's still the Justice Will any say the Bodies being dead and separated from the Soul for ever is its eternal punishment But can there be punishment and nothing suffer As soon as dead the humane Body is not it was the humane Body when it sin'd by death it leaves to be the humane Body And how can that which is not suffer Or will you say with Pomponatius that sin is its own punishment O strange Philosophy And more strange Justice In all Philosophy the offence is still cause to the punishment if sin then be the punishment to itself 't is its own cause and 't is its own effect But others in Philosophy will tell us That Nihil est causa sui ipsius (h) Quisquam ne mortaâ—ium idem vocat facinus poenam Quintil. And in all Justice punishments design'd to mend the Sufferer or to disencourage others from the like offence But what sin ere which had no other punishment deter'd another from attempting it And as for the Offender I presume none will conclude that sin can much amend him Many would wish their strength might ne're decline that they might ne're be impotent for sin If sin be then its proper punishment 'T is a most strange one which the Offender ever would request to undergo and prize beyond rewards (i) Nullapoena est nisi invito alibi Supplicium quisquam vocat ad quod prosilitur quod exposcitur Quintil. If sin were the sole judgment on the Malefactor O what a means had the Almighty found to bring his Justice in contempt And then where were his Wisdom too And then where the God Therefore whoe're thou art that art possess'd with Dreams like these Awake thou that sleepest lest ere thou dream'st of it it may be said Awake and come to judgment But 2. How shall Men arise And with what Bodies shall they come I answer with St Paul 1 Cor. 15. they shall rise 1 Incorruptibly it is rais'd in incorruption ver 42. 2 Gloriously it is rais'd in glory ver 43. 3 In agility it is rais'd in power ver 43. tanta facilitas quanta faelicitas sayes St Austin 4 Very near to the nature of Angels much more resin'd than formerly not only from carnal lusts but also from the grossness of our substances The natural Elements shall be resin'd so shall our Bodies it shall be rais'd a spiritual Body ver 44. Not but that we shall have flesh and bones and integral parts answerable to the pattern of our Saviour after his Resurrection Luke 24.39 Handle me and see for a spirit has not flesh and bones as ye see me have But yet improv'd they shall be much Aquinas (k) in Eph. 4 ver 13. Corpus Christi fuit perdâ—ction ad plenam aetem virilem scilicet 33 annorum in quâ mertuus est hususâ—todi autem aetatis plenitudini corformâ—…itur aetas sanctorum resurgâ—…tium So a so the Author of these Sermons or Homilies father'd on St Ambrose vol. 3. pag. 44. Ibi enim nec infaâ—s nec senex nec parvus erit qui non impleat dies suos utpote silius resurrectionis in mensuram venict plenitudinis Christi ut nec desint aliâ—ui annorum spacia nec supersint yet goes further and assures us That we shall rise in the complete age of our Saviour viz. 33 years old For whereas we read Till we all come in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect Man to the measure of the STATVRE of the fulness of Christ he as also our old Translations reads the measure of the AGE of the fulness of Christ. But this we safely may leave undetermin'd being assur'd that Man shall awake destitute of nothing essential to his perfection but not so secure of what God may esteem so essential But this is the Resurrection of those who have part in the first Resurrection Others shall want the glory but yet shall be endu'd with bodies free from corruption to protract their torture to eternity with bodies agile to entitle them to the greater restlessness for the more active the Sufferer the more tormenting the Chains and Anguish Nor shall he want the prejudice of a refin'd body that all his senses may be more acute for entertaining each its proper torment to the most high improvement So now we see Men shall be raised up and we see how Unhappy then are they that put far from them here the evil day to be shut up in worst of nights hereafter Woe to him that eats and drinks because to morrow he shall dye since after that to morrow he must rise and be waken'd out of his sleep But happy he thrice happy who being to forego his life hid it with Christ in God at the last day they shall know where to find it In the mean time foolish are those that lament him since they again shall see him if yet they are not still more foolish by their neglecting to lie down like him How is our industry concern'd to care that our uprise be to felicity by death to sin and rising again to newness of life to furnish our selves for a Resurrection free from a second death And will you know how 't is to be atchiev'd By doing so as did the Subject of this dayes Solemnity If you expect her Character consult each man his loss in her departure None need commend an absent Friend to those who by that absence find much detriment Go ask the Poor Go ask the Sick whose Consolation and Relief are now in a great measure gone to Heaven with her How have the glories of the ancient Heroes liv'd in Records of blackest Ink So 't is with her for in our sable fortunes in our dark wants her worth is largely written We need no tedious toil to prove her happy as to her Soul and ready for the Resurrection as to her Body our greatest Task will be not to learn how she is but to be like her fit for our going and our Saeviours coming But you 'll ask how Let the Apostle tell you St Peter designing to display Christs dreadful coming in his third Chapter of his second Epistle endeavors to prepare men for it in his first Chapter advising diligence in procuring 1. Faith which believes God true in all his promises which teaches Man to lay aside his Reason that so he may be more than Man and apprehend things much beyond the reach of natural capacity Faith is the evidence of things not seen Faith which layes all our sins down at Christs Cross Faith which applies Christs merits to our selves In short Faith which depends on the Fathers mercy through the Sons sufferings and intercession by the Spirits support and consolation to evade deserved destruction and attain most undeserved bliss therefore to wake to happiness take Faith and add to your Faith 2. Virtue Not Virtue in the general because Temperance follows as a particular but Virtue
anothers sufferings What Man in pain deems not his own distemper most insupportable How many does misfortune urge to wish that to themselves which Hezekiah deplores in others That when they being Children came to the Birth there had not been strength to bring forth (z) 2 Kings 19.3 even with Job unwishing their Nativities When we contemplate humane misery and add to that the infirmity of our constitutions Birth seems to render us as capable of wishing Death as secure of meeting it Nor seems Death only the design of Birth but its near Kinsman too for Death is Sleeps Brother sayes the Philosopher and Life 's a Dream sayes the Preacher (a) Eccles 6. A Dream like Pharaohs wherein Men like Beasts devour each other and the worse the better for bad Men prosper by defrauding good Men yet stile they this detestable success by the beloved name of good fortune yet ev'n in this good fortune besides the guilt what great unhappiness lies hid what tortures and what agonies of thought what nips of conscience and what keen reflections The splendid condition of evil Men holy David (b) Psal 37. resembles to a flourishing green Tree and in another Psalm he stiles Man Grass Now rich Men grow like Grass under that Tree much higher and much greener than the rest and sowrer too by much considering their sins and cares and oft too shorter-liv'd by much their too large growth inviting as it were Deaths fatal Sythe Nor does Job mend the character of Life when he compares it to a Poast soon ends the Stage after a restless journey full of haste and dirt But what a pleasant place the Journey ends in Why dread ye Death the Begetter of Ease sayes Menander (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men. What is Death the laying down a heavy Burden sayes St Austin (d) Quid est Mors Depositio Sarcinâ—… gravis Aug. Blessed are the Dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth they rest from their labours sayes the Spirit (e) Rev. 14.13 This great advantage of Death prompted Isidorus Pelusiota to conceive that our Saviour wept not for the decease of Lazarus but because for the belief of the Jews he was to reduce him to that Life that vexatious Life from which Death had absolv'd him The Grave at once shuts up Mans Corps and Cares Hid in the dark there no misfortune finds him The Drum shall beat and yet his pulse not strike a stroke the faster The earth shall blush in her own childrens blood for her own childrens spilling it and yet his visage suffer the complexion neither of shame nor fear Sickness shall come and mingle Fevers with warm Sun-shine till each Neighbor dyes at once his Neighbors wonder and example till weary Graves implore the aid of more capacious Pits yet the Dead shall ne're molest himself with seeking Sanctuary in some distant dwelling where he may live a Coward to each strangers face or dye the business of Deaths further travel Poverty shall come and Want as an armed Man and Friends astonish'd at the sight withdraw like fearful Women yet still shall he lie void of want and care amidst the quiet company of his old Relations in the embraces of corruption to which he may say Thou art my Mother and of the Worms to whom Thou art my Sister and Brother (f) Job 17.4 And this perhaps might be some reason why the Muscovites if we believe (g) Observantur Dies obitus quem anniversariis cele brant epulis Sabel Enn. 10. lib. 3. Sabellicus do annually solemnize the Funerals of Friends with no less pomp than some of us our Nuptials And now so kind is Death so cruel Life that he who covets this deserves not that especially if we consider with Olympiodorus that 3. By Birth we enter into a capacity of actual sin which in the good Death puts an end to And could it but oblige the wicked so the Learn'd suppose that even to the Damn'd Death would be better than Life For penal Evil viz. Suffering is a less Evil than the moral viz. Sinning by how much less it opposes the Supreme Good Sin in the act has no colours but what desie God but Suff'ring wears the Livery of his Justice So that were but the Damn'd exempt from Sinning their posture were much better than this Life which still involves us in it in spight of all their Suffering But even as the Damn'd now are or ever shall be their Birth has nought to boast of over Death for to whom e're it is not good to dye it had been better he had ne're been born But however with the good the case is indisputable His Death outdoes his Birth by undoing Sin Sin Lifes Concubine for it ne're lies from it and Deaths Mother for the Apostle sayes it brings it forth This Mother dyes in bringing forth the Daughter The Viper makes her own Nativity her Dams Funeral revenging on her the harm she did the world in the production of so dire an off-spring Just so does Death destroy the cause of dying The good by suffering it desist to merit it for they desist to sin Hitherto we have consider'd the Obligations of Death in those ills it determines and Birth is swallow'd up in Victory now we must view II. That great Good which it introduces Like night it blots out one day to begin another For Dying makes a Man immortal and that great Argument which proves him but a Man promotes him to society of Angels But then still Death must be what Balaam wish'd O that I might dye the Death of the Righteous Man by his Birth assumes a Life by which he lives in daily likelihood of no longer living but he dyes into an incapacity of Dying We know that we have a House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens WE KNOW sayes the Apostle (h) 2 Cor. 5.1 But why then is it said WHO KNOWS c Eccles 3.21 Quaer Our Translation is somewhat more favourable than either the Greek or Latin or indeed our ancient English Translations for that which we read Who knows the Spirit of Man that ascendeth upwards They render Who knows the Spirit of Man if it ascendeth upwards (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Septuag Si Spiritus c. vul lat Does then the learned Apostle contradict the wise King Or was his knowledge improv'd beyond the reach of Solomons One demands and demanding denies Who knows The other seems to reply We know To reconcile these places the Scotists distinguish betwixt Knowledge by Divine Revelation viz. Faith and Knowledge by Natural Deduction viz. Reason And then they reply that Ecclesiastes only demands this Who knows BY REASON whether the Soul be immortal And the Apostle tells us That although we may not attain the assurance of our Souls Everlastingness by Reason yet We know it by FAITH But this Reply falls short of satisfaction nor can these Texts refer to the Souls Immortality
mundâ—…â Elementorum corruptibilium qualitates quae corporibus nostris corruptibiâ—ibus congruchant ardendâ— penitus interibunt Atque ipsâ— substantia eas qualitates habebit quae corporibus immortalibus mirabili mutatione conventant Ut scilicent mundus in melius inrouaâ—us aptâ— accommodetur hominibus etiam in carne meliùs innovatis Aug. de Civ Dei lib. 20. cap. 16. From these things then we may raise these Conclusions 1. That the Heavens shall no more measure time For 2. Time shall be no more Rev. 10.6 And hence indeed in proper speech the Heavens shall be no more Shall is the Future Tense but in Eternity there 's no Futurity Now when there is no time but all Eternity who can without great impropriety say the Heavens shall be when Shall imports a time to come 3. If no time then no motion for time is the measure of motion (f) Tempus est mensura motus omnis motus est in tempore and therefore 4. No more action for without motion there is no action in Naturals 5. Therefore no more influence on Sublunaries for without action no influence therefore 6. No more generation nor corruption for these are not without influence Thus then the Heavens shall be no more And now IV. Man shall awake and be raised out of his sleep Methinks I see his Body now begin to be again Methinks I see the Sea like Jonah's Whale surrendring what it had long time conceal'd Methinks I see Men bolting from the Earth like Rabbets from their Warrens Some from the Waves some from the Graves I see just waken'd by the Trump and shaking off many their dew and many more their dust For they must awake they must be raised out of their sleep But it may be of use to mind the expression 't is they shall be rais'd not by their vertue but some others power But what is his Name if thou canst tell 'T is my Redeemer I know that my Redeemer lives and he shall raise me up at the last day (g) Job 19.25 My Redeemer There 's God's power Shall raise me up There 's Job's assurance At the last day There 's the time prescrib'd My Redeemer lives 1. To confute the Jews who disown his Resurrection 2. To prove that he also shall raise us up Christ the first-fruits afterwards they that are Christs 1 Cor. 15. For He shall raise me up To refute those who repute our expectation of reduction from the Grave as a Dream At the last day To confute Hymeneus Philetus and Hermogenes who concluded the Resurrection already accomplish'd because 't is recorded that the Bodies of the Saints arose Matth. 27. So holy Job even in the Text supposes and implies what there he expresses viz. That when the Heavens shall be no more Man shall be raised 1. Then he shall awake arise 2. How shall he be raised But 1. Mans Body shall arise These very Numerical Bodies these that we sin'd in or repented in Methinks I hear the Trumpet sound a Call wherefore Awake Awake Whoe're Where're Howe're you are Whoe're have been devour'd by Wolves those Wolves being strait devoured by Lyons those Lyons dying and strait devour'd by Kites Whoe're to Fishes have been made a Prey which even themselves have soon become a Prey to other Fishes Whoe're you are that in your Bodies have perform'd the Stages which fond Pythagoras prescrib'd to Souls in journeys through each various kind of Beasts Whoe're you are have been reduc'd to dust and dissipated through the spacious world till every dust has been remov'd a Mile from dust of kin to it Awake Awake indeed you must awake 'T is a resistless power that raises you 'T is God shall raise the dead Acts 26.8 But some may ask Query What if a Man devour those of his own species What if Claudius devour Sempronius and after time for due digesting him Claudius himself become anothers Meal How shall Sempronius and others in the like capacity be raised up in his own Numerical Body unless whatsoever was eaten by Claudius and may be conceiv'd to have become a part of his Body be restored Which if it be How then shall Claudius rise with his Numerical Body This is the Query which Objectors think Solut. is of itself enough to make a Sadduce But 't is indeed a trivial doubt and of no force to any but the willing For 't is not he shall arise as I observ'd before but he shall be raised which includes an unrestrained power to be the Agent and 't is the same Almighty Power which does support the living That God shall raise Man who now seeds Man He needs no aid of meat to keep a Creature living How obvious may we then conceive it though Claudius do devour Sempronius for God to strengthen Claudius and support him without permitting any of Sempronius to be concocted into his constitution especially since he compos'd not Man to be Mans food But now what think you if even to Reason for at that Weapon they must be encounter'd who contradict this Doctrine I say what if to Reason 't is a thing impossible but of the self-same Body there must be infallibly a Resurrection Not to trace all the Causes back up to the first to prove a God accomplish'd in whate're good reason ere thought good I shall suppose the Existence of a Deity already granted I know none deny it There being then a God he must be just but just he cannot be without a Resurrection For to mans eye the worst oft live and dye with least misfortune Now if no vengeance seize them after death where 's then the Justice and where 's then the God Will any say that after dissolution the Soul may suffer and still God be just although the Body sleeps But if the Body shar'd in sinning and be exempted from the suffering a Malefactor escapes then where 's the Justice and next where 's the God Or will you say as some are very forward that Death it self is the Bodies punishment But I say 1. the Soul and Body sin'd together for each others greater satisfaction in justice therefore we may think that they should suffer together for each others greater affliction But they by death so far does it resist their suffering together are far remov'd asunder if death then be the Bodies sole infliction still where 's the Justice 2. Can the Body be punish'd with what it never feels But oft great Sinners sink into the Grave under a stupefaction of the senses and dye extempore And if the flesh do only suffer death which brings no corporal pain for mighty corporal transgressions still where 's the Justice 3. The Body sinning against an infinite Person committed infinite sin for as we see in Treason the Object gives proportion to the Crime Infinite sin must have no finite suffering But Death is a finite suffering for that 's accomplish'd when the Soul is gone If therefore Death be all the vengeance to the Body where