tongue to vtter Thou hast loued to speake all words that may doe hurt O thou false tongue Psal 52. therefore shall God destroy thee for ever he shall take thee and pluck thee out of thy dwelling and roote thee out of the land of the liuing I make no doubt but one of the reasons why our Prophet is called a man after Gods owne heart was for his plaine syncerity without closing or glozing and the faithfull agreement of his heart and tongue together For when his heart melted like waxe in the mid'st of his body his tongue straight cleaued vnto his gummes Psal 22. and if his heart be once hot within him at the sight of the vngodly the fire must needs be kindled with musing and the tongue giue vent vnto it Hee cannot keepe his tongue from singing Psal 39. Psal 28. when his heart danceth for ioy so violently the hearts beliefe breakes out into the mouthes confession But we are either sicke of that old Iewish disease to honour with the lipps when the heart is farre off or else both heart and tongue are so otherwise engaged that the setting forth of Gods glory shall breake no square between them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nothing is so much affected in these vnsetled times which Nazianzen long sithence observed as that Athenian Itch of bartering newes and fidling about matters that least concerne vs. Are your minds set vpon righteousnesse ô yee congregation and doe yee iudge the thing that is right ô yee sonnes of men Where are then our Mictam's of David in sounding forth the Lords praises by recounting the wonders he hath wrought for the setling of our salvation why are our discourses so wide from the chiefe point we should be talking of If the round world and all that is therein the blessings we daily enioy the dangers we continually escape the noble workes we successiuely behold and heare of yeeld not matter sufficient for the tongues glorying yet the meditation of the happinesse to come should fill the mouth with laughter Psal 126 and the tongue with ioy this apprehension should secure the lumpish flesh through a ioyfull hope Which is the third circumstance as you may remember that presented it selfe to our former consideration 7 My flesh also shall rest in hope As Aarons ointment distilled from the head to the skirts of his clothing Psal 133. so Gods blessings are imparted from one member to an other The method in Arts will lead vs from the beginning successiuely to the end but divinity begins in the middle and thence as from the center most commonly drawes lines to the whole circumference Here we see how from the heart affected the tongue gloryeth and from the tongues reioycing how the flesh is comforted If our Saviour wash but the Disciples feete Iohn 13.10 the whole body shall bee held as clensed so diffusiue is that good which the holy Ghost communicateth The body shall be partaker of the soules happinesse and at length blesse the time that ever it came to be the casket of a Iewell so pretious A strange matter that the flesh which is here so rebellious should presume on such quiet hereafter The flesh which is the grandmother of originall corruption Gen. 6. Gal. 5. the mother of so many actuall mischiefes the confederate with the Divell in the most of his temptations plots and invasions which profiteth nothing Iam. 1. Iohn 6. Rom. 7. 1. Cor. 15. Ioh. 6. hath no good thing in it nay is as it were death it selfe and cannot inherit the Kingdome of God should not only escape vnpunished but also rest and rest in hope and hope with confidence and be confident in the expectation of a joyfull resurrection Notwithstanding yet you heare what our Prophet saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hearts gladnesse the tongues glorying the soules happinesse is not all but besides this the flesh which is so fraile in life so fearfull in death so forlorne in the graue also that flesh of mine shall dwell in the dust securely Where by flesh he meanes not fleshly lusts which fight against the spirit but the body as it is separated from and opposed to the soule To such a carcase howsoever laid low and dissolued there is hope of a restoring And this no doubt was the reason that after the soule was departed to its last home a respectiue care was had for interring the corps amongst all Nations that ever professed civility How solemnely among the Iews were the Patriarchs buried together in the caue of Machpelah To be laid in the sepulchers of their Fathers was counted a blessing to posterity but to be left to be meate for the foules of the aire or a prey for beasts 1. Sam. 17. was the terriblest thing Goliah could thinke vpon to affright David with Much are the men of Iabesh Gilead commended 2. Sam. 2. for recouering the carcasses of Saul and Ionathan from the walls of Bethshan and honouring them with a decent funerall whereas it is added to Iehoiakim as the extremity of disgrace and misery that he should be buried with the buriall of an Asse drawen and cast forth beyond the gates of Ierusalem Ier. 22.19 All which proceeded from the hope which our Prophet here relyeth on For to what purpose were erected Tombes and Piramides or other the like Monuments Annointings Embalmings Baptizings or Washings of the dead vsed as the Apostle argueth 1. Cor. 15. but to testify the confidence they had that the dead should rise againe vpon this Iob sets vp his rest Cap. 19 26. though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God The same quietus est is brought forth by Martha as the general assurance of the people of God amongst the midst of Pharises Sadduces I know that my brother shall rise againe in the resurrectiō of the last day Iohn 11. 8 Thus they comforted themselues in the losse of friends and animated their trembling flesh against deaths gastly lookes But our provision for the flesh is in another kinde Wee feed it delitiously cloath it pompously no preservation or recreation shall be neglected no physicke thought too deare or troublesome to giue it the best content But how it shall be disposed in the graue and provided for the call of the last trumpe it puts vs into a melancholy to consider and bewrays the little hope we haue of our future hope hereafter I suppose it would grieue any of vs all to see a Church converted vnto base offices or holy things polluted by luxurious or superstitious Miscreants but know we not that our bodies are the temples of the holy Ghost and should there be no care taken for the keeping of these vessels pure and presenting them in the most decent manner to their Redeemer and Saviour 1. Thes 4.4 What hope may hee haue for rest that purposely thrusteth himselfe into vnnecessary tumults Or what happinesse can he
Calender to find out the true seat of Easter when Hyppolitus the Martyrs Prime for now we so commonly call it was found erroneous Dionysius also a Martyr and Bishop of Alexandria was ready to mend it and as farther processe of time discouered any sensible difference there wanted not care and study to set all right againe so Eusebius corrected Dionysius Theophilus of Alexandria Eusebius Prosper Theophilus Victor of Aquitaine Prosper Victor Capuanus and Dionysius Exiguus the former Victor And when about the yeare 454. neere vpon the Councell of Calcedon Easter fell so high in Aprill that that they doubted they were in the wrong what adoe keepes Leo in his Epistles to Paschasinus of Lilibaeum in Sicily to Iulian Bishop of the I le of Coos to the Emperour Martian himselfe and his wife Eudoxia to solicit Proterus Bishop of Alexandria to set all right againe Where I enquire not why the Popes infallibility should not serue him to keepe a true account in Ecclesiasticall matters as well as others The like thing fell out in Saint Ambrose's dayes and likewise in the time of Innocent the first Vpon which occasion we haue that Fathers 83. Epistle to the BB. of Aemilia and Innocents letter to Aurelius Bishop of Carthage intreating him to call a Synode that the matter might be more fully bated So highly they valued this times solemnity in regard of the first fruits consecrated in Christs Resurrection that they held the fayling in the smallest circumstance a note of ingratitude and a kinde of sacriledge To prevent therefore such inconveniences in calculation the taske at length was layd on those of Alexandria as held the best Mathematicians after Ptolemies time And hence we haue the Paschales as yearely Almanackes sent abroad by them to informe all other Churches and mainetaine vniformitie Eusebius mentioneth some of these Epistles sent first by Dionysius even vnder the persecution Three of that kinde are now extant vnder the name of Theophilus Alexandrinus translated into Latine by Saint Hierome and lastly reprinted in the last Bibliotheca Patrum at Colen containing besides the evidence of the custome of keeping Easter matter well worth the reading And to intimate that onely which time will not suffer mee farther to enlarge a man shall hardly turne ouer the Ancients but euer and anon hee shall fall vpon Sermons or Homilies for Easter questions and answers concerning the exact forme of keeping Easter Hymnes and Anthems composed for the celebration of Easter Facts of greatest consequence reserued as Baptizing of the Catechumeni Absoluing of the Excommunicated Receiuing of the Lords Supper in most solemne manner and all for the honour of this great Day The feast of first fruits this rosh hashanah containing many mysteries besides common solemnities this holy time of Easter It is strange to obserue how many bookes wee finde written together by the most devout men even in times of persecution by Anatolius Bishop of Laodicea Theophylus of Caesarea Baccillus of Corinth Meliâ—o of Sardis Irenaeus of Lions Hyppolitus the Martyr and the great Doctour Clemens Alexandrinus and all for the due maintaining of this custome of keeping Easter Chrysostome deposed and Athanasius wanting a fit place would needs notwithstanding keepe Easter the one in a spacious roome built for the publike Baths of Constantinople the other in a Church at Alexandria not consecrated So hainous a matter they thought it to neglect the due obseruing of Easter 12 And to come at length to our owne selues and customes derived from sacred antiquity what meanes our preparation by a Lent-fast the solemne repetition of these Easter Sermons rather then any other the extraordinary concourse to the Lords supper at this time of the yeere especially but to draw vs by all circumstances to reckon with him for our Easter duties that hath so effectually payed our first fruits for vs at this holy time of Easter What these duties are our Apostle elsewhere sheweth As Christ was raised vp by the Glory of the Father Rom. 6.4 so wee also should walke in newnesse of life And if wee bee risen with Christ why seeke we not those things which are aboue Col. 3.1 Our dulnesse in our vocations deadnesse in our devotions faintnesse at the approach of death and the graue are arguments that these Resurrection Sermons cannot be too often repeated Wherefore brethren be ye stedfast and immoveable alwaies abounding in this worke of the Lord for as much as you know that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord. For what crosse or temptation can amaze a Christian soule that can make but the true vse of this short text Christ is risen againe and become the first fruits of them that slept Turne such a man to fight with beasts after the manner of men present before him the stake or torture the assurance of his restoring by the Resurrection is a Supersedeas to him in all his trials Vpon this affiance he will professe with old Ignatius that it belongeth to Gods wheate to be ground with beasts teeth he will resolutely with Saint Laurence on the Gridiron offer both sides to bee broyled In Iosses in sicknesse in disgraces in all assaults of Satan in the pangs of death hee will bee alwaies repeating with Iob I know that my redeemer liueth Iob. 19. and that he shall stand at the latter day vpon the earth and though after my skin wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God Last of all in the death of our parents and children brethren sisters or friends or any other who are neere and deare vnto vs what comfort so present as this so surely grounded so fit to be applyed That Christ is risen from the dead hath satisfied the vtmost farthing hath broken vp the prison turned the death of the faithfull into a sleepe out of which by vertue of his Resurrection they are to awake againe vnto a farre more happy estate Seeing therefore that Christ our Passeover hath beene thus sacrificed for vs and payed the first fruits whereby wee are restored and reconciled to God the Father let vs keepe this feast not with old leaven neither with the leauen of malice and wickednes nor dicing nor absurd dancing or ridiculous legendpreaching to make the people laugh which Durand and Beleth commend in their popish Bishops as Hospinian at large declareth but with the vnleauened bread of sincerity and truth This is the day which the Lord hath made let vs reioyce and be glad in it Let our hearts dance for ioy and in our songs let vs praise him Tell it out among the heathen and when our children or Iuniors shall aske what meane these solemnities at this time that the Church is so carefull to obserue before any other let vs amply relate vnto them how we were vtterly lost in Adam and became the prisoners of sinne death and hell but now is Christ risen againe the first fruits of them that sleepe for their everlasting recovery the benefit
presume rather then in such an Auditorie as this where Knowledge and Humours abound and the Divell is most busie that some are proud and factious standing vpon their gifts to the vilifying and discouraging of their weaker brethren others profane and peremptory to reject all good order irreuerently to abuse the Word and Sacraments and turne all Gods graces into a customarie wantonnesse On the other side what hearers may be imagined to bee more vnderstanding of the Apostles Logicke for setling of their own consciences against all Atheisticall opposers and the profitable imparting of it to the strengthening of others Every one therefore in his passage may rubbe out the Corne of such eares as hee liketh I shall deale with the whole heape which the Apostle hath here in good measure and running over shaken together in this narrow vessell But now Christ is risen againe and become the first fruits of them that slept 3. The words as you see of their own accord fall asunder into these two parts First the ground of our Resurrection in these But now Christ is risen from the dead Secondly the Fruits of this rising of Christ And is become the first fruits of them that slept The first includeth the cause the second the effect of the greatest good that ever befell mankinde Ioyne both together and no Logicke ever instanced in the like Enthymeme Christ is risen again therefore we shall also rise That Merchant can never breake who hath sold all to purchase this Plot of ground and thrice happy is that beneficed man who hath so payed his first fruits When the witty Athenians heard this doctrine of the Resurrection of the dead Act. 17. howsoeuer some Epicures and Stoicks gaine sayd verse 18. others mocked verse 32. yet the wiser sort were desirous to haue it repeated againe and certaine claue vnto Paul and beleeued of the Noblest and best ranke amongst them as Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others of both sexes by their good example Wee are all Christian Peripatetiques B. and therefore as our Apostle elsewhere admonisheth vs Rom. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must walk honestly as in the day and be armed against the Epicurisme and Stoicisme of such brutish opposers Now the custome of the place will shortly call for a repetition and I make no doubt but many a Denys and Damaris will sticke to that which shall bee spoken This is a day of good tidings and better then the Lepers could bring to the almost starued Samaritanes of the flight of their besiegers and the plenty left behinde them and therefore we should not doe well to hold our peace for now is Christ risen from the dead the ground of our former freedome and future happinesse which commeth now in order to be first thought on 4. But now is Christ risen from the dead If I did not purposely now abstaine from controversies I could here from this particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 referred to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now is Christ the first Fruites take occasion to discusse against some needlesse muttering in these dayes First what became of the Fathers before the Resurrectiō of Christ whether they were in Limbo which Bellarmine in his sermons of the Resurrection takes for a ground and Rhetorically descants vpon and many of the Faethers and Schoolemen giue way to it or else enjoy the presence of God in a degree of happinesse competent to soules separated as also from the word Christ referred to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ raised to require whether this were done by his owne Power as Redeemer or else by Gods Omnipotencie helping His inferioritie as a distinct Agent with that ability that he wanted in himselfe for such an archieuement Besides a doubt might bee also moued concerning the obiect raysed whether it were the person intire or natures disseuered and if so whether the Godhead or manhood or if the manhood whether the body only or Soule or both or how The Schoolmen you know make work for such speculations vpon the 3. of the sentences 21. distinct and the 3. part of Aquinas the 53. question The practice whereof we haue in Abulensis on the 22. of Matth spending at least 24. disputations vpon this and the like curiosities And lastly quarrels might arise and are pickt from the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the dead what should bee the terminus or bound from whence the Soule of Christ returned whether from Purgatorie or the prison of the Patriarckes as too many haue ventered to define or from Paradice or Hades of Blessed Spirits as others would haue it or that his descent was no farther then the graue and the passion torments as a third sort stifly defend But this dayes solemnitie houres compasse places custome your expectations should bee wronged to bee so entertained being content I trust to take by the way in grosse First that the Fathers before Christ and those that follow like the Cherubims within the vayle Apocal. 13.8 looke vpon the same Mercy-seat For Christ was the Lambe slayne from the beginning of the World in Gods immutable purpose and therefore takes away the sinnes of the World as well before as after this actuall Resurrection 1. Cor. 10. Brethren I would not haue you ignorant faith our blessed Apostle that all our Fathers were vnder the cloud and in the Sea and were all baptised vnto Moses in the cloud and in the Sea and did all eate the same Spirituall meat and did all drinke the same Spirituall drinke for they dranke of the spirituall Rocke that followed them and that Rock was Christ Secondly that the Person of this Christ was raysed the Godhead one with the Father and the Holy Ghost and the same Actor in all externall effects reducing and conjoyning the soule againe to the body Ioh. 10.17 I haue power to lay downe my life and to take it Thirdly that this returne both of soule and body was from the state of the dead by loosing the fetters of death and Hell in which it was impossible hee should be with holden Acts 2.24 This may satisfie for the present those that can content themselues to bee wise with sobriety My progresse therefore shall rather touch on these especiall passages that concerne the mayne First how this resurrection of our Sauiour in the old Testament was prefigured and fore-prophecied Then how manifestly fore-told by himselfe and shrewdly feared by his persecutors before his death Afterward how vncontrolably witnessed both on the present day when it was done as also in the forty dayes wherein hee conversed with his Disciples before his ascension For this especially maketh for the setling of our Faith in this grand Article This is opus diei the work of the day which Satan cannot endure wee should take due notice of we are all negligent beloued need remembrancers to mind vs of that which we knowe in the most receiued points of Christianity 't is to good
whereof by no triumphs laud and thankesgiuing can bee sufficiently expressed O thou therefore that of stones canst raise vp children vnto Abraham and reviued'st Lazarus when hee stanke in his graue make our dead hearts sensible of the vertue of thy Resurrection that seconding thy first fruits with a serious awaking to righteousnesse wee may triumphantly meete death in the face with this happy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O death where is thy sting ô graue where is thy victory Heare vs ô Lord for his sake who died for our sinnes and rose againe for our justification to whom with thee and the blessed Spirit be all praise and glory both now and ever Amen Gowries Conspiracie A SERMON PREACHED AT St MARIES IN OXFORD the fifth of August By IOHN PRIDEAVX Doctor of Divinity Regius Professor and Rector of Exeter Colledge OXFORD Imprinted by LEONARD LICHFIELD Anno Salutis 1636. GOVVRIES CONSPIRACIE 2. SAM 20.1 And there happened to be there a man of Belial whose name was Sheba the sonne of Bichri a Beniamite and hee blew a trumpet and said Wee haue no part in David neither haue wee inheritance in the sonne of Ishai Every man to his tents O Israel THere is no state so setled vnder the Sunne but subiect it is to manifold alterations St Ambrose giues the reason in his sixt booke and 39. Epistle because true Rest and security keepe their residence in heaven onely and not here on earth and therefore as Saint Augustine writes to Celestinus in his 63. Epistle in this world are not any way to bee expected If any might presume to speed better then others Kings might plead their Prerogatiue but being in the same ship with their inferiours they are forced to runne the hazard of the same tempests So generally that old verse falleth out to be true Interdum pax est pacis fiducia nunquam Aboue many others a man would haue thought King David a King of Gods owne making a man after his owne heart so beloued at home so feared abroad so compassed on every side with inward and outward blessings had at length beene sufficiently guarded from any extraordinary attempts of traitours or treason Hee had so miraculously escaped Saul subdued the Philistims recouered Ierusalent from the obstinate Iebusites the finger of God appeared in all his actions and victories he wanted not friends and kindred his Captaines and Souldiers were terrible his sonnes many and towardly his treasure boundlesse and his owne valour and experience famous amongst his subiects and borderers so that desperatnesse it selfe might haue trembled to haue giuen him the onset Yet the text here sheweth that as the best men haue their faults so Gods dearest children want not their crosses In the matter of Vriah David in three respects had beene scandalously to blame in murder adultery and the vnder hand betraying of a poore Innocent The first where of God repayed by the murder of his owne sonne Amnon and the death of the childe begotten in adultery The second by the deflowring first of his daughter Tamar by her owne brother and then of his owne wiues by his incestuous son Absalom whom as he raised out of his own bowels to turne traytour against him as appeareth in the fiue former chapters so here he ordereth the malice of Sheba to rayse another commotion justly punishing sinne by sinne and working his owne ends by such perverse instruments The brand therefore of Absalom is scarce here quenched whē Sheba steps forth to blow new coales of rebellion Of which treacherous attempt of a disloyall false hearted subject against his most religious lawfull Soueraigne I haue taken in hand vpon this day and occasion especially to treat of 2. Where not to burden you attentions with vnnecessary curiosities obserue I beseech you with me in the generall These three circumstances 1. The occasion giuen by a contention betweene the Israelites and the men of Iuda in the former Chapter and here accidentally embraced by a treacherous disposition And there happened to be there 2. The traytour liuely deciphered in his colours a man of Belial whose name was Sheba the sonne of Bichri a Beniamite 3. The treason it selfe first confusedly breaking out in the doubtfull sound of a Trumpet And he blew a Trumpet Secondly distinctly vttered in expresse rebellious termes hee said We haue no part in David nether haue we inheritance in the son of Ishai Euery man to his tents O Israel The occasions advantagious the traytour malicious the treason perilous As the occasion vnexpectedly drawes on the traytour so the traytour violently sets on foot the treason Whence wee may easily gather the danger of occasions the rancour of disloyalty and the vnconstant leuity of an incensed multitude And for memory we may thus connect it When occasion is offered howsoever they otherwise striue to appeare good subjects traytours will be ever ready to vent their treasons Of all which whiles I shall plainely discourse according to my tumultuous provision I trust my occasions shall priviledge mee from those sinister censures which passe vpon matters without due notice of circumstances But bee the manner of propounding taken as it may bee the doctrine I am sure will not bee gaine said being occasioned by this dayes celebration against Traytours and Treasons of which my Text containeth a notable example with the occasion intimated in the first words 3. And there happened to be there Casu saith Iunius with the Chaldy paraphrase Accidit saith Castalio Forte fortunâ saith Vatablus The Greekes haue a double rendring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called hither as it were by chance as some would haue it which others expresse by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 occurrit as being an adventure which was occasionally met with Whether this Sheba were a party in Ahsaloms rebellion and then came in with Amasa vpon the ouerthrowe in the wood of Ephraim Chap. 13. or that afterward hee thrust in among the tenne Tribes at Gilgal to congratulate the Kings victories to conduct him backe with honour vnto Ierusalem the Text expresseth not and I hunt not after conjectures Once this is manifest that here hee was for so runne the words in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibi evenit vel casu erat there he happened to be as Arias Montanus with Pagnine expresseth it word for word which intimates that his being there was meerely accidentall And howsoeuer Saint Augustine mislike in his writings the name of chance and fortune in regard it might bee offensiue by a customary heathenish interpretation Yet the Scripture applied to our capacities often hath it forasmuch as things most certaine by Gods disposition and providence in respect of mans circumspection may be termed casuall God out of doubt here had a purpose as Brentius and Peter Martyr well obserue either to make a further triall of Davids fayth and patience or to curbe him from being too presumptuous vpon the strange recouery of his state and Kingdome or to lesson him
thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption As our Saviours soule triumphed ouer the powers of darknesse so his flesh was to be free among the dead from the least taynt of corruption B. Bilson For his body and soule saith a Reverend writer were appointed to be superiour to al contrary powers that is the soule to hell the flesh to the graue and from both was Christ to rise as subduer of both That he might sit in his heauenly Throne as Lord over all not by promise onely as before but by proofe also as appeareth in his Resurrection Some would haue this to be only a repetition or reason of that which went before David was to be freed from the graue because Christ saw no corruption which sense howsoeuer it bee true in it this Text will not beare as proper Wee must repaire therefore to S. Peter in the second of the Acts and to S. Paul in the 13. and thence learne the right meaning Who both disproue the common errour which vnderstood it onely of David by this one sensible demonstration All the world might see by looking into Davids sepulcher that his body was turned to dust through corruption it could not therefore be said that hee was that holy one who was to see no corruption It must needs therefore be some other This could bee no other then the Messias whose Resurrection the third day before his body could be corrupted they had reason to bleeue seeing David had so distinctly foretold it Whence wee may plainely gather that all the Immunities that David here standeth vpon as his free-hold came to him but at the second hand This holy one then was Christ this priviledge not to see corruption was peculiar only to his sacred body All the faith full hold it of him in Capite when it is attributed to David it is no way to bee vnderstood or his person but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the fruit of his loynes as S. Peter speaketh Take therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which all our Translatours following Peter and the 72. render Holy one either for corpus sanctificatum as the Interlineary Glosse or for a Favorite whom it pleaseth God especially to grace as Beza or for one that being al-sufficiet in himself most bountifully dispenseth his fauours as Piscator It will come all to one that his body in the graue saw not that is felt not tried not endured not any corruption Corruption I meane of putrifaction or turning into dust not dissolution of soule and body as Athanasius well distinguished For where the Soule triumphed ouer powers of darknesse the body slept in the graue in expectation of its speedy returne which accomplished the third day there ensued vpon it immediatly this victorious Resurrection which our Prophet so much reioyceth here to fore-see we on this day doe thankfully celebrate 13. And now what belongeth to us Beloued but to let passe all vnnecessary trifles as what became of the bloud that was spilt on the ground at our Sauiours circumcision and the opening of his side at the crosse and seriously to fasten vpon that comfort which here is proposed vnto vs. O Lord saith S. Bernard I haue but two mytes my soule and my body with these I dare not trust my selfe and therefore I cast them into thy treasurie as knowing then they shall be in safe custody That which was proposed in a vision concerning IESVS the sonne of Iosedeck who by interpretation is the Iust one of the Lord in the 3d of Zachary is here fully accomplished according to S. Hieromes application on that place The filthy garments wherewith he was clothed for our sakes are taken from our Saviour And now he sheweth himselfe a King hath put on glorious apparell 2. Sam. 23. Among the Worthies of David we read of one Benaiah that went downe slew a Lion in a pit in the time of snow But this is but a cold Modell of that victory of the Lion of the Tribe of Iudah ouer that roaring and devouring Lion in the pit of Hell and the Graue There are none I suppose that heare me this day but are or after may be vexed with discontentments and feele a necessary decay of this earthly Tabernacle But alas beloued what remedy may serue vs in this world Looke further therefore with our Prophet whosoever thou art that expectest true comfort and take these grounds with thee which shall never fayle thee Christs soule hath conquered and triumphed ouer the sorrowes of Hell that thou shouldest neuer be enthralled to them and his body hath shaken off the shackles of the graue that thine in its due time might enioy the same freedom Beloued we were al in worse case in regard of eternall death then Peter was in the 12. of the Acts bound with two chaines and lying betweene two souldiers with a guard before the prison dore surely to be executed the next day after But our Saviour comes in stead of the Angell and rayseth vs vp the chaines fall off the Iron gate which was held impregnable opened of its owne accord and the way of life which leadeth vnto the fulnesse of ioy is chalked out vnto vs. And are not our lots now falne vnto vs in a good ground and is not this a goodly heritage Let vs thanke the Lord therefore for giuing vs so often this effectuall warning and set him at our right hand and then we shall never be moued So leaning with good old Iacob vpon the top of our staues and giuing vp the last gaspe wee may confidently conclude with our Prophet in the end of Psal 4. I will lay me downe in peace take my rest for it is thou Lord only that through the victory of thy son over hel the graue makest me dwel safely Which God grant of his mercy we may constantly doe for his sonne Christ Iesus sake to whom with the Father the blessed spirit be all Honour and Glory now and evermore AMEN THE CHRISTIANS EXPECTATION A SERMON PREACHED AT THE COVRT BY IOHN PRIDEAVX Rector of Exceter Colledge His MAIESTIE'S Professor in Divinity in the Vniversity of OXFORD OXFORD Imprinted by LEONARD LICHFIELD Anno Salutis 1636. 2. PET. 3.13 Neverthelesse we according to his promise looke for new Heauens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse 1 THe first word of my text Neverthelesse sends vs backe for the fuller meaning to some what that went before That was a serious caveat of our Apostle to beware of fiue sorts of people who would turne vs out of the good way the preaching of the Gospell had prescribed Those Cap. 2. Y. 1.2.3 in the beginning of the former chapter ye shall finde to be First false Prophets or teachers who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies denying the Lord that bought them And many shall follow their pernitious waies by reason of whom the way of truth shall be ill spoken of and through covetousnesse shall they with fained words make