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
in the desert that they had lost the Quails and Flesh pots of Egypt But we in Heaven at the first taste of the meats which there shall be served us shall loose then all appetite to the Pleasures of this World We have hear eaten of the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil against the Command of the Physitian Whereupon followed the Sickness and Death of all But in the Kingdom of God and of Paradise we shall eat of the Fruit of the Tree of Life which shall always keep us young and fresh and which is more will make us incorruptible and immortal This is that which we shall taste what then shall we smell A Hall of Perfumes the Garments of the Bride and the Bridegroom perfumed with all odoriferous and fragrant things It shall be then that he Church shall Triumph and that the Vine being blossom'd shall give such a pleasant odour that the whole Heavens shall be filled with it There shall be no stink for there shall be no Corruption we shall there plainly smell the sweetness of the Sacrifice which Jesus Christ made for us on Earth so great and pleasant that the Father for the Pleasure which he took in it was reconciled with the world and his anger towards us hath been appeased What a pleasant Sacrifice and precious Incense is also the praises of the Saints who with one accord do glorifie God and sanctifie his holy Name More over what an odour gives that fair flower sprung from the root and sap of Jess now that it is in its force and strength To conclude we cannot miss then to smell good odours for our Winter shall then be past and we shall be in a perpetual spring time where in all things shall grow and flourish for the Delectation and Pleasures 〈◊〉 the Church For to satisfie our dâ—sire and content all our affection we shall touch no more neither shat we be touched of any thing that mâ— hurt us We shall be gathered up by Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour who will come at the entrance to receive us saying Come hither faithful Servant thou hast served me faithfully in the World while thou hast been in the World enter now into the Joy and rest of the Lord. He will kiss and embrace us and will keep us near to his Person without suffering us to depart or go far from it Now if the greatest good and that unto the which all others are referred be this felicity which doth consist in a possession and enjoying of all good to the contentment of our Will and of all our senses with what a desire should we wait for Death by the which we attain it Moreover Death doth deliver us out of all dangers In this World night and day within and without we are always in fear of peril Our Life is a cruel and bloody War we have a great many Enemies that invade us continually and do assay by all means to destroy us The Devils Watch for us and cease not compassing about like devouring Lyons and as ravening Wolves to see whether they cannot surprize us and carry us away the World sometimes by enticings and allurements some time by threats and violence endeavours to try and turn us out of the right way Our Flesh on the other side doth flatter us and the better to undermine us with great cunning doth propound and lay before us things wherein we have most delight It weepeth also sometimes to stir us up to pity it all to the intent towin us and cause us in all points to yield unto it and that it may master us Now if we consider our infirmity our stupidity and negligence the little wariness and watchfulness that is in us we may judge in what danger we live It is impossible that we should live in this World among so many that are infected and that with so great a Contagion without falling often into Sickness Is it possible that we should so often grapple with such strong and mighty Enemies without being sometimes staggered and over-thrown Is it possible that we should go in such durty and muddy ways without being defiled We see it in good Saints of old time who could not govern themselves so well but the serpent who always dogs us at the heels hath reached them with his venom but that they have fallen in divers faults some in incredulity others in idolatry others in adultery others in excess and drunkenness others in murthers there is none of them but hath his fall yea sometimes so great and heavy that they had been altogether bruised if God had not upheld them with his hand Ought not we then follow the example of St. Paul and as he did cry Who shall deliver us from these dangers wherein wherein we live while our Soul is in this miserable and mortal body Let us confess that it is our gain and profit for to die that by death we may be fully delivered from all mortal things Again death put us in full possession of all the promises of God and of those good things which Jesus Christ hath purchased for us and that we hope for him He in dying hath freed us and purchased our liberty and nevertheless we see our selves still in great scrvitude We are Kings Lords Judges hers of God co-heirs with Jesus Christ the Prince of Heaven and Earth yet it seems not so while we live this World for there we are beaten and used like servants like children under age we have as yet no use nor managing of our goods Kings and great Lords tho' we be we are often in such necessity that we have neither Bread to eat nor Water to drink nor Wool to cover us Moreover Jesus Christ hath purchased for us the Grace of God a perfect Justice life Eternal an immortal Incorruption glory and vertue to our Bodies and to our Souls an assured peace and quietness a joy and a contentment but this good hath not yet been delivered unto us for oftentimes we experiment the Wrath and Judgment of God we seel the concupiscences and vicious desires of our flesh In our bodies their is Corruption Mortality and Weakness and in our spirit Troubles Anguish and as it were a studious and intestine war between our good and bad desires which fight the one against the other and because these evils are more grievous so are the abovesaid goods more great and more to be desired If then altho' they be already purchased for us and that they be ours we nevertheless cannot come to the possession of them but by death are not we for this reason much bound unto it Ought not we to love and desire it The children of Israel being arrived at the River of Jordan seeing on the other side thereof the fruitful Land which god had promised them and that being passed they should begin to enjoy it and to rest had they not great cause to rejoyce and to pass the River with great alacrity And why
abandon his own life which ought more to move us then any other thing Where is that Person who having heard of so many perfections to be in his friend would not burn and be altogether transported with desire and affection to see him If our King or some Prince of renown comes into our Country we desire to see him because of the report which we have heard of his Vertue and Valour If Hercules Alexander the great Caesar Cato of whom we so much commend the ancient Pictures were now in this world we would through curiosity go a hundred Miles to see them with what an affection then should we aspire to that day in the which we shall face to face see and behold that so mighty Prince who with an invincible force hath broken the head of all our Enemies who like unto a valiant Josua in despite of them hath brought us through the dangers and conducted us into the land which God promised us What a pleasure shall it be to us to see him glorious and in triumphant array and round about him the goodly trophees of his great victories set up It is said that when Alexander had overcome Darius King of the Persians entring into the place where he made his residence He sits down in his Throne and that presently a Greek Grentleman of his Company began to weep for joy in speaking these words O happy day in the which we see our King victorious against the Barbarians and their pride trodden under foot O that all Greece had now the sight and the pleasure of this Spectacle Think what joy it will be also to every faithful Man to see Jesus Christ in his Royal Seat holding under his Feet all his Enemies and ours but especially the Serpent whose head is already broken and now he doth nothing else but wag his Tail waiting his sinal end which shall be at the day of Judgment Many Kings and Princes did with great affection desire to see him when he was on Earth in the form of a Servant And Simeon because he saw him so did so rejoice and was so satisfied that he feared no more to die Ought hot we more to desire to see him in Heaven in a Kingly Robe with company greatness majesty and pomp and in the state of a Lord The Queen of Sheba who being induced by the rumour which was spred over all the Earth of the great Court of King Solomon came running thither from the farthest part of the South to see him and to hear his wisdom and after she had diligently considered his great and marvellous Wisdom the order the splendor and state of his House stood all astonished and with great admiration said O how happy are the Servants of thy House who may see thy Face every day and hear thy Divine Speeches Let us say also O thrice and four times happy are the Faithful who dying go directly to Heaven to behold the Face of Jesus Christ who is greater than Solomon For the only contemplation of it makes man content in every point in taking from us the memory and feeling of all other pleasures causeth that we cannot nor will not turn our eyes and Thoughts from it Now Death doth not only cause us to see Jesus Christ but maketh us with him to behold the Angels the Patriarks the Prophets the Apostles the Martyrs which have been singular in graces and vertues And if any Man that hath a Heart towards God desires to see the Church well ordered in this World and preferreth it to all that can be given him albeit the order is never so great yet there will be many things more to be desired with what vehemence and heat then should he wish to see it in Heaven without spot or wrinkle shining like the Sun clothed in Robes as white as Snow set forth in Nuptial Order The last Reason for the which we ought to desire Death is that by it our Spirit being parted from the Body which doth clog it is more at liberty and more capable to look into the Mysteries of God We live all in this World with a natural desire to know therefore it is that for our contentment we seek always to hear and see some Novelties now is it not possible that here beneath we should come to any great knowledg chiefly of the truth as well because that of it self it is obscure and hard to know as also for the Cares Peturbations Afflictions Passions c. wherewith our mind is intangled and hindred whilst it is in our Bodies which are unto it as dust in a Man's Eye which doth hinder it from discerning any thing understandingly This is the Reason wherefore God saith unto Moses That whilst we live we cannot see it clearly for the which also S. Paul saith That we know but in part and S. John That we see the Mysteries of our god but as it were in a Glass or through a Window but when our Soul shall be parted from this Body and the vail taken away which blindeth her Eyes then shall it behold and see God Face to Face then shall it have the perfect Knowlede of him and of Jesus Christ his Son and in it Eternal Life We shall behold that which now we Worship for we shall enter into the Sanctuary of our Lord and there shall look on him without ceasing the Propitiation and the Cherubins Nothing neither of the Law nor the Gospel shall be any more unknown or hid from us God will shew unto us God will shew unto us as unto his Friends and Familiars all the Riches of his House he will talk Friendly with us and will impart all unto us An ancient Man turning from Merchandise and being entred into the Hall where Demetri IX and Phalere IX read when he had heard him a little while begins to complain and said O unhappy Man that I am have the Goods of this World been the Cause that I have been so long deprived of such good things at these Let us also say O Miserable Life will thou last much longer wilt thou not shortly let us go whither we aspire which is the School of our god Must we lose so many days Happy Death wilt thou not hasten to bring us thither We see by these Reasons what occasion we have to fear flie from and complain of Death which is a rest and sleep most delightful above all other for there is no noise nor dreams to trouble or interupt it it is a holsom Medicine which being swallowed doth heal us of all Diseases and taketh all pain from us Which Socrates considering after he had drunk the poyson by the commandment of the Athenians who had unjustly condemned him to die when the venom was dispersed in his Members and his Friend Crito a little before he gave up the Ghost had asked him if he would command him nothing no said he but that thou offer Sacrifice to Esculapi IX the God of Physiek to give him thanks for I
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
World the Estates which we esteem most of are subject to so many mis-haps what may we think of others which we our selves by reason of the discommodities which are joyned unto them do fly from and esteem unhappy So we see that there is not any estate that of it self doth make a body happy or contented and as in Estates besides the common Miseries every one hath his own particular so also have all the Ages of Man evils which are proper unto them In his Child-hood he is full of Infirmities without Vertue without Understanding without the use of Reason and Speech and without Wit and he must be fifteen years old before he is capable to know only what Estate is fittest for him wherein often-times he deceives himself chusing that whereunto he is least fit Is he come into his Youth he is rash adventurous foolish passionate voluptuous prodigal a drunkard a gamester quarrelsom whereby it happeneth oft that in this age he falleth into great inconveniences and dangers to be Imprisoned to be Hanged to lose his Goods and even to bring his Parents with sorrow to the Grave When this great heat by little and little begins to cool and diminish and â—hat he waxeth a perfect Man then he must labour Night and Day for to entertain his House nourish his Children and provide for them for time to come he is Besieged now with Defire and Covetousness then with Fear lest his Children should remain unprovided for lest they should behave themselves ill and lest they should do some dis-honour to their House The Age of Vertue and Perfection declining behold in our sight old Age comes creeping on in the which Man is sickly unweildy cold and forsaken and as among the Seasons of the Year the last is Winter and the most troublesome so amongst all the Ages of Man is the old Age. That which I have said is not the hundredth part of all the Evils whereunto the Sick Man is subject and nevertheless that little which we have spoken of it is sufficient to shew that in all Estates and in all Ages it is miserable and as said Merander Life and Misery are two Twins for they are born and grow they are nourished and live always together Which Nature teacheth us in two things First in that the little Children 〈◊〉 into the World they always 〈◊〉 presaging the Evil which they are to endure if they live long Secondly in that coming forth of their Mothers Belly they are all bathed in Blood and are more like unto a dead Man whose Throat had been lately out by Murtherers then to any thing else Two ancient Philosophers considering these things said the one That God did love those which he takes out of this World in their Child-hood The other That it were good never to be Born or else to die presently Surely it is a wonderful thing and which sheweth well that we have want of Understanding that although Life were never so ugly and dis-figured and that in all her parts there were neither Grace nor Beauty that could commend it we nevertheless should be so in love with it that we always desire to keep it and never to change But we are much abused for it is more uncertain then it is miserable For to shew us the uncertainty of it the Ancients called it a Shadow and a Dream which are the two things in the World the most vain and least fixed Pythagoras being once demanded what humane Life was spake never a word for his custom was to answer and instruct more by Signs than by Words but went into a Chamber and came forth again presently Signifying That the Life of Man is but an entring in and going out And Jesus Christ exhorteth us to Watch and grounds Himself upon nothing else but upon the inconstancy and uncertainty of this Life Watch saith He for you know not at what Hour the Lord will come And who is that Man in how good disposition and happiness soever he be that can promise himself continue in it but a day Those 18 Men in Jerusalem doubted of nothing when in an instant they were destroyed by the ruins of the Tower of Syloe In the time of the Flood they did Build and made Marriages and Banquets when suddenly contrary to the expectation and opinion of all the World the Rain fell in clear Weather which Rain did overflow the whole Earth The rich Man whereof mention is made in the Twelfth of Luke though he was very secure who having so much Wealth that he know not where to Whord it made account to give himself to Pleasure and to live after that time at his ease when while he was standing upon these terms behold the Serjeant of GOD comes day to give up an account unto him of all the precious things and goods which he had left and which he had gathered with such great labour But it is labour lost to go about to prove a thing so manifest and which we experiment and see daily For in this VVorld there is nothing more ordinary nor more frequent then that which Ovid saith That the Life of Man and all humane things are hanged and do hold but by a little Thred Let us behold then seeing on the one side the great Evils whereof it is full and on the other side the inconstancy of the good which it hath if we have great occasion to desire God that he would prolong it unto us or to complain or discontent our selves at Death when it taketh it away from us VVe have understood the evils from the which Death doth deliver us let us now come to consider the good which it bringeth unto us from thence we shall yet better know that we ought not only not to fear shun and avoid it but also desire it with all affection for one of the Goods only which we enjoy by Deaths means is greater than all those which we can have in the VVorld living in it for ever By it first we rest as saith St. John is his Apocalyps And after that we have endured and are almost consumed with innumerable troubles and labours Dying our Spirit goeth into Heaven and our Body into the Earth as into a Bed there for to rest and refresh it self The poor Artificers are so glad when Evening draws near and that it is almost Night that they may be paid for their Labour and go home to rest themselves or when after they have laboured the six Days in the Week that Sunday comes when they hope to rest and refresh themselves and recover the force and vigour as well of their Bodies as of their Minds we ought not to be less joyful when the time of our Death draweth near which we ought to wait for and desire as a Holy-day in the which we hope to rest and by the pleasure which therein we take presently forget all the sorrows and troubles which we have had in this World The end of all that we do and of
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
is endued with understanding with reason and with judgment to know the soveraign good which is God to love him to adhere and unite our selves unto him that we may have part of his immortality and happiness Now we forsake and contemn this great good for to grovel upon the earth and to go down into the pit of carnal desires applying the vigour of our understanding and judgment to things that are not worth the pains that we employ in them We bury our selves quick of heavenly we become earthly and of men created for eternal life we endeavour as much as in us lieth to set our selves in the rank of brute Beasts God doth not forsake us nevertheless although that our ingratitude hath well deserved it but calls us unto him by his word presents unto us infinite testimonies of his grace continues it daily he supports exhorts counsels chides and fatherly chastiseth us Nevertheless we continue blind deaf and negligent despising his goodness or use it not as we should or indeed abusing it nay which is worse we love vain and transitory things better and have our minds too much fixed and setled upon them God stretcheth forth his hand to conduct us we draw back ours and fly when he calleth us If he put us into the way of salvation we grudge and repine for the world we look behind us deferring and remitting our amendment till to morrow Let us awake then let us not always stick in the mire let us strengthen our selves in the vertue of him that supports and succours us let us a little undertake to despise corruptible things and to desire those that are truly good and everlasting When God calleth us let us hearken if he guids us let us follow him that we may come to his house let us receive his good things and himself too for he gives himself unto us in the person of his Son He shews us the means to get to Heaven let us then desire of him to give us the will and courage by faith repentance charity and hope to aim thither and that he would maintain his grace in us until the end to sigh in this mortal life and to wait through the assurance of his mercy for our departure out of this world and our last day which shall be the beginning of our true life Prayers and Meditations HOW great are the illusions and impostures of the enemy of our salvation He sheweth us afar off things that are ridiculous and vain and perswades us that it is all good and happiness he scares us with things that we ought not to fear and makes us to fly from those things which we ought to imbrace He calleth inticeth and flattereth us by the means of our desires if that will not serve he roars and storms and endeavours to astonish us within and without O eternal Light and Verity O Lord and merciful Father disperse those clouds of ignoranee and error illuminate our understanding and do not suffer us to come near to that which thou hast commanded us to flie from and which is hurtful and pernicious unto us let us not desire but what is truly to be desired to wit thy self who art the spring-head of all goodness of our life and of eternal happiness All flesh is grass and the glory of the man is like the flower of the field cause then that we may seek for our firmness and contentment in the grace which thy Son hath brought us let our life lye hid in him so that at the day of the separation of our souls from our bodies we may find it holy in Heaven waiting with assured rest and joy the happy Resurrection of this flesh in which all corruption infirmity and ignominy being abolished and death being swallowed up of victory we shall live eternally with thee in an incomprehensible happiness in thee by the which thou shall be glorified Maintain then thy Children O Lord in this faith and hope finishing thy work in us until they be altogether with thee for to enjoy the inheritance and the glory which thine only Son hath by his Merit purchased for them Amen Prayer OLord Jesus Christ Creator and Redeemer of Mankind who hast said I am the way the Truth and the Life I do bessech thee by this unspeakable Charity which thou hast shewed in yielding thy self to Death for us that I may never stray any jot from the who art the way nor that I doubt of thy Promises seeing thou art the Truth and dost accomplish that which thou promisest Cause that I may only take pleasure in thee who art the Eternal Life beyond the which there is nothing to be desired neither in Heaven nor Earth Thou hast taught us the true and only way to Salvation because we should not abide erring like stray'd Sheep in the lost ways of this World shewing us clearly that which we ought to believe to do to hope and wherein we ought to yield and settle our selves It is thou that hast given us to understand how cursed we are in Adam and that there is no way to escape from this Perdition in the which we are plunged but by Faith in thee Thou art that true Light which dost appear to those that walk in the desert of this Life and who having drawn us out of the darkness of the spiritual Egypt hast driven away the darkness of our Understanding and dost enlighten us to the end we may tend towards the promised Inheritance which is the Life Everlasting into the which the Unbelievers does not enter but those that have assuredly relied upon thy holy Promises O what a Goodness is it that thou hast vouchsafed to descend from thy Fathers-Bosom and from the Everlasting Throne to the Earth to put on our poor Nature of Master to become Servant to the end that by thy Doctrine thou mightest do away the darkness of our Ignorance to guide our feet into the way of Peace and to make plain the way of Salvation unto us which if we follow we cannot stray nor wax weary seeing that thy Grace and Power do accompany us therein all the days of our Life Moreover by thy Spirit thou dost strengthen us in it and double our Courage Thy word is Bread which nourisheth us therein thy promise is the staff which upholds us Thou thy self by thy secret and incomprehensible vertue dost bear and maintain us in it in an admirable manner to the end that both in fair and foul weather we may walk with all Alacrity unto thee And as in preserving us thou hinderest that we do not fall into the snares of Satan and the World also seeing thou art the Truth thou takest away all doubts scruples and mistrusts which may trouble and let us or turn us during our course thou causest us to behold the supernal Vocation the misery and vanity of the World the frailty of this present Life the Gate of Death and the most happy Life which is beyond that And as thou art