is a sweet sleep without dreams as Socrates named it not an euerlasting sleepe as Secundus the Philosopher said to Adrianus the Emperor It may be called a brasen sleep a strong a long sleepe for so Homer thinketh of it That which Christ spake of the rulers daughter may be truly affirmed of all them that be departed out of this life that they are not dead but fallen a sleepe and at the last day shall rise againe The places of buriall for this cause are called caemeteria of which men would not haue such care if there should be no resurrection Olde father Iacob vpon his death bed in Egypt maketh his sonne to burie him in the holy land and Ioseph at his death giueth commaundement to his brethren to carrie away his bones Which desire of theirs was partly to be free from that idolatrous nation euen when they were dead but chiefly it shewed the hope of this change Tobias is commended for burying the dead and Christ sayd that the woman who annointed his bodie to buriall should be spoken off in all the world The men of Iabes Gilead shewed mercie vpon Saul and Ionathan in burying their bodies Talia pietatis officia ad mortuorum corpora pertinent propter fidem resurrectionis astruendam Aug. 1. de Ciuit. Dei cap. 13. Such duties of godlinesse do appertaine to the dead in token that we beleeue the resurrection The iustice of God requireth this that the bodies of men hauing bene partners in well or euill doing with the soule in this life should be partners in reward or punishment after this life The hand which is open to receiue bribes the foote which is swift to shed blood the tongue that speaketh proud things the eyes that behold vanitie the eares that are open doores to let in vnchast talke the minde a nest of wicked imaginations the head that deuiseth mischiefe and euill the heart which boyleth in lust and malicious reuenge euery part with the whole which is a fellow with the soule in sinning shall beare companie in the punishment Contrariwise those bodies which haue borne the heate and burthen of the day shall haue part of the penie and wages The Hebrue Doctors haue made plaine this by a parable deuised in this sort A man planted a vineyard and hauing cause to go from home was carefull to leaue such watchmen as might keepe it safe from strangers and such as should not deceiue him them selues therefore he appointed two the one was blind but strong of his limbes the other had his sight but was a creeple In the absence of their maister they conferred how to deceiue him and craftily the blind tooke the lame man vpon his backe and got of the frute At the returne of their Maister he found out their subtilty that they had ioyned their labour together and so he punished them both together Man standeth of two partes the bodie is blinde but strong to commit sin the soule hath his sight knowledge but vnable to worke outward wickednesse but both helpe forward to sinne and therefore in iustice must abide the punishment 2. Cor. 4.18 We must all appeare before the iudgement seate of God that euery man may receiue the things which he hath done in his bodie whether they be good or euill The infinite goodnesse of God to his people nor the vp heaped measure of his seueritie against the vngodly could not be shewed if this chaunge should not be For now the ioy of the elect and paine of the wicked is but as a dreame to that which shal be Esa 61.7 For your shame you shal receiue double euerlasting ioy shal be vnto you Which place Lyra and the enterlined glosse expound of ioy of soule and bodie The truth of God cannot stand if this chaunge should not be For he hath promised to raise vs vp at the last day and that not one haire of our head shall perish Luke 14. When thou makest a feast call the poore lame c. who cannot reward thee but it shal be recompenced at the resurrection of the iust The last enemie that shall be destroyed is death 1. Cor. 15. And lest death might alleadge prescription God hath in all times of the world hindered his possession and taken from him the bodie of some to shew that he had title right vnto them As in the time of nature he tooke Enoch in the time of the Lawe he tooke away Helias in the time of Christ he tooke our Sauiour To conclude this point the authoritie of the Scriptures the reasons of the Apostle the name of death to be sleepe the maner of buriall the iustice mercie and truth of God are strong chaines to binde vs to beleeue and are sure proppes to vphold this maine piller of our faith that our bodies shall be changed By these it is euident that God is willing as his power is answerable therunto God hath giuen to his creatures some portion of his power whereby things are brought to passe which shadow out this change which by his owne arme he will bring to passe The Lyon being long absent from his whelpes because in due time he could not find his pray finding them dead roareth in his caue and reuiueth them againe The Pellicane by her blood quickeneth her young ones Lactantius worthely describeth the maner of the Phoenix death and birth againe out of her owne ashes The fire lyeth hid in the flint stone yet a small force will make it appeare The sunne setteth and riseth againe the moone waineth and renueth her light trees are cut downe yet they spring afresh the herbes wither in the winter season but are greene againe in the sommer time The whole course of nature telleth vs that we shall die and putteth vs in hope of our rising againe Our nayles being pared our haire being cut off yet they increase and growe againe If the dead part of our bodie be restored by the ordinarie power of God in nature much more shall the bodies of men be restored by the mightie power of God What if our bodies be consumed to ashes in the fire dryed in shew to nothing in the aire rotten to dust in the earth swallowed vp of fishes in the sea those fishes taken and eaten of men those men deuoured of wild beastes those beasts made a pray to rauenous foules Disperse as farre as may be by imagination the partes of mans body yet shall this mightie power of God call them together againe Aug. de Ciuitate Dei lib. 22. cap. 20. Absit vt aliquis sinus naturae ita recipiat aliquid subtractum à sensibus nostris vt omnino creatoris aut lateat scientiam aut effugiat potestatem God forbid that any secret place should be thought so to hide any thing remoued from our senses that it can either be kept from the knowledge of the creator or auoyd his power For this cause the sea is sayd to giue vp her dead Apoc. 20.13 because the bodies that
perish there are least like to be restored But looke howe easie it is for the husbandman by his seruants to gather the wheate into his barne so easie it is for God by his Angels to bring all people before him The potter can make a new vessell of the same lumpe of clay if the first fashion dislike him much more is God able out of their dust to raise againe our dead bodies As the Captaine by the sound of his trumpet doth awake his souldiers so the trumpe shall blowe and the dead shall rise for all shall heare that great voyce whereof Chrysostome thus speaketh Verè vox magna est quae petras scindit monumenta frangit vniuersos mortuos resurgere facit ad iudicium ire compellit It is surely a great or strong voyce that cleaueth the rockes that breaketh tombs that raiseth the dead and that draweth men to iudgement Shall napkins be brought from Paules bodie to the sicke and diseases depart from them shall the shadow of Peter helpe the weake and sicke shall Elizeus thinke by sending his staffe to reuiue the Sunamites sonne shal the sayd Elizeus bones giue life to a dead corps cast into his graue And shall not the mightie power of God change these vile bodies and make them like the glorious body of Christ Aarons rod had leaues bloomes and almonds Moyses staffe was made a liuing serpent Sara her dead wōbe was mother to a sonne These saith Epiphanius lib. 1. haeres 9. are some tokens of the resurrection The graue may be the mother of the sonnes of the resurrection hauing this great power of God to strengthen it The Behemoth is a huge beast vpō the land his bones are like staues of brasse and his litle bones are like staues of iron the trees and reedes are too low to couer him the riuer Iordan seemeth not enough for him to drinke The Leuiathan is a monstrous fish in the sea out of his mouth go sparkes and lampes of fire his heart is as strong as the stone and as hard as the neather milstone he esteemeth brasse as straw and iron as rotten wood Iob. 40. If there be such power in the creatures farre more in the creator Christ commandeth the windes and the sea and they obey him he chargeth a legion of vncleane spirites and they departe at his word he wrastleth with death and taketh a fall and is caried prisoner into the graue which is the strongest hold and castle of death but he bursteth his bandes and breaketh open the gates and taketh away the power of death and will in the end vtterly vanquish it Christ raised the rulers daughter in the house and the widowes sonne carried out to be buried and Lazarus which had lyen fower dayes in the graue For with him it is all one to restore to life them that haue bene lately or long dead For as the beame of the eye discerneth in like space things that be neare and things farre off so doth the power of God in this case August Epist 49. vseth this comparison The garments of the Israelites waxed not old neither were their shoes worne in 40. yeares This was done by the prouidence of God for that people neither shall the bodies of men by death and corruption be so wasted but the Lord by his power shall renew them God can of the stones raise vp children vnto Abraham farre more easie is it to raise our bodies againe out of their owne dust It is possible with God that a cammell or a cable be drawen through the eye of a needle therefore death can not shut vp the graue so close but God will and can draw out thence these our vile bodies and make them like the glorious bodie of Christ If one Angell in one night can bring downe to death 185000. of the greatest men in Senacheribs armie shall not infinite thousands of Angels call from death all the world hauing this vanquishing power working with them To winde vp all it was harder for God to make woman of the ribbe of man to make man of the slime of the earth to make the earth the heauen and all in them both and betweene them both of nothing then to raise vp man out of his owne dust which if our eyes cannot see nor our vnderstanding conceiue nor our reason reach vnto yet our faith will apprehend it being founded vpon the wil of God declared in his word and grounded vpon his power shewed in his workes The want of these two foundations was the cause of this error in the Sadducees for so Christ reproueth them Do ye not erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God The wise Athenians mocked at Paul when they heard him preach the resurrection and Festus sayd he had ouer studied him selfe and by too much learning was become mad when he disputed before him of the same matter But the godly are not faithlesse but beleeue as Iob confesseth I knowe that my redeemer liueth c. and Martha saith of her brother I knowe he shall rise at the last day For they build their beleefe vpon these two pillers the will and power of God not calling flesh and reason to counsell For as Augustine ad Volusianum saith Si ratio quaeritur non erit mirabile si exemplum poscitur non erit singulare Demus aliquid posse Deum quod fateamur nos non posse inuestigare tota ratio facti in talibus est potentia facientis If reason be sought it will not be strange if an example be asked it will not be singular Let vs graunt that God can do some thing the reason whereof we cannot find out In such things the whole reason of the deed is the power of the doer The foresight of this chaunge should make vs warie to keepe cleane our bodies seeing they must be chaunged and made like to Christs glorious bodie The husbandman hath great care of that corne which is for his seede our bodies are the seed of the resurrection The huswife will keepe sweete and faire those vessels which are for the table our bodies are vessels or should be vessels of sanctification The Church and temple of God should be kept cleane and comely our bodies are the temples of the holy Ghost therefore should be heedfully looked vnto This is litle thought of of the oppressour who is become a Lyons denne full of pray and rauine or of the drunkard who maketh him selfe a swill-tub or of the proud man who maketh his bodie a painted puppet or of the luxurious man who is a cage of vncleane birds or rather a stable or a stye We dishonour God as much by abusing our bodies as Iehu did the temple of Baal who made it an house of the vilest vse God neuer tooke pleasure with his Temple of Ierusalem after it was defiled by the Babylonians but burnt it downe with fire and he hath in store a more fearfull fire if we abuse our bodies Therefore let vs be carefull to vse well these crackt and brittle vessels for that they must be in better case now vile but shall be changed and made like the glorious bodie of Christ and shall be vnited to the soules and receiue that blessed inheritāce which God the Father of old hath prepared God the Sonne of late hath purchased God the holy Ghost doth dayly seale in the hearts of Gods children To which three persons one true and euerliuing God be all honor glorie and praise both now and for euer Amen FINIS
which was amōgst the falling Angels in heauen is now found among the sonnes of men in the earth The voluptuous man is like him who hath the dropsie the more he drinketh the more he desireth he would lye deeper and longer with the swine in the mire The couetous man as the graue neuer saith there is inough Gods good giftes are without vse buried in him His arke and his chest may be filled but his heart in the chest of his body can neuer be satisfied Honour profite pleasure no earthly thing can content the heart of man It is onely this Lord this Sauiour this Christ which draweth mens hearts to heauen and there fully satisfieth them The Israelites in the wildernesse did eate Manna and dranke of the water out of the rocke but hungred and thirsted and died in the end But they which are fed with the true bread that came downe from heauen and drinke of the water of life they shall neuer be more a thirst but shall haue eternall life Christ Iesus is the euerflowing ouerflowing well Blessed are they that hunger thirst for him for they shall be satisfied in him he is the pearle for which we must sell all and buy him He is our head and with the serpent we must be wise to suffer losse in our bodies in our goods in our fame in our liberties in our liues so that we keepe our head safe Aeneas when Troy was won hauing a grant as all the citizens had to carie away some one chiefe thing which he made best account of chose and tooke away Patrios Poenates the gods of his countrey preferring them before his father his goods or any other thing which might be of price with him Which action of his may teach vs in our desires and affections to make choise of Christ and lift vp our hearts to him He requireth in the Gospell to be preferred before those things which otherwise be of most value with vs. He that doth not forsake father and mother is not worthie of me He would not suffer one whom he called to take his leaue of his friends at home nor permit another to bury his father a worke of humanitie and pietie Hieronimus ad Heliodorum hath a worthie iudgement agreeable to this licet à collo paruulus pendeat infans licet vbera quibus te nutrierat ostendat mater licet in limine iaceat pater vt te à Christo retardent abijciatur infans contemne matrem calcandus est pater solum est pietatis genus in his fuisse crudelem If thy young child hang about thy necke if thy mother shew her breasts wherewith she nursed thee if thy father lye in the doore to stay thee frō following of Christ cast from thee thy child contemne thy mother tread vpon thy father ad Christi vexillum vola flie to the banner of Christ to be his souldier and seruant it is pietie to be cruell in this case Glaucus carieth the bell among all fooles for changing his golden armour for brasen harnesse The Israelites lothed Manna and wished the onions and garlicke the grosse diet of Egypt The Gergesens were more grieued for the losse of their swine then glad of the presence of Christ nay they desire him to depart out of their coasts And all the sonnes of the earth these Terrigenae fratres may with the Athenians giue for their badge the grashopper which is bred liueth dieth in the same groūd so their whole desire both in life and death is in earth and as the grashopper hath wings but flyeth not sometimes she hoppeth vpward a litle but presently falleth to the earth againe so they haue some light and short motions to goodnesse but they returne to their old affections of the world their portion is only in this life for they loue vanitie more then truth drosse then gold earth then heauen the world then him that made and redeemed the world riches that rusteth before treasure that lasteth trash and pelfe not true wealth which maketh happie anie earthly vncertaintie before this Sauiour the Lord Iesus Christ the onely author of all felicitie Those foules that feede grossely neuer flie high and they which feed their hearts with things below can not haue their affections in heauen The Sunne draweth out of the sea the clearest water leauing the grosse and dregs behind which some thinke is the cause of the saltnesse of the sea so the sonne of God draweth vp the harts of them that are pure but leaueth below the earthly minded If Christ be deare vnto vs if the day starre be risen in our hearts if we find in our soules that Christ is a Lord a Iesus a Sauiour if the power of these offices take place in our consciences it cannot be but our harts shal be with him Gods spirit worketh this confession in vs that with feeling we may say the Lord is Iesus as Paule writeth 1. Cor. 12.3 To speake the wordes without sence thereof is to no vse The parrot vttereth wordes but knoweth no meaning but the godly do find with ioy that Christ is the way by truth to life the ladder by which they ascend to heauen the good shepheard by whom they are safe the henne vnder whose wings they rest quietly In him is their health wealth ioy rest felicitie he is their treasure and therefore their hearts are with him whereby it commeth to passe that they long for and desire his comming The first comming of Christ was long wished and most desired The holy fathers who with the eye of faith a farre off saw that day reioyced as Christ speaketh of Abraham and when he was come there was great gladnesse thereof The Angell telleth the shepheards that he brought tidings of great ioy to all people The same night that he was borne there was great light in token of comfort but at his death there was darknesse vpon the day in signe of sorow The Sunne put on his mourning garment and was ashamed to looke vpon that cruelty which the sonnes of men were not afrayd to commit If that first comming of Christ was so ioyful which was but meane and simple alone and solitarie when he came to stand at the barre to be iudged when he gaue vs but the earnest of our saluation thrise more comfortable shall his second comming be which shal be in glorie attended vpon with ten thousand of Saints and Angels when he shall sit him downe to iudge the wicked giue full possession of his kingdome to the elect Then shall the sheepe be gathered into the fold neuer to be in daunger of wandering or of the wolfe then shall the corne be inned into the barne neuer to be shaken with the winde or weather againe then shall there be a Saboth after which no work-day shal follow then shall be an euerlasting Iubilie when all bondage shall cease and the chosen shall enter to their inheritance which neuer shall be taken from them The hope of this
as Iob. 17.13 The graue shall be my house I shall make my bed in the darke I shall say to corruption thou art my father and to the wormes you are my sister and mother There is an old riddle what should be both the mother and the daughter the answer is of the I se but it may as well be said of the bodies of men which are made of the dust and shall thither returne againe The consideration that our bodies are vile should take away that too much curiositie to attire and pamper the bodie which commonly is in them that thinke too wel of them selues deeming their bodies to be too good to be fed but with dainties or cloathed but with costly apparell The winde may not blowe vpon them nor the sunne shine vpon them Our beginning is base of the earth our abode here is full of vncertaine prosperitie or sundrie miseries our end is most vile We must die like the beastes as Dauid saith Psal 49.12 This is the state of our bodies before they be chaunged and made like to the glorious bodie of Christ Some sight of this glorie Peter saw when Christ was transfigured Mat. 17.2 His face did shine as the sunne and his clothes were white as the light Of this Daniell speaketh in the twelfe chapter third verse They that be wise shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament and they that turne many to righteousnesse shall shine as the starres for euer and euer 1. Cor. 15.43 the Apostle saith they rise in incorruption in glorie in power a spirituall bodie He that looked vpon Ierusalem as it is described in the Scriptures shall see the houses gates walles strong and faire yet made of timber stone and ordinarie matter But the new Ierusalem in the Reuelation is most glorious the walles of Iaspir the foundations of precious stones the gates of pearles the pauement of pure gold For our capacitie the spirit of God doth thus set foorth the difference betwixt things in this life and things in that better life And the like difference there is in our bodies Now they are but shadowes but then they shall be as the sunne now they are simplemen then they shall be as the Angels of God now they are as cloudes some higher some lower some brighter some darker as mens places differ in the world but all hanging vncertainly in the aire then shall they be as the starres in the heauens now they are as gold in the mine mingled with the earth then they shall be purified seuen times in the fire now our bodies are vile then made like the glorious bodie of Christ Then all teares shall be wiped away all infirmitie shall cease all deformitie shal haue an end There shal be health without sicknesse strength without weaknesse pleasure without paine youth without olde age Rest shall not be needfull for there shall be no labour there shall be felicitie with certaintie and life without the reach and gunshot of death now our bodies are vile then like the glorious bodie of Christ Let vs not therefore be dismayed in the sundrie daungers nor let not our hearts faile and fall in the most grieuous sicknesse of the bodie which can but last for a time neither can it bring destruction It may ouerthrowe the bodie into the graue and there death shal haue dominion for a season but at the last our bodies shall be taken out of the power of death and made like to Christs glorious bodie This account the Martyrs of God haue made Quid si tyrannus sit interfector corporis mei cum Deus sit susceptor animae erit restitutor corporis mei Quid si membra laceret inimicus cum capillos annumeret Deus What if the tyrant kill my bodie seeing that God will receiue my soule and will also restore my bodie What if the enemie teare in peeces my members seeing God hath numbred the haires of my head The bloodie hand of cruell tyrants may wast and rend a sunder the bodies of Gods people but they shall be gathered together againe by the will and power of God which two causes working together will performe a harder matter then this For if God were willing and not able or of power but not willing then some doubt might be made of this change But he is both willing and able to make this chaunge of our vile bodies to make them like to the glorious bodie of Christ That God is willing both authority of Scriptures and reason agreeing thereunto doth warrant vnto vs. Esa 26.19 Thy dead men shall liue euen with my bodie shall they arise awake and sing ye that sleepe in the dust for thy deaw is as the deaw of herbes and the earth shall cast out her dead Ezech. 37.14 I wil open your graues and bring you foorth of your sepulchers Ioh. 5.28 The houre shall come when all they that are in the graues shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and shall come foorth 1. Thess 4.14 If we beleeue that Iesus is dead and risen euen so they that beleeue in Iesus will God bring with him 1. Corinth 15. There is a iust treatise of this matter and manie reasons alledged why the dead should rise againe Many mischieuous inconueniences and inconuenient mischiefes doe followe the denying or doubting hereof as that Christ is not risen that Paule had preached an vntruth that the people had beleeued an vntruth that the Apostles had bene false witnesses Againe that their sinnes were not taken away that the dead are vtterly perished that to hope in Christ is most miserable For fiducia Christianorum est resurrectio mortuorum the trust of Christians is the resurrection of the dead as Tertullian saith Besides Christ is primitiae resurgentium the first frutes of them that rise againe and by his resurrection hath sanctified all the elect thereunto Whatsoeuer Adam hath lost Christ hath restored but Adam lost life and by his sinne brought in death which Christ hath vanquished in his death Farther the beginners in religion when their death approched made hast to be baptized not that their bodies might be washed cleane for the graue but rather cleansed against the happie day of the resurrection as Epiphanius in Corinthianos expoundeth that point Lastly the godly endure persecution to no purpose if there be no rising againe The name and nature of death doth proue the resurrection For it is a sleepe and so named many times in the Scriptures as 1. Thessal 4.13 Brethren I would not haue you ignorant concerning them that sleepe that you sorrow not as they which haue no hope August epist 120. cap. 32. Quinque virgines fatuae quinque sapientes dormierunt id est moriebantur mors enim in Scripturis dicitur somnus propter resurrectionem velut euigilationem The fiue foolish virgins and the fiue wise slept that is died for death in the Scriptures is called sleepe and in respect of the resurrection as it were an awaking againe Death