Remission of sinnes and the other of Everlasting life teaching us that then only the Resurrection of the body is a benefit when Remission of sins goeth before eternall life followeth after for as the Resurrection is sepes Fidej so eternall life is Corona Fidej In this as in each parcell of the Creed are two maine things observable First the Act which is to beleeve therefore Credo must be applyed to every Article Pides est tota copulativa Secondly the object which is the ensuing Article In the Act is the personality which is faiths possessive Ego I beleeve This was Iobs Creed Scio quod Redemptor nâ—… I know that my Redeemer liveth I must saith one put all men in my Pater noster only my selfe in my Creed My prayer must bee like the penny which Peter found in the fishes mouth with which Christ bid him pay tribute pro me te I must pray for others beleeve for my selfe No mans faith can do mee good but mine owne for I cannot beleeve by an attorney nor be saved by a proxie When doubting Thomas fouÌ„d his faith at his fingers ends then did hee cry out with an holy appropriation my Lord and my God Vt brevissima sit absolutissima confessio saith Bullinger for hee did utter that in two words which is the contents of the two Testaments and summe of all summes of Faith and holy beleefe That living carcasse whom formerly wee mentioned hee that was even poore to a proverbe was enriched with this singular faith Iob 19.26 I shall see God in my flesh id est as it is excellently glossed on I in my flesh shall see God or Videbo Deum in carne h. e. Deum incarnatum I shall see God having taken flesh on him If I have this faith in particularity and can apply things generall to mine owne comfort then God even my God shall give me his blessing Et non est haec superbia Elati sed confessio non ingrati From the Act we remove our meditations to the object and here wee will first explaine those two Emphatical termes 1 Resurrectionem 2 Carnis For in these models summaries of Christian doctrine there is weight in every word we must therfore herein imitate the finers of pure gold Qui non tantum auri massas tollunt verum bracteolas parvas that make use not only of the wedge but even of the smallest foile or rayes that their mettall casteth Resurrection is properly a rising againe upon a fall taken for this praeposition Re as it hath beene noted B. of WimoÌ„ by a pious and learned Father of our Church doth ever imply not only Againe but Againe as it were upon a losse not second onely but a second upon the failing of the first as Redemption a buying againe upon a former aliening Reconciliation upon a former falling out Orthod fid lib. 4. ca. 28. Restitution upon a former attainder Resurrection upon a fall taken formerly to this suites well the definition of it given by Damascen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resurrection is a second quickening or setting up againe of that which first fell Resurget quod prius cecidit In this word then Resurrection we do find the strength and sinewes of an argument If the body rise it must first fall in this is implicitly woven up a confessed truth That all men must dye the first death Debemur morti nos nosiraque to dye is as true as good a debt as any the world knowes for the levying of which debt as one excellently and with a silver pen there is an extent upon all mankind and a Statute recorded by Saint Paul StatutuÌ„ est omnibus semel mori This a decree not to bee reversed a debt not possible to be declined Here might I have store of rich cloath to apparel my lines withall but lest the hemme should be bigger than the garment I have taken no more than what is suitable to my purpose My second observation is that in this common cognizance of our faith in this Article of my Creed I do not say at large I beleeve a Resurrection but more strictly more expressely thus Credo resurrectioneÌ„ carnis I beleeve the resurrection of the flesh Carnis scilicet non Animae This word Resurrection doth properly belong to the body the body that fals must rise To thinke that our soules shall sleepe in dust as our bodies doe till the last doome is but a dreame of the Anabaptists the spawne of the ancient Arabicks Ne in somnium quidem cadit anima cum corpore quomodo ergo in ueritatem mortis cadet quae nec in imaginem ejus ruit saith Tertullian and experience tels me that my soule while it is now like the Arke of God In medio pellium in these wals of flesh hath her owne working and lively operation even then when the Publican arresteth my body while my senses are imprisoned in the bands of sleepe For the mind of maÌ„ is a restlesse thing Of the immortality of the Soule and though it give the body leave to repose it selfe as knowing it is a mortall and earthly part yet it selfe being a spirit therfore active and indefatigable is ever in motion it hath no rise at all from this clay It sleepes not in a living body therefore it shall not sleepe in a dead body it is made of an everlasting nature As Gods eternall decrees have an end without a beginning so the soule of man hath beginning without an end It hath beginning to live it shall have no time to dye There is indeed a death of the Soule not that it ceaseth to bee but when it ceaseth to bee righteous Habet anima mortem suam cum vitâ beatâ caret quae vera animae vita dicenda est saith Augustine consonant to this is that genuine and proper interpretation of those words of the Evangelist what will it profit a man to gaine the whole world and lose his soule Perdere animam saith the glosse Est non ut non sit sed ne male sit for the soule being immortall is capable of Eternal either Felicity or Misery and whatsoever life it liveth yet it never ceaseth to live I have briefely set down the riches of the observatioÌ„s that naturally arise from the explication of these two termes both which I find comprised in one verse Psal 16.20 Thou wilt not leave my soule in grave there 's the Immortality of the soule nor suffer the holy one to see corruption there 's the Resurrection of the body This David knowing before saith the Scripture spake of the Resurrection of Christ the accomplishment of which prophecy is often repeated in the new Testament Act. 2.31 Act. 13.35 howbeit David after hee had served his time by the Counsell of God hee slept and was layd with his Fathers and saw corruption yet by the vertue of an insitioÌ„ into that Christ whose sacred body the Lord preserved from the least
putrefaction the Prophet apprehends a certaine hope of the Resurrection of his owne flesh to Immortality and assures himselfe that God will not give him over to that corruption which shall seize on him in the grave that his dead body shall not miscarry nor vanish away in rottenesse but bee raised againe in glory This meditation leades me by the hand to treate of our Saviours Resurrection being pertinent and conducing to the series of our discourse CHAP. 3. Christs Resurrection manifested by the testimony of Angels by his owne apparitions by the fulfilling of the Prophecies his Resurrection is a demonstration of ours THE glorious resurrection of our blessed Saviour was first proclaimed by an Herauld from Heaven so all the Evangelists testify Sonuit de sepulchro vox laetitiae never before was heard such newes from the grave but at that time when an Angell was the preacher his Sermon Christ is risen his Auditory Mary Magdalen and other devout women To discourse at large of those celestiall and immortall spirits comes not within the compasse of my walke yet thus much briefly and to our present purpose Angels however they still behold the face of our Heavenly Father yet they are but his houshold servants his pages of honor which hee sends on his holy errands the sacred tutors of the Saints the guard of Gods elect the watch-men over the wals of the new Ierusalem chaplaines in ordinary to the King of heaven Messengers Ministers attending about his Throne expecting his pleasure alwayes in readinesse to make knowne his will unto Man When God brought forth his first begotten Sonne into the world he sayed worship him all yee Angels and so they did when the blessed Virgin oreshadowed by the Holy Ghost carried her divine burthen within her wōbe an Angell appeared unto Ioseph to justify the innocency of the Mother and the Deity of the Sonne when hee was borne the Angels told the same unto the sheepheards and that with an Ecce too Luke 1. when Herod ment death to the Babe for the name of a King an Angell revealed the same unto Ioseph and willed him to fly into Aegypt with the child and so Populus Aegypti qui fuit persecutor primogeniti became custos unigeniti whē Herod was dead the Angell bid Ioseph returne againe into Iury When Satan left tempting him the Angels came and ministred unto him when his soule was exceeding sorrowfull unto death the Angels attēded to comfort him when his body was to bee raised from death an Angell descends to draw away the curtaine while our Lord came forth of his bed-chamber an Angell roles away the stone which his Adversaries had laid upon his grave an Angell is the first that reports the glad tidings of his resurrection The truth of this Angelicall assertion was secōded by Truth it selfe for what the Angell preached unto the women what the womē reported to the Apostles for in this Article were they first catechiz'd by the weaker sex our Saviour makes good by his manifold apparitions being seene at sundry times by such who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ideo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 witnesses chosen before of God for that purpose as the Apostle affirmes in his little Creed to Cornelius Acts 10. wherein is a synopsis or summe of the chiefe points of holy beliefe Concerning the Doctrine verse 36 37. Miracles verse 38. Life and Death verse 39. Resurrection verse 40 41. Comming to iudgemēt verse 42. of Iesus Christ What Peter there recites to his Auditor his new convert his Cornelius what Paul elsewhere to his Corinthians was all foretold Per os Prophetarum by the mouth of the holy Prophets for this is sure convertible Nothing was done by Christ which was not foretold nothing was foretold which was not done So that there was an Oportet a forceable reason that he should rise againe Vt impleretur that the Scripture might be fulfilled his Resurrection being as Aquinas saith Complementum omnium promissionum the Consummatum est the period the accomplishment of al predictions We may farther illustrate this if we looke on our Saviour as he was seene by Ezekiel in a vision as a King Ezek. 9.2 as a Priest as a Prophet walking amongst the midst of the Angels as a King cloathed in white as a Priest and with an inkhorne hanging at his girdle as a Prophet And here likewise shall wee find an Oportet that his Propheticall Sacerdotall Regall Offices each of them implyed a proofe of his Resurrection First let us consider him as a Prophet even the Prince of Prophets When the Angels at the Sepulcher sayed unto the women why seeke yee the living among the dead He is not here Luk 24.6 but hee is risen hee addes to remēber how he spake unto you whē hee was yet in Galile saying The Sonne of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful mē be crucified and the third day rise againe It is remember 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not what only but how not the matter but the manner remember that He will keep his word though he die for it though he dye for it hee will rise againe the third day to keep it to a minute The very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his resurrection is determined He rose the third day that early too When God was to give sentence upon man for sin he stayed till the heat of the day was over but upō this day being to preach remissiō of sins he rose betime while it was yet darke It was the Love of God and tender affection to his Church which he had so lately so deerely bought made him rise so soone and appeare so often the same day to distressed soules In all my Creed there is no other circumstance of Time but this of all the Actions of Christ for mee there recorded onely this Action of rising againe though of all the most difficult yet it is to bee beleeved with the circumstance of time no other to shew that the doubt and difficulty the improbability in respect of meanes bee it what it will yet whensoever my Saviour promiseth hee keepeth it as well as whatsoever he hath promised Secondly as his prophecy so his priesthood inforced his Resurrection How could it appeare that the obligation was cancelled the law fulfilled God pacified if hee had not risen againe If the debt had not bene taken off by the surety it would have lyen still upon the Principall If Christ had not risen from the dead wee should still be yet in our sinnes and our Faith should bee in vaine But wee know that our high Priest with one offering hath consecrated for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 The powerfull operation of this passion endureth for ever being the Lābe slaine from the beginning of the world and bleeding as it were to the worlds end Aron and his successors were but onely forerunners of Christ who is the end of the Law
and for this cause called Sacerdos accedens or superveniens a Priest added to the Priests a mediator of the new Testament consummating the priesthood of the old As there was never Priest before had the love to sacrifice himselfe for the people so never had any the power to revive that sacrifice hee once killed but our high Priest Christ Iesus had love to lay downe his life and power to take it up againe by the first hee shewed himselfe to bee the Sonne of man after the flesh by the second hee was declared mightily to bee the Sonne of God Rom. 1.13 As he could not but dye having taken on him a body of death so hee could not but live againe because that body was Vitae sacrarium the vestry and chappell wherein life was preserved Thirdly as hee was made to be a Prophet like Moses Act. 3.22 a Priest like Melchisedech Psal 110.4 so also a King like David Luke 1.32 God will give him the throne of his Father David and hee shall rule over the house of Israel for ever Hee was a King by birth simul natus simul Caesar so the wisemen testifyed of him Math. 2.2 And hee was a King at his death so Pilate wrote his inscriptioÌ„ though in the narrowest limits Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iewes Ioh 19.22 But to expect the Messias for a temporall Prince was the Iewes perpetuall dotage the Apostles transient errour Math. 20.21 Act. 1.6 Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdome to Israel Of temporall royalty hee had so little a share that his chaire of estate was the Crosse his crowne made of thornes his scepter a reede and for a Vivat Rex the people gave him a Crucifige But Qui subijt subegit hee that did undergoe did overcome and as Saint Bernard sweetly Qui agnus extiterat in passione factus est Leo in resurrectione Hee that stood as Lambe at his Passion to take away the sins of the world became a Lyon at his resurrection to spoile all principalities and powers and to make an open shew of them Coloss 2.15 Then did he manifest himselfe a most victorious conqueror over all his enemies then did hee receive the keyes of death and hell then did hee breake the serpents head and made all knees bow to him in heaven earth and under the earth And now being raised from death hee dyeth no more death hath no more power over him for this is his Epithite as the beholder and pen-man of that revelation which hath as many mysteries Apoc. 1.18 as words hath set it downe He that was dead and is alive and liveth for evermore From hence ariseth naturally matter of Confutation Consolation First this doctrine of our Saviours Resurrection is a sufficient condemnation to all Iewes who as we have formerly noted doe still looke for another Christ for why should they not beleeve their owne Prophet They said the Messias should suffer Christ suffered all things so as they were prophesied Who then can be the Messias but hee in whom all the prophecies are fulfilled Secondly It overthroweth the wicked errour of Corinthus who taught that Christ should not rise till the generall Resurrection But as Iob confuted the blasphemous speech of his wife with a Loqueris ut insana mulier so Epiphanius worthily saith of this hereticke Stolidus est stolidorum magister I will not take up the graves of the Chiliasts or Millenaries in their very name may we reade their errors but their grosse superstitions assertions shall for me bee buryed in sileÌ„ce Thus having melted the drosse from the silver mettall let us see what fruit wee can plucke from these branches Christ saith Saint Paul is become the first fruites of them that slept 1 Cor. 15.20 Hee is the first sheafe of the harvest by from which all the whole crop of the dead Saints receive vertue At the time of our Saviours Resurrection some few eares that were then ripe and hereafter the whole harvest shall bee carried into everlasting barns The EvaÌ„gelist speaking of it saith that many bodies of Saints which slept arose All the dead did not rise but many those Saints too the generall Resurrection is reserved to the last day this was a pledge and earnest of it As many rose with him so some before him but all the ResurrectioÌ„s which we read of in former times were wrought in the figure and vertue hereof Lazarus the widdowes Sonne and Iairus daughter came forth of their graves or were recovered to life Mortui sed morituri But Christ was the first that rose Cum victoria Mortis that rose to eternall life never to visit the grave againe This assureth us of our Resurrection Christus eâ—… typus Christianorum for as the head must rise before the members so the members are sure to follow the head if the head bee above water there is hope for the whole body if the roote hath life the branches shal not long be without the first fruites being restored to life all the rest of the dead are entitled to the same hope for the Resurrection of our Saviour is not only Auspex exeÌ„plar but also fidej iussor yea Chirographum nostrae resurrectionis so that he that did rise will raise These two resurrections are inseparable Thus did that great Champion of the Church who as a Father saith Priusquam natus erat Dominus Redemptorem suum vidit à mortuis resurgentem Thus did Iob excellently argue when from Iob 19.25 Scio quod Redemptor hee inferred Scio quòd ego c. I am sure that my Redeemer liveth and I shall rise againe at the last day for eadem catena revincta est Christi Resurrectio nostra Some divines affirme from the assertion of Bonaventure D. Boys postil pag. 868. that the yeere wherein our blessed Saviour arose from the dead should according to the Law have beene the yeere of Iubile which Feast was appointed by the Lord to be celebrated every fiftieth yeere for these causes First Why the Iubile was celebrated every 50. yeere that they might keepe a right Chronology and reckning of times For as the Grecians did compute their times by the number of Olympiades the Romans by their Lustra so the Iewes by their Iubiles Secondly that a true distinction of their Tribes might be preserved because then LaÌ„ds returned to their owners in their proper Tribe and servants to their owne families hence was it called Iubile from a word which in the originall signifieth deduxit or produxit because it brought men backe againe to their estate Thirdly hee instituted these Iubiles that they might bee a type to them of their full deliverance by Christ for this cause was it called Buccina reductionis because they blew with Rams-hornes at this feast in remembrance of their deliverance out of Aegypt And surely the Iubiles The spirituall Iubile in old time did mystically shaddow forth that Spirituall
his body for hee was slaine in warre 2. Chro. 35. In 22. of Math. and the 32. Christ saith I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaack and the God of Iacob God is not the God of the dead but the living Hee doth not say I was the God of Abraham and of Isaack and of Iacob or I am the God of Abraham that once was but as implying his owne eternall being and the certaine being of those holy Patriarches hee saith I am the God of Abraham c. Now God is not the God of those that are not and have no existence at all but of those that have a being So that hee will raise their bodies or else he did Dimidium tantummodò Hominem restituere else hee were God but to one part of Abraham But as his mercy is over all his works so his works of mercy are over all his His mercy extends both to soule and body and in the mercy of the most High they shall not miscarry Therefore shall God raise the bodies of dead men But wee must not frame unto our selves a God all of mercy but learne to sing that compounded ditty of the Psalmist of mercy and Iudgement Gods iustice is himselfe as well as his mercy As his mercy which wee have already shewed so likewise his iustice requires that their must bee an universall resurrection If in this life saith the Apostle wee have hope in Christ 1 Cor. 15.15 we are of all men most miserable Paul indeed was at a quotidie morior every houre in danger to bee drawne to the blocke every day dying ready to bee offered up for the name of his Lord and Saviour But to what purpose did hee expose himselfe to such variety of perils if there were no resurrection Miserable is that man that either laboureth or suffereth in vaine Shal Paul beare in his body the markes of Christ Iesus and shall he not beare in the same body the crowne of his glory Shall the labourer endure the heate of the day and shall hee not at length receive this penny his wages Christiani ad metalla was a usuall condemnation but what made them digge so willingly in the mines Surely they had a treasure there which the Emperour knew not of they had infinite more precious wealth from thence then hee For the hope of the gaining a better life is the perswasive Rethoricke against the feare of loosing this Haec vespera est necesse est addi matutinam laetitiam and then shal our birth be consummate when the evening and the morning are made one day These mixt meditations compounded of contrary ingredients as a Crosse and a Crowne Martyrdome and glory Mortality and heaven death and life are strong grapples and ties to hold a Christian and his patience together It were iniurious to cōplaine of the measure when we acknowledge the recompence Afflictiōs are the flowers of eternall felicity and who would not willingly gather the flowers for the fruits sake He that hewed timber out of the rocke Psal 74.6 was knowne to bring it to an excellēt peece of worke so was Ioseph hewed in the stocks and in the prison God brought him to an excellent peece of work to make him Lord of Aegypt Thus was Christ Iesus hewed and squared on the Crosse with hammers nailes and speares of that excellent work see where he sitteth at Gods right Hand Thrones Powers Dominations Angels subjected to him And thus will God deale with the dead bodies of his Saints which though they have bin persecuted here and the iron hath even entred into their soule yet at length they shal come out of their graues like so many Iosephs out of prison for Death like that Aegyptian Mistresse hath only power over their coates their upper garments their bodies and the grave like the serpent is dieted and feedes on nothing but dust It is not so much the death of the body as the corruption of the body Mortalitas magis sinita est quam vita When the Lord brought the Israelites to Canaan he made them goe Southward into the mountaines the South was a dry and barren part Thou hast given me a South land give mee also springs of water Iudg. 1.15 Thus doth God deale with his children in this life hee sheweth them great afflictions and troubles the South part as it were at first but afterward he bringeth them to the land that floweth with milke and hony He that shall build his faith on this rocke hee that doth thus Reponere fidem in sine will supervolare crucen◠triumph o're the Crosse and with Iob comfort himselfe on the dunghill with a videbo Deum and outface death with his Resurrection in hope and expectation of that glory hee shall once enjoy with Christ Benedictus sic Deus saith the Apostle Blessed hee God who hath begotten us againe unto a liuely hope by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ to an inheritance incorruptible c. It hath beene well observed by one of no vulgar Iudgement how the Resurrection is there placed in the midst betweene our hope and our inheritance To hope before it before the Resurrection hope but after to the inheritance it selfe to the full possession and fruition of it So from the state of hope by the Resurrection as by a Bridge passe wee over to the enjoying our inheritance Before I shut up this stage I must cleere a doubt and remove an objection which hangeth on this thinge Some of the Rabbins have conceited that the wicked by corporall death shall utterly bee extinct and that none shall come to Iudgement but they shall bee saved grounding their opiniō on those words of the Psalmist Psal 1.5 The wicked shall not rise in Iudgement But here insteed of the naturall milke of this text they sucke out the blood of misinterpretation And they which shall tenter and wrest the Scriptures which is a fault Saint Peter complaines of with expositions and glosses newly coined to make them speake what they never meant must needs bring forth aut heresim aut phrenesim If wee tread in the steps of the best interpreters we shal find as Hierome others observe that this is not to be understood Quod non furgent sed quod in judicio non resurgent Hee saith not that the wicked shall not rise but in judgement they shall not rise not rise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faith Christ as Felons whose fact being evident are placed at the bar not so much to be convicted as to bee cōdemned Their conscience that like a Blood-hound hunts drie foote shall set before them the sent of their sinnes soe that the Lord Iudge shall not make any great inquisition to find out their faults but proceed to sentence At that great assise shall wee all appeare Nam oportet nos omnes 2 Cor. 5.10 saith the Apostle confusi confisi both Christs confessors his crucifiers but the end
Iubile which Christiās enjoy under Christ by whose blood wee have not only a reentry into the Kingdome of heaven which we lost in the transgression of our great Grandfather Adam which wee had formerly morgaged forfeited by our sins And this was happily signified by the Israelits reentry upon their lands which they had formerly sould and againe the found of the Gospell which was in this Feast typed by the noise of the Trumpets is gone throughout the world The Redemption of Christ Easter Day is a yeere of Iubile the Resurrection of Christ is the chiefe day in the yeere yea Regina Dierum as Ignatius stiles it All Christians herein imitating the patterne of the blessed Apostle in honour of Christs Resurrection 1 Cor. 16.2 observe their Sabbath on the eight day which is the first day of the weeke wheras the Iewes hallowed their Sabbath upon the seaventh day which is the last day of the weeke So that Easter day is the Sabbath of Sabbaths an high and holy day from which every other Sunday hath its name being so called because the Sunne of righteousnesse arose from the dead this day Christs appearing on the eight day is not without a mystery wee labour six dayes in this life the seventh is the Sabbath of our death in which wee rest from our labours and then being raised from the dead the eighth day Christ in his owne body yea the very same body that was crucified shall reward every man according to his works Happy then is that man whose whole life is nothing els but a Lent to prepare him against the Sabbath of his death and Easter of his Resurrection CHAP. 4. Arguments drawne from divers Attributes of God as his Power Mercy Iustice c. to confirme us in this Article of the Resurrection AT my first entrance into the schoole of faith in the very first Article of my Creed I no sooner reade that there is a God but I learne withall that hee is Almighty The doctrine of his Omnipotency is the basis and fundamentall Arch on which is built our Christian religion from the knowledge hereof proceeds all faith because wee beleeve with the blessed Virgin Quia potens est that God is able to doe all those things which reason is not able to comprehend Cōtrariwise the ignorance or the not right understanding of this truth is the cause that there bee so many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unbeleevers and misbeleevers Atheists without the knowledge of God Infidels without hope or faith in God It was our Saviours own Argument against the Sadduces you erre not knowing the Scriptures Math. 22.29 nor the power of God i. e. saith the Paraphrase yee Sadduces doe erre grossely dānably in this your miscōceit of the resurrection the ground of your errour is your ignorāce both of the Scriptures which have cleerly revealed the truth thereof and of that Omnipotent power of God wherby is only this otherwise impossible worke If with the men of Berea wee do search the Scriptures wee shall find that before the Sadduces had any being in Israel this heresy of theirs was palpably convinced with an example of the resurrectiō even in Elishaes revived corps Now the power that can raise one man can raise a thousand a milliō a world No power can raise one man but that which is infinite and that which is infinite admits of no limitation In the beginning the Word of the Lord was the seminary of all being his will was his Word and his Word was his deed His Fiat and Fuit met together his Dixit and Benedixit kissed each other All at first was nothing and from that nothing carne all How easy is it then for him to repaire all out of something who could thus fetch all out of nothing How should we distrust him for our resurrection who hath approved his Omnipotency in our creation Our remainder after death can never bee so small as our being was before the world ashes is more than nothing The body wee confesse that is once cold in death hath no more aptitude to a reanimation than that which is mouldred into dust only as it was Gods omnipotēcy to create man out of a substāce that had no ability to produce the matter so likewise it is the Prerogative Royall to revive that dust to forme it into a new Adam to fetch a man a second time from the earth to live with himselfe when time shall bee no more This Resuscitation of the dead is one of those foure keyes which the Hebrewes say are in the hand of him who is the Lord of the whole world The Scripture makes mention of each of them 1. Clavis pluviae the key of raine the Lord will open to thee his good treasure Deut. 28.12 2. Clavis cibationis the key of food Thou openest thy hād and fillest every thing with thy plenteousnesse Psal 145.16 3. Clavis sterilitatis the key of barrenesse God remembred Rachel and opened her Wombe Genes 30.22 4. Clavis sepulchrorum the key of the grave when I shall open your sepulchers Ezek. 37.12 By all which places it is intimated that these foure things God hath reserved in his owne hand and custody Namely Raine Food the procreation of children the raising of our bodies For though at first hee made him ex nihilo out of nothing yet he did not make him ad nihilum to returne to nothing There may be a dissolution of soule and body for a time but there cannot bee an annihilation of either because they must be revnited againe to remaine for ever As we have derived a maine proofe of the Resurrection from the power of God so likewise may wee argue from his other glorious and divine attributes but because I will not enlarge a treatise into a volume I will herein follow the Schoole-men who reduce all communiter ad duo his Mercy Iustice These be the two master Attributes which set all the rest on work these bee the two feete of God whereupon he walketh al his wayes When God makes a covenant with his owne it is an incorruptible everlasting covenant Numb 18.19 therefore it is called a covenant of salt to note the perpepetuity of it In this covenant are all the dead Bodies of the Saints and the Lord forgetteth them not When Iacob wēt down to Aegypt Genes 46.4 the Lord promised to bring him backe againe but how did the Lord bring him backe againe seeing hee died in Aegypt the Lord was with him when hee was brought out of Aegypt So the Lord preserveth all the bodies of the Saints Psal 34.20 and hee keepeth all their bones yea even then when their bed is made in the dust because they are within the covenant It is said of Iosias although hee was slaine in battle yet he was gathered in peace to his Fathers i. e. to the Spirits of his Fathers who enjoy peace for hee was not gathered in peace in
be separated from the body seing it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the perfecting act thereof wherfore the Soule cannot be continually separated but must necessarily resume the body It is not my intent to leade my Reader into the Lycaeum of the Peripateticks or the Gallery of the Stoicks or the Tusculatum of the Oratour The season of the yeere doth now invite us with Isaack into the fields and with Ioseph of Aramathea into our gardens And here as it hath ever beene the guise of godly men from the beholding of worldly things to beget heavēly thoughts to turne the sight of every solemnity into a Schoole of Divinity and from things they see here downeward to make a prospect upwards whatsoever is presented to our eyes may be an Embleme to us of our resurrection How doth it feed us with delight to view the trees apparelled with a fresh beauty to see The mealy mountaines late unseene Change their white garments into lusty greene The gardens prancke thē with their flowry buds The meades with grasse with leaves the naked woods For what is the Spring but as Tertullian calleth it the resurrectiō of the yeere and it is no way consonant to reason that man for whom all other things doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shoote forth wax fresh spring and rise againe should not have his spring and rising too The whole creature doth write a commentary to give us comfort in this point but principally the Arabian Phenix that sole bird of wonder The Phaenix never did the Roman Emperors lye in their beds in greater state when in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were to bee burnt and changed to Gods then she doth consume herselfe in cost because shee knowes she shall bee revived By all writers she hath ever been held a type of our glorious Resurrection In the 91. Psalme it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the vulgar translation wee reade it hee shall flourish like the palme but it may be translated hee shall flourish like the Phenix for the greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 admitts of both significations Dies diei discipulus one day teacheth another and one night certifieth another each day dieth into the night and riseth into the morning againe these vicissitudes of times and revolutions of seasons are but so many deaths and so many resurrections Homo est nummus Dei Man is Gods coine stamped with his Image Nazianzen speaking of Rulers as of the Image of God compareth the Highest to pictures drawne cleane through even to the feet the middle sort to halfe pictures drawne to the girdle the meanest to the lesser sort of pictures drawn but to the necke and shoulders But all in some degree carry his Image as well the poore penny as the coine of gold In these lively pictures of ours may wee see some shadow some resemblāce of our future Resurrection doe not our nails pared our haire being cut grow againe And if these dead parts of the body bee restored by the ordinary power of God in nature much more shall his mighty power restore the bodies of men hath God given me the security of the very haires of my head and shall I distrust him for the raising of my body These and the like meditations are armor of proofe against the feare of death Pulvis es in pulverem reverteris is Mans Epitaph writtē with Gods own finger Libenter mortalis sum quisim futurus immortalis is a faithfull mans suscription and reply I might here without disgression record what I find upon file many memorable sayings Apothegmata merientium and novissima verba the last breath of such Seraphycall Zelots as have gone to heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with some sentence of piety in their mouthes with good words in their lips and like so many dying swans have warbled out their soules into the hāds of God But this field hath bin already reaped to my hand Since an Angell sate on our Saviours grave and proclamed those good tidings Resurrexit non est hic wee have added to our tombe-stones too Hic jacet-this happy clause speresurgendi for wee know that the bodies of the dead are not lost but layed up that they doe not perish but rest in hope that the sepulchers are not gulfes to swallow thē but repositaries to keep thē therfore do the Germans wittily call the Church-yard Gods acker because the bodies are sowne there to bee raised up againe Securus moritur qui scit se morte renasci Soules take your rest whose soule in heavens attends A blest reunion of two loving friends When Christ shall come with a Prodi Lazare the graves shall set ope their marble doores when the Ark-Angell shall sound the trump of collectiō the scatter'd bones of the Saints shal be gathered together with sinewes and those sinewes incorporated with flesh and that flesh covered o're with skin and by a new Metempsycosis or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as Pythagoras never dream'd of the same soule shall reenter into the same body But of the perfect restauration of our bodyes and glory of our soules wee shall discourse more largely in the close of our meditations Before I unlade my ship and put her into the creeke before I lodge my colours I should collect something by way of refutation from the absurdities that arise from the deniall of this truth The blessed Apostle hath set them downe at large in his Epistle to the Corinthians to which most comfortable Chapter wherein is store of Manna for the soule to feed on I referre my Reader To comment upon each of those texts were to set up a candle before the Sunne many of them being plaine and easy to bee understood I will only select one period of harder construction and give you the. CHAP. 7. Divers readings and interpretations of those words 1 Cor. 15.29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead Or as others baptized for dead if the dead rise not at all c. SOME Chymicall wits as the Advocates of Rome have extracted from hence a proofe of their Purgatory as Stapleton and that Franciscane in the Treatise of the fiery Torrent Du Moulin in his confut of Purgat p. 268. who disguising the passage thus what shall they doe that baptize themselves for the dead expound that which they have corrupted in this manner To baptize ones selfe signifieth to doe laborious and satisfactory workes for the dead and withall wee must understand that it is to fetch them out of Purgatory How fruitfull is errour of absurdities But 〈◊〉 will not sit on the skirts of this firy hil since Nabuchadnezzar cannot interpret his owne dreame nor the learnedst of our Adversaries cannot aread us their owne riddle this Somnium Monachorum nor resolve us concerning this mathematicall and imaginary fire either where it is or what it is This ignis fatuus hath been sufficiently quenched by the waters of Shilo which have
abundantly flowed from the best pen of France Thomas Aquinas by the dead understandeth sinnes which are dead workes as if the Apostle had said why are they baptized for the abolishing of sin whereby death commeth and which beeing removed death shall prevaile no more Others as Claudius Guiliandus understandeth it of Martyrdome for the faith of the resurrectiō because our Saviour speaking of suffering Martyrdome to the ambitious sons of Zebede said can ye be baptized with my baptisme These Expositions are far fetched In this and the like places of Scripture we must even have Oculos ad sensum for the occasion of speaking is the best key to every speech we will therfore weave this web a little closer In the translation and interpretation of these words Expositers vary I will strike the severall flints each of them may afford a sparke to give some light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are translated by some baptized over the dead as though it had beene the manner of some to baptize over the graves of the dead to cherish their hope of resurrection If it might appeare to have beene so by any History this would at once decide all controversies But as a moderne writer descanting upon this Exposition of Luther hath observed none hath made mention of any such thing and if we looke into the Register of Gods owne Record we shall finde that places of much Water were raither chose to baptize in as Iordan and Iohn the Baptist is said to have baptized by Enon besides Salim because there was much water there Ioh. 3.23 And S. Luke reports that the great Eunuch of Ethiopia went into the water came out of the water at his baptisme Act. 8.38 39. Others thinke that the Apostle here seems to allude to the ancient custome of the faithfull Iewes who to strengthen themselves in the hope of the resurrection used to wash the bodies of their dead and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to embalm them before they buried them As though the Apostle would prove there is a resurrection of the body from this custome seeing otherwise this washing should bee in vaine Though this cōstruction bee of some weight yet it is not sufficiently agreeable to the phrase the Apostle here useth Calvin according to the explication of Epiphanius upon the Text interpreteth the Apostles words as though he should reason from the custome of such converts and beginners in Religion as neglecting baptisme over-long yet when their death approached made haste to bee baptized that their bodies might be washed and cleansed against the joyfull day of the Resurrection Though the interpretation bee not lightly to bee passed by yet I cannot rest in it as in that which the Apostle should make his Epicherema ground of his reason and Master Calvin himself worthily condemneth them that should so deferre their baptisme till their going out of this life Francis Iunius rich in languages and subtill in distinguishing hath observed that this particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though it be usually and rightly transtlated Super may neverthelesse according to the use of the same both Greeke and Latin praeposition in Greeke and Latin writers bee taken here for Praeter besides or in signification of Insuper Moreover as noting the cōtinuance of the Sacrament of Baptisme in the Church by a constant course for the comfort of the living still like as it was found to bee of comfortable use to those that were dead so long as they were alive as though the words of the Apostle were to be read thus Else what doe they which are baptized still or moreover and beside those that are already dead because otherwise it might bee inferred that unlesse the dead should rise againe neither have the dead any fruit of Baptisme abiding them to wit in respect of their bodies and so shall bee disappointed of that which they looked for by faith neither have the living any reason at least in respect of the body why it should bee continued amongst them And this may the doubling of the Question by the Apostle import Else what shall they doe that are baptized viz. such as are already dead and againe why are they namely the living being alive yet Baptized Saint Ambrose understands this place of a Sacramentall washing applyed unto some living man in the name and behalfe of his friend dying without Baptisme out of a superstitious conceit that the Sacrament thus conferred to one alive in the name of the deceased might bee available for the other dying unbaptized As if the Apostle did here wound the superstitious Corinthians with their owne quils and prove the Resurrection of the dead from their owne erroneous practice telling them in effect that their usuall but misgrounded and superstitious custome of baptizing the living were in vaine if there were no Resurrection Thus have I briefly set before your eyes what curious threads have beene drawne by expert workmen from this woofe of Scripture Other Truth men herein have laboured and we have entred into their labours I have here I confesse presented a Caena dubia let each man please his own pallat If any shall demand my sentence Etiam culices circumvolent cum apibus I doe herein subscribe to the interpretation given by du Moulin which with submissiō of my Iudgment I take to bee proper and genuine Nor do I obtrude this explicatiō on my Reader as Magisteriall but leave him if this sense satisfy not to his father disquisition The sense of these words saith he must bee taken of the Apostles intent His intent was to prove the Resurrection hitherto hee implyeth Baptisme which in those dayes was celebrated as may appeare in the monuments of Ecclesiasticall History by dipping and as it were diving Magdeburg cant 14. cap. 16. col 234. by plonging the whole body in water in token that wee are in death And the comming forth of the water representeth the Resurrection S. Pauls meaning is that this signe were in vaine if there were no Resurrection and that in vain we are baptized for dead or as dead and to represent unto us that we be in death if there be no hope of the Resurrection And in this sense may wee understand the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee used by the Apostle as the Latin Pro is used in this and the like phrase habere pro derelicto for hee which is baptized should bee baptized for dead i. e. as one in a manner dead even to dye more and more unto sinne but to love more and more to God because baptisme is a token of regeneration the pawne and Image of our Resurrection as Saint Ambrose stiles it Et per regenerationem corpora nostra Resurrectioni gloriae inaugurantur Therfore saith the Apostle are wee buried with Christ in Baptisme Rom. 6.4 i. e. as Ignatius expounds the phrase aright beleeving in his death wee are by baptisme made partakers of his resurrectiō And thus having endeavoured to cleare this obscure
text of the Apostle I joine issue againe with my former Meditations and will shew that CHAP. 8. The same bodies which we now have shall bee restored unto us in the same substance They shall bee Immortall Honourable Glorious Spirituall Impassionate THe end of our MEDITATIONS shall bee the meditation of our end the contemplation of another life is the Star which guides us from the East to the West from our Orient to our Occident and brings us at length to the place where our Saviour is We know that in every man there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a naturall querulousnes against death but this is silenced with the remēbrance of our Resurrection by which wee learne that death is better than life because a passage to a better life Here wee grow up to a full vigour and then wee decrease till we decease but when we shall ascend above the wheele of time where nothing but eternity dwelleth wee shall have such an issue from death as shal never passe into another death there at first wee come to perfect stature so continue for ever that life shall last as long as the Lord of life himselfe But why doe I attempt an Eagles flight with the wing of a wren why doe I seeke to expresse that which cannot bee expressed I will not goe beyond my line for a diapason rest to our song for a pawse a period an Amen I will a little descant on that which I find set downe by the Apostle through the sacred Scripture but principally in that excellent Chapter which we may call the Spring garden of our Resurrection 1 Cor. 15. As the Princely Prophet David when hee sweetly warbled on the glorious Attributes of God hath for the Amaebaeum burthen to his song For his mercy endureth for ever so that divine Extaticall Doctor of the Gentils as if hee had beene the Apostle of the Resurrection makes this comfortable Doctrine the matter of most of his Epistles upon this stocke doth he seeme to plant the whole body of Christianity At the generall Resurection 1 Thes 4.16 the dead in Christ shall rise first the observation is that the sentence of Absolution shall bee pronoūced before the sentence of Condemnation a venite come unmee before an Ite depart from mee God is loath to let his fury bee predominant Then saith S. Paul shall wee who live and remaine be caught up with them also in the clouds the word in the Originall is passive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wee shall bee ravished so our rising and upgoing shall not bee by our owne power but the power of God Againe This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortallity not a corruptible or mortall at large but hoc this corruptible this mortall The blind men which our Saviour cured received no new made eyes but only sight to the eyes they had before The widdowes son Lazarus rose in the same bodies in which they died Hee that was seene in the flesh shall bee seene of the flesh yea of this selfesame flesh videbo mihi Not the substance or lineaments of our bodies shall be changed but the qualities When the Apostle saith hee shall raise up our mortall bodies hee so calleth them in respect of that which they are now not in respect of that they shal be then For in the Resurrection as he testifieth that had a prelibation of that glory they shall bee raised 1. Immortall not subject to any more disease or death wee shall not stand in need of these ordinary helps of meates and drinks by which our nature is preserved Christus transiens ministrabit nobis and it shall bee our meate and drinke to do our Fathers will 2. Glorious The Iust shall shine like the Sunne in the firmament Et qualis tunc erit splendor animarum quando solis habebit claritatem lux corporum And to confirme the verity and solidity of this glory it shall not only be revealed unto us but saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in nobis in us Ierusalem as the Kings daughter is all glorious within 3. Honourable Every defective member shall bee restored to its integrity Iacob shall not hault Isaac bee blind nor Leah bleere-eyed nor Mephihosheth be lame Hoc est credere Resurrectionem integram credere 4. Spirituall I meane a body so spirituall not that it shall loose the dimensions of a body and pierce through any naturall body as the light pierceth through the glasse as the Papists say of the Body of Christ after his Resurrection by a penetration of dimensions but because without contradiction they shall obey the motions of the Spirit besides the glorified state condition it then be in 5. Impassionate Free from such passions as may hurt and offend but not from the passion of Ioy the joy of the soule shall bee the soule of Ioy. Other particulars I cease to enquire because God doth forbeare to deliver them and in the silence of the Holy Ghost I will not be curious I will not winde my selfe into a laborynth where the happiest wit may lose it selfe If the Disciple that leaned on our Saviours brest his Legatus à latere qui esinu Domini biberat mysteria Apoc. 2.17 from out of the bosome of his Master dranke deepe of the heavenly wisdom brake off his Revelation with a Nemo scit needes must I take up here a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quis ad haec idoneus needs must I leave my Reader with a Theologia negativa a negative Divinity or divine ignorance and tell what is not in heaven The plumage of the Cystrian Swanne appeares more white when 't is oppos'd to the Ravens blacknesse and wee may better conjecture at the joies above if wee consider the miseries on earth In this world are a world of troubles non habet is hic requië saith the Prophet Rest and Glory Glory and rest are two things that meete not here the glorious life is not the most quiet and the quiet life is for the most part inglorious Sublunary transitory Are as barres in th' armes of Glory Riches and Honor like Absalons Mule do sometime leave their Master in extremity A consideration which if wel digested would gather our divided thoughts and rouze up our soules quae sursum quaerere quae sursum sapere to seeke first the Kingdome of Heaven and then wee know caetera adijcientur and indeed when heaven is once named all worldly things are but c. not worthy mentioning It is observed by those that are skild in the holy tongue Deus est centrum quietativum that in the sacred name Iehovah are none but litterae-quiescentes mystically implying thus much unto us that God is the God of rest in whose presence as the Prophet sings there is joy Psal 16.11 and fulnes of ioy and fulnesse of it for evermore When once we shal be planted in that caelestiall paradice there shall no