Scripture tells you you shall rise and where 's the power that 's in the Scriptures Also there 's Moses leprous hand and presently healed there 's Aarons rod dry yet presently budded and blossomed Sarah being barren shortly after bears a child Jonah three dayes and three nights in the whales belly yet riseth again Eze. 37. There were dry bones and yet bones creep unto bones sinews creep unto those bones and knit them together and flesh comes and knits those sinews and then God puts life and then they become men But we are to deal with the man that is meerly natural and stands altogether upon his own reason and therefore thus If he will take the pains to go into Arabia there he may hear of the Phoenix that consumes it self in the fire and another riseth out of those ashes But that 's too far Come neerer hand to the Bombyx the Silk-worm he dyes and out of his dust comes a Fly These are yet remote will you have them domestical in our own Land we shall finde the like In some places the Bees the Flyes the Wasps are produced out of the Hides of Beasts of divers kinds But except I see a natural reason I will not believe it Perhaps you will say with Thomas I will not believe unlesse I see it and feel it Well seeing these will not serve thy turn what shall I do unto thee Even as Solomon sent the Sluggard to the Ant to labour so must I thee Saint Paul he sends a Naturalist or natural Fool to learn of a little seed of Corn the resurrection from the dead Thou fool when thou sowest the seed lives not before it dyes and yet you may see it live you may see it dye after it is turned to dust it lives again And by this he foolifies all the generation of Philosophers and Infidels and as we say Jannes and Jambres which withstood Moses by false miracles were conquered by one true miracle of Lice So all these are confounded in this one seed and even here is the finger of God and as much in this as ever it was in that to the confusion of those that withstand it Now beloved that you have heard all these points opened there remains the fourth and that 's the Moral point About which I had studied not a little but foreseeing I should trespasse upon your patience I have contracted my self into some few Instructions concerning the Moral part and the first is this That the Resurrection of Christ requires of every Christian a conformity of holinesse of life and the Apostle will make it good for thus he saith Rom. 6. That as Christ rose again so should we walk in newness of life So that newnesse of life is a conformity to the Resurrection of Christ I speak of this newnesse of life the rather because it is a resurrection in it self So Saint John Apoc. 20. Those that are partakers of the first resurrection saith he shall never fall into the second death By the first Resurrection newnesse of life we are made partakers of the second resurrection and from hence may arise divers instructions The first shall be this That all Christian vertues they take their rising from the doctrine of the resurrection unto eternal life that comprehends all vertues that can be imagined Coloss 1. Saint Paul gives a direction that we should live soberly justly holily in this present world Here 's a Triplicative vertue which contains all others we must live soberly this requires temperance and sobriety c. justly that extends to all relation we have to Superiours or Governours and the other is holinesse which brings upon us all the obligations that we have concerning God and his worship in this present world What follows looking for the hope of the mighty God and of our Lord Jesus Christ Beloved how should this ravish the hearts of men to live soberly justly and holily in this present world When as the true Christian regenerate may say with the holy Apostle that he hath an expectation an hope a looking for the appearance the blessed appearance the glorious appearance of God a mighty God and of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Here you see that our salvation depends upon these triplicite vertues Again Saint Paul 1 Cor. 13. saith thus there are the three Faith Hope and Charity What have these to do with the resurrection Certainly the doctrine of the resurrection is made sure by these Therefore for Faith first be it known unto you I speak of a living faith not of a dead faith void of repentance and newnesse of life This is a dead faith which he calls a Devillish faith but I speak of that faith which Saint Paul affirms to work by love Of this faith our Saviour Christ saith He that believeth in me though he dye yet shall be live Here is living of dying This is a resurrection and he that believes this doth believe he shall rise The next to Faith is Charity of this St. John speaks We know we are translated from death to life because we love the brethren Therefore love the brethren because we shall be preserved from death to life Now come to open it and that in the Old Testament where it is said The people of God were tormented racked suffered all manner of persecution because they looked for a better resurrection that is the resurrection of the body to be better then all the torments and afflictions the world could lay upon them Surely beloved we can look for no better resurrection then these holy men did that suffered for the resurrection but we may better look for it then they they looked upon it with dim eyes and they believed but we have open eyes we may see it by most evident demonstrations they never saw Christ raised from the dead reigning in Majesty in Eternity and Glory this doctrine are we made sensible of Now therefore saith the Apostle If we suffer with him we shall also be glorified with him So much for our Hope The second point is this That our first resurrection requires that our worship and service unto God in holinesse be as well performed in body as in soul Thus the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.6 Glorifie God in your bodies and souls you are bought with a price Glorifie God with your bodies and yet behold greater then these Let every man say unto himself I am created by God both body and soul Ergo I will glorifie him in both But since I have trespassed against my God and thereby lost both body and soul Therefore thirdly there comes a Redeemer unto me and he suffers for me agonies and pangs both in body and soul therefore by this suffering he hath freed me from everlasting death and torments both of body and soul This is not all but besides this the price spoken of here which is the price of redemption is also a price purchasing of glory in the Heavens for my body and soul and therefore let
hast neither part nor portion in this Saviour Oh then bethink your selves that God is a Preserver The Rabbines tell us of a City of Refuge God had appointed in the time of the old Law that there should be a City of Refuge and that the man-slayer should flee thither and there was a care had that at every turning of the way there stood an hand pointing out every particular passage to the City of Refuge and written at the end of the hand REFUGE as if it should have said Fly man-slayer for thy life thou hast the way before thee What truth is in it I know not yet it is an excellent representation of every one that are sinners we are in the case of man-slayers all of us and God hath appointed at every turning of the way a finger at every corner of the City there is a voice that calls upon us Refuge Refuge to save our selves while the enemy is at our back the Devil follows us with might and main at the committing of every sin that he may reach us before we get to the City God hath his voice and his finger to point us thither it must be our wisdome to go while the finger points and the voice calls We know not how long we shall hear the voice of God in our Churches let us bestir our selves as they that fly for their lives let us hear the voice of God and gird up our loins we see by every dayes example the uncertainty of life let us fly to him that is the refuge of sinners he that had his arms this day spread on the Crosse to save all will not refuse thee and that he may shew us his mercy who is the Preserver of men God of his mercy grant us for his Sons sake for his mercy sake Amen And thus this sweet Singer of our Israel this ravishing Nightingale or if you will this Dove did groan forth unto you the Passion of his Lord he like a dexterous Physician did clap a plaister of warm bloud to your souls and I hope it will prove like the bloud of Goats qualifying you that you will afford plyable hearts to God and obedient hearts to him and charitable hearts to your brethren seeing you have a share in this Preserver But there lies no comfort in the death of Christ if we hear not of his Resurrection What is it to hear of a Saviour dead if he be not risen What is it to have our Surety to be in prison but he is out Hence breaks the day both of his triumph and our comfort that this Sampson hath carryed away the gates of brasse this rod of Aaron hath devoured all the other rods this God though he overcame not at the first yet he overcomes at the last this Jonah is now cast on the shore and this happy tidings an Angel of our Church brought from another Angel and his Text was in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew chap. 28. verse 6. A Sermon Preached by Dr Thomas Morton Lord Bishop of Durham at the Spittle on Monday April 26. 1641. before Sir Wright Lord Major Right Honourable Worshipful and beloved in Jesus Christ hearken I beseech you with reverence to the Word of God as it is written in the holy Evangelist Saint Matthew Chap. 28.6 He is not here for he is risen THese are the words of the Angel of God unto two devout women that came to visit the Sepulchre of our Saviour declaring unto them the Resurrection of Christ from the dead a Fundamental point of Christianity and the argument of these three dayes Festivity is the Resurrection of our Saviour and this Feast hath obtained from Gregorie Nazianzen this acclamation Oh Feast of all Feasts Oh Festivity of all Festivities Oh Celebrity of all Celebrities And therefore beloved we are so much the more bound to the discharge of our duties for a solemn and deliberate commemoration of it and you to a diligent devout and reverent attention unto those four points and parts which are deduceable out of this Text He is not here for he is risen The parts are these The first is Logical the second Historical the third Analogical and the fourth Moral The Logical thus from the word and particle for He is not here for c. Secondly Historical in the words following he is risen a declaration of the Resurrection it self Analogical from the person he in the relation that Christ hath as Head unto all Christians that shall be raised again unto everlasting life as the members of Christ The Moral that dependeth upon the same words he is risen because it doth challenge of every Christian man a conformity of life in rising unto newnesse of life conformable to that Resurrection of Christ as the Apostle will tell us afterwards I begin with the Logical He is not here for c. His assertion is Negative He is not here the proof of it for he is risen This for is a causal term which if it be turned into an illative it stands thus He is risen therefore he is not here As if a man should say the stars they are not seen for the Sun is up Verte the Sun is up therefore the stars are not seen The conclusion therefore of the Angel should be this Christ cannot be in the grave and out of the grave not here and there not in two places at once and that is our present Theme This doctrine that I teach unto you it was the confession and profession of this our Protestant Church alwayes it was written in Rubrick in the bloud of the Martyrs in the days of Queen Mary both Bishops and others whensoever they were called to that murderous rack of Interrogation among the Papists asking them this question What say you to the bodily presence of Christ in the Sacrament They answered he is not there bedily they proved it for he is risen he is ascended into Heaven a reason as you see Angelical this being granted that the body of Christ is not in two places at once then is the foundation of all the Romish Masse utterly ruined dissolved into rubbish and dust for then farewell the bodily presence the feigned and forged Transubstantiation the grosse oral and bodily receiving of it the sacrilegious sacrificing of it and that which is the last and worst the idolatrous adoring of bread in stead of the person of the Son of God Christ himself Neverthelesse we may not imagine that the Doctors of that Church make no answer to this consequence of the Angel He is not here for he is risen Their answer is this that he spoke not these words Doctrinally but onely Morally secundum modulum according to the capacity of the women who might think peradventure that he was risen not out of the grave but in the grave a transparent falsity as will be proved now to the contrary As this holy Evangelist He is not here could he walk in the grave to Galilee for he is risen look
to take it up again lay down my life by dying to take it up again by rising as easie to take it up as to lay it down to lay down my life as man to take it up again as God Even as he said of the same body to the Jews Destroy you this Temple I will raise it up in three dayes Destroy it then its destructive but raise it up in three dayes there 's his Godhead Thus he spake once let us put them together God and Man Man and God How prove we it The Apostle proves it Heb. 1.1 of Christ thus he was declared mightily to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead Whereupon Saint Austin Oh miraculum miraculorum This is a miracle of miracles the Sun of all Suns never the like that one dead should raise himself from the dead this could not be man but God it must needs be as the Apostle to the Colossians The Godhead dwelling in him bodily which raised himself from the dead now beloved from hence it must follow that it was impossible for him to be detained in the grave and S. Peter saith Acts 2. it was impossible for Christ to be detained in the pangs of death it is a word taken from women travailing in child when the throwes and pangs are upon her she cannot contain her burden it must go out Well said Chrysologus of this burden Concepit mortuum peperit vivum Here is a difference then between this womb and all the rest of the world conceiving dead and bringing forth alive and indeed so it must needs bee when Omnipotency is the Midwife as it was with Jonas a type of Christ swallowed up of the Whale the stomach could not digest it it must be cast out Of what use must this be to us the same power that raised him from death to life the same power will give us resurrection to life everlasting even our bodies So the Apostle Phil. 3. He will change our vile bodies and make them like unto his glorious body So much for the second point that I call it an Omnipotent truth The next is that it is also a triumphant truth there are two triumphings of Christ that we read of in Scripture and they are admirable the one is of his Passion and the other not of his but of the general Resurrection the one is an Introduction to the other of his Passion thus Col. 2. He having spoiled principalities and powers made a shew of them openly and triumphed over them on the Cross Here is his triumph he becomes a conquerour over principalities and powers he made a shew of them openly he spoiled them there 's the conquering sold them openly there 's the preparation for the triumph of the people and to look upon all as a conquerour there 's his triumph this triumph thus spokes of it hath allusion unto the triumphs of the world and especially that of the Romane State wherein there was first presented a multitude of Trumpeters sounding out the victory and resounding then came in chariots of spoils spoils of armour spoils of riches the conquerour he sits in the midst looking back unto those noble slaves that came behind their wives their children and all their hands bound about them I will passe no farther in the story enough for application Now I beseech you extend your mind as much as you can that we may behold at least some glimpse of this great victory of our Saviour Christ and of his conquest Here now where was his sight of Majesty he was now giving up the ghost upon the Crosse and behold a triumph why God and Man the Deity never forsook the Manhood no not in his death the vertue of his death was the crucifying of the Devil and all his powers And now I come to the slaves of this triumph the principalities and powers namely the greatest powers that can be conceived in creatures and who should deal with them but he that is above all power Christ our Saviour What doth he spoil them of of all their designs be they never so mischievous he spoils them of all their wiles and prevents them they can do nothing never any thing to the prejudice of the children of God regenerate never any thing that shall work to his overthrow This is that spoil and he leads them as it is here in the other Text open in view he goes not out of sight So that this point is contemplative here is no Cherubims or Seraphims Angels or Archangels but whatsoever can be seen in the world by the mortal eyes that was visibly performed by Christ Thus much for that second triumph and so it shall be in the general resurrection 1 Cor. 15. Oh death where is thy sting Oh Hell or Grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to God who hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Thanks be to God that he hath given us victory in Christ our Lord. Now mark I beseech you the manifold circumstances of this victory in the day of the resurrection of the holy Saints and Martyrs What will become of the Law the Law of God it shall be cancelled no more Law here and the Law it is the strength of sin for if there were no law there were no transgression the law being taken away there is no more sin and as for sins past they are either pardoned or punished in the day of the resurrection Well then but sin it is the sting of death what becomes of death Death it is swallowed up in victory Death 's dead no more giving up of the ghost Come to the Grave Grave where is thy victory When the Trumpets sound and the Angel gives his voice arise ye dead and come unto Judgement they come out of their Graves the Graves are empty But the great enemies are Hell and the Devil Hell where 's thy victory The conquest being before as you heard concerning the passage of the souls of men the gates of Hell are shut up no ingresse nor egresse but all is shut they are all detained as the Apostle saith in the chains of darknesse and torments for ever And this is our victory Thanks be to God that hath given us victory in Christ Jesus our Lord Amen Thus have I ended the Historical point which concern'd us in the evidence of this truth that you have heard that he is risen and of the power thereof All this while we have not learned the causes of this resurrection that belongs to the third part which I said was Analogical and this hath three considerations The first is this Christ here in the Text is to be considered in the first place as the general cause of the Resurrection of the world of men The second consideration is this That he in this Text is the special cause of the resurrection of all the souls everlastingly blessed The third consideration of
him is as he is risen as an example That it is possible there may be a resurrection from the death of the body First the resurrection of Christ teacheth us a certainty of resurrection that he is the special effectual cause of the resurrection to life everlasting unto the sons of God that shew the actions of the resurrection of Christ Secondly there is a generality or universality of Resurrection Thirdly the possibility of the bodies resurrection unto life To begin with the universality all must rise again by whom by whose power why by Christs 1 Cor. 15.6 As by the sin of the first Adam death came upon all men so by Christ the Resurrection from the dead all men all manner of men all men dying all men rising all the sons of men We have an Apostle for it All men saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 6. All men must dye all men must appear before the Tribunal Seat of Christ and give an account of all things they did in this life be it good or bad Here 's good and bad all men This was believed by the Jews before Christ came so the Apostle Saint Peter Acts 2. shews unto us That they believed the resurrection from the dead They believed the Prophet Daniel that they should rise the just and the unjust Dan. 12. Here 's all that Prophets prophecy some to honour and some to shame here 's either honour or shame A shame therefore it will be unto us beloved if we do not believe that which they believed That we having before us not a prophecie which Saint Peter saith is a dark light they believed in a dark light in a light in a dark place and we have the very Sun-shine of the Gospel to instruct us But what instruction do we learn from this universality It commends unto us the general Justice of God that as he will be both vindicative and remunerative to the bodies of men they must rise again vindicative to punish wicked men and remunerative to reward the godly even in their bodies Our reason That as the body hath been an instrument unto the soul for acting either good or evil so they should be co-partners together in weal or woe We see the same shadowed in the Parable the finger of the poor man in Heaven and the tongue of the rich man in Hell yet notwithstanding it must be the same body and as Job said of his eyes I know that my Redeemer liveth and I shall see him with these eyes and no other The same eyes For beloved how should it consist with the Justice of God that one body should glutton gormandise and swell with excesse and wallow in sensual pleasures and there should be another body put upon him that should cry out I am tormented in these flames Or for the godly as for example Saint Stephen whose name signifies a Crown that he should suffer Martyrdome for this truth we are now proving the Resurrection and afterwards another body be given unto him which should be clothed with blessednesse which is called the Crown of Righteousness No beloved it is a certain and an infallible truth that it must be disposed according to the Justice of God There 's a statute for it Heb. 1.9 Statutum est c. It is appointed and statuted for all men to dye and after death comes Judgment all men first to dye and then comes Judgment Judgment as sure as death Here is matter of horrour and matter of comfort horrour to the wicked that when that great and general Goal-delivery comes it shall be as it is sometimes at the Assises there are two men in prison and one hath either got his pardon or else he is innocent that none can impeach him and he saith to his fellows I am going before the Judge for deliverance out of prison Another he hath Guilty branded in his forehead and he cryes I am going before the Judge but it is to receive my condemnation and to be delivered over to execution So shall it be in the end of time and in this general Resurrection Then as it is in the Apocalypse the wicked that should appear before the Judge shall cry to the rocks to cover them and the mountains to fall upon them to deliver them from the wrath of the Lamb and yet to them he is a Tyger looking upon their guiltinesse and desperation they call and cry for impossibilities rocks to hide them from the Judge of all Judges and hills to cover them from the God of all Gods But as for the godly they come and say Now is our Redemption at hand for that which concerns redemption and comfort it belongs to them The next consideration is the necessity of the resurrection Now hear how necessary this resurrection is We read of many benefits in the Scripture of God concerning all men by vertue of Christs birth his life his merits his preaching his passion his dying But what if there were no Resurrection The Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 15. Then were our faith in vain Our whole faith were vain if there were not a resurrection we preach in vain And indeed were there no resurrection though the birth of Christ were never so joyous the miracles that he wrought in the world never so miraculous his promises for everlasting life never so gracious his work and price of Redemption never so meritorious yet if there were no resurrection his birth his life his miracles his passion yea his death it self put together the same stone that covered his corpse should cover all those singular infinite benefits But now he is risen this work of the resurrection it is both the perfection and complement of all the Articles that went before so it is also the foundation of all the Articles that come after rising communion sitting at the right hand of God in glory See the necessity of this resurrection and there is also the like necessity laid upon us seeing this resurrection is the vertue of our resurrection So the Apostle to the Colossians tells us That Christ is the Head of the Church and the first begotten of the dead He must have the preeminence he is the first begotten of the dead for he ascended first into Heaven to take possession there 's his preheminence Happy are we if we can come after as we may come for he did not take possession for himself alone but as the head of the whole body he is the first begotten among the dead And this for the comfort of all Be that inseparable union between us and Christ known unto you I do not say in our souls alone but in our bodies also for so the Apostle Eph. 5. We are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone Oh beloved when the holy Fathers of the Primitive Church fell upon this Text they were ravished with contemplations thereof to think there was such an individual union between Christ and them even our bodies And this union is more then if there were