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
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
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
I must labour to bring them in and call them home if they be bruitish already I must seeke to make them men to reduce them backe againe But especially I speake according to the custome of men for your sakes for your weakenesse for your better understanding that you may know the greatnesse of my trouble which I sustained at Ephesus I speake after the manner of men as they use to call wicked men beasts so give me leave also to call these who have made themselves so by their malice and persecution 2 Where the place was Concerning the place it was at Ephesus and when this persecution was there is great dissention among Writers some thinke it to be that persecution that Saint Luke mentions Acts 19.24 Acts 19. Paul being at Ephesus and preaching against Idolatry there riseth up Demetrius the silver Smith and all the trade comes with him he being as it were the Master of his Company he brings his livery after him a whole army of divellish beasts were raised against Paul Demetrius being the principall man that led all the heard after him and so the whole forrest was in a tumult and uproare Tertul. Beza So Tertullian and Beza after him with divers other of the Fathers But certainly this cannot be so for we reade that Saint Luke sets it downe directly that Saint Paul as soone as he had received that affront at Corinth that great danger when Sosthenes was beaten and that Gallio cared for none of these things Acts 18.17 he after a while quitted the Citie and went from Ephesus to Macedonia Acts 18.18.19 and it is certaine when Saint Paul wrote this he was at Ephesus and saith he will stay there till Pentecost 1 Cor. 16.8 as he saith Cap. 16.8 Therefore it cannot be that hee speakes of that sedition that Demetrius raysed against him that being the last period of his stay at Ephesus he went thence presently upon it he knew that Christ gave him a commission when they persecuted and beate him away Math. 10.14 to shake the dust off his feete against them Therefore this cannot be admitted Another Company expound it thus that it was the trouble that happened to him from the sonnes of Sceva Acts 19.16 Acts 19.16 And the sonnes of Sceva cast out divels in the name of Iesus whom Paul preached There were seven sonnes of Sceva and they tooke upon them to cast out divels and the manner of their conjuration was this We adiure you by IESVS Acts 19.13 whom Paul preacheth to come forth Verse 14. Now the divell replyed Iesus I know and Paul I know but who are ye and so he ranne upon them and prevailed against them and tare and rent them Hereupon some thinke the sons of Sceva raised persecution against him of envy because they suffered that great hurt by the divell But this is more uncertaine then the former It cannot be thus for we know that the sonnes of Sceva invocated the name of Christ and nominated Christ whom Paul preacheth wherein they shewed themselves rather friends and allies to Paul then enemies and so we have a direct rule and Canon of Christ Math. 10. Matth. 10. his Disciples tell him We saw one casting out divels in thy name and we forbade him saith Christ to them Forbid him not for he that is with mee is not against me Where Christ gave them to understand that as long as any man although hee were not of their company and Colledge yet as long as he profest the name of Christ and did their miracles in his name they were with him and not against him and though the sonnes of Sceva miscarried in their desire of lucre and that they did not their miracles for the good of the Church yet they pretended friendship to Saint Paul rather then any adverse disposition Therefore I say this cannot be But we must understand it of the totall troubles that hee found at Ephesus which hee expresseth 2 Cor. 1.8 2 Cor. 1.8 Brethren saith he I would not have you ignorant of the pressures and troubles that wee sustained in Asia how we were pressed and urged above strength that we even despaired of life in our owne selves This desperate life he was cast into by the malice of the men of Ephesus that studied Idolatry and for their Idoll Diana and would therefore have beate downe and destroyed Paul and the doctrine of Christ This sedition that they moved against him he cals fighting with beasts And so wee must take the sence to be this that seeing you know that at Ephesus I had such a world of adverse powers against me that I was pressed above measure urged and crushed even to death that I received the sentence of condemnation against my selfe 2 Cor. 1.9 that I thought there was no way for me but to bee devoured as with the teeth and fury of so many wilde beasts If you have heard of it or if you know it you may imagine that I have some reason to undergoe these troubles For I brought them upon mine owne head I might have avoyded them if I would but I would not doe it because of that abundant reward and consolation of Christ which shall raise this my body So that all the teeth of beasts shall not offer me more wrong and injury in tearing it then Christ shall give it honour and glory in saving it after it hath beene thus deformed and so he shall give honour to that part which most lacked which hath most suffered here 1 Cor. 12.24 For this cause I am thus ready to undergoe these dangers and to encounter againe with beast after beast as they shall bee singled out against me that drinking of that cup of affliction here I may receive that eternall cup of thanksgiving in the world to come This should teach us to conclude all in a word that we ought not to despise the passions of Gods children Vse It is a great misery that the world is usually blinded withall Whatsoever a man suffers they thinke he suffers it as a guilty person they take him as a malefactor and it is enough that hee is in misery to prove him also to bee in fault By this meanes there should no substantiall argument bee drawne from the martyrdome of Gods Saints for of all men to flesh and bloud and common sence they are most miserable and wretched and pronounced guilty at every tribunall and are accounted the malefactors of the world the plagues of the earth such as brought barrennesse upon the earth and other plagues from God because men were not enlightened by the spirit of grace therefore they fell to the condemnation of the righteous which is the greatest plague in the world to condemne the righteous for woe to them that call light darkenesse and darkenesse light Esay 5.20 Let us therefore have speciall regard when we see troubles fall upon men to keepe an upright heart to
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
have been carelesse and negligent in his wayes before so God shall take the advantage and come upon them upon the Sabbath day and upon the Sabbath day at night when men use quietest and with greatest repose to lay themselves to rest It is the last trump And why is it called the last trump Because God will have no more messages to man When the trumpet hath sounded there shall be no more newes nor no more intercourse between God and man Till that trumpet sound there is a daily intercourse betweene heaven and earth the Lord sends us newes by his word he sends us newes by his Sacraments by his punishments and afflictions by his blessings and fatherly preservations The world is full of his gracious trumpets which are ever sounding either to make us better and to bring us from sinne or else to discourage and harden us if wee goe on in our ill doings Still there is an entercourse betweene God and man but when the last trump shall blow all such entercourse shall cease Those that have done well shall goe into life Mat. 25.46 and shall have the perfect vision of God without any more newes or message from God to them and those that have done ill shall goe into everlasting fire and shall have a continuall privation and absence of God without any hope of seeing his face any more This is called the last trump because that after the trumpet hath blowne there shall be no more change in the dealings and affaires betweene heaven and earth I see the time almost past 3 Part. What sound the trumpet shall give I come therefore to the next thing what the trumpet shall sound For if the voice shall be sensible then it must needs have some signification and must utter something that men must understand For it is not enough to say that it is a voice of a trumpet an inarticulate and generall sound and no word for it cannnot be so And though the trumpet of God shall sound it shall not be so dull but it shall have a more sweet and significant impression to teach men what they have to doe Therefore the Fathers have gone so farre as to expresse what words the Trumpet shall sound St. Ierome Jerome and some of the Fathers with him say the words that the trumpet shall sound shall be Arise ye dead and come to judgement Therefore saith hee I am so possest with this I am so possest with the assurance of this that to what place soever I goe if I goe to my study if I walke if I eate or drinke if I lie downe to sleepe whatsoever I encline my selfe to me thinks I ever heare in my eares the voice of the trumpet sounding Arise yee dead and come to judgement But the holy Father may seeme to speake rather out of a high straine of fervent zeale by allusion than of any certainty that the trumpet shall so sound Theophilact Theophilact saith the trumpet shall sound to this effect Draw neare for the Iudge is at hand the Iudge is before the doore prepare your selves As Isay saith The voice of a cryer Esay 40.3 Prepare you the way of the Lord make his paths straight This indeed is more agreeable to the Scriptures Iohn Baptist that prepared the way before Christ he was a type and figure of the Angell Gabriel that shall found the trumpet to prepare the way of the Lord and shall give a sensible and significant note what hee would have men to doe But this it is sufficient for us to point at because wee know not the certainty of it It shall be such a voice as shall give sufficient warning it shall be a voice that shall be sensibly perceived the intendment of it shall runne over all reasonable eares there is none shall be so deafe or so dull but they shall heare and apprehend the meaning of it But what word it is whether it shall be articulate or no it is not left for us to enquire after Howbeit wee honour the invention of the holy Fathers because they tend something to the rectifying of manners and for the stirring up of mens affections for this purpose 4 Part. The effect Now followes the effect and operation of it when the trumpet shall blow The dead shall rise incorruptible This is that wondrous effect that the trumpet of God hath this is the great difference between the trumpet of God and the trumpets of men For they worke death and destruction when they blow and sound to the warres but this trumpet of God shall sound to life and immortality But this shall not be in the power of the instrument but it shall have this force by the power of God and from the power of Christ unto whom God hath given all judgement and power to raise and to change the quick and the dead But what is this that he saith The dead shall rise incorruptible Some think it is onely meant of the Saints because all this discourse of the Resurrection as Beza Beza and some other Divines observe is restrained to the Saints But the former part of the Apostles discourse is more large and so also may this be taken that not onely the bodies of the Saints shall be incorrupt but also the bodies of the wicked But how Saith St. Austin they shall be in the fulnesse of perfection of the parts and members they shall all rise incorruptible they shall have bodies that shall never be obnoxious to corruption and destruction but shall last and indure in the fire for ever They shall have a braine and a wit that shall never be dissolved they shall have a memory that shall never forget their wickednesse and sinnes that they have done and the blasphemies they have committed against God and the abominable actions they have done in the tabernacle of this flesh They shall have the proportion also of men and women in their true frame and proper stature and not as being lame or blind or the like as perhaps some of them died But they shall be raised in the fulnesse and perfection of their members and parts howbeit it shall be so as it may most dispose them to eternall torments that they may be able to indure that is all the reason why God raiseth them uncorruptible that they may be able to indure the corrupting causes For those causes that seeme to corrupt any thing in the world as sorrow and feare and malice and vexation and torture of the flesh which a man would think in time would bring any thing to an end yet they shall not be able to corrupt them Therefore saith St. Austin Aug. though they shall be raised incorruptible yet after a sort they shall be corrupted by the paine and torment which they shall indure But how Not to be brought to a worstnesse or destruction but they shall have an eternall life to suffer misery Let us labour therefore Vse and desire of
to thousands and millions in the world that beleeve in him that although there be sinne now in our mortall bodies yet it doth not raigne it commands us not to every thing it finds us not as the Centurions servants to goe when it saith goe but it is in many things broken and dissipated and the Lord hath beat sathan under our feet that is the usuall work of sathan sinne and foule impressions in your soules and understandings Thus the Lord hath given us victory over sinne in himselfe fully in us it is begun but for that wee shall have occasion afterwards to discourse The Lord himselfe being free from all sinne hee was therefore a Conquerour over that pestilent viper that poyson of our nature and he gave his people the infusion of his Spirit to guide them by the which Originall sinne is weakned the sire is abated and allayed the edge of sin is lessened The last is over the Law That still is the greatest enemy that still layes before us the judgments of God Doe this and live Doe that and be damned Follow this course and thou shalt be damned for ever If thou be a drunkard if thou be lustfull if thou be covetous and worldly if thou be revengefull and malicious the sentence of damnation is passed upon thee that is all the comfort wee have by the Law but Christ hath given us victory over this enemy which followes us at the heeles when wee doe amisse and still puts us into qualmes of conscience for our misdeeds and curbes and bridles us by the checks of conscience that if a man could but see the end of these foule actions as hee seeth the beginning he would never doe them because there is no equality between the short time of sinning and the eternity of punishment But against all this Christ hath given us victory for he hath fulfilled the law of God he hath stopped the crimination he he hath stayed all those slanders and all those accusations that the devill would make by the law or that those that have been curious observers of the law would make and those accusations that an evill conscience would make by the power of the Law of God which hath enlightened it He hath silenced all these in this life but the consummation of this we must understand is to come when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortall shall put on immortality They are now gone before in the head they shall then follow in the body Saith St. Austin Aug. Whatsoever Christ hath done in his owne body it shall follow in our mortall bodies When hee shall change them 1 Cor. 15. and make them like unto his owne glorious body according to his mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himselfe This is that goodly victory in the which the Lord hath interested us all To conclude and refer the rest till the next time I beseech you beloved in the Lord let us consider what part we have in this victory wee ought not to insult and triumph in a vaine presumption in blessings that pertaine not to us but if we think we have the victory let us labour to finde it and so enter into judgement with our owne soules who it is that overcommeth Apoc. 3. To him that overcommeth will I give to eate of the tree of life in the middest of the paradice of God to him that overcommeth will I give a white stone c. And what must he overcome He must overcome himself and all his passions he must overcome the feare of death the power of sinne and the terrours of the Law A fearfull encounter and a great troop of enemies is laid open the Lord strengthen poore David that he may be able to encounter with this mighty Goliah for it seemes that hell it selfe is open upon him when therefore we doe give our selves that liberty as to doe what our selves list against the good will and command of God let us not thinke to have any part in this victory we are rather as so many conquered slaves and vassals that lie at the command of death that whereas wee should tread Satan under our feet Satan tramples us under his and makes us the most base and vile creatures in the world Thou that hast enough in this world and yet canst not tell when thou hast enough but still art distracted with envious desires and makest thy self great by other mens falls that raisest thy owne fortunes by other mens ruines that usest any meanes good or bad by hooke or by crooke to advance thine owne estate to make thy selfe rich and settest thy selfe onely to the study of the Idoll Mammon what kinde of victory or what hope of conquest canst thou have in that great and mighty victory which wee pretend the Lord Iesus hath given us surely none There is no such gally-slave in the world as a man that is given and addicted to his wealth and riches in this present life for it pierceth men through with many sorrowes as the Apostle saith They that will be rich 1 Tim. 6. pierce themselves thorow with many sorrowes Behold the sting of death is the sting that pierceth them the sting of death is sinne and this sting it pierceth through the heart and stabbs the soule of every covetous man in the world that they cannot claime any part of that victory which God communicates to his children but they are foyled base creatures that are made for slaughter and destruction And so againe for them that live in their pleasures in their voluptuous and filthy courses that will grow old in adultery that will make no end of their filthinesse and uncleannesse but with greedinesse seeke when one prey is enjoyed how to obtaine another these that make their vessells that should be Temples of God the brothell-houses of the Devill that are no sooner tempted but they yeeld these comming Creatures how or with what face with what confidence can they lay claime to the victory that we have in God through Iesus Christ our Lord being nothing else but bruits and are given over yeelding themselves they have taken the marke of the beast and follow Satans direction and command as if Christ had no power to be their Chieftaine but the Prince of darknesse must rule The like may bee said of all these malicious prowling spirits that be in the world that take delight to sting their brethren to doe mischiefe without cause to sow the seeds of dissention that will wrangle out their lives to trouble others to bring upon them endlesse suits and questions that shall never be decided to vexe the world with begging or buying of new found offfices to make their hands full out of every thing sacred and prophane to play the very roaring Lions in their dennes that no man can tell how hee should live or keepe himselfe quiet with them That these Creatures I say should come and claime any part in this
victory that we have in Christ it were a fanaticall madnesse a ridiculous base delusion Therefore let them that are willing to comfort their owne soules against the day of trouble let them thinke that there is no comfort to bee had but in this victory and there is no comfort can bee had in this victory except they strive to be Victors and Conquerors in Christ to have a part in him and to fight as well as they may under his banner as long as they live in sinne that they seeke it and study it and mainetaine it and defend it let them delude their owne soules and deceive themselves which is the grossest and most fearefull deceit of all others for a man to deceive himsefe they may thinke they are Conquerers but they are the Devills vanquished ones they are his captives they are held in the Devils Irons God be mercifull to us for there is none that lives in sin but the poore miserable thiefe that lies in the dungeon is better then hee But this victory notwithstanding is the Churches and wee are of the Church wee are baptized wee are called to the knowledge of the misteries of the Gospel and God doth not call men for nothing hee doth not make his mysteries idle It is true therefore as long time as God hath vouchsafed us wee have still time to bee victors and though our soules cleave to the earth though they sticke to the pavement yet God can raise us out of the dust and make us equall with the Princes of his people as the Prophet David saith Psal 113. Therefore let us call to the Lord God and though wee find no strength in our selves nor no meanes nor will if there bee not so much as a will yet let him that hath the wills of men in his hand that hath the hearts of men in his hand and turnes them as the rivers of waters let him doe as it pleaseth him let him worke this for us that can worke nothing for our selves To whom bee praise and glory obedience and thanksgiving both now and for evermore Amen FINIS SERMONS On 1 COR. 15. Of the Resurrection 1 COR. 15.56 57. But thanks be to God that hath given us victory through Christ our Lord therefore beloved Brethren be stedfast and unmoveable abounding in the worke of the Lord alway because you know your labour is not lost nor in vaine in the Lord. THere is nothing more certain Note then that it is the portion of a Christian soule to fight and labour in this life present The Church is a militant Church a People that are alway at combat and conflict with the devill and with men and if these faile with himselfe too Saith S. Austin St. Aug. we would faine be freed from this fight from this continuall perturbation but the comfort that God hath given against it is that as we are called to a triall so the Lord assists us too in the day of Trouble and assures us of the victory that howsoever we cannot overcome all these enemies by any grace that is inherent in us but that we are often foyled and conquered yet we have another Meane to conquer them by that is by faith and the apprehension of the victory that the Lord Iesus Christ hath purchased for us over the devill and all these Adversaries and this victory can be given us but by one hand it lyes onely there to dispense that is in the hand of God which is the Lord of Hoasts and Armies It is he alone that enclines the battaile it is hee that weakneth the adversaries and that strengthens those that follow his colours when they are foyled hee raiseth up them that are fallen it is he that beateth downe Sathan under our feet that was our conquerour This spirituall conquest is of all others the most excellent for the rest as Isay Isay 8. saith They are gotten with tumult and with tumbling of garments in bloud But this conquest that we have in the Lord Iesus it was like a Lamb-slaughter in the day of Madian You know in the day of Madian what kinde of victory it was Gideon went out hee did nothing the Lord did all for him for still hee brought downe his troups from thousands to hundreds to three hundred and when they were to be set to worke they did nothing but onely clash their broken pitchers and the Lord wrought a great slaughter in the Hoast of Madian Such a victory is the conquest wee have in Iesus Christ our Lord he is still the victor that got the conquest without all appearance of second Causes without all union of forces and power in the world that God may be all in all In other victories there be many sharers that may claime a part in the conquest there is something belongs to the Generall some to the Colonels some to the Captaines some to the other Officers some to the common Souldiers There is no man but hee may claime a part in the common victory But in this victory that we have obtained by the meanes of Christ Iesus our Lord there is nothing that belongs to any but to God Therefore the Apostle saith Thanks be to God thanks be to no man thanks be to no Angell thanks be to no power that can be supposed to help us but the thanks and praise must rest in God alone which hath wrought all this for us As the Heathen Orator said to Caesar when hee had overcome his anger and had pardoned his Enemie In other warres saith he there is a communication of the praise of the wars it belongs to one as well as to another But in this victory which thou hast gotten over thy selfe Orat. pro Milone in giving and forgiving thou hast gotten the glory The like may wee much more truly say of God as the Apostle saith here Thanks be to God and to none but to him that hath given us victory for he alone with his owne hand and his stretched out arme Psal 94. hath gotten himselfe the victory as the Psalmist saith So Tertullian Tertul. speaking of this point in his fifth booke against Marcian Chap. 10. The Apostle saith he being well advised how the conquest comes to a Christian hee gives no thanks to any other God but him alone that put the word of triumph and insultation into his mouth That God that gave him power to say by way of triumph Oh Death where is thy sting Oh grave where is thy victory To that same God that gave him the word of triumph he returnes the word of thanksgiving and retribution of praise because it belongs onely to him If Marcians god as Marcian supposed hee had another god than that which is the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ can tell mee such things as hee hath done or that hee hath published any such thing to the world as this I will account him the Father of mercy But till then I will account him Marcians Idoll
by this that the Apostles purpose was that although hee went to Macedonia yet if newes were carried to him if there were any post sent to him as indeed he was but on the other side of the Sea in Asia if news I say were brought him that he must go with them he would dispence with the other action and intend this We see here the Spirit of God it tyes not a man to absolute necessities but it gives him libertie according to the circumstances to use his owne discretion for it seemeth that the collection which the Corinthians made although it were great yet it seemes that it was transported very quickly and finely or otherwise that Saint Paul did take it with him from Ephesus after the feast of Pentecost and so carried it for in these things no man can tell nor the particular place certainly from whence this Epistle was written Onely this is plaine and that I will insist on that when he should come to carry it he would not carry the money himselfe but he saith that those whom they should appoint should go with him And so hee puts from himselfe all suspition of double dealing S. Pauls care to avoid suspition hee would not have them thinke that he would intervert the money or that he would give it to some other purpose then they intended it or make himselfe rich of the poore mens stocke he is carefull of this this argued the sweetnesse and sinceritie of the Apostles minde and it makes a rule for all that come to Apostolicall place that deale with Apostolicall matters to take heed that the world have no ground to conceit that any thing in this kinde sticke to their fingers but that they may shake their hands and their garments and quit themselves in all causes wherein the world shall thinke they have too much interest or that they have beene unfaithfull and false stewards So Chrysostome and Saint Austin He doth not say saith Austin that if the collection come to a great summe I will carry it to Ierusalem my selfe for then some sycophants that were in Corinth some Adversaries that he had there would have objected and said that hee meant to make himselfe the better by it No saith he but those whom ye shall appoint and put in authoritie they shall go with me A man must wash his hands from all bribery and corruption that will be in any place of God that will be in the place of Paul or that hath any commission from God he must be like unto Samuel that he may say as he did Whose oxe have I taken or whose asse have I taken or who have I wronged or defrauded in judgement or any way in any intention let him speake And as Zacheus saith I will restore him foure fold Luk. 19 9. These men that meddle with holy things to make themselves somewhat the better or at the least to beare their charges upon Gods stocke and such a charge as perhaps the poore would be loath it should come to these are false brethren and no true Transporters of the heavenly treasure they should be such as do that which they do for the Lords sake and if they can disburthen and discharge the poore of all charges in the carriage they should take it upon themselves and do it for Religions sake Chrysostome it seemeth was troubled with such kinde of companions in his time for saith he the collection that we make for the poore and are alway calling upon you Give to the poore give to them that stand in need which saith hee I will never leave off but will speake it as long as God gives me my voyce This calling and crying for the poore it makes you thinke that we have a great stocke of treasure that we feed our selves in private with you thinke that the Priesthood lives upon this Nay saith he we defie all such cogitations we give you the Gospell freely without any charge And although we worke not as Saint Paul did with our hands yet you know that we have indowments to live upon of our owne We have so much Church-lands to maintaine us that we abound and we seeke not any thing from you for our owne selves but we seeke it for the indigent poore that are errant and go about the streets and for such as want upon casualtie by reason of fire by robbery or by drowning or by miscarriage in their trade or being captivated by Infidels or the like we labour onely to stirre up your bountie towards them This was the noble state of the Church in Saint Chrysostomes time We are content and satisfied with that which is our owne what is the Churches owne now adayes In those parts which I touched on before There is nothing left that the Church may call her owne except it be a poore rotten wall except it be an old Bible except it bee an handfull of thatch where that Bible lyes to save it that the raine come not upon it and so put them to new charges as for other things there is nothing that is her owne but the wilde Bore out of the forrest hath almost wasted and desolated the whole Congregation of God and hath made them as so many vagabonds in Israel that there is nothing but beggarly raggednesse both in the temporall and also in the spirituall body But it is to no purpose to complaine in a desperate condition Saint Chrysostome saith Whosoever thinks that there is any such men in the Church that make themselves rich or better themselves by the collections that are given to the poore let him come forth and shew it let him proove it and wee will confesse it and it shall appeare if these things can be proved and the man bee convinced of them that such a man is not onely worthy to be brought to shame but he is worthy that ten thousand thunderbolts should be shot against him he is not worthy to live and breathe in this common ayre which hath attempted such a monstrous robbery and invasion upon the people of God To conclude all in a word the Apostle saith concerning all for matter of giving to the poore for matter of doctrine for matter of manners he saith for all I will come And no doubt this word veniam it had a divers tone and sound a different tune to the Corinthians eares for Saint Paul had a great number of good friends in Corinth he had also a great number of pestilent enemies to the one this word sounded in a gentle and sweet harmonious tune it was certaine he came to them as friends he came as a Saint of God he came as an incomparable Iewell he came as one that brought the blessing of God where he came hee came as one whose feet were beautifull to bring the glad tydings of the Gospell of peace as one that came to the salvation of their soules as one that came to settle and to reare up the broken towers of David he
whose Name he makes profession Adversarii multi the adversaries bee many adversaries without any cause adversaries to them that bee their friends this is the case of the Gospel as our Lord Christ saith I am come to save you I come to heale you I come to redeeme you from all misery and you seeke to kill me a man that hath done good to you And St. Paul saith Am I therefore your enemy because I tell you the truth Such grosse and senslesse adversaries the Gospel must looke for absurd men 2. Thess 2. 2 Thess 2. I beseech you brethren pray to God for us that wee may bee delivered from absurd men senslesse men that will not know their owne good men that know not who comes to doe them service strange adversaries that will fight against their benefactors such are the adversaries of the Gospel I paid that which I never tooke they rewarded me evill for good saith David to the great discomfort of my heart but the servant is not above his Master if our Lord have beene served thus we must not thinke much to taste of the same cup of which he hath drunke before us Againe this must teach all men that travaile in the cause of Christ to have the world in no estimation but to account it as an inraged beast that speaks and doth and kicks as a child that hath no wit nor sense that scratcheth the Nurses duggs from which it receives milkc Wee must thinke to be in the middest of Lions as our Lord Iesus saith in the middest of Wolves Behold I send you forth as Lambs in the middest of Wolves be yee therefore wise as Serpents and simple as Doves And here there are two sorts of men greatly to be blamed First those of former times that could not indure opposition but when the adversaries began to rise they would fall into the Wildernesse and live like Hermits men of great gifts and of excellent perfections yet they could not indure opposition being tender hearted and of weake spirits they could not beare the malice of the multitude but would keepe themselves away and would leave the places wherein they might have done great good they left them to be invaded by Foxes and Wolves to destroy the vineyard of the Lord. This I say was culpable in them because they came short of the spirit of St. Paul that was not daunted with the multitude of adversaries but he would goe so much the rather by how much the adversaries were greater and more in number for there bee many things in the world in the aboundant company of the adversaries which are so far from affrighting as that they give greater incouragement As the Poet saith the Shepheard speaking there of the cold Winter and of the North-wind hee saith that hee feared them as little as the Wolfe feares a number of sheepe or as the Land-flood doth feare the banks in a river So it was in the high and gracious spirit of the Apostle and those that were like unto him for St. Paul was called comparatively the Wolfe of Benjamin and in a good sense because the sacrifices were offered in the Tribe of Benjamin the Temple being in the Tribe of Benjamin it was called a ravening Wolfe because it devoured the bodies of the beasts that were offered in sacrifice So St. Paul that was of the Tribe of Benjamin was compared to a Wolfe as Gregory Gregory Augustine and Austin give the reason because he did eate up the sacrifices of the Heathen people as St. Peter in the vision was bid to Arise kill and eate this was the power that the Apostle had in the Church to devoure the wickednesse of the people and to change and digest it into their owne stomacks Now as the Wolfe cares not how many sheepe there be in a fold for when hee comes to steale if the shepherd and his dog be away hee takes more comfort in a great many then to see a handfull of sheepe he knowes that if their were ten times so many they could doe him no harme being fearefull creatures therefore he rejoyceth So the children of God are compared to Wolves to Lions to creatures that are victorious and conquering they are so farre from a sheepish and fearefull and base and cowardly disposition for the faculties and abilities of their adversaries that they take the more delight to see the adversaries many And as the great floods when the snow is melted upon the mountaines or when there hath beene a great Land-flood when it fâ—lls from the hills it scornes to be compassed in within banks but it overflowes and over-runnes all and makes new conduits new sourses and new channels where there was never any before So the mighty streame of the Gospel by the Apostles it could not bee contained within the banks and common limits that the Philosophers and naturall men could afford but it over-ranne all with a mighty current and flood upon the world with the sacred influence of it the hearts and mindes of them were watered that were never possessed of it before That kind of Monasticall Heremiticall life it is nothing agreeable to the profession of St. Paul in this place that for feare of danger will convey themselves into woods into caves and cells and alienate themselves from their worke and labour because they are afraid of opposition the spirit of St. Paul riseth the greater As the Palme-tree the more weight is laid upon it so much the more it strives and heaves against it so the Spirit of God in this Apostle and in all true Christians it is never so frolick nor they are never so high-spirited as when they see the malice of their adversaries most pregnant and most furious against them Secondly it blames those men much more 2 Sort blamed that in the time of prosperity when there are many adversaries yet they will not shew themselves but lie on their pillowes of pleasure and seeke to bee quiet they will have no man speake against them they will incurre no mans hatred or ill-will but they will hold the truth of God to themselves in the bosome of their owne conscience and never open it or stand for it These men are farre worse then the former for indeed the former had some good pretence because there was way-laying lying in wait for their lives and conspiracy against them to take them away from the earth therefore they thought it fittest to yeeld to the time and to reserve themselves unto a better occasion But when men shall live in their prosperity and have peace round about them and shall see the adversaries come and creep in craftily and sow false doctrine hereticall doctrine and things that savour of the old dregs and reliques of Antichristianisme and they themselves have excellent gifts and meanes to refute and confound these things and yet because they will not abridge themselves of their pleasure they will set some young novice in the place that is able to
speake nothing to the purpose especially nothing to the combate nothing to the duel that ought to bee betweene the adversaries and the champions of Christ but leave all to such kinde of fresh-water-souldiers and themselves in the meane time taking their ease because they thinke it is not safe medling and perhaps because they thinke they shall bee discomfited and if they should chance to be overcome there would bee more shame to them by their overthrow then there could come glory by their conquest if they should offer to stand in the cause of Christ These kinde of men are exactly contrary to the Apostles spirit Where there are many adversaries there the Spirit of God should rise in men as it is said of Saul when Nahash the King of the Ammonites put that base and deadly condition upon the Gileadites that they should give him their right-eyes by way of compact The Text saith the Spirit of God came upon Saul when hee heard such a thing that although the Ammonits were a great and terrible and an infinite number and the case grew desperate for they were to deliver the Citie within eight dayes yet so much the more strong was the Spirit of God in Saul and he tooke a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them to the quarters of Israel and told them that so their cattell should bee served whosoever would not follow him in this just quarrell So St. Paul although otherwise in Acts 17. Acts 17. when hee saw Athens full of Idols full of Devills that there was every where Temples set up the Text saith that his spirit was exasperated so moved he was in himselfe he was in a holy trance hee was without himselfe to see that horrible blasphemy against God So it is ever naturall to true spirits that are guided by the Holy Ghost not to bee daunted with perill nor to hang downe their heads for the opposition of the Devil but to gather strength and courage for as much as it is a signe that God is with them a signe that God hath sent them It was the lot of Christ to be beset about on every side that when he had done the most good to sustaine the greatest harme of those ungratefull monsters The adversaries are many therefore I will goe Adversarii multi contrary to the course of flesh and blood which because the adversaries are many and great therefore I will not goe I will keep within doores I will lie safe I cannot doe any good what can I doe against so many what can one man do against so many thousands No but the Spirit of God perswaded him that hee alone had the world in his breast and that he was able to conquer as Samson who with the Iaw-bone of an Asse slew a thousand men and he was stronger by the haires of his head which were but an excrement yet it made him stronger then all the adversaries that were against him so the least thing in the child of God which seems the excrement of the world the hairs of their head are able to confront and confound all adverse powers Mat. 10. As our Lord Iesus tels his Disciples in Mat. 10. They shall not be able to resist the Spirit whereby you speake Deut. 28. one of you shall scatter ten of them and an hundred of you shall scatter a thousand of them The enemies of God are set to be routed before the few handfulls of Gods children as in the Army of Gedeon 300. men put to the slaughter and wrought the confusion of a thousand thousand Midianites Let us therefore have this confidence in our spirits in the truth and cause of God and not be unsetled or moved with the speech or with the actions of men or with the disasters of the times nor with the conceits that flesh and bloud will suggest unto us for verily if we stand upon our own foundation we shall be able to undermine them and to keep our standing against them there is no counsell nor no power nor no hand that can come against the will of God for hee carries all abrest before him and his legions are able to drive the world into smoake and to make the mountains to tremble at the approach of him The adversaries are many Many because they are gathered from many Nations Devout men of the Iewes from all quarters under heaven Acts 2. Acts 2. And wheresoever these Iewes dwelt they were still as it were the chief Prelats they would looke to the state of the Church and make that the supreame object We see in Thessalonica a poore Colonie they sent as if they were the chiefe Magistrates after St. Paul to take him alive and to bring him to his answer when he was at Berea A strange spirit was in them to be adversaries to the cause of Christ they were great persecutors wheresoever they were whereas our Colonies and our Churches in other places of the world they take not half so much upon them a man may live as quietly and safe at Hamborough and such places in as much peace and quiet and more too sometimes than in his owne countrie because there is not that fulnesse of authority there as there is here But the Iewes were of that nature that still they would be the chiefe primates and the great men of the world wheresoever they were Therefore the Apostle having such a confluence of them from Greece from Asia from Scythia from India from Egypt from Cyrene from Rome and from all the parts of Italie from Germanie and from Spaine it selfe where the Iewes were dispersed and scattered he finding them in all places so exact and so purposely set to the maintaining of Moses law and to oppose any new opinion that should come in place he must needs complaine of adversaries There is a great number of adversaries from all parts of the world and they be all adversaries full of power and full of terrour every man thought himselfe a Prelate every man took himselfe to be a ruler and a governor therefore the match was so much the harder the combat was so much the more dangerous because he was in the middest of all the power of his adversaries and yet this daunted him not But now the holy Ghost gives us here to consider what kinde of adversaries these were that is they were the most potent and powerfull adversaries not only great in their number but great also in their affections great in their strength and great in their zeale for there is no adversarie so much to be feared as those that are nearest neighbours to us in the profession of the common religion In Micah 5. Micah 5. Let no man trust his servant nor his neighbour A mans owne houshold shall be his greatest enemies as the common proverb saith A man hath no worse friends than them hee brings from home with him so it was here the Iewes of all others should have maintained Christ