Shall not these first-fruits be likewise payed at our great Resurrection shall they not bee brought to the heauenly Ierusalem shall they not haue Angels goe before them shall there not bee crownes likewise prouided and shall they not be vshered with the voice of a trumpet It was the sound which the Iewes vsed at their brauer Funerals and may it not then fitly bee vsed when they shall awake againe from their tombes Till Christ was risen those that were buried were dead but if wee once but name him the first-fruits of them that rise let vs no more say they were dead but that they slept Yet all before the Resurrection shall not sleepe but some shal insteed of rising be only new-dressed by being clothed with incorruption and so haue rather a change of rayment then of life They shall not put-off their bodies but their mortalitie and bee made like Christ both in the truth of the Resurrection and in the glory The Eutychian shall then confesse that the two natures in Christ are not mixt though joyned and that his humanitie though exalted is not changed The Vbiquitary shall then see that Christ's body may be seene and it shall certainly prooue that it is not euery-where by being not in the graue whence it is risen The Pythagorean shall then recouer the possession and acquaintance of his vagabond soule and the Saducy shall then arise in that body in which he denied the resurrection of the body and with his bodily eyes see the errour of his soule Since then our Redeemer is as eternall in his flesh as in his God-head since the souldiers feare acknowledged his resurrection which their malice denied since we must rise both by his authority and example let our rising not only follow his but also imitate it As then the day of death and the peace of a Sabbath went before the Resurrection of our Lord so let the crucifying of our vices and the quiet contemplation of eternall joyes goe before the glory of the Resurrection So shall it be vnto vs as it was vnto our Sauiour a true Passeouer who passed thereby from this world vnto the Father So shall our hope bee as certaine as our rising so shall our soules rise as well as our bodies in that day of wonder When the last earthquake shall shake-vp death when the oecumenicall voice of one trumpet shall bee lowd enough to whisper-vp drowsie mankind when loose dust shal with the warmth and moysture of bloud bee kneaded into man when the tribute of dispersed and deuoured limbes shall bee paid-in from all countries and creatures when there shall be a Resurrection of disease of sleepe of death of the winding-sheet of the graue of rottennesse all which shall be purified into health into watchfulnesse into life into a robe of glory into a throne of glory into immortalitie when there shall bee a Resurrection of earth and heauen which shall be both renewed when there shall bee a Resurrection of God himselfe whose glory which seemed buried in this world shall illustriously arise in the face of heauen earth when there shall bee a new Resurrection of our Lord Iesus who shall no more arise from the graue but from heauen when the Iew and hell shall tremble those wounds of glory appeare which are the bloudie seales of our saluation So raise vs then O thou Lord of life vnto holinesse of life that when these things shall come to passe wee may not only rise in judgement but also stand in it and in these bodies both behold and follow thee into thy Heauen that glorious body prepared for the glorified bodies of thy Saints where thy crucified body sits at the right hand of thy Father where thy glorious company of Apostles praise thee where thy goodly fellowship of Prophets prayse thee where thy noble armie of martyrs praise thee And with their bodies O let our bodies find a labour to be learned in Heauen and let our soules euen there feele a new affliction that whiles we cannot grieue enough that we cannot prayse thee enough our increasing gratitude for our bodies resurrection may be our soule 's eternall resurrection The end A Sermon preached at Christ-church in Oxford on Ascension-day 16â—â— 1. PETER 3.22 Who is gone into Heauen and is on the right hand of God Angels and authorities and powers being made subiect vnto him FOr man to goe into Heauen is almost impossible for God to goe into Heauen is impossible To vnderstand then the wonder of Christ's ascension we might wish that our soules could but ascend like his bodie which whiles it was on the earth receiued motion from his soule but when it left the earth receiued motion from his Diuinitie without which that motion can now bee no more vnderstood then it could then be performed The greatest wonder of mans bodie has beene the structure but the greatest wonder of this bodie is now the motion The force of mans hand can make earth ascend towards Heauen but only the power of God can make earth ascend vnto Heauen Man can raise earth aboue its Spheare but only God can fixe it aboue its Spheare This day you may see both these wonders whiles the bodie is made as wonderfull as the soule whiles the bodie is made the wonder of the soule and goes to Heauen with as much ease and with more weight And indeed Philosophie may seeme to haue come short at least of perfection if not of truth whiles it has discouered the effects of its owne ignorance insteed of the causes of ascension and descension Which now seeme not to bee the workes of weight and lightnesse but of sinne and innocence seeing that a bodie free from sinne has learned to ascend and spirits loaden with sinne haue sunke themselues from Heauen to the punishment and center of sinne And yet innocence is rather a preparatiue then a cause of this wonder a bodie cannot ascend without it a bodie cannot ascend by it It has more power vpon the soule then vpon the bodie yet it has not this power vpon the soule And as the soule cannot ascend by the power of innocence so neither can the bodie ascend by the power of the soule The soule can affoord vnto the bodie the motion of progression but not of ascension progression being made by the power of the soule but by the parts of the bodie and it is a kind of friendly attraction when one foot inuites the other to a succession of motion by a succession of precedencie But the ascension of the bodie cannot bee performed but by somewhat that is aboue the bodie aboue it not so much in place as in power The bodie can bestow vpon it selfe an equiuocall ascension when a part of the foote shall be raised into the stature of the bodie but this is rather an ascension in the bodie then of the bodie Nay we cannot at all call it an ascension but by leaue when the bodie has by chance an erect situation
was an imployed legacie a woman bequeathed to time to multiply resurrections Which yet were almost reduced to a despaire by her degenerating Nephewes whose crimes had forsworne or scorned the resurrection of their bodies and did more ouerwhelme them then the floud Yet then looke vpon Noah with joy as the Lord did with fauour and when the olde and the new World were distinguished and continued but by an Isthmus from Noah's wife the Arke of mankind see a new resurrection of man and from his floud a resurrection of the world But will you see a raising without death or sleepe Behold Isaac as neere the stroke as the hand of his father arising from his Funerall pile and at this resurrection too there was an Angell remoouing though not a Tombe-stone yet a Knife more exorable then the sword which the Angell in Paradise did shake whose threatning edge was as deuouring as its flame But heere was a sacrifice offered yet not slaine and though not slaine yet accepted But peraduenture it will more gratefully frighten you to see a man taught to bee buried aliue and more yet to liue after his buriall Behold then Ioseph from the tombe of his prison rising vnto a triumph as eminent as his innocencie which had before conquered his passion and now his affliction Behold in Ioseph the mysticall bodie of our Sauiour a body admirably mortall and incorruptible a body that suffered rather the graue then death And will any man now count it such a wonder to see the fetters fall-off from Peter when they had learned the religion from his Masters winding-sheete which fell at his feet when hee arose But if the eye and courage of your faith will venter farther and see the actiue horrour of a graue behold Ionas his quicke tombe made a tombe of saluation to him Three of our dayes hee lay struggling in his new night of amazement as if he had found an Aegypt in the Whale and did acknowledge that watry Purgatory At last the graue by a new instruction cast-vp the liuing The Whale was no more a Sepulchre but a fish and Ionas no longer a coarse but a Prophet Hee had surely died if hee had not beene buried And heere was a resurrection though not a reuiuing a resurrection from disobedience and the Whale Thus this rare An'choret and his tombe were both aliue but the tombe of our Sauiour was as desperate as death What could be expected from a graue and a carcasse Yet behold this carcasse reuiue into a man nay into a God! And I may rightly say behold for he did rise that wee should behold him and at that time wherein we might behold him He rose when night rises into morning and at this pregnant season when winter is quickned into the spring Now did the day-spring visit vs from the graue It was on the first day of the Iewes weeke a weeke well begunne and is was the first day of the Christian Creation If you will turne ouer the notes of time you may beleeue that Pharaoh as on that day of the yeere was inuaded by an host of waues which conquering his Chariots made him without wheeles hurrie faster vnto Hell Whiles Moses led his Israel through the Wildernesse of the Sea passing from the shadow of death in that monument of waters Did not our Lord also leaue his tombe with an equall and contrary wonder Then were the waters made firme rising into Alpes as now the earth was made to quake like the waters And well might it tremble when the Lord conquered it and forsooke it The Angell too made a little earth-quake in the graue when he remoued the mightie stone with which the vaine few tryed to oppresse our Sauiour after death as it he would haue sealed him vp to an impossibilitie of resurrection But since the Angell has opened the tombe for vs shall we goe see the place whence Christ is risen And yet wee shall not make such hast but that the speedy deuotion of the two Maries will bee there before vs whose feete were as swift as their loue and their loue as time nay more swift then time which hindred them by the delay and command of their Sabbath A Sabbath it was but only of their bodies which whiles our Sauiour lay buried were but the sepulchres of their soules their soules that found no Sabbath till they found the Lord. They came with prepared spices and oyntments for him whose diuinitie did preuent Balme and esteemed their pietie of a more precious sweetnesse then their oyntments But will you see this loue languish into feare and this feare againe strengthned into joy They are no sooner in the sepulchre but that they find it as empty of our Sauiour as it was full of wonder and insteed of the body of the Lord they behold the Angell of the Lord sitting vpon the stone which he had conquered to obedience as if hee meant to rest himselfe in triumph after the conflict of his miracle His rayment was white as snow which he did imitate in puritie and descent His countenance was like lightning or more wonderfull for that is of so instant a terrour that it is the object rather of our memory then our eye but this with courteous majestie was patient to be beheld The women with the dutie of feare beheld it being quickly encouraged by the angell but first by their innocence The souldiers beheld it too though with such guiltie faintnesse that they seemed to striue as much to shame their sexe as their profession being at once almost disarmed of their weapons and soules They became as dead men and were rather the prisoners then the keepers of the graue But in the meane time the angell comforts and instructs the women who now are his Disciples and receiuing commission to preach the resurrection of our Sauiour to the Disciples of our Sauiour they haste out of the Tombe with the confused expedition of feare and joy Was not this a strange pilgrimage to runne from the sepulchre of our Lord But it was yet more strange they seeke the Disciples and find Christ It was a comfortable mistake And indeed hee did comfort them with his presence and speech When immediately they fall on their knees at his knees in loue worship holding him by the feet O how glorious are the feet of the Lord of the Gospell The Gospell of whose resurrection these female Euangelists are againe sent to teach and the first schollers which they must teach must be Christ's Disciples When to shew their obedience to be as readie as their loue they depart euen from Christ to their dutie and speedily find Peter and Iohn for their auditours Heere was zeale and tendernesse the fiercest and the mildest of the Apostles as if they had beene left together to temper one another And these no sooner heare the newes but straight they runne as fast to the tombe as the women did runne from it Iohn came first vnto it but Peter went first
into it Loue was swiftest but zeale boldest When they are entred they find Christ's victory acknowledged by the linnen clothes his spoiles of death and these spoiles too had beene diuided the napkin of his head being laid by it selfe It seemes the angell at our Sauiour's resurrection attended to bee a witnesse of it to the women and leaue a witnesse of it to the Disciples Thus that he was not stolne away appeares by the inconuenience and leisure of his vndressing and by the method of the linnen which the frightened policie of the souldiers did no more touch then obserue and they no more obserued it then did the women who after the sight of the angell had their eyes as much amazed as their minds The souldiers too did more tremble then watch but the Disciples had lesse feare and more time besides they learned somewhat which they were not taught and could now teach the women this newes of the graue But did hee rise but from the graue This is the newes but of his bodie yes hee did rise also from the damned who are dead too as much in judgement as to nature Though some are as vnwilling to haue Christ descend into Hell as to goe thither themselues and in a dangerous Brachygraphie write the Creed so short that without the commission of an Index Expurgatorius they quite leaue out the article of the descent But what an vnmannerly ingratitude is this to accept of Christ's benefits and denie his wonders They will enjoy his conquest of Hell and yet they will not let him goe to conquer it Ought wee not to make greater the glory of Christo and can wee make lesse the power of Christ Let then our pietie behold and wonder to see Heauen descend into Hell to see againe Gosâ—â—â—â— in Aegypt The Deuill had beene before in Heauen and now God is pleased to goe into Hell The arch-angell conquered the Deuill in Heauen and now God conquers him in his owne Empire and makes his Empire his Dungeon Wee ouercome the Deuill by flight but God by inuasion Yet who would not stand amazed to see God with the Deuill Had the Manichie beene now hee might heere at once haue behold both his Princes Mee thinkes our Sauiour now turned Sampson's Riddle into a Prophesie which hee expounded and fulfilled Did not out of the eater come forth meate and out of the strong came there not sweetnesse when from the jawes of Hell by Christ came forth saluation Now whiles the soule of our Sauiour was triumphant in Hell his bodie was obedient in the sepulchre his diuinitie being as his soule till it recalled his soule and made the whole Christ change an age of three and thirtie yeeres into eternitie Loe heere is the Lion of the Tribe of Iudah whose almightie strength vouchsafed to couch vnder the power of the graue and Loe the glorious indignation of his loue has rouzed him vp againe from the sloth of death Will you behold how hee was raised behold how the potter workes vpon the wheele he takes clay he makes it a vessell and this vessell being marred in the hand of the potter he makes it againe as hee best pleases Christ was immortall clay and earth purer then Heauen When by the wonder of omnipotency the Creator and the creature were made into one and of one matter did consist both the potter and his pot From this broken clay there did arise the same and a renewed Christ That hee rose in the earnest of a body his owne mouth did testifie when hee said nothing proouing it by the authoritie of food which he did eate with his Disciples Could any man in this point be yet an infidell If any could see how he conuerts them Hee lets Thomas disgrace himselfe to a beliefe and by his distrust mercifully and miraculously increase his faith Can any doubt that hee was renewed in a bodie of glory when he was full of God Know you not that his body was indeed the Temple of the Holy Ghost Was hee not renewed in a body of glory whom the doores that were shut when hee entred to his Disciples did obediently acknowledge to be the King of glory And though hee were patient vnder death three dayes yet since the first part of the first was spent before he died and the last part of the last after hee reuiued there was the number but not the length of three dayes and thus hee made so short a change seeme rather a sleepe then a death And O but to consider heere as well the wonder as the change Doe but imagine that in the dawning birth of the morning you saw the reuelation of a graue emulating the morning a coarse rising with more comfort and glory then the Sunne a winding-sheet falling away as an empty cloud the feet and hands striuing which shall first recouer motion the hands helping to raise the body the feet helping to beare both the body and the hands the tongue so eloquent that it can tell you it can speake againe the eares so pure that they can perceiue the silence of the graue the eyes looking forth of their Tombes as if they were glad to see their owne resurrection Would you not bee as much affrighted as instructed with this power of a God Would you not be turned into very coarses to see this liuing coarse Would you not be strucke as pale as the winding-sheet you looked-vpon But when all this shall bee done as well in mercy as in majestie as well to raise you to a hope of eternall life as to strike you with a remeÌ„brance of a temporall death as well to make you like vnto God as to make you know you are yet not like vn-him O how will you then at such compassion dissolue with compassion as if you would hasten to the like resurrection How will you then kisse those hands which before you feared How will you then with stedfast eyes examine and adore the resurrection of that body which is the hope and cause of the resurrection of our bodies For therefore did hee raise himselfe that hee might raise vs and so become the first-fruites of them that sleepe But shall wee rise too and shall dust againe bee taken-vp and breathed on Shall euery man by this second Adam be made as wonderfully as the first Adam And yet shall we want faith when God wants not power Or shall we thinke it harder to vnite the bodie and soule then to make them It were an impious discourtesie to deny that to God which God denied not vnto his seruant Did not the widow of Zarephah thus receiue a sonne by Elias who yet was neither the father of it nor the God Nay did not his seruant doe more for the Shunamite to whom hee promised a sonne before hee was conceiued and restored him after hee was dead Nay did not the bones of this Elisha giue life to one that was as dead as themselues teaching him to confesse the mercie of a graue It