LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.

The Fourteenth SERMON. (Book 14)

ACTS I. 10, 11.

And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel.

Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing into heaven? This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

HEaven is a fair sight, and every eye beholdeth it: but without Jesus we would not look upon Heaven it self. Here we have them both presented to the eye. This Jesus was taken up into heaven; and that t•••• Disciples might see it, he led them out as far as to Bethany,* 1.1 he brought them to mount Olivet, to an open and conspicuous place, and made them spe∣ctators of his Triumph, that they might preach it to the whole world. Christ was willing to imploy their sight to confirm this main Article of the Ascension. But yet as Christ liketh not every touch, but there is a NOLI ME TANGERE, Touch me not, because I am not yet ascended; so there is a QUID STATIS INTUENTES? a check given to the eye, because he is ascended already. When the cloud hath taken him up, no looking after him. He loveth to be seen, not to be gazed after. Our love he approveth, but not our curiosity. Therefore 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as they were looking stedfastly toward heaven, there stood by them, saith the Text, two men IN ALBIS, in white apparel; in the same colour they saw them in at his Tomb; and as there, so here, they came not by chance, but were dispatched as messengers from heaven, at once to draw the Disciples eyes from needless gazing, and to confirm them in the belief of their Master's Ascension. The one they do by way of Question, Why stand ye gazing into heaven? the other by a plain and positive Resolution, This Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. And this hath alwayes been methodus coelestis, the Angels method, first to question, then to resolve: And the Resolution is a reason of the Question. We may be sure an Angel will not ask a question in vain. They ask the Disciples, Why seek ye the living amongst the dead?* 1.2 and their Resolution followeth, nay is shut up and implied in the very Question, He is not here; he is ri∣sen; a reason why they should not seek him there. And here, Why

stand ye gazing? that is the Question, but backed with an Answer and Resolve, He is taken up, but he shall come again. We have many circum∣stances here not unworthy our observing; but the allotted time will not permit to take a survey of them all. We shall therefore fix our medita∣tions on the two main and essential points; the Question, checking the Disciples needless and unprofitable curiosity; and the Resolution, setling and establishing them in their holy faith: For why should they thus gaze af∣ter him? This same Jesus, whom they thus gaze after, is not lost, but shall so come in like manner as they have seen him go into heaven. With these we shall exercise your Christian devotion at this time.

We begin with the Angels Question. It must needs be to purpose what an Angel speaketh, what he speaketh to such persons as Disci∣ples, what he speaketh at the Ascension, what he speaketh not per rectam orationem, by a plain and positive declaration of his mind, but by a kind of sudden and abrupt interrogation; Why stand ye gazing up into hea∣ven? Commonly our Questions are, as the Apostle styleth them, unpro∣fitable, in anger, to shew our authority, and what wonders we can work with a frown. The Pharisees were full of them, ever and anon asking Christ questions; but the Text telleth us it was but to intrap him in his speech. Our Questions sometimes are a snare, sometimes a rod or sword, Doctors we are, but not Angelici, not Angelical Doctors, we have so little of the Angel in us. We must therefore for the speaker's sake weigh the Question well. The Question here is, Why they stand gazing into hea∣ven. And shall we blame the Disciples for looking up to heaven? shall any Angel ask them why they look after Christ? Christ himself had brought them thither to that purpose, to see, and to believe, and to be witnesses of his Ascension. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, To See we desire above all things, saith the Philosopher. We most delight in that sense, because it is the best and surest in-let of knowledge. Perfectò in oculis animus inhabitat, saith Pliny; the Mind dwelleth in the eye. There∣fore Chrysostom calleth it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a part and member, not of the body, but of the soul, which she may make use of as well in the school of Christ as in that of Nature. For to prevent so great a sin as Infidelity, Christ was pleased to make Sense it self an agent and help even in matters of Faith. He might have ascended, and no eye beheld him; nor could the Disciples have challenged him of the concealment of the Truth. They had varieties of Prophesies; They had heard of the ever∣lasting gates to be lifted up for the King of glory to enter in; Their Master's own words confirmed by so many miracles, witnessed that it behoved Christ to dye, to rise again, and to be taken up from them and ascend. But out of the riches of his goodness he vouchsafeth them a more familiar and appa∣rent testimony: He taketh them to mount Olivet, that as they had felt and handled him after his Resurrection, so they might see and behold him taken up at his Ascension. For what Aquinas speaketh of Reason we may apply to Sense, Quae per sensum innotescunt non sunt articuli fidei, sed praeambula ad articulos: For though Sense cannot beget Faith, yet it may work a disposition to it, and help to confirm us in it. For what religi∣on can men of sense and reason count that which destroyeth them both, and taketh away their use quite? No: God hath not given us our senses for nought. Ʋt auditum in auribus fodit, sic visum in oculis accendit, saith Tertullian, As he hath digged and thrust the Hearing into the ear, so he hath as it were kindled up the Sight as the light of the eye; and by Sense it self he awaketh and confirmeth our Faith. Therefore the same Fa∣ther in his book De anima much blameth the Academicks for making the judgment of the Senses deceitful and uncertain. Non licet nobis in dubium

sensus istos revocare, nè in Christo de fide illorum deliberetur: To question the Sense, is, saith he, to question Christ himself. We may then say that he saw not Satan falling down from heaven, that he heard not his Father's voice from thence, that he touched not Peter's wife's mother, that he smelt not the savour of Mary's oyntment, that he tasted not that wine which he consecrated as the memorial of his bloudy passion: At{que} in Apostolis ludificata est natura; Yea, Nature it self deceived the Apo∣stles, so that they beheld him not transfigured in the mount, they felt him not when their hands were in his sides, nor did they see him here on mount Olivet ascending into heaven. Read, saith he, S. John's te∣stimony,* 1.3 and ye shall find, That which we have seen, which we have heard, which we have looked upon, that declare we unto you. So then, Why look ye up into heaven? one would think were a Question not well asked or put up to Christ's Disciples. But it cometh from an Angel. We see Christ was willing they should behold him going into heaven; yet the Angels ask them why they look up: Their eye gathered strength to their Faith; yet the Angels question their eye. Something or other then we may be sure was not well in the Disciples: For God and his Messengers cannot speak diverse things, Christ and his Angels cannot be at odds and variance.

The truth is, this was not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a look, and no more; for Christ was willing they should see him: but it was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a gazing, an earnest looking after Christ when he was out of sight; as if they would, saith Chrysostom, call him back with a look, as if they expected a sudden return. They will not take Christ's own words for his return, but they follow him with their eyes, & plus oculo tribuunt quàm oraculo, as Ber∣nard speaketh of men of curious speculation; They will satisfie their eye rather then believe an oracle. A great evil under the Sun, When we have seen Christ, as much of him as he is pleased to shew us, to look af∣ter him still; and though he went from us but now, yet to expect he should return presently.

I will not call this Incredulity, but Imbecillity and Weakness of faith. Which further sheweth it self in the Disciples admiration and amazement. For it was a stedfast look fastned on the object, as if they were troubled, wondring at what they had seen, and not satisfied with seeing; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, gazing still, and ready to let out their souls at their eyes. And now, Why gaze ye into heaven? is no more then needs. For though the ascen∣sion of a body into heaven be indeed wonderful, yet if the body be Christ's, the Lord of heaven and earth, why should they put on wonder, or stand gazing? Magni est ingenii, saith Tully, revocare mentem à sensi∣bus; It is a great part of wisdom to take the mind from the burthen of the senses, to call and free her from the toil and pressure of admiration; to consider every thing in it self; to abstract it from all those outward ap∣pearances and accidentals which are but the creatures of our phansie. And it is the strength, nay, the victory, of Faith, to consider Religion the same in times of persecution and in times of peace, to see Christ's glo∣ry as well on the cross and in the grave as in his taking up into heaven. A true Disciple should be like the Philosopher's Magnanimous person 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, not given to wonder; like Cyrus his Souldier in Xenophon, wondring at nothing, but intent upon the General's command, not look∣ing after shews. For Admiration is a kind of apoplexie of the soul; it maketh us like them that dream, nay like unto the dead. So we lose Christ by looking after him. For when we wonder, we can do nothing else, but are lost and swallowed up in this gulf.

And why should they wonder at Christ's Ascension? They should have wondred rather, saith the Father, that he came down from heaven

then that he returned thither, that he was born, that he did descend into the earth, nay, into the lowest parts, even hell it self: This was the far greater miracle. But such is our frailty, and so much addicted we are to our sense, that what is least familiar to it affecteth it most, and the greatest things decrease and are even lost by being seen too often. Not the greatest but the rarest things are matter of our admi∣ration. Sol spectatorem, nisi cùm deficit, non habet; The Sun is not looked upon, nor the Moon observed, but when they are in the Eclipse. Si quid turbatum est, If any thing cross the order of Nature, then pre∣sently we look up. Doth a man rise from the dead? we are amazed and besides our selves: Tot quotidie nascuntur, nemo miratur; Every day so many are born before our eyes, and we wonder not. Doth Christ turn water into wine? we are straight astonished: See, saith Augustine, quod semel fecit in hydriis, unoquoque anno facit in vitibus, what he did once in the water-pots, he doeth every year in the Vines. Thus we wonder and admire, and it is a wonder we should so: We stand amazed and troubled at that which is not worth our thought: We are deeply affected and even transported beyond our selves with that from which we should wean our affection. We wonder that Christ will not do that for us which will undo us; that he will not stay and walk with us, when we are not fitted for his company. We wonder what is become of him, when he is but gone to send us a Comforter. We wonder he should withdraw himself, when his ab∣sence is for our sakes.* 1.4 Though the Apostles had known Christ in the flesh, yet now henceforth they were to know him so no more, but to have considered him as the King of Heaven and Judge of all man∣kind, and, according to his command, not to have spent or misplaced a look, which might stay them from their duty and their return to Jerusalem.

We need not further enlarge this. But yet further to enforce the An∣gels Question, the Text telleth us that a cloud received him out of their sight: a cloud; as if it had on purpose not onely been prepared as the chariot for Christ, but drawn too as a veil before the Disciples eyes, to turn them away from seeking any longer after him. For why should any gaze up into heaven when Christ was in the cloud? We may see Christ, but not look after him then. We may see him on mount Olivet, we may see him ascending, when one foot is as it were in the cloud; but when the cloud hath received him out of our sight, we must make a covenant with our eyes, and gaze no more. We believe that he is the eternal Son of God; and Faith is all our vision here: But if we still gaze, to know how the Father begot the Son, being of the same essence with him, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith the Father, there is a cloud cast, a veil drawn, and we must look no further. We believe the Divine Nature is united to the Manhood: But if we look for the manner of this union 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, we may gaze our eyes out, and receive no answer. We see he lifteth up one on high, and layeth another in the dust; He shineth upon the tabernacle of the wick∣ed, and beateth down his own Temple; He crowneth a man of Belial, and bindeth his own servants to the mill or brick-kiln: Sequere Deum; Do thou follow God in those wayes he hath appointed for thee, and not gaze after him in those of his which are past finding out. The reasons of God's operations and proceedings are unfoordable, and in many things he will be a God afar off, out of thy ken and eye; seen, and yet invisible; felt, but not touched; near at hands and yet at an infinite distance from his creature. And here 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Nazianzene, is better then 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 It is better to shut our eyes then to gaze, better to do nothing, then to be

busie and curious. For what shall we gain by our intentive look, by our gaze, by our curious search? No satisfaction; not the sight of Christ, but coelum pro Christo, as the Disciples here gaze upon the heaven, but see not Christ; or rather nubem pro Christo, see a cloud and darkness and di∣straction, but Christ we shall not see. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith the Father: Gaze not after Christ; for thou canst not see him.

And now you see, Why gaze ye up into heaven? is a good question. But we must take in and urge the other, Why stand ye gazing? For in∣deed had they not stood, they had not gazed Had they remembred our Saviour's command, which but now sounded in their ears, that they were to go and remain at Jerusalem, and expect the coming of the holy Ghost, they had not now been at Bethany, nor had been seen by the Angels in this posture of standing. We may now think perhaps that Curiosity is res operosa, a busie and toilsome thing. And so it is. It treadeth mazes and labyrinths, seeketh out hidden and unknown paths, walketh with∣out light; looketh, but seeth not; knocketh, but openeth not; moveth, but goeth not: and the onely issue it bringeth forth is but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, loss of time, in which we might have sought, and found; knocked, and opened; moved, and pressed forward to the mark, to our journey's end. It stayeth us at Bethany, pleasing our own phansie, gazing after that which cannot be seen, or were of no use if we did overtake it with our eye, when we should be at Jerusalem doing the will of our Master. It maketh us gaze after Christ, when we should look for the holy Ghost. To stand gazing on the mount was not the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the work which was enjoyned the Disciples, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, nothing to the purpose, a needless work, opus quo nihil opus, a work better a great deal left undone Calvin saith well, They did not, what every wise-man should, reputare finem, pro∣pose to themselves an end; but looked up and gazed, and all to no end. And it was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a work which did not concern them. It concerned them not to have been in monte, on the mount, but in coenaculo, in their chamber at Jerusalem. Terrullian saith well, Ʋbi quod oportet negligitur, quod non oportet adhibetur; When we run and are active in needless of∣fices, we are lame and impotent, and cannot stir a foot towards necessary performances. When we neglect our duty, you may be sure to find us with our eyes open, gazing up into heaven. It is an epidemical errour, to look after Christ when he is out of sight; to have our eyes on heaven, when our business is below; to look after Christ's glorified body, to con∣template his Session at the right hand of God, and his Intercession for us, and to delight our thoughts with them, and make them ours, make them what we please; but that Christ which is still on earth, that Christ which we should put on, I mean, that Vertue, that Innocency, that Meekness, that Patience, that Obedience, which he left behind him for us to take and wear till his coming again, we scarce once cast an eye upon; and yet without these, though we gaze our eyes out, we shall never see him.

To apply this; Those curious searches after Truth, which many times discover her beauty, and yet have her trampled under feet; that eager desire of Knowledge, which endeth in it self; those Hosanna's and Gloria Patri's, those often blessings and magnifyings of God and Christ; those revilings of Sin, which we love, and Panegyricks of Vertue, which we neglect; those complaints without sorrow, and sorrow without re∣pentance; our running and flocking to Sermons, where we find lettice for our lips, nay further, those wishes, those desires, those resolutions, but faint resolutions, to be good; what are they but as so many looks cast af∣ter

Christ? what are they but complements? and complements are but gazings. And what have we seen all this while? Heaven perhaps, or some apparition of our own making, a Christ of our own shaping, a flattering conceit that we are greatly beloved of God; but have not gained so much as a glimpse of that Jesus which ascended. We chuse that part of Religion which is easiest and most attempered to our sensual part and pri∣vate humour. Mint and cumin we will tithe to a seed, but the weightier matters of the Law we will not touch with one of our fingers. For it is easi∣er to gaze after Christ then to stay at Jerusalem, easier to commend Vertue then to embrace it, easier to hear the Word then to do it, easier to hang down the head for sin then to fling it away, easier to mourn or fast a day then to amend for ever, easier to libel Vice then to hate it, easier to dis∣grace Sin then to conquer it. Be not deceived. It is not our standing and gazing thus, but our walking in our calling, our honest conversation with all men, our denial of our selves, and our holiness towards God, that must bring us to the sight of our Saviour. And if we will hear good news from him, any message of peace and comfort, we must leave the Mount, and go straight back to Jerusalem. For if obedience be better then sacrifice, then certainly it is better then gazing. It is the rule of our Sa∣viour, He that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad, he that gazeth,* 1.5 standeth still, and worketh not. But the Devil's rule runneth thus, He that scattereth not, gathereth with him. To sit still, and gaze, and do no∣thing, though we bind up no sheaves, maketh us fit harvest-men for him. Operosè nihil agere, to be busie to no purpose; to have a quick ear, and a withered hand; to defie sin, but not destroy it; to hear, and not do, is a great part of his service. Why stand ye still? It is high time ye were at Jerusalem, say the Angels. And they say so still, Ʋp, and be doing: Let not phansie, which maketh you Gods, make you worse then the beasts that perish. Bury not your selves alive in a grave of your own hewing out, a vain and flattering imagination. Christianus non habet ferias; A Christian hath no holy-days, no times of leisure, to stand and gaze. Why stand ye gazing here? Come down from the mount; make haste, and bestir your selves. Ipsa festinatio tarda est; Assoon as Christ's command is out of his mouth, Haste it self is but slow-paced, nor is it possible we should come soon enough to Jerusalem. Curiosity is a ga∣zer; but festina Fides, saith S. Ambrose, Faith and true Obedience, like Christ at his Ascension, are on the wing. She hath indeed an eye to see; but her hand is as quick as her eye. She doth not gaze after Christ, but seeketh him with her whole heart. When the cloud hath received our Savi∣our, she looketh no more, but returneth from the mount to Jerusalem; Where you may see her clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, strengthning the weak, chearful and active, like that blessed Spirit of love which begat her. Here let us stay, here let us be fixed and move for ever, move in that sphere and compass in which Christ hath placed us; here let us imploy all the faculties of our souls and all the members and senses of our bodies; not let our hand reach to touch that which may seem better to us; not let loose our eyes to wander after vanity, after strange and unprofitable objects; not open our un∣derstandings to unnecessary speculations; not let our phansies gad and fly after those things which delight now, and torment anon, and are never of any use at all. Now Christ is ascended, let us no more gaze after him, nor ask the question whether he rent the spheres, or passed through them whilest they yielded and gave way to his glo∣rified body as the air doth to ours. Nor need we go on pilgrimage to Bethany to see the prints and marks of Christ's footsteps; which some

say are yet visible on the Mount. For this were to fall upon the Disci∣ples errour, and to gaze still; this were quite to forget the Angels Question, Why stand ye gazing here? and to lose our selves in the by-wayes and mazes of vain curiosity. The Philosopher will tell us that that which is best in Kings, their Magnificence, Bounty, Clemency, is open to the view, and made common and publick to every eye; but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, what is hidden is dangerous; their secret intents and counsels we do not know but with some hazard of our lives and states, The holy Father N••zianzene maketh the application for me, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Christ is our King, and he hath made his Law, his Grace, his Gospel, his Oracles, his Sufferings, his Resurrection, his Ascension, as common to us as the Sun. Faith, Hope, and Chari∣ty, who may not look on these? But those things which he hath veil∣ed and drawn a cloud over, as they are concealed, so are they unneces∣sary, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, They are, saith he, to be placed in the last rank. Why stand ye gazing here, where the ground is so unsettled? It is the observation of Aristotle, that Place must be immoveable: For if the thing on which we are seated be fluid and slide away from under us, it is impossible it should serve us either for motion or rest. And it is easie to observe how these unnecessary niceties and speculations glide and slide away from under us, so that to endeavour to overtake them, and rest and fix our selves upon them, is as if we should strive to tread the waters and walk upon the wind. No doctrine to be raised here, no satisfaction to be had. We may search, but we shall never find; we may gaze our eyes out, and see no more of Christ then the Disciples here did when he was in the cloud. To conclude this; Let us remember Christ's words, remember what he hath said unto us, and do it. Let us go with him to Bethany, and see him in his ascent: but when the cloud hath received him, let us gaze no more, but return to Jerusalem. Let us see as much of Christ as he is pleased to shew us, and rest in that, and by that light walk be∣fore him as becometh Disciples, have our conversation worthy of the Go∣spel of Christ. And so from the Angels Question, Why stand ye here ga∣zing into heaven? we pass to the Resolve, This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Here are many Particulars observable, and we cannot but glance upon them and touch them as we go. First, the Person who ascended JESUS, a Saviour. That is his name, given indeed unto others, as the name of God was to Moses, to Judges, to Kings; but then it is but a deputative or assumed, appellation. For it is one thing to be called Jesus; ano∣ther, really and essentially to be so: one thing, to be so in type and fi∣gure; another, to be so from all eternity. Indeed, saith Nyssene, in respect of his various operations upon men he hath many names. He is a Sword, to divide asunder the soul and the spirit; He is a Light, to di∣spell the mist of ignorance; He is a Lamb, for meekness and innocency; and a Lion, for power. But facilè intelliges quomodo multa bona sit Je∣sus, saith Origen; In this one name of JESUS all is contained. For if he be a Sword, it is to pierce and wound our souls with remorse, that he may heal them; if Light, not to dazzle, but to lighten those that sit in darkness; if a Lamb, it is to make himself a sacrifice; if a Lion, it is to destroy the Destroyer. Whether he be a Sword, or a Fire, or a Light, or a Lamb, or a Lion, all is that he may be JESUS, a Saviour. Whether he shine or burn, strike or heal, whether he humble himself to death, or triumph over Death, whether he be born, or suffer, or dye, or rise again, or ascend, all is to open the gates of glory, and

perfect the great work of our Salvation. All that he said, all that he did, is comprised in this word JESUS. SOTER, saith Tully; hoc quan∣tum est! Ita magnum est ut Latino uno verbo exprimi non potest. This name JESUS, this name Saviour, how great is it! Even so great that in Latine we cannot find any one word to express it. The best expres∣sion we have is our joy and gratitude, as the Prophet Habakkuk speak∣eth, GAUDERE IN DEO JESU NOSTRO, to rejoyce in God our JESUS, our salvation. For consider what was taken up: His Body; even that Body that was plowed upon, spit upon, whipt, nailed to the cross, sealed up in the grave: JESUS taken up in our nature, taking with him the earnest of our flesh and nature, and carrying it to heaven, pig∣nus-totius summae illuc quandoque redigendae, a pledge and certain assu∣rance that the whole lump, all his members, shall follow after. And may not they now awake and sing that dwell in the dust, who are buried a∣live in the scorn of the world, and who are raked up in the pit of oblivi∣on? Behold, JESUS is taken up: And if he be taken up in our nature, he will draw all men after him, the prisoner to a place of liberty, his despi∣sed servants to sit at his table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the poor into Abraham's bosom, and them that mourn to his right hand, where there are pleasures for evermore.

And that Jesus ascended, in the next place, the Angels themselves appeal to the Disciples eye and sense. Which appeal is left as a fair te∣stimony of his Ascension, and as a strong confirmation of faith. Ye have seen him thus taken up. And it is left upon record for our sakes, who notwithstanding are too ready to dispute our selves out of our faith, and to require stronger proofs and fairer evidence then the matter and object can afford, and are still driving forward towards Impossibilities. We would see God, who is invisible; know Christ in the flesh, who is now in heaven; call back the times past, to present us with the sight of Christ, and his Apostles, and all his miracles; and make that which Faith onely can apprehend, the object of our Sense. For this tempta∣tion hath taken hold on many, who have been ready to ask why Christ did not in every age of the world most gloriously shew himself unto the world, who would have matters of Faith written with the Sun-beams, and the Ascension of Christ made manifest to the eye. Thus, whilest they seek to establish, they take away the nature of Faith quite. For if these mysteries of salvation were as evident to the Sense as it is that the Sun doth shine, the apprehension of them would not be an act of our Faith, but of our Knowledge: and not to believe without such an evi∣dence is as great an errour as to believe without any evidence or con∣firmation at all. And therefore, saith Tertullian, Christ shewed not him∣self openly to the people after his resurrection, ut fides, non mediocri praemio destinata, difficultate constaret; that faith, which is destined to a crown, might not consist without some difficulty, but commend it self by our obedience. Nec tam veniam quàm praemium habet ignorare quod credis; Not perfectly to know what thou believest, doth so little stand in need of pardon, that it will procure and bring with it a reward. What obedience is it for a man to assent to this, That the whole is greater then the part, That the Sun doth shine, or to any of those truths which are so visible to the eye that they force the understanding, and leave there an impossibility ••o dissent; But when the object is in part hidden, and in part seen, when the truth which I assent to hath more probability to speak for it and persuade it then can be brought to shake and weaken it,* 1.6 then our Saviour himself pronounceth, Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.

Again, it were in vain that Christ should thus visibly every day shew himself. We have Moses and the Prophets; We have the testimony of his Disciples, who saw him ascend: And if we will not believe them, neither would we have believed if we had been with them on mount Olivet, and seen him received up into the cloud. For if we will not believe God's word, we should soon learn to discredit his miracles, though they were done before the Sun and the people. God rained down Manna upon the Israelites: For all this they sinned still, and belie∣ved not his wondrous works. The Pharisees saw Christ's miracles, yet would have stoned him. The people said, He hath done all things well; yet these were they who crucified the Lord of Life. And the reason is plain: For though Faith be an act of the Understanding, yet it de∣pendeth upon the Will: Whence it cometh to pass that many men build up an opinion without any basis or foundation at all, without any e∣vidence, nay against all evidence whatsoever. Quot voluntates; tot fides; So many Wills as there are, nay so many Humours, so many Creeds there be: For every man believeth as he will. I dare appeal to men of the poorest observation and least experience. What else is that which turneth us about like the hand of a dial from one point to a∣nother, from one persuasion to a contrary? What is that that wheel∣eth and circleth us about, that we touch at every opinion, and settle on none? How cometh it to pass that I now tremble at that which a∣non I embrace, though I have the same evidence? that that is not Per∣jury to day which was so yesterday? that that is Devotion and Zeal now which from my youth upwards to this present I branded with the loathsom name of Sacrilege? How is it that my belief shifteth so ma∣ny scenes, and presenteth it self in so many several shapes? Beloved, it is the prevalency and victory of our Sensitive part over our Reason that maketh so many several, so many contrary, impressions in the mind. Self-love and the Love of the world, these frame our Creeds, these plant and build, these root out and pull down, build up a belief, and then beat it down to the ground, and then set up another in its place. For commonly we believe and disbelieve for the same reason. We are A∣theists for advantage, and we are Christians for advantage. We em∣brace the Truth for our profit and convenience, and for our profit we renounce it? and we make the same overture for heaven which we do for destruction; will believe any thing for a truth that flattereth our humour, and count that Truth it self a heresie that thwarteth it. In a word, that we believe not the Truth, is not for want of evidence, but for want of will.

Last of all, the knowledge a Christian hath of these high mysteries can be no other but by Faith. Novimus, si credimus. Christian, dost thou believe? Thou hast then been at mount Olivet, and seen thy cru∣cified Saviour ascend into heaven. With S. Stephen thou hast seen the glory of God, and Jesus standing at his right hand. And though thou canst not argue or dispute, though thou canst not untie every knot and resolve every doubt, though thou canst not silence the Jew, nor stop the mouth of the unbelieving Arheist, yet qui credit, satis est ei quod credat, there is required of thee no more then to believe; and to believe is sal∣vation. One man, saith the Father, hath faith; another hath also skill and ability to stand out against all the world, and com•• forth a defend∣er of the faith; another is strong and mighty in faith, but not so able with art and skill to maintain it: The one is doctior, non fidelior; The one hath advantage and preeminence over the other in learning and knowledge▪ but not in faith; may be the deeper scholar, but not the

better Christian; may be of necessary use titubantibus, to men who doubt, but not credentibus, to those who stand fast in the faith and li∣berty wherewith Christ hath made them free: Both have the same evi∣dence, and it may be as powerful in the one for practice as it is in the o∣ther for speculation and argument. We know those who saw Christ suscitantem mortuos, raising up men from the dead, believed not, when he believed and confessed him who saw him pendentem in ligno, hanging on the cross. Surgunt indocti: Simple and unlearned men take the kingdom of heaven by violence, when the great Rabbies stand below and make no approch. Illi ratiocinentur, nos credamus: Let the wise, and the scribe, and the disputer of this world argue and doubt; our re∣joycing is in our faith: Let them dispute, we will fall down at this great sight: Let them reason, we will believe, not onely that this Jesus was thus taken up, but that he shall come again; Which is another article of our Creed, and our last part, and must now serve onely for conclusion.

And it is good to conclude with comfort. And VENIET, He shall come again, was not onely a Resolve, but a Message of comfort, by two Angels, who stood by in albis, in the colours of joy, to comfort the Disciples, who were now troubled and did stoop for heaviness of heart, because Christ was taken away: He shall come again,* 1.7 was that good word, which did make their hearts glad, made them return to Je∣rusalem as Christ ascended into heaven, in Jubilo, in triumph. But now it may be a word of comfort, yet not unto all that shall hear it. That which is comfort to one, may be a sentence of condemnation to ano∣ther. The VENIET, He shall come again, may open as the hea∣vens to receive the one, and as the gates of hell to devour the other. For what is a promise to him that is not partaker of it? What is comfort to him that will not be comforted? What is heaven to a child of perdi∣tion? It is a word of the future tense, as all promises are of things to come. And it is verbum operativum, a word full of efficacy and virtue, to awake and stir up our Faith, to raise our Hope, and enflame our Cha∣rity: It hath a kindly aspect upon all these; And first upon our Faith. For ideò abcessit Dominus ut fides nostra aedificetur; Our Saviour was therefore taken up into heaven, that our faith, which may reach him there, may be built up here on earth. He therefore lay hid, that this eye might search him out. Faith is a kind of Prospective or optick in∣strument, by which we see things afar off as if they were near at hand, and things that are not yet as if they now were. It turneth Veniet into the present tense, and beholdeth Christ as ••ow already descending with a shout. And this is sancta impudentia fidei, the holy boldness and con∣fidence of Faith, to break through all difficulties whatsoever; if the ob∣ject be in heaven, to place it on earth; if it be invisible, to make it vi∣sible; and if Christ say he will come, to say he is come already. And now, Beloved, try and examine your selves whether ye be in this faith. In other things how cautelous we are! what counsel do we ask! how do we use our own and other mens eyes! and how are we grieved, how crest-fallen, if we be over-reached, as one that is beaten in battel, and hath lost the day! But then how easily are we abused how willing to deceive our selves, how well pleased to erre, where the errour is fatal and dele∣terial to the soul! Will not a weak and groundless opinion, a phansie, a shadow, be taken for that Faith which is the substance of things not seen? Glorious things are spoken of Faith. It is called a full assent, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a full assurance, a full persuasion of mind. And is ours so? Nay, for the most of us, would we did but believe the second coming of

Christ as we do a story out of our own Chronicles, nay as many times we believe a lie! Would our faith were but as a grain of mustard-seed! Even such a faith, if it did not remove mountains, yet would level ma∣ny, would silence many a proud word, would restrain us from those sins which have nothing of the pain, but are as loathsome as Hell it self. Ne∣quicquam segniùs credita movent quàm cognita, saith one; Those things which are but credible, and believed, move and set us a working ma∣ny times as powerfully as those things which we know. What maketh us venture our selves by sea and by land, rise up early and lie down late, bear all things, endure all things, but a firm belief that this is the way to ho∣nour and wealth? What Faith then is that which cannot strike the tim∣brel out of our hands, nor the strumpet out of our arms, which can∣not make us displease our selves, nor unfold our arms, not silence a word, not stifle a thought, but leaveth us with as little life and motion as those who have been dead long ago, although the VENIET, the doctrine of Christ's second Advent, sound as loud as the Trump shall do at the last day? Faith shall we call this? or a Dream? or an Echo from a sepul∣cher of rotten bones, which, when all the world proclaimeth Christ's second coming, resoundeth it back again into the world? a Faith that can speak, but cannot walk nor work? a Faith that may dwell in the heart of an hypocrite, a murtherer, a traitor, a Devil? For all these may believe, or at least profess, that Christ will come again, and yet be that liar, that Anti∣christ, which denieth Jesus to be the Christ, or that he ever came in the flesh.

Secondly, as this VENIET casteth an aspect upon Faith, so it doth upon Hope, which is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the bloud of our soul, saith Cle∣ment, without which it will be faint and pale, and languish. Therefore oportet habere aliquem spei cumulum, saith Terrullian: this addition of Hope to Faith is most necessary. For if we had all Faith, and had no Hope, this all would profit us nothing. Faith without Hope may be in hell, as well as on earth. For magnifie Faith as much as you please, and make it an Idol, and fall down and worship it: It is a true saying and worthy of all acceptation, BY FAITH WE ARE SAVED: But we have reason to fear that this true saying hath damned many, not in it self (for so T••uth can bring forth nothing but life) but through the corruption of mens hearts, which turneth Manna it self into poison, and Life into Death. And let me tell you, Hope will not raise it self upon every Faith, nor is Faith alvvayes a fit basis for Hope to build on. He that despaireth believeth, or he could not despair. For vvho can droop for fear of that VENIET, that Judgment, vvhich he believeth vvill never come? Oh foolish men that vve are! who hath bewitched us, that vve should glory in Faith and Hope, make them the subject of our songs of praise and rejoycing, when our Faith is but such a one as is dead, and our Hope at last will make us ashamed; when our Faith is the same which is in hell, and our Hope vvill leave us vvith the Devil and his Angels? a Faith vvorse then In∣fidelity, and a Hope as dangerous as Despair, and that serve onely to adde to the number of our stripes? yet this is the Faith, this is the Hope of the world! These are thy Gods, O Israel!

Therefore, in the third place, that vve may joyn these tvvo together, Faith and Hope, vve must dravv in that excellent gift of Charity, which is copulatrix virtus, the coupling vertue, not onely of Men but, of these two Theological vertues. For, as I told you, though Hope do suppose Faith, yet Faith may shew it self vvhen Hope is thrust out of doors; and many there be vvho have subscribed to the VENIET, that Christ will come again, vvho have small reason to hope for his coming. How ma∣ny believe that he will come, and bring his reward with him, and yet strike

off their own chariot-wheels, and drive but heavily towards it? How many believe there is a Judge to come, and wish there were none? Faith and Hope dwell not in the heart till Charity hath taken up the room: But when she is shed and spred abroad in our hearts, then they are in conjuncti∣on, and meet together, and kiss each other. Therefore this promise of Christ's coming is a threat, a thunderbolt, if these three Graces meet not; if Faith work not by Love, and both together raise a Hope. And as VENIET here looketh upon our Faith and Hope, so it calleth for our Charity. For ve∣limus, nolimus, veniet; whether we will or no, whether we b••lieve or no, whether we hope or no, he will certainly come: But when we love him, then we love also his appearance, and his coming:* 1.8 And our Love is a sub∣scription to his promise, by which we truly testifie our consent, and sym∣pathize with him, and say Amen to the Angels promise; Amen, Even so, come Lord Jesus. That of Faith may be forced, that of Hope may be groundless, but this of Love is a free and voluntary subscription. Though I know he will come, yet I shall be unwilling he should come to me as an enemy; that he should come to me when I sit in the chair of the scornful, or lie in the bed of lust; that he should come to me, and find me with a strum∣pet in my arms, or a sword in my hand, fighting against that Power which is his ordinance. For doth any condemned person hope for a day of exe∣cution? But when I love him, and bow before him, when I have improved his Talent, and brought my self to that temper and constitution that I can idem velle & idem nolle, will and nill the same things, and be of the same mind with that Jesus who is to come, when I have made my self the friend of the Judge, then Spes festina, then Hope is on the wing, then substantia mea apud Christum, as the Vulgar readeth it, my expectation, my substance, my being is with Christ: Nec pareo Deo, sed assentior; And I do not onely subscribe to the VENIET, to his coming, because he hath decreed and re∣solved it, but because I can make an hearty acknowledgment that the will of Christ is just and good, and I assent, not of necessity, but of a willing mind. And as he who testifieth these things, confirmeth the Angels promise, with this last word, Surely I come quickly; so shall I be able truly to answer, E∣ven so, come, Lord Jesus.

In the last place, this VENIET, this foretelling of Christ's second coming, hath another operation, and is powerful to work in us Fear and Circum∣spection, the very prop and foundation of those three Theological vertues, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the preservative of all the good we have: It tempe∣reth our Love, that it be not too bold; our Faith, that it be not too for∣ward; and our Hope, that it be not too confident; It is as a watch and guard upon us to keep us in all our wayes. VENIET, is of the future tense; and though it be most certain that Christ will come, yet the time is not determined, that we may so love Christ as that we may be fit to be∣lieve and hope and long for his coming. The VENIET may end this moment, and the promise be made good as well this day, or the next, as a thousand years hence. The When God hath kept as a secret in his own breast, ut pendulâ expectatione solicitudo fidei probetur, saith Tertullian, that by suspending our expectation, and leaving us uncertain of the time, he may make trial of the watchfulness of their faith whom he meaneth to place among the few but great examples of eternal happiness. Semper diem observant qui semper ignorant, semper timent qui quotidie sperant: Whilest men are ignorant of the day, they observe every day, and fear that Christ may come this minute, who they know will come at last. Veniet, fra∣tres, veniet; sed vide quomodo te inveniet, saith Augustine; Brethren, he will come, he will come assuredly, and we must be careful how he findeth us when he cometh. He will come, not, as at the first, in the form of a servant,

but as a King; not as a sheep that openeth not his mouth, but with a mighty voice shaking the heaven and earth, with Angels and with Archangels; by the power of his Trump raising the dead out of their graves, and bringing them all to his seat of judgment. He shall come in great majesty and glo∣ry. So come, say the Angels, as ye have seen him go into heaven. Which pointeth to the manner of Christ's coming, and should now come to be handled. But the time will not permit. Onely for conclusion let us re∣member that he shall come, and shall not keep silence, that a fire shall devour before him, and a tempest round about him; that he shall come cum totius mundi motu, cum horrore orbis, cum planctu omnium, si non Christianorum; with an earthquake and the horrour of the world, and with the lamenta∣tion of all, except Christians: Et qui nunc ventilat gentes per fidem, tunc ventilabit per judicium; And he that now winnoweth the nations, and se∣parateth them one from the other, by faith, will then search and divide the whole world by his last and decretory sentence. And let this noise startle the Adulterer in his twilight, strike the sword out of the hand of the Rebellious, and awake the Atheist out of his deep sleep and lethargy. For this Jesus, this same Jesus, shall so come, who placed Adultery in the eye, and Murther in the thought, and commanded to give unto Caesar the things which are Caesar'••; and he shall judge the Adulterer, and the sediti∣ous Rebel, according to that Gospel which he preached in great humility, and which many Christians, Atheistical Christians, trample under their feet with as great pride.* 1.9 And let this terrour of the Lord, as S. Paul calleth it, persuade men to lay aside every weight, and those sins which do so easily be∣set us; our Covetous desires, which fasten us to the dust; our Pride, which though it lift up our heads on high, yet at last will have a fall; our Ambi∣bition, which though it reach the pinnacle, yet cannot build its nest in heaven; our Seditious and Atheistical imaginations, which can never en∣ter that place where Obedience and Humility sit crowned: for neither Covetousness, nor Pride, nor Rebellion can ascend with Christ, who was humble, and yet the Prince of peace. But SURSUM CORDA, Let us lift up our hearts, even lift them up unto the Lord. Let our conversation be in heaven. Imitemur quod futuri sumus; Let our life be a type of the As∣cension, and our present holiness an imitation of our future bliss. Let us mortifie our earthly members now, that then they may be glorified. Let us ascend in heart and with all the powers of our soul now in this life, that when this Jesus shall come again in glory and great Majesty, we may be caught up in the clouds, and meet the Lord in the air, and be with him for evermore.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Luke 24.50.
• * 1.2

  Luke 25.
• * 1.3

  1 John 1.1.
• * 1.4

  2 Cor. 5.16
• * 1.5

  Matth. 12.30.
• * 1.6

  John 20.29.
• * 1.7

  Prov. 12.25.
• * 1.8

  2 Tim. 4.8.
• * 1.9

  2 Cor. 5.11.