Though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no Evill for thou art with me thy r … thy Staff they comfort me Psa 23 O Death where is thy sting Thanks be to God which giveth us the Victory c. 〈◊〉 Cor 15. Divine Consolations Against the FEAR OF DEATH In a DIALOGUE between a Minister and a Tempted Christian Writen by John Gerhard the Author of the Meditations To which is added The Christians Triumph over Death with Divine Contemplations Ejaculations and Poems thereupon London Printed for Nath. Crouch at the George over against the Stock 's Market at the Lower end of Cornhill 1680. The Authors Epistle Dedicatory to his brethren in the Ministry IF any my honoured friends and reverend brethren in Christ will accommodate Plato's definition of Philosophy That it is the meditation of death unto the true divine doctrine of Christianity in so doing I think he will not go against truth seeing in a manner the All of it consists in a meditation of death But by Death I understand as well Christ's death as our own The death of Christ and his suffering is the summ of Christianity 1 Cor. 2.2 thence the Apostle judged that among his Corinthians he would know nothing save Christ crucified and dead By Christ's death is made an expiation of our sins a destruction of Satan's power a confirmation of the new covenant and a lessening of those terrours that are wont to accompany our death The meditation of the death of Christ therefore ought never to depart out of our memory But neither in any time of our life let us forget our own death As death awaits us every day so let us on the other hand expect it every day Hieron Epist ad Paulin. He that every day remembers he shall dye easily slighteth all worldly things prepares himself for a happy death by a true and serious conversion labours after sincere godliness patiently endures adversity and heartily burns with an ardent desire of eternal life Teach us O Lord Psal 90.12 to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom was Moses his prayer a great part therefore of Christian wisdom consists in a constant meditation of death We must long learn that which that it be once done well concerns our eternal salvation It is appointed for all men to dye but to dye godly to dye in Christ to dye happily is not every ones lot therefore the mind is be prepared to that blessed immortality and to be guarded with the shield of the word and prayer For if at any time surely in that last time of our life doth our treacherous and subtile enemy lay wait for our salvation and with all his might endeavou◠to deprive us of the possession of it wherefore some of the ancients say that the infernal serpent is said especially to bite the heel for he knows very well that all is sure on our part if he be overcome by us in that last conflict but on the contrary that it will be to our everlasting disgrace and damage if all the other parts of our life as of a Comedy having been well acted we behave our selves uncomely and cowardly in this last Catastrophe Hence are those various temptations wherewith as with battering Rams he assaults our heart in sickness and in the agony of death hence those fiery darts which he casts at us with all his strength hence that horrour and anxiety which we feel when we approch the gates of death Blessed is he that overcometh here blessed is he that is faithful unto death Rev. 2.3 he shall he partaker of all those good things which are promised in the Revelations to the stout Souldiers of Christ What is this life 't is death death life doth end Our life and death do both the same way tend But Christ of life's the Captain and the door Our death doth conquer'd lye by his deaths power On him alone His hope ought to relie That would not of eternal deaths wound dye But this our hope most bitter storms do drive When in the confines of death we arrive This is the toil these storms to overcome Lest that instead of life death be our doom Wherefore seeing some while ago I have endeavoured by an explication of the History of the passion and death of Christ to instill into the minds of the Godly the meditation of Christ's death I thought it would be worth the while if to such persons I should also propound the meditation of our death for which end I writ these divine consolations to be opposed to the terrors of death and to temptations in the agony of death for my own private use only for I carry about a sickly body a brittle vessel and besides death not long ago made a lamentable destruction in my own house and there are many reasons for which I fear my own life will not be long therefore I would betimes prepare and fence my mind for this last agony and being incompassed with so many domestick evils I bestow'd some days on the pious meditation of this little book which meditations of mine seeing perhaps they may be useful to others also I was not unwilling to publish them But this I would advise in the beginning of this Treatise that I writ not for secure impenitent and hard hearts but for contrite broken and bleeding consciences Exhortations to true godliness belong to another place this discourse is wholly spent in consolations to be opposed to death and temptations in death Whosoever therefore desires to receive this oil of consolation let him bring the vessel of a contrite heart for what doth comfort belong to him that is not yet contrite and made sad And I have dedicated this Manual unto you most dear friends and reverend brethren in Christ to give a publick testimony of that near friendship and brotherhood we are linked together in And you your selves also carry about you a body subject to diseases and there cannot but daily arise in your minds the remembrance of death I do not at all therefore doubt although your faith needeth not these props which for my own and others use I have collected in this little book but that notwithstanding the reading of it will not be unpleasant to you epecially seeing it comes from a friendly and candid mind I pray our Lord Jesus will every where bless us and the labours of our ministry by his grace and spirit John Gerhard An Index of the Temptations THE forerunners of death pag. 1 Deaths Trident. pag. 3 The anguish of sin pag. 5 The remembrance of actual sins pag. 8 A doubt concerning the application of the benefits of Christ pag. 12 The false persuasion of faith pag. 16 An insufficient sorrow pag. 19 The weight of sorrow pag. 22 Despair pag. 26 Blasphemy pag. 29 The particularness of the promises pag. 31 The absolute decree of reprobation pag. 34 The application of the merit of Christ pag. 40 The
conscience anew for the relapses of sin are very dangerous In this life there is yet time for pardon time for grace time for quieting conscience In this life the book of conscience may yet be mended out of the book of life But at the last judgment the books will be opened Rev. 20.12 and among them the book of conscience also in which before all the world shall be seen writ in fair letters all the sins of men that were not in this world blotted out by true contrition by faith and amendment of life Before that day of judgement come and the time of grace be past thou maist have a fair hope and sure trust that the blood of Jesus Christ Heb. 9.14 who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God will purge thy conscience from dead works to serve the living God Late repentance Tempted I am at last indeed sorry for having so wounded my conscience I do at last desire a remedy for my wounds at last I have a desire to keep a good conscience for the future but I fear lest my repentance be too late I am a fraid lest the divine grace being so oft rejected by me should also reject and forsake me Late repentance useth to deceive many Aug. de vera falsa poenit c. 17. and that repentance that proceedeth from a dying man he ought to fear lest it dye also Comforter No but there is nothing too late which is true and sincere Cypr. tract 1. cont Demetr While a man is in this life there is no repentance too late there are some who being called come into the Lords vineyard at the eleventh hour of the day Mat. 20.9 and obtain the reward of grace No delay of time prejudiceth God's justice or piety Fulgent Epist 7. Repentance is never late with God in whose sight as well past things as future are always accounted for present Behold the example of the thief on the cross who having confessed Christ with his mouth on the tip of whose lips as it were his soul was ready to depart obtains pardon of sins and a free promise of an heavenly paradise Heb. 3.13 Whilst it is called to day so long God doth earnestly will our conversion As long as the heavenly bridegroom delayeth his coming Mat. 25.5 so long the gate of grace and forgiveness is open A man's whole life even the last hour of it is granted for space to repent in Isai 65.2 The Lord stretcheth forth his hand all the day long Joh. 6.37 nor does he cast out any that cometh unto him at what time soever he come Have a care therefore that thy repentance be true and sincere and thou needst not fear it will be too late If when death approaches thou therefore repent because thou art deprived of opportunities to sin that is a false repentance for thus thou leavest not thy sins but they leave thee If thou therefore repent because thou seest the punishment of thy sins near that is also a false repentance for it proceeds from a love of thy self not from a sincere love of God It proceeds not from the hatred of sin but from the irksomness of a most just punishment Therefore that thou maist truly and heartily repent grieve for thy sins so often committed and therefore grieve because thou hast so often and so grievously offended a most gracious God by them In Christ seek for pardon of thy sins and firmly resolve to employ the remainder of thy life wholly in the service of God submit thy self to God and be humbled in thy heart before him permit to his will what and how great punishments a thousand times deserved he will inflict on thee that it may appear thou repentest out of an hatred to thy sin and not to thy punishment Such a contrite and humbled soul will be a most acceptable sacrifice to God for so he saith by the Prophet Psal 51.19 Isai 66.2 To whom will I look but to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and that trembleth at my word Doubting of the grace of God Tempted I feel in my heart indeed a deep contrition and sorrow for my sins nor do I altogether despair of the mercy of God but in the mean time my heart is shaken with the waves of doubts nor am I yet certain of the free pardon of my sins I hope well indeed but in the mean time I humbly doubt The consideration of God's mercy raiseth me up but the thought of my unworthiness presseth me down again I am turned to God and therefore I hope well I turn but late therefore in part I doubt still Comforter But I will put under thy staggering faith such strong props as whereon thou maist lean against all the storms of doubtings For that doubting is not an humble confession of our unworthiness but a dangerous opposing the faith we owe to God's promises nor is there any reason strong enough why we should doubt in late conversion and repentance seeing the divine clemency doth offer a most certain promise of remission of sins to all that heartily repent Attend first therefore to the immoveable truth of all God's promises Whosoever confessing and grieving for their sins seek for pardon of them in Christ and make a firm purpose of amendment of life to them hath God promised his grace forgiveness of sins and eternal life Joh. 13.15 Whosoever believeth in the son shall not perish but have everlasting life vers 18. 1 Joh. 5.12 Mark 16.16 He that believeth in him is not condemned He that hath the son hath eternal life He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved He that hath promised these things is God whose word is firmer than heaven and earth who is truth it self 2 Tim. 2.11 who is faithful and cannot deny himself or his word What therefore God offers with undoubted promises thou must accept with an undoubted faith and there is no reason thou shouldst object the infirmity of thy Nature which cannot embrace the promises with so great assurance of reliance for this is a fault of thy Nature which should be amended by the efficacy of the holy Spirit As thou believest not in Christ by thy natural strength but by the working of the holy Ghost so by the grace of the same Spirit thou maist be ascertained of the mercy of the heavenly Father against all inherent doubtings of corrupt nature 1 Joh. 5.10 He that believeth not God hath made him a liar As much as thou doubtest so much thou losest of thy faith thou must therefore resist that doubting which is not to be set off with the specious name of humility for humility ought to rise from the consideration of our unworthiness and yet in the mean time never the less a firmness of trust ought to arise from the meditation of God's promises Therefore hath God come forth from the secret throne of his Majesty
he fall for therefore those that will not persevere are mixed with those that shall by the wise will of God that we may learn not to soar too high but to joyn with the lowly and work out our salvation with fear and trembling Therefore with one eye of the heart behold the mercy of God but with the other the justice of God from a faithful view of God's mercy let there arise in thy heart a trust of perseverance from the fear of God's justice let there arise in it a shunning of carnal security Let divine love penetrate thy flesh lest the love of sinful flesh deceive thee Psa 147.11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him and hope in his mercy Let our inner man hope and trust the outward fear and tremble Doubting of being written in the book of life Tempted Those only persevere and receive the crown of perseverance that are writ in the book of life But how can I know that I am writ in the book of life Comforter That book of life is Christ whence 't is called the book of life of the Lamb. Rev. 13.8.21.27 The writing into this book of life is nothing else than the election of believers in Christ to life eternal For as the faithful are said to be chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world Eph. 1.5 Rev. 17.8 so their names are said to be writ in the book of life from the foundation of the world Therefore we must pass judgment as of election so also of writing into the book of life not à priori but à posteriori Bern. serm 1. Septuag There are clear signs and tokens of salvation given that it may not be questioned but that he is of the number of the elect in whom those signs remain For they that from eternity were elected unto life those in time hear the word of salvation believe in Christ put forth the fruits of the Spirit and persevere in faith 1 Joh. 5.10 He therefore that believeth on the son hath the witness of God in himself Rom. 8.16 for the holy Spirit in the heart of believers beareth witness that they are the children of God and writ in the book of life Those whom God hath predestinated from eternity and whose names he hath written in heaven Luk. 10.20 Rom. 8.30 he calls in time by his word and justifies by true faith in Christ That faith shows it self by hearty calling upon God by patience under the cross by endeavour after holiness Therefore let the holy and wholsome thought of election and the book of life begin at the wounds of Christ hanging on the cross He that believes in him Rom. 10.9 and perseveres in faith is justified and writ in the book of the living Wast thou not received into the covenant of grace by Baptism washt from thy sins in the blood of Christ regenerated and renewed by the holy Ghost this is an evident sign that thou art writ in the book of life Gal. 3.26 27. For we are all the children of God by faith seeing as many as have been baptized into Christ Savanar in Psal 31. have put on Christ Wherefore falling into sin through the infirmity of the flesh after Baptism art thou not contrite who put his hand under thee who received thee into favour again who but the Lord This is a great sign of thine election An elect person when he falleth shall not be broken God did not write the Tables of the Destinies or the Decrees of Rhadamanthus but the book of life when he elected us in Christ before the foundation of the world In Christ therefore by faith seek thy election to life and thy writing into the book of life walk by faith that thou maist arrive at predestination Ex Aug ust Lomb. 1. sent dist 41. D. They that rashly and without the bounds of the word search the depths of God they are at length swallowed in the deep The fear of Deatd Tempted It is good for me to cleave to Christ I will notlet him go out of my heart until he bless me I have resolved to persevere in a true faith in Christ that I may come to reign with him Yet I confess still I am not yet free from all fear of death nor do I feel that strength and assistance of the Spirit as with the Apostle earnestly to desire to be dissolved Comforter Such is the infirmity of our flesh and disposition of corrupt Nature as that we are more desirous of this flitting life than of that to come which is permanent hence is that fear and terror of death which that thou maist overcome by vertue of the Spirit and maist grow in the strength of the inner man consider those things which I shall propound to thee out of the store-house of heavenly truth First it is certain that even the hairs of our head are all numbred by God Mat. 10.30 Job 14.5 Psal 139. the number of our months is appointed by him he hath set us bounds which we cannot pass All our dayes were written in his book before there was one of them Therefore good reason thou shouldst acquiesce in this fatherly will of God he gave thee life of his grace he wonderfully brought thee forth of the recesses of thy mothers womb how long hath he continued thy life he hath preserved thee from a thousand dangers that soul which he once gave he now asks again he takes not away what is thine but requires back what is his And what Action can lye against him that calls for his loan Moreover the soul that he requires of thee he translates into the joyes of an heavenly paradise and hereafter he will restore it adorned with greater glory and nobler endowments to the body again That body which is lodged in the grave shall hereafter be a more glorious worthy precious mansion for thy soul It is sown in corruption 1 Cor. 15.42 it is raised in incorruption It is sown in dishonour it shall arise in glory 43 It is sown in weakness it shall be raised in power It is sown a natural body 44. it shall arise a spiritual body Thy soul therefore created of God delivered by the son inhabited by the holy Spirit do thou humbly and readily commend as a pledge into the faithful hands of God saying with David and Stephen Psal 31.6 Acts 7.59 Luk. 23.46 yea with Christ thy head Into thy hands I commend my spirit thou hast redeemed me O God of truth Nay canst thou not in the very agony of death most certainly promise thy self the presence and help of God For seeing thou embracest Christ the Mediator by a true faith being certainly perswaded that by his death he hath overcome thine and by his resurrection hath restored righteousness and immortal life unto thee therefore being justified by this faith thou hast peace with God Rom. 5.1 and in the midst of
this life ended I shall enjoy life eternal and in this confidence I commend my soul unto thee and in the belief thereof I do resolve to live and die VIII No man dreads death as he ought but he that always expects his summons and therefore O my soul thou maist truly judge thy self wofully secure and a wilful contemner of thy future good if thou canst go to thy bed and rest on thy pillow in the apprehension of thy known sins without a particular humiliation for them for how often doth a sudden unexpected death arrest men we see and know in our daily experience that many lay themselves to sleep in health and safety yet are found dead in the morning Thus suddenly are they snatcht from their quiet repose to their irrecoverable judgment perhaps from the bed to the flames Such is the frail condition of our brittle lives that in the small particle of an hour we live and sicken and die yet so gross is our blindness that from one day to another nay from one year to another we triflingly put off the reformation of our lives until our last hour creep on us unlookt for and draggs us to eternity IX How long saith St. Austin O how long shall I delude my soul with to morrow's repentance Why should not this hour terminate my sinfulness We are every minute at the brink of death and every hour that we pass through might prove for ought we know the evening of our whole life and the very close of our mortality Now if it should please God to take away our soul this night as it happens to many what would then become of us In what eternity should we be found whether amongst the damned or the blessed Happy were it for us if we were but as careful for the welfare of our souls as we are curious for the adorning our bodies if our cloaths or faces do contract any blot or soiling we presently endeavour to cleanse the same but though our souls lye inthralled in the pollutions of sin this alas we feel not it neither provokes us to shame nor moves us to sorrow Therefore let us look into our hearts with a more severe eye let the shortness of our days stir us up to the amendment of our sinful lives and let the hour wherein we have sinned be the beginning of our reformation Our repentance must not only be sincere but timely also whilst we have the light let us walk as children of the light let us no longer cheat our souls in studying to invent evasions or pretences for our sins but let us rather lay open our sores and seek to the true Physician that can heal them X. All the creatures under the Sun do naturally design their own preservation and desire that happiness which is agreeable to their nature only man is negligent and impiously careless of his own welfare We see the Hart when he is stricken and wounded looks speedily for a certain herb well known to him by a kind of natural instinct and when he hath found it applies it to the wound The swallow when her young ones are blind knows how to procure them their sight by the use of her Celandine but we alas are wounded yet seek for no Remedy we go customarily to our Beds to our Tables to our good Company but who is he that observes his constant course of prayer of repentance of hearty and sincere humiliation for his sins We go forward still in our old way and jogg on in the same Rode though our judgment hasten Hell threaten Death stand at the door yet we run forward still But alas miserable souls that we are how can we imbrace quiet rest and uninterrupted sleeps with such wounded Consciences how can we be so secure being so near our time XI The whole world promised for a reward cannot perswade us to endure one momentany Torment in Fire and yet in the accustomed course of our lives we dread not we quake not at everlasting burnings But O thou delicious and dainty soul who cherishest thy self in the joy of thine heart and the delight of thine eyes whose belly is thy God and the world thy Paradise Oh bethink thy self betimes before that gloomy day that day of clouds and thick darkness that day of desolation and confusion approach when all the inhabitants of the Earth shall mourn and lament and all faces as the Prophet Joel speaks shall gather blackness because the time of their judgment is come Alas with what a doleful heart and weeping eyes and drooping countenance and trembling loyns wilt thou at that last and great Assize look upon Christ Jesus when he shall most gloriously appear with innumerable Angels in flaming fire to render vengeance on them that know him not What a cold damp will seize upon thy soul when thou shalt behold him whom thou hast all thy life long neglected in his ordinances despised in his members rejected in his love when thou shalt see the judgment-seat the books opened thy sins discovered yea all the secret counsels of thy heart after a wonderful manner manifested and laid open to the eye of the whole world what horrour and perplexity of spirit will possess thee to view and behold but the very solemnities and circumstances which accompany this judgment when thou shalt see the heavens burn the Elements melt the earth tremble the sea roar the Sun turn into darkness and the Moon into blood and now what shall be thy refuge where shall be thy succour Shalt thou reign because thou clothest thy self in Cedar Shalt thou be safe because with the Eagle thou hast set thy nest on high Oh no it is not now the greatness of thy State nor the abundance of thy wealth nor the priviledge of thy place nor the eminency of thy wrath or wit or learning that can avail thee ought either to avoid thy doom or prorogue thy Judgment XII All states and conditions of men are alike when they appear at the bar of Christ there the Prince must lay down his Crown and the Peer his Robes and the Judge his purple and the Captain his Banner All must promiscuously attend to give in their accounts and to receive according to what they have done whether it be good or whether it be evil Here on the earth men that are great and glorious in the eye of the world as long as they can hold their habitations have both countenance to defend and power to protect them from the injuries of the times but when the dismal face of that terrible day shall shew it self then shall they find no eye to pity nor arm to help nor palace to defend nor Rocks to shelter nor mountains to cover them from the presence of him that sits upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Shew me the most insolent spirit the most undaunted soul that now breaths under the Cope of heaven who now fears not any created Being no not God himself
another place which is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience or a covenant towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ Be baptized Acts 22.16 and wash away thy sins saith Ananias Gal. 3.27 As many of ye as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ and by faith ye are all the children of God For Christ sanctifieth his Church Eph. 5.27 cleansing it with the laver of water in the word From all which thou maist strongly conclude that Baptism is a ransom for captives Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tom 1. p. 446. Cyrill Hieros in praefat Catech. a remission of debts a death of sin a being born again a bright garment of the soul an inviolable seal a chariot to heaven the Inn of the kingdom the gift of adoption * Naziaâ—z orat in S. Bapt. p. 615. It is the brightness of souls the change of life the answer of the conscience towards God an help of our weakness It is a putting away of the flesh a following of the Spirit a communion of the word It is an amendment of the creature a deluge to sin a partaking of light a dissolution of darkness It is a chariot unto God anaccompanying of Christ the prop of faith the perfection of the mind the glory of the kingdom of heaven a change of life a taking away of servitude a loosing of bands a changing of apparel Tertul. 4. adver Marc. p. 231. Aug. 2. cont Crescon c. 18. Paulin. epist 12. ad Sever. It is the spring of true life and true righteousness an abridged laver the Sacrament of life and eternal salvation The holy Ghost into this pool descends Whose waters by an heavenly spring are fed Which influenc'd by th' Deity forth sends An holy offspring from eternal seed For in the Baptism of Christ it was demonstrated by visible signs what the divine grace worketh invisibly in our Baptism Chemnit in cap. 17. Harm The water of Baptism was sanctified by the touch of our Lords body for whatsoever Christ promerited and obtained in the body of his flesh he deposited as it were in his Baptism He received Baptism with us sinners to testifie that we by Baptism are made his members As the eternal Father in the Baptism of Christ said This is my beloved son so at this day he adopts for sons all that believe and are baptized As in the Baptism of Christ heaven was opened so to this day by the sacrament of Baptism the gate of the heavenly paradise is opened to us As the holy Ghost in Christ's Baptism descended upon him in the form of a dove so in our Baptism the holy Ghost is present and therein doth effectually work our regeneration and renovation so that thus in Baptism concurr the grace of the Father adopting the merit of the Son cleansing and the efficacy of the holy Spirit regenerating If therefore thou art baptized thou canst not doubt of the grace of God the remission of sins and the promise of eternal life Baptism is the laver of regeneration where there is regeneration there is remission of sins there is the grace of God there is perfect righteousness there is renewing there is the gift of the holy Ghost there is adoption and there is the inheritance of eternal life Falling from the Covenant of Baptism Tempted I believe indeed that I was received into the covenant of grace by the sacrament of Baptism that I thereby obtained remission of sins and was writ in the book of life but I have faln from the grace of this covenant again by my sins by repeating my transgressions I have made void the aforegoing remission and have often deserved to be blotted out of the book of life Comforter No but the covenant of God is an everlasting covenant to which thou maist always return by true and hearty repentance For as God declares concerning the sacrament of Circumcision Gen. 17.13 that it is an everlasting covenant so let us not doubt but that in Baptism which succeeded in the place of Circumcision Col. 2.11 God enters into and establisheth an everlasting covenant with us I will betroth thee to me for ever saith he by the Prophet Hos 2.19 yea I will betroth thee in righteousness and in judgement and in loving kindness and in mercies I will betroth thee to me in faithfulness Isai 54.10 The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Rom. 3.3 God forbid we should say the faith of God is made without effect by our unbelief If we give never so little belief to his words or depart from him 1 Tim. 2.13 yet he abideth faithful always the same true and constant he cannot deny himself Therefore by the sins of thy natural infirmity thou fallest not from the free covenant of God By sins committed against thy conscience thou fallest indeed from the grace of God and the covenant of grace but thou maist return to the everlasting covenant of God by true repentance The ship of Baptism splits not though we leap out of it into the sea of sins therefore by repentance which in this sence may be called secunda post naufragium tabula Hier. in c. 3. Isa v. 9. we may return again to the same ship of Baptism that we may in it be wasted to the port of eternal salvation Tertul. lib. de poenit p. 479. Therefore embrace repentance as a shipwrackt person catches hold of a plank this will lift thee up when ready to be drowned in the waves of thy sins and will carry thee into the haven of Gods mercy Peter had denied his Master but being converted he notwithstanding seeks the promise of salvation in Baptism 1 Pet. 3.21 The Galatians and the Corinthians had faln foully yet when they were renewed again by repentance the Apostle offers them comfort drawn from Baptism declaring that as many of them as had been baptized Gal. 3.27 had put on Christ and clearly affirming that they were washed 1 Cor. 6.11 12 13. and by one spirit were baptized into one body namely mystical whence it clearly appears that the efficacy of the Baptismal covenant is extended to the future and is not quite enervated and abolished by mans fall but on God's part remains continually a firm and established covenant When Paul therefore says Aug. 1. de nup. concup c. 33. that Christ cleanseth the Church in the laver of water in the word it is thus to be understood that in the same laver of regeneration and word of sanctification all the sins of regenerate men are cleansed healed not only those by-past all which are remitted in Baptism but also those which are contracted afterwards by humane ignorance and frailty Not that Baptism should be
there shall be a resurrection of the dead both of the just and unjust 1 Cor. 15.53 This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory 2 Cor. 4.14 We know that he that raised up the Lord Jesuss Phil. 3.20 21. shall raise us up also by Jesus Our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself 1 Thes 4.14 If we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Rev. 20.12 13. John saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened And the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them These sayings of Scripture writ as it were with the sun-beam are seconded by strong reasons For so the Apostle concludes If Christ be risen 1 Cor. 15.12 Tert. de carne p. 33. we shall al so rise again teaching us that the resurrection of Christ is the key of our graves and the example of our hope 1 Cor. 15.20 Christ was made the first-fruits of them that sleep Therefore as by God's appointment the harvest followed the offering of the first-fruits Exod. 23.19 Lev. 23.20 so shall the harvest of the universal resurrection follow the first-fruits of our Lord's resurrection Christ is our head Aug. 20. de trinit c. 17. what went before in the head shall follow in the members and thence the Apostle confidently affirms Eph. 2.6 that we are raised up together with Christ and placed in the glory of the heavenly paradise Maxim in Serm. de res For the flesh blood and portion of every one of us is in Christ-man Where therefore our portion reigneth there we believe to reign where our blood ruleth we perceive our selves to rule and where our flesh is glorified we know that we are glorious 1 Cor. 15.21 22. Moreover as by one man namely the first Adam came death so by one man namely the second Adam came the resurrection As in Adam we dye so in Christ we rise again Adam's fall was available to bring in death shall not Christ's resurrection be able to obtain our rising again unto life Christ in his glorious resurrection shew'd himself a conquerour of all his enemies then surely of death also which at length he shall utterly abolish Christ is the eternal King surely therefore he will raise from death the citizens of his kingdom that they may live for ever with him Christ freed not our foul only but our body also from the yoke of sin and ordain'd it to an inheritance of eternal life therefore it shall be raised out of the dust that it may go to the possession of this life obtained for it by Christ Theodor. in 1 Cor. 15. tom 2. p. 77. From all which it clearly appears that Christ is as it were the surety and pledge of our resurrection 1 Cor. 3.16 Moreover our bodies are the temples and tabernacles of the holy Ghost he will not let this his temple lie hid in dust and rubbish but he will build it again and hereafter will make it far more illustrious than it was in this life Even as the latter temple of Jerusalem had greater glory than the former Hag. 2.4 In Solomon's temple there were unfading palm-trees 1 K. 6.32 so the bodies of the godly shall not be liable to eternal corruption seeing they are the dwellings of the eternal Spirit Nay seeing our bodies are sanctified by the body and blood of Christ Iren. lib. 4. cap. 34. in the salutary use of the Lords supper how can they abide in the grave How shall that flesh be said to come into corruption and not to partake of life which is fed by the body and blood of Christ As that bread which is of the earth after consecration is no longer common bread but the Eucharist consisting of two things an earthly and an heavenly so our bodies also partaking of this Eucharist are not corruptible having hope of a resurrection Christ's flesh is enlivening meat Joh. 6.54 whoso therefore eateth this flesh hath eternal life Lactant. lib. 4. instit c. 48. and Christ will raise him up at the last day Moreover seeing the soul in this life works by the body and with the body whether good or bad whilst it is in the body therefore divine justice requireth that those that are joyned in the work should be also joyned in the wages those which are joyned i◠the fault should be joyned also in the punishment thence and therefore we shall all be made to appear before the judgement sea◠of Christ 2 Cor. 5.10 that every one may receive the things done in his body whether they be good or evil Tert. in Apolog. c. 45. p. 337. Tert. de re sur p. 44. Lact. 6. div instit c. 18. The soul did not deserve without the body in which it did all Lastly besides these strong arguments there are the examples of those that have been raised whom Christ by his own power the Prophets and Apostles by a divine power have recalled to life for a testimony of the future resurrection which as Candidates of immortality and eternity they give to us who by faith and confession are joyned to them The incredibility of the resurrection Tempted The Article of the resurrection is very much against the nature of our bodies and humane reason whence the hope of the resurrection also is sometimes not a little weakened with the storms of various cogitations in my heart Comforter The foundation of our faith are the oracles of the holy Spirit not the dictates of our reason We believe the resurrection of the dead 2 Cor. 10.5 to the obedience of this faith we ought to bring all reason into captivity Eph. 3.20 God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think * Philo. lib. de decal p. 477. If therefore thou find God doth promise thou shalt find he will perform whatever God saith they are not words but works Let us suppose that God can do any thing which we confess we cannot tell how it can be done and therein the whole reason of the work is the power of him that sayes he will do it †Aug. ep 3. Bern. serm 4. de nativ col 43. It will be easie for him by whom his mother her self lost not incorruption of flesh by bringing forth to cause that this corruptible should put on incorruption by rising again Nay in Nature there are set forth divers resemblances of the resurrection 1 Cor.