twofold regard 1. Because of the inseparable Vnion which is between Christ and the Church The first fruits are a part of the whole lumpe and of the same nature with the whole So is Christ and the Church he is the head they are the members of the same body he is the stocke and roote they the branches of the same Vine And therefore the Life which is in Christ the Head is diffused into the Members the iuice which is in the root flowes forth into the branches A liuing head will not bee coupled with a dead body nor will that true Vine beare any withered branches Whence in verse 45. of this 15. chapter Christ the second Adam is called A quickning spirit because of that diuine power which is in him to make aliue both soules dead in sinne and bodies rotten in their graues 2 Because Christs Resurrection hath taken away all impediments of our glorious Resurrection If Christ had bin held in the graue the reason had beene because hee could not ouercome death and make full payment of the price of our Redemption But now Christ hauing broken in sunder the barres of the graue by his Resurrection he hath manifestly declared that our Ransome is fully made Hell Death the Graue ouercome Gods Wrath appeased and therfore that now there is nothing that should hinder our Resurrection to life and glory Even as after the consecration of the first fruits the Iewes might lawfully vse their other store without impediment So Christ hauing dyed and rose againe for this very end to take out of the way whatsoeuer thing might hold vs in death and destruction there is now nothing can haue dominion ouer vs to throw our soules to hell or detaine our bodies in the graue But here a Question arises touching the Resurrection of the wicked at the last day Shall not they arise also and that by the power of Christ I answer They shall arise by the power of Christ. But here we must obserue that Christ is to be considered in a double respect 1. As he is head of the Church 2. As he is iudge of the whole world The godly are raysed by the power of Christ as Head of the Church from whom descends into his members that quickening power which giues life vnto the bodies of the Saints ioyning righteous soules vnto glorious bodies in a blissefull Vnion for euer The wicked arise by the power of Christ as hee is Iudge of the world who hauing all power and iudgement committed to him by his soueraigne command brings together those damned soules vnto their miserable bodies that so he may execute vpon both to the full the iudgement of eternall vengeance Now euen in respect of these Christ may be said to be the first fruits of the dead namely thus That if the Iudge bee risen they must also bee made to rise that are to be iudged This is most excellently expressed by Christ himselfe Iohn 5. 26 27. As the father hath life in himselfe so likewise hath hee giuen to the son to haue life in himselfe namely to quicken by vertue thereof the soules of his Elect in Regeneration and the bodies of his Elect in the Resurrection It followes And hee hath giuen him power also to execute iudgement in that he is the sonne of man Thus he hath also to doe with the reprobate and wicked by his power to pull them out of their graues like roads out of their holes and after to throw their bodies with their soules into the pit of perdition For then it followes Verse 28 29. Maruell not at this for the houreshall come in which all that are in the graues shall heare his voyce And they shall come forth that haue done good vnto the Resurrection of life and they that haue done euill vnto the Resurrection of condemnation Let thus much suffice for opening of this Point I come to some Application Vse 1. To strengthen our Faith in the Article of the Resurrection from the dead This is a point which is hardly beleeued and to naturall Reason it seemes incredible But let vs not dispute where God plainely affirmes the matter rest we our selues vpon his power and promise neuer doubting but what hath bin done in the first fruits shall bee done to the whole lumpe The graue hath lost her Victorie ouer the bodie of Christ and shee shall not recouer it against our bodies Vse 2. To teach vs whence to fetch true Consolation vnto our hearts in regard of the hard estate wee are to endure in this present world Christ is risen and we by him shall rise to glory and therefore be our condition neuer so miserable in this life yet happy men we are that are heires to so much blessednesse hereafter Vpon this nayle hangs all comfort and Brethren know that it is fastened in a sure place and will not deceiue vs in time of neede Are we Ministers why let vs as the Apostle speakes 2 Cor. 6. 4. approue our selues as the Ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in prisons in tumults in labours by watchings by fastings by purity by knowledge by long suffering by kindnesse by the holy Ghost by loue vnfained by the Word of Truth by the power of God by the armour of Righteousnesse on the right hand and on the left by honour and dishonour by euill report and good report c. as the Apostle there goes on In all this trauell and painfulnesse let this reioyce our soules Wee serue a Master will see vs well rewarded Christ in whom our hope is he is risen and with him shall we arise also who in that day shall giue vnto vs the crowne of Righteousnesse which is layd vp for vs as the Apostle comforts himselfe 2 Tim. 4. 8. Art thou a priuate Christian walking in thine integritie and faithfully endeauouring to feare God and keep his commandements and doest thou for this suffer contempt is thy soule filled full with the mocking of the wealthy and despitefulnesse of the proud is thy name put out as an euill doer art thou at all hands disquieted by vniust vexations Faint not forsake not thy profession for this but rather glorifie God in this behalfe Looke vnto the recompence of reward and hold fast the hope of eternall life in Christ Iesus Art thou trauayled vnder the burden of sins and afflictions assaulted with continuall temptations and feares yet lift vp thy heart and wait there is a day of refreshing that comes shortly from the presence of God Grieue not to see thy selfe in paine when others wallow in pleasures choose rather to reioyce in that sorrow which will end in ioy than to desire those pleasures whose issue is destruction Thinke it not much to part with thy countrey thy children thy possessions thy life if the world will take them from thee for Christ and his Gospel sake all these and much better than these shall be restored to thee in the resurrection of the iust When Christ requires it spare not to giue that body of thine to the fire which in a short time by sickenesse will fall to the ground know t is as easie for Christ to giue it thee backe againe out of the flames as out of the dust In banishment in prison in pouerty in temptation in death comfort thy heart with the meditation of Iesus Christ risen from the dead and of thy Resurrection by him Say with thy selfe Yet I am not miserable so long as my Redeemer is happy he liues and I shall liue with him these teares will one day bee wiped away though all faile yet Christ will not faile me my hope in him shall neuer bee cut off no not in death Men may take from mee my goods they cannot rob mee of my grace banish mee from my countrey but not from heauen take from mee my life but not my happinesse No my faith my heauen my happinesse all is in his keeping that will safely preserue them for me and me to them My beloued Brethren I beseech you let our hearts bee employed in these thoughts and make we this vse of the present Solemnity Such Meditations fit this day this season all seasons To end grow hence into a firme Resolution to bee faithfull in doing Gods will there is a certaine reward for this to bee patient in suffering aduersity there is a sure remedy and ease for it No euill shall hurt thee now death and the graue and sinne are vanquished for thee no good thing shall bee wanting vnto thee now that Christ by rising from the dead hath brought life immortalitie vnto thee Wherefore in nothing be dismayed but bee stedfast vnmoueable alwayes abounding in the worke of the Lord for as much as you know that your labour is not in vaine in the LORD FINIS * Arist. Eth. l. 10. c. 9. a Arist. Phys. 7. c. 13. Eth. l. 10. c. 9. b 1 Iohn 5. 4. c 1 Cor. 3. 18. d Arist de interp c. 3. part 6. e Vid. Aquin. 1. 2. q. 109. a 2. ad 1. Arist. ad Eudemum l. 7. c. 14. text 216. f 2 Cor. 10. 5. g Pac. cōment in Arist. de anima cap. 5. sect 5 a Art 17. 32. Plin. l. 7. c. 55. b Luke 24. c Art 2. passim d Chrys. Quod Christus sit Deus Aug. ep 112. c. 3. Scot. in l. 3. Sent. d. 24. q. vnica sect ad primum principium * 1 Cor. 13. 9. a Rom. 4. 21. Col. 2. 2. b 1 Cor. 13. vlt. c Lib. 9. epist. fam ep 1. * Col. 1. 18. He is the head of the body the Church who is the beginning and first borne c.
A FRVITFVLL SERMON ON 1 COR. 15. 18 19. VVritten By VVILLIAM PEMBLE of Magdalen Hall in Oxford LONDON Printed by R. Y. for Iohn Bartlet at the signe of the gilt-Cup in Cheapeside 1629. To the Reader WEe doe finde Christian Reader great opposition made against our Faith not only by our Affections but chiefly by our Reason for when our Faith is encountred by our Affections wee doe gather many times some succour from our Reason but when our Faith is layd at by our Reason the tentation is not more strong than dangerous For if our Reason get the better of our Faith in any particular our Affections follow amaine And such tentations where they once take doe shake and stagger the strongest Christians Men I know are most an end wedded to their passions and doe liue more after their perturbations than their reason and therefore there is little good to bee done on the minde of a man till his perturbations bee at some quiet Now where our Reason is guided by Faith and the Word there it doth good vpon our passions but where our Reason goes by its owne principles and not by the Word there our affections are the worser for our Reason and a man shall neuer come to deny all his Affections till he haue first denied his Reason But blessed be God Faith is our victory and it doth not only quiet the Affections but at last it doth so triumph ouer Reason it selfe that men are willing to become fooles that they may be wise The vnderstanding of a man rests not till it bee satisfied and nothing can giue full and vltimate satisfaction to the intellect and mind of a man till by Faith it be captiuated to the obedience of God and Christ and when that is once done then Reason followes the light of the Word and the Affections follow the light of Reason And hence it is that our Faith doth adhere with most firmenesse to those Principles and Articles of our Creed wherein Reason is quite at a stand I will make my instance in the Article of our Resurrection a Point by the consent of all I know but one vtterly aboue the whole element of nature reason in it selfe doth not onely deny it but deride it Philosophers hisse at it The Apostles themselues in that their greatest tentation did for a time look somewhat strange vpon it But yet we see when their Reason was denied and their Faith tooke place they were not more willing to liue and dye vpon any Doctrine of Saluation than vpon this of the Resurrection and to beleeue this is a meer Act of Faith alone One perhaps two of the Apostles saw his death none his Resurrection And t is obserued that it was so ordered by the Prouidence of God that this maine Point of Diuinity might bee beleeued by the Apostles and deliuered ouer by them to the Church of the Gentiles as a meer act of faith and not of sight Faith being the euidence of things not seene and the iust liuing by faith and not by sight Faith then doth most in those Points of Diuinitie wherein reason is most opposite A proofe wherof the Lord gaue in the Author of this Sermon who a few daies before his last sicknes preached this Sermon as touching the Resurrection by a sweet secret prouidence of God the better to fit himselfe for his last Enemy He was a man full of wit learning strength of reason yet against the worst that Satan could do reason yeelded his Faith wrought out all disputes and he was so firme in this Point that hee reioyced that his body should not wait so long for the Resurrection as do the bodies of the Patriarks Reason said nothing faith did all and set him in that height strength of beliefe that he beleeued here without doubting Albeit whilst wee liue here we do know but in part yet an imperfect faith may and doth bring forth a full assurance sith faith is a grace giuen because only whilst wee are imperfect and when once we are made compleate then our faith doth cease The Orator blamed himselfe for that when he was in trouble he did not walk by his own Principles But this our Diuine what he deliuered in this his last farewell he fully beleeued in his sicknesse Let vs pray that as he so we may liue by faith not by reason both whilst we liue when we dye then we shall finde the truth and comfort of this That faith when it s once made strong doubteth least of those things against which our reason disputeth most Blessed is hee that beleeues and sees not Thine in Christ Iesus RICH. CAPEL 1 COR. 15. 19 20. If in this life only we haue hope in Christ we are of all men the most miserable But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept THe Disputes of the blessed Apostle in this whole Chapter is to proue a Resurrection of the dead against the error of the Epicures and Sadduces The maine Argument whereby hee proues it is this If Christ bee risen then the dead shall rise But Christ is risen Therefore the dead shall arise also The minor that Christ is risen the Apostle proues from the third Verse vnto the twelth by the Scriptures by the witnesse of the Twelue Apostles and more than fiue hundred Brethren to whom hee appeared after his Resurrection and lastly by his own Testimony vnto whom Christ shewed himselfe after his ascension into heauen The maior That if Christ be risen the dead must rise too the Apostle beginnes to proue at the twelfth Verse Now if it be preached that Christ is risen from the dead how say some among you that there is no Resurrection of the dead This foule inconsequence the Apostle confutes in the next Verse by the absurditie that would follow thereupon That if there be no Resurrection of the dead then is not Christ risen Vpon which absurditie other absurdities would also follow That if Christ bee not risen then the Apostles preaching and testimony touching Christs Resurrection were false and that the Corinthians faith in Christ is vaine If Christ bee yet in his graue they and all that beleeue in Christ bee yet in their sinns they that are dead in the Faith of Christ are perished and gone to hell in their sinnes they that liue in the faith of Christ are of all men most vnhappy without reward here and sure of punishment hereafter But Christ being raised from the dead these absurdities are taken away the Apostles are true in their preaching and all men are happy in beleeuing in Christ put to death for sinne and raised from death for our iustification If in this life only we haue hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable But now Christ is risen c. This is in briefe the dependence of the words The parts
professe which agrees not with the good liking of the world and therefore it cannot agree with that nor them that sincerely professe it If yee were of the world the world would loue his own but because yee are not of the world but I haue chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you saith Christ of all the Elect Iohn 15. 19 They are men of another generation their liues are not like other mens and therefore the world wonders at them as at some strange Bird or Beast Their courses runne byass from other mens and stand opposite to their vngodly practices So that when they looke vpon them to their great displeasure they alwaies see in their well doing a reall reproofe of their owne euill doing But if at any time they be so venturous as in words also to reprooue them then there is no patience to bee had If Lot but once say Brethren I pray you doe not so wickedly the Citizens of Sodome grow cholerike straight way This fellow will bee a iudge and ruler hee must carpe and finde fault Nay wee will deale worse with thee than with them say those Beasts in the shape of men Gen. 19. 9. So now these precise men marre all a man cannot sweate or drinke drunke or talke filthily or in any thing doe otherwise than he should doe but straight way they are reprouing admonishing exhotting so that a man cannot liue quietly by them nor displease God but they le take offence at it Hence are all malicious deuises and practises against the godly they bee the men whom the world hath accused as the worst of malefactors disgraced as persons most contemptible persecuted as worthy to bee driuen from the societie of men In the times of the Primitiue Church if any thing were amisse in the Romane State the Christians presently are cryed out vpon they must smart as the cause of it If it raine not at all or too much if lightning and thunder doe any harme if the Legions mis-carry then away with the Christians to the racke the fire the sword the Lions c. So now in the Christian world all the blame of the trouble must lye on the reformed Churches albeit what is their fault except it bee that they are innocent But were the Churches of God rooted vp out of the world and all the Synagogues of God destroyed in the Land why then t were well the world would bee at peace and vnity although the world stand but for the Churches sake In short Euery one that will liue godly must suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3. 12. What must Yea and that in a peaceable Church as well as a troubled Hee must suffer persecution of the heart of the tongue or of the hand Hee shall bee hated if not reuiled reuiled if not smitten smitten if not slaine Besides all which molestations from the world infinite are those troubles wherewith euery godly soule is assaulted by Sathan and its owne corruption a hard and continuall taske it hath in fighting against the spirituall wickednesses in high places in striuing against so many lusts and disordered affections that cannot bee easily gouerned Many bitter stormes it feeles of temptations sorrowes and feares which makes them oft cry out for griefe of heart and causeth their bones to waxe dry and the powers of their body to faile This now is the Generation of Gods children as Dauid speakes Psal. 73. 15. this their lot to be daily punished and chastened euery morning when others liue at ease and prosperitie So that if yee take from these the hope of future blessednesse by Christ the heart will soone breake when there is left them nothing but misery Alas what is the temporall reward of Pietie if after death a man must suffer eternall misery Poore is the contentment that can bee found in Vertue and Religion if it stretch no further than to the end of this life if after death there bee nothing or nothing but misery Cut from a man his hope in Christ for herâ— after and then the Epicures counsell will seeme good Let vs eate and drink for tomorrow we shall dye Let vs take our pleasure while wee may If wee dye as Beasts and come to nothing then le ts liue as Beasts too Or if wee must dye worse than Beasts and our soules goe into misery as we must if Christ doe vs good no longer than we liue why then what auailes it to ioy in Vertue and Religion to follow an empty name of goodnesse when nothing is got by it after death and for the present nothing worth the desiring Le ts restraine our eyes and our hearts from no pleasures that may bee procured Let Vertue bee onely our stals to winne honour where men out of errour esteeme highly of it among others loue wee Vice where vertue is banished All comes to one then bee vitious and be but miserable hereafter bee vertuous and bee no lesse Such wilde and desperate resolutions that notwithstanding our Christian Faith doe yet take place in too many mens hearts might then be reckoned of all to bee good wholsome counsell if the day of our death were the vtmost period of time beyond which no happinesse were to be enioyed Wee see then the Point to bee plaine enough That true Christians barrd of their hope in Christ for the life to come are more miserable than other men because all are alike hereafter and for this life the godly misse of those contentments which the wicked enioy Nay more miserable not onely than men but than Beasts also seeing Beasts dye but are not iudged after death they come to nothing but not to misery as men out of Christ doe The Vses of this Instruction shall be two Vse 1. To lesson vs how to iudge of the State of the Church and also of priuate Christians namely That we iudge not of them according to outward appearance but that wee iudge righteous iudgement Hee that lookes on them with a carnall eye considering them in their present condition without relation to Christ and their future happinesse by him shall see no great matter to winne his desire toward them For the Church her glory is not of this World She is comely but sunne-burnt with afflictions and persecutions shee lyes among the pots in poore and despicable estate when the Synagogue of Sathan ruffles in all pride and pleasure The whore of Rome is clothed with scarlet and all gallantry Re. 17. 4. She liues in abundance of pleasures Rom. 18. 3. She dares say I sit as Queen and am no widow and shall see no mourning Shee laughes when other Churches weepe in teares of blood Therefore doe many iudge her blessed and these miserable and many turne in thither Indeed were her hope only in this life their choyce were good miserable were shee if alwaies Militant and neuer Triumphant But wee haue learned of our Apostle not to iudge of the Church of God by her miserable outside that appeares to