the Nations still in the third person as if they were Branches to be cut from the Stocke wherein they were ingrafted and henceforth to remaine Aliens to his fauour neuer to be acquainted with him or any thing of his but his Anger and punishments But his Anger endures but a while In his fauour is life so gracious a LORD hee had euer beene to them that hee could neuer forget that they were his people How like his owne people did he truely vse them when they were vnder Pharaohs bondage where euery lash that was giuen them seem'd to strike him and how did he double all those Stripes vpon Pharaohs backe How did he afterwards load them with Courtesies because they were his people How did hee feede them with foode from his Table such as they knew not neither did their Fathers know How did he bring them thorow the waters of the great Deepe and thorow the Red Sea as thorow a Wildernesse Yet was not Gratitude for all these fauours so truly planted in their deprau'd hearts but they made a Molten Calfe an Idolattrous Sharer in his honour If euer they were not to be accounted his people and their names neuer to bee registred more in his thoughts now was the time they should haue beene blotted out when such worms not worthy to crawle before his Throne should dare to vrge God himself with their vpbraiding murmurs yet euen then a word from his Seruant Moses mouth to put him in mind that they were his people easily reconciles him and hee shewes that hee had wrote them vpon the palmes of his hands and not forgot them when the Mother hath forgot her sucking Child Hee was euer wont to reioyce in the Title of being a Lord to his people for as if his Loue had shut vp all his Care for one Familie alone and onely they should partake of it hee calls himselfe the God of Abraham the God of Isaak and the God of Iacob as if hee meant onely to bee their Lord and they should onely be his people Some of his seruants haue desired to belong to him with the same singularity of dutie as hee hath own'd them with a singular affection The man after his owne heart expresses him in Attributes most pleasing to him Domine Deus meus O Lord my God The Disciple whose doubting faith hath made ours so strong that it ought not to doubt when the wounds in his side had assur'd him who hee was he cryes out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Lord and my God At the same time that happy sinner seekes this Lord with the same appropriating termes They haue taken away Dominum meum my Lord neither shame for his late reproachfull Death nor feare to belong to so contemn'd a Man as he was made her to let fall her Relation but still My Lord. Some of his then haue been willing to dwell vnder the shaddow of his wings as he was to entertaine them into his seruice and ready to acknowledge him for their Lord as he to call them his people His people we are all content to goe for whil'st he conferr's fauours vpon vs whil'st he opens vnto vs the windowes of Heauen and powres forth blessings that there is not roome inough to hold them But like peremptorie Minions who hauing long enioy'd the fauour of their Prince and finding themselues crost but in some one Suit they forget all the good turnes that were heap't vpon them before Antiquiora beneficia subuertit qui eadem posterioribus non cumulat none will any longer bee his people then his hand of bounty is open to them Not onely his people in generall but his chiefest Seruants haue vs'd him so his Psalmist his King whom he tooke from the Sheep-fold and preuenting him with all good things set vpon his head a Crowne of gold Then he would bee his seruant Then he awakes his Psaltery and Harpe and himselfe would awake right early Then hee summons the Heauens and the Heights the Angels and Hosts Dragons and Deepe all must helpe him to praise the Name of the Lord for himselfe was resolu'd to doe it for euer and euer Yet in another place hee sees but the wicked flourish he sees GOD as hee thinkes shew a little fauour to them that were not his owne people sees that they are not in trouble like other men nor plagu'd like other men forthwith all that God had done for him That he had so often heard him out of his Holy Hill that hee had beene his glorie and the lifter vp of his head yet hee tooke ill counsell in his soule daily and accuseth his carefull Lord of such peruerse forgetfulnesse as to be a continued Patron of Strangers who neuer acknowledg'd themselues his and to take no notice of his best and most obsequious seruants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though wee may euery where find this Lord yet if we looke vpon him with carnall eyes we shall hardly discern him to be the Lord of his people but rather of the vngodly who oftentimes in farre more plenty enioy his outward bounties then his owne people His people must not looke to spread themselues and flourish like a greene Bay tree to swimme alwayes vpon smooth streames When Christ himselfe had once in his company his Apostles all the poore Familie that he had all his people the Winds and the Waters set vpon the Ship where he and his people were for had there beene a continuall calme they could not so certainely haue knowne him for their Lord who both then and since reads to all his people many Lectures of himselfe his Glory his Omnipotency But alas they rather pose vs then instruct vs by all them we only know that we can neuer sufficiently know him not the least handy-worke of his One Schoole onely GOD hath where most perfectly wee shall learne what he is That Schoole is the Graue to which heere hee sets his people where they shall truely know him to be the Lord by those acts of his power by opening Graues and bringing vp out of Graues This is one of the vnlikeliest places that euer man went to learne any knowledge in especially the knowledge of the Lord. The Psalmist tels GOD That was no place for him to be knowne in quoniam non est in morte qui memor sit tui In death there is no remembrance of thee and in the Graue who shall giue thee thanks He seconds it in the 30. Psalme verse 9. Quae vtilitas in sanguine meo What profit is there in my blood O Lord When I goe downe into the Pit shall the Dust praise thee shall it declare thy Truth Yes sure A blessed Apostle could well thinke of no other Librarie to studie for his chiefe Lesson in to know Iesus Christ and him crucified but the Graue His Bookes must be meditations of the Carkases laid in their Graues his fellow-students Wormes his writing-tables
apace and how wilt thou scatter Kings when the chariots of the Lord shall be twenty thousand euen thousands of Angels In what furrow then will the Purchaser hide his couetous head In what dunghill will the Adulterer shrow'd his vncleane and rotten body Into what Ditch then will the Drunkard reele or in what Parchment will the Lawyer write his Euidences or with what waxe will he seale them when the Heauens shall be contracted like Parchment and the Hils shall melt away like Waxe and no Mountaine left to giue the Infidel so much hope of mercy as to call vpon the Mountaines to couer him Then wilt thou command the Sea not onely to stay her proud waues but to make one depth still call vpon another till they bring vp from the lowest bottome all that haue shipwrack't in her waters or dash't against her Rockes And vpon earth euery Angle Nooke and Chasme euery place though more desert then the ransackt Temple of Ierusalem now is shall be enquir'd into and not be able to keepe any garment of flesh that euer was worne by any whom Christ dyed for If dissected limbes lie torne assunder in places as distant as one end of the Pole is from the other yet will he soader them together and make them in euery seuerall indiuiduum a perfect entire numericall body againe Not the Beakes of Eagles nor the throates of Rauens not the Entrailes of the most deuouring Monsters of the Forrest not the Iawes of Tigers nor the teeth of Crocodiles Serpents or Hiena's for to these and worse then these doth sometimes this cocker'd flesh of ours become a prey not resolution to the first indeterminate matter not the dissolution if that could be to nothing can keep can hide these bodies of ours from him that first made them out of nothing But whether they crumble into Atomes of dust or be distill'd into water or with ashed from a Funerall Pile fill an vrne or be attenua 〈…〉 to Ayre euery one of these Rauens Eagles 〈◊〉 sters Beasts Tigers Sea Fire Earth Ayre 〈…〉 their priuate closets to be vnlock't and restore euery integrating part Arterie Sinew Muscle Veine Ioynt Limbe Nay those parts which Philosophy esteemes but Excrements Diuinity will then make Ornaments and therefore God hath a care that a haire of mans head shall not fall to ground without his prouidence Thus much Rubbish He will haue to worke vpon at the Resurrection who at the Creation did all ex nihilo of nothing and that was the greater taske What change soeuer these bodies suffer subducuntur nobis sed Deo Elementorum custodi reseruantur in no Element can they be lost which are committed to his keeping who keepes the Elements themselues But all these Graues which I haue yet nam'd are but like Peters chaines which fell easily from his hands there is a Graue yet more deepe more loathsome that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vtter darkenesse darkenesse of body darknesse of soule not Egypt in all its darknesse like to the darkenesse of that Graue There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an vnpassable Gulfe betwixt life and death for euer fix't no Musicke but where their Instruments are gnashing teeth and their Hymnes howling All the sensible faculties of the soule taken vp with no thought but neuer-ending sense of neuer-ending misery No mention of ioy but Poena damni the vnrecouerable losse of ioy when they shall see others enioy the abundance of that Ioy which they shall neuer haue When all other Graues shall haue their Graue and the last Moyty of sand be runne out of the glasse of Time it selfe in this Graue shall they lie that are gone to it as dead to any thing but torment which shall neuer die to them nor they to it No Gregory no Falconella no Masse no Trentals No Beads no Penance no Pope no Iesuite no Deuill for those whom their owne pride hath ioyn'd together let no man put asunder I say none of these could euer redeeme from that Graue of mortall immortality Yet out of that Graue in one true and most Orthodoxe sense are we brought not by getting out if we euer had been actually in but because that wee know he is the Lord whose mercifull preuention hath bar'd vp the euerlasting doores of that Graue to vs that are out and to that purpose hee sent the Angell in the Reuelation from Heauen hauing the Key of the bottomelesse Pit and a great chaine in his hand and he tooke the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Deuil and bound him a thousand yeeres shut him vp and seal'd vpon him that he should deceiue the Nations no more If a Messenger one of our fellow seruants for so the Angell cals himselfe in the foregoing Chapter could doe this bind the Graue-maker shut him vp in his owne Graue how may we that are his people know that the Lord himselfe hath all the power of Hell chayn'd at his will all the Gates thereof shut to all but those that will needes enter by the Posternes of Heathenish Infidelity or Romish superstition the Keyes of euery Gate else are kept sauing those of our Sauiours wounds the infectious sting of Death being pluckt out of the mouth of the Serpent the Graue and Hell it selfe And by this you know I hope all you his people that he is the Lord Now he hath opened your Graues and brought you vp out of your Graues God for his part hath you see made euery word of the Text good let him not in such a generall Haruest of Heauen and Earth haue occasion to say to any of you as the Master of the Vineyard said to the Labourers Why stand yee heere all the day idle why doe not your selues doe your parts too and set your hands to bring your selues vp out of your Graues But the early charitie the vnconsum'd Bounty of this Citty preuents an Exhortation you bring and keepe from the Graue many a weake aged Christian who haue no other props but you and their staues their owne limbes sooner forsaking them then your bounty Infants brought into the world and left there as in a wildernesse hang vpon your paps and are fed from your Tables You deliuer the poore that cry and haue none to helpe them In your Hospitall lyes many a wounded Christian and in euery wound is plac't a tongue to speake and cry to God himselfe for mercy continu'd mercy and honour to this Citie Your Bethlem shewes how he that was borne at Bethlem is borne anew in your hearts and you againe regenerate and borne in him for whose sake if a Cup of cold water giuen shall neuer goe vnrewarded then surely Copiosa erit Merces vestra in Coelis great will your reward be in Heauen when you are brought vp out of your Graues Thus farre doe the armes of the Poore lift you their Benefactors and Patrons from your Graues Thus farre are these Liuories which attend you Angels and
know that I am the Lord. Secondly to whom To his owne people O my people Thirdly by what meanes by most powerfull deliuerance when I haue opened your graues and brought you vp out of your graues Gods care to be knowne first presents it selfe And you shall know that I am the Lord. Two things saith Lactantius GOD hath made man onely to be most desirous of Religionis sapientia Religion and wisdome the two onely Keyes to open that Well sealed vp The knowledge of the Lord. But the Author goes on sed homines ideo falluntur quòd aut Religionem suscipiunt omissâ sapientiâ aut sapientiae soli student omissâ Religione either men in the fury of Religion will breake vp the seales of Gods secrets and so rather discouer him then know him or else they will finde him in the Labyrinths of their subtill braines omitting the best Clue to guide them thorow Religion We may obserue how vnhappy the first intent to know GOD too neere was when He that was the subiect of the knowledge was not the Instructer Shee that was first caught by that golden hooke of knowledge would know God but it should be most ambitiously for shee would know her selfe to bee like Him in the knowledge of good and euill That wretched knowledge she quickly gain'd good she knew by its irrecouerable losse and euill shee knew not onely by knowing but being so her selfe and all because when shee first set her selfe to Schoole the Deuill was her Tutor Glorious apparition of knowledge which fier'd euen innocencie it selfe with a proud affection to it nor could euer since any Age auoyd the spices of that first disease of knowing But like ouer-fleet Hounds wee often out-runne the prey in the pursuite or else tyer'd and hungry fall vpon some dead carrion in the way and omit the Game Else how were it possible that Man who only hath that essentiall consequence of his Reason Capacity of Learning should all his time bee brought vp in a Schoole of knowledge and yet too often let the glasse of his dayes be runne out before hee knowes the Author he should studie Haue not the greatest Epicures of knowledge like children new set to Schoole turn'd from their lessons to looke on pictures in their bookes gazing vpon some hard trifle some vnnecessary subtilty and forgot so much as once to spell the Lord How great a part of this span-length of his daies doth the Grammaticall Criticke spend in finding out the construction of an obsolete word or the principall verbe in a worne-out Epitaph still ready to set out a new booke vpon an old Criticisme How will an Antiquarie search whole Libraries to light vpon an ancient Monument whilest the Chronicle of this LORD who is the Ancient of daies shall seldome be looked into We doe so wearie the faculties of our vnderstanding before-hand by ouer-practising that when wee come at the Race indeed where our knowledge should so runne that it might obtaine it giues ouer the course as out of breath before it haue begun I speake not but to honour learning and knowledge euen the first elements of the Arts they are like the Cryer in the Wildernesse before our Sauiour to prepare his way Nor I thinke ought any to be transported with the pangs of so indiscreet a zeale as to extinguish those first Lampes of knowledge polite and humane studies for though they doe not directly teach vs to know the Lord yet are they the fittest spectacles for vnripe yeeres and tender sights to put on who are not able to endure at the first vehemens sensibile so excelling an obiect as the Lord is God doth not vse now-a-dayes to rauish men extra corpus as Saint Hierome saith hee did this Prophet or as Saint Paul saith he doth not know whether it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether within or without the body when hee was taken into the third Heauen God leades vs with a more apprehensiue and ordinary hand then either by taking vs vp or sending downe lights and visions from himselfe to make his Spirit to be at command to euery obstreperous vnletter'd Extemporist vt doceat antequam didicit who will vndertake to teach before himselfe hath learn'd and so it often falls out that whilest such are about to make knowne this knowledge of the Lord though their bodies bee confin'd within the compasse of the Pulpit yet is their straggling inuention faine to wander for matter as Saul did ouer Mount Gilboa and many other Mountaines to seeke his Fathers Asses and yet neuer found them It is the comparison of that Kingly Priest who was the late Reuerend Prelate of this Sea All Miracles wee know are ceas't and yet the greatest Miracle that euer God wrought vpon earth the Incarnation of his blessed Sonne excepted the effusion of his Spirit must still be so familiar with vs that the assiduity of hauing it hath brought it amongst too many into a cheape contempt I would not be mistaken for I speake with a reuerend estimation of mine owne and all Christian soules Preaching is an inestimable Iewell and if the Physician of the body is to bee honour'd then much more they that minister 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 restoring Balsame to wounded soules That Angell of our Church reuerend Hooker et tanto nomini semper assurgo his name ought euer to bee mention'd with honour calls Sermons the Keyes to the Kingdome of Heauen Wings by which our soules soare to the heauenly Ierusalem O what a blessing is it frō heauen nay what proportion doth it hold with heauen to heare a Preachers tongue touch't by a Seraphim vtter in the Pulpit labour'd mature thoghts cloathing his sublime Theames in fit Apparell to be presented before that Person whom hee represents yet non tam loquitur fortia quà m viuit his life should be stronger speak more powerfully then his lines and euen then when his words reach as high as the Throne of God his heart should bee as low as the humble Publicans All Gods Prophets ought to be of Dauids mind to esteeme themselues Wormes and no men whilest their Audience are sweetly forc't to repute them little lesse then Cherubims What a blessed Martyrdome it were for any imploy'd in Gods Seruice to breathe forth his soule in sauing others soules Such a Preacher were like the good seruant in the Gospell who when the Lord comes he shall finde so doing That word so qualifies any extremitie that might haue been in his actions like Saint Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so runne running hee obseru'd many perchance too fast therefore he assignes the modum debitum the true path in which wee should runne Men that will be either like him or like the good seruant so doing must not fall into any excesse and bee found ouer-doing which euen in this great businesse of knowing the Lord too many doe It was St.
the Principall did not at all belong to him Non autem errabat in genere sed fallebatur in crimine 'T was we had forfeited the Bond and he must be arrested so a Heard of Tigers came to seize vpon the Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world for whom he being God became Man they being men to him became Deuils they apprehend him with their bloody hands whom their hearts could neuer apprehend all wickedly intending to confound him who onely intended to preserue them and thinking one death too little for him who esteem'd his owne life and eternitie it selfe a blessing too small for them The Element of Sinne which in one of our hearts weighes not at all because it is in its proper place and Elementum non ponderat in loco suo vpon him lay so heauie because he was no Center for it that it made him who was wont to bow the heauens bow himselfe vpon the earth in the Garden of Gethsemane knocking there at the doore of his Graue to be let in from thence hee was carried to the Theater of Death strew'd with Bones and dead Bodies where the vnwholsome sauors might haue brought him to his death without a Crosse. Thus both the liuing and the dead were equally prepar'd to bring him to his Graue who came to bring both the liuing and the dead vp out of their Graues How like a Coarse and nothing but a Coarse fit for a Graue must he needs looke when that Face at which the Angels so often wondred was scarrifi'de and cauteriz'd with Thornes those eyes from which the Lamps of Heauen the Sunne that wardeth by day and the Moone which watcheth by night might borrow a better cleerenes suncke into their Caues those eares wont to heare nothing but Anthem'd Alleluiahs deafn'ed with the scornes of insulting Sinners that mouth the Torrent from whence flow'd Eloquia Domini Eloquia munda words sweeter then Honey and the Honey Combe then stopt with Gall and Vineger hee that had giuen them Wine to cheere and make glad the heart of Man what a Potion did they giue him to comfort his dying heart Thus for his sufferings they would be sure to take what impious care they could and their busie malice was so wholly taken vp with them that they forgot when they had done to prouide him a Graue Hee that in his life time was worse prouided for then the wilde inhabitants of the Field or Ayre for himselfe complaines that the Foxes haue holes and the Birds of the Ayre haue nests but the Sonne of Man hath not where to lay his head liu'd and dy'de in the same case liu'd without a bed and dy'de without a Graue Because the liuing would not the dead came from their Graues to make him roome the Earth open'd her obedient armes to entertaine him the stones of the Temple leapt from their foundations disdaining the place where the hand of any Architect had laid them when those prophane builders refus'd Lapidem angularem him that was euer the head Stone of the corner He dy'de for the sinnes of strangers and therefore a stranger Ioseph of Arimathea must prouide him a Graue he beg'd him of Pilate and had so often laid him in his heart before that hee now esteemes himselfe happy if he may lay him in his Graue Would you now thinke this Man that could not saue himselfe as they blasphem'd could saue vs That he that could not procure himselfe a Graue should bring vs all vp out of our Graues Nullas habet spes Troja si tales habet How doe they yet deride our hopes in him who do not yet beleeue in him Durst he euer challenge Death vpon his owne Dunghill the Graue with such daring termes Ero mors tua ô mors O Death I will be thy death O Graue I will be thy destruction Will the Lord euer say to him Sit thou on my right hand vntill I haue made thine enemies thy footstoole Can he euer ascend on high and take captiuity captiue who was taken by two old men Ioseph and Nicodemus to bee laid in a new Monument in Iosephs Garden In horto erat Monumentum nonum A new Sepulcher wherein neuer man was yet layd A Stone hewne out of a Rocke and therefore most fit to lay the Rocke of our saluation in and into a Rocke his Disciples could hardly dig to get him out Therefore against that Rocke must they needs dash which would haue it said His Disciples came by night and stole him away They could say to Pilate Sir we haue heard the Deceiuer say and how wretchedly did they deceiue themselues by not beleeuing what he said His dixit euer was his fiat from the first saying Let there be light though afterwards when hee had made that light come to shine in the darknesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the darknesse comprehended it not They had seene him whom they so falsely term'd Deceiuer oftentimes making his word good without all deceit The Centurion askt no more at his hands but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Say but the word onely and my seruant shall be whole and his seruant was made whole the same houre He that was himselfe the Word needes neuer doe any thing but say the word hee said hee would rise againe the third day and as hee was Filius fortitudinis to the Lord himselfe the Sonne of his strength or the strength of his Sonne hee could finde or make a way to bring himselfe vp out of the Graue Let their laborious enuie heape hills of Earth vpon his Graue let their Grand Patron the Deuill himselfe send Legions from Hell to guard his Sepulcher as Pilate did a band of armed Souldiers they could not haue kept him in His very sleepe which they thought the sleepe of death was busie in a triumphant Conquest ouer Hell it selfe he was then gone to the house of the strong man which himselfe speakes of in the Gospell binding the strong man and spoiling him of his goods he enter'd as Conquerour bound him as the stronger spoild him as the right owner of that estate in vs which he by theft and violence had once carried away The drowsie weight of sleepe sate farre more heauie vpon the Souldiers eyes and bound them faster then the High Priests Seale then the Massie Stone then the walls of the Graue then Death with all his Cords were able to fetter him Were the Fogs call'd from the Lakes and Fennes for your sakes O you once his people Was darknesse call'd from the Center of the Earth to spread it selfe vpon the face of Egypt three dayes or rather three prodigious nights Didst thou O Sunne more then stand still in Gibeon and thou Moone in the valley of Aijalon that you his people should for euer since obtenerate your owne eyes with a darknes more palpable then that of Egypt and would neither then nor yet see this Sunne of righteousnesse comming
from the Chamber of his Graue fresh as a Bridegroome and reioycing as a Gyant to runne his race Would his Disciples a poore disconsolate wretched forsaken company Doues vnder the tallons of Vultures and Ravens would they venture vpon a guarded Sepulcher Would they offer violence to an armed Band Indeed habet pietas impetum suum Religious valour will doe much and it is well they will accuse his Disciples of so good a crime as to be more watchfull then their Hirelings were Innocencie is euer most commonly apt for rest when he tooke along with him three chosen witnesses of his sorrow in the Garden when he felt the soule of affliction in the affliction of his soule and many a groane was fetcht from the bowels of his humanity able to awaken a sullen Rocke they three not then able to watch with him one houre and now all of them to watch a whole night when he was dead and steale him away This saying is commonly reported among the Iewes to this day Credat Iudaeus Apella non ego A sottish stupid vnbeleeuing Iew may credit such a lying vanity And marke I beseech you euen in that one thing the prouident Iustice of the Almighty to punish them euer since with a generall lightnesse of beliefe to apprehend any thing but what they should haue faith in Dreames and Fables are Histories to them and which is their iust curse they haue yet no other Gospell Shall so supernaturall an Earthquake bee at his Passion when he breathed out his Spirit into the hands of his Father And shall neither Earth nor the Stone vpon his Graue stir to giue way to him to re-assume that Spirit to himselfe againe If Earth nor Stones will not moue Heauen will and from thence will come an Angell to rowle away the stone Angels euer haue had a charge of him and as they did not refuse to attend him when he tooke vp his first lodging vpon Earth in a Manger so did they waite vpon him in the last bed that euer he lay in heere the Graue Qui fuit vermiculorum locus est Angelorum Angels scorne not to keepe wormes company in any place where Christ was for as Princes denominate Courts so doth he Heauen euen in the Graue and the Graue was Heauen whil'st hee was there so Coelo tegitur qui non habet vrnam But speake thou Angell of the Lord was not he thy Angell and abler to helpe thee then thou wert him The Angell may still keepe the praise of his duty but Christ must haue the honour of his Omnipotency All that was done for him was done by him nor did the Angell rowle away the stone to make way for Christ to come out of the Graue but to prepare our hearts for Christ to come into them vt conseruis ad credendum daret fidem non vt ad resurgendum Domino praestaret auxilium Not to helpe our Sauiour but our faith to which the Angell would euer remaine an happy both Messenger and witnesse A witnesse ioyn'd to holy Iob who knew certainly that his Redeemer liued A witnesse with Dauid that his holy One should not see corruption A witnesse with Esay who call'd all that dwelt in the dust to awake and sing A witnesse with Ezekiel to this place That he hath open'd our Graues and brought vs vp out of our Graues Vteri noua forma saith a Father for the Tombe to become a womb to take in a dead man and bring him forth aliue for the Graue to swallow vp not a dead Corps but Death it selfe neuer did any thing deserue the lasting Characters which Iob meant to write with the Pen of a Diamond like this neuer did Spring bring forth such a flowre as the flowre of Iesse before But if he be but a flowre he may fade againe as flowres doe and so our flesh will last as long as his for the Psalmist tels vs that as for Man he flourisheth as the flower of the field But the wind passeth ouer it and it is gone the place thereof shall know it no more so man hath euer remain'd since Adams fall he was first made a Gardner till that Gardner prou'd the worst weed in the Garden and so as a weed was pluck't vp and throne away but the second Adam the Iewes esteem'd indeed a weed but contrary to expectation he sprung vp a Gardner for Mary tooke him for the Gardner and by the power of that Gardner Expectandum etiam nobis corporis ver est These Bodies of ours shal at that general Spring-time of the Resurrection grow vp againe a fresh in the Eden of Eternity This flesh of ours post totum ignobilitatis Elogium this ignoble flesh subiect to an Army of Diseases to Corruption Death Wormes Rottennesse and Dissolution with all the deprauing Adiuncts that Sadduce Heathen or Athiest can disgrace it with yet because it is the diligent Attendant of the Soule here by whose Organs she discourses contemplates and conueyes her thoughts as high as the Seat of God this flesh in which Saint Paul carried Stigmata Christi the markes of his Sauiour shall with its owne eyes one day see that Sauiour For shall darknesse follow light and light darknesse shall Autumne succeed Spring and Spring Autumne shall the Moone put off and renew her selfe by a monthly change shall trees vncloath themselues of their leafie garments and duely at their time re-inuest themselues with those greene Ornaments shall Sunnes each night set and each morning rise and must man take vp a lethargicke rest in a night long as eternity No Operibus praescripsit Deus antequam literis his workes are our books in which we may reade the plaine and vnderstood Stories of our being brought vp out of our Graues It is now and euer was since that first Easter a continu'd Feast of ioy solemniz'd with celestiall Iubiles by the Angels in Heauen because he brought himselfe vp out of the Graue Sed in hoc multiplicata sunt gaudia saith a Father This extends the degrees of their accidentall ioy to the height that we for whom he became so humble on earth shall by him be made so high in heauen That these bodies shall againe be made the glorified Tabernacles to their soules from which that Diuine part shall neuer againe be frighted with diseases neuer loaded with discontents neuer rackt by pashions neuer tortur'd by affections neuer vext by griefes nor expell'd by rebellious frailty but euery Christian shall bee in a heauen of peace and the peace of heauen in euery Christian that is brought vp out of his Graue O God when at that vnknowne day thou shalt goe forth about this vniuersall businesse to bring vs All vp out of our Graues and meanest to clothe this mortall with immortality how will the earth shake and the heauens drop at thy presence How will Kings of Armies flye