that is not reducible unto mean thoughts of a mans self or not thinking of our selves more highly than we ought as the root and original of it One phrase whereby the Apostle expresseth Humility is this In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves Phil. 2.3 And to like purpose with that are those words Rom. 12.10 In honor preferring one another What but mean thoughts of a mans self doth make him in honor to prefer others and to esteem them better than himself neither need any man to misconceive of himself or think of himself worse than he is that he may think others better than himself that is secundum quid I mean so in one respect or other For they that in most things excel others are usually in some things excelled by them 1 Cor. 12.8 For to one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom to another the word of knowledg to another faith to another the gifts of healing to another prophecy to another divers kinds of tongues to another the interpretation of tongues Humility gives a man to see and own what gift another man hath which he hath not or not in so eminent a degree and measure as another hath it So when the Apostle saith as it is Rom. 12.16 Mind not high things but condescend to men of low estate or be contented with mean things as it is in the margent he adds that which if practised will cause men to condescend and that is Be not wise in your own conceits or have low thoughts of your selves Humble looks humble gestures humble speeches and expressions an humble modest plain garb and habit and self-abasing equipage as was that of Christ when he rode upon an asse the foal of an Asse so far as there is fincerity in those external appearances which I add because some in such things may but induere personam that is may but act a part do all spring from lowly thoughts of our selves as did the meek carriage of the Publican Luk. 18.10 And the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes to Heaven but smote upon his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner which last words give an account of all the former he was cast down with the thoughts of his being a great sinner and that made him do as he did Every man would think meanly of himself and be little in his own eyes if he did think soberly of himself and not more highly than he ought or hath reason to think for the scripture saith that every man at his best estate is altogether vanity Ps 39.5 and surely men of low degree are vanity and men of high degree are a lye to be laid in the ballance they are altogether lighter than vanity Ps 62.9 We say of proud people that they do not know themselves and when we promise to humble them we say we will make them know themselves and most certain it is if the best and worthiest and happiest of men and women did throughly know themselves they could not be proud For how can he be proud who knoweth and is convinced that he hath many things to cast him down but no one thing that may justly lift him up all things considered Now that is every mans case Who laboureth not under natural defects finful defilements and Divine rebukes and all of these are just occasions of being cast down Doth the wise man glory in his wisdom alas how defective is it how little do the best Philosophers know of the true reasons of any thing in nature We know the use of things but litle of their causes our knowledg both of God and of the creatures is not so much by a thousand parts as is our ignorance Job speaking of God saith Lo these are parts of his wayes but how little a portion is heard of him Job 26.24 Our wisdom in comparison of the wisdom of God is but foolishness yea compared with the wisdom of Angels yea of fallen Angels is but weakness He spake as truly as modestly who said This only do I know that I know nothing Hoc tantum scio me nihil scire viz. In comparison of the many things which he was ignorant of and yet he was one of the wisest men in the world that said it If the strong man glory in his strength how defective is that strength wherein he glorieth and how much more doth he partake of weakness How soon were Sampsons locks cut off and when that was done what became of his strength How easily can a disease such as it may be take hold upon the pillars of his house who thinks his body to be as it were an impregnable Castle and pull it presently about his ears as Sampson served the Philistines How defective must they needs be otherwise and in other respects who have so much of defect in their greatest excellencies and perfections few men excel in many things none in all and if such be the imperfection of mens greatest perfections how many defects and imperfections have all men to keep them humble Besides natural defects there are sinful defilements which is yet a more humbling consideration Ps 19.12 Who can understand his errors viz. the vast number the haynous nature of them Had we all kind of natural excellencies viz. wisdom strength beauty yet ought we to abhor our selves as in dust and ashes for our moral pollutions Devils want not for natural excellencies they have strength and wisdom far beyond any man in the world but being abominably wicked in spight of all that where in they excell we count them odious and despicable creatures S. Paul though an Apostle of extraordinary indowments both acquired natural and supernatural yet cried out as one that was vile in his own account Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death He that shall set his guilt against his gifts will find the former exceedingly to outweigh the latter and to minister to him much more cause of humility than the other can do of pride to have a heart deceitful above measure and desperately wicked as who hath not and together with that a life defiled with thousands of actual transgressions how much greater a cause of self abasement is it than to have a great deal of wealth power and wisdom can be of self exaltation One would think that Naamans leprosy should keep him humble though he were a great commander and is there not reason for us so to be upon every one of whom there is a worse leprosy though more invisible than was that of Naamans the leprosy of sin I mean Think but of sin under the notion of folly as both scripture and reason do represent it and sinners as fools and it will help to humble thee for who is not vile in his own eyes when he is conscious to himself that he hath notoriously plaied the fool as Tamar said to Amnon 2 Sam. 13.13 And
be more commodious for Trade and that with respect both to buyers and sellers Buyers will not have far to go for their commodities and sellers by that means will have the more customers more Chapmen Moreover to joyn the new part of the City to the old at both ends and on both sides of the way would make it more speedily to look like a City even as a quarter of an hours discourse upon new matter joyned to half an hours repetition of that which is good and old passeth for a Sermon whereas a quarter of an hours discourse by it self would puzzle men what to call it and be laught at for a short come off A new City joyned to the old would be the Embleme of a sober comprehension mannaged to the best advantage of Church and State and of all good men whereas the scattering of houses some here some there at some distance one from another and all at a distance from the old building would be more the Embleme of an universal tolleration taking in Papists Quakers and every body else and which is best of the two I leave to other men to judge not to joyn the new and old together were to make as if they were two distinct Cities whereas indeed they are but two distinct parts of one and the same City united under the same Governors and Government and comprized within the same wall Drunken men use to see things double which are but single and it is an ill design to make things seem to be more than they are I love unity and that it should be owned to be where it is though I shall not curse the number two as one of the Ancients did for first wording from it I have given my reasons why what was last in the execution of the fire burning both wayes should be first in the intention and prosecution of the builder I will but moralize this head and dismiss it Sin like the fire hath made the greatest havock in the midst of us I mean upon the middle part of our lives not guarded by a harmless ignorance as was our youth nor yet by a preventing impotency as old age is Now the main work of a Christian should begin at the two ends of his life for so the two extremes may be called and the phrase of our latter end seemeth to imply a former end In matter of examination confession c. a Christian should begin at the beginning or hither end of his life In sin was I born Psa 51. but in point of meditation it is good to begin at the further or latter end of our lives proceeding from thence to serious reflections upon the midst and worst of them as God spake by Moses Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end DISCOURSE XX. That it would much conduce to the rebuilding of London to have a through search made how and by what means it was burnt I Charge no body with the burning of London but him that charged it upon himself that confessed and died for it But let others produce what they have to say if men will confidently affirm that London was destroyed by the treachery and cruelty of more persons than that one forementioned miscreant it is pity but they were punished if they can produce no probable grounds and reasons for what they say But if they have things to alledge in the case which do amount at least to a strong presumption and just ground of great suspicion that so it was it is great pity but that sent should be followed those footsteps traced and the utmost sagacity of wise and impartial men Magistrates and others imployed to fathom and discover what is at the bottom As Samuel said to Saul what meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the Oxen which I bear So say I what meaneth that doleful cry which is daily in our ears such and such have burnt our City That is soon said and may be as soon denyed but proof is all in all Some tell us There is a great cry but no wooll a great smoak of accusation but no fire or so much as a spark of guilt Still I say sub judice lis est When the law hath given a perfect lot in the case then and not till then shall we certainly know who is in the right That old dilemma will never be answered if it be enough to accuse who can be innocent if it be sufficient to excuse who will ever seem guilty Therefore there is a third thing that must of necessity be done and that is tryal to be made by sufficient Juries and the worthy Judges what validity there is in all and every the Allegations pro and con given in upon Oath what all the Plaintiffs can say against and all the Defendants can say for themselves do signify and amount to What moment all the circumstances produced and proved have and are of in the ballance of reason When that is done there is reason for every man to be satisfied and I hope it will be so Have our Laws provided that if the despicablest person that can be lye dead in the streets unknown to any body there present how he or she came by their death a jury shall be impanel'd and the Coroner shall sit upon it to give sentence what the cause of his or her death was And did not God himself by his servant Moses will and command the Isralites that if one were found flain in their land and it were not known who had flain him Deut. 21.1 All the elders of that City which was next unto the slain man should wash their hands over a Heifer that was beheaded and say our hands have not shed this bloud neither have our eyes seen it v. 6 7. And the Priests the sons of Levi shall come near and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried v. 5. which last words seem to imply that the persons who came to the place where the dead body lay or the heifer instead of the dead body were not acquitted by thir meer washing their hands in token of innocency as Pilate did nor yet by professing themselves not to have shed that bloud or to have known who did but that the sons of Levi in those daies had a spirit of discerning given them whereby they were able upon seeing and hearing such passages to judge whether the persons who appeared to purge themselves were guilty or not guilty For the text saith By their word shall every stroke be tried Did the Law of God inquire so strictly after the death of every man the time and manner of whose death was unknown and do the laws of our land do the like at this day and is it not highly reasonable that the death and destruction of a famous City the greater part of which lies slain in the streets to this day and buried in its
that the hope and expectation of a greater profit may rationally induce men to make an adventure that is proportionably greater So they say when interest was at ten in the hundred money had wont to be lent upon more slender security than now it is when it yieldeth but six per cent You see how hard David ventured to be the Kings son in law even upon the foreskins of two hundred Philistines by whose hands Saul did hope to have made him fall 1 Sam. 18.25 but doubtless he would have made no such venture to have been son in law to an ordinary subject where the advantage had not been so great though he had liked his daughter well He that expects a great return from beyond the seas must make a proportionable adventure Purchasing of lands may prove more dangerous than building of houses in London for the title of lands may be naught and so all may be lost not only the crop but the soil but for such as shall build in London at this time all titles are decided all controversies determined before they enter upon their work so that their title is and will be past dispute Moreover if fire should burn these houses which are as it were the crop upon the soil to the ground again which God forbid yet the soil would still be your own and that is generally said to be a third so that your thirds as I may call them in London the fire cannot take from you Now admit you have ten in the hundred for all you lay out upon building in London if that City or your houses in it stand but ten years to an end as we hope with the blessing of God they may ten times ten you will in that short time be repaied your principal Then as for Farms in the country how frequently are they thrown up upon the landlords hands and no body can be found to hold them without great abatement of rents so that they often stand untenanted and unoccupied But houses in London cannot lightly want for tenants neither is their rent like to fall but rather to rise as the City riseth and as trading increaseth There have been often whisperings as if the interest of money were like to be brought lower and motions made to that purpose viz. to four or five per cent If it should do so money would yield but half so much as would the rent of houses and besides the principal would be in as much or more danger of being lost as our houses could be of being fired for men do oftner lose their principal by bad debtors than their houses by fire The necessariness of houses within the walls for the use of Citizens is a consideration outweighing all the rest as to matter of profit for that amounts to so much as cannot be well computed Having then proved in these three last Chapters that the building of London is Bonum honestum jucundum utile that is both for the honour pleasure and profit of those that have wherewithal to assist in it let him be thought a person that understands neither one nor the other that is a perfect stranger to his own interest in every kind and such are counted none of the wisest who having estate enough otherwise could with the monies which lye by him or are at his command contribute much towards the rebuilding of London and purchase to himself a great interest there and yet will not do it DISCOURSE XLI That the burning of a new and stately house in Mincing-Lane should not deter Londoners from going on with their building but admonish them to build whole streets together c. LEt me take things as they come to hand I have been lately advertised and was but yesterday fully satisfied in it that building upon the ruines of London doth begin to slacken and that for several weeks past scarce a fourth part so many have entred themselves into the list of builders as have done formerly which some impute to the great discouragement taken by the late burning of a merchants house in Mincing Lane which some are very confident was done on purpose and merely in design to dishearten and discourage builders Whether it were so or no God knows and time will discover I have heard the reasons of that conjecture or some of them but hearing that one is committed upon suspicion of having been an actor in it shall not presume to rehearse them or to interpose my private sentiment be it what it will who made me a judg or a determiner in the case But admit it were clearly proved as ever any thing was that that new and noble structure did receive its fatal blow from treacherous and malicious hands I see no reason at all why Londoners should be so far affrighted at it as to desist from building taking it for granted if they did proceed their houses should all in like manner perish and be destroyed by fire first or last The burning of that house howsoever it was intended if it were intentional was as it proved but a warning piece to caution others not against building but against the occasions and opportunities of burning and may for ought I know prevent the burning of many more Some it may be thought that a new house could secure it self and was like green wood that will not take fire and if I mistake not the remedies against another burning of the City were not to take place till several months hence as if for present we had been out of all danger defying all that fire could do to us partly with our bricks and partly with the newness of our buildings But those things we have found to be a refuge of lies and that in despight of them we were more secure than safe When men find that robberies are committed at noon day which they expected not but in the night or dusk of the evening they will soon agree to keep a perpetual watch Supposing that house to have been wilfully and designedly burnt it may be some body had a particular grudg at the owner of it which yet is more than I know and seeing it stand alone thought they might take reveng on him and his without damage to any body else and if that were the cause all have not the same reason to fear for some may presume they have no enemy in the world so malicious at least so desperate as to set fire upon their houses If some one or more had malice enough to prompt them to the burning of that goodly house yet peradventure they had never made the attempt if it had not stood by it self partly out of unwillingness to indanger the neighbourhood against whom they had no controversie and partly from an apprehension that their design could not so easily have taken effect by reason of one or other that would soon have espied the fire and given notice of it to such as were at hand to aid and assist the extinguishing it And now
thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel and when he had committed that folly and came to reflect upon it how out of countenance was he how mad with her and surely more with himself for the fault was not hers but his If sinners have not done foolishly why do they repent when their eyes are opened Or why is repentance called by the latines Resipiscentia that is a return to wisdom and by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as who should say an after wisdom Awakened sinners have plaied the fools themselves being judges and having so done have great cause to be humbled and as it were to lay their mouths in the dust or cover their faces He that can view his sins and not be humbled at the sight thereof can see his Saviour pierced and not mourn To bring down the pride of man besides natural defects and moral defilements which he that knoweth himself cannot be ignorant of there are Divine Rebukes which most men have fallen under one time or other Now the chastisements of God are intended for the hiding of pride from man Job 33.17 19. As God said to Moses concerning Miriam If her father had but spit in her face should she not be ashamed seven dayes Numb 12.14 So it is intended that when God by his Judgments doth as it were spit in the faces of men it should put them to shame and shame is an humbling passion So good a Father had never beaten us with so many stripes had never fetcht the bloud on us as he hath sometimes done if we had been good children yea if we had not bin very bad Our sufferings may therefore humble us because in them we may read our sins as comming from his hand who doth not willingly or without cause afflict the children of men but if the living man complain it is for the punishment of his sin Hath God smitten us yea is he smiting and shall we mean time be supercilious shall we knit our brows in pride whilst he bends his brows in anger shall we nourish haughtiness under Gods frowns Say unto God how terrible art thou in thy works Psal 66.3 God is terrible in his doing toward the children of men v. 5. it followeth v. 7. Let not the Rebellious exalt themselves Fear is an humbling affection Put them in fear saith the Psalmist that they may know themselves to be but men Now when the Lion roarâ—th who will not fear Amos 3.8 That is when God displaieth his anger ought not every one to tremble at it Notable is that passage Job 9.13 If God will not withdraw his anger the proud helpers do stoop under him So far are men from swelling with pride when they take notice of Gods rebukes that David saith When thou that is God dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth Psal 39.11 He that shall often look his face in that glass which shall represent to him those three things which I last mentioned viz. his natural and spiritual defects which are many and great in themselves though not in comparison of other men his moral defilements and pollutions that is his innumerable sins and lastly those many rebukes wherewith God hath corrected him for sin I say he who in the mirror of serious â—ontemplation shall frequently behold these three things and whilst he layeth all his endowments and enjoyments in one scale shall lay these in the other cannot easily be lifted up or think of himself more highly than he ought I have evinced that every man hath much to be humbled for and under If I can also prove that no man hath any thing to be proud of or cause to be proud of any thing when that is made good I shall then have demonstrated that he must needs be humble that doth but throughly know himself and that doth judg himself no better though no worse neither than indeed he is There are but four sorts of things that any man in the world can take a pride in viz. What he is what he hath what he hath done And lastly What he hath suffered upon a good account As for the first of these a man may know what he is as that he is a child of God c. and yet not be proud of it John 3.14 We know that we have passed from death to life c. 1 Joh. 5.19 We know that we are of God c. For why should a man be proud of what he is by the meer grace and favor of God It was no pride in St. Paul to say By the grace of God I am what I am viz. a Saint an Apostle who was before a Persecutor 1 Cor. 15.10 He that seeth that there is some good thing in him towards the Lord but yet more evil than good more flesh than spirit more dross than silver more sin than grace hath no more cause to be proud of that little Grace and holiness which he hath than a man cause to be proud of beauty who hath only a white hand or a handsom leg all the rest of his body being ill favoured and deformed If our sins preponderate our graces I mean if they be more and greater than they as in this life they alwaies are if there be in us a more general indisposedness than there is promptness and readiness to what is good more earthly than heavenly mindedness more self-seeking than self-denyal more bad thoughts than good more unruly than well governed desires and affections as who can say there is not then have we more cause to be humble than to be proud yea to be humble and not proud If that grace wherein we most excel be it patience or whatsoever else be more deficient than it is perfect more remote from perfection than it is near to it then we who have but as it were put on our harness have no cause to boast which is for them only who have put it off How imperfect are those graces in which we are most defective if that grace be so defective in which we are most perfect Neither have we cause to be proud of what we have or possess any more than of what we are for if we might be proud of either we might with more reason be proud of what we are than of what we have I mean of those good things which are within us and are as it were part of our selves than of those which are without us A good descent a good estate a good report a great and good office doth constitute no man good that is possessed of any or all of them for a bad man may happen to have them all and seeing such things do not make or denominate men good they cannot redound so much to any mans praise as inward goodness doth and therefore no man can pretend so much reason to be proud of those things for it is less honourable to injoy what is good which the worst of men may do than
also acknowledg â—im the author of all the buildings which have been â—â—er since whether Cities Towns Villages or particular houses It is said we are Gods off-spring Acts 17.28 and why but because we are the children of Adam who was the Son of God Luk. 3.38 The â—ause of the cause is the cause of the effects By â—he same reason God having made men by whom â—ouses are built for every house is builded by some â—an Heb. 3.4 and given unto men all that wisdom which they have for building as for every other purpose Exod. 33.35 it being he that gives men leave to build when he could hinder it â—nd opportunity to build which he could easily with-hold and strength to build which he could â—ave denied and success in building which none â—ut himself could give these things considered we see great reason for what the Psalmist saith Psal 127.1 Except the Lord build the â—â—â—se they labour in vain that build it DISCOURSE L. Of the rebuilding of those houses of clay wherein we now dwell or of the Resurrection of our bodies OUr bodies are houses that must be demolished and it is as probable by fire as any how for feavers are a kind of fire and they destroy a great if not the greatest part of mankind Howsoever dust they are and to dust they must return Yet so surely as they shall fall so certain it is that they shall rise again there shall be a resurrection of the dead both of those just and unjust Acts 24.15 I doubt not of the possibility of a Resurrection sith I am sure of the truth of a Creation and to raise the bodies of men out of dust is not of more difficulty than to raise a world out of a Chaos and that Chaos out of nothing To say though such a thing as a Resurrection be possible yet it shall never be were to deny that principle which is common to most Religions in the world and which is the main foundation they are built upon viz. the doctrine of a future estate or of a life after this Christ told the Jewes that if they destroyed the temple of his body he would raise it up again in three daies and so he did and that he did so I say the evidence and assurance we have that he did do so is the great prop and pillar of our Christian faith therefore the scripture saith of Christ that he was declared to be the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.4 If Christ had not risen again the third day according to his promise his disciples had certainly renounced all confidence in him and taken him for an impostor and not for the Son of God and Saviour of the world but we are well assured that both they and many hundreds of others who lived about the same time or not long after them did strenuously assert that Christ did rise from the dead and did seal that truth with their blood that being the main article against them that they did so believe as S. Paul saith Act. 13.6 Of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am â—alled in question and Acts 25.19 They had certain â—uestions against him of one Jesus which was dead whom Paul affirmed to be alive But if there be no resurrection of be dead then is Christ not risen as the Apostle arguâ—th 1 Cor. 15.13 but that Christ is risen the suffeings of so many near unto Christ his time I say â—eir suffering unto death for the seal of Christ â—hom they had not known to have been the true Messiah if he had not risen again according to his â—romise do abundantly witness Canst thou believe that all mankind must perish 〈◊〉 it must be if Christ be not risen for saith the Apostle v. 17. If Christ be not raised your faith is â—ain ye are yet in your sins Canst thou believe that God will suffer the best â—en in the world to be of all men most miserable from first to last Surely such as have hope in Christ are men of the best lâ—ves of any in the â—orld But if Christ be not risen then they that â—â—ve hope in Christ are of all men most miserable The â—ive arguments which I have given may convince â—ny man that is not obstinate both of the possiâ—ility and futurity of a resurrection that is both that 〈◊〉 may and shall be But some will say how are the dead raised up and â—ith what body do they come To which objection or â—estion stated by the Apostle in those very words 1 Cor. 15.35 I answer that it doth not appear that the houses of wicked men their bodies I mean shall be any thing more beautiful at the resurrection than they were before or freed from those deformities which they carried to the grave with them but as those trees fall so they shall rise or if they should what would it signifie when neither they nor others could see it for want of light Did goodly houses or Churches look beautifully in the midst of flames when nothing but the wall of fire that was round about them could be seen but sure I am the houses of good men that is their bodies shall all and every of them be beautified at the resurrection and whereas some of them were like houses that are low built others like rooms that are shelving or garret-wise others dark like dungeons others slight and thin like paper-walled houses those and all other inconveniences shall be removed for then shall their vile bodies be changed and fashioned like unto Christ his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Phil. 3.21 Now the souls of men go about like snails carrying their shels upon their backs which maketh their motion slow but their houses or bodies after the Resurrection shall be no more clogs or impediments to their souls than wings are to the flight of birds Here our earthly houses that is our bodies do soil and stain the souls that inhabit them as the bare walls of new buildings use to do the garments of those that dwell in them but at the resurrection they shall no more do that than those rooms defile our cloaths which are hung with the newest and neatest tapistry Those houses which have no filthiness in themselves and such will our bodies then be can convey none to others How glad would the wicked be that these their houses of clay might never be rebuilt how much rather could they wish they might be annihilated For in these very houses must they dwell with consuming fire and everlasting burnings Consider the bodies of good men as the Temple of God for so they are called 1 Cor. 3.16 and as the members of Christ 1 Cor. 6.15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ consider them as sleeping in Jesus for so the expression is 1 Thes 4.14 as if the bosome of Christ were the Urne in which those ashes
were laid up I say consider them under that threefold notion and you will see no cause to wonder that so much care should be taken of those demolished Temples as to rebuild them of those lost members as to restore them and of those scattered ashes and dispersed dust as to gather them together again Most houses of note as publick Halls c. and wherein persons of considerable quality were concerned that were lately burnt down are like to be built again and the owners thereof do think that in point of honour they can do no less and shall not the Temples of God which are the bodies of his Saints I say shall not they be rebuilt is it not for the honour of the great God that it should be so I have shewed how much more glorious the new houses of the Saints I mean their new bodies will be than were their old ones oh then how glorious a City will the new Jerusalem that is Heaven be which shall consist of all such stately houses as the bodies of the Saints are designed to be even so glorious as the firmament would be if every Star therein were as big and as bright as is the Sun it self Mat. 13.43 Then shall the righteous shine â—orth as the Sun in the kingdom 〈…〉 fathe◠〈◊〉 I question whether at that time when Christ was transfigured before some of his Disciples his body did appear so glorious as it doth in Heaven and yet we read Mat. 17.2 That then his face did shine as the Sun and his raiment was white as the light The glory of the body of Christ in Heaven may be more than that which is there described if cannot be less and what saith the Scripture 1 John 3.2 When he shall appear we shall be like him and our vile bodies fashioned like his glorious body Who would be able to know the bodies and visages of those Saints that he shall meet in Heaven or any one of them unless it shall be revealed to him being so much changed for the better as then they will be Abraham will not of himself discern that that was the house in which Isaac dwelt or that the materials thereof are the same nor Isaac that his Father Abraham when upon the earth dwelt in that house I mean in that very body for doubtless for substance it will be the same Job 19.27 whom mine eyes shall behold and not another which will then appear as much more magnificent than it was in the world as is the pallace of a Prince than the cottage of a poor peasant We know what manner of house Lazarus dwelt in when he was in the world so patcht so leprous that I had almost said the very dogs began to pity him of whom it is said that they lickt his sores yet that despicable house of his will at the Resurrection be metamorphosed into so stately a dwelling as would even dazle Dives or the rich mans eyes if he should have leave to behold it What matter is it if the souls of divers good men dwell but meanly and ill-favouredly in this world 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 â—andsom and deformed bodies â—ith 〈◊〉 they do 〈◊〉 sojourn as it were in teâ—â— and what if they be black as the tents of Kedar what 〈◊〉 the houses which they now live in be scarce wind-tide or water-tide will scarce keep them â—arm or dry What if the keepers of the house do â—remble and the strong men bow themselves What if the â—lver cord be loosened or the golden bowl be broken or the itcher be broken at the fountain or the wheel be broken â—t the cistern which are Solomons expressions to set forth bodily infirmities what if their present â—wellings be ever so homely siâ—h they are not their â—ome these their earthly tabernacles will soon be â—estroyed and when they come to be built again â—hey shall be as the pallaces of Princes fit for them who must live and raign with Christ for ever Had â—ur Soveraign then been sure to possesse hâ—s throne as now he doth it would but little have troubled â—m that he was forced to hide for a time in a holâ—ow tree since called the Royal Oak and as litâ—le should the inconvenient habitation of Christians â—ouble them I mean the weakness or uncomliâ—ess of their bodies for the present sith these â—ld houses of theirs shall quickly be pulled down â—nd the new ones which shall be provided for them â—t the Resurrection of the dead will be past all exâ—eptions I see no reason on the other hand why ungodly â—en and women should pride themselves in those lately houses in which their Souls do now dwell I mean in the amiableness and beautifulness of â—heir bodies sith those houses must shortly be â—abitations for worms where they will breed and â—ed and boord and dye and rot and be buried even â—n those fine bodies which they are now so proud â—f and when those houses come to be built again I mean those bodies to be raised from the dead then will they be in worse condition then ever that is eternally hanted and possessed by Devils worse than vermine for what less can those children of disobedience expect in whom Satan now ruleth It is a consideration which may greatly comfort good men that at the Resurrection they shall not only have better houses then ever they had before but those houses shall have far better inhabitants than they formerly had even the Souls of just men made perfect whereas their former houses were inhabited by the Souls though of just men yet full of imperfections It will then be their happiness to have Sanam mentem in corpore Sano Souls and bodies prospering both alike What troublesome houses are our present bodies which need repairing every day by meat and drink and every night by rest and sleep which are in continual danger of being thrown down by one means and by another but those new houses or bodies which believers shall enter into at the Resurrection will need no meats or drinks wherewith to repair them for then shall they be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as the Angels of God Mat. 22.30 shall be obnoxious to no element whether fire or water or to any other creature shall be uncapable of being destroyed for they shall be raised incorruptible 1 Cor. 15.52 and Luk. 20.36 Neither can they dye any more How strange is it then that we should read of any which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and that resurrection from the dead the state of the resurrection being so glorious as it is well may it be said they are children of God being the children of the resurrection for so the better resurrection is called the resurrection by way of eminency though besides the resurrection of life there is also a resurrection of condemnation John 5.29 Two extreams there are which may prejudice the Doctrine of the Resurrection One is a vein of allegorising every thing We read of some who