CHAP. I. Of the Creed in generall.

WHat Ori­gen said of the in­ventiō of Hierogly­phicall Learning, Origen. Hom. 7. in Exod. may not unfitly be applyed [Page 6] to these Breviaries and Epitomes of Holy Writ, like the Iewes Manna, they fall downe in round and small cakes, yet afford good nourish­ment; Like rich Iew­els, they carry worth in every sparke, and in these little maps is contained a world of matter.

As those decem ver­ba, the short Law of the Decalogue, is a patterne of all duties to bee done; As that Oratio quotidiana, au­thorized by our Savi­ours lips, is the curious [Page 7] Archetype, & master-peece of all prayer, the common place, the originall copie, the platforme of all re­quests to bee made; So the Apostolicall Creed is a plaine and absolute summe of all holy Faith.

It is called in En­glish the Creed, from the first Word, Credo; quia omnia credenda; ac­cording to that of A­thanasius; whosoever will bee saved, before all things it is necessa­ry that he hold the Ca­tholicke faith; which [Page 8] faith except every one keepe whole and un­defiled, without doubt he shall perish everla­stingly. It is called A­postolicall, because it summarily conteines the chiefe and princi­pall points of religion handled and propoun­ded in the doctrine of the Apostles.

Other confessions are received not as new, but as paraphra­ses, and expositions, and enlargements for the better clearing of this: for as there is but one Faith, so but one [Page 9] Creed; as the foure Gospels, are indeed but one Gospel; so the Apostolicall, Athana­sian, and Nicen Creed, are but one in sub­stance.

This of the Apo­stles hath ever been ac­counted in the Church most ancient, and of greatest authority; which although it be not Protocanonicall Scripture; yet is it the key of Scriptures, & medulla Scripturarum, the pith of the whole Bible. Here have I an hādful of holy flowers [Page 10] which are called from the several beds of that spacious garden of the sacred Scripture; here is collected into one faire body, the sub­stance and sweetnesse of all those divine my­steries which either lie hidden or scatterd in the volume of holy writ. This is that Par­vulus Iudex the little Iudge in matters of quarrell about religi­on: for what doctrine soever is contrary to the Analogie of faith in these things, ought and must bee rejected. [Page 11] If a foole say in his heart, there is no God, If a Iew deny Christ, If an Epicure beleeve not a life everlasting, If a Cain deny the remission of sinnes, or a Corinthian the Resurrection of the flesh: All these cros­sing the Articles of our Christian faith, the Church rejecteth them, God condem­neth them, And they fearefully perish with­out his mercy to recall them.

The matter or ob­ject of the Creed con­cerneth,

• [Page 12]1 God,
• 2 Church,

• 1 The Father and our Creation, Article 1.
• 2 The Son & our Redemption, in the 6. next Art.
• 3 The Holy Ghost Article 8.

Secondly, it concer­neth the Church in the 4. last Articles, which is more fully described by her

• Properties
  • 1 Holy Article 9.
  • 2 Catho­licke. Article 9.
  • 3 Knit in a Commu­nion. Article 9.
• [Page 13]Prerogatives.
  • In the soule, remission of sins, Art. 10.
  • In the body, resurrection, Art. 11.
  • Body & soule, everlasting life, Art. 12.

These bee the twelve signes in the Zodiake of our faith, through which passeth Christ Iesus, the Sun of righ­teousnes. O never may the clouds of infideli­ty darken or eclypse his beames.

These twelve Articles [Page 14] are so necessary and so lincked together, that hee that denyeth one by consequent denyeth all, because that of any one so denyed, the de­nyall of the very foun­dation of our faith is straightly inferred, He that with Marcion de­nyeth the Humanity of Christ, may be ea­sily convinced to deny the passion of Christ, because the God-head is impassible; & he that with Ebion denyeth the Deity of Christ, may with the like facility bee convinced to deny [Page 15] the Resurrection of Christ, because the manhood onely never had beene able to raise it selfe from the dead. Rom. 1.4. And hee that deny­eth the Resurrection of Christ, cannot beleeve his Ascension; because the Apostle telleth us, ( Ephes. 4.9.) that hee which ascended, is the same which descen­ded first into the lower parts of the Earth.

By this manifest in­ference, may we plaine­ly see the connexion of these Articles. If yee deny one, yee deny all; [Page 16] and if yee renounce any one, yee cannot be saved.

But I will not take a large survey in a small plot, Its a good rule to be observed by booke-writers which a great master in oratory hath prescribed, ut titulum legant, to reade the title of their bookes, and often to aske them­selves what they have begun to handle. From this maine sea, I will therefore strike into a little channell: and ha­ving drunke of the brooke in the way, and [Page 17] given a tast of the Creed in generall, I descend to this parti­cular Article, which is rhe subject of our following Treatise.

CHAP. 2. Each terme in this ele­venth Article remark­able, from the expli­cation of which is infer­red the immortality of the Soule, and conse­quently of the rising a­gaine of the body.

IN our precedent Chapter we shew­ed the dependancy of one Article with another, and that to deny any one of these [Page 19] principles, is the next degree to infidelity. Wee may farther illu­strate this truth by this Article of the Re­surrection.

Hee that beleeves not this, beleeves all other things in vaine; for if there bee no Re­surrection from death, then can he receive no reward of his faith. Nay I will take the note a little higher; He that beleeves not this, beleeves no other Article of his Creed; for (as our English Postiller hath obser­ved [Page 20] from Erasmus apt­ly) The whole Creed in grosse, & every par­cell thereof, argueth a resurrection. If there bee a God Almighty, then hee is just, and if just, then another reck­ning in another world; If a Iesus Christ who is our Saviour, then must hee dissolve the workes of Satan, sinne and death. If an Holy Ghost, then all his holy Temples which have glorified him here, shall bee glori­fied of him hereafter. If a Church which is [Page 21] holy, then a Remission of sins, a Resurrection of the body, a life ever­lasting.

Thus doe wee see how this Primarium E­vangelii caput, this pre­dominant Article pre­supposeth all the rest: how it is, Nexus Arti­culorum omnium, the ty­ing knot on which all other links of holy Faith depend. By this hand is religion held up by the head. This is the anchor of our hope, the reference of our faith, the certainty of our salvation, and [Page 22] the very dore of the Kingdome of heaven.

From this mine ari­seth another treasure: it is worth our obser­vation, how this Ar­ticle of the Resurrecti­on is placed betweene the Article of the Re­mission of sinnes, and the other of Everla­sting life; teaching us, that then only the Re­surrection of the body is a benefit, when Re­mission of sins goeth before, & eternall life followeth after: for as the Resurrection is se­pes Fidej, so eternall [Page 23] life is Corona Fidej.

In this, as in each parcell of the Creed are two maine things observable.

First the Act, which is to beleeve, therefore Credo must be applyed to every Article, Pides est tota copulativa. Se­condly, the object, which is the ensuing Article. In the Act, is the personality, which is faiths possessive [E­go] I beleeve; This was Iobs Creed, Scio quod Redemptor n [...] I know that my Re­deemer liveth. I must [Page 24] (saith one) put all men in my Pater noster, only my selfe in my Creed; My prayer must bee like the penny, which Peter found in the fishes mouth, with which Christ bid him pay tribute pro me & te; I must pray for o­thers, beleeve for my selfe. No mans faith can do mee good, but mine owne; for I can­not beleeve by an at­torney, nor be saved by a proxie. When doubting Thomas foūd his faith at his fingers ends, then did hee cry [Page 25] out with an holy ap­propriation, my Lord, and my God, ( Vt bre­vissima sit absolutissima confessio, saith Bullinger) for hee did utter that in two words which is the contents of the two Testaments, and summe of all summes of Faith and holy be­leefe. That living car­casse (whom formerly wee mentioned) hee that was even poore to a proverbe, was en­riched with this sin­gular faith, Iob 19.26. I shall see God in my flesh, id est (as it is excellently [Page 26] glossed on) I in my flesh shall see God, or, Videbo Deum in carne, h. e. Deum incarnatum, I shall see God, having taken flesh on him. If I have this faith in particularity, and can apply things generall to mine owne com­fort, then God even my God shall give me his blessing: Et non est haec superbia Elati, sed confessio non ingrati.

From the Act, we re­move our meditations to the object: and here wee will first explaine those two Emphatical [Page 27] termes

• 1 Resurrectio­nem.
• 2 Carnis.

For in these models & summaries of Chri­stian doctrine, there is weight in every word, we must therfore here­in imitate the finers of pure gold, Qui non tan­tum auri massas tollunt, verum & bracteolas par­vas, that make use not only of the wedge, but even of the smal­lest foile or rayes, that their mettall casteth.

Resurrection is pro­perly a rising againe upon a fall taken: for [Page 28] this praeposition [Re] (as it hath beene no­ted, B. of Wimō. by a pious and learned Father of our Church) doth ever im­ply, not only Againe, but Againe, as it were upon a losse, not se­cond onely, but a se­cond upon the failing of the first; as Redemp­tion a buying againe upon a former alie­ning, Reconciliation upon a former falling out; Orthod. fid. lib. 4. ca. 28. Restitution up­on a former attainder; Resurrection upon a fall taken formerly: to this suites well the [Page 29] definition of it given by Damascen, [...]; Resurrection is a second quickening or setting up againe of that which first fell; Resurget quod prius ce­cidit.

In this word then [Resurrection] we do find the strength and sinewes of an argu­ment. If the body rise it must first fall: in this is implicitly wo­ven up a confessed truth; That all men must dye the first death; Debemur morti [Page 30] nos nosiraque, to dye is as true, as good a debt as any the world knowes; for the levy­ing of which debt (as one excellently, and with a silver pen) there is an extent upon all mankind; and a Sta­tute recorded by Saint Paul, Statutū est omnibus semel mori; This a de­cree not to bee rever­sed, a debt not possible to be declined.

Here might I have store of rich cloath, to apparel my lines with­all, but lest the hemme should be bigger than [Page 31] the garment, I have taken no more than what is suitable to my purpose.

My second observa­tion is, that in this common cognizance of our faith, in this Article of my Creed, I do not say at large, I beleeve a Resurrecti­on, but more strictly, more expressely thus, Credo resurrectionē car­nis, I beleeve the resur­rection of the flesh [Carnis scilicet non Ani­mae] This word Resur­rection doth properly belong to the body; [Page 32] the body that fals must rise.

To thinke that our soules shall sleepe in dust, as our bodies doe till the last doome, is but a dreame of the Anabaptists (the spawne of the ancient Arabicks) Ne in somni­um quidem cadit anima cum corpore, quomodo er­go in ueritatem mortis cadet, quae nec in imagi­nem ejus ruit, saith Ter­tullian: and experience tels me, that my soule while it is now like the Arke of God, In me­dio pellium in these wals [Page 33] of flesh, hath her owne working and lively o­peration, even then when the Publican ar­resteth my body, while my senses are impriso­ned in the bands of sleepe.

For the mind of mā is a restlesse thing, Of the im­mortality of the Soule. and though it give the body leave to repose it selfe, as knowing it is a mortall and earthly part, yet it selfe being a spirit & therfore active and indefatigable is e­ver in motion, it hath no rise at all from this clay; It sleepes not in [Page 34] a living body, there­fore it shall not sleepe in a dead body, it is made of an everlasting nature; As Gods eter­nall decrees have an end without a begin­ning, so the soule of man hath beginning without an end. It hath beginning to live it shall have no time to dye. There is in­deed a death of the Soule, not that it ceaseth to bee, but when it ceaseth to bee righteous; Habet & anima mortem suam cum vitâ beatâ caret, quae [Page 35] vera animae vita dicen­da est, saith Augustine; consonant to this is that genuine and pro­per interpretation of those words of the E­vangelist; what will it profit a man to gaine the whole world, and lose his soule: Perde­re animam, saith the glosse, Est non ut non sit, sed ne male sit; for the soule being immor­tall is capable of E­ternal, either Felicity, or Misery, and what­soever life: it liveth, yet it never ceaseth to live.

I have briefely set down the riches of the observatiōs that natu­rally arise from the ex­plication of these two termes; both which I find comprised in one verse, Psal. 16.20. Thou wilt not leave my soule in grave, [there's the Im­mortality of the soule] nor suffer the holy one to see corruption [there's the Resurrection of the body.] This Da­vid knowing before (saith the Scripture) spake of the Resurre­ction of Christ, the accomplishment of [Page 37] which prophecy is of­ten repeated in the new Testament; Act. 2.31. Act. 13.35. how­beit David after hee had served his time, by the Counsell of God, hee slept, and was layd with his Fa­thers and saw corrup­tion: yet by the vertue of an insitiō into that Christ, whose sacred body the Lord preser­ved from the least pu­trefaction, the Pro­phet apprehends a cer­taine hope of the Re­surrection of his owne flesh to Immortality, and assures himselfe, [Page 38] 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 [Page 40] 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 [Page 42] 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, [Page 43] 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 [Page 44] 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 [Page 45] 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 [Page 46] 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, [Page 47] 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 [Page 48] 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, [Page 49] 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, [Page 50] 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 [Page 51] 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 [Page 52] 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, [Page 53] 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 [Page 54] 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 [Page 55] 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, [Page 56] 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 [Page 57] was a King at his death, so Pilate wrote his inscriptiō 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 [Page 58] 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, [Page 59] 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 [Page 60] 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 [Page 61] 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 [Page 62] 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 silēce. 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, [Page 63] 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 Evāgelist 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 [Page 64] was a pledge and ear­nest of it. As many rose with him, so some before him, but all the Resurrectiōs 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 [Page 65] our Resurrection, Christus e [...] 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 & exēplar, but also, fidej iussor, yea Chirogra­phum [Page 66] 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 [Page 67] 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 [Page 68] 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 Lāds 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 [Page 69] 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 [Page 70] 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) [Page 71] 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 [Page 72] 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; [Page 73] 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 [Page 76] 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 [Page 77] 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 [Page 78] 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 [Page 79] 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 [Page 80] 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 [Page 81] 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, [Page 82] 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 [Page 83] 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 [Page 84] 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. [Page 85] 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 [Page 86] 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 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 [Page 87] 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 [Page 88] 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 [Page 89] 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 [Page 90] 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 [Page 91] 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 cō ­plaine of the measure, when we acknowledge the recompence; Af­flictiōs are the flowers of eternall felicity, and who would not willingly gather the [Page 93] 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, [Page 94] 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 [Page 95] 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 [Page 96] 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, [Page 97] 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. [Page 98] 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, [Page 99] 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) [Page 100] 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 [Page 101] 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 [Page 102] Christs confessors, & his crucifiers, but the end of their Resurre­ction shall bee diffe­rent; the one to glory, the other to shame: which was properly fi­gured in Pharaohs two servants, Gen. 40. the Baker, and the Butler; both of them were taken out of prison, but the one to bee restored to his office to minister be­fore the King, the o­ther to bee put to death. So shall both the godly and the wic­ked come out of their graves, the one, Rapi [Page 103] in occursum, to meete their Saviour in the clouds, the other, ver­ti retrorsum; to be tur­ned down to hell with all the people that for­get God.

But I will not straine this note. I have the rather touched upon it, because it is one of those, Quantuor nocissi­ma, which wee should still have in remem­brance: for after death commeth judgement, whose forerunner is the universall Resur­rection.

The day of death; [Page 104] and the day of doome are the two Pole-starrs on which wee pilgrimes and travel­lers on earth should fix our eyes. May my soule still keep on this wing, Dan. 6.10. may my heart be like Daniels win­dow which was open in his chamber toward Ierusalem; may I oft repose my selfe on the rose bed of this con­templation; for they that never have any holy whisperings with God, that never walk up to Mount Ta­bor, into some retired [Page 105] place of meditation and prayer, (such as Isaacks field, Cornelius his Leads, Davids Closset) carry their soules in their bodies, as Iosephs brethren did their money in their sacks, and know not what Treasure they have. And here for me­thode have I occasion given to treate.

CHAP. 5. Of Sadducisme and o­ther heresies which flat­ly oppose this Article of the Resurrection.

SVperstition and Atheisme are the two extreames of Religion; the Pha­rises ran on the Rocke of the one, and the Sadduces sunke in the Sand-beds of the o­ther.

This grosse errour of Sadducisme crept into Moses chaire, ma­ny of the high Priests themselves, as Ioannes Hircanus; with his sons Alexander and Aristo­bulus, and likewise A­naus the younger were of this Sect.

To shew the origi­nall & occasion of this heresie, I must open an antiquity, and take up a story, as I finde it already related to my hands. The Sadduces were so called from Sadoc, the first Author of this heresie; this [Page 108] Sadoc lived under An­tigonus Sochaeus, who not long after the daies of Nehemial was the chiefest Rabbin in the great Synagogue at Ierusalem; this An­tigonus gravely instru­cting his Disciples, that they should not be of servile mindes, or doe their duties for hope of reward: His Schollers hearing this desired him to ex­pound his mind more fully, whereupon hee added, that men must not expect the re­compence of a good [Page 109] life in this world, but stay for it untill the world to come: To these words Sadoc a chiefe disciple of his tooke exception, and said, Hee never heard of any such thing as the world to come; whereupon hee with his fellow Baithu [...] tur­ned Apostates, and re­paired to the schisma­ticall Temple built upon Mount Gerizim, and became principall Rabbins of the Sama­ritans. Amongst them did Sadoc first broach his heresie, and taught [Page 110] them that there was no Resurrection of the dead; because no im­mortality of the soule and spirit, and so con­sequently no judge­ment to come.

Will you have a fuller relation of their impiety, shall I pre­sent you with the pi­cture of a Sadduce as I find it curiously pen­selled out? Castly our eyes on the Table of that counterfeit Salo­mon, where you have him lively set forth in his proper colours. In his second Chapter of [Page 111] his Booke of Wisdome, hee recounts at large, the sensuall thoughts, the earthly conceits of all such Epicures and Atheists, Qui non ag­noscunt saeculum nisi prae­sens, and at length hee windes up all on this clew; such things doe they imagine, and goe astray, for their owne wickednes hath blin­ded them; verse 21. yea so blinded them, that as they live like beasts, so they ima­gin they shal dye like beasts; that they shall not onely mori but per [Page 112] mori, dye like Oxen knocked on the head, that they shall be an­nihilated, and there­fore they dance after this pipe, Let us eate and drinke for to mor­row we shall dye. 1 Cor. 15.32. Nay the Apostle hath it in the present tence [...] morimur, to not the sensuality of these wretches, who think that their soules and bodies shall bee quite extinguished to­gether.

But on rotten joists is this foūdation laid. Our blessed Saviour [Page 113] with the modesty of truth hath long since confuted this bold & broad fac'd heresie of the Sadduces. Wee reade, Math. 22. That he put them to silēce; the Originall is signi­ficant [...] hee brid­led their mouthes; which is a phrase bor­rowed from fierce and stomackefull horses, which beeing held in by a strong bit, be­come subject perforce to the wil of the rider. Hee that spake as ne­ver man spake so resol­ved their doubts, and [Page 114] dissolved their so­phismes, that they were tongue-ride, had not a word to returne upon him.

It is farther obser­vable how our Savior in that place fits his Answer to the Questi­onists, and concludes most evidently against thē, by pressing them with their owne prin­cipalls. Concerning the Resurrection of the dead he prooves it not out of the Pro­phets, but drawes his Argument out of Ex­odus, Exod. 3.6. For wheras the Sad­duces [Page 115] rejected all Scrip­ture, save onely the Pen­tateuchi, Christ dis­putes with them in their owne Canons, and makes Moses give them an answer, whose authority was sacred with them.

The Pharisees in their Doctrine were much neerer the truth than the Sadduces, for they confessed that there were Angels and Spirits, they acknow­ledged the Resurrecti­on of the dead: Here­upon Saint Paul per­ceiving, that in the [Page 116] Councell the one part were Saduces, Act. 23.6. the o­ther Pharisees, cryed out of the hope [ id est, of the reward expect­ed] and of the Resur­rection of the dead I am called in question; yet though these Se­ctaries had a branch of the Tree of know­ledged, they bowed the sprig the wrong way; They taught that the soules of evill men de­ceased departed into everlasting punish­ment; but the soules, said they, of good men by a kinde of Py­thagorian [Page 117] transmigra­tion into other good mens bodies. Of which Opinion Herod may seeme to have beene; for when newes was brought him of Christ, hee said that Iohn the Baptist being be [...] ­ded, was risen againe; thinking that the soul of the Baptist was pas­sed into the body of Iesus? Hence againe arose the like diffe­rent opinions concer­ning our Savior, some saying hee was Elias, Mat. 16.14. others Ieremias, as if Christs body had bin [Page 118] animated by the soule either of Iohn, Elias, or Ieremias.

It were a world to rake up the old errors of all such as have drawn in the same line it were infinite to tra­duce the fond con­ceits of the Saturni­ans, Basilidians, and those whom Tertulli­an calls Partiatios Sad­ducaeorum, or Semi-Sadduces. But I for­beare to set down fan­cies for truths, I wil­lingly spare that oyle: for as it was noted by some as a token of [Page 119] Gods speciall provi­dence, that Saint Au­gustine & Pelagius the heretike should come into the world much about one yeere, that the Antidote might bee contemporary with the poyson: so truth in all ages hath beene justified by her children, and our Church hath ever found some Advocate to plead her cause, so that the gates of Hell (which Origen well ex­pounds to be blasphe­ming heresies) shall never prevaile against it.

And here may wee cast a Dart at the Sad­duces and Epicures of our times, for these be not the names of a na­tion, but of a disposi­tion, every Countrey may have a Sadduce, every Table an Epi­cure [...]. This heresie is every day brought on the stage, and is but vetus fabula per novos histrio­nes, the same play act­ed againe by other Actors.

The palliated hypo­pocrite that gives God the complement of a [Page 121] fashionable profession who weares Christs livery, but serves the Devill, is a Sadduce, all his holinesse is but theatricall and perso­nate, a stage-devotion, he doth but play Reli­gion: by his [...] his rough cast counte­nance he deceives the world. Sir Thomas Moore. It was plea­santly spoken by him, who said of a vitious Priest, that hee would not for any thing re­peat the Creed, lest he should make him call the Articles of his Faith into question, [Page 122] Quis audiet illum do­centem, qui seipsum non audit?

He that daily feeds on cibos desiderij, whose lushious appe­tite walkes from dish to dish, Et pittisando totum consumit diem, as if his soule (which some Philosophers held) were made of salt, is an Epicure that digges his grave with his teeth, and adoreth Deum stercorarium, he makes his belly his God. This argument is too demonstrative, it shall content mee [Page 123] onely to glance at the generality of so copi­ous a theame. Surely this loosenesse of li­ving ariseth from the self-perswasion of the mortality of the soule; that is the Nilus, wher­in this Crocodile is bred for as Tertullian well, Nemo tam carnaliter vi­vit quam qui negat re­surrectionem carnis.

On the contrary, he whose mind is deeply seasoned with a medi­tation of our humane frailty, doth so live, Tanquam Ephemeridem Deo traditurus, every [Page 124] day beeing ready to give an account to his God; hee considers that this world, for all the World, is like a Globe of Chrystall, which though it take the eye with variety, and delights of ob­jects, yet the glory thereof is but little and brittle.

Wee reade in the Acts that Agrippa and Bernice came into the place where Pauls cause was to be heard, Act. 25.23. with great pompe, it is in the originall [...] intima­ting [Page 125] thus much, that the glory and pompe of this world, is but a phansie, a dream. This life is but saeculi falsi vita (as the Heathen man spake) but the hope of the life im­mortall is the life of this hope mortall.

In the language of Canaan, in the Scrip­ture phrase, death is called a change, Iob 14. In the third of Iames we read of [...], i. e. (as the word carrieth it) the wheele of our nature; this wheele turneth a­pace, [Page 126] and daily turnes off some, and we know not how soon our turn will come. Our estate in this life is like the verticall Dyall which sheweth neither our Ortum or Occasum, our Genesis or our Exodus, our comming into the world, or the time when we are to go out of it: But our estate in the life to come is like the Horizontall Dyall, upon which the Sun shineth alwayes, there shall the Sunne of righteousnesse for ever shine, and in his [Page 127] light shall wee see light.

I have dwelt long on this subject, and am loath to part with so sweet a meditation; but lest I strike too much on the same string, which is a fault in musicke, I will like a skilfull Gardner de­light your eyes with variety of objects, and in this maze shew an order in confusion; and because the Arti­cles of our faith are not only Credenda, but Credibilia, I will see what fruit I can pluck [Page 128] for our purpose, from the Tree of Pophiry, I will fetch some Argu­ments frō the schools, and give you a sight.

CHAP. 6. Of many resemblances in the booke of Nature of our Resurrection.

IF we borrow some Iewels from the Aegyptians, and search the writings of prophane Authors, we shall often find some shadow of holy hi­story among the Hea­then. Plato Moses alter Moses Atticus.

Plato the divine a­mongst [Page 130] the Philoso­phers (as it is observed by one, who sweetly descants on the songs of Sion, which Ionas sung in a strange land, when he was impriso­ned in a living tombe, within a Chrystall cage) this Moses a­mongst the Athenians differeth but a little in describing the Nature of the god-head, from that other Moses, which was as I may so say (absit invidia verbo) a Plato amongst the He­brewes, each of them doth but a little vary [Page 131] the Article, The one writes [...], He that is, the other [...], That that is; From whence wee may take up this note, when God had a purpose to re­veale his eternity to Moses, hee chose to do it by a word, which being but one syllable amongst the Greeks doth notwithstanding signify and containe three times, that which is past, that which is present, that which is to come; all which are indistinct in God, because hee is [Page 132] not changed, but is yesterday, to day, and the same for ever more, for in Gods Grammer as it is wit tily said, there are no lerters, but [...]. and [...]. no Nowne but Boni­tas, no Pronoune but Ipse, no Verbe but Sum, no Adverbe but Nunc.

But to leave genera­lities, and to returne to the head of our race where wee first began. In this point of reuni­ting the soule with the body, this Athenian Eagle hath soared higher than any other [Page 133] of the Philosophers, Anma Pla­tonicus. for hee held that in the revolution of so many yeeres, men should be in the same estate wherein they were be­fore, which is obscure­ly drawne from the Re­surrection; when wee shall bee in [...], Math, 19 28. as wee were in [...].

The Principall Se­cretary in nature, & di­ctator of reason, holds the immortality of the soule, and consequent­ly strong reasons even from his own axiomes and rules of Philoso­phy may bee derived [Page 134] to confirme the Resur­rection of the body. For if wee admit the soule to bee immor­tall, then it must ne­cessarily follow that the body, as the Or­ganon or instrument thereof bee revnited thereunto. The soule was not made to live to it selfe, but in the body, and resteth not fully content so long as she wanteth her cō ­panion. Secondly, the soule separated from the body is imperfect, Et nulla res imperfecta est capax perfectae falici­tatis. [Page 135] Thirdly, Non est perpetuum quod est con­tra naturam; but it is contrary to the nature of a mans soule to be separated from the bo­dy, seing it is [...], the perfecting act thereof; wherfore the Soule cannot be con­tinually separated, but must necessarily re­sume the body.

It is not my intent to leade my Reader in­to the Lycaeum of the Peripateticks, or the Gallery of the Sto­icks, or the Tusculatum of the Oratour. The [Page 136] season of the yeere doth now invite us with Isaack into the fields, and with Ioseph of Aramathea into our gardens: And here (as it hath ever beene the guise of godly men from the beholding of worldly things to be­get heavēly thoughts, to turne the sight of e­very solemnity into a Schoole of Divinity, and from things they see here downeward, to make a prospect up­wards) whatsoever is presented to our eyes, may be an Embleme [Page 137] to us of our resurrecti­on. How doth it feed us with delight, to view the trees apparel­led with a fresh beau­ty? to see,

For what is the Spring, but as Tertul­lian calleth it the re­surrectiō of the yeere? and it is no way con­sonant [Page 138] to reason, that man for whom all o­ther things doe [...], shoote forth, wax fresh, spring and rise againe, should not have his spring and ri­sing too.

The whole creature doth write a commen­tary to give us com­fort in this point; but principally the Arabi­an Phenix that sole bird of wonder; The Phae­nix. never did the Roman Empe­rors lye in their beds in greater state, when in their [...], they were to bee burnt, and [Page 139] changed to Gods, then she doth consume her­selfe in cost, because shee knowes she shall bee revived. By all wri­ters she hath ever been held a type of our glo­rious Resurrection: In the 91. Psalme it is said, [...], In the vulgar translation wee reade it, hee shall flourish like the palme, but it may be translated, hee shall flourish like the Phenix, for the greeke word [...], admitts of both significations.

Dies diei discipulus, [Page 140] one day teacheth ano­ther, and one night certifieth another, each day dieth into the night, and riseth into the morning a­gaine, these vicissi­tudes of times, and re­volutions of seasons, are but so many deaths and so many resurre­ctions.

Homo est nummus Dei, Man is Gods coine stamped with his I­mage. Nazianzen spea­king of Rulers, as of the Image of God, compareth the High­est to pictures drawne [Page 141] cleane through even to the feet; the middle sort, to halfe pictures drawne to the girdle; the meanest to the les­ser sort of pictures drawn but to the necke and shoulders: But all in some degree carry his Image, as well the poore penny, as the coine of gold. In these lively pictures of ours may wee see some sha­dow, some resemblāce of our future Resurre­ction, doe not our nails pared, & our haire being cut grow a­gaine? And if these [Page 143] dead parts of the body bee restored by the or­dinary power of God in nature, much more shall his mighty pow­er restore the bodies of men; hath God given me the security of the very haires of my head, and shall I distrust him for the raising of my body?

These and the like meditations are armor of proofe against the feare of death. Pulvis es, & in pulverem rever­teris, is Mans Epitaph writtē with Gods own finger.— Libenter mor­talis [Page 142] sum, quisim futurus immortalis, is a faith­full mans suscription and reply.

I might here with­out disgression record what I find upon file, many memorable say­ings, Apothegmata me­rientium, and novissima verba, the last breath of such Seraphycall Zelots, as have gone to heaven, [...], with some sentence of piety in their mouthes, with good words in their lips, and like so many dying swans have war­bled [Page 144] out their soules into the hāds of God. But this field hath bin already reaped to my hand.

Since an Angell sate on our Saviours grave, and proclamed those good tidings— Resurre­xit non est hic, wee have added to our tombe­stones too Hic jacet-this happy clause- speresurgendi; for wee know that the bodies of the dead are not lost but layed up, that they doe not perish but rest in hope, that the sepulchers are not [Page 145] gulfes to swallow thē, but repositaries to keep thē; therfore do the Germans wittily call the Church-yard Gods acker, because the bodies are sowne there to bee raised up againe.

Securus moritur qui scit se morte renasci.

Soules take your rest, whose soule in heavens at­tends,

A blest reunion of two loving friends.

When Christ shall come with a Prodi La­zare, the graves shall set ope their marble [Page 146] doores; when the Ark-Angell shall sound the trump of collectiō, the scatter'd bones of the Saints shalbe gathered together with sinewes, and those sinewes in­corporated with flesh, and that flesh covered o're with skin, and by a new Metempsycosis or rather [...], such as Pythagoras never dream'd of, the same soule shall reenter in­to the same body.

But of the perfect restauration of our bo­dyes, and glory of our soules, wee shall dis­course [Page 147] more largely in the close of our medi­tations.

Before I unlade my ship, and put her into the creeke, before I lodge my colours, I should collect some­thing by way of refu­tation from the absur­dities that arise from the deniall of this truth. The blessed A­postle hath set them downe at large in his Epistle to the Corinthians, to which most comfortable Chapter (wherein is store of Manna, for the soule [Page 148] to feed on) I referre my Reader. To com­ment upon each of those texts were to set up a candle before the Sunne; many of them being plaine and easy to bee understood. I will only select one period of harder con­struction, and give you, the.

CHAP. 7. Divers readings and in­terpretations of those words, 1 Cor. 15.29. Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, Or [as others] baptized for dead, if the dead rise not at all, &c.

SOME Chymi­call wits (as the Advocates of Rome) have extracted from hence a proofe [Page 150] of their Purgatory; as Stapleton and that Franciscane in the Treatise of the fiery Torrent; Du Moulin in his con­fut. of Pur­gat. p. 268. who disgui­sing the passage thus, what shall they doe that baptize them­selves for the dead; ex­pound that which they have corrupted in this manner, To baptize ones selfe signifieth to doe laborious and sa­tisfactory workes for the dead, and withall wee must understand, that it is to fetch them out of Purgato­ry. How fruitfull is [Page 151] errour of absurdities? But [...] will not sit on the skirts of this firy hil, since Nabuchadnez­zar cannot interpret his owne dreame, nor the learnedst of our Adversaries cannot a­read us their owne rid­dle, this Somnium Mo­nachorum; nor resolve us concerning this mathematicall and i­maginary fire; either where it is, or what it is: This ignis fatuus hath been sufficiently quenched by the wa­ters of Shilo, which have abundantly flow­ed [Page 152] from the best pen of France.

Thomas Aquinas, by the dead understan­deth sinnes, which are dead workes; as if the Apostle had said, why are they baptized for the abolishing of sin whereby death com­meth, and which bee­ing removed, death shall prevaile no more.

Others, as Claudius Guiliandus understan­deth it of Martyrdome for the faith of the re­surrectiō, because our Saviour speaking of suffering Martyrdome [Page 153] to the ambitious sons of Zebede, said, can ye be baptized with my baptisme.

These Expositions are far fetched. In this and the like places of Scripture, we must e­ven have Oculos ad sen­sum: for the occasion of speaking is the best key to every speech; we will therfore weave this web a little clo­ser.

In the translation and interpretation of these words Exposi­ters vary. I will strike the severall flints, each [Page 154] of them may afford a sparke to give some light.

[...], are translated by some, baptized over the dead, as though it had beene the man­ner of some to bap­tize over the graves of the dead, to cherish their hope of resurre­ction. If it might ap­peare to have beene so by any History, this would at once decide all controversies: But (as a moderne writer descanting upon this Exposition of Luther [Page 155] hath observed) none hath made mention of any such thing, and if we looke into the Re­gister of Gods owne Record, we shall finde that places of much Water, were raither chose to baptize in, as Iordan, and Iohn the Baptist is said to have baptized by Enon be­sides Salim, because there was much water there: Ioh. 3.23. And S. Luke re­ports that the great Eu­nuch of Ethiopia went into the water & came out of the water at his baptisme, Act. 8.38, 39.

Others thinke that the Apostle here seems to allude to the anci­ent custome of the faithfull Iewes, who to strengthen them­selves in the hope of the resurrection, used to wash the bodies of their dead, and then [...] to embalm them before they bu­ried them. As though the Apostle would prove there is a resur­rection of the body, from this custome, see­ing otherwise this wa­shing should bee in vaine. Though this cō ­struction [Page 157] bee of some weight, yet it is not sufficiently agreeable to the phrase the A­postle here useth.

Calvin (according to the explication of Epiphanius upon the Text) interpreteth the Apostles words, as though he should rea­son from the custome of such converts and beginners in Religion, as neglecting baptis­me over-long, yet when their death ap­proached, made haste to bee baptized that their bodies might be [Page 158] washed and cleansed against the joyfull day of the Resurrection. Though the interpre­tation bee not lightly to bee passed by, yet I cannot rest in it, as in that which the Apo­stle should make his Epicherema & ground of his reason; and Master Calvin himself, worthily condemneth them, that should so deferre their baptisme till their going out of this life.

Francis Iunius rich in languages, and sub­till in distinguishing, [Page 159] hath observed, that this particle [...], though it be usually and righ­tly transtlated [Super] may neverthelesse (ac­cording to the use of the same both Greeke and Latin praepositi­on, in Greeke and La­tin writers) bee taken here for [ Praeter be­sides] or in significa­tion of [ Insuper More­over] as noting the cōtinuance of the Sa­crament of Baptisme, in the Church, by a constant course, for the comfort of the living still, like as it was [Page 160] found to bee of com­fortable use to those that were dead, so long as they were alive; as though the words of the Apostle were to be read thus, Else what doe they, which are baptized still, or more­over and beside those that are already dead; because otherwise it might bee inferred, that unlesse the dead should rise againe, neither have the dead any fruit of Baptisme abiding them, to wit in respect of their bo­dies, and so shall bee [Page 161] disappointed of that which they looked for by faith; neither have the living any reason, at least in respect of the body, why it should bee continued amongst them. And this may the dou­bling of the Questi­on by the Apostle im­port. Else what shall they doe, that are bap­tized, [ viz. such as are already dead] and a­gaine, why are they [namely the living be­ing alive] yet Bapti­zed. Saint Ambrose un­derstands this place of [Page 162] a Sacramentall wa­shing, applyed unto some living man, in the name and behalfe of his friend dying without Baptisme, out of a superstitious con­ceit, that the Sacra­ment thus conferred to one alive in the name of the deceased, might bee available for the other dying unbaptized; As if the Apostle did here wound the superstiti­ous Corinthians with their owne quils, and prove the Resurrecti­on of the dead, from [Page 163] their owne erroneous practice, telling them in effect, that their usuall, (but misgroun­ded) and superstitious custome of baptizing the living were in vaine, if there were no Resurrection.

Thus have I briefly set before your eyes, what curious threads have beene drawne by expert workmen from this woofe of Scrip­ture. Other Truth men herein have laboured, and we have entred in­to their labours.

I have here, I con­fesse, [Page 164] presented a Caena dubia, let each man please his own pallat; If any shall demand my sentence, (Etiam & culices circumvolent cum apibus) I doe here­in subscribe to the in­terpretation given by du Moulin, which (with submissiō of my Iudg­ment) I take to bee proper and genuine; Nor do I obtrude this explicatiō on my Rea­der as Magisteriall, but leave him if this sense satisfy not, to his father disquisition.

The sense of these [Page 165] words (saith he) must bee taken of the A­postles intent. His in­tent was to prove the Resurrection, hither­to hee implyeth Bap­tisme, which in those dayes was celebrated, (as may appeare in the monuments of Ec­clesiasticall History) by dipping and as it were diving, Magde­burg. cant. 14. cap. 16. col. 234. by plon­ging the whole body in water, in token that wee are in death. And the comming forth of the water, representeth the Resurrection. S. Pauls meaning is, that [Page 166] this signe were in vaine if there were no Resurrection, and that in vain we are baptized for dead, or as dead, and to represent unto us, that we be in death if there be no hope of the Resurrection.

And in this sense may wee understand the Greeke [ [...]] to bee used by the A­postle, as the Latin [Pro] is used in this and the like phrase, [habere pro derelicto] for hee which is baptized should bee baptized for dead, i. e. as one in [Page 167] a manner dead, even to dye more and more unto sinne, but to love more and more to God: because bap­tisme is a token of re­generation, the pawne and Image of our Re­surrection, as Saint Ambrose stiles it, Et per regenerationem cor­pora nostra Resurrectio­ni gloriae inaugurantur. Therfore saith the A­postle; are wee buried with Christ in Bap­tisme, Rom. 6.4. i. e. (as Ignatius expounds the phrase aright) beleeving in his death, wee are by [Page 168] baptisme made parta­kers of his resurrectiō.

And thus having endeavoured to cleare this obscure 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 [Page 170] 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 [Page 171] 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 [Page 172] 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 [Page 173] 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 [Page 174] 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 [Page 175] 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. [Page 176] 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 [Page 177] 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? [Page 817] 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 [Page 179] 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 [Page 180] 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, [Page 181] 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 'tis oppos'd to [Page 182] 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.

Riches and Honor [Page 183] 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 [Page 184] 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 apple of con­tention grow between God and us. It is Na­zianzens note upon that divine Anthemne [Page 185] of three parts (which Saint Luke the Evan­gelist and Psalmist of the new Testament, Luke 2.14. re­cords) Pugnas & dissi­dia nescire Deum & An­gelos, no broiles, no brables in Heaven.

There shall the soule bee satisfied in all her desires, there shall bee no Actuall or Poten­tiall evill; no Actuall, because grace being consummate in the Saints excludes al sin; No Potentiall, for they being confirmed in goodnesse cannot sinne. There shall bee [Page 186] no sorrow, nor teares which are the effects of sorrow, those rivers of our eyes shall bee dried up; There shall be no more death, for Resurrectio eri [...] mors mortis; At that Iubile of glory victus vincet, the Conqueror shall bee disarmed, and wee whom death hath o­vercome, shall over­come death.

And now having sung deaths Epitaph, & sounded the victo­ry, I retreit, This [...], shall bee my con­clusion; were my Inke [Page 187] nectar, or my pen takē from the wing of an Angell, I could not set forth to the life the joyes of the life immortall.

This casteth me in­to an extasis, and ma­keth me imagine some great matter I cannot well expresse, what! Silence shall bee my Eloquence; what I comprehend I will ad­mire, and what I com­prehend not I will more admire.