it is impossible for the body shall never grow worse and worse by degeneration but it shall bee brought by the power of God to that high perfection that it shall still be infinitely better and yet still it selfe it shall still be the selfe same in essence though not in qualities It shall be the same in substance and nature but not the same in eminencie of grace and glory It shall be the same in being but not the same in seeming or in circumstance And so Saint Chrysostome saith It is the same and not the same it is the same as touching the fundamentall essence of it and it is not the same concerning the augmentation and the rare qualities that God shall impose upon it and invest it withall And so I say it is that comfortable doctrine to this flesh of ours that there shall not be any other flesh glorified for it but that this flesh that hath suffered martyrdome this flesh that hath suffered hunger and thirst sicknesse and persecution in the world this flesh that hath suffered for Christ this flesh and no other but this shall receive the crowne of glory according to the manifold evils it hath indured Otherwise there could be no true consolation in this life seeing the spirit also shall have larger indowments The soule of man the wit shall be greater and the memory greater and all the parts and faculties shall be more excellent in the soule Now these being not visible parts therefore they are not that which shall rise For it is that which is visible which belongs to the Resurrection the glory of the soule cannot be manifest it is still hidden and inherent in the inner-man But this glory that shall be at the Resurrection it shall be manifest and there is no manifestation made but to the eye and the outward sences Therefore here comes the comfort to every poore distressed body that the same that suffers and is miserable afflicted and tormented in this world the very same body shall receive abundance of joy and comfort and glory and beautie in the day of the Lord. The poore creple that goes double that moves every mans heart to pittie to see him in the streets he shall rise with a glorious and goodly body being incorporate into Christ by faith he shall receive a body full of ample complements and blessed perfections To every seed his owne body If it be the same body how then is it a new body Ob. and how then in the Scripture is it called a glorious body which makes it different This I told you shall be by addition of certaine accidents of glory that shall acrew unto it Ans which cannot be separated as accidents may be from their subject but they indure with it continually And that consists 1. Partly in that goodly proportion that I spake of before wherein all men shall be raised in one size Not as they are now where there is great difference but all shall be of one stature and perfection And therein they shall more resemble the Image of God then if they should be made in greater variety 2. Secondly another qualitie wherewith they shall be indowed is the clearnesse and brightnesse of those bodies For although they shall not be transparent and translucent which is no property of a true body yet they shall be so full of light and gloriousnesse as the Lord Iesus his body were when he was transfigured in mount Tabor his garments did so shine that no Dyer or Fuller in the earth was able to make such a tincture or to give such a colour and glosse Mat. 17. as the garments of our Lord had Much more then was his countenance glorious and shining And if in the old Law Exod. 34.30.33 the glory of Moses face were so great that the Iewes could not endure to looke upon him but he was faine to take a veile and cover his face when hee read the Law that so they might heare what he spake without astonishment much more shall the glory of the bodies of the Saints be at that day They shall be all lightsome they shall shine like the starres in the firmament they being often compared in the Scriptures to the starres which cannot be numbred Thirdly another qualitie wherein they shall be like unto the corne The corne that seemed to bee a dead graine yet after comes to have an excellent greene colour and live so these bodies shall exceed in proportion of beauty There is great difference now some are faire and some are foule creatures and those that are the faire ones of the world they thinke themselves onely happie and those that are deformed they thinke they had better beene unborne then to live in the world Indeed it is a matter of great dejection and scorne to a naturall man to have a poore deformed body Therefore the Lord shall so alter all things in that day that every man shall have equall beauty The glorious Saints in heaven their perfection is one and the same perfection they shall have a common perfection like the Angels that waite before the Lord and the Seraphins that have the selfe same perfection and beautie shining upon them all although it be not sensible to us but is seene onely among themselves Fourthly all this glosse stature and goodlinesse that they shall have except it have also strength and vigour it is little worth Therefore God shall give them that too That as the corne riseth with an high stalke to a goodly stemme and hath knops to underproppe and support and keepe it up whereupon it is builded so the Lord saith Rev. 3.12 he that heares the word of God he will make him a pillar in the house of his Father that is he shall have the strength and glory and the fortitude of the great men of God that hee shall be able to do any thing that God shall assigne him to with great dexterity And all this with a further grace of incorruption for the seed that is sowne although it come up with a faire glosse for a time yet it presently corrupts and is brought unto a drie straw and stubble and that which is greene now to morrow it is cast into the fire But the Lord shall give unto this glorious glosse whereunto he shall bring the bodies of his Saints he shall give them an incorruptible crowne 1. Pet. 1.18 It is a crowne that is incorruptible an inheritance immortall that never hath any change The best beauty in this worldly glory a fit of an Ague will change it and long sicknesse will turne the fairest rose into an ashy coale there is nothing so subject to change and alteration as the glosse of beauty But that strength and beauty and goodlinesse of the creature after the resurrection shall be supported by that ever mighty power of Almighty God so that there shall bee no old age to draw wrinckles in the face of his Saints there shall be no sicknesse to
you fishers of men And in many places in Scripture men are compared to fishes by reason of the laver of regeneration Lastly he saith there is another flesh of fowls or birds and he saith by those are meant the bodies of the Martyrs that have dyed for the testimony of Christ Those are like unto birds that flye from this world Psal 55.6 that take unto themselves the wings of a dove and flye away to be at rest that separate themselves from the world and worldly things that forsake father and mother and countrey and land and goods and life it selfe to be for Christ and for his profession So Tertullian Tertull. makes the sence to be this that in the Resurrection some shall rise as good and perfect men and some shall be as beasts that is in great uglinesse and deformitie and some shall rise as fishes that is with the benefit of their baptisme and some with their glory and crowne of martyrdome as the birds and fowls of the aire But in this exposition there is a great deale more wit then soundnesse for we must not indure to expound Scripture in this manner It is a dangerous thing for a man to build allegories to ground upon idle conceits to destroy the letter withall For the letter of the Scripture must stand and if there be any possible construction to keepe it it must bee kept and maintained If not we are to abhorre niceties and then to expound it by way of similie and allegorie but never till then Others expound it as if the Apostle meant it of the different degrees of joy in heaven whereof we shall have more occasion to speak if God permit when we come to speake of the difference of starres One starre differeth from another in glory Divers men have diversly distracted the sence of this Scripture while they thinke the Apostle speakes of the different flesh of men because that beasts and fishes and fowls they are things that belong not to the Resurrection and what then should they do in this argument But I take it the best and true sence is that the Apostle takes it according to the letter and out of that he draws an argument to perswade us of the glorious bodies that shall be in the Resurrection For in the similitude that went immediately before he teacheth us how we shall finde the doctrine of the Resurrection in our gardens in our fields in the things that we sowe and admit into the ground Now he riseth to a higher argument and teacheth us how we should find it in our flesh in this flesh that we carry about us for that is the principall thing that is here spoken of It is the flesh that must rise againe and if wee can find an argument so neare home in this our flesh it is certainly a plausible and delightfull argument and the Apostle tels us that if we come from our fields and our gardens if we come home to our selves and looke upon this flesh of ours we shall see in that a most lively representation of the glorious Resurrection And whereas all the whole bodie of living creatures is nothing else but flesh although it be diversly and with a strange varietie distinguished the same God that can make such varietie in the selfe same thing that can make one flesh to be washy and waterish as the flesh of fish another to be ayrie and spiritly as the flesh of birds another to be sullen and drowsie as the flesh of beasts another to be temperate and meane as the flesh of men the Lord that works this difference in this fraile subject much more in the Resurrection can hee worke a diversitie in the forme and shape and in the colour and representation in the flesh that shall be then glorified To proceed in order Division into 3. parts 1 The Resurrection proved from flesh 2 A fourefold diversity of that flesh 3 How this peâ—swades the Resurrection First he would have us to consider that the flesh it selfe affords an argument of the Resurrection and he riseth from things sowne in the earth to flesh that moves in the world and that in what part soever they are whether in the ayre or in the water or upon the earth And then he tels us that that flesh is not all one but there is a diversitie And he makes the diversity foure fold as the flesh of men the flesh of beasts the flesh of fishes and the flesh of birds Thirdly we are to consider the use of this argument how it inferres and perswades the soules of men that there is a likelihood and certaintie of the resurrection 1. Part. Argument of the Resurrection raised from flesh and raised higher and higher Concerning the first the Apostles method is most singular and excellent he proceeds in his arguments from things that are lesse perfect to those that are of greater perfection All the seeds that be abundant in the earth they argue indeed the mighty hand of God in their power and varietie and in their growth and successe but yet flesh is a farre more constant body then they be Now if the Resurrection do appeare in things that grow upon the earth much more doth it appeare in things sensible in things that have life For the vegetables although they argue somewhat yet the argument is obscure as their life is obscure but the sensibles those things that stirre and move they are farre more cleare preachers of the Resurrection then the other can be The flesh as Methodius Methodius saith it is nothing but the middle way betweene incorruption and corruption the flesh is neither corruption nor incorruption of it selfe but the middle way betweene both For the flesh was so created at the first by the hand of God that if man had not purchased corruption by sinne if he had not brought in the sting of sinne to rot it it had never putrified but had continued in that goodlinesse and beautie wherein the Lord created it But now by reason of the sinne of man there is entred a worme into the flesh which is a necessitie of dying which is alway gnawing upon it and decreasing and abating of it till it bring it to the tearmes of corruption And yet the Lord suspends the action for a time and gives the flesh a certaine flourish in this world in some to twenty yeares in some to forty in some to a great many more but the flower cannot last long the flesh may live when the glosse is gone So this body of flesh wherein God hath set his glory more a great deale then in plants and trees and things that grow out of the ground it doth affoord us a stronger and more forcible argument that the bodies shall rise in a glorious qualitie when the day of judgement shall come There where God hath now taken more paines and hath shewed his hand most glorious there hee intends hereafter to bee more glorious Now the resurrection of
wit and the best sence and judgement excels the naturall foole looke how farre the strongest man excels the weakest childe so farre the bodies that shall bee raised up in that glorious day shall excell the best and the brightest bodies that are here in this world For saith he as God hath made severall sorts of flesh now and hath given a bestnesse and a worstnesse in them that there is great difference and it is well knowne to us how they differ so in the Resurrection there shall be nothing there the worst shall be more glorious then the best and most noble perfections that are here And so I thinke it to bee true as the Fathers imagine that it is spoken of the difference that shall bee but it cannot bee directly prooved by Scripture as Peter Martyr Peter Mart. saith Although it be true that there shall be some inferiour unto others there yet we must not rest upon it nor make comparisons of it There is nothing that shall be so bad in that kingdome but it exceeds all the best things that are in this There is nothing that shall bee so meane in that life but it shall exceed the most glorious things in this life This I take to bee the purpose and meaning of the Apostle in bringing in this difference to shew that if there be a difference here much more shall there be there There is as much difference betweene the body that dyes here and the body that shall rise then being compared together as there is betweene fish and flesh as much difference as is betweene one part and member and another All of them are indeed flesh but yet there is one kinde of vigour and one kinde of use and life and motion in the one and another kind in the other and so it shall be at the Resurrection To conclude the summe of all is this Vse that wee prepare our selves in a continuall expectation with blessed Iob looking for our change Iob 14.14 to depend upon the Lord God to trust in him that is able to set his Image in a farre more glorious stampe then he did before that can renew his broad seale and out of one peece of elementarie dust can raise such wondrous matters as are here spoken of What is the most beautifull body in the world what is the goodliest flesh what is the fairest colour in comparison but a bag of dust and yet how marvellously hath God wrought upon this dust out of a poore meane ground to draw such a lively colour such an excellent picture upon nothing but dust It is a strange thing so to fortifie it with comely bones to fill it every where every concavitie of it with a faire beauty of flesh to adorne it with such a goodly glosse and colour like the flourishing flowers of the field to continue it thus for twenty or thirty yeares in this faire glosse and goodly composure this is the most wondrous act of God! Teaching us Vse that there is a further matter that remaines that he that hath wrought upon dust in this manner now his hand is not shortened but hee can worke upon the dust that shall be raised out of the grave againe hee can draw the lines upon it and breathe upon it as he saith by his holy Prophet Heare the word of the Lord ye dry bones Ezek. 37.4.8.10 and it is said the bones gathered together and the Lord breathed into them the breath of life and they stood up The Lord is able to do these things and certainly these colours and this flesh that we carry in this world they are as earnest penies of that glorious flesh that shall be collated and confirmed upon us when this life shall be ended Onely as we looke for these things so let us sanctifie our selves to the Lord God let us keepe our selves unblameable in the wayes of the Lord let us reconcile our selves by true and unfeigned repentance Iam. 1.27 let us keepe our selves unspotted of the world that this flesh may not be tainted with the pollutions of sinne but that it may be preserved for that use which it was appointed for even to be a temple and tabernacle for the Holy Ghost for so it shall be sure to have this blessed change put upon it There is as much difference betweene that which is now and that which shall be as there is difference betweene any parts of the body naturall as much difference as there is betweene unsensible and sensible creatures as there is betweene men and beasts as much difference as there is betweene the flyer and the swimmer betweene fish and fowls Yet still the same flesh shall be the same flesh shall rise that dyed but the Lord shall adde unto it Ambr. he shall ampliate it saith S. Ambrose he shall make it better he shall not destroy the substance but he shall adde a new qualitie a new glorious quality which shall indure for ever 1 COR. 40.41 And bodies heavenly and bodies earthly but one is the glory of the heavenly and another that of the earthly one glory of the Sunne another glory of the Moone and another glory of the Starres for one starre differeth from another in glory So also is the Resurrection of the body THis noble and divine order which the Apostle hath taken for the assurance of our faith in this grand point of the Resurrection is noted by all Interpreters to be the glory of that spirit within him that he could not possible shew a greater evidence of the holy Ghost then in this manner of proceeding Therefore Tertullian Tertull. saith that Saint Paul did with all the strength of the holy Ghost bend and imploy himselfe in this Argument His meaning is with all the strength of the holy Ghost that Saint Paul was capable of For otherwise it cannot be said of any man that he can use all the strength of the holy Ghost for the strength and power of the holy Ghost is more then any man can comprehend But the order I say is so excellent and divine that he leaves no part of nature unransacked and unpierced for the finding of some argument and some evidence of the Resurrection First he taught us to finde it in our gardens in our fields in the things that are sowne in those things that are under our feet Then afterward he riseth somewhat higher and teacheth us to finde it in our flesh that we carry about us in the flesh of men in the flesh of beasts in the flesh of birds in the flesh of fishes in which as there is great varietie so all this present variety serves to shew and portend a variety in the world to come in the bodies that shall rise And now hee riseth higher and teacheth us to finde the Resurrection and the varietie of the bodies that shall be in the Resurrection from a comparison that he takes from heaven and heavenly things that we may see it also above
the earth although in other respects it be the weakest and poorest of all the planets Lastly there is another glory of the Starres The stars are not comparable eyther to the Sunne or to the Moone Gen. 1.16 therefore it is said God made two great lights the one to rule the day and the other to rule the night The meaning is not because the Moone is greater than any of the starres of heaven for that it is not but it is spoken according to the opinion of men because it seemes to be greater to be the second to the sunne and almost as bigge as it therefore it is called a great light and because of the great office she hath in guiding the night and likewise in respect of her use the benefit of her in the growth of all things being great and her guydance also in the humours of mens bodies The starres therefore are innumerably different and for their number numberlesse And although the Mathematicians describe them to be no more but a thousand thousand and two and twenty starres according to the 48. Images which they describe in the firmament yet it is certaine that there be other starres that are not discerned which passe all number All these starres are sorted out into six magnitudes even into six differences not to stand now upon them In the first magnitude or difference there are but fifteene starres seven of them are in the South and three of them in the North and five in the Zodiaque And these are goodly starres that Navigators commend and say that the starres toward the South pole are more glorious then these which we see because of their double number The sixth magnitude is the least of all and yet the least starre that is in the heavens is so great that it exceeds the earth eighteene times over yet is it a wondrous thing that God hath made all these starres to draw their light from the Sunne For although they have a proper light of their owne yet it is so rustie that it hath no cleare explication of it selfe till it be enlivened by the light of the Sunne The starres therefore are never eclipsed because they alway see the Sunne the Moone is sometime eclipsed it doth not alway see the Sunne there is an interposition of the shadow of the earth that comes betweene her and him and that interposition makes her eclipse and lose her light But where the Apostle saith here that one starre differeth from another in glory his meaning is that one starre is of one magnitude and another of another and according to their bignesse is their glory their shining and their brightnesse Vse To teach all men that they should carry themselves according to their magnitude in the world He that is in the first magnitude to carry himselfe in a more glorious and brighter lustre then he that is in the second and the second then the third every man should keepe his magnitude here upon the earth for God hath appointed that the greatest magnitudes should serve for the greatest purposes in this world One starre differeth from another in glory that is as in bignesse and greatnesse so in use too Thus much of the bodies that he nameth Now we come to the hypothesis So is it in the resurrection of the dead This is that which the Apostle intends to proove first comparatively with these earthly bodies Secondly comparatively with the bodies that are glorious among themselves In the first sence he meanes thus As the Lord hath made severall magnitudes and great disproportion among the starres so that one differeth from another in glory even so as they differ in their bignesses so do the bodies at the Resurrection as they shall bee great and goodlie bigger then these so they shall be fuller of glory and excellencie The Lord shall make this earth to be heaven he shall so translate the properties of things he shall so amplifie and augment things farre surpassing the minde of man to imagine or to comprehend that wondrous picture that God shall draw upon this poore carkasse which now languisheth in this world that looke what difference there is betweene the creeping on the earth looke what difference there is betweene a worme and an Angell betweene the pebble stones upon the earth and the starres in heaven the Lord shall make the same difference above our expectation according to his promise in the bodies that he shall restore againe at the Resurrection Therefore his meaning is do not aske how they shall rise do not aske with what bodies they shall come For still the Apostle answers that question For they might object If the body that shall be raised shall be glorious then it shall not be the same and if it shall be of a spirituall nature the body shall be destroyed and shall not be the same Yes saith the Apostle it is the same even as all earthly bodies are the same among themselves in the generall element and the heavenly bodies as the starres are all celestiall bodies and yet there is a difference and one is more glorious then another So it shall be in the day of the Resurrection And for that point which our Divines and which the Fathers stand so much on indeed it is not safe for us to venture too much into it For although it be likely and true as Luther Luther saith that Saint Paul shall have more honour in heaven then a thousand other Christians he shall perhaps have more honour then all his persecutors that were converted by him he shall have more honour then all his schollars that followed him yet these things are spoken but by way of humane conjecture and cannot bee proved directly by the holy Scriptures How be it because it is the common tenent of the Fathers wee ought not to finde fault with them Pro. 22.28 nor to remove the ancient bounds and limits but to follow them in the doctrine they have taught us Therefore these things may assure us that as Saint Paul saith here one starre differs from another in glory so wee must extend it to this sence That in the day of the Resurrection the sonnes and daughters of God shall shine in the firmament as starres they shall all be starres but yet not of the same magnitude not of the same beautie and proportion not of the same excellencie And to this purpose the Schoole men have devised a distinction in the lawrell crownes that the Saints of God shall have and they say the joy in heaven is either substantiall or accidentall 1 Mat. 20 9. The substantiall joy that is all alike in every man for when they went into the vineyard the Lord gave unto every man a penie and no more The comfortable vision of God almightie the fruition of Christ and all his Saints that is the substantiall joy that is the penie There is another joy which is accidentall which is according to the labours of men according as they
wofull calamity that sinne hath brought upon us to pray to the Lord to take these barbarous trickes from us and to teach us the true civility of his Saints even that honourable conversation that makes of beasts men and of men Angels and not of men beasts and of beasts divels as our condition is by nature 2 Tim. 3.13 The wicked prosper from worse to worse as the Apostle saith It is a strange phrase that they should prosper from worse to worse and yet it is true for the prosperity of the wicked is to his greater destruction It is the grace of God that exalts a man from a beast to be a man and from the state of a man to the state of an Angell And it is the basenesse of nature that brings a man from being a man to be a beast and makes him to creepe or to goe on all foure to whom the Lord hath given an upright positure and an erected countenance So much for the first poynt of interpretation I have been too long in it I will conclude the rest more briefely Second poynt Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to men or after the manner of men This is more intricate than the former and as I said wee ought not to misprize what the Church hath taught us but as dutifull children to see the variety of the gifts of God as they have flowed in the whole body of the Church from time to time This saith Beza Beza According to men it signifieth no more but according to the fashion of men as men use to fight with beasts to get the victory and to get themselves glory and reputation in the world what profit shall I have by this if there be no Resurrection So Beza thinks following the opinion of Ambrose and of divers others before him S. Ambrose But me thinkes this concludes and inferres nothing For a man might thus object against this suppose he went to fight with beasts as commonly men doe it is the condition of men to looke for the same reward that others have and the same glory that other men atchieve these men fought with beasts daily and they looked for their reward but yet they thought not of the resurrection of the body they dreamed not of such a thing as the bodies rising therefore the Apostle denyes that he went after the manner of men for vaine-glory or for an idle applause of the people or for any worldly gaine he had no such project but he did it onely for the hope of the Resurrection This exposition though there be somewhat in it is not close it is not the proper sence which the most and best follow Anselme Anselme hath another sence of it If I have fought with beasts after the manner of men or according to men that is saith he if my passions and sufferings were seene with the eyes of men all men that had looked upon me at Ephesus how I was troubled with those wicked men there they would have thought I had rather fought with beasts in humane shape then men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to mens iudgement they would rather have seemed beasts than men so that I call them not beasts simply my selfe but in the judgement of them that are my beholders and spectators that see my sufferings to see with what kinde of wits I was incumbred they would have judged them beasts and not men This is too farre off because the Apostle useth not this phrase in that sence elsewhere in any of his Writings Thirdly If I have fought with beasts after the manner of men that is if I have fought to death so Theodoret and Theophilact Theodoret. Theophilact As those men that used to fight with beasts they fought to death still for the manner was when they sent a malefactor or a man that was condemned ad certamen to the stage to fight with the beast if perhaps he came away the conquerour and slew the beast yet then the Executioner or Hang-man was either by sword or with a halter to strangle him and to make an end of him so that still he that fought with beasts hee fought to death for if he fought not to death with the beast yet he came to his death by man because the Iudge had doomed him to dye and though he gaue him leave to use his weapon to take armes and to defend himselfe yet when that expectation failed they did not fayle to take away his life another way so that then the Apostles meaning must be If he fought with beasts as men used to doe to fight to death that have death every way if they be cast naked and bound it is to death for they are torne in pieces if they be armed against the beast and prevaile over him and be not killed by him yet the law after tooke hold of them so that still they fought unto death This exposition seemeth to be favoured by that in 2 Cor. 1.8 2 Cor. 1.8 where the Apostle saith We tooke the sentence of death against our selves that is there was no way with us but one there was nothing but death presented to us the gastly face of destruction and desolation he speakes there as it is likely of this persecution But as I said before they fought not alway to death but some times for tryall and besides if Saint Paul had fought to death he could not after that have related this to us Therefore I come to the last opinion and as I take it the best because of some reverend translations to whom I incline more than to any thing which hath beene done in the Church these many yeeres which understand the end of it to be this After the manner of men that is to speake after the manner of men according as it is the Apostles phrase in many other places and a mans meaning may be the best knowne by his stile by observing his speech elsewhere a man may trace him the better afterward one place helpes to cleare another Now this in the Writings of Saint Paul is a common speech after the manner of men Rom. 3.5 Rom. 6.19 Rom 3.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I speake as a man And Rom 6.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 J speake after the manner of men and in divers other places I speake after the manner of men and although here be not the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet here is the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the same forme and phrase he useth there and so the Apostles meaning is this you know men have a forme of speech to call malitious and cruell men beasts and according to that forme I speake for my Lord and Saviour otherwise would not give me leave to speake so out of my owne spleene out of my owne passion to call men beasts for they are all my brethren and all must be imbraced in the bowels of love and in long suffering and patience
spirit but the body This is the great mercie and blessing of God that although the body be never so naked yet the promise of the Resurrection is made unto that For the spirit needs no Resurrection the spirit cannot rise for it never falleth And as Saint Chrysostome saith the Resurrection must be of that which fals but the spirit never fell otherwise then by sinne and it is not otherwise raised then by repentance a spirituall kinde of resurrection But the Apostle meddles not with that here but he cals it the resurrection of the body and he shews that this comfort the body hath that although it be never so poore and never so bare though it bee cast into the furrows of the earth never so forlorne and forsaken and be stripped of all the glorious weedes that it had before yet it hath a promise that it shall resume unto it its former glory nay a farre greater glory a glory that shall indure for ever Indeed the corne when it comes out of the earth againe it flourisheth for a time and then afterward is resolved into the old corne againe and becomes like it selfe all the greennesse and goodlines of it with two or three moneths drying Sunne fades away or with the blast of a tempest it perisheth But these bodies when they shall be raised againe God shall give them that singular beautie that he intends to bring them to hee shall give them that durability that duration that no winde shall weather-beat them no Sunne shall scorch them the Sunne shall not hurt them by day Psal 121.6 nor the Moone by night for the Lord is their protection and their candle for evermore 2. Part. Gods part I come now to the second part of the Text which is Gods part He denyes it to man and saith that he doth not sow that which shall be but he saith God gives it a body that is that body that God meanes to give it man doth not sowe actually How comes it then By the hand of him that guides and governs all things he gives to every seed a body as he pleaseth and to every seed his owne proper body Where first the Apostle would reduce the glory of all the action of this creation to God all the operation in this great worke it is of God And to make us to settle onely in that he useth a phrase that is most sweet and gentle when he saith God gives it a body He doth not say God creates and makes it a body for those are works of labour we understand and conceive alwayes by those works something that is painfull and hard to be gotten And although God take no paines in the worke of creation yet it is so propounded to us as a matter of great difficultie Therefore he tooke sixe dayes to make the world in to raise our intentions to understand the greatnesse of the worke and the order that God tooke it was not a confusion therefore hee did not all things at once as he might have done but in succession of time But I say those words when they are used in Scripture they are spoken still in the sence and notion of labour But the word giving is alway taken in another sence as a matter of facilitie and easinesse to shew both the quicknesse and facilitie and also the goodnesse of the giver So in this that hee saith that God gives it a body he shews that it is a customarie thing for him out of his hidden treasures still to draw forth and to poure downe his benefits upon mankinde with chearfulnesse and good will his minde is set to do it not onely to his friends but to his enemies Mat. 5.45 for he makes his Sunne to shine and his raine to fall upon the just and unjust and hee makes that corne to grow even the corne of Infidels as well as Christians So great is his goodnesse to mankinde Vse And withall in that he saith God gives it a body It should teach us alway to receive these creatures as gifts from God as earnests of Gods love unto us A man that useth these temporall things either hee must make them assurances of things eternall or else he must abuse them And being the gifts of God of whom we receive every thing therefore they must be used to the honour of God which is the donour Our bread and food and all the parts of our maintenance as they spring and issue from him so they should be returned to him with a retribution of thankfulnesse and a gracious conversation God gives it a body and to every seed his owne body This is the maine point with which the Apostle intends to comfort the present body that is afflicted in this world For there were certaine Heretiques that said there was one body that fel and another body that rose that there was one body that rotted and corrupted in the grave and instead of that God gave another body And so there was a kinde of mutation or substitution to let one body dye but another to be raised out of the ashes as the Phoenix is said to rise out of the ashes of her mother But it is not so saith the Apostle There is no substitution there is onely by the blessing of God a restitution of the same thing unto a higher and a better and a more beautifull estate There is not one body that dyes and another body that is raised for then there could be no resurrection For what kinde of victory can this be said to be over death if the same thing that was foyled and conquered be not conquerour againe by the powerfull hand of God Therefore Christ is so carefull to prove this point unto us that it was the same body of Christ that rose that suffered upon the crosse hee was so carefull I say that wee should know this that he ordained it so that Thomas should be so distrustfull that he should gage his wounds Joh. 20.27 and finde the print of the nayles that he might looke on them that he might touch them and handle them that he might see that it was the same identicall body that he had before he went to the grave For he foresaw that there would such a doctrine of devils arise in the latter end of the world to say that Christ both in his body personall and in his body mysticall that there was a mutation of bodies that one body should dye and another rise in the place of it But against this the Apostle saith He gives to every seed his owne body In the body of nature the corne doth oftentimes so degenerate that wheat will turne to barley and barley to oates the better corne will turne to worser by reason of the badnesse and hungrinesse of the ground or by reason of the weaknesse of the seed or the unseasonablenesse of the times or the indiligence of the husbandman These things oft times cause these mutations But in this seed our bodies
our heads Psal 104.1 God hath drawn out the heavens as a curtaine that it might be full of glorious starres and every starre gives a certaine document and lesson of this that he treats of the certaintie of the Resurrection So that there is no part of nature voyde but all proclaime this doctrine of the Resurrection And he proves that look what difference there is betweene the bodies that bee in heaven and those bodies that be here in earth the same difference there shall be betweene the bodies that shall be then and the bodies that are now And although there bee in some bodies that are in this world as in the bodies of Princes and the bodies of beautifull men and women a rare luster and a goodly glory a marvellous feature and a stampe of Gods Image incomparable yet in comparison of that which shall be it is nothing That body that shall be in the world to come doth as farre surpasse this whatsoever it bee suppose it the fairest and most delicate bodie in the world as the lightsome starres do passe the poorest stones on the earth or any common forme and figure in the earth is not so much transcended by the glory of the starres as the bodies in the Resurrection do transcend and surmount the glory of any thing that is seene here below This is the summe of the words Now that we may proceed in order First we are to consider Division into 2. comparisons how he draws this Argument from heavenly bodies and compares them with earthly bodies wherein he gives the preferment to the heavenly bodies in these words where he saith There is not the same glory to the one as to the other There is one glory of the heavenly and another of the earthly That is there is a farre inferiour glory of the earthly in comparison of that which is heavenly Then secondly he makes a comparison of the heavenly bodies among themselves that as there is great difference betweene the starres of heaven and the stones upon the earth so there is great difference betweene the starres of heaven one with another not onely being referred to the earth which can make no comparison with them but in comparison one with another as they are in heaven some of them being of one magnitude and some of another some of them being of one lustre and some of another there is great difference there also Some of the Fathers have understood this of the different state of glory that shall be in heaven In the first similitude they say the glory that shall be revealed upon the sonnes of God shall be as infinitely beyond all the glory that is now as the glory of the starres in heaven excels the glory here on earth And for the other point of difference in the starres themselves thereby is signified that the just shall all shine in heaven as starres but in a different manner as the starres do now One starre differeth from another in glory And so he concludes all this parable and similitude So is the resurrection of the dead That is even as we see these earthly things to be farre exceeded by the heavenly in all kinde of beautie in all kinde of glory in all kinde of durabilitie and in all kinde of qualities which are commendable so the Resurrection shall be That is the bodies that shall rise then shall farre exceed these that are now as farre as heavenly things exceed earthly things And even as now there is a difference betweene starres that all are not alike in glory and all have not a like lustre nor like power and influence so then in the Resurrection there shall be difference and degrees every man shall have enough yet notwithstanding every man shall not have the same Of these things briefly and in order as it shall please the Lord to give assistance And first concerning the nature of the Apostles Argument 1. Part or comparison hee takes it now from heavenly bodies The higher a man goes in the body of Nature the more he learnes and the better he seeth the worke of him that is the Author of nature the Creator himselfe There is a great mysterie great power of instruction in the works of God Rom. 1. The wisedome and majestie of God is seene in his works But then is he best seene when a man doth ascend and rise up the skale and proceed from lower works to higher For even as he that climbeth to the highest top of an hill may see the furthest off so hee that ascends in the works of God in the disposing of the world the more he advanceth the more clearly hee seeth and the greater revelation is made unto him All the works of God they are great masters and teachers unto us if we will learne any thing There is nothing so dull there is nothing so poore but it is able to teach us But yet among the rest there is nothing comparable to the heavens being the fairest booke and the goodliest volume wherein the glory of God is expressed above all other things As the Psalmist saith Psal 19.3 The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shew his handy worke There is no voyce nor language in the earth wherein the speech of heaven is not heard As there is no angle nor corner that is hidde from the light of the Sunne Vers 6. and from the heat and power of the Sunne but he searcheth it out so there is no man that is indewed with any sence but he is taught by that heat and light the greatnesse of the Almighty which these earthly things cannot attaine unto For they be restive and they be dull they be contained in their places they have not that diffused power and operation that the Sunne and the starres have to worke every where Therefore there is no worke of God more teaching and instructing then the booke of the heavens And therefore Saint Paul now makes his argument from the stronger that if our gardens could teach us and if our seeds could teach us if our fields could teach us and if our flesh can teach us even this flesh that we carry about us if these could teach us these things that are elementarie and sublunarie if these have a power of instruction no doubt then that golden booke that rare-volumne that is above that is written with so many starres as so many golden letters and so fairely written Hab. 2.2 that he that runnes may reade it no doubt I say but this is fuller of discipline and can much more easily draw the Schollar as containing in it more familiar precepts and more moving examples to winne us unto God His comparison here is taken in the name of bodies heavenly bodies and earthly bodies By heavenly bodies is meant the starres because they are created substances and not imaginarie things as the Philosophers would have them in their flattery and foolery they thought that the great men that
imagine that those bodies that dyed crooked shall rise crooked nor that those bodies that dyed weake and lame and yong shall rise so but God shall make a great variety there because he hath made a wondrous variety here There is one glory of the Sunne I will not shew my infancie in discoursing of these things but onely give a touch and so passe to the hypothesis where the Apostle saith so is the resurrection The glory of the Sunne is the greatest of all the glories in heaven all the created bodies we see are nothing comparable he is that great Gyant that God hath set in his chamber which is alway ready to runne his course Psal 19.5 The great messenger of the world which searcheth and vieweth and giveth intelligence of all nations and reports of them to God from whose heate there is no nation nor latitude of people can be hid his glory is this That he is both the chiefe of all the heavenly bodies and that this glory is his owne too First he is the chiefe you know as the Philosopher said well if it were not for the sunne whatsoever the Moone and Starres could doe we should have a continuall night For that is that great and mighty lampe of the world wherein God hath recollected and bound up all the body and bulke of light and it is of that unspeakeable beautie and of that rare excellency that all the stars in heaven borrow their light from thence so that it is the chiefest and the greatest And his owne light it is also he doth not take it from other starres as the rest doe derive their light from him but God tooke that light which he made the fourth day before for the light was the first thing that God made for a worke of distinction it was a chaos and confusion before but when the light was made the distinction did appeare and as a man cannot work without light so God describes himself unto us and therfore he made light for himselfe to worke by although indeed he be light it selfe 1 Tim. 6.16 and dwelleth in that light that none can attaine unto The Lord I say gathered that light which was in the creature before and put it into the body of the sunne and so made that light proper and peculiar to the sunne that he should have a power to diffuse and communicate his light to all the starres in heaven There is no starre that shines in his owne light but all the light they have they borrow it from the sunne because that God would bring all the light to one head and principle as all things doe depend and have their being in one God And this very beauty of the sunne which wee know is the greatest and the goodliest yet it is not alway alike but there is a difference in that too The sunne shines not so bright in the winter as hee doth in the summer because his beames in the winter be not so direct as in the summer and in the southerne parts of the world where the sunne is directly over the verticall poynt directly over their heads as they have more heate so they have a far greater light then we that have but an oblique or slant or side way beame their light is farre more For according to the nature of the beame so is the proportion of the light and heate in the winter lesse because the sunne is in a lower circle and though he be nearer the earth by his bodily presence yet he is further off by his power and operation and in summer when he seemes to be neare yet he is furthest off in body but is nearer by his operation because of the directnesse of his beame I say the Lord hath made a difference in the beate and light that is in the body of the sunne that there is one kinde of heate and light in summer and another kinde in winter So wondrous is God in making of difference and planting variety in every thing The second is the glory of the Moone There is another glory of the Moone The glory of the Moone we know how farre it comes short of the first of the glory of the sunne for it is neither a full glory neither is it her owne glory but that which it hath is derived from the body of the sunne and in the day time when the sunne is in his strength the Moone is like a cloud if it be then above our horison and when there is any shadow by the interposition of the earth the shadow of the earth doth so drowne her and so deprive her of the light of the sunne for the time that either totally or in so many parts she is utterly darkened And evermore one side of the Moone is blacke because of the distance of the sunne For that side which is next to the sunne is light and that side which is from the sunne is as a blacke cloud and according as it goeth further from the sunne or comes nearer to him because her motion is swifter than the sunnes for she doth that in a moneth which the sunne doth in a whole yeare because he is further off from the earth accordingly I say as she comes nearer to him or goeth further off so is her light sometimes she appeares to be halfe light sometimes full Moone and sometime againe nothing at all because the beames of our eye cannot discerne her when there is a meeting of the sunne and her body And yet wee may observe what a wondrous variety GOD hath given her that this which is the lowest and the meanest plannet in the heavens the meanest starre and the least of all others although it bee the least and the blackest and most unlightsome of all the rest yet the LORD doth by it as wondrous things as hee doth by all the starres of heaven nay he doth something more by it then he doth by the sunne it selfe For all the rising of waters all the ebbing and flowing of the sea all the motion of the bloud in the creatures all the guydance of the braine of man all the distemper of lunatiques and frantiques and whatsoever thing almost is in the trees in the vegitables or in the sencible things to be guided and governed they are dependent directly upon the regency of the Moone so that although it have a lesser light yet because it is nearer it hath a more wondrous operation Vse It teacheth us this lesson that although God have given lesser gifts to some men that although they be like the Moone in comparison of others that are like the sunne yet because they are nearer home because they looke to their charge because they keepe their flocke because they looke to their families that God hath put unto them even these men that have a weaker light they doe more good then those that are greater men that are further off that are carelesse and negligent therefore the Moone hath a greater operation being nearer
have imployed themselves in this world And there are divers similitudes that set out this in the Gospell Mat. 25. As of him that received ten talents and was made Lord of ten Cities Mat. 19.29 Of him that sowes plenteously and reapes plenteously whereas another soweth sparingly Of him that offers his bloud for the Lord Iesus Christ and receives an hundred-fold for it Of the Dâ—scâ—ples that shall be chiefe and prime in the kingdome of heaven Mat. 19.28 and sit upon twelve thrones to judge the twelve Tribes of Israel Luk 6.23 and that promise that the Lord makes Great shall your reward be in heaven There shall be a great reward for you therefore it seemes there shall not be so great a reward for other men as for the Apostles This joy is accidentall it happens to them because they have wrought in their callings because they have beene diligent in their places So the Schooles say a man of learning which is an accidentall thing for learning comes accidentally it is not a thing that is substantiall a man is â—ot borne with learning therefore they say according to the wisedome which a man hath used wel in this world hee shall be rewarded in heaven in a greater measure In respect of the substantiall joy he shall have all one penie with the rest but in respect of his accidentall joy honour for his wisedome and learning and for his almes-deeds which is by way of accident and so according to his workes he shall have a reward according to a mans works so shall his reward be This I take to be very true although I cannot well see how it should bee an infallible ground But we follow the Fathers direction Saint Austin speaking of the puritie of virginity Aug. of the professed virgins of his time well saith he those that shall come to the common immortalitie hereafter they shall have a great reward above the rest because they had something in the flesh which was not of the flesh they had something in the flesh which had no use or benefit of the flesh And in his 146. Epistle saith he If God have made all bodies visible and these visible bodies be so different each from other in distance of place in operation and power and in evidence much more must wee thinke he will make a difference at the day of the Resurrection And although all shall be as starres that shall shine in the firmament yet all shall not have one kinde of glory and of lustre Tertull. And Tertullian How shall there be many mansions in Gods house How doth Christ say In my Fathers house are many mansions Iob. 14.2 except it bee for the varietie of mens merits You must not be offended for this word merit for the Fathers in old time tooke it not in a proud sence but for the deeds done in the flesh whether good or evill So men should be rewarded according to their works or fruits they had done the Saints shall differ as one hath had greater works then another and greater deeds And Chrysostome brings this argument that unlesse this be granted that the Saints of God shall have a different portion of glory in the world to come and not be all alike it would make men that beleeve the Resurrection to be carelesse how they lived in good works or at least how they abounded in good works Because when a man once seeth salvation that it is common and that every man shall have as good a share in it as he he will not seek to be better then his fellow and so good works and almes-deeds would grow faint Therefore it is the best way to incourage them and to make them open and inlarge themselves to make them as capable as they can that God may fill them To this purpose the Fathers have a comparison of divers vessels that are cast into the water and all are filled a pottle is filled and a pint is filled and yet there is great difference every one hath as much as it can conteine but yet the pinte hath not so much as the pottle so the Saints of God they shall all be full of joy and full of glory but according to their capacitie the Lord shall fill them Therefore wee should make our selves large unto God that God may fill us to be large handed and large minded and large hearted to God this brings largenesse of glory and beauty and makes men principall starres in the firmament Theophilact brings another reason Theoph. which presseth better and urgeth further then this If we marke it saith he we see the damned in hell have a different torment therefore the Saints in heaven shall have a different glory The other is plaine by that saying where our Lord saith Matth. 11. It shall be easier for Sodome and Gommorrah then for that Citie which would not receive the Apostles and it should be easier for Tyre and Sydon then for Chorazin and Bethsaida they should have easier torment then those that despised the Gospell And therefore seeing there shall be an inequalitie of torment and that those that are cast away from the sight of God shall have a divers deformitie they shall all be deformed but some more then other there is more unworthinesse in some bodies according to the qualitie of their sinnes And so it follows on the contrary that the mercie of God shall bee opened and manifested in a greater measure upon one man then upon another according to the qualitie of their good conversation repentance and the good deeds that they have done in the flesh Saint Ambrose Ambrose also discoursing upon this argument Even as saith he out of one lumpe out of one piece and clod of clay God hath made all things but yet in a wondrous varietie For out of the water he hath taken all the brightnesse that is in this world the starres of heaven are bright because they are taken out of the water and the brightnesse of jemmes and pearles is out of the water mingled with earth and out of the earth comes all things that are obscure and darke so the Lord shall make out of this body out of one lumpe and masse a wondrous varietie At that day he shall make some as those that bring forth thirty fold others as those that bring forth sixtie and some as those that bring forth an hundred fold in an admirable difference and yet all shall have glory sufficient and in contentment and be full of glory The glory shall be full in it selfe although it shall not be so great as others And Saint Anselme Anselme saith clearly that there shall be one way for chastitie and puritie to shine for them that have lived chaste in wedlocke and another way for virginitie there shall bee one way for a man that gives little out of much and another way for him that like the poore widdow give as it were all that they have
live in sicknesse and at last to be swallowed up of death to come to rottennesse and putrifaction which is the naturall conclusion of all bodies that live in this world This course God hath appointed first and then upon this God will make his power glorious to bring the body from dust and filth and rottennes to be spirituall to bring it to sweetnesse and glory and beauty this is his order Therefore first they are naturall bodies miserable and weak and obnoxious and then the Lord will supervestire he will invest them with that glory and incorruption which is promised to us in Christ So much for that point the truth of the proposition and the order Now for the comparison of the two heads and fountaines they are laid downe 2. Part. The comparison of the two Adams as the causers of all this Why is this so that there is first the naturall and then the spirituall because God would have Adam the naturall man to come first and Christ the Spirituall man to come last that the one should be the first of men the other the last and that they two should carry the keyes of these closets and treasures the one of corruption the other of incorruption Therefore from them depends all the reason of the former proposition First it is to be observed that hee saith a man First in respect of their order and succession first and last and a man It is spoken of Christ that hee is a man as well as of Adam so that they were both men of the same nature and substance nay the second Adam was the sonne of the first For wee see St. Luke in his Genealogie Luke 3. Luke 3. brings Christ from Adam Which was the sonne of Adam which was the sonne of God So that Manicheus and Valentinus and Martianus have taught us blasphemous doctrines in former times and so have the Swenck-Feldians which have received their errour of late All these are from hence condemned For as Tertullian Tertull. saith Why is Christ called the second man except hee were as true a man as the first therefore of the nature of Adam was the Lord Christ made even by deduction of nature and by a line infallible to the Virgin Mary Although by reason of the sanctifying of the bloud of which his blessed body was to be made and because that there was no intervention of the help of man he is not to be ranked in the common generation of man-kinde for he was not borne as they that are borne of women that is after the naturall ordinary course but by the over-shadowing of the holy Ghost Therefore in this regard hee is greater and far above Adam but concerning the materiall part of his body which hee tooke of the Virgin hee was the son of Adam and so the second man or the last Adam not because hee was the last of all men Iesus Christ hath been many years since in the flesh but because he was to put an end to the state of all things that there should be no new state after the comming of Christ expected Before Christ there was the state of nature of the law of the separation of the Iewes and Gentiles there were divers kinds and degrees but now he is come all the former states of nature and the law are no more to be recapitulated and there is no difference between the Iew and the Gentile Colos 3.11 bond and free male and female but all are one in Christ Iesus Againe Christ is called the last Adam because he saith of himselfe Revâ—l 1.8 that hee is Alpha and Omega he is Alpha in respect of his Deity and he is Omega in respect of his humanity and hee is both Alpha and Omega both first and last in regard that hee is coequall and coeternall with God the Father For as he is God he is Alpha the beginning of all things created he is the first borne of all creatures Colos 1.15 and as hee is Omega he is the last conclusion and end of the Alphabet that there is no more state no more sacrifice no more law no more new to be expected in the world But that which a Christian is to betake him to he must have it in Christ or not at all and all other are deceived that seeke for any other name than that Acts 4 24. for there is no other name under heaven whereby we may be saved This is the first difference in their order The second 2. In respect of their places earth heaven is in respect of the places from whence they were descended The first man is from the earth earthly The second man is the Lord himself from heaven heavenly The places from whence they come are earth and heaven and there is no greater difference can be in all the things in nature Wee cannot say that there is any thing more distant than these two nor any thing more contrary than these two the one being the fountaine of light the other being the receptacle of darknesse The one being the spring of all actions the other being a meerely passive and dull substance The one being the cause impressive the other being the cause receptive The one being the originall and fulnesse of every thing that is good the other being participant as much as it is capable of it For so much as the supreame cause works upon it so much it is prospered by it The one being alway moving and stirring and whirling about the other being restive and not able to stirre out of its place There is nothing more contrary than heaven and earth and such is the deduction of these two prime causes But how was Adam earthly more then Christ Christ had a body of the Virgin and so he was of the bowels of the earth as well as Adam And how was Christ more heavenly and spirituall then Adam had not he a soule and spirit as well as Christ how can these things consist For the first you must understand that the Apostles meaning is where hee saith that Adam was from the earth that is as much as to say his chiefe powers and abilities were still inclined to the earth that he was fraile that hee was made in a condition to goe back againe to the earth that was his destiny and hee had a law imposed upon him to dig and delve the earth and therefore he is said to be of the earth Not because hee had not a soule from heaven for hee had a soule from heaven as well as Christ had but because he was drawne by his inferiour part by his body which was his earthly part because hee was drawne by that from the contemplation of heavenly things and had rather to take an apple with his wife than to follow the justice and uprightnesse of God because hee declined to the earth and base things and left the Creator for a poore creature and because hee left the unchangeable good
I look for my change as well as another man As Iob Iob 14.1 saith All the dayes of my life will I looke for my change So the Apostle saith every man must look for this that he may be prepared For perhaps I may be the last man perhaps the trumpet may sound to night before to morrow for there is no man knowes when the day of doome shall be It is reserved in the bosome of God alone and we are alway to looke for his comming because we know not when he will come whether at midnight Marke 13.5 or at the dawning of the day Therefore wee should alwayes be ready with our lamps lighted and our loynes girded that we may be prepared when the Bridegroome commeth to enter into the Kingdome Mat. 25. Thus the Apostle saith we shall be changed He speaks as if hee should be one of them although long since he were interred in the earth yet because hee knew not his owne dissolution or the destruction of the world when it should be therefore he had it in perpetuall memorie Wee shall not all sleepe but we shall all be changed And what is this change 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how death is called a sleepe I have told you heretofore and I will not repeat it now We shall be changed that is in quality for so the word signifieth even an altering of the quality not a changing of the substance For the same body that suffered death for sinne the same body shall be glorified by the grace and favour of God As sin came upon it to doe it to death so the grace of God shall overflow it to bring it to life For where sin hath abounded grace shall super abound Rom. 14.20 If therefore the sinne of Adam were able to mortifie all to their graves much more shall the grace of Christ be able to quicken all his to life everlasting Therefore I say we shall be changed meaning as concerning the qualities not concerning the substance For that body which was once the Temple of the holy Ghost shall never cease to be the Temples of the holy Ghost and those parts that felt misery by Adams sinne they shall feele sweetnesse of grace by the bounty that shall be revealed through Christ Iesus our Lord. We shall all be changed This change how it shall be made and in what degrees I have partly spoken of it before The Apostle delivers it unto us when hee said It is sowne in weaknesse it is raised in strength It is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption It is sowne a mortall or naturall body but it riseth a spirituall body It is sown in dishonour it riseth againe in honour These are the manners of the change which having heretofore stood upon I will not now repeat The change therefore shall be in those foure noble qualities which the Apostle formerly described unto us And this change shall be wrought by the omnipotencie of God upon a matter that wee would think could not indure such a strange operation as that is But the Lord is able to command light to come out of darknesse and hath wrought by meane things in the world the great impressions of his power Hee therefore is able to work upon this weak body and to set upon it the stamp of incorruption of glory of immortality and of strength Hee is able to doe it and his power will doe it according to his gracious promise We shall all be changed All we saith the Apostle chiefly this change shall be upon the Saints of God but yet it shall not be so restrained to them but that in part it shall extend to all men I told you in the opening of the Text that the Reprobates shall have their part in this change for their bodies shall be made uncorrupt and immortall but not to glory and beauty not to comfort and consolation as the bodies of the Saints shall but to extremity and misery Like as a brick which lies in the fire continually and is alway burning and yet never consumed or as that Axbestam which the Philosopher speaks of which is not consumed but is able continually to abide the fire so the bodies of those that doe â—ot feare the Lord and worship him the earthly tabernacles of theirs shall be made durable of paine but not capable of honour and glory They shall be made capable of no comfort and yet they shall not be spoyled and consumed by any paine and sorrow that shall lie upon them This change therefore Vse we must desire the Lord that it may be for the better and not for the worse That seeing there shall and must be a change of these bodies that it would please the Lord to change us from these frailties and miseries that we now live in to the blessed joy and hope which he hath called his children unto And that wee may be capable of this we must desire God to make a change of us in this life for the Lord shall change all things hee is the changer of us he is unchangeable himselfe all things else he shall change Psal 102. Thou shalt change the heavens and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy yeares never faile So that the Lord being onely immutable and the same for ever it is hee that works the change upon all things Wee see in the common course of our life what changes hee works in our ages hee changes childhood to youth and that to manhood and thence to old age A strange and various change In our Climates there is Winter and Summer there is day and night there is stormy and faire weather Wondrous changes bee also in matters politique and civill he turnes warre into peace he changeth peace into warre it is he that suffers Nation to rise against Nation all the changes in the world come from God So wee must imagine in our bodies that shall be changed that all shall be wrought by his owne hand Vse This must teach us first to desire God to make a happy change in our soules before hee make the change in our bodies For there can never be a comfortable change in any mans body except first there be a precedent and a president change in the soule For except the soule be changed from worse to better from wickednesse to holinesse of life it is impossible for a man to looke for a good change of his body where there is no precedent change in his soule Therefore while wee are in this life wee are to looke for this change If the Lord change thy soule from sinfulnesse to holinesse thou maiest bee sure thy body also shall bee changed to happinesse and immortality and glory If thy soule be not changed but thou art worse and worse verily thou shalt have a change in the Resurrection but it shall bee unto dismalnesse to fearefulnesse and to distraction so that a man had better never have beene borne than to be
and difficult is more easily atchieved and effected by the hand of God And he proves it out of Matth. 9.5 Mat. 9.5 where our Lord discoursing with the Pharisees when they had said who can forgive sinnes he askes them whether it were easier to say to the sicke of the Palsie take up thy bed and walke or to say thy sinnes are forgiven thee where our Lord clearely gives us to understand that it is a harder matter and a more powerfull thing to say thy sinnes are forgiven thee then to give limbs to him to walke and to take up his bed and goe his way For sicknesses are the punishments of sinne and the Lord removing that once he takes away the cause which is greater than the effect But although this be followed with so many so great and so worthy Interpreters yet me thinkes it hath no congruity with the purpose of the Apostle in this place for as I said before the Apostles meaning is not here to instruct us in the renovation of the soule of newnesse of life in holinesse and sanctification but to tell us of the resurrection of the flesh that is his chiefe argument the maine point he insisteth precisely upon Therefore to say to be baptised for dead is to be baptised for the name of a dead Christ it is too farre fetched and I cannot see how it can be brought in Therefore without prejudice to these glorious and goodly writers we proceed to further examination of these words There be some others that cannot indure what hath beene said before but they must devise trickes of their owne They say Saint Paul alludes to the Leviticall Law Numb 19. Numb 19. when a man had touched any dead carkasse he was to be cleansed before the even but suppose say they that the man dyed by casualty before night before he could come to the Priest before he could have gotten the matter of his purification what was then to be done Then say they his neighbour was to be cleansed for him and so they fall upon an opinion before named But what is their purpose certainly to bring in prayer for the dead because they thinke that as there was baptisme for the dead so there should be prayer for the dead And if the one fall to be so the other must needs be so too For I rather thinke that there should be prayer for the dead than that there should be baptising for them to speake in a sacramentall sence They doe it to bring in their superstitions of holy-water and sprinkling the graves and sepulchers and coffins of dead persons thereby to make them more pure before God and that which is more ridiculous that the Priest should undertake in times past and it may be now too in our times when he was sent for to a sicke body to give him the host and that the party were dead before he came he in the presence of the company was to eate it for him that was deceased and thought that that would be availeable to him for the forgivenesse of his sinnes and for the receiving him into heaven These things have no ground nor warrant neither in this Epistle nor in the old Law There is no such thing that there was any such purification by a proxie but it was alway done in a mans owne person and there was no friâ—nd admitted in any such action Therefore in that devise they make one lye to salve another as their custome is in other of their proceedings Further there is yet another opinion that saith that baptising for the dead it is meant of those that came and offered themselves voluntarily to afflictions and persecution And this is more neare the point for indeed in the Scripture it is a most usuall and common saying to call afflictions by the name of baptisme So Math. 20. Math. 20. Mark 9. Mar. 9. when the sonnes of Zebede come to our Lord and desire a boone of him requesting that one of them might sit at his right hand and the other at his left in his kingdome Christ answers them againe that they knew not what they asked And he proceeds further saith he Can ye drinke of that Cup whereof I shall drinke and can ye be baptised with the baptisme that I shall be baptised withall and they answer againe they could Christ tels them again that indeed they should drinke of that cup and be baptised with that baptisme but to sit at his right hand and at his left c. where we may see he speakes of the baptisme of fire and trouble and persecution That which is intended in those words the same also by comparison may be taught here and interpreted in this place They that are baptised for dead that is those that scorned their lives that cared not for them those that were ready to drinke the cup of Christ that were ready to throw themselves into danger for the glory of their Lord and Master To what end are they thus forward if there be no resurrection from the dead There be many things that favour this interpretation as the sequell that followes in the next words Where the Apostle saith why are we in danger or jeopardie every houre if the dead rise not as if he would bring the argument from abroad home to himselfe and then the sence of the place is this To what purpose doe men adventure their lives and cast themselves into apparant danger of death except they have a certaine hope of the resurrection to life and that that God that takes away their life now can give it them againe with advantage in the world to come This is true but whether it be fully proper or no to rest in this baptisme as absolute I thinke it lyes not in any mans power by any strong and full authority to determine It is true our Lord saith Luke 10. Luke 10. I have a baptisme to be baptised with and how am I pained till it be past Where he meanes in the same sence the baptisme of affliction For a man in affliction is as it were a dead man a man in prison as though he were in the bottome of the water in another element when there is persecution and trouble on every side But yet there is another opinion which shall be the last that at this time I will trouble you withall that is of Beza Beza and others that hold with him that all this that is spoken of baptisme here is not meant of any sacramentall washing but as the word is often used for a legall washing and purifying common and ordinary at the carrying forth of the dead as in Heb. 9. Heb. 9. there are many washings and the word is thus used in divers places in the Gospell As where Christ saith the Scribes and Pharisees when they come from the market they baptised their hands and they baptised their Cups and their Platters and Dishes It is the same word there and it signifieth
mirth But the children of God have another promise Whether this be the true sence of S. Paul or that of the cup of persecution they are almost both coincident and one of these certainely is Saint Pauls reason For he speakes of some singular persons all were not ready to offer themselves for Christ but hee speakes of a singular company that were different from the common sort of men Certainly wee must take it in one of these two sences And for that of Beza though it be true and have some force in it yet Saint Paul seldome insists upon the weake actions of men It is true that which men doe publiquely it comes to have the nature of a law in it and this hath beene a publique thing in all nations to honour the going of their friends out of the world therefore Saint Paul might have drawne a good argument from that if he used such in other places But because we finde not that therefore we cannot settle upon this His manner is not to fashion himselfe to the world or to the actions of men to draw things of such weight as these especially from heathen and simple men that did that which it may be they had no reason for And besides it is no argument to prove the resurrection from the dead although a childe of God understand and God hath put into their hearts good affections because these vessels these parties are not dead but sleepe therefore God teacheth them to honour the ashes of his Saints because they have hope in Christ but to say that the world and all mankinde dreames of a resurrection because they honour their friends departed this doth not argue For they may doe it to their friends out of love or out of fondnesse or for fashion to shew their gallantry or the like I will not contradict that learned man but yet I thinke that which is most agreeable here to Saint Pauls great spirit is that opinion about the cup of affliction Those that gave themselves freely to persecution to stoning to sword to banishment to affliction as the Apostle speaks in another place men that are alway working upon their owne passions and lusts this I take to be the proper sence To what end doe these men macerate their bodies and trouble themselves by mortification and by yeelding themselves to persecution and sword if they be not fulfilled with a lively hope of the resurrection In that sence the argument thence drawne teacheth us thus much That whatsoever action or president Gods children and Saints have given in this world they are all of them of singular and excellent use to prove the glory of God in this article of the resurrection I say the president of Gods Saints in former times and of those in our times that are before our eyes they are arguments invincible and we should not offer to cast any scruple against the power and validity of them There be a company of men that will follow none but themselves under pretence of following none but Christ whereas indeed they follow none lesse than Christ in presuming to follow him alone without any other they follow none at all Christ is then followed when he is followed in his members as well as in himselfe therefore the Apostle bids us be followers of him as he is of Christ It is true the point of proofe and imitation it rests not in man as he is man but as he is a follower of God So farre we must take the force of the argument as it hath a higher reference and relation unto God which is the Prince of reason and the ground of all demonstration Therefore he that neglects and condemnes the presidents of Martyrs in former times or of the ancient Fathers or our precedent Fathers that lived in the dayes of persecution that suffered fire and banishment from their Country for Christ he that cals these things idle fopperies or weake infirmities without any ground or reason or that they were deceptions of stubborne flesh that dyed for the maintenance of erronious opinions he that speakes thus blasphemously against the honour of Gods holy presidents he pluckes the argument out of Saint Pauls hand and makes it nothing worth For so might the Corinthians have answered the Apostles argument that they would not be ruled by any man but by Christ they would have none over them but Christ they would have no president but God they would have no direction but Gods wayes and as for men they are but men and to be no further followed then they follow God But Saint Paul he raiseth a mighty argument from them and so in other places he saith Observe and walke as you have seene us walke and observe them that are as lights before you that are as lights shining in a darke generation The children of God are borne for example and either they winne men by their rare and excellent accommodation to God or else they stop their mouthes for ever that they shall have nothing to say at the day of judgement because they have had such examples before them and had no hearts to follow them All the presidents of Gods Saints in former times if they be followed they further our salvation but if they be neglected they shall fall heavy upon us to our condemnation All things that were done before were done for our learning and for our sakes as whatsoever was written before time Rom. 15.4 was written for our learning to confirme and strengthen us and build us up in our most holy faith Let us glory in this let us study the history of the Martyrs that have beene before us After this manner Christ comforted his Apostles saying Rejoyce and be glad in that day Math. 5.12 for great is your reward Why should they rejoyce because so they persecuted the Prophets before you so the example of those that have beene before us are convincing arguments to us The God of glory and peace that hath given us so many rare examples before us give us power to follow them Amen FINIS 1 COR. 15.29.30 What shall they doe that are baptised for the dead if altogether the dead rise not why are they baptised over the dead and why are we in danger and jeopardy every houre THis is one of Saint Pauls difficult and hard places which Saint Peter puts us in minde of 2 Pet. 3.16 2 Pet. 3.16 saith he In Pauls Epistles there are certaine things that are hard to be understood which the reprobates doe wrest as they doe the rest of the Scriptures to their owne damnation But this Text which is so difficult and hard may be best explained and expounded by the context by the sence that followes after August Saint Austin gives us a Rule when saith he I finde the Scriptures darke and obscure then I looke to the scope and purpose and drift of them and surely it seemes that these latter words which I have now read to you Wherefore are
I have fought with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men what avayleth it if the dead rise not Why should I cast my selfe into these dangers why should I indure them any longer why should I not at the first grapling with the troubles of this life betake my selfe to that more sure and easie condition But because the Church before mee hath done thus therefore I follow her steps I see what Iohn Baptist hath suffered I see what Iames the brother of Iohn hath indured I see what the Innocents have undergone I see what the blessed Martyr Stephen hath suffered All these in great tranquillity of spirit have yeelded their soules to God And the Prophets in former time I see they have suffered for the same profession that I now have taken upon me for their doctrine was the same they all poynted to Christ they all preached the doctrine of the Resurrection therfore as the Church in generall hath gone before and all the Colledge of Apostles in particular have traced after I also will personally insist in their steps 2 Tim. 1.12 and follow too I know whom I have beleeved I have laid up my trust in his hand that will not deceive me therefore I am assured there shall be a Resurrection of this flesh of this body that hath suffered so many torments for the cause of Christ it shall be againe invested with so many notes of glory and happinesse as it hath indured miseries and torments and that according to the multitude of my sorrowes so shall my consolations abound in Christ This I take to be the summe and sence of this Text. But it is intricate to consider the many sences that are given of it which notwithstanding we may not neglect any of them for then wee shall slight the grace of God which hath alway beene various in his Church We ought therefore to view every thing to prove all things as the Apostle saith 1 Thes 5.21 and keepe that which is best and most firme and sollid Augustne As Saint Austin saith God would have his Scriptures to bee hard and difficult and full of divers sences because hee would have no idle fellowes to come unto it because he would rouse up the diligence of his children The Lord doth not take away the proper sence of the Scriptures from them that are studious and diligent and carefull but onely hee shuts up the sence from negligent and carelesse men but he opens it againe to those that knocke as Christ saith Knocke and it shall be opened unto you Therefore first we are to consider the great and maine difficulty of the Text in the interpreting of those two words which are diversly taken Exposition of the words First what it is the Apostle meanes when he saith He fought with beasts Secondly what it is hee saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after men or after the manner of men And though the divers editions and translations have reconciled them to our hand yet there is nothing so authenticall but a man may give another exposition as good and as full of authority as that And then after the exposition we are to come to The description of this trouble Division 1 What it was and 2 Where it was What it was that it was such a kinde of trouble as was to death and to very destruction in the judgment of man as it appeares plainely by this and by that in 2 Cor. 1.8 where the Apostle makes a relation of it 2 Cor. 1.8 And then where it was at Ephesus the most ingenious place in the world where the divell had set his throne in the greatest triumph As it is said Rev. 2 I know thy dwelling Apoc. 2.13 where Sathans throne is there was Dyana's temple the most famous Idoll in the world the throne of Sathan Acts 19.35 was there more conspicuously then any where else therefore it was most likely that there should be the greatest persecution where men were most of all corrupted and infected with Idolatry And then lastly to gather the force of the argument if there be no Resurrection what doth it profit me that I have fought with beasts at Ephesus As if he should have said he is a mad man and a foole that will cast himselfe into danger without profit The great adventurers of the world they still propose to themselves ends of profit to what good to what end things may be it is that which sets all mens wits on worke it is that which commands the lives and labours of men to farre and forraine Countries and he that workes without an end without apparant profit he is of all men the most franticke therfore so must I be saith the Apostle if there be no Resurrection To what profit is it that I have fought with beasts If there be not some profit but that I have exposed my selfe to danger onely to get me a name I were of all others the most furious and mad but God forbid that the Church before me or the Apostles with me or I my selfe should bee thus deluded to throw our selves into hazard to have no profit to have no meanes to comfort our selves after our trouble to have nothing for our labour God forbid we should be so insensate Therefore because we doe thus and are assured of Gods promise that we shall have a reward and an abundant recompence therefore as sure as God liveth we shall not loose our labour there shall be a Resurrection for so the Apostles argument is framed If there be no Resurrection then why doe I take this paines and if I take this paines for no profit then I and the rest of the faithfull that suffer are mad and furious men but we are not mad nor furious but are indued with the spirit of God and we know what we doe wee know whom we have trusted 2 Tim. 1.12 and therefore wee are certaine of an abundant recompence This is the summe and ground of the argument and these are the branches of the Text. Of these in order as the spirit of God shall assist me And first for that the Apostle saith If I have fought with beasts A great many sound Divines hold it true in the letter that Saint Paul was obiected to beasts and was constrained to fight with them for the saving of his life You shall understand that among the severall torments the Church of God was subject unto by persecutors this was one kinde to make the people sport by setting two or three of the Saints of God upon a stage where there were so many Panthers Leopards Lyons or Beares and there they were to tugge for their lives We see in the Churches History this hath beene alway one kinde of their persecution We see it also of ancient time In the time of Daniel King Darius Dan. 6.16 upon the instigation of his Lords cast Daniel into the Denne and it is said the Lyons were famished a long time
I must labour to bring them in and call them home if they be bruitish already I must seeke to make them men to reduce them backe againe But especially I speake according to the custome of men for your sakes for your weakenesse for your better understanding that you may know the greatnesse of my trouble which I sustained at Ephesus I speake after the manner of men as they use to call wicked men beasts so give me leave also to call these who have made themselves so by their malice and persecution 2 Where the place was Concerning the place it was at Ephesus and when this persecution was there is great dissention among Writers some thinke it to be that persecution that Saint Luke mentions Acts 19.24 Acts 19. Paul being at Ephesus and preaching against Idolatry there riseth up Demetrius the silver Smith and all the trade comes with him he being as it were the Master of his Company he brings his livery after him a whole army of divellish beasts were raised against Paul Demetrius being the principall man that led all the heard after him and so the whole forrest was in a tumult and uproare Tertul. Beza So Tertullian and Beza after him with divers other of the Fathers But certainly this cannot be so for we reade that Saint Luke sets it downe directly that Saint Paul as soone as he had received that affront at Corinth that great danger when Sosthenes was beaten and that Gallio cared for none of these things Acts 18.17 he after a while quitted the Citie and went from Ephesus to Macedonia Acts 18.18.19 and it is certaine when Saint Paul wrote this he was at Ephesus and saith he will stay there till Pentecost 1 Cor. 16.8 as he saith Cap. 16.8 Therefore it cannot be that hee speakes of that sedition that Demetrius raysed against him that being the last period of his stay at Ephesus he went thence presently upon it he knew that Christ gave him a commission when they persecuted and beate him away Math. 10.14 to shake the dust off his feete against them Therefore this cannot be admitted Another Company expound it thus that it was the trouble that happened to him from the sonnes of Sceva Acts 19.16 Acts 19.16 And the sonnes of Sceva cast out divels in the name of Iesus whom Paul preached There were seven sonnes of Sceva and they tooke upon them to cast out divels and the manner of their conjuration was this We adiure you by IESVS Acts 19.13 whom Paul preacheth to come forth Verse 14. Now the divell replyed Iesus I know and Paul I know but who are ye and so he ranne upon them and prevailed against them and tare and rent them Hereupon some thinke the sons of Sceva raised persecution against him of envy because they suffered that great hurt by the divell But this is more uncertaine then the former It cannot be thus for we know that the sonnes of Sceva invocated the name of Christ and nominated Christ whom Paul preacheth wherein they shewed themselves rather friends and allies to Paul then enemies and so we have a direct rule and Canon of Christ Math. 10. Matth. 10. his Disciples tell him We saw one casting out divels in thy name and we forbade him saith Christ to them Forbid him not for he that is with mee is not against me Where Christ gave them to understand that as long as any man although hee were not of their company and Colledge yet as long as he profest the name of Christ and did their miracles in his name they were with him and not against him and though the sonnes of Sceva miscarried in their desire of lucre and that they did not their miracles for the good of the Church yet they pretended friendship to Saint Paul rather then any adverse disposition Therefore I say this cannot be But we must understand it of the totall troubles that hee found at Ephesus which hee expresseth 2 Cor. 1.8 2 Cor. 1.8 Brethren saith he I would not have you ignorant of the pressures and troubles that wee sustained in Asia how we were pressed and urged above strength that we even despaired of life in our owne selves This desperate life he was cast into by the malice of the men of Ephesus that studied Idolatry and for their Idoll Diana and would therefore have beate downe and destroyed Paul and the doctrine of Christ This sedition that they moved against him he cals fighting with beasts And so wee must take the sence to be this that seeing you know that at Ephesus I had such a world of adverse powers against me that I was pressed above measure urged and crushed even to death that I received the sentence of condemnation against my selfe 2 Cor. 1.9 that I thought there was no way for me but to bee devoured as with the teeth and fury of so many wilde beasts If you have heard of it or if you know it you may imagine that I have some reason to undergoe these troubles For I brought them upon mine owne head I might have avoyded them if I would but I would not doe it because of that abundant reward and consolation of Christ which shall raise this my body So that all the teeth of beasts shall not offer me more wrong and injury in tearing it then Christ shall give it honour and glory in saving it after it hath beene thus deformed and so he shall give honour to that part which most lacked which hath most suffered here 1 Cor. 12.24 For this cause I am thus ready to undergoe these dangers and to encounter againe with beast after beast as they shall bee singled out against me that drinking of that cup of affliction here I may receive that eternall cup of thanksgiving in the world to come This should teach us to conclude all in a word that we ought not to despise the passions of Gods children Vse It is a great misery that the world is usually blinded withall Whatsoever a man suffers they thinke he suffers it as a guilty person they take him as a malefactor and it is enough that hee is in misery to prove him also to bee in fault By this meanes there should no substantiall argument bee drawne from the martyrdome of Gods Saints for of all men to flesh and bloud and common sence they are most miserable and wretched and pronounced guilty at every tribunall and are accounted the malefactors of the world the plagues of the earth such as brought barrennesse upon the earth and other plagues from God because men were not enlightened by the spirit of grace therefore they fell to the condemnation of the righteous which is the greatest plague in the world to condemne the righteous for woe to them that call light darkenesse and darkenesse light Esay 5.20 Let us therefore have speciall regard when we see troubles fall upon men to keepe an upright heart to
drawes the ruine of the whole man after it Therefore saith the Apostle Be not deceived goe not out of the way but such words as these drive you out of the way they tell you lyes they leade you into the broad way and you must seeke the narrow way for although the broad way have better passage at the first yet there is nothing but brambles and downefals at the conclusion The wayes that God hath chalked out to us in his word and by common sence and reason from these we must not erre because we know not whether ever God will give us that mercy to call us into them againe or no. So let me say to you as the Apostle saith here Be not deceived Looke to your judgements looke to your affections they are alway ready to deceive they are alway ministring matter of errour and seduction they are meere seducers he that guides without God he is no guide but a misguider and he that leades without God he is no leader but a misleader Take heed what thou thinkest lest thy thoughts deceive thee take heed what thou speakest lest thy words intangle thee take heed what thou doest lest thy bad practise and evill conditions at the last bring thee into by-wayes and pitfals of destruction that thou canst make no deliverance of thine owne soule And then againe the Apostle would teach us this that these very necessary things give us occasion of much errour Who would thinke that a man should erre in these these are the plainest wayes that any man can take For what way can a man take to save his life but by eating and drinking in convenient time and season And yet there is errour in these things too Now then God be mercifull to us for all the rest if such grosse errours be incident to the necessaries of our life what shall we say to the superfluities of it if our meate and drinke be snares and pitfals to drive us out of the way of life eternall what is our money what is our malice what is our quarrelling what our proud and haughty conceits against other men what are all our superfluities that wee give our selves to in this life but meere hels and distractions and professions of our owne damnation We are subject to erre in things necessary for what so necessary as eating and drinking and if we erre in these things necessary much more in our superfluities much more in our garish apparell in our haughty countenance in our ambitious carriage of our selves in the world in hunting after preferments and honours we may ruinate and breake our neckes for ever there for these are superfluities It is not needfull to goe garishly it is not needfull to have haughty supercilious lookes above our brethren behold we may be damned in things necessary much more in our superfluities Therefore be not deceived There is errour in the very meate and drinke we take Rom. 11.9 as the Apostle saith Let their table be made a snare If our table be made a snare what are the rest of our affaires what are our shops what are our great bagges put to usury what is our bribing and feeing what is our lawing with our brethren what is our slandering and seeking the states and lives of others what gins are these If our table be a snare what are these riches of mammon the professed weapons of the divell flagges of defiance to all charity these are snares indeed a man that walkes in these he goes in the middest of snares so the Prophet Hosea saith Ye walk in the middest of snares that is they still intangle others and themselves For there is no man that can slander his brother but first he indangereth his owne soule to the divell There is no man that persecutes his brother but first he himselfe is reiected of God So he thinkes he is onely a snare to other men and yet he is intangled in his owne devices God makes that net which he hath devised to insnare himselfe in even that net he set to intrap others We see what a care we should have of these meane things meate and drinke there is great matter of errour in them we may be deceived by them and so led in by-wayes that we never come againe into the way of salvation Now it remaines to come to the proofe and demonstration of this which the Apostle brings out of a Poet for the words following are the verse of a Poet. The Apostle is so far from being ashamed to name a Poet as that he doth it three or four times in his writings to teach us that there is use of humane secular learning in matters of divinity But this I must refer to the next time FINIS 1 COR. 15.33 Be not yee deceived evill words corrupt good manners THese words are a counter-poyson against the former suggestion pretended in the person of an Epicure Let us eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye Those words are full of infection and therefore they are in a figure brought in by Saint Paul as serving his turne to prove that if there were no Resurrection of the body then he accounts the Epicures good and sensible men to take their time While they might have it For he that lookes for no portion after this life there is no reason but he should take it some where and therefore he must have it in this life But now because all men abhorre the doctrine of the Epicures that the prime and chiefe good should be in pleasures in eating and drinking therefore the Apostle puts it in onely by way of scorne Yet shewing that the Corinthians were more senselesse than those Epicures because it is to no purpose for a man to abdicate himselfe from the pleasures of the worâ—d if there be no hope of a Resurrection But because it might be offensive to Christian eares to bring in that poysonous speech of the Epicures he now qualifies it and gives an antidote against it in these words Be not deceived evill words corrupt good manners And every man should have a speciall care of his manners they being the glory of a man And these words that are spoken in disgrace of the Resurrection by drawing men to enjoy the pleasures of this present life as though there were no life after this all words that tend to this purpose are venemous speeches infectious language and corrupt the faith of men corrupt the hope and corrupt the whole life of a man For none are of a more corrupt life then those that thinke there is no life after this and thereupon give themselves liberty and let loose the reynes to all kinde of impiety lasciviousnesse and loosenesse even because they have no hope in God concerning those things that are reposed for the righteous in Iesus Christ So that here is first to be considered Division into the Apostles purpose and his reason the Apostles Purpose that he would not have us be seduced Be not deceived
for the eares Those that were wrastlers and fought with the club they were armed with these Amphitedes which were made of some hard matter that so they might keepe the blow from their eares that upon the sudden they might not be stounded and dazelled and struck downe but might stand the longer in the fight Therefore they had these Amphitedes about their eares when they fought at the club And saith Plutarch these ought every yong man to take as a speciall munition against evill speeches For there is no blow either with staffe or club that afflicts the body or so stounds the braine of a man as evill and wicked speeches infect the soule Therefore the best way is to deeme such speeches base and impious to turne the eares from them and to give no audience to them For there is nothing in them but mischiefe the mouthes of wicked men being nothing but as the rawe graves as the Prophet saith Psal 5.9 Their throat is an open sepulchre that as the grave where a corps hath been lately buried being newly raved in there will a filthy vapour stench exhale and come forth to the danger of all the standers by so the throats of evill men their wicked speeches are as a raw grave sepulchre which when it begins to be opened let all the company runne away as fast as they can for there is a deadly stench that will infect them Their throat is an open sepulcher they breathe out the blasts of death of filthinesse and corruption And now he proceeds further and tels them that if they enter into the substance of the things which those men speake they are meere idle dreames of a drunken man their speech and communication is the most sencelesse of all other Therefore he saith Awake ye drunkards to justice or righteousnesse Shewing that all those words that are any way against God and his power and glory in the Resurrection what discourse soever it be that cals that in question it is nothing else but as Saint Basil Basil cals it the meere dreame of a drunken man It is an idle thing for any man to hearken to a drunkards speech especially that which he speaks betweene sleeping and waking so it is much more idle to hearken to these evill speeches and discourses of these blasphemous mouthes Now because the Church of Corinth hath beene infected with this cup and hath taken so much of it that many of them are drunke with it Therefore I will you saith the Apostle to wake now while God hath given you time and opportunitie while by my ministerie and the rest that shall succeed me hee gives you summons and cals you to wake out of this drunken humour from these wicked speeches that tend to sensualitie and carnalitie Let us eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye and what shall become of us when we are dead These evill speeches are the dregs of hell and the lees of this deadly wine you have taken in abundance to your selves therefore as soone as you can awake And so wake as you may stand up to righteousnesse and follow that and walke therein for ever hereafter for there is difference in them that are waked out of sleepe Some are awaked with lesse noyse the creaking of a doore the least noyse in a chamber will wake some Such are those that are of tender hearts in Gods Church the least advertisement and admonition will bring them home Others are profoundly and deadly asleepe such as are spoken of here drunken men that are more violently asleepe then others they cannot bee drawne from it without extremitie they cannot be waked without calling without jogging or pinching and whatsoever meanes can be used to recover them yea when they are awaked except they bee taken when their sleepe is mellow they grow into desperate furie and madnesse And some when they are awaked they go not to their worke they set not to action but like the foolish sluggard in the Proverbes they cry Prov. 6.10 A little more sleepe a little more folding of the hands a little more turning and tossing as Saint Austin saith Aug. A little more sleepe a little more slumber and I will rise now and now but now and now have no measure nor bounds in them Now because there is such difference in mens wakings the Apostle sets downe the manner how they should wake Awake sufficiently not so as to returne to sleepe againe The sleepe naturall must be iterated and repeated men cannot alway wake but they must have some time to revive and refresh their spirits with the vicissitude change of sleepe But the spirituall waking is of another nature it must be undertaken upon such conditions and performed so as that we never returne by our good wils unto sleepe or if our naturall infirmitie carry us so farre yet never to snort and slumber in sinne any more but to wake to righteousnesse and to do that which is good in the sight of the Lord. And then because it might be somewhat doubtfull what this is that he saith Awake justly to righteousnesse he expounds himselfe in the next words Sinne not Psal 4.4 A phrase common among the Hebrews Psal 4. Commune with your owne hearts and be still and sinne not So here he tels what he meanes when he saith Awake justly that is give not your selves to sinne and corruption for that is the beginning of all these mischiefes Sinne is like Cyrces cups that inveigles and drownes men in slumber that they never rise againe without the wondrous mercy of God Therefore take heed you fall not into it because that brings all other evils it is that which brings the corruption of good words and good manners and you fall into them because you have no care of your conversation That is the first part of the Text. Then in the second he begins to deale more nearely with them and tels them of their proper faults that they were ignorant in things concerning God that they knew not God which is the maine object of all our knowledge For those that know not God or know him but by halves that call in question the omnipotencie of God concerning the raising of our bodies they are meerly ignorant of God He that doubts of Gods power concerning the raising of the dead hee were as good know nothing of God for he limits and straightens the hand of God and makes him inferiour to himselfe and inferiour to his word For his power is greater then his will and his will is revealed in his Word and his Word tels us that he will do it Therefore certainly he can do it because he can do more then he will do Therefore he that cals in question these things he were as good to have no sence or taste of God at all He knows not God he denies the prime and chiefe thing that is in God and therefore he knows him not And so it is with some of
of nature For it is seene in the falling and rising of the Sunne In the descending and ascending of the starres It is seene in the intercourse of Summer and Winter It is seene in the vicissitude of day and night It is set forth in the continuall intercourse of generation and corruption in the world And especially it is seene in this one thing in the seed that is sowne in the ground For a man in his garden may observe the certaintie of the Resurrection in his field in the hope of his harvest he may see that God is able to do as much for his body as he doth for those seeds that he commits to the ground As S. Chrysostome saith well Chrysost there is a twofold kinde of sowing or semination 1 One of seed 2 Another of bodies All men sow seed so God sowes bodies and the Church-yards are called Gods acre in some countries because there is sowne that seed that God preserves to eternall life hee is able to bring them from the bosome of the earth and we must trust and credit him with it to bring them from dust to be invested with glory and to be made conformable to the body of his Sonne Therefore here the holy Apostle out of arguments drawne and observed from nature out of the common course that men are acquainted with daily he brings a very forcible remonstrance to prove the necessity of the Resurrection And that he may do it with the more force and emphasis he brings it by way of prosopopeia making a man to speak and move questions and then to give himselfe the answer He brings in a simple man an ignorant man either disgracing the doctrine of the Resurrection or else being simple and ignorant desiring to know what the truth of it were And he moves two questions The one touching the Resurrection in generall as though it were impossible the dead should rise The other touching the manner and qualitie of their bodies if the dead should rise how with what bodies shall they come To which questions he returns a twofold answer The first more bitter by way of reprehension The second of demonstration shewing the reasons why and the manner how they shall come For the first Thou foole saith he that which thou sowest it is not quickened except it dye Doth not thy selfe teach thy selfe that there must needs be a raising of these dead bodies of ours because God hath used thee as an instrument to make a kinde of Resurrection For when thou committest thy seed to the ground God gives it a body at his pleasure but thou takest paines and usest the meanes to effect it that it may come to passe That now which thou doest to thy corne will not God do to his corne Are we not all the seeds of God are we not all the corne of the Almighty hath thy ground by thy diligence and culture better abilitie and power to bring forth a new eare of corne then the earth to yeeld up thy body by Gods worke and blessing upon it So he answers the first question The second answer is in the next words concerning the manner and qualitie of the bodies when they are raised As they shall come bodies so they shall be bodies but with certaine qualifications otherwise qualified then they are now In the prosopopeia in the questions that hee makes and in the answer that the Apostle returnes to them in the next verse we are to observe First that he speaks indefinitely Division into 1. A question bringing in a simple ignorant man moving questions arguing and disputing and talking against the resurrection 2. The matter of it 3. The answer in the matter 2 questions 1. Of the generality Secondly he notes to us the matter of his questions what he demands And there are two questions One is concerning the generalitie of this maine Article How can the dead rise how can they be raised againe 2. of the forme of the bodies raised The second is concerning the forme and disposition of their bodies when they be raised Suppose there shall be such a thing as the raising of the dead yet with what kinde of bodies shall they come 3. In the Answer we have 1. A reprehension And then in the answer we are to consider First a reprehension of this boldnesse for medling with Gods mysteries too much for medling too farre Foole. So that to move questions is not alwayes a signe of wit and great learning Though questions may be moved in a sober manner when men do it for satisfaction but to multiply question upon question to no purpose this is grosse follie and rather makes men giddie in their understandings then gives them any instruction Therefore he cals him foole 2. A demonstration And then he demonstrates it out of the actions that men are every day conversant in That which thou sowest I will shew thee out of thine owne field out of thy plot of ground that this is not incredible but that there shall be a resurrection Why because that which thou sowest must first dye that it may live after For it is never quickened untill the corne come to a very jellie and be turned to nothing but corruption and rottennesse and putrefaction in the earth and then it pleaseth God to raise it Therefore as the corne in the ground first dyes that after it may live so Gods corne must dye there must be a passage to a temporall death that God may raise it thence unto eternall life Of these briefly and in order 1. part The Question First concerning the questionist in this place the partie that moves the question You must first note that the Apostle will not lay the imputation upon the Corinthians because he would not too much offend them Hee doth not charge them that they should be so long taught in the schoole of Christ and yet be so little edified as to move such idle questions as these For hee takes it as a thing confessed among them and although indeed many denyed it yet he will not cast it upon them every where but hee labours to keepe himselfe peaceable and quiet with them that so he might worke the better upon them Therefore he brings in a man at large he supposeth such a man in the world one that understood nothing of the power of God nor yeelded unto it he supposeth him to speake such a word as this How are the dead raised c. And this as Saint Chrysostome saith teacheth us that we should not be personall or particular Vse Chrysost in our reprehensions When we are to deale with Gods people in a publicke place we must not deale so personally and particularly that any may thinke themselves pointed at For by that meanes they may be made incorrigible but such things must be supposed in the person of a stranger there must be a kinde of compassing a kinde of wheeling about as we see Nathan did
the corne grows thus because it hath a double end For as you know it is made after a kinde of a long fâ—shion with two ends out of which co es the moysture and juyce which is the life and soule of the seed For if those ends should be cut or bitten off the seed could never rise againe Therefore the Ants and pâ—smires those creatures that hoard up corne against the Winter when they carrie it into their holes where they lay it they are carefull to bite off both ends of the corne to snappe them off For they understand by nature that if they should let them alone the corne would sprout and so they could not live on it God hath given them this instinct to know that out of the two ends comes the soule and life and juyce as being in those ends brought to a point out of which the life worketh This now the husbandman easily understands But the mystery concerning the body he doth not understand so well but yet he must make the argument from his field to Gods field from his hand to Gods hand from the blessing upon the corne to the blessing upon the body and then he shall see that the argument will follow clearly Is it possible that the Lord should have such a care and providence of a poore dead corne that fals into the earth that hee should raise it againe with a new colour and in great abundance and multiply it that it grows from one state to another from a blade to an eare and from thence to full corne in the eare Is it possible the Lord shall thus proportion and suite his power to a graine of corne that fals into the ground and will he neglect the temples of the holy Ghost will he neglect the image of God the body upon which he hath drawne the lineaments of Christ and for which he hath made a promise that hee will conforme it unto his body If God be carefull for the fowls of heaven and for the lillies of the field Mat 6.30 much more will hee be carefull for us oh we of little faith Therefore the bodies of the Saint are so precious in Gods sight that all the corne in the world doth not amount to that summe as one of those bodies For God gave the body of his Sonne to redeeme the body of the meanest of his and shall we doubt but that he that is so rich in glory upon the weake dead body of the corne will be much more glorious and powerfull in raising up these roots of life againe which though they seeme to bee dead are breeding of immortality by the power of him that is able by his mighty power to subdue all things to himselfe Saint Chrysostome askes the question saith he why did not the Apostle rather runne to the same argument that hee alledgeth to the Philippians to the omnipotencie of God Phil. 3.21 rather then to take this argument For when he treats there with the Philosophers Phil. 3. concerning this argument he proves it from that maine point because God can do all things therefore he will do this From whence wee looke for the Saviour who shall change our vile bodies and make them like his glorious body according to his mighty power c. But saith he the Apostle here to these thought this the best teaching Hence we may learne Vse that it is a singular kinde of teaching when a man can instruct his scholler by the trade that he is frequently exercised in which hee is most familiar with That teaching is most operative and working the most impressive teaching that can be So our Lord Iesus teacheth his disciples that were fishermen out of their owne trade Come Mat. 4.19 and I will make you fishers of men So when he speaks to the common people to the multitude hee teacheth the plough-man by a plough-man Matth. 13.3 A sower went forth to sowe seed and some fell on the high way and some fell on thorny ground and some on good ground So Saint Paul Act. 17. he teacheth the Athenians which is a strange doctrine by their owne idols Act. 7.23 Ye men of Athens I see ye are too much given to superstition and idolatrie for as I came by one of your altars I see it written there To the unknowne God So our Saviour Christ teacheth men to make them friends of the unrighteous mammon Luk. 16.9 by the common lucre and gaine which was gotten among the Publicanes And in S. Iohn Baptist every man hath a lesson out of his owne trade he said to the souldiers do thus and to the Publicans Luk. 3. do thus still he teacheth them out of their owne particular calling and actions To teach us to labour and desire in this manner every one to bee taught out of those things that are common and obvious daily to us for therein is the greatest power of perswasion He that is conversant about the fire in fire-works and especially such as worke in glasse-houses where if he cannot see a cleare picture of hell he is a very sencelesse man and very bruitish in his understanding Psal 107.23 He that goes downe to the sea in ships and exerciseth his businesse in great waters if he cannot see a wondrous act of Gods providence in his preservation he understandeth nothing He that is a Student and doth not see in his books and the difficulties of learning and remembring if he do not see the infinite and admirable blessing of the Almighty in saving his wits and memory and in raising him from one degree of learning to another hee understands nothing In our ordinarie meats and drinks he that seeth not God seeth nothing hee hath his feeding and preservation from him and therein hee hath a signe of his everlasting refreshment and preservation Let us therefore scorne no Art nor thinke basely of any kinde of labour and good exercise because there is matter of good doctrine lyeth in the poorest profession that can be That which thou sowest I will prove out of thine owne actions out of thy owne trade this doctrine that I teach Thou that propoundest this question thou art not more simple then a plough-man and I will prove it unto thee from thence by the poorest labour in the earth for the man that tils the ground he is of lesse account then an Artizan yet even the very plough-man shall prove and make good that this doctrine that I teach is probable and possible And why because That which thou sowest is first dead and then it is quickened againe Concerning the dying of the corne the Philosophers make a distinction because they knew not this doctrine of the Resurrection They thought when the habite was gone when the privation had put out the habite that it could never come backe againe Therefore they thought that the corne had ever life in it But the Scripture tels us that it is dead that is it is dead to us
which are the judges of life and death For who can tell what is dead and what is alive in the creature but he that is Lord of the creature Therefore though it have a kinde of action though it have a kinde of life lurking in it yet to our sence it is to no purpose it is of no use it is a meere jellie that is good neither for man nor beast Therefore it is dead So our Lord Christ saith Ioh. 12.24 Verily saith he comparing himselfe to the wheat-corne the corne of wheat saith hee except it fall into the ground and dye it remains alone and brings forth nothing but is single still but when it fals into the ground when it is buried and dyes in the earth then it brings forth much fruit So the Sonne of Man if he should live still in the world and not dye hee should remaine alone hee should do no good hee should be a single Christ no man could be saved by him but if he dye and rise againe hee shall raise a mighty harvest unto God So we see the truth of this doctrine manifested against the Philosophers That the corne is simplie dead it is demonstrated hence because the corne of God which is farre better then the common corne it dyes the bodies of men are truly dead yea the body of that wheat corne the Sonne of God himselfe was dead It is idle therefore for them to imagine that it hath a perfection to it selfe though it be corrupted to us For it is certaine that all these things dye the corne dyeth man dyeth the Sonne of God dyed according to that part of his humane nature which was mortall Therefore hee compares himselfe to a wheat corne to shew the great and sweet convenience betweene him which is the head and we that are his members how it is figured in these parcels of nature First the Lord hath made the corne of the earth to feed man and hath given a gracious abundance unto it that it comes forth in a goodly beautie and with strange varietie And then he teacheth us that the bodies of men shall rise so too which are much more deare then corne And lastly he hath given us a patterne in his owne body being cast into the earth which else should have remained single but being once interred and rising againe brings forth abundance of fruit This we may see in the bread of this life and in the bread of heaven how they both worke to give us an assurance of the Resurrection The bread of this life is corne the bread of heaven is Christ he is the Mannah that came downe from heaven Job 6.58 and these breads the bread of the body and the bread of the soule make up the conclusion as a certaine thing that that which is nourished by both these breads shall follow the qualitie of them The body of man is nourished with the one and the soule of man with the other Therefore the substance of the man must rise because the bodily bread riseth and the spirituall bread riseth and we feed of them and according to that which a man feeds on he is conformed As the Philosopher saith man is nourished of that thing whereof he consists and he consists of that whereby he is nourished And further we may observe in the phrase hee doth not say that the corne liveth but it is enlivened as Saint Chrysostome Chrysost and Saint Basil Basil observe Because hee would give us to note that all is in the power of God that worketh all in all Therefore he saith It is quickened It signifieth a passion or suffering and to be wrought upon from a higher cause It is quickened it is enlivened from a higher superior power So that the growing of the corne is not meerly from the influence of the Sunne or of the Moone no nor from the goodnesse of the soyle nor from the diligence of the husbandman nor from any naturall inherent qualitie but God gives it a body God gives it life And if his eye of providence be so watchfull in these particular cases in things of this small qualitie much more will he be watchfull in that great worke wherein he hath bound himselfe by a promise and if that be too little he hath sworne it we have his oath that it shall be so He hath given us to know in his Word 1. Cor 3.6 that it is not in Paul that plants nor in Apollo that waters but God that gives the increase that is there is nothing that can bring forth fruit no not a tree except the Lord give the increase All the second causes are nothing it is God that works all as the Psalmist saith Psal 127.1 2. It is to no purpose for men to rise early or to go to bed late and to eate the bread of carefulnesse It is in vaine for the watchmen to watch the Citie except the Lord keepe it The Apostle doth not say It doth not live except it dye but he saith It is not quickened it is not enlivened still hee reflects upon God and yeelds unto him the praise and glory of all things for from him onely comes the blessing and increase And lastly to conclude with the time hee saith that after the corne is dead it is quickened againe it is enlivened againe so it shall be with the bodies of men after they be dead but hee saith except it first bee dead it cannot be alive so that dying is the necessary reason of living It is a condition absolute if wee must live we must of necessity dye first Vse This must teach us that there is no exemption and priviledge from death if we look to be of their number that shall come to life Men cannot possibly be clad over this body with glory this body is not capable of the garment of glory except either it be brought to a change as they shall be that live at the comming of Christ or else it dye and be raised againe It is impossible that the robe of glory should cover this body of ours as it is Vse This should comfort us against death that because we shall dye first therefore wee shall be quickened againe it hath the force of a cause or condition in it it cannot bee otherwise Because the corne dyes therefore it lives and the reason that it lives is because it first dyes There is no hope of recoverie of life except first there bee a passage through death Hence we have exceeding comfort against the sorrows of death Those things that seeme to argue cleane contrary against us they make most for us For because there be such unlikelihoods of the Resurrection therefore we shall rise because we shall be dead therefore we shall be alive because we shall be closed within the grave as in a prison therefore we shall be inlarged because we are brought to dust and ashes therefore we shall bee brought to glory and to a heavenly condition
grosse heresies for which he is said to deny the Resurrection notwithstanding hee denyed it not but he had a conceit that the bodies of men and women should rise and then after that they should dye againe and another Resurrection should come after that and another after that and in every Resurrection they should bee lesse and lesse untill they were brought to nothing Thus in effect he denyed it But the truth is by the doctrine of the Scriptures and of the Apostles that the Resurrection shall make our bodies nothing lesser but greater and it is certaine that the stature and proportion of those that shall be raised to glory in the life to come shall bee infinitely more great then that which they have now Numb 13.33 they shall be like gyants in respect of grassehoppers according to their speech that went to spie out the land of Promise We see now in this small stature that we have in this world what a goodly sight it is to see a tall proper man they be as it were the gyants of the earth the glory of the world they be the chiefe copies of Gods great and wondrous power and there is that state and majestie in their bodies which is not to be found in the persons of little men As also we see that those countries which naturally bring forth such tall and mighty men they have great priviledges and presidents of honour given unto them that God hath done by them mighty and marvellous works in the world Therefore the glory of manhood consists now in a strait and tall procerity in a goodly proportion of limbes and bignesse of body In which regard Saul was commended that hee was higher then all the people by the head and shoulders And so in Homer 1. Sam. 9.1 Homer great men have still this commendation they are men that are eminent above their fellows that are of such a proportion I say then if it be the glory of humanity if it be the glory of manhood not to be dwarfish and small but to bee of a goodly stature in this world we must imagine that God will bring us to all perfection in the other world he will bring all his Saints to a goodly bignesse to a comely tallnesse and proportion as a little corne of wheat brings a goodly tall and beautifull eare of corne out of a small graine that is cast into the ground Therefore there is no diminution to bee imagined as if the body should grow lesse and lesse till it come to nothing but there shall bee a great ampliation the Lord extending and driving out the body drawing it to the full lineaments and to the perfect length So the Apostles similitude inferres against Origen and those that maintained his opinion Now these things are very plaine in the open experience of nature but because we see not the things signified by them which we are to beleeve therefore they are held to flesh and bloud incredible to a man that is not acquainted with the field that is not seene and experimented in this kinde he would think it impossible that out of such a poore principle as a graine of corne there should come such a deale of grace and beauty as that verdure of colour and such a flower and leafe of grasse as the flagge of it that there should come so much straw to support it and that there should be such a structure in the knops of it that there should be such abundance in the treasure of it We should thinke these things meerly impossible but that common use and experience makes us cease to wonder And if we could see that which is spirituall as we do this that is outward we should as well be induced to subscribe and consent to it But in the outward thing in the world we see the sowing and the mowing we see the sowing and the reaping the seed time and the harvest Therefore by much experience we are taught to beleeve it without doubting But for that which is spirituall for the Resurrection we see onely the time of sowing but wee cannot live to see the time of mowing in this world For the bodies are sowne and the seed lyes rotting in the ground some five thousand yeares some lesse but all a long time yet it pleaseth God to bring as it were the dew of heaven upon them to raise them from their graves unto the harvest Then that truth which we now beleeve shall appeare as plainly as that which we apprehend by sence The thing which the Apostle would teach us here I will but summarily touch at because all this spâ—ech except it were better uttered is meerly unprofitable * In regard of his extream cold and unpleasant also I will therefore cut off all superfluity and onely touch that which is meerly necessary and elementarily pointed at First the Apostle tels us what is mans part And then what is Gods part in the matter of sowing and so we must apply it to the Resurrection For that is the Apostles purpose as being a parabolicall doctrine from a similitude and therefore he rests not in the outward letter but referres and reduceth us to the purpose and intent of it which is to prove the truth of the Resurrection Now the part that man doth he speaks of it Division into 1. Mans Part. 2. Gods Part. first negatively what he doth not sowe And then affirmatively what is sowne Negatively what he doth not sowe he soweth not that that shall be And then he shews affirmatively what he doth sowe a bare graine a bare corne devoyd of such ornaments as God afterwards gives unto it Then in the next part what God doth he gives it a body to every seed the same body The same body in essence and substance but so changed and bettered and altered that a man would thinke it were impossible to bring out of such a foundation such a kinde of conclusion And because the Lord is wondrous in all his works therefore he gives to every seed it s owne peculiar body although there bee many changes and differences yet it comes to it selfe againe to that it was before and it runnes as it were in a kinde of a circle he gives it its owne body And the way and manner and reason of all this is As he pleaseth For he doth whatsoever it pleaseth him in all the works of nature and in all the works of grace 1. Part. Mans part handled first negatively 2. Affirmatively Concerning the first point it is said the sower soweth not that body that shall be Which wee know to be true for hee soweth neither an eare nor hee soweth not a flagge neither soweth he a hawne nor a straw nor a knot in the straw hee soweth none of these 1 Negatively what man sows not Not that body that shall be yet notwithstanding hee soweth that which hath all these in it potentially in the power of it by the blessing
make them wither there shall be no griefe of heart no discontent of minde to make an alteration in the outward man there shall be nothing to make a change because God shall crowne them in heaven with incorruption And lastly the Lord shall give them another quality which shall be the rarest of all the rest And that is a strange agility and nimblenesse of body that they shall be able to move upward or downward as it shall please them While we are here in this life we have heavy bodies a man must walke upon his owne foundation hee must have the scaffold of the earth under him But if hee presume any further and offer to go any higher with Daedalus and with Icarus he shall be cast into the sea hee exposeth himselfe unto danger and his waxen wings will be fired by the beames of the Sunne But then at that day though our bodies in all things substantiall shall be like these and shall still bee true bodies yet the glory of them shall be so great and the strength and power that the spirit shall have over this flesh shall be so absolute as to command it which way it pleaseth When we move now either we go forward or backward or side-wayes or else downward but upward we cannot but then the Lord shall give us ability to move upward too And this is that the Apostle saith we shall be taken we shall bee snatched up to meete the Lord in the clouds 1. Thes 4.17 there shall bee such a mightie power and prevalencie in the spirit of man to rule and command the body The Lord hath given us instances of it in some things in the Gospell Mat. 14 26.29 Our Lord himselfe walked upon the water and not onely he himselfe but he gave Peter power to walke with him And this was a signe of that he meanes to do at the day of the Resurrection As their bodies then walked and were sustained by the power of God in the ayre and was able to make that which is fluent and soft and yeelding in it selfe to make it a sollid pavement like unto the stones to walke upon the same power shall also worke in our bodies that agilitie which is in the Eagle So the Prophet speaks yea our Lord compares us where he saith Where the body is Mat. 24.28 thither will the Eagles resort which is meant not onely of a spirituall flight by faith but also of the bodies assumption And this our Lord confirmed by the Ascention of his owne body Iob. 14.2 for he went before to prepare a place for us that beleeve in him Now we know that his body ascended to heaven it had the power to move upward as well as any other way We have examples of it also in Henoch and Elias which were both translated Elias carried in a fierie Car to heaven 2. King 2.11 And all this with eternitie and immortalitie that there shall not any thing of it passe away there shall be no expectation of death there shall be no feare of change This is the greatest thing of all when God shall give fulnesse of glory to have also full security For whatsoever glory men have in this world so long as they know that there is a worme â—hat can gnaw it or that it is possible for them to be outed this glory is nothing because it is glory that may be no glory Such is the state of these worldly things that there is nothing so great but it is subject to be brought from that greatnesse But the Lord shall give this glory for ever and ever as himselfe is he that is eternall in himselfe he is eternall to all those that he shall make his followers and companions in that blessed kingdome For they also shall receive that part of eternitie as farre as they are capable It is this safetie and securitie that makes this blessing amiable and for that the Lord hath given us an example for securitie in Scripture where for forty yeares together in the wildernesse the Lord so provided that there was no mans cloaths that were rent or worne not so much as the soale of his shoe impaired by that long and tedious travell We see also they had securitie of food continually it never ceased to follow them but in convenient time was still administred to them Therefore it follows that God that can do these things for garments for these ragges that we weare upon our bodies he meanes much more to do it to the bodies themselves As Christ saith Is not the body better then rayment Mat. 6.25 then garments Seeing therefore that he did it unto garments that are of farre lesse worth will hee not do it unto the bodies themselves He that kept their garments 40. yeares without wearing and yet what weares so soone as a garment he was able to have done it for eternity if it had pleased him But God gave them that for an instance to shew that these things belong in a higher nature and degree and measure to the setting forth of the lifâ—â—ternall and were to foreshew and to be an earnest of that infinite glory which God hath reposed for them that wait for the comming of his Sonne Which the Lord worke for us all c. 1 COR. 15.39 All flesh is not the same flesh but there is one flesh of man there is another flesh of beasts another of fishes and another of fowls THere is nothing more plain and easie then the sence of these words they are knowne to every man by experience And yet it is very hard to finde out the intent and reason why they were uttered Divers men have diversly commented upon them For some think as Tertullian Tertull. others that follow him that the Apostle speaks not as he seemeth to do of the flesh of beasts and of the flesh of men and of fishes and birds but by an allegorie comprehends some other thing concerning the diversitie and degrees of men And so he interprets The flesh of men that is of holy and just and good men There is one flesh of men that is of holy men for they are properly to be called men A man so farre forth as he is unholy so farre forth he comes short of a man and those are onely truly and really men that be good And then by the flesh of beasts he saith the Apostle meanes the flesh of beastly heathen men the flesh of Ethnicks of those that do not beleeve in God those that do not beleeve in Christ the Saviour of the world He saith such are beasts for they differ not world He saith such are beasts for they differ not from beasts neither in their sence nor in their conversation Then for the third there is another flesh of fishes he saith by fishes are meant those that are baptised and regenerate by water the fishes of our Lord Iesus Christ Mat. 4.19 whereof he said to his disciples I will make
the flesh is that which we beleeve the resurrection of this flesh that is of men and chiefly of them that beleeve in Iesus Christ how the Lord hath set his hand upon this flesh his workmanship appeares to be wonderfull How he hath laid the foundation of it in the bones How he hath brought the flesh over it to be a covering and veile for the soule How he hath inlivened it that wheresoever there is flesh there is life and hath put the soule in it to dwell in the cabinet of the flesh How he hath divided and distinguished the parts in their severall joynts in their severall uses and proportions How he hath watred it with bloud and veines and with juyce and moysture every where How he hath inflamed it with arteries How he hath made it sensible with sinews How he hath extended and stretched it out with muscles How he hath covered all with a faire and beautifull skinne How he hath fenced some parts with haire as in men and with divers other fences more thicke and solid as in the diversitie of beasts with feathers as in fowls with skales as in fishes and yet all to live after one manner that there is none of these can live but they have veines and arteries and sinews and a braine which is the place of sence and a heart which is the place of life and a liver which is the place of concoction and they have bloud whereby they live That the Lord I say should set such a wondrous hand upon flesh now it argues he will do greater matters for it hereafter For he would not be so liberall of his grace and providence upon it here except he intended further glory for it hereafter Indeed in the trees and plants and fruits that grow upon the earth there is a glorious and sweet lustre and great variety but being compared unto flesh it is nothing And therefore in the Scriptures the flesh is made the subject of the promises and manhood it selfe is tearmed by the name of flesh as being that habitation or house that God meanes to raise againe when it is fallen downe to rebuild it up better then ever it was before For the flesh must fall as the flower of the field although it continue longer then the flower of the field but the Lord shall raile it unto everlasting glory So then this must teach us in the generall Vse that as oft as we looke upon our flesh or upon the flesh of others we ought still to possesse our mindes with holy meditations of the glory that shall be revealed upon that flesh to thinke of the resurrection of that flesh As the Lord hath built it wondrously and beautified it to singular purpose in this world so when it is ruinated he shall rebuild it to a farre greater beauty that shall never fade away but shall have a constant being as he himselfe is for ever It should teach us also to have a care of this flesh Vse that God hath so graced and that we do not disgrace it and betray it to the divell that we do not subject it to damnable purposes that we do not swell it with drunkennesse that we do not spoyle it with filthinesse that we do not distract it with worldly cares that we do not any way abuse and imbezell that substance that God meanes to grace that he hath set his image and stampe upon here and that hereafter meanes to better this his workmanship let not us prophane that which God hath made holy So much for the first point that the Apostles argument goes greater and higher the further wee go in nature still the more insight we have in the worke of the Lord and in the certaintie of the promises Therefore the Apostle riseth from things that grow in the earth from vegetables to things that live and move and there hee shews the resurrection more clearly 2. Part. The fourefold diversity of flesh Then the second thing to bee considered is this that the Apostle saith that all flesh is not one flesh For there is dâ—versitie of it It is true all flesh agrees in the generall they all live with a soule all men and beasts and fishes and birds they all have a soule and live in one manner by their bloud and by digestion of meat which turnes into bloud and nourishment So in the generall all flesh is one but in their severall kindes they are so varied that there is scarce any proportion one with another when we go to the particular differences of them For saith hee although they be one in the maine yet they be different in their specialties The first and chiefest that he names is the flesh of men And then after that the flesh of beasts Thirdly the flesh of fishes Fourthly of birds and fowls of the heaven For indeed according to their different motion the diversitie of their flesh may be conceived That the motion of men should be upon the earth and yet by reason of an heavenly aspect his countenance should bee erected unto heaven where his thoughts ought to be continually That the beasts should have a prone dejected motion looking alway toward the earth and as it were groveling there That the fishes should glide in the watery element being as it were not of our world but of another countrey That the fowls should mount up in that spirit and vigour that God hath given them by reason of a wing and a feather whereby they leave the seat wherein we must live and betake themselves unto the upper region By this variety of their motion we may necessarily gather this that there is a great variety in their natures For there is nothing more argueth the varietie of a thing then the ordinary motion of it to observe how it is moved The Apostle puts no other difference that might be conceived as the flesh of serpents c. because that may be referred to some of these it may be referred unto beasts or unto fishes but he contents himselfe with these foure as comprehending in them all the world of flesh which God created And in the first ranke in the prime place he saith there is one flesh of men whereon the Lord hath stamped his own image and hath made it the goodliest of all flesh setting such an admirable beautie in it and indowing some flesh with such excellent wisedome and judgement and that which is the chiefe of all setting the stampe of holinesse upon it which is the onely ornament of the flesh and of the spirit also that there is nothing that can compare with man I meane no visible thing in the world can enter into any tearms of comparison with that glorious image of God Such a goodly aspect to heaven Such a majestie and power in behaviour Such an erect upright and tall stature Such a goodly complection and proportion in the parts of the body Such an admirable dexteritie in all his actions Such valour such wisedome such
deserved well in this world were turned into starres and so they imagined Hercules and Antonius and Arctophilax and a great number of toyes and trifles that they devised as though the starres were the bodies of men or that they were persons of a spirituall substance But the Lord teacheth us that they are no earthly bodies they are things that were created in the first beginning and they are bodies which notwithstanding seeme to be nothing lesse then bodies they seeme to be spirituall things to be spirits rather then bodies being of such a swiftnesse and of that rare operation and brightnesse Yet the Lord tels us that they are bodies that is that they have a kind of earthlinesse in them they have a kinde of matter in them For although they be farre different from these inferiour things from these inferiour bodies yet in respect of the first Creator they are but bodies For there is but one spirit there is but one pure Spirit which is God himselfe All things else have a kinde of dreggie matter in them which makes them bodies the bodies which are heavenly that is the starres are bodies because they are visible because they are circumscribed because they have figure and proportion and they are bodies because they are kept within a certaine compasse and limit Whence it follows that seeing they are bodies therefore they are not to be worshipped as the Heathens used to do and as the Indian people at this day worship them but hence we see they ought not to bee worshipped Why even because they are but bodies nay they are insensible bodies they have not sence to guide them So that for all their puritie and the use they are of to the world yet in the perfection of life they are not comparable unto the beasts of the field for the beasts of the field that have sence are more perfect in their kinde then the Sunne in the firmament Eatenus because to have life and sence is a better kinde of being then to be without it The starres are bodies without sence they are bodies without soules and they are over-ruled by other things or else as they bee bodies they could not possible rule themselves Now these goodly bodies how they should bee carried up and downe every 24. houres after what manner whether they flye as the birds in the ayre so they in their spheares and orbes or whether they swimme as the fishes in the sea as divers men have imagined a man would thinke that one of those wayes they must needs be moved but it is certaine they do neither of them For they have a mighty power that God hath given them and the Angels execute this power and they turne the whole globe over Psal 104.2 as the Psalmist saith where he cals it the curtaine of heaven which is bespangled with stars and the whole curtaine is turned over together as an Ancient or Flagge displayed that is imbossed with gold all the whole compasse and circumference is moved together or as a woman when she turnes the rimme of a wheele about both the circle and the center are moved together and so all the wheele moveth round together so the power of the Angels move the celestiall bodies by the appointment of God that in twenty foure houres they compasse the whole earth which is as much in effect as if a bird should flye fifty times the space of the world in halfe a quarter of an houre The rarenesse therefore of this motion and the strangenesse of it argueth that God hath set over them some spirituall mover which wee call their standings and their Intelligences which move them to and fro in an unspeakable manner And for the manner of it that it should be in such a contrary course that never a starre should rise to morrow in the same manner as it doth to day and that the Sunne should never rise at one and the same point twice in the yeare but still varie and by varying make the compasse of the yeare as the Moone makes the compasse of the moneth For the Sunne hath one motion whereby hee makes the day and the Moone another motion whereby shee makes the night Againe there is another motion of the Sunne whereby hee makes the yeare and the Moone hath another motion whereby she makes a moneth And so for the rest of these heavenly bodies some of them fulfill their course and period in twelve yeares some in five yeares some in thirty some in a hundred yeares the Lord having set such a rare guidance in these things that there is nothing but a man may know it before hand a man may tell fifty yeares yea an hundred yeares before hand when there shall be an eclipse and the presages of these things are certainly knowne This argues that these bodies celestiall are moved by spirits celestiall For of themselves being but bodies they could not possible do thus they could not keepe this exact and swift motion nor they could not rowle over of themselves it is impossible being but bodies that they should do these things Now I come to the second point 2. Part or comparison wherein the Apostle compares these bodies together in respect of their glory There is a great glory indeed in terrestriall bodies there is a great glory in gold and silver and many men esteeme them more then the starres of heaven There is a great glory and lustre in jewels and precious stones there is a goodly transparent beauty in them in the lustre that they give There is a great glory in the beauteous faces of Gods Saints and in the gorgeous and pompous out-settings of Kings and Princes in their Courts of state There is great glory in every part of humane felicitie but being compared to this glory of the heavenly bodies they are meere foyles to that For saith the Apostle there is one glory of the heavenly and another glory of the earthly That is there is a farre greater glory of the heavenly then can bee supposed to bee in the earthly For first of all the glory in the heavenly bodies is pure but the glory in the earthly is mixed the purer the glory is and the more it is separate the more singular and excellent it is Now the glory which is in the stars above is pure in comparison of these earthly things And although they bee speckled and spotted in respect of God and be full of dregges in comparison with the Angels yet in relation to earthly things they are most pure even puritie it selfe All these inferiour things in their glory they have a mixture They are mingled of foure things there is nothing so glorious but it is composed of the foure elements even of Earth Water Fire and Ayre and these elements are never so well glued together but they will worke themselves asunder iâ— time whereas that celestiall beauty is pure without mixture it is an Essence that is elaborate to the full God hath brought
there shall be one way for him that gives his goods to the poore and another way for him that gives his life for Christs sake These shall shine in a different manner And as Ambrose Ambrose againe Even as for the penies sake there is no man that shall bee driven out of Gods kingdome but he that can bring the peny and shew it unto God and say Here is thy Image here is thy superscription Cesar know thy owne and take me for thine owne for here I bring thee the penie As he that can bring the penie shall have heaven so there be some that have more then the penie and those shall have varietie of mansions and goodly places in the paradise of God they shall be the chiefe and principall To conclude all Let us desire the Lord Vse that we may have some place and if it be never so little it shall be full enough The Lord shall fill all those that follow him as with a river in the pleasures of his house and to be a doore-keeper in the house of God in that blessed kingdome is worth all the tents and riches in this world Let us not dispute much about these things but let us rest in that doctrine which is delivered in the Scriptures and let us know that if God admit us to heaven we can have no meane place any thing there is better then all the glory of this world even the least and poorest mansion that can be And that we may have the greatest and the best and principall place there there must be an holy ambition for heaven and for the greatest place in heaven As the sonnes of Zebede desired that one might sit on the right hand of Christ Mat. 20.211 and another on the left let us know how it is to be gotten that so we may be made capable for it For it is not attained without a high comprehension there being no meanes for these straite vessels to keepe and hold such a latitude of honour they are too great for us therefore God shall reward us according to our works and according to the service that we do him Not for any merit of ours for that were nothing at all but hell and confusion but for the merits of Christ upon whom wee layhold by faith By which means his merits are made ours and we make him ours and shall be sure to finde him ours at that day Which the Lord grant SERMONS On 1 COR. 15. Of the Resurrection 1 COR. 15.42 So also in the Resurrection of the dead It is sowne in corruption it is raised againe in incorruption It is sown in dishonour it is raised again in honour IN these words the holie Apostle describes unto us those rare supernaturall qualities which God will deck the bodies of the Saints withall in the great day of the Resurrection Hee hath shewed heretofore by certain parables and similies that such a thing is likely to be that it is possible but now he tells us indeed what it is And so after that pleasing doctrine that was uttered in similitudes he comes to a more sad and solemne and sentencious kinde of doctrine and sets it downe in materiall propositions concerning the future state of Gods children It is true that to prepare the minds of men by familiar similies and examples before their eies is a part of wondrous art and great oratorie for so our Saviour used in the Gospel still to draw men by those things that were before them to teach them by their owne trades and by their proper callings by that meanes growing familiar with their understandings making those things that were hidden plain and open by those things that they were most conversant in But that kind of doctrine is not alway to be followed because as they say similitudes illustrate indeed but they prove nothing there is a kind of deeper divinity then that which is from similitude which our Saviour Christ mingleth with his similitudes as the Apostle Paul doth here For now he comes to tell us of those things which we could not have beleeved except the similitudes before had prepared us and had shewed us that they are things possible that the body that is so corrupt that it should have a new quality that it should receive incorruption and never corrupt again that the dead body which is so deformed should have such a glory and beauty that there is no creature no visible creature which God hath made can compare with it that the body that is so weak and so full of infirmity that it should have such a supernaturall strength whereby it shall exceed a thousand Sampsons in strength and vigour that the body that is a lump a meere carnall masse that it should come to that nimblenesse and agility and swiftnesse that it should become rather a spirit then a bodie when it is raised That these things should so happen it were altogether incredible if the Lord had not made it probable before by the things that we familiarly use by the corn in our fields by the flowers in our gardens by the flesh of the creatures by the difference of coelestiall and terrestriall bodies and by the difference of heavenly bodies among themselves Now he comes to the generall hypothesis and makes the reduction of all those similies that went before So is it in the Resurrection of the dead So that is in all those 4. comparisons which I named before you may apply all these very well understand by them the nature and the qualities of the bodies that shall be raised up So is it in the Resurrection of the dead So as it is with the corne so as it is with those divers kinds of flesh as it is in the difference of the heavenly bodies cōpared with the earthly as the heavenly bodies are mutually different one from another In the corne as there is a strange variety in the growth of it from that which was sowne it comes to an admirable plenty so the glory that shall be revealed upon the bodies of the Saints out of a rotten thing which was nothing but as an eare of corne putrifyed and corrupted out of this there comes a glorious stalke of incorruption and beautie that shall remaine for ever And as it is in the flesh of beasts and in the flesh of men the flesh of fouls and of fishes as there is great variety and some are sweeter then other and some more sollid and compact then other so is it in the Resurrection of the dead in comparison of this flesh that we have here This flesh is like unto the flesh of fishes in respect of that which shall be there The Lord himselfe shall so perfume it with his glorious unction that it shall be for ever stedfast and strong and able unto all purposes that it shall be filled with all faculties and prepared unto all the functions that God shal appoint unto it So is the Resurrection of the dead So
that is in so great a variety and difference from the body that is here present as the difference is great betweene heaven and earth betweene the stars that are in heaven and the stones that lie upon the earth And so is it in the resurrection So as the particular differences are between the heavenly bodies one star differeth from another in glory they have not all one magnitude they are not all of one brightnesse but according to their severall magnitudâ—s so is their shining brightnesse So the Lord shall make the admirable difference not onely betweene the present bodies that we have here and the bodies which shall be raised but likewise between the bodies themselves that although all shall be full yet all shall not have a like measure but every one shall receive according to their capacitie So now to come to that part of the Text. You see the substance is thus much Hee tels us there shall be some rare qualities which God shall poure upon this flesh which it could never attaine to in this life for that it is still pestered with the contrary It shall have honour it shall have strength it shall have nimblenesse and subtlety and all this shall be tyed with a golden band of incorruption which is that that makes all sweet and full For to have good things and to fall from them is as good as never to have them but this incorruption is the glorious tye of all the rest the crowne of all the rest that the strength there shall be without corruption their beauty shall be incorrupt their agility and subtlety of body shall be incorrupt all these things shall be for ever they shall be preserved by the perpetuall influence of Gods mercy and love upon the creature This is the height and depth of this Text. As if the Apostle had said You wonder in your selves to consider the great difference that shall be between the bodies that are raised and the bodies which you have now in this life I will shew you plainly how it shall be All the difference ariseth from certaine qualities for the substance there is nothing different or contrary in it but in the quality is all the difference and contrariety and I will shew you it by such qualities as are most contrary one to another For what is more contrary then corruption and incorruption what is more contrary then honour and dishonour what is more contrary then weaknesse and power what is more contrary then naturall and spirituall and behold God shall so turne the termes of this present state in that blessed world that whereas now here is nothing but a masse of corruption then there shall be a glorious peece of incorruption whereas now it is compassed about with shame and deformity in death and in sicknesse in consumption and in misery then there shall be a vessell of honour that shall be every way shining and glorious in the sight of God that whereas now this body is subject to weaknesse all the strongest lives in the world being full of great weaknesse then it shall be a mirrour of strength it shall have an arme able to break a bow of steele that whereas now it is a lumpish creature then it shall be swift as a soaring eagle and like unto an Angell of God for we shall be equall to the Angels of God in heaven So then Division into two parts 1. A description 2. A condition first we have here a Description of the state present in a metaphoricall word the promise of the state to come in another metaphor like unto it And then we have the condition and severall manner how these shall be In the first two particulars 1. The state present 2. The state in the life to come Concerning the first for the state of the body present the Apostle saith It is sowne The metaphor for the life to come is in this that he saith It is raised up again It is sown in corruption it is raised again in incorruption Each of these estates differenced by foure essentials and their contraries And then for the essentiall parts of difference he makes them foure wherein the body is sowne and there are foure contraries wherein it is raised For the first the body is sowne in rottennesse It is sowne in corruption For the second it is sowne in deformity and ugly vision that this corruption cannot lie hid for then it were more tolerable but it must come unto the eye of the world a mans friends must looke upon him and see the gastly countenance in the dead corps This the Apostle calls dishonour there is nothing in the world more dishonourable that is there is nothing in the world more hatefull to look upon then the dead body of a man Thirdly he saith It is sown in weaknesse that is in such a miserable feeblenesse and desolation and so deprived of all strength and power that it is left as a trampling stock for men and beasts And lastly he saith It is sowne a naturall body that is nothing but a meer elementary thing nothing else to the sense of flesh and bloud and to looke on These are the wofull parts of this body that wee have in this present life But on the contrary God shall invest it in stead of corruption with incorruption with impassibility with immortality and in stead of weaknesse it shall have strength and so of the rest These are the branches of the Text of these briefly and in order as it shall please God to give assistance And first for the two metaphors that be used 1 Part. Metaphor of the present life Chrysost It is sowne It is a good observation of St. Chrysostom that the holy Apostle is so confident in the matter that he useth the termes interchangeably between the sowing of the corne and the burying of the dead body For saith he when he speaks of the sowing of the corne he useth the phrase which properly belongs to the burying of the dead and when hee speaks of the burying of the dead he useth that maner of speech which belongeth unto the corn To teach us that as there is nothing that could have been spoken more fitly nor no comparison could have been more naturall then this which he taketh from corne so likewise that there is nothing more sure and certaine then that the one shall come to passe as truely as we daily see the other For when he speaks of the corn which is cast into the ground he saith It is not quickned except it die To die belongs properly to that which hath life which hath a sensible life although there be a kind of death to in other things but yet this word is used most properly to signifie the life of man when it passeth from the body And againe when he saith It is quickned to be quickned most properly belongs to the highest life the life of man So to die and to be quickned againe
to its owne condition and so it comes from better to worse and from thence to nothing at all to dust and ashes But there by reason that the Lord shall shew his mercy and by reason of the infinite delight that man shall take in God againe there shall be a continuall application of God to man by a continuall influence as the Schools speak So as it is impossible to think of any entrance of corruption as that place where the Sun shines continually can never be darke and that plot of ground which hath a sweet well ever pouring into it can never be dry nor thirsty So it must needs be where God is alwaies slowing in his light and love and grace it is impossible there should be any pressing in or any suspition of corruption to come againe Therefore concerning these things the Scripture tells us Psal 36. Psal 36 9. With thee saith the Prophet is the well of life As if he should have said thy waters run alway sweet Psal 87.7 and abundantly all fresh springs are in thee Psal 23.1 therefore we shall not lack nor die for thirst because we shall have the well of life Psal 36.8 And Psal 36. Thou feedest them with the fulnesse of thy house and thou givest them pleasures as out of a river And for this purpose also even for that we should be assured of this the Scripture tels us that we shall have in stead of sorrow fulnesse of joy in stead of darknesse in this life we shall have eternall light in stead of sicknesse we shall have his saving health in stead of death we shall have life everlasting And so wee see what this incorruptibility is it consists in impassibility that the body shall not be able to suffer from any thing because God shall be alway flowing into it his goodnesse and love in Christ Iesus It shall not be able to suffer from a tempting devill it shall not suffer from it selfe nor from any other created nature it shall not suffer from sicknesse nor from time the teeth of time which devoureth all things shall not be able to set its fangs upon the bodies of the children of God They shall not suffer from hell nor from death there shall be no matter of feare in any thing they shall not suffer from the flames of fire it shall not be able to consume those glorious bodies nor the sharpest sword shall not pierce the least haire of them but as we see God preserved the three children in the fiery furnace Dan. 3.27 when it was extraordinary hot that there was not so much as the smell of the singeing of the fire upon their garments The blessed God that is able to doe this in these corrupt bodies much more will hee doe it in that incorruptible condition when hee shall advance them to that glory which himselfe will give them who is the prime author and patterne of impassibility And if the Lions were not able with their teeth when they were so famished Dan. 6. to seize upon the body of Daniel when hee was cast into the dungeon much lesse shall infirmities have power or any other violence be able to touch the bodies of those that shal be glorified in the day of Iesus Christ It shall rise in incorruption I see the time is past I will but touch the next point and leave the rest It is sowne in dishonour it is raised againe in honour The greatest griefe that a man conceives in his death is the dishonorable condition that doth accompany him that though he were never so beautifull and beloved before yet his best and dearest friends will be readie to quit him now yea they cannot indure his company so that he must be removed out of sight as being an odious spectacle to looke upon as an intolerable neighbour that is not to be come neere as one that will infect all the society where he is as a pestilent creature that must be shunned and avoided that must be shut up close within the ground where hee may doe no harme nor be noysome and offensive to those that are above ground This is the strange dishonour to our nature that the great Lords and Ladies which have slept before upon their beds of Ivorie Amos 6.4 which had their goodly Curtaines and Canopies and singular arts to give them pleasure and contentment now being dead they must be outted from their palaces and their goodly-roomes and be thrust in the bowels of the earth they must be accounted such kinde of creatures as with whom there is no cohabitation Even Abraham himselfe although he loved Sarah dearly as his owne heart yet he could not endure her when she was dead but after a certaine season when he had mourned for her he was faine to be a sutor to the sonnes of Heth to sell him as much ground as to bury his dead in Gen. 23.4 to remove her out of his sight The best and the mightiest Monarchs in the world cannot secure themselves from this dishonour If they die on the sea they must be cast over-board or if they die on land they must suffer themselves to enter into this common misfortune and although art and imbalming and curiosity may doe much yet divers parts of them must of necessity be taken committed to the ground lest all about them be pestred by them This is the wofull stroak of nature the dishonour and deformity the beastly-figure of death which makes a man terrible to all the beholders so that that goodly countenance should be turned to a gastly skeleton that those faire cheeks should come to be pale ashes or as a black charcoale that those sparkling blazing eyes should become nothing but as a dim and dark peble and that which is the most fragrant piece of all the mouth to become the most ugly and odious of all The Lord hath drawne the pattern of sin in the face of a dead man and hath made it more sinfull and more ugly in that one spectacle then in any thing in the world besides Thus he that would not rest in the beauty of his creation that would not maintain the glory of his countenance and the image of God that hee had imprinted upon him hee shall now undergoe the most foule image and figure that could be devised There being no beast no creature that is halfe so ugly nothing falling so from it self nothing so unlike it selfe there being nothing traversed with such contrary passions and with such figures and lines of misery as the face of a dead man It is so with all men and although it appeare lesse in some then in others yet leave them a certaine time and they all at the last become so gastly that a man that hath a constant minde and can indure many things yet he loathes to behold a dead man This is the dishonour of sinfull flesh such a basenesse and contempt that a mans best friends shall run
a spirituall body So it is also written the first Adam was made a living soul and the last Adam was made a quickning spirit It is sown in weaknesse it is raised in power THe earth is Gods store-house whereinto he commits his treasure even the bodies of his Saints the Temples of his holy Spirit saith Tertullian Tertull. God hath made the earth to be as a ware-house therein to lay his commodities and from thence to require fetch them forth againe The sowing of these earthly bodies is manifest to us all but the raising of the seed that is sowne and the comming in of the harvest that is locked up and hid in the chambers of eternity in the omnipotency of God And there is no way for us to have accesse and to look into it but by the eye of faith whereby while we live in this flesh wee have a little peeping as it were through the key-hole to see a glimmering of the happinesse and of the gracious promises consigned unto us in Iesus Christ The things that here are spoken of the sowing of the body are so commonly knowne as that there is no man that calls that in question It is sown in dishonour it is sown in weaknesse It is sown in misery and mortality and the Apostle concludes all It is sown a naturall body but it is raised againe a spirituall body And because hee might seeme to offend some eares that never heard of that distinction that there was such a thing as a spirituall body for if it be a spirit then it is no body and if it be a body then it is not spirituall these things imply a contradiction Therefore the Apostle proves that which he had said he makes good his distinction and tels them There is a naturall body and a spirituall body And this hee proves out of the heads of them both out of the two maine Fountaines of mankinde the two Adams The one working to misery to sinne and to corruption and destruction and the other working to grace to obedience and to eternall glory And hee saith The first of these was made a living soule but the second was made and ordained a quickning Spirit The first was made to live to have life himselfe but he could not give life to another yea and that life that hee had was but mortall and fraile But the second Adam was made to have another kind of life and to be all spirit intending spirituall things and he was not onely able to live in himselfe but to give life to all his followers to quicken all them that belong unto him Yea although they be dead in their graves although they be dead in sins or dead in the damps of conscience yet hee is made a quickning Spirit to rouse and to raise them to the happinesse of the children of God This is the summe of the words read unto you To proceed in order There needs no great distribution or division of the Text because the words are nothing else but the probate of that which the Apostle had spoken before He proves it by the Scriptures that there is such a difference as a naturall body and a spirituall body The Scripture he brings is in Gen. 2.7 Gen. 2 7. where it is said The Lord breathed into Adam the breath of life and so Adam or man became a living soule or a living substance In the order of the words there are two miserable properties that remain to be spoken of touching the bodies of the Saints Division into two miserable Properties That they are sown in weaknesse That they are sown meerly naturall But the glory that God shall put upon them shall be in the highest contrary They shall rise in great strength and they shall be raised in a spirituall nature in a spirituall quality and condition 1 Property Sowne in weaknesse Concerning the first that the body of man is sown in weaknesse every man seeth there is nothing more weak and despicable then that all the whole life of man being nothing but a world of weaknesse as it is the prerogative of God to be Almighty so it is the miserable quality of man to be all weaknesse When he comes first into the world there is nothing more weak then he when he growes in the world the least fitt of disease of an ague any kind of opposition whatsoever will defeat him and bring him on his knees to such a degree of weaknesse and infirmity that he shall scarce support and sustain himself And even those that are the strongest of men that are strong to poure in strong drink Esay 5.22 as the blessed Prophet I say saith that spend their time in ryot those men doe soonest bring upon them this fatall weaknesse and none end so foule as they because though they seeme to struggle with the infirmities of nature and to overcome and transcend them for a time yet that inherent weaknesse which is in the flesh rebounds upon them and works them at last to nothing to the foulest expiration that can be Nay those noble spirits which as Tiberius was wont to say that there were some spirits in the world that account their businesse to be their solace their businesse and labour they account it comfort and consolation to them yet these men pluck and call upon themselves a greater weaknesse then other men so that the life of man whether it be base and degenerous or whether it be noble and spritely is nothing else but weaknesse If a man will doe nothing but sleepe out his time hee shall be surprised at length with base weaknesse If hee be vigilant and use the time that God hath given him to the highest and best purpose he is still overtaken with weaknesse and especially when the conscience of sin works upon a man there is nothing so weakens him as that doth Psal 39.11 When thou chastisest man for sin thou makest him like a garment that is moth-eaten And as the Prophet David saith by reason of my sinnes my bones are rotten and corrupted and all my ulcers stink there is no health in my body Psal 22.14 15. by reason of the sinnes of my soule My heart within me is like melting waxe I am broken like a pitcher like a broken vessell I am like a bottle in the smoak The conscience that God hath left in man to be his factor brings a weaknesse incomparable there is nothing that can be equall unto it But chiefly when all these meet together as in some they doe and when old age begins to rivle the face and to draw the complexion into furrows which was largely extended unto beauty and when the tresles and powers of the body begin to faile and the last terme and period is at hand then there is a wofull spectacle of weaknesse Even when a man cannot goe nor stand upon his supporters but hee reeles and falls when hee cannot taste his food nor smell nor finde
there is a spirituall body all the rest are included in this It is sowne in corruption it is raised in incorruption It is true if it be spirituall it must needs be incorrupt so It is sown in dishonour it is raised in honour It is certaine if it be raised a spirituall body And so for strength if it be spirituall it must needs be strong Therefore the Apostle concludes all in this It shall be raised a spirituall body But how a spirituall body Marke he saith not that the flesh of Gods Saints the bodies that shall be raised that they shall be spirits but spirituall bodies Still it shall be a body So that there is no change in the substance but onely in the qualities and properties Tertull. Saith Tertullian the Apostle doth not speak of any change of the substance of nature but of the glorious qualities that shall come unto it Surely saith hee there is nothing that riseth againe but that which was sowne and there is nothing sowne but that which is dissolved and rotten in the earth and there is nothing lies rotting in the earth but flesh therefore nothing shall rise again but the flesh For there was nothing that the sentence of God went upon but the flesh of Adam Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne So St. Austin expounding the words In Tom. 5. Aug. Lib. 13. How shall they be spirituall Not because they shall cease to be bodies they are not therefore called spirituall as though they were turned spirits and ceased to be bodies but because they shall subsist with a living and quickning spirit and because they shall be made indwellers and inhabitants of heaven which is the place of spirits it shall then be the place for the bodies of men For now it is a strange paradoxe to say the body of a man should dwell in heaven and though we know that Christ hath it by a speciall priviledge yet there is no man can imagine how the bodie of a man should dwell in heaven in those pure skies in those bright regions and that the heavinesse of the body should not praecipitate it downe to the earth and cast it into the fire and to dismall events that should consume it But when the Lord shall change this corruption into incorruption the bodies of the Saints shall be the onely fit inhabitants of heaven therefore it is called spirituall because it shall dwell in heaven which is the place of spirits the body shall then be able to inhabit there therefore it is called spirituall as being fit to possesse those mansions that are destinated properly for spirits But Chrysostome makes a question here Saith he Chrysost What is this that thou sayest here blessed Apostle Dost thou say that the bodies of the children of God are not spirituall now are they all meerly animal now are they not spirituall how is it said that they are Temples of the holy Ghost if the holy Ghost dwell in them he makes them spirituall they are called spirituall men all the children of God and if they be spirituall men then they have spirituall bodies But the Father answers himselfe again It is true these bodies we carry about us now by the power of the holy Ghost are after a sort spirituall but that body which shall be then which he here speaks of shall be infinitely far more spirituall This is onely in inchoation in beginning in the first fruits that shall be in the summe and substance and fulnesse of perfection And St. Bernard If thou sayest our bodies shall rise againe thy meaning is not to take away the being of the body but to give it a new lustre as the face of Moses and as in the transfiguration of Iesus Exod. 34. For as Moses when God put that brightnesse upon his face that the people could not look upon it but he was faine to haye a vaile on his face his face was still the same but yet there was a change of glory there was an accession of brightness whereby it seemed a spirit rather then a common ordinary visage so the bodies of men that shall be raised there shall be such an accession and augmentation of glory and beauty and brightnesse that it shall rather seeme spirituall then otherwise And as it was in the Transfiguration of Christ Mar. 17. his garments shone that no Dier in the earth could make the like and his face shone as the sunne in his strength the face of Christ was all one his garments were the same he had the same physiognomie but onely there was a new accession of glory that came unto it So the bodies of the Saints they shall be all one the very same body shall be revived which hath suffered misery here and shall have a new glory put upon it and that very body shall have strength that here was weak and subject to death The Lord shall then cloathe it with glory and although it shall rise a spirituall body it is not in respect of the change of the substance but in regard of the augmentation of glory which shall accrew unto it It is raised a spirituall body So much of those two Attributes of the change from weaknesse to strength and from naturall to spirituall Now in the words following the Apostle comes to prove that such a thing there is as a naturall body and a spirituall body And this he doth to prevent objections partly lest men should think that he coyned new distinctions and divisions which is a thing faulty in the Church and partly lest men should be drowned in error by misconceiving his doctrine For the first If a man should have said unto him Where doe you learne this did you ever heare any man speak such a thing that there is a spirituall body Yes saith the Apostle there is both there is a naturall body and there is a spirituall body I will make the distinction good and prove it This teacheth us Vse that men ought to be carefull what distinctions they bring into the Church of God For as the Apostle saith to Timothy 1 Tim. 6.21 and to Titus Shun novelty of words and inventions shun them they are not to be admitted they destroy the faith and puzzle the understandings of all Gods children Vincentius Lirinensis Vincentius Lirinensis saith That although men ought to speak many things in the Church of God after a new fashion yet they ought to speak no new thing at all Therefore lest they should be offended with this distinction as though the Apostle had brought it out of his owne braine as though it were a new device of his owne hatching he is forced to make it good and to prove that there is such a thing because hee would not be thought an Inventer of new devices and a maker of new distinctions which is a plague in the Church of God throughout all ages Secondly another reason was this because hee would not suffer them to
upon him our nature hee must take that which stood in most need of redemption which is the poore body which is subject to all miseries and calamities For how should hee be called The sonne of man if he had not a body But as he is called The sonne of God so he is also called The sonne of man and hee came to save both parts of man that were downe by reason of sin he came to take the flesh of man to be incarnate and that is it that we so rejoyce and boast of that Christ was become incarnate became man and tooke our flesh upon him and in that flesh he hungred in that flesh he suffered in that flesh he was buryed in that flesh he rose againe in that flesh he ascended into heaven to make a way by the vaile of his flesh into the Holy-of-holyes Heb. 10.20 to all that constantly and truly beleeve in him Quest 3 Thirdly another Question is moved here How Adam is said to be corpus animale seeing God gave him a power of immortalitie for if it were corpus immortale then it could not be corpus animale as saith S. Austin and that truly but Adam had corpus immortale therefore it was not corpus animale and by consequent he cannot be so different from Christ as the Apostle makes him here For the Apostle brings in the two roots and fountaines of man-kinde and he makes the one animall and the other spirituall Now saith St. Austin I demand if Adam had an immortall body how was it an animall body For an animall body is that that is fraile and changeable an immortall body is that which is unchangeable And againe as the holy Father urgeth it further Certainely saith he we recover in Christ that which we lost in Adam and one thing that we recover by Christ is immortality therefore we lost immortality in Adam we lost it in the first Adam and we recover it in the second Now if we lost immortality in Adam then he lost it for us he lost it first as being the foundation of our kinde and we lost it in him being his posterity Then certainely he had it if he lost it for no man can lost that which he hath not and therefore Adam having immortality how should his body be fraile and mortall and an animall body These are things contrary each to other The Father answers againe These quirks and devises make the faith of many men to stagger and it makes some men to answer it thus That the body of man was changed in Paradise God made his body a mortall body but after this he brought him to the Symbole of life and gave him a commandement to abstaine from the tree of knowledge of good and evill which had he done and had kept that commandement then should the fruit of the tree of life have so preserved his life that he should have lived for ever So these men thinke that the Lord changed the condition and quality of his body in Paradise in the giving of the command Aug. But S. Austin answers it better afterwards I thinke saith he that the most safe and proper answer is this that although it be true that we recover immortality by Christ and that we lost this immortality in Adam yet we have a farre greater advantage by Christ we gaine more by Christ then we lost by Adam Adam never had this certainty of immortality that we have he had a kinde of a possibility of it but it was conditionall Now conditions make nothing to be and so this stood upon an if If thou keep the commandement thou shalt live and if thou doe not thou shalt die therefore a man cannot say that there was any immortality planted in the person of Adam because it was uncertaine it was mutable it was in the freedome of his will which was changeable he was not made in a certaine necessity of obedience therefore it was conditionall To conclude all As the holy Father saith the body of Adam although it were meerely naturall as ours is yet it was in a farre better condition then ours are that is it had no necessity of dying as ours hath for our bodies must needs die but the body of Adam might have beene sublimate and brought unto the heavenly joyes without death which ours cannot be For it is impossible for flesh and blood to enter into the Kingdome of God 1 Cor. 15.50 Therefore we have no way to come to glory but by suffering the common calamity of nature which is by stooping to the burthen of death And againe Adam had in his very person those seeds that might have prolonged and continued his life by the blessing of God and the Sacrament of the tree of life whereas we by his sin have gotten nothing but the seeds of death and mortality working us from one misery and sicknesse to another and from sicknesse to death And if the mercy of God intervene not from the first to the second death to eternall misery and perplexity Therefore the difference is this the Lord made him in a better estate then we for he had no necessity of death nor no principle of death but what by his owne will he contracted but in us there is a necessity of death we must die and yet by the mercy of God in Christ wee are restored and renewed by his intercession and sacrifice unto better things then we lost in Adam The Lord make us assured of this blessed and glorious estate that thereby we may be armed against death against the feare of death and that thereby we may grow more and more spirituall that wee may become partakers of that divine grace which may make us while we live in this world not to be of the world but Citizens of that blessed and heavenly Ierusalem which is the mother of us all Gal. 4.26 To the which the Lord bring us for his infinite goodness and mercies sake Amen FINIS SERMONS On 1 COR. 15. Of the Resurrection 1 COR. 15.46 47. But that is not first which is spirituall but that which is naturall and then that which is spirituall The first man is of the earth earthly the second man is the Lord himselfe from heaven As is the earthly so are they that are earthly and as is the heavenly so are they also that are heavenly IN the former part of this Treatise the Apostle hath discoursed of the kindes and degrees of our future happinesse in the glorious resurrection Now hee comes to tell us of the causes and of the order The substance of these words which I have read unto you is to give satisfaction to that common curiosity that is in Gods people whereby they seeke to prevent the time and to enjoy their happinesse before it be Gods will and pleasure It is naturall to man as Cornelius Tacitus saith to runne before his fortunes Corn. Tacit. And so it is among Christians themselves there is a kinde of
harmelesse humour although when it is too extreame and violent it is full of sinne yet it is construed to a good sense that they desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all that is to say not to be dissolved after the fashion of the common death as S. Paul did but to have a kinde of light mutation and change and so to be translated unto glory You see in 2 Cor. 5.4 2 Cor. 5.4 where the Apostle tells us We would not be spoiled of this body that is we would not die but supervestiri wee would have a garment or vestment of glory and immortality to be put upon this body without death As if hee should say we would have corruption to enter into incorruption and we would be made capable of heaven with these bodies unchanged by death To that the Apostle answers in these words No saith he these things are contrary naturall and spirituall and it is impossible for a naturall body to be capable of spirituall qualities or a spirituall body of naturall qualities we must needs leave off the one before we can take the other we must lay downe the rags of this flesh before we can take the garment or vestment of glory and eternity in that blessed life that followes And although we have a great desire to goe unto life without death yet wee must mortifie that desire for it is as vaine as nurses wishes As nurses that wish the most eminent and excellent things to their children so we delight our selves in this imagination But the Apostle tells us that wee must take things in order for that God hath made all things in order First we are to taste of the naturals and then to be made partakers of the spirituals so we cannot be borne into this world but by nature and we cannot be borne into our spirituall possession at the first but first we must have a kinde of naturall life and by the grace of God that prepares us unto the life spirituall So God hath appointed and ordained every thing to goe by succession that all things should not be done at once but every thing in its time For saith he that which is spirituall is not first but that which is naturall and then that which is spirituall And to this purpose hee brings in the two great fountaines and seminaries of mankinde the one for the life of nature the other for the life of grace a man and a man both of them being men but yet being diversly qualified and both leaving their qualities to those that be their followers For saith the Apostle the causers of all this great difference of naturall and spirituall be the two Adams the one was meerely naturall and was no more but a man The other although he were naturall yet he was spirituall too he was both God and man The one wrought unto death the other wrought unto life the one was bent and inclined to sinne the other was full of all grace the one left an inheritance of misery the other left great demeanes of glory to all those that are his followers Now as these causes bee contrary in themselves there being as much difference betweene them as there is betweene East and West so wee must imagine the effects to be different too For if the one did work to hell and damnation the other wrought to heaven a glorious redemption and salvation for all Gods people and if the wickednesse of the one were derivable upon his posterity in the flesh much more the goodnesse and righteousnesse of the other is derived unto them that are true beleevers and followers of him The first man was of the earth earthly the second man was the Lord from heaven And as they be so be their disciples as is he that is earthly so are they that are earthly and as was the heavenly so are they that are heavenly They are to follow their masters cue and to be of the same condition as their Chieftaine and Soveraigne The carnall man dies in Adam the spirituall lives in Christ even to life everlasting This is the substance of the words read unto you Now to proceed in order of the Text. First Division into 3. parts 1. The order of the PropositioÌ„ 2. The comparison betweene the 2. Adams 3. The conformity of their members we are to consider the verity and truth of the order of this proposition how the Apostle intends that that which is spirituall is not first but that which is naturall For it seemes that the best things should be first and spirituall things being best therefore it seemes they should be first yea it seems to be a disparagement unto things spirituall and heavenly to come in time after things naturall But the Apostle saith no God hath appointed it so and hee gives no further reason as St. Chrysostom observes that they may give themselves content in this that it is Gods will it shall be so that is a reason sufficient they need seek no further Secondly we are to consider the comparison betweene the two heads and roots and fountaines of mankinde the first man and the latter man and they are compared in foure things The first is in respect of their order and succession the first and the last or the first and the second The second is in respect of the place of their nativity whence they come the first from the earth the second from heaven The third is in the quantity of their difference and excellencie the first came as a servant the second came as a Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And though the word servant be not noted in the Text yet it is to be understood by this that he saith The Lord himselfe Therefore the first came not as a Lord but as a servant but the second came as a Lord in all points yea as the Lord himselfe from heaven Then lastly for their qualities the one is earthly the other is heavenly The third part of the Text is the conformity of the members that belong to these heads with their heads For as there are two great foundations of mankinde so likewise they have members answerable to them Those that be of Adam that is naturall men they be as their father is such as the earthly is so they are that are earthly and those that be of Christs retinue they be such as their Master is too For as is the heavenly so are they also that are heavenly which is not meant of the manners and condition of men here in this world for the Apostle meddles not with that in all this Chapter but it is spoken of the bodies that shall be raised at that day thâ—t as all men be earthly by nature the best Saints of God here are in an earthly condition and must be dissolved into earth and as we have that by means of the first Adam from whence wee descend so from the second Adam wee have a hope and shall
have power to be heavenly in the Resurrection And as sure as we are mortall here so sure wee shall be immortall there These are the branches of the Text of these in order as the Spirit of God shall give assistance First 1 Part. The Order naturall before spirituall Chrysost concerning this that he saith about the Order of the thing that God hath ordained which is naturall before spirituall Saith St. Chrysostom he doth not shew for what cause hee alledgeth no cause of Gods order To teach us to be content with the dispensation of Almighty God to shew us that it is the wisest course that he hath taken and because also he would shew us that the Lord doth better our estate and proceeds from that which is weak to that which is more perfect For as in nature so also in grace things grow from weak imperfection unto a light and prime estate and therefore first and last doe not alwaies argue excellency and superiority but oftentimes those things that be last be better then those that be first Although in Scripture we find in some cases that that which is first is best as in the first borne of men and the first borne of other creatures in the first moneths and the first feasts and the first fruits and the like yet this holds not alway but oftentimes those things that be of a later tract and rank in the world are of greater perfection For so doth both Art and nature proceed and so doth the wisdome of God also In the beginning of the world the first thing was a rude matter a thing without forme afterward the Lord brought upon it formes and bodies of distinction In the first ages of the world there was nothing but the law of nature which men had corrupted Then there came another light the law of Moses and in the later end of the world there came the law of grace the Gospell which is as much more perfect and exceeds Moses law as Moses law renewed the law of nature In the ages of man the first is weak infancie which is uncapable unsensible but ripenesse is in the after age In the discpline of Schooles to be a scholler and a learner is a long time before to be a teacher and to be a learner is a matter of imperfection but to be a teacher is a matter of growth and ripenesse In the discipline of Christ first they were fishers and afterwards fishers of men and it is a weaker thing to take fish then to take men that came afterward And so generally almost in all the whole body of nature you shall see the Lord goeth from small beginnings to great perfection from the kernell to the tree from the seed to the harvest from the blade to full corne in the eare It is true indeed in some things it is contrary for both the Angels at their first creation were in their fulnesse and they needed no increase except you take that for increase the grace of confirmation And likewise the creatures that were then made were made in their fulnesse for there was not a seed made to make a tree or a kernell to make a tree nor there was not an egge to bring forth an henne but the things themselves were made in their full perfection But God did not purpose to continue that course any longer but the making of them once in their perfection and being turned divolved by Adams sinne into imperfection it pleased him of his goodnesse and mercy to raise these imperfections to rare qualities and that it should come by degrees in successe of time that things should not be done in a moment but every thing in time that so wee might the better meditate and contemplate of his exceeding glory Therefore to conclude this point seeing the Lord hath so ordained that in all things the naturalls be the first that is that which is worst and afterwards comes the spirituals It teacheth us Vse to yeeld and submit our selves to this blessed order which God hath instituted For indeed it is the onely blessed and gracious way that we can devise and therefore wee are to magnifie and exalt it For it is not fit for Gods Majesty to go from better to worse that is a poore change that is a change of weaknesse of simplicity and folly But as St. Austin saith it is a faire course a faire kind of change when a man changeth for the better and to be more excellent when he grows still more singular when he grows from grace to grace and from strength to strength till he come to appeare before God in Syon This is the course that best beseemes the divine power of the heavenly Majesty therefore hee would not have men to imagine that things spirituall are first which is the best and afterwards naturall which is the worst the power of God increaseth the further it goes it brings us first from elements and rudiments by further degrees unto a state and height of perfection This is the course that God only hath sanctified therefore wee must learne to make it our course still to make our naturalls first and and then our spiritualls It is a shame saith the Apostle will you begin in the spirit and end in the flesh And saith Tertullian Gal. 3 3. Tertullian if a man will be mad let him be mad in his youth let him be mad in his first age which is the naturall part let him spend that in vanity although indeed there be no time that should be spent but to the glory of God but for the other part when hee growes spirituall let him only intend the things of the Spirit of God Vse Lastly to conclude it teacheth us not to be too much strait and rigorous against this order for wee would have our children meerely spirituall as soon as they be borne and wee would bring them to it by force and constraint We know not the will of God their naturalls must be passed first although there be no time that ought to be naturall yet there must be a kind of generation before there be any regeneration a man must first be borne before he be re-borne a man must first be simple and ignorant and after come to knowledge and holinesse as it pleaseth God to call men some at the tenth houre some at the eleventh some in the morning some in the evening of their lives So the Fathers discourse upon this But I take it that the proper meaning is not to stretch it further than the body God hath so appointed man that first he should have a naturall body and then a spirituall I take it the Text hath no further extent For as in all things in nature the weaker goe before the stronger God hath made that the foundation and out of the weaknesse of things he works his owne strength and glory so the Lord hath appointed these bodies that be naturall a life naturall to live in misery to
they be in heaven yet they are not there without some change of body not without the destruction of the corrupt part whereby it was made sinfull And though the Saints that shall live at the comming of Christ shall be translated and it is true they shall be so but how by the mighty power of Gods omnipotencie that shall work them throughly to perfection and shall take away the drosse and leave nothing but that which is pure and sit for the glory of God to dwell in and make his residence there For it is impossible that the slaves of miserie should make their residence in the Court of glory because of the corruption of sinne that is left in them which must be rooted out that they may be capable of that blessed condition To the which the Lord bring us Amen FINIS SERMONS On 1 COR. 15. Of the Resurrection 1 COR. 15.51 Behold I shew you a mysterie we shall not all sleepe but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye by the last trump THere is almost no part of our Christian faith so generall but it admits of some particular exception 1 Tim. 1.15 Christ came into the world to save sinners yet not all sinners but those that are penitent and converted So the Rule is that all men must once die Heb. 9.27 and that all men that are dead shall rise againe And yet this is not true of all particulars for there are some exceptions against this truth yea there be many thousands of men and women many millions that shall neither die nor rise againe Yea a whole world the world that shall stand at the comming of Iesus Christ shall neither die nor rise again But these are but a handfull in respect of former ages and therefore some particular exceptions doe not infringe a generall rule for if there be some then that shall not tast of death yet there is no man doubts but that the common law of death is imposed upon all men and every man must suffer it in his time And although it be a true Article of our faith that all flesh that is dead shall rise againe to judgement yet there are a certaine number which shall be exempted and which shall be translated after another manner not by way of Resurrection but by way of change and mutation And the Apostle calls this a great mysterie for indeed as all the whole doctrine of the Resurrection is full of mysteries so this above the rest to understand what kinde of change this shall be to understand how they that live at Christs comming shall be priviledged more than us that lived before them For it is a great priviledge for a man never to goe to his grave and hee that sleeps least in the dust we account him in common sense and reason the happiest we esteeme him the happiest man that stayes the shortest time in death How therefore these things should be conceived it is mysticall and hidden from our senses All this notwithstanding the Apostle resolves upon it and saith although it be a mysterie to us yet it was not a mysterie to him for it was revealed by the Spirit of God to him and he reveals it and tells it again unto us that there is a remnant of men that shall survive when Christ shall come to judgement which shall not goe to heaven by that common path that wee goe they shall not come to see death as we doe nor to the putrefaction and filth which is incident to our nature but they shall be translated by a kinde of change which shall be unto them as our death is to us and they shall not have a resurrection as our bodies have they shall not goe under grovnd to rise againe they shall not be dissolved to be renewed againe And this is the wondrous mysterie which is of all most strange For suppose a child that is both new borne and newly interred as there shall be many thousands that shall die two or three dayes before the Resurrection these must now rise very raw out of their graves the change then that shall now be made upon their bodies that were so newly interred must needs be a very wonderfull one It is past the reason of man to conceive but it is enough that it rests in the power of God and that he hath revealed it to his Apostles and Teachers of his Church by an infallible determination and that it shall be truely and really effected upon the persons of them that shall then live whatsoever wee think and deeme to the contrary So now the Apostle begins partly to tell us of the great world that shall be when Christ shall come and partly to prove that which hee had said before As concerning the state of the world he would have us to consider that in the latter end the Lord shall come in a moment and he shall take things as he finds them and those that are then living he shall make his own hand glorious upon them as he pleaseth by a kinde of change and mutation although not according to the common decree and course of dying And for the other that it is a proofe of that hee had said before we are to consider the words that formerly he had said that corruption shall not inherit incorruption nor flesh and bloud shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Now for that a man may thus object and say against it What then shall become of them that live when Christ comes to judgment are not they flesh and bloud as well as wee for their bloud shall be corrupted as well as ours is and corrupt flesh as well as wee their flesh shall be tainted with sinne and with all kinde of transgression and disobedience as ours is and rather worse for the longer the world stands the worse it growes therefore if flesh and bloud shall not inherit the Kingdome of God and that corrupt flesh and bloud shall not come into incorruption what shall become of them that Christ shall finde at his comming The Apostle answers that Nay saith hee God hath provided another way for them and that is by mutation and change So that though they shall be flesh and bloud as wee are and corrupt flesh and bloud as wee are and perhaps worse corrupted than we because the last times of the world shall be the worst yet the Lord shall so work by his omnipotent power as that their corruption shall be refined and wrought out they shall be molded by the mighty hand of God and by that fire that shall goe through the world For as hee hath a visible fire to purifie the elements and all this visible masse which we see so he hath another kind of fire a spirituall fire to purge the bodies of men from their originall and actuall transgressions which they have contracted the power of God shall so worke that they shall have some Analogie with our death which
God Almighty to worke our incorruption to be not an incorruption to misery but to glorie and that he would so worke us to himselfe as that wee may be in a continuall fruition and possession of his sweet and gracious presence not to be molested and tormenled with the absence of God with the losse of heaven and the joyes thereof which the damned spirits thinke if they had but a moment to live and repent them againe they would regaine the things they have lost And they cry out damnation to themselves that they were so foolish to lose the time which might have been so imployed as that they might have been made masters of heaven and possessors thereof The dead shall rise incorruptible And we shall be changed That is wee all those that belong unto Christ Where we may observe the Apostle still useth the wee although the Apostle himselfe were not changed but after the manner of the common change by death But the Apostle doth this partly as I told you the last time because of the common communion of the Church of God whereas every man may say wee every man may take his neighbour with him we have all one head and we are all members of one body And chiefly the Apostle so speaks because he thought the day was neare approaching and he prepared himselfe every where He thought that the time and the day wherein hee wrote this wherein he spake this he thought that might have beene the last day and therefore that hee might have beene one of the number and therefore hee saith wee Now this change as I said before is commonly taken for the better but it is true also of the Reprobate After that manner of change wee speake of they shall be changed from a state mutable to immutability that which they are when they rise they are for ever They are not so now for they follow the change of nature they are subject to mutability and variety seaven years make a great alteration in a mans life and in the best life in the world more years makes a greater impression But the Lord shall then raise them to a setled state to a state of incorruption and whether they have glory or whether they have misery it shall be without change it shall be in a kind of eternity as the Lord himselfe is eternall I should now come to the Reason which includes all and to the sweet metaphor where the Apostle expresseth himselfe in these words We must put on But I must reserve it till the next time FINIS SERMONS On 1 COR. 15. Of the Resurrection 1 COR. 15.53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortality When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortall shall have put on immortality then shall be fulfilled the speech that is written Death is swallowed up into victory 5. Part. The Reason IN these words the Apostle renders a Reason of that former change mutation which shall befall the Saints of God For this whole doctrine of the Resurrection it must be so expounded of the Saints especially howbeit it may be also further extended even to the wicked and the reprobates For they shall have a kinde of change as being made from mortall immortall and from corrupt to be incorrupt although it shall be for their punishment and for their greater ignominie yet it shall be true immortality and a true incorruption that they shall receive But as Beza and the later and best Divines hold it is fittest for us to tye these things and to understand them of that sanctified company to whom the Lord hath promised and will also vouchsafe a glorious Resurrection They must therefore as it is said before be all changed and they must be changed presently upon the sound of the trumpet by the power of Almighty God of which things I will now make no repetition Now because it might be questioned what need wee be changed wee desire rather to goe to God In this body we desire super-vestiri to be over-clad rather with the glory of the Almighty then to be naked and to be stripped of this flesh that we have here We would goe to Christ but wee would not goe the same way to Christ that Christ came to us for he came to us by death but wee would goe to him still without death Therefore this the Apostle resolves us and teacheth us that which he said before in part That flesh and bloud shall not inherite the Kingdome of God that is corrupt flesh and bloud by reason of the corruption that is in it by reason of the tainture of sinne it is subject to change and mutability For it is impossible till it be reformed till it be cast into the earth and mouldered to dust and that it be prepared by the hand of God in the ground untill then it is uncapable of heaven So here hee saith in the affirmative Oportet it must needs be so it must needs be that this mortall must put on immortality and this corruption must put on incorruption So when hee hath given his resolution that such a thing must needs be then he lifts them up to the expectation of the time when this glorious change shall be made He tells them that it shall be and whensoever it shall come to passe as certainly it must be fulfilled then shall also be fulfilled that glorious saying in the Scriptures wherewith he confirmes himselfe and his authority and is not content to speake as an Apostle onely out of his owne Apostolicall power which he had received from Christ but hee also fetcheth some ground and help besides his testimony from the Prophets that were before him then saith hee shall be fulfilled that happy word that glorious word spoken of by Isay as the most and best Divines think or by Hosea as some others think And the word is this Death is swallowed up into victory that there is nothing left now in the tents of Christs holy Church but the voyce of triumphs and trophees over death and consequently over hell over sinne over sicknesse over all infirmities and discontent whatsoever For if Death be swallowed up in victory the rest are much more swallowed up For that is the greatest and the last enemie of all and if that be confounded the rest must needs perish with it There shall then be such a compleat victory as that looke whatsoever a man casts his eye on hee shall see nothing but victory and conquest and glory and life and righteousnesse and holinesse in stead of this wickednesse and misery and distemper and accidents whereto we are subject in this life Then shall be fulfilled So he notes unto us the goodly and glorious time in which the Saints shall have their full consummation and blisse Then then it shall be fulfilled which is now prophesied and promised It shall be made up then which is now but expected It shall then be fulfilled in all
And there wee cease not neither but still wee seeke for a new forme the matter still would have a new coate None of these content us but wee desire of God a forme that never may be changed This corruption must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortality The other condition of our nature is that as it cannot endure to be in the same kinde but still seeks new fashions and new formes so at length it comes to that forme that seemes to extinguish it utterly as if it had never beene which brings matter and forme and all to nothing as a man would think the goodliest temper the stateliest comely body the best and freshest countenance the best brued bloud and the sweetest colour these which are the materialls of man it brings them all at length to a handfull of dust that a man would think that now the matter had quite lost its forme and that it should never desire a further forme For it is mortalized it is brought to nothing it is brought to stench and corruption and it seemes to be drowned there there is no hope that ever it shall rise againe But yet still the appetite works for the matter works still to the God of nature and desires of him a new forme to give it a new garment And the Apostle saith that God shall heare that matter and hee shall regard the cries of it and shall graunt the petition that this dust shall make unto him and he shall give it a new vestment which shall be of such a fashion as it shall never desire any more to change and put off again For this corruption must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortality 6 â—art The metaphor Shall put on A sweet and blessed metaphor is this word put on It must be put on in stead of the ragges wee put off for mortality and corruption stick close to us not as a close-bodied garment sticks to the body but as the skinne and the flesh cleaves to the bones And we can never put them off and be rid of them but by the common law and necessity of dying and rotting in the grave There are only some few that shall have the prerogative which shall live at the comming of Christ they shall have a change in stead of this death But for us that must goe the common way of nature wee know our doome Now then this ragged garment and vesture that wee carrie about us by reason of Adams sinne and our corruption which wee have multiplied and added to Adams transgression it must first be shaken off by the omnipotent hand of God it must be so purely and so fully removed as that no threeds nor no tagg of it remaine And then when that is done there is time and place for the new robe to be put upon us for that blessed garment which is to come in the place of this But first these torne raggs must be cast away they must first be put off and then this blessed vestment which the Lord hath prepared even the vestment of incorruption and immortality shall succeed in the place of this So that from hence we see the truth of the former doctrine again Saith S. Austin the garment is one thing Aug. and the thing garnished and decked is another the garment is not the man but an accident to the man and it may be that hee may be here and that may be there or it may be here and he may be away and yet notwithstanding the man may be the same So likewise the bodies that the Saints have in this world they shall be still the same bodies the same in incorruption that they were in corruption the same body that it was when it was mortall the same shall it be when it is immortall the same in substance but not the same in glory and quality Tertull. For as Tertullian saith the Apostle disputes of the glory of the bodies and not of the substance of them Therefore as a man that is of any state and account in this world he hath divers suites of cloathes but he hath but one body so it is true in this case that the Lord upon one and the selfe same body shall poure multiplicity of garments and riches of the rayment which hee shall give in that blessed day The garment of beauty the garment of eternity the garment of strength of wisedome of all kinde of excellencies both of body and soule The Lord shall sit them then with many changes of apparell but still it shall be one and the selfe same body For this mortall must put on the glorious garment of immortality and this corruptible must put on incorruption So the Fathers in the Greeke Church taught their men and women in the Church to say I beleeve the resurrection of This flesh When we say the Creed wee say I beleeve the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting But still they when they came to this article they clapt their hand upon their breast and said I beleeve the resurrection of This flesh punctually pointing at themselves because the Apostle saith This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortality to shew that it belongs to the person properly and peculiarly to this very subject that he makes his proposition of And this glorious garment what it is but the garment which God himselfe hath worne from all eternity Hee is incorruptible that is unchangeable and he is immortall that is it is impossible for him to grow worse For God can never change from better to worse and hee shall give that power to the bodies of his Saints that their perfection shall be so great as that it shall not possibly be made better and they shall be so singular that it is impossible they should be made worse or decline For hee shall set them in the highest pitch of perfection in the top of excellencie that they shall receive neither majus nor minus neither more nor lesse neither better nor worse they shall have no kinde of change This is that glorious apparell that God puts on The Lord is King Psal 93.1 hee hath put on his glorious apparell hee hath girded himselfe with strength and majestie This is that apparell which the Apostle S. Iames speaks of when he saith That the Lord is without any change Iam. 1.16 or shadow of changing This garment which God hath put upon himselfe from all eternity hee will vouchsafe in a degree and measure to his Saints in time they shall be eternall from the time after as he hath beene from worlds and ages to world without end himselfe one and the same for evermore Now whereas hee saith in the vinculum of this proposition that Oportet this must needs be thus Vse that it can be no other way but thus This thing the Apostle adds for our comfort and consolation both to encourage us patiently to abide
the stroke of death beause it must needs be so for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortality and to assure us of the necessity of the glory that shall be it cannot faile but it must needs come so to passe as the Lord hath promised Oportet it must be so There are certaine bonds that have passed from God to man by the promise of the Almighty that bindes him to it For the word of a King is a King to a man as Demosthenes saith Demost Therefore God hath bound himselfe unto us by his word and by the promises he hath made and likewise we are againe bound by the necessity of congruitie by the necessity of fitnesse that these things should be so For it is of absolute necessity in regard of the fall of Adam and of our corruption that wee have contracted thence that we should not enter into that blessed incorruption till wee have put off this corruption which wee have contracted There is no medling for a sound man to come to them that are in the Pest-house nor there is no conversing for a man that is well in his wits with them that are in Bedlam there is no mingling of Sheepe and Goats together there is no blending of light and darknesse of Christ and Beliall there can be no communion and fellowship betweene corruption and incorruption It is impossible that the corrupt body of man should be able to entertaine and receive that incorruptible crowne of heaven it will burst him in his feeble abilities As is said of Semele that when Iupiter appeared unto â—â—r in his full glorie shee was exhausted by meanes of his Majestie shee expired and lost her life So it is true and certaine this weake vessell cannot endure heaven this corrupt body cannot abide incorruption no more than Gunpowder can endure the approach of fire for it will be swallowed up of it Therefore the Lord prepared a habitation and tabernacle for it in the earth that by the earth hee may bring it to be capacious of the glory they shall receive Therefore there is this necessity that the Apostle saith It must be thus And this necessity is in three respects First in respect of the soule when it is seperate from the body The soule is a part of a man and the body is a part of a man as well as the soule although it be not so great and so excellent a part as that but seeing that God hath appointed that a body and a soule shall alway make a man we cannot say therefore that the body is a man or that the soule is a man but onely by way of eminencie But we must needs take the soule as long as it is seperate from the body to be a thing imperfect for it is not so much blessed as it shall be when the body shall be re-united unto it It is blessed as much intensively but not extensively not in respect of the societie company with the body with the glory and beauty and that joy of the holy Ghost which shall be extended every where as well to the body as to the soul This the soul wants and therefore they lie continually lingring thirsting in expectation Apoc. 6.10 How long Lord holy and true They desire to be restored to their bodies they be naked now the sword is out of his scabbard now the Lord hath drawne them assunder notwithstanding they are both in â—â—e hand of God But then the Lord will again return the sword into his scabbard when he hath clensed pollished it that it shal never afterward be seperated In this regard it must needs be that corruption must put on incorruption For the soule by the hand of God is made uncorruptible and immortall but the body is made both corruptible and mortall therefore that the one may fit the other the Lord must make it by a strange wondrous change he must make this corruption put on incorruption that is he shall so mold the body by lying in the earth that he shall make it by the power of his hand hee shall make it capable of that great incorruption which hee shall give it when the soule and the body shall meete together in one The second reason of this necessity is this because the good God hath ordained in justice to performe all things and that according to that which a man hath done in this flesh 2 Cor. 5.10 for we mst receive according to the things that we have done in this flesh whether they be good or evill as the holy Apostle saith Therfore the Lord will have this corrupt body which hath suffered paine here on earth this body which hath suffered for Gods cause this body which hath suffered death this body which hath endured the flame and persecution this body which hath suffered hunger and thirst and nakednesse this body that hath suffered infamy and ignominy reviling and opprobries as the Lord Iesus did for our sakes this body which hath bin so brought under and made as it were a laughing stock to the world which hath bin made a refuge of scornes this body which beares the prints marks of the Lord Iesus Christ about with it Gal. 6.17 this body which hath bin in martyrdom so ignominious to the sight of the world though it have beene noble in the sight of God this body that hath born all the brunt and toyl labour in affliction this body must be glorified againe for that it stands with Gods justice that every man shall receive according as hee hath done in this flesh whether it be good or evill Therefore it must needs be that this corruption must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality this very body that hath suffered must be honoured that as it hath suffered many evill things for Gods cause so it may receive many good things for its owne cause for the mercy of God which shall be revealed upon it And lastly it is necessary it should be thus Oportet it must needs be that the body must goe to incorruption Aquin. by the way of corruption as Aquinas well noteth because of the conformity of the members to the head Our Lord Iesus Christ went this way therefore we that are his servants must not look to be above our Master Luke 6.40 it is enough that the servant be equall to his Master Christ is our head he is our Master he could not come to immortality but first he died he was mortall before he was immortall and though he were not corruptible although there was no change in his body to corruption yet he was mortall there was a change in the colour there was a change in his strength and life these things were in him for hee was dead these things cannot consist but in him that is dead So much as he was corruptible hee had it for our sakes hee was mortall hee
was dead and buried and hee testified his mortality three dayes together by lying in the grave Therefore as Christ went this way and could not goe to heaven untill he had tasted of death first he must suffer and so enter into glory It followes therefore Luke 24.26 that all his members must second him and subscribe to that course which their Lord and head went and be content to be like unto him it must be with us as it was with him therefore this corruption must put on incorruption That is wee cannot come to that glory but by dying first we must die to live first we must be in our graves in stinke and filthinesse that wee may be raised to beauty and strength and perfection according to the glorious promise which God hath made in Christ Now the next thing to be observed is the triumph of the Church when this is done when this corruption hath put on incorruption and this mortall hath put on immortality when this blessed garment is once fitted when this vestment shall be once applyed unto these bodies as never to be put off again Then shall be fulfilled this saying This garment of incorruption and immortality that is this garment of glory and beauty wherein God shall invest his Saints it shall not be like these garments of ours that are put upon our outsides which cover onely our outward parts They touch not our intrailes they come not neare the heart but this blessed garment of incorruption it shall run through all the veynes of man it shall possesse him every where it shall be as the life is in all the parts of the body in every part there is life as well as in the rest It shall be as the health is it is the breath of heaven which runs through all the parts of the body if one part or member be sick all the rest are so too for company It shall be as the soule is in every part and substance of the bodie the soule is in all the parts of the body it is as well in the little finger as in the braine of a man And after this kind shall this garment be put on not as our cloathes which we put on and off not as our garments which keepe us warme in our outward parts and never touch our inward But this as the Spirit of God shall rule through the whole man there shall be no part nor no blood but it shall be uncorrupt there shall be no flesh in man but it shall be immortall There is no part but it shall be garnished and adorned with this rare and singular quality which shall run through the whole man and shall possesse him wholly and shall take that root in him as it shall be impossible for it to be extirpated for it is the glorious hand of God that shall plant them there and nothing therefore shall be able to supplant them Wee must put on incorruption And it shall be so put on as the sun puts on his glory never to put it off againe as the stars put on their light never to be eclipsed never to have their light taken from them Wee must not put on the robe and garment of immortality as Kings and Princes put on their gay cloathes and apparell Chrysost As St. Chrysostom saith when Kings and Princes goe to the bath on earth although they be never so gloriously apparelled yet when they goe into the bath they must put off their cloathes as well as other men and when they goe to their graves they must divest themselves and goe after the order of other men But the Saints of God shall not put on the cloathes of incorruption as a man that goes to the bath but they shall put it on as God hath put on eternity they shall put it on as the sun hath put on his light never to be darke They shall put it on as the moon and stars which have the same beauty and figure continually Although to us it seeme different and the light of the starres are not seene in the day time yet there is no hindrance in them they have the same coat on them The Saints shall have a garment like the coat and habite of the lillies of which our Saviour saith that Solomon in all his royalty Luke 12.27 was not cloathed like one of them their garments shall be so fit and so durable and so sweet and so naturall without any price without any cost The Lord shall then fit the garment to the party Making of garments requires great skill and much art for it is no ordinary thing for to fit a body truely with a garment or vesture But the Lord will shew that wondrous art in fitting this garment to our bodies in such a wondrous aptnesse in such a fitnesse and proportion and compleatnesse that in every part of mans body there shall appeare this beauty and this comelinesse this glorious apprehension of these heavenly qualities shall appeare in every part of man The Lord shall so fit the body that the garment shall glosse and beautifie and adorne the least part of the body Therefore let us lift up our heads Rom. 13.11 for our salvation drawes neerer then when wee first beleeved and let us delight our selves and labour to put on this new garment this blessed vesture that we all seeke so much after Wee are tired with these stinking cloathes Vse with these perishing vanities of the world Wee are faine to perfume them with sweet odours as the fashion of the times are now wee cannot indure the graine of our owne bodies but wee must perfume them with exotick and strange smels But that garment shall bee so perfumed it shall bee so amiable by the power of God that it shall need no other smell or perfume The curiosity of our dispositions cannot indure a garment a yeare together Shee is accounted a sordid woman that weares that garment this yeare which shee ware the last and shee is neglected and despised of her meanes and friends But the Lord shall so fit this garment that we shall still take delight wee shall have a holy pride in wearing of it and it shall still bee the better for wearing and have continually more splendor and beauty then when we first put it on For this mortall must put on immortality to all delight and glory to a lasting glory and a continuall glosse and beauty that shall never fade but still increase to the party that weares it Now let our appetites appeare in desiring of it When when shall it bee And so I come to the last point that I will trouble you with at this time When great promises are made all delayes are tedious Prov. 13.12 Hope that is deferred kills the heart of man therefore it is naturall for us still to call and urge for the time When Lord when why when this corruptible hath put on incorruption and this mortall hath put on immortality when this
will of God It is true thou art alone the onely man that hath overcome mee by thy justice and righteousnesse But this justice and righteousnesse is in thy selfe Escape therefore with thine owne life goe with thine owne priviledge trouble me not and that which belongs unto mee enter not into my possession the Lord hath given mee these sinners as hee gave thee to be no sinner What is thy holinesse to them that are unholy what is thy righteousnesse to them that are ungodly and sinners what passage can there be betweene thee and them to bring them out of my hands Yes the plea is to contention as St. Ierom saith They shall contend who shall have their spoiles and the Lord shall answer that he came not as a private man and that his works were not done personally for himselfe but they were publique actions for the redemption of mankind Therefore whatsoever hee did hee communicates it to his followers whatsoever he did it was for his subjects and servants If he overcame death in his owne person he hath done it not so much for himselfe as for those that beleeve in him that they might partake of his victory and that they might rejoyce for his victory that hee hath had over the world the flesh and the devill So the contention as St. Ierom saith comes upon Christs side by all reason because he hath satisfied the justice of God the Father because hee was offered a sacrifice of a sweet smell which shall be ever in record before God because his suffering was of an infinite nature being the second Person in the Trinity and the actions are alway given to the subject and to the principall the actions of Christ are not attributed to his humane nature but to his person and so also his merits and although he suffered in his humane nature properly and not in his Divine yet the merit and the glory of that suffering reflexed upon the Divine nature For not onely the blood but the blood of God was spilt for the satisfaction of the wrath of God and for the reconciliation of the world Therefore the Lord Iesus shall answer again in the plea that whatsoever he did he did it for the good of all them that belong to him I had never tooke flesh but to make all flesh blessed by my Incarnation I had never entred within the verge and list of my mortall body but to make all their bodies immortall so great is the benefit that I avow to man-kind that not onely my friends but also my enemies have that benefit by mee to have their bodies immortall whatsoever I have done either by way of suffering by way of merit by my miracles by my death and passion by my Resurrection and ascension into heaven I have done it not to reside onely in my owne nature but to communicate it that it may reside in my followers for I have made all the world of beleevers to partake of it This shall be the contestation as St. Ierome saith as if the Lord should heare the just plea of Christ and also the unjust wrangling of the death of nature he shall heare the cause and judge the matter on the part of our blessed Saviour which hath deserved by his death and passion to open the booke and to unloose the seales and to make good the promises to indow himself and all his followers in eternall possessions in that holy and heavenly city which is the Mother of us all Death is swallowed up into victory Now it followes concerning the time when this must be expected then shall be fulfilled this saying for these things be in order to be discussed It is true these things are accomplished now in some degree but the full accomplishment shall be then when wee shall be consummate then when Christ shall be consummate Christ is never full till his body be full hee beares such love to his Church that he is said yet to have reliques of passion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 1.24 the reliques of the passions of Christ The glory that Christ possesseth and is capable of which he is advanced unto in the highest perfection by his incarnation which the Lord stands now in possession of and he shall have no more glory conferred upon him then hee hath and hath had for these sixteene hundred yeares been possessed of but for the infinite love that hee beares to his children to those that are of his body he is said then to be compleat not before when all his members shall be completed then death shall be swallowed up into victory Death was swallowed up in victory when Christ rose againe when hee brought the spoyles of the grave away with him when the Lord raised him and when many bodies of the Saints which slept were carryed up with him to his Kingdome where he hath them now in heaven to converse with him and keepe him company then the Lord gave a gage and pawne of this that now shall be fulfilled but because those were but a few and because the fulnesse of the Church is that which Christ delights in the Apostle refers us to the hope and expectation of that time when we shall get the garment of immortality when we shall have that new coat of incorruption then we shall see that fulfilled and clearly accomplished which was spoken in former time Death is swallowed up into victory Not onely in the person of Christ but in thine and mine and all that have interest in Christ Death is swallowed up into victory that great swallower of all things in the world that consumes not onely the fraile bodies of men but the mighty monuments of marble and the greatest things that are most unlikely to be dissolved shaken asunder in the world the very earth it self the foundations of which we see oft stand trēbling and cast the firme continent into the great sea as it hath hapned to divers parts of the world Now this great swallower which was the destroyer and consumer of all things before and that never could meet with his match now he himselfe shall be swallowed up into compleat victory Therefore this must be our desire as souldiers after the victory we follow a master which is a victorious Captaine that was never foyled by any enemy but wheresoever hee goes he carries the field before him And souldiers wee know what great glory and glee they have what noysing of trumpets what erecting of spirits when they once come to be masters of their enemies there is not such a glorious sight under heaven as a victorious army returning from the spoile The Lord would teach us by this what wee should doe to lift up our spirits to prepare us for the insultation over this grisly enemy which is the devourer of all the voice of victory must be glorious as it is said of Lepanto when newes came to Venice that the Christians had the victory over the Turkes for three dayes together there was
when they see a Beare or a Lion or a Wolfe dead in the street they will pull off his haire and insult over him and deale with them as they please they will trample upon their bodies being dead which they durst not looke upon when they were alive Such a thing is death it is a furious Beast a rampant Lion a devouring Wolfe which consumes all the world The Lord hath laid him now at his length he hath laid him dead that he is unable ever to have life againe and so the very children saith St. Chrysostome are able to insult over him That wee have had Martyrs saith hee of 14. or 15. yeares old which have offred themselves to the fire and to the sword and to all the passions of this hungry beast they have offered themselves to the devourers with a willing imbrace and have played upon him which is the common swallower of all mankind as Theophylact saith well We doe still devour and swallow up death by the faith that wee have in the life of Christ for that faith makes us so constant as that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Iesus as the holy Apostle saith Rom. 8. Rom. 8.35 What shall separate us from the love of God shall tribulation or persecution or sword or hunger or cold or nakednesse shall Angels or life or death things present or to come life or death No none of these are able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Iesus our Lord But these things are easily spoken and as long as we be in Theories so long as we bee in Contemplation wee may easily subscribe to them but who is hee that is able to doe thus when the time serves That is in the hand of the great God to give the garland whensoever it shall please him It must be our ambition to seek for it to intreat the Lord to crowne us with that victory with that heavenly valour which himselfe hath promised to all that love him Apoc. 2.17 I will give him the crowne of life and blessed is hee that continueth to the end for hee shall eat of that hidden Mannah and shall flourish as a tree in the Paradice of God But it lies not in us to continue neither therefore he that gives the end must also give the meanes and the same prayer that sues for the one must also beg and intreat for the other all this comes from God from the true love that wee have to Christ from the hope that we have in him to partake of his victory from our beleeving and confessing that God hath raised up Christ from the dead For if thou beleeve with thy heart and confesse with thy mouth that God hath raised up Christ from the dead thou shalt bee saved If wee beleeve that this victory of Christ is for ever accomplished wee shall be saved If thou beleeve although thou must doe many other things which are conditionall to salvation yet this is the maine point beleeve in the Conquerour and the conquest is thine hee conquered not for himselfe but for thee to make the spirits of his Saints conquer in heaven and to make their bodies also to reigne with him there when he shall appeare Col. 3 4. for when the Lord Iesus shall appeare we shall also appeare with him in glory See the extent and latitude of his conquest When God takes a field hee takes it for all the world not for one countrey as earthly Princes doe but all commers from the East and West and North and South shall yeeld unto the Lord and rest under his shadow Even all Nations a tot quot The Dinner of the great King refuseth no guests and rather then they will want guests and the Feast shall be unfurnished he will send to the hedges and highwayes to bee searched to come and fill his Table whereunto hee calleth by the Gospel and whereunto he bring us for his Sonnes sake Amen FINIS SERMONS On 1 COR. 15. Of the Resurrection 1 COR. 15.56 The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law but God bee thanked that giveth us the victory through our Lord Iesus Christ TO bragge before the victory begotten before the field bee wonne it was ever held a most vaine presumption as the King of Israel said to the King of Syria Let not him that buckleth on his armour bragge as he that puts it off For there is nothing more uncertaine then the events of warre and oft times when mighty men promise to themselves the assurance of the victory they faile and come to be foiled Yet notwithstanding so great is the confidence of St. Pauls spirit and so great is the assurance that wee have in Christ Iesus our Lord that wee dare boldly insult over death and proclaime the victory although our selves must bee vanquished For this most noble and gracious Triumpher over death hee lies in the grave he lies in the dust as well as wee must doe and there is no difference to the sight of flesh and blood betweene the ashes of St. Paul and the ashes of another common man and yet notwithstanding the Spirit of God was so mighty and potent in him and the faith of the things to come did so represent unto him the things promised that as though the matter were now presently performed he insults over death and takes upon him the person of a man new risen again from the dead As St. Ierom well speaks hee supposeth that those times that bee long to come and God knowes how long he supposeth that they were come in his time and as it were in the person of a man newly risen newly raised from death he begins Oh death where is thy sting oh hell where is thy victory So the holy Father tells us that the words should bee then rise in every mans mouth when God shall raise them out of their graves to that incorruption and that immortality which this corruptible and this mortall must put on It shall be the speech in every mans mouth then as being triumphant over death Oh death whre is thy sting oh grave where is thy victory Thou hast had victory over my poore bones and body a long time but what is it now thou hast lost it for evermore In these victories in the world there is no certainty because that which they call fortune is so changeable as it seldome setteth up one man but anon it raiseth another to pull him downe againe So the victories are fading and passing away and he that is a Conqueror is conquered and made a slave to those that formerly were his inferiours Ignarius it is said had a great victory over the Cimbri and Tutons yet hee fell shortly after into the hands of Scilla that conquered him and Scilla that was once the Sunne-rising when Pompey once appeares he becomes the Sunne-setting And if Pompey were never so famous a Victor as there was none more glorious
victory that we have in Christ it were a fanaticall madnesse a ridiculous base delusion Therefore let them that are willing to comfort their owne soules against the day of trouble let them thinke that there is no comfort to bee had but in this victory and there is no comfort can bee had in this victory except they strive to be Victors and Conquerors in Christ to have a part in him and to fight as well as they may under his banner as long as they live in sinne that they seeke it and study it and mainetaine it and defend it let them delude their owne soules and deceive themselves which is the grossest and most fearefull deceit of all others for a man to deceive himsefe they may thinke they are Conquerers but they are the Devills vanquished ones they are his captives they are held in the Devils Irons God be mercifull to us for there is none that lives in sin but the poore miserable thiefe that lies in the dungeon is better then hee But this victory notwithstanding is the Churches and wee are of the Church wee are baptized wee are called to the knowledge of the misteries of the Gospel and God doth not call men for nothing hee doth not make his mysteries idle It is true therefore as long time as God hath vouchsafed us wee have still time to bee victors and though our soules cleave to the earth though they sticke to the pavement yet God can raise us out of the dust and make us equall with the Princes of his people as the Prophet David saith Psal 113. Therefore let us call to the Lord God and though wee find no strength in our selves nor no meanes nor will if there bee not so much as a will yet let him that hath the wills of men in his hand that hath the hearts of men in his hand and turnes them as the rivers of waters let him doe as it pleaseth him let him worke this for us that can worke nothing for our selves To whom bee praise and glory obedience and thanksgiving both now and for evermore Amen FINIS SERMONS On 1 COR. 15. Of the Resurrection 1 COR. 15.56 57. But thanks be to God that hath given us victory through Christ our Lord therefore beloved Brethren be stedfast and unmoveable abounding in the worke of the Lord alway because you know your labour is not lost nor in vaine in the Lord. THere is nothing more certain Note then that it is the portion of a Christian soule to fight and labour in this life present The Church is a militant Church a People that are alway at combat and conflict with the devill and with men and if these faile with himselfe too Saith S. Austin St. Aug. we would faine be freed from this fight from this continuall perturbation but the comfort that God hath given against it is that as we are called to a triall so the Lord assists us too in the day of Trouble and assures us of the victory that howsoever we cannot overcome all these enemies by any grace that is inherent in us but that we are often foyled and conquered yet we have another Meane to conquer them by that is by faith and the apprehension of the victory that the Lord Iesus Christ hath purchased for us over the devill and all these Adversaries and this victory can be given us but by one hand it lyes onely there to dispense that is in the hand of God which is the Lord of Hoasts and Armies It is he alone that enclines the battaile it is hee that weakneth the adversaries and that strengthens those that follow his colours when they are foyled hee raiseth up them that are fallen it is he that beateth downe Sathan under our feet that was our conquerour This spirituall conquest is of all others the most excellent for the rest as Isay Isay 8. saith They are gotten with tumult and with tumbling of garments in bloud But this conquest that we have in the Lord Iesus it was like a Lamb-slaughter in the day of Madian You know in the day of Madian what kinde of victory it was Gideon went out hee did nothing the Lord did all for him for still hee brought downe his troups from thousands to hundreds to three hundred and when they were to be set to worke they did nothing but onely clash their broken pitchers and the Lord wrought a great slaughter in the Hoast of Madian Such a victory is the conquest wee have in Iesus Christ our Lord he is still the victor that got the conquest without all appearance of second Causes without all union of forces and power in the world that God may be all in all In other victories there be many sharers that may claime a part in the conquest there is something belongs to the Generall some to the Colonels some to the Captaines some to the other Officers some to the common Souldiers There is no man but hee may claime a part in the common victory But in this victory that we have obtained by the meanes of Christ Iesus our Lord there is nothing that belongs to any but to God Therefore the Apostle saith Thanks be to God thanks be to no man thanks be to no Angell thanks be to no power that can be supposed to help us but the thanks and praise must rest in God alone which hath wrought all this for us As the Heathen Orator said to Caesar when hee had overcome his anger and had pardoned his Enemie In other warres saith he there is a communication of the praise of the wars it belongs to one as well as to another But in this victory which thou hast gotten over thy selfe Orat. pro Milone in giving and forgiving thou hast gotten the glory The like may wee much more truly say of God as the Apostle saith here Thanks be to God and to none but to him that hath given us victory for he alone with his owne hand and his stretched out arme Psal 94. hath gotten himselfe the victory as the Psalmist saith So Tertullian Tertul. speaking of this point in his fifth booke against Marcian Chap. 10. The Apostle saith he being well advised how the conquest comes to a Christian hee gives no thanks to any other God but him alone that put the word of triumph and insultation into his mouth That God that gave him power to say by way of triumph Oh Death where is thy sting Oh grave where is thy victory To that same God that gave him the word of triumph he returnes the word of thanksgiving and retribution of praise because it belongs onely to him If Marcians god as Marcian supposed hee had another god than that which is the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ can tell mee such things as hee hath done or that hee hath published any such thing to the world as this I will account him the Father of mercy But till then I will account him Marcians Idoll
us that are the children of Abraham although wee must study holinesse Heb. 12.14 without which no man shall see God and we must abhor all the works of darknesse and come into the light yet we are so fraile in this flesh that we cannot doe the one nor the other But miserable wretches we have two lawes the law of our members and the law of God and so we must conclude with the Apostle Rom. 7.25 I serve the law of God in my minde and spirit but the law of sinne with my members and yet hee concludes in this place thankes bee to God that gives us victory in Christ Iesus our Lord. To conculde this point It is the faith that a man holds in God the faith he hath in Christ that makes us Conquerers and gives us the victory It was this that armed the thiefe upon the Crosse when hee had done nothing all his life time but plaied the thiefe and robbed and oppressed and played his tragicall part in the world yet hee shewed himselfe to have one mite of faith in the end of his life and for that he was accepted And Christ saith unto him Luke 23.43 This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise That whereas the Pharisees and Priests and Scribes thought Christ to be justly executed and put to death yet notwithstanding hee put his faith in him and beleeved that hee was a King and that he had a great portion of glory reserved for him and that hee was able to communicate it to his followers therefore he desires to partake of that glory Luke 23.42 Lord remember me when thou commest into thy kingdome Now I come to the last point of the precedent verse Thanks be to God since wee have the victory in Christ Iesus our Lord that is since wee have both received the fulnesse of the conquest imparted to us and also the first fruits of the Spirit by which we are able to overcome though not fully to overcome yet to overcome by the power of his victory and to be accounted conquerers though we bee but cowards Thanks be to God for this great gift and mercy of imputation The holy Apostle saith Theodoret Theodoret. hath concluded all his discourse with a necessary line with thanksgiving and praise to God For indeed as wee are bound to thanke God for every thing that wee receive so much more for the chiefe and principall things that wee take from his hands There is no thing so gracious as this to be victors to bee borne to be Conquerers and to be conquerers over such enemies too as have conquered all the world this many thousand yeares together that in sight that there was nothing that domineered nor nothing got the victory but death and sinne and hell and to conquer these miscreants that had over-run all the world this is the hand of God which is to be rejoyced in and if there bee any blessing for us to blesse our soules in it is this that we are conquerers in Christ saith St. Austin Aug. For saith hee If I must thanke God for every petty benefit what greater reason can I have then to give thanks for chiefe and maine benefits The grace of God in Iesus Christ our Lord is that which gives us this victory Thanke God saith St. Bernard thanke not thy selfe St. Bern. thank not Saints thanke not Angels thanke not preparatory works thanke not foreseene merits thanke nothing else but let the praise rest wholly and totally in God It is he that did all therefore to him be given all praise and glory for ever and ever FINIS SERMONS On 1 COR. 15. Of the Resurrection 1 COR. 15. ult Therefore beloved brethren be stedfast and unmoveable abounding in the worke of the Lord alway because you know your labour is not in vaine in the Lord. WEE are come now to the conclusion of this Chapter which followes most naturally as Chrysostome saith Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast c. It is a true conclusion when a man hath fully proved the premises hee that concludes a thing before he hath argued well and proved the matter he discourseth of hee is either a foole or a falsarie for it must needs argue it is a lie when a man will ground upon uncertaine grounds It argueth also weaknesse in him when hee thinks hee hath perswaded without sufficient ground for there is no wise man will be perswaded without due confirmation and demonstration of those things that are argued Therefore now the Apostle comes in as an excellent Oratour to conclude not upon poore grounds nor upon weak evidences but upon strong perswasion and demonstration saith Tertullian Tertul. Hee useth all the strength of the holy Ghost to perswade to this powerfull article of the Resurrection his meaning is with all the power of the holy Ghost that he was capable of for else the power of the holy Ghost is as infinite as God himselfe is infinite But now when the Apostle had driven this doctrine home when he had so beat it into them as that there was no scruple left to any gainsayer or contradictor when he had shewed the cause of the Resurrection when he had shewed the maner of it when he had shewed the absurdities that would follow the contrary doctrine if men did doubt of it when hee had shewed the effects and consequents of it of that glorious incorruption and immortality when hee had proved it by force of holy Scriptures Oh death I will be thy death oh hell I will be thy destruction When he had set downe all these firme and maine presidents it is time for him now to bring in his conclusion He is a foolish builder that will set up the roofe of his house before the walls be built and he is an idle discourser that will offer to bring a thing into his Auditory upon any triviall reason but the Spirit of God teacheth us first to settle the understandings to perswade the minds of men by strong and puissant arguments and then to draw forth conclusions for hee must first move a mans senses and understanding and then draw his will for the will is alway plyable to the conclusion but the understanding is attentive to the demonstration All this while the Apostle had held the understanding giving demonstrative causes and such reasons as no man could contradict him in Now that being done he closeth with the will and that is easily brought if he can perswade the understanding therefore he saith Therefore my beloved brethren that is seeing these things are thus seeing I have told you the will of God in this point that Christ is risen himselfe and that he is risen so palpably that he was seene of more than five hundred brethren at once and that he is the Head of the body and that therefore all the members must be raised up at one time to come with their Head and be joyned unto him Seeing that