THat speech of the Apostle , 1 Cor . 13. If I spake with the tongue of men and Angels , is transcendent , and doth intimate a superadded eminency of speaking communicated vnto them , aboue that which is granted vnto man : For as we fall short of the Angels in purity of essence , and excellency of graces : so doe they exceed vs in that celestiall language , ( best knowne vnto them , least vnto vs ) whereby they do interchange their thoughts mutually each to other , and interpret themselues vnto mankind .

We neuer reade that Christ rode but once , and that vpon an Asse , when the people spred the way with branches , and the children welcomed him with Hosannah & benedictus in their mouths ; if silence had beene imposed to those little ones , etiam saxa , stones should not haue wanted tongues to haue expressed the Creators worth : and though the earth , & men vpon the earth lay their hands vpon their mouths , when they should display a Sauiours goodnesse , yet Coeli enarrant : a Metaphysicall Starre shall be a Cynosura to conduce the Sages to Christ , folded in the armes of his mother the blessed Virgin : and a celestiall Angell shall wait vpon the same Sauiour , wrapped in the bowels of the earth , our common mother .

The Lords Incarnation was an initiation to the work of our Redemption , but that worke not perfected till his resurrection , for this end was I borne , therefore it ended not in his birth ; for when the Sonne of God put on our nature , then did hee enter the lists , and vpon that armour of flesh did receiue all the strokes of his Aduersaries , and then , did hee march into this world with a band of heauenly souldiers ; so , post victoriam statim serviunt Angeli : Hieron . after a suppression and confusion of his enemies , they are ready to prosecute the victory with a triumph , and to demonstrate it to others : it was an Angels voice , Come see the place where the Lord was laid .

It will much enlighten this text , if you will permit me to parallel those adiacent circumstances in his birth with these that fel out in his resurrection : 1 , The matter ; Luke 2. there , that Christ came into the earth ; here , out of the earth : in both was set out by an Angel . 2 , And their habit was died with the same tincture , there , Claritas Dei circumfulsiteos ; here , aspectus eius sicut fulgur , the glosse of splendency shined alike in both . 3 , They agreed in their preface , Nolite timere , no cause to feare . 4 , The newes in both good , Ecce natus est vobis Salvator , there ; here , surrexit , non est hîc . The auditory in both alike , there shepheards , here women : And much about the same time , the shepheards there , watching their flocke by night ; the women here , before the Sunne-rising , seeke after the rising of the Sonne : The Preachers here and there gaue pledges for the truth of their doctrine , & hoc vobis erit signum , to the shepheards . Venite & videte , to the women . There a manger , here a sepulchre ; but yet with this difference , The Lord was there , The Lord was not here : there , wrapped in swadling cloathes , here the linnen cloathes wrapped by themselues ; therefore hee appoales vnto the Monument for a witnesse of his assertion , Come ( to the women ) see the place where the Lord was laid .

The Text cuts it selfe into two parts : 1 , an Inuitation of the Angell to the women , Come : 2 , a Vision of the women , demonstrated by the Angell , See the place , &c. And that spreads it selfe into three branches : 1 , the act , see : 2 , the obiect , place : 3 , the periphrasis of that obiect , where the Lord was laid . These be the branches , whose fruit with Gods grace I am now to shake , you to gather , and that as it shall fall in order .

1. The Inuitation , Come . Venite . By all likelihood these women had approached the sepulchre before , but now vpon the vision of the Angell recoyled , amazed at the splendency of so bright an obiect . Matuell not if the weaker sex are terrified , seeing worthies haue trembled at such apparitions . Zachary a man , and more then that , a Priest , and which might most comfort him , exercising his holy function , yet fear fell on him at the sight of an Angell . The Iewes had a tradition that such sights were ominous , and portended death : Alas , my Lord , ( said Gideon ) I haue seene an Angel and shall die : Iudg . 6.22 , 23. the Lord takes away that suspition , Thou shalt not dye at all . The true morall cause of feare is sinne . Our first Parents conuerst with God in Paradise very confidently , & neuer grew timerous till they became sinful : Adam had no sooner experience of euill , but became acquainted with feare : Gen. 3.10 . I heard thy voyce in the garden , and was afraid . Feare , shame , and griefe , are the waiting Mayds of sinne .

Yet these women , though nature had put feare into their hearts , were not so fearfull as those men of warre that were set to guard the sepulchre : As sin , so feare doth multiply : and wicked men somtimes suggest dreadfull fansies to themselues , without any reall cause ; as the Prophet speaketh , The wicked feare , where no feare is , and when no enemie makes after them , yet They runne , when none pursues them .

Nihil tutum apud Diabolum , Hieron . what a seruile feare possesseth the Deuils seruants ? who would not feare to sinne , that makes vs thus afraid ? Chrysost . Magnum supplicium peccare , etiamsi non puniamur : sin it selfe is a dreadfull sting . The righteous is bold as a Lyon : no comfort like that which is founded vpon innocencie , whereas a guilty conscience is euer proiecting fearful obiects , Conscientiâ vecordes intrat metus . Tacit. & makes cruell men cowards : These women were afraid , yet not halfe dead with feare , as were the Souldiers .

The watchmen lye still in their feare , but the Angell speakes comfortably to the women , feare not , come . The souldiers share in feare , but not in comfort . The godly and the wicked may grone alike vnder the crosse , but the Lord entailes his special blessings vpon his children . When all the world was washt to nothing , only Noah and his Family sate still in his dry Cabin , Gen. 7. blessing God for his deliuerance . The boundlesse waters make a way for the Israelites in the red sea , but close vpon Pharaoh and his army to their destruction . God suspends the fire from burning the three Children in the belly of the furnace , but in the mouth thereof turnes the souldiers into ashes by the same flames . So did he musle the Lyons mouthes while Daniel was in the den , but opened them vpon his enemies .

Thus doth the Almighty confine his blessings vpon his children , and exterminates the wicked from the fruition thereof . Get thee ( my brother ) if euer thou looke for safety , within the pale & circumference of the Church , so shalt thou participate of those blessings which God hath set out for those that loue him .

Obserue Gods method , how he proceeds with his children : the women beginne with feare , but end in comfort . Afflictions season and dispose the godly , and cause them to welcome felicitie with greater affection : our Lord went this thorny way , from Mount Caluary to Mount Oliuet , from the Crosse to the cloud , from a Crowne of Thornes , to that of Glory . And his Apostle Saint Paul knew no other way but through many afflictions .

The wicked in this world make holiday , and here receiue their consolation : the iust sow in teares , but reape in ioy : Lazarus is full of sores , and empty of food , this world was to him a winter , but is now translated into Abrahams bosome , & there concludes in eternall ioy : Diues his life was tragicall , beganne in mirth , but closed in miserie ; spent his life in pleasure , but death wherried him to hell .

Domine , Aug. hic vre , hic seca ; Lord , let mee taste the wormwood of afflictions here , that I may escape the gal of bitternesse hereafter .

Come . Their early seeking of the Lord , deserued to see the place where he lay , yet not worthy to lay hands on him there , by reason of their incredulitie . Christ to Mary , touch me not , faith is the hand that apprehendeth our Sauiour , whereas infidelitie battes vs from him .

In the two Maries we see their diligence , but desire their faith : Non credentes suscitatum , Aug. credide runt sublatum : for want of beleefe he was risen , they beleeued hee was caried away . Though the Angell ascertained them of his resurrection , and confirmed his narration by the graue now emptie , yet were their hearts emptie of faith , beleeuing no more but iust what the high Priests and Iewes did . Sustulerunt Dominum , They haue taken away the Lord , was the vtmost period of their Creed .

Yet because Error mulierum cum pietate sociatus est , Hieron . the Lord takes their deuotion for faith ; & doth not excommunicate them from him ; because hee saw in them some seeds and sparkes of faith , though implicated with much doubting : so doth the Almighty feed faith in the cradle , and neuer extinguisheth the first impetus or good motions in any , but inflames them . Mat . 12.20 . The smoaking flax will he not quench , the bruised reed shall he not breake .

The Eunuch was well affected to religion , to vndertake so long a iourney as from Aethiopia to Ierusalem for deuotions sake . The Lord registers his religious steps , and the Spirit shall conuay Philip to his Chariot , to giue him better instructions . Acts 10. Cornelius was a iust man , and feared God , and ( which was strange in a Captaine ) made vp of almes and good workes , pitie so deuoutna soule should want instruction . The Lord takes notice of him , and in a vision directs him how to send for Peter : and in another , warrants that Apostle with a commission to stop out into the way of the Gentiles . The Schoole resolueth , that Cornelius had faith before he met with Peter , but implicite , and that he beleeued in the promised Messias , but mistooke through ignorance the person of our Sauiour : & before the Schoolmen , Gregory the great , Per fidem venit ad opera , per opera solidatus est in side : His infant faith bore the fruit of good workes , which added both growth and strength vnto it : But vpon Peters comming his faith is explicite and enformed with knowledge : and he beleeues that more plainly , which but in a mystery hee saw before . It is as cleere as the Sunne , that God is neuer wanting with his mercy to a willing heart .

Sometimes hee is found of them that seeke him not , but neuer misseth them that seeke him : for , thou Lord neuer failest them that seeke thee : Psal . 9.10 . and in another place , Heb . 6.10 . Forgets not the loue of them that seeke him .

It is a good Axiom in Schoole , if cautelously interpreted , Facienti quod in se est Deus non denegat gratiam , A hand is reached out of heauen to help them that put forward for piety : God tenders grace to al , if men ioyne but to make it efficacious .

The Lord denied not himselfe to these women , though faith were wanting , because they added diligence .

Thus haue you heard the Angels Inuitation , Come ; the end followeth , To see the place where the Lord was laid .

Come see . 1. Act , videte . The end of their comming was to see : Saint Iohn maketh it plaine , Ioh . 20.11 . The two Maries preuented the morning watch , and Came to see the Sepulchre .

How many pledges of their affection to him liuing , Mat . 27.56 . to him dead ? They were last at the Crosse , first at the Graue : stayed longest there , were soonest here ; they burnt no day-light , but with all expedition repaired to see the Sepulchre : Origen . Affectus amoris non est vituperandus :

But yet , Defectus fidei non est negandus : that sight could not let in faith , they are deceiued that think faith hath a passage through the eyes into the heart . Saint Thomas would see , not beleeue , his Redeemer liued ; the Lord rebukes his staring faith , and withall applauds that which is inuisible , Blessed are they which beleeue , and see not : and the Apostle sets it vpon it owne basis , Heb . 11.1 . Faith is the euidence of things not seene . These sedulous women for all their diligence found not faith . Let none presume that to be acquisite by humane industry , that meerly is infused by diuine grace . Let Nature neuer be so beneficiall to Pelagius , yet shall hee walke in a circle , vnlesse Grace guide him to the center . Mat . 16. Saint Peter met with a higher Schoolemaster then flesh & blood : Christ tels him , that the Father did dictate that confession to him from heauen . Our vnderstanding may further , but it begets not faith . Christ in that great mysterie in giuing his flesh to eate , Ioh . 6.64 . blames not their vnderstanding which made them vncapable , but their defect of faith ; But there are some which beleeue not ; Aug. Ideo non intelligunt , quia non credunt , as the Prophet speaketh , Except yee beleeue yee shall not vnderstand . Hieron . Fiunt , non nascuntur Christiani ; T is the second , not first birth that makes a Christian . Euery Art admitteth of some principles which call for a necessary assent , and out of them are all conclusions deduced : humane industry may adde fuell to our faith , but it is the Spirit of fire that must first inflammate it .

These women for all the Angell had said and shewne them , yet were but fidei candidatae , as Hierome tearmes them , Punies in faith , did come , and see , but not beleeue .

But what , Obiect Locum . were they called to see his graue ? They made no question but to find him there , which made them come with spices and odours to embalme his dead bodie , whom they so much honoured liuing .

Mary held nothing too deare , in his life time shee spent a box of costly ointment , shee forgets him not though dead , and reputed it a happinesse to performe her last deuotions to his sacred corps : But the Angell checkes them both , Why seeke you the liuing among the dead ?

Yet how was their expectation disappointed ? faith they had none to see him aliue , and their hope to see him dead , was now dead .

It had beene some calme after a storme of teares to haue found his body though dead , that to it they might haue done the last offices of loue : Amb. Etiam viso cadauere recalescit amor , at the sight of that wil loue reuiue , it will fetch life of loue againe . But alas his corps are conueyed away , and nothing left but an emptie graue to be replenished with their teares ; and the heauinesse of this losse Mary witnessed with her distilling drops , Origen . Labor vngendi periit , dolor lugendi creuit : her labour to anoint him is lost , her griefe to lament him lost , is renewed . Prius doluerat defunctum , & nunc dolebat sublatum : When his life was taken away on the Crosse , shee was no doubt the chiefe mourner ; but to haue his body taken away from the graue , shee mournes and will not be comforted : that Saint Augustine affirmeth , de monumento sublatus , did afflict her more , then occisus in ligno : for after death shee had his dead body , now nothing at all but griefe : so , Defuit obsequio , Origen . qui non defuit dolori ; defuit quem condiret , sea non defuit quem ploraret ; eoque magis plorabat quo magis ille deerat : And might they not wel suspect the Souldiers to haue a hand in this suspected conuerance , and withal iustly feare some abuse or violence to bee offered to that body they held so deare ? Did they not accuse the Iewes of extreame malice , that his death could not quench their hatred ; but like inhumane Tyrants will they prosecute after death : or , Cuius vita subtracta fuerit , Augustin . nec memoria remanebit ? Did they desire to cut off his remembrance from the earth ; or durst they not suffer his Sepulchre to go vndefaced , lest their crueltie had bin his Epitaph ? Well , whatsoeuer their policy was , the women took it heauily to see no more left of him but a graue . But God preuents thē with his mercy , for whom they sought for dead , they found aliue : Simplex & sancta mulier Christum requirebat à Christo : Hieron . she stumbles vpon her Lord aboue expectation , and demands , Sir , if thou hast borne him hence , tell me where thou hast laid him : O quam scienter nescit , Origen . & docte errat . A learned ignorance : to the Angels shee saith , tulerunt , they haue taken ; but to Christ , si tulisti , if thou hast borne him hence ; so , errando non errauit , Greg . speakes more then shee knowes , yet the truth : the Lord indeed had remoued his body , but in him it was , Petr : Crysol non facinus , sed gloria . Now Maries sorrow is turned into gladnesse , and she weepes for ioy to finde him aliue in the garden , whose losse she bewailed at the graue . So doth God frustrate our vaine hopes , that wee may pitch vpon eternall ; and lets the world frowne on vs , that we may not be irretiated with the snares therof . The dew of heauen ofttimes disdains the fatnes of the earth , as a Riuall , because his grace is sufficient for vs. Come see the place . Then the Lords body had a place , & that proportionable to his body . Either the Angels wanted subtilty , or else the tender Church as yet capacitie , to conceiue how there could be Corpus quantum , sine modo quantitatiuo : when God was cloathed with our flesh , humane nature with all her properties was then assumed , not drowned , not destroyed by the Deity . Eutiches confounded the natures , Monotholaetae the wills , and our new masters the Vbiquitists ( pardon a barbarous name for a barbarous error ) doe euert the properties . The Councell of Calchedon demonstrated a twofold nature in Christ , by a twofold will , against the Eutichians : And the succeeding Doctors concluded a twofold will from a twofold nature , against the Monotholaetae : for from the essence to the essentiall properties , the argument holds . And may it not bee lawful for vs from the verity of Christs body , to inferre a certaine position of place : for , dans proprietates datnaturam , tollens naturam toll it proprietates , saith Luther himselfe , essentiall properties can neuer be diuorced , without the dissolution of that nature from whence they are emergent .

The Church of Rome cries down vbiquity , with an eager pursuit after the fauourers thereof , but in the interim calleth not to minde her owne monstrous assertions at home : Hypocrite , first cast forth the beame out of thine own eye , then shalt thou discerne more plainly the moates in others . I resolutely speake it , there are more concomitant absurdities that issue from by Transubstantiation , then depend vpon the error of Vbiquity , and not to digresse about the very placing of Christs body in the Host , I offer with Scotus foure absurdi●ies to be considered by thy proctors the Iesuites , that the body of Christ is there present : 1 , without the iust quantity of a body : 2 , cast into the mould of a lesser quantity : 3 , without mutation or ceasing of the corporal place & iust quantity it hath in heauen : 4 , and that at once it replisheth diuers places : Hieron . Thus vestras sententias recitasse , superasse est : These , if any , are those opinions , which to rehearse , is to vanquish : and that carie their confutation in their faces .

Surrexit , non est hic , was the Angels argument , So phistry was not yet hatched to deny that consequent , that Christ might be here yet risen , by acquisition of a new place , without the deperdition of the former vbi . Lib . 3. de Eucharist c . 18. Bellarmine smelt these absurdities , and desired , as it seemeth , with a new distinction to turne downe the leafe vpon them ; and tels vs of a conuersio productiua , & adductiua : that conuersion produceth a new existence , this a new place . So the body of Christ saith the Iesuit , is not produced a new out of the bread , but seated in a new place : This new deuice gaue such distaste , that Sixtus Quintus fell foule vpon the Cardinall , as if that great Master of Controuersies had let in a giddy sweezing about the great mystery of Papisme , and in stead of a receiued Transubstantiation , had endeauored for a naked Translocation : that his braines must bee purged with an Hellebore , and hereof his gray haires must make a speciall recognition .

But to let slip these {αβγδ} and subtilties , plusquam Crysippeia , as fit exercises for Italianated wits , and how Rome with her credit may come out of these Labyrinths , let the Iesuits see to that . I proceed to that which may inflame our deuotions to piety : So my Text tels you the graue is a place , and is bold to let you know , that as all things tend to their proper place , so all flesh is ended in this Center . Quid est vita nisi cursus ad mortem : Greg . life vshereth to death , and that layeth vs in the graue . Man is but congealed Ice , soone dissolued : compacted dust , by death easily dispersed : as wee beginne , so shall we end in the earth , though some spinne out their dayes to a greater length then others , yet at the length their thread is cut , and they haue followed that tract so much beaten by others before thē . Consider further : that as no element is heauy & ponderous in its own place ▪ so to the godly , death is a place of ease . That celestialvoice was to be filed vpon record for succeeding ages , Write , Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord , for they rest from their labors . Death bounds the stormes , surges and waues of sorrow which here inuolve Gods Saints , and seemes to say , hitherto shalt thou come , and no further : therefore , Bern . Iustus etsi mortem non cauet , non tamen pauet : death to the wicked comes with a sting , to the godly hath lost it : O death where is thy sting , O hell where is thy victory ? And conuert the Angels speech into a meditation , let our thoughts inuite vs to come , and see the place of our end . Iosep● of Arimathea had placed his Sepulchre in his Garden , to demonstrate the summe of his meditations euen in his place of solace : good men who make not this earth the period of their hopes , & determine not in these transitory pleasures , are neuer so transported with the fruition thereof , but in the middest of them remember their end ; contemplating vpon this graue wherein they must be placed . Come see the place .

See the place . Dominum . But whose ? If euer the dignity of the person graced the place , then now the place where the Lord was closed : what ? the Lord of heauen placed within the bowels of earth ! All ages are amazed that euer the Creator should stoop so low . Lord if thou art pleased to put on mortall flesh , yet let thy Deity dispense with death . And certainly it was a wonder that by grace of personall vnion it was not preserued from dissolution ; yet as the ioy arising from the Diuine vision in our Sauiours death , Melchior Ca●● was for a while subtracted from him , to make his heauinesse the more : so for the accomplishment of our Redemption , the Deity did suspend it selfe from glorifying the humane nature , that Christ might suffer , dye , and for a time lye in this place .

Yet for all this humility , he lost not the honour of the Hypostaticall vnion , Christ caried that along with him which way soeuer he went . The Angell saith not , where the body , but where the Lord lay . In the Instant of his Conception , Dominus tecum , Luk . 1. Luk . 2. Act. 3.15 . was the Angels salute ; in his birth the Shepheards heard , Natus est Christus : In his death Peter is bold to tell the Iewes of it : Dominum vitae interfecistis ; and in the graue , the Angell to the women ; P. Rauen . Vbi posuerunt Dominum , Crucem dicit , loquitur passionem , fatetur mortem , sed resurrectionem mox , mox Dominum confitetur : Neuer did the Lord it so apparantly as in his Resurrection , now did the beames of his power shine out , and his soueraignty ouer death appeared : Euer was he Lord de iure , now de facto , when hee vanquished death , and put the graue to flight . The Schoole disputeth , An Christus in triduo fuit homo , and varies vpon the resolution thereof , but neuer so much as question , An Christus in triduo fuit Deus : If euer any doubt it , let his Resurrection witnesse it to the world , an effect that none but the supreamest cause can produce .