THese words (beloued) of the Euangelist, now read vnto you, containe in them, the iourney of our Sauiour vnto the Gada­rens, and in the iourney a mighty mira­cle; [Page 2] he went vnto the Gadarens, an ig­norant people, the Epitome and Compen­dium of all mankinde; men, that were more inly touched with the losse of their hogges, then with the sinnes of their soules, the true picture of couetous man, who so conformes himselfe vnto his wealth, as that he accounts his life, his soule, his blisse, his good: tell him of his soule, and the torments of hell, he stands and stares you in the face, and knowes not what your speech doth meane; touch but his hogge, and the whole Countrey of the Gadarens will suddenly be vp in Armes together against you: yet thither he goes, that so they themselues, might be witnesses against themselues, of their owne deserued and wilfull destruction.

But in this iourney there falles out a miracle; a miracle, I say, both to the a­stonishment and the confirmation of his Disciples: to the astonishment; for they mutter amongst themselues, what man­ner of man is this, for he commandeth both the windes and the water, and they obey him: to their confirmatiō also, that by confirming all his seuerall doctrines [Page 3] with sundry miracles, they might be­leeue that hee was the true and onely Messias, that was sent into the world, to be the saluation and rdemption of it.

So then in these words, wee haue three parts to bee inquired into, accor­ding vnto the three seuerall verses here, euery verse hath his particular part. The preparation for the iourney, the manner of the iourney, the miracle in the iour­ney.

• 1 The preparation in the first verse.
• 2 The manner in the next verse.
• 3 The miracle in the last verse.

And euery part hath his particular bran­ches: there are foure in the first verse.

• 1 The time.
• 2 The meanes.
• 3 His exhortation.
• 4 Their obedience.

The time; Now it came to passe on a cer­taine day:

The meanes; That he went into a ship with his Disciples.

His exhortation; And hee said vnto them, Let vs go ouer vnto the other side of the lake.

[Page 4]Their obedience: And they lunched forth.

In the second verse there are foure things also.

The manner of their trauell, and the accidents that fell out in their iourney, which be in number three.

The manner of their trauell, they sai­led: But as they sailed.

The accidents they be three.

• 1 He fell asleepe.
• 2 And there came downe a storme of winde on the lake.
• 3 And they were filled with water, and were in ieopardy.

In the third verse there are two things; the feare of the Disciples, the power and authority of the Maister.

The feare of the Disciples.

1 And they came to him and awaked him, saying, Maister, maister, wee perish. The power & authority of the Maister:

2 Then he arose, and rebuked the winds, and the raging of the waters: and they cea­sed, and there was a calme.

Now it came to passe on a certaine day, &c.

This word here, Now, it does not poynt vs out vnto any certaine time, as in ma­ny [Page 5] other places of the Scripture it does, as in Exod. 6. Nunc videbis, quae facturus sum. The Lord intending for to worke his wonders in the land of Egypt, hee sayes to Moses, Exod. 6.1 Now thou shalt see what I will do to Pharaoh. So Balac the King of Moab, desirous for to ridde himselfe of his dangerous neighbours the Israelites, in Numb. 22. hee sends for Balaam the Southsayer, to come in all haste vnto him, Nunc igitur veni & maledic, Num. 22.6 Come now therefore, I pray thee, come, and curse me this people, for they are too mighty and too strong for me. So old Simeon desirous to be dissolued, & to be with the Lord, he ioyfully sings his Nunc dimittis vnto the world:Luk. 2.29. Lord now lettest thou thy ser­uant depart in peace, &c. So our Sauiour feeling of his death approching, he cries vnto his Father, Nunc ad to vento, now I come vnto thee: But heere this word Now it is not, as in those places, an Ad­uerbe of time, but a Coniunction copu­latiue, and signifies as much as Et, or au­tem, and so the Latine Translation reades it: Factum est autem, in vna die­rum, Now it came to passe on a certaine day, [Page 6] that is, and it came to passe on a certaine day.

The time is set downe in the follo­wing words; Now it came to passe on a certaine day, there is the time set downe; but what day that day was of the week, perhappes might bee thought to bee, both curious to enquire, and ouer-dif­ficult also to be found out: he was sent forth into the world to doe his fathers businesse, and so earnest was hee, in this Calling of his, that as the Tragedian speakes in another sence; Finis vnius gradus est futurs, the end of one busines, was but the beginning of another; and as the Mathematitian said, of the pra­ctise of that Art, Nulla dies sine linea, no day should passe ouer his head, without the drawing of a line more: so wee may safely say of our Sauiour, that no day passed ouer his head, in which hee did not make profession of the Gospell vn­to the people: for hee professeth this of himselfe, that in it, he tooke his sole de­light, Ioh. 4. My meate (sayes hee) is to do the will of him that sent me, Iohn 4.34. and to finish his worke. And so hauing finished what [Page 7] businesse was conuenient, amongst his owne people, the next day after perad­uenture, set forward for this intended iourney of his, without so much as men­tioning of the day at all, and so It came to passe on a certaine day.

To keepe a Diarie of euery dayes work of his, it had bin a labour infinit, so many, so diuers were the miracles, that were wrought by him daily, that Saint Iohn testifies of him in his 21 chapter, it had been endlesse: For (sayes hee) there are many other things, which Iesus did, Ioh. 21.25. the which if they should be written, euery one, I suppose that euen the world it selfe could not containe the bookes that should be written; and therefore no Register being kept of them, they are poasted ouer vnto cer­taine dayes. Now it came to passe on a cer­taine day.

Yet some probable coniecture might bee giuen of the day, though no defini­tiue sentence, to conclude it absolute: The Latine and the Greeke translations they giue vs a little glimmering light of this same day, for they both reade it the selfe same way, [...] sayes the [Page 8] Greeke text; and the Latine text, Fa­ctum est autem in vna dierum, and it came to passe in one of the dayes: Now both the Greeke and the Latine tongue, doe often reckon One for First, as likewise many times does our English Dialect, one, two, three, that is, first, second, third, &c. And the Hebrues, they haue no other word, to expresse their mea­ning in: and therefore whereas we read it in our English Translation, in Gen. 1. and the euening and the morning were the first day,Gen. 1.5. the Hebrue Translation reades it;Haggi. 1.1 the euening and the morning were one day. So likewise in Haggai 1. where we reade it, in the first day of the moneth, came the word of the Lord: they say, in the one day of the moneth, came the word of the Lord, hauing no other word to expresse their meaning. And the Latine, and the Greeke, follo­wing of the Hebrue phrase, for the First say one, as in Mark. 16. [...],Mark. 16.2 Ʋna Sabbathorum, where our Translation reades it, and very earely in the morning, the first day of the weeke, they came vnto the Sepulchre, &c. So [Page 9] here it is set downe, [...], one day, which day, may very well signifie, the first day, and that is this day.

But if it were this day, how comes it then to passe (it may well be demanded) that our Sauiour is guilty of the breach of that commandement, Remember that thou keepe holy the Sabboth day, &c. And in it, thou shalt doe no manner of worke, &c. which was so strictly obserued amongst the Iewes, as that in the 12. of Mathew the Disciples are reprehended by the Pharises, for but plucking of the eares of Corne on the Sabboth day;Math. 12.2 Behold thy Disciples, they doe that which is not lawfull to doe on the Sabboth day. If it were not lawfull for them to plucke a fewe eares of Corne on the Sabboth day, then surely, much lesse was it lawfull for them to take their iourney on the Sabboth day.

Yes verily, euen on the Sabboth day, it was lawfull for them to trauell, though not to make any long iour­ney on the Sabboth day, and therefore in the Acts. 1,Acts. 1.12. Mount Oliuet is sayd [Page 10] to bee from Ierusalem a Sabboth dayes iourney: which Sabboth dayes iour­ney contained in it, as the writers do a­gree vpon it, two miles in distance, the which it was lawfull for them to walke on the Sabboth day; and therefore in the place before cited, in the 12. of Mathew, Mat. 12.1. the Disciples were not found fault with, by the Pharises, for that they trauelled on the Sabboth day, but for that they pluckt the eares of corne on the Sabboth day. But yet it may bee demanded further (for wee are fallen into a labyrinth of questions) how comes this permission of a Sab­both dayes iourney, seeing all iourney­ing, in the law, is expressely forbidden. See, Exo. 16.29 sayes Moses in Exod. 16. See, sayes hee, for that the Lord hath giuen you the Sabboth, therefore he giueth you on the sixt day, the bread of two dayes, abide yee there­fore euery man in his place, let no no man go out of his place on the seuenth day. If euery man were commanded to abide in his place, on the seuenth day, how then comes in this Sabboth dayes iourney?

Why certainly, I can giue no other [Page 11] reason for it, but what Oecumenius and Lorinus doe giue, and that is, that in the time of Ioshua, hee com­manded it to bee proclaimed, that the Arke going before, there should be a distance left between it & the campe, of two thousand cubites, by measure, as as it is Ios. 3.Iosh. 3.3. which was the iust distance of two miles, whither it was lawfull for the people for to go, to visite the Arke, euen on the Sabboth day, and so may come in our Sabboth daies iourney.

But yet wee are not thus quite of our question though, for still it may be vr­ged further, that this was more then a Sabboth daies iourney, for it was aboue two miles that he was to trauell:Mat. 4.18. Luke 5.1. Iosh. 6.1. Saint Mathew calles it in his 4 chap. the sea of Galilee: S. Luke in his 5. chapt. the lake of Genesareth: S. Iohn in his 6. chapt. the sea of Tiberias: a broad and large place, so that howsoeuer, he was still without the compasse of two thousand cubites, his Sabboth dayes iourney: how may this bee?

For this we say, that our Sauiour Christ he did not iourney on the Sabboth day, [Page 12] for the Iewes Sabboth, it was our Sat­terday, and that was the seuenth day: but this was the first day, afterwards changed by the Apostles, in memory of our Sauiours most glorious resurrecti­on, who dyed vpon the Friday, and rose againe the third day, which was Sun­day, and therefore by Saint Iohn in his first of his Apoc. is called Dies Domini­cus, Apoc. 1.10. the Lords day: I was (saith he) in the spirit on the Lords day; that part then of the Commandement the Sabboth day, it was but Ceremoniall, not Morall; for had it beene Morall, it had bound vs, perpetually, to the obseruation of it; but wee see it was altered, and continues al­tered vnto this day; and so wee haue a gesse of the time, which is here set down indefinitely, a certaine day, though no definitue sentence to conclude it per­emptory: Now it came to passe on a cer­taine day.

It came to passe; Heere haue our licen­tious Epicures, and our vpstart Atheists, a ground & foundation (as they thinke) to build vp their Chance-medly do­ctrine in the world; that things they [Page 13] come by chance and fortune, not by the determinate, and deliberate prouidence and disposing of the Almighty, For what greater argument of chance, can there be, say they, then that Christ him­selfe, should in his owne businesse, ad­mit of a casualty, for the Text is plaine: Now it came to passe, or it chanced, on a certaine day.

But their foundation, it is laid but on a sandy ground, for Aristotle, long since, though but a Heathen Phyloso­pher, yet he could say, by the twy-light of nature, that ignorantia causarum, the ignorance of man was that, that made blind fortune a goddesse amongst men: for when they saw no reason for many things that came to passe amongst them, they did not conceiue, that there might be a reason which they thēselues did not see, but straight way they deifi­ed Fortune, & made her the author and bestower of thē all vpon the world, her that is so brittle a goddesse, quae cum spē ­det frangitur, which is dashed in peeces by the least accident; whereas our Saui­our Christs rule is quite contrary, for he [Page 14] teacheth vs another doctrine in the tenth of Saint Mathewes Gospell,Mat. 10.29 for hee makes Prouidence reach vnto the smallest matters, euen vnto the falling of a Sparrow vpon the ground: Are there not (saith hee) two Sparrowes sold for a farthing, and yet one of them shall not fall on the ground, without the will of your heauenly Father: Then much more the weightiest matters, such as the Prea­ching of the Gospell is, which is the saluation of the soule of man, that shall not be done, but by a particular proui­dence indeed, and that iourney resol­ued on with mature deliberation.

Fortune (as the world esteemes it) it is but an Idoll, made for foolish man to worship and adore, and he that will worship any thing, euen the meanest of creatures, will not neglect it, wherein hee thinkes hee sees some shew, but as it is indeed in it owne nature, it is Ordi­naria potestas Dei, the ordinary proui­dence, and direction of Almighty God himselfe, by which he brings to passe, what himselfe intendeth.

This iourney here of our Sauiours, it [Page 15] is vndertaken with a singular resolution to do good vnto all, euen those that were most wicked and prophane: So is it Gods goodnesse for to super-abound, where the sinne of man seemes for to abound. The heart of man for his wickednesse it is termed in Scripture Abyssus, a bottomelesse pit, according to that of Ezechiel in the 17. of his Prophecy.Eze. 17.9. Prauum est cor hominis & in­scrutabile, & quis cognoscet: The heart of man it is vnsearchable, and who shall know it? yet the mercy and goodnesse of God, it is farre deeper then that, that is so deepe, as that Saint Paul in the 11. to the Romanes is faine to cry out: O altitudo diuitiarum; Rom. 11.33 Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisedome and knowledge of God: And in regard of his mercies, he is termed by the Apo­stle 1. Cor. 3. Pater misericor diarum, 1. Cor. 3.2 the Father, not of one or two, but of many mercies, and the God of all consolati­on; he is called the Father of mercies, to pardon all the sinnes that man shall commit against him, and the Apostle in the Ephesians tels vs,Ephe. 2.7. that when we shall [Page 16] need them, he has, abundantet diuitia: gratia, exceeding riches of his grace, in store for vs, if we our selues will but willingly accept, what he shall kindly offer vnto vs.

Hee does not take this iourney heere vpon him, vpon a giddy humour, but a discreete deliberation, to go vnto them; and because he did go, therefore here it is said; it came to passe: Factum est, saies the Latine Text, it was done, so it came to passe. Now it came to passe on a cer­taine day.

The second thing followes, the meanes, he went into a Ship with his Disciples: Now it came to passe on a cer­taine day, that hee entred into a Ship with his Disciples.

1. Mac. 4.9.It is the speech of Iudas Maeccabaeus, 1. Mac. 4. that when he was to encou­rage his Army against Gorgias his soul­diers, he wils them not to feare their multitude, nor to be afraid of their assault: mementate, sayes hee, qualiter facti sunt salui patres nostri, Remember sayes he, how our fathers were saued in the red Sea, when Pharoah pursued [Page 17] them with an Army; if euer we should be mindefull of any thing, then this par­ticular we should not forget.

Heere wee haue an example in this same Story of our fore-fathers, the Apo­stles, how they, and we in them, were sa­ued, from the danger of a tempest. After that our Euangelist had shewed what miracles our Sauiour had acted on the the Land, he sets downe now, as great a miracle as any of the rest, that hee did vpon the Sea, that so both earth and Sea might witnesse with him, the pow­er and truth of the doctrine that hee Preached to the people.

Now it came to passe, on a certaine day, that he went into a Ship, with his Disciples. He went into a Ship: Why what need now had he more of a Ship, then at any time else we read he had? Was not hee the Lord and God of the water, as well as of the Land, and could hee not com­mand the one as well as the other? Was not this hee, that for his peoples sake, dried vp the red sea, and made them to go through as vpon dry land? Exod. 14,Ex. 14.22. Is not this the same, that when it plea­sed [Page 18] him, walked vpon the water as vpon firme ground,Mat. 14.29. and made his Disciple Peter tread there also? Mat. 14. Why then but for the passage ouer of a little Lake, would he haue a Ship for to ferry him ouer? could hee go vpon the Sea when it was boysterous and rough, and must he be passed ouer a Lake, when it is calme and quiet? what meanes this passage of his that he went into a Ship?

Yes (Beloued) he could haue done it as well without a Ship as within the Ship, had it pleased him, but hee saw it more conuenient for him for to do it o­therwise: Hee could haue either dryed the Lake with his word, as hee did the red Sea, or haue walked vpon it at plea­sure, as at other times he did, but heere hee would neither of these, hee would choose rather, to go as a passenger, then as a Lord and Commander of what was his owne.

To dry the Sea with his word, or walke vpon it at his pleasure, were ar­guments and tokens of his Diuinity, but heere he would be knowne to be a naturall man, he came into the world to [Page 19] take vpon him our infirmities, and to cure vs by those, who long before were wounded vnto death, bee was our Phy­sition and we all his Patients; now a Physition that cannot skill of his Pati­ents infirmities, shall hardly be able to cure those diseases, and how shall he be better skilled in our wants, then by fee­ling of them himselfe? hee would feele our wants in this, as well as beare our infirmities in other matters: the Pro­phet Esay tels vs what he hath done for vs in other matters, in the 53 of his Prophecy, where he sayes:Esay 53.4. Surely he hath borne of our griefes, and carryed our sor­rowes; he was wounded for our transgressi­ons, and by his stripes, were we healed: So heere hee would know our wantes, in being passenger in a Fishers Ketch.

Had our Sauiour remained God alone, as he was at the first, what com­fort on benefite had that bene vnto [...] and or if he had taken humane flesh vpon him, and not taken our infirmities withall, he could not haue beene seene so well in mans miseries as he was; but therefore he tooke them that he might [Page 20] be well skilled in them, and being skil­led in them, hee might compassionate them, and compassionating of them he might throughly cure & heale them all.

In this one iourney then of our Saui­ours, he did such things as might truely shew he was truely man, and withall he might demonstrate himselfe to bee the Son of the euerliuing God. He went in­to a ship & slept, that by both he might instruct vs of the want of necessaries, that bee in our nature, hee rebuked the wind and appeased the Sea, that so he might shew vs the power of his Diuini­ty. He went into a Ship: but not into the warspite, no man of war to do mischiefe withall, for though himselfe were come as himselfe professes,Luk. 12.49. in Luke 12. I am come to send fire vpon the earth, and what is my desire but that it were already kin­dled; yet he would not, as our Pirates now adaies do, fetch his fire from hel to blow men quick vp into heauen, that he hath left for those diuelish helhounds, without their greater repentance, that as they haue serued others, so they thē ­selues at the last shold be serued, blown [Page 21] vp with fire here, and perpetually after­wards be burnt in euerlasting fire: But he went into a poore Fishers ship, a ship of trade and labour, that so all things might answere in proportion both his birth, life, and death, all should bee pro­portionable one vnto the other.

His birth it was poore and needy, a Village for the place, an Inne for his house, a Stable for his chamber, a cratch for his bed: what poore beggar amongst men, more miserably borne? Ierusalē in Scripture is proclaimed to be the Citty of the great King, & what King greater thē this King of ours, who hath both on his vesture & on his thigh a name writ­tē, Rex regum & Dominus dominantium, King of Kings and Lord of Lords: yet this great Lord will choose rather to honor with his birth, little Bethlem the least a­mongst the thousands of Iudah, then fa­mous Ierusalem the Metropolis of the world, litle Bethlē I say, shal be honored by his birth, whē famous Ierusalem shall dishonor her self, by his death & passiō.

In this small village of Bethlem, he nei­ther commands Princely Pallaces, nor [Page 22] great mans house, but contents himselfe to bee borne, [...] as Greg. Naz. speakes, in a base, and a common Inne, a place made for the receipt of the meanest company, and in that Inne hee takes vp a Stable for his Nursery, and a Cratch for his chaire of Estate, a poore Carpenter and his wife for his priuy Counsellours, an Oxe and an Asse for his common Courtiers, thus the mighty God, whose Seate is in heauen, and the earth is his Foote­stoole, must bee contented with the vi­lest place that vaine man can finde out for him, [...], saies Na [...]. Thus he that makes all other men rich, himselfe must be borne like a beggar in some out roome; and he that is full of all spirituall blessings, must be as one who were voyde of all.

His life is proportionable vnto his birth, hee is driuen into banishment so soone as he is borne, and afterwards, aboue the course of nature, he is forced to fast forty daies and forty nights, heb is scoffed at by his kindred, reuiled by the Gouernours, cursed by the Doctors; [Page 23] called Coniurer by the Commons, be­trayed by his seruants, scorned by the Courtiers, mocked by the Souldiers, rayled at by the Malefactors, his whole life was nothing else but a map of mi­series; wandring vp and down he goes, not hauing where to repose his wearied limbes. Math. 8. The Foxes haue holes, Mat. 8.20. & the Birdes haue nests, but the Son of man hath not whereon to rest his head: The wil­dernesse is faine to be his Couch, and a few poore Fishermen his guard to at­tend vpon him; his prouision is fiue bar­ley loaues, and two small fishes, and what are they amongst so many? Ferri­ed ouer here, he is, in a poore fishermans boate, the vilest and most contemptible of all other Trades. But his comming it was in humility, and therefore hee contents himself with the basest things; he, Whose the sea is, Psal. 95.5. and whose hands pre­pared the dry lands, Psal. 95. Hee (I say) is mad passenger in a Ketch, in a poore Fisher-boate, ferried ouer to the other side.

He went into a ship, but he went not a­lone, hee was accompanied with his [Page 24] Disciples, He went into a ship (saies my Text) with his Disciples, hee went with his Disciples, that so he might proue their faith vpon the sea, as well as vpon the solide and dry land, euery way hee would try them, that so hee might har­den them against the time of affliction. Almighty God, though he knew Abra­ham throughly, yet he would try him in the weightiest matter, to see whether hee would remaine constant vnto the end;Gen. 22.2. as you may reade at large in the twenty two Chapter of Genesis: Go offer vp thy sonne Isaac vpon one of the Mountaines that I shall tell thee of, who holding of Gods promise vn­to him, certaine and sure, that in his seede all the Nations of the earth should be blessed, would rather trust in what hee hoped for, then in what hee saw before his eyes; before his eyes hee saw nothing but certaine death, and yet aboue hope, hee hoped for nothing but euerlasting life. Non haesi­tabat (saies Saint Augustine) quod sibi reddi poterat immolatus, qui dari pote­rat non speratus, hee no more doubted [Page 25] that his sonne should be restored vnto him, after he was sacrificed, then hee doubted hee should haue him before he had him.

So our Sauiour here, hee would tho­rowly try his Apostles in their constan­cy, in the nearest matters, not in the death of their children and sons, but in the death of their owne selues, he expo­ses all their liues at once to a manifest danger, hee carries them to sea: hee goes into a ship, and his Disciples with him.

Wherein they shew themselues true friends indeed, and faithfull seruants vn­to their Maister, who will not onely ac­company him in his labours, but euen in imminent and manifest dangers, wil not forsake him: so that our Sauiour might well giue that testimony of them,Luk. 22.28 that he does in the 22. of Luke, vos estis, yee are they which haue continued with me in my temptations.

And to digresse a little from them, and turne the dyall vnto our selues, wee all know that Christ our Lord is much sooner found in affliction & tribulation, [Page 26] then he is in mirth & iollity: Christ, he is the Lilly; but as it is said of the Lilly in the Canticles: Hee is growing amongst the thornes, Cant. 2.2. Mat. 27.29 nay he is crowned with a crown of thornes, Math. 27. sooner found in the house of mourning, then in the courts of ioy and gladnesse. Moses in the 3.Exod. 3.2. of Exod. found him in the bramble­bush,1. King. 19.4. when all the Egyptians missed him in their court. Elias in 1. King. enioyed him vnder the Iuniper tree, a tree full of prickes, when Ahab could not intreate him in his seeled pallaces.

But yet the world is in a contrary veine, quite from this, they will follow Christ, in prosperity, but in aduersity they will giue him leaue to bee alone: vpon the land he shall haue followers e­nough, why hee hath whole multitudes attending on him, Ecce totus mundus, sayes S. Iohn, Ioh. 12.19. Behold the whole world runs after him, but vpon the sea, his traine hath left him, onely his Apostles they keepe him company; He went into a ship with his Disciples.

Whilst God rewardes men with his gifts, for the seruice they haue done him, [Page 27] so long he shall haue followers enough, but if once their profession beginne to draw blood, then Demas will reuolt, & make shipwracke of all that before hee hath professed: there are but a few that can indure this Baptismus sanguinis, to dye their colours in graine, that so they may be knowne to be his Disciples.

These kind of men I cannot more fit­ly resemble, then vnto the vsurers of these our dayes, who will willingly lend their money vnto our merchants, but vpon this condition, that howsoeuer the world go with the poore merchant-aduenturer, the vsurer still will bee sure to be a gainer by him; so these they will follow Christ in his glory, where they may reape their priuate advantage, but by any meanes they will not endure to heare of him in his crosse and passion: otherwise, farre otherwise was it with his Disciples here, both in prosperity & or aduersity, they will be sure to be par­takers with him, if their Lord will to [...], then they will alongst with him; He went into a shippe with his Disciples.

I might heere enter into a large dis­course [Page 28] of our humane basenesse, and our degenerate nature, how ready all of vs are to deny our Lord and Maister; but I list not shew that in words, which every one of vs do daily act in our doings: we follow Christ vnto the wedding, we ac­knowledge him our Maister in the brea­king of bread, and we honor him high­ly in the acting of miracles; but in perils, and in dangers, in losses, and in death, we do detest him: In every one of these, wee set vp this for our Mott, Vos autem non sic; farre, oh as farre as may bee, let the least of all these be from vs, let them not once approach the place, where we shall dwell. For we are like vnto the Is­raelites in the 15 of Exodus, Exod. 15.1 who when they saw their cruell enemies, the Egyp­tians, drowned before their faces, and they themselues maisters of the field, without so much as striking of one stroke for it, they burst out presently in­to cheerefull songs, Cantemus Domino, let vs sing vnto the Lord, for hee hath triumphed gloriously, the Horse and his Rider hath hee throwne into the Sea: but presently after their provision fay­ling [Page 29] them, in the very next chapter,Exod. 16.3 Ex­od. 16. they murmure against Moses, and mutter against the Lord, and faine they would returne, to their Bricke-making in Egypt: so wee, whilst hee bestowes wealth, and riches, and glory, & honor, and the like vpon vs, all that while, wee thinke wee haue gotten all with a song, wee cease not to say with Dauid in the 81 Psalme, Cantemus Domino, Psal. 81. [...] sing wee merrily vnto God our strength, make a cheerfull noyse vnto the God of Iacob, all is well, and as we would haue it; but if hee once try vs with the touch-stone of aduersity, if he make vs to go through fire and water, we suddenly change the coppy of our countenance, and in stead of giuing thankes, wee say with Iob in the third of that Booke,Iob. 3.3. Pereat dies in quae natus sum, & nox in quae dictum est, conceptus est homo, Let the day perish wherein I was borne, and the night when it was sayd, a Man childe is con­ceaued, let them follow that list, for wee for our owne parts haue enough of the seruice of the Lord.

Christ our Sauiour, he hath farre more [Page 30] followers of his resurrection, then of his passion, of his glory then of his troubles; but his Disciples yet aboue all his follo­wers, they remained firme with him, and would not forsake him: Hee went into a ship with his Disciples. And so S. Paul tels them what they are to looke for in recompence againe,2. Cor. 1.7. in 2. Cor. If they shall be partakers of his sufferings, they shall bee partakers also of the consolation.

Our Sauiour here, he carries his disci­ples vnto the sea, that so hee might trye them, in all kindes, before he sent them forth, to harden them against all stormes of affliction that should blowe, and to teach them to contemne the vanities of this world. In the world there are sud­den alterations, & he would haue them altered with none, he would haue them to be men of courage, and beare adver­sity as well as prosperity.

Will you see the changes of the world? I will onely giue you one instance Act. 14. Paul and [...], Acts 14.11 at their first en­ [...]e into Listra, they haue much a doe to containe the people from doing sa­crifice vnto them, as Gods; [...]he Gods, [Page 31] say they, are come downe to vs in the like­nesse of men: whereas at the 19 verse a­gaine of the same chapter, for the good that Paul did amongst them,vers. 19. they stone him with stones, and throw him out of their Citty, a sudden alteration: As great an alteration is this here, with the Disciples; Our Sauiour he honors them with his company, he giues them power ouer vncleane spirits; but here hee tries them with the perill of their liues. Hee went into a shippe with his Disciples.

Hee went first, his Disciples followed after: the Maister hee must be the first, that must shew example vnto the Scho­ler, and what hee would haue his Scho­ler learne, that he must teach him by ex­ample, as well as by precept. It is repor­ted of Abimelech, a Prince and leader of Israell in Iudg. 9.Iudg. 9.48. that intending to burn Sichem, hee tooke an Axe in his hand, and cut downe a bough from a tree, and laid it vpon his owne shoulders, saying vnto his souldiers, Quod me vidistis fuce­re, [...] facite, what you haue seene mee doe, make haste and doe the like, tea­ching them by example to do what he [Page 32] would haue done; and certainly the dis­ciple will doe it much more willingly, when he sees his Maister doe the same before his face: and if there be a maister in mischiefe, he shall be able to do more hurt by his onely example, then a num­ber of others by all the wholesome pre­cepts that they can reade: therefore if we be wise, let vs with Mary choose the better part, and so we shall be sure to be profitable indeed.

The third thing followes: his exhor­tation; Let vs goe ouer to the other side of the lake.

The power of our Sauiour, as he was the Creator vnto his disciples, and they his creatures, it was very great, what might he not haue commanded them to doe? he created them by his word, and therefore might haue commanded them by his word also, to hime executed and fulfilled the vtmost of his will: the Pot­ter he may do as he list with his clay, & no man to controll him, and God dis­pose as it pleaseth him of man, and none to aske the question, why hee doth so▪ hee might haue sayd vnto his Disciples, [Page 33] get you ouer vnto the other side of the lake, or follow me vnto the otherside of the lake, and they were to obey: for he was their Lord, and they his seruants, he to command, and they to do him ser­uice; and in equity and iustice this hee might haue done, without any preiu­dice at all vnto any one of them at all, euen the chiefest and best beloued.

But yet such is the loue of God vn­to those that be his, and appertaine vnto him, as that he will do, he will euermore doe in loue and amity: he will not stiffe­ly command, but kindly intreate at their hands; Let vs go ouer vnto the other side of the lake.

Ecclesia Dei, vinea Dei, grandis nimis, sayes Saint Bernard, the Church of God sayes he, it is Gods vineyard, great and high in the account of the Lord; and great reason indeed, is it (if we consider it throughly as wee ought) that so it should be; great, yea very great in his e­stimate, who hath bestowed such cost & care continually about it, his own right hand hath planted it, his deere heart blood hath redeemed it, he hath watred [Page 34] it with his word, hee hath caused it to shoot forth by his grace, he hath made it plentifull and aboundant by his spirit, and can wee thinke that all this cost of his, will not make him to haue a regard vnto it?

Yes surely he hath both had, and at this day hath, so great a care ouer it, as that in the aboundance of his loue, hee hath married himselfe vnto his Church, hee now is our husband, and the Church is his spouse, and thinking with himselfe, that, that vnity is too little for it, he hath moulded vs all into his owne body, so that now as S. Paul speakes,Eph. 5.30. Eph. 5. wee are the members of his body, of his flesh & of his bones, and therfore must needs loue vs with an exceeding loue: for it is the same S. Pauls note, in the same chapter, vers. 29. that yet it was neuer heard, that euer any man hated his owne body, but nourished and cherished it, and therfore can do no lesse then speake kinde vnto it. Let vs go ouer, &c.

Hence forward then, when we heare of Gods presence, let vs not like our Grand-father Adam in Paradice, flye [Page 35] from the sight of him, for it is his loue which makes him draw neere to vs, Noli fugero Adam, sayes S. Cyprian, doe not sayes he, oh man, flye from thy maker, he is nothing else but God with vs, be not afraid or terrified at the newes of him: for he is with vs in the flesh, hee is with vs also in the vnity of the spirit, so that he cannot choose but loue vs eternally.

Let not the sight of our sins so vtter­ly dismay vs, as that we shal think there is no more place left for grace to re­maine: for as S. Paul tels vs, that where sinne aboundes,Rom. 5.20 there grace aboundes much more, Rom. 5. and Saint Barnard shewes vs the meanes, how Christ and the sinner doe meete in one; Cor, sayes he, est in peccatore, anima in corde, mens in anima, fi [...] in monte, Christus in fide. In e­uery sinner there is a heart, in the heart there is a soule, in the soule there is a mind, in the mind there is faith, in faith there is Christ; and this is that, sayes he, that the Apostle shewes, when he sayes, that Christ dwels in your hearts by faith. Eph. 3.17. E­phes. 3.

When our Sauiours to furious Disci­ples, [Page 36] Iames and Iohn wold haue had fire from heauen to consume the company, Luk. 9. Lord, wilt thou that we cōmand fire from heauen to consume them there, Luke 9.54. as Eli­as did? What was his answer? Yee know not of what spirit yee bee; they cost him more then so, to confound them all in an instant, & he had much rather bring them home vnto him in loue, then de­stroy them in his anger: our Sauiour is of a more milde and quiet spirit then his Disciples are of: for they sought the de­struction of their neighbours, but God he seekes the conuersion of sinners.

When God shewed himselfe vnto E­lias in the mount, there passed before him thunder and lightning, and storme and wind, but God was in none of them all, but in the stil voice, he delights to be mercifull, and is loath to take reuenge, euen of those that are his enemies: he is slow to take his bow in hand, more loath to bend it, loather yet to draw it, loather of all to let flye at his enemies: Esay 1. Ah, Esay 1.24. I wil ease me of mine enemies, and auenge mee of mine aduersaries, as though he were so loath to do it, as that [Page 37] it should not be done, if the controuer­sie by any other meanes could be deci­ded. If he be then so kinde vnto his e­nemies, no maruaile at all if hee speake friendly vnto such as are his friends: Let vs goe ouer to the other side of the lake.

But yet he is not more ready to aske, then they are ready for to obey, which is our fourth part, their Obedience, they lanched forth; Let vs goe ouer vnto the other side of the lake, and they lanched forth.

In the 11. of Saint Iohns Gospell,Ioh. 11.11. when our Sauiour puts vp his request vnto his Disciples, to goe and raise his friend Lazarus from the dead, they refuse to goe with him, Lord if hee sleepe hee shall doe well, say they; but then they had not learned their obedi­ence fully: but now they were like vn­to the Centurions seruant, in the 8. of Mathew, he can no sooner say go,Math. 8.9. but they go; come, but they come; doe this, but they do it: no sooner in the ship, and sayes vnto them, let vs go ouer to the o­ther side, but presently in all obedience, [Page 38] they lanch forth the vessell; And they lanched forth.

This obedience of theirs is a triple twi­sted cord made of these three strands, humility in the heart, patience in the mouth, and perseuerance in all good a­ctions, and of such a cord the wise man sayes, Funiculus triplex, &c. a threefold cord is hardly broken: and euery parti­cular of these they learned of their Lord and maister: for, for the first, humility in the heart,Mat. 11.29 it is his owne speech, in Math. 11. Discite à me quia mitis sum, learne, sayes he, of me, because I am meeke and humble in heart, and yee shall finde rest vnto your soules; for the second, pati­ence in the mouth, it is the Prophet E­sayes speech of him in his 53 Chapter:Esay 53.7. Sicut ouis ad occisionem, hee was brought as a Lambe vnto the slaughter, and as a sheepe before his shearer, so hee opened not his mouth; and for the third, perse­uerance in goodnesse,Phil. 2.8. it is the Apostles speech, Phil. 2. Obediens fuit vs (que) ad mortē, hee became obedient vnto death, euen the death of the crosse: who could de­sire more then he hath performed?

[Page 39]And this obedience, as he had it here of his Apostles, so doth he expect it al­so at the hands of euery one of vs that doe professe our selues retainers vnto him, Humility, Patience, Perseuerance, this is the best sacrifice, and the most ac­ceptable, which wee can performe vnto him; let vs all then study and indeuour ourselues in the feare of the Lord, to learne this one lesson, & so, if not in this world, yet in the world to come, we are sure we shall haue our reward, a reward I say, which shall continue with vs vnto all eternity; the which God grant vs all, Amen. And so we haue finished the first verse here, the second followes. But as they sailed, &c.

In which, as I told you, there is set downe the manner of the iourney, and the accidents that befell them: the man­ner of the iourney, they sayled, But as they sailed, &c.

The manner of the Iourney, I shall not neede to stand long vpon it, it is knowne vnto all, they sayled, and besides their sayling, they haue little other help to driue forward their moueable houses.

[Page 40]The prophane Historians, in their Hi­stories, do ascribe both the inuention of shipping, and the Art of Nauigation, vnto one of themselues, to Atlas Mau­rus, and make him both the inuenter, & part perfecter of that secret Art; but we which are Christians, we rather depend vpon the Scripture, and say, that the vse of shipping, and the Art of Nauigation, they came both immediatly from God himselfe, & was first revealed vnto Noe, in the forme of the Arke, Gen. 6. as like­wise the vse of the Load-stone,Gen. 6.13. in these our later times, hath bin by Gods espe­ciall prouidence, reuealed amongst vs, without which the whole Ocean, as dai­ly now it is, could not be made nauiga­ble either vnto vs, or any other people.

The benefit of it is great, as we see dai­ly, by daily experience the transportati-of goods, the commutation of marchan­dise, with other nations, the which is so necessary amongst men, that Baldus the great Lawyer, did not sticke to affirme, the world would quickly be at an end, if Marchandizing once should decay amongst vs, and in Marchandizing, [Page 41] the chiefest Trade we know is by ship­ping, and in shipping, sayes Seneca, this one thing is none of the smallest mat­ters in the Diuine Prouidence; Quod na­tura dederit ventos, incitatores nauigatio­nit, vt commoda cuius (que) regionis, fierent communia: This is worthy of admira­tion indeed, that God should cause the winds to be furtherers of nauigation, by which the commodities of all nati­ons, are made knowne and common vnto one.

This same sayling in ships, it is called by the Psalmist in the 107. Psalme,Ps. 107.23. Descensus in mare, a going downe into the Sea, for so he saith, those that goe downe into the Sea in ships, they see the great wonders of the Lord; but this descent it is termed fo in respect of the shore onely, where the Bankes seeme higher then the waters doe, which are set as barres for it by Al­mighty God himselfe, which they shall not passe, as that holy man Iob speakes, in the 38 chap. of that booke;Iob. 38.11. where he saith; Hitherto hath he said shalt thou come but no further, and here shall thy proud [Page 42] waues be stayed: which barre is set for the safety of man, for else naturally the height of the water is higher then the highest hill, as may plainely appeare in the seuenth of Genesis, Gen. 7.20. when the foun­taines of the great deepe were broken vp, then 15 cubites vpwards did the waters preuaile, and the Mountaines were couered, so that the naturall place of the water, is fifteene cubites at the least higher thē the earth: & the heathen Phylosopher, by the twylight of na­ture, hee could see so much, that Vicit [...], that it was Gods goodnesse onely that caused the water to restraine it selfe, or else not on iot of the earth should be seene aboue.

The earth it is the heauiest element, and therefore must needes sinke downe the lowest, and those that be lighter must floate aloft naturally, but God for the good of man, hath altered the course of nature, and of the water and the earth hath made one globe, and hath caused that globe by man to bee compassed about; and so much of the manner of their iourney, they sayled, [Page 43] But as they sayled. I come vnto the Ac­cidents, the first whereof is, our Saui­ours sleepe, He fell asleepe: The security of the iust and righteous is very much: The righteous, saith Salomon, is bold as a Lyon, and what euer befall his body heere, yet his soule is like vnto the hea­uens, aboue the Moone, that is alwaies cleere and quiet: so that as Liuie speakes of Scipio, we may safely say of him, Is est cuius animum, nec prospera fortuna; flatu suo efferret, nec aduersa infringet; He is the man whom neither prosperity can puffe vp, nor yet aduersity can any whit deiect: An example hereof, wee haue in our Sauiour Christ heere, who both vpon the Land, and vpon the wa­ters, is Semper idem, one and the selfe­same party still; vpon the Land he feares not the threates of the enuious Scribes and Pharises, vpon the Seas hee con­temnes the rage and fury of the violent tempest, no sooner is he in the ship, but presently hee betakes himselfe vnto his rest, he fals a sleepe, But as they sayled he fell asleepe.

But then this place, giues leaue to [Page 44] moue a question of import; Was it I pray you (may some men say) with our Sauiour here in this place, as it was with Ionas in his tempest there,Iona. 1.5. Ion. 1. no sooner afloate, but presently in his Cabbin, and scarce in his Cabbin be­fore he was fast? How comes this to passe? and how shall wee be able to re­concile the Psalmist and our Euangelist together? the Euangelist heere saith, But as they sayled he fell asleep; the Psal­mist againe,Psal. 121.4. in the 121 Psalme, spea­king of the same party to, sayes: Non dormitabat, ne (que) dormiet; He that keepeth Israel, saith he, shall neither slumber nor sleepe: How may those two agree in one, or what is the matter that now hee is said to be so heauy as to fall asleepe? does hee sleepe in the Euangelist, and watch for euer in the Psalmist ouer his?

Indeed if a man do well obserue the course of the world, the felicity and happinesse of the vngodly, the miseries and afflictions that the righteous are put vnto, hee may happily thinke, that our Sauiour does not onely slumber, as in this place, but indeed does nothing [Page 45] else but sleepe out right, nay he doth altum dormire, nothing else but mind his rest; to see weary Sampson grinding all day in the Mill, while the Philistimes are mocking him in their drunken sacri­fices▪ Iudg. 16.25 Iud. 16. To see the weakned Isra­elites, mourning by the waters of Baby­lon, whilst their faithlesse enemies, are bitterly scoffing and insulting ouer their miseries: Sing vs now one of your merry songs of Syon; Psa. 137.3. Psalme 137. To see the pampered Glutton, faring deliciously euery day, and the righteous Lazarus starued with hunger at his very gate, Luke 16. This would make a man thinke our Sauiour not in a deepe,Luk. 16.21 but a dead sleepe indeed, so that hee might either say with Dauids foole,Psal. 14.1. in the 14. Psalme, Non est Deus; that there is no God at all, to controule them in their doings; or if there be a God, yet as Eli­phaz sayes vnto Iob, in the 22 of that book, Nubes latibulum eius, Iob. 22.14. & circa car­dines coeli perambulat, ne (que) nostra cōsiderat; That he hath enough to do to looke to that which is aboue, and neuer consider what is done vpō the face of the earth, al [Page 46] things go so preposterously, and out of order.

For our Sauiour to take a nap and away, had not bene so much, but to be drowned in so deepe a sleepe, as with our Grandfather Adam to haue a rib taken out of his side, and neuer to feele it; to haue Iohn the Baptist, the voyce of a Cryer, beheaded at the request, and intreaty of a whore, and yet to be silent for all that to; to be in a storme, and the ship ready to founder with wa­ter vnder him, and yet securely sleeping vpon his pillow, might argue at the first sight, that he was ouercome with sleep: He fell asleepe.

In many things, I say, we may thinke our Sauiour is a sleepe; for as he that is a sleepe is still the same man, whether you commend any vertue in him, or discommend any vitious quality hee is tainted with all, he is no more moued with your extraordinary prayses, then he is abashed at your bitter inuectiues. So God oftentimes, hee lets the wicked to shoote vp and prosper, to flourish like vnto a greene Bay tree, and inioy [Page 47] the world, according vnto his owne will and pleasure, and the righteous againe like a poore Palme tree, hee is ouerladen and pressed downe with the insolency of others, and yet God seemes to be affected neither with the one, nor the others doings, hee is fast a sleepe and will not bee awaked; in which regard the Prophet Dauid, as weary of his long sufferings, & willing to be releiued in his distresse, he is faine to cry aloude, and earnestly, as it were, to wake him out of the sleepe that he is in, to come vnto his succour.Psal. 44.23. For thy sake are wee killed all the day long, we are coun­ted at sheepe for the slaughter, therefore awake, why sleepest thou ô Lord? Arise, &c. An earnest admonisher we see, and one that will not be silent, hee doubles, and trebles his speech, Awake, sleeepe not, arise; that if he were fast indeed, yet his earnestnesse at the last would cause him to awake: and to speake truth, God for the most part seemeth for to sleepe, that so he might be awaked by our earnest intreaties; for God, as Saint Augustine notes, amet nimium vehementes, is so de­lighted [Page 48] with our prayers, as that many times hee does deny vs our suites, that he might heare vs continue earnest in our prayers. And againe, if he should vpon euery motion that we make vnto him grant vs our requests, his benefites at the last would come to bee contem­ned of vs; we know it here an ordinary practise among men, cito data cito viles­cunt, wee accompt it scarce worth the taking, that is not twise worth the as­king; therefore before he grant vs, hee would haue vs bee earnest with him in deed to awake him with our prayers, if perchance hee should seeme to bee a sleepe. But when we haue awaked him what then, is there any redresse to bee had at his hand? Why yes furely, euen the same party that we mentioned euen now, hee found it at his hands, he was deliuered out of his distresse: Saul the persecutor, fals deadly vpon his owne sword, both to the destruction of soule and body, and Dauid the distressed in­ioyes the Kingdome: Daniel is made protector of the Kingdome, and his ac­cusers and enemies throwne into the [Page 49] Lyons den: though he sleepe heere for a time amongst vs, yet one day hee will awake againe; and whereas all the time of his sleepe he hath plaid the Lambe, & bene patient in his reuenge, yet when he shall awake, he shall rouze himselfe like a Lion for to right himselfe of al his enemies, which if it be not in this world yet in the world to come wee know it shall be to their greater condemnation.

Noah we know, he slept a while, and suffred the scoffes and abuses of his wicked sonne Cham, but when he awa­ked, what then? then Maledictus Canaan, then he pronounces a fearefull curse vp­on him for his lewdnesse:Gen. 9.25. Cursed bee Ca­naan, seruant of seruants shal he be: so, I say, if not in this world, yet at the end of the world, our Sauiour he shall curse his enemies with a terrible curse, a curse of curses: Ite mal dicti, Mat. 25.41 Go yee cursed of my Father, into euerlasting fire, a terrible and a fearefull curse, from which God keepe vs all. But yet so he slept not here, in this place, his sleepe now it was a vo­luntary naturall sleepe: But as they sayled hee fell a sleepe. The reason of sleepe in [Page 50] naturall men it is yeelded by the Hea­then Phylosophers, and chiefly by Ari­stotle, the eldest sonne of nature; there are two causes, saith hee, of sleepe in man, Fumus ascendens in cerebellum, the ascending of the fumes and vapours vp out of our stomacke into our head, and so surprizing of the braine, or else Cor­poralis, naturae fatigatio, the ouer­wearying of our body with labour and trauell, both which were truely in our Sauiour, and yet neither the cause of this sleepe of his, he had them both truely in him, because in deed hee was truely man; but heere in this place, as the Diuines teach, he slept voluntary, as being Lord and Commander of his Humane Nature: As hee is then the Keeper of Israel, the Creator, and Pre­seruer of man-kind, he cannot sleepe, but as hee is a Man, and himselfe made a creature, sleepe was requisite, and ne­cessary for him.

But yet here, I say, hee slept volun­tary, he slept because hee would sleepe, hee was Lord of his Nature, and might commande it, which is not in [Page 51] vs; for many of vs, oftentimes would sleepe, but cannot, and sometimes againe, when wee would willingly watch, our eies are most heauy and ouercharged with sleepe: Illam noctem, rex duxit in somnem, saith the Text, Ester. 6.Ester 6.1. That night the King would faine haue slept, but could not; And againe, the Disciples in the 26 of Matthew, Mat. 26.43 they could not refraine from sleeping, when they would haue watched; and hee came and found them asleepe againe, for their eyes were heauy; But in Christ our Saui­our, there was no such naturall imper­fection; in the Wildernesse, as long as hee fasted, so long it may bee credi­bily thought, that hee watched also, both which wee know, to bee aboue the course of ordinary nature, and in the sixt of Luke, Luke 6.12. hee continued a whole night in prayer vnto his Father, and yet wee do not reade, that hee was ouercharged with heauinesse in the morning; hee could sleepe when he list, and hee could watch as long as hee list, and yet no impediment vnto his body, but heere hee sleepes volun­tary, [Page 52] that so he might giue way vnto a miracle: But as they sayled hee fell a sleepe.

Mark. 4.38Saint Marke recording of this same Story, tels vs that he did sleepe, In puppi, super ceruicale, Hee was, saith he, in the hinder part of the Ship, a sleepe vpon a pillow: after his paines taking of Prea­ching the Gospell vpon the Land, hee takes his reasonable rest in the ship vp­on the water; hee rested his head vpon a pillow, not stretcht himselfe out at length vpon the Epicures bed of ease, but onely laid himselfe downe, that so he might bee vp againe vpon all occasi­ons; hee was like in this businesse vnto himselfe, poore and wanting, not ha­uing so much as a boulster of his owne to lay vnder his head, but is faine to borrow the Marriners pillow, so are his birth, his life, and death, the one pro­portionable vnto the other, and so much for this first Accident heere in the iour­ney, Hee fell a sleepe.

The second followes, And there came downe a storme of winde on the Lake. What? a storme of wind come [Page 53] downe on the Lake, and Christ our Sauiour in the midst of it? Creden­dumne est, ea, ventos fuisse audacia? and is it possible, that the winde should be so audicious as to disturbe, either the Sea, or the Ship, in which the Lord, both of heauen and earth, was carried in? that they should come violently rush­ing on, and aske no leaue of their Lord and Maister.

Oh no, but rather as it was in the tempest that Ionas was tossed in:Iona 1.4. The Lord (saith the Text there) sent out a great winde into the Sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the Sea, so that the Ship was like to be broken: So in this tempest here, though perhaps it was not sent of the Lord, yet by the permission of the Lord wee knowe it came, that so hee might shewe his power and authority vnto his Disciples: There came downe a storme.

Where first we obserue an alteration, & surely it is worthy our obseruatiō to, to mark that where our Sauiour comes, what alterations hee alwayes makes amongst men; no sooner is he come into [Page 54] the world, but Herod, and his bloudy Councell, lay traines to intrap his life, and cast about with themselues, for the compassing of their diuelish plot,Math. 2.3. Math. 2. a suddaine and vnexpected alteration amongst the Courtiers: No sooner is he entred into Ierusalem, but the whole City is straight in an vprore about him, saying,Mat. 21.10. Who is this? as suddaine and vn­expected an alteratiō amongst the Citi­zens; no sooner is he come into the heart of Mary Magdalen, Luke 8.2. but presently she is quit of seuen deuils at once, as strange an alteration as any of the former: No sooner is he come into Saul, Acts 9.4. who brea­thed out threatnings & slaughters against the Disciples, but of a violēt persecutor, hee is become as vehement a Preacher, the greatest alteration amongst the rest; no sooner here vpon the Sea, which be­fore was calme and quiet, but suddainly a storme and gust of wind; And there came down a storme of wind vpon the Lake, &c. A storme of wind vpon the Sea, and in the presence of the Lord to? Why, how euery place is subiect vnto danger, there is no security any where left for [Page 55] man, no not the presence and company of the Almighty: Nusquam est securitas, neque in coelo, neque in Paradiso, multo mi­nus in hoc mundo, There is no place left for security (saith S. Ber.) neither heauen aboue, nor blisseful Paradice, much lesse this troublesome and tempestuous Sea of this present world wherein we liue: Lucifer one of the greatest Angels fell in heauen, in the presence of the Diuinity; Adam in Paradice, a place of pleasure; Iudas in the world in the schoole of our Sauiour; let no man then presume, for that is a rock that will dash vs into pee­ces; neither yet againe let any man des­paire, for that is a whirle-pit, that will swallow vs vp quicke, both are high waies to eternal perdition both of body and of soule. We must not despaire, for therfore God tooke vpon him our own nature; we must not presume, for there­fore is that Man Iesus Christ, become God to punish our offences: wee must not despaire, For as I liue, Eze. 18.32. Rom 6.23. 1. Tim. 1.15 I will not the death of a sinner: we must not presume, for the wages of sinne is death, saith S. Paul; we must not despaire, for Christ came into [Page 56] the world is saue sinners: We must not presume, for he came not to cal the righte­ous but sinners to repētāce; we must not de­spaire,Eze. 18.21 for at what time soeuer a sinner doth repent him of his sinnes from the bottome of his hart, I wil blot out his iniquity out of my remembrance, saith the Lord: Wee must not presume, for what art thou ô man, that boasts thy selfe against thy Maker? And what hast thou that thou hast not re­ceiued? 1. Cor. 4.7. we must not despaire, for where sin aboundeth, Rom. 5.20 there grace aboundeth much more: We must not presume, for shall we sin that grace may abound? God forbid: but as neere as wee can, keepe an euen path, betweene despaire of Gods mer­cies,Mat. 23.12 & the pride of our own merits; For hee that exalteth himselfe shall bee brought low, and he that humbleth himselfe shall bee exalted. Let vs striue then with the Apo­stle to make our calling & election sure, for he that doth these things shall neuer fall, but let vs stil withall, worke as the same Apostle doth aduise vs; Cum timore & tremore, 2. Cor. 7.15 with feare and trembling; and as often as desperation shall offer for to feare any of vs, let vs in the feare [Page 57] of God, with holy Bernard, Recolligera summum Dei misericordiam, call into our remembrances, and apprehend it with­all, the infinite mercies of Almighty God, such as hee hath in store, for all those that call vpon his name; and when presumption againe shall bee at our el­bowes, ready for to puffe vs vp, let vs also with the same S. Bernard, Recollige­re i [...]stitiā, domini exercituum, think vpon his iustice, who spared not his highest Angels.

There came downe a storme of wind vpon the lake. &c. The world is the lake, vpon which the Apostles, and all we that doe now liue, do euery houre float; afflicti­ons & troubles they are the stormes that are sent downe vpon vs, to the tryall of our faith, and the perfecting of our obe­dience, & at the first they are bitter vn­to vs, and we our selues are faint-hear­ted in them: when the least storme of affliction doth but approach vs, then suddenly, with the children of the Pro­phets, in 2. King. 4. wee cry vnto the man of God, O vir dei mors in olla, 2. King. 4.40. we are vndone, for there is nothing but death & [Page 58] despaire before our eyes, but our deliue­rance againe from our troubles, that is like the Prophets meale, in the same place to sweeten the pot againe, and to restore our selues vnto our selues.

And if he be faint-hearted in his trou­bles, he need not much for to wonder at it neither, for he knowes wel, both what he is, and whereof hee was made: our Sauiour in the second of Canticles likens him vnto a Lilly,Cant. 2.2. a tender flower; As the Lilly amongst the thornes, so is my loue amongst the daughters: the Lilly, sayes S. Bernard, nec vel le [...]issimam, spinae, sustinet punctionem, floris teneritudo, sed mox vt modice premitur, perforatur, it will not endure the least touch of a thorne, but so soone as it is prickt, so soone it is run through withall: so is it with man, the least affliction is ready to make him to sinke vnder the burden of it.

And yet very necessary it is for him, that some persecution hee should en­dure, that so hee may bee knowne vnto whom he doth belong: Non dedignan­dum in seruo, quod praecessit in domino, saith S. Augustine: let not the seruant, sayes [Page 59] he, thinke scorne to suffer that which he sees his maister hath suffered before his face: for the seruant is not greater then his maister, if the head were crowned with a crowne of thornes for the safe­guard of the body, why then let not the foot thinke much to catch a thorne in defence of the head againe, it is his duty for to hazard all.

And necessary also it is for him, to be kept vnder in a second regard: for man, as Clem. Alex. speakes, is like vnto a vine: now a vine, as he there speakes, and we all know, [...], vnlesse it bee pruned, it will straight way grow wilde; so man, if he haue not some affliction layd vpon him, to keepe him vnder, he will forget him­selfe, and be ready to spurne against his maker, which makes S. Augustine so vio­lently to cry out, Hic vre domine, hic se­ca, punish me here O Lord in this life, and so in the life to come I shall be sure thou wilt forgiue me.

Be it then a losse of our goods which we suffer here, why sayes Saint Ambrose, Deus nos dispensatores, reliquit, non hare­des: [Page 60] God, sayes he, he makes vs his ste­wards here, not his heires, hee may call for an account particularly of euery one of vs, whensoeuer it pleaseth him, either now at this instant, or else at any other time when it shall seeme better vnto his maiesty; and God grant that we may all be ready to giue vp a iust and a true account vnto him.

This same dropsie and thirst after ri­ches which the world hath gottē, is not naturall, but a corruption of our nature, Nescit natura diuites, quae omnes, ex aequo pauperes generat, sayes S. Ambrose: Na­ture sayes he, doth acknowledge no rich man, who of equal condition hath made all poore: for naturally, one is prouided of no more, then is another, but all of vs as we came into the world, so we shal go againe, and how we came and must goe, holy Iob doth declare, Iob. 1.21. Naked came we out of our mothers wombe, Iob. 1.21. and naked must we return againe, the Lord giueth, and the Lord taketh away, and blessed for all bee the Name of the Lord.

Man, for a time, may haue the vse [Page 61] of Gods good creatures heere, some more, some lesse, as it pleaseth him; but none, not the least of them, shall he be a­ble to carry away with him, when hee shal depart this present life. It is re-ported of the mighty Saradine, the Prince and gouernor of eleuen Nations, that when he felt death begin to approach, he commanded his winding sheete to be spread in his Campe, with this Pro­clamation, Heere is all, of all the riches, that great Saradine shall carry away with him: And yet, if he had cast his cards right, he should haue found he should not haue had that: for that should carry him away, not hee that, and therefore in vaine was that Proclama­tion.

But yet in this affliction of goods, it is not the vsuall wont of Almighty God, when he calles men to account, to bereaue them of all that they haue, and leaue them iust nothing, and so depart from them: hee will leaue them his grace at the least, to ap­pease & quiet their soules within them; but yet he will restore them temporall [Page 62] goods to, when he shall see good, as we may read in the story of Iob, hee tooke much from that holy man, hundreds of Oxen,Iob. 1.3. thousands of Camels, Iob. 1. but yet hee tooke not so much from him though, but that he returned him twice as much againe,Iob. 42.10. Iob. 42. Whereupon sayth Saint Origen, Ʋide quid est amittere aliquid pro Deo, hoc est, multiplicata reci­pere tibi. See, saies hee, what it is to loose any thing for the Lords sake: it is to re­ceiue it augmented, and multiplyed a­gaine into our bosomes: and we know all, what our Sauiours promise in this kinde is, in the tenth of Marke, There is none, sayes hee, that hath left house, or brethren, Mark. 10.30. or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife or children, or lands, for my name sake, and the Gospels, but he shall receiue an hun­dred fold now in this time, houses, and bre­thren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands: I but how shall he receiue all this, the next words following shall make all plaine, cum persecutione, with persecution and trouble he shall receiue them all, to teach him not to set his minde too much vpon them, but to ex­pect [Page 63] his reward indeed in a better life, the iife come.

Be it againe a sicknesse of the body, or a griefe & sorrow of the mind, which we do sustaine, Certamen est non faenitia, sayes Seneca the Phylosopher, it is but a tryall of our patience, no outragious ty­ranny; and the more we shall be exerci­sed in this kinde, the more able we shall be to endure the misery of it, and with­all it is an argument of his loue, and kindnesse vnto vs, so the Apostle telles vs, Heb. 12.Heb. 12.7. Whom the Lord loueth he cha­stiseth, saith he, and scourgeth euery sonne that hee receiueth: wee are not without fault, we know, that we should deserue no correction, and he againe when hee striketh vs, he doth it not out of any ha­tred vnto vs: for as S. Cyprian speakes, hee doth it for no other end & purpose, but onely to amend vs, and what is his intent in amending vs, but eternally to saue vs? & then what great hurt is there in whatsoeuer he doth vnto vs?

Should hee intend our destruction, why he might, if it pleased him, once for all, take revenge vpon vs for all our of­fences, [Page 64] with the breath of his nostrilles he might consume vs quite (for what are we but Crickets and Grasse-hoppers in comparison of him?) and so might quickly confound all the strength wee haue: but God hee delighteth more in mercy, to bee pittifull, then in iustice to take revenge vpon mankinde, Miseri­cordia, supra omnia opera mannum ipsius, his mercy is ouer all his workes, and God in his fury does not forget his mer­cy, but in it remembers to be pittifull, e­uen vnto his enemies.

He meant to plague the Egyptians, when hee shewed his power so strange amongst them, yet the very choyce of his weapons did shew his loue & kind­nesse vnto them, he might haue brought vpon them, an Army of Beares, Wolues, Tygers, or Lyons, Beasts that know no mercy, but liue altogether vpon the spoyle; but hee refused them all, and a more milde reuenge he would make to serue his turne, a poore Caterpiller, and a weake Grasse-hopper, shall bee the scourge of his mighty power.

And if hee then deale so kindly with [Page 65] his enemies, yea, euen with those, where yet he purposes to get himselfe a name, as hee himselfe professes vnto Moses: Exod. 14. then surely,Exod. 14.4 hee will be much more kinde and mercifull vnto his owne children, such as he professes himselfe to haue a care ouer. A milde rod indeed shall serue his turne amongst them, the rod of the roote of Iesse, Num. 17.10. which flowred amōgst the other rods: that so the sweet­nes of the flowre might mitigate the se­ueritie and sharpnesse of the rod; a ling­ring ague, or a pining consumption shall bring vs home gently vnto our father.

Be it persecution vnto death, why vnto Salomons throne, there is purpureus ascensus, Cant. 3. there is a purple ascent,Cant. 3.10 and all is still vnto the beauty and per­fection of the Church. The perfectest beauty, wee all know, it is the perfectest mixture of red and white; in the former part, the sicknesse of the body, there was whitenesse, as the lilley; and heere in martyrdome, there is rednesse, as the rose: the Church it has both her lillies, and her roses to adorne her beautie.

Martyrdome, it is termed by the aun­cient [Page 66] Fathers, a fire, which God suffers to be kindled heere vpon the earth, to the tryall of man, and so S. Aug. cals it: where speaking of Martyrdome, hee sayes, Inventus est ignis, qui vnum di­tet, alterum damnificet, ambos probet: be­hold, saies he, heere is a fire found out, which shall inrich the one, and damnifie the other, but yet proue both: the god­ly and the righteous it shal inrich, with eternall happinesse, but the wicked and the reprobate, it shall consume to dust and ashes; it shall try both throughly, what mettall they be made of. But in the tryall, this shall be the comfort of the godly man, that he shall not be left desolate in this furious flame: visitat deus & in carcere suos, & ibi plus est auxilij, vbi semper plui est periculi, saith S. Amb. God he will not forsake, but come to visit his, when they lie in the dungeon, as he did his seruant Ioseph, and still, where there is most daunger, there still hee will bee sure to affoord most ayde and comfort: and the reason of it we neede not much wonder at,Mat. 25.43 when as in the 25. of Math. he does professe it himselfe, that he him­selfe [Page 67] it is, that is so handled in his mem­bers: in carcere eram & visitastis me, I was in prison, saies he, and ye came vnto me: if then he wil be with them in their tor­ments in prison, then surely at the stake he will not be absent, but there hee will assist with all meanes needefull: I, there hee has beene knowne to haue beene present indeede, with many of our land, and many yet at this day are left aliue, which can testifie, the sweetnesse that the Martyrs felt, in the midest of these flames, how ioyfully they imbraced that death of theirs.

And no maruaile neither, though they died with vndaunted courage, when the sence of pain was taken quite from them, Nil crus sentit in neruo, cum manus est in coelo, sayes Tertull. the si­newes, saith he, of the hand can feele but little paine, I trowe, in the flame, when the whole hand, before, is in the bosome of the Lord: then so many woundes, they are but so many open mouthes, to caroll out the praises of a mercifull God: and so much for this se­cond Accident, there came downe a storme [Page 68] of winde vpon the lake, &c.

The 3^d. and last Accident followes, and they were filled with water and were in ieo­pardy. Hitherto we haue heard, as our Sa­uiour Christ speakes himselfe, in the 13. of Mar. a rumor of warre,Mar. 13.7. but thankes be to God, wee haue felt no warre: wee haue heard a noise of the winde, but now wee are come to the trouble of the water. The Apostles heere, they were not, as sometimes their forefathers were,Exod. 14. in the 14. of Exod. in the red sea, but now they are come in marimortuo, they are ouerwhelmed in the dead sea: their liues are called in question. They were filled with water, saies the text, and they were in ieopardie.

To be in a storme, and gust of winde, there is no great matter of moment in that: many a poore soule amongst vs, has indured many of them, and done well after them all too; and many dayly, wee heare, doe indure their rigour: but when their ship is foundred with water vnder them, when life and soule are rea­dy to shake hands, and depart this pre­sent world, then it is high time, to cry [Page 69] out for helpe vnto the Lord: Serua nos domine, perimus: help master or else wee all perish. They were heere in a great ex­tremity, they were filled with water and they were in ieopardy.

Saint Peter, in the 12. of the Acts, Acts 12.4. he heard a loud storme, and a terrible blu­stering winde, when in prison hee was clapt vp by Herod, at the request of the Iewes, & his life was threatned too: but Saint Stephen in the 7. of the Acts, Acts 7 58. hee was in the showre, when such a showre of stones were rained vpon him, that euen in the first moment he gaue vp the ghost. The noyse then heere of the wa­ter, it is the tumult of the people: for (beloued) there is a great affinitie be­tweene these two, the water, and the people: and to shew how neere the one comes vnto the other, the Psalmist, Psal. 65.7. in the Psal. 65. in one verse there, he ioynes them both together, which stillest, saies he, the raging of the sea, and the noise of his waues, and the madnesse of the people. Their tumult, it is so great, as that hee can liken them, to nothing else but to the sea, in his rage, which beares downe [Page 70] all that does withstand it.

Acts 14.5. Paul and Barnabas, they were in a tempest, in the 14. of the Actes, when they were so despightfully vsed by the Iewes at Iconium, as that they looked e­uery minute to haue their liues taken a­way from them: but Saint Iames, he was wet with the showre, when his head was taken off by Herod, and his body wallowed in his owne bloody gore, Acts 12.Acts 12.2.

The Deuill he is the author of these gustes and stormes, for he sends them downe from his ayrie mansion, where he rules and domineeres,Ephes. 2 2 Ephes. 2. and by his boistrous blasts still seekes to crosse the proceedings of the Lord: wee may euen see it in Christ our Sauiour, how he seekes to thwart and hinder his courses. Has God, sayes he, anoynted him with the oyle of gladnes aboue his fellowes? I will see if I can anoint him again with the oyle of sadnesse aboue his fellowes; has hee beene baptised with water and the holy Ghost? I will prouide for him another baptisme, namely of fire; has God sent downe the holy ghost, in like­nesse [Page 71] of a Doue, and caused it to light vpon his head? then I will cause tribu­lation, and a crown of thorns, to crown his temples as wel as it; has there a voice come from heauen, saying, this is my be­loued sonne in whom I am wel pleased? then I likewise will prouide a voice for him, from the foote of the ladder, which shall say, if thou be the sonne of God, come downe from the crosse, and saue thy selfe. Thus still he is contrary vnto God, in his courses, & raises his stormes to the hinderance of the Gospell: and if he haue done thus in Christ our Saui­our, then what may wee expect, which be his members? surely the vtmost of perils that his wit can inuent.

Yet this may be our comfort, in our troubles, that howsoeuer our afflictions be, yet the Deuill has not the rod, in his owne hands: but the holy ghost, to or­der and direct them still, as may best serue both for his glory, and our good. And as for the Deuill, he has bound him fast, so that would he neuer so faine, hee can stirre but to the length of the chaine he is linked in.

[Page 72]Yet if our danger be such, as that hee seekes to stop our breathes, and sinke vs right downe with the multitude of his waues, then let this teach vs this lesson with the Apostles here in this place, to stick close vnto our Sauiour, & not for­sake him, the rock of our defence: & then we shall not neede to feare, though the windes blow, & the seas beate, and the waues rage, yet we shal be secure, and at the last arriue where we all hope for to come one day at our wished-for hauē in heauen; which God grant. And so much for this 3^d accident, and this 2^d verse.

The 3^d verse follows, in which is con­tained the miracle in the iourney, his cal­ming of the wind, and appeasing of the waters, the which of it selfe, without any other help, wil win our attentions to the hearing of it: for no man is so serious, but that he will be at leasure for the acting of a miracle, how euer busied in other af­faires. In which there are 2 points to be considered of vs; the feare of the Apo­stles, the power and authority of our Sa­uiour: the feare of the Apostles, then they came to him, and awaked him, saying, Mai­ster, [Page 73] maister, we perish: Of that first.

Man, he is not a meere block, or stone, without sence or apprehension, so that hee cannot be moued, either with his passion, or with his affection, (for that conceit of the Stoickes was hissed out of the schools many a day since) he hath them both truely and naturally within himselfe: he hath, I say, both his affecti­ons, and his passions, ingrafted into his nature, and euery one of them, they haue their seuerall voyces, per quas etiam cum nolunt, se produnt, saith Saint Ber. through which either willingly, or ma­ny times against their wils, they betray themselues to the standers by. Ioy, it hath a cheerefull voyce; griefe, it hath a doleful voyce; & feare, it hath a timerous voyce; which passion of feare is none of the least, but does possesse man as much as any other, & makes him to vtter such an vncoth noise, as is heard here amōgst the Disciples, Maister, Maister, we perish. The inward feare wherewith the Apo­stles were possessed in this place, was that which made them make this lamen­table cry vnto our Sauiour for helpe [Page 74] and protection in their greatest extre­mity.

They came vnto him quia timuerunt, saies Saint Aug. because they were a­fraid; and great reason had they, (if we shall consider it well) to feare indeede: a loude storme of winde, whistling ouer their heads aboue, a raging and growne sea beneath vnder feete, nothing but death before their eies: and death will make the stoutest courage for to quaile.

Death, saies Aristotle, it is [...], the most terrible of all things, that seeme terrible vnto vs: it will make vs set our throates vpon the taynter-hookes, and lift vp our voices like trumpets, and therefore, well said the Diuell in the second of Iob, Iob 2.4. pellempro pelle, skin, for skin, saies he, and all that euer a man has will he giue for his life, so that he may enioy that, if it be but e­uen for a moment longer; and therefore they had great reason to be affraide, when both the elements, the ayre and water, the winde and seas, had conspi­red against them.

[Page 75]They had reason to feare, as all men haue: they knew what they were, or if they were to learne, Saint Gregory could instruct them that they are fragili corpo­re, mente sterili, of a weake and fraile bo­dy, of a barren & foolish vnderstanding: & both these the Scriptures teach them, for the first homo vanitati similis factus est, Psal. 144.4 saies the Psalmist, Psal. 144. man is like a thing of nought, there is for the peruers­nesse and barrennesse of his soule; and for the second, inhabitat domos luteas, Iob. 4.19. saies that holy man Iob. in the fourth of that booke, he dwels in a house of clay, there is for the weakenesse, and frailetie of his body also: so that he may iustly feare, in regard of either.

And yet besides both these, there is a worse matter too, hee is not of himselfe; for he is, as Saint Amb. speakes, ciuitas ob­sessa, a besieged City; besieged, and that by diuers enemies; besieged by himselfe; besieged by the world; besieged by the Diuell, the common aduersary vnto mankinde. Besieged by himselfe, hee is not at peace within himselfe, but his owne flesh it is a continuall aduersary [Page 76] against him, Gestamus laqueum nostrum, saith Saint Bernard, inimicum, carnem, we carry about vs, saith he, our owne flesh, a sworne enemy vnto vs all, borne of sin, nourished in iniquity, corrupted in our first beginning, but much more depraued by our wicked and vngodly custome of sinning here. A great perill, and a dangerous combatto fight against a home-bred enemy, especially if we shall consider, that we our selues, we are but strangers here, and that It is in his natiue Country, and therefore hath ma­ny aduantages which we cannot get.

And that which is worst of all, this dangerous enemy we must not destroy neither, so S. Amb, tels vs, Hunc inimi­cum sustentare cogimur, non perimere: we are, saith he, bound to maintaine, forbid­den for to kill▪ our soules & bodies they are married together by God himselfe, and those that God hath ioyned toge­ther, let no man be so bold as once to dare to separate asunder; Cogimur dilige­re vt sponsus sponsam, Adam Euam, saith S. Ber. we must be so far from hating of our flesh, as that we are commanded for [Page 77] to cherish it and loue it entirely, to loue it as the husband ought to loue his wife, Adam his Eue. Hinc illae lachrymae, hence growes that fearefull danger, a life of danger, a world of danger, it is like the remnant of the Iebusites, in the Citie of Ierusalem, 2. Sam. 5. we may employ it in labour but we must not slay it,2. Sam. 5. and the more we shall employ it, the lesse dangerous or hurtfull it will proue vnto vs: but yet it is fearefull though, to haue so treacherous a companion about vs, an enemy that shall continually sleepe in our bosomes. The company of such an one, for the most part, is conta­gious.

He is besieged againe by the world, a subtle enemy, and one that makes a shew of a faithfull friend, such an one as cunning Iael was vnto fearefull Sisera, in the fourth of Iudges, Iudg. 4.18. who perceiuing of him flying, cries from her Tent dore, turne in my Lord, turne in to mee and feare not: and when she hath him with­in, she begins to make much of him, she giues him milke to lull him asleepe, and she couers him that he take no cold, [Page 78] but no sooner is hee fast, but that shee puts her hand vnto the nayle, and her right hand to the work-mans hammer, so the world it beginnes with milke, but it endes with a hammer, they all shall finde it that list to proue it.

The best way that I know to be rid of this enemy, is not to haue at all to doe with it, to sequester our selues, as much as wee can, from the affaires of this world, and to place our hearts there, where one day wee may safely inioy them againe: let our soules like Eagles mount aloft, flie aboue the Cloudes, and seate themselues in the highest hea­uens, and there we are sure they shall be most safe. To meddle with this worldly mucke, it is but to insnare our selues with foolish vanities: The bird that of­ten stoupes in her flight, at one time or other she is intrapped, before shee bee aware of it; either she is caught with a lime-twig, by the wing at vnawares, or else she is fast by the feete in the net, or one way or other, shee is betrayed to her ouerthrow; so the soule that lookes downeward vpon euery baite, at the [Page 79] length it is insnared, before it is aware, and subiected vnto the vanities of this world. The best way therefore to rid vs of it, is not to haue to do with it, but keepe our selues aloft, whither it cannot ascend: Sursum cor, qui sursum habes ca­put, saith Saint Aug. As our eies were frame at the first to looke vp into hea­uen, so let our heartes learne to seate themselues there, and then we shall be sure to be quite of this enemy.

Hee is a third way besieged by the deuill, a sworne enemy vnto all Man­kind, and hee is the most dangerous of all other enemies. For where as all o­ther enemies haue but one onely way to intrap vs in, viz. craft and subtlety, this aduersary hee hath many, he is both Callidus and Potens, both a subtle and a slie insinuator of himselfe in into vs, and withall hee is a mighty and a potent aduersary against vs.

For the first, his craft and subtlety, it is Greg. Naz. his note of him, that he is [...], an admirable Counsel­lour, deepe and pollitique in his deui­ses, and euery course that he shall per­swade [Page 80] vs to, it shall seeme like vnto Achitophels counsell,2. Sam. 16.23. 2. Sam. 16. as if a man had enquited at the Oracle of God: and to further his deuises that they may not seeme to be without successe, he will, as in ancient time vnto King Saul, appeare vnto vs vnder Samuels Mantell,1. Sam. 28.14. that we shall not thinke it to be he, but rather God himselfe that speakes vnto vs.

But we must learne to beware of his close treacheries: and that we may be the more sure of him, and not lull our selues asleepe in carelesse security, but be as vigilant to preuent, as he is dili­gent to ouerthrow: Naz. tels vs in ano­ther place, that we must be sure to keep a priuy watch about vs continually, for that he is, [...], a night-thiefe, as well as [...], a noone-day deuill, and will come craftily stealing on vpon vs, before we be aware of him; nay, when as we are most secure, then is he most busily casting about, and plot­ting against vs: so that day and night, both in our labour, and in our quiet, wee must be sure to haue a vigilant eye [Page 81] to him wards.

And for the second, his Might and Power, it is very great: wee must fight, saith Saint Paul, Ephes. 2.Eph. 2.12. aduersus prin­cipatus & potestates, against Principali­ties and Powers; nay, against the Prince and God of this world:Ioh. 12.31. for so Saint Iohn stiles him in his 12 Chapter and 31 verse, where he saith, Now is the Prince of this world cast out: hee hath whole Nations his attendants and followers, as we may see, Iob. 1.Iob. 1.17. the Sabaeans and Chaldaeans, and to speake truth, what na­tion is there vpon the earth, wherein his power and might is not acknowledged? So that wee may safely say, that which the Iewes in the 12.Ioh. 12.19. of S. Iohns Gospell sayd of our Sauiour, Ecce totus mundus, behold the world indeed doth nothing else but runne after him: so that worthi­ly he may be feared, for his puissant Ar­my, besides his owne inuincible cou­rage,Psal. 22.14 which the Psalmist in the 22 Psalm. likens vnto a ramping and roaring Ly­on, terrible and fearefull, for the assault it selfe.

So that there must be great heed and [Page 82] diligence vsed against this enemy in­deed, hee being in the first, as Nazian. teacheth, [...] a crafty Sophi­ster, and teacheth men what himselfe neuer learned. And in the second, saith S. Basil, he is [...], an ouer po­werfull aduersary: in both kindes feare­full, in the one for his slights, in the o­ther for his force.

And as hee is both thus subtile and strong, so is hee also of a working tem­per; his nature it is proportionable vn­to his name. Beelzebub, Muscarum De­us, is his name in Scripture, the God of Flies; who, though you flap him away neuer so often, yet hee will flye to the same place againe: he will neuer leaue vs so long as we be here, if his storme will not quell vs, yet hee will try what the raging of the water may effect vp­on vs: he is restlesse in his plots, and if one temptation will not hurt vs, yet a­nother shall be sure to assaile vs;Esa. 42.3. and the quenching of the smoaking Flaxe, and the breaking of the bruised Reed, is still the marke that he leuels at, Esa. 42. Si auaritia prostrata est exurgit libido, [Page 83] saith S. Bernard, if greedy couetousnesse will not seize vs, yet hee will try what itching lust may effect vpon vs: is lust repelled? yet ambition may chance to strike a great stroake with vs: is ambi­tion quenched? yet anger (perhaps) may put vs out of our Bias: is wrath appea­sed? yet enuy shall trouble vs: is enuy forgotten? yet iealousie shall affright vs. And thus restlesse, hee followes vs with all his inventions, so that no mar­uaile, if the Disciples were so fearefull, when such traytors were within them, such enemies without them, such weak­nesse on all sides, for to hold out long; such stormes of winde aboue, such ra­ging seas beneath, that then they came vnto him.

They came vnto him, euen at the last gaspe, when the windes blew, and the seas beate, when their ship was ready to founder vnder them, and they as ready to take their oathes all, to bee deaths true seruants, then they came vnto him, saith my Text.

The Heathen, they were somewhat strange in their resolutions, and when [Page 84] hope seemed desperate, then scorned they any longer to hope for it; and it was one of their chiefe wishes, and a great ease (as rhey thought) vnto their miseries, to bee swallowed vp quicke, and deuoured of death, as the Apostles here were like to be: from which kinde of death we do in our Lyturgie, earnest­ly pray to bee deliuered; that as God would deliuer vs all from vnpre­pared death, so hee would deliuer vs likewise from sudden and vnexpected death, because that commonly sudden death, and vnprepared death, they goe both together: we cannot liue so wari­ly here, not the best of vs all, but if God should take vs vpon the present, wee might haue many things obiected a­gainst vs, which we would bee all wil­ling should be concealed in that great and generall day of Iudgement. God grant vs all time of repentance here, & hee grant vs also, that wee doe not mis­spend that time that he giues vs, but in it heartily repent vs of our sins, that so in the last and finall day of iudgement, we may all haue that blessing pronoun­ced [Page 85] vpon vs, that the Prophet Dauid pronounceth vpon all the righteous, Psal. 32. Beatiquorum remissae sunt ini­quitates, Psal. 32.1. blessed is the man whose vn­righteousnesse is forgiuen, and whose sin is couered. Then blessed shall they be vnto whom the Lord will impute no sin. And as for those who, thinke they liue so warily, as that they are alwayes prepared for death, let them stand vpon their owne innocency, and haue no part in this prayer of ours.

The heathen (I say) they thought it a happinesse to haue a sudden death to light vpon them: and so Plinie in his seuenth Booke, and 53. Cpapter wi­sheth, that that might bee his lot; and the Poet is not farre behinde him when he saith:

He dies easier (saith he) who at the first dop doth lose his life, then hee that in swimming doth struggle to drawe breath. But wee that are Chri­stians. wee must resolue our selues [Page 86] on the contrary opinion, their igno­rance it was that caused them to wish for it: but we, we know besides the manner of death, we know (I say) of a great account, which euery one of vs is to make, when this life shall be ended; a matter that the Heathen scarce euer dreamed of, where wee must make an­swere, not onely for those sinnes of old age, which the Prophet in the 38 of E­say, Esa. 38.15. calles annos, sinnes of yeares, sinnes of great standing; but as the Psalmist speakes in the 25 Psal. Delicta inventu­tis, Psal. 25 7. sins of wanton and recklesse youth; and not onely those neither, but in the 19 Psalme, Psal. 19.12 for secret sins, that is (saith S. Augustine in his Confessions) for the sinnes we haue committed in our no­nage, before we knew either good or e­uill: that we may haue the fewer indite­ments preferred against vs, in that great and generall day of iudgement: there­fore wee desire respite for repentance here in this world, which God grant vs all. Amen.

They came vnto him: but how? Non passibus, sed precibus, saith S. Augustine, [Page 87] not so much by their earthly paces, (though we must conceiue, that euen in those they hasted vnto him) as by their winged prayers they poasted towards him, they praied vnto him: for had they not humbly supplicated, as well as run vnto him, they might all very well haue perished in the furious tempest.

To pray, it is naturall for Man: and so much Aristotle, by the purblinde eye of nature could see; Natura, sairh he, inseruit homini vt sacrificet, Man by nature, saith hee, is made a continuall Beades-man vnto his maker, alwayes to haue recourse vnto him; and this pro­pertie of nature, grace hath confirmed from time to time in the righteous man, to haue recourse vnto his Maker: so Dauid in his distresse, in the 68 Psalme, Psal. 68.16 when he is in-girt, and compassed in a­bout with his many enemies, he turnes himselfe vnto the Lord, Exaudi me Do­miue, heare me, O Lord, saith hee, for thy louing kindnesse is good, turne vn­to me, according vnto the multitude of thy tender mercies, and hide not thy face from thy seruant: for I am in trou­ble: [Page 88] heare me speedily, and draw nye vnto my soule, and redeeme it, deliuer me because of mine enemies, &c. So good Iehosophat in 2.2. Chron. 20.13. Chron. 20. he saith, cum ignoremus quid agere debeamus, when we know not, O Lord, saith he, what to doe, then our eyes they are vpon thee. And so S. Peter wishes that they al­wayes should be, 1. Pet. 5. Cast all your care vpon him, for hee careth for you: and if at any time they should haue re­course vnto God, then most especially in their troubles and aduersities: when mens soules are brought low vnto hell, then they should call vpon his name heartily indeed, and then aboue other times, hee expects to bee called vpon, Psal. 50.Psa. 50.15. Call vpon mee, saith God, in the day of trouble, and I will deliuer thee, and thou shalt glorifie me: where­upon Saint Augustine notes, that it is Gods Memorandum vnto men to call vpon him, Ʋoce te, saith hee, vt inuoces me: behold, O man, saith hee, I put thee in minde of it, if thou haue forgotten, that then aboue all other times, thou haue recourse vnto me. [Page 89] Nay many times Almighty God doth lay afflictions and troubles here vpon men, that they might bethinke them­selues of their Prayers, and flye vnto him in their sore distresse. We may easi­ly see the course of it: By aduersitie God brings men first into a doubt and feare, and then by feare into an acknow­ledgement of their owne necessitie and weaknesse; and so consequently into a despaire of succour in them­selues, and by despairing in their owne meanes, to thinke of meanes that may bee profitable vnto them, and so at the last, to the consideration of Gods vnspeakeable loue and kindnesse to them-wards.

And out of this againe, considering that his mercie is great, and his good­nesse from euerlasting, hee raiseth vs vp againe to an assured trust and con­fidence in his mercies, and out of this confidence, wee are bold to make our Prayers and Petitions vnto our Fa­ther. And therfore if either voluptuous­nesse, or anger, or pride, or any other sin shall be ready to attempt vs, our re­fuge [Page 90] onely must bee to pray against them with Dauid in the 44 Psalme, Psal. 44.23 Ex­urge Domine, awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord, arise, and cast vs not off for e­uer; wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our trouble? And in our prayers I make no question, but we shall finde comfort, if not deliuerance speedily. If then any perish, it is as God himselfe speakes in the 13 of Ose. Perditio tua ex te ô Israel, Ose. 13.14 his destruction it is from himselfe, be­cause hee hath neglected his dutie vnto the Lord, in calling vpon him to be mer­cifull vnto him.

They came vnto him, and good reason too: for if we would any thing with the Lord, it is all the reason that may be, that we come vnto him, we haue need of him, not he of vs; then we must call, nay we must cry vnto the Lord:Psalm. 3.4. Clamaui ad Dominum, saith the Prophet Dauid. I cri­ed vnto the Lord with my whole voyce, and he heard me out of his holy Hill: we must come and pray vnto him, Then they came vnto him. &c. What the Apostles here did in their persons, that wee must [Page 91] do if we want any thing, in our owne; nay, whether we want any thing, or no, it is our duty for to do it; and the pray­ers of the righteous, they are of no small force or efficacie with God, to obtaine a blessing from him; euery one of them is as a forcible Engine to open Heauen gates, and to draw downe a blessing vp­on the head of him that sent it vp. So S. Bernard telles vs out of that place of the Gospell. Luk. 18. concerning the poore Publican. Dum non auderet oculos ad Coe­los eleuare, Luk. 18.10. ipsum Coelum potuit ad se incli­nare, saith hee: Whilst the Publican durst not lift vp his eyes in his prayers, vnto heauen, such was the force of his prayers with God aboue, as that hee bowed the heauens, and made them des­cend downe vnto his prayers. But yet by the way it were not amisse for to aske the question, What prayers are these, that are of such power & efficacie with the Lord? it is not euery one that is for­ged in his name,Math. 7.21 so our Sauiour Christ himselfe telles vs, Math. 7. Non omnis qui dicit, Domine, Domine, not euery one that saith vnto me, Lord, Lord, shall en­ter [Page 92] into the Kingdome of heauen, much lesse euery time that he saith it, shall haue his request. But before our pray­ers we must prepare our selues to pray by serious meditation, Meditatio do­cet quid desit, oratio ne desit obtinet, saith Saint Bernard: by meditation we learne to know what is wanting vnto vs, and by prayer we obtaine that it shall not be wanting. That shewes which is the right way that we must walke, this tea­cheth vs how to walke when we haue found the path. By meditation wee know the dangers and the perils that hang ouer our heads, and by prayer we auoyd them all, and escape away scot-free.

And yet before we can come to me­ditate aright, our heart it must be fra­med aright for it, and that must bee by an earnest and hearty repentance for our sinnes, which is Magna spongia, as Saint Augustine calles it, the great Spunge that wipes them all away out of the fight of the Lord. And herein lies an especiall duty of the Priest, if he shall be required thereunto, to know [Page 93] how dangerous the sinne is that a man is tainted withall; not to flatter his pa­tient in his sinne, but to let him know the true weight and danger of it, that so he may throughly repent him of his sin, and learne to returne to God againe. For as S. Cyprian speakes, Imperitus est medicus, &c. he is an vnskilfull Physiti­on, saith hee, and a worse Surgeon a great deale, who seeing of a putrified sore will handle it gently, and suffer the corruption to remaine in it still; and so by his foolish pitie ouerthrowes his patient, whilst he is afraid to apply ei­ther his cauteries, or his searing medi­cines. Aperiendum est vulnus & secandum, saith he, the wound must be searched & launced, and the bottome of it felt: let the patient in the meane time rage and rosre; yet when hee is recouered, hee will giue him thankes for his cruell loue.

Those that sow pillowes vnder mens elbowes, and take away repen­tance for their sins, make men beleeue their sinnes are but motes; when the weight is so great, that God himselfe is [Page 94] forced to groane vnder the burthen of them, Amos 2. they doe as much as in them lies, shut vp the gate of all true repentance: so that whilst with the false Prophets, they cry, Pax, pax, & non est pax, peace, peace, when there is nothing lesse then peace to be expected: whilst they promise a false peace vnto the sin­ner, the hope of eternall peace is vtterly lost from them.

But in this case there are many vn­skilfull, euen of the great ones amongst vs, who know not what to answere to a distressed wight, that shall craue their aduise and helpe: but the fault, for the most part, it lies in themselues. Nemo nos interrogat, so few there are that craue the aduice of their Teacher, as that the case of Conscience lies quite neglected: some one or two (perhaps) when they lye in a cold sweate, they send for a Preacher, and then hee must giue them a little Opiate Diuinitie, that may skinne, but not heale or helpe the fore a whit.

Let vs repent our selues whilst wee are lusty and strong, and then wee shall [Page 95] feeele the fruite of it when we lye sicke and weake vpon our beddes. And for this same late repentance, is S. Augu­stines note, Poenitentiaquae à moriente tan­tum petitur, timeo ne ipsa moriatur: he is afraid it will bee dead as soone, if not sooner, then the partie that lies sicke.

But true repentance it is the meanes to right meditation, and right meditati­on to hearty prayer; and without hear­ty prayer it is but in vaine to come vnto the Lord: and yet againe it is but in vaine for vs to repent, vnlesse withall we proceed to feruency of prayer. Caine sorrowed for his sinnes, when hee con­fessed his sinnes were so great, as God could not forgiue them. And Iudas, when he cryed out, I haue sinned in be­traying the innocent bloud; but yet they had neither of them grace to aske forgiuenesse for their sinnes; which had they done heartily, and as they ought, I am fully perswaded they should haue found pardon for their great offences.

Repentance it is the Supersedeas that [Page 96] dischargeth all bonds of sinne; and Prayer, it is the bucket by which wee draw grace from the everlasting foun­taine. Let vs continue drawing then, till we may assure our selues we haue a good measure of grace within vs, and neuer leaue him, who is able to adde more to him, that hath the greatest a­boundance of it in him. Let vs flye vn­to the Lord by prayer: and since our many sinnes, like so many fierce Sam­sons, haue not sticked to murther the Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah; let our re­pentant teares, and humble prayers, like so many Bees, come and sucke the ho­ny at the flowers of his passion: let them ascend vp early in the morning, like incense into his nostrils, and close the afternoone againe like an euening sacrifice: then shall we truly come vnto the Lord, and as we ought to do; then shall they awaken him, though hee bee fast asleepe, and obtaine a blessing for vs that offered them vp. Then they came vnto him and awaked him, saying, Master, Master,

This Title of Master, here, will de­serue [Page 97] a little pause: you call me Lord and Master, saith our Sauiour in the thirteenth of Saint Iohns Gospell;Ioh. 13.13. and you doe well, for so I am. Is not hee Master of them, who is Lord and Ma­ster of Nature it selfe? vnto whom all things both in heauen aboue, and in earth beneath, doe willingly obey? He is Master of them, for he made them all, Dixit & facta sunt, saith the Psalmist, he spake but the word, and all things were made, hee commanded and they stood all fast: hee did but speake the word, let the earth bring forth her in­crease, and also the waters, and pre­sently both earth and sea, they were re­plenished with all manner of varietie. Brevis sermo, sed valde vehement, saith Saint Ambrose: a short speech it was indeede, saith hee, that God spake; but yet withall it was a speech, that was full of power, the efficacie of that speech, it brought forth the greatest as well as the least creatures, and in the same time too: for in the same time the whole was made, that hee was making of a Frogge; Non laborat in [Page 98] maximis Deus, non fastidit in minimis, saith Saint Ambrose, God (saith hee) did not labour in the making of the greatest things, nor yet contemne the making of the meanest: hee made all things by his power, and therefore wor­thily is Master of all.

Was hee not worthy to bee Master of Man, as well as of other Creatures, when hee made such diuers and con­trarie Elements for to meete together in one and the selfe same body, and accord in one, Fire and Water, Aire and Earth, Heate and Cold, and all in one and the selfe same place, and yet hath so tempered them together, as that one is the defence and maintenance of the other? Nay more then this, saith Saint Bernard, Mirabilis societas: In man hee hath made a wonderfull socie­tie: for in him Heauen and Earth, Ma­iesty and Basenesse, Excellencie and Pouertie, hee hath matched together. What is higher then the spirit of life? What is baser then the slime of the earth? his soule it was infused into him, the spirit of life: his body it was made [Page 99] of the dust of the earth. This was that that made Gregorie Nazianzen to break into that same exclamation of himselfe, what great and wonderfull miracle was within himselfe, [...], &c. I am litle, and yet I am great; I am humbled, and yet I am exalted; I am mortall, and yet I am immortall; I am earthly, and yet I am heauenly: little in body, but great in soule; humble, as being earth, but yet exalted aboue the earth; mortall, as he that must dye; immortall, as he that shall rise againe; earthly, as whose bo­dy was taken from the earth; heauenly, as whose soule was breathed feom a­boue. And will not all this then make him well deserue the Name and Title of Master amongst vs?

Yes: But here hee hath a double Ti­tle, Master, Master. What of that? Why hee hath a double Mastership: he was their Master, Iure creationis, by the right of their creation, but much more Master, Iure redemptionis, by right and title of their redemption: when man had lost himselfe, and defaced that glo­rious [Page 100] image that God at the first had left within him, then came our Sauiour Christ Iesus in, a mercifull Redeemer, and reconciled his Father and Man to­gether againe. Henceforth let vs not repine at the fall of our Grand-father: for Christ our Sauiour hath made satis­faction for it. Was he cast away for the price of an Apple? Why yet he is redee­med for a great deale lesse, he was re­deemed in meere loue and pitie.

The sixth day of the weeke, as it is thought, Adam fell (for it is thought that he fell the same day that hee was made) the sixth day of the weeke a­gaine Adam and his posteritie were re­deemed from death. The same day that he fell he was redeemed. And as God in the beginning rested on the seuenth day, so Christ our Sauiour, saith Saint Augustine, sabbatizanit in monumento, kept holy the Sabboth euen in the graue, to teach vs to make more ac­count of that day, then the world vsu­ally doth in these our times. For, for all that belonged vnto the saluation of man, he finished that vpon the crosse, [Page 101] before his departure hence, when hee cried, Consummatum est, all is finished.Ioh. 19.30. Iohn. 19. Then all was performed that was requisite for vs; and hauing fini­shed his worke, he rested as securely in his graue, as the most secure man of vs all doth rest in his bed.

And in this redemption which he so kindly performed for vs, there are two things especially to bee considered of vs, Modus and Fructus, the manner and the fruit of our redemption.

The Manner, it was wonderfull, Ex­inanitio Dei, saith the Apostle, the emp­tying of God, the fulnesse of all things. The emptying of him (I say) and that in three regards: First, into the flesh. Se­condly, vnto the death. Thirdly & last­ly, vnto the death of the crosse. O who can worthily esteeme these three as hee ought to do, his worth, his humilitie, his loue vnto mankinde? That the God of all Maiesty should be cloathed with the garment of humane flesh. That hee should consent to dye, and that hee should dye so miserable and cursed a death. Here speech must faile vs, and [Page 102] our safest eloquence must bee admira­tion.

Let vs sometimes in the feare of God call our selues to account for these things, and thinke what great things the Lord hath done for euery one of our soules: and then let vs be ashamed at our owne vnthankfulnesse againe, that he being Lord of all, became obedient and seruant for the very worst of vs; Of being rich in all things, became poore and miserable in most that were neces­sary; That of the word he became flesh; Of the sonne of God that he should be­come the sonne of base and mortall man. Let vs remember, that though at the first we were made of nothing, yet that afterwards we were not redeemed of nothing. In sixe dayes at the first, God made heauen and earth, and all things that in them were contained: but in the redemption of Man, our Sa­uiour was three and thirty yeares and vpwards, a working of it vpon the earth.

O how much in that time, did he suf­fer for our sakes? The necessities of the [Page 103] flesh, the contempt and scorne of the world, the temptations both of the Di­uell and of mankinde. Can wee thinke that pouerty in all that time did not op­presse him? nor shame did not touch him? nor yet the wrath and anger of his Father any whit amaze him? Cer­tainly, certainly (beloued) the least of all these did touch him neere; and the greatest (that was the fury of his Fa­ther) did make him make that lamenta­ble cry vpon the Crosse, the like wherof was neuer heard in Ages before, nor e­uer shall be heard againe, vnto the en­ding of the world, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Yet thus, O Lord, didst thou worke the saluation of Man, and wonderfully towards him hath beene thy loue. Let vs thinke of these things seriously, let vs thinke of them often; and then I make no que­stion but we shall thinke we haue great reason to think him a double Master vn­to vs. And they came vnto him and awaked him, saying, Master, Master.

But yet the cause of his double Ap­pellation here in this place, it was the [Page 104] feare of the Apostles that infused it selfe into them, and the earnest desire that they had to be deliuered from their im­minent danger, was that that made them double their speeches vnto him, Master, Master. What wee heartily wish for, we often repeate. Helpe, Helpe, we cry in time of danger, Rescue, Rescue, in time of distresse. So is it here with our Apo­stles in this place, in this time of feare, when the storme raged, and the seas went high. Ʋolvuntur vt aequora montes, as the Poet speakes: one billow tossed them vp as high as heauen, and another suddenly drenched them in the botome of the deep. When life almost had quite forsaken them, and death was ready to seize vpon them, then they cry vnto him, Master, Master.

Qui nescit orare, discat nauigare, saith the Latine Prouerbe: if there be any so pampred here vpon the land, as I am afraid many thousands there are, that haue forgot their duties vnto the Lord, neuer think of him, but when they bor­row his name to sweare by: let them go to sea, and if they bee not past grace [Page 105] quite, so that they haue not, as the A­postle speakes, Cauteriatam conscienti­am, a seared conscience, that can feele no touch of remorse, hee shall bee taught once a day at the least, to call vpon the name of the Lord. And they came vnto him, and awaked him, saying, Master, Ma­ster, we perish.

Our life, though it be in a dangerous place, as Saint Ambrose telles, Quam diu in salo isto, tam diu inter naufragia: so long as we liue in the sea of this world, so long also wee are in continuall dan­ger of shipwrack, to be spoyled, and we our selues doe continually so ouer­charge our soules and bodies both, with sinne, as that euery day we presse dee­per and deeper towards the bottomlesse pit of hell. Yet such is the friendship that is contracted betweene the body and the soule, by the long familiarity and acquaintance each of other, as that they are loath to part and leaue each others company: They desire to conti­nue longer together, if longer it might be, and they care not what shifts they vse for the enioying their desire. That [Page 106] made Saint Peter to deny his Maister, because hee thought it would call his life in question: And all the Disciples, for feare of death, withdrew themselues from our Sauiours company, because they saw those friends must part, that had liued so long combined together. Terrible and fearefull it is vnto man, to thinke of the dissolution of soule and body, Anima absoluitur, corpus resoluitur, as Saint Ambrose speakes; where the soule is freed, and set at libertie, the bo­dy againe resolued into the first princi­ples. This is that which the natural man cannot endure to heare of; and there­fore vpon the very thought of it, hee is ready with the Apostles to cry out for helpe, Master, Master, wee perish in­deed.

But yet this was not the onely cause though of their crying out in this place, though that might helpe to set an ac­cent vpon it: for they knew that there was a necessity by nature laid vpon thē, once for to dye. Intrasti vt cocires was a condition annexed to our creation. We must make roome for others, as well as [Page 107] others before haue done for vs. And so much the Heathen Poet could say, Omnes vna manet nox, & calcanda semel via lethi: they must not thinke much to vndergoe that which all are enioyned necessarily vnto. Equalitie is the chiefe ground-worke of equitie; and who can complaine to be comprehended where all are contained? especially when they shall consider the extraordinarie bene­fite that death shall bring with it, viz. the taking away of sinning any fur­ther.

Death, it was once laid vpon man, as a punishment for sinning, quo die come­deris, &c. what day soeuer thou shalt eate of the forbidden fruit, thou shalt certainly dye. Death there is appointed as the punishment to sinne, but now it is giuen as a benefite and remedy vnto man, to keepe him from sinning any fur­ther. Morere ne pecces, dye soone that thou mayst not sinne more against thy maker. Quod tunc timendum fuit, vt non peccaretur, nunc suscipiendum est, ne pecce­tur, saith S. Aug. what was once feared, is now a benefite vnto mankinde.

[Page 108]But the feare of eternall death was that that did amaze them more then a­ny of the other particulars spoken of be­fore. To perish both in body and in soule, and that eternally too; this is that that would make thē awake him quick­ly. To perish when they were but Semi-christiani, halfe Christians, like Agrippa in the 26 of the Acts: Act. 26.28 thou perswadest me almost (saith hee to Paul) to bee a Christian: to perish when they were but newly initiated into the Schoole of Christ, before they knew the mysteries belonging to their saluation necessari­ly, was that that made them cry out a­loud. They were ignorant in the funda­mentall poynts: for the Holy Ghost doth testifie of them in diuers places, That they knew not the Scriptures, that they vnderstood not that saying of his, that they knew him not yet to bee the Messias, and then how fearefull a mat­ter it was for them to dye vnresolued, you your selues by your selues, may ea­sily iudge. This feare here of eternall perishing, made them cry so earnestly to bee deliuered from the feare of death: [Page 109] Maister, Maister, we perish: in our bo­dies; but which is fearefull to be thought vpon also, we perish euerlastingly in our soules in hell.

In our bodily conflicts here vpon the earth, either the sence of paine is quite taken away by death; or else if our na­ture bee strong and lusty, it soone in wrestling ouercomes the paines of death; but in this second death the death of the soule, the griefe remaines for euermore, that so our nature might be afflicted without any end, and our nature indures also, that for euer it might bee punished in the endlesse flames, for transgressing against so infi­nite a God: neither shall faile, neither nature nor paine, that so both may bee eternall vnto the wicked. The first death doth separate the vnwilling soule from the body; but the second death keepes the soule, though much vnwillingly, for euer in paine together with the body; from which paine God for his Christ Iesus sake, keepe vs all, Amen. And so we are come to the fi­nall conclusion of these same words. [Page 110] Then he arose and rebuked the wind, and the raging of the water, and they ceased, and there was a calme.

Hitherto our Sauiour hath beene pa­tient in these troubles, and rested him­selfe quietly in these stormy gusts both of winde and water: but now he begins to bee a Master indeed, and takes vpon him both the bridling of the one, and of the other: he rebukes the winde, and appeases the raging of the troubled wa­ter; and at his rebuke they both cease, and there is a calme.

But before we come to the appeasing of this raging storme, this first word Then will make vs stay a while by the way. Then he arose, &c.

Then. When was that, may some man say? Why when, but when the rage was greatest, in the midst of the gust, when the windes whistled loud, and the sea went high: when their ship was full of water, and Mariners and passengers were all at their wits end: Then hee a­rose and rebuked the winde, ond the raging of the water, &c.

A dangerous time (beloued) when [Page 111] cunning had left them, and the merci­lesse waues must haue mercy vpon them: then it was high time for him to awake out of sleepe. The loudnesse of the windes, and the raging of the waters, they might both togethet seeme to bee S. Ieromas bell, that alwayes he thought hee heard ringing in his eares, Surgite mortui, & venite ad iudicium: arise, and come forth streight way vnto Iudge­ment.

A terrible and fearefull sound for vs, whose liues are nothing else, but as S. Aug. speakes, splendida peccata, glori­ous sinnes, sinnes all ouer, whose whole liues haue beene subiect to the law of sinning: and so S. Paul calles it in the seuenth to the Romans: [...],Rom. 7.23 be­cause wee haue so inured our selues to sinning, euen from our cradles, and do so continually endeuour our selues for to commit sin, as though we were bound by law to the performance of it. Wee haue been past shame in sinning. And as Absolom in 2. Sam. 16. committed his folly in the sight of Israel:2. Sam. 16.22. so wee haue not sticked to commit our abhominati­ons, [Page 112] at high noone, in the market-pla­ces of our streetes, as though we did de­sire to make God a lyar, who calles all sins in generall, opera tenebrarum, deeds of darknesse, because they spring and come from the Prince of darknesse, and are rewarded in hell, a place of vtter darknesse. We (I say) by committing of them in the fight of the Sunne, doe as much as in vs lies, make them Opera lu­cis, daily sinnes; and therefore vnto vs, this account were very fearefull.

Man (saith S. Cyprian) is growne au­dacious in his sinning, and hath steeled his fore-head in committing of them, so that hee knowes not how to blush when he is reproued for them. Nullus delinquendi pudor, saith he, & sic pecca­tur, quafi magis per ipsa peccata placeatur: we are past all shame, saith hee, in our finning, and so wee do striue with our selues for the committing of them dai­ly, as though Almighty God were not offended with vs for them, but ra­ther highly pleased and delighted with them.

But from this kinde of sin good Lord [Page 113] for his mercy sake deliuer vs all, to sinne so greedily, as that forthwith we should take a delight and pleasure in our sin­ning: for commonly these kinde of sins, they haue annexed vnto them, duritiem cordis, a hardnesse of heart: so that if God will reclaime such a kinde of sin­ner, he must, as it is said in the Gospell,Math. 3.9. worke it out of the very Flint, Math. 3. Ex lapidibus suscitare filios Abrahae, out of stones he must raise vp children vnto Abraham: and this condition there is none but will grant is very dangerous.

To dye in this case will draw a seuere iudgement indeed vpon man: for they shall be iudged with a fearefull iudge­ment, whose liues haue beene free from a iudgment here. Those, I say, that haue liued here ill vpon the earth, and not made their peace with their heauenly father before they haue gone hence, all those shall the great iudgment oppresse, and cast out into vtter darknesse, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

But this, though it might affright vs, as who are guiltie of many transgressi­ons, yet it could no way daunt our Saui­our [Page 114] at all: for he was not guiltie of the least thought of sinne; neither originall sinne, nor actual sinne could once fasten vpon him, his conception and birth be­ing without all staine, as being concei­ued by the Holy Ghost: his whole life it was a satisfaction for actuall trans­gressions, and therefore though both winde and seas should rage neuer so ter­ribly, yet hee might sleepe as secure in the middest of the storme, as any one of vs in the greatest calme and quiet that may be.

Neither yet were the raging of the windes, or the roaring of the waters, of sufficient authoritie to haue awaked him, had it not been the cry of the Dis­ciples that had moued him to pitie. Ma­ster, Master, we perish, was the Trumpet that moued him to rouze himselfe, and take compassion of his forlorne com­panie.

Their imminent danger made them pray hartily vnto their Sauiour, & their feare of perishing made them not waxe weary in their prayers, but pray vntill they awaked him to their rescue. God [Page 115] he loues an earnest admonisher, and is delighted especially with an importu­nate suiter; and therefore many times doth deny men their requests at the first, that hee might heare them more constant and feruent vnto him in their prayers afterwards: constant, as the A­postles here, who continue their intrea­tie euen vnto death, Master, Master, wee perish.

And this same duty of prayer it is so naturall, as that euen the vn-reasonable creatures doe not omit it, but pray in their kindes, Psa. 104.Psa. 104.21. The Lyons suffe­ring hunger, saith the Psalmist, they pray vnto the Lord, they seeke their meate at God. And so the yong Rauens, in the 147. Psalme, the Lord indeed, saith the Prophet feeds them, but first they call vpon his name: for so he saith,Psa. 147.9. Who fee­dest the yong Rauens that call vpon thee. And that all excuse may be taken away from man in this kinde, so that igno­rance might not be pretended by him, it is S. Cyprians note, that qui fecit te, do­cait te etiam & orare: that he that at the first made man, and fashioned him in [Page 116] his mothers wombe, he hath taught him also to call vpon his name: he hath fra­med a praier for him himselfe, if perhaps he should be so dull of vnderstanding, as not to be able to conceiue prayer of himselfe, and commanded him to vse it also. When you pray (saith he) say, Our Father, &c.

I maruaile what some hot spirits in the world will say to this same speech of our Sauiours here, who would not haue his prayer vsed amongst men, but that they should pray altoge­ther as the spirit giues them vtterance. Here I am sure we haue Christs Dicite, for their ne dicite, his command against their prohibition. But I follow my Text.

Math. 7.7.Our Sauiour in the seuenth Chapter of Saint Matthewes Gospell, in three words, sets downe the whole duetie of man in this kinde, Pet [...], Quare, Pulsa: Aske, saith he, seeke, knocke. First we must humbly aske those things that are necessary for vs, and yet are wanting vnto vs: for hee with-holds them to make vs more earnest in the desiring of [Page 117] them. Deus non dat, nisi petenti, ne dee non cupienti, saith Saint Augustine, God (saith hee) will not giue vs any thing, vnlesse at the first wee heartily begge them at our fathers hands, lest he should seeme to giue such things as we do not esteeme and care for, and those that we shall aske of him, hee will giue vs in the greatest aboundance. Let vs aske of him therefore, and bee not tongue-tyed; and aske confidently also, as those that are sure to receiue at his hands. And in this kinde it was a good speech of Seneca the Philosopher, who willes vs in our prayers to be confident and assured. Audacter, sayth he, Deum ro­ga nil illum de alieno rogaturus: Aske boldly, saith hee, of God what thou standest in need of, and wouldst haue granted from his Maiestie, assuring thy selfe of this, that whatsoeuer thou wan­test, he hath of his owne, and shall bee beholding vnto no other for the grati­fying of thee in thy request. So then let vs aske of him.

But yet that is not all: for if he doe not grant vs at the first mouing of [Page 118] our suite, yet we must not waxe weary, but continue on in our course of prayer. And besides our asking, a further paines is required at our hands, wee must bee contented to seeke a blessing for our selues. We must not onely pray, but we must labour also, and so Saint Augustine teacheth vs when he saith, Pro quibus o­randum, proijs etiam & laborandum est: For those things that wee would pray vnto God for, for the same things wee must earnestly labour: For God will not take all the paines himselfe, and leaue vs idle in the meane time, to depend on him: and therefore it is the Apostles counsell in the twelfth of the Hebrewes, Heb. 12.12 to pull vp our weake hands, that hang heauy downe, and to bow our feeble knees, which are not accustomed to beare our bodies weight in the ser­uice and worship of the Lord our Ma­ker.

Nor yet are wee at an end so, but hauing taken paines for to seeke, and by our search hauing found out the right way, there remaines a doore whereby wee must enter, and that [Page 119] doore standes not open to all com­mers, come they that come will; but there wee must bestow our third paines, which is to knocke, that so wee may get entrance at the last. We may see what paines our Sauiour CHRIST IESVS doth take for vs here: First, hee intreates, and begges of vs that wee would be good vnto our selues. Secondly, when wee list not to hearken vnto his voyce, but conti­nuing in our old course of sinning, wee haue quite lost both the right way, and our selues also, hee seekes vp, and brings vs out of that Labyrinth, which we of our selues were neuer able to get out of: and when he hath found vs, he stands and knockes at the doore of euery one of our hearts, and doth de­sire to be let in by vs.

Considering then what our Sauiour doth vnto vs for our behoofe, let vs be­thinke what hee againe requires at our hands: to aske feruently, to seeke ear­nestly, to knock forcibly at the doore of his mercie, that so wee may be let in to his euerlasting kingdome.

[Page 120]If God then heares vs not, at the first knocke, we must not presently be like vnto King Saul, who because God an­swered him not either by Vrim or Thummin, 1. Sam. 28.7. went straightwaies from him, and asked counsell of a Witch: Wee must not limite God his time to come and helpe vs, but that must make vs knocke more violently. Importuni­ty is a chiefe meanes to obtaine our de­sires: and an example of it, our Sauiour hath left vs in the Gospell, of the vn­iust Iudge, who though he neither fea­red God,Luk. 18.5. nor reuerenced Man, yet be­cause he was importuned, he would do Iustice.

Nay, since wee are entred in thus farre, we will goe a little further with holy Augustine, for (saith he) Deus non permittit solum, vt potas, sed minatur eti­am, si non petas: God hee does not one­ly permit vs for to beg those things that are necessary for vs, but he doth seuere­ly threaten vs also, if wee shall not aske of his Maiesty. Nay, aske of him, and aske of him onely, or else hee will bee angry with whosoeuer shall not aske [Page 121] of him; as hee was with the King of Israel, who left him, and went to in­quire of Beel-zebub, for the recouery of his health againe.2. King. 1.3 Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that yee goe to inquire of Beel-zebub the God of Eckron, now therefore, thus saith the Lord, thou shalt not come downe from that bed on which thou art gon vp, but shalt surely die.

And our Sauiour in the 16 of Saint Iohns Gospell,Ioh. 16.24. he was offended with his Disciples for not asking of him: Hi­therto, saith our Sauiour, yee haue asked me nothing: It seemes therefore that hee would haue vs aske, and when we doe aske we must not cease our suites, but say with Iacob, Non dimittamte, Gen. 32.26 I will not let thee go, before thou hast be­stowed a blessing vpon mee: Wee must be instant vpon him as the Ca [...]anitish woman was for the recouery of her be­loued daughter,Mat. 15.28. who would not be put off, by any answere our Sauiour could giue, vntill shee had gotten a re­lease for her childe: Wee must be ear­nest with him, as hee to borrow bread at midnight of his friend,Luke 11.8. who would [Page 122] take no nay. We must be importunate, as the Widdow with the vniust Iudge, that we may seeme to weary him with our importunity,Luke 18.5. Luke 18. And then we shall be sure to receiue a good blessing from him. A good measure well shaked and heaped, and thrust to­gether, which God grant. Amen.

He arose, But when? Why when the Disciples had done their vttermost, when they had shewed their humility in asking, perseuerance in seeking, impor­tunity in knocking. Humility in Mai­ster, they were his seruants, and he their leige, Lord and Maister: Perseue­rance in comming vnto him, They came vnto him: Importunity, we perish: And they came vnto him saying, Maister Maister we perish, and by this importunity of theirs, they obtained their request, Then he arose, &c.

We do not reade in this same Story, nor in any other of the Euangelists that do record it, that either the Apostles, or Disciples of our Sauiour, tooke any other course, for the safe-gard of them­selues and of their liues (though most [Page 123] of them were Fishermen, and therefore knew better how to bestirre themselues in a storme then Land men do) but onely prayer; no labour is mentioned, saue onely their paines of comming vnto him, and the reason of it is plaine: Art is past, when Nature is let loose, when both windes and seas haue bro­ken their bounds, then they knew their best recourse was to their pray­ers for humane labour was all but vaine.

And hearty prayer, we know, was al­waies reckoned the first and the last helpe of the godly man:Psal. 33.21 so Dauid in their persons, saith, In nomine sancto eius, speranimus, we haue trusted in his holy name, and God hath bene their great deliuerer.

But yet so farre forth we must relye vpon the Lord, as we our selues withall be not wanting vnto our selues, while hope remaines. For, for to set our selues downe, and lay all vpon the Diuine Prouidence, is iust the lazy knaue in Isidor, who when his Cart was ouer­throwne, would needs haue his God [Page 124] Hercules to come downe from heauen, and raise it vp againe, whilst he him­selfe would bee a spectator of it, and sit by and giue aime. Whilst there is meanes left wee must bee content, to­gether with our prayers, for to vse them lawfully, and when all earthly law­full meanes faile, and forsake vs, then wee must flye wholy vnto Gods pro­tection.

Reason teacheth vs thus much, that when wee may hope to finde a spring then we must also bestow our paines in digging for it: And when the soyle will beare corne, then we must vse our skill and labour in tilling of it. When Elisha was in a little Village, not able to de­fend him from the Assirians power, hee had horses and Chariots of fire round about him, to defend him from their force, 2. Kings 6. but when he was in Sa­maria a Towne of Garison,2. King. 6.17. then when the King of Israel sent to fetch his head, hee said to those that were with him, shut the dore, as it is in the same chap­ter, 32. verse. So our Sauiour Christ in the wildernesse miraculously fed whole [Page 125] multitudes, that came vnto him: But when he was in the Citie againe, he sent his Disciples forth for to buy their ne­cessary prouision.Iohn 4.8. So we must all labour whilst there is any hope, and when hu­mane helpe faileth, then flie vnto the protection of the Almighty: So we see prayer it is the first and the last helpe of the righteous man, to beginne with God and to end in him.

The wicked sinner, he would glad­ly be the righteous mans Ape, and imi­tate him in this duety of his, but that shall not be at the first entrance into his businesse, but at the last gaspe of his life, when they lie howling vpon their beds, saith the Prophet Hos. in his 7. chapter,Hos. 7.14. and yet all is but in apish imitation nei­ther, for their heart, euen then, is farre from the Lord, as it is in the same Verse of the same Chapter: They haue not cried vnto mee, saith the Lord, with their hearts, when they how­led vpon their beds, and therefore as their hearts in their extremities, were farre from God, so was hee farre also from their deliuerance. These heere [Page 126] with the Prophet Dauid they cryed, De profundis, out of the deepe vnto him, out of the deepe of the waters, but more es­pecially▪ out of the deepe and bottome of their hearts, and therefore obtained pardon for all their liues.

The mouth, here perhaps amongst men, may make a shew of Religion, and the hand glory in ostentation of the giftes that it hath giuen, but yet the heart is the iewel which the Lord looks after. There may be hypocrisie in the mouth that speakes, and vaine-glory in the hand that giues, but if the heart bee vpright and entire, that is an accepta­ble sacrifice vnto the Lord: And there­fore the Lord, by Salomon, asketh nei­ther the mouth nor the hand, but the heart;Pro. 23.26. Fili da mihi cor: My sonne giue me thy heart. As thou giuest as much as the Lord requireth, if thou giue him thy heart; so if thou giuest all that thou hast, and keepest thy heart backe from him, thou giuest nothing at all, that he de­sires, or will vouchsafe to accept from thee. The Apostles cry here, it came from the heart, from the bottome of the heart, [Page 127] Maister, Maister we perish, and by that they obtained pardon for their compa­ny: then he arose, &c.

Then hee arose: Hee could haue risen sooner; had it pleased him, but he would not, hee would first haue them to sup­plicate vnto him, and then hee would arise. Diogenes Laertius tels vs of some mighty men, that are much in this vaine, they haue aures in pedibus, their eares in the soles of their feete; can heare none speake but such as he suppliant at their foote for mercy; but that is out of their pride and arrogancy, who wil be known to be in place and authority ouer their brethren. Those they are of Caines ge­neration, who built him a Citty, Vt Do­minaretur in ea; that he might dominere in it, so these they get them aloft that the Golden Calfe may be adored: But this of our Sauiours here, it was farre otherwise, it was their duties all to fall prostrate, before his Maiesty, and then he knew, it was his part to helpe them Then he arose, &c.

His sleepe as it was voluntary vnto him, in this place, as heretofore I haue [Page 128] told you, he could sleepe when hee list, and watch as long as he list, and yet no preiudice vnto his nature: So he could rise also when himselfe pleased from sleepe againe. As his death was volun­tary, & from himselfe, oblatus est quia vo­luit, hee was offred vp vnto death, be­cause himselfe would dye; and so much he professeth of himselfe in the tenth of Iohn, Ioh. 10.18. No man (saith hee) taketh my life from me, but I lay it downe of my selfe: So here, dorminit quia voluit: hee slept be­cause he would sleepe, and when it plea­sed him he could awake againe.

This then it may be a lesson for head-strong man, not to be his owne caruer in his businesse, and appoint God his time, when to rouze himselfe: for he knowes his time better then man can appoynt it to him; but with patience he must pos­sesse his soule, and when he sees what is conuenient for him, then he will rouze himselfe to his deliuery. Indeed the ship in the meane time may labour & roule, the wind storme and blow, the seas rage and swell; yet without Gods good will and pleasure, not any one haire of their [Page 129] heads shal perish. Noahs Arke, we make no question, was tumbled and tossed in those mighty waters, but wee doe not reade that either it was sunke or ouer­throwne.Gen. 25.22. Rebecca shee was pulled and pained, and euen rent in sunder, by the contention of her babes within her wombe, but yet she suffered no abor­tion.Mat. 7.24. The house founded vpon a Rocke it suffered both the violence of the storme, and the rage of the waters, and yet it was not ouerthrowne. The Wo­man in Apoc. 12.Apoc. 1.22 she was persecuted by the red Dragon, and followed by him from place to place, but she was not de­uoured of her fearefull aduersary. So wee, if wee shall rest our selues in pati­ence, and refer all to the gouernment of God, Hee in His good time will deliuer vs out of all our troubles, he will as hee did heere vnto the Apostles, raise him­selfe vp to our defence, Then he arose, &c.

And rebuked the winde and the raging of the water, and they ceased, and there was a calme. Now are wee come to the eui­dent demonstration of our Sauiours Di­uinity.

[Page 130]In the former parts of the Text, wee saw him as a meere naturall Man, meeke and gentle, not striuing for superiority, or desirous to command: Hee enters in­to a Ship with his Disciples, and being entred laies himselfe downe, for his rest and quiet; Hee opens not his mouth, ei­ther to controule his owne company, or any other that were in the ship.

So was His whole life, meeke and gen­tle; in his birth, saith S. Ber. Parua lans, quia parui laus, there was but litle praise, because it was but the praise of a little One,Esay 9.6. Vnto vs a child is born; there his Ma­iesty is not extolled, but yet his humility is aboue all we are able to speake, to be commended.

Exceedingly to bee commended in­deed of vs, especially if wee shall consi­der Him as hee hath deserued of euery one of vs. For Him that S. Paul saw in his owne nature, the knowledge and wisedome of God himselfe: Him for our sakes, the Prophet Dauid saw lessened below the Angels: Him that Daniel saw sitting on the Throne, and thousand thousands ministring before Him: Him [Page 131] the Prophet Ieremy saw againe conuer­sing vpon earth with wretched man: Him that Ezekiel saw the Lord of Hosts: Him the Prophet Esay saw in shape like a Leaper, meeke and humble, and all for our benefite, and therefore aboue all to bee commended of vs.

And in this gentle fashion, not being prouoked by vs, who hath deserued so much good at our hands, He comes nee­rest vnto his owne Diuine Nature and Essence; For God in his owne Nature and Essence is milde and gentle, and if he be not ouermuch prouoked, will not break forth into rage and fury. The Dis­ciples that were of a fiery Spirit, they were most vnlike, and contrary to their Master, for hee does not delight in sen­ding downe hurtfull fires: Hee is called the Day-star, to inlighten,2. Pet. 1.19. G [...]n. 3.8. not the Dog­star to scorch and burn. And God is said for to haue walked in the Coole of the day, not in the Heate of the day; and as it were also, to haue fetched many turnes, thereby to coole himselfe, before he would call his aduersary to account: And when he would speake vnto Eliah, [Page 132] Hee shewed himselfe neither in the strong wind,2. Kings 19.12. nor in the earth-quake, nor yet in the fire, but in a small still voyce: And all this to teach mē what their duty is to do, to be kind and mercifull as their heauenly Father of Himselfe is merciful; and so the Saints in former times haue professed of themselues. Dauid sayes of himselfe that he was like vnto a weaned childe: Iacob compares himselfe vnto a worme: Our Sauiour, his Disciples vnto little Children: Saint Paul would haue his Corinthians meeke and gentle, forgi­uing each other, as God for Christs sake had forgiuen them. In a word, as God himselfe forgiuing our iniquities, and pardoning all our sinnes; Hee hitherto was meeke and gentle, but now Increpa­uit ventis, He rebuked the wind and the raging of the waters, &c.

He rebuked the wind: Why the wind wee all know is a lawlesse creature, and will not be kept vnder, and so our Saui­our Christ speakes of it, where he saith, spiritus spirat vbi vult, Ioh. 3.8. The winde bloweth where it listeth, and who is hee that shall controule it? True indeed, who is he that [Page 133] can controule it, if hee be but onely man: but if the wind shall be ouer-bold and saucy with his Lord and Maker, and exceed the bounds and limits that hee hath appointed it, it shall haue his due checke as well as any other of his crea­tures, He rebuked the winds.

But how did he rebuke them, may some man aske? What, did he send his letters of defiance vnto the windes, as Xerxes did when they crossed his in­tendments? Or did he cause fetters and shackles to be cast into the water, as the same Xerxes did, and make it take the Bastinado, when the angry Hellespont would not grant him passage for him­selfe and Souldiers? How did hee re­buke them? Why, how should hee re­buke them but by his Word? For Hee that made the windes, and sent them out by his Word, by his Word also was able to countermand them, when it pleased him.

The Heathen Poets fancied to them­selues a God of the winds, Aeolus, who in a Caue kept them all together, and as hee was either pleased, or displeased [Page 134] with Mankinde, so he let them out and called them in againe, either for their profite, or to wreake his anger and dis­pleasure on them: But Christ the onely true Aeolus, does not let them out to range at their owne pleasure, but when they are forth he rules them as he lists: so the Prophet Dauid tels vs Ps. 104. Who laieth the beames of his Chambers in the waters, Psal. 104.3. and maketh the Clouds his Chariot, and walketh vpon the wings of the wind: Both winds and waters then, are at his command, and as it pleaseth him he for­ces them forwards or keeps them backe, for the benefite of his.

The company of the righteous, they are Gods especiall care that hee lookes after, & so much the Poet doth reueale: Cura Deûm dî sunt & qui coluere, colan­tur, and therefore rather then they shall take any harme, hee will bee present to worke a miracle for their reliefe: he will rebuke both the winds and the waters, & make them calme, & al for their sakes. To work miracles, now adaies amongst vs, though it may seeme strange vnto vs, because it is a commanding of the crea­tures [Page 135] against the course of nature, as to cause the wind to cease with a word, & to quiet the Seas onely with a becke, be beyond humane conceipt, yet with God for his Elect sake, they are as Philo Iud [...] speakes, but Iudicra, meere toyes, and trifles; nay, he will do greater matters then these for such as be his: he will di­uide the Sea for his seruants to goe through, and drowne his enemies that follow after: Hee will raine down bread and flesh from heauen for them, in a time of dearth, when the earth will not affoord it them: Hee will bring water out of the hard Rocke, when they shall be in a barren and dry ground, where no water is; Out of very stones, to raise vp children vnto Abraham, is easy and at hand with him to do.

And if any man shall aske mee the reason of these so great and miraculous workes of his, I answere suddainely againe with S. August. Bonitas & gratia Dei, the mercy and loue of God, where­with from all eternity hee hath loued his Elect, hath prouoked him to doe them all.

[Page 136]Let vs then all, as many as professe our selues to belong to him, magnifie this great God for this extraordinary goodnesse of his: and as we weare the badges of Christ Iesus on our fore­heads, so let vs faithfully adore him in our hearts; and then though dangers threaten, and stormes arise, yet there shall appeare at the last a quiet calme, a calme and quietnesse of conscience here, and an eternall calme in the world to come. The which quietnesse both here and there, that we all may be parta­kers of, Hee grant vs that here caused this calme to his Apostles, Christ Iesus the righteous, to whom with the Father and the holy Spirit, three Persons, and one Eternall, Almighty, and Euerliuing God, be all Praise, Honour, and Glory, this day and for euer. Amen.