apostles to the apostles, the commission was to women of that name, Mary; for, though our expositors dispute whether the blessed Virgin Mary were there then, when this passed at the sepulchre, yet of Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James, there can be no doubt. Indeed it is a noble, and a comprehensive name, Mary. It is the name of woman, in general; for, when Adam says of Eve, She shall be called woman', in the Arabic translation, there is this name, She shall be called Mary; and the Arabic is, perchance, a dialect of the Hebrew. But in pure, and original Hebrew, the word signifies exaltation, and whatsoever is best in the kind thereof. This is the name of that sister of Aaron, and Moses, that with her choir of women assisted at that eucharistical sacrifice, that triumphant song of thanksgiving, upon the destruction, the subversion, the summersion of Egypt in the Red Sea. Her name was Miriam; and Miriam and Mary is the same name in women, as Josuah and Jesus is the same name to men. The word denotes greatness, not only in power, but in wisdom, and learning too; and so signifies often prophets and doctors; and so falls fitliest upen these blessed women, who, in that sense, were all made Marys, messengers, apostles to the apostles; in which sense, even those women were made Marys, (that is, messengers of the resurrection) who, no doubt, had other names of their own. There was amongst them, the wife of Chusa', a great man in Herod's court, his steward; and her name was Joanna, Joan. So that here was truly a Pope Joan, a woman of that name, above the greatest men in the church. For the dignity of the papacy, they venture to say, That whosoever was St. Peter's successor in the bishopric of Rome, was above any of the apostles, that over-lived Peter; as St. John did; here was a woman, a Pope Joan, superior to St. Peter himself, and able to teach him. But though we found just reason to celebrate these women by name, we meant not to stay upon that circumstance; we shut it up with this prayer, That that blessing which God gave to these Marys, which was, to know more of Christ, than their former teachers knew, he will also be pleased to give to the greatest of that name amongst us, 5 Gen. ii. 23. Exod. xv. 20. 7 Luke viii. 3; xxiv. 10. that she may know more of Christ, than her first teachers knew, And we pass on, from the names, to the conditions of these women. And first we consider their sedulity; sedulity, that admits no intermission, no interruption, no discontinuance, no tepidity, no indifferency in religious offices. Consider we therefore their sedulity if we can. I say, if we can; because if a man should sit down at a bee-hive, or at an ant-hill, and determine to watch such an ant, or such a bee, in the working thereof, he would find that bee, or that ant so sedulous, so serious, so various, so concurrent with others, so contributary to others, as that he would quickly lose his marks, and his sight of that ant, or that bee; so if we fix our consideration upon these devout women, and the sedulity of their devotion, so as the several evangelists present it unto us, we may easily lose our sight, and hardly know which was which, or, at what time she or she came to the sepulchre. They came in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn, towards the first day of the week, says St. Matthew: They came very early in the morning, upon the first day of the week, the sun being then risen', says St. Mark; They prepared their spices, and rested the Sabbath, and came early the next day, says St. Luke; They came the first day, when it was yet dark", says St. John. Friday evening, till Sunday morning, they were sedulous, busy upon this service; so sedulous, as that Athanasius thinks these women came four several times to the sepulchre, and that the four evangelists have relation to their four comings; and St. Hierome argues upon this seeming variety in the evangelists, thus, Non mendacii signum, sed sedula visitationis officium, This variety argues no uncertainty in the evangelists, but testifies the sedulity of those women they speak of; Dum crebro abeunt et recurrunt, says he, Whilst they make many accesses, and returns, Nec patiuntur a sepulchro diu, aut longius abesse, And cannot indure to be far distant, or long absent from their devout exercise. From Beloved, true devotion is a serious, a sedulous, an impatient thing. He that said in the Gospel, I fast twice a week1, was but a Pharisee; he that can reckon his devout actions, is no better; 8 Matt. xxviii. 1. 9 Mark xvi. 1. 11 John xx. 1. 10 Luke xxiv. 1. 12 Luke xviii. 11. he that can tell how often he hath thought upon God to-day, hath not thought upon him often enough. It is St. Augustine's holy circle, to pray, that we may hear sermons profitably, and to hear sermons that we learn to pray acceptably. Devotion is no marginal note, no interlineary gloss, no parenthesis that may be left out; it is no occasional thing, no conditional thing; I will 6, Wir go, if I like the preacher, if the place, if the company, if the weather; but it is of the body of the text, and lays upon us an obligation of fervour and of continuance. This we have in this example of these, not only evangelical, but evangelistical (preaching) women; and thus much more, that as they were sedulous and diligent after, so they were early, and begun betimes; for, howsoever the evangelists may seem to vary, in the point of time, when they came, they all agree they came early, which is another exaltation of devotion. They were women of quality, and means. They came with Christ from Galilee, and they came upon their own charges; and more than so; for, says the text, They ministered to Christ of their substance13. Women of quality may Women of quality may be up and ready early enough for God's service, if they will. If they be not, let them but seriously ask themselves that question, Whether upon no other occasion, no entertainment, no visit, no letter to or from another, they could have made more haste; and if they find they could, I must say in that case, as Tertullian said, They have put God and that man into the balance, and weighed them together, and found God too light. That mighty, that weighty, that ponderous God, that blasts a state with a breath, that melts a church with a look, that moulders a world with a touch, that God is weighed down with that man; that man, whose errand, if it be but conversation, is vanity, but, if it be sin, is nothing, weighs down God. The world will needs think one of these Marys, (Magdalen) to have been guilty of such entertainments as these, of incontinency, and of that in the lowest (that is, the highest) kind, prostitution; perchance she was; but, I would there were that necessity of thinking so, that because she was a woman, and is called a sinner, therefore that must be her sin, as though they were capable of no other sin; alas, it is not so. 13 Luke viii. 3. There may be women, whom even another sin, the sin of pride, and over-valuation of themselves may have kept from that sin, and yet may well be called sinners too; there may be found women, whom only their scorn of others, have kept honest, and yet are sinners, though not in that sin. But yet, even this woman, Mary Magdalen, be her sin what you will, came early to Christ; early, as soon as he afforded her any light. Christ says, in the person of Wisdom, I love them that love me, and they that seek me early shall find me1; and a good soul will echo back that return of David, O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee; my soul thirsteth for thee; my flesh longeth for thee"; and double that echo with Esay, With my soul have I desired thee in the night, and with my spirit within me, will I seek thee early1. Now, what is this early seeking of God? First, there is a general rule given by Solomon, Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth"; submit thyself to a religious discipline betimes. But then, in that there is a now inserted into that rule of Solomon's, (Remember now thy Creator, in the days of thy youth,) there is an intimation, that there is a youth in our age, and an earliness acceptable to God, in every action; we seek him early, if we seek him at the beginning of every undertaking. If I awake at midnight, and embrace God in mine arms, that is, receive God into my thoughts, and pursue those meditations, by such a having had God in my company, I may have frustrated many temptations that would have attempted me, and perchance prevailed upon me, if I had been alone, for solitude is one of the devil's scenes; and, I am afraid there are persons that sin oftener alone, than in company; but that man is not alone that hath God in his sight, in his thought. Thou preventest me with the blessings of goodness 18, says David to God. I come not early enough to God, if I stay till his blessings in a prosperous fortune prevent me, and lead me to God; I should come before that. The days of affliction have prevented me", says Job. I come not early enough to God, if I stay till his judgments prevent me, and whip me to him; I should come before that. But, if I prevent 14 Prov. viii. 17. 15 Psalm Lxiii. 1. 18 Psalm xxi. 3. 16 Isaiah xxvi. 9. 19 Job. xxx. 27. the night watches, and the dawning of the morning2o, if in the morning my prayer prevent thee O God", (which is a high expression of David's, That I should wake before God wakes, and even prevent his preventing grace, before it be declared in any outward act, that day) if before blessing or cross fall upon me, I surrender myself entirely unto thee, and say, Lord here I lie, make thou these sheets my sheets of penance, in inflicting a long sickness, or my winding-sheet, in delivering me over to present death, here I lie, make thou this bed mine altar, and bind me to it in the cords of decrepitness, and bedridness, or throw me off of it into the grave and dust of expectation, here I lie, do thou choose whether I shall see any to-morrow in this world, or begin my eternal day, this night, thy kingdom come, thy will be done; when I seek God, merely for love of him, and his glory, without relation to his benefits or to his corrections, this is that early seeking, which we consider in those blessed women, whose sedulity and earnestness, when they were come, and acceleration and earliness, in their coming, having already considered, pass we now to the ad quid, to what purpose, and with what intention they came, for in that alone, there are divers exaltations of their devotion. In the first verse of this chapter it is said, They came to see the sepulchre; even to see the sepulchre was an act of love, and every act of love to Christ, is devotion. There is a love that will make one kiss the case of a picture, though it be shut; there is a love that will melt one's bowels, if he do but pass over, or pass by the grave of his dead friend. But their end was not only to see the sepulchre, but to see whether the sepulchre were in such state, as that [they might come to their end, which was, To embalm their Master's body. But this was done before; and done to their knowledge; for, that all the evangelists testify; particularly, St. Luke, The women followed, and beheld the sepulchre, and how the body was laid". How, that is, how abundantly it was embalmed by Nicodemus. How, that is, how decently and orderly it was wound and bound up, according to the manner of the Jews' funerals. What then intended these women to do more than was done already? 7 20 Psalm cxix. 147. 21 Psalm LXxxiii. 13. 22 Luke xxiii. 55, |