withall I would haue them to answere me simply and playnely what hope they haue of the resurrection Colo. 1.18 Apoc. 1.5 1. Cor. 13.20.21 without it be that Christ rose agayne For he is the first borne of the deade and the fyrst fruites of those that rise agayne For as he dyed and rose agayne so also must we dye and rise agayne in him For since it hath so fallen out that by death he hath ouercome death wherunto we were ordayned it is very certayne that he dyed of the same death as we dye and hath suffered in the same death whiche we doe suffer The trueth of the scripture maketh this manifest vnto vs whenas it calleth him the first borne of the dead and the first fruites of those which ryse agayne And it hath so taught vs that the faythfull might acknowledge him for their guide euen in the middest of death when they behold their death sāctified by his death they need not to feare the cursse thereof which is the thing that Saynt Paule meaneth when he sayth Phil. 3.10.11 that he is made like vnto his death vntil such time as he might come vnto the resurrection of the dead For this cōformity he prosecuted whiche he beganne in this world by the crosse vntill the time that he had by his death fulfilled it And now you my maisters the sleapers examine your harts awhile and consider with your selues how Christ Iesus dyed Do you in your cōscience think that he slept when as he waked for your saluation He speaketh not thus of himselfe Iohn 5.26 As the Father sayth he hath life in himselfe so also hath he geuen to hys sonne to haue life in himselfe And he that hath the power of life in himselfe how it is possible for him to lose it And I trust they wil not say that this belongeth to the deity For if it be geuen to him that hath it not it is then geuen to his humanity to haue life in it selfe and not to his deity For seing that Iesus Christ is the sonne of God and man that which is by nature as God the same is by grace as man to the end we might al receiue of his fulnesse grace for grace when men do heare that life is in God what hope may they conceiue thereof whenas they may also very well know that their sinnes do set a cloude betwixt God and them But here is the onely true great comfort that the Father hath annointed his Christ with the oyle of gladnes aboue all the rest of his fellowes That Iesus Christ as man hath receiued of his Father gyftes in mē to the end we might finde life in our nature And for this cause we read that the multitude glorifyed God after that the childe was raysed vp agayne forsomuch as he had geuē such power vnto men And this knew Cyrill right well who agreeth with vs in the explaning of this place Now whē we say that Iesus Christ hath life in himselfe in that he is man we doe not say that he is the cause of life to himselfe but onely this that the heauenly Father hath poured all fulnes of life in the manhood of his sonne Iesus Christ whiche thing might be geuen vs to vnderstād by a familiar similitude The fountayne from which all men do draw water and from which the small Creekes and Armes doe runne and flow is sayd to haue water of it selfe yet commeth not as of it selfe but from the spring which dayly feedeth it and from the flowing streames and is sufficient for all men to draw out of Euē so then Iesus Christ hath life in himselfe to wit the fulnes of life wherewith he lyueth and quickeneth his and yet hath he it not as of himselfe as he wytnesseth in an other place that he liueth because of hys Father And whenas he had life in in himselfe as God yet when he tooke vpon him the nature of man he receiued this gift of his Father that he might also haue life in that behalfe in hymselfe These thinges do most certainly assure vs that Christ could not be destroyed by death no not as he was man And although he was truely and naturally put to death whereof we must all dye yet held he alwayes this gift of his Father This was a true death and a true seperation of the Body and Soule yet the Soule neuer lost her life which being commended vnto his Father could not choose but be saued And this is the meaning of the wordes of S. Peter his sermon by which he affirmeth that it was impossible for Iesus Christ to bee holden downe with the panges of death Acte 2.24.27 that the scripture might be fulfilled saying Psal 16.10 Thou shalt not leaue my soule in graue nor yet suffer thine holy one to see corruption In which prophecie although we graunt that the soule is taken for lyfe Christ asketh and looketh for two thinges at his Fathers hand that he would not leaue his lyfe to destruction nor yet suffer him to come to corruption which was fulfilled For his soule was sustayned by an heauenly power that it should not be destroyed and his body was kept whole and sound vntill he rose agayne S. Peter hath knit vp all these thinges in a worde when he sayth that Christ could not be held downe by death to witt that he could not be subiect to the gouernement of death neither come vnder the power of death either yet be ouercome of death When as S. Peter in this sermon let the disputation of the soule alone and followed onely the incorruption of the body He did it because he would make the Iewes to see that they were vanquished euen by their owne testimony that this prophesie appertayned nothing at all to Dauid whose sepulcher was emongest them and they very well knew that his body was rotted neither could they deny the resurrection of our Lord Iesus Christ Ionas 2.12 We haue also another Argument of the Immortalitye of his soule when as he ordayned Ionas to be a figure of his death in that he was three daies within the Whales belly For so must he likewise be three dayes three nightes in the bowells of the earth Now Ionas cryed vnto the Lord out of the belly of the Fishe and was heard This belly is death his soule thē was saued in the middest of death Gene. 22.10 so that he might cry vnto the Lord. Isaack also who was a figure of the Lord and being saued from death Hebr. 12.17 19. was deliuered vnto his father openeth vnto vs as the Apostle witnesseth the trueth in a figure by the manner of the rising agayne For after he was layd vpō the Aultar as an oblation and sacrifice prepared for the purpose and bound vpon it he was soone after vnboūd by the commaundemēt of the Lord and the Ramme that was tyed by the hornes in the bushe was layd in Isaack his place What
is now meant by this that Isaack was not put to death but because that the sonne of God hath made the soule which is proper to man Immortall And the Ramme which is a beast without reason and that was layd in his roome is the body And in that Isaack was bound the same representeth the soule which maketh an open shewe of one dying in the death of Iesus Christ and sheweth it also dayly in the common death of men wherein all thinges in the opinion of men doe pearishe and yet for all that the soule of Christ was losed out of bonds and so shall ours also be losed before they come to pearishe Come off now some of you my maisters the sleapers which are voyd of all shame and bragge that the death of the our Lord Iesus Christ was but a dreame or els let him take part with that deuilishe heretique Appollinaris Surely this good Lord Iesus waketh so long as he so willingly bestoweth himselfe about your saluation But you sleape your sleape and being o-ouerwhelmed with the cloude of blindenes can not heare those which keepe watch Moreouer this doth not onely comfort vs that the sonne of God our head is not perished in the shadow of death but his resurrection also doth assure vs that he is apointed to be Lord ouer death Colos 3.3 and hath raysed vp so many of vs from death as haue any part or portion in him Gala. 2.20 in somuch that S. Paul hath not sticked to say that our lyfe is hid with Christ in God And in another place he sayth I lyue yet not I now but Christ in me What can be sayd more of them except they cry with open mouth that Christ sleapeth in these soules that sleape For if Christ hath liued in theÌ„ he is the selfe and same which dyeth in them If the lyfe of Iesus Christ be ours he then which would haue our lyfe to end by death violently plucketh the sonne of God from the glorious right hand of his father putteth him to a second death But if it be possible for him to dye then vndoubtedly must we dye But if his lyfe hath no end surely our soules which are ingraffed into him caÌ„dy no death But what needeth vs to take all this payne Are his wordes straunge when he sayth Iohn 14.19 because that I lyue you also shall lyue If we lyue because he lyueth then if we dye Iohn 6.56 he shall no longer lyue Is his promise straunge when he sayth that he which shall be knit vnto him by fayth shall dwell in him he in him Let vs then clearely dismember the Lord Christ if we will take away their lyues froÌ„ them 1. Cor. 15 22. This is our confession which we haue well fenced with his weapoÌ„s to witt that we are all truely dead in Adam but yet we lyue â—n Iesus Christ S. Paule handâ—eth these thinges with an honorable style in the Epistle to the Romaines to witt Rom. 8.10 that if the spirite of Iesus Christ dwelâ—eth in vs that the body is surely dead by reason of sinne but the spirite liueth because it is iustified Rom. 7.23.24 He calleth the body a Lumpe of sinne which from the natiuitie of the fleshe remaineth in man And the spirite that part of maÌ„ which is spiritually regenerate Wherefore as a litle before he lamented his misery by reason of the dregs of sinne which remained in him he desiereth not simply to be taken out of this world and to be nothing so that he might escape this great misery but also desiereth to be deliuered from the body of death to witt that the Masse of sinne might be abolished in him to this end that the spirite being cleansed might be at peace with God openly declaring hereby that the best parte of him was kept captiue through the bondes of his body and that it should be deliuered out of it by death I would to God we were able to vnderstand with a true fayth what the kingdome of God is Which is emongest the faythfull euen whiles they liue here in this world and to taste thereof in good earnest for it should be very easy withall to vnderstand lyfe euerlasting already begonne He which can not deceiue vs hath made vs this promise for thus he sayth Iohn 5.24 He that heareth my wordes hath euerlasting lyfe and commeth not to condemnation but passeth froÌ„ death to lyfe If a way be made to euerlasting lyfe why hinder they it by death And in another place Iohn 6.49 46. This is the will of my Father that whosoeuer beleueth in the sonne shall not pearish but hath euerlasting lyfe and I will raise him vp againe at the last day He sayth furthermore in the same place Iohn 5 5â— 57. Whosoeuer eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud hath euerlasting lyfe and I will rayse him vp agayne in the last day Not as your Fathers eate Manna and dyed but he that eateth this bread shall lyue for euer Brag not heere of your goodly gloses coÌ„cerning the last day He promiseth vs two things lyfe euerlasting and this blessed resurrectioÌ„ Although you heare two thinges yet onely embrace you but one of them There is also another saying of Iesus Christ which is yet more agaynst you when he sayth I am the resurrection and the lyfe Iohn 11.2 he that beleueth in me yea although he were dead yet shall he lyue And whosoeuer lyueth and beleueth in me shall neuer taste of death For the sonne of God meant not onely to shew this but also that it might neuer come to passe that they should dye He sayth in another place he that keepeth my word shall neuer see death This is an inuincible Argument agaynst them that whosoeuer keepeth the word of God shall neuer see death And this alone might be sufficient for Christians throughly to arme their fayth agaynst the peruersenes of these sleapers We beleue this and we looke for it But as for these men this is it that they must looke for euen to sleape a sound sleape vntill such time as they be wakened by the sound of the trumpet which shall sodainly come vpon these sleapers as a theefe in the night And if God be the lyfe of euery faythfull soule as the soule is the lyfe of the body what is the meaning that the soule all the while it is in the body causeth it to moue and is neuer so idle nor her streÌ„gth so weakened but that she doth her duety some maner of way and shall God leaue his busines vndone as if he were wery of working If there be so great power in the soule as to support moue and dryue on this masse of earth how great in respect shall the power of God be in the soule which by nature is liuely and very apt and ready to styrre and moue it And yet there are some which dare say that the soule vanisheth away and others that
after it is seperated from the body that it vseth not her power and strength How then will they aunswere vnto the psalme of Dauid where he describeth the beginning middest and end of the life of the blessed For there he saith They shal goe frō vertue to vertue and shall see the God of Gods in Sion or according to the Hebrew from aboundaunce to aboundaunce And if they continually beleue vntill the tyme they come to see God and by this beliefe passe to the sight of God how do these men bury thē in a slomber of drunkenesse and deepe idlenesse The very selfe same thing doth S. Paule also more manifestly witnesse so that if they would euen burst yet shall they neuer be able to resist the spirite of God 2. Cor. 5.6 7. Heare what he sayth Surely we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be destroyed we haue a building with God an euerlasting habitation in heauen which is not made with man his hand And therefore we groane desiring to be cloathed with our heauenly mansion that we might be foūd cloathed not naked And in very deede we that are in this tabernacle do groane being burthened because we desire not to be vnclad but to be cladde to the end that this mortality might be swallowed vp of life And a little after wherefore we are alwayes of good cheare and in good hope and do know that so long as we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord for we walke by fayth and not after the outward shewe neuerthelesse we are of good comfort and had a great deale rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Here they finde a starting hole and say that the wordes of the Apostle are to be referred to the day of iudgement wherein we shal be cladde and wherein mortallyty shall be swallowed vp of life Wherfore the Apostle say they concludeth thus that we must all appeare before the iudgement seate of the sonne of God But wherefore referre they this cloathing rather vnto the body thē vnto the blessings which are plentifully bestowed vpon vs after death who forceth thē to take this word life for resurrectiō seing that the meaning of the Apostle is easy and playne to witte we desire to be deliuered out of this prison of the body but not to the end to wander vncertaynely without houseroome For there is a farre better house and a more blessed dwelling which the Lord hath made ready for vs alwayes prouided that he findeth vs clad and not naked Ephe. 6.10 For Iesus Christ is our cloathing Psal 45.12.13.14 and that strong armour wherewith S. Paule armeth vs. And it is written that the king shall desire the beautye of his spouse who is mighty in giftes glorious within his closet Moreouer the Lord hath set a marke vpon his whom he will acknowledge both in death and in the resurrection Wherefore looke they not rather to that which he had before spoken and whereunto he hath adioyned this saying Although our outward man sayth he be corrupted yet is the inward man renued from day to day But that the Apostle addeth this conclusion to appeare before the iudgement seat of the sonne of God bindeth thē more straightly where he had before said that whether we be present or absent we earnestly striue both at home and abroad to doe the thing that might best please him Seing that at home is meant the body what is signified by abroad To the end then that we put nothing to the wordes them selues without any expositor say thus much that we doe our best to please the Lord both within the body and also without the body and besides that we shall feele the presence of the Lord whenas we shal be seperated from this body Then shall we no more walke by fayth but in open sight because that this masse of earth wherewith we be oppressed seperateth vs very farre of from our God But these sleapers babble cleane cōtrary and say we shall be a great deale farther of from God by death then whiles we are here in this life For of whom is this written Psal They shall walke O Lord in the light of thy countenaunce Likewise The spirite it selfe witnesseth vnto our spirite Rom. 8.16 that we are the children of God And many other suche like sayinges They take away from them the light of Goddes countenaunce and the testimony of the Spirit So that if this be true then are we blesseder now then when we be dead For although we liue now vnder the Elementes of this world yet notwithstanding our dwelling and abyding place is in heauen according to the saying of Paule Phil. 3.20 But when that Lethergy and forgetfulnes of all thinges shall by death take away the soules they then lose whatsoeuer sweetnes they haue of spirituall taste Howbeit the holy Scriptures do teach vs a great deale better Wise 9 That the body whiche is corruptible maketh the soule worsse and the earthly tabernacle holdeth downe the sēse thinking many thinges Now then if the body be the prisō of the soule and the earthly habitation a manacle to bind it sure What shal become of the soule when it is deliuered out of this prison and losed from these bands Is she not then set at liberty and as a man would say at her owne choyse In so much that it may well be sayd that looke how much she decreaseth the body so much encreaseth she her self Will they nill they this is out of all doubt that whē we haue cast of this burthen of the body that the fight which is betwixt the spirit the flesh betwixt the flesh and the spirite is at an end And besides the mortifiyng of the flesh is the quickning of the spirite Therefore whenas the soule hath voyded these excrementes she is then in deede spirituall and yeldeth her obedience vnto the will of God neither feeleth shee the tyranny of the flesh resisting her but reposeth her selfe in this quietnes thinking vpon none other thing but vpon God And thus forsooth may a man well say that she sleapeth when as she is able to rayse vp her self without being pressed down with any wayght and that she slombreth whenas she is able to vnderstand many thinges both by feeling and thinking without any let This doth not onely bewray the error of these fātasticall fellowes but also theyr malice agaynst the workes and power of God which the scriptures testifye vnto vs that he worketh in his holy and faythfull ones We acknowledge god to be as it were borne in his chosen and still to grow vp frō day to day Pro. 4.18 which thing Salomon teacheth vs when he sayth The way of the righteous shineth as the light and shineth more and more vntill the perfect day Phil. 2. And S. Paule also affirmeth the same saying he that hath begonne a good worke in
is so quickened as that it causeth the spirituall body to consume al corruption and not to feare any separation To be short albeit I graunt vnto them all thinges concerning a liuing soule vpon which title as I haue before sayd I stand not yet that seat of the Image of God remayneth whole and sound be it that they terme it by the name of soule or spirit or by some other title Neither is it a harder matter to refell that saying which they bring out of the 37. Chapiter of Ezechiell where the Prophet describing the order of the resurrection calleth the spirite from the foure windes that it might blowe life into the dry boanes Whereupō they verily think it a very good consequent that the soule of man is none other thing but a mouing power without substaunce which power vanisheth away in death but is receiued agayne in the generall resurrection As if it were not likewise lawfull for me to inferre after the same manner to witt that the spirite of God is a winde or vanishing motion seing that Ezechiell in the first visiō nameth winde or breath in stead of the eternall spirite of God But it shall be an easye matter for any man without he be too too blockish to resolue this doubt which these Gallauntes can neither marke nor perceiue as learned and sharpewitted as they are For in both these places hath bene set downe the very same thing which the prophets very often haue set down who figure out spirituall thinges that are beyond mans reach and reason by corporall and visible signes And therefore Ezechiell entended liuely to set before our eyes as by a vision liuely pictured aswell the spirit of God as also the spirites of men and because the same was contrary to the spirituall nature he hath borrowed a similitude from corporall thinges which was as it were an Image or paterne thereof The second obiection whiche they make is this for although say they the soule was endued with immortallity yet notwithstanding because it sinned it hath through that sinne lost her immortality And this punishment was ordayned for sinne and denounced to our first Parents Gen. 2. where it is sayd You shall dye the death And S. Paule sayth Rom. 6. That death is the reward of sinne The prophet also cryeth out and sayth Eze. 18. That the Soule which sinneth shall dye And these and such other like places these drowsy sleapers alleadge for that purpose But in the first place I aske them was not the Deuill also payd with the same reward for sinne And yet for all that he is not so dead but that he waketh cōtinually compassing here and there seeking whom he may deuour still busiyng himselfe emongest the children of vnbelief Moreouer I aske them whether this death shall haue an end or not If there be no end thereof as in deede they must needes so confesse these then howsoeuer they are dead shall feele notwithstanding euerlasting hell fire and the worme whiche neuer dyeth These thinges therefore playnely shew vs that although the soule be dead yet it is immortall whiche wee graunt them and say that it feeleth both good and euil and that this death is an other manner of thing then that whiche they would haue to witt that it should turne to nothing Neither haue the scriptures forgotten this and that they should haue found if they had bestowed their minde and applied their wit vnto them rather then arogātly and after a proud maner to stand to that whiche their drunken sleapy brayn hath told them For when God pronounceth this sentence agaynst a sinneful man and sayth thou art dust and into dust shalt returne to wit sayth he any other thing but that that which is taken framed out of the earth shall returne vnto the earth And what becommeth then I beseech you of the soule Goeth it into the graue to become rotten stincking But we will handle these thinges hereafter a little more playnely Why doe they then goe thus about the bushe we haue already heard that that which is of the earth must goe agayne to the earth Nowe is there any reason that we should plunge the soule of mā vnder the earth It is not sayd that man shal returne vnto the earth But the thing which is dust shall return into dust And the thing that was made of the slime of the earth is thys dust It is that forsooth that shall returne into dust and not the soule which God gaue vnto man as a thing taken from els where thē from the earth After this sort we read in the booke of Iob Iob. 10.9.12 Remember O Lord that thou hast made me as the clay and wilt thou turne me into dust agayne He speaketh there of the Body and a litle after he speaketh of the soule and sayth thou hast geuē me life and grace and thy visytation hath preserued my spirit And therfore this life shall not turne into dust For the death of the soule is farre otherwise to wit Gods dreadfull iudgement the burden whereof the poore soule is no way able to beare but must be vtterly confounded and destroyed as by the scriptures we are taught as they whom God hath liuely touched haue by experience most fearefully felt And to the end we might beginne at Adam who first obtayned this gentle reward let vs somewhat consider what hart he had or to speake more properly what was in him at all whenas he heard this terrible voyce Adam where art thou This is a thing easelier thought of thē spoken Although in very deed a mā can not think of it except he eftsoonnes feeleth the same And like as the mightynesse and excellēcy of the Maiesty of God can not in wordes be expressed so also can not the terriblenes of his wrath be declared how greuous it is to those vpon whome it lighteth For they very wel see the anger of God and because they would auoyde it they are ready euen to plounge thēselues ouer head and eares in a thousand bottomlesse depthes and yet are no way able to escape it And who is he that will not graunt this to be a death in deede Agayne I say that a few wordes will serue them who haue bene seared with the hoate yron of conscience And therfore let them which haue not had experience thereof heare what the scriptures say whenas it is sayd Deut. 4. Our God is a consuming fier who whē he speaketh in iudgement killeth And such one knew they him to bee which sayde Exod. 20. Let not the Lorde speake vnto vs for feare we dye Wilt thou then knowe what the death of the soule is It is euen this whenas it is without God and that he forsaketh it leaueth it vnto her self For since God is the light thereof she loseth her life whenas she loseth his presence And to the end we might shewe that by particularityes whiche haue bene sayd in generall since it
frame this Argument That the spirite returneth no more into the body seing it is sayd that it shall not know the place thereof any more But they will say That they make hereon a false collection because the places of the resurrection are very manifest agaynst this manner of reasoning Yea and they themselues make an ill collection whose Argumēt is commō with the rest And that saying in the booke called Ecclesiasticus is almost lyke for there it is sayd The number of a mans dayes for the more part is an hundreth yeares and no man hath certaine knowledge of his death As droppes of rayne are vnto the sea and as a grauell stone is in comparison of the sand so are a thousand yeares to the day euerlasting Therefore is the Lord louing and patient with men powreth out his mercy vpon them And therefore they must needs confesse that the Proyhet had another meaning then that which they dreame of That God of his goodnes hath compassion of those whome he hath allowed to be his and that onely through his mercy and that if he pull back his hand neuer so little from them they returne into dust from whence they were taken And a little after he maketh a short discription of the lyfe of man comparing it vnto a flower which springing to day is no better then grasse the next morning So that if it were to be sayd that the spirite of man pearisheth and commeth to nought yet were not their error any whit strengthned thereby For when we say that the spirite of man is immortall we doe not affirme that it is able to stand and abide agaynst the hand of God or to continue fast and sure without his power Now God lyketh not nor is not pleased that we should thus blaspheme But we say that the spirite is vpholden by the hand and blessing of God And so defendeth Ireneus also the Immortalitie of the soule with vs Ireneus in his 3. boke agaynst Marcian and yet would he haue vs vnderstand That by nature we are mortall and that God alone is Immortall And he speaketh it after this fort To the end we might not be puffed vp with vayne glory as if we had lyfe as it were of our selues neither yet proudly lift vp our selues agaynst God But that we might learne by experience That it proceedeth from his almightines and not from our nature that we haue a firme and euerlasting perseueraunce And thus ye see what the controuersie is which we haue agaynst Dauid whome they make so mighty an Aduersary agaynst vs. Now he sayth that if the Lord take his mercy away from man that then he commeth to nought and pearisheth And we for our part doe teach that he is firme and sure and vpholden by the louing kindnes and power of God and the reason is this That God is alone Immortall 1. Tim. 3. and whatsoeuer hath lyfe it commeth from him The fourth place is this My soule is filled with euills Psal 88.3 and my lyfe draweth neare to the graue I am counted emong them that goe downe to the pit and am as a man without strength free emong the dead lyke the slayne lying in the graue whom thou remembrest no more and they are cut of from thy hand What say they If they haue bene cut of by the power of God and fallen away from his prouidence and from out of his remembraunce doe they not then cease to be As if I could not returne them this Argument into their owne lappes and bosomes What and if they be cut of by the power of God and that there is more remembraunce of them how is it possible for them to be againe and besides what shall become of the resurrectiō On the other side how shall we reconcile these two places The soules of the righteous are in the hand of God Wised 3.1 or to the end we may set before them other sure Oracles of God The righteous shall be had in euerlasting remēbraunce Psal 112.6 By this we see that they are not fallen away from the hand of God neither hath he forgottē them But let vs rather by this manner of speach conceiue the griefe sorrowfull feeling of an affected troubled man that maketh his cōplaynt vnto God declaring that it wēt very narrowly that he had not bene left in destruction with the wicked of whome it is sayd that the Lord hath no knowledge and hath forgotten them because there names are not written in the booke of lyfe and pluckt away his hand from them because he guideth not nor gouerneth not them by his spirite The first place is taken out of the same psalme Psal 88.10.11.12 where it is sayd Wilt thou shew a miracle to the dead or shall the dead rise and prayse thee shall thy louing kindenes be declared in the graue or thy righteousnes in the land of forgetfulnes It is lykewise sayd in another place Psal 115.17.18 The dead prayse thee not O Lord neither any that goe down into the place of silēce But we which liue will prayse the Lord from henceforth and for euer It is also sayd Psal 30.9 What profite is in my bloud when I goe downe into the pit shall the dust geue thankes vnto thee or shall it declare thy trueth They bring in also the song of Ezechias which is of the same effect Isaiah 38.18.29 where it is sayd The graue cannot confesse thee death cannot prayse thee they that goe downe into the pit can not prayse thy trueth But the liuing the liuing he shall confesse thee as I doe this day and the Father to the childrē shall declare thy trueth And that saying also which is written in Ecclesiasticus Thankefulnes pearisheth from the dead Ecclesi 17.28 as though he were not But the liuing and he that is sound of hart prayseth the Lord. Here we make aunswere that in all these places which are recited that the dead who are departed out of this world according to the common law of nature are not in this place simply spoken of It is not simply sayd that God is no longer praysed when we are once dead but it is partely meant that none sing prayses vnto God sauing such as haue felt his mercy and goodnes It is also partely meant That his name is not gloryfied after we are dead For then he sheweth not his benefites vnto men as he sheweth them whiles they are vpon the earth And now let vs consider of these thinges one after another and handle them in order that we may thereby shew the meaning of euery one of them And heere in the first place we are to learne this to witt that though it be so that by death is very often and as it were alwayes meant the seperation of this lyfe and by this word hell the graue yet shall we many tymes finde in the scripture that these wordes are taken for the wrath and
filthynes of the fleshe and of the spirite For it very well appeareth that he maketh no difference there betwene the fleshe and the spirite as he is wont to doe els where when as he attributeth filthynes to the spirite by which title he meaneth in other places meere purity I wil yet bring in another place although I see that they which meane to wrest will forthwith fall to their gloses 1. Cor. 2.11 For when it is sayd what man knoweth the thinges that are in man but the spirite of man which is in him Agayne no man knoweth the thinges of God but the spirite of God It may well be sayd that man knoweth the thinges which are in himselfe but he meaneth in one word that part wherein the power of the thought and vnderstanding consisteth And also Rom. 8.16 when he sayeth that the spirite of God beareth witnes to our spirite that we are the children of God vseth he not the very same proper kinde of speach But what I coulde conuince them euen in a word For we know how many tymes Christ him selfe by his owne voyce condemneth the error of the Saduces Math. 22.23 a part of which error was that there was no spirite as S. Luke wryteth in the Actes The wordes are these The Saduces say that there is neither resurrection Angell nor spirite Acts. 23.8 but the Pharysies coÌ„fesse all these thinges I feare me that they will goe about to cauill and say that these thinges are to be vnderstood of the holy ghost or els of the Angels Which obiection is easely aunswered For he hath placed the Angells aparte by themselues and it is certayne that the Pharysies had skarcely any knowledge of the holy ghost And they which vnderstand the Greeke tonge know this best For S. Luke sayd spirite without putting to any Article which thing without doubt he would haue added if he had spoken of the holy ghost Now if this stop not their mouthes I know not by what meanes they may be drawne or ledd without it so fall out and say that the opinion of the Saducies is not condemned in that they deny a spirite nor the opinion of the Pharysies allowed which say the coÌ„trary Howbeit the very words of S Luke do mete which this Cauill For after he hath set downe the confessioÌ„ of S Paul that he was a Pharisy he addeth this opinion of the Pharisies We must then say either that S. Paul vsed a subtill and wicked dissimulation which ought not to be receiued in the confession of fayth or els that he was of the same opinioÌ„ with the Pharysies touching the spirite Now if we must beleue histories this was as certaine and sure emongest the Apostles Ecclesiast History 10. 4. c. 13. as the resurrection of the dead or any other Article of our faith I will not be ashamed to bring in here the words of Polycarpe a man who both in his words and doings in very deede looked for Martyrdome In the same c. 19. being also a disciple of the Apostles and so sincerely taught others that which he learned of them as that he would neuer suffer any Leauen to be mingled emongest it This holy man then amongest many excellent wordes which he spake in the middest of the fier sayd that the same day he should be present in spirite before the face of God In those dayes also Melito Byshop of Sardis a man of lyke sinceritye In the same c. 24. wrote a booke of the Body and of the Soule which if we had had at this day I needed not now to haue taken payne in this matter This opinion was so notably receiued in this blessed tyme In the same of the resurrection of the flesh that Tertullian put it euen emongest the common and chiefest conceites of the minde which nature commonly taketh hold of And although we haue already brought in many reasoÌ„s which are able as I think to conuince that which they straue about to witt that the Soule or spirite of man is a substance distinguished from the body yet that which we will add forthwith shall make the same a great deale more certayne For I come to that which I did set downe in the second place to witt that the soule lyueth after that the body is dead hauing both sence and vnderstanding Now whosoeuer thinketh that I doe heere affirme any other thing then the Immortalytie of the soule is greatly deceiued For they which confesse that the soule liueth and therewithall take from her all her senses doe imagine a soule which hath no parte at all of a soule or els deuise a soule of their owne heds considering that her nature without which she can no way stand is to moue her selfe to feele In the same of the flesh of Christ to haue streÌ„gth to vnderstaÌ„dt as Tertullian sayth that the sence is the soule of the soule Let vs therefore learne this Immortalytie of the soule out of the holy scriptures When our Sauior Christ exhorteth his disciples not to feare them which kill the body Math. 10.18 Luke 12.5 haue no power ouer the soule but to feare him who after he hath slayne the body is able also to send the soule into hell fier doth he not meane that the soule lyueth after that the dody is dead And truely God hath very louingly dealt with vs herein that he hath not suffred our soules to be at the disposition of those which would so soone kill them or at the least though they cannot yet doe their best The Tyrantes torment cut in peeces burne and hang but it is the body onely for God onely hath power ouer the soule to cast it into hell fier So then eyther the soule abideth after death or els this must needes be an vntrueth That Tyrantes haue no power ouer the soule Vnto this they auÌ„swere as I heare that the soule truely is slaine for the tyme when as the body is dead but that it pearâ—â—heth not because that in tyme to come iâ— shall ryse againe Now if they thinke to goe away with this they must and graunt that the body pearisheth not for somuch as it shall rise agayne And because that they are both reserued vntill the day of IudgemeÌ„t therefore neither of â—oth peâ—risheth And yet our Sauiour Christ confesseth that the body is slayne and testifieth that the soule abideth whole and sound Iohn 2.19 This maner of speach he vseth of his owne death when he sayth destroy ye this TeÌ„ple and in three dayes I will rayse it vp agayne But this he spake of the Temple of his body by which reason he tooke the soule out of their power which also as S. Luke wryteth and as Dauid foretold Luke 13.46 Psal 30.6 when he drewe neare vnto his death he commended into the handes of his Father S. Stephen lykewise after the same maner saith Actes 7.59 Lord Iesus Christ receiue my spirite Haue they
you will also perfite the same vntill the comming of the day of Iesus Christ Now these men doe not onely intermeddle with the worke of God for a tyme but also dash it cleane out And they whiche before went from faith to fayth from vertue to vertue and enioyed the taste of blessednes whē as they bestowed themselues in the remembring of God these do robbe them of fayth vertue and of all remembraunce of God and place them in their beddes as sleapheddes and altogether drenched in drowsines For how enterpret they this their going on Doe they thinke the soules go forward in perfection whenas they grow fat with sleepe that they might be offered fayre and fat before the face of God whenas he shall sit in iudgement Surely if they had but one grayne of wisedome they would not thus grossely Iumble of the soule But looke how farre the heauen is distant frō the earth so farre seperate they the heauēly soule from the earthly body Phil. 23. When S. Paule then desireth to be losed from the body to be with Christ do they thinke it to be likely that he meant to sleape and for none other cause desired to be with Christ But this was namely his desire because he was fully assured that he had another mansiō a house not made with mans hande whenas the earthly house and Tabernacle of his habitation should be destroyed Is not this to a very good purpose Is not this then to bee with Christ Mat. 22.32 Mar. 12.27 whenas we geue ouer our own life Do they not tremble at the voyce of the Lord who calling himselfe the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob aunswereth forthwith that he is the God of the liuing and not of the dead And therefore he is none of their god neither yet are they his people But they say that these thinges shall then onely come in very deede to passe whenas the dead shall at the last day be raysed agayne to life considering that these are the wordes haue you not read that which hath bene written of the resurrection of the dead But yet haue they not wound themselues out by thys meane For when Christ had to do with the Saduces who denyed not onely the resurrection but also the immortality of the soules he confuteth these two errors with this onely saying For if God be the God of the liuing and not of the dead and Abraham Isaac and Iacob were out of the worlde when God spake vnto Moyses saying that he was their God it must needes follow that they liued another life For they must needes be ouer whom God maketh himself God Luke 20. Whereupon S. Luke addeth For al things liue vnto him not meaning that all thinges liue by the presence of God but by his power This thē remaineth That Abraham Isaac and Iacob do liue Rom. 14.8 Hereunto agreeth that saying of S. Paule whether we liue or dye we dye vnto the Lord we are the Lordes whether we liue or dye For therfore died Christ and rose agayne that he might be Lord ouer the quicke and the dead Can we set vpp any thing more fyrmelye whereon to settle and establishe our fayth then to heare that the sonne of God is Lord ouer the dead For he cānot be Lord but ouer some that are seying that there must be some subiectes where there is a gouernement We see also the soules of the Martirs whiche are in heauen yelde a testimony herof before God and his Angels Apoc. 6.10 who cry with a loud voyce vnder the Aultar howe long Lord will it be before thou take vengeance vpon the inhabitants of the earth for our bloud vnto whom were geuen white garmentes and was sayd vnto them that they should rest yet a little while longer vntill suche time as their fellowe seruauntes and their brethren which should be slaine as they were were accomplished The soules of the dead do crye and white garmentes are geuen vnto them Now I besech you you sleapie drounkē spirites how expound you these white garments be they cushions or pillowes forsooth for thē to sleape vpon You here see right well that white garments are vnfitt to sleape in Then must you needes graunt that the soules which are so apparrelled doe wake If then this be true it is out of all doubt that the white garmentes doe signify the beginning of glory which God of bountifull liberalitie geueth vnto Martyrs vntill the comming of the great day of Iudgement Daniel 7.9 Math. 17.2 Math. 18.3 Mar. 16.5 Actes 1.10 Actes 10.30 Luke 15.22 For this is no new nor straunge thing in the scriptures that a white garment signifieth glory pleasure and ioy For the Lord appeared in a white garmēt to Daniell The Lord Iesus appeared in this apparell vpon the moūt Thebor The Angell appeared in a white garment vnto the women at the sepulcher of Iesus Christ In this maner appeared the Angells vnto the disciples looking vp into heauen after the ascention of our Lord. In such forme appeared the Angell vnto Cornelius And the rich robe that was brought vnto the sonne after that he had consumed all his substaunce when he returned vnto his Father was a token of gladnes Moreouer if the soules of the dead cry out with a loude voyce thē sleape they not Whē beginne they then to be saped with this sleape Neither will this obiection serue them that the bloud of Abell cryed for reuenge I confesse in deede that this is a common manner of speach to witt that the deede it selfe speaketh that the shedding of bloud cryeth for reuenge And it is without all doubt that in this place the affection of the Martyrs is represented by the cry because their desier herein is expressed without any figure and their request also is herein set forth when as they say How long O Lord will it be Apo. 20.6 before thou be auenged c. Wherefore S. Iohn in his booke maketh mētiō of two resurrectiōs as also of two deaths The first is of the soule before Iudgement The second by which the body shall be raysed vp agayne to glory For thus he sayth Blessed are they which haue parte in the first resurrection in them the second death hath no place And therefore this is a terrible thing vnto you to you I say which will not acknowledge this first resurrection which is the onely opē way to enter into the blessed glory This also is a mightye strong weapon agaynst them euen the aunswere which was made vnto the theefe calling for mercy For thus he prayed Remember me O Lord when thou commest into thy kingdome Luke 23.42.43 And this aunswere he had This day shalt thou be with me in paradise He which is euery where promiseth to be good to the theefe and promiseth him heauen For he hath delight and pleasure sufficient who taketh pleasure in the Lord. Neither putteth he him of to many yeares but euen the very same
body soule For this generall death wherof as by the common necessitie of nature we all dye is a naturall way for the elect to come to the souereigne degree of Immortalitie Augustine in his 43. Chap. of the difference betwene the lyfe of maÌ„ the lyfe of brute beastes rather then to any euill or punishment And as S. Augustine sayth It is nothing els but a finishing of the fleshe which consumeth not the thinges that are fast ioyned and knit together but maketh a partition of them when as it bringeth both the one and the other to their first originall The third thing which they alleadge Acts. 7. is that which they so often speake of those which are dead Iohn 11.11 2. Thes 4.3 Kings 11 21.43 to witt That they sleape As it is sayd of S. Stephen That he sleapt in the Lord. Lykewise Lazarus our friend sleapeth Also sorrow not for them that sleape And this saying is so often repeated in the bookes of the kinges as that a man shall scarcely finde any phrase of the scripture more familyar and common But chiefely aboue all Iob. 14.7.11 they vrge and make a great reckoning of the saying in the booke of Iob where it is sayd There is hope of a tree if it be cut downe that it will yet sproute and the braunches thereof spring but when a man is dead what is become of him As the waters passe froÌ„ the sea and as the flood decayeth and dryeth vp euen so a man after he be a sleape ryseth not agayne neither shall he wake out of his sleape vntill such tyme as the heauen be not Now if we beleue that the soules sleape because that death is called a sleape In the first place the soule of Iesus Christ was possessed with the very same sleape Psal 3.5 For Dauid so speaketh of him selfe I layd me down and sleapt and rose vp agayne for the Lord susteyned me His enemies also vsed this wicked speach towardes him Psal 41.8 Shall he that sleapeth rise any more agayne Wherefore if it bee not lawfull to thinke so basely and vily of the soule of christ as heretofore hath largely bene handeled we ought not to stand in doubt that the scripture had onely regard vnto the outward shape of the bodye neither yet hath deryued and fetcht this sleape from the consideration of men For these two manner of speaches he sleapt with his fathers and he was layd or buried with his Fathers we take indifferently And yet by the way the soule is not layde or buryed by the soules of the Fathers But the body is caryed to be layd in the graue of the Fathers Samuell lykewise in the story of the Kinges attributeth this sleape vnto the Faythlesse kinges as may be seene in the two last bookes of the kings as also in the bookes of the Cronicles And therefore when thou hearest it sayd that a wicked man sleapeth thinke thou not once of the sleape of the soule which can not haue a worse hangman to torment and vexe it then an ill and guilty conscience what becommeth then of this dreamer or sleaper who is thus vexed and distressed Isyiah 57. ver 20.21 For the wicked are lyke vnto the raging sea which can not calme it selfe when it lusteth whose flowing surges cast vp filth and stinking badgage There is no peace sayth the Lord vnto the wicked Neuerthelesse Dauid meaning to set forth the sharpe pricking sting of the coÌ„science Psal 13. ver 3. sayth O Lord my God lighten mine eyes that I sleape not in death Thus we see that the bottomles depth of hell holdeth wretched man besieged and the streÌ„gth of sinne tormeÌ„teth him and yet he sleapeth yea he doth more then sleape because he abideth all these thinges And therefore these simple and ignoraunt fondlinges must be set agayne to their A. B. C. seing they haue not as yet learned that part is sometymys taken for the whole and sometimes the whole for parte which figure is so oftentimes vsed in the scriptures Neither would I haue any man beleue me except I strst bring forth certaine places which playnely shew that so often as this saying sleaping is taken for death Iob. 7.21 it is spoken by a figure called Synecdoche For when Iob sayth Behold I sleape now in the dust and if thou seekest me in the morning I shall haue no more being Is it to be thought that his soul should be ouercome with sleape Now therefore the soule is not to be turned into dust Iob. 21. v. 2.6 nei is it to sleape in the dust As also it is sayd in another place They shall sleape both in the dust and the wormes shall couer theÌ„ Psal 88. ver 5. And when Dauid sayth Lyke the slayne lying in the graue Art thou of the opinion that Iob and Dauid by these sayings haue put out the soules to be eaten of wormes Isaiah 14. ver 7.8 The prophet likewise teacheth vs eueÌ„ the very selfe same thing who meaning to describe the destruction of Nebuchadnezer saith after this maner Isaiah 14. Verses 18.19 The whole world is at rest and is quiet The firre trees also reioyced of thee and the Cedars of Lybanon saying Since thou sleapst none hath rysen vp to come agaynst vs. And anon after it is sayd All the kings of the nations euen they all sleape in glory euery one in his owne house but thou art cast out of thy graue All which thinges are spoken of a dead body so that to sleape is to be layd down as they are which sleape Horace in his â—des who are layd vpon the earth The very pagane Poets were able to geue instructions of this manner of speaking And therefore haue in the olde tyme called the place which was appoynted to burye the dead a Churchyard which signifieth asmuch as a dorture or a place of sleape and rest Not meaning thereby that the soules were there layd to reast them selues but the dead bodies I trust now by this tyme that the smokes of these our Gallants are already well vanished wherein they haue wrapped the sleapy soules since it hath ben proued that in the whole volume of the scripture there cannot be found that this word Sleape so often as it is set downe for death is attributed vnto the soules and spirites And besides we haue els where more at large handled the reast of the soules For their fourth obiection they take great hold of the saying of Salamon as if thereby they had some great matter to thunder out agaynst vs Where it is sayd in the booke of Ecclesiastes or of the Preacher Ecclesi 3. ver 18. I considered in mine hart vpon the state of the children of men that God had purged them yet to see to they are in themselues lyke vnto beastes For the condition of the children of men and the condition of beastes are euen as one condition vnto them For as the
thing that a man may say or beleue of the faythfull chosen whose kingdome and glory is to be in the glorious kingdome of God as to raygne as it were with God and to be glorified with him and finally to be partakers of the diuine glory And although this kingdome is not yet come yet notwithstanding it may bee seene in some measure For they which haue in some measure the kingdome of God within them beginne to be in the kingdome of God and to raigne with him Math. 16. agaynst whom hell gates cannot preuayle For they are made righteous in god as it is said of them Isaiah 43. All the seed of Israell shall bee made righteous vnto the Lord and be also blessed So that to say truely This kingdome is the building vp of the Church or the aduauncing of the faythfull which thing S. Paule describeth vnto vs Ephe. 4.13 who by all degrees of ages might grow vp vnto a perfect man Now these Gallantes see here the beginning of this kingdome and the encreases thereof and so soone as they see these thinges with theyr eyes they geue no longer place vnto fayth neither can they beleue that which is set before their fleshly eyes But S. Paule telleth them another matter for thus he saith Col. 3.3.4 Ye are all dead and your life is hid with Christ in God For when Christ who is your life shall appeare ye also shall appear with him in glory He sayth that our life is hidd in God with Iesus who is our head Now he deferreth our glory vnto the day of the glory of Iesus Christ the head of all the faythfull shall bring with him his members as the head of them S. Iohn also sayth the very selfe same thing Dearely beloued 1. Iohn 3.2 wee are nowe the sonnes of God but yet it doth not appeare what we shall be and we knowe that when he shall appeare we shall be like him For we shall see him as he is Now he sayth not by the way that we shal be made nothing for a certayne tyme but because we are the children of God who looketh for inheritaunce of our Father he therefore sustayneth and vpholdeth our hope vnto that day wherin the maiesty and glory of God shall be made manifest in vs all and we for our part shall gloryfy our selues in him Now they will here agayne maruell wheÌ„as they heare the children of God who may not returne againe vnto their sound and perfect vnderstaÌ„ding and feele this generation to bee immortall which commeth from God whereby we are made partakers of the diuine Immortalitye But let vs goe on with that which we haue begonne Let them crye out as much as they will say that the blessed ones of God are not called vnto the kingdome before the great daye of iudgement and that saluatioÌ„ is not promised vnto the children of God before that tyme. Yet this I say that Iesus christ is our head whose kingdome glory haue not yet appeared But if the members shoulde goe before the head it were a crooked kinde of order And therefore we shall nowe follow our Captayne and King whenas he shall come into the glory of his Father and sit in the seat of his Maiesty And yet notwithstanding that whiche is in vs from God Math. 16. 25. to wit our spirite liueth because that Iesus Christe who is our life is liuing For it were an absurd thing to say that our life were liuing yet were vtterly perished And this life is in God and with God and is also blessed because it is in God All these thinges doe very well accord agree with the trueth For why is it sayd of them who are dead in the Lord that they are not yet deliuered or that they do not as yet enherite the kyngdome of God It is because they lyue in hope of that whych yet they haue not and haue not as yet attayned vnto the end of their felicyty Wherefore then are they not yet blessed It is because they right well knowing that God is merfifull vnto them and seing a farre of the reward to come doe reast themselues in the sure hope of the resurrection And surely so long as we dwell in this earthly prison we hope for the thing which we see not and agaynst all hope beleeue in hope and that is the thing which Saint Paul speaketh of Abraham But Rom. 4. when as the eyes of our vnderstanding who being now buryed in this fleshe haue their sight troubled shall be no more bleared Heb. 10. ver 27. we shall then see the thinges we looke for and take pleasure in this hope For we are not a feard to speake thus after the maner of the Apostle who sayth to the coÌ„trary That there remaineth none other thing for the reprobate but a fearefull looking for of iudgemeÌ„t and violent fier which shall deuoure them Seing then that the thing which the reprobate looke for is terrible it is most sure that the thing which the chosen and faythfull looke for is ioyfull and therefore of very right ought to be called most blessed And because my meaning is to instruct our aduersaries rather then to constrayne them let them geue vs the hearing when as we shall draw the trueth out of a figure of the olde Testament and that not without good warrant For as S. Paul in the passing of the children through the reâ—â—â—a 1. Cor. 10.1 handleth by an Allegory the ouerthrow of Pharaon and their deliueraunce through the water euen so also let them geue vs leaue to say that our PharaoÌ„ is drowned in Baptisme our olde man crucified and our members mortified that we are buryed with Iesus Christ are deliuered out of the captiuitie of the Deuill and out of the tyraÌ„nous gouernmeÌ„t of death albeit notwithstanding we walke onely in the wildernes which is a dry and barren ground Psal 142. Except the Lord â—ayâ—â—â— Manna from heauen to vs and maketh the water come out of the Koâ—ke For our soule is lyke dry ground without water which gapeth with drynes before the Lord and is pressed with want of all goodnes vntill such time as he rayneth and droppeth the graces of his holy spirite thereon And soone after they were brought into the land of promise vnder the conduct of Iosua the sonne of Nawe a land flowing with milke and hony That is to say The grace of God deliuereth vs froÌ„ the body of death by our Lord Iesus Christ Howbeit this was not done wtout sweate shedding of bloud For then the fleshe chiefly stryueth and layeth open her power and force agaynst the spirite After we haue made our abode vpon the earth we are then satisfied with plenty For we haue white garments geuen vnto vs and we recouer our reast Howbe â—t IerusaleÌ„ the chiefe Citie of the kingdome is not yet built and set vp Neither doth Salamon the king of peace fully gouerne
holy man herein â—…ther theÌ„ strayghtly to binde any much lesse my selfe to the necessity of this distinction For S Augustine himselfe as I thinke wisheth it not but meant to shew as plainly as he could that there is a going on of the soule which it shall neuer fully attayne vnto vntill the day of iudgement Finally for this day of iudgement with which they so greatly deÌ„fend themselues there is an argument come to my minde which may plucke this error cleane vp by the rootes For in our creed which is the very effect of all our beliefe we confesse the resurrection of the flesh and not of the soule Neither is there any place left for their wrangling whenas they will tell vs that by this word flesh is meant the whole man We graunt theÌ„ that it is sometymes so taken but in this place we flatly denye it them whereas wordes which are very playne and easy to bee vnderstood are set forth vnto the rude and ignoraunt people In very deed the pharysies who were stout defenders and and mayntayners of the resurrection and who had alwayes this word resurrection in theyr mouthes did not yet notwithstaÌ„ding many tymes beleue that there was a soule Yet do they still lay hold on vs and force vs to sticke vnto this daungerous rock For they now alleadge the wordes of S. Paul wherein he telleth vs that we 〈◊〉 miserabler then all men if the dead did not rise agayne And thus they frame their Argument what needeth say they any resurrection if we be blessed before the resurrectioÌ„ But that which is more what is that great misery of christians which surpasseth the misery of all men if this be true that they are at rest whiles the residue are so greeuously tormented and after so wonderfull a manner And here I geue them warning that if I meant to dally and shift as they goe about none other thing but to abuse the ignoraunt people I would finde sufficyent passage enough to escape For who shall let me from following of other good men that haue disputed not of the last generall resurrection in which after the corruption of our bodies we shall receiue agayne incorruptible bodyes but of the lyfe which remayneth for vs after this mortall life for it is an ordinary and common maner in the scripture to let vs vnderstaÌ„d by this speach of the resurrection what the blessed and euerlasting life is For when we heare it spoken that the Saduces denyed the resurrection it is not referred to the body but is simply spoken accordyng to theyr opynyon that after a man be dead there is no memory left of hym And hereof is a probable Argument that whatsoeuer wherewith S. Paule helpeth himselfe to streÌ„gthen that which he hath sayde should be ouerthrowen in one word if it were aunswered that it is very true that the soules liue and that the bodyes whiche shall turne to duste can by no meanes ryse agayne Let vs now then come to examples first as touching this saying they which are dead in Iesus Christ are lost this might the philosophers haue easely coÌ„futed who haue mightely and constantly defended the immortality of the soule And as for this saying What shall they doe who are baptised for the dead It is very easely aunswered For the soules liue after death And to this which followeth wherefore are we also continually in danger It may be auÌ„swered that we lose this fraile lyfe to recouer Immortall lyfe wherein we shall lyue a great deale better We haue already bestowed many wordes whereof the teachable haue had no neede For the Apostle himselfe sayth that we are miserable if our hope in Iesus Christ stretched it selfe no farther then vnto this present life which thing Psal 73. ver 2.3 euen by the testimony of the prophet is out of all doubt who confesseth that his feete had almost foultred and his steppes had well nye slipt when he saw the prosperitie of the proud and wicked And to say truely if we looke but downe vnto our feete we wil say those to be blessed which haue all thinges come to passe as they would wishe But if our eyes looke farther of we will call them blessed who haue the Lord for their God in whose hand is the issue of death Howbeit we will bring some thing which shall be a great deale more certaine by which we will not onely repulse their obiections but also declare the true and natural meaning of the Apostle be glad without stryfe of wordes to as many as would meekely and curtisly learne For if there be no resurrection of the body the faythfull may of very right be called accursed yea were there none other reason but this that they are so often vexed hurt beaten and violently handled and doe suffer in their bodies such extreame wantes all which they thinke to be appoynted and ordayned for an euerlasting blessednes because they are disapointed of this hope For is there any thing I say not more miserable but rather more ridiculous theÌ„ to see and beholde the bodies of those who all the lyue long day doe nothing els but sport and laugh in the fulnes of all delightes and pleasures and contrarywise to see the bodies of feeblished Christians dead through hunger and colde and pressed with all kindes of violences if the bodies both of the one and the other pearished alyke For this thing could I very well confirme by the wordes of the Apostle which he setteth downe anone after when he sayth wherefore are we continually in daunger I dayly suffer death for your glory c. Let vs eate and drinke for to morrowe we shall dye It were a great deale better for vs sayth he that this saying should take place in vs as to say Let vs eate and drinke if these tormentes and shames which we suffer in our bodies be not changed into the glory which we hope after which thing should neuer be without it were in the resurrection of the body Furthermore although I should passe ouer this defence yet could I bring in another reason that we are more miserable then all men if there were not a resurrection For although we be very blessed before the resurrection yet is it no blessednes without the resurrection For we say that for the same cause the spirites of the Saintes and of the faythfull are very blessed for so much as they reast in the hope of the blessed resurrection and therefore if there were no such thing all this blessednes should turne to nothing wherefore the saying of the Apostle is most true that we are more miserable then all men if there be no resurrection And this doctrine is not agaynst these wordes that the spirites of the Saintes are more blessed before the resurrectioÌ„ but yet it is by reason of the resurrectioÌ„ They laye before vs also that percell of scripture which is writteÌ„ in the Epistle to the Hebrewes of the aunci Fathers where it is sayd All these
displeasure of God so that it is sayd of them from whome God estrangeth himselfe and whome he throweth downe by his Iudgemētes and bruseth by his hand that they goe downe into hell or dwell in hell For to speake properly hell signifieth not the pit or graue Isaiah 5.14 but destruction or confusion as in this place Hell hath enlarged it selfe and swallowed vp many It is also sayd in another place Math. 11.25 And thou Capernaum which art lifted vp into heauen I tell thee truely thou shalt be brought downe into hell And although this figuratiue speach be found throughout all the holy scriptures yet is it most chiefly vsed in the psalmes as in this psalme Psal 55.15 Let death seze vpon them let them goe downe quicke into hell or into the graue Lykewise Psal 28.1 O my God be not deafe toward me least if thou aunswere me not I be lyke vnto them that goe downe into the pit Psal 30.3 And agayne O Lord thou hast brought vp my soule out of hell or out of the graue thou hast reuiued me from them that goe downe into the pit Psal 9.17 Also the wicked shall turne into hell and all nations that forget God Lykewise If the Lord had not holpen me I had almost dwelt in hell Psal 94.17 or in silēce Also our bones lye scattered at the graues mouth Psal 141.7 Item He hath smitten my lyfe downe to the earth Psal 143.3 he hath layd me in the darknes as they that haue bene dead long agoe It is also written in S. Luke Luke 16.23 speaking of the wicked rich man And lifting vp his eyes when he was in hell in tormentes c. Lykewise in S Mathew Math. 11.25 And thou Capernaum which art lifted vp into heauen thou shalt be brought downe to hell In all these places by this word Hell the place is not so greatly vnderstoode of as the state of those whome God hath condemned and adiudged to banishment And that is the confession which we make in our Creede That Iesus Christ descended into hell that is to say That his Father plunged him into all the sorrowes of death for our sakes that he suffred all the tormentes of death and all the afflictions terrors and feares thereof and was in very deede afflicted although it is sayd before that he was buried Contrarywise they that feele the mercy and louing kindenes of the Lord are sayd Psal 133.3 That they lyue and shall lyue For there the Lord appoynted the lyfe and blessing for euer Psal 33.19 Lykewise To the end he might deliuer their soules from death and to preserue them in famine Psal 52.5 Also God shall plucke thee out of the tabernacle and roote thee out of the lād of the liuing Lykewise Psal 56.13 That I mighr wallke before god in the light of the liuing Psal 116. Also I will geue thankes vnto the Lord in the land of the liuing But now that we may make an end let vs content our selues with one testimony which so naturally describeth both the one and the other as that although we should say neuer a word yet layeth it forth our meaning very notably The wordes are these Psal 49.6 7.9.10.14 Who trust in their Goods and boast themselues in the multitude of their riches Yet a man can by no meanes redeeme his brother he cannot geue his raunsome to God although he take neuer so great paynes and liue neuer so long Shall not he see the pitt whē as he seeth the wise do dy The foolishe and ignoraunt shal both pearish They are layd into the graue lyke sheepe and death deuoureth them And the righteous shall haue dominion ouer them in the morning their Glory also shall consume and the graue shall be their house But God shall deliuer my soule from the power of the graue when he hath receiued me The somme and effect hereof is this That they which put their trust in riches and in the strength of them in the end doe by and descend into the graue For the rich and the poore the foole and the wise doe all pearish But he which trusteth in the Lord shall be deliuered frō the power of hell Now I say and defend it that these wordes death and hell which they haue layd before vs in the verses of the psalmes aforesayd and in the song of Ezechiah can no otherwise be taken And I further say and affirme that this may very well be proued by certaine and sure Argumentes For be it that Iesus Christ the sonne of God who is the head of all the faythfull and be it that the Church which is the body of Iesus Christ speaketh in these verses wilt thou shewe miracles vnto the dead c. And lykewise what profite is in my bloud c. That death is to be abhorred as a detestable feareful thing she fleeth it as much as is possible and prayeth that it might not be layd vpon her Which thing also Ezechiah desiereth in his song Wherefore then feare they to heare onely the name of death if they are thus certayne that God is mercifull and fauorable vnto them Is it because they should be no more any thing But they would eskape out of this world that is full of troubles full of greuous temptations and of all disquietnes to come vnto a soueraigne and blessed reast And because they should be no more any thing they should feele no more any euill which is neither prolonged by their death nor yet set forward by their lyfe Let vs now turne our selues and looke vpon the examples of the rest of the Saintes and see if the lyke matter hath fallen so out vnto them First when Noah dyed he bewayled not his estate Gene. 49. Nei did Abraham once make any sorrow Iacob also reioyced amidst his last sithes in that he looked for the sauing health of the Lord. Iob wept not Moyses hearing his last houre to be at hand was no whit troubled And for any thing that may be seene they all embrased death very couragiously and willingly we also very oftē heare these aunsweres of the faythfull when the Lord called them Loe here I am Lord. And therefore it cannot be chosen but that there was some other thing which enforced Iesus Christ and his faythfull to make such complayntes Neither must me stand in doubt that when Iesus Christ offred himselfe to suffer punishmēt for vs but that he fought agaynst the power of the Deuill agaynst all the tormentes of hell and the sorrowes of death all which thinges should haue bene ouercome in our fleshe that they might haue lost that right which they had in vs. Seing then it is so that in this conflict he satisfied the rigour and seueritie of the Iustice of God and fought agaynst hell death and the Deuill he besought his Father that he would not forsake him in the middest of so great distresses
nor deliuer him into the power of death crauing none other thing at his Fathers hand but that our weakenes which he bare in his body might be deliuered from the power of the Deuill and death And this is the fayth whereupon we must now stay our selues that the punishmeÌ„t of sinne coÌ„mitted in our fleshe which was to be payd in the selfe same fleshe for the satiffying of the righteousnes of God hath bene discharged and payd in the fleshe of Iesus Christ which was ours And therefore Christ neuer fledd the death but this horrible feeling of the seueritie of God which required that he should be chastised with death for the sauing of vs. Wilt thou know from what affection and minde this voyce came I know not which way better to expresse it but euen by another speach comming from himselfe when as he sayd My God my God why hast thou forsaken me He calleth then these dead and buryed and those that were carryed into the land of forgetfulnes the forsaken people of God After this manner the saints who were taught by the spirite of God vsed not these speaches to dryue death away to thrust God back that called them but to the end they might â—schew the Iudgement wrath and seuerity of God by which they felt Gods chastisement with death And because they shall not thinke that I make this of mine owne head I aske this question to witt whether a â—aythfull man calleth a simple and naturall death the wrath and terror of God I thinke our sleapers are not so shameles as to dare to affirme this And yet the Prophet thus interpreteth this death in these places Psal 88.16 Thine indignations goe ouer me and thy feare hath troubled me He addeth besides many other thinges which apperteyne to the wrath of God Another place also there is which sayth For his anger lasteth but a while Psal 30.5 but in his fauour is lyfe But I exhort the Readers to run vnto the booke To the end they might haue a farre surer beliefe of these two whole psalmes and of the song of Ezechiah For by this meane they shall not be deceaued and I eftsoones shall get credite with those parties who reade them with a good and sound Iudgement And therefore thus I conclude thaâ— death in these places is to feel the wrath and horrible Iudgement of God and to be feareâ— and troubled with the feeling thereof Euen so Ezechiah seing that he must leaue the Realme tâ— be put out for a spoile to the enemies and that he leaft no children of whome might descenâ—… the hope of the Gentiles his soule was troubled with thesâ— thinges which were signes and tokens of Gods anger and punishment and no signes of the feare of death For in deede hâ— afterward dyed without desiering to be deliuered from death To be short I confesse thaâ— death of it selfe is euill because it is the curse and punishment for sinne For on the one side iâ— is of it selfe full of feare and desolation and on the other side it driueth those who feele that God sendeth it them in his anger for their punishment eueâ— to the very last cast of desperation And there is but one seasoning which is able to mittigate or ease this so great sharpnes of death and that is to know in the middest of the anguishes thereof that God is fauorable and a mercifull Father and hath Christ for his guide and companion Now as many as are not thus seasoned death is to them confusion and euerlasting destruction Wherefore it is impossible for them to prayse God in death And as for this verse The dead prayse thee not c. Is a conclusion of the prayses of the people geuing thankes vnto God because he defended them from daunger by his mighty power This is then the meaning If the Lord had suffered vs to be ouercome and that we had fallen vnder the power of ouer enemies They would then haue lifted themselues vp agaynst his Maiestie and gloryed in them selues that they had ouercome the God of Israell But now after the Lord had suppressed and abated their pride and after that he had deliuered vs from the cruelty of our enemies through a mighty hand and an outstretched arme the Gentiles could not say where is now their God who shewed himselfe in very deede to be the liuing God Neither can his mercy come euer in questioÌ„ which he so notably hath manifested And here they whome God hath forsaken and whose power and louing kindenes they haue not felt are called dead As if he had forsaken his people through the crueltie and vnmercifulnes of the wicked This saying is fully confirmed by the prayer that is set downe in the booke of the prophet Baruck There it is sayd O Lord open thine eyes Baruck 2.17.18 and behold for the dead that are in the graues and whose soules are out of their bodies geue vnto the Lord neither prayse nor righteousnes But the soule that is vexed with the greatnes of sinne and he that goeth crookedly and weake and the eyes that fayle and the hongry soule wil geue thee praise and righteousnes O Lord. In this place without doubt a man may very well see that vnder the name of the dead are comprehended all these which are afflicted and throwne downe by the hand of God and fallen into destruction and that a sorrowfull rent and torne soule is such a one as being voyde of her owne power and not staying it selfe vpon her owne confidence runneth vnto the Lord calleth vpon him and looketh for helpe at his handes If any man would take all these thinges as it were by the discribing of a person he may soone haue an easy order to come to the manifest laying of them opeÌ„ because that in persons the deed is taken and when we heare this saying of the dead in this sence is meant death For the Lord winneth no commendatioÌ„ for his mercy goodnes when as he afflicteth punisheth and destroyeth although the punishmentes be iust But euen then createth he a people vnto himselfe to sing and celebrate the prayse of his goodnes when he deliuereth those who are afflicted cast downe and fallen into despayre and lifteth them agayne into hope But because these sleapers might not wrangle and say that we runne into crooked figures I auÌ„swere that these thinges may also be taken without any figure In the second place I haue sayd that there might be a naughty and false conclusion of these places that the sayntes after they are dead are no body and doe no longer prayse the Lord. But I say agayne that they rather prayse him which is they tell fourth and declare the benefites of God vnto others who doe prayse him And these wordes doe not onely beare this sence but doe also requier it For to declare and tell fourth and that the father geueth his children knowledge is not to conceiue the glory of God in spirite and vnderstanding
but to worship him with the mouth to the end that others might heare But if they would here disturbe me of my purpose and talke and say that it is lawfull for them to doe the same if they be in heauē with God as we beleue to this I aunswere that to be in heauē and to lyue with God is not to talke one with another and one to heare another but onely to take pleasure in God to feele his good will and to reast in him And therefore if they haue any other reuelatiōs els where let them looke well vnto them For as for my selfe I will neuer goe about to seeke after such crooked questions which serue more to styrre vp debate and strife then to set fourth Religion and the feare of God Neither doth that saying which is written in the booke of Ecclesiasticus tēd to this end That the soules of the dead doe pearish But when he exhorteth that we in good time and as occasion serueth might geue thankes vnto God he soone after teacheth that after death there is no more tyme to prayse him That is to say that there is no place left for repentaunce Now if there be any emongest them that doe yet murmure and are not contented saying this toucheth vs nothing at all that destruction it selfe must come vnto children I aunswere for the faythfull Psal 118.17 Psal 84 4. that they shall not dye but lyue and shall set fourth the workes of the Lord. They that dwell in the house of the Lord Psal 146.2 will prayse him for euer The sixte place which they alledge out of the psalmes is this I will prayse the Lord during my lyfe and as long as I haue any being I will sing psalmes vnto my God And thus they reason If a man must prayse the Lord so long as he lyueth and hath any being he will not prayse him after death and whē he hath no being And because as I thinke that they speake this meryly and in the way of iesting euen so will I also for their sakes speake some thing by the way of myrth When Eneas as it is writtē in Virgile promised vnto his hostesse to acknowledge that humanitie and curtesy which he had receiued at her handes as long as he thought of her meant he hereby that he would sometymes forget her when as he sayd So long as my soule shall styrre in my body did he thinke by this that he would acknowledge the good turne after death in these fabulous fieldes God forbidd that we should suffer this wrong to be done vnto this place of scripture least soone after we suffer our selues to be ouercome of that cursed heretique Heluidius And this I speake in good earnest And to the end they should not finde fault with vs that we haue not done as much as them selues I will yeald them fiue tymes as good a reckoning hereof Psal 30.12 First where it is sayd I will geue thankes vnto thee O Lord my God for euer and euer Psal 34.1 Lykewise I will alway geue thankes vnto the Lord his prayse shall continually be in my mouth Also Psal 52.9 I will alway prayse thee because thou hast done this Lykewise O my God my king Psal 145.1 I will extoll thee and blesse thy name for euer and euer Psal 61.8 Also So will I alwayes sing prayse vnto thy name for euer And euen very now they see that Dauid who was so much their friend fighteth here sharpely agaynst them And therefore let vs make no compt of these Argumēts which are built vpon the poynt of a nedle or vpon so weake a foundation The Seuenth place which they alledge is this Psal 39.13 Stay thine anger from me that I may recouer my strength before I goe hēce and be no more And therewith they ioyne that which is sayd in Iobe Iob. 10. ver 1.21.22 Let me a little complayne my sorrow and griefe before I goe hence and shall not returne euen into the land of darknes and shadow of death into a land I say darke as darkenes it selfe and into the shadow of death where is none order but the light is there as darkenes All this geare serueth them to no purpose For these are words full of heate and of a troubled conscience in trueth expressing and liuely representing as in a Table the affection of those who being touched to the quick with the fearefull Iudgement of God are no longer able to beare his hand And therefore these men pray that if they deserue that God should forsake them yet that they might at the least in some small measure and that at the last cast gaspe for lyfe before the Iudgement of God wherewith they are shaken and terrified And we ought not to maruell although the faythfull seruauntes of God are driuen to this poynt For it is sayde 1. Sam. 2.6 That it is the Lord that killeth and maketh aliue bringeth downe to the graue and rayseth vp And this saying not to be signifieth to be seperated from God For if in this case there is no man that hath his being but he that is they that are not in him haue no true being because they are for euer confounded and cast out from before his face Moreouer I see not how we should be so greatly offēded with this manner of speach if it be simply sayd of the dead that they are not so that this saying be referred to men For with men they are not although before God they are And so to conclude in a worde not to haue any being is not to be seene any more According to that which is sayd in Ieremy Iere. 31. A voyce was heard in Rhama a mourning and bitter weeping Rachell weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children because they were not Let vs now come to that which remaineth out of the story of Iob. Iob. 3.11.12.13.14.15.16.17.18.19 For we haue herebefore handled something touching the same matter as it came in question The first is Why dyed I not in the byrth or why dyed I not so soone as I came out of my mothers wombe why did the knees preuent me and why did I sucke the breastes For so should I now haue lyen and bene quiet I should haue sleapt then and bene at reast with the kinges and Counsellers of the earth which haue builded themselues desolate places or with the Princes that had Gold and haue filled their houses with siluer or why was I not hid as an vntimely byrth or as Infants which haue not seene the light The wicked haue there ceased frō their tyranny and there they that labored valiauntly are at reast The prisoners reast together heare not the voyce of the oppressor There are small and great and the seruaunt is free from his Maister But what if I bring against them the fourtenth Chapiter of Isaiah Isaiah 14.10 Where he bringeth in the dead comming
is so that there is no light without God which lighteneth our night it is most certayne that the soule being buried in her darckenesses must needes be blinde And then is she domb seing she cannot confesse that vnto saluation which she beleued to righteousnesse Deafe also she is because she heareth not this liuely voyce Lame likewise she is and that which is worsse she is not able to stand vpright when as shee hath not to whome shee may say thou hast held me by the right hand and guided me according to thy will and finallye she doth nothing wherein is life For heare what the Prophet sayth Baruc. 3.14 whenas he will shew that the spring and fountayne of lyfe wholy resteth in God Learne where is wisedome where is strength where is vnderstanding that thou mayst also knowe from whence commeth long continuaunce life and where the light of the eyes and peace is What wouldest thou els more desire to come vnto death And to the end we shoulde not here stay in this godly way let vs consider with our selues what life it is that Iesus Christ hath brought vs and it will put vs in minde with what kinde of death he hath redeemed vs. Ephe. 5. S. Paule teacheth vs both the one and the other For thus he sayth Awake thou which sleapest and arise frō death Christ will enlighten thee He speaketh in this place vnto dust but yet vnto such as being wrapped vp in their sinnes cary with them both hell and death And in an other place he sayth Colo. 2. And you when you were deade through sinne he hath quickened you together with Christ forgeuing you all your sinnes And like as according to the saying of S. Paule Rom. we dye vnto sinne whenas lust is quenched in vs Euen so dye we vnto God whēas we subiect our selues vnto our lust which liueth in vs. But to speake all in a word in liuing we dye which thing S. Paul speaketh of the widdow which liueth in pleasures to wit 2. Tim. 5. we are immortal vnto death For although the soule keepeth her vnderstanding yet is a gilty conscience as it were a verye blockish and vnfeeling vnderstanding Nowe therefore whatsoeuer this death of the soule was yet for all that it is farre of that the death which Christ dyed for vs is such one For he hath accomplished by his death whatsoeuer the prophets haue promised of his victory agaynst death For thus haue the prophets sayd Isaiah 25. he will destroy death for euer It is likewise sayd I wil be thy death O death hel Oseah 13. I will be thy sting Also Hebr. 2. Death shal go before his face The Apostles likewise declare the things already done for thus it is sayde he hath ouercome death 2. Tim. 1. Rom. 5. But hath enlightened life by the Gospell For if by the offēce of one death raigned through one much more shall they which receiue the aboundance of grace and of the gifte of righteousnesse raigne in life through one that is Iesus Christ Let them now abide and withstand these lightenigs if they can For since they say that death came by Adam which we also confesse but not in such sort as they imagine but as we haue before said whereinto the soule fell we on the contrary part say that lyfe came by Christ which they are neuer able to denye so that the poynt of the whole controuersy cōsisteth betwene the comparison of Adam and of Iesus Christ And therefore they must first of all reconcile this with that saying of S. Paule that whatsoeuer was onely lost by Adam hath bene also restored by Iesus Christ But looke howe farre the power of grace hath surpassed sinne euen so of a more farre passing greater power hath Ie-Christ bene in making restitution thē Adam was in the losse For he playnely teacheth that the gift is farre greater then the sinne although not vpon many men yet most plentifully vpon those vpon whom it aboundeth And nowe let them aunswere if they will that it aboundeth not because it hath geuen life more aboundantly but because it hath blotted out many sinnes seing the onely sinne of Adam is it which hath brought vs to destruction And this is the thing which I demaund Moreouer seing he teacheth in another place that sinne is the sting of death what death is it that can sting vs since his sting is rebated yea altogether consumed And so he handleth none other thing in many Chapiters of the Epistle to the Rom. But playnely declareth that sinne is wholy abolished because it hath no longer dominiō ouer the faithfull Rom. 8.1 Wherefore if the lawe hath power ouer sinne what other thing then do our sleapers who kill those that liue in Iesus Christ but draw them into the cursse of the law which is cleane dead And therefore the Apostle boldly sayth that there is no condemnation with them that are in Iesus Christ who walke not after the flesh but after the spirite Surely they pronounce a fearefull sentence agaynst those whom S. Paule freely acquiteth of condemnation whenas they say ye shall dye the death What is then become of grace whenas death raigneth as yet amongest Gods chosen Nowe according to the saying of S. Paule sinne raigneth in deed to death but grace Rom. 6.7 vnto euerlasting life and therefore if grace surmounteth sinne there remaineth no place for death Wherefore as by Adam death entred raigned euen so doth life also now raigne by Iesus Christ Now then we know that Iesus Christ being raysed agayne from the dead dyeth no more neither hath death any more power ouer him For in that he dyed vnto sinne he dyed onely once for all But in that he lyueth he lyueth vnto God And hereby we may see that they themselues refute their error with their owne weapons For when as they say that death is the punishment of sinne they forthwith graunt that if man had not sinned he had bene Immortall For that which began to be was not sometymes and that cōmeth through punishmēt and not by nature Contrarywise S. Paul that sinne is swallowed vp of Grace so that it hath nothing to doe with the children of God And so we haue gotten this poynt of thē that Gods chosen are now such as Adam was before he sinned And as he was created incorruptible Euen so are they now who are by Iesus Christ framed a newe into a better nature And that saying of the Apostle is not agaynst this 1. Cor. 15.54 That the written word shall be accomplished death is swallowed vp into victory For if they say it is so that the word shall be made then can it not be denyed but that to be made must also be taken to be accomplished For whatsoeuer is now begonne in the soule shall be accomplished in the body or rather whatsoeuer is onely begone in the soule shal be accōplished together both in