Matthew the twenty feventh chapter: Thus were the infenfible Creatures moved at his fufferings, and men not moved a whit. Our Saviour fheweth, that albeit he felt fuch a great blow; yet neither the sense of his fufferings, nor his being bereft of all comfort, did grieve him so much as this, That we have no regard of it; therefore followeth this petition, Mark now; though heretofore ye have had no regard, yet now behold it.

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It confifts of three points: Firft, to fee, He was as the brafen Serpent, let up, that all men should caft up their eyes; fo he faith, John the twelfth chapter,If I were lift up I will draw all men to me. Secondly, To fee, and not to confider, is a folly: to fee and look with gazing, is that which the Angels found fault with, Acts the first chapter: We must not only look to Fefus, the Author and finisher of our faith, He brews the twelfth chapter, but, as it followeth, recogitate: think on him again and again, what great things he fuffered, what comfort he was bereft of, He that had fuffered was the fonne of God, Hebrews the second chapter,and he fuffered for us. Confider the love wherewith Chrift was moved to fuffer this for us; and the benefit that comes to us from his paffion: he being an innocent, there was no neceffity for him to dye; and having guards of Angels, as Matthew the twenty fixt chapter, he could not be compelled to fuffer; but he did it willingly He first made him a body fit to fuffer, and then fpoyled that body for us; and that was love, and never the like love, whether we refpe&t God or Chrift. God gave his only Sonne, no greater benefit could be given us, then that. Chrifts love appears to us, by his obedience to his Father: His love to us is fhewed, that for us, he that was the greatest perfon that ever was, became obedient to death, even of the Croffe; that he fuffered not only a fhamefull, but curfed death, Factus eft maledictum, Galatians the third chapter, for curfed is every one that hangeth on tree: Never was there the like love; his very death had been fufficient for our redemption: For it is God himself that offered this facrifice; and this he did to make us confider his love, Si fuerit amor ficut. But in regard of the benefit that comes to us, his death is our teftament, whereby we come to an inheritance; the day of wrath to him, is our day of reconciliation and jubile; his ftripes, our medicine, his torfaking, our receiving to favour. Thus are we to confider his fufferings, in refpect of the fruit that comes to us by it: We are to have a sympathic, as allo to conceive an antipathie against finnc.

The cause of his grievous paffion, we must fhew it, pertains to us, not only by looking and thinking on it, but by doing fomething, as Luke the twenty third chapter, Hoc facite in commemorationem: the thing to be done, is the celebrating of his Sacraments; and that is a mean, to be partaker of his fufferings, and we fhall be united to him, and all that he hath deserved. By these his fufferings shall be ours, omnia ejus noftra: As God hath given us his fonne to dye for us, so cum filio dabit omnia, Romans 8. 32.

1 Pet. 2. 25. Nam eratis velut oves errantes fed nunc convertitis vos ad Paftorem & Curatorem animarum veftrarum.

WHICH words prefent to us, First, the Christians, to whom the Apoftle wrote this Epiftle,and confequently our felves under the term of sheep, Secondly, our Saviour Chrift, who is the Paftor and Shepheard, as he affirms of himielf, Fohn the tento chapter, I am the true Shepheard. That which concerns us, doth let out a double State: Fift, That we were as sheep going a firay Secondly, As sheep converted. The one is our eftare, wherein we were before our converfion; the other our eftate after converfion. The one is a ftate of mifery endleffe; the other of felicity without end.

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In the treaty whereof, three things are offered, First, the term of Sheep, applyed to our felves. Secondly, Shepheard, with the application of it to Chrift. Thirdly, our error and conversion.

First, For the term of Sheep, there is no name (o often borrowed to expreffe the state of Mankinde; whereof, befides the application which the Apostle makes of it here, we have a plain expofition, in Ezekiel the thirty fourth chapter, & hæ omnes homines funt. Of these terms that are found in the Scripture applyed to Christian men, there are two efpecially The first of Plants, Thereby Christ chufech the Vine: The fecond of Living Creatures, sheep. They are both, Pfalm the eightieth, Thou hast brought a Vine out of Egypt; and forthe other, Thou that leadeft Fofeph like a Sheep. And fo in the new Testament, the state of the Church compared to a Sheep-fold Fohn the tenth chapter; and Fohn the fifteenth chapter, to a Vine. The congruities between the Church and these terms are many, but that which is specially here to be observed, is the need of having a Shepheard. The Vine is the weakest of all other Plants, and must be raised up against the house fide, or else it will not profper, Ezekiel the fifteenth chapter: So for Sheep, they are weak and of Imall ftrength. For their wifdome, there is no Creature foefily mil-led and carried aftray; for they of themfelves delight to goc aftray and fo they are not of any reach or wisdome: Secondly for power, they are unable to refift, but are a pray to every wilde beaft. To these we add a third point, that is, no Crea ure hath fo many enemies. So it is with the Church, As they are Sheep, they have Theeves and Robbers, Fohn the tenth chapter: As they are like the Vine, there is the wild Boar out of the forest, Pfalm the eightieth. Whatsoever is weak of it felf, and hath many enemies, hath need of help from another: So that if there be a Theef and Wolf quem fugere, there must be fome body ad quem confugere debent. If the Wolfe doe difgregare and rapere, there must be one that will congregare Oves. It to be fcattered be a mifery, the reme

die against that is, to be in the unity of a flock; and the way to be delivered from being a pray, is to be under the defence of a Shepheard: The one is the wifdom, the other is the ftrength of this poor Creature. Then to erre from the Fold and Shepheard, is the only evil that can befall them; fo the Prophet noteth, Ezekiel the thirty fourth chapter, They ftragled on every Hill, and Matthew the ninth chapter, our Saviour defcribes the mifery of the people, to fhew them, that they were as Sheep without a Shepheard. If to erre be a mifery, then our felicity ftands, either in ftaying in the Fold, or, it we be gone aftray, to return to the Shepheard, that is, to Chrift, who promifeth life, and aboundance of life, to him that converteth unto him, the tenth chapter of St. Johns Gospel, and the tenth verse.

Secondly, For the term of Shepheard and Bishop, it is applyed to Christ by Congregation, being a flock. Every Governor is a Shepheard, not only in regard of the ftate of the Church, but in refpect of the Common-wealth: For it is firft applyed to Fofeph, who was a politick Magiftrate, Genefis the fourty ninch chapter; fo to Fofbuah, when Mofes prayeth for a civil Governor to be let over the People, Numbers the twenty feventh chapter; fo,Pfalin the feventy feventh, Theu leadeft thy People like sheep, by the hand of Mofes and Aaron: Pfalm the feventy eighth, He took me from the Sheepfold to feed Ifrael And in the first book of Kings, the twenty fecond chapter, Ahab being flain, the People of Ifrael are amazed, as Sheep wandring on the waters without a shepheard: So Isaiah 44. Tuos cire pater meus eft. This was the opinion of the Heathen; and therefore fuch temporal Governors are called mums nav, and not only fo, but as it followeth, they are Paftores animarum: For feeing men are reafonable Creatures, God forbid but a Magiftrate should have a greater regard of men, than rural Shepheards of Sheep that are pecora campi, Hebrews the the fift chapter, the mount of God, from whence came the Law: But here is Gods own hill from whence came the Gospel. As the term Shepheard, to is Paftor, Ezekiel the thirty fourth chapter and the eighteenth verse, to tread on the good paftures, and drink of the deep waters. These are applyed to the ftate Civil, as Pfalm the twenty third and the fecond verle, The Lord is my Shepheard, he maketh me to rest on green pastures, and leadeth me to the fill waters. But as these terms are applyed to the Common-wealth, fo alfo the Church is a flock, and the Shepheard is Chrift. All that came before him were but theeves, as he faith, I am the true shepbeard; and therefore it is more excellently applyed to him than to any other For no Shepheard can fay of his Sheep,he made them; but we are the Sheep of his Church, Pfalm the hundred and tenth. No fhepheard bought his fheep with his blood; but Chrift hath purchased his Church with his blood, Acts the twentieth chapter. No Thepheard feedeth his flock with himfelf, as Chrift doth feed us with the preaching of his word, being in his divine nature Verbum ; and with his flesh,in his humane nature. But the Apoftle contenterh Mmmm 3

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not himself to call him Shepheard, but Bishop. There was in the Church Paftores & Doctores, Ephefians the fourth chapter and the eleventh verfe, and the first epiftie to the Corinthians, the twelfth chapter, They fed men by teaching, and fo made them more able in the Roth Teachers inward man, but there were other Paftors by overfight called Bihops: Both titles have their ground, in John the twenty first chapter and the fixteenth verfe, where Chrift faith to Peter, Booxs nỳ miμare the one word fignifies to feed, the other to governe: So there are paftores, βάσκοντες and ἐπισκόποντες. The diverficie of their gifts, makes the difference of titles. Many have the gift of feeding, by teaching, that have not the gift of overfight and Government. St. Paul gave Titus power to order,Titus the first chapter;to Timothy,to receive accufations, the first epiftle to Timothy the filt chapter; to put to filence, to correct, to vifit; Acts the fifteenth chapter, every one hath not fuch power, neither is it fit they should have.

Out of which words, for our moral inftruction, seeing it hath pleafed Chrift, to the office of Paftors to add Bishops, he left us examples, as the first epistle of Peter the second chapter, to teach us that have or that must have a regard of others, must be free from fleep Therefore it is faid of fuch, Hebrews the thirteenth chapter Vigilant pro animabus veftris; unlike those of whom, Ifaiah the fifty fixt chapter, Their fhepheards lye a fleep, and delight in sleeping, Nebemiah the second chapter and the first verle, neither must they be negligent. Some have a care, but it is to feed themselves with the milk, and cloath themselves with the fleece, Ezekiel the thirty fourth chapter. They are Epifcopi uberum & vellerum, but it is of the fouls that they must be caretull. That is the end of their Government: as also of civil Magistrates, and Masters of Families And that Governor that hath not this end, is not immon☺, but dróxo, he aimeth at a wrong mark.

Thirdly, For the erring, and turning again, he faith, Te went astray, and fo hazarded your fouls. We know it is one thing to be loft, and another to erre; Luke the fifteenth chapter, The groat was loft, the Sheep was not loft, but ftrayed away of it felf, and that is a voluntary thing but this is not to be applyed to matter of opinion, but to error of life, as Proverbs the fourteenth chapter, Nonne oves errant, qula operant iniquitatem? That straying is fet forth in the riotous young man, Luke the fifteenth chapter; who, by mifpending his goods on Harlots, was brought to mifery. They that stray are fuch as commit finne with greedineffe, Ephesians the fourth chapter, that is, not by the negligence of fuch as are fet over us, but by our own corruption. As we goe aftray by errors of life; fo.by errors of opinion, as Fames the second chapter, That wait upon lying vanities, and for fake their own mercy, by errors of life and opinion, They for fake their fathers house, as John faith, in the first epistle of John and the lecond chapter, Those things I write, ne peccetis: So we preach ne erretis. We fay as the Angel did to Sarai her maid Agar, Remember whence thou commeft and whither thou goeft, Genefis the fixteenth chap

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ter: Therefore the Difciples, when others went aftray, faid to Christ, Fohn the fixt chapter, Whether should we goe away? that is, we fay not to forfake the fellowship of the Church, nor to withdraw themselves, For in fuch my foal hath no delight, Hebrews the tenth chapter. But Peter confefferh here, you have finned and gone aftray: what then? If we say we have no finne, we are not only proud, but lyars, the first epistle of fohn and the firft chapter. The Prophet faith, All we, like sheep, have gone astray, and turned every one to his own way, Ifaiah the fifty third chapter. The direction of the Law is, Not to finne, But the comfort of the Gospel is, that albeit we have finned, yet we are turned, as the Apoftle faith here, Ye were as sheep going aftray, but now ye are turned: So in the first epiftle to the Corinthians the fixt chapter, ye were finners, of all forts; hec eratis, but now you are juftified and fanctified. So then if men erre, the next point is, to confeffe it, not to continue in finne. If a man perfevere in fin, he is out of his right way, but if he will goe no further in it, he will redire ad cor,as Luke the fifteenth chap:er, we must return to our felves; that is it, whereunto the Apoftle exhorts them, As the third chapter and the nineteenth verfe, Repent and turne, as Foel xhors, Return to the Lord with your whole heart, Foel the fecond chapter. Of which repentance we must conceive as of a tree that must bring forth fruit; as Acts the twenty fixt chapter, To bring forth works worthy of repentance.

The works worthy of repentance, are first, To judge our felves, the first epistle to the Corinthians, the eleventh chapter, then to punish and take revenge of our felves, the fecond epiftle to the Corinthians, the leventh chapter and the eleventh verfe. Secondly, these are turned ad punetorem, which give over an evil courfe of life; but atter they turn to another, hat is worfe; that is not repentance. As a man having been an Idolater, to become a facrilegious perfon, that is worse, Romans the fecond chapter, such a one is not turned to the Bishop of our fouls. So when a civill man becomes worldly, or a prophane perfon proveth a Schifmatick. The last point is, That when a man is turned, God doth not only fpeak peace to him, but he will speak to his Saints that they return not again to folly, Pfalm the eighty fift & the ninth verte: When we are turned to Chrift, he will fay, Luke the twenty fourth chapter, Mane nobifcum, that was faid to Christ after his refurrection. So at the feast of Eafter we come to the Paftor and Bishop of our fouls, and confeffe we were turned? therefore being now rifen again, we muft tarry with him; we must not turn again to folly: We must confider how it was with us, when we trampled his pafture under our fect, and troubled the waters, yea, we wandred on the mountains, and upon every bill, Ezekiel the thirty fourth chapter. We must confider if it were better with us before, as Hofea the fecond chapter: And being turned, we muft make this conclufion, Ephefians the fift chap er, Te were darknesse, but now are light; therefore walk as children of light. So we were as Sheep going aftray, but now being turned to Chrift, the Shepheard and