his soule was a diuinitie to his body so was his diuinitie a soule to his humanity To create man God â—reathed a spirit like himselfe into him him to redeeme man God himselfe entred into him and though the diuinitie could not hee crucified yet was the vnion of it with the passion of the humanitie counted as the passion of the diuinitie Thus by the bountie of interpretation and communication of proprieties they verily crucified the Lord of glory Whose carcasse now as cold as death raises a flame of loue in the breasts of Ioseph and Nicodemus Ioseph in a couragious Christianitie goes vnto Pilate and begges the body When Christ was aliue Iudas sould him and now he is dead Pilate giues him away whose body though it were preserued by the diuinitie yet Nicodemus sweetens it with Myrrhe and Deuotion They wrap him in a linnen cloth not so much concealing his nakednesse as expressing his innocence They lay him in Iosephs Tombe which was in a garden and was not then this garden Paradise It was a glorious sepulchre as if by the prophesie of loue it had been proportioned to the guest Whose bodie being heere entertayned with magnificent pietie his illustrious soule forces a triumph in Hell crucifies the Deuill and ouerthrowes the tyranny of damnation He does not take away damnation but contract it And now you see after this redemption of our Sauiour you may like Thomas put your hand and faith into the wound of his side receiue saluation You may behold the opening mouth of this wound which with eloquent bloud inuites you to faith and loue You may behold the Lord of glory comming from Edom with his died garments from Bosrah This is the Lord of glory glorious in his apparell glorious in his nakednesse glorious in his mightinesse to saue Wherefore art thou red in thine apparell and thy garments like him that treadeth in the Wine-fat Thou hast trodden the Wine-presse alone and of the people there was none with thee O what did cause these soundings of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards vs Who can expresse thy sorrowes and thy louing-kindnesse towards vs Who can expresse what thou hast done for our soules Thou wast afflicted thou wast despised thou wast whipt wounded bruised condemned sacrificed for our soules thou wast made a seruant of death thou wast numbred with the transgressours thou madest thy graue with the wicked for our soules Wherefore God has highly exalted thee and giuen thee a name aboue all names that at the Name of Iesus euery knee shall bow of things in Heauen and things in earth and things vnder the earth And euery tongue shall confesse that Iesus Christ is the Lord of glory And the foure and twentie Elders shall fall downe before the Lambe with their Harps and golden Vials full of Odours and in their new Song shall they prayse thee And the Angels about thy throne euen ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands shall say with a loud voice Worthy is the Lambe that was slaine to receiue power and riches and wisedome and strength and honour and glory Therefore with Angels and Arch-angels and with all the company of Heauen wee laude and magnifie thy glorious Name euermore praysing thee and saying Holy holy holy Lord of glory Heauen and earth are full of thy glory and of thy mercies The Angels in Heauen wonder at thy mercies the powers of Hell tremble at thy mercies thou thy selfe triumphest in thy mercies and the sonnes of men rejoyce in thy mercies Wherefore O thou that takest away the sinnes of the world deliuer vs by thine agonie and bloudie swear by thy crosse and passion by thy precious death and buriall deliuer vs And wee will fall downe before thy glorie and we will sing praises vnto thy mercie and we will triumph in the victorie of thy bloud and we will for euer euen for euer acknowledge that Thou the crucified Lord of glorie art the Christ of God and the Iesus of men The end A Sermon preached at Saint Marie's in Oxford on Easter-Tuesday 1623. 1. CORINTH 15.20 Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that slept IT were vnnecessarie art feare to stirâ—e to keepe the liuing awake with a preface when as the dead are at the businesse of a resurrection WoÌ„ders blessings are aboue their auditors who must be glad to be staâ—â—led to the newes Now was our Sauior task'd with his most vnweildie miracle His mercie had before bestowed many vpon others but now his power tries one vpon himselfe His diuinitie acts a miracle vpon his humanitie repairing this second Trinitie of his person from the immortall ruines of a God a soule and a carcasse Three dayes did hee consecrate for the performance of this wonder and three dayes doe wee consecrate for the perswading to this wonder which should haue beene the joy and was the shame of the Apostles who were slow to apprehend it though Christ was their Schoole-master They had not as yet learned their owne Creed which their peruerse sense was pleased to bee taught not so much by our Sauiour as by his sepulchre whose opening mouth when it sent forth Christ the Word pronounced his Resurrection which is the Epitaph of God Thus did the ambition of the graâ—e instruct the preuented Angell and though it cannot as the multitude of Tombes with the voice and conquest of proud Death tell vs whom it does captiue yet does it remember to vs whom it did Which assumed triumph of death is as short as its combat Ioseph's deuotion bestowed this Tombe vpon our Sauiour but our Sauiours victorie bestowed it vpon death which since his Resurrection has lien buried in his tombe But can a dead man bee warmed againe into life And can the lungs that haue forgot to breathe learne to breathe againe Faith indeed can answer this with as much ease as speed and being honoured with an imitating omnipotencie can with a coequall extension of assent apply it selfe to the number and degrees of Gods actions But as hard it was to raise the faith as the body of Saint Thomas nay it was his body that caused him to beleeue the Resurrection of Christ's bodie which was a way of faith more certaine then gratefull Yet must the vnderstanding bee so raised before it can beleeue that the bodie can bee raised that the diuine indulgence does gradually chastize the difficultie by the length of instruction For scarce had man viewed the materials of his Creation when straight hee was practised vnto an essay of this second Creation When Adam descended into sleepe there was a Resurrection of his rib which awaked into a woman Did not mortalitie then put on immortalitie when a senselesse bone was so endued with reason that it could apprehend its owne preferment Mee thinkes the Chymique might hence extract an easie Rhetorique for his promotion of metalls and without an Apologie teach that vsurie of art And heere too
safer then the jailou◠could It was an angell deliuered Paul from the wrath of the tempest which was not so obedient to the angell as the angell was to Paul And when at the last Day the trumpet shall found the angels shall make as much speed as the voice of the trumpet and bee as officiously obedient as the bones of the dead which they shall raise and attend at that last ascension And then shall they waite for euer after rather vpon the person then the message of their Prince Christ Iesus of our Prince Christ Iesus Who is ascended to rayse vs to an ascension of Faith by which it being of things not seene wee doe not only honour the person in whom wee trust but modestly oblige him And thus the skilfull mercie of our Sauiour vouchsafes to make himselfe beholding to vs by his owne work for his owne worke for our faith in his absence rather then to make vs beholding vnto him for our delight in his presence Hee ascended therefore to rayse vs likewise to an ascension of Hope which has obserued his loue to bee so vnited to his power in his assumption of our nature vnto his nature that by the great act of his ascension it likewise expects the assumption of our persons vnto his person Hee ascended likewise to rayse vs to an ascension of Loue which being like fire ought to ascend and being purer then the fire ought to ascend aboue the fire and since the fire can ascend to Heauen loue ought to exceed it and ascend into Heauen Into which holy place our high Priest is entred not so much to begge pardon as to giue it and by his entring into this holy place that he might make the certaintie of our peace equall to the mysterie of it he has prooued our Priest to be equall to our God Hee had before made man but little lesse then the angels but now the man Christ Iesus is aboue all the angels to whom Enoch's ascension was newes but this amazement And as it was their singular wonder so let it be our singular joy And indeed we may well rejoyce when by ascension we shall bee purged from the melancholy of our humanitie when our faith shall be happily lost into sight when wee shall bee past hope not by despaire but by possession when we shall be more transported by loue then by angels when we shall bee no longer their charge but their company when God shall so delight in vs that if wee could sinne we should be proud that hee so delighted in vs when we shall so delight in God that if there could bee sorrow in that delight we should bee sorrie that wee had not alwayes delighted in him and the eternitie of this delight shall be an ascension of this delight O happy and full Vision when Iacob shall not dreame that hee sees angels goe vp to Heauen but shall goe thither himselfe and now adore the angell whom once he wrestled with and as he then would not part from him till he had a blessing so now he neuer shall part from him because he has this blessing O happy and full vision when Moses shall see the face of God and liue nay when he shall liue because hee sees the face of God! when Moses his face shall shine so bright that now it would shine through his veile and yet his righteousnesse shall bee more glorious then his countenance when now hee shall not need to goe to the top of Mount Nebo to see the land of promise but on the top of this holy hill enjoy the true land of promise and the God that promised it O happy and full Vision when Simeon shall with more joy bee taken vp into Heauen then he tooke-vp the child Iesus into his armes and shall find himselfe more increased in joy then the child his Sauiour increased in stature when hee shall see his Sauiour honoured at the right hand of God who once vouchsafed to honour Simeons armes O happy and full Vision when Peter shall see himselfe as much transfigured as Christ when Peter shall see Christ more then transfigured and now shall with delight behold our Sauiours face when before for feare he fell vpon his owne O happy and full Vision when Paul shall so see Christs bodie in Heauen that he shall know himselfe to bee there in bodie when Iohn shall no more need to see the new Ierusalem come downe from Heauen but shall goe-vp vnto it Vnto which O thou Lambe of God grant that by the imitatiō of thy innocēce we may ascend that we may ascend to that Ierusalem by thy light who art the light of that Ierusalem that the sight of thy triumph may bee our triumph that our petitions may now so ascend that they may make way for the ascension of our soules and bodies that with thy Cherubins and Seraphins continually wee may cry Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbaoth who doest now with victorie rest from thy passion And though wee cannot hope for the glory of thy right hand vouchsafe vs the protection Heare thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father and haue mercie For thou only art holy thou only art the Lord thou only O Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high in the glory of God the Father Heare O thou that sittest at the right hand of God and haue mercy And let thy mercy make our ascension a witnesse and part of the glory of thy ascension The end
into it Loue was swiftest but zeale boldest When they are entred they find Christ's victory acknowledged by the linnen clothes his spoiles of death and these spoiles too had beene diuided the napkin of his head being laid by it selfe It seemes the angell at our Sauiour's resurrection attended to bee a witnesse of it to the women and leaue a witnesse of it to the Disciples Thus that he was not stolne away appeares by the inconuenience and leisure of his vndressing and by the method of the linnen which the frightened policie of the souldiers did no more touch then obserue and they no more obserued it then did the women who after the sight of the angell had their eyes as much amazed as their minds The souldiers too did more tremble then watch but the Disciples had lesse feare and more time besides they learned somewhat which they were not taught and could now teach the women this newes of the graue But did hee rise but from the graue This is the newes but of his bodie yes hee did rise also from the damned who are dead too as much in judgement as to nature Though some are as vnwilling to haue Christ descend into Hell as to goe thither themselues and in a dangerous Brachygraphie write the Creed so short that without the commission of an Index Expurgatorius they quite leaue out the article of the descent But what an vnmannerly ingratitude is this to accept of Christ's benefits and denie his wonders They will enjoy his conquest of Hell and yet they will not let him goe to conquer it Ought wee not to make greater the glory of Christo and can wee make lesse the power of Christ Let then our pietie behold and wonder to see Heauen descend into Hell to see againe Gosâ—â—â—â— in Aegypt The Deuill had beene before in Heauen and now God is pleased to goe into Hell The arch-angell conquered the Deuill in Heauen and now God conquers him in his owne Empire and makes his Empire his Dungeon Wee ouercome the Deuill by flight but God by inuasion Yet who would not stand amazed to see God with the Deuill Had the Manichie beene now hee might heere at once haue behold both his Princes Mee thinkes our Sauiour now turned Sampson's Riddle into a Prophesie which hee expounded and fulfilled Did not out of the eater come forth meate and out of the strong came there not sweetnesse when from the jawes of Hell by Christ came forth saluation Now whiles the soule of our Sauiour was triumphant in Hell his bodie was obedient in the sepulchre his diuinitie being as his soule till it recalled his soule and made the whole Christ change an age of three and thirtie yeeres into eternitie Loe heere is the Lion of the Tribe of Iudah whose almightie strength vouchsafed to couch vnder the power of the graue and Loe the glorious indignation of his loue has rouzed him vp againe from the sloth of death Will you behold how hee was raised behold how the potter workes vpon the wheele he takes clay he makes it a vessell and this vessell being marred in the hand of the potter he makes it againe as hee best pleases Christ was immortall clay and earth purer then Heauen When by the wonder of omnipotency the Creator and the creature were made into one and of one matter did consist both the potter and his pot From this broken clay there did arise the same and a renewed Christ That hee rose in the earnest of a body his owne mouth did testifie when hee said nothing proouing it by the authoritie of food which he did eate with his Disciples Could any man in this point be yet an infidell If any could see how he conuerts them Hee lets Thomas disgrace himselfe to a beliefe and by his distrust mercifully and miraculously increase his faith Can any doubt that hee was renewed in a bodie of glory when he was full of God Know you not that his body was indeed the Temple of the Holy Ghost Was hee not renewed in a body of glory whom the doores that were shut when hee entred to his Disciples did obediently acknowledge to be the King of glory And though hee were patient vnder death three dayes yet since the first part of the first was spent before he died and the last part of the last after hee reuiued there was the number but not the length of three dayes and thus hee made so short a change seeme rather a sleepe then a death And O but to consider heere as well the wonder as the change Doe but imagine that in the dawning birth of the morning you saw the reuelation of a graue emulating the morning a coarse rising with more comfort and glory then the Sunne a winding-sheet falling away as an empty cloud the feet and hands striuing which shall first recouer motion the hands helping to raise the body the feet helping to beare both the body and the hands the tongue so eloquent that it can tell you it can speake againe the eares so pure that they can perceiue the silence of the graue the eyes looking forth of their Tombes as if they were glad to see their owne resurrection Would you not bee as much affrighted as instructed with this power of a God Would you not be turned into very coarses to see this liuing coarse Would you not be strucke as pale as the winding-sheet you looked-vpon But when all this shall bee done as well in mercy as in majestie as well to raise you to a hope of eternall life as to strike you with a remeÌ„brance of a temporall death as well to make you like vnto God as to make you know you are yet not like vn-him O how will you then at such compassion dissolue with compassion as if you would hasten to the like resurrection How will you then kisse those hands which before you feared How will you then with stedfast eyes examine and adore the resurrection of that body which is the hope and cause of the resurrection of our bodies For therefore did hee raise himselfe that hee might raise vs and so become the first-fruites of them that sleepe But shall wee rise too and shall dust againe bee taken-vp and breathed on Shall euery man by this second Adam be made as wonderfully as the first Adam And yet shall we want faith when God wants not power Or shall we thinke it harder to vnite the bodie and soule then to make them It were an impious discourtesie to deny that to God which God denied not vnto his seruant Did not the widow of Zarephah thus receiue a sonne by Elias who yet was neither the father of it nor the God Nay did not his seruant doe more for the Shunamite to whom hee promised a sonne before hee was conceiued and restored him after hee was dead Nay did not the bones of this Elisha giue life to one that was as dead as themselues teaching him to confesse the mercie of a graue It