his body for hee was slaine in warre 2. Chro. 35. In 22. of Math. and the 32. Christ saith I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaack and the God of Iacob God is not the God of the dead but the living Hee doth not say I was the God of Abraham and of Isaack and of Iacob or I am the God of Abraham that once was but as implying his owne eternall being and the certaine being of those holy Patriarches hee saith I am the God of Abraham c. Now God is not the God of those that are not and have no existence at all but of those that have a being So that hee will raise their bodies or else he did Dimidium tantummodò Hominem restituere else hee were God but to one part of Abraham But as his mercy is over all his works so his works of mercy are over all his His mercy extends both to soule and body and in the mercy of the most High they shall not miscarry Therefore shall God raise the bodies of dead men But wee must not frame unto our selves a God all of mercy but learne to sing that compounded ditty of the Psalmist of mercy and Iudgement Gods iustice is himselfe as well as his mercy As his mercy which wee have already shewed so likewise his iustice requires that their must bee an universall resurrection If in this life saith the Apostle wee have hope in Christ 1 Cor. 15.15 we are of all men most miserable Paul indeed was at a quotidie morior every houre in danger to bee drawne to the blocke every day dying ready to bee offered up for the name of his Lord and Saviour But to what purpose did hee expose himselfe to such variety of perils if there were no resurrection Miserable is that man that either laboureth or suffereth in vaine Shal Paul beare in his body the markes of Christ Iesus and shall he not beare in the same body the crowne of his glory Shall the labourer endure the heate of the day and shall hee not at length receive this penny his wages Christiani ad metalla was a usuall condemnation but what made them digge so willingly in the mines Surely they had a treasure there which the Emperour knew not of they had infinite more precious wealth from thence then hee For the hope of the gaining a better life is the perswasive Rethoricke against the feare of loosing this Haec vespera est necesse est addi matutinam laetitiam and then shal our birth be consummate when the evening and the morning are made one day These mixt meditations compounded of contrary ingredients as a Crosse and a Crowne Martyrdome and glory Mortality and heaven death and life are strong grapples and ties to hold a Christian and his patience together It were iniurious to cōplaine of the measure when we acknowledge the recompence Afflictiōs are the flowers of eternall felicity and who would not willingly gather the flowers for the fruits sake He that hewed timber out of the rocke Psal 74.6 was knowne to bring it to an excellēt peece of worke so was Ioseph hewed in the stocks and in the prison God brought him to an excellent peece of work to make him Lord of Aegypt Thus was Christ Iesus hewed and squared on the Crosse with hammers nailes and speares of that excellent work see where he sitteth at Gods right Hand Thrones Powers Dominations Angels subjected to him And thus will God deale with the dead bodies of his Saints which though they have bin persecuted here and the iron hath even entred into their soule yet at length they shal come out of their graues like so many Iosephs out of prison for Death like that Aegyptian Mistresse hath only power over their coates their upper garments their bodies and the grave like the serpent is dieted and feedes on nothing but dust It is not so much the death of the body as the corruption of the body Mortalitas magis sinita est quam vita When the Lord brought the Israelites to Canaan he made them goe Southward into the mountaines the South was a dry and barren part Thou hast given me a South land give mee also springs of water Iudg. 1.15 Thus doth God deale with his children in this life hee sheweth them great afflictions and troubles the South part as it were at first but afterward he bringeth them to the land that floweth with milke and hony He that shall build his faith on this rocke hee that doth thus Reponere fidem in sine will supervolare crucen◠triumph o're the Crosse and with Iob comfort himselfe on the dunghill with a videbo Deum and outface death with his Resurrection in hope and expectation of that glory hee shall once enjoy with Christ Benedictus sic Deus saith the Apostle Blessed hee God who hath begotten us againe unto a liuely hope by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ to an inheritance incorruptible c. It hath beene well observed by one of no vulgar Iudgement how the Resurrection is there placed in the midst betweene our hope and our inheritance To hope before it before the Resurrection hope but after to the inheritance it selfe to the full possession and fruition of it So from the state of hope by the Resurrection as by a Bridge passe wee over to the enjoying our inheritance Before I shut up this stage I must cleere a doubt and remove an objection which hangeth on this thinge Some of the Rabbins have conceited that the wicked by corporall death shall utterly bee extinct and that none shall come to Iudgement but they shall bee saved grounding their opiniō on those words of the Psalmist Psal 1.5 The wicked shall not rise in Iudgement But here insteed of the naturall milke of this text they sucke out the blood of misinterpretation And they which shall tenter and wrest the Scriptures which is a fault Saint Peter complaines of with expositions and glosses newly coined to make them speake what they never meant must needs bring forth aut heresim aut phrenesim If wee tread in the steps of the best interpreters we shal find as Hierome others observe that this is not to be understood Quod non furgent sed quod in judicio non resurgent Hee saith not that the wicked shall not rise but in judgement they shall not rise not rise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faith Christ as Felons whose fact being evident are placed at the bar not so much to be convicted as to bee cōdemned Their conscience that like a Blood-hound hunts drie foote shall set before them the sent of their sinnes soe that the Lord Iudge shall not make any great inquisition to find out their faults but proceed to sentence At that great assise shall wee all appeare Nam oportet nos omnes 2 Cor. 5.10 saith the Apostle confusi confisi both Christs confessors his crucifiers but the end
text of the Apostle I joine issue againe with my former Meditations and will shew that CHAP. 8. The same bodies which we now have shall bee restored unto us in the same substance They shall bee Immortall Honourable Glorious Spirituall Impassionate THe end of our MEDITATIONS shall bee the meditation of our end the contemplation of another life is the Star which guides us from the East to the West from our Orient to our Occident and brings us at length to the place where our Saviour is We know that in every man there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a naturall querulousnes against death but this is silenced with the remēbrance of our Resurrection by which wee learne that death is better than life because a passage to a better life Here wee grow up to a full vigour and then wee decrease till we decease but when we shall ascend above the wheele of time where nothing but eternity dwelleth wee shall have such an issue from death as shal never passe into another death there at first wee come to perfect stature so continue for ever that life shall last as long as the Lord of life himselfe But why doe I attempt an Eagles flight with the wing of a wren why doe I seeke to expresse that which cannot bee expressed I will not goe beyond my line for a diapason rest to our song for a pawse a period an Amen I will a little descant on that which I find set downe by the Apostle through the sacred Scripture but principally in that excellent Chapter which we may call the Spring garden of our Resurrection 1 Cor. 15. As the Princely Prophet David when hee sweetly warbled on the glorious Attributes of God hath for the Amaebaeum burthen to his song For his mercy endureth for ever so that divine Extaticall Doctor of the Gentils as if hee had beene the Apostle of the Resurrection makes this comfortable Doctrine the matter of most of his Epistles upon this stocke doth he seeme to plant the whole body of Christianity At the generall Resurection 1 Thes 4.16 the dead in Christ shall rise first the observation is that the sentence of Absolution shall bee pronoūced before the sentence of Condemnation a venite come unmee before an Ite depart from mee God is loath to let his fury bee predominant Then saith S. Paul shall wee who live and remaine be caught up with them also in the clouds the word in the Originall is passive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wee shall bee ravished so our rising and upgoing shall not bee by our owne power but the power of God Againe This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortallity not a corruptible or mortall at large but hoc this corruptible this mortall The blind men which our Saviour cured received no new made eyes but only sight to the eyes they had before The widdowes son Lazarus rose in the same bodies in which they died Hee that was seene in the flesh shall bee seene of the flesh yea of this selfesame flesh videbo mihi Not the substance or lineaments of our bodies shall be changed but the qualities When the Apostle saith hee shall raise up our mortall bodies hee so calleth them in respect of that which they are now not in respect of that they shal be then For in the Resurrection as he testifieth that had a prelibation of that glory they shall bee raised 1. Immortall not subject to any more disease or death wee shall not stand in need of these ordinary helps of meates and drinks by which our nature is preserved Christus transiens ministrabit nobis and it shall bee our meate and drinke to do our Fathers will 2. Glorious The Iust shall shine like the Sunne in the firmament Et qualis tunc erit splendor animarum quando solis habebit claritatem lux corporum And to confirme the verity and solidity of this glory it shall not only be revealed unto us but saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in nobis in us Ierusalem as the Kings daughter is all glorious within 3. Honourable Every defective member shall bee restored to its integrity Iacob shall not hault Isaac bee blind nor Leah bleere-eyed nor Mephihosheth be lame Hoc est credere Resurrectionem integram credere 4. Spirituall I meane a body so spirituall not that it shall loose the dimensions of a body and pierce through any naturall body as the light pierceth through the glasse as the Papists say of the Body of Christ after his Resurrection by a penetration of dimensions but because without contradiction they shall obey the motions of the Spirit besides the glorified state condition it then be in 5. Impassionate Free from such passions as may hurt and offend but not from the passion of Ioy the joy of the soule shall bee the soule of Ioy. Other particulars I cease to enquire because God doth forbeare to deliver them and in the silence of the Holy Ghost I will not be curious I will not winde my selfe into a laborynth where the happiest wit may lose it selfe If the Disciple that leaned on our Saviours brest his Legatus à latere qui esinu Domini biberat mysteria Apoc. 2.17 from out of the bosome of his Master dranke deepe of the heavenly wisdom brake off his Revelation with a Nemo scit needes must I take up here a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quis ad haec idoneus needs must I leave my Reader with a Theologia negativa a negative Divinity or divine ignorance and tell what is not in heaven The plumage of the Cystrian Swanne appeares more white when 't is oppos'd to the Ravens blacknesse and wee may better conjecture at the joies above if wee consider the miseries on earth In this world are a world of troubles non habet is hic requië saith the Prophet Rest and Glory Glory and rest are two things that meete not here the glorious life is not the most quiet and the quiet life is for the most part inglorious Sublunary transitory Are as barres in th' armes of Glory Riches and Honor like Absalons Mule do sometime leave their Master in extremity A consideration which if wel digested would gather our divided thoughts and rouze up our soules quae sursum quaerere quae sursum sapere to seeke first the Kingdome of Heaven and then wee know caetera adijcientur and indeed when heaven is once named all worldly things are but c. not worthy mentioning It is observed by those that are skild in the holy tongue Deus est centrum quietativum that in the sacred name Iehovah are none but litterae-quiescentes mystically implying thus much unto us that God is the God of rest in whose presence as the Prophet sings there is joy Psal 16.11 and fulnes of ioy and fulnesse of it for evermore When once we shal be planted in that caelestiall paradice there shall no
putrefaction the Prophet apprehends a certaine hope of the Resurrection of his owne flesh to Immortality and assures himselfe that God will not give him over to that corruption which shall seize on him in the grave that his dead body shall not miscarry nor vanish away in rottenesse but bee raised againe in glory This meditation leades me by the hand to treate of our Saviours Resurrection being pertinent and conducing to the series of our discourse CHAP. 3. Christs Resurrection manifested by the testimony of Angels by his owne apparitions by the fulfilling of the Prophecies his Resurrection is a demonstration of ours THE glorious resurrection of our blessed Saviour was first proclaimed by an Herauld from Heaven so all the Evangelists testify Sonuit de sepulchro vox laetitiae never before was heard such newes from the grave but at that time when an Angell was the preacher his Sermon Christ is risen his Auditory Mary Magdalen and other devout women To discourse at large of those celestiall and immortall spirits comes not within the compasse of my walke yet thus much briefly and to our present purpose Angels however they still behold the face of our Heavenly Father yet they are but his houshold servants his pages of honor which hee sends on his holy errands the sacred tutors of the Saints the guard of Gods elect the watch-men over the wals of the new Ierusalem chaplaines in ordinary to the King of heaven Messengers Ministers attending about his Throne expecting his pleasure alwayes in readinesse to make knowne his will unto Man When God brought forth his first begotten Sonne into the world he sayed worship him all yee Angels and so they did when the blessed Virgin oreshadowed by the Holy Ghost carried her divine burthen within her wōbe an Angell appeared unto Ioseph to justify the innocency of the Mother and the Deity of the Sonne when hee was borne the Angels told the same unto the sheepheards and that with an Ecce too Luke 1. when Herod ment death to the Babe for the name of a King an Angell revealed the same unto Ioseph and willed him to fly into Aegypt with the child and so Populus Aegypti qui fuit persecutor primogeniti became custos unigeniti whē Herod was dead the Angell bid Ioseph returne againe into Iury When Satan left tempting him the Angels came and ministred unto him when his soule was exceeding sorrowfull unto death the Angels attēded to comfort him when his body was to bee raised from death an Angell descends to draw away the curtaine while our Lord came forth of his bed-chamber an Angell roles away the stone which his Adversaries had laid upon his grave an Angell is the first that reports the glad tidings of his resurrection The truth of this Angelicall assertion was secōded by Truth it selfe for what the Angell preached unto the women what the womē reported to the Apostles for in this Article were they first catechiz'd by the weaker sex our Saviour makes good by his manifold apparitions being seene at sundry times by such who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ideo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 witnesses chosen before of God for that purpose as the Apostle affirmes in his little Creed to Cornelius Acts 10. wherein is a synopsis or summe of the chiefe points of holy beliefe Concerning the Doctrine verse 36 37. Miracles verse 38. Life and Death verse 39. Resurrection verse 40 41. Comming to iudgemēt verse 42. of Iesus Christ What Peter there recites to his Auditor his new convert his Cornelius what Paul elsewhere to his Corinthians was all foretold Per os Prophetarum by the mouth of the holy Prophets for this is sure convertible Nothing was done by Christ which was not foretold nothing was foretold which was not done So that there was an Oportet a forceable reason that he should rise againe Vt impleretur that the Scripture might be fulfilled his Resurrection being as Aquinas saith Complementum omnium promissionum the Consummatum est the period the accomplishment of al predictions We may farther illustrate this if we looke on our Saviour as he was seene by Ezekiel in a vision as a King Ezek. 9.2 as a Priest as a Prophet walking amongst the midst of the Angels as a King cloathed in white as a Priest and with an inkhorne hanging at his girdle as a Prophet And here likewise shall wee find an Oportet that his Propheticall Sacerdotall Regall Offices each of them implyed a proofe of his Resurrection First let us consider him as a Prophet even the Prince of Prophets When the Angels at the Sepulcher sayed unto the women why seeke yee the living among the dead He is not here Luk 24.6 but hee is risen hee addes to remēber how he spake unto you whē hee was yet in Galile saying The Sonne of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful mē be crucified and the third day rise againe It is remember 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not what only but how not the matter but the manner remember that He will keep his word though he die for it though he dye for it hee will rise againe the third day to keep it to a minute The very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his resurrection is determined He rose the third day that early too When God was to give sentence upon man for sin he stayed till the heat of the day was over but upō this day being to preach remissiō of sins he rose betime while it was yet darke It was the Love of God and tender affection to his Church which he had so lately so deerely bought made him rise so soone and appeare so often the same day to distressed soules In all my Creed there is no other circumstance of Time but this of all the Actions of Christ for mee there recorded onely this Action of rising againe though of all the most difficult yet it is to bee beleeved with the circumstance of time no other to shew that the doubt and difficulty the improbability in respect of meanes bee it what it will yet whensoever my Saviour promiseth hee keepeth it as well as whatsoever he hath promised Secondly as his prophecy so his priesthood inforced his Resurrection How could it appeare that the obligation was cancelled the law fulfilled God pacified if hee had not risen againe If the debt had not bene taken off by the surety it would have lyen still upon the Principall If Christ had not risen from the dead wee should still be yet in our sinnes and our Faith should bee in vaine But wee know that our high Priest with one offering hath consecrated for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 The powerfull operation of this passion endureth for ever being the Lābe slaine from the beginning of the world and bleeding as it were to the worlds end Aron and his successors were but onely forerunners of Christ who is the end of the Law
and for this cause called Sacerdos accedens or superveniens a Priest added to the Priests a mediator of the new Testament consummating the priesthood of the old As there was never Priest before had the love to sacrifice himselfe for the people so never had any the power to revive that sacrifice hee once killed but our high Priest Christ Iesus had love to lay downe his life and power to take it up againe by the first hee shewed himselfe to bee the Sonne of man after the flesh by the second hee was declared mightily to bee the Sonne of God Rom. 1.13 As he could not but dye having taken on him a body of death so hee could not but live againe because that body was Vitae sacrarium the vestry and chappell wherein life was preserved Thirdly as hee was made to be a Prophet like Moses Act. 3.22 a Priest like Melchisedech Psal 110.4 so also a King like David Luke 1.32 God will give him the throne of his Father David and hee shall rule over the house of Israel for ever Hee was a King by birth simul natus simul Caesar so the wisemen testifyed of him Math. 2.2 And hee was a King at his death so Pilate wrote his inscriptioÌ„ though in the narrowest limits Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iewes Ioh 19.22 But to expect the Messias for a temporall Prince was the Iewes perpetuall dotage the Apostles transient errour Math. 20.21 Act. 1.6 Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdome to Israel Of temporall royalty hee had so little a share that his chaire of estate was the Crosse his crowne made of thornes his scepter a reede and for a Vivat Rex the people gave him a Crucifige But Qui subijt subegit hee that did undergoe did overcome and as Saint Bernard sweetly Qui agnus extiterat in passione factus est Leo in resurrectione Hee that stood as Lambe at his Passion to take away the sins of the world became a Lyon at his resurrection to spoile all principalities and powers and to make an open shew of them Coloss 2.15 Then did he manifest himselfe a most victorious conqueror over all his enemies then did hee receive the keyes of death and hell then did hee breake the serpents head and made all knees bow to him in heaven earth and under the earth And now being raised from death hee dyeth no more death hath no more power over him for this is his Epithite as the beholder and pen-man of that revelation which hath as many mysteries Apoc. 1.18 as words hath set it downe He that was dead and is alive and liveth for evermore From hence ariseth naturally matter of Confutation Consolation First this doctrine of our Saviours Resurrection is a sufficient condemnation to all Iewes who as we have formerly noted doe still looke for another Christ for why should they not beleeve their owne Prophet They said the Messias should suffer Christ suffered all things so as they were prophesied Who then can be the Messias but hee in whom all the prophecies are fulfilled Secondly It overthroweth the wicked errour of Corinthus who taught that Christ should not rise till the generall Resurrection But as Iob confuted the blasphemous speech of his wife with a Loqueris ut insana mulier so Epiphanius worthily saith of this hereticke Stolidus est stolidorum magister I will not take up the graves of the Chiliasts or Millenaries in their very name may we reade their errors but their grosse superstitions assertions shall for me bee buryed in sileÌ„ce Thus having melted the drosse from the silver mettall let us see what fruit wee can plucke from these branches Christ saith Saint Paul is become the first fruites of them that slept 1 Cor. 15.20 Hee is the first sheafe of the harvest by from which all the whole crop of the dead Saints receive vertue At the time of our Saviours Resurrection some few eares that were then ripe and hereafter the whole harvest shall bee carried into everlasting barns The EvaÌ„gelist speaking of it saith that many bodies of Saints which slept arose All the dead did not rise but many those Saints too the generall Resurrection is reserved to the last day this was a pledge and earnest of it As many rose with him so some before him but all the ResurrectioÌ„s which we read of in former times were wrought in the figure and vertue hereof Lazarus the widdowes Sonne and Iairus daughter came forth of their graves or were recovered to life Mortui sed morituri But Christ was the first that rose Cum victoria Mortis that rose to eternall life never to visit the grave againe This assureth us of our Resurrection Christus eâ—… typus Christianorum for as the head must rise before the members so the members are sure to follow the head if the head bee above water there is hope for the whole body if the roote hath life the branches shal not long be without the first fruites being restored to life all the rest of the dead are entitled to the same hope for the Resurrection of our Saviour is not only Auspex exeÌ„plar but also fidej iussor yea Chirographum nostrae resurrectionis so that he that did rise will raise These two resurrections are inseparable Thus did that great Champion of the Church who as a Father saith Priusquam natus erat Dominus Redemptorem suum vidit à mortuis resurgentem Thus did Iob excellently argue when from Iob 19.25 Scio quod Redemptor hee inferred Scio quòd ego c. I am sure that my Redeemer liveth and I shall rise againe at the last day for eadem catena revincta est Christi Resurrectio nostra Some divines affirme from the assertion of Bonaventure D. Boys postil pag. 868. that the yeere wherein our blessed Saviour arose from the dead should according to the Law have beene the yeere of Iubile which Feast was appointed by the Lord to be celebrated every fiftieth yeere for these causes First Why the Iubile was celebrated every 50. yeere that they might keepe a right Chronology and reckning of times For as the Grecians did compute their times by the number of Olympiades the Romans by their Lustra so the Iewes by their Iubiles Secondly that a true distinction of their Tribes might be preserved because then LaÌ„ds returned to their owners in their proper Tribe and servants to their owne families hence was it called Iubile from a word which in the originall signifieth deduxit or produxit because it brought men backe againe to their estate Thirdly hee instituted these Iubiles that they might bee a type to them of their full deliverance by Christ for this cause was it called Buccina reductionis because they blew with Rams-hornes at this feast in remembrance of their deliverance out of Aegypt And surely the Iubiles The spirituall Iubile in old time did mystically shaddow forth that Spirituall
Iubile which Christiās enjoy under Christ by whose blood wee have not only a reentry into the Kingdome of heaven which we lost in the transgression of our great Grandfather Adam which wee had formerly morgaged forfeited by our sins And this was happily signified by the Israelits reentry upon their lands which they had formerly sould and againe the found of the Gospell which was in this Feast typed by the noise of the Trumpets is gone throughout the world The Redemption of Christ Easter Day is a yeere of Iubile the Resurrection of Christ is the chiefe day in the yeere yea Regina Dierum as Ignatius stiles it All Christians herein imitating the patterne of the blessed Apostle in honour of Christs Resurrection 1 Cor. 16.2 observe their Sabbath on the eight day which is the first day of the weeke wheras the Iewes hallowed their Sabbath upon the seaventh day which is the last day of the weeke So that Easter day is the Sabbath of Sabbaths an high and holy day from which every other Sunday hath its name being so called because the Sunne of righteousnesse arose from the dead this day Christs appearing on the eight day is not without a mystery wee labour six dayes in this life the seventh is the Sabbath of our death in which wee rest from our labours and then being raised from the dead the eighth day Christ in his owne body yea the very same body that was crucified shall reward every man according to his works Happy then is that man whose whole life is nothing els but a Lent to prepare him against the Sabbath of his death and Easter of his Resurrection CHAP. 4. Arguments drawne from divers Attributes of God as his Power Mercy Iustice c. to confirme us in this Article of the Resurrection AT my first entrance into the schoole of faith in the very first Article of my Creed I no sooner reade that there is a God but I learne withall that hee is Almighty The doctrine of his Omnipotency is the basis and fundamentall Arch on which is built our Christian religion from the knowledge hereof proceeds all faith because wee beleeve with the blessed Virgin Quia potens est that God is able to doe all those things which reason is not able to comprehend Cōtrariwise the ignorance or the not right understanding of this truth is the cause that there bee so many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unbeleevers and misbeleevers Atheists without the knowledge of God Infidels without hope or faith in God It was our Saviours own Argument against the Sadduces you erre not knowing the Scriptures Math. 22.29 nor the power of God i. e. saith the Paraphrase yee Sadduces doe erre grossely dānably in this your miscōceit of the resurrection the ground of your errour is your ignorāce both of the Scriptures which have cleerly revealed the truth thereof and of that Omnipotent power of God wherby is only this otherwise impossible worke If with the men of Berea wee do search the Scriptures wee shall find that before the Sadduces had any being in Israel this heresy of theirs was palpably convinced with an example of the resurrectiō even in Elishaes revived corps Now the power that can raise one man can raise a thousand a milliō a world No power can raise one man but that which is infinite and that which is infinite admits of no limitation In the beginning the Word of the Lord was the seminary of all being his will was his Word and his Word was his deed His Fiat and Fuit met together his Dixit and Benedixit kissed each other All at first was nothing and from that nothing carne all How easy is it then for him to repaire all out of something who could thus fetch all out of nothing How should we distrust him for our resurrection who hath approved his Omnipotency in our creation Our remainder after death can never bee so small as our being was before the world ashes is more than nothing The body wee confesse that is once cold in death hath no more aptitude to a reanimation than that which is mouldred into dust only as it was Gods omnipotēcy to create man out of a substāce that had no ability to produce the matter so likewise it is the Prerogative Royall to revive that dust to forme it into a new Adam to fetch a man a second time from the earth to live with himselfe when time shall bee no more This Resuscitation of the dead is one of those foure keyes which the Hebrewes say are in the hand of him who is the Lord of the whole world The Scripture makes mention of each of them 1. Clavis pluviae the key of raine the Lord will open to thee his good treasure Deut. 28.12 2. Clavis cibationis the key of food Thou openest thy hād and fillest every thing with thy plenteousnesse Psal 145.16 3. Clavis sterilitatis the key of barrenesse God remembred Rachel and opened her Wombe Genes 30.22 4. Clavis sepulchrorum the key of the grave when I shall open your sepulchers Ezek. 37.12 By all which places it is intimated that these foure things God hath reserved in his owne hand and custody Namely Raine Food the procreation of children the raising of our bodies For though at first hee made him ex nihilo out of nothing yet he did not make him ad nihilum to returne to nothing There may be a dissolution of soule and body for a time but there cannot bee an annihilation of either because they must be revnited againe to remaine for ever As we have derived a maine proofe of the Resurrection from the power of God so likewise may wee argue from his other glorious and divine attributes but because I will not enlarge a treatise into a volume I will herein follow the Schoole-men who reduce all communiter ad duo his Mercy Iustice These be the two master Attributes which set all the rest on work these bee the two feete of God whereupon he walketh al his wayes When God makes a covenant with his owne it is an incorruptible everlasting covenant Numb 18.19 therefore it is called a covenant of salt to note the perpepetuity of it In this covenant are all the dead Bodies of the Saints and the Lord forgetteth them not When Iacob wēt down to Aegypt Genes 46.4 the Lord promised to bring him backe againe but how did the Lord bring him backe againe seeing hee died in Aegypt the Lord was with him when hee was brought out of Aegypt So the Lord preserveth all the bodies of the Saints Psal 34.20 and hee keepeth all their bones yea even then when their bed is made in the dust because they are within the covenant It is said of Iosias although hee was slaine in battle yet he was gathered in peace to his Fathers i. e. to the Spirits of his Fathers who enjoy peace for hee was not gathered in peace in