yet we suffer still we are in danger every houre and therein we shew our perseverance But I will conclude in a word with the use and force of this argument For it hath beene still the reason that heretiques have taken to themselves Vse to abuse the force of the Apostles disputation The divell hath fitted the world with such seduced men to suffer and to suffer for a lye Now then the argument can have no just nor no necessary consequeÌ„ce that because men suffer every hour therefore there shall be a resurrection For then heretiques may object and say because they suffer for this erroneous conceit that therefore it is no conceit but there is such a thing Certainly as Tertullian saith Not onely the true orthodoxe faith of Christians is increased by the Martyrs bloud but also heretiques are increased by their Martyrs There was never any heresie so bad but it had some to testifie it with their bloud the divell hath his Martyrs as well as Christ But we must understand the difference must be taken partly from the cause And partly from the persons that give the testimony For it is the cause that makes the Martyr and the foundation of the cause is to be fetched from the word of God The word of God teacheth a man for what cause he should suffer and for what he should not suffer And the cause of the Apostles sufferings were grounded on the word of God the Lord Iesus told them that they should suffer many things for his name Iohn 15.21 And as it was the lot of the Prophets in former time to suffer so it was their portion to take their course and to suffer for the truth and they were defended by the apparant word of God fetched from all antiquity The cause was good for which they suffered and the cause makes the Martyr and the witnessing to the cause The witnessing to a lye can no way make a falshood true all the lyers in the world cannot doe it but witnesse must be given to the truth as the Apostles witnessed to the verity of Christ Because Christ the prime Martyr hath set to his hand that these things are true Ioh. 3. He is the true witnesse that hath sealed it with his bloud Ioh. 3.32.33 and hath confirmed it by his miracles and by the approbation of all the world This is one difference It is true men may labour to bolster out bad causes by their obstinate spirits but what is that to this Our cause is judged we have the words of Scripture for it And although heresies in all times have been bred out of the Scriptures yet they are meere wrestings and sophistries dreames cavillations and coacted things of their owne devising But this was a cause that was throughly proved by the word revealed And as I said the word of God tels us for what cause a man should suffer and for what not when he should live secure and when in ieopardy That is one reason Secondly from the persons Popish Traytors Although it be true that Antichrist will come and dye as Martyrs doe yet we must observe they either doe it to maintain factions that have been formerly begun or to get a name to themselves or else they seeke to flye from the danger if they can make an escape Acts 5.41 But the Apostles were in danger willingly they yeelded themselves to it with gladnesse of heart and reioyced in afflictions and tribulations But for the other they breake prisons they lye and equivocate to save their lives doe any thing to rid themselves from the danger The Apostles and Martyrs as simple sacrifices gave themselves to God in meere devotion to be disposed at his pleasure to rest upon his will to be as sheep for the slaughter when he called for them They sought not to flye from their enemies or by equivocation and lies to get away but rejoyced in their persecutions and sang even in prison And although S. Paul made an escape Acts 16.25 2 Cor. 11.33 and were let downe in a basket from a window yet that was but to reserve himselfe for further times for at last he meant to give up himselfe as a sacrifice to Christ Therefore the argument is strong that we must confirme our selves from the passion of the Saints before and take no limit of the voluptuous delights of the world These are not the way to heaven The course that we hold now a dayes in our conversing one with another in merriments in eating and drinking and idle complements they are no wayes to give us comfort at the houre of death at the day of judgement but our comfort must be taken from the sufferings of the Church from the passion of the blessed Saints before from the noble army of Martyrs from that cloud of witnesses from those that have sealed the truth of Christ with their bloud that have indured jeopardy that have imbraced danger all the hours of their life These are they whose steps we must follow and insist in those worthy presidents before us And as farre as we conform our selves to these so much comfort we shall have when we suffer with them that suffer to be conformed to the passion of Christ that we may also be conformed to his glory Luke 22.28.30 For if we suffer with him we shall also raigne with him as our Lord Iesus saith which the Lord grant unto us for his sake Amen FINIS 1 COR. 15.31 I dye daily by the rejoycing that I have in Christ Iesus our Lord. THe frequent reading studying and conversing in the Scriptures is like the dressing of an armour or the cleansing of a fountaine for an armour the more it is furbushed the brighter it lookes and the Spring or Fountaine the more it is scoured the clearer the water runnes so the holy field of the Scriptures the more it is tilled with diligence and frequencie the more faire and goodly fruit it brings forth The precious pearle of the truth oft times is so hid in the ambiguity of words words of equivocation that is words that may be taken in divers sences that unlesse a man looke very narrowly to them and observe well the passages of them he is in danger to be drawne into some errour This most difficult portion of Scripture that we have taken in hand begins now to appeare by our continuance and dwelling upon it The truth the pearle which before lay hid in the casket begins to shâ—w forth his owne lustre As Ierome Ierome saith Truth oft times lyes hid in the ditch of words so the ambiguity of one word here hath puzled the faire and cleare stream of the truth that without much searching of the Scripture we had not found it out But by our frequency and diligence I hope we have found in the end the proper sence and full meaning of the Text for one Scripture whets and cleares another Now the Apostle brings the passion of the Martyrs to
as God hath made him which knew not sinne to be sinne for us that is he hath made him a sacrifice for sinne and hee was accounted a sinner as he was made sinne for us so this is the effect of this account and imputation of our sins upon him it shall be the imputation of his righteousnesse upon us as the holy Apostle saith 2 Cor. 6. He was made sin for us which knew no sin that we might be made the righteousnesse of God Now after this he hath shewed us the enemies he begins to shew us the use of all this he drawes to a conclusion and he saith God hath given us victory Thanks be to God that hath given us victory through Christ Iesus our Lord. As if hee should say if we had indeed the remnants of sin in us still wee were foolish to make any insultation over death for death would triumph over us for as long as sinne remaines death must needs ensue and as long as the law is put upon us to curbe and contradict us sin will be but now God be thanked that hath given us victory through Iesus Christ our Lord For he hath destroyed the one and hee hath fulfilled the other he hath destroyed the one by his gracious conversation and he hath fulfilled the law he hath appeased the wrath of God that now there remaines no more enemy but the field is cleare and we are masters of the field for ever Therefore God be thanked which hath given us victory through Iesus Christ our Lord. Wherein wee are to consider First the gift that is given It is victory Division of the Text into 5. parts an absolute and compleat victory over these fierce enemies Secondly whence this victory comes from God God hath given us victory It is from the whole Trinity Thirdly the manner how it comes by way of gift not by way of merit blessed be God that hath given us the victory Fourthly the meanes through whom it comes through Christ Thanks be to God that hath given us victory through Christ Iesus our Lord. It is by the arme of Christ Fiftly the end and use of all Thanks be to God For the blessings of God require thankfulnesse therefore the Apostle gives glory to him that glorifieth us he gives conquest to him that is a conquerour for us Thanks be to God that hath given us victory through Iesus Christ The sting of death is sinne the strength of sinne is the Law This former part of the Text describes the Adversaries extinct and vanquished that which hee speaks of a sting is diversly translated by Interpreters some call it morsum the biting comparing it to a serpent that poysoneth and infecteth and killeth by biting so sinne was represented to us in the garden by the serpent that gave the apple unto Eve Some take it for the sting of a waspe the Hebrew word Kota in Hosea 13. Hosea 13.14 signifieth that which is sharp as a stelletto a thing that makes a present impression and by the puncture it pierceth into the inward parts and brings sudden death So by divers Translators it is thus read I will be a plague unto thee oh death and I will be thy destruction oh hell Many and sundry wayes it is translated but it is sufficient for us to take that which the last and best translation affords and so we call it the sting because indeed death was never nor it could not be sharp unto us except it come to be armed with sinne nor there is no calamity in the world no misery that a man suffers but he suffers it willingly if he have a cleare conscience it being the onely rule of peace and quiet to be free from the cause and from deserving that thing that is imputed and cast upon a man But when miseries come not onely tedious of themselves but they come armed with the condignity of sinne that they have a certaine correspondence in commutative justice that he that hath done evill must suffer evill Now it becomes of all calamities the extreamest and most miserable Therefore it is said here The sting of death is sinne as though death it self were nothing unwelcome and harsh to the flesh of man but that it is inflicted for sin and as the wages of sin But here a man may very well make a stand and aske how can this be how should sin be the sting of death seeing it is rather contrary death is the sting of sinne for which is first was not sinne before death saith St. Austin in his 7. Tom. in his 3. S. Aug. Tom. 7. lib. 3. d◠peceat remiss Booke De peccatis remissione peccatorum saith he we sinne not because wee die it is no sinne to die because it is the fulfilling of the judgement of God upon sinne We sinne not in dying but we die for sinning for from that comes our death therefore seeing sinne was the cause of death and that death is a thing of nothing a thing that followes afte◠sinne it seemes therefore that sinne being first and sin being the cause of death it followes that it must use death as a sting unto it and not on the contrary that it should be a sting unto death But for this there is no great matter in the phrase for as St. Austin Aug. and the rest of Divines accord with him the Apostle calls sinne the sting of death not that death made it but that death is made with it and it is made by it so it is called the sting of death that is a deadly sting that brings death with it As a cup of poyson we call it a cup of death not as though death made the cup but because death is with it that he that takes that cup shall die with it So the tree of life and the tree of knowledge the meaning is not as though life were made by the tree or that knowledge were made by the tree but because the fruit of that tree would have brought life and would have brought the knowledge of good and evill This therefore is the meaning of the Apostles words that sinne by the just permission of God and by the deputation that God gave unto sathan to execute judgement upon sinners it comes upon every man armed and it is armed with death the most desperate weapon that can be that destroyes the very nature of man and brings him to his very foundation to a matter of nothing This is that sting that must prick us all at length as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth Therefore let us learne while wee are now in this world to prepare our selves for this sting that we doe not kick against the pricks as our Lord saith Acts 9. Acts 9.5 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks Let us therefore never grumble against the necessity of sicknesse disease and miseries for alas these are nothing in comparison of death we
intercepted by death Austin And Nebridius S. Austins great friend was not baptised till he was old and S. Austin himselfe was not baptised till his mans estate This errour God confuted by the death of Valentinian and other great spirits which although they were perswaded of the truth of religion yet they put off God and would not take his time but have a time of their owne choosing and therefore God gave them no time as Ambrose saith of the Emperour he wanted not the grace of baptisme because he had the faith of baptisme He yeelded his consent unto the truth and although he went away unbaptised yet he was truely baptised as one who in his heart yeelded to the faith and promises of Christ And if we should take it thus this is the sence of S. Paul in these words what shall they doe that are baptised for dead that is when they are ready to die and goe out of the world if there be no resurrection his argument followes that that which they did so late they would not doe it at all that which they did by constraint putting it off to the last time of their life they would not doe it at all except it were for the hope of the resurrection so that if there be no resurrection there is a maine frustration and a meere delusion of these men that suffer themselves so farre to be overgone with deadly sicknesse as that they looke every houre for death and yet then they take upon them the baptisme of life as a certaine pawne and pledge of the common resurrection This sounds somewhat like a truth but yet it is likely that the Apostle would have condemned this as well as the other being as ridiculous because this is injurious to God and to the Sacrament and pernicious to mens owne soules to tempt God whether he will give them a time of their owne choosing to put off the Sacrament that should be imbraced upon all opportunities to refuse it when God offers it which we should take thankfully and chearefully No doubt but the Apostle would have confuted this errour as the former and not have suffered the Corinthians to have beene so tardy in a point of salvation Wherefore I take this opinion not to be according to the Apostles minde for as I sayd that opinion is most probable and most agreeable to S. Pauls meaning that proves the strongest but this proves nothing that because a man that is driven to it in extremity at the time of his death to doe an action that therefore that action should bee of force that may be done in amazement and feare or by the instigation of others a man it may be is not lead to it by his owne will so much as by the perswasion of another and there is no reason that a man should ground upon such a weake stay to inferre such a strong conclusion The third opinion What shall they doe that are baptised for the dead that is for the forgivenesse of sins which are dead workes For so indeed the Lord seems to signifie when he saith God is not the God of the dead but of the living and also the Apostle when he saith ye were dead in sinnes and trespasses It is true our Saviour Christ includes in that speech both them that were dead naturally and them that were dead spiritually For in one place he saith God is not the God of the dead but of the living speaking of naturall death In another place let the dead bury their dead speaking of them that were dead spiritually and so we may apply it that those that are baptised for dead that is for remission of sinnes wherein the body and soule are dead and for the quickening and reviving of them by spirituall grace But this is too farre off for the Apostles meaning is not here to speake of a thing that is common that being common to all beleevers to be baptised for the remission of sinnes but he speakes of some peculiar baptisme that was not common to all in generall but belonged to some in particular Besides the Apostle speakes not here of the spirituall resurrection but of the corporall he speakes not of the rising from sinne to grace although it be true that they that are baptised are baptised for the remission of sinnes yet it is not proper here for the Apostle speaks of the resurrection of the flesh the spirituall is allegoricall which is from the death of sinne to the life of grace by repentance Therefore that proves nothing and is not likely to be S. Pauls minde for he purposed not to spend his time in trifles but to bring the validity of his arguments directly to conclude the cause Another opinion there is that hath many great and substantiall followers They that are baptised for the dead that is that are baptised into the death of Christ Iesus to be planted with him into the similitude of his death And this hath Chrysostome Theodoret Aquinas Calvin and many other great Divines for the Authors and followers of it And that you may see that it hath some similitude of reason in it looke in Rom. 6.4.5 Rom. 6.4.5 Doe you not know saith the Apostle that they that are baptised into Christ are baptised into his death therefore we are buried together with him in baptisme It is true that every man that makes profession of the faith of Christs baptisme among the rest of the articles that he professeth he must beleeve in Christ that was dead and buried that he was crucified and that he descended into hell and that he rose againe the third day c. And he professeth also that he is ready to dye for Christ when he shall be called to it and till that time come that he will dye spiritually in his heart and in his will to worldly affections which he knowes that Christ never had in him or had any liking to them but utterly abhorred them Therefore this being the symbol and badge of our profession it seemes from hence that every man that is baptised may be said to be baptised for dead that is for a dead Christ in whom he trusts which was dead but now is alive and behold he is alive for evermore Apoc. 1.18 He is baptised for dead that is to the world and the flesh that he may live for ever unto God Chrysostome proves this by an argument that hee thinkes fit and convenient for the purpose for saith he whether of the two is easier to raise the body from death or to raise the soule from sinne no doubt saith hee it is an easier matter to raise the dead body from the grave than to raise a soule that is dead in sinnes and trespasses to newnesse of life And behold saith he in the Romans the Apostle proves the one by the other that although we thinke it easier yet he intimates that that which we thinke to be easier is harder and that which seems more hard
and difficult is more easily atchieved and effected by the hand of God And he proves it out of Matth. 9.5 Mat. 9.5 where our Lord discoursing with the Pharisees when they had said who can forgive sinnes he askes them whether it were easier to say to the sicke of the Palsie take up thy bed and walke or to say thy sinnes are forgiven thee where our Lord clearely gives us to understand that it is a harder matter and a more powerfull thing to say thy sinnes are forgiven thee then to give limbs to him to walke and to take up his bed and goe his way For sicknesses are the punishments of sinne and the Lord removing that once he takes away the cause which is greater than the effect But although this be followed with so many so great and so worthy Interpreters yet me thinkes it hath no congruity with the purpose of the Apostle in this place for as I said before the Apostles meaning is not here to instruct us in the renovation of the soule of newnesse of life in holinesse and sanctification but to tell us of the resurrection of the flesh that is his chiefe argument the maine point he insisteth precisely upon Therefore to say to be baptised for dead is to be baptised for the name of a dead Christ it is too farre fetched and I cannot see how it can be brought in Therefore without prejudice to these glorious and goodly writers we proceed to further examination of these words There be some others that cannot indure what hath beene said before but they must devise trickes of their owne They say Saint Paul alludes to the Leviticall Law Numb 19. Numb 19. when a man had touched any dead carkasse he was to be cleansed before the even but suppose say they that the man dyed by casualty before night before he could come to the Priest before he could have gotten the matter of his purification what was then to be done Then say they his neighbour was to be cleansed for him and so they fall upon an opinion before named But what is their purpose certainly to bring in prayer for the dead because they thinke that as there was baptisme for the dead so there should be prayer for the dead And if the one fall to be so the other must needs be so too For I rather thinke that there should be prayer for the dead than that there should be baptising for them to speake in a sacramentall sence They doe it to bring in their superstitions of holy-water and sprinkling the graves and sepulchers and coffins of dead persons thereby to make them more pure before God and that which is more ridiculous that the Priest should undertake in times past and it may be now too in our times when he was sent for to a sicke body to give him the host and that the party were dead before he came he in the presence of the company was to eate it for him that was deceased and thought that that would be availeable to him for the forgivenesse of his sinnes and for the receiving him into heaven These things have no ground nor warrant neither in this Epistle nor in the old Law There is no such thing that there was any such purification by a proxie but it was alway done in a mans owne person and there was no friâ—nd admitted in any such action Therefore in that devise they make one lye to salve another as their custome is in other of their proceedings Further there is yet another opinion that saith that baptising for the dead it is meant of those that came and offered themselves voluntarily to afflictions and persecution And this is more neare the point for indeed in the Scripture it is a most usuall and common saying to call afflictions by the name of baptisme So Math. 20. Math. 20. Mark 9. Mar. 9. when the sonnes of Zebede come to our Lord and desire a boone of him requesting that one of them might sit at his right hand and the other at his left in his kingdome Christ answers them againe that they knew not what they asked And he proceeds further saith he Can ye drinke of that Cup whereof I shall drinke and can ye be baptised with the baptisme that I shall be baptised withall and they answer againe they could Christ tels them again that indeed they should drinke of that cup and be baptised with that baptisme but to sit at his right hand and at his left c. where we may see he speakes of the baptisme of fire and trouble and persecution That which is intended in those words the same also by comparison may be taught here and interpreted in this place They that are baptised for dead that is those that scorned their lives that cared not for them those that were ready to drinke the cup of Christ that were ready to throw themselves into danger for the glory of their Lord and Master To what end are they thus forward if there be no resurrection from the dead There be many things that favour this interpretation as the sequell that followes in the next words Where the Apostle saith why are we in danger or jeopardie every houre if the dead rise not as if he would bring the argument from abroad home to himselfe and then the sence of the place is this To what purpose doe men adventure their lives and cast themselves into apparant danger of death except they have a certaine hope of the resurrection to life and that that God that takes away their life now can give it them againe with advantage in the world to come This is true but whether it be fully proper or no to rest in this baptisme as absolute I thinke it lyes not in any mans power by any strong and full authority to determine It is true our Lord saith Luke 10. Luke 10. I have a baptisme to be baptised with and how am I pained till it be past Where he meanes in the same sence the baptisme of affliction For a man in affliction is as it were a dead man a man in prison as though he were in the bottome of the water in another element when there is persecution and trouble on every side But yet there is another opinion which shall be the last that at this time I will trouble you withall that is of Beza Beza and others that hold with him that all this that is spoken of baptisme here is not meant of any sacramentall washing but as the word is often used for a legall washing and purifying common and ordinary at the carrying forth of the dead as in Heb. 9. Heb. 9. there are many washings and the word is thus used in divers places in the Gospell As where Christ saith the Scribes and Pharisees when they come from the market they baptised their hands and they baptised their Cups and their Platters and Dishes It is the same word there and it signifieth
his owne particular instance and saith as the common ordinary number of Saints were baptised in bloud so the Colledge of the Apostles much more and he himselfe most of all This I conclude to be the sence of the Text and of those difficult words verse 29. of baptising for the dead It is that which the Apostle renders here and in the verse before going in other termes For first in verse 29. he cals it baptising for the dead In verse 30. he cals it Ieopardy every houre and now in this verse he saith I dye daily All the three phrases have but one sence and signification onely distinguishing the persons from whom he drawes the argument For the thing is all one the state of Christs Church here on earth is alway like it selfe in this life alwayes in an afflicted condition So then his argument first in verse 29. which is a great graund argument to prove the Resurrection he takes it from the passions and sufferings of the Martyrs and professors of Christ and it holds in all these three verses and that which followeth In the first of the three he brings the argument generall In the second particular In the third he brings it personall First generall verse 29. his argument is drawn thus If there be no resurrection of the dead why should any man be so mad as to be baptised in bloud for the testimony thereof that is to forsake Father and Mother Land Country and Life and al for the witnesse of the Gospell which chiefly stands in the hope of the resurrection for this is the baptisme that Christ speakes of when he saith Can ye be bapti sed with the baptisme that I shall be baptised with and can ye drinke of the cup that I shall drinke of that is the baptisme of teares of affliction the baptisme of bloud for the testimony of the truth And so he drawes his argument from the common example of the Martyrs in their sufferings implying that they were madde men if they would suffer in confidence of a bad cause to lose the best thing in this world for a lye Therefore their sufferings are a plaine argument a strong and perfect subscription and consent to this maine point of our faith the Resurrection of the dead that for which the Saints in all the world the Prophets before Christ the Apostles after Christ have beene baptised For as Iames the brother of Iohn Acts 12. who was killed with the sword Stephen the first Martyr and all that were slaine in the first generall persecution the Apostle drawes his argument thence that if there were no Resurrection then they had laid downe their lives in vaine but they had not laid them downe in vaine therefore there shall be a Resurrection This is the scope of that argument In the second place he comes to the Colledge of the Apostles in verse 30. and saith Why doe we live in ieopardy every houre that is why doe we live in danger of death in perill all our life long to dye as it were every houre and to be baptised for the dead As a man that is under water as it was the custome in baptising he is as it were lost so long as he is there he is a dead man and although perhaps he may get up againe and lift up his head yet as long as he is in that element it being not the element of our life he is a lost man So they that betake themselves to the profession of the Gospell they are baptised they are under water they are throwne over board they are cast away out of the ship of the world and made away to plaine destruction to ignominy to basenesse to poverty and every kinde of persecution that their enemies hand can make over them they are baptised for dead because they are in danger all the day long in all the passages of their life they are in jeopardy of death and deepely drenched in the conceit and feare of death which is worse than death it selfe Now in the third place in this verse he comes to the personall proofe of the poynt and that which is usuall with all the Martyrs in generall with the Colledge of Apostles in particular he applies in his owne personall instance and saith I dye daily I protest and it is no meane protestation if you will not beleeve my word yet take my oath I set my seale to it and sweare and I sweare by the Lord Iesus by the rejoycing that I have in our Lord Iesus Christ I dye daily This is the summe of the words Now you perceive the argument we will proceed on The greatest thing in such passages is to finde out the sence the matter will be evident enough In other places the matter is deepe and the sence is evident but in this and in passages of like nature it is contrary To proceed in order Here first we are to consider the marvellous strange assertion that the Apostle makes Division into two parts 1 The Assertion 2 The Probation where he saith I dye daily he dyeth and yet he liveth and he dieth daily There was no part of his life but still the shadow of death overwhelmed him which is the miserablest thing in the world to dye after death and still to be dying it is the worst kinde of death and yet the Apostle saith he dyed daily It is an assertion that the Saint of God pronounceth for himself for there is no man that can understand him but he that takes delight in these meditations he that hath part in the kingdome of Christ knowes what this meanes For experience teacheth this and not speculation or any argument that reason can afford Secondly we are to consider the probation of this because it is a strange paradox as Luther Luther saith What dost thou meane Paul to contradict thy selfe and all common sence and reason Doe I not see thee walke Doe I not see thee eate and drink Doe I not heare thee preach and yet art thou dead I see no signe of a dead man in thee Therefore the Apostle makes it good by an oath and saith I protest by the reioycing that I have in Christ Iesus our Lord I dye daily Where first we are to consider the manner of his inference it is by way of oath And then the thing he sweares by by the reioycing that I have in Christ A dead man and yet rejoyce it is a very strange mixture Thirdly we are to consider the ground of his reioycing where it is placed In Iesus Christ our Lord. Fourthly to consider the force of this argument and how we may preserve and keepe the strength of this argument alway unavoydable to be able to say and to sweare and lay to pawne and gage this Rejoycing that we have in Christ when we finde this confidence in our selves 1 Part. The Assertion First touching that marvellous assertion of the Apostle I dye daily If an ordinary
harmelesse humour although when it is too extreame and violent it is full of sinne yet it is construed to a good sense that they desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all that is to say not to be dissolved after the fashion of the common death as S. Paul did but to have a kinde of light mutation and change and so to be translated unto glory You see in 2 Cor. 5.4 2 Cor. 5.4 where the Apostle tells us We would not be spoiled of this body that is we would not die but supervestiri wee would have a garment or vestment of glory and immortality to be put upon this body without death As if hee should say we would have corruption to enter into incorruption and we would be made capable of heaven with these bodies unchanged by death To that the Apostle answers in these words No saith he these things are contrary naturall and spirituall and it is impossible for a naturall body to be capable of spirituall qualities or a spirituall body of naturall qualities we must needs leave off the one before we can take the other we must lay downe the rags of this flesh before we can take the garment or vestment of glory and eternity in that blessed life that followes And although we have a great desire to goe unto life without death yet wee must mortifie that desire for it is as vaine as nurses wishes As nurses that wish the most eminent and excellent things to their children so we delight our selves in this imagination But the Apostle tells us that wee must take things in order for that God hath made all things in order First we are to taste of the naturals and then to be made partakers of the spirituals so we cannot be borne into this world but by nature and we cannot be borne into our spirituall possession at the first but first we must have a kinde of naturall life and by the grace of God that prepares us unto the life spirituall So God hath appointed and ordained every thing to goe by succession that all things should not be done at once but every thing in its time For saith he that which is spirituall is not first but that which is naturall and then that which is spirituall And to this purpose hee brings in the two great fountaines and seminaries of mankinde the one for the life of nature the other for the life of grace a man and a man both of them being men but yet being diversly qualified and both leaving their qualities to those that be their followers For saith the Apostle the causers of all this great difference of naturall and spirituall be the two Adams the one was meerely naturall and was no more but a man The other although he were naturall yet he was spirituall too he was both God and man The one wrought unto death the other wrought unto life the one was bent and inclined to sinne the other was full of all grace the one left an inheritance of misery the other left great demeanes of glory to all those that are his followers Now as these causes bee contrary in themselves there being as much difference betweene them as there is betweene East and West so wee must imagine the effects to be different too For if the one did work to hell and damnation the other wrought to heaven a glorious redemption and salvation for all Gods people and if the wickednesse of the one were derivable upon his posterity in the flesh much more the goodnesse and righteousnesse of the other is derived unto them that are true beleevers and followers of him The first man was of the earth earthly the second man was the Lord from heaven And as they be so be their disciples as is he that is earthly so are they that are earthly and as was the heavenly so are they that are heavenly They are to follow their masters cue and to be of the same condition as their Chieftaine and Soveraigne The carnall man dies in Adam the spirituall lives in Christ even to life everlasting This is the substance of the words read unto you Now to proceed in order of the Text. First Division into 3. parts 1. The order of the PropositioÌ„ 2. The comparison betweene the 2. Adams 3. The conformity of their members we are to consider the verity and truth of the order of this proposition how the Apostle intends that that which is spirituall is not first but that which is naturall For it seemes that the best things should be first and spirituall things being best therefore it seemes they should be first yea it seems to be a disparagement unto things spirituall and heavenly to come in time after things naturall But the Apostle saith no God hath appointed it so and hee gives no further reason as St. Chrysostom observes that they may give themselves content in this that it is Gods will it shall be so that is a reason sufficient they need seek no further Secondly we are to consider the comparison betweene the two heads and roots and fountaines of mankinde the first man and the latter man and they are compared in foure things The first is in respect of their order and succession the first and the last or the first and the second The second is in respect of the place of their nativity whence they come the first from the earth the second from heaven The third is in the quantity of their difference and excellencie the first came as a servant the second came as a Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And though the word servant be not noted in the Text yet it is to be understood by this that he saith The Lord himselfe Therefore the first came not as a Lord but as a servant but the second came as a Lord in all points yea as the Lord himselfe from heaven Then lastly for their qualities the one is earthly the other is heavenly The third part of the Text is the conformity of the members that belong to these heads with their heads For as there are two great foundations of mankinde so likewise they have members answerable to them Those that be of Adam that is naturall men they be as their father is such as the earthly is so they are that are earthly and those that be of Christs retinue they be such as their Master is too For as is the heavenly so are they also that are heavenly which is not meant of the manners and condition of men here in this world for the Apostle meddles not with that in all this Chapter but it is spoken of the bodies that shall be raised at that day thâ—t as all men be earthly by nature the best Saints of God here are in an earthly condition and must be dissolved into earth and as we have that by means of the first Adam from whence wee descend so from the second Adam wee have a hope and shall
2 Cor. 11 When I am weak then am I strong A strange contradiction but his meaning is that the Lord doth so season our weaknesse and infirmity in this life that it is an infallible testimony and forerunner of that great strength and glory that shall be revealed in the life to come The Lord useth to work thus out of weak causes to bring more strong effects And if the causes were strong God would not use them For out of weake and base and contemptible things God brings strong and noble effects As when Gedeon was to fight with the Midianites and he pretended that his Army was but a few Judges 7. How many hast thou saith the Lord so many thousand They are too many the Lord would not have them all there were too many and hee commanded to cut them off to another halfe and yet there were too many the Lord would not work with them they were too strong At last hee comes to make choice of them by lapping in the water and they came to 300. men to fight against as many as the sands on the sea that covered the earth as gras-hoppers as it is said And now the Lord begins to work with these men and how doth he work by weapons No but with a few broken pitchers in their hands and the Lord set the Madianites one upon the neck of his fellow that they were murtherers each of other and became as sheepe for the slaughter the Lord gave them as a prey into their hands This is the wondrous act of the great God which is not tyed to meanes which will not seem to worke with second common causes but with his owne arme It is true these common second causes in the world hee hath honoured them much and commanded them to be used but when he comes to effect great things such as was the destruction of the Madianites such as is the redemption of man by Christ and such as shall be the Redemption of of our bodies at the Resurrection then such meanes and causes as seeme to help him forward hee rejects them and works not by them but by the cleane contrary The greater stench the bodies have sustained in the grave shall worke it unto greater sweetnesse and the greater weaknesse it had the greater strength shall accrew unto it and wondrous puissance shall God worke unto that part which lacked honour according to his blessed dispensation in all things FINIS SERMONS On 1 COR. 15. Of the Resurrection 1 COR. 15.49 50. And as wee have borne the Image of the earthly so we shall beare also the Image of the heavenly And this I say brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God neither corruption can inherit incorruption TO hope for the time to come and to have now present possession is one of the greatest differences in humane affairs to be observed saith Chrysologus Chrysologus The one is the portion of this life sperare to hope in God for the things that are promised the other is in that blessed life to come to have and to hold and to enjoy the promises which the Apostle assures us of in this place that we shall have as sure as we have had the first fruits and the earnest so sure we are to enter into the full possession and to have the performance of the which God hath made a tender of and promised unto us before The words of the Text contain that great consolation which is the onely comfort and sweetnesse of our life The Saints of God are burthened with the image of the earthly man they are in continuall suffering they endure the plague of Adam which is sinne every day and every houre and there is none that comes of Adams blood but he is as it were borne to death to misery and to slavery which are the proper consequents of sinne Now the redemption that comes by Christ it is not yet apparent it is but yet begunne it is by faith it is in hope it is in spe but not in Re and this is the cause of the Saints mourning upon earth Therefore to this the Apostle answers and bids them be content and satisfie themselves for that which they have not now they shall have hereafter therefore they must stay the Lords leysure and all shall bee for the best And although hee stay long yet hee will come full and make an abundant recompence for his delatory absence with the greatnesse of those rewards and precious things that hee brings with him For saith the Apostle As we have borne the image of the earthly as we groane under the burthen of Adam so we are assured that we shall beare the image of the heavenly in the fulnesse of joy in the fulnesse of rest and holinesse in the fulnesse of all strength and perfection and immortality and incorruption And therefore his purpose is to quiet and content the distressed soules here in this world that groane under their misery with the expectation of that glory that shall bee revealed There is some difficulty in the words as what it is that he saith of an image the image of the earthly and the image of the heavenly What it is he speaks of flesh and blood For the first we must understand that he meanes not a vaine shew a picture or representation but the thing it selfe For we have not the figure and proportion of Adam alone but we have all his misery and all his sinne his sinne comes unto us by tradition it is an inheritance which wee cannot shake off It is a kinde of portion he hath given us that we cannot be rid of So that it is not an image as we take it in the common sense for a picture or an imaginary matter but a reall substantiall impression by reason of his sinne and his breaking of the command There lies a burthen a heavy load of plague and misery upon our whole nature And so likewise for the other the image of the heavenly We are not to imagine it to be any outward light resemblance but a true reall conformity to him whose image we shall beare We shall be like unto Christ not in a sleight transitory fashion but in a true and reall change And that that hee saith of flesh and blood that they shall not inherit the kingdome of God we must understand it thus Not as a thing impossible for God to doe for flesh and blood doth inherite Gods kingdome Christ is flesh and blood and hee is in the kingdome of God Yea Divines have thought that the bodies of Enoch and Elias that are flesh and blood are already in the kingdome of God as those also that arose up with Christ of which there were diverse that arose to testifie his Resurrection And Divines think generally that the bodies of these ascended with Christ into heaven Now these are flesh and blood and yet they bee in Gods kingdome The meaning therefore is not as
power of life and heat failes therefore a man dies Death is nothing but a privation and by consequent it is nothing at all As the Sunne when it is set there is darknesse which is a matter of nothing but the absence of the Sunne So death is nothing but the absence of life nothing but a cessation of the powers in man But because wee conceive it after another manner as a grievous enemie as a triumphant enemy over all the world therefore the Scripture condiscends to our capacity speaks in our language and makes it as an enemy Christ and it as two enemies encountring each other and the one foyling the other and so foyling it as that there is no reliques or remainders of the one left because of the great victory and conquest of the other The victory of Christ shall bee so absolute over death that there shall be no occasion of feare because there shall bee no steppe of death that shall have being in the world And this is marvellously set downe by a metaphor of swallowing that that monster which swallowes all the world of men that hath swallowed our forefathers that hath swallowed all The ages and generations before us what are they else but the morsels of death which hee hath swallowed to glut his stomack and all cannot serve but still he is craving For death and hell and the grave are unsatiable they are never satisfied although they have abundance of income and harvest dayly throwne into them The metaphor is taken from those kinde of ravenous beasts which vse not to chew but to swallow their prey and specially from fish from Whales and Crokodiles which altogether smallow and choake it up without any mincing the meat they receive So the meaning is that the death of Christ swallowes up the death of nature and the death of sinne the second death that they have no more power over us Hee shall swallow them as the Whale swallowed Ionas he shall swallow them that there shall bee no more sight of them to live and to bee and to have power hee shall swallow them as the red sea swallowed up the Egyptians he shall swallow them as the fiery furnace swallowes a little water that is cast into it a sprinkling of water It shall swallow them as the mysts and vapours are swallowed up by the beams of the Sun that there shall be no appearance of them afterward It shall swallow them as the dry gaping thirsty land swallowes a little showre of raine after a long drought It swallowes them up as the weaker metalls that are cast into the fiery furnace that are so spent and consumed as that there is no remainder nor footsteps left of them So is this similitude contrived that the devouring death shall bee swallowed in the death of Christ And whereto shall it be swallowed To Victory To victory This is the strange terme that there is nothing now in the Church of God but triumphs trophees and victorie there is nothing now but songs of deliverance there is nothing but well-springs of life to water every tree in the garden of God The most strange and compleat deliverance that can bee is to bee brought from all the points of slavery to all the points of liberty Such a victoâ—y is this which is spoken of here There shall bee nothing but victory where there was nothing before but captivity Where there was nothing but sicknesse and after sicknesse death and after death damnation by meanes of the sinne of Adam Now there shall be nothing else but life and joy and glory and victory And this is the happy estate and condition of the second comming of Christ and his presence and possession of his children at his comming So wee reade it and so the best Translations hold it to victory Some others reade it to contention So St. Ierom Tertullian St. Ambrose St. Ierom. Teâ—tull Ambros Aug. and St. Austin in many places reade it to contention For saith St. Ierom it is a kind of contestation a kind of law and pleading in the court of God betweene the death of Christ on the one party and the death of nature inflicted for sinne on the other party and they shall enter into plea the one against the other and the power of the death of Christ shall command and overwhelme the power of the death of nature and of the second death which is of sinne by reason of the justice and righteousnesse which is in Christ For thereupon it comes to passe that death is swallowed up into victory because the death of Christ hath answered the justice of his Father and hath satisfied the wrath which wee had contracted against us And by that reason hee shall cease the Commission of death which is out for us because of Adams sinne Rom. 6. last For the wages of sinne is death but because Christ was without sinne therefore hee had no cause or reason to die but onely for our sinnes and so God is satisfied by his death and is well-pleased in him to give us life because the actions that proceed from Christ are not humane actions but the actions of his person the actions of God and man and by consequent able to merit for an infinite company and to be applied to many worlds if there were any more then this that is to all believers to the end of the world that shall have participation in his blood They shall have as they have a promise forgivenesse of sinnes and sinne being removed and forgiven death hath no claime But there was no sin in Christ therefore death had no right to him nor shall have to those that are in him therefore death shall make a surcease and be no more but shall be utterly abandoned and swallowed up into victory This is that plea that the Lord Iesus in his death makes against death I will be death against death Because thou hast forfetted thy commission because thou wast appointed of God to lay hold upon sinners and thou hast laid hold on him that is not a sinner therefore thou shalt lose thy place and thou shalt bee cashiered thou shalt have no more right over sinners because the justice and righteousnesse of the Sonne of God is imputed unto them to ridde them from thy hands and from those dismall conclusions which otherwise they should have beene drowned in There is the contention on the one party Death of Nature The other party is the death of nature Death which is the great master of the world to this day he shall have another plea. Hee shall say For thy part I acknowledge I was mistaken I acknowledge I laid my hands amisse when I tooke thee for there was no sinne in thee But for all other men from the beginning of the world God gave me them as prisoners and made mee their executioner I have not done amisse in these therefore I may justly hold them that are given me by Divine providence by the
in his time yet at last hee shall fall and be conquered by the hand of Caesar and by his prowesse be outed both of his honours and of his life And Caesar himselfe in the height of all that glory that can come upon a man in this world there was never any before him or the like shall bee after him yet hee could not hold his state but he falls into the hands of Conspirators a sort of bloody murtherers that shall kill him in his Counsell-chamber so uncertaine are the smiles of this world that there is no victory constant but still she flies moves and changes her tent and tabernacle from one side to another therefore there can bee no boasting or bragging in these earthly and worldly conquests which hath made the wisest Emperours of the world after they have had a good gale of fortune as they call it after they have prospered a while for feare of crosse blowes after they have left their honours and betaken them to a solitary life to live in Monasteries lest they should have a foule end after such goodly and faire proceedings But in this case in this victory that wee now speake of there is no uncertainty there is no inconstancy to be feared Ianus Temple is shut for ever They had a custome among the Romans they worshipped a certaine god which they thought was the Lord and Tutor of their City which they called Ianus which had in Rome a great Temple the doores whereof stood open all the while they were in warres and shut in all the time of peace and they were so cumbred with warre for 800. yeares together that in all that time the doores of Ianus Temple were but thrice shut they were alway open to shew that the warres were open and therefore they gave their god leave to goe out and in to succour them or else they thought his arme could not reach his power could not extend to their ayde See the ridiculous and foolish vanities of the Heathen when the warres were ceased they shut the doores to keepe in their god there was no use of him then Now this Temple I say for 800. yeares was in all that time but three times shut First in the time of Numa Pompilius Secondly in the time of Tytus Maneus as Tytus Livius saith after the Carthaginian warre And thirdly by Augustus Caesar But when the time shall come when God shall give to this corruption incorruption and to this mortall immortality then there shall be for ever a cessation of warre The Temple of Ianus shall never more be opened it shall be shut for everlasting there shall bee no cause of warre but the people of God shall bee in perfect peace with the Lord and shall live under the defence of his protection they shall live secure for ever Plutarch saith when Philip King of Macedon had gotten a great victory at Cheronia hee wrote to Archimedes and hee used lofty speeches in his letter as being proud and puffed up with his late victory Archimedes replies to him no more but this Sir saith hee you write stately to mee in high termes and I partly know the reason of it but if you will take the paines but to measure your owne shadow you shall find that it is no more that it is no greater nor no larger then it was before your victory You were as great a man then and as many inches about as you are now And it is true in worldly things Chance as they call it is so variable that no man can tell how hee shall begin or how he shall end but in this victory which the Lord vouchsafes us in Christ Iesus it holds not for the victory that we shall have there shall make our shadowes greater and it shall make our persons more honourable and fuller of power and majesty 1. Cor. 15.44 For it is sowen in dishonour it riseth againe in honour It is sowen in weaknesse it riseth again in power The victory therefore that we have in Christ it is not like the victory that Philip the King of Macedon got that his shadow was no bigger then before but this victory in Christ is a great enlarger of man and of all the parts and faculties in him that hee is not like himselfe as hee was before no more then an honourable thing is like a dishonourable or a strong thing is like unto a weake Now to come to the Order Oâ—der of the words read unto you here the holy Apostle explains that which he had said before when hee insulted over death A man might ask what is the reason thou takest upon thee so much seeing death shall conquer thee as well as other men and thou must die as well as the rest that have gone before thee To give a reason therefore of it he shewes that it was no presumption or idle imagination of himselfe but it was a thing conferred unto him by the power of Christ and his Gospel For saith hee I have good reason to insult as I did I know when that blessed time shall come wee shall have no enemies against us If there should be any enemy it should be either death or sinne or the law But there shall be none of these and therefore there shall bee no enemy but a perpetuall end and issue of man for ever There shall bee no death for why because there shall be no sinne for the sting of death is sin and death cannot come upon man but by the wrath of God which is conceived for sinne which being taken away death must needs cease for the worke ending the wages must needs end and the wages of sinne is death But how will you prove that there shall bee no sinne Because there shall be no law for the strength of sinne is the Law and the Lord shall give that glory to the bodies that shall rise that they shall not need any Law but they shall be a law to themselves and every man shall love God and please God not by constraint not by the terrours of the Law and Commandement but from the ducture of his owne free-spirit that shall leade and conjoyne and make him one spirit with the Lord. Therefore that which the holy Apostle said before is most constant and true that because there shall bee no enemies then left therefore we may boast in the Lord our God which hath given us perfect victory over all our enemies and there shall be no enemie left because there shall be neither sin which is the grand cause the Arch-enemy of mankind for that is taken away by the righteousnesse of Christ who knew no sinne he that knew no sinne God made him sinne for us that we might be made the righteousnesse of God Mark it saith the holy Apostle that we might be made the righteousnesse of God When was Christ made sinne for us In this miserable life and when shall we be made the righteousnesse of God In that blessed life Therefore
the wofull calamity of our nature over which we must desire God to give us the victory and behold it followes in the Text But thanks be to God which hath given us victory through Iesus Christ our Lord. Which words I can but enter into of the gift or blessing which is vouchsafed victory Victory is alwayes welcome but especially when it is atchieved against a dangerous enemy The child of God is borne to be a Conquerour as St. Iohn saith 1 Iohn 5.4 1 Iohn 5.4 Every thing that is born of God overcommeth the world Every thing that is borne of God where the Fathers observe that the Apostle speaks in generall he speaks in the neuter gender to shew that there is no man that is so meane or so vile and base of whatsoever condition he be that he may rather be called a thing than a man yet that he hath the spirit of grace by that hee is able to encounter and overcome the world and this victory that wee have it is over such powerfull enemies as that except God had promised it except God should worke it all the power in heaven and earth could not attain unto it A man that is borne a Conquerour over his owne corruptions and over himselfe he is greater than ever was the greatest conquerour and it is better to be made in this kind a Victor over his owne passions than to be the universall Emperour of all the world Saith Seneca there are many men that have subdued Principalities Kingdomes Cities Townes and Countries and brought them under their owne masterie but there are few that have guided themselves but still there is a Tiger within them that disgraceth and obscureth their outward conquest by reason of the foule seethings and corruption in their owne flesh therefore for a man to get the victory and to overcome himselfe is to get the victory and to overcome all the world for man is a microcosme a little world as St. Austin saith thou maist obtaine the victory against thy selfe for thy selfe After a certaine wondrous manner God hath ordained a christian souldier a militant member of his Church to fight against himselfe for himselfe For hee that will lose his life saith Christ for my sake and the Gospels shall save it Hee that will lose his delights and his pleasures hee that will make warre with himselfe and will have no peace with his affections the Lord shall give him that peace that passeth all understanding and although hee kill his body with chastizing it yet it shall be saved in the day of the Lord St. Bern. saith St. Bernard The victory is thought and reputed in the world to be lost rather by flying than by dying for there are many men slaine in the field that are not accounted as cowards and fugitives or vanquished men because they died upon the place but when they quit the place when they fly and are not able to hold out in the field hee that remaines accounts himselfe the Victor because the rest are fled and vanished away So the spirituall victory in Christ it is lost by flying for we should rather die for God we should rather die in his zeale and for his glory and keep our standing than to yeeld and fly from the devill and our own corrupt affections and stoop to them then sathan gets the victory when wee cast away our weapons and play the loose scouts in the field There is no hope of victory in those actions Hee hath given us victory Over what hath he given us victory victory must be over some enemie I shewed you before the parties what they are now I am to shew you who they are that God hath given us the victory over over death over sinne over the law over death that there is not so much as a relique of it remaining there there is no hope that ever hee shall returne and make head againe that is a famous victory wherein the roots of future seditions are taken away and plucked up when there is nothing left for any hope of future rebellion When the Romanes had warred with the Carthagenians and oft times overcome them yet still within a while within 8. or 10. yeares or lesse they made head againe and stirred up new warres and so they had successive combustion And so in all the Nations of the world there are none that are so vanquished now but they may become conquerours hereafter The same thing that the Lord hath made an underling now may be the Head and Chieftaine in time to come But in this victory that we have over death it is without any hope or comfort on deaths part and without any feare of suffering on our part for it is so taken away as though it had never been and that which had the greatest triumph the mightiest trophees in the world unto which all Kings and Princes have bowed their heads and laid downe their scepters for all the goodly things in the world have been nothing else but the morsells of death I say this victorious enemie by the hand of Christ it shall be turned to a thing of nothing it shall have no name nor notion it shall be left without any hope of recovery It shall have no more strength to sting for the sting is gone The second enemy we shall have victory over is sin because the prince of this world sifted Christ to know whether hee were pure wheat or no and the Text saith he found nothing in him but he was as the finest flowre of wheat without all bran of corruption without all inclination to sinne being conceived and borne in perfect purity and living in the strength of that purity insomuch as hee defies all his adversaries hee challengeth them saying Who can accuse mee of sinne Because I say our blessed Saviour in all the parts of him had nothing but the light of purity in his eyes in his understanding in his tongue in his gesture in his words in his actions in his perseverance in all the parts of his doctrine in all the passages of his miracles there was nothing else but a fountaine and a world of purity therefore death incroaching by the malice and violence of sathan and the envy of the high priests upon him that had no sinne it lost all the power and government that it had before for taking away life from him that had no cause of death in him it follows therefore that it is justly exattorate and put out of place and hath lost his commission for ever for Christ overcame sinne by satisfying for it on his holy crosse and by his example in his holy life by giving a holy example to his Apostles and Disciples and all beleevers in the world Hee overcame sinne by drinking the cup of Gods wrath which by our sinnes was filled to him and he overcame sinne by his gracious example by the copie of his holy life and much more by his holy Spirit by which he diffuseth his grace
shew that now he had given the Sabbath a perfect rest for ever that there should be no more ceremoniall worke he had then fulfilled all the ceremonies the sinne of man was payd for and all the troublesome ceremonies of the law were abrogate and to shew that the Sabbath was ended he celebrated it in his grave and then upon the Munday the Iewes Munday the day of his resurrection hee rose againe to shew that ours must be an active life not in idle circumstances to passe it away in ceremonies as in the law but to remaine as an eternall Sabbath for ever we keepe a publique Sabbath to God though not in the same time and in memory of the same thing yet in the remembrance of a farre greater benefit 6 From the apparitions of Christ To conclude the point our Lord graced this constitution of the Church by his own presence most of his apparitions were upon the eighth day as wee may see in the Gospell that day that he rose still he glorified it with his presence eight dayes after he rose he came and shewed himselfe to his Disciples and the next day to Thomas and the rest of the Disciples and so for the time of 40. dayes that he continued on earth after his resurrection look how many Mundayes of the Iewes there was which is our Lords day so many apparitions hee made upon that day whereby they gathered that it was the will of the Lord and that hee meant to make that day glorious by his comfortable apparitions for still as I said his apparitions were upon that day he was absent all the weeke before hee appeared to none except it were to some few persons as Peter and Iohn but he made no publique apparition but onely upon the Lords day And upon this the Church of God was induced to make this change and we see it acted Acts 20.10 Acts 20.10 1 Cor. 16. and this chapter is a publique testimony of it and likewise in Rev. 1. Rev. 1. Saint Iohn saith I was in the spirit upon the Lords day which is generally taken by the fathers of the Church and by the Interpreters of the Gospell for this that we hold instead of the Sabbath day But because these kinde of people will never be satisfied except wee can answer their reasons as well as they can heare ours give me leave a little to goe forward in this poynt and heare what they can object for this Arguments against the change of the Saâ—bâ—th which thinke the Iewish Sabbath still to remaine in force I have spent the time against my minde and purpose therefore I will but name the chiefe heads of their arguments and refute them They conclude therefore that there is no certaine warrant for the changing of the Iewish Sabbath to ours 1 There is no written word for it because there is no direct written Scripture to prove it we have no Text of Scripture to worke it into us But for that we are to answer them Answ The Apostles in this guided by the spirit of God whatsoever the Apostles did being guided by the spirit of God their practise is a sufficient direction to us it is warrant enough that they have done it before us For so we have in many other things the practise of the Apostles to be a rule of our faith Christ not determining many particular things in the Church but leaving it to the discretion of the wise those that should be well furnished with knowledge for the directing of things in their places where they were therefore that which the Apostles did it was the act of Christ for they did it not of themselves but from a higher person from him that sent them Another reason they have and that is this 2 It is a part of the decalogue the decalogue or tenne Commandements are a perpetuall law but this is a part of the decalogue therefore this is a perpetuall law and the precepts that be in the tenne Commandements are all morall they are precepts that belong to all men to all times and places in the world Thirdly God is pleased to call the Sabbath an everlasting covenant God cals the Sabbath an everlasting covenant Deut. 12.16 I have made an everlasting covnant saith the Lord Deuter. 12.16 and in divers other places hee cals it a perpetuall covenant betweene me and my people Israel therefore it follows it must last as long as the world lasts and consequently it cannot be changed for then we alter the covenant of God 4 It was aucienter then Moses A fourth objection is this all the laws that are ancienter then Moses are immutable but this was more ancient then Moses law for it was given to man in paradise the Lord there by resting upon the seventh day did consecrate the Sabbath to be kept although some of the Fathers say as Iustin Martyr Iustin Martyr that they did not keepe it before the Floud but yet there was the institutioÌ„ of it therfore seeing it was a law given before Moses and before the fall of man it follows it is immutable and unchangeable because if there be any change it must be for imperfection and if there be any imperfection it must be for sinne and there was no sinne before the fall Therefore whatsoever was commanded before the fall was so perfect that it could not be altered it had no respect of imperfection in it 5 The cause of it is perpetuall And lastly the perpetuall cause of a law makes the law continue if the cause of it remaine the law must also continue and therefore there are many lawes that are made and abrogate againe because there is no use of them they were made in such a time for such things and the cause failing the law ceaseth but where the law hath a perpetuall cause there the law is in force to continue alway but the cause of the Iewish Sabbath continueth the meditation and contemplation upon the works of God and the holy operation of his hands this is the cause of the Sabbath and this alwayes continueth therefore the Iewish sabbath must continue These are the prime and chiefe grounds of their arguments I will answer a word to these and so conclude First in that they say the decalogue or ten Commandements is a law perpetuall Ans to Ob. 2. The Iewish Sabbath partly ceremoniall and bindes the consciences of all men It is true as farre forth as it is morall it doth but those parts that bee ceremoniall as the Sabbath is partly morall and partly ceremoniall and as it is moral it binds but as it is ceremoniall it doth not For the moralitie of the Sabbath is this to worship God in a publique service that wee are bound unto that which is ceremoniall that we should serve him upon such a day upon the seventh day rather then any other that doth not binde there is no part of moralitie in that that