which was amōgst the falling Angels in heauen is now found among the sonnes of men in the earth The voluptuous man is like him who hath the dropsie the more he drinketh the more he desireth he would lye deeper and longer with the swine in the mire The couetous man as the graue neuer saith there is inough Gods good giftes are without vse buried in him His arke and his chest may be filled but his heart in the chest of his body can neuer be satisfied Honour profite pleasure no earthly thing can content the heart of man It is onely this Lord this Sauiour this Christ which draweth mens hearts to heauen and there fully satisfieth them The Israelites in the wildernesse did eate Manna and dranke of the water out of the rocke but hungred and thirsted and died in the end But they which are fed with the true bread that came downe from heauen and drinke of the water of life they shall neuer be more a thirst but shall haue eternall life Christ Iesus is the euerflowing ouerflowing well Blessed are they that hunger thirst for him for they shall be satisfied in him he is the pearle for which we must sell all and buy him He is our head and with the serpent we must be wise to suffer losse in our bodies in our goods in our fame in our liberties in our liues so that we keepe our head safe Aeneas when Troy was won hauing a grant as all the citizens had to carie away some one chiefe thing which he made best account of chose and tooke away Patrios Poenates the gods of his countrey preferring them before his father his goods or any other thing which might be of price with him Which action of his may teach vs in our desires and affections to make choise of Christ and lift vp our hearts to him He requireth in the Gospell to be preferred before those things which otherwise be of most value with vs. He that doth not forsake father and mother is not worthie of me He would not suffer one whom he called to take his leaue of his friends at home nor permit another to bury his father a worke of humanitie and pietie Hieronimus ad Heliodorum hath a worthie iudgement agreeable to this licet à collo paruulus pendeat infans licet vbera quibus te nutrierat ostendat mater licet in limine iaceat pater vt te à Christo retardent abijciatur infans contemne matrem calcandus est pater solum est pietatis genus in his fuisse crudelem If thy young child hang about thy necke if thy mother shew her breasts wherewith she nursed thee if thy father lye in the doore to stay thee frō following of Christ cast from thee thy child contemne thy mother tread vpon thy father ad Christi vexillum vola flie to the banner of Christ to be his souldier and seruant it is pietie to be cruell in this case Glaucus carieth the bell among all fooles for changing his golden armour for brasen harnesse The Israelites lothed Manna and wished the onions and garlicke the grosse diet of Egypt The Gergesens were more grieued for the losse of their swine then glad of the presence of Christ nay they desire him to depart out of their coasts And all the sonnes of the earth these Terrigenae fratres may with the Athenians giue for their badge the grashopper which is bred liueth dieth in the same groūd so their whole desire both in life and death is in earth and as the grashopper hath wings but flyeth not sometimes she hoppeth vpward a litle but presently falleth to the earth againe so they haue some light and short motions to goodnesse but they returne to their old affections of the world their portion is only in this life for they loue vanitie more then truth drosse then gold earth then heauen the world then him that made and redeemed the world riches that rusteth before treasure that lasteth trash and pelfe not true wealth which maketh happie anie earthly vncertaintie before this Sauiour the Lord Iesus Christ the onely author of all felicitie Those foules that feede grossely neuer flie high and they which feed their hearts with things below can not haue their affections in heauen The Sunne draweth out of the sea the clearest water leauing the grosse and dregs behind which some thinke is the cause of the saltnesse of the sea so the sonne of God draweth vp the harts of them that are pure but leaueth below the earthly minded If Christ be deare vnto vs if the day starre be risen in our hearts if we find in our soules that Christ is a Lord a Iesus a Sauiour if the power of these offices take place in our consciences it cannot be but our harts shal be with him Gods spirit worketh this confession in vs that with feeling we may say the Lord is Iesus as Paule writeth 1. Cor. 12.3 To speake the wordes without sence thereof is to no vse The parrot vttereth wordes but knoweth no meaning but the godly do find with ioy that Christ is the way by truth to life the ladder by which they ascend to heauen the good shepheard by whom they are safe the henne vnder whose wings they rest quietly In him is their health wealth ioy rest felicitie he is their treasure and therefore their hearts are with him whereby it commeth to passe that they long for and desire his comming The first comming of Christ was long wished and most desired The holy fathers who with the eye of faith a farre off saw that day reioyced as Christ speaketh of Abraham and when he was come there was great gladnesse thereof The Angell telleth the shepheards that he brought tidings of great ioy to all people The same night that he was borne there was great light in token of comfort but at his death there was darknesse vpon the day in signe of sorow The Sunne put on his mourning garment and was ashamed to looke vpon that cruelty which the sonnes of men were not afrayd to commit If that first comming of Christ was so ioyful which was but meane and simple alone and solitarie when he came to stand at the barre to be iudged when he gaue vs but the earnest of our saluation thrise more comfortable shall his second comming be which shal be in glorie attended vpon with ten thousand of Saints and Angels when he shall sit him downe to iudge the wicked giue full possession of his kingdome to the elect Then shall the sheepe be gathered into the fold neuer to be in daunger of wandering or of the wolfe then shall the corne be inned into the barne neuer to be shaken with the winde or weather againe then shall there be a Saboth after which no work-day shal follow then shall be an euerlasting Iubilie when all bondage shall cease and the chosen shall enter to their inheritance which neuer shall be taken from them The hope of this
RESVRGENDVM A NOTABLE SERMON CONCERNING THE RESVRrection preached not long since at the Court by L. S. We haue here no continuing Citie but we seeke one to come Hebr. chap. 13. verse 14. Resurget iustus vt iudicet peccator vt iudicetur impius vt sine iudicio puniatur IW LONDON Printed by Iohn VVolfe 1593. The Printer to the Reader I Send thee here gentle Reader a Sermon for stile eloquent for order methodicall and for substance of matter right heauenly heartily praying thee euen for thine ovvne soules health to vouchsafe the reading thereof Taken it vvas not from the Preachers mouth by any fond or nevv found Characterisme vvhich to the great preiudice of some vvorthie and learned men hath of late verie pitifully blemished some part of their labours this vvay vvith intollerable mutilations but set dovvne at their desire vvho might herein command by the Authors ovvne pen and indited as I verily persuade my self by special instinct of the holy Ghost And surely the doctrine of this Sermon is such as I make no doubt at all but it vvil be held to be most needfull and necessarie especially for these desperat times of ours vvherein amongst other most erronious sects vvhich rent in peeces the coate of Christ and the vnitie of his Church that one of the Saduces vvho say there is no resurrection is not perhaps of all other the least imbraced VVith this sort of hel-hounds this godly Sermon though not of purpose doth chiefly encounter and vvith inuincible argumēts beateth them dovvne flat to the ground assuring all flesh of that great and generall Resurrection vvhich euery true Christian is bound both in heart to beleeue and vvith his mouth to confesse hovvsoeuer the prophane Atheist in the greatnesse of his vaine and vvicked imaginations may othervvise fancie to himselfe not vvithout his ovvne remedilesse damnation vnlesse in time he do repent him of his sinne And vvould to God many such alarums as this might dayly be rong and sounded into our eares that if it vvere possible euery Christian might haue as deepe an impression and be no lesse affected vvith the continuall cogitation and remembrance of our resurrection at the last day then that godly father S. Ierome seemed to be vvho sayd Whether I eate or drinke whether I sleepe or wake or what thing else so euer I do me thinkes I heare a trumpet alwayes sounding thus in mine eares Arise you dead and come vnto iudgement And so gentle Reader I leaue thee to the grace of God A NOTABLE SERMON CONCERNING THE RESVRrection preached not long since at the Court by L. S. Philip. 3.20.21 20 But our conuersation is in heauen from vvhence also vve looke for the Sauiour euen the Lord Iesus Christ 21 VVho shall change our vile bodie that it may be fashioned like vnto his glorious bodie according to the vvorking vvhereby he is able euen to subdue all things vnto him selfe THose teachers of Gods truth whose works be not answerable to the word are fitly compared to Mercuries the images in the streetes which point the right way to other men but stand still and walke not thē selues or to the stage player who speaking of the earth pointed to heauen and meaning the heauen pointed to the earth manu commisit soloecismum Such haue the voyce of Iacob but the hands of Esau of such the Apostle with teares exhorteth the Philippians to beware in the 18. verse of the third chapter And that they may the better be knowen he setteth downe their properties and painteth them out in their colours as that they be enemies to the crosse of Christ their bellie is their God they glorie in their shame they are earthly minded But such as build with both hands the church of God that is by sound doctrine and holy life such as haue Vrim and Thummim brightnesse of knowledge and integritie of conuersation such as go armed before their brethren as Ruben and Gad and halfe Manasses did not to be touched with errour in faith or deformitie in life these be good guides to folow and sure loade starres to direct our course Amongst which Paule with a good conscience placeth him selfe and such as be like him setting downe in this place their conuersation to be heauenly And good cause why for that there is their Sauiour and that thence they long for him whose comming shall not be frutelesse to them for he shall chaunge their bodies from such base infirmitie as now they are in to such glorie as his body is clothed withall Which may not be thought incredible because his will and power which subdueth all things shall bring this to passe In the farther vnfolding of which words the Apostle putteth in my hands these two principall things to deliuer vnto you First the change that is in the soules of the godly in this life Secondly the change that shal be in their bodies after this life In the former there be these points to be handled That their conuersation is not earthly but in heauen The cause that draweth them thither the Lord Iesus Christ A longing and expectation of his comming In the change that shal be of the bodie we are to consider What our bodies are nowe They are vile What they shall be then Like the glorious bodie of Christ The causes which bring this to passe The will of God and his mightie power These be the ioynts and parts of this present Scripture whereof I will speake as the time shall permit me your Honorable patience heare me the Apostle direct me and God shall assist me with his grace Saint Augustine parteth all the people in the world into two companies the synagogue of Sathan and the Church of God into Babylon and Ierusalem into the sonnes of the earth and the Citizens of heauen In which now are all the godly hauing their conuersation in heauen that is behauing them selues as free Burgesses of Ierusalem which is aboue Manie Cities in the world haue lawes and customes differing one from another yet not so contrarie but one may enioy freedome of diuerse at once But heauen and earth haue so continuall and so vnreconcileable variance as no peace can be compounded betweene them For he that is free to the one must be disfranchized in the other he that is friend to the one must be foe to the other he that hath giuen his faith to the one must sweare against the other It is as possible for light to agree with darknes for life to be friends with death for the Arke of God and the idol Dagon to lodge quietly in one place as for a man to serue God and Mammon to be true to the Lord and the world to be free Denison beneath and aboue to haue an earthly and a heauenly conuersation Therefore Elias doth sharply reproue the people of Israell for halting betweene two opinions in following the Lord and going after Baall 3. Reg. 18.21 The Samaritans for feare of Lyons which deuoured them
man after Gods owne heart yet had he not small slips but grosse falles Salomon a wise king yet bewitched with women Peter a great Apostle yet an Apostata for a time But why do I vpbrayd the naked infirmities of the fathers seeing all flesh hath corrupted his wayes and none can say my heart is cleane or my handes innocent And yet God hath his flock although it be but a litle one and Christ hath his Church his familie although they be fewe in it God hath his number in earth which in sinceritie without hypocrisie haue their conuersacion in heauen Euery man may be a witnesse to himselfe to whether number he belongeth by that rule which S. Augustine hath set downe in Psal 64. Duas ciuitates duo faciunt amores Hierusalem facit amor Dei Babiloniam amor saeculi Interroget ergo se quisque quid amet inueniet vnde sit ciuis Two loues make two Cities the loue of God maketh Ierusalem the loue of the world Babylon Therefore let euerie man deale truely with his owne heart and in euen ballances lay all his doings putting thereto such loue as he hath If it be the loue of God it wil lift them vp and shew them to be heauenly if the loue of the world set them a worke it wil bewray their conuersatiō to be of the earth To execute iustice with a straight hand to cherish vertue to roote vp vice to foster religion to banish superstition to do any good to eschue any euill for anie other cause but in loue and obedience vnto God is not to haue an heauēly but an earthly cōuersation The spider of a drie slime which commeth off her bodie weaueth her webbe and setteth her nets to take the flie which is her foode and many times when curiously she hath finished her worke a blast of winde taketh her and it away so the loue of the world causeth manie to wearie their bodies trouble their wittes breake their sleepe to set nets for commodities which are but small and by the last breath of our life caried away The loue of the world which ruleth in vs by corruption of nature and custome of life withdraweth vs from such conuersation as is heauenly whereas the loue of God if it be but as a graine of mustard seede doth season all our doings and cleareth them from earthly corruption Therfore let euery man as he groweth in yeares so go forward in goodnesse increase in faith in knowledge in vertue in the loue of God decrease in ignorance in infidelitie in vice in the loue of the world As our age and gray haires come on so let our olde conuersation vanish away putting on the new man in holinesse of behauiour the nearer we come to our heauenly countrey to wish and desire it the more For as the child in the wombe is more quick and strong the nearer the time of birth commeth so it should be with vs. For as Chrysostome sayth Nos sumus in mundo vt puellus in vtero and happie are they that are dayly more quicke and strong in godlinesse of life that may with a good conscience say as Paule doth here Our conuersacion or citie like behauiour is in heauen The cause which draweth vp mens hearts in desire affection to heauen is the sauiour the Lord Iesus Christ The brasen serpent was lift vp in the wildernesse that the people being stong might be healed liue the sonne of man is lifted vpon the crosse lifted vp and set in the view of all men by the preaching of the Gospell and by his glorious ascension into heauen draweth all their hearts to him that looke for saluation in him they feare him as their Lord loue him as their Iesus reuerence him as their Christ they kisse him as their Sauiour that find and feele by the seale of Gods spirit that God hath made him Christ appointed him and annointed him to be a Lord and king to gouerne them a Priest to sacrifice him selfe for them a Prophet to teach and instruct them What greater daunger then to haue our cogitations and affections as traitors and rebelles to worke treason within vs and to conspire our destruction and what happier benefite then to haue them tamed changed and made pliable in obedience to an heauenly gouernment This profite Christ worketh in his people being their Lord to rule them and this kingdome we pray for dayly to come vnto vs. What greater discomfort then to lye in darknesse and to liue in ignorance and what sweeter mercie then to haue our eyes opened and the brightnesse of heauenly knowledge to shine about vs This commoditie our Sauiour bestoweth vpon vs and is made Christ our Prophet for this end No perill is so fearfull as to be out of Gods fauour nor blessing so chearefull as to be at peace with him Our Sauiour in loue hath giuen him selfe for vs a sweet smelling sacrifice and in him the Father is pleased with vs. Daniel was in great danger among the Lyons yet his bodie could but be hurt for his soule was comforted in that he suffered for the Lord but mankind was in miserable plight being iustly condemned body and soule into hell Christ hath reached forth his hand and drawen vs out of the iawes of the Lyon and is become a Iesus a Sauiour vnto vs. Therefore seeing as Christ is the mine where all these treasures lye hid the iewell house where all these pearles are heauenly gouernment he is the Lord heauenly instruction he is Christ a Prophet heauenly reconciliation he is Christ a Priest heauenly redemption he is Iesus a Sauiour It is no maruell though the hearts of Gods children be with him who hath in store all these treasures for them The marchant hath his minde in those places where his goods are and whence he hopeth for commoditie The husbandmans heart is in the haruest which is the end of his labour and the hope of his paine Profit will carrie mens desires verie farre euen through the world yea to heauen and happie are they which venture the farthest for in this life there is no true treasure to be found The minde of man is wider then the world and nothing in the world can fill it Nay the mo worldly things that are heaped into it the more it retcheth as whitleather and is more voyd and emptie Few things will suffise the bodie but all is not inough to satisfie the mind as Philip the king of Macedonia confesseth of himselfe who in wrastling tooke a fall vpon the sand and rising looked vpon the place where he might see the print which his bodie had made to be compassed in a small peece of earth where the whole world was too litle for his couetous mind For so he speaketh of him selfe The ambitious man which climeth to honour the higher he is the higher he would be he still buildeth vpwards Nemrods tower is too low for him and yet it was high 1174. paces The pride of Lucifer
had a Priest sent vnto them to teach them the true seruice of God yet withall they retained their old superstition and affection to their natiue Idolles and so became Mungrelles in religion neither faithfull worshippers of the true God nor kinde followers of their false gods 4. Reg. 17.33 Naman the Syrian after he was cleansed of his leprosie made a vowe to offer incense or sacrifice to none but vnto the Lord yet he will needes go with his Maister into the house of Rimmon whereby he may keepe the kings fauour keepe his authoritie continue his honour enioy his wealth and this is to seeke to reconcile heauen and earth together 4. Reg. 5.18 Nicodemus his case was much like who would gladly be a Disciple of Christ yet commeth to him by night that he might not loose his credit of the world Ioh. 3.2 Matth. 19.10 There came a young man to Christ verie desirous to knowe what conuersation to vse in earth that he might obtaine eternall life in heauen Our Sauiour letteth him see the way to obedience of the commandements Thou shalt not steale thou shalt not kill c. Saith the young man If this be all I am in good case all these haue I obserued from my youth Christ meaning to sift him and to shake him out of the ragges of hypocrisie willeth him to sell all and to giue to the poore c. When he heard this the case was altered and he went away sorie that he could not hold his possessions and Christ together This young man is nowe become old and a grandfather of many children in these dayes who will be thought to be Egles in affection to soare aloft and yet are snailes with their houses vpon their backes and creepe vpon the earth These haue squinting eyes with the one looking at the heauens with the other beholding the earth these be outlawes who are faithfull to no common wealth indifferent men in factions who fauour no side these be such cakes as the Prophet Oseas speaketh of baked vp vpon the one side and raw vpon the other neither hote nor cold and therefore to be spued out of the mouth of God In deede they are earthly minded but in shewe heauenly affected their tongues and countenaunce their wordes and lookes are holy but their hearts and hands their affections and actions are worldly The marke and brand of the flesh can not more fitly be set vpon any then vpon many who carrie a zeale of holy profession Let many aske their owne hearts whether I say truth and they shall receiue answer I lye not They must confesse that they are trees full of leaues but voyd of frute dunghilles couered with snowe white without and foule within The case of the foxe is more worth then his carkasse and the profession of these men somthing to be esteemed but the body of their behauiour is vile nothing worth They are painted graues in truth they be citizens of the world though in shew they pretend this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this heauenly conuersation But the true seruants of God although in infirmitie without perfection yet in sinceritie without dissimulation in minde and affection are heauenly and haue their conuersation as citizens of Ierusalem which is aboue they acknowledge them selues to be pilgrims and strangers hauing here no abiding citie but looke for one whose maker and builder is God They are in the world but not of the world they vse the world as though they vsed it not they do esteeme their houses as Innes to rest in not as mansions to dwell in for euer they know that all the manifold graces of God in the mind in the bodie without the bodie are taken of their Maister and they but stewards thereof They vse all worldly commodities as staues in their hands which they will set downe at the last step of their iourney or as oares to rowe with which readily they will leaue when they come to the hauen where they would be Their vnderstanding is lightened with Gods truth their affections are strengthened by his will their actions are reformed by his word They looke not backe with delight to their old sinnes as Lots wife to Sodome nor returne with their hearts to Egypt againe with the murmuring Israelites neither wish they to tarrie on this side Iordane without the land of promise as Ruben and Gad and halfe Manasses did but as Daniel opened his windowes toward Ierusalem so they lift vp their eyes to heauen and send thither their sighes and grones in aduersitie testifying that all their refuge is there and lift vp their voyces with praise whē matters go well with them confessing that all good gifts come from aboue As the Egle casteth her bil and renueth her youth and as the snake strippeth of her skin and becometh smooth so they leaue the rotten ragges of Adams corruption and put on the innocencie of Christ which is the wedding garment wherewith vnlesse we be clothed we shall be shut out from the marriage feast If God threaten they tremble if he shew foorth his louing countenance they are cheered at the heart if he teach they giue diligent attendance if he correct they humble them selues They labor in worldly causes but not with worldly affections they giue obedience to lawfull rulers not as to men but as to the lieutenants of God they walke vpon the earth with the feete of their bodies but in their desires which are the feet or rather the wings of the mind they are conuersant in heauen The workes of darknesse are wearisome vnto them because they are children of the light the frutes of the flesh are lothsome to them because God hath renued thē by his spirit the freedom of Gods adoption is most sweet vnto them hauing escaped the slauerie of Satan Whatsoeuer is purely good they desire it with their whole hart what is meerely euill they hate it with perfect hatred things indifferent which are good or euill as they are vsed or abused in them they are carefull to make profit and heedfull not to offend in all things they first seeke the glorie of God and next their owne saluation This is the narrow way that leadeth to life this is the delight of Gods Saints in earth this is to haue a heauenly conuersation which may not be thought a matter of deuice or imagination as if no such were to be found like Platoes common wealth or Zenophons king some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a heauenly conuersation I sayd at the first that none haue it in perfection but euerie one lesse or more must haue it without dissimulation For none are perfect in this life the brightest fire hath some smoke the cleerest water some mudde The face of Venus had a mole the most heauenly affection hath some infection of the earth Noah the seede of the second world and the relique of the first was yet ouertaken with wine Lot was a righteous man yet foully defiled with incest Dauid a
perish there are least like to be restored But looke howe easie it is for the husbandman by his seruants to gather the wheate into his barne so easie it is for God by his Angels to bring all people before him The potter can make a new vessell of the same lumpe of clay if the first fashion dislike him much more is God able out of their dust to raise againe our dead bodies As the Captaine by the sound of his trumpet doth awake his souldiers so the trumpe shall blowe and the dead shall rise for all shall heare that great voyce whereof Chrysostome thus speaketh Verè vox magna est quae petras scindit monumenta frangit vniuersos mortuos resurgere facit ad iudicium ire compellit It is surely a great or strong voyce that cleaueth the rockes that breaketh tombs that raiseth the dead and that draweth men to iudgement Shall napkins be brought from Paules bodie to the sicke and diseases depart from them shall the shadow of Peter helpe the weake and sicke shall Elizeus thinke by sending his staffe to reuiue the Sunamites sonne shal the sayd Elizeus bones giue life to a dead corps cast into his graue And shall not the mightie power of God change these vile bodies and make them like the glorious body of Christ Aarons rod had leaues bloomes and almonds Moyses staffe was made a liuing serpent Sara her dead wōbe was mother to a sonne These saith Epiphanius lib. 1. haeres 9. are some tokens of the resurrection The graue may be the mother of the sonnes of the resurrection hauing this great power of God to strengthen it The Behemoth is a huge beast vpō the land his bones are like staues of brasse and his litle bones are like staues of iron the trees and reedes are too low to couer him the riuer Iordan seemeth not enough for him to drinke The Leuiathan is a monstrous fish in the sea out of his mouth go sparkes and lampes of fire his heart is as strong as the stone and as hard as the neather milstone he esteemeth brasse as straw and iron as rotten wood Iob. 40. If there be such power in the creatures farre more in the creator Christ commandeth the windes and the sea and they obey him he chargeth a legion of vncleane spirites and they departe at his word he wrastleth with death and taketh a fall and is caried prisoner into the graue which is the strongest hold and castle of death but he bursteth his bandes and breaketh open the gates and taketh away the power of death and will in the end vtterly vanquish it Christ raised the rulers daughter in the house and the widowes sonne carried out to be buried and Lazarus which had lyen fower dayes in the graue For with him it is all one to restore to life them that haue bene lately or long dead For as the beame of the eye discerneth in like space things that be neare and things farre off so doth the power of God in this case August Epist 49. vseth this comparison The garments of the Israelites waxed not old neither were their shoes worne in 40. yeares This was done by the prouidence of God for that people neither shall the bodies of men by death and corruption be so wasted but the Lord by his power shall renew them God can of the stones raise vp children vnto Abraham farre more easie is it to raise our bodies againe out of their owne dust It is possible with God that a cammell or a cable be drawen through the eye of a needle therefore death can not shut vp the graue so close but God will and can draw out thence these our vile bodies and make them like the glorious bodie of Christ If one Angell in one night can bring downe to death 185000. of the greatest men in Senacheribs armie shall not infinite thousands of Angels call from death all the world hauing this vanquishing power working with them To winde vp all it was harder for God to make woman of the ribbe of man to make man of the slime of the earth to make the earth the heauen and all in them both and betweene them both of nothing then to raise vp man out of his owne dust which if our eyes cannot see nor our vnderstanding conceiue nor our reason reach vnto yet our faith will apprehend it being founded vpon the wil of God declared in his word and grounded vpon his power shewed in his workes The want of these two foundations was the cause of this error in the Sadducees for so Christ reproueth them Do ye not erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God The wise Athenians mocked at Paul when they heard him preach the resurrection and Festus sayd he had ouer studied him selfe and by too much learning was become mad when he disputed before him of the same matter But the godly are not faithlesse but beleeue as Iob confesseth I knowe that my redeemer liueth c. and Martha saith of her brother I knowe he shall rise at the last day For they build their beleefe vpon these two pillers the will and power of God not calling flesh and reason to counsell For as Augustine ad Volusianum saith Si ratio quaeritur non erit mirabile si exemplum poscitur non erit singulare Demus aliquid posse Deum quod fateamur nos non posse inuestigare tota ratio facti in talibus est potentia facientis If reason be sought it will not be strange if an example be asked it will not be singular Let vs graunt that God can do some thing the reason whereof we cannot find out In such things the whole reason of the deed is the power of the doer The foresight of this chaunge should make vs warie to keepe cleane our bodies seeing they must be chaunged and made like to Christs glorious bodie The husbandman hath great care of that corne which is for his seede our bodies are the seed of the resurrection The huswife will keepe sweete and faire those vessels which are for the table our bodies are vessels or should be vessels of sanctification The Church and temple of God should be kept cleane and comely our bodies are the temples of the holy Ghost therefore should be heedfully looked vnto This is litle thought of of the oppressour who is become a Lyons denne full of pray and rauine or of the drunkard who maketh him selfe a swill-tub or of the proud man who maketh his bodie a painted puppet or of the luxurious man who is a cage of vncleane birds or rather a stable or a stye We dishonour God as much by abusing our bodies as Iehu did the temple of Baal who made it an house of the vilest vse God neuer tooke pleasure with his Temple of Ierusalem after it was defiled by the Babylonians but burnt it downe with fire and he hath in store a more fearfull fire if we abuse our bodies Therefore let vs be carefull to vse well these crackt and brittle vessels for that they must be in better case now vile but shall be changed and made like the glorious bodie of Christ and shall be vnited to the soules and receiue that blessed inheritāce which God the Father of old hath prepared God the Sonne of late hath purchased God the holy Ghost doth dayly seale in the hearts of Gods children To which three persons one true and euerliuing God be all honor glorie and praise both now and for euer Amen FINIS