any new sting to wound either mee or mine Thus death it selfe is dead and the dead live againe death is swallowed up and the dead are rendered up this is the hope of humaneflesh but he must be more then flesh whosoever attaineth to the end of this hope for flesh and bloud shall never inherit the kingdome of heaven As there is a flesh which shall see the salvation of God so there is a flesh which is as grasse Grasse which groweth to day and tomorow perhaps is to be cast into the fornace there to be tormented in aeterno Dei because it sinned in aeterno suo During the eternall pleasure of God because of its owne eternall pleasure it tooke in displeasing of God As there are some qui rapientur in occursum so there are some qui convertentur retrorsum Those which have turned their backes unto me and not their face those shall be turned backward They shall rise againe but it shall be for their greater depression Their bodies shall be delivered from the first death but it shall be to be delivered up unto the second death their soules and bodies shall be united but both devided from God in such manner that they shall wish the bodie had beene rather extinguished then thus united Sed ad augmentum tormenti ut hic de corpore nolens educitur itidem et illic in corpore tenetur in vitus To aggravate the vengeance as here the soule parted out of the bodie against its will so there it s held in the body against its will Marveile not at it though 〈◊〉 be de suo optomus yet he is de nostro Iustus As he is gracious by the propriety of his nature so he is iust for the necessity of the cause And it is equall and iust that if we taste of the sweetnesse of sinne against the will of God we shall taste of the bitternesse of punishment against our owne will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is equall if we be here subiected unto that evill one that we should hereafter be possessed of him saith that excellent Homilist Macarius If we make our bodies Prostibula and not Templa rather Temples of Chemosh and Ashtaroth then Domus patris mei they will become rather blockes of hell-fire then Pillars in the Temple and the Courtes of the house of our God Let us therefore spare our Bodies my beloved and not use them as if they were borrowed garments we must give accompts of things done in them And as the scarrs of wounds so the scarrs of sins will appeare therin after death which will be Characters of evidence plaine enough to testifie their unâ—â—â—blenesse of Glorie let us therefore here seeke to take them away by taking the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by being washed by being sanctified here Would we so rise from death that we may not sinke into the second death let us remember that Corpora nostra huic Resurrectioni per Regenerationem Spiritus inaugurantur Our bodies must be here intituled unto the Resurrection of glory by the Resurrection of Grace Nature exposeth us all dead dead in the uncircumcision of the flesh dead in the dead workes of the flesh Man who had not knowne sinne should have felt no power of death in his Bodie by sinne contracted a death even of his soule for as the soule is the life of the bodie so is grace the life of the Soule As then when the soule departeth the bodie dies so Grace having abandoned the soule the spirit it selfe is dead And how many doe we discerne everie where in whom the tokens of this death are sensibly apparent men dead in themselves onely Satan moveth in them Satan walketh in them so that they move but like prodigies like the bodies of those which Satan is said to make use of for the atcheiving of his wicked illusions St. Aug observes three sorts of dead persons whom Christ raised up unto life representing three distinct sorts of his spirituall death first the daughter of the Ruler of the Synagogue which was dead in the house resembling those that are dead-hearted senselesse of the impressions of life grace such as sit as dead in these Assemblies as if we were preaching at their funeralls Secondly The young man which was caryed out of the Gates of Natin resembling those whose hearts and hands are engaged in the outward practise of the dead workes of the flesh Thirdly Lazarus that had layen long putryfying in the grave representing those that have layen from the very wombe overwhelmed with the body of death and over-set with a cloud of ignorance insensiblenes so many dead in all these conditions and degrees do we observe every where that we have reason to wish as Ieremie did oh that our eyes were as Rivers of water that we might weepe for the dead for the slaine of our people now then oh wretched men that we are who shall deliver us from the body of this death If we be raised we must be raised by the voice and vertue of the same Christ which raised up these he that in the Gospel bad the yong man arise must by his Gospel bid the new man arise in us As we are suÌ„moned unto the second Resurrection by the voice of an Archangel so are we here unto this by the voice of the Angel of the covenant in the mouths of the angels of the churches the ministers here both that voice which sounded from mount Sinai and that which sounded from mount Sion have their part in the action The law startleth the Gospell awaketh quickneth us Christ sent the law by his servant as Elisha sent his staffe by which yet the dead child was not raised up till Elisha himselfe came in persoÌ„ The terrors of the law quicken in us so much sence as may make us sigh for our restoration the refreshings of the gospel quickeÌ„ in us so much light life as to make us se and run into the arms of our Restorer The law seemes to remove the stone from the mouth of our hearts as it was removed from the mouth of Lazarus Sepulchre but the voice of Christ in the Gospel sumoneth us to awake arise that he may give us light wherin we may be enabled to know follow him that hath visited us done so great things for us now I would that we had made such an advantage of our Attention to that powerfull voice that I might have occasiont 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after a visible evident Resurrection to loose you as Lazarus was from the bondes of the Grave or to say with the father of the prodigall loe these my sonnes were dead but now they live we were dead saith the Apostle but now we are alive in Iesus Christ now we feele the pulse of spirituall life beate in the Arteries of our faith which assureth us that our life is prepared for us of our hope which
A SERMON PREACHED AT ASHBY DE-LA-ZOVCH IN THE COVNTIE OF LEICESTER At the Funerall of the Truely Noble and Vertuous Lady ELIZABETH STANLEY one of the Daughters and Coheires of the Right Honourable FERDINAND late Earle of Derby and late Wife to HENRIE Earle of Huntingdon the Fifth Earle of that Familie The 9. of February Anno Dom. 1633. By I. F. LONDON Printed by William Iones dwelling in Red-crosse streete 1635. AN EPITAPH VPON THE EXCELLENT COVNTESSE OF HVNTJNGDON THE cheife perfections of both Sexes joyn'd With neithers vice nor vanity combin'd Of this our age the wonder loue and care The example of the following and dispaire Such beauty that from all hearts loue must flow Such maiesty that none durst tell her so A wisdome of so large and potent sway Romes Senare might haue wisht her Conclaue may Which did to earthly thoughts so seldome bow Aliue She scarce was lesse in heaven then now So voyd of the least pride to her alone These radiant excellencies seem'd vnknowne Such once there was but let thy greife appeare Reader there is not Huntingdon lies here By him who saies what he saw FALKLAND A FVNERALL SERMON Iohn XI XXV He that Beleiveth in mee though he were Dead yet shall he liue THE hopes of those which are strangers unto the Covenants of promise cannot fixe any setled ayme and expectancie beyond the short line of life when that is drawne out unto the utmost point Death at the best is apprehended by them but as it was by Adrian to be incerta Peregrinatio a Race of very doubtfull issue doubtfull whether in the end thereof the head shall be crowned or cut off so that of all men most miserable that they are their hope is onely in this life Tantisper sperant dum spirant But the hope of the children of the promise doth not vanish into emptines with their breath etiam dum expirant sperant Though there be no more breath in their mouthes and their nostrills yet their hope is layd vp in their bosome Iob 29. Though we die yet saith Job We know that our Redeemer liveth Though we be hid and closed vnder the ground like the seed in the garden bed yet he whom Mary saw like the Gardiner this Gardiner will looke that the seede shall have its spring againe He will saith the Prophet poure vpon vs a dew like the dew of bearbes and the earth shall yeeld forth her dead And of thus much doth he here assâ—re the sister of Mary who was almost as deepely swallowed vp of griefe as her deceased brother Lazarus was of the Grave Comfort thy selfe Martha he shall rise againe and doubt not Martha I my selfe am the Resurrection and the life the issues of Death belong unto me The keyes of the Grave are at my Girdle and he that beleeveth in me Though he were dead yet shall he live The wordes are in summe a Stipulatio Conventionalis consisting of a 1. condition 2. promise 1. First the Condition thus insinuated He that beleeveth 2. the promise thus proposed and pronounced though he were dead yet shall he live First The Condition upon which the promise is suspended is faith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that fulnesse of our hopes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that solace of our lives as Philo calleth it nay that our life it selfe or at least that upon which our life lies for by it the just shall live or by nothing He that beleeveth in me and he onely that beleeveth he shall live And here seeing this Action is so properly specified by its object we may observe That the principall obiect of our faith is God considered in the unitie of his essence and a Trinity of persons and therefore in the Symboll of our beleife the Creede is there a particular Credo or at least the particle in premitted apart before every one of the three persons importing that upon them we fixe and build our first assent and assurance As for those other subordinate principles of our faith such as concerne the Catholique Church the Communion of Saints these being but Creatures are not assented unto for themselves but for God the uncreate and first truth and therefore have no such Credo nor particle set apart before them but onely prefixed before one of the three persons Now this obiect of our faith is considered diversly either as the Act of beliefe and assent hath respect unto the understanding and in that consideration the obiect of faith is twofold either formall in which respect the Act of Faith is credere Deo we beleeving God as the first truth and for him fixing a setled assent upon all second and subordinate truthes they be the maine Characters of divinity Power and wisdome imprinted on them apparently manifesting the hand the finger of the Lord to have written them Or else it is materiall and so the Act of faith is credere Deum we that beleeve beleeve that God is and that he is a rewarder of those that seeke him Or secondly the obiect of faith is considered as the Act of beleefe and assent hath respect unto the will moveing the understanding to render its assent and in this respect the Act of faith is Credere in Deum as it is here delivered for the will having pitched the end of all its hopes in the goodnesse of this exceeding rich and precious promise uncessantly plyeth the understanding to give its assent to the truth of that which so much imports and concernes its peace and satisfaction And these different considerations doe not importe any such various difference of the Acts of faith but rather signifie the divers respects of one and the same Act unto the obiect of faith The summe of all may be collected thus First we beleeve that God is and a rewarder of all those that seeke him 2. We beleeve his counsells and Covenants manifested and dispensed unto us 3. We beleeve in him adhaere unto him relie on him our Soule being with absolute Complacencie satisfied in him cryeth out Pars mea Dominus It is enough the Lord is my portion how then can I lacke any thing we give our assent unto his counsells and Covenants because we are assured that in what he delivereth or promiseth he is wise and cannot be deceived himselfe he is faithfull and will not deceive us Though we discerne a propension and flexiblenesse in our selves to waver with every contrarie Ayre yet let God be true though all men be lyars The Aegyptians as Aquinas notes adventured to make the promise alterable I know not what feates they had like unto those of their moderne counterfeits to play fast and loose with such a firme and sealed knot as this But whatsoever they we saith the Apostle beleeve what we know and we know whom we have beleeved and if we be deceived certainely as the Prophet saith Thou Lord hast deceived us But God for bid saith Abraham the father of all beleevers
that the Iudge of all the world should not do righteously And unto this well-grounded assent succeedes our firme adhaerence unto the covenants of promise by which we cleave unto and close with our Redeemer in this manner The proposition of the promise is furnished by the Gospell The Redeemer died for those that are dead unto sin rose againe for the justification of them which are planted into the similitude of his resurrection Now an assumption must be fitted unto the proposition by that assent which our understandings give unto the truth and that adherence which our wills fasten upon the goodnesse of these exceeding rich and precious promises If we be able thus to limit the generall proposition I am dead unto the world by the Crosse of Christ or I was dead but now I am alive in Iesus Christ the conclusion will follow inevitably I doe not alwayes expect in such a limitation certitudinem Evidentiae where I finde but certitudinem adhaerentiae such a one as sometime feeles some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some declinations and abatements of its firmenesse and fervor Even that faith howsoever it seeme to come no neerer unto Christ then the very hemme of his garment yet is able to derive vertue from him Thus have I in a verie narrow modell represented unto you the whole figure of that grace which gives us Title unto this promise Give me then leave to question you as the Apostle did Agrippa Beleevest thou the prophets Beleeve you in the Lord Iesus I would I could answer for all as he did for Agrippa I know that you beleeve But this I know Many will make a boast of faith saith Salomon but where shall we finde a faithfull man If you beleeve indeed your faith will give evidence of it selfe by the exercise of an adhering and an apprehending vertue By the first we are inserted into him by the second we derive a quickening influence from him Doest thou then beleeve in the Lord Iesus shew mee then the power of the Lord Iesus The Angell gave a reason of his name He shall be called Iesus saith he for he shall save his people from their sinnes But art thou yet in thy sinnes I cannot then beleeve that thou beleevest No! It is fitter for thee according to that elegant observation of St. Bernard to feare the name of Christ then to be confident upon the name of Iesus It is fitter for thee in such a case to dread him as he is Christ a King a Iudge then to presume upon him as he is Iesus a Saviour a Redeemer Doest thou beleeve in the death of Iesus Christ shew me then the power of his death whether it worke in thee mightilie as it did in the Apostle to the subduing of every corrupt affection Doest thou beleeve in his Resurrection shew me then the power of his resurrection Resurrectio Christi habet virtutem in se sed operationem in nobis shew me then what new effect it hath wrought what new life it hath quickened in thee No man came unto Christ that went away in the same estate that he came in Some came lame and paralytike and went backe restored to the integritie of their limmes and strength some came leprous and were dismissed cleane some came blinde and deafe and went went away restored to the integritie of their sences None were dismissed in the same estate wherein they came And hast thou beene so neere unto Christ as to say I am in him and of him and yet art neither cleansed nor enlightened nor healed who can beleeve it Whatsoever thou boastest of beleeving I cannot beleeve that thou beleevest at all no certainely thou never wert so neere him as the very skirts of his clothing thou never camest so neere as the very smell of the oyntments of this our Aaron If thou hadst certainely that name which is as an oyntment powred forth that name wherein thou pretendest to beleeve would powerfully have healed all these wounds and sores and swellings But doest thou indeed beleeve and art able to give evidence thereof by such comfortable Testimonies as are here implied Then doubt not of the promise as Christ said unto Martha Beleevest thou this why then he that beleeveth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and so I passe from the condition to the consideration of the promise suspended upon the condition Though he were dead yet shall he live The labour of man in this life is to turne up the face of the Earth in the sweate of his owne face seeking for foode and fewell in her bowells and in the closing up of the weary day of his Travell the earth receiveth man himselfe for a recompence into her bosome to fill up those wounds and rents But the earth receaveth back no more then it lent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz The spirit breathed from above returneth to God that gave it Dissolutio corporis est Absolutio animae As the snare being broken the Bird escapeth so the bodie being dissolved evadit intus inclusa Columba our soule is escaped as a Bird out of the snare of the fowler so that in our departure we suffer but aliquid mortis not a whole death Our life is not lost but hid The Serpent which hath the power of death can doe no more but manducare terram nostram licke our dust and indeed but licke it devoure it consume it annihilate it he cannot there must still be ex defectione refectio after a decay a reparation The Earth indeed receiveth the dust backe againe which it lent but yet it receiveth it not as payed but as lent it must be given up and returned backe againe It receiveth our bodies to make up those wounds and wants which partly our wants partly our wantonnesse have made in her face and wombe and it retaineth them for a recompense of her sufferings and losses till in the generall restoration it selfe be restored But then when it selfe is renewed when there is a new heaven and a new Earth what need hath the Earth to reteine our bodies any longer for satisfaction In that day Oh Earth Earth Earth thou shalt heare the voice of the Lord and render up thy dead and even the dead themselves shall heare the voyce of the son of God and they that heare it shall live This is the hope of Israell and indeed the hope of all the world after al those evills which presse and persecute man to the last earthly evill death there is yet this hope left in the botteme of the Grave as in the bottome of Pandora's Boxe But it is but hope not sight and therefore the doctrine which concerned this hope received such sleight intertainment for whereas the Apostle saith hope that is seene is not hope cleane contrary with him that lookes onely with the eye of nature hope that is not seene is no hope at all Hope that is not founded upon the Evidence of reason is
with him but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a citie in the cloudes a Castle in the ayre hence was it that the doctrine of the Resurrection amongst the Epicureans Pithagoreans of Athens was receved but as a mater of mockery though the Iudgement seate were in the Arcopagus yet they sate downe in the seate of scorners not as Iudges of Paules Sermon But allowing that the Athenians had some reason to be ignorant as perhaps had they not so much reason they would not have had so litle faith It is not strange that in the first 300. years after Christ divers even in Christ should gainesay this hope of all the world being spoyled through the same vaine Philosophy Many of those ages having not seen any example of a Resurrection but only received it upon relation and reading began to scanne the possibility of such a restoration according to the principles of Nature reason It is well observed of Minutius non minoris est sceleris ignorare quamsaedere These men sinne as highly by denying Gods Power through their ignorance as if by their disobedience they had resisted it Malè Deum norunt qui illum putant non posse quod non putant I may pronounce them ignorant which conceive that God is able to do no more then they are able in reason to conceive But though they though all the world gainsay this hope of all the world yet this is the victory that overcometh all the world even our faith we will not draw all unto reason but leave something for faith Our contemplation of matters of this straine which are above the comprehension of reason and beyond the bounds of experience doth not arrive at knowledge but at wonder which is nothing els but Contemplation broken off or loosing it selfe It was aptly said by one of Platoes schoole the sense of man resembleth the Sunne which openeth and reveileth the Terrestiall Globe but obscureth and concealeth the Celestiall so doeth the sense discover naturall things but darken and shut up those which are beyond the verge of nature for all things proceeding in the Invention of knowledg is by similitude but those things are onely selfe like and have nothing in common with naturall things otherwise then in shadow and trope Give therefore unto faith that which unto faith belongeth for indeed it is more worthy to beleeve then to thinke or know considering that in knowledge the minde suffereth from the impression of inferior natures but in all beliefe the minde suffereth from a spirit which it holdeth superior more authorised thē it selfe Nolumus igitur intelligere ut credamus sed credereut inteligamus we wil not therfore seeke to under stand that we may beleeve but beleve that it may be given us to understand The mystery of the Resurrection was delivered not by Pihlosophers but by simple fishermen and here the most subtill of us must leave to be disputants and learne to be disciples And yet if any list to dispute let me aske as St. Paul did why should it seeme an impossible thing to raise up one that is dead It was well argued by the Iew Pesisa Si quod fuit est ergo quod fuit erit whether is it harder to restore a body mouldred into the dust from whence it was taken then to creat all things out of nothing Is it thought impossible in nature why nature her selfe is a mistrisse able enough to informe us of the contrarie Operibus Resurrectionem perscripsit antequam literis viribus praedicavit antequam vocibus se we not the vicissitudes of night and day the revolutions of winter and summer the riseing and setting of the Starres the wane and increases of the Moone the Quickening of the dead graine under the Clod to beare a lively resemblance of this Restoration The whole Creation which grones for the generall resurrection practiseth a yeerely a monthly yea a daily Resurrection in its severall parts And all this for Man And shall man onely not rise for whom all these things rise in their periods and seasons what should withhold him from being restored The powers of the grave are shaken and disabled Christ himselfe hath broken open the Gates thereof and loosed his Prisoners from the brinkes of the pit death it selfe hath by his last conflict received its deaths wound he had foiled it before by the ministry of his servants by Eliah recalling the Sarephtans son by Elisha recovering the Shunamits son So David foiled his enemies of Ammon by the valour of his servants Ioab and Abisha but himselfe was faine to appeare before Rabbah for the perfecting of the victory and conclusion of the warre so the Sonne of David appeared personally to give his Enemie the last stroke to swallow up death in an utter victory The victory is thus atcheived Death it selfe though he be the King of feare and have as many Provinces of his dominion as there be paines perills and snares of death yet hath no more dominion over us then what our sinne betrayeth us unto The arrowes of death are fledged with the feathers which grow upon our owne wings Now therefore if we conceive man to be without sinne death hath no more dominion over him Death then haveing seized upon our Saviour who was without staine or guilt it was found equall in the Iudgement of God that it should loose all power over us that were sinfull because it exercised a power which it had not over him that was innocent For in regard of the iniury offered unto him and patiently susteined by him God adjudged him all power over him that had the power of death giveing him liberty to restore unto liberty the Prisoners of the Grave And indeed he hath reason thus to restore them for according to that of Bernard Christus solus resurrexit sed non totus Christ alone is risen but all Christ is not risen till all that are of and in Christ be risen likewise Thus though other Graves be the houses of death this of Christ is unto us now the stone is removed from it the Gate of everlasting life Although death be the king of feare yet we see of his kingdome there is an end he raigned indeed under the law but now the Scepter of righteousnesse is transferred unto one of whose kingdome there is no end And observe the procession and Pompe of his Triumph over his vanquished foe Death saith the Prophet shall goe before his face pale and trembling as a Prisoner before his Triumphall chariot He saith no longer now as he did once O Death I will be thy Death It is not seasonable to threaten now death hath already felt his vanquishing armes he spareth not now therefore to reproch him with this glorious insultation O death where is thy Sting O grave where is thy victorie Since thou didst once loose thy sting upon mine innocency I have taken away the sinnes of the world so that now thou canst not fit thy selfe with