Acts 4. 2. And both these are largely insisted upon and no part of the Christian Faith more largely elsewhere in 1 Cor. 15. If there be no Resurrection of the Dead if we rise not Christ is not Risen And if we Rise Christ is Risen If Christ be not Risen we are yet in our Sins Vers. 17. We may observe also that all the four Evangelists are very particular and full in the History of Christ's Resurrection upon which ours doth depend 2. This great Truth and Doctrine of the Resurrection and Life to come an hope more then in this Life is worthy to be embraced and that we should be Stedfast and Vnmoveable in it because it is a Truth and Doctrine of sweet and strong Consolation full of strengthening Joy the most Soveraign Cordial and Restorative when our Flesh and Heart may begin to fail through either inward or outward griefs And therefore not without great cause our Saviour Christ repeats this four times in one of his Sermons John 6. I will raise him up at the last Day Vers. 39 40 44 54. where it is repeated as being a Truth full of comfort and encouragement And further it is observable That the Resurrection with the Appendant Glory and Reward in the World to come is called in Scripture more then once The Hope Acts 23. 6. saith S. Paul Of the Hope and Resurrection of the Dead I am called in question Which words of the hope as being no new no other thing are omitted in Chap. 24. 21. where that former Speech of his is mentioned again and refer'd to See this also in Acts 24. 15. and more fully in Acts 26. 6 7. which will clear that in Acts 28. 20. For the hope of Israel that is for asserting the Resurrection I am bound with this Chain And hence it is that Christians who believe that Jesus died and rose again and that those who sleep in Jesus die in the Lord will God bring with him they are not to sorrow concerning them which are asleep as others which have no hope no such knowledge and assurance of a Glorious Resurrection and Reward to come and therefore the Apostle having treated hereof might well conclude Wherefore Comfort ye one another with these words 1 Thes. chap. 4. In Titus 2. 13. are mentioned together the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our Saviour Jesus Christ which they may look for with comfort who are wrought upon by the Grace of the Gospel to live Godly Righteously and Soberly in this present World as it is in the foregoing words The Primitive Christians thought it the most welcome Morning-Salutation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord is risen Of Mary Magdalene and the other Women that had the first notice by an Angel of Christ's Resurrection it 's said that they went from the Sepulcher with great Joy Matth. 28. 8. to tell it to his Disciples as they Mourned and Wept Mark 16. 10. S. Paul did Die dayly Fought with Beasts at Ephesus was in Jeopardy every hour as he speaks in 1 Cor. 15. Now what did comfort and encourage him in all this It was this That the dead should rise But there is one famous Instance for the further Illustrating of this particular which I may not omit and it is that of the Seven Brethren with their Mother mentioned in 2 Maccab. Chap. 7. to which that passage in Hebr. 11. 35. doth clearly refer where it is said Others were tortured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection In the Story it is said that they were Tormented with Scourges and Whips Verse 1. Their Tortures are called Extreme Tortures Vers. 42. as appears by the description of some of them in Vers. 3 4 5 7 10 13. and all this they suffered unto Death at the hands of Antiochus Epiphanes that Monster of Cruelty because they would not Transgress the Law in eating Svines Flesh Vers. 1. They might have been delivered if they had yielded to do it Nay Antiochus exhorted the Youngest Brother with words and also assured him with Oaths that if he would yield he would make him both a rich and an happy Man and also take him for his friend and trust him with Affairs Vers. 24. Now what was it that did make them Stedfast and Unmoveable unto the last what was it that did comfort them in the midst of all their bitter pains what was it that did animate and fortifie them against all the either allurements or terrors which the King did try them with It was clearly this The hope and belief of a Resurrection to Everlasting Life after the Death of the Body And this doth evidently appear by Six Passages in the Story The first is the Second Brother's Speech to Antiochus in Vers. 9. Thou like a Fury takest us out of this present Life but the King of the World shall raise us up who have died for his Laws unto Everlasting Life And this he is said to speak when he was at the last gasp A second Passage is that Speech of the Third Brother in Vers. 11. who said Courageously These meaning the Members of his Body his Tongue and his Hands which he held forth Manfully Vers. 10. These I had from Heaven and for his Laws I despise them and from him I hope to receive them again A third Passage is the Fourth Brother's Speech which is more full in Vers. 14 It is good being put to Death by Men to look for hope from God to be raised up again As for thee thou shalt have no Resurrection to Lise And this will explain the Speech of the Youngest which is The fourth Passage in Vers. 36. Our Brethren who now have suffered a short pain are dead under God's Covenant of Everlasting Life A fifth Passage is the Speech of the Mother who was Marvellous above all and worthy of Honourable Memory for being filled with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Courageous Spirits she exhorted every one of her Seven Sons and stirring up her Womanish Thoughts with a Manly Stomach she said unto them in Vers. 23. Doubtless the Creatour of the World will also of his own Mercy give you Breath and Life again as you now regard not your own selves for his Laws sake A sixth Passage is her Speech to her Youngest Son who was most of all Tempted by Antiochus to accept deliverance and it was this in Vers. 29. Fear not the Tormentour but being Worthy of thy Brethren take thy Death that I may receive thee again with thy Brethren This is part of her Excellent Speeches to her Sons and an Illustrious proof of her great Faith and Hope as to the Life to come For when she saw her Seven Sons Slain within the space of one Day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she bare it with a good Courage because of the hope that she had in the Lord as it is exprest in Vers. 20. and last of all aster the Sons the Mother Died Vers. 41. Thus we
IMPRIMATUR Junii 19. 1689. Guil. Needham R. R. in Christo Pat. ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. a Sacr. Domest THE DOCTRINES OF THE Resurrection AND THE REWARD to COME Considered as The Grand Motives to an HOLY LIFE Discoursed of from 1 Cor. XV. 58. BY The late Pious and Learned JOHN WORTHINGTON D. D. LONDON Printed for Awnsham Churchill at the Black-Swan in Ave-Mary-Lane 1690. To the Honourable Sir PAUL WHICHCOT Knight and Baronet SIR IAm emboldened by the singular Vertues and other worthy Endowments I have been an Admirer of in You to make choice of Yourself to be the Patron of the following Discourse And the Law of Gratitude commands me likewise to take this occasision of making a thankful Acknowledgment of the many Favours which as unworthy as I have been of them I have received from you As to this Treatise and its Authour Silence best becomes me in regard of the near Relation I bear to him Onely this I would suggest That since he had not prepared it for the Press that Accuracy and Exactness ought not to be lookt for in it which otherwise might be expected But I doubt not 't will have the Approbation of all good men as a Discourse well adapted to the Promoting and Furtherance of true Piety And that it may be successful to this best of Ends is the Hearty Prayer of SIR Your most Obliged Kinsman And Humble Servant John Worthington A DISCOURSE ON 1 Cor. XV. 58. Therefore my beloved Brethren be ye Stedfast Unmoveable always Abounding in the work of the Lord for asmuch as you know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. THESE words are a most just Inference from that great Fundamental Truth of another State another Life after the Death of this Body a reward and blessed Immortality after this present Life which grand important Truth the Apostle doth assert largely confirm and illustrate in this Chapter and that in opposition to those that denyed the Doctrine of the Resurrection or of any other Life besides this present Life as appeared by that wicked Speech of theirs mentioned in Vers. 32. Let us Eat and Drink for to Morrow we shall Die that is Let us live in pleasure be merry and delight our Senses let us take our fill of the good things of this World for to Morrow we Die for within a little while we shall be taken out of this World Death will come ' ere long and seize on us and then there will be an end of us This is at large and in very lively expressions described in the Book of Wisdom where wicked Men are brought in speaking out the inward Atheism of their Hearts Chap. 2. 6 7 8 9. Come on let us enjoy the good things that are present and let us speedily or earnestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 use the Creatures like as in Youth Let us fill our selves with costly Wine and Qyntments and let no Flower of the Spring pass by us Let us Crown our selves with Rose-buas before they be withered Let none of us go without his part of our Voluptuousness or jollity let us leave Tokens of our joyfulness in every place All this is a larger account of that briefly exprest by the Apostle Let us Eat and Drink And as it follows for to Morrow we Die so upon the like consideration do these in Wisd. 2. encourage themselves to a Sensual Life Vers. 1. Our Life is short Vers. 5. Our time is a very shaddow that passeth away and after our end there is no returning And the like in Vers. 2. 3 4. But let the Sensual ones those that are Atheistically disposed talk at this rate and rejoyce in their Youth let them walk in the ways of their Hearts and in the sight of their Eyes let them mock at the Righteous and account his Life Madness Wisd. 5. 4. They shall one day know That verily there is a reward to the Righteous and doubtless there is a God that judgeth in the Earth The Righteous shall live for evermore their reward is with the Lord and the care of them is with the most High they shall receive a Glorious Kingdom and a Beautiful Crown from the Lords Hand Wisd. 5. 15 16. or as the Apostle here their Labour is not shall not be in vain in the Lord. The Words may be easily resolved into these Propositions 1. Christians must be Stedfast well-grounded and rooted in the Faith Established in the Truth 2. Christians must be Vnmoveable in the Profession of the Truth particularly in the Profession of the Faith of the Resurrection and a Life to come 3. Christians must always Abound in the work of the Lord. 4. Christians have good ground to be assured that their Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. They that abound most in God's work in the Labours of Religion may perswade themselves that they shall not lose their Reward their Labour is not lost is not fruitless but shall certainly be rewarded In speaking to which Propositions we shall not need to seek for Proof elsewhere then in the Text For the following Proposition doth fully and pertinently prove the former as thus Christians must be Sted fast for else they cannot be Vnmoveable Christians must be both Stedfast and Vnmoveable for else they will not they cannot be Abounding always in the work of the Lord. Christians must Abound in the work of the Lord for their Labour will not be in vain in the Lord. PROPOSITION I. Christians must be Stedfast well-grounded and rooted in the Faith Established in the Truth That the Soul be without knowledge it is not good saith Solomon Prov. 19 2. Here is a Litotes not good i. e. it is a sad and miserable condition But in Heb. 13. 9. It is a good thing that the Heart be established with Grace that is in the Gospel be grounded in the Truth of the Gospel which is frequently called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace in the New Testament in opposition to the Mosaical Law which is here described by Meats and in Chap. 9. 10. 't is said to stand only in Meats and Drinks and diverse Washings c. It is S. Paul's advice to Timothy Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me 2 Tim. 1. 13. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a short form or draught a summary no long and tedious business for the Memory nor made up of many Nice and subtle Speculations The main Substantials of Religion lie in a little room they should be delivered briefly and in an easie and evident way not clog'd with obscure and intricate Notions with unnecessary or doubtful Opinions sound or wholesome words and Doctrine and what that is is plain in 1 Tim. 6. 3. where wholesome words and the Doctrine which is according to Godliness are the same That Doctrine which is proper and powerful to beget and to encrease a Godlike disposition and Life this is sound Doctrine and it makes sound and
operae pretium and several such Latinisms there are in the New Testament and it signifies worth the while worth my labour And so the Sense of this Verse is this If I continue in this Fleshly Tabernacle is I yet live in the World it is worth the while it will not be altogether unprofitable to me nor to others because thereby I may gain some to Christ and as for you Philippians and other Christians I may be helpful to you and them for your and their furtherance and joy of Faith Vers. 25. It follows in the same Verse Yet what I shall choose I wot not There are weighty and pressing Reasons on both sides so that I know not well whether I should choose and desire to Live or Die if the choice of both were given me Vers. 23. For I am in a streight betwixt two Here are two different desires each have their Reasons to move on the one side Having a desire to depart I have a great desire to return home For so the Greek word should be render'd rather then to depart and the fitness of the Metaphor doth by the way suggest this to us That this Life is a State of Banishment or a Pilgrim-condition a State of absence from God 2 Cor. 5. and from our Fathers House and that Heaven is the proper Country and Seat of Souls it is their Home It follows and to be with Christ which is far better Our English Translation is not here so full and leaves out a word it is exactly thus for this is much better by far or this is far better by a great deal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And here by the way may be observed That the Soul hath a Being and doth also act and is capable of joy or pain and sensible of the good or evil condition she is in after the Death of the Body and that therefore she doth not fall into a deep Sleep and continue as the Body doth in a senseless condition for many Hundreds if not Thousands of Years till the sounding of the Shrill Trumpet of the Archangel at the great Day of Judgment Otherwise it had not been exceedingly much better for S. Paul to depart this Life but to have lived and continued in the Flesh till the coming of that great Day S. Paul had not been in a strait between two nor at a loss whether to choose but he would easily have preferr'd it as more desireable to be awake and alive here to the Service of Christ and to the endeavouring the good of others To act for God in the World and to be sensible of that satisfaction and to reap that joy and pleasure which would follow and did flow into his Soul upon such labouring and abounding in the work of the Lord being plainly more eligible and a better State And to fall asleep which is to be in a condition of doing nothing for Christ and of being uncapable of that joy and pleasure which accompanies the doing of good being as plainly a worse Estate If to be with Christ be to fall asleep to do nothing to feel nothing not to be sensible of his being there it were better for him to be from Christ and to be Ministring to the good of others in the World considering also that it was so needful for the Philippians and others that he should abide in the Flesh To live and to act and to enjoy the comfort of such acting being simply better then for the Soul to Sleep that is to do nothing to perceive nothing which is all one for the time as if the Soul were really Dead or did Sleep the Sleep of Death And whereas some as Grotius and others understand no more by this Phrase To be with Christ then this to be in Christi custodiâ quoad partenpotiorem i. e. animam to be received by Christ into safe custody to be committed to his trust and keeping I Answer First That so the Faithful were in this Life kept by him and by God Jo. 17. 11 12. and Chap 10. 28 29. 1 Pet. 1. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which implys a safe custody and Chap. 4. 19. which plainly is meant of this Life and therefore if this be meant by being with Christ they might be said to be with Christ here in this Sense Secondly That though the Souls of the faithful be after Death received into Christ's custody and keeping yet this doth not imply nor infer their falling into a senseless unactive dead Sleep In Jo. 12. 26. Christ promiseth to every one that serves him and follows him where I am there shall also my Servant be and afterwards him will my Father Honour that is reward so the Greek word imports So that the being where Christ is or the being with him and God's Rewarding go together When S. Stephen at his Death said Lord Jesus rceive my Spirit this doth no more prove that his Spirit fell asleep as soon as it was received by Christ into his custody then that the Spirit or Soul of Christ was asleep for three Days after his Death immediately before which he said Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit Luke 23. 46. Thirdly I add That this Phrase To be with Christ doth in the Style of the Scripture imply a State of Life and Sense not a senseless Sleep but such a State wherein the Faithful enjoy Christ and perceive the good of being with him As appears by comparing several passages of Scripture Thus in Jo. 17. 24. It is joyned with their beholding the Glory which God hath given him And it is made use of by Christ as an Argument to comfort his troubled Disciples Jo. 14 3. and by the Apostle Paul to comfort Christians when grieved for the decease of friends 1 Thes. 4. 17. Where to be for ever with the Lord that is with Christ is more then to be taken into his custody and is far from signifying for ever to be asleep In all these places it signifies a State of Activity and Sense and Perception and a Perception of that Joy and Happiness which being considered should fortifie Christians against all trouble and Sorrow And so to be with Christ is the same with to live with Christ 2 Tim. 2. 11. and to reign with Christ Vers. 12. And although their being with Christ after they have received their Spiritual and Heavenly Body at the Resurrection doth signifie a greater degree of Happiness and a fuller measure of Reward of which they are now more capable by reason of their Spiritual Body Yet their being with Christ in the intermediate space between their Death and the Resurrection or last Judgment is far from signifying nothing at all no lesser degree of Happiness no enjoyment of Christ no comfortable and joyous Perception of their being with him nothing but a being kept safe or kept in being nothing but being in a Dead Sleep in his Arms. But to return to the rest of the Paragraph Vers. 24. Nevertheless or but to