A Century of Sermons

and it sat upon each of them. It sat? Why we spoke of Tongues in the Plural number before; What Enallage is this? Cajetan, and the most Divines interpret it that the fire sat upon each of them. Calvin by a Metonimy of signi pro re signatâ, that the Spirit sat upon each of them. The Syrian Paraphrast refers it directly to the Tongues, and puts it in the Plural number, sederunt, they sat upon each of them. Indeed, to refer it to many Tongues, and yet to make the Verb of the Singular number is the best exposition of all, it sat, to show that it is one Holy Ghost in the administration of divers gifts, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as I said before, one root and many stalks, There are diversity of operations, but it is the same Lord that worketh all in all, 1 Cor. xii. 6. But upon whom did they descend and sit? For now I make haste. Upon everyone of the hundred and twenty that were gathered together? Or upon the Apostles only? Somewhat is in it, that when all are named to whom this fire appeared, all to be filled with the Holy Ghost, yet the Tongues are said to sit upon each of them. In two ancient Copies some of our Critics say that the Text runs, they sat upon each of the Apostles, and I think that a very probable gloss. The Reasons are, First, the Spirit in some particular manner was promised to them only, Acts i. 7. Secondly, when some Scoffers said they were full of new wine that had the gift of Tongues, St. Peter makes his apology for himself and the Eleven only. Thirdly, it is said hereupon that they all spake or preached the mighty things of God. This befits the Apostles, and not those one hundred and twenty, among whom was the Blessed Virgin, and other women, whose office it was not to preach. Fourthly, the standers by said, Are not all these of Galilee that speak with divers tongues, which was true in the Apostles, now Judas was taken away, but very improbable to agree to all the rest. Howsoever let there be no discord about this, it is not worth the while; no more is the next query upon what part of them the Cloven Tongues did sit? That is not expressed, but in all likelihood it was their head, for thereunto all Expositors do give their suffrage. The Spirit must be in summo loco, we must give it, and the inspiration thereof the pre-eminence in all things. These Tongues, says Gregory, did encircle about their head, Ut novae coronae spirituales capiti eorum imponerentur, as if the King of heaven had crowned them with spiritual Crowns from heaven. They are ridiculous among the Pontifician Writers that would fetch it from hence that Christ did ordain the Apostles Bishops at this time, and used this Ceremony to touch their head from heaven, for Consecratio Episcoporum est in capite, as they urge it out of Clemens Constitution: For another while they confess that the Episcopal character, and all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and authority was given them in those words, As my Father sent me, so do I send you.

These things being thus put out of the way, the main Doctrine agreed on all hands is, that the sitting of the Tongues did betoken the constant abiding of the Spirit, he is no flitter, he doth not come with a lick and away, but his gifts are without repentance. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , so St. Chrysostom, and his true follower Oecumenius, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , both agree that the Spirit was settled upon them, not to depart away. It is a fire like that on the Altar, permanent and never going out; according to our Savior's Promise, Joh. xiv. 16. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter, that may abide with you forever. Some of the Schoolmen find a knot in this plain Doctrine, whether the Apostles, and all upon whom the Spirit did now abide were confirmed in grace. Certain Ecclesiastical Historians trouble them in their conclusions, who say that Nicholas the Deacon, from whom the Nicolaitans were derived, and many other ring-leaders of Heretics were present at this time, and although the Spirit descended upon them, yet they forsook their first faith. The answer is, if these stories be Authentical, these gifts were gratiae gratis datae, not gratum facientes; Gifts which God did graciously give, not gifts which made them gracious to God that received them. And the continuance and residency of these tongues is established in these words, that the Comforter whom Christ would send should abide with them forever; that is, it should abide in the Church, that is in them, and in their Successors unto the ends of the world, till Christ should come again in glory, as I will open upon the next verse. AMEN.

THE FOURTH SERMON UPON THE Descent of the Holy Ghost.

A LL the joy which we celebrate for the famous acts of Christ is irksome to the Devil; and the particular Solemnities, which we keep, are grievous to those that shut their eyes against the truth. Upon the yearly day of our Savior's Nativity the Jew is sad and displeased, because he believes not, that he that was born of Mary a pure Virgin was the Son of God, and the Messias whom their Fathers looked for, that should sit upon the Throne of David for evermore. Upon the high Feast of his Resurrection the Sadducee gnasheth with his teeth, because he denieth that the dead can be raised to life. So upon this triumphant Feast, wherein we abound with comfort for the sending of the Holy Ghost, the Pelagian is malecontented, who is an enemy to the efficacy of Grace, and the more cause we have to maintain the dignity of it, and to be thoroughly disciplined what the Holy Ghost hath wrought for our Soul, because the Church is miserably soured of late in all places with the leaven of Pelagius. Again, as all the parts of our Savior's Mediatorship were several degrees to advance our Salvation, and like the several steps of Jacob's Ladder to bring us nearer and nearer to Heaven, so in this comparison the sending of the Holy Ghost is the loftiest degree, and as it were the top of the spire, which is next neighbor to the Kingdom of Glory: for as man in his first creation had but an incomplete being, till the Lord breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so man in his reparation was but incompletely restored, till Christ did send the Comforter to infuse into him the breath of sanctification. This day therefore is the concluding Feast of all the great days, wherein we rememorate the noble works of our Lord; and to go further, this Text is the upshot of all the blessings that were conferred upon the Church in this happy day. Christ took our nature upon him that he might die for our sins; he suffered and was crucified that he might reconcile all such to his Father as would repent and believe: repentance and faith to please God cannot enter into the heart of the natural man by his own abilities; a power from Heaven must be the means to bring that about, which is so repugnant to our corrupt nature. Traverse over the mystery of our Redemption, and you shall find that the work is at a stand, till supernal grace poured in do draw it forward: as Physicians say that spiritus est ultimum alimenti, the last concoction, and the most refined part of our nourishment is that which makes the spirits; so the donation of the Holy Spirit is the accomplishment and final resolution of all the benefits which we partake in Christ.

And the last payment collated by that precious liberality to enrich the Church forever is here in my Text: nay indeed it was but a preparation before, the talent of grace was not tendered till now. That which was set forth in figure in the former verses, is here exhibited in real substance. Before a rushing wind made a noise, here was the very thing imparted which was shadowed by the wind: before certain firy tongues made a glittering that sat upon their head, now their own tongues became most fluent, and voluble with wonderful eloquence. In brief, to the exact building up of the Church two things were required, which are not wanting, but abound in this verse: First that the Lord should speak unto the Heart; Secondly, that he should speak unto the Ear, by an invisible word and by a visible: He spake invisibly to the Heart, when they were all filled with the Holy Ghost; he spake visibly to the Ear, when his Ministers began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Nay more, to gather a Society together, whose Labors should be dispread over all the world, it was expedient that the Lord should confer both ordinary and extraordinary Gifts upon them: His ordinary Blessing (and indeed nothing is blest without it) is some quantity of Sanctification; his extraordinary Blessing is twofold, to send such as are not lightly sprinkled, but filled with the Spirit, and to speak with divers Tongues, that their sound may go forth into all the World. Yet again, to show the Amplitude of God's allowance to his Primitive Church, he makes a double provision, first for every Disciple, as he is one Member of this Body, and so all and everyone of them were filled with the Holy Ghost, and then he provides for all the Members of his Body junctim in one union and communion, they began, &c. so that here's the inward and the outward blessing, the ordinary and the extraordinary, the particular and the universal. The inward, ordinary, and particular blessing is this, that they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.

If you look for the provision with which the Primitive Church was stored, look for it in this Chapter, and you will find out upon judicious survey that there are three things which make it plenteous with all manner of store, Pastores, Verbum, and Spiritus; First certain Pastors allotted to the sacred Function to guide the souls of the People. 2. the Word of life which is put into their mouth to be preached unto all Nations. 3. The Spirit of grace accompanying the Word, to make it fruitful and prolificous in the hearts of them that hear it and obey it. That some were ordained Pastors and Bishops to teach and rule the Church, that's clear, the Apostles met together in Jerusalem with one accord, as Christ had appointed, and the Cloven Tongues which came from Heaven sat upon each of them, that was their Commission to take their Bishopric upon them: that the Word was delivered unto them which they should preach, and Elocution to impart that Word to every Kingdom and Language, that's as clear. Eight times in this one Chapter St. Peter quotes the Scripture of the Old Testament, and with divers tongues according to the capacity of all the Nations and Languages that were met together; and that the Holy Ghost was infused with much abundance at the same time, that's as clear and pregnant as the rest, 'tis twice gone over in my Text, both in the beginning, and in the end, they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and the Spirit gave them utterance. A Church without lawful Pastors is but a Synagogue of Schismatics; a Pastor without a Tongue is but an Idol Shepherd, or a dumb Dog: a Tongue without the power of the Spirit is but sounding Brass, or a tinkling Cymbal: As St. Paul said of the three grand Theological Virtues, Now abideth Faith, Hope, Charity, these three, but the greatest of these is Charity; so I say of these necessary parts that constitute the Church the Ministry, the Word, and the Spirit, but the chiefest and most excellent of these is the Spirit. In some strange manner God may have a Church without a consecrated Priesthood, as when Adam and Eve were first placed in Paradise; he may have a Society of holy Servants without the Word taught and proclaimed by the organ of a Tongue, as the Angels are illuminated to know his will by immediate inspiration; but with reverence let me speak it, I cannot see which way the Lord can have a Church without the Gift of the Holy Spirit. God may be known by his wonderful works and effects without his special grace; but can he be present in the soul of man, and make it blessed by knowing his Divine will to please him without his special grace? Praesens est in quantum praesentem facit beatitudinem; if he make all his good to pass before us, it must be by these means, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, Exod. xxxiii. 19. Those creatures that seek no higher perfection, nor greater good than a temporal being, and that which is found within the compass of their own nature they may attain thereunto by the strength of nature without any other help; but Men and Angels that seek an infinite and Divine good, that is everlasting happiness, which consisteth in the vision of God, they cannot attain their wished end, which is so much removed from them, and so far above them, unless they be lifted up unto it by a supernatural force of grace. Eternal felicity is the Haven to which they sail, and it is no ordinary wind, but the stiff gale of the Holy Spirit that must bring them to the Port of endless glory; that is, they cannot ascend of themselves, they may be lifted up to the Vision of God: especially Man since his woeful fall (they are the words of the tenth Article of our Church) can have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God without the grace of God by Christ preventing him, that he may have a good will, and without the same grace working with him when he hath a good will. Natural habilities and inclinations at the best reach no further than to dispose all things well for the honor and preservation of the natural being, but when we are put to it, and become content, yea and rejoice to lay down our life for Christ's sake, which is the abolition of the natural being, this vigor and strength must come from a supernatural influence, that is from the fire of the Spirit, which is predominant above the breath of nature.

This hath given you satisfaction, I suppose, that it did more import the Church to receive the Spirit than any other benefit. I draw forward to a more distinct inspection of it: and the first scruple about which I find a difference is this, Whether the very Person of the Holy Ghost be meant in this place, or only certain impressions of his Gifts and Graces? I will straighten myself to a short answer, both the Person of the Holy Ghost was here, and the virtue of the Holy Ghost, that which sat upon the head of each of them in cloven tongues as it were, was the infinite Majesty of the third Person of Trinity in that apt and visible similitude: but that which filled them was not the very essence but the operation of the Spirit. Implet non seipso formaliter, sed dono quod producit, say the Schoolmen; he that filleth all things with his presence, cannot be said formally to fill one thing more than another; but he that blows where he listeth with his inspiration, is said to fill those whom he sanctifies, not with his essence, but with that inspiration. The Founder of School Divinity is noted for one error above the rest, that he makes the Grace of God to be no effect of the Holy Spirit, but the essence of the very Spirit to purify the thoughts and mind. He stuck too literally to St. Austin, and so wandered from the right way. For thus that Father preaching upon my Text, Christ was present with his faithful Servants this day, not by his Visiting Grace, but by his Personal Majesty; atque in vasa non jam odor balsami, sed ipsa suba sacri defluxit unguenti; their vessels were not only perfumed with the odour of the sweet Ointment, but that fragrant Balsam, the very Unction itself did flow abundantly into them. To this it is most proper to rejoin, that St. Austin meant it of the extraordinary Apparition of the Holy Ghost upon this day, not of his ordinary inspiration: For in the same Sermon he says, that the immortal Spirit is vicarius successor redemptoris, the Deputy to succeed our Savior in the Church, now he is gone away on high. But how is he Christ's Deputy, not as if by his personal communication he wrought his gifts in us, but thus, quod Salvator inchoavit, peculiari virtute Spiritus Sanctus consummat, the faith which Christ did begin in his Apostles by teaching them daily, the Holy Ghost did perfect by the special virtue of sanctification. No Text doth more evidently convince that the infinite and increated essence of the Spirit is to be distinguished from the finite and created qualities which he infuseth, then those words, Jo. vii. 39. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters; but this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ▪ those are all the words in the Text, for the Holy Ghost was not yet, we make it up, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given. But stand we to the words of Scripture, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the Holy Ghost was not yet: This will never hold without differencing the third Person of Trinity from his sanctifying effects; the Person was before, and had no beginning, but nondum erat manifesti muneris efficacitate, says Theophylact, as yet he was not revealed in his plentiful efficacity. The close of the Point is thus, the very Person of the Holy Ghost came down into the place where they were gathered in an external visible form, and his effects or efficacy was breathed into them in wonderful gifts.

But concerning those gifts wherewith they were filled there's another scruple, whether they were saving graces, such as are collated upon them that are the Elect of God, or whether they were only miraculous assistances, as Prophecies, Gifts of Tongues, Gifts of Healing, and the like, which are impressions indeed of the Holy Ghost, not that they sanctify him which hath them, but they are given to men for the confirmation of the holy Faith. That which brings this into doubt is a Tradition that hath no good founder, that some Apostates and Revolters (as Nicolas the Deacon, from whom the Nicolaitans are derived) were some of this Assembly, that are said to be filled with the Holy Ghost, and it is not to be contradicted, but that gratiae gratis datae, habilities to work miracles may be in those that make shipwreck of a good conscience. Yet that Exception, though it may hold in others, yet it is not to be applied to these persons, and to this season; not to these persons, for it is most likely that none but the Apostles were partakers of the Divine illumination, which came from Heaven upon this day: and the Apostles, no man calls it in question, had the talents of that grace delivered unto them, which saved their souls. Ir is a masterless and a false fame that any castaways were in the number of these that were filled with the Holy Ghost. Christ himself is said to be full of the Holy Ghost, Luke iv. 1. and the Blessed Virgin gratiâplena, full of grace: and St. Stephen the Captain of all Martyrs, full of the Holy Ghost, Acts vi. and Barnabas the Son of Consolation full of the Holy Ghost, Acts xi. None but such as were peerless Saints are deigned with that praise: to give this scruple a full satisfaction, regard the time and season wherein this dew of heaven did drop down into the Fleece of wool, it is the day so long before promised, wherein the Spirit should be poured out upon all flesh, the scaturigo, the first spouting out of the Spirit; and do you think that this being the original from whence the spring began, that all the best Balsams and Liquors did not flow into them that received it? I resolved therefore, that these persons in my Text did not only partake such gifts as made them wonderful in the eyes of the world, but such also as made them holy and acceptable in the sight of God: that is, it did not only speak in their tongues, but it was diffused in their hearts. To end this matter, remember what manner of spirit that is which God bestows, it is from above, it is holy, it is not our own but Christ's; a Spirit from above, and not from beneath: as St. Paul says, Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but of God, 1 Cor. ii. 12. Spiritus mundi est per quem arripiuntur phanatici, says St. Ambrose, that's the spirit of this world with which phanatical men are led, which drives them into contention, or vain glory; but they are enemies to peace, and savor not the things which belong to God. And since we are bidden to deny ourselves, if we will be Christ's Disciples, we must also deny our own private Spirit, and submit ourselves to the Spirit of the Church, which is the Spirit of God, for our Savior hath promised to be with it unto the end of the world. Take heed of this hot windy humor, which makes some cleave pertinaciously to their own imagination, and attribute far more to their own ignorant judgment than becomes them. The Spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets: but if any one think that some new mysteries are revealed to him, which the Church never heard of before, and begin to trouble our peace with his falsesly pretended raptures and enthusiasms, I say unto such in Ezekiel's words, Woe unto the foolish Prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing.

Thus far I have spoken of the Gift, which was given to the Apostles to supply the room of Christ himself, now he was gone and ascended into Heaven. Hominem portavit in coelum, & Deum misit in terram, says St. Austin, he carried away his Manhood into Heaven, and instead thereof he sent down God unto the Earth, I mean the Holy Ghost: and this Gift, more worth than all the world beside, is his usual and continual favor, but the measure of it is more than ordinary, repleti sunt omnes, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And Leo did very well to mark it, that this was not spiritus inchoans, but cumulans, not the initiation but the accumulation of the Spirit, the augmenting of the old stock, which the Apostles had in a good quantity before, not the beginning of a new. They had the Spirit before, as appears particularly in St. Peter, when Christ told him he had prayed that his faith might not fail, therefore he had a portion of faith. In general it is most manifest, that Christ breathed on them all, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. But as it appears by Elisha 's request to his Master Elias, there are single, and there are double Portions of the Spirit; there is a single Talent of Grace given to one Servant, two to a second, and five Talents committed to him that was most entrusted by his Master: there are such as have a little of this Manna in their Omer, and them that have it top full: And these that received the Holy Ghost at this Feast were such as were not sprinkled, but replenished with it, quibus nulla pars animae mansit carens spiritu sancto, says Cajetan, the fruits of sanctification did not grow thinly in them, here a berry, and there a berry upon the top of a bough, but pious conformity to God's will, obedience and the fear of the Lord were in every faculty of their soul and body. The Romanists oftentimes put in such impertinent cautions, that their bedging in of some needless exception lays waste the truth of God. Among others of that bad stamp this is one, that the Apostles and other holy men are said to be filled at this time with the Holy Ghost, because an Increase was put to that which they had before, but the Blessed Virgin was so full before, that she received not any new addition; or if she received a new distillation of it now, illud erat ut in nos tantum effunderet says Lorinus, it was for our sakes that it might overflow, and be transfused from her to us: even as Christ was full of grace and truth from the first moment that he was incarnate, and yet for our sakes the Spirit came upon him, when he was baptized in Jordan, Matth. iii. a most scandalous comparison between the Infinite and the Finite, between the Creator and the Creature; for though Christ thought it no robbery to be equal with God, Philip. ii. yet it is a great robbery of the Divine honor to make the Blessed Virgin equal with Christ. But to keep to mine own work, the Apostles had an earnest penny of the Spirit before, but they came to the fullness of it by degrees: first they were baptized, and so had an introduction unto sanctity; afterward Christ breathed on them, that was their proficiency: last of all came this mighty rushing, and cloven tongues as it were fire, and sat upon each of them, that's their perfection: by nature and of themselves they were of the earth earthly, but they were regenerate and born again in Baptism, that's an Element above the Earth. The next step of their heavenly promotion was, that the Lord breathed on them, so the Air is above the Water. In conclusion the Holy Ghost came down upon them in fire; this is a sign that they were now full to the brim, for that's the Element which is above the Water and the Air, and is the next to Heaven. And well may it be called a fullness, not that the Vessel of any of their hearts was so replenished, but that God could have poured in more, if it had seemed good unto him; for nothing but the essence of God is all sufficient, and can admit of no augmentation; but never was there such copious measure of it either diffused among the Israelites in the Old Law, no nor imparted to us Christians since this Generation did leave the world. Rupertus says upon it, it was now, now when this Ocean of the Spirit was poured out that the Devil was bound, and cast into the bottomless pit, though that is rather to be ascribed to the virtue of Christ 's Passion, and to his blood shed upon the Cross.

When Mary poured a Box of Spikenard very precious upon our Savior 's head, Judas grumbled, and said quorsum perditio? to what end is so much waste? and lest any profane person should so gibe at this blessing, and say to what end was so much plenty and superfluity of the Spirit? take these reasons with you for your use and instruction: and I will begin with two Maxims of reasons. 1. Si natura non deficit in necessariis multo minùs spiritus sanctus, if Nature is furnished with all instruments and faculties fit for its work, surely the Holy Ghost would not be scanty in anything that should conduce to resound the Glory of God over all the world. 2. Speculative men tell us, tantum medii sumendum est, quantum ad finem conducit, he that is a wise Appointer will lay forth so much means as will bring the end to pass. Put these together, and it will follow that here was neither too little, nor too much; nothing wanting, nor yet to spare. The work of the Apostles was the greatest Task that ever was put upon men's shoulders: Christ gave them one Commission which might be discharged with some moderate pains and adventures, to preach unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel. Their second Commission might seem unto flesh and blood insupportable, Go and teach all Nations, &c. How much ground was to be trod? how many deaths to be hazarded? how many subtle Philosophers to be convinced? we preach unto them that are brought up in Religion, and are glad to hear us; they were sent to those that stop their ears at them, and could not endure the name of Christ; their heart therefore, their judgment, their courage, their patience did require a far other proportion of the Spirit than will suffice a common Christian; their filling must be more abundant, because they were to empty it out to so many. And unto whomsoever God hath imparted more copious grace, let him not despise his Brethren, but let him use that plenteous Gift for the benefit of many, for the edification of the Members of Christ's Body, or else the blessing that did adorn him will condemn him.

The next thing we learn is, that we must strive, and contend, and pray for the fullness of the Spirit; it is not every Modicum and pittance of it which will content him that truly loves the Lord. The Son of Sirach says of that wisdom which sanctifieth all things, They that eat me shall be hungry, and they that drink me shall yet be thirsty, Ecclus. xxiv. 21. And very certain none so eager to have more grace as they that have a liberal portion already. None so instant to get ten Talents as he that hath received five. Let Elisha have some enlightenings of a Prophetical Spirit, and then he makes bold to ask that a double portion of Elias his Spirit may rest upon him. Gregory says it is the property of the fruits of the Spirit, Cum non habentur in fastidio sunt, cum habentur in desiderio; They that have them not, either never miss them, or think vilely of them, they that have them do insatiably desire them. It is a sign of a disdainful lothsomness in nature to come to the Fountain of living waters, and to do no more but sip, and wet our lips with it. He that hath a truly heavenly gust of it pleno se proluit alveo. As St. Paul phraseth it, We are all made to drink into one spirit, 1 Cor. xii. 12. Still we shall call for more and more, not because want and dryness doth afflict us, but because desire doth please us. Nemo primo statim die ad satietatem potatur spiritus sancti, says Calvin; no man is made Christian enough in a day to go to the Kingdom of heaven, unless it be in such a rare example as that was of the penitent Thief. It is a false spirit that says unto any mortal man, it is well if you can keep at this stay, and prove no worse. I know the greatest part of indifferent Christians are so affected to carnal content, that if it were possible to measure out to a drachm what quantity of righteousness would serve them to be endued with, that they might attain salvation, they would reach so far if the grace of God would assist them, but would take no care to seek any further. I say, if they knew the trick how to make just a Saint and no more, they would spare a labor for seeking beyond that Point, and for the rest sacrifice to carnal security. Christianum esse probant, minimum esse non probant, as St. Jerome speaks; they do not love a man unless he be a Christian: And again, they will not love him if he be a vehement and an earnest Christian to serve the Lord. Certainly it is a sign that there is no sanctification in that conscience where there is not a studious longing of the soul for an augmentation. The learned among the Heathen love to talk of strange Creatures; and Plutarch tells of a fish, whereof if a man taste but a little it is hurtful, if he eat it up all it is medicinal. True or false be his story it comes fit to be applied, a little holiness will vanish away like a morning mist, as Hosea speaks; nay, it is prone to turn to man's hurt, for when there is but little of it, it turns to hypocrisy; but as God hath given us plenteous redemption in Christ, so we must return him plenteous faith, and plenteous obedience, with all our heart, and with all our soul, and love our neighbor with a plenteous love, even as we love ourselves, and that is to be filled with the Holy Ghost.

Let this be the conclusion of the first part of my Text, the inward donation of the Spirit; the outward exercise of it remains to be handled, They began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. The Spirit which is signified by the wind and inspiration is necessary to all Christians who are invited to faith. But as it appears in Tongues, so it was requisite for them only that were sent to teach all Nations. That is, if God had meant only to make good men of them the wind would have sufficed, but intending to make good Apostles of them he gave them to speak with other Tongues; with other Tongues, which is simply, and without any Periphrasis termed the speaking with Tongues: For when Peter preached to the Gentiles of Cornelius house, Acts. x. 46. the Holy Ghost fell on them, and the Jews heard them speak with Tongues, and magnified God. In St. Mark, our Savior promised his Disciples that they should speak with new tongues, Mar. xvi. 17. not with tongues, such as were never heard before, for that were direct canting, as we call it, and it would turn to no profit of edification, but they were such tongues as were new to them that spake them, and they had the faculty to utter them in a new manner, by a sudden inspiration, and for a new work, which was not begun before, to call all the Gentiles unto the knowledge of salvation, that there may be one Shepherd and one Sheepfold over all the world. And then was verified that of the Prophet David, There was neither speech nor language, but their voices were heard among them, their sound is gone out into all Lands, and their words unto the ends of the world, Psal. xix. The miracle is stupendous, the end of it much more admirable than the miracle. It is a glorious remonstrance of the infinite power above, that from one Tongue and Dialect these holy men should be expert of a sudden to talk with all Nations whom they encountered. The suddenness was wonderful, to get such a volubility, so as Mithridates had never the like, without all study or premeditation. Says Leo upon that circumstance, Quàm velox est sermo sapientiae? Et ubi Deus est Magister, quàm cito discitur quod docetur? The Word of Wisdom runs forth very swiftly, and where God is the Instructer, how soon doth he learn us that which he is pleased to teach us? The multiplicity of that which they were able to utter was most ineffable, their voice did come distinct and intelligible to all people, that they might say Amen with an understanding heart when the name of Jesus is blessed in the Congregation. Quot linguas quis callet, totidem viris aequipollet, as the old saying goes; A man stands for so many men as he can speak Languages, and therefore look how many Tongues one of them could speak, in effect and sufficiency he was so many Apostles.

You see this well enough, I will stand no more upon it, the Miracle was one of the greatest that ever was brought to pass. Even as those Jews that resisted the Holy Ghost were convinced in heart to think so, their astonishment is expressed in three several terms, ver. 6. and 7. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the multitude was confounded, they were all amazed and marvelled. But they did not see the end of it, that it was the opening of the door to bring the Gentiles into the Church, and our induction to be admitted into the number of the people of God. How could our stony hearts be mollified during so many Generations, during the long time of ignorance that no man preached in our Confines to make us understand him, we were Barbarians to him that spake unto us, and he that should speak was a Barbarian to us. The Prophets of the Old Testament that had the will of the Lord revealed to them in all kind of Mysteries, were tongue-tied that they could not express themselves to the Nations that sat in darkness: And as one says very elegantly, Religion before was as the Music of a Monochord, now the Harp of the Apostles was not only ten stringed, but even ten times ten stringed to make a cheerful noise to the God of Jacob. The Tongue which was confined before to the little corner of the world in Palestine, and there only to bless the Creator that made us, is now set at liberty that in all Languages it may glorify the Savior that redeemed us. And as the Fathers do all hit upon it, this is a plain reversing of the curse of Babel, by the blessing that came out of Zion. For as God pulled down that proud Tower which those insolent builders intended by the confusion of tongues, so he built up the new Jerusalem in an instant by the gift of many Tongues: And as diversity of Tongues was a punishment to scatter Infidels for their pride, so diversity of Tongues was made the only means to reduce Infidels that had not heard of the Word of God into the unity of the faith. And they that advanced themselves against heaven, says Gregory, lost the communion of that one Tongue they had, but they that submitted themselves to the good will and pleasure of Christ, obtained the communion of all Tongues which they had not, Sic humilitas unitatem meruit, & superbia confusionem. And all this was visibly done upon this day, that we may believe the Church shall never want God's invisible grace, though not in this kind yet in some other benefit.

For in this kind the Lord did not assist his Church any long time; surely after the first hundred of years it was scarce conferred upon any, although Prophesies and gifts of healing did continue among some eminent persons afterward for a great space. Irenaeus seems to speak as if some few had the gift of Tongues in his time, Lib. 5. c. 7. which was about one hundred and fifty years after Christ's Ascension: But after him I find no Author touch upon it, and perhaps Irenaeus speaks of the time when he was very young, and knew Polycarpus and the Scholars of the Apostles. I make no reckoning of Antoninus the Plorentine, nor of any reports which he and his Pew-fellows make concerning some of their Friers, whom they say God did inspire with all sort of Languages. They have whetted their tongues, I am sure, with sharp lies, and in that respect, they have one tongue more than a good Christian should have. They that are the common minters of miracles dare not urge or pretend this faculty of all kind of Languages in our days, because they would quickly be descried when they came to parley with learned men. For though nothing be more expedient for the settling of the Gospel in an unknown world, such as America was within one hundred and forty years, than the gift of Tongues, to be able to speak to those Savages to their own understanding, yet the Jesuits do not arrogate that any of their Order, who have visited those parts, could speak new Languages by inspiration. Only Turcellinus, a man of no forehead or modesty, says, that the Jesuit Xaverius spake but his Mother Tongue to the Indians of Goa, and that all those heathenish people did understand him, as if it had been their native Dialect. An impudent forgery testified unto by none but himself, disavowed by Josephus Acosta of his own Order, who was long in those parts; and quite contrary to the nature of a Miracle, that Infidels and Pagans, who perhaps never believed, should be inspired to understand, and the Christian that converted them should have no inspiration to speak. Salmeron is much troubled that he could not give that magnificent report to his Associates, that they spake with new Tongues by inspiration in India, as well as the Apostles did, when they were sent to teach the Gentiles. But because he would not have his Order give ground to the Apostles (see the stomach of the man) he makes this comparison, that it is no less God's benefit and grace to take pains to learn a strange tongue than if it were immediately poured out from heaven; nay says he, In illâ adipiscendâ plus meriti positum est; It is more meritorious to achieve it by much industry than by inspiration, as it is more praise-worthy to raise up a fortune by a man's own diligence, than to have it bequeathed him by inheritance. I was astonished when I read this, that this Loyolite should dare to compare, and to prefer himself and such like even before the Apostles of our Lord, and prefer their smattering in Tongues before the mighty Miracle of this day, the greatest that ever was granted to men. I confess, it is the wisdom of God which teacheth learned men their exact insight into the Sacred Tongues, and the Lord hath furnished many Heroes of the Reformed Churches with such exquisite skill in that kind far beyond our Adversaries, that out of their over-flowing envy they have called us Pedants, and Gramarians. But God be thanked many of our Linguists are able to communicate in Speech with those of the world beneath, which is a sign to me that God is gathering the world unto him by the calling of all Nations, and hastening his Kingdom.

These being the general extractions of this last part of the Text, both touching the matter of it, and touching the end for which it was done, which is the form of it. I will spare much of that which remains rather than exceed my time upon this day, and yet I will rather point at the particular inferences than quite omit them. 1. It is to be collected from the persons that received this utterance of Tongues, that the Tongue is a member of diligent employment in an Apostle, for how can he discharge St. Paul's Canons, to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , apt to teach, fit to reprove, and exhort, unless he open his lips in the great Congregation, that his mouth may show forth the praise of the Lord. But remember that this hability was only infused into Apostles and Teachers. How shall they speak unless they be sent? Let others be contented with that monition, He that hath ears to hear let him hear. Suarez the Jesuit makes the case of the Blessed Virgin to be transcendent, that she did not only receive the power from heaven to speak with divers Tongues on this day, but she was able to do as much long before. Therefore she conversed with the Wisemen of the East, and had skill in their Eastern Tongue, and when she fled away into the Land of Egypt with our Savior she wanted not the knowledge of that Language. Cajetan denies that ever she had this gift of Tongues. For to what end? It was not her part to preach unto the Gentiles. And for the coming of the Wise men of the East, my answer hath more likelihood than Suarez objection, that they brought Interpreters with them: For they asked at Jerusalem, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? And all the people understood them. Let this grace therefore be ascribed only to the Apostles, and to such as in those days joined with them in the same labor. 2. When they had these Tongues, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , they began to speak. But first, they were endued with Spirit, and then with a Tongue to speak. God doth first cleanse the mind within, and then he puts his Word into the mouth of his Pastors. Unless the heart have a sincere feeling of that which it speaks, there will be a jarring in the Tongue as in a Bell that is cracked, or an Instrument that is broken. Without the help of the air the Organ of the natural voice cannot speak, and without the Spirit there is no speaking in the name of God, Why dost thou take my Laws into thy mouth, since thou hatest to be reformed? The Exorcists of the Jews that had no faith, the Devil flew upon them when they began to speak of holy things, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye? 3. Mark what an alteration the impression of the Holy Ghost makes in our very speech. Now they begin to speak with boldness, with Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, with all Comers, Jews and Gentiles. Nay, ye shall be brought before Kings, says our Savior, yet fear not to profess my name, Dabo vobis os & loquelam. Here was a great mutation since that time, that Peter could not hold parly with a silly Damosel but he faltred. We have tongues nowadays, but certainly we are empty, and have none of this Spirit, or else we would be bolder in delivering the Message of the Lord.

Thirdly, They began to speak with other Tongues. Moses habuit linguae balbutiem, as one says; Moses that brought the Law had scarce the use of one Tongue, he confessed he was of a slow speech, and of a slow tongue, Exod. iv. 10. But the Gospel was not terrible like the Law, which would make the tongue of him that brought it to falter and tremble, but it is sweet upon the tongue, and full of grace were their lips that brought it. 5. Wherefore this variety of Tongues, but that all may praise the Lord as well publicly as privately in a known Language? What a tyranny it is in the Roman Church; that the Common People in the time of Mass are edified by nothing but the mopping, and nods, and gestures of the Priest. Lyra confesseth, that if their vulgar Auditors understood to what they said Amen, they would serve God better, be converted sooner, and answer much more devoutly to the words of the Liturgy. 6. When the Apostles spake it was not with the demonstration of human wisdom, but with the power of the Spirit, as the Spirit gave them utterance: And yet it was not baldly and rudely performed, for my Text says, the Spirit gave them 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Sententiosa & mirifica loqui, says Beza; To speak sententious and admirable matter. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , says St. Chrysostom; they were Apophthegms, and ponderous sayings which they brought forth, they spake Magnalia Dei, the wonderful works of God, ver. 11. Yet nowadays that is said to be spoken by the Spirit, and nothing but that, which is frothy and windy, and perhaps never a wise word spoken; and other men that have care of every word which they deliver in the sight of God, and in his name, that is studied affectation, or some such bitter censure. Whereas St. Paul requires in Titus 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , sound and learned doctrine, Tit. i. 9. And St. Peter, If any man speak, let him speak the Oracles of God, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , rational discourses, 1 Pet. iv. 11. So our Savior promised his Disciples, I will give you a mouth and wisdom, not a mouth only, but wisdom with it, so that all your Adversaries shall not be able to gainsay it, Luk. xxi. 15. Finally, the Prophet Isaiah speaking in the person of an Evangelical Priest, The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should speak a word in season, Isa. l. 4. And so to end all, let us send up our tongues of praise and thanksgiving to heaven, to the gracious God that did send down the blessing of these Tongues to his Church upon earth. And the same Lord Jesus exalt us to his Church Triumphant, where with one song, and with one voice we shall sing glory to him for evermore. AMEN.

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THE FIFTH SERMON UPON THE Descent of the Holy Ghost.

M Ention being made in the former part of this Chapter what effects the Mission of the Holy Ghost as upon this day wrought in the Apostles, the next thing, which is disclosed in these two verses, is, what entertainment it found in the World. What entertainment should it find, but joy and gladness, and thanksgiving! it was a shower of grace that fell from Heaven, and every drop of it more valuable than an Orient Pearl, which made the whole earth, barren and unfruitful before, spring out with spiritual increase, that from thenceforth the Wombs of Mothers should not bring out men but Saints. It was not as upon the sixth day of the week in the Creation of the World, that God did breath into man the breath of Life; but upon this first day of the week he breathed into his Church the breath of Righteousness, and filled it with the seeds of future Glory. From the Feast of the Passover the Jews were to number seven weeks, and then they kept a most solemn day, called the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Pentecost; that's this very day: instituted to recognize how at that time they came out of Egypt from the Bondage of Pharaoh, and received the Law, which was delivered upon Mount Horeb. But to expunge the memory of that occasion, God did superinduct a far greater blessing upon this Festival day, and poured out his Spirit in a bountiful and miraculous manner upon his Disciples at Jerusalem. Was there a season appointed to congratulate the deliverance of the Jews from the Captivity of the Body? and doth not this Mercy exalt itself above the other, that they are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, to be enfranchised from the slavery of Sin and the Devil? Was the remembrance of the Law a perpetual rejoicing, though it were a killing Letter? and is it not ten thousand times more comfortable to receive the power of the Holy Ghost which enabled them to keep the Law? Did they take it kindly and cheerfully to receive the Law written in Tables of Stone? And is not the change a great deal better on this day, to have it written in the fleshly Tables of their Heart? Then the Lord gave them but one Talent, and they made but small multiplication of it, nay they were the Servants in the Parable; and who but they, that bound it up, and buried it in a Napkin? Lo here are five Talents delivered unto us, a greater Sum than ever the Children of Men received before: And answer me now in equity what entertainment the Mission of the Holy Ghost should receive in the World? Not to deceive your expectation with many words, the case is thus. The best of the Jews that came to the God-speed of this days work, professed ignorance, and knew not what to make of it; the worst of them exhaled envy and rancor out of their malignant minds, and jeered at it: And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, &c. The parts must needs arise to these two heads, Grande miraculum, Grande ludibrium: First a great Miracle, for it wrought these three things; first Amazement, they were all amazed; secondly Doubt, they were in doubt; thirdly earnest Search and Inquisition, for they said one to another, what meaneth this. But though the greater part were thus affected, and therefore it is said they were all amazed, meaning the greater number, yet divers turned it to mockery, and said, these men are full of new wine.

First the sending of the Holy Ghost was construed to be a great Miracle, by all that saw the effects of it in the Apostles, and in the beginning it is expressed by a passion that took away their reason for a time, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . they were amazed, then it troubled their reason, they doubted; and finally it exercised their reason, for they asked after it. Amazement is a word to express the highest and most sudden admiration that can take a man; when astonishment doth seize upon the faculties of the mind, and bind them up for a little space, that they have no power to exercise themselves, as if they were Planet-blasted. The Latin word Attonitus is he that is scared with a sudden clap of thunder, so that he is stupefied for a while: but the Greek word in my Text 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 goes further, for the right signification is, they were beside themselves, or they were in an ecstacy. So our Savior 's Kinsmen being themselves out of their wits with ignorance, thought that our Savior was transported, when he preached the Gospel, and knew not what he said; therefore their opinion was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , he is beside himself, Mark. iii. 21. Ecstatici qui non sunt in potestate mentis, they that are amazed have not their mind present for the time, it is dizied and confounded; so that this Miracle wrought upon the Jews after the highest pitch of admiration. Let us interpret it to the best, that joy did overcome them to see the riches of all goodness poured out upon the Sons of men. Their Forefathers were astonished with fear at the delivery of the Law, and they are astonished with joy at the coming of the Holy Ghost. The Gift itself, the Persons that received it, the Operation which it did exercise in them to speak the glory of God in all Tongues and Languages, all are transcendently wonderful, that the wit of a natural man especially is not able to comprehend them.

The Gift itself in the first place is so celestial, that the Lord himself is not more wonderful in all his works than in sending the Holy Ghost; so hidden from the knowledge of the world, so rare to be found, so beneficial to mankind, that he that marvels not at it is himself a Miracle. Are you amazed at things which are secret and very abstruse in their nature? none more close and unperceivable than this. As the wind passeth by, and is not perceived, so God breaths the Spirit of grace into the Soul and is not discerned; there it sanctifies, there it reforms, there it changeth the mind, and yet we cannot understand what manner of quality it is: a thing of no appearance, and yet of infinite efficacy. Our senses are the Cinque-ports of all human knowledge, if anything come into us, either it must enter by those passages, or we have no means to know how it should enter without those passages: But when we feel the agitation of grace in our heart nothing is left us but to say, Lord, how camest thou hither? We know not which way thou camest. The Jews were sealed outwardly in the Body with the Mark of Circumcision, whereby every man knew his Brother; but our Mark is privily imprinted upon the Soul, the Holy Spirit, whereby we are sealed unto the day of Redemption, whereby God only knoweth his Elect. God knows it, the Conscience of the faithful feels, but if we go about to consider what manner of Essence or Influence it is, it will amaze us that we cannot understand it. Again, do you wonder at things which are rarely found? then marvel to see how sparingly the Grace of God doth grow upon the Earth. To whom hath the Arm of the Lord been revealed? and who hath believed our Report? The Sun illuminates half the World at once with his Light, and leaves the other half in Darkness: but the tenth part of the Sons of Men are not beautified with the Light of Grace; nay the sixth part of the Earth hath not heard whether there be an Holy Ghost. It strikes me with Admiration, how so many do want the Heavenly Calling; for the Ravens and the Sparrows do not want the comfort of their daily Food, Naturas rerum minimarum non destituit Deus, the smallest things that be God doth not leave them destitute: yet there are Millions of men and women that continue in a barbarous and unrepented life. So that it turns to be the Subject of Admiration to find out those few that are the small Remnant of Jacob. Christ himself marvelled at the faith of the Centurion, a Commander and so submissive, a Gentile and so devout; an Example seldom seen, and the Lord did marvel at it. So he lifted up his voice in Acclamation to the Canaanitish woman's praise, O woman, great is thy faith; a denied Supplicant and so constant, a disgraced Supplicant and so patient. Seldom doth the Grace of God inhabit where it proves so well: But O love the Saints, and magnify God in their good success. Such as serve God truly in spirit are no usual sight: therefore the coming down of the Holy Ghost was matter of Amazement. But above all, the Effects and Benefits of it are so beneficial to mankind, that it amounts to the highest admiration. It opens unto us the meaning of the Scriptures, without which the Eunuch may read, but he knows not the interpretation: it teacheth us to pray with zeal and faith, without which our words are but babbling: it makes us hear the Word of God to our edifying and salvation, without which it is lost in stony or thorny ground: it puts the taste of Christ's Body and Blood into our mouths when we receive the Sacrament, without which we eat and drink our own damnation: it comforts us, though we find the horror of sin in our conscience, and tribulation in the world, without which the vengeance of God, and the wrath of man would overwhelm us: it seasons our actions with piety and obedience, without which nothing that we can do, but is corrupted with the root of bitterness: it intenerates the most stony Hearts, it hath civilized the most barbarous Nations, it hath brought in Nurture and the Use of Laws and Discipline among them that lived by nothing but rapine and robbery: it hath made the Flesh of Man, which was a Cage of uncleanness to be the Temple of God. Upon whomsoever the Spirit of Grace doth rest, the Lycaonians may say of them without offense, God's are come down unto us in the likeness of Men. You may justly extol it with a boundless Praise, and a boundless Praise must needs close in with an Extasie of admiration. You would bless yourselves with wonder to see a mighty Cure wrought upon the Body by the Finger of God, a Cure above nature: and is it not more astonishable to see a supernatural Cure wrought upon the desperate Diseases and Distempers of the Soul. If one that is born blind be made to see, O then they cry out, Never was the like seen from the beginning of the world. Consider yourselves I pray you in the better part, are we not by nature blind, and ignorant, groping in darkness, and cannot find a true step to Heaven? The Spirit is eyes unto the understanding, it makes us walk in marvelous light, so that we shall not dash our foot against the stones and ruins of temptations: which of these two is the greater Miracle? To cast out a Devil from him that is possessed would make the Earth ring of the mighty virtue: Doth not Grace cast out a Legion of Devils from the Soul. To skip over all other instances but one, no Miracle which Fame did publish with a louder Trumpet than to raise the Dead, chiefly to raise up Lazarus that had been four days dead. Why, a continuance in sin is the death of the Soul, and no Paradox it is to say it is an immortal death. Yet Christ rolls away the stone of impenitence under which it is buried, looseth our hands and feet which were bound with the cords of Satan, calls us forth from the Grave of Custom, renews our spirit, and makes us live unto holiness: and you being dead in sins and trespasses hath he quickened, Colos. ii. 13. So you see how hard it is to know the Spirit, how rare to find it (for totus mundus in maligno positus ) how copious and infinite in his Effects and Benefits; it is above our capacity to measure it, and most worthy of amazement to admire it.

Now as we know the Gift of the Holy Ghost better than these Jews, so it is the more admirable to us, by how much we know it the better: but the persons of the Apostles were better known to the Jews than to us: and that circumstance they fell upon, as a strange thing which they could not dive into, why the Lord did put so great a Treasure into such homely Vessels. There was not a Moses among them, skilled in all the Learning of the Egyptians; not a Joshua in all the cluster that could lead a Battle; not a Samuel that had worn a Linnen Ephod from his childhood before the Lord; not a Rabbi, not a Pharisee, not one of polite Education. It is that which confounded the Multitude at the 7. verse,; Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans. There was some reverence done to them in that Character; they might have said, are not all these Fishermen, Publicans, and Idiots? Truly if there were nothing else, these very Apostles were enough to prove the Majesty of God: 'tis strange to work good upon any of us all; our will is knotty timber, our heart hollow and unsound: what can the Workman make of such stuff? but to commit the Talents of the Holy Ghost to such as these, and to make them the Bankers from whom we should borrow the stock of the Church, this is his exploit alone, who can make a grain of mustard seed dispread into a tree, that the Fouls of the air may build their nests in it. Lord what are we that thou hast given such power unto men? But Lord what art thou, that hast given such power to most homely and simple men? O Lord how excellent is thy name in all the world? Thou that out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast ordained praise, and put the Eloquence of the earth to silence by such unlookt-for Instruments. These were no men of spirit, active, and stirring in the world, such busy heads would never be fortunate to propagate the Gospel of peace. Again, they were of no honorable Order; the Spirit had more use of humility than of dignity. Inspirat non inflat, as one said very well, it inspired them, it did not puff them up. To be short, they were not of the Scribes and Doctors that were Proficients in Arts and Learning, that the work of God might disperse the greater amazement through such who were noted for ignorance and infirmity. Yet they were not sent forth like Idiots and Fishermen, that knew nothing but their Mechanical trade, but were endued with power from on high to teach the Mystery of Godliness in all the Tongues that could be spoken. Which is the next provocation to transport them with wonder, as we read it, ver. 9. How hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

It will ask travel and pains through the whole life of a man to be cunning in two or three Tongues; good Linguists know what study it costs them to come to a Grammatical excellency in a few Languages, much more to a voluble pronunciation of them. But to preach Christ Jesus in all the borders of the earth required more dispatch than to begin to get the elements of learning; therefore by a shorter cut God gives them an inspiration to speak all Tongues in a moment, and to preach the true sense of the Scripture in all those Tongues, Sentire quae velint, & loqui quae sentiant; they had words to clothe their matter as they pleased, and they had matter to utter as well as words. Quid voveat dulci nutricula maejus alumno, quàm sapere & fari quae sentiat? They needed no more abilities than wisdom to know the mind of God, and a tongue to declare their wisdom. As in the beginning, when God created the Heaven and the Earth, he spake what he pleased and it was done; Let there be light, and there was light: Let there be a Sea, and there was a Sea. So in the first foundations of the Church it was no more, but let there be a revelation of the mysteries of the Gospel, and there was a Revelation: Let there be Tongues, and there were Tongues: Let there be a fountain opened in Jerusalem whose several spouts may water all the quarters of the world, and it was so in the twinkling of an eye. If God himself had come from heaven in his own Majesty, his Almighty Word could not have been clearer than in this miracle. Such as have an incredulous grudge in their minds, an Ague that will never leave some carnal hearts, they are troubled with a longing when they hear of this, O that we had lived in those days, when the arm of power from on high was made so manifest. We take things up as the long revolutions of time have committed them to us, but we live not in the days of wonder, we see nothing for us by this strange omnipotency. Beloved, if there were a new Gospel to be preached, we should have new Tongues, as the Apostles had, to publish it; but the truth hath been preached round about the world to all Nations, the continuance is old, therefore why should new Wine of new Miracles be put into old bottles? Then it was meet, I mean on the first Whitsunday, that the Gentiles should understand, that way was made to call them to Salvation, which could not be confirmed better than to hear the Cross of Jesus Christ published in so many foreign Dialects, and that the Prediction of the Psalm is fulfilled, His sound is gone forth into all the earth, and his Word unto the ends of the world, there is neither Speech nor Language but their voice is heard among them. Now it is confessed that it is accomplished, and were not a miracle a most unnecessary, and supernumerary thing to confirm it? Hold you content that the Spirit is yet upon your tongues, the seal is printed upon them, to pray to God, to bless one another, to comfort one another. If anything will amaze a man in these days it is the bitterness, the murmuring, the swearing, the lying, the slandering of the tongue; that we should do God more dishonor with one tongue than the Apostles did him honor with twenty.

So much for that Passion which took away the reason of them that were present for a time, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , they were in an ecstacy, they were amazed. Now follows that which troubled their reason, and exercised their reason; I will put them both in one, they hang so close together. They were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Doubting is the unquietness of the mind, which proceeds from ignorance: It flutters about like Noah's Dove, and knows not where to set its foot; they wanted the Anchor of faith to fasten them to some certain resolution, for as yet they knew not the Scriptures of the Prophet Joel, to which St. Peter directed them, Ver. 17. It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh. Doubtfulness is the fruit of carnal wisdom, it holds to nothing steadfastly, it hath more faces than Janus, looking every way, and on every side, and hath as many thoughts as there be minutes in the hour; and it is impossible it should be fixed until it pitch upon some clear Text of Scripture, and say, this is the truth, I build upon it, for so it is written in the Word of God. The benefit of the holy Spirit descending as this day upon the Church was to bring us out of the windings, and crooked Lanes of doubting, and reduce all opinions to one settled conclusion, that there was no salvation to be found but in the meritorious Passion of Jesus Christ. The Academics of Greece were so far from any certainty of knowledge, that it was the perfection of their learning to doubt of everything. Whereupon an Egyptian Priest reproved them for that puerility, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , you that call yourselves Wise men of Greece, you are always Children: what God was, what Beatitude was, what the Soul was, what the state of men in the next world was, nay, what Virtue was, so many Philosophers so many minds: As fast as one built an opinion, another pulled it down with his objections, doubt was both the pleasure and the torment of their wits. It is the Christian faith alone, rooted in us by the operation of the holy Spirit, never to be shaken or removed, which delivers us from all diffidence and inconstancy of doubts. The more miserable is the condition of our times, wherein wanton wits make Problems and Disputations of divers Points of Divinity, which were embraced before by all the Worthies of the Church from the beginning of Reformation. Had we no Scriptures before? Or no helps of learning to expound them? Or no illumination of the Spirit to know the sense of them? Or is this the Age of new Revelations? To doubt of that which hath been in a good frame so long must needs put Unity into Multiplicity, Charity into Discord, Peace into War, and Faith into Infidelity. But upon the first Introduction of Christian Religion, at the first Mission of the Holy Ghost, human infirmity had some leave to doubt, that it might learn; so these dubitants said one to another, What meaneth this?

Many of those that flocked about the Apostles, and were amazed at the Tongues wherewith they spake, are called devout men, ver. 5. of this Chapter, so it seems because they desire to come out of their doubting by framing such a question whereby they might learn what the power of God did intend. Ita cum stupore admirari Dei opera convenit, ut simul accedat intelligendi studium, says Calvin; so wonder at the works of God, that withal you express a desire to understand them: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , says the Proverb, propound doubts with this modest submission, that wise men may expound them unto you. The error was that they asked one another, the blind inquired of the blind which was the way out of the wood, the ignorant conferred with the ignorant, such as God had not revealed himself unto argue the Point among themselves, and they omit the Apostles who were in place, and could best resolve them. When the people will be their own Teachers, and never consult with them who are God's Interpreters and Ambassadors by their calling, will not St. Paul's Prediction be fulfilled upon them? Desiring to be Teachers, they understand not what they say, nor whereof they affirm, 1 Tim. i. 7. Though their Counselors were not the wisest, a riff raff multitude of all sorts, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , says Oecumenius, a mixture of hot and weak heads, yet their question tended to an occasion of knowledge, What meaneth this? Just so their Fore-fathers, when they saw the Manna which fell from heaven, asked one of another, Manhu, as we have it in the Margin of our Bibles, What is this? Exod. xvi. 15. I will answer for both parts as Moses did, both for that which rained from heaven then for the sustenance of their bodies, and for this which was poured out for the blessing of our souls, this is the bread which the Lord hath given you from heaven. But Beza reads this question potentially, Quid hoc rei esse possit? What will this come to hereafter? These unlearned men are furnished with abilities to talk with all the world. It is not a seed or two which they have got, but they received a strange gift from God above in the whole sheaf. What will the Lord bring to pass from these beginnings? That was well considered: For God doth not work secundum ultimum potentiae; all that he can do at once. He began with an handful of men, and the Church increased to as many as the Stars in heaven for multitude: He gave them a Cup of new wine at this Feast, he did not leave till they had a copious Vintage, and the Presses overflowed with liquor of eternal life: In one day he made this truth exalt itself above the opposition of the Jews, in a few Ages he made it too strong for all the contradiction of the Heathen. When Luther, and a few that harkened to him, began to burnish true and Orthodox Doctrine from the Rubbish of Popery, the adjacent Kingdoms that heard of it looked for small propagation. But they that yearned in their bowels to see the expulsion of superstition, expected a large progress from that small beginning. Their hope was upon this question, Quid hoc rei esse possit? What will this come to? It is God's manner to work himself mighty honor out of small appearance. And although the advancement of Religion is hindered abroad (and I would it were not stopped at home) the Jews are obstinate, Mohammedans are prepotent Adversaries, the Heathen are willfully addicted to worship strange God's, yet the leaven of the Spirit hath not lost its virtue, it will, in those seasons which God hath appointed, breath through the whole lump. And still my heart attends to the efficacy of the Gospel which may be kept back, it cannot be suppressed, what will this come to before the end of the world?

Thus far we have conversed with them that were much affected with the miracle that God bestowed, as on this day, an Ocean of the Holy Ghost upon a small Assembly of Saints. Now you shall hear that there was an ignoble off-scum of the people, that made but a mockery of it, Others mocking, said, these men are full of new wine. St. Basil says they were the Pharisees that made this derision of God's power. In a bad action, where none are named, the Pharisees above all others deserve to be suspected. Their whole life was hypocrisy, and what is that but a mockery of God, and a Stage-play to personate holiness. Oecumenius says they were the Plebeians, as the most ignorant are the greatest Taunters, flouting agrees best with foolery and base breeding. For certain they were Jews, for Peter turns his speech unto them, ver. 14. Ye men of Judea, and he confutes them with the testimony of the Prophet Joel, ver. 16. and that Prophesy was only in the hands of the Jews, a scoffing Nation, and now it is returned upon their own head. For it is even to be pitied that they are hooted at, and derided publicly as they walk in the streets, in all Kingdoms where they have purchased to themselves an habitation. How often did they gibe at our Savior and his Miracles? As when he said that Jairus daughter was not dead, but slept, they laughed him to scorn. When he preached that plain and evident Doctrine, that men cannot serve God and Mammon, the Pharisees, who were covetous, derided him, Luk. xvi. 14. And that you may know the Servants were used no worse than the Master, they called our Savior a Wine-bibber, Luk. vii. 34. And you may be sure at such a great occasion as this, the devil would keep his wont, and do all despite to the Spirit of grace, and strive to put off the incomprehensible work of God with a jest, These men are full of new Wine. So that as soon as God sent firy Tongues from heaven upon his Apostles, the Devil likewise raised up firy Tongues from Hell, and put them in the mouth of his Apostles. Envy and despitefulness cares not what reproach it puts upon good men, though there be neither sense nor probability to make it credible. That is right 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the word which is here used, to vent anything against the credit of holy persons, whether it be right or wrong. It was impossible they should persuade it in any one that they were overtaken with new Wine; for there is no such liquor to be had in May, not till September at the soonest. But slanders use to rove at random: And new wine, say the Greeks, will sooner intoxicate than old, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . But what sign was there to make the objection credible that the Apostles were drunken? Did their tongues falter? Were their eyes red? Was the Gesture foolish? I know no man but Carthusian who goes about to invent a sign which should put the Jews into that unlikely suspicion, that as the face of Steven, when he was full of the Holy Ghost, did shine with brightness, so the countenances of the Disciples had a splendor and ruddiness in them with the fire of the tongues which sat upon their heads, which made the rash Gazers conceive that they were inflamed with drink. As the countenances of many that are most sober, being red with the heat of the Liver, make the uncharitable surmise that they are intemperate; so I remember a story, that Cassius, Bishop of Narnia, was despised by King Toteila, because he was high coloured, whereas Cassius was most abstemious, but high coloured by natural infirmity. Another thing concurred, that it was the Feast day of Pentecost, wherein the Jews were wont to rejoice, yet it was not their wont to solemnize the day with Feasting till the morning Sacrifice was offered up, and that time was not yet come. Therefore St. Peter answers, That these men were not drunken, for it was but the third hour of the day. They that are scandalous in the sin of drunkenness use not to be gone so soon. They that are drunken are drunken in the night, says St. Paul, that is most usual. Although some do spend the whole night in quaffing until the morning, In lucem semper Acerra bibit. Some prevent the rising of the Sun, and are scarce sober one hour of the day; whose souls lie under the Prophets woe, Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning to follow strong drink, Isa. v. 11. But Peter did not strive to make an invincible refutation of their slander, because their scurrility was so improbable and ridiculous, and a defense which is over-anxious makes a good cause suspicious. Had the accusation been true, it had deserved a scorn, as Noah was derided when he was drunken. The drunkard makes himself an Ape for Boys to sport with his brutishness; a natural fool is not such an object for derision and laughter: So that passively it is true what Solomon says, Wine is a mocker, Prov. xx. 1. It exposeth itself to the flouting of vain persons here, and shall reap the scorn of God hereafter.

But says St. Cyril, the wickedness of man shall turn to the praise of God, and this slander of the Jews shall expound some Prophesies of Scripture, and the mystery of the Holy Ghost. It is granted, says the Father, the Apostles on this day were full of new Wine, Novum vere erat illud vinum, novi Testamenti gratia; that is, it is the grace of the New Testament which makes glad the heart of man. Inebriabuntur pinguedine domus • uae; the Vulgar Latin keeps that word, Psal. xxxvi. 8. we read, They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. And again, Cant. v. 1. I have drunk my wine with my milk, meaning both the comfort and the nourishment of the Gospel, O friends drink, yea, drink abundantly O beloved. To this pertains another Psalm of David, xxv. 5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies, thou anointest my head with oil, my Cup runneth over. Here is the oil of the Spirit, here is the Table of the Lord, here is the Cup of Christ's blood, an overflowing Cup, sufficient to save a thousand worlds. This Cup is that which ravisheth our Souls, and carries up our Spirit to Heaven to partake of the body and blood of Christ when we come to his holy Table; this is Sobria ebrietas, non madens vino, sed ardens Deo; This is a sober drunkenness, an inflammation, not with Wine, but with the love of the Lord Jesus. Happy were these Apostles that were drunken with drinking of him, who says, I am the Vine, and ye are the branches. But here is the difference between the meaning of these Scoffers, and the meaning of those that make it an heavenly mystery, he that is drunken with Wine looks like an incarnate Devil, he that is drunken with the Spirit looks like an incarnate Angel.

I will stay a little while more, not very long, to show how the mighty gifts poured out upon the Apostles on this day was a spiritual drunkenness. First, excess of Wine procures forgetfulness of things past, so the Mission of the Holy Ghost made them that were converted to Christ forget the Ceremonial Law of Moses; saving that little that was tolerated for a time to satisfy the weakness of the Jews, it was laid aside as if it were quite dead, and out of remembrance. Thus St. Paul doth as it were make his Shears to pass between the Old and the New Law, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, Phil. iii. 13. Upon that accident that there wanted Wine at the Marriage in Cana, the Gloss says, Vetus legis vinum defecerat in nuptiis Ecclesiae; none of the Wine of the Law remained at the Marriage of the Christian Church, it was tilted and spent. Secondly, He that is giddy with wine makes no distinction of persons, knows not his Friends from his Foes: So he that is full of the Spirit renounceth all friendship, affinity, parentage in respect of the engagements of holiness and Religion. Per calcatum perge patrem. If thy Mother hold out her Breasts to entice thee from God, if thy Father stop thy way, shut thine eyes against the one, tread upon the other; make no respect of persons in that cause. It is the praise, and a most magnificent one, which Moses gives to Levi, Deut. xxxiii. 9. Who said unto his Father, and to his Mother I have not seen him, neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children. Thus the mighty working of God works an ecstacy in his Servants, that they care not for their nearest Relations, if they be a bar to the Kingdom of Heaven. And who cares if revilers call it a drunkenness of the Spirit? Thirdly, Much Wine gives a great edge to valor and courage, In praelia trudit inermes, it runs into any danger, because it knows not what is danger: but there is nothing of such animosity, nothing so undaunted as the Spirit of God. The righteous is bold as a Lion, says Solomon. It must needs be that strength is doubled in him because he hath two lives in his heart, this life, and the life to come. What could the world say, but that some illapse from heaven was in the breast of the Apostles, that those miselli, those neglected worms should overtop the terrors of Councils, of Prisons, of Death, of Devils. Let such as Rabshakeh call it drunkenness, it was the boldness of the Spirit. Fourthly, Wine is a rejoycer of the heart, Ecclus. xl. 20. But what joy is comparable to that which is begotten by the infusion of the Holy Ghost? Let the righteous rejoice and be glad, let them also be merry and joyful. A good conscience, recreated by the Promises of God, and assurance of forgiveness of sins, is like a volary of sweet singing birds, chirping and carolling within the Soul nothing but the pleasant notes of heaven, and immortal blessedness. When we sing Psalms of cheerfulness let Scorners censure it for vanity, but it is the new Wine of the Spirit which makes the heart glad. Lastly, As the airy vapors of wine make a man to broach his secrets and reveal them, Arcana recludit, so the Holy Ghost coming down this day did open the fountain which was sealed up before; the Mysteries of God's eternal counsel, brought to pass in time by the Incarnation of his Son, were made manifest to all the world. This was it which confounded the Jews, that were present, to hear those abstruse things of Godliness divulged, and they did not understand them. The Spirit made the Apostles pour them out, and they could not hold, they were transported above natural to supernatural reason, and they were carried above themselves, as men even drunken with great Revelations. Upon those words of St. Paul. 2 Cor. v. 13. Whether we be beside ourselves it is to God: or whether we be sober it is for your cause; says Bernard, Audi sanctam insaniam; Festus told Paul he was mad, here he professeth little less for the Gospel sake, he neither says that he was sober, and he doth not contend whether he were beside himself or no. Such as he was, he was for the Church sake, possessed of the Spirit, and full of that new Wine, which gave him a tongue of utterance to preach Jesus Christ, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles foolishness.

These uses rise out of an holy and mystical sense of the words, and that is no thanks to these taunting Jews, who being full of malice, a sin that is worse than drunkenness, burden the Apostles that they were full of Wine, or as the Syrian Paraphrast reads it without mincing, these men are drunken. The just upright man is laughed to scorn, Job xii. 4. Isaac the Son of Promise was scoffed at by Ishmael the Profane, Gen. xxi. 9. The Septuagint calls it Ishmael's play, or sport, Illa lusio erat illusio, says St. Austin, it was his pastime to mock the righteous. Be prepared therefore against evil words and reproaches, you must have your share of them if your conversation be Christian. First you have a Paracletus which is a spirit of comfort to bear them off with patience: Then you have a Paracletus (for that is the word) an Advocate to answer against the Accuser of the Brethren, who shall discover your innocence, Apoc. xii. 10. There is no good action but the Devils claw of scornfulness is upon it. At our Savior's Resurrection the Jews made the Apostles Thieves, they forsooth had stolen away their Master by night; and at the coming of the Holy Ghost they make them Drunkards. But this was a baptizing with the Holy Ghost, not a sousing with Wine; it was somewhat poured on them, no strong drink poured in them; it was no drunken thing, but rivers of living waters springing up to everlasting life, and this he spake of the Spirit, which they that believed on him should receive, Joh. vii. it is the fountain of the water of life issuing from the Throne of God, and of the Lamb, Rev. xxii. So Moses likened the inspiration of Prophesy to the dew falling on the herbs, or to the rain poured on the grass, Deut. xxxii. It is no distempering heady liquor, but the Cordial of joy, and the Balm of Gilead.

If then the effusion of the Spirit was tax'd with drunkenness, what do you that think profane persons have devised concerning the Cup of the Sacrament? Horrendum dictu, because it is our Savior's Doctrine by a figurative speech, that the Cup is the New Testament in his blood, the heathen traduced the Christians soon after the Apostles days, that they killed a Child in their private Feasts and Sacrifices, and drank his blood. And a long time it was before the heathen Magistrates would be persuaded, that such as partaked the holy Communion were not murderers. Indeed it is true, though they understood it not, that such as partake unworthily are murderers of their own souls. But again, if God's mighty miracle was scoffed at, when he gave grace to his Apostles to preach so divinely, what will profane persons say to our weak Doctrine, so much inferior to theirs? Quoties dicimus, toties judicamur, nothing is more snatched at to be made matter of idle talk, and frumping discourse, than that which is delivered in the Pulpit. Take heed, and remember that Michal was barren, who scorned ac David, that no Scorner might be begotten of her, says St. Ambrose. But the Devil hath got a new way to bring both Preaching and Praying into contempt. For Preaching let everyone practice it that will, and then it will come to pass I am sure, if not Musto pleni, spumâ pleni, if they be not full of new wine, they will be full of froth. Says the Apostle, 1 Cor. xii. 29. Are all Prophets? Are all Teachers? Are all workers of miracles? It can no more agree that all should be Teachers than that all should be workers of Miracles. As for public Prayer, the deriders of sanctity call it not new wine, but they call it worse, by the name of that homely broth, for which Esau sold his birth-right. But as the Prophet said to the calumnious Jews, against whom do you sport yourselves? Against whom do you make a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? Against whom do you shoot out Arrows, even bitter words? Are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood? Isa. lvii. 4. But this is the derision which Satan would put upon Religion in this unsanctified, unpeaceable Age. First, take away directly the public Liturgy of Prayers, that the people may have a little extemporary acquaintance and no more, with that to which they say Amen. Next, let every man preach that challengeth he hath the gift, sorrily God knows, and then he knows that Preaching will come to nothing as well as Prayer. Beware that you let not our great Adversary subvert all Piety and Religion by these encroachments; bad men may mock holy Ordinances, but God is not mocked. Fear the Lord, reverence his ways, receive the blessings of the Spirit with thanksgiving and praise, rule the Tongue to glorify him that made it, to set forth his honor that gives it utterance. AMEN.

THE FIRST SERMON UPON THE CORONATION.

T HE words which I have selected to preach upon are part of a Psalm which excels both in the Letter and in the Spirit; rich in the literal sense, copious in the spiritual, the Kingdom of David set forth magnificently in the one, the Kingdom of Christ glorified in the other. Sometimes the ditty of the Song points directly at the Throne of David, and sometimes at Christ's Triumphs over his Death, and his victorious Resurrection. I cannot choose between them both but think of the Country of Mesopotamia, the fruitful Garden of the world, girt about with waters, the Rivers did flow in and out in all quarters of the Land, and the Land was much more pleasant, for the windings, and intricate Maeanders of the Rivers. So this Hymn hath a most delightful alternation in it, skipping often from Christ to David, and from David to Christ, with sundry melodious changes, as if it purposed to make the Reader lose himself, if he did not curiously note the Narration. There hath been much ado among Expositors, whether the Psalm should concern them both, or only one of them, choose you which you will. Some refer it all to David, and to the rejoicing of the People in his behalf, that they saw him happily inaugurated King of Israel, after he had been long kept back by the House of Saul, and many other potent Enemies. The Jewish Rabbins make no other construction of it, and they follow the Chaldee Paraphrast, who doth thus read the 22. verse of this Psalm, the Builders did reject the youngest of the Sons of Jessai, and would not let him reign over them, but he hath deserved to be received for their Prince and Governor, therefore we will keep holy day and rejoice. Thus Vatablus and Isidore Clarius, and many others of this latter Age have dived no further than into the superficies of this Scripture, that is, into so much and no more than concerned the Monarchy of David.

But they did not see into the bottom that looked no further: for the Antient Fathers of the Church, not one but all have discovered so manifest a Prophesy concerning our Savior, that nothing can be clearer. It is a general rule, that David in most of his Psalms had more regard to Christ than to Himself; in this more eminently than ordinary, so that the New Testament is full of the application. Pick out the 22. verse: The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner: according to three several Gospels our Savior demonstrates that himself was the Stone which the Scribes and Pharisees refused; but God had exalted him to be the Head of the Church both ih Heaven and Earth. St. Peter proves as much in the audience of many thousands of the Jews, and none of them did contradict him, Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom ye crucified, this is the Stone which is set at naught of you Builders, which is become the head of the corner, ver. 26. of this Psalm, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: I doubt not but all the loyal hearts of Judah and Jerusalem did congratulate David in those words, when he entered into the Royal City, but all the Multitude of the People applied them to the Advent of the Messias, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Matth. xxi. 9. And indeed St. Jerome says that the Jews in their Liturgy of old were wont to read this Psalm in their Synagogues for the Messias sake, and did put it among those Prayers in which they did heartily desire the coming of Christ the Lord: Nay says Cajetan the 17. verse can become the mouth of no mortal man, but it is the voice of the immortal Son of God to say, I will not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. Therefore those Authors that had the most judicious Palat have acknowledged, that sometimes David's matters are brought into this Psalm, and sometimes Christ's, nay sometimes both of them in one verse; as in my Text. The beginning of the Psalm, says St. Chysostom, was a Celebration for the setting on the Crown upon the head of the King of Israel, but ex improviso mutavit argumentum, in a sudden ecstacy the Prophet changeth his argument, and speaks of Christ; nay says Euthymius if a man will be acquainted with the style of the Propets, let him remember that this is their custom, intercidere solent sermons & in rem aliam transire, ne adversarii manus injiciant, they use to break off abruptly, and fall from one thing to another, lest if the Enemies of the Truth did understand them, they would make away those holy Writings, to the irrecoverable loss of the Church of Christ.

This was necessary to be premised, that you might know what to look for out of my Text, namely David 's Day in the Letter, and Christ's Day in the Spirit. In the Case of David no man doubts what day is pointed at, surely it is the day of his Inauguration, when after much resistance made by his Enemies at last he did enjoy the Scepter of all Israel quietly and peaceably, and there was an Holy-day instituted to remember it, with sacred Solemnity. The Lord had made that Day happy unto David, and the People did celebrate it in a joyful and religious manner, I need not to tell you how proper that construction of my Text is to this Day, wherein God hath settled our Anointed Sovereign over all the Kingdoms of his Father; and I trust you profess your due thankfulness to God for his most pious and religious Reign, and that we have great cause to rejoice and be glad in it. But which is that among all the days of Christ which God did make more transcendently than the rest? there's a little scruple in that point. I find one or two refer it to the day of his Nativity: but their reasons are weak, and they are no considerable number to be followed. St. Jerome and St. Austin are in the right, I think, for they apply it to the whole time of the Gospel, wherein the terrors of the Law are broken, and all things are most sweet and pleasant to penitent Believers. Behold now is the acceptable Time, now is the Day of Salvation, says Isaiah, and that day reacheth from the time that Remission of sins is preached in the blood of Christ, unto the end of the world. Now as the Text is common to all Evangelical Days, so there is one Day that lifts up its head above them all, the most memorable Day of our Savior's Resurrection, then it was verily fulfilled, as Peter urged it, that the Stone which the Builders refused became the head of the corner. St. Chrysostom, Nyssen, and almost who not? pitch upon Easter-day for the particular application of this Text: that was the Day wherein God did bring forth a more eminent work than in other common days, and upon every Sunday in the year for that Day's sake, the Church hath appointed sacred Assemblies, that we may rejoice and be glad. Well then of David's Day first, and from thence how particular Holidays may be ordained to magnify God's extraordinary benefits; next of the blessed Age of the Gospel, wherein we have great cause to rejoice and be comforted, for Christ hath wiped away all tears from our eyes. And last of all I shall take the right opportunity to speak of the glorious Feast of the Resurrection, and how the Church doth keep the weekly Feast of the Lord's day, to rejoice and be glad in it.

And first the Holy Ghost hath left it written for the honor of the Lord's Anointed, This is the Day which the Lord hath made. There is one thing in that form of speech which jars a little against the ear; how can it be said that God did make one day more than another? for he hath framed all Times and Seasons alike, the Sun knoweth his going down, and he maketh it return again every morning to give light unto the World. In the Hymns of the Heathen he is called Diespiter, the Father of all days indifferently: it is he that sets the Heavens in perpetual motion, and makes the hours run on, and when he calls back his word the Plumbets shall go down, and time shall be no more. It is granted therefore that he giveth continuance and being to all days after one sort: and for the Phrase of my Text a new Writer hath well expressed himself, Non includitur mensura temporis, sed conditions tempori incidentes, it is not meant of the Day which the Sun makes with his diurnal motion, but of the great Work which was wrought in that Day: that is, not that God made that Day more than others, but that He made more in that Day than in others. It is vulgar to impute the condition of things which fall out in some certain days to the days themselves per metonymiam adjuncti, although a day, as it is merely a space of time, cannot possibly be capable of such Attributes. We take liberty to call this a cold, or a moist day, not for its own sake, but because coldness and moisture happen in the day: so for the contingency of glorious things, we call the day itself glorious, and to renown the memorable acts of the Lord, we have got a use to speak thus, This is the day which the Lord hath made. In 1 Sam. 12.6. according to the Original, and that's pointed at in our Margent, it is said that the Lord made Moses and Aaron: why, are not all that are born of a woman the works of his hands as well as Moses and Aaron? therefore our Translation hath rendered the sense rather than the word, that the Lord advanced Moses and Aaron: In like manner we may read my Text thus, This is the Day which the Lord advanced, for he made it remarkable with an extraordinary favor, and thereby gave it a Dignity and Exaltation above its fellows. The going out and the return of every year are from the Almighty, with the store and abundance that it brings forth, but when the clouds drop fatness with unusual plenty, then the Prophet says, that he crowns that year with his goodness, Psal. lxv. 11. So some principal Days are crowned above the rest, as this Day wherein through the sun shine of his mercy he set a Crown of pure Gold upon the head of David his Servant. Piety forbid that we should not thankfully receive the most vulgar benefits. I know that common things are commonly neglected, but learn to see God in small things, or you shall never see him in greater. If I had learnt it of no other, yet I find enough in Seneca for that use, Communia negligenda non sunt, &c. neglect not to give thanks for common and quotidian favors, for life, and health, and suppeditation of food, that the Sun doth shine upon us, that we have the air to breath in, that the Sea doth ebb and flow for navigation. There are days of small things, as Zacharias calls them, chap. iv. 10. but those small things are to be considered of us with a grateful heart, who are less than the least of all his mercies: but how much more requisite is it then to observe those days, wherein some eminent blessings are conferred upon us? what a behooveful thing it is, every man for his own part to keep a Calender of the famous Acts of the Lord? for our Birth, for our Baptism, for great Preservations, and to represent them before us at the return of every year with grateful acknowledgment from the bottom of our heart: and when God doth see that we are so mindful of a prosperous Day, he will grant us many prosperous Years, and for the period of joy, a most prosperous Eternity that shall never have a period.

This is made as plane then as you can wish, upon what special Prerogative the Lord is said to make a particular day? because he doth appoint some special favor to fall out upon it: and the Wiseman's Question is answered, Ecclus. xxxiii. 7. Why doth one day excel another? when as all the light of every day of the year is of the Sun. It is not the material light which distinguisheth the nobleness of Days, but he that made the Sun more excellent than the other Stars of the Firmament, hath made Princes glorious as the Sun in the Orb of the Common-wealth, and a Day of a Princes Exaltation is like a Prince among Days, and in that capacity to be magnified. Such a day is said to be made by God 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , because God himself, and none else is the Author of the Power of Kings, He and none but He took David from following the Ews great with young, and set him over the Princes of his People. In a word, since the Day is taken for the Work of the Day, the real meaning of the first words of my Text is, this is the King which the Lord hath made; Samuel anointed him, the People shouted, and cried, God save him; but the Lord did constitute him the Ruler of the Twelve Tribes, and gave him his Sovereign Authority; the Crowns of Glory in Heaven, and the Crowns of Dignity upon Earth are both held by Christ. God reigns in Kings as in his Deputies, and they reign in God as in their Author and Authorizer: and this is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , says S. Chrysostom, the chief Dignity of their States, that they hold not their Sovereignty from any mortal means, but immediately from God: Per me Reges regnant, Prov. viii. 15. Solomon acknowledgeth that he held his Tenure of one, and but of one, that was greater than himself: Of him that is the Root of all Majesty, according to the determination of the Prophet Daniel; The Kingdoms are God's, and to whom be will he giveth them, Dan. iv. 14. And God is highly to be blessed that hath given such power unto men, for better not be at all, than not to be under Rule and Government: For it is not as Core the Ringleader of the great Sedition thought, that Moses took too much upon him, because he guided the People with a faithful hand; he took upon him that Authority which God had given to his Vicegerent, and they that questioned it did not rise up against Man, but against the Ordinance of God: Omnia per illum, all things are of him, as St. Paul says, Rom. xi. 30. but all things are not of him as Kings do reign by him; other Creatures have their dependence one of another in the connection of natural causes, but the Power of Sovereign Majesty is not mixed with Earthly Causes, but hath an immediate copulation with the Power, the Providence, the Constitution, yea and the Castigation of God, if it do not decree righteousness; For God is the Judge, he patteth down one and setteth up another, Psal. lxxv. 6.

If there be any cavillation therefore with free Princes, as there was with Moses, Who made thee a Ruler? we will answer it by remotion of false and pretended Causes. 1. Satan hath arrogated the disposition of all earthly Magistracies to himself: as Luke iv. 6. when he had shewn unto Christ all the Kingdoms of the world, and the Glory of them, says he, All this power will I give thee, for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will give it. Execrable Spirit, he dares assume that which is proper to the Almighty, to speak the word, and the whole world shall have a new face of Government, and that he could remove Kings, as our Savior said, that by faith his Disciples should remove Mountains: he remembered how suddenly himself was deposed from glory, that he fell like lightning. And when God pleaseth all the Kingdoms of the World shall have as sudden a transmutation, when he shall come in Glory to take all Power and Dominion into his own hand, and to judge both the Quick and the Dead. But in the mean time the Thrones of Kings are established in Heaven, and Satan is a liar with an Hyperbole of impudency to say, that it lies in him to manage or alter those Governments which God hath put in order: O how many have gone to Witches and Necromancers, and rak'd Hell to be informed how it should fare with the succession of some State or Empire; so did Valens in the Ecclesiastical History, so did Julian the Apostate, and nothing did sway with him more to apostatize, than because some Heathenish Priests foretold by Demoniacal Divinations that the Empire should descend upon him: What can be more repugnant than this course to Honor and Religion? it is God that makes the Day wherein Kings reign, and not the Prince of Darkness, that is condemned to eternal night: it is God that is highly exalted above the Heavens, and not Lucifer who is fallen from glory, and is debased beneath the Earth. But secondly what say we to Intruders, that make their own Day, and exalt themselves in the Throne of Dominion? as Adonijah exalted himself, saying, I will be King, 1 Kings i. 5. and as Athaliah did take the Scepter into her own hand, when God did never give it her: why, mark the lamentable end of them both, and then you will perceive the irregularity of their action. Let not the smoke glory that it riseth up of itself, for so it vanisheth; infelicity must be the event of that promotion, where God doth not say, friend sit up higher. Thirdly, lest Tyrants should snatch this honor to themselves, there are such as have thought of a Remedy worse than the Disease, namely that the Ratification of all Principality should depend upon the voice of the People, and the continuation upon their good liking, with a quamdiu se been gesserit, to have and to hold his Governance no longer than the popular opinion shall commend his good behavior: their reasons are, first because when men and women multiplied, and began to fill up the Body of a Common-wealth, it was their own act and consent to put their necks under the yoke of a King. Admit it were so, yet you will not say but it was God and his inspiration that directed them to make a Supreme Head unto their Body, for all order proceeds from that wisdom which comes from above. Neither is it fit to be granted that it savors of the wisdom of God, or of the well-ordered reason of man, that in the first foundation of Kingdoms the Subjects set a Ruler over them, to hold from thenceforth according to their windy and phantastical approbation. The Bond which is made in Marriage is knit by the act and consent of man and woman; yet being once made it doth not depend upon their consent, but it holds of God: In like sort at first were Kings espoused to their Kingdoms, God did give the Bride, as I may so say, to the Husband, and so the connection is indissoluble. Again, howsoever it holds in other Republiques, yet in that wherein God especially delighted, I mean the Israelitish, when the People thought it honorable for them to have a King like other Nations, they did not call an Assembly, and appoint themselves a King, but they referred the matter to the Lord, and he selected Saul out of all their Tribes, to go in and out before them. Secondly, such as have meditated nothing but the confusion of an Anarchy have thus mutter'd, if none but God doth make the Day of Anointed Princes, then none but He can unmake them, none but He can chastise them for injustice and violence. Then how shall the cause of the poor be revenged, when the Man of the Earth exalteth himself against him? What an irreligious manner of arguing is this; as if there were no hope of justice and redress, if the cause be committed to God only? When Samuel told the People that it would fall out, that their Kings whom they desired would be very burdensome to them, and inflict sore oppressions upon their State, says he Clamabitis in illo die, you will cry out in that day, he doth not say you will reject your King, and set up another, but you have no other remedy but to cry out unto the Lord, and forasmuch as your sins have deserved that oppression the Lord will not hear you.

Hitherto I have made it good against Satan, and all infernal Sorceries: against Tyrants that attempt to exalt themselves, and against all popular Factions that would seem to have an interest in the making and marring of Princes, that God is the initial cause, the conserving cause, the sole Fountain and Author of all Supreme Sovereignty. There is but one Adversary more to struggle with in this point, that Hildibrand • spirit in the Church of Rome, who either directly or indirectly claims authority to himself to take account of the Government of Kings, and when he pleaseth to break their Scepters with a Rod of Iron: It is no toying in so main a Cause as this, therefore I will demonstrate that I charge them right. 1. The great number of the Canonists defend without any circumlocution, that the Temporal Sovereignty of the whole world is inherent in the Office of Christ's Vicar, to give, change, alter, or confirm the Titles of particular Princes, as his infallible judgment shall lead him. Thus Baronius, who speaks his mind in these words for his Holy Father, whom our Lord Jesus Christ the King of Glory hath constituted a Prince over all the Kingdoms of the World. Says Augustinus Triumphus all Power and Royalty is subdelegated from the Pope to other Princes, no man can give him any Sovereignty which he had not before, nec Constantine dedit quicquam Sylvestro, quod non prius erat suum, says he, some talk of Constantine's donation to Sylvester, that he gave him the Temporal Principality of Romania, he gave him nothing but that which was his own before, that and all beside was St. Peters Patrimony. But Practice is a plainer Argument than Book-words. Alexander the Sixth, a Giver that will do but small credit to his Gift, but such as he is take him with all faults, he bestowed the whole West-Indies to Ferdinand King of Spain, ex merâ liberalitate, & motu proprio, as it is in the words of the Bull. Their own Histories say that Athabaliba King of Peru maintained his Dominions by fighting against that Grant, till he was taken prisoner in battle, and then cried out, That Pope could have no reverence to virtue or to the God of Heaven, that took away another man's Kingdom from him. You see now that this Successor of St. Peter, as he would be styled, lays claim to that which St. Peter never dreamt of to belong to him, for how could his imagination comprehend such things when he knew they were disclaimed by Christ, Joh. xviii. 36. My Kingdom is not of this world, if it were my Servants would fight for me, that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but my Kingdom is not from hence. God gave unto Christ the Heathen for his Inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his Possession, that is to dilate his Spiritual Kingdom over all the world, but neither that himself, or his Apostles should excel in any Temporal Dignity. It remains therefore against all opposite Parties, that the Kingdoms of the World are the Lord's, and he doth set his Anointed in their Thrones out of his holy Hill: and therefore when Popes of old did write to Kings, their usual style was to wish them health; in eo per quem reges regnant, in him by whom Kings do reign, that is in God above. And all this is to declare, that David held his Crown from none but God, because upon the Solemn Feast of his Inauguration it is said, This is the Day which the Lord hath made.

All Kings are made by God, yet not all alike: there is more of the Divine mercy and favor in the making of David a man after God's own heart, than in making of Saul, one whom it repented God that ever he made him; more of his sacred workmanship in the making of Melchizedek a King of Righteousness, than in the making of Nimrod a King of Violence. They that sow the fruits of righteousness in peace, those are reges primae intentionis, Kings in whom God and Man do especially delight: and they that have been compassed about with most cruel Wars abroad, and with most terrible Enemies and Treasons at home, and yet have waded prosperous out of all these dangers, those are reges primae providentiae, Kings of miraculous providence above the trivial current: and you that have read the two Books of Samuel, and the first Book of Chronicles, meet with a thousand passages what memorable marks the Lord had set upon the person of David: which of you doth note the mean condition out of which he did rise, and the Throne to which he was exalted, but you will say digitus Dei, you do mark the print of God's finger in the work, collect the imminent dangers which he escaped, the fury of Saul, the Hosts of the Philistines, the Duel with Goliath, the Plots of Ahithophel, the overawings of the Sons of Zeruiah, the almost inevitable Conspiracy of Absalom, and finally the Usurpation of his other Son Adonijah, even while he was upon his Death-bed, and you will say there was never any Potentate begirt with so many assaults, and brought off with such safety, that there was not an hair of his head did perish. As David 's Day hath these characters in it, so we are to glorify the sweet Providence of God, that our Royal Sovereign's Day hath none of them: For first, the mean Parentage of David did much prejudice him, it was a word of contempt that he could not claw off, to be called the Son of Jessai, the Son of a poor Yeoman in Bethlehem. But his Majesty 's Throne hath been the Throne of his glorious Ancestors for many Generations, and a concurrence of the best blood in the world doth meet in himself, and in his Royal Progeny: For domestical Enemies, God be praised, for the terms of eleven years of his most Religious Reign never any durst show their faces; if they should, I trust we should see their heads shewn for a direful spectacle to after Ages. But whereas the blessed Princes that upheld our Reformed Religion have been hemmed about with Treasons upon Treasons everyone of them, God hath so confounded them in their malicious devices, that His Sacred Majesty hath hitherto gone in and out before us without the least whisper of any infernal attempt against him; no Prince in this Island, that professed the same Reformed Faith, being able to say as he can, that neither popular commotion, nor secret conspiracy hath hitherto reached itself against his Royal Person, and God grant such safety to himself, and such true and loyal hearts to his People: and that gracious protection will make us see that the Buckler of the Most High is on every side of him, and that his name is written in the Book of Life. Another thing is, David was very much exercised in wars against the Philistines, and his Sword did never come out of the Field without a Conquest: but the best Victory is bought with the price of much blood, and therefore ours is both a more joyful condition, to enjoy the halcyon days of peace, than to be renowned for the most triumphant days of war: As Seneca said of the innocent days of Saturns Age, that there were no terrible Battels fought by seditious Princes, odium omne in feras verterant, they killed none but wild Beasts in hunting: so it is far more Christian in our days to hear it talked that Dogs do chace Stags, than that Men devour Men, as they do in our neighbor Nations, But as David was the first King of Israel that maintained a Navy of Ships at Sea, both to procure safety, and honor, and wealth to his people, so it will be written of our Dread Sovereign, that he hath matched if not exceeded all his Predecessors in that glory.

Touching the Personal Qualities of David, Gifts of Virtue and Grace, I confess they were rare, and will admit but of few Comparisons: never such an Enditer of holy Songs, never any did exceed him in Zeal and Piety: never since the world began did any Monarch heap up such a mass of Treasure to build up the Temple, an hundred thousand Talents of Gold, a thousand thousand Talents of Silver, and Gold and Silver without number, 1 Chron. xxii. for ordering the Service of God in the disposition of the Priests, in settling the sacred Music, he was so exquisite as the like was never heard of: and in ordering all temporal affairs he was wise as an Angel of God, says the woman of Tekoa: for his mercy in forgiving offenders, you shall not meet with the like till you ascend up to God himself: how soon did a few courteous words in the mouth of Abigail cool his anger, when he was in a most chaffing indignation? what horrid revilings did he put up which Shimei cast upon him? how indulgent he was to have spared Absalom, the lewdest Son that did ever rise up against a Father? When God did give such Ornaments to his Servant, it may well be said that he made the day wherein he crowned him: and for our due acknowledgment of God's favors poured upon the head of our Augustious Sovereign, you cannot deny but he is religious, pious, temperate, gentle, prudent, good in all respects as David was, but blemished with none of his vices. But I will not make my Sermon a Cento of his deserved Praises, not for that reason which Plato gives, that it is folly to commend any man while he lives 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , because man is a changeable creature, and may alter from good to worse: I fear not this, I see such constancy, and stiff perseverance in all virtuous ways in our Illustrious King; but partly because all Encomiastick Exercises are censured for flattery, and do soon prove scandalous to the Auditors; partly because the Temple is a place selected for the Praise of God, and not of Man: but I will confidently say, that since we are so prosperous a People in a religious, wise, just, chaste, merciful, and temperate Sovereign, no Nation under the Sun, all things duly weighed, hath more cause to confess than we, this is the day which the Lord hath made.

And I may well say hitherto I have spoken of a Benefit, now I am come to our bounden thankfulness, we will rejoice and be glad in it; as who should say, this is the Day which God made for this very end, that we should rejoice and be glad in it. As the Lord loveth a cheerful Giver, so he loveth a cheerful Receiver of his mercies, he would have us consign it in our countenance and gesture that it pleaseth us, and delights us exceedingly to be partakers of his Propitiations: And surely this is no hard request, no heavy yoke I am certain, to require us to rejoice, and be merry with them that keep holy day, to accommodate ourselves to the season: It becometh the righteous to be glad, it becometh them to be merry and joyful, says our Psalmist. If we descend into the consideration of our manifold sins, we had need of a long Lent set apart to bewail them; nay the Church very anciently provided that every week in the year we should cast up that reckoning, and singled out two whole days, Wednesday and Friday, for fasting, weeping, and mourning. Yet since there is nothing worse for our proficiency in sanctification than to be swallowed up in grief and melancholy, therefore it is the will of our Father that we should recreate ourselves in solemn Festivals for the remembrance of his benefits, which my Text calls to rejoice and be glad. The same passion of Exhilaration perhaps is set forth in both these terms, yet it is usual to ascribe them severally, the one to the Body, the other to the Soul, referring joy to the Body, and gladness to the Soul; for we owe ourselves to God in both, and we must honor him both in the inward and in the outward man: Cor meum, & caro mea, they go both together, Psal. xvi. 9. therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth, my flesh also shall rest in hope. In such times as great Benefits are to be celebrated, we must not think it enough to joy in our bosom, it must break out into some sensible tokens: and yet again we must not have a clear face, and a cloudy overcast heart, but let our Body and Soul be equally devoted to triumph in the name of the Lord. I dare not open too wide a gap for mirth, lest instead of thanksgiving it prove to be licentiousness: Solomon, among other varieties, would prove his own heart with mirth and pleasure, and behold it turned to vanity, Eccl. ii. no passion more obnoxious to degenerate into vice, therefore gaudete in Domino, let the Lord be in the joy both of Body and Soul, and forget not that the speakers in my Text promise not a carnal but a religious Festival, wherein the Lord should be praised. For the 27 verse of this Psalm in our reading promiseth a Sacrifice to God upon that Day in his holy Temple, Bind the Sacrifice with cords unto the horns of the Altar: but the Septuagint 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , &c. and it is followed by the Vulgar Latin, which reads it, Constituite diem solemnem in condensis usque ad cornua altaris, appoint an holy day, that the People may stand thick in the Temple from the Porch up to the horns of the Altar. Some part of the day must be spent in the Church upon our Solemn times, or else our rejoicing is not sanctified. It is the mirth of Fools, or rather of Mad-men, to suppose that Christmas Holidays are well kept with gaming and revelling, that Whitsun Holidays were made for nothing but Wakes and Dancing, that the Solemnity of May-day being the Feast of two Apostles, Philip and Jacob, consists in decking up houses with green boughs; or as in old time the Common People celebrated Allhollan-day with nothing but ringing of Bells. Lawful Exercises and Pastimes may be used to refresh both the body and mind, but unless we intermix the solemn Service of God at those times, and spend some hours with godly profit in the Church, it is but the Feast of Fools, or perhaps worse, the Feast of Epicures. So the Prophet mentions some Swinish Carousers, that thought they did solemnize their Kings Day in a jovial manner with drinking healths till they lost their wit, and their health: In the day of our King the Princes made him sick with flagons of wine, Hos. vii. 5. Such Tospots celebrate a Feast to the use of the Devil, and not to the Glory of God. But it was unto that Glory that this Song, and this Day which is chanted, and this Joy which is so cheerfully professed are all dedicated, This is the Day which the Lord hath made, &c.

But how hard a thing it is to draw men and women with their good will to Church? for some have stretched all their wits and their learning to defy our Church, because it hath appointed Holidays for solemn occasions of Prayer and Thanksgiving: and the greatest part of the Kingdom, not out of opposition, but out of negligence and slothfulness doth omit the due observation which belongs unto them. You give yourselves over at such times to cessation from work it may be, to Sports and Games, and Interludes, the Fields shall be all day full of loose persons, and the House of the Lord empty. It is true that rest from labor becomes an Holiday, yet the very vacation from labor is not simply pleasing to God, but the better to follow Religious Service: and beware to confound rest and idleness, as if they were all one; they are idle whom the painfulness of action causeth to avoid that labor, whereunto God and Nature bindeth them; they rest that either cease from their work, when they have brought it to perfection, or else give over a meaner labor because a better and more worthy is to be undertaken: therefore though some part of an Holiday is indulged to put gladness into the life of them that are toiled with continual work, yet the substantial character of the day is to meet together in our Religious Convocations, and to adore the Name of the Lord.

I shall not be able at this fag end of the hour to traverse this point as I would, some satisfaction I will give you now, God willing, and defer that which remains to a more spacious occasion. My Doctrine which I lay down is this, that it is lawful for any Church to celebrate what Feasts it will, so all be done with order and edification: And I say more that every Church ought to set apart Solemn Times to remember annually the extraordinary works of God, though such designed and determinate Days are not commanded in Holy scripture. And I put to this moreover, that God doth accept what the Church in due consideration doth voluntarily consecrate to Religious use. I will put two parts of my Proposition together, that this was lawful to be done, and that it ought to be done. Nature did teach the Heathen, God taught the Jews, and Christ by his own practice while he was upon earth taught us, that to meet at Extraordinary Times for the celebration of Excellent Things was just and righteous. One doth eloquently and very truly commend the various fruit of keeping such Sacred Times in this full Encomiasticon. Festival days are the Splendour and outward Dignity of our Religion, forcible Witnesses of ancient truth, agnizing of great Benefits received, Provocations to the Exercises of Piety, Shadows of our endless felicity in Heaven.

First, I will begin at the last of these, That there must be great consolation in the due keeping of an Holiday, if you rightly understand it, because it represents the joy which is laid up for us in the Kingdom of Heaven: and it is a most comfortable expectation, when the very outward countenance of that which we are about on Earth, doth prefigure after a sort that which we tend unto in the everlasting Habitations. Bear but this in mind, that the Rubric days in the Almanac do prefigure that celestial condition, wherein being mixed with Angels, we shall sing Haleluia to the Lamb for evermore, having no worldly toil or vexation to distract us, and this would make us most cheerful to bear a part in a solemn Congregation. The Kingdom of Heaven was but darkly revealed to the Jews in the Old Testament, and yet to bear in mind the glory which is laid up for the Godly, they devoted a portion of every Day to the Divine Service, in the Morning and Evening Sacrifice; a portion of every Week upon the Sabbath, a portion of every Moneth upon the New Moon; a portion of every Season of the Year, the Passover in the Spring, the Feast of Pentecost in the Summer, the Feast of Tabernacles in the Autumn, and in latter Ages the Feast of Dedication in the Winter. Every seventh Year was a Solemn Year for the Cessation of all Plowing and Sowing, and that's a contracted Age: Every Fiftieth Year was most solemn for the memorizing of the Grand Jubilee, and that's a long protracted Age. If they did so often represent their longing to be at rest in heavenly places, much more doth it concern us under the Gospel, who are nearer neighbors than they to that future glory.

Secondly, such gandy days are most meet for the agnizing of great benefits received. I esteem the more of this reason, because it is St. Austin's: Ne volumine temporum ingrata obreperet oblivio; by Festival Solemnities and set Days we dedicate and sanctify to God the memory or his chief benefits, lest unthankfulness and forgetfulness should creep upon us in the course of time. Nor is it enough to remember some notable favor upon one day and no more with great pomp and splendor; for the revolution of time will obscure that, as if it had never been, the constant habit of doing well is not gotten without the custom of doing well, without an iteration of holy Duties: Beside such as are weak and tottering in faith might imagine that we did set no high price upon the Nativity of our Lord, upon his Passion, his Resurrection, his Ascension, and upon the Coming of the Holy Ghost, if we did not extol him for them with some outward and eminent acts of glory.

Thirdly, the principal Articles of Faith are nailed fast to our memory by clothing great Feasts with some transcendent tokens of joy and holiness. At the Feast of Christmas every simple body is put in mind that Christ took our nature upon him, and was born of a pure Virgin. On Good Friday even Babes and Children are taught that he died upon the Cross to redeem us from eternal death. Easterday proclaims it, that our Savior rose again in his own Body from the Grave, and will raise up our Flesh at the last day to be like his own glorious Body. Ascension day, or Holy Thursday rememorates every year, that He is gone up into Heaven to be our Intercessor with his Father, and to prepare a place for us. Whitsunday, or the Coming of the Holy Ghost, is like a fair Land-mark to instruct the most unlearned, that though our nature is most corrupt, and averse from all good motions, yet the spirit is poured into us, whereby in some weak measure we become obedient Children, and cry Abba Father. These are the Days which the Lord hath made, and when we devote ourselves to magnify him upon these occasions, they prove the best means to teach us the Catechetical and fundamental points of faith. And as Christ was great in himself, and in those works of grace, so He is great in the Angels of Heaven, great in the Apostles, in the Evangelists, in all Saints and Martyrs; and the choice is made by our Church of the Flower of all occasions in this kind publicly to praise the Lord: and it is very fit, I say, that there should be a sensible difference between these and common days, both for our thanksgiving, and for the profitableness of our piety. God's works are all worthy of observation, but not at all times alike to be remembered: for as the Lord by being everywhere doth not give unto all places one and the same degree of holiness: but the Church is more sacred than the Highways of the Field, though God's Immensity and Omnipotency is alike in both; so neither is one and the same dignity competent to all times, although the Omnipotency of God doth work in all times: but as his extraordinary presence hath hallowed and sanctified certain places, so they are his extraordinary works, which have worthily advanced certain times: for which cause they ought with all men that honor God to be in more honor than other days.

I should add two things more that are very ponderous to confirm this truth, one from the practice of some holy persons in the Old Testament, whose constitutions God approved; the other from the practice of our Fore-fathers in all Ages, and 'tis fit to tread in their steps in things that are laudable, honest, and indifferent: but this shall not be huddled up, I will dilate it hereafter. To dispatch all, beside our holy due of the Lord's Day we are now to celebrate the Kings Day; and for good reason in all equity we ought to do some Religious Service on His Day, who is the Defender of our Religion. Next under the Providence of God who but the King doth maintain the Truth among us; therefore on what day of the week soever this Day lights, it becomes us to set open the Door of the Church, and to praise the Lord, because we have freedom to come to Church all the year by his grace and protection. We have no Romish Superstition, no Anabaptistical or Presbyterian Anarchy to make this holy place irksome unto us. God be praised that has given his Anointed a faithful heart to serve him, and to uphold his People in the right way, that they may hold up clean hands to Heaven. I do read that Constantine celebrated an yearly Feast for his Victory against Licinius. I read that the Church of Alexandria celebrated a Day yearly wherein the waters asswaged after a great Inundation. I read that Alexius Comnenus appointed a perpetual Holiday for the memory of the famous Emperor and Lawgiver Justinian: nay, St. Ambrose calls to mind, that Felix Bishop of Cuma kept that day every year in a magnificent manner to God, wherein he was consecrated Bishop. Thus former Ages have given us light, that we keep in the Circle of that which is lawful, when we adorn the Anniversary Day of the Inauguration of our most noble King with joy and festivity in the sight of God: and first let us confess the Lord's benefit towards us, and say as the People did of Solomon, Because thy God loved Israel to stablish them forever, therefore made he thee King over them to do judgment and justice, 1 Chron. ix. viii. Secondly, let as put up Prayers and Intercessions to the Divine Majesty, to give great prosperity to our Anointed Sovereign, to his Royal Consort, and to their Posterity forever. AMEN.

A SERMON UPON THE RESURRECTION.

I F you have ever seen a piece of Coin stamped with one face upon the fore-side, and with another upon the reverse, then set that, fancy before you to understand the double sense of this Text. First, If you ask according to the Letter, whose Image and Superscription is this? I tell you, and I have told it you once before, it is David's: And this is the triumphant Hymn of the devout men of Israel, exulting that God had given them such a King to go in and out before them: If you ask according to the Spirit to whom this Verse belongs? most certainly it aims at Christ, and that two ways, either calculating this Day for the whole Age of the Gospel, that is the day which God hath made to put gladness into his chosen, through the remission of our sins, because the day-spring from on high hath visited us: Or else in a more eminent sort it is the joyful acclamation of the Church upon the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, that being the most honorable, and most welcome of days, because the Resurrection hath ever been esteemed the most glorious of all the works of the Gospel. I have spun out the first of these concerning David to the last thread, now my Web which is upon the Loom is concerning Christ; that is, I have given unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and it is very expedient, as the more principal duty, to give unto God that which is God's. Indeed, I cannot say that I am come to the heart, and to the vitals of the Text till now; till now that I apply it, not as formerly to the Lord's Anointed, but to Christ himself our Lord anointed. And I have clear way made me for this interpretation, as clear as I can wish, for never any that have received the Book of the Psalms for spiritual and divine melody, but do reckon this Psalm, and especially this part of the Psalm, to belong to Jesus the Author and finisher of our Salvation, The Doctors of the Jews, says St. Jerome, did use to sing it in praise of the Messias. And the Doctors of the Christians must be all of one Chorus to chant it merrily to the Son of God, because four places of the New Testament, that is witness enough, have made a challenge unto it, that this Psalm is an Allelujah, or Hosannah to the Son of God. And because the words of my Text are obvious to be recited upon any memorable and plausible occasion, sometimes they have been drawn to congratulate human affairs, yet with this reservation, that none under heaven hath a true interest in them. I read that in the second Constant. Council held under Justinian the Emperor, Johannes Presbyter, as he was called, did extol the unanimity and most concordious proceedings of it with these words, This is the day, &c. I read that one Cyriacus, a just and a learned man was made a Bishop, and the people so well pleased with his Election cried out, Hic est dies Domini. But Gregory the Great told the people, that no Creature ought to be magnified with that solemn note which belongs to the Creator: But he adds, Cur ista reprehendo! Qui quantùm gaudia mentem rapiunt scio. Why do I chide you for it? It was your gladness that did transport you. It was your charity that made you so exult, and your meaning was not to give the honor to man, but unto God.

And so I have laid the corner stone of my Text, that Christ is the subject of this Prophetical and triumphant acclamation. And because there are two opinions how he is the subject of it, that variety shall divide my Text. Briefly and plainly, either this day, which the Lord is said to have made, is meant of the whole time of the Gospel, so St. Jerome, and St. Austin, with a fair Troop of learned Writers beside, or else it is understood of that day, wherein Christ arose from the dead, which is the Epitome of the whole Gospel. Now these two opinions are so equally embraced, that I find that the Church in her solemn Service hath favored them both. First, some that have taken pains in Liturgical Antiquities tell me, that this Psalm was of old appointed to be recited by the Priest every Sunday in the year, that is an evident argument, that the day which the Lord hath made, belongs equally to all the days which shine upon us since Christ was incarnate, that is, to the whole duration of the Gospel. Again, it hath long continued, and is used to this day in the Church of Rome, that my Text is set in the front of the gradual for Easter-day, and is repeated in the same manner constantly for six days after that high Feast, which demonstrates that it hath principally been applied to the glorious mystery of the Resurrection. Give me leave therefore to bring them both into my Treatise, one after another: And upon each to speak of two things, De beneficio divino, de officio humano; the one half of the verse is God's benignity, This is the day which the Lord hath made, the other half is man's acceptance and duty, We will rejoice, &c.

You know I have already answered to the Interrogation Cujus? Whose day this is? Whose but Christ's? And for certain it cannot be his day as he is God from everlasting. His goings out are from all eternity, Micah v. iii. Again, this is dies factus, a day that is made, and such an adjunct cannot suit with him that was never made, but is the everlasting one before the world began. It is that day therefore which was made with him when he was made flesh. It is a courtesy among men for a Creditor to give a day to him that is behind hand to pay his debts. Have patience with me, says the servant that was arrested, to the cruel Exactor, and I will pay thee all. But the Lord knew that it would not help us one whit to have the favor of the longest day that could be set to make payment for what we owe unto him; nay, the longer we live, the longer is the Tally of our sins; the reckoning will be the more enflamed by giving us time to discharge it. Therefore God made a day for his Son, and appointed him a season to offer up a price in our stead, and through his satisfaction the hand-writing is discharged which was against us. Yea, but S. Luke remembers us that there are many days belonging to the Son, Luk. xvii. 22. The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man. What day of all those is this? Why not one but all those days since the world received him, and received him with the glad tidings of Salvation; all Evangelical days at large, every day that we hear his voice, and harden not our hearts, is this day. It may very well be opposed to that dismal day wherein our first Parents transgressed and fell, that was a day which the Devil made, and he took his pastime in it, because the League of friendship was broken between God and man; but the Lord made a new day to repair us again by the mediation of Jesus Christ. Non est dies miseriae quam ipsi nobis fecimus, sed dies redemptionis quam fecit Dominus; I think it is St. Austin's, this is not the day of misery which we brought upon ourselves, but it is the good day of pacification and redemption which God created.

It is not to be thought that the whole current of the Gospel is called a day, but that the nature of it will endure that name in some fit and excellent proportion. For,

First, There was no day until a day was set that Christ should come into the world; darkness did cover the earth, and gross Doctrine the People, as the Prophet says, no night that troubles melancholy people with strange and horrible Apparitions could be more dismal than the time was, before some Evangelical Promises were preached to the drooping conscience. Take a sinner or malefactor that knows not how God hath sealed his pardon, and what is this earth better than a prison or a Dungeon unto him? where he lies fettered with the bands of a long night, and is exiled from the eternal providence, as it is Wisd. xvii. 2. O what a Sun-shine there is in the salvation of Christ's name which bringeth the Prisoners out of Captivity, it is a day which is an introduction to an eternal day, where there is light for evermore. So says Arnobius, Dies cui non succedit nox, quam horae non dividunt, quem umbra non impedit. It is a day which is not divided by the short space of moments and hours; no Eclipses can obscure it, no night can succeed it. Day began with Christ, and it shall continue with him forever.

Secondly, The Gospel is a most brightsom day compared to that Age wherein the Jews walked under the Ordinances of Moses, For what was that Law but an Evening with many shadows? All things in their Religion were Types and Figures unrevealed, which caused an ignorant Priesthood, and a People of a gross capacity. Wherefore St. Austin observes, that our Savior was brought forth into the world at midnight, but the glory of the Lord which shone round about the Angel that brought the tidings made the night as clear as the day: But the Law was delivered on Mount Sinah at Noontide, but with so many mists and dark pillars of smoke, that it made the day as obscure as the night. Do but put yourself to one Task, to examine by the Contents of the Law how you will come to the knowledge of the Resurrection of Christ, you will not say but it was very meet for an Israelite under the Law to know it; but alas, they did grope in the dark, and it is hard to say whether ever they did find it, for what Type or shadow did come home to demonstrate it? You must not reply that it did appear in Jonas, who came forth alive, after he had been three days and three nights in the belly of the Whale, for this was no Lesson for them that lived in eight or nine Ages from Moses unto the days of Jonas. Neither must you urge that the first Temple was plucked down to the ground, and another reared up in the place, which Temple did so prefigure Christ's body, that in that respect Haggai says, The glory of the second house was greater than the first, Hag. ii. 10. This could never inform the people's judgment all the while that the Tabernacle was under Tents. Truly all that I can lead you to in this case is to the Ark, which was but an Epitome of the Temple. Nay, nor to the Ark itself, but to the three holy Relics which were laid up in the Ark, in them with a little curious observation, you may find a rude draught of the Resurrection of our Savior. The two Tables of the Law which God gave first to Moses were broken, but they were new hewn, and written over again, there was the reparation of the work of God, which seemed to have been utterly lost. The Pot of Manna was in the Ark, and this resembled Christ; the Pot was like his Human Nature, of the earth earthy. The Manna, like his Godhead was above nature, and came from heaven, why this Manna would not keep above two days at the most, after that it would putrefy, but that which was put into the Pot did out-last the two days of putrefaction, and for ought we know was never corrupted. Finally, Aaron's Rod was a dead dry stick, but it shot forth like a living Tree, and brought forth Almonds. Now if the Resurrection of Christ, the very Pillar of faith, was to be collected out of such dark obscure shadows, what a gloomy night was the time of the Law? And what an illustrious day is the Gospel, which speaks this mystery so plainly to the capacity even of Children and Idiots, Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him.

Yet I will confess that we are not yet come to broad day-light till the general Resurrection of all flesh is accomplished. Very sweetly says one of the Moderns, Tempus gratiae aurora est, quae diet vicinior est quam nocti. This time of grace is not complete day, but a complete morning, which hath little in it of the night, and much of the day. That is, if you compare us with those of the Synagogue, we are partakers of the day: If you compare us with the life to come, when our glory shall be revealed, and Christ shall be all in all, then we are yet in a dusky condition, and have not hitherto shaken off the night. St. Paul hath nickt it with most proper words, Rom. xiii. 12. says he, The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Processit nox, not Praecessit, as the Vulgar Latin does misread it, darkness is much abated, not quite dispersed, for as yet we see darkly as in a glass, but the dawning of the day is risen in our Horizon, for God hath given us the explicit knowledge of all Mysteries that conduce to our Salvation. When the Church had first rest from persecution, it had leisure to invent a splendor of Ceremonies in setting forth the Service of God, among others I find that this was practiced in the fourth Age, that when the Deacon went up to some high place to read the Gospel, there were certain attendants in the Church, called Acolythi, that carried two Torches lighted before him, Ad demonstrandum quod de tenebris infidelitatis venimus ad lucem fidei; to signify that we have thrown aside darkness and infidelity, and are come by the help of the Gospel into marvelous light. So St. Jerome against Vigilantius, in the daytime, in the Eastern Countries, when the Gospel is read Candles are lighted, not ad fugandas tenebras, sed ad sigum laetitiae demonstrandum; not that such artificial light adds anything to the light of the day, but it is a token that light is come to us, and we are glad of the illumination. Give us leave then to say without boasting, that wheresoever the name of Christ is professed, and in no place else, there is the acceptable time, there is the day of salvation. As there was light in Goshen when all the Land of Egypt was in darkness. But especially we shall show that we do believe that the day spring from on high hath visited us, if we keep that one rule which St. Paul hath enforced upon it, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Let us walk honestly and decently as in the day; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , either the energy of the word means, that because many eyes are witnesses of our dressing in the day, we will then habit ourselves more comely than in the night, when none, or only those of our Family behold us: So the Christian Church is like a City upon an Hill, which cannot be hid, the eyes of all Nations are bent upon it, therefore let us walk soberly and justly, that we give no scandal to the enemies of the Gospel. Be as careful to apparel your souls handsomely with all grace and virtue in the sight of God, as you are observant to dress your bodies decently in the day, that nothing deformed may appear in you to the eyes of men. Or it may thus concord with the Apostles intention, such as are dissolute will forbear to riot it in the day, they that are drunken are drunken in the night. A Nation that is more civil in the night than in the day is hardly to be found, unless it be true that some do tax us for such a Nation; but all distempers of roaring and mischief for the most part break out in darkness. Well then since the Gospel is a perpetual day, not so little as a Lanthorn unto our feet, that is but dim, but a light from heaven above the light of the Sun, Acts xxvi. 13. Let us walk honestly as children of the light, knowing we are made a spectacle to God, and Angels, and Men.

So far I have entreated upon the Lord's benignity, he hath not only crowned David to be a mighty Potentate in the Land of Canaan, but in the day of his Son Christ Jesus he hath crowned us all Kings, and Priests of righteousness, and hath given us a long day to rejoice in even forever and ever. Now follows our acceptance and duty, since this day hath appeared to the wish of our heart, We will rejoice and be glad in it; as who should say, as the faithful Israelites did keep one day for David's Inauguration, so in the day of the Gospel we must always rejoice for the Kingdom of Christ. Upon the establishment of this Kingdom all the Creatures are adjured to express their gladness, Psal. xcvi. I quote that place, for there is none like it to this purpose; thus the Psalmist, ver. 10. Say among the Heathen that the Lord reigneth, let the Heavens rejoice, and let the Earth be glad; let the Sea roar and the fullness thereof, let the field be joyful, and all that is therein, then shall all the trees of the Wood rejoice before the Lord, for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth. Tenerae militiae delicatus conflictus, as Gregory says, We call our Pilgrimage upon earth a Christian warfare, a wrestling with Powers and Principalities, an affliction of the flesh, the sufferance of the Cross, &c. And are all those affrighting words converted into this Lesson, Rejoice and be glad. He that will stick with God for the duty, Jubeas miserum esse libenter; let him eat the bread of sorrow, let him live in misery and mourning, when he need not. Can the Children of the Bride-chamber mourn while the Bridegroom is with them? Says our Savior to the Pharisees, when they grudge'd that his Disciples did not humble and macerate themselves with fasting. But the days will come that the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then they shall mourn. Two things I deduce from hence: Out of the latter words it appears, that dismal times will befall the Church Evangelical, by bloody persecutions, by the venomous tongues of Heretics, sharper than any two-edged Sword. Yet those woeful Calamities result not out of the Gospel itself, but are extrinsical mischiefs that force themselves upon it. And though the Bridegroom be gone he hath sent the Comforter, and in the midst of sorrows his enlightenings do enrich the soul, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , we converse says St. Paul, among sad events, as if we were sorrowful, but in good earnest we are always rejoicing. But secondly, it appears from the exordium of our Savior's Sermon, Can the Children of the Bride-chamber mourn while the Bridegroom is with them? That the Gospel in its own nature is a Bride-chamber, or solemnization of a great Marriage, wherein there is nothing but joyfulness and festivity. Says the Apostle, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, that was the constitution of the Gospel: Well, what follows? Therefore let us keep the Feast, 1 Cor. v. 8. St. Cyprian reads it, Festa celebremus, let us keep the Feasts, let us all days festival for Christ's sake. St. Paul alludes to the Feast of unleavened bread among the Jews which was held seven days continually without ceasing. In like sort let us celebrate such a feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity, and Numerus septenarius est symbolum universitatis, to keep it for seven days is from the mystical number of eternity to keep it forever and ever. Clemens says, Universa vita justi est quidam celebris ac sanctus dies; All the life of a good Christian is holy day. Pope Sylvester meant it so, when he changed the common names of the week days, and called them all Ferias. Feria prima, secunda, and so forth. Nay, our own Church intends it so likewise, therefore in our Cathedral Churches solemn praise are sung to the Organ all the year long with the voice of melody; and in Parochial Churches every day of the year when Morning Prayer is read after the Confession and Absolution of our sins, the Introitus, or Introduction appointed is an Hymn, and thus it begins, Come let us sing unto the Lord, let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.

If I descend to some particulars, wherein our Evangelical gladness consists, I know it will be more satisfactory to the Auditory. First, It brings with it a spiritual delight. Secondly, An external gladness which opens itself in signs and tokens. The spiritual delight which we treasure up within the soul looking steadfastly upon Jesus that died for our sins, and rose again for our justification, is heavenly and unutterable, it is a superlative joy that cries down all other petty delights. It is risus ex serenitate conscientiae, as the Fathers call it; not Sarah's gigling, but Abraham's laughter, when he believed that Isaac should be born, and involved in the same belief, that Christ the Redeemer should be born out of the stock of Isaac. The external utterances of a pious joy are these: 1. Days of rest from bodily labor; for the meaner labor must give way, when a better, and a worthier is to be undertaken. And while the mind hath just occasion to make its abode in the house of gladness, the weed of ordinary toil and travel doth not become us; therefore it is fit that ordinary labor should sometimes surrender itself up to the service of God. 2. To laud the name of the Lord, and to give thanks unto him are the only language of our thankfulness. Says David, I went with the multitude unto the house of the Lord, in the voice of praise and thanksgiving among such as keep holy day, Psal. xlii. 5.3. God doth not deny it, but he that offereth him praise doth honor him; but will you know how that honor is best exalted? Make a cheerful noise to the God of Jacob, singing and making melody to the Lord with Psalms, and Hymns, and spiritual Songs. If the Jews might justly say, how can we sing the Lord's song, while we are in a strange Land, while we are in Captivity? Then we must acknowledge on the contrary, how can we choose but sing the Lord's Song, being delivered out of captivity? Singing of Psalms is a most proper exercise of our reasonable service. Curious Music upon costly Instruments is an admirable alarm for devotion in Cathedral and Collegiate places, where such as are wise and skillful do come together to enjoy it. Yet still the people have their Vulgar Psalms to solace their hearts, and they that mock at such innocent harmony have great want of charity that they will not descend to the weakness of their poor brethren. St. Jerome tells it of his days, that as the people walked about the Market, as they sailed in Ships, as they wrought with their Needle they sung these holy Ditties. Says St. Basil, this is irksome to none but to the Devil; let scoffers mark that, for the evil Spirit went out of Saul when David played upon the Harp, and David was no profane Minstril, but an holy Singer. 4. Another effect of Christian joy is to give, because it abounds. A joy that will not distribute to the needy is a shrunken withered joy, nay, a joy that will carry the curse of God with it, because it wants fruits: And a joy that will carry the curse of the poor with it, because they are suffered to pine and languish in our public gladness. 5. And lastly, all sorts of mirth, and innocent recreation, wherein our Substance is not exhausted, nor our time trifled away, are agreeable to our Christian Conversation, the heart cannot always be intentive upon the glory of God, Miro modo ex amore Dei homo aliquando non cogitat de Deo; At our times of respite from sacred Offices, to delight our sullen nature with harmless pleasure, it rubs off the rust of melancholy, and puts alacrity in us to rejoice always in the Lord. Away with the lowering of the Pharisee, and take heed of austerity which is groundless, and hath no foundation in the Word of God.

And here I stint myself to proceed no further upon the first part which I laid forth, for you have heard enough that the whole current of the Gospel is that Day which the gracious mercy of the Lord did make, all things without it are anxious and grievous, all things with it are sweet and delicious, and therefore it is the very joy of our heart. But as commonly a Diamond is more valuable than the Ring wherein it is set, so if I will take our Grammarians at their word, annus quasi annulus, that a Year is a Circumvolution of Time that hath no end, but runs round like a Ring; then I may speak it out of the mouth of all antiquity, that the High Feast of Easter is the Jewel of the Year, whose luster hath been most beautiful in the eyes of godly men in all Ages. As there is mention in Scripture of an Holy of Holies, and a Song of Songs, so Nazianzen calls this 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the Solemnity of Solemnities; others the Metropolis of sacred Feasts, the Queen of Holy-days, and like the Virgin Mary among Women, so this among the Days of the Year, all Generations shall call it blessed. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ▪ by Epiphanius, the great Assembly, the greatest Concourse of Christians throughout all the year. Such a Concourse, that when that day came, the most bloody Persecutions could not deter them from assembling together; they that hid their heads in dark places, and Caves of the earth, would come abroad, and fill up a Congregation, as if they had rather choose death, than be wanting to praise God for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. A goodly fair Church being built at Alexandria, but not yet consecrated, Athanasius was blamed that he suffered the People to meet together for the performance of Divine Service in a Church that wanted Episcopal Consecration; his answer was it was the Feast of Easter, and all other Churches were too little to receive those multitudes of Christians in the City, and their ardor was so great, that in despite of my authority they would fill up the most capacious Church against that principal Solemnity. I should make you surfeit with story, if I should tell you what religious care Christian Emperors and General Councils of most famous Bishops had to settle this holy Festival, that it might be kept more solemnly than all the Feasts of the year. Cui non dictus Hylas? who doth not know that it was worthy to be considered and ratified by 318 Bishops in the first Nicene Council? and they had reason to do so; for it appears though other Holy-days dropt in one after another in later times, yet the Apostles themselves, and all Ages deduced from them, did celebrate one day yearly for the Resurrection of our Lord. Therefore says Constantine the Great in his Oration at the Nicene Council, be it lawful for us Christians, rejecting the Jewish manner, to honor that day, which ever since the Passion of Christ hath been observantly kept until this time, and let us transmit the due constitution of it to all Ages to come. And so St. Austin commending the pious use of this Feast, that which is an inviolable Custom in all Orthodox Churches of the world, and hath none to gainsay it, it must be confessed that it was established by the Apostles themselves, and that's authority enough. And those were most concordious and happy times, that it being but a Ceremony of Decency and Order, none did lift up their tongues against it. These latter Ages have been more froward and combustious; though David pointed it out with so clear a Prophesy, This is the day which the Lord hath made; though the Angels appeared in white early this morning in our Savior 's Tomb, that is in the Garments of joy and gladness; though St. Paul says upon our Christian Pasche, Let us keep the Feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity, though the Apostles in all likelihood ordain'd it; though both Eastern and Western Churches kept a solemn Jubilee upon it, yet some have snarl'd at it, and would neither give it any particular honor, nor appoint any Service suitable for that happy occasion. The Church of Geneva was at that point once, but I am far from blaming Calvin for it, as some have done; for their giddy-headed multitude had banished him out of their City, at what time they quite erased out all Holy-days, and when he returned again, he did prevail with them to reestablish the two great Feasts of Christmas and Easter. And for that which happened before, he answered se nescio & invito factum esse, it was neither done with his will, nor with his knowledge. It is more than I know if any other Christian Church in the world did keep no Feast for the Resurrection of Christ, saving that this thankful remembrance of Christ's victory over Death was forgot in the Church of Scotland, till by the learned and pious industry of King James of Blessed Memory, about eighteen years past they did consent at an Ecclesiastical Synod, to receive five solemn Feasts in honor of our Savior, and Easter for the principal. O how these Churches would have been inveighed at in Athanasius, and Jerome, and Austin 's days? I dare confidently say it, they would have been excommunicated by General Councils, none would have held communion with them, during the time that they had no solemn Easter, as long as they did not keep the Day which the Lord hath made. Arius excepted against that Holy-day, and presently he was scored up for an Heretic. But our Church, which is most decent in all good order, and reasonable Ceremony, doth not only give honor to the grand Day, but to the two Days following, as the enlarging of our faith and joy: and this is exact according to ancient order: For in Nyssen 's first Sermon on the Pasque it is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a Three days Festival, and St. Austin speaks of it as a thing known, that there was tertius festi dies, a third day solemnized, that as Christ rose the third day, so the memory of it was kept in three days continuation.

Some have stood much upon it, that the time when Christ rose out of the Grave is not called a Feast, but a Day, as if there had been somewhat in it to make it a Day, rather than any other time. Chrysologus gives his reason as one that is transported with joy beyond the truth, that in the Morning wherein our Champion overcame death, the Sun rose earlier by certain hours than the natural season, Ut redderet lucis horas, quas terror Dominicae passionis invaserat, to make restitution of those hours of light which were lost by the Eclipse of the Sun at our Savior's Passion: and so it should be called a Day, because it was miraculous, and longer than the natural proportion of a Day. But this is without the Book, and rather Poetical than Theological. But secondly, to more purpose it justly bears the title of a Day; for were it not for the benefit of Christ's Resurrection we had been buried in eternal night, our bodies had gone down into the Sepulcher, as into the Land of darkness, to perish and rot, and never to see the light more: Nox est perpetuo una dormienda; but through him who hath planted us into the similitude of his Resurrection, we awake from sleep, we stand up from the dead, and Christ shall give us light. 3. The claritude of those glorified Bodies which we shall put on in the General Resurrection will make us carry Day about with us whithersoever we go. You know how Christ did look at his Transfiguration, his face did shine as the Sun, and his raiment was white as the light, Mat. xvii. 2. therefore it must needs be day with the Saints forever after they are risen from the dead, since according to the Pattern of their Masters beauty their faces shall shine like the Sun in the Firmament. But fourthly, whether these curiosities touch the Point I am not sure, upon this I dare build, that it is called the Day which the Lord made, because no greater work than the Resurrection of Christ was made upon any day since the world began: for two things are to be considered in it, Quod apparuit in Christo, & quod nondum apparuit in nobis, that which was wrought upon Christ's Body, and was seen in him, and by virtue of his rising from the dead that which shall appear in us hereafter. O infinite Power which quickened Jesus again, the life and soul of all the Members of his Body, and would not let him see corruption. I know not how to compare the noblest Acts of the Lord, as many have done, I dare not do it; as whether it were more to create a man out of nothing, or to recompose a man again, when his Soul was flitted, and the Substance of his Body passed about into innumerous Transmutations, after the revolution of five or six thousand years: This I know, that on our part it had been better for us never to have been, than not to have been restored to the Image of God which was defaced in us; and simply to be is nothing so well, as to be made incorruptible in the outward man, and the inward man to be restored unto Righteousness and Holiness of life, Besides, after the Creation God did cease from his work, and there is no new thing under the Sun; but after the Resurrection of Christ, God doth continually save his people from their Sins: Or if you interpose that as the Father did rest the last day of the Week from the Works of the Creation, so the Son did rest on the first day of the Week, having absolutely accomplished the Work of our Redemption; then I infer, if the Rest of the Father, ceasing from creating material things, did sanctify a Day, then this greater Rest of the Son must much more sanctify a Festival. As the new Heavens and the new Earth shall be more glorious than the old, which are subject to vanity; so the Jewish Feast on the Sabbath for the Remembrance of the Creation, is nothing so honorable as the Christian Feast of the Lord's Day in Remembrance of the Resurrection: Therefore at the close of the Benefit, let me admonish you of the Duty, We will, &c.

When Israel came out of Egypt, and the house of Jacob from a strange Land, they came home again to the Land of Canaan, from whence they were descended, like men that had lien long among the dead, and were quite forgotten: But with so much mirth and joy as is unutterable, their mouth was filled with laughter and their tongue with joy. This was but a Type of the Body brought back out of the Grave, therefore this gladness will become us much better in the Substance, than in the Figure. Christ is returned victoriously out of the Sepulcher, and in that victory hath redeemed us all from the captivity of the Grave, then how requisite is it that our mouth should be filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing? for the Lord hath done very great things for us, whereof we are glad. There was never any Society, I am persuaded, more disconsolate, more crest-fallen, than the Disciples were upon the Eve of this happy Resurrection, their faith failed them, and their courage failed them; they locked themselves up, and sat drowzily like men that had lost the fairest expectation that heart could imagine, and had neither life nor soul. Heaviness did endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Jesus came into the midst of them the doors being shut, and shown them his feet and his hands, Then were the Disciples glad when they saw the Lord, Joh. xx. 20. before the Lord's Ascension, though their minds were yet somewhat carnal, yet they were glad that his sayings were verified in despite of the Jews, that He was risen again the third day. The old Father confuted his churlish Son with that principle of good nature, it was meet that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again, Luke xv. 32. Again the Disciples were very frollick, because when they saw the Lord revived again, they were persuaded that He would restore the Temporal Kingdom unto Israel, a thing which erroneously they had long looked for: but after his Ascension then their joy was high swoln, and full to the brim, for it was illuminated by faith, they rejoiced that he was risen, and gone up in glory to possess his Kingdom, for when Christ our life shall appear again, then shall we also appear in glory.

But because ancient Customs are things that will stick to the remembrance, I will borrow a little time to impart unto you what glad remonstrances the Old Fathers of the Church were wont to make of it.

First their very outward Garments were of the best they had, and full of splendor; not out of pride and wantonness, but to testify that in every circumstance they did magnify that holy Mystery of Christ's rising from the dead, and to witness in their outward habit, that the resurrection of the dead is the clothing of us with new and immortal apparel. Therefore Nazianzen wishing for his own dissolution cries out, take from me this ponderous Garment, that is, this sinful corruptible Body, which makes me sweat and faint, and give me a lighter that will never trouble me.

Secondly, their Churches were tricked up with the best bravery that they could get, that the very Walls of God's House might bear a part in their rejoicing: As for Processions from one Church to another on this day, I find no such Custom in the best Ages of Religion: Although in some late hundred years it is in use at Rome, that their chief Prelates visit the seven principal Churches in grand Procession, because, and alas for so poor a cause, that Christ, after He was risen, bad his Disciples go before him into Galilee.

Thirdly, the Word of God was preached laboriously, and studied for that occasion, Ex verbo illud potissimum, quod est tempori convenientissimum, says Nazianzen; let that Scripture be handled which belongs to the Season: and beside the Sermon their Service was set forth with all gravity and sweetness of Music. Laeti exultantesque celebremus, says St. Ambrose, &c. let our shrill voices proclaim it that we are glad: and Theodoret gives warning, that this Panegyrical Day be kept honestly, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; not with drunkenness and riot, and profuse laughter, but singing Psalms, and hearing the Word attentively.

Fourthly, this Feast was the solemn time for receiving Baptism, this and the Feast of Whitsuntide, and, unless in case of necessity, it was never given of old at other times; all that were presented at Baptism coming in white Garments, professing thereby that they would keep their righteousness pure and immaculate until the second coming of the Lord.

Fifthly, as Baptism is the washing away of sins, which could not choose but comfort their hearts over all the Church, and make them cheerful, so the confirmation of that Faith was the receiving of the Holy Communion of Christ's Body and Blood, which all did universally apply themselves to, that could examine themselves, and none did fail, whereupon says Leo, this is the peculiar Blessing of Easter-day, ut in remission peccatorum universa gaudeat Ecclesia, that the whole Church had cause to rejoice that remission of sins was sealed unto them, that is, either in the Sacrament of Baptism, or in the Supper of the Lord.

Sixthly, whereas it was disputed and tossed about extremely at what time all Christians should keep their Easter, the holy Bishops that were otherwise at odds, consented in two things, the one that it should begin immediately after the sorrowful affliction of Lent was laid aside. The other, that it should be appointed in the sweetness of the Spring, when the year is most delightsome and beautiful, Et laetitiam conciliat huic festo verna amaenitas, says one, the amiable verdure of the Spring is join'd unto it to make Easter more joyful.

Seventhly, some did alter the year, and set the beginning of it from the Feast of the Resurrection. We come very near it in one computation ourselves. This I find, that as some friends do send Presents one to the other at the beginning of the new year. So Nazianzen says, that at Easter all were wont to give either Oblations to God, or Gifts to their Neighbors, or Alms to the Poor: For Festival Solemnities are a due mixture of Praise and Bounty. The Jews at the Passover did offer to God the first fruits of their Barly, at the Feast of Pentecost Loaves made of new Wheat, at the Feast of Tabernacles the first fruits of other Fruits which they had gathered. All pompous days had some mixture of liberality.

Eighthly, in Theodosius the Emperors time a Law passed, to the end that all might keep their Easter merrily without interruption, that no Process or Arrest should go forth in any Court against any man from the Sunday before Easter to the Sunday after Easter, that is, for the space of fifteen days.

Ninthly, as the Political Magistrate was so respectful of this Festival, so was the Ecclesiastical: For the ancient Council of Ancyra ordered, that to the end all might rejoice and be glad this day, Excommunications, Suspensions, and all Censures should end at Easter; nay the great Council of Nice took care, that in every Province or Diocese a Synod of the Clergy should be held every Lent, to set all matters strait against this time, that there might be no variance, no quarrel, no complaint remaining: As if this were our Jubilee, wherein Servants were manumitted from Bondage, Debts were remitted, and Possessions restored to the owners that had sold them. Certainly the holy Fathers meant that above all the Feasts of the year this was our joyful Jubilee.

Tenthly and lastly, the principal stamp of gladness set upon this day was, that the first day of the week, namely Sunday is kept holy every day of the week for Easter-days sake; of which I will make a larger work hereafter. But every Sunday was strictly kept with such solemn postures of joy, that the last Canon of the Nicene Council interdicted all Christians from kneeling on those days, they must pray standing, that is cheerfully, and kneeling was supposed to be the gesture of affliction and humiliation.

The end of all these Edicts and Ceremonies was to let us know, that the Lord had done great things for us, for which we ought to rejoice, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , even to skip for joy; for true joy will break forth, as John did in the womb of Elizabeth. Death is a comfort against all sorrows, and the Resurrection is a comfort against Death, and Christ is our comfort that we shall have a joyful resurrection, and the holy Sacrament is our visible comfort, that we still live in Christ for evermore. AMEN.

A SERMON UPON THE Church Festivals.

T HE Substance of Religion is to fear God, and to praise him. The Circumstances thereof are to perform this in fit time and place, and to do all things belonging to his Worship decently and in order. It is for the suitableness of time that I continue my Meditations upon this Text, for there are many things which are but accidentary to the main, and yet of such forcible consequence, that nothing can stand without them. So opportunity of time is such a forcible annexion to the performance of Divine Service, as no external thing is more available. The sweet tongue of Music would be unpleasant if it kept not time, so the Christian Melody which we make to God would want the grace and delight that is in it, if days and times were not solemnly and prudently divided, to call holy Assemblies together for the work of the Lord. If I speak of time like a Naturalist, it is but the measure of the continuance of things that have a being given unto them, and it neither works in them any real effect, nor is itself capable of any. But passing it by in this low regard, and taking it in hand Theologically, so the hours which are appointed to present our reasonable Sacrifice in the House of the Almighty, are of such great consideration to the furtherance of Piety, that they are woven into Religion like sinews into the body, neither can we spend our time more profitably than to speak of time, as it is to be referred and allotted to the glory of him that made all time.

But that I may leave no part of my Treatise naked, but cover that which I shall run through with some portion of my Text, I must put you to call to mind what I delivered in general in two Sermons, that these words excel both in the Letter, and in the Spirit. In the Letter they are part of a Psalm, which was sung for David's sake, and for that Festival, which the People kept to God, for his Inauguration, when he was made King over Israel. In the Spirit they reach to Christ (as David in most of his Psalms had more regard to Christ than to himself) and that with two interpretations. By some the whole Age of the Gospel is entitled the day of Christ; for through the Gospel the terrors of Sin, and Death, and Hell are broken, and we are comforted on every side to rejoice and be glad. By others, among all Evangelical days the Feast of the Resurrection is picked out by way of eminency; for never did the Sun shine upon any day, wherein we had more cause to triumph and be joyful, than when the Son of God, having been crucified for our sins, did rise from death the third day to conquer mortality and corruption, that we might live forever. These Points being dispatched in their proper season, what is left to be handled? Two things of great moment, Beloved: First, the Resurrection of Christ did not only sanctify that one day wherein he rose, but occasion was taken from thence to sanctify the first day of every Week to the Lord, because Christ rose on the first day. Hence I am your debtor to show how this, and every Sunday is the day which the Lord hath made, and we must rejoice and be glad in it. Secondly, Forasmuch as an holy day was appointed that all Israel might worship Jehovah for that precious benefit that so good a King, as David was, reigned over them, therefore the Ordination of Festival days to profess thanksgiving for the high and excellent works of God becometh the Church for so good a sanction, and becometh the righteous to be joyful in them. Then of the Lord's day for our ordinary Assemblies in God's House, and of holy Festivals for our extraordinary Assemblies, these are the matter of my ensuing Discourse, which I will follow upon the touchstone of truth, and for the benefit of your edification. Concerning the day which we keep weekly in the name of the Lord I must speak of it two ways, in reference to God's making, and our rejoicing, in reference to the Divine Sanction, and out Sanctification. The Divine Sanction of the day must be traversed in four Points: 1. What ground we have for keeping the Lord's day in the fourth Commandment, 2. What ground we have for it from the Resurrection of Christ. 3. What ground we have for it in the Gospel from the Precept of Christ or his Apostles. And 4. What ground we have for it from the practice of the Apostles, and from the practice of the