we now see them and to infer thereupon that being of the same power and efficacy in all other things nothing is impossible nor uncertain of all that which God doth say and promise unto us And therefore as St. James saith Receiving His holy Word by Faith in our Hearts and the Promises which He hath made us to give us Eternal Life we ought to assure our selves of it and take away all fear and apprehension of Death What was the cause of the ruin of us and our Fore-fathers Was it not because they did decline from the Word of God to follow their own Fancies and the Counsel of Satan If then on the contrary we will cleave to it without leaning any jot either to the right hand or to the left we shall live by it and in it Hearken unto Me saith GOD speaking by Isaiah and your Soul shall Live And Zachary in his Song He hath given us a knowledge of Salvation And St. Peter speaking to Jesus Christ Thy Words are Words of Eternal Life If GOD the Prophets and Apostles do assure us that the Word of God received by a true Faith in our Hearts doth there quicken keeping and retaining it What occasion have we then to fear Death Moreover by Faith we dwell in Jesus Christ and have him dwelling in us who having Life in himself as his Father doth quicken us and all those unto whom he doth communicate himself Wherefore then being his Members Flesh of His Flesh and Bone of His Bones in brief being one with him shall we fear Death Hath not He power over it and not only for Himself but also for us He saith S. Cyprian who hath once overcome Death for us will always overcome it in us Hath not he beat down dispossessed chased and spoiled Satan the Prince and Lord of Death Hath not he accomplished the Law and by this perfect Obedience which he hath born to God his Father appeased his Anger satisfied his Will and abolished the malediction of the Law which is nothing else but Death Did not he die to make it die when he rose again Hath not he broken and dissipated all the Torments plucked down the Gates of Hell and triumphed over her and all her Power Say not henceforth faith St. Paul who shall go up into Heaven or who shall descend into the depths for to bring Life unto us For Jesus Christ is dead and risen again from the dead for to deliver us from death and risen again to restore us to Life He is our Pastor and for this Reason we ought not to fear that any Creature should snatch us by Violence out of his Hands or can hinder him from giving us Eternal Life He is our Advocate we ought not then to fear to be overthrown in Judgment nor that by Sentence we should be condemned to death He is our Mediator we need not to fear the Wrath of God He is our Light we not fear Darkness He is our Shadow and our Clouds we ought not then to fear the heat of the Fire Eternal no more than did the Children of Israel the heat of the Sun in the Wilderness being hidden under the Pillar Let us then for these Reasons forsake and cast behind us all Fear of Death which having had no Power nor Advantage over the Head shall have no Power over his Members Again By Faith we have with Jesus Christ God his Father and are allied and joined together with him as he saith by his Prophet I will marry thee if thou wilt promise me thy Faith And Jesus Christ in St. John He that loveth me will keep my word and I and my Father will come and dwell in him For this Reason we are also called his Temples because we are consecrated and dedicated unto him by his Holy Spirit that he should dwell in us Now seeing God is with us we have the Original the Fountain the Cause the Beginning and the Author of Life we have the great Jehovah of whome all things depend by whome all things are and move in whome the Angels Archangels Principalities the Heavens and all the Elements consist we have him from whome all Creatures Visible and Invisible take their Life and their Being by the Participations which they have with him We have him who is the most Perfect and most Soveraign Work-man of all things who by his breath doth quicken and make them to Live and by his power infinite doth preserve them We have to make short Him who only can fatisfie and by his Presence cause that of Life and of all other good things we shall have and think we have enough Shall we then fear Death in such company If as St. Augustine saith God is the Soul of our Soul we cannot die but by being separated from him the which David doth confirm in one of his Psalmes saying Those shall perish O Lord who do depart and go from thee which being considered let us strive only to keep him with us by Faith and Obedience and besides let us take away all the fear which we may have of Death Again by Faith we have the Spirit of God You are not Carnal saith St. Paul writing to the Romans but are Spiritual for who hath not the Spirit of God is none of his And else-where speaking to the Galathians Have you not the Spirit of God by Faith Now this Spirit is the Spirit of Life if God withdraws it from his Creatures they die they perish and come suddenly to nught On the contrary when he pleaseth to send and pour it upon them he raiseth and restoreth them in an instant even as we see a Hen brooding of her Eggs by a secret vertue doth disclose and bring them to Life albeit that before they were without sence or feeling Even so doth the Spirit of God all Creatures by his Divine Power He giveth testimony and doth assure us in our Hearts that we are the Children of God to the end that from him as from our Father by a certain and assured hope we should wait and look for Life He is a pledge unto us for fear lest we should doubt Having therefore such earnest of Life having testimony from him who being the Spirit of Truth cannot lie nor abuse having him himself who is the preserver of all Creatures shall we fear Death It is as much as who should fear the darkness at noon-day the Spirit of him who hath raised again Jesus Christ and who hath up-held him because he should not be overcome of Death being in us will quicken us also saith Saint Paul and will preserve us from it let us then put away all fear of it Faith also causeth that God doth adopt and repute us for his Children you are all Children of God by faith saith St. Paul and St. John he hath given power to all those that shall receive him and believe in his Name to be made the Children of God then being Children we are the Heirs and Co-heirs with
Christian Exortation against the fearc of Death For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead Corin 15 Ch. p 21. TWO DISCOURSES The FIRST A CHRISTIAN'S EXHORTATION Against the FEARS OF DEATH The SECOND A brief and clear Declaration of the Resurrection of the Dead With suitable Meditations and Prayers touching LIFE and DEATH Recommended as proper to be given at Funerals By W. S. LONDON Printed for Tho. Bever at the Hand and Star next to the Middle Temple-Gate near Temple Bar 1690. Price bound 1 Shilling A DISCOURSE Against the Fears of DEATH PLATO said That the Philosophy wherein Man living in this World should principally exercise himself is the Meditation of Death That is to say of his condition in the World frail diseased and mortal of the divers accidents of this humane Life and of the Hour of Death so uncertain and unknown to the end that considering these things he might withdraw his affection and trust from this World that he might despise it and all temporal things wherein he sees and discovers so much inconstancy and such suddain and frequent mutations or changes and that by such a despising of uncertain and casual things he should stir up himself unto a contemplation of those that are Divine and Heavenly and forsaking that which is here perishing and transitory he should choose his part in Heaven and should stay himself at that which is permanent and eternal For the like reason Philip the Father of Alexander the Great a man of good understanding and of very great consideration to the end that in the midst of his great prosperity he should not forget himself in his Duty gave order that one of his Gentlemen should every day at his waking come and speak these words unto him King have in remembrance that thou art a mortal Man Jesus Christ also our Saviour and Master intending the same doth exhort us to Watch and to lay up Treasures in Heaven and not on Earth where all things are uncertain and changeable We see by this that during our Life we cannot do better then to think upon Death and our Body being upon the Earth to accustom our selves to have always our Spirit and Heart in Heaven Now because that the remembrance of Death is a fearful thing to many I have bethought my self to pass away my Griefs and to recreate my self from my other Studies and also to give you a testimony of the Obligation which I think I have towards you as well for the good which you have done unto me as for the Friendship which you bear me to write unto you and to present this small Treatise wherein I have briefly touched certain Points wherewith the Faithful may Arm themselves against Death which he ought to do in time and prepare himself to receive it with assurance at such time as it shall please God to send it for that which doth astonish many is that the coming thereof is suddain unto them and that they are surprized unlooked for We see by experience in a frontier Town that when it is well Victualled and provided of all things necessary to with-stand a long Siege those within are a great deal the more assured and bold whereas if it were unprovided they would stand amazed and tremble with fear if they should chance to see the approaching of the Siege It is easie to judge by that of what importance it is to have prevented a danger and to be prepared for it To provide therefore and arm the Faithful Man against Death we must note that there are two sorts of it the one is temporal of the body which Christians ought to desire the other is eternal of body and Soul which they ought not to fear persevering in the Faith of our Lord. That it is so all Fear pre-supposeth evil and danger we do not fear that which is good but long after desire and pursue it and when it offers it self we receive it joyfully but an evil we apprehend and fear we fly from it and when it happens unto us we sorrow and do complain If then it doth appear by good and evident Proofs that the Faithful Man is not in danger of this second Death may we not then conclude that if we fear it it is foolish and without occasion And surely if we had judgment and never so little Faith it were sufficient presently to take away the fear of it from us For first the proper nature of faith is to animate and quicken our heart so soon as it is received in us The Just saith the Prophet shall live by Faith Now even so as the Body whiles the Soul is in it liveth and dieth not until such time as it be separated from it no more doth the Faithful Man persevering in the Faith which hath been inspired and put into his Heart by the Grace of God Although saith David I should walk in the midst of the shadow of Death I will not fear for Thou art with me O Lord What was the cause of this assurance was it not Faith Armed wherewith we ought no more to fear Death then we do Sickness when we are in perfect health well disposed and in good liking or Poverty when we have plenty and abundance of all good things Secondly By Faith we have remission and an abolition of all the faults which we have done Why do we then fear Death There is no Death where there is no Sin 〈…〉 Death 〈…〉 Paul and elsewhere The Reward of Sin is Death Sin causeth God to be angry with us and that in His Anger He condemneth us to Death Now all Seeds doth bring forth according to their sort and quality The Wheat bringeth forth Wheat and the Rye Rye and we must not hope for any Fruit if there be not Seed before hand This being true and witnessed in a thovsand places of the Scripture that unto a Christian all his Sins and debts are acquitted by the Grace and Mercy of God that they are forgotten that they are covered that they are not imputed and that they are remitted and pardoned that they are cast as far from us as the East from the West provided that there be no more Seed thereof we need not look for any Fruit That is to say if there be no more Sin there is no more anger of God nor of death and by consequent that also there ought to be no more fear Thirdly By Faith we have the Word and the Promises of GOD whereupon it is grounded Among others this Whoso Believeth shall not Die but is passed from Death to Life Now this promise can no more fail than He that gave it us It is Eternal and all that God saith is as sure and permanent as Heaven and Earth For this cause when we look into them we ought in them to consider the vertue and power of this Word by the which they were once Created and ever since preserved and maintained in that estate wherein
to the Joy of the Children of god Unto the Thief it was said This Day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Luk. 23. Joh. 5.6 which cannot be understood of the Body but shews that the faithful Dying makes the passage from Death to Life The which ought only to be understood of the Soul seeing that the Body must first be brought to Earth and that it must put off all Corruption for to rise at the last Day Incorruptible and in Glory Mat. 22. Thus Jesus Christ against the Saduces who denied the Immortality of Souls shews that forasmuch as God calls himself the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob Exod. 3. infallibly the Souls departed do live for he is not the God of those that are dead in such sort that they are no more but he is the God of those that are and that live and doth good to the Posterity of those that are and not of those that are not which cannot be understood but of their Souls seeing their Bodies were returned to the Earth Whereby we see that they deceive themselves greatly that say that their Souls die and vanish with the Body where they Sleep also those likewise who think that they enter into other Bodies Mak 6. Luk. 9. Even the Pagans by natural Apprehensions have believe that the Souls were Immortal a we see that Euripides in the Tragedy which he intituled Hecuba doth declare it when he brings in Polixen speaking to Hecuba and dying saying to her What shall I say to Hectâ— thy Husband who was dead she aâ— swered her tell him that I am the most wretched in the World And in that which he entituled The Supplicant he says The Spirit shall return to Heaven Likewise Pholicides says That the Soul is immortal and living always waxeth not old Pythagoras in his Golden Verses said If when thou hast left the Body thou comest into Heaven thou shalt be as God living always and being no more Mortal Cicero likewise Writes of it in his Book of Friendship and in that which he writ of Age in some sort comforting himself in the hope which he had of the immortality of his Soul We see then that it is a thing most assured that the Soul is immortal as the Lord by his Word which is the Infallible Truth of Heaven doth shew it us And likewise the Pagans how Ignorant soever they were of the true Religion have well understood it Wherefore those that deny the Immortality of Souls accuse God of lying and make themselves in worse estate than the Pagans This Knowledge is a great Consolation to the Faithful in all their Afflictions and doth take from them the fears of Death knowing that their Souls being separated from their Bodies live in Heaven 1 John 2 in which they are admonished not to settle themselves upon the transitory things of this Life and not to load their Souls with the burthen of Sin to the end that dying they may be raised up towards God our Father and Jesus Christ our Saviour unto whom we ought with a stedfast faith to recommend them Now even as the faithful do rejoice at it the unfaithful on the other side knowing the Souls to be immortal are so much the more fearful of Death seeing the eternal pains and torments to be prepared for them at their going forth of this World James 1. 1 Pet. 1.4 So that which serveth to the Elect for Joy and Instruction is unto the wicked nothing but Sorrow and occasion of Despair The Second Point TOuching the Body it is all apparant that it is subject to die as well because that we know that those that were in times past are dead and that we see that those of our time die one after another as principally because that the Lord declares to Adam that by reason of his Sin he with his posterity shall be subject to return into the Earth from whence he was taken Gen. 3. The Apostle says Rom. 5.8.6 That by Man Sin came into the World and by Sin Death and so Death came unto all Men by reason that all have sinned â—nd the reward of Sin is Death whereof the hour is uncertain unto us â—uke 12. Although we are certain â—hat it is the Journey that every man must go by reason that unto them â—ll it is ordained to die once Jos 12. 1 Kings 2 The Scripture is full of Testimonies upon this matter although it be well enough known of all by every days Experience Heb. 9. Job 14. The Pagans themselves without Instruction of the Word of God have well understood that unto Man it is a thing that cannot be avoided as Euripedes shews it in the Tragedie of the Supplicants saying That every part of Man must return from whence it came the Spirit into Heaven the Body into the â—â—â—ih which is the Mother and Nurse thereof Wherefore it is a thing known to all that we must die but now by how much it is easie to believe that necessity to die is imposed upon us by so much is iâ— more difficult to believe that our bodies being returned to dust shall risâ— again And indeed the sensual Maâ—â— cannot comprehend any thing there in neither hath any thought of it as we see that the Pagans never thought of it although that they have disputed of the immortality oâ— Souls But the Man that is regenerate by the Spirit of God doubt not but that the Lord can raise the dead seeing he will have it so and that nothing can hinder his Will Psal 115. For as sayth the Prophet he doth what he will Apoc. 4. We must then fee how the Scripture dotâ— assure us that the Bodies as well oâ— the good as of the wicked shall rise again the first â—o be crowned with Glory the other with perpetual Infamy Dan. 12. For to teach us thâ— Resurrection it compares Death to a â—leep as hath been already said to â—he end we may be certain that as the bodies after they have laboured shall rest by Sleep that they being awaked may with so much more alacrity return to work so when we shall have made an end of this present Life our Bodies shall be brought to the Tomb as in a Bed of rest for to rise again from thence at the latter day and be put into their place Job prophecying of the Resurrection the which he did firmly believe says I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he will stand up at the latter day upon the Earth and although after my Skin this Body shall be devoured by Worms yet with my Flesh shall I see God I shall behold him and my Eyes shall look upon him and none other for me although my Reins are consumed within me Job 14. 19. David foretels the Resurrection of Christ by whom we shall rise again the which was figured by this that Jonas was three days and three nights in the Whales Belly as Jesus Christ himself declares it Johu 2. Mat. 12. The Prophet Isay
have not acknowledged God and who have not obeyed the Gospel of the Lord Mat. 24. Rev. 1. and shall punish them in Body and Soul with eternal perdition in the Face of the Lord 2 Thes 1. and in the Glory of his strength Rom. 2.2 The bodies of those which are dead before shall come out of the Earth Job 5. 1 Thes 4. and of those which shall be found living shall be changed and put on immortality and shall be charged with opprobrious infamy before God and his Saints for he shall make clear the things that are hid and shall manifest the counsels of hearts And then their immortal Soul shall be loaden with fear with sorrow with terrors with grief with desolation and with such despair Mat. 24. Luke 21. that it is impossible for us to comprehend it Mar 13. Rev. 1. Then being in such confusion of Body and Soul the image of Satan their heard shall appear upon them that is to say infidelity iniquity wickedness abomination filthiness hatred cruelty tyranny perjury lying envy and all that is of impiety and unjustice which is the black Roab of the reprobate and even so as the Elect have Christ for their head 1 Cor. 11.12 of whom they are the body unto whom they shall be made alike Eph. 1.5 so likewise the reprobates have Belzebub for theirs Mat. 25. unto whom they shall be made conformable For although that all the Devils are all Apostate Angels nevertheless the Scripture in sundry places attributes the principality to one alone to the end to gather all the wicked unto him as members in one Body for to be put to perpetual ruin Then the wrath and indignation of God shall shew it self clearly upon all the infidelity and unjustice of the unbelievers and execrable 2 Cor. 4. Ephes 2. which shall not be found written in the book of Life Mat. 9.10.12.25 for which they shall receive sentence of Condemnation Mark 3. and being separated from Christ Luk. 11.21 shall be driven from before the presence of the Lord as the dust before the wind Rom. 1.2 Rom. 2. and cast like dogs forth of the City of the Children of God Rev. 21. 17. Rom. 9. and sent with their Captain Satan and his Angles who did accuse the elect before God night and day Psal 1. Isa 17. Rev. 21. 22. in perpetual malediction for to drink of the wine of the wrath of God Rev. 12. Mat. 25. filled into the cup of his wrath and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy Angels and before the Lamb and the smoke of their torments shall mount for ever Rev. 14. 15. 16. and they shall have no rest neither day nor night Now this place of torment for the wicked is so horrible 2 Thes 1. that it is incomprehensible unto us and even as God is eternal also this ruin shall be eternal The Scripture for to declare it unto us useth many comparisons David saith Psal 55. That the wicked shall be cast into the Pit of ruin and of the bottomless Pit Rev. 9. Isa saith Isa 30. That the torture is already prepared for the wicked which God hath made deep and large the Building of it is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like unto a stream of Brimstone doth kindle it Isa 66. then he saith that the worm of the wicked shall not die and therefore shall not be quenched and they shall be hateful to all flesh Daniel sayeth also Dan. 12. That they shall be in perpetual shame and contempt Malachy declares Mal. 4. That the day of the Lord shall come burning like an Oven and all the proud and those that do wickedly shall be like stubble and the day of the Lord shall burn them and shall leave them neither root nor branch St. John Bapist saith Mat. 3. that the chaff shall be put into the fire which shall never be quenched Mat. 3. The Lord saith that they shall be cast into the Furnance of Fire Mat. 25. which is the everlasting Fire Saint Luke sheweth Luc. 16. that the evil rich man whose Soul is in Hell is in such great heat that he greatly desires to have a drop of Water which he shall never be able to get how much more shall he be tormented when he hath put on his body The Apostle saith Heb. s10 that they shall feel a ferventness of fire which shall devour them St. John declareth Rev. 19 20 21. That they shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death For although they shall live yet by reason of these incredible torments they ought rather to be called dead then alive Now although that by all these similitudes it is demonstrated unto us that the damned shall be grievously and everlastingly tormented yet nevertheless man cannot think nor comprehend how great the everlasting sufferings shall be no more then he can comprehend the joy of the Children of God Mat. 9. 1 Cor. 2. Wherefore with good cause the Author to the Hebrews saith Heb. 10. that it is a terrible and fearful thing to fall into the bands of the living God For although that we should see one continually knawed with worms and burnt with fire that torment should notwithstanding be as nothing in regard of that which is prepared for the wicked For besides that their bodies shall be horribly afflicted their souls shall be in incredible distresses and sorrows This ought well to stur us up to watch and pray and to refrain from doing evil and to move us to serve God Rev. 3. Mat. 24. 1 Thes 1. Psal 25. 51. and to desire him with the Prophets and Apostles Jer. 31. to change review and increase our faith that so being made new creatures we may escape this place of torment and be numbred amongst the Sons of God Lamen 5. Cant 1. Luc. 17. Joh. 3. Wis 4. 5. Which the Lord grant for the love of his well beloved Son our Saviour to whom be all honor and glory for ever and ever Amen Prayers and Meditations touching Life and Death Meditation the First THe life of Christians ought to be occupied in considering the things that follow and to put them in practise to wit to have always in remembrance the benefits which they have received at the hands of God to give him thanks for them without ceasing both with heart and mouth to love him who is goodness it self to fear and worship him seeing he is the Almighty and only Wise to be stirred up by the love which they bear to God also to love their Neighbours The love of God draws us from the love of corruptible things lifts us up to Heaven and inflames our hearts to a holiness of life The love of our Neighbour turns us from all troublesomness in will or in deed and doth stir us up to integrity and well doing Another LEt us often think what we are The principal part of us is the Soul the which
is endued with understanding with reason and with judgment to know the soveraign good which is God to love him to adhere and unite our selves unto him that we may have part of his immortality and happiness Now we forsake and contemn this great good for to grovel upon the earth and to go down into the pit of carnal desires applying the vigour of our understanding and judgment to things that are not worth the pains that we employ in them We bury our selves quick of heavenly we become earthly and of men created for eternal life we endeavour as much as in us lieth to set our selves in the rank of brute Beasts God doth not forsake us nevertheless although that our ingratitude hath well deserved it but calls us unto him by his word presents unto us infinite testimonies of his grace continues it daily he supports exhorts counsels chides and fatherly chastiseth us Nevertheless we continue blind deaf and negligent despising his goodness or use it not as we should or indeed abusing it nay which is worse we love vain and transitory things better and have our minds too much fixed and setled upon them God stretcheth forth his hand to conduct us we draw back ours and fly when he calleth us If he put us into the way of salvation we grudge and repine for the world we look behind us deferring and remitting our amendment till to morrow Let us awake then let us not always stick in the mire let us strengthen our selves in the vertue of him that supports and succours us let us a little undertake to despise corruptible things and to desire those that are truly good and everlasting When God calleth us let us hearken if he guids us let us follow him that we may come to his house let us receive his good things and himself too for he gives himself unto us in the person of his Son He shews us the means to get to Heaven let us then desire of him to give us the will and courage by faith repentance charity and hope to aim thither and that he would maintain his grace in us until the end to sigh in this mortal life and to wait through the assurance of his mercy for our departure out of this world and our last day which shall be the beginning of our true life Prayers and Meditations HOW great are the illusions and impostures of the enemy of our salvation He sheweth us afar off things that are ridiculous and vain and perswades us that it is all good and happiness he scares us with things that we ought not to fear and makes us to fly from those things which we ought to imbrace He calleth inticeth and flattereth us by the means of our desires if that will not serve he roars and storms and endeavours to astonish us within and without O eternal Light and Verity O Lord and merciful Father disperse those clouds of ignoranee and error illuminate our understanding and do not suffer us to come near to that which thou hast commanded us to flie from and which is hurtful and pernicious unto us let us not desire but what is truly to be desired to wit thy self who art the spring-head of all goodness of our life and of eternal happiness All flesh is grass and the glory of the man is like the flower of the field cause then that we may seek for our firmness and contentment in the grace which thy Son hath brought us let our life lye hid in him so that at the day of the separation of our souls from our bodies we may find it holy in Heaven waiting with assured rest and joy the happy Resurrection of this flesh in which all corruption infirmity and ignominy being abolished and death being swallowed up of victory we shall live eternally with thee in an incomprehensible happiness in thee by the which thou shall be glorified Maintain then thy Children O Lord in this faith and hope finishing thy work in us until they be altogether with thee for to enjoy the inheritance and the glory which thine only Son hath by his Merit purchased for them Amen Prayer OLord Jesus Christ Creator and Redeemer of Mankind who hast said I am the way the Truth and the Life I do bessech thee by this unspeakable Charity which thou hast shewed in yielding thy self to Death for us that I may never stray any jot from the who art the way nor that I doubt of thy Promises seeing thou art the Truth and dost accomplish that which thou promisest Cause that I may only take pleasure in thee who art the Eternal Life beyond the which there is nothing to be desired neither in Heaven nor Earth Thou hast taught us the true and only way to Salvation because we should not abide erring like stray'd Sheep in the lost ways of this World shewing us clearly that which we ought to believe to do to hope and wherein we ought to yield and settle our selves It is thou that hast given us to understand how cursed we are in Adam and that there is no way to escape from this Perdition in the which we are plunged but by Faith in thee Thou art that true Light which dost appear to those that walk in the desert of this Life and who having drawn us out of the darkness of the spiritual Egypt hast driven away the darkness of our Understanding and dost enlighten us to the end we may tend towards the promised Inheritance which is the Life Everlasting into the which the Unbelievers does not enter but those that have assuredly relied upon thy holy Promises O what a Goodness is it that thou hast vouchsafed to descend from thy Fathers-Bosom and from the Everlasting Throne to the Earth to put on our poor Nature of Master to become Servant to the end that by thy Doctrine thou mightest do away the darkness of our Ignorance to guide our feet into the way of Peace and to make plain the way of Salvation unto us which if we follow we cannot stray nor wax weary seeing that thy Grace and Power do accompany us therein all the days of our Life Moreover by thy Spirit thou dost strengthen us in it and double our Courage Thy word is Bread which nourisheth us therein thy promise is the staff which upholds us Thou thy self by thy secret and incomprehensible vertue dost bear and maintain us in it in an admirable manner to the end that both in fair and foul weather we may walk with all Alacrity unto thee And as in preserving us thou hinderest that we do not fall into the snares of Satan and the World also seeing thou art the Truth thou takest away all doubts scruples and mistrusts which may trouble and let us or turn us during our course thou causest us to behold the supernal Vocation the misery and vanity of the World the frailty of this present Life the Gate of Death and the most happy Life which is beyond that And as thou art
to pass it did ever miscarry when the Children of Israel did fear at the passage of the Red-Sea Moses did shew unto them that if they would trust in God they should see his Glory and Power which they did see passing safely through the midst of the danger where their Enemies did perish So shall all the Faithful through the straights of Death provided that they commend themselves to God and do only set their trust upon him They being in the Desarts although they were bitten by the Serpents yet were they preserved from the danger in looking upon him that Mofes had caused to be erected So also although the cursed and envious Serpent hath tainted us with his Venom yet shall we not die if by faith we look upon Jesus Christ Crucisied Let Death come let it take us let it bind us yet shall we break the bonds as easily as did Sampson those of the Philistines his Enemies let it swallow and devour us as the Whale did Jonas yet shall it fain to disgorge and cast us up again if in the midst of the depth we do remember God and call upon him Let it bury us as it once did Jesus Christ yet shall we rise again as he did and it shall be impossible for this Tyrant to retain us under his Power After having shewed how we should arm our selves against the apprehensions of Eternal Death Let us also shew that we ought not only not to fear the temporal but also desire it and when it pleaseth God to send it unto us to thank him for it to rejoice at it to embrace it and to sing for Joy whether it be that we behold the Misery the Mishaps and evils of this Life from which it doth deliver us or else the joy and contentment of eternal Life whereto it doth bring us As for the poverties miseries incertitudes accidents and mutabilities of this Life not only the Scripture but also diverse wise and great Philosophers doth shew them unto us And there is one amongst them who declaring the Original of the Greek Phrase signifying Life sayeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is that Life hath been so called of the Greeks because of the violence of the assaults excess pains and out-rages which therein we suffer which are innumerable both in Body and Soul Our Bodies are subject to cold to heat to hunger to thirst to time to age and to so many Diseases that there is no part but hath his particular infirmity The feet are subject unto the gouts the belly unto gripings the sides to pleurisies the stomach to rawness the lungs to the cough the head to a thousand Diseases we need but a spider or other little worm to kill us we need but a hair or a crum to strangle us in sum the flesh with all its strength is nothing else but grass Is it to day green and pleasant let but the Sithe pass it will cut down a thousand leaves at once which in an hour will be drie and withered The Greeks do call the body of Man in their Language Soma and Demas whereof the one is taken from a phrase which signifieth to bind and the other comes near to that which signifieth Sepulchre for to shew unto us in what estate and disposition soever he be he doth represent rather Death unto us than Life and Servitude than Liberty As for the Soul it is first subject to all the evils and diseases of the body for it is unpossible if that be ill but that for the conjunction and amity which is between them it must endure and feel pain Moreover she hath her own distempers as ignorance sin mistrust suspicion jealousie hatred envy love lust ambition and passions the which as tormentors do hale her the one one way the other another as if they would pull it to pieces I leave a million of importunities which she hath and which man taketh to attain to his purposes to live in rest and at ease to be in honour to maintain his alliances and friendships to beware of his Enemies to encrease his House to amintain and keep it in its greatness the which do torment us oft-times in such sort that we can neither eat or sleep at ease And we must not think that there is any estate exempt from this misery begin at the highest Prince or Emperour that ever was in the World and so discoursing descend to the poorest begger that ever the Earth did bear and you shall not find one content neither the Artificer nor the Merchant nor the Advocate nor the Gentleman nor the Duke nor the King enter into their closets there you shall often find them as said Menander laid upon their Beds with a mournful Voice and pitiful crying Alas alas Valeri IX speaketh of a King unto whom the Scepter and Diadem were offered before he put it on his head he took it in his hands then having looked long upon it he cryed out O Diadem if one knew the miseries and incumbrances which thou doest bring there is no man that finding thee upon the ground would once take thee up shewing by that exclamation that the Life of Kings is less happy than that of private Persons Tyberius Caesar under whom Christ was crucified and who commanded that he should be worshipped as a God also as Tertullian records it after the Death of Augustus his Predecessour who by will had left him Heir as well of his Goods as of the Empire which being offered him by the Senate according to custom doubted a great while whether he might accept of it by reason of the fear that he had of the weight of this charge and of the pain that he was to suffer in the undergoing of it Dioclesian after he had held the Empire some twenty years left it of his own accord and chose for the rest of his time to live a peaceable and domestical Life wherein after the great agitations and storms of trouble which he had during the time of his Government he found the rest to be so sweet and pleasing and his mind so contented and freed that many times amongst his familiars he did witness that the time had never seemed so good to him nor his Sun-shine days so pleasant shewing by these words how he did abhor the Imperial Life although that few Emperors before or after him had had such Honours in Victories and other prosperities as he had These Examples do sufficiently shew that the Life of Kings is not so happy as some men sometimes esteem them more by errour than by reason and they are far from being at quiet and without trouble For by how much a Tree is planted and seated in a higher place by so much the more is it subject to the wind so also are the great men more than the commons to divers fortunes and accidents the Thunder-bolts and the Tempests fall ordinarily in high places so do the greatest misfortunes upon Men of state and renown And if in this
in the desert that they had lost the Quails and Flesh pots of Egypt But we in Heaven at the first taste of the meats which there shall be served us shall loose then all appetite to the Pleasures of this World We have hear eaten of the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil against the Command of the Physitian Whereupon followed the Sickness and Death of all But in the Kingdom of God and of Paradise we shall eat of the Fruit of the Tree of Life which shall always keep us young and fresh and which is more will make us incorruptible and immortal This is that which we shall taste what then shall we smell A Hall of Perfumes the Garments of the Bride and the Bridegroom perfumed with all odoriferous and fragrant things It shall be then that he Church shall Triumph and that the Vine being blossom'd shall give such a pleasant odour that the whole Heavens shall be filled with it There shall be no stink for there shall be no Corruption we shall there plainly smell the sweetness of the Sacrifice which Jesus Christ made for us on Earth so great and pleasant that the Father for the Pleasure which he took in it was reconciled with the world and his anger towards us hath been appeased What a pleasant Sacrifice and precious Incense is also the praises of the Saints who with one accord do glorifie God and sanctifie his holy Name More over what an odour gives that fair flower sprung from the root and sap of Jess now that it is in its force and strength To conclude we cannot miss then to smell good odours for our Winter shall then be past and we shall be in a perpetual spring time where in all things shall grow and flourish for the Delectation and Pleasures 〈◊〉 the Church For to satisfie our dâ—sire and content all our affection we shall touch no more neither shat we be touched of any thing that mâ— hurt us We shall be gathered up by Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour who will come at the entrance to receive us saying Come hither faithful Servant thou hast served me faithfully in the World while thou hast been in the World enter now into the Joy and rest of the Lord. He will kiss and embrace us and will keep us near to his Person without suffering us to depart or go far from it Now if the greatest good and that unto the which all others are referred be this felicity which doth consist in a possession and enjoying of all good to the contentment of our Will and of all our senses with what a desire should we wait for Death by the which we attain it Moreover Death doth deliver us out of all dangers In this World night and day within and without we are always in fear of peril Our Life is a cruel and bloody War we have a great many Enemies that invade us continually and do assay by all means to destroy us The Devils Watch for us and cease not compassing about like devouring Lyons and as ravening Wolves to see whether they cannot surprize us and carry us away the World sometimes by enticings and allurements some time by threats and violence endeavours to try and turn us out of the right way Our Flesh on the other side doth flatter us and the better to undermine us with great cunning doth propound and lay before us things wherein we have most delight It weepeth also sometimes to stir us up to pity it all to the intent towin us and cause us in all points to yield unto it and that it may master us Now if we consider our infirmity our stupidity and negligence the little wariness and watchfulness that is in us we may judge in what danger we live It is impossible that we should live in this World among so many that are infected and that with so great a Contagion without falling often into Sickness Is it possible that we should so often grapple with such strong and mighty Enemies without being sometimes staggered and over-thrown Is it possible that we should go in such durty and muddy ways without being defiled We see it in good Saints of old time who could not govern themselves so well but the serpent who always dogs us at the heels hath reached them with his venom but that they have fallen in divers faults some in incredulity others in idolatry others in adultery others in excess and drunkenness others in murthers there is none of them but hath his fall yea sometimes so great and heavy that they had been altogether bruised if God had not upheld them with his hand Ought not we then follow the example of St. Paul and as he did cry Who shall deliver us from these dangers wherein wherein we live while our Soul is in this miserable and mortal body Let us confess that it is our gain and profit for to die that by death we may be fully delivered from all mortal things Again death put us in full possession of all the promises of God and of those good things which Jesus Christ hath purchased for us and that we hope for him He in dying hath freed us and purchased our liberty and nevertheless we see our selves still in great scrvitude We are Kings Lords Judges hers of God co-heirs with Jesus Christ the Prince of Heaven and Earth yet it seems not so while we live this World for there we are beaten and used like servants like children under age we have as yet no use nor managing of our goods Kings and great Lords tho' we be we are often in such necessity that we have neither Bread to eat nor Water to drink nor Wool to cover us Moreover Jesus Christ hath purchased for us the Grace of God a perfect Justice life Eternal an immortal Incorruption glory and vertue to our Bodies and to our Souls an assured peace and quietness a joy and a contentment but this good hath not yet been delivered unto us for oftentimes we experiment the Wrath and Judgment of God we seel the concupiscences and vicious desires of our flesh In our bodies their is Corruption Mortality and Weakness and in our spirit Troubles Anguish and as it were a studious and intestine war between our good and bad desires which fight the one against the other and because these evils are more grievous so are the abovesaid goods more great and more to be desired If then altho' they be already purchased for us and that they be ours we nevertheless cannot come to the possession of them but by death are not we for this reason much bound unto it Ought not we to love and desire it The children of Israel being arrived at the River of Jordan seeing on the other side thereof the fruitful Land which god had promised them and that being passed they should begin to enjoy it and to rest had they not great cause to rejoyce and to pass the River with great alacrity And why
never took a Medicine of such great force nor which wrought better It is a great shame that these Pagans in their Ignorance and Infidelity seem to be better instructed and more vertuous then we are for we fear Death and flie from it as an evil thing and they hold and esteem it as an incomperable good Epaminondas at the hour of his Death perceiving his Friends about his Bed weeping comforted them saying Rejoice O my Friends for your Friend Epaminondas is going to begin to Live Is Death then an Evil which hath nothing else of that which we esteem Death but the Name and Reputation for indeed it is a Life Also is this life a good which hath but the Name of it for in effect it is a very Death Both the one and the other as saith Saint John Chrysostom is masked and have both false Faces Life which is so evil favoured hath the fair which maketh it to be feared and hated When it presents it self unto us so mask'd at the first it seems fearful but if we put up the mask we shall find it underneath so fair and Beautiful that presently we shall be inflamed with the Love of it Let us then take away this vain fear of Death let us believe that which is true that it is the greatest good that can happen unto us That which anciently Apollo answered to Pindar being questioned what thing he did esteem the most healthful and profitable to Man To die answered he It is said of Cleobis and Biton that God would recompence them for their piety and obedience and respect which they had born towards their Mother Now having given them leave to demand what they would they referred themselves to his Judgment as knowing best what is most profitable and necessary for us then our selves What came of it The same day they died Whereby did appear that there is nothing more profitable unto man than Death by the which we are led into a place of pleasure where we begin to live In the Old Time the Sepulchres were built in Gardens which was done not only for to bring into our minds our end in taking off our Pleasures and Delights and by that means to moderate them but also for to instruct us that Death is a Guide to Pleasure and Paradise and is as a passage for to enter into a pleasant Orchard it is the reason for the which at Athens when they buried the dead Bodies they turned their Faces towards the East and not towards the West to shew that in death our Life and Light begins Why do we put our Bodies in Sepulchres as in Chests if it be not to shew that they are not lost but layed up as precious Vessels of the Holy Ghost and that in time they shall be taken forth and shall be put into Light for the Decoration of the House of their Lord. These things considered let us take away all fear and apprehension of Death let us rejoice and sing as do the Swans when they are near their Death Let us say with David Lord I have been glad when it hath been said unto me Go to let us go into the House of our Lord. It remains now before we end this present Treatise to shew how we should behave our selves at the death of our Friends and how to mittigate the Sorrows which we conceive for them which to do we must consider that which followeth First the unavoidable necessity of all Men the which cannot be remedied neither by Counsel nor any other means David having a regard thereunto did comfort himself after the death of his little Child for whom he had we pt and prayed so much during his Sickness when there was yet some hope to impetrate of God by humble Prayers that he would restore him to Health but when he saw that it was too late that all Tears were now vain and unprofitable he left his Mourning and began to rejoice Jesus Christ saith that every day hath Afflictions enough o it self to trouble us without heaping on those of others either of those that are gone renuing it by the remembrance of them or of those which are to come anticipating by Fear and Cunjecture This is an Instruction most necessary and which we ought all to take for the rest and tranquility of our Minds Secondly we must consider when our Friends die that it is the Will of God which doth nor ordaineth nothing but for the good of his Children as saith St. Paul to those that are loved of God all things succeed and turn to their Profit If we do not believe that we are Unbelievers if we believe it we ought not to grieve for any thing that befals us for all is profitable to us Now there is no great reason that we should hide us from our Profit The Soveraign Wisdom of God is the Cause that there is nothing better done than that which he doth and his Goodness that there is nothing better If there be nothing better nor better done than that which he ordaineth and disposeth and he disposeth of us and of our Affairs and generally of all that which happeneth unto us why do we sorrow why do we desire any thing else For we cannot have any thing that is better why do we complain For all is well and cannot be better done We must thirdly think that to dye is a thing general and common to all We pass and fly away as doth the water of a Brook and it is an act and stature of our God that we must dye all if then that happen unto us which is common to all is it not a great Folly and Pride in us to desire to be exempt from the common condition and to wish for a Particular What are we the vvorse that our Friends are Dead so do those of our Neighbours die Menander Writing to a Friend of his to comfort him alleadged this reason unto him Thou shouldst have saith he just occasion to grieve if thy fortune and destiny were worse than other Mens but if it be alike why dost thou complain There are more that if we would diligently consider and make an entire comparison between us and others we should find there are an iufinite many worse fortuned than we are And that is true which Anaxagoras said as reporteth Valerius That if it were possible to assemble all the Miseries of the World on a heap and afterwards to part them by equal Portions there is not he but would rather chuse his own than his part of the whole Heap Seeing that we are not alone losing our Friends and that if we will look into it we shall find that there are enough more ill at Ease than we Let us content our selves that so it pleaseth God and let us not desire Immortal Friends where we see those of others to be but Mortal Again let us think that it is a natural thing to die as it is for winter to be cold and summer hot Our bodies
happiness to die Others say he was so honest a Man therefore is it that God took him as he did Enock for fear lest by the Malice and Corruption of this Age he should change When the Fruit is ripe must it not be gathered for fear lest it should rot on the Tree Others say be died in the prime of his Age by so much the happier is he for as said Anacharsis That Ship is happiest which arriveth first at the Port. Moreover there is no certain time determined for all Men to die But as we see in Fruit time some are gathered sooner than the others so is it amongst Men. There are some also that say we must honour the Dead by mourning for them falling into the superstition of the Jews who holding his opinion did hire certain Singers and Musitians to sing pitiful and funeral Songs for the Death of their Friends which Jesus Christ did reprove in the House of the Prince of the Synagogue and not without cause for it is not good in praise o a Body to mourn for it Complaints and Tears are rather signs of Misery than any thing else We do not now weep for the holy Martyrs which yet we should do if in Tears there did consist any Honour but we honour them by a remembrance of them with blessing and thanksgiving and by Pain and Study we endeavour to follow them If likewise we have a Friend whom we will honour after his Death it must not be with Tears and Lamentations but rather by an honourable mansion which we are to make of him and of his Vertues and by a desire which we have to imitate and follow his good and laudable course of Life It is time to conclude this present Treatise and to resolve on the precedent Reasons that we must neither fear nor fly Death but rather love and desire it more than Life and prefer the day of our Death before the day of our Birth for by our Birth we come to Pain and Affliction and dying we go to God and to perpetual rest Let us then strictly examine them and judge of them that we may take away the fear of the one and the excessive love of the other God through his holy Spirit give us the Grace to do it So be it A Clear Declaration Of the RESURRECTION Of the DEAD FOrasmuch as in all times there have been some who have mocked at the Resurrection and have utterly denied it Mat. 12. Acts 17. 1 Cor. 15. It is not without good Cause that the Apostle St. Paul doth so carefully teach us that the Dead shall rise again for even as the Knowledge doth bring unto us a Soveraign Joy and Consolation and doth give us a Will and Affection to follow unto the end JESUS CHRIST our Head and Spouse to be Crowned with him with that Eternal Beatitude which God hath prepared for his Children Mat. 25. So also those that are not assured of the Resurrection which is the Foundation of our Religion are less affectionate to follow the Lord and to give themselves to Piety and Justice And we must not doubt but the wicked who abandon themselves to all impiety against God and who without remorse of Conscience do exercise all sorts of Wickedness against their Neighbours they do it so much the more freely as to perswade themselves that if they escape the Judgment and Punishment of Men they shall hear nothing of it after this Life For seeing that to avoid only the vengeance of the Magistrate in this World they hide as much as they can their iniquities and give such good Colours to their mis-deeds as possibly they can that they may not be convicted Wicked how much more do you think they would be bridled from doing Evil if they were perswaded that although their Bodies die yet their Souls shall remain Immortal and shall endure the Judgment of God which it hath deserved and that one day their Bodies shall rise again that both Body and Soul may be Eternally tormented in Hell Heb. 10. by the Judgement of God so horrible and fearful Heb. 10. whereupon we may see how necessary it is to know that the Dead shall rise again this Doctrine being the principal upholder of Christian Religion of which if a Man be not altogether perswaded all is nothing And it is impossible to persevere amongst so many Difficulties and Afflictions which are daily present at the serving of the Lord For if the hope of the Resurrection were not we should be the most miserable of the Earth Cor. 15. seeing that in this World the Faithful are ordinarily more afflicted than the Infidels but our Consolation is the Promise of Jesus Christ that although the World shall rejoice for a time and that we shall weep Joh. 16. Rom. 8. Psal 37. and 73. the time will come that our Head will visit us and rejoice our Hearts with a Joy that shall never be taken from us Now for to understand this Article of Faith we must well consider these three Points First we must know whether the Soul now dieth with the Body or no. Secondly Whether the Body returns so to the Earth that it cannot â—ise again Thirdly If it doth rise who is â—t doth raise it and in what estate it shall be when risen The first Point AS for the first Part. The Lord for to declare unto us the Immortality of Souls compares Death â—o the Sleep of Man and saith that those that are dead sleep assuring us that even so as when the Body doth sleep the Soul doth not sleep as appears by so many Dreams which Men have that also although the Body shall be put into the Sepulcher as in a place of Sleep nevertheless the Immortal Soul shall be gathered and assembled in its place from whence it shall come again at the day of Judgment to put on her Body that therein she may enjoy the happy Life or suffer Eternal Punishment Rom. 2. Mat. 25. Luk. 8. The Apostle speaking of the Daughter of Icairus whom the Lord did raise again saith That the Spirit did return into her shewing that it was not dead like the Body but only that she was gone to the Place from the which by the Commandment of Jesus Christ she came again to re-enter into her Body as also that of Lazarus of Bethleem Joh. 11. For ever so as the Body doth return to the Earth from whence it was taken so the Spirit doth return to God who gave it The same Evangelist declares that the Soul of Lazarus lives in Heaven and that of the evil Rich Man in Hell Luc. 16. And the Lord dying to shew that the Soul was not subject to Death as the Body did recommend his Soul to his Father Luk. 22. Act. 7. Saint Steven the first Martyr recommended his to Christ Saint Paul desired to be dissolved and to be with Jesus Phil. 1. knowing that after his Soul should be delivered out of the Prison of his Body it should go
in the 26. Chap. speaking of the Elect saith unto the Lord with Faith Thy dead shall live and rise again with my Body Awake and rejoice ye Inhabitants of the dust for thy dew is as the dew of the Fields and the Earth shall cast forth the dead The Lord willing to assure his People Israel that delivering them from the Captivity of Babylon he would bring them back into the Land which he had given them he said unto them in a Vision by the Prophet Ezek. 37. that as certain as the dead shall rise so certainly will he deliver them from the Captivity of the Babylonians for to set them in Peace in their own Land Danie saith that those that sleep in the dust shall wake some to Eternal Life and others to perpetual shame and Infamy and those which have been wise shall shine as the Brightness of the Firmament and those which do perswade Man to Righteousness shall be as Stars for ever and ever Dan. 12. Jesus Christ shews the Saduces that the dead shall rise again because that God is their God Mat. 28. In St. John Chap. 6. he saith that the will of his Father who sent him is that he shall lose nothing of all that he hath given him but that he shall raise it up at the larter day The Apostle declares that Christ is risen again for our Justification Then he saith that even as we die in Adam so we shall rise again and shall be quickened in Christ Rom. 4.5.6 1 Cor. 15. For seeing that he who is the Life when he was put into the Tomb thereby made many to rise again by much more reason now being risen again and glorified will he raise us again John 19. Psal 36. Mat. 27. In like manner he declares That he that believes Jesus is dead and risen again of which we have the surest Testimonies ought by the same parity of Reason to believe that God will bring from the Grave those that sleep in Jesus who shall from thence forth ever live with the Lord wherefore says St. Paul comfort one another with these Words that is let this be your Consolation in the midst of all your Trials Afflictions and Troubles upon Earth that they cannor last long but must end with your Life when you shall descend into the Grave where you shall not long remain but the same Power that raised your Blessed Redeemer from thence shall have the same effect on you and likewise raise you from the Dead and you shall be joined with Christ your Head and live with him in everlasting Glory this is the very sum of our Christian Profession and the highest point of our Faith All humane wisdom which is folly before God Mat. 24.25 cannot perswade themselves that the bodies which are returned into dust can rise again 1 Cor. 15. Phil. 7. nor those which have been burned whereof the ashes have been dispersed with the winds 2 Cor. 5. Acts 2.4 nor those which have been devoured by birds and by beasts and digested and reduced to dung 1 Thess 1. nor those which have perished in the waters which have been food for fishes 1 Pet. 1. 1 Cor. 1. But the Lord by that which he had done before plainly sheweth that hereafter it shall be very easie for him to do what he will with our bodies for seeing he hath made all things of nothing can he not make that to return to life which hath already been Gen. 1. Psal 33. Gen. 1. And as he made man first of the Earth can he not as well make him to rise again from it Gen. 1. in the beginning the Earth was so obedient unto him that when he commanded it to bring forth the bud of the herbs that beareth seed and the fructifying tree and the living creature beasts worms c. It of it self immediately brings forth that which before had never been how much more easily by the commandment of God may it restore many which have already been and shall be returned into it John 11. We see that although that Lazarus of Bethania had already been three days in the Earth and nevertheless when the Lord commanded him to come out of the Earth presently it was done He himself also rose again from the Earth the third day for to assure us that he will raise us again Mat. 28. Apoc. 1. for as death could not overcome Jesus Christ but that he is risen so shall it not be able to hinder his members from rising again because that he hath as much power over the dead as over the living Rom. 14. Gal. 1. 1 Thess 1.4 If God hath raised the head it followeth that he will also raise the body which we are if we believe When we consider that he did hinder the so hot burning furnace from doing any hurt to Sidrake Misake and Abednego Eph. 4. Dan. 3. we shall not find it an impossible thing to God to make them rise again which have been buried that they may be reunited unto their Souls And he that shut the Lyons Jaws because they should do no harm to Daniel Dan. 6. shall be able to raise those again which have been devoured And he commanded the fish to cast up Jonas Jon. 2. also can be easily cause that the Sea shall obey him when he shall command it to cast up his dead In brief the faithful cannot doubt of his Resurrection knowing that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers nor things present Rom. 8. nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature can separate him from the love which God beareth in him in Jesus Christ our Lord Revel 20. For also the Sea must cast up those dead bodies which are in it and death and the Grave those which are in them for as much as the Lord hath the keys of the Grave and of death having power over them Rev. 1. Moreover God cannot be true nor truly wise nor Almighty nor Just if he doth not raise the dead and by consequence cannot be God And so who denyeth the Resurrection denyeth also that there is a God for seeing by his Word he promiseth to raise up the dead if he do it not he is not true And seeing that he declares that he will have it if he doth it not it follows that it is for want of knowledge and of power and so shall neither be truly wise nor Almighty Also he shall not be just if he doth not render to every one that which he promiseth him for the Author to the Hebrews saying that God is saith also that he is a rewarder of those that seek him Heb. 11. Mat. 10. Marc. 8. Luc. 9 Now in this world the children of God have nothing but afflictions every day being set out for a shew as men condemned to death and being made a spectacle to the world to the Angels and to men Cor. 4. John 16. As our Saviour also saith to his disciples You shall weep and lament
shall give us He himself in that place sheweth us that he speaks not that but only to shew us that although our bodies shall rise in the same substance which now they have they shall notwithstanding be changed in quality and glory seeing that this corruption most put on incorruption and that this mortality shall be swallowed up of life and put on immortality 1 Cor. 15. declaring that they shall be these self same bodies in substance but divers in qualities St. Paul saith Phil. 3. Christ will transform this vile body that it may be made like unto his glorious boâ—y according to the power by which he is able to make all things subject unto himself Mat. 27. Whereon followeth that as Jesus Christ rose again in the same body which was crucified for us being cleansed and discharged of all infirmity Luke 24. John 20. also we shall rise again in the same bodies which now we have in this world having in them cold heat hunger and thrist poverty sickness banishment imprisonment and such like adversities Heb. 10. 11. being cleansed and disrobed of all that which by sin did cause us any grief for Justice of God cannot consist without remunerating the bodies of those that have sought for his glory in crowning his graces in them and punishing those which have laboured to offend him Moreover we see that those which the Prophets and Apostles and Jesus Christ himself have raised again Mat. 27. it hath been in the self same bodies in the which the had lived before Who doubts but those that rose again at the death of our Lord did rise in the self same hodies which they had before for otherwise how should they have been known by those to whom they did appear The Apostles puts us out of doubt of it saying 1 Cor. 15. That if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead doth dwell in us he that hath raised up Christ from the dead will also quicken our mortal bodies because his spirit dwelleth in us he saith more over that the body which is sown in corruption shall rise again in incorruption It is sown in dishonour it shall rise again in glory it is sown in weakness it shall rise again in power it is sown a sensual body it shall rise a spiritual body Wherefore we ought to believe that the bodies which now we have shall be the self same which shall rise again in the same substance but the earthly qualities shall be changed into heavenly which is no small consolation seeing that we love our bodies so much although that in this world they be laden with so many miseries The Third point AS concerning the Authour of the Resurrection the Scripture doth declare unto us that God the Father in the beginning made man by his word Gen. 1. 2. which is his son John 1. and having made his body breathed into him a living soul by his spirit Gen. 2. Psal 33. so in the Resurrection of the dead 2 Cor. 4. he shall raise us again by his Son in a quickning spirit And when the Son of justice shall come in judgment for to judge the quick and the dead Mal. 4. the Sun shall wax dark Revel 1. and the Moon shall not yield her light 2 Tim. 4. and the brightness of the Stars shall be seen no more then if they were fallen from Heaven and the vertues which are in the Heavens as the Stars Mat. 24. the Planets and other coelestial creatures with Heaven and Earth shall be shaken Luke 21. Revel 6. then the Sea and her waves shall roar after an unaccustomed manner 2 Pet. 3. and when the order of nature shall be changed those shall be signs of the coming of the Son of man Mat. 16. And when that Jesus Christ the Son of God shall come who took humane nature upon him in the Virgins womb Luke 1. Acts 1. he shall come in the same body wherewith he did converse here below upon the Earth before and after his death as he himself declares calling himself the Son of man sent of God his Father Mat. 24. Mark 13. who gave him power to do judgment in so much as he is the Son of man Luke 24. John 5. set above the clouds at the right hand of the power of God Mark 16.24 1 Thess 4. accompanied with the voices of Archangels and of Angels with Gods Trumpets Rev. 1. and all eyes shall behold him Mat. 24. for he will cause his sign to appear in Heaven 1 Cor. 15. and his voice to be heard the which at the last trump shall be heard of those that have been put into the Sepulchres to the end that first they may rise again 1 Thess 4. and those which shall be found living shall hear it also to the end they may be translated which unto them shall be a kind of death being changed from mortal and corruptible to immortall and incorruptible bodies 1 Cor. 35. and shall rise again and shall be changed in a moment and twinckling of an eye This day shall not surprise the elect that are in the light because it shall be the day which they have so long waited for and wished with the other creatures 1 Thes 5. 1 John 1 for to those who have overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb 1 Cor. 1. and by the word of their testimony Rom. 8. and have not loved their lives to death 1 John 2.4.8.5 it shall bring unto them an unspeakable joy Rev. 12.21 making them lift up their heads aloft seeing their perfect deliverance come For their Saviour shall send his Angels with great sound of Trumpets to gather them together Esay 35. how far in sunder soever they be from the four winds Zach. 9. from the end of the earth to the end of heaven Luc. 22. Rom. 8. and then they shall be altogether caught within the clouds to meet the Lord in the Air 2 Thes 4. for to be joyned with their head as members of his body and shall be always with him who will separate them from the reprobates as the Shepheard doth the Sheep from the Goates Mat. 25. to put them both in body and soul in full possession of the everlasting heritage and happiness by them so long hoped for The Estate of the Elect that are Risen again THen their bodies which shall be risen again in triumph shall be changed not in substance but in quality being discharged of the earthly heaviness for to be made spiritual bodies 1 Cor. 15. to the end to be fit for the heavenly habitation where they have no need of meats which do corrupt Rev. 7. for they shall be no more hungry nor thirsty and they shall dye no more but shall use the heavenly food which is the word of God Luc. 20. they shall also be delivered from the bondage of sin for to serve evermore to Justice For these are the two principal things which hinder man from beholding the face of God this heavy earthly body
this true Life even in this World thou dost quicken by thy Truth us that are poor wretched and dead in Sin thou dost augment that life by the Ministry and Efficacy of thy holy Gospel and dost confirm it by the use of the Sacraments which thou hast established to confirm the Faith of those that are thine until that our Corruption and what we have in mortality in us being abolished by the Resurrection we shall be and live everlastingly with thee both in Body and Soul when thou shalt be all in all Life Everlasting is to know the true God and thee his Son which wert sent unto us Now we see thee by Faith in a Glass and in Obscurity but one day we shall behold thee face to face and shall be transformed into thy Glory nd wholly reformed unto thy Image I do beseech thee merciful Saviour to increase my Faith that I may be so well grounded in the Doctrine of my Salvation that nothing may turn me from it Increase in my Heart the Reverence which I owe thee that I may never turn from thy Obedience Strengthen me in such sort that the allurements nor threatnings do neither intrap nor astonish me but that constantly I may cleave unto thee who art my Life till Death Cause that in vertue of thy holy Promises and of thy Spirit I may increase more and more in thy Love and leaving behind me the things of this World I may tend to that which is firm and perfect Increase thy Grace in me that every day I may dye in my self for to be quickned and guided by thy Favour fearing no other but thou God Almighty loving nothing but thee as there is nothing but thee to be beloved boasting my self in nothing but in thy only Grace and Mercy which is the Glory of all thy Servants seeking no other good but thee nor desiring any thing but thee who art the full and entire felicity of all the Faithful Amen Another LOrd Jesus who art always merciful who dost not stick to be my Saviour as well in Adversity as in Prosperity Give me the Grace in all humble obedience to yield unto thy will when it shall please thee to mingle bitterness amongst so many sweet things which thou causest me to taste in living under thy Protection Thou art admirable and most good in the time of Afflictions In that by such means thou dost heal spiritual Diseases and in visiting of us in this World thou disposest us to meditate of a better Life having thy self shewed us the Example thereof True it is that I find it very hard to digest but thou hast been brought to a more strange condition when for to draw me out of Hell thou wentest down into it thy self and for to reconcile me to thy heavenly Father thou hast undergone his Curse by reason of my Sins I have so often deserved Hell and the fiery Torment and thou deliveredst me assuring me that I have part in the merits of thy Death and thy Obedience and that I am one of thy Co-heirs for to reign one day with thee in thy Kingdom and at this present in the midst of so many Afflictions to be nevertheless set in the heavenly Places Having part in so many good things why shall I vex my self for a little endurance by the means whereof thou wilt awaken me and make me better and draw me so much the more to thee But seeing thou knowest me better then I know my self if it be thy pleasure to put me to any tryal give me necessary force and patience to glorifie thee converting all the evil that may happen unto me to good and Salvation And if in supporting my weakness thy goodness is pleased to advertise me by some light affliction cause that this thy well-willing may draw me more and more to love and honour thee to give thee thanks for the care which thou hast of thy poor Servant and by that means to dispose me to weight for thee at my Death that after it I may find the Life which thou hast purchased for me by thy Death and therein with thee to have part in Joy and Rest for Ever Amen Another Lord God Heavenly Father when I consider in how many sorts I have sinned before thy Face and against thy high Majesty I have horrour in my self in thinking that I have so often turned from thee Propitious and favourable Father I detest my ingratitude seeing in what servitude of sin I have been too often precipitate selling as much as in my lay of the precious Liberty which thy Son had purchased for me I condemn my folly I altogether dislike of my self I see nothing but Death and mishap hanging over my head and my Conscience rising for a Judge and Witness of my Iniquities But when on the other side I enter into a Contemplation of thy infinite mercy the which surmounteth all thy works and in the which if so I dare to speak thou surmountest thy self my soul is comforted And indeed why should I make my self believe that I cannot find grace before him that summons and so often and gently calls the sinner to repentance protesting expresly that he desires not the death of a sinner but rather that he turn from his wickedness and live Moreover thy only Son hath so well assured us that we shall find favour in thy sight by the sweet words which himself had uttered as that of the lost sheep and of the prodigal Son the image of whom I acknowledg'd my self to be that I should be most unthankful incredulous and wicked to go back and to be ashamed of thy presence although I am wretched seeing thou dost so stretch forth thy hand unto me and draw me to thee with such wonderful affection I have very vildly forsaken thee O merciful Father I have unhappily let slip thy Graces and adhering to desires of my flesh and straying from thy Obedience I have wrapped my self in the base servitude of sin I am fallen into extream misery I know not whether to retire unless it be towards thee whom I have abandoned Let thy mercy receive this poor supplication whom thou hast supported during his errors I am unworthy to lift up mine Eyes unto thee or to call thee Father But I pray thee bow down thine Eyes to me seeing thou wilt have it so being without that in the power of thine Enemies The sight of thy Face will revive me and bring me again to thee Seeing I have some displeasure in my self I know thou lookest upon me that thou hast given me Eyes to see the danger wherein I was thou hast sought and found me in death and in the world and hast through thy mercy given me a desire to enter into thy house I dare not desire that thou shouldst kiss and embrace me nor that hou shouldst weep for joy that thou hast found thy poor Servant and Slave I do not demand the precious Ornaments wherewith thou doest honour thy great servants