but the goodly lampe of his glorious Gospell was both long agoe, and is now againe of late borne over the West Ocean into the new world.

The light I say is diffusivum sui. In ages past God put his candle un­der a bushell; or at the most, he set it but upon a table, and it gave light onely to them of his house. The Iewes alone were of his house; the Gentiles aliens and strangers, Ephes. 2. 12. But after Christs comming the light brake forth, and suddenly shined into all Coun­tries.

What then, you will say unto me, had the Gentiles indeed no light before? surely they had some, such as it was, but a very dimme light; onely the light of nature. He revealed to the Heathen, his power, his wisedome, his goodnesse, and the rest of his Divinity, non per Scrip­turam, sed per naturam, not by the Scriptures, but by the Creatures. The wonderfull workemanship of Heaven and earth, though both of them dumb, Preached unto them, what God was. But this light was but twy­light. It was but as starre light. I say, the light of the Gentiles was as a starre; as the day-starre in the morning; which rising a little before the Sunne, bringeth some light with him, but a weake light; because it comes ab imo, from below. But Christs rising is ab alto. Luke 1. 78. from above, and therefore a full light. The light of nature, take it at the best; is but as the light when the day dawneth: but Christs light of Grace, meant here by old Symeon, is as the Sunneshine at mid-day. The morning light, before the Sunne is up, is nothing but shade; yea when it is in rising, every low shrub maketh a great shaddow; but when the Sunne is mounted, then the light is perfect; and the higher the Sunne, the lesser the shaddow. Yea when it commeth to the Meri­dian, it hath little or no shaddow, no shaddow at all, where it is Ver­ticall.

To shut up this first part; the Gentiles were once darkenesse, Eph. 5. 8. The promises were made unto the Patriarkes, not unto the Gentiles, the Gentiles were but dogges, the Iewes onely Gods children, Math. 15. 26. Gods grace was confined; his mercies were imprisoned, and as it were impounded in Iewry. At Salem was his tabernacle, and his dwelling in Sion, Psalme 76. saith David; hee tyed himselfe unto the [Page 107] Temple, there was his mercie seate. The Iewes themselves might not be heard, praying out of their land, unlesse they looked at the least to­ward Ierusalem. You may see it, both in Solomons prayer, 1 King. 8▪ 48. and in Daniels practise, Dan 6. 10. His favour was fastened to the seed of Sem, and his love was knit to Iacobs posteritie. Israel was his sonne, his prim [...]genitus, his first borne sonne, Exod. 2. 44. his chiefe and his charge, [...] his especiall jewell, Psal. 16. 2. that is, both [...] his darling, and [...] his unicus, his onely Sonne. His heart was tedder'd to that onely Nation, and his whole affection wedded to their Land.

But Christ hath broken downe the partition wall betweene the Iewes and us; the Gentiles, once darkenesse, are now light, Ephe. 5. 8. The Heathen, once dogges, Matth. 15. 26. forrainers, Ephe. 2. nay e­nemies to God, Ephe. 5. he hath bought us with a price, to make us of dogges his children, of forrainers his brethren, of enemies his friends; the members of his body, the spouse of his bosome, sonnes to his fa­ther, and heires to his Kingdome. His Father at the first had given him the Iewes onely; but now the Heathen also are his inheritance, and his possession the ends of the earth, Ps. 2. 8. God put a letter into Abrams name called him Abraham, that letter beginneth the Hebrew word [...] which signifies a multitude; the Lord himselfe expoundeth it, quia mul­tarum gentium posui te, for thou shalt be the father of many Nations. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, the Ethiopian, and the Philistim, are borne in Sion, Psal. 87. All Nations are made joynt-tenants of the Gospell, [...], Ephe. 3. 6. copartners of the promise, and co­heires of salvation. We sometimes Lo-ammi and Lo-ruhamah, neither of Gods people, nor in his mercie, are now become brethren and sisters unto the Iewes, Os [...] 2. The doore of faith is opened to us Gentiles, Act [...] 14. and that doore openeth the wombes of Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel, to beare even out of this land, out of this towne, out of his assembly, children unto Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob.

Sem was the Father of the Iewes, and Iapheth of the Gentiles; and God hath seated Iapheth in the tents of Sem, Gen. 9. 27. i. hath joyned both their seedes into one Church, and made them [...], Ephe. 3. 6. joynt members of one body, the body of Christ. God gathereth heires of his Kingdome from the foure Windes, Esay 43. the holy Ghost hath breathed into all quarters under heaven, and conveied Gods saving health from Tabor unto Hermon, and from the sea unto the worlds end. Christs light hath shone on all the sonnes of Adam, and all the kindreds of the earth doe see the salvation of God. Christs backe upon the Crosse was turned towards Ierusalem, as forsaking the Iewes; and his face towards the West, as then comming to the Gentiles. Nay the Iewes are cast off, and the Gentiles are made Israel; like prophane Esau, that did vendere jus, propter jus, sell his birth-right for a messe of broth; so have they passed over their right to us; and wee onely are Israelites. It was before [...], the dispersion of the Gentiles, Joh. 7. 35. but after it became [...], the dispersion of the Tribes, the [Page 108] dispersion of the Iewes, Iames 1. 1. The Gentiles once dogges, and the Iewes Gods children, and the Gentiles glad to licke up their crummes; but now wee are the children, and they the dogges; wee sit at Christs Table, and they glad to gleane that which falleth from us, Jude 6. The dew was first onely on the fleece, and not on the ground; but after on the ground, and not on the fleece. The Jewes are the fleece, the Gentiles are the ground, and the dew is grace, saith Theodoret. [...], the wheele of the world, Iam. 3. 6. is turned quite contrarie. The Sunne long since is set in the East, and is risen in the West. I doe forget my selfe, and dwell to long in this point. I leave it, and come unto the second.

The other honourable title given by Symeon unto Christ, is, the glory of the Iewes; To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of his people Israel. There were foure things wherein the Iewes did glory, the Arke, the Law, the Temple, and the Covenant.

For the first, the Arke was the token of Gods presence, and the pro­tection of Israel. Their safe conduct over Iordan; it stood still, while the people went thorow the channell of the river on drie foote. David calleth it Gods strength, Psal. 105. 4. Dagon the Philistims god could not stand beside it, but fell twice from his place, and broke both his hands and his head. The men of Ashdod were smitten with Emor­roides, and the Eckronites plagued for holding it from Israel. Obed Edoms house was blessed for giving it house-roome. David, though he were a King, yet disdained not to daunce before it, and received it into his city with great triumph and solemnitie. When it was taken of the Phili­stims, the griefe was so great both of Ely the Priest, and his daughter in in Law bigge with child, that at the sudden newes, the old man fell backward from his stoole, and brake his necke; and the young wo­man travelled before her time; and though she was delivered of a man child, which commonly is a comfort to a woman in her paines, and the women about her, bad her not feare, for she had borne a sonne, yet she would not be comforted, but cried out, the glory is departed from Israel. Yea, she set her sorrow in her childs name, she called him Icabod, that is, non est gloria, and cried out againe, the glory is departed from Israel, 1 Sam. 4. ult.

For the second, the Temple; the great Temple of Diana at Ephesus, reckoned one of the seven wonders of the world, that was two hun­dred yeares in building, and had sixscore pillars, founded by as many Kings: The Temple of Constantinople which was called for the excel­lencie [...], the beautie of the world; but the Prophet calleth the Temple of Ierusalem the Lords beautie, Psal. 78. 61. as the Arke was his strength, so the Temple was his beautie, the perfection, the complement of beautie, Psal. 50. 2. were not so famous as the Temple of Ierusalem, a worke so sumptuous and glorious, that men of all Nations came from the uttermost parts of the earth to see it. The doores, the tables, and the Altars, plated with gold; the ground paved, the walls lined, and the roofe seeled with gold: yea all the Vtensills, the Lampes, the Snuf­fers, and the Candlestickes, the Spoones, the Basons, and the Ash­pannes, and the instruments of musicke, all of pure gold; the Cherubims, [Page 109] the Pomegranats, and all the carved worke, overlaid with Gold, yea the worke of the pavement in the inward sanctuary, inlaid with pre­tious stone; beside all the vessels of silver and brasse, the iron worke, the wood and the stone of inestimable worth. And to make it yet more honourable, the Lord vouchsafed to call it his house, Esa. 56. 7. his residence Psalme 13. there set he his Arke, his Oracle, and his Mer­cy seate.

For the third, the Law; the Athenians brag of Solon, and the La­codaemonians of Lycurgus, that they devised their lawes. Much better might the Iewes glory in their Law; for it came from Heaven. A reason which the Turkes thinke very sufficient to authorise their Alcoran; for so their lying Mahomet made them beleeve. But Israel indeed had their law from Heaven; it is the ordinance of Angels, Act. 7. 53. and Gods owne handwriting. Deut. 10. and therefore very worthily pre­ferred by Moses, before the lawes of all other nations Deuteronomy 4. 8.

For these three things, the Israelites lifted themselves above the Gentiles; as indeed they might. And they accounted them their glo­ry. But the fourth excels them all, and that is the Covenant, a mutuall stipulation betweene the Lord and them, that he would be their God, and they should be his people, he Israels God, and they Gods Israel. Symeon hath put them both into my Text, and both are their glory; both the name of Israel, and that they are Gods people. For the one, it is an honourable name, given Iacob by the Angell, and▪ signifieth one that had prevaild with God. And to this day, if you speake to a Iew; though the name of a Iew be taken from Iudah, the noblest tribe of all the twelve, yet you please him much better, and grace him much more if you call him an Israelite. For the other, what glory can be greater, then to be Gods people? and therefore the Lord, when hee would disgrace Israel for their demerits, bad the Prophet Hosea to call his Sonnes name, Lo-ammi, id est, Yee are not my People, Hosea 1. 9.

For this Covenant sake, because God made it first with Abraham, they brag of their descent from him, Ioh. 8. 33. We be Abrahams seed, and 39. We have Abraham to our Father. Yea that gracious Covenant gave them infinite matter to glory in their God; who had chosen them above all nations to be his people, [...], 1 Pet. 2. 9. A peo­ple whom he chalenged for his; and who had honoured them before all nations, whom he plagued for their sakes. He rid them from Pha­ra [...]hs yoake, and made Egypt affraid of them. He made the Sea to give them way, and the rocke to give them drinke. When they hungred, Heaven raigned foules, and the Lord fed them with the bread of An­gels. To doe them right, Kings were reprooved, and to make them roome, nations were expelled. He fought their battailes, and discom­fitted the heathen; yea the starres from heaven fought for his people, and the Sunne stood still, while they were avenged on their enemies. When they cryed, his bowels earned, and their distresse was a wound unto his Soule. As the henne doth her young, so he brooded them, and bore them on his wings, as the young Eagles.

Ierusalem was his parke, impaled with hils, Psalme 125. and the peo­ple [Page 110] his Deare, 2 Sam. 1. his Garden enclosed, Can. 4. a garden for their sweetnesse, and enclosed, for their safety. The seale of his heart, and the signet of his arme, Cant. 8. and the tender apple of his eye, Zach. 2. 8. The dearely beloved of his Soule. Ier. 12. 7. But Symeon in my Text, mea­neth yet a greater glory. Paul hath it Rom. 9. 4. Hee maketh there a generall muster of all the Iewes prerogatives, but the first is it, the Adoption, not [...], the law, but [...] the Gospell, the embassage of Adoption. Surely as David saith of Ierusalem, Very excellent things are spoken of thee, Oh thou City of God: so I will say of Israel, very ex­cellent things are spoken of thee, Oh thou people of God. But all their excellencies are exceld of this, to be adopted of God through Christ. All their other glories were but earthly and temporall; this is heaven­ly and spirituall. The Arke and the Temple, and the Law, the land of Canaan, and the Lords protection in all their distresses, they were indeed the honour and the glory of Israel. But their maine glory, the glory of their glory, was the Messias. To have Christ their kinsman, descended from David, from Israel, from Abraham, after the flesh; that glory was so great, as could not be paralleld by all the nations up­on earth; but to have him their brother by the adoption of God, the redeemer of their Soules, is a glory farre more excellent. And in res­pect of that David might well say, non sic fecitulli nationi, Psalme 20. The blessed Virgin Mary, at the message of the Angell, that shee should beare Christ, set aside all other argument of glorying and joy, and her spirit exulted, her soule rejoyced in God her Saviour.

The light of the Sunne, the breath of life, the fruites of the earth, and such other common benefits, the Gentiles ever enjoyed as well as the Iewes: but the blessing which was to be hoped for in Christ was alwaies resiant in the house of Abraham. It is Christs owne speech, John. 4. 22. Salvation is of the Iewes. The Iewes have good cause to glo­ry in Abraham, as I shewed before, they did; for he was the Father of the faithfull, Rom. 4. the friend of God, Iames 2. and his bosome the blessed receptacle of the Saints deceased. But better may they glo­ry, if they consider Christ; who was promised to Abraham, when God assured him, That in his seed all nations should be blessed.

The Prophet Haggai, meant this glory, cap. 2. 10. when hee said, That the glory of the last house should be greater then the first. For else the second temple was lesse glorious then the first by many degrees; and nothing in comparison of it, ver. 4. But the Lord by one second house meaneth the Messias, whose manhood, was the temple of his God­head, as our bodies are called the temples of the Holy Ghost; and in that place hee promiseth to give peace; for Christ is our peace.

To shut up this second title; God sent his Sonne unto the Iewes for his Covenants sake, but to the Gentiles for his Compassions sake. His promise enforced him to keepe his truth with them, but meere mercy induced him to reach his grace to us. His mercy and his truth are united in my Text; and as David singeth Psalme 85. 10. Misericordia & ve­ritas obviaverunt sibi, Mercy and truth are here met together, this Evan­gelicall Prophet, for so I may terme Symeon, for the forme of his speech is Prophecy, but the matter is Gospell; proclaimeth the Messias, that [Page 111] he should be, as a light unto the Gentiles, so a glory to the Iewes; not a glory of admiration, as was their Arke an amazement to the Philistims, and their Temple a wonderment to the world, and the Covenant of Gods Protection, an astonishment to all people. I say, not a glory of admiration, but a glory of Salvation: for so it is in the verse before. Their transgression of Gods law, their heathenish idolatry, their ma­ny murmurings against God, their distrust of his providence, their a­buse of his benefits, their unthankefullnesse, and all their wickednesse, had put them out of Gods protection, enwrapped them in the wreathes of sinne, enfolded them in the curse of God, and enthralled them to death, to sathan, and to hell. Neither Arke, nor Law, nor Temple, nor any thing, in which they trusted, in which they gloryed, could set them free. But Christ was come for that purpose. They were lost, and he came to save that which was lost; Christ was now come and with him Salvation. His mighty conquest of their spirituall enemies should give them ample matter of Glory: and so it did, both to them, and us, who now are Israel as well as they, not successione carnis, but haereditate fidei, Hilar. and sonnes to Abraham, as well as they, who is the Father omnium credentium, of all beleevers.

Christ hath vanquished sinne; the Lambe of God hath taken away the sinnes of the world? He hath borne them in his body upon the tree; so that they shall not be imputed unto us; and instead of them hath gi­ven us his righteousnesse, by which we stand accepted before God. And he hath conquered death by his resurrection; that though we die still, yet now death is no curse, but a passage into Heaven. And he hath broken the gates of hell. And hee hath subdued sathan; the womans seed hath bruised the Serpents head, peremit Serpens, redemit Christus. [...]. Iustin Martyr, death put to death. The red Dragon is chained up from hurting the faithfull; and the accuser of the bre­thren is put to everlasting silence. Mors non ultrà dominabitur, nay non ultrà nominabitur, August. And thus is Christ our glory. Let us re­turne glory to God on high, glory to the Father that hath given his Sonne to us, and glory to the Sonne, that hath given himselfe to death, and glory to the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life. Vnto that bles­sed Trinity of the everliving God head be given all glory. The grace of the glory of Israel, and the Salvation of God the Father, and the comforta­ble light of the Holy Ghost, shine upon you this day and for ever. Hodie & in secula.

IT is questioned, whether Symeon were either Priest, or Prophet. Some say, neither; some say both. Saint Cyril, a Priest; Saint Chrysostome, a Prophet. Saint Luke detetmines it. My Text is a meere Prophesie: so is his Nunc dimitt is; and the verse that followes this. I will not passe the bounds of the words, which I have read: but few; I cannot say, Tria sunt omnia; heres but two, in the Originall, but two significant: but few; but full; multarum rerum gravida. Theres more sound lightly in mens words, then substance. But Gods Spirit speakes pressè; and yet is not obscure, by being briefe. Both pressè & expressè, Compendious, but yet perspicuous: Easie enough (saith Maldonat) did not some Interpre­tours make it harder, then it is. The Child, whose mother was this day to be Purified, and himselfe to be presented in the Temple, shall (saith holy Symeon) be a signe to be spoken against: that is, a marke of contra­diction; a Man, whom all men should oppose; gainsaied▪ withstood by all. Nay not onely Signum contradictionis, but maledictionis too. Re­vil'd, blasphem'd by all. Not his Person onely, but his Doctrine too, [...], Act. 28. 22. Every where contradicted [...] Ieremies [Page 113] terme, a man of contradiction. Not in Ieremies sense, Actively, one that gainesayes all men; but Passively, whom every man gainsaies.

My text needs not Analysis, beares none well, in so few words. The former terme is a Metaphor; how diversly glossed by Expositors, twere idle to recite. Of sixe sundrie senses I select two: Signum, to meane here either Scopum, or Vexillum, the Archers marke, or the Banner in warre. As Archers at a marke, so Infidels at Christ, doe shoot their blasphemies. And as a Standard in the field; so the Gospell in the world is oppugn'd by Heretickes. Christ is a Signe, an Ensigne, for e­very souldier of Sathans to fight against. Christ is a Signe, a Marke, for every blasphemer to aime his arrowes at. This latter Metaphor Tolet rejects, saith the word beares it not. I thinke because Calvin and Beza so expound it. A learned Iesuite, yet another as learned as he, Maldonat approves it; and both Calvin and Beza understood the force of the word in the Originall, as well as Tolet did. I thinke, twas not his Greeke made him a Cardinall. Tis not worth the contending: Either Meta­phor is good; and they both have the same meaning The Child (saith old Symeon) shall be for a Signe; that is, either as Ieremie speakes in his Lamentations, [...] as a marke for the Arrow; or as a Banner in a battell, which every enemie strives to winne, or to throw downe. Manasses against Ephraim, and Ephraim against him; but both against Iudah. Gog against Magog, Magog against him; but both against the Lyon of the tribe of Iudah, both against Christ. The jeering-stocke of Iewes, the railing stocke of Gentiles, the common Object of all contradiction. No more of the Metaphor, of the first word by it selfe. Take we now the second too, and speake of both together. For a singe to be, &c.

God made the lights in heaven, the starres, In signa, to be signes; but Distinctionis to distinguish Night and Day, Seasons and Yeares. God set the Rainebow in a cloud, In signum, for a signe, but Pactionis a signe of Covenant betweene God and man; that he never would drowne the earth againe. Circumcision a signe too, of Covenant too; but a better Covenant: Abraham and his seede to be Gods people; He to be their God. The bloud of the Lambe at the feast of Passeover, and the Ser­pent in the Wildernesse, and some moe, were all for signes, Signifying signes. Symeon meanes not such; Signes, that is Tokens. God wrought signes in Egypt, the Prophets in Israel, Christ and his disciples in many places. Nor meanes he them; Signes, that is, Wonders, Admirationis. But Christ shall be In signum contradictionis, [...], for a signe of Contradiction, of Derision, Exprobration, of all kindes of Opposition. Christs Person specially, his Birth, his Life, his Death, and Doctrine, all Objects to the cavills, to the leud calumniations of Infidells and He­retickes. An endlesse Argument; endlesse, but needlesse to be followed farre. A word of each.

First for his Person, [...], of two natures, Sophocles terme of the Cen­tures fits Christ too. Saint Ambrose saith as much of Christ, biformis, geminaeque naturae. cap. 5. de Incarnat. dominicae sacrament. [...], not a man of God, Prophets were called so; but a man, and God. Homo Christus, the man Christ, Saint Pauls terme; & Christus Dominus, the Lord Christ, the Angells terme: Gods Sonne, Gods selfe. Said by [Page 114] Many; but Gainesaid by Moe. God said once and twice, Thou art my Sonne. An Angell calls him Gods Sonne, Luke 1. 35. Marie her Saviour; Elizabeth her Lord. Her Babe said it too; sprong in her wombe: spake it out afterward, Ioh. 1. 34. Old Zacharie, the Angels, the Shepheards, the Wise men, the Starre, Lingua Coeli. Symeon here, Anna the Pro­phetesse, Martha, Peter, Nathanael. The Captaine at the Crosse, Sibyl, [...]; Sathan himselfe, Iesus thou Sonne of God.

Thus all these said; the Prophets foresaid too, the mightie God, Esay 9. 6. But the Iewes gainsaid it. The Prophets Prediction could not let their Contradiction. The Pharisees denied it; said, he spake blasphemie, when he forgave sinnes, an act proper to God. All the Elders did, Ecquis ex Principibus, Ioh. 7. 48. Caiphas call'd it blasphemie, rent his cloathes at Christs acknowledgment to be Gods Sonne; and to any that con­fessed it, it was excommunication. The people would have kill'd him, would have stoned him in that quarrell; jeered him for it on the Crosse; bade him, Come downe, if hee were the Sonne of God. Let Iewes goe. Saint Paul calls them even from Gods owne phrase [...], a gain­saying people, Rom. 10. 21. God hath found them so to him, at the waters of Meribah, i. of contradiction. And Paul found him so to him, Acts 13. 45. [...], contradicting and reviling. Not Iewes onely, Christians too. Christ to be Gods Sonne, Iulian made a jest at it, would sweare in scorne of him, [...], by that Son, that call'd God, Father, Nay (which was more impious) Gods bastard sonne. Saint Cyrill saith. Yea the blacke blasphemous mouthes of Ma­nes and Marcion blusht not to call him (as Saint Austin writes) the devills sonne.

Others granted him that, to be Gods Sonne, but denied him to be God. Suidas, saith Theodorus, and Paulus Bishop of Antioch; the one call'd him [...], the other [...], a common and meere man. I pardon Porphyrius, and Lucian; they were Atheists. Porphyrie said sadly, he was no God. Lucian call'd him God, but in Ironie, [...], the crucified God. Be Turkes pardoned too; they grant him a great Prophet, but not God. But a world of Christians have gainsaied his Godhead; ingemuit orbis, Saint Hierom saith, the whole world was turned Arrian. Arius denied him to be God; and the multitude of his followers made his heresie to be stiled immanis Bellua, Athanasius terme, [...], a hugh beast. Ten Councells confirmed it. The Nestorian heresie denied Christs Deitie too. Ego bimestrem aut trimestrem Deum non credo, said Nestorius, would not call Marie [...], Gods mother.

His Manhood had gainsayers too: which is more marvell; It was subject to slight. Saturninus Basilides, and all the Gnosticke Heretickes held his bodie putativum, imaginarie only; [...], saith Epiphanius, a meere Phantasma, no true bodie, Marcion said, so writes Tertullian, and Irenaeus. Some granted a true bodie, but no soule; the Eunomians did. Others a soule also, but [...], without sense and season, a beasts soule; Apollinarius did; and others, call'd thereon Dimoeritae, as confessing two parts of his manhood, soule and body; but not the third, the un­derstanding. This made Athanasius put into his Creede, Perfect God, [Page 115] and perfect man; and Saint Hilarie to say, there was in Christ Totus homo, the whole Humanitie. The other Particulers crie sufficit in this.

His Birth is next; It too had gainsaiers [...], gainsaiers. But the gainsaying here was but disgrace onely: their contradiction but an ex­probration of the basenesse of his Parentage: an idle Arrow to shoot at any man. The mightiest Prince may have had meane Progenitors. Nemo Rex non à servis, saith Seneca, theres no King that comes not from some base Ancestours. Great Caesars father a poore potter. They call Christ in contempt, the Carpenters sonne. Yea himselfe for his fathers sake, a Carpenter, Marke 6. 3. Yet in Christs Genealogie are sixteene Kings, besides Princes and Patriarks. They checke him with his mo­ther▪ Is not Mary his mother too? Libanius a little before Iulians death, askt in derision, what that Carpenters sonne was doing then: and was answered fitly, hee was making a Coffin for the Emperour. An other seeing the silver and gilt Vessells at the Sacrament, said in disdaine, Ecce in qualibus vasis, see in what Vessells Maries sonne is served. Herod de­spised him, Saint Luke saith. So because though borne at Bethleem in Iudah, yet hee was bred and brought up at Nazareth in Galilee, many call'd him in derision, Galilaean. Iulian did, Vicisti Galilaee. There was malice in the terme, and a meere contradiction of his Mes­sias-ship. For the Messias must have beene borne at Bethleem; as in­deed he was.

Come to his Life; they lode him with opprobrious termes. It is as true of Christ, the sonne of David, which is said of Davids selfe, they whet­ted their tongues like swords; and as at a marke, shot at him with arrowes, i. bitter words [...], a glutton, a devourer, [...], a wine-bibber, a keeper of base company, Publicans and Sinners; a Samaritane, thats an odious and detestable fellow: for the Iewes hated the Samaritans. A worse terme, an Impostor, Matth. 27. Worse than that, farre worse, Daemo­nium habes, hee had a devill, yea the worst of all the devills, Belzebub prince of devills. Adde to this Pilates sentence, a counterfeit Messias, and traitour to the Emperour. The Iewes at this day call him a wicked man; and holding the Pythagorean [...], say, the soule of Esau was in the body of Christ, & is now in hell tormented. It were well such blasphemies were but in Iewes mouthes. A Christian, a Pope, the Vicar of Christ hath matcht him with Mahomet. Pope Gregorie IX. call'd Mo­ses, Christ, and Mahomet, tres Barritatores, Matthew Paris writes, the three famous Barrettours and troublers of the world. They yet were not so impudent, though impious enough, that for [...] call'd [...], a good honest simple man, for every man to use.

His Death next; It some Fathers thinke meant chiefely here. Quale signum? saith Chrysostom; What signe meanes Symeon here? Answers his owne question, Signum cruc [...]s, even the signe of the Crosse. Surely it in Baptisme hath many contradictors more than needes, a Ceremony indifferent, and free from Superstition. Were it considered well; no learned man, if wise withall, will stand in opposition. But the Fathers meant not it. By Signe they meane the Crosse, but metonymice, Christs Passion on the Crosse. [...], Amphilochius saith; so doth Saint [Page 116] Basil, Christs death upon the Crosse. Saint Cyril saith the Apostata cald him the dead Iew. Lucian the scoffing Atheist, [...], the Crucified Sophister. It was usuall with the Pagans (as Saint Chrysost. writes) to ubraid Christians with, Tu adoras Crucifixum, ye worship one that was hang'd.

Adde to Christs Death, his Resurrection. In it Christ was a Signe of contradiction in the proper sense; not of exprobration onely, as in his Death. Both Iewes and Gentiles denied it, as a most grand absurditie. Hell, whether the Heathens thought all soules descended, is Invius re­trò lacus, Seneca saith, [...], Anacreons words, once gone downe to it, to get up againe, impossible, [...] is [...], a Greeke Comicke saith. The dead must (saith the Tragicke) ferre perpetuam stygem, stay there eternally. Death is (tis Senecaes too) Regni tenacis Dominus, holds fast, whom he once hath. Saith Saint Peter in the Acts, [...], it was impossible, Christ should be held by death? It was impossible, hee should be losed from it. The Priests therefore and Elders bad the souldiers say, Christs corpse was stolen by night out of the grave. And Saint Matthew saith, the Iewes said so to that day. I marvell not; they say so to this day. Neither marvell I at that. Some of Christs owne disciples doubted of that point, Christs Resurrection. What say I some? All did. So seeme Saint Marke and Saint Luke, both to say. Indeede to doubt, is not to contradict. But one of them said flatly, Non credam, Thomas did. Thats a contradiction; as much as Non resurrexit, Christ is not risen. The Albigenses onely I finde in the Church Historie to be opposites in this point.

The last, his Doctrine; as many darts cast at it, as at his Deitie. The Cardinals conceit upon the former word, to meane a Banner, will fit here. Christs Doctrine is his Gospell. Thats vexillum Christi, Christs Standard indeed. The Fathers call it so. The Apostles were Ensigne­bearers; and wee all fight under it. It at the first advancing found a world of [...], fighters against Christ, hath contradictors at this day: Offendiculum, a stone of offence to the Iewes; Ridiculum, [...], folie to the Gentiles. Saint Paul saith. The moderne Iewes call Evangelium, the Gospell [...] a Volume of lies; as Libanius saith, Iulian did [...], idle and ridiculous. Pardon them: Popes say as much, Quantas nobis op [...]s peperit illa fabula de Christo. Leo the X. speech to Car­dinall Bembus, he calls the Gospell a flat Fable▪ Sleidan writes, a French Papist said as much of the Epistles, that he beleeved them no more than Esops Fables. Beza writes, it is a blasphemie of the Popish Schoole, that the Church had fared farre better; had Pauls Epistles never beene. Both Gospell and Epistles, we read in the Church Historie, that Dona­tists burnt them both; not they onely, Arrians too.

How have their Persons scapt, that pend or preacht either? Paul cald by the Athenians [...], a vaine pratler; worse by Festus, a Mad man, Act. 26. by Tert. the Orator, a pestilent fellow. A Monk at Berlin in Ger­many said he lyed. A Platonist swore Per Iovem, that S. Iohn was a Barba­rian. So Calvin writes, the libertines cald him a foolish yongling, S. Mat­thew a mony-monger, S. Peter a Renegado. The People all the Apostles [Page 117] drunken with Wine. Montanus said, he knew both Moe and Better things, then Christ and his Apostles. The Familists call our Prea­chers, Scripture-learned men. Yea Lutherans call us All, Evangelicos, Gospellers. The Profession of Christ was termed Heresie in Pauls time, once or twice in the Acts: and the Professors themselves by the mo­derne Iewes call'd Iorde-bor, i. men damned to hell. Pardon them a­gaine, for the Italians when they speake of a sily witted man, call him Vn Christiano; thats Italian for a Blockhead.

I may not descend unto particulars, instance would be infinite of oppugners of the Doctrine grounded on Christs Gospell. What Arti­cle of Religion hath not had some Gainesayer? What point of Chri­stian Faith is free from Contradiction? Take one out of them all, if you please, and but one. But it is Instar Omnium, and toucheth Christ more neerely; and might have beene inserted in the first point of his Person; the body and blood of Christ in the holy Eucharist. What a world of opposition hath, Hoc Est Corpus▪ Meum wrought in the Church, by Papists, and vbiquitaries, and all Lutheranes? Oportet (Saint Peter saith) the Heavens must hold our Saviour (he meanes his humane bo­dy) untill he come to judgement. Peters successor saith no, Non opor­tet, they must not. This is [...], flat contradiction. It is in every Eucharist by Transubstantiation. The Lutheran saith so too, but by other prepositions; not by Trans, but In, Con, Sub. The ubiquitist saith more; not in Christs Supper onely, but even in every place, by Gods Almighty power. I know all three deny, this to be contradiction. It will crave long speech to proove. And my Province is to report, not to dispute. To draw to a Conclusion.

Christ is made a Marke for every shooters shaft, the Atheist, the Here­tick, the Mahometan, the Iew. Al have bin Christomastiges; by checks, by scorne, by Calumnies, by all sorts of Gainesaying, Christ is [...], for a signe (saith Symeon) [...], that should be spoken against. The English words too weake; the Greeke hath some more emphasis. Translations seldome expresse the full Originals. Haply the Greeke too is not so significant, as Symeons owne words were in his Syriacke mother tongue. For the Theme, let that lewd Spaniards speech be the upshot at this marke; who when God had frustrated their intended Invasion, in the yeare 88, cryed, Christ was turned a Lutheran. Blas­phemy more beseemes a Mores mouth, then a Christians. Now the God of Christians, and Father of Christs selfe, stoppe the mouthes of all Gainasayers of his Gospell, in whatsoever kind, to their shame, to his Glory, to our Comfort, for his sake, who is the marke of their gainesaying, Iesus Christ our Lord; Cui cum Patre, &c.

THey are the devils words spoken to Christ, in that famous Act of his Temptation. That act conteines three onsets; this is the last. Said Christ of his Disciples, sathan sought to winnow them? Surely it seemes heere, he seekes to winnow him: tempts him, first to Distrust, speeds not in that: then to Pre­sumption, nor will that doe neither: now to Avarice and Ambition; hopes that will take. My Text containes two parts, Pro­mise, and Condition. The Promise, I Will: the Franknesse of the 1 Promise, he will Give: the Richnesse of the Gift, These, i. e. King­domes: 2 and the Largenesse of the same, All these. Even All the 3 Kingdomes of the world will sathan give to Christ. The Condition 4 hath two termes, Prostration, if thou wilt Fall downe; and Adoration, 5 and Worship me. Of these Particulars, not in the order, they are heere, 6 but as the sense requires.

The Promise first; a Verball Promise, not a Reall gift. Gifts should precede the duty, not follow it; should be with an Vt, not with a Si. So Men doe; so God does. Do, ut facias; not Dabo, si feceris. Where the service goes before, and the gift comes after; tis a Reward, not [Page 119] a gift. Not Donum Largientis, but Merces Operantis, Saint Ambroses phrase, not a Largesse, but a Wages; not [...], Saint Pauls termes not a Bounty, but a Debt. Duty may be the finall cause of Bounty, but it must not be the efficient: because grace must be free, God hath given us [...], as Saint Paul saith, Life and Breath, and all things: that we may serve him; not that we have ser­ved him. We could not serve, before we were. Sathan will be sure to be beforehand, will be served first. The Pope learnd that tricke of him. Fredericke shall first fall downe, and worship him; ere he will crowne him. King Iames must first h [...]ve beene reconciled to Rome, ere he might have come to England, if Pope Clement could have hindred him.

But how comes sathan to be a promiser? Promise is properly of good things, Saint Augustine saith. The devill soloeciseth, when hee promiseth: for from him can come no good. Sathan may say, he will: but what? He will entise. I will be a false Spirit in the Prophets mouthes. Of such things he may say, he will. But to give, to give king­domes, or ought els, that good is, he can not: tis not in his power. Nay indeed it is not in his will; though he say it. I will ascend up in­to Heaven, and raise my throne above the starres, I will sit on the sides of the North, and be equall to the most Highest. Sathan may say of this, he will; say so of any Sinne. But to will good, any good, any good to any man, sathan will not say it. Say it, he may: but he will not doe it. Well may he say, Dabo, he will give; thats de Futur [...]. But where read we ever, Do, I doe give? Sathan is all in Assumpsits, he assumes, he presumes to will doe many things; but he does them not: [...], saith the devill, I will give.

Antigonus (Plutarch saith) was surnamed [...], i. e. Daturus; because he would still promise, never performe. God performes, what hee promises; more then he promises. His Promisisse is Dedisse, saith Ra­vennas▪ his Dixisse is Fecisse, saith Saint Hierome. Thats because [...], saith the Apostle, he is faithfull, that hath promi­sed. David plies God with that Plea, Secundùm verbum tuum, craves mercy, craves all grace, according to his word. But the devill is Gods opposite in all things, in this specially, in his Word. God never breakes it, sathan never keepes it. Christ cals him [...], a Lyer. Tis a worne proverbe in every mans mouth, in every childes mouth, as false as the devill. If he give, he gives the wrong, for bread a stone; for a fish, a scorpion. Eve found it. He promist life; but it prooved death. Then he deceived the Woman: now he would faine deceive the seed of the Woman. Saint Augustine saith, the World, semper falli [...], ever deceives. Surely sathan does, the god of the World. Devils are but Dabones, Erasmus terme. His gift here but a Promise: and Quilibet, e­very man can be rich in promises.

To end this, I will give, saith the devill, Christ must belike trust sathan on his Word. A Lyar on his Word? What is a promise in a leasers lippes? Promises are vaine, verba dum sunt, where the persons credit is crackt, that promises. Promisit, qui non mentitur, Saint Paul saith of God, he promises, that lies not. The devils daboes are but [Page 120] weake, unlesse he were more trie of truth. Sathan had said something, had the tense beene present, had he said, I give. I doe, is actuall; I will doe, is uncertaine. Dabo is but lanke, in a ranke liers mouth; and tis but a bare Dabo too, without either Oath, or any Protestation. The devill in this, honester than man, than many men: who will bind with Oathes those promises, which they never meane to keepe. Sathan will lie, but he will not sweare too. See how the subtill Sophister takes advantage of the tense: (the Will hath a wile in it) suspends the gift, till the service be performed; craves the condition first; cares not for Christs com­plaint of breach of promise. Let him sue him, if hee will, upon As­sumpsit. Christ having worshipt him, he hath that hee would. Christ hath done an Act, can not be undone. He would up to God presently, and say, heres he, they call thy Sonne; he hath worshipt me. By it hee should see, he was not the Sonne of God, the onely drift of his temta­tion; as you may see by the two first Acts of it. Let Christ then ex­postulate for his beguiling him; he would say, Tu videris, looke to that himselfe: Enough of this.

Sathan will: What will he? Hee will give. All these will I give thee. Tis not locatio, a demising them, aletting them to Farme; tis Datio, a gift. Not venundatio, a sale for money; as Iudas gave Christ: Quid dabitis, what will you give me, and I will deliver him; [...], to give and take, Sathan will be Franke, he will give freely. For the condition, to fall downe, and worship him, thats no price; tis but an homage. That we doe to God, for the things we have from him: and yet we acknow­ledge, he gives them freely. Wicked impostor! calls he this a gift? Tis a sale: tis Nundinatio, not Donatio, plaine merchandise. A deare sale, and hard bargaine on mans part. Christ calls Sathan [...], the enemy, and [...], enemies gifts are no gifts; hee dearely buyes them, that receives them. The cheapest of his gifts, costs the dearest thing man hath: he must give his soule for it; soule and body both. Vix Priamus tanti, his Kingdomes, all his kingdomes are not worth a soule. Christ saith it, who well knew the price of soules: for he bought many. Hee saith, that hee that winnes the world, losing his soule, gaines not by the bargaine. To worship Sathan, soone said, soone done. But the sequell of it, the sale, the whole sale of my selfe: I become Sa­thans slave. That which he calls a gift, costs me all I have, all I am, bo­die, and soule. Imitantur hamos dona, gifts are but hookes, saith Martial; the devills gifts, deadly hookes; Christ in Sibils Achrosticha is called [...], a Fish. Sathan comes here angling; baites his hooke with king­domes, hoping, if he would but bite, to have him his.

Mens gifts, many are dangerous, meerely insiduous; the Receiver is enthrall'd, libertatem vendidit, Much more, Sathans. They are viscata beneficia, Seneca saith, like lime-twigges. Hee that takes them, invenit compedes, the devils gifts are shackels to our soules. Sathan knew the Proverbe was a Probatum est, Daei, cui vis esse Dominus, he will looke for your largesse, that shall call you Lord.

Sathan will give? What will hee give? Sathan is not sordid, profers no base things: he will give kingdomes. Gifts should beseeme (Isocrates saith) [...], both the giver and the receiver. Sathan is a [Page 121] Prince, [...], the great Monarke of the world. He therefore pro­mises Basilicè like a King. Nay Kings can not give, what Sathan here promises. They may bestow great honours, Earledomes, Duke­domes; but not Kingdomes. If they give them away; they are no Kings. Assuerus promised Hester, and Herod his step-daughter, the halfe of their Kingdomes, if they askt it. But whole Kingdomes, Kings can not give, and keepe them too. It must be a power paramont to Kings, transcending regall power; some Dominus Dominantium, Lord of Lords, as the Turkish Sultan stiles himselfe; some Rex Regum, King of Kings, as the Emperour of Canstantinople was wont to beare foure B's in his Scocheon, foure Greeke B's, in every quarter one: mea­ning that he was [...], a King of Kings, raigning over all that raigne. Such a one is Sathan. Himselfe saith it, Luke 4. 6. [...], that those kingdomes are all his, and hee can give them at his pleasure; What neede wee doubt it of the devill, when wee see it in the Pope? Even he assumes the power of giving Kingdomes. Will you heare himselfe speake, just in the devills Dialect? Imperium nostrum est, saith Pope Adrian IV. Damus, cui volumus, the Empire is ours, to give to whom we please.

Crownes are in his hands, nay in his feete; his basest limbe can make an Emperour. His foote can crowne them, and uncrowne them too, kicke it off againe if he list. Aske not, Quo warranto, by what authoritie? Sathan saith, [...]▪ So doth the Pope; tis a [...], a Tradition. Thats enough: Scripture skills not; Traditio est. He hath it from Con­stantine: his Donation registred in the Canon law. Heretickes call it a counterfeit. But looke on the inscription; there is Palaea, i. ancient, [...]. Vnlearned Calvinists read it Palea; as though the Law had cen­sur'd it for chaffe. The kingdome of Sicily, Naples, and all Italy, France, Spaine, & Germanie, great Britaine too, the whole Westerne world is by that antient deed of gift conveigh'd unto the Pope. A large gift. Lu. calls it a large lie, Ingens mendacium. But hee was an Apostata. Some Papists too censure it, of good ranke and learning: but belike false brethren. This point, I should digresse too farre, to dispute it with the Pope.

To returne then, Sathan give Kingdomes? Hee hath none to give. Surely one he hath; but not to give. Nazianzen calls him [...]. So doth Saint Paul. Christ calls him a prince too. But his kingdome is spirituall, in the hearts of unbeleevers. It is stated in his person onely, can not be made over unto any. These worldly Kingdomes, which he promised Christ, are none of his, either to give to others or to hold himselfe. Tis a double lie, in that place of Saint Luke; both that he can give them; and that they are given him. Hee hath neither Diti­onem, nor Dationem, neither right to raigne, nor power to give. Tis in­deed (as he termes it) a [...], a tradition: but like to those of the Popes. Their traditions lies; so his a meere coggerie.

Tis God gives kingdomes; gives indeed all things. [...], Every gift is from above; Kingdomes especially. Per me Reges regnant, Kings raigne by God. Tis God (saith Daniel) sets up Kings. A watchman cries from heaven, that it is the most highest, that hath power over king­domes, and gives them unto whom he will. God therefore calls Kings, [Page 122] His. I have set my King, saith God, meaning of David. Twas a proud phrase of the Cardinals, Ego & Rex meus, I and my King: the Pope could say no more. There is no Power (Saint Paul saith) but tis of God; Regall power specially. All Kings are Christi Dei, Gods annointed. Saul a wicked man, Cyrus an Heathen, David cals the one, Gods selfe the other, his annointed. David saith it of himselfe, Dominus elegit me, tels Michal, God had chosen him: Solomon of himselfe, Tu reg­nare fecisti, saith God had made him King: All Kings confesse it, put it in their style; Iacobus Dei gratia, that they owe their Kingdomes to the grace of God.

Sathan is yet more francke. Tis much to give a Kingdome, one Kingdome: he will give multitudes. Sathan knew by himselfe, am­bition hath no bounds. At Rome three Crownes are upon one Head. Christ might have haply an aspiring spirit; sathan will fit him. Nor was the devill ignorant, that Christ was a King borne, King of the Iewes. The wise men knew it by the starre, sathan much more, knew Herod but usurpt; the right was Christs. He would not therefore offer it, it onely: thought it would not moove him; showed him therefore ma­ny, profferd them All. God once made Abraham the like promise, bad him looke North and South, East and West; and all the land he saw, he would give unto his seed. Dixit & factum est, he said it, and he did it. For he is verax in promissione, & potens in exhibitione, Bern. as able to performe, as franke to promise. But in Man, and more in sathan, the largenesse of his promise prejudicates his truth, is a pre­sumption he meanes falsely. Largissimi Promissores be parcissimi exhi­bitores, saith the same Father, they performe least, that promise large­liest.

Kingdomes are no common gifts, whole Kingdomes. Theres one in the Gospell, gives Cities to his servants, ten to one, five to another. Or because thats but a Parable, Solomon gave certaine Cities to King Hiram. Say some great Emperour, Lord of many Realmes, resigne some one unto his Sonne. Heeres one so bountifull, that hee gives a World of Kingdomes, promises to give. One that himselfe hath not, not a Kingdome onely, but not a Province, not a Towne, not a House, [...], not a poore smoke hole in the World, in the [...], the habi­table world, Saint Lukes terme in this story; he showes Christ all the Kingdomes [...] of the habitable World. A banished Apostata, though unworthy for his wickednesse of any Vbi in the World, con­fined unto the Aire; that once had his dwelling among the Sonnes of God, not suffered now to dwell among the sonnes of men; the right off▪ scouring of the World, heere to promise the gift of all the King­domes in the world, it is the impudency of a Creature, that is too blacke to blush, a presumption proper to the devill, a prince over all the chil­dren of pride.

All the Kingdomes of the World? an unreasonable promise, saith Saint Chrysostome. All to one? Then must he take them from the ow­ners, unthrone them, to enthronise him; spoile many, to grace one. So while he sought to be worshipped of one, he would be despised of multitudes. Nor is man on earth, like the sunne in Heaven, one en­ough for the whole world.

The devill is cald [...], the deceiver: fraud is his trade; and he is a master in that mystery, There is [...] Saint Paul saith, a Method in deceipt. Sathan hath it, Saint Paul saith too. First he assaies Christ with distrust: that Temptation takes not. Then with presump­tion; that failes too. Two darts, two fiery darts of the devill, one of them lightly wont to speed. Christ with the shield of Scripture quencht them both. Avarice is his Achilleum, that never misseth; that hee uses last. Theres none whom that Temptation takes not, tickles not at least. Quid dabis, what will you give me, every mans question, not Iudas onely. Peter askt it of Christ, What shall wee have? Abraham askt it of God, What wilt thou give me? Kingdomes, and their Con­comitants are a baite, which sathan doubted not, but Christ being Flesh and blood, could not but bite. I call it Avarice from many Authors. That lust is not of money onely, as the etymon implies, Avarus, i. A­vidus aeris; but tis also Altitudinis, saith Gregory, desire of honour. Saint Augustine too, tis (hee saith) in all things coveted inordi­nately.

To end this; tis All, but all these, all the Kingdomes of the Earth. He presumes not to proffer him the Kingdome of Heaven. The devill more moderate then the Pope. He would promise unto one, that would blow up a Parliament house, or that would but kill a King, the King­dome of Heaven.

Come we now to the Condition. This profuse Promiser, Quid re­feret, what lookes he for? We have heard, what he will give; let us heare what he will have. He profers largely: but upon what termes? Christ must fall downe and worship him. The devill knew, Ambition was a strong lust, would stoope low, to rise high. None more base minded, then the proud. Quid iniquitatis, saith the Oratour, what wrong, what indignity will not a man beare, in the hope of an inheri­tance. Haply but of a little land, or summe of money, and but the hope of them? How then will the gift, the present possession of a King­dome move a man? of many, of all the kingdomes in the world? What will he not doe, what will he not suffer, to receive it? Imperia pretio quolibet constant benè, saith Polynices in the Tragedy. A Crowne is not deare, at any price. Occidat, modò imperet, let my Sonne kill me, so he may be Emperour, saith Neroes Mother. Shed blood, any blood; kneele to Baal, Regnandi, gratia, saith Caesar, neither Ius, nor Fas, will be regarded. Lust of soveraignty dispenseth with all lawes, of Man, of God, of Nature, Omnibus flagrantior, saith Tacitus, the most fierce, most fiery, most furious of all lusts.

Surely sathan thought Christ, though not the Sonne of God, yet a very holy man: yet doubted not but Dignity, Soveraignty, such So­veraignty would be lure sufficient to draw his lust: yea though the Son of God, Himselfe sometimes, a Sonne of Gods too, while he was a good Angell, yet had felt the force of that Temptation. To raise his throne above the starres, and to be equall to the most highest, hee would venture a fall even into hell. Abimeleck to be King, will slay all his Brethren. Athaliah to be Queene, all of the Blood-royall. Herod in feare to loose his Crowne, made a massacre of all the male infants in [Page 124] Bethleem. Absalon to raigne, will rebell against his Father. That a Spanish head may weare the English Crowne, the Iesuites will blow up the Parliament House with Gunpowder. Christ for so many Crownes, sathan hopes would be wonne to fall downe, and worship him.

First to Fall downe. Prostration is a gesture used in Adoration in the Easterne Countries, in the worship either of God or Kings; to humble the whole body, to fall flat on the face unto the ground. David did it to Ionathan, though but the Kings Sonne. The devill before was not so prodigall, but now he is as proud. Great men are gratious, but they are as fastuous: they will show great favours; but they will looke for as large service. Bounty expects duty. Sathan will [...]; but Christ must first [...], sathan will raise him up, but first hee must fall downe.

An impudent demand, consider Quis, Cui, compare the Persons. Sathan, who (saith Ignatius) is [...], a Creature to be tram­pled under Christs feet, heere to crave, Christ to fall downe at his feet. Whom God sentenc't in the serpent to creepe on his belly on the ground, have Christ prostrate to him with his face unto the ground. Say sathan be a Lion, Saint Peter cals him so: Christ is a Lion too, the Revelation cals him so. Must sathan be a Lion saliant before Christ, and Christ be but a Lion couchant before him, crouchant before him. You may heere see, from what spirit he spake, that setting his foot on the necke of the Emperour, cryed Ambulabo super Aspidem, he would tread the Lion under his feet. Sathans pride heere is greater, then at his first fall. There hee said but Ero similis, I will be equall to the Highest: heere he will be superiour. Christ, who is God, must fall downe before him. As proud heere as Antichrist, who exalts himselfe (saith Paul) above him, that is called God. Haman is called proud, Su­perbissimus, the most proud; yet would he have beene content to have had but Mordecaies knee. Sathan is not satisfied, that Christ should onely bow to him; hee must fall downe to him, prostrate his whole body.

Nay that will not serve neither; he must adore him too. The An­gell forbad Saint Iohn in the Revelation, forbad him twise, to worship him. Divine adoration the blessed Spirit denies it, the damned fiend desires it.

The devill is Gods Aemulus in every thing. In his name; the spirit raised by the Witch of Endor, is cald Elohim, i. God. In his wonders God turned a rod into a serpent, waters into blood, and smote the land with frogs. Sathan did the same by Pharaohs Sorcerers. In his prero­gative; God gives (saith Daniel) Kingdomes at his pleasure. So does sathan; saith, h [...] does. In his worship; Come, saith the Psalmist, let us worship, fall downe, and kneele before the Lord. So sathan will have Christ to fall downe, and worship him; Latro divinae gloriae, an inter­ceptor of Gods glory. God saith, he will not give his glory to another. Sathan will take it, though he give it not. The homage proper to the blessed God of Heaven, impudently claimed by a cursed fiend of hell. [Vnto whom, and to his Angels belongs shame and confusion: but [Page 125] unto God, and to his Christ, and to the Holy Ghost be worthily as­cribed, &c.] So presumptuous, so impious, so blasphemous a de­maund, that Christ beares him now no longer.

The first time, and the second Christ answered gentlely, onely op­posed Scripture. Hee then but wrong'd him onely. But now hee comes to touch his Father, to rob God of his right, to arrogate di­vine Honour; he endures him not, but cries, Vade Sathana, Avoidsa­than; For it is written; Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him onely shalt thou serve. Which that we may all doe; Thou Lord which for our sakes didst fast fourty dayes and fourty nights: give us grace to use such abstinence, that our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions inrighteousnesse and true holynesse, to thy honour and glory, which livest, and raignest, &c.

CHRISTS comfortable answer to the Theefe upon the Crosse. He had rebuk'd his fellow for his blasphemie, acknowledg'd himselfe wor­thy of death, confest Christ innocent, and prayed to him for mercie, done all things that a Christian should doe, to be saved, both for Faith and Workes, a Christian in his case; Christ graciously answers him, To day thou shalt be with me in Paradise. A rich reward for so short a service, as God said to Abraham, an exceeding great reward.

Fellowship with Christ, and that in heaven, even that very day. Foure points observable, remarkeable; Who? A sinnefull man. To 1 be with whom? With Christ, the Sonne of God. Where? In Para­dise, 2 in heaven. When? Immediately, To day. O altitudo, Oh the 3 hight, oh the depth, oh the infinite Abyssus of the bowels of Christ Jesus! 4 The disparitie of the persons, the hight and haste of the advancement, is not to be parallel'd in all the holy Scripture. God blesse it, to the rai­sing of the poore despairing soule, if here be any such, to the hope of his salvation. I humbly pray Gods assistance and your patience.

The first of the foure Questions is Quis, Who? For his Name. I 1 pray pardon. I finde it in some Writers, but not classicall, and his fel­lowes, and the souldiers too, that pierst Christs side, and the three Wise men, that came to worship Christ. Idle curiositie. The Scripture hath supprest them all. But I aske Quis, of his qualitie. Christs speech might presume some Prophet, some Apostle, some especiall holy man, [Page 127] no ordinary person. What could Christ have said more to Moses, to David, to Abraham, to Symeon, to his owne mother? This man is a sinner; not that onely, so were they, but a great sinner. All sinnes are not equall, as lying Papists say, we say. There are [...], Ignorances, negligences, trippes, and slippes, [...], Saint Iames his terme. Some but Ore tenus, in Word onely, some but Corde tenus, one­ly in thought; his was in Act, [...], an evill Doer, a Malefactor, Saint Lukes terme. Saint Matthew is more plaine, and Saint Marke too, a Theefe. Worse indeed; the English word is too easie: a Robber; so is the Originall. Worse haply yet, a Murtherer too. So the Fathers glosse the place, and his execution makes it probable; a lawlesse man, Esays word [...]; a man of Belial; Cruentus, S. Austins word, a man of bloud. S. Greg. aggravates it worse yet, brothers bloud, a Parricide. And is Paradise a place for such an one? Such a fellow fit to be with Christ? Saith not Saint Paul, theres no communion betweene Christ and Belial? Yea for his particular sinne; say, it was but Theft; saith not Saint Paul too, Theeves shall not enter into heaven. We may therefore wonder, when he prayed Christ, remember him, that his answer was not, Quid mihi & tibi? Fellow, what have I to doe with thee? He once answered his owne mother so. Christ in the Revelation appoints another place for Murtherers; not Paradise, but hell; the lake of fire and brim­stome.

But Grace is Gods, to give, where hee thinkes good; and the Spirit breathes into what brest he pleaseth. To this Theefe, this Robber, God is pleased to be gracious. His Spirit breaths saving faith into his brest. It layes hold on Christ, on Christ crucified. Never came sinner to Christ in better season. That faith wrought instantly repentance; and mercie pardoned his sinnes. Saint Paul lied not, when he said, Theeves shall not come in heaven. This man now is no Theefe before God. Christ takes his sinne on him; gives him his righteousnesse. On that robe God looking, reposeth his deceased soule among the Saints. Christ hath discharged his debt; Gods Iustice is satisfied, can not grudge him that mercy, which grace hath granted him. Else as men arrest the dead bodies of their debtors, nor will let them to be buried: so Sathan, prince of the Aire, would not suffer a Theeves soule to passe by him into Paradise. Idolaters, Adulterers, Theeves, Murtherers, Ex­tortioners shall not come into Gods Kingdome Saint Paul saith, said truely. But many, that have beene sinners in those kindes, or others, but have repented, have come thither. Else David, whom Saint Paul reckons among the Saints; Heb. 11. 32. should be among the damned; and Saint Paul, and Peter, the one a persecuter, the other a forswearer; and who not?

Not great crimes onely, but the lightest sinnes suffice to damne, if God forgive not. Hell should have all; heaven none but Angells. Christ here on the Crosse suffered for all sinners. Not light offenders onely, as Moses, who spake but onely unadvisedly; Ionas, that was an­grie at Gods mercie; Zacharie, that beleeved not the Angell: but Salo­mon an Idolater, the woman that washt Christs feete, thought an Adul­teresse, Manasses the most wicked of all the Kings of Iudah; God first [Page 128] hath given them grace, and then forgiven their sinnes, and at last saved their soules. Heaven hath many Saints, who on earth have beene great sinners.

The use of this, is mans comfort, and Gods praise. Be thy sinne ne­ver so great; doe not despaire. Christ here saves a Theife, a Robber, happly too a Murtherer. And as in sicknesse; so in sinne. As the more dangerous the disease, the more famous the Physitian, that hath cured it: so the greatnesse of the sinne makes Gods mercie the more admi­rable. Gods goodnesse farre exceeds mans sinne. Cain lied, in saying, his sinne could not be pardoned. It had beene, had he but askt mercie. This mans sinnes deserv'd death, not that on the Crosse onely, but eter­nall to. But God cries by the Prophet, Nolo mortem peccatoris, God will not the death, no not of any sinner.

You see here a great sinner; yet Christ saves him. Here a late Repen­ter too. Sinne workes mans soule hazard of hell: he hath cause to hasten his repentance. The Rabbines advise is, [...], re­pent one day before thy death. Thers no man loves sinne so, but will think that reasonable. Grant it; & I must add; then repent to day. Happly thou shalt not live untill to morrow. Stulte, hoc nocte, thou maist lose thy soule this night. Qui promisit poenitenti veniam, non promisit differenti cra­stinum. August. God, who hath promised pardon to the Repenter, hath not promised a morrow to the Delayer. It was this mans happinesse, though he had put off repentance to his last houre, yet to have Christ say to him, To day thou shalt be with me. Doe not thou adventure that. It may be thine unhappinesse, if thou to day repent not, to heare Sathan say to thee, as he said to Saul, Cras mecum eritis, to morrow thou shalt be with me. Gods grace is not at mans whistle, at his call; be thou at Gods.

He calls thee often, by the Preachers Exhortation, by thy friends monition, by the Spirits inward motion, by the sudden death of many. Open but this Bible; in every leafe thou shalt light on some lesson of repentance. It is the common crie of Christ, of Saint Iohn, of all the Prophets, Repent, repent. Thou grants it is; but they doe not adde, to day. They doe not, for they neede not. Instant obedience is meant in all commands, where respite is not added, I made haste, said David, and delayed not, to keepe thy Commandement. The Hebrew word is ele­gant, [...], he askt no Quids, nor Quandoes, obeyed present­ly. And yet Hodie is expressed too sometimes. The Wise man bids, Ne tardes, delay not, put not off, to turne to God. Delay is dangerous in sicknesse, more in sinne. Christs knocks and calls to his Spouse in the Canticles. She lingers so long, that when she opens, he is gone. No reason God should waite on man. Seeke God (saith Esay) while he will be found. If God shall crie, and man will not heare him; then man shall crie, and God will not heare him.

This I preach to presumers on Gods mercie, secure sinners. Let not this mans example hearten them: theres no moe such in Scripture. Theres but one; and one will serve a submisse soule, sorrie for sinne. Such a soules repentance is not late; Haud serum est, quod verum est, [Page 129] quod verum est, Cypr. It is not late if it be hearty. Not at all, is indeed desperate: So it was with this mans fellow. But it is lightly true, [...], better late than never. Were I to deale with man, with moodie man, had I much trespast him, I had neede to high me, to ap­pease him, watch my first opportunitie, runne, ride, flie to entreat him. Well if sped so. Saw he me slacke and slow, I should find him inex­orable, irreconcileable. But this man deales with God. For so he belee­ved Christ to be, though hanging on the Crosse. Else what should hee meane here by Christs Kingdome? At the losse of his life, he repents him, and is pardoned. Despaire no man of grace. Inter Pontem & Fon­tem, there is mercie. Satan at the houre of thy departure, be hee by thy bed, watch he at thy mouth, to catch thy Ghost at the last gaspe: If but then (oh that thou shouldest not before) if but then thou canst say, say with thy heart, O God, be mercifull to me a sinner; by Gods mercie that will serve. O God, there is thy faith. Be mercifull, there is prayer. To me a sinner, there is confession, i. Repentance. If thou canst but say it? That happly thou canst not, thy speech is gone. If thou canst but grone it, sigh it, thinke it; that will serve; such is Gods mercie.

The Rabbin bade repent one day before thy death. I will aske lesse. Abraham said, fiftie, fortie five, fortie, thirtie, twentie, ten; so will I, one whole day, on halfe, halfe that; one houre, halfe that, one minute, ere thou die; even that (as Esay speakes) is the accepted time; God will heare thee; the houre of salvation, God will save thee. At what time so ever, the Church saith in our Liturgie. God scornes not even the taile to be offer'd up in sacrifice, Levit. 7. 3. Extrema cauda in hostiam; that is, Extrema vita in poenitentiam, saith Isidore. They that were hired at the eleventh houre, received as much as those, that had laboured all the day. My desire to winne the sinner, that long hath liv'd in sinne, to leave it yet at last; and to comfort the disconsolate and surcharged soule, hath made me long in this.

To end it; Young man remember thy maker in thy youth; the Preacher bids thee. Thou shalt not happly live, till thou be old. Spend not the flower of thy yeares in idlenesse, in drunkennesse, in wantonnesse. Old men, redeeme the time lost, with repentance. God should have had your morning sacrifice; give him the evening at least. Doe not you delay; you have one foote in grave alreadie. Thinke every day the last. What know I whether ever I shall speake here againe? Whether I shall now goe hence alive againe? O God be mercifull to me a sinner. O Lord, remember once, thou that now art in thy Kingdome.

The second Question I propounded, was, with whom? It is with Christ. Thou shalt be with me, saith Christ. Hee is with Christ already, crucified with him, all the foure Gospells say. A happy man, that hee was with Christ so. The Crosse a cursed death; but a blessed meanes to him, his suffering then and there, to save his soule. The Atheist will aske, what profit is it to be with Christ. Many were with Christ in the dayes of his flesh; but cui bono? The Publicanes were; they sat, and ate with him. The Disciples were; they lodg'd, and liv'd with him. The ones being with him, mended not their reputation; the others be­ing with him cast on them an imputation; they were called Galileans. [Page 130] Yea Peter being charged to have beene with him, was glad to deny him with an oath. Nay all the Disciples saw it so unsafe, to be with him, that they forsooke him All. Idle objector!

Take the third question to this, put them together; then what spell they? To be with Christ in Paradise. And yet their being with him heere on earth was profit too. Cui bono? Cui non? The publicans and sinners, that heard him preach, and saw his wonders, were con­verted. The Disciples though weake at his attache, yet prooved af­terwards the Preachers of the Gospell to all people, and the Heraulds of Salvation to all Soules. We are with Christ heere too on earth; he with us; for in us, Saint Paul saith. Wee suppe together, Apoc. 3. We dwell together, Iohn 14. But this being indeed is but by Deputa­tion, by the gifts and graces of his holy Spirit. But put to, Paradise; to be there with him, is to have the immediate fruition of his presence, presence of his Person, his whole Person. Our Soules shall see his substance; We shall see him face to face, 1 Cor. 13. This man shall raigne with him in glory; was heere on the Crosse with him, shall there weare a Crowne with him. When Christ was but transfigured, and his face shone like the Sunne; Saint Peter said, Bonum est, esse hic, It was good to be there with him. But to be with him in Heaven, is to shine our selves like to the Sunne. Daniel saith but like the starres; that were glory enough. But Christ saith like the Sunne, in the Kingdome of his Father.

We are with Christ on earth, if we be his, and his spirit be in us. But our bodies are but jayles. Our Soules through the infirmity of the flesh, lye in them [...]ettered, as it were, and manacled; that we cannot have full happinesse by our conjunction with him heere. We enjoy him but imperfectly. We are with him even heere. For the Kingdome of God is within us, himselfe saith. But this compard with that being with him there, is Peregrinari à Domino, to be absent from the Lord, absence in comparison. What is it then, to be with him? Aske mee not; I cannot tell. Who can? Saint Paul saith, Eye hath not seene, Eare hath not heard, Heart cannot thinke, what is Heavens happinesse. Onely I can say, that the being with him, is the seeing of him, the beholding the incomparable, the incomprehensible beauty of Gods face. The sight called Beatifica; it makes the seers blessed; is blessed­nesse it selfe. The Crosse a cursed death. But this man may call it bles­sed; blesse the day, he hung on it; Gods sweet opportunity, to bring him unto Christ: heere to beleeve, on him; then to be with him in Paradise; the next thing in my Text.

The third question askes Where? The Disciples askt it once, Vbi Domine, Where Lord? Christ saith, in Paradise. For where else, but where Christs selfe should be? Father, I will (saith Christ) that those whom thou hast given me, be with me, even where I am. This one questi­on would breed many, if time would let, and all Obiters were perti­nent. Some, because of the article in the Greeke Text, will have A­dams Paradise meant. The some not many, and the reason light. And this man must be with Christ: is Christ in Adams Paradise? Some, a great summe say, it is Sinus Abraha; but agree not, What, or Where [Page 131] that is. All agree, tis the place, or the state of the Saints happinesse, be that where, or whatsoever. Quicunque tandem is est, saith Nazian­zen. Consent of most and best, moderne and antient, choise Papists too, say, tis Gods Mansion; Gods Kingdome, Iustine and Saint Au­gustine, plainely, Heaven. Saint Paul is Instar omnium, he can speake of experience, for he was taken up into the place, 2 Cor. 12. 2. Hee makes the third heaven, and Paradise all one. As there is as well an heavenly Ierusalem, as there was an earthly one: so there also is a ce­lestiall Paradise, as well as a terrestriall. Paradise in the literall sense, Adams Paradise was a place of delight; so pleasant, that the Prophet cals it, the Lords Garden. But in the Anagogicall it is farre more ex­cellent. The Alchoran, the Turkes Bible hath many large descripti­ons of all possible delights in Mahomets paradise, but earthly all, and sensuall. But this is a place [...] of spirituall refreshing, saith Theophylact, hath Delicias (saith Saint Hilary) consummatae Beati­tudinis, the Heavenly delicacy of full and perfect blessednesse.

To end this, Nectarius an ancient Greeke Father cals the beauty of Adams Paradise [...], unutterable and unconceiveable. Termes of such Hyperbole, that for Christs Paradise, a thousand times surpassing that, he hath left me no words, but Saint Pauls phrase, 2 Cor. 4. 17. [...]; theres no English can expresse it, a farre most excellent eternall waight of glory. Thats all, our tongue can say: It reacheth not by much unto the Originall. Saint Chrysostom gives it a most excellent terme, [...], a thousand, a ten thousand blessednesses. This point would take up an entire Sermon; and craves a Saint Chrysostom to handle it. Come we to the last question, but the first word, Hodie, to day.

Promises are ever de Futuro; it is Performance, if it be present. Heeres a Promise de Presenti, Thou shalt be with me Today. Though a daies expectance be but short; yet theres twelve houres in a Day. That in a businesse of hast is a long time. Stulte, hac nocte: was very quicke to the Rich man, Thou foole, this night shall they take thy Soule from thee. Christ is quicker heere. God might speake to the rich man, haply in the morning; and he might die haply late in the night following. But Christ saith heere; Today; and that, when day was now halfe done: When the day (as Plautus speakes) was Dimidiatus adumbilicum mortuus, twas now mid-day; sixe houres were spent of it, the next words to my Text. Heere was Dixit, & factum est, the thing done almost as soone as said. The man was to die, to be taken downe, and buried, all before night; sooner, before the Sunne should set. For at sunne set the Sabbath began, and all must be done before the Sabbath. He needs not to cry with David, Lord, hast thee to helpe me; make no long tarrying, Oh my God. Tis but a little while, a little little while, that Christ deferres him. Christ hastes to die himselfe; cals of purpose for the vinegar, cryed Sitio, I thirst, thirst to die more then to drinke. For the vinegar was reacht to all that were crucified that they might die [...], saith Theophylact, to dispatch them speedi­ly, and he was dead at the ninth houre. The Souldiers too made hast to rid the theeves out of their paine. The sunne hastened too, to goe [Page 132] downe, set (in a sort) before his houre. The man dies, and according to Christs promise is immediatly with Christ, even hodie, this very day.

This very day? How can that be? Christs selfe was not so soone in Pa­radise. His body was not; the grave possessed it, till the third day. His soule was not. He descended in his soule to hell, both the hell of the damned, that they might see, what salvation they had scorn'd; and the Limbus Patrum, Papists say, to fetch the Fathers thence unto this Para­dise. So much worke could not be dispatcht so soone. For he went downe not in virtute, but localitèr, not in the power of his Godhead, but in soule. This hath made some, as some late Fathers write, to put a point at Hodiè, and read it with the clause before, Dico tibi hodie, verily I say to thee to day. But all Greeke Copies point it, as I read it. Yea Beza saith, he found in one, [...], that to day thou shalt be with me. They can not mispoint that. Wee beleeve, Christ descended, the Creed binds us. And why not locally? Christs soule, united to his Godhead, might doe all that, and yet be that day in Paradise. God workes not lazily, like man. Sathan could show Christ all the Kingdomes of the world in the twinckling of an eye. Gods expedition exceeds his. Hee made the world in sixe dayes, could in sixe houres, in one. Say, Christs soule could not expedite so much so soone; Yea say, as Papists say, was as long in Limbo, as his body was in grave; yet might this man be that day with him in Paradise. For Christs soule and body was not the whole Christ. His Godhead was in heaven that day; though with his soule in hell, yet with his Father too. Vbique semper est, Aug. ever e­very where at o [...]e. He might be with him, as God. And so Saint Au­gustine consters it. Epist. 57.

Papists, that hold Purgatorie, are hinted by this hodie, to observe Christs great gratiousnesse, Gods great bountie, that grants votis majora, more than hee is askt. The man but prayes to be remembred, when Christ came into his Kingdome, which some expound to meane the day of Iudgement. How grievous and long paines must hee endure in Purgatorie, till that time? Well, if not in hell, where paines are worse, and thither Robbers goe. Christ in the riches of his grace, pardons all those paines, and promises him Paradise, even that very day. Let us, who hold not Purgatorie, yet note Christs goodnesse too; that (as Saint Ambrose saith) uberior gratia, quàm precatio, Gods grace ex­ceeds mans prayer. He had seene (it is likely) the title over the Crosse, Iesus King of the Iewes. Gods Spirit had reveal'd to him, that his Kingdome was in heaven, into which he should enter after his Resur­rection some short abode first made one earth. He prayes to be remem­bred then. Christ will not suspend him so long, fortie dayes and more. But he shall Hodie, that day, that houre almost, from that place, from that Crosse, passe into Paradise. Salut is compendium, saith Saint Ber­nard, a quicke salvation, a short bridge, the Crosse, to transport him to heaven.

Hee was Raptor in vita, hee is now, Raptor in Cruce, a Robber in his life, now a kinde of Robber at his death, saith Athanasius, Robbers sease on men suddenly, will be served instantly. The Kingdome of hea­ven [Page 133] (saith Christ) suffers violence. He is Raptor Paradisi, seases on his salvation, hath heaven at a snatch. Thats that Fathers conceit. But hee saith that of the Theefe, which belongs rather to Christ. Christ is Raptor latronis, seases on the Theefe. The man is well content to stay Christs leasure. Christ will not let him; but will have him instantly. We say of Saint Paul, Raptus est, he was caught up into Paradise. Heres on is. Christ will not stay him, till hee goe himselfe to it. Yet fortie dayes, and Christs selfe will ascend. Praemissus est, Ambrose, he will send him before him into Paradise.

To conclude; the man was quicke in beleeving; Christ is as quicke in saving. His faith had many lets, his own torture, Christs Ignominie, his fellows upbraiding him, the peoples reproaching him, [one greater than all these, Christs lamentable crie, My God, my God, why hast thou forsa­ken me.] Yet he beleeves on him. Where the Disciples lost their faith, he found his; and by it, it onely Saint Chrysostome saith, sola fide, ob­tained Paradise. Surely by it onely he laid hold on Christ, was Raptor Christi, seased on his Saviour. But that faith had workes, you heard be­fore. Happy man! God makes Supplicij damnationem, Salutis occasionem, saith Saint Ambrose, as we see, God does to many malefactors, the ex­ecution of their bodies, the occasion of the salvation of their soules. The Lord, that made his Disciples, of catchers of Fishes, Fishers of men, and this man here, of a Robber of men, a catcher of Paradise, re­member us all at the day of our departure, say unto me, unto you, to the soule of every repentant sinner, To day thou shalt be with me in Paradise. Cui, &c.

I Have heere often preacht the Funerals of Men; I preach to day the Funerall of God. The Day requires it, dedicate to the remembrance of Christs death. An office worthy an Angel, to preach at Christs Funerall. One did at his Na­tivity; and a quire of heavenly voices sung a solemne antheme at the end of the Sermon. My Text is the Catastrophe, the period of Christs Passion. Two Actes, a Cry with a loud voice, and a giving up the Ghost. The Subject to both, Iesus. Iesus cryes, and dies; thats my Theme. Lord Iesus assist me. Then, is but a note connexive onely, to knit this verse to the precedent; not vaine, but yet not much materiall; I omit it.

Iesus; What Iesus? A question, which to aske I should be idle, if not vrged by the nature of the Acts heere ascribed to him, in seeming unbe­seeming Christ. Damascenus a Greek Father saith, [...], there are many Iesuses. Not Iesus Sirach heere, nor Iesus Iosedecke is meant, but Iesus Christ. To controll Windes and Seas, to raise the dead, dis­possesse [Page 135] devils, forgive sinnes, rise from grave, ascend to heaven; such Acts become this Iesus; God incarnate, Immanuel, the Lord. Death and vociferation doe not; they disparage him. To shreeke for paine, and to dye, beseeme the sonnes of Men. Jesus Gods Sonne, peere to his Father, should doe neither. Say, God may Cry: He cryed, and they would not heare, saith Zachary. God cries in mercy; but Iesus for paine. But dye, God cannot, is [...], immortall. Iesus does, because [...]; the Sonne of God, but yet too the Sonne of Man. More of this in the Actes.

One or two sorts of Heretickes crosse this. Basilides said, twas not Christ, but Simon of Cyren, that suffered in his likenesse. That Christ stood by invisible, and derided the Iewes madnesse. Was not this man (thinke you) rather mad? I should be, to confute him. Then woe were to the world: It is then indeed (as Saint Iohn saith) totus in ma­ligno positus, all in the devils power. If Christ have not suffered, we are not redeemed, and this monster (for so Nicephorus calls him) though he held there were 365. Heavens, yet in all likelihood is he in none of them, but a damned wretch in Hell. Long after him, Mahomet was of this opinion too. Others held, that not Iesus, but God the Father suffered, called thereon Patropassiani; an unlearned heresie, sprung of Scriptures misconstrued; Christs speech especially, I, and my Father are one. And, I am in the Father, and the Father in me. They con­founded the Persons, thought them all one. The heresie more foolish, then malitious. Noëtus first held it; his name presumes Wit; but A­noëtus, a foole in that opinion. Other Scriptures might have taught him, that it was the Sonne that suffered. This very story would. Christ twice upon the Crosse prayes unto his Father. Father, forgive them. And Father, into thy hands, &c. The Father therefore suffered not. Constat de Persona; heare the Act.

Well may we; tis a Cry. A Cry may be inward; David cryed in his heart. Psalme 119. And God askt Moses, Why he cryed, Quid cla­mas? When we read not, he said any thing. But this is a vocall cry; and it is Voce magna, Christ cries with a loud voice.

First for the cry. Saith not the Prophet Esay, he should not Cry? He spake that of Christs comming, not of his suffering. He should come in humility, not with noise and pompe, as Princes doe, with shout of people, and sound of trumpet. At Christs Nativity was Altum silen­tium, No man was aware of it. When the Wise men askt, Where is he, that is borne King of the Iewes? No man could answer them. But the Prophet saith againe, he should be as a Sheepe, dumbe before his Shearer, should not open his mouth. That he spake of his suffering. He did, and truely. Christ was silent in that too. He was hurried to and fro; from the Garden to Annas his house, from thence to Caiphas, from him to Pilate, from thence to Golgotha; up and downe the streets of the City to mount Calvary. His voice was not heard in all these streets; he spake not all the way, save once, to the women that wept for him. And yet he had suffered by that time much iudignity, much extremity; his head wounded with thornes, and his body tortured with scourges, fur­rowed with stripes, David saith. Why then cries he now? Wee shall heare that anon. [Page 136] Saint Matthew rests not here, saith not barely, he cried; addes, with a loud voyce. Christ cries not, as Moses did, grone inwardly; as David did, in his heart. Its but Clamavit here, he cried; but in Saint Marke, Exclamavit, he cried out: Saint Paul calls it [...], a strong crie. David makes it more, Psal. 22. 1. calls it Rugitum, a Roaring, a Lyons crie. It is there meant of Christ, of Christs crie upon the Crosse, his for­mer crie, my God, my God, &c. But why is the crie? And why the voice so loud? Expositors yeeld reasons many, few of waight. Heare but two of the best. One, that Christ was not Merus homo, a meere man, but God to. The other, that he was Verus homo, very man as we are.

For the first; The strength of his crie showed he was more then man. Mens spirits are spent in tormenting diseases, are not able to crie out, can scarse speake to be heard, hardly draw their breath, speake not happly at all. For all the Organs of the speech faile, Et vox faucibus haeret. Christs crie was in ipso mortis articulo, at the very instant of death. This latter crie was. His strength then to crie so, made the Centurion crie, Doubtlesse, this was the Sonne of God. Saint Mathew saith, the Earth­quake, but Saint Marke saith, Christ crie made the Centurion say so. Christ will shew his might above the devills malice; that hee dies, be­cause he will, not forced by Sathan. Not of infirmity, not of necessitie, but as the Prophet saith, Quia voluit, because it pleased him.

Death fled from Christ; he was faine to offer himselfe, put himselfe into deaths hands. When the officers came to take him, were showd him by Iudas; they had no power to touch him. When told, twas he, they sought, they fell before him; told againe, twas he. Twelve le­gions of Angels were ready to have rescued him: he would not: would not plead so much before Pilat, as not guilty. Heere he cries out aloud, to call death, who fled from him, to compell him to come: cals him once, he comes not; cals againe to presse him: Death is deafe, will not heare, though he doe, will not come, at one cry. Christ would have cryed seaven times, rather then not dye. Death is used ever to ride; Sinne is his horse, Apoc. 6. 8. The devill cannot bring him to any man, but on his backe. The sinners selfe lends death a horse; else he could not come to him, Christ being without sinne, death must come a foot to him; will not; but Christ importunes him, by force fetcheth with his cries. When he comes, he smites him, so forced; and in his mood, commits him to the grave, as to a jayle, a strong pri­son, twas a rocke; and covered with a great and waighty stone, and watcht with armed men. Now he hath him, would faine hold him; cannot, but fals into paines, womens paines, [...], Acts 2. 24. can not have ease, till the grave have delivered him. Saint Peters phrase there is remarkeable; the rising of the Corpse of Christ, must be the loosing of the paines of death. Nay, Christ with his cry would catch the devill too, who doubting he was God, began to flye, thought it but lost labour to plot his death. Athanasius saith, Christ cryed, cryed in this manner, to make him thinke him but meere man.

Be this granted one cause of the greatnesse of Christs crie, to show him more than man: yet may this be one too, to show, he was true man; though not meere man, yet man. Torment will force a man to crie, [Page 137] great torment the strongest man, to crie aloud. Man is not Iron or Oake, like Bhemoth in Iob, his bones like brasse. Hercules himselfe will shrinke, will shreeke at paine. The Racke will force false confes­sion of crime, Etiam innocentes cogit mentiri dolor, Sen. Epicurus saith in Tullie, were he put in Phalaris Bull, he would crie, Quàm suave hoc! quam non curo! Vaine man, and too delicate to endure any thing. [...], Naz. he is no man, whom paine will not make crie, tor­menting paine. Such was Christs.

There is a counter-crie among some Christians, verie unchristian, and yet Saint Hilarie a learned and good Bishop hath abetted it, that our Saviours Passion was without paine. He was scourged, woun­ded, peirced with nailes. Hee can not deny that; both Esay saith it, and all the Evangelists. But all this did inferre but Passionis impetum, not Dolorem; all this he suffered, but sine sensu, hee felt no paine. No more than flame, or aire, or water doth, smitten with a weapon. Hee had Corpus doloris, but not Naturam dolendi, a bodie subject to offence, but without any sense of it. Nay (which is very harsh) did not so much as thirst, though he cried Sitio; said onely, he thirsted, to fulfill the Pro­phets saying. Celsus in Origen holds it too; but a heathen Philosopher. Him I heede not. Saint Hilarie I reverence, but I abhorre the rest, as Heretickes, who (as Irenaeus writes) held that Christ suffered but only Putativè, in mens imagination. Then Sinne, Death, and Sathan are yet unvanquisht, and we subject still to hell, if our Saviour suffered but onely Apparenter, but Athanasius bids us beleeve Christs whole Passion, [...], really and verily.

But must Christ crie, for sense of paine? Where shall we seeke for pa­tience, if not in Gods owne Sonne? [An ordinary man will endure much. But a strong spirit, Vre, seca, will not crie out; will crie, Nihil agis dolor. The boyes of Sparta, though whipt almost to death, would not once grone.] Shall we thinke, Christ was weaker than the Martyrs? Many of them have sung in the middes of their tortures. The seven sonnes of Eleazar flea'd alive and fried, the three yong men in the fierie furnace, not any of them used any vociferation. I answer; first, to such as suffer in Gods cause, God gives strength, and approportions it unto their paines, extraordinarie strength to extraordinarie torments. God here suffers his Sonne to feele the full extremitie of the Iewes mercilesse crueltie, without the least support from him, withholds all comfort, all allay of anguish. Secondly, Christ cried not, opened not his mouth for all the tortures of the Iews. Scourged twice by the Iudge in most merci­lesse manner, in hope, that might have moved the people to compassion. Crowned with sharpe thornes, nailed hands and feet unto the Crosse, and hanging on it in extreme paines of bodie halfe a dozen houres; and this in the [...] of his age, when mans strength is greatest, and in a bodie of the choisest constitution, and most sensible of paine. All this he suf­fred Silente patientia, not with patience onely, but in silence too, a double vertue. What one complayning word find you in the storie for all this? But (as the Prophet saith) As a Lambe dumbe before the shearer, so opened he not his mouth.

I will not wrong thee, my sweet Saviour, so, to preferre any Martyrs [Page 138] patience before thine. It was a sharper, a farre sharper paine, then all these tenne times doubled, that made Christ crie, crie out so loud. Mans sinne lay on his soule; and Gods wrath lay on that sinne. Men in a man­ner had now done with him. God takes him in hand, scourges him with his wrath, a rod of Iron. That Iron indeed (as the Psalme saith of Ioseph) entred into his soule; wounded not his head, hands and feet onely, made him crie, in the Prophet, Behold all that passe by, see if any sorrowes were e­ver like to mine; adds, the Lord hath afflicted me; not men, but God; God in his wrath, his fierce wrath. It begunne in the Garden, made him sweat bloud: but was worse upon the Crosse, forced him to crie there, Eli, Eli, lamma sabactani, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Saint Paul calls it a strong crie. There is reason; is not the paine so? Strong cries (for there are two of them) for strong paines. The paines much stronger than the cries. For the crie hath a parallel: David cried so be­fore. But the paines have none. So saith the Prophet, Never any like paines, incomparable, unutterable, unconceiveable.

To end this, Christs crie, S. Paul calls it strong, and the Evangelists call it loud. Iudge you, if it were not. Needs it must be strong, that rent the stones, the rockes, [...]: and needs it must be loud, that raised the dead. The rockes felt the strength of it, and cleft; the dead heard the sound of it, and rose. Yea the earth trembled, and the graves opened at the hearing of it, and it split the veile of the Tem­ple in two parts. The crie shewed Christ a man; for his paines forced it: but it showed him also God, by the working of such won­ders. Magna vox, magna operata est, Origen, a mightie voice, that wrought so mightie things. His voice single, without magna, had wrought great things before, had stil'd the windes, and calm'd the seas, and driven the feends out of the possessed. His submisse voyce had done thus, and many other miracles. That (Magna) put to it, his loud voice, his strong crie should doe these wonders, its no wonder.

One word more is here added, of the Iteration of Christs crie, Hee cried againe. Once hee had cried before, with loud voyce too; the mournfullest crie, that ever came from man, My God, my God, &c. Here he cries againe. The crie, whether a shreeke onely, or a speech too; Saint Matthew saith not; nor will I now examine. I have beene long enough alreadie in this Act.

The second is Christs giving up the Gost, and gave up the Ghost; an Act in phrase, but a passion indeed; for it meanes death, and Mori, is Pati, term'd therefore by Bernard, Passio activa, or Actio passiva. The phrase hath two termes; the one shewes his voluntarie death; the other proves him perfect man. See them first severally, Emisit, non Amisit, saith Saint Ambrose; Christ gave up his Ghost, it was not forc't from him. It is said of every dying man, he gives up the Ghost, but [...]. Mens soules are taken from them, they doe not give them up, Sponte, saith one Father; Sola charitate, not necessitate, saith an other, of love, not of constraint. Indeed Pilat condemned him, and the Iewes cried, away with him, and the souldiers crucified him. These did but whatso­ever himselfe had preordained. Saint Peter charged the Iewes, that they had killed him, and Saint Steven called them Murtherers. They were [Page 139] executive. The malice of man acts, what the grace of God decrees. It was Gods will, Christ should die, Christs owne will. When, and how, his decree too. The Acts realitie his, but the malignitie theirs. They were authors Sceleris, but he was Operis. Mortuus est, quia voluit, hee died because he would. Quid fecit Iudas, nisi peccatum, Aug. Ser. de ver­bo Domini. 63. ante med. No man did Tollere, but himselfe did Depone [...], Christs selfe saith; none took his life from him, he laid it down himselfe. It is said, Pilat delivered him, and Iudas is called Traditor, his deli­verer too; and so he was in the worse sense, Traditor, a Traitour. But in better acception, both God the Father Tradidit, delivered his Sonne, Rom. 8. 32. and God the Sonne, Tradidit, delivered himselfe, Gal. 2. 20. This his free will to die, see by his haste to die. Iudas longed to betray him; yet he hastened him, Quod facis, fac citò, bad him, doe it quichly: cried on the Crosse, I thirst; but to die more than to drinke. For the vinegar was, not to quench thirst, but to speed death, to die [...], Theophyl. He therefore tooke our nature, that he might die: and how am I pained (saith he) till it be done? Luke 12. 50. [The Greeke word heere is pregnant, affords another note of the soules bondage in our bodies; death does Dimittere, dismisse, release the Soule. I passe by it]

What gave Christ up? the Ghost, i. the Spirit, the Soule. Christ to have a Soule, some have doubted, flat denied. Corpus aptasti, thou hast given me a Body, Saint Paul saith of Christ out of the Psalmes, Psa. 40. 7. That place hath other meaning, and it is so but in the Septua­gints, not in the Hebrew Text. But the (Word Saint Iohn saith) was made Flesh. Lucian stumbled at this; but needed not. By Flesh, to meane mans entire person, is usuall in Scripture. Verbum Caro factum est, i. e. Verbum homo factum est, the Word was made flesh, i. e. man, saith Saint Augustine; not body onely, but Soule too. He tooke (saith Damas [...]en) [...]; that Flesh had a soule in it, Totus homo in Christo, the whole manhood was assumd (saith Saint Augustine) to the God­head, not one part onely. Omnia hominis, hee tooke all that man hath, saving sinne. Saint Cyrill saith so too, Nostra omnia. For would hee be made man, and take but body onely? Thats but the moitie of a man. The Athanasian Creed saith, He was perfect man. Yea and would he take the baser halfe too.

Yet have some brainsicke heads held this leude heresie. Eunomius did, and his followers. They thought Christ needed not an humane spirit; because he was a Spirit as hee was God. For God is a Spirit, Christs owne saying. Nay some more leud, granted him a soule, but a Beasts soule, void of reason; Apollinaris did. A dangerous heresie, Christ to have no soule, and of desperate consequent. For how are our soules saved, if Christ had none? Christ hath then saved but the one halfe of us, and that the worser halfe, but the brute flesh. Melius n [...] ­strum, Saint Augustines terme, our better halfe is unredeemed. For [...], what Christ assumd not, hee redeemd not, saith Nazianzen. S. Ambrose saies as much, Si aliquid ei defuit▪ non t [...]tum re­demit, If he wanted a part of man, then he saved not the whole man. Then will this follow, this grosse absurdity, that one and the same [Page 140] man shall be both saved and damned. After the Resurrection my bo­dy shall be in joyes, my soule in torments. Yea more absurd yet, the body, that hath neither [...], as Saint Paul speakes, neither breath, nor motion, life, nor sense, without, the Soule, nay no sub­sistence without it, yet shall be in heaven in Ioy, whereof it is not ca­pable without the Soule. Then let every man at the houre of death commend his soule to sathan, not to God. For what Christ saves not, God receives not. Then may sathan say at the day of Iudgement as the King of Sodom said to Abraham, so he to Christ, Da mihi Animas, give me the Soules. And David belike meant so, Psalme 65. 2. Vnto thee, i. e. unto God, shall all flesh come, i. all bodies, all Spirits to the devill. Yea and then poore Saint Steven was grossely mistaken, to cry, Lord Iesus, receive my Spirit.

But to Christs Soule Gods word beares witnesse more then once, Christs selfe does both to day on the Crosse, Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit, and yesternight in the garden, My Soule (saith he) is heavy to the death. Dares Apollinaris say, Christ dallies with his Father, deludes God, commends a thing to him, which hee had not? Though he was no spirit, as he told his Disciples, yet he had a spirit, an humane soule. In which he groneth for Lazarus death, was troubled in it for Iudas trechery, sighed in it deepely, for the Phari­sees infidelity, and rejoyced in it at the returne of his disciples, and it is the Ghost, which he gives up in my Text.

Now take both termes together, He gave up the Ghost, i. he dyed. The act now is turned passion. Theres cause, we all turnd Passion too. Wonder we all at least. Saint Chrysostom noted five wonders in Christs death, [...]. Three I have noted heere sometime; One, that he would die for his enemies, Rom. 5, 10. Who will for his friend? an other, that he should, [...], without sinne; Mors peccati stipen­dium, death is the meed of sinne; a third, that he could, being the Sonne of God. A thing unheard, absurd to naturall reason, seeming impossible. That the everlasting God should dye, like man; that the Lord of life should suffer death; that he, that gives (as you heard the Apostle say) both [...] life and breath to others, should lose them both himselfe; that the antient of daies, so Daniel cals God, and he whose yeares (David saith) cannot faile, should give up the Ghost.

Is death a Passion, and dies God? [...], the Greeke Fathers say, the Godhead cannot suffer. A truth which some opposing (the Theopaschita did) were censured for heretickes. It is true, the Godhead cannot; but God can. My Text saith, Iesus dyed; but his deity dyed not. He was Mista persona, Immanuel, God and Man. His Manhood dyed in him, his Godhead lived. Iesus heere though God, dyed. Thats not impossible, nor absurd: unheard indeed. Never dyed God before. For never was God Man before. This once onely he was, and that onely for us. Messiah shall be slaine, & non sibi, saith Daniel, not for himselfe. For us men, and for our Salvation, saith the Creed at the Communion. Borne in a stable, cradled in a cratch, revild, bound, scor­ned, scourged, crowned with thornes, naild to a Crosse betweene two theeves. All this sufficed him not to suffer; wrestled too with Gods [Page 141] wrath, so fierce, as forc't him to sweate blood, so much as trickled to the ground, forced him yet further in sense of paines, unsufferable paines, to Cry, and Die. Iesus, the worlds Creator, mans redeemer, almighty God, to cry and dye. This ends Christs Passion, and beginnes mine, and therefore bids me end. Better end, then not endure; and yet wor­thy to end, not Text, but Life, if I endure.

Heare Oh Heaven, hearken Oh Earth. I need not call to them; they both heard, and did their duty. The Heavens grieved, the Earth groned, both put on [...], saith a Greeke Father, darkenesse, as blacke robes, to be mourners at Christs death. The Sun a shamed to see his Maker suffer, hid his face, was eclipsed unnaturally, miraculously: that a great Astronomer cryed at the sight of it, Either the God of na­ture suffers violence, or the world will end instantly. And the darkenesse such, that the starres were seene at noone. And the Earthquake so great, that Saint Augustine writes, sundry Cities were overthrowne by it. The rockes rent at Christs cry, and the graves opened, and the dead corpses arose, to make roome for his body. Every grave strove to be graced by his buriall. And have we hearts of Adamant, eies of Oake, that have not a teare, not a sigh at Christs death? Had these senselesse Creatures compassion of his paines, we men not mooved at them? Solus homo non compatitur, pro quo solo Deus patitur? You my Christian Brethren, not weepe for him, who bled for you. I, more stony then you, preach and presse his paines, and feele no Passion? I rehearse, you here Christs lamentable end, for your sinnes, and mine, in your stead, and mine, and shrinke not at his shreekes, endure his death without least signe of sorrow? Christ Cry and Dye, and our bowels not earne at it? Oh let us then sympathize with our Savi­our, send forth strong cryes, if not for his bitter death and passion, yet at least for our sinnes which were the cause of it, and let us not onely bewaile but crucifie those sinnes which Crucified our Saviour, that so when we cry unto God in the needfull time of trouble, he may heare, and have mercy, and in the end of our dayes when wee give up the Ghost, and with our blessed Saviour commend our spirits into Gods hands; they may be received into everlasting happines. Which the Lord of his infinite mercy grant even for the merits of his deare Son Jesus Christ. To whom, &c.

IT is Christs crie upon the Crosse, at his giving up the Ghost. After consummatum est, having finisht all things, that concerned us, his last care now is of himselfe. Not of his Godhead; that needed not. No nor of his manhood neither, the one halfe of it: his corpse he leaves to Pi­late; is here solicitous onely of his soule. As one, that hath some precious Iewell, being to take a farre journey finds out some trustie friend to leave it with: so doth Christ here. His Iewell is his soule; 1 his journey is his Death; his friend is his Father; hee commits it unto 2 him. Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit. Of the words in order, 3 as they lie. 4

Father? Who is that? Christ (Saint Paul saith) had no father, calls him [...], i. Fatherlesse. That the People, that the Pharisees, that 1 the Evangelist himselfe, yea that an Angell too call him the Soone of David: thats a Father a farre off. David was dead more than a thou­sand yeares, ere Christ was borne. A mother hee had; but her a Vir­gin: Father he had none. Call'd indeed Iosephs sonne; but that [...] Saint Lukes terme, onely thought so, but was not. Iosph reputed his Father but was not. Twas a verie idle Argument, which Iustin Martyr saith, the Gentiles used, to prove, he had a Father, because [Page 143] hee is called [...], the sonne of man masculine. This hath beene a stumbling blocke to many in times past, but is none now. Tis so open to every eye, that no foote can trippe at it. Christ though, as man, fath [...]rlesse, hath a Father yet, as God: and he tis he meanes here.

God is Christs Father; a point needs not proofe. All Christians ac­knowledge it. Though Iulian made jest at it, would sweare in scorne of him, [...], by that sonne, that was of the Father, because Paul calls him too [...], motherlesse, as God. Yea though Caiphas cald it blasphemie, rent his cloathes at his acknowledgement, that hee was Gods Sonne; and to any, that confessed it, it was excommunica­tion. Yea the blacke blasphemous mouthes of Manes and Marcion blusht not to call him (as Saint Austin writes) the devills sonne: yet now that Christ hath beene preached of to all Nations, and is beleeved on in the world; tis become a Creed Article. Every man, every child calls Christ Gods onely Sonne. Christ is Gods Sonne. The Father avoucheth it at his Baptisme; This is my beloved Sonne. The Sonne con­fesseth it here, and else where often. Iohn Baptist proclaimeth it. The Centurion cried it at the Crosse. The Psalmist, the Prophets, the A­postles doe all witnesse it: yea the devills themselves doe acknowledge it. Quid nobis, & tibi? What have we to doe with thee, Iesus thou Sonne of God.?

This point then (as Saint Paul speakes [...], a thing confest, out of both deniall and doubt too, God to be Christs Father; no more of Quòd sit, that he is: a word of Quî sit, how he is. For of that hath beene some controversie, not onely by old Heretickes, but even of later times. I meane not of the manner of his generation: thats (as Saint Basil saith) [...], theres no asking, how that was; Sine sacrilegio, saith Saint Ambrose, [...], saith Athanasius. The man were mad, and the question impious. Who shall declare his generation? But I mean in what acception, in what sense Christ is Gods Son; a Christian should know that. There are sundry sorts of sonnes, not among men onely, but of Gods Sonnes too. All creatures are his sonnes in some acception. In what is Christ? Arius granted him to be his Sonne; but by crea­tion: and all his followers granted him Gods Sonne, but by Adoption. But Hilarie disputeth it against the Heretickes; and proveth Christ Gods Sonne; Origine, non Adoptione; Nativitate, non Creatione; not created, but begotten, not adopted, but his Sonne, borne.

For the former; Arius stumbling at the Greeke Text, Prov. 8. 22. [...], the Lord created me; on that corrupt Translation groun­ded his heresie, that Christ was a creature. But the Hebrew is not so: and though it were; yet the Fathers doe avoid that absurditie many wayes. I cannot stand to cite them. And had he lookt a little lower, verse 25. he might have found there, Before the hills, was I brought forth. David is more expresse; Thou art my Sonne; this day have I begotten thee. Christ was Gods Son, saith Arius, but [...], not [...], not borne so, but made so. But we learne by the Evangelist, that all things that were made, were made by Christ. Who then made him? He can not say his Fa­ther: for then Christ made not all. But Saint Iohn doubles it, that [Page 144] without him was made nothing, that was made; and I hope hee will not say, hee made himselfe. And therefore Peter Lombard determines a­gainst Arius, that Christ was Gods Sonne, not Factura, but Natura, not by being made, but by being borne. Yea many ages before him, the Nicen Creed had said the same, Begotten not made. Hee was made the sonne of man, but he was borne the Sonne of God.

For the other; Christ (saith Saint Hilarie) is the Sonne of God, Ve­ritate, non nuncupatione, not in title but in truth. Had God but onely adopted Christ his Sonne: then were he onely Titular, not [...]; and the Relation were but an Appellation. But both the Centurion at the Crosse, and the people in the Shippe, Mat. 14. 33. say of our Savi­our, that he was [...], truely the Sonne of God. Not [...] but [...] Saint Cyrils termes; not [...], but [...], saith Athanasius, not adopted by grace like us, but by generation.

Now to apply this Title to the Act. The Act is Christs committing of his humane spirit to the trust of a depositarie, who should safely keepe it, and truely redeliver it. Who fitter for that office, than his Fa­ther? Whom shall I rather trust with any thing of price, then my natu­rall parent? Will you say, my brother, my neighbour, or my friend? The Prophet biddes trust them not. Every brother will supplant, and every friend will deale deceitfully. The daughter will robbe the father; Ra­chel did, stole his gods. The son, the mother; Micha did, stole her silver. The wife will beguile the husband; Rebecca did. Laban cozend Iacob; and Iacob made a younger brother of Esau. But when hath ever parent cheated the child? The whole booke of Scriptures afford not one ex­ample. God hath put in parents the Image of God: Father and Mother are as gods unto their children; carefull of them, faithfull to them. It is (saith Paul) impossible that God should lie. Not impossible, but improbable a Father should deceive his son. Were a soule commendable to mans cu­stodie, that hee could keepe it: I would not doubt my parents fidelitie. The dearest thing wee have next to the soule, is life. What sonne will not trust his life unto his father? What sire hath ever betraied his sonne? betraied to death? What fitter then; what kinder compellation, than Christ, to whom hee would commend his soule, to call him Father? Into his hands hee commends it; the next thing in my text, In manus tuas.

Mans soule hath many suiters, who faine would have it in their hands: 2 God craves it, cries Da mihi, My sonne give mee thy heart. But the world, and the flesh, and the devill crave it too. All these have their hands; Sathan especially. God committed Iob to them, permitted ra­ther, Ecce in manu tua, both body and goods. His fingers itcht for his soule also, It God excepted, Serva animam, would not give him that. God would not, but man will; many a leud man, even conceptis verbis, wickedly in his life, desperately at his death, gives his soule unto the devill. The witch doth, and the Conjurer. To the world, or to the flesh most men doe in their life. For where wee love, there we lay our soules. The soule is ubi amat, more than ubi animat, where it loves, not where it lives. They two expectorate the sensuall man. Hee can not keepe his heart at home, for them. How canst thou say, saith Delilah to [Page 145] Sampson, thou lovest me, when thy heart is not with me? saith Solomon, the Harlot hunts Pretiosam Animam, a mans precious Soule? Shee needes not: the soule of the wanton will hunt her. Paul saith but, that the Lecher is one body with the Harlot. He might have said they are one spirit, Not as God saith of the marryed, that two shall be one Flesh; but they two shall be one soule.

Wine is as strong a witch as Women; strong drinke as bad a char­mer of the soule, as Harlots. A man seekes it, tarries by it, Solomons termes, Prov. 23. 30. seekes it earely, rises betimes to it, tarries till night at it, Esaies termes, 5. 11. rests not so; but cries Cras sicut Hodie, Esay 56. To morrow shall be as to day, nay multo amplius, worse, much worse then to day: uses meates to stirre up thirst. Doth not this man commit his soule unto this Saint?

Mammon is an other, to whom too many men commend their Soules. David doubted the danger of it in the Psalmes. If Riches en­crease, saith he, set not your hearts on them. Whats that, but commend not your soules to them. He did it in the Gospell, that said, Soule, thou hast much goods.

Trust not thy soule to these, not in thy life; Dying much lesse. Tis a Depositum then, a thing committed of trust for a time, to be received againe. But these Depositarii, the world, the flesh, and sathan, are bad keepers of soules. What is trusted to them, is lost, especially to sa­than, desperately lost. As the Foxe said to the Lion in the Fable, Nullaretrorsum, theres the Print of many soules going towards hell, of none returning. Sathan pictured with clawes, not hands: they claspe fast, what is put in them. What is trusted to him, never returnes. His hand is a right Mortmain, a dead hand: what it hath once hold of, is unrecoverable. Thy soule trusted to him, never redemande; it boots not. Nay though thou wouldst Redeeme it, thou canst not. Christ saith, theres no [...], no ransome for a soule. None that man can give; Christ can; his Blood. It was Anima pretiosa, So­lomons terme, a precious soule. But so is Christs blood, Sanguis pre­tiosus, Saint Peters terme, pretious blood too; more precious then thy soule: that will indeed ransome it. But doe not trust to that. Put not thy soule in sathans hands, in hope to have it home againe by Christ. Maledictus (saith Saint Augustine) qui peccat in spe. Christ would not tempt God so, would not cast himselfe downe headlong from the pinnacle, upon presumption that Gods Angels should pre­serve him. Christ heere showes Christians into whose hands soules may be, must be trusted, in manus tuas, into Gods hands.

But saith not the Apostle, tis a fearefull thing to fall into Gods hands? David tried it, would rather fall into Gods hands, then Mans▪ tryed it, but found no ease in it; ease in comparison, but smart enough. But this was Gods hand in his Anger? tis heavy so. Gods hand meanes not the same alwaies in Scripture. There is Manus Creans, his Creating hand; Thy hands have made me, saith David, and fashioned me. There is Manus Perdens, the Destroying hand: David notes it too, and di­verse moe, needlesse to cite. And there is Manus▪ Servans, a Sa [...]ing hand, often in Scripture. Such are these heere, preserving hands, re­serving [Page 146] hands; preserving the soule commended to them from all hurt, and reserving it to be safely rendred to the owner. Commit thy soule to them; tis sure in their keeping. A keeper must have strength and trust: God hath both, is both powerfull and faithfull, [...], God is able, saith our Saviour: [...], God is faithfull, saith the Apostle. Tis Saint Peters argument to this very purpose; he bids [...], commend our Soules to God, as to a faithfull Creatour. And tis Davids rea­son too, in the 31, Psal. He commends his spirit into the hands of God; because he is [...], i. the God of truth.

To end this; Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit. Into God the Fathers hands? Why then doth Saint Steven commend his into Christs? Lord Iesus, saith the Martyr, receive my Spirit. Prayer is Gods right, Gods onely. Gods onely; but not the Fathers onely. Christ, and the Holy Ghost doe claime it also: for they are God too. Prayer is made mostly to God in generall: the Persons being three, it is meant to all at once. But the Christian hath his liberty, to pray to one apart, to any one of them alone. It is no wrong unto the rest. For all three are so one, that when one is honoured, they are glorified All. Thou speakest to one apart; but thou honorest All together. The Father is in the Sonne, the Sonne in him, the Spirit in both, both in the Spirit. What is done to one, is done to all.

Men on their death-beds dispose of all things, give what they have unto their Legataries, their blessings to their Children, their bodies to the earth, from whence they were, and their Soules to God, that gave them. So doth Christ heere; his [...], a kind of Will. State he had none to bestow on his Disciples. His Purse and Girdle, which are first in mens inventaries, Iudas had kept that. We read hee restored the thirty peices to the Priests: but Christs bagge wee read not, where he bestowed that. It is likely, that little, or nothing was left in it, that he made such haste to hang himselfe. Had there beene never so much, neither durst he looke Christ in the face, whom he had betrayed: and had he brought it him; yet Christ must have said, as he did in an other case, Non est meum dare, it was not his to give, it was forfeit to Caesar. So was his body at Pilates pleasure too. His cloathes, the Officers fees; he could not give them neither. But as Peter said to the Creeple, such as he had he gave. He died not altogether i [...]testate; he made a paroll will, a lovely Legacy to all his Followers. Peace I leave with you, my Peace I give unto you. Nazianzen, so termes it, Orat. de pace, pag. 223. [...]. His Mother hee commits unto Iohns charge, spreads his hands on the Crosse, to blesse all Believers, and commends heere his Soule into the hands of his Father.

He yeilds it not, as we doe, not to have againe till the Resurrection, till the Heavens be no more: but he resignes it, to resume it: or leaves it rather for a little time, to receive againe after a few houres; tis no resignation. Christ saith, Iohn 10. He doth Ponere, lay it downe, that he may Sumere, take it up againe. The terme in the Psalme, whence this Text is taken, the Rabbins say, signifies [...], resting and reposing. Christ heere, and all Christians, every righteous man laies [Page 147] up his Soule with God, resteth and reposeth it in his holy hands; Christ but for a day or two; we till the day of Iudgement. Our soules and bodies death sunders them but for a season; they shall one day mee [...]e againe. We renounce neither, to forsake them finally: We but com­mit them, to be kept for us; not the Soule onely, but the body too. In our Buriall of the dead, we say, We commit the body to the ground. There we declare the meaning of this terme, to be but a reposing of the body for a time. For we professe, we doe it in sure and certaine hope of a Re­surrection. Tis so too with the Soule; we commit it unto God, in sure and certaine hope, not of a Resurrection, for thats onely of the Flesh, but of a Restitution. We put it in the hands of a faithfull Creator, who will deliver it.

This precious priviledge have Christians above Heathens, an assu­rance of a second life. Neither perisheth the body, neither vanisheth the soule, as heathens thought, called therefore by the Apostle, Men without hope. Our soules and bodies both are but Deposita; commit­ted of trust, the one to God, the other to the grave. We expect them both againe. God will, and the grave must restore the Depositum. Tertullian cals the grave but Sequestratorium, de resur. cap. 52. a Seque­strator: It must yeild account of what it received. Paul saith; tis [...], incredible to the Gentiles; but we believe the Scriptures. The Sea shall yeild the dead in it, Revel. 20. The earth the dead in it Esay 26. Mors & Infernus, death and the grave the dead in them: thats for the Corpse. And for the Spirit; Ego introducam, I (saith the Lord) will put it in the body: God will render it. Death is but [...], not [...], no Con­sumption, but a Dissolution; I desire (saith Paul) to be dissolved. Man compound of two natures. Soule and Body by death is but dissolved, taken asunder onely: neither ceaseth to exist; both have still their be­ing: the Soule a happy one; to be dissolv'd, saith Paul, and to be with Christ. Nunc▪ dimittis, saith old Simeon, God doth [...], it is not [...], the Soule is loosed, tis not lost. The vulgar Latine Translati­on is not good, that termes the grave, Domum aeternitatis, the bodies everlasting home: as if the Soule were divorc't from it for ever. The last English is discreeter, calles it our long home, not our everlasting. Death is but Carnis Occasus, saith Saint Augustine; It but sets, like the Sunne, it shall rise againe. The places of Buriall Grecians called Coemeteria, i. but Dormitoria, our bodies bed-chambers, the dead are but a sleepe; they they shall one day awake againe. Death is Domus Seculi, the Preachers terme; tis Somnus Seculi, the Prophets terme. But Seculum signifies not alwaies eternity, but a set time. Twas no eternall home, and tis no perpetuall sleepe. God at the time deter­mined shall returne to every body the owne Soule. Then it shall a­wake: and our Soules are commended to his hands, but till that time.

Shall I hence draw uses to curbe the sinner, or to comfort the de­jected, because the spirit dies not; but if a godly mans, it goes to God; if a wicked mans, to Sathan; the one to heaven to joyes, the other to hell to torments? I may not without too far straying from my Text. Yet have some Christians beene so impious, as to say, mans soule is mor­tall. [Page 148] Say I, some Christians; yea some Popes; if stories be true: Paul the third did. Heathens to their shame have held the contrarie. Socra­tes, that said, hee knew nothing, save that he knew nothing onely, yet saith in Plato, he knew this that the soule is immortall, in Axiocho. Christs terme here, and all Christians (for tis fit, wee learne to speake of him) is [...], he commends his soule to God, not [...], he casts it not away. He commits it to his trust, doth not surrender it, give it over ut­terly. That the spirit is quite extinct by death, shall I say, tis Heathe­nish? tis worse. Heathens themselves hold, many of them, Superesse post mortem animas, (saith Lactantius, that mens soules cease not to exist even after death.

But why is this crie? Why should Christ thus commend his spirit to God? Or how is it a Depositum, a thing committed to an others trust, which the owner of it still retaines in his owne keeping? Though Christ here die; yet the soule is still with Christ. The personall union of God and man in Christ, his death dissolv'd it not. God had conjoyn'd the manhood with the Deitie. Quae Deus junxit, homo ne separet; what God knits, man cannot loose. The Iewes might kill Christ, but they could not sever them. In Christs Humanitie, there was indeed a loose: body and soule were sundred; that was all; the Iewes could goe no fur­ther. Sathans selfe could not. Christ was whole still. Somewhat par­ted in the person; but nought departed from the person. Though soule were severed from the body; yet both remain'd fast to the Deitie. The Godhead was both with the Spirit in Paradise, and with the corpse in the Sepulcher at once. The knot of the words Incarnation is undis­soluble; farre above▪ the Gordian knot; not to be loosed by Art, not by Alexanders sword.

If then Christs Spirit, even when he was dead, abode still fast united to the Godhead: what meanes he to commend it to his Father? I wish some better speaker to expresse this mysterie: my tongue and wit are both to weake for it. Shall I say, he did it to teach us? thats one answer. Omnis Christi Actio, nostra Instructio, to teach us at our deaths to commend our Spirits to God. But this answers not the question, how he could com­mend, that he stil retain'd? He commended his soule, as he was man; but he retained it still as he was God. He retained it not as he was man: for the manhood was dissolv'd; the bodie instantly gave up the Ghost. The Manhood being now not to hold it any longer, commends it to the Godhead. But why then unto the Father? That I desire to learne, ra­ther than teach. What I gesse, you shall heare afterward.

Christ to have a spirit, some have doubted, have denied it. Iohn saith but, Verbum caro factum est, the Word was made flesh. Lucian stum­bled at this place, but needed not. By Flesh, to meane mans intire per­son, is usuall in Scripture. Verbum caro factum est, that is, Verbū homo fa­ctum est; the Word was made flesh, that is, man, saith Saint Austin; not body onely, but soule too. He tooke saith Damascen, [...], but [...]: Totus homo in Christo, the whole manhood was assum'd (saith he) to the Divinitie, not one part onely. Omnia hominis, nostra omnium; Cyril. lib. Thesauri 10. cap. 7. in med. Si aliquid ei defuit, non totum redemit. Ambr. Epi. 20. Christ tooke all, that man hath, saving sinne. Would [Page 149] he be made man, and take but body onely? Thats but the moitie of a man. The Athanasian Creed, saith, Hee was perfect man. Yea, and would he take the baser halfe too, and leave the better? Yet have some brain-sicke heads held this leud heresie, Eunomius did. They thought Christ needed not an humane spirit, because he was a spirit, as he was God. For God is a Spirit, Christs owne saying. Nay some more leud granted him a soule, but a beasts soule, void of Reason. Apollinaris did.

A dangerous heresie. Christ to have no soule, and of desperate con­sequent. For how are our soules saved, if Christ had none. Christ hath then sav'd but the one halfe of us, and that the viler halfe; the brute flesh. Melius nostrum, Saint Austins terme▪ our better halfe is un­redeemed. For [...]▪ what Christ assum'd not, hee re­deem'd not, saith Nazianzen, and Damascen. lib. 3. cap. 6. Then will this follow, this grosse absurditie, one and the same man shall be both sav'd and damn'd. After the Resurrection, my body in heaven shall be in joyes, and my soule in hell in torments. Yea more absurd yet, the body that hath neither [...] as Paul speakes, neither breath, nor mo­tion, life, nor sense, without the soule; nay no subsistence without it, yet shall be there in joy, whereof it is not capable without the soule. Then let every man at the houre of death, commend his soule to Sathan, not to God. For what Christ saves not, God receives not. Then may Sathan say indeed at the day of judgement, as the King of Sodom said to Abraham, so hee to Christ, Da mihi animas, give me the soules. Hee may say to God in Davids phrase; Vnto thee shall all flesh come; but all spirits come to me.

But to Christs soule Gods word beares witnesse more than once; Christs selfe doth. He commends his Spirit, and in his Agonie; My soule (saith hee) is heavie to the death; and as he told Nicodemus, hee spake what he knew: so both here, and in his agony, hee knew what hee spake. Nor was hee idle, to dally with his Father, to delude God, to commit into his hands a thing, which he had not. Though he was no spirit, as he told his Disciples; yet he had a spirit, an humane soule. In which he groned for Lazarus death; was troubled in it for Iudas treacherie; sighed in it deepely for the Pharisees infidelitie; re­joyced in it, at the returne of his Disciples: and it is the Ghost, which he gave up at his departure.

Saint Austin in one place expounds this spirit of Christs to be his Divinitie. Vnsound Divinitie, and some bastard booke father'd on that Father. But (the best is) the same Author within a few lines following, saith the quite contrarie; that it is his humane soule. Tis fit, he say it. For that first Assertion was flat Arianisme: and is so censured else­where by Austins selfe, by true Austin. Surely the Deitie can be no Depositum. Christ would not commend it to any trust. The Godhead needs no custodie, it keepes it selfe. No nor needs Christ neither to commend his humane spirit to God, to God the Father. Christs selfe being God too, could keepe his soule himselfe. But as the voyce in the twelfth of Saint Iohns Gospell, Christ saith it was not for him, but for the people: so it is here. He would have the people see, how hee ho­noured [Page 150] his Father. And that is mine answer which I respited even now. A soule commended to God at the Sonnes hands, or to the Fathers, is all one. Steven said, Lord Iesus receive my soule. All the Persons in the Trinitie are Peeres in all things touching man; in creating us, in preser­ving us, in keeping the soules of the living, or the dead, in all Opera ad extra, in all things of the creature. To us it is indifferent to commend our spirits to any of the three. But the case here being Christs, it beseemes the Sonne to honour his Father. What if I should adde, that the Father is Christs God; and therefore fit, he commend his Spirit to him? Saint Paul warrants me, Ephe. 1. 17. Hee calls him the God of our Lord Iesus Christ. And Christs selfe warrants him, My God, my God, why h [...]st thou forsaken me? He commends his Spirit into his Fathers hands; for he is his God; his God, as he is man. As God is Christs Father, as he is the Sonne of God: so he is his God, as he is the sonne of man. And tis the manhood, in which Christ cries here, Father into thy hands. Hee calls him Father, as he is God; but commends his Spirit to him, as hee is man. To conclude, Christ is Gods, saith Saint Paul, and his Father is his head: it beseemed him, it behoved him to commend his soule into his hands. Vnto this our gratious Saviour, both God and Man, and to his Father, and the holy Spirit, be, &c.

THe Argument of my Text, is Christs Humilia­tion, his selfe-humiliation; for who could hum­ble God? Humiliavit Seipsum. Expressed by his submission, He became obedient. Not Active obedience, though he yeelded to that too; but his Passive is meant heere. In a double endu­rance, both of extremity, to the death; and of indignity, to the Crosse. He humbled himselfe, and became obedient unto the death, &c. To speake of every word apart, will aske more time, then fits a Sermon. Take the three first, if you please, together; He Humbled himselfe; a Subject, Act, and Object. If you aske, Quis Quem, who humbled, and Whom: looke at the last words of the fifth verse, tis Christ Iesus. Not God the Father; some heretickes held that; the Patri-passians. Not God the Holy Ghost; but the Sonne, the second Person. Why He rather then They, is a question for the Schooles, rather then the Pulpit. I say, tis Christ Ie­sus: He on this day dyed on the Crosse. He is both Agent and Pati­ent in this Act. He humbled himselfe.

Men humble others; loade them, till they fall; and being downe, plough on their backes. Tis honour to the poore, to sit on the foote­stoole of the Rich. On it? nay under it, Iam. 2. 3. Nay theres a Man [Page 152] somewhere, that make some men his footstoole. Some men? Yea Princes, even [...], Princes of men. Kings to kisse his feet, thats little. But his foote must sit on the Emperours necke; Conculcabo Leo­nem & Draconem, this loftie Leviathan, King over all the children of pride, tread on Emperours, humble Caesars selfe. All mightie men thus humble others; Christ the Almightie God humbles himselfe.

And for the Agent in this Act; as Christ humbled not others; so did not others him; but he himselfe. To the former point I used no proofe: It needed none; this doth. Saint Paul saith else where, [...], I lie not. Can he here? Surely, it seemes, some others humbled Christ, seemes by the Gospell; that his humiliation was not of his owne accord, but forc't. Against our Apostle are all the Evangelists, foure against one. They all afford us instances. Herod is one; he humbled him, made him flie into Egypt. Thats none. Christ was then but in Cradell; twas not his flight, but his Parents. Or be that one: Who else? An other He­rod humbled him, mockt him cloth'd; him in white. The high Priests bound him; their Officers smote him, blindfolded him, spat in his face. Pilat arraign'd him, scourged him, crowned him with thornes, clad him in purple, nail'd him to the Crosse. The people wag'd their heads at him, and mocked him. Tetrarke and President; Scribes, Priests, and Elders; Sergeants, Souldiers and People, all holpe to humble him. And saith the Apostle here, Hee humbled himselfe? Saint Paul may yet say, [...]; he lies not for all this. All these did all these things, but as Christs instruments. All Agents in this Act of Christs humiliation; but Agents adjuvant, subalternall all. Christs selfe the maine and prime; all their activitie from and under him. Christs answer to Pilat will serve to all; that he had no power, but what was given him, given him from above. From above, not in secular sense, from Rome, from Caesar; but in Theologicall, [...], from heaven, from God. And if from God; then from Christs selfe: for Christ was God. And if God; then must it follow, Man could not humble him: it must be selfe-humiliation. Be humbled for man God might; but by man he could not. The Kingdome of heaven might suffer violence: Christ said it did. But the King of hea­ven can not. I say, Christ the Sonne of God, can not be humbled by the sonnes of men. Pilat and Herod, Gentiles and Iewes conspir'd (S. Luke saith) against Christ: but to doe what? That onely which Gods hand and Counsell had determined. Twas Gods [...], Act. 4. 28. Christs owne Decree, that Christ should suffer, what he did. I say, Christs whole hu­miliation was his owne preordination.

Though Christ himself, for to be humbled, assum'd our nature, for that end: yet was he God still. His Godhead freed his Humanitie from force. Whatsoever he suffered, was voluntarie all. Tis said expresly of his death, Mortuus est, quia voluit, He died because he would. Tis so of all his sufferings; All his humiliations were Quia voluit, because he would. The Officers; that came with Iudas, to take him, fell they not before him? they were many, and well weaponed: yet had they not the power so much, as to touch him; till he cried, [...], Let them alone, Luk 23. 51. He was faine to put himselfe into their hands. Had not he beene pleased to humble himselfe, whole Legions of Angells, many Legions were ready at his call, to rescue him.

But read wee not in Scripture, and that from Christs owne mouth, An non oportuit, ought not Christ to suffer? Ought, argues a necessitie. It doth; but not Coactionis, a necessitie of force. Prophecies had fore­told all his Humiliations: they must be fulfilled; and Gods eternall Counsell had decreed them: neither must that faile, But both the Prophet hath Quia voluit, Esay 53. 7. And in that Counsell, would and should are one. For the three Persons are peeres in Power; one could not force an other: both in Power and Will; Vnum sunt, saith Saint Iohn, all three are one. The sacred Trinitie graciously agreed, to hum­ble God, so to save man. The Sonne offered himselfe voluntarily, Ecce me, mitte me. His humiliation was Necessaria but yet Voluntaria, saith Saint Ambrose. Sponte, saith Origen, of his owne accord, not of con­straint. Christ presented himselfe an Offring to his Father: but it was a Free-will Offering. And Saint Ambrose observes the Evangelists phrase, Ioh. 19. 30. Tradidit spiritum, he gave up the Ghost. Yea Christ himselfe saith plainely, Nemo tollit eam, sed ego pono eam, Ioh. 10. 18. No man takes it from me, but I lay it downe my selfe. I doe some wrong to such judicious hearers to presse so plaine a point so much.

One word of the Act; it needs not many; for the next clause dot [...] expound it; He humbled. The He was Christ, and Christ was God. Sure­ly Humiliation is a strange Praedicate to such a subject, passive humilia­tion. Tis exaltation better beseemes God. His name is high. The Iewes gave him seven names; [...] is one; thats excelsus [...], the most high. His seat high, heaven; earth is but his footstoole. His Acts high, David saith, Psal. 149. Would, could so high a Hee humble himselfe? He would and could; could in his Power, would in his Love, his love to man. God would be humbled, to save man.

But what meanes Saint Paul? How humbles God himselfe? God a­baseth himselfe, if he but behold the earth, David saith, Psal. 113. 6. The earth? Nay heaven; it abaseth God to behold it, tis said there too. But Christ [...]me downe to earth, not lookt downe onely. Nay to come downe, was little; He had done that often, to Abraham, to Iacob, to Mo­ses. But Christ was made earth, i. man; man is earth. God said to Adam, Terraes, thou art earth. Here is a right humiliation, Homo ab humo. So Christ humbled himself; disdained not, abhor'd not (tis S. Ambrose word) the Virgins wombe; tooke mans base nature; and in basest sort, borne in a stable, cradled in a cratch. His mother not a Queene; that yet had beene some glorie. Papists salute her so, but superstitiously, Regina Coeli, Queene of heaven. Not a Lady, so they stile her too. They wrest that from her name. Maria sounds so in the Syriacke. A simple Ladie, that was faine to offer at her Churching in stead of a Lambe, a poore paire of Pigeons.

God to be man was great humiliation. But he would be humbler yet, abject himselfe to the lownesse of a servant. Thats in the verse before my Text. There are honourable men, Princes and Counsellours; so high, that David calls them gods; Gods selfe doth, Ego dixi, I said ye are Gods. Such a one Christ might have beene. But he would be (Saint Paul saith here) of no reputation, the meanest of men. Herod despised [Page 160] him: thats no marvell; he was a King. The verie abjects and dregs of the people, called him [...], this fellow; and nodded their heads at him. Priz'd by the Priests but at thirtie silver peices: Slaves are sold for more. Christ notes it in an Ironie, in the Prophet Zacharie, a goodly price, at which yee valued me. [...], this fellow, fellow to Fishermen, Publicans and sinners; not onely reputed a Carpenters sonne, but him­selfe too a Carpenter, Marke 6. 3. I pray you pardon; I spend in this too many words. I promised but one. Some farther degrees of Christs humiliation are intended in my Text, much greater than all these. You shall heare them in their place.

[...], he became obedient. It became him to be so, that would humble himselfe. Obedience becomes humilitie. The Iayler in the Acts fell downe at Paul and Silas feet. There hee humbled himselfe. Straightwayes (saith the storie) He was baptized, and all his house. Saint Pauls selfe God humbled; not himselfe; a rebell against Christ. Christ feld him to the ground; theres an humiliation, in Grammatticall sense, not in metaphor. As the Iaylor cried to him, so cried he to Christ, Do­mine, quid vis faciam? Lord what wilt thou, that I doe? So the people at the preaching of Saint Peter and Iohn Baptist, humbled first by their Doctrine, crie all, Quid faciemus? What shall wee doe? Still after hu­miliation followes a Quid faciam. No man is truely humbled but obeyes.

As it is with men, so it was with Christ. Thrice he humbled himselfe, prayed prostrate on mount Olivet before his Passion. Indeed his hu­mane will desired to live, prayed against that Cuppe and Houre. But he checkt that will instantly; and in all obedience submitted it to Gods: Fiat voluntas tua. Twas fit he should▪ for was hee not Gods Sonne? He called God Father in that prayer. Sonnes obey earthly parents; Christ would much more his. Yea Saint Paul saith to the Hebrewes, Chap. 5. ver. 8. that Christ by his sufferings learned to obey; [...], his humiliation taught him to obey. To end this, Divines ob­serve in Christ a twofold obedience; Active, his perfect performing of the Law; and Passive, his patient endurance of the curse. The former I omit, (tis parergon) fits not either Text or time. The latter is my Theme; tis it Saint Paul meanes; and this Day requires it; Christs Passive obedience. There are many kindes of it: you have heard of some already; Christs usage, his course usage before Herod and Pilat, and by the Priests and people. The chiefe remaine, and follow here; the utmost extremitie, Death; and the basest indignitie, the Crosse.

Now craves this Argument a Chrysostome, a Nazianzen, an eloquent Apollos, mightie in the Scriptures, and fervent in the Spirit, to presse Christs Passion, to expresse his paines, to preach Christs Funerall Ser­mon. Weepe not you that can chuse, wonder not you that conceive not your Saviours sufferings on this Day, for your sinnes, and in your stead. In mans redemption Saint Chrysostome found five wonders, [...] they are his words. Twas wonder-worthy, God would be pleased to hee reconciled to man, who had displeased, despised so mightie a Creatour: Base clay-clod man, a despicable worme, the King of heavens inexplicable Deitie. Great persons are irreconcileable. [Page 155] The wonder greater, Quod per filium, would, to save man, humble his owne Sonne; for a servant, for a slave, Sathanae mancipium. A slave? An enemy. Will a man part from his Sonne, to gratifie his Friend? The basest begger will not, will beare it rather at his backe. Wonder more yet, quod per sanguinem. Christ must not onely become man, but miserable man. Many men are high and honourable. Termed I a man a slave? Surely Christ was used like one, made bleed, whipt with scurges, crowned with thornes. Oh my hard, stonie, flinty heart! Christ bled; I weepe not. Teares are but water: can I not spare them? My God swet bloud.

Saint Chrysostome hath two wonders yet, greater than all these, these in my Text, Christs Death, and Crosse. Of the Crosse anone; first of his Death. Sufficed not bloud, foure blouds? From the Circumcisers knife, in his Agonie, from the Scourges, and Thornes. Saint Paul saith, There is no Remission [...], without shedding of bloud But Bloudshed serves not. God will humble his Son &c. Will God humble his Sonne, his Son himselfe yet further, even to Death? Men and bre­thren, I will now no more bid you to wonder. I will crie with Ieremy, wonder yee Heavens for this. And so they did, heaven and earth both, both in their kind. The earth shooke, and the stones rent at Christs yeelding up the Ghost. And Chrysostomes five wonders, heaven quit­ted with five more. The Sun fell in Eclipse, and [...], be­hold five wonders in the Eclipse. The Sun is never Eclipst, but at new Moone. It was then full Moone. The Suns Eclipse can be but partiall▪ twas totall then. The Sunnes darkenesse lasts not long: It did then three houres. And the Eclipse began at the wrong side of the Sun: and so it en­ded too. So many wonders at one time, that a great Astronomer then in Egypt, beholding the Eclipse, and little knowing of Christs Death, cried out in admiration, Aut Deus naturae patitur, either the god of the world is now suffering some violence; or the frame of the world will fall in­stantly a sunder.

Nor will I now bid you weepe any more: But I will say, weepe yee heavens for this. And so they did, Heaven and Earth both, both in their kinde. The eclipsed Sunne hooded his face, put on [...], saith Amphilochius, clad his whole body with darkenesse, as with a sable robe, to be a mourner at Christs Death. The earth trembled with griefe, and rent her heart, i. the stones with sorrow. Nay she would not be comforted, but opened her graves, as it were her bowells. Oh the senselesse and gracelesse stupiditie of men, of me, of many, of most men, that have no compassion on Christs Passion! when, our sinnes be the cause, the sole cause of his sufferings, yet shed not a teare on the day of his Death! [Christ cried alloud, and strongly. His cries Saint Paul calls Strong, Saint Mathew Loud, and needs they must be so: both strong, that rent the stones, and loud, that raised the Dead.] Nay that in singularitie feast upon this Day, for feare of superstition; or else in sensualitie, hawke, hunt, and dice, and dance away this Day.

His death, yet (if you please) worthy more wonderment. Let us wonder againe, we never can enough at this admirable Act of Christs Humiliation. You heard before of Chrysostomes five wonders. Christs [Page 156] Death was but one of them. Let mee adde to them three more, all in Christs Death. I say, for Christ to die, there are three wonders more. First, that he would, we being his enemies. Sinne had made us so. Will one friend die for an other? [One happily will. Nisus would for Eury­alus, Me, me, adsum qui feci. And yet Poets will faigne, write Mira [...]da, not Cred enda. A father will for a sonne, David for Absalon, Would God I had died for thee. Never any for an enemy.] The second, that hee should. Death is sinnes wages; Christ had none, knew none. Adam had not died, had he not sinned, had liv'd till this day. Lastly, that hee could, being the Sonne of God. That the everliving God should die, like man; that the Lord of Life should suffer Death; that the ancient of dayes, as Daniel titles God, and he whose yeares can not faile, as David speakes of him, should yet give up the Ghost.

Is this the Immortall King, Saint Pauls terme? That dwells in Im­mortalitie? Esayes [...] Father of Eternitie? Everlasting God, that lasted a few yeares, and died; liv'd not halfe a mans age. A mans age David defines it threescore yeares and ten. Many live many moe. Christ not halfe so many, not thirty five. Theres one saith, fiftie, Ire­naeus doth; An errour. Say Christ did; yet thats scarce halfe of some mens yeares, some of our mens. Men have liv'd since the Floud foure or five hundred yeares; before it twice as long. Iacob more than one hundred, many more: and yet he said, his yeares were few. Christ saw not the fourth part of them. Daniels ancient of dayes, dies a young man. Such speed made God to die for man; hastned to death, to work us life; would shorten his life, to sweeten his grace, [...]. He spurr'd Iudas to dispatch, Quod facis, fac cito, that thou dost, doe quickly. Hee needes no spurre, whom Sathan drives; yet hee prickes him on; thought the Priests Officers very slacke too, quickned them also; told them, twas he, they sought. They went backward and fell; told them againe twas hee; put himselfe into their hands. Sathan hastned his end; Himselfe hastned it more. So hungred Christ after our health, thought it long, till he delivered us. Himselfe saith it, Luke 12. 50. that he was pained till it was done.

But Ad quid tanta profusio? Why would our Saviour humble him­selfe thus? His least humiliation was Meriti infiniti, the lightest of Gods sufferings sufficed to ransome man. Etiam non moriendo, even though hee had not died. Tis a Popes saying, Saint Gregories, but the first Pope of that name and the best; and the saying sound▪ well con­strued. God could have saved us many wayes. Tis not my speech, but Saint Austins. Late learned Writers say the same; Peter Martyr doth. Potuit sed noluit, tis Saint Austins too. He could, but would not, chose this way, by Christs humiliation. Yea by Christs humbling of himselfe thus farre, even unto death. Weigh Christs least suffering by the worth; it would have served to save tenne worlds. But God in counsell decreed this, Christs Death and Crosse: and therefore Christ must suffer both. Other, the least, had merit too, Meritum infinitum. But his Death and Crosse had Meritum definitum. What God in his Will, and his Spirit in his word had once set downe, that must be done: and therefore Christs selfe saith, Luke 24. Ought not Christ suffer these things? And [Page 157] thus it behooved him to suffer, tis there too. Theres H [...]c, & Sic, Thus, and these things, i. Death and the Crosse; & Oportuit, of them both. Hee must be humbled so.

Thus low the Lord humbled himselfe: lower he could not. Death cald by the Civilians, Vltimum Supplicium, the farthest paine. Theres no Plus Vltra, nothing after death. The Crosse is here: but thats for the indignity. Else tis before it; before it in the Creed, Crucifixus & Mortuus; death is last. Death hath a follower, Apoc. 6. 8. tis hell; and some doe humble Christ to it, even to infernall torments. I dare not. Christ (it seemes) did not himselfe. If he did, Saint Paul is to blame, to omit it heere; a worse degree of Selfe-humiliation, then all the rest. Death and Crosse are short of it. Scripture puts mans Re­demption on Christs Blood onely, and these two, his Death and Crosse. And In Rebus Fidei, matters of Faith, Scripture phrase shall confine me.

To end this, Death of all dreadfull things, the Philosopher cals, [...], most terrible, cald by Iob, King of Terrours. Nature shuns it, flies it, will suffer torture, to scape it. Sathan though a Lyer, said that true, A man will give all that he hath for his Life: but not his life, for all that the World hath. God had no greater terrour, to fray Adam from the forbidden fruit, then Morieris, thou shalt Dye. I will not Dye, saith David. David would not; but Christ would, Davids Sonne. Man will not, when he must; yeelds, but of force. Christ would, and needed not; needed not, but that he would; dyed, quia voluit, you heard before, because he would. Why say I, needed not? Himselfe saith Oportuit, hee ought, and must. Must, because Man. All men must die. Christ must come under statute, if he will be Man, Saint Paul saith, statutum est, Heb. 9. 27. Death to man is a Statute, Om­nibus, to All men. Tanti constitit nasci Deum, if God will be Incar­nate, and be borne a Man, then he must die. But still Must, Quia Vo­luit. Death came by Sinne, had not beene, but for it; is but where it is. Christ having none, needed not dye. Say, Death had beene, though Sinne had not, as once Pelagius said: yet was Christ free. Kings pri­viledge their Sonnes from many Lawes, Satutum est, reacht not to him. Yet even to Death, fearefull to All flesh, the Word, made flesh, hum­bled himselfe. His Flesh, though Gods, feared it, like ours; swet for feare of it, his sweat blood; prayed to escape it, thrice, and ear­nestly. At that instant it did; but instantly yeelded, Non quod ego volo, humbled it selfe even unto Death. I must breake off this Argument, though loath. The Crosse craves audience too; a Word of it.

Was Death an horrour? Whats the Crosse? its farre more horri­ble. The kind of Death is oft more fearefull, then Deaths selfe. The Crosse is▪ a shamefull, a painefull, an Accursed death. For shame, foedum Supplicium, a filthy death, Alexander ab Alexandro so termeth it. Tis Superlative in Saint Bernard, Mors turpissima, a most filthy death. The like in Greeke in Nonnos, [...], a most opprobrious death. And that use Iulian the Apostata makes of it, cals Christ in despight, [...], the Crucified, the Staked God. For paine, Saint Bernard had Turpissima, but Durissima withall, a hard, a grievous, [Page 158] tis Superlative too, a most grievous death. Some other may seeme worse, the Wheele, Fire, Lentus Ignis, Gideons thornes, many in the times of the ten Persecutors. The tormenting paines of any Death, who can tell, save the Sufferer? That Christs was exquisite, his cries, [...] Saint Pauls phrase, his strong cries argue, strong cries for strong paines; like the cries of Women in their paines. His paines like theirs, cald so by Saint Peter Act. 2. 24. indeed greater, but he had no greater word for them. Tantus angor, saith Luther, such anguish ne­ver man endured. How can he tell? Heare Christs selfe, that felt it, Lam. 2. 24. See (there saith our Saviour) see, if any Sorrow were ever like to mine. That it was a strange slippe in Saint Hilary, a learned and godly Bishop, to deny Omnem sensum doloris, that our Saviour felt not any paine at all. For the Curse, Scripture is plaine, [...], accurst be every one, that hanges upon the Tree. And its Superlative too, accurst a­bove all kindes of Death, Nihil execrabilius, saith Saint Augustine, none more accurst then it. And this doth Saint Paul meane, when hee saith, that Christ was made a curse for us, Gal. 3. 13. that is, yeilded himselfe to a cursed death for us. Tis not my Glosse, but the Fa­thers.

Say, Christ would di [...]▪ He might have chosen yet some fairer death. But as he dyed, Quia voluit, because he would; so dyed he also, Quo­modo voluit, as he would Not to death onely, but to this shamefull, painefull, cursed death, death of the Crosse, humbled he himselfe. Cha­ros habuit, quos tam charè emerat, He loved us dearely, that bought us so dearely. Death was sinnes debt; and Christ would pay it. But must he pay it so? Sinne necessitated death; but not the kind of death. Would not some other serve? Sufficed it not [...] to be slaine? Christ foretold that. But must it needs be [...] Crucified too? Would not (Tolle) suffice, two Tolles, away, away with him; but it must be Tolle in Crucem, two of them too, Crucifie, crucifie him. Would Christ be a Sinne-offring? and must the Crosse be the Altar?

Christ would [...], be put to death. Die naturally he could not, as we doe. Adam should not, had he not fallen. God made Man Immortall. Christ, but that he would, needed not die. Age could not weare him. Sickenesse is from distemper: Christ could not be sicke. He must be put to death, if he will die. Nor could he that neither, but that he would. As God; nay as man, Man in Gods image, without sinne, is not subject to death, to any death, naturall or violent. Yet Christ willing to die, why would he die thus? The Iewes offered to stone him, offered twice. Christ would not die so. They would have throwne him downe from the edge of an hill. Neither would hee die so. He would die thus. A shamefull death, painefull, and accurst; to free all sinners, from all three, shame, paine, and curse, all due to sinne.

Blessed be this day; tis surnamed good; tis well worthy: on which such good, so much good was done for us. Twas an Accurst death; but the day is blessed, is, and will be, for ever. God be blessed on it and for it, by all Christians. I dare not blesse the Crosse; twill be mis­construed. Worship it I will not; but honour it I will. The Church [Page 159] hath ever. Ist for nought? to Christ Mortifera, but to us Salutifera, saith Saint Augustine, brought death to him, wrought Life to us. The Crosse of Christ, a Crowne to Christians. And Christian Kings all crest their Crownes with it. Blessed be the Father, whose Sonne dyed on it. Blessed be the Sonne, who humbled himselfe to it. Vnto both which blessed Persons, with the Spirit of them both, be worthily ascribed all Blessing, all Thanksgiving, this blessed Day, and evermore.

THE Argument o [...] my Text is the Epitome of the Gospell: [Esay is an Evangelist:] reduced to two Heads, Christs Passion, and mans Re­demption. But foure significant words. Of which, because the last is put in Physike Meta­phor, 1 wee are healed. I will fit the rest to that; 2 And observe in this short Scripture these foure 3 particulars, a Physitian, a Medecine, a Patient, 4 and a Cure.

For the first, the Physitian is not nam'd, but noted onely. But the 1 Note note-worthy; the whole Testament hath not the like, two Rela­tives at once, in the Originall; as if I should say, Cujus liv [...]re ejus santi sumus, by whose stripes of his we are healed. Let us turne the first into an Interrogative, and aske, Cujus livore, by whose stripes are we healed? Looke backe (for the Notes bid us) to verse 21. there he is nam'd, tis Christ. He is the Physitian, an honourable one. Wise Nestor saith in Homer, [...] a Physitian is [...], a man more worth than many, [...] a man, a Physitian. The Physitian here is God. The Pa­tient [Page 161] here could not be cur'd by man, by meere man. It must be Christ, Gods Sonne, Gods selfe: By his stripes we are healed.

Is there no balme in Gilead? None in Ashur to heale Ephraim? Can neither Iew, nor Gentile, can not the whole earth afford us a Physitian, but our health must come from heaven? Nay, not any in heaven nei­ther, either Saint or Angell; not Raphael himselfe, that hath his name of Healing, able to releeve us, but onely Gods owne Sonne? O the dangerous, desperate, deadly disease of sinne, that none can heale but God? That is not purged but by bloud onely, [...] saith the Apostle, without bloudshed no remission, and that the bloud of God. Must wee bring water out of a Rocke for you? saith Moses. Here is more. Must God fetch bloud out of a Rocke for us? Petra erat Christus, The Rocke is Christ. Must God bleed to medecin man? For so Paul cals it, Act. 20. 28. th [...] bloud of God. Sin is not Homicida only, but Deicida too saith Ber. slaies not man only, but God too: slaies that, saith Basil, that can not be slaine: the Immortall soule. He makes that strange. What is this? The Immortall God? Say, it were no more then the terme here in my Text; not Death, but Stripes. Must the purging of man, be by the scourging of God? To tame a Lyon, they use to beat a Dogge. But here the Lyon is beaten for the Dog; the generous Lyon of the tribe of Iudah, beaten for the sinner, a Dogge, a dead Dogge.

Sinne is a sore, which none but God can salve. There is an evill, which Kings cure; call'd therefore the Kings evill. Sinne is Gods evill; Gods selfe cures it in person. Such was his love, hee would; such was our need, he must. Hee must, or wee must: Hee must suffer, or wee must perish. Christ saith, Oportet, the Sonne of man must suffer. But that Sonne of man, is the Sonne of God. Tis God heales all infirmities, Psal. 103. both heales them, that is, covers them; go not to the Pope for pardon, tis Gods prerogative: and heales them, that is, cures them. Trust not the Mediation and merits of dead Saints, nor the Almes and Orysons of living men. Multitudo medicorum perdidit Caesa rem. One [...]ole Physitian serves the soule: Christ is that one. If it call for moe, it will perish under them. Let the Papist pray, Tu per Thomae sanguinem, crave health by Thomas Beckets bloud, God teach me to say, Tu per Christi sanguinem, to beg it by Christ Iesus bloud. He is that Tree in the Revelation, 2. 22. That heales the nations. Sing with David, Sana me Domi­ne. Say with Ieremy; Lord, heale me, and I shall be healed. Peter said to Ae­neas, Iesus Christ maketh thee whole: he meant of the body. But tis as true of the soule, and Peters speech too, Non est in alio, there is no health, but in him onely. Tis ingraven in his name, Iesus, a Saviour; not onely in the Hebrew, but in the Greek too; even the terme in my Text alludes to it. And Epiphanius confirmes it, [...], a healer, [...] a Physitian. Cyril joynes both etymologies together, saith Iesus is called worthily, [...], there is both a Saviour and Physitian too. Tis Christs own crie, Esay 43. Ego sum, Ego sum, it is I, I alone; there is no Saviour besids me.

Theres one excepts one, he that made the Mariale, is bold to joyne the Mother to the Sonne, makes Marie helpe her Sonne to heale. Nay, makes the Mother to thrust out the Sonne, bids flie to her name onely; that alone will serve to heale. Then Saint Peter wrote false Greeke, [Page 162] and Esay but bad He brew, By his stripes we are healed; they should have said, by Hers. Let them either leave Saint Peters Chaire, or hold them unto Saint Peters Faith, Non est nomen aliud, there is none other name un­der heauen; no nor in it neither, by which we must be saved.

But besides the Oportet, or neede of him to heale us, that he must, or none; there is a Complacuit too. God of his Love to us, would by his stripes worke health to us. A Love-worthy double wonderment, both in the Father, that would not spare his Sonne, and in his Sonne, that would not spare himselfe. For the first, will a Father part from the fruit of his body, to gratifie his friend? Or will a Mother give away the child of her owne wombe? The basest begger will not, but will rather beare it at her backe. But God hath, Dedit, saith our Saviour, he hath given us his onely begotten Sonne, and that (Dedit) is a (Tradidit,) the Fa­thers so construe it, hath delivered him to death for us. God spared A­brahams sonne, and sent a Ramme to ransome him. When Abrahams knife was even at Isaacks throate; an Angell cried to him to hold his hand. He did not so unto his own; but committed him to the moode and malice of the Iewes to be tormented, to be slaughtered. Say, there was an Oportet, Mans sinne must have a sacrifice; must the Father be the Priest? For so he was authoritativè though not executivè. Say, the Sonne must be the sufferer: must the Sire needs be the Offerer? Could there be found none other to give him up but God? The Father so farre to forget all affection, to sacrifice his Sonne? And for the Sonne, say, he would appease his Father with an offring, would he find nothing to offer, but himselfe? O altitudo! Oh the depth of the riches of the love of God! Was there no ransome for the sinne of man, but onely the of­fring of the Sonne of God? The Altar was the Crosse; and must Christ be the Crucifixe? Peters advise is plausible, Propitius tibi esto, every man will favour, who will not? Spare himselfe? Christ would not. Hee might have said with Moses, Mitte per quem mittes, Father, send some other. But he said with Esay, Ecce ego, mitte me, Here am I, send none but me.

Sinne (saith Saint Augustine) Aut sanabitur, aut damnabitur, must be either heal'd, or damn'd. Gods Sonne would heale it by his owne bloud. Per semet ipsum (saith the Apostle) Himselfe hath purg'd it by himselfe. Twas Hee, was stript, [...], saith Matthew, was whipt, Pilat scourged Iesus, the Text saith; was crucified, The Lord of glory, saith the Apostle. Basilides that grosse Hereticke, said it was he: Irenaeus so writes of him. Twas not Christs selfe was crucified, but Simon of Cyren in his shape, and Christ stood by invisible. The Centurion shall judge him; Certainely (saith he) this was the Sonne of God. Nay Atheists shall judge him: Lucian that prophane derider of Religion calls him [...], the Crucified Sophister; a Sophister, but crucified. Though he beleeved not in Christ crucified, yet he confessed Christ was crucified.

Physitians sometimes heale by bloud, but their Patients bloud, or some Fowles or Beasts bloud, not by their owne. Hee bore our sinnes, saith Saint Peter in his body. Which to force us to note (tis in the very verse) he doubles here the Relative, [...], by whose stripes of his, wee, saith Esay, yee saith Peter, that is, all men are heal'd. A note [Page 163] (I said before) note-worthy. The Actor, and the Instrument are not lightly one. Heere they are, [...], Epiph. Christ is both Priest, and Sacrifice. Or (as Saint Augustine speakes to the Physicke metaphor) Ipse Medicus, ipse Medicina, both Physicke, and Physiti­an. The Priests of Aarons order cur'd sinne too in their kind. They wrought the same Act, but by other instrument: by blood, like Christ, but by the blood of beasts. Hostia was Bestia, beasts were sin-offrings. Both they and He shed blood, but they [...], saith Chrysost. they the blood of others, he his owne; both [...], Cyril. both [...], Naz. both Sacrifice and Priest. Thus much for the Physitian.

The Physicke followes, it is Stripes. Stripes should seeme rather to 1 make sore, then sound; to wound, then heale. A strange medicine to cure a sicknesse. I find in Scripture a Shaft, and Shield of Health, a Helmet, and a horne of Health; but not a Stripe of Health. I read of sinne to be punished by Stripes, Psalme 89. chastened with rods, there too. But of disease cured by Stripe, but onely once: Iasons Impostume, which Physitians could not cure, was cured in fight by the stroke of a Sword. Tullie reports it. Heere is mans sinne healed by Gods Stripe, one stripe heald by another; sinne the Serpents sting, Sathans stripe, heald by Christs stripe. As the yong Pelicanes hurt by the Serpent, the damme cures with her blood. Christ heald many by his Words; Verbis, and that was miraculous. But to heale any by his Stripes, Ver­beribus, especially passive stripes, vapulabat & curabat, saith Augustine that exceedes all Wonders. Mirabile & Incomparabile, tis Augustines too, not strange alone, but incomparably strange, that the Physitian must be sicke, that the Patient may be whole.

Christ to heale sinne, must suffer, must suffer (multa) many things, Math. 16. Hunger, thirst, temptation, scorne, contumely, bandes; all farre unfit for God to suffer: and yet these were the least and ligh­test. But his sacred Body to be beat with scourges, Foedum Supplicium, as a Schooleman cals it, a paine so base, as might not be inflicted on a Burgesse of Rome, to lay it on the Lord of Heaven, Oh the bowels of his love, that suffered it! Oh the prodigiousnesse of sinne, that caused it! Why heald he not our sinne by some Apothecaries drugs? Solomon disables them, neither Herbe, saith he, nor plaister; but Christs Stripe. Not the stripe of a reed, though they smote him with that too, that was not [...], that haply drew no blood. Not the stripe of a rod; they thought that paine too mild for him. But they did [...], whip him with sharpe scourges. Nor were his stripes but few; though the number heere be singular, tis an ordinary Trope, one put for a multitude. Being scourged for us, who know our masters will, but doe it not, his stripes were many. He that had not (as Saint Augustine saith) peccati vestigium, the print of any sinne, had the print of many stripes. There was indeed in the scourgings of the Iewes, plagarum modus, a stint of stripes, Deut. 25. they might not exceed fourty. But Christ heere sen­tenc't by the Romane Iudge, was scourg'd (tis likely) after the Romane use. Twife it is thought; and that of purpose in most cruell manner, to move the people (if it might be) to compassion. One Officer suffi­cient [Page 164] to chasten many: foure set to torture one, as is gatherd by the parting of his robes into foure parts, and those foure all souldiers, men lightly neither of the lightest hands, nor softest hearts. Nay there is a Spanish Postiller, writes I know not on what ground, that the Iewes fearing Pilate would discharge him after stripes, gave money to the Officers, to scourge him to death. And for the instruments, it was but quasi flagellum, Saint Iohns terme, but (as it were) a whip, and but of small cords, with which Christ drave the buyers and sellers out of the temple. This was [...], not [...], a scourge, a scorpion, that Christ was beaten with. Saint Marke indeed hath but [...], he would but set forth the indignity: but Saint Iohn to expresse the extremity too, hath [...], the more cruell terme, yet all this was but stripes.

But Stripes though sore, though many, would not serve. Etiam vi­lescam adhuc, as David said to Michal, [...]hrist would be yet more vile, suffer yet more shame, more paine to h [...]ale our sinnes, wounds, death, the Crosse, durissimam & turpissimam, Bernards termes, the most grievous and most odious execution, that they had. The terme in my Text hath a double Synecdoche, one stripe for many, and stripes for his whole passion. Christ would approportion his suffrings to our sins. As our sinnes are from the crowne of our head to the sole of our foote, Esay; so were Christs wounds; his head crownd with thornes, his feet naild to the crosse, t [...]tum est pro corporae vulnus. Not toucht onely, as the Hebrew word signifies ver. 4. and yet God bids, touch not his an­nointed; not toucht alone, but smitten: not that onely, but blood drawne, yea wounded and broken, ver. 5. One may touch without stroke; Thomas toucht him, handled him. One may be smitten and not bleed; they smote him with their hands, and with a reed. Nor is every bloodshed cald a wound. His head bled, prickt with the thornes, his backe lasht with the scourges, his whole body in his agony: and yet his wounds are counted but five onely, two in his hands, as many in his feet, and the fifth in his side. Call them what you please, heere is blood store. Christs blood Peter cals pretious. Surely it seemd not so to Pilate, and the Iewes, they made no spare of it, totus pro corpore san­guis, Christ nothing but blood; not Grumi, drops onely, as in his a­gony, but Vnda sanguinis, saith Bernard, a flood of blood. That that which Zipporah, Moses wife said unto her husband, Sponsus sanguinum es mihi, thou art a bloody spouse to me; and yet that blood was her Infants, not her owne, and that shed but once, Christ may justly say to the Church, which is his Spouse, Sponsa sanguinum es mihi, thou art a bloody Spouse to me. I pray you note the number, Sponsus sangui­num, Grammar hardly beares it, but the Originall is so. We are not borne ex sanguinibus, Ioh. 1. 13. but we are heald ex sanguinibus, not by one blood, but by many, that is, by blood shed often.

Ad quid perditio haec? What needs all this profuse effusion of blood? The Oportet did not necessitate so much. One drop would have sufficed to have healed the whole world. Nay what needed blood at al? Not on­ly not his death, but not his stripes, nay not the least indignity, that hee suffered all his life, was of absolute necessity. The least ache of his least finger had been Meriti insiniti, meritorious enough to have medecind all [Page 165] the world. But his Blood, his Death, his Crosse was Meriti definiti; God had determind it: and thence came the Oportet; both that hee should suffer, and he should suffer so. Christs Passion, both the Mat­ter and the Manner too, both have the Oportet. Looke Luke 24. 26. theres Oportet haec, and ver. 46. theres Oportet sic. Else God might have heald us sine hoc holocausto, without sacrificing him, faith Cypr. Quis negat, (saith Saint Bernard,) that Almighty God might have found out other meanes for Mans Redemption. Etiam non moriendo, Greg. Christ could have releived us, and not have dyed for us. His onely In­carnation could have cured us. As the Centurion said to Christ, Lord, say but the word; and my Servant shall be whole: So might the Sinner say to God, Lord, send but the word; and thy Servant shall be whole. Nay in the Centurions very termes, Lord say but the word. The curse of sinne God could have canceld, etiam sine Adventu, even withoutSer. 19. de Sanctis, Ep. p. 499. B. Christs Incarnation. Athan. God could have cured us otherwise, Sa­pienter & Fortiter, Augustine, in his Power and Wisdome: but he would doe it Suaviter: and therefore tooke our flesh, to beare our paine in his owne person. He would suffer stripes, hee would suffer death for us.

Why God would worke by blood, what he could have wrought byEp. 190. word, Aske him, saith Bernard, I know, Quod ita, but not Cur ita, That he did so, but not Why he did so. And yet one Why Christ yeilds himselfe: Sic Deus dilexit, a great cause, and a sweet, the Love of God. Christi viscera patent per vulnera, Bernard. Christs Passion came of his Compassion. That Love bred the Decree, that Christ should die. That Decree brought the Oportet, that he must die. And that death brought our health.

Tis but Stripes in my Text; but thats by figure, a [...], more meant, then said; his Stripes put for his death. Not that Saint Peter; meant to extenuate Christs Passion by a terminus diminuens: for in the beginning of the verse, the Crosse is mentioned too, and his death im­plied under it; by which death we are healed. Not as Iudah said of Iacob and Benjamin, the life of the father hung on the life of the sonne:Lib. 22. c. 22. de civit. dei de Trin. 10. but our life hangeth on Christs death, our health, on his stripes. Me­dicamenta be tormenta, Saint Augustine saith, tis true heere, our Medi­cine is Christs Torment. I will not heare Saint Hilary, that faith, ChristsStrom. 6. p. 276. Passion had no paine. He wrongs Christ much. It was Clements errour too, that Christ did not suffer, could not suffer paine. I will not argue it; tis but a parergon. Onely but heare the Prophet crying in Christs person, Si est dolor, sicut meus, See if any sorrow, any griefe be peere to his.

To end this second terme; it seemes some hang not their health on Christs stripes; no nor on his death. They will have Christ to have suffered for our sinnes, the paine due unto our sinnes; the whole paine due unto our sinnes: which is not death onely, but hell too. But the Scripture determines Christs Passion in his death. That they will grant too. But they will have Christ to have suffered hell alive, hell in his Soule. Mens conceipts are free: but Gods word warrants but his death onely to redeeme us. His blood was a full satisfaction for our sins. [Page 166] the dignity of his Person supplied the rest of Gods sentence on our si [...]ne. His bloud alone was of merit infinit; because, as you have heard, it was the bloud of God. For how was Adams sinne infinite, that it should be punisht with Hell, a paine infinite? But because it was com­mitted against God, who is infinite. Even so was Christs Death infinite, because it was suffered by Gods Sonne, who is infinite. That Christ should suffer the paines of hell in soule, let Heretickes hold it, (twas first their Paradoxe) it is not worthy of Calvin and Danaeus, or any learned Protestant. A drop of Christs bloud, being the Sonne of God, is equipollent to all the paines of hell. I have once or twice before lighted on this point. Saint Austin shall conclude it, Quis audeat dice­re▪ Who dareth be so bold, saith Saint Augustine, as to say that ChristEpist. 99. suffered death in his soule.

The next point is the Patient; Gods Sonne himselfe hath suffered, suffered much; but Cui bon [...], to whose benefit? The Physitian hath ministred Physicke to himselfe, but not for himselfe. For hee ailed no­thing. The stripes were his; but the health is ours. The change of Per­son is worthy much wonderment; the Medecine applied to one, the cure wrought on another. He scourged, we healed. Christ tooke the Physicke, but to Medecine us. Is he not our Head? As to cure the bo­die being sicke, the Head is faine to drinke a bitter potion: so we, that are Christs members, being sicke of sinne, Christ, who is our Head, is faine to take the Physicke, a loathsome and irkesome purgation, to heale us. Not a dose of Oximel, Vinegar and Honie, sowre and sweet together; but Vinegar and Gall, whatsoever; to heale us.

The Project of Christs Passion was to ransome man. Charitie (they say) à semetipsa incipit, beginnes at home. Christs charitie did not; it began, proceeded, and ended, all in us. Whatsoever our Saviour ei­ther ferebat or gerebat, either did, or abidde, it was for us. Both Natus nobis, & datus nobis, Esay 9. 6. he was delivered out of the wombe for us, and hee was delivered up to death for us. For us men Incarnatus, saith the Nicene Creede, and for us men condemnatus, bred for us, and dead for us. Tis tenne times in this Chapter, that his suffering was for us.

We are healed? Who we? Wee, whose father is corruption, and the wormes our sisters, and kindswomen, Iobes termes. Wormes our sisters? Wormes our selves: both Iob and David call us so. Gods selfe in Esay calls us so. Wee, whose strength is as the leafe, the faded leafe, and our substance as the drie stubble; loathsomnesse our beginning, and rottennesse our end. Gods honorable and blessed Sonne was scourged for miserable and wretched man: the Sonne beat for the servant; Vt redimatur servus, mactatur filius, Aug. The Sunne slaine for the servant. Againe, who we? We that are ficke of sinne, spiritually sicke. Christs cure is not meant of corporall diseases, because Christs cure which he wrought on their bodies was an earnest of the health: And therefore in Saint Peter, it followes on this Text, That we all are gone astroy, all of us lost sheepe. Christ came not to save, but that which was lost. The whole have no neede of the Physitian, but the sicke. The finner is Christs Patient. The Pharisee is a Saint; his owne inherent righteousnesse serves to se­cure [Page 167] him; he is safe without a Saviour: Hee is no Nominative case to this Verbe. Christ is a Shepheard; all men are his sheepe. But hee that straies not, him Christ seekes not. For he was not sent, but to the lost sheepe. It is a sweet saying, and worthy all embracing, that Iesus Christ came into the world, to save sinners.

An other thing remarkeable; the number is changed too, not the Person onely. He scourged, we healed. Ad unum poena, salus redundat ad plurimos, by ones mans stripes comes all mens health. Hee heal'd hun­dreds in his life, but thousands in his death; he heald all. S. Iohn saith, the whole world. The Tense being Aorist insinuates all times, our Ance­stors, our selves, our posteritie, have beene, are, shall be healed by him. All ages have their health from him. Siraks sonne saith, Iniquitie is as a twoedged sword; the wounds of it can not be healed. He meanes, it can not by the Art of man; but by the smart of God it can. All sinners have interest in Christs cure, that will; that will embrace it. We would have healed Babylon, saith God, but she would not. Onely Infidelitie doth Ponere obicem, shuts the doore on the Physitian, bolts and barres him out. He died for all, [...], as much as lay in him, saith Chrysost. His Passion was [...], a counterpoise, saith Chrysost. to the sinnes of all the world. That all have not health, is because all have not faith. Saint Ambrose shall end this, Christ was solutor aeris, alieni, the debt was ours, but Christ hath paid it: he paid what we ought. God can not aske it us. He hath satisfied the Creditour, and wee have Gods acquittance. So much for the Patient.

The Cure is last; tis Health. Strange that such Physicke should work 4 such effect; that stripes should heale. But Medico omnipotenti, saith Saint Augustine; When God Almightie will be the Physitian, every thing will be a medicine. Strange the touch of one corpse should re­vive an other, 2 King. 13. But it was a Prophets corpse. Strange, Salt should helpe either bitternesse of water, or barrennesse of land; more likely to hurt both. But a Prophet did it too. Strange, Clay and Spet­tle, should make a blind mansee, Sputum & lutum, an ointment likelier to make one blind. But twas Christ, Gods annointed, that annointed him. He whose spettle anneald him, by his stripes hath healed us. God can bring light out of darkenesse, life out of death. Said Austine, Medi­camenta, were Tormenta, medicines are torments? We may turne the termes, Tormenta be Medicamenta, Christs torments are our ease. The Crosse, which (saith Saint Augustine) was Mortifera unto Christ, brought death to him, was salutifera to Christians, wrought health to us.

The Preacher saith, there is a time to kill, and a time to heale. Both met here together; the killing of Christ was the healing of Christians. Virtus mea Domini infirmitas, the Lords weakenesse is our strength, saith Ambrose. Doe men gather grapes on thornes? Christian men doe. The bloud of Christs thornes, is the bloud of our grapes, our wine in the Sacrament: His bloud called therefore by the Fathers [...], so­veraigne bloud; and the wine in the Eucharist, the type of Christs bloud, the figure of salvation, Nazianzens terme, [...], Chrysostome hath Saint Peters terme, Christs Gall was our Honie, His Vineger our health. [Page 168] Crux, Mors, Inferi, his Crosse, his Death, his Hell, our Life, saith Hil­lary. Lib. 2. de Tri. Yea his Crosse (saith Damascen) our [...] the health both of our soule and body. His Death, [...] our [...] Amphiloch. His Death our immortalitie: Sanguis Christi, clavis Paradisi, Hier. not our health onely, but our heaven to, the bloud of Christ, the key of Paradise. The Fathers are rich in these resemblances. [For is he not Life? Ego sum vita. Is he not health? Salutare tuum, saith Symeon, Gods saving health] Cure presupposeth sicknesse. For why should there be [...], where there are not [...], what needs Remedy, where is no Malady? Cure (I say) presumes sicknesse, or disease, some wound or maime, or some unsoundnesse. What is sinne, but a sicknesse? [...], the soules sicknesse, saith Saint Balsil. Bernard calls Malos mores, malos hu­mores, sinne a right peccant humour, as Physitians speake. Esay calls sinnes Languores, 53. 4. that is sicknesses. The Palsie, the Apoplexie, the Feaver of the soule, the Fathers termes all. Adams sinne a Leprosie; like that of Gehezi, it cleft to himselfe and to his seed for ever. Nay, the sinner is not onely sicke, head sicke, heart sicke, Esay 1. 5. but wounded too; all so [...]es and swellings: Running sores; My sore ranne, saith David, His paine not in one part, as the Shunamites sonnes, My head, my head; as Ieremies, My belly, my belly: but sicke and sore all o­ver. Non est sanitas, there is no whole part in him; and the paine so great, that David roard in the sense of it. And this, not for a fit, dolor, si gravis, brevis, the sicke mans comfort, sharpe paine, but short. But sinne lies ledger in the soule; the sinner sicke to day, to morrow, this moneth, the next, whole yeares, many yeares; not 12. like the woman with the fluxe of bloud; not thirtie eight, like the sicke man at Bethesda; but all his life; and that without any Lucida intervalla. Yea life is Punee unto sinne: Man is sicke of it from the wombe, borne in sinne, saith David; from the seed, conceived in sinne: sinnes before hee breathes. Prius incipit macula quam vita. Amb. in Apologia David, Cap. 11. That is for the length of it; and for the strength, sicke dangerously, desperately; even unto the death, death both of soule and body ever­lastingly in Hell.

Of this fearefull sicknesse, by Christs stripes wee are healed. His bloud hath cleansed us, hath washed us, Saint Iohns termes, hath purg'd our sinne, saith Paul, all our sinne. It is the right woundwort, that so­veraigne Panacea, which c [...]res all diseases. Hee heales (saith David) all our infirmities; not heales them onely, that is, covers them; but he cures them, hee removes them: Tollit (saith Iohn the Baptist) he takes them quite away. His healing us, consists in wholy quitting us both à culpa, & à poena, both in abolishing of sinne, and in vanquishing of death, both first and second death. Wee die still indeed: but to the Iust, death is no punishment. Mortem (saith Bernard) quam pertulit, su­stulit, Christ by dying hath slaine death; [...], Iustin Martyr; Death is put to death: I say, Christs stripes have healed both staine and paine. Sinnes whole debt, Christ hath discharged; nothing for us to pay; no not in Purgatory. No relicke of sinne uncured; no arrerage of paine unpaied. Bellarmine faith there is some; but Canus as great a Bishop, and as learned as he, saith there is none. Christs sa­tispassion [Page 169] (Luthers terme) is our satisfaction, his sole satispassion our whole satisfaction. It hath made us [...] whole. By Christ Cruci­fied, we are Iustified. I must end; Christ is [...] Physitian indeede; verè medicus. Epip [...] a right [...] purged our sinne, and made [...] [...]; and he hath given us his Spirit, to [...] and [...] not sinne hereafter, the other part of [...] vative.

THey are the words of that gracelesse and desperate Disciple, that betrayed our Lord Iesus; his con­fession of his Fact. An Office, fits his name; Iudas signifies confession: but of better Object; Con­fession of Gods glory, not of Mans shame. For 1 Confession is twofold, Dei & Rei, of Gods glory, 2 or Mans guilt. Heere you have Confirentem Reum, 3 the Confessour a Transgressour. A Fact Confest, Saying: ‘confest first 4 Generally, tis sinne, Peccavi, I have sinned. Then specified, tis Trea­son, 5 I have sinned in Betraying. The Object, a Iust Person; and the end, to Death; in betraying Innocent Blood. Saying, I have sinned, in be­traying innocent Blood.’ Of these Particulars in their Order.

Saying. Tis a chance, but some Popish Postiller observes in Iudas 1 story the three parts of Penance; (twas not worth the while to search) Contrition, Confession, and Satisfaction. And that, just marshald in that Ranke, which is required, Contrition first, in the verse before, He Repented himselfe. For there is Dolere in [...], that Terme implies sorrow. Then Confession, heerē, Peccavi, I have sinned. And Satisfaction in the next; he cast downe their money; full Restitution, all he had received, thirty peeces of silver. Three materials indeed, ve­ry requisite in Repentance: In show, all heere; but in show onely. [Page 171] His Contrition but [...]; a word of sinistre sense, observed so by the learned. Surely, it was no godly sorrow, that ended so ungodlily in selfe-murther. His Satisfaction perverse, made to the Priests and Elders, whom he had not wronged. Hee had wrought the Feat, and was worthy of the Fee. It was Christ, whom he had trespassed; hee should have recompensed him. And so is his Confession heere, per­verse too; made onely to the Priests. Hee should have made it unto God also. But the Priests serve him accordingly; send him away with a Tu videris; his sinne concernes not them; let him looke to that him­selfe. Haply had he gone to Christ, confest to him, he had beene par­doned, Saint Ambrose saith. Haply? nay certainely, had he gone to him. Why should he doubt? To how many had he heard him say, Thy sinnes are forgiven thee.

Saying. ‘See how workes of darkenesse, needs will come to light. Sinne is so lightly done in the darke. This was: faine to worke his feat by Torchlight and Lanthornes. Nor must the People know When, or Where, for feare they stoned them. Albeit this Act nee­ded no great reveiling in this respect: It had Witnesses enough. His Orall Confession was rather wrested from him, partly to justify Gods instant Iudgement on him; partly to Testifie his Innocency, whom he had betrayed, and to terrifie the Priests, who had persecuted the Iust. Howsoever; God will have sinners to be [...], their owne Detectors. The inward Evidence of guilty Conscience shall not suf­fice, their Tongue shall tell it out; and ex ore tuo, their owne mouthes shall sentence them. Non Praeses, non Populus, Pilate arraignes him not, the People accuse him not, saith Saint Ambrose; he is [...], Saint Pauls terme, his owne Condemner. That Mouth, which served before to betray Christ, must serve now to bewray Iudas; must cry, Peccavi, I have sinned;’ the next thing in my Text.

Iudas speakes: what ist, he saith? ‘Peccavi, I have sinned.’ Durus Sermo, tis a hard saying: hardly will one Accuse himselfe, especially in Publico, in open Audience, as it is likely he does heere, at a Session of Priests and Elders. What one Malefactour almost of an hundred, but pleades, Not Guilty. But an hainous sinne God will have uttered, e­ven by the sinners selfe; his owne Mouth shall say, Peccavi. Sermo du­rus, but verus, a hard saying, but a true in Iudas mouth, [...], but not [...], not a lyer, though a theife. Hee had sinned indeed, Horri­bile Crimen, Saint Cyrils terme, a fearefull sinne excellens malignitas, Nicephorus censure, a superlative wickednesse, opus damnabile, a dam­nable act, Augustine, a sinne out of measure sinnefull. Latomus saith, a Lovanist, light sinnes need not Confession; thats for mortall sinnes onely. Wicked divinity. But yet even by his Rule, Iudas must cry, Peccavi. If ever was any mortall sinne, his was. The more, for that he was forewarnd of it by Christ, forewarnd often. Peter was forewarnd too, but once onely, Christ had said many times in Iudas hearing, the Sonne of Man shall be betraied; and againe, the Sonne of Man shall be be­traied: and againe, he that dippes with me in the dish, shall betray mee; Yet Iudas is not toucht, is rather impudent, and askes, Master is it I? Well may one so wicked, cry Peccavi, I have sinned.

‘Confession common, both to the righteous and ungodly; both meete in Peccavi; but differ in the cause; their Act alike, but not their Agent. Gods grace peaceably mooveth the one, his wrath forcibly driveth the other.’ The wicked man, even when he sinnes, knowes he does wickedly: his conscience plaies Iudex then, condemnes his sinne even in the Act: but yet hee sayes softly▪ ‘Quis vide­bit, who shall see it?’ But being done, his conscience travailes; shee must die, or be delivered. The Iudex will play Index then. Sinne is the Devils shaft: tis in the conscience, as an arrow in the thigh; there is no ease, till it be out. The devills fiery dart, it burnes, till it bewray it. Conscience, a good counsellor, but a bad counsell keeper.

To end this; Peccavi, I have sinned? said I sermo verus, a true saying? Why? Iudas treason was Gods owne worke, Act. 2. 23. It is true, God as well as Iudas did tradere, deliver Christ, Rom. 8. 32. the act of both alike in generall. But Gods traditio was not talis in specie; 'tis a schoole distinction too, and to my seeming sound. Gods traditio was but datio, So God loved the world, saies Christ, that he gave his Sonne. But Iudas Traditio was Proditio, a betraying him. God to give his Son, who wil say, that is sin? But Judas to betray his Lord, who will doubt, but that was sinne? For in Re una, quam fecerunt, non est causa una qua fecerunt, saith S. Augustin. That God would give him, was his admirable love; that Iudas would betray him, was his execrable lewdnesse. 'Twas Gods [...], his love of Man, made him to give him: 'twas Iudas [...], his love of Money moov'd him to betray him. That is the next point in my Text, Peccavi tradens, I have sinned in betraying him.

‘Iudas hath sinned; what hath he done? His sinne is Traditio, a Betraying.’ This sinne is the subject of Iudas confession; I have sinned in betraying. A sinne, that fits his second name, as confession did his first; Iudas a Confessor, Iscarioth a Betrayer. Tis so Etymoligis'd, ‘a man of Bribes, of Rewards: For his traditio was venditio, hee sold [Page 173] Christ for money. He would undertake to deliver him to the Priests, but not for nought. Quid mihi dabitis? First, what will they give him?’

‘'Tis not infidelitie: that was one sinne in him; non prodidisset, si credidisset, saies Bellarmine, had hee beleeved in Christ, he would not have betrayed Christ. Not Theft: S. Iohn calls him a Theefe. Not dissimulation; Clemens calls him an Hyppocrite. Not envie; hee grudged, such pretious oyntment should be spent on Christ. Tis treachery, a sinne you heard before how censured:’ held even by Heathens [...], the grandest of all crimes, saies Dionys. Halicarn. peerd by Plato even to sacriledge: the divells sinne; Iudas for it call'd a devill, by Christs selfe. Gesse the crime by the paine; ‘a Roman in Dionysius story drawne for it in peeces by wilde Horses. Iudas in the guilt of it hanges himselfe: in this verse his owne Accuser, in the next his owne Executioner. Nay, vengeance would not leave him so. That death he merited as a Theefe. Like Corah, and his Complices, the Treacher must not die the death of other sinners; God will make a new thing: Iudas shall burst, and his bowels shall gush out. His mouth, sceleratum Os, S. Cyprians terme, his wicked mouth had kist Christs face, that face, which Angels had long longd to looke on, twas not fit his impious soule should passe that way. He let in Sathan by his Soppe; and his guest burst forth with his soule through his belly.’

‘This was Iudasses sin, Treacherie. His surname, ever cald before Iudas Iscariot, changd for it, and he cald ever after, Iudas the Trai­tor. Such a sinne, as better he never had beene borne, better a Mil­stone had beene hanged about his necke, and hee throwne into the Sea, then have committed it. The Church though very chary in censuring the dead, hath made no dainty to define of him, as of a reprobate & damned man.’ Hath it not Christs warrant? himselfe had stild him the child of perdition. A fearefull name, and given to none, but to Antichrist; and him. Both are Iscariots, men of Treachery: and God hath sentenc't both; that Iscariot, that is, Homo traditionis should be Filius perditionis, the wicked treacher should have reward in Hell. That is his [...], the treachers proper place, Act. 1. 25. ‘Peters sinne great, to deny Christ, a sinne worthy of bitter teares: but a moate to this Beame, to betray Christ: but a little Gnat to this Camell sinne. For that of Peters was but of weakenesse; this of Iudas of most malitious wickednesse.’

To end this. Treacherie is a sinne, hatefull even to Heathens. Odi proditorem whether Philips Apophthegm, or Antigonus, or Augustus, Grammatici certant. Though treacherie in warre profit sometime the enemy; yet the treacher is abhorred. Rahab would not betray the spies, nor the Captaine S. Paul, Act. 23. He was his prisoner; neither he would himselfe, nor would hee suffer others, make him away un­lawfully. Say Iudas hated Christ; haply hee had censurd him some­time for some sinne: some thinke so. He might have done, as others did, they Disciples too, being offended at Christs words, they went backe, and walkt no more with him. Say, in his hate, hee wisheth hee were dead, Quem quisque edit, perusse expetit: must he be his betrayer? Saul gave just cause to David to hate him; and he had him in his hands; yet would not hurt him, would not let Abishai touch him. Let the Lord smite him, when and how hee pleas'd; but his hand should not hurt him.

Say, Christ must die, to save mankind; some excuse him so: must it needes be by treachery? Hee knew the whole Sanhedrim, Priests, Scribes and Elders, High Priests and all, had consulted how to take him, and to put him to death. Quid opus est te? there were heads and hands enough without him. But they durst not take him in the day, they feard the people. And they might mistake him in the night: being with the 12. they could not discerne betweene Master and Disciple. They could not come by him, but by treacherie. Iudas a Disciple, his owne domesticall Disciple will betray him. ‘An act so odious, and infa­mous, that the Iewes that had patiently heard S. Stevens long apo­logie, borne many tart Titles, stiffe-neckt, uncircumcised rebells against God, sonnes to bloody persecutours; when once hee came to call them betrayers of Christ; then their hearts brast for anger, and they gnashed at him with their teeth; yea they ranne on him, and stoned him.’ Enough of the Act; come to the Object.

‘Let one that will sinne, weigh well against whom: the Object of­ten 4 aggravates the Act. Betray not any man; but especially the In­nocent. Iudas did: Majus peccatum habet, his sinne is the more sinne­full. God gives in Scripture many caveats for the Innocent: that they bee not slaine, that none lie in waite for them, none take rewards a­gainst them.’ Nay, Christ checkes the Pharisees for but censuring them, Matth. 12. Have not to doe with that just man, saith Pilates wife. ‘Treacherie is all odious; but against the Innocent, the Act is execra­ble. God is their speciall Guardian:’ he that trepasses them, sinnes against Heaven, and against him. Iudas sayd to the Scribes, Quid mihi dabitis, What will you give mee, and I will deliver him? He rather should have thought of God, Quid mihi dabit is, what will hee give me, if I deliver him?

‘Iudas knew Christ Innocent; for you heare him heere acknow­ledge it.’ Had he not beene, (for so some Heretickes say in Epiphanius, that Iudas betrayed him [...], as a malefactour, a perverter of the Law; and you know, how opprobriously the Pharisees repor­ted him, opprobriously, but calumniously,) But say he had beene so, a [Page 176] ‘Glutton, an unmeasurable drinker of wine, a Sabbath-breaker, a Sa­maritane:’ yet ought not Iudas have betraied him for all that: no, not have complain'd him; he had plaid the Sycophant so. Ioseph Ma­ries husband, seeing his wife bigge, before they came together would not [...] make her a publike example, by accusing her, because (saith the Evangelist) he was a just man. Had Iudas beene just too, hee would not have detected Christ, not bewraied him, muchlesse betrai'd him, had he beene nere so [...], nere so bad a man. ‘David calls him his Friend: tis the part not of a Friend, but of a Fiend, to be perfidi­ous. Ionathan would not betray David his friend, no not to his Fa­ther. But being innocent too, not [...] not [...], as the Towne-Clarke said of Saint Pauls companions, no Blasphemer, no Church­robber, no Denier of Caesars tribute, not guiltie of any thing,’ for which the Scribes might justly lay hold on him; [that the Iudge himselfe could say, ‘what evill hath he done] What an iniquitie, what an impietie was this of Iudas, to betray a guiltlesse, an innocent man!’

‘An Innocent man? Thats litle. A Theefe, a Leacher, a Traytor, may be innocent. A Leacher arraign'd for a robbery, which hee wrought not; and suffering death for it, thers innocent bloud. A Felon endited of Treason not done by him, and dying for it, theres innocent bloud too. Christ is not onely innocent, quitlesse of crime, worthy death, or bands: the Prophets, and other holy men of God were innocent so. All his Disciples were. Iudas himselfe haply in­nocent so too. He is in their number, whom Christ called innocent, Matth. 12. 7. Christ is more; hee is Iust, Pilats wives terme, Pilats owne terme: that title too straight too. You heard Ioseph cald Iust, so was Zachary, so was Iob, and many other. Christ was utterly with­out sinne; not guiltlesse, but faultlesse: I find no fault in him, Pilats speech too, no fault at all in him;’ and surely Pilat would not be par­tiall; and tis with an Ecce too before it, Iohn 19. 4. Herod cloathed him in a white vesture; and it was not otiosum, Saint Ambrose saith, it was not idle, but significant, that Iudas a theefe before, plaies the theefe here againe, Latro divinae gloriae, robbes Christ of his right, calls him but onely innocent. The envious fellow grudged him before the ointment, here is due commendation. He knew him more, saw him more, than onely innocent, harmelesse alone; saw him fulfill all righteousnesse. ‘He was [...], Iustin Martyrs terme, void of all sinne: Gods Lambe without spot, [...], Saint Peters words, sine macula, sine momo, not onely without sin, but without any darer to charge him with sinne.’ All men have their Momos, their Censurers, be they never so upright, ‘that rather than faile, if they find no vice, will carpe at vertue. But Christ was without challenger. Yea the Councell to condemne him, were faine to seeke false witnesses, but could find none: and though many came, yet found they none, saith the Evangelist. [...] Momos himselfe could finde no fault in him. This was the Object of this odious Act of Iudas Treacherie: he betraied, not a Trespasser, a Transgressour of the Law, but a just man, the innocent; and him, not to bonds, not to banishment, but to death; the last point in my Text, Betraying innocent bloud.’

‘This Act of Iudas Treacherie how odious hath it beene in the Sub­ject, and the Object? The Project now remaines; that aggravates it more. The end of this Act is the bloud of this Innocent. Malice ends not but with bloud, Death must determine it. Twas the devils end. Christ came to dissolve the workes of the devill; the devill sought to dissolve him. The Scribes and Elders end; they consulted how to take, and kill him: not to take him onely, but to slay him too; [...], Saint Lukes terme, to take him away, to make him away; and tis Iudas end here; he saith, he hath sinned, in betraying Innocent bloud. Not in betraying, onely the innocent, he rests not there. His guiltie conscience makes him put in all, innocent bloud. Christ foretold it hard before, The Sonne of man, Tradetur, shall be betraied, theres the Act; Vt crucifigatur, to be Crucified, theres the end. They might have imprisoned him, as they did the Apostles: that sufficed not. They might have added stripes; the Iudge profer'd it, Shall I chasten him, saith Pilat, and let him goe? Nor would that serve neither, hee must die: [...], away with him, two tolle's; nothing will content him, but his bloud. Iudas his sinne here is not bare Treacherie, but Murther too.’ His Surname sutes this also, as some interpret it, Iscarioth, a man of Death. David paires in the Psalme, the bloudy and deceitfull man. Both meete in this Monster, a false Treacher, and a man of Bloud. His money therefore called, the Price of bloud; the Field it purchased, Aceldama, the field of bloud.

‘To conclude; be both these termes (if you please, and some make them so) Object of his Act. Then must his innocencie be considered last; it aggravates the bloud. Will a murtherer needs shead bloud, will a Treacher needs betray bloud? Let it yet be guiltie bloud, some Malefactours bloud. Say Absalon slay Ammon, a Ravisher of his sister; Ioab stabbe Absalon, a Rebell, and a Murtherer? Iustus autem quid fecit? But what (saith David) hath the righteous done? Nay Christ (Pilat could say) What evill hath he done? Mans bloud, all precious: his bloud, that sheds it, shall be shed. But specially guiltlesse bl [...]ud; Vriahs bloud, Naboths bloud. More than that, Saints bloud, Abels, Stevens, John Baptists: Right deare (saith David) is their death in Gods sight. But Christs bloud▪ the Lords bloud, it is [...] (as Saint Pe­ter termes it) precious bloud indeed. All the other was the bloud but of the sonnes of men, this of the Sonne of God. The best of the o­ther but Gods Saints bloud; this Gods Sonnes bloud, Gods owne bloud, Acts 20. 28. Iudas betraies to Death, the Lord of Life. Call'd I him Cains sonne? Iudas justifies his Sire; Cain was but Homicida, Iudas is Deicida, Saint Bernards terme. Cain murthered but a man, [Page 178] Iudas betraies to death Gods Sonne, Gods selfe. Is not this a sweet Saint to be adored? Yet he was. Cerinthus honored him. Yea, both him, and Cain, a desperate wretch too, the first bloudsheader and treacher in the world, these, a paire of Parricides, yet a sort of Heretickes sham'd not to be saint him. That innocent bloud, which he betraied be a sa­tisfaction for all our sinnes, his Father pardon us, his Spirit governe us:’ To which three blessed Persons of the Sacred Deitie, &c.

THE six weekes fast in Lent is chargd with super­stition, Popish superstition. This weeke as well as it. Vnjustly both. Neither popish; both were 1200. yeares agoe; Popery was not then. Nei­ther superstitious; but founded both on holy grounds. Lent as by-past, I passe by; this pre­sent praies Apologie. Aske you, why they de­vis'd these three dayes fast? my Text fits you an answer; He sent [...]vill Angels among them. In the reigne of Clodoveus, Earthquakes affrighted France, Woolves and other wilde beasts wor­ried much people, and fire from heaven fell on the Kings Palace. The then Bishop of Vienna caused on these three dayes, for the appeasing of Gods wrath, a generall Fast, and Letanie; and a provinciall Synod made it an annuall ordinance. This pious constitution begun first in France, 100. yeares after was seconded at Rome by Pelagius Bishop there, upon the like occasion of Gods evill angels, sent also among them, Inundations of waters, and great Pestilence, and time spread that observance of the three Rogation dayes through out all▪ the we­sterne Churches. So intituled of the Liturgie used at that time; be­cause in the Letanie the people cry, Te Rogamus Domine, at the end of every petition, Wee beseech thee to heare us, good Lord. This for the time; now for the Text.

I reade it, as you have it in the ordinary Psalmes, He sent, &c. The words are few, but have three termes, an Agent, Hee; the Act, sent [Page 180] evill angels; the Object, among them. All three darke, without glosse: Hee, i. God; sent evill angels, i. Plagues; among them, i. the Aegypti­ans. Gods vengeance on both King and People, for detaining Israel. The 10. plagues of Aegypt are famous in the world. A plague signifi­eth a stroake. The smiter is named Vers. 21. the holy one of Israel. The smitten, Vers. 43. Aegypt and Zoan; the strokes are exprest in their particulars from Vers. 44. to 51.

Hee, in the holy tongue is (as Rabbins say) one of Gods names. That little skills; tis not here in the originall. But that God here is meant the Author of this Act, the sender of these Angels, that skills much. Thrice in the Gospel it is askt of Christ, Quis est iste, who is this? His wonders caus'd that question. Here are signes and wonders, Ver. 43. wrought by some person, Hee sent; why may we not aske of him▪ quis est Ille, who is Hee? Tis God. Sobriety may aske that; for it tends to Gods glory. The Agent is the Lord. But rest wee there; goe not on to Pharaohs question; he askt▪ Who is the Lord? Hee is an Atheist that askes that. This then here is the first lesson, A Domino factum est istud, the sending of evill angels is Gods act.

It is his act, for tis is his office, to doe justice. Is he not the Iudge of all the world? Abram cald him so once, David often. One act of justice is vengeance, and God claimes it, Mihi vindicta, vengeance is mine. His Prophet proclaimes it, ultio Domini est, vengeance is the Lords. Prophane Heathens knew not this, turnd God into Goddesse, Hee into Shee. Doe not some Papists so too, for, Hee shall bruise thy head, Hee, i. Christ that read, Shee shall bruise thy head, Shee, i. a wo­man. Heathens held Nemesis the goddes of revenge, the punisher of wic­ked men. Thats shee, whom the Barbarians, when the Viper hung upon Pauls hand, cried, vengeance would not let him live, thinking he was some murtherer. Many Christians, not so grosse, to make she▪ Gods, feminine Deities, will yet ascribe all kinds of unkind accidents, befalling either particular persons, or whole states, to dismall and disastrous dayes, to the malevolent aspects of Planets, and the evill influences of other stars, mistake the hoast of heaven for the God of heaven▪ yea (which is worse) to wicked spirits, will impute these evill angels to the Devill and his angels. Haply these secondary causes are imployed; but they all are but meere instruments, the prime author is Gods selfe.

Others haply of simplicitie will not dare make God the sender of these angels. For can that which is evill come from him that is good? These have not learned, that there is Malū poenae, as well as malum culpae, that all evill is not sinne; but the punishment of sinne is cald evill too. That men shall not feare to make God author of that evill, Gods selfe is his warrant, who takes it on himselfe. Is there any evill in a cittie, and the Lord hath not done it? Saith the Prophet, Amos 3. 6. God saies it tenne times in one Prophet, Ego adferam, I will bring evill on the peo­ple. Nor is God therefore not good, because he sends such evill. For is he not just too? Gods attributes non se tollunt invicem, they supplant not one another. Evils come on men, from men, from beasts, from sathan, from all creatures; but they all are but Gods instruments. All evills of punishment whether lighting on the wicked for revenge, or on the [Page 181] godly for their tryall, upon whomsoever, for what cause, or to what end soever, are from God, all.

Shall I instance here in some particulars? It skils for the checke of most mens readinesse, to runne upon the meanes, to curse, and seeke revenge on them, not considering that God sends them. David did not so, when Shemei raild and threw stones at him. The Lord (saith hee) hath bidden him. The Sabees and Chaldeans had rob'd Iob, fire from heaven burnt his sheepe and servants, and a tempest slaine his children; yet Iob cryed, Dominus abstulit, the Lord had taken them. An evill spirit vexed Saul; but [...], sent from God. Fire from heaven, and brimstone burnt Sodom and Gomorrah; the Lord rained it, the text saith. The Philistims were plagued with hemorroids; it was [...], the Lords hand. Mose [...] turnd the waters in Egypt into blood: Pha­raoh thought that but magicke; because his enchanters could doe that. But when lice came upon both men and beasts, the Enchanters them­selves cryed, Digitus Dei est, it was the finger of God. The three dayes pestilence, which slew in Israel 70000. men, God sent it, the Text saith, and David cald it Gods hand. To end this, see in this Psalme how frequent the phrase is, from v. 43. to 51. Hee wrought, hee turnd, hee gave, hee destroyed, he cast, he smote, he sent (saith the Psalmist) evill angels among them.

Indeed the Prophet Esay cals wrath and vengeance alienum Opus, a strange Act, Esa. 28. 21. as if it were not Gods. But thats to show, how mercifull, how long-suffering the Lord is, how slowly, how un­willing he is drawne unto such acts, quicke to save, but slacke to punish. But marke his words, his strange worke, and his strange act, Alienum, but yet Suum, strange, but his. God joyeth more to sit upon his Mer­cy seat, then upon his Iudgement seat. But both the seats are his; Mihi Vindicta, I will revenge, saith God. I leave this Lesson, make but this use of it; Not to be impatient in any adverse accident; thats to mutine against God: Not to avenge our selves unduely upon the meanes thats to fight against God: against whom none ever fought vel Pie vel feliciter, either with religion or successe. Learne Iobs Benedictus, to cry even in Gods Abstulit, blessed be the Lord. Say at least, as old Heli said to young Samuel, Dominus est, it is the Lord. Strive to say in all accidents, be it welcome, what God sends; and thats the next terme in my Text▪ he sent.

Evils come uncald, but not unsent. Are they not heere cald Angels? then are they sent; the word Angell meanes a messenger. Not things onely without life, but not living creatures neither, brute, nor men, not sathans selfe can hurt, unlesse God bid. The three daies darkenesse in Egypt how came it? He sent darkenesse, saith David, Psalme 105. So the haile, thunder, and lightning, the Lord sent them, saith Moses. The frogs, flies, lice, grashoppers, and caterpillers, that infected Egypt, and the Lyons that slew the Idolaters in Samaria, 2 King. 17. the Text saith of them all, Dominus immisit, the Lord sent them. And for Men, am I come (said Rabsakeh) without the Lord? he bad me goe. Yea the devill, the arch▪ evill angell, who seekes to devoure, yet must [Page 182] be sent, ere he can doe ought. The lying Spirit in the mouthes of the false prophets, longd to seduce Ahab, God must first bid, Egredere, goe forth, and doe so. The use of this is easie, without my helpe; Not to feare, doing well; Not man, fiend, any creature can hurt you, God not sending them. But sinning, to feare every thing. The weakest creature can quell the mightiest man, if God bid, goe. [...], a mouse (saith the Poet) will bite a wicked man. Be it proud Herod, great Antiochus; if God but aske the creatures, Quem mittam, which of you shall I send? the worme will answer, Ecce me, send me; I will devoure him. And such poore silie despicable creatures are some of these evill angels in my Text. He sent: what sent he? evill angels, the next thing in this Scripture.

Evill angels? Par dispar, a paire of words, which seeme not well matcht, the latter may say to the former, Quid mihi & tibi, what have I to doe with thee? Angels were the best and holiest of Gods creatures. They all were good, very good, Moses saith; but Angels [...], ex­cellently good. Then is evill here, an evill epithet for Angels. And is never read but heere, and heere (some thinke) not well translated. But the phrase of evill angels hath other meaning heere: evill angels, i. the Angels, i. the messengers of evil. So is it in the Hebrew, not [...], but [...]. Insomuch that some expositors thinke the Psalmist meanes the words of Moses and Aaron; that they were sent from God, to be messengers of evill, i. of all the plagues that God would bring on Egypt. That sense I censure not, but follow not. The Greeke Fathers have an other, that by the evill angels are meant the evill Spirits; Christ cals them angels too, the devils angels. Saint Augustine likes not that sence. The most current exposition is as a Iewish writer speakes, [...], the evill angels are the ten severall plagues. Shall I muster them?

First all their waters turnd to blood, so noxious, that the fish dyed, and no man could endure to drinke it. The next, frogges, in their yardes, houses, kneading troughes, ovens, chambers, beds. Then all the dust of the land turnd into lice, infesting man and beast. Next, swarmes of flies, innumerable, in all roomes of all houses, as well the Kings as Subjects; that it infected the land. Then the murreine of beasts, such as all the cattle perished. Next, blaines and boiles on man and beast, throughout the land. Then the tempest of haile, such as smote every herbe, and brake every tree, with thunder and light­ning, that the fire ranne along the ground. Next, a multitude of Lo­custs, so many that they darkned the aire, and ate up the remainder of the herbes, which the haile spared; that there was not left a greene leafe on herbe or tree throughout all Egypt. Next to that, a thicke dark­nesse, that no one man saw another, nor stirred from the places where they stood for the space of three daies. The last and worst, the first borne dyed in every house, from the fitter on the throne, to the grinder at the mill, and the first borne of beasts also.

These were the evill Angels; they were not evill Spirits. Tis true, that God smits men by Angells, not by evill Spirits onely, but by good [Page 183] Angells too, by their favour, that thinke otherwise. And it is an other wrong conceit, that evill Angells never touch good men. But that good Angells execute Gods wrath, and that both good and evill Spirits pu­nish both the wicked, and the godly too some times, wee finde in Scripture examples in all kinds. Lest, some may not beleeve mee; what Angell smote in Israell 70000. with Pestilence? Angelus Domini, the Lords Angell. Reply not, that an evill Spirit might be call'd so. None ever are so call'd. The Spirit that vext Saul, was Spi­ritus à Domino, a Spirit sent by God, but not Gods Spirit. And for the other scruple; a good Angell made Iacob, lame, and Zacharie dumbe, righteous men both: and the like smote wicked Herod. And an evill Spirit both vexed Saul, and afflicted Iob.

From the two words, learne two Lessons; the first, Gods Iustice, his [...], the second, his Severitie, his [...], Pauls termes both. God rewards sinne with paine. Paine wee account an evill; so is it called here: and if the sinne be great, hee aggravates the paine, either in the weight, or in the number. Evill is here Plurall, God sent Angelos malo­rum, messengers of evills, one plague after another. For the former, God being just, must (as S. Matthewes phrase is in the Gospell) Malos malè perdere, send evill upon evill men. He is not like to Virgils Iupiter, Omnibus idem, the same to all: but as Apollo is pictured with the gra­ces in one hand, and arrowes in the other; so God hath gifts for reward to good men, but shaftes for revenge on thy wicked. Sinnest thou, and tremblest not? Sequitur à tergo ultio, vengeance is at the heeles. Evill will hunt the evill doer. To doubt God to be just, Dementis est, August.

Sinners (it seemes) doubt, would not else adventure. Nay, doth not Scripture warrant them? Saith not Gods selfe, Esay 27. 4. Iranon est mihi, I have no wrath? Hee doth▪ But whom speakes hee to? To the afflicted Israelites; hee hath none against them. Hee hath against the Egyptians, goe no further then this verse, theres wrath, anger, indig­nation. And if a Kings anger be a messenger of death; no m [...]rvell, if Gods wrath here send messengers of evills, [...], saith the Tragicke, looke for it, if thou doe evill, to heare of it; if thou sinne to suffer. Evill shall come, saith Esay, [...] saith Paul, two negatives for the more certainty, thou shalt not escape. Know not God, saith Saint Basil: [...], by halfes, by his mercie onely; hee is just too. He that raines wa­ter, raines fire sometimes saith he. Coelum habet, sed & Tartarum, hath an heaven, saith Saint Cyprian▪ but an hell too. For the latter lesson, Gods Severitie; One being askt, what God doth? Answerd [...] that is, not (as he meant) practiseth Geometrie, but useth in his justice Geome­tricall Proportion; plaies not Virgils Iupiter here neither, is not Omni­bus idem, smites not all sinners alike, but approportions his censure to the sinne. Hee is wroth with all; but this Verse saith, Pharaoh felt the fiercenesse of his wrath. He deserved it. His sinne was out of measure sinfull, incorrigible contumacie. Many were his plagues; for many were his contempts. Be pleased to heare them; they are worthy. Thus saith the Lord, let my People goe. Who is the Lord? saith hee, I will not let them goe. He would not, but used them farre worse then before [Page 184] Must they serve God? hee would make them to serve him. God then began to smite, all the waters became blood. Pharaoh then was content, they should serve God; but it should be there; goe forth they should not. God smote againe: then they should goe, but not farre. A third plague came: let them then goe, but the Men one­ly; their Wives and children should stay, be pledges for their re­turne. A fourth: let Wives goe too, but not Children. A fifth: let Children goe too, but not their Cattell. A sixth: let them goe All, so he might be rid of that. But that done, he repents him, they shall not goe. Thus Pharaoh dallied with God; but God did not with him. The King hardned his heart, the Lord strengthened his hand. Sinne grew in waight, and the plagues grew in number, ti [...]l the Lord made an end of him.

To end this, God corrects his childrens faults with the roddes of men, and the wicked haply too in their lighter sinnes with Solomons whippes: but for their Rebellions he hath a rod of iron, and Rehobo­ams scorpions for the backes of Atheists. And for Number, if they shall dare goe on [...] from one evill to another; God will also pluralize, adde one plague unto another, God will vary judgements, if men shall vary sinnes. You have heard Egypts tenne plagues, God could have sent tenne times as many more. For there is not any Creature, which God cannot use to punish sinners. Plu­rality of plagues is often in the Prophets; feare, pit, and snare, in Esay, elegant in the Hebrew, [...]. A Serpent, a Lyon, and a Beare, in Amos; Sword, Pestilence, and Famine, in Ieremie. You will thinke, I am too long in a matter so delightlesse. I leave it.

There yet remaine two words, but written in small letters, as not found in the Originall. Translators have added them, to make the sense more plaine. Had they not, it had skild little; for they are before in the beginning of the verse; He cast upon them, is all one to say, He sent among them. Yea, He sent among them, sounds closer to the Hebrew. I will onely make use of them, for Application. Among them, i. the Aegyptians. Why did the French first institute these Rogation daies? because God sent evill angels among them, wilde beasts, and earth­quakes, and strange fire from heaven. Why did Rome confirme them, because God sent evill angels among them, Inundation and Pestilence. And hath hee not sent evill angels among us? Why should our zea­lous Brethren censure our yearely observing of these daies, and the Li­turgy assigned to them? Have not wee as urgent reasons to observe both?

To passe by the dayes of our forefathers, our Chronicles may be credited, what befell them. Hath not God often in our dayes, in our land sent sundry evill angels, earthquakes, and fire from Heaven, as he did in France, Inundations and Pestilence, as hee did in Rome, be­sides murraine of cattell and extreame dearth? dyed there not of the Pestilence not many yeares since above 5000. persons in one City in one weeke? Did not the destroyer the very last yeare run through the [Page 185] whole land, so waste some populous townes, that the living scarce sufficed to bury the dead? Twas for our sinnes, God sent him Aske you me for which? Some say, because Idolatry is committed in the land. But there are many other sinnes, for which God sends evill angels among us. Thats no pleasing theme neither, and this dayes Sermon heere is happly my last, I desire to part in peace.

God heare our Te rogamus in our Rogation dayes, in all our daies of Fasts and Supplications, withhold his evill angels all, give true and speedy repentance to us all, blesse, preserve, and save us all, for his Sonne our Saviours sake, the good Angell of his Covenant, Iesus Christ, Cui cum Patre, &c.

THis time requires a Text of Prayer. Tis the Rogation weeke, the Procession weeke some call it, of the Letanie used to be read on these three dayes, which wee call the Procession; but the Latine Writers of Church-Ceremonies, Roga­tiones. For you have there twentie times, Te ro­gamus Domine, Wee beseech thee to heare us, good Lord. Be therefore pleased to heare the ho­ly Word of God, recorded by the blessed Evan­gelist Saint Iohn 16. 23. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever you shall aske the Father in my name, hee will give it you. Christs comfortable promise made to his Disciples, that God will graciously grant all their prayers. This promise he presseth with powerfull protestation; pawnes his Word, I say to you: addes his Oath, Sweares it too, Verily I say; doubles that Oath, Amen, Amen, I say it. But to that double Oath in the Preface, answers a double Provisoe in the Promise: the prayers must be made unto the Father in the sonnes name. Whatsoever yee shall aske the Father in my name, hee will give it you. Of these things, &c.

First, for the Preface. A Promise affirm'd onely is but weake, needs confirming too. Truth, though nere so sound, yet is oft doubted, and craves proofe. Christ to assure us, that wee shall receive, whatso­ever we shall aske, engages his owne Word, Dico vobis, I say to you. A word from some mans mouth is a weake warrant. As the man is, so is his word. If a King protest in verbo Regis, he will looke to be beleev'd; a Noble man will in verbo Honoris; a Cleargie man will in verbo Sacer­dotis. [Page 187] What then will Christ? Not as a Noble man, though he were so, of the linage of David. Not as a King, though he were so too, King of the Iewes. Not as a Priest, though hee were so too, and that of the best Order, of the Order of Melchisedech. But as a Prophet. Pro­phets use not to leaze; they speake from God. Nay, as the Sonne of God, and so Gods selfe. Say, a Prophet may leaze; One did, 1 King. 13. 18. God doth not, Tit. 1. 2. Can not, Heb. 6. 18. Surely the Centu­rion, thought not Christ was God, held him some man of God, some extraordinary Prophet of God; and yet cried, Dic verbum, prayed him but say the Word, that was enough. But as Christ said of Iohn Baptist, I may better say of Christ, he was more than a Prophet. The Word here saith the Word, the Word which was God, Dico vobis, I say to you. So the Word is Gods, and therefore sure. Heaven an dearth shall faile; Gods Word shall not. Christs Dico vobis, shall not faile, I say to you.

But Christ rests not in this; prefac't his Promise with his Word; prefaceth his Word too with an Oath. Christ knew mans incredulitie, had tried his Disciples to be [...], men of little faith, hee will secure them. Worthy was his Word, his bare Word of beleefe; twas band enough. But hee will bind it too. His Word bound his Promise; Oath shall bind his word, Amen I say to you. Iuratio est, tis an Oath, saith Saint Augustine. Many learned Divines thinke it is not. I contend not. Tis at least a vehement protestation; that will serve. It might them; let it us. Onely note; Oath or Protestation, Christ is earnest, doubles it, e­ver doubles it, in this Gospell, in none else; Amen, Amen, I say, to you. Leave the Preface; come to the Promise.

Two Acts in it, Prayer on mans part, Hee must aske; Granting on Gods part, He will give. The Object common to both, Quodcunque, whatsoever. First of the Object. Once I noted before an excellent at­tribute, which Saint Iames gives to God, Iames 5. 11. Hee calls him [...]. There is in Gods goodnesse both [...] & [...], It is both Gra­tiosa & Copiosa, both free and franke. Free, for God sells not, but gives. Franke, tis not sparing, but liberall. Liberall? I wrong God; thats a terme too base for Him. Saint Paul calls it [...] the excee­ding riches of his Grace. Bountie, not Liberalitie; not Bou [...]tie nei­ther, but Munificence; that becomes Majestie.

Kings, gods on earth will grant Quaecunque, whatsoever is craved of them. Salomon did to the Queene of Saba, whatsoever shee would aske. God will much more, can much better; Will, of his goodnesse, hee is [...] the gracious God, Exod. 34. 6. Can, of his Power; hee is [...] the Almightie God, God Omnisufficient. Men can, and will give many things, but not Quaecunque, promise that too. But their Quaecunque hath many Excipees, is not like Gods, Infinite. Give all things, as God doth, absolutely all, Man will not, though he could, can not, though he would. Tis Gods Prerogative. Men, most men denie things when they be askt. The most Munificent, even Princes, call'd for their largesse, [...], gracious Lords, Nedibim in the Psalmes, i. bountifull, send away their suppliants many times unsatisfied. It is in­deede [Page 188] recorded, that Gallienus the Emperour, nunquam quicquam cui­quam, never denied any man any suite. Thats but said in Hyperbole, be­cause he did it seldome. But Solomon denied his owne mother her re­quest. [So did Christ the mother of Zebedees children. Christ could not grant the one, Salomon would not the other.] Twas but a wife, his mother askt, and that for his owne brother. But he answered her anger­ly, you are best to aske the kingdome too. But aske God any thing, quodcunque; whatsoever, a kingdome, if you will, [not halfe a one, as Herod offer'd his stepdaughter, and Assuerus to his Queene; but a whole kingdome] God will give it. Christ hath said it, It is your Fathers pleasure to give you a kingdome. Earth hath nothing, Heaven hath not, which God will not grant, if man will but aske. Not quaecunque onely, but quotcunque too, how many things soever. The Greeke word is pregnant, may meane both, doth meane both. Bee thou strict in thy suite, in thy humility; God will be large in his grace, in his benigni­ty; will give thee more then thou askest. He gives [...], richly, saith the Apostle. Salomon askt wisedome, God gave him it; and wealth and honour too. Iacob askt bread onely, and cloathes. God gave him that, and much substance besides. Men doe Iniquum petere, ut aequum ferant, looking for lesse, aske more in policie. But God in his bounty will give more, then man in his modesty may aske. Leave the Object, heare the Act.

Theres another Act followes, tis Gods to give: but tis fit Man goe first to aske. Christ still so marshalls them. [...] goes before [...], Matth. 7. 7. Theres an old heresie in Clemens Ales, [...], that prayer is unnecessary; God gives blessings unaskt; prayer is [...], meerely superfluous. Hee does; thats his great gratiousnesse, travels so with goodnesse, that he will not stay the asking, prevents prayer: Like the prodigall sonnes father, runnes forth to meete him, kisses, & imbraces him, before hee can speake to him. David prevented God, he sayes, Psal. 88. meanes, he rose early to pray. He must rise early, that will prevent God. But by Davids leave, God prevented him, mo­ved his spirit to pray; else he had not. Noveris te quaesitum antè, quàm quaerentem, Bern. God bids thee seeke; but seekes thee first; yea is found of thee unsought. Rom 10. 20. David confesses it, cries Praeveni­sti, Psal 21. Gods blessings had prevented him. God gives men many things Nescientibus, Chrysost. they not aware of it. David prayed, the plague might cease, 2 Sam. ult. 17. God before had cryed sufficit, had bid the Angell hold his hand, vers. 16.

But Gods prevention is no dispensation, quits not our duty. We must looke at his commandment, not his grace; doe what hee bids; hee bids us pray. God will open his hand; but man must open his mouth. Prayer must be mans Oratour, his Interpretor to God, to show him our requests, Saint Paul saies, Phil. 4. 6. Now God needs none, you will say; he knowes our hearts. Hee does: yet he will have it so: and though he often gives unaskt; yet he lets us often want, because wee aske not. Saint [...]ames saies expresly, You have not, because you aske not. Wee neede but aske; but aske we must. Orate, petite, both Christ and his Apostles have it often.

An honorable exercise, us'd even by the Angels, [...], Chrysost. their Act, as well as ours. Yea by Christs selfe; he prayed often. Clavis coeli, Aug. the key of heaven. Hee ment haply Aerial heaven, the Clouds, which by prayer Elias opened and shut, fetcht what weather it pleas'd him, drougth or raine. I will say under correction, Clavis pa­radisi, the key of the Etheriall heaven too. The theefe upon the Crosse by prayer opened it. Yea the God of heaven hath nothing, which he denies it; Ascendit oratio, descendit Miseratio, God hath no grace, which he grants not unto prayer.