be a kind of Honour in being fairely Buried and perhaps besides the Honour a further mystery in it in what place the Body is laid For why else should Joseph be so earnest to have his Bones carried out of Egypt and be brought to Canaan to be buried there But what needes expressing in our Creed that hee was Buried seeing what needes beleeving that he was Buried Our salvation had sufficiently beene wrought by his death though he had not been buried at all and is it not then sufficient that I Beleeve he was Dead unlesse I beleeve also that hee was Buried But seeing our salvation was wrought by his Death It was fit to make the Opinion of his death undoubted and to leave no scruple in the minde about it which could not well bee done but by adding that he was Buried For if he had not beene Buried it might bee thought hee was but in a Traunce and then no great matter to revive againe and so his Resurrection have been sleighted but Buriall is a thing that consummates death and makes men dead though they were not dead before as it is reported of the subtile Schooleman Scotus that falling into a Trance by some Fit of Infirmity he was whether out of Officious or Malitious hastinesse suddenly buried and found afterwards by evident Signes that he was buried alive And therefore to leave no scruple for doubting of the true Death of Christ it was necessary to be added that he was Buried And now that wee have seene Christ Dead and Buried One would thinke there were an end of Articles of Beliefe concerning him and yet there are other behâ—â—de that must bee Beleeved no lesse then thefe and happy it is for us that there are other behind for Alas if our Beliefe should end in his Death and Buriall what hope could we have of benefit by beleeving in him But now Christs humane nature consisting of a Body and a Soule and they being by death parted as that Article tels what being dead became of his Body That it was Buried So this next Article tels what became of his Soule That it Descended into Hell For his Soule is all the He now that in this Article is intended But is this an Article to make us be glad off had we not beene better to have left him at his being dead and lying quietly in his Grave then to bring him afterward to Descend into Hell Not at all For marke the consequence of this Article that if notwithstanding his Buriall wee should bee doubtfull still of the death of Christ For one may bee buried for dead and yet revive againe as Scotus did Yet this Article that now comes in will stricke the matter dead and indeed if there were nothing else in the Article but that it makes us infallibly certaine of his Death It were cause enough for giving it a place in this our Creede seeing there is nothing that requires so great a confirmation as the death of Christ because upon his death it is that the maine work of our Salvation depends and certainely a greater confirmation of his death there cannot bee then this that while his Body was lying in the Grave his Soule descended into Hell For to have the Body in one place and the Soule in another both at once is manifestly and infallibly to bee dead Seeing Death is nothing else but to have the soule and body to be divided But now concerning his descent into Hell It is wonderfull what diversity of opinions there is at this day about it Partly concerning the place and partly concerning the motion First what is meant by Hell and then what is meant by Descending so differing all in the understanding of the words as if they were not all of one language at least had a taint of Babell remaining stil in them Some have thought that by descending into Hell is meant nothing but the extreame sorrowes and torments of soule which Christ suffered in the Garden and on the Crosse but this the time and order of the Articles which hath hitherto been precisely observed will not allow For hee descended not into Hell till after he was dead and buried And besides if this were so it should rather bee said that Hell ascended up to him then that he descended into Hell especially seeing those agonies were violent this descending voluntary those were sufferings this an action Some againe have thought that by Hell is meant the Grave and by descending into Hell his being held under the power of death but this the soule will not allow for the grave is a place but for the body no place for the soule and the soule must have a place to bee in aswell as the body and it is the soule onely that in this Article is intended Some others have thought that by descending into Hell is meant the going of his soule to the place of all just soules after death which is to Paradise but this the manner of the motion will not allow for to Paradise certainly is an ascent and not a descent and therefore most unlikely that ascending into Paradise should bee exprest by descending into Hell For though the Poet Virgil maks amaena vireta Fortunatorum Nemorum sedesque beatas to be a part of Hell yet this is but a Poeticall fixion and not worthy to have place in Divinity which makes it more plaine Christ told Mary Magdalene at his rising that he was not yet ascended to his Father But to go about to meet with Errour in every corner would bee both troublesome and tedious and perhaps not worth the labour It may be sufficient for us to see the truth by it selfe and Rectum est Index sui Obliqui by viewing the right wee shall the better discerne the falsehood The truth â—hen in this Article seâ—mes to bee this That the soule of Christ being pâ—rted from his body descended locally into Hell properly so called though it may seeme strange that having promised the good Thiefe to be this day with him in Paradise he should be this day with the bad Thiefe in Hell and yet not strange seeing the soule is no such slow mover but that it might bee in Hell and Paradise both in one day and lesse strange if it bee true that he meant it perhaps of his Deity and not of his soule And that the soule of Christ did locally descend into Hell may thus appeare The soule though a spirit must yet have a place after its kind to be in 〈◊〉 if not Circumscriptive at least Definitive and the soule of Christ stayed not with his body for then his body should not have been dead no it ascended not up to heaven for this is a contrary motion to descending nor it hovered not about in the ayre for this is but a Fictiâ—n of Poets when they speake of soules departed and what place then remained but onely Hell And if it were not the true Hell into which his soule descended then must the
rising seeing hee therefore did rise that hee might be Primitiae resurgentium The first fruits of them that rise but the first Fruits he could not be if others did not rise as well as hee And therefore having beleeved in an Article before that Christ rose from the dead this Article of our own rising is but Ex Abundanti more then needed but that the difficulty of beleeving it requires as it were a double Buttresse to strengthen our Faith There are some perhaps that look for Naturall reasons to prove Demonstratively the Resurrection of the body but is not their expectation very unjust to expect Naturall reasons to prove a thing that is not Naturall If Naturall reasons could be given of it it should be fitter for the Metaphysicks then a Creed and as able to breed a Knowledge as Beliefe Our Reason onely helps us thus farre to make us know there is something left for Beliefe which Reason cannot reach to and of this nature is the Resurrection of the body our Beliefe shall then be turned into knowledge when we shall come to have experience of it in the meane time wee must content our selves with Beleeving it And O my Soule doe thou beleeve it indeed and be most assured that though thy Body leave thee for a time and bee laid in dust and bee turned to dust yet it will not bee long ere it shall rise and bee joyned with thee againe as now it is but in a far happier condition then now it is Not stubborne and restiffe then but tractable and obsequious not earthly and lumpish then but Aery and light and indeed such a body it shall be as thou wouldst wish it to be Not subject to diseases Not weary with labours Not itching with lust Not drowsie with sleep Not hungring after meat and which is most of all where now it takes upon it to be thy Master It shall then be content to be thy servant but such a servant as shall therefore serve thee because thou servest God For it is sowne a Naturall body it shall bee raised up a spirituall Body It is sowne in corruption it shall be raysed in incorruption the same body in substance that now it is but endued with Spirituall and better qualities Many questions are here moved by the Schoolmen as whether the bodies of Abortives which were never borne but dyed in their Mothers wombes shall be partakers of the Resurrection seeing though they never came to see the light yet they had beene once alive and quicke Then whether bodies shall arise of the same age and stature at which they died as Infants at the stature and age of Infants and others at their severall statures and ages Or else shall all rise at a perfect age and stature because of the words of Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians Till we all come unto a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulnes of Christ Then whether bodies shall arise with the same deformities and defects which they had living as Crooked Lame Blinde or otherwise mutilation of Members seeing Christ arose with the same wounds which he received when his body was pierced with the Speare And many such questions moved more out of vaine curiosity then tending to Edification and which perhaps may probabably be argued as having coulours on both sides but can never directly be defined as having warrant on either side Reason may make conjectures of it but Faith will build no certainty on it It may bee sufficient for us to beleeve that the bodies of all men shall rise at the last day and stand at the Tribunall of Christ who shall come from Heaven to judge the Quick and the Dead And now having beleeved the two Articles that properly relate to the Sonne of God Christ Jesus the Forgivenesse of sinnes and the Resurrection of the Bodie It followes fitly to beleeve the Article that properly relates to God the Father The life Everlasting and it followes not onely fitly but very necessarily For if we should not adde the life Everlasting it might be thought that our Resurrection were but like theirs who rose at the time of Christs rising and appeared to many in the Holy City who rose indeede but then died againe at least who can tell what became of them and so our Beliefe should cast Anchor in a very unsafe harbour but now by adding the life Everlasting we make the Resurrection of our Bodies a perpetuity and beleeve they shall rise againe never any more to dy And indeed how can it be otherwise seeing there never was but one sentence of death denounced against man and that sentence once executed by his dying once there is no new sentence of dying any more and therefore the Body being beleeved to be raised from the dead the life Everlasting will bee beleeved of course Death indeede is a debt due to nature and a debt that nature lookes to have payd but yet nature is not so unjust to looke that a debt should be payd her more then once and therefore the body having payd the debt once by dying once if it can get to rise againe and live it will not be then in natures debt any more and therefore cannot naturally dy any more but shall live for ever But why is there no mention made in our Creed of the Immortality of the soule that of this poynt there might be left no scruple for as long as this is in sufpence wee shall necessarily fall into the errour of the Sadduces and never beleeve the Resurrection of the body Is it not that the Immortalitie of the soule is therefore not made an Article of our Creed because it is not so properly credible Per fidem as demonstrable per artem there being so apparent reasons for it that even the Heathen themselves have not denyed it and one of their owne Poets could say Parte tamen meliore mei super acta perennis Astra forar meaning his soule Besides what need is there of mentioning it when it is sufficiently intimated or included rather in these two last Articles For if we beleeve the resurrection of the body we cannot doubt of the Immortality of the soule seeing the body cannot rise without the soule and if we beleeve the life Everlasting we cannot but beleeve the soule to bee Immortall seeing without the soule there can be no life at all And now wee are come to the last Article of our Creed which may well bee the last seeing it brings us to that which is Everlasting And here it may not be unfit to examine a little the extent of this Everlasting life seeing it is not momentary and fading as our present life is but continuing and lasting without having any lâ—st that if we say it shall last a Thousand years if a million of thousand years if so many millions of thousand yeares as there are sands in the sea although an infinite incomprehensible extent of time yet wee shall
mention made of the Virgin Mary Is it not enough to beleeve that Christ was borne of a Virgin but there must be added the Virgin Mary Indeed it is added very justly for by this it appeares that Christ was Descended of the Lynage of David his Mother being of the same Lynage as the Prophets had foretold the true Christ should bee and this is no small strengthening to our Beliefe that Christ is the true Messias But how is it like that Mary was a Virgine when shee had a Husband at least how can wee beleeve shee was a Virgin when shee had a Child Is it not that her Marriage was Inchoate indeed but not Consummate shee was Desponsata but not Nupta shee was not Married And therefore Espoused that there might bee One to take care of her and her Childe when it should be borne But why should her Husband take care of a Childe that was none of his owne might he not rather justly suspect her to have played false with him and therefore rather put her to shame at least put her from him then to take her to him It is indeed a hard matter to make one beleeve that a woman should have a Childe and not accompany with man but as it was the Holy Ghost that wrought the conception of Christ in his Mothers Wombe so it was the Holy Ghost that wrought this Beliefe in the minde of her husband Joseph that the Angell told him true when he said unto him Feare not Joseph to take Mary thy wife For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost And though shee were the Mother of a Childe yet she continued a Virgin still For neither the conception of Christ nor the Birth of Christ did abrogate her Virginitie but rather made her if not a more Virgin at least a pureâ— Virgin then shee was before For such is the purity of Christs Body that it makes all passages the â—urer by which it passeth and therefore it may bee piouslâ— beleeved and without Hyperbole that as she was Virgo ante partum so shee was Virgo in partu and Virgo post partum a Virgin before the Birth and in the Birth and after the Birth for though shee had Purification yet that perhaps was but as Christ had Baptisme to fulfill all righteousnesse And as Christ was conceived of Mary without sinne so Mary was Delivered of Christ without paine for it was but just that she who brought him forth that Freed mankind from the generall Curse should in bringing him forth bee Freed her selfe from the particular Curse laid upon Woman-kind which was That in sorrow they should bring forth Children But if Jesus Christ were Borne of the Virgin Mary how could he be the Sonne of the Virgin foretold by the Prophet Esay For the Sonne of that Virgin was to be called Immanuell and not Jesus where this Sonne of the Virgin Marie was called Jesus and not Immanuell But is it not that Immanuell was not properly meant a Name of Appellation but of Act and then was the Name Acted when the Sonne of God tooke Flesh and was Incarnate For being the Son of God and taking our nature upon him he was God with us and to be God with Us was to be Immanuell Blessed Marie what Tongue can expresse thy Happinesse in thy selfe thy glory in the world to have thy Body nine moneths together be made a Heaven for the Son of God to dwell in to have thy Wombe bee the sacred Bed for the Holy Ghost to overshadow and more then both these to have the Sonne of God to bee thy Sonne and take Flesh of thy Flesh and Bone of thy Bone that all our Affinitie now to Heaven must be attributed to thee that our flesh which was never before without sinne is now made as pure as when it was first made must bee attributed to thee and more then Both these that our Flesh is now exalted up to Heaven must bee attributed to thee that Christ sitteth at the Right hand of his Father to bee our Advocate must be attributed to thee and therefore all Generations shall justly call thee Blessed justly thou mayest say Thy Soule doth magnifie the Lord and thy Spirit rejoyceth in God thy Saviour For if ever Soule had cause to Magnifie the Lord If ever Spirit had cause to rejoyce in God It is Thine It is Thine most Blessed most Glorious and most to bee Admired Marie Suffered under Pontius Pilate After we have Beleeved that Christ was Borne of the Virgin Marie It followes next that we Beleeve Hee suffered under Pontius Pilate But what Suffered as soone as hee was borne Indeed as all of us beginne our life with Crying which is an effect of Suffering and bring this Omen with us into the world of the miseries that are to follow So Christ was more like to doe it then any other who was Vir Dolorum a man of sorrowes all his life long but yet this is not the suffering that is here meant For the suffering heere spoken of was under Pontius Pilate which was not till many yeares after the time of Christs birth Was it then that hee was smitten and buffeted had a Crown of Thornes platted upon his Head was mocked and scourged under Pontius Pilate Great suffrings all yet neither were these the Suffering that is heere meant but as we use to say when men are Executed and put to death that then they suffer so the suffering here meant was his Executing and putting to Death as Christ himselfe calleth it where he saith I have desired to eate this Passeover with you before I suffer which was done also under Pontius Pilate at that time Governour for the Romanes in Hierusalem But though it bee necessary to beleeve that Christ suffered yet why is it necessary to beleeve that he suffered under Pontius Pilate Indeede because there were many afterwards that tooke upon them to be Christ as Christ had fore-told that many should come in his Name saying I am Christ But wee acknowledge none of them to be the true Christ but Him onely that suffered under Pontius Pilate We have here an Example what little good there is in good Intentions if they bee not followed home to their full period for a good Intention in Pilate for want of pursuing cost Christ a scourging more then otherwise perhaps hee should have had for out of a desire to save his life he caused him to bee scourged hoping in a good intention it would have passed with the Jewes for a satisfying punishment but when his scourging would not serve their turnes nor pacifie their malice he then left pursuing his good intention and delivered him into their hands to be put to death Unhappy Pilate that seeking to doe him good didst him hurt and thinking to save his life didst adde a scourging to his death What ill lucke hadst thou to bee a Governour at this time thereby to be made a Minister of so fowle a
seeing there is no salvation out of the Catholike Church what assurance could I have of my salvation if I did not beleeve that there is a Catholike Church How can I beleeve my selfe to be a member of that Body which I doe not beleeve to bee For this Holy Catholike Church is the number of all those whō God hath Predestinated and Elected and though the Catholike Church may have in it errours and perhaps Heresies yet the Holy Catholike Church can have none in it but Orthodoxe and true beleevers For it is as the Arke of Noah to save all that beleeve the comming of the Flood but unbeleevers are all excluded from entring into it It is as the Corporation of the Citizens of the New Hierusalem in which whose names are not Enrolled and none are Enrolled that beleeve not they can bee no partakers of the Heavenly Priviledges of which Salvation is the chiefest If there were not a Holy Cathotholike Church then Christ should be a Shepherd without a Flocke then God the Father should bee a King without a People then the Holy Ghost should bee a guide and have none to lead but the Two first of these are assured us by Christ where he saith Feare not little Flock For it is your Fathers pleasure to give you a kingdome and the last where hee saith Hee will send the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth Therefore there is an Holy Catholike Church which he that beleeves not is not of it and not being of it can have no hope of salvation by it To be Holy and Catholike are indeed the proper Caracters of a Christian Church the first representation whereof was then when at Pentecost there met at Hierusalem of all Nations under heaven Parthyans and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and Judea in Cappadocia Pontus and Asia Phrygia and Pamphylia in Aegypt and in the parts of Lybia and sirangers of Rome Jewes and Proselites Creetes and Arabians For here was no bounding within Canaan no bounding within Africa but the Church was made apparent by plurality of Nations to bee Catholike and by visible graces to be Holy This Church therefore I beleeve to be holy yet not holy in perfection but tending to perfection and justly called holy for its Inchoation and I beleeve it to bee Catholike but Catholike in doctrine not in discipline and therefore the rule of it as concerning doctrine is this Quod ab omnibus Quod ubique Quod semper For if it be not ab Omnibus It is not Catholike in Persons if not Vbique not Catholike in place if not Semper not Catholike in time and all these must concurre to make the Church be Catholik in Doctrin In Discipline not so for there neither ab omnibus nor ubique nor semper is required but it may be various and diverse according to the diversity of Time and Place and yet in doctrine bee the Catholike Church For Discipline is but onely Ecclesiasticall where Doctrine is divine This Article bindes my beliefe to no particular Church as it is a particular but as it is a Member of the Catholike For take it by it selfe without considering it as a Member of the Catholike Church and it is not so properly a Church as a Conventicle which though I cannot deny but it may be Holy at least in a Morall holinesse yet I can deny that I am bound to beleeve it to be holy because I am bound to beleeve no true holinesse to bee out of the Catholike Church This Catholike Church is a Schoole of instruction to teach us as much as we are bound to know and a Rule of direction to informe us as much as wee are bound to beleeve if it were but onely what Saint Thomas saith this might make us doubt of Christs resurrection or if it were but onely what Saint Peter saith this might make us incline to comply with the Jewes but when it is that which all the Apostles with one consent say this is the voice of the Catholike Church and can never make us to goe astray And therfore to this Church I submit all my faculties both my understanding to her decrees and my will to her counsels and make account that if I know any thing and not of her instruction it will prove but falsehood if doe any thing and not by her direction it will prove but folly For this that Spouse of Christ of which it is said Thou art all faire and there is no spot in thee Oh then let not me beginne to make any spot in the face of thy Spouse O Lord but so purge me with Hysope that though I be not pure yet I may bee cleane at least not so foule to defile others nor deserve with Miriam to be put out of the campe of thy Militant Church but may come to thy Triumphant As therefore this Article is the first of all we have to beleeve so let it have the honor that is due to the first and have the highest place in our beliefe For indeed all the Articles that follow are but as flowres that grow in the garden of this Catholike Church The Communion of Saints as the flowre of Charitie The forgivenesse of sinnes as the flowre of Faith The resurrection of the body as the flowre of Hope and the life everlasting as the flowre of reward if I may not rather say as the whole nosegay of all the other flowres together seeing in this they have all their smels united into one fragrant odour Charity raised to perfection Faith turned into love and Hope into enjoying But what should be the cause why amongst these Articles that are to be beleeved there is no mention at all made of the Scriptures For seeing we are commanded to search the Scriptures No doubt it is required wee should beleeve the Scriptures and if we should beleeve them why are they left out in the Article of our beliefe Is it not that these were Articles of Beliefe for a Christian man before any Gospell of Christ was written and how then could they have any place in the Creed when they had not as yet any being in the world For the life and doctrine of Christ was published by word before it was recorded by writing and the Apostles preached it before the Evangelists writ it and this Creede being a Breviate and summe of that which was preached who can tell but it may bee more antient then that which is written at least being the substance of them both what more is it to beleeve the Scripture then the Creed And then what neede is there to have them named when they are exprest And as for the words of Christ Scrutamini Scripturas Search the Scriptures or yee search the Scriptures if we extend them no further then Christ spake them we may be farre enough off from beleeving the Gospel For Christ spake then but of the Olde Testament and not of the New which at that time was none For
remedy and so between the little knowing of sinne and the little acknowledging of sinne the beliefe of this Article is in no little danger to be very little only Faith stands in the breach and supplies all defects and it is the worke of Faith and indeed of a great Faith that can truly say I beleeve the forgivenesse of sinnes There have been Hereticks of old who held this opinion that no fins should be forgiven that were committed after Baptisme and they grounded their opinion upon the saying of Saint Paul If wee sinne wilfully after we have received knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sinnes and grounding themselves upon this Text they would neither Baptise others nor be Baptized themselves till in their old age making account that Age having repulsed in them inordinate desires they might safely then bee Baptized without feare of committing any wilfull sinnes afterward But would any man beleeve that men of common sense could ever fall into so grosse an errour especially having heard it said At what time soever a sinner repenteth him of his sinnes I will put all his wickednesse out of my remembrance saith the Lord. That we may see it is not time that prejudiceth Gods forgivenesse whether before Baptisme or after whether sooner or latter but come at any time and bring Repentance and God at no time will be wanting to Forgivenesse For as it is mercy in God which is the motive to us to Beleeve the forgivenesse of sinnes so it is Repentance in us that is the motive to God to Forgive us our sinnes But why is the Forgivenes of sins put here inter Credenda amongst things to be Beleeved and not rather inter Agenda amongst things to be done seeing to Remission of sinnes there belongs Repentance a thing to bee done and without Repentance no forgivenesse Is it not that forgivenesse of sinnes is an effect of Faith and therefore justly placed amongst things to be Beleeved and though Repentance be necessary to come in the Recre yet Faith must lead the Vant-gaurd and have the Preceedence For if Faith goe not before Repentance will not follow indeed cannot follow seeing without Faith It is impossible to please God And now my soule observe the great extent of this Article it keeps mee from sinning against the Holy Ghost whilst I beleeve the forgivenesse of sinnes by his inspiring it appeaseth the wrath of God the Father whilst I beleeve the forgivenesse in onely his mercy It glorifies his Sonne Christ Jesus whilst I beleeve Gods mercy through onely his Merits that seeing this Article is reguardant to all the Persons in the Trinity I may hope that by beleeving it all the Persons in the Trinity will be reguardant upon me and specially the Sonne For indeed this Article and the next that followes are two flowres I may say that grow upon the very Grave of Christ For as there is no Forgivenes of sinnes but onely by the vertue of his death so there is no Resurrection of the body but onely by the operation of his Rising from the Dead And thus farre wee are brought by this flower of Faith I beleeve the Forgivenes of sinnes The next is the flower of Hope The Resurrection of the Body by which wee Beleeve the Resurrection of the Body and it followes indeed very fitly for seeing the body dyed not at first but by reason of sinne what should hinder if sinne bee forgiven but that the bodie should rise againe and returne to life This indeed is a flower something hard of growing but 〈◊〉 growne sends forth a most 〈◊〉 savour and as of all the Articles in the Creed there is none more hard to be beleeved so once beleeved there is none that ministers greater comfort For what need I care though my body bee laid in the grave and bee turned to dust so long as I am sure and undoubtedly beleeve that hereafter it shall rise againe and bee in the same but a better state then now it is In the same for substance but in a better for quallities and endowments If there were no Resurrection of the body then neither the godly should have Reward in their Bodies nor the wicked Punished but seeing both the godly shall bee Rewarded in their Bodies and the wicked Punished therefore there shall bee a Resurrection of the Body This Article no doubt is hard to be beleeved For who would beleeve there should be Regressus a corruptione ad generationem a privatione ad habitum a going backe from Corruption to Generation from Privation to Habit a thing impossible in Nature and improbable in Reason yet this impossibility in Nature this improbality in Reason must be beleeved before wee can beleeve the Resurrection of the Body Who would beleeve that a Body consumed to dust and that dust scattered by the wind into a thousand places should ever be brought together againe to be the same body it was before who would believe that a Body devoured perhaps by wild beasts perhaps eaten by Fishes and by digestion become a part of those Beasts or Fishes should ever returne to be the Body of a man againe as it had beene before Indeed none would beleeve it that looked only upon the power of Nature as were ledde only with the light of Reason but when we looke upon a Power that is stronger then Nature and are led by a Light that is brighter then Reason what should hinder why we should not beleeve it Shall we not beleeve the Resurrection of the body because we know not by what wayes it shall bee raysed Is it not enough that we know the power of Gods wayes but that we must also know the waies of his Power Doe we know how the body at first is formed in the Mothers wombe and would we looke to know how it shall bee formed the second time in the wombe of the Earth Have wee professed by the first Article of our Creed that God is Almighty and will we not allow him to do the works of an Almighty Doe we beleeve that nothing is impossible for God to doe and yet thinke there is this thing which he cannot doe Looke upon the Corne when it is cast into the earth and after a few daies you shall see it to bee nothing but as a kind of corruption and yet of that corruption doth God make the same Corne to spring up againe and to bee as flourishing as it had beene before and if God doe this in the Corne shall hee not as well doe it in our bodies But it is not perhaps that wee doubt of his Power but of his Will seeing his Will is not alwaies to doe all hee can And can we doubt of his Will his Will so often revealed to us in his Word so firmely assured to us by his Word This is the Fathers Will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given mee I should loose nothing but should raise it up againe at the
last day And in another place This is the Will of him that sent mee that every one that seeth the Sonne and beleeveth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day And now if we be satisfied of his Will shall we fall back againe into a relapse of doubting his Power But alas is it any hard matter for God to make the same body again which hee had made once before Or is it harder for him to make a Body the same it was before then it was to make it at first when it was not at all Is it not easier for God to make a Body out of something then it was at first to make it out of nothing Is it any hard matter for God to reduce all Bodies to their first Elements and then to mixe and compound them againe as he did at first When our Bodies were first made they were made but of dust and when they are dead they shall but be turned into dust and cannot God take the same dust to make the same body againe as well now as hee did then What though it bee scattered about in a thousand places is distance of place any thing to God who is equally in all places at once Is it hard for God to know which is the proper dust of every particular Body and to give to every one their own dust whose knowledge extends to count the just number of the sand and to call all the stars of Heaven by their names Is there any dust upon the Earth any mote in the Sun which God hath not made And if hee have made them all by his power shall he not dispose of them all at his pleasure If by onely saying Congregentur Aquae God made the great Ocean which we cannot look upon without wonder Can he not as well by onely saying Congregetur Pulvis make the dust of all Bodies come together again that every Body may be the very same Bodie it was before Say a Body be devoured of Beasts be eaten of Fishes so as by digestion it become a part of their Bodies say it suffer never so many alterations yet all those alterations shall be resolved at last into the same dust it was at first and cannot God of the same dust make the same Body againe as well now as he did before God of nothing made the dust of the Earth and of that dust the Body of man and though the dust which was made of nothing shall returne againe to nothing yet the Body of man that was made of dust shall never returne to lesse then dust and to so little should never have returned neither if God for mans transgression had not denounced against him Pulvis es in pulverem reverteris If then Gods saying Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne have been the cause of the Bodies returning to dust why shall not his saying A Body thou art and a Body thou shalt rise againe be as well a cause of the Resurrection of the body And now if we be satisfied of his power shall wee fall back againe into a relapse of doubting his Will But why did God make the Body of man of dust where he made the bodies of Beasts of nothing but because the bodies of Beasts shall returne againe to nothing where the Body of man shall never returne but into dust that out of that dust it may rise againe to be the same Body it was before Why did God make the Body of man himselfe where he commanded the Earth to bring forth the Bodies of other Creatures but because he meant it a further preservation then hee meant other creatures and what further preservation if the body did not rise againe And if now againe we bee satisfied of his Will shall wee fall backe into another relapse of doubting his power Cannot God doe as much upon a sudden as Nature can doe with Time Though Nature must have nine Moneths lying in the Mothers wombe before it can make a mans Body perfit yet God made Adam a perfect Body in an Instant and could he transcend Nature then and can he not now Is he growne to bee as impotent as Nature able to doe no more then what naturally may be done What though the world doubt it and Sadducees deny it shall we rather assent to them then say with Job Though wormes destroy this Body yet I shall see God in my Flesh And if see God in his Flesh then must his Body rise againe that hee may have Eyes to see him And as these be some reasons of many to shew that the Resurrection of the body may be So there are other reasons as strong to shew that it shall and must be When Moses met Christ on the Mount how came hee by his Body againe which had beene dead and buried many hundred yeares before How came those men by their bodies againe who having beene dead and buried arose at the time of Christs rising and appeared unto many in the Holy Citie When Christ at the last day shall say Venite Benedicti Patris Come yee Blessed of my Father hee shal not say it to the soule alone nor to the body alone but to the whole man and if to the whole man then must the body bee joyned to the soule againe that it may be a whole man but no such conjunction if no Resurrection of the Body Is not Christ our head and we his members and if hee Ascended up to Heaven in body and soule must not we that are his members doe the like But no such Ascension if no Resurrection of the body Hath not Christ promised That wee shall sit with him at his Table and eate and drinke with him in his Fathers Kingdome But no such Eating and Drinking if no Resurrection of the Body When Christ in the Gospel meant to confute the Sadducees denying the Resurrection hee used this Argument Have ye not read what God said to Moses in the Bush I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaak and the God of Jakob God is not the God of the dead but of the living and with this Argument he put them to silence But how their Errour is confuted by this Argument or how this Argument proves the Resurrection of the Body is not easie to bee perceived It seemes the Argument is not so much ad Rem as ad Hominem though it prove not directly the Resurrection of the body yet it proves it sufficiently against the Sadduces who therefore denyed the Resurrection of the body because they beleeved not the immortality of the soule and this Argument proving directly the immortality of the soule proves sufficiently against them the Resurrection of the body Or is it perhaps meant thus God is the God of Abraham but Abraham is not the soule onely but the whole man and therefore the Body of Abraham though now dead must of necessity bee raised to life againe seeing God is not the God