perhaps that his Fasting and Watching and Scourging the night before had so exceedingly weakened him that he that could beare the burthen of our sinne yet could not heare the burthen of his Crosse but was faine to have Symon of Cyrene to beare it for him and therefore was little better then dead already Or if these were not enough to hasten his death was it not perhaps his own doing who had power to lay downe his life and to take it up againe at his pleasure and therefore dyed the sooner that it might be verified which was Prophesied There shall not a bone of him bee broken For if hee had not dyed when hee did his legges should have beene broken as the two Malefactors were to hasten their death that they might be dead before the Sabbath O deare Jesus what such haste was there for thy death who onely wert worthy never to dye but that by thy death thou hast given us life though all our lives were not worth the hastening it but that thy infinite love never thought it to be haste enough It is an olde Heresie of some that Christ himselfe was not Crucified but Symon of Cyrene in his stead but the Temple and the Sunne make this knowne to bee a Fable For would the Temple have rent in twaine Would the Sunne have beene darkened so long together for Symon of Cyrene No alas too true it is that Christ himselfe was Crucified and woe to us that true it is and yet more woe to us if it were not true but woe of all Woes that true it is in that for us and for our sinnes it was that he was Crucified O my Soule that thou couldst bee alwaies meditating upon this Crucifying of Christ Not that it could be any pleasure to thinke of his being Crucified but the better to make thee apprehend First the great causes of it thy own sinne and his love and then the great effect of it thy Everlasting Redemption for which thou canst never bee enough gratefull if thou bee never so little unmindefull Dead And now having Beleeved that Christ was Crucified our next Beliefe is that hee was Dead and yet how can we Beleeve that hee could Dye For is not Death the Wages of Sinne and could hee receive the Wages that had not done the Service Had committed no sinne But is it not that hee dyed not for any sinne he committed himselfe but for the sinnes of others which he tooke upon him Even as a Surety payes the Penaltie of a Debt that was none of his owne And this reason the Prophet Daniel gives where hee saith Messiah shall bee slaine not for himselfe but for his people to make reconciliation for their Iniquities and to bring in Everlasting Salvation And here appeares another reason why Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate For the same Prophet Daniel fore-sheweth That after seven weekes and threescore and two weekes from the going forth of the Commandem at to restore and build Hierâ—salem Messiah shall bee slaine Which being computed according to 〈◊〉 Prophets sense agreeth just with the time that Pontius Pilate was Governour in Judea And thus as in the Article before the Virgin Mary was justly mentioned to shew that Christ was the true Messiah by the circumstance of his Discent So in this Article Pontius Pilate is justly mentioned to shew that Christ is the true Messiah by the circumstance of the time And for whose sinne was it then that Christ dyed O my Soule this Question reflects upon thee for amongst others even for thine Thy sinnes were the cause that Christ was Crucified Thy sinnes the cause that Christ Dyed and Alas will be the cause to make him Dye continually if continued that if there bee any sparke of Grace if any life of the Spirit at all in thee thou wilt now at last dye to those sinnes that made him to Dye and every nayle that fastned him to his Crosse will bee a nayle to peirce thy heart But if wee Beleeve that Christ was Dead will wee fix our Beliefe upon a Dead man Can we hope for Life from him who was Dead himselfe Indeed therefore we hope for life from him because he was dead himselfe For if hee had not Dyed we could not have Lived seeing hee therefore Dyed that hee might Redeeme us from Death as it is said of him Thou wast slaine and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud For though hee were now dead yet hee continued not dead long but after three dayes wee shall heare of his rising to life againe and then wee shall heare him say I am hee that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore But howsoever now dead he is and with him is dead all our joy and all our comfort but where is the Lamentation that is made for his death David when he heard Absolon was dead cryed out Oâ— Absolon my Sonne would to God I had dyed for thee my sonne Absolon but where is any now he heares Christ is dead that crieth out O deare Jesus would to God I had dyed for thee most deare Jesus And is it not a grievous thing that David should more lament the death of a wicked Sonne then we should lament the death of the Sonne of God and by whom we are made the Sonnes of God Is it not a shame that a Heathen should say of a Heathen In ignem posita est fletur and that we hearing Christ to be dead should not affoord him so much as a teare Alas it were well if we would floore him but the common office of Humanity to see him Buried but where are they should doe it His friends have all forsaken him Not an Apostle now that will be seen about him even Peter himself that had made such Protestations what great matters he would doe for his sake is slunke away and gone perhaps to looke after the Sheepe committed to his charge never regarding what became of the Shepherd and if it had not beene for one good man the blessed Joseph of Arimathea God knowes what Indignities they might have offered to his Sacred Body being dead who had so vilely abused it being alive But thou blessed Joseph hadst the bâ—lâ—â—esse to begge his Body of Pilate Thoâ— tookest it downe from the â—â—resse Thou wâ—ap'dst it Linnen Cloathes and laid'st it in a Sepulchre where never man was laid that as his Bodie at first came out of a Virgins Wombe so now at last it is laid in a Virgine Tombe thereby perhaps in mysterie to honour Virginity both in Life and Death And thou blessed Joseph for this thy pious Fact shalt live in the memories of men as long as there shall be memories in men and thy name shall bee had in everlasting remembrance It may be thought no great matter what becomes of the Body when the Soule is out of it For lay it where you will or lay it how you will it turnes to Dust and yet I know not how there seemes to
rising seeing hee therefore did rise that hee might be Primitiae resurgentium The first fruits of them that rise but the first Fruits he could not be if others did not rise as well as hee And therefore having beleeved in an Article before that Christ rose from the dead this Article of our own rising is but Ex Abundanti more then needed but that the difficulty of beleeving it requires as it were a double Buttresse to strengthen our Faith There are some perhaps that look for Naturall reasons to prove Demonstratively the Resurrection of the body but is not their expectation very unjust to expect Naturall reasons to prove a thing that is not Naturall If Naturall reasons could be given of it it should be fitter for the Metaphysicks then a Creed and as able to breed a Knowledge as Beliefe Our Reason onely helps us thus farre to make us know there is something left for Beliefe which Reason cannot reach to and of this nature is the Resurrection of the body our Beliefe shall then be turned into knowledge when we shall come to have experience of it in the meane time wee must content our selves with Beleeving it And O my Soule doe thou beleeve it indeed and be most assured that though thy Body leave thee for a time and bee laid in dust and bee turned to dust yet it will not bee long ere it shall rise and bee joyned with thee againe as now it is but in a far happier condition then now it is Not stubborne and restiffe then but tractable and obsequious not earthly and lumpish then but Aery and light and indeed such a body it shall be as thou wouldst wish it to be Not subject to diseases Not weary with labours Not itching with lust Not drowsie with sleep Not hungring after meat and which is most of all where now it takes upon it to be thy Master It shall then be content to be thy servant but such a servant as shall therefore serve thee because thou servest God For it is sowne a Naturall body it shall bee raised up a spirituall Body It is sowne in corruption it shall be raysed in incorruption the same body in substance that now it is but endued with Spirituall and better qualities Many questions are here moved by the Schoolmen as whether the bodies of Abortives which were never borne but dyed in their Mothers wombes shall be partakers of the Resurrection seeing though they never came to see the light yet they had beene once alive and quicke Then whether bodies shall arise of the same age and stature at which they died as Infants at the stature and age of Infants and others at their severall statures and ages Or else shall all rise at a perfect age and stature because of the words of Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians Till we all come unto a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulnes of Christ Then whether bodies shall arise with the same deformities and defects which they had living as Crooked Lame Blinde or otherwise mutilation of Members seeing Christ arose with the same wounds which he received when his body was pierced with the Speare And many such questions moved more out of vaine curiosity then tending to Edification and which perhaps may probabably be argued as having coulours on both sides but can never directly be defined as having warrant on either side Reason may make conjectures of it but Faith will build no certainty on it It may bee sufficient for us to beleeve that the bodies of all men shall rise at the last day and stand at the Tribunall of Christ who shall come from Heaven to judge the Quick and the Dead And now having beleeved the two Articles that properly relate to the Sonne of God Christ Jesus the Forgivenesse of sinnes and the Resurrection of the Bodie It followes fitly to beleeve the Article that properly relates to God the Father The life Everlasting and it followes not onely fitly but very necessarily For if we should not adde the life Everlasting it might be thought that our Resurrection were but like theirs who rose at the time of Christs rising and appeared to many in the Holy City who rose indeede but then died againe at least who can tell what became of them and so our Beliefe should cast Anchor in a very unsafe harbour but now by adding the life Everlasting we make the Resurrection of our Bodies a perpetuity and beleeve they shall rise againe never any more to dy And indeed how can it be otherwise seeing there never was but one sentence of death denounced against man and that sentence once executed by his dying once there is no new sentence of dying any more and therefore the Body being beleeved to be raised from the dead the life Everlasting will bee beleeved of course Death indeede is a debt due to nature and a debt that nature lookes to have payd but yet nature is not so unjust to looke that a debt should be payd her more then once and therefore the body having payd the debt once by dying once if it can get to rise againe and live it will not be then in natures debt any more and therefore cannot naturally dy any more but shall live for ever But why is there no mention made in our Creed of the Immortality of the soule that of this poynt there might be left no scruple for as long as this is in sufpence wee shall necessarily fall into the errour of the Sadduces and never beleeve the Resurrection of the body Is it not that the Immortalitie of the soule is therefore not made an Article of our Creed because it is not so properly credible Per fidem as demonstrable per artem there being so apparent reasons for it that even the Heathen themselves have not denyed it and one of their owne Poets could say Parte tamen meliore mei super acta perennis Astra forar meaning his soule Besides what need is there of mentioning it when it is sufficiently intimated or included rather in these two last Articles For if we beleeve the resurrection of the body we cannot doubt of the Immortality of the soule seeing the body cannot rise without the soule and if we beleeve the life Everlasting we cannot but beleeve the soule to bee Immortall seeing without the soule there can be no life at all And now wee are come to the last Article of our Creed which may well bee the last seeing it brings us to that which is Everlasting And here it may not be unfit to examine a little the extent of this Everlasting life seeing it is not momentary and fading as our present life is but continuing and lasting without having any lâ—st that if we say it shall last a Thousand years if a million of thousand years if so many millions of thousand yeares as there are sands in the sea although an infinite incomprehensible extent of time yet wee shall
mention made of the Virgin Mary Is it not enough to beleeve that Christ was borne of a Virgin but there must be added the Virgin Mary Indeed it is added very justly for by this it appeares that Christ was Descended of the Lynage of David his Mother being of the same Lynage as the Prophets had foretold the true Christ should bee and this is no small strengthening to our Beliefe that Christ is the true Messias But how is it like that Mary was a Virgine when shee had a Husband at least how can wee beleeve shee was a Virgin when shee had a Child Is it not that her Marriage was Inchoate indeed but not Consummate shee was Desponsata but not Nupta shee was not Married And therefore Espoused that there might bee One to take care of her and her Childe when it should be borne But why should her Husband take care of a Childe that was none of his owne might he not rather justly suspect her to have played false with him and therefore rather put her to shame at least put her from him then to take her to him It is indeed a hard matter to make one beleeve that a woman should have a Childe and not accompany with man but as it was the Holy Ghost that wrought the conception of Christ in his Mothers Wombe so it was the Holy Ghost that wrought this Beliefe in the minde of her husband Joseph that the Angell told him true when he said unto him Feare not Joseph to take Mary thy wife For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost And though shee were the Mother of a Childe yet she continued a Virgin still For neither the conception of Christ nor the Birth of Christ did abrogate her Virginitie but rather made her if not a more Virgin at least a pureâ— Virgin then shee was before For such is the purity of Christs Body that it makes all passages the â—urer by which it passeth and therefore it may bee piouslâ— beleeved and without Hyperbole that as she was Virgo ante partum so shee was Virgo in partu and Virgo post partum a Virgin before the Birth and in the Birth and after the Birth for though shee had Purification yet that perhaps was but as Christ had Baptisme to fulfill all righteousnesse And as Christ was conceived of Mary without sinne so Mary was Delivered of Christ without paine for it was but just that she who brought him forth that Freed mankind from the generall Curse should in bringing him forth bee Freed her selfe from the particular Curse laid upon Woman-kind which was That in sorrow they should bring forth Children But if Jesus Christ were Borne of the Virgin Mary how could he be the Sonne of the Virgin foretold by the Prophet Esay For the Sonne of that Virgin was to be called Immanuell and not Jesus where this Sonne of the Virgin Marie was called Jesus and not Immanuell But is it not that Immanuell was not properly meant a Name of Appellation but of Act and then was the Name Acted when the Sonne of God tooke Flesh and was Incarnate For being the Son of God and taking our nature upon him he was God with us and to be God with Us was to be Immanuell Blessed Marie what Tongue can expresse thy Happinesse in thy selfe thy glory in the world to have thy Body nine moneths together be made a Heaven for the Son of God to dwell in to have thy Wombe bee the sacred Bed for the Holy Ghost to overshadow and more then both these to have the Sonne of God to bee thy Sonne and take Flesh of thy Flesh and Bone of thy Bone that all our Affinitie now to Heaven must be attributed to thee that our flesh which was never before without sinne is now made as pure as when it was first made must bee attributed to thee and more then Both these that our Flesh is now exalted up to Heaven must bee attributed to thee that Christ sitteth at the Right hand of his Father to bee our Advocate must be attributed to thee and therefore all Generations shall justly call thee Blessed justly thou mayest say Thy Soule doth magnifie the Lord and thy Spirit rejoyceth in God thy Saviour For if ever Soule had cause to Magnifie the Lord If ever Spirit had cause to rejoyce in God It is Thine It is Thine most Blessed most Glorious and most to bee Admired Marie Suffered under Pontius Pilate After we have Beleeved that Christ was Borne of the Virgin Marie It followes next that we Beleeve Hee suffered under Pontius Pilate But what Suffered as soone as hee was borne Indeed as all of us beginne our life with Crying which is an effect of Suffering and bring this Omen with us into the world of the miseries that are to follow So Christ was more like to doe it then any other who was Vir Dolorum a man of sorrowes all his life long but yet this is not the suffering that is here meant For the suffering heere spoken of was under Pontius Pilate which was not till many yeares after the time of Christs birth Was it then that hee was smitten and buffeted had a Crown of Thornes platted upon his Head was mocked and scourged under Pontius Pilate Great suffrings all yet neither were these the Suffering that is heere meant but as we use to say when men are Executed and put to death that then they suffer so the suffering here meant was his Executing and putting to Death as Christ himselfe calleth it where he saith I have desired to eate this Passeover with you before I suffer which was done also under Pontius Pilate at that time Governour for the Romanes in Hierusalem But though it bee necessary to beleeve that Christ suffered yet why is it necessary to beleeve that he suffered under Pontius Pilate Indeede because there were many afterwards that tooke upon them to be Christ as Christ had fore-told that many should come in his Name saying I am Christ But wee acknowledge none of them to be the true Christ but Him onely that suffered under Pontius Pilate We have here an Example what little good there is in good Intentions if they bee not followed home to their full period for a good Intention in Pilate for want of pursuing cost Christ a scourging more then otherwise perhaps hee should have had for out of a desire to save his life he caused him to bee scourged hoping in a good intention it would have passed with the Jewes for a satisfying punishment but when his scourging would not serve their turnes nor pacifie their malice he then left pursuing his good intention and delivered him into their hands to be put to death Unhappy Pilate that seeking to doe him good didst him hurt and thinking to save his life didst adde a scourging to his death What ill lucke hadst thou to bee a Governour at this time thereby to be made a Minister of so fowle a
be a kind of Honour in being fairely Buried and perhaps besides the Honour a further mystery in it in what place the Body is laid For why else should Joseph be so earnest to have his Bones carried out of Egypt and be brought to Canaan to be buried there But what needes expressing in our Creed that hee was Buried seeing what needes beleeving that he was Buried Our salvation had sufficiently beene wrought by his death though he had not been buried at all and is it not then sufficient that I Beleeve he was Dead unlesse I beleeve also that hee was Buried But seeing our salvation was wrought by his Death It was fit to make the Opinion of his death undoubted and to leave no scruple in the minde about it which could not well bee done but by adding that he was Buried For if he had not beene Buried it might bee thought hee was but in a Traunce and then no great matter to revive againe and so his Resurrection have been sleighted but Buriall is a thing that consummates death and makes men dead though they were not dead before as it is reported of the subtile Schooleman Scotus that falling into a Trance by some Fit of Infirmity he was whether out of Officious or Malitious hastinesse suddenly buried and found afterwards by evident Signes that he was buried alive And therefore to leave no scruple for doubting of the true Death of Christ it was necessary to be added that he was Buried And now that wee have seene Christ Dead and Buried One would thinke there were an end of Articles of Beliefe concerning him and yet there are other behâ—â—de that must bee Beleeved no lesse then thefe and happy it is for us that there are other behind for Alas if our Beliefe should end in his Death and Buriall what hope could we have of benefit by beleeving in him But now Christs humane nature consisting of a Body and a Soule and they being by death parted as that Article tels what being dead became of his Body That it was Buried So this next Article tels what became of his Soule That it Descended into Hell For his Soule is all the He now that in this Article is intended But is this an Article to make us be glad off had we not beene better to have left him at his being dead and lying quietly in his Grave then to bring him afterward to Descend into Hell Not at all For marke the consequence of this Article that if notwithstanding his Buriall wee should bee doubtfull still of the death of Christ For one may bee buried for dead and yet revive againe as Scotus did Yet this Article that now comes in will stricke the matter dead and indeed if there were nothing else in the Article but that it makes us infallibly certaine of his Death It were cause enough for giving it a place in this our Creede seeing there is nothing that requires so great a confirmation as the death of Christ because upon his death it is that the maine work of our Salvation depends and certainely a greater confirmation of his death there cannot bee then this that while his Body was lying in the Grave his Soule descended into Hell For to have the Body in one place and the Soule in another both at once is manifestly and infallibly to bee dead Seeing Death is nothing else but to have the soule and body to be divided But now concerning his descent into Hell It is wonderfull what diversity of opinions there is at this day about it Partly concerning the place and partly concerning the motion First what is meant by Hell and then what is meant by Descending so differing all in the understanding of the words as if they were not all of one language at least had a taint of Babell remaining stil in them Some have thought that by descending into Hell is meant nothing but the extreame sorrowes and torments of soule which Christ suffered in the Garden and on the Crosse but this the time and order of the Articles which hath hitherto been precisely observed will not allow For hee descended not into Hell till after he was dead and buried And besides if this were so it should rather bee said that Hell ascended up to him then that he descended into Hell especially seeing those agonies were violent this descending voluntary those were sufferings this an action Some againe have thought that by Hell is meant the Grave and by descending into Hell his being held under the power of death but this the soule will not allow for the grave is a place but for the body no place for the soule and the soule must have a place to bee in aswell as the body and it is the soule onely that in this Article is intended Some others have thought that by descending into Hell is meant the going of his soule to the place of all just soules after death which is to Paradise but this the manner of the motion will not allow for to Paradise certainly is an ascent and not a descent and therefore most unlikely that ascending into Paradise should bee exprest by descending into Hell For though the Poet Virgil maks amaena vireta Fortunatorum Nemorum sedesque beatas to be a part of Hell yet this is but a Poeticall fixion and not worthy to have place in Divinity which makes it more plaine Christ told Mary Magdalene at his rising that he was not yet ascended to his Father But to go about to meet with Errour in every corner would bee both troublesome and tedious and perhaps not worth the labour It may be sufficient for us to see the truth by it selfe and Rectum est Index sui Obliqui by viewing the right wee shall the better discerne the falsehood The truth â—hen in this Article seâ—mes to bee this That the soule of Christ being pâ—rted from his body descended locally into Hell properly so called though it may seeme strange that having promised the good Thiefe to be this day with him in Paradise he should be this day with the bad Thiefe in Hell and yet not strange seeing the soule is no such slow mover but that it might bee in Hell and Paradise both in one day and lesse strange if it bee true that he meant it perhaps of his Deity and not of his soule And that the soule of Christ did locally descend into Hell may thus appeare The soule though a spirit must yet have a place after its kind to be in 〈◊〉 if not Circumscriptive at least Definitive and the soule of Christ stayed not with his body for then his body should not have been dead no it ascended not up to heaven for this is a contrary motion to descending nor it hovered not about in the ayre for this is but a Fictiâ—n of Poets when they speake of soules departed and what place then remained but onely Hell And if it were not the true Hell into which his soule descended then must the
the Forgivenesse of a sinne which shall never be forgiven For is there not a sinne against the Holy Ghost which shall never bee forgiven either in this world or in the world to come and so my Beleeving will prove a false Beliefe and deceive mee in the end It is true indeed that such a Sinne there is but is it not that the chiefest Ingredient of that sinne is the not-beleeving the Forgivenes of sinnes And therefore hee that truely beleeves this Article is never likely to commit that sinne seeing the beleeving being from the Holy Ghost the sinne against the Holy Ghost can never be committed But is this the uttermost of our beliefe to Beleeve the Forgivenesse of sinnes Is there no place for beleeving the Merit of Workes If there be why hath it not here a place in our Creed Indeede in the Pharisees Creed it might perhaps have a place but in the Penitent Publicanes Creed such as wee professe our selves to be what place can it have seeing all his beliefe is terminated in this O God be mercifull to me a sinner Indeed as Solon amongst all his Lawes made no Law against Parricides not that hee did not thinke them worthy of Punishment but because he thought there would never bee any so unnaturall and therefore thought it not needfull to make a Law against a Non futurum against a fault that was never like to be committed So in our Creede there is no Article of the Merit of good works Not that good works may not Merit but because such Meritorious works are never like to be done by any and therefore not fit to make an Article of a Non futurum of a thing though possible yet not likely or rather so farre from being likely as not being possible And indeed which of the Apostles can we thinke should have been the Author of such an Article Saint John we may be sure would not For he saith plainely If we say wee have no sinne there is no truth in us and where there is sinne there can be no Merit Saint Peter we may be sure would not for though there was a time when hee thought hee could doe wonders of good works and even dye with Christ yet when it cam to the point he was glad to bewaile his infirmitie with teares and to say to Christ when time was Depart from me for I am a sinfull man And Saint Paul wee may well thinke would not For hee professeth directly To glory and rejoyce in nothing but in the Crosse of Christ crucified And for what serves the Crosse of Christ but for the Forgivenesse of sinnes And by the judgement of these Apostles wee may judge of the rest and therefore no defect of our Creed in this but the uttermost bounds of our Beliefe in this point beyond which there is no Plus ultra goes no farther then this to Beleeve the Remission and forgivenesse of sins We may indeed labour we must labour to do good works the best we can but all the Merit of it is but this and it is a great Merit too that we cannot rightly beleeve the Forgivenesse of our sinnes if wee doe not labour not to sinne and doe our endeavour to doe good works O my soule all we have to trust too all we have to hold by is the Forgivenesse of sinnes For these are they that make God angry with us and these forgiven will reconcile him These are the causes why he turnes away his blessed face from us and these forgiven will make his couutenance to shine upon us all Merit must be ascribed to him onely in whom they are forgiven between whose Merit and his Fathers mercy I know not how to distinguish and therefore take them both but as one motive to make me Beleeve the Forgivenesse of sinnes All of us have onely sinne Christ onely hath Merit his Father onely hath Forgivenesse For with him there is mercy and plentious redemption But may not a sinne be forgiven and yet the Penalty be still in arere Was not the sinne of David with Bathsheba forgiven and yet punished afterward by the death of the child that was begotten of her It is true indeed the life of the Child was taken away indeed but this was not properly a punishment for the sinne but a castigation of the sinner to make him the better to resent his sin and to bee the more wary afterward of committing the like Besides it may be thought rather a favour then a punishment to David for in taking away the life of the Childe there was that taken from him which upon his repentance would have beene a perpetuall eye-sore to him if it had lived according to that of St. Paul What fruit have yee of those things whereof yee are now ashamed Withall it was not perhaps without Mystery to shew that the pleasures of sinne never beare but blasted fruits which fall off the tree before they come to ripenesse But at what time is it we beleeve that sinnes may bee forgiven Indeed at all times as long as sinnes may be committed which is all the time that wee are living in this world but if once we be dead as there will be then no more committing of sinne so neither will there be any more forgiving of sinne but where the tree falleth there it will lye But is there not a sinne of which it is said It shall never bee forgiven either in this world or in the world to come And why is this said but because a sinne may bee forgiven in the world to come though it be not forgiven in this world and this perhaps is a cause why some have conceived that in the world to come even the Divels themselves shall bee forgiven But is it not that the Not-forgiving of sins in the world to come is therefore mentioned because in the world to come shall be pronounced the sentence of Not-forgiving and so it is but as to say it shall never be forgiven in this world upon private conviction nor in the world to come upon publicke condemnation For otherwise it is most evident if absolutely a sinne bee not forgiven in this world neither shall it ever bee forgiven in the world to come It is no small impediment to the beliefe of this Article that there are few who thinke they sinne at all but are of the Pharisees mind and their Consciences are as cleare as Chrystall and of those againe that thinke they sinne there are few that know the greatnesse of their sinne but they judge of their sin as of the Moone this little because farre from their sight that little because farre from their thought And of those againe that know the greatnesse of their sinne there are few that say with David I acknowledge my iniquity and my sinne is ever before me For sinne being an unpleasing sight they love not to look upon it more then needs they must while they looke not upon the discase they looke not after the
expresse but a very small part or rather indeed no part at all of it seeing of those how many soever yet they will have an end at last Everlastingnesse never It may best bee exprest by number In abstracto of which when never so many have bin preceding yet never the fewer will bee left behind O the wonderfulnesse of everlastingnesse enough to amaze our apprehension so wonderfull that when wee have wondred as much as we can wee may begin and wonder againe and he that shall stand wondring all his life long yet cannot be thought to have wondred enough Iustly therefore is it made an Article of our Creede seeing it exceeds our capacity it passeth our understanding it transcends our reason onely Faith is apprehensive of it And where is it then that this Everlasting life shall bee led Is it not that of the first thousand years we may perhaps give some account that it shall be led where wee shall reigne with Christ for so Saint John the Evangelist in plaine termes delivers it and Papias a Bishop and a Scholler of Saint Johns who was likely to have learned the meaning of his words affirmes more that it shall be led heere upon earth in all delights and pleasures both of body and minde and indeede most of the ancient Fathers of that Primitive time runne together by a line in this Exposition and yet by the later Fathers is this Opinion cleane exploded and the words of Saint John expounded in a farre differing sense and not without cause for seeing it is truely said that flesh and bloud shal not enter into the kingdom of heaven there is no likelihood that bodily or fleshly pleasures shall ever be allowed to have place in that kingdome Is it then that there shall be a new heaven and a new earth and then this life Everlasting shall be led And it is indeed most likely that as our bodies shall rise though in their old substance yet endued with new qualities So heaven and earth where they are to abide shall suffer the like alteration that so there may bee a correspondence between our bodies and them which could not be if the qualities of heaven and earth were not aswell altered as of our bodies But when is it that this life Everlasting shall beginne Indeed as soone as this momentary life shall end but yet but in part and therefore we beleeve the resurrection of the body first and then the life everlasting after because although the soule in its kind be living still yet till the body rise againe there will be no perfect life and it is not intended that our life should be everlasting in the imperfection of it which is the separation of the soule from the body but that the body rising againe and joyning with the soule it shall then bee everlasting And now my soule consider the difference of our future life from this that is present which shal be so much longer then this as eternity then a moment and so much better then this as happinesse then misery But wherein shall the happinesse of our future life consist For if bodily pleasures be restrained there will want a great part of that which wee now count happinesse Indeed bodily pleasures will be restained but not pleasures of the body but the body being raised up a spirituall body the pleasures also of the body shal be spirituall pleasures And how much the soul is better then the body how much the reason is better then the sense so much shall the pleasures of our future life bee better then the pleasures of our present life and if this doe not sufficiently expresse the difference Remember then how Christ hath exprest it that the pleasures of our future life shall bee such as neither eye hath seene nor eare heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man and by this certainely we may well conceive the infiniteness of the difference But what are these pleasures which eye hath not seene nor eare hath heard Indeed if wee could tell vvee should make Christs vvords but vaine yet in some sort perhaps vvee may conceive them For vvhat eye hath seene the faces of Cherubins in their brightnesse What eare hath heard the melody of Angels in their sweetnesse But which is most of all into what heart of man hath it entred what the glory of the Almighty God is and what joy it will be to us to be admitted into his blessed presence O my soule these are pleasures which if we could apprehend would drive us into extasie at least would raise up our minds from groveling in the base pleasures of this vaine world And who are they that shall bee partakers of this life Everlasting are they onely the godly or as well also the wicked Indeed as well the wicked as the godly but not the wicked so well as the godly For alas the wicked shall live everlastingly indeed if it may bee called life which is infinitely worse then any death to bee in perpetuall torment and paine insufferable Onely the godly shall live everlastingly the life which is onely worthy to bee called life in perpetuall joy and happinesse unspeakable Oh then if our lives shall necessarily bee everlasting and that the happinesse of the everlastingnesse depends upon this moment we now live Let us endeavour to spend our short time so that our everlastingnesse may be in joy and not in misery O my soule be alwaies thinking of this word Never Never shall the torments of the wicked have an end Never shall the joyes of the godly have an end not after a thousand yeares not after a million of yeares not after a million of millions of Ages but Never Never which if wee could apprehend or would but consider it would certainely be a Remora to us and give a stop to all our vaine courses And now having briefly run over these Articles of our Creed we may doe well to consider how happy the Church of God should be if it would content it selfe with these Articles as once it did For then the little Barke of Christ should not bee tossed with so many tempests of Schismes should not be torn with so many rents of Division as now it is but should enjoy the unity of faith in the bond of peace where now while new Articles are dayly obtruded upon our Consciences we seem to be in worse case with Articles of faith then the old Jewes were with the Ceremonies of the Law they overwhelmed with number we with novelty or rather indeed with both FINIS