Genesis, so this text with regeneration; as the Bible ends in he Apocalypse, so this here with a revelation.

Only it stayeth till the work of regeneration be accomolished. Generation and it take end both together, and when generation doth, then shall corruption likewise, and with it he state of dishonour which is in foulness, and the state of weakness which is in fading; and instead of them, incorruption comes in place with honour and power. And these three, 1. incorruption, 2. honour, and 3. power, make the perfect estate of bliss to which Christ this day arose, and which shall be our estate at the Resurrection. That as all began with a resurrection, so it shall end with one. us by Christ's rising now, this first Easter; and we shall come to it by our own rising at the last and great Easter, the true Passover indeed, when from death and misery we shall pass to life and felicity.

Came to

18-20.

Now for this "inheritance" which is bliss itself, and in the interim for the “blessed hope set before us, which we have as Heb. 6. an anchor of our soul, steadfast and sure, which entereth even within the veil, where Christ the forerunner is already seized of it" in our names and for our behoofs, for these come we now to our Benedictus.

For if God" according to His manifold mercy," have done all this for us, we also according to our duty, as manifold as His mercy, are to do or say at least somewhat again. It accords well that for so many beneficia, one Benedictus at least. It accords well, that His rising should raise in us, and our regenerating beget in us some praise, thanks, blessing at least; but blessing fits best with Benedictus.

First then, dictus; somewhat would be said by way of recognition, this hath God done for us and more also, but this, this very day. Then bene let it be, to speak well of Him for doing thus well by us; a verbal Benedictus for a real blessing is as little as may be. For the inheritance which is blessing, for the hope which is blessed, for the blessed cause of both, God's mercy, and the blessed means of both, Christ's resurrection this blessed day, "Blessed be God!"

But to say Benedictus any way is not to content us, but to say it solemnly. How is that? Benedictus in our mouth, and the holy Eucharist in our hands. So to say it; to seal

}

Ps. 116.

12, 13.

I Cor. 10.16.

SERM. up, as he in the old, his quid retribuam with calicem salutaris, XI. "the cup of salvation," so we in the new, our Benedictus with calix benedictionis, "the cup of blessing which we bless in His Name." So shall we say it in kind, say it as it would be said. The rather so to do, because by that "cup of blessing" we shall partake the "blood of the New Testament," by which this inheritance, as it was purchased for us, so it is passed to us. Always making full account, that from "the cup of blessing," we cannot part but with a blessing.

And yet this is not all, we are not to stay here but to aspire farther, even to strive to be like to God; and be like God we shall not, unless our dicere be facere as His is, unless somewhat be done withal. In very deed there is no blessing, but with levatâ and extensâ manu, "the hand stretched out:"Lu. 24. 50. so our Saviour Himself "blessed." The vocal blessing alone is not full, nor the Sacramental alone without Benedictio manus, that is, the actual blessing. To leave a blessing behind us, to bestow somewhat for which the Church, the poor in it, so, shall bless us, and bless God for us. In which 2 Cor. 9. 5. respect the Apostle so calleth it expressly, evλoyíav benedictionem, and by that name commends it to the Corinthians.

And that is the blessing of blessings, when all is done; that Mat. 25.34. is it for which venite benedicti shall be said to us, even for parting with that here which shall feed, cover, and set free the hungry, naked, and them in prison. That shall prove the blessing real, and stick by us, when all our verbal benedictions shall be vanished into air.

So, for a treble blessing from God, 1. our regenerating, 2. our hope, 3. our inheritance, we shall return Him the same number, even three for three. 1. Benedictus of the voice and instrument; 2. Benedictus of the sign and Sacrament; 3. and Benedictus, of some blessed deed done, for which many blessings upon earth, and the blessing of God from Heaven shall come upon us. So, as we say here, Benedictus Deus, “Blessed He," He shall say, Benedicti vos, "Blessed ye." The hearing of which words in the end shall make us blessed without end, in Heaven's bliss. To which, &c.

A SERMON

PREACHED BEFORE THE

KING'S MAJESTY, IN THE CATHEDRAL
CHURCH AT DURHAM,

ON THE TWENTIETH of APRIL, A.D. MDCXVII., BEING EASTER-DAY.

MATTHEW xii. 39, 40.

But He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign, but no sign shall be given unto it, save the sign of the Prophet Jonas:

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

[Qui respondens ait illis, Generatio mala, et adultera signum quærit; et signum non dabitur ei, nisi signum Jona Prophetæ.

Sicut enim fuit Jonas in ventre ceti tribus diebus et tribus noctibus, sic erit Filius hominis in corde terræ tribus diebus et tribus noctibus.

Latin Vulg.]

[But He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the Prophet Jonas:

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Engl. Trans.]

Being

"THE sign of the Prophet Jonas" is the sign of the Resurrection, and this is the feast of the Resurrection. then the sign of this feast, at this feast to be set up; signum temporis in tempore signi, the sign of the time at the time of the sign,' most properly ever.

SERM.
XII.

The sum.

The division.

They "would see a

The words are an answer of Christ's in this verse, to a motion of the Pharisees in the last. sign." The answer is negative, but qualified. There is in it a non, and a nisi; non dabitur, “none shall be given them.” Indeed "none should," they were worthy of none. Yet saith He not non simply, His non is with a nisi-non dabitur nisi; it is with a limitation, with a but, "none but" that. So that, so one shall be. In the non is their desert, in the nisi His goodness That, though they were worthy none, yet gives them one though.

Gives them one, and one that is worth the giving. Put non and nisi together, it is a non-nisi. If you speak of a sign, none to it; a sign, instar omnium.

This sign is "the sign of the Prophet Jonas." Of him divers other ways, and namely this; that as he "was in the whale's belly," so was Christ "in the heart of the earth." There they were either.

And that which makes up the sign, "three days" apiece; three days, and no longer.

And then, as Jonas cast up by the whale, so Christ rose again from the dead, and both the third day. So that upon the matter, the substance of this sign is Christ's resurrection, and the circumstance of it is this very day.

We will divide it no otherwise than already we have: 1. into the non, non dabitur; 2. the nisi, non dabitur nisi; 3. and the non-nisi, non nisi signum Jonæ.

I. The non, the denial first; non dabitur eis. And the reason is in eis, in the parties. For they 1. an "evil, and 2. adulterous," and a 3. "generation" of such-three brands set upon them; eis "to them," to such as them, "no sign” to be "given;" none at all.

II.

III.

Then the nisi; non dabitur nisi. For though they were such as little deserved any, yet Christ of His goodness will not cast them quite off. "None" He will give "but." So one He will give, a sign they shall have.

And that no trivial or petty sign, to give it His due, but in very deed a signum non nisi; non nisi signum Jonæ, that is, insigne signum, a sign signal:'-mark them all, none like it.

And that is "the sign of the Prophet Jonas," coming forth

of the whale's jaws, half out and half in. In which sign there are upon the point three sicuts.

1. The parties first; as Jonas, so "the Son of Man," that is, Himself.

2. Wherein, the place.

That as the one was "in the whale's belly," so was the other "in the bowels of the earth."

3. Last, in time. Either, "three days and three nights" just, and but three days, and then forth again. There they were, and there both the same time; the places diverse, the time the same.

So Jonas, the sign of Christ; and the whale's belly, the sign of Christ's grave. Jonas' three days, the sign of Christ's three days, 1. Good Friday, 2. yesterday, 3. and to-day.

Which three days, when we shall come to calculate them, they will give us three stands, and make as it were three signs in one, each day his several sign.

The letter of the text saith, there they were; 1. we are carried then to ask, How came they thither? The text saith, there they were but "three days;" 2. we are carried then to ask, How came they thence?

1. Jonas' state before he came into the whale; 2. his state while there; 3. his state getting thence.

Conform in Christ. 1. Good-Friday, when as Jonas went down the whale's throat, so Christ laid in His grave. 2. Eastereve, while there He lay. 3. And this which is now the third day, when as Jonas cast up on dry land, so Christ risen from death to the life immortal.

So have you, as in a sign, set forth: 1. Christ's death by Jonas' drowning; 2. Christ's burial, by Jonas' abode there; 3. Christ's resurrection by Jonas' emersion again.

As Christus sepultus by Jonas absorptus, so Christus resurgens by Jonas emergens. 1. Jonas' going down the whale's throat, of Christ put into His sepulchre; 2. Jonas' appearing again out of the whale's mouth, of Christ's arising out of His sepulchre. All in Jonas shadowed, and in Christ fulfilled.

In these three days these three signs, and in them three keys of our faith, three articles of our creed; 1. mortuus, 2. sepultus, 3. and resurrexit, 1. Christ's death, 2. burial, and 3. rising again.

CC