is a sad thing; O it is a lamentable thing to lose all Christ; though but in our own ap∣prehensions. To hear Maries pitiful complaints, They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid my Lord, it would make a flint to weep; methinks I hear her cryes, O my Lord, What's become of Thee? Time was that my Soul was an enclosed Garden, and the chiefest of Ten Thousands did walk in the shadow of the Trees; but now the Fence is down, my Love is gone, and Sharon is become a desart: Time was that I sate at the Feet of my Lord, and I received daily Oracles from his Mouth, but now he hides himself, and will not come at me; I pray, and he hears not, I hearken after him, but he speaks not, I call, but he answers not. O my Lord, if I had never known thee, I could have lived without thee, but this is my misery, not so much that I am without thee, as that I have lost thee, many are well without thee, because they never enjoyed thee; the children of beggars count it not their misery that they are not Princes, but oh the grief when the children of Princes shall be turned to beggars! O my Lord, once I had thee, but now I have lost thee; yea, I have lost thee every jot, and piece, and parcel of thee; O ye Apostles, Where is the dead body of my Lord? O Sir Angel, tell me if you saw his torn, his macerated, crucified body? O grave! O death! shew me, is there any thing of Christ's body (though but a few dead ashes) in your keeping? no, no, all is gone; I can hear nothing of what I would hear; death is silent, the gra••e is empty, the Angels say nothing to the purpose, the Apostles are fled, and they, (I know not who) have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
2. After this, Christ himself appears; but first as unknown, and then as known; 1. As unknown, She turned her self back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus: Jesus saith unto her, Woman, Why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? she sup∣posing him to be the Gardiner, &c. In this Apparition of Christ unknown, I shall only take notice of Christ's que••••ion, an•• Maries inquisition; his question is in these words, Woman, Why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? 1. Why w••epest thou? This very que∣stion the Angels asked her before, and now Christ asks it again; sure there is some∣thing in it, and the rather we may think so, because it is the first opening of his Mouth, the first words that ever came from him, after his rising again. Some say that Mary Magdalen represents the state of all m••nkind before this day, viz. One weeping over the grave of another, as if there were no hope: and now at his resurrection Christ comes in with weep not; Woman, Why weepest thou? q. d. there is no cause of weeping now, Lo I am risen from the dead, and am become the first-fruits of them that sleep.
And yet we may wond••r at the question, Why should Christ demand of Mary, why she wept? but a while since, sh•• saw him hanging on a tree, with his head full of thorns, his eyes full of tears, his ears full of blasphemies, his mouth full of gall, his whole person mangled and disfigured, and doth he ask her, Woman, Why weepest thou? scarce three dayes since, she beheld his arms, and legs racked with violent pulls, his hands and feet bored with nails, his side and bowels pierced with a spear, his whole body torn with stripes, and gored in blood: and doth he ask her, Woman, Why weepest thou? she saw him on the cross yielding up his soul; and now she was about to anoint his body, which was the only hope she had alive; but his body is removed, and that hope is dead, and she is left hopeless of all visible help, and yet doth he ask her, Woman, Why weepest thou? O yes! though it may be strange, yet it is not a question without cause, she weeps for him dead, who was risen again from the dead; she was sorry he was not in his grave; and for this very cause she should have been rather glad; she mourns for not knowing where he lay, when as indeed, and in truth, he lay not any where; he is a∣live, and present, and now talks with her, and resolves to comfort her; and therefore, Woman, Why weepest thou?
2. Whom seekest thou? she seeks Christ, and Christ asks her, Woman, Whom seekest thou? We may wonder at this also; if she seek Christ, Why doth she not know him? or if she know Christ, Why doth she seek him still? O Mary! Is it possible thou hast forgotten Jesus? there is no part in thee but is busie about him, thy eye weeps, thy heart throbs, thy tongue complains, thy body faints, thy soul languisheth, and not∣withstanding all this, Hast thou now forgotten him? What, are thy sharp eyes so weak sighted, that they are dazled with the Sun, and blinded with the Light? O yes! a shower of tears comes betwixt her and him, and she cannot see him, or it may be, Her eyes were holden that she should not know him; or it may be he appeared 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in some other shape, such as resemble the Gardiner; whom she took him for; howsoever it was,