THE THIRTY-FOURTH LECTURE.

OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.

JOHN, CHAP. XX.

16. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and said unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

17. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and to your Futher; and to my God, and your God.

18. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.

WE heard, these past days, beloved in Christ, how that early in the morning, first one company of women came out of Hierusalem to the grave of the Lord; and next after them another company; thirdly, we heard of Peter and John, two of the apostles, how they came out to the grave of the Lord, being stirred up by the report of the women. And, last, we heard of the outcoming of Mary Magdalene to the grave of the Lord, the second time, following after the disciples, Peter and John; after they were returned, she comes again to the grave. She offered not to look in, but stood mourning for a space without, thinking certainly that the body of the Lord had been stolen away. But, at the last, it pleased the Lord to bow her mind, and then she bowed her body, and looked

into the grave, and saw two angels, the one at the head and the other at the feet of the grave where our Lord had lain, sitting, clothed in bright raiment; and when she saw them she was nothing afraid, as the other women; she was so filled with displeasure and sorrow, and her eyes were so dim with mourning, that she could not see. The angels ask her, "Why weepest thou?" She answers them, "They have taken away the body of the Lord, and I know not where they have laid it." Ye will marvel at this; there is nothing in her mind but the dead body of the Lord; and as she is not terrified with the sight of the angels, so she is not terrified with their voice; and she turns her about from them, and finding him standing beside her in his own proper person. And the Lord said, as the angel had said before unto her, "Woman," speaking strangely; and he proceeds farther, and saith, "Whom seekest thou?" as though he had not known whom she had been seeking. Mary supposing him to have been the gardener of that yerd' where the Lord was buried, she says, "Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, that I may take him up and bury him." Now, as said is, there is nothing else in her mind but that dead body of Jesus, which is an argument that she loved him exceedingly when he was living. I say, all that was in her was exceeding and vehement. In her was exceeding love to the Lord, and exceeding vehement desire to see him, and exceeding displeasure for him, and for stealing him out of the grave, as she supposed; so that I may say she was one of the violent ones that Christ speaks of in the xi. of Matthew, v. 12, that break up heaven; he says there, "That violence is done to the kingdom of heaven, and the violent possess it." She pulled Christ out of the hands of the apostles and of the rest of the women, and went betwixt them and him; and, therefore, she meets him first, because she seeks him before them.2

Thus far we heard last day. Now, we follow out the rest of the history, and that thing that follows of the communing betwixt the

1 In original, year de; i. e. Earth, burying-place.

' In Commentary,—Dum de hac muliere diligentius cogito, video in ea vehcmen

Lord and her. The Lord leaves her not so lying in ignorance and displeasure, but as he had before somewhat strangely and uncouthly talked with her, so now he comes on more homely, and he utters in a more kindly word, and he names her by her name, "Mary." He speaks nothing but one word, but a well chosen word, a homely word, the word of a pastor, of a shepherd, naming her by her own name, as it is said, in the x. of John, v. 3, "The good shepherd will name his sheep by their name." This was a powerful word, as will be seen by the effects that were wrought in her; she saw not of before; it opened her eyes to see, and her ears to hear, and, in a word, it opened all her dead senses. Mark this lesson. When the Lord hath spoken to us for a time, as a stranger afar off, as though he knew us not, at last he will come on with a homely and kind word, and he will let thee see that he knows thee by thy name, by thy face, by thine heart, and by thine actions. Read the iv. of John. Speaking to the woman of Samaria, he speaks to her at the first, as though he had not known her, but at the last he begins and tells her of all that she had done, and that she was but a harlot, lying presently in harlotry; she hearing that, she understands that he is a Prophet, and at last that he is Christ, the Messias. Brethren, though the Lord speaks to us afar off, as a stranger that knows us not, and we answer as though we knew him not, yet stay still, and hear on, and thou shalt hear one word that shall do the deed; thy effectual calling will be performed with one word,— it stands not in many words. When he will waken thee, one word will do the deed. Yet to come to her. As soon as she hears the word, she comes, and turns her in an instant to him again; so it seems that she had turned her from him, as she did from the angels that spake to her before; she says, "Rabboni;" it is a Chaldaic

:

tia omnia, vehementem amorem, vehementem dolorem, vehemens desiderium, adeo ut cogar in violentis illis eam numerare, qui vim afferunt regno cœlorum, ac rapiunt ipsum de quibus Matt. xi. 12. Eo re ipsa quidem vi Christum rapuisse videtur eumque præripuisse quodammodo omnibus aliis, non modo mulieribus, sed apostolis etiam ipsis, nam Mariæ primum omnium se videndum obtulit Dominus.-P. 1066.

The Commentary inaccurately quotes John iii. 10.

word, which, in our language, signifies "Master." He speaks but one word, and she another. His word is a well-chosen word, and so was hers. His word was homely, hers also was homely. His was the word of a pastor, her word is the word of one of the flock. His word is the word of a master, her word is the word of an obedient disciple; and last, his word is the word of power to call her; his word testifies his calling, and the effect of his power. In this stands our calling, when the Lord names us by our name, and speaks kindly to us, and then we answer him. We may not answer any way. No, thou must answer like one of the flock, like one that knows the voice of the shepherd; thou must answer like one that knows the voice of his master; thou must answer like one that feels the effect of his calling. When the Lord speaks homely, if thou answerest homely, there shall be exceeding joy; this is it that we call effectual calling. The thing that I note is this, shortly. As long as the Lord speaks strangely to us we will hear him strangely, and as long as he knows not us we will not know him; if it were a thousand years we will not know him. And this lets us see, that neither man nor woman can do ought, except he prevent them with grace. If he love thee not first, thou wilt never love him, 1 John iv. 10, and if he know not thee first, thou shalt never know him. No, never a man will know the Lord, except he know them first. He says, in the iv. chapter of the Galatians, verse 9, "Now, seeing ye know God," then bethinking himself, he says, "Yea, rather are known of God." And, therefore, thou shouldst say, "Lord, love me, that I may love thee; Lord, know me, that I may know thee," &c.

to my

Now, I go forward. When she hath uttered this word, "Rabboni," she goes forward to have embraced him in her arms. He meets her, and says, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended Father." Some would marvel what moved the Lord Jesus to stay that woman that loved him so entirely to touch him. will hear, hereafter, how a whole company took him by the feet and adored him, as ye may read, Matth. xxviii. 9; and the disciples 1 i. c. Paul. Commentary: At nunc, inquit Paulus, &c.

We

touched him, as ye may read in the xxiv. of Luke, and the 39 verse; and Thomas put his hands in his side, in this same chapter; and it cannot be said that these touched him, after that he ascended up to heaven, that could not be possible; it is a marvel, then, that he should be strange to Mary. I answer to this, and I take mine answer, first, out of the reason, and, next, out of the commission he gives to Mary. For, first, when he says to her, "I am not gone up to my Father, and therefore touch me not now," the meaning is this, in effect: "It is not time for thee to touch me now till that time I be in glory, and then touch me by the arms of faith as much as thou canst or mayest." Ye must consider, that she was too much addicted to his bodily presence, and she thought that he should have remained and dwelt with her on earth, as he did before; and, therefore, he would not let her come near him until he instructed her of a spiritual touching, that he was not to stay here, but to dwell with his Father in the heavens. But after he hath instructed her, he lets her and the other women touch him as much as they would. This is the first answer. The other, I take it out of the commission he gives her. The commission was to tell the disciples, and he wills her to tell hastily; and, therefore, he will not let her come near to touch him until she has done her commission.

Now, let us mark something in Mary Magdalene. Ye read in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, the fifth chapter, and the fourteenth verse, Paul says, "The love of God constrains me," that is, "the love of God binds up mine heart, and hand, and all my senses." Now, would to God we could love him half so well as he did! He gives the reason; "because he loved me, and died, and gave his life for me, I will consecrate me to his service,”—and it is little enough thou shouldst do so, seeing he hath bought thee. And then he defines the service; he says, "Now I will know no man after the flesh," that is, " for carnal respects, as for country, land, kindred, or parentage, but I acknowledge them as new creatures,' I will look to the grace of regeneration. This is the service of

1 i. e. Men, as far as they are new creatures; I will lock to them as far as they have the grace of regeneration.