A SERMON PREACHED AT Whitehall, on Easter day the 16. of April. 1620. By the Bishop of Winchester. LONDON, Printed by ROBERT BARKER, and JOHN BILL, Printers to the Kings most Excellent Majesty. M.DC.XX. JOHN. CHAP. XX. Maria autem stabat iuxta monumentum, etc. Ver. II. But Marry, stood by the Sepulchre, weeping, and as she wept she stooped, and looked into the Sepulchre, 12. And saw two angels, in white, sitting, the one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of jesus had eyen. 13. And they said to her, Woman, why weepest thou? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him. 14. When she had thus said, she turned herself about, and saw jesus standing, and knew not that it was jesus. 15. jesus saith to her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She (supposing He had been the gardener) said to him, Sir if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him thence. 16. jesus saith to her, Marry: She turned herself, and said to Him, Rabboni; that is to say, Master. 17. jesus saith to her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, But, go to my brethren, and say to them, I ascend to my Father and to your Father, and to my God and your God. This last verse was not touched. IT is Eastr day abroad: And it is so in the text. We keep Salomon's rule, 1. Reg. 8. 59 Verbum diei in die suo: For, all this (I have read) is nothing else, but a report of CHRIST'S rising, and of His appearing this Easter day morning, His very first appearing of all. S. Mar. 16. 9 Mark is express for it, that Christ was no sooner risen this day, but He appeared first of all to Mary Magdalene: which first appearing of His, is here by S. john extended, and set down at large. The sum of it is, 1. The seeking Christ dead; 2. The finding Him alive. The Manner of it is, That Mary Magdalene staying still by the Sepulchre, first she saw a vision of Angels: and after, she saw Christ himself. Saw Him, and was herself made an Angel by Him, a good Angel, to carry the evangel, the first good and joyful tidings of His rising again from the dead. And this was a great honour (all considered) to serve in an Angel's place. To do that at His Resurrection (His second birth) that, Acts 13. 33. at His first birth an Angel did. An Angel first published that; Marry Magdalen brought first notice of this. As he, to the Shepherds; so she, to the Apostles, the Pastors of Christ's flock, by them to be spread abroad to the ends of the world. To look a little into it. 1. Mary is the name of a woman: 2. Marry Magdalen, of a sinful woman. That, to a woman first; it agreeth well, to make even with Eve; that, as by a woman came the first news of death; So, by a woman also might come the first notice of the Resurrection from the dead. And the place fits well: for, in a garden, they came, both. That, to a sinful woman first; that also agrees well. To her first that most needed it: most needed it, and so first sought it. And it agrees well; He be first found of her, that first sought Him: Even in that respect she was to be respected. In which two, there is opened unto us a gate of hope, Host 2. 15. two great leaves (as it were) one that no infirmity of sex (for a woman we see: (the other, that no enormity of sin, (for a sinful woman, one that had the blemish, that she went under the common name of peccatrix, Luke. 7. 37. as notorious and famous in that kind:) That, neither of these, shall debar any to have their part in Christ, and in His Resurrection; any, that shall seek Him in such sort, as she did. For, either of these non obstante, nay notwithstanding both these, she had the happiness; To see His Angels (and that was no small favour:) To see Christ himself: And that, first of all, before all others, to see and salute Him: And, to receive a commission from Him of Vade & dic, to go and tell, (that is, as it were) to be an Apostle, and that to the Apostles themselves, to bring them the first good news of Christ's rising again. THere are three Parties that take up the whole Text: and if I should divide it, I would make those three Parties the three parts; ¹ Mary Magdalene, ² the Angels, ³ and Christ our Saviour. Marry Magdalen begins her part in the first verse, but she goes along through them all. Then the Angel's part in the two verses next. ¹ Their appearing, ² and their speech to her: Appearing, in the twelfth, Speech, in the thirteenth. And last, Christ's part in all the rest. ¹ His appearing, ² and Speech, likewise. Appearing, first, unknown, in the fourteenth, and His speech then, in the fifteenth. After, His appearing, and speech again, being known, in the sixteenth and seventeenth. ¹ Forbidding her, Mane & tange, to stay, and to touch, ² and bidding her, Vade & dic, together quickly to His brethren, and tell them, His resurrection was past, for (ascendo) He was taking thought for His ascension, and preparing for that. Thus lieth the order, and the parts. The use will be, that we, in our seeking, carry ourselves as she did: and so may we have the happiness, that she had, to find Christ, as He is now to be found in the virtue of His Resurrection. VER. 11. But Marry, stood by the sepulchre, weeping, and as she wept, she stooped, and looked into the sepulchre. OF the favours vouchsafed this same faelix peccatrix, (as the Fathers term her) this day, ¹ To see but Christ's Angels, ² To see Christ at all, ³ To see Him first of all, ⁴ But, more than all these, to be employed by Him in so heavenly an errand; reason we can render none that helped her to these, but that, which in a place Christ himself renders, Quia dilexit muliùm, Luke 7. 47. Because she loved much. She loved much: we cannot say, She believed much. For, by her sustulerunt thrice repeated, at the second, thirteenth, fifteenth verses, it seems, she believed no more, then just as much as the High Priests would have had the world believe, Matt. 28. 13. that He was taken away by night. Defectus fideinon est negandus, affectus amoris non est vituper and us: It is Origen. we cannot commend her faith; her love, we cannot but commend; And so do: Commend it in her, commend it to you. Much it was, and much good proof gave she of it. Before, to Him living: now, to Him dead. To Him dead, there are diverse: ¹ She was last at His Cross, & first at His grave: ² Stayed longest there, was soon here: ³ Could not rest, till she were up to seek Him: ⁴ Sought Him, while it was yet dark, before she had light to seek Him by. But, to take her as we find her in the Text, and to look no whither else. There are, in the Text, no less than ten, all arguments of her great love, all, as it were, a commentary upon dilexit multùm. And even in this first verse, there are five of them. The first, in these words; stabat inxta monumentum, that she stood by the grave. A place, where faint love loves not to stand. Bring Him to the grave, and lay Him in the grave, and there leave him: but come no more at it, nor stand not long by it. Stand by Him, while He is alive, So did many, stand, and go, and sit by Him. But, stans iuxta monumentum, Stand by Him dead, Marry Magdalen, she did it, and she only did it, and none but she. Amor stans iuxta monumentum. The next is in these, Maria autem stabat. But Marie stood. In the autem, the but (that, helps us to another.) But Mary stood (that is as much to say, as) others did not, But, she did. ver. 8. Peter and john were there but even now. Thither they came, but not finding Him, away they went. They went: But Marie went not, she stood still. Their going away commends her staying behind. To the grave she came before them, From the grave she went to tell them, To the grave she returns with them, At the grave she stays behind them. Fortior eam figebat affectus, saith Augustine, a stronger affection fixed her, so fixed her, that she had not the power to remove thence. Go, who would, she would not, but stay, still. To stay while others do so, while company stays, that is the world's love: But Peter is gone, and john too: all are gone, and we left alone; then to stay, is love, and constant love. Amor manens, aliis recedentibus, Love, that when others shrink and give over, holds out still. The third in these, she stood, and she wept; And, not a tear or two: but she wept a good (as we say;) That the Angels, That Christ himself pity her, and both of them, the first thing they do, they ask her, Why she wept so? Both of them begin with that question. And, in this, is love. For, if, when Christ stood at Lazarus graves side and wept, joh. 11. 36. the jews said, See how be loved him: may not we say the very same, when Mary stood at Christ's grave and wept, See, how she loved him? Whose presence she wished for, His miss she wept for; whom she dear loved, while she had Him, she bitterly bewailed, when she lost Him. Amor amare flens, Love running down the cheeks. The fourth in these, And as she wept, she stooped, and looked in, ever and anon. That is, she did so weep, as, she did seek withal. Weeping without seeking, is but to small purpose. But, her weeping hindered not her seeking; Her sorrow dulled not her diligence. And, diligence is a character of love, comes from the same root, dilectio & diligentia from diligo, both. Amor diligentiam diligens. To seek, is one thing: not to give over seeking, is another. For, I ask, why should she now look in? Peter and john had looked there before, nay had been in the grave, (they.) Ver. 8. It makes no matter: She will not trust Peter's eyes, nor john's, neither. But, she herself had before this, looked in, (too.) No force, she will not trust herself, she will suspect her own eyes, she will rather think, she looked not well before, then leave off her looking. It is not enough for love, to look in once. Thus we use, this is our manner when we seek a thing seriously, where we have sought already, there to seek again, thinking we did it not well, but, if wenow look again, better, we shall surely find it, then. Amor quaerens ubi quaesivit. Love, that never thinks, it hath looked enough. These five. And, by these five, we may take measure of our love, and of the true multum of it. Vt profit nobis ejus stare, ejus plorare, & quaerere (faith Origen) that her standing, her weeping, and seeking, we may take some good by them. I doubt, ours will fall short. Stay by Him alive, that we can, juxtamensam: but juxta monumentum, who takes up his standing there? And our love, it is dry eyed, it cannot weep; it is stiffe-jointed, it cannot stoop to seek. If it do, and we hit not on Him at first, away we go, with Peter and john; we stay it not out with Mary Magdalen. A sign, our love is little, and light, and our seeking suitable, and so, it is without success. We find not Christ, no marvel: but seek Him as she sought Him, and we shall speed, as she sped. VER. 12. And saw two Angels, in white, sitting, the one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of jesus had lain. For what came of this? Thus staying by it, and thus looking in, again and again, though she saw not Christ at first, she sees his Angels. For so it pleased Christ to come by degrees: His Angels, before Him. And, it is no vulgar honour, this, to see but an Angel, what would one of us give to see but the like sight? We are now at the Angel's part. Their appearing, in this verse. There are four points in it. ¹ Their place, ² Their habit, ³ Their site, ⁴ and their order. ¹ Place, in the grave, ² Habit, in white; ³ site, they were sitting; ⁴ and their order in sitting, one at the head, the other at the feet. The Place, In the grave she saw them: and Angels in a grave, is a strange sight, a fight never seen before, not till Christ's body had been there, never, till this day; this the first news of Angels in that place. For, a grave, is no place for Angels (one would think) for worms, rather: Blessed Angels, not but in a blessed place. But, since Christ lay there, that place is blessed. There was a voice heard from heaven, Blessed be the dead, Reu. 14. 13. Precious the death, Glorious the memory now, Psal. 116. 15. of them that die in the Lord. And, even this, that the Angels disdained not now to come thither, and to sit there, is an auspicium of a great change to ensue in the state of that place. Quid gloriosius Angelo? quid vilius vermiculo? saith Augustine. Qui fuit vermiculorum locus, est & Angelorum. That which was the place for worms, is become a place for Angels. Their Habit, In white. So were there diverse of them, diverse times, this day, seen, in white, all, in that colour. It seems to be their Easter day colour; for at this Feast, they all do their service in it. Their Easter day colour, for it is the colour of the Resurrection. The state whereof when Christ would represent upon the Mount. His raiment was all white, no Fuller in earth could come near it. And, our colour it shall be, Reu. 7. 9 when rising again, we shall walk in white robes, and follow the Lamb whither soever He goeth. Heaven mourned on Good-Friday; the Eclipse made all then in black. Easter day, it rejoiceth, Heaven and Angels all in white. Solomon tells us, it is the colour of joy. And, Eccles. 9 8. that is the state of joy, and this the day of the first joyful tidings of it, with joy ever celebrated, even in albis, eight days together, by them that found Christ. In white, and sitting: As the colour, of joy: so, the situation, of rest. So we say, Sat down, and rest. And so, is the grave made by this morning's work, a place of rest. Rest, not from our labours only, so do the beasts rest when they die: But, as it is in 16. Psal. 16. 9 Psalm (a Psalm of the resurrection) a rest in hope; hope, of rising again, the members in the virtue of their head, who this day is risen. So, to enter into the rest, which yet remaineth for the people of God, Heb. 4. 9 even the Sabbath eternal. Sitting, and in this order sitting, at the head, one; at the feet, another, where His body had lain. 1 Which order may well refer to Christ himself, whose body was the true Ark indeed, Col. 2. 9 In which it pleased the Godhead to dwell bodily; and is therefore here between two Angels, as was the Ark (the type of it) between the two Cherubims. Exod. 25. 19 2 May also refer to Mary Magdalen. Mat. 26. 7. She had anointed his head, joh. 11. 3. she had anointed his feet: at these two places, sit the two Angels, as it were to acknowledge so much for her sake. 3 In mystery they refer it thus. Because caput Christi Deus, 1 Cor. 11. 3. the Godhead is the head of Christ, Gen. 3. 15. and His feet (which the Serpent did bruise) His manhood; that either of these hath his Angel. That, to Christ man, no less then to Christ God, the Angels do now their service. In principio erat verbum, His Godhead, there an Angel: Verbum caro factum, His manhood; there, another. And let all the Angels of God worship Him in both. Heb. 1. 6. Even in His manhood, at His cradle (the head of it) a choir of Angels; At His grave (the feet of it) Angels likewise. Luk. 2. 13. 4 And lastly, for our comfort (thus.) That, henceforth even such shall all our graves be, if we be so happy as to have our parts in the first resurrection, Reu. 20. 6. which is of the soul from sin. We shall go to our graves in white (in the comfort, and colour of hope) lie between two Angels, there: they guard our bodies, dead, and present them alive again at the resurrection. 1 Yet before we leave them, to learn somewhat of the Angels: specially, of the Angel that sat at the feet. That, between them there was no striving for places. He that sat at the feet, as well content with his place, as he that at the head. We, to be so, by their example. For, with us, both the Angels would have been at the head, never a one at the feet: with us, none would be at the feet by his good will, Headangels all. 2 Again, from them both. That, inasmuch, as the head ever stands for the beginning, and the feet for the end; that we be careful, that our beginnings only be not glorious (O an Angel at the head in any wise) but that we look to the feet, there be another there, too. Ne turpiter atrum Definat, that it end not in a black Angel, that began in a white. And this for the Angels appearing. VER. 13. And they said to her, Woman, why weepest thou? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him. NOw to their speech. Their question. It was not a dumb show, this, a bare apparition, and so vanished away. It was visio & vox, a vocal vision. here is a dialogue, too: The Angels speak to her. And they ask her, Quid ploras? Why she wept? what cause she had to weep. They mean, she had none (as indeed no more she had.) All was in error, piae lachrymae, sed caecae, Gregory. tears of grief, but false grief, imagining that to be, that was not, Him to be dead that was alive. She weeps, because she found the grave empty, which God forbid she should have found full, for then Christ must have been dead still, and so, no Resurrection. And this case of Marie Magdalen is our case oftentimes. In the error of our conceit, to weep where we have no cause; to joy, where we have as little. Where we should, where we have cause to joy, we weep: and, where to weep, we joy. Our ploras hath never a quid. False joys, and false sorrows, false hopes, and false fears this life of ours is full of, God help us. Now because she erred, they ask her the cause, that she alleging it, they may take it away, and show it to be no cause. As the elench, à non causà pro causà makes foul rule among us, beguiles us, all our life long. Will ye hear her answer to, Her answer. Why weep you? Why? sustulerunt, that was the cause, Her Lord was gone, was taken away. And a good cause it had been if it had been true. Any have cause to grieve, that have lost, lost a good Lord, so good and gracious a Lord, as He had been to her. But that is not all: a worse matter, a greater grief than that. When one dieth, we reckon him taken away; that is one kind of taking away. But his dead body is left; so, all is not taken from us; That, was not her case. For, in saying (her Lord) she means not, Her Lord alive, that is not it; she means not, they had slain Him, they had taken away his life (she had wept her fill for that, already.) But, her Lord, that is, his dead body. For, though His life was gone, yet His body was left. And, that was all, she now had left of Him (that, she calls Her Lord) and, that, they had taken away from her, too. A poor one it was, yet some comfort it was to her, to have even that left her, to visit, to anoint, to do other offices of love, even to that. Etiam viso cadavere recalescit amor, at the sight, Ambros. even of that, will love revive, it will fetch life of love again. But now, here is her case; that, is gone, and all, and nothing, but an empty grave, now left to stand by. That S. Augustine saith well, sublatus de monumento, grieved her more, then occisus in ligno, for, than something yet was left; now, nothing at all. Right sustulerunt, taken away quite and clean. And thirdly, her nescio ubi. For though He be taken away, it is some comfort yet, if we know where to fetch Him again. But here, He is gone, without all hope of recovery, or getting again. For they (but she knew not who) had carried Him (she knew not whither) laid Him (she knew not where) there to do to Him (she knew not what.) So that now she knew not, whither to go, to find any comfort. It was nescio ubi, with her, right. Put all these together, His life taken away, His body taken away, & carried no man knows whither; and, do they ask, why she wept? or, can any blame her for it? The truth is, Her error. none had taken away Her Lord, for all this: for, all this while Her Lord was well, was, as she would have had Him, alive and safe. He went away of himself, none carried him thence. What of that? Non credens suscitatum, Augustine. credidit sublatum, for want of belief He was risen, she believed, He was carried away. She erred in so believing, there was error in her love, but there was love in her error too. And, Yet, her love. give me leave to lay out three more arguments of her love, out of this verse (to make up eight, towards the making up of her multùm.) 1. The very title she gives Him of Dominum meum, is one, My Lord, that she gives Him that term. For, it shows her love and respect was no whit abated, by the scandal of His death. It was a most opprobrious, ignominious, shameful death He suffered, such, as in the eyes of the world, any would have been ashamed to own Him, (or say of Him, Meum:) But, any would have been afraid to honour Him with that title, to style Him, Dominum. She was neither. Meum, for hers, Dominum meum, for her Lord, she acknowledgeth Him, is neither ashamed, nor afraid to continue that title still. Amor scandalo non scandalizatus. Another (which I take to be far beyond this) That, she having looked into the grave a little before, and seen never an Angel there; and of a sudden looking in now, and seeing two, (a sight, able to have amazed any; any, but her) It moves not her at all. The suddenness, the strangeness, the gloriousness of the sight, yea even of Angels, move her not at all. She seems to have no sense of it, and so to be in a kind of ecstasy all the while. Domine, propter te est extra se, saith Bernard. Amor extasin patience. And thirdly, as that strange sight affected her not a whit: so neither did their comfortable speech work with her at all. Comfortable, I call it, for they that ask the cause, why, (why weep you?) show, they would remove it, if it lay in them: Neither of these did, or could move her, or make her once leave her weeping: she wept on, still (Christ will ask her, quid ploras? by and by again.) If she find an Angel, if she find not her Lord, it will not serve. She had rather find his dead body, then them in all their glory. No man in earth, no Angel in heaven can comfort her, none but He that is taken away, Christ, and none but Christ; and, till she find Him again, her soul refuseth all manner comfort: yea, even from heaven, even from the Angels themselves: These three. Amor super amissum renuens consolari. Thus she, in her love, for her supposed loss, or taking away. And what shall become of us, in ours then? That lose Him ¹ not once, but oft, ² And not in suppose, as she did, but in very deed, ³ And that, by sin (the worst loss of all,) ⁴ And that, not by any others taking away, but by our own act, & wilful default; and are not grieved, nay not moved a whit, break none of our wont sports for it, as if we reckoned Him, as good lost as found. Yea, when Christ, and the holy Ghost, and the favour of God, and all is gone, how soon, how easily are we comforted again for all this? that, none shall need to say, quid ploras? to us, rather, quid non ploras? ask us, why we weep not, having so good cause to do it, as we then have? This for the Angel's part. VER. 14. When she had thus said, she turned herself about, and saw jesus standing, and knew not that it was jesus. Always the Angels (we see) touched the right string, and she tells them the wrong cause, but yet the right, if it had been right. Now, to this answer of hers, they would have replied, and taken away her error touching her Lords taking away; that, if she knew all, she would have left her seeking, and fit her down by them: and left her weeping, and been in white, as well as they. But, here is a supersedeas to them: The Lord himself comes in place. (Now come we from the seeking Him dead, to the finding Him alive.) For, when He saw, no Angels, no sight, no speech of theirs would serve, none but her Lord could give her any comfort; Her Lord comes. Christus adest. Adest Christus, nec ab eis unquam abest, à quibus quaeritur, saith Augustine. Christ is found, found by her; And this case of hers, shall be the case of all that seriously seek Him. This woman here, for one, she sought Him (we see.) They that went to Emmaus to day, they but talked of Him sadly, and they both found Him. Why, He is found of them that seek Him not. Esa 65. 1. but, of them that seek Him, never but found. For, thou Lord never failest them that seek Thee. Psal. 9 10. God is not unrighteous, to forget the work and labour of their love that seek Him. Heb. 6. 10. So, find Him they shall, but happily not all so fully at first, no more than she did. For, first (to try her yet a little further) He comes unknown, stands by her, and she little thought it had been He. A case that likewise falls out full oft. Doubtless He is not far from every one of us, Acts 17. 27. saith the Apostle to the Athenians. But He is nearer us many times than we think; job. 9 11. even hard by us, and we not aware of it, saith job. And, Luke 19 42. O si cognovisses & tu, O if we did know (and it standeth us in hand to pray that we may know) when He is so, for, that is the time of our visitation. Luk. 19 44. Saint john saith here, the Angels were sitting: Saint Luke saith, they stood. Luk. 24. 4. They are thus reconciled. That, Christ coming in presence, the Angels which before were sitting, stood up. Their standing up, made Marie Magdalen turn her to see who it was they rose to. And so, Christ she saw, but, knew Him not. Not only not known Him, but misknew Him, took Him for the Gardener. Tears, will dim the sight, and it was yet scarce day, and she, seeing one, and not knowing what any one should make in the ground so early, but he that dressed it, she might well mistake. But it was more than so: Her eyes were not holden only, Luk. 24. 16. that she did not know Him, but over and beside, Mar. 16. 12. He did appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in some such shape as might resemble the Gardener, whom she took Him for. Proper enough it was, it fitted well the time and place (this person.) The time, It was the Spring: The place, It was a garden (that place is most in request at that time) for that place and time, a Gardener doth well. Of which her so taking Him, Saint Gregory saith well, Profectò errando non erravit. She did not mistake in taking Him for a Gardener: though she might seem to err, in some sense, yet in some other she was in the right. For, in a sense, and a good sense, CHRIST may well be said to be a Gardener, and indeed is one. For, our rule is, Christ, as He appears, so He is, ever: No false semblant in Him. 1 A Gardener He is then. The first, the fairest garden that ever was (Paradise) He was the Gardener, it was of His planting. So, a Gardener. 2 And ever since it is He that (as God) makes all our gardens green, sends us yearly the Spring, and all the herbs and flowers we then gather; and neither Paul with his planting, nor Apollo with his watering, could do any good without him. So a Gardener in that sense. 3 But not in that alone; But He it is that gardens our souls too, and makes them, as the Prophet saith, jere. 31. 21. Like a well watered garden, weeds out of them whatsoever is noisome or unsavoury, sows and plants them with true roots and seeds of righteousness, waters them with the dew of His grace, and makes them bring forth fruit to eternal life. But it is none of all these, but besides all these, nay over and above all these, this day (if ever) most properly He was a Gardener. Was one, and so after a more peculiar manner, might take this likeness on Him. Christ rising was indeed a Gardener, and that a strange one, who made such an herb grow out of the ground this day, as the like was never seen before, a dead body, to shoot forth alive out of the grave. I ask, was He so this day alone? No, but this profession of His, this day begun, He will follow to the end. For, He it is, that by virtue of this morning's act, shall garden our bodies, too: turn all our graves into garden plots: Yea, shall one day turn land and Sea and all into a great garden, and so husband them, as they shall in due time bring forth live bodies, even all our bodies alive again. Long before did Esai see this and sing of it, in his song Esa. 26. 19 resembling the Resurrection to a Spring garden. Awake and sing (saith he) ye that dwell for a time are as it were sown in the dust, for His dew shall be as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall shoot forth her dead. So then: He appeared no other, than He was: A Gardener He was, not in show alone, but opere & veritate, and so came in His own likeness. This for Christ's appearing. Now to His speech (but, as unknown still.) VERS. 15. jesus saith to her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She (supposing he had been the Gardener) said to Him, Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him thence. STill she wept: Christ's question unknown. So He begins with quid ploras? asks the same question the Angels had before; only quickens it a little with Quem quaeris, Whom seek you? So, quem quaeris, quaerit à te quem quaeris, whom she sought, He asks her whom she sought? Si quaeris, Augustine, cur non cognoscis? si cognoscis, cur quaeris? saith Augustine. If she seek Him, why knows she Him not? If she know Him, why seeks she Him still? A common thing with us (this also.) To seek a thing, and when we have found it, not to know, we have so; but even Christum à Christo quaerere, to ask Christ for Christ. Which however it fall in other matters, in this seeking of Christ, it is safe. Even when we seek Christ, to pray to Christ, to help us to find Christ; we shall do it full evil without Him. This quid ploras, it comes now twice. The Angels asked it, we stood not on it, then. Now, seeing Christ asks it again, the second time, we will think there is something in it, and stay a little at it. The rather, for that it is the very opening of His mouth, the very first words that ever came from Him, that He spoke first of all, after His rising again from death. There is sure some more than ordinary matter in this quid ploras, if it be, but even for that. Thus say the Fathers; ¹ That Marie Magdalen standing by the grave side, and there weeping, is thus brought in, to represent unto us, the state of all mankind before this day, the day of Christ's rising again, weeping over the dead, as do the heathen that have no hope: 1. Thess. 4. 13. comes Christ with His quid ploras, Why do you weep? As much to say, as ne plores, Weep not; why should you weep? There is no cause of weeping now. Henceforth none shall need to stand by the grave to weep there any more. A question very proper for Easter-day, for the day of the Resurrection. For, if there be a rising again, quid ploras, is right, why should she, why should any weep, then? So that this quid ploras of Christ's, wipes away tears from all eyes, and as we sing in the 30 Psalm (whose title is, the Psalm of the Resurrection) puts off our sackcloth, that is, our mourning weeds, girds us with gladness, puts us all in white with the Angels. Ploras then: leave that for Good-Friday, for His Passion: Weep then, and spare not. But, quid ploras, for Easter-day, is in kind (the Feast of the Resurrection) why should there be any weeping upon it? Is not Christ risen? Shall not He raise us with Him? Is He not a Gardener, to make our bodies sown, to grow again? Ploras, leave that to the heathen, that are without all hope; but to the Christian man, quid ploras? Why should he weep? he hath hope: the Head is already risen, the members shall in their due time follow Him. I observe, that four times this day, at four several appearings, ¹ at the first (at this here) He asks her, quid ploras? Why she wept? ² Of them that went to Emaus, quid tristes estis? Luke 24. 17. Why are ye sad? ³ Within a verse following this Text (the 19) He saith to the Eleven, Pax vobis, Peace be to them: ⁴ And to the women that met Him on the way, Matt. 28. 9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is, Rejoice, be glad. So, no weeping, no being sad, now; nothing this day, but peace and joy: they do properly belong to this feast. And, this I note the more willingly, now, this year; because the last Easter we could not so well have noted it. Some wept then; all were sad, little joy there was, and there was a quid, a good cause for it. But blessed be God that hath now sent us a more kindly Easter, of this, by taking away the cause of our sorrow then, that we may preach of Quid ploras, & be far from it. So much for quid ploras, Christ's question. Now to her answer. She is still where she was; Her answer. at sustulerunt before, at sustulisti, now: situ sustulisti: we shall never get that word from her. But, to Christ she seems somewhat more harsh, then to the Angels. To them she complains of others, They have taken. Christ she seems to charge, at least to suspect of the fact, as if He looked like one that had been a breaker up of graves, a carrier away of corpses out of their place of rest. Her (if) implies as much. But pardon love: as it fears where it needs not, so it suspects oft where it hath no cause. He, or any that comes in our way, hath done it, hath taken Him away, when love is at a loss. But Bernard speaks to Christ for her; Domine, amor quem ●abebat in Te, & dolour quem babebat de Te, excuset eam apud Te, si fortè erravit circa Te: That the love she bore to Him, the sorrow she had for Him, may excuse her with Him, if she were in any error concerning Him, in her saying, Si tu sustulisti. And yet, Origen. see how God shall direct the tongue. In thus charging Him, Prophetat & nescit, She says truer than she was aware. For indeed, if any took Him away, it was He did it. So, she was not much amiss. Her situ, was true, though not in her sense. For, quod de ipso factum est, ipse fecit. All that was done to Him, He did it Himself. His taking away, Chrysologus. virtus fuit, non facinus, was by His own power, not by the act of any other: Et gloria, non iniuria, No other man's injury it was, but His own glory, that she found Him not there. This was true, but this was no part of her meaning. I cannot here pass over two more Characters of her love, that so you may have the full ten I promised. One, in si tu sustulisti eum, in her eum, in her [Him.] Him? which Him? Her affection seems so to transport her, as she says no man knows what. To one, a mere stranger to her, and she to him, she talks of one thrice under the term of Him, If thou hast taken Him, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will fetch Him; Him, Him, & Him, & never names Him, or tells who He is. This is Soloecismus amoris, an irregular speech, but loves own Dialect. Him is enough with love, who knows not who that is? It supposes every body, all the world bound to take notice of Him whom we look for, only by saying, Him, though we never tell his name, nor say a word more. Amor, quem ipse cogitat, neminem putans ignorare. The other is in her ego tollam; If he would tell her where he had laid Him, she would go fetch Him (that she would.) Alas poor woman, she was not able to lift Him. There are more than one, or two either, allowed to the carrying of a corpse. As for His, it had more than an hundred pound weight of myrrh and other odours upon it, joh. 19 39 beside the poise of a dead body. She could not do it. Well, yet she would do it, though. O mulier, non mulier (saith Origen) for ego tollam seems rather the speech of a Porter, or of some lusty strong fellow at least, then of a silly weak woman. But love makes women more than women, at least it makes them have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the courage above the strength, far. Never measures her own forces, no burden too heavy, no assay too hard for love, & nihil erubescit nisi nomen difficultatis; And is not ashamed of any thing, but that any thing should be too hard or too heavy for it. Affectus sine mensurâ virium propriarum. Both these argue dilexit multùm. And so now you have the full number often. VER. 16. jesus saith to her, Marry: She turned herself, & said to Him, Rabboni; that is to say, Master. NOw magnes amoris amor. Christ's second speech. Nothing so allures, so draws love to it, as doth love itself. In Christ specially, and in such in whom the same mind is. For, when her Lord saw, there was no taking away His taking away from her, all was in vain, neither men nor Angels, nor Himself (so long as He kept Himself gardener) could get any thing of her, but her Lord was gone, He was taken away; and that for the want of jesus, nothing but jesus could yield her any comfort; He is no longer able to contain, but even discloses Himself; And discloses Himself by His voice. For, it should seem, before, with His shape, He had changed that also. But now, He speaks to her in His known voice, in the wont accent of it, does but name her name, Marry, no more, and that was enough. That was as much to say, Recognosce à quo recognosceris, Augustine. she would at least take notice of Him, that showed He was no stranger by calling her by her name. For, whom we call by their names, we take particular notice of. So God says to Moses, Exod. 33. 17. Te autem cognovi de nomine, Thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by thy name. As God, Moses; So Christ, Mary Magdalen. And this indeed is the right way to know Christ; to be known of Him first. Gal. 4. 9 the Apostle saith, Now we have known God (and then correcteth himself) or rather have been known of God. For, till He know us, we shall never know Him aright. And now, lo, Christ is found, found alive that was sought dead. A cloud may be so thick, we shall not see the Sun through it. The Sun must scatter that cloud, and then we may. Here is an example of it. It is strange, a thick cloud of heaviness had so covered her, as, see Him she could not, through it; this one word, these two syllables [Mary] from His mouth, scatters it, all. No sooner had His voice sounded in her ears, but it drives away all the mist, dries up her tears, lightens her eyes, that she knew Him strait, and answers Him with her wont salutation, Her answer. Rabboni. If it had lain in her power to have raised Him from the dead, she would not have failed, but done it (I dare say.) Now it is done to her hands. And with this, all is turned out and in. A new world, now. Away with sustulerunt; His taking away, is taken away quite. For, if His taking away were her sorrow; Contrariorum contraria consequentia. Augustine. Si de sublato ploravit, de suscitato exultavit, we may be sure; If sad for His death, For His taking away; then glad for his rising, for His restoring again. Surely, if she would have been glad but to have found but His dead body; now she finds it, and Him, alive, what was her joy, how great, may we think? So that, by this she saw Quid ploras was not asked her for nought, that it was no impertinent question, as it fell out. Well now, He that was thought lost, is found again, and found, not, as He was sought for, not a dead body, but a living soul, nay, a quickening Spirit, then. 1. Cor. 15. 45. And that might Marie Magdalen well say. He showed it, for He quickened her and her Spirits, that were as good as dead. You thought you should have come to Christ's Resurrection to day, and so you do. But, not to His alone, but even to Marie magdalen's resurrection, too. For, in very deed, a kind of resurrection it was, was wrought in her, revived, as it were, and raised from a dead & drooping, to a lively and cheerful estate. The Gardener had done his part, made her all green, on the sudden. And all this, by a word of His mouth. Such power is there in every word of His, so easily are they called, whom Christ will but speak to. But, by this we see, when He would be made known to her after his rising, He did choose to be made known by the ear rather than by the eye. By hearing rather than by appearing. Opens her ears first, and her eyes after. Her eyes were holden, Luc. 24. 16. till her ears were opened; Psal. 40. 6. comes aures autem aperuistimihi, and that opens them. With the Philosophers, hearing is the sense of wisdom. With us, in divinity, it is the sense of faith. So most meet. Christ is the Word; hearing then (that sense) is Christ's sense; voce quam visu, more proper to the Word. So, Pasl. 48. 8. sicut audivimus goes before, and then, sic vidimus comes after. In matters of faith the ear goes first, ever, and is of more use, and to be trusted before the eye. For, in many cases faith holdeth, where sightfaileth. This then is a good way to come to the knowledge of Christ, by Hodie si vocem, Psal. 95. 7. to hear His voice. Howbeit, it is not the only way. There is another way to take notice of Him by beside, and we to take notice of it. On this very day we have them both. For, twice this day came Christ, unknown first, and then known, after. To Marry Magdalen, here: and to them at Emmaus. Luc. c. 24. To Marry Magdalen, unknown, in the shape of a Gardener. To those that went to Emaus, unknown, in the likeness of a Traveller by the way side. Came to be known to her by His voice, by the word of His mouth. Not so to them. For, many words He spoke to them, and they felt them warm at their hearts, but, Luk. 24. 32. 35. knew Him not for all that. But, He was known to them in the breaking of the bread. Her eyes opened by speaking a word: Their eyes opened by the breaking of bread. There is the one and the other way, and so now you have both. And now you have them, I pray you make use of them. (I see I shall not be able to go further than this verse.) It were a folly to fall to comparisons, Committere inter se, to set them at odds together, these two ways: as the fond fashion now adays is, whether is better, Prayer or Preaching: The Word, or the Sacraments. What needs this? Seeing we have both, both are ready for us; the one now, the other by and by. We may end this question, soon. And this is the best and surest way to end it, to esteem of them both, to thank Him for both, to make use of both, having now done with one, to make trial of the other. It may be (who knows) if the one will not work, the other may. And if by the one or by the other, by either, or by both, it be wrought, what harm have we? In case it be not; yet have we offered to God our serice in both, and committed the success of both to Him. He will see they shall have success, and in His good time (as shallbe expedient for us) vouchsafe every one of us as He did Marie Magdalen in the Text, to know Him and the virtue of His Resurrection; Philip. 3. 10. and make us partakers of both, by both the means before remembered, by His blessed Word, by His holy mysteries; the means to raise our souls here, the pledges of the raising up of our bodies hereafter. Of both which He make us partakers, who is the Author of both, JESUS CHRIST the Righteous, etc. LONDON, Printed by ROBERT BARKER, and JOHN BILL, Printers to the Kings most Excellent Majesty, M.DC.XX.