THE RESURRECTION Rescued from the Soldier's Calumnies, In Two SERMONS Preached at St. Mary's in oxon.  
BY ROBERT JONES D.D.  
LONDON, Printed for Richard Lownds at the White Lion in Paul's Churchyard, near the little North-door, 1658.   

The Stationer to the Reader.  
IT being the constant Custom to usher all sorts of Books into the World with a Preface, I thought good to give this short Account of the two following Sermons: Their Author Dr. Robert Jones (a man sufficiently eminent for his extraordinary parts) was appointed to preach a Resurrection-Sermon on Easter-day in St. Mary's Church in Oxford; which be performed with very great applause and satisfaction. Yet having delivered something in the Repetition-Sermon which did not please the nicer Palates of some of his Auditors, he was obliged by the Principals of the University, to make a Recantation-Sermon; which how ingeniously he performed, I leave the intelligent Reader after a serious perusal to judge and censure.  
Farewell, R. L.   

THE REPETITION SERMON.  MAT. 28.13. 
His Disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept.  
WHat's the best News abroad? So we must begin: 'Tis the Garb (les novelles) the grand salute, and common Preface to all our talk. And the news goes not as things are in themselves, but as mensfancies are fashioned, as some lust to report, and others to believe: The same relation shall go for true or false, according to the key wherein men's minds are tuned; but chief as they stand divers in Religion, so they feign and affect different News. By their News ye may know their Religion, and by their Religion foreknow their News. This week the Spanish Match goes forward, and Bethleem Gabor's Troops are broken; and the next week Bethleem Gabor's Troops go forward, and the Spanish Match is broken. The Catholic is of the Spanish match, and the Protestant of restoring the Palatinate; and each party think that the safety of the Church and success of religion depends upon the event of one or other, and therefore they cross and counter-tell each others news. Titius came from London yesterday, and he says that the new Chapel at St. James is quite finished: Caius came thence but this morning, and then there was no such thing on building. False news follows true at the heels, and oftentimes outstrips it.  
Thus goes the Chronicle-news, the talk of the factius and pragmatic; but the Christian news, the talk of the faithful is spent in Euangelio, in hearing and telling some good news of their Saviour: and now all the talk is of his Resurrection. The Christian current goes, News from Mount Calvary, the sixteenth day of Nisan, in the year thirty four, old style; as the three holy Matrons deliver it at the eighth verse of this Chapter. But since there are certain Soldiers arrived, and they say there was no such matter as the Resurrection, 'twas but a gull put upon the world by his Disciples; for it fares with spiritual news as with temporal, it is variously and contrarily related, till the false controls the true. And as our modern News comes neither from the Court nor the Camp, nor from the place where things are acted, but is forged in Conventicles by Priests, or in some Paul's Assembly, or such like place; and the divulge committed to some vigilant and watchful tongue: So it is with the News of the Non-resurrection; it came not from Mount Calvary, but the Priests are the Authors of it, at the eleventh verse; and at the twelveth, they frame and mould it to the mouth of the Watch. The Divulgers, men of double credit, they know the truth, for they are of the Watch, and they will not lie, for they are Soldiers; nay, they will maintain it, for they are Knights, Milites, Knights of the Post, they are hired to say, saying, and they did say, His Disciples came by night and stole him away whilst we slept.  
The words so plain, they need no opening. May it please you that I make three Cursories over them; One for the Soldiers, another for the Disciples, and the third for our Saviour. In the two former we will beat the point pro and con, and in the latter reconcile it, for that's the fashion also. No error so absurd but finds a Patron, nor Truth so sound but meets with an Adversary, nor point controverted but the opposite tenant may be reconciled; be they distant as Heaven and Hell, as incompatible as Jew and Christian, yet they shall meet with a Moderator, and a cogging distinction shall state the question on the absurd side. First then for the Soldiers, whose Cursory hath no parts, that's not the Soldier's manner, but yet is sprinkled with absurdities, that's the manner of the Watch. They speak partly as they fight, voluntarily, and partly as they watch, supinely. And thus they begin their talk:  
Ye men and people of Judah and Jerusalem, This Jesus of Nazareth was a very Juggler, a neat Compiler of Impostures, pretended title to the crown of Judah, made himself the Messiah and the Son of God, brought such strange opinions as would turn the whole world out of bias; having no proof from sense or reason for his Novelties, he would needs confirm them by miracles; and in the world's eye he seemed to do wonders, though his works were indeed but mere delusions, wrought by slight of hand, hocus pocus. All which was so manifestly discovered, that to stop the current of such false coin, my Lord Precedent was forced to nail him to the Cross for a Counterfeit. His Master-trick was that of the Resurrection, whereof he forespoke in his life-time: for he was no ordinary dealer, but would make his Cunning to survive his person, and durst foresay so. To put this piece in Execution, he entertained a rabble of Ruffians, whom he termed his Disciples, as all Plotters have Partners: These he instructed in the game while he lived, and they were to play it when he was dead. The list of his Disciples consisted of Men and Women; for in all crafty carriages there lies a Woman's part. The men were to perform all manner of fact, and the women, whose activity lies in their tongue, were to report the miracle.  
The High-priests and some of the Sanedrim being wise to apprehend, and wary to prevent the dangerous consequences hereof, procured a warrant from the Precedent to seal up the Tomb, and place a Watch there; and we were the parties appointed to guard it. The Charge we underwent required good service, for his Disciples were common Nightwalkers like their Master, notable Cutters, and carried as much courage as cunning; such tall fellows with their weapons, that they made it but a sleight either to withstand or assault a whole multitude, and durst do any thing in their Master's behalf. The other night, when we apprehended him in Gethsemane, we were most of the lustiest fellows in Jerusalem, and pretty well appointed, yet they stood to it stoutly, made a tall fray, and sometimes put us to the worst: At the first Onset we were all knocked down, and at our Recovery, Rabbi Malchus, a follower of the High-priests company and our Captain, was singled out by one of their side, a Sailor he seemed, who with his whinyard lopped off one of his ears, and had the blow light right, it would have cleft him down to the twist. Nay they were all Bravers, and their bloody mind was seen upon Judas Iscariot, one of their own company, who because he was our Bloodhound to sent their Master out, they persecuted the poor wretch till they had paunched him; for not far from their walk he was found hanged with his guts about his heels. And for their bloody pranks that way, the place gins to bear the name of Aceldama, the bloody field.  
For the exploit of his resurrection, they had the assistance of their fellow- she-disciples, night housewives too, for they were hover about the Sepulchre from the dead of the night till the morning, and were as the Counter-watch to give notice of some advantage to the Disciples, who lay not far off, some where above ground, while their master was under it. All the daytime they stir not for fear of Passengers, frequenting to and fro in the gardens and walks about Mount Calvary; it being both Sabbath and Passeover; but in the night they took their opportunity by this means: We had been extremely over-travelled, both to apprehend and guard him, first, to the Highpriest, next to the Precedent; from him to Herod, and back again; then to his arraignment, then to his Execution and ever since at his grave; so turbulent the man was, that his very dead body would not lie still and be quiet. This overwatching, seconded with the darkness of the night, and coldness of the air, cast us into a heavy sleep; thereupon the women give the watchword to the Disciples, who immediately do exhumate his body; and while they translate and bury it elsewhere, the women troth into the Town, and bruit it abroad that their Master is risen.  
And the credulous City is partly inclined to believe the Legerdemain; they are willing to frame their faith and build their salvation upon a flying gull, raised by three way-going women, gadling Gossips that came from Galilee; One of them notorious, so devilish that there came seven devils out of her, how many stayed behind God knows; it is like she was so full, there was room for no more; and by her ye may guests at her companions. Consider of it; the matter is of moment, a main point of State, that concerns your own Nation: We are but strangers, and no farther interessed then for the truth's sake to speak it; and therefore be advised whether ye will rely herein upon the word of a woman, or upon the faith and reputation of a Soldier. And here the Soldier puts up, he sheaths his malicious and blasphemous tongue, more sharp and deadly than his sword, and gives our Saviour a wound more mortal far than those upon the Cross; they did but put him in a trance, suspend his life for a day or two, at the most but kill his Humanity; but this would murder his Divinity, and dead his Immortality, it would nullify the Gospel, and frustrate all our Faith: for, If Christ be not risen (saith S. Paul) then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. And therefore I come to my second Cursory, For his Disciples stole him away by night.  
Herein we will deal Christianly and civilly, not give the lie to the Soldiers, foul words to the Watch: But yet we may say, that their tale hath no truth in any point of it, but a mere saying, Saying, say ye. They say not of themselves, but as the Priests taught them; they knew they said false, and therefore our saying to the contrary will easily obtain. And therein we follow not the Random of their roving, but take the sum of their saying, as it is here set down by the Holy Ghost, giving it order and parts. The words than may easily be taken Judiciarily, in form of an accusation, and then Morally they are Calumny; the Soldiers either not heard, or not practised the doctrine of John Baptist, Accuse no man falsely. Or they may be taken popularly, in form of a report or rumour, and then morally they are a mere gull or slander. In what sense soever, there are three parties wronged in them; The Disciples, our Saviour, and the Soldiers themselves. The Disciples here are taxed of theft, that they- should come by night, and steal away their Master: Our Saviour of Impotency and Imposture, that he neither could nor did rise from the dead, but was conveyed away by his Disciples: And the Soldiers of capital negligence, that they were asleep. In the Cursory then for the Disciples, may ye please that I lay down three plain Contradictories ro the words of the Text, as they lie in order: First, the Disciples came not hither by night. Secondy, he was not stole away. Thirdly, the Soldiers were not asleep. For proof of each whereof there are no cogent demonstrations in nature Quòd sint; single voluntary actions that leave no evident effect, admit it not. We preach not before Jews and Infidels, to whom this doctrine is scandalous and fool shness; but the simple-hearted Christian, the willing hearer shall have rational probabilities, and persuasive arguments, sufficient to convey belief into a heart illuminated, and prepared by grace for it. For the first then, His Disciples came not by night.  
The body moves not voluntarily, unless the motion be grounded upon the Will; so that when the influence of the Will upon the external members is either intercepted or frustrated by any foreign accident, the body hardly admits of going and coming. The heart, and first mover of the Disciples, was now mated and set up by a Lease of impetuous passions. All those Violents of the Soul which have mischiefs for their Objects, and are immediately distractive to the Patient that endures them, as sorrow, fear and despair, did now wholly possess them: Extreme sorrow for their Master's present sufferings, as much fear for their own future danger, and their like despair for their fore hoped happiness. Their senses seel the sorrow, their fear torments their fancies, and their memory maintains their despair; their whole soul so assaulted, that there wanted nothing but a Fever to make them quite frantic. And Peter came near to that, so distracted, that for his Master's sake first he will needs fight, than he flies away; anon again he follows after him, at length he forswears him, and in the end goes out and cries. In this mode he is carried up and down, till he lays a clog on his conscience, that would hold him work enough without coming to Mount Calvary. The case of his other fellows might be as bad, or worse, although the Scripture be therein silent. Thus far they go all with Peter, that they sleep, and fly, and follow after off.  
But when their Master was past all recovery, than each passion played his part to hinder all humour from coming to Mount Calvary. Their sorrow contracts, and closeth them up in Jerusalem: Sorrow loves to be private and lurk in a corner. Fear kept them within doors: Fear dare not go abroad, especially in the night, if she do, it is to fly a danger, not to invite it. And to Despair all business must yield: despair will not stir in her own behalf, unless to do herself a mischief, but of any other she is quite careless. To say then they came by night, makes it but the more unlikely. They could not watch one hour with him in Gethsemane when it concerned his life, while there was yet hope to vindicate him from the Cross; and can they now watch with him a whole night when he was dead and buried? If they were for a night's exploit, they would have done it the night before, when there was a fairer opportwity, and greater security. They now had no more means this night, but more danger. When they they went to Gethsemane, they had but two Swords in all, and were there disarmed of them; but one coat apiece, and some stripped of that; no weapon to assault, nor armour to defend. Fit furniture, and fair voyage for poor Fishermen to make to Mount Calvary in a dark night, to affront the Roman Watch. And to what end? if their Master could rise again, what need they come hither? if not, they did him no wrong to abandon him.  
But why mention we the Resurrection? they came not thither, not to a thought of it. He had indeed foretold them of it, but they understood it not: they could not prosecute what they never apprehended; could they hope to make others believe what they could not imagine? Can others grant that feareable, which they esteemed impossible? or had they once belief, yet they forsook it when they forsook their Master. They were beaten from it in Gethsemane, where but one of the Jews received any loss, and he but of one of his ears, and that restored again; but they all lost every one his faith, they lost their Saviour, and their Souls to boot. They were now as faithless as their fellow Judas, as faithless in their Master as he was to him. The Resurrection quite forgot, not only the thing itself, but their Master's mention of it: and therefore they embalm his dead body, and do entomb it as forlorn. The Priests themselves believed more than the Disciples: they feared it, and therefore fortified the Sepulchre; but the Disciples did not so much as hope. And when he was risen de facto, they could not believe it, though the women avouched it: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the women's talk seems an old Wife's tale, when they tell the Disciples of the Resurrection. Thomas will not trust his own eyes though he see, and his ears though he hear him. Had they any by-intent, they would have been very forward to report and spread the fame; but they stood mute at it, and began to spread themselves each man what way his fancy led him: the fame of the Resurrection did not fright them. And how came the news abroad? who told it to the high Priests? not his Disciples, nor the women, but the Soldiers here themselves. But why stand we to defend the Disciples in a fact never committed? no such thing done as they objected. He was not stole away at all; My second Contradictory.  
Nor by the Disciples, nor by any else, unless men were mad, or weary of their lives. The advantage of the Act could no way recompense the danger. The Laws so strict for meddling with Sepulchers, that they could expect no less then to incur the crime of Sacrilege; which may be seen at large in the Digests de Sepulchro violato: which Laws, though since compiled, yet for the most part were then and there in force, the Jews being under the Roman Jurisdiction. And though they should plead that they did only translate the body, not abuse it, yet they could not avoid the Objection of dolus malus, and so incur an arbitrary censure, which would be laid very heavily upon them, things running as they did against our Saviour. What fair Interpretation could they look for on his behalf, when he himself was charged with Treason, for ask a penny to pay tribute? Or if some had the will to steal him, yet none had the power or means to perform it. The Watch there, termed Soldiers, were of a middle nature between Soldiers and Hangmen; Spiculatores, they carried a spear in their hands, but a halter at their girdles, always ready for any deadly service. They were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Satellites, a Guard to the Governor; and Custodes, jailors, Warders for Prisoners; and Vigiles, Watchers for their bodies who suffered: the common Executioners of corporal punishment, whether it reached only to sense, or forward to life. To express their Roman nature home, the Eastern Nation borrowed Language from the Western, the Greeks from the Latin, Custodia; and the Syriaque, as Master Fuller observes, from Quaestionarij, Officers ad quaestionem & inquisitionem, Questioners or Inquisitors, Tormentors, or Sergeants of the Rack, to extort Confessions in criminal Examinations. At the peril of their life it was, if the party under their execution did not endure the extremity of the Law. If the Prisoner escaped with no punishment, or with less, or in ultimo supplicio recovered by his life, or his dead body otherwise disposed then the Laws ordained or permitted, then were those Soldiers to take the room of the Prisoners, to be wasted and spent out upon the same punishment whereto the Prisoner was liable; Ejusmodi paena consumendi, the very words of the Law. Can any man now imagine the Watch could now be either so careless, or such Cowards as to let our Saviour to be stole away? Men durst as well have fetched him from the Cross as from the Grave.  
But say that they were such maimed Soldiers, as that they had neither eye to watch, nor heart to ward; yet the Sepulchre itself was so impregnable, that it alone would secure the body. There could be no burglary, nor breaking it up, no undermining; The Soil was Pickax proof, a firm Rock spread out of the Roots of Golgotha, gabioned and rough-cast with flint. No removing of the Tombstone; that besides its weight & sullenness to give way, was ribbed and clasped down with Iron bars and bonds; the closure soldered with the Seal of the Sanedrim. Their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, their fortifying the Sepulchre, and sealing up the Stone, says it was so, in the latter verse of the former Chapter. For though he should revive, yet the high Priests never meant he should rise more, either by his own, or by the strength of others. The Watch was but a stolen to colour their pretence, and to lead their request to Pilate. The women's, Who shall roll us away the Stone? was a matter more than they imagined, a task above the strength of a man. A whole set of levers could not lift it: no rolling it away but by the force of an Angel.  
And now look into the Grave, see the remains of the Resurrection, the impartial witnesses and silent say that he was not stole away. The Linen and Grave-Clothes wherein he was involved, lined and laden with a compound of Myrrh, Aloes and Mastic, gums and spices Arabic, unguents and balms of Gilead, a Cerecloth both costly and massy, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to the worth or weight of an hundred pounds, somewhat unwieldy to be handled: the Kerchief so wrapped and displeited, as though yet it had not been used; and yet so laid aside, as though he would have come again. What manner of men would leave these things thus? His friends would not for shame have stripped him, and carried him away naked. His foes would have esteemed the Linen and embalming Compounds fare beyond his body. Friend or Foe, or Neuter, they durst not stay to flay the glewy Cerecloth from his skin, and give a diligent folding to the Kerchief. But if notwithstanding he was stolen away, why was not search made to recover his body? no Hue and Cry to pursue the Malefactors? no Proclamation out for their attachment? why were not the Women apprehended, or taken upon suspicion? why not so much as questioned? Questioned! about what? The Soldiers knew well enough he was not stolen away; for they sat by, and marked it; they were the Watch, and they did watch, they were not asleep; which is my last Contradictory.  
Hitherto they talk like soldiers, of coming by night, and stealing away; now like Watchmen, in saying they were asleep. So sottish and unreasonable is malice, that to burn his neighbour's house, he will set fire on his own; to bring in an accusation on Christ and his Disciples, they make confession of a crime in themselves: they gull and befool themselves, and say that the Watch was asleep. It may be as Watchmen they durst sleep, 'tis ordinary; but they durst not so as Soldiers, their discipline too strict, and the penalty thereof too severe. He that forsakes the watch, capite punitur, 'tis death (saith Paulus) in law 9 in Excubias, §. de re militari; and some good captains interpret sleep equivalent to absence; what ever were the Letter of the Law, practice made it so. And Polybius tells us it was so put in execution. If any man of the Watch be found asleep, (saith he) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he is put to the Bastinado, a capital punishment, and reached to the head: For the then Bastinado was Fuste caeditur; and as they now pass the Pikes, a thousand to one but the party died under it. A whole Squadron of men being to do execution, one backfriend or other would pash out his brains, as now one pike or other would broach him through. The Roman Discipline extreme dogged, and so professed itself, especially toward the Watch. The Bandogs of the Capitol, because they barked not that night when the Gauls surprised it, had their legs broken, and were split alive upon a two-forkt stake set up in public; and in memory thereof (saith Livy) some dogs were yearly so used, for example's sake to make Watchmen beware.  
And the Rounders so impartial herein, that they would make execution ipso facto. Epaminondas walks the Round, and finding one soldier asleep, some of the Corrounders entreat for him; well, saith he, for your sakes I will leave him as I found him, and therewithal he stakes him to the ground with his Halberd: he found him in a dead sleep, and so he left him. Some dim prints of that Discipline are seen to this day in our modern wars, where sometime the Rounder will clap a musket-shot through a sleepy head. But anciently they durst do no other; for to wink at the fault, or delay the punishment, was in the Governor Patrimonii & aestimationis damnum, a loss of lands and honour; and in under-Officers capitale supplicium. They durst not then sleep wilfully, and they had no need to sleep, they were not over-watcht. How the Day-watch stood I have not yet read; but for the Night-watch, all the World knows it was divided into four equal parts, each containing three Planetary hours, or one quarter of the night, how long or short soever. And the turn came about but every third night, and then every third hour they were relieved by putting in a fresh Watch. It was now past the Vernal Aequinoctial, no one Night-watch sat full three modern hours; so three hours over in above threescore would bring no overwatching. Seeing then they neither durst nor did, why yet do they say they were asleep? The reason is, they are of the ragged Regiment, mercenary Soldiers, hired to it by the Priests with a large piece of money. The Provantman will undertake to say any thing, yea, to do any thing for money; for ten-groats a Week tug at a Wheel-barrow, and foe a stiver more serve the enemy, and for a Piece pistol a Prince; suffer any thing for money, for a Dollar take the Strappado; for a brace, draw at a decimation. Thus the Priests dealt with the silly Soldiers, as they did with Judas, only put them upon hanging. An old trick of the Priests, and much in use at this day, saving that now they practise it one upon the other, and so let them; good speed may they have.  
But for all this they might be asleep, whether our Saviour were stole away or no. Somewhat the begging Soldiers would have, & they shall, his stealing away we can by nomeans grant. The Resurrection, an article of our Creed, the very groundsel of all our Faith: his Resurrection the pattern & pledge of ours, the tenure where by we hold our title to salvation. But for their being asleep we will not much contend; it is credible they were so, the contrary being neither implied, nor expressed in the Scripture. But yet their sleep is no proof of their saying. They know the things were done just as they say, for they were asleep the while. A right Roman reason, a proof put from a Priest to serve a sleepy Soldier. If they were asleep, how could they say he was stolen rather then risen? or if they suppose him stolen, how knew they his Disciples did it rather than other men? This must needs argue in them either calumny to accuse a party without cause, or levity to lay the cause upon a wrong party; either way folly to allege so senseless areason. All our knowledge is either from Sense, or Reason; from Reason they could not have it, that hath made against them all this while; from any sense they could not, for they were asleep, in sleep all sensation is intercepted. They could neither hear, see, smell, taste nor feel the Disciples coming, or his stealing; if they did, they were not asleep. If some one were awake, and perceived it, why did he not give an Alarm to the rest? if they understood it afterwards from others, why do they not produce authentic witnesses? If the Disciples themselves confessed it, why were they not punished, and order taken to stop the rumour of the Resurrection? There is no way now left, but to pretend the Spirit, as our Enthusiasts do, and to say, that while they slept they had it in a dream by revelation. But that is refuted by retortion of the same, for by revelation every Christian knows the contrary; God reveals it unto him.  
But why do the Soldiers produce this reason? the reason is, they took it upon trust from the Priests. It is an old error (let us not contend for the age) to believe that the Priest cannot err. But why are the Soldiers got thus to argue against themselves? the reason is, no body else durst do it. In those times the soldiers bore all the sway, assumed all power to make Kings and Emperors. But since the Priest hath done the like, putting the Soldier by. And now the Peasant thinks 'tis come to his turn, under pretence of his privilege in Parliament: he would dispose of Kings and Commonwealths, and rather than return it to the Priest from whom he hath taken it, would cast the course back again upon the Soldiers. Nothing now contents the Commonalty but War and Contention; he hath taken a surfeit of peace, the very name of it grows odious: Now to give the Soldier his Passport, we sum up four exceptions against his saying; First, it is not verisimile, the unlikelihood of it hath appeared in every Contradictory. Secondly, They were ignari rerum, had no information of what they affirm; neither eye, nor earwitness of what they say, for they confess themselves asleep. Thirdly, Their saying is contrary to what they had said before; in the morning they told another tale, at the eleventh verse of this Chapter; if that were true, this is false; if that were not true, why should we believe this? or who will trust men in contrary tales? Lastly, the parties were corrupted, hired with a large sum to utter their saying, at the twelfth verse. These two latter lie without the Text, and therefore I wholly forbear them, especially for the point of corruption: 'Tis a crafty crime, and commonly hard to prove. We also forbear the lie to the Soldier, because he abhors it. But to the Priests who put this lie in their mouths, and to their Disciple-Priests who at this day practise lying, and allow it to be lawful, we would mend the old saying, A Liar should have a good memory, and rather require in him a good Wit. His memory serves but to avoid contradictions of himself, but his Wit to prevent the contradictions of others, that an untruth seem not also unlikely. If therefore the Priests would have lied wisely, and with credit, like Satan himself, the Serpent whom they served, they should, as they did formerly, have laid our Saviour to Satan's charge, and have said, that the foul Fiend came by night & fetched him away; leaving out, whilst the watch slept, and instead thereof have argued from the descent of the Angel, and the earthquake: this could not so easily have been discovered; but it might even as easily, where Faith had a Fortification; Humane reasons urged against it are but as Paper-shot. Carnal wisdom working against God is but dirt and rottenness. Our counsels are confounded, when carried against Christ. And so I come to my third and last Cursory, upon the word of our Saviour.  
Hitherto we have cleared the Disciples, but we must also give the Soldier content. There is no such difference, but the matter may be reconciled, and the question stated on the Soldier's side. Said I not, it was the fashion? The Soldiers than are in the right, their saying very sound and Christian; A Disciple of his did come by night, and stole him away, and the Soldiers were asleep. A Disciple of his, and his most beloved Disciple, his humane soul came by night, was united to his body, raised it, and withdrew it from the Sepulchre by stealth, while the Soldiers were so between sleeping and waking that they perceived it not. Of this Cursory very briefly, as the words lie in order, declining all emergent Controversies, for that our present quarrel lay only with the Soldier.  
We term him a Disciple, who receives knowledge and chastisement from another. As our Saviour was God, his soul was: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the truest and most proper Disciple that ever was: it had received both knowledge and chastisement, as never man had, knowledge of all manner, both Divine and Humane, infused and acquired: but whether it had no Ignorance, we leave it to the Catholics. And all manner of chastisement, both exemplary, and satisfactory, for all Mankind; the chastisement of our peace was upon it: but whether it satisfied for Reprobates, we leave it to the Arminians. His soul came, it could move, for it was separate; the soul was from the body, though neither from the Godhead: as all the rest of the Disciples, it forsook him on the Cross, and now it came again: but it came not as it went, it went by violence and foreign force, the Jews expelled it from him, although he also willing it should go; but it came purely voluntary, by a domestic agent: but whether by virtue of the Godhead, or its own motive faculty, we leave to the Schoolmen. It came then, not as poor Lazarus soul came to Abraham's bosom, carried by Angels, but single upon its own force, and without any help of others: But whether attended and waited upon by a troop of Angels, we leave it to the Fathers. For the time, it came by Night, not for fear of the Jews, as Nicodemus came to him, but for love of his promise, that he might rise the third day. He came the second Night, the Night second to his Passion, but third to the day of his Resurrection, some time between Midnight and Morning; but at what time, we leave it to the Chronologers. The Undè of its coming was from somewhere else, from a distant Ubi, for it was not come before it came: but from whence definitively, whether from Heaven or Hell, we leave it to the Calvinists. The Quò or Term of its coming was the Grave, he subsisted there; but the end of the Comer, was the Reunion to the body, to make his real presence there: but whether thereby he became omnipresent, to be every where while he was in the grave, we leave to the Lutherans. His final intent, not to organize the body, it was not dismembered, nor any way corrupted, not so much as in fieri, no not dispositively, but to animate those members, and to raise the body from the grave, in which action both the body and the soul had their mutual efficiency, each co-elevating other to make up the Resurrection: but whether these two Agents imply several operations really distinct, we leave it to the Nominalists.  
The manner of his resurrection so miraculous and ineffable, that bad words express it best. In a moral relation to the Jews, it is here termed stealing: not to show what our Saviour did in his rising, but to intimate what the Jews had committed by their crucifying. Things of a supereminent nature are fain to borrow words of an inferior signification, when they are related to a low capacity; so God gives himself attributes, not as he is, but according to the weakness whereby man apprehends him. And here the action of our Saviour is set down, not as it is done, but according to the wickedness that the Jews had done. The active signification of stealing belongs to our Saviour, but the moral evil of it reflected upon others. The Law saith, he steals who fraudulently takes away something of another's, with intent to get the thing itself, its use or possession; if this definition be true, his resurrection was stealing. His body was now cadaver puniti, the carcase of one that had publicly suffered, and thereby forfeit to the State; no man might meddle with it further than to bury it, nor that without special permission; it was now none of his, his right and possession of it both gone; tradiderat, he had made delivery of it, dispensed and passed it away to Pilate: Pilate disposed his right to bury it, to the Watch to detain it, and now it was theirs. When therefore he took it from the Grave, he stole it: his repossession of it defrauded all the Prae-detainers. Said they not also he was a Deceiver? But whether the Angel that rolled away the stone, were necessary or ministerial, we leave it to the Hermonists. By natural relation his body was his own, as being the essential and proper counterpart of his soul, prae coexistent with it in one person; but morally it was not so, or if it were, yet he might steal it for all that. A man may steal that which is his own, by interverting that right in it which hath been transferred to another: and what kind of Theft this was, we leave it to the Lawyers. God forbidden we should lay other Theft to our Saviour, then that he attributes to himself, in saying, He came like a Thief in the night, (i. e.) secretly and unawares: so was his conveyance from the Grave, close, without the consent and notice of those that were present; such a carriage we commonly call stealth. We steal away from a room, when we depart without the knowledge of the Company: But whether he could convey himself so closely, as to pass through the Tombstone, we leave it to the Philosophers.  
Yet so close it was, that the Watch perceived it not, for they were asleep; they were set to watch it, but they did not. Not to watch is all one with not to be awake, and that with to be be asleep. We commonly call him sleepy that is negligent or careless of what passeth, as the contrary we term vigilant: so the Watch was fast asleep, they never gave heed to the Resurrection; that so fare from their belief, that they had no opinion of it. But if death be a kind of sleep, he is sound asleep that lies for dead, and so did the Watch, in the 4th verse of this Chapter, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, for fear of the Angel they fell a shaking, and became as dead men. His presence gave them a strong Dormative, it wrought beyond sleep. Sleep reacheth but only to a Ligation of sense; but in them all motion ceased, they were examinate: but whether that fit held them only by way of Syncope, or did determine in a Cataphora, or soporiferous passion, we leave it to the Physicians. Fearful and Cowardish Soldiers, more womanish than women! At the presence of the Angel the Women stand upright, but the Soldiers fall in a swoon. Help them good Women, unbutton the Soldiers, ye need not fear their Halberds. There's work for you and your Spices, your odours to comfort and recall their Spirits. Bestow that Charity on the dying Soldiers which you intended on your dear Saviour; for he is risen, and needs them not, but they may benefit the Soldiers. The Soldiers used to such fits, they had one of them the other night in Gethsemane; but whether these dejections were sins in the Soldiers, we leave to the Casuists. Thus they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, laid as men asleep; for it signifies rather the reclination or posture of one asleep, than the affection of sleep itself. He that lies still without sense or motion, whether he be in a sleep, or trance, or dead, we say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and we call the Churchyard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, because the dead lie there as if they were asleep, they stir not. And so we must all be laid: There's no Dormitory. Our case somewhat like the Soldiers: We are appointed here to watch our Saviour; and as we do it, we are subject to the Soldier's infirmity, apt to be cast asleep, and become as dead men. Yet let us not be subject to their fear, our death is but like their swooning, that's the worst. We are liable to rise again, and our Resurrection shall be like our Saviour's: His and ours make a mutual Aspect; His the Specimen, and ours the Compliment. What he practised on himself he perfects in us: He will come again by night, and steal us to glory, while we lie sleeping in the Grave. Even so come Lord Jesus.   

THE RECANTATION SERMON.  

The PREFACE before the SERMON.  
Personal Prefaces are commonly unpleasant, mine is to me: It is nomine poenae, it requires my patience, it entreats yours. I never came here sponte, sometimes upon request, but now upon Command: to which my obedience is very voluntary, as willing to give satisfaction as any to receive it. I never stood here to show myself but now, and now not for worth, or wickedness, but yet for weakness, in not discerning the three vital circumstances of a well ordered Action, Person, Time and Place. For it I am now Prisoner to censure, the Spectacle of submission, and Petitioner for pardon. It is good to be humble, I like it very well, and use it more than some men think I do. My present business is not to repeat that Sermon which the Repeater condemned, and left unrepeated in the forenoon. I call it that, for now it is none of mine: It hath been censured publicly and justly; and so let it suffer, the whole for some bad parts: as usually the pravity of one member is destructive to the whole body. If ye will please to let it die, I will substitute another in the room; whereto (though enjoined by Authority) myself doth most willingly condescend. My Text was also imposed, and delivered in these words, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. In prosecution whereof, I humbly crave a fair construction, and a favourable acceptation. First, for my offence past, that my readiness to acknowledge it may go for one degree of satisfaction, and sudden recantation for another. What it wants in ripeness is supplied in sincerity, though in this the more mature, because the more timely. Secondly, for my present memory, I have had no time to furnish it: it is a dull and drowsy faculty, a great deal of do to make it ready; and besides, it is somewhat cowardly in point of danger. It dares not show itself, the least agitation makes it run away; and myself hath partly spared it for your sake and the University. My present Sermon is but a Brief, I would desire you to hear it read. You may please to turn to the Text; It's written Acts 2.1. the latter part, 
They were all with one accord in one place.    

Man ceaseth to be Man, if we conceive him all-sufficient; God only is so, He only is all-sufficient who is only Almighty. Man's being and his good is indigency and want: his chiefest business is to contend against it, and his happiness to abolish it. Private want is an occasion of difference and dissent; but common want the common cause of Concord, the Parent and procurer of moral unity and all humane societies. So all our Assemblies are grounded upon want, sometimes to give thanks that the past hath been supplied, but commonly to supply the wants present. The reason is, that when a Plurality of Agents are united in their efficacy, the operation is fare more effectual than if each wrought single: and what the single members cannot obtain apart, they may acquire jointly, being incorporate into one body. This also is the case of Christ's Disciples, the want of their Master collects and embodies them in together. They want him twice, once on Mount Calvary; there they want his soul; this gathers them close in Jerusalem; and the door is shut on them, but the place not specified.  
The second time he forsakes them on Mount Olivet, at the 9th verse of the former Chapter, than they want his person: that puts them together again at the 13th verse, in the upper room; there they consider of another want, means to perform their Ministry. Judas the Traitor hath hanged himself, at the 18th verse, his Bishopric is void, and they will choose another in his room, at the 22th verse; there they prick two, then pray and draw lots; and at the last verse Mathias is elected and consecrated. All this being finished, they yet find another want, variety of Languages to utter their Embassy to several Nations, where they were to be employed. For this there is another meeting upon a set day, the fifth from the Resurrection, and the tenth from the Ascension; and then, as it is in my Text, They were all with one accord in one place.  
In which may it please you to observe three Circumstances;  

1. The plurality or number; they were all.  
2. Their unanimity or moral union of soul; with one accord.  
3. The unipresence, or local union of body; In one place. Of these in their order, as the time hath scanted, and God strengthened by weakened thoughts. We begin with the Plurality or number; They were all.   
The Expositors run much pro and con, about the persons of these all, whether therein the Virgin Mary and other Women were included: But for the most, they go by conjecture, and either affirm, or deny it to serve their own purpose; and seeing the Scripture declares neither, we may exclude them to serve ours. They might be in presence, but not as part of the Assembly, and partakers of the benefits. The reason of this conjecture is, though the Women otherwise might receive many gifts and graces, yet they were not fit vessels to be filled with the holy Ghost in this kind, to speak with divers tongues. The sub-reason is, they might not exercise the functions for which these Tongues were ordained; they were for prophesying in the Church, from which St. Paul debars the Women, 1 Cor. 14.24. Let your Women keep silence in the Church, for it is not permitted unto them to speak. Let us not be thought overweening for casting now and then a conjecture divers from the common current. We are free Denizens of Christendom, and may challenge the liberty of our thoughts as well as outlandish men. Let their learning not out-look us, for where the Scripture leaves us, all learning lies lame, and her two truths are Criticisms and Conjectures. What persons soever excluded, the Disciples will not: they are ordered in this (all;) for the Consistory-Cardinalls will be in no order; for they make the Canons hold, that the Clause, All manner of persons, doth not include a Cardinal.  
The number is universal; not collective, but representative for the whole primitive Church, who was all there, not in their own single, but in the persons of these (all:) who were there for the acceptation of the holy Ghost, according to the gracious promises of our Saviour; or haply, all relatively too, the number specified in the Assembly for the election of Mathias. The total sum of that all was about 120. at the 15. verse of the former Chapter: the major part was the 12. Apostles. 12. the major part of 120. not in number, but in power, and therefore the better part; though some think otherwise, and thereupon infer, that every ordinary man is as good as a Bishop. The number here is 12. not unsignificant: the 12. Disciples answering the 12. Patriarches; for so it pleased God, that both the Testaments, the new and old, should be founded upon dodecadies; as the Church of the Jews under the Law sprung from the twelve Patriarches, so the Church of the Gentiles under the Gospel from the twelve Apostles.  
The Fathers and after-Divines, both ancient and modern, do much descant upon the number of the 12. Apostles, in relation to the 12. Fountains in Elim, and 12. Stones in Aaron's breastplate, the 12. Stones of the Altar, the 12. loaves of Proposition, the 12. Levites that carried the Ark, the 12. spies sent to search the Land of promise, the 12. gates of Jerusalem, the 12. Signs of the Zodiac, months of the year, and hours of the day, with many more the like; some whereof are pious, others but fancies. Yet in each they frame out a resemblance, as ye may see at large in Palmeron, and divers others. With the twelve Apostles the rest of the Disciples made up one hundred and twenty.  
Hereon St. Austin morals in his one hundred and sixteenth Sermon de Temp. that the holy Ghost was given tenfold to the twelve Apostles, because that ten multipiled by twelve makes up the product one hundred and twenty. But the moral of St. Gregory in his 35. Moral, and 3d Chapter, is too mystical, if not merely Pythagorical: he would have 120. partly to signify things temporal, partly eternal, by this deduction; an hundred and twenty by Arithmetical progress ariseth from one to fifteen; and because the components are seven and eight, things temporal are conceived by seven, and eternal by eight: of this I conceive not the ground, nor find it approved in Arithmetic. If thus to break numbers were rational, a man might deduce 600. mysteries from the number 120. St. Jerome prefigures this number in the age of Moses, whose years were full one hundred and twenty. With modesty be it spoken, St. Jerome might have pretyped it by the age of man in general, Gen. 6.3. when God saith of man, that his years shall be one hundred and twenty. Then put Moses and Man together, and the résemblance will be rational: Moses a type of Christ, the Scriptures both say and show it.  
As the Law descended first from God upon Moses alone, and after him to the people; so the descent of the holy Ghost, first from God upon Christ alone, and after from Christ upon all the Disciples, whose utmost number was about one hundred and twenty men, and from them communicated to the utmost of mankind, whose utmost age is but 120. years; but for the purpose, this member is more precisely typed in 2 Chron. 5.15. at the latter end of the verse, by one hundred and twenty Priests sounding on Trumpets, whereas it came to pass that the Trumpeters and Singers were all one to make one sound: so here the Disciples, though 120. in number, yet but one accord; which is my second circumstance, the unanimity or moral union of soul; with one accord.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: what the word means is showed in the fourth Chapter following, at the thirty second verse, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, They were of one heart and one soul; not Physically but Morally, an union and moral identity of souls, not the apprehensive soul, understanding or sense. Accord consists not in assent of opinions, or points of speculation; for to him that affirms the Sun bigger than the earth, my assent or descent neither makes nor mars one accord: The reason is, for that the judgement in such cases proceeds from natural reason, and by consequence from necessity; but in accord it springs from the will, from a voluntary choice and free: for true accord is an union of the motive soul, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, an union of the Will and affections; not the faculties themselves, though much at discord, but in unanimous actions and operations resulting from the faculties, when our Velle's and Nolle's are one and the same, either concerning the end itself, in the same fruition or intention, or concerning the means that led us to that end. In the sum, council and consent, they savour choice and use: and all this not in matters trivial, but things of moment, where there lies a sensible commodity to a good community.  
Thus was the unanimity and accord of the Disciples; first, for the end, they have one accord for the fruition of the Gospel, and intent to publish it; especially the point of Resurrection. Secondly, for the means; one accord for counsel and consent, and one for choice and use of them. And yet their one accord stands not here, but descends ad●cor: it signifies a co-heartedness, an unanimity or concurrring in affection; one accord in love and hatred, in desire and dislike, in joy and sorrow, and so in other passions irascible; yea there most of all, for where there lies a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, there's most properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: where all these agree in one, there's truly one accord. To this if we superadded a quantity of Impetus, a vehemency to conquer all impediments or difficulties of the action, we hit just on the nature of the thing; for than we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, when our agreement is the same, and hath the same degrees in operation; where we have a propense and earnest concurrence jointly to prosecute the same good, or shun the same evil, doing either action the same way. And thus were the Disciples in their affection's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the same love, desire and joy concerning the publishing of the Gospel, and good news of salvation; and the same hate, dislike and sorrow for any evil that might oppose it. Their affections, which before were irregular, and cast on infirmities, as Ambition, Incredulity, Apostasy, were now rectified and directed to their right object. It was not any rude accord, where the worst do rule; neither was it a dissembling accord, with a league in the mouth, and discord at the heart; neither was it a wicked accord, as of the Ephesians for their idolatry; but of good men with a good mind and to a good end. Thus were the Disciples to receive the Holy Ghost. This accord had God to its efficient; for as God only makes the heart, so he only seasons it, and gives it grace. It had God for its author, and God for its end, and therefore brings to one place; which is my third circumstance.  
In the same place; Not the same place numerically, but relatively, in the same room. This place was a high place; it was an upper room and comely. We should do all religious exercises in a decent place; the paring away of ceremonies do but take away the Church's ornaments. Then it was a high room: at all spiritual exercises we should ascend. Now it is called in Latin Coenaculum, a room to sup in: All religious exercises should be begun with the Supper of the Lord; and that must be common too, not for one only: this room (some say) was belonging to Nicodemus; yet this proves not for Conventicles: for if we have the like authority, we will release our Canon. What if we say, this is Solomon's Porch? for there were sixscore persons, and it was noised about by and by, yea by nine of the clock Peter was in his Sermon: This therefore is like not to be in a private chamber: but were not this, yet the other was, verse 46.  
God would have them join together to receive the Holy Ghost; for where the hearts are together it is much, but where they are together, and their body in one place, there is all the good place can afford. Thus we came from the plurality to the unanimity, and from the unanimity to the unipresence; the first without the second is but confused, and the second without the third is but singularity; but these altogether make a complete Parliament.  
And now for application of what hath been said to our Parliament; In the Disciples a spiritual want was the cause of their assembly, in the Parliament a temporal want. The event in the one was good; God grant it be so in the other. The time of that was after the resurrection, and so is it of this. The persons are all alike, Men all, no women, they are too talkative. The number alike, those, all the Primitive Church; these, all the Commonwealth. Of them both our opinions are alike; the one we honour, and the other too, a true Lawgivers. They were unanimous and unipresent, and so also is the Parliament; they had one Counsel, so have we; their accord was good, and so is ours; perfect, to cut off all bad accord. Their accord resolves a spiritual welfare, and so is our accord, to maintain ourselves by war. So of these our opinions are alike; the one would be without war, were they not provoked thereto, but now 'tis needful: so is our war also. That was an upper room, high and stately, so is the Parliament; that was in the suburbs of Jerusalem, this of London. Now let us praise God for them, and pray for them, that there be not opposition between them. Let the King be the Head, they the Heart, we the Members. Let it be like the Parliament in Mount Sinai, the King and subjects as God and Moses, and we like the Israelites. Let God say to the King, that he will help him, and destroy his enemies: Let the King say to the people as David to the Gibeonites; and let the people say to him as Israel to David, We will serve and obey thee only, and do what thou commandest us: and let me pray for them, that they may stand fast in the Faith: and let's all say of them all that be of Israel, as a Congregation of one mind, that this union may be ruled by order, and that like this spiritual one, let's pray there may be one God, one Mind, one Spirit; and let all the people say, Amen.  
Here remains as yet a personal conclusion. If I heretofore seemed to deliver any Doctrine contrary to this I now deliver, I utterly renounce it. The last time I had these words, Now the Peasant thinks, etc. I I had also these words, Nothing contents the Commonalty but war and contention. I there I did very ill, forgetting that of Solomon, There is a time for war, and a time for peace. For another erroneous thing I require your pardon. A word once spoken cannot be recalled, it may be stopped. In the same place where the blot was made I am come to wipe it out. My last Petition to you is for patronage from further trouble.   
FINIS.