THE Christians Watch: OR, An Heavenly Instruction to all Christians, to expect with patience the happy day of their change by death or doom.  
Preached at Prestbury Church in Cheshire, at the Funerals of the right worshipful Thomas Leigh of Adlington Esquire, the 16. of February Anno 1601.  
By William Leigh Bachelor of divinity, and Pastor of Standish in the County of Lancaster.  Math: 24. verse, 42. Watch, for you know not what hour your Master will come. 
LONDON  
Printed for E. White dwelling near the little north door of S. Paul's Church, at the Sign of the Gun. 1605.   

To the Right Worshipful Sr. Vrian Leigh Knight, grace and peace be multiplied with increase of all heavenly comforts here, and happiness in the world to come.  
IT is with me (Right Worshipful▪ Sr.) in this my labour, as it was with Phineas wife, at the birth of 
1. Sam, 4▪ 21. etc.  her Ichabod, who when they said to comfort her, thou hast borne a Son, she answered not, nor regarded it, in respect she thought so small a gain could never redeem so great a loss. This poor Posthumus borne at your Father's funerals, I have ever since regarded the less, for that my loss was in it life, nor should it ever have seen more light, had not your place overawed me, and much instance drawn it on, urging it often as a pledge of my love towards him that gone is, and a Christian kindness to those that remain. In am of both, I could not but bring it forth, and lay it in the lap of your favourable protection, yet accounting it my hard hap, I should with the poor Gadaren 
Mark, 5, 2, 3. 4, 5.  thus still haunt the graves of the dead, and wound myself with the stones of their Sepulchres. 
Eccles, 7, 4  How be it, if it be better to go into the house of mourning, then of mirth, and that who sow in tears shall reap in joy, I will 
Psa, 126. 5  repose myself in this, (that since I could discern what it was to lose a friend) I have had my part of such doleful Music, and therefore may expect a joyful crop of that sowing. But to leave the dead and to come to the living, your zeal to God, (good Sir) with the love of his truth, in the Religion of his Son Christ, for which neither your arm hath been weary to fight abroad, nor your tongue to plead at home, over and beside your undelayed provision of a skilful Bezaleel, to build up your own house and neighbours 
Exod. 31. 2  souls about you: As these may be much to your comfort, so are they greatly to my joy: for that in sort, I may say with the Apostle, in Christ jesus I have begotten you. These 
1. Co, 4, 1  blessed buds of religion appearing in Oxford, when first I knew you, and had the care of their growth committed unto me, from your careful Father that gone is, now spreading as Ceders in the ready and ripe practice of piety and Godliness, do make me not only thankful to God therefore, but right joyful I may undergo any duty to answer your love, or further your faith: and therefore have made bold (sith so you will have it) to put into your Religious heart & bosom, this Christian Watch. The watch is jobes', only the winding up is mine, as God hath directed the finger, so it goeth: and (as I trust) truly, to all such of God's Saints as expect with patience the blessed day of their change by death or doom: And if I have failed in the compass of any wheel, as it may be I have, for what am I but dust and ashes, to 
Ge, 18, 2 Gal, 6, ●  plead with my God? ye which are spiritual reform it, and restore me with the Spirit of meekness, considering yourselves, lest ye also be tempted. And the Lord of his mercy, multiply his blessings more and more upon you, keep you ever under his holy and helping hand of providence and protection, with my very good Lady your Vine, and all your O live branches. From Standish the 1. of januarie. 1602.  
Your Worships in all kindness to command. W. Leigh.   

The Christians Watch. OR, An heavenly Instruction to all Christians:  job. 14. 14. If a man die, shall he live again? then all the days of mine appointed time will I watch, until my changing shall come. 
We are here assembled this day (as I trust in the fear of GOD and love of our CHRIST) not to pray for the dead, or sorrow even as 
1. Th. 4. 13  other that have no hope, being taught by the Spirit, that who die 
Revel. 14. 13.  in the Lord, rest from their labours and are fully blessed: But we are assembled rather to gain by the severity of death, that which for the most part, we lose in the security of our life, viz: A true touch and feeling of our own frailty, taken from the daily dooms of this declining world, whose flower (as you here see) is fading, & beauty but a blossom.  
For surely it is true in the steady bowl of all the world, which is here fallen out in a tender branch: There is an appointed time 
Eccles. 3. 1  for all things under the Sun: a time to plant, and a time to pluck up: a time to build, and a time to pull down: a time to gather, and a time to scatter: a time to rent and a time to sow: a time to speak, and a time to keep silence: a time to laugh, and a time to weep: a time to live, and a time to die: yea to die, there is no remedy: Uni Deo nunquam senectus atra, nec mors imminet: 
Sophocles.  sed alia miscet domitor aetas omnia. Only God, neither old age nor black death can overtake, but for all other things, devouring time, hath and will turn them topsie turuye.  
In regard whereof, holy & patient job after much debate & many plead with the sins of his soul and sorrows of his heart, doth at last (as you may here see) demur upon the plea with death & doom, thereby bringing unto himself (in solace of his soul) a state of inheritance indefeazible, with a Crown of glory that withereth not.  
And this is done by a thrreefolde necessity laid upon all flesh: 1. The first of dying, and that's but once: 2. The second of living again, and that's for ever: 3. The third and last of watchfulness, and that's but for a time, even till the day of our changing shall come.  
The necessity of our dying is the door of life, the necessity of our living again, is the doom of death: the necessity of our watchfulness is the Calendar of our days, to wit, how we have lived, how we do live, and how we purpose to live until our changing shall come.  
Or thus: that of death, we deem it the day of misery: That of life again, we hold it the day of glory: That of watchfulness, we reckon it for the day of grace: And so, as one flood puts on an other, these three hale and help us on to happy dwelling, whereof if you lose a link, you break the Chain and silken third should wind you out of the labyrinth of this world, to the port and paradise of your God. For no blessed life without a blessed death, and no blessed death without a blessed life: and then are we blessed in both, when we stand upon our guard and are found watchful.  
1. Now for the first I say with the Psalmist, 
The cry of death. Ps. 89. 48. Gen. 2. 17. Heb. 9 27 Dan. 6. 8.  What man liveth and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? no, no, the decree of death is an imperial law, acted in paradise upon God's fairest Creature, where sin no sooner seized but death entered, and hath ever since (like the laws of the Medes and Persians) been irrevocable.  
And though happily from the first death there lie an appeal to a better life, in the prerogative Court and high consistory of our Christ, dead for our sins, but risen again for our justification: yet is there no repeal of that first law, by any latter act, I say, no parliament to disannul the doom of death: No place privileged, no person exempt, no time to interrupt the decree thereof, but like an omnipotent Queen and regent of all the world, where sin hath kissed, she ever killeth.  
There is no safety any where. If Angels in heaven sin, down they must: If Adam in Paradise transgress, out he must: If judas fail at the side of Christ, away he must: where is a practice of sinning, there is ever a necessity of dying, without either privilege of place, person, or presence: for thorough envy of the Devil came death into 
Wisd. 2. 24  this world, & they that hold on his part shall prove it.  
I say then & dare avouch, that the matter 
The reward of sin is death.  of our sinning, is the cause of our dying, and that needs must, needs shall. Must thou needs sin? then surely shalt thou die: sin and death are hereditary, they dwell in one house, & like Hipocrates twins, they laugh together, they weep together, they live together, they die together. And so shall till time be no more, for no 
Reu. 10. 6.  time of sinning, no time of dying, In the interim, our Fathers have eaten a sour grape and the children's teeth are set on edge, the Ceders are fallen, how can the shrub stand? the patriarchs before the Flood, the patriarchs since the Flood, the holy Priests and honourable Kings of judah and Israel, have all sinned and are all dead. And why should we live?  
jeremiah cried, and so may I: O earth, 
Ch. 22. 29  earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord: young earth, old earth, middle earth, fair earth, strong earth, rich earth, hear the cry, your mould is earth, your flesh is sinful, and your condition is mortal. Ye Kings of the earth, ye are but kingly earth, sin is your shame, & death is your due: you honourable men, you are but honourable earth: you Gentlemen, you are but gentle earth, you learned men, you are but learned earth, you mean men, you are but mean earth: I say of you all, sin is your shame, and death, is your doom, and when the grave hath it due, then tread out the ground, & give me the difference who is Princely, who is honourable, who is poor, base, and beggarly? It may be your Tombs, Hearses and sepulchres, do set out your state, and shine to your praise, but under & within what's your rottenness better than others, what's your dignity above the meanest?  
This Augustin saw with his Mother 
Sermo. 48. ad ●ratres. in Eremo.  Monicha standing by Caesar's▪ tomb at Rome, when upon the view he said, I beheld the Corpses of Caesar as he lay in his Sepulchre there, and lo they were blackish and fallen to rottenness: I looked upon his belly burst, & swarms of worms issued out: In the hollows of his head, where once stood his crystal eyes, two hungry Toads were feeding: The locks of his head were fallen, his teeth appeared, but his lips were wasted & the gristle of his nose being consumed, the very ground thereof was discovered. This when I saw, I said, dear Mother, where is now the beauty of Caesar? where is the world of his wealth? where be the troops of his Nobles, Knights & Barons? where are the armies of his fight men? Where is the provision of all his delights? his hunting dogs, his coursing Steeds, his chanting Birds, his guilt Palace, his ivory bed, his Princely Throne, his royal Wardrobe? where, where, are his golden Locks, and his fair feature? long it is not, O Caesar since all men dread thee, all Princes feared thee, all Cities did honour thee, yea & all the world did thee homage. Ubi nunc quaeso sunthaec omnia? quo abijt tua magnificentia? Where I pray thee now are all these honours, & whither is thy puissance gone?  
To which my dear Mother answered with all piety and reverence, O my son, all things failed him when life left him. And now his possession is here in a Tomb of three Cubits long with corruption and rottenness in the kingdom of darkness.  
Such (my dear brethren) & no better is the condition of all flesh: The meanest & the mightiest (as you see) are all of one mould there is no difference in the grave: and as of men, so may I say of Cities, Kingdoms and Monarchies of this world: They had their pride, and they have their period: for go ye (as saith the Prophet) to Calneh and 
Amos. 6. 2  see: and from thence go you to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistims: look upon joppa, behold Tarsus, wonder at Niniveh the pride of Assur, gaze upon Babylon the beauty of all the 
Isai. 13. 19  Chaldees honour: and as you pass by, cast your eye upon the ruins of jerusalem that virgin daughter Zion: and when you have 
jam. 2. 13  viewed them all, tell those renowned places of the world, tell them, that even they are mortal: that sin hath sacked them, and therefore they are fallen likewise, in their decayed places: yea and withal say, that the very best things of this world, so desired of all, are but vain and vile: for what's your gold and silver, other than (as one termeth it) terrae immundicia? the slime & filth of the earth? what are your rich Furs of Sables, Budge or Ermines, but the skins of savage beasts? what's your soft velvet, silk and satin, but the excrements of vile worms? what's your sweet musk and Civet, but the ordure of vermin? what are your perpetuities of fair houses, Castles & Honours (called after your names) 
Psal. 49. 1●  but Nimrods' Statues, and monuments of former & future confusions? Of all which when ye have most, then have ye least, and never so freed, as when you are loosed from them, and can say with a perfect heart (as did the Apostle) I counted all things but 
Phil. 3. 8.  loss, and did judge them to be dung, that I might win Christ.  
But leave we a little these dead carcases of elder times, with the cause of their ruins, which was their sin: & come we nearer home, even to that which we feel in our bones, and find in our flesh as harbingers of deaths approach, and deeper prints of our mortality.  
You that are of years old and feeble, 
The Her●enger of death.  look upon your colours from top to toe, and tell without flattery, what it is you bear with the burden of your sins, but the blaze of your death? The keepers of the house 
Eccles. 12. ●, 3. etc.  (which are the hands) they tremble: The strong men (which are the legs) they bow themselves: The grynders (which are the teeth) they cease, because they are but few: and they that look out by the windows (which are the eyes) they wax dim and dark: The doors (which are the lips and mouth) they are shut with the base sound of the grinders: The Almond Tree (which is your head) it is white as a blossom: The Daughters of singing (which are your ears) they are abased, deaf, and dull: what should I say more? sleep is gone from you; you rise with the Cock; case you have none, for the Grasshopper is a burden; you fear the high thing; you dare not climb; ye dread the fair way, ye dare not go in it for fear ye fall. Thus man goeth to the house of his age; & once decayed, never repaired till the time of our changing shall come.  
O remember therefore thy Creator in the days of thy youth, whiles the evil days come not, nor the years approach wherein thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them: And let an experienced Prince, so persuade thee from this ivory throne, yea and more to, That without the Sovereign good, all is but vanity and vexation of the Spirit.  
But happily here our youth may crow, 
Old men must die and young men may die. Isaiah. 40● 6, 7. 8.  and say: their day shall ever dawn, but I say nay, for even your flesh is but grass, and the grace thereof, is but as the flower of grass, yea oftentimes, for that your sins are the more, your danger is the greater (I say) take heed, your blade being green, it is sooner blasted: your vessel being new, it is sooner tainted: and your plant being tender, it is sooner supplanted, by the violence of sin which is the fire, and fuel of death. Seneca saith well: Iwenes mortem habent atergo, et senes ante oculos. Young men have death at their backs, and old men before their face, like Israel's host, who had the red Sea before, & Pharaoh's Army behind, 
Exod. 14.  both inevitable gulffes and ready to devour.  
And so for conclusion of the point, be thou well assuredly, that thouseest without and feelest within, both young men may die, and old men must die: And never deem it a new thing, that is so ancient, or think it strange, that is so continual: nor call it an evil (properly thine) which is so common with all the world. The first age had it, it may plead antiquity: the second age 
The plea of death.  felt it, it may plead continuance: and this last age hath it, it may plead a property in all flesh, till sin and time shall be no more.  
The use in respect of the doctrine is this, that though we find in our bones, and feel in our flesh, a necessity of dying, yet we forget ourselves, we forget our sins, yea the mould & matter whereof we are made, & un till it come (as now) the opening of graves, the embalming of bodies, the wearing of blacks, and the loss of dearest friends, there is no passion of our immortality, there is no impression of our eternity. That this is true, (for my own part,) I need no better proof than mine own heart to bear me witness, and for you also it is expedient to ●udge, whether the opening of this earth, the jmbalming of that body, the wearing of these blacks, with the summoning of these solemn funerals, by the Herold's call, in a sad winterly season, and towards a joyful spring, be not a resemblance of our peremptory day before the Lord, when every one 
2. co. 5. ●●  shall & must render an account of that he hath done in this life, be it good or evil, whereof if you have feeling, & look for such 
2. Pe. 3. 14.  things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot & blameless 
Phil. 2. 15. ●●  in the midst of a naughty & crooked generation, & suppose that the long suffering of the Lord is salvation, who would have no man lost, but all to come to repentance.  
● Now for the second part, (I mean of living again, when we are dead,) it is evident by the text, that as there is a necessity of dying once, so is there a necessity of living ever, and that we may term an expectant estate and indefeazible both to the elect of GOD, and the reprobate from GOD, for both shall rise again. The just to the resurrection of salvation, to the 
john. 5. 2● 29  which GOD bring us: and the wicked to the resurrection of condemnation, from which the Lord deliver us. Marvel not at this (saith CHRIST) For the hour● shall come, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice: upon which Summons, heaven, earth, and hell shall be assembled the graves being pregnant shall bring forth their dead: the Sea being called upon, 
Re. 20, 13. etc.  shall pick upit dead: Beasts, Fowls, and Fishes shall yield the dead they have devoured: yea and in spite of all tyranny, the blessed Martyr shall say, it skills not much where I rot, for than shall I rise: nay I say more, The shrill sound of that trumpet shall empty heaven, and shake hell: all shall come forth and appear before the tribunal seat of God: all his saints out of heaven, all the damned out of hell, all their dead bodies out of the earth: out they must, attend they must, appear they must, receive they must, according to that they have done in this life be it good or evil, not an Angel spared, not a Devil respited, not a Saint or sinner rescued, but all must be summoned to give their attendance and to make their appearance.  
Good Lord, what a fearful day will it then be? and what an exceeding glory of our Christ will then appear, who shall empty all upon his summons, and fill all upon his sentence: empty heaven, empty earth, empty hell: fill heaven, fill earth, fill hell: heaven with his majesty, Angels and Saints attending: earth with his presence, his fairest creatures abiding: Hell with his judgements, the devil and damned ever dreeing the doom of death, and deep despair. There shall be a new heaven and a 
2. Pe. 3. 13 Isa. 30. 33.  new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness: but an old devil, & an old hell, wherein abideth horror. Topheth is prepared of old etc.  
I say then (& not I but the Spirit of God for me, speaking out of this text and truth) That it is Epicurism, Atheism, and the greatest Apostasy from faith that may be, to say, Let us eat and drink, tomorrow 
Isa. 22. 13 Old Atheism.  we shall die, & so an end: or to say with the wicked miscreants wisd. 2. 2. We are borne at all adventures, and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been: our breath in our Nostrils is but a smoke, and being extinguished, the body is turned into ashes, and the Spirit vanisheth as the soft air: come therefore, let us jnjoy the pleasures that are present, and let us cheerfully use the creatures as in youth: Let us fill ourselves with costly wine & ointments, and let not the flower of youth pass by us: Let us crown ourselves with rose buds before they be withered, let all be partakers of our wantonness: let us leave some token of our pleasure in every green field: & as for rigour, rage, & tyranny, what's that to us when we are dead? come let us oppress the poor that is righteous, let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the white hairs of the aged, but say they have lived too long, let our strength be a law, and let the thing that is feeble be reproved as unprofitable.  
Thus did the Atheist speak in the days of old, out of the error of their souls, thus did they practise from a graceless resolution: the Lord deliver the land from such a burden, his church from such pelf, & our Prince from such a people, to whom I may say (if any there be that so remain yet unreformed after so acceptable a time, and free offer of all grace and Godliness) I may say without repentance, they are a damned crew and deprived of glory, who for that they will not find out the Lord in his mercies whilst they live, shall be sure to be found out in judgement, by him, when they are dead: for if a man die he shall live again.  
O it shall not be then with the beastly Epicure 
New Atheism.  whose belly is his God, eat, drink, die, and so an end: it shall not be with the wasteful wanton whose lust is his GOD, spend, sue, pursue, speed, die and so an end: it shall not be with the greedy cormorant, whose gold is his God, grieve, grate, grind the poor, oppress the needy, then die and so an end: it shall not be with the distemperate Spirits of bloody Tyrants, whose revenge is their God, loath, kill, stab, murder the Godly, massacre the Saints, then die and so an end: it shall not be with the idle minion, whose pride is her God, prick, pin, paint, frisle the hair, then die and so an end it: it shall not be with the desperate ruffian whose villainy is his God, swear, forswear, tear the heavens, and tyre the earth with bloody oaths and blasphemies, then die, and so an end: it shall not be with the gross Idolater, whose image is his God, bow, bend cross, creep to the creatures then die and so an end: finally it shall not be with the disloyal subject whose treasons is his God, plot, complot, practice, at home and abroad, on this side the seas and on that side, the subversion of a blessed state, & the deposing of a most gracious Prince, as they did by their own confession. The best natured and most heavenly qualified Queen, that ever lived 
D. Parie  in England, it shall not be, Grieve her, curse her, depose her, and deprive her of life, crown & dignity, them die & so an end: for them is but the beginning of sorrows, & after 
Heb. 9 27  death cometh judgement, when to hide thyself with these sins, it will be unpossible, and to appear it will be untolerable: 
Lu. 16. 22  Lazarus to Heaven, Dives to Hell, both shall rise again, the one to death everliving, the other to a life never dying: for the Godly shall have boldness in that day, but the wicked shall cry unto the mountains; 
1 joh. 4. 17 ●●●. 23. 30  fall upon us, fall upon us.  
And so to leave the wicked in their sins, and with their brand, & to close with your religious hearts, seeing you look for better things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless 
● Th. 5. 23  at the coming of our Lord jesus christ to judgement: & be well assured, ye that are the elect of God, & christ his peculiar, that though the wicked shall rise to their confusion, yet shall ye live again, as in soul, so in body, to your unspeakable joy and consolation.  
Which heavenly Doctrine likewise of your living again to beat out, hath been the proper workeof all the Godly from time to time, in their succeeding ages, patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles yea & Christ himself, as the fountain whose streams if I should follow to the full, it would be tedious for you to pass over, & unpossible for me to keep the current.  
Only Paul's plea for life again, shall 
The plea of life.  stand as a ground for all the rest, whose several reasons to prove the resurrection, laid down to the Church of Corinth, I refer you unto, resting upon the first, as a butteris or binding stone for all the rest, which is this: Christ is risen again, the first 
1. Cor. 15.  fruits of them that sleep, whereupon I infer, if he be first, we must second him: if he be gone before, we must follow after: if he be risen, we may not rest: for where the head is, of congruence must all the members follow.  
And now that Christ is risen again from 
that christ is risen  the dead, it is apparent by these several proofs. First it is promised in Paradise, so to be when God said to Satan, he shall 
Gen. 3. 15.  break thine head, and thou shalt bruise his heel, bruise he may by death, but break he may not. Thine it is o Christ to break sathan, sin and death, not in the heel, but in the head, never to rise up in judgement against us. 2 Secondly his resurrection from the dead, was prophesied in judah, by old jacob. Gen. 49. 9 by a Lion couchant under a painful passion, yet passant too, by a glorious resurrection: so said jacob, as a lions whelp shalt thou come up from the spoil, my Son judah (meaning in a mystery from the spoil of Hell, sin, and death, to the glory of Heaven, life and immortality) our english judah hath this honour in her arms and we owe her homage, our heavenly judah hath this honour in his person & we owe him adoration: all ye faithful of judah take this honour to your souls, & bless your christ in the scutcheon of your hearts, carry him, o carry him forth in your Christian march, against all encounters: and say, terror hic est hominum, quique hunc gerit est Agamemnon, which I may english thus.  

This Lion here of judah tribe a terror is, to men and Devils desperate debarred of bliss:  
Who bears him as his Crest, more puissant he then Grecian guide, with all his chivalry.   
3 Thirdly, his resurrection was figured by Samson judg. 16, who at midnight rose & 
judg. 16. 3  conveyed away the gates of Azzah and bore them up to Hebron. The gates of Azzah are the bands of death, which our true Samson did break in the night, & silence of his resurrection, and in despite of death, bore up his blessed body to Heaven, where now it abides a pledge of our inheritance. Have I not power to lay down my life, & 
joh. 10. 17 18  have I not power to take it up again?  
4. Lastly it was signified in the heave offering, shaken up, shakend une, and 
Exo. 29. 24  shaken up again: so was our Christ in body, the substance of this shadow, tossed to and fro in the hazard of this world, up to the cross down to the grave, and yet up again to glory.  
What should I say more? see the vault 
Mar. 16. 6. 7.  where they laid him, (saith the Angel) all hollow & empty: there's the grave, where be the Corpses? there's the Shrine, where is the Saint? Indeed he is risen, he is not here: go to Galilee there shall ye see him, (as he hath said) why seek ye the living among 
Luk, 24, 5 10, 20▪ 17  the dead? Quem mortuum queris, viventem tangere non mereris: Marry thou deservest not to feel him alive, whom still thou seekest thus dead: nor was this Sermon preached by the Angel to her alone, but was afterward mightily confirmed by many several apparitions of our Saviour Christ, ere he left this world: that if in the mouth of two or three witnesses every truth should be established, this so acceptable a Doctrine of Christ his resurrection from the dead, might want no testimony: either of these women, of Cephas, 
1, Cor, 15. 4, etc.  of the twelve, or of more than five hundredth brethren at once, whose witness is true, our conscience bearing us witness thereto in the holy Ghost.  
And thus (my dear brethren) being fully assured of the Lords resurrection, we 
That we shall rise. 2. co, 4, 14  are well secured of our own, knowing (as the Apostle saith) that he which hath raised up the Lord jesus, shall raise us up also by jesus, and set us with the Saints in everlasting tabernacles, whereof yet lest any the weakest reedin this assembly might fail in judgement, and so saint in hope, I have thought good, without strain of Scripture, to secure your religious hearts of your own resurrection, by these few grounds of Faith following.  
First for that it is in the will of the Father 
john, 6, 3● 40.  so to have it: as also a work of the Son so to effect it, for this (saith Christ) is the will of him that sent me, that every man which seeth the Son & believeth in him should have everlasting life, & I will raise him up at the last day: will the Father have it, who shall resist his will? will the Son work it, who can resist his power? & if in any work, 
Rome, 1. 4.  assuredly most of all in this hath the Lord declared himself mightily to be the Son of God, touching the Spirit of sanctification, by the resurrection from the dead: his & ours. I say, his and ours: because he that sanctifieth, and they that are sanctified are 
Heb. 2, 1. ●  both one.  
2. A second ground of our resurrection to 
Heb, 6, 1●  build upon, is the Lords oath, that by two immutable things, wherein it is unpossible that God should lie, we might have strong consolation, he that hath former he said it is his will, he hath likewise said it is his work, and the Lord his Say, might be our assurance: yet God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the stableness of his counsel, hath bound himself by an oath; of old thus: as I live, I will 
Ez, 33, 11,  not the death of sinner, etc. Of new thus: verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour shall 
Ioh, 5, 25,  come, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear it shall live, where God having no greater to swear by, swore by himself as he is life, and by his Christ as he is truth: whereupon Tertullian infers this blessing, O nos felices quorum causa deus iuraverit: sed o nos infelices, si ne iuranti Deo credimus. O happy we for whose good, God himself hath sworn: But o we most unhappy if upon his oath we do not believe him. Tollit divinitatem, qui tollit veritatem, we grieve the deity, if we check the verity.  
3. A third assurance, is the instrument we hold by, even our letters patents from the King of heaven: I mean the old testament from Horeb sealed with the blood of Goats, and the new testament from Zion sealed with the blood of christ, both unsealing the door of the Sepulchre, that as 
2. ●, 13 2●  upon the touch of Elisha his bones, the dead body of the Moabit did rise, and at Christ his dolorous cry, Lazarus came 
john, 11. 43, 44  forth: so both might be pregnant types, & truths of our resurrection to come, and the books mentioning the same, still remain as instruments of our hold authentical & good, to convey unto us an assurance of our immortality: in which Saint Augustine is bold to say, evangelium legimus instrumentum nostrum: We have read the Gospel which is our evidence we hold by, wherein I dare say, there is nothing more current from leaf to line, than the doctrine of death's delivery.  
4. A forth ground of our future resurrection, is taken from sufficient testee, and cloud of witnesses compassing us round on every side, patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, though in divers ages of the world, yet all making good this one truth from one God, & Spirit of our Lord jesus Christ, by which they spoke: Enoch (as Jude saith) the seventh from Adam 
jud. 14,  prophesied of it. And job said, I shall see 
job, 19 26 27  God in my flesh, I myself, mine eyes, and no other for me, Isaiah said, the dead men shall live, even with my body shall they rise: 
Isa, 26, 19  awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Ezekiell said, O Son of man prophesy over these dead bones, & say, here ye the word of the Lord, 
〈…〉. ●7. 4  when I have opened your graves, o my people, and brought you up, out of your Sepulchres, and shall put my Spirit in you, & ye shall live: then shall ye know that I am the Lord. Daniel said, many of them that 
Dan, 12. 2  sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake▪ some to everlasting life, some to shame and perpetual contempt. The distressed Martyr said, when upon demand he yielded his tongue and hands into the power o● the tormenter: These have I had from the 
2, Macc. 7, 11.  heaven, but now for the law of God I despise them, and trust that I shall receive th● from him again.  
What should I say more, the new Testament is rather in the practice, than proof of this Doctrine: and Paul is peremptory 
1, Cor▪ 15, 42,  that it is sown in corruption, but riseth in i● corruption: sown in dishonour, but riseth again in glory: sown in weakness, riseth again in power: sown a natural body, riseth again a spiritual body: for there is a natural body, and that shall fall, but there is a spiritual body, and that shall rise, and all is but one in the substance of being: the difference is of well being, as now being made more honourable upon the fall by Christ, who shall change our vile bodies, 
Phil. 3, 21  that they may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself.  
Yea and to make it a palpable and feeling Doctrine, as to the heart, so to the hand of each Christian: all the Apostles in one john, and one john for all the Apostles, brings in the verdict thus: That which we 
1, Ioh, 1. 1  have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, & these hands of ours have handled, declare we unto you. Hands have handled, what meaneth that? Woe is me to tell: doubtful Thomas demured upon the Doctrine, till 
john, 20 24, etc.  his itching fingers had fetched it out of the prints of the nails, & his sinful hand out of his sore side: How be it upon the touch 
Not sore but open  his heart resolved into sighs, & his eyes into tears, when he said with an holy resolution: my GOD, my Lord: my God, I am thy creature, my Lord, I am thy redeemed: I find thee risen▪ and I feel I shall be raised: Thy wounds are deep enough to plead thy death, & sufficient wide to purchase life for me, and all the world.  
For conclusion of all, let Christ his witness be instar omnium and stand for all; who to take away the doubt, forbids the wonder of our new repair, saying, marvel 
john. 5. 28 29  not at this, for the hour shall come, in the which all that are in graves shall hear his voice and come forth.  
5. Fiftly we are well assured▪ that we shall rise again, by double pledge or hostage: 1. First of the souls of the Saints▪ 
Reu. 6, 9, 10. 11.  now lodgers in Heaven under the Altar, killed for the word of GOD, and testimony which they maintained, whose loud cry is after a deliverance of their own bodies, and of us their long detained brethren, to whom silence was enjoined for a while, that they should rest until their fellowe-seruants and brethren. that should be killed (even as they were) were fulfilled. 2. Secondly of their bodies, lodged in their graves, there to remain as lodgers for us, likewise until the time that all things be restored, God 
Heb. 11, 40.  providing this good for us that they without us should not be made perfect.  
6, A sixth assurance is the pawn of the Spirit of God within us: for, as the Apostle 
Ro. 8. 11  saith, if the spirit of him that raised up jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his spirit that dwelleth in you. And now my brethren how this spirit hath entered & wimbled into your souls to make passage for this Doctrine, I know not, read the characters of your own hearts, you are spiritual: I feel no spirit but mine own, yet I hope well, that the cheerful spirit of God moveth within you, & lifteth up your sad & pensive spirits this day, from the dead grave to the blessed hope of immortality.  
7. seventhly we are secured per Arram: when the earnest is given it strikes the bargain, & part of the debt is paid: so was it when upon the resurrection of Christ, the graves 
Math. 27▪ 52. 53.  yielded part of their dead as an earnest of the general resurrection, and full payment to come, then contracted betwixt Christ and the grave, binding both alike: the grave to deliver the rest of her dead, and Christ to receive all to life, and immortality.  
8. The eight and last, yet not the least Anchor of our sure hope and hold, is our possession of heaven already taken, whither our head is gone before, and there sits in potioribus 
joh. 14. 3. Ro. 8. 34 Hebr. 9 24  Dei at the right hand of the Father in the best place of heaven, that the head and the members might be together: So then (I say) in the Man Christ we make our claim: in the Man Christ hath every one flesh, blood, bone and portion: I believe I shall live where my flesh liveth, I hope I shall reign where my head reigneth, and I know assuredly that I shall be glorified where my portion is exalted.  
These grounds of faith (my brethren) are so many nails of the sanctuary, to fasten us in hope to the hold where Christ our redeemer is: they are so many Chrysolites, Saphiers, and Emeralds, to support the wall of the holy City, where we shall dwell, and so many Pearls they are, to garnish 
Re. 21▪ 21  the gates of the holy Temple, for the Saints entrance: where the light of the Lamb is, the people which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and as john saith, the glory and honour of the Gentiles (whereof you are) shall be brought into it. Lord what is man that thou art so mindful of him: or the Son of man that thou shouldest thus visit him in mercy, and provide for him in glory.  
And yet my beloved, I know not how, but notwithstanding all these proofs, and this my text, yet hath not the tempter ceased from the beginning of the world unto this day, either like a roaring Lion, fiercely to assault, or like a Serpent by deceit craftily to impugn the same, yea it is a woe 
Eph. 2, 2, 3  and a wonder to see how mightily the Devil hath prevailed in the Children of disobedience, to work their just condemnation through misbelief, even in this point of the resurrection, & of our living again: whereof I have thought good to give you a taste of their different errors, the rather to season you in the known truth.  
The Saducees say there is no resurrection at all, erring (as Christ told them) in that 
A dangerous sect of whom we read: few ●r none to have been called, ma, 22. 23 29 2. Tim. 2. 17. 1●.  they knew not the Scriptures, nor the power of God, Hymeneus & Philetus say the resurrection is passed already: the Helvetian Heretics say, It is daily in there generation: The Archantici▪ that the soul liveth, but not the body. The Hirarchits, that the flesh liveth again, but not this flesh. The Manichees, that we shall be turned into an other substance, but into what, they know not. The Marcionits say, we shall be turned into the nature of Angels: and the Valentinian Heretics into the nature of Devils: the Appelleits think the flesh shall symbolize into the Spirit, & that the spirit shall vanish into the sostayre: the Chiliast with are called the millenary Heretics, do dream of a civil government for a thousand years here on earth, wherein they think the Godly shall live with Christ in all delights & delicacy, & then go to heaven in the eight thousand year of the world.  
But all these different errors and Heresies are mightily confounded by the alone spirit of God, in these words of my text: If a man die he shall live again▪ as and if the truth should say, that grave that shutteth shall open again, that body which falleth shall rise again, that man which dieth shall live again, not in part, but in whole, not another from that it was, but the very same that now it is: These my feet shall tread in his Courts: these my hands shall be lift up to his praise: these mine eyes shall behold his glory: these mine ears shall be filled with that heavenly melody: yea and this my spirit shall rejoice in God my maker, my saviour, my redeemer, my glorifier: I say this my body and this my soul once severed on earth, with a woeful farewell, shall meet again in heaven, never to part▪ but follow the Lamb 
Re. 14. 4.  whither ever he goeth.  
And thus having cleared in some measure the necessity of our living again, with an assured hope to all God's Children of a joy full resurrection to come, it remains we press the Doctrine; yet further to your comfort, and tell you how we shall be changed, and when.  
For the first, rise we shall with these very 
job, 19  bodies, of flesh, skin, blood & bone▪ nor shall the least joint sinew or Artery be lost, but found and fashioned to the rest of the members, to give the body all feature, grace and beauty. There shall be no transubstantiation from one substance into another, but an alteration of quality tending to further perfection: and therefore we say with one who said well, Gloria non tollit sed perficit naturam: our glory shall not destroy our nature, but perfect it.  
And for distinction of ages, there shall be 
How we shall be changed Isaiah▪ 65. 20.  no more there, (as saith the Prophet) a Child of years, nor an old man that hath not filled his days, that is in this wonderful work of restoration, there shall be no weakness of youth, not infirmities of 
No distinction of ages in heaven, no maim, no imperfection.  age, but all shall be fresh and flourishing: for as when GOD first created man and woman, he made them not either▪ Infants, old, crooked, or deformed, but strong, ripe and beautiful: so in the resurrection (which is called a new creation:) It is not like, but shall be conformable to the first: if not much more excellent: nor do I doubt, but as the Apostle saith, we shall all meet together unto a perfect Man▪ and unto the 
Ephe. 4. 13  measure of the age of the fullness of Christ, so fully blessed with days, glory and immortality.  
This so wonderful change, and excellent state, is shadowed out unto us by Christ his transfiguration upon the holy mount, when the fashion of his countenance was 
Math. 17. 1, 2, etc.  changed, and his garments white and glistered, splendour infacie, splendour in vestimentis, sic gloria in capite, gloria in membris: brightness in the face of Christ, with brightness in his garments, is nothing else but glory in the head, and glory in the members.  
This saw the disciple whom the Lord loved, when with a feeling soul and spirit, 
1, joh. 3▪ 2.  he said, dearly beloved: now are we the Sons of God, but it is not yet made manifest what we shall be, for we know that when he shall be made manifest (meaning Christ▪) we shall be like him: for we shall see him as he is: like him, see him, and see him as he is: o excellent state of immortality, and sovereign dignity of Gods elect! to be like him is much, to see him is more, but to see him as he is, most of all.  
Paul saw the like when he longed after 
Phil, 3. 20. 21  a deliverance, and said, we look for the Saviour even the Lord jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself: whereupon I may infer to your further joy, and greater wonder, thus: That we shall be changed, is much, that our vile bodies shall be changed, is more, but that our vile body upon the change shall be fashioned like unto the glorious body of jesus CHRIST, is most of all: Many fashions there are in this world, and all wear out of fashion. There's but one suit for the Saints of GOD, and for that it's cut after the best Pattern viz. after CHRIST'S, it never weareth or waxeth old, but is always fair, fresh and glorious: had we been appareled like Aaron in his holye●obes, or like Solomon in his Royal array, had we put on the brightness of Angels upon our change, we might have thought ourselves sufficiently graced, but▪ as and if all that were not sufficient: The Lord hath changed our vile body▪ that it might be fashioned like unto his glorious body.  
And this will he do when our case is most desperate, even find us out when 
When ou4 need is greatest Christ is nearest & his mercies are preventions. Lu. 10. 34  we are lost, & take us up when we are furthest fallen from him, when our wounds are deepest, than readiest to power in oil and to bind them up, when no eye pitieth us, I say when by black death we shall be made vile, base and despicable: Then will he fashion us like unto himself: and (as the Psalmist saith) make us glorious by 
Psa. 1 49. 4  deliverance.  
For it is an excellency in our Christ, and a mercy infallible, found true in the practice of his pyetye, even then to show mercy when we are moss miserable: then to feel him nearest, when we deem him furthest gone: his graces to abound when our sins do superabound: I say, his mercies are preventions ever meeting with our miseries, and then when we are most woeful and wanting.  
When the Sceptre was gone from judah, than Shiloh came: when the diseased 
Gen. 49. 1● Mar. 5. 26. john. 5. 5.  woman had spent all without remedy, than came CHRIST and cured without cost: when the poor Paralyticke had lain eight and thirty years, by the Pool of Bethesda, and none would help to put him in, Then jesus said, rise, take up thy bed and walk: when the Disciples said 
Math. 14, 15, etc.  unkindly, send the people away: nay saith Christ give ye them to eat. What should I say more? The Lord raised Lazarus, when 
john. 11  he stunk in the grave: and whilst Martha moved, and Mary mourned, he grieved in heart, and was troubled in Spirit, put to his hand, took him out, delivered him, & said now lose him and let him go.  
So will he do in the day of our redemption, when our sins shall be full, and misery 
joh. 1. 16.  most abound: then mercy shall be more full, and grace superabound: and as at his first coming of his abundance, we all receive grace, for grace (a cheerful refreshing to our sinful souls) so at his coming again we that dwell in the dust, shall awake & sing at the shout and shower of his glory, as also of the abundance of his glory, receive glory for glory.  
Thy dew o Lord is as the dew of herbs▪ 
●●●●● 26, 19  for even as herbs dead in winter, flourish again by the rain in the Spring time: so shall they that live in the dust, arise up to joy, when they feel the dew of God's grace as the honey drops that water the earth.  
And then shall we say with a Godly ●uation: 
1, Cor, 15▪ 54.  now death is swallowed up in victory: for our dry bones are moistened, our forlorn hope is recovered, we were clean cut off, but now are we grown again, our bed is precious, and our withered branch is glorious: the Lord hath opened our graves, we are come out of the Sepulchres, and he hath brought us into the land 
Psa, ●7, 13  of the living, where we shall see no sin, nor feel corruption any more.  
Hasten thy judgements o Lord, bow the heavens and come down: discharge the graves of their dead, the world of it doom, our souls from sin, and our bodies from corruption: o hasten the day of our delivery, that we may see in glory what we feel in grace, even the beholding 
Psal. 17▪ 15  of thy face in righteousness, that when we shall awake from death, we may be satisfied with thy likeness, and filled with the fullness of thy joy.  
Thus much of the manner of our change 
The time of our changing.  & living again: Now to the time when: I mean, when these vile bodies shall be fashioned like unto his glorious body, fined from the grave, redeemed from the earth, and bought from men, whereof I hold for 
Reu, 14. 4.  the negative, that there shall be no full change or restoration of any, until the general resurrection of all: and that before the last day and doom of all the world, there shall be silence in the grave, no ground stirred, no body raised: and if raised, for a time by divine dispensation, to confirm the glory of Christ his resurrection, at what time Sheol should be shaken, yet laid down again, by like ordination to expect a further refreshing from the Lord, when all things shall be restored.  
So as I may safely say, against our adversaries presumption, in check of their assumption of the body of the blessed virgin, that except the human body of her Son Christ, the pawn and pledge of our Inheritance, the●'s not a glorified body in heaven: it's true, it's true, upon our disclution: the dust of our bodies resolveth into 
E●, 12, 7.  earth from whence it came, and the spirit returneth to God that gave it. And as the 
Act. 3 21.  heavens must hold the body of one Christ till he come again: so the graves shall hold the bodies of all his saints, till all things 
Gen, 3, 19.  be restored: earth, to erath, ashes to ashes. dust to dust, is for all flesh until our changing shall come, for thou Lord turnest man 
Psal, 90. 3.  to destruction: again thou sayest, come again ye children of men.  
And that this is true, let these Scriptures waige with you: job in the precedent verses of this my text hath it, and you may believe 
job, 14. 1●.  him in that as in the rest, man sleepeth and riseth not, he shall not awake again, nor be raised from his sleep till the heavens be no more: where I take his meaning to be generally of all without exception of any other, then as formerly I have said of Christ his perfect glorification for ever: and some of his Saints, by dispensation for the time, and again, laid down to sleep till the heavens be no more, that is, till all things be restored.  
Christ himself a witness omni exceptione 
Ioh, 3, 13.  maior, hath said likewise, that no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that hath descended from heaven, that Son of man which is in heaven: the doctrine is positive Catholic and absolute without exception of any, and exclusion of all, speaking by a coinonie for the present: as attributing that to the divinity which is proper to the humanity: but expressing, as de futuro for the time to come, that no man should ascend in his humanity, before the Son of man who did descend in his divinity to fetch it up.  
And hereunto acordeth Paul when he 
●. Cor. 15, 22▪ 23  saith, as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive, but every man in his own order: The first fruits is Christ, afterward they that are of Christ, at his coming shall rise again: whence I reason thus, in the first Adam we all fell by sin to die once. In the second Adam we shall all rise, by his righteousness to live ever, but in sort different: he as the first fruit, we as an after crop at his coming shall rise again, even at his coming shall rise again, so saith the text, and not before, so say I. The inferrence is good, else were the order inverted, whereat principally the Apostle aimeth, 
Col. 1. 18.  which is, that Christ might have the pre-eminence, prime and pride of the resurrection, if I may so say.  
Again it is said by the same Apostle, that 
1 Th. 4, 15  at the Lords coming such as remain shall not prevent them that are asleep, no● they that are asleep shall prevent them that are alive: but the Lord shall prevent both and together, all shall be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so be ever where he is. The division is perfect & good, for at the coming of Christ to judgement, all bodies shall either sleep in their graves dead, or be abiding upon the earth alive, and for their passage into heaven, none shall be before or after other. The time was when that other 
john, 20. 4  Disciple did out run Peter to the Sepulchre, and even now we see, one hasteth to put another in the grave: but then when the Trumpet shall blow, and the dead shall rise: all shall go from their sepulchres at once up together, meet together, and so for ever be with the Lord.  
Further for better proof of this Doctrine, there is set down by the Apostolic Author, 
Heb. 11. 2.  a choice register of God's Saints, from Abel the just, down to the days of the Maccabees, by the honourable▪ patriarchs, worthy judges, renowned Kings, inspired 
Heb. 11, 39, 40,  Prophets, who all through faith obtained good report, but received not the promise: God providing a better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.  
I say, received not the promise at full▪ as enjoying their desired Christ, not fully come, in the day of grace by his death, to purge their souls from sin, nor come in the day of glory, by his life, to fine their bodies from corruption: God providing this good for us, that they without us, neither in grace or glory, should be fully perfected. How be it I deny not, but their souls were fully saved, by the virtue of Christ his death and resurrection, which they foresaw and felt in their hearts, and therefore 
If in heaven, ergo neither in the limb of popish purgatory, or limbus pa trum.  upon their dissolution were taken up in soul into the very heavens, where now they are, with Abraham, Isaac, and jacob. Mat. 8. 11. But their flesh doth rest in hope, so (as I may say of them, and of all the dead, as Peter did of the Patriarch David) David is not ascended into heaven: And if 
Act, 2, 26 34 Psa. 110, 1 Heb. 1, 13. Ec▪ 10. 12. 13, 1. Ioh, 2, 1 2. Act, 20, 28 1▪ cor, 15, 27  not David the root, how may Mary the branch, or any other strain of Adam? nay, nay, the possession is there given by one God, and taken by one Christ in right of all thus: Sat thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool, thou alone to plead their cause, thou alone to purchase their place, thou alone to keep possession till all things be restored, and then make good thy purpose, with thy promise, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I 
Ioh 14. 2, 3,  go, I will come again and receive you unto myself: that where I am, there may ye be also.  
But if all these Scriptures, like nails of 
Hebr. 12, 22, 23, 24,  the sanctuary, will not fasten thee to this hold: then search the heavens, for thy better resolution: see into that secret, and who be there? Hebr. 12. 22. etc. Mention is made of Mount Zion, which is the celestial jerusalem: and the City of the living God: to which blessed assembly the elect of God are incited to join themselves as free Denizens, & to be Enfranchised. Now who be there, tell if thou canst? let the Spirit speak and all flesh be silent.  
There saith the text, are the company of innumerable Angels, and the congregation of the first borne which are written in heaven: There is God the judge of all, and the Spirits of just and perfect men: there is jesus the meadiator of the new Testament and the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than the blood of Habel.  
Whence I infer, (to pass the rest and to come to that which more nearly concerneth the matter in question,) that there are only the spirits of just and perfect men but neither body, blood or bone, other than that of jesus Christ, the mediator of the new Testament, whose blood speaketh better things then that of Habels: For the blood of Habel cried revenge, but the blood of Christ even there sprinkling, as it were in 
He, 12, 24  his Father's face, crieth pardon, pardon.  
I might (to confirm this Scripture) cote that of john: and open unto you the first seal, with the Altar of God, & the souls of 
Reu. 6, 9, 10, 11.  the saints lying there under: I might tell you of their enjoined silence, to pray, or plead for any further repair or perfection in body, until the number of their fellow servants gone before, and of their brethren to follow after (dead as they were) were fulfilled: but I leave the Doctrine to your further search and examination, because the time hasteth on: and for the present only, content myself, and I hope you to, with the assoiling of some few doubts, which happily might encounter the doctrine delivered.  
First say some, if there be no bodies in 
Gen. 5▪ 24 2, Ki, ●, 11 Look the Geneva note Gen. 5, 24 & P. Martyr of Henocke and Elias.  heaven but that of Christ's, where then are the bodies of Henocke and Elias, the one taken away before the Flood, and the other after in a fiery Chariot? I answer with the learned, whose judgements I reverence, as to inquire where they became is mere curiosity, so to say they be in heaven, is over bold presumption: and if I should say with David Kimhi, not the meanest interpreter of the Hebrues: that in the taking up of Elyas, his garments were consumed with fire, except his mantel which fell from him, yea and that himself was extinguished: so as every one of the Elements of his body dissolved and returned to the Element whereof it was, but that his Spirit passed to heaven, it were no singular opinion, for of the very same mind, Oecolampadius seemeth to be in his exposition upon the last of Malachi.  
But for us it is sufficient, that their translation show there is a better life prepared: & if we make it a Sacrament either of our resurrection from the dead, or last taking up into heaven, if we make it a testimony of the immortality of souls & bodies, I hold it may well stand with the Analogy of faith, and be as Tertullian saith, documents of our perfection to come, for the rule is good, multa tribuuntur Symbolis quae tantum sunt rerum significatarum: many things are said of figures which are only true in the thing they signify. Therefore if any man say, they are taken up and glorified in body, as in soul: it is only true in that they signify, and not in Symbol.  
Herein if I be deceived▪ I dare not say with the Prophet: Lord thou hast deceived 
Mr. Greenam in his trea. of the Resurrect: Page▪ 4●7 Mr. Willet in his Retect. Page, 118, In Episti, Heb, 11, 5,  me. jeremiah 20. yet may I say ye learned of this age, Calvin, Fulke, Grenam, Bale etc. ye are deceived and err with me.  
It sufficeth us saith Calvin, that their taking away (meaning Henocke and Elias) was a certain extraordinary death, nor may we doubt, but that they put of corruptible and mortal flesh, that with the ●est of Christ his members, they might be renewed into a blessed immortality: might be renewed (saith he,) therefore not yet renewed: and with the rest of the members of Christ, ergo not single by themselves.  
The Rhemists upon the same place, 
Heb, 11 5  charge us Protestants to be Sectaries, for that we hold this Doctrine, their words are these: here it appeareth that Henocke yet liveth and is not dead, against the calvinists.  
Mr. Fulke answereth the charge, and layeth 
In his mar ginall note Heb, 11. 5  down his judgement in these words: It appeareth not that Henocke yet liveth in body, more than Moses or Elyas, but that he was translated by God, out of the world, & died not after the common manner of men, with this marginal note, more fully to express his mind in the point, Enocke not still living.  
But as for any passage into heaven, that Enocke or Elias had in body or local being there, which is the main point in controversy: he is so far from that opinion, as in an other place, he is bold to vouch the contrary in these very words: It is evident 
In his Annotat. Reu. 11. 3. Against the Rhemist.  indeed that Elias was taken up alive, but not that he continueth alive, yea, because it is said expressly that he was taken up into heaven, it is certain that his body was not carried into heaven▪ for Christ was the first, that in his whole humanity ascended into heaven: Ergo (say I) with Mr. Fulke whose learning, judgement and authority I much reverence, and so may the Church of England, that yet there is no Body in Heaven but that of jesus Christ's: for he is the beginning, and the first begotten of the dead: (as the Apostle 
Col. 1. 18.  saith) that in all things, he might have the pre-eminence.  
Exiled Bale in his image of both Churches, and in his chaste Paraphras upon the cited place, Revelation 11. inferreth thus against the Popish school Doctors, who would have the two witnesses there mentioned to be Enocke and Elias: unlike it is saith he, that God should call witnesses from the dead: And what Godly wise man can give more to the figure then to the verity, more were they not privileged from death, than Christ was: though God would not then have it so to be known, to declare his wonderful work.  
Only that which may deceive is the Original word, Lakac, which found in other places of Scripture else where, doth imply rather a taking away by death, than any translation from death: as in the 4. of jonah where the prophet prayeth that God would take away his life: and Ezech. 44. 16. where the Lord saith, behold I will take from thee the pleasure of thine eyes, meaning his wife: the same original in both places is all one with that of Enocke Gen. 5. And therefore I see not yet why it may not enure to the same sense and signification, unless we may deem that jonah prayed for any such translation, or that Ezechiels' wife was so translated indeed, which may not be, for that the Prophet lived longer after, and Ezechiels' wife was found dead at even: and for the new testament it is familiar with Christ and his Apostles, to call death a translation or taking away to blessedness, as Luke 9 51. john. 13. 1. and 17 1. In all which places the Greek will bear it to be a translation, or taking away to a better life, yet ever by a true and certain death.  
And therefore I answer to that of the Hebrues, where it is said: by faith Enocke 
Heb. 11. 5.  was translated, that he should not see death, that though happily his departure out of this life was extraordinary without passion, sickness, or greenance: yet was it a dissolution, and such as left a body behind, else why saith the Text, that these, whereof Enocke was one, without us should not be made perfect: had he been taken up and glorified in body as in soul, he had been perfect without us: but because the Scripture plainly saith, that he without us should not be perfected, I hold, as yet in body he is no more glorified than we or the rest of that Calendar.  
It is recorded by Jude that Michael th'a arch Angel strove against the Devil, 
Jude, 9  and disputed about the body of Moses: nor do I doubt but the contention was anent the funerals. The Devil would have them solemn, Michael would have them secret to avoid idolatry, and love of religques: lest the succeeding age m●ght commit the sin in adoring his dead bones, of whom whilst he lived they had so great a reputation of all piety and holiness.  
So may I say of Henocke and Elias, in 
Gen. 5. 24. Heb. 11, 5  that, as the text saith, they are gone, not seen or found, they are taken rome burial, and from all usage of this world: lest succeeding ages might adore them dead, whom they so honoured alive: for not found, not seen, we say of men rather lost on earth then gone to heaven.  
Again when Christ was transfigured 
Luk. 9, 31  upon the Mount: it is said that Moses and Elyas talked with him, and told of his departure which he should accomplish at jerusalem: and shall we say that the one was more translated than the other, more perfect or more glorified than the other, pardon me, if I plead a like perfection in both: If Elias, than Moses: if not Moses, than not Elias, but it is plain in the Scripture 
Deut. 34. 5  that Moses died: and so it is of Enocke and Elias in the general, otherwise how should that sentence of Scripture be verified? Hebrues. 9 27. It is appointed to men that they shall once die: if we shall then conclude and say from the premises: that by divine dispensation and for the time, Moses & Elyas took up their bodies to associate Christ in the glorification as did the Saints, who rise with him to accompany him in the resurrection: when having performed that which they were appointed to do, they were dissolved again, as before, I hold it may well stand with the Anolagie of faith: for that the Scripture saith concerning Christ. Act. 13. 34. God raised him up from the dead, no more to return to corruption, as and if others might twice return, where Christ should but once see the grave.  
As for the Father's doubtful judgement 
Of Fathers  there anent, I say: as I have ever said, I reverence their grey hairs, but I bless eternity: nor dare I subscribe to all the Fathers in the present point, for that they are variable, nor to any one of them further than he hath good warranty out of the word, which is ever like itself, and stable in all truth. The Rhemistes would prove in their annotations upon the 11. of the apocalypse two special points of Doctrine against us, to make good their Antichrist yet to come. 1. First that Enocke and Elias yet live, shall preach in the time of Antichrist, and suffer martyrdom. the● that they now live in Paradise: and for denying of these two positions, they say we● Protestant's are too contentious, and incredulous, the matter being clear (as they aver) in the opinion of all antiquity: and to that end they press us with the sway o● the Fathers, both Greek and Latin: T 〈…〉 whose quotations in that place I refer 〈…〉 you, as also to the variable judgement o 〈…〉 antiquity there anent, whence I resolve and conclude. To say with some of the fathers, concurring with our adversaries, that Enocke and Elyas be yet in Paradise is idle: to say they shall fight against Antichrist, in the end of the world, and suffer Martyrdom is more idle, to say they be yet alive is dangerous, but to say they be dead as all others 
Heb. 9, 27  are, is without all danger, and whereupon never grew schism in the Church of God, never grief to conscience, or check to the Royal dignity of our Christ, whose sole and sovereign pre-eminence of being in heaven bodily, I hold, as an excellency in him, and a blessing to us: yet so as to believe or not to believe, that Enocke & Elyas be there, may be no bar to our salvation, for that I doubt not but million of souls shall be saved, who never heard or sought into that secret.  
And now that I have said God will witness with me before whom I stand in the sight of men and Angels, that I have spoken nothing to the touch or prejudice of any contrary judgement, or out of the pride or singularity of my own heart, but in right and prerogative of my Christ, whose peculiar yet I take it to be alone, to pardon our sins, to plead our cause, and purchase our place, whither first he is entered in body to make passage for all, and as the Apostle saith: Now to appear 
Hebr. 9 24  in the sight of God for us, and so to conclude with Origen, sicut ex mortuis primogenitus 
Ex pamphil.  christus, it a primus carnem evexit in caelum: As Christ is the first borne of the dead, so he first carried his flesh into heaven.  
2. A second doubt encountering this Doctrine, riseth from such as make question what became of the body of Lazarus after it was raised, as also of 
joh. 11. 44  the bodies of those saints, which at christ his resurrection came out of their graves, went into the holy city and appeared unto 
Math 27: 52  many?  
To which I answer that all was done by miracle, and divine dispensation only for that time, to confirm and ascertain unto us the resurrection from the dead, as in the head, so in the members. And well it might stand with faith and religion both: that as by like dispensation Christ himself 
Ma. 17, 1. 2  being yet mortal, was transfigured upon the holy Mount, and glorified in body, and being risen again and glorified, 
10, 20, 27.  t●oke an impression of his mortality, as the print of the Nails in his hands, and wound in his side, to confirm the weak faith of Thomas. So I say by the very like dispensation hath he disposed of the bodies of those his Saints, for that time to confirm 
Lib: 3: de mi●a scrip. cap. 13. epistola ad Euodium. 99  the doctrine of the resurrection, who having performed that which they were appointed to do, by the judgement of Augustine and divers others, settled in their graves, as they did before: for Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more, as and if 
Rome, 6▪ 9  the Apostle were resolved, that many raised to life have died again, of which sort I take these to be.  
3. The third and last encounter is with our adversaries, who to advance the body of the blessed virgin up into heaven, have mightily abased the blessed body of Christ on earth, pulling down the one at their pleasure into the compass of a cake, 
1▪ Kin: 12 28: 29:  at Dan, and bethel, setting up the other in conceit above the heaven of heavens, and to that end have found out in their deanne divinity and assumption of her body into heaven, and withal proclaimed her a feriall for the same, to be kept on earth, like one of the feasts of judah, where anent, I say, and dare avouch, they have discovered more folly, found out more fables, uttered more untruths, and broached more blasphemies against God and his Christ, then ever they can answer, if the Lord be not merciful upon their repentance.  
Time will not suffer me to stand upon their particular impieties, & for that I must refer you to the reading of Io. Bromiard in his summa predicantium & tract de Maria, as also to Nicholas Blony and Clicto●ius their homilies, written for the Assumption day, to Anselmus and all the rest, who 
jud. 14. 18  have ploughed in their postils with that Romish heifer.  
I say, read without pride of them or prejudice of us, and I doubt not but when you have done, you will pray that the Doctrine and day of the assumption may be canceled out of the calendar and conscience of 
Clictovius in his first Sermon de Assump part: 2:  all good Christians, and the rather for that themselves confess it to be without the Canon of the word: et quod ex scripturi● probari non possit express, which is, that tha● cannot be proved out of the scriptures expressly but from tradition, whence (saith he) it hath authority.  
And for their allegations of August● and Jerome, who (they say) writ several treatises of the assumption: the one ad Paulum et Eustochium, the other (I mean Augustin) one book of the same argument: I hold them both adulterate and neither of their stamp, for that they are unable either to abide the touch of their style or trial of God's truth: (I mean his word) & so are they taken to be in the censure of the best learned & godliest Divines, whereof Erasmus gave a taste when he said of Augustine his book for a title, Hic libellus ne pilum quidem habet Augustini. This pamphlet hath not so much as an hair of Augustine: and of Jerome his Sermon he saith, that it was not his, but that one Sophronius a Grecian writ it, which he proveth in the censure thereof very plainly if you please to read him.  
Pardon me (my brethren) if I seem to have stood overlong in the mystery of Christ his sole ascension up in body: veritas me coegit. The truth and tender of your good hath trained me on, which if you sound well unto the bottom, you shall feel it a perfume unto your souls, more sweet, than all the trees of Incense. For (say sinner) what am I? or what is my father's house 
judg. 6, 15  that God should so (exalt me in his Christ as to purchase me a place, to give me a Kingdom, to plead possession in my flesh and to keep it for me until the adoption, even the redemption of our bodies and perfect changing shall come, when Christ 
Math. 24. 30. 31.  shall 〈…〉 end with all his holy Angels, and come in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory to call the dead out of their gra●es, and to gather his elect from the four winds and from the one end of the heavens to the other: then, then, & not before to solemnize the great day of the assumption of all flesh, and to crown it with immortality. But good Lord how long! when shall our changing come? and when shall thy coming be?  
How long and when o Lord, thou knowest. 
The last day uncertain. Act, 1, 17.  It is not for us to tell the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. In Caution where of I for warn all Christians of two sins ragious in the world, and seizing upon all flesh. 1. The one is curiosity concerning the day of doom, when it shall be. 2. The other is security both of the time and manner of it being: That of curiosity is in the excess, and it possesseth the wit: that of security is in the defect, & it possesseth the will▪ ●he 1. first is of men too ingenious, and they hasten the judgement: The 2. second is of men too too careless, and they put of the judgement, not regarding that there is a God and day of revenge, and that wh●le we sin the score runs on.  
Now in respect of both (beloved) I 
A caution against the curiosity and security of this age.  charge you this day, that you stand upon your guard and be watchful, so are not to hy●, lest the fire upon the Mount devour you in your curiosity, nor hoover too low lest the foolishness of a Golden Carfe beguile 
Haba. 2, ● Ex. 19, 12 Ex. 32. 1▪ Curiosity. 1. Th', 5, ●  you in your security, Medi● tutissimus ibis, the mean is the best.  
For the first, Paul writing to the Saints at Thess●lonica, saith, Of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you ● where see a sa●ctified Church discharged of a dangerous sin, they were not curious to search the Majesty, lest they should be confounded of the glory, and for that he saith, ye have no need that I write unto you.  
As and if he should say: o ye Thessalonians, ye are not curious of the times and seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power, ye stand upon no destinies, ye gaze upon no stars, ye respect no conjunctions of fiery or watery Trigon, ye pry into no prophecies of darn deceit, ye read no Books of Manilius Maternus, Albumaza● or Holy. but the love of God is your delight wherein you have learned, 
D●▪ 29, 29  that the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and our Children for ever.  
But woe is me to tell (my dear brethren) this Scripture is cross to all our courses, & in that great day, I fear will severely judge us, for what belongeth to the Lord and is secret to himself, thereof are we curious: but what belongeth unto us, and to our Children to know and is revealed, thereof are we careless, being naturally given rather to know that we cannot learn and so die in error, then to search what we should learn and so live in truth.  
Search the Scriptures, is in the command 
john. 5, 39  of GOD, and who doth obey it? search traditions, is out of the command of God and men run mad upon them: the day of grace is ours we have it: and oh 
Lu., 19 42  that we did know in this our day the things that belong to our peace, but they are hid from our eyes: yet if there be but a question moved of the day of doom, of the desolation of the land by foreign power, if of 
Lam, 4▪ 20  the death of our dread Sovereign, the breath of our nostrils, and under whose shadow we are preserved alive among the heathen (none ours to know, but all in the counsel of God to determine of in mercy, judgement, as it seemeth best to himself) or, yet in all these are we to to peremptory: For we set the Clock, we calculate the years, we determine the day, we busy ourselves with the conjunction of planets, with doubtful Oracles out of the hollow faults and predictions of Merlin, Bardie, & many Beldarnmes of this land: we tell destinies, read riddles, & try our souls in the search of that we can never sound: nay & more, we take from God the honour of a free agent, and we tie him to a necessity fatal, wrought out by the creatures upon the Anuil of error, to betray the truth, and trap the innocent, of whom Augustine said truly: aedificantur 
Tract. 13. in john,  ad credendafata, ut eorum corda fiant fa●●a: That is, ordained they are to believe destiny, that their foolish hearts might become beastly.  
Of many to repeat a few, and as it were 
De quibus Schelcon ●mdanus Lib i'd ultimo ad ●ent: Domini.  to give you a taste of former follies, what was it but like beastliness in the Mathematicians of those days, to tell us of a climacterical year, and a golden number, which number should shut up the days of the world, the fifteenth thousand of it age, and was it not semblable madness in them, by their round quadrant and quin●untiall forms to determine of the world, and to deem of doomsday? was it not like folly in Plato sporting himself, in his Athlantic● to tell us of another Athens, which should be after nine thousand years: when this world being worn away, & another should succeed of a better people, and building? Nor was it other then earthly wisdom, in the Egyptians (of whom Herodotus speaketh) to report that in ten thousand years, the Sun should shift it place, twice rising where now it falleth, & twice falling, where now it riseth, concluding there upon of two new worlds in, ten thousand years: The beastly Epicures were more sottish in their imaginations▪ who dreamed off infinite worlds, one still slitting▪ and another slowing: doubly damned in their thoughts for that they deemed souls mortal, and worlds immortal, I say of all these as formerly I have done with Augustine: Borne they were to believe destiny, that their foolish hearts might become beastly.  
But leave we these Pagans in their Atheism, and come we nearer Christian times, for even Christians have been, are, and I fear me, will be over bold and curious in the search of this secret: for what was it other than presumption in the christians of Augustine's time, mentioned in his eighteenth book, de civit, Dei, who said the world should end four hundredth years, after the Ascension, others five hundredth, others a thousand, But as he saith, omnes elusit ipsa temporis experientia: Experience played upon their follies, and latter days still mocked their former dotage.  
Other Christians with the Rabbins have 
De quo vi de Galatinum de Arcanis catholicae veritatis. ●, 4, ca, 20  and do much busy themselves with the prophesy of Elya the Thesbit, whereof they write in their book Abadasser, Duo millia inane, Duo millia Lex, Duo millia Christus etc. That is, two thousand years nature, two thousand years the Law, two thousand years grace, and for the sins of the world, some of those shall be cut off to hasten the judgement.  
Others reason from Peter, one day with 
2. Pet. 3. 8, Quae opinio Papian, justinum, Irenaum, Tertullia nun et Lactantio antium, fe fellit.  the Lord is as a thousand years, Ergo the seventh thousand year shall be the Sabbath of rest & resurrection, and in that seventh thousand year, the Chiliasts hold, men shall live and enjoy this earth with Christ but in the eight thousand, they shall be caught up and reign with him in heaven for ever▪ Jerome was not far from that opinion, & whereof read Augustine upon the sixth Psalm, but Stipholius of Wittemberge and Hosiander did mightily defend it.  
I pass by, as too to curious, that unnecessary search of Seavens from Adam to Enocke in succession of persons, and from Adam to Elia in succession of ages, whereby they would prove the seventh thousand year to be the year of glory, when God should come in the clouds with his fiery deluge, as Elias went up in his fiery charet.  
But of all others who are in the Calendar of Christians: our adversaries (I mean the 
Our adversaries dream of doomsday by the coming of their Antichrist.  Papists) are most foolish in this point, who determine of the day of Christ, by the coming of their Antichrist: In discovering of whom, least happily they might discover their Pope to be the man, driven they are to many gross absurdities.  
1. First, that Antichrist should come of the Tribe of Dan: Rhemist 2. Thess. 2. sect. 8 and trow you, will it be possible to distinguish of tribes in this so great a confusion of Israel: for if in Ezra his time after the captivity, their generation was not perfectly known, how much more now after so mighty a dispertion in the world of full sixteen hundred years, will it be impossible to find out the descent and search the pedigree of Dan?  
2. Again, Antichrist (say they) shall have his Imperial seat at jerusalem, & re-edify again the Temple there. Bell: lib. 3. de Pontific. cap. 13. and this is an absurdity likewise contradicting the truth of Scripture, for Haggai the Prophet calleth the Temple builded by Zorobabel, the last 
Hag▪ 2. 10  house.  
3. Thirdly, they hold that he should reign but three years and a half, and yet in that space he should fight with the three Kings of Libya, Egypt, and Ethiopia, and persecute the Christians through the whole world▪ Bell. cap. 16. but this is more gross, for let any man imagine, how ever it is possible, that in so short a time, Antichrist being but a mere man, should so conquer & subdue the whole world, in which time and space hardly the flightest Ship can sail it circuit.  
4. But the last, and whereat principally I aim for my purpose, is, that they determine of the very day of Christ his coming to Judgement, and set it down to be just 45. days after the death of their Antichrist: Bell: de Rome Pontifi: Lib: 3. cap. 9  
Nay, nay my brethren, had I time, and were it to my Text, easily might I prove that this their device is but a drift to shift from themselves, what they have, and what they are, I mean Antichrist and Antichristian, for Rome is the place, if Rome be Se●ti-collis; 
Reue, 17. 9  to wit, The City built upon the seven Mountains whereon the woman sitteth, And then he entered the world, when the Apostle said, There be many Antichrists, 
1. joh. 2. 18.  whereby we know that it is the last time: but more fully he encountered the world when 666▪ did calculate the year, 
reve. 13 18.  and decipher his name and nation: and here is wisdom, Let him that hath wit, count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is (as I have said) 666. whereof Ireneus gave a 
Lib. ●. c. 2●  touch and taste, when in these two titles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: in the one he discovered his nation & language, in the other his pomp and pride: both numbered aright according to the greeks, make 666. About which time likewise, whole Italy fell from the Emperor to the Pope, when Boniface the 3. by Ph●cas was advanced in titles, And Stephen the 2. by Pipin was preferred to dukedoms, since when, and especially in these last five hundredth years, he had wel-nere conquered the world, if the Spirit of the 
2. Thes. 2. ●.  Lord with the breath of his mouth, had not beaten him back, when his innumerable and filthy Locusts, blasted the growth of 
reve. 9 3. etc.  true Religion in the greatest part of Christendom, when Kings became his vassals, and Emperors held his stirrup: when above all that was called God, he did advance 
2. Thes. 2. 4.  himself, as God to reign and rule, in foro poli, inforo pluti, inforo conscientiae. In the Court of heaven, in the court of hell, and in the court of each good conscience.  
But leave we here his judgement to the day of try all, and all curious spirits to the search of their own follies, in seeking that they shall never be able to find: I mean, the times & seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. Paul was taken up 
2 Cor, 12. 2. etc.  into the third heaven, and heard words which cannot be uttered, yet heard he nothing of that▪ The Angels behold the face 
Mat. 18. 10  of God, they stand in his presence & know much, yet nothing of that: God gave unto Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding 
1. King. 4. 29. etc.  much, yet it was too short of that: he spoke 300. Proverbs, and yet he never mentioned that: his songs were a thousand and five, yet he never sung of that, otherwise then in this harmony: There is an appointed time for all things under the S●● 
Eccles. 3. 1.  Nay, in check of all (sith Christ hath said it, I may not pass it) of that day and hou●●▪ the Son himself is ignorant: I say with 
Mark. 13. 32.  Chrisostome, according to his divinity he knew it, but according to his humanity he knew it not, for reserving (as Hillary 
In imperfect: opere in Mat. 24 in his 9 Book of the trinity.  hath it) to the only begotten Son in himself his true verity, yet according to the infirmity of flesh, he wept, he slept, he hungered, thirsted, was wearied and fearful: and also it is agreeable unto his human nature, of the day and hour (as himself professeth) to be ignorant.  
So then for conclusion of all, this is the sum: true it is, the coming of our Christ is the Kingdom of our Christ, and if you mark it well you shall find it never came by observation: his first coming in the 
Luk. 17. 20.  flesh long expected of us, but not determined by us: and when he came▪ he fell like 
Psa. 72. 6.  a shower of rain upon a fleece of wool, in softness & in silence. Likewise, the promise 
Luk. 24. 49  of the Father concerning the spirit out in deed and irrevocable, but when to fall, the Disciples wist not, they must to jerusalem 
Act, 1. 4.  and wait with patience, tarry the time & expect the good hour: Even so his coming to judgement in majesty and great power, it must be expected of us at all times, but when, it may not be determined by v● at any time.  
And for the cast aways of this our nation, who by the deceit of Balaams' wages, 
Iud●. 11.  have ever since the first year of her late Majesties most blessed and happy government, dreamt of a dry Summer, still breathing out destruction to her person, change of Religion, and desolation to the state and Kingdom, now by a black Fleet from Norway, then by a ●●●ell Dragon, whose head must be in England and tail in Ireland: this year by an headless cross, and that year by a popish curse: yea, and erst while (a wonder of all wonders) our Lord lights in our Ladyeslap, and therefore England must have a clap: I say of all these, they 
1. Sam. 28 7. etc.  have sought too much to the witch at Ender▪ and were there no more to prove, that our God standeth for us and against them, this were sufficient, that their wy●ardes have failed them, and their wits that way a 〈…〉 worn out: their Popish Prophecies are a 〈…〉 an end, and their ●lattering divinations o 〈…〉 better times, have still proved their dis 〈…〉 days: their c●rssings have been our blessings, and their plotting Achitophel's hau 〈…〉 
2. ●am, 17. 23  pulled the halter over their own heads.  
Cursed be the man before the Lord 
josh, 6. 26  (saith josua) that riseth up and builds the City jericho: so have you built up your Babel of all confusion, with a curse to yourselves, and a plague to your posterity, for most of you have laid the foundation thereof in your eldest Son, and in your youngest Son reared up the gates: that is, you have built to the destruction of all your stock, as Hiel did in Bethel: 1. Kin. 16. 34.  
Yea and to you be it spoken, a cursed crew of popish repyners, maugre all your spite and poison, the state yet standoth, religion groweth, we increase and you decrease: our Prince liveth a blessed Prince, and you are scattered a rebellious rout, for yet God is good unto Israel, even to those 
Psal. 73. 1.  that are of pure hearts, And he that keepeth 
Psa. 121. 4  England, doth yet neither slumber nor sleep: Our Sons grow up as the young 
Psal. 144. 1●.  plants, and our Daughters as the polished corners of the Temple: yet our Garners are full and plenteous with all manner of store, Our Sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets: our Oxen are yet strong to labour: yet there is no decay, no leading into captivity, no complaining in our streets, and happy are the people that be in such a case: yea blessed are the people which have the Lord for their God: multi habent in Deum, pauci in Dominum: many have him for their God, but few for their Lord to rule in them: o God establish with us the Kingdom of thy Christ, with the Sceptre of thine anointed: Amen Amen.  
And now my brethren for the last part of my Text, and in caution of the second 
●. Security  sin, I mean the great sleep and slumber of all flesh in great security: it stands us upon to be watchful until the time of this our changing shall come, lest when the Lords judgements shall fall upon us, our sins be found with us, and so we die in our security. The knowledge of which, day to us, is bounderd in with these banks, as it were Nilus' Flood from it undation, to make us the more watchful. 1. that it will come and that speedily, for there 
Reu. 22. 12. 1. Thes. 5. 2, 3. Reu. 6▪ 17.  is an assured day of evil. 2. That it will come at an unset stain, and then when th' 〈…〉 world is most secure. 3. That it is in 〈…〉 vitable, and none shall escape: for all shall 〈…〉 appear before the Tribunal seat of God etc.▪ 4. Lastly, that every man shall be accountant 
2. Cor, 5● 10.  for himself and receive doom according to that he hath done in this life, be it good or evil. For proof of all which, mark when and where the Scripture speaketh of that great day, & you shall find it always draweth it on with such expedition and severity, as and if it were at hand, even over our heads and in our necks, to make us the more watchful. Enocke (saith Jude) the seventh from Adam, prophesied 
14, 15.  of it, saying: Behold, the Lord cometh with thousands of his Saints, to give judgement against all men, and to rebuke all the ungodly among them, of all their wicked deeds. Daniel saith, I beheld till the Thrones were set, 
Dan, 7. 9▪ 10,  and the fiery streams issued out, till the judgement was prepared & the books were opened, with thousand thousands ministering unto him, and ten thousand thousands standing before him. Ezekiel saith, an end is 
Eze, 7, 6.  come, the end is come, it watched for thee, behold it is come: Paul saith; we are they upon 
1, Cor, 11,  ●home the ends of the world are come: Iohn●aith ●aith, Novissima hora est, we know that it is 
1. Ioh, 2, 18.  〈…〉 he last time. And Peter saith for all, Now the 〈…〉 and of all things is at hand, be sober therefore 
1, Pet, 4, 7.  〈…〉 and watchful in prayer: whence I infer the 〈…〉 over to move that all things have an end, may move much: that the end is at hand, may move more: but that even now the end is at hand, and upon us, may move most of all.  
Nor do these scriptures only press us with the certainty, expedition and severity of the last day, But with all the dumb creatures, groan 
Rom. 8, 19  & travail in pain together unto this present, and to hasten the judgement, do cry to be delivered from the bondage of corruption, wherein they are into the glorious liberty of the sons of God: yea, certain it is, that heaven, earth, hell, all Saints and sinners, hasten the day, & hale on the judgement: God hath set it, our sins have deserved it: the grave 〈…〉 are pregnant, and they desire to be delivered hell gapeth to devour the reprobate, and th' 〈…〉 heavens open to take in the elect: as for th' 〈…〉 prophecies they are passed, & the signs spoke 〈…〉 of by Christ himself, they are near accomplished, for error, seduction, & heresy, are fa 〈…〉 spread in the world: wars, plagues, & pr 〈…〉 digies, are all abroad: the godly are grieved 〈…〉 
Math, 24. 4, 5. etc.  persecuted, the godless prosper and go on Faith is geason upon the earth, iniquity is 〈…〉 it growth, & the love of many is key cold 〈…〉 And surely, surely, if the Gospel of the king doom be preached through the whole worl〈…〉 〈…〉 for a witness unto all nations, And if Israel 〈…〉 
Rome, 11. 25, 26.  fully called to grace▪ from which it is fallen, I see no reason or rule in religion to cross it, but that the final fire may flash in our faces ere we can depart the place. Look upon the 
john▪ 4. 3●  harvest and view the fields, are they not (as Barnard saith) Albae ad messem, siccae ad ignem, white for the sickle, and dry for the fire?  
But if all these were silent and said nothing, the great security of sinning wherein the world sleepeth, were enough to prognosticate the Lords near approach, & stir us up to be watchful: for certain it is, when we are most secure, the Lord is most severe, and his judgements are nearest, As it was in the days of Noah, 
Luk, 17. 26 etc..  so likewise shall the coming of the Son of man be: Our days are as the days of Noah, for the fiery flood is upon us & we know nothing: we eat, we drink, we marry, we build, all arguments of our security: and though lawful in those, yet unlawful in the abuse, & then are they most abused, when they do secure us in our sins, and make us careless of our God.  
And here observe an argument drawn from the stronger, that if these lawful things in 〈…〉 he abuse, deserve a just reproof, how much 
2. sam. 12. 11, 12. 2, sam. 16. 22.  more our shameless sinning hand over head 〈…〉 n the sight of this Son▪ like Absol 〈…〉 n is worthy condemnation: I mean our excessive belly-cheer, 
1▪ Pet▪ 4. 3.  idle drink, & endless drunkenness: our foul adulteries, filthy fornications, and gnawing usuries: our great avarice, garish pride, and grinding oppression, with a mighty profanation of the Lords Sabaoth, by 
Phil. 16. 1.  neglect of his holy word, Sacraments, and blessed work of Ministry, both in us that Preach, and in you that hear: I say, if in these sins we solace & secure our souls, saying peace and safety, when nothing can be more expected than a dreadful fire, that shall devour the adversary: what can we look for but sudden destruction, where none shall escape?  
And here give me leave a little to plead the cause of the Innocent, who grieve (God wots) under a heavy burden, and dare not speak▪ yet will I go in, sith it is in a plea of deliverance, & say with Ester, I die, I die: I● 
Ester▪ 4. 16  grieveth me to think of the tears o● 
Psal, 56. 8 The plaint of the poor oppressed.  the poor put into the bottle of God, which one day he will power out in judgement against many, who crave a debt where none i● due, and will needs reap where they did never sow: other men's sweat must be their sweet: and the livelihood the Lord hath lent for the relief of the poor wife, poor child, poor family, is so winnowed and bolted to the bran by endless fining and needles refining, as nothing is left them, but wind and water to feed upon, with sobs, sighs & tears, the best companions of their broken hearts: Woe is me to tell, the rich are merciless, and the poor are not pitied: we can go to no Pulpit, but they pierce our hearts, to provoke our speech, & so ye have it.  
Now, if any shall reply to veil his sin, & say in the silence of his soul, My land is my 
1. Cor, 6. 19, 20. 1. Pet, 1. 18 19  own: I answer nay, thou art not thine own, even thou art not thine own, but bought with a price, even with the dear blood of jesus Christ, which thou tramplest upon, if thou treadest his poor members under thy 
Psal, 24 1  feet: and for that earth of thine, Domine est ●erra & plenitudo eius. The earth is the Lords 
Luk. 16. 2 Rome, 2. 5. 6  & the abundance thereof: It is not thine otherwise, then as thou art a steward to use it till he ●ome, and say, give account of thy stewardship, & then shalt thou have according to that thou hast done in this life, be it good or evil.  
In the mean time, I advise thee with the 
Dan. 4, 24  Prophet, to break off thy sins by repentance & thine iniquity by mercy toward the poor. ●et there be an healing of thine error: o 
Isaiah. 42. 14  ●empt not the Lord, because of his long & exceeding great patience, lest he turn upon you as he did upon Israel and say Tacuinunquid semper tacebo: must I always bear? I have borne enough, long have I holden, I can hold no more, I have been still and refrain myself, but now will I cry like a traveling woman, I will destroy and devour at once.  
But alas, (and woe therefore) Babylon is 
jere. 51. 9  wounded, and will not be cured, The world is desperately sick and hath no feeling, either 
hosea. 4, 4 jero. 8. 21. 22.  of it sin, or of it judgements, for let noncreprove, is the proud poesy of this sick age: wherein, no treacle at Gilead, no Physicians there, no hand of the magistrate, no tongue of the Minister by Prayer or Preaching, no remembrance of passed miseries, no fear of future calamities, no present blessing, no deserved 
2. Pet. 3, 10  curse can cure the malady, till the great fire of God's heavy wrath and indignation fall upon us, and then will it be to late.  
For it is an assured ground, you may build 
Take the opportunity when it is offered▪ heb, 12, 16 17 Ge, 18, 13,  upon it, he that will not lay hold on grace when it is offered, he shall seek and sigh for it, when it is to late: Esau could not obtain the blessing though he sought it with tears, i● was to late: Abraham could not prevail with God for Sodomes' safety, though his prayer were many & his pleading powerful, it was to late: Noah preached repentance to the old 
Gen, 6, 3.  world, by the space of an hundredth and twenty years, for so long was the Ark a making before their eyes, and all that while they contemn grace: but when the windows of heaven were opened, and the flood was out, than 
Gen, 7, 11  they run to the Mountains, they rom'd at the trees, they caught at the highest bows, they hung, they clonge thereby to save themselves but it was to late. This our Saviour maketh good unto us in the parable of the ten 
Mat, 25, 1  Virgins, whereof five were wise, and five were foolish: the wise were provident, but the foolish slept, and therefore upon the summons they fail to enter, for that they were found wanting of oil to their lamps: they would have borrowed, they could not: they ●ried Lord, Lord, open unto us, but he would not it was to late: Lastly to conclude with the 
Reu. 10, ●.  ●ast pageant that ever shall be acted on the Theatre of this world, The wicked shall ●leade when time shall be no more, Lord 
Math. 25, 41.  when saw we thee an hungered or a thirst, or ●arborlesse, or in prison etc. But all to late, for ●hey may not enjoy him in glory, whom they ●aue contemned in grace, And therefore must ●eare this earnful voice of their endless separation: Item. depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil and his Angels.  
The use of the Doctrine is familiar (my dear brethren) and to my Text, for now is the appointed time, even the happy day of grace, and ours it is to watch in, nor can our changing be far off, even the blessed day of glory, and thine it is O Lord to work in: had I therefore a thousand eyes they should watch for it, had I a thousand ears, they should hearken 
Reu. 6. 17. Z●p. 1. 14, 15. 1. Ioh 4, 17 Luk. 23 30  to it, had I a thousand feet they should be shod to the preparation of that day: a great day, a fearful day, a day of changing indeed, wherein the Godly shall change all evil into all good, & have boldness: but the Godless, 
Mark. 1●, 33 Luc, 21, 36  all good into all evil, and cry to the Mountains for fear, fall upon us, fall upon us: watch therefore and pray, ye know not when the hour will come: death and doom are as the Cockatrice, if they see us, ere we see them, we 
Ro, 8, 37,  die in our sins, but if we see them first by true faith, hearty prayer and repentance, we are more than conquerors, and may boldly say, death where is thy sting? hell where is thy 
1, Cor, 15, 55,  victory? thanks be unto God which hath given us victory through our Lord jesus christ. I might further press the decayed doctrine, and exiled practice of watchfulness in these our days, than the which there is not a more continual current in the word of God, ever in the mouth of Christ, watch and pray: and never 
Math, 26▪ 41  from his practice when (as it is in the Gospel) by day he taught in the Temple, and at 
Lu., 21, 37 Mar, 6, 46  night went out & abode in the Mount of Olives to pray, but because the time is spent, I leave it to your further search, only with this sigh from the soul of Christ, as a challenge to his Disciples, and all the elect: could ye not watch with me one hour? it will not be long 
Math, 26, 40,  but the hour will be out, judas is at hand, & judgement I fear is over your heads, then 
Ro, 13, 11, Ephe, 6, 18  may you sleep on, and take your rest: It is nearer my dear brethren then when I last spoke, & therefore I say again watch, watch: 
Gen, 41▪ 24, 20  Twice have the blasted ears eaten up the full corns, and twice have the lean Kine devoured the fat: Pharaoh's dream is doubled for the certainty thereof and expedition: The famine is upon Egypt, judgement is upon all the world, and will ye sleep on? o that men were 
Deut, 32, 29,  wise! then would they understand this, than would they consider their latter end, and so for end: The very God of peace sanctify you 
1, Thes, ●, 23  throughout, and I pray God that your whole spirit, soul and body, may be kept blameless until the coming of our Lord jesus Christ faithful is he which hath called you, which will also do it.  
And now my brethren to close with the dead for a conclusion of all. The Lord hath answered me this day, as he did Habacucke, & 
Habàe, 2, 2, 3,  made it plain upon tables what I have preached, that he may run that readeth it? The vision upon this Gentleman was for an appointed time, and now is the time, and at last it shall speak to every one of you (who hear me this day) and not lie: though it tarry, wait, for it shall surely come and not stay.  
It is not long since he was in life, and liking as you are, he sat as you do, in place and credit of this world, he heard where you now hear, he prayed where ye now pray, and in lowliness of heart, he licked up the dust of the 
isaiah, 49. 23  sanctuary, which dust hath now devoured him: nor was it either the favour of his prince, the credit of his place, the love of his friends, the faithfulness of his followers, his tenants tears, or sighs of the poor, could beg him of God, or keep him from the grave, but down he must to demur with death, thereby to bring unto himself a state of inheritance, indefeazible, with a crown of glory that withereth not.  
And now o death what hast thou done? Occidisti possedisti. Thou hast slain, thou hast possessed, but what? only the grass & flower of flesh: as for the Spirit evolavit, it is gone to God that gave it, and that very body thou seemest here to detain it shall be taken from 
1. Cor, 15, 26,  thee, when thou the last enemy shall be destroyed, and swallowed up in victory.  
For the only Son of God shall come with power & great glory to seek the saint whom thou hast shamed, and even those dead corpse will he fashion like unto his glorious body, by the mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself.  
Nor is our friend Lazarus here dead, but sleepeth, This is Dormitorium the house of sleep; Or as the Germans call it God's acre, wherein do rest and are sown the bodies of God's Saints, till their joyful spring of their resurrection: nor doth that which is sown quicken except it die: Et qui granum tritici suscitat 
1, Cor. 15 36  propter te, ipsum te non poterit suscitare, propter se, that raiseth up the seed of wheat for thy good, can he not raise up the fallen flower of thy flesh, o man for his own glory?  
Go to then devouring death, and drink thy fill, spare him not, whom thou hast spilled: stop his breath, cover his face, tie his hands, bind his feet, imbalm his body, bury his corpses, lay on the stone, and seal up the sepulchre, yet Christ is at Bithynia grieving at the grave, and me thinks I hear him cry with a loud voice to him and all the dead, arise and come to judgement.  
Evomuit prophetam marina bestia quem deglucierat et tu Humbertum reddes quem videris 
Bernard. de obitu Humberti ●on, 2, 10.  in tuo vastisimo ventre conclusisse: So said Barnard of his friend Humbertus, and so may I, of this our dear deceased. The Maritine beast picked up jonas, whom he had devoured, And thou earth shalt redeliver this flower of gentry whom thou seemest to have closed up in thy vast vault▪ In the last day, o Death thou shalt stand like a fool beguiled of the dead, when the Saint here fallen shall ever live, and thou his destroyer shalt ever die.  
And now to that which thou canst not spill, which is the sweet perfume of his life past, I will be the more sparing to speak thereof, for that love can keep neither mean, nor method, The rule is good, say nothing but well of the dead: it is better say nothing, but truly of the dead.  
And the truth is, he hath been true to this my text, for he hath been watchful, watchful of his place to perform it with good conscience to God, and loyalty to his Prince, watchful of his family to govern it withal discretion and godliness: watchful of his Gold, that the canker thereof should not rust his 
jame 5, 3 4. ●ob. 31, 38 39 Hab. 2, 11. 12  soul: watchful of his ground, that the furrows should not complain against him: the unjust detaining of the labourers wages: watchful of his building, that neither the stone out of the wall should cry, or beam out of the timber should answer it, with oppression.  
And for this place and charge where now I stand, myself can witness, how watchful and careful he hath been of it good, with whom he often dealt to furnish him of an able man, as an assistant to aid and help the pastor here, which I know ere this had been effected, but that the Lord dealt with him as he did with David in the Fabric of the 
2, Same 2 7. 12. 13.  Temple, Even put it of to Solomon his Son, by him to be perfected, which I doubt not but he will perform, and that readily in the fear of God, according to the zeal of his heart, and good conscience towards this great people, for thou o Lord hast put fire in his 
Luke. 12. 49  heart, and what is thy desire but that it should burn?  
Besides all these: the sweet balm of his hospitality, was an honour to God, a relief to the poor, & a credit to his place & calling whereof I may say he was watchful, watchful as Abraham who lay in his Tent door under 
Gen. 18. 1.  the oak at Mamre to gather in strangers, and at the last God was his guest: watchful as Lot, who sat in the gate of Sodom to call in pilgrims, and at last he received 
Gen. 19 1  Angels.  
Rich Christ is in his poor members, and hi● joyful message, is tied to his word and Ministry: he relieved the one and countenance● the other, A good advertisement to all christians that they beware against whom they bar their doors, least happily cui Domum 
Aug: con●ra heretico●.  clauseris, cui huminitatem negaveris, ips● sit deus. Lest happily as Augustin saith it be God himself, against whom thou shutest thy door, and deniest thy curiosity, The rule is Apostolic, be good to all but especially to those that are of the household of faith. 
Gal. 6. 10.   
And now to wind up all with the watch of his last farewell at what time with good Ezekias, 
King. 20  & seven years before to my knowledge, he set his house in order, and prepared to die, recommending, then as now, his soul to God, his body to the earth, his Land to hi● heir, his goods to the world, with much kind remembrance of his friends, and many prayers for his enemies, if he had any: Not 
1. Mac. 9 55. 56  so wicked Alcimus of whom it is said, that at the time of his death he was plagued, so as he could neither speak to God, or give order concearning his house.  
And for his Funerals now next in place, and last in action, you see they are not without form, like Joachim's of whom the Lord said by the Prophet. They shall not lament 
Ieremi. 2●. 18. 19  him saying: ah my Brother, or ah my Sister, neither shall they mourn for him saying: oh Lord, or ah his glory!  
For this so great a concourse of Christian people honouring his burial, following his hearse, and giving him the last duty of obsequi, doth argue they loved him living, whom they honour thus dead: nor is it done without compassion, for oh husband, oh father, oh master, oh friend! is in the lamentation of all: ye see their tears, ye hear their groan, & God knows their grief, To whom I leave them, as to the alone comforter, & do further pray that the Lord would teach us to 
Ps. 90. 12.  nuber our days that we might apply our hearts unto wisdom, & so at his coming may be 
Mat, 25. 6●  found watchful with our oil ready, and our Lamps light. Amen. Amen.  
FINIS.