is a sweet sleep without dreams as Socrates named it not an euerlasting sleepe as Secundus the Philosopher said to Adrianus the Emperor It may be called a brasen sleep a strong a long sleepe for so Homer thinketh of it That which Christ spake of the rulers daughter may be truly affirmed of all them that be departed out of this life that they are not dead but fallen a sleepe and at the last day shall rise againe The places of buriall for this cause are called caemeteria of which men would not haue such care if there should be no resurrection Olde father Iacob vpon his death bed in Egypt maketh his sonne to burie him in the holy land and Ioseph at his death giueth commaundement to his brethren to carrie away his bones Which desire of theirs was partly to be free from that idolatrous nation euen when they were dead but chiefly it shewed the hope of this change Tobias is commended for burying the dead and Christ sayd that the woman who annointed his bodie to buriall should be spoken off in all the world The men of Iabes Gilead shewed mercie vpon Saul and Ionathan in burying their bodies Talia pietatis officia ad mortuorum corpora pertinent propter fidem resurrectionis astruendam Aug. 1. de Ciuit. Dei cap. 13. Such duties of godlinesse do appertaine to the dead in token that we beleeue the resurrection The iustice of God requireth this that the bodies of men hauing bene partners in well or euill doing with the soule in this life should be partners in reward or punishment after this life The hand which is open to receiue bribes the foote which is swift to shed blood the tongue that speaketh proud things the eyes that behold vanitie the eares that are open doores to let in vnchast talke the minde a nest of wicked imaginations the head that deuiseth mischiefe and euill the heart which boyleth in lust and malicious reuenge euery part with the whole which is a fellow with the soule in sinning shall beare companie in the punishment Contrariwise those bodies which haue borne the heate and burthen of the day shall haue part of the penie and wages The Hebrue Doctors haue made plaine this by a parable deuised in this sort A man planted a vineyard and hauing cause to go from home was carefull to leaue such watchmen as might keepe it safe from strangers and such as should not deceiue him them selues therefore he appointed two the one was blind but strong of his limbes the other had his sight but was a creeple In the absence of their maister they conferred how to deceiue him and craftily the blind tooke the lame man vpon his backe and got of the frute At the returne of their Maister he found out their subtilty that they had ioyned their labour together and so he punished them both together Man standeth of two partes the bodie is blinde but strong to commit sin the soule hath his sight knowledge but vnable to worke outward wickednesse but both helpe forward to sinne and therefore in iustice must abide the punishment 2. Cor. 4.18 We must all appeare before the iudgement seate of God that euery man may receiue the things which he hath done in his bodie whether they be good or euill The infinite goodnesse of God to his people nor the vp heaped measure of his seueritie against the vngodly could not be shewed if this chaunge should not be For now the ioy of the elect and paine of the wicked is but as a dreame to that which shal be Esa 61.7 For your shame you shal receiue double euerlasting ioy shal be vnto you Which place Lyra and the enterlined glosse expound of ioy of soule and bodie The truth of God cannot stand if this chaunge should not be For he hath promised to raise vs vp at the last day and that not one haire of our head shall perish Luke 14. When thou makest a feast call the poore lame c. who cannot reward thee but it shal be recompenced at the resurrection of the iust The last enemie that shall be destroyed is death 1. Cor. 15. And lest death might alleadge prescription God hath in all times of the world hindered his possession and taken from him the bodie of some to shew that he had title right vnto them As in the time of nature he tooke Enoch in the time of the Lawe he tooke away Helias in the time of Christ he tooke our Sauiour To conclude this point the authoritie of the Scriptures the reasons of the Apostle the name of death to be sleepe the maner of buriall the iustice mercie and truth of God are strong chaines to binde vs to beleeue and are sure proppes to vphold this maine piller of our faith that our bodies shall be changed By these it is euident that God is willing as his power is answerable therunto God hath giuen to his creatures some portion of his power whereby things are brought to passe which shadow out this change which by his owne arme he will bring to passe The Lyon being long absent from his whelpes because in due time he could not find his pray finding them dead roareth in his caue and reuiueth them againe The Pellicane by her blood quickeneth her young ones Lactantius worthely describeth the maner of the Phoenix death and birth againe out of her owne ashes The fire lyeth hid in the flint stone yet a small force will make it appeare The sunne setteth and riseth againe the moone waineth and renueth her light trees are cut downe yet they spring afresh the herbes wither in the winter season but are greene againe in the sommer time The whole course of nature telleth vs that we shall die and putteth vs in hope of our rising againe Our nayles being pared our haire being cut off yet they increase and growe againe If the dead part of our bodie be restored by the ordinarie power of God in nature much more shall the bodies of men be restored by the mightie power of God What if our bodies be consumed to ashes in the fire dryed in shew to nothing in the aire rotten to dust in the earth swallowed vp of fishes in the sea those fishes taken and eaten of men those men deuoured of wild beastes those beasts made a pray to rauenous foules Disperse as farre as may be by imagination the partes of mans body yet shall this mightie power of God call them together againe Aug. de Ciuitate Dei lib. 22. cap. 20. Absit vt aliquis sinus naturae ita recipiat aliquid subtractum à sensibus nostris vt omnino creatoris aut lateat scientiam aut effugiat potestatem God forbid that any secret place should be thought so to hide any thing remoued from our senses that it can either be kept from the knowledge of the creator or auoyd his power For this cause the sea is sayd to giue vp her dead Apoc. 20.13 because the bodies that
man after Gods owne heart yet had he not small slips but grosse falles Salomon a wise king yet bewitched with women Peter a great Apostle yet an Apostata for a time But why do I vpbrayd the naked infirmities of the fathers seeing all flesh hath corrupted his wayes and none can say my heart is cleane or my handes innocent And yet God hath his flock although it be but a litle one and Christ hath his Church his familie although they be fewe in it God hath his number in earth which in sinceritie without hypocrisie haue their conuersacion in heauen Euery man may be a witnesse to himselfe to whether number he belongeth by that rule which S. Augustine hath set downe in Psal 64. Duas ciuitates duo faciunt amores Hierusalem facit amor Dei Babiloniam amor saeculi Interroget ergo se quisque quid amet inueniet vnde sit ciuis Two loues make two Cities the loue of God maketh Ierusalem the loue of the world Babylon Therefore let euerie man deale truely with his owne heart and in euen ballances lay all his doings putting thereto such loue as he hath If it be the loue of God it wil lift them vp and shew them to be heauenly if the loue of the world set them a worke it wil bewray their conuersatiō to be of the earth To execute iustice with a straight hand to cherish vertue to roote vp vice to foster religion to banish superstition to do any good to eschue any euill for anie other cause but in loue and obedience vnto God is not to haue an heauēly but an earthly cōuersation The spider of a drie slime which commeth off her bodie weaueth her webbe and setteth her nets to take the flie which is her foode and many times when curiously she hath finished her worke a blast of winde taketh her and it away so the loue of the world causeth manie to wearie their bodies trouble their wittes breake their sleepe to set nets for commodities which are but small and by the last breath of our life caried away The loue of the world which ruleth in vs by corruption of nature and custome of life withdraweth vs from such conuersation as is heauenly whereas the loue of God if it be but as a graine of mustard seede doth season all our doings and cleareth them from earthly corruption Therfore let euery man as he groweth in yeares so go forward in goodnesse increase in faith in knowledge in vertue in the loue of God decrease in ignorance in infidelitie in vice in the loue of the world As our age and gray haires come on so let our olde conuersation vanish away putting on the new man in holinesse of behauiour the nearer we come to our heauenly countrey to wish and desire it the more For as the child in the wombe is more quick and strong the nearer the time of birth commeth so it should be with vs. For as Chrysostome sayth Nos sumus in mundo vt puellus in vtero and happie are they that are dayly more quicke and strong in godlinesse of life that may with a good conscience say as Paule doth here Our conuersacion or citie like behauiour is in heauen The cause which draweth vp mens hearts in desire affection to heauen is the sauiour the Lord Iesus Christ The brasen serpent was lift vp in the wildernesse that the people being stong might be healed liue the sonne of man is lifted vpon the crosse lifted vp and set in the view of all men by the preaching of the Gospell and by his glorious ascension into heauen draweth all their hearts to him that looke for saluation in him they feare him as their Lord loue him as their Iesus reuerence him as their Christ they kisse him as their Sauiour that find and feele by the seale of Gods spirit that God hath made him Christ appointed him and annointed him to be a Lord and king to gouerne them a Priest to sacrifice him selfe for them a Prophet to teach and instruct them What greater daunger then to haue our cogitations and affections as traitors and rebelles to worke treason within vs and to conspire our destruction and what happier benefite then to haue them tamed changed and made pliable in obedience to an heauenly gouernment This profite Christ worketh in his people being their Lord to rule them and this kingdome we pray for dayly to come vnto vs. What greater discomfort then to lye in darknesse and to liue in ignorance and what sweeter mercie then to haue our eyes opened and the brightnesse of heauenly knowledge to shine about vs This commoditie our Sauiour bestoweth vpon vs and is made Christ our Prophet for this end No perill is so fearfull as to be out of Gods fauour nor blessing so chearefull as to be at peace with him Our Sauiour in loue hath giuen him selfe for vs a sweet smelling sacrifice and in him the Father is pleased with vs. Daniel was in great danger among the Lyons yet his bodie could but be hurt for his soule was comforted in that he suffered for the Lord but mankind was in miserable plight being iustly condemned body and soule into hell Christ hath reached forth his hand and drawen vs out of the iawes of the Lyon and is become a Iesus a Sauiour vnto vs. Therefore seeing as Christ is the mine where all these treasures lye hid the iewell house where all these pearles are heauenly gouernment he is the Lord heauenly instruction he is Christ a Prophet heauenly reconciliation he is Christ a Priest heauenly redemption he is Iesus a Sauiour It is no maruell though the hearts of Gods children be with him who hath in store all these treasures for them The marchant hath his minde in those places where his goods are and whence he hopeth for commoditie The husbandmans heart is in the haruest which is the end of his labour and the hope of his paine Profit will carrie mens desires verie farre euen through the world yea to heauen and happie are they which venture the farthest for in this life there is no true treasure to be found The minde of man is wider then the world and nothing in the world can fill it Nay the mo worldly things that are heaped into it the more it retcheth as whitleather and is more voyd and emptie Few things will suffise the bodie but all is not inough to satisfie the mind as Philip the king of Macedonia confesseth of himselfe who in wrastling tooke a fall vpon the sand and rising looked vpon the place where he might see the print which his bodie had made to be compassed in a small peece of earth where the whole world was too litle for his couetous mind For so he speaketh of him selfe The ambitious man which climeth to honour the higher he is the higher he would be he still buildeth vpwards Nemrods tower is too low for him and yet it was high 1174. paces The pride of Lucifer
which was amōgst the falling Angels in heauen is now found among the sonnes of men in the earth The voluptuous man is like him who hath the dropsie the more he drinketh the more he desireth he would lye deeper and longer with the swine in the mire The couetous man as the graue neuer saith there is inough Gods good giftes are without vse buried in him His arke and his chest may be filled but his heart in the chest of his body can neuer be satisfied Honour profite pleasure no earthly thing can content the heart of man It is onely this Lord this Sauiour this Christ which draweth mens hearts to heauen and there fully satisfieth them The Israelites in the wildernesse did eate Manna and dranke of the water out of the rocke but hungred and thirsted and died in the end But they which are fed with the true bread that came downe from heauen and drinke of the water of life they shall neuer be more a thirst but shall haue eternall life Christ Iesus is the euerflowing ouerflowing well Blessed are they that hunger thirst for him for they shall be satisfied in him he is the pearle for which we must sell all and buy him He is our head and with the serpent we must be wise to suffer losse in our bodies in our goods in our fame in our liberties in our liues so that we keepe our head safe Aeneas when Troy was won hauing a grant as all the citizens had to carie away some one chiefe thing which he made best account of chose and tooke away Patrios Poenates the gods of his countrey preferring them before his father his goods or any other thing which might be of price with him Which action of his may teach vs in our desires and affections to make choise of Christ and lift vp our hearts to him He requireth in the Gospell to be preferred before those things which otherwise be of most value with vs. He that doth not forsake father and mother is not worthie of me He would not suffer one whom he called to take his leaue of his friends at home nor permit another to bury his father a worke of humanitie and pietie Hieronimus ad Heliodorum hath a worthie iudgement agreeable to this licet à collo paruulus pendeat infans licet vbera quibus te nutrierat ostendat mater licet in limine iaceat pater vt te à Christo retardent abijciatur infans contemne matrem calcandus est pater solum est pietatis genus in his fuisse crudelem If thy young child hang about thy necke if thy mother shew her breasts wherewith she nursed thee if thy father lye in the doore to stay thee frō following of Christ cast from thee thy child contemne thy mother tread vpon thy father ad Christi vexillum vola flie to the banner of Christ to be his souldier and seruant it is pietie to be cruell in this case Glaucus carieth the bell among all fooles for changing his golden armour for brasen harnesse The Israelites lothed Manna and wished the onions and garlicke the grosse diet of Egypt The Gergesens were more grieued for the losse of their swine then glad of the presence of Christ nay they desire him to depart out of their coasts And all the sonnes of the earth these Terrigenae fratres may with the Athenians giue for their badge the grashopper which is bred liueth dieth in the same groūd so their whole desire both in life and death is in earth and as the grashopper hath wings but flyeth not sometimes she hoppeth vpward a litle but presently falleth to the earth againe so they haue some light and short motions to goodnesse but they returne to their old affections of the world their portion is only in this life for they loue vanitie more then truth drosse then gold earth then heauen the world then him that made and redeemed the world riches that rusteth before treasure that lasteth trash and pelfe not true wealth which maketh happie anie earthly vncertaintie before this Sauiour the Lord Iesus Christ the onely author of all felicitie Those foules that feede grossely neuer flie high and they which feed their hearts with things below can not haue their affections in heauen The Sunne draweth out of the sea the clearest water leauing the grosse and dregs behind which some thinke is the cause of the saltnesse of the sea so the sonne of God draweth vp the harts of them that are pure but leaueth below the earthly minded If Christ be deare vnto vs if the day starre be risen in our hearts if we find in our soules that Christ is a Lord a Iesus a Sauiour if the power of these offices take place in our consciences it cannot be but our harts shal be with him Gods spirit worketh this confession in vs that with feeling we may say the Lord is Iesus as Paule writeth 1. Cor. 12.3 To speake the wordes without sence thereof is to no vse The parrot vttereth wordes but knoweth no meaning but the godly do find with ioy that Christ is the way by truth to life the ladder by which they ascend to heauen the good shepheard by whom they are safe the henne vnder whose wings they rest quietly In him is their health wealth ioy rest felicitie he is their treasure and therefore their hearts are with him whereby it commeth to passe that they long for and desire his comming The first comming of Christ was long wished and most desired The holy fathers who with the eye of faith a farre off saw that day reioyced as Christ speaketh of Abraham and when he was come there was great gladnesse thereof The Angell telleth the shepheards that he brought tidings of great ioy to all people The same night that he was borne there was great light in token of comfort but at his death there was darknesse vpon the day in signe of sorow The Sunne put on his mourning garment and was ashamed to looke vpon that cruelty which the sonnes of men were not afrayd to commit If that first comming of Christ was so ioyful which was but meane and simple alone and solitarie when he came to stand at the barre to be iudged when he gaue vs but the earnest of our saluation thrise more comfortable shall his second comming be which shal be in glorie attended vpon with ten thousand of Saints and Angels when he shall sit him downe to iudge the wicked giue full possession of his kingdome to the elect Then shall the sheepe be gathered into the fold neuer to be in daunger of wandering or of the wolfe then shall the corne be inned into the barne neuer to be shaken with the winde or weather againe then shall there be a Saboth after which no work-day shal follow then shall be an euerlasting Iubilie when all bondage shall cease and the chosen shall enter to their inheritance which neuer shall be taken from them The hope of this