extra all exteriour workes and all are exteriour works that are not personall as they be common to all the persons in the Deitie so they may be affirmed of the whole Deity After the Article of beliefe He ascended into Heaven that Christ rose from the dead our next Beliefe is that he ascended into Heaven and indeed it followes well For as when he came downe from heaven he never left descending till hee descended into hell so now that he is risen he never leaves rising till he ascend up to Heaven And so my soule shouldst thou doe not thinke it enough to rise up from sinne and there stay but never leave rising till thou ascend up to Heaven as Christ did But what Ascend as soone as he was risen What time was there then for Thomas to put his hand into his side What time for Peter to take charge of his Sheepe Hee therefore ascended not presently after his up-rising but stayed forty dayes upon earth before he ascended in which time hee appeared nine times to his Apostles and Disciples But what needed he to have stayed fortie dayes if hee appeared but nine times Or why appeared hee but nine times if hee stayed fortie dayes Indeed to give the reason of the number of his times of appearing and why at other times hee concealed himselfe is perhaps a secret beyond our capacitie Onely in generall wee may conceive that hee appeared sometimes to make his Disciples assured of his Resurrection and he forbore appearing sometimes to weane them from their carnall desire of his presence He appeared sometimes to instruct them in many things which they knew not before and he forbore appearing sometimes to prepare their mindes for his ascending But howsoever by these his appearings hee manifested foure faculties of a glorified body that it can vanish away at pleasure that it can eate or fast at pleasure that it can alter shape at pleasure that it can enter where the doores are shut For all these Christ did after his rising by vertue of his glorified body But that his Body though glorified was at any time in more places then one at once is no where to be found in the holy Scriptures and can never bee proved by the Word of God But to what Heaven was it that Christ ascended Not as some foolishly interpret those words of David In Sole posuit tabernaculum suum as though hee placed his Tabernacle in the Sunne and went no higher For if this were so how could he come to sit at the right hand of his Father whose throne is in the highest heavens This ascending of Christ into heaven makes justly a high Festivall among us which wee call Ascension day but should we not rather call it Ascension yeare or some longer time then a yeare at least if wee meane it as long as the time hee spent in ascending For if it were lesse then yeares it may be written for a Wonder seeing Alpharabius a great Astrologer amongst the Arabians affirmes for certaine the Starry-Heaven to be so high above the Earth that a man with reasonable journeyes could hardly goe it in eight thousand yeares and other Astronomers affirme the distance from the Earth to the nethermost Heaven to bee no lesse then fourescore Millions of miles And another expresseth the distance thus that if a Mill-stone were falling downe from Heaven it would be neere a hundred yeares in falling before it came to the Earth And if wee wonder at these things as indeed they are most wonderfull wee may consider what just cause there is to have this Attribute given to God to be the Maker of heaven and earth But though the distance of place be so great and the motion of a naturall body bee so slow yet what is this to a glorified body that makes no reckoning of distance of place but instar fulguris like Lightning is able to move from any part of the world to another in an instant that if we measure the length of the Festivall by the length of the time which Christ spent in Ascending we need not call it Ascension day but Ascension minute seeing his glorified body was able in a minute to passe from the Earth to the highest Heavens And though when hee began his Ascent from Mount Olivet hee set out at first so slowly that if he went no faster he was not like to get to Heaven in many yeares yet that was done but ad pascendos Discipulorum oculos as it were to feed his Disciples eyes to the end they might the better observe his Ascending and be the more sensible of it and perhaps to shew how unwilling hee was to leave them For afterward no doubt hee mended his pace and made use of the agility of his glorified Body and perhaps was arrived in Heaven while the Angel stood blaming the Apostles for gazing up after him But if he had been Ascended into Heaven sooner why did he not send the Holy Ghost downe upon his Apostles till after fifty daies that he began his Ascending that so hee might have kept his promise And loe I am with you alwayes to the ende of the world meaning either by himselfe or by the Holy Ghost where now there were fifty dayes in which they neither had Christ nor the Holy Ghost amongst them O my soule what presumption is this to inquire into Mysteries that are hidden from us and will be still till wee come our selves to heaven from whence the Holy Ghost was sent But what ground have wee for it that Christ indeed ascended into Heaven Seeing Saint Mathew and Saint John who were likely to have seene it speake nothing at all of it onely Saint Marke and Saint Luke who saw it not and had it but at the second hand record it to us and is it reason to beleeve them that speake but by heare-say when eye witnesses if any such thing were are silent especially in a matter of so great consequence as his Ascension is It is true indeed Saint Mathew for what cause I know not breaks off his Gospel before Christs Ascending but Saint John though hee speake not of it in the place where the other doe yet hee had delivered it at least intimated it before in his Gospel where hee mentions Christ to say What and if yee shall see the Sonne of man ascend up where he was before And Saint Paul a Witnesse without exception affirmes plainely That more then five hundred brethren at once saw him Ascending and himselfe also though he saw him not Ascend yet he saw him being Ascended that nothing can have a more sure ground of Beleeving nothing bee more certaine then Christs Ascending into Heaven And of his Ascention wee may easily conceive two speciall effects One which we are sure off the other which wee hope the first his owne glory that having received indignities on earth hee might receive the reward of them in Heaven the other our comfort that where he is we may be also
distinction it will keepe us right in the true understanding of this Article For if hee descended into Hell as an Agent then not as a Patient and if not as a Patient then not to Suffer but onely to Triumph Lastly if Christ descended into Hell to suffer why did not then his body descend aswell as his soule seeing our bodies aswell as our soules should have suffered the paines of Hell Which cannot be objected if wee hold hee descended into Hell but only to Triumph For as it was a sufficient and proper triumph for the soule to triumph over Hell so it was a sufficient and proper Triumph for the body to triumph over death which it did by rising the third day as it followes in the next Article Indeed for his descending into Hell to triumph over Satan there was great reason seeing hee it was that had offered him so many great indignities here on earth He it was that had tempted him in the Wildernesse Hee it was that put it into Judas heart to betrary him It was therefore very expedient that the first thing he should doe when hee came to be an Agent should be to goe into Hell to be revenged upon him as it were in hot bloud and for his greater disgrace to triumph over him within his owne Kingdome Now which of these opinions is the more probable perhaps wee may but which is the truer who can bee sure Seing probability and truth doe not alwaies goe together and sometimes the more true is the lesse probable there being fallacies aswell in Reason as in Sense and indeed in matters obscure and not recalled in Scripture we may sooner mistake all then take any at all right and never know in any of them when we be right or wrong and therefore of such poynts though it may be tolerated to make Disquisitions yet it is not safe to make conclusions Sapere ad sobrietatem is an excellent rule in all cases but where the truth is but conjecturall as in this case most of all and it was justly said of Christ Yee erre not knowing the Scriptures For if our knowledge be grounded and not upon Scriptures not onely Errour is easily let in but it is hardly kept out What the Scripture delivers in plaine termes we may be bold to build upon but inferences and deductions are for the most part fallacious seldome so cleare to induce a beliefe seldome so certaine to breed a knowledge and therefore in this poynt our safest course is to content our selves with that which our Creed delivers that Christ descended into hell and not be too curious in examining much lesse too peremptory in concluding either the manner or the causes of his descending But if Christ descended locally into Hell How could he ever come from thence againe Seeing it is said and truly said Omnia te advorsum spectantia nulla retrorsum That from Hel there is no returning No returning indeede for those that are damned and are brought thither to live and die there but for him who descended into Hell to overcome Hell for him who by descending into Hell merited ascending into Heaven It was not onely possible that he should returne but impossible he should be there detained There have beene Hereticks of old at least if they were Hereticks called Psychopanichitae who held this opinion that when the body dyes then the soule falls asleepe and that there is an Interstitium of living as wel in the soule as in the body the soule lying asleep and not waking till the body at the last day rise againe because it hath beene said of men when they dyed that they slept with their Fathers and Saint Paul also expresseth death by sleeping where he saith For this cause many of you are weake and many sleepe and by this meanes it may bee justly said that when a mandies he knowes his judgement presently For though there bee a million of yeares betweene his death and the day of Judgement yet the soule lying all the while asleep they are to him as contiguous And this seemes to bee no improbable opinion and by which many difficult places in Scripture may be cleared for if it were not thus how could it be said that where the tree falleth there it lyeth for if the soule be in action while the body is dead how will the Tree lye where it falleth Seeing the good soules will alwaies be doing of good and the evill soules of evill But if notwithstanding these reasons this opinion bee not suffered to passe Can it better bee confuted then by that which is said here Hee descended into Hell for what Hee but his soule If then his soule descended and descending bee a voluntary action and no voluntary action but of that which is awake then certainely was Christs soule awake after death and not asleep and if his soule then ours aswell seeing there is no difference that we know off betweene his soule and ours but propension to sinne But what a kind of perswading is this to seeke to perswade us to beleeve in Christ by hearing hee was scourged and crucified and hanged amongst common Malefactors and after all this to descend into Hell Is he like to be a Saviour to us that could not save himselfe For if he had saved himselfe and come downe from the Crosse the Jewes pretended at least they would have beleeved in him But when he did not this upon so just a Motive what reason had they but to thinke he could not doe it and then what reason had they to thinke him a Saviour This indeed was the mist that blinded the Jewes eyes they could never be brought to think him the true Christ because he came in such meannesse humility where they looked for a Messias that should come in state one that should domineere in the world and restore the temporall Kingdome to the Hebrew Nation And yet is this one of the maine reasons which makes us know and beleeve him to be the true Christ because it is most agreeable to all the ancient Prophecies that such a one the true Christ should bee And indeed seeing hee came into the world to bee a Redeemer and Redeeming consisted no lesse in suffering then in doing It was necessary hee should come in such an Estate as might be fittest for suffering so to pay for us the uttermost farthing of our debt not onely by Active but aswell also by Passive obedience which hee could not have done at least not made appeare to have done if hee had come in such state as the Jewes expected But though he descended into Hell and no doubt The third day hee rose againe did great matters at his being there yet it seemes he was not long about it for the Third day he rose againe Not sooner then the third day that it might appeare hee had beene certainly dead Nor later that he might not leave his Disciples too long in discomfort Not sooner then the third day that
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
of the dead but of the living Indeed all Morall reasons that can be brought to prove the Immortalitie of the soule may serve as well to prove the Resurrection of the body For if there bee reward for the godly in another life certainely that reward shall not bee to the soule onely but as well to the bodie and if to the body then must the body of necessity rise againe that it may be capable to receive the reward But what capacitie as long as it is lying in the dust And as this reason is of force to prove the Resurrection of the body in the godly so the punishment due to sinne makes it of no lesse force to prove it in the wicked All that hath been said and all that can be said in this matter are as so many links that may be made into a chaine and will necessarily draw us on to this beliefe For will you except against the body that it is not worthy to bee raised from the dead Or will yee except against God that he is not able to raise it from the dead Or will yee except against the cause that it ought not to bee raised from the dead and when all these Exceptions are proved unjust what doubt can there bee of its rising from the dead For first is not the body worthy to rise againe which is Vagina afflatus Divini the receptacle and sheath as it were of the Divine breath and is not our Flesh as one cals it soror Christi the sister of Christ that if of it self it be not at least by this Consanguinitie it is most worthy Is not God able to raise it againe out of dust who at first made it of dust and dust of nothing Is there not just cause it should be raised againe indeed so just that it is of necessitie if God be just For if the body be not raised again how can it appeare in judgement And if it appeare not in judgement how can it receive the sentence of Absolution or Condemnation and if it receive not such sentence how can it be Punished or Rewarded and if it be not Punished or Rewarded how can God bee just that neither punisheth nor rewardeth the good or evill it hath done in this life And seeing God is most Just even Justice it se fe It followes of necessitie that the Body shall be raised againe to life which though it be here made an Article of our Beliefe for the difficultie yet it falls within the compasse of our knowledge for the certainty To doubt of the Resurrection of the Body is to doubt as hath been said of either Gods Power or of his Will and to doubt of his Power is to make him no God and to doubt of his Will is to make him not good For how should he be good to destroy our Bodies which are Temples of the Holy Ghost if hee should not raise them up againe that they may bee Temples for his service O my soule let this be thy joy for the resurrection of thy Bodie Not that it shall rise againe to be sinneful flesh and bloud as now it is but that it shall rise to be a Temple for the Holy Ghost fitted to bee taken into the Quire of Angels to sing the praises of God and of his Christ for ever And indeed if I thought my Body should rise againe to bee in the state that now it is though with enjoying as much happinesse as the world can affoord yet I would make it my humble suit to God rather to let it lye in the dust still then to raise it up to such a life For alas O Lord what do the pleasures of the World but distract mee from thee and what is my hope but to enjoy thy presence What is the World but a barre to keepe thee from me and what contentment can I have while I am without thee No my soule thou shouldst do most unkindly to wish my Bodies rising againe if it were not to bee with God and to serve him as a Temple of his glorie For without this no Resurrection of the body shall be welcome to me Alas not so good as lying quickly in the dust But if it were meant that our Bodies indeed should rise againe and be the same hereafter as now they are why would God suffer them to dye at all and not rather continue them alive still For so hee might have saved himselfe the trouble of new making them and us the misery of so long missing them But now seeing the soule hath beene without its body so many hundred yeares already and is like to bee without it God knowes how many hundred yeares more why may it not be contented to be without it altogether and never stand expecting this impossible Resurrection But O my soule how vaine are these thoughts For what are we that we should enter into Gods secrets as though wee could comprehend that which is Incomprehensible and search out that which is Unsearchable As for Gods suffering the bodie to die and not continuing it alive still who sees not the reason that knowes the sentence pronounced by God upon Adams transgression And as for the Soules wanting the Body so long who can thinke it long that considers Eternity If we did but know or would but consider the admirable wonderfulnesse of the frame of Mans body we would much more wonder at the Formation of it then at the Resurrection of it and David shewed himselfe well seene in Anatomie when he said I am wonderfully and fearefully made Fearefully made indeed For hee that should looke into the frame of Mans body and see upon what wonderfull tickle points our life stands might well be afraid it were not possible wee could live one minute If then we see before our eyes the great wonderfulnesse of the formation of the body why should we doubt of the lesse wonderfulnesse the Resurrection of the body There is a place in one of Davids Psalmes where he saith The Lord keepeth the bones of the just one of them shall not bee consumed from which place the Jewes conceive an opinion that In Spina dorsi in the ridge of a mans backe there is a little bone which will never decay how long soever it lye in the earth and this little bone to be as it were Semen Resurrecturi Corporis the seed out of which the Body shall rise againe and as God made Eve of onely a bone of Adam yet of that bone he made her bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh So of this little backe bone God will raise the Body againe to bee the same bones and flesh it was before But what need we looke after any such bone when the least crumme of dust is Seed sufficient for God to raise it up the same body it was before And indeed we have surer ground for our beliefe then Jewish Fables For if wee Beleeve that Christ is risen from the dead we cannot doubt of our owne
expresse but a very small part or rather indeed no part at all of it seeing of those how many soever yet they will have an end at last Everlastingnesse never It may best bee exprest by number In abstracto of which when never so many have bin preceding yet never the fewer will bee left behind O the wonderfulnesse of everlastingnesse enough to amaze our apprehension so wonderfull that when wee have wondred as much as we can wee may begin and wonder againe and he that shall stand wondring all his life long yet cannot be thought to have wondred enough Iustly therefore is it made an Article of our Creede seeing it exceeds our capacity it passeth our understanding it transcends our reason onely Faith is apprehensive of it And where is it then that this Everlasting life shall bee led Is it not that of the first thousand years we may perhaps give some account that it shall be led where wee shall reigne with Christ for so Saint John the Evangelist in plaine termes delivers it and Papias a Bishop and a Scholler of Saint Johns who was likely to have learned the meaning of his words affirmes more that it shall be led heere upon earth in all delights and pleasures both of body and minde and indeede most of the ancient Fathers of that Primitive time runne together by a line in this Exposition and yet by the later Fathers is this Opinion cleane exploded and the words of Saint John expounded in a farre differing sense and not without cause for seeing it is truely said that flesh and bloud shal not enter into the kingdom of heaven there is no likelihood that bodily or fleshly pleasures shall ever be allowed to have place in that kingdome Is it then that there shall be a new heaven and a new earth and then this life Everlasting shall be led And it is indeed most likely that as our bodies shall rise though in their old substance yet endued with new qualities So heaven and earth where they are to abide shall suffer the like alteration that so there may bee a correspondence between our bodies and them which could not be if the qualities of heaven and earth were not aswell altered as of our bodies But when is it that this life Everlasting shall beginne Indeed as soone as this momentary life shall end but yet but in part and therefore we beleeve the resurrection of the body first and then the life everlasting after because although the soule in its kind be living still yet till the body rise againe there will be no perfect life and it is not intended that our life should be everlasting in the imperfection of it which is the separation of the soule from the body but that the body rising againe and joyning with the soule it shall then bee everlasting And now my soule consider the difference of our future life from this that is present which shal be so much longer then this as eternity then a moment and so much better then this as happinesse then misery But wherein shall the happinesse of our future life consist For if bodily pleasures be restrained there will want a great part of that which wee now count happinesse Indeed bodily pleasures will be restained but not pleasures of the body but the body being raised up a spirituall body the pleasures also of the body shal be spirituall pleasures And how much the soul is better then the body how much the reason is better then the sense so much shall the pleasures of our future life bee better then the pleasures of our present life and if this doe not sufficiently expresse the difference Remember then how Christ hath exprest it that the pleasures of our future life shall bee such as neither eye hath seene nor eare heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man and by this certainely we may well conceive the infiniteness of the difference But what are these pleasures which eye hath not seene nor eare hath heard Indeed if wee could tell vvee should make Christs vvords but vaine yet in some sort perhaps vvee may conceive them For vvhat eye hath seene the faces of Cherubins in their brightnesse What eare hath heard the melody of Angels in their sweetnesse But which is most of all into what heart of man hath it entred what the glory of the Almighty God is and what joy it will be to us to be admitted into his blessed presence O my soule these are pleasures which if we could apprehend would drive us into extasie at least would raise up our minds from groveling in the base pleasures of this vaine world And who are they that shall bee partakers of this life Everlasting are they onely the godly or as well also the wicked Indeed as well the wicked as the godly but not the wicked so well as the godly For alas the wicked shall live everlastingly indeed if it may bee called life which is infinitely worse then any death to bee in perpetuall torment and paine insufferable Onely the godly shall live everlastingly the life which is onely worthy to bee called life in perpetuall joy and happinesse unspeakable Oh then if our lives shall necessarily bee everlasting and that the happinesse of the everlastingnesse depends upon this moment we now live Let us endeavour to spend our short time so that our everlastingnesse may be in joy and not in misery O my soule be alwaies thinking of this word Never Never shall the torments of the wicked have an end Never shall the joyes of the godly have an end not after a thousand yeares not after a million of yeares not after a million of millions of Ages but Never Never which if wee could apprehend or would but consider it would certainely be a Remora to us and give a stop to all our vaine courses And now having briefly run over these Articles of our Creed we may doe well to consider how happy the Church of God should be if it would content it selfe with these Articles as once it did For then the little Barke of Christ should not bee tossed with so many tempests of Schismes should not be torn with so many rents of Division as now it is but should enjoy the unity of faith in the bond of peace where now while new Articles are dayly obtruded upon our Consciences we seem to be in worse case with Articles of faith then the old Jewes were with the Ceremonies of the Law they overwhelmed with number we with novelty or rather indeed with both FINIS