intercepted by death Austin And Nebridius S. Austins great friend was not baptised till he was old and S. Austin himselfe was not baptised till his mans estate This errour God confuted by the death of Valentinian and other great spirits which although they were perswaded of the truth of religion yet they put off God and would not take his time but have a time of their owne choosing and therefore God gave them no time as Ambrose saith of the Emperour he wanted not the grace of baptisme because he had the faith of baptisme He yeelded his consent unto the truth and although he went away unbaptised yet he was truely baptised as one who in his heart yeelded to the faith and promises of Christ And if we should take it thus this is the sence of S. Paul in these words what shall they doe that are baptised for dead that is when they are ready to die and goe out of the world if there be no resurrection his argument followes that that which they did so late they would not doe it at all that which they did by constraint putting it off to the last time of their life they would not doe it at all except it were for the hope of the resurrection so that if there be no resurrection there is a maine frustration and a meere delusion of these men that suffer themselves so farre to be overgone with deadly sicknesse as that they looke every houre for death and yet then they take upon them the baptisme of life as a certaine pawne and pledge of the common resurrection This sounds somewhat like a truth but yet it is likely that the Apostle would have condemned this as well as the other being as ridiculous because this is injurious to God and to the Sacrament and pernicious to mens owne soules to tempt God whether he will give them a time of their owne choosing to put off the Sacrament that should be imbraced upon all opportunities to refuse it when God offers it which we should take thankfully and chearefully No doubt but the Apostle would have confuted this errour as the former and not have suffered the Corinthians to have beene so tardy in a point of salvation Wherefore I take this opinion not to be according to the Apostles minde for as I sayd that opinion is most probable and most agreeable to S. Pauls meaning that proves the strongest but this proves nothing that because a man that is driven to it in extremity at the time of his death to doe an action that therefore that action should bee of force that may be done in amazement and feare or by the instigation of others a man it may be is not lead to it by his owne will so much as by the perswasion of another and there is no reason that a man should ground upon such a weake stay to inferre such a strong conclusion The third opinion What shall they doe that are baptised for the dead that is for the forgivenesse of sins which are dead workes For so indeed the Lord seems to signifie when he saith God is not the God of the dead but of the living and also the Apostle when he saith ye were dead in sinnes and trespasses It is true our Saviour Christ includes in that speech both them that were dead naturally and them that were dead spiritually For in one place he saith God is not the God of the dead but of the living speaking of naturall death In another place let the dead bury their dead speaking of them that were dead spiritually and so we may apply it that those that are baptised for dead that is for remission of sinnes wherein the body and soule are dead and for the quickening and reviving of them by spirituall grace But this is too farre off for the Apostles meaning is not here to speake of a thing that is common that being common to all beleevers to be baptised for the remission of sinnes but he speakes of some peculiar baptisme that was not common to all in generall but belonged to some in particular Besides the Apostle speakes not here of the spirituall resurrection but of the corporall he speakes not of the rising from sinne to grace although it be true that they that are baptised are baptised for the remission of sinnes yet it is not proper here for the Apostle speaks of the resurrection of the flesh the spirituall is allegoricall which is from the death of sinne to the life of grace by repentance Therefore that proves nothing and is not likely to be S. Pauls minde for he purposed not to spend his time in trifles but to bring the validity of his arguments directly to conclude the cause Another opinion there is that hath many great and substantiall followers They that are baptised for the dead that is that are baptised into the death of Christ Iesus to be planted with him into the similitude of his death And this hath Chrysostome Theodoret Aquinas Calvin and many other great Divines for the Authors and followers of it And that you may see that it hath some similitude of reason in it looke in Rom. 6.4.5 Rom. 6.4.5 Doe you not know saith the Apostle that they that are baptised into Christ are baptised into his death therefore we are buried together with him in baptisme It is true that every man that makes profession of the faith of Christs baptisme among the rest of the articles that he professeth he must beleeve in Christ that was dead and buried that he was crucified and that he descended into hell and that he rose againe the third day c. And he professeth also that he is ready to dye for Christ when he shall be called to it and till that time come that he will dye spiritually in his heart and in his will to worldly affections which he knowes that Christ never had in him or had any liking to them but utterly abhorred them Therefore this being the symbol and badge of our profession it seemes from hence that every man that is baptised may be said to be baptised for dead that is for a dead Christ in whom he trusts which was dead but now is alive and behold he is alive for evermore Apoc. 1.18 He is baptised for dead that is to the world and the flesh that he may live for ever unto God Chrysostome proves this by an argument that hee thinkes fit and convenient for the purpose for saith he whether of the two is easier to raise the body from death or to raise the soule from sinne no doubt saith hee it is an easier matter to raise the dead body from the grave than to raise a soule that is dead in sinnes and trespasses to newnesse of life And behold saith he in the Romans the Apostle proves the one by the other that although we thinke it easier yet he intimates that that which we thinke to be easier is harder and that which seems more hard
most sencelesse people of all others we will worke for some end too And to what end doe we thus trouble our selves if there be no hope of a resurrection So when we reade the Scriptures we should observe the manner of this phrase It teacheth us much and we should checke our owne dulnesse and infirmitie that the spirit of God must rouse us up by questions and interrogations and not onely propound the simple and plaine truth but must give us certaine crosse propositions to teach us that we cannot rayse our selves untill we be raised of God and to make us more sensible after he followes us with a multitude of questions 2 The subiect Now for the subiect of the proposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we also First the Holy Ghost would teach us here that the Apostle and those that adhered to him they did conforme themselves to the presidents of ancient times And we also that is the Prophets before us suffered for the testimony of the truth for the doctrine of the Messias some of them were sawne in pieces with sawes some of them were killed with the sword some of them were banished some slaine betweene the Temple and the Altar Ierusalem was full of bloud in former times and all for the profession of the Messia the Lord Iesus and for the hope of the Resurrection conceived by him And we also follow them This is the sweet harmony of Gods Church it still consists of unisons and still they follow in the direction and union of one spirit to speake the same thing to teach the same thing to suffer for the same thing And we also doe it The Church of Christ seekes for no delicacies but it treads in the steps of her ancestors and looke what they have given for example before they follow in it diligently after If there were any kinde of worldly wisedome in this that men should see and discover the heresies and lyes and errours of former times it were madnesse for the latter times to embrace them But saith the Apostle we doe so too If our fore-fathers had been in errors had maintained lies we that live in these times me thinkes should be admonished and advised by processe of time and the great meanes that we have to discover them For if we should yet live in their errours our errour would be greater than theirs because we have more helpe than they and we have the advantage of time to see and contradict them But behold saith the Apostle we are so farre from contradicting of them that looke in what steps they have gone before we trace after them and follow with an even pace may we goe beyond them and transcend their perfections If they suffered something we suffer more if they were driven to some extremities we are acquainted with more The glory of Christs Church is this that still there is a succession of Martyrs and professors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we also doe thus In matters of the world and the devises of Philosophie you shall have no man so valiant as to suffer for another mans opinion although in heresies and schismes it hath beene so the cause of which I shall shew afterwards yet among the Philosophers so many men so many mindes every man against his fellow As in the confusion of Babel or in the destruction of Madian their own swords were against one another But in the schoole of Christ the doctrine is pure and cleare the parties are zealous and unanimous they goe together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we also tread in the steps of our fore-fathers This is one thing the Holy Ghost would teach us There are some other things that the Fathers have related to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we also That is saith Ambrose Ambrose we that are well instructed and illuminated because he would make that good in his exposition which he had said before As I told you that the Apostle would prove the resurrection of the dead from an ill custome of them that were baptised for the dead by a proxey so Ambrose makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we also As if the Apostle should say What doe you tell us of the foolish superstitions of the Cerinthyans of the Manichees and Montanists and others afterward which the Apostle foresaw would be What doe you tell us of those foolish people that baptise over the dead that is to say the living for the dead What doe you tell us of these that are in a grosse errour But I tell you we that are not erronious but know what we say and what we doe we that are illuminated from the Almighty we that are orthodoxe we suffer afflictâ—ons and persecutions We also Ambrose to defend his former opinion makes this kinde of exposition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but as the former was weake so this is much weaker Therefore I let that passe as being not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here spoken of Saint Chrysostome Oecumenius and Theophylact expound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we also as a gradation or height of the argument bringing it from profession to passion As if he should have said What doe you speake of them that are baptised for the dead that is into the death of Christ For that was their opinion that baptising for the dead was into the death of Christ for remission of sinnes and for the resurrection of the bodies that are dead in sinne So then the sence should be this Why doe we also suffer As if hee should say they that are baptised to the death of Christ and to the faith of the resurrection they doe onely affirme it by word but we affirme it by deed by passion by suffering And it is a stronger argument that is taken from deeds then that which is taken from words It is an easier matter to make profession then to enter into passion Now behold they that are baptised into the death of Christ they make profession in words that they beleeve this flesh shall rise againe but it may be they will not stand to it when they are put to the tryall of afflictions for the defence of it But you see we doe Therefore as the tryall from deeds and actions is better then that in word and profession so the argument is cleare when he saith Why doe we travell or are in jeopardy every day I confesse this is the sentence of a grave learned and a holy Father and 't is true that he saith but yet I take that truth to be most proper that I spake of before concerning the argument drawne from the sufferings of the Church and that the Apostle doth speake of all the passions of the Martyrs of all the Prophets and blessed men witnesses of Christ that have beene in the world to this very day And although they did excellently in their times and places yet now the sufferings of Christ are made most glorious and they never came to that height and
DOOMES-DAY OR A TREATISE OF THE RESURRECTION of the BODY Delivered in 22. Sermons on 1. Cor. 15. Whereunto are added 7. other Sermons on 1. Cor. 16. BY The late Learned and Iudicious Divine MARTIN DAY Doctor in Divinity Chaplaine in Ordinarie to his Majestie and sometimes Rector of S. Faiths LONDON Matth. 22.31 Have you not read what God hath spoken to you touching the Resurrection of the Dead LONDON Printed by T. H. and M. F. for Nathanael Butter and are to be sold at the signe of the Pide Bull neere Saint Austins gate 1636. To the Right Reverend Father in God and his most Ho. Lord JOSEPH By the Divine Providence Lord Bishop of EXCESTER MY LORD REligious spirits are usually Indulgent Patrons to Orphanes They imitate in this Act him who sayd I will bee a Father to the Fatherlesse I doubt not but that I shall finde your Honour of this generous disposition to these printed Posthumes of Doctor Dayes licensed by Authority and now seeking to your Lordship for protection I have adventured to present these papers comming to my hands to your Honour hoping the childe wil be wel liked for his Fathers sake who was wel known unto and entirely beloved of your Hon. in his primitive time in Cambridge as also while hee was our Pastor heere continued it towards him in his charge in your Lo. Diocesse even untill his dissolution however I have done this to shew my readines upon any occasion of service to your Lordship Thus craving your favour to shelter and fence this worke from open depravers and to continue your love to the Authors memory I humbly take leave being Your Lordships Servant NATH BUTTER To the Readers YOu cannot expect that these Sermons should have such exact politenesse and neat dressing as if the Authour had lived to revise them Yet you may discover Dr Dayes spirit expression method and matter to speake in all of them praesentemque refert concio quaeque patrem I would wish you then to read them without any prejudicate opinion as thâ—y are exercises whose Authour was famous in his time and which cannot chuse but yeeld you matter of counsell and comfort You have but few Authours in English upon this Epistle and fewer upon these subjects Lose by reading of them you cannot gaine you may I doubt not but they will proove beneficiall to the whole Church for whose sake I have published them Thus wishing you to gather hony out of these where it may be had I rest Yours N. B. 1 COR. 15.29 What shall they doe that are baptised over the dead if the dead rise not at all Why therefore are they baptised over the dead THis gratious Apostle the blessed organ and instrument of the holy Ghost doth so wondrously dispute his cause and contrive his arguments for the maintaining of this holy article of our faith the resurrection of the body that as Saint Chrysostome saith Chrysost in locum he leaves nothing unfetched either from God or men for in five or sixe verses before the text he disputes from the omnipotencie of God in raising Christ his Sonne He hath discoursed also of Christs kingdome and of the delivery of the kingdome of his mediation and of the end of all things the perfect consummation of all that God may governe and be all in all Now he descends to a lower kinde of sphere to arguments taken from the actions of men and presidents here below upon the earth And he saith that there were certaine men in the world that were baptised for dead that is they are baptised in a certaine hope of the resurrection of the dead whose labour is lost and their faith frustrate and to no purpose if they have not the end of that whereof they now make profession here So some expound it But that is to bring us backe into the same labyrinth we were in before Verse 14. for he saith before that our hope is vaine and our Preaching vaine if there be no resurrection Therefore waving that opinion I take it that the Apostle speakes of some other more peculiar and particular cause that is concerning the state of the Church of God in persecution wherin men despairing of helpe in this world despairing of any life or contentment they did come and offer themselves in a voluntary martyrdome and tooke the baptisme of death that is they were baptised to this purpose being willing to offer themselves as dead men to persecution for the Gospell sake which they would not have done unlesse they had beene certainly assured of the resurrection of the body Other sences there be but I must proceed in order from one to another and labour to finde out the likeliest for in truth there are innumerable many and the place is very difficult Onely two things we are most sure of in this argument and discourse here set downe to our hand First that whatsoever this baptising over the dead was and therein is all the difficultie yet it was a thing that was publike notorious and knowne to the Corinthians it was a matter that was not obscure to them although it be to us For the Apostle speakes not to them in clouds but by way of familiar and evident example thereby to winne their judgements to this conclusion concerning the bodies resurrection Secondly another thing is that whatsoever this baptisme was yet certainly it was a thing of much force it was a great argument to prove that which the Apostle intended For it is not his manner to deale weakely in proving and disputing but he useth all the strength of the holy Ghost as Chrysostome saith Chrysost that is as much strength and demonstration and evidence of the spirit as a man can be capable of And so upon this ground we must gather that that opinion is most likely and to be imbraced that maketh most for the resurrection of the body And if there be any sence of more force then other or any sence more pertinent than other to prove that maine conclusion certainely that is the sence which the Apostle intends For all those that be of lesser weight and smaller moment they are besides the Apostles purpose Questionlesse if there be any vigour or power in any more than another we must imagine that that is it the Apostle aymed at and that he would have us to ayme at All the doubt comes out of the ambiguitie of this one word Baptisme While some take this baptisme for the sacramentall washing others againe take it for a ceremoniall washing either such as were in the Law among the legall ceremonies or such as were knowne in the common course of life the washing of the bodies and corpes of the dead when they were layd forth for the Coffin Concerning these words for the dead there is also some doubt some expounding it for sinne some for sinners and some for them that are naturally dead that is when the spirit in the common course of nature is
and difficult is more easily atchieved and effected by the hand of God And he proves it out of Matth. 9.5 Mat. 9.5 where our Lord discoursing with the Pharisees when they had said who can forgive sinnes he askes them whether it were easier to say to the sicke of the Palsie take up thy bed and walke or to say thy sinnes are forgiven thee where our Lord clearely gives us to understand that it is a harder matter and a more powerfull thing to say thy sinnes are forgiven thee then to give limbs to him to walke and to take up his bed and goe his way For sicknesses are the punishments of sinne and the Lord removing that once he takes away the cause which is greater than the effect But although this be followed with so many so great and so worthy Interpreters yet me thinkes it hath no congruity with the purpose of the Apostle in this place for as I said before the Apostles meaning is not here to instruct us in the renovation of the soule of newnesse of life in holinesse and sanctification but to tell us of the resurrection of the flesh that is his chiefe argument the maine point he insisteth precisely upon Therefore to say to be baptised for dead is to be baptised for the name of a dead Christ it is too farre fetched and I cannot see how it can be brought in Therefore without prejudice to these glorious and goodly writers we proceed to further examination of these words There be some others that cannot indure what hath beene said before but they must devise trickes of their owne They say Saint Paul alludes to the Leviticall Law Numb 19. Numb 19. when a man had touched any dead carkasse he was to be cleansed before the even but suppose say they that the man dyed by casualty before night before he could come to the Priest before he could have gotten the matter of his purification what was then to be done Then say they his neighbour was to be cleansed for him and so they fall upon an opinion before named But what is their purpose certainly to bring in prayer for the dead because they thinke that as there was baptisme for the dead so there should be prayer for the dead And if the one fall to be so the other must needs be so too For I rather thinke that there should be prayer for the dead than that there should be baptising for them to speake in a sacramentall sence They doe it to bring in their superstitions of holy-water and sprinkling the graves and sepulchers and coffins of dead persons thereby to make them more pure before God and that which is more ridiculous that the Priest should undertake in times past and it may be now too in our times when he was sent for to a sicke body to give him the host and that the party were dead before he came he in the presence of the company was to eate it for him that was deceased and thought that that would be availeable to him for the forgivenesse of his sinnes and for the receiving him into heaven These things have no ground nor warrant neither in this Epistle nor in the old Law There is no such thing that there was any such purification by a proxie but it was alway done in a mans owne person and there was no friâ—nd admitted in any such action Therefore in that devise they make one lye to salve another as their custome is in other of their proceedings Further there is yet another opinion that saith that baptising for the dead it is meant of those that came and offered themselves voluntarily to afflictions and persecution And this is more neare the point for indeed in the Scripture it is a most usuall and common saying to call afflictions by the name of baptisme So Math. 20. Math. 20. Mark 9. Mar. 9. when the sonnes of Zebede come to our Lord and desire a boone of him requesting that one of them might sit at his right hand and the other at his left in his kingdome Christ answers them againe that they knew not what they asked And he proceeds further saith he Can ye drinke of that Cup whereof I shall drinke and can ye be baptised with the baptisme that I shall be baptised withall and they answer againe they could Christ tels them again that indeed they should drinke of that cup and be baptised with that baptisme but to sit at his right hand and at his left c. where we may see he speakes of the baptisme of fire and trouble and persecution That which is intended in those words the same also by comparison may be taught here and interpreted in this place They that are baptised for dead that is those that scorned their lives that cared not for them those that were ready to drinke the cup of Christ that were ready to throw themselves into danger for the glory of their Lord and Master To what end are they thus forward if there be no resurrection from the dead There be many things that favour this interpretation as the sequell that followes in the next words Where the Apostle saith why are we in danger or jeopardie every houre if the dead rise not as if he would bring the argument from abroad home to himselfe and then the sence of the place is this To what purpose doe men adventure their lives and cast themselves into apparant danger of death except they have a certaine hope of the resurrection to life and that that God that takes away their life now can give it them againe with advantage in the world to come This is true but whether it be fully proper or no to rest in this baptisme as absolute I thinke it lyes not in any mans power by any strong and full authority to determine It is true our Lord saith Luke 10. Luke 10. I have a baptisme to be baptised with and how am I pained till it be past Where he meanes in the same sence the baptisme of affliction For a man in affliction is as it were a dead man a man in prison as though he were in the bottome of the water in another element when there is persecution and trouble on every side But yet there is another opinion which shall be the last that at this time I will trouble you withall that is of Beza Beza and others that hold with him that all this that is spoken of baptisme here is not meant of any sacramentall washing but as the word is often used for a legall washing and purifying common and ordinary at the carrying forth of the dead as in Heb. 9. Heb. 9. there are many washings and the word is thus used in divers places in the Gospell As where Christ saith the Scribes and Pharisees when they come from the market they baptised their hands and they baptised their Cups and their Platters and Dishes It is the same word there and it signifieth
a spirituall body So it is also written the first Adam was made a living soul and the last Adam was made a quickning spirit It is sown in weaknesse it is raised in power THe earth is Gods store-house whereinto he commits his treasure even the bodies of his Saints the Temples of his holy Spirit saith Tertullian Tertull. God hath made the earth to be as a ware-house therein to lay his commodities and from thence to require fetch them forth againe The sowing of these earthly bodies is manifest to us all but the raising of the seed that is sowne and the comming in of the harvest that is locked up and hid in the chambers of eternity in the omnipotency of God And there is no way for us to have accesse and to look into it but by the eye of faith whereby while we live in this flesh wee have a little peeping as it were through the key-hole to see a glimmering of the happinesse and of the gracious promises consigned unto us in Iesus Christ The things that here are spoken of the sowing of the body are so commonly knowne as that there is no man that calls that in question It is sown in dishonour it is sown in weaknesse It is sown in misery and mortality and the Apostle concludes all It is sown a naturall body but it is raised againe a spirituall body And because hee might seeme to offend some eares that never heard of that distinction that there was such a thing as a spirituall body for if it be a spirit then it is no body and if it be a body then it is not spirituall these things imply a contradiction Therefore the Apostle proves that which he had said he makes good his distinction and tels them There is a naturall body and a spirituall body And this hee proves out of the heads of them both out of the two maine Fountaines of mankinde the two Adams The one working to misery to sinne and to corruption and destruction and the other working to grace to obedience and to eternall glory And hee saith The first of these was made a living soule but the second was made and ordained a quickning Spirit The first was made to live to have life himselfe but he could not give life to another yea and that life that hee had was but mortall and fraile But the second Adam was made to have another kind of life and to be all spirit intending spirituall things and he was not onely able to live in himselfe but to give life to all his followers to quicken all them that belong unto him Yea although they be dead in their graves although they be dead in sins or dead in the damps of conscience yet hee is made a quickning Spirit to rouse and to raise them to the happinesse of the children of God This is the summe of the words read unto you To proceed in order There needs no great distribution or division of the Text because the words are nothing else but the probate of that which the Apostle had spoken before He proves it by the Scriptures that there is such a difference as a naturall body and a spirituall body The Scripture he brings is in Gen. 2.7 Gen. 2 7. where it is said The Lord breathed into Adam the breath of life and so Adam or man became a living soule or a living substance In the order of the words there are two miserable properties that remain to be spoken of touching the bodies of the Saints Division into two miserable Properties That they are sown in weaknesse That they are sown meerly naturall But the glory that God shall put upon them shall be in the highest contrary They shall rise in great strength and they shall be raised in a spirituall nature in a spirituall quality and condition 1 Property Sowne in weaknesse Concerning the first that the body of man is sown in weaknesse every man seeth there is nothing more weak and despicable then that all the whole life of man being nothing but a world of weaknesse as it is the prerogative of God to be Almighty so it is the miserable quality of man to be all weaknesse When he comes first into the world there is nothing more weak then he when he growes in the world the least fitt of disease of an ague any kind of opposition whatsoever will defeat him and bring him on his knees to such a degree of weaknesse and infirmity that he shall scarce support and sustain himself And even those that are the strongest of men that are strong to poure in strong drink Esay 5.22 as the blessed Prophet I say saith that spend their time in ryot those men doe soonest bring upon them this fatall weaknesse and none end so foule as they because though they seeme to struggle with the infirmities of nature and to overcome and transcend them for a time yet that inherent weaknesse which is in the flesh rebounds upon them and works them at last to nothing to the foulest expiration that can be Nay those noble spirits which as Tiberius was wont to say that there were some spirits in the world that account their businesse to be their solace their businesse and labour they account it comfort and consolation to them yet these men pluck and call upon themselves a greater weaknesse then other men so that the life of man whether it be base and degenerous or whether it be noble and spritely is nothing else but weaknesse If a man will doe nothing but sleepe out his time hee shall be surprised at length with base weaknesse If hee be vigilant and use the time that God hath given him to the highest and best purpose he is still overtaken with weaknesse and especially when the conscience of sin works upon a man there is nothing so weakens him as that doth Psal 39.11 When thou chastisest man for sin thou makest him like a garment that is moth-eaten And as the Prophet David saith by reason of my sinnes my bones are rotten and corrupted and all my ulcers stink there is no health in my body Psal 22.14 15. by reason of the sinnes of my soule My heart within me is like melting waxe I am broken like a pitcher like a broken vessell I am like a bottle in the smoak The conscience that God hath left in man to be his factor brings a weaknesse incomparable there is nothing that can be equall unto it But chiefly when all these meet together as in some they doe and when old age begins to rivle the face and to draw the complexion into furrows which was largely extended unto beauty and when the tresles and powers of the body begin to faile and the last terme and period is at hand then there is a wofull spectacle of weaknesse Even when a man cannot goe nor stand upon his supporters but hee reeles and falls when hee cannot taste his food nor smell nor finde
though God could not open the kingdome of heaven to flesh and blood but not to flesh and blood corrupted with sinne As long as we are in this life our flesh is full of sinne and our blood in the veines of the body runne with sinne and as long as they bee so they bee meere matter of corruption and therefore they cannot enter into incorruption Howbeit Adam in his first creation was flesh and blood and yet had hee stood in the state of grace and innocencie he had entred into heaven with his body of flesh and blood So that the meaning is not as though God could not conferre so great a benefit upon flesh and blood but because it hath corrupted it selfe Flesh hath corrupted his owne way and blood is tainted with sinne it is tainted defiled and polluted blood it is not such as God made it but it hath received a tincture from the Divell In regard of this it must be dissolved and brought to rottennesse and corruption that God may raise it a new seed and so make it pure and perfect againe and make it capable of the heavenly and blessed inheritance So that the summe of the words is this As long as wee be flesh and blood as long as wee bee in this life sinfull flesh that we carry about with us wee must not looke to be translated into heaven Adam should have been translated into heaven if hee had lived and kept that state wherein hee was made Wee desire indeed to bee like him in that but our desires and our hopes must be grounded upon Gods will not on our own fancies and we must expect what the Lords will hath determined He hath determined that wee should come to death before we enter into life that we should beare the image of the earthly before we come to the image of the heavenly and wee cannot have incorruption and glory poured upon this body that wee carry about with us by reason of sinne because it is in sinne For sinfull flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdome of God And although when Christ shall come there shall bee alive many millions of men that shall not die as we doe yet they shall have a change and there change shall be unto them as death is unto us now For it is not possible that any corrupt body should enter into incorruption This I take to bee the summe and sense of the words read Now to proceed in order we are to consider First the persons that he saith as we have borne Then secondly the matter propounded of those persons First there is a sentence or proposall Division into 1. the Persons 2. the Matter propounded Secondly the explanation of that proposall The proposall that is made of these persons is by way of comparison as wee have borne the image of the earthly so also wee shall beare the image of the heavenly The explanation of it what hee meanes by this image The Corinthians might aske and say they doubted of his words these are obscure things that the Text saith The image of the earthly and the image of the heavenly My meaning saith hee is nothing but this that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Eingdome of God nor corruption cannot inherit incorruption So in the proposall or proposition in the 49. verse we are to consider these things First that God made man to an Image Secondly that that Image being defaced and deformed wee are made to another kinde of Image than we were first intended for we are made to the image of the earthly Thirdly we are to observe the reddition that as we beare the image of the earthly so we shall also beare the image of the heavenly Fourthly the certainty in the sicut so as according to that manner And this makes us assured of the thing that this is a ground experimentall that because wee have the image of the one therefore wee are assured of the image of the other For still we are made to an image that is for the proposall In the explanation in the words following brethren I say unto you or my meaning is this Wherein the holy Ghost teacheth us to speak plainly and not to wander away in new quaint words in obscure sentences but to make the doctrines cleare that wee take in hand And then for flesh and bloud that they are not capable of heavens kingdome and for what reason they are not capable And lastly the summe of all corruption which is flesh and bloud cannot enter into incorruption which is the Kingdome of heaven For that which he call flesh and bloud in one place hee renders it againe in another place by corruption and that which he called the kingdome of heaven in the former words he turnes it in the latter words incorruption So that the Apostles perspicuity and evidence is wondrously to be admired in this place hee labours to speak of a high matter a deep profound matter of dignity so plainly to flesh and bloud Hee saith flesh and bloud shall not enter into the Kingdome of God Not because it is flesh and bloud but because it is corrupted and there shall not enter any thing that is corrupt into incorruption because they are contraries and one contrarie cannot enter into another It is impossible for a man to be alive and dead to be sick and well at one time there is no difference in the world greater then the difference of corruption and incorruption and because flesh and bloud is corrupted for sinne it is full of misery and wretchednesse by sinne and the Kingdome of heaven is an uncorruptible crowne it is impossible that these should be coincident and meet and be mingled together Therefore corruption must be evacuated and rooted out before incorruption can be attained Of these things briefly and in order as God shall give assistance And first concerning the persons 1. Part. The persons of whom these things are propounded of whom these things are pronounced It is of Gods Saints For as I have often told you this whole Chapter is spoken of and endited concerning the Resurrection of the Saints onely There is indeed a resurrection of those that belong not to God which is a resurrection to punishment and shame but the Apostle meddles not with that in this whole Chapter but speaks only of the Saints resurrection and he saith We that have borne the image of the earthly wee shall also beare the image of the heavenly We that is those that are called of Christ and sanctified by his holy Spirit to these it is to whom this promise appertaines For every man beares the image of the earthly good and bad but every man shall not beare the image of the heavenly but onely those for whom it is ordained The nature of man is not capable of heaven for if mans nature were capable of heaven then all men should have it because all men have the nature of man indefinitely and equally but it is the
I look for my change as well as another man As Iob Iob 14.1 saith All the dayes of my life will I looke for my change So the Apostle saith every man must look for this that he may be prepared For perhaps I may be the last man perhaps the trumpet may sound to night before to morrow for there is no man knowes when the day of doome shall be It is reserved in the bosome of God alone and we are alway to looke for his comming because we know not when he will come whether at midnight Marke 13.5 or at the dawning of the day Therefore wee should alwayes be ready with our lamps lighted and our loynes girded that we may be prepared when the Bridegroome commeth to enter into the Kingdome Mat. 25. Thus the Apostle saith we shall be changed He speaks as if hee should be one of them although long since he were interred in the earth yet because hee knew not his owne dissolution or the destruction of the world when it should be therefore he had it in perpetuall memorie Wee shall not all sleepe but we shall all be changed And what is this change 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how death is called a sleepe I have told you heretofore and I will not repeat it now We shall be changed that is in quality for so the word signifieth even an altering of the quality not a changing of the substance For the same body that suffered death for sinne the same body shall be glorified by the grace and favour of God As sin came upon it to doe it to death so the grace of God shall overflow it to bring it to life For where sin hath abounded grace shall super abound Rom. 14.20 If therefore the sinne of Adam were able to mortifie all to their graves much more shall the grace of Christ be able to quicken all his to life everlasting Therefore I say we shall be changed meaning as concerning the qualities not concerning the substance For that body which was once the Temple of the holy Ghost shall never cease to be the Temples of the holy Ghost and those parts that felt misery by Adams sinne they shall feele sweetnesse of grace by the bounty that shall be revealed through Christ Iesus our Lord. We shall all be changed This change how it shall be made and in what degrees I have partly spoken of it before The Apostle delivers it unto us when hee said It is sowne in weaknesse it is raised in strength It is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption It is sowne a mortall or naturall body but it riseth a spirituall body It is sown in dishonour it riseth againe in honour These are the manners of the change which having heretofore stood upon I will not now repeat The change therefore shall be in those foure noble qualities which the Apostle formerly described unto us And this change shall be wrought by the omnipotencie of God upon a matter that wee would think could not indure such a strange operation as that is But the Lord is able to command light to come out of darknesse and hath wrought by meane things in the world the great impressions of his power Hee therefore is able to work upon this weak body and to set upon it the stamp of incorruption of glory of immortality and of strength Hee is able to doe it and his power will doe it according to his gracious promise We shall all be changed All we saith the Apostle chiefly this change shall be upon the Saints of God but yet it shall not be so restrained to them but that in part it shall extend to all men I told you in the opening of the Text that the Reprobates shall have their part in this change for their bodies shall be made uncorrupt and immortall but not to glory and beauty not to comfort and consolation as the bodies of the Saints shall but to extremity and misery Like as a brick which lies in the fire continually and is alway burning and yet never consumed or as that Axbestam which the Philosopher speaks of which is not consumed but is able continually to abide the fire so the bodies of those that doe â—ot feare the Lord and worship him the earthly tabernacles of theirs shall be made durable of paine but not capable of honour and glory They shall be made capable of no comfort and yet they shall not be spoyled and consumed by any paine and sorrow that shall lie upon them This change therefore Vse we must desire the Lord that it may be for the better and not for the worse That seeing there shall and must be a change of these bodies that it would please the Lord to change us from these frailties and miseries that we now live in to the blessed joy and hope which he hath called his children unto And that wee may be capable of this we must desire God to make a change of us in this life for the Lord shall change all things hee is the changer of us he is unchangeable himselfe all things else he shall change Psal 102. Thou shalt change the heavens and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy yeares never faile So that the Lord being onely immutable and the same for ever it is hee that works the change upon all things Wee see in the common course of our life what changes hee works in our ages hee changes childhood to youth and that to manhood and thence to old age A strange and various change In our Climates there is Winter and Summer there is day and night there is stormy and faire weather Wondrous changes bee also in matters politique and civill he turnes warre into peace he changeth peace into warre it is he that suffers Nation to rise against Nation all the changes in the world come from God So wee must imagine in our bodies that shall be changed that all shall be wrought by his owne hand Vse This must teach us first to desire God to make a happy change in our soules before hee make the change in our bodies For there can never be a comfortable change in any mans body except first there be a precedent and a president change in the soule For except the soule be changed from worse to better from wickednesse to holinesse of life it is impossible for a man to looke for a good change of his body where there is no precedent change in his soule Therefore while wee are in this life wee are to looke for this change If the Lord change thy soule from sinfulnesse to holinesse thou maiest bee sure thy body also shall bee changed to happinesse and immortality and glory If thy soule be not changed but thou art worse and worse verily thou shalt have a change in the Resurrection but it shall bee unto dismalnesse to fearefulnesse and to distraction so that a man had better never have beene borne than to be
into a good body but if the Patient bee froward and will not be ruled or his body bee distempered hee is not the better by it Now the fault is not in the Physician nor in the Physick they be both very good but the fault is resident in the party that was not prepared for it or that would not receive it and convert it to that use for which it was given him So the Law of God of it selfe is a light unto our feet Psal 119.105 and a lanterne to our paths and the light of life it selfe if we be able to follow it but because of our owne indisposition it comes to passe that the Law which should pull downe sinne gives strength unto it the Law that was made to kill sin it gives life unto it as the Apostle tells us at large Rom. 7. Rom. 7.9 hee saith That sinne was dead untill the Law came in For where there is no Law there is no transgression and sinne was dead untill such time as the Law came in place but when the Law came then sinne revived then sinne began to hew and hack then it began to kill and slay and to leade into captivity which is a worthy point for our consideration and therefore I must stand a little longer upon it How should it bee that the Law of God which is so pure and so holy in it selfe that it should give any life or any strength unto sinne which it hates and condemnes I say it comes to passe upon occasion of our weaknesse and sinfulnesse which takes not the Law of God for that end which he gave it for but to a contrary end The first reason why the Law by occasion becomes the strength of sinne is this Chrysost as Chrysostome saith that it makes our sinnes manifest a man that is detected growes the more desperate as long as he can keepe himselfe quiet and be secret and unseene hee is more modest but when hee comes once to be opened when he comes to be discovered to the knowledge of Gods Law and to the knowledge of men then hee begins to ruffle with God and with the Law and he will approve and make a defence for those things that are damnable the Apostle doth insinuate the reason Rom. 8.9 Rom. 8.9 where hee saith till the Law of God came he did not know concupiscence except the Law had said thou shalt not lust This you know by experience that there is great difference betweene a foolish and an understanding servant The Lord Iesus saith the understanding servant that knowes his masters will and doth it not shall bee beaten with many stripes As long as sinne is not knowne it lies hid it is asleepe it workes faintly but when the Law comes and gives light to a mans understanding that he knows himselfe that hee knowes God and the promises of the Gospel now sinne multiplies there is no such sinner as a wise sinner there is no such sinfull person as the learned person because his knowledge makes his sinne apparant and makes him detected of the world and so inrageth him to maintaine and make that good which is evill and naught in it selfe A simple ignorant man although he carry the Devill about him yet hee is not troubled so much he sinnes more easily he hath weak passions hee sinnes within compasse hee sinnes as bruit beasts doe which seldome or never transcend the limits of nature and they exceed mankinde in many respects in moderating their lusts and concupiscence but when the Law of God comes in place it rouzeth a man from his ignorance which would damne him and shewes him the good will of God it shewes him the acceptable yeare of the Lord and what the hope is which he is called unto and what are the treasures of the Gospel It shewes himselfe to himselfe and now the rage of sinne is more impetuous and violent then before For now hee lives hee was dead in those former times when he was ignorant he was quiet When the strong man keepes the house all is quiet but when a stronger comes to thrust him out then there is an uproare and tumult in the house S. Chrysost Againe another reason is saith St. Chrysostom in this that God doth stretch forth his prohibition the nature of man is alway to desire and long after that which is forbidden and there is nothing that inflames his affections so as the prohibition of the things hee desires Would you have a booke sell well get it prohibited the onely way to make a woman to be a blabb is to bid her keep counsell it is the nature of man still to affect things unlawfull and interdicted and so much the stronger the interdiction is so much the more they are inflamed in the desire they have to accomplish it To conclude this point because we cannot endure that our free-will should bee curbed and restrained it comes to passe that the Law of God by occasion is the reviving and increasing of sinne for we cannot indure the liberty of our will should be curbed and checked but we would live as we list every body and this wee see was in the first temptation of our first parents Satan comes to them What hath God made you to live as slaves under governement doth he keepe you under the rodde doth hee keepe you within the pale hath hee forbid you one fruit of the garden As if hee should say because he had forbidden them one it was as good as if he had forbid all so our first Parents they could not indure this they could not abide to bee kept under to bee made boyes and children to be under a Pedagogue to bee under a Tutor governour as it were not to make choice of their owne affections if God had made them to their owne choice well and good but now the Lord hath made them under the governement of others he hath made them under a Law and they cannot abide that And so it continues in the mind of man still he will have his owne mind though it be contrary to the will of God and though he hinder himselfe he will have it if it be to the damnation of his owne soule if hee get hell for his will yet he will have his will This poyson being in our nature makes good the doctrine that we speak of that sinne revives for the Law of God beats upon our sinnes and makes us say and confesse if wee will follow the guidance of it Not my will but thine be done Let me not seek after mine own will which is base and corrupt but after thy will which is holy and just The Law of God would teach a man to say thus but contrariwise that which flowes from a mans selfe it seeks it selfe and seeing hee cannot please God norman he will please his own soule As the Poet saith Delight thy owne soule care not what other men speak or doe or think against thee This is
began another age a more blessed and glorious age that of redemption that was now to flourish and to be esteemed in the world and so it was necessary that there should be a cessation of the former that there must be an introduction of this But how then will some say Quest shall we not remember the works of the creation still as well as wee should before Answ Yes but now the Lord hath given that grace and that light that wee may remember them every day we may meditate of them as we are doing our workes for the Gospell is so cleare and hath laid open the treasures of heaven so plainely that as we doe the workes of our hands we may remember the workes of the Lord too which the Iewes could not doe in their worke and labour for it was so hidden from them that they knew not that which was done before their faces as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 3. 2 Cor. 3. Therefore this is one reason the gratious worke of the redemption and recreation of the world being the greatest worke that ever was requires the greatest memoriall Therefore it is necessary there should be a Sabbath day a time of rest for the contemplation and meditation of that rather then for the lesser worke the worke of the creation which may be meditated on and remembred every day as well as upon the Sabbath but the worke of redemption although it be to be thought upon and remembred every day and may be meditated upon daily yet then we must thinke of it more seriously with a more curious observation and meditation upon the Lords day because then upon that day was the resurrection of the Sonne of God who is the first fruits of all Christian beleevers 3 The Iewish Sabbath was for distinction Againe another reason of the change of the Sabbath is because the Sabbath was made for a matter of distinction to distinguish the Iewish nation from all other people in the world it was a matter of separation and privacy but the Lord Iesus came to be publique he would have none of those private signes continue he tooke down the partition wall which was made betweene Iewes and Gentiles they were before shut up one from another there was no agreement or correspondency betweene them and the symboll of this separation was the Sabbath day for the Gentiles scorned them and said they spent the seventh part of their time in idlenesse meaning their Sabbath day Now by this separation there grew enmity and hatred and outward opposition because the one had a rest and the other had not Now the Lord Iesus came to take downe this separation to take away this wall of distinction which was betweene them and so he made the eighth day the day of rest the Sabbath not for a day of separation as the seventh day was which separated them and made them strangers from all other men but to unite them so that now there is none strange in Christ but all are one Gal. Iewes and Gentiles male and female bond and free there is no nation nor no condition whatsoever but all are welcome to Christ the Saviour of the world Therfore he made the Sabbath upon a new day because the other was a day of separation and division but this is a day of common convocation and collection and gathering of all together as the Hen gathereth her chickens under her wings Mat. 23. Mat. 23. Further Reason 4 In memory of Christs resurrection because the Lord would assure us that both himselfe was risen and that wee also should rise by the vertue and power of his resurrection this is the maine head of our religion and all our faith therefore he would have us keepe the Sabbath upon the same day that he rose againe from the dead Therefore the Church changed that day from the Iewish Sabbath to rest not upon that day but upon the first day of the weeke which is our Lords day I say because the Lord would teach us the glorious article of his owne resurrection and would assure us of the consequent of it our resurrection by that power of his therefore he would have every Sabbath day to be a day of meditation upon that benefit that every Christian may say this is my resurrection day this day my Head rose againe which is the first fruits and I am assured that by the power of his resurrection I shall rise also therefore that Christ might make a way to my resurrection he hath ordained a day a Sabbath wherein I must contemplate upon that benefit and this I feed on this is my Sabbath dayes feast wherein I rest and quiet my soule and if it were not for the certainty of the resurrection of Christ and the certaine hope of my own resurrection I could keepe no Sabbath but now I keepe a Sabbath by the appoyntment of the Church by the wise judgement of my Mother as a symboll of my resurrection as a signe and symboll that my head is risen and that his body also shall rise in due time as certainly as the head is risen already Reason 5 From the end of the Sabbath Againe the Sabbath and the end of the Sabbath was a cessation from worke and it signifieth both a cessation from sinne and also the rest that our Lord and Saviour Christ was to have in the grave to make a cessation from our sinnes and from all sinne in his children Observe the argument ye shall see it in Heb. 4.10 Heb. 4.10 The Apostle there tels us that one of the ends of the Sabbath was this that a man should rest from his worke even as God rested from his what are mens works sinne what are Gods workes the glorious act of the creation therefore as God ceased from his worke and made a Sabbath to shew that then he had finished his worke and rested so there remaines a Sabbath to the people of God to shew that there is a cessation from their worke Now this cessation of Gods people it must come to the members from the head it must begin at our head Christ first he must cease from sinne but Christ had no sinne therefore he could not cease from sinne but because hee said consummatum est the day before the Sabbath that is the price of mans sinne which was cast upon him it was now payed therefore there is a cessation from sinne and wee must not live any longer therein but be dead to sinne as Christ was in his grave and rise to holinesse of life which is the proper end of his resurrection Marke how the Church concludes upon this the Sabbath was a type of Christs resting but he never rested till he was in his grave for saith he My Father workes hitherto and I worke and I worke to day and to morrow and the third day I shall be perfect still in this fraile life he was working but upon the Sabbath day then he rested to