Meditations and Devotions for St Marks Day

Summary

The H. Evangelists were one of those Great Gifts, Christ gav to men when He ascended up on High, and led Captivity Captiv. So Great was His Bounty to us and Care of His Church, that When He Ascended up on High, He gav som Apostles, som Prophets, som Evangelists, som Pastors and Teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the Work of the Ministry, for the Edifying of the Body of Christ, till we all com in the Unitie of the Faith and of the Knowledg of the Son of God, to a Perfect Man, to the Measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ. Unto all which Blessedness S Mark is before us a Glorious Guid : His Gospel a loud and Joyfull Trumpet : Himself a Holy and a Faithfull Scribe. A Comprehensiv Historian, an Exquisite Secretary, in Relating the Life and Death of our Savior, Omitting Nothing Material, and tho more Short in his Gospel then the rest were, yet as full of Matter as any : that all Souls may Drink and be Satisfied with these Living Waters.

In St Matthew you shall drink deepest of His Humanity, who proposeth His Genealogie, and yet see the Wonder of His Divinity in the Hypostatical Union, and its Effects, in Preaching and Miracles, and in the Benefits of His Life and Death. In S. Luke you hav the Prospect of His Priestly Office curiously Delineated in all His Labors. which are well Emblem'd by the Ox, ever put in the Front of that Gospel : to Express both His Strong Labors, and the Sacrifice He made of His own Life, for the Sins of the World. In St John you hav the most Delicious Wine of His Divinity, Emblemd by the Soaring Eagle Carrying us up to Heaven in Contemplation, even while on Earth by Station. And in our St Mark here you see the Glory of His Kingly Office, Emblemd by the Lion, who was the true Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Thus hav you Variety in all, yet Unity in Diversity, and Verity in Unity. Where any Seeming Contradictions are, it is the obscurity of our Understandings that make them seem so, Since in themselvs they are all united in Truth and Agreement. Some relate that which others do not, yet nothing contrary to any thing related.