Spirit in which we shall discern both his power and office These gifts and graces of the Spirit the School-men commonly divide into Gratis data such as being freely given by God are to be spent as freely for the good of others of which kinde are the gift of tongues curing diseases and the like and gratum facientia such as do make him good and gracious on whom it pleaseth God to bestow the same as Faith Iustice Charity The first are in the Scripture called by the name of gifts Now there are diversity of gifts saith the Apostle but the same Spirit For to one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdom to another the word of Knowledge by the same Spirit to another Faith by the same Spirit to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit to another the working of miracles to another prophecy to another discerning of spirits to another divers kindes of tongues to another the interpretation of tongues The later are called Fruits by the same Apostle The Fruits of the Spirit saith he are love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance The Gifts are known most commonly by the name of Gratis data the Fruits pertain to Gratum facientia The Gratum facientia belong to every man for himself the Gratis data for the benefit of the Church in common That which God giveth us for the benefit and use of others must be so spent that they may be the better for it because not given unto us for own sakes onely nor to gain others to our selves but all to him In which respect Gods Servants are to be like Torches which freely wast themselves to give light to others like Powder on the day of some Publick Festival which freely spends it self to rejoyce the multitude That which he gives us for our selves must be so improved that we may thereby become fruitful unto all good works vessels prepared and sanctified for the Masters use In the first of these we may behold the power of the Holy Ghost in the last his office His power in giving tongues to unlearned men knowledge to the ignorant wisdom to the simple the gift of prophecy even unto very Babes and Sucklings I mean to men not studied in the Liberal Sciences A power so great that no disease is incurable to it no spirit so subtile and disguised but is easie discerned by it no tongue so difficult and hard which it cannot interpret no miracle of such seeming impossibility but it can effect it In which regard the Holy Ghost is called in Scripture The power of God The power of the most High shall over-shadow thee Luke 1.35 And Christ our Lord having received the ointing of the holy Spirit is said to be anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power Acts 10.38 Nor want I Reasons to induce me unto this opinion that when Simon Magus had effected by his sorceries and lying wonders to be called the great power of God but that his purpose was to make men believe that he was the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of God which title afterwards he bestowed on his strumpet Helena and took that of CHRIST unto himself as the more famed and fitting for his devilish purposes Next for his Office that consisteth in regenerating the carnal and sanctifying the regenerate man First In regenerating of the carnal For except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God saith our Blessed Saviour of Water as the outward Element but of the holy Spirit as the inward Efficient which moving on the Waters of Baptism as once upon the face of the great Abyss doth make them quickning and effectual unto newness of life Then for the Work of Sanctification that is wrought wholly by the Spirit who therefore hath the name of the Holy Ghost not onely because holy in himself formaliter but because holy effective making them holy who are chosen unto life eternal So say St. Peter the first and St. Paul the last of the Apostles St. Peter first Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience 1 Pet. 1.2 And so St. Paul But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of our Lord Iesus and by the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 6.11 That is to say Iustified in the Name of our Lord Iesus through Faith in him and sanctified by the Spirit of God through the effusion of his Graces in the Soul of Man The work of Sanctification is not wrought but by many acts as namely By shedding abroad in our hearts that most excellent gift of charity filling our souls with righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost by teaching us to adde To our faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity that we be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ. Though Christ be the Head yet is the Holy Ghost the Heart of the Church from whence the vital spirits of grace and godliness are issued out unto the quickning of the Body mystical And as the vital spirits in the body natural are sensibly perceived by the motion of the heart the breathing of the mouth and by the beating of the pulse so by the same means may we easily discern the motions of the Spirit of Grace First It beginneth in the heart by putting into us new hearts more sanctified desires than we had before A new heart will I also give you and a new spirit will I put within you saith the Lord by the Prophet Ezekiel And to what end That ye may walk in my Statutes and keep my Iudgments This new heart is like the new wine which our Saviour speaks of not possible to be contained in old bottles but will break out first in new desires For Novum supervenisse spiritum nova demonstrant desideria as St. Bernard hath it Nor will it break out onely in desires or wishes but we shall finde it on our tongues for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh And if the heart be throughly sanctified we may be sure that no corrupt communication will come out of our mouths but onely such as is good to the use of edifying and may minister grace unto the hearers The same breath in the natural body is Organon vitae vocis as experience telleth us The Instrument of life and voice it is the same we live by and the same we speak by And so it is also in the Body mystical as well the vocal as the vital breath proceeding both alike from the Holy Ghost Nor stayes it onely on the tongue but as the beating of the pulse is best found at the hand so if we would desire to know how the
which the voice from heaven proclaimed him openly to be But since that time there had been many bickerings between them in which the Devil always went away with the loss his Ministers disgraced and their crimes laid open even in the sight of all the people his Kingdome in the souls of men in danger to be lost for ever by the preaching of that Gospel which our Saviour taught and as a preparative thereunto himself ejected violently out of many of his strongest holds and fortresses I mean the bodies of those men which he had possessed And then why may we not conceive that either to revenge himself on his mortal enemy in a desperate hope to prevail against him he had now mustred all his forces for another onset and was resolved to put the whole fortune of his affairs upon the issue of this combat and by the issue and success thereof of so great a battel to decide the title which he pretended and laid claim to in the souls of mankinde Why may not this be thought the conflict in which our Saviour was ingaged or willingly had ingaged himself on the appearance of the Angel for the success whereof he prayed so earnestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in the Greek with greater earnestness of minde and fervency of zeal then he did before For my part I can see no reason but it might be so Certain I am that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a race a wrastling or some such solemn publick exercise and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the plural number denote such things as appertain to those games and exercises Thus read we in the book of Maccabees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cum quinquennalis Agon Tyro celebraretur i. e. when the games of every fift year were kept at Tyre and in the first to the Corinthians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nam qui in Agone contendit c. i. e. Every man that striveth for the mastery as the English reads it And it is plain to any who is conversant in the Greek not only that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie to be solicitous and in anguish but also to contend or strive about the victory but also that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word here used by the Evangelists though it doth generally denote a dismaying sorrow yet is used sometimes to express Luctantis angustias difficillimas the straights which Wrastlers are reduced to in those publick exercises But whether this conjecture be approved or not for I leave it arbitrary there is no question to be made but that the bloudy sweat which the Scripture speaks of proceeded not from fear but fervency not from the anguish of his heart but from that heat of zeal and strong intension of minde which was then upon him It could not come from fear that 's certain for fear as Galen hath observed doth presently drive the bloud and spirits towards their Fountain and contracteth them together by cooling the uttermost parts of the body For on the apprehension of any imminent danger the bloud and spirits which are naturally diffused through all the parts of the body repair immmediately unto the heart as the principal fortress for the strength and preservation of the whole repercussis spiritibus atque in intimos cordis sinus receptis as we read in Scaliger So that the bloud and spirits being drawn back to the heart or towards their fountain as Galen saith as usually they are in the case of fear it cannot be that any extremity of fear should be the cause of such an unusual kinde of sweat as that which did befal our Saviour And on the other side it is no new thing that fervency of zeal and a vehement contention of the minde being they heat and thin the bloud and not cool and thicken it as we are told by Galen that fear doth most commonly should produce such a strange effect as a bloudy sweat For the Physitian whosoever he was who writ the Book De utilitate respirationis amongst Galens works doth affirm for certain Contingere poros ex multo aut fervido spiritu adeo dilatari ut etiam exeat sanguis per eos fiatque sudor sanguineus that is to say it sometimes hapneth that abundant or fervent spirits do so dilate the pores of the body that bloud issueth out by them and so the sweat may be bloudy Which observation being true as no doubt it is we may well think if we look to the order and sequence of the Gospel that the fervent zeal of our Redeemer extremely heating the whole body melting the spirits rarifying the bloud opening the pores and so colouring and thickning the sweat of Christ might in most likelyhood be the cause of that bloudy sweat Doth not the Gospel say expresly that being in an Agony or dangerous and dreadful conflict he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of bloud falling down to the ground and was not then that bloudy sweat a natural and proper effect of that fervency and zeal of prayer of which it is made a consequent in the holy Gospel Certain I am that Zuinglius one of the first men that laboured in the present Reformation of the Church did conceive it so Non lacrymas modo oculis sed sanguinis guttas e corpore exprimit seria devota oratio c. Serious and fervent prayer saith he doth not only draw tears from the eyes but a bloudy sweat also from the body as we see in Christs agony And doth not Bernard say to the same effect that Christ falling into an agony and praying the third time seemed to weep not only with his eyes but with all the parts of his body Nor doth it hinder us at all that the drops are said to be great great drops of bloud as in the English such as the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latines Grumi but doth rather help us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed doth sometimes signifie the congealed parts of that which is liquid and the compacted peeces of that which is powdered But it stands very well with reason that Christs sweat might be thick by reason it issued from the inmost parts of his body and was mixed with bloud or might break out in great and eminent drops as coming from him violently and abundantly and being coloured with bloud and congealed with the coldness of the ayr might trickle down like strings or great drops of bloud to the very ground The greater those drops seemed to be the greater was that fervency of Spirit in which he prayed unto the Lord the greater the occasion he had to powre sorth those prayers He was now in his great incounter with the powers of darkness the safety and salvation of all mankinde depended on the issue and success thereof Angels and Archangels and all the hosts of heaven were gathered as
before Finally during the whole time of his earthly pilgrimage of his conversing in our flesh the Devill never failed in his endevours sometimes himself and sometimes by the means of others either by flatteries or by contumelies to prevail upon him though alwayes to his own losse and to the greater ruine of that Kingdome of darknesse which he had founded on this earth And these we reckon for the first part of those inward sufferings which our Redeemer did endure under Pontius Pilate not by exciting in his heart any evill motions in which respect we men are said most commonly to be tempted inwardly but by presenting to his senses such continuall objects as he conceived most like to work on the inward Man For otherwise it cannot be affirmed of CHRIST that he was tempted inwardly that is to say by any motions rising from within without manifest Blasphemy And to this all sound Orthodox Christians have agreed unanimously Thus Gregory amongst the Latines Omnis illa tentatio Diabolica foris non intus all that temptation of the Devill was not inward but outward And thus Theophylact for the Greeks The Devill said he appeared to Christ in some visible shape 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for thoughts that is to say any thoughts of sin Christ admitted not The Lord forbid we should conceive such a wicked fancie Thus Calvin finally for the latter writers It is saith he no errour or absurdity to thinke that CHRIST should be tempted of the Devill modo ne intus hoc est in mente et anima quicquam putemus passum fuisse so that we do not hold that he suffered any thing in his minde or soul. So to make the thoughts and cogitations of the heart of Christ to be inwardly moved with pride presumption infidelity and Idolatry as some men have done the better to find out the paines of hell in our Saviours soul were to be guilty of their sin who to that end have vented most blasphemous figments and pernicious impostures to the seducing of the simple the hurt of their own souls and the dishonour of Christ. But of this we shall speak more at large in the following Article of Christs descending into hell for the misconstruing of which Article or rather for the totall expurgation of it it was first invented We now proceed to those afflictions which assalted inwardly which wrought upon his soul only on the inward man and then to those which were inflicted also upon his Body so far forth as they did precede his Crucifixion which shall come after by it self CHAP. VI. Of the afflictions which our Saviour suffered both in his soul and body under Pontius Pilate in the great work of mans Redemption THat CHRIST our Saviour was tempted in all things as we are yet without sin that is to say without the least internal motion and provocation of the heart to sin as we are not hath been abundantly discovered in the former Chapter We now proceed to those affictions which he suffered for us in his minde or soul those griefes of heart and anguish of the Spirit which did fall upon him in reference to the great work of mans redemption for as for those which seized upon him out of particular affections as his groaning in the Spirit over the grave of his dead friend Lazarus or the lamenting those calamities which he foresaw would shortly fall on his native Country they do not come within the compasse of this disquisition And these we purpose to examine with the greater industry because there is a sort of men as before I said that to elude the true and genuine meaning of Christs descent into hell have fancied to themselves and proclaimed to others that they have found the pains of hell in our Saviours soul and that there was no other descent of Christ into hell then the extremity of those hellish and most dismal pains which he suffered in his humane soul here upon the earth And first to take those texts in order in which those sorrowes and afflictions are most plainly met with in the first place we finde him in the garden of Gethsemane the place designed for the great combat betwixt him and Satan where taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee it is said that he began to be sorrowfull and very heavie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek text hath it St. Mark with the alteration of one word only doth deliver it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he began to be sore amazed and very heavy coepit contristrari verementer angi saith the translatour of the Syriack This was it seemeth with him the beginning of sorrowes for it is said that he began to be sorrowful and sore amazed which though it was a sad beginning yet it was mastered in the end For though he began to be affraid and sore amazed upon the apprehension of those bitter pangs of death which he was to struggle with yet he no further did submit to this passion of fear and this discomfiture of amazement then to expresse the naturall horror which he had of that deadly cup whereof he was presently to drink not suffering it to possesse him wholly or to bear dominion over him or to work in him any such corruptions as we frail men are subject to in the like extremities And this is that and only that which is meant by Origen where he affirmeth Coepit pavere vel tristari nihil amplius tristitiae vel pavoris patiens nisi principium tantum No such amazement no such sorrow as might make him lose either speech or sense or memory as some men imagine much lesse to pray he knew not what but least of all to pray expresly against the known will of his heavenly Father Nor will the words in the Original admit any such meanning For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Scripture â—ignifies no such amazement as takes away mens senses from them which appeares evidently in this that when he descended from the mountain where he was transfigured the people which saw him were amazed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the text and yet they came unto him and saluted him as the Gospell tels us So when they saw him cast out Devils by his word alone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were all amazed and yet they asked of one another what strange thing that was and when the two Apostles had healed the poor old criple at Solomons porch the people were amazed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet flocked all unto the place to behold the miracle And for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifyeth no such heaviness in the book of God as draweth with it all or any of those distractions above remembred St. Paul affirming of Epaphroditus that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceeding pensive because the Philipians who most dearly loved him had heard he was sick and that he knew not
it is not to be thought that his Disciples would adventure to come by night a few weak men and those too much dejected in their Masters passion to stir abroad in so unseasonable a time and so full of danger Or grant that his Disciples might come by night in expectation of the issue to see what would become of their Masters promises yet certainly it could not be with an intent to steal his body The Monument they knew was too well garded to be forced by them for what could they poor men unexpert and unarmed and but few in numbers against a guard a guard of choise and able fellowes culled out and well appointed for the present service Nor was it likely that the body was took thence by stealth either by them or any others whatsoever The body had been wrapt in sear clothes quae non minus quam pix corporis linteamina conglutinat is the Fathers note which did stick as close unto his skin as it had been pitch And they that came to steal his body would questionlesse have stolen him with his shroud and all and not have took the pains to strip him in a place so dangerous Or grant that too it is not to be thought that they had either so much leasure or so strong a confidence or so little care of their own safety as to spend their time in curiosities or take the pains to wrap up the kerchief which was upon his head and lay it in a place by it self as St. Iohn records it It is a timerous kind of trade to be a theef much more to violate the Sepulchres of those that sleep and rob the grave of its inhabitants and seldome have such vaine capricios as to spend their time in needlesse and superfluous complements Non enim fur adeo stultus fuisset ut in re superflua tantum laboraret said the Father rightly Let us proceed a little further and grant this also that his Disciples came by night and that they came to steal his body yet certainly it was not while the souldiers slept For if they were asleep as they say they were how could they justifie their tale that his body was taken thence by stealth or that the Felonie had been committed by his Disciples yes certainly it must needs be as they relate it for they were fast asleep all night and neither heard the tongues or saw the looks of them that stole him Admit this also for this once that his Disciples stole his body and that they stole him while the souldiers were fast asleep yet could not they restore the dead body unto life again And it was a thing too well known to be denyed that our Saviour was not only seen by his Apostles with whom he did converse and eat and drink and performed other acts of a living man but shewed himself to more then five hundred at one time together which was perhaps the time and hour of his Ascension A thing which passed so current for a truth undoubted that Iosephus one of the most learned and discerning men which have been of that Nation since the times he lived in relating only on the by some passages touching Christ our Saviour and of his being put to death by Pontius Pilate addes also this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. that he shewed himself alive again on the third day and conversed with men It seemes the Priests and Pharisees and other leading men of the Iewish Nation were conscious to themselves of this conspiracy and of the weakness of the practise Their next art therefore is to condemn the followers of our Lord of too much credulity and when they could not condemn them of felony to accuse them of folly They grant indeed that on the third day his body was missing in the Sepulchre yet that himself had raised himself from the grave again had never entred into the hearts of men of wisdome if any did believe it as some such there were they either were poor silly women or men of the inferior sort a company of poor contemptible persons Fishers and Publicans and the like Men who had left their trades to attend on him as heretofore some did on Theudas who boasted of himself to be some great body in hope to raise their fortunes by him and finding how they were deceived in their expectation were willing to lay hold on any thing which might keep them up in reputation amongst ignorant and credulous men Nec difficile sane fuit persuadere Pastoribus and commonly such men are most easily befooled into belief of any strange thing which is told unto them This is the last refuge which the Iews found out but this will never save them harmless in the day of judgement For the belief of our Redeemers Resurrection stopped not here but by degrees was entertained by the most eminent men both for wit and learning over all the world thousands of which have been so confident herein that they bare witness of this truth to the last drop of their bloud and rather chose to give their own bodies over unto death then to make doubt of and therefore much more to deny the Resurrection of his A truth which became credible at first by the confident asseverance of them that saw it then by the constancy of those that died for the Confession of it and finally by the vast multitudes of those who have since believed it The Father so resolved it saying Quod credibile primum fecit illis videntium certitudo post morientium fortitudo jam credibile mihi facit credentium multitudo And which addes most unto the wonder the men by whom this Gospel was thus propagated over all the world were as the Iews objected both unlearned and simple devoid of Rhetorick to perswade and Logick to convince by the strength of argument but furnished by the Lord with great powers from heaven speaking with tongues and working miracles as occasion was to confirm their doctrine Eloquia in persuadentium mira fuerunt facta non verba as St. Austin hath it Such was the infinite wisdome of Almighty God that he made use of simple men to confound the wise and of ignorant men to confute the learned lest else the enemy might say that they prevailed rather by their wit and Artifices then by the truth of that which they preached and published Thus have we brought unto the trial what ever hath been quarrelled by the Iews in this present Article We must next look upon the Gentile to whom the doctrine of the Resurrection did seem at first a matter of such impossibility that the Athenians thought it folly and the Romans frenzy What would this babler have said the wise men of Athens when Paul inforced this point unto them Learning had made him madde said Festus when he affirmed the same before his Tribunal But yet as foolish and phrenetical as it seemed to be it proved a matter
Of the Authority or Power of remitting sins we shall speak more appositely hereafter in the following Article At this time I shall onely speak of the Form of words which some of the pretenders unto Reformation in Queen Elizabeths time did very much except against affirming That to use the words of our Redeemer and not to give the gifts withal was nothing but a meer mockery of the Spirit of God and a ridiculous imitation of our Saviours actions But unto this it is replied by Judicious Hooker that not onely the ability of doing miracles speaking with tongues curing diseases and the like but the authority and power of ministering holy things in the Church of God is contained in the number of those gifts whereof the Holy Ghost is the Author And therefore he which gives this power may say without folly or absurdity Receive the Holy Ghost meaning thereby such power as the Spirit of Christ hath pleased to endue his Church withal And herein he is seconded by that living Magazin of Learning Bishop Andrews who reckoneth the Apostleship or the very office to be a Grace one of the graces doubtless of the Holy Ghost such as St. Paul calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The grace we English it the gift of ministring unto the Saints 2 Cor. 8.4 For that the very Office it self is a grace St. Paul saith he avoweth in more places than one and in particular Mihi data est haec gratia according to the gift of the grace of God which is given unto me Ephes. 3.7 Where he speaks of his Office and of nothing else And such as this saith he was the grace here given of Spiritum called a Spiritual and of Sanctum an holy Calling from them derived unto us by us to be derived on others to the end of the World and that in the same form of words which our Saviour used For being the especial power which Christ at that time gave unto his Apostles consisted in remitting and retaining of sins and seeing that the same power is given by the Church of Christ why should not the same words be used as were used at first why may not the same words be used in conferring this grace of an holy calling whereby their persons are made publick and their acts authentical and they inabled to do somewhat about remitting of sins which is not of the like avail if done by others though perhaps more learned than they and more vertuous too but have not the like warrant nor the same accipite as is conferred in holy Orders Nor do I utterly deny but that together with the power the Holy Ghost doth give some fitness to perform the same though not in any answerable measure to the first times of the Church when extraordinary gifts were more necessary than in any time since For as the ointment which was poured upon Aarons head did first fall down upon his Beard and after on the skirts of his garments also So we may reasonably believe That the holy Spirit which descended on the head of Christ and afterwards on his Apostles as upon his beard hath kept some sprinklings also to bestow on us which are the lowest skirts of his sacred garments So far we may assuredly perswade our selves That the Spirit which calleth men to that holy Function doth go along with him that is called unto it for his assistance and support in whatsoever he shall faithfully do in discharge thereof and that our acts are so far his as that Whether we Preach Pray Baptize Communicate Condemn or give Absolution or in a word whatsoever we do as the Despensers of Gods Mysteries our Words Acts Judgements are not ours but the Holy Ghosts For this I have the testimony of Pope Leo the first a Learned and Religious Prelate of the Primitive times Qui mihi oneris est Autor ipse administrationis est adjutor Ne magnitudine gratiae there gratiae is used for the office or calling as before St. Paul succumbat infirmus dabit virtutem qui contulit dignitatem Which is in brief He that hath laid the burden on us will give strength to bear it But behold a greater than Pope Leo is here Behold saith Christ to his Apostles I am with you always to the end of the world that is to say Cum vobis successoribus vestris as Denys the Carthusian rightly with you and your Successors in the Work of the Ministry to guide them and assist them by his holy Spirit And when he said unto them upon other occasions He that heareth you heareth me and whatsoever ye binde on Earth should be bound in Heaven Did he not thereby promise so to own their actions that whatsoever they should say or do in order to the propagation of his Gospel and the edification of his Church should be esteemed as his act his act by whose authority and power it is said or done But the assisting of the Church and Ministers thereof with his Power and Spirit is not the onely publick benefit though it be the greatest which it receiveth immediately from the Holy Ghost Without some certain standing Rule by which the Ministers of the Gospel were to frame their doctrine and the rest of the people guide their paths in the way of godliness both Priest and People would be apt to pretend new Lights and following such ignes fatui as they saw before them be drawn into destruction both of body and soul. And on the other side Tradition hath been always found to be so untrusty in the conveyance of Gods will and pleasure to the ears of his people that in small tract of time the Law of God became obliterated in the hearts of men the righteous Seed degenerating after carnal lusts and Abraham himself serving other gods for want of a more certain rule to direct their actions Therefore to take away all excuse from back-sliding men it pleased God first to commit his Law to writing the Two Tables onely and afterwards to inspire many holy Men with the Spirit of Wisdom Power and Knowledge to serve as Commentators on that sacred Text whose Prophecies Reproofs and Admonitions being put into their mouths by the Holy Ghost for Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost as St. Peter hath it So by direction of the same Spirit were they put into writing Propter vivendi exemplum libros ad nostram etiam memoriam transmiserunt in the words of Ierom The Lord himself did on Mount Sinai give the Law the very Letter The Prophets and other holy Men of God being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 especially inspired to that end and purpose did compose the Comment By the same Spirit were the Evangelists and Apostles guided when they committed unto writing the most glorious Gospel and other the Records and Monuments of the Christian Faith The
resurget qui inter impiorum manus occubuit that is to say with a sure Faith I do beleeve it was it seems a part of his Creed and with as great freedom I profess he both beleeved in his heart and confessed with his mouth that I shal rise again at the last day for as much as my Redeemer shall assuredly rise who is to be done to death by ungodly men And this is further to be noted in this Text of Scripture that we no sooner hear of a Creator in Moses than of a Redeemer in Iob no sooner of the death of mankind in Adam but of their restoring to life in Christ. And more than so that though Moses who wrot this was a Iew yet Iob who spake it was a Gentile not of the seed of Iacob though perhaps of Abrahams to shew that both the Iews and Gentiles as well the Gentiles as the Iews were to have their share in the resurrection of Christ Iesus and therefore in due time to expect their own I know that the Socinians Anabaptists and some other Sectaries who are no very good friends to the resurrection do otherwise interpret these words of Iob and will not have them meant of his resurrection but of his restitution to his former glories But for my part I must profess that if the Greek Catena and the authority of the Latine Fathers and the consent of all the Orthodox and learned Writers of these times were to be laid aside as incompetent Iudges I am not able to discern any thing from the Text or Context that the Holy Ghost intended them any other waies than to set forth Iobs constant faith in the resurrection the knowledge that he had of his Redemption from the jaws of death From Moses pass we to the Prophets to the Psalmist first Thou turnest man unto destruction and sayest Return ye children of men or come again ye children of men as the old Translation Thou turnest men unto destruction there we have their death he calls them to return again there is there resurrection And this appears yet further by the following words Thou carriest them away as with a flood they are as a sleep and if they be but as a sleep they shall be wakened in due time at the sounding of the last Trump without all peradventure I know indeed this Psalm doth bear the Title of the Prayer of Moses but whether made by him or by David or some other in his name is not yet resolved It is sufficient to this purpose that it passeth amongst Davids Psalms as a distinct and separate body from the works of Moses On forwards to Isaiah the Evangelical Prophet who seems to look on Christ as if gone before him Thy dead men saith he shall live together with my dead body shall they arise Awake and sing yee that dwel in dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead And parallel to this in another place When yee be old your heart shall rejoyce and your bones shall flourish like herbs and then the hand of the Lord shall be known towards his Servants and his indignation towards his Enemies In both these Texts we find a Resurrection of the dead effected by the raising of the body of Christ and in some part with it a resurrection like to that of men which do wake from sleep like that of herbs which though they creep into the earth in the time of Winter shall again re-flourish in the Spring And in the last we have not onely a pure evidence for a resurrection but for the Day of Iudgement which shall follow on it wherein the righteous Judge shall distribute his rewards and punishments his hand of mercy towards his Servants but wrath and indignation upon all his Enemies St. Hierom so interpreteth the Prophets meaning and parallels this last place with another of the Prophet Daniel in which it is affirmed expresly that they which sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt Thereupon he doth thus infer Omnes igitur Martyres sancti viri qui pro Christo fuderunt sanguinem quorum tota vita fuit Martyrium resurgent evigilabunt atque laudabunt Deum Creatorem suum qui nunc habitant in pulvere de quibus in Daniele scriptum est c. Add to this rank of Proofs those several passages in which God calls himself the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob and the illation made from thence by our Lord and Saviour to prove the very point which we have in hand Concerning the resurrection of the dead have you not read saith he that which was spoken to you of God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living Here is authority enough we need seek no further Authority enough to perswade us this that the Patriarchs before the coming of our Saviour were certain of their resurrection to eternal life that they were well assured of this that God would recompence their faith and reward their piety by making death the way onely to a greater happiness And this we finde to be a truth so generally received amongst the Iews even in the most declining time of their Church and State that none but the Sadduces who also did deny the being of Angels and of Spirits also did make question of it who for this cause are branded every where in the Gospel with this mark upon them that they said there is no resurrection as Mat. 22.23 Mark 12.19 Luk. 20 27. Act. 23.8 just as it followeth on the mention of Ieroboham the son of Nebat that he made Israel to sin Now to these Positive Texts of Scripture and such as have their being and foundation onely in the Old Testament we will adde such as are presented in the New and those not barely positive and peremptory as the rest before but such as seem to have a great measure of rationality in them and to be logically inferred upon very sound premises And of this kind we meet with divers in St. Pauls Epistle to the Corinthians amongst whom many doubtful souls had called in question the resurrection of the body To satisfie their doubts and remove their scruples the Apostle grounds himself on this that CHRIST was risen If CHRIST be risen from the dead how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead for if there be no resurrection of the dead then is CHRIST not risen Considering therefore we have proved that CHRIST is risen and that by the testimony of no fewer than five hundred brethren at one time besides the other arguments which have been and may be further alleged to confirm that truth it followeth by the reason of the Apostle that there is a