DOOMES-DAY OR A TREATISE OF THE RESURRECTION of the BODY Delivered in 22. Sermons on 1. Cor. 15. Whereunto are added 7. other Sermons on 1. Cor. 16. BY The late Learned and Iudicious Divine MARTIN DAY Doctor in Divinity Chaplaine in Ordinarie to his Majestie and sometimes Rector of S. Faiths LONDON Matth. 22.31 Have you not read what God hath spoken to you touching the Resurrection of the Dead LONDON Printed by T. H. and M. F. for Nathanael Butter and are to be sold at the signe of the Pide Bull neere Saint Austins gate 1636. To the Right Reverend Father in God and his most Ho. Lord JOSEPH By the Divine Providence Lord Bishop of EXCESTER MY LORD REligious spirits are usually Indulgent Patrons to Orphanes They imitate in this Act him who sayd I will bee a Father to the Fatherlesse I doubt not but that I shall finde your Honour of this generous disposition to these printed Posthumes of Doctor Dayes licensed by Authority and now seeking to your Lordship for protection I have adventured to present these papers comming to my hands to your Honour hoping the childe wil be wel liked for his Fathers sake who was wel known unto and entirely beloved of your Hon. in his primitive time in Cambridge as also while hee was our Pastor heere continued it towards him in his charge in your Lo. Diocesse even untill his dissolution however I have done this to shew my readines upon any occasion of service to your Lordship Thus craving your favour to shelter and fence this worke from open depravers and to continue your love to the Authors memory I humbly take leave being Your Lordships Servant NATH BUTTER To the Readers YOu cannot expect that these Sermons should have such exact politenesse and neat dressing as if the Authour had lived to revise them Yet you may discover Dr Dayes spirit expression method and matter to speake in all of them praesentemque refert concio quaeque patrem I would wish you then to read them without any prejudicate opinion as thâ—y are exercises whose Authour was famous in his time and which cannot chuse but yeeld you matter of counsell and comfort You have but few Authours in English upon this Epistle and fewer upon these subjects Lose by reading of them you cannot gaine you may I doubt not but they will proove beneficiall to the whole Church for whose sake I have published them Thus wishing you to gather hony out of these where it may be had I rest Yours N. B. 1 COR. 15.29 What shall they doe that are baptised over the dead if the dead rise not at all Why therefore are they baptised over the dead THis gratious Apostle the blessed organ and instrument of the holy Ghost doth so wondrously dispute his cause and contrive his arguments for the maintaining of this holy article of our faith the resurrection of the body that as Saint Chrysostome saith Chrysost in locum he leaves nothing unfetched either from God or men for in five or sixe verses before the text he disputes from the omnipotencie of God in raising Christ his Sonne He hath discoursed also of Christs kingdome and of the delivery of the kingdome of his mediation and of the end of all things the perfect consummation of all that God may governe and be all in all Now he descends to a lower kinde of sphere to arguments taken from the actions of men and presidents here below upon the earth And he saith that there were certaine men in the world that were baptised for dead that is they are baptised in a certaine hope of the resurrection of the dead whose labour is lost and their faith frustrate and to no purpose if they have not the end of that whereof they now make profession here So some expound it But that is to bring us backe into the same labyrinth we were in before Verse 14. for he saith before that our hope is vaine and our Preaching vaine if there be no resurrection Therefore waving that opinion I take it that the Apostle speakes of some other more peculiar and particular cause that is concerning the state of the Church of God in persecution wherin men despairing of helpe in this world despairing of any life or contentment they did come and offer themselves in a voluntary martyrdome and tooke the baptisme of death that is they were baptised to this purpose being willing to offer themselves as dead men to persecution for the Gospell sake which they would not have done unlesse they had beene certainly assured of the resurrection of the body Other sences there be but I must proceed in order from one to another and labour to finde out the likeliest for in truth there are innumerable many and the place is very difficult Onely two things we are most sure of in this argument and discourse here set downe to our hand First that whatsoever this baptising over the dead was and therein is all the difficultie yet it was a thing that was publike notorious and knowne to the Corinthians it was a matter that was not obscure to them although it be to us For the Apostle speakes not to them in clouds but by way of familiar and evident example thereby to winne their judgements to this conclusion concerning the bodies resurrection Secondly another thing is that whatsoever this baptisme was yet certainly it was a thing of much force it was a great argument to prove that which the Apostle intended For it is not his manner to deale weakely in proving and disputing but he useth all the strength of the holy Ghost as Chrysostome saith Chrysost that is as much strength and demonstration and evidence of the spirit as a man can be capable of And so upon this ground we must gather that that opinion is most likely and to be imbraced that maketh most for the resurrection of the body And if there be any sence of more force then other or any sence more pertinent than other to prove that maine conclusion certainely that is the sence which the Apostle intends For all those that be of lesser weight and smaller moment they are besides the Apostles purpose Questionlesse if there be any vigour or power in any more than another we must imagine that that is it the Apostle aymed at and that he would have us to ayme at All the doubt comes out of the ambiguitie of this one word Baptisme While some take this baptisme for the sacramentall washing others againe take it for a ceremoniall washing either such as were in the Law among the legall ceremonies or such as were knowne in the common course of life the washing of the bodies and corpes of the dead when they were layd forth for the Coffin Concerning these words for the dead there is also some doubt some expounding it for sinne some for sinners and some for them that are naturally dead that is when the spirit in the common course of nature is
us that are the children of Abraham although wee must study holinesse Heb. 12.14 without which no man shall see God and we must abhor all the works of darknesse and come into the light yet we are so fraile in this flesh that we cannot doe the one nor the other But miserable wretches we have two lawes the law of our members and the law of God and so we must conclude with the Apostle Rom. 7.25 I serve the law of God in my minde and spirit but the law of sinne with my members and yet hee concludes in this place thankes bee to God that gives us victory in Christ Iesus our Lord. To conculde this point It is the faith that a man holds in God the faith he hath in Christ that makes us Conquerers and gives us the victory It was this that armed the thiefe upon the Crosse when hee had done nothing all his life time but plaied the thiefe and robbed and oppressed and played his tragicall part in the world yet hee shewed himselfe to have one mite of faith in the end of his life and for that he was accepted And Christ saith unto him Luke 23.43 This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise That whereas the Pharisees and Priests and Scribes thought Christ to be justly executed and put to death yet notwithstanding hee put his faith in him and beleeved that hee was a King and that he had a great portion of glory reserved for him and that hee was able to communicate it to his followers therefore he desires to partake of that glory Luke 23.42 Lord remember me when thou commest into thy kingdome Now I come to the last point of the precedent verse Thanks be to God since wee have the victory in Christ Iesus our Lord that is since wee have both received the fulnesse of the conquest imparted to us and also the first fruits of the Spirit by which we are able to overcome though not fully to overcome yet to overcome by the power of his victory and to be accounted conquerers though we bee but cowards Thanks be to God for this great gift and mercy of imputation The holy Apostle saith Theodoret Theodoret. hath concluded all his discourse with a necessary line with thanksgiving and praise to God For indeed as wee are bound to thanke God for every thing that wee receive so much more for the chiefe and principall things that wee take from his hands There is no thing so gracious as this to be victors to bee borne to be Conquerers and to be conquerers over such enemies too as have conquered all the world this many thousand yeares together that in sight that there was nothing that domineered nor nothing got the victory but death and sinne and hell and to conquer these miscreants that had over-run all the world this is the hand of God which is to be rejoyced in and if there bee any blessing for us to blesse our soules in it is this that we are conquerers in Christ saith St. Austin Aug. For saith hee If I must thanke God for every petty benefit what greater reason can I have then to give thanks for chiefe and maine benefits The grace of God in Iesus Christ our Lord is that which gives us this victory Thanke God saith St. Bernard thanke not thy selfe St. Bern. thank not Saints thanke not Angels thanke not preparatory works thanke not foreseene merits thanke nothing else but let the praise rest wholly and totally in God It is he that did all therefore to him be given all praise and glory for ever and ever FINIS SERMONS On 1 COR. 15. Of the Resurrection 1 COR. 15. ult Therefore beloved brethren be stedfast and unmoveable abounding in the worke of the Lord alway because you know your labour is not in vaine in the Lord. WEE are come now to the conclusion of this Chapter which followes most naturally as Chrysostome saith Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast c. It is a true conclusion when a man hath fully proved the premises hee that concludes a thing before he hath argued well and proved the matter he discourseth of hee is either a foole or a falsarie for it must needs argue it is a lie when a man will ground upon uncertaine grounds It argueth also weaknesse in him when hee thinks hee hath perswaded without sufficient ground for there is no wise man will be perswaded without due confirmation and demonstration of those things that are argued Therefore now the Apostle comes in as an excellent Oratour to conclude not upon poore grounds nor upon weak evidences but upon strong perswasion and demonstration saith Tertullian Tertul. Hee useth all the strength of the holy Ghost to perswade to this powerfull article of the Resurrection his meaning is with all the power of the holy Ghost that he was capable of for else the power of the holy Ghost is as infinite as God himselfe is infinite But now when the Apostle had driven this doctrine home when he had so beat it into them as that there was no scruple left to any gainsayer or contradictor when he had shewed the cause of the Resurrection when he had shewed the maner of it when he had shewed the absurdities that would follow the contrary doctrine if men did doubt of it when hee had shewed the effects and consequents of it of that glorious incorruption and immortality when hee had proved it by force of holy Scriptures Oh death I will be thy death oh hell I will be thy destruction When he had set downe all these firme and maine presidents it is time for him now to bring in his conclusion He is a foolish builder that will set up the roofe of his house before the walls be built and he is an idle discourser that will offer to bring a thing into his Auditory upon any triviall reason but the Spirit of God teacheth us first to settle the understandings to perswade the minds of men by strong and puissant arguments and then to draw forth conclusions for hee must first move a mans senses and understanding and then draw his will for the will is alway plyable to the conclusion but the understanding is attentive to the demonstration All this while the Apostle had held the understanding giving demonstrative causes and such reasons as no man could contradict him in Now that being done he closeth with the will and that is easily brought if he can perswade the understanding therefore he saith Therefore my beloved brethren that is seeing these things are thus seeing I have told you the will of God in this point that Christ is risen himselfe and that he is risen so palpably that he was seene of more than five hundred brethren at once and that he is the Head of the body and that therefore all the members must be raised up at one time to come with their Head and be joyned unto him Seeing that
upon the weeke day for so indeed God directly said Doe it upon the 14. day of the first moneth c. But the Westerne Churches they thought that although the full Moone fell upon the Munday or the Tuesday yet they would not keep the feast of Pentecost upon that day but they would stay till the Lords day till the Sunday after because at the first institution they fell both together for the same day that was the Pentecost of the Iews the same day was the comming down of the holy Ghost sent froÌ„ the Son of God Now therefore sometimes they met together although sometimes they varied here was then the summe Whensoever the 14. day lighted upon the Lords day then the Iewes the Christians celebrated their Pentecost both at one time there was no difference between the Eastern Western Churches thâ—â— did all accord but when it fell out that the day differed the Churches of God in the West did think it convenient to reserve that honorable feast to an honorable time that is to the Lords day for they thought that God had truly cast all honor upon that day So I conclude this point that Paul when he speaks here of Pentecost he means the Pentecost of the Christians and I am not moved with any argument that they bring to the contrary for indeed they be childish and frivolous as that which neutaries novalists have devised as how there should come to be a falling out betweene the Churches if they certainly knew the day I gave you the reason before that the Iews alway kept it upon that day it fell and the Easterne Churches but the Western Churches reserved it to the glorious day the day of the Lord the Lords day I have troubled you too long in these thorny discourses but those that be of the best understanding they know that in these things also there is great profit and very great necessity the Scripture is not written for us to understand by piece-meale to take here a patch there another as the coÌ„mon fashion of men now is and as many of the ancient Writers in former time have done but if we read the Scriptures we must understand all or else wee must account our selves exceeding falling for the whole booke of God must be known in the parcels of time place and in all the circumstances as wel in the substance of it that this is the true meaning that it was the Christian Pentecost the Fathers make mention Justin Martyr Iustin Martyr in his 105 question he asks the reason Why doe we not kneele saith he at Pentecost as we doe at other times of the yeare and he answers againe Because saith he of the glorious descending of the holy Ghost wherein we shew forth the joy and comfort that the Comforter brought unto us therefore kneeling being an abasing of the body and an argument of mourning and humiliation but we must at that time shew forth joy and comfort therfore we kneele not so that the feast of Pentecost was kept in his time which was 104 yeares after Christ Tertullian Tertul. saith he this noble feast of Pentecost it is more noble then all the feasts of the Gentiles And in the Writings of Ignatius Ignatius and Polycarpus Polycarpus it is mentioned In the time of Victor Victor when it came to be a matter of controversie In the time of Anicetus Anycetus of Pius Pius this feast of Pentecost was observed and commanded to be observed all the Fathers that lived for three or foure hundred yeares after they still made Sermons of it Nazienzen Nazienzen Leo Leo Ierome S. Jerom. Austin S. Aug. Chrysostome Chrysost Ambrose Ambrose there is nothing more obvious wee see still their discourses and Sermons upon the feast of Pentecost which plainly proves that it is no new thing but that it was founded from the first and that Christians have as great reason to keepe a feast in remembrance of the comming downe of the holy Ghost which is the greatest blessing that ever was as the Iews have for the offering up of their corn and when their loaves of bread were brought into the Sanctuarie Now we come to the causes inducements wherfore the Apostle determined to be at Ephesus Part 3. The inducements of Pauls stay at Ephesus if it be Gods wil that he may be there till he may have convenient time to goe to Ierusalem and be there at the feast of Pentecost for saith he A doore is opened to me This similitude of a doore Doore what is very frequent in the Scripture it signifieth a plaine and easie way an easie path or oportunity where a man may suffer no impediment but goe on his way as the Lord Iesus saith Ioh. 10. Ioh. 10. I am the true Shepheard of the Sheepe hee that comes in by the doore comes in the true way hee is a true Shepheard but he that climbes up another way is a thiefe his meaning is if he come in at the doore it is an easie matter no man resists or hinders him but hee hath the way made plaine before his face Quest But how can this be when there were many adversarâ—es he saith there were many adversaries and yet a doore is opened to him Answ For this you must understand as afterward it appeares that the Lord opens a doore to men through the middest of danger and all the adversaries in the world cannot shut that doore which God hath once opened The Lord beares the keyes he shuts and no man opens he opens and no man shuts This doore the Apostle speakes of to the Colossians I beseech you saith hee pray for us that to mee may be given a doore of utterance to speake as I ought to speake Now the opening of this doore hee speakes of it in the passive voyce It is opened to mee a doore is opened to mee that is an occasion is ministred to mee hee doth not attribute it to himselfe to say I have made my selfe a way and by my preaching I have opened a doore that was shut to me before but hee referres it to God whose property alone it is It is opened to my hand by the mighty hand of the Almighty which hath the ruling of mens hearts and which flowes into their affections and guides and turnes them as it pleaseth him There is a doore opened to mee It is therefore God that openeth the door as it is the devils malice still to shut the door that there may be no passage betweene God and man and that Christ may knock at the doore and never be admitted nor heard as he saith Rev. 3. Rev. 3. Behold I stand at the doore and knock if any man open unto me I will come in and dwell with him c. So I say wee should still leave the praise where it is due and attribute the honour and glory of the fact to
written in expresse words yet by the Spirit of God and by the demonstration God gave unto the world of Christ the later part was written as well in the mindes of men by the finger of the Holy Ghost as the former part was written in Gen. 2. But I take it the best sense of it is this and so the later Divines hold that the meaning of the Apostle is to make a comparison that as it is written the first Adam was made a living soule so I averre that the last Adam was made a quickning spirit So that the word It is written is to be understood of the first part onely and not of the later but the other I averre by the Spirit of God and by the power of the Gospell So that there is no man that need doubt of it hereafter but that there is infinite difference between the first and the second Adam To come to the sense of the words because I have been too troublesome in this I will be briefe The first man was made a living soule As if he should say he was made in a mutable changeable manner of perfection and it was in his owne free will to have stood and kept close to God if he would have been constant For then he should never have died But because hee would be trying conclusions and fall from his Maker therefore hee was animal a living soule although God made him for another purpose if he would have kept the place God set him in Secondly he was made such an animal as stood in need of second causes hee stood in need of meat and drink of rest and labour and sleepe and such things as these Thirdly he was made a living soule not a life-making soule living in himselfe but not giving life unto others But the Sonne of God was made a quickning Spirit not onely to have life in himselfe but to give life unto all his followers So that Adam took life but he could not give it Christ took life as being man from the Deity and he gives it as being God not onely the life of nature but the life of grace and glory And so he became in every thing a quickning and glorious Spirit The first Adam was made a living soule That is worldly minding the world looking to the earth he was to dig the earth to delve in the garden he was made for that purpose and for other worldly purposes Toward the center was his aspect but Christ was of another making hee was all for spirit all for heaven and heavenly affaires for the businesse of his Father for the reclaiming of soules for the pardoning of sinnes for the working of miracles for the gracious concurrence of those sweet principall meetings of mercy and truth which meet together in him So that the difference by this time appeares manifestly It is said Adam was made a living soule that is to have life in himselfe but not to diffuse and extend it to any other Christ Iesus was made the author of life and of all that we all hope for and pray for of life eternall of happinesse and glory But here are divers questions to be resolved which I will but propound and name unto you and so passe them ouer Quest 1 First it may be demanded because it is said that Adam was made a living soule and that Christ was made a quickning spirit whether Christ were not a living soule as well as Adam and whether Adam were not a quickning spirit as well as Christ And certainely these things are true if we take them in their kinde they be both true For Christ was not onely made a quickning spirit but he had a body as Adam had and hee was a living soule as well as Adam And Adam was not onely made a dull and dumpish thing given unto worldly matters but he was made a quick although not a quickning spirit Therefore for the first we must understand that it is true that the Lord Christ was made a living soule as well as Adam For there is a grosse errour of Eunomius Eunomius which thought that Christ had no reasonable soule but that his Divinity was his soule that it was in stead of a soule and that hee had no other soul but that This is a monstrous abortion for if Christ had not taken our whole nature hee had not saved our whole nature Now the best and chief part of our nature is the soule and it was the soule chiefly and principally that Christ came to save Therefore it is certaine that he tooke our soule as well as hee tooke our flesh and so was made a living soule as well as Adam And it appears also by this in that he had two wills in him as he had two natures the nature of God and the nature of man united in one person So likewise he had two wills the will of God and the will of man yet he subjected alway the lower will unto the higher Not my will but thy will be fulfilled not as I will but as thou wilt But the will of his manhood appeared in this thas as he was a man he was afraid of death Mat. 26.42 he desired that the cup might passe from him he would not have died at that instant yet as he was alway obedient to God the Father he desires that the upper will might prevaile and saith Not my will but thine be fulfilled Let the will of God prevaile and let the will of man be ruled and over-ruled Therefore as Christ had two wills so he had two natures and by consequent the full nature of God and man Or else if hee had not taken the soule of man as well as the body hee could not have delivered the whole nature of man the principall part whereof is the Soule But here is the difference although Christ were made a living soule as Adam was yet hee was more than so hee was not made for that purpose as an ordinary living soule but he had an accession of the glory and grace and strength of the Deity to make this living soule sublimate to perfection to make it capable of unspeakable mysteries which Adam had but in a poore pittance in a low condition hee had a living soule indeed well qualified and adorned with innocencie and the power of originall justice and a power to have life and grace and immortalitie if hee had kept and continued in the commandement but he had no higher matters hee had nothing in him whereby of necessitie he might abstaine from sinne but that he might sinne and be damned for it But in Christ there was an absolute necessitie of holinesse and perfection and of all the parts in him which was not in Adam Quest 2 For the second Question whereas it is said Hee was a quickning spirit Apollinarius Apollinarius inferred upon this that he had a phantasticall body and not a true body This is as grosse as the former for if Christ must take
which is now accomplished but in one the Lord Iesus hath it alone in one Now it is in the first fruits then it shall be in the whole Harvest then it shall be made good to the whole Church which is now only performed to the head of the Church that Death is swallowed up into victory This I take to be the sense of the words To proceed in order First we are to consider it as the words lye and not as the logicall rule would carrie us For logically we have A subject A predicate And a Vinculum or Copulate The subject is corruption This corruptible The predicate is a certaine change it must have this corruptible must take and put on incorruption And the copulate is the oportet it must needs be so and this mortall must put on immortality And then after that there is a blessed comfort that the Church of God shall receive In the meane time shee receives it as being certaine that it shall be but then she shall receive it as a full payment at that time That Scripture which said Death is swallowed up into victory It shall then be utterly accomplished Wherein we are to consider First that the Apostle confirmes and strengthens himselfe by Scripture by that which is written Secondly where it is written Thirdly the substance and matter that is written That Death is swallowed up into victory Where againe we are to consider three termes First what that is that is swallowed Death and all evill and mischiefe Secondly the terme to which it is swallowed or consumed to victory Thirdly the efficient cause who swallowes it and what it is that swallowes Death that must needs be understood the death of the Sonne of God the death of Christ swallowes up the death of men into an absolute victory And then the answer to that question How is Death swallowed up in victory seeing it every day swallowes us up and consumes us how then is Death swallowed up himselfe And that is to be answered in these words because the time is not yet come When this corruption shall put on incorruption and this mortall shall put on immortality then shall be fulfilled this saying Every thing is in its own time when all things are done that should bee done when all things are accomplished that the Lord shall send before then that shall come after But we have it now onely in hope we have it onely in the first fruits we have it in some part we have it in the head then we shall have it in all the members We have it in some few that were raised with Christ to be witnesses of his Resurrection and they are pawnes for all the rest When this corruption hath put on incorruption and this mortall c. Of these parts briefly and in order as it shall please God to give assistance And first to follow the order of the words He saith this corruptible and this mortall speaking of the bodies of men For the soule of man is neither corruptible nor mortall as heretofore wee have touched Therefore those that understand these things of the Resurrection of the spirit of the Resurrection of the soule from vice to newnesse of life they are extremely mistaken and they abuse the word of grace which is here propounded unto us For the Apostle speakes of that part which is corrupt and mortall that the glory of God shall be shewed upon it and he saith this very body this Identicall thing this Idem numero not another body in stead of this but this which is now so corrupt The body shall remaine the same although the accidents and qualities shall be rare and glorious which shall accrew unto it yet it shall be one and the selfe same body As S. Chrysostome saith Chrysost the selfe same it shall be in the selfe same inches and quantity although the qualities shall be altred and it shall have gracious indowments yet they shall be the same substance they shall be the same bodies And againe it is to be observed that hee useth two words together hee repeates it This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortality And this hee doth not without very good reason For it is no vaine repetition of the same thing twice over it is not S. Pauls purpose nor his custome so to doe but hee notes in us two certaine infirmities which the Lord shall stay and stanch at that day by that glorious vesture and garment of incorruption and immortality which he shall put upon us First then our body is corrupt that is changing from one forme to another it cannot continue in the same stay And secondly it is mortall that is subject to utter destruction to be altogether without any forme The first is the mutability which the matter whereof we consist cannot endure You understand that in all things that are made there are two great principles the matter and the forme besides the privation The matter is so infinitly capable and desirous of new formes that it cannot endure long to stay in one state still the matter desires a new forme to come upon it as being weary of that which it hath borne before We see it in all things in nature And though God worke his owne will and his gracious wonders by that yet notwithstanding it shewes the variety and disposition of the matter which is still capable and hath an appetite after a new forme and desires to be changed In the fruits of the earth The seed would not continue so a seed but when it is cast into the ground it comes to sprout and to spring and from thence it comes to be a little tree and so a greater and then it comes to grow backward it comes downe againe and comes to be a dead thing We see it in our selves First there is the matter of our nature then wee doe not so continue but it becomes an embrio then it comes from that forme to be a childe and when it is weary of that it comes higher So God brings things to perfection and then back againe to imperfection I speake onely of the variety in the materiall cause which as the Philosopher speaks is the devourer of formes it is ever desiring a new forme to be set upon it So God teacheth us by this that the very appetite of the matter shall carrie us to the certainty of a new forme which shal be set upon us in that blessed day because that this corruptible matter is ever changeable and changing formes It is certaine that God shall then stop the appetite of the matter and give it a forme which shall never be changed and that it shall never desire to change Here nature never stayes nor is never content with any forme but wee come from our prime matter to childhood from childhood wee passe along to youth and youth sends us to middle age middle age brings us to dotage and dotage sends us to our graves
was most acceptable to them To others he came as welcome as water into the shippe nay they had a great hope that he would never come there but that his occasions would so intangle him that hee should never set foot that way So we see that Saint Pauls veniam is expounded according to the contrary dispositions and qualities of men and accordingly it occasioned matter of joy or sorrow in Corinth Now if Saint Pauls comming to visite were a matter of such emphasis Vse as to make his friends rejoyce and to cause his enemies to repine and murmure what then shall be the veniam of the Lord Iesus the master of Saint Paul and the master of us all which will come and will not tarry Heb. 10.37 which comes unto us every day and visites us every houre if we had but sence to perceive it whose footsteps are at our doores who comes in mercie giving us long peace from the broyles and garboyles of warre he comes unto us in his judgements in these unseasonable seasons threatning us with this abundance of raine and deluges he comes to us in the judgement of scarsitie and want and many kinde of defects whereof every man complaines and whines and is in misery and yet no man can tell the cause or reason why certainly it is a steppe of the comming of the Lord Iesus he comes also in the ratling and tumults of warre therein the Sonne of God seemes to have girt his sword upon his thigh as the Prophet saith Psal 45. And he will make head hee will march and go forward and never leave the field untill his horse goeth up to the bridle in bloud as Saint Iohn prophesieth in the Revelation Thus the Lord comes and draweth neare unto us any man of wit or understanding may easily see him and may heare the noyse of his horse heeles as the Prophet Isaiah saith concerning the King of Babylon But suppose he do not come thus or that men will be deafe that they will not heare this nor perceive it yet there is another veniam his comming to judgement which shall certainly be and wee know not how soone it shall be for these things are fore-runners and presages of that dismall comming and that comming shall be as this veniam of Saint Paul with acceptation to his friends but with terrour to his enemies the comming of Christ to them shall be more terrible then all the Armadoes and Invasions of the world if they were all joyned together they are nothing comparable to the comming of the Sonne of man in the clouds To those that are perfect and just men that waite for his comming he saith Behold I come and my reward is with me Revel 22. Hebr. 11.5 Behold he that shall come will come and will not tarry saith Saint Paul And to this the Church in an earnest eccho replyes Yea come and come quickly Lord Iesus for they waite and expect that great visitation of mankinde when he shall come to root all the weeds out of his garden and shall make an everlasting spring of grace and shall settle his plants so strongly that they shall no more be subject to extirpation On the other side his enemies shall have a fearfull sentence at that veniam the wicked men of this world they would then give all to avoyd that fearfull comming of the Lambe of God and wish that he might never appeare nor come to judgement As for the godly they know that when their glory When Christ which is their glory shall appeare Col 3.4 then they shall appeare with him in glory So the enemies of the Lord they know that when he which is judge both of the quicke and dead shall come that he shall passe a sentence of judgement against them Matth. 25. Go ye cursed into hell-fire prepared for the divell and his angels Let therefore this sound be alway in our eares that whether it be men as Saint Paul that come to visit us let that keepe us in awe if Saint Paul say he will come certainly it will make a man look to himselfe the better for there are many men that can indure no visitation a man that lives and goes on in sinne and impietie these sacrilegious patrons these Lords and Ladies that maintaine the Priests with old shoes as the Prophet speaks that take all his livelyhood from him these cannot endure to heare of a visitation they are afraid lest their sacrilegious acts should be called in question Although they be secure enough and carelesse in these kinde of acts and there is no law that can take hold of them for it yet they do not love to have the memorie of them rubbed afresh they do not love to have themselves proposed and traduced they cannot endure to have other men to blaze it There are many other simonicall contracts that are come into the Church not by the doore but they come another way they take downe the tiles as the men did for the poore man that came to bee healed of Christ they tooke downe the tyles of the house and so let him downe so there are a number of simonicall Priests that come not in by the doore but are entred into the Church another way they climbe in at the windowes like theeves and robbers and these cannot endure to be visited if Saint Paul say hee will come it is likely they will flee if Paul come they will go they cannot consist together in one place because they live in sinne and in open profession of their impenitency Therefore it is good whatsoever a man do in this life to thinke still that there will come a visitation upon him and he is an happie man that can endure the visitation although it be but the visitation of a mortall man But when Christ shall come to visite and to visite all the world when he shall come with his fanne in his hand he shall purge his floore and gather the corne into his garner he shall come to plucke the proud feathers of the potentates of this world that could not be quiet and peaceable but were still disturbing each other he shall then come and heare the cries and lamentations of the afflicted he shall come to redresse the cause of the fatherlesse and widdow he shall come to remove all scandalous doctrine from his Church and to plant his owne truth there to flourish for evermore This shall bee the great and wondrous apparition this is that admirable marching and procession this is that comming that shall worke wonders this comming shall bee more terrible to the consciences of wicked men then the comming of all the power and glory in the world if they should come all together Therefore let this sound in our eares as Hierome saith that he did alwayes thinke he heard the trumpet sound in his eares Surgite mortui Arise ye dead and come to judgement Certainly beloved we must looke for a visitation either from men or from God or