Credo Resurrectionem CARNIS. A Tractate on the eleventh Article of the Apostles Creed. By W. H. Esquire sometimes of Peter-house in Cambridge. skull with wings SPES ADDIDIT ALAS. LONDON, Printed by E. P. for N. Bourne, and are to be sold at his Shop, at the South Entrance of the Royal Exchange, 1633. Credo Resurrectionem Carnis. CHAP. I. Of the Creed in general. WHat Origen said of the invention of hieroglyphical Learning, Origen. Hom. 7. in Exod. may not unfitly be applied to these Breviaries and Epitomes of Holy Writ, like the jews Manna, they fall down in round and small cakes, yet afford good nourishment; Like rich jewels, they carry worth in every spark, and in these little maps is contained a world of matter. As those decem verba, the short Law of the Decalogue, is a pattern of all duties to be done; As that Oratio quotidiana, authorized by our Saviour's lips, is the curious Archetype, & masterpiece of all prayer, the common place, the original copy, the platform of all requests to be made; So the Apostolical Creed is a plain and absolute sum 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 be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith; which faith except every one keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. It is called Apostolical, because it summarily contains the chief and principal 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 Creed; as the four Gospels, are indeed but one Gospel; so the Apostolical, 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 handful of holy flowers which are called from the several beds of that spacious garden of the sacred Scripture; here is collected into one fair body, the substance and sweetness of all those divine mysteries which either lie hidden or scattered in the volume of holy writ. This is that Parvulus judex the little judge in matters of quarrel about religion: for what doctrine soever is contrary to the Analogy of faith in these things, aught and must be rejected. If a fool say in his heart, there is no God, If a jew deny Christ, If an Epicure believe not a life everlasting, If a Cain deny the remission of sins, 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 fearfully perish without his mercy to recall them. The matter or object of the Creed concerneth, 1 God, 2 Church, First God 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 Catholic. Article 9 3 Knit in a Communion. Article 9 Prerogatives. In the soul, remission of sins, Art. 10. In the body, resurrection, Art. 11. Body & soul, everlasting life, Art. 12. These be the twelve signs in the Zodiac of our faith, through which passeth Christ jesus, the Sun of righteousness. O never may the clouds of infidelity darken or eclipse his beams. These twelve Articles are so necessary and so linked together, that he that denyeth one by consequent denyeth all, because that of any one so denied, the denial of the very foundation of our faith is straightly inferred, He that with Martion denyeth the Humanity of Christ, may be easily convinced to deny the passion of Christ, because the Godhead is impassable; & he that with Ebion denyeth the Deity of Christ, may with the like facility be convinced to deny the Resurrection of Christ, because the manhood only never had been able to raise itself from the dead. Rom. 1.4. And he that denyeth the Resurrection of Christ, cannot believe his Ascension; because the Apostle telleth us, (Ephes. 4.9.) that he which ascended, is the same which descended first into the lower parts of the Earth. By this manifest inference, may we plainly see the connexion of these Articles. If ye deny one, ye deny all; and if ye renounce any one, ye cannot be saved. But I will not take a large survey in a small plot, It's a good rule to be observed by booke-writers which a great master in oratory hath prescribed, ut titulum legant, to read the title of their books, and often to ask themselves what they have begun to handle. From this main sea, I will therefore strike into a little channel: and having drunk of the brook in the way, and given a taste of the Creed in general, I descend to this particular Article, which is the subject of our following Treatise. CHAP. 2. Each term in this eleventh Article remarkable, from the explication of which is inferred the immortality of the Soul, and consequently of the rising again of the body. IN our precedent Chapter we shown the dependency of one Article with another, and that to deny any one of these principles, is the next degree to infidelity. We may farther illustrate this truth by this Article of the Resurrection. He that believes not this, believes all other things in vain; for if there be no Resurrection from death, then can he receive no reward of his faith. Nay I will take the note a little higher; He that believes not this, believes no other Article of his Creed; for (as our English Postiller hath observed from Erasmus aptly) The whole Creed in gross, & every parcel thereof, argueth a resurrection. If there be a God Almighty, than he is just, and if just, than another reckoning in another world; If a jesus Christ who is our Saviour, then must he dissolve the works of Satan, sin and death. If an Holy Ghost, than all his holy Temples which have glorified him here, shall be glorified of him hereafter. If a Church which is holy, than a Remission of sins, a Resurrection of the body, a life everlasting. Thus do we 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 the very door of the Kingdom of heaven. From this mine ariseth another treasure: it is worth our observation, how this Article of the Resurrection is placed between the Article of the Remission of sins, 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, & eternal life followeth after: for as the Resurrection is sepes Fidej, so eternal life is Corona Fidej. In this, as in each parcel of the Creed are two main things observable. First the Act, which is to believe, therefore Credo must be applied 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 believe; This was jobs Creed, Scio quod Redemptor n●… I know that my Redeemer liveth. I must (saith one) put all men in my Pater noster, only myself in my Creed; My prayer must be 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, believe for myself. No man's faith can do me good, but mine own; for I cannot believe by an attorney, nor be saved by a proxy. When doubting Thomas found his faith at his finger's ends, than did he cry out with an holy appropriation, my Lord, and my God, ( brevissima sit absolutissima confessio, saith Bullinger) for he did utter that in two words which is the contents of the two Testaments, and sum of all sums of Faith and holy belief. That living carcase (whom formerly we mentioned) he that was even poor to a proverb, was enriched with this singular faith, job 19.26. I shall see God in my flesh, id est (as it is excellently 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 general to mine own comfort, than 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 we will first explain those two Emphatical terms 1 Resurrectionem. 2 Carnis. For in these models & summaries of Christian doctrine, there is weight in every word, we must therefore 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 foil or rays, that their mettle casteth. Resurrection is properly a rising again upon a fall taken: for this preposition [Re] (as it hath been noted, B. of Wimon. by a pious and learned Father of our Church) doth ever imply, not only Again, but Again, as it were upon a loss, not second only, but a second upon the failing of the first; as Redemption a buying again 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 suits well the definition of it given by Damascen, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Resurrection is a second quickening or setting up again of that which first fell; Resurget quod prius cecidit. In this word then [Resurrection] we do find the strength and sinews 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 nos nosiraque, to dye is as true, as good a debt as any the world knows; 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, Statutum est omnibus semel mori; This a decree not to be reversed, a debt not possible to be declined. Here might I have store of rich cloth, to apparel my lines withal, but lest the hem should be bigger than 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 believe a Resurrection, but more strictly, more expressly thus, Credo resurrectionem carnis, I believe the resurrection of the flesh [Carnis scilicet non Animae] This word Resurrection doth properly belong to the body; the body that falls must rise. To think that our souls shall sleep in dust, as our bodies do till the last doom, is but a dream of the Anabaptists (the spawn of the ancient Arabicks) Ne in somnium quidem cadit anima cum corpore, quomodo ergo in veritatem mortis cadet, quae nec in imaginem ejus ruit, saith Tertullian: and experience tells me, that my soul while it is now like the Ark of God, In medio pellium in these walls of flesh, hath her own working and lively operation, even then when the Publican arresteth my body, while my senses are imprisoned in the bands of sleep. For the mind of man is a restless thing, Of the immortality of the Soul. and though it give the body leave to repose itself, as knowing it is a mortal and earthly part, yet itself being a spirit & therefore active and indefatigable is ever in motion, it hath no rise at all from this clay; It sleeps not in a living body, therefore it shall not sleep in a dead body, it is made of an everlasting nature; As God's eternal decrees have an end without a beginning, so the soul 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 Soul, not that it ceaseth to be, but when it ceaseth to be righteous; Habet & anima mortem suam cum vitâ beatâ caret, quae 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 gain the whole world, and lose his soul: Perdere animam, saith the gloss, Est non ut non sit, sed ne male sit; for the soul being immortal is capable of Eternal, either Felicity, or Misery, and whatsoever life: it liveth, yet it never ceaseth to live. I have briefly set down the riches of the observations that naturally arise from the explication of these two terms; both which I find comprised in one verse, Psal. 16.20. Thou wilt not leave my soul in grave, [there's the Immortality of the soul] nor suffer the holy one to see corruption [there's the Resurrection of the body.] This David knowing before (saith the Scripture) spoke of the Resurrection of Christ, the accomplishment of which prophecy is often repeated in the new Testament; Act. 2.31. Act. 13.35. howbeit David after he had served his time, by the Counsel of God, he slept, and was laid with his Fathers and saw corruption: yet by the virtue of an insition into that Christ, whose sacred body the Lord preserved from the least putrefaction, the Prophet apprehends a certain hope of the Resurrection of his own flesh to Immortality, and assures himself, 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 rottenness, but be raised again in glory. This meditation leads me by the hand to treat of our Saviour's Resurrection, being pertinent and conducing to the series of our discourse. CHAP. 3. Christ's Resurrection manifested by the testimony of Angels, by his own 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 Herald from Heaven, so all the Evangelists testify. Sonuit de sepulchro vox laetitiae, never before was heard such news from the grave, but at that time, when an Angel was the preacher; his Sermon, Christ is risen; his Auditory, Marry Magdalen and other devout women. To discourse at large of those celestial, and immortal spirits, comes not within the compass of my walk, 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 household servants, his pages of honour which he sends on his holy errands, the sacred tutors of the Saints, the guard of Gods elect, the watchmen over the walls of the new jerusalem, chaplains in ordinary to the King of heaven, Messengers & Ministers attending about his Throne expecting his pleasure, always in readiness to make known his will unto Man. When God brought forth his first begotten Son into the world, he said, worship him all ye Angels, and so they did; when the blessed Virgin, oreshadowed by the Holy Ghost, carried her divine burden within her womb, an Angel appeared unto joseph to justify the innocency of the Mother, and the Deity of the Son; when he was borne the Angels told the same unto the shepherds, and that with an Ecce too, Luke 1. when Herod meant death to the Babe for the name of a King, an Angel revealed the same unto joseph, and willed him to fly into Egypt with the child, and so, Populus Aegypti qui fuit persecutor primogeniti, became custos unigeniti: when Herod was dead, the Angel bid joseph return again into jury. When Satan left tempting him the Angels came and ministered unto him; when his soul was exceeding sorrowful unto death, the Angels attended to comfort him; & when his body was to be raised from death, an Angel descends to draw away the curtain, while our Lord came forth of his bedchamber; an Angel rolls away the stone which his Adversaries had laid upon his grave; an Angel is the first that reports the glad tidings of his resurrection. The truth of this Angelical assertion, was seconded by Truth itself; for what the Angel preached unto the women, what the women reported to the Apostles (for in this Article were they first catechised by the weaker sex) our Saviour makes good by his manifold apparitions, being seen at sundry times by such, who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, & ideo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, witnesses chosen before of God for that purpose, as the Apostle affirms in his little Creed to Cornelius Acts 10. wherein is a synopsis or sum of the chief points of holy belief. Concerning the Doctrine, verse 36, 37. Miracles, verse 38. Life, and Death, verse 39 Resurrection, verse 40, 41. Coming to judgement, verse 42. of jesus Christ. What Peter there recites to his Auditor, his new convert, his Cornelius, what Paul elsewhere to his Corinthians, was all foretold, Per os Prophetarum, by the mouth of the holy Prophets; for this is sure & convertible, Nothing was done by Christ which was not foretold, nothing was foretold, which was not done. So that there was an Oportet, a forceable reason that he should rise again, impleretur, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, his Resurrection being, as Aquinas saith, Complementum omnium promissionum, the Consummatum est, the period, the accomplishment of all predictions. We may farther illustrate this if we look on our Saviour (as he was seen 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; clothed in white as a Priest; and with an inkhorn hanging at his girdle as a Prophet; And here likewise shall we find an Oportet, that his Prophetical, Sacerdotal, Regal, Offices, each of them employed a proof of his Resurrection. First, let us consider him as a Prophet, even the Prince of Prophets. When the Angels at the Sepulchre said unto the women, why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, Luk 24.6. but he is risen: he adds to remember how he spoke unto you, when he was yet in Galilee, saying: The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men & be crucified, and the third day rise again. 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, he will rise again 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 upon this day, being to preach remission of sins, he rose betime, while it was yet dark. It was the Love of God, and tender affection to his Church, which he had so lately, & so dearly bought, made him rise so soon, and appear so often the same day to distressed souls. In all my Creed there is no other circumstance of Time, but this, of all the Actions of Christ for me there recorded, only this Action of rising again, though of all the most difficult, yet it is to be believed with the circumstance of time & no other; to show; that the doubt and difficulty, the improbability, in respect of means be it what it will, yet whensoever my Saviour promiseth, he keepeth it, as well as whatsoever he hath promised. Secondly, as his prophecy, so his priesthood enforced his Resurrection; How could it appear that the obligation was canceled, the law fulfilled, God pacified, if he had not risen again; If the debt had not been taken off by the surety, it would have lain still upon the Principal; If Christ had not risen from the dead, we should still be yet in our sins, and our Faith should be in vain. But we know that our high Priest with one offering hath consecrated for ever, them that are sanctified. Heb. 10.14. The powerful operation of this passion endureth for ever; being the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, and bleeding, as it were, to the world's end. Aron and his successors were but only 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 himself for the people, so never had any the power to revive that sacrifice he once killed: but our high Priest Christ jesus, had love to lay down his life and power to take it up again; by the first he shown himself to be the Son of man after the flesh; by the second he was declared mightily to be the Son of God. Rom. 1.13. As he could not but dye, having taken on him a body of death; so he could not but live again, because that body was, Vitae sacrarium, the vestry and chapel wherein life was preserved. Thirdly, as he 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 he shall rule over the house of Israel for ever. He was a King by birth, simul natus, simul Caesar, so the wisemen testified of him Math. 2.2. And he was a King at his death, so Pilate wrote his inscription though in the narrowest limits, jesus of Nazareth King of the jews, joh 19.22. But to expect the Messiah for a temporal Prince was the jews perpetual dotage, the Apostles transient error, Math. 20.21. Act. 1.6. Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel. Of temporal royalty he had so little a share, that his chair of estate, was the Cross; his crown made of thorns, his sceptre a reed; and for a Vivat Rex, the people gave him a Crucifige. But Qui subijt, subegit, he that did undergo, did overcome; and as Saint Bernard sweetly, Qui agnus extiterat in passione, factus est Leo in resurrectione; He that stood as Lamb at his Passion to take away the sins of the world; became a Lion at his resurrection to spoil all principalities and powers, and to make an open show of them, Coloss. 2.15. Then did he manifest himself a most victorious conqueror over all his enemies, than did he receive the keys of death, and hell, then did he break the serpent's head, and made all knees bow to him in heaven, earth, and under the earth. And now being raised from death, he dyeth no more, death hath no more power over him; for this is his Epithet (as the beholder and penman of that revelation which hath as many mysteries, Apoc. 1.18. as words hath set it down) He that was dead, and is alive, and liveth for evermore. From hence ariseth naturally matter of Confutation, Consolation. First, this doctrine of our Saviour's Resurrection is a sufficient condemnation to all jews, who (as we have formerly noted) do still look for another Christ: for why should they not believe their own Prophet. They said the Messiah should suffer, Christ suffered all things so as they were prophesied; Who then can be the Messiah but he, in whom all the prophecies are fulfilled. Secondly, It overthroweth the wicked error of Corinthus, who taught, that Christ should not rise till the general Resurrection; But as job confuted the blasphemous speech of his wife, with a Loqueris ut insana mulier; so Epiphanius worthily saith of this heretic, Stolidus est & stolidorum magister. I will not take up the graves of the Chiliasts, or Millenaries, in their very name may we read their errors, but their gross superstitions & assertions shall for me be buried in silence. Thus having melted the dross from the silver mettle, let us see what fruit we can pluck from these branches. Christ, saith Saint Paul, is become the first fruits of them that slept; 1 Cor. 15.20. He is the first sheaf of the harvest, by & from which all the whole crop of the dead Saints receive virtue. At the time of our Saviour's Resurrection, some few ears that were then ripe, and hereafter the whole harvest shall be carried into everlasting barns. The Evangelist speaking of it saith; that many bodies of Saints which slept arose; All the dead did not rise, but many, & those Saints too; the general Resurrection is reserved to the last day; this was a pledge and earnest of it. As many rose with him, so some before him, but all the Resurrections which we read of in former times were wrought in the figure and virtue hereof. Lazarus, the widow's Son, and jairus 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 eternal life, never to visit the grave again. This assureth us of 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 be above water, there is hope for the whole body; if the root hath life, the branches shall not long be without; the first fruits 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 & exemplar, but also, fidej iussor, yea Chirographum nostrae resurrectionis; so that he that did rise will raise. These two resurrections are inseparable. Thus did that great Champion of the Church, who (as a Father saith) Priusquam natus erat Dominus Redemptorem suum vidit à mortuis resurgentem. Thus did job excellently argue, when from, job 19.25. Scio quod Redemptor, he inferred, Scio quòd ego, etc. I am sure that my Redeemer liveth, and I shall rise again at the last day: for, eadem catena revincta est Christi Resurrectio & nostra. Some divines affirm (from the assertion of Bonaventure) D. Boys postil. pag. 868. that the year wherein our blessed Saviour arose from the dead, should, according to the Law, have been the year of jubilee: which Feast, was appointed by the Lord to be celebrated every fiftieth year for these causes. First, Why the jubilee was celebrated every 50. year. that they might keep a right Chronology and reckoning of times: For as the Grecians did compute their times, by the number of Olympiades', the Romans by their Lustra, so the jews by their jubiles. Secondly, that a true distinction of their Tribes might be preserved; because then Lands returned to their owners in their proper Tribe; and servants to their own families; hence was it called jubilee, from a word, which in the original signifieth, deduxit, or produxit, because it brought men back again to their estate. Thirdly, he instituted these jubiles, that they might be 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 Egypt. And surely the jubiles The spiritual jubilee. in old time did mystically shadow forth that Spiritual jubilee, which Christians enjoy under Christ; by whose blood, we have not only a reentry into the Kingdom of heaven, which we lost in the transgression of our great Grandfather Adam which we had formerly mortgaged & forfeited by our sins: And this was happily signified by the Israelits reentry upon their lands which they had formerly sold; and again the found of the Gospel (which was in this Feast typed by the noise of the Trumpets) is gone throughout the world. The Redemption of Christ, Easter Day. is a year of jubilee, the Resurrection of Christ is the chief day in the year yea, Regina Dierum, as Ignatius styles it. All Christians, herein imitating the pattern of the blessed Apostle, in honour of Christ's Resurrection, 1 Cor. 16.2. observe their Sabbath on the eight day, which is the first day of the week, whereas the jews hallowed their Sabbath upon the seaventh day which is the last day of the week. 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 Sun of righteousness, arose from the dead this day. Christ's appearing on the eight day, is not without a mystery; we labour six days in this life, the seventh is the Sabbath of our death, in which we rest from our labours; and then being raised from the dead, the eighth day, Christ in his own 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 else, but a Lent to prepare him against the Sabbath of his death, and Easter of his Resurrection. CHAP. 4. Arguments drawn from diverse Attributes of God, as his Power, Mercy, justice, etc. to confirm us in this Article of the Resurrection. AT my first entrance into the school of faith in the very first Article of my Creed, I no sooner read that there is a God, but I learn withal that he is Almighty. The doctrine of his Omnipotency, is the basis and fundamental Arch, on which is built our Christian religion; from the knowledge hereof proceeds all faith; because we believe with the blessed Virgin, Quia potens est, that God is able to do all those things which reason is not able to comprehend. Contrariwise the ignorance, or the not right understanding of this truth, is the cause that there be so many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, unbelievers and misbelievers: Atheists, without the knowledge of God; Infidels, without hope or faith in God. It was our Saviour's own Argument against the Sadduces, you err not knowing the Scriptures, Math. 22.29. nor the power of God, i. e. (saith the Paraphrase) ye Sadduces do err grossly & damnably, in this your misconceit of the resurrection, & the ground of your error is your ignorance both of the Scriptures, which have clearly revealed the truth thereof, and of that Omnipotent power of God, whereby is only this (otherwise impossible) work. If with the men of Berea we do search the Scriptures, we shall find, that before the Sadduces had any being in Israel, this heresy of theirs was palpably convinced, with an example of the resurrection, even in Elishaes' revived corpse. Now the power that can raise one man, can raise a thousand, a million, a world. No power can raise one man, but that which is infinite, and that which is infinite, admits of no limitation. In the beginning the Word of the Lord was the seminary of all being: his will was his Word, and his Word was his deed. His Fiat and Fuit met together, his Dixit and Benedixit kissed each other. All at first was nothing, and from that nothing carne all: How easy is it then, for him to repair all out of something, who could thus fetch all out of nothing? How should we distrust him for our resurrection, who hath approved his Omnipotency in our creation? Our remainder after death can never be so small, as our being was before the world, ashes is more than nothing. The body, we confess, that is once cold in death, hath no more aptitude to a reanimation, than that which is mouldered into dust; only as it was God's omnipotency to create man out of a substance that had no ability to produce the matter: so likewise it is the Prerogative Royal, to revive that dust, to form it into a new Adam, to fetch a man a second time from the earth, to live with himself, when time shall be no more. This Resuscitation of the dead is one of those four keys, which (the Hebrews say) are in the hand of him, who is the Lord of the whole world. The Scripture makes mention of each of them. 1. Clavis pluviae, the key of rain; the Lord will open to thee his good treasure: Deut. 28.12. 2. Clavis cibationis, the key of food; Thou openest thy hand and fillest every thing with thy plenteousness: Psal. 145.16. 3. Clavis sterilitatis, the key of barrenness; God remembered Rachel, and opened her Womb: Genes. 30.22. 4. Clavis sepulchrorum, the key of the grave; when I shall open your sepulchres: Ezek. 37.12. By all which places it is intimated, that these four things God hath reserved in his own hand and custody. Namely, Rain, Food, the procreation of children, & the raising of our bodies. For though at first he made him, ex nihilo, out of nothing, yet he did not make him, ad nihilum, to return to nothing; There may be a dissolution of soul and body, for a time, but there cannot be an annihilation of either, because they must be reunited again to remain for ever. As we have derived a main proof of the Resurrection from the power of God; so likewise may we argue from his other glorious and divine attributes: but because I will not enlarge a treatise into a volume, I will herein follow the Schoolmen who reduce all communiter ad duo: his Mercy, justice. These be the two master Attributes which set all the rest on work: these be the two feet of God whereupon he walketh all his ways. When God makes a covenant with his own, it is an incorruptible & everlasting covenant, Numb. 18.19. therefore it is called a covenant of salt; to note the perpepetuity of it. In this covenant are all the dead Bodies of the Saints, and the Lord forgetteth them not. When jacob went down to Egypt, Genes. 46.4. the Lord promised to bring him back again: but how did the Lord bring him back again, seeing he died in Egypt? the Lord was with him when he was brought out of Egypt. So the Lord preserveth all the bodies of the Saints, Psal. 34.20. and he 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 josias (although he was slain in battle) yet he was gathered in peace to his Fathers, i. e. to the Spirits of his Fathers who enjoy peace; for he was not gathered in peace in his body, for he was slain in war. 2. Chro. 35. In 22. of Math. and the 32. Christ saith I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but the living; He doth not say, I was the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of jacob; or I am the God of Abraham that once was: but as implying his own eternal being, and the certain being of those holy patriarchs, he saith, I am the God of Abraham, etc. 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 he will raise their bodies, or else he did, Dimidium tantummodò Hominem restituere, else he were God but to one part of Abraham. But as his mercy is over all his works, so his works of mercy are over all his: His mercy extends both to soul and body, and in the mercy of the most High they shall not miscarry: Therefore shall God raise the bodies of dead men. But we must not frame unto ourselves a God all of mercy; but learn to sing that compounded ditty of the Psalmist, of mercy and judgement. God's justice is himself as well as his mercy: As his mercy (which we have already showed) so likewise his justice requires, that their must be an universal resurrection. If in this life (saith the Apostle) we have hope in Christ, 1 Cor. 15.15. we are of all men most miserable. Paul indeed was at a, quotidie morior, every hour in danger to be drawn to the block, every day dying, ready to be offered up for the name of his Lord and Saviour: But to what purpose did he expose himself to such variety of perils, if there were no resurrection? Miserable is that man that either laboureth, or suffereth in vain; Shall Paul bear in his body the marks of Christ jesus, and shall he not bear in the same body the crown of his glory? Shall the labourer endure the heat of the day, and shall he not at length receive this penny, his wages? Christiani ad metalla, was a usual condemnation, but what made them dig so willingly in the mines? Surely they had a treasure there which the Emperor knew not of, they had infinite more precious wealth from thence then he: For the hope of the gaining a better life, is the persuasive Rhetoric against the fear of losing this; Haec vespera est, & necesse est addi matutinam laetitiam; and then shall our birth be consummate when the evening and the morning are made one day. These mixed meditations compounded of contrary ingredients, as a Cross and a Crown, Martyrdom and glory, Mortality and heaven, death and life, are strong grapples and ties to hold a Christian and his patience together; It were injurious to complain of the measure, when we acknowledge the recompense; Afflictions are the flowers of eternal felicity, and who would not willingly gather the flowers for the fruits sake. He that hewed timber out of the rock, Psal. 74.6. was known to bring it to an excellent piece of work: so was joseph hewed in the stocks, and in the prison, God brought him to an excellent piece of work, to make him Lord of Egypt; Thus was Christ jesus hewed and squared on the Cross, with hammers, & nails, and spears; of that excellent work see where he sitteth at God's right Hand, Thrones, Powers, Dominations, Angels subjected to him. And thus will God deal with the dead bodies of his Saints, which though they have been persecuted here, and the iron hath even entered into their soul, yet at length, they shall come out of their graves, like so many josephs' out of prison: for Death like that Egyptian Mistress hath only power over their coats, their upper garments, their bodies; and the grave like the serpent is dieted and feeds 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 go Southward into the mountains, the South was a dry and barren part. Thou hast given me a South land, give me also springs of water, judg. 1.15. Thus doth God deal with his children in this life, he showeth them great afflictions and troubles, the South part, as it were at first, but afterward he bringeth them to the land that floweth with milk and honey. He that shall build his faith on this rock, he that doth thus, Reponere fidem in sine, will supervolare crucen●, triumph o'er the Cross, and with job, comfort himself on the dunghill with a videbo Deum: and outface death with his Resurrection, in hope and expectation of that glory, he shall once enjoy with Christ. Benedictus sic Deus, (saith the Apostle) Blessed he God who hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of jesus Christ to an inheritance incorruptible, etc. It hath been well observed, (by one of no vulgar judgement) how the Resurrection is there placed, in the midst between our hope and our inheritance. To hope before it, before the Resurrection, hope; but after to the inheritance itself, to the full possession and fruition of it. So from the state of hope, by the Resurrection (as by a Bridge) pass we over to the enjoying our inheritance. Before I shut up this stage, I must clear a doubt, and remove an objection which hangeth on this thing Some of the Rabbins have conceited, that the wicked by corporal death shall utterly be extinct, and that none shall come to judgement, but they shall be saved; grounding their opinion on those words of the Psalmist: Psal. 1.5. The wicked shall not rise in judgement: But here instead of the natural milk of this text, they suck out the blood of misinterpretation; And they which shall tenter and wrest the Scriptures (which is a fault Saint Peter complains of) with expositions and glosses newly coined, to make them speak what they never meant must needs bring forth aut heresim, aut phrenesim. If we tread in the steps of the best interpreters, we shall find (as Hierome & others observe) that this is not to be understood, Quod non furgent, sed quod in judicio non resurgent; He saith not that the wicked shall not rise, but in judgement they shall not rise; not rise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, faith Christ; as Felons whose fact being evident, are placed at the bar not so much to be convicted, as to be condemned. Their conscience that like a Bloodhound hunts dry foot, shall set before them the sent of their sins, so that the Lord judge shall not make any great inquisition to find out their faults, but proceed to sentence. At that great assize shall we all appear (Nam oportet nos omnes, 2 Cor. 5.10. saith the Apostle) & confusi & confisi, both Christ's confessors, & his crucifiers, but the end of their Resurrection shall be 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 be restored to his office to minister before the King, the other to be put to death. So shall both the godly and the wicked come out of their graves, the one, Rapi in occursum, to meet 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 strain this note. I have the rather touched upon it, because it is one of those, Quantuor nocissima, which we should still have in remembrance: for after death cometh judgement, whose forerunner is the universal Resurrection. The day of death; and the day of doom are the two Pole-starrs on which we pilgrims and travellers on earth should fix our eyes. May my soul still keep on this wing, Dan. 6.10. may my heart be like daniel's window which was open in his chamber toward jerusalem; may I oft repose myself 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 place of meditation and prayer, (such as isaack's field, Cornelius his Leads, David's Closet) carry their souls in their bodies, as josephs' brethren did their money in their sacks, and know not what Treasure they have. And here for method have I occasion given to treat. CHAP. 5. Of Sadducisme and other heresies which flatly oppose this Article of the Resurrection. SVperstition and Atheism are the two extremes of Religion; the Pharises ran on the Rock of the one, and the Sadduces sunk in the Sand-beds of the other. This gross error of Sadducisme crept into Moses chair, many of the high Priests themselves, as joannes Hircanus; with his sons Alexander and Aristobulus, and likewise Anaus the younger were of this Sect. To show the original & occasion of this heresy, I must open an antiquity, and take up a story, as I find it already related to my hands. The Sadduces were so called from Sadoc, the first Author of this heresy; this Sadoc lived under Antigonus Sochaeus, who not long after the days of Nehemial was the chiefest Rabbin in the great Synagogue at jerusalem; this Antigonus gravely instructing his Disciples, that they should not be of servile minds, or do their duties for hope of reward: His Scholars hearing this desired him to expound his mind more fully, whereupon he added, that men must not expect the recompense of a good life in this world, but stay for it until the world to come: To these words Sadoc a chief disciple of his took exception, and said, He never heard of any such thing as the world to come; whereupon he with his fellow Baithu● turned Apostates, and repaired to the schismatical Temple built upon Mount Gerizim, and became principal Rabbins of the Samaritans. Amongst them did Sadoc first broach his heresy, and taught them that there was no Resurrection of the dead; because no immortality of the soul 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 penciled out? Castly our eyes on the Table of that counterfeit Solomon, where you have him lively set forth in his proper colours. In his second Chapter of his Book of Wisdom, he recounts at large, the sensual thoughts, the earthly conceits of all such Epicures and Atheists, Qui non agnoscunt saeculum nisi praesens, and at length he winds up all on this clew; such things do they imagine, and go astray, for their own wickedness hath blinded them; verse 21. yea so blinded them, that as they live like beasts, so they imagine they shall dye like beasts; that they shall not only mori but per mori, die like Oxen knocked on the head, that they shall be annihilated, and therefore they dance after this pipe, Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye. 1 Cor. 15.32. Nay the Apostle hath it in the present tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 morimur, to not the sensuality of these wretches, who think that their souls and bodies shall be quite extinguished together. But on rotten joists is this foundation laid. Our blessed Saviour with the modesty of truth hath long since confuted this bold & broad faced heresy of the Sadduces. We read, Math. 22. That he put them to silence; the Original is significant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he bridled their mouths; which is a phrase borrowed from fierce and stomackefull horses, which being held in by a strong bit, become subject perforce to the will of the rider. He that spoke as never man spoke so resolved their doubts, and dissolved their sophisms, that they were tongue-ride, had not a word to return upon him. It is farther observable how our Saviour in that place fits his Answer to the Questionists, and concludes most evidently against them, by pressing them with their own principals. Concerning the Resurrection of the dead he proves it not out of the Prophets, but draws his Argument out of Exodus, Exod. 3.6. For whereas the Sadduces rejected all Scripture, save only the Pentateuchi, Christ disputes with them in their own Canons, and makes Moses give them an answer, whose authority was sacred with them. The Pharisees in their Doctrine were much nearer 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 Council the one part were Saducees, Act. 23.6. the other Pharisees, cried 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 souls of evil men deceased departed into everlasting punishment; but the souls, said they, of good men by a kind of Pythagorean transmigration into other good men's bodies. Of which Opinion Herod may seem to have been; for when news was brought him of Christ, he said that john the Baptist being be●…ded, was risen again; thinking that the soul of the Baptist was passed into the body of jesus? Hence again arose the like different opinions concerning our Saviour, some saying he was Elias, Mat. 16.14. others jeremias, as if Christ's body had been animated by the soul either of john, Elias, or jeremias. 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 forbear to set down fancies for truths, I willingly spare that oil: for as it was noted by some as a token of God's special providence, that Saint Augustine & Pelagius the heretic should come into the world much about one year, that the Antidote might be contemporary with the poison: so truth in all ages hath been 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 prevail against it. And here may we 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 Country may have a Sadduce, every Table an Epicure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. This heresy is every day brought on the stage, and is but vetus fabula per novos histriones, the same play acted again by other Actors. The palliated hypopocrite that gives God the compliment of a fashionable profession who wears Christ's livery, but serves the Devil, is a Sadduce, all his holiness is but theatrical and personate, a stage-devotion, he doth but play Religion: by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his rough cast countenance he deceives the world. Sir Thomas Moor. It was pleasantly spoken by him, who said of a vicious Priest, that he would not for any thing repeat the Creed, lest he should make him call the Articles of his Faith into question, Quis audiet illum docentem, qui seipsum non audit? He that daily feeds on cibos desiderij, whose luscious appetite walks from dish to dish, Et pittisando totum consumit diem, as if his soul (which some Philosophers held) were made of salt, is an Epicure that digs his grave with his teeth, and adoreth Deum stercorarium, he makes his belly his God. This argument is too demonstrative, it shall content me only to glance at the generality of so copious a theme. Surely this looseness of living ariseth from the self-perswasion of the mortality of the soul; that is the Nilus, wherein 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 day being ready to give an account to his God; he considers that this world, for all the World, is like a Globe of Crystal, which though it take the eye with variety, and delights of objects, yet the glory thereof is but little and brittle. We read in the Acts that Agrippa and Bernice came into the place where Paul's cause was to be heard, Act. 25.23. with great pomp, it is in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intimating thus much, that the glory and pomp of this world, is but a fancy, a dream. This life is but saeculi falsi vita (as the Heathen man spoke) but the hope of the life immortal is the life of this hope mortal. In the language of Canaan, in the Scripture phrase, death is called a change, job 14. In the third of james we read of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, i. e. (as the word carrieth it) the wheel of our nature; this wheel turneth apace, and daily turns off some, and we know not how soon our turn will come. Our estate in this life is like the vertical Dial which showeth neither our Ortum or Occasum, our Genesis or our Exodus, our coming 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 horizontal Dial, upon which the Sun shineth always, there shall the Sun of righteousness for ever shine, and in his light shall we see light. I have dwelled 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 music, I will like a skilful Gardner delight your eyes with variety of objects, and in this maze show 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 for our purpose, from the Tree of Pophiry, I will fetch some Arguments from the schools, and give you a sight. CHAP. 6. Of many resemblances in the book of Nature of our Resurrection. IF we borrow some jewels from the Egyptians, and search the writings of profane Authors, we shall often find some shadow of holy history among the Heathen. Plato Moses alter Moses Atticus. Plato the divine amongst the Philosophers (as it is observed by one, who sweetly descants on the songs of Zion, which jonas sung in a strange land, when he was imprisoned in a living tomb, within a Crystal cage) this Moses amongst the Athenians differeth but a little in describing the Nature of the godhead, from that other Moses, which was as I may so say (absit invidia verbo) a Plato amongst the Hebrews, each of them doth but a little vary the Article, The one writes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, He that is, the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, That that is; From whence we may take up this note, when God had a purpose to reveal his eternity to Moses, he chose to do it by a word, which being but one syllable amongst the Greeks doth notwithstanding signify and contain three times, that which is past, that which is present, that which is to come; all which are indistinct in God, because he is not changed, but is yesterday, to day, and the same for ever more, for in God's Grammar as it is wit tily said, there are no lerters, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. no Noun but Bonitas, no pronoun but Ipse, no Verb but Sum, no Adverbe but Nunc. But to leave generalities, and to return to the head of our race where we first began. In this point of reuniting the soul with the body, this Athenian Eagle hath soared higher than any other of the Philosophers, Anma Platonicus. for he held that in the revolution of so many years, men should be in the same estate wherein they were before, which is obscurely drawn from the Resurrection; when we shall be in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Math, 19 28. as we were in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The Principal Secretary in nature, & dictator of reason, holds the immortality of the soul, and consequently strong reasons even from his own axioms and rules of Philosophy may be derived to confirm the Resurrection of the body. For if we admit the soul to be immortal, than it must necessarily follow that the body, as the Organon or instrument thereof be reunited thereunto. The soul was not made to live to itself, but in the body, and resteth not fully content so long as she wanteth her companion. Secondly, the soul separated from the body is imperfect, Et nulla res imperfecta est capax perfectae falicitatis. Thirdly, Non est perpetuum quod est contra naturam; but it is contrary to the nature of a man's soul to be separated from the body, seeing it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the perfecting act thereof; wherefore the Soul cannot be continually separated, but must necessarily resume the body. It is not my intent to lead my Reader into the Lycaeum of the Peripatetics, or the Gallery of the Stoics, or the Tusculatum of the Orator. The season of the year doth now invite us with Isaac into the fields, and with joseph of Aramathea into our gardens: And here (as it hath ever been the guise of godly men from the beholding of worldly things to beget heavenly thoughts, to turn the sight of every solemnity into a School of Divinity, and from things they see here downward, to make a prospect upwards) whatsoever is presented to our eyes, may be an Emblem to us of our resurrection. How doth it feed us with delight, to view the trees apparelled with a fresh beauty? to see, — The mealy mountains late unseen, Change their white garments into lusty green, The gardens prank them with their flowery buds, The meads with grass, with leaves the naked woods. For what is the Spring, but as Tertullian calleth it the resurrection of the year? and it is no way consonant to reason, that man for whom all other things do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, shoot forth, wax fresh, spring and rise again, 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 Phoenix that sole bird of wonder; The Phoenix. never did the Roman Emperors lie in their beds in greater state, when in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, they were to be burnt, and changed to Gods, than she doth consume herself in cost, because she knows she shall be revived. By all writers she hath ever been held a type of our glorious Resurrection: In the 91. Psalm it is said, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, In the vulgar translation we read it, he shall flourish like the palm, but it may be translated, he shall flourish like the Phoenix, for the greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, admits of both significations. Dies diei discipulus, one day teacheth another, and one night certifieth another, each day dieth into the night, and riseth into the morning again, these vicissitudes of times, and revolutions of seasons, are but so many deaths and so many resurrections. Homo est nummus Dei, Man is God's coin stamped with his Image. Nazianzen speaking of Rulers, as of the Image of God, compareth the Highest to pictures drawn clean through even to the feet; the middle sort, to half pictures drawn to the girdle; the meanest to the lesser sort of pictures drawn but to the neck and shoulders: But all in some degree carry his Image, as well the poor penny, as the coin of gold. In these lively pictures of ours may we see some shadow, some resemblance of our future Resurrection, do not our nails pared, & our hair being cut grow again? And if these dead parts of the body be 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 hairs of my head, and shall I distrust him for the raising of my body? These and the like meditations are armour of proof against the fear of death. Pulvis es, & in pulverem reverteris, is Man's Epitaph written with Gods own finger.— Libenter mortalis sum, quisim futurus immortalis, is a faithful man's 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 mouths, with good words in their lips, and like so many dying swans have warbled out their souls into the hands of God. But this field hath been already reaped to my hand. Since an Angel sat on our Saviour's grave, and proclaimed those good tidings— Resurrexit non est hic, we have added to our tombe-stones to Hic jacet-this happy clause- speresurgendi; for we know that the bodies of the dead are not lost but laid up, that they do not perish but rest in hope, that the sepulchres are not gulfs to swallow them, but repositaries to keep them; therefore do the Germans wittily call the Churchyard God's acker, because the bodies are sown there to be raised up again. Securus moritur qui scit se morte renasci. Souls take your rest, whose soul in heavens attends, A blessed reunion of two loving friends. When Christ shall come with a Prodi Lazare, the graves shall set their marble doors; when the Ark-Angell shall sound the trump of collection, the scattered bones of the Saints shallbe gathered together with sinews, and those sinews incorporated with flesh, and that flesh covered o'er with skin, and by a new Metempsychosis or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, such as Pythagoras never dreamed of, the same soul shall reenter into the same body. But of the perfect restauration of our bodies, and glory of our souls, we shall discourse more largely in the close of our meditations. Before I unlade my ship, and put her into the creek, before I lodge my colours, I should collect something by way of refutation from the absurdities that arise from the denial of this truth. The blessed Apostle hath set them down at large in his Epistle to the Corinthians, to which most comfortable Chapter (wherein is store of Manna, for the soul to feed on) I refer my Reader. To comment upon each of those texts were to set up a candle before the Sun; many of them being plain and easy to be 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 baptised for the dead, Or [as others] baptised for dead, if the dead rise not at all, etc. SOME Chemical wits (as the Advocates of Rome) have extracted from hence a proof 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 do that baptise themselves for the dead; expound that which they have corrupted in this manner, To baptise one's self signifieth to do laborious and satisfactory works for the dead, and withal we must understand, that it is to fetch them out of Purgatory. How fruitful is error of absurdities? But 〈◊〉 will not sit on the skirts of this fiery hill, since Nabuchadnezzar cannot interpret his own dream, nor the learnedst of our Adversaries cannot aread us their own riddle, this Somnium Monachorum; nor resolve us concerning this mathematical 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 from the best pen of France. Thomas Aquinas, by the dead understandeth sins, which are dead works; as if the Apostle had said, why are they baptised for the abolishing of sin whereby death cometh, and which being removed, death shall prevail no more. Others, as Claudius Guiliandus understandeth it of Martyrdom for the faith of the resurrection, because our Saviour speaking of suffering Martyrdom to the ambitious sons of Zebede, said, can ye be baptised with my baptism. 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 therefore wove this web a little closer. In the translation and interpretation of these words Expositors vary. I will strike the several flints, each of them may afford a spark to give some light. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, are translated by some, baptised over the dead, as though it had been the manner of some to baptise over the graves of the dead, to cherish their hope of resurrection. If it might appear to have been so by any History, this would at once decide all controversies: But (as a modern writer descanting upon this Exposition of Luther hath observed) none hath made mention of any such thing, and if we look into the Register of Gods own Record, we shall find that places of much Water, were raither chose to baptise in, as jordan, and john the Baptist is said to have baptised by Enon besides Salim, because there was much water there: joh. 3.23. And S. Luke reports that the great Eunuch of Ethiopia went into the water & came out of the water at his baptism, Act. 8.38, 39 Others think that the Apostle here seems to allude to the ancient custom of the faithful jews, 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 custom, seeing otherwise this washing should be in vain. Though this construction be 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 custom of such converts and beginners in Religion, as neglecting baptism overlong, yet when their death approached, made haste to be baptised that their bodies might be washed and cleansed against the joyful day of the Resurrection. Though the interpretation be not lightly to be 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 defer their baptism till their going out of this life. Francis junius rich in languages, and subtle in distinguishing, hath observed, that this particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, though it be usually and rightly transtlated [Super] may nevertheless (according to the use of the same both Greek and Latin preposition, in Greek and Latin writers) be taken here for [Praeter besides] or in signification of [Insuper Moreover] as noting the continuance of the Sacrament of Baptism, in the Church, by a constant course, for the comfort of the living still, like as it was found to be 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 do they, which are baptised still, or moreover and beside those that are already dead; because otherwise it might be inferred, that unless the dead should rise again, neither have the dead any fruit of Baptism abiding them, to wit in respect of their bodies, and so shall be 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 be continued amongst them. And this may the doubling of the Question by the Apostle import. Else what shall they do, that are baptised, [viz. such as are already dead] and again, why are they [namely the living being alive] yet Baptised. Saint Ambrose understands this place of a Sacramental washing, applied unto some living man, in the name and behalf of his friend dying without Baptism, out of a superstitious conceit, that the Sacrament thus conferred to one alive in the name of the deceased, might be available for the other dying unbaptised; As if the Apostle did here wound the superstitious Corinthians with their own quills, and prove the Resurrection of the dead, from their own erroneous practice, telling them in effect, that their usual, (but misgrounded) and superstitious custom of baptising the living were in vain, if there were no Resurrection. Thus have I briefly set before your eyes, what curious threads have been drawn by expert workmen from this woof of Scripture. Other Truth men herein have laboured, and we have entered into their labours. I have here, I confess, presented a Caena dubia, let each man please his own ; If any shall demand my sentence, (Etiam & culices circumvolent cum apibus) I do herein subscribe to the interpretation given by du Moulin, which (with submission of my judgement) I take to be proper and genuine; Nor do I obtrude this explication on my Reader as Magisteriall, but leave him if this sense satisfy not, to his father disquisition. The sense of these words (saith he) must be taken of the Apostles intent. His intent was to prove the Resurrection, hitherto he implieth Baptism, which in those days was celebrated, (as may appear in the monuments of Ecclesiastical History) by dipping and as it were diving, Magdeburg. cant. 14. cap. 16. col. 234. by plunging the whole body in water, in token that we are in death. And the coming forth of the water, representeth the Resurrection. S. Paul's meaning is, that this sign were in vain if there were no Resurrection, and that in vain we are baptised 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 we understand the Greek [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉] to be used by the Apostle, as the Latin [Pro] is used in this and the like phrase, [habere pro derelicto] for he which is baptised should be baptised for dead, i. e. as one in a manner dead, even to dye more and more unto sin, but to love more and more to God: because baptism is a token of regeneration, the pawn and Image of our Resurrection, as Saint Ambrose styles it, Et per regenerationem corpora nostra Resurrectioni gloriae inaugurantur. Therefore saith the Apostle; are we buried with Christ in Baptism, Rom. 6.4. i. e. (as Ignatius expounds the phrase aright) believing in his death, we are by baptism made partakers of his resurrection. And thus having endeavoured to clear this obscure text of the Apostle, I join issue again with my former Meditations, and will show that. CHAP. 8. The same bodies which we now have, shall be restored unto us in the same substance; They shall be Immortal, Honourable, Glorious, Spiritual, Impassionate. THe end of our MEDITATIONS shall be the meditation of our end, the contemplation of another life is the Star which guides us from the East to the West, from our Orient to our Occident, and brings us at length to the place where our Saviour is. We know that in every man there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a natural querulousnes against death, but this is silenced with the remembrance of our Resurrection, by which we learn, that death is better than life, because a passage to a better life. Here we grow up to a full vigour, and then we decrease till we decease: but when we shall ascend above the wheel of time, where nothing but eternity dwelleth, we shall have such an issue from death, as shall never pass into another death; there at first we come to perfect stature, & so continue for ever, that life shall last as long as the Lord of life himself. But why do I attempt an eagle's flight with the wing of a wren? why do I seek to express that which cannot be expressed? I will not go beyond my line, for a diapason & rest to our song, for a pause, a period, an Amen. I will a little descant on that which I find set down 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 he sweetly warbled on the glorious Attributes of God, hath for the Amaebaeum & burden to his song, For, his mercy endureth for ever; so that divine & Extaticall Doctor of the Gentiles (as if he had been the Apostle of the Resurrection) makes this comfortable Doctrine, the matter of most of his Epistles, upon this stock doth he seem to plant the whole body of Christianity. At the general Resurrection 1 Thes. 4.16. the dead in Christ shall rise first, the observation is, that the sentence of Absolution shall be pronounced before the sentence of Condemnation, a venite come unmee, before an Ite, depart from me God is loath to let his fury be predominant; Then (saith S. Paul) shall we who live and remain be caught up with them also in the clouds; the word in the Original is passive, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, we shall be ravished, so our rising and upgoing shall not be by our own power, but the power of God. Again; This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal, must put on immortality; not a corruptible or mortal at large, but hoc, this corruptible, this mortal. The blind men which our Saviour cured, received no new made eyes, but only sight to the eyes they had before; The widow's son, & Lazarus, rose in the same bodies in which they died. He that was seen in the flesh, shall be seen of the flesh, yea of this selfsame flesh, videbo mihi: Not the substance or lineaments of our bodies shall be changed, but the qualities. When the Apostle saith, he shall raise up our mortal bodies, he so calleth them in respect of that which they are now, not in respect of that they shall be then: For in the Resurrection (as he testifieth that had a prelibation of that glory) they shall be raised. 1. Immortal, not subject to any more disease or death, we shall not stand in need of these ordinary helps of meats and drinks, by which our nature is preserved, Christus transiens ministrabit nobis, and it shall be our meat and drink to do our Fathers will. 2. Glorious; The Justice shall shine like the Sun in the firmament, Et qualis tunc erit splendor animarum, quando solis habebit claritatem lux corporum? And to confirm the verity and solidity of this glory, it shall not only be revealed unto us, but (saith the Apostle) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in nobis, in us, jerusalem as the King's daughter is all glorious within. 3. Honourable; Every defective member shall be restored to its integrity jacob shall not haut, Isaac be blind, nor Leah bleere-eyed, nor Mephihosheth be lame; Hoc est credere, Resurrectionem integram credere. 4. Spiritual; I mean a body so spiritual, not that it shall lose the dimensions of a body, and pierce through any natural body, as the light pierceth through the glass, as the Papists say of the Body of Christ after his Resurrection by a penetration of dimensions; but because without contradiction they shall obey the motions of the Spirit besides the glorified state & condition it then be in. 5. Impassionate; Free from such passions as may hurt, and offend, but not from the passion of joy, the joy of the soul shall be the soul of joy.. Other particulars I cease to inquire, because God doth forbear to deliver them, and in the silence of the Holy Ghost I will not be curious. I will not wind myself into a labyrinth, where the happiest wit may lose itself. If the Disciple that leaned on our Saviour's breast, (his Legatus à latere, qui esinu Domini biberat mysteria, Apoc. 2.17. from out of the bosom of his Master drank deep of the heavenly wisdom) broke off his Revelation with a Nemo scit, needs 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 Swan appears more white when 'tis opposed to the Raven's blackness, and we may better conjecture at the joys above, if we 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 meet not here; the glorious life is not the most quiet, and the quiet life is for the most part inglorious. Sublunary transitory Are as bars in th'arms of Glory. Riches and Honour like Absalon's Mule do sometime leave their Master in extremity. A consideration, which if well digested, would gather our divided thoughts, and rouse up our souls, quae sursum quaerere, quae sursum sapere, to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, and then we know caetera adijcientur, and indeed when heaven is once named all worldly things are but, etc. not worthy mentioning. It is observed by those that are skilled in the holy tongue, Deus est centrum quietativum. that in the sacred name jehovah, 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 fullness of joy, and fullness of it for evermore. When once we shall be planted in that celestial paradise, there shall no apple of contention grow between God and us. It is Nazianzens' note upon that divine Anthemne of three parts (which Saint Luke the Evangelist and Psalmist of the new Testament, Luke 2.14. records) Pugnas & dissidia nescire Deum & Angelos, no broils, no brabbles in Heaven. There shall the soul be satisfied in all her desires, there shall be no Actual or Potential evil; no Actual, because grace being consummate in the Saints excludes all sin; No Potential, for they being confirmed in goodness cannot sinne. There shall be no sorrow, nor tears which are the effects of sorrow, those rivers of our eyes shall be dried up; There shall be no more death, for Resurrectio eri● mors mortis; At that jubilee of glory victus vincet, the Conqueror shall be disarmed, and we whom death hath overcome, shall overcome death. And now having sung death's Epitaph, & sounded the victory, I retreit, This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, shall be my conclusion; were my Ink nectar, or my pen taken from the wing of an Angel, I could not set forth to the life the joys of the life immortal. This casteth me into an extasis, and maketh me imagine some great matter I cannot well express, what! Silence shall be my Eloquence; what I comprehend I will admire, and what I comprehend not I will more admire. A Peroration to the Reader. THus have I walked about Zion, and viewed the bulwarks thereof: I have showed the strength and munition of this Fort of Faith. In a plain and short way (nec brevius potui nec apertius) I have meditated somewhat one this sweet and comfortable Article of our Creed. Expect more generous wine from old vine-trees; for resolutions of sacred riddles and deep mysteries of religion, consult with such, whose very trade is Divinity, with those cunning Bezaliels', which are continually digging in the precious gems of the holy Scripture. And now having cast my Mite into the public treasury, having made my thoughts legible, and sent them, in dias luminis a●…ras, This little Manual (habent sua fata libelli) must either stand or fall, at the uncerteinty of my Readers judgement. I do not embosomed such a Mountebanoke opinion, as to set the garland on my own work, I dare not arrogate to myself Arachne's motto (mihi soli debeo) and boast that I have spun this thread out of mine own bowels, No I will freely confess (it were mere ingratitude should I not acknowledge it) Nihil egi sine Theseis, where I liked the water of other men's wells I have drunk deep. I will therefore (with Lyranensis) rejoice in this, that I deliver what I have learned, not what I invented, I have field much wood out of other men's groves wherewith to build, but (as one spoke in the like case) I have so hewed it, and squared it, and polished it with my own phrase and my own method, that the Authors, though good Enditers, can hardly bring in evidence of theft against me. If this Enchiridion, or my vade Mecum, shall meet with a fair and candid interpretation from the Ingenuous, the file may perchance be drawn over it again; Not that I hunt after the fume of vain glory (what but an Herodian ear will sucke-in such breath) but because our second thoughts are commonly more refined, and meditation like the wind gathers strength in proceeding. W. H. FINIS. Errata. Pag. 28. the quotation in mark juxta finem hath reference to Damascen in pag. 29. p. 62 l. 8 for superst. read supposition●. 70. l. 4. for not only. r. both. 77. l. 6. r. work is effected. 80. l. 4. r. his pierog. 82. l. 15 r. made man. 89. l. 8. r. life only. 96 l. 13. for fidem. r. spem. 99 l. 6. r. they that. 121. l. 10. r. hear him repeat. l. 17. lest it. 133. l. 13. of nature. 144. l. 11 r. added on 145. l 12. for Souls. r. Bones. 167. l. 3. for love. r. live. 189. l. 6. for. gems. r. mines.