LET no man goe a­bout1 Tim. 3. 16. Great is the Mysterie of Godlinesse. to entertain the thoughts of the Great Mystery of Godliness, but with a ravished heart, an heart fil­led with a gracious compositi­on of love, and joy, and won­der: Such a one, O Saviour, I desire, through thy grace, to bring with me to the meditati­on of that thine infinitely glo­rious work of our Redemption: It was as possible for thy cho­sen Vessell who was by a di­vine extasie caught up into Pa­radise, [Page 4] and there heard unutte­rable words to express what he saw and heard above, as to set forth what was acted by thee here below; as therefore una­ble either to comprehend, or utter things so far above won­der, he contents himself with a patheticall intimation of that, which he saw could never be enough admired; Great is the Mysterie of Godlinesse. There are great Mysteries of Art, which the wit and experi­ence of skilfull men have dis­covered; there are greater Mysteries of Nature, some part whereof have been described by Art and Industrie, but the grea­ter part lyes hidden from mor­tall eyes: but these are lesse then nothing to the great my­stery of Godliness: For, what are these but the deep secrets of the Creature? mean there­fore, and finite like it self; but the other are the unfadomable depths of an infinite Deitie: [Page 5] fitter for the admiration of the highest Angels of heaven, then for the reach of humane con­ception. Great were the my­steries of the Law; neither could the face of Moses be seen with­out his veile: But what other were these, but the shadowes of this great Mystery of Godliness? what did that golden Ark over­spread with glorious Cheru­bims, that gorgeous Temple, those perfumers Altars, those bleeding Sacrifices, that sump­tuous▪ Priesthood, but prefigure thee, O blessed Saviour, which in the fulnesse of time shouldst be revealed to the World, and make up this great Mystery of Godliness? There is nothing, O dear Jesu that▪ thou either didst or sufferedst for man­kind, which is other then my­sterious, and wonderfull; but the great and astonishing my­sterie of Godlinesse is thy▪ self; God manifested in the flesh: Lo, faith it self can never be [Page 6] capable to apprehend a myste­rie like this; Thou who art a Spirit, and therefore immate­riall, invisible, to expose thy self to the view of earthen eyes; Thou, who art an infinite Spi­rit to be enwrapped in flesh; Thou an al-glorious eternal Spirit to put on the rags of hu­mane mortality; Thou, the great Creatour of all things, to be­come a Creature; Thou, the omnipotent God, to subject thy self to miserable frailty and infirmity: O mysterie transcen­ding the full apprehension of even glorified souls! If but one of thy celestial Spirits have up­on thy gracious mission assu­med a visible shape▪ and there­in appeared to any of thy ser­vants of old, it hath been held a spectacle of so dreadfull asto­nishment, that it could not be consistent with life; even so much honour was thought no less then deadly; neither could the Patient make any other [Page 7] account then to be killed with the kindnesse of that glory; What shall we say then, that thou who art the God of those Spirits, and therefore infinite­ly more glorious then all the Hierarchy of heaven, vouch­safedst, not in a vanishing ap­parition, but in a setled state of many years continuance, to shew thy self in our flesh, and to converse with men in their own shape and condition? O great mysterie of Godlinesse, God manifested in the flesh▪ 1 Pet. 1. 12. so great that the holy ambition of the heavenly Angels could not reach higher then the de­sire to look down into it.

BUt O Saviour, that whichGod mani­fested. raised the amazement at the appearance of thine Angels▪ was their resplendent glorie; where­as [Page 8] that which heightens the wonder of thy manifestation to men, is the depth of thine abasement: Although thou wouldst not take the nature of Angels, yet why wouldst thou not appear in the lustre and majesty of those thy best crea­tures? Or, since thou wouldst be a man, why wouldst thou not come as the chief of men, commanding Kings and Prin­ces of the earth to attend thy train? Thou, whose the earth is, and the fulnesse thereof, why wouldst thou not raise to thy self a palace compiled of all those precious stones, which lye hid in the close cofers of that thine inferiour Treasurie? why did not thy Court glitter with pearle, and gold, in the rich furnitures, and gay suits of thy stately followers? why was not thy Table furnished with all the delicacies that the world could afford? O Savi­our, it was the great glory of [Page 9] thy mercy, that being upon earth, thou wouldest abandon all earthly glory; there could not be so great an exaltation of thy love to mankinde, as that thou wouldst be thus low aba­sed; Manifested then thou wert, but manifested in a despicable obscurity: whether shall I more wonder, that being God bles­sed for ever, thou wouldst be­come man; or, that condescending to be man, thou wouldst take upon thee the shape of a servant, a servāt to those whose Lord, whose God thou wert.

What proportion couldIn the flesh there be, O blessed Jesus be­twixt a God and a Man; be­twixt finite, and infinite; the onely power of thy everlasting and unmeasurable love hath so reduced one of these to the o­ther, that both are united in that glorious person of thine to make up an absolute Saviour of mankind: O the height, and depth of this supercelestial my­sterie, [Page 10] that the infinite Deity, and finite flesh should meet in one subject? yet so, as the hu­manity should not be absorp­ted of the Godhead; nor the Godhead coarcted by the hu­manity, but both inseparably united; that the Godhead is not humanized, the humanity is not deifred, both are indivi­sibly conjoyned: conjoined so, as without confusion; distin­guished so, as without divisi­on: So wert thou, O God, ma­nifested in the flesh, that thou the word of thine eternall Fa­ther wert made flesh; and dwelledst among us; and weJob. 1. 14 men beheld thy glory, the glo­ry, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth; Yet so wert thou made flesh as not by conversion into flesh, but as by assumption of flesh to thine eternall Deity: assumption, not into the na­ture of the Godhead, but into the person of thee, who art [Page 11] God everlasting: O mystery of Godlinesse, incomprehensibly glorious! Cease, cease O hu­mane curiosity, and where thou canst not comprehend, wonder and adore.

BUt, O Savior, was it not e­nough for thee to be ma­nifested in flesh? Did not that elementarie composition carry in it abasement enough, with­out any further addition? (since for God to become man was more then for all things to be redacted to nothing) but that in the rank of miserable manhood, thou wouldst hum­ble thy self to the lowest of hu­manity, and become a servant? Shall I say more? I can hear Bildad the Shuhite say, Man isJob. 25 6. a worm; and I hear him, who was a noble Type of thee, say, [Page 12] as in thy person, I am a wormPsal. 22. 6. and no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people: O Saviour, in how despicable a condition do I find thee exhi­bited to the world? lodged in a stable; cradled in a manger; visit­ed by poor shepheards; imploy­ed in an homely trade; atten­ded by mean fishermen; temp­ted by presumptuous Devils; persecuted by the malice of en­vious men; exposed to hunger, thirst, nakednesse, wearinesse, contempt? How many sclaves under the vassalage of an ene­mie fare better then thou didst from ingratefull man, whom thou camest to save? Yet all these were but a mild and gen­tle preface to those thy last sufferings, wherewith thou wert pleased to shut up this scene of mortality: there I find thee sweating blood in thine agonie, crowned with thorns bleeding w [...]th scourges, buffe­ted with cruell hands, spat up­on [Page 13] by impure mouths, laden with thy fatall burden, disten­ded upon that torturing crosse, nailed to that tree of shame and curse, reviled and insulted upon by the vilest of men, and at last, (that no part of thy precious bloud might remain unshed) pierced to the heart by the spear of a late and imper­tinent malice.

Thus, thus, O God and Sa­viour, wouldst thou be mani­fested in the flesh, that the tor­ments of thy flesh and spirit might be manifested to that world, which thou camest to redeem; thus wast thou wounded for our transgressi­ons; thus wast thou bruised forEsay 53. 5. our iniquities; thus were the chastisements of our peace up­on thee; and thus with thy stripes are we healed▪ O blessed, but still incomprehensible my­stery of Godliness; God thus manifested in the flesh, in weak­ness, contempt, shame, pain, death.

[Page 14]Once only, O blessed Jesus whiles thou wert wayfaring upon this globe of earth, didst thou put on glory; even upon Mount Tabor, in thy heavenly transfiguration; then, and thereMat. 17. 2. Mark. 29. Luke 9. 28. did thy face shine as the Sun; and thy raiment was white as thy light: How easie had it been for thee to have continued this celestiall splendor to thy hu­manity all the whole time of the so journing upon earth; that so thou mightest have been adored of all mankinde? How would all the Nations un­der heaven have flockd to thee, and fallen down at the feet of so glorious a Majesty? What man in all the world would not have said with Peter, Lord it is good for us to be here? Or if it had pleased thee to have commanded Moses and Elias to wait upon thee in thy mediato­rie perambulation, and, to at­tend thee at Jerusalem, on the Mount of Sion, as they did in [Page 15] the Mount of Tabor, whom hadst thou not in a zealous a­stonishment drawn after thee? But it was thy wil and the plea­sure of thy heavenly Father, that this glorious appearance should soon be over shadowed with a cloud: And as those ce­lestiall guests, now in the midst of thy glory, spent their confe­rence about thy bitter suffe­rings, and thine approaching departure out of the world▪ So wert thou, for the great work of our Redemption, wil­ling to be led from the Mount Tabor to Mount Calvarie; from the height of that glory to the lowest depth of sorrow, pain, exinanition.

Thus vile wert thou, O Sa­viour, in the flesh; but in this vilenesse of flesh mannifested to be God; how did all thy Creatures in this extremity of thine abasement, agree to ac­knowledge and celebrate thine infinite Deity? The Angels [Page 16] came down from heaven to visit and attend thee; the Sun pulled in his head as abhorring to look upon the sufferings of his maker, the Earth was co­vered over with darkness▪ and quaked for the horror of that indignity, which was offered to thee in that bloody passion; the rocks rent, the graves ope­ned themselves, and sent up their long-since putrefied Tenants to wait upon thee, the Lord of life, in thy glorious Resurrection; so as thou, in thy despised and crucified flesh wert abundantly manifested to be the Almighty God of Hea­ven and Earth.

O blessed Saviour, thou the true God manifested in the flesh, be thou pleased to manifest unto the soul of thy [Page 17] servant, the unspeakable riches of thy love and mercie to man­kind, in that great work of our Redemption: Vouchafe to af­fect▪ my heart with a lively sense of that infinite goodnesse of thine towards the wretched­dest of thy creatures; that for our sake thou camest down, and cloathedst thy self in our flesh and cloathedst that pure and holy flesh with all the miseries that are incident to this sinfull flesh of ours; and wast content to undergo a bitter, painfull, ignominous death from the hands of man, that by dying thou mightest overcome death and ransome him from that hel, to which he was (without thee) irrecoverably forfeited; and fetch him forth to life, liber­ty, and glory: O let me not see only, but feel this thy great mysterie of Godlinesse effectually working me to all hearty thankfulnesse for so inestima­ble a mercie; to all holy reso­lutions [Page 18] to glorifie thee in all my actions, in all my sufferings: Didst thou, O Saviour, being God eternall, take flesh for me; and shall not I, when thou cal­lest, be willing to lay down this sinfull flesh for thee again? Wert thou content to abridge thy self, for the time, not one­ly of thy heavenly magnifi­cence, but of all earthly comforts, for my sake, and shall not I, for thy dear sake, re­nounce all the wicked pleasures of sin? Didst thou wear out the dayes of thy flesh in poverty, toil, reproach, and all earthly hardship; and shall I spend my time in pampering this flesh in wanton dalliance, in the ambitious, and covetous pursuit of vain honours, and de­ceivable riches? Blessed Lord thou wert manifested in the flesh, not only to be a Ransome for our souls, but to be a Pre­cedent for our lives: Far, far be it from me thus to imitate [Page 19] the great pattorn of holiness.

O Jesu, the author and fini­sher of my faith and salvation, teach me to tread in thy gra­cious steps, to run with pati­ence the race that is set before me▪ to endure the cross, to despise the shame to be cruci­fied to the world, to work all righteousnesse.

HOw easily could I be drawn to envie the priviledge of those eyes, which saw thee here walking upon Earth, O God and Saviour, in the dayes of thy manifesting thy self in flesh? Oh what an happy spectacle was this, to see the face of him, in whom the Godhead dwelt bodily? All the world is not worth such a sight: whither could I not wish to go to see but a just portraiture of that shape, wherein thou wert plea­sed [Page 20] to converse with men? But thine holy Apostle checks this2 Cor. 5. 16. uselesse curiosity in me, whiles he saies; If we have knowne Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him so no more; It is not the outside of thine hu­mane form, the view whereof can make us more holy or more happy: Judas saw thee as well as he that lay in thy bosome; those saw thee that maligned and persecuted thee, and shall once again see thee to their ut­most horror, see him whom they pierced: They saw that flesh in which God was manifested; they saw not God man­fested in the flesh: It is our great comfort and priviledge, that it was flesh wherein God was ma­nifested▪ but it is not in the flesh, but in the Deity to render us blessed: O Saviour, I dare not beg of thee, so to manifest thy self to me, as thou didst to thy chosen Vessell in his way to [Page 21] Damascus, or to thy first Martyr in the storm of his Lapidation; these miraculous manifestations are not for my meanness to sue for: But let me never cease to crave of thee a double manife­statiō of thy self to me▪ Be plea­sed to manifest thy self to me in the clear illuminations of thy Spirit; let me by the eyes of my faith clearly see thee both sprawling in: the Manger, and walking upon earth, and temp­ted in the Wildernesse, and ar­raigned in the Judgment-hall, and suffering upon Calvarie, and rising out of thy Tomb, and a soending from thy Olivet▪ and reigning in Heaven, and there interceding for me: And after my approaching dissoluti­on, let my soul see thee in that glorified flesh, wherein thou wert manifested to the World, and in the Majesty of that all­glorious Deity▪ which assumed it to that ever blessed society of glory.

IT was thy mercy, O God, that thou wouldst not keep up thy self close in thine eter­nall, spirituall, and incompre­hensible essence, unknown to thy creatures upon earth, but that thou wouldest be mani­fested to the world: It was yet thy further mercy that thou wert not only pleased to ma­nifest thy self to man in the wonderfull works of thy Cre­ation,Rom. 1. 20. (since those invifible things of thine are understood, and clearly seen by the things that are made, even thine eter­nall power and God-head) but to manifest thy self yet more clearly to us in thy sacred Word, the blessed Oracles of thine eternall truth: but it was the highest pitch of thy mer­cy, that thou wouldst manifest thy self yet more to us in the [Page 23] flesh. Thou mightst have sent us thy gracious messages by the hands of thine Angels, those glorious ministring spi­rits, that do continually attend thy throne; this would not content thee, but such was thy love to us forlorn wretches, that thou wouldst come thy self, to finish the work of our Redemption. Neither didst thou think it enough to come to us in a spirituall way, im­parting thy self to us by secret suggestions, and inspirations, by dreams and visions, but wouldst vouchsafe openly to be manifested in our flesh: how then, O my God, how wert thou manifested in the flesh? was not the flesh thy vail? and wherefore serves a vail, but to hide and cover? Did not thy Deity then lie hid, and obscured, whiles thou wert here on earth under the vail of of thy flesh? How then wert thou manifested in that flesh, [Page 24] wherein thou didst lye obscu­red? Surely, thou wert cer­tainly manifested in respect of thy presence, in that sacred flesh of thine; though for the time thy power and Majesty lay hid under the vail: Some­times thou wert pleased that this sun of thy Deity should break forth in the glorious beams of divine operations, to the dazeling of the eyes of men and Devils, to the full eviction of thine omnipotent power a­gainst thy envious gainsayers; at other times, thou wert con­tent it should be clouded over with the dim and dusky ap­pearances of humane infirmity; The more thou wert obscured, the more didst thou manifest thy most admirable humility, and unparallelable love to man­kinde, whose weaknesse thou disdainedst not to take up; And the more thou didst exert thy power, in thy miraculous works, the more didst thou [Page 25] glorifie thy self, and vindicate thine Almighty Deity thus ma­nifested in the flesh; Oh that thou wouldst enable me to give thee the due praiss both of thine infinite mercie in this thine humble obscurity, and of thy divine omnipotence, who as thou wert manifested in the flesh, so wast also justified in the spirit.

HE that should have seenJustified in the Spirit. thee, O Saviour, working in Josephs shop, or walking in the fields or streets of Nazareth, or journying towards Ierusalem, would have looked upon thee as a meer man: neither did thy garb or countenance bewray any difference in thee from the ordinary sort of men; so did [...]hy God-head please to conceal it for a time in that flesh, where [Page 26] in thou wouldst be manifested; it was thine al-working and co­essentiall spirit, by whose evi­dent testimonies, and mighty operations, thy Deity was ir­refragably made good to the world: If the doubtfull sons of men shall in their peevish Infi­delity, he apt to renew the question of Johns Disciples: Art thou he that should come, or shall we looke for another? thine ever blessed and coeternal Spirit, hath fully justified thee, for that only true, absolute, perfect mediator, by whom the great work of mans redempti­on is accomplished: Whiles the gates of hell want neither pow­er, nor malice, nor subtletie, it is not possible that thy divine person should want store of e­nemies; These, in all successi­ons of times, have dared to o­pen their blasphemous mouthe against thy blessed Deity: But against all their hellish oppo­sitions, thou wert still, and [Page 27] shalt be ever justified by thy co-omni potent spirit; In those convictive wonders which thou wroughtst upon earth; in those miraculous gifts and graces, which thou powredst out upon men; in that glorious resurrec­tion and ascension of thine wherein thou didst victoriously triumph over all the powers of death and hell. Lo then, ye per­verse Jews and scoffing Gen­tiles, that are still ready to up­braid us with the impotency and sufferings of a despised Re­deemer; and to tell us of the ragges of his Manger, of the homelinesse of his Education, of his temptation and transpor­tation by the Devill, of his contemptible train; of his hun­ger and thirst, of his weariness and indigence, of his whips and thorns, of his agonie in the gar­den of Gethsemane, of his oppro­brious crucifixion in Calvarie, of his parted garments and his borrowed grave: Is not this he▪ [Page 28] to whose homely cradle a glo­rious and supernaturall star gui­ded the sages of the East for their adoration? Is not this he, whose birth declared by oneLuk. 2. 9, 10, 13, 1 glorious Angell, was celebrated by a multitude of the heavenly host with that divine Anthem of [Glory to God in the high­est, and on earth Peace, good will towards men?] Is not this he that filled the world with his divine and beneficiall mira­cles? healing all diseases by his Word, restoring limbs to the lame, giving eyes to the borne blind, casting out Devils, rai­sing the dead, commanding windes and seas, acknowledged by an audible voice from hea­ven? Is not this he whom the very ejected Devils were for­ced to confess to be the son of the everliving God? whom the heaven and al the elements ow­ned for their almighty Crea­tour? whose sufferings darke­ned the Sun, and shooke the [Page 29] Earth, and rent the Rocks in pieces? and justly, whom the dead Saints and the heavenly Angels attended in his power­full Resurrect on, and glorious Ascension? O Saviour, abun­dantly justified in the spirit a­gainst all the malignances of men and Devils.

If thy malicious persecutours, whose hand was in thy most cruell crucifixion, shall for the covering of their own shame, blazon thee for a Deceiver of the people; How convincingly wert thou justified in the spi­rit, by the dreadfull and mira­culous descent of the holy Ghost in the cloven and fiery tongues; and that suddain va­riety of language for the sprea­ding of the glory of thy name over all the Nations of the [Page 30] earth? If the unbeleiving world, bewitched with their former superstition, shall furiously op­pose thy name and Gospell in the times immediately succee­ding: how notably art thou justified in the spirit, by the suddain stopping of the mouths of their hellish Oracles, by the powerfull predications of thine holy Apostles, Prophets, Evan­gelists, Pastors and Doctors, se­conded by such undeniable mi­racles as shamed and astoni­shed, if not won, the gainsay­ers?

But, O Saviour, being thus clearly instified in the spirit a­gainst the old spight of hell, with what shame and horrour do I see thine eternall Godhead called into question by the mis­governed wits of certaine late mis-named Christians: who as if they would raise up cursed Arrius from his hatefull grave, have dared to renew those blas­phemous cavils against thy sa­cred [Page 31] person, which with so great authority, and full evi­dence of the spirit were long since cryed downe to that hell, whence (to the great contu­melie of heaven) they were most wickedly sent up into the world: Woe is me, their dam­ned sounder did not send down his soul into that fatal draught, in a more odious way, then these his followers vent themselves upward in most unsavoury and pestilent contradictions to thee, the Lord of life and glory▪ But even against these art thou justi­fied in the spirit, speaking in thy divine Scriptures, whose e­vident demonstrations do fully convince their calumnies and false suggestions; and vindicate thy holy Name, and blessed Deity from all their devillish and frivolous argutations.

Is there any weak soul that makes doubt of thy plenarie sa­tisfaction for his sinne, of the perfect accomplishment of the [Page 32] great work of mans Redempti­on? how absolutely art thou justified O blessed Jesu, in the spirit, in that thou raisedst thy selfe from the dead; quitting that prison of the grave, whence thou couldst not have come, till thou hadst paid the utmost far­thing, wherein we stood indeb­ted to heaven: O Saviour, not more concealed in the flesh, then manifestly justified in the spirit for my all-sufficient Re­deemer, not more meekly yeil­dingRom. 4. 25. to death for our offences, then powerfully raised up again for our justification: how should I blesse and praise thee, both for thine humble self-dejection in respect of thine assumed flesh, and for thy powerfull justification in thine infinite and eternall spirit; that holy Ghost whereby thou wert con­ceived in the womb of the Vir­gin, justified thee in thy life, death, resuscitation; Now then, how confidently can I trust [Page 33] thee with my▪ soul, who hast ap­proved thy self so compleat and almighty a Reedemer? O blessed Jesu, with what assu­rance do I cast my self upon thee for thy present protection for my future salvation? how boldly can I defie all the pow­ers of darknesse, whiles I am in the hand of so gracious and om­nipotent a Mediator? Who shalRom. 8 33. lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect? It is God that justi­fieth. Even thou the God who wast manifested in the flesh, and justified in the spirit, shalt justifie and save my spirit, soul and body in the day of our appearance before thee.

O Saviour, it is no mysterieSeen of An­gels. that being manifested in he flesh, thou wert seen of men; but it is no small part of [Page 34] the great mystery of Godliness, that thou who art the God of Spirits, wert seen by those hea­venly spirits, cloathed in flesh: It could not be but great news to the Angels to see their God born, and conversing as man, with men. For a man to see an Angell is a matter of much wonder, but for an Angell to see God become man, is a far greater wonder: since in this▪ the change concernes an infi­nite subject, in the other, a fi­nite, though incorporeall▪ But, pause here awhile, O my soul, and inquire a little into these strange spectators: Seen of Angels? who, or what might those be? Are three any such reall, incorporeall, permament substances; or are they onely things of imagination, and extemporary representations of the pleasure of the Almighty? Wo is me, (that no errour may be wanting to this prodigious age,) do we live to see a revicti­on [Page 35] of the old Sadduci [...], so long since dead and forgotten? WasDan. 8. 19, 17. Gabriel that appeared and spake to Daniel, nothing but a super­natural ph [...]ntasme? And what then was a he Gabriel▪ that ap­peared with the happy newes of a Saviour to the blessed Vir­gin?Mat. 18. 10. What are the Angels of those little ones, whereof our Saviour speakes, which do al­waies behold the face of his Fa­therLuk. 2. 9. 15. in heaven? What were those Angels that appeared to the shepherds with the tidings and gratulations of the Savi­our borne at Bethlem? WhatAct 12. 7, 8, 10. was that beneficent spirit that visited Peter in the Prison, smote him on the side to wake him from his sleep; shook off his chains, threw open the iron gate, and rescued him from the bloody hands of Herod? What are those spirits, who shall be Gods reapers at the end of the world, to cut down the tares, and gather the wheat into his [Page 36] barn? Shortly, what were all those spirits (whereof both Testaments are full,) which God was pleased to imply in his frequent missions to the earth? were these phantasms too? Certainly, though there may be many Orders, yet there is but one generall condition of those Angelicall attendants on the throne of the Almighty: Even in the old Testament, was it a supernaturall apparition of fancie, that in one night smote all the first borne in the land of Aegypt? was it a supernatu­rall apparition of fancie, that in one night laid an hundred fourscore and five thousand As­syrians dead upon the ground? Could these be any other then the acts of living, and powerful agents? It is not for us to con­tend about words; those that are disposed to devise paradox­es, may frame to themselves what senses they please of their own terms; this we are sure of, [Page 37] that the Angels are truly ex­isting, spirituall, intelligent, powerfull, eviternall Creatures, whose being is not exposed to our sense, but evidenced both to our faith and reason; not circumscribed in any grosse lo­cality, but truly being where they are, and acting according to their spiritual nature.

Of these Angels, O blessed Saviour, wert thou seen mani­fested in the flesh, to their won­der and gratulation: That, thou who hadst taken our flesh wert visible, was no whit strange; herein thou wert a plain and happy object to all eyes: but how the Angels, being meerly spirituall substances, could see thee, may be part of this great mysterie: Doubtlesse, they saw thee both before and ever since thou camest into the world, with eyes like them­selves, spirituall, and, not sel­dome, saw thee being incar­nate with the assumed eyes of [Page 38] those bodies wherein they ap­peared; Thus they saw, and a­dored, and proclaimed thee in thy first saluration of the world, when thou layest in that homely posture, in the Manger at Bethlehem; singing that sweet and celestiall caroll at thy na­tivity, Glory be to God in the highest. They saw thee in the wild desert, where no creatures appeared to thee, but either beasts or Devils, there they saw thee pined with fasting, confli­cted with the Prince of darknes: they saw thee foiling that pre­sum ptuous enemy, not with­out wonder, doubtlesse, at the boldnesse of that daring spirit, and joyfull applause at thy hap­py victory; they saw thee, but (as knowing there was no use of seconds in this duel of thine) unseen of thee, till the full end of that great combat; then they shewed themselves to thee, as willing to be known to have been the secret witnesses of the [Page 39] fight, and glad congratulators of thy Triumph, then they came and ministred unto thee; Never were they but ready to have vi­sibly attended thee, hadst thou been pleased to requite so sen­sible a service; but the state of a servant, which thou choo­sedst to undergoe, suited not with the perpetuity of so glo­rious a retinue; whether there­fore they were seen to thee, or not seen, it was their great honour and happinesse, and a main part of the great mysterie of Godliness, that thou, who art the true God manifested in the flesh, wert seen of Angels.

They saw thee in the gar­den, in thy sad agonie; and if Angels could have been capable of passion in that state of their glory, could have been no doubt, content to suffer in, and with thee; with what eyes do we think they lookt upon thy bloody sweat; and the frownes of thine heavenly Father, which [Page 40] they saw bent against thee, in our persons, for the sin of man­kind, which thou camest to ex­piate? Now in this dolefull condition, so wert thou seen of Angels, that the Angels were seen of thee: For lo, there ap­pearedLuk. 22. 41. an Angell from heaven strengthening thee. O the deep humiliation of God, manifested in the flesh, that thou, O Jesu, the God and Lord of all the Angels of heaven, shouldst in this bloody conflict with thy Fathers wrath for our sins need and receive comfort from a created▪ Angel thy ser­vant▪

Whilest thou wert grapling with the powers of darkness there was no need of aid; only after the fight Angels came, and ministred to thee; but now, that thou must strug­gle under the wrath of thy Fa­ther, for mans sin, there was use of the consolation of one of those Angels, whereof thou [Page 41] commandest millions: O blessed Saviour, had not the face of thy heavenly Father been clou­ded to thee, standing in the stead of our guiltinesse, it had been no lesse then presumption in any finite power to tender thee any suggestions of com­fort; but now, alas, those bea­tificall beams were so for the time hid from thine eyes, and the sweet influences of light and joy arising there-from, were for that sad instant, suspended; so as nothing appeared to thee, that while, but the darknesse of displeasure and horrour; now therefore the comforts of a creature, could not be but sea­sonable and welcome; so that thou disdainedst not to be strengthened by an Angel: Ex­treme distresse looks not so much to the hand that brings supply, as to the supply it brings: If but one of thy three drouzy clients could have sha­ken off his sleep, and have let [Page 42] fall to thee some word of con­solation, in that heavy fit of thine▪ thou hadst not refused it; how much lesse, the cordiall in­timations of an heavenly moni­tor? neither was it improper for thee, who wast content toHeb. 1. 9. be made a little inferiour to the Angels, to receive some spiritu­all aid from the hands of an Angell.

What then, O Saviour, was the strengthening which thou receivedst from this officious spirit in this pang of thine ago­ny? Doubtless it was not any communication of an additio­nall power to bear up, under that heavy pressure of the sins of the whole world, which drew from thee those sweats of blood; No Angell in heaven was able to contribute that to the Sonne of God; but it was a sweet, and forcible represen­tation to thy disconsolate hu­manity, of the near approach of an happy eluctation out of [Page 43] those torments of thy sufferings, and of the glorious crown of thy victory immediately suc­ceeding.

ANd now, soon after, those Angels that saw thee sweating in thine agonie, and bleeding on thy crosse, saw thee also triumphing over Death, in thy Resurrection; they atten­ded thee joyfully in the vault of thy sepulture, and saw thee trampling upon the last ene­mie; being then sutably habi­ted to so blessed an occasion, in white shining vestures; how gladly were they imployed a­bout that most glorious solem­nity, both as actors in the ser­vice, and as the first heralds of thy victories over Death? I find one of them obsequiously making ready for thy coming [Page 44] out of those chambers of death, upon thine Easter morning; rolling away that massy stone, which the vain care of thine adversaries had laid (curiously sealed) upon the mouth of that Cave, for the prevention ofMat. 28. 2, 3, 4. thy fore-threatned resurrecti­on; and sitting upon it with a countenance like lightning, and his garment white as snow, the terrour of whose presence made the guard to shake, and to become as dead men; I findJoh. 20. 12. two of them no lesse glorious, sitting the one at the head, the other at the feet of that bed of earth whereon thou hadst new­ly slept; By these Angels wert thou both seen and attended; and, no doubt, but as at thy first coming into the world, when but one Angell published thy birth he was seconded by a mul­titude of the heavenly host▪ praising God with hymns of rejoycing for thy nativity; so when but one or two Angels [Page 45] were seen at thy second birth (which was thy glorious resur­rection) there were more of that heavenly company invisi­bly celebrating the joyfull tri­umph of that blessed day; wherein having conquered Death and Hell, thou shewedst thy self in a glorified conditi­on to the redeemed world of men: After this, when for the securance of thy Resurrection, (upon which all our faith justly dependeth) thou hadst spent forty dayes upon earth, I find thee upon Mount Olivet, at thy most glorious ascension, not seen only, but proclaimed, and fore-promised in thy certain, and at least equally-glorious return, by the blessed Angels. And behold while they lookedAct. 1. 10, 11. stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand yee gazing up into hea­ven; This same Jesus which is [Page 46] taken from you into heaven, shall so come again, as ye have seen him go into heaven] But, O Saviour, these views of thee by thine Angels hitherto were but speciall, and visible even by bodily eyes; How do I, by the eyes of my soul, see thee both attended up in that heavenly progresse, and welcomed into thine Empyreall heaven, by all the host of those celestiall spi­rits: no small part of whose perpetuall happiness it is, to see thee in thy glorified humanity; sitting at the right hand of Ma­jestie; there they enjoy thee, there they sing continuall Hallelujahs to him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

If thine Angels, O blessed Je­su, desired to look into this great and deep mysterie of the Gospell; their longing is satis­fied in the sight of thy blessed incarnation, and the full accom­plishment of the great Office1 Pet. 1. 12. of thy Mediatorship, since, now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, is made knowne the manifold wis­dome of God, in this wonder­fullEphes. 3. 9. work of mans Redemption; which from the beginning of the World hath been hid in God, who created all things by thee; But, that the unsearche­able riches of Christ should be preached to the Gentiles, howEphes. 3 8. marvailous an accession is it to the greatness of this divine my­sterie of godlinesse? of old, In Judah was God known, his name was great in Israel: In Sa­lem [Page 48] was his Tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Sion; but in thePsal. 76. 1. mean while, we miserable Gen­tiles sate in darknesse, and in the shadow of death, without God in the world, exposed to the displeasure of heaven, ty­rannized over by the powers ofEphes. 2. 12. hell, strangers from the cove­nants of promise, for lorn, with­out hope of mercy: That there­fore, O Saviour, thou vouch­safedst in the tender bowels of thine infinite compassion, to look down from heaven upon us, and at the last, graciously to visit us, in the clear revelation of the saving truth of thy Gos­pell, to break down the parti­tion wal whereby we were ex­cluded from any participation with thee; to own us for thy people, and to admit us unto the fellowship of thy Saints: O the wonderfull mysterie of Godlinesse, effectually mani­fested to us out-cast Gentiles, to our conversion, to our eter­nall [Page 49] salvation! What a vail, O God, was spread over all Nati­ons?Esay 25. 7. A dark vail of ignorance, of errour, of impiety? How did our fore-fathers walk in their own wayes, following the sinfull lusts of their own hearts worshipping dumb Idols, sacri­ficing to all the host of heaven, offering not their substance on­ly, but their sons and daughters to Devils? It was thine own in­finite goodnesse, that moved thee to pity our woful and des­paired condition; and to send thine eternall Son into the world, to be no lesse a light to lighten the Gentiles, then toLuk 2. 32. be the glory of thy people Isra­el!

How fully hast thou made good thy gracious promises long since published by thy ho­ly Prophets: It shall come,Esay 66. 18. that I will gather all Nations, and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory; AndEsay 2. 2, 3. again, It shall come to pass in [Page 50] the last dayes, that the mountain of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountaines, and shall be exal­ted above the hils, and all Na­tions shall flow to it; And ma­ny people shall go, and say▪ Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his wayes, and we will walk in his paths. And again, Behold, thus saith the Lord, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up myEsay 49. 2 [...]. standard to the people, and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoul­ders: And again, Behold thou shalt call a Nation that thouEsay. 55. 5. knowest not, and Nations that know not thee, shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. O blessed then, ever bles­sed be thy name, O God, that [Page 51] thou wouldest vouchsafe to be made known among us Gen­tiles;Psal. 96. 7 Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord, glory and strength; Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name: All the earth shall worship thee,Ps. 66. 4. and shall sing unto thee, they shall sing unto thy name; AllPs. 22. 27 the ends of the world shall re­member, and run unto the Lord, and all the kinreds of the Nations shall worship before thee.

How did we, O Saviour, of old lye under the pity, and con­tempt of those thy people, which challenged a peculiarity of thy favour: We have a lit­tle sister (said thy Iewish Spouse) and she hath no brests, what shall we do for our sister, when she shall be spoken for? Take no thought for us, O thou once­belovedCant. 8. 8. Synagogue of the Jews, thy little sister is not on­ly spoken for, but contracted, [Page 52] but happily married to her Lord and Saviour; having beenHos. 2. 19. betrothed to him for ever, in righteousnesse, and in judge­ment, and in loving kindnesse, and in mercies: so as we can now return our pity to thee, and say, We had an elder sister which had brests, but her brests are long since wrinkled, and dryed up; what shall we doe for our sister in these dayes of her barrennesse, and just neg­lect? We shall surely pray for our sister, that God would be pleased to return to her in his compassion of old, and restore her to the happy state of her former fruitfulnesse: We follow them with our prayers, they us with malice and despight: with how envious eyes did they look upon those first heralds of the Gospell, who carried the glad tidings of salvation to the des­pised Gentiles? what cruell storms of persecution did they raise against those blessed mes­sengers, [Page 53] whose feet deserved to be beautifull? wherein their obstinate unbelief turned to our advantage; for after they had made themselves unworthy of that Gospell of peace, that blessing was instantly derived upon us Gentiles; and we hap­pily changed conditions withR [...]m. 11. 2 [...]. them: The naturall branches of the good Olive tree being cut off, we, that were of the wild Olive contrary to nature, are graffed in; O the goodness and severity of God! on themRom. 22. which fell, severity, on us, which succeeded, goodness; They were once the children, and we the dogs under the table; the crums were our lot, the bread was theirs; now is the case, through their wilfull incredu­lity, altered; they are the dogs,Rom. 11. 1. and we the children: we sit at a full table, whiles their hunger is not satisfied with scraps; The casting away of them was the reconciling of the world, their [Page 54] fall, our exaltation; It is not for us to be high-minded, butRom. 11. 20 to fear: The great sheet with four corners is let down from heaven, with al manner of four­footed beasts of the earth, and creeping things, and fowls ofAct. 10. 11. [...]2. the air; we may kill, and eat; without any difference of clean or unclean; but even of clean meats we may surfet. O Savi­our, it is thy great mercie, that thou hast been thus long prea­ched amongst us Gentiles, that we in the remote ends of the World have seen the salvation of our God: but if we shall a­buse thy graces to wantonness; and walk unanswerably to this freedome of thy Gospell, how both just and easie is it for thee to withdraw these blessings from us, and to return us to the wofull condition of our old forlornnesse: O let it not be e­nough that thou art preached amongst us Gentiles; but do thou work us to an holy obedi­ence [Page 55] of thy blessed Gospell; re­claim us from our abominable licentiousnesse of life, from our hellish heresies of opinion, and teach us to walk worthy of that great salvation, which thou hast held forth unto us: so shall it be our happiness that thou wert preach'd to us Gentiles; other­wise our condemnation shall be so much the deeper, as our light hath been more clear, and our means more powerfull.

SO▪ poor and despicable, OBeleeved on in the world Saviour▪ wouldst thou have thy coming in the flesh, that it is no marvail if the vain world utterly disregarded thee: For what is the mis-judging world led by but by outward pomp & magnificence? yea, thy very domestick, followers after so long acquaintance with thy [Page 56] person and doctrine, even when thou wert risen from the dead, could thinke of the royalty of a temporall kingdome to be restored to Israel: and still the perverse generations of Jewish Infidels after the conviction of so many hundred years, gape for an earthly Monarchy of their expected Massiah: that, therefore, appearing to the world in so contemptible means, so born, so living, so dying, thou shouldst be universally beleeved on in the world, is the just wonder of the mysterie of Godlinesse. It was the largness of thy divine bountie to allow thy Gospell preached to every creature; but alas, it is liberally preached, sparingly received; Who hath beleeved our report,Esay, 53. 1. and to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed? It was the com­plaint2 Cor. 1. 23. of thy chosen vessell the Doctor of the Gentiles, We preach Christ crucified, to the Jewes a stumbling block, to the [Page 57] Greeks foolishnesse: What a power therefore is there in the mysterie of Godlinesse, that thou art not preached only, but beleeved on in the world?

Hadst thou exhibited thy self in the magnificence and majesty of the Son of God, at­tended either with the glorious Angels of heaven, or the migh­ty Monarchs of the earth, scat­tering honors and riches upon thy followers, in abundance: how large a train wouldst thou have had? how would all the Earth have rung with Hoson­nas to the highest? but now, that thou wouldst come as theMat. 21. 9. Son of man, in the homeliest condition of birth, education life and death; not having so much as an house wherein to put thy head, or a grave where­in to lay thy dead body; now, that thou wouldst suffer thy self to be spat upon, scourged, crucifed, reviled; that the stub born hearts of men should be [Page 58] so convinced by the truth, and power of thy Deity, that thou art beleeved on in the world, is the great mysterie of Godli­nesse▪

The powers of darknesse could not but see their king­dome shaken by thy coming down to the earth, upon this errand of thy Mediation; How busie and violent therefore were those gates of hell in op­posing so glorious a worke? How did they stirr up cruell Tyrants, in the first dawning of thy Gospell, furiously to persecute this way unto death? what exquisite torments of all kinds did they devise for the in­nocent professors of thy name? How drunken was the earth with the blood of thy Martyrs in all parts? And, when they saw how little force could prevaile, (since this Palm-tree grew the more by depression,) how did they set their wits on work in attempting by fraud, [Page 59] to bring about their cut fed de­signes. How cunningly did they go about to undermine that wall, which they could not bat­ter; now, whole troops of the skilfullest Engineers of hell, are sent up by damned heresies to blow up, and overthrow that truth, which they could not beat down▪ One while thine eternall Deity, another while thy sacred humanitie is impug­ned by those, who yet stile themselves Christians: One while either of thy natures, a­nother while thy intire Person is laid at, by those that profess themselves thy friends, and cli­ents▪ One while thine Offices, another while thy Scriptures are opposed by those who yet would seem thine; And though their insinuations have been so eraftily carried, and their co­lours so well laid, that no small part of the world hath been for the time, beguiled by them, and drawn into a plausible mis­beleef▪ [Page 60] yet still, great hath the truth ever been, and ever pre­vailed, happily triumphing o­ver those damnable heresies that have dared to lift up their head against her, and chasing them into their hell: So as, in spight of men and Devils, the great mysterie of Godliness is gloriously vindicated, and God manifested in weak flesh is be­leeved on in the world.

The world is not all of one1 Joh. 5. 19. making, there is a world of creatures, not capable of beleef; there is a world of men that lyeth in wickednesse, re­fusing to beleeve; there is a world of faithfull souls, that do beleeve, and in beleeving are saved: And, O blessed Sa­viour, that thou wouldst gra­ciously enlarge this world of beleevers! Wo is me, what a world of this world of men lyes still under the damnable estate of unbelief? Alas, for those poor savage Indians, that know nothing of a God; which out of their fear, and tyrannicall superstition, worship Devils, that they may not hurt them; for those ignorant, and woful­ly blindfolded Mahumetans, [Page 62] that are not allowed to see any more, then one blinke of thee, as a great Prophet, being taught to blaspheme▪ thy Deity, and to enslave their faith to a wretched Impostor; for those obstinate Jews that are wilfully blind and will not see the light of that truth concerning thee their Messiah, which shineth forth clearly to them, in the writings of the Prophets, in the undeniable accomplish­ment of all former predictions, in the powerfull conviction of miraculous works; What Christian is there, whose bow­els do not yearn, whose heart doth not bleed at the thought of so many millions of misera­ble unbeleevers? O thou the God of infinite mercy and com­passion, in whose hands are all the hearts of the sons of men, look down graciously from heaven upon the dark souls of these poor Infidels and enlighten them with the saving [Page 63] knowledge of the great myste­rie of Godlinesse: Let the beams of thy Gospell break forth unto them, and work them to a sound beleef in thee their God, manifested in the flesh: Fetch home into thy fold all those that belong to thy mercifull election; bring in the fulnesse of the Gentiles; gather together the out-casts of Israel, and glorifie thy self in completing a world of be­leevers.Rom. 11. Psal, 147. 2. And for us, on whom the ends of the world are come; as we have been graci­ously called to the comforta­ble notice of this mysterie of godlinesse, and have professed, and vowed a steadfast be­leef in thy name; so keep us by thy good spirit in an holy and constant avowance of all those main truths, concerning thy sacred Person, Natures, and Offices, unto our last end; For thou seest, O blessed Jesu that there is now such an hell [Page 64] of the spirits of errour broken loose into the world, as if they meant to evacuate this part of the mysterie of godlinesse, (Christ beleeved on in the world;) O do thou by thy migh­ty power restraine and quell these pernicious heresies, and send down these wicked spirits back to their chains; so as our most holy faith may ever re­main inviolable till the day of thy glorious return. Neither let us sit down contented that we hold fast and beleeve the meer historie of thy life, death, and resurrection; (without which, as we can be saved, so with it alone we cannot) but do thou by thy good spirit, work and settle in our souls, a sound, lively, operative, justi­fying faith in thee; whereby we may not only beleeve on thee, as a common Saviour, but beleeve in thee, as ours: bringing thee home to our hearts, and confidently relying [Page 65] upon thee, for the acquittance of all our sins, and for our e­ternall salvation: O that thou mightest be thus beleeved on in the world; and if not by them, in the notion of their universality, yet by us whoReceived up into glory. professe thy name, to thy great glory and our everlasting com­fort.

IN these occurrences, on the earth; Great is the mysterie of godlinesse, but the highest pitch of this great mysterie, O Saviour, is, that thou thus ma­nifested in our flesh, wert re­ceived up into glorie: even that celestiall glorie which thou en­joyest in the highest heavens, sitting on the right hand of majesty, seen and adored by all that blessed company of theHeb. 12. 22. 23. souls of just men made perfect, and the innumerable troops of glorious Angels: If some erro­neous fancies have placed their heaven here below upon earth, ours is above; and so is thine O blessed Jesu, who wert taken up in glorie; thou couldst not be taken up to any earthly as­cent, since thou tookest thy farewell on the top of Mount [Page 67] Olivet: but from this globe of earth thou ascendest through the skies to that Empyreall heaven, where thou remain­est in glorie, infinite, and in­comprehensible. The many and intentive beholders of thy last parting, did not cast their eyes down into the valley, neither did see cause with the fifty sons2 King 2. 16. of the Prophets, to seek for thee (as they would needs do for Elijah) in vallies, and moun­tains; they saw and worishpped thee, leasurely ascending up through the region of this low­er heaven, till a cloud intercep­ted thee from their sight; nei­ther then could easily be taken off, either by the interposition of that dark body, or by the interpellation of Angels: And now, O blessed Saviour, how is my soul ravished with the medi­ation of thy glorious reception into thine Heaven? Surely, if the inhabitants of those celesti­al mansions may be capable of [Page 68] any increase of joy, they then both found and shewed it, when they saw and welcomed thee en­tering in thy gorlifi'd humanity, in to that thy eternal palace of blessedness; and if there could be any higher, or sweter ditty then Hallelujah, it was then sung by the Chore of Angels and Saints. And may thy poor servants warfairing and wandring here upon earth, ever second them in those heavenly songs of praises and gratulations: for wherein stands all our safety, hope, comfort, happinesse, but in this, that thou our Jesus art received up into glorie? and having conquered all adverse powers, sittest on the right hand of God the Farher, crow­ned with honour and majesty? O Jesu, thou art our head, we are thy body: how can the body but participate of the glory of the head? as for thy self therefore, so for us, art thou possessed of that heavenly glo­rie: [Page 69] as thou sufferedst for us, so for us thou also raignest; LetPhil. 2. 11. every knee therefore bow unto thee, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things un­der the earth; O blessed be thy name for ever and ever: Thine,2 Chr. 2. 11. O Lord, is the greatnesse, and the power, and the glorie, and the victorie, and the majestie; for all that is in the heaven, and in the earth is thine: thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head over all: And now, O Saviour, what a super­abundant amends is made to thy glorified humanitie, for all thy bitter sufferings upon earth? Thine Agonie was extreme, but thy glorie is infinite, thy crosse was heavie, but thy crown tran­scendently glorious: thy pains were unconceivably grievous, but short, thy glory everlasting: If thou wert scorned by men, thou art now adored by Angels: Thou that stoodst before the Judgment Seat of a Pilate, shalt [Page 70] come in all heavenly magnifi­cence to judge both the quick and the dead; Shortly, thou which wouldst stoop to be a servant upon Earth, rulest and raignest for ever in Heaven as the King of eternall glorie.

O then, my soul, seeing thy Saviour is received up into this infinite glorie, with what in­tention and fervour of spirit shouldst thou fix thine eyes upon that heaven where he lives, and raigns? How canst thou be but wholly taken up with the sight and thought of that place of blessednesse? how canst thou abide to grovell any longer on this base Earth, where is nothing but vanity and vexation; and refrain to minde the things above, where is all felicitie and glorie? with what longings, and holy ambi­ [...]ion shouldst thou desire to a­spire to that place of eternall rest, and beatitude, into which thy Saviour is ascended? and [Page 71] with him to partake of that glory and happinesse which he hath provided for all that love him? O Saviour, it is this clog of wretched infidelity and earthlinesse that hangs heavie upon my soul, and keeps me from mounting up into thy presence, and from a comfor­table fruition of thee: O do thou take off this sinfull weight from me, and raise up my af­fections and conversation to thee; enable me constantly to enjoy thee by a lively faith here: till by thy mercie I shall be received into thy glorie.