we now see them and to infer thereupon that being of the same power and efficacy in all other things nothing is impossible nor uncertain of all that which God doth say and promise unto us And therefore as St. James saith Receiving His holy Word by Faith in our Hearts and the Promises which He hath made us to give us Eternal Life we ought to assure our selves of it and take away all fear and apprehension of Death What was the cause of the ruin of us and our Fore-fathers Was it not because they did decline from the Word of God to follow their own Fancies and the Counsel of Satan If then on the contrary we will cleave to it without leaning any jot either to the right hand or to the left we shall live by it and in it Hearken unto Me saith GOD speaking by Isaiah and your Soul shall Live And Zachary in his Song He hath given us a knowledge of Salvation And St. Peter speaking to Jesus Christ Thy Words are Words of Eternal Life If GOD the Prophets and Apostles do assure us that the Word of God received by a true Faith in our Hearts doth there quicken keeping and retaining it What occasion have we then to fear Death Moreover by Faith we dwell in Jesus Christ and have him dwelling in us who having Life in himself as his Father doth quicken us and all those unto whom he doth communicate himself Wherefore then being his Members Flesh of His Flesh and Bone of His Bones in brief being one with him shall we fear Death Hath not He power over it and not only for Himself but also for us He saith S. Cyprian who hath once overcome Death for us will always overcome it in us Hath not he beat down dispossessed chased and spoiled Satan the Prince and Lord of Death Hath not he accomplished the Law and by this perfect Obedience which he hath born to God his Father appeased his Anger satisfied his Will and abolished the malediction of the Law which is nothing else but Death Did not he die to make it die when he rose again Hath not he broken and dissipated all the Torments plucked down the Gates of Hell and triumphed over her and all her Power Say not henceforth faith St. Paul who shall go up into Heaven or who shall descend into the depths for to bring Life unto us For Jesus Christ is dead and risen again from the dead for to deliver us from death and risen again to restore us to Life He is our Pastor and for this Reason we ought not to fear that any Creature should snatch us by Violence out of his Hands or can hinder him from giving us Eternal Life He is our Advocate we ought not then to fear to be overthrown in Judgment nor that by Sentence we should be condemned to death He is our Mediator we need not to fear the Wrath of God He is our Light we not fear Darkness He is our Shadow and our Clouds we ought not then to fear the heat of the Fire Eternal no more than did the Children of Israel the heat of the Sun in the Wilderness being hidden under the Pillar Let us then for these Reasons forsake and cast behind us all Fear of Death which having had no Power nor Advantage over the Head shall have no Power over his Members Again By Faith we have with Jesus Christ God his Father and are allied and joined together with him as he saith by his Prophet I will marry thee if thou wilt promise me thy Faith And Jesus Christ in St. John He that loveth me will keep my word and I and my Father will come and dwell in him For this Reason we are also called his Temples because we are consecrated and dedicated unto him by his Holy Spirit that he should dwell in us Now seeing God is with us we have the Original the Fountain the Cause the Beginning and the Author of Life we have the great Jehovah of whome all things depend by whome all things are and move in whome the Angels Archangels Principalities the Heavens and all the Elements consist we have him from whome all Creatures Visible and Invisible take their Life and their Being by the Participations which they have with him We have him who is the most Perfect and most Soveraign Work-man of all things who by his breath doth quicken and make them to Live and by his power infinite doth preserve them We have to make short Him who only can fatisfie and by his Presence cause that of Life and of all other good things we shall have and think we have enough Shall we then fear Death in such company If as St. Augustine saith God is the Soul of our Soul we cannot die but by being separated from him the which David doth confirm in one of his Psalmes saying Those shall perish O Lord who do depart and go from thee which being considered let us strive only to keep him with us by Faith and Obedience and besides let us take away all the fear which we may have of Death Again by Faith we have the Spirit of God You are not Carnal saith St. Paul writing to the Romans but are Spiritual for who hath not the Spirit of God is none of his And else-where speaking to the Galathians Have you not the Spirit of God by Faith Now this Spirit is the Spirit of Life if God withdraws it from his Creatures they die they perish and come suddenly to nught On the contrary when he pleaseth to send and pour it upon them he raiseth and restoreth them in an instant even as we see a Hen brooding of her Eggs by a secret vertue doth disclose and bring them to Life albeit that before they were without sence or feeling Even so doth the Spirit of God all Creatures by his Divine Power He giveth testimony and doth assure us in our Hearts that we are the Children of God to the end that from him as from our Father by a certain and assured hope we should wait and look for Life He is a pledge unto us for fear lest we should doubt Having therefore such earnest of Life having testimony from him who being the Spirit of Truth cannot lie nor abuse having him himself who is the preserver of all Creatures shall we fear Death It is as much as who should fear the darkness at noon-day the Spirit of him who hath raised again Jesus Christ and who hath up-held him because he should not be overcome of Death being in us will quicken us also saith Saint Paul and will preserve us from it let us then put away all fear of it Faith also causeth that God doth adopt and repute us for his Children you are all Children of God by faith saith St. Paul and St. John he hath given power to all those that shall receive him and believe in his Name to be made the Children of God then being Children we are the Heirs and Co-heirs with
Christian Exortation against the fearc of Death For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead Corin 15 Ch. p 21. TWO DISCOURSES The FIRST A CHRISTIAN'S EXHORTATION Against the FEARS OF DEATH The SECOND A brief and clear Declaration of the Resurrection of the Dead With suitable Meditations and Prayers touching LIFE and DEATH Recommended as proper to be given at Funerals By W. S. LONDON Printed for Tho. Bever at the Hand and Star next to the Middle Temple-Gate near Temple Bar 1690. Price bound 1 Shilling A DISCOURSE Against the Fears of DEATH PLATO said That the Philosophy wherein Man living in this World should principally exercise himself is the Meditation of Death That is to say of his condition in the World frail diseased and mortal of the divers accidents of this humane Life and of the Hour of Death so uncertain and unknown to the end that considering these things he might withdraw his affection and trust from this World that he might despise it and all temporal things wherein he sees and discovers so much inconstancy and such suddain and frequent mutations or changes and that by such a despising of uncertain and casual things he should stir up himself unto a contemplation of those that are Divine and Heavenly and forsaking that which is here perishing and transitory he should choose his part in Heaven and should stay himself at that which is permanent and eternal For the like reason Philip the Father of Alexander the Great a man of good understanding and of very great consideration to the end that in the midst of his great prosperity he should not forget himself in his Duty gave order that one of his Gentlemen should every day at his waking come and speak these words unto him King have in remembrance that thou art a mortal Man Jesus Christ also our Saviour and Master intending the same doth exhort us to Watch and to lay up Treasures in Heaven and not on Earth where all things are uncertain and changeable We see by this that during our Life we cannot do better then to think upon Death and our Body being upon the Earth to accustom our selves to have always our Spirit and Heart in Heaven Now because that the remembrance of Death is a fearful thing to many I have bethought my self to pass away my Griefs and to recreate my self from my other Studies and also to give you a testimony of the Obligation which I think I have towards you as well for the good which you have done unto me as for the Friendship which you bear me to write unto you and to present this small Treatise wherein I have briefly touched certain Points wherewith the Faithful may Arm themselves against Death which he ought to do in time and prepare himself to receive it with assurance at such time as it shall please God to send it for that which doth astonish many is that the coming thereof is suddain unto them and that they are surprized unlooked for We see by experience in a frontier Town that when it is well Victualled and provided of all things necessary to with-stand a long Siege those within are a great deal the more assured and bold whereas if it were unprovided they would stand amazed and tremble with fear if they should chance to see the approaching of the Siege It is easie to judge by that of what importance it is to have prevented a danger and to be prepared for it To provide therefore and arm the Faithful Man against Death we must note that there are two sorts of it the one is temporal of the body which Christians ought to desire the other is eternal of body and Soul which they ought not to fear persevering in the Faith of our Lord. That it is so all Fear pre-supposeth evil and danger we do not fear that which is good but long after desire and pursue it and when it offers it self we receive it joyfully but an evil we apprehend and fear we fly from it and when it happens unto us we sorrow and do complain If then it doth appear by good and evident Proofs that the Faithful Man is not in danger of this second Death may we not then conclude that if we fear it it is foolish and without occasion And surely if we had judgment and never so little Faith it were sufficient presently to take away the fear of it from us For first the proper nature of faith is to animate and quicken our heart so soon as it is received in us The Just saith the Prophet shall live by Faith Now even so as the Body whiles the Soul is in it liveth and dieth not until such time as it be separated from it no more doth the Faithful Man persevering in the Faith which hath been inspired and put into his Heart by the Grace of God Although saith David I should walk in the midst of the shadow of Death I will not fear for Thou art with me O Lord What was the cause of this assurance was it not Faith Armed wherewith we ought no more to fear Death then we do Sickness when we are in perfect health well disposed and in good liking or Poverty when we have plenty and abundance of all good things Secondly By Faith we have remission and an abolition of all the faults which we have done Why do we then fear Death There is no Death where there is no Sin 〈…〉 Death 〈…〉 Paul and elsewhere The Reward of Sin is Death Sin causeth God to be angry with us and that in His Anger He condemneth us to Death Now all Seeds doth bring forth according to their sort and quality The Wheat bringeth forth Wheat and the Rye Rye and we must not hope for any Fruit if there be not Seed before hand This being true and witnessed in a thovsand places of the Scripture that unto a Christian all his Sins and debts are acquitted by the Grace and Mercy of God that they are forgotten that they are covered that they are not imputed and that they are remitted and pardoned that they are cast as far from us as the East from the West provided that there be no more Seed thereof we need not look for any Fruit That is to say if there be no more Sin there is no more anger of God nor of death and by consequent that also there ought to be no more fear Thirdly By Faith we have the Word and the Promises of GOD whereupon it is grounded Among others this Whoso Believeth shall not Die but is passed from Death to Life Now this promise can no more fail than He that gave it us It is Eternal and all that God saith is as sure and permanent as Heaven and Earth For this cause when we look into them we ought in them to consider the vertue and power of this Word by the which they were once Created and ever since preserved and maintained in that estate wherein
Jesus Christ and we are by the means of this adoption certain once to come unto Life unto the rest and unto the glory wherein we shall Reign Eternally with his Father Moreover being Children of God we are of his Houshold and it is not in his House where Death dwelleth it is in Hell in the Devil's House in Heaven and the Place where God abides there is an unspeakable Light so great a Beatitude and Happiness that in the Contemplation thereof David crying out said O how they are happy that do inhabit and dwell in thy House And elsewhere In this consists all my good Lord that I may be near unto thee Again being Children we are at Liberty free from Sin free from Death free from the Condemnation and Rigour of the Law freed from Service and Force of the Devil what do we fear being then Children of God and consequently Brothers of Jesus Christ Is it possible that he can ever deny or abandon his Flesh and Blood or suffer them to die having Power to save them Therefore being the Children of God our Father he loveth us with a Love unseigned and Fatherly And if as saith St. Paul during the time that we were his Enemies he had such a care over us that not sparing his only begotten Son he hath delivered him over to Death to preserve us from it and to reconcile us unto himself now that we are his Friends and in his Favour will he not save us Who is that Man who considering these Reasons will not presently assure himself and cast away all fear which he had of Death That which also ought to assure us against Death and take away all fear which we have of it and of the Horrour and Anguish prepared for the reprobate and damned is our Calling that God of his Grace hath vouchsafed to withdraw us out of the Darkness wherein we were and to illuminate us by his Holy Spirit teaching us by his Holy Word wherein we ought to trust and wherein lyeth our Salvation and so what we ought to do to please and obey him to the end that walking in his Law and serving him in all Justice and Holiness we might after we have a little suffered in this World be faithfully glorified with him in the end for that which God beginneth he will accomplish and when he hath determined to call any one to him and to save him he never changeth his Counsel neither doth repent himself of the good that he will do unto him He us Unchangeable and so stedfast in his Purpose and Determination that that which he once Wills and Ordains he doth execute without being turned from it If then we feel in our selves that God hath given us the Grace to hear to believe and to love his Word and to fly from and reject all that which is contrary to it and to have an Affection to observe that which he commandeth us and a dislike if haply by infirmity or otherwise we chrnce to commit any thing against his Law Let us not doubt but we are regenerate elected and predestinated to Eternal Life and consequently out of danger of Death Let us then take away all fear and let us say with St. Paul What shall separate us from the Love and Charity of God What shall make us to think that he hath not a will to save us It shall not be Pain Affliction Hunger Persecution nor Adversity nor Death nor any Creature whatsoever shall make us to doubt that he doth not love us in the favour of Jesus Christ and that having chosen called and justified us in him but that finally he will also glorify us by him The Sacraments which Jesus Christ hath left us for the Confirmation of our Faith ought likewise to assure and strengthen us against the Fear of Death First Baptism by the which we are buried and die with Christ that we may rise again with him in the which we are washed from all our sins and clothed with his Innocency to the end that presenting our selves to the Father so adorned and covered with the Robe of our Elder Brother we may receive his Holy Blessing and be saved from the Deluge wherein all the Infidels perish as Noah was in his time by the Ark. Having then the Promises of God as we have said before and over and above his Sign and Seal by the which he has bound himself to render that Life to us which we havelost by our Sin wherefore then do we fear Death doe we think that he will revoke or that he will deny and disavow his own Sign and Seal Secondly The Lord's Supper where we take the Bread and the Wine for to be received into the Communion and Participation of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and by Consequent into the Fruits of them that is to have part in his Obedience in his Justice in his Satisfaction and Redemption in the Testament and new Alliance and generally in all the promises of God the which by his Death have been ratified It remaineth now to conclude our purpose and to infer upon the precedent things that if we fear Death it is for want of considering them or if we do consider them it is for want of believing them for there is no man so timerous being firmly perswaded of that which is spoken but will take away all fear of Death and will say with David I shall not die but always live to declare perpetually the Works of the Lord and praise him And who will not scorn at it with St. Paul and insult upon it saying O Death where is thy Victory Where is thy Sting Where is thy Strength Where is thy Terrour and Fear which Men had of thee Jesus Christ our Saviour perceiving the time of his Death draw near said that in short time he should pass from this World to go to his Father calling Death a Passage which should greatly comfort us We have almost all this opinion rooted in us and it is that which doth so Discourage us that it is a dangerous passage and uneasie Now for to take it from us and to stir up our Hearts he would needs pass it before us and as it were sound the depth to the end that we seeing that he did not stick at it should take Courage As also we see before and after him the Prophets Apostles Martyrs and other Holy Persons have done it who having passed it without any apprehension of Danger and being escaped safe and well do now rejoice with God that they are gotten to the Land and to the Port where they did aspire Shall we then be such Cowards shall we be so faint hearted and of such tender and effeminate Courage as to fear to go by a place so frequent and a way so great and beaten that Men go it as said some of the Ancients Blindfold Likewise we see that not one alone of those that trusted in God calling upon his aid that put themselves
in the 26. Chap. speaking of the Elect saith unto the Lord with Faith Thy dead shall live and rise again with my Body Awake and rejoice ye Inhabitants of the dust for thy dew is as the dew of the Fields and the Earth shall cast forth the dead The Lord willing to assure his People Israel that delivering them from the Captivity of Babylon he would bring them back into the Land which he had given them he said unto them in a Vision by the Prophet Ezek. 37. that as certain as the dead shall rise so certainly will he deliver them from the Captivity of the Babylonians for to set them in Peace in their own Land Danie saith that those that sleep in the dust shall wake some to Eternal Life and others to perpetual shame and Infamy and those which have been wise shall shine as the Brightness of the Firmament and those which do perswade Man to Righteousness shall be as Stars for ever and ever Dan. 12. Jesus Christ shews the Saduces that the dead shall rise again because that God is their God Mat. 28. In St. John Chap. 6. he saith that the will of his Father who sent him is that he shall lose nothing of all that he hath given him but that he shall raise it up at the larter day The Apostle declares that Christ is risen again for our Justification Then he saith that even as we die in Adam so we shall rise again and shall be quickened in Christ Rom. 4.5.6 1 Cor. 15. For seeing that he who is the Life when he was put into the Tomb thereby made many to rise again by much more reason now being risen again and glorified will he raise us again John 19. Psal 36. Mat. 27. In like manner he declares That he that believes Jesus is dead and risen again of which we have the surest Testimonies ought by the same parity of Reason to believe that God will bring from the Grave those that sleep in Jesus who shall from thence forth ever live with the Lord wherefore says St. Paul comfort one another with these Words that is let this be your Consolation in the midst of all your Trials Afflictions and Troubles upon Earth that they cannor last long but must end with your Life when you shall descend into the Grave where you shall not long remain but the same Power that raised your Blessed Redeemer from thence shall have the same effect on you and likewise raise you from the Dead and you shall be joined with Christ your Head and live with him in everlasting Glory this is the very sum of our Christian Profession and the highest point of our Faith All humane wisdom which is folly before God Mat. 24.25 cannot perswade themselves that the bodies which are returned into dust can rise again 1 Cor. 15. Phil. 7. nor those which have been burned whereof the ashes have been dispersed with the winds 2 Cor. 5. Acts 2.4 nor those which have been devoured by birds and by beasts and digested and reduced to dung 1 Thess 1. nor those which have perished in the waters which have been food for fishes 1 Pet. 1. 1 Cor. 1. But the Lord by that which he had done before plainly sheweth that hereafter it shall be very easie for him to do what he will with our bodies for seeing he hath made all things of nothing can he not make that to return to life which hath already been Gen. 1. Psal 33. Gen. 1. And as he made man first of the Earth can he not as well make him to rise again from it Gen. 1. in the beginning the Earth was so obedient unto him that when he commanded it to bring forth the bud of the herbs that beareth seed and the fructifying tree and the living creature beasts worms c. It of it self immediately brings forth that which before had never been how much more easily by the commandment of God may it restore many which have already been and shall be returned into it John 11. We see that although that Lazarus of Bethania had already been three days in the Earth and nevertheless when the Lord commanded him to come out of the Earth presently it was done He himself also rose again from the Earth the third day for to assure us that he will raise us again Mat. 28. Apoc. 1. for as death could not overcome Jesus Christ but that he is risen so shall it not be able to hinder his members from rising again because that he hath as much power over the dead as over the living Rom. 14. Gal. 1. 1 Thess 1.4 If God hath raised the head it followeth that he will also raise the body which we are if we believe When we consider that he did hinder the so hot burning furnace from doing any hurt to Sidrake Misake and Abednego Eph. 4. Dan. 3. we shall not find it an impossible thing to God to make them rise again which have been buried that they may be reunited unto their Souls And he that shut the Lyons Jaws because they should do no harm to Daniel Dan. 6. shall be able to raise those again which have been devoured And he commanded the fish to cast up Jonas Jon. 2. also can be easily cause that the Sea shall obey him when he shall command it to cast up his dead In brief the faithful cannot doubt of his Resurrection knowing that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers nor things present Rom. 8. nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature can separate him from the love which God beareth in him in Jesus Christ our Lord Revel 20. For also the Sea must cast up those dead bodies which are in it and death and the Grave those which are in them for as much as the Lord hath the keys of the Grave and of death having power over them Rev. 1. Moreover God cannot be true nor truly wise nor Almighty nor Just if he doth not raise the dead and by consequence cannot be God And so who denyeth the Resurrection denyeth also that there is a God for seeing by his Word he promiseth to raise up the dead if he do it not he is not true And seeing that he declares that he will have it if he doth it not it follows that it is for want of knowledge and of power and so shall neither be truly wise nor Almighty Also he shall not be just if he doth not render to every one that which he promiseth him for the Author to the Hebrews saying that God is saith also that he is a rewarder of those that seek him Heb. 11. Mat. 10. Marc. 8. Luc. 9 Now in this world the children of God have nothing but afflictions every day being set out for a shew as men condemned to death and being made a spectacle to the world to the Angels and to men Cor. 4. John 16. As our Saviour also saith to his disciples You shall weep and lament
not we when we shall come neer unto death that is to say to the passage beyond the which is our Country our House our city our Friends and Kinsfolks our Rest our Joy and our Pleasure The Child who during the time of his minority hath alwaies lived in fear and base servitude doth he not rejoyce when he seeth the day coming wherein he doth hope to have liberty and quietly to enjoy his goods So ought every faithful man seeing the day of his death draw near in the which he shall be put in possession of all the goods which God hath given him and the gift wholly resigned When a man that hath undertaken some long and tedious Journey having travelled many daies and being wearied on the way seeth the gate of the Town whether he goes doth he not rejoyce and as it were leap for joy Doth he not give God thanks going into the Town that it hath pleased him to conduct and bring him safely thither Now ever since we were born we have alwaies been in this world as strangers we have done nothing else but travel in this low place as in a great desert we have here wearied our selves then seeing death neer unto us that is to say the gate whereby we must enter into the Kindom of our God and the stairs whereby we must ascend unto his Holy Mountain have we not occasion to consolate our selves and to leap for joy considering that we are almost arrived at the place where we hope to rest perpetually If poor Adam being driven out of the earthly Paradise after he had tasted of the miseries whereinto he precipitates himself by his sin had been called thither again and set in his first Estate what occasion should he have had to rejoyce And we also who after so many and divers afflictions are called out by God by the means of death into no Earthly but Heavenly Paradise not Adams but Gods where there is no Sin where there is no Serpent where there is no forbidding in short where there is no fear nor shame When Noah after the flood and falling of the waters which had broken and torn all began to see the firm land he did rejoyce and for joy sacrificed to God for a thanksgiving altho' it was accursed and brought forth thornes and thistles as before What more great occasion shall we have when after the great flouds and desolations which we have in this world we shall begin to see and salute the Land of the living the blessed Land the land that was promised to the good the Land flowing with Milk and Honey and all sweet and savory things When Joseph after he had a long time been prisoner in great calamity suddenly without thinking thereon was raised to such dignity that he was next the King in Egypt making Laws and Ordinances for to dispose the State and Kingdom had not he matter of Consolation We have no less but much more when after our Prisons Captivities Servitudes Banishments and so many other afflictions which we suffer in this World we by death are in a moment lifted up from the dunghill into Heaven there to reign with Jesus Christ and to be partakers of his Glory of his Honour of his Faith of his Rest and of his Table Was it not a great joy to the Jews who had been captives three score years in Babylon amongst the Idolaters in great misery deprived of the use and benefit of spiritual things such as to assemble together to praise God and to hear his Word and to do other things appertaining to the office of a Christian weeping sometimes when they were by themselves and hanging up their Harps and Instruments through grief that they could not serve God according to their desires nor sing his praises among the strangers was it not a great joy then in these circumstances to have the Kings letters to return into their country build their Temple and there according to their ancient manner in all Liberty serve praise and worship their God and is it less to us when after a long and tedious captivity that we have endured in this world conversing with Idolaters Unbelievers Blasphemers despisers of God and of his Word we are delivered and have our pas-port to go into this celestial Jerusalem and into the holy Temple of our God there for to praise him perpetually and in beholding his goodness to glorifie and sanctifie his holy Name Death is also to be desired by reason that with out sorrows in also ends our mourning we in this world are alwaies sad heavy and melancholy In it we weep we sigh and alwaies wear the black weed But when by death we go forth of it to go into the House of our Bridegroom we put off and leave the mourning weed for to take our goodly and and sumptuous a biliments and everlasting joy shall be powred on those which have been the faithful servants of God and then shall be accomplished that which hath been promised them You that do weep in this world are happy for you shall laugh there shall be no more grief nor complaining nor tears for God at our coming into his Kingdom will wipe them away from our eyes we shall be comforted and we shall rest in Abrahams bosome as did Lazarus there shall be no other question but of singing and saying every one to our Souls Praise thou the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his Holy Name So to the Harpe and other instruments Go to a wake that you may now be set up again in the estate to serve God and praise him for his goodness say to all the Church O! give thanks unto the Lord and call upon his Name O! let your songs be of him and praise him and let your talking be of all his wondrous works Say to all creatures bless the Lord in all his works praise and exalt his Name Bless God ye Angels of Heaven Sun Moon Fire Aire Water Earth Trees and Beasts A maid that hath long time been betrothed desires that the day of her Marriage were come and when it is come she rejoyceth seeing that she shall soon be brought to her Husbands House to dwell perpetually with him we ought also to comfort our selves when the time draws near that our Lord must come and we ought to attend him waking as did the five wise Virgins that so soon as he shall be come we may go in to the wedding with him and that the gate be not shut against us as it was against the five foolish because they were fallen asleep Another reason why death is to be wished for is that it causeth us to see our friend and Saviour Jesus Christ of whom we have as yet seen but the Picture The Prophets and Apostles have described him unto us so fair of such a comely Stature so Courteous so Vertuous so Loyal so Eloquent so Lovely so Noble so Rich so loving of Us that for our salvation he did
saith St. Paul are mortal then let us not marvel if in winter there be rain frost and snow for the season brings it Let us not marvel that the night follows the day and that man at night after his labour goeth to sleep for all that is natural Also ought not we for the the same reason to be astonish'd when a man dyety no more saith St. Basil then when he is born and commeth into the world for the one and the other is Ordinary And want of considering it is cause oftentimes that at the death of our Friend we are so amazed as if it were a thing prodigious and not accustomed When news was brought to Anaxagoras that his son was dead it moved him not at all only he said that it was not a new and unusual thing that a mortal man should die and that when he begot him he did not beget him immortal What made him so constant but that before hand he had foreseen and often considered that it ought so to come to pass being a natural thing Moreover we must consider than death is a tribute which we owe and are bound to pay unto nature Thou art dust and earth and to earth thou shalt return saith God speaking to man after he had sinned Then when one of our Friends dieth why are we discontented Because he hath quitted himself and payed what he ought If he had payed his King the tribute and ordinary Tax we would approve of that as most right and an obedience and duty towards his Prince and if he hath done as much to nature what reason is there to grieve at it Again that in it God heareth us for we ask of God that his Kingdom come and that his will be done what do we jest with God asking him that which we would not have and fear to obtain and do vex our selves and murmur instead of giving him thanks when he hath granted our requests We shew well that we think little on the prayers which we make for if we thought upon them either we would not pray so or else in praying so if God grant our request we would not be sory for it Again that when our Friends die we lose them not for our Lord whose they are both before and after death is not the God of the dead but of the living Cirus speaking to his friends before his death to comfort them said Do not think when I shall be dead that I am lost or shall come to nothing When we sow a land the grains of corn are not lost they rot therein but it is the better to fructifie so are our bodies in the earth for to revive one day and to rise again in incorruption immortality and vertue When also a man goeth along and tedious journey do we think him lost When any one of our friends is at the Court with his Prince who will not suffer him to depart out of his Company raised to honour and provided of great offices are we sorry for it Why then are we sorry for a Friend whom we know assuredly to be in the House of God in honour and credit and so well at ease that he would not change for all the felicity of this world Again that it is a very unhonest and unseemly thing in a faithful man to grieve so immoderately and as if he were desperate A Christian ought to have a strength and courage which should be invincible against all adversities and even against the gates of Hell He should be like a building grounded upon a firm Rock that may hold firm against all the stormes waves and winds and all the inconveniences wherewith he may be assayled he must not be soft and yield presently to Adversity melting in Tears and therein drowning as David said his Bed The Lucians in time past had a Law by the which it was ordained that whosoever would weep for the Death of his Friend should put on Womens Cloaths to shew that it is more answering to a cowardly and esseminate Heat than to manly Courage And as it happens in Mens Bodies that when they are tender and delicate they cannot endure the cold in Winter nor yet the heat in Summer so may we judge of such Courages that if they cannot bear Adversity without Impatience no more can they prosperity without Insolency We must finally consider that by the Tears and Complaints which we use at death of our Friends we do not remedy our selves no more than doth the sick Man his Disease by his Sighs but rather doth encrease his Misery And we may say that even as by common Experience and the reports of Physicians we see in Cholerick Folks that the more they anger themselves their Rage and Choler doth augment also in the mournful and heavy People that continuing in their Tears and Lamentations their Sorrow doth grow and strengthen So said an ancient Philosopher to Arcinoe to comfort her If said he thou lovest Tears they will love thee reciprocally and as Friends will always frequent and accompany thee What then doth this great Mourning profit us if not to make us more miserable I but will some say in excusing themselves it is a natural thing to weep at such an accident I agree to it neither will I condemn a moderate Sorrow As I certain Man saw an ancient Philosopher weeping for the Death of his Son and did reprove his inconstaney he answered him very well saying Good Friend suffer me to be a Man We must not be like Barbarians or savage Beasts without Humanity without Affection without Pity nor Feeling I wish saith Pinder not to be Sick but if I am I would not be without feeling for it is an evil sign when in our Sickness we are dull and feel nothing Then when in our Mourning we shall keep the mean and shall avoid the two Extreams which St. Basil doth condemn as vitious which is that we be not Stoiks that is to say without affection nor soft on the other side to suffer our selves to be won and overcome with sorrow I do approve that if we shew our selves Men in Weeping let us also shew that we are Christians furnished with Hope in correcting and moderating our Sorrows Others say I loved them so dearly If thou lovedst him so dearly as thou sayest shew it and rejoice at his happiness and rest I rather believe that which causeth in us this great Mourning is the love which we have of our selves which is the cause that we grieve at the loss of our Friends not for the respect which we have to them but to our selves being discontens to be deprived of the Pleasure and Consolations which they gave us Which Jesus Christ said unto his Disciples Seeing that they grieved that he had told them that in short time he should be put to Death It is not for love of me that you are so heavy for if you loved me you would be glad for as much as it is my good or
shall give us He himself in that place sheweth us that he speaks not that but only to shew us that although our bodies shall rise in the same substance which now they have they shall notwithstanding be changed in quality and glory seeing that this corruption most put on incorruption and that this mortality shall be swallowed up of life and put on immortality 1 Cor. 15. declaring that they shall be these self same bodies in substance but divers in qualities St. Paul saith Phil. 3. Christ will transform this vile body that it may be made like unto his glorious boâ—y according to the power by which he is able to make all things subject unto himself Mat. 27. Whereon followeth that as Jesus Christ rose again in the same body which was crucified for us being cleansed and discharged of all infirmity Luke 24. John 20. also we shall rise again in the same bodies which now we have in this world having in them cold heat hunger and thrist poverty sickness banishment imprisonment and such like adversities Heb. 10. 11. being cleansed and disrobed of all that which by sin did cause us any grief for Justice of God cannot consist without remunerating the bodies of those that have sought for his glory in crowning his graces in them and punishing those which have laboured to offend him Moreover we see that those which the Prophets and Apostles and Jesus Christ himself have raised again Mat. 27. it hath been in the self same bodies in the which the had lived before Who doubts but those that rose again at the death of our Lord did rise in the self same hodies which they had before for otherwise how should they have been known by those to whom they did appear The Apostles puts us out of doubt of it saying 1 Cor. 15. That if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead doth dwell in us he that hath raised up Christ from the dead will also quicken our mortal bodies because his spirit dwelleth in us he saith more over that the body which is sown in corruption shall rise again in incorruption It is sown in dishonour it shall rise again in glory it is sown in weakness it shall rise again in power it is sown a sensual body it shall rise a spiritual body Wherefore we ought to believe that the bodies which now we have shall be the self same which shall rise again in the same substance but the earthly qualities shall be changed into heavenly which is no small consolation seeing that we love our bodies so much although that in this world they be laden with so many miseries The Third point AS concerning the Authour of the Resurrection the Scripture doth declare unto us that God the Father in the beginning made man by his word Gen. 1. 2. which is his son John 1. and having made his body breathed into him a living soul by his spirit Gen. 2. Psal 33. so in the Resurrection of the dead 2 Cor. 4. he shall raise us again by his Son in a quickning spirit And when the Son of justice shall come in judgment for to judge the quick and the dead Mal. 4. the Sun shall wax dark Revel 1. and the Moon shall not yield her light 2 Tim. 4. and the brightness of the Stars shall be seen no more then if they were fallen from Heaven and the vertues which are in the Heavens as the Stars Mat. 24. the Planets and other coelestial creatures with Heaven and Earth shall be shaken Luke 21. Revel 6. then the Sea and her waves shall roar after an unaccustomed manner 2 Pet. 3. and when the order of nature shall be changed those shall be signs of the coming of the Son of man Mat. 16. And when that Jesus Christ the Son of God shall come who took humane nature upon him in the Virgins womb Luke 1. Acts 1. he shall come in the same body wherewith he did converse here below upon the Earth before and after his death as he himself declares calling himself the Son of man sent of God his Father Mat. 24. Mark 13. who gave him power to do judgment in so much as he is the Son of man Luke 24. John 5. set above the clouds at the right hand of the power of God Mark 16.24 1 Thess 4. accompanied with the voices of Archangels and of Angels with Gods Trumpets Rev. 1. and all eyes shall behold him Mat. 24. for he will cause his sign to appear in Heaven 1 Cor. 15. and his voice to be heard the which at the last trump shall be heard of those that have been put into the Sepulchres to the end that first they may rise again 1 Thess 4. and those which shall be found living shall hear it also to the end they may be translated which unto them shall be a kind of death being changed from mortal and corruptible to immortall and incorruptible bodies 1 Cor. 35. and shall rise again and shall be changed in a moment and twinckling of an eye This day shall not surprise the elect that are in the light because it shall be the day which they have so long waited for and wished with the other creatures 1 Thes 5. 1 John 1 for to those who have overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb 1 Cor. 1. and by the word of their testimony Rom. 8. and have not loved their lives to death 1 John 2.4.8.5 it shall bring unto them an unspeakable joy Rev. 12.21 making them lift up their heads aloft seeing their perfect deliverance come For their Saviour shall send his Angels with great sound of Trumpets to gather them together Esay 35. how far in sunder soever they be from the four winds Zach. 9. from the end of the earth to the end of heaven Luc. 22. Rom. 8. and then they shall be altogether caught within the clouds to meet the Lord in the Air 2 Thes 4. for to be joyned with their head as members of his body and shall be always with him who will separate them from the reprobates as the Shepheard doth the Sheep from the Goates Mat. 25. to put them both in body and soul in full possession of the everlasting heritage and happiness by them so long hoped for The Estate of the Elect that are Risen again THen their bodies which shall be risen again in triumph shall be changed not in substance but in quality being discharged of the earthly heaviness for to be made spiritual bodies 1 Cor. 15. to the end to be fit for the heavenly habitation where they have no need of meats which do corrupt Rev. 7. for they shall be no more hungry nor thirsty and they shall dye no more but shall use the heavenly food which is the word of God Luc. 20. they shall also be delivered from the bondage of sin for to serve evermore to Justice For these are the two principal things which hinder man from beholding the face of God this heavy earthly body
world joyfully and according to God For if it be so that in the transfiguration of our Lord which was but a little demonstration as well of the Glory of the Body of Jesus as of the estate and condition in the which the Children of God shall be in Heaven for their meanness and infirmity could not have been able to see the incomprehensible Majesty of the Lord without being destroyed The Apostles although they had never seen the body of Elias and of Moses nevertheless they knew them How much sooner shall the Elect know one another when they shall be endued with this perfect knowledge and intelligence of the Image of God which shall be in them And if Adam in his first estate which was a great deal less glorious then that of the sanctified by Christ 1 Cor. 13. did know the beasts which God brought before him 1 Cor. 1. and did properly impose a Name to each one and even knewn Eve to be bone of his bones and flesh of his Flesh although that the Lord took the rib from him without his feeling it shall not we in this admirable glory have more wisdom to know each other Luc. 16. Now this knowledge shall be disrobed of all carnal and corrupt affection for the Elect shall not be known for loving the one more then the other or hating one reprobate more then another or in calling to mind the injuries and displeasures which they may have received in this world But they shall love directly without respect of persons those which God loveth and shall hold in abomination those which God shall detest For then all Paternity brotherhood and Mariage shall be abolished and there shall be but God alone Father of all whose Children we shall be and Brothers and Sisters one to another the Children of God shall be made Partakers of the divine Nature Marc. 12. for God shall be glorified in his Saints Eph. 4. and shall be made admirable to those that have believed 2 Cor. 6. 1 Pet. 1. Wherefore seeing God will communicate his Glory Vertue and Justice to his Elect imparting himself unto them let us know that this benefit contains the soveraign good of man which all desire and which the wisdom of man could never comprehend And indeed when by all the similitudes which the Scripture doth teach us we shall have said and learned much of the excellency of the children of God it is almost nothing in comparison of that which shall then appear surely then the Apostle with the Prophet hath good reason 1 John 3. having tasted in spirit the inestimable glory of the Elect in the heavenly life to say the things which Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard and which is not come into the heart of man are those which God hath prepared for them which loveth him which are unspeakable and it is not impossible for man to tell them 1 Cor. 2. For although Adam was created in a very noble estate Isai 64. yet so it is that if the Elect were to re-assume that estate 2 Cor. 12. they should be miserable in regard of the soveraign excellency in the which they shall be set For First he had an earthly and sensual body Gen. 2. the Elect shall have Spiritual and Coelestial bodies 1 Cor. 14. 2. He had a living soul they shall have a quickning spirit 3. He could fail and render himself subject to death they shall not be able to fail nor fall in danger of death 1 Cor. 15. the which then shall be abolished 4. Satan had power both to tempt him and to make him to fall but he shall not have power of either to them 5. He was husbanding in an earthly Paradise they shall be in rest and enjoy the Heavenly Paradise 6. He had command over the birds of the Air the fishes of the Sea the beasts of the Earth Gen. 2. they being in greater power shall condemn Satan and all the wicked and the holy Angels shall be their companions Mat. 22. and shall have power in the Kingdom of their Father 7. Adam had such great wisdom that he named every beast according to their property 1 Cor. 9. they shall be endued with such wisdom all filled with such a perfect knowledge Rom. 2.3.5 that they shall be ignorant of nothing 1 Pet. 3 Surely then we ought to be much moved and stirred up to worship and serve God 2 Cor. 1. who without any desert of ours Rom. 15. Rom. 3.4 will for the love of his well-beloved Son so admirably unfold his incomprehensible goodness unto us Mat. 3.17 The Estate of the reprobate NOW this day shall surprize the wicked and reprobates which are in darkness Rom. 2.2 whom the Lord hath borne and suffered with great patience to the end to bring them to repentance as the Thief by night stealeth upon the Master of the family while he sleepeth and they shall be found without cloaths and shall walk naked Rev. 3. and their shame shall be seen Rev. 16. for when they shall say peace and security 1 Cor. 4. then shall sudden destruction come upon them like to a woman in travel 1 Thes 5. and they shall not escape but shall be marvelously affraid by reason that it shall be a day of darkness unto them Amos 5. and not of light an obscure and not a clear day and then they shall be condemned by their own consciences like unto Cain giving praise to God seeing the Lord with his Saints come which are by millions for to give judgment against those that have not had the fear of God before their eyes and to the end to convince all the wicked of all the evil works which they have wickedly done Sap. 4.5 and of the rude speeches which the wicked have preferred against him Gen. 4. then for to weigh down the Wine-press of the anger and wrath of Almighty God Rom. 14. because they have persecuted Jesus Christ in his members Jude Rom. 3. which are bones of his bones and flesh of his flesh Rev. 19. Eph. 5. so that they shall be in such great Agonies and Afflictions feeling the terrible judgment of God to come upon them Heb. 10. that they shall hide themselves in holes and between the stones of the Mountains Rom. 2. and shall say to the Mountains and stones fall upon us and hide us from the Face of him who is set upon the throne Rev. 6. and from the wrath of the Lamb Rev. 9. for the great day of his wrath is come and who is it shall be able to subsist They shall seek for Death and not find it and shall desire to die but Death shall fly from them they shall strike themselves with despair and shall be as dead for fear by reason of the expectation which they have of those things which shall suddenly come upon them Luk. 21. they shall lament before the Lord who shall have a flame of fire to do Vengeance and Judgment according to Truth and Justice upon those which