the fishes of the Sea and those beasts fouls and fishes should again be eaten by other Men Let the Atheist make what supposition he will yet every part of every Body will still bee within the Empire of God No Canniball nor beast nor foul nor fish ever converted the whole Body of any Man to his own nourishment and is it not more easy to raise Bodies out of those remainders than out of stones to raise children to Abraham And what if the same materiall fragments are not necessary to make us the same Men We have not the same materiall particles in our Bodies that we had twenty years ago and yet our soul which is the great Principle of Individuation being the same we judge our selves to bee the same Men and though most of it may be all our materiall parts are vanish't and others supply their places in that time yet we think we are sure that our Bodies also are still the same and all the members of our Bodies continue still the same But if those parts or a great number of the same parts be necessary It is most true that St Gregory Nyssene observeth that every part of every Body will still be within the Empire of God St Greg. Nyss de Hominis Opificio cap. 26 27. Tom. 1. pag. 115. deinceps 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. supra infra Fury or Malice cannot so dissipate them nor Ravin so devour them but that every part of every Body will still be within the Compasse of the World and God can as easily dispose those parts to their right owners as a commun herdsman who keeps all the beasts of a Lordship in one herd can when he pleaseth distinguish them and send them to their particular masters and owners But seeing the Resurrection of the same Bodies must be wrought by the power of God It is fit that we should referre the particular manner how our Bodies shall be restored to the secret knowledge of God Himself The thing we are not to doubt For to raise a Body out of some matter is lesse than to raise it out of no matter at all God out of stones can raise children to Abraham and to raise children implies Matt. 3.9 that He can give Relation as well as substance and therefore that he cannot only make bodies but he can make them our Bodies He can make them ours it may be some otherwaies but most probably by recollecting all or some of the same particles and uniting them and marrying them again in the Bonds of an eternall wedlock to the same individuall Soul and to the same identicall and numericall faculties of Sensation Phancy Memory Reason and the rest that we now enjoy For this is much more easy than to create nay more easy than out of stones to raise up children to Abraham that is to give substance and Relation where there was none before Upon these grounds we receive the Gospell of our Lord and having such promises of God we believe with St Paul that the committing of our Bodies to the Grave is but the Solemne preparation for our future Crop and Harvest 1 Cor. 15. which God shall raise up unto us in that great day We are assured that for one grain of life which we part with here we shall receive a hundred fold in the life to come V. 42.43 c. ib. For though the seed we now sow be a mortall and dying seed yet it shall grow up into an immortall and eternall life So saith St Paul the Body is sowen in corruption It is raised in incorruption It is sowen in Dishonor It is raised in Glory It is sowen in Weaknesse It is raised in power It is sowen a naturall Body It is raised a spirituall Body This is the Catholick Christian Faith the truth of which hath been confirmed to us by the greatest Miracles and which hath prevailed in the End against all the Oppositions in all Ages of the unreasonable unbelieving world If you desire to bee satisfied how the doctrine of the Resurrection stood in the Opinions of the Jews and Heathen How the doctrine of the Resurrection was received among the Jews Wee find first that among the Jewes the majority and indeed the best and learnedest sects received it and so did the Pharisees in particular For which they cited Daniell 12.2 and Job 19.25 26. but more especially against the Sadduces who receive only the books of Moses they alledge that promise to Abraham Isaak and Jacob. Exod. 6.4 concerning their Enjoyment of the Land of Canaan which because they enjoyed not in their lives past It was argued that there must be a Resurrection that the promise of God may yet be fullfilled unto them And against the same Sadduces who denied the being of Spirits and the Resurrection Matth. 22.31 explained our Savior useth a like argument Matt. 22.31 which because to some it appeareth dark I shall a little open it unto you The Argument stands thus Long after Abrahams decease God hath said I am the God of Abraham of Isaak and of Jacob. See Exod. 3.6 And so much the Sadduces granted To which our Savior assumes God is not the God of the dead but of the living that is God is not cannot in a just sense bee said to bee God of the dead who are so dead that they shall never live again and therefore if he be the God of Abraham Isaak and Jacob Abraham Isaak and Jacob shall live again This is an argument though possibly not so clear as some others from some other Scriptures yet as clear as any that could be deduced from the books of Moses which was the only Scripture acknowledged by the Sadduces against whom our Savior there disputed Some Hebrew Rabbins though Enemies to Christ yet favor both this his doctrine and his particular Exposition of this Text. so Aben Esra For they take these words I am the God of Abraham c. to contain a promise that referreth to the Resurrection Grotius observeth that these are words by which God expresseth the Covenant of his greatest Grace and kindnesse as where he saith I will be your God and ye shall be my people That their Notion of God there implyeth that of a Rewarder and great Benefactor and to be Abrahams God implyeth according to that Notion to be Abrahams great Benefactor Friend and Rewarder Then they assume that the fulfilling of this promise happened not to Abraham in this life nor to Isaak or Iacob For they lived here the lives but of poor pilgrims they received nothing excellent or particular from God for which God should be styled their God And Death is a condition wherein they could not receive this singular favor from Him God cannot in this sence be a God to persons that are dead and to continue dead And therefore if he will shew to Abraham Isaak and Iacob any excellent and particular favor which seems to be intimated in the phrase
Vindicated p. 43 44 Justin Martyr vindicated p. 45 St Gregory Photius Cyprian Prudentius Athanasius and St Hierom considered p. 45 46 47 Justinians letter to Archbishop Menna and the decree of the sixt councell of Constantinople refer'd to p. 47 48 Whether Hell Torments formally such as described if not such greater St Greg. Nyssenes Opinion p. 49 Hell Torments not now understood p. 49 50 God himself is in Hell a consuming fire p. 50 51 Fear of God and his judgement commended p. 51 52 This fear a principall Bar against Vice p. 52 53 Vicious men not to be Envied p. 54 There is a Reward in the End for the Religious SECT II. SERM I. Of the Rewards of Religion Man Naturally desireth Happinesse p. 5 The Greater Happinesse is more desireable then the lesse p. 58 Heathens were sensible of a Reward for Vertue and a punishment impendent upon Vice p. 59 The fears and suspicions of an ill Conscience immoveable p. 60 The joy and content of the Heathens in the practice of Vertue and how this joy was reasonable p. 60 61 The Laws of Nature and sense of God a Rewarder in all Men. p. 61 62 Christians have greater Reasons of their satisfaction and content in the excercise of Christian Vertue p. 62 63 The contemplation of the joyes of Heaven necessary for our encouragement to Vertue p. 63 Psal 16. v. ult commended p. 64 Happinesse in Heaven the greatest possible ib. The parts of the greatest Happinesse explained p. 65 Security from Greif a necessary prerequisite to Happinesse p. 66 Heavenly Happinesse free from pain and Greif p. 67 Mans condition considered in respect of pain p. 68 The use of Cares and Pains in this World p. 69 No Vse of Pains or Cares in Heaven p. 70 The particular Occasions and Causes of our Bodily pains and cares inconsistent with the state of Glory p. 71 72 Of Pains purely Mentall p. 73 The state of Glory free from mentall Pains p. 74 Of Hell Torment p. 75 The state of Glory free from these Torments p. 75 76 The vision of Heavenly joy shall encrease the Torment of the damned p. 76 The vision of Hell Torments shall encrease the blessednesse of the blessed p. 77 Recapitulation and Conclusion p. 78 SERM II. Of the Rewards of Religion His Apology may be pardon'd who is put to describe Heaven p. 79 It is Gods mercy that Heaven is described by Metaphors p. 80 Voluptas in Motu active joyes in Heaven p. 81 And in the highest degrees and greatest quantities ib. Scenes of Spirituall joyes in corporall shapes and figures given us in compassion to our Infirmities p. 82 Heavenly joyes compared to the pleasures of feasting ib. To the joyes of marriage p. 83 To the joyes of Honor. p. 84 To the Glories of a Victor in games of Honor. ib. To the Gl ries of a King p. 85 The statelinesse of the Court of Heaven descibed p. 85 86 The Eternall duration of these joyes and Glories in Heaven p. 86 87 88 Metaphors expresse the Grandeur not the Nature of that Joy p. 88 Glorified Bodies Spirituall like Christs Body p. 89 Ben Maimons discourse of the Reasonablenesse of Gods proposing Heaaven to us under such Metaphors p. 89 90 The Doctrine of Socrates and Plato de Finibus compared with that of Christianity p. 91 92 Materiall senses continued in Heaven for Ornament rather then for Vse p. 93 The Conclusion p. 94 SERM III. Of the Rewards of Religion Why men prefer Worldly Enjoyments before those of Heaven p. 96 The same Attributes given to God and Heaven ib. The happinesse of Both described by Negatives p. 96 97 The Enjoyment in Nature great the Enjoyments in conceit and phancy greater then those in Nature p. 98 99 The Enjoyments in Heaven greater then both p. 99 1 Cor. 2.9 and Isaiah 64. vv 1 2 3 4. compared and explained p. 100 101 The Conflagration of this world in order to the purgation of its Matter for the New Heavens and New Earth and New Jerusalem incomprehensibly glorious ib. Rabbins affirme that from the state of the Messiah we must take the image of our future Glory p. 101 102 The Resurrection of Christ the Image of ours p. 102 How the Glories of Heaven are revealed to Christians by the Spirit p. 103 Advice Stand no more gazing in Heaven p. 104 Christian Faith and Hope commended Christian Practice commended SERM IV. Of the Rewards of Religion The Hope of the Resurrection of the Body and life everlasting the greatest Encouragements to Vertue p. 109 The Existence of the Law of Nature argues Rewards and punishments in another life because they are not equally Distributed in this p. 110 The immortality of the Soul anciently beleived p. 111 Mr Hobbes's his Opinion considered ib. The Doctrine of the Souls Immortality sprang not from the Daemonology of the Greeks p. 112 The ancient arguments for the Immortality of the Soul from Cicero and other Philosophers p. 113 115 116 The Explication of those who make Souls corporeall imperfect p. 114 Mr Hobbes misinterprets Scripture which determines the Soul to be independent from the Body p. 117 118 Reasons why Christians first beleived the Gospell of Christ concerning the Resurrection of the Body p. 118 119 Christs other pred ctions allready miraculously fullfill'd were received as Arguments that his Doctrine concerning the Resurrection shall be fullfilled also p. 119 120 Miraculous instances of his power in raising the Dead p. 120 121 Jairus his daughter and the Widdows son raised p. 121 122 Lazarus raised and the Resurrection preacht p. 122 123 Christs own Resurrection a powerfull argument of ours p. p. 123 124 Objections Obviated p. 125 126 How the Doctrine of the Resurrection was received among the Jews p. 127 Our Saviors Argument against the Sadduces explain'd p. 127 128 How farve the Doctrine of the Philosophers was consistent with the Christian Doctrine of the Resurrection p. 129 130 Application Hope of this Resurection to be cherisht p. 131 This Vertue Hope commended from its Vsefullnesse p. 132 The Antinomians Error who rejects this Vertue deduced from its Originals described and confuted p. 〈…〉 134 The Exercise of Hope commended from the 〈…〉 to it p. 134 The Exercise of Thanksgiving and Worship commended p. 135 SECT III. SERM I. Of the cheifest good Christian Doctrine opposed by Epicureans and Stoicks p. 146 141 142 St Pauls Triumph over his learned opponents p. 143 Philosophers very good and very bad p. 144 145 146 Errours about summum Bonum p. 147 148 No sect could obtain Happinesse in this life p. 149 150 151 Their happinesse designd in this life inconsiderable p. 152 153 Some philosophers prizd vertuous actions to be summum bonum p. 154 Others esteem'd pleasure to be it p. 155 And aimd at that only in this life p. 156 Christians aime at everlasting pleasures p. 157 SERM II. Of the cheifest Good St Augustine under temptation of pleasure p. 160 Difference of lusts p. 161 Religion opposeth
his Animadversions upon obstinate Offenders as his Mercy in shewing kindnesse to the humble penitent Another objection they flourish from that Axiom of Epicuâ—us Si gravis brevis If say they the punishment be very great it cannot be very durable Because it is inconceivable how the Soul should suffer great pains and not be disunited from the Body by reason of them But my Brethren we must be so modest as to allow many things to be true which yet are not conceivable by us I speak a bold word All the Philosophy in the world old and new can never declare the manner how our Souls that are immateriall can be pain'd by the diseases of our Materiall Bodies But yet we find they are so How then should it be thought that we should be able to explain the manner how the Souls of wicked men shall be enabled to endure the great and eternall pains of Hell when we cannot explain the manner how we become sensible of any thing we now feel We believe also that the Constitutions both of the damned and of the blessed shall be altered For as St Paul saith we know not what we shall bee and we dare affirme as little concerning the Nature of the damned as of the blessed Secondly neither do we know the Nature of the Infernall fire I am sure it was anciently believed to be so farr from destroying the Body of the tormented as to give a kind of Incorruptibility unto it and if you will be contented with the doctrine of the primitive Church I may God willing shew you hereafter that it was the Opinion of the Fathers in Generall that such shall be the fire of Hell and such the constitutions of the damned that they shall be capable of paines eternall and yet very great some difference in their greatnesse there may be some beaten with more and some with fewer stripes but none in their duration The Soul shall suffer pain it self by the immediate hand of God and shall be tortured also by the harsh and discordant Motions of the tormented Body whereunto it shall be most firmly and therefore in that time and place most unhappily united It shall feel its tenement uneasy noisome tempestuous but shall find no divorce no way of separation Nor shall those pains be slight that shall immediately be inflicted on it by an Allmighty power Zealous in the pursuance of his just Revenge It is true those pains would quickly extinguish the life of the tormented were their constitutions then not to differ from ours now But the ancient catholick Faith is otherwise Namely that the passive faculties of the Devils and Wicked Men shall be susteyned eternally or eternally repaired to make these patients eternally miserable Mr Hobbes indeed supplies them with an argument against this Doctrine from that text in the Revelation Leviathan part 4. Cap. 44. where the punishment of the Wicked in Hell is called a second Death Whence he argueth that the Wicked shall dy or be annihilated under that punishment But I hope Mr Hobbes will allow St John to be a fit interpreter of his own words Surely he calls the eternall torment of the wicked in Hell by the name of the second Death For if you compare Rev. 14.10 and Rev. 21.8 you wil find that there is a Lake of Fire and Brimstone prepared that the Unbelieving and abominable shall bee cast into it that the smoke of their torment shall ascend up for ever and ever and in conclusion that this is the second Death We affirme further to conclude the Objections that whereas the fireing of Sodom and Gomorrha is made by St Jude a Type of the fire of Hell that there is no necessity that the Type should agree in every particular with the thing typified but that St Jude is so to be understood that what the Inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha suffered for their lusts in one day that in Hell they and such as follow their lew'd Waies must undoubtedly suffer to all Eternity I must conclude and the conclusion of my present Discourse shall bee this That we must all appear before the Judgement seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5.11 and there accordingly as our works have been in the flesh be sentenc'd either to everlasting blessednesse or to this everlasting Misery Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord as St Paul speaks we persuade Men that they would live as men and not as beasts that they would deny Ungodlinesse and worldly lusts Knowing the terror of the Lord we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs steed be ye reconciled unto God Knowing the terrors of the Lord we intreat Men that they would not live unto themselves but unto him that dyed for them and rose again What saith St Paul 1 Cor. 16.11 shall we provoke the Lord to Jealousy are we stronger than He The Judge of Heaven and Earth is a mighty and terrible Judge He spared not his own Son when he found him under the sins of others and will he spare those rebells of his whom he shall surprise Glorying in their sin and shame Are our Muscles Iron or our Membranes brasse Can we break the rod of God or conquer him by suffering all his wrath Can we fly from it or have we my Brethren any Fence against it Whether shall we go from his Spirit or whether shall we flee from his presence If we climb up to Heaven He is there and if we make our Bed in Hell he is there also He is even in Hell to be a consuming fire to the wicked If we say the darknesse shall cover us the darknesse hideth not from him Psalm 139.7 8. What then Can we as the three children did walk in the firie furnace and be untoucht Can we dwell with devouring fire or lye everlastingly in beds of flaming Sulphur and be contented with that condition If we Can neither endure the Wrath of God nor have any defence against it nor can fly from the effects of it there remains only that We use such Caution and live so in these few dayes of our try all here that we may escape that place of torment whereas our Savior hath declared the Worme shall Never dye and the fire Never shall be quenched Oh that there were such a heart in Us that we might fear God and keep his commandments allwaies for then it should be well with us for ever I should now have shewed you that what I have spoken concerning the greatnesse and Eternity of hell torments was the Constant sense of the ancient Catholick Church and comes not from my private interpretation of the holy Scripture But I must leave that argument and the conclusion of this whole discourse untill some other Opportunity Gloria Trinuni Deo SERM. III. PSAL. 34.11 Come ye children and hearken unto me and I will teach You the fear of the Lord. IN my last discourse from this Text I affirmed two
of seeing it is generally true that he observeth 2 Esdras 7.21 that Men now in this present time live in Heavinesse and after death they look for punishment Here we are subject to all sorts of pains bodily and mentall and after the Resurrection as there shall be conditions of greater joy so also there shall be conditions of greater sorrow than are any of those to which we are here obnoxious Man is indeed born to pain naturally as the spark flyes upward And God that ordained all things ordained these pains and sorrows and every one must look to have his share of them And yet it is piously beleived that it is not Gods delight either in this world or in the next to afflict or greive the children of Men. It may seem a paradox to some that pains or greifs should be good for any thing and yet it is the Opinion of the best Philosophers and I beleive as true as it is strange that the pains which men feel in hunger in thirst and in all sorts of sicknesses and also that all those Naturall cares that arise from naturall appetites are by God appointed for necessary and excellent Ends. We learn from divines that the paines and cares of this world were intended to wean us from it and to prompt and dispose us to look after a better But we learn also from our Philosophers that they serve even in this as usefull meanes for the conservation of Man in his present estate and Nature Were it not for the pains of Hunger and thirst It is beleived that some men would be so retchlesse as to forget to provide meat Admirari nosdeâ— cet eam fuisse solertiam sapienâ—issimi Naturae opificis qui quia omnis Operatio sutura ex se laberiosa erat etiam quae naturalis foret testante Aristotele idirco omnem Operationem blandimento voluptatis condivit ac tanto vehementiorem voluit esse voluptatem quanto ipsa Operatio erat magis necessaria futura sive ad totius generis sive ad Animalis cujusque singularis conservationem Scilicet Animalia aut non curarent aut obliviscerentur neque adverterent quibus par foret temporibus seu conjugio operam dare propagando generi seu comedere bibereque producendae vitae Individui nisi inditi essent stimuli quibus molestiam creantibus instigantibusque admonerentur ejus actionis cujus voluptas talem molestiam sedatura sit comes unde ad illam eliciendam feruntur Gassendus in 10. Diogenis Laertii librum De morali Phil. Epicuri and that were not hunger and thirst greater pains some would be so lasy as to account it a pain to eat and drink and so death would probably evertake them in their inconsideratenesse before they would mind to replete their exhausted Bodies And in like manner it may be asserted that there is a necessary use in all the pains of sicknesse For sicknesses are certainly contrary to our Natures and corruptive of them And therefore It is the concern of our lives to find them out which we cannot easily do without the sense of pain The Apoplexy is a dreadfull disease unto us even upon this very account because it kills and gives no warning and evey other disease would be as suddenly fatall had it no pains to forerun or to accompany it It must therefore be granted that even the pains of sicknesse are here usefull to us they are stimuli necessarii they put us in mind that our health and life is concern'd Pains make us sensible of the morbifick cause and so do direct and provoke us to endeavor the Cure of the Disease And the same thing may be said of the greatest Cares that are incident to Man that they have their great Ends also We know that the present world subsists only by the maintenance of a succession of Generations And if these successions must be maintained Men must besides the present sustenance of their families take care to lay up let me use the Phrase of the Psalmist some remainder of their substance for their Babes But to apply this to our present argument There can be no more use of these cares or of these pains when We shall once be well landed into Heaven For first in Heaven there shall be no sin and therefore there shall be no need of any pains so bee the punishment of Sin Secondly there shall be no death and therefore there shall be no need of hunger or thrist or of the pains of sicknesse to warn us that we are in danger of Death or to direct us to do those things that concern our life Nor shall there be any use of those ordinary Cares that are now most Naturall and usefull to admonish to make provision for our selves and our families because God shall there make such provisions for us that all these worldly Cares shall be for ever uselesse Our lives shall not as in this world depend upon the continuall accession of fresh Nourishment nor our Immortality upon the establishment of life and estate upon our Name and issue And as there is no finall cause nor use of those cares and pains in Heaven so is there no possible place for no materiall no efficient cause of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There shall be no internall matter there that may within us bee suscipient or capable of Diseases nor external Occasion to produce them In this world we complain that we are subject to innumerable sicknesses and that the immediate causes of them are almost infinite but all those causes and occasions are inconsistent with the Revealed state of Glory First many diseases there are that arise from a Weaknesse or defect in some part or Organ Thus Palsies Epilepsies and Apoplexyes are by some Physitians judg'd to arise from some Weaknesse or defect in the Brain and Nerves If a Man hath got the Jaundice or the dropsy then the weaknesse of the liver is accused And the Spleen and the Lungs and every other part hath its proper weaknesses also whence severall and distinct diseases commonly arise But this is the comfort of the good Christian that his Body shall be subject to no weaknesse nor defect in Heaven St Paul assureth us 1 Cor. 15.43 That our Bodies which are sowen in weaknesse shall be raised in strength and power Secondly besides these of Weaknesse there are sorts of Diseases which happen even to the strongest Men such are those pestilentiall sicknesses that are caused by poisonous and corruptive vapors which corrupt and infect the blood though before never so pure and defecate Against these no strength of our earthy Natures can be any preservative But the strength of a glorified body is above them all And St Paul in the Text above cited 1 Cor. 15.43 is our witnesse in this particular Our Bodies that are sowed in corruption shall be raised in incorruption Our Corruptible must put on Incorruption and so our Mortall shall put on Immortality We shall have
of Christianity but was received generally upon good grounds before and the Gospell ownes it as true and well confirmed and addes to it that which the Jewes believed also the Doctrine concerning the Resurrection of the Body This Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body hath been spoken against by many Atheists as a thing incredible To shew you therefore that the Christians were not fools who ever have believed it and that we do nothing unreasonable in continuing this Belief V. Greg. Nyssenum de Hominis Opificio c. 25. c. I shall shew you the Reasons of the Christian faith in this very particular as they were anciently represented by St Gregory Nyssene and that with very little alteration of my own It hath been observed by learned Men among the Heathen V. scripta de Phlegonte scriptore Ethnico lib. Annal citato apud Origen lib. 2. contra Celsum sub Initium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. ib. that never any one foretold things so certainly to come or that were so punctually and precisely accomplished as were the predictions and Prophecies of our Savior and such were those particularly concerning the Persecution of the Christians and the Ruine of the Jewish Temple and Nation For there was in Reason no probability of either Judaea was wee know safe then under the Roman Government and the whole world quietly sate down in peace under the same Empire The Romans interposed not in matters of Religion as appear'd in all St Pauls Tryalls before Roman Magistrates It was therefore a strange unlikely Prophesy that Jerusalem achief citty in a Roman province Origenes in illud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should shortly be encompassed with Armies and thereupon fall into utter Desolation or that the Calamity should fall so greivously upon childbearing Women that this should be taken up as a Proverb Blessed are the barren that never bare and the Paps that never gave Suck Yet Jerusalem was in the Eyes of that generation so besieged and reduced to that Calamity by Famine that as wee read in Josephus an honorable Woman was found eating her own child and surely then if ever was a time for the daughters of Jerusalem to weep and to use that saying Blessed are the barren that never bare It is also observed by some that as to the manner of that utter desolation of the Temple our Savior foretold it even to the most minute Circumstances as that in the ruin of it Origen lib. 2. contra Celsum v. Nyssenum loco â—cit nec non Josephum do bello Judaico lib. 7. cap. 6 7 8 ad 16. Luke 23.28 29. Act. 18.12 13 c. V. Matth. 13.2 there should not one stone be left upon another that should not be thrown down and pluck't asunder as the Originall word signifies Quis sine admiratione hoc tremendum Demini dictum legere potest qui meminerit à Josepho scriptuÌ„ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. illud quod paulo post sequitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adeo omnia solo adaequata ut ne vestigia quidem pristinae ullius habitationis relicta fuerint Igitur Titus Alexandria revertens cum complanata omnia videret lachâ—ymas continere non potuit c. lege 15. caput l. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Josephum Nemo ignorat Romanorum morem fuisse complanato urbium rebellium Solo aratrum inducere Vere igitur Mors Jerosolymorum fuit inducto illi aratro Quod nec vetustissimi Judaei ignorant qui non solum aratrum templo impressum fuisse terhibent sed etiam nomen ejus qui aratrum impressit in monimentis suis retinent Turannum Rufum vocant c. apud Scaligerum Canon Isagog l. 3. ev 11 ad excidium Templi p. 311. All which was full-fild to a tittle for we read that one Turannus Rufus plowed up the very foundations of that magnificent Temple and so sever'd every stone therein and yet neither the Emperour Titus as abundantly appeares in the history of Josephus had originally any designe to Ruine Jerusalem nor any other Roman any respect to but a hatred against Christ and his Gospell whose Prophesies notwithstanding by the over-ruling providence of God they were wrought to fulfill Now as the Father V. Nyssenum ubi supra whose Discourse I follow well observeth when all the predictions and many others of different kinds were strangely fullfill'd in the Eyes of the World Christs predictions miraculously fulfill'd are arguments that his doctrine concerning the Resurrection shal be fulfil'd also Men of Reason had just cause to think well of all other doctrines that Christ had delivered especially of his principall and fundamentall ones among which none was more considerable than this That an eternall Happinesse both of Body and Soul was to bee obteined by Faith and Obedience to the Gospell That our Savior was able to raise the dead and to performe all that he had promised he proved by his doing many miracles great and wonderfull confessedly exceeding all human power He healed the sick dayly But it is one thing to heal the sick and another thing to raise the Dead and therefore to evidence his Allmighty power in that particular It is believed that he delaied the time of his coming to diverse sick persons and suffered them to dy that being dead He might glorify his power and give some instance of his ability to work the great and last Resurrection So when Jairus came to him for his daughter Mark 5. He suffered himself to be staid in healing the Woman that had the Issue of blood till newes was brought that the daughter was dead and so now in such a case that nothing but the Resurrection of the dead could cure her and therefore it was advised that he should now desist from troubling the Master But in truth our Master staid to good purpose not only to cure the poor Woman with the hemme of his Garment but to cure all us of our Infidelity and to have the Opportunity of working a Miracle that must needs convince those incredulous persons of whom he there spake that except they saw signes and wonders they would not believe Dead therefore though she was He spake but the Word Talitha Cumi Damosell arise and the Damosell arose and walked In the case of the Widdows son which is reported in the 7th chapter of St Luke He delay'd a little longer and as he made the case more difficult so he made his power and mercy more conspicuous There was a Man dead a young Man of an untimely death He was a son an only son the only son of a Widdow He was her joy all her hopes all her desires When he was gon all was gon with her She loved him when alive and when dead as that Father whom I follow conjectures she embraced and hovered over his Corps and kept it to mourn over it as long as it could be kept But when it could be kept no