us that the most bloody adversaries of the children of God are not dispensed but by his order Among the resemblances between Moses and Christ the one of which gave the Law the other brought the Gospel there is one notable likenesse that is that the birth of both of them was made memorable by the death of innocents That of Moses by the cruelty of the Egyptians who drowned in the water the children of the Hebrews That of Christ by the barbarousnesse of Herod who caused the cutting of the throats of the children of Bethlehem Why in War the people of God have been often beaten by their enemies and why a good cause hath been overthrown Run thorow the holy History All the times that the people of God have been overcome in War you shall finde that this hath come to passe through their own fault to wit either because they have undertaken a War without cause as Josiah who quarrelled with the King of Egypt Or because they have concluded upon a War without enquiring at the mouth of God as the Israelites against the Tribe of Benjamin Or that they have fought against the expresse prohibition of God as the Hebrews that set upon the Amalekites encamped on the mountain Numb 14. Or because they have abused a precedent Victory as the children of Israel who having purloined of the accursed thing of Jericho were presently after beaten by the inhabitants of Ai Or for having consulted with the enemy of God as Saul who had recourse to a Sorceresse to learn what successe the battel should have Or for having broken the faith given to the enemy as Zedekiah who brake the agreements past between him and Nebuchadnezzar Or in sum by putting themselves out of the protection of God as the Israelites in the days of Eli the Priest to whom the contempt of Religion caused the losse of that lamentable Battel in which the Ark of God it self was taken and carried in triumph by the Philistines In most of these examples we may see that a good cause hath been vanquished but with reason The justice of the cause hath come to nothing through the injustice of them that managed it or through the injustice of the proceedings Sometimes also two parties that make War together may both have a just cause in part although one of them may have the lesse right of the two The Wars which the Christians have moved against Mahomet have had for their cause the honour of the Name of Christ On the other side Mahomet declareth that he hath taken arms to avenge the honour of God defiled by the Idolatries of Christians This cause which is but too true in regard of many men hath given him so many Victories over Christendom Why God never sent above one Angel or two at most when he intended to destroy men and hath often sent many when he intended to preserve one man Three Angels came to Abraham to promise him the birth of Isaac but there were but two which went to destroy Sodom To protect one Elisha an army of Angels appeared in the likenesse of charets of fire but to put to death one hundred fourscore and five thousand men in one night in the camp of Sennacherib to cause to die of the Pestilence seventy thousand in three days by reason of the sin of David who had numbred the people to destroy all the first-born of Egypt in an hour God employed not above one Angel Whence cometh it that to protect one man alone God sendeth sometimes whole legions of Angels and to destroy thousands of men yea whole Nations he sendeth but one Angel Surely the Angels were created for the preservation of men not for their destruction And although God useth them for the execution of his judgements neverthelesse to shew that this is as by accident and beyond the scope of their creation he never employeth above one or two when the businesse is to destroy man where on the contrary he employeth many when it is to save The Psalmist was not ignorant of this Divinity For when he prayeth against his enemies he desireth that the Angel of God the Angel in the singular number might persecute them Psal 35. But when he promiseth to the faithful the protection of God He shall give saith he his Angels charge over thee We know that in another place he speaketh in the singular of the Angel that encampeth about them that fear him and that often God is content to send onely one Angel to defend a great number of men But withal he hath often used the service of many Angels to this effect whereas to destroy man he never would employ in any occasion above onely one Angel or two at the most If man had persevered in original justice there had never been Miracles but onely of one kinde Miracles have been wrought to convince the incredulity of man and therefore they had not been at all necessary if man had not first become incredulous Besides Miracles have been wrought to teach men that which all Nature together knew not how to teach them to wit the benefit of Redemption which presupposeth the fall of man Certainly if man had remained in his first integrity he had never seen the waters of the deluge nor Lot's wife turned into a statue of Salt nor any of all those wonders which have served to chastise man Neither had he seen those miraculous healings nor the dead raised for neither death nor diseases which have furnished the subject of these Miracles had had any place in the state of innocency The onely kinde of Miracle which God would have shewed unto man if he had stil persisted in his integrity had been according to all probability to transport him at the last from earth to heaven without passing thorow death And this is a notable point that after the Creation God wrought no Miracle till the translation of Enoch who was carried up from earth to heaven God began his Miracles with that kinde of Miracle which onely ought to have had place if man had still continued righteous Of JESUS CHRIST A consideration of the divers Names and Titles of our Saviour And the differences that ought to be observed in expressing them VVHen we name him sometimes we call him onely Jesus sometimes we say Jesus Christ sometimes we say onely Christ sometimes we call him Our Lord sometimes we joyn all these names together Our Lord Jesus Christ sometimes we say The Son of God Now it seemeth indifferent by which of these Names we call him and we pronounce the first that cometh in our mouth But howsoever all these names designe the same Person neverthelesse every one of these doth not mark out to us all the qualities and relations which we consider in that person rather one signifieth him in one regard and another hath to it self also a particular meaning So that these Names ought not to be used confusedly or without choice but we are to pronounce that or those
speak so as Hezekiah spake when he believed he should die Isai 38 or as David Psal 6. It is a matter of astonishment that these great men have been so exceeding fearful of their departure out of this world Here I passe by the particular causes from whence proceeded this weaknesse But in general before that Jesus Christ died death was more dreadful then it hath been since for as yet death was not swallowed up in Victory and the faithful of the Old Testament had not the example of Jesus Christ dead as we have The fear of death therefore was more just in them then it can be in us From whence it followeth that it is not still permitted to us to speak as they did when we are menaced with death It would be very hard to approve that a Christian should complain of this that he should no more behold God in the land of the living and that he is deprived of the conversation of this world or to alleadge that he might not die that the dead praise not God These complaints and the like discourses which the Fathers of the Old Testament have uttered upon this subject have no more place since that Christ died and rose again as I shall speak more particularly upon the Article of the Resurrection The descent of CHRIST into Hell An observation upon the words of the Apostle Rom. 10.6 7. forbidding to ask who shall ascend into heaven or who shall descend into the abysse AMong so many men signalized by extraordinary events there are two remarkable one of which ascended into heaven and descended the other descended into the deep and re-ascended The first is Elijah who was carried up into heaven and afterward came back to the earth to accompany the Son of God in his Transfiguration The other is Jonah who went into the bottom of the gulfs and returned living But the one and the other were but a shadow of Christ to whom all these passages and returns agree more particularly For not onely he descended into the Abysse and returned but he is also ascended into heaven yet once more to come down Now I go not about to examine in what sense he said even before his Ascension that already he had ascended into heaven and already had descended from heaven Joh. 3.13 But concerning his descent into the deep the Apostle explaineth it openly when he opposeth those two one to the other To descend into the deep and To be brought back from the deâ—d For from thence followeth that to be brought back from the dead is to reascend from the Abysse And this also presupposeth that to descend into the Abysse is none other thing then to be reduced to the estate of the dead As for the name of the Abysse it is known that Jesus Christ calleth his Sepulchre the heart of the earth comparing it to the place where Jonah had been in the Abysse Matth. 12.40 From hence it cometh that many understand by the descent of Christ into hell that after his burial he was yet farther humbled so far as to sojourn in the estate of the dead that is to say within his Sepulcher from whence he was raised by his Resurrection Why Christ being on the Crosse pronounced the first words of the 22 Psalm These words expresse the complaint which he made of being forsaken of God And many Orthodox men take that extreme humiliation of Christ for his descent into hell Now why he did use the words of this Psalm a reason is given There is not a passage in all the Old Testament which better representeth the estate of Christ upon the Crosse There is seen the parting of his garments the casting of lots for his coat his hands and feet pierced his enemies wagging the head and vomit-out their mockeries He therefore used this Psalm as having been dictated for him But to this reason which is notorious to every one I will adde another which I ground upon an hypothesis maintained by some interpreters The first action say they that the Priests and the Levites daily did in the Temple into which they entered at break of day was to sing this two and twentieth Psalm the which upon this occasion beareth for the title A Psalm of the dawning of the day and beginneth My God my God why hast thou forsaken me I observe from hence that the first words with which the Priests began the first hour and the first act of their Functions are the same which Christ uttered in the last hour and the last act of the Redemption For having been already three hours upon the Crosse upon the point of rendering up his spirit into the hands of his Father and of declaring that all was finished he cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me He ended where the Priests began to shew that all the ancient Priesthood and all the service of the Temple from their beginning then expired and finished in him who is the end and closure of the Law The fruits of the death of CHRIST Why the Son of God deserred so long time to come and expiate the sins of the world THis question which the ignorant will blame of rashnesse is suggested unto us by the Scripture it self which hath set down the solution of it It is not enough to say according to the fashion of the ignorant that Jesus Christ came not sooner because God would not have it so We are to know why he would it not since himself hath shewed us the causes in the which are seen the rays of his wonderful wisdom About four thousand yeers passed after the fall of Adam before the Son of God came Sin multiplied with the multiplication of mankinde Death destroyed one generation after another All ages groaned for the Deliverer but he appeared not till after so long a time Now setting aside the marvellous Oeconomy by which God measured and divided the times which preceded the coming of Christ in which is seen an infinity of steps and proportions as so many stars which marched before the Sun we will onely say That it was important for the glory of God and to render so much the more glorious the benefit of Redemption that sin and death should reign a long time and devour a long rank of generations before the Saviour should shew himself For that long durance of sin and death extending it self thorow so many ages and infolding all the successions of people born the one after the other hath caused to be seen how great was the misery of mankinde and the necessity of the remedy and how great is the vertue of Christ who hath healed an evil so universal and so inveterate Rom. 5.14 That for these ends and to shew the abundance of Grace God permitted that sin should abound and that it might abound the Law intervened Rom. 5.20 It behoved therefore first that there should passe a long time before the Law should begin her raign and a long time before she should
nameth the number of young people raised from the dead is greater then that of aged persons of whom we have none but Tobitha and it may be him that was raised in the grave of Elisha Now this also is a short table or patern of the great Resurrection which is to be at the last Day For that shall raise far more young people then old This needeth no demonstration The number of them that die young hath still surpassed the number of them that die old How many human creatures die in their childhood or in their growth or in the flower of their age Those that go beyond all those first seasons of their life and arrive as far as the last are very few in comparison of them whom death intercepteth in the way As therefore the number of the younger sort is the greater among the dead so also it shall be the greater in the Resurrection of the dead And to represent this to us God would by a mysterious Preludium raise more of young people then of old Of the first Resurrection and of the second death mentioned Revel 20. And from whence those terms are extracted THis passage hath divers difficulties For it speaketh of a term of a thousand yeers during which the Saints must raign with Christ It is also said that the rest of the dead are not to rise till those thousand yeers be accomplished and this is the first Resurrection Concerning which the Expositours both ancient and modern have very different opinions And many renewing the opinion of the Millenaries figure to themselves a bodily Resurrection of the faithful which they believe must precede by many ages the Resurrection of other men Now I will not contradict the common exposition which beareth that by the first Resurrection is meant the Regeneration by which we rise again into newnesse of life And by the second Death that which is otherwise called eternal But that which I have to observe here is that these terms the first Resurrection the second death carry with them an excellent allusion which is not considered though it be very visible and that it giveth abundance of light in the obscurity of this text This therefore is to be noted that according to the literal construction of these words there are two Resurrections The one which is or already hath been performed in this world the other which is to be at the last day The one is particular the other is universal Now this is true historically and really For Lazarus Eutychus Tabitha and divers others mentioned in Scripture have been already raised once this is the first Resurrection and shall yet be raised once more to wit in the end of the world with the rest of the dead So that they have two Resurrections having already passed thorow the first This allusion is extended yet farther It is said touching them that have part in this first Resurrection that the second death hath no power over them Upon which it is to be considered that it is never said that Lazarus or any of all them which were raised from the dead died the second time It is very true that they died again for Christ is the first of them that rose to immortality Neverthelesse the Scripture which is so exact to set down all that which is worthy of consideration never relateth the second death of them which have been raised no not of one of them It did import as it should seem to know so much the consequents and the effects of the divine power which restored them to life that we should know whether they lived any long time after they were raised from the dead Yet their second death is not read in the Scripture A silence so constant and universal as well in the one as the other Testament is not without some great ground I think therefore that this omission is mysterious as divers others which are seen in the Scripture There is no doubt but that Melchizedek died as well as other men Yet as every one knoweth he is said to be without end of life Heb. 7.3 That is to say in as much as he is presented as such in the holy History the which reciteth not either the birth or the decease of this person but rather produceth him as a man eternal Accordingly howsoever those that have been raised have been returned to the grave yet this is not expressed The Scripture after having raised them leaveth them as living for ever without ever saying that they died afterward So that their second death is not found Where therefore it is spoken Revel 20. of those which have part in the first Resurrection that the second death hath no power over them it is evident that this expression is drawn from the history of them whom we read to have been raised from the dead which is the first Resurrection but we read not that they died the second time Thus the Spirit of God draweth matters Historical to frame the images of future events which it setteth to view in Prophecies This Book of the Revelation is all composed of such pictures whereof the stuff and colours are borrowed of that which hath come to passe really according to the letter but animated with a spiritual and mystical sense For it doth not follow that that which is literally in History ought to be understood literally in Prophecie On the contrary it representeth one thing by another quite different though there be a resemblance of one to the other These Prophetick terms that the second death hath no power over them which have a part in the first Resurrection expresse formally the history of Lazarus and the rest which already have had one Resurrection which we read not to have been followed by a second death Shall we therefore yet expect that some shall be raised before the last Day yea a thousand yeers before By the same reason it will be requisite that we expect two men which shall have power to shut up heaven to hinder that it rain not to turn waters into blood to smite the earth with all plagues to consume their enemies with fire coming forth of their mouth Revel 11.5 6. But this if we take it literally is as absurd as if we would make Moses and Elias to come again for this Prophecie is moulded upon their history By the same reason we must imagine Jaspers Amethysts Emeralds in the heavenly Jerusalem Rev. 21. where the magnificence of it is represented under the figure of those precious stones which were set in the brestplate of the High-Priest Exod. 28. And by the same reason we must rebuild the Altar and Temple of Jerusalem which represent the Christian Church Revel 11. Everlasting life The first and the last of all Miracles THe first Miracle that came to passe after the Creation is as I have already said the translation of Enoch And the last Miracle which shall be wrought in the world shall be the translation of the faithful which
at the last Day shall be carried up to heaven All the Miracles from the first to the last tend to carry man to heaven And by their beginning God would shew what should be their conclusion Why Adam was not carried bodily to heaven as well as Enoch The translation of Enoch was a preludium of ours which we expect and a testimony of eternal life where we shall be gathered together in body and soul But it is worth the enquiring Why God wrought not this Miracle in the person of the first man but deferred it until the seventh generation Behold then what may be said concerning it If Adam who represented all mankinde had been carried up to heaven as Enoch afterward was there would not have wanted some that would conclude that heaven appertained naturally unto men as children and heirs of Adam Now to prevent this errour and to teach us that heavenly beatitude is given by Grace and not by Nature the Wisdom of God found it not good that the common father of men should ascend corporally to heaven but would that he should die and that his body should remain in the earth Besides that which is most worthy of observation God would not translate Enoch till such time as Adam was dead and yet Enoch had already lived above three hundred yeers before the decease of Adam But after that Adam was dead Enoch was the first Patriarch that went out of the world For great reasons the going forth of Enoch was preceded by that of his grandfather In that of Adam who died God did shew what it is that men hold of their Nature to wit death In that of Enoch who was carried up without dying God hath shewed what it is that the righteous ought to expect from Grace to wit immortality In that of Adam the father of all is seen the condition of all men to whom it is appointed once to die In that of Enoch is seen the priviledge of Believers who shall be carried to heaven And as the death of Adam went before the rapture of Enoch so it behoveth that we die iâ— Adam before we can be carried up with Enoch Why God hath shewed the glory of heaven to some that were yet upon the earth and yet never shewed hell to any person while he was in this world Saint Steven being as yet here belowe the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the glory of God Saint Paul being as yet mortal was in the third heaven and heard unspeakable words that there were uttered But none whether Elect or Reprobate ever saw hell but after his death Why hath not that place of torment been shewn unto mortals as well as Paradise The cause for which God hath caused the joys of heaven to be seen hath been to the end to comfort his children and to encourage them to those sufferings which should be followed by such a glory The sight of hell maketh not for this purpose Nor is it enough to say that it might serve for the conversion of unbelievers For if a wicked man had seen hell he would no more amend then the brethren of the wicked rich man would have done upon the word of one dead that had come back from the bosome of Abraham Luke 16.31 Why Saint Paul being come back from the third heaven speaketh not of having Seen but onely of having Heard 2 Cor. 14.4 It may be that in effect he was transported thither rather to Hear then to See And this Either because being yet mortal God revealed himself to him as to Moses not by the sight of his face of which every man living is uncapable but by the words of his mouth Exod. 33.18 c. Or because being to descend yet from heaven hither below to instruct others he had need to receive instructions and by consequence it was more necessary for him to Hear then to See more profitable both to him and to those that were afterward taught by him For howsoever the words which he had heard were unspeakable yet they furnished him with great lights the which he forgot not but brought them from above to enlighten both himself and others Of Faith The Conclusion of this Treatise Two onely things at which Jesus Christ as man wondered THe one was the Unbelief of his country-men the Galileans Mark 6.6 The other was the Faith of a stranger to wit the Centurion Matth. 8.10 We read not that Jesus Christ in the days of his humiliation ever admired any thing but these two It is truely a thing to be admired that many are unbelievers in a greater light and that many have a great faith being enlightened but by a little spark Of a strange method by which God obligeth men to believe It were an impertinency and folly for one man to say to another I command thee to believe this for Belief is not formed by Commandment but by Perswasion None is master of the Belief of another no not of his own For a man cannot Believe all that he would yea he is often constrained to believe that which he would not as the devils believe against their will that there is a God The object of Belief is not Imperative but Indicative nor is it proposed in form of a Commandment but in that of a Narration Neverthelesse God doth not onely invite us to Believe in presenting to us the Truths which are the objects of our Faith but himself commandeth us This is his Commandment that we should Believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 3.23 Upon which we ought to consider that in commanding to believe he can cause us to believe His words when it pleaseth him to animate them with his Spirit plant Faith in the heart of man Nor doth it import that they be narrative or prohibitive or otherwise conceived For their efficacy dependeth not upon the form of the expressions but upon the secret vertue of their Author It were a great impropriety every way if a man should command me to believe for with all his commandments he cannot cause me to believe as long as my spirit perswadeth me to the contrary But God who is the Father and the Master of spirits can speak in the terms of Commanding because in commanding to Believe in effect he giveth the grace to Believe So that language which were absurd in the mouth of man is admirable in the mouth of God Of those that promise to Believe if the truth be shewn unto them There is nothing more ordinary among them which dispute against the true Religion then these words Prove me that which ye say and I will believe it But these people speak as if Faith onely depended upon themselves They promise that which is not in their power This is as if a blinde man should promise to know colours provided they be shewed unto him The Truth what evidence soever it bringeth with it is not perceptible but to him that hath eyes capable of discerning it Now this
man ever wrought Miracle within the Temple of God except the Son of God An observation upon this subject p. 89. Why Jesus Christ when he was hungry or thirsty or weary with travel never helped himself by his miraculous power to give himself refreshment p. 91. Why the Son of God after he was raised from the dead ceased from healing the sick p. 92. Of the Tears of Christ in the days of his Flesh p. 93. Christ condemned by Pilate AConsideration why the names of diveâ—â— wicked men are set down in the histâ—â— of the Passion of Christ p. 9â— The name of the Romane Empire hath is tervened both in the birth and death of Christ p. 97. The Death and Burial of CHRIST FOur glorious occurrences distant many ages one from the other and coming â—â— passe on the like day p. 98. An advertisement touching the Name of Altar improperly ascribed to the Crosse p. 100. Why the Scripture speaketh of what matter the Crosse was made yet expresseth not the form of it p. 102. None hath wrought Miracles at his death except the Son of God p. 103. Three signes from heaven exhibited in three several passages by the which Jesus Christ hath been declared publikely to be the Messiah p. 104. Why the High Priest who represented Jesus Christ nâ—ver came neer to the dead and yet Jesus Christ did the contrary p. 106. Why the fear of death was more excusable in the Saints of the Old Testament then it is now And why we ought not to imitate them in all that which they have spoken concerning this subject p. 108. The descent of CHRIST into Hell AN observation upon the words of the Apostle Rom. 10.6 7. forbidding to ask who shall ascend into heaven or who shall descend into the abysse p. 110. Why Christ being on the Crosse pronounced the first words of the 22 Psalm p. 112. The fruits of the death of CHRIST VVHy the Son of God deferred so long time to come and expiate the sins of the world p. 114. An admirable concurrence of the time of Redemption with the times of the most famous Ceremonies of the Law An observation upon this subject p. 118. A mysterious reason of the name which the Apostle giveth to the Sacrifice of Christ calling it A Sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour Ephes 5.2 p. 120. The Resurrection of CHRIST NIne examples of the Resurrection of the dead which have gone before or followed the Resurrection of Christ An Harmony between those that were raised under the Old Testament and those that were raised by the Son of God while himself was yet mortal p. 123. Why Christ rose not again the day after his death but suffered the whole Sabbath day to passe over before he returned to life p. 125. A comparison of the time which God employed in the Creation with that which he employed in the Redemption And of the days of the one and the other p. 127. The first and neerest cause of the three days detaining of Jonah in the whales belly p. 128. The Resurrection of Christ figured in Hezekiah by a double resemblance p. 129. Why none ever was raised again the third day after his death but onely Christ p. 131. Three miraculous Sepulchres in the holy History p. 134. Four men that raised the dead before and after the coming of Christ p. 135. The continuation of the Article of the Resurrection of CHRIST His Ascension into Heaven His Sitting at the right hand of God CHrist hath verified his Resurrection by all the proofs which could be given p. 136. Why God never raised any person of note to converse among men except the Messiah p. 137. Of all those that have been raised from the dead none is introduced in Scripture speaking except Jesus Christ p. 141. Three several Fourties of Days in the time that our Saviour stayed in this world Observations upon this circumstance p. 143. Why the Son of God entered no more into the Temple after his Resurrection And the difference in this regard between Him and those which were his principal types p. 145. Of those which have seen the Son of God being in heaven p. 146. All the miraculous prerogatives which have been severally in divers Saints are found united in one onely Christ in a soveraign degree p. 148. Of the last Judgement VVHy doth the holy History never say that God descended but onely where the businesse hath been to do justice or to establish it and protect the innocent p. 150. An observation upon the four general Judgements mentioned in the Scriptures p. 151. A wonderful Mystery which is seen in the several goings out of the three first men which God took out of the world p. 153. Why God who hath foretold and set down the measures of certain particular times hath not revealed how long the world should endure or when the day of Judgement should be p. 156. Of the holy Ghost FOur remarkable productions which the Scripture attributeth to the Spirit of God to wit two in the Creation two in the Redemption p. 159. Why the Scripture representeth the holy Ghost and his effects under the names of Water of Fire of Anointing with Oil and of Sprinkling of Blood The true interpretation of these terms contained in divers passages p. 160. A catalogue of those actions which were celebrated with Aspersion of Blood in the time of the Law p. 163. Blood hath no propriety of making white Why then is it said Apocal. 7.14 that the Saints have made white their robes in the blood of the Lamb p. 166. Of the Church and the Communion of Saints WHy Moses is more prolix and more exact in the description of the Tabernacle then in that of the whole world p. 169. The number of persons that make up the body of the universal Church is not onely prefixed and definite but also regulated by measures and proportions p. 171. Of the small number of believers in the three several comings of the Son of God Resemblances on this subject p. 174. Three several states of the Church in three several times and three several titles of it p. 175. A difference between the Church of the Old Testament and that of the New in regard of the Communion of those things which were ordained to sanctity p. 176. Four several buildings of which God hath been the Architect representing severally the estate of the Church p. 178. Why the most notable periods of the Church and many famous mysteries had their beginning in a Desert p. 180. All the Church was never gathered together in one place except then when it was in the Ark. p. 182. The Remission of Sins A Difference between the Remission which the Law presented of old to sinners and that which is offered unto them by the Gospel p. 184. Which is most injurious and repugnant to God Either Despair or Presumption p. 187. A believer having commited some sin very enormous is it credible although he have repented and obtained pardon that God will love him altogether as much as he loved him before the offence committed Ibid. Examples of divers great sinners reestablished in their first estate p. 190. The Resurrection of the Flesh WHy is Abraham so highly commended for having believed that God could raise the dead Heb. 11.19 p. 192. An admirable gradation in those which have heen raised from the dead p. 193. Why there have been more young people raised from the dead then old p. 195. Of the first Resurrection and of the second death mentioned Revel 20. And from whence those terms are extracted p. 197. Everlasting life THe first and the last of all Miracles p. 203. Why Adam was not carried bodily to heaven as well as Enoch p. 204. Why God hath shewed the glory of heaven to some that were yet upon the earth and yet never shewed hell to any person while he was in this world p. 206. Why Saint Paul being come back from the third heaven speaketh not of having Seen but onely of having Heard 2 Cor. 14.4 p. 207. Of Faith The Conclusion of this Treatise TWo onely things at which Jesus Christ as man wondered p. 208. Of a strange method by which God obligeth men to Believe p. 209. Of those that promise to Believe if the truth be shewn unto them p. 110. FINIS
among them which have relation more to the subject of which we treat If we speak of him who hath saved us the name of Jesus is appropriate to him If the question be of the means by which he hath saved us they are comprised under the name of Christ If we mention his Commandment we should say This is the Ordinance of the Lord. If we consider him as authour of the communion which we have with his Father there presenteth it self to us the title of the Son of God There are also other subjects to every one of which there may be referred one or more of these titles It will be said upon this The Scripture it self doth not observe these distinctions useth these names indifferently upon every occasion Now I confesse that in so great a multitude of passages of the New Testament in which these names are repeated it is impossible to say why one is rather expressed then the other Yet there are some reasons And then when all these names or the greater part of them are found joyned together it is to expresse the plenitude and perfection of him to whom all these titles appertain In the History of the Gospel he is almost everywhere called Jesus without other epithet or attribute because this was the onely name which men gave him while he conversed in the world The man whom they call Jesus said the man that was born blinde Joh. 9.11 Sometimes the Apostles themselves call him Jesus of Nazareth but this is when they speak to the Jews who called him so This language would not be so convenient at this day I passe by a question which might be moved Why the Apostle Philip. 2. saith that every knee shall bow at the name of Jesus And why he doth not say at the name of Jesus Christ nor at the name of the Lord Jesus A reason might be given But for the rest We adore not the syllables but him that is represented by that name And the Name of Christ or the Name of the Son of God are no lesse venerable then then the Name of Jesus But I am to make an observation against the ordinary practice of Christians and of the greater part of Preachers themselves When they pronounce the name of Christ alone this is either by way of abbreviation or else by way of custom without thinking whether it be to purpose to say onely Christ or to say Jesus Christ or Our Lord Jesus Christ It is therefore to be noted that when the Scriptures speak of his sufferings and his death ordinarily they give him none other then the onely name of Christ Christ is dead Christ hath suffered It was necessary that Christ should suffer The sufferings of Christ c. This may be forasmuch as the name of Christ includeth that of Priest which is the quality in which Christ offered himself to death The Apostle Rom. 6.8 11. saith that we are dead with Christ but living in Jesus Christ our Lord. I know that there may be opposed some exceptions yet in every one of them there is a particular cause why one of those Names is rather used then another I will produce one example There is no man that thinketh he speaketh amisse when he saith The Supper of Christ or The Supper of Jesus Christ And of a truth this is not an heresie but neverthelesse it is an impropriety For if we will speak according to the Scripture we should say The Supper of the Lord not The Supper of Jesus Christ This is a particularity remarkable that in the whole description of the Supper exhibited by the Apostle 1 Cor. 11. and in all the discourse which he maketh of this subject and the authour of it he never giveth other name then that of The Lord. The Supper of the Lord I have received of the Lord that which also I have delivered unto you The Lord in the right in the which he was betraid took bread You shew the Lords death The cup of the Lord The body and blood of the Lord Not discerning the body of the Lord. I forbear to speak why in all this deduction the name of Christ is not once mentioned and that of the Lord is continually expressed But this example teacheth us that we ought to use discretion even then when we pronounce the titles of him to whom God hath given a name above every name Wherefore Jesus who received the Sacraments as well of the one as the other Testament had not that external Anointing which was given to Prophets Priests and Kings He received the Sacraments common to the whole Church to shew among many other reasons the communion which we have with him And for other causes he would not have that material Unction which was particular to certain persons Not the Royal anointing which was a mark of a temporal dominion whereas the Kingdom of Christ is of another nature Not the Priestly that was for Aaron for the Priesthood of Christ is not of that order but according to the Order of Melchizedek Not the Prophetical for when one Prophet anointed any other to be a Prophet by this action he declared him his successour So Elâ—sha was anointed to succeed Elijah But our Soveraign Prophet who preceded all the Prophets succeeded none of them and therefore ought not to receive their Unction Whence cometh it that divers discourses uttered by Jesus Christ seem to be without method And an admirable secret which ought to be observed The History of the Gospel reciteth unto us divers Sermons other excellent discourses which Jesus Christ made when he conversed among men Now we may observe that in the same discourse Jesus Christ passeth oftentimes from one matter to another which is very far distant and seemeth to be quite beside the subject It seemeth to us to see pieces brought from several places ill joyned and without any dependance or tie one with another Expositours labour hard to finde the contexture thereof but their ordinary Logick which they bring with all their Analyses can never attain it I passe by that Jesus Christ preaching had the perfection of Divinity We have but the shreds of this Science a little scantling of this great piece and some few drops of that Ocean but in Christ are inclosed all the treasures of wisdom Now he had the entire body and we have but a few parcels so his style hath other rules and other measures then ours But behold the secret which we ought here to consider Jesus Christ saw the thoughts and the hearts of those to whom he spake If an Oratour had this advantage to see the thoughts of them that hear him he would apply himself to them rather then to the ordinary rules of his Rhetorick which knoweth not this method This desultory style which we see in the discourses of Jesus Christ hath been often occasioned by the thoughts of his hearers According as these were formed in them he addressed himself to them and according as others thoughts
were bred in them he turned his discourse on that side The ways of this method are transcendent and appertain to none but him who can read in our hearts A conjecture of what our Lord wrote when the Pharisees demanded his judgement touching the punishment of the adulteresse Joh. 8. Once onely we finde that he read and once onely we finde that he wrote That which he read is recited Luke 4. but that which he wrote is not expressed The holy History saith that upon the demand made to him by the Pharisees stooping down he wrote with his finger upon the ground two several times Some of our most eminent Divines think that they were not characters that bare any signification but that they were lines onely or marks drawn without any other meaning or designe but to divert the importunity of the Pharisees and to make them know that they were unworthy of any other answer But to take it so this action doth not seem sufficiently grave and serious nor which is more sufficiently worthy of the wisdom of the Son of God It is therefore more credible that this writing was significative Now though it be hard to finde what was contained in it since the History hath passed it over in silence neverthelesse many Expositours ancient and modern have brought their conjectures Let it be permitted to me to expresse mine The Law Numb 5. ordained that a woman suspected of adultery should appear before the Priest who among divers other ceremonies took of the dust which was on the floor of the Tabernacle and mingled it with water in an earthen vessel afterward having put the woman to her oath he wrote in a note those curses to which she had submitted and finally blotted out the writing in the water which he gave her to drink having first declared that if she were innocent that drink which contained the blottings of this writing mingled with the dust should not be hurtful to her Now between this Law and the proceeding of our Saviour toward the Pharisees there are found divers resemblances The businesse is concerning a woman an adulteresse The Pharisees alleadge the Law of Moses Our Lord would that they should examine themselves He writeth in the dust on the floor of the Temple where this action passed as if he should say You your selves are you innocent Could you drink this dust which beareth the writing of the oath of execration Let him among you that is without sin cast the first stone at her Why God sent for the forerunner of his Son a Prophet rather then a King And why there was no Christian King for the space of three hundred yeers after the nativity of Jesus Christ God could have raised a King in stead of a man clothed with Camels hair to prepare the way before the Messiah But it would have seemed that the foundations of the Kingdom of Christ which is not of this world had been laid through the strength of the arm of man The Divine calling also hath appeared more evidently in the sending of a Prophet for men can make a King but none but God can make a Prophet For the same cause the wisedom of God would that the Gospel should be spread thorowout the world long time before any King or Emperour embraced the Christian Religion for it is not easie to finde in History any Prince which made profession of it before Constantine the Great Now the Gospel had been before preached for the space of two hundred and eighty yeers To declare that it was not at all planted under the shadow of humane greatnesse Of the humane nature of JESUS CHRIST An excellent gradation in the four Evangelists describing the Genealogiâ— of Jesus Christ ALl the Evangelists exhibite unto us the Saviour but every one of them in his particular method Saint Mark describeth not at all the Genealogie of Jesus Christ but beginneth his History at his Baptism Saint Matthew searched out his original from Abraham chap. 1. Saint Luke followeth it backward as far as Adam chap. 3. Saint John passeth further upward even to the eternal generation of this Word that was made flesh chap. 1. So they lead us to Christ mounting up four several steps in the which he is represented to us In the one we see him onely among the men of his own time then when he conversed with them In the second he is seen in the tent of Abraham In the third he is yet higher to wit in Adam And finally having traversed all ages thorow so many generations we come to contemplate him in the beginning in the bosome of the Father in that Eternity in which he was with God Beyond this general harmony resulting from the agreement of all the Evangelists together there is another particular which I shall by and by observe Why the Scripture giveth the name of Antichrist to him that denieth the Humanity of our Saviour rather then to him that denieth his Divinity This is Antichrist which denieth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh saith Saint John in his first Epistle chap. 4. This Heresie is marked as the most capital and as the greatest opposition to Christianity To deny the Humanity of Jesus Christ is to deny his death and consequently his resurrection and all the dispensation of salvation The Humanity of Christ is more neer unto us and more perceptible by us then his Divinity So that it is an inexcusable crime in man not to acknowledge the Man Jesus Christ Why Jesus Christ after his resurrection called himself no more the Son of man as before-times Jesus Christ before his resurrection is oftener called the Son of man then the Son of God But after he was risen when he speaketh of himself he is no more called the Son of Man Surely the resurrection hath not brought to nothing his Humanity but this name of the Son of Man includeth the weaknesse and sufferings to which he had rendred himself subject as man Now after being delivered out of this abasement and being declared the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead he hath changed his style and is no more called the Son of Man which was the name by which he called himself ordinarily before his resurrection After this he spake divers times to his disciples calling to their remembrance the necessity of his death of which he had before advertised them But he no more expressed the name of the Son of Man When he was yet mortal It behoveth saith he that the Son of man suffer But being raised from the dead Ought not Christ saith he to have suffered Why the most glorious miracles which our Lord wrought were often preceded by some action which witnessed those weaknesses to which his humane nature was made subject In the same time that our Lord went to display his divine power by some extraordinary miracle he often beginneth with some act of humane weaknesse If he appease the tempest it is after he hath been overcome
men To see how behold this that ought to be considered We say and it is true that the Miracles of our Lord have demonstrated that he is the Christ This proof seemeth not sufficient for Elijah Joshua Moses and the others which we have mentioned wrought Miracles also and yet no man ever thought that any of them was the Christ But this was because none of them came at the time which had been set down for the coming of the Messiah but all preceded it very far The Divine Providence did purposely interpose a long distance of ages between them and the time which was destined for the coming of Christ to the end to shew that none of them could be the Christ If then when the coming of Christ approached some other had appeared with the gift of Miracles he might have been taken for the Messiah himself considering the concurrence of time but this inconvenience hath been prevented The following question is referred also to this Why none of them from whom Christ is descended according to the flesh hath had the gift of Miracles This is remarkable that of so many ancestours of whom Christ is issued there is not one that hath wrought a Miracle Neither Enoch nor Abraham nor David nor so great a number of other famous men have been honored with this gift And it is especially to be considered that none of the Tribe of Judah wrought Miracles till our Lord came This Tribe had been designed among all others to be that of which Christ ought to be born It was important then that none of this race should work any Miracle before our Lord to the end that none other might be taken for the Messiah Of all those which have wrought Miracles there was not one of the Tribe of Judah Not Moses nor Aaron who were of the Tribe of Levi. Not Joshua who was of Ephraim Not Elijah nor the others the Tribe of whom is either different or uncertain Our Lord is the first of the lineage of Judah that wrought Miracles And before him God would never grant that power to any person of that Tribe Why John the Baptist had not the gift of Miracles The birth of so great a man who was more then a Prophet was truely preceded by Miracles but himself never wrought any Miracle This is also in part for the same cause which I have already spoken to the end that it might not be thought that he was the Christ whereas he was none other then his forerunner And indeed already eyes were cast upon him as if he had been the Messiah But there is also another reason which ought here to be considered The first that wrought Miracles under the Old Testament was the same man that gave the Law to wit Moses The first also that wrought Miracles in the New Testament was the same that brought the Gospel to wit Jesus Christ This prerogative appertained to him to be the first which should seal the New Testament by Miracles as Moses had been the first that sealed the Old This could not be agreeable to John the Baptist Of the divers degrees or steps by which our Lord displayed his miraculous power toward the bodies of men The Son of God began his Miracles at the nourishments of the body of man when he changed the water into wine Afterward he manifested his power in healing the sick And lastly continuing still to do good unto the living he proceeded so far as to raise the dead Sometimes he hath brought forth one great Miracle to be the forerunner of a greater Miracle Having healed the servant of the Centurion who was neer unto death on the morrow he raised him who was perfectly dead to wit the young man of Naim Luke 7. Having healed her who had been sick twelve yeers the same day he raised her that had been dead being of the age of twelve yeers Mark 5. It behoveth here to note the divers ages of sicknesses and infirmities of those which he healed Some had been afflicted since twelve yeers as the woman already spoken of Others since eighteen yeers as the woman bowed together Luke 13.11 Others since eight and thirty yeers Joh. 5.5 Others from their infancy as the Lunatick Mark 9.21 Others from their birth as he that was born blinde Joh. 9.1 So that the Son of God be it in healing the bodies of men or raising them from the dead hath extended his power from their cradle to their grave Of the divers actions which Jesus Christ hath done in the Temple of Jerusalem He entered into the Temple divers times in divers qualities and for divers functions 1. He entered as a private person and a member of the Common-wealth of Israel when he was presented to the Lord fourty days after his nativity Luke 2.22 2. He did the act of a Disciple at the age of twelve yeers hearing the Doctors and asking them questions 3. He did the act of a Doctor when he preached and taught 4. He did the act of a Redeemer when he pardoned the adulteresse 5. He did the act of the Lord and Master of the Temple when he chased out the buyers and sellers that profaned it 6. He performed also the act of a Soveraign in the Miracles which he wrought And this furnisheth us with the Consideration following Why no man ever wrought Miracle within the Temple of God except the Son of God An observation upon this subject We are not of the opinion that this came to passe casually or for want of occasion or without cause worthy to be considered that our Lord was the alone man that hath exercised the power of Miracles within the house of his Father This is one of the marks of his preeminence and of the jurisdiction which he had in that place Many men have wrought Miracles in divers parts but none of them wrought them within the compasse of the Temple It was promised Malach. 3. that the Lord which is the Messiah should come into his Temple Now Jesus Christ willing to shew that it was himself that was to come caused himself to be taken notice of within the Temple it self by the Miracles which there he produced there I say where none other had that power It may be observed here that there have been two persons that have been struck with miraculous plagues in the Temple a King and a Priest to wit Uzziah and Zacharias the father of John the Baptist The one became leprous and the other dumb 2 Chron. 26. Luke 1. But never any sick or impotent were miraculously healed in the Temple till the comming of the Son of God who there healed the blinde and the lame Matth. 21.14 Why Jesus Christ when he was hungry or thirsty or weary with travel never helped himself by his miraculous power to give himself refreshment When others wanted drink he turned water into wine But when himself was thirsty he desired water of the Samaritan woman When others were hungry he multiplied the loaves
and satisfied thousands of men But when himself was pressed with hunger and had addressed himself to the fig tree which had no fruit he caused none to be brought forth though he could have done it forthwith So he endured the wearinesse of the way Joh. 4.6 although he might have caused himself to have been carried by Angels or lifted up by the Spirit as Philip afterward was Acts 8.39 40. In sum he never used Miracles for his own refreshment As he came for others so all his Miracles have been for others And this is one part of his annihilation of himself that using his miraculous power for the refreshment of others he never used it for his own Why the Son of God after he was raised from the dead ceased from healing the sick Our Lord being in the world healed corporal maladies so long as he himself was burdened with our infirmities that is to say before his Resurrection After that he was raised from death he remained upon the earth fourty days conversed with men wrought divers Miracles but healed not any that was sick This is not because his power was impaired since it was become more glorious nor that he had lesse charity then afore-time nor that there wanted those that were sick in Israel But that he healed no more was because he had appropriated that kinde of Miracles to the time of his humiliation Wherefore the Scripture Matth. 8.17 rehearsing his curing of divers sick men saith that by such acts was verified that Prophecie that saith that he took our infirmities and bare â—ur sicknesses For that place setteth them down as terms equivalent as far as concerneth bodily infirmities to have undergone them in his person or to have healed them in others for he never wrought these miraculous cures but so long as himself was capable of infirmity Of the Tears of Christ in the days of his Flesh VVE read not that he wept till within a few days before his death and it seemeth that he became every day more sensible of our miseries according as he tried them by experience more and more The Scripture spareth not to say that he learned obedience by those things which he suffered Heb. 5.8 Thrice we read that he wept The first time for one man the second for one nation and the third for all Mankinde For one man when he wept over the Sepulchre of Lazarus for one nation when he wept over Jerusalem foreseeing the ruine of it and the desolation of the whole people of the Jews for all mankinde then when he offered up with strong crying and tears prayers and supplications to him who could save him from death Heb. 5.7 Christ condemned by Pilate A Consideration why the names of divers wicked men are set down in the history of the Passion of Christ SOmetimes the Scripture expresseth the name of a man who seemeth to be of little importance and sometimes it suppresseth the name of another which should be more considerable It tells us the name of the robber whom the Jews preferred before Jesus Christ when Pilate gave them the choice to release to them one of the two Yet it nameth not the thief which was converted although that it should seem that his name ought rather to be mentioned then that of the other Now setting aside the reasons of this silence we will retain this that when the Scripture expresseth the name of a wicked man this is not always onely to set down the circumstances of the History but often for other causes Among all the wicked men which are comprised in the History of the Passion there are seven marked by their names Judas Annas and Caiaphas Malchus Herod Barabbas and Pontius Pilate Now it seemeth that the Scripture which reciteth how all sorts of men contributed to the death of Christ would also name one of every condition One of the houshold of Christ One High Priest and another inferiour One servant One King One Judge yea one thief This doth not exclude the particular reasons for which every one of these men aforesaid hath his name in this History It importeth that Malchus who was none other then a servant was named as well as Caiaphas and Barabbas as well as Pilate though the one be more considerable then the other The name of the Romane Empire hath intervened both in the birth and death of Christ The Edict of Cesar who caused the inrolment mentioned Luke 2 served to prepare the place where Christ ought to be born and the authority of Cesar served to procure the death which Christ ought to die It was requisite that all the mysteries of the Redemption should be fulfilled in that time in which this great Monarchy commanded in Judea yea it was requisite that it should be one of the instruments even in acts quite contrary It lodged Christ coming into the world and afterward caused him to go out of the world It provided a Cradle for his Birth and afterward the Crosse for his Death The Death and Burial of CHRIST Four glorious occurrences distant many ages one from the other and coming to passe on the like day THe calling of Abraham when God drew him from Ur of the Caldeans The going of the Israelites out of Egypt after having kept the Passeover The Decree of the restauration of Jerusalem mentioned by the Angel to Daniel chap. 9.25 And finally the death of Christ are four points of an high consideration and admirable in their correspondencies Now although they are separated the one from the other by divers so long distances in regard of yeers yet they all meet together in the same day The History teacheth us that the Israelites went out of Egypt within that proper day and the same night in which came to be expired the four hundred and thirty yeers which had past after the calling of Abraham That calling then came to passe on the same day Exod. 12. The day also of the death of Christ which is that of the Passeover doth concur with the other and the same day according to the best computation ended the seventy weeks of Daniel whence it followeth that they began on the same day the day on which went forth the Decree to rebuild the holy City This wonderful concurrence presenteth to our eyes Jesus Christ dying on the same day on which Abraham departed out of Caldea that Israel went out of Egypt and that the Decree was pronounced to raise again the walls of Jerusalem Thus the death of Christ extendeth it self as far as those ages that have past long before it and his Day is found also within the fairest days of the Patriarchs An advertisement touching the Name of Altar improperly ascribed to the Crosse I repeat now what I have said in another Treatise There is nothing more ordinary in this subject then to hear named The Alter of the Crosse under the pretext that Jesus Christ was offered on the Crosse But it followeth not that the Crosse had the place
or quality of an Altar in this Oblation Neither doth the Scripture ever call it so although it speaketh so often of the Crosse and of the Sacrifice of Christ Let it not displease so many learned men who have authorized this vulgar phrase That Christ was offered on the Altar of the Crosse The Crosse was not the Altar of this incomparable Sacrifice The name of Altar is of greater importance then many men consider This is an irrefragable Maxime That the Altar is greater then the Offering in as much as it is the Altar which sanctifieth the Offering Matth. 23.19 Whence would follow that which none should dare to think that the Crosse should be more excellent then the Body of Jesus Christ yea that it had sanctified it All that can be said when the name of Altar is given to the Crosse is this that it is not understood so in effect but onely by way of similitude or allusion But such a similitude transferreth to the Crosse a title which appertaineth to none but Christ for on the Crosse himself was the Altar the Sacrifice and the Priest altogether Under the Law these were different things because one of these figures alone could not represent Christ in all these three qualities but in him they are found united and no creature hath had part in this honour Why then should we communicate it to the wood of the Crosse Either this phrase hath helped toward the adoration of the Crosse or it hath proceeded from that Superstition or howsoever it be it hath been unwisely introduced without taking heed to the consequences which it draweth after it Why the Scripture speaketh of what matter the Crosse was made yet expresseth not the form of it It concerneth us to know that it was of wood This particularity should seem little considerable if the Apostle had not opened the mystery shewing that Christ hath delivered us from the curse insomuch as he was hanged on the tree because this kinde of death was cursed by the Law Deut. 20.23 Gal. 3.13 But for the structure of it of how many pieces it was composed how they were placed and in sum what figure it had this is that which the Scripture passeth under silence as not necessary The form which is commonly given to the Crosse is contradicted by the learned which represent it quite another We shall observe from hence that supposing we had the true figure of the Crosse and that it were an object of adoration as the Church of Rome teacheth this honour would not appertain to any but Crosses of wood for Jesus Christ was not crucified on a Crosse of stone or silver Neverthelesse they make Crosses of all things but this is to falsifie that of Christ under pretext to represent it None hath wrought Miracles at his death except the Son of God This is remarkable against the Jews Divers great servants of God have wrought Miracles in their life but never in their death Was there ever man at whose death appeared such wonders as at the death of Christ Whence cometh it that neither Moses nor Joshua nor Samuel nor Prophet nor King nor Patriarch hath wrought any Miracle dying And whence cometh it that this crucified having given up the Ghost rendeth the Veil of the Temple darkeneth the Sun cleaveth the Rocks shaketh the Earth and opened the Sepulchres The exploit of Samson dying howsoever prodigious yet it was not miraculous to speak properly nor doth it approach any thing neer to those great wonders which our Lord wrought in his death Wherefore is Jesus Christ the onely man among all men whose death hath been honoured with visible miracles if not to distinguish him from all other men by a mark so illustrious So as I have observed before as well the Birth as the death of Christ have been signalized by miracles and never any man whatsoever hath had the like honour Three signes from heaven exhibited in three several passages by the which Jesus Christ hath been declared publikely to be the Messiah In the course of the life of Jesus Christ in the days of his humiliation we consider his Nativity his Baptism and his Death His Nativity in which he began to appear in the world His Baptism by which he entered into the functions of his Office And his Death by which he finished the work of the Redemption Every one of these mystries was immediately followed and overtaken by a signe from Heaven and that way shewed unto the world His Birth by the Star which carried the news as far as the East preceded by the acclamation of Angels publishing this happie Nativity His Baptism by the opening of the Heavens and the descent of the holy Ghost in the shape of a dove accompanied by the voice of God His Death by the miraculous darkning of the Sun which filled all the earth with darknesse When the Jews demanded that Jesus Christ should authorize his calling by some signe from Heaven they should have learned that which passed at his Birth and his Baptism and afterward they ought to have considered that which happened at his death They had then seen his calling attested by three signes from Heaven Why the High Priest who represented Jesus Christ never came neer to the dead and yet Jesus Christ did the contrary The Law forbade the High Priest to touch a dead corps yea to enter into any house in which there was one deceased yea to shew any signe of grief were it for his own father or mother Levit. 21.10 11. Whence it appeareth that if he found himself in any place where any person was at the point of death it behoved him to depart from thence immediately his presence being incompatible with that of a dead body But on the contrary Jesus Christ entered into the house where lay the dead body of the daughter of Jairus Himself took her by the hand He touched the Coffin of the young man of Naim that was carrying to the grave He shed tears over Lazarus already putrified These particuiars are more important then they seem to be Certainly the defiling which the Law findeth in dead bodies might bear a reflexion upon the Priest because he was not capable of removing the corruption of death But he which is able to give life unto the dead is above this Law and the reach of this infection Here is seen a notable difference The Mosaical Priesthood abandoneth the dead and leaveth them in their uncleâ—nnesse because it cannot remedy it But the true and eternal Priest because he raiseth the dead hath conversed with them and his touch hath restored their life He cometh to search us yea within our graves yea he guardeth our bones Why the fear of death was more excusable in the Saints of the Old Testament then it is now And why we ought not to imitate them in all that which have spoken concerning this subject We should finde it strange that the apprehension of a natural death should make a Christian to
yeeld place unto Christ That the sin of Adam lost those that came after him but the death of Christ hath saved both them that went before and came after it As therefore the first Adam hath caused to die those which were born many ages after him so the second Adam hath quickned them which were dead many ages before him And this hath been one of the causes of the retarding of his coming to wit that he would shew his power working backward to the foregoing ages And finally That it was convenient before Christ died to make it known to the world that the expiation of sins could not be wrought any other way To this effect God proposed first the blood of beasts in Sacrifices afterward the blood of man in Circumcision afterward an infinite number of washings with all the works of the Law as if he would that men should assay all the means which could be imagined for the expiation of sins But this was to the end that they should acknowledge their impotency and should cast their eyes upon the future Sacrifice of Christ Now it was requisite that a good part of the age of the world should passe in the studie of these rudiments before God should send his Son Gal. 4.1 c. An admirable concurrence of the time of Redemption with the times of the most famous Ceremonies of the Law An observation upon this subject It concerneth us that we know the Yeer the Season the Days yea the Hours in the which Christ perfected the work of the Redemption The Law hath marked certain Times as notable among all others Among Yeers that of Jubilee which returned from fifty to fifty yeers in the which servants were set at liberty and lands alienated returned to their first owners Among the annual Feasts that of the Passeover which was the first and principal of all the solemnities of the yeer Among the Days the Sabbath of which the preeminencies are sufficiently notorious Among the Hours of the day that between the two vespers which we reckon the third after noon in which every day was offered the evening Sacrifice which was the conclusion of all daily Ceremonies Exod. 29.39 and in which also was slain the Paschal Lamb when his yeer-day was come Exod. 12.6 Now the Redemption met in all these times in the Yeer of Jubilee in the Passeover in the Hour of the Evening Sacrifice and in the Sabbath In the Yeer of Jubilee according to the most exact Chronologie which reckoning every fiftieth yeer after the division of the Land of promise to the yeer in which Christ died findeth that he suffered in the yeer of Jubilee in the Passeover as it is evident by the History of the Passion in the Hour of the Evening Sacrifice which the Jews called the ninth hour in the which Jesus Christ gave up the Ghost And finally in the Sabbath our Saviour all that day resting in the Sepulchre I know that many long time agone have considered all these particularities but in parcels every one separately That which I here observe is the general concurrence of all the times the most famous in the Law with the time of the Redemption which comprised and determined all To all this I will adde this Observation The yeer of Jubilee began the tenth day after the Equinoctial of September Levit. 15.9 and Jesus Christ died a few days after the Equinoctial of the Spring following Whence it appeareth that he died in the midst of the yeer of Jubilee between the six first months and the six last But the last six months which his death anticipated have been disjoyned from the precedent as appertaining no more to the yeer of Jubilee which hath been cut asunder in the middle that it might be rendered wholly dead A mysterious reason of the name which the Apostle giveth to the Sacrifice of Christ calling it A Sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour Ephes 5.2 Many read these terms of the Apostle without knowing the importance nor seeing at what they aim The common Expositours will be contented to tell us that the Sacrifice of Christ is of a good smell that is to say pleasing to God We know that this is true but to know it well we ought to learn from whence the Apostle fetched this phrase and what it is at which he looketh back It behoveth therefore to observe that there were two kindes of Oblations under the Law One sort was accompanied with a perfume of Incense which was burned with them and for this cause they are called Offerings of a sweet savour Levit. 2.2.9 The others howsoever approved by the Law bare not the name of Oblations of a sweet savour because they were without perfume Levit. 2.12 And particularly it is to be noted that it was forbidden to burn any perfume upon the Oblations which were presented for sins Levit. 5.11 in which the Law-giver gave to understand that the memory of sin yea the Sacrifices which mentioned them were not of a sweet savour Numb 5.15 Upon this we are to consider why the Law declared that that which was offered for sins could not be of a sweet savour seeing that Christ was offered for sins and yet his Oblation was of a sweet savour to God his Father The reason is that the Legal Oblations removed not at all the infection of the sin which they represented rather themselves remained burdened with it But Christ bearing our sins upon him vanquished and carried away this corruption This point furnisheth us with an invincible argument against the Jews By the own sentence of the Law all the Expiatory Offerings which it prescribed failed of a sweet favour and could not content the justice of God From whence it followeth otherwise we are for ever miserable that there is another kinde of Offering another Sacrifice of Expiation quite other then those of the Law which abolisheth the stench of our crimes And this quality cannot appertain but to the body of Christ Isai 53 5 6. The Resurrection of CHRIST Nine examples of the Resurrection of the dead which have gone before or followed the Resurrection of Christ An Harmony between those that were raised under the Old Testament and those that were raised by the Son of God while himself was yet mortal THe Wisdom of God hath shewed the Resurrection of the dead in divers examples which it hath distributed with order and proportion Three before the coming of Jesus Christ Three by Jesus Christ himself before his death And Three after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Before the coming of Christ God raised the son of the widow of Sarephta the son of the Shunamite and one dead man that had been cast into the Sepulchre of Elisha 1 King 17. 2 King 4 and 13. Jesus Christ before his death raised the son of the widow of Naim the daughter of Jairus and Lazarus Luke 7.15 Matth. 9. Joh. 11. After the Resurrection of Christ God hath first caused to be seen that of many Saints
which were raised out of the dust Matth. 27.52 53. Afterward that of Tabitha Acts 9.40 And for the third example that of the young man Eutychus Act. 20.9 10 11 12. There are notable resemblances between the three that were raised under the Old Testament and the three which Jesus Christ raised before his death The first raised from the dead in the Old Testament was the onely son of a widow and the first raised â—n the New Testament was the onely son of a widow The one in Sarephta the other in Naim In both the Testaments God began the Resurrection of the dead by the demonstration of his Mercy as well as that of his Power Moreover the last of the three raised before the coming of Christ was already entered into the grave where he touched the bones of the Prophet Elisha and the last of the three raised by Christ to wit Lazarus had already stayed four days within the Sepulchre Why Christ rose not again the day after his death but suffered the whole Sabbath day to passe over before he returned to life I passe by the ordinary reasons which are brought concerning this and will onely observe a Maxime which I finde in this matter to wit That never any dead man was raised again on the Sabbath day The Son of God hath healed many sick on the Sabbath day but ye read not that on that day he raised any dead And in sum none of all those which were returned to life as well under the one as the other Testament and of whom we have considered the catalogue and the order according to which they are ranked hath been raised on the Sabbath day I shall verifie this when I shall come to expound the fourth Commandment of the Decalogue For the present question we may say that Jesus Christ who is the Head of the Resurrection would shew the communion which is between him and others that are raised in whom we have a preludium of the general Resurrection And forasmuch as none of them recovered life on the Sabbath day he also not to seem to disjoyn himself from them would not that his Resurrection should fall on that day This excludeth not the other reasons of the time of his stay among the dead A comparison of the time which God employed in the Creation with that which he employed in the Redemption And of the days of the one and the other The time of the Creation was six Days that of the Redemption was but of three Days which is the lesse by one half But the Wisdom of God hath divided the time of the Creation in two equal parts each of three days the first three being distinguished from the three following by a most evident mark The first three days of the world with their nights had neither Sun nor Moon nor Stars but preceded the being of all these lights in which they have been different from all other days that since have come As therefore the Creation hath had three days extraordinary so the Redemption in the which the world hath been as created anew hath had these three marvellous days in the which Christ continued among the dead It is to be observed that himself speaking of the three days of his stay within the bowels of the earth Matth. 12. which ought not to be understood of three entire days had regard to the history of the Creation which reckoneth the Evening and the Morning for a Day a part for the whole Gen. 1.5 8. The first and neerest cause of the three days detaining of Jonah in the whales belly The intention of God indeed was to present unto men in Jonah a type of the Resurrection of Christ as every one knoweth But there was first another reason for which the Prophet was not delivered before the third day The chastisement of the sinner oftentimes answereth to the fault even to circumstances This happened to Jonah His History telleth us that Nineveh was a City of three days journey chap. 3.3 For having refused to take this walk of three days in Nineveh he was condemned to keep prison three days within the whale The three days which he would not passe over in a great City among men it was necessary for him to passe in the intrails of a fish out of the sight of men and sun From this historical consideration we come to that of this great mystery which is enclosed in the detention and deliverance of Jonah The Resurrection of Christ figured in Hezekiah by a double resemblance It is sufficiently known that this Resurrection as touching the circumstance of the Third Day hath been prefigured in Isaac in Jonah in Hezekiah A Patriarch a Prophet a King have been the types Isaac destined to be offred an whole-burnt-offering and remaining as dead in the brest of his father is as returned to life on the third day Gen. 22. Heb. 11.19 And this for the more ample correspondence happened very neer the same place where Christ afterward was buried and where he rose from the dead Jonah issuing from the depth of the sea giveth the term of fourty days to the Ninevites And this figure which marketh out the Resurrection of Christ on the third day extendeth also all along the fourty days which Christ gave unto the world after his Resurrection before he left the earth The healing also of Hezekiah is considered as a type He was held in the rank of the dead and his bed was to him a grave He was raised up miraculously on the Third Day as it were surviving himself 2 Kings 20.5 But that which I observe concerning this last and which I adde to the observations of those which have gone before me is another correspondence which is found between the wonders that befell in this subject the one in the sicknesse of Hezekiah and the other in the death of Christ In both these there was a Miracle in the Sun For the Eclipse of this Luminary which happened at the death of Christ was supernatural as well as the going back in the sicknesse of Hezekiah So that this type meeteth with Christ dead and raised from the dead by a double resemblance But the shadow which returned ten degrees backward to foreshew the return of Hezekiah to the course of his life was not so miraculous as the return of Christ from among the dead verified by ten Appatitions by which as by so many degrees he shewed himself living again upon the earth before he ascended into heaven Why none ever was raised again the third day after his death but onely Christ Of all those whom God hath caused to return into the world after they were dead there is not one whom the Scripture saith to have been raised on the Third Day If there had been any one this circumstance had not been omitted in History All have been raised either before or after the Third Day after their decease but none on that day The son of the widow of Sarephta the daughter
of Jairus Eutychus were certainly raised again the very day of their death The son of the Shunamite he of Naim Tabitha and the man which was raised from death in the Sepulchre of Elisha most probably had not yet reached to their Third Day among the dead when they returned to life As on the contrary many others have been raised after their third day to wit Lazarus and the Saints that rose from the dust when Christ rose again This circumstance of the Third Day for the Resurrection hath been appropriated to Christ and marked out for him in the Calender of the Prophets to the end that among other signes which distinguish him from all others that were raised he might be known also by this as particular to him to wit that his Resurrection befell on the Third Day according to the Scriptures When Lazarus was dead our Lord let passe the Third Day before he raised him and stayed till the Fourth Joh. 11.39 Among divers reasons of this delay I reckon this The Son of God would not raise Lazarus the same day of his decease nor before he entered into the Sepulchre because he had already raised two dead which had not as yet been put into the earth to wit the young man of Naim and the daughter of Jairus which was deceased but a few hours before Now his intention was to extend his power yet farther to wit as far as within the grave as he did when from thence he fetched Lazarus But this dead man had not his Resurrection on the Third Day our Lord having deferred if till the Fourth and hindering the concurrence of it with his own in regard of this circumstance Three miraculous Sepulchres in the holy History The Scripture mentioneth three famous Sepulchres in the which God hath given life to the dead to wit That of Elisha whose corps served to raise another dead though himself returned not to life That of Lazarus which was raised from the dead but not by himself That of Christ who rose himself and at the same time raised many others whose graves he had opened at his own death Matth. 27.52 53. The two first were preparatories to the wonders of the third The Son of God raised others before he raised himself and again in coming out of the sepulchre he carried his power into the graves of others who were raised after him Four men that raised the dead before and after the coming of Christ The gift of Miracles was conferred upon divers who notwithstanding received not the power to restore life to the dead this kinde of Miracle being reserved to a small number of them The Scripture nameth but four who exercised this power two under the Old Testament and two in the New The two first are Elijah and his successour Elisha The one raised the son of the widow of Sarephta the other the son of the Shunamite The two other are Saint Peter and Saint Paul The one raised Dorcas the other Eutychus So God raised two instruments of the Resurrection before the coming of his Son and after he was gone out of the world Christ appeared between the two first and the two last as the Sun among the Planets spreading his quickning power over the dead of the one and the other Testament The continuation of the Article of the Resurrection of CHRIST His Ascension into Heaven His Sitting at the right hand of God Christ hath verified his Resurrection by all the proofs which could be given BEing come back from the dead he hath made himself known to be living Not to one person alone but to many men and women yea to above five hundred together Not at one onely time but at many and divers times Not for a little time but for the space of fourty days Not in one onely place but in many and divers in the city in the fields within the houses and upon the mountains Not afar off but in the same chamber in a close place Not by one means but by an infinite number of testimonies By the Hearing he causeth his voice to be known By Sight his lineaments and stature By the Touch the wounds of his hands his feet and his side By his Actions going coming and eating with his disciples he shewed that he was truely alive And beside all this by all the Scriptures beginning at Moses and going thorow all the Prophets he proved the necessity and verity of his Resurrection Why God never raised any person of note to converse among men except the Messiah Of all the dead which have returned into the world to sojourn there some space of time and frequent the company of men there hath not been except our Lord any Prophet nor any person otherwise famous Those whom God raised either were children as he of Sarephta and the son of the Shunamite or young people as he of Naim the daughter of Jairus and Eutychus or without any mark of eminent quality in the Church as he that came living out of the grave of Elisha Lazarus and Tabitha For as for the Saints which appeared on the day of the Resurrection of Christ they did no more then passe by and having shewed themselves stayed not at all among mortals neither are their names mentioned in the History Whereupon it may be asked Why being raised from the dead they stayed no longer time in the world that there might have been some time to converse with them And in sum Why none of the Patriarchs or of the Prophets have been called back from the dead to sojourn a while among men as Lazarus or Eutychus But without speaking of the Fathers of the Old Testament I will yet make this question Why did not our Lord raise John the Baptist who had been his forerunner and his contemporary in the days of his flesh Was it not to the purpose that that excellent Prophet so great a light of the Church and who had suffered death for the Truth should be returned unto life as well as the daughter of Jairus or the young man of Naim It is easie to conjecture why this was not done If Abraham or David or any one of the Prophets or any one of them who wrought Miracles in their life time had returned to the world there to make their abode there had never wanted those who would have honoured them excessively If Superstition made Idols of the dead bodies of Saints how much more would it have idoâ—ized the very bodies themselves living after their death This is one of the causes for which God liked better to raise an ordinary man who had touched the bones of Elisha then to raise Elisha himself For such a Prophet that had been so famous in Miracles had been adored by men if he had returned from the grave to be among them There was also another particular reason concerning John the Paptist It is known how high his reputation had been After his death that was ascribed unto him which was not For when the Son
of God caused himself to be known by his miraculous actions divers notwithstanding took him for John the Baptist whom they imagined to be raised from the dead and to be the authour of those marvels that then were wrought Matth. 14.2 and 16.13 14. This errour had passed further if that Prophet had in effect been raised But it was requisite that that light should give place to a greater Luminary since he came not but onely to bring men unto Christ To conclude Christ is the onely Prophet that made any stay after his death to the end that he might be adored by them All the rest that returned from the dead either have been persons that had nothing extraordinary in their life or have not stayed alive some few moments of time upon the earth but Christ stayed fourty days and conversed with many at several times in several places and in several occurrences Of all those that have been raised from the dead none is introduced in Scripture speaking except Jesus Christ We need not demand whether we would be curious to see a man that had returned from the dead or whether we would desire to speak with him How many questions should we ask him We should demand of him what remembrance he had what being his soul had out of the body in what place it lodged in what condition it found it self what it saw or understood and what it did When Lazarus was raised great troops of the Jews ran to see him Without doubt they had as much curiosity as we have to ask and to hear him discourse And surely they whom God restored to life recovered also their speech yet the Scripture reporteth not any thing which hath been spoken by them And even when Eutychus was raised Acts 20.9 which happened in the presence of many spectatours he put himself again into the assembly to hear Saint Paul nor did they forsake the preaching of the Apostle to ask or hearken to one that was returned from the dead We read indeed that Moses and Elias being returned to the world spake with the Son of God in his Transfiguration and the subject of their discourse was of the decease which the Redeemer was to accomplish in Jerusalem Luke 9. But for the rest all the dead which have been raised keep silence in the History for it reciteth not any one word which they uttered although it observeth other particularities which seem lesse considerable And this is true of all those whose resurrection it hath described there being not one of them who is represented unto us speaking Hereupon it is to be considered why the Scripture never rehearseth what they have said For an omission so notable and universal cannot be without cause We finde therefore that this is an honour reserved to Christ to be the onely man among them that were raised from the dead whose words should be registred the onely one which speaketh in the Scripture the onely one from among the dead whom we can hear Wherefore the holy History expresseth very amply the words which the Son of God uttered after his Resurrection to divers persons upon divers subjects but for the rest which returned from the dead it mentioneth not so much as one word of all that they have spoken Three several Fourties of Days in the time that our Saviour stayed in this world Observations upon this circumstance Fourty days passed after the birth of Christ till the first entry he made into the Temple to be presented according to the Law Levit. 12. Luke 2.22 Fourty days after his Baptism till the day he began to enter upon the functions of his charge having miraculously fasted all that time And fourty days after his Resurrection before he entred into heaven In the first Fourty he appeared as a common man as all the rest of the first-born of Israel which they carried to the Temple to consecrate them to God In the second he appeared as a miraculous man as Moses and Elijah by an abstinence extraordinary In the third he appeared as the Son of God being declared to be so by his Resurrection Rom. 1.4 Many memorable periods have begun and ended by Fourties of days or yeers The Deluge began by a rain of Fourty days and Noah opened the window of the Ark Fourty days after the waters were withdrawn from covering the tops of the highest mountains The slavery of the Hebrews in Egypt and the peregrinations of their Fathers lasted ten times Fourty yeers Gen. 15.13 to wit till their going out of Egypt and were followed by another Fourty yeers of their sojourning in the desert Moreover after their going up out of Egypt to the yeer in which Solomon laid the foundations of the Temple which is a date of a great consideration in the sacred History there passed twelve times Fourty yeers 1 King 6.1 Why the Son of God entered no more into the Temple after his Resurrection And the difference in this regard between Him and those which were his principal types Hezekiah having been menaced with death had a promise that on the third day he should ascend into the house of God as a man newly raised from death Jonah being brought back to the light of the living would see the Temple of God chap. 2.5 And Isaac another figure of the Resurrection of Christ was delivered from death in the same place where the Temple was afterward built Now the Son of God being raised from the dead entered indeed into the City of Jerusalem and revisited divers places which he had frequented before his death but he returned no more into the Temple which at other times he had so often honoured with his presence For it was not convenient that this great and Eternal Priest having consummated the Sacrifice which disannulled all those of the Temple of which he had rent the vail and being to make his entrance into the Sanctuary of heaven should return into that which was none other then a figure of the heavenly Heb. 9.24 Of those which have seen the Son of God being in heaven We know that he hath been seen in all the three degrees of his Exaltation He was seen after his Resurrection by more then five hundred persons at one time He was seen ascending into heaven by the eleven principal disciples And finally he hath been seen at the right hand of God by Saint Steven and by Saint Paul These two witnesses sufficed for the publishing the third degree of his Exaltation the first and the second being attested by so great a number of persons It is a thing considerable that the Wisdom of God hath chosen the first of the Martyrs and the last of the Apostles to be eye-witnesses of the glory of his Son The one being in the hands of the executioners died in this confession That he saw the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God Acts 7.55 56. The other having been a sworn enemy of the Name of Christ and of those
that believed in him hath confessed that he saw him in glory after his Ascension 1 Cor. 9.1 and 15.8 The one is the first that sealed this truth with his blood The other is the last who had charge to publish it as having seen it after he had persecuted it All the other disciples saw Christ conversant on earth but these two onely have seen him raigning in heaven All the miraculous prerogatives which have been severally in divers Saints are found united in one onely Christ iâ— a soveraign degree Among the Saints divers have beet rendered famous Either by their miraculous birth as Isaac and John the Baptist Or by the Miracles which themselves wrought as Moses Elijah Elisha c. Or by the gift of Prophecie as Samuel Daniel c. Or by their Resurrection from the dead as Lazarus c. Or for having ascended into heaven as Enoch and Elijah But never had any man all these prerogatives together except the Son of God Some have had a miraculous birth or else have been Prophets which have not had the gift of Miracles Others have wrought Miracles so far as to raise the dead but themselves have not been raised Others have been raised from the dead but their bodies have not ascended into heaven but were returned once more unto the grave Others are ascended into heaven but they have no power to work upon them that are on the earth On the contrary one alone and the same Christ was conceived miraculously exercised the power of Miracles and that of a Prophet came back from the dead is ascended bodily into heaven and that which appertaineth to none other from above governeth the whole Church The same Christ surpasseth infinitely all the others in every one of those miraculous preeminencies which they have had Some were born of mothers which had passed the age of childbearing but Christ was born of a Virgin Some have been Prophets but Christ received not the Spirit by measure Some have had the gift of Miracles in certain occasions but Christ at all times had that power Some have been raised from death by some other but Christ raised himself Some have been lifted up into heaven but Chriâ—â— was carried thither by his own power And finally as he holdeth the firâ—â— place in all things he alone is set dowâ— at the Right Hand of God Of the last Judgement Why doth the holy History never say the God descended but onely where the bâ—sinesse hath been to do justice or to establish it and protect the innocent WHensoever God hath descended it hath been Either to publish Laws as those which he gave 〈◊〉 old to Israel Exod. 19.18 and 34.5 Or to appoint Judges as were read in Numb 11.17 Or to proceed against the guilty as the builders of Babel and the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 11.5 6 7. and 18.21 Or to give protection to Jacob going into Egypt Gen. 46.4 Or to do justice to the Hebrews which were oppressed by the Egyptians Exod. 3.8 Certainly the Scripture intended not to say that God descended locally yet so it is that he will one day really descend in the person of his Son Now forasmuch as he will not descend but to execute judgement all the other Descents which the Scripture attributeth to him meet in the same scope For it never representeth God coming from above but either to do Justice or to preserve it An observation upon the fâ—ur general Judgements mentioned in the Scriptures All the Judgements which God hath shewed or yet doth shew upon any parts of mankinde are but particulars There are four which have concerned or do concern all the generality The three first have already appeared and the fourth is at the door The first Judgement is that which God pronounced against Adam and his wife who represented all their posterity The second is that which caused all the inhabitants of the world except eight to perish by the waters of the Deluge The third is that which divided the society of men by the confusion of Tongues in Babel The fourth is that of the last Day The first Judgement deprived men of immortality and declared them subject to death which by power of it is come upon them successively The second caused all mankinde to die at one time reserving a very small number of persons The third brake off the communion which was among men bereaving them of their universal language and hindering them from understanding one another Now there are divers resemblances and differences between these three first Judgements which are past already and the fourth which is yet to come But we have onely to consider that in the first three God hath judged the living but at the last he shall judge both the living and the dead Upon this subject I am to propound the following Observation A wonderful Mystery which is seen in the several goings out of the three first men which God took out of the world The life of man hath two different issues Some going out of the world by a violent death others by a natural But those which shall be found alive when our Lord shall come to the last Judgement shall passe neither by the one nor the other of these two ways but by a third which shall be a sudden transmutation of their bodies by the which they shall become incorruptible 1 Cor. 15.52 So then there are three several kindes of issues ordained to men to dislodge out of this world some by one some by another to wit Violent death Natural death And the transmutation of them that shall be found alive at the day of Judgement Of these three ways the two first have been open to this day and are the ordinary passage of mortals The third is reserved for the last inhabitants of the world All these three several issues have been visibly marked out in the three first men that have parted out of this life for the first that dislodged was Abel the second was Adam the third was Enoch The first went out of the world by a violent death The second by a natural death The third by a change supernatural and miraculous These three went in this order and the one followed the other immediately among them whose departure is mentioned in the Scripture But they went by different ways which represented all those by which men were to passe after them For all those which shall go out of the world after these three first or who shall go out hereafter by which soever of these three ways go but in the footsteps of some one of these three forerunners who are in this regard an abridgement of all mankinde divided as in three bands And particularly as those who ought to passe by that above-named change to be translated from this life without seeing death shall be the last that dislodge so Enoch who represented them parted from this world the last of the three being preceded by Abel who died a violent death and
periods of the Church and many famous mysteries had their beginning in a Desert The first time that Angels spake to men was in a Desert For Hagar the first person to whom Angels spake was in a Desert when the voice of the Angel was directed to her Gen. 16.7 The first time that God spake to Moses was in a Desert in that famous vision of the burning bush Exod. 3. The Law was given in a Desert The Tabernacle was built in a Desert The most illustrious figures of Christ Manna the Rock from whence issued water the miracle of the Brazen Serpent were brought forth in a Desert The miraculous fast of Moses that of Elijah and of Christ passed in a Desert The preaching of the Gospel began in a Desert Matth. 2.1 Baptism the first Sacrament of the New Testament began in a Desert and Jesus Christ himself received it in a Desert The first and the last piece of Scripture to wit the Books of Moses and that of the Revelation were delivered in a Desert The Christian Church gathered from among the Jews after the Ascension of the Son of God withdrew it self into a Desert before the destruction of Jerusalem and sojourned there three yeers and six months Rev. 12.14 Many excellent considerations might be brought upon this subject But principally the Wisdom of God would shew in the most notable beginnings as well of the Israelitish as the Christian Church that his Church is a Body distinguished from all other societies that are in the world formed upon other principles of an original quite different and that it was not founded upon any terrestrial Empire It is worth the noting that as the Church of Israel remained fourty yeers in a Desert before it was established in the land of Canaan so the Christian Church remained after its beginning to wit after that the Son of God was ascended into heaven seven times fourty yeers in a continual persecution which reduced it into solitudes and deserts For after the Ascension of our Lord till the three hundred and fifteenth of his Nativity when Constantine called back the Christians and caused them to build Churches there passed two hundred and eighty yeers seven times as many yeers as the Israelites had passed in the Desert All the Church was never gathered together in one place except then whâ—â— it was in the Ark. After the family of Adam in which for that time was included the Body of the Church it is not found that the believeâ—s which make up the Church Militant have been all gathered together in one place save when they were all enclosed in that Vessel which preserved them from the Deluge The Israelites when they went forth out of Egypt and when they remained in the Desert were all assembled in the same place but yet it could not be said for certain that all the Church was there for we know that God had children among other Nations far distant from that of Israel witnesse Job and his friends who all acknowledged the true-God It is a vanity most vain when Decrees are represented under the name of the Universal Church as if it had been assembled in one place for even the Councels which are called General are not such in effect nor can it be said that they represent the Church Universal For never was there a Convocation made by the suffrages of all the Churches in the world The Remission of Sins A difference between the Remission which the Law presented of old to sinners and that which is offered unto them by the Gospel BEhold a point remarkable against the Jews who believe to finde their salvation in the Sacrifices and other Ceremonies of the Law under pretence that it saith that it shall be pardoned unto him who bringeth such or such an Oblation for his sin I passe by that which is notorious to all Christians that those Legal Expiations had none other quality then that of figures But that which I observe beyond this is that the Law it self never presenteth an universal Remission to the sinner This is a Maxime That the Law had not any Sacrifice which did universally expiate all the sins of a man All the Expiations of which it speaketh were but of certain sins not of all entirely and therefore they promised a plentary Remission but still left the sinner indebted to the Justice of God Against this may be objected the Expiation general which was performed every yeer on the tenth day of the seventh month according to the ordinance contained in Levit. 16. For that beareth expresly that this ceremony did expiate all the iniquities and trespasses of the children of Israel But we must consider that this Expiation was made but once every yeer and onely on one day and it was for sins precedent that is to say which had been committed till then The offences which were committed after that day were not expiated till a yeer after on the same day So that by the space of a whole yeer men remained burdened with an infinite number of crimes which came upon them after the precedent Expiation and there needed another which came not till the yeer was come about Now how many persons died before the revolution of the yeer without being able to attain to the day of Expiation All those therefore which were prevented by death before that day fell departed without having obtained an entire Remission since there remained a number of sins which could not as yet be expiated according to the Law Surely the Law it self shewed the impotency of its Expiations by which there never could be a coming to a total Remission But the Remission which we have by Christ blotteth out universally all the sins of a man that accepteth this pardon Neither yet is it restrained to any circumstance of place or time Therefore whereas the Law presented Remission of sins but one onely time in a whole yeer the Gospel presenteth it unto us every day Which is most injurious and repugnant to God Either â— Despair or Presumption He that despaireth offendeth the Mercy of God But the presumptuous that believeth himself to be capable of giving satisfaction to God offendeth his Justice and his Mercy both together His Justice in requiring that it should approve a payment that is none His Mercy in presuming to content his Justice For whosoever imagineth that he is able to satisfie the Justice of God believeth not that he hath need of his Mercy A believer having commited some sin very enormous is it credible although he have repented and obtained pardon that God will love him altogether as much as he loved him before the offence commited God loveth the righteous but if the righteous happen to commit some great crime it is impossible but God should resent it Neverthelesse the gate of his Mercy is always open to the penitent But is there any likelihood that God having been grievously offended by a man whom he loved will yet love him with so great an affection
as he loved him before For he may pardon him and yet neverthelesse abate of his former good will We pardon oftentimes such an one as hath rendred himself unworthy of the friendship which we bare to him and we may yet have abundance of affection towards him but it is hard that our affection should return to the same degree in which it was before the offence came between howsoever he testifieth his being displeased for it Concerning this question we may say That there is more joy in heaven and consequently more affection in some regard for one sinner coming to repentance then for ninety and nine righteous that have no need of particular repentance That the love of God toward his children is not measured according to the proportion of the good which they do but proceedeth purely from his own goodnesse That even there where sin hath abounded God causeth that his grace superaboundeth That he to whom God hath pardoned the greater sins is often he that more loveth God and consequently is the more beloved of God Luke 7.47 That the father of the Prodigal whose Parable tendeth to our matter testifieth that he had still as much of love for that his son after all his debauchednesse as he had before Luke 15. That the Remission of sins is represented under the name of Amnestie or Oblivion when God promiseth that he will have no remembrance of our transgressions but account them as not having been whence it followeth that their memory shall not diminish the love which God bare unto us from the beginning Jer. 31.34 Heb. 8.12 and 10.17 And lastly that many Saints have committed divers notable crimes and being fallen from the rank which they had in the Church of God have not onely obtained Remission but also have been reestablished in all their dignities and preeminences as we shall see presently Examples of divers great sinners reestablished in their first estate We finde four famous among all others whom God hath fully restored to wit a High Priest a Prophet a King and one of the first Apostles These four are Aaron Jonah Manasseh and Saint Peter Aaron who being named of God to the Priesthood after being become an instrument of the idolatry of the golden calf was neverthelesse again exalted to the Priestly dignity Jonah who having deserted the office of a Prophet was notwithstanding yet honoured with that charge the second time Manasseh who after having filled all the City of Jerusalem with innocent blood and erected an Empire for the devil for which crimes he was despoiled of his Royalty found neverthelesse favour with God who caused him to reascend his Throne Saint Peter who had weakly denied his Master was notwithstanding restored to his Apostolate yea by three clauses expressed in his commission to blot out the three denials which had issued from his mouth Joh. 21.15 16 17. There might be produced other examples but these are the most expresse The goodnesse of God would reestablish those sinners represented in those four different conditions the highest of all to wit the Priesthood the office of a Prophet the state of a King and the Apostolate to shew that there is no fall so foul from which a childe of God may not be lifted up yea so far as to return to a higher degree to be neerer to God The Resurrection of the Flesh Why is Abraham so highly commended for having believed that God could raise the dead Heb. 11.19 IS this any marvel that so great a Patriarch had this belief seeing so many Christians have it and so many Israelites had it as well as he Why is this faith honoured with a greater elogium in him then in them We must consider that before the days of Abraham and also a long time after God had not as yet raised any dead This kinde of Miracle was not seen till the end of many ages after the decease of Abraham Neither he nor they that had gone before him had ever seen or heard that one that was dead had been raised again As therefore this Miracle was without example so much the more of faith was needful to believe that God was able to effect it But as for us we have many examples of the Resurrection of the dead in divers persons to whom God restored life Upon which I am to produce these observations following An admirable gradation in those which have been raised from the dead The particular Resurrection of Lazarus and of the others which we read in the History is an image of the general Resurrection which is to come In the estate of those dead bodies which God hath raised at several times there are divers degrees Some have been raised incontinently after having given up the Ghost there having not been above some few minutes between their death and their resurrection as Acts 20.9 10. Others had been already fully cold before they were raised as the son of the Shunamite as it appeareth by the circumstances related 2 King 4.20 c. Others had been already washed and prepared to the burial as Tabitha Acts 9.37 Others had been already on the way to the grave as the son of the widow of Naim which was carried out of the Town to be interred Luke 7.12 Others were already entred into the grave as he which rose again by the touch of Elisha's bones 2 King 13.21 Others had not onely been in the grave but also had stayed there yea they had been putrified as Lazarus Joh. 11.39 Others had been reduced to dust as those that rose with Christ Matth. 27.52 Thus God sheweth unto us the Resurrection in all the conditions of the dead from them that went no further then expiration even to them of which there remained no more then dust His power which giveth life hath gone thorow all the passages thorow which dead bodies do descend to the lowest degree of their annihilation The same shall come to passe in the general Resurrection For when the Son of God shall call up the dead there will be found those that have been deceased onely some few hours since or but a few days others that shall be already putrified others that shall have been five or six thousand yeers in the grave of which there will remain no more but the ashes Why there have been more young people raised from the dead then old God hath raised from the dead those of both sexes and of different ages as the daughter of Fairus and Tabitha but the greatest part have been of young people The son of the widow of Sarephta and the son of the Shunamite were as yet in their childhood The son of the widow of Naim was but a youth The daughter of Jairus was but twelve yeers old Eutychus was a young man And it is probable that Lazarus was so The number and age of the Saints which came out of their graves when Christ arose is not mentioned in the History So much is certain that among all them whom it