the flesh is that which we beleeve the resurrection of this flesh that is of men and chiefly of them that beleeve in Iesus Christ how the Lord hath set his hand upon this flesh his workmanship appeares to be wonderfull How he hath laid the foundation of it in the bones How he hath brought the flesh over it to be a covering and veile for the soule How he hath inlivened it that wheresoever there is flesh there is life and hath put the soule in it to dwell in the cabinet of the flesh How he hath divided and distinguished the parts in their severall joynts in their severall uses and proportions How he hath watred it with bloud and veines and with juyce and moysture every where How he hath inflamed it with arteries How he hath made it sensible with sinews How he hath extended and stretched it out with muscles How he hath covered all with a faire and beautifull skinne How he hath fenced some parts with haire as in men and with divers other fences more thicke and solid as in the diversitie of beasts with feathers as in fowls with skales as in fishes and yet all to live after one manner that there is none of these can live but they have veines and arteries and sinews and a braine which is the place of sence and a heart which is the place of life and a liver which is the place of concoction and they have bloud whereby they live That the Lord I say should set such a wondrous hand upon flesh now it argues he will do greater matters for it hereafter For he would not be so liberall of his grace and providence upon it here except he intended further glory for it hereafter Indeed in the trees and plants and fruits that grow upon the earth there is a glorious and sweet lustre and great variety but being compared unto flesh it is nothing And therefore in the Scriptures the flesh is made the subject of the promises and manhood it selfe is tearmed by the name of flesh as being that habitation or house that God meanes to raise againe when it is fallen downe to rebuild it up better then ever it was before For the flesh must fall as the flower of the field although it continue longer then the flower of the field but the Lord shall raile it unto everlasting glory So then this must teach us in the generall Vse that as oft as we looke upon our flesh or upon the flesh of others we ought still to possesse our mindes with holy meditations of the glory that shall be revealed upon that flesh to thinke of the resurrection of that flesh As the Lord hath built it wondrously and beautified it to singular purpose in this world so when it is ruinated he shall rebuild it to a farre greater beauty that shall never fade away but shall have a constant being as he himselfe is for ever It should teach us also to have a care of this flesh Vse that God hath so graced and that we do not disgrace it and betray it to the divell that we do not subject it to damnable purposes that we do not swell it with drunkennesse that we do not spoyle it with filthinesse that we do not distract it with worldly cares that we do not any way abuse and imbezell that substance that God meanes to grace that he hath set his image and stampe upon here and that hereafter meanes to better this his workmanship let not us prophane that which God hath made holy So much for the first point that the Apostles argument goes greater and higher the further wee go in nature still the more insight we have in the worke of the Lord and in the certaintie of the promises Therefore the Apostle riseth from things that grow in the earth from vegetables to things that live and move and there hee shews the resurrection more clearly 2. Part. The fourefold diversity of flesh Then the second thing to bee considered is this that the Apostle saith that all flesh is not one flesh For there is dâ—versitie of it It is true all flesh agrees in the generall they all live with a soule all men and beasts and fishes and birds they all have a soule and live in one manner by their bloud and by digestion of meat which turnes into bloud and nourishment So in the generall all flesh is one but in their severall kindes they are so varied that there is scarce any proportion one with another when we go to the particular differences of them For saith hee although they be one in the maine yet they be different in their specialties The first and chiefest that he names is the flesh of men And then after that the flesh of beasts Thirdly the flesh of fishes Fourthly of birds and fowls of the heaven For indeed according to their different motion the diversitie of their flesh may be conceived That the motion of men should be upon the earth and yet by reason of an heavenly aspect his countenance should bee erected unto heaven where his thoughts ought to be continually That the beasts should have a prone dejected motion looking alway toward the earth and as it were groveling there That the fishes should glide in the watery element being as it were not of our world but of another countrey That the fowls should mount up in that spirit and vigour that God hath given them by reason of a wing and a feather whereby they leave the seat wherein we must live and betake themselves unto the upper region By this variety of their motion we may necessarily gather this that there is a great variety in their natures For there is nothing more argueth the varietie of a thing then the ordinary motion of it to observe how it is moved The Apostle puts no other difference that might be conceived as the flesh of serpents c. because that may be referred to some of these it may be referred unto beasts or unto fishes but he contents himselfe with these foure as comprehending in them all the world of flesh which God created And in the first ranke in the prime place he saith there is one flesh of men whereon the Lord hath stamped his own image and hath made it the goodliest of all flesh setting such an admirable beautie in it and indowing some flesh with such excellent wisedome and judgement and that which is the chiefe of all setting the stampe of holinesse upon it which is the onely ornament of the flesh and of the spirit also that there is nothing that can compare with man I meane no visible thing in the world can enter into any tearms of comparison with that glorious image of God Such a goodly aspect to heaven Such a majestie and power in behaviour Such an erect upright and tall stature Such a goodly complection and proportion in the parts of the body Such an admirable dexteritie in all his actions Such valour such wisedome such
the earthly Now because the Corinthians and other Readers might perhaps not understand this for it is not every mans part to understand the Scripture to the full the Apostle explaines it Brethren I tell you what I say flesh and blood corrupted by sinne cannot inherit the Kingdome of God When it is cleansed and purified it shall but in this condition of corruption it is not capable of that incorruption So that the first thing we are to note here is the diligence of the Apostle in the clearing of his doctrine in the opening of his mind This I say brethren As if he should say If you understand not what I say I will expresse my selfe in clearer and fairer termes Vse This commends unto us a memorable and gracious act of Christian charity still to open it selfe and to doe as much good by way of expression and explanation as possible may bee It is not for a man that is in St. Pauls place to speake in high termes in such phrases as passe the understanding of the people but if they chance to doe it or be carried away in some high straines of language they must descend againe as the Angels ascended and descended upon the ladder of Iacob If they doe ascend to high thoughts and discourses of Divinity they must descend againe to meaner speeches to those phrases and termes that the people may be capable of For preaching and teaching was made for a certaine commutation of mindes for the changing of mindes For by teaching the scholler is made the Master and he puts upon himselfe the nature and person of the Master As one said of another mans booke that he read hee said hee was become the man himselfe whose booke he had read Therefore as St. Austin saith all learning is nothing Aug. but a mingling and mixing of soules and spirits together It is needfull and necessary for him that teacheth to speake so as that hee may bee understood For to what end is speech if it be not perceived If I be not understood when I have said all that I can I have said nothing If I be understood when I have said little I have said sufficient because another man knowes that which I know and another is transformed into that which is inherent in me The Philosophers compare a teacher and a master to the parents of a childe and the scholler they liken to the child As the child beares the image of his father so the scholler beares the image of his Master much more It is much more lively in Art then in nature it can be expressed Therefore this holy Apostle St. Paul Gal. 4.19 hee intends to bring foorth children to Christ My little children of whom I travaile againe till Christ be formed in you He useth that plainnesse of speech and evidence of language that thereby he may flow into their hearts and senses and affections that hee may accommodate them to his intelligence and that he may doe it the better hee useth this word here Brethren This I say brethren As if he would carry them along shew them the thing with his finger in a familiar sweet speaking not as a high Commander to his Souldiers nor as a great Prince to his Subjects nor as the great God to Israell when he gave the Law that they could not indure the voice but said Let not the Lord speak any more but Moses lest we die But he speaks in the spirit of meeknesse and mildnesse Brethren fellow-souldiers fellow schollers you that are partakers of the same salvation come along and see the doctrine that I deliver to you This is that I say herein I expresse my selfe When I said the image of the earthly and the image of the heavenly my meaning is this that flesh and bloud which is corrupt cannot enter into the Kingdome of God which is uncorrupt Let us consider what hee saith when hee saith Flesh and bloud shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Hee meanes to expound himselfe that corrupt flesh and bloud shall not enter As St. Austin saith Lib. 6. Aug de gen lit Cap. 18. de Gen. ad Literam Cap. 18. hee meanes that flesh and bloud that is thus tainted and defiled with sin shall not inherit the Kingdome of God the Kingdome of heaven And why not Because it is a place of that purity and of that perfection that it cannot indure sinne or any sinfull neighbour As soone as the devill sinned hee was throwne from heaven there was no place for him there As soone as Adam transgressed hee was throwne from Paradise which was the Type of heaven there was no more remaining for him there The blessed eyes of God are so pure that they cannot looke upon a defiled thing and because the Lord will have all the world which is tainted with sin to be cleare and pure the element of water came once through it and because that could not doe it the element of fire shall come and purge it and shall make all the goodly stately palaces all the goodly castles and the faire groves and pleasant meadowes in the world it shall make them all dust and ashes that the sinne that lodgeth in them and the corruption which they have contracted unto them by the transgression of Adam may be wrought out of them So pure is the Majesty of God that he cannot indure any evill thing to approach or come neare unto him Therefore flesh and bloud because it is full of sinne For all the acts of sinne are done in the flesh and the beginning and proceeding of the action begins in the bloud There is a tainted bloud about the heart of man wherein all these evill imaginations nestle and hide themselves there is an impure bloud that runnes through the veynes of man which fils him full of impiety So that the blessed God shall never suffer this corrupt bloud to enter into his Kingdome that can indure no corruption But he shall cleanse it and purifie it hee shall annihilate it and bring it to nothing that it may be something for ever But here may be many things excepted against us As first Objectiōs 3 If flesh and bloud shall not inherit the Kingdome of God then how are the Saints said to be partakers of the Kingdom how have they the first fruits of the Kingdome in this life how are they called the children of the Kingdome Those that belong to the Kingdome they are called heyres of the Kingdome and Co-heyres with Christ and if they be heyres and Co-heyres and fellow-heyres with Christ and yet be flesh and bloud how is it true then that flesh and bloud shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Secondly it may be objected of Enoch and Elias that they never saw death and corruption not that corruption which falls upon our nature and yet it is presumed that their bodies are in heaven So that flesh and bloud enters into Gods Kingdome For Enoch and Elias were flesh and
away from him yea and his dearest beloved shall stop their noses at him This should teach us to humble our selves in this disconsolation Vse and to adde this to all the honors we have in the world if we have any or doe yet looke for any This dishonour of death is a cooling card that should make a man moderate in all his proceedings It should make him fearfull in all his doings It should make him understand that he ought not to be puffed up with conceits and pretences of honour but to qualifie himselfe with this comparing his dishonour which the Lord will lay upon sinfull flesh There is nothing so honourable but it shall be covered with shame and dishonour at the hour of death when we shall depart this world It is sowne in dishonour Well! although it be thus yet the Lord hath a help for this againe it shall be raised after another manner It shall be raised in honour in great glory As disgrace and dishonour is the worst of punishments so honour and grace and glory againe is the best of preferments There is nothing so sweet unto us as that to be above others to be beloved of others to be admired of others and to be served of others this is that sweet breath of life and that sweet contentment that shall fill us with marrow and fatnesse And this God purposeth to poure upon these dishonourable bodies that die so beastly and deformed that they are trampled on by the feet of beasts if they lie abroad and if it be in the Church where wee usually bury the poorest and basest of men tread upon them I say the Lord shall raise it at that day in such honour that it shall be like the stars of heaven it shall be like the Sunne in glory it shall be like the Angels of God it shall be like the Sonne of God Phil. 3.21 for he shall change these vile bodies and make them like his glorious body according to his mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Phil. 3.21 Now by the contrary dishonour we may see that the honour of the Saints shall consist 1. In a goodly stature 2. In a perfect beauty 3. In a gracious fragrancie In the stature of the body there shall be no uncomelinesse there shall be no crookednesse there shall be nothing wanting that can be required as we use to say of images that are drawne in waxe that they are compleat so likewise God shall so paint his image in the bodies of his Saints when they shall rise that it is not possible to find it so in any thing but in the Exemplar in the master-piece the body of Christ there is nothing else that shall be more glorious As in those happy Countries where the leaves are alwaies greene and the earth is alway budding and bringing forth so the bodies of Gods Saints as St. Austin saith shall have that greennesse and vigorousnesse of incorruption possesse them totally St. Augustine And lastly that it shall be of a gracious fragrancy it is certaine that that also may be opposed to the stench of these carkasses The dead body is dishonoured in nothing more then by a caryon-like smell for thereby it differs nothing from a beast nay it is far worse then a beast for there is nothing so putrifies as the body of a man there is nothing brings forth such ugly things as that For out of the brain comes scorpions and snakes and out of the flesh toads and serpents which is not usuall among the beasts For some of them bring forth bees and some wasps but of Ages and Eumines and divers others it is reported that scorpions and snakes came out of their heads after they were dead and wreathed about their faces And we know by wofull experience of late time of divers gentlemen that were troubled with such a wofull thing that they had wormes in their braines and in their entrailes I say therefore answerable to this as the miserie is great to which the body of man is subject greater then other creatures because he is the onely sinner so at that day God shall make an aboundant recompence by pouring upon it the spring of beauty and sweetnesse and fragrancie that they shall be as a garden of spices in the nostrills of God and of his Saints Every Saint shall also be as a glasse to each other and every one shall see his fellowes beauty and they shall reflect one upon another in the joy and gladnesse of the Holy Ghost to see the wonderous work which God hath wrought upon this piece of frailty And even as Iacob was as the smell of a field when he came near his Father Behold saith Isaack I smell the smell of my sonne as the smell of a field Gen. 27.27 which the Lord hath blessed There being nothing more delightfull to the sense then a blooming field of new corne and of sweet grasse and flowers that rise out of the earth And therefore the holy man compares his sonne to a field which the Lord hath blessed Much more shall these be fragrant fields the Lord blessing them with infinite variety of goodnesse and of grace and sweetnesse that the field of God shall be more pleasant then the fields and gardens of men and then all the paradises in this world And as the head of this company is described Cant. 1. Cant. 1.3 4. Draw me and I will run after thee in the odour of thine anointments noting unto us the sweetnesse that is incorporated in the body of Christ And as we reade also of St. Paul Acts 19.12 that by the blessing of God he had napkins and handkerchiefs brought from his body that were of such sweetnesse that they were able to cure diseases so also we may understand what shall be the variety there from the sweetnesse that is now in the body arising from the mixture of the bloud in the veines which makes a perfect sympathy and harmony The Lord at that day shall make all things much more abundant As the Church also is described by the sweetnesse of her cloathes in the Canticles Cant. 1.14 My Spouse saith Christ is as a garden of myrrh or of spices and her breasts are like the clusters of grapes and like the fruit of Engedi So every man and woman shall be although here they be sickly and subject to never so many infirmities and diseases in this life yet the Lord shall so alter the bodies of those that serve him here in that blessed estate there that they shall be sure to finde a singular proportion of beauty of strength and of fragrancie that all the just shall be termed the field and paradise which God hath blessed FINIS SERMONS On 1 COR. 15. Of the Resurrection 1 COR. 15.43 It is sowne in weaknesse it is raised in power It is sown a naturall body it is raised a spirituall body There is a naturall body and there is
though God could not open the kingdome of heaven to flesh and blood but not to flesh and blood corrupted with sinne As long as we are in this life our flesh is full of sinne and our blood in the veines of the body runne with sinne and as long as they bee so they bee meere matter of corruption and therefore they cannot enter into incorruption Howbeit Adam in his first creation was flesh and blood and yet had hee stood in the state of grace and innocencie he had entred into heaven with his body of flesh and blood So that the meaning is not as though God could not conferre so great a benefit upon flesh and blood but because it hath corrupted it selfe Flesh hath corrupted his owne way and blood is tainted with sinne it is tainted defiled and polluted blood it is not such as God made it but it hath received a tincture from the Divell In regard of this it must be dissolved and brought to rottennesse and corruption that God may raise it a new seed and so make it pure and perfect againe and make it capable of the heavenly and blessed inheritance So that the summe of the words is this As long as wee be flesh and blood as long as wee bee in this life sinfull flesh that we carry about with us wee must not looke to be translated into heaven Adam should have been translated into heaven if hee had lived and kept that state wherein hee was made Wee desire indeed to bee like him in that but our desires and our hopes must be grounded upon Gods will not on our own fancies and we must expect what the Lords will hath determined He hath determined that wee should come to death before we enter into life that we should beare the image of the earthly before we come to the image of the heavenly and wee cannot have incorruption and glory poured upon this body that wee carry about with us by reason of sinne because it is in sinne For sinfull flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdome of God And although when Christ shall come there shall bee alive many millions of men that shall not die as we doe yet they shall have a change and there change shall be unto them as death is unto us now For it is not possible that any corrupt body should enter into incorruption This I take to bee the summe and sense of the words read Now to proceed in order we are to consider First the persons that he saith as we have borne Then secondly the matter propounded of those persons First there is a sentence or proposall Division into 1. the Persons 2. the Matter propounded Secondly the explanation of that proposall The proposall that is made of these persons is by way of comparison as wee have borne the image of the earthly so also wee shall beare the image of the heavenly The explanation of it what hee meanes by this image The Corinthians might aske and say they doubted of his words these are obscure things that the Text saith The image of the earthly and the image of the heavenly My meaning saith hee is nothing but this that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Eingdome of God nor corruption cannot inherit incorruption So in the proposall or proposition in the 49. verse we are to consider these things First that God made man to an Image Secondly that that Image being defaced and deformed wee are made to another kinde of Image than we were first intended for we are made to the image of the earthly Thirdly we are to observe the reddition that as we beare the image of the earthly so we shall also beare the image of the heavenly Fourthly the certainty in the sicut so as according to that manner And this makes us assured of the thing that this is a ground experimentall that because wee have the image of the one therefore wee are assured of the image of the other For still we are made to an image that is for the proposall In the explanation in the words following brethren I say unto you or my meaning is this Wherein the holy Ghost teacheth us to speak plainly and not to wander away in new quaint words in obscure sentences but to make the doctrines cleare that wee take in hand And then for flesh and bloud that they are not capable of heavens kingdome and for what reason they are not capable And lastly the summe of all corruption which is flesh and bloud cannot enter into incorruption which is the Kingdome of heaven For that which he call flesh and bloud in one place hee renders it againe in another place by corruption and that which he called the kingdome of heaven in the former words he turnes it in the latter words incorruption So that the Apostles perspicuity and evidence is wondrously to be admired in this place hee labours to speak of a high matter a deep profound matter of dignity so plainly to flesh and bloud Hee saith flesh and bloud shall not enter into the Kingdome of God Not because it is flesh and bloud but because it is corrupted and there shall not enter any thing that is corrupt into incorruption because they are contraries and one contrarie cannot enter into another It is impossible for a man to be alive and dead to be sick and well at one time there is no difference in the world greater then the difference of corruption and incorruption and because flesh and bloud is corrupted for sinne it is full of misery and wretchednesse by sinne and the Kingdome of heaven is an uncorruptible crowne it is impossible that these should be coincident and meet and be mingled together Therefore corruption must be evacuated and rooted out before incorruption can be attained Of these things briefly and in order as God shall give assistance And first concerning the persons 1. Part. The persons of whom these things are propounded of whom these things are pronounced It is of Gods Saints For as I have often told you this whole Chapter is spoken of and endited concerning the Resurrection of the Saints onely There is indeed a resurrection of those that belong not to God which is a resurrection to punishment and shame but the Apostle meddles not with that in this whole Chapter but speaks only of the Saints resurrection and he saith We that have borne the image of the earthly wee shall also beare the image of the heavenly We that is those that are called of Christ and sanctified by his holy Spirit to these it is to whom this promise appertaines For every man beares the image of the earthly good and bad but every man shall not beare the image of the heavenly but onely those for whom it is ordained The nature of man is not capable of heaven for if mans nature were capable of heaven then all men should have it because all men have the nature of man indefinitely and equally but it is the